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Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warnings:
Graphic Depictions Of ViolenceMajor Character Death
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Fandoms:
House of the Dragon (TV)Warhammer Fantasy
Characters:
Ikit ClawRhaenyra TargaryenJacaerys VelaryonLucerys Velaryon (Son of Rhaenyra)Baela TargaryenRhaena Targaryen (Daughter of Daemon)Daemon TargaryenCorlys "The Sea Snake" VelaryonHelaena TargaryenAddam VelaryonBackground & Cameo CharactersSilverwing | Alysanne Targaryen's DragonOriginal CharactersJoffrey Velaryon
Additional Tags:
Crack Treated SeriouslyCanon-Typical ViolenceThe Dance of the Dragons | Aegon II Targaryen v. Rhaenyra Targaryen EraAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceCanonical Character DeathCharacter Turned Into a HumanIkit got isekai'd as Jace's twinSkaven Species (Warhammer Fantasy)Death to all GreensHuman ExperimentationScience ExperimentsIkit is his own warningSilverwing still has shit taste in male ridersPOV MultipleBackground RelationshipsBackground Character Deathshow canon onlyDragon RidersAnimal AbuseIkit is an abusive dragonriderTho he's fairly mellow compared to his SkavenselfGood Parent Rhaenyra TargaryenNo beta we die like LucerysDysfunctional FamilyCannibalismBlood and TortureCanon-Typical BehaviorBAMF Helaena Targaryen
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English
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Published:2026-02-26Completed:2026-04-22Words:181,492Chapters:55/55Comments:1,270Kudos:749Bookmarks:160Hits:33,683
The Rat Prince of Westeros
SkilledWarriorKiwi
Chapter 51: Jacaerys
Notes:
A big thank you to LucasBlackfyre298 for their wonderful fan-art! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
Chapter Text
They had seen the immense green flare from King's Landing, vibrant and southward in the night.
Addam had already returned from Oldtown, telling them of the deaths of Hugh the Betrayer and Prince Daeron along with the subjugation of Oldtown. (Even if Jace did not understand what Addam meant with the Hightower being 'gone'.) And it was him that explained that verdant green sunrise towards Storm's End would have been Prince Ikit killing Usurper Queen Helaena.
Jace had no strong feelings towards Helaena, not really knowing her, even if Ikit was insistent she had to be killed. Corrupted or something, through worship of a god. Jace didn't know but he had faith that Ikit would win against her. Even if he felt something twist uncomfortably as he saw that vibrant green flare to the south that night, so bright it was almost as if the sun was beginning to rise.
By then Baela and Daemon had arrived back to King's Landing as well, to much acclaim due to their killing of Aemond the Kinslayer and Vhagar. Her death and that of Vermithor had cemented the end of the civil war, with ravens flying with threats and thanks.
Especially good news due to the onset of winter so many would no longer have to march as tundra engulfed the realm. There were word that the Greyjoys were still attacking Lannisport but quite frankly Jace could hardly care less. Consequences for being traitors, both from Tyland and Jason who were dead. Let the queen handle it, much like with Mysaria's disappearance even if Jace was more pleased with that last one. He never trusted that woman.
However when three days passed since the light from the south yet Silverwing did not appear, they began to grow concerned. Joffrey less so, just shrugging and saying 'He'll be fine- he's Ikit. Who can possibly hurt him?' while they tried to keep Aegon and Viserys for hearing too much.
Eventually during the council Jacaerys explained he would fly south. Ceraxes was still recovering from his injuries against Vhagar, even if the worst had healed from the magic tonic the dragon was still weakened. Baela herself was on a series of tonics and salves from the maester, so after some debate Rhaenyra eventually agreed to let Jace go and find Ikit. Even if he had won, he would be exhausted so when Jacaerys packed for the trip he took several things for his brother. Mostly food but Joffrey also gave him one of the odd serum bottles. Jace just wished Joffrey would stop sneaking up on him, even if his brother seemed to find it highly entertaining with how often he could make Jace jump.
Baela had also quietly approached him the afternoon he was about to head off, encouraging him to use the time to reach out to Ikit more personally. Rhaena had already been called back to King's Landing now the war was over, with her twin awaiting her arrival before the winter storms, and Baela was firm that Jace would have to be the one to reach across the distance.
