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Perseus Apollyon

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Jon

Time passed without anything to show for it. The longer Jon looked for his family, the shorter his small strand of hope was. It seemed that wherever he walked on the sand of Volantis, he only found dead guards, sailors and other things that he'd rather not look at again.

But as he made his way around a torn-down building on the beach, one that hadn't been inhabited in a long time, he saw a glimpse of hope. A sliver of platinum hair. And as he got closer, he could see another, and another. The body standing over another was small, young, which only meant one thing.

"Dan!" he yells out.

The girl lifts her head, and instantly she stands, running towards him. He hugs his daughter tightly as she wraps her arms around him, trying to hold back the tears he felt, before pulling back. His eyes move to where Daemon was and felt his heart stop. He was leaning over a body - a body with Dan's hair.

"What happened?" he quickly asks her as he rushes over to Daemon, seeing him hovering over Daenerys.

"We washed up on here," Dan states, looking down at Daenerys as Jon leaned down and pushed away her hair to see her. It was heavy from the water and tangled with seaweed. "And we found her far off…something's wrong with her. She won't wake up!"

Jon looks down at her and could see that her face was pale, and upon further inspection, he couldn't hear her breathing. "She's taken in a lot of water. We need to help her. Daemon." He turns to his son, who had his hands in his hair. "Hey, look at me. Don't lose your head. We can save her."

Daemon nods, swallowing. "What do you want me to do?"

"You and Dan, tilt her over onto her side. I'm going to pat her back to help her cough up the water." The two siblings nod and get to work, pushing her onto her side. Her body was limp. Jon quickly goes to the other side and starts to pat her back as hard as he could, trying to get her to cough. There was no movement for a bit, and Jon almost thought that this was it – he was alone with the children. The one chance he had of fixing all this shit was gone.

But then, the most beautiful sound came when she suddenly coughed up water, before vomiting onto the side of the beach, gasping for air. Daemon hugs her tightly.

"I thought you were dead!" Daemon whispers in shock.

Daenerys pulls back a moment later, letting out another cough. "I wouldn't leave you," she whispers to her son, before she looks up, seeing Jon and Dan. "Did…did you two save me?"

Dan looks up at Jon. "He was the one with the idea of tipping you onto your side. We just followed." She walks over to her and hugs her quietly. Daenerys, who looked genuinely surprised by the show of affection, hugs her back. Dan pulls back and smiles. "I'm happy you're okay, too."

Daenerys smiles gently at her. "I'm happy I am too. And that you two are safe." She looks over at Jon. "…thank you. For saving me."

Jon shakes his head. "There's nothing to thank."

Daenerys nods quietly as she leans up. "Do any of you remember what happened to the ship?"

Dan nods. "It was a monster. It destroyed it. Split it in half."

"It wasn't just that," Jon states quietly, standing. "Someone warged into a Leviathan."

Daenerys' brow furrows. "A Leviathan? But those-"

"Are only in the Shivering Sea?" he finishes for her. "I did too. But I've seen those eyes. I've seen people warg. Someone knew we were traveling on the sea. And if we go back on the sea, then they'll try and hurt us again. At least right now, they probably think we are dead."

"Why would they think that?" Daemon asks.

"Daemon, the ship was destroyed," Dan responds. "And I know you were focused on her, but there are dead guards, all over this beach. We're alone."

Daenerys looks up at Jon. "Is this true?"

Jon sighs. "I'm afraid it is." He sits back down. "We're stranded in Volantis. Most of the guards are gone…I haven't seen Ghost or Arya," he states to Dan, who's face changes to sadness at the news. He turns back to Daenerys. "I haven't seen Kinvara either. I don't know if those are good things or bad things."

Daenerys runs her hands through her hair. In the light, he could tell that the messy waves had caused her hair to be undone, and now it was fully down. If she was seen – if any of them were seen here – he didn't know what would happen.

"Fuck," she finally states, looking over at the Long Bridge. He sees the wheels turning in her head. "We need to find a way back home…but from here? Without going on the sea? That's…going to be hard." She tries to stand but suddenly falls back to the ground in pain, clutching her calf.

Jon looks at her concerned. "What's wrong?"

"My…my leg."

Dan moves her dress out of the way and cringes when she sees the issue. Daemon and Jon look over. Daemon himself had to step back, and Jon felt himself curse. It was not broken, but there was a large gash that had bled rather heavily. Bruises laid around it. If they didn't get her looked at soon, it would get infected.

