As the wall darkened and the room dimmed, Jaime saw his reflection on its reflective surface as clear as a mirror, as if the wall of glass had focused just on him.
There were so many things running through his mind, so many thoughts after seeing what he was going to do to a ten-year-old. But he did not have the time to process the thoughts, because a shiver went down his spine and he went into self-defence mode when he heard someone call his name.
"KINGSLAYER!"
Jaime had seen Ned Stark angry, or at least that's what he thought the man was when he walked into the throne room all those years and found him with the dead body of Aerys and his ass on the throne. But what he saw now made him question that.
Ned Stark was a tall and muscled man, but not like Robert had been in his prime or Brandon who sat right there. Yet right now, the look in his eyes made Jaime's hands clench into a fist.
Ned Stark charged and Jaime reached for his sword. It was a little too late for the man when he realized that he did not have his sword with him.
Joanna let out a scream as Ned collided with her son and fell back, his hard gripping Jaime's face. If not for the hand muffling him, Jaime's cry of pain as he fell and from how hard Ned gripped his face could be heard by all.
Ned spoke no words, only roared as punched Jaime's face, pure rage taking over him. He never liked the Lannisters after what they did and didn't do in the Rebellion, Jaime least of all. But this time, this act, he couldn't let it go. No, he would not allow Jaime Lannister to get away with this.
"Lord Stark please!" Joanna begged but the Lord of Winterfell did not stop, blood spraying everywhere, Jaime tried to claw the man off of him but failed. She looked around but nobody came forward, all of them staring stoically as the man pummelled her son.
Well, not everyone.
The children were just shocked at what they'd seen, the boy that fell being clung to by his mother. No, not fell, he had been thrown off. Jaime had thrown him off the tower and to his death.
"Lord Stark he will die" Tyrion spoke now, half waddling half running to his brother's aid. But Ned Stark did not relent, rather it seemed as if he began to go even harder. Tyrion grabbed the man's shoulder and the man lashed out at him. Maybe it was the man's strength or Tyrion's height, but the impact made Tyrion almost look as if he flew back.
Jaime's hand slowly clawed weaker and weaker against the man until they fell. His body stopped thrashing, slowing down to twitches before stopping altogether. Ned Stark didn't even stop then, not until Robert and Brandon pulled him off of the now-dead Lannister.
"It's done" Brandon whispered to his brother harshly, gripping him tight so he could break free and continue to pummel the dead man. Joanna Lannister fell unceremoniously over his dead son, shaking hands and cupping the destroyed face of the once handsome Jaime Lannister.
Ned spat at that.
"He died too quick," the father said hoarsely, breaking out from his brother's and friend's grip. He did not go back to pummeling Jaime, instead going to Bran, who was still too shocked to speak. Catelyn was clinging to the boy and sobbing into his hair, his older sister Sansa doing the same on the other side. Arya stood beside Jon, face red from anger and tears falling freely from her eyes. Robb and Jon kept their faces neutral, but the pain and sadness were clear in their eyes.
"Father" Bran called out weakly and Ned's attention went back to the boy. Only eight he was, and in two years he'd be dead. His heart tugged painfully and he wanted to just fall to his knees and hold his son, cry into the boy's hair like his mother and sister were.
But he couldn't.
He was the Stark in Winterfell, the man of the house as some called it. He needed to be strong for the rest of the family.
So instead he knelt before the boy and put a hand on his head.
"I'm not going to die, am I?" the boy asked, his voice so afraid that Ned just wanted to hold the boy and never let him go, feeling that if he let him go he'd vanish from right before him.
Instead, he ruffled the boy's hair.
"I will not let that happen" he spoke with confidence he did not feel. "We are here to make sure evil does not win, and I will make sure that evil like Jaime Lannister."
"How dare you?!" Joanna Lannister's broken voice drew Ned's attention from his son. She was looking at him, hands and dress bloodied from her son's blood. Ned felt bad only for the mother, not the son. "You dare call my son evil when it was you who beat him to death!"
Ned pinned her with a silent stoic stare.
"Your son fucked his own sister" Ned said coldly making the woman flinch, "and threw my son from a tower to hide that sin of his. And you call me evil? Your son broke his oaths, killed the man he swore to protect and you're calling me evil?"
"My son made no oaths to protect yours" Joanna snarled like a lioness cornered, which she was. Nobody was on her side, she saw it in the way they watched her.
