If this is to end in fire

Then we should all burn together

Watch the flames climb high into the night

Calling out for the rope, sent by and we will

Watch the flames burn on and on the mountain side hey

-I see Fire by Ed Sheeran

Prologue I

We do NOT run from the Fire

276 AL

"We out number them 10 to 1, I say we take the castle this night." Ser Stafford Lannister, proclaimed as he rode alongside his Lord cousin and hand of the King, Tywin Lannister. Both western lions leading a host of 5000 crimson banners of brilliant gold behind them. A force that would soon number twice it's size once they reconnected with Kevans's forces, just over the frozen hills.

The Lord Hand had seen fit to send an advanced force into the North, better to prepare the staging ground for the assault, before the bulk of their army arrived. A decade of crushing any sign of defiance in the west, had proven time and time again to Tywin; strategy is the key to victory. Far more so than who possess the greater amount of swords. And only a fool marches into the game of war without preparing the board. Especially when your enemy is surrounded by potential allies like the Forresters and the Mormonts.

"Our numbers won't mean anything to them." Tywin said in a cold tone, scanning the horizon over the snow covered slopes just as the sun rose ahead of them.

In moments they'll pass into House Whitehill's territory within sight of the mountains. The ironwood forest slowly dwindling to a lifeless sea of stumps as they approached the summit of Highpoint. A sight which disgusted the Warden of the West. A noble house stands the test of time, because their name means something. Their legacy should be worth more to them than all the gold in the world...Yet what had House Whitehill, allowed their once plentiful acres of forrest to become-nothing but miles of frozen wastelands. Left all but sterilized from over harvesting. It was almost too fitting, that the fools sigil should be the very mark of shame they've allowed their memory to become.

A barren hill utterly devoid of any kind of life or future.

"Never while I draw breath, shall my house be a laughing stock like yours." Tywin thought, spurring his horse faster. Just the sight of this houses failure enraged him, reminding him far too much of his father's failure to properly command the respect, House Lannister had deserved. He'd been a good man, and a good father but a weak leader who'd almost led them to ruin. It had taken Tywin years to make the Lannister name one to be feared once again...The sooner this place faded from his memory the better.

"You can't honestly believe this day will end in anything but songs of our Houses glory, m'lord." Stafford asked his cousin perplexed. With a host of this size, and a royal proclamation justifying them to the Starks, what could possibly have his cousin so doubtful.

"You can't intimidate this house with a show of force, expect today to be hard fought cousin." Tywin replied.

Turning his head upon reaching the summit to stare at the endless Northern mountains rising into the heavens; barely contained by the shadow of the wall. What has been the greatest hinderance to the Lannisters monopoly over the kingdoms supply of precious metals for a lifetime. The only thing truly worth venturing this far North, the largest untapped steel mine in all of the realm. Not that you'd ever know it though. Tywin would never understand how anyone could just ignore such an opportunity. Forging, constructing, building, and especially war were impossible without strong steel. In some ways when it mattered it was worth vastly more then gold. If House Scalebreaker had wanted to they could have dominated the North's need for such an important resource, possibly even seize power from the Stark's

"And yet they've thrown it all away for what, pride and honor? Pride doesn't mean anything without power, and honor doesn't win wars." Tywin thought as they rode to meet Kevan-who'd accomplished his task establishing a grand looking series of tents and war wagons; stretching for miles. An adequate staging ground for their siege.

"House Reyne lived in a mountain fortress as well m'lord. They will fall just the same." Stafford stated with pride and arrogance booming in his every word.

"Greetings m'lord." Kevan Lannister said, after riding to meet his lord brother from their forces makes shift barracks; confident it was beyond any archers reach along the western front of the mountain, near the freezing Bay of Ice. But still within the proper staging grounds for a siege.

"Report" Tywin commanded.

Without a second of silence between them, Kevan answered his liege lord. "House Whitehill will offer no quarter, provided we keep the battle closer to the mountains."

"As I expected they have no love for the Scalebreakers or their cadets, continue." Tywin ordered as they approached camp.

We encountered the Seascale; merchant ships just west of the coast, the Lannisport fleet out numbers them 2 to 1...but" Kevan said stopping to choose his words carefully.

"What?" Tywin asked with his brow raised, nothing good ever came from doubt right before a battle.

