Under the guise of an early morning, I was sneaking through Winterfell. I really tried to comprehend the whole plan the girls came up with, but the amount of information and countless revisions made me sleepy. I got the bullet points written on the back of my hand, though. So there is that, at least.
I looked at them and read them again.
Give letter.
Send to Pentos.
Win?
First things first, I had to find Jamie. He was locked up somewhere in the cellars, I think. Once I found him, I won't take him with me right away, no, I had to go to the queen, and only then could I set them free.
Thankfully, because it was so early, the soldiers were still half asleep, making dodging them easy.
So after a few careful dodges and one confundus because I accidentally bumped into one when I rounded the corner, I was now standing in the cellars. Jamie stood out among the common soldiers thanks to his blonde hair, and once I saw him and his cell, I could open a portal directly to it.
Finding the queen was even easier because I just had to look for a room guarded by a bunch of soldiers, which I found rather quickly. I put them to sleep with a swish of my wand and opened the door.
"Muffliato." I cast immediately because the woman was awake. I don't know if she woke up or hadn't slept yet, but given her disheveled state, I'd say it was the latter.
"Well, well, well. You're quite fucked aren't you, Queenie?" I said with a chuckle and dispelled the invisibility.
"Y–You! GUARDS! HELP!" She paled further when she saw my face and started shouting.
"W–what?..." Came the sleepy reply of the crown prince, and the other two stirred as well.
"Why yell? Nobody can hear you, you know?"
"Did Robert send you?! Y—you're with him, aren't you?!" She asked, sounding terrified, and her eyes constantly flickered from me to the door.
"Nah. I'm here on my own. I'm setting you all free, Queenie." I said lightly, much to her evident surprise.
"Y–you're the whore that did this to us! W–when I'm done with you, you'll be begging for mercy!" Joffrey shouted, trying to cover his obvious fear with threats of violence.
"I am. What are you going to do about it, huh? Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing you mongrel. Now sit down! " I yelled and silently cast a mild mind-dulling curse on him. Okay… he actually pissed himself. Wow. Maybe I overdid it? Nah, fuck him.
"Queenie… keep your obviously mentally deficient child silent, kay? Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. I'm setting you free. You, your brother, and your children."
"W–why? This is all your fault!" She asked confusedly.
"Maybe, you're right. But I'm also the only reason you and your kids are still alive, you know? Robert wanted to kill you all right away, and I stopped him."
"Your children, even pissboy over there, are innocent, and I'd rather not make them orphans." I continued my explanation.
"Why do all this then? What do you want? Gold? My father has plenty. Power, too." She asked with false bravado.
"I don't need any of that. You have two choices. I can take you all to Pentos, and you can live a comfortable, safe life in Essos, or I can send you to White Harbor, and you go back to Tywin and risk it." I said, opening a portal to Jamie's cell, and dragged him into the room.
"You don't have much time, Queenie. Talk it out, but be quick about it.
"JAMIE!" Cersei yelled with concern and ran to her brother, hugging him tightly.
"C–Cersei? Wha—" Jamie asked, his voice groggy and confused as he clung to his sister.
"You're free, we're all free. She's letting us go." She said, her voice shaky, wavering between disbelief and urgency.
"Letting us go? What's the catch?" Jamie's eyes sharpened as he looked at me with suspicion.
"No catch. I'm giving you two options. Pentos, where you will be safe, free, and could live your life however you want, or go back to Tywin and roll the dice."
"Why would you do this? I remember you from the courtyard. You put us here. Why let us go now?" Jamie demanded, his voice sharp.
"I don't want to make them orphans if I don't have to. Don't you want to be with your children, Jamie Lannister? See them grow up to be happy?"
"Jamie… love, listen to me. We cannot stay. It's too dangerous. Please, for the children…" Cersei pleaded. Maybe there was a human under there after all.
"And if we go to Pentos? What guarantee do we have that we'll be safe from Robert there?" Jamie's eyes softened as he looked at his sister and their children.
"The word of a god should be enough, no?"
"... That actually makes sense. I saw what you did to us… A god, huh?" Jamie said with a humorless chuckle.
"So, what's it going to be? Pentos and peace? Or White Harbor and danger?"
"Pentos. W—we'll go to Pentos." Cersei said firmly, despite her trembling body.
"Good choice. Here, take this. Give this to the Red Priests." I gave her an envelope with a letter from Kinvara and me. That should help them enough.
"What's this?" She asked as she studied the crimson paper.
"Instructions for the Red Priests. They'll guide you to safety and protect you if necessary." I explained.
"Why would they help us, or you for that matter?" Jamie asked skeptically.
"They worship me, and will do anything I say. If you don't believe that, ask them about the orders from their Daughter of Fire, you'll see then." I said with an air of finality and opened a portal directly to my room in the Red Temple.
