Promise Me is an AU fic of A Song of Ice and Fire. After discovering Cersei's infidelity, Robert Baratheon seeks a new bride.....and settles on Arya Stark. From there things get worse. Jon Snow helps Arya escape and flees to Essos, where they meet Young Griff and Jon Connington. Meanwhile Sansa is forced to see the uglier side of Kings Landing.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy: Robert comes off worse in this story. According to the author, finding out about Cersei, losing Jon Arryn, and later Arya's presumed death takes a toll on him.
- Ambiguously Gay: Meryn Trant implies that the only reason that Robert wants Arya is because she "looks like a boy" and suggests that he and Renly aren't so different.
- Arranged Marriage: Robb and Alys Karstark, Sansa and Willas Tyrell.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: It's not until Prince Doran's death that Arianne resolves her differences with her brother Quentyn.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Bran befriends Harrold Hardyng in his time on the Vale. Harry tries to get Bran to loosen up and bed a whore which he refuses, and Bran finds him too arrogant for his liking.
- Jerkass: Robert Baratheon.
- Knighting: Bran is eventually knighted by Ser Brynden and Jon is knighted off-screen by Harry Strickland.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Not in a romantic way, but the sentiment is there: Arya wants Jon and Anne (Arianne Martell) together, because she feels that Jon has sacrificed too much for her sake and wants to see him happy with someone, even if it means losing him and ultimately being alone.
- Love Epiphany: Arianne seems to be experiencing one about Jon Snow but ignoring it deliberately to ensure Aegon's imminent arrival in Westeros.
- Like a Son to Me: Ashara views Jon and Arya as the children she could have had with Ned but shows more of a maternal side toward Jon.
- The One That Got Away: It's implied that Ashara Dayne (who's posing as Septa Lemore) feels this way about Ned Stark.
- Parting-Words Regret: More like Parting Thoughts Regret, but the sentiment is still there. The day that Arya leaves Westeros with Jon, Sansa believes that she'd be better off with a pack of wolves than an actual family. She comes to regret this and their antagonistic relationship when she realizes what kind of person Robert is.
- Oh, Crap!: Harry keeps mocking Bran for getting distracted by his correspondences with Meera Reed and insinuations that he's fallen in love with her. Bran realizes later that he's right.
- Secret-Keeper: Robb and Bran are the only ones who know that Arya is in the Free Cities with Jon.
- Shipper on Deck: Arya wants Jon to be with Arianne, who's travelling with them as a cousin to Young Griff (Aegon VI) as Anne of Tyrosh.
- The Squire: Bran becomes this to his great-uncle Ser Brynden as he is fostered at the Eyrie. Jon becomes one to Homeless Harry Strickland when he joins the Golden Company.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!!: Instead of going to the Night's Watch, Jon helps spirit Arya away from King Robert to prevent her suffering a miserable life as his queen.
- Skinny Dipping: Arianne does this at the river Rhoyne for the sole purpose of Jon Snow stumbling in on her.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Jon Connington tries to deny that Jon Snow has similar features to Rhaegar Targaryen, from his facial features to his martial prowess. Ashara comments that he moves much like Rhaegar: precise, graceful and deathly quick.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Margaery marries Robert in this story and bares him three children.
- Unequal Pairing: Even though they begin a relationship, Jon notes that an Essosi nobleman would not accept his relationship with Anne (Arianne Martell).
- The Vamp: Arianne decides to seduce Jon to get him away from Arya, who Griff (Jon Connington) intends to make her Young Griff's (Aegon's) Queen. Begins to backfire as she develops feeling for him.
- Wandering the Earth: Daenerys is happily roaming the Dothraki Sea with her husband and son, not wanting the Iron Throne or to go back to Westeros.
- When He Smiles: Arianne comments that Jon has a very sweet smile, given that he doesn't smile a lot or so easily.
