25 Part 25 - Robert‘s Rebellion

__________________________________

The last chapter wasn't very liked I saw. And apparently, that is because ‚Escanor wouldn't do something like scheme and whatnot'. Well, I got news for you all there is a reason for that. First, he is not Escanor and only has the same name (because I wanted it) and the power of ‚Sunshine'. He did not get his character or anything like that.

He is his own person and has lived a different life than Escanor has. He naturally won't act the same way. The scheming was a brainchild of mine that I had Escanor create out of boredom.

Remember that he is mentally a grown man and that must bore you out of your mind to be stuck inside a baby/child's body during medieval times. That's why he created these schemes to pass the time. That's also why he created ‚the Deck'.

Another reason why he is not as prideful as OG Escanor is because of the conflict with his powers. I already explained this and I'm frustrated no one realized it yet. But Escanor still doesn't have access to all his power and that also only to a fraction. His ‚Sunshine' is still not close to full power, because it is fighting against the Devil fruit.

He will get more prideful the older he gets, but he will still be different from Escanor from 7DS. Don't f*king call the story boring without thinking. If I wanted to write a one-hit-wonder story, I would have made Escanor grow to adult size by the time the war started and have him burn all of Westeros to the ground. That would be SO BORING!!

If you don't like it then piss off. You don't have to announce your departure. You can tell me constructive criticism or stop reading entirely.

_____________________________________

283 AC

(Escanor POV)

Two years have passed since I talked with my father. Things didn't go as planned, of course, because by the time 282 AC had arrived, the Crown Prince did what he shouldn't have.

Just like he did in the story, he kidnapped Lyanna Stark. What an idiot. I knew he was crazy like his father but to act on his lust like that ... what a disgrace.

Just as you would expect, the Starks went crazy. Brandon Stark, the simpleton, actually rode to King's Landing. He was at Riverrun to meet his betrothed Catelyn Tully when the news reached him of his sister's abduction.

Being the Stark that he was, he rode for the Red Keep and screamed at the top of his lungs for Rhaegar to come out and die by his hands. Seriously who was that stupid? He honestly believed that that would work.

The King, may he rest in pieces, arrested Brandon and all those that came with him. Plotting the murder of the Crown Prince, was the reason. I couldn't help but be disgusted by this. Of course, the King would use this chance to satiate his urges and his paranoia.

The fathers of all those that were arrested were summoned to court. Now guess who actually came ... Yes Rickard bloody Stark went to King's Landing with two hundred men. None of them returned north.

King Aerys II allowed for trials ... of a sort. Rickard Stark of course demanded a trial by combat. A beautiful custom that was ... accepted by the King ... surprisingly. But then all became clear when I heard the next part.

While Rickard expected to fight one of the King's guards, King Aerys in all his madness declared Fire to be the champion for House Targaryen. Would you ever ... I mean seriously. What a prick. And yet I couldn't help but look down on the King for his actions.

I noticed an increase in pride again. Resulting in a slow but steady reduction of interest in scheming. I was still doing it and keeping track of a lot of things due to boredom ... but it was getting less and less.

That's why I couldn't help but look down on this little ploy the King did. That he needed something like this to get what he wants was just pitiful. And while I myself had created far-reaching and long-term schemes, I did those also out of boredom. But I was also a bit disappointed in myself for doing them.

If there is a House that stands in my way ... I can just pity them. That feeling became more apparent. It seems my power 'Sunshine' was winning the battle with the Devil Fruit. And the more the scale tipped in its favour, the more obvious my changes became.

Getting back to the King. They had Rickard Stark suspended from the rafters in the throne room, where his pyromancers, kindled a blaze beneath the Lord of Winterfell.

Brandon Stark was brought in as well, and placed in a Tyroshi strangling device, while a longsword was placed just outside his reach. Brandon was allowed to try and free his father, but the more he struggled to reach the sword, the tighter the cord around his neck became.

