All You Need Is Guts Chapter 3 (ASOIAF x Berserk) (Patreon)

Guts-Baelon, it was so hard to make the distinction about who he was even in his own mind, could admit to not being in the right state of mind to fight but when was he ever? At least this time he wouldn’t be leaving anyone behind ‘or killing them’ a treacherous part of his mind said, opening again the memories of his greatest mistake.

Guts and he could think of himself as Guts right now, had always been a broken man who yearned for love, not in the romantic sense, perhaps what he wanted could be better said to be companionship it was a true irony that the way to get it was by dying and being born again. His heart pulsed in his chest at the reminder of his lost mother and the anger that was left made his blood boil.

Baelon had everything Guts wanted, a family who loved him unconditionally, friends, and a place to call home. It was perfect, even when life was hard, and he would have liked it to last forever, reality, however, reminded him of the cruelty of fate.

His mother had great hopes for him, she had wanted him to be a knight and because of that she never sold her body even if it would have been easier than going to the volcano to gather dragon scales that fetched quite the prize. In according to her wishes he had trained himself every day just like when he was Guts, but that was a lie for he had never recreated Dragonslayer nor trained with anything resembling it ‘and it cost you everything’ the voice, his voice taunted him.

Guts didn’t know why he was thinking about all of this just as he jumped towards the new dragon that approached the castle, he didn’t have a reason to fight the beast, the other one he had killed was in honor of his mother and to take back what was most dear to her. With his own version of his old sword making a downward stab to the dragon’s snout, he heard a man roaring an answer to the dragon’s challenge and it wasn’t until his throat hurt that Baelon realized that he was the one screaming.

The blade pierced the armored scales that would turn away ballista bolts by sheer force of will helped by gravity and the anger of a mourning man, like the young dragon he fought before the great beast thrashed and shook its head to dislodge him, and when that proved fruitless it charged the castle wall intent on squeezing Guts between a wall of flesh and a real wall.

“Stupid Lizard” Guts muttered as the dragon once more pushed his head against one of the castle towers, he took out the sword and fell to the battlements while the dragon’s head was struck by the falling rocks of the castle.

Guts looked to the sides for anything that would help him in his fight but as he did Guts saw his face being reflected by his sword, the prominent streak of white hair looked nothing like the one he had before it was taunting him, Guts called it white but it was closer to platinum, a cruel reflection given that the features of his face were softer like those of Griffith.

Guts’ mind went back to the moment of his death and the end of his journey for revenge, Griffith had shown himself to be the child and he wanted Casca and Guts…Guts wouldn’t let Griffith take her even if he had to kill them both.

‘And that is what you did, I thought you would stop yourself, but your anger surpassed any love you had for Casca. You cut us both in half’ Griffith’s voice taunted him ‘and then you gave your body to the ocean’ Guts knew it wasn’t him, that his guilt was playing a cruel trick on him, but his heart didn’t care, and the words made the waning anger in Guts’ heart flare again.

The dragon’s head was still buried beneath the stone but it would be long before it was free and Guts would use that time wisely, dodging the swinging tail of the beast Guts reached its legs and swung dragonslayer into it. The hardened scales stopped the first swing but Guts didn’t stop at one. Two, three, four… the blows kept coming, and even as his arms grew heavy, even as the flesh of the dragon refused to give ground Guts kept swinging his sword.

The single-mindedness of his actions would have spelled his doom, Guts’ life in exchange for one of the dragon’s legs, luckily for him, there was still someone that cared enough to act. When the Cannibal freed its head and prepared to roast him Viserys Targaryen intervened.

“Baelon!” the king’s shout was heard throughout the battlements. The gasps of the kingsguard and the hand of the king at the sight of Viserys running towards his son were not even a distraction for the distraught king.

Viserys was past his prime, his health was failing him ever since he first sat on the Iron Throne, every day the king found a new cut on his body and it never healed properly, one of his hands lacked two fingers and one of his legs didn’t move as it used to, but he didn’t care. Viserys would rather die with his son than cower while he was burnt to death by a dragon.

