Disclaimer: I don't own Game of Thrones, which is a little sad, but nonetheless true.
Story Title: Family. Duty. Honour.
Summary: Words of the House Tully. Never had Sansa imagined three words could be so confusing. But as she seemingly betrays all three, she also gains the approval of Prince Joffrey, and unknowingly prevents a war.
Rated: K
AN: I'll be the first to admit that Joffrey is no boy that any girl should fall in love with, but since Sansa is already pretty besotted with him at the beginning of the series, I decided to use her girlish, teenage fantasies to manipulate her into different actions, actions that would likely gain her as much affection from Joffrey as the little monster is capable of. His ego does appreciate absolute loyalty after all.
.:~{+}~:.
Family.
The thing that held her together, at her core.
Duty.
She had a duty to her family, did she not?
Honour.
And hadn't she just betrayed all three?
Family. Duty. Honour. Her mother's words, of the House Tully, though she felt just as bound by them as she did her father's words, Winter is coming, if not more so. As much a Stark as Sansa was, all she'd ever known was the long summer, and she did not know the horrors of winter. Family. Duty. Honour. These were the things she had been raised with.
They had called her before King Robert and Prince Joffrey, her poor sweet prince with his arm all wrapped in bandages. Sansa had been unable to bring herself to look at it too long. As much as she adored the dire wolves, it had become increasingly obvious as of late that they had a more vicious side that, though she'd been warned of, she found she had not quite anticipated.
She listened, frozen in horror and indecision as two pairs of eyes burned holes into her. One the haunting gray of her sister, Arya. The other the fiery green of her betrothed, Prince Joffrey.
"He tells me one thing, she tells me another!" The king said, gesticulating wildly. Sansa looked on, wondering somewhere in the back of her mind if he was drunk. Anything to avoid the decision she was being asked to make.
Tell the truth. Or lie.
Sansa knew very well that Arya and the butcher's boy had not attacked Joffrey before setting the wolf on him. If she were a little older, a little wiser, she would question the integrity of her future husband for claiming so. As it was, all Sansa could think was how terribly embarrassed her dear Joffrey would be if she told the truth.
But…
Family. Duty. Honour.
Arya was her sister, her family. It was her duty to go to her sister's defence. It was the honourable thing to do. She opened her mouth, accusations of Joffrey's lies trying to leap from her tongue.
Wait…
Joffrey was her future husband, he was to father her children. Joffrey would be her new family. As his future wife, she had a duty to him as well. Surely defending her betrothed was the honourable thing to do?
How could three words become so very confusing?
There is an out… her mind whispered.
She opened her mouth again, prepared to say she did not remember, anything to get her out of this room and away from those eyes-
But no. That would be the coward's way out. She was a Stark. A wolf. Wolves were not cowards. She must make a decision. Her old family, or her new?
Visions of the future danced through her mind, herself a few years older, blossomed into a beautiful woman with hair of intricately braided fire and eyes true Tully blue, dressed in the finest silks and jewels, a handsome golden-haired king by her side. And a son between them, his hair silken sun rays and eyes just as cerulean as her own. Just as beautiful as a prince should be.
Sansa decided then and there that she'd make this decision today for that little boy, her future son, the son of this boy willing her with the greenest eyes she'd ever seen to lie for him.
So she did.
Family. Duty. Honour.
And was she not lying for her family? Was she not doing her duty by them? Was fighting for Joffrey not the honourable thing to do?
She did not know. All she knew was she wanted Joffrey. She wanted to be married. She wanted to be Queen. And she wanted to be that little boy's mother.
She'd seen how Joffrey had pushed her away when he'd been bitten. Upon reflection of everything Jeyne had ever told her about boys, she came to the conclusion that the fact she'd seen his humiliation had wounded his pride.
But this, this lie, this could fix it. He'd see she was loyal to him. This would fix everything. She'd be in Joffrey's favour once more.
"Prince Joffrey is telling the truth, your Highness," Sansa said, looking not at the king, but directly at the floor. If she concentrated hard enough, she could still see the darling little boy in her mind's eye.
"LIAR!" Arya screamed from behind her in a rage, and Sansa felt her hair being pulled painfully, causing her to shriek. Her father untangled the two, and she barely heard Queen Cersei's words of Arya's wildness, because she had caught her father's gray eyes, and the disappointment in them was crushing.
He knew she had lied. Shame filled her then, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She stared resolutely at the floor, determined not to cry in front of her betrothed like a child, until Queen Cersei spoke of killing Lady in compensation for Arya's escaped pet.
"No!" Sansa found herself screaming. "Not Lady, you can't! She's done nothing wrong!"
The tears were just about to fall when her loyalty to the prince was suddenly repaid.
"Mother, I do not think we need to kill my Lady Sansa's beloved pet, do we? After all, it is not the beast at fault."
Sansa's breath caught. She looked to Joffrey with hopeful eyes, and when she met green, she saw the approval in his gaze. All of the shame from her father's disappointment was swept away, and all Sansa could see was that her future husband was pleased with her.
Family. Duty. Honour.
She was sure she'd followed the words now.
.:~{+}~:.
AN 2: Thank you guys so much for reading, remember to review!