All characters belong to GRRM unless stated otherwise. The events follow scraps of events from the book/TV show as well as my own imagination.
The Wall was weeping. He looked at it and sighed.
He recalled Old Nan's stories and how scary he and his brother found them. Half-brother, he reminded himself.
The Wall had been his home for some time now and yet it didn't feel like it. He had lost and gained so much there. The memories came back to him as if it was yesterday when his Uncle Benjen first took him to the Wall. He remembered Father's hesitation when he asked to take the Black. He remembered Arya's laughter and Bran and Rickon playing. He could even see Theon following at Robb's footsteps and Lady Catelyn always scolding at him.
And it all had gone downhill when they got notice that the late king Robert and his court were on the Kingsroad on their way to Winterfell. Lord Eddard had seemed excited then. He loved King Robert like a brother and they had won together Robert's throne. Robert had been betrothed to Father's sister Lyanna who had later been kidnapped by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Jon had been sired during Robert's rebellion when Lord Eddard had turned his back on his honor.
Jon had never known his mother. His father never spoke of her. He loved Lady Catelyn and his trueborn children and he loved Jon but whenever Jon had asked of his mother he never got the answers. Only promises. Always promises.
Being on the Wall gave him a sense of newfound family. True, he missed his half-siblings, he missed the safety that Winterfell provided but he had turned his back on the boy that he was and took the vows to become the Man he was born to be.
His time on the Wall had changed him. He had lost a dear mentor in the face of the Lord Commander, he had lost many brothers, but he had also found what love meant – in Ygritte's eyes and warm embrace. He had found a brother and friend for life in Samwell Tarly, and for as long as he had Ghost by his side he was never truly alone. And still, when the eternal darkness of death had found him he was alone. The last thing he'd heard was Ghost's howls in the cold night. I am sorry, he remembered thinking.
And then the Lady Melisandre had brought him back. And Stannis had lost against the Boltons. And somehow his sister Sansa had found her way to the Wall.
It was promising to be a cold day. He knew it would snow and he wanted to pack his things and leave. He did not know where to go or what to do but he was certain that His watch had ended. He had lived and died for the realm. Now it was time to live truly in that second chance that Melisandre or her Red God had given him.
"Where will you go?" Ser Davos had asked.
"South or to Essos. I don't know."
"You are Lord Commander." Melisandre added. There was no love between the Red Priestess and the Onion Knight but they had agreed to follow Jon Snow even to the ends of the world.
"I was Lord Commander and I died serving the Realm. Now I am simply Jon Snow. The bastard of the late Lord Eddard Stark." Jon said and then heard a commotion in the yard. He got up and with Melisandre and Davos following him closely behind he walked out to see a lady with bright auburn hair… someone he thought he'd never see again in a million years.
"Sansa?" he mumbled under his breath, startled. The lady saw him and started running towards him and before he knew it, he was holding his sister tight like he'd never had before. His past with Sansa had been rocky to say the least but so much had happened to the both of them that none of the past quarrels mattered anymore.
Jon instructed Ser Davos and Melisandre to take care of the Lady Brienne and asked for meat and mead to be brought to his room where he himself lit a fire. Sansa looked cold and tired but happy to see him.
"Tell me everything." He said giving her a cup of ale. The Black Brothers were not known for their ale but Sansa looked like she needed a drink.
"I wish we never left Winterfell..." Sansa started. She told her tale of sadness and torture and Jon listened carefully. Sansa admitted to him that she had lied to protect Joffrey and how that lead to Arya banishing Nymeria and Lady's death. Jon noticed that Ghost had moved from his side to Sansa's almost to comfort her. They hadn't known of Lady's death but Jon was sure that Ghost understood Sansa's words. She then told the tale of the happy first months after they had gotten to King's Landing and how everyone seemed so noble and valiant to her. With each passing sentence her expression changed more and more as she shared the story of the King's death, Father's imprisonment, Lady Catelyn capturing the Imp and everything else that had happened in Sansa's time. Some hours passed until she was finally done and she looked as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"Bran lives and is beyond the Wall and he told my friend Samwell that Rickon is in Lord Umber's hands." Jon decided to break some good news to Sansa. Well, he didn't like that his brother was Beyond the Wall but as far as he knew, both of his little brothers were alive. Sansa sat quiet for a while and then spoke.
