Jon's POV
I have been in the training rounds most of the night. Even some of the others think I am overdoing it with the amount of fighting I have been doing. But with what is coming for us, the boys and girls need all the training they can get. I also do not need to let what I learned hold me back anymore than it already has.
After maybe twenty or thirty rounds of fighting, I notice Arya watching the training rounds. She has Needle and a nice dagger at her side. I am curious to see what she is made of now.
When the round is finished, I point Long Claw at Arya and tell her, "Come on, Arya. Let me see what you are made of."
Without hesitation, she smiles when entering the ring to face against me. Many start watching us. She draws out Needle but I tell her. "Don't get me wrong, I do want to see what you can do with Needle however I had something made for you. I think this one will go well with Needle."
One of the Blacksmith's comes over, extending out a new sword to her. It's similar to Needle but with a blade to fit her size with a mix of dragon glass to help in the fight against the White walkers.
She grabs the grip of her new sword, admiring it. Then does a few moves to test the weight of it. "How does it feel? Good balance?
"Yes and a strong grip but is the blade sharp?" Arya asks.
Before I could say anything, Arya spins swiftly around, throwing the sword. The sword goes flying and thrusts right into the arrow target just as she did with the arrow earlier. The blade went through and through the target. Gendry goes to the target, pulling the sword out of it. I am impressed with Arya's throw. She got some good distance with the throw compared to men I have seen in the Night's Watch.
Gendry comes over and hands the sword back to Arya. Arya takes her place as do I. Then we head for each other. Our swords met in the air then come apart. I dodge a few of her fast moves. She was only using one hand holding her new sword to fight me while her other hand was behind her back. I am using both of my hands on Long Claw.
She is superior in speed unlike anyone I have fought in battle or through practice. I barely miss any attacks she tries to deliver. It seems like her missing my attacks is nothing to her. She and I keep on going, missing one another. I actually begin to feel myself sweat the more we keep on going.
We are panting, sweating even as we fight in the cold and the snow all around us. Arya and I smile just when I move to the left, attacking her from behind. Right as I am about to tap her out, her blade meets mine. I am stunned how she managed that move and shout, "Come on!"
She does a quick turn. Arya is swift and valiant with each move she makes against me. Whoever taught her how to fight did well. She truly is better than most of the men here in Winterfell.
Finally, our blades pull away and we both go in for the kill. Both of our blades touch at our throats, bringing it to a tie. We both laugh in joy while everyone around us is clapping. We lower our swords with even bigger smiles on our faces.
"You've grown stronger than I could ever imagine, Arya. I'm proud of you. I know that Ned would be proud of you." I place my hand on her shoulder.
"Our father would be proud of both of us." She responds to me.
I look down to the snowy ground when she says 'our father' and by the look on her face, she believes it is because of me being a bastard. But she has no idea how wrong she is. Arya then hugs me. I embrace my arms around her. We stay in our hug for a few more moments.
I ask her, "Any idea of a name for your new sword?"
She studies her new sword, taking a moment to think on the name. Then her eyes go to me, "Snow..."
"Why that name?" I ask her in curiosity.
"You, Jon. You may be my half brother but to me, you will always be my brother, no matter what." She says.
Gendry comes over to her. Arya hands the sword to him. "Can you have a pommel added to the grip and make it the look of a snow flake?"
"I can do that." Gendry says then takes the sword to this station.
She walks over to his station as well. I notice how they are talking to one another. I believe that they have feelings for each other however I will let them discover it on their own. All I can say is that I am happy that she has a chance to have someone in her life that is a good man and Gendry is a good man.
I realize that she said brother; it occurred to me that I nearly forgot who I am because of all the fighting I have been doing. I am not sure how I am going to tell Arya and Sansa the truth about my real parentage. But I stop these thoughts when I see people talking, not working like they should be.
"Alright! Let's get back to work!" I yell and everyone does so.
I keep on training all night to the morning. I finally became exhausted from the amount of fighting I have been doing through the night. Davos comes over and hands me a drink. I drink the entire glass then call it for others to take over training while some can have a chance to rest.
The Maester approaches me about the plans that I asked to be arranged. He tells me that Sansa and some other ladies has been working through the night, making some lanterns for the plans I have. The Maester informs me that it will all be ready by tonight. I thank him then he walks away from me.
I see Missandei around the Dothraki and I walk over to her knowing that I can ask her for some help to translate to the Dothraki and Unsullied if they do not speak the common tongue. I approach her and she bows her head to me.
"Missandei, would there be any way I can ask you to translate what I am saying to Daenerys's forces?"
"Yes, Jon." She says.
"Thank you, Missandei." I respond and yet I am afraid to ask her something else.
