A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts

by Jebest4781

Venturing outside of the Heart of his Somebody, a Nobody enters a World where it's at the brink of self destruction. Will he be able to handle and survive the Game of Thrones. Rated M for language, violence, etc. Pairings hidden at current time. KHXGoT/ASoIaF CoWritten by free man writer. Cover Image by Carlos M. Please leave reviews.

3. Winterfell

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Disney, Square-Enix or Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Writing/Singing

"Foreign Language/Flashback"

-Scene Shift-

Chapter 3: Winterfell

It was a dreary, cold day from what many have seen so far. Sure it doesn't look like it for the most part, but the signs were there for all to witness. The sky was overcast with grey clouds darkening, indicating it would either rain or snow; but given the increasing cold, it was going to be the latter in the coming hours.

This would've been a thing of concern for most people, but for those of House Stark of Winterfell it was just another day in their lives here in the North.

Throughout his life, the North was dull, cold and grey with the occasional sunny days; yet to Eddard Stark -Ned to close friends and loved ones- it was his home. Not much really occurs in the cold acclimated landscape that's out of the norm. Smallfolks perform their long hours of labor before finally going back to their homes for secured warmth. If they had enough coins to spare, they would spend their leisure in the taverns or brothel as a means of escapism.

As the Lord Paramount of the North looked towards Wintertown from the battlements near the training yard, he was thinking of what was out of the norm in recent days.

Ned received a letter from Gregor Forrester, telling him of something quite unexpected: Ironrath had been attacked!

The Stark Lord was about to drop everything he had doing at that time, call on a small regent of men and personally go investigate on the matter; even assisting on what conflict that suddenly arose. This is what Ned would have done if he was younger, jumping to conclusions right away if he didn't receive proper training from Jon Arryn years ago.

Overcoming his shock, Ned reread the letter again and again and again, overworking the gears in his mind in learning of what transpired. Darkened creatures called Heartless had shown up from out of nowhere and attacked the Keep. No weapon in their arsenal could properly combat against the threat; except for House Forrester's Valyrian steel sword -Frostroot- and even then it hardly do anything at all.

Yet a darkly cloaked boy of 14-15 Summers had saved them all from this travesty wielding-

'A Keyblade…' Ned thought with a small frown. 'Two of them, in fact.'

The name of such a weapon… it felt like ages since he last heard of it, let alone seen it.

The last he'd seen it was from a friendship he forged years ago. At a time before everything changed in the world as he knew it.

And it all started at that infamous Tourney…

-Flashback; 279 AC, Harrenhal-

It was a sight to behold for the second son of Rickard Stark as his fog-like grey eyes gazed upon the brief crown jewel of the Iron Islanders; which sat at the God's Eye shoreline due north of the Isle of Faces.

Despite the burned, ruined appearance it took on, it was a pinacled structure that could've truly rivaled the majesty of what few castle keeps he'd seen so far in his life. If it weren't for the actions of Aegon the Conqueror, Ned would admit it would've been grandeur than his home of Winterfell.

The immensely strong castle has five towers of dizzying size, reaching towards the sky like fingers, with equally monstrous thick curtain walls. The land covers three times as much ground as Winterfell with it's buildings being so much larger that they can scarcely be compared. It's kitchens were reportedly just as large as Winterfell's Great Hall alone. And from what Ned was told, the ruined Keep has the largest chamber in Westeros, larger than the Red Keep's throne room.

After all, it was designed by the late King Harren as a means to not only boast about his power and wealth, but to help house his massive army to keep and enforce his rule over the enslaved Riverlanders back then.

Once Aegon torched and cooked it's occupants upon the start of his campaign to rule Westeros, many have come and gone in taking possession of the decayed Keep. It was hard for anyone to truly maintain the land -let alone the Keep itself- before… incidents and occurrences happen upon the owners.

Some say it's because the property is cursed upon Harren the Black's dying breath as he didn't want anyone to take hold of what was his indefinitely. And the story of this grew with each passing hand to solidify such a thing.

House Qoherys was slain in Aenys the First's reign, Harroway was extinguished in King Megor's, and each of the heirs of Towers kept dying out too quickly. House Strong took possession of the Keep after Rhaena Targaryen spent the last of her days owning the land, but their line ended during the Dance of Dragons. Alys Rivers, the Witch Queen, owned it for a time before House Lothston took hold of it until it's Lady went into madness with her family casted down during King Meakar's reign.

And now the Whents rules the Keep, a prize for any House to have in their possession From the wealth that comes with it and the prestige… as long as they can properly maintain and garrison it all. After all, most of the castle is locked up and barely touched by any hands or feet as a means of not overworking the servants.

Now one might wonder why Ned Stark is currently at the infamous Keep. Why it's because he's here to attend a tourney which almost every House in Westeros was invited. And by the banners he's been seeing since his arrival, all of the major Houses were here as well.

Tourneys, in Ned's mind, was considered a waste of time, coin and resources. Blame it on his Northern mindset, but all of that could've been used to help the betterment of the common folk and prepare for the next Winter.

Yet the Southerners seem to love throwing them. A means of celebrating their Springs and Summers, having faux-wars to satiate many Knights, Lords and Ladys' appetites to gallavant their skills.

As much as Ned would love to be anywhere else than here, like back at either the Eyrie or Winterfell, he was actually ordered to attend… by his father of all people with Jon Arryn backing him up.

Rickard Stark, Lord Paramount of the North, had refused to attend the upcoming tourney as a Stark always needs to be in Winterfell. Aside from that ancient reason, his father had wanted all of his children to attend the event as a means of at least experiencing a tourney first hand. Savoring the event as nothing like this will ever happen in their lifetimes, given the location and who is supposed to attend.

Oh and there's the fact each of the ruling Houses of each Kingdom has to attend, no matter how small in number there are in representation. And there's no way around it…

This one reason Ned could… somewhat understand, but he didn't understand at all why Jon Arryn would support Rickard's order in the first place. The Lord Paramount of the Vale said he would explain his reasons later as the days of this tourney are reaching its end.

Wanting to clear his head, the Quiet Wolf walked past many tents and sought out a place that could give him some form of comfort: the godswood. He wanted to at least pray there for his time at the Tourney before the rest of his family arrived later today.

The ancient grounds once housing the Children of the Forest spanned twenty acres, almost seven times larger than Winterfell's. One would possibly have a hard time navigating through such a spanded area if it weren't for Harrenhal's towers used as markers. Yet this factor might prove difficult due to several surrounding pines and sentinels growing high and thick to cover any possible viewpoint; prompting one to search elsewhere for another vantage point.

Coming across a little stream towards his intended destination, Ned kneeled down and filled up his waterskin as the day was a little warm for comfort. He used up what water he previously had prior to his arrival and he was quite thirsty.

Once filled, Ned took a small sip as he followed along the watery path; hoping it would lead him to Harrenhall's weirwood tree.

Time had come and gone as the Quiet wolf trekked through the godswood. He felt a little lost along the way, making him wish he could've told someone prior to entering these grounds in any event he didn't make it back to his family's tent by an allotted time, they'd come searching for him here.

After what felt like forever, Rickard Stark's second son found what he was looking for upon seeing red colored star-shaped leaves littering the earth. Gazing upwards, Ned smiled as he saw the weirwood tree of Harrenhal, with it's bone-white bark, red leaves.

Upon seeing the weirwood's face, Ned witnessed the odd contradiction it wore in such a peaceful place. Despite the tranquility in the godswood, the carved face the weirwood wore was of full fury and scorn, a twisted mouth and eyes seemingly burning with hatred along with sap slowly streaming down the carved bark to make it seem it was bleeding.

Wanting to inspect the ancient tree at a different angle, Ned saw that he wasn't alone in the area than he previously thought.

Lying against the tree trunk was a sleeping young man of fifteen years that almost made Ned double guess was of Lannister lineage with his handsome features to his golden blonde hair. Said hair was rather spikey in nature as the front concentrates towards the right side as if windswept while the back was smoother and more flaky.

And the attire said young man wore was unique all in itself. Wearing a short-sleeved jacket with the right half being white while the other was black. The inlay of the jacket was red and pleated and underneath said article of clothing was a grey vest with several white, angular patterns on it held together by a single button. And there was a third layer underneath them in the form of a plain, high-necked black short-sleeved shirt.

The sleeping teenager wore a pair of pants in grey, black and white colors that seemed closed up halfway down his legs. Around his left wrist was a black and white checkered wristband. A pair of criss-crossing straps were seen across his chest with a silver ordinate emblem stylized like a heart with an odd cross sticking out from the bottom. And his footwear was odd in itself that instead of boots, they were cut off around the ankles and were colored in shades of grey and black with hints of red.

To finish off the teens attire were the odd pieces of armor situated on him. From the odd looking pauldron situated on his left shoulder, a piece located on his midsection underneath his vest and some on his footwear. Said armor pieces had parts comprised of dull green and blue metal.

Concerned about what's going on with the younger man, Ned came up to the sleeping person and gently shook him awake.

A small groan escaped the blonde's lips soon after. "Uh… What…"

"Are you alright?"

The young Stark expected to see the signature Lannister green eyes, but was surprised in seeing a pair of bright blue eyes fluttering open.

Breaking the brief eye contact, the blue eyed blonde pulled up his right arm as a means of rubbing his head. Yet instead of doing his intended action, the teen ended up smacking his head on accident with an interesting looking item.

Clutching in the teen's grasp was a peculiar blue jewel shaped like a star the size of his fist. Yet there was some details that were quite odd, from the light green designs etched onto the surface and one part of the pointed star was replaced with something reminiscent to a light green lightning bolt.

"Okay, that hurt." Muttered the blonde with a small hiss. With the pain subsiding, he saw Ned hold out his hand. "Huh?"

"Here. Let me help you up."

Blinking, the teen nodded and grasped the Stark's hand. With a yank, he was soon brought up onto his feet. Standing at his full height, he took a glance at the object in his hand and looked like he was thinking of something. After several moments, he placed the fist sized, star-shaped jewel into his back pocket.

Ned decided he'll ask about the particular jewel later as a different question took center stage. "What are you doing out here by yourself sleeping like that?"

The blonde gave him a quizzical look. "I… don't exactly know…"

"So… you're not a follower of the Old Gods then?" Ned saw questions flying across the younger man's blue eyes. Before he could answer, the Quiet Wolf interrupted. "Sorry if I'm pushing you into an interrogation. I just found you here and I was merely curious of what happened."

The strange blonde gave a nod of understanding. "It's alright. I don't blame you for that at all." He then brought his hands behind his head before continuing. "As for why I'm here… eh~ you can say that I was exploring… and I got lost."

"Never been here before, then?"

"Pretty much."

"Then you've only come here for the tourney?"

"What tourney?"

"...You must be jesting. The Tourney of Harrenhal hosted by House Whent and organized by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. You haven't heard of it?"

"Ehhhhhh~ Sorry. I'm… not really from around here so I wouldn't really know."

This merely made Ned curious a bit more than before realizing something.

"Ah! Where are my manners?" Ned soon introduced himself. "My name's Eddard Stark, second son of Rickard Stark Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. Though I'm often called Ned by friends and family."

"Ned?" The blonde sounded out as if processing the name through his mind. "How'd you get that from your name?"

The Quiet Wolf merely shrugged. "Don't really know as well. It just stuck."

"Eh~ alright." The blonde gave the Stark a smile. "Well then, my name's-"

-Flashback End-

"Ned…"

"Huh?"

The Stark patriarch snapped out of his thoughts when he felt someone shaking his shoulder while calling out his name. Turning to his side, Eddard Stark gazed upon his lady wife, Catelyn.

Born from House Tully of the Riverlands, she is the first daughter from Houster Tully. Her auburn red hair had darkened over the years as her fair skin became fairer due to her living in the North since Ned brought her here after Robert's Rebellion. And currently she is wearing a traditional attire for a Northerner woman of her stature.

Much like a fine wine, Catelyn had aged well from the passing years and Ned still thought of her as quite the beauty.