The king used all the strength left in his body to tackle his son out of the way of the incoming inferno, the stone of the castle bubbled, and smoke rose from the parts that started to cool once the dragon stopped, the beast sniffed the air to locate its prey but there was no need for it as Guts ran towards the face of the dragon.

“Baelon! Stop! we need to go inside the castle, forget about Cannibal” the king cried out in a desperate attempt to reason with his son.

“I don’t care!” Guts wanted to fight, not because he hated dragons or because of a need to etch his name in history, Guts simply felt better while fighting his mind dint dwell on anything other than his opponent, and the pain he felt rooted Guts in the now.

“Son, I know you’re in pain but don’t waste the life your mother gave you!” it was the only thing Viserys thought would work, it was low, to use Baelon’s dead mother like this but Viserys would endure his son’s hate as long as he was alive to hate him.

A heartbeat passed, then another, as both Baelon and Cannibal remained facing each other, the dragon’s leg bled profusely as did his snout at the same time it looked as if Baelon couldn’t move anymore, his legs trembled as did his arms, the wounds on his body from his previous fight had taken their toll.

Guts knew that Viserys was telling the truth all his life Vaelerya had done her best to give him a better life and to throw it away was the same as spitting in the sacrifices she made for him.

It was time to let Guts rest and let Baelon live his life.

There would always be a part of him that would carry the scars and struggles of his past life but if he ever wanted to move forward then Baelon had to leave the past behind.

Baelon lifted dragonslayer and Cannibal opened its mouth, already fire was forming in the back of its throat, but Baelon moved first with a roar he smashed the sword into the stone and left it there, the dragon stopped the fire, and with a roar of its own took to the air.

“It left?” Otto Hightower would like to think that the seven were merciful but he had never heard of a dragon leaving after such a challenge, Otto looked around at the destruction it wrought and paled. If the dragon had been commanded by a rider it could have stayed in the air and burnt the whole castle to the ground.

The princess had a dragon, a small dragon by all accounts but it would grow, and should his grandchildren fail to tame one or hatch one then any attempt to take the throne would end in fire.

“Son!” Viserys ran towards Baelon and even if his son didn’t like it, he was going to hug him. Viserys was a man with many regrets, he knew that many times he had done the wrong things, and said the wrong things, what man in his position wouldn’t, for all that his grandfather was revered as a wise king there was proof that he had erred too, with his children most of all. Perhaps Viserys couldn’t be a great king but he could be a great father.

Baelon felt as if he was about to faint but through sheer force of will stayed up, the sound of Viserys’s feet alerted him to his coming but the anger he had felt so keenly before had been doused, his mother had loved the king once; before their different standings separated them, Baelon had no interest in the king’s position or his wealth but he would like to know the man that his mother loved until her dying day.

Baelon turned around and saw the king stumble toward him, the aging man hugged him, and a part of him relished in the knowledge that in this life the man that was his father loved him unconditionally and loved him enough to risk being burned by a dragon.

“I think… I would like to see your home” Baelon said while putting his arm around his father.

With a barking laugh Viserys dragged his son to the still standing door “You will be happy there, I will make sure of it. Tell me something Baelon, was… was she happy?” the king’s voice broke at the end barely managing to make out the word.

“Life was hard, as it always is but my mother smiled every day and I did my best to make her laugh…” Baelon paused as he seemingly considered something.

“She told me that it was the way you made her happy that made her fall in love with you” with a crooked grin on his face Baelon continued, “She told me to work on my sense of humor if I ever wanted to get a woman of my own”

The king laughed again but this time it was something more, Otto had never heard the king laughing this happily, not since the birth of Rhaenrya it was at this moment that he knew that if he didn’t get rid of the bastard or get him on his side then all of his ambitions would turn to dust. The man didn’t look all that smart to Otto, strong certainly and very dangerous and if he could turn him into one of his pieces in the game then all the better, Otto was sure that they had a cousin or some such that they could use to entice him. With his plans made the hand of the king moved towards the pair.

