A.N. Sorry for keep you waiting for so long, but I'm very busy these days. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. :)
'Where is she?' Cersei rushed through the hospital corridor to meet her twin brother.
Jaime tried to put his arms around her, which only made her more nervous.
'Where is she?' she repeated her question more urgently.
'She is in surgery.' her brother had guilt and worry written all over his face. 'It happened so fast. We were already in the car park. I put her bags in the trunk when that woman passed us, then turned around and shot her.'
'Shot her?' Cersei couldn't process the words she had just heard.
Jaime was supposed to pick up Myrcella from the airport and text her when they got home. Instead, she only got a message to come to the hospital as soon as possible. She was in the middle of a speech at a rally and Tyrion, who had her phone while she was up on the stage, dragged her down and made her leave.
While they were on their way, she heard on the radio some news about a shooting at the airport, but she didn't think for a moment it could have anything to do with Myrcella.
'How?' she tried desperately to find some reassurance in her twin brother's eyes, but he lowered them to avoid her gaze.
His cowardness made Cersei angry and gave her the strength to ask the ultimate question. 'How could this happen? How could you not protect her?'
Jaime looked up in surprise and Cersei saw the same anger mirrored on his face.
'The same way you couldn't protect Joffrey.' her brother hissed bitterly.
He didn't try to hug her anymore, not that Cersei would have wanted it.
'How dare you?' she screamed and slapped him hard across the face. She wanted to scratch out his eyes, but Jaime grabbed her arm with his prosthetic hand.
Her skin turned white under his grasp and Tyrion finally intervened.
'Stop it.' he cried as he attempted to separate them. 'Blaming each other won't help Myrcella.'
Jaime let go of his twin sister who hissed in pain.
'I'm sorry, Cersei. I tried to push her away, but it was too late.'
Cersei quietly nodded. 'It's all right. She is alive. She'll be all right.'
But she wasn't. Cersei could see it as soon as they brought her out of surgery. She couldn't take her eyes off of her as the doctor told them about the operation. They managed to remove the bullet from Myrcella's head, but apparently she had lost so much blood that she got into a coma.
Cersei was watching her daughter who looked like a mummy with the bandage wrapped around her whole head. Myrcella's long blond hair was shaved, just like hers before her surgery only a year ago. Only a year ago when Joffrey died.
'But she'll wake up, right?' Jaime's words dragged Cersei out of her thoughts.
'We hope for the best, but we don't know.' the doctor said, not hiding his concern.
'What do you mean you don't know?' Cersei snapped at him. 'You are her doctor.'
'We needed the surgery to save your daughter's life, Ms. Lannister. Of course, we'll continue to monitor her and run some tests when we think it's safe. But I don't want to give you false hope. With a brain injury like this… If she doesn't wake up within the next few days or weeks, the chances of her regaining consciousness are very slim. Even if she does, you have to be prepared for serious brain damage.'
A heavy silence fell on the room after the doctor left.
Cersei was sitting at Myrcella's bedside, looking at her twin brother from the corner of her eyes as he was pacing the room up and down.
'He can't talk like that! He can't just give up on Myrcella. Isn't he sworn to heal people?' Jaime cried out angrily.
Cersei didn't listen to him. She was deep in her own thoughts.
'Three of Swords.' she mumbled. 'Three times your heart cries out in joy, three times it's pierced by swords.'
'What?' Jaime asked in surprise.
'The prophecy, Jaime. She told me not to have children, but I didn't listen to her.' his sister replied and tears came streaming down her face. 'She promised me I would lose all of them.'
She shouldn't have talked about the prophecy in front of Tyrion, but it was too late.
'Who told you that?' he asked with a frown.
He looked between his siblings with an expectant look until Jaime broke the silence.
'Do you remember that travelling circus that used to come to Lannisport when we were kids? Cersei and I snuck out one time to see them. I was there for the magic show, but Cersei went to the fortune-teller who said some horrible things to her.' Jaime explained with ease.'Father probably found out that we were gone and punished us by paying that woman to scare Cersei.'
'It seems to have worked pretty well. A childhood trauma that would haunt her for life.' Tyrion remarked sarcastically.
'It's not a childhood trauma.' Cersei snapped at her brother.'Don't you get it? It's all coming true. First, I married the Devil. Then, I had three children, but none of them were his. And now I'm losing them all, one by one.'
Her brothers exchanged a quick look that didn't escape her notice.
Suddenly she had a bad feeling. 'Where is Tommen?'
'I sent Gregor for him. He'll be here soon. Don't worry.' Tyrion remarked softly.
