I'd like to thank everyone who's shown interest in this fic! There are so little fics out there with this pairing, or even just the Night King, that I figured I was just going to write it for myself. I have a definite outline of where this is going but it is a little flexible. Suggestions are welcome and if I can incorporate them into the story I will do so and of course give credit where credit is due. For now, enjoy.
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Only an hour or so had passed since the Night King had come to her. She could still feel his icy touch. Still see the vision he'd shown her. Could something like that really happen? As much as she'd love to have that bitch Cersei on her knees, she wasn't about to give up her entire life for it. She had to live, had to save her family and Winterfell.
These things had to die. In the meantime, she had to live.
Sansa stood up. There had to be some sort of way out of this. What would happen if she tried to leave? She walked slowly toward the opening mouth of the cave, past a row of dead guards who didn't move to stop her. Outside, there were more. Thousands. But most of them were just standing there, staring out at nothing. Would they even notice if she just walked outside?
Gingerly, she placed a foot in freshly fallen snow. Then the other foot. Ever so slowly, she made her way fully outside. It was cold but there was no wind. To the right of the mouth of the cave, there were trees. To the left, there was open space stretching out to high cliffs in the distance. Her option was obvious and she slowly backed away toward the treeline.
Incredibly, no one stopped her or gave chase. Maybe she wasn't as important as she'd thought.
Deeper into the forest, everything was quiet. She wasn't sure where she was going but anywhere away from the cave had to be safe.
Wait. Wasn't that the rock she'd passed a few minutes ago? Sansa frowned down at the lump of grey nestled at the base of a large conifer tree. Was she going in circles?
Something heavy came down on her shoulder and she screamed. Then everything went dark.
When she came to, she was a beautiful place. Green lights waved across the night sky and what looked like an ice castle of some kind stretched high before her. Suddenly afraid, she whirled around and came face to face with the Night King.
"What do you want?" she blurted out, backing away.
He tilted his head ever so slightly, staring at her in that unnerving way. Then he lifted his hand, drawing her attention to where he gestured. Dark figures walked forward in the distance. Finally, she could make out their faces and she swallowed hard.
Jon. Tormund. Jorah Mormont. Daenerys. Samwell Tarly. Arya. All of them, pale faced and blue eyed.
"No," she whispered.
Inevitable.
Like before, she seemed to hear him in her mind. "Please," she whispered, turning to face him without flinching. "Let me go to my family."
If something like a sneer could form on the Night King's face, she was sure that she just witnessed it. He slowly raised his hand and then snapped his fingers. To the side, her friends and family fell to the ground as if dead.
"Don't hurt them."
The dead belong to me.
Sansa shook in her place, suddenly colder than ever. "I'm not dead."
He moved ever so slowly, angling his body to bring him closer to her. A finger lifted toward her face and she wanted to run away. He didn't touch her though. Instead, he lifted a piece of her hair with one fingernail, letting it slide off and back down to her shoulder.
Her shaking slowly subsided, as she realized he wasn't going to hurt her. Again she asked, "What do you want from me?" She shifted in place and swallowed hard. "Or is it … Jon? Or the Dragon Queen?"
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, changing his whole expression.
The young warrior… He will be mine. Very soon.
"Are you… going to kill me?" Please, say no, she prayed.
He didn't answer that and in another moment they were back in the forest from before. Sansa clutched at her chest, unsettled everything time he did that. The he stood there watching her, arms at his sides.
Go.
The voice echoed in her head. She backed away, not believing that he would just let her go. But he didn't come after her and she turned to begin running.
For a moment, she remembered running from Ramsey Bolton through a snowy forest like this one and she stopped to look behind her. The Night King still stood there watching her, but still made no move to come and get her.
When she started running again she didn't look back.
XXXXX
Jon sat staring into the fire, one fist on his chin. He'd failed spectacularly and now Sansa was dead, among others countless others.
"At least we still have the dragons," Tormund said not unkindly. "We will avenge her death, brother."
Jon didn't bother to look at him when he answered. "It won't bring her back."
