Chapter five: Jon

"So, the Army, huh?" Sam Tarly sat on a metal fold-out chair, protein bar in-hand, and watched Jon do several sets of pull-ups. Both of the boys had signed up for gym memberships together in senior year, but only one boy actually made use of it. Shallow people often question Jon why someone as fit as himself had preferred the company of a 'fat wimp' over that of others, and he would always reply the same: because they understood each other.

"My dad wanted me to go into the Army- you remember? That one time you were over to play CoD and he called me worthless?"

"I remember." Jon grunted out through gritted teeth, lifting his chin past the bar for the 56th time that day. Sam produced the fakest laugh, definitely out of the sheer awkwardness of the conversation.

"Yeah… well, good thing I met Gilly when I did and moved out," his smile grew as he stared at the threadbare carpet, probably picturing his girlfriend with her baby in her bony arms. "Now, I'm my own boss."

" ' should really consider taking classes, Sam." Jon advised after releasing the bar, ripping his white towel out from beneath his friend. Although Sam was one step further out into the real world, a job in retail and High School education could not support a family of three. Jon couldn't even consider the possibility of walking in his friend's shoes- not even for a day; taking care of a woman and another man's baby was not something he would consider at his age. It was the brutal truth.

But Sam had a kind heart. The baby wasn't even his, but he had loved it like it was anyway. But still. A kind heart feeds nobody.

"Speaking of classes, how did yours go? I heard you got kicked out for grabbing a girl's ass," Sam laughed while making grabby motions with his thick hands; this caused the other boy to rear back in disgust.

"Ugh- what? Who told you that?"

"Theon did. What? You didn't grab ass?"

"Theon is a whore-monger and a bloody liar." He threw his sweat-covered towel at Sam, shaking his head towards the ground, "I'm surprised he saw anything past his raging hormones. Making up lies- and you believed him! I'm disappointed in you Tarly."

"Don't call me that, you sound like old Coach Thorne." The bigger boy leaned forward, glancing from side to side as if it were a big secret, causing Jon to nearly gag on his water. "So… did you grab anything worth grabbing?"

"Knock it off." He warned with a growl, wiping his mouth onto his tank top. "A girl told her friend that I was a pervert- and I got caught trying to defend myself. It was complete bollocks."

"And because of that… you went straight to the office and signed up for the military? Won't your mum be pissed?"

"One. She's not my mother. Two. I signed up because I wanted to."

Jon turned around and headed to the locker room, and Sam shuffled behind him, discarding his trash into a small bin. His curly hair clung to his neck uncomfortably, and was glued down to the point that it wasn't even bothered by the removal of his clothes. Sam leaned against the drier side of the shower room, watching the other play with the faucet knobs and settling on a temperature.

"You going to that party tonight?" Sam called over the water, adjusting himself further away from the pooling water. "The one at that abandon factory?"

"Robb and Theon might."

"You?"

"Maybe. Are you going? I thought it was a Frosh thing."

"Yeah, but Gilly wanted to go because some of her friends are going. My mum's going to watch lil Sam- because we plan on drinking."

"I might stop by." He said as he twisted the knobs into the off position, "I'm not a big drinker."

"Ygritte's going."

He stopped drying his hair long enough to weigh his options, staring intently at the grubby tiles. "I don't care."

"Sure you don't- that's why you scheduled your gym time on the exact day she happens to work at that coffee shop next door, right?"

"Look, it's over. I don't care anymore." Jon hopped into his pants and tightened the belt, but still made time to give hand gestures and slide his large duffle bag over his shoulder. "And you shouldn't care either. This isn't High School, stop gossiping."

"Well. I don't see why you don't go and pick up another girl, make Ygritte jealous? It'll make you feel better- and hey, if it doesn't, at least you'll get some sex out of it, I know I would- if I had the body of an Adonis and wasn't already in love, that is."

Jon scrunched up his nose in distaste, buttoning up the horrid flannel, "Ygritte wouldn't fall for that. She's not a moron."

"Yes she would! She's a woman, isn't she? It's written in their code."

"But I'm not going to prey on some poor girl just so I could hurt my ex- that sucks." Jon was clearly against the idea, but not entirely. It would make him happy knowing that she had enough feelings for him to even care. Maybe it wasn't over.

"Going to the Frosh party tonight?" Robb asked from over the fence, placing a bale of hay down for the horses to feast on, and then motioning to his brother for another.

"What's the obsession with this party? The cops are just going to break it up anyway." Jon retorted, pulling the stray pieces of hay out of his hair, with much difficulty, for both his hands were glove-bound. Ignoring his brother's impatience, he gave an aggravated sigh, sitting on a bale to clear his locks.

"Naw, the Lannister kids are going. The Cops are probably paid off, going to a whole lotta people going- will you just give me the damn hay?"

