Winter is Coming

Year 845

Ehrmich District

Levi didn't know what Aemon experienced the previous night, only that the man now strides through their headquarter's halls like a man on a mission. Gone is the charming young man so full of confidence that it borders on arrogance, in his place stands the General of the United Army of the North and Lord Commander of Night's Watch during a time when the world seemed to be ending.

The man had entered Erwin's office with a purpose this morning and had patiently answered all of their questions so far, yet his constant tapping of his sword's pommel and the slight furrow of his brow while he continuously looks at something to his left as time passes lets Levi knows that he is getting impatient.

"Are you in a hurry?" asks Levi

Aemon simply looks at him with a raised eyebrow before his lips quirk upwards into a smirk, "As a matter of fact, I am. One tends to be when the deity who saves your life hijacks your dream to issue you a mission and a few hours to prepare." he responds casually.

"Whaaat?" whispers Hange as Levi's eyes widen and his eyebrows rise.

"I see." comments Erwin with a slight nod of his head as he thoughtfully looks at Aemon. "This explains quite a lot actually. The only reason you survived the end of your world is because that deity placed you here and in return probably wants you to complete missions for them as recompense." he specalulates.

"However, wouldn't it conflict with your position as a member of the scout's regiment?" asks Erwin.

"I wager that it would conflict at times, yet I believe that the payments would be well worth it." says Aemon as he looks at the small lizard on his shoulder.

Not able to suppress her curiosity anymore, Hange asks one of the questions that has been burning in their mind since they laid their eyes on the creature, "What is that?" she asks as she slowly reaches out to it with a finger.

"I would not do that." warns Aemon as the lizard warily eyes her finger.

"Why not?" she asks as she continues to reach out to it.

Before Aemon answers, the creature snarls at her as his muscles become taut.

"Dragons are perhaps the most dangerous beasts from my world." answers Aemon as he bats away Hange's hand before playfully caresses it. "While they are not as dangerous when freshly hatched, as adolescents they fly faster than any horse can travel, breathe fire hot enough to melt metal, and are smart enough to be used in battle formations." he explains, causing them all to look at the dragon with new eyes.

"And as adults?" asks Erwin with shadowed eyes.

"They are faster, can melt stone, and are durable enough that only a few weapons from your world can harm them." he explains.

"How do you control it?" asks Hange.

"The belief that we control them is a false one." says Aemon as his dragon crawls up his neck and onto his raven hair, now streaked with strands of white.

"Caraxes and I possess a sacred bond that allows us to communicate. We do not possess a master/servant relationship, but rather a companionship." he says as the dragon screeches from his position in Aemon's air. "And that bond is a byproduct of my being a Targaryen, one of the 40 dragonlord families that ruled the Valyrian Freehold."

"And you can get more?" asks Erwin.

Aemon looks to Erwin with a grin full of teeth, "I will certainly be able to, should I succeed in my mission." he says as he stares into Erwin's eyes, a silent conversation carried out between the two commanders.

"Good, what will you need?" asks Erwin.

"Three crates of iceburst stones and one set of ODM Gear." responds Aemon immediately.

"There's only enough on hand to give you two crates, especially since you seem to be in a hurry." says Erwin.

"Very well, I will take it." replies Aemon before standing from his chair and leaving with a nod.

…

…

Looking at the two crates before him, a dark glint can be seen within Aemon's eyes. Iceburst stones, a mysterious substance used to make the ODM Gears function. Not much is known about the substance other than it is used to make ODM Gears operate and the fact that use of the gas yielded from iceburst stones can be fatal and explosive.

"That will be all." says Aemon to the soldiers that had carried the crates to him.

As they return to the castle, a raven's caw brings his attention to the air where Huginn flies overhead. Raising his left arm in the air, Aemon smiles when the raven instinctively perches himself on the appendage.

"I have not seen you since we arrived here, old friend." says Aemon as he caresses the bird's plumage.

"Friend, friend, friend." caws the raven as it turns its beady black eyes towards Caraxes curled around Aemon's neck.

"Aye. Huginn, meet our new friend, Caraxes." says Aemon as he puts his right hand on the crates and places them in his inventory.

With the stones and ODM Gear stored into his inventory, Aemon takes out his [Medium Ticket] and rips it open with the thought of the item he wants to receive, nasuverse Richard the Lionheart's armor and mantle.

As the ticket disintegrate into golden lights, the lights swirl around Aemon's body from head to toe before disappearing when it reaches his feet, startling Caraxes and Huginn, and leaving Aemon dressed in the white plate armor of Richard the Lionheart with a crimson mantle on his right shoulder.

As he admires the beautiful, well fitting, yet very light armor, Aemon can't help but give an appreciative nod.

Sensing Ghost's arrival through their bond, Aemon turns towards his most trusted friend.

"What do you say boy, we match now." he says as he reaches out and scratches the direwolf just behind the ears.

Despite sensing Ghost's pleasure through their bond, Aemon can also sense Ghost's impatience.

"You're excited aren't you." whispers Aemon. "It has been some time since we have fought anything that bleeds when stabbed, and stays dead when killed." he says more to himself as he initiates the mission's start.

[Mission: Unfinished Business initiated

Random arrival time selected: 1 day post Red Wedding

Random arrival location selected: The Twins

Transport Begin Now]

…

…

Night has fallen over the Twins, a fog has rolled over the ground, and the castle was still teeming with the celebration of the Red Wedding. Two of the guards stationed at the entrance of the eastern castle spot a white and red specter approaching the horizon.