"She is feeling unwell, Jon. I have never seen her like this in all of the time I have been with her. I do not know what is going on to cause this drift between the both of you but I would push for you to go see her and get past this. It seems to be affecting you as well. Please go see her if you care about her at all."
"Missandei, I care about her more than I have cared about anyone or anything in the amount of time we have known each other. I am just having a hard time adjusting to what is going on." I let out to Missandei.
Missandei places her hand on my forearm, seeing how I do care about Daenerys. "Please go see her after this. I believe it will do both of you some good."
"I will. I will go see her after this." I nod with her in agreement, knowing full well that she is right.
Missandei and I then turn before everyone within the fighting yards before us. I clear my throat and call out to everyone. When everyone but the howling wind of the snow is silent, I begin to say, "Tonight, we are to celebrate what we have now, and honor those who have fallen and to those that may fall in the Great War against the Night King. When night time comes again, spend time with your loved ones, friends and family."
Missandei translate to the Dothraki language for some of the others to understand my words. I keep on going and say, "Even if our fight against the Night King may not be enough but at least we will give those fuckers a fight! So tonight celebrate like it is the last night of our lives to truly live!"
Quite a number of the Dothraki, Unsullied and some of the North men roar out battle cries in my words. I do notice some are sad in the unknown of the outcome against the Night King. I don't blame them. I feel the same as well.
I thank Missandei again then walk away. I think about her words of Daenerys feeling unwell. I know that I have not see her for half a night but it feels like a part of myself is lost when I parted from her earlier the previous night.
I need to go and see her after I see Sansa. I know I need to tell her something about what happened earlier however I am not sure I can tell her about who I am. I need to tell her something rather than nothing. I exhale when knocking on her chamber door.
She tells me to enter. I do enter and close the door behind me. Sansa is making symbols on the lanterns to be used later on tonight. I see some other ladies helping with the lanterns as well. I see how well done each of them are in the short time given to be made. I notice that there are none made for the Unsullied and the Dothraki or for Daenerys.
"Sansa, I believe that we need to talk about what happened. In private please." I tell her.
I begin to feel my stomach become heavy that I feel like I am going to vomit. Sansa does not question it and sends the other ladies out of her chambers. I close the door behind the ladies that left. I wait a few minutes to ensure that it is just the two of us and nobody listening to our conversation that is about to take place.
"Yes, we do. We do need to talk. However I only have one thing to ask you and that is this: how was she?" She asks.
I freeze in what she just asked me. I see that she literally has a death glare on her face toward me. I realize that there was no avoiding talking to Sansa about Daenerys now.
"What?" I ask in shock to her.
Winter Fox's POV
We watch some people train while we smoke some of the finest weed from Dorne. We exhale, letting a puff of smoke out. We truly need to smoke this so we do not get driven over the edge with how dumbfounded the Northerners are compared to the forces of Queen Daenerys. Her forces are the only ones with common sense. The only one with common sense of the North is Arya Stark. She is quite skilled due to No One.
I lift up the bottom half of my head helmet to take in more of the weed when suddenly I see Jon Snow head toward the chambers of his bitch of a sister, Sansa. I tap my hand against the shoulder of my brother smoking with me. He wonders what I want but I point to Jon Snow. He sees him instantly knowing what may happen when he talks with Sansa.
We instantly run up the stairs and stop at the corner to see that some of the ladies in waiting leave the room. The moment we knew we were clear to listen, we go to the chamber door. We both lean our head close to the door to listen to what they are talking about.
"Yes, we do. We do need to talk. However I only have one thing to ask you and that is this: how was she?" Sansa the bitch asks him.
"Uh-oh..." My brother and I say at the same time in shock. I point at him knowing deep in my gut that Jon and Daenerys slept together at some point. He rolls his eyes when I point at him. We keep listening.
"What?" Jon questions in shock to what his own sister asked him.
"Was she good?" Sansa questions him.
"Don't answer that." My brother whispers in the hopes that Jon is hearing and will listen to him.
Then my brother holds up 10 fingers, meaning 10 gold stags, wanting to bet if Queen Daenerys was any good in bed. We heard stories about her being a glory in bed. Many were curious if she was ever terrible in bed. I take the bet that she is great in bed and my brother bets that she is terrible.
"Come on, Jon. You said we needed to talk. Let's talk about it. How was she?" Sansa says in anger, raising her voice to Jon.
"She is..." Jon begins to say, trying to figure out what to say.
"Awful. Horrible. She was not good. Horrible. Nothing compared to Ygritte." My brother whispers in the hopes that Jon will answer her like that. I punch him in the arm to get him to remain silent so they do not hear us outside the chamber door.
"She is different, so fresh, and incredible. It was fucking fantastic. Is that what you want to hear, Sansa?!" Jon shouts to her.
"Oh... Pay up." I whisper in response to what Jon said about her. I win the bet. My brother grabs a small pouch on his belt with the betting money, unties it then hands it to me. "Thank you."
