I am sorry this took so long! Although writing it didn't take so long, finding the right gifs for the gif set to go with it was such a hassle. I hope I did well on both the story and the gifset! Thank you for the reviews on the first chapter, this is the last and final chapter!
After some time. she could see finally Jaime off in the distance. He was in the process of making the sandcastle she had told him to and his back was to her. She was rather impressed with his handiwork, and a bit envious she hadn't been there to help him.
"Very good brother. I would have added an extra tower to this side to make it even, though,"
"Cersei! What are you doing here?," he jumped up to greet her, giving her a big hug.
"I came to play with you."
"But, how did you get away from your lessons?", he asked her curiously.
"I said that I wasn't feeling well and needed to visit the privy. From there it was easy to sneak past the guards," she beamed before continuing, her smile faltering just a bit, "I did get stopped by a fat guard though. He took most of the food I had hidden in exchange for his silence."
They then spent the next hour or so adding on to Jaime's sand castle, before Cersei suggested they walk along the shore.
They walked for a few moments, stopping along the way to look at seashells. They found several pretty ones, which they decided to keep, but none as majestic as the one they were to find much later that day.
"Let's go swimming," Jaime finally suggested.
"What if someone sees us?"
"They won't! Please, Cersei."
"Well...alright," With that, the two stripped down to their underclothes and walked out into the water until it was deep enough.
Immediately Cersei's competitiveness took told.
"See that rock there? I bet I can reach it faster than you!"
"I don't think so!"
"Ha, I won!", stated Cersei triumphantly a few moments later.
This caused Jaime to splash her and for the two to spend the next few moments in a bit of a splashing war. This was followed by a few more races, most of which Cersei won.
After some time the two both grew tired of playing in the water and agreed to head to shore.
Cersei began to get dressed, but Jaime stopped her, "let's make bags of these somehow. To put seashells in," he suggested.
"Great idea, if we tie the bottoms of your pants legs and the bottom of my dress up, we will be able to collect so many shells this way!"
They then spent some time collecting more seashells, taking time to show each other and playfully argue over who had found the best ones.
"I'm hungry, do you think we've missed the midday meal?" asked Jaime after some time.
"Probably... but maybe not, but I don't want to go back yet," stated Cersei
"Father will be angry if we don't," replied Jaime
"Fathers away today. And he will still hear of this anyway eventually, and still be angry even if we come back now,"
"Maybe not. You can say all the indoor privies were occupied and you had to go outside. You can say you got lost."
"I don't get lost like you do all the time, and there are guards outside so everyone would know it a lie. Besides, I have some food in my bodice, that guard didn't get it all."
With that Cersei reached into her dress, of which the bottom was now being used to hold seashells and pulled out some bread and two blood oranges from the top half.
"This is all I have. I had to use the cheese and the apple cakes to get the guard to let me go."
She broke the bread in half, handing the smaller half to him, "I hope this will be enough for you."
"You have two oranges..."
"Your math lessons have been helping."
"Cersei!"
"Alright, fine. Here." She handed one of the oranges to him.
With that, the two sat down to eat. As they did, Cersei told him all about her escape, They shared a laugh over how dumb the guards were. Cersei giggled as she wondered how long the first guard had searched for the non-existent spider, and how many others he had convinced to join him on his hunt.
Once the two were both finished eating Jaime asked her, "So what now?"
"We could go swimming again. Or we could explore all the caves here." She paused and her smile got mischievous before continuing, "Or we could play hide and seek."
Jaime protested, "Let's not do that."
"Worried you won't be able to find me?"
"I wouldn't want to lose you."
"Close your eyes and count to twenty,"
"I can't count to twenty yet..."
"Well, ten then. Twice."
"Why? I said I didn't wanna play..."
"Not that. I...have a surprise for you."
"Alright," With that, he began counting as Cersei stifled her giggles while quickly running to hide.
"Cersei?!"
He groaned. She had tricked him and was now obviously hiding.
After some time, he finally found her, in one of the caves
"That was mean!"
"It took you long enough. I was beginning to worry."
"Well, now can we explore some of these caves?"
"Sure."
They then proceeded to spend a fair amount of time exploring various caves and arches They didn't realize it, but over time, they had actually traveled so far that they were now miles away from the castle.
Finally, they spotted an especially large cave off in the distance.
"Seven hells, look at the size of that cave!" stated Jaime.
"I'll race you to it," stated Cersei, ever competitive.
"I won!" exclaimed Cersei a short time later.
"Not by much!" stated Jaime, who was only a second behind her.
They entered the cave and discovered that it was not only the largest they had been in so far, but also rather beautiful, with lots of seashells on the ground as well. It also had a hole in the ceiling to let light through.
"Look, there are shells in here. Many shells," stated Cersei.
The two of them spent some time collecting various shells.
It was in this cave that Jaime was to find the shell that would become so special to her.
"Look at this shell Cersei!" Jaime stated excitedly.