Cersei turned back her attention to Myrcella. 'She is nothing like me.' she remarked quietly as she touched her cheek over the bandage. 'She has always been so sweet, so kind. I don't know where she came from. No meanness, no jealousy, just good.'
She put a hand over her mouth, but it couldn't stop the loud sobs that broke from her. Jaime stepped closer and held her tight for a while until they heard someone enter the room.
At Cersei's shock it was their father. How he could get there from Casterly so fast was a mystery. Cersei tried to wipe off her tears and clean her face, but her weak attempt only made things worse. Her fingertips became black from the smudged makeup and she could tell her face didn't look prettier either. But Tywin Lannister couldn't care less about her appearance right now.
It was a pleasant surprise as Cersei half expected him to be there to force her to talk about politics, or more specifically the future of her presidential candidature. But instead, her father just walked over to Myrcella's bed without a word and pressed a kiss on her forehead.
'She is a Lannister. She'll get through this.' Tywin stated in a firm voice before he turned back to his daughter. 'In the meantime, wash your face and try to get some sleep. We are going fishing tomorrow.'
'Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to go with him right now. You can stay here with your daughter.' Jaime remarked the next morning after he returned with a change of clothes for her.
Cersei pressed a quick kiss on his lips, then walked over to her son who was sleeping in an armchair and gently rubbed his cheek.
'It's all right. I'll be back soon. Call me when Tommen wakes up. Or Myrcella...'
Her father was already waiting for her in the car. As soon as Cersei got in, he started the engines. They were sitting quietly in the car for a while until Tywin broke the silence.
'Do you know who did it?' he asked without taking his eyes off the road.
'A Dornish radical.' Cersei sighed. 'She is a leading member of the Sand Snakes.'
Her father acknowledged her words with a nod.
'She came after you because of what you had said at the debate.' he remarked matter-of-factly.
Cersei didn't want to think of that. The thought of Myrcella lying helplessly in that hospital bed and knowing that it was her fault in any way, broke her heart. She needed to focus on something else if she didn't want to burst out in tears in front of her father.
'Why are you taking me fishing? You have never done it before. You only took Jaime.' she remarked curiously.
Tywin shrugged his shoulders.
'I told you I would take you once you can sit still for an hour. You never could.'
Cersei shot him an angry glance.
'But now that my daughter is in a coma, it seems like I just needed the right motivation to pass your test.' she hissed between her teeth.
Her father didn't seem offended.
'That is not why you are here.' he said casually.
Cersei rolled her eyes. 'Of course not.'
'So what do I do?' Cersei asked after her father parked the car by the lake and gave her a fishing rod.
Tywin took out his own rod and showed her how to cast it into the water. Cersei tried to repeat his movements over and over again until she finally succeeded.
They were sitting there for more than an hour and Cersei was getting bored. She began to write a text to Jaime when her father cleared his throat.
'I took you out here to talk about the presidential race.'
'I figured that much.' Cersei mumbled with a sigh and put her phone down. 'So speak.'
Tywin seemed a bit taken aback by his daughter's attitude, but he didn't let himself to be distracted.
'I understand you must be upset right now, but you shouldn't quit.' he remarked in a firm voice.
'Those murderous Dornish terrorists seem to think otherwise. Their message was very clear.' Cersei hissed angrily.
Her father got up from his chair to adjust his fishing rod, then he stepped closer to his daughter.
'They just handed you this election. It wouldn't be smart to throw away this chance. ' he explained matter-of-factly. 'The attack against Myrcella will get you what you have worked for fifteen years. It will make you President.'
Her father's words made Cersei nauseous. 'Not if my children's life is the price.'
'Being the President is the only way you can protect them. The only way you can get revenge on those who would try to hurt them.' her father replied without thinking.
All of a sudden, her fishing rod started to shake and Cersei had to jump up to grab it before it slipped into the water.
'Your first fish. Not bad.' Tywin gave her a proud look after she pulled it to the shore. 'Now put it out of its misery.'
Cersei didn't listen to him. She couldn't take her eyes off of the dying animal. The sight of the squirming fish, struggling for its life seemed somehow familiar. It reminded her of that terrible day in the car with Joffrey. The way he was fighting for his last breaths as she was holding him in her arms, not able to help him…
'Cersei.' she heard her father's voice.
She shook her head to dismiss the horrible memory and looked away from the fish. It was barely breathing now. Cersei hesitated a bit, then raised her foot and stepped on it. The stiletto heel of her shoe pierced through the fish's cold, disgusting eye, immediately killing the miserable thing.
Her father was right. She didn't want to be helpless and powerless ever again, unable to protect her children.
'Let's get back to the city.' Cersei turned to her father. 'I can't lose another day of campaigning.'
