17 The Spark

Daemon stood across from his sister Serra as she prepared herself for their duel. She looked at him with venom in her eyes, while he could only look at her with joy; the fact that his sister was doing okay and not in some whore house or a man's mistress. Very often he had dreamed of his sister being tortured or dying because he hadn't saved her; to see her well and powerful was a burden off his shoulders. "Are you sure you wish to do this, I had hoped our reunion would be a bit more touching than this," Daemon said as he looked at her across the field.

Serra scowled at him as she twirled her sword in her hands "We will use live steel, if you lose you die it is as simple as that," she said not bothering to answer his question.

Howland who was next to Daemon looked concerned. While he knew Daemon was very powerful what he felt coming from the woman across the field scared him; Howland wasn't used to aura users projecting their malice through their auras, he had never experienced it before and so he wrongly assumed it meant that she was more powerful than she was. While Serra was indeed powerful —she needed to be to use such an advanced aura technique— she was not at the same level as Daemon.

"Are you sure about this Daemon?" Howland asked in a whisper as he stood next to his Lord.

"Don't worry, it'll be over quickly and I'll make sure no one gets hurt," Daemon said with a smile as he handed Howland Blackfyre.

"Keep a hold of this, I don't want it being said I won because of superior equipment," Daemon stated.

Serra saw him discard his sword and nodded towards Harry Strickland "Get him a sword I don't want it being said my victory was unfair."

Howland snorted 'Seems like they are similar in more than just looks,' he thought to himself.

"No need, I don't imagine I'll need one," Daemon shouted out to Harry who paused in his steps.

Serra growled at Daemon's arrogance, she would show him not to underestimate her. "Begin!" She shouted as her aura exploded out of her and her eyes flashed crimson red. Daemon was surprised as he had thought her aura would be larger than what he was shown; Serra pushed off the ground cracking it as she did and sped towards Daemon. Daemon let his own aura flare up —matching Serra's.

Though to Daemon's surprise as she got closer her aura started to grow at a rapid pace. By the time she was within reach of Daemon, it had grown to nearly ten times its original size though Serra quickly wrestled it under control and used 'Fortify'. Serra swung her sword in a side swing that Daemon dodged; Howland was blown away by the force of the swing and had to flip around midair to land on his feet.

Serra wasn't finished however and she rushed back to Daemon swinging her sword in an aim to cut him down. Daemon managed to stay ahead of her dodging each strike though it was a bit jarring. 'Her aura grows larger and smaller depending on how close she is to me, is that her ability?' He wondered to himself. Her speed kept on increasing and decreasing, this stopped Daemon from being able to get an accurate read on her.

Daemon launched an aura-filled kick towards her which she blocked with the flat end of her sword. She was forced back skidding through the dirt but quickly pushed back and thrust her sword forward intent on impaling him; Daemon however flared his aura condensed it into a sword and parried her sword upwards. Serra looked at him in shock as she hadn't seen someone shape their aura in such a way before —at least in a way that wasn't someone's aura ability. Daemon sliced through the air aiming for her stomach but Serra brought down her sword and clashed against him. "I'll kill you!" Serra growled out as she started driving against Daemon pushing him back, she then spun around slamming her sword into Daemon's aura-formed sword as he blocked it. However, due to the increased power that Serra channelled into her sword, she was able to slice through Daemon's aura; the young Blackfyre had to bend backwards barely avoiding the sword that slashed directly above him.

Daemon let himself fall to the ground before rolling backwards and jumping out of the way when Serra slammed her foot on the ground kicking up a large amount of dirt. "Serra, do you really not see I am your brother?" Daemon asked.

"Shut up pretender!" Serra shouted as she slashed her sword upwards, then led with a kick to the stomach which Daemon managed to catch and use to fling her back. "If this is all you've got then you won't win, I'm sorry if I have to get a little rough with you," Daemon said before releasing a bit more of his aura.

As he did however he saw Serra's aura grow as well. Serra rushed towards him again, Daemon prepared himself to dodge her blade again but much to his surprise she threw her sword at him which he had to duck under; Serra then wound her fist back and slammed it into Daemon who despite the surprise still managed to catch it, but a split second later the force seemed to hit Daemon and he was thrown backwards rumbling across the ground.

