[Daenerys' POV]
Despite their mutual agreement, Edric himself made no advances on her. The only advancements he seemed interested in were returning to Meereen swifter. Daenerys, on the other hand, had her own desires that had been left unfulfilled for a long time.
"The nights are getting rather cold…"
"Are they?" Edric raised an eyebrow. "Well, I can get you furs, if you'd like."
"I was thinking of another way of keeping warm."
"... There's a time and place for that."
"You don't need to wait for the stars to align. Most times and places are suitable."
"You spent a little too much time around Dothraki," Edric remarked, glancing away.
"Mayhaps you could have learned a thing or two from them."
"Right," Edric scoffed. "You're a little too wanting…"
"It is something husband and wife should do rather often - the child won't make itself, will it? Or are you too young to know?"
"Do you want our firstborn to be a bastard? Things work a little different in the Seven Kingdoms, if your beloved uncle ever bothered to teach you that."
"..."
"If you're all that desperate for intimacy, I could sleep close to you, I suppose."
When night came, he fell in an instant. Edric either slept without making a sound or snored louder than Drogo and Daario combined with no in-between. Up close, he was a mountain of muscle that made her feel half his size. His body was a pillar of heat… as if flames burned inside of him. At first, she clung to him, but, eventually he turned and wrapped his arms around her.
Now, there really was no escape.
In time, she fell asleep as well.
…
It was a strange world.
The skies were red and black with traces of purple. In the surroundings, there was a seemingly endless amount of the same foreign structure. A pillar of sorts. There were great forests in the distance, a patch of land for farming, a couple of buildings and a great tree at the centre of it all, hundreds of glowing, soft, almost-white purple petals growing from its branches.
It was the most beautiful tree she had ever seen.
And under it was, almost too fittingly, the most beautiful woman she had ever seen as well. Her hair was a much stronger, darker, shade of purple than the petals. Despite the strange colour, it was not dye at all, but completely natural. Her large breasts were envy inducing and her white skin was inhumanly perfect. She was like a goddess.
Although there was no pulse to her, she hadn't begun decaying at all, surrounded by dozens of colourful flowers.
In the distance, there were thunderous sounds of combat.
Daenerys turned, seeing Edric facing a young woman and man. The young man looked oddly familiar, older than Edric, albeit shorter and less built with almost identical features. The woman had his blue eyes, paired with curled long brown hair.
It was all too strange…
She watched Edric clash warhammer against the young man's 'sword' of stone. Once they clashed, the young man raised his left and his gauntlet sprang a small crossbow - firing straight for the head. Surprised by the attack, Edric fell… dead.
Daenerys was beyond puzzled.
For a moment, he stayed that way, until he rose from the dead and the bolt slowly dissipated.
"Was that..." Edric chuckled. "Wow, I wasn't expecting that gauntlet to transform into a mini crossbow. Since when did your creations become so concise?"
"I've had quite a breakthrough..." The young man shrugged.
"You've got to make me one of those..." He paused, slowly turning to her. "Seven hells, how did you…"
He looked just as bewildered as she did.
"What even is this place?"
"... My own world… where dreams and reality collide," Edric answered, although that only left her with more questions.
"And those two are…?"
"My twins from a different future, Garth and Alysanne."
"Greetings, Queen of Meereen," Alysanne was courteous to perfection, performing a textbook curtsy.
"Greetings, princess… or is it second step mother? Father is rather popular with the ladies. It's a shame my mother doesn't have three dragons."
Edric's way of stabbing with words didn't skip a generation.
"What are you yapping about, mommy's boy? I don't need you making this any more awkward than it already is."
"I'll gladly remove myself, then,"
"Go ahead."
He turned away and walked off into the distant hill.
"... You brought out the teenager in my boy," Edric laughed afterwards.
"I can't blame him," Alysanne smiled slightly as she looked at Daenerys. "Regardless, it is your choice, father. As long as you're happy with it. Anyway, I'm sure you'd rather do the talking, so I'll leave it to you."
It was not hard to see that neither were exactly fond of her.
"And who's the mother of this pair?"
