The sun dawned upon a ravished kingdom. A kingdom where a game still was played.

A game for power. A game for freedom. A game for the throne.

It was played upon the ruins from the last round of the game. It was played even though it was running out of players. It was played even though no one wanted the prize.

It was played by people who never were supposed to play. It was played by people who didn't want to play. It was played by people who were too young,  too emotional, and too broken to play.

The game didn't care, they were still required to play.

The sun dawned upon a kingdom where new wars were fought. Where men died in battles for nothing. Where castles fell and cities were turned into dust. Where new rubble was created on top of the ruins of what was already fallen.

But yet there was love. Among the rubble, it still managed to thrive. And love would win the game.

***

The sun dawned upon Howland Reed. He who thought that he had already fought his war a long time ago. Now finding himself wrapped up in a battle for the future of his lands.

He sat under the weirwood tree in the inner garden of his castle. Where the fighting from outside couldn't be heard. Finding a few moments of respite. The red leaves cascaded above him and reflected in the water around him, making the whole garden glow in shades of fire.

The fighting outside the walls had started. They wouldn't be able to hold the enemy forces at bay for much longer now. Maybe a few days, a week at most. And when they couldn't hold back any longer Howland would go down fighting for his beloved homelands. That's how he had always thought his life would end and it seemed inevitable now.

He thought of his children. Jojen and Meera. The son he had lost and the daughter he had let go. Hopefully, she was safe. Hopefully, she was with him, the man she so obviously loved. Surely she would have gone to him. To Gendry Baratheon.

He had made Meera leave to save her. But he knew she would only leave if she could save her home, so that's what he had told her she could do. And maybe she would. She was their only hope now, to prevent the inevitable.

As he sat there he suddenly heard a voice. A voice hadn't heard for a long time. A voice seemingly coming from the tree behind him. A voice delivering a message to him.

"She's coming. They're coming," the voice said. The voice of his son, Jojen.

Howland knew what that meant. It meant he had to hold on. Because Meera was coming to save them. Meera and the man she loved.

***

The sun dawned upon Tyrek Lannister. He who was destined was to only be a pawn in the schemes and games of his family and defend their honor in battle. Now thrust into a position of power, but unable to ever stand on a battlefield again.

Tyrek hobbled into the bedroom he shared with his wife. Which was now in one of the rooms facing the upper garden of Casterly Rock. He sat down on the bed and put his crutches up against the bed frame, only to have them immediately fall over onto a table. The table toppled over and the vase on top of it fell on the floor and broke. The sound, of course, woke up his wife Talla.

"Tyrek, what are you doing?" she asked and sat up in the bed, still half asleep.

"Breaking stuff apparently," he replied with a shrug.

"Did you throw your crutches on something again?"

"I didn't throw them... they fell."

"What did you break this time?"

"A vase... and perhaps a table."

"The maids can deal with it in the morning. Just get back in bed," she said with a sigh. "What are you doing up anyway?"

"Nothing... I was just out."

Talla sighed again. She knew exactly what he had been doing.

"Have you been practicing getting up and down the stairs again?"

"Maybe..."

"I don't know why you insist on doing that in the middle of the night... What if you fall again?"

"I don't want you to watch me do it. And if I fall I will get up, somehow. "

"I could help you."

"I don't want you to."

He climbed into the bed and got under the covers. Still with his pants on. He always kept his pants on as he didn't like to look at his injured leg. And he certainly didn't want his wife to look at it. He looked over at his wife, seemingly pondering something for a moment.

"Talla," he said. "I might be young and I might be crippled..."

"Tyrek, you're not..." she interrupted.

"I am though. It's the truth. I'm crippled. Whether I say it or not doesn't change anything."

He inched closer to his wife on the bed.

"But I'm not your child," he said. "I'm your husband. You shouldn't have to take care of me."

Tyrek leaned in closer and kissed her.

It took Talla by surprise. They hadn't actually kissed since his injury. She had held him, rocked him, comforted him, but not kissed him. It was nice to kiss her husband again.

***

The sun dawned upon Devan Seaworth.

He who was destined to live a carefree life in the shadow of his older brother. Now entrusted with the caretaking of his family in the absence of his brother and father.

Devan Seaworth was in his brother's bed beside the woman he loved. But he was abruptly awoken from his slumber as someone grabbed his hair. It was his mother.

"Did you think I wouldn't find you in here?" Marya yelled as she pulled Devan up by his hair. "Did you think I wouldn't notice that your brother is in your bed? Stannis' a foot shorter than you, you moron!"

"I'm sorry, mother," was all Devan could get out, as he was still half asleep.

"Lady Brynda, please get yourself dressed and go back to your own room," Marya said sweetly to the girl still sitting in the bed. "Hopefully your family hasn't noticed that you are missing. I will deal with my useless son."

