A Tale of Two Cities

It occurs to Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, that she could renege on her promise to Valerian, and that there's nothing the upstart prince could do to stop her.

She said that she'd land her zerg outside the walls of Augustgrad. To establish a beachhead in the blasted wastes of Korhal, once marked my nuclear fire, once marked by the UED invasion, once marked by her zerg as she tore into the planet's occupiers, and then her allies in turn. She could launch the Swarm against the most heavily fortified city in the Dominion, cut off the head of the serpent named Arcturus Mengsk, and depart to face a foe far more terrible than he. She could kill anywhere between thousands and millions of people and the outcome would be the same. Mengsk knows he's trapped. No doubt he's got some tricks up his sleeve, but if he wants to play the ace of spades, the queen of diamonds still has to come to the table.

So she sits there, in the depths of her leviathan. Pondering. Planning. There's technically another option she supposes – leave. But then Arcturus would still be alive, and that would mean more oppression and despair for those under his rule. And in what little remains of her humanity, lurking ever within her, it asks here what price it is worth. For her. For the people of the Dominion. For Valerian even. And Jim…he'll never look at her again. They'll never be in the same room again. What she did to break him from his chains has forever severed that which bound them. And still, she thinks of him. As psionic energy fills the air around her, the Queen of Blades pauses and thinks.

When her mind connects with another, it's sudden. She is the most powerful psionic creature in the galaxy, second only to Amon himself. So reaching across time and space in of itself isn't that surprising for her. What is surprising is that it is this mind that she reaches, of the trillion, trillion, trillion souls that are scattered across realities. That it is this woman, this girl, whom she touches.

She knows her name – Daenerys Targaryen. She knows her title – Stormborn. She knows that she has many titles – Mother of Dragons. The Unburnt. Breaker of Chains. Rightful Queen of the Andals and the First Men. The Undying. The True Queen. In what little levity Kerrigan has allowed for herself these past few days, she reflects that she might need some more titles of her own. Queen of Blades, Queen of the Zerg…both have "queen" in the title, and they're very simple descriptives. Also Queen Bitch of the Universe she supposes, but it only works in context.

The levity doesn't last long however. Because in this girl's eye, Kerrigan sees the world. Technically it is the world how Daenerys sees it, but in what she sees, the Queen of Blades has no reason to suspect that it's any different from the truth. Men kill men. Women wail. Children starve. Monsters come in the night, while in the day are the sound of chains, and the spilling of blood. This world is full of monsters, and the monsters are the ones who rule the world. Monsters sometimes arise to slay those monsters, but they always turn out to be monsters themselves, beginning the cycle anew. The rare few who aren't monsters are usually relegated to the butcher's axe, or if they're lucky, the footnotes of history. This world is not unfamiliar to Kerrigan. It is the world of Old Earth, that sent its human waste into the stars. It is the world of the Koprulu sector, where mankind could not avoid making the mistakes of its ancestors. It is the world she was born into – a world that turned her into a monster. It is both humbling and depressing that mankind's penchant for depravity extends across all realities.

And yet there are differences. First among them is that the girl with golden hair and green eyes which are ever open, is riding a dragon. Kerrigan's never seen a dragon except the ones she saw in books before her world changed, and the ones who provided her with those books paid the price. But it is a dragon – it is nearly as large as a brood lord, but given the damage the city in her vision has experienced, Kerrigan can suppose it is far more devastating. Swathes of the city are burning. People are screaming. Through her mind's eye, she senses the thoughts of over a million souls. Most of them are in fear. But some of them are consumed with hatred, and it is their thoughts that Kerrigan senses the most. It is their thoughts that she knows will dictate what will happen in the next few minutes, or hours, nay, days. And in the centre of it all, in the crux of her connection, in the epicentre of this world's history, is this girl. And though Kerrigan knows not the full sense of her mind (for even her telepathy has limits), she senses that she has a choice. That she knows she has a choice.

The bells are ringing. That means something. She knows that on Old Earth thousands of years ago, bells rang from towers to signify the coming of the faithful. She knows that bells rang for weddings, for births, for coronations. She herself has never heard bells ringing like that (congregations of the faithful in this sector are tucked away in its most remote corners), but she still recognises the sound. But in this case, what does it mean?

Surrender.

The word and the thought are able to reach her. A thought so focused and so pure, that from Daenerys Targaryen, it reaches the mind of the Queen of Blades. In a moment, Kerrigan sees so much more than what the Dragon Queen beholds. She sees her past – an army of horsemen. A red wasteland. An army of slaves. Broken chains and crucified masters. Cities in chaos. A fleet with black flags and red dragons. An army of ice demons laid low by fire. Love. Loss. Isolation. A simmering rage that threatens to overwhelm the kindness of her heart – a rage that has always dwelt there, and always threatened to do that. And in this moment...Daenerys Targaryen sees her.

