Getting in, blending in, listening in. more show-verse conversations, but can't be helped. Some is the same, some is twisted. All will make sense. Warning for deaths.
No One
No one was quite surprised when she arrived at Kings Landing, it had changed dramatically since the last time she'd been. Most of all the people had changed and she knew the only person she would know was Cersei herself, everyone else was a mystery. Therefore she needed to disguise herself well to get to Cersei, start at the bottom and work her way up. She wanted to know the people around Cersei before she could do what needed to be done. However, she needed to get into the Red Keep first and find the kitchens, always starting from the bottom. And at least she knew to brown the butter for the pies this time.
Making her way through the tunnels underneath the Red Keep, No One was fully aware of the dangers she was in. every scuttle of a rat had her on high alert. When she came close to the torch lit underground dragon skull chambers and heard voices, she practically held her breath, especially when she recognised the voice of the woman, albeit the man's voice was unfamiliar. She climbed to the edge of the tunnel to give her some vision into the chambers, which was blocked slightly by the skull of one of the dragons, she couldn't tell which one, except it was large and definitely not Balerion which was opposite her. The woman was Cersei, although she looked very different from the last time Arya Stark had seen her. Cersei looked older, more haggard. Her long golden hair now cropped short, her gown was now black, resembling armour. Clearly Cersei was portraying herself as a warrior Queen. With her was a small scrawny man who carried a torch, he wore what looked like maesters robes, although No One couldn't see a chain. What she could make out, was the glint of gold on his right shoulder, it looked like it was in the shape of a hand. Whoever this man was, he was the hand of the Queen and a Maester of some sort. She briefly wondered what had happened to the old smelly Pycelle, not that she cared. No One lay flat on the ground and made herself as small as possible while she listened to the conversation the two were having while they walked through the dungeons.
"Have you ever been down here, Your Grace?" the hand asked.
"No, I can't say I have. I haven't seen these since Robert had them removed from the Throne Room." Cersei replied.
"Curious that King Robert did not have them destroyed." the hand mused.
"They were his trophies." Cersei told him. "He couldn't keep them around. They would have made him look small. Sometimes he would come down here and look at them. I believe he brought his whores on occasion."
The hand and Cersei arrive at the end of the dungeon. They were looking at the largest dragon skull in the room, Balerion the Black Dread.
"Balerion the Dread. The beast that Aegon rode across the sea. Its flames forged the Iron Throne and brought the Seven Kingdoms to heel. Powerful, but not invincible." The hand declared, then turned and walked away from the dragon skull.: "Apparently one of Daenerys' dragons was wounded by spears in the fighting pits of Meereen." The hand told her. "If they can be wounded, they can be killed." He walked up to a machine covered by a cloth, which he pulled off, revealing an artillery-sized crossbow aimed at Balerion's skull. "The finest artilleters and blacksmiths in King's Landing have been labouring day and night, Your Grace. If you'd kindly pull that lever." He smiled.
Cersei pulled the lever on the machine and launched a giant bolt directly into Balerion's eye socket. The bolt buried itself deep into the skull and gets stuck. Cersei stood behind the machine smirking. "Perfect Qyburn." She smiled. Make as many as possible. I want that bitch and her dragons dead. What about the Targaryen in the north? Are the reports true that he doesn't have a dragon?"
"From what I can tell he has many supporters but no dragons. His supporters mainly come from Sansa Stark. The Targaryen loyalists are torn between the two factions, although I hear he has no interest in the iron throne. He seems more concerned with threats north of the wall."
"The Dothraki follow strength, is that correct?" Cersei asked.
"They do your grace. " Qyburn replied.
"What would happen if she and her dragons fall?" Cersei looked at him.
"They would likely follow you, your grace." Qyburn said. "But the Lords would not be happy, the Dothraki are known for their rather...savage behaviour."
"Everyone has a price to change their behaviour." Cersei smiled. "Kill the dragon bitch, then we will see what they want. For now I need to concentrate on her, her dragons and her Unsullied. I need to call Jaime back to Kings Landing. Leave the Tully fools, Lord Edmure is an idiot. Once he's proved himself incapable, we'll install one of our own. Maybe a Dothraki Lord might want to fill his shoes. Come, let us get to work."
No One was now in a quandary, Cersei had a point regarding killing the dragons. She agreed with her that Daenerys needed to go, dragons in Westeros, were a recipe for disaster. On the other hand, teaming up with the Dothraki was a terrible idea. They were savages who raped and pillaged the land. No One was going to need to keep a close eye on both Cersei and Qyburn for a while. She needed to watch them and understand more about the political situation in Westeros. Her initial plan to simply kill Cersei and take her face was no longer an option, well not yet. No One would have to wait, for at least Cersei understood the game, as did her hand. Qyburn, the sly little man was called, he was the one person whose face No One could take. He was clever, a Maester of sorts. A man she could not pretend to be for more than a few minutes.
