Warning: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire, nor this Story.
This story deserves to be available for readers to read. This Story was removed, it deserved to be available, Original Author is Blackwolf2019 as i don't own this story or its work.
Comments and everything below is from the OA.
Chapter 25: Meeting the Three Eyed Crow
Hope you all enjoy! Feel Free tae comment as always! I was on a bit of a roll
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Jon
The Wall and Castle Black wasn't much different to when Jon had left it. Same Icy Wall and black cloaks of the watch. Jon wasn't pleased to be back despite the necessity. Thought of the knives that stabbed him made him growl angrily. The growls also came from the former Queen's Men and Squids that were present. Many had moved away at the sight of him, Ghost, Arya and Nymeria.I'll have to thank Edd for spreading them across the castles of the Wall.Jon thought as he walked towards the King's tower with Arya, Samwell Tarly and Howland Reed. The rest of his banners were settling in and preparing their troops for when the Others came.
"You didn't belong here." Arya said to him sadly.
"You're right I didn't." Sam replied lightly.
Jon and Arya both laughed at his words. He'd offered his friend the option to stay at Winterfell with Gilly, Little Sam and the young Aemon but Sam had insisted otherwise.Braver than he gives himself credit for.
Sam continued on as they walked. "It wasn't all bad I suppose. I wouldn't have met any of you or Gilly."
"Lucky for some. You two were the ones that got women and a chance to leave. Me, Grenn and Pyp haven't had that option." Edd said darkly as he greeted them at the foot of the tower. Jon took the man's hand firmly before hugging his friend.I will once this is over.
"It's good to see you Edd. As glum as ever." Jon said happily.
Edd grunted. "I see you still have that feral grin since getting back up. That'll make the others scared."
"I hear you're Lord Commander." Sam said as he greeted his friend in turn.
Edd nodded sadly, "Aye, both by Jon's choosing and the vote. The world must be ending if that's the case. Mind, I think they'll demand another vote now that your Uncle is back."
"And where is our Uncle and Bran?" Arya asked Edd, clearly impatient.
"And my daughter?" Howland asked as well.
"Just inside the rooms opposite the door." Edd answered as he brought them in.
News of Bran at the Wall with his Uncle and Lady Meera Reed had come not long after his wedding. It came as good news amongst the bad that the Others were being spotted more and more. Though news of Bran's return wasn't exactly the greatest. He'd be warned in the raven that his brother had something off about.What have you seen brother?
As Jon entered the room, he was met by three figures sitting by the fire, all in furs. Uncle Benjen and Lady Meera had stood and ran to greet them; Benjen towards him and Arya whilst Lady Meera for her father. Jon and Arya met their Uncle with a firm hug. As they broke, Jon got a better look of his uncle. His Uncle was a lot skinnier than the last time he had seen him and he could see scars over his hands and face. Beyond the Wall had aged him, with patches of white in his dark hair.We've all aged from this.
Benjen smiled at the two with sad eyes. "It's good to see the both of you. Most nights I thought I would never see any of you again."
"I thought the same." Jon replied with a smile.
"I don't think any of us ever thought to see our own blood again." Arya added sadly.
Benjen's sad eyes deepened. "My brother didn't deserve his fate. And neither did any of you."
Jon noticed him turn towards Bran at his last words. His brother hadn't said anything from his chair. He'd just been staring at them with dead eyes and an emotionless face. Arya was also looking at him intently.
"Bran?" She asked hesitantly.
"Bran died in a cave beyond the wall. I am the Three Eyed Crow." Bran responded, voice dull and dead.
The room had turned to silence, with both Benjen and Meera's face growing sadder. Sam was looking both confused yet intrigued. Arya and Jon looked at each other grimly.
"But you're Bran." Arya said defiantly as she sat beside her brother. Jon and the group followed suit.
Bran didn't flinch or change his emotionless face at the more powerful words. He just shook his head.
"Brandon Stark died so the Three Eyed Crow could live. He knew that I was needed in the long night so did what was necessary. He did something that his expected predecessor failed in."
A dead voice. There's nothing of Bran there. Just his face. My brother's dead.Jon thought with anger. Ghost growling in response.
"What is the Three Eyed Crow?" Sam asked quietly.
"Before the first long night I was simply the memory of the world. A child of the forest gifted with Green sight would give themselves to me and provide the children the knowledge of the world. But when the Long Night came, I became something more than that. I became the bridge between man and the others to keep the peace. A mediator between the First Men and the Others." Bran answered emotionlessly.
The group was silent.Sam was right.
"Why did you take Bran then if it was originally the Children who became you?" Jon asked angrily.
"It was a condition of the pact. The children had created the Others from man so were no longer allowed the chance. It was agreed by both the First Men and the Others as punishment. It was in part why the children slept with man. To pass the green sight into the first men so any gifted with the sight could become me." Bran answered.
"But why you?" Arya asked as angrily as himself. Nymeria growling alongside him and ghost.
"Because Bran had the strongest Green Sight at the time. And he was a Stark. He knew what was best for the North. He died fixing the Three Eyed Crow's mistake with Blood Raven." Meera answered mournfully as her father held her.
"Blood Raven. The Targaryen bastard with a thousand and one eyes!" Sam exclaimed in shock.
Benjen nodded, speaking sadly. "He had been called to be the Three Eyed Crow before Bran from what I had been told. He didn't do his duty."
"And Bran did it instead." Arya answered sadly.
Jon put his arm to hers.We've lost two brothers now.
"Why did Blood Raven not give himself up?" Sam asked.
