AN: This is a song fic based off Taylor Swift's Eyes Open. I feel like I'm committing some sort of crime by using a song made for The Hunger Games, but I honestly couldn't help but think of Gary, Raoul, Alanna, and Jon when I was listening to it the other day. It fits their story rather well I think. So...that's why this is here. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own the lyrics or the characters.
The tricky thing
Is yesterday we were just children
Playing soldiers
Just pretending
It was one of those bittersweet nights, laced with nostalgia. Underneath the slightly inebriated words and laughs was a longing for simpler times. A longing for times when losing a battle meant a bruised ego, not death. A longing for a time when the consequences of a mistake meant a long lecture with Duke Gareth, not the well being of a realm. A longing for a time where minds were innocent, not jaded. However, those times had long since passed, but they were far from forgotten. So here they were, as adults, toasting over tankards of ale to the children they had once been and the people they had become.
Dreaming dreams with happy endings
One day, a son succeeded his father as prime minister. Gary was a desk knight. Gone were the dreams of riding at the front of an army, sword held aloft. He had a beautiful wife, great friends, and a voice in politics. He didn't have the reckless sort of bravery that Alanna had or the valiant bravery that Raoul inspired in his men. He was responsible, but that was a type of bravery in and of itself.
In backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords
But now we've stepped into a cruel world
Where everybody stands and keeps score
One day, a boy became a commander. If someone had told him, years ago, that one day he would find himself as the commander of The King's Own, Raoul of Goldenlake would've laughed. He could barely socialize at balls, how was he to command three companies of men? Somehow, he did. Somehow, he became a man that brought men to their feet and swords to the sky. The King's Own used to be nothing but a display. Raoul made it into a powerful force.
So here you are, two steps ahead and staying on guard
Every lesson forms a new scar
But turn around, oh they've surrounded you
It's a showdown and nobody comes to save you now
One day, a girl became a champion. It seemed like just yesterday that she was stumbling out of the stables, having been thoroughly beaten by Ralon of Malven. That was the first time she fought her own battle, granted she lost, but the day soon came when she won. She had confronted the Black God, she clashed blades with the immortal Ysandir, and she had killed Duke Roger…twice. She had found a balance between taking lives in battle and saving them with healing. She had her scars, physical and emotional, but she also had finally accepted who she was. She was a woman. She was The King's Champion. She was The Lioness.
Everybody's waiting for you to breakdown
Everybody's watching to see the fallout
One day, a prince became a king. He never knew he would have to wear the crown so soon. There was something about watching your best friends ride off to battle, to fight in a war without you beside them, knowing that you were the one to order them to risk their lives. When he was a prince, he was never sure he would be able to do that, but there came a time when he didn't have a choice. It was his duty, whether or not he wanted it. However, he had been preparing for that moment for a long time. He had walked among not only the nobles, but also the commoners and the Bazhir. For he knew one thing, it did not matter that he was young. Age did not make a king, the fact that he knew and cared for his people did. The fact that his heart ached to watch people he loved go off to fight did. The fact that he stood tall despite the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders bespoke of the king he had become.
They never thought you'd make it this far.
No one could remember the exact day that wooden swords disappeared and steel blades took their place. No one remembered the moment that squire's uniforms were traded in for armor, important mantles, and crowns.
No one could pinpoint the moment that these children became heroes. All anybody really knew was that in the midst of war, disbelief eventually turned to awe, doubt turned to trust, scorn transformed into respect, and heroes became legends.