Daemon Targaryen

(Aerion's POV)

"What in the seven hells are you doing?!" I exclaimed, "Explain yourself!" 

Daemon took a step forward, giving me a sly smile, "Take it easy." He said, "I am here to talk to you."

"Talk?" I said with a frown, "You want to talk? After all this time, you finally want to talk?" 

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you back in Driftmark." He said, "And on the Stepstones. After I burned several hundred men, I grew bored and flew straight over here, heard there was a Tourney." 

I scoffed, "Of course." I said as sheathed my blade, "That's what brings you here." 

"What brings me here is you and my daughters." He said seriously, "And my granddaughter." 

I took a step closer to him, "I have nothing to say to you." I growled, "Nothing! And what is with this? These secret passages you know about?" 

"I've known about these for a long time. I used to use them to sneak away whenever my Father forbade me from going out." He said as he looked around, "They're quite useful." 

"Yea, figures." I said

"Make no mistake, Aerion." He said, "It is about time we speak to each other. It is about time I get to meet my son." 

"So now.....Now you decide so." I said, "After so long, you finally decide that. What...what fucking gives you the right?!"

"The fact that I am your Father." He said seriously

"To hell with that!" I shouted, "To all of that!" 

"I understand that you are upset but you have to know...." He started, "That I...." 

"What?" I said, "You know what? Forget that, forget me. I don't give a shit. Where have you been this whole time? Pentos? Not once have you written to Baela nor Rhaena, not a single time. Yet you come here and go straight for me when you should go to your daughters who need you. You ran away from them, like you did with me. What the fuck is wrong with you?" 

He looked down, "I...." He started, "I was in mourning.....their mother....I cared for her." 

"Is that what you told yourself when mine died?" I said as I walked up to him and looked down at him, "When she had that accident? Is that what justified your absence? You were in mourning?" 

"Watch yourself." He warned

"Oh fuck you." I said taking a few steps back, "You weren't there, Father. Not a single fucking day of my life. You know what my thoughts were when I finally saw you after sixteen years? I thought to myself: 'Wow, he's small'. That's all! I didn't think anything else! Because at that point, I didn't give a shit!" 

He looked at me, "Yea, you said that." He muttered

"Yea." I said as I glared at him, "And after all this time, after all the absent years, you think you can come back into my life? Do you think you deserve to meet her? My daughter? What gives you that right, huh? You! The.....man that was never there for me?! When I first took my first steps or learned my first valyrian words.....or when I shot my first arrow that hit its mark.....or when I was able to wield the sword properly there....You....you weren't there when she died...You weren't FUCKING there..."

"Aerion..." He said

I walked up to him again, "When I claimed Vermithor....I thought maybe that would change...that you would give a shit....But no....nothing...but a sword....." I said, "And while I do appreciate that...while I appreciate the thought, the fact that my own Father even acknowledges my existence, You were still not.....there..." 

I felt my hands shaking out of pure rage as I tried not to lose control of my emotions. I took several step back and I sniffed, wiping my nose in an attempt to check for tears that may have been shed without my knowledge. 

"Well, I am here now." He said as he looked at me

"Oh really?" I said, "It's a bit too fucking late." 

"Well, I am, Aerion." He said, "Because of him." 

"Who?" I frowned

"Your Grandfather....my old man..." He said looking down, "Baelon." 

"What does he have to do with this?" I asked him

"When Rhaenyra was born...." He started, "There I was, being dragged by Baelon Targaryen into the chambers and I saw Aemma, lying there holding my brother's daughter.....there was nothing but happiness there, nothing but...Joy in the faces of my brother, my good sister, my own father.....I didn't understand it....I really did not." 

"Hm..." I said, "Well, at least you were there for a birth, weren't you?" 

He ignored that as he looked at me, "I asked your Grandfather what the whole deal was, why he was so happy...." He continued, "He told me that when I have my own son...and if he has a daughter....I would understand.....I would understand the joy that he felt. I ignored it, dismissed it to be one of his jovial absurdities....But when the girls were born, Baela and Rhaena.....I was there, next to Laena on her bed....I felt.....good.....I felt....guilty." 

I stood there, looking at him. I never thought I would hear those words coming out of his mouth. I was sure....no...I was hoping.....that he would have been present at the birth of my sisters. At least they got to experience what I did not. I was a bit envious of them, I admit...but nothing mattered to me more than them having some sort of normality when it came to family. 

Well, we're Targaryens, there is nothing normal about us. 

"Guilty?" I said, "Of what? Me? The fact that you had a son across the sea, in Runestone? When you were in Driftmark? A short flight away? I find it hard to believe." 

"Believe it if you want, It's true." He said, "I am here, Aerion! I am trying to connect with you." 

"Oh, are you?" I asked, "How about a letter once in a while? We can start that way." 

"You can always ignore a letter." He said

"Yea, I can." i said as I looked away, "Probably because I don't want to connect with you. Not anymore. You don't deserve to know my life. What you should be doing instead is be with your daughters, they're the ones who need a father in their life, not me." 

"That's not true." He said, "All men need their fathers to guide them. Even Viserys and I....we needed Baelon." 

"I doubt Baelon The Brave had any impact on you." I said with a scoff, "The way you turned out." 

"And what does that mean?" He asked

"Viserys was there." I told him, "He was always there, as much as he could. He's the one who would write to me, constantly nagging me about how my health was. It was nagging, sure, but hey, I always welcomed it. Every time I visited the capital, the first thing he wanted for me to do is visit him and I always did and he stopped everything he did to greet me. And you know what? You wanna know who was a better Father than you ever were to me? You know the one thing that probably keeps you up at night? It's the fact that one of those Old Bronze Cunts raised me to be a better man than you ever hoped to be. Ser Gerold was my Father and guess what, my Father fucking died and I mourned him, I fucking mourned him while you were across the fucking narrow sea!!" 

I was done. All the frustration that was dwelled up inside of me, it was gone. I had said what I wanted to say to him. I didn't care what came out of his mouth, I didn't care what he did, so long as he didn't bother my family. 

He looked at me, a bit hurt from my words, but I didn't care. He deserved to hear what I needed to tell him. 

I turned around and began to walk away. 

"Aerion." He said

I stopped and looked at him, "What?" I asked

"I'm participating in the Tourney tomorrow." He said, "If I win, I will meet my Granddaughter, whether you like it or not."

I scowled, "Oh, You won't win." I told him, "You bet your ass you won't." 

"I'll beat you down to the ground if we meet in the arena."