Hi! I wrote this chapter on the plane while I was getting bored over the Atlantic and I was kind of drunk. The man seating next to me read a bit of what I was writing and called me "cute little psychopath." I'll take that as a compliment!
This is not a very pleasant chapter. Proceed with caution towards the end.
And yeah, the politics in this fic are a bit weird. Whatever. It's Westeros, a made up country! So it can have non-accurate politics that make it possible for me to write what I want to write! Really, what I'm doing is getting inspiration by mixing things that are done differently in different countries. In this fic, the President can choose whomever he wants as Vice President, even if the Vice President is from a different party.
Enjoy! :D
26. Just Keep Swimming.
Joffrey sat in his black leather chair behind his desk in his office, with a cup of wine in hand and lost in his own thoughts. He was looking down at a piece of paper where the speech for his next debate was written; it was a very good speech, he had the best writers and politicians working for him in his campaign, and he wanted to memorize it well before the day of the debate arrived. He liked to be well prepared, and he despised those politicians who only looked away from the paper once or twice because they had no idea of what they were saying. Learning all that was tedious and irritated him, but he didn't have anything else to do anyways. In normal circumstances he would be away in his honeymoon, but the proximity of the elections didn't allow him to do such a thing. He couldn't leave the campaign unattended at that moment, he had to stay in the country. It had been two weeks since his wedding to Sansa happened, but life hadn't changed much for him since then. He was getting bored actually. He hadn't been together with Sansa as husband and wife yet because of the deal that she had made with him and that he had agreed to. It was obvious to him that Sansa wanted to stay as far away from him as possible, even though they now shared a room and a bed. Joffrey couldn't deny that he desired her; his wife was an extremely beautiful woman, and he was a lusty man and wanted her all for himself. It was his right after all, but he had agreed to wait. He had already made her miserable enough by forcing her to marry him, and her misery have him enough satisfaction for the moment. Agreeing to not touching her in those months would give her hope, and he would love to take that away from her as soon as the time she had bought was over. Joffrey was going to enjoy it... He wasn't going to hold back. He had many things to look forward to in those months, but right now the one that really occupied his mind was the elections.
He wanted to be President. He wanted it so bad... Based in the reports he was getting from progress of the campaign, he was doing a very good job. He was confident that he would end up being elected President, and that made him feel good. He knew that, had his uncle still been alive, Renly would have won the elections. That was as clear as water, there was no doubt about it. People loved Renly. Joffrey didn't understand how that could be so. He had never liked his uncle, and he had always been disgusted by his... depravity. Joffrey had liked Renly's plan, though, of making him Vice President to later give him the opportunity of becoming President. But now, with Renly dead, that opportunity was gone. Joffrey was thankful that his uncle's party hadn't presented another candidate, though. The elections had already been too advanced when Renly died, and presenting a new candidate would be pointless.
Joffrey still didn't know who had tried to kill him and failed, killing his uncle instead. He often wondered who had dared to try such a thing and had been able to escape, and he hated to admit that he was afraid that an attempt against his life would happen again. Everything had been okay up until that point, though, so he hoped he was safe.
With Renly out of the way, the only opponent that he had left was Robb Stark. The other opponents from other political parties had been defeated very early in the campaign. Until Robb decided to run for President, Joffrey had been completely sure that he would be the winner... but Robb Stark, damn him, was a very strong opponent. Joffrey feared that because of that idiot, who was just as big an honorable fool as his father had been, was going to defeat him and turn all his ambitions to ashes. Joffrey tried to think positive. Robb Stark was a very strong opponent, but he was indeed a fool, and he wasn't anywhere near as powerful as the Lannisters, whom Joffrey had backing him. However, one could never be extra prudent. Joffrey was going to do whatever was necessary to reach his goals, and he had learned through experience that deals were a good strategy.
He wanted to make a deal with Robb Stark, a deal similar to the one that Renly had made to him. But there was a flaw in his plan, and that flaw had a name: Theon Greyjoy.
He didn't hear the door of his office opening and footsteps coming closer, he was too distracted and immersed in his own thoughts. Only when he heard someone clearing his throat did he finally notice that he wasn't alone anymore. He raised his gaze from the paper on which his speech was written and he found his grandfather standing there.
"Grandfather," he said, and Tywin Lannister say down on one of the black leather armchairs that were placed in front of his grandson's desk. "What are you doing here?"
"I had a meeting with some members of our party and the President," he said. Tywin often had to travel to the capital for meetings, and the current President, Doran Martell (who had been President Robert Baratheon's Secretary of State and ascended to Presidency after the deaths of both him and Vice President Stark,) who was also a moment of that same party, attended all those meetings. "Nothing important. I came because your mother told me that you were being very busy with the campaign lately. Is everything going well?"
