1 A New Life, Being a Baby and Things Are Already Different!

I don't know why I'm here. I have no clue how I got here either.

All I know, however, is that I am here no matter the reason or how I came here.

I'm in Westeros. The North, to be specific. Born into a major house in a world that relies on such things as status quite heavily. This should be a good thing, right?

It isn't. I was born to one of the most shit on houses in 'Game of Thrones'. House Stark. A House that was wiped out, pretty much, and left with a Cripple, one of the most pitiful women I'd ever seen on TV, a little girl who just wanted to learn how to use a sword but instead became a renowned assassin and an exiled hero who killed his Queen.

So, they weren't left with much.

And if I'm not careful or proactive enough, I'll end up as either one of the few left or as one of the majority who died.

I...refuse to let that happen. Both of them. Neither is a life I want to live. I don't want to be apart of a nearly fallen House and neither do I want to be dead. So, I have to pick the third option:

I need to change the future. One of the riskiest and stupidest things you can do in this type of scenario. A scenario where you've been reincarnated into a world you thought was nothing but fiction but is now your new reality.

There's pros and cons to this scenario.

1) I know the future and just about every little secret that belongs to the major characters who live here. 2) I have this knowledge so I know what I need to prepare for in the future and I conveniently have the time to prepare for it. 3) Because I'm from a technologically superior world, I can use this knowledge to improve my lifestyle and make money to prepare for the future.

Those were the main pros. Now onto the cons.

1) If I want to use my future knowledge, I cannot make any sort of impact on this world otherwise I risk changing things and letting new events catch me by surprise aka see 'The Butterfly Effect'. It practically makes a paradox where I can only really change one event before the rest of my foreknowledge becomes useless. 2) I come from a technologically and more developed world, yes, but does that mean I actually have the knowledge to replicate any of that? No. I could probably improve public health by quite a bit but who the hell would listen to some random kid rambling about small, invisible life-forms called 'Bacteria' that cause illness? I'd probably get locked up for being crazy or something.

So, the gist of it, is this: I have the knowledge needed to survive this world but to survive, I need to sit aside and let all sorts of bad shit happen to my new, would-be family. I could only act and change smaller events that would ensue my safety but no one else's and to top it all off, even if I don't personally change anything, if my reputation grows to such an extent that people take an interest in me (a person who didn't exist in the original series) I could change the future purely though that.

So, that would mean, no 'super genius' moments where I show that I can walk and talk before the age of 1. No training in weapons so I could be strong enough when the time for the plot comes (at least publicly, anyway).

Basically, the butterfly effect would completely negate some of my advantages and if I did nothing to change anything, I'd be wasting some of my other advantages.

There's no way to have every advantage.

Unless you're like me and don't care too much about foreknowledge. I know the characters, so I could somewhat expect how they'd operate. Which means I can change what I need to.

Namely, most of my whole fucking family dying.

Though, even if I didn't want changes to occur, it's too late anyway.

"William, my sweet, are you awake?" I heard a melodious voice speaking from the doorway to my cot room. Turning my neck toward that voice, I gurgled an answer as I flailed my arms around earning myself a loving chuckle, "Always the early bird, aren't you? Much better than your father~" the voice belonged to an absolutely beautiful woman with auburn red hair and piercing blue eyes that were full of boundless love.

No, this wasn't some type of medieval yandere, this is my mother, Catelyn Stark. She swayed silently toward me and picked me up from my cot with a strained huff of air.

"You're getting too big for your mother to pick up, little wolf~" she teased though I could sense the subtle sadness of her motherly instincts when she said this. Robb was always fussy and would struggle loose of her grips and she wanted nothing to do with Jon - I, being the only one who would sit on her lap while I looked through children's books about Westeros history, was her favorite and only child to pamper as of yet.

Though if my estimation was correct, Sansa would be born within a year, then a few years later, so would Arya, Bran and Rickon.

So by the time I wished to move on from reading books, mom shouldn't be too distressed by me not sitting on her lap or whatever.

Despite her complaining, she continued to carry me as she walked to the bedroom she and my father shared. As we entered, I was glad they'd opened the windows as my senses were usually more sensitive to...'events' that had happened in the vicinity around me.

Just like every person who'd ever been reincarnated, I'd gained something that could be called a cheat. But more on that later.

"Wake up, my love," mom's voice chimed like the best sounding alarm clock I'd ever heard but dad's reply was a grumble as shuffled under the bed sheets. This only seemed to tick mom off. "Get up, you oaf!" she gave a stern shout as she bent down and pulled the sheets from dad, revealing his naked ass for all to see.