'What in seven hells...' Daemon thought to himself as he pushed himself up from the ground. He looked at his hand and saw most of his fingers were bent and discoloured; he released a large amount of aura and concentrated it in his hands, though he had to snap his fingers back into place first. 'The amount of aura she put into that punch wasn't enough to overpower me, but she did anyway... what's going on here,' he thought to himself as he released a bit more aura.

Daemon saw Serras increase again 'Her Aura seems to increase the same amount when I increase mine, but it dramatically increases when she gets closer, that's too powerful to be an aura ability so it must be the ability she gained from her eyes," Daemon reasoned as he prepared himself for another exchange with Serra. She rushed towards him jumping off the ground and aiming a kick for his head, he avoided the kick but had to cross his arms and block a second kick that she delivered while still midair.

Daemon was sent tumbling across the ground and straight through a tent as he felt his arms crack at the force. Howland looked on in horror and shock, while he was following along with the fight he didn't quite understand how she was able to bypass Daemon's guard like that. Daemon walked out of the tent and healed his injuries using his aura "Whatever ability you're using is quite powerful," Daemon said with a smirk.

Serra however was not in the mood to talk and she rushed towards Daemon and launched a flurry of punches at him. Daemon dodged and deflected each of them before sending his own ones in return; out of the both of them Daemon was the superior combatant and he was able to smash his fist into her stomach before kicking her feet out from under her. Serra rolled out of the way as Daemon slammed his knee down on the ground where she was, she then kicked up managing to connect her foot towards Daemon's hip. Daemon prepared himself for the pain but it never came which surprised him greatly 'She must've not been able to use her ability,' he thought to himself before grabbing the offending foot, spinning around and launching her into the air.

Daemon's curiosity was killing him and he decided that he would take the risk. He activated his crimson eyes just in time for Serra to rush back towards him and connect her fist with his hand; Daemon copied her ability the moment she used it on him and it was then he understood what she was doing.

"You're a genius sister..." Daemon said with a smile much to everyone else's surprise.

"To think your ability allows you to create weak spots on a person is incredible, but combined with your eye's ability to increase your aura based on your distance from your enemy, in a 1v1 fight you're damn near invincible," Daemon said in slight awe.

Serra narrowed her eyes at Daemon "Just because you know how it works it doesn't change anything, you will still die here," Serra said before increasing her aura to the maximum amount she was able to; of course, as she got closer it started to increase by a factor of ten. She was planning on ending the fight and killing Daemon right then and there.

She threw a combination of fast jabs as she knew that any one of them that managed to connect would be devastating even if they were blocked. What Serra didn't expect was for Daemon to attack her; Daemon sidestepped one of his punches before sending his knee straight into her stomach. A split second later Serra was hit by a massive force and was sent flying across the ground, she slammed her hand into the ground and stopped her momentum, but when she tried to stand up she fell back to her knees and threw up.

'Did he use my ability against me!' She thought to herself in anger. She quickly deduced that the ability of his eyes must be the capability to copy Aura techniques. She cursed at herself for underestimating him, she should've been able to guess that he would have a powerful ability associated with his eyes just as she did.

Daemon however wasn't finished and he rushed in towards her slamming his fist where she was, but Serra was able to avoid it at the last moment. However Daemon wasn't aiming for her, and a moment later the ground exploded throwing Serra back like a rag doll. She smashed into a rack full of swords and spears and she grabbed on before pooling her aura into it and throwing it with her full strength.

Daemon sighed "It's over Serra..." he said as he backhanded the spear while using her ability which shattered it entirely.

"I won't give up control to you!" She growled out as she tried to rush towards him again, though she ended up falling into the ground as she did. Serra while she had a large amount of aura did not have nearly the same quality that Daemon did as she never received instructions on how to increase it. Therefore the healing she receives from her aura is a league slower than Daemons.

Daemon managed to cause some internal damage when he slammed his knee into her and while it wasn't life-threatening it was affecting her ability to fight. Daemon brought his foot up aiming to kick underneath her chin but at the last minute Serra leaned back; however, what she didn't expect was for Daemon to bring his leg back down upon the back of her head knocking her out.