Tywin Lannister never cared for the personal well-being of the members of his family. He just cared about the family name and its reputation, and the only thing that worried him was whether if his grandson was going to be the president and bring pride to the family, or lose and bring shame. Joffrey knew it. He didn't particularly like his grandfather very much. He didn't like any member of his family (on both sides) very much, truth be told. But he did have to admit that his grandfather was a smart and wise man with a lot of both political and military experience, and his advice and help were always welcome. Well, almost always.
"Everything is going fine," Joffrey nodded, and he pointed the written speech with his hand. "I was getting ready for the upcoming debate, actually."
"I've been told that Robb Stark has very interesting things to say in that debate. Be careful."
"I will crush him," Joffrey assured his grandfather, who nodded his approval.
"Good. Now tell me, how is the marriage to the Stark girl going?"
"It's going as well as can be expected," Joffrey said, unable to keep the sarcasm in his voice at bay. Tywin remained unamused, his expression blank.
"You have to get that girl pregnant. You need people to see that you two have a good relationship, and you have to give them the image of a perfect family."
"A good relationship?" Joffrey repeated, raising his eyebrows, amused by how ridiculous that sounded. Tywin glared at him.
"People aren't supposed to know that you forced her to marry you and that she hates you. She's doing a brilliant job pretending to be the perfect wife in front of the cameras, and it is your turn to perform."
"Listen, grandfather, I don't want you telling me when I'm supposed to fuck my wife."
"I wouldn't have to tell you of you did it," Tywin muttered, but he decided to put tat topic aside for the time being. He knew that Joffrey wouldn't listen to him, and besides, something else had caught his attention. Joffrey's gaze was lost in the void, while his mind was again lost in his own thoughts, and Tywin frowned when he saw that. He had seen that expression few times on his grandson's face, but all those few times had something in common: Joffrey had done something bad. Not something bad that was tormenting his mind, but something that was actually making him think really hard about it. Or maybe he hadn't done it yet, and he was plan in on doing it.
"I know that face," he said.
"What face?" Joffrey asked.
"That face," Tywin answered, looking at him. He saw the small grin appearing on Joffrey's face when the young man realized that he had been discovered and he frowned even more. He just hoped that whatever Joffrey had done that time wasn't something stupid, like that whole affair with Ned Stark. Joffrey had had the exact same expression on him when he told Tywin about the murder of the Vice President. "What have you done?"
"Nothing. Not yet..."
"Should I be worried?"
"You are always worried," Joffrey retorted, and Tywin scoffed. "No, you shouldn't be worried."
"May I ask what it is about?"
"You may. I'm going to offer the same deal to Robb Stark that uncle Renly offered me months ago."
"Are you out of your mind?" Tywin immediately asked. Joffrey had known that his grandfather would react like that, and it made him smile a little bit. Anyone would think the same thing, that he was crazy. He, however, thought it was the best idea he could have had.
"It assures my victory," he said, shrugging, trying to act as calmly as possible. "If my luck is bad and that idiot Stark manages to defeat me in the campaign, I will still be in power. I will be Vice President. He will agree for the same reasons, I will choose him if I win. I don't really want to do it, but it's the only option I've got of I want him to agree."
"This is madness," Tywin muttered. "He won't want you as Vice President any more than you want him."
"Stark is an idiot, and he's honorable, and he's driven by family. I'm his family now," Joffrey said with a mocking smile while the tapped the surface of his mahogany desk repeatedly with a pen. He thought it was strange, finally being related to the Starks. He made everything and everyone so much easier to manipulate... "I'm his brother-in-law, and he's dumb enough to actually believe that his sister and I love each other. All I have to do is tell Sansa to give her brother a little push, and he will do anything she asks. He is predictable."
"Robb Stark is smarter than that. His father, on the other hand, would have agreed. He agreed to be your father's Vice President just because his family talked him into it."
"Robb Stark is smarter than his father, but not that much... And the possibility to have power as Vice President will seduce him more than the possibility of being left with nothing. I want to be Vice President to somehow crawl my way up to Presidency. He will do the same."
"Even if you are right, what you want is impossible. Robb Stark already has chosen who will be his Vice President, and nothing will change his mind. Theon Greyjoy is his most trusted friend, they are practically brothers. They have been together since childhood, and Stark won't cast him aside for you. He doesn't even like you."
