Two Lions
Prologue
He was home again.
How long had it been since he had last laid eyes on Casterly Rock? It felt like decades, even though he knew that was not true. He had been a different man then.
He may have been stunted and twisted and despised but he was still a Lannister then, still had a right to walk it's halls and feel safe within the enormity of the Rock even if the sight of him caused his lord father and sweet sister to act like a dung beetle had tried to be better than what it was, a disgusting creature.
This was not how he imagined finally coming home, in his dreams he came home at the head of an army with the queen he had sworn to serve above them all on dragonback, in his dreams they cracked the Rock open and burned to ashes anyone who dared to stand against him, in his dreams he whipped his brother's back to bloody ruins before condemning him to the same fate that he had condemned Tyrion's loyal wife too.
And in the sweetest of his dreams he raped his sister a hundred times before strangling the life from her.
In none of his dreams did he return to the Rock in chains.
He supposed that things had been going too well for him, the gods could not have that could they? He had finally gotten Daenerys to listen to him, instead of Barristan Selmy who was so honourable even his shit must be white, to bring fire and blood to the people of King's Landing.
What choice did she have in truth? The people of the city would never love her, never accept her, not when they had already accepted her nephew as king instead, not when he had been the one who had taken the throne from Cersei and her bastards, not when they had watched him be crowned and anointed by the High Septon and not when he had brought them food and plenty.
No, she could never have their love but she could have their fear.
Selmy had tried to talk her out of it but his advice had lead her into one blunder after another and so it was fire and blood that would be Daenerys Targaryen's choice then as she flew to King's Landing on dragonback.
Deep down Tyrion knew that Daenerys would never burn the city down intentionally, despite all his hopes, so when the first like of Drogon's flame had ignited a cache of wildfire Tyrion truly thought that the gods were smiling on him.
All of them were burning now, Aegon true or false and his Martell bride, Jon Connington, the high septon and his soldiers, everyone who had ever laughed at Tyrion, everyone who had forgotten that he had been the one who had saved them from Stannis.
They had all burned, twisting in the green flames.
He only wished that Cersei had not quit the city when Aegon's army was on the horizon, the thought of her burning was such a sweet one.
Daenerys had been horrified, she had a soft heart but Tyrion had not cared even a single whit the night when they had returned to Dragonstone. He had won.
It was when he was drinking that night alone in his chambers that he felt something hard hit him on the back of his head, and when he woke he was in chains in the hull of a ship on his way back to the Rock.
Was it possible that his sister had a catspaw within the halls of Dragonstone, waiting for an opportunity to abducted him? Of course but this plot did not have her stench to it, no in his gut this felt like Selmy, taking a chance to get rid of him at long last before Tyrion could lead his perfect Targaryen queen further down the path of fire and blood.
He could not be sure of it, but if he was right then he would need to make sure to pay old Ser Barristan back for this treason a thousand times and more.
A Lannister paid his debts.
His captors were Ironborn, that was clear enough and Tyrion made certain to remember all of their faces when they hit him, when they spat on him, when they mocked him and laughed at him.
Oh yes, he would remember.
He had heard that his sister had wed one of Balon Greyjoy's brothers, the new king of the Iron Islands apparently and oh he would have given half the gold in all the Rock to see the look on Jaime's face when he had heard that, it seemed even his sister knew that she needed allies if she had any hope of surviving.
He could almost see her now, sitting in her father's high chair within the great hall, dressed in crimson and gold and smirking down at him as her green eyes glowed even more brightly than the wildfire that had consumed King's Landing.
Tyrion would carve those eyes out before this was done, he swore it so.
The ship came to dock within the Rock itself, he was marched through the harbour and forced to walk up and up and up again so that his legs felt like they were on fire by the time they finally reached the great hall.
Someone was sitting in his father's chair, but it was not his sister.
It was her husband.
Suddenly, it was like a nest of eels had been unleashed within his stomach and for the first time in a long time he felt something else instead of the rage that had been bubbling deep within him.
Fear.
Cersei would never let anyone else sit there, by law she's the lady of the Rock since Jaime is still a kingsguard and I'm a kinslayer and wanted criminal, she was always angry she was passed over because of her sex so if she ever had the Rock she would never let it go, something's happened to her.
He was not worried for his sister of course, but he knew little and less about this Euron Greyjoy and what he planned to do with him
"Brother," the king of the Iron Islands spoke with a sweet smile that made Tyrion wanted to claw of his skin as his one eye looked straight into him, stretching out like a cat as he rose from the chair. "I am so glad that we finally get this chance to meet, I've heard a great many things about you from my loving lady wife."
"Well my sister does like to talk, I imagine she's driving you mad." Already mad by most accounts, the man cut out the tongues of the men who crewed his ship and that was the least of his evils by most accounts. "My condolences, I would not wed her for the Iron Throne itself and a dozen dragons."
Greyjoy laughed then, Tyrion didn't think he had ever heard a more horrible sound in his entire life. "Siblings can be difficult, it's why I killed most of mine. I suppose I should defend my lady's honour but she is more than capable of defending herself when it comes to that, so I'll let her. Take him."
With that Tyrion was dragged out of the hall and marched down, down and down again until they reached the very bowls of the Rock where even in the height of summer it was freezing and now it was even more so and the darkness that surrounded him was so complete that even the few lit torches seemed to be lessened by it.
They came to the cells and when the door was open Tyrion saw her at once, chained to the wall and dressed in rags, her golden mane now just curls that brushed the bottom of her neck and when she looked up she saw him and her eyes...
Oh, they hated.
Tyrion was chained to the wall opposite his sister and before the guards left they lit a single torch before leaving them alone.
Tyrion lunged, so did his sister.
What a pity the chains were too short.
End of Prologue
This idea buried itself in my head and would not get out no matter what I did, it needed to be posted.
So a couple of things, this story is written with my idea of how I think Winds of Winter will turn out so Barristan survives to come to Westeros and is the angel on Dany's shoulder while Tyrion is the devil, Aegon and Arianne take King's Landing while Cersei flees back to Casterly Rock and a few other things that I don't want to talk about right now.
Also a reminder that this is book Tyrion, guy is a monster.
Yeah, this is not going to have a happy ending but the journey might have a few bittersweet moments,
Oh, and I have one more idea for a new story which I am going to publish next and then I'm going to work on updating them all.
With warmest regards,
DiscordantSymphony