A new voice sounded now, one that made his chest lighten just a little bit. "You're right, it won't." Dany put a hand on his shoulder which he covered with his own. "But in the short time I knew her, Sansa was someone who loved the North deeply. Who wanted to save it from anything that would harm it. We will avenge her, Jon, and we will save the world from these monsters. The dead will stay dead."
He kissed her hand and then let it go, half turning to watch her as she moved around him to sit down in the neighboring chair. She looked tired, he realized with a pang.
Tormund took a large drink of ale and then wiped his beard off with the back of his hand. "Well, I'm off. I'll leave you lovebirds to it then."
Dany rolled her eyes at his back, just a little, and then focused her attention on Jon. "I'm sorry about your sister. We had just started understanding each other. Not liking each other, of course." She cracked a small smile. Jon understood what she was talking about. The two women had been at odds with their views of the future and what it would bring. Dany was to be queen over all Westeros, and Sansa only wanted the North to be left alone.
"We need to talk."
She swallowed. "I've been avoiding it."
The corner of his mouth turned up. "Me too."
She took a deep breath. "What am I supposed to do with the information you have given me?"
He sat up straighter. "For starters, maybe don't look at me like I'm some traitor who's after your throne. I've never wanted the Iron Throne, never."
"Well, what do you want?"
His eyes were dark as they looked her over. "That's the easiest question I've ever been asked. You," he said simply. "Us."
Her face lit up a fraction, but doubts held her back. "I want that too, Jon, believe me. But-"
"No, buts." He leaned forward and took her hands. "I swore my allegiance to you and gave you my promise to support you as the queen of Westeros. That hasn't changed."
"And it doesn't bother you? That we're related? I know you're half-Targaryen but you can't have come around that quickly. I was raised with the knowledge that my brother and I were to reconquer Westeros and rule the kingdom together as husband and wife. You know that no one will accept our relationship, Jon. You're my-" She swallowed unwilling to say the actual words.
Jon gave his first genuine smile of the night, catching her off guard. "I've been told before that I know nothing, and I think that's very true. But what I think is that you are the queen. The people will accept whatever you tell them to. And after all this is over I doubt many people will care. But keep it a secret if you wish."
Dany pulled him close, out of chair and onto his knees in front of her. "You are a marvel, Jon Snow." She kissed him quickly on the mouth and then pulled back. "No, it will not be a secret. Maybe for now, but not always. I want you too and I won't start my reign off with lies. Besides, for purely political reasons, our alliance makes perfect sense. You have the loyalty of the-stubborn-people of the North." She smiled briefly. "Together we will have the whole country."
Jon's hands slid up her thighs to settle around her waist. Rising up, he made his way to her neck to kiss the sensitive flesh just above her collarbone. But then the door flew open and Tormund stood in the doorway with an expression of mad excitement.
"It's your sister."
"Arya?" Was she in danger?
"No, the other one. The red haired girl. She's in the courtyard. Alive," he emphasized.
Jon sprang to his feet with Dany swiftly following.
Outside, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was Sansa. She looked hungry and tired and pale, but otherwise unharmed. He ran to her, along with Arya and Dany and the many other onlookers.
She hugged him tight, another thing she remembered doing after running away from Ramsey. The day had many parallels. But before anyone could ask her any questions she had to tell them about the Night King first. She pulled away from Jon and looked at all of them.
"The Night King is coming for you. All of you."
"We know he will try again soon-" Dany started, but Sansa shook her head.
"I mean, he's coming to make you one of his … kind. He wants to turn all of you into creatures like him. He showed me a vision. In it, all of you were like him with those horrible blue eyes. Then he snapped a finger and you were dead." She looked at Jon. "He specifically told me that you would be his very soon."
That left Jon looking very unsettled and afraid and he dropped his arms from around her. "How did he tell you this? I didn't know he could talk."
"I sort of heard it in my mind. Maybe they can talk but I never saw it."
"Where is he now?" Dany asked.
Sansa shook her head. "I think his army is to the south, for the moment. Not far. I'm not sure."
Tormund clenched a fist. "So we're trapped here."
They all looked at each other, each one knowing what that meant. Winter had come, finally, and now they were trapped in it with no food and no hope.