Hello,

The carnage continues!

Chapter 106: When Honour Dies

During Siege of King's Landing …

Streets of King's Landing, Seat of power of House Baratheon (Tyrell, Lannister, Arryn), Crownlands, Capital of the Seven Kingdoms

Jon flicked his eyes from the completely destroyed Lion Gate to where the Dothraki and Unsullied were making their way towards the Guildhall of the Alchemists. Just before the great building was a barricade of broken wooden furniture and Lannister weapons at the ready. There would be fewer casualties if he simply took the barricade out.

He urged Rhaegal down and the mighty dragon swopped at his command. The balistas were no threat now he was past the walls and Rhaegal was still covered in darkness. The dragon landed harshly on top of some buildings that were side on to the defensive chokepoint and unleashed its fire. A few moments later the barricade was nothing more than burning wood and most of the soldiers that had been around it were either burning corpses or fleeing back towards the Red Keep. Those that remained at their post saw the Dothraki galloping directly at them and their screams followed. They stood no chance with their depleted numbers and the ferocity of the Dothraki riders cutting them down in one devastating charge.

Jon guided Rhaegal away from the bloodshed and chaos to land near the Great Sept of Baelor. He dismounted, giving the dragon an affectionate pat before it lifted off to join its sibling and mother in the night time sky.

Jon made his way down the street towards the burning barricade to regroup with the unsullied finishing off the last resistance of the Lannisters troops.

"Grey Worm," Jon greeted.

The Unsullied commander gave the briefest of nods before commanding his men to follow the Dothraki charge and move through the scorched barricade.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and spun around.

Lips locked with his own. "Ygritte," he said softly as the unsullied marched around them.

"Your brother is just behind us with the sun-kissed men," she said quickly disengaging and bringing her bow up. "We should be able to end this battle before dawn breaks and then we can go back home."

Jon smiled at her use of the word home, not knowing if she was referring to Beyond the Wall or the North.

"We got him!" Jon heard Daario's rich voice above the roaring fires around them.

Ygritte and Jon looked to the barricade that was now completely overrun with Dothraki and Unsullied to spot Daario holding a disarmed Tommen with a knife to the young King's throat.

"He didn't put up much of a fight," Daario said in disappointment.

"He is just a boy," Jon said as they converged together.

"What happens to him now?" Ygritte asked, looking at Tommen who was putting on a brave face but the darting of his eyes betrayed his fear.

"He comes with us to the Red Keep and our Queen decides his fate," Grey Worm said definitively, ordering some Unsullied to tie Tommen's hands together and keep him protected at the backend of their march.

Daario relinquished his grip on Tommen before turning to Jon, "Shall we continue?"

Jon nodded knowing the sooner the battle ended the less destruction would need to be caused. They only had to take the Red Keep now and the war would be over, peace would once again reign over the Seven Kingdoms and that was all he truly wanted.

"He is skilled," Ygritte said, watching Daario throw two knives that felled two Lannister men running away from them.

"A fleeing man is already defeated. There is no need to kill them," Jon replied distastefully.

Ygritte didn't respond but focused on her target. Once she released the string an archer on top of one of the buildings fell into the street.

Jon started to advance again but a woman's screams stopped him. He spotted an open door on one of the nearby buildings and some dismounted Dothraki horses beside it. He rushed into the building, fearing the worst.

He found four Dothraki inside, two were beating a middle-aged man on the ground while two young children hid underneath a wooden table. The other two were pinning down a woman and their intentions were obvious.

"Get off her!" Jon roared, pulling one Dothraki back then the other.

The two Dothraki beating up the man stopped and all four menacing walked towards Jon with rage in their eyes, who was this man to tell them what they could and couldn't do.

Jon tightened his grip on Longclaw realising the danger he was in.

Some foreign-sounding words came from behind him and he risked a glance to see Daario standing in the doorway.

