AU: I really disliked what happens to Renly B. in the books. So, here's my answer to all the Baratheon problems, with the help from a rose. Warning: I changed a lot of things in the series, starting with this chapter obviously, but the story does have a happy ending. More from Renly's and Loras' POV. Please leave a comment if you want this story to continue! Thanks!
The Stag and The Rose: Fire's End
Something whispered to Loras, telling him to keep an even closer on his lover than normal. The King's tent was heavily guarded, with Brienne keeping a watchful eye on anything that might pose a threat. Unfortunately, not all threats originate from the world of man and a dark shadow loomed in the dark corners of its target's safe abode.
Renly Baratheon had unknowingly called for Loras, whether it be from his heart or mind, for help with undoing the buckles to his golden armor.
The beautiful blonde had a comment ready to fire at his lord's incompetence with undressing himself when the shadow foresaw an opportunity to strike.
"Renly! Get down!"
The shout startled the King and he just now noticed how cold it became in his tent. A harsh shriek deafened his ear and a coldness ripped in his side. Agony blinded him to the scuffles in his tent, to another scream but of defeat. He felt oddly weak and couldn't get up from what he thought as groveling on the soft grass.
A pair of strong hands, not his Loras', gently turned him over and he gasped, as if now realizing how to breathe.
"My Grace!" It was Brienne of Tarth, the tall graceful female warrior who looked down at him with frightened eyes.
"Lo...Loras?" He asked and felt a twinge of guilt when he realized that he should have asked for the slender Margaery.
"It was a shadow! A damned shadow!"Someone else shouted angrily but Brienne ordered him to quieten.
"Where is..." The name came out in a wet cough and Brienne's face paled at the sight of crimson rivulets running down the downed King's lips and chin.
"He is rallying the guard and has sent for your wife already."
"No..." Renly struggled to get up but Brienne's hand firmly pushed him back down. "...Loras...L..."
His beloved's name followed him into merciful darkness, a blanket of comfort against the nightmares.
-o0o-
He awoke suddenly, a scream of agony awakening those who stood vigil over his bed. A face of sunlight came into his view and the sight of his beloved calmed him almost immediately.
"...where...how..." Memories of the night before skittered before him, like mice scrambling to their holes once light shone upon them. All he remembered was the sudden coldness and harsh breathing in his ear before excruciating pain erupted forth into his body and mind.
Loras stroked the side of his face lovingly and what fears the young King had in ousting their relationship to the others were quelled when he noticed that only Brienne and Margeary were present, though their backs had respectfully turned on them, to give the pair much needed privacy.
His mouth felt unnaturally dry and he licked his lips. Before he could ask for a cup of water, Loras had already placed it in his hands, urging him to drink with a soft whisper. Cool liquid seeped into his mouth and revitalized his parched body.
The fog in his mind cleared enough for Renly to fully realize the extent of his injury and his hand lifted the heavy blankets from his body. A bandage stretched out on his lower torso and it was clear of blood for now. However, feeling the crispness of the gauze told him that his wound was recently dressed and he snapped his gaze back at Loras, intimately knowing that it was his beloved who had taken care of him for the past day.
"Stannis...the battle?" Renly promised his brother that no means of assassinations would occur before the anointed time. It seems, however, that the idea was not mutually shared.
"We won," Loras said with a grim smile on his fair face. It seemed so far out of place, Renly thought, to see such a grim expression on a face full of sunshine and life.
"But how?"
It was then that Brienne had turned around, with Margaery smiling upon the both of them, more at her brother than Renly.
"Loras had the wits to order a witchhunt and with Melisandre slain from a beheading and her body burned to ashes, Stannis had no chance to confront us successfully, your Grace."
The female soldier's unwavering formality, even when talking to a wounded King, never failed to amaze the Tryells, let alone Renly.
"But, how did Loras find out about this?"
"Something compelled me to your tent at the right time and I saw a shadow hovering near you. Knowing that the red priestess had threatened you with shadows of terrors from the meeting with Stannis earlier, I realized that she is the source of Stannis' power and ordered only the best to capture her."
The youngest and only Baratheon heir to the throne left from this wretched war of the Kings, Renly literally felt sick to his stomach and he pushed Loras to the side none too gently only to retch over the side of his bed. Luckily, Loras knew his king so well that a bucket had been placed there earlier in the morning. The blonde soothed his king with long strokes along his back and he whispered comforting phrases in Renly's ear as the king continued emptying his stomach until his body had nothing left to give.
Once the heaving stopped, Loras asked for a wet cloth and he laid it across the pale forehead as Renly collapsed back into the satin sheets, exhausted and still feeling weak from his wound.
"Is Lady Stark well?" His question brought relieved smiles to his visitors' faces for despite the assassination attempt on his life, nothing could change his good heart.
"She is well and recovering in her own tent." Brienne answered and Renly nodded his thanks, though the movement brought another bolt of pain lancing through his head.
"Rest," Loras whispered to him softly and Renly knew that all was well whenever he would gaze into Loras' gentle eyes. Hypnotized by the deep green, Renly sighed out his lover's name, his eyes fluttering closed as he fell into a healing sleep.
The threesome watched their liege fall asleep and it was Loras who kissed the slumbering man. Margeary smiled approvingly at the gesture while Brienne tried to look stoic but she too smiled, though small in comparison to her grace's wife.
"That was too close," Brienne said quietly, not wanting to disturb her King's much needed rest. "Are you sure the red priestess is dead? I know not of magic but hers is quite disturbing and powerful.:
"Yes," Loras answered in a hard voice. The blonde Knight brought the blankets up to cover his King and faced the tall female. "I made sure of it,"
The steeled glint in the once affable and charismatic Knight's eyes did not frighten Brienne of Tarth. Instead, she returned that same steely gaze and bowed briefly to the Tyrells before departing the tent.
Margeary shared the soldier's worry and Loras comforted her with an embrace. Tears dripped unto his shoulder guard but the older brother didn't care for that.
"We could have lost him..." the younger sister sobbed. "Are you for certain they are both gone?"
"Do you not believe in me, sister?" Loras asked. Margaery sniffled and she shook her head in reply.
"I will see to Lady Stark and see how she fares,"Margaey pulled back from her brother's warm hug and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "Take care of him."
"Always," Loras promised his sister and he watched her leave the King's tent. The happiness in his eyes that always alighted upon the sight of his dear sister soon waned to worry over his King's health. What Loras did not tell the pair was how he killed the red priestess. How her eyes widened in fright and terror at the sword of Light being held in the hand of a different man. Her cries of 'No! You can't be the one! You can't be the Prince!' were not lost on deaf ears as he swiftly brought down the sword on the priestess' slender neck. His weapon burst into fire at the cutting of the witch's head but Loras had no time then to ponder over the significance of it. All he cared about it was getting revenge for her attempt to end the one thing that mattered most to him. Renly was important to him, more important than his family even, and Loras swore to the Old Gods and New that he would do everything in his power to protect his King.