“My king, I think it’s best if we leave Dragonstone, after making sure the repairs get started. I think it would also be prudent to have a dragonridder here and since your brother has already been told to come here then it would be best if we left Daemon in defense of the island, the Cannibal could return but the threat of Caraxes would dissuade him to approach the castle or the town”

The king considered what his hand said but in the end shook his head “Caraxes is not as big as the Cannibal and I would rather not risk my brother’s life, besides I don’t think that the Cannibal will be a problem anymore” as he said the last words he looked at Baelon.

Otto didn’t want to consider what the king was saying, it was madness! “You… you mean that…” Otto feebly raised his hand as he pointed at the king’s bastard.

“Yes. I believe the Cannibal will have his first rider, perhaps you will give him a new name?” Viserys said as he looked at his son who snorted at the words.

“I don’t think I want to keep him” Baelon muttered between gritted teeth.

“The Cannibal chose you my son and dragons are rarely denied what they want” Viserys had a wry smile as he heard that Baelon didn’t want the Cannibal, the dragon’s reputation was not the best and many things could be said of a man who could tame a beast that ate its own species. Viserys would have to make sure that any who spoke such words would lack a tongue by the end of the day.

“Then let this be one of the rare exceptions”

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Rhaenrya

New usually took some time before reaching King’s Landing even from a place as close as Dragonstone, luckily this time a ship was leaving when they noticed the figure of a dragon colliding against the castle it still took time but the moment Rhaenrya heard the news any anger she had at her father disappeared and all she could think about was that the last time they saw each other she ignored his attempts at talking with her.

Guilt was a new feeling for her, regardless of it Rhaenrya knew what she had to do, Dragonstone was waiting, and her father could be dead or dying, Alicent could take care of the city for a few days or however many days Rhaenrya spent at Dragonstone it wouldn’t help her position at court and if the king died she was sure that no one would crown a baby.

Syrax was pushed to her limits by Rhaenrya, her dragon was barely able to maintain herself in the air but she reached the castle of Dragonstone in record time, dread pooled in her belly as she saw that one of the towers had collapsed and the walls and battlements on one side were a melted mess.

Rhaenrya landed and left Syrax by herself, Rhanerya trusted the dragon to behave and Syrax was probably to tired to do anything but rest so the princess figured that is was ok, her footsteps echoed along the empty halls of the castle and it wasn’t until she saw a servant that she relaxed.

“You! Where is my father? Where is the king?” the serving girl looked rather frightened of the princess and Rhanerya realized that perhaps she was being to aggressive but she wouldn’t apologize to a servant “Well”

“T-the king is in th-e throne room, with the princes” Rhaenrya would have slapped the girl for calling her father’s bastard a prince but her anger was mollified by the thought of her uncle whom she hadn’t seen since his banishment.

The princess heard laughter as she approached the room and the voice of her uncle came from behind the door “If you hadn’t become king you would have looked just like him brother…perhaps not as tall”

“You laugh Daemon but I’m still stronger than you and I can still tan your hide if you displease me again” her father didn’t sound like he was dying and that removed a lot of the princess’s anxiety.

“Better that than exile” it was perhaps the wrong moment to enter but she didn’t want her father to send her uncle away again before Rhaenrya got to see him.

“Father!” Rhaenrya ran towards the king ignoring her uncle and the bastard “You’re alright”

“Rhaenrya” her father returned the hug “I had just sent word of what happened in Dragonstone, I had also written for you to come here a family reunion is what my heart needs”

It gave some pleasure to Rhaenrya that neither Alicent nor her children were included in the family reunion, she would also prefer if it was just her father and uncle but she couldn’t have everything just yet.

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Author note: hello the first part of the chapter is an experiment on writing without a set pov, i don't know how i feel about it but i hope you like it