The Stag and The Frog - (GendryxMeera GOT fanfic) Part 1: Alone

24: Becoming free

The early morning sun shone in through the cracks in the walls and ceiling, lighting up the burned remnants of the throne. Where the mighty Robert Baratheon once had sat. He was gone now. The throne was burned. The castle was broken. The city was fallen.

But none of that mattered to Robert's son who now stood there alone. In the house of his father for the first time. Because he wasn't really aware of where he was. His head was clouded. He was intoxicated from lust and excitement. The taste of her lips lingered. The imprint of her body remained. The scent of her enveloped him.

Meera Reed was no longer just a flickering thought in the back of his mind. She was a fire burning inside of him, consuming him, engulfing him, embracing him.

Gendry went out on the balcony again, standing right where his father had once stood. But he was much happier than his father had ever been while standing there. Because his father had never had love while in this place. Gendry leaned on the railing and inhaled, trying to get his head back to reality. The world around him started to take shape again. But yet a sensation remained inside of him, a tingling that wouldn't go away.

It would never go away.

The early morning light reflected in the water down by the harbor, making it shift in deep orange and blue. A ship crossed over the colorful lines in the water, breaking them into waves. Maybe it was her ship. Maybe it was Arya leaving forever. And he was left behind forever. He felt at peace with that. Their story had come to an end and another story could begin. What that story was he didn't know yet but he knew he was ready for it. And he hoped it involved Meera Reed.

He felt free now, unburdened by who he used to be and what he had been through. It didn't matter anymore.

Because he knew now that he was capable of moving on, of loving again. He could see a future where he wasn't alone in a too-big bed. A future where he didn't doubt himself every single moment. A future where he was happy.

Something was looming in the back of his mind though, threatening to shatter that vision of a future. The truth that Meera had told him about the new king they had elected. Because Gendry believed Meera. Of course, he did. Gendry would always believe Meera. He believed that the new king wasn't Bran Stark. And that could threaten the future he saw before him, the future where he was happy.

Gendry wouldn't let him. He wouldn't let anyone take his future. He would fight because he had the power to fight now. Whoever it was he had to fight.

He looked down at the floor of the balcony, at the red carpet. Gendry didn't know it but Queen Cersei had stood there not many days ago and cursed his name. The woman who had been the undoing of his father. Now she was gone too.

The carpet was dirty and fraying and Gendry thought he could see something underneath it. Another color. He crouched down and folded one corner of the carpet up. And there it was, yellow as the Baratheon banners. Hidden underneath. Right where they had stood at that moment. The moment when Meera Reed kissed him. The moment when everything changed. When a flickering flame turned into a bonfire.

Gendry felt it now. His father was still there. He was still in the castle. He did see his son.

"Thank you, father," he said. "For showing me the way. For bringing me here. For bringing me to her."

He put his hand on the yellow carpet, just like he had done on his father's grave. Remembering the promises he had made.

"I know you see me, father. And I know what I promised. I will never forget. I will do you proud."

Then he got up and exited the balcony. He left to be Lord Gendry Baratheon. He left to keep the promises he made to his father. He left to begin a new story.