Thanks. The hack and slashy approach would have been more satisfying, perhaps, but less creative, certainly, and come with a lot of problems for Arya too.

Though that's a thought. Arya the badass assassin comes back in time and slaughters every enemy she has. Perhaps someone can do Tywin next?

 

[FONT=&quot]The battle had been won. It had been bloody, brutal even as King Renly's men sought to overtake the walls, sought to force their way down the streets of King's Landing and even overtake the Red Keep itself. They had reached that far certainly, Renly Baratheon's new goodbrothers Loras & Garlan Tyrell leading the way. But even as the City Watch faltered on the streets, the defenders of the Red Keep, of Maegor's Holdfast held true. Under the command of Ser Gregor Clegane of the Westerlands, the few hundreds who had yet lived in Maegor's Holdfast survived the siege. Thrice did Renly send his men over its walls, led by Randyll Tarly, Loras Tyrell and Garlan Tyrell. Randyll Tarly was barely fought off, but Loras had died in his eagerness to be amongst the first to enter the inner keep, his head cleaved in two by Ser Gregor's great broadsword. At his death, the men he once led faltered and then broke as Clegane pitched him on top of them.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]When Garlan had come afterwards seeking his head, Clegane had cut him down as well.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Their deaths had dispirited the attackers, with Renly Baratheon retiring to the King's quarters in the Red Keep for several days afterwards in mourning for his lady wife's brothers. Mace Tyrell had been given command of the siege as Randyll Tarly recuperated from his injuries, and that critical lapse had made all the difference to what came next.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]From the north and the west came great loyalist armies drawn from the Houses Lannister and Arryn, as Sweetrobin Arryn ordered his lords to march south from Casterly Rock. In the north came Lord Tywin Lannister, the King's own grandfather arriving at the head of twenty thousand Westerlander and Vale horse with another ten thousand foot behind them. In the west came Daven Lannister with another ten thousand men, drawn from the scum of Lannisport and the remnants of armies not yet broken by Robb Stark's men. Having snuck south through the forests and hill and across Reach lands to reach King's Landing, his men were weary but eager for blood. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]That night, they had their fill of it.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Though Lord Renly had camped in and around the capital with nearly a hundred thousand men, many of his lords had headed north or west to face the Lannisters and Starks in open battle even as the siege progressed. Daven Lannister and Yohn Royce had disabused them of expecting easy victories, killing some twelve thousand men between them all. With another twenty thousand sent south again when word of Balon Greyjoy's fleet taking the Shield Isles and raiding up and down the Mander and thirteen thousand more to Storm's End to relieve Stannis's siege of Storm's End, his numbers were lower than otherwise expected. Forty thousand to sixty five thousand, the former more battle-hardened than all the summer knights in Renly's court.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Renly, whom had not even exited his quarters for much of the battle, trusting in his good father Mace Tyrell (and more truthfully his bannerman Randyll Tarly) to see to the battle. The mistake was his, for Ser Gregor had rallied in response to the relief, entering the Red Keep during the chaos of battle and falling upon him and his wife on the Iron Throne. It was said that he had bashed Renly's head against the throne itself, using it's blade to kill him swiftly. Few speak of what he had done to Margaery Tyrell, the poor girl more a beaten, raped mess not uncommon across the battlefields of Westeros than the highborn maiden she had been but a day prior. That Gregor had kept her alive for the Lannisters to hold was both a mercy and a crime.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]And so it was, when Lord Tywin entered the halls of the Red Keep where his daughter and grandsons were shakily making their way, that he spotted his most loyal and faithful hound, bowing in deference as the corpse of Renly Baratheon began to attract flies at his feet.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]--[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Days of feasting soon followed, as the wealth of the Westerlands flowed through the royal treasury to raise King's Landing up from its desolation, it's destruction. Even as Stannis Baratheon was crowned king in the south by the remaining Stormlords, even Willas Tyrell pledged peace subservience to King Joffery's rule, even as Robb Stark razed the Westerlands in impotent fury, they feasted.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The defender's of Maegor's Holdfast were knighted, one and all by King Joffery himself. Those who had fought for Lord Renly had either been pardoned or sentenced to the Night's Watch and stripped of their lands for their treason. But for a man like Ser Gregor Clegane, ever loyal to his lord and master, a different award was kept in mind.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"Sansa Stark," announced Grandmaester Pycelle weezingly "Step forward."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Northern maid did as she was bid, her eyes kept down and her features expressionless. She had been most useful during much of the siege, keeping the morale of Queen Cersei's attendants cheerful as the days drew on, amusing and entertaining Prince Tommen when he had cried or whimpered. But those days had quickly passed, and none who had appreciated then would stand for her now.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"Ser Gregor Clegane," announced Grandmaster Pycelle "Step forward."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As he did so, Grandmaester Pycelle held his breath for a moment, before continuing-[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"No," spoke King Joffery Baratheon clearly and cruelly from his throne "I'll speak here."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Standing, he took a moment to overlook the lords and courtiers in attendance for returning his attention to the summoned duo.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"Ser Gregor Clegane," he began warmly "You have ever been a stalwart shield for House Lannister. In these past few weeks, you have proven yourself worthy of such praise in defending the royal household, myself included. Men say that were it not for you, the Holdfast would have fallen long ago."