Cersei turned to look at him. She noticed that it was a really large shell. it was white and had a bunch of "legs" on it. It was beautiful, by far the best seashell either of them had ever found. Cersei wished that she herself had found it. She looked on in envy as he held the shell to his ear.
Jaime, wondering why she hadn't responded, bragged, "It's so big, isn't it? I think it must be the biggest one we've ever found!"
"Yes, it's very nice," replied Cersei unenthusiastically.
Jaime could tell from her tone that she wasn't happy. Knowing his sister she was probably jealous of his good fortune and probably wanted the shell for herself.
"Do you want it? I'll find another one just as good, I am sure. You can have this one," They both knew he likely wouldn't, but Cersei wanted that seashell and Jaime wanted to see his sister smile as she had been just before he found the shell.
"Alright," she replied, smiling sweetly at him.
He handed her the shell and she hugged him.
"Thank you, Jaime."
"This has been the best day ever!" she remarked as she held the shell to her ear.
"Aye. It sure has. Shall we explore some more?"
"Sure."
They went on to spend some more time exploring caves and hunting for seashells. All of them, however, failed to be as big or pretty as the one Jaime had found and given to Cersei.
After some time Jaime stated, "The sun is starting to go down."
"Let's go back to the big cave where you found the shell you gave me. I remember it had a hole through which we can stargaze," suggested Cersei.
"Alright."
Once back in the cave Cersei voiced her concerns, "Do you think we've gone too far? I know we are going to be in big trouble, but what if they never find us?"
"Then maybe we can become pirates. I'll even get an eyepatch."
"Gross," replied Cersei.
"If I wasn't so hungry, I think I'd like to live here. We could spend every day like this, Cersei."
"Aye, I would like that too, Jaime."
Shortly later the two fell asleep in that cave, cuddled up together atop their clothes which they had used as makeshift pillows and sheets. As it was a warm night there was no need for any blankets.
It was not until hours after sundown that they were finally found and awoken by some guards. Luckily, father had not returned until late into the next day and so there was to be no punishment that night. He had, of course, been furious when he found out.
Remembering back, Cersei frowned even now as she thought back to the harsh whipping she and Jaime had both received upon fathers return.
Turning her thoughts back to happier memories, she managed a smile. She had succeeded in keeping some of the seashells from that day, but the one she was now holding would always be her most treasured. She had kept it in her room close by her bed, for many years. Sometimes when Jaime would sneak into her room at night they would take turns listening to the sea in it. It was a great comfort to them both when they missed their mother, or when father would be too harsh with one or both of them.
She thought back to years after they had found the seashell. To the time shortly after they had found out Jaime was to be sent away to squire. Cersei for once had a rare moment of sacrifice and had offered that he take the shell with him.
"You're going away, you should take the shell with you. Listen to the sea in it and think of home and me when you do," she told him, placing the large shell in his hands.
"Are you sure? I know how much you love this shell."
"Not anymore then I love you brother," she stated smiling at him.
Jaime hugged her close, "I promise to take good care of it then. I will miss you."
It was only five fortnights later on a visit home that he returned it to her.
"I can't keep this anymore. One of the Frey boys is squiring with me. He caught me listening to it and started mocking me," Jaime complained.
"How dare he! I hope you taught him a lesson!" Surely her brother wouldn't have let this boy get away with that, but then, why was he returning the shell to her?
"I tried...but he is four years older and has been training for much longer then I. You should keep it. It's just a seashell and I don't want to get beaten up over it!"
"It's not just a seashell, it's our seashell! Besides, it is the biggest and prettiest one either of us ever found in all our time on the shore!"
"I didn't mean it like that, Cersei. It's one of my most treasured possessions, but I only like it so much because it reminds me of you and of home. I just don't want him to find it and hide it somewhere from me or worse destroy it!"
"Well, I will keep it, then, and I hope you train well enough to pummel that Frey boy into the ground one day," she had proclaimed.
"I will," he promised her.
Indeed Jaime had tried to teach the boy a lesson, However, him being only one and two and the boy having been at least one and six he hadn't stood much of a chance. It was not until over a year and a half later that he had finally put an end to the boys bullying by beating him to a bloody pulp.
Cersei smiled when she remembered the visit when her brother had told her how he had beaten the Frey boy to a bloody pulp, until the boy had promised to stop tormenting others. Though she hadn't cared about the boy's torment of others, she was thrilled to hear that he had paid for mocking her brother. She had been so proud of Jaime that she had given him the most passionate kiss her not yet one and four self could manage.
As she held the shell in her hands and smiled at that fond memory, it was then that she heard a voice she had been afraid she would never hear again,
"Cersei."
If you liked this please comment or find me on tumblr Lionessonthethrone and reblog (I'd add a reblog link but this damn site keeps auto removing the beginning part)
post/176960100295/hoping-to-get-her-mind-off-of-her-increasingly (this is all it posts when I type the whole link in)
I've also uploaded this to a03