"Shut it." He says back to me.
"Sansa, even if I was never with her and never acted on our feelings, would you still ask me these questions?" Jon asks her.
"Yes! I see the way you and Daenerys look at each other."
"None of that will happen again after today. But even if we didn't sleep together, and I told you that we did not kiss, been naked with each other and made love to one another, would you still think we did sleep together?"
Sansa appears quiet to what he just asked her. We wait for a answer to Jon's question. Both of us lightly shake our heads no. Even if Jon and Daenerys did not sleep together, Sansa would still believe that they did sleep together just by the way they have gazed at one another.
"No... I would believe you if you told me that you did not." Sansa barely lets out like she is struggling to lie to him about this. We knew that Sansa is lying to Jon.
"If you believed me when I said that we did not have our hot, sweaty, writhing bodies going-"
"Enough, Jon!" Sansa yells in disgust in the words he just spoke. We try not to laugh loud in how Jon made her react to what he said.
"Sansa, it is not like I planned to be with her. She and I both knew that this is the worst timing in the history of the world to fall from someone. But it happened and it is because she is everything that I ever heard about and saw with my own eyes of her. All of her forces did not choose her because of her father, The Mad King. She is the Queen they chose as did I. I do not back her claim to the Iron Throne because of her family history on all of Westeros and her claim to that damn throne. I choose her because I believe in her. And because I-"
He freezes in his words for a moment almost like he is coming to realize his own true feelings for Daenerys Stormborn. We wait in anticipation to what he is going to say next to his own sister's face.
"Because I love her..."
My brother and I felt the admiration in his voice about Daenerys. "Aww..."
"Sansa, there is something I do need to tell you and it relates to Daenerys, you and Arya. It is important because I learned something. Something I have wanted for as long as I can remember." Jon says like he is about to tell her a secret, a massive one.
"Wanna bet she is pregnant?" I hold up the bag of money to my brother.
"I'll take it. I'll bet that she is pregnant." He says in excitement.
We hear that he has yet to tell her. The longer we wait of what he is going to tell her, the more we both realize that it is something else entirely different than Daenerys being with child.
"Should we do something?" My brother asks me.
I stare at him knowing exactly what to do.
Sansa's POV
"Because I love her..." Jon literally says from his own mouth.
I am speechless to what he is saying. Out of all things I feared of Jon going to Dragonstone to meet that Dragon Queen is this. It truly is like Little Finger said. I turn my back to Jon, staring into the fire going in my chamber. I watch the wood burning away by the flames.
"Sansa, there is something else I do need to tell you. It is in relation to Daenerys, you and Arya. It is important because I learned something. Something I have wanted for as long as I can remember." Jon speaks to me like he has a secret and not a good one to tell.
I turn around in the terror of what I think he is going to tell me. Jon puts his hands together and appears to be a bit sweaty in how nervous he is. He does not even have to say what it is going to be. Daenerys and Jon together are far worse than I fear. Daenerys is pregnant!
"Sansa, I learned that Daenerys and I are-"
Before he could finish, the chamber door is busted open. I see two masked people walk in. I do not recognize them by anyone here to fight in the Long Night.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt." One of them says then stands before me.
The other one speaks to Jon, "I am here to speak to you about where to camp my forces, your grace."
Jon looks back to Sansa and tells her, "Sansa, we will continue this after I am done."
The masked man and Jon leave the chambers, closing the chamber door behind them. The masked woman glares down at me and the gown I am wearing.
"Actually, yes I did." The masked woman tells me.
"Did what?" I ask her in confusion.
"I meant to interrupt you and your brother. My death, you are not as smart as you think you are." The masked woman says with a small groan.
"And why would you do that?" I ask her in frustration, ignoring what she said about me.
"Because whatever he is about to tell you, it does not matter right now." She remains standing before me, blocking me from the door.
"Yes, it does matter. Are you going to stand in my way?"
"I am in your way." The Masked woman says with a tiny bit of joy in her voice.
This unknown masked person starts to walk toward me. I am about to make for the door but whoever this is puts their hands up. "I am not going to hurt or kill you. I need to speak to you and this was the only way to get to you."
"Talk to me about what?"
"That your bitch ambition needs to stop because everything you are focusing, caring about will not matter. All of this..." She takes her hand, moving it up and down before my body. "Needs to stop before you and the entire North drive Daenerys away along with her armies."
"My brother loves her and I can tell that she loves him. She would not leave because of him. She came here for her own gain and we, the North swore that we would never bow to another. My brother may back her claim but the rest of the North is against it, no matter what she does during and after The Long Night."
