History repeats itself; House Baratheon
In the middle of trying to rally the gold cloaks and other present soldiers into fighting against the fey-beasts and their riders in black robes, as well still being near the Red Keep because of the chaos between the people in the streets, Robert and Stannis Baratheon honestly did not notice at first that Tywin Lannister and most of his direct relatives now found themselves facing a doom by water.
"Damn creatures!"
Yes, both the brothers felt some of their courage slip away at the screams of the Nazgûl as those flew around over the capital of Westeros, but somewhere deep in their blood, refusal to give up kept growing. It was a response not merely by the distant Martell blood, but also that of House Durrandon starting to awaken too.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
At the stairs to the throne chamber as he tried to hide, Aemon had collapsed on the steps, his sickly health acting up again because so much was happening at the same time. Of all the things the premature birth that Cersei's heavy drinking during her pregnancy with him had caused, it was a mixture of asthma and anemia he had gotten stuck with, and not a mild version of it either.
"Not now...not now!" the part of his soul that once had been Ramses, the Crown Prince of Kemet, almost screamed in growing fear about the incoming danger as Aemon felt alarmingly lightheaded.
"Aemon!"
Now Elinor was running in the stairs as well further down, and her voice revealed her own terror over the sand that was hunting them.
"Father! Father! Uncle Stannis!"
She could not know that the King and the Hand both were out in the city at this very moment, because the royal gardens was on the other end of the Red Keep and the earlier rain of burning hail had also caused panic and chaos in the royal court as well.
"Sister…"
But then, just as Elinor passed by a window and the youngest Baratheon prince could see his second oldest sister come closer, two massive cobras made of sand appeared in the air around them, gaps wide open to swallow them like living prey.
"NOOOO! FATHER, UNCLE STANNIS! HELP!"
As their screams in terror could be heard, no one was close enough to come to rescue them. The closest person to have heard the royal children scream for help would be Grand Maester Pycelle, but he was among those who had gotten a fatal hit in the head by the burning hail earlier and laid dead on the floor with blood forming a puddle around his head.
While the royal siblings had spitting up as Holly commanded them to do, Lyonel was not surprised at all to see the massive sand cobra trying to catch him. But at the same time, it greatly annoyed him when several older squires, among them Loras Tyrell, appeared completely unexpectedly out of the blue and blocked his escape route.
"What? Your sworn sword and herd of siblings nowhere in sight for once?" Loras commented with a hint of the usual self-confidence he tried to show around his peers, over that Margarey was promised to Lyonel in marriage, only to find a closed fist in his face from the Crown prince.
"Get out of my way, fucking flower-boy!"
Loras may be two years older, but Lyonel had taken after the Baratheon paternal side by being tall and very strong already for his age, and as such the youngest Tyrell brother fell back on his back to the floor with a broken, bleeding nose from the strike as the younger prince pushed his way past the others.
"Why is he running in that direction, towards….?"
They quickly found an answer, as they all got shoved towards the stone walls by the amount of sand that had been following Lyonel. Then a storm of foul words which he had snapped up from Sandor Clegane over the years was heard, when Lyonel got captured by the sand cobra.
Argella had tried a different idea at escaping the sand cobra chasing her, when she recalled how wet sand was much heavier to lift. Jumping into the nowadays empty fish pool that could be found in the godswood, the oldest princess tried to ignore the weight of her clothing as she sank below the surface and focused on trying to breathe through a reed straw that she had broken off before jumping into the water.
"Must stay below the surface...I must stay below the surface!"
Thankfully, learning to swim had been one of the lessons that Holly insisted for all of the royal children, no matter their gender and people muttering about that it was not proper for princesses to learn such skills, and how to hide themselves in water just as Argella tried to do now.
"Princess! You shall not have Princess Argella, foul demon!"
"Get out of my way."
In horror, even with her eyes closed, Argella could hear the sickening sounds of the three septas being killed by that winged beast as it grabbed each one of them in the mouth and crushed their bodies between its jaws before the now dead women was tossed away. Then, she could feel the heavy sand from the bottom almost caress one of her hands.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Because she had gotten separated from the royal children earlier by a massive piece of burning hail that could have crushed her head if she had been hit, Brienne had been forced to find shelter from the dangers falling from the sky on her own. As Myrcella and Tommen now faced a death by drowning alongside their Lannister relatives thanks to who their grandfather on both sides of the family tree was, and the actual children of Robert and Cersei was being captured by Khamûl, Brienne had managed to take herself to the Barbican, main entrance of the Red Keep, with its bronze doors and portcullis.
"Brienne!"
Looking up at hearing the familiar voice which she really did not expect to hear right now, she saw an unexpected sight of Lady Selyse, Shireen and Rhea being escorted towards her by Gendry, Mya and Eric.
"My Lady?! What are you doing here? Surely you can't have arrived that fast by ship from Storm's End!"
