"-Hrk!" Jon woke with a harsh intake of breath, lurching forward in his bed like his life depended on it. Taking a second to orient himself, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch scanned his position. The surroundings were foreign to him, yet all too familiar. They were… His childhood bedroom?

Jon hadn't been back to Winterfell in decades since he crossed north of the wall, but the district architecture was undeniable. Even if he wasn't in Winterfell- which the secret Targaryen was almost certain he was- this place Jon woke up in now was definitely south of the wall.

Testing his theory, Jon fell into his oldest known routine. The Lord Commander removed his fur blankets, stood up, and reached for his trunk without even looking for it. To his immense surprise, his hands met the painted wood exactly where he predicted, and not only that, but the clothes inside fit him to a tee.

And that was when he saw his body.

Those horrid scars that signified his first death… were gone. H- He didn't even know how to react to that! One truth became entirely clear, however.

Jon Snow was in the past.

"Oh gods… I'm in the past!" His own mouth reiterated the unbelievable conclusion his brain had come to.

The former Lord Commander only spared a few moments thinking on 'how' this came to be. The gods had always been cryptic- even in the face of death itself- so Jon expected no answer. Instead, the Bastard's mind went to a very controversial subject. The past.

Well, he supposed it was the 'future' now, but that was semantics. More specifically, Aegon Targaryen thought of the one person that haunted his dreams for the remainder of his life…

"Dany…" Once the name was out there, there was no taking it back. Jon immediately choked back a sob and fell onto the bed. "My Queen…!" Oh what a monster he was, the man who killed Daenerys Targaryen.

Being out in the wilderness beyond the wall for what ended up being the remainder of his life, Jon had no idea just how long he lived for. But with all that time to think, the Targaryen could safely say he regretted his decision.

Hindsight was always clearest, and the information he'd picked up during his time in jail showed him the true nature of the woman he loved. She had not 'gone mad' as many claimed, but rather, the Dragon Queen was a victim of conflicting goals.

Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen only ever wanted two things in her life, to free the people and to rule the Seven Kingdoms. Unfortunately, those ambitions did not come hand in hand.

From what Dany had told him, along with what little he could pick up from her former advisors, the Queen had lived a life of constant hardships. In her early years, she was practically treated like a slave by her own brother, Viserys, and that made her sympathetic to the plights of all the slaves in the world. From there, she built her power base in Essos as a liberator, using the support of the people as her main way to stay in power.

As Tyrion had noted, Daenerys slaughtered the Masters of Astapor, crucified the Masters of Meereen, and so on and so forth. The people loved her for it, and this only further resolved her Iron will. The Lannister has framed these achievements as a bad thing, but they truly weren't. The Slave Masters needed to die in order to free the people from their oppression. And while there was pushback on her methods, they were successful as far as Jon had known. Slavery never return to the notorious bay. And had the Queen simply stayed in Meereen, she would have surely been remembered as a great ruler in the history books.

But there laid the problem, her other ambition: the Iron Throne.

In Westeros, being a liberator meant nothing. Strictly speaking, there were no slaves in the Seven Kingdoms. The men and women of the realm didn't see themselves in need of a Savior, and Dany's cries for a 'new world' fell on deaf ears. There were no 'bad guys' to burn in Westeros- only the nobles and peasants- and so… She burned them all instead.

Daenerys didn't fall to the 'Targaryen Madness' when she burned King's Landing to the ground, rather her emotions got the better of her. She needed something to burn, and only one option was present. That didn't excuse her actions, but it did explain them. Slowly but surely, Westeros proved to be the bane of Daenerys Stormborn. A tragedy if ever there was one.

"But… What now?" Aegon Targaryen asked himself the ultimate question. If he was indeed in the past, what should he do? His immediate thought was to go where his love lived currently, Pentos, but more questions addled his movements.

Such as the big one: Could he even love Daenerys?

There was no doubt in Jon Snow's mind that he loved Daenerys Targaryen with his whole heart, but could he love her? Nobody seemed to bat an eye at their relationship because they were Targaryens, but she was his aunt! For any normal man, the conversation ended there. But Jon was no normal man, and the Dragon Queen was far from a normal woman. In this discussion, regular sensibilities wouldn't cut it.

Once again left without an answer, the Northern Bastard's mind moved to a similar- but just as complicated- question. Who did he help, and how?

Of course, he wished to find Daenerys and help her through her struggles, but what of his cousins? The Starks we're heading south soon and only death would await them. Should he warn them? Should he even tell anybody?

Jon Snow wanted to rescue Daenerys, but then she'd never get her dragons. Jon Snow wanted to protect Arya, but then she'd never become an assassin. Jon Snow wanted to catch Bran, but then he'd never turn into the Three Eyed Raven. All three of these people- along with so many others- played a pivotal role in defeating the army of the Dead. Which then brought up yet another problem.

The Night King.

Jon knew he could defeat the Night King, but that would mean going back to the Night's Watch, and the Targaryen wasn't sure he'd be able to handle those old faces. Those faces who gave him the scars that defined him for the rest of his life.

There was simply too much at stake here. The former Lord Commander wanted a better future for his friends and family, of course. But even the slightest change could possibly put the future down a path of eternal winter. In this moment, his first love's words came back to him.

"You know nothing, Jon Snow." He whispered, feeling a new sense of understanding come to his mind. There was no point on thinking of the 'could be,' not when the Northern Man was back, here and now. Since when had Jon ever been able to play the 'Game of Thrones?' No. There was no sense in trying to plan his future out, not with the sheer amount of variables he would end up facing.

Aegon Targaryen rose from his bed and put on his clothes. The Seven Kingdoms hadn't gained a master strategist in Tyrion Lannister, nor had they gained an excellent planner in Varys. The realm had gained a Warrior to defend them from the Long Night.

The World had Jon Snow.

Jon finally latched his belt and walked out his bedroom door, uncertain of the future but prepared for whatever it took.

In reaction to the final season of Game of Thrones, I wrote this one-shot. It's fairly all over the place, but I think that makes sense by the context of the story. I really just wanted to get my thoughts out there in the world and out of my head.

I've seen a few time travel plots popping up so far, but I feel that none of them really capture the character of Jon- Not at the fault of the writer, but rather because the circumstances of the time travel are not in a direct correlation with the end of the show. Really, I don't think Jon would have a clue how to proceed if he were to be sent back, which had the potential to lead to a number of interesting stories. I hope this inspired a few people to give the trope a shot.

Also, I've rewritten the first chapter of The Warrior Queens again, so check that out if you're interested.

Until next time,

-RMV