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lya-dustin · 8 months

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A Coward Kills With a Kiss

Cw: murder, incest, infidelity, trauma, blood, period accurate behaviors regarding marriage, infidelity and lower class people and Aemond being book!Aemond.

Rated M

This isn't done with any hate towards Alys or Alysmond, this is just me exploring the Aemond cheats trope in an dark and angsty way.

The war wasn’t kind to anyone, least of all to her.

Her brother had been murdered by her husband when his resentment and anger led Vhagar to attack Luke, Aemma had learned that no matter how her visions plague her no one fucking listens and worst of all, that you cannot expect people to give you the loyalty you give them in return.

Aemond had promised eternal love to her, wed her despite his mother’s intent to drive them apart and she’d given him a son hoping that blood would be enough to stay the swords that came flying out after his father’s death.

Aemond who was made for her as she was made for him, who loved her since they were small children and wed her with fire and blood so that if they die in the war they reincarnate as lovers in their next lifetime.

But it was not enough.

She was not enough.

Harwin’s bastard sister, Alys, had become his paramour, impregnated her and worse still, he treated her as if he loved her.

That night Aemma wished he’d die in his duel with Daemon as she cried into her pillow.

But he did not die.

Vhagar died from her wounds, but Aemond managed to get himself loose and toss Daemon off him as their dragons fell into the Gods’ Eye.

Silverwing was the last of the castle dragons unless you counted Rhaena’s hatchling, and the egg little Aemon had been given by his father before he was even born.

They marched to Kingslanding expecting a hero’s welcome, thinking she’d be foolish enough to allow him inside with his whore and his bastard in tow.

But he was wrong, everyone who believed her a foolish little girl would be proven wrong.

“Have Prince Aemond allowed inside the city, but not his whore.” Aemma ordered and eschewed Queen Alysanne’s crown in favor of the one Queen Visenya wore.

She had Aegon the Conqueror’s Crown, but it was not meant for her as was the one her mother and grandsire inherited from Jaehaerys.

This was a new dynasty, after all Aemma was born a Velaryon with dark eyes and dark skin of the Merlin King’s daughter, Melusine and the silvery hair of Raemond the Valyrian, the first King of Driftmark.

She was as much a dragon as she was a sea horse, something even her husband forgot.

Aemma supposed they were all long overdue a reminder.

While he has come to love Alys and owes his life to her, the sight of Kingslanding is enough to remind him where his priorities stand.

And when the orders came that Alys be forbidden to enter the city, Aemond didn’t hesitate to obey knowing his true family was the one inside the walls not outside of it.

The witch knew he would never marry her and the babe ---if it’s born at all given her age and history--- would be a bastard sent to the Wall, to the Faith or the Citadel where he wouldn’t be seen nor cause trouble. Alys would be provided for as long as she remembers his place and their affair over.

Aemma could order her death if she pleased as it was her legal right as his wife and queen.

There was no use to Alys now that the war was over and he was king consort, besides he would have many more children with Aemma who would be of the right blood anyways.

It was a cruel fate for Alys, but she was his lover not his wife and she knew how the world works.

The ruins of the Dragonpit loom over as a testament of the war’s cruelty as he rides through with no parade or anything to show who he was.

People had lost their fear of him even after he defeated Daemon because unlike his wife, he no longer had a dragon nor an army. People had lost their respect for him when they learned the rumors of Alys being true.

They sneered at him, pelted him with rotten food and called him every name under the sun.

Even his mother wasn’t spared in the smallfolk’s insults.

But Aemma was adored, seen as the beautiful princess who avenged her mother by killing his brother with her dragon as mother was forced to watch.

Seen as the rightful ruler, as the savior of the realms and their family.

Aemond supposed he deserved some of it, but really, they act as if he was the first man to take a whore during wartime.

No matter, after he swears fealty to his wife ---who will forgive him for sure--- and is instated in his rightful place by her side he will make them all pay for this disrespect.

“I promised you I wouldn’t die, my queen.” The prince cannot help but smile when he sees her on the Throne.

His beautiful wife with thick slivery ringlets and lilac eyes wearing the red and black of House Targaryen.

Aemond almost forgives her for having him presented to her court as Prince Aemond the Kinslayer.

“That was the one promise you kept, husband.” She replied with a steely look in her eyes.

So his infidelity had hurt more than he had assumed it would. Aemond cared deeply for his wife, but he had spent an entire year without her, and he wasn’t made of stone.

Alys had been there to fill in the blank and help him cheat the Stranger if he kept her as his paramour. He came to care for her too, but never as much as he did for the girl he wed twice.

“And for that I intend to apologize for till the end of my days, my love.”

Aemma had always been the one he would love until his last breath and the only person Aemond would grovel at her feet for her forgiveness.

“Shall I prove it to you by swearing my oath to you, my wife and queen?” he asked taking Dark Sister, the sword he had claimed the night he survived the God’s Eye.

His own sword, the one Aemma had her grandsire find in Essos, had been lost in the water along with Vhagar, but Visenya’s Blade was more than adequate to replace it.