No One made her way back towards the tunnels which came to one of the large pantries, where she watched as the scullery maids and cooks came in and out throughout the day. Every now and again, she would step out for a piece of bread or cheese, before returning to her hiding spot. She waited until nightfall, eventually making her way out while the kitchen was closed, although it would only be for a few hours. She made her way around, getting to know the place, before finding her next spyhole to watch the comings and goings of the kitchen and listen to those within. Her target was someone old and not long left for the world or someone sick, again who would likely not live much longer. A girl must not take a life which is not ready to be taken.
No One watched the entire day, her morning started with observing the people there. Within a few hours, she'd already chosen her victim, an elderly lady who was in charge of peeling vegetables, a job No One was quite capable of. The woman's name was Nellys, she was five and sixty, and originally from Flea Bottom, but her family was all dead, the war of the Five Kings had made sure of that. The woman had a persistent cough, one that No One knew would take her before winter made its presence felt properly in Kings Landing. Also, the old woman only worked mornings because of her illness, therefore Nellys was perfect.
Of course, Nellys wouldn't get her close to the Queen, but she would make sure she knew the gossip from the kitchens. Now No One needed to find one of the guards, one not too close, but one who would work in the throne room. Again No One needed to access Cersei, her advisors and courtiers; and at this early stage of her plan, a guard was what she would need.
No One knew there was a spy hole near the entrance to the throne room. This allowed her to spend five days watching the guards coming and going. She didn't want one of the Queensguard, that would be too obvious and too close. She needed to be far enough away for the Queen to not know her, but close enough to get to see the personalities around her. Eventually she found a guard whose shift pattern was solely to guard the throne room and Qyburn's study. Although this meant she wouldn't be near Cersei, she'd be close enough to her advisor to get some understanding of what the woman had become, because, from the small amounts she'd witnessed, Cersei was a very different being compared to the woman she was when Arya Stark was in Kings Landing.
The guard was an unassuming man called Borys, who was two and forty, with short wavy brown hair, a large crooked nose, which had been broken too many times and an bit of an overbite. No One followed him, keeping to the dark corridors and hidden passages which she'd come to know so well during the last few days. She'd found his room and waited for him there, as the hidden passage which came out near his quarters, turned out to be a shorter route. His room was empty as she made her way inside, creeping inside the closet of his room-mate called Gwyllm. She waited until he stepped inside his room and locked the door. Borys took his helmet off and slowly began to remove his Lannister armour, without the aid of a squire, for he was no knight. Regular soldiers didn't have squires, they learned to remove armour on their own. Once he was in just his tunic and breeches, Borys used the chamberpot and rinsed his face, before climbing into bed and blowing out the candle beside his bed.
No One waited around an hour until Borys was snoring loudly, confirming he was asleep. No One eased out of the closet; silent as a mouse, she crept over to Borys' bed and slit his throat. He never knew it was happening and died quickly enough to not suffer for long. Not that No One cared, after all he was a Lannister guard. No One needed to work quickly, she cleaned the body and removed his face. She dressed herself in his tunic and breeches, she put on his face and checked outside his room that the passageway was clear. Nobody was around, so along with the pillow under her armpit, she pulled his body across the corridor and into the secret passage she'd been using to spy on him. Inside the passage was a spare pillow, the other one was too bloodied and would have quickly aroused suspicion should anyone have found it on his bed. Once she'd finished, No One returned to her room as Borys and fell fast asleep in her new face.
The next day was Borys' day off, so No One cleaned his red and gold Lannister armour, before leaving to go to visit an inn, except he didn't. Instead, his armour was hidden in a small, unused hidden room, just off the corridor near Borys' room. His body had also been moved from the passage to the room. It looked like it had once been a cleaning cupboard, but must have been abandoned as it was damp, however No One cared. Borys and Nellys had been carefully selected due to their shift patterns. She finished her six hour morning shift an hours before he started his twelve hour shift. Borys worked two days guarding the throne room, then one day guarding Qyburn's study, after that he had a day off, mainly to rest, clean his armour and fill out any paperwork required.
Nellys finished her shift in the kitchens and left using her usual route. The staff had their own passages to leave the Red Keep, so as not to be seen by the lords and ladies. Even the staff passages had been built with secret passageways so that they could be spied upon. Maegor may have been cruel, but he loved his secret routes and spyholes. No One waited for the old woman to arrive, wheezing away as she limped down the corridor, her hips were bad, she'd complained about it on many an occasion.