"Margaery Tyrell."
"Tyrell... are they born yet?"
"Not too long ago actually."
"And this lady…"
"I'm rather awful at having simple relationships, I fear. Margaery was my first. I was in a not-so-brilliant state of mind, got drunk, and… it happened. Although we haven't done much since, I respect her as the mother of my children."
"It sounds like they were not planned."
"... Not at all. I'm glad, regardless. They're lovely… except the mother is a bit of a tender spot. I suppose they'd rather I married her, which is entirely understandable. I'd think the same in their boots."
"And I thought you were jesting about your seed, but it seems to carry your magic with it…"
"Yeah," Edric chuckled. "Magical seed. Apparently, I let it all out. Poor Margaery was bedridden for days."
"Mayhaps you should have a drink," Daenerys smiled slightly.
"You wish."
"And… that purple-haired woman?"
"You really are going out of your way to scout every woman in my life," Edric laughed, shaking his head. He walked over and sat down beside the corpse. "As I said, I'm cursed with complicated relationships… and this couldn't be more true right here. I've felt everything under the moon when it comes to her. Anger, hate, fear, joy, comfort, indifference, love, sorrow, grief, admiration…"
"She played a great part in the person I am today… and I wouldn't be here without her. She was the one person who understood everything that I was. He, she even knew me better than I did myself."
"It seems to me that you love her dearly."
His softer tone when he talked about her, the way he gently held her hand. It was all too clear to see.
"You'd be right about that," Edric nodded. "Not exactly the best thing to admit to a fiancée, is it? This is the one woman that I'd burn the world to hold in my arms… as proven by the future my children faced and even the destruction your Dothraki faced."
"Is she the reason you slaughtered them?"
"... Yes. People can do some maddening things for love, no? I was entirely numb to their pain and screams as they burned, the splatter of blood didn't even make me blink. I only saw our future as I stomped out the Dothraki's," Edric shook his head. "And not a sliver of guilt… I'd do it a million times over. Even worse, it felt… like a sport. I was having fun half the time, revelling in my strength that made me feel like a God stepping on a horde of ants. As for the other half, I simply felt... bored."
Before she could ask how their deaths changed anything, he laughed.
"How fucked up am I, Daenerys?"
Daenerys realised that he was opening up, being entirely truthful. She didn't know why… but it was refreshing to see the true Edric Storm, no matter how malevolent he was.
"If it makes you feel any better, I did eat a horse's heart raw."
Edric chuckled. "Right. You're taking this better than I thought."
"In truth, it's reassuring that you're not as perfect as you presented yourself to be."
"I'm sorry if I've disappointed you," Edric smiled slightly.
"No… only sheep should live in ignorance, as you said. I'd rather have the true Edric Storm than a lie."
"And you're not at all afraid of who I am?" Edric looked with wonder in his eyes.
"Should I be? I've faced my dragons countless times. Do you know what I've dreamed of most of all during the past couple of days? Yunkai… and how its so-called wise masters would endure the most painful deaths I could think of. I want nothing more than to tear down that city, stone by stone, and burn it all to ash."
"I suppose I'm not the only crazy one here, huh..."
"So... you said you did it for her, but why?"
"It was part of a tribute to bring her to life."
"Oh..." There was a lot about his magic that she didn't understand, and delving now would take a hundred questions. "And if such an event comes to pass, what then?"
"You feel threatened, don't you?" Edric noticed. "I'd want her by my side, that's the truth... and nothing is going to stand in the way of that. It doesn't necessarily mean you'd be out of the picture, however."
"But I would be second to her."
"Yes."
"And if this person decided that she didn't want me in the picture you speak of?"
"If it were the old Raiden, she'd just cut you up into pieces herself or strike you down with lightning... whichever she felt like doing," Edric wasn't being exactly reassuring.
Daenerys raised an eyebrow.
Edric smiled in response.
"Don't worry too much about it. I have a way of convincing people. It would be a tad awkward, but... I would honour our marriage."
She wasn't fond of the idea of being second to anyone.
"Of course."
...
