It's been a while since I checked up on my Game of Thrones history so forgive me if I seem a little rusty, hopefully I can quickly get a feel for the world again. A quick note, I've seen quite a few fics where the True Born Baratheon Heir seems to adapt to the war too quickly and immediately becomes invincible, so I'm taking a different approach. Also, I'll be open to accepting OC's by some people for certain Houses, preferably a Stark, but I'll just throw names in like Tyrell, Martell, Tully, other lesser Houses perhaps. If you have an OC you think might fit in the story, submit them via PM and I'll let you know what I think.
Full Summary: When the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros fall into chaos, Derek Baratheon, the only True Born Heir of King Robert Baratheon and Queen Cersei Baratheon, struggles to choose between the two Houses he calls Family. Meanwhile, Raymond Lannister, the loyal middle child of Tywin Lannister, follows his father to war to repair the damage caused by his bastard nephew, and hopefully save the Great Houses before they bleed each other to extinction.
Disclaimer: I don't own Game of Thrones, if I did then I'd be focusing on doing a Robert's Rebellion TV Series after the show is over. I only own my OC's, Raymond Lannister and Derek Baratheon.
The Song of Life
'Prologue'
King's Landing
Jon Arryn is dead.
No matter how many times Robert Baratheon wanted to deny it, it was the truth.
The man he looked up to was right there in front of him, laid out in the throne room of the Red Keep, lifeless and pale.
Robert had already shed his tears a while ago, now he just stared with a stoic but mournful look on his face.
The King felt a small hand slowly grab hold of his own, breaking him out of his trance and causing him to look down at the slim and short black-haired boy, who was looking up at him with a warm smile.
"Please don't be sad father. Always look ahead and smile, right?" The young black-haired boy said, and despite the strong mask he was trying to put on, his blue eyes showed clear signs of tears from earlier.
Robert almost started to tear up again, because of the words said to him, words he always used to say to his son to cheer him up, and because he knew that like him, his son had shed his tears a while ago, and was now simply trying to look strong just for him.
The King smiled a little, and knowing he had managed to pull it off, the young boy hugged his father in response.
A hug that Robert was more than happy to return, embracing his son for a short moment before quietly telling him, "Go on now Derek, I'm gonna stay here just a little longer."
Derek slowly pulled away and nodded, casting one last glance at Jon Arryn before taking his leave, escorted away by a few Baratheon Guards.
While he stood in silence, Robert thought back on all of the times that the Lord of the Vale had helped him, all of the times that he had saved him, mostly from himself, for without Jon Arryn, he would have made a good few reckless decisions back in the day.
Again, Robert wanted to pretend that this was all a dream but he knew he had to face reality eventually, better now than later he figured.
"Goodbye Jon." Robert said, giving the Lord of the Vale a firm nod. "I'll be seeing you soon."
"As your brother, I feel it's my duty to warn you, you worry too much. It's starting to show." Jaime had said to his sister as he joined her in watching over Jon Arryn's body.
"And you never worry about anything." Cersei replied, adding, "When we were seven, you jumped off the cliffs at Casterly Rock. A hundred foot drop into the water, you were never afraid."
Jaime shrugged in response. "There was nothing to be afraid of until you told father." He said as he imitated their father, "We're Lannister's, Lannister's don't act like fools."
Cersei looked back over at the body of Jon Arryn, and asked, "What if Jon Arryn told someone?"
"But who would he tell?" Jaime asked in response.
"My husband." Cersei answered, barely giving it any thought.
Jaime didn't agree however. "If he told the King, both our heads would be skewered on the city gates by now. Whatever Jon Arryn knew or didn't know, it died with him." He explained, adding, "And Robert will choose a new Hand of the King, someone to do his job while he's off fucking boars and hunting whores, or is it the other way around?" He asked casually.
Cersei almost looked amused by her brothers comments. "And life will go on." Jaime said, seemingly convinced their secret was safe.
"You should be the Hand of the King." Cersei replied.
Jaime however didn't look very happy with the suggestion. "That's an honour I can do without. Their days are too long, their lives are too short." He said, if his words didn't make it clear where he stood on that topic, his expression certainly did.
Cersei accepted his answer and looked back at Jon Arryn's body, hoping inside that Jaime was right.