No One was dressed as Borys while hiding in the shadows as the old woman passed her. No One clapped her hand over Nellys mouth and pulled her into the small tunnel. There she removed the face of Borys and wrapped a cord around the woman's neck, pulling tightly. Nellys eyes widened with fear as she watched the face of death take her, yet No One felt anything for her. The old woman was dying a slow painful death, what No One did was a mercy for her. After only a minute or so, the old woman stopped fighting, the life drained out of her and her eyes were glassy. As soon as No One had made sure there was no heartbeat, she quickly went to work, removing the face and placing it into her satchel. No One put Borys' face back on as his physique made it much easier to deal with the body than No One, who, despite her physical fighting strength, wasn't particularly built to be carrying a woman of the same weight and height as herself. Borys lugged the body back to the cupboard and hid it in a potato sack, ready to be dumped into the Blackwater later, along with Borys' real body. When he was done, he visited the mess for some food, a bowl of chicken stew, before preparing to dump the bodies.
The first body he carried through the tunnel was the one belonging to Nellys. The tunnel came out on top of a cliff face, which if you were trying to escape, you'd need to climb down the wet foot holes, with the help of a rope. Even then the climb would be dangerous as it ran diagonal as opposed to straight down. Directly below was the swelling Blackwater Bay, however here, the water was extremely deep and dark. Plenty of scope for disposing of a dead body. Borys amassed some large rocks, and placed them inside the sack and tying them around the neck of the faceless Nellys. The sack was tied back up and unceremoniously pushed over the side of the cliff face, splashing down into the water and disappearing from the world forever. When Borys was happy the body wasn't going to float to the top, he returned to the cupboard and picked up the body of the guard, which was also in a potato sack. This time it was more difficult to carry as the body was far heavier and more cumbersome. Eventually Borys managed to get the body to the cliff without anyone catching him. He repeated the same process, weighing the body down with rocks, before tying the potato sack up and pushing him off the edge of the cliff, into the swell of water below. The sack disappeared, just as the last one did, and like that, they were gone.
The next afternoon, Borys was on guard duty in the throne room. Many of the Lords of the realm were gathered, although to Borys, it still looked empty. He wondered if this was all of what was left of Cersei's support, because if it was, she was fucked! Even Aegon Targaryen seemed to have more support than she did, and nobody even knew who he was.
Although he wasn't supposed to watch, through his helm, Borys stared down at the goings on in the throne room. Cersei was sitting o the Iron Throne. To one side of her was her hand, Qyburn, on the other side was an enormous man who Borys immediately knew to be the Mountain. Behind them stood the rest of the members of her Queensguard.
Cersei was wearing her armoured style dress, even including shoulder pauldrons with a chain across for decoration, her hair cut short, and a silver crown upon her head. She addressed the crowd of Lords in her calm but firm voice. "If the Mad King's daughter takes the Iron Throne, she will destroy the Realm as we know it. Some of you are bannermen of House Tyrell. But House Tyrell is supporting Sansa Stark and Aegon Targaryen in the north, and therefore is also in open rebellion against the Crown. Right now it is unclear as to whether they wish to forge an alliance. Even if they do not..." she warned, "The Mad King's daughter has ferried an army of savages to our shores. Mindless Unsullied soldiers who will destroy your castles and your holdfasts. Dothraki heathens who will burn your villages to the ground, rape and enslave your women, and butcher your children without a second thought." The lords began murmuring amongst themselves. "You all remember the Mad King." she commanded. "You remember the horrors he inflicted upon his people. His daughter is no different. In Essos her brutality is already legendary. She crucified hundreds of noblemen in Slaver's Bay. And when she grew bored of that, she fed them to her dragons." she told them. "Is his grandson any different? Rhaegar Targaryen kidnapped and raped Lyanna Stark. He was a traitor to his father and was the instigator of my late husband's rebellion, where thousands died for the lust of one man. His son has taken up with another Stark girl after breaking his oath to the Night's Watch. He should have been beheaded, not crowned. He is a false King! When he was Lord Commander, he brought wildlings through the wall. No better than the Dothraki savages. He fed the Bolton's to their dogs. Lord Bolton's wife had just given birth and she was fed to the hounds as well as Ramsay Bolton himself." The lords murmured louder as if in agreement. "It is my solemn duty to protect the people, and I will but I need your help, My Lords. We must stand together, all of us, if we hope to stop either of them. But she is our first priority. It will take the northern Targaryen bastard moons to get here as the snows have already arrived in the north. No for now we must concentrate our efforts on Daenerys Targaryen."
one of the Lords who Borys didn't recognise, approached the throne. "She has three full-grown dragons, Your Grace. The same as Aegon when he conquered the Seven Kingdoms. How do you propose to stop them?" he asked as Cersei glanced over to Qyburn.
"We are currently at work on a solution, My Lord." Qyburn replied. "And it is almost ready to be put into production."
"Once we enough of the weapons, we will begin training men to use it." Cersei told them. "This is my solemn promise to you, I will protect you with my weapons if you will fight for me." she looked around. "Will you fight for your rightful Queen." she stood as the Lords in the room all knelt with their swords point down and heads bowed.
"I will your grace." came the collective voices of the Lords. Borys looked towards Cersei and saw the smirk on her face, the one to tell him that this was the same Cersei Lannister that had destroyed Arya Stark's world when her father had been executed on the steps of the Sept of Baelor.