"He hit me," Jace said sullenly. "It's quite plain he does not want anything more personal, no longer sees me as his brother. I am here to fetch him as the crown prince-"
"Don't talk like that, as if it is simply 'a job', it won't be. And regardless of him striking you it doesn't stop him from being your twin," Baela scolded him.
"He'll be fine...recovering, even, or doing more of his odd experiments."
"Then why volunteer?"
"Because everyone else is needed elsewhere."
"Jace," Baela's voice was firm. "I'll ask you this then, do you value your pride more than your relationship with your brother? If he does blame you for Luke. What will you say? Or will you accept it and try to move past it? Understand it and still reach out? You know your twin more than I do, but even I know he's vindictive. If either of you wish to close this divide between you both, then it will need to be you. Just think it over, please. I...think I understand my father a lot better, if anything positive came from this ridiculous war, and I believe that damnable pride is one of them. If someone is to offer a hand, it would be yours."
Jacaerys felt resistant but knew Baela spoke true. Ikit would never reach out first and when he hesitantly spoke to Rhaenyra, she admitted she had spoken to Ikit while in Helaena's room. A part of Jace, the one who had to grow so quickly and act as an envoy and charismatic crown prince who swayed the Vale and the North to their cause and then spent time reforging relations with the nobles of King's Landing, balked at having to accept all the blame. But Baela was right. Ikit would never be the one to do it. He was far too proud.
And Jace still felt wounded over the loss of Luke, knowing it was truly in part his own fault. He had suggested they act as envoys, even if like everyone else he never believed Aemond would be capable of such a dishonourable act in slaughtering an envoy and a nephew, and his own guilt over scolding Luke the day he died festered in his mind into bitterness. He didn't want to be the reason Ikit left again. He didn't want to lose another brother, especially with how strongly both Viserys and Aegon had latched onto him, Viserys especially.
Ikit had also taken the greatest risk, for while Daemon had chosen to face Vhagar he had decades of combat experience under his belt. Ikit had none of that and chose to face Hugh the Betrayer and Vermithor, to break Oldtown before chasing Helaena with Dreamfyre who had been even larger than Meleys.
It was what Jace thought over as he flew Vermax down the kingsroad, still remembering how hostile and closed off his brother had been the entire time Ikit had been at King's Landing. His brother had always been violent and volatile, arrogant and smug. It was just how he was, and it would seem time in Essos hadn't changed that, but it was the first time Jace had been so clearly targeted by it.
But Jacaerys could hardly argue. He wasn't the same puffed-up lad he'd been when the war began. Even in the span of a single year he'd changed so much. Warfare forced growth unlike anything else. A hard callous, even as he remained focused upon their honour and higher standing. Alicent was a traitor to the realm yet they couldn't behead her like any traitor, as a woman and a queen. As it was she was imprisoned and no visitors beyond Elinda who delivered her meals, knowing all her children, grandchildren, entire family, were dead due to her own actions. Jace felt that was somehow even a worse punishment.
But killing Alicent wouldn't bring back Lucerys. The same way killing Aemond, the Usurper King, all the Green traitors. They could kill the entire lot of them and it would never bring back Luke, or any of the dead. Rhaenys was lost, Meleys and Arrax. Killing all the traitors wouldn't bring them back to life.
But there had to be more than just violence and rage. Revenge and justice so close together, Jace could understand why so many couldn't see the difference. He was tired and angry but executing everyone wouldn't solve things. Rhaenyra's reign had already been marred by her treacherous siblings and the disgraced dowager queen, they had to stop. Especially with winter now inching in, at least it would give everyone time to let tempers cool and demands made when spring came to be.
Vermax's flight was steady, orange membranes shining with golds and whirls of yellow as the green dragon flew above the kingsroad from King's Landing down towards Storm's End even as Jace brooded over everything.
House Buckler welcomed him when he landed Vermax outside their walls; Lord Buckler had remained loyal to his oaths to Rhaenyra during the Green usurpation even if it cost him his head. His wife and daughters greeted Jacaerys, and he in turn was gracious and thankful to them for their loyalty to the rightful queen, including giving them several gifts as he spent the night as a guest. It was there they also told him how their windows were cracked and livestock spooked from the massive explosion that occurred over Storm's End even if none had dared venture closer. Apparently before even Ikit had arrived, Helaena had burnt half the countryside with Dreamfyre.