The poor Brandon strangled himself in an attempt to reach the sword and save his father, while Lord Rickard cooked in his armour...

That left a bad taste in my mouth at the time. Such a terrible way to die for both of them. And yet I wasn't able to bring myself to hate or be angry at the King. At least not very much. It was like a passing feeling for me. In the end, I only felt pity for the mad guy. Pity for having sealed his fate.

Being the 'rational' person that he was, the King demanded Jon Arryn send him the heads of both Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark who were being fostered by him. That didn't end as expected, as Jon Arryn refused and therefore started the war that would be known as Robert's Rebellion.

The war is not something we will go over as it would take too long and is not interesting.

An important battle happened this year in fact. The Battle of the Trident was a decisive battle because Rhaegar and Robert met in single combat while the battle waged on around them.

The prince managed to wound Robert but was eventually killed when he took his Warhammer to the chest. After a long time, the rebels managed to win because the Targaryen host broke and ran away, due to Rhaegar's death.

This was the turning point and almost marked the win for the rebels. Robert Baratheon proclaimed his intention to claim the Iron Throne. Out of all three leaders of the rebellion, Robert had the better claim, due to the fact that his grandmother had been Princess Rhaelle Targaryen, the youngest daughter of King Aegon V Targaryen.

Even though Robert had the best claim to the throne, it was lastly conquest that won him the throne and sealed the deal for most.

Even though the war was not yet over, my father made sure that it was.

I knew what would happen. The bloody and disgraceful sacking of King's Landing where so many innocents died for pretty much nothing. My pride wouldn't allow my father to go through with the same plan.

I would never allow Gregor Clegane to murder and rape Elia Martell. I would kill him on the spot and all those soldiers that were there, effectively reducing the twelve-thousand-strong army of the Westerlands to nothing.

I told Father these exact words should he allow his soldiers to slaughter and rape the smallfolk and the Queen and children.

.

When I told my father this ... let's just say he was less than pleased with me. On the contrary, he was livid and I thought he would disinherit me or take away my Lannister name ...

And I ... couldn't care less really. I stood in front of him with my head held high and a bored look on my face as my father tried to look intimidating. Should he stand against me ... I could only pity him. His pathetic attempt to leave a millennia-long legacy was becoming plain boring to me.

The way he had to go about it, scheming and plotting was just getting on my nerves ... even though I was the one to come up with many of those plans.

After a staring contest that will be remembered in history, my father finally relented. But he was angry with me and would not forget this. I didn't care about that. As long as I didn't hear about the brutal and cowardly murder of Elia Martell and her children as well as all those smallfolk, I would leave my father be.

As for Elia Martell ... she and her children still died. The bloodlust of Robert Targaryen was not to be underestimated. The moment I heard the news of him killing Elia and her children in the Throneroom, I couldn't help but pity him ... yet again. So many people are being pitied by me the older I get.

Because the moment he killed Elia Martell and her children he got a place on my list of people that would die. And as it is for all those that have to go against me, I can only pity him. For they just forfeit their pathetic lives. Poor sods.

.

King Aerys II Targaryen had a last 'surprise' prepared for Tywin and his forces though. He had prepared a load of Wildfire underneath King's Landing and had ordered for them to be lit.

He was planning on destroying every single human in King's Landing and ruining the land for a long time. But here is where Jaime came in clutch. He actually decided against the oath he swore in Harrenhal and killed the King and the pyromancer.

With his actions, Jaime got to be known as the 'Kingslayer'. No one knew that he did what he did because he wanted to save everyone. It actually made me proud of him. Imagine that ...

While Robert's Rebellion is now considered to have ended with the Sack of King's Landing, not all battles are over just yet. In the south, the siege of Storm's End is still going on, while Lyanna Stark was still missing. I wonder whether Lynna Stark will die this time as well and whether the future Jon Snow will be born.

We'll see what will happen. In the meantime, I will continue to train with the young boys and girls that I took into my group.