A/N: This chapter will be the second straight non-Stafford POV in the story. I promise the next chapter will be in his POV, but I wanted to take the creative liberty of writing from Robb Stark's POV. This chapter takes place during the hunting trip, before the day Bran becomes a cripple. I was debating with my collaborator on whether Bran should stay a cripple and we decided to obey the laws of cannon on this one. And for everyone who thinks Stafford has become an unbeatable combat presence, he is about to face an opponent, who will literally wipe the floor with him. And for those inquiring about Stafford's pairing, please vote on the poll in my profile to make your voice heard.

Desdelor97: Thank you for the review. I try to make chapters of high quality.

Mcveighreece: We're still considering on all the possibilities, but thank you for the feedback and I hope you enjoy.

SeEGuLL: Thank you as stated above we are trying to weigh all the possibilities and for all inquiring about the Pairings must vote on the poll, because it will affect who Stafford is paired with in the end based on the result in a major way.

Enjoy!

Robb

Robb had never been hunting with the King before in his sixteen years. They rode out at dawn leaving the castle behind, venturing into the wolfswood, because the King wanted wild boar. Joffrey had been allowed to go with them, which distressed him a little bit. Robb despised Joffrey after how he acted during their sparring session yesterday. Joffrey was so full of shit that you could fit 50 acres of deep forest into his asshole and witness nothing beyond an occasional moan of pleasure. It astounded Robb how Joffrey attempted to deride and mock his brother Stafford, who beat down the child that would be king so hard that even Jaime Lannister would wept at the sight. Of course, he also lost a fair share of matches to Joffrey's brother Stafford, but he was a worthy and admirable foe, as supposed to absolutely crushing him beneath his heel. Whatever Sansa saw in that pathetic, pompous weakling was beyond his comprehension.

Luckily, Stafford came along too, which gave Robb a little comfort. Stafford was only barely a year younger than him, and despite his boisterousness and aggression, was someone Robb could imagine becoming friends with anybody. Certainly more than Joffrey.

They had been hunting for quite some time now. The midday sun hung over their heads as supposed to the low early morning sun from earlier. Stafford had defeated more than a few charging boar earlier with his long-hafted axe, much to the pleasure of his father, and to the jealousy of his brother. Stafford also defeated a few Elk, and even a Stag of all things. Robb had struck down 6 dear as well, stalking them for a few minutes before leaping out into the clearing and with a single elegant maneuver, hamstring the deer's hind legs and slit its throat with a sidestep. Joffrey, using a crossbow, shot down a few birds, a couple of deer, and even a moose with a direct headshot. King Robert laughed with every instant death from the crossbow, but the distressed undertones of his quieting voice and hollow laughter betrayed a deep dissatisfaction in Joffrey. With every steadily less happy bark, the sentiment grew more obvious, and so did the tension of the group, subtly yet unbearably nonetheless.

Considering the instability it betrayed in the royal family, a minor incident usually seen as amusing became a whole lot darker. Stafford attempted to banter with his brother, but no matter what he tried to discuss, Joffrey was visibly disgusted by the conversation and Stafford. Joffrey then started insulting Stafford's age or something, he didn't quite catch most of it. Whatever it was, it was terrible enough to lead to a minor bout of fisticuffs. Before the incident could have escalated to the point it had reached during the feast, Theon Greyjoy had broken it up. These "brothers" fought more than the Tyrells and Martells. Stafford was kind, but his lack of wisdom led to a sense of close mindedness that Stafford failed to acknowledge. Combined with his more emotional and hot blooded inclination, it was easy to see how such immaturity would end most confrontations in violence.

They had stopped for a brief rest before beginning the final stage of their hunt. They needed to be back to Winterfell before dusk even set in. Robb sat down on a broken tree stump as he was approached by Stafford.

"Enjoying yourself?" Stafford asked. Robb looked up at him. Stafford, although younger, than him stood at what he guessed was six feet two inches. He was taller than his older brother, who was probably about two inches shorter than him.

"Oh yes, Do you always go on hunts like this?" Robb replied.

"Of course, we are Baratheons after all. Ours is the hunt, and Ours is the Fury." Stafford chuckled warmly. Stafford leaned on his long broadaxe. The axe stood as tall as him, if not taller. Robb was surprised he could carry its heft at such a young age, but then he remembered how battleaxes and the like had to be lighter for combat, only the tree splitting ones required a heavy weight.

How was this grizzled bear of a man only a boy of fifteen? His maturity was lacking, but he has skills in combat certain people could only dream of in their lifetime. Stafford wasn't the greatest fighter he'd ever seen or heard of, but he never expected to find anyone this young bear such incredible skill and finesse in the art of war.

