Author's note: Well, this one took a while longer. I had a hard time deciding how I wanted Ygritte to react to Sansa's arrival. I've kinda kept it more toward them being good friends. That's the way I see it would work out. This chapter didn't really have as many changes as I'd have liked. Just like S6 EP6, some episodes have to be filler. :/ But next chapter will. And I'm pretty sure the next chapter will come out in 1 week or less. Now I'm pretty sure it goes without saying by now, so I'll mention it one last time: I'm never giving up on this story unless I say I will. If I don't post anything within two or three weeks, My computer may have broken or something.
Anyway, enough writing in this thing. Enjoy chapter 7.
Jon
Alliser Thorne was found dead in his cell before he could give his sentence. No one knew who did it, however he had a pretty good idea who it was. As he sat in silence, he heard a knock on the door and Edd saying "It's time."
He looked at his old uniform, it was covered in blood and holes. He stood up and put it on a table, then grabbed his sword and tied the scabbard around him. He walked outside to see plenty of free folk and Night's Watchmen all gathered around looking at the traitors. He had sentenced them to death, and by the way of the old gods, he had to swing the sword. He walked to the platform they were at. They were stood up on a platform held by barrels and chains. There was a rope he would cut so when it was time he would cut it, and force them to be hanged.
Once he approached them he said "If you have any last words, now's the time."
Janos Slynt wept "Please, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, don't kill me."
He paused and said "It's not my forgiveness you should be asking for, it's the god's."
Janos continued crying, and he moved on to the next person. Bowen Marsh said "You shouldn't be alive... it's not right."
"Neither was killing me." He told him.
He moved on to the next man and Othell Yarwyck said "My mother's still living in White Harbor, could you write her? Tell her 'I died fighting the Wildlings.'"
He considered his request, and moved down to Olly, the last one. He thought for a moment... it would be hard to even look at him now, let alone kill him. He slowly moved his head up to him. Olly just stared at him with an angry look. He frowned, and turned to the rope, and drew his sword. He stared at the rope unable to move for a moment, he'd never executed someone in such a way. Especially a boy. He then thought back to how they all stabbed him, with only Janos showing remorse because he was a coward. He then lifted the sword and cut the rope. The barrels got jerked back from the platform holding them up, and they all dropped.
He sheathed his sword once they had stopped breathing, and knew he would have to live it down. He went over to Edd and took off his cloak and gave it to him.
"What do you want me to do with this?" Edd asked.
"Wear it. Burn it. It doesn't matter... you have Castle Black."
Edd's face turned to some disbelief, and shock. Jon walked down the stairs and said "My watch is ended."
He continued walking back to his room, to prepare to leave.
He changed his outfit back to the Stark's uniform. The same kind he wore when he first arrived at Castle Black. He packed a map, and a little bit of food in a satchel. He also got a quiver for Ygritte to carry, since they might need to hunt some food along the way.
Edd asked "where are you gonna go?"
"To Oldtown, with Sam and Gilly. I'll take Ygritte with me."
"What're you gonna do?"
"Get warm?" He said with a light smile. Edd however, looked quite serious.
Edd set Longclaw on the table and said "I was with you at Hardhome. We saw what's out there, how can you leave us now?"
He paused a moment and said "I did everything I could y-"
"You swore a vow!" Edd told him.
"Aye, I pledged my life to the Night's Watch, I gave my life!"
"For all the nights to come!" Edd added.
"They killed me Edd, my own brothers, you want me to stay here after that!?"
The horn at the front gate got blown, and Ygritte came in saying "Someone's at the gate..."
He looked at Edd, and they all went out together. When they got out there, there was a very tall woman who looked like a knight, a young man who looked like a squire, and a girl with red hair. He looked at the strange visitors, until the one with red hair turned around and looked up at him. Sansa He thought.
Ygritte noticed the way he was looking at her, and obviously realized they knew each other. They all walked down the stairs and they stood back as he approached her. They stared at each other for a moment, unable to move. Then she ran into his arms, and they hugged so hard he could barely breathe. He thought he might have to cancel his trip with Sam.
Sansa
It felt nice to finally be indoors with warmth, and her brother again. He had changed so much since she last saw him. She noticed the Wildlings inside the castle, which was quite a surprise. But none of them attacked her, which wasn't their usual behavior.
