The wind ripped through the tall grass as our small party made out way to the field where Lord Stannis had agreed to meet us. Renly had stayed behind; something about not wanting to be the first to arrive at the meeting. Lady Stark had fought the urge to roll her eyes and took the lead.

I rode ahead, Dust keeping up a nice trot as the wind buffeted us. Behind me, a little ways back, was Lady Catelyn along with our Northern escort of Ser Wendel Manderly and Hallis Mollen, a guard all the way from Winterfell. I glanced over my shoulder again and saw that the three of them were signalling for me to stop where I was. I nodded once and halted Dust, turning forward to wait for Stannis and Renly to finally decide to show up.

I stood with Dust for a moment before Lady Catelyn and the other two to join me. Lady Catelyn stopped her horse right beside me and Hallis took my other side. Ser Wendel took Lady Catelyn's other side.

"They're both late," Hallis said, stating the obvious. I nodded in agreement anyway, scanning the treeline for any sign of my uncle. I could sense Lady Catelyn's growing frustration. She wanted to go to Riverrun to be with her ailing father, she wanted to go be with young Bran and Rickon.

I couldn't help but relate; Winterfell was home. I wanted nothing more than to be back there. I wanted to play with Rickon again, to pick Bran up and carry him around while he was still small enough to. I wanted to feel Violet underneath me again, to smell her sweet scent in her hair and between her legs. I opened my eyes, not realizing that I had closed them.

"There!" Ser Wendel cried out. I followed his gaze and saw a small group of people riding towards us. I blinked and studied them.

I didn't recognize him, but there was no mistaking the Baratheon looks. The broad shouldered man leading the way to us had coal black hair, already receding. As he got closer, I saw that his eyes exactly matched mine, Robert's. Stannis Baratheon's jaw was more square than Robert's or Renly's, and the crown on top of his head gleamed gold with rubies embedded into them. The banner he rode underneath was gold with a flaming heart resting there. A black stag was in the middle of the burning heart. I looked down to the other people in the party and my eyes were instantly drawn to the woman riding by Stannis's side.

She was incredibly pale with impossibly red hair spilling down her back like a river of blood. Her billowing robes were as red as her hair, as red as the giant ruby resting against her throat. Her eyes were the only thing about her that weren't red. They were ice blue-almost impossibly ice blue. I swallowed hard and looked to Lady Catelyn, who was seeing the red priestess the same as me.

Stannis halted right in front of us. He looked to Lady Catelyn. "Lady Stark," He said, his voice sounding like gravel. "My condolences for your lord husband."

"Thank you, my lord." Lady Catelyn replied curtly.

"I'll accept your thanks when I bring you Cersei's head." Lord Stannis said, not sounding like he was very into it. I exhaled softly; men sure did love to promise revenge. Lady Catelyn blinked and said nothing. She didn't have to; at that moment Renly Baratheon was galloping up from behind us, bringing with him the most people with him.

I recognized Brienne of Tarth, Lord Randyll Tarly, Ser Loras Tyrell, a red apple of Fossoway and a green apple from Fossoway. King Renly was wearing his own crown and his bright green armor. He drove his steed to a halt and beamed to his older brother.

"Stannis!" He said, sounding delighted. "How nice to see you come and bend the knee to your king!"

Stannis ground his teeth together. "I believe you're mistaken. The Iron Throne is mine, Renly. By right. Anyone who denies it is a traitor to the crown."

"Everyone denies it," Renly countered. "Old men deny it in their deathbeds and unborn children deny it in their mother's wombs. No one wants you as their king."

Lady Catelyn had had enough of this. "Stop it, the both of you. If I was your mother, I'd bang your heads together and remind you that you're brothers."

"You can't mean to side with him, Lady Stark." Stannis said with steel in his voice. "Your own lord husband vouched for me to take the crown. He understood it was my birthright to take as the older brother, seeing as the yellow haired brats are not of Robert's seed."

"Robert had no birthright to the throne when he took it." Renly said, cutting off anything Lady Catelyn was going to say. "I have the strength of the Stormlands and Reach behind me. By the looks of it, Stannis, you barely have that." Renly was grinning cockily at his older brother. "I propose you dismount, bend your knee, and swear me allegiance."

"That you shall never have." Stannis snarled, his eyes growing darker.

"You served Robert," Renly pointed out with a shrug. "Why not me?"

"Robert was my elder brother; you are the younger."

"Younger, bolder, far more comely…" Renly counted these on his fingers. I exchanged a look with Lady Catelyn. Her blue eyes were worried looking. Renly looked back to the Southern lords and knights behind him. "Once again, Stannis, look to the strength of the South behind me."

"You really think a few bolts of cloth make you king?" Stannis's teeth were about to break.