Hoping that whatever Jon Arryn knew, had indeed died with him.
Derek Baratheon had watched in silence most of the time as his family were preparing to leave King's Landing.
When he learned that his father was preparing to head North, he correctly assumed it was because his father wanted his old friend Eddard Stark to become the new Hand of the King.
Of course, Derek couldn't blame him.
His father loved Jon Arryn dearly, so it made sense that Robert wanted someone he knew very well by his side. Someone wise, kind, patient, loyal, trustworthy, and above all, honourable.
No man in the Seven Kingdoms matched that description better than Eddard Stark.
Derek did wonder if it had anything to do with Lyanna Stark, but he remembered that every time her name was brought up, Robert would go silent and look filled with grief.
He had asked his Uncle Stannis one time about why his father cared so much about this Lyanna Stark. When Stannis did explain the story to him, Derek understood why his father was too sad to talk about it.
The last thing he would ever want is to bring up memories that would upset his father, so Derek always made sure to be careful not to bring up Lyanna Stark.
Derek discovered that his mother would be riding in a carriage along with his older sister Myrcella and his younger brother Tommen, and had also heard that his mother had requested for him to ride in the carriage with them.
While he wasn't against the idea, Derek also discovered that his oldest sibling, his brother Joffrey, was riding on a horse of his own alongside the others. And given the, somewhat troubled history he had with his mother, Derek decided to play it safe and get a horse of his own so he could ride next to his father.
He asked Ser Barristan Selmy, the Lord Commander of his fathers Kingsguard, for assistance.
Unlike Joffrey who preferred to laze about, Derek actually sought to learn and train with a sword, and it was he who approached Barristan Selmy to teach him.
Of course, Derek didn't exactly make the best progress for a time, but encouragement from Ser Barristan pushed him to keep trying, and he was able to get the hang of swinging a sword eventually. Of course, he welcomed the blunt praise from Ser Barristan that while he knew how to handle a sword, he still had to know how to fight with one.
Whenever he wasn't at Dragonstone studying under his Uncle Stannis, Derek would be learning whatever he could from Ser Barristan, whether it was learning how to fight with a sword, or learning how to ride a horse.
Thankfully, he proved to excel at the latter more so than the former, or, maybe it was just due to the fact that Barristan had provided him with a loyal horse that really listened well to its rider.
Either way, Derek was just happy to have someone help him out whenever he really needed it.
Once Ser Barristan had returned with his horse, he helped the young Prince up.
"I think she missed you." Barristan said in amusement as he helped Derek get saddled up.
Derek patted the white horses head, "You missed me eh, Cassie?"
Cassie whinnied.
After their first lesson together, Derek was more than happy to have her as his horse. He named her Cassie, after his grandmother and Robert's mother, Cassana Baratheon.
Of course, this touched Robert, and made him all the more proud of the boy.
Cersei was against him riding a horse, making complaints such as him falling from the horse and hurting himself, or worse.
It was the expected reaction but Derek did manage to convince his mother to let him ride as long as someone was keeping an eye on him, that someone being Ser Barristan.
The Lord Commander in question just so happened to be on his own horse, right next to Derek, just to make sure he didn't fall off during their trip North.
Despite knowing he was well past the point of being inexperienced enough to fall from the horse, Derek just accepted defeat and relented. "This is embarrassing."
"Apologies my Prince, your mother insisted." Barristan said with a smile.
Derek rolled his eyes. "Of course she did."
"Riding on your own little brother?"
One of the voices Derek did not want to hear.
He looked over and saw Joffrey riding up next to him. "Big brother." Derek said with half a smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired. I can't believe I had to cut my sleep short just travel up to the damn North." Joffrey complained.
Derek shrugged, "I've never been up in the North before. Neither have you. I think it would be nice to sightsee at least, I've always wanted to see The Wall. In fact, it'd be great to stand at the top of it, I bet the view would be amazing."
Joffrey just smirked a little at him, "By all means. Just make sure you don't slip and fall." He said mockingly before riding on ahead as Robert and his escort began to move.
Barristan frowned a little and looked down at the back-haired Prince, expecting some sort of reaction.
