Chapter 6: The Fall
Two weeks after the King's arrival…
I like Jaime Lannister.
And I don't mean just in the original source material, show or what little I got from the books, no, I genuinely have gotten along with him really well in the time the King and his family have been in Winterfell, it's insane.
After the king and my uncle left the Crypts, Jaime made an effort to challenge me to a "friendly duel" in the yard, which I managed to win through my superior speed. Of course, he was able to win the immediate rematch after he started taking it seriously. After that, we took the chance to have usual morning spars before he began his shift since neither of us got the chance to get new sparring partners of near equal skill very often, and we've grown closer because of it.
And I know it isn't just a one sided growing friendship because in the two weeks this has been happening, his reputation with me has grown to 56/100. From 20/100. That's the fastest it has ever gone up with the exception of Cat, and I wasn't expecting it.
Of course, despite all my efforts to improve my reputation with people growing up, I sometimes dont get why some people's reputation increases with me or not, especially those that are from the south who I rarely get to socialize with in person. My best guess is that it might be because despite being of Ned Stark's blood I don't consider what he did to my grandfather non honorable which is apparently a rare view to have? Again, I can't be sure since Jon rarely interacted with Jaime in the show, and did not at ALL in the book from what I have heard. MAYBE it's because I might remind him of my father, my ACTUAL father, and that's why? Either due to fondness of him, or loyalty, I don't know. Either way, maybe he wont push Bran out of the tower in this version of events because if he doesnt, than I wont have any personal problems wit him, except the incest thing.
But that's a problem for future Jon. For now, I face Jaime with my practice sword in hand, as we circle each other. Jaime is clearly playing on the defensive after the last few times my superior speed took advantage of that. Clearly seeing that he isn't going to be moving any time soon, I rush in, keeping my sword low. He tries to strike as I approach, but I move out of the way, slashing horizontally. He just manages to parry, getting closer into my range clearly trying to tackle me to the ground. Seeing he's trying to stop me from being able to swing at him, I pull out a practice dagger I kept on my belt, and hold it to his throat.
"Yield?"
He takes a moment to respond, and sighs in reply, "aye. I yield"
Our match done, we go to put away our practice weapons and armor and put on our actual equipment, where Jaime takes the opportunity to jape with me,
"Now, while you did win Snow, that wasn't very fair. I thought we were fighting with swords, not daggers?"
I smile a little in response and say, "You said that, I didn't necessarily agree."
He nods and continues, "Well, I'll keep that in mind next time. For now though, I am going to get to my shift, it should start soon."
As he's about to go, we hear a voice say, "Good, maybe I can finally get a moment to talk to my scroll mate"
Walking up to us is Tyrion "The Imp". Of course, I've never called him that. He also mostly got his looks from the show, basically Peter Dinklage but with bright blonde hair and green eyes. He doesn't have the… Heterochroma? I think it's called? Two eye color diseases that Tyrion from the books had. He takes a moment to nod to both of us before continuing,
"I've barely had a moment to talk to my friend here with all the time you've taken of his Jaime. Still trying to get a Valyrian steel sword out of him? I was under the impression he could only reshape the steel, not actually make it. Such a shame, the art has been lost since the Fall of Valyria."
That was another possible reason I thought of why Jaime had been trying to get closer to me. It was known even far south that I could reforge Valyrian steel I guess. It kinda had to be if I wanted to publicly use a Valyrian steel sword and gift one to my little sister. Of course, I answered with the same response Ive given the other 3 times I have been asked,
"And I would be more than willing once there is material to draw from. If you would excuse my Ser Jaime, I should probably talk with your brother, we were about to read some stories on the Dance of the Dragons."
And with that, Jaime nods and leaves me to walk with Tyrion to the library. Once we are there, I take out a letter from my inventory acting like I had it hidden in one of the bookcases, and hand it to him.
He looks it over for a second, and then burns it, before asking hesitatingly,
"You're sure? I'll do whatever I can, but you truly mean?"
"Yes." I responded. "Don't worry, I got it covered. Worst case, there's the Knight".
