A/N: So, back again! Saw the Season Finale and yes, for those who are wondering, this chapter draws some parallels with it. That aside, the hate just seems to keep flowing from my detractors these days! Unfortunately, some aren't too keen on crossovers of ANY sort, it seems. Death threats and promises of imminent pain aside that, some such guests had this to say:
Here's the latest:
Story: Daddy Won't You Please Come Home?
Chapter: 1. Chapter 1
From: Guest
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:You. Are. A f***. Abomination. As are everything you come up with. This is no exception. All you can do is whine like a dumb b***,
From: fyi (Guest)
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fyi:oh god...not you...i have been on the look out for ever since i read one of fics. but that's impossible because you fuxking infect all fandoms! you can go ruin all the other fandoms there but not this. please.
From my frozen story:
From: Squarekiddo ( u/6123855/ )
Reply URL: . ?rwid=238787896
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No thanks, I was looking for a Naruto/Frozen Crossover, not a Frozen story with an OC named Naruto.
And on another story:
From: Guest
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:My god someone should shoot you for coming up with this s***.
AND ANOTHER:
From: Guest
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:Like the rest of your stories, its so disjointed. You seem incapable of actually writing a story that flows well
You should quit writing and start something a bit different.
THOSE WERE SOME ONE OF THE NICE ONES, JEEZ! And don't use a guest account so I can't reply. CONSIDER THIS THAT REPLY! SHAME! SHAME! Excusing the utter lack of diction, I've since deleted these messages, but I'm a little hurt, to be honest. I suppose you can't please everyone these days. I suppose I can only say that if you don't like it, don't read, don't review, and please don't hate? But I don't infect fandoms, do I?
...
...
...
...guys?
I think I'm just going to crawl into a hole for awhile. Don't mind me and my fragile self-esteem...
...
...
...
Alright, sulking over.
On a more positive note, I HAVE A NEW JOB! At my local bookstore! Huzzah! And did I mention...THE NEW GOT SOUNDTRACK IS OUT ON ITUNES! BUY IT NOW! SOOOO INSPIRING!
No uber long author's note this time; I'll just leave ya'll guessing =D
JUST SAW THE GAME OF THRONES EPISODE FINALE AND...I AM SAD. So many dead! Its just ocurred to me that half of the cast in my story are now gone and it feels WEIRD writing them as if they were still alive when we know that they aren't. Needless to say its heavily influenced this chapter, in a sense.
Additionally, I give full credit to several quotes from Jon Wick in this story. GOOD LORD that was inspirational.
Also! Things get intimate real quick in the beginning! And a WARNING. THIS CHAPTER GETS DARK IN PLACES. Character death will happen in this story, if the title isn't a clue. I can only pray that you understand why said characters have to perish because it isn't for shock value.
On we go!
"I have been shot, stabbed and impaled. I have had my legs broken. Lost my hands, had my eyes gouged out, and guess what? They all. Grew. Back. You'd better pray you kill me with that poker because if you don't I'm going to jam it up your ass and fuck you bloody with it!
~Naruto and~?
Ashes to Ashes
"Burn them all."
"Don't you understand?! She isn't here!"
"Burn them all!"
"Let me through!"
"BURN THEM ALL~!"
"CERSEI!"
Naruto jolted awake with a Lannister's name lingering on his lips, sword in hand and swinging. Wait. That wasn't a sword in his hand but a mangled pillow, and this wasn't the Sept of Baelor but his own quarters. There was that infernal boar head mounted on the wall, the dart through its eye. There was Ser Pounce, curled up at the foot of the bed, sound asleep. There was the candle at his desk, long since extinguished. He could feel the gentle night breeze of the sea wafting in from his open window, wrapping across his bare chest in reassuring comfort.
All of it was real.
With that, the rest of the world came back to him in fits and spurts and his mind gradually began to accept that it had all been just that, another of his dreams; albeit a particularly nasty one. His body refused to believe it entirely however, and his heart still hammered from the rush of fire and blood he'd experienced. Both of his forearms throbbed angrily, protesting burns he remembered, but could not see. 'It wasn't real, he reminded himself, desperately again. He'd been dreaming of the future again. One untouched by the events of today, but a future all the same. He'd seen them burn. Seen them all burn, consumed in a wall of green fire, felt it as that madwoman looked on, enjoying a glass of wine.
On some level he knew it was a dream; it had to be. This had never happened. Cersei languished in the black cells beneath the keep. She was never getting out. So why?
Why did he feel so uneasy?
"Naruto...?"
The prince started slightly when someone called out to him, his already raw senses shrieking in alarm as the sheets stirred beside him. A hand leaped to the compartment where he'd hid his knife, stilling only as a pair of slim arms wound across his chest. Even then he nearly fought them off until he felt the naked swell of her bare breasts press against his back, until he realized who was holding him. Her chin rested against his collarbone as she breathed, her head heavy against his own, the auburn curtain of her hair tickling at his nose, inviting pleasant memories to blunt the terror that consumed him.
"You were shouting in your sleep." she murmured against his shoulder. "Is everything alright?"
Slowly, painfully, Naruto exhaled.
"Bad dream. Did I wake you?"
"You did," came the lofty reply, "But given the circumstances, I'm inclined to forgive you."
Right, he reminded himself.
Margaery.
She'd come to his bed, again. He'd almost forgotten. What did it matter, anyway? They were to be wed soon enough. Of course she would be here, trying to secure her position as his wife when so many were clamoring for his affection. Daenerys had a room of her own and he didn't trust Arianne one bit, not after he'd and Oberyn had gotten themselves thoroughly soused and wound up in a brothel. He remembered nothing of that day but secretly suspected he might've done something he regretted. He wasn't fool enough to risk a stranger in his bed again. Margaery, at least, could be counted on not to slit his throat in his sleep, because without him, she'd never have her dream of becoming queen.
Ambition made for a strange bedfellow but in this instant, he was glad she was here.
In this moment, he needed comfort.
He turned and cupped her face for a long, tender moment, gently thumbing her cheek with his fingers. The, struck by a surprising longing, he leaned forward and kissed her. Margaery started at this, momentarily taken aback by this unexpected turn of event, but returned his passion with equal fervor, gasping as he slid into her, fingers digging into her hips. Their coupling was brief and frenetic and fierce; such, that she found herself all but swept away by it, surrendering control and yielding to his every whim.
"What did you dream about?" She asked as he held her, curled together some time later.
Naruto was silent for a very long time, so long in fact, that she suspected he'd fallen asleep. When he finally he spoke, it was barely a whisper.
"...you died." he said. "I died. Everyone died. We knew, and there was nothing we could do."
Margaery's heart lurched.
There it was.
The chink in his armor she'd been seeking all this time. She need only say the right words and she'd have sway over him. It would be easy. Broken men were easy to control once you knew their weakness, and he'd just revealed it to her. He feared fire. He feared death. The voices in his head. Those were normal fears, fears she could capitalize on, use to her advantage...
But she just couldn't bring herself to act on it.
"Tell me." she said instead.
He growled.
"No."
She kissed him softly, her lips lingering against his cheek.
"Please. Let me help."
And so he did.
At great length and in every bit of blazing gory glory, right down to the last minute detail.
"That bitch." she surprised even herself with her own vehemence. "That absolute bitch! She killed me! ME! Whatever did I do to her?!" Seeing his smile she steadied herself- took a deep breath and calmed the raging storm of her anger and the emotions that within. "And you have these dreams often? Do they come true?"
"You mean can I stop them?" he shot back.
"Can you?" Margaery asked.
"When I was seven I dreamed my sword instructor cut off my hand to teach me a lesson. And he tried. So I killed him. Got myself locked up away that one." he snorted quietly. "Few years later, around fifteen or so, I dreamed I'd be forced to marry one of Walder Frey's girls and be miserable to my last day. So when I finally met the old bastard I asked him if I could choose. Maybe meet one I'd like, ya know? Didn't work. So, I told him off. Aha! I've got a good one. I dreamed that Shireen would catch greyscale. So I made my old man call in every maester he could and BOOM. Somehow, she was cured."
"Anymore examples?" a small smile flashed across her face.