After a long silence, Robb spoke up, "So, I've how are getting along with Arya? I saw you talking to her at the feast. Hope she wasn't too much for you,"

"You're sister is different from all highborn girls I've talked to, that's for damn sure. She seems like she has no interest in anything involving traditional lady life. But that's part of what makes her intriguing in my opinion. She's unique and certainly isn't a handful like certain other ladies I've met," Stafford replied with a longing sigh. Robb, stunned by his answer, turned to him. He didn't realize there were princes in the realm that didn't care whether women fell into the standards set by the court. Joffrey and many other men certainly prefered those type of women in his opinion, but Stafford wasn't just any other man.

"You surprise me at every turn, Stafford," Robb stated. Stafford let out a smile.

"I try my best, Stark," he jested.

Suddenly, they heard a voice boom, "All right, let's get this final part of the hunt over with. Stafford got up, excused himself and went to his father. Robb saw Joffrey grumble as he got up from his seated position grabbing his crossbow. Even Robb had to admit that Joffrey was actually a pretty good shot with a crossbow able to hit birds while flying in the air and a charging moose with little effort or shock.

They continued hunting with nothing of note happening, but Stafford and his father killing a pack of wild boar together, Joffrey shooting down a few more birds to add duck for the feast tonight, Robb defeating some boars as well. As soon as the afternoon sun began to descend, King Robert decided to end the hunting party there. It was probably for the best as Robb was getting tired.

After they were about half-way through the Wolfswood, Robb began to hear multiple twigs and branches being snapped from behind him. The hunting party was organized in a way that they were now in a straight line, with Stafford and his father and Joffrey in the middle on their horses. Stafford's horse looked spectacular and so did Joffrey's. They looked like pure bred destriers, which were impractical and a costly investment in the woods if lost, but were still impressive warhorses nonetheless. Their father's warhorse was even more impressive in a way. It towered over the horses that the Stark's cavalry, the heaviest cavalry in all of the North had. A horse truly fit for a king in Robb's opinion. Theon and the other Stark Knights led the way as the Lannisters were lagging behind in the back. Lord Eddard Stark headed the party as he knew the Wolfswood better than anyone else.

Robb's head jerked to the sound of something rush Stafford's side in quicker than he could even blink. It was large and furry, and reeked of a day old carcass still caking its fur and bone-crushing teeth. Robb had his fears confirmed when he saw it's silhouette stand on its 2 massive legs and open its large jaws, a gaping maw that let out a deafening roar.

"Stafford! Bear to to your right!" Robb managed to shout as Bear had charged the horse. Spooked, the horse began to raise up. Stafford unable to control his horse and surprised by the bear, got bucked off of it and got sent to the ground as the horse galloped away. One of the Baratheon retainers followed after the horse, which Robb knew was a bad decision as he prioritized the horse over a now grounded Stafford.

Stafford quickly got up and tried to protect himself with his battleaxe. The bear lunged at him with 2 great paws, but he managed to roll, parry its strike and land a blow to its bare gut. This served to anger the bear as it swiped at him, standing up on its hind legs taller than even Robert Baratheon. This time however, Stafford got hit on right the right side of his now dented cuirass, and fell back to the ground a few feet away. Not wanting to stand by and watch Stafford get mauled by a bear, Robb charged at the bear, distracting it for Stafford.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Stafford try to stagger up from his prone position. This bear could easily rip his head off and Robb proceeded with caution. Theon and the others eventually came in to help contain the bear situation. By the time they had surrounded the bear, Stafford had already hobbled up.

"Thank the Seven I wore plate today," Stafford muttered under his breath. Robb, surprised Stafford could still make jokes and japes after getting assaulted by a bear. The men took turns stabbing at bear, trying to poke it with swords to submission. Some brave people like Theon tried to kite it with multiple direct arrow shots, causing more to strike it from the distractions the arrows gave. Stafford was one of those brave people, and was one one of them that assaulted the bear. Stafford was also the one knocked down the most on his ass by the bear. No matter what skill you have in combat against another human being, nothing could prepare you for an animal about ten times heavier than the average human and a hell of a lot stronger in Robb's opinion. Stafford trained to fight humans with weapons, not giant bears, or any giant wildlife for that matter. One on one close range combat against a bear is suicide no matter what your skill in axe, sword or any weapon at all. Some are able to do it well, but those are usually combat hardened veterans and even then they barely escape alive.

The fighting against the bear continued with each of the men followed to take turns against the beast, The beast had gotten worn down as it was not as fearsome as it was against Stafford and his horse earlier. Stafford had taken most of the blows as he had the hardest job in the world. He had clearly been worn down by all the times the bear knocked him down. Robb saw the battered state of his armor. It looked like tin that had been beaten badly by the hammers and other types of instruments. His surcoat, now badly ripped from the claws that clipped his back side, now had the lion of Lannister cut in half and the Baratheon Stag's antler missing them. Robb noticed that there was a little claw on Stafford's face, which probably came from the bear.