“You may.” The queen does not appear to have been moved, her dragon’s blood had shone through and provided the armor that led her to survive all their family.

But underneath the steel lies the soft beating heart of the girl he loved; all he must do was crack its hardened shell.

For all her claims of being strong, Aemma feels herself pathetically weak.

He speaks as if nothing had changed, as if he didn’t break her heart a thousand times even before he took the whore for his lover.

She doesn’t want to forgive him, even if the remaining greens demand he remain her husband and consort as part of their surrender.

There are no feasts, no sign of celebration about his return to her.

They are to have a quiet reunion and he will see the babe on who’s life he had sworn on when he promised her he wouldn’t kill her little brother.

She hates him.

She loved the boy he was but hates the man who stands before her thinking she would forgive him.

It pains Aemma to know their love was never meant to be anything but a tragedy, even as Aemond holds his son in his arms and the sapphire eye cries just as it would if it had been a real one.

Their son sleeps in the cradle they shared as babes, and it is the fact that he looks and even sounds like the boy she wed that has her hand shaking.

It is a wonder his dagger has not fallen from her hands.

“I am sorry for waking him, Aemee, I just couldn’t resist holding him after so long.” He apologized as he had tried to do earlier before she left the room claiming to have a meeting with the new stewards.

But the truth is she left because she cannot forgive him.

His touch revolted her, his mouth had tasted of the blood he spilled and made her spill and the mere idea of having to live with the man who trampled everything she gave him under his foot had made her realize what she had to do.

She was never meant to rule with her true love beside her, she was never meant to be happy, and he was never meant to live while her brothers are dead.

“Kill him!” Luke’s voice hissed in her ears.

“Avenge me and yourself, sister!” the ghost was joined by others who died because Aemond wasn’t man enough to stand against his fucking mother.

She doesn’t know when she raised the knife, Aemma barely registered what she had done when she plunged it into Aemond’s back.

“Aemma, what are you doing?!” He is shocked and bleeding and yet not fast enough to stop her from plunging it a second time as he tries to stop her.

“Aemee, please, this isn’t you!” He tries as the blood comes out of his wounds and yet she manages to stab and slash his torso as he fought her.

He tries not to use force, fearing he might hurt her, and she gives into her hysteria as she takes advantage of his pain and injuries to kill him.

“Aemma, I’m sorry!” he cries out before she dealt the final blow.

Aemma sobs violently and finally lets the knife fall from her hands.

The guards find her cradling his bloody corpse as she cries like she has never done so before. Her baby son echoes her cries as bloody as his parents on the nursery's floor.

The queen only hears the guards send for her grandfather and the maesters as she grieves for herself and Aemond and all they could have been if it hadn’t been for the fucking war.

“I love you, I’m sorry!” she begs the corpse with his face frozen in horror at knowing what she did.

“I killed him, I killed him, I killed him!” she sobs violently as her grandfather tries to pry her off Aemond’s body.

“You didn’t, the whore did, she wanted to kill the three of you because he discarded her as all men do.” The Seasnake takes control as any Hand would do and before evening the nursery is spotlessly clean and Aemond’s body wrapped in linen atop a pyre.

As far as anyone knows, Alys Rivers had snuck into the nursery with her so called magic and murdered the prince consort when she couldn’t kill her.

As far as anyone knows the queen was his loving wife until the end and no one mourns him as much as she does as she pressed her lips to his one last time.

#aemma velaryon #aemond targaryen x velaryon!oc #someone will remember us fic #aemma x aemond #what souls are made of series

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oveliagirlhaditright · 2 years

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You know... I've often been wondering lately if part of the reason for Angelus' name change from Angelus to Angel when he goes from evil to good is partly inspired by the Bible (and I don't think I've ever seen anyone else discuss this. I think the closest I've seen is this really amazing fic I read on fanfiction, that explores the emotional upheaval and whole journey Angelus/Angel went through first ensouled, that was very much Biblically themed, and ended with him realizing that the old must pass away and "another story must begin," to quote Les Mis here; and him then coming up with his new name. But it didn't go as far as to tying in the Biblical name changes).

Because while the creator of the series, Joss Whedon, is atheist and both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series definitely have atheist themes, there are for sure Christianity ties going on with Angel's character. I mean, duh. Look no further than what his name is.

But for those who don't know... a number of times in the Bible, people are renamed (quite a few times something similar to the name that they already had--like Abram becoming Abraham or his wife Sarai being renamed Sarah--not unlike Angelus being altered to Angel). And often times it is after that person has undergone a huge transformation. And the name change is almost as if to truly add to that--as if to say, "you really aren't that person you once were anymore." (I guess I should also note that it's not only in the Bible that this happens, but the Abrahamic faiths in general. But since I think that it's really Christianity that the writers were writing about with Angel's character, that's what I'm focusing on here.)

