A/N: Ugh I'm so sorry about the lateness, I've been at a friend's place for the last few days and she has no internet…also I don't know what it is but I have this strange aversion to wanting to read this fanfic O.o''' I really don't think I like it very much ;_; (what's wrong with me?)

Noxious Snow

Part 7

First light came what felt like hours too long for an impatiently waiting Robb who's only concern was now getting to Kings Landing on time as he didn't want to bury his own brother right after he finally became a man. He had spent the night repetitively digging a knife into the soil beside him and tearing it through the dirt. There was now no grass left besides his right hand. Eddard was the first to rouse from his sleep as the sun's rays warmed his face. He flexed his shoulders as he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck feeling a dull ache that had settled in his muscles from lying on the hard ground.

"Morning," Robb nodded, glad that he finally didn't have to sit in silence with nothing but the wind to keep him company.

"You alright?" Ned asked with sympathy in his voice, his son was troubled and he could easily see that, it probably didn't help that he was left alone with his own thoughts for the whole night. Robb ran a hand through his short curls as he thought about lying to his father for a brief moment. But this wasn't the time to lie and pretend everything was fine when it clearly wasn't. Robb's eyes trailed across the siblings in front of him who were still snuggled up to one another.

"It's just…I thought this was going to be fun and now…now I'm worried, my little brother and sister are in danger and I should have been the one to protect them both and yet Jon is hurt and Arya is in a place that she shouldn't be in," Robb's fingers tangled in his locks as he tugged on his scalp trying to hide his inner frustration. How could he one day be the Lord of Winterfell and look after all his subjects if he couldn't even protect his own family?

"You now understand the dangers of the world Robb, this is a feeling you're going to have to learn to endure, the world is cruel my son and people you know and care about are going to die every day…but that doesn't mean today or any day soon will be either Jon or Arya's last. You know as well as I do how strong Jon is and how much of a fight he will put up, I can promise you that poison will not be Jon's fate and Arya, well Arya is much like Jon and I know there is nothing in this world that can rival her stubbornness, not even death itself is going to be able to convince her to come with him without a fight," Eddard enlightened finding himself chuckling as he thought about his daughter and the amount of times he could have mistaken her for a son, maybe he should consider finding her a tutor to learn the art of a sword.

"I guess you're right..." Robb agreed letting a smile grace his features once more. He shouldn't have been so quick to damn his own siblings when he knew how strong they were.

"Well I think it's about time we wake up the sleeping beauties eh? I'll leave that job to you as I go and get the bowls, we can finish off the deer for breakfast and then we're getting back on the horses and continuing down south," Lord Stark remarked slipping himself out of his bedroll and over to his horse.

Robb took a moment to find his feet, admiring the damage he had done to the ground which generally looked like something had tried to dig a small hole in. Standing up, he brushed off the nagging fatigue as he stretched out his spine and made his way over to the two sleeping forms that seemed inseparable. He always knew Jon and Arya were close and this was definite proof of that. As he knelt down beside them both he felt his chest ache when he noticed small beads of perspiration that were littered across Jon's face and how many shades paler he currently was compared to usual. On instinct he placed the back of his hand against his brother's forehead, feeling the burning heat Snow radiated. Worried, Robb turned to his father who was scraping off bits of cold meat from the carcass.

"Jon has a fever," he muttered.

"It'll be the poison," Ned sighed, halting in his movements as his gaze dropped to the ground, he knew it wouldn't be long before he started showing symptoms, he just prayed that the more serious ones would hold off for as long as possible. Placing the bowls on a fallen tree trunk, Ned made his way over to Jon and Arya pressing his own hand to Jon's face to interpret how much his temperature had risen. It was a mild relief to him when he decided that it wasn't enough to cause too much concern but would have to be monitored.

"Jon, Arya," Eddard called tapping them both on the shoulders. Arya was first to wake up, she pulled her head off of Jon's chest (who she found was a surprisingly comfy pillow) and rubbed her eyes with a gigantic yawn. Snow however, took a little longer to come to and did so with a tired groan and a look of discomfort on his face. Dark grey eyes only managed to open for a moment before closing again as Jon found the sunlight was too fierce and caused his head to start throbbing.

"Arya, it's time for breakfast," Ned announced deciding that Jon didn't need to be crowded by an overly-attentive sister this early in the morning. Eddard held out his hand and helped his daughter to her feet (after she had finished stretching). Robb then sat down besides Jon who was shielding his eyes with his palm as a way to slowly get used to the bright invasion.

"How you feeling?" The Stark heir asked.

"Spectacular," Jon replied in a purposely dull voice which did indeed hold a hint of playfulness. He carefully sat himself up, clutching hold of his side as it burnt with the movement.

