I do not own Game of Thrones!
"He moves like his father." Ned spun quickly from where he was watching Jon spar with one of his household guards to see Ser Barristan had not taken his eyes off the boy below. The old knight turned to look at him, and sensed his worry, "You've done a good job hiding him, I don't think I would have seen the signs had I not spent so much time with the man, training him, myself."
He could see the deep regret the man carried at not being able to be there to protect Jon's true father, and remembered the stories of how close the two were. "Cat and I are his mother and father, we may not have created him, but he is ours as much as any of our children." He firmly told the old knight.
"For his sake it is best the realm continue to believe that as well." Was the response he got, and he saw nothing but honesty and a desire to protect in the man's eyes. It was the he decided to take a leap of faith, and pray he'd not chosen wrong.
"He is not affected by the summer heat down here like the rest of the Northmen are." He said it more to himself than his companion, watching how Jon was exerting more energy, but sweating much less then all the rest of his men whether they were training or watching the sparing.
"His father wasn't affected by the heat either, said the heat was in his blood. He struggled with the cold though." Ser Barristan seemed lost in thought as he spoke, likely remembering happier times long ago.
"He takes after his other mother that way, handles the north much like the rest of us." Ned said, before realizing just what they were talking about, and who could be listening, so glanced around relaxing when he saw no one.
He tried to remember everything Cat told him about the vision she had when the children were very small. She would talk about it from time to time, talk about how it had felt to learn of his death and the death of their youngest children. How devastated she was to know that Sansa was alone in the hands of the Lannisters, and that Arya was missing. She told him of the agony she felt watching the bolts of the crossbows pierce their firstborn, and the pain of the blade slicing through her neck.
It was the fact that she felt everything so keenly that made him think that it wasn't just a vision, but an intervention from the gods, his old or her new mattered not to him, and that she was sent back to stop everything from happening. He felt the best way to do so was to save Robert so that the Lannisters would never have a chance to take the throne. After all, Robert himself promised he would send Cerci and her bastards away once a true-born son is born, and Robert would find someone to help raise the child and prepare him to rule.
It had been a month since he'd come to the capital, and he prayed everyday for news that queen was with child, but still nothing had come. It had him wondering if he made the right decision leaving Winterfell.
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"You know father would not be happy to know we were here." Sansa told her siblings as they entered the Dragon Pits, their wolves running ahead into the open expanse.
"It's not like you're going to tell him, Lady loves running here as much as Nymeria and Ghost." Arya sniped back at their sister, and Jon just rolled his eyes.
"Of course she's not going to tell him, we've been bringing them here since shortly after they had arrived in the capital, it was the only place in the city large enough for the three wolf pups could actually stretch their legs and run to their hearts content.
"He's doing it again Jon!" Sansa called, exasperated, and Jon turned to see Ghost had returned to the same spot to dig, much as he had done for a few weeks now. "Oh Jon, you must stop him, we'll never be able to explain how he got so dirty." Not wanting to deal with a hysterical Sansa he started over toward the hole Ghost had climbed down into and was only making deeper.
He wondered what could possibly have the wolf's attention so thoroughly, that he would go to the same spot everyday and dig as if his life depended it. The hole itself was now taller than the wolf who was the size of a small horse. "Ghost, Enough!" He called when he could see his wolf over the top of the hole, but the wolf just looked at him and went back to digging, it was the first time the wolf had ever disregarded him.
He was about to jump in the hole and entice Ghost out of it when a bit of white caught his eye. Slowly he climbed into the hole with his wolf, helping him dig, ignoring his sisters' calls. "Is that...?" Arya's voice finally penetrated his brain.
"It's a dragon egg." He answered as he lifted the white stone egg out of the ground marveling at the pale blue iridescent swirls and how cold it was to the touch. It was large, almost the size of a child's head, though it was much lighter than what he thought to be a fossilized dragon egg would be.
He handed the egg up up Arya, before returning his attention to Ghost, expecting him have stopped digging, only to find him digging around what appeared to be a second egg the same size as the first, though this one a dark blue, the color of the midnight sky, and silver ripples. The egg itself was almost burning to the touch.