"Your Grace is too kind," said the brute slowly "I merely acted as any man would, in the defence of the one true king."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]"Your brother didn't," noted the king angrily "In fact, he fled the city at first chance."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]"As I said," said Gregor haltingly "Any man."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]That comment drew an uproar of laughter from the audience around them, heightening as even Joffery joined in with a chuckle.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"Truer words were never spoken," agreed the King "Yet even a hound can be taught loyalty. It is no matter. Rise Ser Gregor, and ask me any boon you desire! I shall not deny you this day."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]"I have no requests, Your Grace. All I desire is but service in your name."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]"No," decided Joffery as Gregor's words trailed off "I won't have it. You fought for me, killed for me. I'll not have men say that I did not reward the faithful as equally as I punished the treasonous."

"Your Grace-"[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"I've an idea," said Joffery with a cruel twist of a smile as he turned to his former betrothed "Sansa, you shall marry Ser Gregor Clegane. Ser Gregor, in her stead I name you the rightful Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. To you I charge the safe-keeping and rule over that frost-bitten wasteland. To you I charge the duty of reining these northern rebels in line, of reminding them of their proper place."

"Your Grace," began Lord Varys as he moved to Joffery's side "Your generosity is overwhelming, but Sansa Stark has already been promised to you-"[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]"I'll not marry a traitor's get," spat Joffery furiously as he waved Varys off "And I have no interest in Winterfell or the North. I'll have a loyal man rule it, as soon as Robb Stark and his brothers are dead."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"Joffery-"[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]"I've had my say mother," said the King imperiously "And that'll be the end of it."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"I- Yes Your Grace."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]--[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"So what will you do?" asked a pacing Cersei of her father as he calmly poured himself a goblet of clear water "We can't simply give Clegane Sansa Stark! Riverrun, Winterfell-"[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]"Are both outside our grasp," noted the Lord of the Westerlands amusedly "So I suspect we may yet have a deferral."[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"You're not taking this seriously," realized Cersei as she looked over her father "You're not going to give him Winterfell?"

"Winterfell," Tywin began "is occupied by House Stark. It is defended by House Stark. It is several hundred leagues away, with three would-be princes between Ser Gregor and his prize. I'll send him back out into the Riverlands soon enough. Maybe he'll kill Robb Stark, maybe he'll kill Edmure Tully. Maybe one of them will kill him and save me the trouble of doing it. As it is, it's not the worst idea your son's had. Clegane can be trusted to keep the Northern lords in line once we break the Stark boy and his uncle. Or he could be killed in battle and we'll be able to remarry Sansa to another Lannister. Daven perhaps. Or one of Kevan's sons..."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"And if he got her pregnant?" asked Cersei with a sneer "You think they'll take a spoiled woman to their bed. What if he kills her? With his rages..."

"He won't," said Tywin as he finally sipped from his goblet "He's a killer and a brute but not a fool. She's a treasure beyond anything he's come across yet. He'll beat her some, true. But that'll matter little to any lord who wants to seat himself in Winterfell or Riverrun. And as for a pregnancy... there's always moon tea."

"So this is it then?" noted the Queen Regent acerbically "You'll sell him the promise of a Northern rose, and take it all away."

"Ser Gregor is useful," admitted the Lannister patriarch as he sipped further "He is fearsome upon the battlefield, he spreads terror whichever way he travels, and he keeps my bannermen in line. But that is to be expected from one's dogs. Loyalty until death. Their loyalty, not ours. A Lannister holds no loyalty but to his house and kin. Or as the Mad King once put it to me, you don't marry your servants..."

"Father?"

"It's nothing Cersei."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]--[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Target: Anyone[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Prompt: Once he had been called Gregor Greatheart, for his bravery as a mere youth at Duskendale. Years later they had called him Kingslayer, for his crime at King's Landing. Afterwards, they called him Greycloak, for exchanging his white cloak for black. Even the wildlings had named him, calling him Giantsblood, for his stature and size. Yet he only remembered one name, and the one person who said it. Gregor the True, Elia had once called him, the day he went north. True to her service, to her children now gone. Ser Gregor the True.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Length: However long you want[/FONT]

 

Not sure why you list Edmure Tully among the Lannister commanders. Otherwise, a nice response to the challenge. I like it.

Very interested in this prompt.

 

Mistake that I couldn't edit out because whenever I press edit all I get is a blank screen.

Someone over on SB/SV came up with something related conceptually* and then I started thinking about it and I kind of wanted to do something with it. I've got a slowly forming story that has where I want to go with it involved, but I was curious to see what other people might do with it.

 

I'll take a prompt(just not that last one, Hashasheen, I don't think I could execute it well).

