𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐘 | The Ashes

{ Lyra }

✧✦✧

𝕸ikael's arm around her neck was the only thing that prevented Lyra from rushing back to the city. She watched in horror, standing beside her brother's, as green flames and ash covered Kings Landing like a cloud.

It went silent as everyone waited with baited breaths for the next explosion to happen, but it was further west and away from the main gate now. Lyra took another deep breath, tears already rushing down her cheeks as she hushed her eldest child.

The gate closest to her came crashing down with an awful sound, and Lyra's heart dropped once more as she struggled to breathe. Her husband was in there. He'd still been at the castle, which looked relatively unaffected, and Lyra was hoping and praying that he stayed there. Arah stood behind her, her hand on the queen's shoulders.

When the first explosion had happened, Coren had helped Lyra and Arah onto Falkor's back, along with her children and Arya, and taken them straight out of the city and back to the encampment. Lyra had begged him to turn around and let her go back to her husband, but Coren had refused. Instead, he told her that he'd go and search for Joffrey in the city. Both he and Daenerys had left shortly afterwards.

Robb had an arm on her other shoulder, eyes wide in horror. 

"Joffrey's in there." Lyra muttered, covering Mikael's ears as the explosions finally seemed to end. "And Drew and Tylar. I need to go back."

"Lyra. No."

"Robb, that wasn't a question. My husband is there." 

"We need to wait, just a moment longer. We don't know what's happening." Lyra shook her head vehemently, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"Mama, where's Da?" Mikael asked, looking up at his mother's damp cheeks. 

"It's alright, Little Lion." Lyra soothed, pressing a kiss to his head. "He's safe."

Turning back to her brother, Lyra sent him a pleading look. Robb shared a glance with Jon, before relenting.

"I'll look after them." Sansa stepped forward, nodding her head. "Go and find him. I'll keep an eye on them."

"Your Grace, my family."

"Go, Arah." The woman handed Tommas and Margaery over to Sansa, before rushing off to the evacuees as Lyra turned to her brothers. "I'm going. I have to."

"Fine." Jon knew that they'd be unable to dissuade her now. Arya looked uncomfortable, but stepped forward either way.

"Hand Mikael to me." Lyra nodded, pressing a kiss to her sister's cheeks as she then kissed her children's head.

"Be good." She murmured to all of them, before calling Elia back to her side and rushing off to the city as Robb and Jon followed behind.

✧✦✧

Lyra climbed over the gate, trying not to cut her hands in the process as Elia hurried along beside her. The wolf was already sniffing at the air, trying to find a scent amongst the ash. The dragons soared overhead, and Lyra waited for her brothers to join her as she looked around in horror.

Ash fell, mixed in with snow, and there was debris across the cobblestones, mixed with blood. There was so much blood, and bodies. Everywhere she turned, she could see bodies of women, children and men alike. Taking a deep breath, Lyra squatted down and turned to Elia.

"Elia." The wolf perked up, her ears alert. "Fine Joffrey and Tylar and Drew."

Elia tilted her head, before putting her nose to the ground and beginning to wander off. Lyra stood, following after her wolf. Elia led them through a side street, and the siblings had to be careful not to step on the charred remains of others. The scent of burning flesh made Lyra feel sick, but she swallowed it down as Elia led her back onto the main street of Flea Bottom.

The clock tower, and the buildings around it, had collapsed, the rubble scattered around like a halo of death. Lyra took a deep breath as Elia turned away from it and headed mere metres up the street, before stopping beside a rock.

Lyra felt her legs begin to give out.

"You don't have to do this." Jon caught her elbow.

"I do." Lyra shook her head, pushing forward to come and rest by Elia's side. When she saw who it was, her heart dropped as a sob ripped through her body. She crumpled down to the ground, brushing Drew's hair back from his head.

His eyes looked upwards, but there was no life behind them and Lyra felt tears fall from her eyes. She leant forward, resting her head against his as she tried not to look at the injury that the debris had caused. He was so pale and lifeless.

That had never been Drew. He was always so full of life and happy and to see him like this made Lyra cry harder. She took another deep breath, closing his eyes as she pressed one final kiss to his forehead. He'd been laughing with her only that morning.

Elia had returned to her side, nudging her arm gently as Lyra shook her head. She thought she could do this, but now she wasn't so sure. Elia's jaw encircled her hand, tugging and pulling until Lyra stood. The wolf led her down the hill towards the clock tower as Lyra shook her head. She couldn't do this. She truly couldn't.

The wolf led her forward to a pile of cleared rocks. Whilst Lyra had been mourning over Drew, Elia had been clearing rubble and following the scent that had led her to this mound.

