Storm's End

Robert's Quarters

Robert woke with a yawn, stretching his arms. He got up and looked outside, the sun was shining brightly, birds were chirping in a choir, and he had a trial to get to.

Wonderful.

He stayed up late with his parents, talking about (meaning they interrogated him) where he was, why didn't he send letter regularly, what was he doing etc.

He didn't even get the chance to tell them about the dragons. All the more fun for him.

Dressing up in a simple tunic and trousers rather than his extravagant outfit, he went down to breakfast, or breaking the fast as they called it.

Whatever.

On the way to the hall a voice, of the one that the og called a brother, stopped him.

"Are you happy now that you have shamed me and my wife in front of the Seven Kingdoms? " asked the cold voice of the Silent Wolf, solemn Ned Stark.

Robert turned to him with deliberately slow moves " Ned, how nice to see you! I am sorry we could not talk yesterday, I was too busy. So how are you?" he replied, grinning, as if he didn't ruin his reputation yesterday.

Eddard Stark narrowed his eyes " Do you feel satisfied now that you have your vengeance?" ignoring Robert's small talk.

"Vengeance?! Oh, Ned, I am really hurt. I did not do it for vengeance, I simply wanted the world to recognize the" he stopped there, searching for the correct word " injustice you have been dealt with. I mean, marrying the woman you loved who got pregnant from your brother? You have my condolences Ned, truly you deserved better." with a shit-eating grin, his every word insincere as it can be.

Eddard Stark closed his eyes and took a deep breath, " Ashara made a mistake, one she regretted immensely and you had no right to expose it like that."

"Well, next time you're forced to something humliating to cover up for your brother, I'll be sure to keep my mouth shut" he turned around, heading to hall.

"Everything that will happen to you today, you only have yourself to blame" was the last comment of Ned Stark.

His grin getting even bigger, "On the contrary Ned, I only have myself to congratulate for everything that will happen today" barely stopping himself from bursting in laughter.

Entering the hall, he saw his father talking animatedly with the King - who glared at him when he entered and he winked in return- and Tullys, who for some reason were still here. His mother and grandmother were with the Queen and Princess Shaena, while Stannis was busy glaring holes into the Tullys.

He choose a balanced breakfast of cheese, meat, eggs, bread, and veggies, diving into it with gusto. His body required a lot of calories and protein to maintain it's shape after all.

Not wanting to deal with the Targaryens before he even had his breakfast, he went and sat with the Arryns.

"Jon, Elbert. Good morn to you both!" he greeted them, jubilant at seeing his foster father and brother, who got up from their seats to greet him. Putting his plate on the table, he hugged the both before they could utter a sound, ragdolling them around a bit.

They gave him strained smiles, " Awww, it's like you both aren't happy to see me" he commented.

"We are happy to see you my boy, we, however, are not happy about the trouble you landed yourself into" explained Jon Arryn,Lord of the Eyrie Defender of the Vale and Warden of the East.

"Pftt, it is fine, you don't have to worry about that." he waved away their concerns, turning to the Lady seated next Elbert. " And the stunning Lady here is?"

"My wife, Lady Carolei of House Waynwood."

Lady Carolei was beautiful, with brown locks, warm eyes and smile and a round face, dressed in the colors of House Arryn and Waynwood.

"A pleasure my Lady, surely Elbert here is lucky to have wed a beautiful maiden like yourself" while giving a shallow bow.

"Oh my, thank you my good Lord. I, too, am lucky to have a honorable person like your foster brother as a husband" she replied, returning his curtesy.

"Aww, now I feel bad that I missed your wedding" said Robert while taking his seat.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have gotten yourself exiled?" asked Elbert with an innocent tone.

"You know what, I'll make it up to you. How about a Valyrian Steel sword as a belated wedding gift?" he offered. They blinked owlishly at that.

"If you have a Valyrian Sword, should you not give it to your father, so your house can have an ancestral sword?" queried Jon.

"Well, I'm not the heir anymore, so I see no reason to do that, though I only keep them for show, I might just give one to father and one to you, what do you say?"

"Oh my, Elbert had mentioned you enjoyed japing" added in Lady Carolei, smiling.

"I'm not japing my lady, at least, not this time" he responded, returning her smile.