"They offered no resistance as we made shore."

"None? They just allowed a foreign fleet into their waters unopposed?" Stafford fumbled awe struck and speechless. Rapidly shifting his gaze to the Bay of Ice, glancing over the handful of fishing villages along the coast, all as empty as ghost towns. Only the modest fleet of ships all bearing the sigil of the cadet house Seascale, the mermaid knight slaying a great sea dragon. None of which responding in anyway to the dozens of Lannister ships flooding the bay...only floating dead in the frozen waters crashing against their shores.

"What else?" The Lord Hand, devoid of any trace of response asked his brother.

Kevan nodded back frantically, before reporting on the most concerning issue, "Every scout we sent up the steps, near Castle Steel Heart, or even to the Flatscales passage in the gift lands...never returned, nor has our search parties."

"So we were expected, fine." Tywin having heard enough, turned his horse towards the mountain, pointed to a battalion of banners to follow, and to the shock of his family then marched towards the chiseled steps leading all the way up the mountain.

"What is he doing?" Stafford yelled almost choking on his frantic words, already signaling more banners to follow Tywin. "Men to your lord, the battle begins no..."

"Belay that command!" Kevan roared to the extremely puzzled soldiers and his cousin. "Our lord isn't riding into battle cousin, my brothers simply going to greet our host, whose graciously allowed this army no quarter past this point."

"But why? What could possibly warrant such a sign of respect?" Stafford asked desperately needing reason to return this day.

Kevin only replying to his query with an angered frown, and a tightly gripped hand on his cousin's shoulder. He didn't like this either, but it wasn't their place to question their lord's wishes.

"You truly know nothing of this house do you, dear cousin?" Kevan asked with disappointment in his tone from Stafford's ignorance.

The proud knight's eyes wilding in a rage when the answer revealed itself. "You expect me to believe some fairy tale, worse yet that our lord is so foolish to believe the Scalebreakers lies!"

Kevan's frown only deepening once again in response.

"It's been so long, I forgot your forces split from ours that day in the war. You didn't witness, "The clash of scales."

"The what?" Stafford spat tired of his cousins games.

"It's what the North, calls the battle between, House Scalebreaker and House Dracarys. An old ally the Blackfyres summoned during the final days of the war." Kevan spoke, with a cold dead eyed stare to his gaze.

That day still forever burned into Kevan's mind, when he witnessed a boy pick up his dead father's blade, and rally his men to kill titans. Breath of fire or no.

"I did not expect you to come greet me yourself?" Tywin remarked sarcastically, staring his calculating gaze onto the lone man walking down the vast steps. The head of House Scalebreaker, and Lord of the mountain-Lord Steel Gate himself. A man who embodied the North; pale skinned, dark brown hair, and deep black eyes. Possessing handsome features that had been worn from years of combat. He wasn't the green boy who watched his father be trampled by a wyvern anymore. This was the man who carved his houses name into the beasts hides.

As the middle aged lord continued his decent, Tywin stole a solitary glance upward to eye his seat of power; castle steel gate.

Thousands of feet high, rising up and up into the sky. A modest fortress built into the very heart of the mountain, protected by stone walls ground down centuries ago to prevent climbers from scaling them. As unbreakable as the House that forged it, stood the name sake of the castle-Steel Gate. A massive gate of black steel, constructed in the only strategic entrance into the city. The same gate that has lasted a 1,000 years of struggle; wilding, mountain tribes, warring houses, iron-born marauders, and the harsh unforgiving winters of the North have never ONCE breeched it.

"It's not everyday the Hand of the King, marches an army to your door. Lord Stark will hear of this Tywin." The proud lord proclaimed, with his arms crossed in a judgmental protest.

"House Lannister, has been given the authority by both the hand and our king to act without repercussion this day." Tywin spoke, taking out an official document from kings landing bearing the royal seals of the Hand, and House Targaryen. "Warden of the North, or not if your father's friend, Rickard Stark attempts to interfere this day it will cost the realm so much more then just ONE house."

With no hint of emotion, Lord Steel Gate took the decree from Tywin's hand, examining it slowly; his eyes darting back and forth rapidly as he read. While his face still refused to show a hint of weakness.