Her blue eyes looked at him in concern. "Are you alright, Ned? You seemed lost, distant even."

"Apologizes, Catelyn. Just reflecting of past and recent events."

Catelyn could understand of reflecting on the past. Why wouldn't anyone do so in the first place? And yet…

"Are there any problems that I should know, my husband?"

Ned breathed and exhaled a little, thinking if he should give her a proper answer to this concern of his. Yet all he could do was give it a brief shove. "Just some information given to me from some of the other Houses."

"Like what?"

"Reports and the like, Cat." Came the simple response, which he didn't lie about at all.

Catelyn hummed before looping her arm around his. "Maybe you can tell me as we go towards the training grounds. I believe Robb is helping Bran at the moment with swordplay and archery at one of them."

Ned nodded as they went towards their destination.

It took some time for the married pair to reach the training grounds. Neither really minded as their conversation on what Ned had to say kept them occupied. Some mountain/hill tribes having mild disputes and asked for Ned's opinions in settling them. A report came in from the Manderlys in updating the Warden on the status of the ship fleet reaching halfway from its former glory. And a report came in from the Karstarks on their current crops for preparation for distribution towards the other Northern Houses.

Just as Ned was about to slowly ease his wife into the report details from House Forrester, they found themselves at the training ground.

Looking down below, Ned indeed saw what Catelyn had spoken beforehand.

Bran, who was currently practicing his archery skills -or lack thereof- is quite the adventurer of his pack. Dreaming to be an explorer or at least a fighter. Often called Bran the Climber, due to him enjoying climbing all sorts of things: the towers, the walls, the trees, you name it. Though Ned worries his second to youngest son should be more careful in doing such activities all on his own without someone there to keep watch of his actions.

Not far away and sitting on a fence was his youngest son of six years, Rickon. The quiet pup watched in glee as his older brother kept missing his shots.

"Try again, little brother. You can do it."

Robb, his eldest child and heir to Winterfell of seventeen years with dark brown hair and grey eyes, was helping out on the archery lesson. He was fair, cunning, loyal and had a keen sense of justice. His oldest son was what every father should have in a child and Ned was deeply proud of him through and through.

Seeing another arrow miss the target by several feet towards the left, hitting an empty barrel in the process, Bran became quite frustrated for all to see.

Wanting to calm the young Lord down, someone came around his side and patted his shoulder.

"Go on, Father's watching." He looked back and peered at the Lord and Lady of Winterfell. "And your mother."

And there was Jon… his seventeen year old bastard… having rich brown hair, borderline black with steely grey eyes to show his Stark heritage.

'How I wish I can reveal the truth on the matter.' Ned sadly thought as he wore a happy facade to hide his pain.

For years, the Warden's heart broke more and more with how bad his son was treated. Physically and mentally Jon was completely fine. Emotionally was a different matter.

Catelyn never physically harmed him in the slightest, but he knows about the stares. His wife thinks he never catches on, but Ned witnessed the act countless times. Her looking down at Jon and showing her displeasure of his presence in their home.

And Jon was the source of the majority of their arguments.

Ned told her time and time again that he promised he would take care of him no matter what. He is of his blood and loves him just as much as Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon. Jon has no birthright towards Winterfell. And there are no prospects for anything about him other than the skills he brings towards House Stark.

Unlike most Lords in Westeros who use their bastards as pawns and loyal assets, Ned was never like that. Ned treated his differently and gave him all the love he could ever need.

It does warm his heart greatly that his eldest and three youngest accepted Jon with open hearts. But like his wife, Sansa -his oldest daughter- was distant and cold towards his bastard.

All he wishes now in his life is for the last two members of his family can at least accept him. Not now, obviously, but one day.

And there's the detail that hurts Ned greatly: Jon wanting to go to the Wall.

When this was brought up, Catelyn was more than happy to see the bastard leave Winterfell and join the Night's Watch. The very moment Jon his shipped over there, he would never be seen again by her or anyone else from their family.

Well~ unless he somehow becomes a Night's Watch recruiter and is allowed to come south to gather up recruits and prisoners. Then that's a completely different detail.

Much like his children -minus Sansa- Ned shown his displeasure in Jon wanting to join the ancient order. His bastard has so much to live for and possibly do rather than immediately going there. Seeing new places and learning new skills would be a great experience for him while giving him new outlooks on life.

Nodding, Bran pulled out another arrow and knocked it on the string. Pulling back, the young Stark tried to keep his bow arm steady, but failed. This was apparent once more upon releasing the string and sent the arrow flying. The projectile missed by a wide margin as it went over the painted target and hit the trees some distance away.

Jon and Robb laughed while Rickon giggled from their respective spots in the training ground.

Seeing the frustrated form of his young son, Ned spoke from up high. "And which one of you was a marksman at ten?"

Jon and Robb stopped laughing, but still smiled all the same. Yet Rickon didn't follow his older siblings' actions as he kept on giggling.

"Keep practicing Bran. Go on." The Stark Patriarch spoke in an encouraging tone.

Jon bent down and calmly spoke to his younger half-brother. "Don't think too much, Bran." Jon said as Bran pulled back another arrow.

"Relax your bow arm." Robb said as Bran tried once again.

*TWHIP*

Another arrow zoomed past them and hit the dead center of the target. They turned to see Arya with a bow. She smiled and gave a curtsey.

Arya, Ned's second daughter, is the wildest of his children. Her dark brown hair had small traces of red in it to help show her Tully heritage with her mischievous grey eyes. Stubborn to a fault, to the point where Ned often thinks she's Lyanna come again. The eleven year old often rebels in her lessons in being a Lady and wanting to be something more. She watches on her brothers' lessons and mimics their actions in hopes of becoming a fighter one day.

Annoyed, Bran dropped his bow and gave chase after his older sister. Said girl merely widened her smile and ran away with Jon, Robb and Rickon laughing.

"Quick, Bran!"

"Faster!"

Ned watched on merely with a smile on his face alongside Catelyn.

Yet their little joyful moment had to end with someone addressing them from behind. "Lord Stark. My Lady."

Turning around, the couple saw Winterfell's Master-at-Arms, Ser Rodrick Cassel, walking towards him with Theon Greyjoy not far behind.

Ser Rodrick has been a beloved and respected member of Ned's household for many years. Same goes with his nephew, Jory, who is the Captain of the Guard. Anyone who hasn't met Rodrick before would recognize him right away, due to his signature mutton chop facial hair pattern tied together to form a beard.

And Theon Greyjoy, the last remaining son of Balon Greyjoy of seventeen years. He was taken in on Ned's behalf at the end of the Greyjoy Rebellion nine years ago. It was either that or having the poor lad being taken in by someone else… or have a worse fate. Ever since joining the household, Theon has been a good friend to Robb and Jon; even if the relationship is shaky at most times.

Breathing in cold air, Ned asked his Master-at-Arms. "Yes, what is it?"

"A guardsmen just came in from the hills. They've captured a deserter from the Night's Watch." Rodrik responded.

Ned became serious upon hearing this.

It was not the first time, and will surely not be the last, of someone from the ancient order running away from their duties. Such a crime needed to be sentenced personally.

Looking over, Ned addressed the Greyjoy. "Get the lads to saddle their horses."

Theon nodded, leaving soon after to carry on his task.

"Do you have to?" Catelyn asked, not wanting them to go through with it.

"He swore an oath, Cat."

"Law is law, my Lady." Rodrik said as she just shook her head.

"Tell Bran he's coming too." Ned said, as Cat was against the idea.

"Ned… Ten is too young to see such things."

"He won't be a boy forever." Ned bitterly said before uttering his House's words. "And Winter is Coming."

Catelyn looked on her husband's retreating form as she looked back with a sour mood running across her features.

Looking down, she saw Jon was putting away the archery equipment with snow starting to gently fall from the skies above.

In a split moment, Jon stopped what he was doing as he didn't have to look upward to see Catelyn glaring at him. Breathing in deeply, he continued his task in putting things away before Theon came up to him and Robb and told them on what their Lord father commanded him to do.

-On the King's Road-

"So how much longer is it gonna take, Gared?"

"Not much longer, Roxas." Answered the Forrester squire. "We'll be there within an hour."

The Keyblader nodded, shifting in his seat. "Good… because riding a horse for so long today is feeling quite uncomfortable."

"Oh it can't be that bad." Chuckled the Forrester heir as the present snowfall started to come down a little harder. Not much, but enough for Roxas to pull up the hood of his Organization coat. "After all, you've lasted this long in our trek towards Winterfell."

It has been roughly three days since Roxas was given the summons by Lord Stark of Winterfell. It had surprised those in the dining hall upon Gregor's announcement, but it wasn't fully surprising on the explanation.

Roxas was needed to come to Winterfell and do a proper report to the North's Lord Paramount on this new threat plaguing their lands. Wanting to prepare them for what's to come. Most people wondered if Eddard Stark will respond to this threat well or not.

Afterall, this is like making people believe the White Walkers are actually real and not a fairy tale.

Roxas would've gone out alone, but Gregor decided to have several people accompany him on his journey. One reason was, for obvious reasons, the Nobody had no bloody idea where the Northern capital was. He would've gone lost and things might've happened to him; where it be from thieves or Heartless… even though Roxas can easily take care of them. And the other reason for the escort was to help back up Roxas' claim, rather than just Gregor's letter.

Roxas found no fault on Gregor's decision and was fine with it. But he had his own request of his own with Gregor's. The Key of Destiny wanted a small group to accompany him as a large party would cause too much trouble. Not just that, but with the Heartless out there, the fewer people in his party would suffice in making room to combat against the darkened creatures.

After all, Sora had a handful of people with him on his journey across the Worlds and things worked out fine in the end each and every time.

Gregor was fine with the idea and had given Roxas permission to choose who'll accompany him, but it had to be done prior to him leaving for Winterfell.

During the time at the Forrester Keep, Roxas had spent an equal amount of time in both Ironrath's library, the training grounds and with the present Forrester children.

At the library, Roxas did get a better idea of the more general idea of the present World at whole aside from what bits and pieces he'd gotten from Arthur Tuttle among others. Even Maester Ortengryn was of good help in learning upon an equal exchange on what knowledge Roxas had on the Heartless threat. After all, Ortengryn wanted to send these details to the Citadel in hopes they can spread the word faster.

Once giving all he knew of the Heartless, except for a handful of details, Roxas left for the training grounds to keep his promise with Gared and Rodrick.

Roxas had a good time sparing with the Forrester squire and heir respectively. He helped taught Gared how to use a sword better, but it was a little rough given he was using Sora's old memories of his sword fighting with Riku back at Destiny Islands. And this was quite noticeable with the present experienced fighters present at the field as they helped out on the process.

But given the combined experiences between the Somebody and Nobody, the fighting style Roxas bore helped make up what seemed to give him a variety of openings for opponents to exploit.

Various people learned this the hard way as guards and soldiers had challenged Roxas for a quick match. Seeing the openings, they sought to possibly beat their savior. Yet they got their asses handed to them each and every time.

Closest ones who almost beat Roxas in a fair fight were Gregor, Royland and Rodrick. Surprisingly, each of them enjoyed the combat they had with the Keyblader; even if Roxas held back a lot in his strength and skill.

By the time Roxas was ready to depart, the Nobody had chosen Gared and Rodrick to accompany him.

The decision on said people were surprisingly in respective manners.

Gared was quite nervous about having to leave Ironrath so soon and didn't know if he can pull his weight in combating the Heartless. But upon his father's and uncle's encouraging words, the young squire reluctantly joined Roxas' party.

With Rodrick, he thought it could be an honor and a means of properly paying back what he felt owed to the Keyblader in saving his family and people. He did admit that he was too nervous in facing off the Heartless as he never saw them the previous day. But Rodrick had a duty to fulfill and he was going to complete it for the good of the North.