"We need to get into the city now," Jon states, going to pick her up, but Daenerys suddenly pushes back. He stares at her incredulously. "What are you doing?"

"I…I don't feel comfortable with that...with you picking me up."

Before Jon could speak, Dan instead did. "Are you kidding me?"

Daenerys looks over at her in shock, but Dan shakes her head, standing up.

"No. No, you don't get to speak. I get to speak." She was shaking. Her face was red. Jon had never seen his little girl filled with so much anger. "He has saved you. Multiple times. If it wasn't for my father, who else would have known what might have happened to you in the ocean? You could actually be dead. You could be dead in the water, being eaten by whatever that monster was. And now, you sit here, complaining to him about how you don't want him to pick you up and help you heal even when he had to hold you to save you before? Are you absolutely mad?!"

Daenerys was frozen solid, staring at her in surprise. "Dan-"

"Don't 'Dan' me." She turns to Daemon. "Look…mother." Jon could see her struggle to say that. It was still a shock to him that she was truly her daughter, but each day he could see more and more of her appear – including this sudden temper. "I understand why you're scared of him. I do. He's told me what he's done to you…in a way, he killed us, too. If it wasn't for Kinvara finding you, we would not be here."

That hadn't occurred to Jon. She was right. Of course she was right. And that just brought on a whole second round of guilt. He had killed his children before he even knew. It was by the grace of whatever gods were up there that he even had the chance to hold Dan in his arms, to meet Daemon. Fuck.

"You can't deny that what you did was bad...and maybe what he did had to be done. Something did. I don't know...I'm still confused about it. But my father is not that man. He isn't the horrible person you think he is. He has taken care of me, kept us safe, and even saved you when he didn't have to. And right now, he wants to help you more. And to be honest, the longer we sit here, exposed in the full light of day, with our hair out, the sooner someone will discover us. So can you please just….do some sort of truce for Daemon and I so we can find somewhere safe? And let him help you?"

Daenerys looks at her quietly, silent. Dan instantly stands and takes a step back.

"I'm sorry for speaking to you like that. I'm just-"

"I understand," Daenerys says softly, interrupting her. Dan looks over. "You're right…I know you are. I even told your father; you're very smart." Dan smiles a bit before glancing back at the ground. Daenerys turns to Jon. "I'm sorry…for the sake of our children, can you please help me? My leg is…pulsing."

Jon nods, wrapping an arm around her and helping her stand. She instantly cringes and clings onto him for stability, closing her eyes in pain.

"Fuck," she mutters.

"Daemon." Jon turns to his son. "Help your mother hide her hair. Dan, you do the same to yourself."

She nods and wraps her hair in her wet scarf. Daemon grabs his mothers and does the same, wrapping Daenerys' hair. Once she was ready, Jon lifted her into his arms bridal style, seeing her cheeks turn red, before looking back towards the Long Bridge.

"It seems we've washed up on the west side, lucky for us," he mutters. "If we go towards the bridge, we should find an inn where we can find help and rest."

"How will we stay with no money?" Dan asks quietly.

"The same way we did back in White Harbor. We work for it." Daemon and Dan nod before walking ahead of them. Once they were far enough ahead, Jon looks down at Daenerys as he walks forward with her. "I'm sorry about Dan."

"Don't be." She sighs and rests her head. "I think I needed to hear that more than I thought I did."

He looks down at her quietly. "Why do you say that?"

"Because she's right." She looks up at him quietly. "I've been treating you unfairly…I know that it will be a long time before I can even think of you in any other way besides what you did, but I can't deny that ever since we have seen each other in White Harbor, you have done nothing that's been bad. You've been good…and now that we're stranded, with no guards or anyone else…we need to trust each other."

Jon's brow raises. "And do you trust me?"

She looks up, a slight pull on her bottom lip. "Just…give me some time."

And that was enough for him to hear.

Jon didn't know much about Volantis. But from the number of people that were here, he had a feeling that he was going to get Kings Landing feelings from here. His father had told him that it was the first of the Nine Free Cities after the Valyrian freehold, and he could clearly see that many people took this superiority to heart.

In the distance of the Long Bridge, he could see the tall black walls that no one was allowed behind on the eastern edge of Volantis, unless their blood was traced back to Old Valyria. Technically, he did have blood like that. But because the Targaryen's weren't the most beloved in a city that had as many slaves as Slaver's Bay once did, he decided that maybe just pretending to be regular people would be better.

