A/N: Tywin Lannister has regrets.
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Tywin Lannister had many regrets, more than he would ever dare to let anyone know.
He stands now atop Casterly Rock's highest point, staring out at the fleet of ships represented by pinpricks in the distance. Those are the last of the Royal and Redwyne Fleets, both armadas making the journey South to either return to the Arbor or continue onward all the way around Westeros to King's Landing.
With their departure from the Iron Islands, the war between the Seven Kingdoms and Euron Greyjoy is officially over. And the greatest loser, by far… has to be the Westerlands. Tywin's jaw clenches at the thought, his hands clutching at the stone railing in front of him.
Sure, the Ironborn had lost the war, failing in their latest bid to become independent from the Iron Throne yet again. And sure, most of their Houses were lordless, their numbers completely decimated by the naval battles and the subsequent fight at Castle Pyke. This left the rather numerous former thralls at an even more overwhelming advantage than they would have had before.
But even if all of that was true, even if the Iron Islands were now ruled by a woman of all things… Tywin still felt that it was his lands and his House that had come out the worst from this whole mess. Kevan gone, Lannisport in ruins, the Lannister Fleet destroyed yet again… and what exactly did they have to show for it? His demonic, stunted dwarf of a son made Master of Coin for the price of almost a million golden dragons.
… Yes, Tywin Lannister had many regrets… but his greatest regret of all was most certainly allowing the shock and surprise of Robert, Joffrey, and Tommen's deaths to get the better of him all that time ago. If only he'd moved more quickly. If only he'd acted the moment information arrived from King's Landing. If he'd been exceptionally swift, Tywin could have even been in the city before Jon Arryn even got back with Axel Baratheon.
Of course, if he'd known what Axel was truly capable of, he would have done everything in his power to ingratiate himself with the young man, no matter his origins, no matter the fact that his ascension was all but spitting in the face of Tywin's family and all the plans he'd ever made.
Hells, maybe if he'd played his cards right, he could have countered Cersei's insane plans, helped Axel come into his own, and even wound up replacing Jon Arryn as Hand of the King when the Small Council went up in flames.
And even after he'd missed that first opportunity, Tywin still could have moved faster when Renly Baratheon made his treasonous intentions clear. At the time, holding back and seeing how everything panned out had seemed like the smart thing to do. Why spend the strength of his lands against the combined armies of the Reach and the Stormlands for the sake of a Baratheon Bastard who had taken everything from him, after all?
Of course, knowing what he knew now… Tywin would have gladly spent the lives of his smallfolk to earn good will with Axel Baratheon. The bastard had turned out to be no bastard at all. He'd turned out to be something else entirely. Unfortunately an unknowing Tywin had earned his House the King's enmity through his actions.
To be fair, none of it made sense. Even now, Tywin couldn't begin to explain how Axel could do the things he could do. Surviving a gauntlet of poisons, up to and including the Strangler? Freakish, but perhaps not the most freakish thing Tywin had ever heard of.
Surviving what multiple witnesses swore should have been a fatal blow in that Trial by the Seven? Again, it wasn't outside of the realm of possibilities, even if Pycelle had been both baffled and irate that he wasn't even allowed to examine and administer aid to the King's wound.
Now, surviving the wildfire explosion was where things had begun to get… unbelievable. Burning for seven days and seven nights while kneeling before the statue of the Father in the Great Sept of Baelor had sounded particularly farcical to Tywin when he'd first heard about it.
And yet, that had been followed by rumors that Axel Baratheon somehow traveled to the Eyrie, administered justice to Petyr Baelish and Lysa Arryn, and then was back in King's Landing within three days max. That had sounded distinctly odd as well, but Tywin assumed it was some mummer's trick, a body double of sorts. In fact, using mummer's tricks and body doubles could have explained the wildfire too.
… It could not explain everything Tywin had heard about the battles against the Ironborn, however. When the first ships carrying Lannister Men had arrived back at the Ruins of Lannisport after the subjugation of the Ironborn, Tywin had spent an entire day interviewing sailors and knights from the Westerlands, getting their stories from them and writing down his own observations.