Knight in this case is of course code for "Big fucking Dragon" in case people are listening in on us, however unlikely it would be anyone other than one of Varys's birds.
He seems to concede that before we move on to actually reading about the Dance of the Dragons and how they fought. A tool that will be useful in the wars to come.
Later that night…
That night we were all feasting in the hall. Unlike my show counterpart however, I am at the main table. Well, behind the main table, acting as my uncle's bodyguard, similar to Jaime who also is by my side. I make sure to keep a vigil eye out just to be safe, but the only thing I can really see is the King… socializing with the women, and Bran blushing a little while talking about something with Mycrella, who also seems to be blushing.
Yes, it turns out that the King decided to marry "his" daughter to Bran, and so they were now engaged until they both reached the age of at least 10 and 6 name days. And honestly? They were really cute. I know that in the show she got really close to that Martell guy, but it seemed like she actually got along pretty well with Bran. After seeing Bran shaking his head a little bit, Myrcella gets up, and walks over to Jaime who is standing next to me.
"Uncle Jaime?" She asks him.
Jaime surprised that she got up to speak to him, composes himself and replies to her,
"What is it Myrcella?"
She asks, "Bran wants to be a knight. He says that its their duty to be good and true and hopes to grow up to be the best one. So, I was wondering if you could maybe squire him?"
Oh boy, there's those butterflies. Apparently, knowing that Bran wants to be a knight, and knowing her "uncle" is a really cool knight, Myrcella decides to straight up ask him right next to a ton of witnesses. While technically, he is under no obligation to say "yes", in reality it could be seen as a slight to house Stark if he refuses, or more importantly, anger the king who is close to the Starks and would demand Bran be taken as a squire right away.
Clearly understanding this, Jaime takes a moment, and says, "Sure Myrcella. Why not?"
Oh boy, that's… well, not bad, but not good. Either Bran gets crippled still and that's why he can't come south as Jaimes squire, or he doesn't get crippled and I have to worry about all the assassination attempts that would come his way from a certain queen trying to keep him quiet regardless of if he actually loses his memories or not.
On the other other hand, maybe Jaime will be more hesitant to push his future son-in-law out a window knowing how sad his daughter will be. Or maybe the entire reason for starting this war and what will kick off the events I planned for won't happen if that fall doesn't happen. Shit! I'm happy that there is a possibility that Bran won't be pushed at all, but I don't know how in the world this is going to work.
While that's going on, Bran walks up to me, seeming to understand what Myrcella is doing, and needing some comfort, decides to come to me about it, which I kinda get since I've been the one Jaimes been talking to, and might be able to answer his questions.
He opens up, saying, "Jon… Do you think Jaime will say yes? I'm not particularly good at fighting, I'm ok at riding horses. I'm good with a bow, but knights don't use bows? Im… I'm not good enough to squire such a famous knight."
Seeing that my brother is feeling a little down, I decide to cheer him up, despite knowing what it will mean for my plans should things change too much.
"Aye. That may be true. But you have something much more important, something far greater that is lacking in many knights, something that despite all looks, Jaime has in even greater excess than his skills with the sword."
Brans clearly interested, asking,
"And what's that?"
I smile before responding, "Honor. Honor is something that few knights possess, and Jaime is one of the most honorable men in the realm, despite what people say about him being an oath breaker. He killed a tyrant, not a king. "
Reputation with Jaime raised by +20 to (76/100)
I look back to see that Jaime has a surprised look on his face, clearly not expecting someone to praise his actions. Because while the Mad King was a tyrant, apparently, the fact Jaime killed a King was WAAAAAY more important.
With that out of mind, I pat Bran's shoulder, and let him go back to sit down while I contemplate how much this will probably mess with my plans.
Some good news happens though. I can see the door opening, and in walks my other uncle Benjen. I point him out to my Uncle Ned, and we both walk over to him, happy to see a familiar face.
"It's so good to see you two! Jon, you've been sure to keep my brother safe right? While everyone who's tried to kill him has met their end, he's getting kinda old and might need some help."
