#or au: they are sons of catelyn

[autumesx]

acok: true ending (has this been done before)

[amber-laughs]

there is just no universe where catelyn likes jon i’m sorry. she knows about R+L=J? ned made traitors of her and her children, put jon’s safety above their’s and is now an even bigger threat to their lives. she hates him. Rhaegar wins and he’s prince jon? he’s still the product of the event that the entire country had to go to war for and probably got her father killed in the process. at the very least she resents him. maybe even hates him. modern au? he’s just the cousin with the teen mom that gets high with her son in the basement and sneaks arya razor blades or whatever. she hates him!

[wylldebee]

Song of Ice and Fire AU where the Starks have these prominent canine teeth that are as sharp as a direwolf's. Some say it's the magic within the Stark bloodline dating back to when the First Men and the Children of the Forest lived in peace. Others say it's a sign of their kinship with the direwolves that has carried over even when direwolves died out. There's even an old tale about the time a Stark warged into a direwolf and mated with a real one on a dare. Either way, the Starks have these sharp ass fangs that are dangerous and oddly alluring. Special teething toys have to been made to survive the little years. Rickard had the "normal" Stark fangs. Think Luke Evans but bigger. He almost bit a man's finger off for insulting him. His sons Brandon and Benjen inherited his fangs. Despite being a cousin one removed from the Stark line, Lyarra Stark had the biggest and sharpest fangs. She could tear into a steak or a man's throat easily. One flash of her fangs as she feasted on a bloody steak and Rickard was instantly smitten. Her son Eddard and daughter Lyanna inherited her fangs (though Ned's were smaller, easily hidden, which fit with his quiet image). Robb and Bran inheritated Rickard's fangs like their uncles Brandon and Benjen. Rickon has Rickard's size but Lyarra's sharpness. Jon's is like Ned's but bigger, somewhere in between Ned and Lyarra's sizes. Sansa and Arya take completely after their grandmother. Headcanons underneath the read more.

— Rickon bit everyone when he was teething. A literal ankle biter. Ned still has the scars. — When Lyanna was rescuing Howland Reed she also bit one of the squires. Howland can still perfectly remember the victorious bloody grin on her face, fangs tipped with blood. — Robb and Jon used to practice snarling at each other when they were small. — Catelyn is into it. Like...into it. First Brandon then Ned. She's weak for the moments where Ned smiles wide enough he accidentally flashes his fangs. In their chambers in private she'll cup both sides of his face and trace his fangs with her thumbs and then it leads to sexy times and thus the Stark kids were born. — The Stark kids taught their direwolves how to snarl. — Instead of Nymeria biting Joffrey it's Arya. Nymeria just distracted him with her arrival. No direwolves die, not when Arya's fangs and lips are coated with blood and Joffrey bares the marks. Renly has to be carried out, laughing so hard he's wheezing. — Sansa kept her fangs filed to be more like a proper southern lady. It was painful but worth it (in her eyes). Come her time in King's Landing, she lets them get long and sharp again. Margaery is instantly in love (and highly aroused). (No seriously Margaery is literally shimmering in arousal all day every day. All Sansa has to do is flash her fangs and Marg is soaked.)

[pinkykats-place]

GoT DILF(s) x reader insert fics

Tumblr Recommendations

Disclaimers!

Stories are NOT mine.

Some contain mature content.

Readers are mostly female.

Note: if you read any of these stories and enjoy them pls let the author know by rebloggung, liking or commenting on original post

Alliance

Ned Stark x second wife! Reader

Four Part Series

Surviving || Series Masterlist 

{Ned Stark x Reader}

Summary: It was a classic romance. You were barren, his wife had passed, and you’d met through your father. It was a wonder the minstrels weren’t already singing songs about you.

The Secret Wife

Ned Stark x Fem!Reader Imagine

A Quiet Morning

Tywin Lannister x Female Reader

Summary: You enjoy a quiet morning with your Lord Husband

Under his mane 

Tywin Lannister x Baratheon!Fem!Reader 

Series Masterlist

Imagine Tywin Lannister visiting your chambers to fulfill his son’s duty at his place (smut)

Baby Lion

Tywin Lannister x pregnant!wife!Reader

Tywin Lannister being possessive and having jealous sex would include:

Longing

Pairing: Tywin Lannister x reader 

Request: good fluffy smut with Tywin Lannister… maybe him realizing that his feelings for the reader is more than just a political marriage

Warnings: political marriage/arranged marriage, older man x younger woman, soft smut, unprotected sex 

Repeat of History

Tywin Lannister x wife!Reader

Summary: when you go into labour, Tywin worries for your safety, remembering the death of his first wife

Trouble

Tywin x Wife!Reader

Summary: Tywin takes a second wife for a purely political alliance, and ends up with far more than he expected.

Series: Tywin x Reader

Summary: Imagine finding out you are marry Tywin Lannister after the deaths of your brother and Mother, Robb and Catelyn Stark.

The Lady Lion

Tywin x Wife!Reader

Fluffy Fic

In Time, the Lion Loves

Tywin Lannister x fem!Reader

Blessed with youth 

Tywin Lannister x Tyrell!Reader

https://www.tumblr.com/gotpineapple/186244280214/blessed-with-youth-tywin-lannister-x-tyrellreader?source=share

 

Betrothed to the Wrong Brother

Stannis Baratheon x Reader

Based on this request: reader is supposed to be set up with Robert, but while at Storms End falls for Stannis instead? 

Confession

Stannis Baratheon x fem!Reader

Summary: Stannis finally confesses his love for his wife

Belonging

Stannis Baratheon x Wife!Reader

Summary: Takes place around the time Robert was crowned, when Stannis and the Reader are married for less than a year. Robert’s drunkenness results in some jealousy and misunderstandings (and making up).

Steady

Stannis x Wife!Reader

Setting: just a year or two after Robert was crowned

An Injustice

Stannis Baratheon x reader

Summary: A lil one shot from a visiting Davos’s pov after Robert’s Rebellion. There’s more but I like the characterisation in this the best. 

Stannis x Arryn!Reader

Jealous kiss for our one true king, stannis

Stannis Baratheon x fem!Reader

headcanons on the relationship between Shireen Baratheon and stepmother!reader & on how the Baratheon household would change if the Reader was to marry Stannis

Stannis Baratheon with a Tyrell!Reader

Headcanons for Stannis x Reader’s children

Playground (modern au)

Stannis Baratheon x fem!Reader

Summary: Reader is sister to Sandor, and meets Stannis at a playground. The reader has a toddler daughter, but the father has passed away. Shireen and the daughter start playing together, so Stannis and the reader start talking too. Soon they plan a play date and the things escalate. 

Imagine threatening to leave Roose and him letting it slip that he loves you (smut)

Roose being touch starved would include

A Northern Arrangement || Series

Roose Bolton x Reader

Imagine making a deal with Roose Bolton so he wont betray Robb and will actually warn Robb and everyone of the Frey’s impending betrayal.

Roose Bolton x Reader || Series 

Roose being gentle with you:

Losing your virginity to Roose Bolton would include:

Imagine being in a pitch-black castle with Roose Bolton.

NSFW Alphabet with Roose Bolton

My Innocent Snowdrop

Oberyn Martell x Stark!Reader

Summary: The eldest Stark girl is forced to marry Oberyn Martell as a political alliance made by Cersei, but what she does not know is that the Prince of Dorne is a very loving man who easily falls in love with her and cherishes her deeply.