She took a sip of the soup he'd made and asked "So... what've you done while you were here? I noticed Wildlings inside the courtyard."
He said "I was chosen lord commander of the Night's Watch. On my order... me, Edd, Tormund, Duncan, Ygritte and plenty of others all went to Hardhome to bring them down south. Half the men all hated me for it."
"Well, why did you do it?"
He sighed and said "Sansa... The free folk aren't all that's up there... so are the dead."
She wondered what he meant by that, and asked "The dead?"
"Do you remember those stories Old Nan used to tell us? The ones about the ice spiders, and grumpkins?"
She nodded and said "But those were just stories."
"Aye. The ice spiders and snarks were... but the others... the dead coming back to life"
"You mean the White Walkers?" She asked skeptical.
He paused and then said "When we were at Hardhome, there were skeletons raised from the ground that came back to kill us all. When we got as many free folk on boats as we could, the night king... he raised his arms and all the dead stood up."
He seemed honest in his voice, and he had no reason to lie about it. "Okay. I'll try to follow you here, but that still doesn't explain why you brought the Wildlings- or free folk, whichever you're calling them now, behind the Wall."
"It does. If I left them at Hardhome with the White Walkers, they'd have been turned into more of them. And that's where the real war is, between the living and the dead. And the free folk can help us when the real war begins."
She had doubts before, but now it explained a lot. "I suppose that breaks the vows the Night's Watch has. So I guess that makes you all free men considering."
"Aye... I was about to leave just a little while before you got here."
"Oh? Where were you going to go?"
"I was going to go to Oldtown, with Sam... but I'm not leaving now that you're here."
She smiled and asked "Right... so where will we go?"
"Well, I cant stay here, not after what happened. And Castle Black isn't a very good place for you to stay the rest of your life."
She thought about Winterfell, and said "There's only one place we can go... home."
He tilted his head and asked "What? Should we tell the Boltons to pack up and leave?"
"We'll take it back from them." She stood up from her seat.
Jon moved back in his seat and said "I don't have an army."
"How many Wildlings did you save?" She asked him.
"They didn't come here to serve me." He said weakly.
"They owe you their lives. You think they'll be safe here if Roose Bolton remains Warden of the North?"
"Sansa..." He tried to say.
"Winterfell is our home. It's ours. And Arya's, and Bran's, and Rickon's wherever they are, it belongs to our family. We have to fight for it." She said persistent.
"I'm tired of fighting!" He then got up from his seat and turned to her.
"It's all I've done since I left home. I've killed men of the Night's Watch, I've killed free folk, I've killed men I admire, I hanged a boy... younger than Bran. I fought... and I lost."
She stepped closer to him and said "If we don't take back the north, we'll never be safe. I want you to help me, but I'll do it myself if I have to."
He stepped back from her and looked at a table, then said "Of course I'm not gonna make you do it by yourself. But every time I keep fighting, and killing... it makes me lose part of myself. You haven't seen your friends die one by one when the free folk attacked Castle Black. I wanted to go to Oldtown and live peacefully."
She told him "I'm not saying we have to go tearing down every tower that ever harmed our family... but Winterfell is our home. The north will rally with us if we ask. I want you to help me, just this once. And then we can live at our home."
He paused for a moment and said "Alright... but when the time comes... I'm not ready for it now, not after what's happened."
"I can understand that."
He turned back to face her and said "C'mon, it's almost supper time, and I've still got some people to introduce you to."
She followed him, and they went to the mess hall. It was beginning to get pretty crowded. Podrick seemed to be getting quite comfortable, but Brienne seemed very suspicious. She didn't feel worried though. If anything were to take place, Jon would protect her, she was confident in that.
Jon brought her to a man of the Night's Watch and said "Edd, this is my sister, Sansa."
He stuck his hand out for a handshake and said "I was wondering why you were looking at her so strangely. For a minute there I thought Ygritte might be jealous of some past lover who came to see you. You do have a thing for girls with red hair."
She shook his hand and asked "Ygritte?"
Edd said "Oh, you haven't met her yet? She's his... uh... whatever you wanna call it."