"That is where you are wrong. She came here for what happened to her child, Viserys and for the sake of the North, one of the seven kingdoms when she will become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms along with the many other long ass titles to that damn throne. The North is a part of her future kingdoms. She wants to save the people but the people of the North are not giving her the respect that she deserves for coming here, stopping her reach for the Iron Throne in order to save the North, all of Westeros."
I try to walk past her but she remains standing in my way. I can easily call for the guards however I am curious to why she is even here. "If we are on the same side, you will let me go now."
"We are not on the same side. We are on different sides of the board. I could give a shit less about you and the entire North. I fight for no kingdom or country of any kind but for the people to continue on living in the world. Also I am here to give the army of the Dead a hell of a fight."
I see iron rod by the fireplace that I can use against her, tempted to reach for it but this woman gets face to face with me. I try to run however this unknown woman grabs me by my wrists, shoving me against the wall.
"Guards!! Guards!!" I scream just before my mouth is covered by the gloved hand of the masked woman. I try to scream again however it is muffled by her hand.
"As I said, I am not here to hurt or kill you. But if you scream again, I will gag and chain you up so you will be stuck right in the middle of the Long Night. So you and the entire North are going to accept her claim to the Iron Throne or she will give exactly what you and the entire north deserve. I am letting you go now as long as you do not scream again."
She lets me go slowly. I gasp in what she tried to do to me. I grab the iron rod, pointing it right at this woman. "How dare you put your hands on me?"
"How else was I going to keep you here for a bit longer?" Her dark almost black eyes look at the rod as if she was expecting me to get it to have some more time to talk to me.
"All you care about is the aftermath of the Long Night when in truth, many if not all will die. The outcome all in all will be-"
"The Night King wants to destroy the world. I am well aware." I tell her with both of my hands on the handle of the metal rod, pointing it right at her.
"Oh, no. The world will still be here, some trees will still grow, birds will still sing and animals will still hump away in the undergrowth. But you won't be here. And none of the North or the rest of the Seven Kingdoms will be here; none of you. The sun will still set, but you will not see it rise. There will only be The Night King and his Others and the Army of the Dead. When that happens, the clouds will be so cold as the air as the Winds of Winter beyond the Wall."
I begin to realize the serious tone in her dark voice about the Night King. The more I keep on hearing each word, the more I feel a cold growing under my skin like I can already feel the Winds of Winter is here in my body.
"Imagine it; a world without humans under an endless long night and The Night King in the dark of the Long Night. His revenge so complete there is nothing left to do but look out over a world without memory, or laughter, life and know that he did his work well. That he did it all for his slain Queen, Sansa."
I imagine all that she is describing of the North and feel as if the power of the Night King has already taken over. I am shaking in terror of the words alone.
Before I could say anything, the door is opened by the other masked man earlier. "You gotta see this!"
"Animals humping in the undergrowth?" The woman responds back.
"Nothing that exciting but it is someone that we need to speak to now." He leaves the chamber door open.
The woman glares back at me in how shock I am of her words. She approaches me slowly. "While you soak my words in, remember this: If you drive Daenerys and her army away from here, I hope that you come face to face with the Night King, knowing that you will be the cause of the Long Night. The night is dark and full of terrors."
"So you are going to make lanterns for the Dothraki, Unsullied, House Targaryen and Lannister for the festival tonight. They have those who are dead and want to honor. I highly suggest you give them that same honor as the others of the North. And you need to give Daenerys the respect she deserves. It was a pleasure talking to you."
The masked woman takes a few steps in then stops for a moment. Her black eyes glare at me. "Do you believe that Daenerys is pregnant?"
"What?" I question her.
"Yes or no, do you think that Daenerys is pregnant?"
I shake my head yes. I would not doubt it for a moment. The strange woman chuckles when I shake my head.
"Sweet. I win the bet. Bye." She gives a brief wave to me when leaving.
She closes the door behind her while I remain against the wall in terror of her words. I slowly make my way to the fire, trying to get some feeling of warmth into the fingers, the rest of my body. I do soak in her words about the Long Night when suddenly I feel a cold presence behind me.
I slowly turn around and see a man or something like a man with his entire body almost made of cold blue ice, and his head covered with pointy frost horns almost like a crown. The moment I am about to scream, he places his cold ice hand over my mouth.
This frosty crowned thing in front of me pushes me against the wall. I begin to scream for help as his other hand brushes through my hair hanging past my shoulders. His cold blue eyes glare at me like I am important to him. I scream underneath his frosty hand and close my eyes.
When I open my eyes again, he is no longer in front of me. I stare around the entire chamber as if no one was here at all. My eyes go everywhere looking for that thing but I am alone in here. I exhale and run out of my chambers in still feeling his cold presence behind me as if he is still watching, following me. I have to talk to Jon about what I just saw right now.
Hey everyone. I hope the chapter was a good read. Have a good night. - Sincerely, Faith Hammett XOXO - Author's Note ❤️
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