[thelustybraavosimaid]

Taylor's assorted fanfics:

JONRYA:

To Forgive, Divine:

—Aemon and Arya wed.

—Something is not right.

Aemon makes Arya a crown.

Jon and Arya reunite. Sansa watches from afar.

[partial] What am I, if not your son?

Jon's a bit too brutal for Sansa's tastes. She asks Arya about it.

Arya asks Yna about her fate.

Wed to death.

What is fighting but dancing?

Come at me. Strike me.

Observing the constellations.

Come burn me.

Aemon could only stare.

I will not let you go again.

[partial] Jon gives Arya gifts for solstice.

Arya receives a bow.

—Jon is filled with longing.

A flower like that's begging to be stolen.

RHAELYA:

"The man" his father wanted him to find was no man at all.

Rhaegar and Lyanna spar. Of course.

JONERYS:

This man looks familiar.

Daenerys and Jon stand at the edge of the world, peering into the beyond.

A place of wonders.

RHAEGAR WINS AUs:

Threads of Destiny:

—Rhaegar receives the prophecy.

—Rhaegar defies the prophecy.

—Rhaegar rides to war.

—[partial] Rhaegar prays to the gods who may hear.

—To the tower of joy.

—[partial] Thinking of his son after Lyanna's death.

Jon is reborn as himself:

—The warmth of people he longed to know.

—Where did you get this sword?

Rhaegar and the babe Aemon in the ruins of Summerhall.

You will not join the Guard.

CATELYN & ARYA:

Arya must make a sacrifice.

ARYA & JON:

My brother died.

Hearing the latest gossip.

This is a test.

—He looks a little different now.

A reunion.

Take me home, Ghost.

The gods answered his prayers.

Arya gifts Jon Robb's crown.

—Promise me you'll take care of our people.

NYMERIA & GHOST:

The night wolf reunites with her brother.

Nymmie hears her brother's silent howl. Somehow.

DAENRYA:

Your destiny, bride of ice.

JON:

You are a holy man, my lord.

You worry of her, she who has your heart.

Jon looks a little different.

Feasting with the dead. Voice of the living.

—The face he wanted to see.

The babe is a girl. He knows.

RHAEGAR:

The wrong man came back from the Trident.

ENDGAME:

To the War for the Dawn.

ARTHUR/TILLY (RDR2):

Treading through a field of flowers.

DAGAN/SANTARI (STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR):

Santari is the ghost that haunts his mind.

She is the ghost that he cannot escape.

She is the ghost that he can never leave.

She watches him dwell in his own element.

ELIAS/GUTHWULF (MEMORY, SORROW and THORN):

Guthwulf's loyalty, in the face of madness and despair.

THE LAST OF US:

Tess's final moments.

[sweetaprilbutterfly]

Jonsa Halloween event: Day 4 - Weapon - Costume - Ghost

Supernatural AU

The Starks were a happy family, until one terrible day. Catelyn and Robb Stark died in a fire under unknown circumstances. Ned Stark began to look for the reasons for what happened and discovered that supernatural things exist. Then he sends the younger children Arya, Bran and Rickon to his brother Benjen, and he takes the older ones with him and teaches them to hunt all kinds of monsters - the eldest daughter Sansa and Jon's nephew (the son of Lyanna's sister, who died giving birth to Jon, Jon's father didn't want to raise him, so Ned and Catelyn took him in and raised him as their own). When Sansa came of age, she quarreled with her father and went to study at the university. Half a year later, Jon appeared on her doorstep and reported that Ned had disappeared. Jon and Sansa team up to find him. They become closer than ever before and fall in love.

[fvckinaphrodite]

I cannot understand the rationale of "Good Stepmother Elia" or "Catelyn loves Jon Snow" fics where, because of the patriarchal and oppressive institutions, Elia and Catelyn are forced to live with their cheating husbands and, are expected to raise their husband's bastard born out of the infidelity that could pose a risk to their children's inheritance. I love Jon, but Catelyn's hesitance regarding him was valid. He wasn't a son, and he was the source of insurmountable shame to her.

I couldn't have put it better myself, honestly. Those fics disgust me. I find them disturbing and repulsive with the way they turn Catelyn and Elia into Jon's cheerleaders LMAO AS IF. I'm sorry but some of these authors just love to turn every female character in ASOIAF into plot devices for Jon's story.

You will not believe how many fics I've read in which Robb always insists to push both Sansa and Arya further down the inheritance line, and the Northern lords and ladies just nod along and agree like a bunch of baboons and how Catelyn just have to suck it all up. Sometimes there is even a fic or two where Sansa insists that Robb points Jon as his heir to mark her so-called "development" when the narrative brings her to the Riverlands after escaping King's Landing, and in the process, ruining a mother-daughter relationship forever. Guess what's gonna happen? Yep. Robb dies and Jon becomes king with Sansa as his ever faithful advisor. Sometimes even Sansa is pushed away from the North and decides to stay in the South because Gods forbid she ever touch the Northern throne again. Lmao.

Or, you know, the favorite of all Rhaegar Wins AU, fics where Jon becomes the next king after Rhaegar because Aegon is gay and conveniently doesn't want the Iron Throne🥺

I'm a Jonsa stan. I love me some fics with angst; Sansa's struggle to overcome the fact that Jon's existence hurts Catelyn, etc. But there's a line for everything. For example, I fucking refuse to read Jonsa fics where Catelyn is so demonized one would think she constantly beat him when he's a child or told him to become a servant or a stable boy or something. And of course, Sansa gonna defend him with her whole chest and worships the ground he walks on. Lmao Unbelievable. What a way to degrade a female character, to turn her into a plot device--a cheerleader for their hero. Well done.

[mzminola]

A Song of Ice & Fire AU idea: Jon is the only boy Stark of his generation. Ned & Cat have five daughters.

Robert "steamroller" Baratheon arrives in Winterfell to demand Ned be his new Hand and to engage his eldest son to Ned's eldest daughter. When Ned points out Robb is Ned's heir apparent and future Lady Paramount of the North, and therefore can't marry Joffrey and be Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, Robert just goes "Well I'm sure that son of yours will be excellent as Lord Paramount, seeing as how you raised him Ned!" and promptly legitimizes Jon.

Catelyn is furious about this, right up until Robb quietly goes "Aw, but I wanted to marry Theon," at which point Catelyn is still furious but also 100% onboard with the Robb-Joffrey betrothal.

Bran still gets pushed out a window. But now Arya & Rickon are both there with him after Catelyn leaves.

Sansa still goes to King's Landing, but this time it's as her older sister's companion. Gray Wind and Lady probably survive the journey? But I'm not sure if they'd be allowed in the city let alone the Red Keep, they might have to go hang out in the King's Woods.

Jon is obviously not at the Wall now. The weeks between "King Robert & Ned & company leave Winterfell" and "Catelyn leaves because of the knife" are TENSE AS HELL.

I am honestly not sure how the war goes. Baelish is still up to all his machinations. Sansa has been treated differently because she's not the Presumed Future Princess so she wouldn't go to Cersei when Ned orders her to pack, and I can't imagine Robb doing so, but Ned tipped his hand to Cersei all on his own so that probably doesn't make a difference. The presence or absence of direwolves might.

Jon obviously wants to avenge his dad and rescue his sisters, and Catelyn wants that too, but she is nooot down with him being King in the North and he doesn't trust her to give good counsel (though he still yearns for her approval) so that whole plot is ripe for disaster.