Ned grins at Benjens japing before pulling him into a hug, and says, "It's good to see you too, Benjen. And yes, he has, but I'm not so old yet. Now come, let's discuss what's been happening at the Wall, what they might need, and how many men and castles you have."
As they are walking away, I can hear the start of Benjen saying, "Well, we currently have about 6000 men and have 7 of the castles fixed and manned…"
Of course, I don't interfere in their conversation. Ned gestured for me to go back to the main table to guard his other family members, and I had to follow his orders in public, you know, "just a bastard" and his bodyguard. As I walk up, I can see Bran looking up a little nervous at Jaime, before Jaime smiles back at him and shakes his hand.
Clearly he approved at least somewhat of Bran. His behavior towards Myrcella probably helped a lot in that aspect. I take a moment to OBSERVE Jaimes current thoughts to be sure,
Jaime
Thoughts: Bit surprised that Mycrella asked him to make her betrothed to his squire, but is willing to do it nonetheless, finding him to be a good kid. Looks forward to having Bran squire for him, has a reputation of 34/100 with him.
Yes, other people have reputations with other people like I do. The only reason I haven't used it very often up until now is because I've intuitively known most people around me enough to not need it. What I plan to do though depends very heavily on how Jaime sees other people though, so I took a moment to observe his most prominent reputations, and…
Jaime
Reputation(s)
Myrcella: 90/100
Tommen: 90/100
Joffrey: 76/100 (not saying he doesn't still love him, the slight difference is more due to slight horror at sadistic tendencies he doesn't directly address)
Cersei: 88/100
Tyrion: 84/100
Tywin: 78/100
…
Jon Snow: 76/100 (seems to think of him as a man of honor for his most "dishonorable" act)
Bran Stark: 34/100
Hopefully, it will be enough. Maybe my brother won't get pushed out a window. Maybe. For now, we'll just enjoy the feast. Worry about that later.
Later that night…
Apparently not. I forgot that the letter Lysa sent arrived the same night that Benjen visited Winterfell. I didn't see the exchange between Ned and Cat, but they did make sure to call me Neds solar. Entering, I notice the clear tense atmosphere. That, while they knew the news was coming, that the proof of Lysa's betrayal would come, nothing can really actually prepare you for the news that your own kin is lying to you and is fine with the consequences it could mean.
As I walk in, I can tell it's not gonna be a long talk. We've been preparing, the only thing to discuss is what has changed, and how we have to prepare to account for those changes. The main one being…
"So what now? If Jaime is squiring Bran, what do we do now?"
I take a moment to think because the question isn't, "Jaime squiring Bran", no, the REAL question is "What do we do if Bran is pushed out the window and we have to take him south since he wouldn't be crippled and on paper there's no reason he couldn't do his squire duties and would be easily open to assassination attempts to keep him silent?", and the answer I have is,
"We… We keep him safe. I'll make sure to guard him personally. And if he remembers, I trust him enough to know he'll keep quiet if I ask him too. Of course maybe Jaime WON'T push him, which…."
I hesitate to continue, it would be good of course on a personal level, ANYTHING that prevents my brother from getting hurt is a good thing, but…
"Would it mean our plans would be thrown off since the assassination wouldn't happen, and Petyr wouldn't be able to lie about the dagger?"
Ned says in response. I nod my head solemnly, and say,
"Yes. While there are avenues still available to us, if the… fall does not happen, all our plans will have to change."
We all stand there in silence, not really knowing what to say. I take a moment before saying,
"Either way, I'm pretty sure that the King will invite you out for a hunt and Jaime will stay behind to, erm, "socialize '' with his sister. I will make sure to shadow Bran, and if he climbs that tower, I will make sure to catch him. If not… we'll plan from there."
There's not really anything else we can say. After that, we leave to go to bed. I, of course, make sure to pet Ghost who's sleeping at the end of my bed on the floor on a blanket I made sure to get him. Falling asleep, I ready myself for tomorrow, a day that's going to determine the future of the realm.
Tomorrow morning…
Just like I thought, the king invited my uncle out for a hunt, and Jaime is staying behind. Knowing what will… probably still happen, I make sure to shadow Bran the whole day. Thank the Gods I grinded my stealth skill to (70/100) so he wouldn't notice me.