"A few. Ones I'd rather not tell you about." he confessed with distant blue eyes, idly twirling a finger in her hair. "Its always of the future, though. Never the past. Tends to be a hit or miss. Once, I dreamed that I would throw myself from a window in King's Landing. In another I rode a dragon into battle and burned cities to the ground. As you can see, I haven't done either of those, yet. Other times, my dreams are downright accurate and immediate. For instance, I saw that my step-mother would die of poison. That happened."
"You don't sound sorry for her."
"Why the hell should I be?" Naruto propped himself up on an elbow to glare at his soon-to-be-bride. "She was a bitch to me and Shireen. Her own daughter. She beat us. Whipped us. Even tried to poison me, once. I'd be dead if not for a very talented maester and we wouldn't even be having the conversation. That's why its damn fitting that someone poisoned her this time around. I'm glad she's dead. I'd dance on her grave and be the one to spit on her ashes, if I could find them."
"Don't you know what its like to love someone?" when he didn't answer, she dared to probe deeper. "Haven't you ever...loved another?"
Naruto laughed bitterly.
"Love withers when it is neglected. Left alone too long, love will seek another."
Her lips pursed into a thin line. "That's not an answer."
"Fuck's sake...I only truly loved three times, okay?" He thrust three fingers before her face. "The first was a girl in the stables. My step-mother ordered her head chopped off. Why? Because she couldn't stand to see me happy. The second was a Frey, ironically. Met her during my stay with Walder Frey. She was the one I would have liked to marry. Eliza was her name. Cheeky girl with green eyes, hair darker than pitch. Impish, clever, and sharp as valyrian steel. Then that cheeky dickwaffle father of hers forbid her from marrying me and she threw herself from the Twins. The third might have been Eleanor, but ran away when she saw something that she didn't like in me. Clear enough for you?"
"You loved a Frey?" it took everything she had to maintain a straight face but somehow, she managed.
Naruto choked, embarrassed. "I was very young, okay?! Can we not talk about this?" Irritated at himself for the slip, he turned away from her, throwing his head onto a nearby pillow. "I've had a lifetime of talking about lost loves and betrayals and I'm sick of it."
Margaery dithered, eyes tracing his scarred shoulders. For a moment she actually considered asking him about Daenerys, about what his thoughts were. pertaining to the Mother of Dragons. But that would've only made him even angrier than he already was and she dare not risk such an attempt. She'd only just begun to win some semblance of trust from him and any attempt to pry risked shattering that altogether. In the end she laid down beside him, stroking his back quietly.
"I'd never betray you." she insisted. "I'm yours. From this day to my last day."
His only response was a grunt.
"We'll see."
"Would you like me to sing to you, your grace? I find it helps me relax."
...fine."
She held him, then, held him closer than he would have dared to believe possible.
Margaery stroked the back of his head quietly, murmuring sweet nothings in his ears until he finally fell asleep. In her last moments before she joined him in slumber, she remained horribly unnerved. Here was a man who feared nothing. He'd killed kings and would-be kings without batting an eyelash. He'd set Sparrows on fire for assaulting his friends. With him, blood and wine flowed freely. Yet just now he'd been trembling like a leaf. The look in his eyes had been one of raw panic, wild and fierce like nothing she'd ever seen. He was keeping something from her and quite honestly she found herself afraid of that.
What else could have frightened him so...?
(Meanwhile on the Iron Islands...)
Euron Greyjoy watched the Iron Fleet take shape around him and he smiled.
The Kingsmoot had gone much as planned; even if he hadn't had the chance to kill Balon himself. The King's Shadow had done that for him, unknowingly paving the way for his glory and conquest. And what a conquest it would be! He would built a fleet such as the world had never seen, and he would make the world tremble at the Greyjoy name.
In a way, he owed the bastard.
Owed him much.
Were it not for him, he would never have learned of Balon's death so soon. Word spread quickly these days, even on the seas and he'd returned as soon as the news reached him. All thanks to that bastard. Were it not for him, he'd never have returned as soon as he had. Were it not for him, he'd never have claimed the salt throne without a fight. No one had the gall to oppose him after he'd cut his last protester into pieces, not even his brute of a brother, Victarion. No one wanted to challenge him after that. None of them had a better plan either, though his had been waylaid somewhat upon learning that the dragon girl was back in King's Landing.
A shame, really. He would've liked to seduce her with the Iron Fleet and introduce her to his big cock. They would've made for a powerful alliance.
Wouldn't stop him from putting a sword through her heart, though.
Her heart, the bastard's heart, and all others. Then, with the Dragonbider, he'd use her own dragons to rain down fire on their enemies for all time.
He was the storm.
The first...
...and the last.
And he would bring a storm the world had never seen.
(...)
Your grace,
You are hereby cordially invited to attend the wedding of my daughter. You know, if you hadn't been such a brat to me back then, I would've gladly let you have your pick of the lot today. A shame. Any one of my girls would've been far QUIETER than the ones you seem to have surrounded yourself with.
Regards,
~Walder Frey.
o
o-o
o
Walder Frey,
Prickly as ever, I see.
And is it that time already? Huh.
Time gets funny in the South, I suppose.
Anywho, I'd be happy to accept your invitation but I'm afraid I'm spoken for these days. I'll be leaving for the Twins after my Wedding with thousands of ARMED guards. Elite guards. Guards who do not drink unless I tell them. Soldiers who make your inbred brats look like children waving sticks. Soldiers who would be more than happy to lay claim to the Twins if I were to have an...accident. Did I mention one of them is to be the new Mountain that Rides? You've heard of him, haven't you? Ulric? Of course you have. For reasons unbeknownst to me he bears a special hatred for you in particular, and I'd just love to let him off the leash.
Have I made myself clear?
Thought so.
Try anything and you won't live to regret it,
~Naruto.
(...)
"What do you think, too much?" Naruto asked the raven as he attached the message cylinder to its leg. "Should I have toned it down a bit?"
"Aw!"
The bird merely squawked, eager to leave the window ledge and fritter away into the afternoon with its brethren. It wanted nothing more than to spread its wings and soar-to deliver its message. It cared naught for this strange, bare-chested man fretting over the contents of a letter not yet sent. But it had a task to complete, and so did not peck at his fingers when he hesitated over the parchment once more.
...I'm talking to animals again." the prince sighed, palming his face. "I really am going crazy, aren't I?"
"Of course you are. You're a beast. Why act like a man?"
Aaaaaand there were the whispers again.
They'd let him be for so long now that he dared to hope; to think he was finally rid of them. Perhaps he'd been too busy to notice them, to feel those invisible fingers on his spine. It certainly didn't help that he chafed at the idea of civilized life. But even so, he thought he'd finally earned some peace. A reprieve.
Not so, apparently.
'Stop.' he gritted his teeth, hands fisting against the desk with enough force to bite into the would. 'I don't have time for this.' Sometimes he could actually argue with the voices. Convince them to let him be. On a good day he could simply drown himself in wine and ignore them entirely.
Today was not one of those days.
"Aw," the whispers purred as his eyes burned an angry red, "You want to be rid of us. That hurts, boy. It really does. After all we've done for you? You should be grateful. Yes, you should. Where would you be without us? Poisoned. Dead in a ditch. Is it so wrong that we ask for favor in return? Small favors, tiny favors. Yes, so tiny...
Only three things could drive them away, even for a time. Wine, Wanton murder and sex. Carnal, visceral pleasures. None of which were on hand at the moment.
"Why resist at all? Just give in. You should kill them all and be done with it. Just-
"Just let me write my damn letter!"
"I rather like it, actually." a sultry voice interjected. "It has fire."
Naruto's neck spun with such force that he actually felt something pop.
"How in the hell did you hear me?" he demanded. "How did you even get in-nevermind. I don't want to know."
Arianne Martell draped herself across the door-how did one even do that?!-smiling softly as she eased the aging wood shut behind her.