"You let Bran go Beyond the Wall?" she shrieked in a manner that reminded him a lot of Lady Catelyn.
"I have not seen Bran since we left Winterfell. I have not seen Rickon either."
"You mean to tell me that you are Lord Commander and yet our crippled brother managed to sneak away under your nose?" Sansa gasped. Jon didn't know whether to laugh or not because silly quarrels (although, Bran and Rickon's safety were nothing but a serious matter) reminded him of when they were children, safe and sound behind Winterfell's walls.
"I never knew he was here, yes. My friend told me before I sent him off to the Citadel to become Maester." Jon admitted. He had been furious with Sam's choice to listen to Bran and not report to Jon the request to be let beyond the Wall.
"So, Theon was telling the truth." Sansa sighed. Jon knew from her tale the horrors that their father's ward had endured and despite everything he had done Jon agreed that no one should suffer that fate.
"He was. Sam told me that Bran told him that Rickon is with a wildling woman named Osha and Shaggydog in the Last Hearth. He should be safe there." Sansa sighed again. She had thought her younger brothers dead just like Robb, Mother and Father. "What of Arya then?" he dreaded the fact that no one knew anything of his little sister. His favorite sister.
"She has not been seen since the day Father was taken. The Lannisters killed her Dance master Syrio Forell on the day we were meant to go on a ship back to Winterfell." Sansa shivered at the memory.
"Arya had a dancing master?" Jon tilted his head. He knew that this was very out of character for Arya.
"He taught her how to sword-fight it seems. That's what the Lannisters told me, at least." That made Jon laugh.
"I gave her a sword. The day when we were leaving Winterfell. We named it Needle because of how much she hated working with needles." Stick 'em with the pointy end. He remembered telling her.
"We should take back Winterfell. We could get Rickon from Lord Umber and you can send rangers to find Bran beyond the Wall and Ramsay will run away like a pup with his tail between his legs."
"We cannot tell anyone that Bran and Rickon are alive." Jon interrupted her. "It is for their own good. Bran will come back sooner or later from Beyond the Wall. He might even find Uncle Benjen. And Rickon is a child. They are both safe as long as Summer and Shaggydog are with them but we should not strip the protection of death from them. Winterfell now belongs to the Boltons."
"The Boltons are monsters and Ramsay killed his father. Winterfell does not belong to monsters. It belongs to the Starks and even without Arya and Bran and Rickon we can take it. I am Lord Eddard's trueborn daughter and you are his son…"Sansa started passionately and Jon could see the spark in her eyes.
"I am Lord Eddard's bastard son." Jon interrupted once more.
"Bastard or not, you have more claim to Winterfell than Ramsay does." Sansa gritted her teeth. "We can raise banners and get an army and win back our seat. It belongs to us. Our family is there." Jon thought of the crypts where his father and their entire family lay. A shiver went through him as he remembered that dream of walking through the crypts. He nodded.
"We call the banners."
And so they did. They had Ser Davos and the Lady Melisandre, the loyalty of House Mormont with its Lady Lyanna and her sixty-two swords, as well as few other houses that were still loyal to the House Stark. The wildlings too had agreed to fight for their cause. Word got to them that Rickon was given to Ramsay and was now hostage in Winterfell and that made Jon's blood boil.
"We have to get Rickon back." He said during the final war council before the battle.
"We won't get him back." He couldn't believe what he was hearing from Sansa's own mouth. She had wanted to go and declare that Lord Eddard's youngest son was alive and now she was saying that they'd never get their brother back. "He is a threat to Ramsay and Ramsay will kill him sooner rather than later."