Finally, the time comes, and I see him climbing the famous tower. I wait close to the bottom, out of his sight, but keeping a critical eye on him, ready to move as soon as I see any sign of him losing his grip. He finally gets to the window at the top, and looks in. I cant see what is happening, but I have a pretty strong suspicion its Jaime and Cersei doing an incest. What does surprise me is that he seems to be up there a little longer than what I remember from watching it in the show. I could be wrong, it's probably just time slowing down seeing my brother in a very dangerous situation. What's weird is that, for some reason, he starts to turn on his side? Like he's preparing to leave the way he came. Until at the last moment, he's pushed!
I run to catch him, making sure to place a mattress from my inventory where I can tell he's going to land. Unfortunately, he's not falling straight on his back like I remember, he's landing on his left side, and when he lands on the bed…
SNAP
There's a strong snap, his bicep bone, whatever it's called, just… oh Gods, Bran.
At the moment I don't care about any plans, any of that, my brothers going into shock. I ran up to him and picked him up. I place the bed in my inventory and run to find our maester. Fuck! How could I forget to remind the maester we would need him! Bran needs help now!
After running as fast as I can, I find maester Luwin Reading in the library. I don't need to say anything, he sees Bran in my arms, and instantly knows what to do. He simply says,
"Follow me."
We go to his solar office, whatever, where he has all his supplies. Brans still going in and out of panic, stroke, whatever, mode. I don't know, I'm not a doctor. I'm holding Bran's (unbroken) hand, repeating,
"You're going to be all right Bran, it's going to be alright."
Maester Luwin pushes me aside, and tells me, "I need to concentrate. Please leave so I can set Bran's arm, preventing it from being disfigured."
I reluctantly leave, closing the door behind me. I can hear Bran crying out in pain, and I cant stand it, and run away. I need to clear my head, to calm down and make sure I dont go rip Jaimes head off. I eventually end up in the Godswood, and go to sit by the tree, and try to control my breathing. Trying to control my rage. Trying to not think of ways I can call Naraxes back to Winterfell to rip Jaime apart, for deciding despite everything, to still throw a 10 year old kid out a window for something that wasn't his fault.
I failed.
Later that night…
After Luwin was able to set Brans arm, Bran's been in a coma. I guess it really was the fall, not the crippling, that led to him becoming the Three-Eyed Raven. Or maybe he changed his mind. I don't know.
At the moment, I was sitting next to Bran, making sure to keep him safe. Make sure nothing else happened to him. And who knows? If that creepy dude with the knife shows up, I can rip HIS head off, no one would blame me.
Hearing the door open, I don't look up. There's a lot of people it could be, Bran was well liked, all the Starks came to visit him, and Cat hasnt left since she heard the news. However, what I wasn't expecting was who I it was when they start talking,
"Is my squire ok? Ive… Ive heard he broke his arm."
Looking up, I see the last person I would ever think would dare show his face here. He has the nerve to have that look of guilt, of worry on his face. He pushed my brother out a window, despite how much my brother showed his respect for him, despite how close his daughter and Bran got, he was totally fine with!...
Idecide to OBSERVE him, seeing if any of that guilt is genuine, see if he does have a soul or not. If he's happy he didn't get caught. And I'm surprised once again.
Jaime
Feelings: Guilt. Worry for Bran and beside himself that Myrcella is sad about the news. Feeling he should have stopped Cersei.
Reputation changes:
Cersei: 88/100 to 73/100
Bran: 34/100 to 48/100
Oh.
OOOOHHHH. There are those butterflies again. Maybe there is hope for you yet Jaime Lannister. Just maybe.