"Whatever do you mean?" she blinked with faux innocence, smoothing an imaginary wrinkle in the pale scarlet silk of her sleeveless gown. "The door was unlocked. I've heard you reading aloud half-a-dozen times in the last seven minutes. Have I made myself clear?" her voice deepened slightly in a false falsetto, mimicking his drawl. "Try anything...and you won't live to regret it! Such passion!" Laughter bubbled up out of her lips, soft and delighted. "My room is across the hall. However was I not to hear? But tell me," Her bright eyes flicked down and across his chest, admiring the scars of his naked torso, "Do you often recite your letters shirtless?"
Despite his best efforts to ignore her blatant flirtation, Naruto sputtered.
"Its hot outside." And it was!
He realized his mistake a heartbeat later, when the princess of Dorne reached behind her back and locked the door.
"Ah, I see." the words emerged as a purr. "I agree with you."
The prince nearly choked on his own spit.
"You do?"
"Why, yes!" the princess agreed wholeheartedly. "It is far, far too warm today. So warm in fact, that I fear I no longer have need of this dress." Before he could think to stop herhand drew bits of fabric aside, exposing the full swell of her right breast, her slender fingers dancing across the bud coyly. Naruto nearly choked on his own spit. With a supreme effort he tore his gaze away from the brilliant beauty before him and shoved the message into the cylinder at the raven's leg, locked it, and shooed the bird off the ledge to
"I'd prefer it if you kept it on, please!"
Arianne's smile vanished and her eyes narrowed to thin, angry slits.
"Tell me, why do you insist on this maddening dance?" she demanded hotly, arms falling to her sides at her waist. "You avoid me, you do not speak to me, you dither about like a fool when I make my intentions clear! Do you prefer the company of men?" a hand swept toward the door, smacking against the wood with a loud smack. "If so, then I will remove myself."
"What?! No!"
"Truly?" the heiress to Sunspear tilted her head, scowling. "Are you certain you are not off to some other bed, some other woman? Tell me who she is. I will fight her for you, bare-breasted, knife to knife!"
At that, Naruto actually felt himself smile. "While I have no doubt you could take Margaery in a physical fight, she's terribly clever. I'd be wary of Daenerys, too. She's likely to burn your eyes out, first."
"Aha!" Arianne pounced like the viper that was her namesake. "So the rumors are true, then?"
"Rumors? What rumors?"
"That you've tamed the dragon. No? You haven't tasted her nectar? Haven't-
"False! False, false, false!" Naruto squawked, ears burning. "Who keeps telling you these things?!"
"Uncle Oberyn, of course."
"Bastard!"
Arianne shrugged.
"If they are unfounded, then they are of no concern to me." with that she took a swift step forward, uncaring for his retreat. "I simply did not think you mad enough to make the attempt." her fingers danced across the scarred plane of his chest, lingering over a patch of rough skin where he'd once been skewered through a lung. "It is of no concern to me how many women you dally with. That will soon cease."
"Why?"
She preened, puffing out her not-insubstantial chest.
"Because I am the best."
"Very funny." Naruto deadpanned. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have letters to write, diplomacy to keep...
"Why negotiate at all? Men should fear you." Arianne said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You are the prince. If they displease you, kill them."
"I'd rather not have to kill anyone at all."
"In Dorne," the words emerged as a silken purr, "We do not concern ourselves with such things. Yet you do. Why?"
"Someone has to."
"Are you afraid?"
Few could hope to make Naruto's jaw drop these days, but with those words, the princess did just that.
...for your sake, I am going to pretend I didn't just hear that."
"My father is also very good at "pretending", talking in circles, speaking while doing nothing." Arianne advanced with defiant intent, staring him down. "He calls it thinking. And you?" her gaze flicked up and down across him, brimming with scorn, "Are you skilled at this as well? Doing nothing? I was led to believe you were a warrior, not some wine-addled stag who averts his gaze at the sight of a woman's breast!"
Naruto stiffened slightly.
"Careful, now."
Her eyes danced, catching the light. "Careful? I am so tired of being careful." a leg twined with his, tripping him up as she pressed her warm form to his. "That is all you people do in this filthy city!" lips danced along the lobe of his right ear, whispering, teasing, pleasing. "Arianne, my father always tells me; dear, sweet Arianne," her voice deepened slightly as she recited something she'd no doubt been told countless times before, "You must not say such things to them, Papa tells me. Do not do that. Bah! Let us dispense with such pleasantries! Am I not beautiful? Do you not desire me?"
"You are...a very beautiful woman."
"Aha!" she cried! "You do!"
"Stop that."
In response, he planted his hands on her shoulders and made to push her back, but Arianne wasn't having it. She lunged forward and pressed her mouth to his, kissing him fiercely. For the briefest of instants his guard faltered and he Unfortunately for her, Naruto proved more resistant to her charms than she'd expected and thrust her back with a startled grunt.
"Maker, you're forward!"
She laughed.
"It is the only way I know to be, your grace." she kissed him again, and Naruto felt his resistance begin to crumble as he shoved her away once more.
"Apparently so! Now...stop."
"Stop what?" she purred.
"That!"
"Make me."
Arianne's hands wove back through the dark curtain of her hair and dropped her dress in an impossibly swift movement, leaving the silk to fall to the floor. A small, increasingly aroused part of Naruto marveled at her bare body, her firm breasts, taut stomach and wide hips. A body yielding and inviting him to do all sorts of horrid, unspeakable things to her. Arianne flashed him a roguish grin not unlike that of her uncle, Oberyn, the difference being the sheer hunger in those eyes of hers.
"Damn...
If he hadn't believed the wild tales about Dornish women before, he certainly did now. He'd known many different manner of women in the past, and the present, even. Each proven unique in their own right and he had his own ways of dealing with them. Eleanor had been the sort who couldn't stomach unpleasant truths when they disagreed with her. Solution? Don't think about her. Ever. Easier said than done. Distance was a balm to that gaping wound, but distance couldn't save him from this.
Margaery thought herself more subtle with her plots and silent schemes and never spoke without thinking. In that at least he could respect her intellect and take pangs to prepare for her. He knew she wanted the throne so very, VERY badly, and wouldn't stop at anything to get it. She was a rose in every sense of the word, thorns and all.
Daenerys was a force of nature in her own right; all fire and anger and determination, given human from. She held nothing back, said what she wished and was near singleminded in her intensity. She had little patience for schemes and He was fairly certain they'd either become the best of friends/lovers or the worst of enemies.
Arianne was markedly...less reserved than all three, shameless with ambition.
She'd been in King's Landing for all of three days now and he'd nearly gone mad after the first. She was the one woman he couldn't have prepared himself for; because they were the same. They each had their talents and knew how to use them to get what they wanted. She possessed skills he did not, and like was true of her.
Arianne was just better with her skill set.
Much better.
Her crooked little grin promised pleasures beyond imagining, the gentle sway of her hips seemed to grow more exaggerated whenever she knew he was near. And her laugh, ah, her laughter was a force of its own. She pitched it to carry when he was within earshot. Her eyes were weapons as well; her gaze ever deemed to devour him with an ease that would've put her uncle to shame. And the touching! Always touching, touching, so much with the touching! Small things, tiny things, each of which only added to the whole.
Sneaky temptress!
The occasional brush when they passed one another in the keep, lingering longer than she would have. The apparent need to caress his arm if he was in reach, the dresses she wore...she knew the effect she had on him and it was maddening! Now she was standing before him naked, all but begging him to ravish her. Angry whispers in his head tormented him, spurring him to action, demanding the satisfaction he so craved...
"Give in. What's the harm? You did it once already...
...and he shut them out.
In the end it took all he had to avert his gaze, pick up her dress, and fling it at her.
"Do not," he warned, "Do that again. Ever. Or I won't be responsible for what happens."
To his surprise, the princess yielded.
"Very well." she huffed, retrieving her dress. "Resist me if you must. It will only make my inevitable victory that much sweeter."
"You'll be waiting a long time."
"Ah, I like a challenge!" Arianne preened. "Come, my uncle awaits."
"Clothes, woman!"
"You're no fun."
Naruto waited patiently until he was certain she was fully clothed. Only then did he turn.
"Gotta make a stop, first."
Arianne frowned.
"Where?"
(...)
When the door opened, Cersei barely saw it.
But she did hear it.
