A/N: 100 Chapters, whew. I just want to thank you guys for sticking with me as I got to here. But there's still a long way to go, and I hope you'll stick with me going forward. Wishing you all the best - Psykic

"They're even more secure than normal," Daenerys commented, nodding over at the drawbridge leading into Maegor's Holdfast. There was always one Kingsguard on duty guarding the bridge into the heart of the Red Keep, but now they were joined by well over a score of Lannister and Tyrell guardsmen forming a strong cordon on the drawbridge. One woman was being thoroughly searched off to one side before being ushered into the castle within a castle, and the one place out of bounds to her. In all her ventures into the tunnels beneath her room, she'd never made it into the Red Keep itself.

"Are you surprised?" Sansa asked, barely restraining a smile, she'd been doing so for days, her lips twitching, her eyes twinkling. Who could be surprised, given how close her brother seemed to victory now. It was clear in what they saw, or rather didn't see. She hadn't realised how used she had been to rose badged pages and squires moving proudly around the keep; how many knights told stories of their triumphs in the many tourneys that the Reach held, how many harpers and singers sung their praises and spoke of their honour, chivalry and glory. But now they were silent, and once more, the lion and stag banners were from every window, their servants ran the errands, delivered messages and made announcements.

"I can't say that I am," she smiled back as they passed Maegor's Holdfast and moved on to the godswood.

Anyone in the court with any influence was spending it for knowledge on loved ones, bargaining secrets for food and supplies, expecting the worst was coming for them. No one it seemed, except for Sansa and Daenerys, had time to relax anymore. Because whatever happened, whoever rose and whoever fell, they were the only two people in the capital that wouldn't be going anywhere. So they went to the godswood, carrying a blanket, a basket of food and a flagon of wine to enjoy this fine autumn day.

Sure enough, they were alone, so when they got to a nice open patch between a trio of tall oaks, with birds in the branches beetles in the bushes, Dany lay out the blanket and Sansa flopped down on it, opening the basket and pulling out two silver cups. She smoothed down her dress and sat down next to Sansa, pulling out a pair each of oranges and apples, a round loaf of freshly baked bread and a small plate of cheeses and sweetmeats. Finally she pulled out a wrapped bundle and unfurled two small lemoncakes.

Sansa gasped at the sight of her favourite food. "Where did you get them?"

"One of the cooks' sons was very receptive to my request," she replied, smiling back mischievously. She didn't much like lemon cakes herself, but she loved seeing Sansa smile.

Carefully, Sansa uncorked the flagon of wine, put down the stopper picked up the flagon, holding it carefully by the hand and using the twisted stump of her other arm to support it and poured out a measure into each cup. She was getting better at operating with only one hand. They both picked up their cups and raised them. "To success in battle," she said.

"To the king," Sansa replied, they clinked their glasses together and sipped. It was the sweetest taste.

As they drank and ate, the few people who entered the godswood cast them envious looks as they hurried through on their way from one duty to another. "Sansa, can I ask you something?" she put down her empty cup. She'd wanted to bring it ever since word had spread of the Battle of Bayonne, and defeat came closer.

"Of course," Sansa said, putting down her cup, "what's wrong?"

Dany glanced around, looking for any potential witnesses. "When your brother wins… when you're free, do you think I'll be able to go with you?"

Sansa smiled, it was a sad smile. "I don't know," she said, reaching out and taking Dany's hand, squeezing it softly. "If the Lannisters fight to the end, if Robb takes King's Landing and the Red Keep, I won't let him leave you behind. I promise you. But if it comes to negotiation, I don't know. He doesn't know you've been my only friend here. He probably doesn't even know that you're here. I wish I could tell you something different, but-"

"It's okay," Dany said, cutting her off, blinking away the tears that came to her eyes. "I'll just have to hope your brother comes for you here then."

Sansa pulled her into a fierce hug. "We'll stay in contact, I promise you, I'll write to you as often as I can."

Dany held Sansa tightly. "Me too," she said, "me too."

"And if you get out," she said, brushing away Dany's tears, "if you come to me, I'll keep you safe."

Dany laughed. "So I'll just need to find my way out of hear and walk all the way up the continent to Winterfell?"

"How hard could it be?" Sansa replied.

"Easy compared to this place," Dany said and they both laughed, returning their attention to their picnic.


"Thank you for today," Sansa said, pulling the covers over her knees as they both lay back on the bed.

"My pleasure," Dany replied, smiled back, folding her arms over her belly and settling back, "we'll have to do it again sometime, if we can sneak some more food out the kitchen." She doubted it, with restrictions and belts both getting tighter, it was unlikely there would be another chance anytime soon. Still, it had been good to get this one day out amidst the horror. It might end for her very soon.

When Sansa was ready and the covers were pulled up, they blew out their candles and Dany lay her head down, listening intently, waiting for Sansa's breathing to fall into a slow and steady pattern. She leant over and gently pushed her shoulder. When she didn't react, Dany got out of bed and pulled off the nightgown. She went to her wardrobe and pulled out her dark clothing. By now changing in the dark was no problem to her, and when she was done, her gloves on and hair tied back, Dany slid back the carpet, opened the hidden door and slipped down into the tunnel beneath it.

Her lantern and dagger were waiting for her, but she only needed one tonight. She took up the dagger. She daren't take the lantern, not on this game of cat and mouse, too much was at stake.