The Commanders of the Golden Company looked on in shock as their undefeated Captain-General was face down in the mud. "Take her to a bed and call for a Maester to treat her," Daemon instructed them, though they didn't move and still just stood there with dumb expressions on their face.

Daemon unleashed most of his aura and used it to project his malice. "Move now!" He shouted at them and they all snapped to attention before following his commands. After they left he reeled his aura back in and sighed; he then looked over towards Howland and smiled "I told you it would be fine," he said with a small laugh.

"Your hand and arms look broken," Howland said in a deadpan expression.

Daemon looked down and saw that they still hadn't fully healed "I'll be fine in a few hours," He said. Broken bones usually took a bit longer to heal than flesh did.

"Let's go grab some food," Daemon said as he put his arm around Howland.

———————————————————

"My Prince we have been tasked with bringing the Ladies Stark and Tully to Riverrun for the wedding, we can't possibly give you Lyanna even if you command it," One of the guards said as he rode in front of the carriage that both girls were in.

Lyanna and Lysa had both gotten out of the carriage despite the protests from the guards. "Prince Rhaegar what is this about? Why do you want me to accompany you?" Lyanna asked firmly as she looked at the Prince with mild concern. His gaze on her made her shiver but not in the same way Daemons did; with Rhaegar she felt slightly nauseous.

Rhaegar smiled at Lyanna "Lyanna I am glad that we get to meet again, I've come to inform you that I will be taking you as my new wife, it is vitally important for the world that you bear my child."

Lysa and Lyanna looked to Rhaegar in shock 'He's mad...' they both thought at the same time.

"I thank you... for your interest Prince Rhaegar, but I am already betrothed so I must decline your offer," Lyanna said through gritted teeth as she tried to not insult the man.

"A betrothal that I can and will break, I'm afraid to say Lyanna that your choice is not a factor in this matter, you will come with us," Rhaegar said a little more firmly.

"Prince Rhaegar this isn't funny anymore, clear the road and let us through, you can't kidnap a daughter of one of the Great Houses and not expect repercussions," Lyanna said as she walked forward pushing her way through the guards and standing in front of the horses. Lysa felt concerned wash over her as she saw the indifferent look that Rhaegar had on his face; it was clear that he didn't care whether or not Lyanna was from a Great House.

"Arthur..." Rhaegar simply said and in a flash, the man was off his horse and had already knocked out Lyanna before she could even release her Aura.

'Fools World'

Lyanna's body immediately disappeared in front of Rhaegar and the others and so did the other guards "Attack them, they're planning on taking Lady Stark!" Lysa shouted to the guards who stood there dumbly. While she felt slightly bad about sending them to their deaths, she needed to buy some time so that she could escape with Lyanna. Lysa struggled to pick up Lyanna as she didn't have access to her Aura when she used her ability; she had stretched it out at the maximum amount it could go which was around 300 metres. So it should give her a bit of a headstart.

Despite the guards being invisible they were no match for Arthur and Oswell who cut through them in barely a minute. Lysa had taken to the woods with Lyanna's unconscious body on her shoulders, her heart rate was increasing rapidly and sweat poured down her face as her muscles protested at lifting Lyanna. She didn't train as much as Daemon and Lyanna so while she has some degree of strength it wasn't much —especially not without her aura.

Lysa soon crossed the 300-metre barrier and her ability was deactivated. She no longer had any cover, and while she could deactivate her ability again, Arthur, Rhaegar and Oswell would all have their guard up and would most likely be using 'Focus' so they'll see the split second that Lysa's ability uses 'Scout' to activate. Lysa had no other choice but to keep running, Lyanna was her best friend and soon-to-be sister-wife, she couldn't let anything happen to her, or let that Prince get his grubby hands on her.

"Put her down." A voice said from behind her, when Lysa turned she saw that Rhaegar had caught up to her, at his sides were Arthur and Oswell.

"I won't let you take her..." Lysa said as she lowered Lyanna to the ground and stepped in front of her protectively.

"You are a nobody, you are weak, you're not like Lyanna or even your betrothed Daemon, step out of the way and I shall grant you a quick death," Rhaegar said reasonably.

"You'd kill one of the daughters of House Tully?" Lysa asked, she struggled to stop her voice from trembling at his words. Lysa couldn't even beat one of them let alone all three, so if they wished to kill her then she was dead.

