Chapter Text
The sconces on the wall lit up the damp cave and made the quartz littering the walls glitter eerily, the only sound, the crackle of flame and vague drip of water trickling further within the cavern. The minutes drew on that way until the low rumble of hoofbeats thundered in the distance, vibrations climbing miles and making aware the previously silent occupants of the cave. A lilting hum began, gaining volume as the throbbing of the approaching horses did, rising and falling hauntingly, a siren’s song that drew in the dark ominous clouds, full of rebirth, the roiling of thunder and arching plumes of lightning that lit up the jagged gaping maw of the dwelling. Onyx scale shimmered and reflected the oily firelight as the ethereal melody came to a crescendo peaked in the cracking of the sky overhead and the pouring of the new life from within; in the shadows, the black dragon stirred.
The Queen rode with abandon, tearing her way across the country side, faster than the knights that were supposed to be her escort. She rode her draft horse hard, striking her flank when the woman felt the mare slow; but to what, she did not know. No, she knew nothing of the scaled witch she was desperate to reach, except of the growth that marred a once beautiful face and the power that Carla was desperate to gain. Not for herself did she wish this power, no. It was for something much more precious.
A small cough was audible to the Queen beneath the thunder of the hooves, forcing the woman to look down at the bundle she carried in her arms. “Shhhh… it'll be fine sweetling,” she cooed at the fussing lump, “You are safe with Mama… Just a little longer… Stay awake for Mama…”
“'M tired,” a weak voice of a child answered, his body too still and the hands that reached out too cold. Out of everything, the chill scared Carla the most. Life held warmth, and her son, her little princeling was losing the fire the woman held so dear.
“Yes I know my love,” Carla answered, gathering the boy even closer and squeezed her legs to push the mare impossibly faster, “But you must stay awake. Stay with me, Eren… Stay with your Mama…”
“Oh-...kay,” the boy breathed, green eyes peeking out beneath the blanket and staying fixed on the honeyed brown gaze above him. It was hard to listen to his mother's command, but Eren was a strong little boy, no matter his ailment. He would stay awake for his Mama for as long as he could.
Carla looked back to call out, “How much farther?” to Sir Hannes riding closest to her, her desperation almost palpable in the air surrounding the group.
“Down the hill and through the woods, my Lady! The cave will be there at the bottom of the mountain,” he answered immediately, trying to catch up, but failing as Carla forced her horse even faster into the shadow of the lonely mountain that rose high above them. “My lady! Wait! You mustn't go alone!” he called again, “My lady!”
Carla paid no heed to her knight’s warning, racing down the hill and through the forest, the scenery a blur as she rode. It wasn't until the mountain suddenly rose before her and the black gaping maw that was the witch’s cave come into view that she slowed. A stroke of fear stabbed her heart as she stared into the caves abyss and she was frozen until her beloved steed suddenly spooked, rearing on its hind legs and throwing Carla and her bundle to the ground to run in the opposite direction.
The hard fall was just what she needed to awaken it seemed, for the second her rolling body came to a halt she got up from where she landed on the mossy ground. The queen didn't even pause to dust off her cloak and dress or inspect the tears; she just scrambled to her feet to sprint into the cave without the company of her protectors. “Hello?” she called into the blackness of the cave ahead of her, trying not to stumble on the uneven ground as she cradled her son closer to her heart, “Is anyone there?”
“You’re not alone child,” came the eerily melodic and lovely response from the darkness, “Step closer. Don’t be frightened.”
“Are… Are you the scaled witch?” Carla asked, trying to calm the tremor in her voice as she clutched her son closer to her chest. She couldn't see in the darkness, and her reluctance was evident in the way her body tensed; instincts begging the queen to flee.
“I am…” Kuchel purred as she shifted in the shadows, running a soothing hand along her son’s scaled side fondly. With a wave of her hand, she beckoned the Queen closer to them and the smoldering torches ignited with new life at the movement, casting warmth and flickering light through the cavern.
“I know why you’ve come,” the serpentine witch continued without hesitance, “Bring the babe into the light. For that which you seek, I must know his heart.” She patted Levi’s side twice, gliding around him as he shifted in the deeper shadows of the cave, the barest flickers of colour dancing like oil on water as onyx scale caught the firelight. The woman came forward with outstretched and imploring hands, waiting for the other woman to make her decision. Step boldly or cower and flee. Either would cost her; she need only decide which price held more worth.