"Really? And where are your swords exactly?" asked his foster brother.

"In the cave beneath the Storm's End. I left them there with my dragons" explained Robert.

"With your dragons? Why, Robert, next you will claim you met a grumpkin" was Elbert's sarcastic reply.

"Oh please, I don't need magical wish granting creatures. My greatness is enough" proudly replied Robert, puffing his chest.

"And when can we expect to see your dragons Robert?" asked Jon, joining the banter.

"Well, I didn't feed them yesterday, so those grumpy lizards will come out soon enough for food." he winked.

Ahh, how wonderful it felt to have people underestimate him.

They were interrupted when the Kingsguard announced they would begin his trial and the servants began to vacant the room, clearing the tables in the meanwhile.

Soon enough, only the Royal Family, as well as the Great Houses remained.

Of the Royal Family, Aerys, Rhaella and Rhaegar were seated in the middle, while the rest were at the sidelines, watching. Houses Baratheon, Lannister and Stark were on the left of the Royal Family, while Tully, Arryn and Tyrell sat at the right. Only the Lords, their wives and heirs were allowed to sit, the rest standing on the sidelines with the remaining royalty.

He was on the middle of the hall, watching them, unbothered in the slightest, a cocky smirk adorning his face.

"Robert Baratheon, son of Steffon and Cassana Baratheon, you have shamed your House with your actions regarding the Crown Prince as well as your humiliation of the Houses Tully and Stark. What say you?" began the trial with the King's arraignment of his supposed crimes.

"Not guilty, I also fail to see what me trying to rearrange Rhaegar's face has to with anything, as I was already punished for it." he responded, without addressing the King with the necessary titles.

His father slumped on his chair.

"Just because you were punished, does not mean the stain of your action was removed. There is also the matter of you humiliating the guests of your house and assaulting the heir of another great house." butted in Tywin Lannister.

"Well, if the truth humiliated them, that is their fault, not mine. Also why should I be punished for exposing the duplicity of House Tully. It almost sounds like you wanted my dear brother to wed a woman as foolish as her." He pushed back, actually feeling bad for Stannis, one of the more decent man in the books and show, except the part about burning his daughter alive.

Hoster Tully was about to say something before Jon Arryn interrupted "My boy, we are not displeased about you exposing them, rather, it was how you did it presents a problem. You should have told the truth in a more private setting instead of doing it in the open. Things like that are kept secret for a reason, to avoid open confrontation and solve our problems more amicably." explained Jon in his teaching voice as Robert called it.

"I accept no guilt on that matter. Far as I am concerned I did the right thing" he dismissed them.

"Very well, the matter of Lysa Tully concerned your family, but the secret of the Stark's, you simply exposed it to hurt them because Lyanna Stark did not love you back" continued the King, changing the subject.

At this, Robert looked at Lyanna Stark, who was sitting next to Rhaegar in lieu of being the future queen of the Seven Kingdoms, ignoring her glare.

He snorted " I love her no more than Rhaegar loves her. I simply wanted to be good brothers with Ned Stark, nothing else."

"My betrothed loves me, unlike you, you brute!" snapped Lyanna Stark.

He rolled his eyes " Oh dear, is that what you think? Hedoes not love you, he simply believes you will give him a magical baby, The Prince-That-Was-Promised, who will bring the dragons back. Of course, he is wrong about that, as the one that would bring the dragons back won't be any child of his."

"You know who the Prince That Was Promised is?! Tell me!" demanded Rhaegar, speaking for the first time.

"Why would I tell you that?" asked Robert tilting his head.

"Enough! This is no place to talk about prophecies." declared the King, threwing a look at his son, who sat down in response.

Lyanna Stark seemed less certain about Rhaegar now, if the look she gave was any indication.

Hah.

"As for the Stark's, well, Ned was always like another brother to me, and I just couldn't bear to witness the injustice he felt, so I revealed the truth for everyone to see it" he explained with dramatics, acting as if he was really hurt.

Mace Tyrell, the not-so-fat yet rose joined the fray, trying to kiss up to the Targaryens by pushing him.

"And your attack on Brandon Stark, Lord Robert? True, he might have attempted to attack you, but he could have been stopped. You attack could have damaged his head, or seven forbid, kill him."

