Aemon Targaryen, 97 AC.
It has been a couple of months since the young Targaryen was born, and those months had been nothing short of torture for him.
Some people fantasize about being reincarnated, but they don't truly understand the process and the price of being reborn as a baby.
Aemon felt as if his own body were a prison made of flesh, and sometimes he thought he was going insane. Imagine not being able to control your own body; you can't even decide when to poop or pee. You can't stand up, you can't eat anything except for milk, you can't even speak without the possibility of being labelled as a demon or whatever.
'I have no mouth, and I must scream...' thought Aemon as he sighed like an old man.
And to make matters worse, there was that creepy sister of his, staring at him at any given chance.
Every time they were close, she would stare with that weird gaze that scrutinized him.
He felt naked, not just literally.
'Why is she such a creep??'
He recalled the time he woke up late at night and, out of curiosity, looked in his sister's crib direction—something he regretted greatly in the nights to come.
There she stood, staring at him unblinkingly through the golden bars of the crib. Her violet eyes reflected the candlelight of the room. Her pale face and nearly white hair made the fright even worse.
Out of reflex, startled by the sudden visage, he let out a screech that woke the servant tasked with their care.
Never had he been so scared in his life, or the last one.
After that, he tried, to no avail as he was just a baby, to distance himself from his creepy sister. But he could still feel her gaze on him from time to time, and the thought that she might be watching him sleep disturbed him greatly.
'There's something really messed up with her,' he thought.
He had to come up with some sort of solution, as his situation was already dire. He couldn't just sit and watch as his sister drove the last vestiges of his sanity away with her creepy antics.
'I have to talk to her, but first, I need to get close enough, preferably at night.' With a plan in mind, Aemon settled quietly, waiting for an opportunity to arise.
Such an opportunity came the very same day in the form of his parents. When Aemma caught Aemon in her arms and walked out of Viserys and Rhaenyra's reach, he began to cry. The cry, initially fake, sounded more real than he had planned. Perhaps he was closer to a breakdown than he had thought.
"Waaaaaaa!" His cry echoed with an unsettling authenticity.
"What's wrong, baby?" Aemma asked, puzzled. The twins were known for being oddly quiet and calm. They only made a sound when they were hungry or needed their diapers changed, and even then, they were discreet.
Viserys liked to joke that their children were born to be royalty, showing manners even as babies.
"What's wrong, Aemon?" Aemma asked, her voice filled with worry. This was the first time she had encountered such a situation.
Aemon kept crying as they walked away, and Aemma's panic grew. She hurried her steps to catch up with her husband, who cradled their daughter in his arms.
As soon as she got close enough, Aemon stopped crying.
"Huh?" She was greatly confused. Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind, and she decided to test her theory.
She stepped away from Viserys and Rhaenyra again, and as she did, Aemon began sobbing once more. She followed his line of sight, confirming her suspicion. A smile crept onto her face as she said, "It seems little Aemon doesn't want to be apart from his big sister."
Indeed, Rhaenyra, older by mere minutes, would undoubtedly hold this seniority over him in the years to come.
Viserys, amused by Aemon's antics, turned his gaze to Rhaenyra to see if she felt the same. Right on cue, the little girl extended her small, chubby arms towards Aemon, as if trying to touch him.
Viserys didn't notice, but Aemon saw the violet, calculating eyes of Rhaenyra staring at him, as if to say, 'I see what you did there; let me entertain you.'
Viserys chuckled softly. "Looks like it's mutual. It makes sense for them to not want to be apart from each other; they shared a womb for nine months, after all."
He meant what he said. Many believed that twins shared a special bond, something mystical that only they could understand. They were, in a sense, each other's half.
He pondered for a while before making a suggestion. "Why don't we let them sleep together tonight for a change? We can have some servants keep an eye on them from time to time."
Aemma thought for a moment and then nodded with a smile. "Yes, why not? Let them keep each other warm; the nights have been oddly cold lately."
Viserys, ever the charmer, seized the moment. "Oh, is that so? How about I warm you tonight, my love?" he said with passion.
Aemma blushed at his sudden flirtation but quickly responded in kind. "I expected nothing less from my handsome dragon."
The twins, seemingly disgusted by their parents' antics, tried to ignore them and focused on each other. Their gazes carried the same meaning.
'Tonight, we need to talk.'
~~O~~
After a few hours enduring the flirt of their parents, the babies were alowed to be alone again, and this time they were together in the same crib.
Aemon, eager to interrogate his sister, restrained himself as the servants where still nearby, their presence spoiling his plans.
Finally, as the snores of their watchful servant filled the room, he stopped pretending to be asleep and open his eyes.
What met his gaze nearly prompted a startled cry, as he found himself confronted by a pair of violet, frigid eyes peering down at him. He couldn't fathom how his sister had moved without disturbing him.
Though he refrained from screaming, a sharp gasp escaped him, followed by a muttered curse. "Jesus fucking Christ, what's wrong with you?" His expression pale, a proof to his shock.
Rhaenyra, undisturbed, just kept staring at him.
Growing tired of her silent scrutiny, Aemon exploded into a torrent of curses, his voice low enough so that only her could hear it.
"I know you understand me, you creep! Why don't you drop the facade and just answer me like a fucking human being?" His heart raced within his tiny chest, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
Rhaenyra, who was silently staring, sighed and finally spoke slowly.
