Jon knew what people would say when Daenerys came to his tent that night but he didn't really care. For all, he knew they were going to be dead in a few hours and he and Daenerys hadn't spoken as friends in weeks. There hadn't been any time with the battle and everyone was trying to get ready to leave so they could go south. Yet as the camp slowed down and everyone went to sleep Daenerys let herself in without a word. Jon looked up from the map he was staring at for the 100th time and smiled at her.
"You know what people are going to say if they see you here," Jon said and she shrugged.
"Let them," Daenerys said as if it didn't matter. The bed in his tent was a decent size and Jon smiled a little to himself when Daenerys threw herself on it and sighed heavily. "Every instinct of mine is telling me that I shouldn't hold back tomorrow even though I want to. I want to conquer Cersei with fire and blood but I also know that I'm risking the city. She's keeping the people in the city because she knows that I care for them and that makes me weaker."
"It does but conquering Cersei and what happens afterward is just as important," Jon replied. "Remember what Davos and Gendry said; the people have rebelled before and they will rebel again. If you sacrifice them they will turn on you and while you might have dragons you don't want to rule through fear." Jon walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. Daenerys reached out and took one of his hands as she stared at the ceiling of the tent.
"If you're okay with it I'd like to stay here tonight," Daenerys said. "Missandei is panicking that she won't be able to lead the Unsullied well tomorrow and needs her sleep. I don't want to be alone and I don't have anyone else." The last person Jon had been close to was Ygritte and it felt a little weird since Daenerys was his aunt but he was also feeling afraid and nervous and didn't want to be alone. They had to move their limbs around a little to make room in the bed but they both fell asleep.
Daenerys wasn't there when Jon woke up and he was a little grateful for that since it would be a little weird. He climbed out of bed and pulled on his armor, he strapped Longclaw to his waist and looked at the map again. It was time for the battle and there wasn't anything he could do about it.
Jon walked outside and could feel everyone watching him as he made his way to the front lines. Daenerys was there with Missandei and the Unsullied continued to look at the woman as their leader. Gendry had made her two a sword similar to Needle so she wouldn't be unarmed even though she was remaining toward the back of the lines at the end of the day. She was the one who would help get people out of the city. Gendry and Arya were already on their horses and they were staring at the city with oddly blank expressions on their face. Gendry had his war hammer strapped to his back and Arya carried Needle and the blade that Gendry made for her called Thread on her hip. Sandor was nearby and Jon felt like he could trust the man to keep an eye on his little sister.
He looked over his shoulder and saw that everyone was in formation. There was a small group of men that would be staying behind to guard their camp. Drogon and Viserion were nearby and waiting for Daenerys. Jon could see the golden company waiting for them outside the city and the smell of death and destruction was already lingering in the air. There weren't any big speeches, there weren't any words he could say to these soldiers, because they all knew what was on the table. They all knew what they had to do and how they had to win.
Jon climbed on his horse and nodded to Davos who promised to stay by his side. He nodded to Arya, Gendry, Sandor, and even Jaime. He watched as Daenerys climbed on her dragons and took to the sky. Missandei called out orders to the Unsullied and the last of the Dothraki. It was time to go to war and Jon prayed to all of the old and new gods that they didn't lose everything.
He looked up as they rode forward and Jon could see Drogon and Viserion shooting through the skies. They had talked about how exactly they wanted to keep the dragons safe as possible and Jaime seemed to think the best way was to stay as high as possible for as long as possible. That meant Daenerys was going to spend a lot of time diving down, burning things to the ground, and then going up above the clouds again. She did her first drive at the scorpions on top of the walls leading into King's Landing as they approached. The Golden Company clearly didn't know what they were supposed to do with a dragon attacking from one side and an army approaching from the other.
Jon raised Longclaw in the air and looked at the soldiers around him. The Unsullied would approach on foot with the remains of the Northern forces and the men that Edmure brought to the cause. The remains of the Dothraki and a select group of knights that got horses were the frontline. It was the last place he wanted his family but Jon knew better than trying to talk Arya, Gendry, or even Edmure out of this attack. Danaerys destroyed a majority of the walls leading into the city and was coming back for a second round. The Golden Company had to run away from the city and toward the army to avoid dragonfire. They were going to get another chance. Jon knew he had to give the order; he pointed Longclaw forward and they charged.
The Dothraki, while only a handful remained, pulled ahead right away. They were amazing to see on horseback and Jon wished they had more of them in this fight. They were mostly following the orders of Danaerys and Missandei but out of all of the soldiers they had these were the ones Jon felt like he had the least control over. At least they were talented at fighting and could make things a lot easier. It also put a small barrier between himself and the other high ranking commanders and fighters on horseback. The Golden Company stood tall even as they ran from the dragonfire that had destroyed large parts of the wall. Jon could see that Danaerys was heading back into the sky to try and take out as much of Euron's fleet as she could. They were on their own.
A battle against men was both different and not much different from a battle with the dead. Jon tried not to think about the battle for Winterfell against the Bolton's but the first time hot blood splashed in his face all he could think about was nearly getting crushed. All he could think about was watching Rickon fall in the mud and being unable to save his little brother. He needed to focus because he couldn't die here and leave his family. His sisters needed him, the North needed him, and he was going to live through this for all of them.