She sees the assassin, striking down enemies of the Confederacy without mercy. She sees the assassin turn against her masters and deliver death in the same way. She sees world after world fall to the monsters of the stars, before the assassin becomes the warrior, then the queen. She sees the cycle over and over – death and destruction both, ending with victory and ashes. She sees the Queen of Blades, and knows her to be strong. She knows her to be victorious. She knows, in this moment, what she has to do.

No.

What she wants to do.

No!

She cares not, knows not, that the Queen of Blades would bid her do otherwise. She knows not that while the coin was flipped and landed for Sarah Kerrigan long ago, she has always toyed with flipping it back over, even if it be just whispers from what was left of her old self. She knows not what she's seen, what she's experienced, but she knows that the bells are ringing. And that while mercy might grant her love, victory will grant her fear.

Don't do it.

It is better to be feared than to be loved – such is the creed of Arcturus Mengsk, and such is the creed of Daenerys Targaryen. So it is without word that the Unburnt does what must be done, though there is a thought. A thought so pure, so powerful, that it reaches across time and space and reaches Sarah Kerrigan. A thought that was once a word, but now no longer needs to be said. One thought, one word, and her world, all worlds, shakes at it.

Dracarys.

She flies her dragon onward. In the sky are ashes. Upon the ground is fire. Between the two are those who scream, before being consumed by the fire to join the ashes in the sky. Such is the nature of that cycle.

The link is strained. The link is tenuous. Sarah Kerrigan knows that a million may die this day, and it will still be nothing compared to those who might die on Korhal. Less than nothing compared to the lives she has already taken. She has a decision to make, and dragons in worlds apart from hers should not affect it. And yet she watches. She watches the fire. She tastes the ash. She senses the monster that lurks in the heart of every man take control of the body, and rise to shed even more blood. There is one who tries to stop them. One who is, or was, close to the one who delivers death to the sky. One whom actually reminds her of Jim, in so many ways, from his thoughts, to his heart, to his very name. Yet his actions are for naught. Like Jim, he has served monsters. Like Jim, he did not recognise them as monsters until it was too late.

The connection ends. Maybe it snapped on its own. Maybe the Queen of Blades withdrew intentionally. Maybe the one in the sky, the one who seeks the title of Queen of the Ashes, was more powerful in mind than Kerrigan knew, and ended it herself. Sarah Kerrigan doesn't know anymore. Getting to her feet, looking inside the heart of the leviathan, her own dragon…she wonders what she does know. Only that Augustgrad is heavily fortified. Only that all its soldiers, and all its defences, will still come to nothing in the end. Only…She holds up a hand in front of her face. It is terran in shape, but zerg in structure…only that by her hand, millions will die…or perhaps less.

My queen?

Queen? Yes, that it what she is.

You were distant from the Swarm.

Is it her imagianation, or does Zagara actually sound concerned?

Are you alright?

Fine, Zagara, Kerrigan says through the link. We shall commence the attack immediately.

And your promise to the terrans?

Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, pauses. Promises. She knows the girl she saw in her vision made promises. She also knows she broke them. She knows now, as she has always known, that promises are cheap, and can easily be broken.

We shall bring our forces down outside the walls. The Raiders will be given the time they need to evacuate the civilians.

But this will cost us-

It will cost me more should I do otherwise. Kerrigan looks at her hand again and flexes her fingers, nay, claws. It has cost me much already…and cost this universe more than what the Dark God himself could fathom.

Your will be done, my queen.

Zagara sounds hesitant. But Zagara is loyal. The zerg are hers. The zerg are monsters, but unlike the soldiers in her vision, the zerg are monsters she can control. What happens here this day will be entirely up to her, and the emperor on the golden throne. Forged not by a thousand swords, but a million lies.

In her mind's eye, Kerrigan sees a sight far more familiar. She sees her leviathans move in to the kill zone. She sees tens of thousands of sacs be deployed from them. She sees the orbital defences of Korhal let loose fire and fury. Most of the attack wave will be destroyed before it makes it to the surface. But that is enough. That is her plan. That is her promise. And yet, as she sees the destruction, as she acknowledges the death that is to come, as she sees her leviathans hover above this world, this city, she whispers but a word. A word that every zerg hears, but none comprehends. A word that echoes across space and time, as surely as the ringing of bells.

Dracarys.

A/N

So when Daenerys goes Mad Queen on King's Landing, am I the only one who had flashbacks to Heart of the Swarm?

Almost certainly yes, and I'm not suggesting for a moment than HotS was a point of inspiration, but bear with me - Sarah Kerrigan/Daenerys Targaryen arrives at Korhal/King's Landing to depose Arcturus/Cersei, emperor/queen of the Dominion/Seven Kingdoms. She arrives with overwhelming force, and could take the city easily. However, her advisors urge restraint, among them being Jim/Jon who Sarah/Dany has a complicated romantic, albeit fraught relationship with. Key difference being Sarah takes the route of mercy, while Dany...doesn't.

Again, this is an extremely tangental similarity, but it got me to write this up.