At the very least that simply made everyone think Queen Alicent's children were insane, over Targaryens themselves. Aemond's behaviour then now with Helaena burning large portions of her own allies, it was a byproduct of Alicent's Andal blood and place as a daughter to a second son and marrying far above her station as many were starting to claim. Jacaerys wasn't about to say anything otherwise.
The next morn was cold and clear, even if there was a pronounced frost to everything. Even so it had warmed up by the time he reached Storm's End, and he saw the massive crater.
Storm's End itself was still standing but there was a strange green shimmering to the black stone. Legend claimed that the keep was built by Durran Godsgrief, the first Storm King during the Dawn Age, and the castle never showed any wear from the centuries of raging sea hurling against its stone. But while the castle and curtain walls were standing, the earth itself was shattered and scorched. Every tree for several miles was burnt, all branches and leaves blasted off with bark scorched or just burnt stumps left behind. The grass and bushes was the same and as Vermax circled over the land he could see dozens of scorched animal remains.
The land which would connect Storm's End to the grass plains was just gone. It was if Storm's End was now on its own little isle, with a crumbling cliff facing it as if someone had taken a giant scoop out of the earth.
Vermax landed in the courtyard of Storm's End and Jace noticed how unnervingly empty it was. There was no banners, not racks, no watchers, no armour, no bodies. A check of the keep revealed the same- the stone itself was left in tact, but every single thing inside the castle not of the foundation had been completely vaporized. The Godswood was destroyed, only a great empty space even if Jace could see the dents and crevasses where ancient roots had been. No furniture or doors, windows or tapestries, sculptures and paintings, food or animals, people. Everything was gone, empty, leaving only the hollow stone foundation.
He somehow found that more unnerving than if it had been filled with bodies.
Jace went back to Vermax and checked the surrounding sea of Shipbreaker Bay but there was no sign of a dragon. However like the mainland the rocky spikes within the bay had been erased into nothing and at one point he saw the back of a leviathan washed up on the shore with seagulls pecking and cawing. The front half of the beast was gone, as cleanly as if done by a blade, but he noticed faint green growths on the corpse that seemed familiar.
It was when he went southward, Storm's End remaining a great dead fist in the distance, did he finally spot the immense sprawling form of Silverwing. She was lying upon a small beach crescent close to Griffon's Roost, right wing stretched out with the surf running back and forth across the tattered membrane and looking dead.
Vermax called out, high and shrill, as Jace tugged the reins as the dragon flew downwards.
To his relief Silverwing stirred at their approach, head shifting until she could eye them high above. Her horns were completely split open, looking like a twisted emerald rose bramble about her head, and the bell tower upon her back was in ruins. And then Jace spotted Ikit, only wearing a pair of breeches and cleaning off his hands with a cloth, squinting up at them next to Silverwing's wing.
Vermax glided down, landing upon the grassy knoll above the injured Silverwing to give the immense she-dragon enough space. Further inland Jace could see the keep of Griffon's Roost and in the distance Storm's End remained in lonely vigil.
He hesitated before dismounting Vermax, who settled down upon the grass, and walking down the sand towards Silverwing and where his twin was.
Closer, Jace realized Ikit had been in the middle of sewing Silverwing's membranes back together. He spotted several more wounds over the immense dragon, including what looked like a partially missing hind leg and raw oozing chunks of her tail seeping black blood into the ocean.
Jacaerys felt his nervousness shift to concern, somehow it hadn't crossed his mind Ikit could have gotten injured from fighting Helaena. There had been mention of her being twisted by some dark god but honestly Jace did not think much of it.
It became even more apparent when he actually managed to see his body, quickly walking around Silverwing's bulk, and saw his brother; missing an eye, instead it was infused with a gleaming emerald stone with green and black veins radiating across his features. His silver hair had been burnt off, and more fresh, oozing burns covered his torso and legs, with one of his arms so badly burned it was only glistening muscle shown instead of any skin. The triangular birthmark was bright and livid against his abdomen, above the hem of his breeches. He narrowed his eyes at Jace, dropping the cloth and a handful of thick black thread down onto the sand next to one of the saddlebags.
"Ikit!" Jace ran forward, his brother giving him an annoyed look. "What happened? We- Vermax can take two, we must get you to the maesters-"
"Stop that, you aren't den mother," Ikit elbowed him away, apparently unbothered by his skinned arm.