"I must say, you've certainly changed from that boy I witnessed. No doubt a fine leader who would not wish a needless shed of blood this day." Tywin said, his voice calm and collect as he surveyed this man before him. He'd only known his father a short days in the war, but it was clear much like his son leadership had suited him. And a wise leader knows when to submit.

"The answer is still NO, this mountain was sworn to the North centuries before the iron throne, and it will remain so centuries after this day. Your offer to "purchase" it is only an insult to everything my people have ever died for." Lord Steel Gate, spat in response to the Lannisters "offer".

"Thank you for indulging me lord Hand, now I believe you have a siege to prepare for this night?" He retorted, before turning back towards "his" steps, after crumpling up the message, and dropping it at Tywin's feet.

Tywin wasn't surprised by his answer, no this meeting as he said, merely an indulgence for the little respect he'd had for the boy's father.

"And what of your son m'lord?" Tywin replied, with a visible grin of superiority the moment Lord Steel Gate stopped dead in his track. "Surely your family line means more to you then some vow to House Stark over steel?" Raising his brow curiously, once his rival lord slowly walked back to him; eye to eye.

"My son will learn the most important lesson a father in the North can teach his child, how to live with honor and die with pride. We are not in the west Lord Hand, this is not your mountain; it is our's." Enraged he bellowed, drawing the ancestral blade of his house slowly, Lannister banners preparing to attack, until Tywin raised his arm to halt them...He wanted to hear the rest of this.

"Am I to be frightened of an old blade?" Tywin remarked.

"This isn't a threat m'lord, it's a promise." He then swung the blade forward over head pointing to the steps. Within seconds a group of black knights; the honor guard of steel gate descended half way down the steps. Looked to their lords gaze, nodded, raised their blades high, and unleashed a defiant roar,

"We Hold the Gate; Never Shall We Yield, Never Shall It Fall...Step Forward"

The words every invader heard before meeting their fate before the steel gate. He then slowly turned the black blade toward the mouth of Castle Steel Heart; less then a mile from them. Steel Scale banners, flooding out once their gate split open, and closed behind them. Hundreds of forces all brandishing axes, bastard swords, and war hammers. Each one wearing thick scale mail; be it bowmen, rider, or infantry all would have a hard time piercing them. Then slots opened up around their section of the mountain, with dozens of sentries manning ballistas. Shouting their words as well,

"We are Steel forged!"

Then the ancient sword pointed to the Bay of Ice, a single flaming arrow flying from the cloudy peaks above them in response. Igniting a chain of pyres leading down the coast, exploding life into the seascale fleet. Each boats mast opening and flapping proudly in the winter gusts...Yes the Lannisport fleet had them outnumbered, but House Seascale was more then just a collection of ships. A war horn booming across the lead ships frosty deck. As the handful of towns on the northern coasts, lit up from the glow of flaming ballistas, and ship mast destroying chain launchers.

And finally, Lord Steel Gate raised his weapon straight above him. The misty clouds parting briefly to reveal dozens of archers, harnessed around the rocky ridges of their mountain. Leaping and dashing across the cliffs in ways impossible to match or keep up with; thanks to the fast maneuverability of the harnesses. Hundreds of years of practice and climbing allowing them a level of skill few archers ever dreamed of.

"We do NOT run from the fire"

"...although I welcome you to sing a song about this day as well."

"Certainly a grand entrance m'lord but do not let it blind your reality. The moment I return to my forces, you will all die, and I will personally tear your precious gate down." Tywin said with a slow sarcastic clap, un-phased by the forces before him. Stubborn pride or no it wouldn't save them this night.

"Sadly of that I have no doubt, many of my house will indeed die. But at least they will die well. I cannot ask anything more from them as their lord." Lord Steel Gate said, marching once more up the steps, the guard parting and in one motion sliding into place behind him with thick black shields; The red gate sigil stabbing through darkness and four knights each holding a different weapon standing in front.

"Die well indeed house scalebreaker" Tywin muttered to himself before climbing back onto his horse, and preparing the siege preparations. This night would be glorious, no other house in the realm ever fought so ruthlessly to defend their home. Songs would indeed be sung of how a lone house and its meager cadets, finally broke the Lannister war machines winning streak...but not without the lion stabbing his claws DEEP into that mountain and making it run red. Shattering the grand force that forced him back to the west.