"Step through, and you'll be in Pentos." I gestured at the portal, and then Cersei and the sleepy children stepped through, leaving Jamie behind.
"Why are you really doing this? Mercy? Some twisted political scheme? What do you get out of this?" Jamie asked and watched me intently.
"Hmm~ Oh, it's a twisted political scheme, alright, but it doesn't involve you. All this? It was the idea of my little dragon. So if you want to thank somebody for sparing your lives, thank her." I said with a giant grin, and as I watched the confusion spread on his face, I pushed Jamie through the portal, making him stumble and fall.
"Bye-bye! I'll come and check on you later, kay?" I waved at them like an idiot and closed the portal before they could form a sentence.
"WOW! I actually managed to follow the plan! Well… mostly… I really didnt think the prince would piss himself…" I congratulated myself and then disappeared from the now-empty room.
—
The first thing Cersei noticed was the fire. She heard the tales of the Red Faith, but that was all they were, nothing but tales.
Before her, or her family had a chance to take in their new surroundings, the doors were pushed open, and a tall, beautiful woman, with fiery red hair, clad in nothing but a thin piece of red fabric, walked through.
"On behalf of the Daughter of Fire, I welcome you all." She gave them a slight bow and a polite smile.
"I am Melisandre, a humble servant of the Daughter of Fire and the Lord of Light." She finished her introduction, and it didn't escape Cersei that she mentioned Emily first.
"The Daughter of Fire… Is she—is she truly a god?" Jamie asked. He saw the great sorcery that brought them here, but even that more matched with what he knew about mythical figures from the Age of Heroes, and none of them were gods.
"That she is, and yet, despite my words and her actions, you do not truly believe. But then again, your belief is not necessary for her." She said with a piercing look and a smile that hid many more secrets.
"Belief is a gift, not a requirement. The Daughter of Fire does not demand worship. Even if you doubt her, her light has guided you to safety." She continued and started walking out of the room.
"Wait. You say that, and yet, you clearly worship her." Jamie called out before she had a chance to step out of the room.
"You would too, Ser Jamie, if you knew what she did." She said enigmatically and continued walking. Leaving confused Lannisters behind, for a few brief seconds, until they quickly followed after her.
"You are all burning with questions, with uncertainty. Worry not, all will be answered in time." Melisandre gave them a once-over when they reached an opulently carved door somewhere in the temple.
"These are your rooms. You are free to stay for as long as you wish to. Should any of you seek answers to your questions, ask any Red Priest, or seek me out." She said, motioning for them to enter.
—
When I returned home, the girls were all awake and patiently waiting for me in our living room. Well, I say living room, but it's honestly just a room, filled to the brim with pillows and blankets of all shapes and sizes, haphazardly thrown all around the floor.
"Job's done." I called out to them with excitement and plopped down next to Pyra.
"Mmm~ How much did you deviate, Emmy?" Dany asked knowingly, and Pyra looked over curiously.
"I didn't!... Well, I cursed Joffrey and he pissed himself, but he deserved it!"
"... and?" Dany motioned for me to continue.
"That's it." I grinned. That's right. I deviated from the plan by not deviating from the plan. Sometimes, my genius frightens even me.
"No. You must have done something else. I refuse to believe that you'd follow the plan." Dany was in denial.
"Hehehe~ I even gave them the letter."
"... Ugh— so all of this is useless?!" She groaned and waved around a stack of papers.
"Dunno, what's that?"
"T–the contingencies? Wait, why are you asking? You were there when we talked about it!"
"Huh? I was?" Now I was confused. I do remember some of the planning, but not this.
"Well… you were there, physically at least. You fell asleep in the middle of it." Pyra said, trying to hold back her laughter.
"B–but you were looking at me the whole time!"
"Yeah, about that… she fell asleep with her eyes open… she does that sometimes."
"You knew, and didn't wake her up?" Dany said with a glare, but she too was fighting the urge to laugh. I saw her mouth twitch.
"I'd rather not overload her cute little brain with too much information." She said, patting my head gently.
"Exactly! But I knew I had to remember something. See? I even wrote down the important bits!" I showed her the back of my hand, with the now slightly smudged writing. Dany squinted her eyes and read it out loud.
"Hahaha~ Three hours of planning, and you reduced it to five words? Only you…" That did them in, the dam broke completely, and all of us descended into laughter.
"Now we just have to wait for the chaos to start unfolding."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last night, I entered what I can only assume was some sort of creative fugue state, because this chapter? I wrote it in less than three hours. I know where to go now. Kinda.
I'm also not making Cersei a total sociopath and narcissist. In my story, she genuinely loves her children and Jamie above all else. She is still a giant bitch, but I want her to have some redeeming qualities.