Chapter 2
The Baratheons of King's Landing and the Stormlands

His oldest son was one and twenty now, old enough to be betrothed and married. Still, no matter how many times he put a beautiful, highborn lady in front of him, Gendry did not want her. After it happened so many times, he asked his son why he did not want those women. Gendry insisted that he wanted to marry for love.

Robert scoffed. Royalty and nobles did not marry for love. They married for power, for money, for connections, for bloodlines. Love could bloom in arranged marriages but in many cases, it took a backseat to duty.

If I wanted to marry for love, I would have married Lyanna Stark, he thought.

But he was married to Ashara Dayne of Starfall before Lyanna was of age to be betrothed. Lyanna was all that he wanted, but she was not his to have. She loved him the same way that her brothers loved him. Then she was married off to a Lychester, a small noble house in the Riverlands. He was furious when Rhaegar Targaryen kidnapped a pregnant Lyanna. Robert may have desired her, but even he would never disgrace her in such a way. And yet at the end of the war, Lyanna's husband was killed in the rebellion as he ascended the Iron Throne. He still loved her, and all he had to do was to change the law to grant him two wives just so he could have her.

But Starks were honorable. She would never have accepted a proposal like that.

So all Robert could do was let Lyanna stay in King's Landing, let her give birth to her son, the heir of House Lychester, and let her recover from her ordeal in the Tower of Joy. All he could do was accept the fact that Lyanna would never be his.

He had taken his wife for granted. She was a good queen who always stood by his side, giving him advice. Early in their marriage, he had slept with more whores than he could count on his fingers and toes, and yet, Ashara stayed by him. She bore him four children without question, all with dark hair and eyes of blue ice. He watched her take care of their children and something stirred in his heart. He stayed away from his whores and tried to be a better king for Ashara's sake and the children's.

Robert never realized how much he loved Ashara until a fever took her away from him when his youngest child was just a baby. He felt like he had lost a piece of himself that he never knew he had. He locked himself up in his room, trashing it, screaming. Losing Ashara was not the same feeling he felt when Lyanna was kidnapped. It was worse. He reverted back to his old ways of drinking and whoring, and then he had to marry that damned woman at the insistence of Jon Arryn.

There was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Robert asked gruffly. Thinking about the loss of Ashara again put him in a bit of a foul mood.

The door opened and Ser Brandon Stark entered. He was hardly young or old, but he was still as tall and handsome as ever. He had learned to control his fierce temper with time in the Capital and guarding Robert, but his wolf's blood came out whenever he found out someone had been disrespecting the Baratheons or the Starks.

"Prince Gendry and Lord Jon Stark are here to see you, Your Grace," said Brandon.

"You mean Jon Lychester," he muttered under his breath. Lyanna always insisted on raising her son as a Stark and not as a Lychester. "Send them in."

Gendry and Jon entered the room and Brandon left. They were often so casual in front of Robert that it pissed him off and wanted to knock their teeth out, but it was different this time. He could tell that they were serious in whatever they wanted just by the way they were holding themselves.

Gendry was Robert's second child and oldest son. He looked exactly like Robert in his youth: thick black hair, blue eyes, tall, and the ripples of his muscles could be seen beneath his clothes. He was the crowned prince and heir to the Iron Throne. The people of King's Landing loved him; he was often seen around the city with his siblings and trying to ease the people's burdens when needed. Robert had yelled at him before that it was unnecessary to do such things, but Gendry stubbornly refused to listen to him on that matter.

Jon was Lyanna's only son and the heir to House Lychester in the Riverlands. He looked very much like his mother: dark, curly hair and dark grey eyes of steel. He was tall, but less muscular than Gendry. He often spent his time travelling between King's Landing, the Riverlands, and Winterfell.

"What is it? Are you going to tell me how you drove away the last girl I tried to marry you to?" snapped Robert. He grabbed a pitcher of wine and poured himself a glass.

"I actually came here to speak to you about marriage," said Gendry.

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

"For the past several years, you've tried to make matches between me and other highborn ladies, but they've all been unsuccessful," said Gendry. "In truth, there is only one lady that I want as my wife."

"And who is she?"

Jon's eyes darted to glance at Gendry, but the Prince only smirked.

Mya and Brandon stood outside of the King's Chambers as Gendry and Jon conversed with Robert inside. They had told her as well as Edric and Barra of what they were planning. She had planned on eavesdropping but upon seeing Ser Brandon, she figured that she could get more answers out of him than she could at the door.

"I've never been to Winterfell before," said Mya. "What is it like there, Ser Brandon?"

"Cold," he answered with a chuckle.

"I gathered that much," laughed Mya.

She was Robert's oldest child at the age of three and twenty. She was not a traditional lady; she preferred shearing her dark hair short and having fine fabrics made into masculine clothes just for her. Despite her unusual clothing, she was still considered to be beautiful, making men's heads turn as she walked down the streets of King's Landing. She was no helpless lady either; she was skilled with a spear and frequently went with her father when he went hunting for boars.