[Weeks Later]

The North had been outraged at what happened to House Scalebreaker, an entire generation lost in a single night, thousands of Lannister dead for their hundreds, but it was no victory...not truly. This horrible abuse of authority, had begun to show what dozens of Lords, had been fearing for years; had the king actually fallen to madness? If something wasn't done to stamp out this chaos it wouldn't be long until war erupted. Which is why Lord Stark, had escorted the Prince's envoy to the mountains to help restore some sense of peace.

"Your not taking my child from me!" Rila Scalebreaker screamed, furiously at Rickard Stark, while she held tight to the babe in her arms. Not even a month had passed since she'd brought him into this world, and now they wanted to steal her boy away from her.

"Please listen to reason..." The lord of winterfell tried to say before the enraged mother cut him off.

"He is MY son, MY first born, and you are NOT ripping away from me!" She exclaimed, as anger burned like a fire in her eyes.

"Dammit Rila, no one is ripping this child from his mother's arms. We just came to "discuss" the Prince's offer. Do you truly believe me some heartless beast? I have four children, and would never allow this is If I thought it would harm your boy in any way!" The Warden of The North yelled, he knew this wouldn't be easy. All he was trying to do was keep the kingdoms together, but to Rila; a low born bastard it just seemed like yet another joy in life denied to her.

"Then send one of your boys to kings landing instead "Lord" stark, don't take mine from his family!" The frantic mother yelled once more, before rocking her babe gently to calm his cries.

"M'lady no one is taking young lord Eldon, this is a high honor please believe that. The prince merely wants to make this horrible mistake right, and Eldon will have the chance to learn from the realms future king." Ser Arthur Dayne replied calmly, beseeching her to at least hear the offer out.

Prince Rhaegar, had been horrified when word arrived of what his father gave his blessing to. The Queen had to order Arthur to practically hold the him down, too prevent him bursting into the throne room, and face his father. And after much discussion between them, and several suggestions from Varys, they arrived at this olive branch; foster the scalebreaker boy. Mend this broken bridge between their two houses.

"Honor? Did the "king" not just give a right to slaughter members of this house? I will NOT let my boy anywhere near that horrible place." She cried, losing herself briefly in her son's eyes. She'd been so happy, the first time she'd seen her little "Ellie's" eyes, they were the same as hers. As a lowly "waters" she'd always wanted a family who'd actually loved her, the kind of love she'd felt holding her babe; the love she felt having a connection in those eyes. Until his dying day Eldon would be her precious little boy, and they were proof. "He's MY son...please don't ask this of me."

"Rila give them the boy." Eldon's father spoke, shocking everyone in the room, before putting his hands on his wife's shoulders seizing her attention.

"They want to take our son away from his home, how can you ask me to just let that happen!" Rila hatefully shouted her husband, what kind of parent just sends their infant child away to be raised by strangers. How could he say something like that can still call himself Eldon's father?

"Hundreds of "our" people just sacrificed themselves for "our" home, how can I call myself their lord if "I" can't do the same? It isn't forever, once he's learned how to led he'll be back in your arms again I promise." Lord Steel Gate said, wanting to bite his own tongue rather then give his blessing. But a lord has to put the good of his people above everything, the burden he'd only now realized had weighed so heavy on his own father. If this madness could be over he had a duty to see it through.

"After I've missed every important part of his life, after he's lived a life just following some prince around like a servant. Who's going to remind him that isn't just some decoration, he's not some trophy he's a boy!" She said, pain and sorrow echoing faintly within her voice. Rila knew her husband was right, but gods she couldn't bring herself to let her son go. What mother could? This small child who, just by existing had brought light into her empty life shouldn't ever have to feel like he wasn't loved or wanted.

"I'll go with him." A single voice spoke across the room, grasping everyones attention. It was the young heir to house sea scale and Eldon's older cousin Hakkon. A boy of ten years, still just a babe himself yet the conviction in his eyes reflected that of a person much older. "I promise you, he won't feel alone..."

A/N

-This is what I'm calling Season 0, it's mainly to establish foundation for my OC's going to into the Game of Thrones, and build key connections between Dany and Eldon. It's going to be the shortest season in this books storyline.

Disclaimer: I do not own Game of Thrones, I only own my OC's and House Scalebreaker

As always thank you for reading and if you enjoyed it please favorite/follow/review