By the time he was done, there was simply no denying it. No mummer's tricks could possibly explain it away. Especially not when everyone told the same exact story. Not only had Axel leapt from his flagship into the water to do battle with Euron's Kraken directly, but he'd also then gone on to kill the damn thing… and reveal he had the ability to FLY to boot!
That… Tywin had to admit, that news just about broke him. Axel Baratheon had turned out to be no man, but a monster instead. Even a demon perhaps… except by this point it was too late to possibly try and tar him with that brush. Jon Arryn must have known. He must have counseled the young King to hide his true abilities and build his relationship with the Faith of the Seven for as long as possible.
Then… when Jon had died, Axel had stopped holding back. And yet, it didn't matter anymore because by then, the Faith was on his side. And they would always be on his side, no matter what. As far as the High Septon and Most Devout were concerned, he wasn't a demon or a monster, he wasn't some sort of sorcerer or witch practicing magic. No, he was 'Blessed by the Seven'. He was the 'Avatar of the Warrior'.
What he really was… was dangerous. That was what it truly boiled down to in the end. Axel had singlehandedly killed the same Kraken that had sunk the Lannister Fleet and destroyed all of Lannisport. And he could fly under his power without the aid of dragons or even wings. Meaning that he could be anywhere in the Seven Kingdoms, likely within a day.
Meanwhile, House Lannister had never been weaker. And… there was nothing Tywin could do about it. Forgiving the Crown's remaining debt in order to get Tyrion onto the Small Council was the most that he could get away with at this point. Aside from that small amount of influence and the hope that Tyrion would not disgrace himself or the name Lannister anymore than he already did by existing… all Tywin could do was turn his gaze closer to home.
Lannisport had to be rebuilt. The Westerlands would come together and gold would flow from the mines into the pockets of many men to make that happen. At the same time, House Lannister had to be rebuilt as well. Fortunately, his otherwise useless daughter was pregnant. So long as she had a son, then that would be Tywin's heir. Otherwise, it would have to be Kevan's son Lancel of all people… and Tywin would rather that not wind up being necessary.
… Thinking of his daughter causes Tywin's lips to thin out. Cersei had been downright hysterical when she'd been brought back to Casterly Rock. Losing Myrcella had been too much for her and her mind had cracked, or so Tywin had thought. Thankfully, the Maester had been able to help calm her down these past several months with remedies from his stores.
Now though… now Tywin found himself going over some of the things she'd said to him in the moments where he thought her mind was truly lost. He'd never believed her for a second on any of it, of course. But now? Now he was forced to acknowledge that she'd probably been telling the truth when she claimed the steel dagger shattered against Axel's flesh that day in King's Landing.
After all, if the man could singlehandedly survive the tentacles of a Kraken capable of destroying stone walls thousands of years old, he could probably survive a single blade wielded by a woman of Cersei's age and lacking physical strength. He could likely survive a lot more than that, even…
But then, if she'd been speaking the truth when he thought she was being hysterical about that, then that called into question whether she'd been telling the truth about the rest of it as well. Such as bedding the young King multiple times… as well as what she'd screamed at him in regard to the true parentage of all three of her children.
… No. No, Tywin refused to believe that last one. Cersei had only been trying to say the vilest things possible in an attempt to hurt him. It really was good that the Maester had been able to calm her down.
And besides, even if she had been telling the truth about sleeping with Axel Baratheon before she tried to kill him, it wasn't like anything came of it… unfortunately. That might turn out to be Tywin's greatest regret of all, in the long run.
If only Cersei had been knocked up by Axel Baratheon… well, to be fair, it wasn't as though they knew for a fact yet whether whatever powers the King had even could be inherited by his children. But if they could… that power in the hands of House Lannister would have been truly wonderful.
No matter. Tywin can no longer distract himself with what could have been. Nor could he allow himself to be distracted by what was happening in King's Landing or anywhere else on the continent. He had to change his focus. There were only so many years he had left in his old bones and he would be damned if he left the House in an even worse state than his father did before he was finally gone.
