A/N: In this AU, Balon dies of natural causes, Euron is allied with Yara and Theon, and he supports Yara's claim to the Salt Throne. Euron is DEFINITELY OOC in this fic.
Today had been a rough one. While Yara was pleased that Theon was taking advantage of his newfound confidence and sense of safety; she did not appreciate his newfound defiance. The stress of the day came to a head at dinner when Theon refused to eat.
"Theon Greyjoy, I will not tell you again, sit down and eat," Yara ordered, her voice dangerously low.
"Sit down and eat. Sit down and eat," Theon echoed, a mocking tone lacing his voice as he paced around the room.
"Don't you cop an attitude with me," Yara warned, pushing back from the table and grabbing her brother by the arm before dragging him to sit in a chair. Reaching over, she grabbed the discarded bowl of food and placed it in front of him, along with a spoon.
"Eat. Now!" Came her stern command.
"Don't want," Theon responded, trying to push back from the table.
"Now you listen to me," Yara scolded, catching hold of her brother's chin. "You may be a teenager, but if you insist on acting like a bratty little boy who refuses his dinner, then I will treat you as such and feed you like a child. Are we clear?"
"We clear? We clear? We clear?" Theon parroted, his voice rising in pitch as he hit the table with his hands to express his frustration.
"You've made your choice then," Yara responded, hooking a muscled arm around her brother's chest and lifting the frail teen onto her lap. She held him in place as he struggled and used her free hand to put some food onto the spoon before bringing it up to Theon's mouth.
"We clear?! Fuck you! Fuck you!" the 14-year-old screamed, knocking the spoon out of his sister's hand before standing to face her. His fists clenched at his sides, breathing heavy.
Yara froze in shock for a moment at the words before her hand shot out and she backhanded Theon hard enough to knock the prince off of his feet.
"You will not curse me!" she scolded, grabbing his arms; her face inches from his and her voice steely. "I'm sick and tired of this new attitude of yours, and it stops now unless you want a proper thrashing! Are. We. Clear?!"
Theon struggled and finally managed to free himself with a squeal before bolting from the room as fast as his healing wounds would allow.
The rush of anger quickly wore off, and the gravity of what she had just done hit Yara full force. For the first time in her life, the Iron queen dropped her head into her hands and allowed herself to cry.
She found Theon in her room, cowering in one of the corners with his arms drawn around himself in a makeshift hug.
He was rocking and muttering under his breath. Yara's heart shattered when she heard the mantra.
"My name is Reek," Theon muttered desperately. "It rhymes with weak."
"Reek, Reek, my name is Reek. It rhymes with freak. "
"No, sweet boy, no, no," Yara murmured, keeping her voice low as she made her way over to her terrified baby brother. "Not Reek. You are Theon. Theon Greyjoy. My precious baby brother."
For a long, tense moment, Theon stared at his sister before realization came over his gaze, and he launched himself into Yara's arms, taking them both to the ground.
"I'm so sorry, Theon," The 29-year-old murmured as the teen wailed like a babe against her shoulder. "There now, shh. You're safe, baby brother, I'm here. Big sister is right here."
Eventually, Theon calmed enough to allow Yara to pick him up and carry him over to her bed. After the mess at dinner, there was no doubt that Theon would be spending the night in her room.
Yara set him down and felt her heart shatter even further as she caught sight of the damp in front of her brother's trousers.
"Hells, I scared Theon so much that he pissed himself. He hasn't done that since immediately after his rescue," she thought, silently resolving not to bring up the matter to avoid humiliating her brother.
"Theon, I'm going to run a bath for you, how does that sound?" She asked
"Bath" was Theon's only response.
She took that as an affirmative and moved to prepare the tub while Theon rocked from side to side on her bed, watching her every move.
Despite the earlier upset, they quickly fell into their nightly routine. Theon climbed into the tub with his sister's help, and Yara then stepped back to give the teen space to wash.
Tonight, however, Yara had to step in as Theon was scrubbing his skin raw.
The Lady Reaper came over and knelt by her brother with a kind smile.
"Can I help?" she asked gently.
They sat in companionable silence, Yara reading from a book by the hearth while Theon sat at the table, drawing on a piece of parchment. The two had reached an agreement; Theon could spend the rest of the evening as he pleased if he ate the food that was placed in front of him.
Occasionally, Yara would allow her gaze to drift to the side to ensure that her brother was holding up his end of the bargain. She smiled to herself as Theon took a bite of food before pushing his knees against the table and rocking his chair backward. He let out a small laugh as the chair hit the ground, and the process repeated.
Suddenly, the calm atmosphere of the room was shattered by a pained squeal.
Yara jumped to her feet just in time to see Theon hit the floor and scramble into a corner.
"Whoa, whoa, it's alright, Theon," Yara soothed, kneeling next to her brother. "It's just me, can you look at me?" She asked quietly.
Eventually, Theon complied. When the 14-year-old crawled out of the corner and into the light, the source of his distress became clear.
There was a gash on his left temple, which was steadily weeping blood, the skin around the wound already bruising purple.
"You're just having one hell of a day, huh baby brother?" Yara asked sympathetically, reaching over to draw Theon into her arms; cradling him as he sobbed.
"What happened?" Euron Greyjoy asked, entering the room and catching sight of his niece and wailing nephew.
"Theon was rocking his chair to balance on its back legs, " Yara began. "On his last try, his lame foot hit the table, which caused him to jerk back and make the chair slip. He tried to grab the edge of the table as he went down and slammed his head onto the metal corner. So, here we are."
"Little Theon," Euron murmured sadly; sitting down next to the siblings and placing a calloused but gentle hand on the prince's back. "Can you look at uncle so that I can see your wound?" the naval commander asked.
Theon obliged, turning his head against his sister's chest so that his left temple was visible.
Euron winced in sympathy before addressing his queen.
"The edges of the wound are too ragged for sutures," Euron explained. "However, I happen to have some healing paste that we can coat it with to prevent infection."
He then turned to address the prince, "I know how tired you are of wearing bandages, but the only way to ensure that the paste works properly is to wrap your wound. If all goes well, the bandages should come off in a few days. I'd also like to take a look at your bad foot, just to make sure that everything is healing as it should. Is that alright with you?"
"Uh-huh," Theon agreed before looking up at Yara. "Stay?" He asked.
"Now and always, baby brother," Yara affirmed. "Now and always."
