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You are no son of mine.
I am your son. I have always been your son.
He was dead. Tywin realized it again and again. He also realized she had no clothes, but the thought didn't bother him. He felt like a newborn child, and he stepped back to spin, letting the lights glow.
"You were always observant, my son. That's why you were the youngest Hand of the King, isn't it?"
That voice. It had been so long.
"Father."
He haven't heard his father's voice a years before Lord Tytos actually died. Right, after he slaughtered Reynes at Castamere's destruction. He did it without his father's consent. He did not even bother to tell him about it before his job was done. The father then refused to see him. He would rather spend time with that common whore than with his own son. The son who won undying respect from him. No one of the vassals ever dared to oppose their House. But his father refused to see, refused to listen. Tywin was then named by Aerys as his Hand. Such an honor for his house. But his father refused to come to his celebration, he even refused to meet his own grandchildren. Joanna brought them to his bedroom, but Lord Tytos send his common whore to tell his son's wife, that he is busy. Gemma and Kevan tried but father refused to see them too. A year later, he died while he was coming to his whore.
"I couldn't even say goodbye to him." But Tywin made sure his father's whore paid for it. She was the one who lead Tytos's head. She told his father, not to see his own son.
And there he was. He looked younger, healthier than Tywin remembered him. Tywin felt like a child himself. He wanted to run to his father, to kiss his dear hand. No matter the shame, his father caused, he was still his father.
But Lord Tytos hadn't looked happy to see his firstborn son. He looked behind him. There was a shadow of a woman with golden hair. Just like their daughter.
"My love." He wanted to come closer, but there was an abyss between them.
"In her last breath, she gave under your protection what was most precious to her in her life. Even more than her own life. Her children." said his father with a strict face. Where was this anger when Ellyn Reyne lived?
"Was this how you took care of what was given to you?" his father's look wandered to his belly where his imp son fired a crossbow.
"I did not though this would happen."
"True. Being ruthless was what made your name. It kept you strong and kept you alive. But you went too far. A fear, terror you liked the power it gave you. You lost your path by becoming cruel..." his father looked sadly at him. Was he pitying him? Toothless lion, pitying him?
"What do you know, how it was for me? What do you know? While you were enjoying your whores and drinking with our enemies, I fought with lions, dragons, wolves, snakes, and deer. I was alone. No one stood there for me. No one was by my side."
Once again, his father shooked his head.
"Yes, it was my weakness that caused the direction of your ways. And yes, you did what you had to when you fought the red lions."
This was the first time, his father appreciated what he did.
"I wish you said this when we lived, father."
"But you went too far. And you didn't have to be alone. You could have your children. You could lead them, walk by them, teach them better than you did. Everything could be different. But you liked the power which you could use against those who wronged you. Even innocent."
Lord Tytos again looked at the shadow of his dead daughter-in-law. "Do you remember the day, she died?"
How could he forget? It was the worst day of his life. The hole, she left behind was never healed.
"Your old maester asked her if she would prefer to let a baby die, or die and her baby would live. She knew, what she was choosing, Tywin."
Yes, and his old maester then died in one of the jail cells in Casterly Rock. There, the rats could whisper their wishes to him.
"It was not her choice to make. She belonged to me. I was her lord husband, it was supposed to be my decision." He was at the winter hunt, the day Tyrion was born. His wife was in her eighth month, there was supposed to be more time... But when he came back home, his wife was giving birth already, and she already made her fateful choice.
"She called him a most beautiful baby, didn't she? It was her who gave him the name Tyrion. Her precious Tyrion, her baby boy. How could you be so selfish, when she would do anything for you? Except for giving up her beloved child. The cub, she learned to love while he was growing inside her. The very same, you hated from the moment you set eyes on him."
Tywin pretended he haven't heard him. I will not waste more time from eternity thinking about that cunning creature. He is already dead because of him.
"And what did you do? Did you insult her memory by punishing her son for her choice? You insulted her by blaming him for sins that were not his. She died because that is what Lannister does according to you. She put the House Lannister in front of her. She put a future of your legacy in front of her own life. She left you, and she knew, she was leaving you."
Enough. That was enough.
She and Aerys. He knew it was only rumored. He knew, his wife would not betray him. Still, Targaryens were known for their deformation. There were none in his famous house. He could be never sure, even now. He could never know for sure. And she was there. He has to ask her...
"You almost became the murderer of your own blood. Filicide murder! Filicide!" suddenly his father screamed. Horrified, he was...
"He never screamed at me before..."
"No, I wanted to send him to the Wall..."
Lies... Always more lies.
Enough, enough, enough.
Just like he lied to his father when he promised him to respect his decision about Reynes...
"Let me see her, father. Let me go to her."
Lord Tytos stood more firm.
"I can not. Where you go, you can not see her anymore. Why do you think, you can see her shadow now? She wanted to say her goodbyes before you go."
Where will he go?
"Father?" But Lord Tytos was gone already. So was the shadow of his lost wife.
On the ground, there were bodies under the iron throne. That Martell bitch and her bastards, they were his trophies. He was so proud when he presented them to a new king. Even more than, when Aerys named him his hand.
"Father?"
"The Martell princess Ella screamed your name, did you know my son? She screamed to call off her killer because she knew, she knew it was you who made that choice. The cat of her daughter followed you from the shadows, and so did her owner. So did all the ghosts from your past. I could hear them all these years. There are waiting for you, Tywin. There are waiting in your own darkness. You have to pay, my son. Lannisters always pay their debts."
He was falling. Falling into the darkness that swallowed him.
" You had chosen wrong."
"Please, father. Don't leave me again... Father, where are you?"
" Some debts will be paid by your soul. Others have to be paid by your own blood. You have to pay."
Darkness came for him at last...