ASOIAF 4

Carl stood on the battlement of Riverrun in the cold dark of night, blankly looking out on the landscape. His hands were clenched tightly as he thought over everything that he had experienced growing up as a Tully.

His family, especially his grieving sister Catelyn.

All the friends he had made, especially Brandon Stark and his father who had been killed by the mad king.

His other friend, Lyanna Stark. The young lady who was so spirited at the age of 15 she had dressed up in disguise as a knight and publically humiliated three other knights in order to avenge her family's banner man's humiliation.

Robert Baratheon, who was now being targeted by the Mad King Aerys.

Carl thought about the boiling over of the conflict, and considered who was standing with who.

And he especially thought over what he could and should do, now that he had full control over all his powers once more.

He couldn't bear to go inside right now, it would feel too stuffy in his rooms. He needed the cold air to help him clear his head. Looking out from the battlements, he could see the surrounding lands clearly despite the night.

The rivers and forests of the lands he was due to inherit were beautiful in the moonlight, in his opinion. The seeming calm lands were completely at odds with the boiling anger, lust, and greed in the hearts of men around the country right now.

His young man's mindset and memories of the past 18 years were calling out to him to use his powers immediately. To fly or teleport immediately and kill certain people who threatened his family. That mad king sitting in his castle in Kings Landing wouldn't last the night. And anyone loyal to him could be snuffed just as easily.

Carl's idea before he entered the world of just sitting back and taking this world as a vacation for the next ten years was completely shattered due to his familial attachments. There was no way he could sit by and not get involved at this point.

But Carl refused to give into his impulsive need to immediately lash out.

Despite being in an 18 year old body once more, he refused to act like an impulsive kid. He sat down on the edge of the fortifications and began meditating to calm himself and order his memories.

As Carl was reviewing and assimilating his memories over the past 18 years his face kept changing expressions. Smiling at one point, grimacing in embarrassment at others, and frowning in anger at certain memories he was reliving.

He was finding that assimilating the memories of growing up relatively normal in a medieval society did have some small effect on his mentality. Especially having been raised as an Heir with political and martial leanings, he was seeing things in a new light that he wouldn't have immediately considered previously.

As he went through the memories of the interactions and push and pull of the various lords around the Tullys while he was growing up, Carl became even more aware of the politics and sly ambitions of the various Lords. With his new, slightly different outlook on life and greater experience that came from his restored memories, it was easy to see just who among the various Lords were his enemy, who were neutral, and who were allies.

Another thing that was obvious to him as he looked over his memories and actions with new eyes was how his abilities had leaked through the memory block and influenced him growing up. It had certainly resulted in the growing Carl Tully being stronger and smarter than most children his age, with various abilities at his fingertips.

One example of when a few extra abilities had leaked through here and there in his times of need was the issue of Baelish. The runes he had used to rip off the mask and show the true face of Petyr Baelish to his family was an example of those skills.

And wasn't that an interesting situation that had occurred while growing up.

Carl could hardly believe how calculating Baelish had been, even at such a young age. In his previous life, he wouldn't have expected such a young child to be so sly. In retrospect, Baelish had probably been keeping up a correspondence with his father to continue learning and plotting how to endear himself and entrap the Tullys.

And looking back, it did seem that the children here in the world of Westeros grew up quick, he realized. They had to, to be able to survive in such a cutthroat world. And Baelish had certainly learned his lessons well.

He cast his profound senses out and spotted the slight form of a 14 year old Baelish sitting in his prison, waiting for a ransom that would never come, if he judged Lord Baelish's finances correctly.

The thin and dirty form testified that Baelish's past few years hadn't been especially good in the Tully jail. Carl knew that ideally he should have mercy for the pitiful. But examining the pitiful form of Baelish in jail, Carl couldn't feel any pity whatsoever for the young man.

Baelish had come into Carl's family as a guest and cruelly plotted against them. And from what little he understood of the "canon" works of this world, this Baelish brat would have been a large cause of a great deal of death, pain, and war throughout Westeros.