Lyra took one look at who was under it, before bursting into tears and crumpling to the floor. Robb and Jon hurried to her side, before coming to a stop as they saw who it was.

Joffrey was facing the gate, blue eyes wide and unseeing. He had been so close, mere metres from the gate, but he was here instead of outside. There was a small smile on his face, like he'd been thinking happy thoughts, but Lyra didn't take notice of that. 

His blond hair was dark with ash and blood, debris crushing the lower half of his body and his arms limp at his sides. He'd most likely put them up to protect himself but it hadn't helped and Lyra felt a pained scream rip itself from her throat.

Jon and Robb both tried to approach, but didn't know what to do. What did you say to someone to comfort them when their love was lying dead in front of them? Lyra let out another pained scream, her head falling onto Joffrey's chest, as she wondered why this had happened. They'd been through so much and survived it, why now did it all go wrong?

Cersei had managed to rip away the one person that she had loved more than anything in the world.

"It should have been me." She managed to choke out, reaching up to cradle Joffrey's face in her hands as she sobbed. "It should have been me. It should have been me. Why was it him?"

"Lyra!" She didn't recognise the call of her name, still too busy sobbing. "Lyra!"

Feet were pounding down the street, as someone continued to call her name. But Lyra couldn't hear it. She didn't acknowledge any of it until she felt arms wrap around her shoulders.

"Lyra." Tylar's voice was so familiar to her,  his hand rubbing up and down her back as she sobbed. Soldiers rushed past them, trying to account for the dead and find the injured but Lyra didn't care. She had found her dead and now her voice was mixed in with those mourning.

"It should have been me." Lyra continued to murmur, shaking her head as she ran her hand through Joffrey's hair. "Anyone but him. Anyone."

"Lyra, no." Tylar shook his head, as Lyra clutched onto Joffrey's hand, tracing the signet ring. She was waiting for him to wake up, to clutch onto her hand and smile that half-smile she adored so much. Elia was by her side, still pulling rocks off of the man's body and pawing at his leg. 

The direwolf couldn't understand why he wasn't getting up or why her mistress was crying. Joffrey was just asleep. He'd wake up and play with her soon.

"We need stretchers to move these bodies." Lyra heard Jon call, through the fog in her ears, as she looked down at her husband's face, thinking of all their happy memories. They'd made it to their wedding, despite all their trials, and she remembered it vividly. They'd been so happy, almost as happy as they'd been when their children were born.

The same children that Joffrey would never hold again, or see grow up. What had they done to deserve this punishment from the gods?

"Lyra, they need to move the body." Tylar told her, trying to pry her away from her husband. "They're just going to move it. You need to let go."

"No." Lyra cried, shaking her head as Tylar began to pull her away. "Let me go. They have to bring him back. Please, bring him back. I need him."

"Lyra..."

"I need him. I can't do this without him." Lyra sobbed, trying to push past Tylar's arm, but the man kept a tight hold on her. "I can't, I can't, I can't...I need him. Please, Tylar, tell them to bring him back."

"He's gone, Lyra." Tylar brushed his own tears away, catching a hold of Elia as the wolf tried to follow after the stretcher. "He's gone. We need to go."

"No, don't make me leave him." Lyra knew what this meant. If they took him, the next time she'd see him, he'd be on a slab, dressed all in black. He'd actually be dead.

Tylar struggled, until someone took Elia off of him. He looked up, watching as Jon pulled the large direwolf away. Robb sent him a sad look, before reaching down to take his sister from Tylar's grip as the man finally crumpled. He'd had to run past Drew's mangled body earlier, and now Joffrey's. 

The only thing that stopped him from truly sobbing was the knowledge that his wife was alive and well. If Lyra was, then Arah was as well.

"You're injured." Coren appeared, helping the man to his feet to stumble from the city, as Tylar watched Lyra struggle and cry out, begging her brother to let her go, begging him to let her go back to Joffrey. 

Robb was on the verge of tears, but somehow keeping it together and not letting Lyra go, no matter how much she begged and pleaded.

Elia was struggling, whining and barking now, her paws scrabbling on the ground, but Jon kept a tight grip on her and pulled her out. Lyra writhed in Robb's grip, turning around once more as she tried to find her husband again.

She needed him. How was she supposed to do this without him? He'd been her rock, the one person that she loved more than anything, and now he wasn't here. How was she supposed to cope. She just wanted her husband back.

Lyra just needed Joffrey.

Hiya,

Just know, that this is the one character death and reaction that makes me sob no matter how many times I write or read it. So, Joffrey and Drew are dead and Lyra's heartbroken. Technically, all of this could have been avoided if Joff had stayed at the Keep, but he didn't so oh well.

Let me know what you think and there's like two chapters of the entire book left,

Love Li xx