As the trio were about to leave, part of their cargo contained what Ironwood resin the Forresters extracted prior to the party's departure. Even though Roxas had his Keyblades, Gared and Rodrick's swords needed an "extra kick" -in Roxas' words- to help combat against the Heartless. And in a show of good faith, Gregor lended his son Ironroot for the journey ahead.

-Insert Kingdom Hearts 2: Sinister Sundown-

"Heartless." Roxas said, immediately jumping down from his horse and conjuring his Keyblades.

Gared and Rodrick had to reign in their horses to calm them down while Roxas merely ran forward, spinning Oathkeeper into a back-handed grip.

"Here we go again." Gared groaned out, hopping off his horse.

"I know, but we must help our friend." Rodrick stated, dismounting from his horse and drawing Ironroot with Gared following the same course of action with his own sword.

Both knew that they were not adept at fighting these dark creatures like Roxas who had already begun his systematic take down of the Heartless, cleaving through one Shadow with his Oblivion and then taking out two Soldiers with a slash of his Oathkeeper.

Rodrick kept close to Gared with the squire weilding a shorter sword then his own Valyrian steel sword which was done somewhat intentionally as the Forrester Heir had alongside an Ironwood shield.

In the short time they had spent traveling with Roxas, the Keyblader had given them a few more pointers when it comes to combating the Heartless though he did warn them not to take any risks. So they had stuck with a defensive tactic, allowing the Heartless to go in for the first strike while Rodrick would defend and knock them back.

And rather then the men just savagely hacking and slashing away at the dark creatures, Roxas told them quick attacks, thrusts and precision would be their most important tool. Stabbing through the body would be more beneficial to them as they simply didn't have the proper training or even brute strength to dispel Heartless with single strikes. That was something they'll acquire overtime should they have prolonged exposure to Heartless, slowly learning how to take on many rather than just one.

The thought of constantly fighting these beasts actually unnerved Rodrick as this presented a new perpetual threat that could not be predicted or foreseen.

Yet that topic would be thought of at a later date as right now would be another opportunity to better train themselves on fighting the Heartless.

"Get ready, Gared." Rodrick warned as several Heartless began to make their way toward the duo.

"Yes My Lord." Gared was nervous but he held his short sword tightly with both his hands and raised it up to shoulder level, with both hands an inch from his face.

A Shadow sprinted at them, leaping into the air to strike.

Rodrick tensed his arm and as soon as it was within arms reach, he swung forward and knocked it away.

However behind that Shadow was another of its ilk, running right at the two from the ground. Thankfully, Gared was already moving forward with his swords edge entering the Shadows head. A moment later, Rodrick quickly followed suit and stabbed his own blade through its neck.

The Shadow dispelled and the men quickly moved back into their original position as more Heartless began to move in on them. Thankfully, Roxas had unleashed a small Thunder spell with several strays from the back of their group being caught up in the lightning attack.

With the numbers thinned out to a more comfortable amount, Gared and Rodrick made sure to work in tandem together to the best of their ability utilizing everything they recalled from their brief training sessions with Roxas.

Roxas in the meantime was wiping the floor with this small bunch of Heartless. Running past several Heartless, he remembered an old trick of his and began twirling his Keyblades around him which took out Heartless left and right.

"Seven hells!" Gared shouted out from behind making Roxas whip round to see a big old Large Body Heartless lumbering its way over to both Ironrath men.

"Hang on guys." Roxas ran for the two who were now desperately trying to get away from the Large Body. "Need to get it from behind."

"Easy for you to say." Rodrick grunted out, rolling out of the way from the charging Large Body. "Fat fucker shouldn't be this quick."

"Well then keep it distracted." Roxas jumped forward and used his horse as a stepping stone to flip over and thwack it upside the head in mid-air.

The Large Body rubbed its head and began swinging its chunky arms around in retaliation.

"I'd rather not." Gared grumbled out as he too rolled out of the way.

Roxas had then ran back in front of the Large Body gaining its attention for a short moment when he performed an old favorite move of his.

Inclining his body back, Roxas suddenly slid around the Heartless right in front of Gared and Rodrick who were trying to make heads or tails as to what and how Roxas did that.

Behind a confused Heartless, Roxas raised his Keyblade before swinging it down and around him to give a solid strong spin before smashing the back edge of his Keyblade in an upward strike. The Large Body was lifted up off the ground from the hit making Gared and Rodricks eyes nearly bulge out.

As soon as the Large Body landed on the ground, Roxas was met with the familiar site of the Heartless springing back up to its feet with a glowing red aura as it waved its arms around childishly in anger.

"It looks like you gone and pissed it off." Spoke out the Forrester heir, readying Ironroot as it got in close to him.

"Done that a thousand times, Rodrick."

"What's it doing?" Gared inquired, not noticing this before.

Roxas only jumped away and spun his Keyblades and clanged them together into a defensive X formation.

The Large Body halted in its tantrum and turned to Roxas with its yellow beedy eyes on him. With a thump of his fist to his iron belly, the Large Body propelled itself forward like a missile straight at Roxas.

Gritting his teeth, Roxas tightened his grip on his two blades and waited for the right time to counterstrike.

As soon as the Large Body was literally an inch away from him, Roxas struck back at full force and sent the Heartless twirling about on its belly while its arms and legs flailed.

Not allowing it the chance to recover, Roxas sprang forth into the air and slammed his Keyblade down and through the back of the Large Body.

Its large frame dissipated and vanished with the trapped Heart flying into the air and disappearing a moment later.

"Whew." Roxas dispelled his Keyblades, shaking his right wrist. "Alright, that was a good warm up, dontcha think?"

"Yes, of course." Rodrick wryly stated. "For someone as inhuman as yourself."

Roxas only gave them both a cheeky smile, looking back to where the Heartless had been vanquished.

With everything settled in the area, the trio saw an assortment of trinkets littering the ground.

"Hope the bottles haven't broken this time." Roxas muttered as he picked up what appeared to be a Potion. "Oh good. No cracks."

Gared and Rodrick however stared at the littered treasure trove, still trying to figure out just how this was possible… for the upteenth time.

Along the way to Winterfell, before this recent skirmish, they had encountered Heartless before.

Roxas made quick work of them, yet something extremely peculiar happened after the battle.

There were unusual orbs and objects that burst out from every slain Heartless. One of which was something Roxas had called Munny which upon him picking it up converted immediately into Gold Dragons, Silver Stags and Copper pennies in his Munny wallet.

Both Gared and Rodrick were thinking Roxas was a loon in such detail. Yet Roxas kept inserting the Munny into his wallet, which soon converted as such once it was pulled out.

They were both slack-jawed in total shock, seeing how much they had gained in such a short amount of time.

Being the heir to a keep, Rodrick never had a short change of currency on his person at all times and since squiring for the Forresters, Gared had begun to amass his own small sum. But now, they had gained more money, or Munny as Roxas called it, in this short walk down to Winterfell then they had in years.

In a way, Roxas had the quickest form of currency exchange ever. Not to mention the wallet never seemed to burst with how much was collected, making the Nobody a portable bank as what Gared jested.

Hell, Rodrick and even goaded Roxas into turning his pouch upside down and both nearly had their hearts stopped at the immediate ocean of dragons, stags and pennies that piled up before them… and it seemed to not stopping until turned upright.

The Nobody slightly fretted to himself, not realizing he still -unbelievably- had the Munny he had gained from his time as a member of Organization XIII and had just been waiting on him to use it once more. Thankfully, a quick swipe of his pouch and the Munny all returned to its original place.

Once gathering up the fallen items and remounting their horses, the trio kept moving on in their journey.

"So what was this one place we need to go through again? Wintertown, was it?"

Rodrick nodded as he kept his eyes on the road. "We need to go through the front gate of Winterfell."

"And why couldn't we go through this Hunter's Gate you mentioned before?" Roxas inquired. "It's closer to reaching Winterfell than from Ironrath."

"Because that gate's exclusively for as the name states: hunters." Rodrick lectured. "Residents from Winterfell use that gate as a means of quickly exiting and entering the Wolfswood with game or emergencies. So with that, we must go through the long way… unfortunately."

Roxas groaned with a shake of his head.

"Mayhaps you could tell us another one of your journeys, Roxas." Gared spoke from on top of his horse. "Those help pass the time."

During their journey, Roxas had gotten the chance to know his two companions a bit more -outside from Ironrath- as a friendship was being forged. And along the way, Roxas was egged on in telling the pair the many missions he went through in the Organization… with limitations of course. Limiting himself carefully in not breaking the rule of the World Order.

The Forrester duo were fascinated in the Lands Roxas went through and what specific tasks he was given. Investigating, researching, combating, exploration, you name it.

"Or~ Roxas could indulge us in another one of those unique songs you know." Rodrick jotted in. "Still like the ones you gave Ethan and Talia."

"You know some of those sound better with an instrument; like a lute, sitar or guitar."

"I know, Roxas, but can't help it."

Seeing as the older companion won't budge away, the Nobody thought of one that came to mind from Demyx's library of songs.

Now you all know

The bards and their songs

When hours have gone by

I'll close my eyes

In a world far away

We may meet again

But now hear my song

About the dawn of the night

Let's sing the bard's song

Tomorrow will take us away

Far from home

No one will ever know our names

But the bards' songs will remain

Tomorrow will take it away

The fear of today

It will be gone

Due to our magic songs

Both Rodrick and Gared found the song so far quite enjoyable and had thought the present song could've been better with an instrument. Unluckily for them, neither knew how to play one.

'Still wish Roxas could've brought along a bard with us for this.' Rodrick pondered before he and the squire continued listening to the Nobody's song.

There's only one song

Left in my mind

Tales of a brave man

Who lived far from here

Now the bard songs are over

And it's time to leave

No-one should ask you for the name

Of the one

Who tells the story

Tomorrow will take us away

Far from home

No one will ever know our names

But the bards' songs will remain

Tomorrow all will be known

And you're not alone

So don't be afraid

In the dark and cold

Cause the bard's songs will remain

They all will remain

In my thoughts and in my dreams

They're always in my mind

These songs of hobbits, dwarves and men

And elves

Come close Your eyes

You can see them, too

Gared couldn't help but clap his hands once Roxas finished the song. And Rodrick started repeating the song as he hummed the tune.

'Gonna need to remember this one for the twins.' Thought the heir with a smile before seeing a structure in the distance. "Oh, I think we're almost there."

Hearing this got Roxas and Gared to look towards Rodrick's line of direction and saw they have gotten close to the Northern capital: Winterfell.

From what Roxas saw from the distance, the Northern Keep was quite spectacular and could easily be ranked on the few castles he'd seen in both his personal and Sora's memories.

"Cool." Roxas muttered under his breath as they drew closer to the imposing castle keep.

Both from both descriptions he was told beforehand and presently viewing it, Roxas saw Winterfell so far was practically a gigantic stronghold stretching across many acres. There were two layers of strong granite walls with the outer one being eighty feet tall while the inner one was a hundred feet high. The inner walls had quite the number of watchtowers built into them while the outer ones had guard turrets.

From what the Roxas could tell, the thirty acre area was not evened out which made him realize the builders back then had to work around the hills and valleys. So he expected to walk through slanted and sloped floors and areas.

As the trio got closer and closer, the Nobody saw many coned roofs on the many buildings which comprised the ancient Keep. He realized they were used for helping deal with some of the snow so it won't build up over a long period of time as it would all slide off at some point.

There was supposed to be something called a godswood located inside of the Keep, which the builders back then had to build around the three acre area so they wouldn't disturb the sacred land. And so far, it has allegedly been left untouched for ten thousand years.

From what he was told of the godswood beforehand, it sounded familiar to him. Roxas didn't want to jump to any conclusions about the place until seeing first hand in order to make a confirmation.

Roxas was so distracted from his thoughts and inspection did he realize they ended up going right through Wintertown and wound up right at Winterfell's front gates.

"Halt!" A guard upon the walls called out to the trio that now stood before the gate. "Who goes there?"

Rodrick raised his head up to the guard and held out his shield which bore the symbol of his house.