"Tyrell swords will make me king." Renly started. "Rowan and Tarly and Caron will make me king, with axe and mace and warhammer. Tarth arrows and Penrose lances, Fossoway, Cuy, Mullendore, Estermont, Selmy, Hightower, Oakheart, Crane, Caswell, Blackbar, Morrigen, Beesbury, Shermer, Dunn, Footly...even House Florent, your own wife's brothers and uncles, they will make me king. All the chivalry of the South rides with me, and that is the least of my power. I don't care how much of a seasoned warrior you think you are, Stannis, that host of sellswords and onion knights and codfish lords won't survive the first charge of my vanguard."

I tightened my jaw and wanted nothing more than to leave this conversation. It didn't seem that these two were going to agree on supporting the other. Lady Catelyn must've been getting the same feeling because she looked between them and sighed.

"Lord Stannis," Lady Catelyn started. "I understand-"

"King Stannis," Stannis cut her off and corrected her with a flash in his eyes. "You say you understand, Lady Stark, yet you've clearly sided with my baby brother on this matter."

Lady Catelyn opened her mouth to object but Renly once again ran over her words. "You're whining and complaining more than a little girl sent to bed without dessert. Are you a king or a child?"

Stannis's jaw tightened so much I thought his teeth were going to shatter. "If it's a war you want, little brother, it's a war you'll get." With that said and before anyone could say anything else, he wheeled his horse around and charged off, the bannermen who accompanied him hurrying after him.

"Look to your sins, Lord Renly." The red priestess said. "For the night is dark and full of terrors." With that ominous note said, she turned her horse around and galloped off, following after Stannis.

Renly scowled after his brother and galloped hard away, his bannermen pushing their horses to keep up with him. Soon it was just myself, Lady Stark, Ser Wendel and Hal.

Lady Catelyn looked even more tired than before. "We tried," She sighed. "No one can say we didn't try."

"What do we do now, Lady Stark?" Hal asked.

"I must go pray," Lady Catelyn replied. "With King Renly's leave, we'll be on our way to Riverrun at dawn tomorrow." She turned her horse around and started back towards camp, Ser Wendel and Hal keeping close behind her.

I gave the treeline where Stannis had disappeared one last look before following after Lady Catelyn. Hopefully Renly would give us leave, hopefully he kept his word about legitimizing me after the war. Hopefully we made it to Riverrun without running into any harm.

We were riding on a lot of hope here.

The camp was readying itself for a battle by the time we got back. Lady Catelyn kept to her word and disappeared into the makeshift sept to pray to her gods. Hal and Ser Wendel went off and began to get our supplies ready to leave at dawn. I found myself at a loss at what to do with myself. This war between brothers wasn't my fight; they might be my kin, but Stannis and Renly going at each other's throats wasn't any fight I was involved in. Stannis hadn't even looked at me the entire meeting.

I sat outside of the sept the entire time Lady Catelyn prayed and when she came out, she looked at me for a long moment before asking, "Have you heard anything from King Renly?"

I shook my head. "No one's said anything to me, my lady. Ser Wendel and Hallis are getting everything ready."

Lady Catelyn nodded once. "Right. I will go speak to the king. We might be able to leave tonight if he lets us go now."

The sun was already setting as Lady Catelyn and I went to King Renly's tent. Before we entered, however, Lady Catelyn stopped and looked at me. "Wait here, Helaena."

I had to agree with her as she went inside of the tent and I sighed a bit once she was gone. This part of the camp were mostly highborn followers of Renly. I spotted a harsh looking man underneath the huntsman of Tarly and I had to assume that that was Randyll Tarly. He and his men didn't bother looking at me, and I was so focused on watching them move by that I didn't notice the queen enter the area.

"Oh, Helaena!" Queen Margaery's voice called out to me and I looked over to see the beautiful queen waving me over. I swallowed hard and approached her, focusing on not tripping over myself. When I was close enough, I curtsied at her and Queen Margaery smiled. "How did the discussion with Lord Stannis go? I haven't been able to speak with my husband about it yet."

I blinked for a moment. "I'm afraid to say that there will be a battle tomorrow, your Grace. The conversation did not go as planned." How much should I say to her? Queen Margaery blinked her big blue eyes and nodded sadly.

"Walk with me, sweet girl." She said, holding her arm out to me.

Instantly I felt my heart leap into my throat and I wasn't able to speak as I nodded. Queen Margaery lifted her arm slightly and I stiffly linked my arm with hers. The moment I felt her bare flesh on my arm, I stifled a shiver and Queen Margaery didn't help by putting her other hand on my wrist. Queen Margaery then set the pace as we started walking away from the tent, her Tyrell guards following us several paces behind us.