...Images I never wanted nor needed to have in my head. I wonder if the Maesters have a pill for amnesia or to forget memories? I don't care if I forget the last month, that image needs to be erased.

Luckily, this woke up dad as he opened an eye, looking at us, his grey eye shining with tiredness and looking annoyed. But his eyes softened as he smiled, "Cat...what did I say about waking me up before the sun rises above the horizon?"

Hearing this, mom scoffed, "That I shouldn't do it. But the sun is rising, so get up before you set any bad habits for William," she glowered, causing me to laugh out loud, though it sounded more like a gurgle. Hearing my laugh, mom gave me a squeeze, "See, like a good child he agrees with his mother, Bran."

--Oh yeah. Big change. My dad is Brandon Stark, Eddard Stark's older brother. The man who Catelyn, or mom, was originally supposed to marry in the original series but couldn't because Aerys II Targaryen burnt him alive along with the head of House Stark at the time, Rickard Stark.

Yet in this world, instead of Brandon being in the wedding party with his father when Lyanna, my aunt, was 'kidnapped', it was Eddard.

Through politics I'd yet to figure out, Eddard Stark was betrothed to Catelyn instead of Brandon who was being especially stubborn about staying with some women from a minor House. I hadn't figured it out because this was still similar to how it was in the original series - Brandon didn't want to marry Catelyn but was forced to anyway. Just that this time, his reluctance seemed to effect the outcome and his betrothal was passed to his more honor-bound younger brother.

Anyway, Eddard and his squires rode south to King's Landing and were captured, then charged with plotting Prince Rhaegar's murder.

Rickard, Eddard and Brandon's father--my grandfather--was called to court to be give an explanation yet this was nothing but a reason to get him into King's Landing because as soon as he arrived, he was captured and because Aerys II wasn't named the Mad King for no reason, he burnt the two of them alive with Wildfire.

Hence officially starting Robert's Rebellion.

Brandon, or dad, dropped his stubbornness and got married with Catelyn, aka mom, and got her pregnant with Robb.

...Then when all that was over, dad came back with Jon who was called a bastard, yada yada yada, but I knew who he really was. Oh and a year later I was born.

A few other differences would be that my uncle, Eddard Stark wasn't a ward under Jon Arryn either. My dad was. Which meant he was good friends, borderline brothers, with Robert Baratheon. Which meant that the only real change was that Brandon and Eddard had switched places.

So with this, my foreknowledge had already gone to shit because Brandon and Eddard are different people and will make different choices.

They're both honor-bound Starks but at the same time, dad is much more...carefree? casual? I'd even go out on a limb and say he's more hot-blooded and the only thing that stopped him from going to King's Landing with Eddard was that granddad, according to dad, had 'knocked him on his ass and kept doing it until he was out cold' when he tried to leave Winterfell.

And by the time granddad had left and gone to the summons from King's Landing...well it was already too late and he had to sharpen up because he'd became the head of House Stark overnight and he'd lost his father and younger brother.

The nickname I'd heard the master-at-arms, Rodrik Cassel, call dad was 'The Wild Wolf' due to his hot-blooded nature and overall wild nature. But sometimes I'd heard him call him a different name. 'The Bloody Wolf'.

...I'd say that during Robert's Rebellion he made quite the name for himself.

Makes me proud, honestly.

Though enough of the history lesson - even if it's literally the only knowledge I've learnt in the 10 months I'd been here. and most of it is based on listening to the snippets I hear from dad, mom or Rodrik. Some of the maids of servants speak of it sometimes but I don't really take in what they say unless it's confirmed by a more reliable source.

Wiggling, I signaled for mom to put me down, feeling more comfortable in using body language and movement to communicate than my own mouth.

...Re-learning how to talk, especially with these fucking teeth is hell and I don't like talking because I sound like I'm mentally challenged or something.

Mom, reluctantly, put me down and I waddled over to where dad kept his weapons. I heard mom sigh from behind me but she didn't try to stop me as she'd obviously started to understand my tenacity when it came to these things. It's why she didn't stop me from looking at books and instead just calmly sat with me on her lap whenever we were wasting the day with nothingness.

What? There's not much to do as a toddler/baby, you know? At least I have somewhat decent bowel control now. Let alone the blessing that is being able to eat solid food. No matter how bad these new teeth are, they're still pretty good at biting and tearing.

Pain suddenly assaulted my mouth-area but I barely let myself get phased by it.

Teething pain. Argh. By the Gods' it's annoying to be a kid again.