The night is dark and full of terrors.
Maya awoke to those words echoing in her mind. She didn't know what had happened. She remembered her daughter's face and then her son with the light behind him.
He almost looked like her mother, Catelyn Stark. Maya winced in as she tried to move herself off the bed. She grunted when she saw the bandages around her shoulder. Maya saw that she was in her chambers that she shared with Jaime. She smiled as Winter stood up and sniffed her.
"You worry too much," she murmured. "We have been through much, haven't we?"
Winter licked her hand then shoved her nose gently into her stomach, checking on the babe inside of her. Maya frowned and lifted a hand to touch her stomach. It was a foolish thing to go out there while I was with child. Jaime was right.
She remembered leaving her children and then killing every wight she saw. She was separated from Brienne a moment later and killed a wight who tried to kill Jaime. Maya could see the anger in his eyes and the betrayal. She had hurt him, but didn't care because he was safe…or at least she hoped he was.
Tyrion walked in as the door opened, he looked sullen. "We won."
"Then why are you not leaping with joy," she questioned in quiet amusement.
"We may have won against the dead, but we lost a lot of our men out there. Cersei is prepared and she isn't weak from a long night in battle," he said softly. "She will be ready for us."
Maya sighed. "Fuck Cersei. If we die, we die then. History will talk of what happened last night. They will sing us lovely songs that will last us centuries. I will die knowing that I was fighting for the right side of the war and that I have lived a good life. I fought the dead and lived to tell the tale."
"Hope is speaking," Tyrion added. "Also she killed the Night King too, but the speaking part is more important in my opinion."
Maya chuckled softly. "She sounded so...beautiful."
"She has a nice soft voice," Tyrion told her. "Jaime said that she sounded like our mother. Maya, she is strong. Bran told us what had happened in the Godswood. She broke her wrist badly, the maester is working on her. She may never be able to move it again, but she doesn't care. Your daughter said it was a little price to pay for the outcome in the battle. She sounded like our father for a moment there. She's going to be the thing they write and sing about. Leo too. He is too smart for his own good."
"I wonder who he reminds me of," she mused.
"A taller version of myself, yes I'm aware," Tyrion said. "Do you know what he is?"
"I only care that he is my son," Maya said sternly, her smile dropping from her face for a moment. "I don't give a damn about everything else."
"He is something powerful, he wouldn't stop glaring at Daenerys," Tyrion whispered to her. "She was greatly insulted. He knew what was going to happen with the battle yet he did nothing to stop it. He knew what Hope had to do and what you would do. Gods, he knew about the dragon destroying half of Winterfell and you are telling me that you don't give a damn? If you don't lead him correctly then we will have another Aerys in our future."
Maya inhaled sharply and lifted her chin up. "Your attempts at trying to frighten me are very much not welcomed. We know that my son is far from how Aerys was. We don't know what he will do and I will guide him as well as I can. Everyone grows up and makes their own choices, I can't stop them from making bad choices. If I were their age, I don't know what I'd do. Their childhood is being taken away from them and I can't do anything about that."
"You would be surprised what little words can do. He is a greenseer like Bran has told us, so we should tread carefully. He can see the future and who knows what else he may be able to do when he grows," Tyrion warned her. "I have read from books that greenseers are more rare than skinchangers. Why are there two in the same family in the same generation? It's impossible."
Maya's eyes sharply turned to Tyrion and inquired angrily, "Are you calling my son a liar?"
"Merely that he's mistaken or someone has misguided him."
"What are you saying?"
"You know exactly what I'm saying," Tyrion paused as he stared into her eyes. "I don't think Bran Stark has good intentions involving Leo. I don't know what his game is, but I think he knows much more than he's told us."
"How do you explain the second bleeding star to appear just years after the first one?" Maya questioned, her voice curt. "You say it's impossible, but everything that is impossible seems to be possible. White walkers, dragons-three of them, the Night King, children of the forest, Targaryens, direwolves so I think it's safe to assume that we are in the age of the impossible and the unknown. I know my son is something special and something powerful. He has emerald eyes just as the greenseers did."
