Chapter 20: Duty

Arya's POV

It's been two weeks since the battle in The Red Keep, Arya and The Hound were traveling on Stranger, The Hound's own horse, throughout the Crownlands. Ever since they left, the journeys have consisted of long rides throughout the countryside, mostly silent with both of them not talking to each other, and the occasional stop to rest and gather food. One day, as they were traveling, Arya tried to break the silence "You never did tell me why you saved me", The Hound only continued to stare into the distance until letting out a sigh, "I'm gonna ransom you to your grandfather in The Riverlands". "But why? You could have just left me to Joffrey", Arya raised an eyebrow still curious why the now crowned kings own bodyguard would defy him, but The Hound only continued to stare. "Were still atleast two weeks aways from Riverrun, do you honestly want us to spend that whole time in silence or do you want us to talk", Arya quipped at the man who despite that was still staring at the distance without a word.

"Silence it is then..."

Robb's POV

"He did what!"
"My lord, please, calm down"
"He imprisons my father then expects me to kiss his ass!"
"My lord what are we supposed to do? He is the king"

Robb paused for a moment, despite him dreading it, he knew Maester Luwins words were true, but he also knew that his father would never do such a dishonorable act. He refused to believe that Eddard Stark, a paragon of virtue, the pinacle of Stark honor, his own father, would commit treason against his best friends own son. Robb looked at Theon who was still confused at the news they just got before turning back to Maester Luwin.

"If he wants me to go to King's Landing, then I'll go"
"My lord?"
"I'll go to King's Landing, and I'm bringing the entirity of The North with me"
"My lord are you suggesting-"
"Call the banners Maester Luwin"
"Yes, my lord"

Maester Luwin took a bow and emediately left to send the ravens. Robb and Theon were now the only ones left in the room. As Robb sat back down Theon looked at him with a grin, "You scared?" Theon asked him with Robb only lifting his hand from his left leg to reveal it shaking, "Guess I am", Theon's grin only widened then, "Good" Theon stated plainly with Robb raising an eyebrow in confusion, "How is that good?", Theon's grin turned into a sly smile, "Means your not stupid" The two let out a small chuckle before finishing their drinks and continued talking casualy about a monumental decision. "So what do you think happened to your brother and sisters?" Theons question emediately made Robb start thinking...

"Sansa and Arya are to valuable to kill, so they will probably take them hostage..."
"And Cregan?"
"We'll Joffrey's still breathing so Cregan's either dead or he's escaped"
"What about Lyarra?"
"Her, I honestly don't know, I just hope she's safe"

Cregan's POV

Red skies...
Bloody river...
Screaming children...
The howl of wolves...

Cregan was lying in a field of golden roses, although most of them were now painted with blood. The air was drenched with the smell of rotting flesh but all Cregan did was stare into the sky. When he tried to get up Cregan felt vines entangling his right arm, the thorns gripping him tighter with every second he struggled to get out. After moments of agonizing pain Cregan ripped of his arm but strangely, the pain stopped. Blood drippped from where his arm should be, he expected to scream in agony but there was nothing, no pain. "Strange isn't it?" a familliar voice came from behind him as Cregan turned to see a man clad in plate silver armor. "I was expecting to see 'him' again" Cregan was still holding onto where his arm should be, his face not showing any emotons as usual.

"Sorry to dissapoint you, but we need to talk"

"We have nothing more to talk about"
"Cregan, you have to stop living in the present and start thinking of the future"
"And that future needed me to abandon my family in that shithole of a city?"
"I could have killed every single one of those bastards and saved my father, now, now he's rotting in the black cells, waiting for his execution"
"For the last time Cregan, you couldn't, you would have died, stop being so damn ignorant already!"

Cregan couldn't bare the thought of anyone in his family being hurt, but he also knew that there were things bigger than him, bigger than the Iron Throne, he just needed to figure out what it was.

"So what did you want to talk about?"
"I think we talked enough, It's time I show you what needs to be seen"

Without warning, the armored man approached Cregan and placed two fingers on his forehead. Suddenly, a flash of white enveloped Cregan's sight until a single image came. Cregan and Margaery, but something was different about them, they seemed to be older and Margaery... was holding a child.

"That's... that's..."
"That's your daughter Cregan, yours and Margaery's"
"Mine... and Margaery's..."
"This is your future Cregan, but first you must fight for it"

With that the image dissapeared, snow engulfing him and the armored man's voice fading away only to be replace by the sounds of battle. Cregan opened his eyes to see him standing in the midst of a battle, swords in hand and his direwolf Sif by his side. "Cregan! Stop standing there, we need to get past them NOW!" Cregan heard a voice coming from his right shoulder only to turn and see his brother Jon and his direwolf Ghost standing beside him. In front of them was an army of undead charging forward, behind them, the combined force of all of Westeros. "CHARGE!" Jon commanded, raising his valyrian steel sword as millions of soldiers, Westerlanders, Stormlanders, Valemen, Northmen, Dornishmen, Ironborn, Rivelanders and Reachmen all mixed together, charged with swords in hand. Cregan followed his brother as he placed Frostbite atop his shoulder and pointed Demonsteel forward. As the two armies charged at each other a large shadow overcame all of them but no one paid attention to it, the thing from the sky roared before spitting fire towards the entire undead army. The moment Cregan clashed blades with his first opponent everything turned black.

"7 years... you have 7 years Cregan"

Note:
So as I was writing this I noticed I haven't writen any dream sequences for like... hang on... 1,2,3,... 11! 11 FUCKING CHAPTERS. So here's a dream sequence. Also, I feel like this is important to note, Cregan doesn't remember his dreams, he only remembers parts of the dreams, usualy the most traumatic parts, that's why he doesn't talk about it to much or think about when he's awake.

As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter, thank you for all the reviews,follows and favorites and I will see you all next time.