The Long Bridge really was just as people described it though, all the way up until the western part of the city. The road was barely wide enough for them to walk through, so once they did reach the top, he had to allow Daenerys to walk gently on her leg while trying to look normal. There were merchants upon merchants, all trying to sell something, but Jon kept his gaze ahead of him on Dan and Daemon, leading them through the mess of people to find some sort of inn for them.

As he walked, he could see the hands of what he would assume would be thieves hanging from above, and he had a feeling that if they were found here, it wouldn't just be their hands that hung. He could barely see the sun above them with the roofs of the buildings from across the street touching each other. It was total darkness except for a sliver of light.

"This place smells awful," he mutters as they walk past someone who definitely needed a bath.

Daenerys chuckles – actually nearly laughs – besides him. "Volantis is one of the most populous cities in the world. You're bound to run into some questionable people…I lived here for a time with my brother until we moved onto the next place."

Before he could ask more, Daemon calls out to them. "We found somewhere!"

"Alright, let's go," he states quickly, trying to help her through the crowds. She clings onto him to steady herself. Once people started to move more, he looks over at her. "Are you alright?"

"I'll…survive. I just need to sit," she states, swallowing.

Jon nods and looks to where Daemon and Dan were pointing to. He could see a sign that said 'Fishmongers Square,' and plenty of men selling their catches of the day. It almost reminded him of White Harbor, in a way, except much smellier. But near the end of the square was a large, four-story building that was monstrous above the decrepit buildings around them filled with brothels and taverns and pubs.

He looked closer and saw a sign that says 'The Merchant's House.' And at this point, he only hoped they wouldn't be turned away.

"It's worth a shot," he states quietly to Daenerys, who nods. So quietly, he helps her walk gently to the door. Daemon opens it for them, and instantly, Jon is met with some man nearly falling out due to pure drunkenness.

He moves Daenerys out of the way as quickly as he could as the man stumbled out into the square. He turns his head back towards the central atrium and found tens, if not hundreds, of different people talking and conversing. Different tongues he didn't even know existed rang through his ears. This place was truly a melting pot.

"Stay near me, there's bound to be someone that can help us in the back," he states to his children. They nod as he walks through the crowd, making sure to keep Daenerys by his side so she didn't get trampled by some drunk fool. He could feel Dan clinging onto his back, and Daemon was holding on her hand so they wouldn't get separated.

Once they did somehow make it through the mass of people, he walks through a door near the end and sees someone being a counter, looking down at a book. He feels himself sigh. It was a man, someone who did not look as kind as Mayala did back in White Harbor, but it was what they needed to deal with.

"Excuse me," Jon states, walking over to the man. He glances up from his book at the new person before closing it, straightening out his shoulders.

"How may I help you?" the man asks.

"My name is Jon, and this is…my wife, Dyna." He could almost hear the snort from Dan – yes, he wasn't good at names, but right now if he said her true name, that would only end badly. "She's in bad shape. She fell off a horse and scraped up her leg very badly. We're only travelers and have no money, but we need somewhere we can fix her up. If you have any rooms here, we'd be more than willing to work for our stay."

The man looks at him and then his eyes move to Daenerys. For a moment, Jon thought he would ask her to reveal her hair and it would be over, but instead, he nods towards her leg. "Can I see how bad the wound is?"

Jon nods and then gently lifts up the cloth of her dress to reveal her leg. The man cringes at the sight, before nodding his head. Jon lowers the cloth back down, looking up at him.

"That's a mighty bad wound." He looks over at Daenerys again before glancing behind him. "Are these your children?"

"Yes." Jon looks over at Dan, who comes forward with Daemon. "They've been trying to hunt for a place for us but we've never been in Volantis."

"I heard this is the best place to be!" Dan states, a smile on her face. The lie slips through her lips easily. "A lot of merchants outside we're talking about it."

"You're right it is," the man states, chuckling. He looks at her and then at Jon. He bites his lip and nods. "Alright…I'll strike you a deal." He walks over to the doors and closes them so the noise from the common room doesn't sneak in. Once that was done, he turns back to them. "I have had my own issues in the past with people who have hurt themselves. My wife, for example, did the same thing you've done. So I get it." He nods upstairs. "There are some cheap rooms on the fourth floor here. I won't ask you to work for me – instead, I need you to run some errands."

Jon's brow furrows. "What kind?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but that tavern outside in the common room is mad and I don't want to have to deal with dragging stuff through the drunkards there. I have a list of certain things that you can get. If you can pick them up from the merchants on the Long Bridge, you can stay for however long those errands last here. It could be a couple of days, could be a week, but it's what I can offer right now."