"He's not talking about his son" Oberyn snorted, "why don't you ask your son? He looks about ready to wake up now."
Everyone stared at the Dornish man in confusion and the man motioned to the limp form of Jaime Lannister.
It had begun twitching.
Blood seeped back into the body from the wounds, even separating from Joanna's hands and dress. The wound healed slowly, flesh stitching itself, joining and looking as if nothing happened. Soon the entirety of Jaime's face was reconstructed and the man woke with a loud gasp.
"I forgot to mention that none of you can die in here, didn't I?" the winged man spoke from behind Ned, making the man and all those around him jump. None of them had heard him approach. "I thought you would have noticed it when Robert's wounds healed and he did not bleed anymore."
They had not noticed that.
The man snorted.
"Tensions are high. Take a break and return. There are more rooms for you all to take cover in if you so wish."
**The Starks**
The room the Starks had walked into turned out to not be a room, but into a corridor made from stone that led to multiple rooms, each door made from the same wood the doors at Winterfell were made from, Ironwood. All rooms had the same size doors, except for one that had larger ones. That was possibly the largest room in this part of the corridor. They all collected in the room together.
Ned and Catelyn were with Bran, the mother was hysteric while the father was calm and collected.
"I don't think I've ever seen Ned that angry before" Brandon the elder whispered to Lyanna.
"It's his son that was murdered, of course, he'd be pissed beyond anything" Lyanna whispered back.
"But to murder a man with just his hands like that and walk away like nothing happened."
Lyanna rolled her eyes at her brother. "You'd understand if you had kids."
"And how do you understand?" Brandon raised a brow in challenge.
Lyanna rolled her eyes again, this time not as animatedly.
In another corner of the larger room, Arya sat alone, stabbing the wooden table in the room with a blunted knife she'd found on it. She was furious, eyes wild and angry. She wished the man had stayed dead. If he did he couldn't throw Bran down the tower this time. Maybe she could kill him, sneak up on him and stab him
"You've done quite the damage on that table little Lady."
It was Rickard Stark who had spoken, standing right behind her with a frown.
Arya put the knife down.
"The Kingslayer isn't here or I'd have stabbed him instead" Arya muttered and Rickard couldn't help the small smile on his face. This one had the temper in her, the 'wolf's blood' as most tended to call it. Like her aunt and uncle.
"And you think you can take him on?" the man questioned.
"I can be sneaky" Arya answered.
"Sneaky enough to take on a knight who is larger than you?"
"I can be sneaky and fast."
Rickard chuckled.
"Perhaps for now you can go and comfort your sister. She is grieving as well."
Sansa was hovering close to her parents and Bran, covering her mouth with the sleeve of her dress, eyes watering.
Arya shook her head.
"We don't get along well enough for that."
"Siblings fight all the time. Your father and Brandon used to when they were children, so do… did Lyanna and Benjen" the man corrected. Lyanna died after he did, and Benjen was no longer a child.
"My sister hates me because I can't be as perfect as her" Arya scoffed. "She'd rather get comfort from Margaery Tyrell who is all proper and pretty than stupid little Arya Horseface."
Richard frowned once more.
"It won't happen this time. I will not allow it. I'll rip the Kingslayer's head right off his shoulders" Robb raged to Jon in harsh whispers, the two taking their own corner of the room.
"You alone? Brother, I say this with the best intentions but you don't stand a chance against him. Even if you, me and Theon join forces we can take him down" Jon whispered, earning himself a glare from his half-brother. "What we can do is keep Bran far from that man. As far as possible."
Robb rolled his eyes. "Sometimes you need to stop thinking so logically and jump in with me when I'm ranting angrily…"
"You have Theon for that. I'm the one responsible for keeping you out of trouble."
Robb snorted. The two of them had gotten into plenty of mischief before.
"What is up with you and Daenerys?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're bordering on killing someone on her behalf. Do you fancy her brother?"
"Don't be stupid" Jon rolled his eyes. "She is in a terrible situation and I can't help but think… what if it was Arya in her place? What if it was Arya being sold to someone for someone else's gain? And it's Daenerys' brother of all people doing it to her too. What kind of a brother does that?"
"Aye."
The two brothers remained silent for a moment.
"Just be careful brother. The King detests Targaryens and I don't think anything can change that" Robb muttered, clapping the boy's shoulder.
"Aye."
