Chapter 1

Welcome to this little Game of Thrones fanfiction, it's a pleasure to have you, especially since I have for the first time the chance to write a story for someone in particular, namely our good FeralG3.

There will be a good few changes to the canon, and some other original characters such as Leo Lannister will also be introduced to the world, of which a good few will strengthen the North and House Stark.

So I hope you can suspend your disbelieve a little and enjoy the story, even if things like the numbers mentioned don't add up with what you know about the Game of Thrones universe.

As usual the story will take its time with things, while the chapters will be coming in at around one thousand words, but let's get started, I hope you will enjoy Osric's life as the heir to Winterfell.

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Life was great, there was simply no other way for Osric to look at it as he held his little siblings, he was sure that both Arya and Bran would turn into a handful once they grew up a bit, but at the moment everything was perfect. And while his mother would inevitably hunt him down to retrieve the little ones, Osric still enjoyed the presence of his sleepy siblings and the silence of the godswood immensely, even as more thoughts of her anger slowly invaded his mind as the minutes passed by.

Yeah, taking the both of them into the cold of the godswood hadn't been the greatest idea he ever had, that much Osric could happily admit, but despite their sleepy state neither Bran nor Arya seemed to mind his decision so that was that for him. It truly was a shame that his mother couldn't appreciate neither the presence of the gods nor the cold of the North, but as a Tully she had more than enough pride that Osric was sure his father's teasing would get her there eventually.

But despite being occupied with his thoughts, Osric still made sure to keep an eye on both his surroundings and of course his siblings, like he was taught big brothers should do. Though at the thought he couldn't help but wonder where his little brothers had disappeared to as his enhanced senses that had usually little trouble picking them up failed to do so. Which was quite concerning since the both of them despite their good behaviour were from time to time quite hard to ignore as Robb and Jon mostly played and adventured in their own little world.

And such silence could only mean that they had either drawn the attention of his mother or that they were up to something. And since it was clear to Osric that his parents were still occupied with one another since the consequences of his actions hadn't caught up with him yet, he swiftly focused on the godswood around him to find his little brothers. They were sneaky, he would give them that, but while the godswood had a few occupants, the crunching of snow he heard as they moved was still far too distinct to fool him after he had spent countless hours enjoying it.

Though the question of what he should do about them was a good bit harder than just finding them as he had quite literally both hands full, and of course a death sentence waiting if he dropped either of the little ones. So despite his wish to indulge them and remain Jon and Robb's awesome big brother, Osric in the end simply decided to call it a day after he realised that both Arya and Bran had already fallen asleep while he was occupied. And who knows, mayhaps his mother would show a bit of mercy if the little ones continued their nap safe and sound in the depths of the keep when she inevitably tracked him down.

Well, one can always hope, and doing so wouldn't cost him anything as his father would have probably said, so hope for the best Osric did as he speedily left the godswood and his little brothers behind him. And really, what reason to be genuinely mad with him could his mother truly have, Osric very much so doubted he would need to be concerned with punishments and the like if he had picked Arya and Bran up to see the sept after all. It all seemed a little off, but he had also heard plenty of times how weird and soft southerners could get from time to time, though a Stark that actually dislikes the cold and the snow nevertheless sounded kind of wrong to him.

But be that as it may, the fact remained that his mother would have disapproved of Osric's plans to finally show off the godswood to the little ones, even if it felt quite silly. And while there was essentially no risk involved, Osric after tucking Bran and Arya in found that his nature had annoyingly once more gotten the better of him. These moments of realisation were always hard to swallow for Osric, but he supposed after another moment of thought that he wasn't any less overprotective of them when he thought clearly, and that no matter what the punishment ended up being he probably had it coming.

The abundance of wolfblood in him had once more turned an awesome day into a bothersome one, but since there was nothing Osric could really do about his nature, he was simply grateful that the fishblood passed down to him by his mother had cleared his mind in time. Though in Osric's mind what had happened was as he considered it once more just a thing of the past that he had already squeezed for all the lessons it contained. And so he swiftly refocused on the approaching footsteps of his little brothers since there was nothing else to do as the past couldn't be changed by human hands, and so remained just that.

It took Osric a good few moments before he decided on a plan, as he repeatedly fought down the urge to deliver some retribution for whatever scheme they had tried to pull off. Though while a good helping of retaliation felt absolutely justified as Robb and Jon could have endangered the little ones, Osric had still no idea what they tried to achieve this time around and so simply dropped the matter. His two little brothers had after all done everything they could to be the best big brothers Bran and Arya could have wished for, so he simply decided to trust that the two of them wouldn't have gone too far.

Hence instead of blocking the still ajar door with one of his feet and wait for Robb's inevitable outrage as he walks face-first into it and so risk waking up Arya and Bran, he instead decided to try something a little more quiet and harmless. And so with a plan in mind, Osric with a smile on his face happily ambushed his little brothers and in one swift motion both covered their mouths and lifted them up as they naively entered the chamber with their guards lowered.

It was rare for him to strike back at them with a prank of his own, so the both of them were initially and predictably shocked, but as they found themselves being cuddled by the little ones as improvised stuffed animals a moment later their expressions changed again. And while Osric had to hold them down for quite sometime before they accepted their fate for the next few hours, he was simply glad that the day hasn't been ruined by his loss of control after all, though he did still wonder why his mother hasn't skinned him alive yet.