Once upon a time there was a girl named Tyra.
Tyra had no siblings, but a cousin of the same age Joanna. Both girls looked like two peas in a pod and were as close as sisters.
The two girls with golden hair and large emerald green eyes belonged to a noble and proud family.
A family that had always been very important and although the current heir seemed to do everything to make them fall into oblivion, the Lannisters were too rich to be forgotten.
They were born in Lannisport and their parents did not have the power or money of the Lions from the Rock, the ancestral home of the Lannister, nevertheless Tyra and Joanna were proud to be part of their family. They saw themselves as lionesses and had sworn that the world would hear their roar.
Joanna was more successful there, having grown up with important people and high-ranking folks, courted by Aerys Targaryen prince of high society, the beautiful lioness had married Tywin Lannister, the heir of Casterly Rock.
Young, cunning and fearless. The man that with just twenty-one years held important positions in the family's business.
Tyra was sure, if Tywin had been born a few centuries earlier, they would have dedicated verses and poems for his deeds.
Joanna had married the "Lion King", lived a fairytale life, respected, adored, courted.
The absolute love of her husband was source of envy for many ladies of Westero's high society, who wouldn't receive such affection from their husbands.
Tyra had much less luck of her cousin.
No, she had not gone to school with such of Rhaella Targaryen or Ilaria Martell, neither had a "grand seigneur" courted her.
Tyra had only the appearance of the once loved, but now only envied, cousin.
Everyone said that she lacked the fire of Joanna.
"What I miss are the friends in high places!" Tyra thought bitterly as she served tea to her mother's annoying friends, and would have gladly drank something stronger.
Everyone knew that Joanna and herself, had loved each other like sisters, everyone seemed to know of their dreams, all compared her to the fortunate cousin!
So she married, scarcely a month after Joanna and only a few weeks after their first date, a Martin Payne, a distant relative of the Payne who acted as handyman for Tywin, a man who had the advantage of not having met her cousin, who called her the most beautiful woman ever seen, a man who wanted to be important.
"Honey, I don't want to stay for my entire life in the shadow of Tywin Lannister! Ilyn, the bloody fool, thinks your cousin Tywin would be a God" The two were naked, Martyn caressed her, enchanted by her beauty.
Although not rich, Tyra was a Lannister, even the copy of the wife of the "Lion", he was sure that the Lannisters would open their coffers and give them a nice dowry.
Tyra also seemed docile, but was a real lioness in bed, he was sure she would be his fortune.
"Tyra are you sure you want to marry?" The concerned Joanna had asked, "You have known him for so little!"
The bride had just returned from their honeymoon, a short one since Tywin could not be absent too long.
Tyra had hated her, the makeup of her cousin was impeccable. The dress she wore simple but refined. No one would ever confuse the elegant woman with her.
"Joanna, you believe you are the only one worthy to get married, right?" She asked, pouring a glass of wine "Want some?"
"Tyra it is just ten!"
"Too early to get up, for a bride, don't you think?"
"Tyra do you know what you're doing? Tywin said that Martyn's draft is doomed to fail. Also he wants to go so far away! Tywin …"
"Joanna, " Snapped Tyra "Would you please stop naming your husband every ten-seconds? I want to go away, I want something of my own and Martyn will help me!"
"Tyra, do you love him?"
"I think so."
"Good luck, lioness."
"You too, lioness."
They embraced, they would not meet again for almost ten years.
Irony of fate both women who were often mistaken for twins, had both given birth to twins.
Tyra had given birth first, followed two months later by Joanna.
Joanna had given birth to a beautiful boy and a girl, she named them Jaime and Ceres.
The twins were perfect blondes creatures. Jaime had inherited both the golden curls and the emerald green eyes from his mother, while little Ceres's eyes were pale green flecked with gold like the eyes of her father, her hair pale blond.
The little family seemed to be out of a book. So much beauty and perfection, could not be true.
Tyra at the other hand...the pregnancy had stolen all energy, she felt lonely, ugly, fat. As the twins had finally decided to come out she found herself with a beautiful little girl with golden curls and a dwarf. Cersei Lannister was a pure Lannister, blonde, fair skinned, with the same green eyes of her mother. The child whom she named Tyrion was an ugly dwarf with a mixture of blond and black hair, with a black eye and a green one. Tyra had screamed in horror as soon as the nurse had tried to put him in her arms.