"Rodrick of House Forrester has come to answer the summons of Lord Eddard Stark in regards to an incident that had transpired in my home a few short days ago. With me is my house squire Gared Tuttle and Roxas, the man whom Lord Stark personally called upon."

The guard regarded them all for a few moments before nodding and turned back to yell out the orders of opening the gates.

With that done, the small party watched as the large gates of Winterfell slowly opened before them to allow entry.

Nudging their horses forward, Rodrick led Roxas and Gared into the large courtyard of the ancient castle with one of them in particular garnering a few looks.

Not surprising given his clothing and black hood utterly obstructing his face, making it impossible to see anything beneath it.

As they came to a stop, an elderly gentleman with balding, thin white hair approached them with a familiar set of garments and chains dangling from his clothes.

From what the trio saw immediately, he was Winterfell's resident maester.

His attire bore the signature maester look with his grey robes and various chain links dangingling around his neck. Yet the main part of his attire seemed thicker than what Roxas previously saw from Ortengryn's. Though the Nobody Keyblader had to guess it was because it was because of the balding man needed it for the harsher climate.

"Young Lord Forrester." the Maester greeted cordially. "I am Luwin, Maester to Winterfell. I have not seen you in a long while since the last great assembly of the Northern Lords."

Rodrick nodded. "It is good to see you in good health, Maester. I have come with the summoned individual as Lord Stark had requested."

Luwin nodded, looking to the hood Roxas who was currently patting snow off his shoulders and arms. Even brushing off some from the top of his hood.

"Is that this Roxas Lord Gregor spoke of in his raven message?" Luqin inquired.

"He is indeed." Rodrick confirmed when he took a moment to look around the courtyard, not seeing the man who had called them here anywhere in sight. "And pray tell where is Lord Stark? I thought he would've been here to greet us."

"I'm sorry to say, but he's currently out performing his duties."

Rodrick clicked his tongue. "Then when will he come back?"

"Hopefully around an hour."

"I see."

"Please." Luwin held out his arm towards the main castle. "Come inside and get yourselves warmed up within the walls. You must have had a long journey judging by the state of your garments."

"You have no idea, Maester Luwin." Rodrick said tiredly.

It was something that mildly peeved the Forrester heir as the clothes Gared and himself brought for this journey were not holding up. During the times of rest, they had to sow what rips and tears they received from their skirmishes against the Heartless.

Yet Roxas's remained completely unscathed and untouched just as Maester Ortengryn described it as. Whatever grime or dirt that the black clothes had received simply slid right off leaving no hair nor stain behind.

Something that made the Forrester pair quite jealous about, wishing they could have such garments. They had voiced it a few times, but it was made up for on the times Roxas helped out in sewing some of their clothes.

Dismounting from the horses, the trio were soon met with a man who could be considered a giant. He had to be of giant's blood, given his height. His grey hair was short and thin and was of the slight plump size.

"Hodor." The giant man greeted jovially, a jolly and warm smile on his face.

"Uh… Hi." Roxas said as he handed the horse reins to the man. "I'm Roxas. You are?"

"Hodor." The man said once more, happy smile still in place.

"Yes, you said that, but what's your name?"

"Hodor."

"...Mkay… Hodor?"

"Oh, sorry about that." Luwin spoke out. "Our stablehand had suffered a sudden trauma years ago. After recovering, all he can say is Hodor."

Tilting his head slightly, Roxas regarded the happy giant who was easily guiding the horses to the stables while stroking their manes and necks to keep them calm.

"Well… that's depressing." Roxas blurted out making those around him look at him strangely.

"Yes." Luwin said after several moments of silence, a sad smile to the happy giant who had gotten the horses in the stables. "It is. Kind hearted and gentle. Yet cursed with that affliction."

After a few minutes of walking, Luwin guided them into the cafeteria -one could call it that- of Winterfell. Along the way, Luwin had already sent instructions out to several servants to prepare three hot meals for the newly arrived guests.

Upon arriving in the grand hall, the three men seated themselves and thanked Maester Luwin and the servants for the hospitality and food before digging in.

"Wow, this bacon is really good." Roxas muttered out. "Not as good as the Forrester bacon, but still good nonetheless."

"Why thank you for the compliment, Roxas." Rodrick said cheekily. "When I return to Ironrath, I shall be sure to inform the cooks that the savior of their home still holds their cooking in higher regard than Winterfell itself."

Roxas grinned at the Forrester heir when the three men heard the door on the far end of the Hall open.

Out from the hallway ran a young girl in an ankle long, light-blue dress, deep-brown hair tied in a bun and eyes as grey as the wolf sigils that were seen all over Winterfell.

Arya Stark let out a relieved breath when she saw no one was behind her only to freeze upon seeing the three men, plus Maester Luwin, in the hall looking at her curiously.

The young wild Stark stumbled into the hall as she wanted to get away from her lessons. Arya never liked them in the first place as they were too girly for her tastes. She had gotten away earlier from her sewing in order to do some archery and playing with Bran.

But it was all short lived as her father had to take her brothers elsewhere for some urgent matter. The wild wolf pup wanted to tag along with them, but her mother forbade her as it wasn't something she would be good to witness.

Her mother needed to realize she's never going to be a little girl forever. She'll grow big and strong and be a proper Lady… in the northern standards like those from House Mormont. They were fierce warriors from what her father told her and she wanted to be just like them… and her late aunt, Lyanna, given what her uncle Benjen told her one time.

Arya's thoughts came to an end upon seeing three people she never seen before in the present hall.

Given the sigils being worn on two of them, she recognized them being from House Forrester. One had to be of high stature while the other seemed to be a squire from what she reckoned. The last one, however, threw her out in a loop as she wondered why he had his hood up as he was inside from the falling snow outside.

"Running away from Septa Mordane again, Arya?" Maester Luwin said expectantly, an amused glint in his eyes.

"...No."

Luwin sighed, rubbing his temples though gave the young girl a small smile. "Well, if you're not too busy with anything Arya, please, come greet your Lord fathers' guests."

Coming up to the trio, she grudgingly put on a small smile and gave a half-assed curtsey as she didn't want to do it. But had to for her father's sake.

"Hello, my name is Arya Stark."

"Greetings, Lady Arya." Rodrick introduced himself first. "I am Rodrick Forrester. It is a pleasure to meet you, My Lady.

"Hello, my Lady. I'm Garred Tuttle, squire to House Forrester."

Roxas merely waved. "Hey. Name's Roxas."

Arya found herself staring at the hooded boy, surprised by the casualness of his greeting. It seemed… refreshing for her… and she liked it.

"Roxas." Rodrick said. "She is a Lady of Winterfell, Lord Starks' daughter. You must address her with the proper courtesy."

"I do?" Roxas asked in confusion. "But I never did that with Talia."

"...She…" Rodrick had a hard time figuring out how to properly correct this, making him stumble his words.

"And there's no need to." Arya interrupted with a happy smile. "It's wonderful to meet you Roxas. You can just call me Arya."

"Alright, Arya." Roxas said pleasantly before motioning his hand towards the young heiress while addressing his companions. "See, she gets it."

This merely made the Stark girl smile more.

"So~" Arya shifted herself back and forth on her feet. "I overheard my father mentioning something of summoning you, Lord Forrester. Is there something wrong?"

Rodrick hesitated momentarily, unsure of how to answer this question. On one hand, this was a Lady of Winterfell and had a right to know. But at the same time, she was just a child and he'd rather not scare her in any way given what he had seen this past week.

"I'd rather say it once he's present, my Lady."

"I'm not a Lady." Arya grumbled out-out of instinct.

"But you are a girl." Roxas said teasingly.

Gared's eyes widened as did Luwins whilst Rodrick looked at Roxas sharply.

This merely made the young heiress' eye twitch in response. Yet there was a small smirk forming as she had caught on to the teens tone.

"Hmmm, is that anyway to speak to a Lady of Winterfell?" Arya said in faux-authority.

"Mmmmm~ Meh~" Roxas shrugged.

"Meh?"

"Meh~"

Oh she started liking him a bit more now.

"Arya." Luwin said patiently when he heard chatter coming from the corridor the Stark girl had come from.

A few moments later, in walked two young girls slightly older than Arya and closer to Roxas' and Gared's age.

"Wonderful." Arya whispered grumpily. "It's those two."

Sansa Stark, eldest daughter to Eddard Stark, could be considered a spitting image of her mother, Catelyn Tully-Stark, when she was at her age of fourteen years. And it would seem to grow more profound as she gets older due to the mix of her Tully and Stark bloodlines. From her vibrant Auburn hair to the eyes being a balanced blend of grey and blue. Her posture and walk was that of a refined and poise lady, with a graceful movement to her every step.

Her pleasant face, while beautiful for her age, seemed to have adopted an annoyed look as she gazed upon her younger sister.

"There you are, Arya." Sansa said scoldingly. "Mother and Septa Mordane have been looking all over for you. Why must you always run off on lessons?"

"Hide me." Spoke the younger Stark, jumping behind Roxas' form.

The Nobody, though, laughed at the little antic.

Sansa looked at her sister's current hiding spot and saw the three newcomers. "Oh, I didn't know we had guests."

"Sorry in not informing you or your mother sooner, Lady Sansa. Though I think she would've known by now by the servants." Luwin spoke as he then motioned to the trio. "They just arrived. This is Rodrick Forrester, Gared Tuttle and Roxas. Your father had called them here a few days ago."

"Oh." Sansa simply stepped forward and bowed gracefully with the young girl next to her doing the same. "Welcome to Winterfell my lords. I am Lady Sansa Stark. This is my friend, Jeyne Poole."

Rodrick gave a pleasant greeting, a bit more towards a refined lady than the younger Stark. Gared stumbled a little as he blushed at the elder sister's beauty before looking at Sansa's companion. Said girl seemed more beautiful in the squire's eyes, making his blush seem brighter than before.

Seeing this, Jeyne Poole -stewardess for House Stark- couldn't help but contain her giggle behind her sleeve.

Roxas on the other hand…

"Hiya" He greeted friendly. "Thanks for your family being so nice here. The foods great."

…..

…..

…..

…..

…..

"Excuse me?"

Arya couldn't help but let out a laugh at how the Keyblader greeted her older sister. This was definitely going to be something she'll fondly remember for years to come.

"Roxas." Rodrick groaned aloud, finding the boys blunt way of greeting people to be… well, it was both funny as it was disrespectful.

"What?"

"You should've been more dignified towards her." Gared stated in a harsh whisper.

"I should?" Roxas was really starting to get confused. From what he had experienced, he thought that only applied to the parents of these keeps. That's what the Forresters seemed to insinuate during his brief stay there.

"Yes, Roxas." Rodrick said a bit exasperatedly. "These are the daughters of the liege lord of Winterfell, the Lord Paramount of the entire North."

Roxas stared blankly at the Forrester heir, a stare Rodrick was able to pick up making him slump his shoulders slightly at the feeling that his friend wasn't entirely sure about this whole proper addressing aspect in Westeros.

"We… must depart then." Rodrick said, standing up as he didn't want to deal with the young Lady's wrath. Looking towards Luwin, he continued speaking. "We'll be in Wintertown as we'll wait for Lord Stark's arrival."

"Surely you'd be fine being behind Winterfell's walls." Protested the maester.

All Rodrick did in his counter-argument was jabbing his head and eyes at Sansa's posture and expression.

Gazing over, Luwin quickly realized what the Forrester heir meant and allowed the trio to leave.

The young Stark heiress did not only inherited her mother's beauty, but also her temper when ignited the right way. And suffice to say, it was not something to be around when it goes off.

-Wintertown-

As the snow kept falling from the sky, Roxas looked on as he, Gared and Rodrick explored the nearby village, which was a few miles away from the Northern capital.

"Where is everyone?" Inquired the Keyblader. "Looks deserted."

"Not really, Roxas." Gared said, drawing in his friend's attention. "There are still people roaming about. The majority of them are either working behind Winterfell's walls at this time or resting inside their homes."

"Or at the brothels." Rodrick added in as they walked through a street.

