A/N: Axel is having the time of his life. Sure, Daenerys almost just killed him… but honestly that's kind of hot.
-x-X-x-
"… how about you become one of my women instead."
Maybe it's the head wound talking, but Axel stands by his words all the same. Sure, it was rather wild to finally meet someone who could actually match him blow for blow. And yeah, he was a little upset about losing his helm and sword to Blackwater Bay. Later he would make an attempt at retrieving them, but he wasn't really sure if he'd be able to find either piece of Valyrian Steel equipment or not in the murky depths.
That didn't matter in the face of this latest discovery though. If Daenerys Targaryen could heal people with her magic… well, that was rather interesting, wasn't it? Even if it might be blood magic gained from the sacrifice of thousands of people, it was still pretty cool.
After all… they weren't HIS people. They were just slavers from what Axel understood.
The naked Targaryen woman kneeling in front of him and trembling with emotion doesn't seem to agree though.
"Y-You… why would you want me? I'm nothing but a monster."
She sounds so broken. Her dragons are similar, all of them laying flat against the ground of the large cave, the glow in their eyes dim as they watch his interaction with their Mistress. Axel just huffs, shaking his head.
"Lord Davos and his family. They're all still alive, correct?"
Daenerys blinks at him in confusion before slowly nodding. That's good. Axel had been told they were alive, but it was better to check that nothing had changed since that information had reached King's Landing.
"Good. If you'd hurt any of them, this would be a lot harder. But if they're still alive, then your greatest crime is sinking half of the Royal Fleet at anchor. Most of the ships would have been largely uncrewed too. The lives that were lost in that sinking… well, you can make it up to Westeros with your healing magics. How does that sound?"
Staring at Axel owlishly, the naked, soot-covered Targaryen looks more like a lost bird in that moment, rather than a rival claimant to his throne. Seriously, this was the woman he'd been so afraid of? Then again… she had come very close to killing him, he had to admit. Closer than anyone had ever done, even Loras Tyrell back in the Trial by the Seven.
Although, a thought does come to his mind as he awaits her answer.
"Oh, but I should probably clarify that that Red Priestess of yours will have to go. Probably best if she dies, though I suppose I could be persuaded to let her leave if she can promise her god will stop trying to manipulate people like you into trying to kill me."
That gets him another blink, followed by an involuntary snort from Daenerys' nostrils.
"… She's… she's already dead. I killed her last night."
The vicious satisfaction in her tone makes it clear that there's a whole fucking story there, but Axel figures it's probably best not to pry too much. Instead, he takes in that information and simply nods his head placidly.
"Perfect. Then really, there's nothing left to hold you back. Become my woman. Swear yourself to me Daenerys Targaryen, and I promise I'll take care of you and yours."
A twitch of life returns to the despairing woman at that last bit. She gets just a spark of hope in her violet eyes at the word 'yours'.
"If I… if I submit myself to you, you won't hurt any of my people? You'll let them live?"
Axel nods easily, thinking she's talking about the Unsullied she brought over from Essos, only for Daenerys' gaze to sharpen as she presses harder.
"… Including the Lords who betrayed you to let me take Dragonstone out from under your nose. They would be spared as well."
He stops and grimaces at that… before ultimately shaking his head.
"… They'll either take the Black or go to the block I'm afraid. But I won't attaint any of their houses. I'll allow their heirs to take over for them, as a favor to you."
Sure, he wanted Daenerys and her healing magic on his side. He especially wanted another fight against her, both with and without her dragons just to see how far she could really go. But he couldn't just leave treacherous lords like that unpunished. Axel had long since learned his lesson on that front.
Daenerys looks mulish for a moment, her brow furrowing as she pouts in a way Axel tries not to find too adorable. She's still technically supposed to be his enemy, after all. Finally though, the Targaryen woman slowly nods.
"A-Alright. I'll do it."
Axel rises to his feet as Daenerys leans forward, prostrating herself before him and pressing her forehead to the volcanic rock beneath them both.
"I submit to you, Axel Baratheon, King of Westeros. I submit to your power and will become your woman. I-AAAGHHH!!!"