Months of captivity in the dark had left her nearly blind, but her hearing remained sharp as ever. She heard the lock shift, heard the hinges creak open, felt the thud of boots against the ground near her face. Felt it, as an iron toe nudged her face, checking for signs of life. Even then she didn't move, laying prone against the cold stones. It was only when the heat of a lit torch warmed her face that she finally began to move, hiding her gaze beneath the shadow of an arm.
...who is that?"
"You're not eating." a voice remarked.
Wait.
She knew that voice.
And it wasn't Tyrion.
Through dim eyes she squinted, scowling as flame-colored hair, familiar blue eyes and whiskered cheeks revealed themselves. She didn't even have the strength to lunge at him, weak as she was. She could only hiss.
"You."
"Me."
"You killed my children."
"Which one? Joffrey? Well, yeah." Naruto nodded, crouching down before her with a sigh. "That was me. I won't lie to you. Watching your vicious bastard die gave me more relief than a thousand bottles of wine. He was a nasty little cunt, one who took pleasure in causing others pain. The world is better without him. And I'm not sorry for that. I do regret Tommen, though. He was just a boy-
"Get out."
"No."
Cersei spat in his face, shrieking! "I SAID GET OUT!"
The prince fell silent at that, rubbing his face with his sleeve. He was silent for a very long time. So silent in fact, that Cersei suspected he'd left altogether. When he finally spoke, she nearly jumped.
"If its any consolation you won, ya know. I saw it."
Cersei started violently.
"What?"
"In my dreams." the prince explained, his face a strange blank, "I saw you burn them all. You found one of the mad king's hidden caches of wildfire beneath the Sept of Baelor and...You. Burned. Them. All. Stannis. Me. Shireen. Loras. Margaery." Those blue eyes tightened in the dark, narrowing to azure slits. "All of us. Gone in an instant. I know why you did it, too. Because it felt good-because you couldn't stand the thought of losing, of them winning, beating you. But above all because you wanted to protect Tommen, your dear son. And you know what? I understand."
"You do?"
"Don't be so shocked; even I know what its like to love someone." the whiskered assassin lowered the torch, his blue eyes hiding themselves in shadow. "Love is a fierce thing. Wild. Love makes you reckless. Foolish. It also gives you strength. Makes you dangerous."
"You're a monster." she snarled. "You're no better."
"Is he?"
Light footsteps heralded the arrival of another, a Dornish woman in pale silk.
"So this the great Cersei Lannister?" she scoffed, her lips curving into frown. "Disappointing."
Cersei blinked slowly.
"Who are you?"
"Someone who remembers." the girl hissed back. "Someone who does not forget."
"Arianne." Naruto's voice rose in warning. "I told you to wait outside."
"Why? I want to watch."
Naruto scowled.
"Out."
The princess went with a huff, but not before spitting on her.
"You'll have to forgive Arianne." Naruto shook his head slowly. "She has a bit of a temper. But I don't see things the way she does. Or the way you do, even. I don't DO things because they make me feel good. I purge on occasion, yes...not because I want to, but because I MUST. The voices, they're like steam, you see. It builds and builds and BUILDS until I can't control myself. I lash out." a hand rose and fell, indicating something she couldn't see. "I go into a rage that lasts for days-weeks, even!-at a time." laughter burst out of him, bubbling up without warning. "Even the sack of this city didn't calm me for long. Ha! Do you know what its like to feel like an outsider in your own skin? To lose control of your own body?"
"You...You're mad."
"Finally see that, do you?" he laughed again at her again, palming his face to hide his eyes. "I do. I am. The voices, the whispers, these urges, I know it isn't me, I know its NOT me, but I can't shut them off."
"Why are you even here?"
"I'm here because you won." the Son of the Stag confessed, looking quite contrite. Another act, no doubt. "As I said, I saw it. Somehow, someway, you got out of this cell. You won, and I can't have that. So I'm putting a stop to it before it starts the only I know how."
"And I suppose you chose to threaten my brother." she hissed.
"No...I chose you." her face must have paled, because the prince hastened to explain. "Not because it felt good, because it actually doesn't at this point. I've already taken so much from you, now I have to take your life as well. I could have chosen your brother. That would've pleased Daenerys to no end, I suspect. Oh? Hadn't you heard? No, of course not. You've been locked down here for ages now. How silly of me to...forget." A wan smile tugged at his whiskered cheeks, "Still, she's alive. Safe and out of the grasp of people like you. But back to our chat-
The door creaked open once more, causing Cersei to start.
"I really don't relish this at all. No one should have to die in the dark, alone, forgotten. Even if Tyrion understands I know that your brother won't forgive me for this; I know Shireen will be furious with me. My friends-those few I still have-will think me cruel. I'll have to shoulder that, and I will. So here I am. If you're going to die, I should be the one to witness. Qyburn!
A gaunt-looking man that she didn't recognize emerged from the shadows behind him.
"This pains me, my lady." the Maester lamented mournfully, kneeling before her. "Whatever your faults and flaws, you do not deserve to die alone in such a cold, dark place." His frail-looking hands presented her with a small cup, a cup that all but reeked of Milk of the Poppy. "But sometimes, before we can usher in the new, the old must be put to rest. It will be quick, I promise. Drink," he urged her, folding her hands around the small cup. "Drink and be with your children forevermore."
Cersei gazed at the cup, quietly despondent.
What more did she have to live for? What?
"No."
A thorn of stubborn pride pricked her at the last moment and held her back. No. She didn't want to die. She wanted vengeance. She wanted to see him suffer, as she had suffered. She wanted what was hers! Not to do this, to die quietly in a cell, alone and forgotten! Not like this! NOT LIKE THIS! She refused to die in a place like this, surrounded by mere peasants! They were nothing to her! Beneath her! And they DARED to presume she would yield to them? After this?!
Snarling, she flung the cup in the prince's face.
"No?" Naruto sidestepped the projectile, taken aback by the sudden defiance. "Look, I'm trying to be merciful here. Its either this or I call Bronn in here to chop your head off. And I'd really like to avoid that."
"I refuse, you treasonous little ponce." she snarled, her voice growing stronger with each passing moment. "I won't give you the satisfaction! You have no right! I demand a trial by combat!"
Naruto and Qyburn exchanged a slow glance.
And the prince surprised her yet again.
He laughed.
"I'm afraid you don't understand. This isn't a trial; and you don't have a choice. I tried to be the nice guy and make it painless, but now I see that was a mistake. Qyburn? I'll hold her."
"As you say, your grace."
"What? No." Cersei shrank back at the tone in his voice, skittering as far as her chains would allow. "No!" she cried as he stormed forwards! "No! NO! You can't do this to me!" she clawed at Naruto with a strength born of sheer desperation, carving bloody furrows into his face with her long nails, but still he kept coming. "You'll never get away with it! Do you hear?! My father will have your head! HE-
Something cracked across her face a moment later, driving her to the floor, stunned.
Arianne's face was the last she saw, swimming in and out of focus.
"Sweet dreams, little lion."
Alas, Cersei regained her senses a heartbeat too late; hands like iron clamped across her face, forced her jaw open despite her protests. Another pair poured something foul and cloying down her gullet. More of that potion? Against her will, her body swallowed. Both hands fell away and Cersei spat at them. She choked and gagged at the taste, trying to force the potion out, to speak, to breathe, but her movements were already growing sluggish, her eyes drooping despite her best efforts to be strong and keep them open.
May the gods spit...on you! I deserved more! I am...the Queen! Not like this...I... deserved...more.
Neverending sleep came quickly.
Blackness.
(...)
Sure enough, Oberyn was indeed waiting for them near the Mountain's cell.
By then he'd grown quite impatient.
"Aha! At last you arrive!" the spear-wielder declared, throwing his arms up at the sight of Naruto, with Arianne in tow. He paused at the sight of the scratches marring the prince's cheek. "What have you two been up to down here...? No, nevermind that! This fool guard of yours won't let me in." he waved an angry hand at the nearby soldier, frowning deeply. "The man believes my life will be in danger. Tell him otherwise." The guard in question offered a mute shrug beneath the prince's questioning stare, but otherwise remained most firm, refusing to budge in spite of the Martell's protest.
