Day 5 of #LcmdFatedAu event: Classic fantasy.
Inspired by the "Harry Potter" series, featuring lucemond as tomarry.
The entire wizarding world held its breath in anticipation of the next realm's delight, the boy who was promised, wondering whether he would join the ranks of Hufflepuff considering his charming personality, or follow in his brother's Gryffindor footsteps.
When the moment finally arrived and he stepped into Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat's declaration was immediate and resounding: "SLYTHERIN," it cried as soon as it dropped on his head.
Lucerys found himself face-to-face with his uncle, who was his senior by four years.
The smirking and smug of face Aemond Targaryen, familiar yet different, gave Lucerys a pause in his carefully written life plans. Slowly, he returned the smirk.
In contrast to other families, the inbreeding in the Targaryens did not produce squibs; however, they couldn't evade the madness that coursed within their blood. Lucerys was always aware that his uncle fell under that predicament, thoughless and cruel, a certain belief confirmed further by the eye scar incident five years ago and the discovery of his dragon dreams.
Aemond's affinity for the dark arts was an open secret, yet his mother, hailing from one of the lightest families of the Sacred 28, took it upon herself to "guide him onto the path of light." This was despite the fact that all her offspring bore the blood of dragons.
Lucerys embraced the task of dismantling Aemond's tyrannical notions regarding purebloods and Muggle-borns. Moreover, it wasn't a secret that Aemond had developed an unsettling fixation on him. Still, Lucerys couldn't find fear within himself nor reject the attention he garnered.
It was alluring in a way, the freedom from not having to live up to being the world's saviour, to be wanted solely for who you truly were.
In time, their connection deepened into love. This became another scandal, coinciding with his mother and Daemon's marriage. History doesn't repeat itself, but it certainly carries an inherent rhyme that keeps on playing in the background.
But love alone couldn't shield Aem from his destiny. Despite Luke's plea that he forsake immortality & unreasonable power, it all came to nought. His ominous dreams held a promise for a miserable future for both of them; one lost in the shadows and the other buried under flames.
Aemond's darker inclinations ultimately consumed him. He betrayed Luke's trust and oaths, fully embracing his Voldemort identity during the four years of separation from Lucerys. Luke was left heartbroken, grieving the loss of the love he believed they shared.
Luke tried to confront Aemond about soul magic and its consequences. Regrettably, Aemond remained obstinate, his mind frayed, his magic nibbling at his rationality and logic. He realized too late that his lover was irretrievable.
His aemond was lost to a morbid dream.
"My affection for you was never as innocent as children's fables; it was much more insidious. It engulfed the world, expanding ceaselessly. My love's threads were void, consisting only of myself, and the days elapsed until they could no longer bear me. Nothing had ever carried me away from this world until I thought my soul was forfeit, that perhaps I had died." - Lucerys Velaryon
When the moment of reckoning arrived, a crucial decision compelled Luke to decide between saving Voldemort (or what remained of Aemond) and protecting the Wizarding World. The love he held for Aemond clashed with his duty as the "Chosen One," leaving Luke shattered by the heartbreaking decision he was forced to make. Yet, as difficult as it was, he persisted.
After destroying the 7 horcruxes (where a piece of him shatters along the vanquished soul pieces of aemond), Lucerys sacrificed himself to deliver the final blow that destroyed the last horcrux, which Luke discovered had dwelled within him since the eye incident.
Without looking back, and after believing his love was forever gone, Luke departed from the station on the train to the afterlife. He didn’t wait for Aemond to follow or spared a glance for those who were still alive, ready to serve him up like a pig for slaughter.
As the train carried Lucerys onward, he held Aemond's Slytherin cloth pin, passing through the tapestry of his memories. His soul pounded against his ribcage, pleading to be released, seeking his heart, yearning for its holder.
He understood the bittersweet truth—there was no "everafter" for Aemond. there was nothing real in his story except himself, alongside the companionship of his missing heart. For his love, his lover, their world, & all the creations their love spawned held nothing of reality.
