AN: I decided that instead of kicking myself repeatedly in the head, trying to get a Theon chapter out, that I'd explore other perspectives (again).

I am sorry for the massive delay, but I'll try to be more regular from now on.

I'm taking a few liberties with how medieval armies are organized, but I'm pretty sure that it's a logical conclusion to the matter. Be sure to correct me though, if I'm making a grievous mistake.

Also, I love writing a young, more ambitious but still relatively the same Jon. I hope to make him more interesting to the people who got bored of Jon in canon, but still likeable to the people who like him.

I dread to write more complicated characters though. Mostly because I'm afraid that they come off as... Pretentious? OOC? I don't know.

Good ol' Ned Stark is me dipping my feet into those type of characters, since he is a pretty complicated man.

Theon is relatively simple, because he's a (somewhat and relatively) modified me and I know myself pretty well, but since I can be pretty unpredictable... Jon is also simple, because he's a kid at the moment. When he gets older, he'll get more complicated but I'm not going to elaborate.

I'm not going to stick around for the kid/teenage section of Theon much, but I'll try to make the most of the character opportunities that I've been given with. Interludes are going to be around quite a lot, because otherwise, I'd be crippling myself. I'm not a good enough writer to write first person viewpoint and keep it perfectly within the character's viewpoint, so I branch out when I see that Theon is getting a bit too savvy about what's going on, when he should be in the dark.

Sorry, for the long AN, I needed to explain a few things. Also, a massive thank you to Basker for his/her kind and insightful words. He/she's the one that essentially got this fic out of the ice cube, so to speak, and I needed to thank him/her for it. Every reviewer is welcome, but I have to give credit where it's due.

I also thank anybody who's still with me after this hiatus. I know that since chapters are short, they should be written quickly but... It's pretty hard to be consistent with that thing. I write when I feel that it should be written.

That's probably GRR Martin's problem, if you think about it.

Options and Opportunities

Interlude II

Eddard, Jon II

"Get him to Winterfell," Ned commanded upon seeing the crowd, upon seeing the young, but more importantly, bleeding out, Greyjoy heir. "Quickly, and make sure that he is given to Maester Luwin as soon as possible for treatment."

"Yes, milord." One of the bigger men said, carefully grabbing the boy and carrying him bridal style.

"Twenty-five of you shall go to the woods and sent them even farther away. If you manage to rid us of them, I shall hand out free food, alcohol to everyone within Winterfell's walls for two days." He ordered, deciding to reward his bannermen for their services to him - he planned on doing it anyway, especially after the amount of fighting that had occurred. "If you can't take them on, retreat however."

The resounding cheer indicated to Ned that he had made the right choice of words.

The wildling attack had scattered quickly after Theon had killed their leader, and Eddard knew for a fact that soon after he'd come back from fighting, he'd start again. They were more organized than from what he had heard from the Night's Watch monthly missives - Jeor Mormont had admittedly been reporting that his rangers had slowly started going missing, and Eddard knew that he would eventually have to organize another recruiting mission with the old bear.

The Night's Watch was far from when the Targaryen warrior princess had visited it, and it was now barely above a prison.

Ned shook his head, and concentrated on getting to Winterfell fast enough before anything bad happened again. His lady wife was going to be worried sick, especially since he had let most of his bannermen go home to their families.

"Any losses," he said to one of his field commanders, Ralt Snow. The man-boy was young, but he was capable - and he was able to get past his bastard name, which was what he hoped for Jon.

"Five of the young boys who hadn't seen any combat yet. None of the veterans." Ralt said, stoically but Ned could see the sadness in his posture.

He put his hand on the boy's right shoulder in an effort to show solidarity. "In war... Everyone can die. What we must remember, is that they were men - not numbers on a battlefield, to be put to cowskin leather by the Maesters and their quills."

"Thanks milord." Ralt replied, quietly after a moment's silence as they rode. "I sometimes forget that you lost far more than we have."

Eddard stilled for a moment, but regained a hold of himself. Ralt had been around eight when he brought Lyanna and Jon to Winterfell, after the Rebellion - he'd have known. Most were just too polite, or scared to be this direct.

"Losses are relative. We shouldn't compare our suffering to others." Ned answered.

"Why?" The man-boy asked, curiosity in his tone.

Eddard paused for a moment. He needed to put as much meaning into as little words as possible. Ralt deserved this from him.

"For, that is when you lose yourself, and the man that you were before then."

Jon had been practising in the yard when the warhorn sounded to signify that his father had returned to Winterfell from fighting off the Greyjoy Rebellion, he immediately put away his wooden sword, and ran towards the gates. He wanted... Needed to find out who the pale-eyed man was. His advice was strange, but it felt somewhat appropriate. It still stung when Lady Stark harshly called him 'bastard', but he managed to cope.

"Move out of the way, milord!" A large man said loudly to Robb who had been waiting for their father, carrying a boy with blood leaking out of him. "Maester Luwin! Where is he?!"

"Follow me," Lady Stark commanded the man, watching the boy with wariness, before moving away the man in tow. Jon felt a sudden kinship with the boy, whoever he was.

"Come on, Jon. We got to find out who he is." Robb whispered.

"Sure, but uh, what about Sansa?" Jon asked, concerned about his sister getting hurt by the chaos that was unfolding in the castle. She had taken to following him around, ever since he became participant in her games of knights and lions.

He had even taken to asking Robb to take care of her whilst he practised, since he didn't want Sansa to ask her mother about swords - he'd be skewered on the spot. Luckily, his brother was always willing to help him.

"She's sleeping at the moment, you know her, she's like a rock when she falls asleep." Robb reassured him, as they followed the man and the boy in his arms.

"I hope so." Jon conceded as they stopped in front of the impromptu infirmary, that was normally the dining hall. Various women of all ages were helping Maester Luwin with treating the patients, and caring for the injured.

What had happened?

Gods.

Father.

"Don't worry, milords." The large man said, noticing their panic as Luwin personally himself took care of the boy. "Your father's safe. This boy saved him from wildlings, scattered their host."

Jon's eyes widened in surprise. The boy looked older then him by quite a bit, but... Not old enough to kill a grown man.

"It's true," a voice came from their backs. Jon whirled on his heels, and immediately leapt on the figure, not even caring about Lady Stark at the moment.

Robb had joined as soon as he did, wrapping their arms around whatever they could of their father.

His father had started smiling, Jon could tell by the arms that wrapped around him and Robb. "My sons. I have missed you all so much."

Jon hadn't realized when the tears had come, but... He couldn't stop himself.

And the person he could thank, was a boy not much older then himself, who had even gotten injured saving people.

AN: I know that is short, and I did brag about longer chapters but... Yeah.

Theon has a hero streak. He doesn't even realize that he has one, but he does. He saves Asha almost instinctively, shoots a wildling that was about to kill an innocent Stark bannerman, and he killed the leader of the whole band, which made the wildlings fear for their lives.

Why? Because those wildlings had thought that northerners were not tough guys, so imagine if who they think is just a lord's son, killed their big badass leader well... Yeah. If a kid can do that much damage, then what chance do they have against grown men?

Before you ask about, Asha, yes, she is alive. That's all I can say.