"Which is why Theon is the enemy..." Joffrey murmured. He kept tapping the surface of the desk with the pen, only that he was doing it slowly now, at a steady tempo that was similar to the slow beating of a weak heart. Joffrey stared at the point on the desk's surface where the pen kept hitting the wood, and a grin spread yet again over his face and twisted his features in a cold, sadistic way. "You always told me that we had to get rid of our enemies..."
"So that is it, then?" Tywim asked, finally realizing what had been hiding behind Joffrey's expression when he first entered the office. Joffrey meant to really offer that deal to Robb, and he wanted Robb to accept it. He needed Theon Greyjoy out of the way for that, and Joffrey had a very permanent way of dealing with people that bothered him. Tywin had seen that with Ned Stark. Stark's murder had been a mistake, a terrible mistake, but Joffrey had handled it well and they had nothing to worry about anymore. But now Joffrey meant to do something similar again, and Tywin felt worried. What Joffrey planned was highly dangerous, and they were risking being caught by the police and facing severe consequences.
"What have you done?" Tywin asked.
"You know what I have done," Joffrey replied.
"Has it already happened?"
Joffrey shook his head slowly from side to side, and Tywin sighed and looked away from his grandson, setting his gaze on the wall while he tried to think. He was doing so when Joffrey spoke again:
"They are waiting for my phone call. It will be done as soon as they get my approval."
"Why haven't you given it yet?" Tywin asked, wondering what was stopping his grandson from going on with his plans. Joffrey never lingered in doing something when he decided to do it, but it seemed as if the young Governor was waiting for some kind of approval. "Is there any chance that they might link you to... whatever it is that you are going to do this time?"
Joffrey shook his head. It was impossible that he would be linked to what he planned to do, they would be no way of doing so. Tywin sighed, thinking. He had never given a damn about people using dirty tricks to win and get what they wanted. He had done it many times, he had taught his children to do it, and he had seen many people doing it... A little bit of spilled blood... It was nothing to him. He couldn't care less. It was the reputation of them all what worried him in case Joffrey's name did reach the surface after some scandal like that. He was worried about the consequences that everything would have for them, he didn't really care if a life or several had been lost.
"Can the people that are waiting for the call be trusted?"
"Yes."
"And Theon Greyjoy will be gone forever?"
"He will."
"I do hope it's more discreet than the whole affair with Ned Stark was."
"It will not be discreet," Joffrey warned Tywin, but before the Governor of the Weaternlands could get alarmed by imagining something out of proportion, he explained more. "But it won't be the same, I promise."
"You are going to do it anyways," Tywin said. "You might as well go on with your plan... Whatever it is. Get rid of Theon Greyjoy."
"I won't be getting rid of him," Joffrey murmured, grinning diabolically. "Greyjoy is an islander... He likes to go for a swim at the beach early in the morning whenever he can. He finds a solitary quiet little beach where no one will bother him, and then he jumps into the water, everyone knows it."
After saying that, Joffrey let his own fall. He looked at it in silence for a couple of seconds before lifting his green gaze to look at his grandfather, who was waiting for him to keep talking, listening patiently to everything. He suddenly demonstrated to have much more interest in his grandson's crazy idea, and he thought that maybe it was as crazy as he had originally thought. Tywin hadn't still heard the rest of Joffrey's plan for Theon Greyjoy, but he knew that his grandson had a sick mind with cruel ideas, and he knew that Greyjoy's fate was going to be equally dark and cruel. Based on that, and the information that Joffrey as providing, Tywin could guess what Joffrey was planning.
"The Greyjoys identify with the kraken, the mythical sea monster..." Joffrey said slowly, and then he chuckled, like a little boy that had just been told that he was given permission to torture all the bugs that he wanted. For him, Theon was the bug, and he was going to pluck each and every one of its wings and he was going to watch it get destroyed and he was going to enjoy it. "I'm just sending him to meet a different kind of monster."
Everything had been normal that day. The sky was a little gray, but that was usual in the Iron Islands even though they were in the Northern hemisphere, and it was late Spring there. The weather wasn't kind in those islands, and that was usually reflected in the ill-temper of the islanders. Theon had returned to the Iron Islands to visit his family for a few days before he had to travel to the capital again. He was tired of having to travel to that place, but that was what happened when you were trying to be Vice President... The last time he had been there he had enjoyed it, though. It had been for Sansa's wedding, and even though he despised the prick that she had married, she was like a sister to him and he wanted her to be happy. The good thing about going back to the capital would be that he could see her again.