None of them could really answer, and the normally so reserved Selyse looked a little scared at the sight of the winged beasts that only barely was kept away with arrows in the air, then another voice called:
"Brienne!"
Galladon had spotted her in the distance, and now came running in the hope that she was not injured. And then a winged beast showed up right behind him, aiming for the courtyard, as Brienne sensed something alarming about the rider.
"That oddly familiar aura...that ability to control sand…"
In dawning horror a part of her mind, the part of her that was not Brienne Tarth, connected the possible reasons as yet the winged beast flew past Galladon and now sand came straight against her, forming a massive cobra with a wide open mouth among the ground.
"Brother, protect Lady Baratheon and her unborn child!"
Selyse found herself pushed out of the way by Brienne at the last moment, and then Brienne, Shireen, Mya, Eric, Rhea and Gendry found themselves swallowed whole by the sand cobra and pulled up into the air.
"SHIREEN! RHEA!" the horrified Lady Baratheon screamed as she saw her two daughters being taken from her. But Galladon could only do as his sister had requested, trying to pull Selyse along to a safer place.
"Mama!"
With the four royal children, their half-siblings, cousins and Brienne trapped inside what looked to be a pyramid made of strong glass, the presence of Khamûl did actually cause an image of their past lives, all sans Gendry, to be visible for a moment. And not only the princes and princesses of Kemet, some of them had been reborn previously in Westeros, Essos and far more distant countries. In different families and social status, and not always the same gender.
"So...reborn in different lives, huh? Explains why I have such trouble finding Mara, the soul changes with each new body but its very core should remain as it once was…"
But now Sauron was calling back the Ringwraiths though the Rings of Power that they wore, ordering them to return to Mordor after giving Westeros a fine first taste of what the Dark Lord of Mordor offered for conquest later when he was done with Middle-earth.
"A nice group of important hostages should please my Lord, and that awakening magic in you should be useful as well."
Given how contrasting Khamûl was in this moment to the memories of him as a loving father and protector of his own realm as the Farao of Kemet, it was perhaps not so strange that the six legal Baratheon children, Mya, Eric and Brienne was almost paralyzed by fear of this clear difference that was impossible to not notice, now that they could place his voice in their memories of Kemet. Was this really the same father who they all had loved and felt safe around?
"LET GO OF MY CHILDREN!"
As Khamûl began to fly away with his prisoners, did the slightly battle-worn Robert and Stannis show up on the outer wall of the capital, trying to run after the fey-beast.
"Father! Uncle!"
Robert may not be in his prime like 13 years earlier, but he still proved himself more than able enough to run in full armour without much trouble and made a good aim on the magical pyramid with his warhammer despite missing.
"Do not aim for that beast, you idiots! The royal children are being taken as hostages!" Stannis yelled at some gold cloak archers who drew back their bowstrings for shooting away their arrows. Two of them even got knocked over the head by the flat side of his sword when they still intended to shoot and got a taste of how Stannis could be showing his Baratheon blood in a different manner than Robert.
"Get out of my way!"
Using the water magic from the Rhoynar that she had discovered herself blessed with over the years, Holly began to spin up the sea water from the Blackwater Bay and formed into water arrows, shooting those into the air in an attempt to trap the Ringwraiths.
"What in the...Give back my daughters!"
Now Stannis had noticed that Shireen and Rhea were also trapped in the pyramid besides their cousins, which naturally did not exactly delight him to find out about. Even if he, thank to being the current Hand of the King, was not always present at Storm's End to be a part of their daily life, he still cared for his two daughters and was proud over that they both showed signs of cleverness from a early age, so now faced with seeing them be kidnapped in front of his very eyes, did awaken a very serious dose of paternal fear in Stannis. The same with Robert, as he had not yet noticed the reason why Mycella and Tommen could not be seen in the pyramid with their siblings and cousins.
"Get back here, fucking bastard!"
But even with Holly attempting to free the children and teenagers without being seen by anyone, the Ringwraiths were too far out in the bay now to make any major rescue attempt successful. Yet Khamûl flew slightly closer, as if to taunt the King and his brother with the sight of their captured children, and spoke:
"Bring us the Lion Lord to Mordor if you want to see those alive again."
Then he rejoined the other Nazgûl, but the prisoners had a plan of their own to show that they were not going to be passive victims in need of being saved by others all the time. Joining their magical powers together, using the sword of Brienne and hammer of Gendry as guiding point, they showed why King's Landing and Storm's End had been spared from being destroyed by Sauron nine days earlier:
"OURS IS THE FURY!"
This time, a massive portal made out of the seawater took shape in the Blackwater Bay, and the mighty winds summoned thanks to the very distant blood of Elenei though House Durrandon in the Baratheon line, forced the fey-beasts into the whirlwind that was the very strength of the portal.
"Davos! Davos Seaworth!" Stannis yelled when he saw the ship called Black Betha already out in the water and realising that the former smuggler tried to get closer to the portal, "Follow after those beasts! Try to see where my daughters and the royal children are being taken!"