The Dothraki spat some angry-sounding words back but they seemed to respect Daario's command.

One Dothraki looked down at the woman and in the next instant impaled her on his sword before giving Jon a challenging look as he moved past him to exit the house with his fellow warriors.

"You should be more careful," Daario warned, "Dothraki don't take well to orders especially from someone who isn't their Khal."

"Daenerys can't stand for this."

"She doesn't. She abhors rape but it is hard to get the Dothraki to stop what they have always done. She will succeed eventually but as you've just witnessed it will take time and in the heat of battle it is hard to control your men personally. Accidents do happen."

"You call this an accident?" Jon said, kneeling beside the man. "He's dead and so is their mother."

"A shame," Daario said with apathy as he took a few steps into the room and ushered the now orphans out of the room onto the war filled streets outside.

"A shame … Is that all you can say?" Jon stood and squared up to Daario, "Your Queen wants to be a different type of ruler. One that wants to make the world a better place," he waved at the two bodies on the floor, "This is not a better place."

"Rest assured Jon Snow, Daenerys Stormborn will make the world a better place. I've seen her do so in Slaver's Bay and she will do it here too without your interference."

'What?" Jon questioned but his mind was too slow to understand the real meaning of Daario's words.

Daario grinned as he slammed a sharp knife underneath Jon's armour into his lower stomach.

Jon tried to move away but Daario's other hand at his sword arm kept him in place and unable to raise Longclaw in such close quarters, "Why?"

"Because my Queen asked me to," Daario replied indifferently before plunging his knife back into Jon's lower torso again and again until the Northerner slid to the floor, grasping at his bleeding gut.

"It's not personal," Daario said above him twirling his blade in his fingers, "although I can't say I liked you."

"No! What happened?!" Ygritte yelled as she entered the room and took in the scene.

Daario hid his bloody knife on the other side of him quickly and knelt over Jon as if assessing the wounds.

"Who did this?" she asked rushing to meet Daario and applying pressure to her lover's wounds.

Jon tried to speak but it came out gurgled as he looked up at Ygritte, "Daar … he … did … this."

But by the time he had stuttered out the truth, Daario had acted. His hand tangled in Ygritte's hair as the tip of his knife went across her throat, spraying Jon's prone form in her blood.

Daario guided Ygritte to the floor beside Jon and straightened up to view his handy work.

"Ygritte ..." Jon pleaded as he shakily reached for her hand as blood spurted from her wound soaking the floor and the neckline of her clothes.

"If it matters to you, I didn't intend on killing her," Daario informed looking down at the two dying lovers, "I had half a mind to fuck her after your death though."

Jon kept his gaze on Ygritte's face until her eyes closed and he felt a solitary tear streak down his cheek. He looked up to see Daario watching every emotion and movement.

"Robb … will … figure this out."

"For his sake, I hope he doesn't or my Queen will have to find a new husband."

Jon felt his heartbeat slow and focused on the touch of Ygritte's hand in his. He tried to will away the pain and the odd sensation of coldness circling his gut. He rolled fully onto his back and blinked. He suddenly saw Sansa above him with absolute shock and despair in her eyes.

For a moment he was convinced this was all a nightmare, that he was sleeping and the battle had yet to begin but then he saw Jojen beside his cousin holding her hand and he understood. This was really happening. His aunt had ordered his death.

The only solace he could take was that Sansa knew the truth, that Daenerys Targaryen would not get away with this heinous act of betrayal.

"Sansa," he whispered almost inaudible as the edges of his vision started to blacken and the Stranger came for him.

Maidenvault, Red Keep, King's Landing, Seat of power of House Baratheon (Tyrell, Lannister, Arryn), Crownlands, Capital of the Seven Kingdoms

Sansa released her hold on Jojen's hand and not a second later tears started to drop from her cheeks.

Jon was dead. Killed by one of Queen Daenerys's men. Oh Gods, she had to warn Robb.