"King's orders, I'm afraid m'lord." he said. "No one is to see Gregor Clegane without express permission from the royal family."
"And why not?" Oberyn demanded.
"No one else is capable of stopping him when he's awake." Qyburn chose that moment to speak. "I'm afraid he's become a tad...resistant to my methods."
As if to emphasis that very point, the door shook, causing many to jump.
"He has a fair point, uncle." Arianne argued, eyeing the dark bulk behind the bars warily. "A caged beast is often the most dangerous. And you are unarmed."
"Then someone give me a sword!" her uncle replied!
"Here."
Naruto sighed and handed his fellow prince one of his long daggers. Arianne blinked.
"Where were you hiding that?"
The whiskered prince flashed a small smile.
"Dirty jokes are still dirty, you know. Lambert!" he barked at the guard, "Let Lord Oberyn in. Prince's orders. I'll go with him myself. No one else is to enter."
Arianne rounded on him. "What?!"
"I'm not letting you in there with him." Naruto snapped, biting back a growl. "Its too dangerous."
"He is chained!" she cried.
"You said so yourself, a chained beast is the most dangerous."
The princess of Sunspear opened her mouth to refute his claim...and snapped it shut.
"Ohhhh, you're clever."
"I try. Now, open the gate."
...as you wish, your grace." the guard relented reluctantly, reaching back to the ring of keys at his belt and unbarring the door.
"At last!"
Oberyn all but marched right past the man, stormed into the open cell and threw caution to the wind; eager to make it to the end of the aisle to where his prey awaited. Naruto followed at a more leisurely pace, wary of the hulking form lurking at the end of the room. Within good reason! He was not so eager to meet death that he would fling himself at it headlong! If that hulk got his hands on either of them, they would die; he had no illusions of any other outcome. The great goliath would rip theirs head right off, and there would be no coming back from that.
The thought made him nervous, but not enough to risk leaving Oberyn alone with a man-made killer. Even if the cell was dark and dank, with nearly no light beyond that of a lone, flickering torch.
But it seemed Gregor Clegane had seen better days.
Someone had taken it into their head to have him beaten and flogged; his face and chest were a mess of mangled bruises and puss-filled wounds a length over. Yet even then, stripped as he was of armor and weapons and despite-or perhaps in spite of-his many wounds he'd managed to break two of the four chains holding him with sheer strength alone. It was something to be wary of certainly. Unsurprisingly, he was quite conscious even in his condition, enough to raise his gaze as they approached and offer a hackle-raising snarl.
...what do you want, bastard?"
Naruto stiffened slightly.
"Right now? I want to cut your balls off."
Oberyn remained unfazed. "Do you know who I am?" he asked, stepping forward.
"Another dead man?"
"I am Oberyn Martell. You killed my sister...Ellia Martell." The prince's voice may have appeared calm to an outside observer, but the very words themselves vibrated with menace, years worth of anger compacted into a single heated moment. "You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children. Confess." he brandished his borrowed dagger in an unspoken threat, "Say it now and we can make this quick." To his surprise however, the elder Clegane pushing himself upright up on the back of both knees, chuckling deeply.
Laughter greeted them, like the sound of thunder. "You're a fucking idiot."
Even crippled as he was, Gregor Clegane was still quick.
Murderously quick.
One was faster.
"Ohfuckyou!"
Kushina descended with a mournful howl, cleaving through flesh and bone like butter. Clegane howled in angry surprise, his attack aborted mid-lunge, fingers falling well short of Oberyn's unprotected head. Naruto cut down again and that howl warped into a shriek of pain. Gregor's right arm flopped to the stone floor, severed at the elbow, unmoving as its once-former owner writhed and clutched at the severed stump in a vain effort to staunch the bleeding. Oberyn blinked, not for the blood spattering his face and clothes, not for the limb on the floor, but out of annoyance. Ire, that someone had claimed the first strike on what he clearly deemed to be his prize.
"I had it under control." Hazel eyes gleamed with restrained anger as he turned to face his fellow prince. "Why did you do that?"
"Would you rather I let him burst your head like a melon?!" Naruto hissed, his gaze sliding back to Gregor. "What about you, big guy? Anything to say?"
"Fuck you...!"
"Fuck you?" the Son of the Stag snorted. "You really want those to be your last words? C'mon, you can do better."
...cunt!"
Naruto exchanged a wry look with Oberyn and shrugged.
"You're shit at dying," he drawled darkly, "You know that?" When the Mountain merely moaned, he tasted Valyrian steel once again, the razor sharp edge opening an angry line against his cheek. "Confess, or I take the other hand. Or I could just let you bleed to death...?"
Oberyn thumbed his chin, considering.
"Hmm...a slow one would be best..."
"How do I know you won't just fucking kill me, eh?!"
"I am a man of my word." Naruto replied. "I swear I won't kill you. Swear it on the old gods and the new."
...FINE! I did it!" the brute growled through clenched teeth, glaring up at them. "Ellia Martell! I killed her! Raped her! Murdered her children on Tywin Lannister's orders!" By this time he'd become quite pale from loss of blood, his already pallid visage drained a frightening shade of chalk white. "Now fucking do something, you shit! NOW!"
Naruto stepped back.
"As you wish."
Oberyn was also a man of his word; no sooner had Clegane confessed to his crime, than the prince drove the dagger home in the rapist's skull, burying it to the hilt in a fountain of scarlet blood. Gregor Clegane felt only the briefest flash of pain before he perished. He didn't even have time to gasp before his expression went slack, his body left slumping against the chains, dribbling bits of gore and brain matter onto the floor. He died as he had lived, suddenly and sharply with no care for anyone else beyond himself.
"For my sister." Oberyn hissed, giving the dagger one final wrench, ripping the weapon free and savaging the corpse one final time. It felt...strange. Cleansing. At least, it should have. But he knew in his heart that he'd not yet avenged her. He'd merely butchered the puppet. Its master was still out there somewhere, plotting. Scheming. She wouldn't know peace until he was slain.
Naruto observed it all with an air of quiet detachment, letting him have his moment, waiting until he was done.
Oberyn found he rather liked him.
Oh, he pretended not to care, but he did.
"You have my thanks for all that you've done." he offered his hand in friendship and the Son of the Stag accepted it straight away. "Dorne will fight beside with you when you face your enemies." he gave the corpse one last kick for good measure, "And I myself will stand with you; I intend to see Tywin Lannister's head on a pike before I die!"
"I'll hold you to that." Naruto blinked, then. "Wait. You're staying? Won't you be, I don't know, bored?"
"Of course not!" Oberyn laughed. "Ellaria and I have our ways. Care to join us? She speaks most fondly of last evening."
The assassin choked, his face flushing red. "I think...I'll pass."
"Oh? You were not so humble before."
"One time, oi!" The heir pinched his nose. "Also, I need to ask you for a favor."
"Gladly."
"Please, don't tell Dany we just did this."
"Why not?"
Naruto looked at him as though he were mad.
"She'll get ideas."
(Some Hours Later...)
When the door swung open, Jamie Lannister was ready to die fighting.
With all of his remaining strength he lunged upright and flung himself at his jailer, chain in hand!
He wasn't expecting to run into a wall of muscle and metal. Months of solitude without training had stripped him of much of his strength and so, when a pair of massive hands seized him by the shoulders, he was all but powerless to resist. His feeble thrashing did not but draw a grunt from his captor. Even more so when said hands threw him right back into the cell with a harsh thud. For a fleeting moment he thought he was looking at the Mountain-no, this wan't Gregor Clegane, but a man nearly as large, bristling with armor and quiet menace.
Large hands locked around his hands and feet, returning him to where he was chained against the wall, this time, without the slightest of slack. Jamie hissed softly and the giant tightened them still until it was all he could do to simply bow his head.
"Calm down, little man." Ulric Umber rumbled, tightening the chain one final time. "Don't make me break you. You've got a visitor."
With that said he swung the door the rest of the way open and stepped aside.
Tywin's heir braced himself for the worst.
In the end, he needn't have bothered.
It wasn't Tyrion.
It wasn't the Prince.