"They also have red eyes, and Lannister eyes are emerald," Tyrion countered, which only frustrated her even more. "Why are you refusing to consider the possibility that your family poses a threat? Do you think that just because Littlefinger is dead and you have dragons guarding you that all is well and no one would dare come hurt you…you're wrong, it only makes them want to even more. The target on your back is bigger and I believe there is another game here. There is another player here that we do not see."
Maya knew of his fear because she shared it with him. That Cersei and her allies were not their only enemies, more were coming after her. Cersei wants her dead more than anything because it was her who ruined everything and took everything she cared about. Her first offense was bearing a resemblance to a ghost, Lyanna Stark who her husband was in love with, then she took Jaime and his heart, then she had a hand in killing her firstborn son, sided and publicly defended Tyrion on his trial for murdering their father, then Maya sided with the Martells who murdered her daughter and allied with the Tyrells who played a hand in murdering both of her sons…now she was coming for her crown. Everything Cersei despised and lost all came back to Maya and her family. The only thing Cersei had left in this world was the Iron Throne and Maya knew that she wouldn't go down without a fight…she also knew that neither would Daenerys.
Dany would burn them alive for that stupid thing, Maya thought bitterly. Maya groaned as she leaned her head against the headboard. She just wanted to be with her family, that is all she ever wanted.
Truthfully, Tyrion's concern and fear of Leo had been her own once. She was frightened for him, she didn't know what he was and perhaps she didn't want to know. She was afraid of her son at first, but he stayed with her when she was about to die. They were rare beings, she had been told this many times as a child. She wished she could be able to be one of them. She remembered standing at the weirwood tree in the Godswood of Winterfell and begged them to give her their powers. She wanted to be something great and powerful. She wanted to help the world starting with Westeros.
As the days and years passed her after she prayed to them, she grew hopeless and knew that she was not one of them. They were wise men and she was not a man.
Maya then picked up a sword when she was a girl and decided that she would learn to fight like her father and ancestors had. She would be the greatest fighter in history.
Maya was brought out of her gloomy thoughts when the door opened quickly. She smiled brightly as Leo and Hope fell inside of the room. Robin picked them up as Malachi frowned at her.
"My lions," she called out to them happily.
Hope and Leo ran to their mother, wrapping their arms around her tightly. Maya tried to not let her tears drop down her face as she kissed the top of their heads.
"Mother, we missed you," Hope said, causing Maya to chuckle softly and cry.
"Your voice is just as I'd hope it was," she replied. "I missed you both too. I'm happy you both are alive. My brave lions."
"I am pretty brave," Leo agreed as he pulled away. "Not to be cheeky, but I did save everyone."
"We will talk about that later," Maya warned him. Leo bit his lip and nodded. "You must be careful."
She looked to Malachi who came closer to her and told her, "You're an idiot, Maya. Jaime is furious with you. I am too."
"Well, it all worked out in the end, didn't it? We are all safe."
"Theon is dead," Tyrion replied. "He gave his life protecting Bran and Winterfell."
Maya's smile dropped from her face, she couldn't move. She held a hand to her mouth and shook her head. Silent images of Theon ran wild through her head, memories of them ran along them as well. Robb wrestling with Theon and Jon in the mud when they were nearly ten and nine namedays old as Maya threw mud at them. She remembered how furious her mother was.
"Why would anyone be jealous of being your twin?" Theon's voice ran through her head long ago.
"I am a delight to have as a twin," she told him.
"As a sister you're much worse," she remembered Jon saying as they all started to laugh while she cursed them.
Emotion gripped her very being as she thought more and more of Theon, silent memories passing through her mind. Suddenly, she didn't care anymore that he had betrayed their family, she knew that in the end, Theon was no Greyjoy. Perhaps, that was why it hurt all of them when he did what he did. He was a Stark. He was her brother, and he was gone again, this time for good.
Theon's proud voice rang in her head as he said, "What is dead may never die."
"He should be...um, should be...I'm sorry."