Just as Carla was about to step forward without hesitation, the smell of dragon hit her and froze her entire body. Fear like she never felt before swept through her body and choked her, turning her muscles into stone. All she could think of was fleeing the scent of the predator, until a little voice called to her from her arms, completely unafraid and unaffected.
“Mama?” Eren said, head poking out from beneath the blankets, startled by the unbridled fear he saw on his mother's face. “Don't worry! I'll-… I'll protect you from the monster! You don't have to be afraid,” he said weakly, trying to lift himself up in her arms, but failing in his frailty.
“Shush now my love… There are no monsters,” Carla cooed with a strained smile down at her child, voice cracking with the tears that had begun to form. “This woman is going to help you, you'll feel all better in just a moment!” she added, then looked up to the witch and gathered her courage to step forward towards the woman and the beast covered by the darkness although her body was shaking uncontrollably. “My son is ill… They said… the maesters said that it is his heart and there is no saving him,” she lamented to the witch, lifting the boy from her arms towards the woman. “I need your help… I need you to save my child,” Carla said, brown eyes lifting to look into molten silver, “I will give you anything that you want… Anything that I can… save my boy… Save the prince!”
“It is not you that has anything of worth to us, but the child does,” Kuchel said, taking the boy child from his mother’s hold, her own as familiar and tender as Carla’s. She looked down at him, cradling him with one arm while she brushed cool fingertips over his feverishly clammy forehead. His heart was fluttering anxiously, stumbling and tripping over its own beat, and so weak, it would soon run itself out.
“Shh, slow down now little tempest,” she cooed, her touch soothing the painful tightness from his breast and calming his rattling shallow breaths. She stroked his cheek with a smooth scaled fingertip, “Do you wish to live sweetling?”
Bright eyes blinked up at the woman for one moment, taking in the witch’s appearance. “You're pretty,” he said after a moment, still wheezing but lifting his small hand to touch the scales that grew on the side of her face. Petting her cheek delicately, his brows furrowed as he considered the question. “Mama will be sad if I died… I've been trying my best…” he said, hand falling down limply as his strength failed him, “Dada told me only the strong survive… And though hah I tried… I'm not… not strong… not strong like Dada…”
“Don't listen to him…” Carla cried in panic, stepping forward in haste, speaking to both the witch and Eren, “He's only a babe! He doesn't know what he's saying!”
“I’m a big boy now!” Eren answered, struggling to lift his head to look at his Mother, “I’m-... I'm not afraid to die!” he said, though his lip was quivering and his bright green eyes were filling with tears, “I'm not a coward! Dada… Dada said I'm to go to God because I'm not strong-”
“He’s wrong! You are strong!” Carla yelled, voice echoing off the cavern walls, turning towards Kuchel as she fell to her knees, begging, “You cannot listen to him! He knows not of what he speaks! You must save my boy! He's only a child, please!”
“Do not interfere. Let the child speak. I’ll know his truths,” Kuchel hissed warningly, looking down at Carla with compassion for a drawn moment before she turned her attention from the weeping Queen back to her son. “You are brave to not fear death little tempest, but are you brave enough to live? Your father is full of greed and ignorance. You must promise you will not follow in his footsteps; vow that you will be an honest, just, and fair king. Promise you will seek the old ways and remember them, that you will know humility and honour. That is the promise you must make if you wish to share of a dragon’s heart and live beyond the rising of the sun. Do you understand child?”
“He's too young, he will not understand-” Carla began, big droplets of tears streaming down her face as she got on all fours to clutch at the ends of the witch’s robes, but Eren interrupted her almost instantly.
“Dada is mean to Mama,” Eren said resolutely, tone as serious as a child that small could be, “I hear it at night… He hits Mama…”
Carla gasped loudly at Eren's admission, thinking that the boy was fast asleep when Grisha got far enough into his cups that his anger was awoken. She covered her mouth as she looked up in shock, silenced by the truth that her small baby boy spoke.
“If I live… I will not ever be like Dada,” Eren claimed, putting as much strength into his voice as possible, staring up at Kuchel with conviction in his sparkling green eyes, “I will be a knight, and save all the people of the land… Like the story book that Mama reads to me…”
“And should you not uphold your promise, will you relinquish your borrowed heart and die the death you escape here tonight?” Kuchel inquired, ignoring the hitch of Carla’s breath as she looked at the little boy.