[aphroditelovesu]

RhaegarWins! Au: Rhaegar killed Robert in the trident, Robert's Rebellion fails; Aerys dies, Rhaegar becomes king and in the end of the war he gets his third head of the dragon. Lyanna gives birth to a daughter not a son (the reader)Visenya.

But not all its sunshine and rainbows for Rhaegar Targaryen, this is an you won but at what cost scenario. First of Lyanna still dies in this scenario and since she's dead and can't tell if she went willing or not people always speculate whether she was abducted or she went willing. The faith has a long standing tradition of opposing polygamy so Rhaegar marriage to Lyanna is not recognized as legitimate, baby Visenya is a bastard, and the northerns and the stormlanders are pissed with the outcome of the rebellion. (Especially the stormlanders).

Rhaegar inherits a broken kingdom and so he goes problem solving. First he is lenient on the rebels. He takes hostages, he takes a little land from the minor Lords but let most of them keep their castles. The starks, Tully and arryns keep all of their titles and since he is walking on thin ice, and doesn't want a conflict with the faith right now,He recognizes that his marriage to Lyanna is illegitimate (the northerns are even more pissed by this), but he has Visenya legitimized and tries to appease the starks he is more lenient to them and Ned gets a royal ward, Princess Visenya.

So house Targaryen it's at its weakest point in history. worst than the dance of dragon's. But Rhaegar being Rhaegar raises Aegon to belive that he is the prince that was promised and tells him that he and his sisters are the conquerors come again and that one day he is going to marry both of them. Now neither Aegon or Rhaenys belive in their father's bullshit because Elia its a big influence in their lives. But one day Rhaegar decides that it's time to Visenya to come home and they both start developing yandare tendencies for her 😈 they may not belive in their father's prophecies but they would definitely use them to trap poor Visenya. Now I ask you what kind of yandare would Rhaenys and Aegon be? What are their differences? What are their similarities? What are your thoughts on this concept?

tw: Targaryen incest (very usual)

I didn't expect to receive this until I read it and I say I need more!! An au where Rhaegar would win Robert's Rebellion was not something I needed until you sent me this!!

Considering that all of history had changed, relations would be strained and resentment would run high, particularly between the remaining Targaryens and the Starks. I like to think that Viserys and Daenerys grew up in King's Landing with their brother, but their bastard daughter, Visenya/Y/n, went to live with the Starks. In that case, I imagine everyone would know that she is not Ned's daughter but Rhaegar's daughter, it would be fun to imagine her dynamic with the Starks.

Ned grew to love his niece, even though she represents everything that happened to his beloved sister, he still loves his niece. He resents Rhaegar, but he doesn't hate Visenya. She is just a child, i'ts not her fault her father's mistakes. I can't help but think how cool and inconvenient it would be if the entire Stark family became yandere for her. Catelyn came to love the girl as her daughter, because she was not ''Ned's bastard'', as Jon would be, she was the most present mother figure in Visenya's life and she would become delusional to the point of imagining she was really her daughter.

When Rhaegar ordered Visenya/Y/n to return home, the hell would break. The Starks don't want her to go, they don't trust the Targaryens to look after her like they do and she has grown used to the North. But they couldn't ignore Rhaegar's orders, they weren't ready for another war, the last one cost them too much, so Visenya reluctantly returned to King's Landing, meeting with her father, uncle and aunt and siblings.

Relationships would be fun to describe, I think. Rhaegar is definitely very attached to Visenya, due to the fact that she is Lyanna's daughter and he regrets not having seen her grow up, although he knew it was the best thing to do at the time. Elia had reservations about Rhaegar's bastard daughter, it wasn't resentment or hatred, but… Curiosity and she soon finds herself liking her stepdaughter.

Viserys doesn't think much of his niece, he doesn't care, at least at first. She was just Lyanna and Rhaegar's bastard child, why should he care? But Viserys finds himself interested in the way everyone else acts around Visenya and ends up finding himself closer to his niece. Obsessed, maybe.

I would imagine that Visenya and Daenerys would have been born around the same time, so the two would be the same or close in age at the very least. They would definitely be close and Dany finds herself very attached to her niece. Although they didn't grow up together, the two eventually became best friends.

Now about Aegon and Rhaenys… Definitely the trio would be the differentiated version of Aegon I, Rhaenys and Visenya. They might not believe in the prophecy, but they couldn't deny that as soon as they met their sister, things changed. Before her, Aegon and Rhaenys clung to each other, along with their mother, but it felt like something was missing. A hole in the inseparable duo and when they met... It was you who was missing.

Aegon is, in my opinion, the obsessive and slightly overprotective yandere type. He felt an instant connection with Visenya and could not deny her desires for her and as is tradition, he would take her and Rhaenys as his wives. Just like Aegon I did. It didn't matter if polygamy wasn't allowed, he would do it and he would have Rhaegar's support and maybe even Elia's. Aegon is very paranoid about his sister and will not let her leave him and Rhaenys. They were already created apart, he won't allow that again.

Rhaenys would be calmer and gentler than her brother, but she's a clingy, possessive yandere, I think. She would be particularly possessive of her sister and brother, wanting them both with her at all times. Rhaenys would definitely send jealous, murderous glares at people she deems a threat to her and her siblings. Rhaenys would grow sharp and strong.

Who knows the prophecy will not be fulfilled? With this trio. Perhaps dragons come back to life through Aegon, Visenya and Rhaenys. Perhaps the prince who was promised is not only a prince, but... A prince, a princess and a bastard? All Targaryens, different but so... close.

The world of Ice and Fire would be quite different from what we know, but interesting, don't you think?

~ Lady L

[pixiecactus]

one of the headcanons/aus i'm really fond of is, lyanna survives jon's birth (we are going to ignore how all of westeros handles that change and it's repercussions, because certainly it would be a butterfly effect and this just a self-indulgent not serious at all post) and let's imagine the fact that she had a child out of wedlock and the shame westeros society would put upon her for this is ignored, or most importantly ned stark, lord of winterfell and warden of the north decides to completely ignore it and lyanna is living in winterfell of her own free will with her son, i hope this helps to set the scene. i'm not going to talk about jon finally having a mother figure and a loving one at that, i'm deeply sorry. but i will tell you that i definitely see catelyn and lyanna butting heads in this one, catelyn would not be pleased with having an unmarried and dishonored lady and her bastard son around her highborn family.

but this post is about my girl, arya. this little girl would benefit so much of having a northern woman around her. in canon it's baffling how much southern education is prioritized in the stark household over a northern one.

arya is failing at septa mordane's teaching all the same in this universe, she confides in jon, because you bet they are just as close in this au as in canon and this ends up with jon making a off-hand comment to his mother.

so lyanna decides to take action, she starts to attend the girls lessons wanting to know why arya, who reminds her of her very own childhood, is failing at them (i just want (1) one adult to actually take the time and pay attention to arya and figure out that she's left-handed, thank you very much!)

this post is getting to long when what i only wanted was to write a few lines, so let me get some plotpoints going:

i believe lyanna would talk with the septa about arya's preferred hand, look i'm a self-proclaimed septa mordane hater so you get where this is going, but the septa refuses to listen. no, i don't think she would get fired over this, maybe if i was her employer, well hell yes. but i don't see eddard and/or catelyn making this type of decision over this issue. so lyanna takes it in her own hands to teach her embroidery (i will make a reader's choice if lyanna knows how to embroider or not beforehand)

but the image of lyanna trying her hardest to make sure arya is able to succeed at this task in late nights sessions, because there's not really a reasonable time slot left in arya's itinerary, with jon at her side willing to learn too, because honestly who cares if a bastard boy is learning embroidery with his mother and cousin, who cares if that's a designated "lady activity", he just wants to see his mother and arya smile, it warms my heart.