"I figured this place would be more… populated."

"Oh it is, just during Winter."

"Why's that?"

Rodrick gave the answer. "People all around the North would traverse to the nearby keeps during Winter as a means of safety and warmth from the harsh times. And the majority of the common folk congregate here of all places. Most can't go behind Winterfell's walls to enjoy the warmth the place radiates, so they have to settle here in Wintertown."

It was Gared who picked up from here. "And my uncle told me this place is deserted in the Spring and Summer, but slowly gets repopulated in the Autumn before the sudden influx once Winter comes knocking at our door."

Roxas nodded as he processed this bit of information.

"Well hello there." A seductive feminine voice said from the side of the path they walked on.

Blinking, the trio turned to see a woman standing at a doorway in a rather interesting posture.

The woman before them had curly red hair with a pretty face and voluptuous body that could make any man look her way quite easily. Her clothing was rather loose in which at a moments notice could reveal her flawless skin underneath for any and all to see.

For Gared, he had to pull on his collar as a means of cooling himself off with the sudden warmth coming from him. Even wanting to dive into some freshly fallen snow for some form of help.

For Rodrick, he had to think of his beloved Elaena instead of the whore before him. He did not want to lye with another woman, yet was rather tempted.

Roxas on the other hand… just looked at the woman curiously, unsure of what exactly was going on. This woman was giving each of them strange looks and by the looks of his new friends' reactions, it was making them uncomfortable.

"Uh… can we help you?" Roxas asked.

The question seemed to break the unusually tense air with everyone looking at the hooded Nobody.

"Oh, it's not what you can help me with my lords." The woman went on coyly. "It's what I, Ros, may be able to do for you."

"Like what?" Roxas inquired.

Ros stared at the hooded boy in bewilderment while the Forrester duo looked at their friend as if he suddenly grew another head.

"Roxas." Rodrick said slowly. "You do know what we're standing in front of, don't you?"

"Rodrick, I'm not from here remember?" Roxas said the obvious.

"Yes but…" Rodrick tried to articulate that, well, whore houses were very common the world over. And right now, the sandy-blond haired Keyblader was completely unaffected by this clearly gorgeous and lustful whore.

Either Roxas was too strong willed in not going after his primal urges… or was too innocent and naive for his own good to realize what the whore was suggesting.

This train of thought crossed through Ros' mind, making her smirk a little.

'Oh~ a maiden.' She jokingly thought. 'Haven't had one of those in a while.' She focused her gaze at the hooded one and did her best to see what was underneath hit. 'Wonder if he's a handsome one. Seems strong, given his build and stature.'

"Excuse me, Miss Ros." Roxas broke her train of thought. "Aren't you cold in that? It's snowing out here."

"Oh, us Northern girls have ways of warming ourselves up quite fast and nicely~"

"How?" Roxas asked.

"Well~ Why don't you remove that hood of yours and come in."

"But I don't want to." Roxas said plainly.

"Why ever not?" Ros asked teasingly.

"I don't wanna get snow in my hair."

"Okay, I think we should move on." Gared suddenly said, breaking the moment. "Our friend is new here and wants to keep exploring."

As he was suddenly dragged along, Roxas voiced his thoughts. "Yes, but I wanna know what Ros was talking about."

"Ehhhh~ I think at a later time would suffice." Gared said, pushing his friend by his shoulders as far away as he could from the brothel.

"Never thought we'd be keeping a friends virtue intact." Rodrick couldn't help but whisper to Gared who did his best not to laugh upon reflecting on the idea.

Ros however was not to be deterred so easily.

"Stop by, mister hood." Ros called out to him. "Roxas, was it? I'll be sure to educate you on the many ways a Northern woman stays warm in this blistering cold. And the first one will be on me~"

"Even I have my virtue, but I find this oddly ridiculous." Gared muttered.

"God's, this must be like what Asher was like when keeping me away from the brothel girls."

"What are you guys talking about?" Roxas could only say as he was being dragged along to parts unknown.

"Don't you worry your pretty blond head about it, Roxas." Gared stated.

"All you need to know is that your will is stronger than most men." Rodrick said, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"I don't get what ya mean by that."

"And you don't have to." Gared assured. "Just know you have our respect."

Not far away, Arya was walking along as she followed the trio with interest in her gaze. She wanted to know and interact more on the hooded teenager. And from what Arya seen so far in her little task, she only had more questions than answers roaming through her mind given how Roxas acted. Like with the brothel woman just now.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard some steps following behind her. Looking back, she saw Sansa and Jeyne in bundled clothing with the former looking like a woman on a mission.

"Lady Sansa, we should go back now." Jeyne softly said. "The snow's starting to grow heavy."

"Not until I get an apology from that ruffian."

"Which you can get back home. Your father is bound to come back at any moment."

"What are you two doing here?" Arya said, standing in front of the two.

Both jumped at Arya's sudden appearance before them, not realizing the younger Stark sister had been trailing after the newly arrived guests of Winterfell as well.

Recomposing herself, Sansa glared at her little sister who was nonplussed by her gaze.

"I should be asking you the same question, Arya." Sansa shot back. "What point do you have in being here?"

"I asked that question first." Arya declared, stomping her foot on the ground. "I wanted to know who that Roxas guy was. He was real nice to me."

"Not calling you by your title is nice to you?" Jeyne couldn't help but say in a slight sneer. "Arya Horseface, the Wild She-wolf of Winterfell on another adventure."

"Nobody asked you to come along either, Jeyne." Arya said bitingly. "Go pack to your little needles and sewing kits. You need it because that's all you two are good for anyway."

Sansa and Jeyne gaped like fish at the blatant insult, their faces scrunching up in anger a moment later ready to retaliate against Arya.

Before their argument could even have the chance to continue, a disturbance was heard throughout parts of Wintertown.

-Insert Kingdom Hearts 3: Arendelle Apprehension-

"What in the seven hells is that?!"

"It's a monster!"

"Get away from me!"

"Daddy!"

The Stark sisters and stewardess looked around in confusion upon hearing these cries of duress. Neither knew what to make of it, but it seemed something was dangerously going on.

"My ladies," Jeyne voiced out of concern, completely throwing out any negative feelings she had before away. "We must get back now."

"What's going on?" Arya asked, curious and nervous all at once as more shouts began to echo across the two.

"HELP ME!"

The nearby scream caused the three girls to turn around in time to see a middle aged man with only some pants on rush out from the Brothel. A woman from the brothel screamed in terror, making the man turn and then get pounced on by a creature of pitch see a new source of the growing problem. And their answer came from the nearby brothel where Winterfell's newest guests recently came across.

Bursting through the doorway, Ros and many of her fellow seductresses ran out screaming both naked and barely clothed with several customers stumbling out soon after. Yet one patron fell face first into the snowy gravel as a Soldier Heartless was on his chest.

Nearby onlookers gasped in utter fear upon seeing this darkened creature, not knowing what to make of it. And before any of them could do anything, the Soldier Heartless plunged it's clawed hand right through the man's chest. Said man writhed and struggled desperately with utter pain running through him. In a split second, he froze entirely, with his eyes the size of saucers and skin turning ghostly pale.

Time seemed to freeze as rather than blood gushing out from the impaled areas of the claws, the man seemingly began to turn translucent with his being fading in and out until….

He vanished. He was gone.

There was nothing left of him. Not his clothing, not pieces of his hair, nothing.

Nothing… other than the glowing pinkish-red heart that was pulled from his chest and that now floated in between the Soldiers hands.

Gently, the Soldier Heartless sent the heart forward just as the Heartless pried out not a bleeding heart, but a glowing one that looked like it's symbol. And soon after, the Soldier crushed it within it's grasped as the man below him dissolved into darkened vapors.

"What in the many hells…" Ros whispered out as a mighty chill ran right through her body.

She wasn't the only one as the rest of the onlookers felt the same thing before many ran off screaming and seeking shelter.

Suddenly, it twitched about violently followed by more of these creatures popping up around it literally from thin air.

More screams began to permeate the area, the humanoid creatures all sprinting towards the civilians

Yet many wouldn't make it as an assortment of Heartless appeared from out of nowhere and attacked them. They tried desperately to get away but the creatures had them surrounded now.

"My Ladies, We need to run back to Winterfell now!" Jeyne implored frantically and fearfully, clutching onto Sansa who did the same in turn while Arya stood in front of them trembling in fear.

*Swish*

*Swish*

*Swish*

Whoever was nearby waited with bated breath for their imminent demise. Yet it never came as they soon realized they were saved by-

"R-R-Roxas?" Arya voiced out with widened eyes.

"Stay behind me." Roxas said in complete seriousness. With his dual Keyblades out, he stood before Sansa, Jeyne, Arya and Ros with a gust of wind blowing past him.

"Roxas?" Sansa whispered out in disbelief not sure of what to make of what was going on.

"When I begin attacking, you all need to run back to Winterfell as fast as possible." Roxas instructed. "They'll keep their focus on me."

"Wait, Roxas, what is going on?" Arya asked, not wanting to leave now.

Rather than answering, Roxas spread his stands bent his elbows in towards his body.

"You guys better get outta here." Roxas even said as a bright aura soon surrounded him. "Rodrick, Gared and I need to take care of the Heartless."

Before either female could further question on what's going on, Rodrick and Gared arrived as they avoided several attacks from what appeared to be blue and white colored deer with several Large Bodies which had thick pieces of ice sticking around their forms.

"Well these guys are new." Rodrick said as he stabbed what he called a Winterhorn (the deer Heartless) through the head with Ironroot.

"And some are our annoying, old friends." Gared grunted out as he blocked a blow from an Icy Beast (the frosty looking Large Bodies)

"I'm coming guys!" Roxas yelled, dashing forward in an unimaginable speed as he cleaved through several Winterhorns before landing on the Icyy Beast's back.

Smacking the frosty creature's head, the Large Body variant swung it's chilled arms upward in hopes of hitting the Keyblader. Yet this was avoided as he leaped off, ignited his Keyblades with a coat of flames and threw them.

The onlookers were wide eyed when seeing the flaming blades cleave through the icy creatures as they melted before disbursing into darkened vapors. His weapons then returned to his hands in a trail of fire before going out once landing on a nearby roof.

"Rodrick!" Arya waved at them. "Gared!"

"My Ladies!" Rodrick called out to them in shock, not believing that Eddard Starks' daughters would be out her of all places. "Please, you and all the common folk must leave now. It is highly dangerous for all of you right now."

"What is going on, Lord Forrester?" Sansa asked shakily. "What manner of dark sorcery is this?"

"We shall explain at a later time." Rodrick said, standing with his back towards them. "Right now, we can barely keep you safe. You must clear this area in order for Roxas to take out all the Heartless."

"Roxas?" Arya said.

"Heartless?" Sansa and Jeyne said in fear.

"My ladies, please." Rodrick practically begged. "Run back to Winterfell, now!"

Before anyone else could do anything, they all bore witness to the hooded newcomer running right at a large group of these Heartless. Cocking both his glowing Keyblades back, Roxas began to slice and cleave through every Heartless in his path leaving none alive in his wake.

Upon the start of an airborne attack, Roxas appeared to be floating as he simply continued to slash through everything in his Keyblades' paths when he threw the Keyblades from his hands which then proceeded to boomerang all around him, cutting down all Heartless unfortunate enough to be within range.

The Keybaldes spun through the air around Roxas for several seconds before they returned to his hands with a sudden burst of glowing white pillars exploding up around him in a circle, taking out more Heartless.. Calling out spells which blew the minds of many onlookers out of the water upon witnessing.

Jeyne was the first to act on Rodrick's request, rushing on ahead in hopes of getting to safer grounds. But plumbs of dark vapor blocked her way, causing her to slip and fall on the snow.

Suddenly Blizzard Plants started sprouting from several areas and started shooting at any of the nearby populous.

Acting quickly, Gared rushed forward and blocked many ice blasts with his Ironwood shield. He even got in front of the Stark stewardess and defended her from several Heartless. With his resin covered sword, he slashed and stabbed into any Heartless that got even remotely close while having to move quickly in blocking more icy projectiles.