To everyone's sadness, Sansa had been right. Rickon had made the mistake of falling for Ramsay's games and before Jon could get to him he had fallen from an arrow that had pierced his heart. When they won Winterfell Jon ordered for Rickon to be buried beside their Lord Father and Sansa's direwolf Lady and Sansa took the matter of dealing with Ramsay into her own hands.
Jon went to the cold crypts. He felt the eyes of the Kings of the North following him until he got to his Father's resting place and sat opposite him. For the first time in forever he felt like a boy once more. He yearned to hear words of comfort from Eddard's mouth yet all there was in the crypt was silence and coldness. Winter is coming. He reminded himself once more. He felt the eyes of his uncle Brandon and his aunt Lyanna also on him as he was walking out of the crypts and that made him shudder.
Little did he know but Bran was on his way home.
A month and a half or so after Sansa had told him that winter was finally here did Bran finally come through the gates of Winterfell. Jon had gotten word from his brothers on the Wall that rangers had found Meera and Bran in the woods nearest to the Wall and they had requested safe passage back south. Jon had immediately sent for a guard to make sure that Bran finally made it home safe with his friend.
Ghost howled when Bran stepped through the gate. Summer was nowhere to be seen and neither was the old stable boy that they were told had helped Bran and Rickon escape.
Sansa and Jon were both waiting in the yard because one of the guards had ridden forward to announce Bran and Meera's arrivals. Sansa had ordered that the beds were made for Bran in his old chambers and she had ordered one of the guest chambers be ready for Meera. The girl had kept their brother alive and they owed her everything.
Sansa and Jon rushed to Bran's side and hugged him tight. Neither of them had not seen him awake since that they he had fallen from the Tower and neither of them had seen him since they'd left Winterfell. Sansa started crying and held onto him tight because Bran looked grown and more like Lord Eddard just like Sansa had grown to resemble Lady Catelyn.
"Thank you." Jon turned to Meera who smiled shyly back at him. "You kept him safe and brought him back to us. We owe you so much."Meera bowed and was then accompanied by one of their servants to a room where a warm bed and bath, mead and meat were waiting for her.
"Where is Summer, Bran?" Sansa asked as Jon carried Bran to his room. Bran's smile fell.
"Summer and Hodor saved us when the White Walkers found us." Bran didn't know whether he should tell the Story of the Three-Eyed Raven to his brother and sister. "Look, I need some rest and then we can talk, please." He did not remember the last time when he had slept in a bed, let alone in a warm place. "Where is Rickon? Is he still at the Umbers?" Bran inquired remembering the difficulty with which he had forced his youngest brother to stay on this side of the Wall. He caught the glimpse that Sansa and Jon shared and that was all he needed to know. "Leave me." He whispered and turned on his side. Jon and Sansa obeyed his wishes and let him sleep until nightfall.
Sansa had taken care of Meera and gotten as much out of her as she could but it seemed that Meera had promised Bran not to share any information without Bran's approval.
Bran on the other hand hadn't really slept but thought once more of the vision he had had in the weirwood beyond the Wall. He had seen his Aunt, the Lady Lyanna in a bed of blood, with Lord Eddard by her side. Promise me. Lyanna's voice echoed in Bran's head. He knew he had to tell Jon. He knew that Lord Eddard would have wanted that but it was too late for him to tell it now. Jon had to know of his true identity. But was Sansa trustworthy?
Bran called for a servant to gather Jon and Sansa and when they both came, Jon had requested the servants to pardon them infront of Meera and then serve meat and mead in Bran's chamber so they could speak privately. The talk that was about to be had was not meant for everyone's ears.
The sanest thing to be done was to listen to their stories first. Bran knew that. He did not want to trace back his steps to when they had been Hodor, Jojen, Meera and Rickon and Osha with Summer and Shaggydog. It hurt too much. So instead, he listened carefully what his brother and sister had to tell him. Sansa went first and Bran felt sad that his childhood dream of becoming a knight didn't really happen but then again his mission of being the raven was much more important than any swordplay. It angered him that they did not know what had happened with Arya and he noted to look for her in his visions. He tried not to react when he found how Sansa had sold away Lady and Father and Mother and Robb to the Lannisters but then they were all children. It was different now and when she told him how the Knights of the Vale had helped them win back Wintefell he felt grateful that this dreadful story had ended that way.