"You look it too," Robb joked knowing that he couldn't treat his brother any differently than he usually would, it would only make Jon feel worse.

"Can't be any worse than your face," Jon smirked brushing back all the loose curls from eyes so he could see the mocked horror his brother had, despite it being slightly blurry to his vision.

"Are you calling me ugly, Snow?" The eldest Stark son gasped.

"No, I'm just saying I'm better looking, Stark," the younger male shrugged innocently, internally glad that he could still have such a meaningless banter with his sibling.

"If you mean looking prettier is better, then yes, you're definitely prettier than me, Lady Snow," Robb teased, finding his brothers laughter at that moment the best thing he had heard since the attack.

"If you two are finished joking around, there are two bowls of deer here that aren't going to eat themselves," Eddard declared, pointing towards said bowls beside him which were being eyed up by a ravenous Arya who had nearly devoured her own breakfast. Robb stood himself up glancing downwards ready to react if Jon needed his help. It appeared he didn't as he got himself to his feet, a little slower than usual but still without much strain. Snow did although find his joints far stiffer than what he was used to and had a constant light pounding in his head which seemed to throw his balance off a little.

Robb Stark was hungrier than he thought as he started to eat, deciding it must have been from the lack of sleep which had him using a lot more energy than usual. Lord Stark had been the only one paying attention to Jon as he picked at the strips of meat and did not take even one bite of the food in front of him.

"You should eat Jon, if you don't you're already giving the poison a head start," Eddard urged trying to make it sound more like an order than sympathetic suggestion knowing that Jon wouldn't take the latter as well. Snow took a moment to force his stomach to settle before convincing himself to eat the contents of the bowl knowing he would regret it if he didn't. His father was right and well he had told Arya that he was going to be ok and to let her down – well that wasn't even an option.

Before long, the Starks were back on their horses riding south of the woods. By the end of the day they would probably reach the edge of the mass of trees and from that point it was just a long road south. Apart from short stops for food and to rest for the night, Ned knew they couldn't afford to waste more time than that if they were to make it. The problem was, that the timer on the poison wasn't exactly set in stone, Eddard was going at this blind – a week was only the approximation, for all he knew his son could only make it to five days or even be lucky and make it to nine. Nevertheless Lord Stark knew that as long as Jon Snow still breathed, he wasn't going to let him down.

As time went by, Jon started to find it hard to distinguish tree from tree as his vision blurred together into one long disorientating bunch of colours. The motion of the horse's gallops weren't doing wonders for his already unsettled stomach either. The more the nausea worsened the more Snow found himself hunched over, tearing the muscles in his hands as he held the horse's rains with a crushing grip. Beat after beat the pounding in his head became louder and more constant, rattling away at his skull every time he tried to take his mind away from everything else. All of a sudden the constant jostling became unbearable and Jon's stomach lurched. Snow pressed a hand to his mouth as he tugged on the rains pulling his horse to a halt before jumping off and darting over to a set of bushes and immediately emptying the contents of his stomach. He still had enough pride to at least attempt to gain some privacy. Having been riding behind, Robb was the first to see Jon abandon his horse and scurry off. The Stark heir, who was overcome with concern, signalled his own horse to stop before he dismounted and followed his younger sibling with a hastiness in his step. Quickly understanding why Jon had darted off, Robb decided not to call for their father to cause any further humiliation and instead placed a hand on his brothers back and beginning to massage it therapeutically. Jon relaxed, finding Robb's gentle rubs a welcomed distraction from the vicious cramps in his abdomen. Pressing his palm flat against the bark of a nearby tree for support, it took a good five minutes of repetitive heaving for Snow to guess he had nothing left to even bring up to which he finally took a deep breath.

"I think the deer was a little irritated at me for shooting it."

"I guess it was," Robb agreed, "here," he pulled out his wineskin and handed it to Jon who he knew desperately needed the drink. Snow gave him his thanks as he took the item and took a long swig wanting to rid the foul taste in his mouth.

"Is everything alright here?" Eddard Stark questioned as he approached on horseback. As much as he would have loved to offer to take a break for Jon to settle down, he knew he couldn't.

"I'm alright now," Snow replied figuring that it was unlikely for him to need to do that again in the nearby future.

For hours the Starks continued to travel with little conversation between them, what was there to talk about when the air was thick with suppressed worry? The family had only stopped once more during the horse ride when they passed a cluster of apple trees and stopped to pick a sack's worth of the fruit for the journey knowing that they wouldn't have the time to hunt between camping. Jon had managed to eat half an apple which thankfully he had managed to keep down while instead just filling himself up on water. It wasn't ideal but the thought of throwing up again was too powerful of an aversion to issue an attempt to eat more.