"You best stay beside me for now, my Lady."

Jeyne could only nod in response as she watched the Forrester squire defend her like a valiant knight.

"Get back." Gared told her, then looked to the other nearby civilians. "All of you, get inside. Roxas will be able to take care of most of them. Lord Forrester and I will keep you all safe until you get into your homes if neither of you can get to Winterfell in time. And I know many of you are questioning on what's happening, but you must trust us on this."

True to the squire's words, many witnessed Roxas's incredible skill and powers on full display as he destroyed Heartless left and right with some form of effort.

Running up, alongside and bouncing off the walls in quickened ease. Feats that would seem impossible for any normal human to perform. All in order to outmaneuver and reach specific Heartless in the immediate area.

It wouldn't be long as he kept spreading out in the area to help take care of what enemies were within the vicinity. The Nobody knew that this concentrated amount of Heartless had a leading one hiding somewhere. He needed to dispose of it very soon in order to cease this attack on the common folk.

From her spot, Arya was quite fascinated with Roxas' actions. And by fascinated, she was completely enraptured with what she was witnessing. Upon seeing him moving away from the immediate area, the young Stark broke away from the others and ran after their hooded savior.

"Arya! Come back!" Called out her older sister.

"My lady!" Jeyne yelled out as her friend ran after her sibling.

Roxas all the while pierced his Keyblades through the chest of a Soldier on a rooftop. Falling down towards the ground, he ran forward and slid across the icy snow and cleaved through several Blizzard Plants that were in his way.

"Man, there must be something about this place for all these Heartless to appear in swarms." Roxas murmured, cleaving through another one that attempted to sneak up on him.

Surveying the area, Roxas began jumping from rooftop to rooftop as there were a great deal of Blizzard Plants rooted upon them

If he remembered, when there was a distinctly noticeable amount of Heartless swarming an area that usually meant only one thing.

"Now if I were a leading Heartless, where would I be...?"

As this all happened back in Wintertown, Catelyn Stark was chatting with with Maester Luwin on the arrivals of her husband's summons over at Winterfell.

"And are you sure you don't know what Ned's reasons are for requesting their presence?"

"I am sorry, my Lady, but your husband had been rather quiet on the matter since he got Gregor Forrester's message." Responded the maester. "I did try to pry details from our guests, but they-"

"My lady!"

Catelyn and Luwin broke away from their conversation and saw a guard rushing towards her.

"Yes, what is it?" She inquired before seeing his state of duress. "Is there something the matter?"

"The common folk," he began, "they're rushing towards the main gate in droves."

"Excuse me?"

Curious as to what's happening, Catelyn traversed across the courtyard and after some minutes, she reached her destination. There she saw many frantic people trying to make their way past the Keep's walls.

Wanting to get to the bottom of this, the Lady of Winterfell came forward. "People, please settle down!" She spoke out. "Will someone tell me what in seven hells is going on!"

"Monsters are attacking the town!"

"Many were slaughtered before my eyes, milady!"

"I beg your pardon?" Catelyn was completely bewildered as to what she had just heard.

"Monsters, Milady! Demons, beasts of black! They're attacking Wintertown!"

"Surely you must be jesting." She tried rationalizing. "Are you sure it's not… Wildings?"

The only monsters she knows since living in the North have been those beyond the Wall. Complete savages as they pose quite a big threat to every Northerner. They rape, pillage and murder everything they have their sights on. This is what she was raised to believe in and it's hard for her to think otherwise.

She had heard of information from her late betrothed, Brandon, to her husband, Ned, that there have been times Wildlings had indeed come beyond the Wall and caused quite a series of unfortunate events in various villages and settlements. But never once have they gotten close to Winterfell at all.

Or have they…

"Not Wildlings, milady." Spoke a redheaded woman who Catelyn recognized as Wintertown's leading… seductress.

How Catelyn knew of her was by both reputation… and stumbling into Robb's bedchamber one night and saw that they were about to be intimate with one another. And that was a very awkward moment between them, right before she yelled her eldest son's ear off of doing such a thing within their home instead of the brothel Robb bought Ros' services from.

"These creatures... they've been slaying many left and right as if it were a nightmare." Ros stated, making many common folk nod in confirmation. "It's unnatural with how they've done it, much less on how they've been appearing from out of nowhere."

"But the hooded lad and his companions are fightin' 'em as we speak." Spoke one of Ros' fellow whores.

"Their brave!"

"Courageous!"

"They even protected your daughters!"

This detail stopped Catelyn stone cold as her heart seemed to halt it's beating.

"Did… did you just say my girls…"

They were in their rooms, weren't they? Or in the Great Hall? The library?

Her mind started running rampant as unimaginable thoughts started breaking through in absolute worry- no, horror!

Without another thought, Catelyn quickly ran towards the nearby stables and snatched a horse and quickly got on. Riding her stead, she quickly ordered the guards to let all of the commoners come inside as she and an assortment of men rode towards Wintertown in hopes of retrieving her daughters.

-Insert Kingdom Hearts 3: Desire for All that is Lost-

Arya had tried her best in keeping up with Roxas, but that was proving to be exceptionally difficult as the boy was moving at speeds beyond that of an ordinary human being while also trying her best to avoid the strange creatures that were attacking Wintertown. It also didn't help with the growing snowfall, which made her slip and fall a handful of times.

Call her crazy, stupid and mad, she didn't care.

This newcomer Roxas was displaying skills and powers unlike anything she had ever seen and she wanted to watch the whole thing.

"Arya Stark, come back here this instant!"

Arya only scowled, not even bothering to look back at her older sister that was hot on her trail.

"Leave me alone, Sansa." Arya yelled back at her. "I want to see this."

"Have you lost your mind?!" Sansa asked incredulously, gaining on her sister. "We need to return to Winterfell this instant."

"You go on back to your pretty little sewing room." Arya said bitingly. "I want to see Roxas fight."

"Arya, what is the matter with you?!" Sansa shrieked. "These monsters are attacking this village and people have perished. I am not leaving you behind."

"What do you care for?" Arya rounded about on her sister with a sneer. "Why do you care at all? I'm Arya Horseface, remember? Not your prim and proper little sister-"

*SLAP*

Arya found herself utterly silent and shocked as her face was looking at one of the cabins of Wintertown before she slowly looked back to an equally surprised Sansa who stared at her then at her hand, realizing what she had just down.

Jolting a moment later, Sansa's scowled and grabbed her little sisters arm beginning to pull her towards the direction of Winterfell.

"I am not going to be the one to explain to Mother and Father that I had left my baby sister in a town teeming with evil monsters." Sansa declared in a tone that brokered no room for arguments.

Arya was so out of it due to what her sister had just done, she didn't notice a large shadow cast over her and Sansa until it enveloped the both of them.

"S-Sansa?" Arya called out to her nervously, her voice croaking.

Sansa whirled round at Arya with an angry expression which was replaced with fear a moment later and she pulled her baby sister into a tight hug as the two now faced a large fat, ice themed Heartless that was looking down at them.

Both girls screamed in fright as the lumbering Icy Beast swung its arms at the two with both ducking down and turning to run.

Unfortunately, they had tripped up on their dress skirts and fell to the ground.

"Oh seven hells, this is why I hate these bloody dresses." Arya complained, scrambling to get to her feet.

She quickly moved to assist her sister to get back up yet the Large Body variant was already upon them.

"Sansa, come on." Arya desperately now pulled her sister up only for the two to fall over once more, barely avoiding the large fist of the Heartless.

It was a mad dash to get back up and both successfully managed to do so, breaking into a mad dash to get as far as they possibly could away from the Icy Beast.

However as they ran, Arya noticed something rather strange.

The snow on the ground, it was skittering in the direction they were running from at a rapid pace that made the young Stark sister look back momentarily and her widened in disbelief.

There, within the snow itself was what Arya could only describe to be a dragon's skull swimming through the snow itself making a beeline right towards the both of them.

"Sansa!" Arya called out panickingly. "We have to get out of the street!"

Yet her warning came too late as the boney dragon suddenly swept around them and emerged from the snowy ground in an intimidating display with its wings spread out and roaring at the two of them. As this occurred, a mighty wind swept up a large amount of snow from the earth to obscure their vision.

And in that moment, the Icy Beast that was chasing after them finally caught up to them just as the skeletal beast dived back into the snow and took off.

Both girls could only scream, clinging to one another once more as the creature swung one of its arms at them.

*CLANG*

In an instant, the person of Arya's interests appeared before them as he blocked the Icy Beast's arm with his Keyblades.

"Back off!" Growled the Nobody.

With a shove, the Keyblader soon delivered an arcing slash as it left a deep cut through the Heartless' icy exterior. The blow made it stumble back, leaving enough time for him to quickly slide around it and cleave at the Large Body variant's back. And the force of this recent strike caused it to disburse into darkened vapors as it's released heart floated up into the sky.

Seeing that Heartless was gone, the former Organization XIII member turned towards the Stark sisters. "Are you two alright?"

"I-I…" Sansa stumbled before doing her best to composing herself. "Yes, I am." She looked towards her sister before correcting herself. "We are. Thank you."

"That was amazing!" Arya cheered out. "How'd you do all that? How strong are you? What are those swords you're wielding? How are-"

"Whoa there, Arya. Take it easy." He said in a slight joking tone. "All questions and answers can be given and received later." His tone then became a bit more serious. "Now I need to get you two outta here and go back to your home in one piece. It's not safe here."

"I could see that. If only Arya did as well." Spoke the older sister. "When will this attack end?"

"Once I find the one controling or leading them." Answered the Nobody.

Arya thought for a moment before speaking. "Would it be big, bony and looks like a dragon?"

This got Roxas' attention as he soon adopted a thinking pose. 'I don't know exactly what the leading Heartless looks like. But it seems they saw it.' He pondered before speaking to said girl. "Did you see where it went off to?"

"I think so?"

"I know it's asking a lot, but can you possibly show me where? If I can take it down soon then everyone will be safe."

"I'll… I'll try."

"Arya, you can't."

"I'll keep her safe." Roxas promised. "Right now, I need to find the big one and take it out. I take out the big guy and the Heartless around this area leave. They won't be attacking so freely if their main boss is taken out."

After some reluctance and plead from her younger sister, Sansa caved in.

With Arya leading the way, she had to stay within an arm's distance from both Roxas and her older sister. Roxas kept an eye out from underneath his hood for any other Heartless that might block their path. And it was starting to get a little hard to find his target with the snowfall growing harder alongside the wind.

Looking back at the elder sister, Roxas saw her stumbling in her step. Wanting to be of assistance, he dismissed his Oblivion Keyblade in order to offer his free hand.

"Here, let me help you."

Seeing the kind gesture the ruffian was offering, Sansa grasped his hand as he helped her along the way.

'I'll have to… apologize or something once this is over.' She thought about how she previously thought of their savior.

In the briefest of moments, the elder Stark caught a glimpse of what was underneath the darkened hood. She couldn't make much, due to how dark it was, but the wind helped give her some bit of detail from seeing some strands of blonde locks to his kind and gentle yet strong blue eyes.

Despite the growing cold, Sansa felt her cheeks heat up before they died down.

It got to the point in their search did Arya lose the idea where the leading Heartless went off to. Luckily for them, Roxas had plenty of experience finding clues to their whereabouts. Thanking the younger Stark, the Key of Destiny took over with both sisters sticking close to him.

As they traversed through what's essentially a ghost town now, Sansa spoke a trailing thought. "I hope your companions are doing alright with those monsters out there."

"They can handle themselves fine." He spoke in reassurance before a sigh escaped his lips. "For how long, however, I don't know. I do worry for my friends as well."

He knew he couldn't be around Gared and Rodrick the entire time; even when on their way towards Winterfell. The Nobody decided in giving them a good number of Potions and Ethers in helping them out in recovering what health and stamina they'd lose in combat.

All Roxas hoped now their shared items wouldn't run out in this recent attack so soon.

