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

47: Among the rubble

The sun dawned upon a ravished kingdom. A kingdom where a game still was played.

A game for power. A game for freedom. A game for the throne.

It was played upon the ruins from the last round of the game. It was played even though it was running out of players. It was played even though no one wanted the prize.

It was played by people who never were supposed to play. It was played by people who didn't want to play. It was played by people who were too young,  too emotional, and too broken to play.

The game didn't care, they were still required to play.

The sun dawned upon a kingdom where new wars were fought. Where men died in battles for nothing. Where castles fell and cities were turned into dust. Where new rubble was created on top of the ruins of what was already fallen.

But yet there was love. Among the rubble, it still managed to thrive. And love would win the game.

***

The sun dawned upon Howland Reed. He who thought that he had already fought his war a long time ago. Now finding himself wrapped up in a battle for the future of his lands.

He sat under the weirwood tree in the inner garden of his castle. Where the fighting from outside couldn't be heard. Finding a few moments of respite. The red leaves cascaded above him and reflected in the water around him, making the whole garden glow in shades of fire.

The fighting outside the walls had started. They wouldn't be able to hold the enemy forces at bay for much longer now. Maybe a few days, a week at most. And when they couldn't hold back any longer Howland would go down fighting for his beloved homelands. That's how he had always thought his life would end and it seemed inevitable now.

He thought of his children. Jojen and Meera. The son he had lost and the daughter he had let go. Hopefully, she was safe. Hopefully, she was with him, the man she so obviously loved. Surely she would have gone to him. To Gendry Baratheon.

He had made Meera leave to save her. But he knew she would only leave if she could save her home, so that's what he had told her she could do. And maybe she would. She was their only hope now, to prevent the inevitable.

As he sat there he suddenly heard a voice. A voice hadn't heard for a long time. A voice seemingly coming from the tree behind him. A voice delivering a message to him.

"She's coming. They're coming," the voice said. The voice of his son, Jojen.

Howland knew what that meant. It meant he had to hold on. Because Meera was coming to save them. Meera and the man she loved.

***

The sun dawned upon Tyrek Lannister. He who was destined was to only be a pawn in the schemes and games of his family and defend their honor in battle. Now thrust into a position of power, but unable to ever stand on a battlefield again.

Tyrek hobbled into the bedroom he shared with his wife. Which was now in one of the rooms facing the upper garden of Casterly Rock. He sat down on the bed and put his crutches up against the bed frame, only to have them immediately fall over onto a table. The table toppled over and the vase on top of it fell on the floor and broke. The sound, of course, woke up his wife Talla.

"Tyrek, what are you doing?" she asked and sat up in the bed, still half asleep.

"Breaking stuff apparently," he replied with a shrug.

"Did you throw your crutches on something again?"

"I didn't throw them... they fell."

"What did you break this time?"