Maya started to cry into her hands, she felt her heart breaking. Theon was her brother. She felt her children hug her as she sobbed into her hands. The room was gloomy and cold now again.
"It's okay," Hope said softly to her. "He is with family now."
Maya felt herself nod and sniffled as she wiped her nose on a piece of cloth. Her eyes burned and her head felt heavy as she wiped some dirt off of Leo's cheek and moved Hope's hair behind her ears.
Leo breathed. "We are alive."
"For now," Malachi jested. "Now we have to deal with your annoyingly tenacious Aunt Cersei."
Tyrion smirked. "Yes, she will be waiting for us."
"Where is Jaime?" Maya asked.
Hope looked away as everyone avoided answering her. She couldn't look her mother in the eye and lie to her.
Leo smiled brightly and said to his mother, "He is very angry. So he is sticking to one side of Winterfell to not talk-"
Hope quickly pushed him off of the bed and gave her mother a smile. "He hit his head very hard so his memory is a little jumbled with what Father said. He said he needs time…to think…a-and to plan."
Maya sighed and leaned back against the pillows. She hissed as she felt her arm flare up in pain. Tyrion readjusted her wrappings and said, "Let your mother rest, little ones. She's in a fragile condition."
Malachi guided her children out of the room before he told her, "You put everything at risk and while I understand why, you could've been lost to everyone here. We all care about you and you are not the woman you used to be. You have a family to worry about now. You can't go riskin' your life like that anymore."
Maya stared silently at them as they walked away with Tyrion trailing behind them after he spoke, "There is a funeral pyre this morning. It would be good for them to see us united as a family. Lannisters, Starks and Targaryens as one."
Maya nodded and turned her eyes to the grey skies, she missed Jaime. She understood that he needed time and she could not hate him for that. If the roles were reversed, she would be just as angry. She would've reignited the fire of the old gods and the new if he put their children at stake. Except Jaime would never do that, no matter how desperate he was. Maya placed a protective hand over her belly, her bump larger.
"I'm so sorry, little one," she whispered. "I'm a reckless person, and thought carelessly. It won't happen again with you. I'm so sorry, I hope you can forgive me someday."
. . .
The banners of the men and women who had fallen slowly blew in the wind. The cold air bit Hope's nose and cheeks as it went across her face. She stared at the people who had lost their loved ones and the ones who were dead. War was not something to be celebrated about, Hope thought to herself, more sure of the idea than ever. It made her look differently at her entire family and friends. All they knew was war and death. She didn't know how any of them could do it. It made her belly flip at just the thought of it.
Robin and Hope both dressed in black. Hope was dressed in furs and a black gown with gold and silver trimmings. All of her family stood on either side of them. Her brother held her mother's hand as her father held the other. Hope felt as if her family was slowly cracking, breaking apart. She had this gut feeling that it would only get worse.
They still hadn't spoken to each other, neither should emotion. Even though she knew her mother was sorry and regretful of her actions, she showed no signs of saying it to her father.
Robin held the tiny yet firm hand of his betrothed, Hope Lannister. She gave him a small smile, her eyes bright and yet full of sorrow.
"We won," he whispered. "This is the thing I choose to look at. We saved the lives of millions and we survived. We're survivors, Hope. People will always die, you cannot stop death, but you can learn from it. Death is inevitable, which is why we have to live every day as if it were our last."
Hope kissed his cheek causing him to blush at her soft lips. She smiled up at him. "I'm glad we found each other."
"We will always find each other by the old gods and the new," Robin promised her. "I know it in my heart that we were always meant to be."
Hope smiled brightly and agreed, "Yes, we are."
Even though they were young, they both felt it in their souls that they really were the only one for each other. It always felt right. Hope felt comfortable with him and he always knew what she was thinking about.
The smile slowly vanished from her face as her mother walked to Theon and gave him a tearful smile before kissing his forehead. Her mother had lost too many people, and it was at the hands of the Lannisters. Hope then looked to her father and wondered how her mother could love him, how she could stand to love him. His family murdered her own, he even let it happen blindly yet her mother still bare love for him.
