“You call Daenerys our Queen … do you intend to abdicate? To set aside your own claim to the Iron Throne?” Lord Royce wondered.
“I already have. I have no wish to sit the throne, nor do I wish to be King. My aunt -”
“Your aunt destroyed an entire city! Do you mean for us to simply forget that?! While the two of you have been in hiding it is my men who have been wading through the ashes of thousands! Not even the Mad King was so -”
“ENOUGH OF THE MAD KING!” Jon suddenly shouted, and he was livid as Rhaegal roared and shrieked in his nest.
“The Mad King is dead, just as we all would be if not for Her Grace! Had she not come North and fought alongside us, the Night King would still be marching and we would all be mindless soldiers in his army! Instead, Daenerys did what a true queen would do: she rode into battle at her people's side, never stopping until the war was won!”
He snarled and then he was gripping Longclaw tightly as he stated, “Continue to defile and slander her name and the consequences will be most severe, my lord.”
The guards stationed around the throne room tensed as well, ready to defend not only Dany, but himself as their prince.
“What happened in King’s Landing was a tragedy, but do not stand there and tell me Cersei did not contribute to the destruction. You saw the wildfire amongst Drogon’s flames, as did I. It was horrible, but we were at war, my lords, and that war is now over. Neither Her Grace nor myself wish to brush aside the loss of life, and our Queen cares greatly for her people, which is why King’s Landing is to be rebuilt using the coin that was taken from the Golden Company, as well as procuring fresh food and water for the citizens of the city. These things have already begun, have they not?” he demanded.
“They have, my prince.” Lord Wyman answered.
Lord Royce only gave a curt nod.
“Good. Lord Royce, you speak of Her Grace hiding away, but the idea to come to Dragonstone was mine alone. It is out of my love for her that I urge her to remain here, for I know that King’s Landing is not safe for her, nor will it be for quite some time, and there is also the matter of healing from her injuries. I will not risk her life simply to sate you or the people. She is the Queen and she must be protected, and as her Hand and her beloved, I will continue to guide her as best I can.”
Pidge skated a tongue over Lance’s lower lip and muttered, “Is that coconut?
His breath hot against her mouth, he laughed softly. “Coconut lip balm. Like it?”
Her fingers wound around the hair at the nape of his neck and she pulled his mouth to hers. “Uh-huh.” They were on the little couch in the Atlas’ junior officers’ lounge, taking a small break from a long day of running through survey logs for this sector of the universe, searching for any trace of Honerva and her robeasts.
But two Paladins, in the throes of new love, left alone in a quiet corner of the Earth’s most advanced battleship, were like powerful magnets, unable to resist each other’s pull. She’d gone from sitting primly at his side, sipping coffee, to sitting on his lap and exploring the different ways that one could kiss someone. They were both wearing their Voltron Garrison uniforms, and she was finding that sitting on someone’s lap while wearing boots was light years from comfortable. This, however, was a small sacrifice in the service of science. Pidge, always the consummate researcher, was taking the study of Lance’s mouth very seriously.
“Oh, no,” said a voice behind them. “Get a room, you two. Or go make out in a Lion.”
Pidge squeaked in surprise and her teeth banged against Lance’s. Turning, she found Hunk standing in the lounge’s doorway, a coffee mug in hand and a surprisingly sour expression on the usually cheerful Paladin’s broad face.
“If I’m not stumbling over you two going at it, I’m tripping over Keith and Shiro.” His boots thumped on the floor as he went to the coffee machine and poured himself a hot cup of java. “It’s like Paladin mating season around here.”
“Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed,” said Lance. “Go call Shay. That’ll make you less salty.”
Hunk’s face was structured for cheer and the gloom that lengthened his genial visage startled Pidge. Realizing she was still on Lance’s lap, not the best position to address a friend’s distress, she reseated herself on the couch beside him.
A little smile twitched her lips as Lance tugged at the bottom of his uniform’s shirt, covering his obvious arousal. A reminder that she needed to visit the Atlas’ infirmary for birth control. So far, they’d managed to restrain themselves from going that far, both hoping for a more romantic locale for their first time together, something other than a cramped bunk on the Atlas or a Lion’s cockpit.
Lance, ever the consummate romantic, had a plan. “My brother told me about a B&B in Matanzas, back home. The perfect romantic getaway.”
At the rate this war was going, she’d be eighty years old before it ended, though, so better to prepare in the event they lost control.
Lance’s arm looped around her shoulders and she snuggled against him, eyes on Hunk.
“What’s up, buddy?” asked Lance. “Trouble in paradise?”