i want this conversation to happen in this au too:

“A wolf with a fish in its mouth?” It made her laugh. “That would look silly. Besides, if a girl can’t fight, why should she have a coat of arms?” Jon shrugged. “Girls get the arms but not the swords. Bastards get the swords but not the arms. I did not make the rules, little sister.”

and you know what is the result of that conversation in jon's mind: the need to give "needle" to arya. of course in this context, it will not be a parting gift, so i think it could be meant as a nameday present. maybe when arya had reached twelve namedays.

i'm finally getting to the part i wanted to write initially:

i'd love to see both arya and lyanna's personalities shinning through, in lyanna teaching arya how to use needle. from the bits and pieces we have in the books, we can assumed lyanna was passionated about sword fighting and she loved the activity as well. arya is overly joyous in being able to learn something that was deemed "only for boys" too, after all, she considers that having activities designated to do by gender is pretty stupid!

[ladycatofwinterfell]

Where the river meets the snow

Summary: Ned comes south to visit Riverrun for the first time since Catelyn had to take over as Lady Tully after her brother’s passing. Both of them are overjoyed to see each other again.

Day 5 of @nedcatweek : no Edmure AU

To be held by Ned again was like a dream. Not that she had expected it would never happen again, it had merely been so long. After years of seeing him every day being apart had been hard.

Finally he was with her again. Finally she could sit with her back to his chest and feel it move with every breath he took.

They sat in the grass under the shadow of a tree in the godswood, hidden away for a little bit while the children readied themselves for supper. The sun was setting and still the air was warm. Riverrun’s summers differed from Winterfell’s.

“I truly have missed you” Ned said softly.

He must have said it a thousand times since he came to Riverrun earlier that day and she had returned the words as many times. She had missed him terribly.

“I know you have” she told him.

It had become more obvious to her just how much she missed him when she laid eyes on him once more. It was easier not to think of it when he wasn’t there to remind her. When all their children but Robb were gathered. He was the Stark in Winterfell while his father was away and it ached in her that she had to wait even longer to see him again.

The days before Ned’s arrival she had grown nervous. A voice in her head had whispered that perhaps Ned had grown bored of a wife he never saw. She had feared she would have missed him more than he had missed her. Then he had taken her in his arms as soon as she had finished greeting Rickon and he had kissed her so sweetly that all her worries melted away.

“Sometimes I look to my side to ask your opinion on some matter only to find that you’re not there. They must think me mad.”

When they both laugh they seemed to become one. Not two people separated by leagues and leagues, but two people so closely entangled with one another that they were one. She loved the feeling of that.

“I do the same” she admitted. “After so many years with you always there it’s strange to be alone.”

She had not been meant to be alone, she was meant to be with her husband and all her children. Though fate had not made it so. Fate had brought her back south.

Catelyn turned her head so that she could look at him. How she loved his eyes, loved how they softened when they found her face. She had worried that would have changed during his absence.

“Will you ever return home?” he asked.

“I am home.”

Riverrun was her home. Winterfell had been from when they were wed to when Edmure had died, but then Riverrun had come to belong to hers. And so it had once again become her home.

“Home to Winterfell” he clarified. “To me. And Robb and Rickon.”

She had brought both their daughters with her south because Sansa had so desperately wanted it and because Arya would do well to see something other than Winterfell. Catelyn had thought perhaps she would learn some manners if she was brought to a new place, though that had yet to happen. She knew Arya would raise the question of returning north with Ned and Rickon. Bran had been named her heir as her firstborn son was her husband’s heir and so it had been natural to take him to the castle that would one day be his. The relief over not having to leave him had been greater than she wished to admit.

“I don’t know.”

It would not be possible before Bran came of age and that was years away. Once he was old enough to be lord she could step down and let him be Lord of Riverrun. Though after coming south she had wondered if that was what she wanted. Or if she wished to remain Lady of Riverrun. She had come to feel that she could be of more use there than she had been in Winterfell.

“Can I hope to ever have my Lady Stark again or is the disappointment inevitable?”

“I don’t know” she repeated. “I miss Winterfell and I miss you, it’s just that–“

“Here you rule in your own right?”

She leaned away from him and turned so that she was facing him.

“It has nothing to do with that! I was born here and I grew up here. I may be a Stark through marriage, but I’m a Tully by birth. Therefore I want to be in Riverrun.”

She loved Riverrun. She loved the Riverlands and she loved the riverlords. The northerners had welcomed her more kindly than she could have ever dreamed, she had been one of them. But that could never change that she was of the south, that she had not been born in the North.

Ned looked at her, studied her face. He had a way of doing so that became infuriating from time to time.

“You were your father’s heir before your brother was born” he then said. “I cannot fault you for wanting to be what you were raised to be, even as all I want is to have you with me in Winterfell.”

“As a child I always knew Riverrun would belong to a brother of mine. I was never the true heir.”

She had learned to be Lady of Riverrun, but no one had ever let her think she was anything but a spare. That was what she had been raised to be. The one who would take over if Hoster Tully never had a son. Hoster Tully had had a son. Still she was there.

“If there had been guarantee of a son Lord Hoster never would have raised you as he did.”

“I understood early that my sex made me a lacking heir. Had I been enough my father would not have kept making my mother with child so that I would have a brother to take my place.”

That was the way of things. She had never questioned it, she knew her place. Never, not even as a little girl, had she been foolish enough to truly believe she could ever have Riverrun.

There was almost a smile on Ned’s face then. Not a happy smile, perhaps, though a smile. A knowing smile.

“See?” he said. “You say it was your place.”

“You know what I mean.”

“The place as your father’s heir was made for a brother of yours. But Edmure is gone and you will never have another brother.”

Every time someone said it her heart ached a little. Her little brother. Her Edmure. She wished she had not been Lady of Riverrun because that would have meant Edmure was alive. She would have done anything to get her little brother back. He had always been so full of life, he was not meant to be dead. Though she could not bring him back from death, no one could.

“Every day I wish he was alive.”

Every day she wished Father and Uncle Brynden and Edmure had still been alive. Even as she liked being in Riverrun she wished it had not meant their deaths, it was tragedy that had brought her there. It seemed a common thing in her life. It was death that had brought her to Ned, as well.

Ned reached for her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her knuckles.

“I’m not saying you wished death upon your brother.”

“That is well because if you had I would have sent you back to Winterfell right in this instance. In several pieces.”

Family always came first. What she wanted, what she desired, meant nothing. She knew people killed and betrayed and cheated for power. She could not understand. All that mattered was her family.

Ned’s smile became a true smile.

“In several pieces, you say?”

“At least two. A head and a body.”

Ned trailed a hand up her arm.

“My lady is without mercy.”

“I did say I would send the pieces of you back to Winterfell. I could have kept them.”

“Well, as I am now the husband of Lady Tully perhaps I should be burned on the river in Tully fashion.”

“Yes, that would be suiting.”

When his hand reached her shoulder he pulled her to him and kissed her. Each time they kissed she was reminded of how starved she had been since she left Winterfell. No embraces, no kisses, no one to confide in, no one to share her bed. It was a lonesome existence.