Brynda got dressed in a hurry and left the room. Although she did give Devan a quick kiss before she left, despite Marya glaring at them.

Once they were alone in the room Marya sat down next to her son on the bed. She was slightly calmer now.

"You promised me you wouldn't lay with her again," she said to her son.

"I know," Devan said, unable to meet his mother's eyes. "I just... couldn't help myself. The wedding, the wine, everything... It's unfair that Lord Baratheon gets to marry but I can't."

"Well, you are but a man after all, so I guess it should be expected. Hopefully, you haven't ruined your chances to ever marry that girl now."

Devan covered his face in his hands, looking very ashamed of himself. His mother put her arm around his shoulder and gave him a quick hug before getting up from the bed.

"Go back to sleep, son," she said. "Your brother is snoring away in your bed so you can sleep in here."

***

The sun dawned on Robin Arryn.

He who was destined to never even reach adulthood, to weak and sickly to make it on his own. Now a lord, a husband, and soon a father. But robbed of the identity he thought was his and haunted by his own failures.

He sat on the floor of the lord's bedroom. The bedroom he used to share with his wife. Desmera didn't let him sleep next to her anymore. But many early mornings he still wandered in there, to watch his wife sleep. It was the only time he could see her without her being mad at him. She was so beautiful when laying there, her red hair like a cloud around her and her growing belly protruding under the covers.

He sat there regretting his mistakes. But it had been inevitable that he would make them. He realized that now. Because he was his father's son. And his father was Petry Baelish. Just like his father Robin was a selfish coward, acting only to protect himself. That's why he had done what he did. That's why he had let the kingdom down. That's why he had lost his wife. That's why no one could ever know the truth.

He couldn't change what he had done. He couldn't go back. All he could do was try to not be his father. And to try to be a better father himself. Because he would be one soon.

As the sun dawned he got up, he wanted to leave before she woke up and realized he was there. But when he walked towards the door he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

"Robin," Desmera said. "I know you're in here. I know you're here every morning."

He turned around and looked at her.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm leaving. I won't come in here anymore."

She sat up slightly in the bed, her hands on her round belly.

"Come here," she said, much softer than she usually spoke to him these days.

He hurried over to her bedside. She patted the side of the bed and he sat down. Happy to be so close to her again. She never let him close these days.

"I might hate you," she said. "But I don't want this child to hate you too. Because this child deserves to have a loving father... just like I did."

There were tears in her eyes as she spoke of her father. The father Robin had been part of taking from her.

She took his hand. A warm feeling streamed all over his body as she did. He longed so for her to touch him.

And she put his hand on her belly.

"Can you feel that?" she asked. "That's your child moving."

He could feel it. A fluttering, a wave, a sliver of hope.

***

The sun dawned upon Bran Stark. Or whoever he was now.

He who had been such a sweet boy, dreaming of being a knight but falling to a destiny so far from his dreams. Now ruling the whole kingdom, but having lost himself somewhere along the way.

The king was awake when most of the kingdom was still sleeping because he didn't need to sleep anymore. He sat in his wheelchair on the balcony of the throne room. The same balcony where a couple had shared their first kiss. But the king didn't know this.

In his hand, he held a letter that had arrived at the capital the night before.

It was a letter that enraged him. It was a letter that changed everything. It was a letter that announced the marriage between Lady Meera Reed and Lord Gendry Baratheon.

He hadn't seen this coming. Because he couldn't see it. And it hadn't even occurred to him that she would do this. That she would give up everything. For a bastard blacksmith.

The king couldn't understand it. Because he didn't understand it. He didn't understand love.

***

The sun dawned upon Gendry and Meera Baratheon.

She who thought that honor and family was all there was and who thought love wasn't for her. Now so far away from her family, in the arms of the man she loved.

He who never thought he would be anyone and who thought his heart was too broken to ever love again. Now a lord of his own castle with the woman he loved in his arms.

They laid intertwined after having just spent their first night together as husband and wife.

Gendry woke up when the rays of the sun shone in through the window. A lifetime of having to get up at dawn to work had ingrained itself and he always woke at this hour. Usually, he got up and went down to the forge to bide his time.

But he didn't get up this morning. For two reasons.

The first reason was that his new wife was sleeping on his arm, so he couldn't get up without waking her.

The second reason was that he didn't want to. He wanted to stay in that bed next to her warm body forever.

The bed no longer was too big. It was a perfect size. Because it fit both of them.

His arm was asleep from her sleeping on it. Her elbow was poking into his chest. Her curly hair was tickling his face. He didn't mind any of it.

He leaned down and kissed his wife's hair. It smelled like moss and water lilies.

And he fell back to sleep. For the first time in his life.

They were both forced to play a game neither of them wanted to play. On a battlefield filled with rubble. But among the rubble, they had found each other. They had found love.

And their story had only just begun.

The End (of part 1)

Part 2 is also completed and available on my profile.