"A dwarf and a girl" proclaimed Martyn disappointed and half drunk after the doctors had explained that Tyra could no longer have children. He had had already vision of him working with his sons. The euphoria of marriage had lasted little. Martyn was a stuffed shirt, his famous nose for business, a joke.
He had invested in a chain of fast food stores at low cost, and business had gone fairly well, until he decided to expand. Too much and too quickly.
Tyrion and Cersei were not even four when Martyn escaped from the debts, creditors, a wife who hated him and the children whom he had not accepted.
Tyra was twenty-three, she behaved like a teenager and someday she felt like she was hundred years old .
Cersei was wilful and stubborn, Tyrion intelligent and affectionate.
He was the one who calmed his sister, already taller than him, he explained her the rules of the games, when Cersei wanted to hurl the games away.
"Perhaps it would have been better if Cersei had been the dwarf, my sweet Tyrion did not deserve this." Decided Tyra.
Twenty-three years a fugitive husband, two little kids who had caused her to be barren, and an avalanche of debt… but Tyra was positive to make it alone.
"Listen to me little doll, we women have our weapons," She said as the little girl tried stubbornly to put together the pieces of a puzzle. The pieces did not fit together, but the child wouldn't give up. Tyrion had managed to complete the same puzzle in scarcely an hour.
"Rifle?" She asked with her green eyes wide open. Tyra laughed, drinking her gin and tonic "No my dear, between your legs." Cersei looked confused.
'The girl is a little stupid' she thought .
Tyra did not know that Cersei was a normal, even smart girl and that Tyrion was a little genius. Maybe if the children had attended a nursery, or other children, Tyra would have noticed, but she had no money to make them go to kindergarten and although she loved Tyrion, she was ashamed of his deformity.
"Cersei luckily you're beautiful and you will not need to use your brain." She explained stroking her tousled curls.
"I'm going out with Uncle Gary, if you are hungry there are chips and cookies. Do not eat in bed!" She hugged and kissed Tyrion, drank the last drop of her drink, and went out, leaving the children alone.
The children were habituated to be left alone at home, Tyra used her 'weapons' often and with permanently changing partners.
Tyrion and Cersei were very isolated and grew accustomed to rely on each other.
Cersei protected her little brother from bullies, Tyrion protected Cersei from their own mother and from other adults.
Tyra, she hadn't wanted to be called mom, had spoken of their family, they were Lannister and not stupid Payne, when Martyn had left, she took her name back and changed that of her children.
Tyrion and Cersei were lions, as good as the cubs living at Casterly Rock.
The children felt more like stray cats than lions. They that wore the old clothes of other people, they did not know any food who wasn't canned or frozen, their backpacks and school stuff were cheap and ugly, not what they had wanted.
They did not have a room, they shared the sofa bed in the living room.
This wasn't a bad thing, they had always shared a bed, it was the only way they could sleep peacefully.
Casterly Rock was, to them, a fairytale place. If only they could reach that place, everything would be better.
They were nine when they met Joanna Lannister and their lives changed.
Tyrion would later tell that it all started with the lice infestation.
At this point their life with Tyra reached the point of no return.
Tyra drank too much, she 'fell in love' too easily and could not keep a job.
The twins were used to being treated like beggars.
The humiliation followed them step by step.
The apartments were increasingly poor and small, the clothes of the twins often used, the 'boyfriends' increasingly shady.
Men who were loud, who raised their hands against Tyra ... and touched little girls.
One Thursday afternoon Cersei and Tyrion had returned home with the news that the class of the girl was infested with lice.
Tyra had scolded the girl.
Cersei would have liked to scream in her face that it was not her fault that in the degraded school they attended, lice were not unusual, like the visits of social services.
"We have to cut them" decided Tyra with a mean grin.
The little girl looked appalled at her mother, as if she did not recognize her.
"No, I beg you Mom, no!" The small body of Cersei was shaking.
She was so afraid to forget that Tyra did not want to be called mom.
Cersei had never received nothing but compliments for her golden hair.
The last boyfriend's of Tyra loved to brush and pet them, which at the beginning had made her mother happy. 'He treats her as he would his own!' She had thought. But after a while she began to hate his exchange of affection.
They had split the month before.
The twins were sleeping, as Tyra started to scream.
"You fuck me and you whisper her name? Depraved! Pervert! Crappy pedophile!" She threw him out of the apartment and then she started to drink.
The next day at Cersei's timid question if "uncle" Jay would return, Tyra had slapped the girl shouting that she was a nasty little bitch in heat.