"Sansa? Sansa?" Shireen said shaking her shoulders slightly. "What's wrong?"

What's right? Sansa retaliated in her head.

"He's dead," Davos said with a finger at Jojen's neck before he placed an ear next to the Northerner's mouth, "He isn't breathing. I'm sorry my lady."

"He had been unconscious for weeks," Sansa replied quietly, knowing Jojen's end had been near.

Jojen had been a constant companion to her in those weeks. Each time she had sat at his bed and held his hand she had been transported into his vision like-world of the present. Able to walk where he did and hear what he had while traversing around the Red Keep unseen and unheard. She had learnt so much but now she had seen something she had never wanted to witness.

Shireen embraced Sansa gently, "I'm sorry Sansa."

Sansa didn't correct the young lady's assumption on her tears. Her mind was still reeling from the knowledge she had obtained while in Jojen's vision.

The last hour she and Jojen had walked around King's Landing, witnessing the chaos of the siege first hand and seeing the reality of men fighting for their lives. She had been at the walls when Daenerys's dragon had blasted through the Gate of the Gods, saw the fear in the defenders' eyes and the panicked looks on those men positioned on the ballistas not knowing when the darkness would open up to dragonfire and consumed them. She had seen limbs torn off, heads rolling down the street, and men split in half but nothing had disgusted her more than seeing Jon's death and not being able to help her cousin. The face of the man who had killed Jon was etched into her mind.

War brings out the worst in people, Sansa thought, wiping away her tears as Shireen disengaged from her to help Davos place Jojen's body flat on the ground and close the boy's eyes.

She looked around the Maidenvault to see if anyone was paying attention to them. Margaery was rocking Steffon silently in her arms and cooing him to keep the babe entertained. Myriah was thankfully sleeping in Myrcella's arms with Genna whispering into her great-niece's ear. The rest of the ladies were huddled together praying, having no idea how the battle in the city was going.

The scene reminded her of her experience during the Battle of Blackwater Bay but somehow the atmosphere was even more sombre, even more, resigned. Perhaps they knew that it was Daenerys Targaryen's forces that would rule the day.

Sansa made a promise to Jon that a day was all that Daenerys would get.

Half an hour after the collapse of Cobbler's Square …

Underneath the Cobbler's Square on the Gods Way, King's Landing, Seat of power of House Baratheon (Tyrell, Lannister, Arryn), Crownlands, Capital of the Seven Kingdoms

Artys heard faint scrapping as his mind tried to push away from the alluring darkness of unconsciousness. Everything felt sluggish and slurred as he tried to move his head.

The last thing he remembered was Robb's direwolf snapping down at him. He opened his eyes and was immediately accosted with waves of dust but fought through that to see cracks of glowing light above him.

He tried to sit up but a heavy weight on top of him hampered his movement. He turned his head and almost yelled in shock as he locked eyes with the giant wolf that had tried to kill him. It had a glassy look in its blue eyes and its tongue lulled out between its vicious-looking teeth. It was dead, having taken the brunt of the flaming stones that had fallen from the sky but that made it no less unnerving to look at.

Artys tried again to shimmy away but the combination of the wolf's weight and the rubble had his legs and lower torso pinned down.

He let out a shout in frustration before he eyed the cracked ceiling again. Silence. The fighting must have moved on from the Cobbler's Square but the fires were still burning above.

Artys sucked in a few thick breaths and laid his head back on the ground, this is not how I die!

He made a few more unsuccessful attempts to drag himself out from underneath the weight bearing down on him. He changed tactic and tried to shove the wolf off his front but he succeeded only in moving the wolf's head away from his face but not off his torso.

"No, no, no!" he said slamming his fists on the floor.

He lay in that position, in the near darkness until he had his panicked breaths back under control. In the silence, he heard that faint scraping noise again.

He turned his head to look around him but the light was too dim to even make out his surroundings. Suddenly he felt a poke to his face and flinched away.