 

Target: Zenzao
Prompt: "Her children had been her sole fortune in this world. Not riches, not wealth, not even her name had mattered as much as her little girl and boy. But Tywin Lannister had taken them from her, had let them send sweet, kind Gregor north. And her they sent south to her brothers, with Uncle Llewyn's bones and Jon Arryn for company."
Length: Irrelevant

 

So a twist in the timeline where Elia Martell is not raped and murdered by Gregor Clegane and, for some utterly bizarre reason, thinks of the Mountain that Rides as a humane creature. I don't even... :|

Well. I needed to try my hand at the feminine voice again, anyway.

 

Well, if you want some conceptual backstory for the idea...

It was inspired from an RPG over on Sufficient Velocity, where instead of Gregor being drugged on milk of the poppy to curb his headaches, he turned to the Faith as his pillar of support and became rather religious and actually somewhat shy and innocent (I know). Also, he was rather uncommonly good with mathematics and finances for a young boy. That RPG still has Gregor as a child so far, but I was intrigued by the idea of Good! Gregor (helped by Season 4's Gregor Clegane looking ever so happy and friendly in the pics that have popped up online). Working on the concept a little further, I figured Tywin would still have uses for him (a future Kevan for Jaime) and made sure to take him under his wing as a squire in King's Landing while he served as Hand of the King (heh, nearly said Hound).

Of course Duskendale is still coming, and the idea is a lout like Gregor could easily sneak in as a village idiot of sorts to assist Ser Barristan in freeing Aerys. Once that was done, Aerys (before Tywin cottoned on to his new found attitudes), would decide to reward him with a seat in the Kingsguard, knighting him himself. Tywin wouldn't mind so much because he's still in "Cersei = Queen" mode and figures having a Lannister Bannerman in the Kingsguard can only help. Gregor is all "Yes, I'm in the Kingsguard!" before realizing over the next few years just how batshit crazy Aerys got and growing disillusioned ala Jaime in canon. With Rhaegar pretty much in his own circle of friends (Connigton, Lonmouth, Dayne) and Gregor still pretty much a kid in a man's body and somewhat isolated, I figured he'd get along somewhat so with Elia Martell, future Queen by marriage (earning her a Kingsguard) and who seems to have had something of a similiarily frail physique.

So then the whole shenanigans with Rhaegar and Lyanna kick up, and suddenly Gregor's the only Kingsguard left in King's Landing, watching grow crazier and making wildfire and all that. Tywin comes (and unlike canon, Aerys doesn't have Jaime to feel trusting) and assaults the city. Aerys tells Gregor to fetch the Pyromancers to burn the city down, and Gregor snaps and kills him, before seeing to defenses and protection of the remaining royal family, Elia and her children. Puts up a damn good fight (killing Amory Lorch in the process), but is ultimately taken down by Tywin's men and restrained (since Tywin still wants him back for Jaime) and fails in protecting Elia's children, though she herself survives so as not to further enrage Dorne (good luck with that).

Gregor is put on a trial of sorts where Robert praises him for his service to the realm, Ned and Barristan demand he go to the Night's Watch and Tywin is pleading a compromise removing Gregor from the Kingsguard. Gregor kind of snaps, curses out Barristan, Tywin, Robert and Ned for varying reasons (Elia's children, serving Aerys without a peep, the hypocrisy of Kingslaying, etc...) and accepts service into the Night's Watch. Tywin is of course livid, Ned is of course curious and Barristan is slightly taken aback.

Gregor and Elia have a final farwell before they go their seperate ways, with Elia promising him that Dorne would not forget him, giving him the name "Ser Gregor the True".

And then she goes south in turn, with Jon Arryn to Sunspear.

 

Yeah, that seems more likely to warrant an entire fic on its own, rather than just a short one-shot here.

 

Ser Gregor, you da real MVP

 

Would you believe it's actually just part of the backstory for the fic I'm working on?

...

I'm just really better at world-building than actually writing a story. :facepalm

 

Prompt:

"Ser Davos!" shouted Stannis grumpily as he dropped off from the ship's ramp "What dire news calls me back from Dragonstone's siege?"

"Lord Stannis," said Davos hesitantly "Your brother King Robert has fled the capital, abdicating the throne and naming you his heir. Lord Arryn has been consigned to his quarters after fainting, and Lord Tywin has been demanding that Robert be found and returned to King's Landing immediately. Some negotiations over his daughter's betrothal..."

"He fled the city?" questioned Stannis blankly as he struggled to understand "Robert fled the city?"

"Yes... Your Grace." ​

 

Going off to Essos to become a sellsword?

 

A better prospect than being cuckolded by Cersei and the Kingslayer, eh?

 

When you put it that way...

 

I'll take both prompts. I need to practice my prose.

 

Target: Anyone
Prompt: On his/her deathbed a Follower/Priest of R'hllor receives visions of Azor Ahai. He then speaks his last words to inform the world of his coming.
Length: Any

 

Target: Anyone
Prompt: Three unlikely people find themselves in the Black Cells together: Jaime Lannister, Cersei Lannister and Ned Stark. Nobody could have known that this event would change the fate of Westeros.
Length: Any