Game of Thrones: Love and Conflicts

Chapter 1 of a new Game of Thrones story, a Shireen/Devan pairing one, with a Gendrya subplot, enjoy.

Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin.

Chapter 1

It was a bright start to another day as the young sixteen year old man walked up the driveway to his girlfriend's house. This was not a social call however, he had been passing on his way to school, so he came to meet her and they'd walk the rest of the way together.

The young man had naturally tan skin, a strong slightly muscular build, short casually messy brown hair and brown eyes; he was also fairly tall. His name was Devan Seaworth, the fourth of six brothers, born to Davos Seaworth and his wife Marya.

The family had come from a poor background that had improved somewhat when Davos began working for Stannis Baratheon, the younger brother of the current President Robert Baratheon. It was in fact Stannis' daughter, Shireen, who was Devan's girlfriend.

'So many people can't believe it; that I, the son of a simple workman, is dating the niece of a President.' He thought with a smirk. 'But Shireen doesn't care about that; she sees me, for me...The fact she feels I'm good enough for her, that's everything to me.'

He quickly cleared his thoughts however and knocked on the door. A girl of sixteen answered it and grinned when she saw him, a grin he returned. The girl was shorter than him, skinny and with pale skin, this contrasted her medium length black hair and blue eyes.

She had a square jaw and prominent ears and, most noticeably, grey mottled discoloured skin on her left cheek and neck. The permanent scars of a childhood affliction of the Greyscale Virus she managed to survive. This was Devan's girlfriend and, in his eyes, the most beautiful girl in the world, Shireen Baratheon.

Shireen was happier than she had been a few minutes ago, even the usual drudgery of Monday mornings seemed to brighten whenever she saw Devan.

"Morning Devan." She greeted him cheerfully.

He returned her greeting, just as enthusiastic. "Morning."

Their eyes found each other, as they were looking each other up and down, taking in each other's appearance again. Both were clad in their school uniforms.

For the girls this uniform consisted of a red mid-thigh pleated skirt; a white blouse; a dark grey V-necked sweatshirt; red and grey tie; grey thigh high socks, which combined with the skirt only showed, at most, an inch of bare skin, and brown flats.

The boy's version of the uniform consisted of red mid-thigh shorts, a white shirt; the same dark grey V-necked sweatshirt and red and grey tie. They also wore grey socks, which were allowed to be worn anywhere between calf high to ankle length, Devan opting for the former, and brown shoes.

The shorts were normally mid-thigh length but, due to his family's money troubles, while not as severe as before, Devan had been stuck wearing the same shorts for the past two years. As a result, they were now shorter than mid-thigh, showing a lot more leg than before.

'I always felt childish like this, but...but Shireen likes it for some reason.' He recalled. 'I still wanna get new ones but...but maybe these aren't so bad.'

He grinned at the thought as Shireen stepped out of the house.

They took each other's hands, Devan's thoughts continued as he admired Shireen in her uniform, while she closed the door behind her.

'Wow, she looks as amazing as ever.' He thought, before musing on the uniform. 'Most schools with uniforms...The girls show quite a bit of leg due to the skirt and sock combinations requested by the school. But our school doesn't do that, yet it just seems even better, Shireen looks even more beautiful with thigh-highs.'

He shook his head, that probably didn't come out right even in his head. He had nothing against people dressing certain ways. It was just something he had noticed.

Shireen meanwhile couldn't help but find her gaze drawn to Devan's bare legs. 'Devan looks so, manly, his legs look so strong in those shorts, so smooth and tan...Oh but he wishes he could wear them the proper length.'

She was well aware of Devan's issues and while she wouldn't deny she liked what she saw of his strong hairless legs with his shorts this length, she knew she wouldn't mind either way.

"Shireen?" Devan said, getting her attention.

"Yeah?"

He smiled gently; kissing her Greyscale marred cheek. "Ready to go?"

She nodded, also smiling. "Of course."

So together, the young couple began walking away from the house, holding hands, fingers entwined as they made their way to school.

Watching them go from the kitchen window was Shireen's mother, Selyse Baratheon. She sighed sadly as she watched. For a long time, Selyse had been lost; her actions for many years had been terrible, especially towards her daughter.

They only got worse when she started dating; Selyse admitted that she had been unfair, found fault with everything Shireen did, treated her poorly. It was only after being forced to realize the error of her ways that her judgement changed.

'Thankfully it wasn't too late, I hadn't lost everything, everyone...I got carried away, by my faith, my beliefs, so many things...' She recalled. 'But now I see the truth and I must make amends, even if it takes the rest of my life.'

She still followed her religion, devoted to the Lord of Light, R'hllor; but she wasn't so overzealous now. She understood and tried to be a better person, a better wife, a better mother, no matter how hard it was.

Now, seeing her daughter leave with her boyfriend, she couldn't help but think to herself. 'There they go...Oh, I know I should be happy for them and yet...I can't help but feel nervous about it; every single time.'

She shook her head sadly as she considered the root of her fear.

'Shireen is my little girl. That Devan boy, he...He treats her well, but I don't know I can trust him, not just yet.'

Sighing she turned away from the window after Shireen and Devan disappeared from sight; she still had a long way to go it seemed.

Meanwhile, in the North, at Winterfell, home of the Stark family; headed by Eddard Stark and consisting of himself, his wife Catelyn and their five children, the youngest daughter and third child, sixteen year old Arya Stark groaned as she finished throwing up in the toilet, again.

'Gods, urgh...again...' She thought in dismay.

She wasn't surprised this was happening, but it didn't make things any easier to deal with. She groaned again, a hand going to her stomach; which was slightly swollen. All it had taken was one night, one thing happening and her life was changed forever.

She had been coming home from a date with her boyfriend, Gendry Waters, when she had been attacked, brutally beaten and raped. As if that even wasn't devastating enough for her, she now had to face the repercussions of that man's actions as she was now pregnant.

"Arya?"

She started and turned her head to see her mother, Catelyn, standing there, looking at her worriedly.

"Huh, oh...mum…?" She said, unsure.

Catelyn shook her head sadly, seeing her daughter in this state, it truly hurt; especially knowing what had caused it all. Yet Arya was remarkably stubborn about it all; despite having always said she wasn't parent material, that she'd be a terrible mother, that she never saw herself as a parent or anything, she still seemed to insist on going through all this.

Gently, trying to help again; she asked.

"Everything alright?"

"What do you think?" Arya replied shortly.

Catelyn bit her lip. "I see."

Arya quickly realized what happened and bowed her head. "Ah, sorry mum...I didn't mean to snap."

It was just her frustration at dealing with morning sickness again; she was still jumpy and messed up from the rape itself.

But her mother merely smiled. "It's alright...So, morning sickness, still?"

Arya nodded and Catelyn seemed to ponder for a moment.

"Mom?" Arya asked, warily.

Catelyn sighed and tried once more to convince her daughter. "You may want to consider your options...Abortion possibly."

It was normally not something she'd suggest, but Arya was too young and the way the child was conceived, she just wanted Arya to have a chance.

Arya however immediately flared up. "No mum, no, never!"
"Arya..."

"I'm not killing it." She snapped before storming past her mother, going to get ready for school.

Catelyn shook her head in dismay; Arya, it seemed, held rather strong views on abortion, even extending them to herself, despite everything she always said about her lack of parenting skills. Catelyn knew she'd have to try harder, she only wanted to help.

Although she did still have that nagging doubt in the back f her mind, maybe she was going the wrong way about helping; but she didn't know what else to do.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.