However, Derek managed to keep a strong and stoic look on his face. Letting words like that get to him is exactly what Joffrey would want, and he wasn't going to let such a taunting remark get him riled up. Unlike Joffrey, Derek was good at keeping himself composed and keeping a cool head, something he learned from his Uncle Stannis, while his older brother would simply shout and scream and get angry at even the littlest things.
Whenever Joffrey tended to pick on Tommen, Derek would stand up for their younger brother. Even if Joffrey was the oldest, even if Joffrey was a little bigger than him, Derek would never back down and simply stare at his older brother with a calm and stoic look.
He wouldn't hit Joffrey of course. Even if Joffrey would hit him, Derek would never hit back, he would simply take whatever abuse Joffrey would throw at him in calm silence.
And whenever their mother would stumble upon them during these moments, she would have no choice but to lecture Joffrey to teach him a lesson and send him to his room before tending to Derek.
His mother would make sure she got rid of any marks and bruises, getting him the best treatment she could, just to make sure her handsome little Stag remained just that. And whenever she was done, he would thank her and hug her and tell her that he loves her.
While it was no secret that Cersei seemed to favour Joffrey, Derek's affection warmed her heart and always managed to make her smile.
It was this affection that made their relationship somewhat difficult. Because it was only during those times that Cersei actually showed any motherly love to her third born.
Any other time, any other day, she would always be busy giving Joffrey attention, she even seemed to give Myrcella and Tommen more attention than Derek as well. Outside of a few rare times where he actually sought her comfort, it was only during the times when Joffrey would get mad at him and hit him, that Cersei would give Derek her love and attention.
So the idea of sitting in a carriage with her for a month made him feel a little, uncomfortable and awkward at most.
As the carriage in question was passing by, Derek saw his mother inside looking at him, and he quickly smiled at her, giving her a small wave.
Cersei actually smiled a little in response, and gave him a little wiggly wave in return.
Smiling as he watched the carriage leave, Derek began to follow as he thought about how great it was to have such a wonderful family.
He loved his family.
He loved his father, nearly always being at Robert's side, always listening to his stories and being amazed at how strong he used to be. He loved his mother, even if the relationship between them was, difficult, he nonetheless loved her with all of his heart.
He loved his Baratheon Uncles greatly too. While he would study under his Uncle Stannis or play with his cousin Shireen at Dragonstone, his Uncle Renly showed him around and took him to Highgarden and Dorne, two places that Derek had wanted to see for himself. Highgarden was beautiful, and he got to meet Mace Tyrell and Randyll Tarly, the only man who had defeated his father in battle, another thing Derek made sure not to bring up around his father.
And of course, his Lannister Uncles were just as dear to him. His Uncle Jaime would sometimes teach him how to fight with a sword whenever Ser Barristan was too busy, and his Uncle Tyrion was always nice to him, telling him stories about Westeros. His Uncle Raymond was just as nice to him, always making sure to tell Derek to be strong for his family, and to never let anyone take advantage of him or his kindness.
Even though he hadn't seen him much recently, Derek could never forget his Lannister Grandfather, Tywin. And any time he would visit Casterly Rock, he would always make sure to spend time with his Grandfather, who was clearly more fond of him than Joffrey.
He believed he had the best family one could ask for, and he loved them all more than anything else in the world.
So what can he do when tensions begin to rise between his loved ones?
Authors Notes: Now I'm not too sure exactly on how old certain characters are at the beginning of the series, doesn't seem like anyone is, but to clarify, Derek is one year younger than Myrcella, and even though he hasn't appeared yet, Raymond Lannister is 34, there's a two year gap between him and all three of his siblings, assuming I've got the ages right. Now I could've written more, but my Prologues tend to be short anyway so I just left it at that.
I do plan on writing most of what we got from the show, but I'll try and use some stuff from the books as well, particularly more use of the Dorne storyline and the Greyjoys, because we obviously didn't see enough of them in the show.
On that note, I'm looking for a strong female Stark OC for the next chapter. If you have a good Stark OC that you think might fit in with the story, send me a PM and if the OC is just what I'm looking for, I'll let you know and inform you of the characters role. You can also suggest the characters role, I'll consider it.
Not much else to say other than feel free to leave a Review, the feedback is appreciated.