“I just got off a vid-call with Shay,” Hunk said. “She says her grandmother is planning her…” Hunk reached to his head and fiddled with the ends of his yellowy-orange headband. “I can’t remember the word, but it’s a Balmeran coming-of-age ceremony. At the conclusion of this ceremony, she will be considered an official adult and able to be courted by eligible Balmeran males.”
“Well, there you go, pal,” said Lance. “That’s your opening. You can finally tell her how you feel and do some courting.”
Hunk’s face somehow lengthened even more. “Balmerans, guys. I’m not Balmeran.”
“That does present a problem,” agreed Pidge.
“No,” said Lance. “Love is love and you two are definitely into each other.”
Mouth set in a sad curve, Hunk stared at them with worry in his dark eyes. “But—”
“Nope,” Lance cut him off. “No ‘buts.’ Look at me. If I hadn’t made my move, it might have been James Griffin sitting here next to the prettiest girl genius in the universe.”
“Get out!” Pidge smacked him on the leg. “How come you never told me?”
“Right. Like I’m going to tell you the competition is into you.” He pointed at her face. “And you don’t have to seem so thrilled to know this.”
Feeling mischievous, she smirked. “Well, he is cute and an MFE pilot.”
“I’m a Paladin of Voltron!” Lance’s voice squeaked at a frequency that probably made dogs howl. “That’s better than an MFE pilot. Tell her, Hunk. Tell her that’s better.”
Hunk held out his hands, palms out. “I, uh, this is getting messy. I need to bake something. Cooking therapy.” With that he sidled quickly out of the lounge.
Aside from the clomp of Hunk’s boot-heels on the floor, no sounds of nearby interrupting people could be heard, so Pidge turned and climbed back into Lance’s lap, only to find him staring sullenly at anything but her.
“What?” she said, setting her hands on his shoulders and giving him a firm shake.
“You were into James Griffin?”
She swept her gaze up and down the contours of his angular face, taking in every familiar detail, every line that made up his face, calculating, and coming to a strange conclusion, though she might be wrong. Her calculations regarding the human equation often were.
“You’re jealous of James Griffin.”
“‘Well, he is cute and an MFE pilot.’” Lance quoted, his voice pitched to match hers.
Her view of him shrank in her narrowed eyes. “Years,” she said, giving him a shove with both her hands. “For years I’ve watched you flirt with every girl who entered your radius.”
His mouth quirked in a nervous combination of frown and smile. “That was different. They were nobody. I didn’t know or respect them.”
He shrank to a thin band of brown skin and blue eyes as her gaze narrowed with more irritation. “You flirted with Allura. Endlessly. You went on a date with Allura.”
“I, erm.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I did. That date, Allura shooting down any romance between her and me, was one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
“Oh?” Really? Now? After months of showing real interest in her, calling her beautiful, now he was going to admit she was just a rebound, a second choice? Her heart lurched with disappointment.
“If I hadn’t gone on that date, I might not have acknowledged how I felt about you. If I hadn’t gone on that date, Allura wouldn’t have told me you loved me and I wouldn’t have had the courage to take a chance with a girl so out of my league.”
“She said what?”
Lance’s extremely mobile face moved from sweetly melancholic to entirely too smug. “She said you love me. That’s why you bought Allura a dress. Bartered a rare video game for it.”
“That was an awesome game.” Pidge sighed.
He reached to her face and gave her nose a little tweak. “When this is over, when we’re back on Earth, I’m going to find you a copy and we’re going to play it. Maybe at the B&B that Luis suggested.”
“I think,” said Pidge, running her fingers along his jawline from pointy chin to his ears, “we’ll be doing a lot more than playing video games.” And she got back to her comprehensive study of his lips.
After the Long Night, the queens of Westeros took some long-deserved time off and checked-in at some spa retreat in Essos to talk politics, their fondness for giant animals, and why it’s important for men to know when, where and how to bend the knee.
As Time Goes By | Daenerys x Jon | Rating: E | Game of Thrones (TV)
After they’ve destroyed the Night King, Dany sets off to King's Landing but Jon refuses to come with her. Then, months later, they meet again at the end of the world, forced to face the fact that despite everything that happened between them, the love they feel for each other is still hard to overcome.
Hey guys, this is my entry for the #Jonerys Remix 2021. It’s a Post-Season 8 fix-it, a Casablanca Remix, a Dystopia AU, but most of all a love story and a way of showing that even if you fail sometimes, you can always get back on your feet and try again.
Thank’s a lot to @ashleyfanfic for organizing this! And @salty-wench @rainhalydia and @selkiewife for discussing jonerys endgame with me, even if it's not your usual cup of tea. ❤️