And that wasn't even considering what Baelish would have done to his sisters if he wasn't stopped, including driving his sweet little sister Lysa to madness, cruelty, and death.

So Carl reserved his pity for those that actually deserved it.

Thinking over the situation now with his memories whole didn't diminish one bit the feelings Carl had experienced while growing up.

He still felt the sting of betrayal as his family believed a rat over him.

He still felt the love and comfort as they rebuilt their family bonds over the past six years after Carl had trapped the rat.

And he still felt the helpless anguish over the situation he found himself in now. His sister was heartbroken that her betrothed was dead at the hands of the Mad King. Lyanna Stark was missing, presumed to have been kidnapped, forcefully married, and raped by the Prince.

Carl looked up at the cloudy night in deep thought. He still strongly felt the family bonds he had with his father, Hoster, his sisters Catelyn and Lysa, and his brother, Edmure.

He had spent a lot of time in the practice grounds with Edmure, helping him hone his skills. The 14 year old brother of his was so full of dreams of knighthood and derring do.

He had spent a lot of time maintaining and repairing his gear sitting with his sister Catelyn and Lysa while they were sewing and gossiping. Simply enjoying their company.

He had spent a lot of time with his father Hoster learning how to manage the bannermen, the Lords, and the land.

He had a lot of emotions invested in this land. And he was certainly going to do something about this situation.

While Carl didn't know a lot about the specifics of the plot in this world, he did remember that Lyanna had supposedly chosen to go with Prince Rhaegar of her own volition. There was a lot of speculation from the show about just what caused those two to elope.

Was it an epic love between the Prince and the Northern Rose that caused the two to elope?

Was there a prophecy told to Rhaegar that he needed three children of the dragon to fight the Night King and the ice zombies, and in order to get that last child he went and found a North girl since his wife was unable to have any more children?

Or was it something else?

Carl didn't have the answers at the moment. He scowled inside at the repercussions of the foolish girl who was apparently so desperate to get away from Robert that she would run into the arms of the most likely mentally unstable Targaryen prince. And accidentally set off the chain of events that led to her father and brother's death.

She was only 16 and without any changes in the plot she would die in child birth before she even turned 18.

His friend Lyanna certainly didn't deserve that fate.

Carl wasn't really sure, but he suspected that Rhaegar was suffering from the same mental defects his mad father was. The Prince was from a family that had apparently been marrying brothers and sisters together for years. It wouldn't surprise him to find out that Rhaegar was just as mad as his father. It seems like for those people it only required a big shock in their life to trigger their madness.

Aerys received that shock in the Defiance of Duskendale incident where he was imprisoned and treated poorly for six months.

Just what caused Rhaegar to apparently go stupid and cause so many political issues over a 16 year old girl?

Carl was calm once more. He had sorted through his memories and feelings about this life. He could now calmly assess and plan his response.

He stood up from where he had been meditating. Standing at the edge of the battlement, he looked around once with his senses. Seeing that he wasn't being observed, Carl jumped.

Utilizing his profound energy, he flew up in the air with barely a sound to alert the Tully guards in the towers.

Easily controlling his body with his profound energy to fly through the skies as he rose up high in the air.

'Damn, I missed this.' Carl thought about the sensation of flight as he drove himself through the night sky. The sense of freedom that flight gave him helped him wash away much of the lingering bad feelings and helplessness that he had only recently experienced.

Once Carl felt centered once more, he came to a stop. Looking down, he saw he was hovering over the ocean to the west of the Riverlands.

He had a lot of questions, but no real answers to the questions plaguing his mind. He desperately wanted to act, but there were some things to take into consideration.

Opening his Warehouse portal to the size of a plate, he reached inside with his telekinesis abilities to a certain storage unit and lifted out one of the items inside. He floated the small necklace out of the Warehouse and into his waiting hands. He then shrunk the portal to its usual pin sized hole as he contemplated what he was thinking of doing.