"I should have suspected that Lord Stannis wouldn't want to side with my husband." Queen Margaery lamented. "Lord Stannis is the elder brother; it's probably a massive blow to his pride for him to bend the knee to his little brother."

I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. "You believe that King Renly would be better suited for the throne?"

Queen Margaery flashed me her smile. "My husband is warm and the people love him. Lord Stannis is an excellent general yes, but good warriors do not necessarily make good leaders. That's something my septa used to teach me from our history lessons."

I thought immediately of King Robert. My father had been an amazing warrior that the people had once rallied behind, but once he won the throne he had drank more and let himself go. I nodded along with Queen Margaery's words. "I believe that. Your septa was very intelligent."

Queen Margaery flashed me a bright smile and I felt my heart thump even harder. I felt my jaw tighten without planning and I broke off the eye contact quickly, something that caught the queen's attention. "Do I make you nervous, Helaena?"

A million thoughts zoomed through my head and I swallowed before saying, "No, your Grace. You just remind me of someone I know back home." That was it, I agreed with my lie. Violet and this queen were similar in hair color and body shape, their curves were similar.

Queen Margaery nodded at that and looked thoughtful. "We all have people back home that we miss. Someone you loved, I assume?"

How the fuck did she know? I glanced nervously at her and the queen's eyes widened and she stopped our walk and removed herself from me so that she could stand right in front of me. Her blue eyes were sympathetic and she looked kind.

"Do not worry, Helaena." Queen Margaery said, her voice volume dropping so that there was no real danger of anyone overhearing. "I don't mind it. People don't get to choose who they love."

I was tempted to deny it and insist that I was I did not love a woman back home. Instead my mind began to panic and I blinked rapidly and thought about where Lady Catelyn could be waiting for me back at our tent. It was already getting dark.

"May I take my leave, your Grace?" I asked, forcing my emotion out of my voice. "Lady Catelyn must be waiting for me by now."

The look Queen Margaery gave me was a sad one, but she nodded anyway. "If you wish, Helaena. I'll be sure to see you before you and Lady Stark take your leave."

Gods, I hoped not. I curtsied again and started back towards the tent that Lady Catelyn had been staying at. She must have gone back there already. But when I got to her tent, Lady Catelyn's tent was empty and dark as if no one had been here for a few hours. I frowned and looked into my own tent. I hadn't been here since before the meeting with Stannis and Renly.

Where was Lady Catelyn?

There was a sudden shout from closer to the center of camp and I saw several torches heading towards the center. That was where King Renly's tent was. I was on my way back towards that tent when I heard the cry ring up.

"The king is dead!"

"King Renly is dead!"

"Find the Tarth bitch!"

My blood went cold and I turned on my heel and started towards the horses. Lady Catelyn had been in that tent with the king. Was she dead? Had Brienne of Tarth killed them both? Why would she do that? Surely if Lady Catelyn's body was in the tent still, someone would shout about it. How was I going to tell King Robb that his mother died because I got distracted by a queen with pretty blue eyes?

I got to the stables and found that Lady Catelyn's horse was gone. As was Ser Wendel's and Hal's. I let out a breath of relief; they should all be together. I quickly got Dust ready and started to lead him away, knowing that Lady Catelyn and the others must have left already. Something must've happened in that tent that drove Lady Catelyn away.

The camp had turned into chaos as people hurried around trying to find Brienne of Tarth. I kept moving and made sure to keep away from everyone else. When I finally made it to the edge of the camp, I mounted Dust and started to get away at a fast trot.

"Hey!" A voice shouted from behind me. "Bastard!"

"Run, Dust!" I hissed, driving my heels into Dust's side and causing the horse into a gallop.

"Bastard! Halt!"

I felt the arrow fly into my shoulder and let out a scream of pain. I'd have to deal with it later, and I drove Dust into the faster gallop. With tears from the pain stinging my eyes, I steered Dust towards the north and made him run as fast as he could, trying to put as much distance between myself and the host as possible.

A/N: This chapter is like two years late, sorry about that.

The reason it took forever to come back to this is because around late 2016/early 2017 my life kinda went haywire. I was in the military, got stationed in England, hurt my back really bad, and now I'm out and back in the States. I'm currently working on finishing my history education degree.

Because the final season is starting, I started rewatching the entire show with my family and it made me remember this story and what I wanted to do with changing the canon (because I will change the canon the farther this story goes). No matter how long it takes, we will get to the end of this story, dammit.

Thanks to everyone who read or reviewed this story while I was gone. There'd be times where I wanted to just delete this story and start all over and someone would encourage me to keep going and it'd remind me that someone out there were still reading this. So thank you.