"When I kill you there will be no witnesses, no one to know that I've taken Lyanna and no one to know you're dead, this is the way it has to be I'm afraid," Rhaegar said with an apologetic smile.

"Arthur, kill her and grab Lyanna," Rhaegar commanded.

"Yes My Prince," Arthur replied and immediately drew Dawn, he sliced the aura sending a slash of aura straight at Lysa. Arthur saw her try to avoid it but was caught in the upper chest by it; her body fell into two pieces on the ground.

Arthur approached Lysa's corpse and looked down at her. Lysa's eyes were glazed over and dead; confirming that she was dealt with he went to step over her only for his eyes to widen as the body that he saw as Lysa changed and it was now Oswell Whent that lay there in two pieces.

Arthur whipped his head up in confusion to see Oswell was not by Rhaegar's side where he remembered him being. What he saw instead was Lysa approaching Rhaegar from behind with a dragon glass dagger in her hand; he saw he bring it up into the air intent on jamming it into the back of the Prince's skull.

Arthur's aura exploded out of his body and in a second he had already made it back to his original spot where he impaled Lysa on his sword. Lysa coughed up blood as she tried to remove the blade but eventually, she lost strength and went still.

Though Arthur could immediately see something was wrong as he felt something pierce him in his stomach. When he looked behind him Oswell was standing there with his sword impaled into Arthur "You rotten little bitch, you think you can escape from me," Oswell growled out as he twisted his blade making Arthur groan.

"Oswell... your mind is being affected, she's playing tricks on us," Arthur tried to tell him.

"He can't hear you," Lysa told him, her body still impaled on Dawn —at least according to what Arthur was seeing.

Arthur used 'Focus' on his eyes but Lysa was still impaled on his blade; it seemed he couldn't break past the illusion that Lysa had placed them in.

"I will kill all of you before I let you hurt Lyanna," Lysa said before she disappeared.

Arthur had no choice and flared his aura before slamming his elbow into Oswell and forcing him back. 'Where is Rhaegar,' Arthur thought in a panic as he looked around. Whatever aura ability Lysa had was powerful but Arthur was able to deduce that it didn't extend indefinitely, he just needed to get to the barrier and he'd be able to find her and Rhaegar.

Arthur in a single flourish disarmed Oswell and slammed the flat blade of Dawn against his head dazing him. He then started to rush out of the area of Lysa's ability, however as he did he saw a large pit form in front of him and he fell inside, he watched darkness engulf him as he fell into a deep pit.

Oswell shook off the blow that had just been handed to him. He looked in front of him and saw Lysa with a sword drawn; she rushed toward him and they engaged in combat, she was more skilled and faster than he had thought possible and he found himself having to dodge hits that were aimed at his head.

'This is impossible, the girl can't possibly be this strong!' Oswell thought to himself as he activated his ability 'Perfect Counter' except it didn't work and Lysa broke through his guard and thrust her sword at him. He backed up in a panic and ended up falling to the ground where the grass started to grow and wrap around him, he flared his aura and started to rip it apart but it seemed to grow faster than he could rip it apart.

Arthur was submerged in pure darkness, he couldn't find which way to run as he felt he was going in circles. He considered activating his ability but due to its destructive nature he couldn't; he did not know how close Rhaegar was to him nor did he know where Oswell and Lyanna were. If he activated sunshine he could inadvertently turn them all to ash in his hunt for Lysa. 'She knows that, and so she put me into this hole...' Arthur thought to himself.

However, out of the darkness stepped Lysa again and she rushed towards Arthur who brought up his sword to deflect her own. He was cautious about fighting her as he was almost sure this wouldn't be the real Lysa. 'If it's fake then the blade won't hurt me,' Arthur thought to himself as he grabbed onto the sword while they clashed.

Lysa ripped the sword out of his hand which sent shots of pain throughout Arthur's body. He looked at his hand and saw that it was bleeding; he quickly had to bring his sword up to block another blow from Lysa he then returned one of his own which was aimed at Lysa's legs to incapacitate them. When the swords connected Arthur found his sword nearly being flung out of his hand as she perfectly countered him.