He could not hear the answer in the winds, but Black Betha made a slight turn and right as Davos was trying to figure out how to avoid that his ship would be crushed, did Holly land on the deck.
"Ah?! You are the septa in charge of the royal children…"
But she did not have time for smalltalk now, instead she joined the crew in tying everyone with ropes to the mast and other ways to avoid that someone fell overboard.
"You heard what Lord Stannis ordered, my good Ser Davos! We are following those overgrown lizards and seeing where they are going! Trust me, this whirlwind is not what it seems!"
With her own power, Holly tried to keep Black Betha as steady as possible as they entered the whirlwind. That the portal had not closed when the fey-beasts had come over to the other side, suggested that some of the magic which held it open, likely came from that both Robert, Stannis, the unborn child Selyse was carrying and all the other unknown bastards of Robert was still in Westeros.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
But even with Davos following the Nazgûl, it could not be ignored that all the royal children now were missing.
"Where is he!? WHERE IS TYWIN LANNISTER!?" Robert bellowed in rage, since he had heard Khamûl demand Tywin Lannister, if he wanted to still have his children alive.
"My King!"
"Down at the river banks, the Lannisters…!"
Some of the gold cloaks, those who were younger sons in the noble Houses of the Westerlands, had now managed to break the glass prison with the help of several blacksmiths and their hammers.
"I said, where is Tywin Lannister!?"
As Robert arrived, a horrible truth was revealed with the bodies laid out on the muddy ground:
Out of all the close relatives of Tywin, only little Janei, Mycella and Tommen had survived from drowning, and that was barely thanks to Addam Marbrand acting quickly to free the two royal children and Janei with her mother Dorna. But it was to the cost of the others dying a horrible death by water, all of it witnessed by Tywin as he was unable to save his family members.
"Kevan…? Kevan! Kevan! NO! Please, wake up! Wake up, Kevan! Lancel! Williem! Martyn! PLEASE WAKE UP!" Dorna cried out in a dawning realization that her husband and three sons were all dead, her infant daughter Janei wailing as well from the arms of Addam as he gently tried to ensure that she had no water left in her little lungs.
"Father….father!"
"Father!"
Myrcella and Tommen were both in shock from how close they had been to death, but the sight of Robert seemed to get some reaction.
"Children!" Robert called upon seeing them, and hugged them quickly, "Thank the gods that you two were not taken...Tywin!"
On seeing his father-in-law, who stared in disbelief at the dead body of Cersei, Robert almost lost all self-control in rage over what had happened today.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"
A closed fist in his face nearly sent Tywin slamming into the thick glass wall behind him, and Robert in his full height seemed to tower above everyone else now as he grabbed the front of Tywin's already bloodied tunic, pulling their faces near.
"If your life is the key to get my children back from those who kidnapped them right now, so be it! Let history know you as the LAST Lord Lannister, because from this moment on, the Lannisters shall no longer count as a noble House! Your sons and their children shall spend their whole lives in exile, with no way of reclaiming the title of Warden of the West, or as rulers of the Westerlands!"
It was no use mentioning Cersei and her future, given that she just had left Robert behind as a widower. Her children were now motherless, and with Jaime and Tyrion effectively banished from Westeros, House Lannister as a name would die out, since Janei was a girl and would be expected to take the surname of her husband if she married.
"You...can not...you can not! I gave you the crown…without Cersei, you are nothing..."
CRACK!
Robert smashed his fist into the glass wall beside Tywin's head, a clear warning to be quiet for now.
"Throw Tywin Lannister into the Black Cells until I change any orders about him. Send Lady Dorna and her daughter to a Motherhouse in the Riverlands."
With those orders, Robert had basically done as he promised Tywin mere hours before; that House Lannister would be stripped of their noble status. With Dorna and Janei being made to join the Faith, and Jaime and Tyrion being exiled in their absence, there would be no other claims to the name and their former holdings outside that of his own children.
"Damn, we can not waste too much time...I need the children back…"
But there was no doubt that Robert and Stannis intended to personally try and take their children back from the Nazgûl, and offer Tywin in exchange for them, just as Khamûl had demanded. And unlike the Rebellion where Lyanna had died, Robert did not intend to fail to take back what was his this time.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
author note: As poor Aemon was born premature and have a sicky health, I tried to show that though him having both asthma and anemia, which affects him in daily life and understandable causes trouble in bad situations
If anyone wonder why Tyrek Lannister is not mentioned among the drowned Lannister, it is because he was one of the first victims to get a fatal hit to the head by the burning hail
Twyin thinks that his life can not get any worse in this moment, with House Lannister stripped of its noble status, his siblings and their descendants all dead sans his little niece Janei, and he have also witnessed Cersei die and not be able to replace her with another female Lannister relative as Queen beside Robert, but he is about to find out that the bad things have only started