"Who is there?" he demanded, feeling utterly vulnerable wishing his eyes would adjust faster.

"You can come out. He's trapped," a boy's voice called out.

A torch came into Arty's vision and he could see at least a dozen ragged-looking children making their way to him while a black-haired boy stood above him with a stick in his hand.

"Who are you?" the boy asked, wielding the stick like a sword.

"That's Artys Arryn!" the girl carrying the torch squeaked.

Greystone, Artys corrected in his mind.

"So?" the boy replied, waving the stick around.

"If we bring him to Qyburn, we'll get a reward!"

Artys remained silent, not wanting to reveal Qyburn wasn't in the city any longer.

The children all started fussing around the young lad with the stick who appeared to be the leader.

"Fine," the black-haired boy said, "we help him but we better get a lot of sweets!"

The children all huddled around Artys and started pulling away the rocks as best they could manage and after a few minutes, Artys was able to wiggle away from the direwolf's corpse and free himself from the rubble.

Artys started to rub at his legs to get the feeling back and was glad to find Silver Fang was still attached to his hip.

"You're tall!" the girl with the torch squeaked once Artys had wobbled to his full height.

None of the children exceeded the height of his hips but he knew Qyburn's children were just as dangerous as adults and maybe even more so.

"Can you see an axe?" Artys asked the gaggle of children.

"Here!" one said excitedly and pointed to a metal handle protruding from the rubble.

Artys unsteadily walked over to it and tugged it free in one motion but stumbled backwards with the effort of having removed it.

"Where are we?" Artys asked when he recovered.

"Tunnels," the boy with the stick answered simply.

"Can I get back to the surface?"

"Yes, but there is fighting above."

Artys looked upwards, "I should be fighting!"

"We'll take you to Qyburn he will know what to do," the boy said firmly.

"Qyburn isn't in the city anymore," Artys revealed, "he left weeks ago."

"No!" the boy said, stamping his feet, "I saw him only yesterday."

"What?!"

"Come we'll show you! I'm no liar!"

Artys sent one last look at the unmoving form of the wolf that had nearly bitten his face off then followed the group of children down the torch illuminated tunnel knowing he had no other option.

Author's Notes:

Judging by all the reviews and comments across FF & AO3 Artys is the favourite character of the overall fic lol. Well, ta da he survives the collapse of the Cobbler's Square. As Supremus85 alludes to in their review for the last chapter, with me if you don't see the death or the body the possibility is always open that I faked you out like I did with Osha's and Lord Royce's 'first deaths' :P

Is Qyburn really still in the city or are the children now in the employ of someone else?

Team Targaryen Restoration now has the Hand of the King and the actual King in their custody which is pretty much war over right … right?

I don't think Jon's death will be a surprise or maybe it is but a sneaky assassination disguised as a battle casualty is something I think this story's Dany is capable of ordering and wanting since she hasn't got as close a relationship with Jon as in TV canon.

But unfortunately for Dany Sansa (via Jojenvison) knows the truth so that doesn't bode well for the future Stark Targaryen relationship – but what realistically can Sansa do? And what other knowledge could she have gleamed from walking around the Red Keep with Jojen pretty much undetectable. I'm thinking because Sansa is related to Bran she has warg/greenseerer genetics so she can be 'sucked' into the vision universe that the Three-Eyed Raven can occupy and the same goes for Jon when he 'sees' Sansa.

RIP

Ygritte (Throat slit by Daario)

I didn't use this character a lot as the heart of the story isn't based in the North or with Stark characters so her role was minimal as she is essentially a side character to Jon's involvement but I hope you liked her relationship with Jon. I think it fitting she dies trying to save him as she really did love him. Just a shame she wasn't successful :(

Jon Snow (Stabbed by Daario multiple times and bled out)

Well … looks like Daenerys saw him as a threat after all despite his renunciation of wanting to vie for the Iron Throne. Guess it was too much of a risk for Daenerys to let him live and possibly change his mind in the future and contest her reign.