“I understand why you want to be here, my lady” Ned said when they parted. “That does not change that I do not want to be separated from you and Bran and the girls.”

Catelyn sighed.

“I cannot even make the decision to step down and return to Winterfell before Bran is of age” she said. “You will have to endure without me until then, at least. Though this is not a promise.”

If he felt disappointment he hid it well.

“I know it’s not. I’m aware of that this is no simple matter.”

He was right in that. It was no simple matter.

“I’m the head of my house now, I cannot disregard that. I have to be more than your wife and the mother of your children. I’m a ruling lady in my own right, I have my own heir and I have to see to my house and my people.”

She couldn’t deny that she wanted that. She wanted all that and she also wanted to be with her husband and all her children again. Though her family was more than them, her family was also House Tully even as she was all that remained of it. Putting her family first also meant ensuring the Tully name would live on.

“I assume you will want Bran to become Lord Tully after you” Ned said.

They had not had time to properly discuss it further than that Bran would be Riverrun’s heir, though she expected they would have a formal negotiation before Ned returned to Winterfell. As strange as it would feel to negotiate heirs with her husband as if he was a lord she did not know. She would have to look past her personal ties to him to secure a favourable outcome for herself.

“Of course. Bran keeping the Stark name once Riverrun is his would be the end of House Tully, I cannot allow that.”

Should it happen after her passing she would not have control over it, though she sincerely hoped her son would respect her wishes. That he would see the importance of keeping her house alive.

“He’s a son of House Stark” Ned still insisted.

She still let Bran call himself Stark, she would not force him to do otherwise before it was time for it even as she would have preferred it. All she asked was that the Tully name be allowed to live on. That there would be a Lord Tully in Riverrun and not a Lord Stark.

“I may be wed to you, but I now rule here as Lady Tully and therefore he’s also a son of House Tully. Until the day Riverrun is his, either because I step down or because of my passing, Bran can call himself Stark if so is his wish. But then he will be Lord Tully.”

She understood she was likely to meet opposition regarding that, though she would not waver.

Ned muttered something she could not hear.

“And a son of Lord Eddard Stark” she continued. “You will not be any less his father because he has my name.”

“Should, gods forbid, only one of our children remain in the end they will have both Winterfell and Riverrun.”

It would never come to that. It couldn’t. But then she knew his name would come before hers because he was a man. Either a Stark would hold both Winterfell and Riverrun or Riverrun would end up in the hands of another house. Either way it was her family name that would perish while his lived on.

“That will not happen” she said. “We have five children and are not too old to have more.”

With some luck she would present him with another son or daughter next time they saw one another. She would pray for it, there was nothing she wanted more. It had been long enough since Rickon.

“It is hard to make more children with my wife so far away.”

“For once your wife is right beside you” Catelyn smiled. “And you have weeks to make her with child.”

What a wonderful few weeks they would be. Weeks where she would have the days with her children and the nights with her husband. She dreaded they day they were leaving again.

“As a guest it seems rude to occupy Lady Tully at all times” Ned said.

As he was speaking he leaned closer to her. So close their noses almost touched.

“And as a host it seems rude to be occupied elsewhere while Lord Stark is visiting.”

She put her hands on his chest and pushed him back against the tree he had been leaning against. Ned made no resistance, was glad to fall back against the trunk behind him.

“I am at my lady’s mercy” he then said.

Catelyn couldn’t help but scoff at him. Though at the same time there was no denying the rush of joy at all of it. Of that he was there to do that for her and that her bed would no longer be empty.

She moved to him and brushed her lips over his.

“You’re ridiculous, my lord” she whispered. “That is what you are.”

Even as she said that she was unable to keep the corners of her lips from turning upwards.

“And yours to do with as you wish” Ned made her aware.

“Is that so?”

“Mhm.”

Barely did she have time to press her lips to his before someone cleared their throat.

Catelyn turned her head so quickly it made her neck ache and found that their oldest daughter was standing not very far away from them.

“We are ready for supper now” Sansa said.

Her cheeks had become very pink. How long had she been standing there for?

“We will be with you in a moment” Catelyn told her, leaning away from Ned.

“I shall let them know.”

Sansa hesitated for a moment before turning away. When she left them she walked faster than she usually did.

“You make a fool of me” Catelyn sighed once their daughter was out of sight.

It was hard to deny the joy over having him there so that he could do it.

“Are you really one to speak?”

When he leaned towards her for another kiss she had to move away. They had somewhere to be, the children were waiting for them. They could not allow themselves the risk of being distracted.

“They’re waiting” she reminded him.

Ned’s smile made her heart flutter.

“Then let us go to them.”

[sailorshadzter]

Could you please, please, please do an AU where Ned told Catelyn the truth about Jon and everything ending with Jonsa. Please 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

WHOOO BABY DID THIS SPIRAL INTO SOMETHING.

anon, thanks for this. long as it's been in my inbox, i really REALLY enjoyed writing it.

send me prompts

“Cat, we must speak.”

It’s the day he’s returned from war, battered and tired, but not from battle. His lady wife, young and beautiful, is tearful in her smile, their infant son asleep in his cradle across the room. It strikes him at that very moment that these two boys are but weeks apart in age, the one who sleeps in the room and the one who waits in the hall, cradled by a faithful maid. “You’ve just returned home, Ned,” she murmurs, shaking her head, hands outstretched. “There is more than enough time to talk.” She’s thinking of the morning after her wedding to this man, when he’d rode off into war, casting her but a single glance across his shoulder as he went through Winterfell’s gates. For the next nine months, she was burdened with the weight of pregnancy, carrying within her their son, their firstborn, Winterfell’s heir. “Come, you must meet your son.” 

Ned sighs, but knows he cannot argue that, so he follows her across the room, so he might lean over the cradle and inspect the child there. He’s of good size, with a shock of dark auburn hair, certainly a boy who favors her Tully looks, rather than his own Stark. “A handsome lad,” Ned says a moment later, reaching into the cradle so he might take the baby into his arms, carefully as he can so as to not disturb his sleep. Beside him, Catelyn smiles, overcome with emotion at the sight of her husband finally meeting his son. She has done her duty by him and on the wedding night, no less. “He will grow into a fine boy.” He turns to face his wife, knowing he  should feel something more, but he can think of little else than the other child he must bring to her. They are strangers, he and his wife, so he’s uncertain as to how she’ll take the news of another child, but he can only hope she’ll be delighted to take on the role of mother to a boy who has lost his. “Cat… Really, there is something I must tell you.” His wife, noting his tone, finally gives in with a single nod. 

And so, he plunges into the story only he knows, of the birth of Lyanna’s child and her untimely death in childbed. Catelyn feels the familiar sting of pity, of horror, at hearing of the younger woman’s demise- it was a fate any woman could face and one they all feared. “I promised her… As she lay dying, I promised I would care for the child and protect him.” Ned swallows, recalling the grip of her hand in his, the smell of bloodstains and roses still lingering in his nose. “I must protect him with my name, you see… Or else I fear…” He stops speaking, fearful to say anymore, even here in the privacy of their own chamber. Even if it was his greatest friend on the throne now, that same friend would not pause in slaying even an infant, if he thought him to be a threat to his newly obtained crown. “I don’t mean to dishonor you with this, but you understand… I must claim him as my bastard, to keep him safe from the world.” Cat is staring back at him with her wide, blue eyes, lips parting as if she means to speak but cannot find the words. “I am trusting only you with this truth, Cat.” 