**The Lannisters**
Jaime stumbled back from the slap.
The Lannisters had walked into a corridor of their own, a corridor with three wooden doors of equal size. Joanna had taken it upon herself to call for a family meeting.
"How dare you?!" the woman seethed. "I told you and your sister to cease these activities. Not only have you forgone my warnings, but you two have taken it a step further! What? How long after I was in the ground did you two start doing these things again? Right away? On that very night? Or did you two perverted little demons do it while people stood vigil over me?!"
"Mother-"
"No! You will be silent! You have done enough damage as is" Joanna hissed at her son. "I was curious as to why the King's children look absolutely nothing like him. It all makes sense now."
"Mother-"
"Look me in the eyes and tell me I'm wrong."
Jaime did no such thing.
Joanna spat in disgust.
"Robert is a man quick to anger. What do you think will happen when he figures it out? What do you think he'd do to the children?!"
"I will gut him like a boar if he so much as-"
"And then what? Be hailed as a Kingslayer and bring even more shame on the family?!"
"I've already done that" Jaime chuckled darkly. "I was the one that killed Aerys. I was the one that drove a sword through his back. It's why they call me Kingslayer, mother. Because I slayed the King I was sworn to serve. And I will not shy away from-"
Jaime was cut off with a sharper slap.
"Hold your tongue you little beast" Joanna hissed, emerald eyes shining like wildfire. "Aerys' death is celebrated, Robert's will bring ruin to House Lannister! How many will rally behind your father? How many will use that opportunity to grab some power and respect? How many from our own bannermen? You're just as rash and reckless as you were as a child!"
Jaime did not speak.
Joanna turned her gaze to her youngest, who was drinking from his cup.
"And you! What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I don't fuck Cersei if that's what you fear, mother. Your daughter would rather burn her cunt than fuck me."
Joanna hissed, raising her hand to hit Tyrion but refrained at the last second. She fell back on her bed, head lowered and hand gripping the mattress.
"What has become of our House? What has Tywin been doing?"
Tyrion placed a hand on his mother's knee.
"What has happened has happened and there is no changing it. What we can do is try to make what can be made right. The children are innocent no matter what their parents have done. We need to focus there."
Joanna stared at her son for a moment before lashing her hand out. Tyrion flinched and expected a hit. Instead, the cup was swiped from his hand and was drained in one swig. Tyrion snorted.
"Are you sure I got my drinking habits from grandfather?"
Joanna glared at her son.
** The Baratheons **
"I always knew that damned Kingslayer was trouble. You should have let me send him to the Watch Jon."
"The times were not right to do so. Perhaps once we return we can do it."
Robert grunted, inhaling another cup of wine with Renly.
"Lord Arryn" Stannis motioned for Jon Arryn to follow him and the two walked far from any prying ears. "It would seem what we guessed was correct."
"So it would" Jon Arryn muttered, his eyes wandering to the three children talking amongst themselves in the corner. Myrcella and Tommen looked still in shock, Shireen trying her best and failing to help them.
"It's only a matter of time until Robert finds out."
"And when he does, the children will not be safe."
"Lord Arryn,"
"They are still just children, Lord Baratheon" Critical eyes pinned Stannis with a look, "Regardless of their parents' sins and the punishment that will be dealt to them, and they will be punished, the children should not be harmed."
Stannis nodded stiffly.
"You are the heir now, Lord Stannis. What you do, how you hold yourself and how you act will reflect on whether people will back you or not."
"Why would they not? My all laws of man and gods I will be King after my brother."
"The laws of man can bend with the right motivation" Jon Arryn paused, "the man that brought us here, he seems to have brought all the major players."
"Would Lord Tywin's absence mean that the man deems him unimportant? That perhaps one of his sons should take his place as Lord by the time we return?"
"Lord Tywin has not named an heir yet to replace Jaime" Jon pondered, "perhaps having Tyrion Lannister as an alley might work in our favour?"
"The imp is many things, but he is cunning and vicious. He also loves his family."
"We have time yet. We might find a way to coax him to our side."
"Mayhaps" Stannis sighed.
Jon Arryn studied Stannis closely.
"Do you perhaps not want to be King, Lord Baratheon?"
"It matters little what I want or not. The duty of Kingship is just that, a duty. And it is on me to uphold and perform it."
Jon Arryn stroked his chin, eyeing Stannis Baratheon closely.