Eren's lip quivered as he gazed upon Kuchel, his heart at the beginning of the end. “I don't want to be a dragon…” he whispered looking up at Kuchel with fear in his eyes as Carla gasped again before wailing loudly at her inability to untie her tongue and beg Kuchel’'s forgiveness for her son’s offense. “They are mean and eat people… I don't want to live to be a murderer…” Eren finished as he began to cry in earnest.
“Didn’t you promise you would not be like your father? What do you know of dragons; have you ever met one?” Kuchel chastised in a soft, scolding tone, stroking his back soothingly. “My son is a dragon, one of the very last remaining since the king made sport of slaying them. Should I abandon my only son? Should I not fear for him, care for and cherish him as your mother does for you?”
Eren eyes grew wide and he sniffled sheepishly, effectively chastised. “I haven't… I'm sorry,” he admitted to Kuchel, nuzzling his head into her arm adorably in apology. He had long since decided he liked this woman, she smelled nice and she was pretty. She was a lot like his own Mama. “Your son is a dragon?” he asked in awe, wonder in his voice and eyes. “He doesn't eat people like Dada said? Can I meet him?” Carla was continuing to cry at their feet, exasperated with this conversation, but unable to make a peep to steer the witch back to saving Eren.
“He’s very gentle. You will meet him soon, but before you do, swear that should he lend his heart to you, you will not neglect it, for a dragon’s heart is more precious than you know,” she said solemnly, glancing past the child in her arms to the shifting of the shadows behind him, meeting the mercury maelstrom of her son’s pupiless gaze, and watched him as he stretched out toward the boy’s back silently, curls of chilly condensed breath escaping his nostrils, forked tongue whispering as it flickered from between his massive jaws, tasting the air as he subtly scented the child.
A small giggle escaped Eren, hands lifting to run through the witch’s soft hair. “I'm a good boy! I will take good care of your son’s heart,” he promised sincerely, a large smile on his face. “Does that mean I'm marrying a dragon? Like how Mama gave her heart to Dada? I'll protect my dragon bride’s heart,” he said bravely, completely misunderstanding what it meant to be given a heart.
“That’s very sweet little prince,” Kuchel said with a kind smile before she turned her gaze to the dragon looming behind the little boy in her arms. “Did you hear that Levi?” there was a soft huff of cool breath that tousled Eren’s hair and Kuchel went on teasingly, “A marriage proposal! It’s about time too. Come now, don’t keep the boy waiting. Don’t you want to be a princess?”
The dragon glared at the woman, wrinkling his snout and snapping his teeth with a reprimanding hiss. But he stepped forward, craning his neck to look at the child’s face. Don’t make me regret this, a husky, deep voice murmured lowly, echoing in the confines of their minds since Levi had not spoken verbally. He reared up onto his haunches, snorting when the Queen cried out in fear, but didn’t acknowledge her further. He blinked both sets of reptilian eyelids as he focused his pupiless eyes on the little prince and one taloned foreleg rose to shift the layers of lacquered midnight scale from his vulnerable heart, offering it to the child in which all their hopes rested.
Eren's eyes were wide, vibrant green staring up straight passed the exposed heart to the grey eyes that loomed high above him. “So pretty…” Eren said in a hushed tone, in awe of the beast before him. “You are my bride then,” he said determinedly, an air of finality to his young voice, “I'll keep care of your heart… and then… then you'll find me when I am old enough...to... to marry,” he said, sudden weakness taking hold as the last beats of his heart carried out.
Eren didn't remember how his own heart was replaced with the dragon heart, just the sound of his mother's cries as the room faded out from view, giving one last smile to the dragon above him. It wasn't until the next morning that the young prince awoke with a start, looking around in a daze noticing that he was back bundled up safe in his bed. Shaking his head that in turn ruffled his brown locks, he jumped out of his bed and ran hollering to his mother's chambers in the castle.
“What an interesting dream you had little one,” the Queen commented after Eren told the whole story back to the woman as she put on powder to cover her red and tired eyes. At the time Eren frowned and vowed that it was all true and it had definitely happened, but as the days grew in number, he was pacified until he himself believed the whole night to be a dream just like his mother said.
It was after Eren's dream that the boy began to thrive, running and playing throughout the castle like he had always dreamed. He grew to be a young man of strength and beauty with bounds of endless energy and a temper inherited from his father. Of course Eren upheld his dreamed oath; he would never be like his father no matter his temper. He would control it; he had to. The young prince kept that oath until one fated day in the dead of winter. On that day, everything would change.