Bran knew little of Jon's tale but he paid just as much attention to it as he had paid to Sansa's. His was equally as painful and it left a dry feeling in his mouth as Jon was closing in on the end of that tale. Bran knew that he'd have to show Jon the vision and he had a hunch of how to do it but he didn't know whether he should show Sansa too.
"I have to show you something." Bran said finally. "It will frighten you but before I show you I must explain to you that I am the Three-eyed raven and I do not know how long I am meant to stay on this side of the Wall for but I know I have to help you in the War that is to come." Bran looked at Jon who had paled. He reached out and made a gesture for Jon to sit closer to Bran. "Sansa, my pardons but this is only for Jon's eyes." Sansa did not quite understand but nodded and stepped away. Jon looked at Bran hesitantly and grabbed his hand which triggered Bran's vision all over again.
Jon looked around. They were in the desert and it was smoldering heat. In front of him stood young Lord Eddard and his bannermen and opposite of them, guarding a Tower were three knights dressed in white. The knights were wearing white cloaks and white armor with the three-headed Targaryen dragon on their breastplate. Kingsguard. Jon realized. As the scene of fighting unfolded before his eyes Jon studied every participant and the surroundings. Where are we? As if Bran had heard his thoughts, he led Jon to follow after Lord Eddard up the stairs when Howland Reed was left to guard.
They climbed up the stairs and walked into a room that smelled of roses and blood – like raw iron and earth. A woman was laying on the bed in the room and she was covered in blood. Jon wanted to go and help her but he couldn't move. Bran was holding him back. The woman called out for Lord Eddard and he sat by her side. This is Lady Lyanna. Jon realized. Lord Eddard had rarely talked of her yet he had ordered for her to be buried next to her father and brother. Jon knew that she had been kidnapped by the Prince of Dragonstone and that Robert Baratheon had started a war to win her back. Still, she died and Robert had been forced to marry Cersei Lannister.
The woman was crying and she seemed feverish. He looked around and saw a harp sat in the corner of the room and two servants looking after something. Lyanna wept. I want to be brave like a wolf, Ned. She told Lord Eddard. Jon did not understand why he had been brought here. Promise me you will protect him. She went on. If Robert finds out about him he will hunt him down and kill him. You have to protect him, Ned. Promise me. One of the servant girls brought something small wrapped in blankets to Father. Lord Eddard looked down and saw a newborn boy with Lyanna's eyes.
Bran finally let go of Jon and Jon stepped forward. Lyanna's breaths were shallower now and Jon felt as if his heart was shrinking with every breath taken. He looked down on the babe that Lord Eddard was holding and saw eyes that looked like his own. Lyanna is my mother. Jon looked at her and suddenly he wanted to scream. He moved away from Eddard and the babe and sat next to Lyanna in the bed. He wanted to hold her or help her in any way that he could, to ease her pain but also to feel her touch and know that his mother loved him. He held her hand, knowing that she could not feel him yet it brought him comfort to know that his mother was not alone in her final moments. She loved me. Jon swallowed his tears. She died bringing me life. Jon dared not look at Bran. But when he held Lyanna's hand, her memories slipped into his mind and he was suddenly in the Throne Room in the Red Keep and the Prince of Dragonstone was by his father's throne. Lyanna had not thought much of him then. Then the tourney at Harrenhal happened and when the Silver Prince had placed the winter roses in her lap, Jon felt her happiness. A secret meeting in the weirwood in Winterfell. The journey to Dorne. The news of her pregnancy. Their secret marriage. The songs that the Silver Prince sang. Watching him leave. Hearing the news of her father and brother's death. Dreaming that Rhaegar would return to her and seeing his three friends down by the Tower. Her heart breaking at the news of her love's death. Jon felt the love that Lyanna bore for Rhaegar and Jon. She had loved them both with everything that she had.