Alysanne's gifts revolved around nurturing and nature, twisting and growing it at a whim. The forests, farms, vegetation, lakes... they were all her creation. Her innocent and beautiful appearance made Daenerys think of the Maiden from the Seven. If Edric was a Storm God, Alysanne was the nature goddess.
The blessing to the calamity.
She was growing a field of flowers when Daenerys found her.
"Here to probe about Raiden Shogun?" She glanced back.
"Raiden Shogun?"
"The person who gives you a sense of insecurity," Alysanne spoke as if she had read her mind. For a moment, her blue eyes looked more green. "You're right to feel that way. My father and she have been bound together for eight years. It's as if you're starting a race... while someone else is already at the end."
"There's nothing I can do about that."
"But... she's not here now. His greatest challenge is looming, where you'd be the one by his side. If you capitalise on that, you could very well make your mark."
"... Are you helping me?" Daenerys questioned, slightly surprised.
"I don't have anything against you. I just want my father to be happy... and if you're the one who can accomplish that feat, then that's brilliant. Besides... I like the idea of having more siblings, regardless of the mother."
"I see..."
She was a little strange, but Daenerys grew fond very swiftly. They were around the same age, and she had a bright, enlightening mind and an even greater grasp of the hearts of those around her. Through her, she gained a greater understanding of Edric Storm... it was only fair as he already knew everything there was to know about her.
...
As Meereen was within view, Edric turned to her and drank his waterskin dry.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, before we make our return, I believe there's a matter we should discuss."
"And what would that be?"
"In his dying breath, Aegon announced that it was Dorian who freed Viserion and Rhaegal from their shackles."
"... What?" Daenerys blinked, the revelation striking her like lightning. It took several seconds for that to even sink in.
"It was, of course, out of desperation, but..."
As she recalled, Dorian had emerged at her court only a few days later... when she was at her lowest. Was this all planned? If anyone could brave such an insurmountable, almost impossible task as infiltrating the Great Pyramid of Meereen, bypassing all of the guards, freeing the dragons... and living to tell the tale - it would be him.
"Of course..." Daenerys sighed, shaking her head. "At every step I take, I'm faced with betrayal after betrayal..."
There was a sense of sadness, a surge of anger and even a drop of disappointment in her heart.
"He couldn't betray you if he wasn't serving you in the first place."
"... I think otherwise. He kept the truth from me. Deceived me. If I had known..."
"You'd take his head, right, but think objectively for a moment. Remove your feelings entirely from this matter. Do you intend to put your dragons into a cage again?"
"... No-"
"So you agree that them being free is a good thing... so do I. You know how dragons died out in the first place? There was the Doom of Valyria, of course, but it was not the end. The Targaryens kept shooting themselves in the foot, again and again. The greatest examples are the Dance of Dragons, the dragonpit and the gradual loss of knowledge about dragons. The dragonpit, despite its great size, could never be as great as the open sky. It made them smaller, weaker, more vulnerable... and, in the end, something as lowly as a mob led by some beggar killed them."
"You were well on your way to ending this new age of dragons before it could even truly begin. Dorian did a good thing, even if it meant going behind your back... because you would've been too stubborn to free them yourself."
"... You're right," Daenerys laughed, shaking her head. She couldn't find any logical refutation to his argument. "It seems like you always are."
"It helps when you're not being overwhelmed by emotion," Edric smiled slightly. "Besides, while Viserion was causing me some problems in a battle, I managed to eventually make some use out of him... which was one of the defining reasons we even won in the first place. Otherwise, I might not even be here right now."
"So, you suggest that Dorian receive no punishment for his actions?"
"I'd suggest giving him a bloody medal for pulling that off," Edric shrugged.
"So be it," Daenerys nodded. "... As for you, have you thought of what to say to your betrothed?"
"Short and blunt; no beating around the bush. I'd be surprised to leave without a stab wound or missing bite of skin, but... it has to be done. I believe it's for the better."
"Are you not a good match?"
"In the future, we could've been... but the present takes precedence."
"You need a queen now, hm?" Daenerys tilted her head slightly.
"You could put it that way..."