-Unknown-

He was falling. He wasn't aware of his surroundings, too dark to tell where exactly he was or where exactly he was falling to. "Fly!" a voice echoed from below him, or maybe it came from above him. "Fly!" it echoed again, the wind whistling past his ears. "Fly!" the voice felt familiar like he had heard it before. Yet he couldn't quite guess where he had heard it from. "FLY!" Jon's eyes widened as the final echo came as a shout, an angry and frustrated shout. Suddenly the darkness below him faded, revealing spikes of stones. "FLY!" now a thousand voices shouted at him, yet Jon did not know how to fly. He would die if he hits those spikes, yet he couldn't find anything to save his life. "FLY!" the voices shouted again. "I can't!" Jon shouted back, feeling a downdraft pushing him down faster. He caught movement at the corner of his eyes and found there a raven, perched and watching. "FLY!" the raven shouted and Jon realized that it was the raven that was shouting for him to fly, for him to survive. He stretched his arm, eyes screwed shut. He needed to survive, he needed to live. Something from within pulsed through him and he felt a searing warmth spread through his body. His eyes flew open, grey eyes flickering amber for a moment. He heard the sound of flapping wings around him and soon found a flock of ravens flying beside him.

The ravens fly with the wind, Jon thought to himself and instead of fighting the wind, he followed its direction. He was nearing the spikes, could see bodies littered all around it. Some were bones while others looked fresh and rotting. He would not be joining them. With a renewed sense of confidence Jon dived down and the next moment he was flying away from the spikes. He was flying!

And just as suddenly as he was flying, he found himself standing in the middle of nowhere. Above him were grey skies and below him was snow. A harsh snowy wind blew across him, not exactly a blizzard but something close. Jon's confusion only grew at the sudden change in scenery. Jon felt a rush of warm wind hit his back and the harsh snowy wind stopped. The boy turned around and froze at the sight of what was behind him.

It was simply a beast from the legends Old Nan told him. This majestic creature looked to be studying Jon, its amber eyes staring right at him. It was sat on its hind legs, wings of green, bronze and black spread wide. Jon felt another rush of wind against his back, this one bone-chilling, and turned to look, expecting another creature.

Instead, he was looking at a tree standing tall and proud. Its branched bore blood-red leaves and it spread out in all directions. The body of the tree looked like a face had been carved on it, red sap leaking from its eyes and hardened in the creases and wrinkles of the carved face. A Heart Three, Jon realized. Jon went to step closer to it when he felt a wave of warmth hit his back. He had forgotten about the beast behind him. When he turned towards it, all he saw was a torrent of dark orangish-red flames approaching him. Jon could do nothing other than shut his eyes and let the fire devour him.

"Welcome, Jon Snow" a voice greeted him. Jon opened his eyes and found himself in the Godswood of Winterfell. But he wasn't alone. In front of him stood a man on top of the lake. The man wore a set of black leather armour and a hooded robe over it. Jon could see the platinum hair under it, the single glaring crimson eye and the scar on his face.

"Where am I?"

"Why are you back?"

Jon narrowed his eyes at the man, feeling irritated that the man had not answered his question. "This is The Godswood of Winterfell. I come here to pray all the time. Who are you and how did you get here?" Jon countered. But the man simply kept on glaring.

The man slowly moved forward and Jon was surprised to see that the water under him did not even ripple as he moved over it. How, was he able to stay afloat at all was the next question. The man stopped in front of Jon and looked at him with a scowl on his face. "Take my hand" the man thrust his hand forward. Jon just stared at it then at him.

"Who are you?" Jon asked again. The man let out a low growl and forcefully grabbed Jon by the arm. Immediately pain flooded his mind and Jon's knees buckled. After a moment the man growled again and pulled Jon to stand straighter. He pushed Jon back slightly and brought him closer to the Heart Tree.

"Touch it" the man spoke in a demanding tone.

"Why?" Jon asked. But all the man did was glare at him. Frustrated Jon thrust his free hand to the tree and touched the body. Another wave of pain rolled through his mind, but this time it was different. Jon was seeing so many things at once. He found himself watching a younger version of his father along with a few people fight against the knights who stood before a tower. Then he saw his father and a woman who he recognized as his aunt Lyanna. The woman was making his father promise him something and then a handmaiden came forward with a babe in her arms. Jon's eyes widened. But before he could comprehend what he just saw, the scene shifted. He watched from the events of today to the day he fought the dragon in Winterfell. Everything settled into Jon finally and he stumbled back, no longer holding the tree anymore.

"How?" he croaked out.

