Starting this off with a HUGE, HUGE thank you to @foxflowering for beta reading this and giving me the best feedback ever, I said, thankfully.
This piece is going to be a monster. It's really long.
I found myself very frustrated with both Wyll's storytelling falling apart very quickly in the game AND Astarion's romance line requiring you to sleep with him in Act 1. So, I thought to myself, what would this story look like if Wyll got the attention he deserved, and Astarion had to fumble his way through this story with a FRIEND that turned into a lover, somewhere down the line? And lo, after a few months of work, this was born!
This story is ultimately about Wyll. And Astarion is there too, I guess.
Fic summary:
Wyll Ravengard lost himself in the Blade of Frontiers on a daily basis — there was no time for regret, no time to wonder how things might have been different when he was committing himself to the safety of others. There was no time to mourn his selfhood when he was busy being a hero. Wyll was thankful for this distraction, welcome to it.
Wyll Ravengard was not a religious man, preferring the affairs of the mortal over the divine, but in the silent stillness of the lonely night, Wyll supposed his self-sacrifice was another form of devotion.
Chapter 1 summary:
The agony of the Hells was fresh in Wyll’s mind.
His memory seared with the pain and torment of flames against his skin, the weight of horns curling out from his temples and searing exhaustion into the muscles of his neck, grinding pressure into the bones of his spine, driving migraines into his skull. Whenever he tried to close his eyes to the harsh changes the last few days of his life had thrust upon him, flames, parasites, Avernus, Mizora painted the insides of his eyelids.
Becoming a devil was not a pleasant experience, by any means.
In which various things about Astarion come to light. Enjoy -- I know folks have been waiting for this one for a while.
Fandom: Baldur's Gate (Video Games)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Astarion/Wyll
Characters: Astarion, Wyll, Ulder Ravengard, Cazador Szarr, Dalyria, Petras, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Intrigue, Trauma, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Ulder Ravengard's A+ Parenting, both these boys need hugs, but I'm going to be mean to them first, Unsolicited Fatherly Courtesan Procurement
Summary: Ulder Ravengard wants Wyll to enjoy more of the pleasures of youth, and Cazador Szarr has a solution: an enticing present for the young lord's birthday, in the form of an irresistible pale elf. To Astarion's surprise, Wyll is more interested in companionship than carnal pleasure. Their budding friendship sends ripples through the Gate's elite. But as that friendship begins to blossom into something more, the Grand Duke is called away to Elturel...