It was then Arya piped in. "And how long have they been fighting against 'em? From what I saw, they have some experience… before today."

"Several days worth. And so far they've been doing alright, given what weapons they have."

"And yourself?"

"All my life."

From Roxas' answer, neither sister knew if he was jesting or being quite literal. In truth, it was the later as he only existed for a little over a year now.

Reaching the end of an alley -which lead towards a vast open area- Roxas heard a series of sounds coming their way. It was a little hard to exactly tell what they were due to the rising wind. Arya was about to run on ahead, but the Keyblader quickly pulled her back before guarding the Stark sisters from what he assumed was more Heartless, the being controlling them or leading them.

He was glad it was neither of those with several horses almost hitting them.

"Any sign of them, Gared?"

"How should I know? This storm is getting worse with each passing moment!"

"We can't stop now, you two. I don't want to lose my best friend and her sister."

Both the Starks and Nobody recognized the passing voices as the Forrester squire and heir along with the Stark stewardess riding on horseback.

Seeing them galloping away from their spots, Roxas ran out and yelled at the top of his lungs. "Hey! Back here!"

The sisters soon followed their savior's actions and did their best to get their attention as well.

"Jeyne! Come back!

"We're right here!"

Roxas and the sisters were glad they were so close to the riders when this happened or else they'd continue on their search elsewhere and for a much longer time. Even if it was with the barest of luck of this occurring.

Horses neighed as their riders pulled back and made them turn around. Galloping towards them, both Stark sisters and Roxas saw the relieved looks on the small search party.

Leaping off her horse, Jeyen made a beeline straight towards her best friend and hugged the living daylights out of her. "Oh thank the gods you're safe!" The stewardess then broke away before repeating the same action on Arya and Roxas.

"You can thank Roxas for protecting us, Jeyne." Sansa said with a small smile.

"If it weren't for him then we'd be goners." Spoke the younger Lady Stark.

Sansa then gave her sister a deadpanned look, to which Arya took notice of.

"What?"

"Most of our troubles was because you ran off."

"I said I was sorry!"

"That's not good enough, Arya! We could've died!"

Roxas sighed as he didn't know how to defuse the situation between the two siblings. He looked towards Jeyne for any idea on resolving this issue. Yet he didn't know if the stewardess hasn't noticed him looking towards her already, ignoring him or too preoccupied towards the Starks.

Then again, there was his hood obscuring his face as an additional factor to consider.

Turning towards his friend, the Keyblader spoke. "You two alright?"

"Barely, Roxas." Rodrick answered. "These Heartless are no doubt tenacious. Moreso now than what we've fought so far."

"Aren't they?" The Nobody then asked what crossed his mind next. "What of the common folk?"

"We don't know if everyone made it towards Winterfell or are safe behind closed doors." Came Gared's response. "Sad to say, dozens of people were… taken by the Heartless."

The Key of Truth let out a frustrated sigh. Nothing can ever be perfect in protecting those against the Heartless.

Before any other conversation in the group could continue onwards, a peculiar sound was heard within the vicinity.

'That sound.' Arya thought as she looked towards the vast open space before them. Her eyes then stopped, seeing something skittering across the snow… and was coming towards them.

"Roxas!"

"What is it, Arya?"

"That monster you wanted to find! It's coming this way!"

Hearing this, the others whirled towards the general direction where Arya was pointing towards.

Bursting out of the snowy earth, both Roxas, his companions, the Stark sisters and the stewardess saw a skeletal looking creature.

It was serpentine in shape and form with boney claws for both hands and feet. Within the gaps of its hands were large pieces of blue stained glass as it helped form massive wings to keep it afloat in the air. On the dragon-like skull were glowing yellow eyes and at the snout was the Heartless emblem for the present folk to take notice of.

After they were able to see these details, another series of bursts exploded from the frosty earth to reveal two more of these large Heartless joining in.

Despite them not being dragons at all, the Westerosi saw them as the closest thing there could ever be. From their size and stature to their fearing presence. One was bad enough, but three was practically overkill to them all.

-Insert Kingdom hearts 3: Boss Battle Theme 1:

"Rodrick, Gared, you two make sure to keep your distance." Roxas instructed, facing the three Frost Serpents -as he quickly came up with- with unwavering confidence. "These guys are way above your paygrade. Use your horses to come in for passing strikes only."

"And how in the Seven Hells are you to fight these beasts by yourself?!" Rodrick asked incredulously atop his horse, not liking the idea of Roxas fighting these dragon-esque Heartless' on his own.

"Not my first time dealing with guys similar to these." Roxas replied. "You should see some of the bigger ones."

Rodrick tried his best not to sound terrified. "B-Bigger ones?"

"I'll tell ya later. But first..." Concentrating on his inner power, he raised both of his weapons up and channeled a lot of magic in forming a floating ball of fire. Focusing hard, he had the Firaga spell burst, sending out fiery projectiles towards the three skeletal dragon Heartless.

The skeletal trio shrieked in slight pain and defiance as a few of the small fireballs connected leaving scorch marks on their bodies. All three dove back into the snow and began making a mad dash straight at Roxas.

"Go Rodrick." Roxas shouted, readying himself. "When you see a chance to hit 'em, do it. You and Gared need to keep the perimeter for us here."

"We'll do all that we can." Rodrick declared, rushing off just as the Frost Serpents began their own counter attack against the Keybearer.

Measuring their distance from him, Roxas timed his jump just in time as he leapt into the air.

Two of the Frost Serpents collided into the ground, kicking up dirt and snow while the third had attacked from the air. Reacting quickly, Roxas swung his Oblivion in a back-handed swing. The Frost Serpent was knocked aside to the ground with Roxas going on the offensive.

Throwing both arms forward, Roxas was a spinning ball with his Keyblades smashing into the downed Frost Serpent. The Heartless roared aloud in anger and pain, quickly performing its own rapid counter-spin to knock Roxas away.

Gritting his teeth at the slight sting of pain he felt, Roxas performed an old trick of his. With a quick aerial recovery, Roxas raised both Keyblades in time to hold back the charging snout of one Frost Serpent.

"Roxas!" Gared rode by at breakneck speeds with his horse and successfully managed a grazing sword slash to the eye of the Serpent.

It's growl of pain was silenced when Roxas shoved his Keyblades against its boney head, momentarily stunning the Heartless. Spinning his Keyblades rapidly, Roxas landed several consecutive hits on the Frost Serpent when he was abruptly swept away by an icy gail from the other two Frost Serpents.

Tumbling on the ground, Roxas righted himself and slammed his Keyblades down to the ground to keep himself immovable until the Frost Serpents subsided in their icy gail.

Seeing their main opponent seemingly down, the Frost Serpents all regrouped together and flew straight at Roxas.

Roxas clenched his teeth and stood back up and held his Keyblades in his usual battle stance and expected an agitating icy onslaught.

What he did not expect however were Gared and Rodrick rushing in on their horses to hack and slash at the Frost Serpent on his right, making it break away to attack instead to pursue the two men.

"Guys! Wait!" Roxas called out to them in concern yet he would be unable to assist them as the more pressing matter of the other two serpents demanded his attention.

Moving fast, Roxas put all his strength into these well placed strikes against the Heartless' skeletal bodies and wings; jolting them away from him.

However they seemed to be undeterred as both simply spread their wings out and hovered in the air before him.

They both opened their mouths and unleashed a torrent of snowy/icy breath which buffeted Roxas for a brief moment.

To the onlookers who believed these Heartless before them were dragons, they feared for the worst in seeing their savior dying by dragonfire; which is supposed to be deadly in their history lessons. Even if it was an icy variant than the traditional fiery one they've known for so long.

Grunting, Roxas called upon his magic throwing his Keyblades out in a pose similar to an old friend of his.

"Reflect!" Roxas yelled out.

A second later, a hexagonal dome of light appeared around him and held back the miniature and held in place for a few moments until it burst out from Roxas with several of the hexagonal tiles hitting the Heartless.

Both were moved back, allowing Roxas to go on the attack once more.

This time, he specifically concentrated on the one to his right as he managed to pick out that out of the three this one had sustained the most damage during the fight.

This Frost Serpent was the first one that he had struck and had made continual attempts at getting him throughout the duration of the fight and it appeared to really want Roxas dead.

So that would be the first one he'd take out.

Channeling his magic specifically into Oathkeeper, with several spins, his Keyblade was exuding an aura of light and fire. His Oblivion has light embers dancing along its teeth.

Sprinting forward, Roxas reared back his left hand and flung his fiery Keyblade with all his might like he would with a tomahawk. He didn't relent on his assault, cocking his right arm back a moment later threw Oblivion in a horizontal fashion.

The Frost Serpent was struck with the fiery Oathkeeper upon its head and then felt the impact of the Oblivion to its torso area.

Roxas, however, was not done.

Stomping his foot on the ground, he pivoted his body into a 360 degree spin with his body becoming engulfed in light for a split second. Holding out both arms, Roxas leapt into the air and his Keyblades appeared back in his hands still glowing with light and fire.

"Inferno Strike Raid!" Roxas shouted, launching his key-shaped swords out in miniature source of sunlight. The flames surged forward as both Keyblades repeatedly struck the Frost Serpents in rapid succession while summoning back his key-swords prior to throwing back out again.

Landing on the ground after his initial attack, Roxas made an emphatic flex with his Keyblades. Several pillars of light infused with fire exploded out from around him in an uneven circle.

The final part of his attack at long destroyed one of the Serpents, its large body disintegrating away with its heart flying up into the air.

"One down, two to go." Roxas said, feeling slightly winded. It's been quite a while since he had been in a battle as intense as this one.

It honestly got his heart racing a few ticks faster and harder.

However, he would be foolish in denying a level of slight exhaustion and tiredness to this battle. He had been fighting quite often these past few days and while he still retained a great deal of his own personal powers, Roxas had been dormant within Sora for quite some time.

The Nobody was aware he'd need some personal training to get his old strength back just before he had been captured by Riku and Diz, otherwise known as Ansem the Wise.

Feeling a bit winded from his recent attack, Roxas was about to pop in a few Ethers to rejuvenate his magical reserves. Yet his act was halted when one of the Frost Serpents gave a mighty flap of it's wings to deliver a mighty gust of wind. The attack was able to knock the Keyblader off balance long enough for the other Heartless to spin and form a miniature tornado. Roxas was dragged into the blizzard-like galeforce and was hurt quite a number of times.

The onlookers became quite worried for the Nobody's condition.

"Aren't you going to help him?" Arya said nervously, looking at Roxas dodging and weaving the Frost Serpents getting hit a few times.

"As if we could, my Lady." Rodrick gritted out, tightening his grip on Ironroot. "But we're at a deep disadvantage."

"There must be something that you could do." Sansa stated, growing anxious at seeing such large beast create such destruction. "You ran in to aid him, did you not?"

"Yes but that was due to having the proper timing and moment." Gared gritted out. "Right now, it would only serve to harm both ourselves, our horses and perhaps even put Roxas at greater risk. He'd have to worry about us as well."

With the onslaught of icy wind striking him from all sides, Roxas tried finding the means of escaping with the Frost Serpents continuously spinning; fueling his entrapment.

"Dammit, this is just getting annoying." Roxas said with a tightened jaw, spinning horizontally as ice shards were sent his way from all the wind buffeting him.

In the middle of his spin, Roxas managed to hit back several of these shards back at the Frost Serpents but they merely bounced off their icy skin.

The Frost Serpents began to slowly make their over to him, yet in that moment, Roxas felt the winds weaken for a second.

A second was all he needed.

Calling upon his powers, Roxas let loose a stun impact specifically directed at the ground that launched him high into the air while also stunning the two Serpents.

Breaking free from his galeforce-like prison, Roxas started falling down from up high as he was finally able to consume several Ethers.

"Curaga!" He called out once feeling his reserves back at a reasonable level. A large ethereal green flower bloomed over his head as flecks of pollen and leaves coated all over his body to help heal him back up.