"I might go." Jon stated after flinging the dry heap over the fence, "I dunno, I wasn't really into all that back then."

"Wanna be my DD then?"

"Wait- so now I can't drink? Why should I even go then?"

"Girls."

"Drunk girls who won't even remember dancing with me the next morning? No thanks." Robb swung his body under the fence, wiping his brow free of perspiration.

"Go dance with the other DD's, then."

"So what, like a Soccer Mom group? Waiting for our children?" He waved his hand over to the barn, faking a motherly tone, "That's my little Robby over there! Isn't he just the cutest?" His smile dropped, "no thanks, Robb."

"Well- what the fuck do you want me to do Jon?"

And he didn't even respond. Because he hadn't been sure what to do. Perhaps a group of Soccer-mom-esque teenagers was as best as he could do. Better than Sam's idea of grinding on a girl for the attention of a certain red-head. A certain perfect red-head.

Both of the brothers went inside to eat lunch in silence, both chewing whatever sandwich Cat had concocted and sat in front of them. She placed glasses of milk in front of them, and moved her tiny frame to an open chair, clutching her hands with a readable hopefulness.

"So, boys. How did you like school?" Both of them nodded, still chewing. "Meet any new friends." This time they shook their heads, nearly simultaneously. "Well. Good talk."

She grabbed her glass of milk and fled to the sitting room to read whatever romance novel she had purchased at the second-hand shop. Robb flung whatever sandwich crust he had out the window to the group of dogs, lingering there for a second.

"Nymeria and Lady are gone."

Jon slid back his chair loudly and joined his brother at the window, peering out into the yard at an attempt to identify the bouncing mutts. "One…two…three…four- yeah, they're missing. It's not mating season, is it?"

"I dunno," Robb slid his coat off the top of his chair and began sticking his arms into the wooly familiarity of its sleeves, "-we better find them before someone else does."

Ghost and Grey Wind tugged on their leads excitedly, gagging themselves as if this were the first walk they ever had, and only the boys seemed aware that it was actually a search party. The brothers feared that the dogs were long gone or that they even fled into the opposite direction- frantically whistling and shout for them.

"Arya and Sansa won't be happy… I bet they're out of school by now." Jon deducted, wiping his face onto his sleeve, as Robb pointed to a set of tracks left behind in the mud. "Those might be Ghost's, we run through here all the time."

Robb groaned as he tried to pull himself into a standing position, stretching out his achy legs, "they're going to be mad that you left that gate opened on the side."

"Oh, yes. Blame the bastard for it. Like he doesn't have a hard enough time fitting in."

"When I asked you to shut it earlier," Robb drew it out slowly as if he were talking to a mere child, "did you shut it?"

Jon stared out into the Frey's grain fields, the look of realization slowly setting on his features," …oh. I thought you were asking Theon to do it."

"When I said, 'Jon, make sure you shut the side gate on the kennel or the dogs will get out', you thought I was talking to Theon?"

"Nobody's perfect, get off my ass."

"Dumb-fuck."

Jon opened his mouth to respond but was caught off-guard by screaming. "That sounds like Joffery-"

"If that pansy gets bit, it's over your pretty lil head."

The Lannister ranch sat several yards away, and upon reaching the gate, the siblings were greeted by the sight of the blonde boy pushed up against the side of the barn by a massive dog. Sansa stood off to the side wailing at it, backpack clutched tightly underneath her tiny hands.

"Nymeria stop it! Stop it!" She rushed over to her brothers, grabbing onto Robb's coat with desperation, "please! Stop her- she'll bite Joffery!"

"Nymeria!" Jon called, but the dog did not waver, her white fangs were bared at the boy and her fur was raised. Robb step cautiously towards the dog, noticing a particularly large stick at her feet, looking towards Sansa for answers.

"We were just playing a game-"

Robb turned towards the wide-eyed Joffery, who at this point was trying to shuffle alongside the wall, "were you hitting my little sister?" No answer. "I should just let Nymeria eat you up."

"It was just a game!" Joffery mirrored Sansa's answer, producing shaky whimpers. Robb's stare was almost as intense as the mutt's, and Joffery wasn't sure who it really was he was more terrified of.

"Apologize." Nothing. "I said 'Apologize'. Tell Sansa you're sorry."

The dog lunged forward at his leg, and Robb caught her by the collar. This caused the Lannister boy to produce a hundred rapid 'sorry's towards the girl, who huddled beside Jon with a blank expression. Robb gave a smile and pulled the dog back, and she was happy to go, bounding over to greet Grey Wind and Ghost who tugged at their tethers, much to Jon's dismay. And from where they stood, they could see Lady running around with the sheep, tongue lolling to the side as she followed them closely. Jon whistled for her.