She lets out the long breath she’s been holding and gives a single, solemn nod. “Then I shall accept him as your bastard, Ned. I will raise him along with our son as brothers.” If there’s one thing she knows about her husband, it’s his belief in what’s right and his love for his family. Lyanna was beloved by him in a way that no one else could ever compare to and the loss of her would be something he’d feel for a lifetime to come. This one thing she could do, simply to ease the burden of his grief.

So then, Ned opens the door and gestures for the maid to step inside, bringing with her the sleeping baby she carries. He takes the babe from her and bids her to go, turning to face his wife only when they are alone once more. “Lyanna wished to call him Aegon,” his wife wrinkles her nose at the name and he can’t help but to chuckle softly, the first laugh he’s felt in the weeks since Lyanna’s death. “I thought we might call him Jon, after Jonnel Stark, my ancestor.” Cat leans over his arm so she can peer down at the face of this baby he’s brought, surprised to see a face quite like she imagines her husband’s must have been at this very same age. He was a Stark, even at this young age.

“Jon. Jon Snow,” Cat tests the name upon her lips and she nods, finding it fits. 

Just like that, they’ve gone from one child to two.

[ x x x ]

“I don’t like where things are headed.” 

They are standing on the battlements, overlooking the courtyard where their six children play. Cat looks grim as she touches his arm, the gesture forcing her husband’s eyes back to her instead. “Is it that bad, Ned?” She asks quietly, fearful of the answer. 

To her horror, he nods. 

“Robert will die and the boy will inherit the throne,” Ned mutters with a shake of his head, letting out a sigh as he straightens his spine. “Sooner, rather than later I fear.” He thinks of his friend, the king, once a warrior of the mightest strength, now a fattened pig who drinks until he must be carried to his rooms more nights a week than seemly for any man, let alone the King of Westeros. “A bastard,” he continues, speaking the words he’s thought about for all these years, since he first laid eyes upon the child. “All of them.” Those golden haired children were certainly not Robert’s, but rather begotten from the twisted relationship between his queen Cersei and her own twin brother. 

“There is another…” Cat prompts, softly, so softly he scarcely hears her over the gentle breeze. 

Ned turns his dark gray eyes upon her, hand sliding over hers. “Let’s hope it doesn’t have to come to such a thing,” he says and she nods, casting her glance back out over the railing, focusing on the single dark-haired boy among the other auburn ones. A boy with Targaryen and Stark blood, a royal born boy that the world doesn’t even know exists. Her eyes move to the others, over Robb, who’s laughing heartily at something Jon has said, over Bran who’s dancing around his older brothers, to Rickon who’s clinging to his sister’s skirts. Sansa, her second born and oldest daughter, beautiful even now at just ten-years-old, is smiling as she puts her hand to Rickon’s curls, like a mother might do. And of course there’s Arya, her other daughter, her only Stark looking child among them. Cat feels sorrow tug at her heart, fearful for the world these precious children of her’s might have to grow up in. She can only hope it doesn’t come to what Ned thinks it might.

“I’ll keep them safe, Cat,” Ned speaks suddenly, drawing her out of her own thoughts and back to him. It’s as if he’s aged twenty years standing there, but she clings to his hand and nods, knowing he was a man of his word. Through and through, Ned Stark was a man who kept his promises. 

“I know,” she whispers and his arms come around her, the one place she feels at home. 

[ x x x ]

When Robert dies four years later, his sour tempered, violent natured son ascends the throne.

At first, everything seems to fall into place, as if somehow, things will work out. He’s a young man after all, perhaps he will be guided by his council to become a good king. But then, Ned is thrown out of his place as Hand to the King, replaced by his imp uncle Tyrion Lannister. The council of this young king is his grandfather Tywin and a gaggle of loyal Lannister men. Whatever hope Ned has of a young king coming into his own as a good, honorable man, are thrown out the window just several months into his reign. The people of King’s Landing revolt, starving and dying in the streets, while their king eats hearty in his golden palace. And what’s more, Ned has heard the rumors of his behavior… frightening rumors he knows, deep down, are far more than simple gossip. 

He sighs, sinking into his place beneath the heart tree, the silence of the godswood all he needs right now. There is so much to think of, so many possibilities, so many worries, so much going through his mind that he thinks he’ll go crazy before nightfall. But then, as he sits there, he hears the drifting laughter of his children, reminding him of all he has to protect. 

Then, deep within the recesses of his mind, a plan begins to formulate. 

[ x x x ]

“Jon, come, we must speak my boy.” 

The young man looks up, surprised, but swings his legs over the bench so he might rise up. His siblings all giggle at his expense, thinking him to be in trouble, giving Ned a moment of respite- this must mean Jon was responsible for the latest Stark children hijinks, which had resulted in mud all through the main hallway. Ned smiles in spite of himself and puts his arm around the boy’s shoulders, drawing him out of the great hall and into the corridor. “Father, I didn’t mean-” he begins, solidifying Ned’s thoughts, but he only shakes his head, as if it means little to him. “Please don’t be cross with me.” 

“I’m not cross, Jon, we simply must talk.” Ned says as they step out into the bright morning sunshine. “You remember once asking me about your mother…?” He asks when they’ve settled themselves into the godswood, beneath the very tree he often sits beneath himself. Jon’s gray eyes widen and he nods. “I have decided now is the time for me to tell you the truth, Jon. About your mother. And your father.” His confusion is palpable and Ned reaches out, hand over his, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Soon, all will make sense.” 

And then, he begins to talk, telling this boy the same story he’d told only his wife sixteen years before. 

[ x x x ]

That night, Jon is somber at dinner, perhaps far more than he usually might be. 

Of all of the children, Jon has always been the most solemn, most like Ned than any of his true born sons. And the only one who notices, truly notices, is the girl standing at his door now. 

Sansa raises her hand, knocking twice, rocking on the balls of her feet as she waits for his response. From behind the thick door, she hears the muffled sound of his footsteps, then comes the creak of the door as it swings open, revealing his face to her. “Sansa,” he greets, surprised, Stark colored eyes widening at the sight of her there. “Come in,” he says next, stepping back to allow her entry. 

It’s not often she comes to his rooms, as what sister comes so willingly to her brother? But, then he remembers and his heart sinks. She notices, of course, reaching for his hand without a word. For a long moment they stand there together, silent and still, her bright blue eyes staring back at him as if they understand everything he’s not even said yet. “Tell me, won’t you?” She asks, head tilting, red hair a cascading waterfall over a shoulder. 

Jon peers back at her, wondering if to her, only to her, he could divulge what their father- her father- had just told him that morning. He decides, if just for now, to keep things as they’ve always been. “It’s nothing,” he finally says, forcing a smile, hoping it pays off. She eyes him skeptically and he damns her for being so perceptive of his thoughts, his feelings. “Really Sansa, I’m fine,” he goes on, stronger now. He knows that Ned plans on revealing the truth to the rest of his siblings soon, when the time is right, so he chooses not to spill his guts. Besides, of all of them, Sansa’s never been able to keep a single secret.

“If you’re sure…” She says a moment later, sighing, not really believing him. But, she knows Jon well enough to know that he would speak of it when he was ready. “I’m here if you need, you know,” she reminds him, softer now, her smile reappearing. He’s struck by the sight of it, by the realization that of all his siblings, she was the one most worried, the only one who noticed there was even something slightly off with him. And for that, for her, he’s thankful. 

“I know,” he grins, feeling it for the first time all day. “Thank you, Sansa.” 