But evidence that Christianity--or perhaps faith in general--is central to Angel's character, of course: Angel--Liam, actually--as he was known back then, was born in Galway, Ireland in 1727. And the area at the time was largely Catholic, I do believe. And Liam, no differently, was from a very Catholic family. But he couldn't live up to his family's expectations--and was a huge disappointment to them (particularly his father)--as he was lazy, drank a lot, whored, etc. All of this culminated in him meeting Darla one night, who of course turned him. And with the rage he still felt towards his family, he ended up killing them all (his mother, father, and sister. Though this isn't really a surprise in the Buffyverse, as most newly turned vampires end up slaughtering their family members: probably for any grudges they might have against them, and because the family probably won't know you've been changed and you have easy access to them, and thus are easy first kills. I should also probably mention that for anyone reading this who might not know the Buffyverse, all vampires in this series have no souls). But the way he got an invitation into his house, is because his little sister invited him in, thinking he was the angel of her brother returned to them (because they had thought Liam died, as he'd been missing for days). And this is when he comes up with the idea to call himself Angelus. Can you say religious trauma?

Angelus eventually ends up siring someone named Penn--his first childe--who sort of obsesses over Angelus, and becomes a copycat killer of his. Way in the future (in the 2000s), when Angel is calling himself "Angel" and has a soul and is good--and is trying to make amends for all of his past crimes--Penn is in L.A., where Angel is and murdering people the way Angelus used to (because he learned his craft from Angelus and never changed his ways, nor had any desire to). After he brutally kills people, he carves crosses into their cheeks. Kate Lockley, a police detective trying to profile the killer, thinks that the suspect might be a religious fanatic. But Angel says that it's the opposite of that: that this is a mockery of God. This also tells us, of course, what Angelus himself was thinking when he was doing these things himself. And perhaps another reason why he chose the name Angelus.

But despite all of this, despite Liam/Angelus/Angel in whichever incarnation he's in clearly having religious trauma, it's clear that he actually still holds to some Catholic beliefs. It's an interesting case. He definitely believes in God--and in the comics, Xander (finally trying to offer an olive branch to Angel) mentions how therapy has actually helped him out a lot, since he's had repressed anger over the years that he didn't know how to deal with and is now figuring it out, and that Angel should maybe try that; but Angel says that he would rather go to church (not in a sarcastic way, but something that sounded like he actually wanted to do... even though it could potentially hurt him as a vampire, with the crosses there)--and with the soul, he tries to make amends and do what is deemed right there. And he's looking for redemption and forgiveness, however you want to look at that, which could be in a religious sense or perhaps not. (Also, it's definitely hinted at that one of the reasons that he didn't just kill himself after regaining his soul, so he wouldn't have to suffer the torment of dealing with the guilt of all the horrific stuff he'd done for more than a hundred years, was because he believed people who committed suicide went to Hell, and he didn't want to go to Hell.)

But at the same time, Angel will say things like, "I never had much love for preachers," after decking an evil one in the face and coming to Buffy's rescue there. It's very interesting.

Angel's journey and relationship with all of this is interesting.

He himself is very interesting.

Edit: I don't know if I got across the point I'm trying to make here. It's like this: as Angelus, circumstances beforehand had led him to be very anti-religion (and that's putting it lightly) and he showed his hate by it with his name and by mocking God in the way he went about his murders. But then when he got his soul, he was no longer atheist at all. And really, probably never had been. And all of a sudden, it's like, "What have I done? Sweet Jesus, what have I done?" to steal another quote from Jean Valjean's Soliloquy from the Les Mis musical. And he begins drowning. But when he eventually surfaces and realizes he needs to try and aim for accountability and change himself (including his name), he does so in the way the saints themselves did, in how they changed their names: the saints he's probably now trying to be like himself.

Does that make sense? Man, I really hope I managed to get everything across that time, but I'm still not sure.

Edit 2: I suppose I should mention one of the main things that made me think of all this: Saul of Tarsus. He was a Pharisee, who originally persecuted and killed a number of Christians, in thinking that the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was God/the son of God/the messiah was the highest form of blasphemy. Eventually--and I'm just going to pretty much steal exactly how wikipedia writes it here--"at midday, a light brighter than the sun shone around both him and those with him, causing all to fall to the ground, with the risen Christ verbally addressing Paul regarding his persecution. Having been made blind, along with being commanded to enter the city, his sight was restored three days later by Annais of Damascus. After these events, Saul was baptized, beginning immediately to proclaim that Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish messiah and Son of God." A number of people for years have thought that along with Saul's transformation from persecutor of the faith to proclaimer of the faith and becoming one of the apostles, his name changed from "Saul" to "Paul." Though it's also widely believed that this is perhaps a mistranslation. That just in some translations his name is written as "Saul," while in others it's written as "Paul." However, if the writers of the Buffyverse know this story--and they very well could, of course, because it's widely known, even outside of religious circles--I feel like they easily could have based Angel's character off of the apostle some, even if people question if Saul actually had a name change or not. Because there are certainly parallels between Angel and Saul (or Paul. Whatever you want to call him). Religious ones, of course, like I've been saying, since Angel's whole character is quite steeped in religion. And how Saul went from killing Christians to being one and championing them. And Angel went from killing humans to protecting them and wanting to become one again himself.

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