"Thank you, Edd." He said with some hostility, and embarrassment in his tone. Edd laughed seeing the way he reacted.
She laughed as well and said "I think I'd like to meet this girl."
"Alright, I'll go find her." He said with a slight blush he tried to hide, and moved through the people looking for her.
"Anyone else I should meet?"
Edd turned his head and shouted "Sam, come over here!"
Sam walked up to them and said "What is it Edd?"
"This is Sansa, Jon's sister."
Sam smiled and said "How do you do, my lady?"
"I'm good, thank you."
"Jon's told me all about you. You seem like a fine person."
Soon, he came back with a Wildling, with red hair and said "Sansa, this is Ygritte."
"It's nice to finally meet you, he never told me he had a sister." Ygritte said.
"Oh really?" She looked to him with a fake angry stare.
"It never really came up." He explained.
The cook shouted from the cooking fire "Lunch is ready! One at a time or I'll have to force feed you all!"
Edd asked "What's cooked up today, Hobb!?"
"Venison!"
It seemed everyone was pleased with Venison. She hadn't eaten in a while, so just about anything sounded good at this point. They all sat down at some dinner tables. Brienne and Podrick also came over and sat down across from her. Edd came back with some Venison for everyone, and things seemed quite peaceful. As she was eating, a Wildling with a beard came over and sat down near Brienne. He began eating and looking at her with a strange stare, almost like he was hinting at something. She held back a laugh and continued eating as if she didn't notice.
Ygritte whispered to her "I think Tormund's 'n love"
They quietly laughed together. Soon, a Night's Watchman came in and said to Jon "A letter for you, lord commander."
He replied "I'm not lord commander anymore." But he took the letter anyway.
He opened it and looked at everyone. They looked at him curiously.
He read aloud "To the traitor and bastard, Jon Snow. You have allowed thousands of Wildlings past the wall. You have betrayed your own kind, you have betrayed the north. Winterfell is mine, bastard, come and see. Your brother Rickon is in my dungeon..."
She looked at him surprised. She had never seen Rickon when she was there, so it worried her more now. Ygritte looked quite concerned too.
He continued reading "His dire wolf's skin is on my floor, come and see. I want my bride back. Send her to me, bastard, and I will not trouble you and your Wildling lovers. Keep her from me, and I will slaughter every Wildling, man, woman, and babe living under your protection. You will watch as I skin them living, you-"
"Go on." She told him.
"It's just more of the same." He said, and began rolling up the letter, but she moved over and grabbed the letter from him.
She read aloud "You will watch as my soldiers take turns raping your sister, you will watch as my dogs devour your wild little brother, then I will spoon your eyes out from their sockets and let my dogs do the rest, come and see. Ramsay Bolton, lord of Winterfell, and Warden of the North." She put the letter down.
"Lord of Winterfell, and Warden of the North?" Jon said.
"His father's dead. He killed him, and now he has Rickon."
"We don't know that."
"Yes we do." She said.
"How many men does he have in his army?" Tormund asked.
She thought back and said "I heard him say five thousand once when he was talking about Stannis and his attack."
Jon turned to Tormund and asked "How many do you have?"
"That can march and fight? Two thousand. The rest are children and old people."
He lowered his head in worry.
"You're the last son of the true warden of the north, the other houses will fight for you if you ask."
He stayed silent thinking, and she grabbed his hand and said "A monster has taken our home, and our brother. We have to go back to Winterfell and save them both."
Ygritte looked to him and said "You know I'd do anything to help you, just say so."
He paused, and nodded in silence. But still looked very concerned as to how he would fight them.
Jon
He watched Sam get on the cart with Gilly. It was sad watching him go, this may be the last time they ever see each other again. Sam looked back at him and waved, and he waved back. They rode out of Castle Black, and it left him saddened. But perhaps it was for the best, he wouldn't fare well fighting against Ramsay Bolton. He went inside and looked at Davos, he had set up a map on the table, and layed down marked stones for the houses. He sighed looking over it.
"I imagine the White Walkers won't wait for us to finish our war..." He placed a few stones beyond the Wall.
"We can't defend the north from the White Walkers, and the south from the Boltons. If we want to survive, we need to take Winterfell, and to take Winterfell, we need more men." He threw one of the stones across the table.