She nods, giving his hand one last tender squeeze, then she’s gone, slipping from his room, her scent lingering long after she’s gone. 

[ x x x ]

The day King’s Landing riots violently, Ned knows he must tell the North.

So, he calls his council, the most loyal heads of the Northern houses, back to Winterfell for a single meeting. There, in the great hall, he presents Jon Snow to them, not as his bastard born son, but as the true born son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. It takes convincing of course, it takes many hours of conversation, of adamant reminders of what was happening in King’s Landing. It would soon overflow into their own space, if they were not careful. 

In the end, they accept their lord’s word as truth, as they always do. And in the end, Jon is proclaimed the rightful heir to the Seven Kingdoms, a prince with Targaryen and Stark blood, a prince they would support until their very last breath. He will be called King in the North, for now, until they can make their move, until they can do what they must to secure the peace and safety of Westeros. Then, one day soon, they will march South and he will take his rightful place as King of the Iron Throne.

[ x x x ]

“I imagine you’ll leave soon.” 

Sansa’s voice cuts into his thoughts, bringing him out of the silence he’s fallen into. “Aye,” he nods, glancing her way, only to find she’s already looking his way. Once siblings, then cousins, now betrothed. What a strange turn of events, he supposes. But, a marriage match with her would be the most advantageous of them all, all things considered. 

It’s been six months of fighting and they’ve suffered their greatest loss of them all- Robb. Jon cannot think of that day, of that moment, so he pushes it away, choosing instead to focus on anything and everything else. His new place as King in the North, as the true King of the Seven Kingdoms, has his thoughts quite occupied after all. “You’ll come back, won’t you?” She asks softly, so softly he wonders if he’s only just imagined her words. He turns his stormy eyes to her and takes her hand, nodding. 

“I promise,” he vows, a man of his word, like the one who raised him.

She smiles, nodding, trusting him because if she doesn’t, all that’s left for her is misery. 

[ x x x ]

It’s two long years of fighting. 

Battle after battle, neverending it seems, a war sometimes he thinks isn’t worth fighting. But, Jon knows it is his duty to do what he’s done, to fight a war for the crown that should have been his from the moment of his birth. They’ve come a long way in these last two years, losing good men to battle wounds and losing hope on their darkest of days.

But somehow, someway, they win their way into King’s Landing. 

As he walks into the throne room for the first time, battle worn and bleeding, he sucks in a breath; it’s far different than he imagined it to be, but it’s his all the same. The throne sits ahead of him, daunting and dark, the place his grandfather had once sat, the place his father would have sat. 

The sound of footsteps and he turns, sharply, thinking it to be Lannister men come, but instead it is Ned standing there, panting, a cut above his left eye bleeding fiercely. “Jon,” he speaks his name and Jon is reaching for the man he’s called father all of his life. “You’ve done it.” Ned says with a smile, thinking of all it’s cost them to get to where they were now, thinking of all they’ve lost, of all they’ve gained. 

“We’ve done it,” Jon amends softly, knowing that he’d not be standing there if it wasn’t for this man. For the man who raised him as his own, who protected him with his name, who has loved him all these years. “Thank you, father.” Ned looks up with tears in his eyes but he smiles, nodding. Ned Stark was his father, no matter what his blood might have said.

[ x x x ]

Sansa runs into his arms, holding onto him as she’s never done before. 

“I was so worried,” she whispers, burying her face into the crook of his shoulder, her traveling clothes telling him she’d come straight to him. Behind them, in the doorway hovers Catelyn Stark, but she swallows and ducks out of sight, the door closing behind her. They’re alone, if just for this one moment. “They said you were injured.” She draws back, inspecting him, taking in the sight of his few bandaged injuries, though he looks well enough. “And father…” That awkwardness returns, the between of who they were and who they are now, but she shakes her head. “He will recover, the maesters say.” Jon nods, for he’s heard such a thing himself, despite the Stark patriarch's wounds. “You swear you’re alright?” She asks next, softly now, blue eyes finding gray. 

“I swear,” Jon says quietly, drawing her into his embrace, something he’s not done before, something that quickens the pace of her heart. “I can’t believe you’ve come so soon…” He’s not expected her for weeks, months even. But when she draws back, she’s grinning, shaking her head as if she can’t believe what he’s just said.

“I couldn’t stay away,” she admits, thinking of the begging she had to do to get her mother to bring her here. She can’t explain it, but she knows this was where she was supposed to be- at his side. 

“I’m glad you’re here,” he pulls her close once more, wondering when the feel of her in his arms had begun to feel so right.

 So like home.

[catofadifferentcolor]

An Incomplete List of Jon Snow AU Fic Ideas

Aegon the Undying: Jon Snow reincarnates through all the Aegons of House Targaryen, focusing on Aegon, son of Baelon, and the Dance of Dragons

Aegon the Unyielding: Jon Snow/Rhaenys Targaryen arranged marriage; part romance, part zombie apocalypse, part revenge fic

Aemon the Adventurous: Jon Snow flees Westeros, becomes a sailor and merchant prince, and brings forth dragons from the ruins of Old Valyria

Baelor the Brave: Would-be Kingsguard Jon Snow assumes the throne after the death of his half-brother, Aegon; part court intrigue, part war story, part murder mystery

Daeron the Desired: Targaryen restoration romcom, with eventual Aegon VI/Rhaenys and Jon Snow/Daenerys

Lady of the Rock: f!Jon Snow/Jaime Lannister as reluctant soulmates and an even more reluctant Tywin forced to chose between Jaime and Cersei after Robert's death

Prince Consort: In which Rhaenys survives in Essos, gains a dragon, and makes a dynastic marriage with King in the North Jon Snow

Prince of Summerhall: Queen Rhaella gives birth to a bastard, determines her eldest son is nearly as mad as his father, and inadvertently starts a war

Storm Queen: f!Jon Snow/Renly Baratheon arranged marriage in which Robert is the best thing ever to happen to the Targaryens

Queen of the Skies: f!Jon Snow becomes the fourth Lady Arryn, the regent of a great house, and mother of dragons

Winter Queen: Following Catelyn Tully's death, Ned Stark marries his niece f!Jon Snow and, almost accidentally, puts her on the Iron Throne

Young Queen: Robert Baratheon takes f!Jon Snow as second wife, leaves her as regent to their son, and is once again inadvertently the best thing to happen to the Targaryens

[cellsshapedlikestars]

benjen essos 👀 for the ask game

(wip game)

sigh. oh this au. my baby. I wasn't sure if I was going to include it, because I always told myself if I ever wrote this, it'd go on my alt account. But that's assuming it ever gets written.

I literally only have Ned's initial POV, then a bit of Benjen's written. Nothing past that because all the sudden I hit Actual Plot and Politics and my brain goes fuzzy :)

but here, have the first portion!

NED

Ned crests the hill, and Winterfell comes into view. At the sight of it, something tightens around his heart. He has not been home since he called his banners, since he marched south to avenge his father, his brother, his sister. In truth, it feels as though he has not truly been home since he was eight years old, when he was sent away to foster in the Eyrie. 

Now he returns as the Lord of Winterfell, the Warden of the North, with a silent babe in his arms.

There were times, on the road, that Ned wondered if the babe had died, it was so quiet. He remembers Benjen and Lyanna being born, remembers the way they squalled, especially Lyanna. On his journey, Ned would often stop his exhausted mare and look at the bundle strapped to his chest, just to make sure the boy was breathing. The wet nurse he’d found, Wylla, had assured him some babes were simply quiet, but Ned always needed to make sure.