Her voice a whisper on the air. "You definitely aren't Ruby..." Her tone carried a mix of relief and sadness.
Confused yet excited, Aemon realized he wasn't alone in his peculiar predicament. "Ruby? I don't know what you're talking about, but by the way you said it, it seems you thought I was someone else. I'm afraid I'm not this Ruby, It sounds like a girl's name. I was a male in my past life."
Rhaenyra's expression deflated a little, and she spoke with a tone of despondency. "You would be surprised..."
Observing Aemon's confused expression, Rhaenyra shook her head and changed the subject. "Enough of that. You planned this whole thing just to speak with me. So, what do you want?"
Aemon, suspicious of her swift change of topic, pretended not to notice it was a sore spot for Rhaenyra and continued. "What do I want? Of course it's to talk to you, for God's sake! If you're the same as me, which I assume you are, we've been reincarnated with our past memories as babies! Isn't this crazy?"
This was the first time in months he had spoken with someone. Months! Though not the most social person in his past life, he still missed human interaction. The only thing keeping him sane was the thought that perhaps his creepy sister was someone like him, offering him some semblance of hope.
Unbeknownst to him, despair had begun to gnaw at his very soul. Alone in an extremely hostile world, a world that could snuff out their lives at any moment, a single thought echoed through his mind right now: 'I'm not alone!'
That was the lifeline he needed; he wasn't alone anymore. Sure, his sister was a creep who liked to watch him sleep, but at least he had someone to talk to now, without the risk of being burned at the stake. More importantly, they could create a survival plan.
Rhaenyra was taken aback by his sudden shift in demeanor, but she somewhat grasped his thoughts. Though she didn't admit it, she was also relieved to have someone with her this time. The last time was Ruby, and now, as a girl, she needed any help she could get to endure this ordeal.
Aemon spoke to her in a more serious tone. "Okay, so we're stuck in House of the Dragon. What do we do now? Perhaps we can discuss which dragons we should tame, but before that, we need to learn some Valyrian..."
'Huh?' thought the young Rhaenyra. 'House of the Dragon? Dragons? Valyrian? What the hell is he talking about?' A sudden thought crossed her mind, and her gaze softened a little.
"Aemon, were you 'special' in your last life? Perhaps some kind of mental illness..." she tried to sound as sensible as she could, not wanting to disturb her possibly delusional little brother.
"What the f#ck are you talking about?" Aemon cursed her without hesitation. 'Is she calling me a ret@rd? This little...'
Rhaenyra, still believing her theory, continued, "Well, we can try to catch some dragons later, perhaps some unicorns too. How about that?"
Now that really pissed Aemon off. She was gaslighting him! "Listen here, you little sh!t! I'm not mentally ill, damn it!" Then a sudden thought crossed his mind. "Wait, don't you know Game of Thrones? House of the Dragon? Westeros? Doesn't ring a bell?"
Rhaenyra shook her head. "Doesn't ring a bell," she said, trying to recall anything called that but to no avail.
Aemon, now more serious, asked her something else to confirm his suspicions. "HBO? The TV show that's world-renowned? Really? Did you live under a rock or something?"
'Great, I'm stuck with a hillbilly now. Makes sense she's such a creep,' thought Aemon as he sighed with resignation.
Rhaenyra, perhaps sensing his rude thoughts, quickly denied such a notion. "I worked in showbiz in my past life. I think I would have heard of such a TV show if it was really real."
Both of them looked at each other, confused, as their statements didn't add up.
'Wait a minute...' both of them had the same realization, but they needed confirmation.
They proceeded to say as many shows and news of their worlds as they could: names of countries, presidents, political affairs, wars, and so on.
Finally, they came to the same conclusion.
"You are not from the same Earth as me."
That greatly disturbed both of them, as the magnitude of things turned a bit too close to cosmic horror.
Aemon then remembered the fact that the world of Westeros, Planetos, was filled with deities and creatures that defied common sense. The thought of being just a plaything of some greater twisted being crossed his mind for a second, and he was about to descend into madness with such a notion. He felt suffocated, unable to breathe properly, his heart about to leap through his throat.
Rhaenyra, watching the rapid deterioration of his psychological state, grasped his cheeks and made him stare into her eyes.
"Stop thinking! It's a waste of time, and you will go mad if you delve too much on this!" Even though she was just a baby, her voice carried a tone of serenity much needed by Aemon in his current state of mind.
He stared at her vibrant violet eyes for a few seconds, and soon his breathing calmed down, and he could feel his heart rate beginning to slow as well.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds and opened them again; this time, his eyes were back to normal.
"Thank you for that. I mean it," Aemon said, genuinely grateful to Rhaenyra, now more than ever. 'If she wasn't here, perhaps I would really descend into madness.'
Rhaenyra, trying to lighten the mood a little, joked while smiling—the first smile he had seen her express. "It's fine. It's my duty as your older sister to keep you safe." She recalled her past life sister Ruby and became a little melancholic.
She didn't want to reincarnate again, nor did she want a new family, but there she stood. She didn't want to admit it at first, but she was warming up to the Targaryens a little bit. Her dorky father, who liked to show her his figure collections. Her elegant and loving mother, who spoiled her rotten at any given chance and covered her with affection. And now, her little silly brother, who desperately needed her help.
'This time I'll not fail. I'll protect my family.'
With a new vow made in her heart, she asked Aemon, "So, tell me more about this world."