"It snows in the long summers. Its library is vast and wide, enough to keep Lord Tyrion happy. It's guarded by its bannermen and the castle unofficially by its direwolves," he answered.

Direwolves. Mya had learned from her studies that the sigil of House Stark was a direwolf. Jon had told her that eight years ago, he and Robb had found six direwolf pups in the forest with the mother dead. They brought them back home to Winterfell. Jon laughed as he recounted how attached Sansa, Arya, and Bran were to them and how they begged and pleaded their father to let them keep them. It wasn't until Lord Rickard convinced his son that the Old Gods meant for the children to have them.

Mya had seen Jon's direwolf around the Red Keep. No matter how many times Jon had visited King's Landing, everyone was afraid of Ghost. He stood out with his white fur and red eyes. Servant girls screamed and ran off when they saw him approaching, and the horses were spooked when they sensed his presence nearby. But true to his name, Ghost was silent, stealthy. He could hide and run away fast enough before the horses could catch wind of him. It was truly impressive.

"Lord Jon's mother is in Winterfell, yes?" asked Mya.

"Yes. She hasn't been back to King's Landing in almost ten years now."

"I miss her," said Mya. "I miss the times when we would go riding."

Ser Brandon laughed. "I imagine that my youngest niece is occupying Lyanna's time with riding and archery, and water dancing in Winterfell. The moment I saw that she had Stark eyes, I knew she would be exactly like my sister."

If she is like Lady Lyanna, then she must be a fearsome thing to behold, thought Mya.

The doors to the King's chambers opened and Jon and Gendry came out. Jon shut the door first before Gendry smirked and said, "We're going to Winterfell!"

The little girl looked down the hallway both ways before slipping out of her room. She skipped down through the deserted halls of the Red Keep until she found the door she was looking for. She did not bother knocking, but just slowly pushed the door open. She found her brother lying on his bed, his armor and sword discarded on the floor.

"Edric! You're back!" Barra said happily.

Barra Baratheon was the youngest of Robert and Ashara's children. She hardly knew her mother so she was raised mostly by her stepmother. She followed her example and her stepsister, Myrcella, becoming a perfect lady though she had small tendencies to act like Mya. She was terribly fond of her older siblings, and they were fond of her as well.

Edric raised his head. "Barra…" he warned. He knew his little sister. It was time for her to go to bed, but if she had caught wind that he was back in King's Landing, she would sneak out to come see him in his room.

"No one saw me," she said with a giggle. She closed the door and sat down on Edric's bed.

As his Uncle Renly's heir, Edric frequently travelled between King's Landing and Storm's End. Barra and Mya missed him in his absence. It had to be done though. He was seven and ten now, and he was getting to be old enough to completely take over for his uncle. Edric loved the Stormlands, but he was tired of travelling constantly. There were times when he would prefer to have Gendry's position as heir to the Iron Throne and stay in King's Landing for most of the time. He could do it too. The people of the Capital loved him as much as they loved his older brother.

"We're leaving for Winterfell soon," Barra said with excitement shining in her eyes.

"Yes, I know," said Edric, sitting up. "That is the reason why I came back and Uncle Renly went back to Storm's End.

"I cannot wait to see what it is like."

"I'm sure that you can ask Ser Brandon and Jon to tell you stories about it," he answered, ruffling his sister's hair. "You should go back to bed, Barra. It's late."

"But you just got back!" She pouted.

"That's not very ladylike," he teased. "You will see me in the morning. I'm not leaving King's Landing until after our visit to Winterfell." He got up from his bed. "Come on. I'll take you back to your room."

They walked back to Barra's room, holding hands. She talked excitedly of what she had learned about the North and the Starks.

"Good night, Barra," said Edric when they had reached her bedchamber.

"Good night, Edric," she said, giving him one last hug before retreating inside to let sleep overcome her.

Written for someone on tumblr who wished for this AU fic in which:

-Lyanna is alive.
-She didn't marry Robert.
-He accepted this fact and moved on.
-Gendry was born in Robert's marriage as well as Mya, Edric, and Barra.
-Gendry is the heir to Storm's End.
-Catelyn and Ned are married somehow.
-Lyanna and Arya are best friends who talk about archery, riding, and swords.
-Sansa has a happy ending.
-All of the Starks are alive such as Benjen, Brandon, and Rickard.
-Jon Snow knows his parents.
-Jon is Lyanna's son.
-Jon and Gendry are friends.
-Gendry and Arya get together.

All points have been fulfilled to the best of my ability and imagination. My biggest obstacle was to try to have everyone have a part. Just, ugh. Starks and Baratheons are very troublesome. And I know I mention the Lannisters, but it would have murdered me to really integrate them into the story. I just...I wanted everyone to be hunky dory. So they can take a back seat.

Check out my tumblr (aetherene) to see pictures of my dreamcast for the characters as well as their ages at the time this story takes place.

Chapter 1: Stark family
Chapter 2: Baratheon family
Chapter 3: Arya and Gendry