'I must be fighting Oswell, I'd recognise his ability anywhere,' Arthur thought to himself. Rushing forward he engaged Lysa who he now realised was Oswell and in less than 20 seconds he knocked him to the ground. He then channelled a large amount of aura into his hand and was about to slam it into his face to knock him out.

"Deactivate your ability"

A voice echoed out and immediately the illusion dropped. Rhaegar stood in the same space he was before with his hands behind his back; Lysa had managed to trick him by engaging him in conversation with an illusion of Lyanna who woke up. However, once Rhaegar realised he was being manipulated he used 'The King's Voice' to issue a command to Lysa to deactivate her ability.

Arthur helped Oswell up who was breathing raggedly from his mostly imagined fight. He looked to see Lysa who was still standing in front of Lyanna except now she was struggling to even stand; she had pushed her ability to its absolute limits in an attempt to defeat them, but in the end, it seemed like it wasn't enough.

"Lady Lysa Tully, I was wrong about you, you are indeed special, had I not been your opponent then it's possible you might've defeated them," Rhaegar said as he approached her. Lysa tried to flare her aura but she barely had any left, it was becoming difficult to even stand let alone try to fight.

"Though the world won't know what you did here, I will remember, I promise I'll never forget it," Rhaegar said as he placed his hand on his shoulder. Lysa breathed heavily as she looked up at the smiling Prince "I hope when you die you get offered the same luxury," she breathed out.

*Thunk*

Rhaegar sunk his dagger straight into Lysa's chest. He then moved her out of the way —making her stumble and almost fall over— and grabbed Lyanna off the ground in a bridal carry. Lysa fell to her knees as she looked at the dagger in her chest 'I'm sorry Lyanna... Daemon,' she thought as her breathing started to get more difficult.

"The world is going to know what you did..." Lysa croaked out to Rhaegar.

"With you gone I don't see that occurring," Rhaegar said, but when he looked at the look of pure victory that was on the supposedly defeated girl's face it caused him to stop.

Rhaegar's eyes widened as he finally realised his mistake. When Lysa had commanded the guards to attack she got three of them to hide where she hid them with her ability; they lay in wait until Rhaegar, Arthur and Oswell left to go after her. Once they were gone they stole their horses and butchered the rest, they then split up in three different directions.

"Where did you send them!!!" Rhaegar shouted as he uncharacteristically lost his composure —his aura flaring out of his body.

"It doesn't matter... soon every house is going to know what the Prince did," she said as she laughed.

Rhaegar shouted in frustration as he rushed off to his horses —that he did not know had been stolen— in an effort to catch the messengers that had been sent, leaving Lysa there in the forest clearing on her own.

'Fools World'

Lysa used the last of her aura to use her ability in a 5-metre radius around her.

"I've missed you so much Daemon..." Lysa said with tears in her eyes.

"It's a good thing I'm here then," Daemon said as he knelt down and placed his head against her own.

"I wish we could've... married," Lysa struggled to say as she coughed up blood, the metallic taste filling her mouth.

"We will marry unless you're already fed up with me," Daemon replied with a small chuckle making Lysa smile.

"Will you stay with me..." Lysa asked as she lay on her side, her strength starting to fail her.

"Always," Daemon replied as he lay next to her staring into her eyes.

"I... pray whenever I end up that I find you again," Lysa said as she reached out to cup Daemon's face.

"In this life or the next I'll find you," Daemon told her.

"Rest now," He told her

"I.....love."

Lysa's arm went limp and fell to the grass. Her breathing ceased

and her heart stopped beating and her ability collapsed.

Lysa Tully died in an unnamed forest clearing in the Riverlands at noon during the false spring.

(AN: Anyone see that coming? While some of you might say I killed her for no reason I did not, Rhaegar in my fic is smarter and wouldn't leave witnesses so Lysa was doomed to die just by associating with Lyanna. Lysa also knew about Rhaegars ability, well not entirely but she knew he had an ability to manipulate people based on what she'd witnessed, that's why she isolated him from the others and tried to convince him that he wasn't in an illusion. If she tried to force Oswell or Arthur to kill Rhaegar and he wasn't instantly killed then Rhaegar would discover it was an illusion and collapse the ability. She decided to play it safer and deal with both Oswell and Arthur before trying to deal with Rhaegar. Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter.)

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