But then things had turned for the worst. Joffery made the mistake of running for his house, and Nymeria pulled out of Robb's grip. The Starks frantically pursued the dog, but none of them were quick enough. She yanked Joffery down to the solid earth, arm clenched in her jaws. He wailed and cried for his mother, sobbing and trembling in the mud. Upon hearing the shouting, the dog backed up in confusion, licking her wet lips and pressing her white ears to her neck.

"Get out of here!" Robb called to the dog, chasing her out from the open area, and only running to nurse the child when she was no longer in sight. By now, Cersei was out of the house, pushing the older boy away and cooing to her child as he cried.

"Where is it?! Where is that beast?!" She screeched just as her brother Jaime appeared out of the house, rifle in hand, and the screen door slamming behind him. "Kill it!"

The loading of the gun unnerved all of the Stark children, to the point where Sansa was pleading and Jon was pulling the other frightened dogs back. Joffery sat up, and looked around the field through watery eyes, finally spotting the pale colored culprit. He extended his uninjured arm, and cried out with a STUFFY NOSE, "There it is! Over there, with the sheep!"

"No-no! Not Lady! It wasn't her!" Cried Sansa with a red face, and she screamed even more so when Jaime Lannister lifted the rifle to his shoulder without questioning. "No! PLEASE! LADY IS GOOD! IT WASN'T LADY-"

The shot rung through the air and left silence in its departure. Robb clutched his sisters sobbing shoulders, and sat her on the ground, and Jon simply stared out at the space where the dog once stood, breath caught in his throat. Ghost and Grey Wind pulled the leashes from his hand and ran off towards home, and he didn't try to stop them.

Joffery was no longer crying, and Cersei nodded her approval, "well. That's that."

"You killed an innocent creature!" Shouted Jon, rushing forward to the blondes, stopped by his brother grabbing onto the end on his coat. The dark-headed boy pulled his sister to him, and tried to hush her sobs, whispering words into her hair.

"That monster bit my Joffery."

"Your little monster was beating my sister!" Countered Robb with a red face, strutting towards them with his knuckles turning white. He quickened his pace and dropped his hand to pick up the stick, lifting it in a threatening manner over the cowering boy and his stern-looking mother. This caused Jaime to point his reloaded gun at him, waiting for Robb's next move.

"Robb!" Shouted Jon over Sansa's head, "come on! Let's go."

And much to everyone's surprise, he dropped the stick and retreated with his siblings. The Lannisters shouted threats after the group, but they ignored it as best as they could, and shielded their sister's view, so that she would not see the corpse as she passed. But both Jon and Robb stared, making sure to get a good look at it. Her fur was the only thing alive, dancing in the breeze as she lay sleeping. The North remembers, they told themselves under their heavy, hateful breaths.

Arya cried and cursed, and cried again. Cried for Lady, for Nymeria, and cried even for stupid Sansa- but would never cry for Joffery. She hated him. She wanted to feel his blood in her teeth, and hear his sobs in her ears. She wanted to feel his fear when not even his own mother could SAVE him. The girl felt crazy, and wild, and angry, and scared all at once, sobbing herself into sleep-like state. But Sansa said nothing, and retreated to her room, where she lied beneath her covers, without dinner.

Ned said nothing either. Cersei's husband was Robert Baratheon, and his old friend. He could try talking to him- but what good would that do? So he did only what he was capable of, locking the remaining dogs in the barn, where one could hear their howling into the night. Rickon and Bran like to think of it as them mourning for their lost friends, and Cat babied them, saying that they were praying. But everyone knew it was because they were stupid dogs and wanted to be out in the open.

Jon lied on his bed and stared at the roof, burning with rage. He blamed himself for everything, for Nymeria getting out, for Lady dying, Sansa and Arya's broken hearts, and even for that Lannister boy's scarred arm. Why didn't he just shut the fucking gate like he was told? Why did he have to ruin everything for everyone? He was such an idiot, and he wish he could just die. He wished he were in the field, not Lady. His hair billowing in the breeze, and his body sleeping forever. Just another dead innocent.

Even at the thought of it, his eyes burned with tears- he didn't really want to die. He knew that he was simply thinking the worst of things. That was a stupid thing to do. No one should ever think that way. Should. Not won't.

Maybe this was depression? He never thought someone like himself would ever get like this. How sad, and fucked up.

But Robb got dressed in silence, pulling on his leather coat. Theon didn't feel what the rest of the family's pain, so he joked loudly despite the angry glances. Jon sat up with a heavy sigh, and watched his brothers with SORE eyes.

"You're still going to that party?" He croaked out in a broken voice and the red-headed boy glanced at him for only a second.

"Yep."

"Why? Haven't you had enough?"

"Yeah, but, maybe drinking all of the alcohol and fucking all of the girls at that party will ease my pain. Make me forget how much I want to hurt the Lannisters. And if not, it's worth a try."

Jon stared at Robb's shoes, and couldn't help feeling that Ygritte might make everything better. "Getting drunk sounds nice…"