I DO NOT OWN THIS STORY!
This is a story written by Voltage and was on the Lovestruck app that was shut down due to lack of funding.
I am simply writing the stories from the app out as I prefer to read them this way and nobody has yet to do so.
I have typed this out word for word from the app except for a few bits to help identify people sense there are no pictures to see who is talking.
If you have any suggestions on how to make this flow better, please let me know!

Love & Legends - Saerys Route

Season 1: Chapter 7

The castle halls echo with pounding feet, guards, staff, and us rushing through.

"I thought all this was settled! Why are they after Saerys again?!"

"I believe I can venture a guess." pops in Isuel.

"If I see Lennox one more time, no party is going to get between me and an unscheduled cremation." huffs Altea.

When Reiner throws open the castle doors, the roar of the crowd hits me like a wall.

(How did he manage to stir them up so much?)

(This is how you get tinnitus!)

Reiner's voice booms as we reach the gates, but even I can barely hear him.

"Calm yourselves! My people, stand down!"

The roar only surges, and the knights stationed on the castle wall duck under a hail of stones.

"Listen to me! Saerys is a friend to us-!"

The noise hits a crescendo in time with a deafening thud that shakes the ground...

And the castle gates.

"Oh, no." whispers Isuel.

"They mean to bring the gates down?!" gasps August.

Another thud, even louder than the first.

(I don't think I've ever been so afraid of the sound of wood creaking.)

"Saerys, you need to run."

"Lord Reiner-!"

"Go, Searys! Find somewhere safe and hide until I send word."

"The castle is not safe you now. Go!"

"..."

Without another word, Saerys turns and dashes back to the castle.

"Hey Saerys, wait!"

I rush after him, as quickly as I can.

Despite the hurry, he sticks to a speed I can manage.

(Probably so he doesn't plow into some poor butler at freeway speeds.)

(I don't even want to think about that.)

When we reach Saerys's room, I set a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm going with you!"

"No."

"Oh, you can shove your 'no' straight up-!"

"The safest place you can be right now is away from me."

"Yeah, the riot clued me in to that."

"I'm still not letting you go alone, Saerys."

Saerys pins me with a searching look.

"..."

He opens the door to his room, and starts packing what few things he has with practiced efficiency.

"I only have one tent."

"Lucky thing neither of us are tent-sized, then."

"Clearly you won't change your mind, and we have no time to argue."

He leads me down past cellars and dungeons, and into a narrow corridor made of rough stone.

"Stay close."

He takes my hand and gives it a squeeze.

"There will not be much light."

"I would prefer that you not get lost in here."

"Yeah, that makes two of us."

I keep as close to Saerys as I can.

We take more turns than I can hope to keep track of, and the only light comes from small grates into other rooms.

"I'm glad one of us knows where we're going."

"This place is a maze."

"..."

"No, don't. You're not allowed."

"I may have lost track of the way out."

"God. Damn. It."

"We just have to keep moving. I will find the way again."

The walls seem to close in as we go, and the light gets even dimmer.

I huddle close, clutching at Saerys' arm.

"This seems like the right..."

Saerys trails off, but I get my answer before I can ask why.

From above us, shouting voices carry down through the stone.

"We're under-!"

"Quiet!"

Pounding footsteps join in, like a train passing just over our heads.

We press flat against the wall as dust and bits of stone rain down.

"Come on. We cannot stop yet."

Luckily, the commotion helps Saerys get his bearings.

A few turns later, moonlight starts to tint the stone blue.

We step out into the bank of the river, the chaos far behind us, and it's like we've stepped into a different world.

We cut through the woods, heading further away from the castle.

Saerys glances back a few times, looking to the source of the sounds I can't even hear.

(We get back for like an hour, and already that asshole Lennox gives him the boot!)

"So...where do we go now?"

"..."

"Saerys?"

I can see a hunch to his shoulders, the curve of each tense muscle highlighted by the moon.

"We do what Lord Reiner said; find somewhere to hide until he sends word."

"We have no other option."

"..."

"Do you think Reiner and the others will be alright?"

"I mean...they were knocking the whole damn gate down."

Saerys' fists ball at his sides, and he walks a little faster.

"We have all been through worse."

"i trust that they will be ...unharmed."

"Unharmed, or alright?"

"You are asking a question you already know the answer to."

We march on in silence until the forest gives way to road.

I can just make out the lights of the castle behind us, but even those are fading quickly.

"A little further, and we will make camp along the river."

"There are better sites along the road, but we cannot risk someone coming across us."

"if one person finds us, probably the whole town finds us."