It wasn't even the bloody King.
Instead, a young woman with pale hair entered the cell, violet eyes narrow and angry. Her blue leather gown caught the light of the torches and seemed to shimmer in the dim light, casting shadows where there should be none, playing havoc with his eyes. It was only when she stepped into the light that he recognized her. He'd never seen her a day in his life, yet he recognized her at once all the same. It was there in the way that she held herself, the slight tilt of her head as she regarded him. She didn't even need her dragons. It was those eyes, eerie orbs burning like a thousand seething vats of wildfire.
All the blood in his body turned to ice, ice that melted beneath the blaze of her gaze.
"Who...are you?"
But he already knew that, didn't he?
This was the Daughter of the Mad King.
"I am Daenerys Tararyen." she said, each word spoken with the heat of dragonflame itself. "I have a message for you."
Gathering himself up with as much confidence as he could find, the Kingslayer propped himself up against the wall and mustered his most fearless smile.
"You'll forgive me if I don't bow."
Daenerys frowned.
Aha, and there it was! The insufferable Lannister arrogance she'd heard so much about but never seen for herself until now. Even with the unkempt bear, even in rags and stripped of his gilded golden armor Kingslayer somehow managed to poison her against his family in a matter of moments. It was that smug sense of superiority, one Tyrion utterly lacked. At least the dwarf was somewhat likable. It helped that he was somewhat in awe of her and her dragons of course, and that he knew who his betters where. Not this one. Even in chains, he still thought he held all the cards.
As such, she took great pleasure in trumping that impenetrable confidence, tearing down the wall of his folly.
"Have you spoken to your sister, Kingslayer?"
The smile dimmed, somewhat.
"Your the first visitor I've had in months." he raised his manacled arms for emphasis. "Not exactly the best place for visitors. What does it matter at any rate? My sister means nothing to me."
The Mother of Dragons couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to call his bluff had he asked her himself. Ser Jorah would not approve of what she was about to do of course; he'd counsel mercy and wisdom.
He wouldn't approve of this, oh no, not one bit.
"Then you'll be pleased to know she's dead."
Jamie's smile and spirit shattered as one.
It was as if a black hole had opened in the pit of his stomach all at once, swallowing everything. All hope, all emotion, all light. Any figment he might've had of escaping vanished in that instant, devoured with everything else. Part of him clung to denial; refusing to even acknowledge the bloody words, lest they poison his resolve even further. Because to admit it was to destroy himself. Even now he could feel himself crumbling-it took all he had to erect his facade once more; to prevent it from crumbling.
"What? No." he shook his head. "You're lying."
"My husband killed her hours ago as a wedding gift to me." replied the Mother of Dragons with a slight smile. "I thought you should know how it feels to lose someone, considering."
"No," Jamie shook his head, adamant in his defiance. "I don't believe that, either. You're no queen. You don't have the authority to demand such a thing."
"My reign has just begun." she permitted herself the smallest of smiles. "And the prince killed your lover for me all the same."
All lies on her part, of course. Well, mostly lies.
Naruto certainly wasn't her husband -not yet- and she'd only just learned of Cersei's demise by pure happenstance, but Jamie needn't know that. She sought only to twist the knife in his heart. She didn't deny it at all; it felt good to watch him falter beneath her stare-to see him crumble-and all but fall to pieces as news of is lover's death destroyed him from within. Vengeance was a dish best served cold after all. And Mother of Dragons though she might be, Daenerys knew how to be very, very cold where her enemies were concerned.
"I don't believe you." Ah. So he wished to be stubborn, then?
Daenerys turned her head with exaggerated poise.
"Ser Ulric?"
The knight reached into the satchel at his hip and removed the bloody parcel. Jamie stiffened, his dirty face torn somewhere between shock and horror. Two steps later and the great goliath laid it to rest at his feet, face up, eyes wide and staring. Surprisingly, he hadn't required much prodding when it came to beheading a corpse. He'd been downright cheery about it-such was his hate for the Lannisters. She imagined he too, took great joy in this, she could see it in the care with which he arranged the queen mother's severed head just so, allowing it to catch the light, confirming her identity beyond all shadow of a doubt.
"...!"
For a fleeting moment, all fell silent in the black cells. But only a moment. Then came the shouting, the screaming. The Kingslayer's cry was music to Dany's ears. Sweet, sweet music. Equal parts rage and despair, she looked on in quiet pleasure as he lunged against his chains, weeping, cursing her and everyone, everything. He swore he would kill her, that he would make her pay for this, how she would suffer how her children and their children's children would suffer until the end of time. Rather impressive as threats went. But she didn't bat an eye for any of it and when the Kingslayer realized that didn't faze her he seemed to give up altogether.
"Are you finished?"
"Seven hells, what do you want?" he moaned, bereft. "You didn't come down here just to show me...this." When she didn't answer, he hastened on, averting his gaze from the severed head at his feet. "I've changed my mind. I'm ready to die. Get it over with."
"Now?" Daenerys blinked, smiling coldly. "Today?"
Jamie felt the fear dig deeper in his heart. He'd expected a dagger in his chest. That didn't happen. What came next was far worse. To his dismay the last Targaryen leaned forward, her lips just brushing the outer lobe of his right ear.
"You're not going to die today, Kingslayer." she whispered. "You're not going to die for a very long time."
Jamie stiffened.
"No."
"Oh, yes." Dany repeated, savoring each word and the horror it brought to him. "You will live as I have lived my entire life; knowing that one day-someday-I will come for you. You will not know the day, nor the hour. It will come when you least expect. You will live to see your worst fear realized; King's Landing will return to the Targaryens, as it was meant to be. You won't be able to run, nor will you hide. I will find you, and then I will burn you. When that time comes, when I decide your fate, you will pray for death."
"There's no need for that." the Lanniser argued. "Just kill me and be done with it. Kill me."
Daenerys shook her head, deaf to his plea. "No, I don't think so."
With that, she turned and strode away.
"Kill me." Jamie groaned at her back. "Please."
"Your gods have forsaken you." she declared, gripping the latch of the door in hand. "I am your god now. And I demand that you suffer."
"KILL ME!"
The door slammed shut on Jamie's howl, leaving the Kingslayer to stew in his misery.
(...)
They hit without warning.
He never even saw the blade, distracted as he was; one moment he was reading his letters, the next, someone thrust a dagger through his right lung.
"A man sends his regards."
Naruto blinked, staring owlishly at the sword protruding from his chest, its edge caked with blood. Stabbed in the back. Huh. Odd way to go, one he hadn't expected.
"Well...fuck."
That was his last thought before the darkness took him...
The dream left him then and the Son of the Stag opened bleary eyes, raw from lack of sleep.
Odd.
He'd thought he heard a man's scream just now. Impossible. Surely it was his imagination, merely part of the nightmare...
...it probably wasn't.
His first realization was that his nap had proved short-lived; the waning light of a blood-red sun across the balcony told him evening was over and they were now well into the vening.
His dreams had been angry and restless again, visions of a future that was, but was also yet to be. Bells rang in the Sept, heralding a wedding. Armies ripped one another apart. Fleets burned. Dreams of fire and flame, the dead marching on King's Landing. Dreams he didn't know how to stop. How could you stop the dead? Burning them was certainly an option, but how did you stop them. Put them down for good? He suspected a visit to the Wall was in order and soon, before that threat became more than just a threat, but an actual danger.
All thoughts of that ceased when he realized he was looking at Daenerys Stormborn.
"Kill her." the voices snarled.
Narrowly, he suppressed them.
This was either still part of his dream-which it very well might be, considering she was wearing little more than a thin chemise gown!-or he was awake. Somehow she'd climbed onto his bed when he was asleep-which was rather alarming, in-and-of itself. If his guards let just anyone into his quarters these days then how the hell was he going to avoid assassins? He'd have to have a word with Ulric about that. No visitors without his express permission, or there would be a penalty of some sort. Yes, he ought to make that a rule-
"Ahem."
Ah.
Right.
Daenerys.
...is there a reason you're in my bed?" he sighed.