He had gone to the beach for his usual morning swim. He drive to his favorite beach, a rocky and solitary one away from the city, Pyke. That beach was a place where he could be alone and not worry about anything or anyone, and he loved to clear his mind in the cold salty water of the sea. When he arrived he parked his car, left his wallet, keys and phone inside, and he took his clothes off, leaving himself with only a pair of dark bathing trunks before walking towards the water.
Up until that moment, everything had been normal... Then someone had approached him from behind, someone that he hadn't seen coming, and that someone hit him hard in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. He had regained consciousness a few moments later, but his vision was blurry and his head felt heavy; he was very dizzy. He wasn't in the beach anymore. The bumpy movement and the splashes of water that hit him in the face and the strong wind made him realize that he was on a boat.
What the fuck am I doing here? he exclaimed in his mind, but he didn't ask out loud.
He heard make voices that belonged to the people that were taking him away from the beach. He couldn't focus on what they were saying because his head still hurt and he felt very confused. He groaned and put his hand on the back of his head, and he felt his hair damp and warm and sticky there. When he looked at him hand he discovered that his palm was bloody.
"What are you doing...?" he managed to ask, turning his head to look around the small boat. There were three men there, but he didn't recognize any of them. They heard him, but they ignored him.
When they were far away from the shore but still within swimming distance of it, one of the men (who was very tall and thin, and had a face similar to that of a rat's and a huge nose,) ordered the other men to stop the boat there, and so they did.
"What are you doing?!" Theon asked again, louder than before. Again he was ignored, but the rat-like man talked to the other two.
"Hold him," he said, gesturing towards Theon with a movement of his head, and the two men went to grab him.
He tried to resist, but he was outnumbered and he was still dizzy from the hit he had received on the back of the head. He shouted for help, but no one would hear him from there. The two men grabbed him so that he couldn't move, and the rat-like man approached him with a knife. Theon panicked when he saw the blade and he tried to get away, but he couldn't.
"Don't you know who I am?!" he shouted desperately. "I am Theon Greyjoy! I am-!"
"We know very well who you are," the man grunted, sounding bored. He wanted to get all that over with quickly so that he could get out of there as fast as possible. "This is nothing personal."
Right after saying that, the man made four quick movement of his arm and the knife sliced four long and deep gashes on Theon's limbs. The gashes immediately started spilling blood, and Theon howled in pain. The rat-like man picked up a cloth and put it over the wound in one of Theon's thighs. The cloth immediately became soaked in red blood, and then the man took the cloth away and squeezed it over the water of the sea, letting the blood fall to the water and dye it red. He repeated the process several times, until several feet of water at the side of the boat were completely red. Theon sobbed, still in pain, and watched the man taking his blood and dropping it to the water without understanding what all that was about.
These men are crazy, he thought. It was the only logical explanation. Why else would they take him there, so far away from the beach, only to cut him and throw his blood to the sea?
The man's hands were completely soaked with Theon's blood, but he didn't seem to mind. Truth be told, he looked like the kind of man whose hands had been dripping blood several times. His dark eyes were expressionless, they were the kind of eyes of a man who did not care anymore about anything and just did things that needed to be done. His expression was blank, and at the same time it was dark and scared Theon. He wanted to get out of there.
"Please..." he begged.
The rat-like man stopped soaking the cloth with Theon's blood, but the wounds were still bleeding. There was a large pool of blood on the bottom of the boat, but none of the men seemed to mind. The rat-like man noticed the red pool and washed the blood with the bloody cloth, and then he squeezed it again over the water, letting the blood fall on the already dark red water. Then he waited.
"Please..." Theon begged again. He felt weak, and his vision was blurrier than before. "What do you want...?"
"As I said, it's nothing personal," the man said. There was no emotion on his voice. He simply did not care. "We are getting good money for this. We didn't choose the method, he did. Blame him of you want."
"Him...?" Theon mumbled, still not understanding.
Before he could get an answer, something hit the bottom of the boat, making it move violently all of a sudden. The other men held on to the boat to not fall to the water, and Theon gasped.
"What was that?!"
"It's time," the rat-like man said then. He was looking at so etching that was in the water, but Theon could not see of from where he was sitting. "Drop him," he commanded the two men that were holding Theon.
"What? No! No!" he shouted, but it was of no use. The men lifted him to his feet and pushed him.
He fell head first in the cold water. The contact of his open wounds with the cold, salty water made him cry out in pain, and water got inside his mouth. He could taste his own blood in the water that he accidentally swallowed.
"Wait!" he yelled when he saw that the men were leaving on the boat, leaving him behind and alone there, so far away from the beach. "You can't leave me here! Please!"