His eyes widen in shock as Daenerys suddenly seizes up, going from on her knees with her forehead pressed to the rock to spasming onto her back and shaking uncontrollably. Her agonizing screams echo through the cavern... and are in turn echoed by her dragons, who all begin to roar in pain and agony as well.
"What... what is this? What is happening?"
Axel drops to his knees, grabbing hold of Daenerys to keep her from slamming her head into the rock beneath her over and over again as her entire body experiences these sudden seizures. He's able to steady her long enough for her to look up at him, even as the glow in her eyes begins to intensify once more… and the veins beneath her soot-covered skin also begin to glow brighter and brighter.
"It's… the Lord of Light! He's… angry with me!"
The glow in their eyes and across their bodies had been orange back over the open water. Now? Now Daenerys and her dragons have all started to glow a bright, angry RED. It dawns on Axel what must be happening, even as Daenerys further explains through gritted teeth and trembling lips.
"I-I was… supposed to be his Champion. His Azor Ahai… But I… I've… b-betrayed him!"
She's like Euron Greyjoy. The Champion of a specific deity hellbent on killing Axel. The things that Red Priestess had Daenerys doing hadn't just empowered the Dragon Queen, they'd given the Lord of Light a claim on her soul, just like the Drowned God apparently had on Euron Greyjoy's, if the Ironborn man was to be believed.
Except… there was obviously a difference in power or connection going on here, because where Euron had been able to talk shit about his patron deity uninterrupted, Daenerys was experiencing the backlash for her decision to bend the knee to Axel. Apparently, her god considered this a 'betrayal most foul'.
As well, unlike with Euron… Axel was loathe to give his enemy back to their god this time. He wanted Daenerys for himself. He wanted her for her healing, her dragons, and her beauty. And maybe, just maybe, because a part of him resonated with her. How many years had he feared himself to be a demon? A monster? And now here was this woman, who believed the same of herself. How could Axel not sympathize? How could he not want to save her?
And yet… it felt like there was nothing he could do save for cradle Daenerys to his chest and hold her firmly in place so that she doesn't shatter her skull open on volcanic rock with how hard she's seizing up. All the while, her dragons are experiencing their own seizures, roaring in pain and agony, whipping back and forth in their respective death throes.
"Ah… ah… Axel…"
Looking down into her glowing red eyes, Axel sees Daenerys staring up at him, her mouth struggling to form words. But then, at this point… the red glow is building in the back of her throat as well.
"Our d-deaths… our deaths will be… cataclysmic. You… you must run… you must… get away. Please… my p-people… look after… my people."
They're going to explode. That's what she's saying. Daenerys and her dragons are going to explode and given where they are, they might just take the whole of Dragonstone with them. Certainly, the blast will destabilize Dragonmont and cause it to erupt at a bare minimum.
… Axel doesn't care. He snarls, holding Daenerys tighter. They were enemies mere minutes ago, but she'd sworn herself to him all the same. She'd named herself his woman. And Axel has always loathed being parted with what he considers his.
"No. I'm not leaving you. I don't fear the Red God's power!"
Axel tosses his head back.
"YOU HEAR ME, R'HLLOR?! IF YOU DO THIS, I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN! I WILL GO TO ESSOS AND I WILL DESTROY YOUR TEMPLES AND SLAUGHTER YOUR FOLLOWERS WHEREVER I FIND THEM! I WILL WIPE THE WORSHIP OF YOU OFF OF THE FACE OF THE WORLD!"
Threatening an eternal blood feud had worked with the Drowned God, or so it seemed. Certainly, Asha had had no difficulties with the Iron Islands since Axel's little display in the Sunset Sea. Maybe it would work with the Lord of Light as well. That was his thinking anyways. Unfortunately, when he looks back down at Daenerys, the red glow has not diminished. If anything, it's continuing to worsen.
She smiles weakly up at him, looking surprised but also flattered at the raging on her behalf. Axel… Axel can't help but feel a strange sense of despair wash over him. Along with pity for his enemy, his eyes squeezing shut and tears leaking from them in the process.
Daenerys Targaryen had been nothing but a pawn from start to finish. She'd been manipulated before she even had a chance. It could have been him just as easily as it was her too. What if that Red Priestess had come to him instead of her? What if Axel had been raised anywhere other than the Vale by honorable men like Nestor Royce and Jon Arryn?