AN
Just wanted to say thanks for getting over 6,500 views and 150 followers at the time of writing this! It's been fun writing this, and I hope to make sure to keep writing and listening to reviews to fix any mistakes I make, and to improve for the future. Now, onto reviews,
InfinityMask : You're right, I need to have more interactions with the other Stark kids, and I tried to rectify that somewhat in this chapter with Bran and Benjen, and plan to try to have at least some interaction with other characters. There are SO many characters in Game of Thrones that I am having a bit of a tough time figuring out how to write it so that he interacts with all these characters and keeps it straight. I will be doing it more though as we get into the more "scheming" part of the plot. Without getting TOO in depth though, he is really close to his family, especially to Arya, but generally he has a pretty good relationship with everyone including Sansa. As for Sansa and what she thinks about Joffrey, well, she thinks he looks nice, but she does like Domeric and has gotten to interact with him for years, and is happy with her current betrothal.
The Bluest of Winters : You're right. This is my first time writing, and I have to work on not being defensive in my writing. I will try to avoid that as much as I can, only really having Jon defend his choices when other characters make logical arguments against his choices and he defends it. Otherwise, I'll try to avoid that.
TrumpasaurusRex : That's fair about the Faegon argument. The one thing I will say as a spoiler I will keep to is that Faegon, at least in this story, does not exist. The Golden Company does exist, and there are story things that will happen with that, but not Faegon. Remember, while there are a few elements of the book present here, this is MOSTLY going by the show. Don't worry, I'm not carrying much more from season 7 or 8, mostly just the Golden Company. There are some certain changes I am making, like a certain captain hook not being like the show. Also, while it isn't perfect, remember, Jon has received a lord's education and has a humble upbringing, while also conveniently having the strongest blood claim to the throne, still giving Varys a good option for a ruler for the realm. I will admit, some of these changes border on mild AU basically, but I will try to keep the changes minimal and seem logical at least.
Jean d'arc : Thanks! While I am MOSTLY going with the show, like I stated earlier, I did think it would help with the story for there to be JUST enough book elements for Jon to be wary of what he should do. As for why he still wants the war to happen? The tldr reason is because if he doesnt get the throne, he wont be in a position to make sure the "fucking politicking" doesnt get in the way of preparing for the war. Longer version, its because while Robert is good at leading an army in a war, the problem is that, despite this war being LITERALLY FOR THE GOOD OF HUMANITY, Jon knows there's a reality where a Lannister had control of the throne, and decided to not take the war to the north seriously. More than that, he knows without having authority beyond the "bastard son" of Ned Stark, he can't get a stranglehold on those that would hinder the Real War, mainly the Lannisters, the Vale, and/or Baelish. He needs that authority as king to control that. Also, it doesn't help that if the war doesn't happen through his actions he doesn't know what the Lannisters will do. Most importantly though? As long as the Lannisters have a hold on the throne, Dorne will definitely never be anything other than a bunch of schemers while the Tyrells will be doing a bunch of shit to try to get on the throne. I will admit part of why is that it helps the story, but I think it makes some logical sense when considering all of that.
Camsonius : Thanks! I tried to explain it in a logical way. As for the Show book details, it's mostly the show I am going by, with some elements of the book sprinkled in. The main change I was making was how insanely big, large or tall some structures in Westeros are, to the point of being inefficient. The only exception was the Wall which I did shrink, but still kept at an insane 300 feet tall. As for giving Robb a sword… Winter's Wind… that's a good name, I might borrow it.
Cliff . west : I did not, but he does have plans. Maybe it's scorpions, maybe it's something else.
Now, I will admit, I was contemplating how to handle the idea of Jaime and what his "reputation" values would be. I know that in the books he doesn't really love his children until he loses his hand, but considering in the show even Tyrion, someone who hates Cersei and who Cersei hates, has a good relationship with his nephews, I don't buy that Jaime wouldn't care about them. And while I might have been a little on the nose, I tried to set up a situation where Jaime would have JUST enough hesitation where he wouldn't immediately push Bran out the window, and so Cersei would rush and do it herself. I will admit, it borders on AU, but I was trying to write it in a way where it would make sense that Jaime would make a different decision that is clearly affected by the si changing things, and what it could mean. As for why Jaimes reputation for Jon is rising really fast for some reason, well, lets just say there IS a reason for it. Maybe it's a reason Jon guessed, maybe its something else, but there is a reason.