It didn't take long for Jon to get knocked off of his horse but he fought with everything he had nevertheless. Vaguely, he could hear Missandei calling out orders to the Unsullied and the Dothraki. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sandor nearly cut a man in half with his sword. Jon was grateful to see that Arya and Gendry were fighting side by side and it was a little amazing to see his little sister fighting with her duel swords and killing men without flinching. The Golden Company fought with all they had but it wasn't enough. Jon heard one of them call a retreat into the city and this was something he was not looking forward to. They needed to push the Lannister forces back into the Red Keep and they needed to clear out the city so Danaerys could take the keep without burning the city to the ground.
"Everyone move forward!" Jon called out and began to make his way toward the broken gates and large holes in the walls so they could enter the city. "Push their forces back to the Red Keep and tell the civilians to evacuate!" He looked around and saw Arya and Gendry and knew that they were two that he could trust with this. "Arya, Gendry, I need you both to get into the city and spread the word that the gates are open and that everyone needs to get out right away. Can you do that?"
"I stayed in Westeros to protect the smallfolk; I'm not about to stop now," Arya replied. She nodded to Gendry and the two of them took off into the city fighting as they went. Jon could see Sandor following them and he felt a little better. If there was anyone who could keep Arya and Gendry from getting themselves killed it was Sandor.
Jon looked at the city in front of them and knew that moving as one group was not the best way to go about this. They needed to swarm the entire city and to do that meant breaking his army up into smaller platoons. He turned to Missandei who stood at the entrance of the city on a horse. She was the one who was going to try and guide people out of the city when she could.
"Missandei, I need you to tell the Dothraki and the Unsullied that we'll be splitting into smaller groups and moving through the city until we've pushed the entire army back to the Red Keep. They are also under strict orders not only from me, but Queen Danaerys as well, not to hurt any of the civilians. They aren't part of this."
"Yes, Your Grace," Missandei replied. "I will do my best to get people out of the city the best I can." She begins to relay the orders as Jon gathered his own group of Northmen to take into the city. He could hear Danaerys working in the Blackwater to destroy the ships but he had no way of knowing if that was going well or not. There wasn't time to think about it; they needed to move forward.
The order was given and the army began to spread out through the city as it began to push the Golden Company and the Lannister soldiers back. It seemed that they were keen to fight which Jon didn't have a problem with. The fewer people they had to deal with in the Red Keep the better. The Golden Company fought well but what they lacked was passion for the battle they were in. They wanted to win because they wanted to get paid and while greed was a great motivator Jon liked to think they had something much more important. They were fighting to get rid of a tyrant, of a woman that killed so many people and destroyed so many lives, and that was much more important than money.
Jon was proud of the way his soldiers fought and he felt better having his own men around him as they moved through the city. The people of King's Landing seemed grateful to see them and none of them fought back when he told them that he wanted people out of the city. They had seen Drogon and Viserion, they knew there were dragons in the air, and they seemed to put two and two together to realize that being in the city was not a good idea.
He was a little surprised how many young men said they wanted to stay and help fight. Jon didn't know what to say to those men so instead he told them to help others. He told them to help the elderly or the sick and help defend those that couldn't defend themselves. Jon told those men and women that wanted to fight that Missandei was waiting at the gates and she was going to need people to protect her if the soldiers got through their lines. As he pushed through the city toward the Red Keep more and more civilians ran toward the gates of the city to get out and far away some with only the clothes on their backs. They were the ones that remembered the last time this city was sacked.
Jon stabbed a Lannister soldier through the neck and felt blood on his skin and everything around him felt a little too quiet. Something wasn't right. There weren't any soldiers around him and while he could hear fighting he didn't see anything. There was movement behind them and Jon realized half a moment too late that he had led his men into a trap.
"We're surrounded, hold your ground!" Jon called out as a group of Lannister soldiers and members of the Golden Company surrounded them on all sides. They were outnumbered and for some reason, these soldiers were fighting differently. They weren't fighting to kill instead they were trying to incapacitate. Jon fought with everything he had but before long he was surrounded on all sides by soldiers.
"Drop your weapon boy or we'll start gutting each and every one of your men in front of you," a soldier warned.
"And if I surrender?" Jon asked.
"Then you and your men will live to become prisoners of war," the soldier replied. "If you don't we'll kill your men and we're still taking you prisoner, boy. Whether or not your men live is your choice." Jon looked at his men and he couldn't have the blood of more Northmen on his hands. He gritted his teeth hard and dropped Longclaw on the ground. The Lannister soldier smirked and Jon didn't fight back at the pommel of a sword smashed into his head. Jon felt a flash of pain and then nothing.
Arya didn't like being in King's Landing. The entire city seemed like it was the center of all of her nightmares. This is where she lost her father and where everything started to go to hell. It was where she was beaten within an inch of her life and where Cersei made it clear that while she lived Gendry would be in danger. It was where she had to watch the man she loved to suffer beatings so terrible that he nearly died. It was where she lost her sister and didn't get her back until years later. Arya hated this city so much and there was a part of her that wanted Danaerys to burn it to the ground. There was a part of her that didn't want to try and save anything about this city because it was forever tainted in her eyes. That wasn't the plan though. Those weren't the orders that Jon gave her and Arya was going to listen to her brother.