For a moment he thought she'd snap at him. In all honesty he expected it. Surprisingly, she didn't. Instead she shifted slightly, folding her hands in her lap. It was a surprisingly demure position from someone so fierce, a woman so indomitable, so adamantly...Targaryen. Alarm bells went off in his head. In the short time in which they'd known one another she'd never humbled herself before him. Not once. Ever. That she was doing so now while wearing that was utterly baffling for all the wrong reasons.
"I wished to speak with you." she said.
"Its almost night."
"I am aware."
Crap.
He knew that look well; it meant she wasn't going to leave him be unless he used force. The stubborn set of her jaw, the way her eyes caught the setting rays of the sun, burning with determination. He was entirely too tired to push her away, and, not being quite awake himself, didn't have the presence of mind to refute her. She wouldn't leave, at any rate. Not until she'd said her peace.
"Alright," he relented, sitting up, fighting to meet her eyes. "What do you want?"
"I wish to propose an alliance."
"Eh? Alliance?" the prince found himself blinking. "Oh, right. Riiiiiiiiiiight. I did mention something like that, didn't I?" Sleep had well and truly eluded him by now; it was impossible to he wouldn't be resting his tired eyes anytime soon, not with the Mother of Dragons in his bed, and certainly not when she was wearing that! Grumbling softly to himself he scrubbed at his face with the back of his knuckles, rubbing away the last vestiges of drowsiness out of his eyes.
"You and Varys finally had a chat, did you?"
Her expression was telling.
"What does this "alliance" entail, exactly?" he yawned.
Daenerys Targaryen gazed at him for a long, agonizing moment, her expression torn somewhere between looming doubt and quiet skepticism. Once again he expected another outburst of pride, or barring that stubborn emotion at least anger of some sort. As such, he was floored when she straightened up, looked him right in the eye and declared in firm tones:
"It entails an offer of...marriage."
"Ha!"
Naruto tumbled off the bed and to the floor, clutching his sides in a vain attempt hold back the laughter. She actually had a sense of humor! Who would have thought?! But in the ensuing silence that followed, a seed of silent dread planted itself in his heart. Dany hadn't moved. She hadn't even spoken since he'd all but crashed off the bed. In fact she was still sitting there, lips pursed, brow dark with clouds of restrained anger. Rather adorable, really.
"Wait," he poked his head up over the bed, "You're serious? Why?"
"I find your presence rather...agreeable." The Mother of Dragons confessed, averting her gaze. "You are not the man I thought you were. You're...more."
"And who did you think I was?" Naruto inquired, climbing back onto the bed beside her. "Do tell."
"I thought you were a drunkard and a glutton who delighted in whores and wine." she confessed, uncaring when he cringed. "A coward. Someone who let others do his bidding while you hid behind your guards and let them do the killing for you. I was wrong." All the while, Naruto firmly resisted the urge to bang his skull against the headboard. So...she knew about his little misadventure in the dungeons after all. Of course, she did. Was no one capable of keeping a secret in this blasted city?!
He wasn't about to ask what else she'd been up to while he slept; she'd just refuse to tell him.
"I'm not the man you think I am-
"But you are." Daenerys argued against his irked expression, her voice growing more and more insistent with each passing moment. "I see that now. You took what you thought was rightfully yours and let none stand in your way. When your enemies threatened you, you fought back until they were either destroyed, or too broken to retaliate against you. You weren't some pampered prince, a milk-besotted noble, born clutching a silver spoon. You were a bastard. You admitted it to me yourself. You came from nothing, you had nothing, yet you fought and clawed your way into power with fire and blood to get here, to stand where you are now."
"Nice speech." Naruto snorted, his voice dripping with bitter sarcasm. "Coming from a Targaryen, that's actually kinda flattering. Still haven't explained why you want me to marry you, though. You need a lot more than mutual interests to marry someone."
"And yet you're to wed Margaery." she scoffed, shifting closer. "Is that no
The prince drew back with a start.
"That's different."
"Is it?" she challenged with heat in her words, refusing to back down. "When I came to King's Landing, you could've had be executed on the spot." A hand snaked out, claiming his wrist before he could hope to retreat to safety again-before he could think to escape. "You claimed you had no part in that conspiracy to bring me here. By all rights, you didn't have to defend me. Yet you did." her eyes held his as she climbed into his lap, and the prince went stiff beneath her. "You let yourself be beaten bloody for me," she said, stroking his face, "A stranger, an outcast, a threat to your reign."
Naruto opened his mouth to refute such a thing. "To be be fair-
As a result, the kiss caught him entirely flatfooted.
Daenerys merely brushed her mouth against his, yet it was enough to silence him all the same. She paused, lingered, breath warm on his face.
"You angered your father-the King-merely by speaking in my defense." the words were softer now, nearly a whisper, as though she were admitting it as much to herself as she was him. "You kept me safe. You protected me, when I did want you too, did not ask for it. At first, I didn't understand that. Why would you do such a thing? What did you have to gain, I wondered? I expected you to make demands of me, to take my dragons as payment. But you asked for nothing, you treated me as an equal when no else would. I think I know why, now."
"Do enlighten me."
"You're a good person, Naruto."
"I'm really not." he shook his head. He wasn't not at all. He could be cruel and mean and flawed...how did a handful of good deeds make up for all the violent acts he'd committed along the way? He'd killed and as much as he deemed it necessary to silence the voices, there was still that small part of him that enjoyed it. That someone so jaded could think of him as anything more was...humbling. Painfully so.
She kissed him again, harder this time, distracting him.
"You are."
"No, I-seven hells!' Naruto tried to disagree, but the words piqued into a groan. His hands had long since betrayed him, reaching up to peel the gown away from Daenerys Stormborn when he wasn't looking. Her hands were already at work on his trousers, stripping it, and that last vestige of self control away.
"Look, lets say I agree to this." he managed, struggling to distract himself from the fantastic things she was doing to him with her hips. "It...It won't end well. I'm really not the marrying sort." he winced at the thought and the pain it invoked. "I've screwed up too many times. I'm broken. I don't think I even know how to love anymore. You'll be miserable with me. You'll be competing with Margaery every day for the rest of your life. I won't make you happy. I don't think I can."
"I think you will."
When lips pressed against his again, they were warmer than any dragon.
(Meanwhile, in the Riverlands...)
"ACHOO!"
Eleanor sneezed mightily, expelling a thin cloud of hot steam into the frigid afternoon air. The sound caused Ramsey's hounds to start but she ruthlessly ignored them, determinedly digging deeper into her fur cloak. The dogs incessant braying didn't help, either. This weather seemed to worsen more and more with each passing day now and at times she could barely feel her fingers, much less her toes. Damn the North! She was used to a far warmer climate, not
"You've been doing that a lot, lately." Ramsey remarked. "Caught a cold?"
The shield maiden bit back a groan.
It would all be over soon.
They'd finally found her trail.
Arya Stark had been right under their noses the entire time. Once they realized she was with the Hound, it was a simple matter of following the bodies. It began with three dead men in an inn and from there, went on a merry chase through the Riverlands, following the trail of the dead. Stark, Lannister, even a few Freys. Their banners always varied but each had one thing in common. Not a one of those bodies had any coin or food on them. Whomever killed them took great pangs to fleece them of any and all valuables, which was rather suspicious in and of itself.
The Hound wasn't subtle when it came to combat; anyone fool enough to cross him found themselves dead in a ditch or worse. No, someone was with him, and that someone made sure every body was picked clean. Of course that could only mean-
"Down!"
Eleanor's only warning came in the form of an startled cry from Ramsay then a large, dark shape lunged from a nearby hill and crashed into her mount with all the force of a rolling avalanche. The horse reared, throwing her from the saddle with an angry neigh. Oddly enough, this saved her life. Instead of having her head split open, the sword sheared an angry red line across her scalp as she rolled aside.
Painful perhaps, but not lethal.
Amidst the chaos she heard the hounds baying. Their cries ended in a sharp, ugly squeal as their attacker(s) dispatched them.