Suddenly, two crossbow bolts came up and hit the bear in both the eyes. The blinded bear stuttered back, and Stafford took this opportunity to take advantage of the bears disadvantage. Stafford approached the blinded bear and landed a hit right at the nape of his opponent. Stafford and Stafford moved upsent his axe down executing the bear. The bears head separated from his body and Stafford winded quickly fell down to a knee.

"Wow, brother, if I wasn't there to shoot the bear, you probably would be dead," Joffrey stated with glee as he dismounted his horse. Stafford shot him a look, too tired to give out the proper reaction Stafford would have probably given to another 'smart' comment by Joffrey.

"You weren't the one distracting the damn thing," Stafford managed to gasp. His father put his hand on his shoulder.

"You fought well with what you were dealt, my boy. At least you didn't run like a coward," King Robert told his son. Stafford looked up and got up to his feet. Joffrey had the smile victory on his face like he had been the hero in all of this. Joffrey had given out the mortal blow, which blinded the bear giving Stafford enough time to kill the damn bear, but when Theon, Ser Rodrik, King Robert, his father, and the others in the hunting party were busy distracting and trying to defeat the bear, he sat on his horse and tried desperately to accurately deliver the crossbow bolts to end the bears existence,

"The bear beat me handily. If everyone wasn't here, I would have surely been mauled by it," Stafford conceded. Joffrey looked like he was having a kick out of his brother's pain began to laugh uncontrollably.

"Maybe if you were a better warrior, you could have prevented that from happening," Joffrey taunted Stafford. Robb saw the look of Stafford face. He was wounded and weary, but he could still see the fury in the eyes of Stafford. Stafford seemed like he wanted to turn in for the day.

"Maybe if you weren't such a little girl, you would have helped me fight the damn thing instead of sitting there on your high horse shooting a damn crossbow!" Stafford retorted getting up and approaching Joffrey. But before that could happen, Stafford grabbed at his side in pain. Robb assumed it was because of the blows he sustained from the bear.

"By the seven, will you two please stop bickering with one another!" Robert boomed, "Joffrey your brother almost got mauled by a damn bear and all you can do is taunt him. Stafford, you took some pretty bad hits from the bear and yet you still have the energy to fight with your own brother."

"Sir, we have retrieved Prince Stafford's horse," The Baratheon retainer, which had ran after the horse stated.

"Good! But next time try to protect Staff, instead of going after his horse for God's sake. The Prince's life is more important than a damned horse!" King Robert roared. Stafford sighed and began to walk towards the recently retrieved horse of his. Robb walked toward him and began to try to see how he was doing.

"You sure you're okay to ride after what just happened?" Robb asked him with a genuine concern. No one can just shrug off multiple knockdowns from a bear. Stafford kept up his composure, which surprised Robb even more. Not many people are able to remain cool and collected after almost getting mauled by a bear.

"My wounds and pride will recover from this. But I did kill the damned thing. Sure it was with help, but one thing's for certain, I don't want to see a live bear for a while," Stafford stated.

"Your grace, what should we do with the bear? It is far too large for us to carry the meat of," Robb's father asked.

"Take the head and give it to Stafford. He killed it, so it is only right he gets to keep the damn thing's head as a trophy," King Robert reason. Robbs father just nodded and approached Robb and Stafford.

"Here you are Prince Stafford, the bears head," His father stated. He handed him the bears head, with the crossbow bolts now taken out. It's jaws were wide open and Stafford looked at it intently.

The rest of the way back seemed much more silent the hunting party at dawn. There were hardly any jokes and japes and everyone was now wary as they continued out of the Wolfswood. Stafford, who usually japed, joked and talked quite a lot, lay silent clutching his sides as they continued on. Robb watched Joffrey, who grew tired of the endless terrain as the sun began to set. They had finally gotten to Winterfell on the brink of dusk. The Wolfswood had ended and they were finally in the safe castle walls of Winterfell. When they got in however, they were not accosted by the cheer the hunting party had been used to after they got there. Instead, they were accosted by silence and sad faces. As soon as they entered the keep, his mother had been waiting there, looking like she was about to burst into tears. His mother was not the sort to do this unless in warranted that. She was not an overdramatic woman.

Robb's father quickly caught onto this and quickly dismounted his horse and went to her. King Robert followed and so did Stafford, but his brother did not.

"What's wrong?" His father asked with the genuine worry in his eyes.

"It's Bran, h-he…" Robb's mother broke off. Then she suddenly burst into tears and couldn't continue her sentence. Suddenly, Robb noticed Stafford's uncle Tyrion approach.

"Your son, fell off one of the towers while climbing. Most unfortunate," His father and even King Robert and Stafford stood there with a look of shock on their faces.

"Are you certain of this?" His mother answered his father's question with a nod.