"I'm not sure yet" the man spoke, his voice no longer as rough as it was. Jon turned to him and saw the man frowning. "We shall talk again Jon Snow" the man stated. Jon went to say something but the man silenced him with a look. "A friend of mine will leave something for you in your room. Drink it. Drink it and go to your Godswood. Touch the Heart Tree and you will be able to talk to me again.

"Wait-" Jon was interrupted once again by a burst of white light.

-Winterfell-

"Father is Jon going to be okay?"

"He's going to be alright, have faith."

"What even happened?"

"I do not know young master. He doesn't seem to be hurt."

"Mikken says he was brought to him because of his wolf whining and found Jon passed out on the ground."

A groan fell from Jon's lips and all talk in the room stopped immediately. Slowly Jon opened his eyes and found faces looking down at him with worry. "What's going on?" Jon asked, feeling the dryness in his throat.

"I was hoping you could tell us, son" Ned Stark spoke up. Jon looked to him, accepting the glass of water from Maester Luwin. He shrugged, bringing the glass to his lips. His eyes roamed the room and he found Robb, Arya, Bran, Rickon and surprisingly Sansa and Lady Catelyn there. But the last two did not look remotely as worried as Robb, Arya and Bran.

"Father" Jon began but his words got stuck in the back of his throat. The memories came back to him and he swayed on the spot he sat. Ned was immediately at his side, a hand to his back.

"Jon are you-"

"Father I need to speak with you" Jon's abrupt interruption had caught Ned off guard. It was less of the interruption and more the emotion behind it.

"Of course Jon" the man nodded.

"Alone. Please" the boy mumbled.

Ned looked back to his wife who looked at him coldly and gave her a slight nod.

"Come on children," The Lady of Winterfell said softly.

"But mother!"

"Arya" Ned silenced her daughter with a look and the girl meekly followed the rest out, leaving on The Lord of Winterfell and his Bastard son in Jon's room. "What is it Jon?" he asked gently.

"When were you going to tell me?" the boy asked and Ned grew confused.

"About what?"

"About my mother!"

Ned froze at that question and his brows furrowed. "Jon we've talked about this. Your mother-"

"Dorne" another word from Jon and Ned felt the wind get knocked out of his lungs. " Lord Willam Dustin, Martyn Cassel, Theo Wull, Ser Mark Ryswell, Ethan Glover and Howland Reed. You seven faced off against Ser Gerold Hightower, Ser Oswell Whent and Ser Arthur Dayne. They all died and you had almost, had it not been for Howland Reed stabbing Ser Arthur through the back."

Every word that Jon spoke, hit Ned in ways he hadn't thought he could be harmed. He knew. He knew a disturbing amount of detail. "Who told you this?"

"Promise me, Ned" Jon muttered and Ned felt his heart race. "That what she made you promise did she? To promise her that you'd keep me safe from the enemies of The Crown. From your friend Robert Baratheon? Why didn't you tell me? All this time of me wondering about her, about whether she was alive or not, of whether she even cared about me or not. Why hadn't you told me anything?"

"It was not safe" Ned choked out, unable to get his emotions in check. "Robert had killed Rhaegar and had shown genuine content at the deaths of Elia Martell and her children. I couldn't take the chance with you. I couldn't let him take the last of my sister from me."

"That was years ago!" Jon snapped, a sudden burst of anger coming from him. "Fuck what the king needs to know, you could have told me when I was older. You could have told me all these years and you kept it all to yourself!"

"It was never safe!" Ned snapped and Jon felt his anger fade and he cowered just slightly. "It wasn't safe then and it is not safe now! The spider has ears everywhere and even a whiff of this reaching him and then going to Robert? He would kill you on the spot and then kill my family for hiding this truth in a fit of rage! I couldn't take the chance. Not when all of your lives were in danger!"

The threat to his siblings, to his cousins, was something that brought Jon's temper down completely. He hadn't thought about that, about what would happen to them should King Robert know of this. And the thought now scared him.

"Swear to me that you won't tell a word of this to anyone."

"I would never."

"Swear it, Jon!"

"I swear, on the Old Gods that this secret will remain with me. Until the day comes when it can be spoken of with no threats to my family."

Ned did not like the wording of the promise. Yet he accepted it. He did not believe that such a day would come when this secret could be revealed without any dangers to his family.

"I'll ask someone to bring your food up here, so you may have your dinner" Ned rose, his entire posture stiff. He turned around and walked to the door to leave. When he touched the handle, Jon called out to him.

"Did she love me?"

"With everything she had"

And then he left, leaving an emotional Jon to sort through all that he learned today.