Promise me, Ned.

He had thought of little else on the journey home, from the mountains of Dorne to within sight of Winterfell. He intends to keep that promise, treason or not. Robert must never know, must never find out - the fates of Elia, Rhaenys, and Aegon always present in Ned’s mind.

He hugs the boy closer to his chest, a tightening in Ned’s throat as the babe’s tiny mouth opens in a yawn, and he strokes the dark curls on the babe’s soft head with one calloused finger.

“There,” Howland Reed says, and Ned looks up to see three horsemen traveling towards them from the gates of Winterfell, as his raven had requested.

“Go,” Ned says, and Howland nods and kicks his horse forward, riding to meet the envoy. In the center is a man with the long face of the Starks. That one rides forward while the two guards stay back, and Ned carefully dismounts as Benjen meets him at the top of the hill.

“Brother,” Benjen says, dismounting his own horse and rushing forward, but he is caught when he sees the bundle in Ned’s arms, the woman at his side, on her own horse.

“Wylla,” Ned says, “could you please give us a moment?

The woman does not argue, and she moves her horse towards Howland and the guards. Ned is lucky to have found her, he knows. The boy was close to death when Ned had stumbled upon her at a roadside inn, when she saw how desperate he was and offered to nurse the babe, her own having died just days before. If she wonders where he got the child or who its mother is, she does not ask.

Benjen stares at the boy, and Ned knows what he must be thinking. It is a thought Ned had often enough on the road, that he will pretend the babe is his. Raise it as his own bastard. A Snow. He made a promise.

“You mustn’t tell anyone about this,” Ned says. He hates that he must do this, hates that it must be a secret.

“I think you’ll have a hard time hiding that from your wife,” Benjen says, standing rigid and uncomfortable. Ned has barely seen his younger brother since they were children, and it sends a pang of hurt through him that Benjen seems to have assumed the worst. Do they know each other so little? “I doubt she’ll want to nurse it alongside her own.”

Her own.

Ned feels dizzy at the idea - his own son, waiting for him just inside the walls of Winterfell. Catelyn and the boy had made the journey here once peace was declared, and Ned aches to go, aches to see his own child, but he must do this first. Ned looks down at the babe he currently holds and wonders if his own son looks like this. Does his son have the same dark hair? They would be brothers, if Ned claimed this boy as his own.

“It is not mine,” he tells Benjen, who only looks at him in confusion. 

Ned does not want to explain, does not want to remember, though the image of Lyanna bleeding out in her birthing bed haunts his dreams.

Promise me, Ned.

And so he tells Benjen, with as little detail as possible. He will spare Benjen the nightmares, if he can.

In the end, Ned looks down at the bundle in his arms, the way those tiny hands grip at his finger as Ned brushes it against the boy’s soft, rounded cheek. “I’ve named him Jon,” Ned rasps. A name he tries not to use, because he knows he must give the boy up.

“What will you do?” Benjen asks, eyes looking past Ned, towards the horizon. Ned can see the way Benjen’s jaw clenches, the way his throat works as he swallows roughly. He and Lyanna were always close. Lyanna had loved him fiercely.

“Robert can never know,” Ned says. He tries not to think of Aegon and Rhaenys.

“A bastard is a dangerous thing,” Benjen says carefully. “And your new wife won’t like it.”

“That’s why I’ve called you out here,” Ned says. “I must ask something of you. I must ask that you take the boy. Leave, go somewhere and hide him. He is too old to pass off as your own here-” Ned’s voice falters, then. He is asking too much of his younger brother - the youngest of them all. Left alone to be the Stark in Winterfell for nearly a year, and now Ned is asking Benjen to banish himself from their home. It is not fair, but Ned has learned that very little is. All he can do is try to honor his sister’s last request. The promise he made.

Benjen says nothing at first, but then slowly, he nods. “I was planning on taking the black, anyway,” he muses. “Running Winterfell has shown me what it is like to have a purpose. A duty.” His eyes meet Ned’s and he gives a rueful smile. “Do not worry, brother. I have no plans on continuing as Lord of Winterfell. I’ll leave that burden to you. But…” his eyes drop to the bundle. “Yes. I’ll take him.”

Ned reaches out with his free hand and clasps his brother on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry to charge you with this,” Ned says, and he sees the sorrow in his brother’s eyes. It disappears quickly, though. Benjen is good at hiding it. 

“Here,” Benjen says, holding out his arms awkwardly, and Ned realizes this is the moment. He must give up the babe. It is the best course of action.

Yet still, he hesitates.

Benjen is just a boy himself, though Ned must remind himself that he was not much older when he rode off to war. Still, Ned thinks he’d rather face a war than have to raise a babe on his own, far from home.

Benjen waits until Ned finally passes the bundle over.

“Keep his head up,” Ned tuts, using his hand to raise Benjen’s elbow. 

Benjen stares down at the boy, and Ned feels both a weight lifted off him, and a great pain in his chest.

Promise me, Ned.

The promise belongs to Benjen now.

…

When Ned finally enters through the gates of Winterfell, his wife is waiting for him, a babe held in her arms. His son, Robb.

Ned makes his way over and greets his wife - a woman he has been married to for nigh on a year, but barely knows. She stands beautiful and serene, though he can see the hesitation in her eyes as she hands over the child, and Ned sees that while he at first thought the boy bald, there are little wisps of hair atop his head. Red, like his mother.

“Thank you,” Ned whispers, holding the babe tight to his chest, just as he had done with Lyanna’s boy. He wishes to never let his son go.

In that moment, Ned makes another promise - to Lyanna, to his father and mother, to Brandon and Benjen, to his wife, to Robb. He will be a good Lord. He will be a good father.

He looks up, and Catelyn smiles at him.

[alannybunnue]

First Wife AU:

Someone (Tyanna) arranges for an assassin to kill Maegor’s heir whilst in his coma, similar to what happened with Bran, during one of the few times his mother isn’t there. But the reader comes back early right before the deed can be done and manages to hold the assassin off barely enough for Visenya and Maegor to arrive…

Confirmed: Reader has Catelyn Stark's personality(Not completely tho-)

It would be a long night for them, she desperately holds the assassin with all her strength, even gets hurt in the process.

When she feels like she can't hold him any longer, the man throws her away, just to her the doors being open, and Maegor appears

The sight of his wife with bloody fingers and the man holding the dagger was enough, and soon, the bastard was dead on the ground with his head away from his body.

Visenya, who was also there, immediately called for the maester as she also took a look at her good daughter's hands, they were in a terrible state by the way.

The reader was praised for being strong enough and protecting her son all night, btw.

[highgardenart]

Commission Dump!

1. Lyarra Stark— Daughter of Ned and Catelyn (commissioner’s OC)

2. Aurora Targaryen— Daughter of Viserys I and a Lady of House Stark (commissioner’s OC)

3. Bethany Velaryon— Cousin to Alicent, married to Laenor (commissioner’s OC)

4. Daenaera Targaryen— Sister of Daenys the dreamer (commissioner’s OC)

5. Young Rhaenyra in her iconic black dress that debuted the factions

6. Vaella Waters with Grey Ghost— Daughter of Daemon Targaryen and Mysaria (Commissioner’s OC)

7. AU Jacaerys Velaryon

8. AU Lucerys Velaryon

9. AU Joffery Velaryon

10. Aegon VI Targaryen— eldest son of Aerys II and Rhaella (commissioner’s OC)