"River sounds wonderful."

We cut through one last patch of woods and return to the riverbed, picking our way along until Saerys finds a spot that meets his standards.

"This will do for a short stay."

"Hopeful that is all we need."

"I never really did camping."

"Should I like, get firewood?"

"Pick berries or something?"

He gives his quiet huffing laugh.

"No need for berries."

"We will worry about food in the daylight."

"And we will have to do without a campfire tonight."

"Why-ah, I get it."

"Someone could see the smoke from the road and follow it to us."

"Exactly."

"Then...I guess I can set up the tent and bedrolls?"

"Ah, well-"

"..."

"Saerys, are you about to tell me that you only have one bedroll too?"

"I have never required more than one of each."

"I don't know if that means you move fast or you don't move at all, Saerys."

Saerys pauses setting up camp to raise an eyebrow at me.

"Don't worry about it."

"I guess I can set up the tent, then."

"Do you know how?"

"How hard could it be?"

Fifteen minutes later, once I've managed to find the tent stake that slipped out of my hand at high speed, Saerys teaches me how to set up a tent.

(I coulda figured it out on my own. You know, sooner or later.)

He climbs inside to lay out the bedroll and set the rest of his things in a corner.

"It's...kinda cozy in here."

"I thought it would be pretty cramped, but this isn't half bad."

"..."

Saerys sits on the edge of the bedroll, his eyes locked on his hands.

"...Saerys?"

Saerys clenches and unclenches his hands.

"All of this trouble, and me in the center of it."

I keep quiet and nod, urging him to continue.

"An ill tide comes for me, and my friends are caught in it, and the best thing I can do for them is to run."

"Hide."

"You would have been better off with another."

"Any other."

"What?"

"Saerys, that's-that's not true at all!"

"Do you not understand?"

"You are making your bed with a monster, MC."

"I am no hero, whatever the others may say."

"Heroes are not driven out of their very home."

"You really think you're a monster-?"

"What else could I be?!"

"The others think me a hero because I fought beside them, but a well-placed blade does not make one good."

"You're not just-!"

"I have read enough stories to know what a monster is."

"They are dangerous, they are reviled..."

"And they are cast out, or they are killed."

"I am not naive enough to think the townspeople had anything else in mind."

"You are more than that, Saerys."

"You're not just some...storybook villain in the way of a happy ending."

"..."

"Don't ignore all the good in you, Saerys."

"You're kind, you're loyal to your friends, you have this wonderful quiet humor!"

Saerys only looks away, his head turned so I can't make out his face."

"No, no Saerys you are not walling up on me."

I catch his chin and turn him to face me, a hand on either cheek.

"You're a good person, Saerys."

"You're no monster, you're not somebodies problem, you're a good person!"

"And dammit, I care about you!"

"I haven't known you as long as the others have, but even I care about you so damn much, Saerys!"

There's still only sadness in the glow of his eyes, and he keeps silent.

(He can't see it.)

(He's so caught up in the problems around him, he can;t see himself as anything but the reason for them.)

(He can't see that he's so much more than that!)

All I want to do is wipe that frown off his face...

And so I do.

"Mh-!"

I close the last inch between us, and kiss him.

Saerys tenses just long enough for me to realize what, exactly, the hell I just did.

"Woah, okay, got a little ahead of myself there-!"

Saerys takes my hands, presses forward and returns the kiss twofold, deep and intense.

He eases me down to the bedroll, his lips on mine, his warmth, his weight, all of it suffusing me.

One hand pins my wrists to the pillow, the other cupping my jaw as I melt into his embrace.

Soon enough, though, we break away, panting for breath.

"...Believe me now?"

He strokes my cheek with his thumb, but pulls away.

"You have made your point very clear, yes."

"I, ah, must admit that this is not the time for it, though."

"And certainly not the place."

"We may have gotten a bit carried away, but..."

"That was good, right? That was okay?"

Saerys chuckles and settles down beside me on the bedroll.

"That was better than okay, MC."

"Thank you."

He pulls a blanket over us, and I scoot a bit closer to him.

"Much better than okay."

He holds me close as I drift off, the sounds of the river, the woods, and his breathing all drawing me to sleep.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Authors Note:
I plan to try and add a chapter once a week but I hold no promises.
I also plan to do all the routes for Love & Legends as well as the other stories that were on the app.
If you would like to watch the scenes that this story is typed from simply search the story name in YouTube and you are sure to find it.
If anybody has any questions please do not be afraid to ask.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did!
Again I DO NOT OWN THIS STORY!