Jojen Reed (Died from thirst/starvation from prolonged exposure to the dream/vision state)

Blood Raven warned Bran about staying in the past but Jojen didn't heed this and this is the result … but he does die having shown Sansa the truth of Jon's death so the future is looking chaotic!

Reviews:

Antares Graceford – Artys didn't actually die but I did leave it on a heavily implied death last chapter so your shock is understandable :D I think this chapter was also painful :P

Ser Dorito of Aisle 13 – Betrayal is never a good move for future relationships and I think the thing Robb should regret the most is his handling of Sansa. Loras's 4,000 calvary will come in handy at some point … Olenna would love that lol!

Tyrion certainly likes it but of course the ideal outcome is a straight up Daenerys defeat. I do love a good quote!

David Daniel B – I hope your response is 'YYEEESSS' because Artys isn't dead!

Supremus85 – You've been reading me for too long, you know all my tricks! I made the format different to see if anyone would wonder and only you did xD Lol I never set out to kill all the direwolves … it just happened … they aren't tactile enough to survive in this story in these types of battles :( Te he for now.

Kawaibabies – I mean he could be killed more painlessly in the future since he isn't dead yet. Wanting revenge doesn't just go away and is often fueled by death, it takes considerable effort to snap out of the revenge circle and realize revenge just equals more revenge and death on the whole.

WTFGOF – He cares deeply as a brother does in the world of GOT and suspects there is a good chance, she is already dead, hence his reaction to Oberyn killing Royce in Chapter 103.

IOUcomment – If we take cannon Obeyrn and canon Dany he probably would but my version of Oberyn not so much with my version of Dany.

BlackWatcher1234 – Perhaps but I don't think Obeyrn would let Tywin out of his sight so any rescue attempt would be hard anyway. I know! It's a bit ironic. But if something works why not keep doing it and in this story, wildfire has been Tyrion's weapon of choice, that and crossbows.

Ksyushangel – Thanks! Yeah, let me know what you thought of the last few chapters as there was a lot of focus on the Tywin Kenna dynamic as well as their children which would be nice to get your thoughts on!

Don't be too sorry as he is alive! As to the question of poison, you will have to keep reading ;) I'm afraid the catacombs Tyrion speaks of only go from the Guildhall of Alchemists to just after the Hook (street in King's Landing) which ends before reaching the Red Keep. I think the city will be harmed, especially anywhere the fighting has happened.

DannyBlack70 – Haha well I was speaking about Jon not Robb with that tease. Yes, I was going for a cliffhanger situation with my RIP notes adding to the façade like I did with Osha and Lord's Royce first deaths (they both dead now anyway). I wanted readers to think the worst and I certainly got that :D

Thanks! I wanted Oberyn vs Tywin early as it sets the tone of the battle. I also think Oberyn deserved a bit of a therapeutic beating on Tywin as I have made the man suffer so much in my story it was the least, I could do xD Dany wants to pass judgement and Trystane is very aware Dorne isn't in her good books (even if they did what she really wanted).

Mister LaGuardia – Did I stupefy you lol.

Death Lantern – The battle isn't over so it's possible. He really does and that is all on me xD

Tohka123 (commented on Chapter 104 & 105) – Thanks :) Yes, their third child but it may never be born at this rate … Chaos has started and is in full flow! Both duels were really fun to write as well. I wanted them to feel snappy and short like their fights were.

HoaSunny.10.99 (commented on Chapter 21 & 105) – Well done on reading my entire story in like a day, bravo!

Next Up: The Targaryen forces assault the Red Keep, Kenna's past deeds catch up to her, Tyrion is faced with a hard decision.

If you are enjoying this story, please *Toss a coin to your writer, Oh valley of readers* and review, follow and favorite!