"Robin, the Lannisters killed my grandfather which started the war, this I know, but what happened before then."
"Someone pushed your Uncle Bran off the tower," Sansa answered as she looked towards Jaime who refused to look her way. "My mother found a single long strand of golden hair in the tower, it stood out among the grayness in there."
"Sansa," Jon warned, his voice firm. "Now is not the time."
Sansa was silent as they started to burn the dead, filling the grey sky with darkness and smoke. Hope's mood became darker as she looked at her father. He was not a good man as she was told. He did bad things to her mother and her family and yet they still loved each other.
After they mourned the burned bodies, the smell of burning flesh still in her nose, Hope followed her father with Robin trying to keep up with her along with her brother and Winter. She was their leader.
"You should forgive, mother," she said to her father once she was close to her, her face was void of any emotion.
"This is between your mother and I, I don't know what lies she has spun you, but you shouldn't take another's word for something that you weren't there for," Jaime responded, his tone firm and angry.
"Mother has never lied to us," Hope countered. "But you have. You tried to kill my uncles, my grandmother, grandfather, my aunts and my cousins."
Jaime froze in his steps and turned slowly around to face his daughter who had a look of betrayal and disappointment in her eyes that he never wanted to see on the face of his child.
"War is not pretty. It was a horrible war, I did anything I could for love and for my family. Your mother was a part of that and I was not the one who tried to kill your aunts or grandmother. It was your Aunt Cersei and my father, I suppose who did that. She and your mother hate each other more than anything which sometimes seems to blind them both over their reckless actions. Your mother always puts the lives of others in danger and this time it was you and your brother's, if I had lost either of you…I would have died myself in a way. I can't lose either of you," Jaime told her. Hope's hands curled into fists, she felt the guilt start to drip into her as she looked at her father.
He lifted up his golden hand, she could see her reflection in it. "I have already gotten what was coming to me. I was my right hand, you could say anything bad I did was with my right hand. It's horribly scarred now, but it changed me. In the eyes of others, we have caused them pain as well. In my sister's eyes, your mother murdered her son, her firstborn…then your uncle killed our father, and your mother took the man she loved. Me. I am not and will never be perfect. I've made mistakes, regretful ones that have hurt your mother, but she's forgiven me."
Hope stared silently at him before she spoke softly, "War isn't an excuse for your actions or the suffering of others. Why didn't you do anything, father? They paraded Uncle Robb's body around with his wolf's head sewn onto it and they placed Grandfather's head on a spike and made Aunt Sansa look at it…why didn't you do anything?"
"I shared no love for the Starks, I only cared for my family. I'm a Lannister just as you and your brother are. I don't care what the Targaryens say, you're a Lannister. You must protect each other no matter if you loathe one another. You both are all that will be left of House Lannister when Tyrion and I die. It won't mean something right now, but when you have a family of your own, you'll understand."
Maya sighed behind them. "You sound like your father, Jaime. It's quite frightening honestly."
"And you've become yours," Jaime responded, no doubt talking about the Mad King and not Ned Stark. Her mother's eyes were blank, but Hope knew that she was filled with pain that he would go so low to hurt her.
Words are dangerous, Hope thought as she glanced at Robin in the corner of her eye. Words can never be taken back once they've been said aloud.
"That's not true," her brother murmured to their mother. "I've…you're not like him, my lady mother and my lord father, you are not yours either. We may be children, but we're not stupid. I've seen people I like die…and so has Hope and Robin…probably Winter too now that I think of it. The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. You're forgetting that lions go in packs too, Father and that wolves are just as vengeful as lions are, they repay their debts too."
Hope's brow furrowed as she whispered, "Let's go get something to eat, it's been a long day."
Her brother nodded and Winter kept close to him as they all went down to the Great Hall to break their fast. Their mother and father quietly followed behind, but there was much room between the two of them. It was a grey and grim day for everyone or so Hope had thought until she walked into the hall and saw everyone laughing and dancing.
"You aren't afraid of heights, are you," Robin asked.