The Lannister soldiers and the Golden Company were decent fighters but her and Gendry were experts at luring people away from large groups. It was like being Wolf and Bull again which made the entire experience a little better for her. Arya was doing the thing that she knew how to do and that made her feel a little safer. The people of King's Landing all looked like hell. They were thin and starving yet at the same time, they looked like they were ready to run her through with a sword if she looked at them funny. They had seen the dragons and when Arya told them to run they usually did. A few stayed behind and insisted they could fight.
"I want blood for the Sept of Baelor," one man told Arya as he clenched a sword tight enough that his knuckles were white. She glanced at Gendry who shrugged because who were they to deny these people the revenge they wanted. The thought of revenge made her think of Sandor and whether this man was getting revenge, justice, or some combination of both. Arya also didn't think she was the one to tell these men and women what they could and could not do. She tried to get them to leave but if they wouldn't after the first or second try she didn't try to stop them anymore.
That didn't make it any easier the first time she saw one of the civilians gutted by a Lannister soldier and left to bleed out on the streets of King's Landing.
Arya hated this so much and she hated Cersei for causing more bloodshed. She hated that Gendry got slashed on the arm and was going to have to bare another scar. Arya nearly took the head off of the man that hurt him.
"I'm okay. It's just a scratch," Gendry said but nothing was "just" anything in this city. This wasn't just a battle; this was a fight for the very future of Westeros. She didn't know if Danaerys was even still alive or winning her fight out in Blackwater. She could hear the dragons roaring but that didn't mean they were winning. Arya didn't know where Jon was or if he was okay and it made something twist in her stomach. By the gods did she hate this. Arya wished she had the skills to go and do this on her own where her family was safe. Where these civilians weren't involved and she didn't see more blood on the ground of King's Landing. She hated this and she wanted it to end.
Another group of soldiers attacked but there was something wrong. It was a small group and she could see more lingering on the edges of the battle. She thrust Needle through a man's neck and watched him fall to the ground as she looked around. There was a reason they were staying away. There was something on the street and it looked far too green. Arya looked up and watched as one of the soldiers knelt down and lit the green liquid on fire. She knew, instantly, what it was.
"Everyone get down they have wildfire!" Arya screamed. Gendry knocked a man to the ground and looked up at her. He was closer to the barrel of wildfire, she saw it now than she was. Arya wanted to yell and tell him to run but the world exploded in green before she could say a word. She thought she went into the air and everything around her immediately went silent. The ringing in her ears was so loud Arya wished she could hear screams than the ringing. Her entire body seemed to explode with pain when she hit the ground. She wasn't quite blind for a moment but it took some time for the world to come back into focus.
The men around her were all still on the ground or groaning from their wounds. They weren't paying attention to the world around them. Arya tried to force her body to move but it wouldn't. She could see Gendry lying several feet away and he wasn't moving. There wasn't blood pooling around him so there was a chance he wasn't dead but she needed to feel his heartbeat beneath her hands to prove that he wasn't dead.
The soldiers that were lingering on the edges of the fight came into view and she watched them slaughter the civilians that weren't already dead. Arya realized that she was hidden in the shadows, thrown free from the blast, but still close enough that all she could do was watch. She didn't know if she could handle watching them kill Gendry. They didn't though; instead, they put their swords away and two men picked up his limp body. They began to carry him away and even though she was half-deaf Arya could still hear a few words.
"...prisoner...orders..." but it wasn't enough. Cersei always said that Gendry would make a perfect prisoner of war and she was getting him again. Another soldier noticed her and smirked as he approached. She still couldn't get her body to move and he was saying something about taking her too. Arya blinked and one moment the soldier was alive and the next was being run through with a sword. Sandor walked into her line of sight and tossed the man aside. Arya struggled to point to Gendry, to tell Sandor to help him and not her, but he ignored her as he took her into his arms.
"I know little wolf," Sandor said or that was what Arya thought he said. "But there isn't anything we can do for him now." She wanted to argue but Sandor shifted her body just so and the pain was enough to make her blackout.
Cersei watched as one of the barrels of wildfire she placed throughout the city exploded and she wondered how many of the dragon bitches men she took with it. Things weren't going as well out in Blackwater but that didn't really matter because she already knew how she was going to win this war. The people she was fighting had heart and there was nothing in the world easier to exploit than kindness. Cersei saw it in the way they tried to get the people of King's Landing out of the city like they were innocent. The thought that any of those people that flung shit at her were innocent was enough to make her stomach twist into a knot.
She watched as her men pulled back to the Red Keep and locked the doors behind them and she wondered how things were going down there. Qyburn walked into the room an hour or so later and bowed.
"Your Grace, the men have fallen back to the Red Keep," he said. "All is going according to your plan."
"Thank you, Qyburn," Cersei said with a smile. "It's time to send a raven to the Queen of Dragons."