He almost yelled out in shock when Sansa grabbed the egg from him, and was confused when she showed no signs of discomfort. "It seems like these are what Ghost was so intent on finding." Sansa said, and Jon noticed his wolf had run off.
"I wonder if they will hatch!" He was reminded then and there of just how young Arya was as he saw the childish delight on her face. "I bet these came from Balerion himself." Arya said excitedly.
"Don't be stupid, they are stone, there is no way they can be hatched." Sansa glared at her sister, as if it angered her to see her act so childishly. "Besides, no one knows how to hatch dragon eggs, the only people who were ever successful were the Targaryens, and I don't see and of them around, do you?" She lifted the egg closer to her face to look at it more clearly, her eyes growing wide, "Jon? Are you hurt? There is blood on the egg."
It was almost as if the mention of the blood on the egg brought the pain into existence, and gasping he looked down to see a deep gash in the palm of his hand. "We need to get back and have a Maester look at that." Sansa said, the look on her face told him not to argue.
"First we need to try and burn the eggs." He didn't know why he felt compelled to do so, only that the compulsion was strong, so strong he felt like he would be driven mad if he didn't.
"Are you crazy? Do you even know how much Dragon Eggs are worth, imagine how much more they would be worth if it was known they came from the actual Targaryen Dragons!" Sansa looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.
"No! They belong here with their ancestors. If we just burry them again someone else could come along and dig them up and sell them off. If we burn them then they will forever remain here, where they belong." He was adamant, the idea of anyone else having the eggs troubled him greatly, and he figured that is where the desire to burn them came from.
"Burning them is such a waste, I for one will have no part in this. You're a fool if you don't keep them, you don't have to sell them, just keep them for yourself." Sansa shoved the egg back at him then stormed off, calling for Lady to follow her.
"She's right you know, it's a waste to burn them." Arya said as she handed the white egg back to him. He winced when the weight of the egg rested in his cut hand. She too left him alone, and he set to work finding any wood he could, building a large pyre around the eggs.
He looked up when another set of hands joined in the building of the pyre, and he gave a grateful smile to Arya, his look turning confused when he saw Sansa reenter the pit. "You found them, they are your eggs, and if you want to burn them then so be it."
They worked together in silence, collecting dried brush and wood from outside the dragon pit and bringing it back in to make a large funeral pyre. He knew the flames were going to have to be extra hot to destroy the eggs, so he made the pyre much bigger than it likely needed to be.
They had just lit it when a couple of soldiers wearing Lannister red cloaks walked into the pit, "Well, well, well what do we have here? If it isn't the children of the great Lord Eddard Stark." They could hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Lord Tywin would reward us handsomely were we to punish you for the part your family played in embarrassing his family."
The men had obviously not taken the three direwolves into account when the pulled their blades, as evident by the look of fear on their faces. Jon grabbed his sister's hands, pulling them away behind him even as he unsheathed his own sword. "Quick, run to Father, I'll try to hold him off." He could see Arya wanted to argue so he turned to Sansa, "Quick, take her and go."
He could see two of the wolves break from Ghost to follow their mistresses as Sansa ran pulling Arya with her, and was glad to know they would be there to protect his sisters should one of the men try to follow them. Seeing Ghost lunge forward out if the corner of his eye brought his mind back to the present just in time to dodge a blow from one of the men's swords.
He slipped easily into battle mode, but it seemed to be no use, the man a seasoned fighter, and he a 15 year old boy who had just started thinking himself a man. Still he fought on, knowing if he failed these men would go after his sisters.
He didn't know how long he fought, but he realized he lost the moment he felt the flames of the fire tickling his back. He lost his focus just for a second when he heard his father call his name, but the man's voice was still far away, and Jon knew he would never make it in time.
It was that one moment of distraction that would be his downfall in the end as his sword was knocked from his hand, and he saw the evil glint in his opponent's eyes. He looked at the entrance of the Pits, and made eye contact with his father, reading the desperate look on the man's face. Just then the soldier lunged for him ready to push him into the fire, obviously thinking a fiery death would be worse then a quick death by the sword, a look of fear taking over his face as Jon latched onto him and brought him into the flames with him.
His father's desperate cries of his name were drowned out by an ear shattering crack...