"You're hurt-"
"Bah, arm still attached. Will heal. Can't use more serum, however. Anymore quick and I will melt and go mad-mad. So am waiting," Ikit said, flexing his arm and making the red raw muscle twist grotesquely.
"I don't understand, was it Dreamfyre? Don't you have Valyrian armour?" Jace asked, fighting back the nausea at Ikit's injuries. He was so nonchalant about it, as if he barely noticed.
"No, from Doomsphere," Ikit said with a hiss, curling his lip to show his teeth. "Luckily Storm's End stopped majority of damage-harm, but all heat and energy so close is dangerous all the same, yes-yes. Magic and fire, as Valyrian steel forged-created it can be warped in just the same. Silverwing lost whole tail, most of head, but still had brain and heart. Armour is not air-tight. Luckily mad seer more damaged."
"Where's Helaena?"
In response Ikit pointed to where a broken skull was jammed into the sand near the dune, some scraps of flesh still clinging to it as crabs picked at the remains. Ikit's Valyrian armour was piled up next to it, but it looked warped and twisted.
"Oh."
"Still alive, washed up on shore but melted, slurry," Ikit glared at the skull. "Transforming into...something. Not demon, not sure. But with wings, tail. Draconic, fusing with dragon. Blood magic of Valyria driven by instinct, doubt even seer knew what she was doing-attempting. Hacked it to death-death, fed rest to servant-slave. Now remaining here to heal. Slow, annoyingly."
"I'm sorry," Jace blurted.
"Don't be. Would only get in way if you came," Ikit gave him an irritated look.
"No, not that," Jace's hands clenched into fists, but he made himself step closer to Ikit. His twin, who was bearing injuries that many men would be screaming in agony over but was still talking nonchalantly. His brother, who got grievously injured while Jace just sat at King's Landing while doing nothing. "I'm sorry for not protecting Luke."
Ikit stopped at that, from where he'd been about to go rummage into the saddlebag. He straightened up to face Jace fully, looking grotesque with his scorched and wounded body, with his missing eye with that terrible green gem melded into the flesh. He looked like something from a horror tale spoken to frighten children.
Jace just felt guilt seeing his brother's wounded body.
All your fault, a part of him hissed. He had failed to protect Luke, now failed to protect Ikit. Only difference was his twin was alive and suddenly all his pride and doubts seemed so stupid, so petty, in light of his brother's injuries.
He moved closer to his twin, arms raising uselessly as Ikit stared at him with a mismatched gaze. Jace couldn't hug his brother, not with his scorched flesh. So instead he pulled off his gloves, throwing them aside somewhere, and cupped Ikit's torn face in his hands. It was feather-light, a gesture Rhaenyra had done to them numerous times while growing up.
"You're my twin," Jace said, ignoring how it hurt to look into the twisted green pools of Ikit's eyes- one flesh and blood, the other that vile stone. "And I've been weak. You left so long ago, but that's because you are what you are. And I was the oldest, the crown prince. I was to protect the rest while you did your deeds across the narrow sea. But Lucerys died and I could not even bring the one who did it to justice. Instead you killed the Usurper, you saved Viserys, Baela. Killed the Betrayer and Daeron. And even now killed Helaena. While I couldn't even protect Luke or avenge him. I'm sorry, I was...I don't know, weak and ridiculous. And I can't take that back. But I don't want to quarrel anymore. You're my brother and you're finally back home. But if...if my presence causes you pain, then I'll leave you alone. I won't bother you anymore."
His brother just stared at him, even as the ocean continued to surge and pulse around them. Silverwing grumbled, her tail slithering through the sand while Vermax remained perched up upon the dune.
Then Ikit sighed and patted Jace's head as if he was a loyal hound with his skinless hand.
"Don't say idiotic things even if you are stupid-dumb," Ikit said. Then he huffed, breath reeking of carrion, as he added in a lighter tone, "But most are stupid-dumb in this world. Luckily, I have biggest brain of them all. Enough brain for rest of clan."
Jace let out a huff of wet laughter, tears burning his eyes before he squeezed them shut and briefly rested his forehead against Ikit's own with the stench of burnt flesh thick in his nose. Then he pulled away, wiping at his eyes even as Ikit looked at him with a long suffering stare. But Jace knew, could feel the brittle tension vanish between them.
"I love you, little brother," Jace said quietly.
"Brought any food?" Ikit asked instead.
"Aye, I did. Lots of meat, just like you like. I'll fetch Vermax."
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