A pit of familiarity fell into Visenya's stomach as she rode into King's Landing. As she rode through the city, her gaze fell upon the small-folk that had entered the streets to try and catch a glimpse at the King and the new Hand. Visenya gazed upon them in sympathy. Most of them looked poor, underfed, and tired. But at the same time, happy, joyous, and dedicated to their King.

Visenya smiled to herself as she took in King's Landing, as it had been years since she'd been there. It was as hot and crowded as she remembered. It smelled just like she remembered. The red and tanned streets. The cities stone work. The liveliness of the markets and vendors. A grand smile came on her face.

She was home again.

That smile however disappeared as she rode through the gates of the Red Keep, when she noticed the Baratheon banners flying by the entrance. Anger and disgust filled her mind as she passed by them, as she knew Targaryen flags should be flying instead. Upon entering the courtyard, Visenya halted Rhaenys, before climbing off of her and giving her to one of the stablehands.

She briefly glanced up at the Red Keep...still as big as she remembered, before turning around to ensure Sansa and Arya had gotten out of their carriage safely, as they hadn't spoken since the inn. Visenya shook her head, as both of them crossed their arms in disgust at each other, before she decided to go into the Red Keep.

She almost hesitated to walk in, due to the fear she had of someone recognizing her. Perhaps her old ladies-in-waiting were still there, though they probably had all grown old or were executed on the orders of Robert Baratheon. She continued to walk down various hallways and corridors until she entered a room that was all too familiar to her.

The throne room.

As soon as she laid her eyes on it, time stopped for her in that moment. Memories began to flood her mind, as she slowly walked toward the Iron Throne. Deep in her mind, she remembered the day her father was murdered. How Lannister, Baratheon, and Stark forces stormed the palace and Maegor's Holdfast, killing everyone but her, as they awaited for Ned Stark to come and do the honors. She remembered watching from one of the upper levels with Rhaenys and Elia Martell, who was holding Aegon, as they watched Jaime Lannister kill Aerys. Even in his dying moments, he said burn them all...and Visenya knew he wanted to destroy the army to protect his family.

At least, that's what she thought, as she didn't know the real reason behind what he was saying.

She could hear the screams in the back of her mind as she watched Elia be raped before being murdered. She remembered hearing Rhaenys's screams as they stabbed her to death, and how they crushed Aegon's skull. She remembered the blood on the floor...the blood on her, as she tried to place Aegon's skull back together, long after he was dead. All of the good memories she once had, were replaced with the pain she felt from that day.

Tears began to well up in her eyes, as she kept her gaze upon the throne. Living here would not be easy...especially with the memories she has in this room.

Knowing the way around the Red Keep already, Visenya easily guided herself to the Hand's Tower, where she, Ned, Sansa, and Arya would be staying while they were in King's Landing. Upon entering the room, Septa Mordane, who had accompanied them from Winterfell, ushered over to her.

"There you are Visenya!" She scolded. "We were wondering where you were."

Visenya nodded. "Sorry. I was...lost in my thoughts."

"Is it just like you remembered?" Sansa asked with a small smile.

Visenya, thinking about the past, got lost in her thoughts briefly. The last time she was here, people died...her family died. Her horrible memories flooded the good ones, and all she remembered was the day she was covered in Aegon's blood.

"I can't say." She quietly replied, as she sat down at the table. "Ask me again in a few days."

As supper progressed, Visenya continued to become lost in her thoughts, as she still could physically hear the screams of her family and their servants being murdered. The only thing that snapped her out of her trance, was Arya constantly stabbing at the table with her knife.

"Enough of that, young Lady." Septa Mordane began. "Eat your food."

"I'm practicing." Arya responded, continuing to stab at the table.

"Practicing for what?" Sansa asked in confusion

"The prince." Arya nonchalantly replied.

Visenya stifled a laugh as she watched Septa Mordane scold Arya.

"Arya stop!" Septa Mordane scolded.

"He's a liar and a coward and he killed my friend." Arya began.

"The Hound killed your friend." Sansa corrected.

Arya rolled her eyes. "The Hound does whatever the Prince tells him to do."

Sansa sighed in annoyance. "You're an idiot."

"You're a liar." Arya began. "And if you told the truth, Mycah would be alive."

"Enough!" Septa Mordane ordered, but slowly turned her head to Visenya who was struggling to hold her laughter in.