She had been coming back from the stables, her heart beating with thrill and excitement, the blood of Cersei's knight on her dagger, the sight of it pumping from his throat, flowing down the cracks between the stones, staining the hay and spilling over the cobbles. His eyes bulging as she pulled down her hood, letting him see who had claimed his life in the darkness of the night. She had gone back into the tunnels, hurrying to her room, her lantern lighting the way when it had happened. She had turned the corner and instead of the wall, her lantern lit up dirty clothing, mud brown hair and pale blue eyes. A second passed, their eyes locked, fear and shock making the world stand still. Then he had run, scampering off down one corridor and turning a corner and out of sight. She'd been so stunned, so shocked that someone else had been down here that she hadn't moved for several seconds, and by the time she reached the turn in the corridor, he had gone.

How much had he seen, had she just been a shadowy figure in the darkness, cloaked in black? At first she'd thought nothing of it, then she realised with horror that she hadn't pulled her hood up after letting the Kettleblack see her face, if the boy had been able to determine her hair colour in the light of the lamp… No one had come for her yet, but there was a witness, someone had seen something of her. She had to find him.

She stalked into the tunnel as she had every evening since killing the Kettleblack, seeking out the witness.

She returned, her blade unblooded, not two hours later. Fuming, she left the dagger at the bottom of the hole and ascended the iron rungs, carefully pushing up the trap door and slipping out, covering it with the carpet again. She pulled her hood down, letting her hair flow out.

"I knew it."

She spun around. Sansa was sat upright in the bed, wide awake and staring at her.

"Sansa, how long have you been awake?"

"I never slept," she replied, shuffling back and resting against the headboard. "You should have checked that more thoroughly."

"But I-"

"No," Sansa cut across her, her voice flat and firm. "I'm asking the questions tonight. Get out of that lot," she gestured at Dany's black clothes, "and come and sit down."

As she disrobed and pulled on her nightgown again, Dany's mind raced, struggling to come up with a story about what she was doing down a trap door in the middle of the night, garbed in black. It could only have been worse if she was still holding the knife.

She slid into bed, feeling Sansa's eyes bore into her from the side. They sat in silence for many long, painful seconds. "You killed them didn't you?"

She wanted to lie, wanted to deny it. "Yes." Then asked. "How did you know?"

"I've woke up in the middle of the night that Ser Osney died," she said simply. "You weren't there. I thought perhaps you had been called away and didn't want to disturb me, or went for a breath of fresh air so I went back to sleep and when I woke up again in the morning, there you were. I didn't think anything of it that day. But whenever I couldn't sleep, you weren't there. So today I decided I would wait, see what happened. I still hadn't made the connection, but I saw you today. I saw you change into black clothes and go into a hidden door I'd never noticed before," she looked at her, hurt and accusing. "And I thought,where did you get those clothes? Then I remembered. It was the day that the High Septon died, and you were supposed to meet him that evening weren't you?"

She had been. "I… was."

Sansa pressed her questions. "And you were telling me how disgusting he was earlier that evening." Dany nodded. "So, you did it, you killed them both. The High Septon, Ser Osney Kettleblack. Have you killed someone else, is that where you were tonight?"

"No, not tonight."

"... who?"

"Meryn Trant."

Sansa's eyes widened. "You killed Meryn?"

Dany nodded. "I didn't mean to, it just happened."

"Tell me."

So she did. She told her everything. How Meryn had come upon her as she was walking around the castle, trying to identify the route she was taking, in the tunnels, how she stabbed him in the face and under the chin and watched him bleed out. How she'd tricked the High Septon into appearing at midnight, intending to leave him as she had told Sansa, but remembering all that he condoned against them, and going after him, slaying him in the middle of the Sept. How she'd been searching the corridors nightly, trying to work out where she was going and had ended up in the stables, had found Cersei's knight there. Remembering him from the Battle of the Blackwater and how he'd been doing Cersei's bidding. She'd killed him then. She told her everything, except about the person she'd seen down there on her way back.

Sansa's lips parted, her breathing heavy. "I see," she said. "And now I know… are you going to kill me?"

"What, no!" She took Sansa's hand and squeezed it tightly. "Sansa, I'm doing this for you? I'm killing the people who have hurt you, have hurt us! Only those who deserve to die. The Lannisters, those who support the ones who did this to you," she took the stump of Sansa's arm and held it gently. "They deserve to die, and I can kill them."

"Dany if they catch you-"

"It'll be worth it, so long as I can hurt them for what they did to you, I will and come what may."

"Dany," Sansa pressed a finger to her lips. "I'm worried about you. I'm scared about you."

"I'm being careful."

"Not because of that, I'm scared because I've been thinking, I've been looking back, and you haven't changed, it's like doing this hasn't affected you at all."

"What?" Hadn't it? Was it supposed to? If so how? Was she supposed to be sorry that the Lannister lackeys, the ones who had perpetrated and facilitated their crimes against Sansa, against her and her family, were dying at her hand.

"You're the same as you were before, exactly the same," Sansa's eyes were pleading, opening. "I thought I knew you."

"You do know me," Dany assured her, smiling and pressing their foreheads together. "I'm the same person I was, but now, with the tunnels, I can act against the people who've hurt us. I can make them pay."

Sansa stared at her, her bright blue eyes piercing her. "You're going to keep doing this, aren't you?"

"I'll stop if you insist, I promise, if you tell me never to do it, never to go after them, I'll stop and I'll never go back down there."

Sansa nodded, and Dany prepared herself to hear the request. "You don't want to stop do you."

"No," she whispered. "There are still others, others who need to die. Cersei, Joffrey, if I can get my hands on them…"

Sansa nodded against her forehead. "I know. Just promise me, promise me you'll be careful."

Dany smiled and kissed Sansa's forehead. "I will, I promise."