It was not enough. He wanted to save her yet he was helpless.
Bran had pulled him away and Jon found tears falling from his eyes.
"She was my mother." He said breathlessly. "And Rhaegar was my father." It felt odd to say it out loud yet the truth fit and he finally felt whole. There was no longer a mystery of heritage and he felt eternally grateful for everything that Lord Eddard had done for him.
"We are cousins, you and I, your grace." Bran smiled humbly. He wondered if he'd done Jon a service by revealing the truth but he was certain that in that last night of his father's when both Bran and Rickon had dreamt of seeing him the crypts, Eddard had tried to tell Bran the truth. Now Father can rest in peace. Bran thought.
"Do not grace me, please." Jon wiped away his tears. "You are the Lord of Winterfell. Not I."
"I may be Lord of Winterfell, but you are the true Lord of the Seven Kingdoms." Bran said. He could not imagine sitting in Father's or Robb's seat. It would be too much. There was another role that he had to play for now. A much more important one.
"You say no such thing. They married, I saw them yet I don't bear the name Targaryen. I am a Snow." Jon smiled shyly. "They sired me and Lord Eddard did everything to protect me. When the time is right, we might reveal the truth but for now, only you and I shall keep this secret. Too many bad ears are in this castle and I wish for Littlefinger to be gone." Bran agreed. He'd known who Littlefinger was – his grandfather, Hoster Tully's ward and he'd grown up with Ladies Catelyn and Lysa but he did not trust him one bit especially after all that Sansa had confined in him.
"Are you going to tell Sansa?" Jon considered it but he had still not forgiven her for not confiding that the Knights of the Vale were on their way. Had he known, maybe Rickon would have been alive.
"No. When the time is right, I will but not for now." He looked down at his hands.
"Tell me about Rickon." Bran pleaded.
"The Umbers gave him over to Ramsay, when the battle was about to start he let Rickon go and told him to run as fast as he could, but Rickon ran in a straight line and before I could reach him, Ramsay shot an arrow through his heart." Jon glanced at Bran who had paled. The two youngest brothers had always been close and Jon realized that Bran blamed himself just as much for Rickon's death.
"He is with Mother and Father now. This is what matters." Bran looked down.
"Ghost will stay with you tonight. I will go down to the crypts." Jon did not want even Ghost there because he felt the need to be alone with his mother and uncle. He was not a bastard. He was a prince, a dragon one and that, and his mother had been a noble lady who had died bringing him into this world.
"Ghost must stay by your side." Bran said and met Jon's look which was unyielding.
"Ghost, you stay here with Bran. I will be here in the morning." Jon petted the wolf's eyes and took the seat where once his brother had laid. Jon walked out of the room and met the quietness of the castle. He walked down to the crypt with a torch in his hand, and for the first time he was not afraid. He passed by all the kings and queens that he had been told of by Maester Luwin and Old Nan and remembered all their stories. But the story of the Lady Lyanna and her undying love for the Dragon Prince was the one that mattered to him most. Jon took his seat before the statue of his lady mother and reached out to hold the stone hand. Tears streamed down his cheeks once more. I am sorry. He whispered. He knew that the Kings of the north were watching him but he did not care. I am sorry I never knew you. I am sorry I did not avenge you. He apologized over and over again, anger washing over him in tides as he remembered the day when King Robert had arrived in Winterfell and his demands to come to the crypts and visit Lyanna. He recalled the drunken boasts of how he had killed Prince Rhaegar on the Trident and how his betrothed had died. I wish I had been that boar that tore out his guts. Jon knew nothing of his father but the tales that the Prince had been noble and valiant, and he had also felt Lyanna's love for him.
His gaze shifted to Lord Eddard's crypt. Thank you, Father for keeping me safe and keeping your promise to her. Thank you for giving me a home and raising me as one of your own no matter how costly it was to you. I will honor your killers the same way I should have honored my fathers'. Jon promised.
A/N: Thank you for reading! Please leave comments and tell me what you think of this chapter. I will try and update as often as I can! Lots of love x