Tumbling to her feet, she spied Ramsay desperately parrying their attacker's blows, bleeding from an ugly wound in his right arm. She barely had time to see said attacker before he lunged forward and impaled the poor Bolton on his blade, skewering him through the stomach as though he were a pig at a nameday feast. All Ramsay managed was a broken gurgle before his attacker tore him free, sending his body sprawling to the dirt in a messy heap of blood and entrails. Then he turned on Eleanor. In doing so, he presented an ugly, burned visage more known to her than the face of death itself.
Shit.
Sandor Clegane was a monster of a swordsman and he was fast, far faster than she'd give him credit before.
He lunged at her before she could hope to speak, his great sword arcing down at her head!
Merely blocking numbed her hand behind the shield and threatened to sent it clattering from her fingers altogether. Somehow, Eleanor held on, weathering blow after blow behind the bulwark. Then she beat him bloody with it. In the time that it took Clegane to raise his sword again the nimble shield maiden darted under his guard and swiped up at him with her sharpened shield, bloodying the larger man's nose. Against a man like the Hound it didn't so much stop him as it did stun him, but it did buy here the time to throw a vicious right hook into his face, hurl him to the ground, and bring her sword up again.
Cold steel found his throat an instant later.
"Yield." she snarled.
"Beaten by a woman." The Hound groaned. "They'll never let me live this down."
"Where's Arya Stark?"
The Hound spat.
"Fuck off-
A blade poked against the small of her back.
"Stop."
Craning her head, Eleanor spotted a young girl not a stone's throw away, watching her keenly. In her hand she clutched a thin sword that more resembled a rapier than an actual blade. Said girl also looked all of a mere moment from skewering her through with said sword. Eleanor daren't turn, she couldn't risk leaving her back open to someone like the Hound. But in the same vein, she couldn't leave her back open to the girl, either. It really was a nasty little weapon-wait. A spark of recognition sparked to life inside her. Robb had mentioned such a sword...
"You're Arya Stark."
The girl with boyish hair started, then hastily covered her surprise with a scowl. "No, I'm not. Who are you?"
Yup. Definitely Arya.
"Your brother sent me to bring you home." the shield maiden spoke slowly, keenly aware of the blade mere inches from ending her life, "He's been searching for you."
"You know Robb?"
Aha!
"There's a war on, remember?" Clegane growled. "Don't believe her-OOF!"
A boot on his chest shut him up right quick.
"Not anymore." Eleanor argued, pressing down. "Look...I'm going to reach into my sachel now. I'd appreciate it if you didn't skewer me like a pig." The Lord of Winterfell had indeed given them a message for this very purpose. So had Naruto. Against her better judgement, she straightened and, wincing at the pain in her back, sheathed her blade. The tip of Needle vanished not a heartbeat later. The Redwyne heaved a sigh of relief and dipped a hand into her pack, retrieving the parchment from within.
"That's my father's seal." Arya blinked, solemnly accepting the scroll.
"Your brother's, now."
Ned Stark's daughter didn't answer that, instead breaking the wax seal and quietly opening the message. She stood that way for what felt like a small eternity, eyes greedily devouring the words within. The entire time, Eleanor dared not take her boot from Sandor's chest. Not until the Stark girl finished reading. Her eyes were decidedly misty after.
"I believe you."
"Thank you."
Wincing, she removed her heel and allowed the Hound to climb to his feet.
"I'm not here to hurt you, Clegane."
"Yeah? That boy of yours tried. You saw what happened to him."
"I don't care about Ramsay Bolton. He wasn't part of my mission." Scoffing, she handed him another scroll, meant for his eyes alone.
Sandor scowled, confused.
"The fuck is this?"
"A royal proclamation by the Prince." Eleanor answered, her eyes never once leaving his, watching for any and possible sign of undue movement. "Any and all crimes you've committed under the Lannisters are forgiven. You can go home." And so could she! The thought thrilled her, but she schooled her face into impassivity. "What do you say?"
"I'm not a knight. My brother's a knight. Fuck that." he shook his head, his perpetual scowl deepening even further. "I'm not wearing that fucking white cloak again."
"He's not asking you to be a part of the Kingsguard. He's got a better offer for you."
"What kind of offer?"
"The kind you can't refuse."
For a split second she actually thought he might attack.
After a moment, the Hound grunted.
"Got any chicken?"
Eleanor brightened.
"Indeed I do."
A/N: And there you have it! Hope you noticed the "I choose violence" scene there, it was paid in homage to the original! The GOT world is changing, but whether for good or bad...one can only guess. By the end some will live, others will die, and the world will be turned on its ear! What will happen next?!
Stay tuned to find out!
...The events of GOT ought to be quite different with Stannis on the Iron Throne...will Naruto make it out of this one alive? But the questions don't end here! Now remember that Naruto at the moment, has little to nearly no power in this fic beyond his superior strength, stealth skills, and of course, his wit. He's still himself, just...hardened. And, in the end there will only be one king upon the Iron Throne, and all bloody hell is about to break loose!
So...in the immortal words of Atlas...
...Would You Kindly Review the story of this humble man? And enjoy the previews! Sorry for the confusion, but SHEER CHAOS occurs next chapter. Didn't want to squeeze everything in here all at once, SO ENJOY THE MULTI PREVIEWS! And guess at what happens! Good luck guessing at the identity of the first one! NEXT CHAPTER, THE ONE YOU'VE ALL BEEN DREADING: THE ORANGE WEDDING! WARNING! SOMEONE DIES!
(Preview(s)
Walder Frey spread his arms wide in a greeting.
"So glad you could join us, boy!"
Naruto smiled thinly.
"We'll see."
Black Walder drew back with a startled hiss.
"Seven Hells!"
Naruto's corpse stood slowly, woodenly and without care. It shook itself like a wet dog, seemingly ignorant of the small array of crossbow bolts jutting from its back, of its missing arms, of the dead bodies at its feet. More than a few of them were Freys. But perhaps worst of all was that the corpse was moving. Speaking. Breathing-no. It wasn't a corpse at all. But it had to be! They'd shoved a sword through his heart! Stuck a full quiver of arrows in him, just as they had his wench! What sorcery was this?!
"I told you to chop off my head or I'd come back to haunt you." Naruto whispered. "But you...
When he looked up, those eyes weren't blue.
...you...
They were red and slitted.
..you...
The eyes of a cat-no, something worse.
...YOU...
Just the vicious slits of an angry beast, wild and enraged.
...YOU...
Bottomless.
...YOU...
The pits to hell.
"...you...you...YOU DIDN'T LISTEN YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" a pair of red dots blossomed on his forehead, fingers sharpening into claws! "YOU TOOK HER FROM ME! STOLE HER FROM ME!" His voice deepened, as though another were speaking with him, no, through him! "KILLED HER FROM ME!"
Despite his best efforts, Black Walder actually flinched back.
Those eyes! What were those eyes?!
"People have been asking me why I don't want to rule," Naruto snarled as he dragged himself upright, his blood-soaked hair dripping whilst his baffled killer looked on, "And until now, I really haven't had an answer for that. They asked me, why? What, am I...if not a bastard?" his head cocked aside eyes flashing murderously as he reached behind his back, plucking an arrow from his spine. "A savior? Killer? Murderer of men? A lover? A husband? A filthy bag of secrets?" His skewered arm strained upright and snatched a blade from the floor, fingers digging viciously into the hilt.
All the while, none dared take a shot at him.
"However!" In a single movement he stepped forward and scythed the nearest Frey's legs out from under him and struck down in the same movement, scissoring the blade into his throat. "I've realized something." he purred, snarling as the Frey fought for his life, "It doesn't matter who I am. What I am." A trapped hand pressing against the floor, twisting upright against the bolts that finally descended upon him, uncaring for the barbs even as they bit into his flesh. "I, I am a man. I'm a monster. I have people I want to protect, and you, you're in my way." A flick of his wrist was all it took to end his struggles entirely. The moment his blade was free he began moving, stalking, storming forward.
His face shoved up against the Black Walder's, eyes ablaze, twin coals in his skull.
When he spoke, his voice was like rolling boulders scraping together.
"SO YOU CAN TELL ME WHERE YOUR FUCKING FATHER WENT OR YOU CAN DIE SCREAMING ALONGSIDE HIM!"
R&R! =D