He could have been just as great a monster as Daenerys thought herself to be if things had been even a little bit different. It was only through his upbringing at the Eyrie, only through the teachings of the Seven, that Axel had turned out half as good a man as the ones who raised him. He-
Axel's eyes snap wide open. The Seven! If the Drowned God and the Lord of Light were real enough to send Euron on a quest to Old Valyria and punish Daenerys for her 'betrayal', then the Seven Who Are One had to be real as well, right?
Looking up at the ceiling again, though he doesn't know why other than that it feels right, Axel growls and gives perhaps the most abrasive, antagonistic 'prayer' of his entire life.
"Save her. SAVE HER! I know you can hear me! I know you are watching! The Red God might have laid claim to her soul, but you held claim first! She was born HERE, on Dragonstone. She is a Daughter of Westeros! Her family has lived here for generations! House Targaryen has worshipped the Seven for over three hundred years! She belongs to YOU!"
Sucking in a deep breath, Axel looks down at Daenerys' writhing, glowing form in his arms and clutches her all the closer to his chest as he continues on. It feels as though she might come apart at any moment. As though her and her dragons are mere seconds away from exploding and perhaps taking him with them.
"If I am truly your Champion, if you put me here to do good in your name and spread your worship to every corner of Westeros and beyond… then do this for me. This one thing. If I have any credit with you, if I've done anything right in your eyes… and I know I fucking have, then give this to me. Give her to me. Save Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons. Make the fucking Red God BACK OFF!"
Looking back up again, Axel snarls, even as tears streak down his cheeks.
"Show me! SHOW ME YOU'RE REAL! GIVE ME A FUCKING SIGN THAT I'M NOT ALONE!"
The only response is some rather concerning rumbling from all of the thrashing that the dragons are doing… as well as the woman's whimpering sobs, the glow only seeming to get worse and worse.
Axel grimaces, preparing for the explosion to rip into him, fully ready to survive it and then take the fight to R'hllor, no matter the cost. He closes his eyes shut tight and holds Daenerys close, waiting for her end to come.
…
… And yet, it never does. A second goes by. And then another. And another still. The shaking slowly begins to subside as the thrashing and seizing of the three massive dragons they're surrounded by begins to die down. Daenerys as well, stops spasming in his arms quite so much.
Slowly, Axel opens his eyes, scarcely able to believe it. But his sight reflects what his senses of touch and sound have already shown him. The red glow is receding rapidly from Daenerys' veins and eyes. The impending explosion fails to materialize as the manifestation of the Red God's anger dies down right before their eyes.
Finally, Daenerys blinks, staring down at herself in shock and then up at him with that violet gaze of hers.
"How… I can feel his absence. I didn't even know he was there before, lurking within me and my dragons. But I can tell he's gone now. My power is my own now. Mine and my dragons' lives are our own. How… how have you done this?"
Axel stares back at her blankly for a long moment before a disbelieving laugh bubbles out of his throat.
"I… don't know. I didn't do anything, really. I just prayed. And the Seven… answered."
Through nothing that Axel or Daenerys had done, because in truth there had been nothing they COULD do… Daenerys Targaryen had nevertheless been saved.
It was a miracle. A real miracle, in the end. Axel looks up at the cave ceiling, but really he's looking beyond it, a rueful smile spreading across his face.
The rueful smile slowly spreads into a wide, triumphant grin as he lets more laughter leave his lips, joined soon after by a giggling, clearly delirious Daenerys. They were alive. Everyone was alive.
The Seven Who Are One were real. His gods were as real as the Drowned God or the Red God.
… And when the going got tough they'd just proved they would have his fucking back.
-x-X-x-
A/N: *Daenerys kills Melisandre* - R'hllor: I sleep.
*Daenerys forsakes her destiny as Azor Ahai to submit to Axel – R'hllor: REAL SHIT?!
Meanwhile… Axel actually asks the Seven for something for once and his prayers are answered. Holy shit. Literally.
This chapter marks the end of Arc 5 btw. Tomorrow we start Arc 6.
Feedback is GREATLY appreciated, every comment helps me shape the story with a Daily Free Write like this one!
Plug: If you're interested in reading more ASAP, you can sign up over on my Patreon right now to read FIFTEEN chapters ahead!