"You see that?" asks one of the guards as he squints to see through the fog.

"It look like a man." replies his companion as the fog seems to open the way for the figure.

"Who'd be dumb enough to travel alone this late." says the first guard.

"Let's find out." answers the second guard as the man gets close enough for them to get their first glimpse at the stranger.

The guards' first observations are of the man's eyes, cold blue eyes as bright as blue stars full of disdain and mockery, his hair as dark as the feathers of the raven perched on his left shoulder with some white streaks interrupting the uniform coloring, his is the most beautiful face that they have ever seen, and his white armor is what one imagines when they think of the knights in the songs.

"Halt stranger." commands the guard. "State your business."

Stopping a few feet away from guards, the man raises his arms to show his empty hands. "I come bearing gifts for the Lord Paramount of the Riverlands." says the man with a beautiful smile as his eyes sweep over the many other guards at the entrance behind these two.

"What gifts?" questions one of the guards unaware of the moving shadows behind them.

"I will need to approach, it is far too dark to see it properly." replies the stranger.

Glancing at each other, the guards nod and slowly approach the man, unaware of the red eyes that ominously observes them nor the silent snarl on the lips of the owner of said eyes.

When the guards arrive inches from the man, a white blur leaps from the shadows and tears the throat of one of the guards, and he dies still thinking of the Lord Paramount's gift.

Before his companion can react the stranger's hand lashes out like a viper and grabs him by the throat and lifts him in the air, his feet no longer touching the ground.

"Tell me, are the Boltons still here?" questions Aemon, his starry blue eyes burning like ice.

Looking into the stranger's eyes, the guard feels as if ice is being poured into his veins, his limbs stiffen, his lips turn blue, and his throat is so cold that they burn. Wanting the pain to end, the guard uses all of his remaining energy to nod his head. His last thoughts as Aemon puts him out of his misery is that they should have never fucked with the Starks.

…

…

The cold gods. The ones in the night. The shadows in white masks. They come with the fog, and the cold and with no other warning. Their movements silent yet deadly, their figures hidden by cloaks as black as night, and their faces covered with white skull masks.

None know when they came, not the Freys nor the Boltons. All that they know is that the festivities had been cut short when the torches were extinguished and the shadows began to move.

In the melee neither the Freys nor the Boltons realize that they are being herded towards the throne room and that a cold has seeped into their bones until it is too late.

The first to notice is Roose as he brings his sword to bear only to feel his stiff muscles struggle to obey. Through ragged breathing he sees his breath freeze in the air and he thinks back to old northern legends that speak of cold gods that come in the night with the cold. He thinks back to the speculations of his ancestors on the possibility that the Starks may have struck a pact with those cold gods for according to the myths none could stand before them during the Long Night.

Before Roose can think further on it, the shadows retreat and the fog rolls away, but not the cold. The cold remains despite it all and even seems to become stronger.

The foolish Freys begin to celebrate until they hear it, the echoes of approaching footsteps and the sound of an armored man approaching. He comes out of the fog like the shadows yet his figure can be seen clearly.

The man can be no older than twenty namedays old, with black hair streaked with white, the most beautiful white plate armor adorns his body, a red mantle hangs from his right shoulder, and a bastard sword is sheathed at his hips.

However, he pays attention to none of these and instead stares at the man's eyes, cold blue eyes as bright as blue stars, blue eyes that he has only heard described of in legends, legends of cold gods and white shadows. So stricken is he by the man's eyes that Roose almost misses the massive direwolf that follows in the man's steps. A direwolf that is as white as snow, with red eyes similar to the faces on weirwood heart trees carved by the children of the forest, and as silent as the shadows.

Idly, Roose remembers hearing rumors of the Stark bastard having a wolf that fits this one's description to perfection.

"Jon Snow." says Roose as he approaches the bastard, his voice devoid of the uneasiness that he feels.

"Well, if it isn't the Leech Lord himself." taunts the boy as he casually hangs hands on his sword's pommel. "I see that you've found yourself a fat cow to leech. Although, the fact that it's at the expense of my family annoys me quite a bit." he says as his wolf steps forward with a silent snarl and temperature in the room becomes even colder.

"You deserted the Watch." says Roose as he tightens his hold on his sword.

Scoffing, the bastard draws his sword, and Roose finds himself wondering where the boy found a Valyrian Steel sword.

"Here is what will happen here." says the boy as the doors slam shut behind him and the remaining torches are extinguished, plunging the room into total darkness

"All of you will die here tonight." he says as his eyes gleam ominously in the darkness. "The only question is, how much will you suffer before I put you out of your misery."

That night, the Twins are filled with such tortured screams of Frey and Bolton men alike that some of the surviving lords in the dungeons cannot help but pity them.

…

…

Moons later, as the Lord Hand tends to petitioners, an old man with a large stature and northern features comes before the Iron Throne bearing gifts, the flayed skins of Roose Bolton, Lord Walder Frey, "Lame" Lothar Frey, "Black" Walder Rivers, Malcom, Talbot, and an unnamed Frey soldier, along with a simple message from Jon Snow, bastard brother of Robb Stark, Winter is Coming.

When Lord Tywin orders for the man to be chained, the old man cleaves a bloody path out of the throne room and is never seen again with some soldiers claiming that he vanished into the shadows.

It will not be hours later that all will be alerted to the fact that Sansa Stark, sister to Jon Snow, has gone missing from the Red Keep and is nowhere to be found in the capital.