"I don't know, I suppose it depends on the situation," Hope answered him with a small smile.
"I shall like us to live in The Vale when we get married," Robin said nervously. "In my home, in The Eyrie. It's protected and no one can hurt you again. We wouldn't even have to see anyone ever again. It would just be us and our children. You would be safe, they would be safe."
She heard her father groan as her mother chuckled darkly which made Hope give them both a look. "Let's try to grow up first, Robin…things could be different later on. Once the war is over, then we will discuss it more. I was trapped for years in that castle, I want to see the skies and stars of other lands."
Hope began to pull him to a table until Robin couldn't move. Hope looked back and saw her mother and father holding each of Robin's shoulders in their hands.
"Let's have a word, Lord Arryn," her father said firmly, his hand on his shoulder. Her father smirked as her mother's face held a delicate yet frightening look on it.
"Yes, I think we should," Maya said softly, her fingers digging into his shoulder.
Robin gave her a nod. "It's alright, Hope. I-I will be fine. It's just a chat."
Hope let him go and followed her brother to the table near their Uncle Jon who was laughing softly as he looked at Maya and Jaime dragging Robin out of the hall.
"I'm sorry, niece," Tyrion spoke first as they sat down. "It's customary for us to threaten the betrothed. Your uncles did it to Jaime and now he will do it to Lord Arryn."
"Robb tried to threaten Jaime," Jon corrected. "It did not go so well. Your mother didn't like anyone coming to her aide, she said that she could handle it herself. Whenever Jaime smirked at her, she said she wanted to ram her fist into his face."
Tyrion and Sansa laughed as he shook his head. "Her temper was horrible back then. I don't know how many of us are still alive."
"Their marriage was to keep the peace of our families," Sansa reminded them. "It was still no use though. The good things that came out of their marriage were you and your brother, Hope. I'm happy that I got to meet you both."
"Mother would have flustered all around you both," Arya stated, her mouth turning into a sad smile. "And Father would have no doubt taught you both about Stark honor and taken you through the crypts of Winterfell."
"You will see them again," Leonardo promised them all. "I dream of them. They are happy and peaceful."
It was silent for a moment as they thought over his words while he stuffed his face full of food. Hope rolled her eyes as she scolded him, "Eat properly please, little brother."
Maya and Jaime walked back into the hall with Robin following after them, they all silently sat in their seats. Robin gave Hope a reassuring smile as Maya and Jaime sat away from each other.
Hope could see that something had pushed them further away from each other and she wondered if her parents would be together after her little sibling was born. It seems that every minute they are growing more and more apart from each other.
Jaime said something to Tyrion who then repeated it to Maya who frowned and gripped her fork. Jon put a comforting hand on her and said something too softly for Hope to eavesdrop on. She looked to her brother who sipped his soup as he watched them along with her.
Leo stood up and opened his mouth until Hope tugged him back down and Robin put his hand over his mouth. "Perhaps silence is what we all need right now, brother."
Leo glared at them and then licked Robin's palm who jolted out of his chair in disgust. "That is the most disgusting thing!"
"It's what you deserve," Leo smiled widely at him and then continued to eat his soup.
Hope punched his arm and then Leo returned her hit to her arm. Hope gasped in surprise as she rubbed her arm. She started to pull his hair as he started to pull hers, each gripping the other's hair as tightly as they could. They both grunted as they fell to the ground tumbling around the tables as they fought with each other. Leo kept kicking his legs at her as she growled, "Stop kicking, you idiot!"
"You kicked me first!"
"You hit me first!"
"I did not!"
"Did too!"
Chairs scraped against the ground as laughter spread throughout the hall. The wildings started to cheer on the fight, banging their fists against the tables. Hope kicked her brother's legs as they continued to kick her body. Hope let go of his hair and started to slap him on the face making him growl and grunt.
They felt hands start to pull them apart, she felt someone slap their hands roughly before Leo let go of her hair. Hope felt her hands be put behind her back as her father held her back and her mother held Leo by the neck. They did not look pleased at all.
TBC...