Jon nods quietly. "We would be happy to do that."

The man nods and then goes under the counter, before handing him the list. "I'd like to have those by the end of tomorrow."

"Thank you," Jon states, nodding at him. Daenerys offers a smile to the man, despite the pain in her leg, and Jon helps her up the stairs, the children following after. The man shakes his head and returns back to his book, not paying them anymore mind.

Once they found a room that was decently far from the rest of the others, Jon finally allowed Daenerys to lay down on the sprawling bed. The room was not much, and had plenty of defaults – he was pretty sure the stench of a fresh kill was beyond the horizon of the room – it would work for what they needed it for.

"Seven hells," Daenerys sighs, letting her head fall back against the bed. She suddenly raises an eyebrow at Jon. "Your wife? Dyna?"

Jon rolls his eyes. "You know just as well as I do that if they knew the truth-"

"I know." She leans up and sighs. "I understand. I never did make my way to Volantis…I don't think the people here would be happy to know that the 'Breaker of Chains' is in their city."

Dan walks over quietly, sitting at the edge of the bed. "Breaker of Chains? Really?"

Daemon nods his head. "She's freed all the slaves from the slave trade in Slaver's Bay. In Volantis, there are five slaves for every free man, so it's not necessarily wanted here."

"I'll never support it," Daenerys states quietly to her daughter. "It's why I worked so hard to end it in the first place." She looks over at Jon. "If they do see me, I don't know what might happen. I'm not wanted here probably the most out of anywhere in the Free Cities."

Jon looks over at her before moving his glance to Dan. "You and your brother. You could go get the errands while I tend to her."

Daemon tilts his head. "You know how to clean out a wound?"

"I was on battlefields multiple times," Jon states. "If you don't know how to clean out a wound, you'd be dead in ten minutes. It's something you have to learn." He looks over at Dan. "The markets aren't that bad and everything is fairly close. Would you and Daemon be able to carry the items back."

"Depends on what they are," Dan states, looking at the list. "What even is…a grilled tot?"

Daemon rolls his eyes. "There's going to be thousands of things here that we don't know about, but if we have to get it to keep mother safe, we will. There's bound to be a bag that we can carry things in."

Jon reaches over and clasps the young boy's shoulder. "The sun is going to set soon. The sooner we get it the better mood the man will be in. Come back here as soon as you collect everything."

Daemon nods and turns to Dan. "Ready?"

Dan turns to Jon. "Are you going to be okay?"

"We'll be fine. Now go." He leans down and kisses her forehead, and she smiles before running off and out of the room with Daemon hot on her heels. The door closes behind them and Jon sighs, turning to where Daenerys laid on her bed. "How are you doing? You okay?" he asks her gently.

"Besides the everlasting pain in my leg? Alright."

Jon walks over to a basin filled with water and takes a clothe, soaking it up. He supposed that they refilled these each morning for the people to use, so for now, this would be their best way of helping her.

He walks over and gently lifts up her dress until it showed the wound on her leg. Almost dabbing the wound, he starts to wipe away at it and sees her cringe every couple of seconds at the pain before resting her head against the headboard of the bed. He wipes at the blood around the leg, before moving on the inside, trying not to anger the wound even more.

Quietly, after a few minutes, her voice made an appearance, small. "I'm worried, Jon." He looks up at her, and he could see she was staring at the old and dirty ceiling of the room they were in. "I'm worried about what happened to the rest of the ship. To Kinvara. Hell, even the direwolves…it's like they just disappeared."

Jon sighs and nods, pulling back from the wound and grabbing a clean clothe to wrap around it and keep it protected. "If they were gone, they would appear on another part of the beach…everyone around us was dead. I don't think they would have gone far."

"I hope you're right," she states softly. "I really do."

Jon looks over at her once he finishes bandaging her, seeing the fear appear in her eyes, the concern over her friends. He didn't blame her. The dead bodies of her guards had scared him too. He genuinely had thought that everyone had been killed by that attack on the ship.

"We have each other for the time being," he says to her. She looks over at him, and he nods. "And we're going to make sure we get back to Meereen. Somehow."

She shakes her head, running a hand through her hair as she takes the scarf off. "It's going to be horrible getting back there…there are reasons why so many people sail to Slaver's Bay rather than ride there…it's out of the way, but anything is better than the road from Volantis to Meereen."

Jon's brow furrows. "What lays there?"