Visenya then bursted out laughing hysterically, making Arya smile, and Sansa roll her eyes.

"By the way Arya, what you were doing earlier, I want to do the same to Jaime Lannister." Visenya explained.

"Really?" Arya smiled.

Visenya nodded. "The only difference is that I want to cut his eyes out."

"Visenya!" Septa Mordane scolded. "Enough! All of you! Behave and eat!"

Arya groaned before getting up and walking to her room, just as Ned walked through the door.

"What's happening?" Ned asked in confusion.

"Arya and Visenya are acting like beasts than ladies." Septa Mordane began.

"Lord Stark, if it is alright, may I head to bed early?" Visenya calmly asked, standing up from the table.

Septa Mordane shook her head. "My dear, you have barely eaten."

Ned shrugged her off. "It's alright. Go on."

Visenya gave him a nod, before grabbing a book out of one of her bags, and walking out the door and into her room, just across the living room. Ned then turned back to Septa Mordane.

"She is having a tough time." Ned explained. "The last time she was here...I found her covered in her infant nephew's blood...and the only reason she didn't die, was because Robert was waiting for me to kill her."

Septa Mordane nodded. "She's been very distant since we've gotten here, My Lord."

"Give her time." Ned explained. "We all need to give her space, and time."

"But she should be happy Father!" Sansa began with a smile. "She's home again!"

Ned shook his head. "Visenya didn't want to come back here, as it was traumatic the last time she was here. Respect her boundaries, Sansa. She needs time to herself."

Sansa gave her father a slow nod, still not quite understanding what occurred when Visenya was last in King's Landing. Visenya immediately tried to put herself asleep, but eventually couldn't as she tossed and turned all night, still haunted by the screams she remembered hearing. Frustrated with her insomnia, Visenya decided to do what any person would do in this situation.

Explore.

After putting a green robe on over her nightclothes, she quietly crept into the living room, before descending down the stairs of the Hand's tower, and into the main portion of the Red Keep. She slowly passed members of the Kingsguard who all gave her a nod of respect, none of them questioning why she was awake. It wasn't until she passed the corridor and stairs that led to Maegor's Holdfast that made her stop in her tracks.

She could go up the stairs. She could go into her old room. She remembered exactly where it was. But the risk of her trespassing was too great. What if the King entertained his whores in that room...that is an unbearable sight to witness. Visenya shook her head and continued on.

He probably had the carving she did removed years ago.

Eventually, Visenya found herself in the throne room once again, gazing sadly upon the Iron Throne. When she was younger...perhaps only 2...she remembered her father would sit her on his lap and speak to her. How Rhaegar would hold her in his arms while Court was in session. How her mother would whisper to her to be quiet...those were the pleasant memories. This room use to remind her of all of the power House Targaryen held, and no, all that remained was the pain of how House Targaryen fell, and how she witnessed it in a matter of hours.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Jaime's voice asked from behind her.

Visenya immediately turned around to see him standing a few feet behind her, dressed in his Kingsguard armor.

She gave him a small nod. "Yes...it is."

"Do you know the history behind it?" He asked as he walked closer to her.

Visenya turned back to look at the throne as Jaime walked up to stand next to her.

"It is said that it was constructed by Aegon the Conqueror's dragon Balerion, as his flames were used to melt the swords together to create it." She began quietly. "And each sword is from a Lord of Westeros that bent the knee and sided with The Conqueror. The only kingdom of Westeros that didn't bend the knee was Dorne, but Aegon took his revenge when his sister and wife Rhaenys, and her dragon Meraxes were shot down using a Scorpion. The only weapon able to successfully kill a dragon."

Jaime looked at her in surprise, not expecting her to know the entire history of how the Iron Throne was constructed. Robert was right, she was intelligent.

"The last ruler who sat there." She murmured, but was loud enough for him to hear. "Was called the Mad King...but I wonder if he wasn't actually mad. I wonder if he cared for his family..."

She trailed off, and Jaime looked at her in curiosity. After the interactions he had with her over the last month in traveling to King's Landing, he could now see what Robert saw in her. While she could get rather quiet sometimes, she was very arrogant when it came to certain things. She was similar to him, it almost pained him to admit it.

"The Mad King was a horrible person." Jaime began, and he took notice of how he saw her right eye twitch. "He wanted to kill all of King's Landing."