Once recovered the Nobody kept his eyes at the large Heartless; especially after being hit by another wind attack by a flap of one of their wings as it forced him to take a dive towards the snowy ground.

Instead of landing back on the ground, he performed an aerial recovery; which Roxas stayed in the air and then flew towards the dragon-like Heartless.

"...HE CAN FLY?!"

"Glide is the more technical term Roxas told us." Gared corrected Arya. "He can't exactly fly like a bird."

"But… But… he's flying!"

Getting in close once maneuvering away from their icy breath attacks, Roxas whirled his Keyblades around and struck the skull of one of them. It moved out of the way in order to avoid further strikes upon its head. But this didn't mean Roxas ceased his attacks on it's person as he went from it's head towards it's stained glass wings.

After a successful set of combos, Roxas gathered up much magic in his body before converting it to fire. As it reached its peak, the Nobody released it and let the force destroy one of the glass-like wings.

Losing the support of it's one wing, the Frosty Serpent plummeted towards the snowy earth. Yet instead of simply crashing, it dived into the snow and seemingly disappeared.

Landing back onto the snowy ground, Roxas didn't have any time in searching for his opponent; for it briefly jumped out of the snow and used it's boney fingers to propel itself forward. With it's maw opened wide, the Heartless attempted to devour the Keyblader whole.

Acting quickly, Roxas swung his Keyblades towards the roof and jaw once it was close enough. With how they ended up placed, he forcefully kept the maw from snapping shut. Yet it was proving to be a bit difficult as his arms were starting to strain.

Looking back as a means of figuring what to do next, Roxas saw the other Frost Serpent propelling itself across the snow as well. He figured it wanted to assist it's fellow Heartless. The Nobody soon smirked as an idea quickly formed.

As they drew closer and closer to each other, Roxas dismissed his Keyblades at the last few moments and dived out of the one Heartless' maw. Rolling across the snowy battlefield, he barely saw the two boney dragon Heartless collide against each other.

Summoning back his Keyblades, he dashed forward and laid down an onslaught on the one which tried to eat him whole. After a long successful combo, Roxas delivered one last blow across it's skull; leaving a massive crack along its length before another was sent it's way. With the crack finally splitting open, the Frost Serpent let out a bellow-like roar before it disbursed into black vapors as it's glowing Heart was released into the world.

As the Heart faded away into the sky, the remaining Frost Serpent pushed itself off the snow and into the air. It roared out defiantly, growling at the Keybearer who faced him back in his combat stance.

Roxas knew that this fight was dragging to long by this point, and frankly, he was at his limit.

…

…

He honestly wanted to slap himself on the head for not realizing he could have annihilated these Frost Serpents in an instant with the use of his Limit Breaks.

Then he just as quickly retracted his idea on it as Limit Breaks are just that. Limits when you are being pushed back. Sure he can use them at any given time and moment but they consume magic and stamina like no tomorrow and depending on how long he uses a Limit, he'll be feeling it for quite a few days afterwards.

But now he could feel his Limit being reached and it was about damn time he finished this.

Recalling Oathkeeper, Roxas held out his Oblivion to the side in one hand while raising his free hand up to his chest level and waited for the Frost Serpent to make the first move.

It was more than willing to oblige, letting out a screeching roar as it flew right at him.

His entire body tense with him gripping Oblivion in anticipation.

As soon as the Heartless was within range, Roxas unleashed his power.

A sphere of light and darkness appeared around Roxas, being sucked in to his body with his Oblivion now being engulfed in a white light on top of it become larger.

"You're finished!" Roxas declared aloud.

Roxas was a blur to the onlookers, his form being practically impossible to see. All they were able to make out was the pillar of light that was barraging the Frost Serpent relentlessly, beating the Heartless down.

It let out a weak cry making Roxas appear in front of it.

The Nobody attacked in midair, thrusting his Keyblade right through its chest. From Roxas's attack, thirteen pillars of light burst around the hooded fighter converging upon the Heartless a second later.

The final attack at long last defeated the last Frost Serpent, its captured heart floating high into the air is it did like all the others.

He landed on the ground, Keyblade still out and ready while panting slightly.

It had been a while since he last did an old Limit break of his. Not since his days in the Organization. He'll need to seriously retrain using it again.

Seeing as the fight was finally over, Roxas dismissed Oblivion before hunching over. Placing his hands onto his knees, he breathed in some frosty air just as the surrounding area started becoming calm.

Yet that calm didn't last long as sounds of horses galloped towards his position.

"Roxas!"

Looking up, the Keyblader smiled underneath his hood as he saw Gared and the stewardess, Jeyne, ride behind him while Rodrick had the sisters sitting in front and behind him.

"Seven hells, that was bloody incredible!" Gared praised, jumping down from his horse to assist the tired Nobody.

"Heh, that was nothing." Roxas said cockily.

"Nothing? How can you say that was nothing, you wanker." Rodrick laughed as the sisters got off his horse before he could.

Before Roxas could say anything else, a humanoid missile collided into him. He stumbled in his step before balancing himself out with the newly added weight upon him.

"You were incredible Roxas!' Arya all but screamed in awe and reverence as she hugged the daylights out of him. And when he peered down upon her, Roxas saw stars in her eyes. "How'd you do all that?! Can you show me?! Please! Please! Please!"

Roxas stared down at the young Stark girl before chuckling to himself, ruffling her hair slightly.

"Sure thing." Roxas promised.

Arya grinned madly and hugged him even tighter.

New sounds were heard in the area, prompting the group to look towards the source. There they saw a good dozen riders coming their way. Mostly comprising of Stark soldiers with the one leading them all was-

"MOTHER!" Sansa cried out.

Hearing her eldest daughter made Catelyn utterly happy on top of seeing both of her girls seemingly safe. She made her horse run faster as she wanted to get to them as quickly as possible.

The Stark matriarch could've practically flown the moment she was within the vicinity of her flesh and blood. Seemingly leaping off her horse and ensnaring her daughters in a fierce hug with tears streaming down her face.

"My beautiful girls." Catelyn nearly wept with joy, clutching Sansa and Arya tightly. "Are you both alright? What happened here? What's this I heard about monsters? And what was that storm? It was unnatural!"

"Mother." Arya managed to pry herself from the hug but remained within her arms. "I… can't… breath!"

Catelyn blinked at her youngest daughters' response, finding herself smiling weakly glad to see the little She-wolf relatively unscathed and apparently in high spirits.

Cat looked to both her daughters until her eyes landed upon the hooded figure who stood with two other men. The two men next to the one in the center were obviously Northerners what with their clothes and posture.

However the one in black Cat could not pinpoint.

She eyed the hooded man warily, thinking him to be a Brothers of the Night's Watch with his attire being entirely black. Yet it seemed too… fanciful as such from what she could describe.

Lady Stark opened her mouth to address this stranger when…

"Lord Stark!"

"Lord Stark is here!"

Upon hearing her husband's name, Cat turned to see Ned had returned with Ser Rodrick, Jorey, the boys and an ensemble of guards leading the entourage right towards them.

Many in Wintertown -who just now came out of their homes- dropped to their knees, yet that did not matter to Lord Stark.

Jumping down from his horse, Eddard took long and fast strides over to his wife and daughters and embraced them into a protective and relieved hug.

"I feared the worst." Ned murmured. "When we had heard of an attack on Wintertown from a distressed sentry, we got here as fast as we could. Are you all alright?"

"We're fine, father." Arya said chipperly. "Roxas and his friends saved the whole town. You should have seen it! They were incredible."

"They were indeed." Sansa agreed, looking to Roxas, Gared and Rodrick.

Ned turned his intense gaze upon them.

"So, you three are the ones responsible for assuring my daughters' safety?"

"Of course, Lord Stark." Rodrick said curtly.

"And who might you be?"

"Rodrick Forrester."

Ned widened his eyes upon realizing who was before him. "Rodrick? By the Old gods, you've become a man."

Rodrick merely chuckled. "Yes, it has been many years since you last visited Ironrath, my Lord."

Seeing as it was his turn, due to the North's Lord Paramount looking towards him, Gared spoke as he swallowed his nervousness to the best of his ability. "I-I am Gared Tuttle, Squire for House Forrester."

"And I hope you'll serve your House and the Realm to the best of your ability."

"With my life, Lord Stark."

Ned nodded before eyeing the last of the trio, the odd one out from amongst the rest.

From what he had remembered reading from Gregor Forrester's letter, he was given a description of this Keyblader's attire as a means of identification.

"Are you possibly this Roxas lad Lord Gregor spoke of?" Ned inquired.

"Yes sir, that's me."

"...Ser? I am no Ser, lad."

"Oh right, uh I mean like you're the guy in charge here." Roxas elaborated. "Not Ser as in Knight, like Sir as in…"

"Enough…" Ned calmly spoke.

"Right… sorry, er… My Lord."

Ned eyed the young man, noting the sound of his voice. There was something way too familiar about it. But right now, his thoughts were on another matter.

"Roxas, if you would be so kind as to remove your hood. I would very much like to see who you are."

Realizing that not only the weather truly calmed down, which was no doubt caused by the Heartless, there was no further reason to hide away his face from the elements. "Ah, right."

Roxas reached up and pulled his hood back, his spiky blond hair shooting up to their usual state not at all affected by being beneath cloth for so long.

Several nearby girls from their teens onwards soon sported varying shades of blushes. This wayned on certain distances of course from how close to far away they were from the newly revealed Keyblader.

Sure, Jeyne had a decent sized blush yet it was Sansa who took the cake as she practically swooned upon gazing Roxas' young handsome features. She almost mistook him as a Lannister by his golden locks and good looks, but that weren't the case upon becoming lost in his fully clear blue eyes.

Arya glanced over at her sisters expression and rolled her eyes at he reaction. She then looked over to her parents and saw a completely different set of faces. And the Wild She-wolf wasn't the only one to notice as both Roxas' companions and those from Ned's party saw them as well.

Eddard Stark and Catelyn Stark both inhaled sharply with their hearts practically stopping and faces paling… as if seeing a ghost from what could be a lifetime ago.

A thousand thoughts ran through their heads and both were trying to articulate the words properly but it was only Ned who managed out one single word.

"Ven?"

-End Chapter-

AN:

Once again, big shout out towards my co-writer free man writer for helping me out on this chapter. It's gonna be an interesting ride working through this story.

Free Man Writer: Hey guys, another great set of sessions leading to the completion of another great chapter. Things are really gonna pick up in the coming chapters that I cannot wait for you guys to see.

Jebest: Now as y'all can pretty much see, we're right at the start of book/show canon events. And obviously free man writer and I decided to skip out on the NW deserter interrogation and beheading before finding the direwolf pups as it's been done on this site too many times. We thought the opportunity with Ned's absence would make the latter half of this chapter possible.

With the timeframe done on the first episode "Winter is Coming", it spanned over the course of roughly a month. After Ned brings back the direwolf pups, it cuts to two or so weeks before Catelyn brings in the news of Jon Arryn's passing and King Robert making his way up North. And it's from there that several more weeks come to pass before the Royal Party make their appearance.

So what's gonna happen to Roxas in what's essentially the span of 6-7 weeks? Well lots of things, really, and neither free man writer and I can't wait to show them to y'all.

Have to say when designing Winterfell for the story, I'm not using the HBO TV version, but what was intended in the books. And the best representation of it that comes to mind is what the Youtuber "Shadiversity" had done in his one video. I believe that's the best version and will be sticking to that. Besides, I remember reading in the books that people compared Kings Landing with Winterfell as the later was more grandeur in scale to some degrees.

Then again, the size of Winterfell is considered a conservative when compared to the likes of Riverrun, Casterly Rock and Harrenhal back in its heyday before Aegon the Conqueror practically ruined it in his Conquest. And this was all by descriptions alone.

Sure things seem smaller in comparison when looking at the TV show versions, but come on people remember there was a budget for set designs and locations.

Anyways, be sure to review this story guys! Would like the criticisms. Please and thank you!

R&R