souma

daeron the drunken

Firstborns

A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS

au where instead of having the trial of seven dunk is like yeah no actually I would prefer to live thanks and just fucking splits, and everyone is there waiting for him but he's already got like a six hour head start. baelor would find out about this as he's like in the process of putting valarrs armor on, bc he never even considered that dunk would run

naturally, there would be a manhunt, and a fat fucking bounty on his head. like big enough that even the small folk that would otherwise support dunk would be stupid not to rat on him, but by some miracle he gets away, and eventually he's just presumed dead bc literally nobody has seen him in forever and it's kind of hard to miss him.

the whole situation has spoiled the idea of knighthood and chivalry for dunk. like all he did was protect tanselle, and Aerion would've had his head for it, or at the very least there would've been a trial by 7. like how many good men were they going to let die for the sake of the dragons pride. so like even if he wasn't literally being hunted by the whole realm he's like fuck this knight shit anyways.

years pass. then there's some rumors going around, about a giant bandit roaming the kings road. but he never bothers the small folk, he's in the business of robbing lords and nobles, and also beating the brakes off of other bandits who do bother the peasants.

so naturally, bc he's bothering the nobility and also bc everyone is like hmmm a giant guy that stands up for small folk...sounds like someone else that caused a lot of problems for the crown, the search for dunk starts up again. but by now the people love him so much that they won't narc on him even for gold, bc he's been on his robin hood grind for years, bc even as a bandit you can't take away dunks good heart.

anyway, they can't catch him, and I imagine Baelor is still pressed about it on like a personal level even after years bc he was going to show up for the guy, and then he ran

but Baelor's got bigger problems bc whoops blackfyre rebellion. so there's a battle, and baelor is badly injured and his host has just fucking scattered bc they got beat so badly, so he's just like lying half dead on the battlefield and is like well this is the end.

but then some giant of a man drags him off the field. I imagine he blacks out at some point, but he wakes up in some random camp in the woods, and dunk is there and has patched up all of Baelor's wounds. but baelor doesn't recognize dunk at first so he just thinks he's a kind stranger or something and is like you have to get me back to kings landing, you'll be rewarded, like you'll be so rich, you just have to help me.

and dunk knows exactly who he dragged off that field, so he's like yeah so here's the thing. I don't want your money, and you're actually my prisoner now. and what's going to happen is I'll take you back to kings landing safely, if and only if I get a full pardon for my crimes.

then baelor realizes who it is. and he's like holy fuck ser duncan, and dunk is like don't call me Ser, all that knight shit is a big lie, I don't want any part of that.

baelor is like ooookay well fine, you'll get a pardon but you have to get me back safely.

this is, naturally, where our enemies to lovers arc starts.

so we're adventuring halfway across westeros, and as they're riding Baelor is like why did you run, I would've fought for you, and dunk is like fought for me? you could've stopped the whole trial if you wanted to. and Baelor's like well technically yes, but you did strike a prince and dunk is like and I'll strike another one if you keep talking

and they're stopping in taverns in whatnot along the way, and baelor is like aren't you afraid we'll be recognized. and dunk is like I know we're being recognized but how about you take a look at the painting on that wall. and it's a giant knight fighting a dragon, like anti-targ pro robin hood dunk type shit. dunks got entire villages loyal to him at this point. but baelor misses the point completely and is like oh so you'll side with the Blackfyres then and dunk is like no, we're on team no dragons full stop.

but the more time they spend traveling the more Baelor is like maybe he is as good as I once thought, like okay he's speaking straight treason every time he opens his mouth but he's also helping all these people, and they all love him, and maybe I am the bad guy.

and so then he starts asking dunk about the realm, from a commoners perspective, and dunk is like okay maybe he does actually care, he's just so insanely out of touch that he didn't realize how bad a lot of people have it.

anyways they grow to have a begrudging respect for each other, and that grows into something else entirely, but it's soooo doomed bc once dunk gets them to kings landing and gets pardoned he's immediately fucking right back off to his forest no matter how much Baelor begs him to stay.