"You've never heard of it?" she asks him quietly. "It's called Demon Road. It's through the Painted Mountains and goes through Mantarys and the ruins of Bhorash. But it's one of the worst roads in the known world. My brother used to tell me horror stories about it. Bhorash is filled with thieves and bandits, but Mantarys….there have been rumors of demons, creatures that are mutants…I heard that the sky glows red at night because it's near Old Valyria and the Smoking Sea. It's filled with horrors that I don't even want to experience, let alone the children."

Jon sighs. "So we're going to have to go around it?" he asks her quietly.

"If we want to go back via foot, we must. It's almost certain that if we took the Demon Road, we would…" Her voice trails off. Jon sighs and nods.

"Alright…then we need to think of where else we can go."

"There's not much out there besides the Painted Mountains," Daenerys states quietly. "Honestly, we're just going to be in the Dothraki Sea. The biggest threat we have is them if we went around. It would take longer to travel there, but it would be safer if we ran into a Khal rather than a two-headed beast."

Jon nods. "That would be preferable." He looks over at Daenerys, seeing the sad look on her face. He reaches over and gently grabs her hand. This time, she does not pull away. "I know everything right now seems bleak…but I know we're going to be okay. You want to know why?"

Daenerys throws him a look, her brow raised. "How could you possibly turn this shitty situation into something better?"

"Simple." He nods outside. "We should have died with those guards. We should be in the water, face-down. But yet, all of us are alive. Not without injury, but we are here. That has to mean something. And having hope right now is the best thing we need to survive."

Daenerys sighs, but she doesn't move her gaze from him. "I have to say, I did miss your hope," she states, before glancing back down at the bed.

"It's hard to have it," he states quietly. He looks back at her. "Can I ask you a question, Daenerys?"

"There's nothing else we can truly do in this room, so might as well."

"Why did you not have someone come for me when you saw I wasn't in the chambers on the boat?"

Daenerys looks up at him. At that moment, he could see her gaze underneath her light hair. All of it had fallen out of its braids or bun that she did to hide it under her scarf, and not she was letting it hang freely. Right now, she seemed pensive, quiet, and her green eyes searched his.

Finally, she opened her pale lips, the softest voice coming out. "I don't know, Jon."

She tries to move her leg but flinches in pain, cursing under her breath. Even so, she does move slightly so she can look him straight in the eye. Her gaze wasn't filled with anger or distrust. Instead, it was filled with sincerity.

"If you want an honest answer, I truly don't…I want to hate you, Jon." She looks outside this time, her eyes settled on a speck of the window. "I want to. My head is begging me to. The memory of what you did is always on my mind every single time I look at you…but now over this past month, it's fading. The anger I felt when I first saw you in White Harbor isn't as strong. At this point, anger isn't even what we need. We need to keep our wits ahead of us before someone else tries to kill us…because it's obvious someone does want us dead."

She looks back over at him, sighing.

"I mean, what would I even say?" she states, chuckling. Her smile was almost sad, bitter. "'Drag him back to his room. He's staring at the sun?' That's cruel. It's not right. Me putting the guards on you…it was more of the anger I felt from the past. And trust me, it's still there…but you've done everything to try and somehow find somewhere for us. For the children. Just so we can somehow make it through this…I hate what you did. I always will. But I can't bring myself to hate someone who's been taking good care of us ever since this started. Ever since we found you."

He couldn't help the bit of relief that came over him. "So you don't hate me?"

Daenerys sighs. "No. I don't. As much as my mind wants to." She looks back up at him at seeing his small smile. "Don't think this somehow changes anything, though…I'm still angry. But I'm not blind to what you've been doing for us."

"Good," he states, but his voice was soft. Daenerys admitting she didn't hate him wasn't what he was expecting today, but he had to say it felt good that she herself had said it. And maybe they could just move on together and get through this for the sake of their kids.

"Now…if this leg would hurt less, that would be nice," she states, practically flopping onto the bed.

Jon chuckles and nods his head. "It'll be better soon. Just need patience."

"Patience is awful."

And that made him laugh, for the first time in a while.

xXAUTHORS NOTEXx

just to let ya'll know this is a slow burn lmfao. I always hate those fics that instantly heal relationships like that and I don't want that to be here but trust the process because this shit is about to get wild.

Like I'm so excited and I hope you guys liked this. So there, a truce so they can finally keep their children alive together.

Here we go again. As always, love it? Hate it? Wanna burn me like the witch in season one? Lemme know in the reviews and give me your feedback because I love what you guys say. It always makes my day :) and don't forget to follow and favorite so you can join us on this adventure. Have a great day! :)