"I am insulted Lord Tyrell that you think so little of my capabilities as a warrior. Believe me the only reason he is alive, is because I did not deem him important enough to kill, and I wasn't going to be the one to break the guest rights by killing a guest" he pointed out.

"I am curious about one thing Lord Robert, how did you came to know of these events, you were gone for five years after all" opened her mouth Queen Rhaella, changing the direction of the conversation. "Were you spying on us?" she continued with an accusing tone.

Robert hmmed, "Well, no, not unless you can count the Dragon Dreams as spying on you" he explained.

Aerys bursted into laughter, joined by some of the other occupants of the wall. " You had Dragon Dreams? Are you sure you weren't simply drunk out of your mind?"

"We'll see who has the last laugh" thought Robert, annoyed at king.

"No, it was simply the side effect of hatching dragons and bringing magic back to the world. It simply affected me for a time, granting me Dragon Dreams" he explained.

Aerys's laugh intensified, as more joined him, while his father simply buried his head in his hands " You hatched dragons?! Perhaps we should make you the court jester rather than sending you to Vale to guard a gate"

"Wow, what an intelligent insult from an inbred discount elf. I am truly surprised." Responded Robert with his own insult,

The laughter instantly died, his father looked at him with dread.

Before the King could do anything a soldier burst into the hall.

"Y-your Grace d-d-dragons. T-there are d-d-dragons in the s-sky" stuttered the man in fear. The Arryns and his family besides his father turned to him with wide eyes, suddenly realising was happening, though he just made a shushing gesture.

With a cry of "What!?" Aerys rushed out of the hall, followed by everyone else the trial and insult were suddenly forgotten

As everyone left the hall, he simply turned around began to walk leisurely to outside. After all, his dragons wouldn't land without him giving them a signal first.

Courtyard

The whole castle was gathered on the courtyard, with many at the walls, watching the dragons as they flew overhead in a circle, talking and pointing at them.

The Royal Family called them out in Valyrian to no effect, though they kept trying. It was a good thing he taught them Latin instead.

He ordered the soldiers to open the gates and walked out, as there was no place for the dragons to land.

Putting his fingers in his mouth, he whistled sharply, and the dragons responded with roars, suddenly diving towards him. He heard people at the walls cry out in shock.

His dragons landed with thuds, Obelisk at the front with Ra and Slifer at the back and approached him, huffing and grumbling.

"Oh calm down you big lugs, we'll go hunting in a minute, you can eat all you want then" he scolded them. Giving one last huff, Obelisk tried to lick him and he slapped his snout with a "Don't even think about it mister, you know that doesn't wash out"

Hiccup was right about dragon saliva it seemed.

Rolling his eyes Obelisk simply brought it's head forward, while his brothers did the same, demanding scratches.

No matter how big they got, they still wanted scratches from him.

Big, scaly cats.

He looked back at the walls, seeing the Royal Family looking at him with dread and disbelief, same as the Starks and Tullys.

Tywin Lannister had a grim look on his face, suddenly aware how much the power shifted in Robert's direction, while Mace tried to cover in, cursing himself for opening his mouth at the trial.

Elbert had his mouth open, while Jon looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

And finally, his family.

His father, suddenly realising why his son wasn't scared about the trial and his actions, took a deep breath, before slapping his forehead, remembering how he had been forced to remove him from the line of succession.

His mother was shocked like most everyone else, while his grandmother began to laugh, which went ignored by the stunned mass.

Stannis was frozen in his spot.

Renly looked at him and the dragons with wonder.

Mounting Obelisk, he took off, and landed in the courtyard, people moving aside, while Ra and Slifer lazily circled overhead.

He turned to the Targaryens and finally lost it.

He laughed for what felt like minutes, pointing at them with his finger.

"Five years of hiding my face, five years of avoiding people, and it was all worth seeing this look on your faces. If only I had a camera to immortalize this moment, I could die content." he spoke between bouts of laughter.

Obelisk huffed again, getting impatient. " Allright, allright, calm down" he ordered to his dragon and turned to Targaryens again. "Well, have fun suffering while I take my dragons for a hunt, because I definitely will enjoy it"

He took of with a "Vola!" laughing all the while, leaving behind the mentally and spiritually defeated Targaryens.

He did have the last laugh after all.