"How can you be so certain?" Visenya asked in disbelief, turning to look him in the eyes.

"Because he was saying it for hours." He explained. "He was screaming 'Burn them all'. You ever hear of Wildfire?"

Visenya nodded. "Of course."

"The Mad King was obsessed with it. He loved to watch people burn, the way their skin blackened and blistered and melted off their bones. He burned lords he didn't like. He burned Hands who disobeyed him. He burned anyone who was against him." Jaime began. "He did it when his family was away. He did it when Prince Rhaegar was out a Tourney or when Prince Viserys and Queen Rhaella were visiting the people of King's Landing. Princess Visenya was too young to understand."

Visenya frowned, and while she knew she was rather young when her father was alive, she surely would've remembered it if she saw it.

"Before long, half the country was against him. Aerys saw traitors everywhere. So he had his pyromancer place caches of wildfire all over the city- beneath the Sept of Baelor and the slums of Flea Bottom." He continued making Visenya's eyes widen in disbelief. "Under houses, stables, taverns. Even beneath the Red Keep itself."

Visenya continued to feel angered, and a part of her didn't want to believe the words coming out of his mouth, but a part of her did believe him. She might've been young, but perhaps it was her father's carelessness and descent into Madness that destroyed her family.

"Finally, the day of reckoning came. Robert Baratheon marched on the capital after his victory at the Trident. But my father arrived first with the whole Lannister army at his back, promising to defend the city against the rebels." He said with a sigh. "I knew my father better than that. He's never been one to pick the losing side. I told the Mad King as much. I urged him to surrender peacefully. But the king didn't listen to me."

Visenya remained silent, still in shock at what he was telling her. Finally, after all these years, she finally learned the truth.

"He didn't listen to Varys who tried to warn him." Jaime continued. But he did listen to Grand Maester Pycelle, that grey, sunken cunt. 'You can trust the Lannisters,' he said. 'The Lannisters have always been true friends of the crown.'"

Visenya remembered Pycelle, even though she was so young during the sacking of King's Landing, she remembered being uncomfortable around him. Her father however was so taken by him, that he was the only advisor he listened to.

"So we opened the gates and my father sacked the city. Once again, I came to the king, begging him to surrender. He told me to bring him my father's head. Then he turned to his pyromancer. 'Burn them all,' he said. 'Burn them in their homes. Burn them in their beds.'" Jaime said with a sigh.

"So what did you do?" Visenya asked, her voice cracking slightly as she did.

Jaime sighed, as he sat down, on one of the steps below the Iron Throne.

"First, I killed the pyromancer." He explained. "And then when the king turned to flee, I drove my sword into his back. 'Burn them all,' he kept saying. 'Burn them all.' I don't think he expected to die. He- he meant to burn with the rest of us and rise again, reborn as a dragon to turn his enemies to ash. I slit his throat to make sure that didn't happen. That's where Ned Stark found me."

That's what Visenya remembered. She remembered stumbling into the Throne Room to see Jaime driving a sword in her father's back, before slitting his throat, and taking a seat on the Iron Throne, to watch him die out. Now she understood the true meaning.

Her father was insane.

"Why didn't you tell Lord Stark?" Visenya cautiously asked.

"Do you honestly think the Honorable Ned Stark would want to hear my side? I've been guilty to him ever since he laid eyes on me. By what right does the Wolf judge the Lion?" He asked with arrogance.

Visenya didn't respond but kept her eye contact with Jaime, now understanding why he killed her father. She was in slight shock, but in the long run, she's glad she finally knows the truth.

"I'm sorry to tell you all this but you..." He began.

"No." She cut him off. "Thank you, Ser..."

"Jaime." He interupted. "My name is Jaime, that is what you can call me."

Visenya frowned in confusion.

"Enough with the Ser." He explained. "While I know you don't like me very much, we are to be married, and I don't want you calling me Ser every single day."

Visenya rolled her eyes. "Only if you call me Valaria."

He nodded. "Deal."

Visenya gave him a nod, before excusing herself to head back to her chambers, leaving him in deep thought. While he didn't know her true identity, based on her reaction, he knew she had something to do with the Targaryens, and while the right thing to do would be to tell Robert and Cersei...he decided to keep it to himself, not knowing who he could trust, if she was in fact related to the Targaryens.

A/N:

As always, let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.