Bran turned his dead gaze to Sam. "Because he is of dragon blood. I had hoped he would have been able to make the Targaryens understand the pact if dragons ever returned. But all Targaryens serve the dragons and fire regardless of duty as I learnt. They see it as power. He would have destroyed the others given the chance."
"The Others being gone doesn't sound like a bad thing." Edd muttered as the group looked to Bran.
I'm inclined to agree.
Bran shook his head. "Because the others have personified Ice. They are a part of that element now. Not even the Old Gods can separate it. To kill them is to kill the cold that makes the rain that replenishes our crops."
"And the dragons are the same for fire then." Sam stated.
For a moment there was a flicker of a smile on Bran's face.It isn't Bran's smile. His lit up a room. That ghostly one is whatever has taken him.Jon thought with a scowl.
"You are right. They were born on the far side of the world from the volcanoes as a war cry against the Others, embedding themselves in fire."
"Were dragons involved in forcing the pact?" Jon asked warily, not wanting to deal with the Targaryens.They'll want us to bend regardless of them dying if we lose.
Bran shook his head. "They never met in the first long night. None of this would have happened if they were. Neither side wants peace truly even if they have held off for self-preservation or the pact in the case of the Others. Each wants the death of the other."
"And we're all stuck in the middle." Jon answered bitterly.
"Especially now. The moment Aegon the Conqueror landed with his dragons; the two sides became much more engaged with the war. Both sides increased their numbers with them so close to each other."
"And the Others kept doing it after the dragons died! The extinction of dragons is what made the others break the pact. They saw it as confirmation that they'd won and wanted to finish us." Sam finished excitedly.
"Not quite. Most of the dragons were gone from the wars within each other, the hand of man and the tampering of Maesters. One lived despite that, lying relatively dormant. The Others broke the pact to kill it, thinking humanity wouldn't be able to win after so long. If the dragons were all gone, they would have won." Bran corrected.
"And now there are three more. We're going to have to fight them too and make a pact." Arya realised.
Bran shook his head. "Only two more. One was killed. As long as the dragons don't make their way North, they won't attack. The Dragons will want to preserve themselves with less numbers. But if they meet, they won't hesitate to fight."
"And we're fucked if either side wins." Edd replied glumly.
Jon wanted to bang his head off the wall. They were stuck between Ice and Fire and both wanted to kill each other.The North Remembers and we've forgotten this.Jon realised darkly. The North was supposed to remember the pact but 8000 years and the mortality of everyone had taken the knowledge away, all it left to a Three Eyed Crow nobody had ever heard of.And now we only learn of it with them breathing down our necks and the dragons a stone's throw away to make it all the worse.
"We have to restore the pact and the balance between ice and fire then." Howland surmised.
"Yes. There is a leader among them. The first other to be turned by the Children and creator of the rest. He is the one that we must definitely keep alive." Bran replied.
Jon stood and spoke with strength. "We need to break the others to make them obey the pact again. Make them fear the first men and have them remember the pact. Kill enough of them and make the rest go as far North as possible away from the dragons."
"We break them when they come for the wall." Arya said, looking at him with confidence.
"You will also require me to renew the pact. I will have to be at a Weirwood tree to do so." Bran said calmly.
"Then we'll get you to Last Hearth or Karhold." Jon replied.
"No, that is too far. You would have to let the Others through for that. I must be at the Weirwood beyond the wall. He will hunt for me anyway to kill me and prevent another pact. That will bring the first other to us." Bran said simply.
"We won't risk you!" Arya shouted.
"Bran won't come back when this over. He died. You only doom yourself by thinking otherwise." Bran said emptily.
Those words had brought silence to the room. Only the wolves were growling at the three eyed crow in anger at the death of their pack member.He isn't Bran.Jon heard Meera speak, voice teary.
"Bran wanted us to live so we will do what he would have wanted. I won't have him die without us winning."
"Then we guard the crow at the Weirwood and keep you safe. Lure the First Other in and break him. We'll plan in the morning with the bannermen." Jon said with a snarl as he stormed off.My brother is dead.
Staring at the world from the wall gave a small measure of peace after seeing what had happened to his brother. Sparring in the yard with Arya and as many of his banners as possible had soothed him more.We'll need to be at our best. In less than a moon's turn they will be here.Jon mused sadly as he watched the snows fall onto the ground far below him. He could see men of the Watch and his banners preparing the battle lines for the numbers that would have to be on the ground. He could feel himself inside Ghost as well, hunting with Nymeria and their pack and scouting for the others. Jon wasn't alone, standing with Arya by his side. Both of them were mournful over Bran. Just like Rickon and Sansa would be. Just like Meera and Benjen were.
"He didn't deserve to become that." Jon said harshly into the wind.
"We'll avenge him though when the Others come." Arya replied coldly.
"Aye, we'll break them and make sure they never break the pact again." Jon vowed.
Arya put her hand to his shoulder and spoke kindly. "We'll win for Bran."
Jon smiled at his sister. "We will for Bran."
And we'll win for everyone. I want to go home to my wife and live with my family. I'll make sure the North never forgets so this doesn't happen again.
Hope you all enjoyed! If there is any confusion, feel free tae ask and will answer the best I can. Basically, I've made it so the others are a part of the fabric of the world now, same fir the dragons. Killing either entirely, or both sides, wipes out everything. The Others made a pact with humanity tae preserve themselves after being almost beat and the three eyed crow realising what would happen to the world if they went. The children not being allowed tae be the crow came because humans had friends turned tae others and the others remembered that happening tae them.
Also, in my head canon fir this, the Valyrians made their own pact wae dragons inadvertently by sort of taming them. However, they were more aligned wae dragons because they want power and dominion so are less aware of that.
Anyway, any questions feel free tae ask!