Shaking his head, the Old Lion turns and heads back downstairs into the Rock to get back to work. As a result, he's just half a minute too late to witness with his own eyes as something flies by incredibly fast hundreds of feet overhead. Something… vaguely human shaped.
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Glancing down at Casterly Rock as he zips by it, Axel snorts derisively. He'll be glad to never have to see the place or another Lannister aside from Tyrion ever again, truth be told. Hopefully, nobody would fuck around and make him come back here any time soon.
For now, as he leaves the massive natural fortification behind him in the distance, Axel slows down a bit and… enjoys the scenery. He never in a million years thought that he would see the whole of Westeros like this from this high up.
In fact, he stops for a moment just past the hills of the Westerlands, about halfway to King's Landing… and just turns in a slow circle while hovering in midair. He can see so much from here. To the north, he can make out the Mountains of the Moon. To the south he sees the rolling farmland of the Reach as well as the Kingswood and the Dornish Marches beyond them.
Back behind him are the Westerlands of course, and if he turns just right… eh, nah, he can't quite see the Iron Islands from here. But he nevertheless knows they're there. And of course, in front of him to the East is King's Landing which he can just barely make out as a speck on the horizon at the moment.
Past King's Landing is Essos and the Free Cities, foreign lands with foreign ideals… such as slavery and other concepts that turn his stomach. Axel's hands curl into fists for a moment at that, his eyes narrowing and his jaw clenching.
… Part of him didn't want to stop at just the Iron Islands. Part of him wanted to take his armies and his fleets and go to Essos next. Braavos might just welcome him with open arms from what he knew about them. Meanwhile, the likes of Pentos, Myr, Tyrosh, and Lys would fall before him like wheat before the scythe. He could conquer them singlehandedly given his capabilities, and end slavery in each of them for all time.
Except… no. Axel knows better. Could he conquer them? Sure. Could he free all the slaves? For as long as he stuck around, yes. But what about afterwards? The only reason that ending thralldom and the claiming of salt wives on the Iron Islands might work is because most of the Ironborn had died and the Iron Islands needed Westeros more than Westeros needed the Iron Islands.
Even then, he was glad he would have an excuse to go and visit Asha every month or so in order to get her pregnant as she'd requested, because it would also allow him to make sure his edicts were being followed and nobody was fomenting rebellion against the new Lady Reaper of Pyke OR their King.
However, if he went and conquered any of the Free Cities of Essos… he wouldn't just be stretching Westeros too thin, he'd be stretching himself too thin as well. Axel's greatest weakness at this point was the fact that he couldn't be everywhere at once. And the longer he was absent from Westeros, the more likely that someone back here would probably get uppity and try something in his absence.
Axel sighs, closes his eyes, and pushes thoughts of conquering Essos aside. He had enough on his plate at this point. Especially with two women waiting back in King's Landing to become his Queens.
His eyes snap back open and Axel grins as he takes in his surroundings one last time. After luxuriating in the beautiful view in all directions, Axel continues on towards King's Landing, where he can finally announce that he'll be wedding Arianne and Sansa at long last.
Needless to say, he doesn't expect to encounter any objections to that decision at this point. Indeed, anyone who might have had a problem with him taking two Queens instead of one would no doubt hold their tongue just based on his newfound ability to fly.
Everything was going to be just fine from here on out. Axel could finally focus on ruling peacefully and making a family…
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A/N: This will probably be the last time we see much mention of the Lannisters in this fic, with the exception of Tyrion of course.
Funnily enough, the original outline for this story involved Cersei being way less crazy and sticking around as a long term member of Axel's harem, and eventually when Jon died, she would have pushed for her father to become Hand of the King instead of Stannis.
But then the more I wrote the first two Arcs, with Cersei being way too crazy to be redeemed and Tywin dragging his feet to the point of angering Axel severely, I realized it just didn't make much sense anymore. But at least we'll get more Tyrion~
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