Tyrion had flung himself between them to subtract his twin from the fury of their mother, but Tyra had managed to hurt his twin.
At that moment he felt more powerless than ever, he wanted to raise his sister and lay on the couch, but he could only support her with difficulty; Cersei was bigger than him.
He had brought a cloth and ice and gently, he had seen his mother do so many times, had dabbed her cheekbones that were already tinged with blue.
"Tyrion, why did she beat me? " She asked through tears, "Why did she called me bitch in heat?"
The look he threw his sister was full of compassion. "Being beautiful must be hard." He muttered sadly.
What a strange creature her brother was, thought the little girl; the body of a child, the words of an adult, the wisdom of an old man.
"I'll go get a cola, ok?"
"Thank you, brother!"
Tyrion smiled, but his smile was sad, so sad that Cersei began to cry again.
Uncle Jay had promised to take them to the zoo! Cersei wanted so much to see the lions.
In the evening Tyra had apologized, she hugged her and called them her golden babies and had vowed that they would go to see the lions.
She ordered Cersei's favorite pizza.
"Hey! This pizza is as big as me!" Exclaimed Tyrion making them laugh.
That evening they had seen a movie in Tyra's bed. They had their first taste of wine.
"Crap!" The twins shouted in perfect sync, while Tyra laughed to tears.
It had been nice, even though it hurt Cersei's face when she laughed.
In the following days Tyrion and Cersei stayed at home
'A bad cold' Tyra had told the teacher on the phone.
Mom had showed her how to hide the bruises with the background color. They laughed and laughed, especially when together they had rigged Tyrion.
Unfortunately, the week before the news of the lice, Tyra had found a heart plush that Jay had given her for Valentine...
Since then she had not called Cersei her little golden fairy anymore and she had started to treat her coldly...
"Mom there are shampoos we can buy, or we can use some home remedy like hot vinegar, you do not need to cut them!"
"Some things it is better to kill them in the bud so that do not create problems later" had answered Tyra "Also a little bit of humility will do your sister good." She added, taking a pair of scissors from a kitchen drawer.
She had beaten Cersei who tried to escape and thrown Tyrion, who was trying to defend his sister, against a shelf.
She had cut her long blonde curls of her daughter and threatened to cut off her ear if she wouldn't stop.
"What do you need your ears for, if you never hear anything from anyone?" She shouted in her face.
Terrified, feeling that her mother was serious, Cersei closed her eyes and stopped moving.
When Tyrion had regained consciousness, the clash against the shelves had provided a nice bloody wound to his head, he almost did not recognize the face of the person who was treating his wound with ice, as he had done almost a month before to her.
Cersei's face was deformed with puffy eyes closed to slits, her lower lip split, almost bald.
"Tyrion, I hate to be a stupid powerless girl." Cersei's voice was strangely flat, so different from her usual vibrant energy.
"Cersei. I'll never be big and strong, but I promise you, one day I'll know how to protect you." His was a solemn oath.
The two embraced, as always having the feeling of being so different as to be equal.
They were the opposite one from the other, but at the same time two sides of the same coin.
Tyra was out, no doubt she would drink and would return the next day, or she would have found a man, another "Mr. Right " and she reassured them euphoric that everything would be better than before, that they would return to be true lions!
By now, they almost did not believe her anymore, at least they tried not to, because Tyra had always been pretty damn convincing.
Cersei who could not stop touching her head, went to bed exhausted.
When in the middle of the night the bell rang, the children were not surprised, everything was possible with Tyra Lannister, but it was not her, but the police.
Tyra had caused an accident drunk.
The police had thrown a look at the children and the squalor around them and one of them had murmured "Shit, call the social services."
The twins could be called brave, but words such as: 'social services', 'adoption', 'eviction' and 'orphanage' had the power to make them tremble.
"If it were possible I would call Tywin Lannister." Tyrion asked with his adult like manner.
The two policemen laughed.
"Look at this little man! No doubt you are in good relations with the vortex of power, but it would be easier to talk to the president or the Pope!"
"It can be, but we are not related it with the president, nor with the Pope, but with Tywin Lannister!" He told them calm and composed, before adding. "It would be better to talk with his wife, Joanna Lannister, the cousin of my mother"
"Relatives? I did not know that poor Lannisters existed! "
He laughed good-naturedly, but from the tone of voice Tyrion understood that he would phone anyway, if you were really related with the mighty lion of Lannister Corporation they could not afford to make him unhappy.
"We," Began the boy looking up "are cats of a different coat."