"If you want to save yourself, Theon Greyjoy, just keep swimming!" the rat-like man shouted to him from the distance, and he could hear the other two laughing. The boat disappeared going to the East, in direction of the mainland, and Theon watched as they disappeared in the horizon until he couldn't see them anymore. He was left there alone, in pain, floating in his own blood.
Just keep swimming, he repeated in his mind the words that the man had told him. Just keep swimming...
He looked towards the beach on the distance. It was far away, but in normal circumstances he would have no problem at all to swim all the way towards there. He had probably swam that distance many times before, but at that moment he couldn't. He was too weak, too hurt. The water wasn't helping with his wounds. He felt dizzier and dizzier as time passed, and the pain in his limbs was being replaced by numbness.
No, I have to swim, he thought to himself. Just keep swimming...
"Just keep swimming," he said between gritted teeth as he forced himself to move his arms and kick his legs on the water so that he would move forwards and stay afloat at the same time. He almost screamed, but he bit his tongue to stop himself from doing so. He clenched his jaw when the cold temperature of the water made him shiver. "Just keep swimming..."
It was easier said than done. He had always been an excellent swimmer, but the deep gashes in his arms and legs made it extremely painful to move, and the cold and salt water wasn't helping the least bit. He was also afraid that the wound in his head, which was still bleeding, would make him pass out and drown. Even without the wound on the head his situation would be pretty messed up. He was losing a lot of blood from everywhere in his body, and he didn't know if he would make it to the beach in time. Even if he did what was he going to do? There wasn't anyone anywhere around to help him, he was alone. That was what he used to love most about that beach; it was the most solitary beach in the entire island. Now he hated it for it with all his soul! He couldn't walk to the city, it was too far for him. He was going to die.
Don't think about that! he scolded himself. It's just a little more, I can do it.
The sound of a splash in the water behind him made him freeze. He turned around in the water and became still while he kept floating on the water as he searched for the source of that sound, but e saw nothing other than the red trail that his blood had left on the water behind him.
It was nothing, he tried to convince himself. Just keep swimming. And don't stop.
He resumed swimming towards the beach. It was a bit closer now. Everything was silent for a few seconds. He felt weak, he felt desperate, he felt cold, and he felt afraid. Specially afraid. Then he heard the splash again, right behind him. He looked again and he saw nothing, but he was becoming very afraid. Very, very, very afraid... He was still very far from the beach, and all that blood...
Don't think about it! he commanded himself as he swam with all his strength. Just keep swimming. Swim. Swim!
And swim he did...
...Until he saw it.
His eyes became wide as plates, filled with the worst and most extreme horror he had ever felt in his entire life as he saw the silver fin breaking into the surface of the sea. It swam around him, surrounding him like the predators did to their prey... Theon was its prey. And it was so close...
No, please, no... he begged, and he whimpered, terrified, when he realized the terrible danger he was in. He couldn't escape from them, not in his condition...
Sharks.
He felt the cold and smooth feeling of something swimming next to him and grazing his leg underwater, something big. He could not see it because of the dark blood that mixed with the water, but he did feel it, and he sobbed loudly. The creature swam away from him, and Theon started swimming as fast and as hard as he could. He forgot about the wound in his head and the gashes in his limbs, and he forgot also about the blood around him and about how worried he was about not finding any help when he got to the beach. He didn't care about that, he just wanted to get out of the water immediately. He forgot about the extreme cold that seemed to bury itself deep in his bones, none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered to him was getting out of there, away from those sharks that had been summoned there by the scent of his blood that dyed the oven red. Now it all made sense.
"If you want to live, Theon Greyjoy, just keep swimming," he heard the voice of the man that had cut him and thrown him to the water say in his head. "It's nothing personal..."
Theon tried to swim. He didn't want to die. Not there, not like that.
"Help!" he yelled at the too of his lungs, taking strength from he didn't know where. "Help!"
He looked at the beach and he though he saw something arriving there and running to the shore. He wasn't sure. Maybe he was hallucinating. Maybe not. Maybe there was hope after all, maybe he could be saved...
"HELP!" he yelled again, louder that time. His voice almost broke because of the fear and the exhaustion that he was feeling. It was too much...
He saw the fin of one of the sharks appearing in the surface again a few feet away in front of him. The shark started stemming slowly towards him, and Theon wanted to turn around and get as far away from the creature as possible, but if he did that he would be returning to the ocean. He would be lost then. Besides, there was another shark wandering around there. Where was the second shark...?
He felt it then. Sharp fangs buried themselves into the flesh of his wounded leg, tearing his flesh, dragging him down. The last thing Theon did was scream before he disappeared underwater, as did the fin of the shark that had been stalking him.
The water turned an even deeper red.