GoT/ASOIAF || Chapters 22/22 || Work Complete || Rated M
Private Investigator Ned Stark is gunned down in his own vehicle alongside wife Cat and eldest son Robb, whose last words before he succumbs to his wounds include “Lannisters.”
Like many(?) fans of ASOIAF, I've a silly fondness for "Rickeen" - the concept of a post-War for the Dawn teen Rickon Stark, raised in Skagos by Osha & half a wolf because of so frequently warging with Shaggydog, deciding to steal himself the bookish, Southron Princess "Shireen" because she's kind and has been teaching him how to Lord. Hijinks ensue.
PRACTICALLY speaking, of course, is the very real Powerhouse that their marriage would create: Shireen is the Princess of Dragonstone, the legal heir to the Iron Throne (by right of Baratheon conquest & her NOT being a bastard) and, with the demise of Renly Baratheon, Heir Apparent to the Stormlands; Rickon is Heir Apparent of The North (Robb's Will notwithstanding) and, by right of his being male & able-bodied, the rightful Lord of Winterfell. That Rickon's been AWOL with Osha, presumably learning the ways of the freefolk & speaking The Old Tongue, conveniently sets him up for acceptance from both the Great Northern Houses (your Manderlys and Umbers and Mormonts) AND all the freefolk settling in The New Gift.
But what is the state of things for this ship, as set up in canon?
Lord Davos Seaworth, smuggler extraordinaire & Hand to King Stannis, has been sent by Lord Wyman Manderly (leader & head-schemer for a good third of the many Conspiracies Great & Northern) to fetch 5-year old Rickon from Skagos, an island just off the coast from Eastwatch, south of Hardhome, and known for cannibalistic wildlings & deadly unicorns.
Meanwhile, at Castle Black, Princess Shireen is presumably in the King's Tower & thus "guarded" from the ongoing mutiny by Wun-Wun the Giant. Shireen is, at this point in the story, 11 years old & is good friends with Devan Seaworth (13), eldest surviving son of the Onion Knight and thusly his heir, and her double-cousin Edric Storm (13, Robert's bastard by a lady Florent, currently secreted away in the Free Cities & out of the reach of Melissandre's arsony).
Had Queen Selyse not pitched fuss over which derelict castle at The Wall would best befit her station (she HAD wanted the Nightfort but, uh, Castle Black was safer & less haunted), she and her court (Shireen included) would still be at Eastwatch. Lord Davos set out for Skagos from White Harbour & Eastwatch is the closest friendly port from Skagos, and it's very plausible that Lord Manderly had this in mind when charging our Onion Knight with his fetchquest: a betrothal agreement, between Rickon & Shireen would secure a degree of King Robb's legacy, give Stannis a kingdom (the Stormlands currently warring against itself & the Golden Company of "Aegon VI"), and afford to both children some obligatory protection from harm through their respective factions.
As it stands, it's unlikely that 5-year old Rickon will be leading an army of Skagosi unicorns to hassle mutineers, Freys, and Boltons from atop his direwolf, & unlikelier that little Shireen would safely walk amongst freefolk with the scars of [her surviving] Grey Scale so obviously on her face. I do think they'd find each other fascinating, if introduced, but babysitting one's betrothed during an apocalypse is a scenario unlikely to be long-lived should it occur in Winds.
A Rickeen fic for the New Year? Check
A Mobster AU? Check
Davos being supportive of Shireen? Check
Shireen being a little rebellious against her father? Check
Rickon just being all around coolness? Check
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
game of thrones au | rickon & shireen high school au
↳ for @asoiafrarepairs a dream of spring event :: hope
He sees her on the days he has detention, and she has… well, he isn’t actually sure what she has. He’s pretty sure it has something to do with the Literary Magazine because she’s always carrying around books and piles of papers, but Rickon doesn’t actually know that much about after school clubs besides for what he sees when he’s at detention.
Rickon would like to clarify he is not a bad kid, okay? He just… doesn’t like sitting still. He’s pretty sure there’s a difference. It’s not like he has malicious intent about the whole thing or anything.
Whatever. Not the point. Back to Shireen.
Shireen is like… the coolest person he’s ever met. Except for the fact that he hasn’t met her so much as he’s stared upon her beauty and glory from far away (see: across the parking lot while he waits in his car, making sure someone actually comes to pick her up before he leaves).
He knows the staring is probably sort of creepy, but he’s just worried, okay? Because her parents don’t seem to give much of a shit about her, and he doesn’t want her to be stuck alone.
And yeah, he could probably offer her a ride, but... Shireen seems easily scared away, and that’s the last thing Rickon wants to do. He’ll wait for his moment.
Which comes halfway through fall semester on a particularly rainy day when Shireen’s ride is nowhere in sight.
“Do you need a lift home?” he asks.
She looks up from the book she’s been reading beneath the shelter of the overhang by the front door. She looks surprised by the interruption, and even more so when she sees who it is.
“Oh,” the sound comes out in a puff of breath. “My ride should be here any minute.”
Rickon pauses. “Are you sure?”
Her brow scrunches, but then she shuts the book and tentatively grabs her backpack. “I mean, are you sure? You don’t mind?”
He beams. “I don’t mind at all.”
🚌📘Shireen’s parents don’t really care where she is as long as it’s not in their way, and Rickon’s parents have sort of given up now that he’s the last one in the house, so it seems logical once they start spending all those empty hours after school together. And despite seeming like the last two people at Kings High who should get along... they actually fit together pretty perfectly. Now if Rickon can only manage to tell her how he feels without blowing the whole thing up.
in all of the ways D&D screwed us over....I think killing off babies Rickon and Shireen are kinda my two sticking points. Mostly because it did absolutely nothing to further the plot aside from cause MORE goddamn heartbreak.
I'm gonna live in a delusional world where Rickon is still on Skagos, and quickly becoming a badass warrior in his own right. he's raised by Osha and shares headspace with the most vicious of the Wolfpack. his Uncle Brandon may have been the Wild Wolf, but Rickon Stark is absolutely Feral.
and since Skagos is the land of Stone and Unicorns, who better to earn the loyalty of their fierce warrior than the Stone Princess who was willing to ride into battle alongside her Onion Knight, Shireen Baratheon?