Davos looked over it and said "Aside from the Starks, and the Boltons, the most powerful houses in the north. Are the Karstarks, the Umbers, and the Manderlys'. The Umbers, and the Karstarks have already declared for the Boltons, so were not doing so well there." He moved the stones to join with the Bolton's stones.
"The Umbers gave Rickon to our enemies, they can hang. But the Karstarks declared for Ramsay without knowing they had another choice."
"Uh, I beg your pardon, my lady, but they know that a Stark beheaded their father. I don't think we can count on them either." Davos told her.
"How well do you know the north, Ser Davos?" Sansa asked.
"A precious little, my lady." He replied.
"My father said northerners are different. More loyal, more suspicious of outsiders." She told him.
"They may well be loyal. But how many rose up against the Boltons when they betrayed your family?"
Sansa went silent and Davos said "I may not know the north, but I know men. They're more or less the same in any corner of the world, and even the bravest of them don't want to see their wives and children skinned for a lost cause. If Jon's gonna convince them to fight beside him, he needs to convince them it's a fight they can win."
He got an idea and said "There are more than three other houses in the north. Glover, Mormont, Cerwyn, Mason, Hornwood, two dozen more. Together they equal all the others. We can start small, and build."
"The north remembers." Sansa said. "They remember the Stark name, they'll risk everything for it from White Harbor to Ramsay's own door."
"I don't doubt it. But Jon doesn't have the Stark name." Davos said.
"No, but I do." Sansa said. "Jon is every bit Ned Stark's son as Ramsay is Roose Bolton's. And there's also the Tullys', they're not northern, but they'll back us against the Boltons without question."
"I didn't know the Tullys' still had an army." Davos mentioned.
"My uncle, the Blackfish has reformed it and retaken Riverrun."
He looked to her and asked "How'd you know that?"
"Ramsay recieved a raven before I escaped Winterfell." She told him.
"That's good. The Blackfish is a legend, his support will mean a great deal. Stark, Tully, a few more houses, and this will start to look like a winning side."
"I'll talk to Brienne about getting the Blackfish here." She got up and Brienne got up too, following her.
He left the planning room and went to the lord commander's room to prepare. Ygritte entered and he looked back at her.
"I came to help you prepare." She said.
"Thanks..."
She came over and packed some food into a satchel. As she packed, she asked "Are you feelin' alright? That letter cant've been good."
He was worried. Ramsay Bolton outnumbered them, and crushed Stannis's army. "He is the bastard son of Roose Bolton, who killed my brother. And he killed Stannis Baratheon's entire army, and he outnumbers us by three thousand."
She sighed and said "Aye, he's a fuckin' prick from what I've heard. But were going to kill them and take Winterfell back. Remember how you told me you might show it to me one day?"
"That was before I knew the Boltons took it..."
"So what? From what I've been told, that was your home. You need to take it back, and you need to take it back now. Especially for your brother Rickon."
He sighed and said "I know... I just don't know if I'm ready."
"I'll help you. All of us will."
She put the last bit of food in, and closed the satchel shut. She walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek, and then walked out. He sighed and grabbed the satchel, then put a cloak on. He went outside and saw people ready to leave. Melisandre and Davos were ready on horses, and Ygritte was getting on one. He came down to Sansa and saw she had a Stark dress on her, and a new cloak.
"New dress." He mentioned.
"I made it myself, do you like it?"
"Yes, it..." It started to bring him back memories of when he was on the boat with Ygritte and nearly laughed. He finished his sentence saying "I like the wolf bit."
"Good, because I made this for you." She handed him a cloak.
He took it and looked over it. It had a dire wolf on one of the straps, and looked pretty good to him.
"I made it like the one father used to wear... as close as I can remember."
"Thank you, Sansa."
He hung up the old cloak nearby and put the new one on. Edd came over and looked at him.
"Don't knock it down while I'm gone." He said jokingly about the wall.
"I'll do m' best."
They hugged each other and he said "Good luck."
He nodded and went over to climb on his horse. Sansa got on hers, and the gates to Castle Black opened. He took the lead and rode his horse out first. Everyone followed him, and he kept his confidence high. Even if he was still worried deep down, he made sure not to show it.