Carl gazed contemplatively at the Time Turner in his hands as he pondered the ramifications for what he was thinking of doing. All the warnings that the Wizards had for use of the Time Turners ran through his head.

Don't try to change the past, you will disappear.

Don't try to talk to yourself, you will end up killing yourself.

Only turn back time up to 12 hours, or you will disappear.

Based on the various speculations of specifics of time travel in his original life, bolstered by the knowledge and warnings of the Alteran scientists, what actually happened to the wizards who broke those rules was that their actions had created a branching of time. An alternate timeline and world was created that had branched off at some point.

The reason they disappeared from their original world was that they followed the world that was created by the branching of time. While their world went on as usual without them, the alternate world they had created didn't seem any different, so they never knew.

While thinking of using the Time Turner to change things, there were three big concerns in Carl's mind over what he was contemplating doing.

The First Concern was whether he was the first iteration of Carl to go back in time. If he was the first, then what he was contemplating could be very dangerous indeed, with heavy ramifications.

If he went back in time, he could attempt to set up a self sustaining loop to make sure that there wouldn't be any more deviations or branching off of the time line.

He would go back, save the Starks from the mad king while replacing them with fakes that would make it seem like they died in the manner that Carl had learned of. That way the next Carl would go back and save them in the same manner, thus keeping the loop going and the new timeline stable.

But if this was the first iteration of the time loop, then it meant he would disappear from this time. His sister would have not just lost her betrothed, but his family would be left wondering just where their son/oldest brother had disappeared to. He couldn't even predict what kind of chaos or heartache to his family that would cause.

The Second Concern was the results of turning back time to before he woke up his memories. He wasn't a normal person turning back time; he was a world jumper. Prior to this evening, he hadn't even regained his memories.

What exactly would happen when he arrived in the past? Would his memories be resealed until his 18th birthday again? Or would he already be counted as being 18 and keep his memories?

And did the world even exist before he woke up? Were all his memories just constructs and the world didn't exist before he "woke up"?

If the world didn't exist before that moment, would he pop out into a planet-less void? Would he die from that? Would that be counted as a loss by the Jump Chain and all his life, plans, and chances to reunite with all his loved ones disappear?

The Third Concern was just how much he could get up to in the past to fix the present?

He had a great big bloody buggering mess on his hands at the moment. Just what was he going to do about it?

How much of his powers and technology was he going to use to clean up the toilet bowl from the shit that these people dropped?

Should he try to stop the rebellion? Should he try to convince Robert to give up on revenge on the bloody Prince who stole his girl? Should he find that same Prince and convince him the time to overthrow his father was here and to join the rebellion?

As much as Carl had liked Robert the few times he met him, Robert wasn't family. The Starks were family, or they would have soon been if the bloody impatient fool Brandon hadn't gotten himself killed. And if Lyanna had joined Rhaegar of her own decision and wasn't tricked into it, then Carl would choose to stand with the Starks and her over Robert.

But on the other hand, Eddard and Robert were like brothers, having been fostered together. Carl rubbed his hand down his face in exasperation. This really was a huge family drama that threatened to throw the whole kingdom into civil war.

If only that stupid Prince could have kept it in his pants. Or at least figured out how to communicate with the Starks so they wouldn't have flown off the handle and gotten themselves killed at the hand of the Mad King. There sure was a lot of idiocy around here at this time.

And how would Dorne react when they found out that Rhaegar had put aside Princess Elia in order to marry Lyanna? Despite the Dornish's promiscuous ways, Elia was their Princess and they wouldn't brook any insult to her.

If Rhaegar had simply taken Lyanna as a lover, he didn't think Dorne would have cared. But with Rhaegar treating Princess Elia the way he had, Dorne was sure to be enraged over the insult. So that was another faction that would be plotting to be throwing cherry bombs in the can.

Carl rubbed his temples in frustration over the huge bloody mess he found himself forced to deal with.

"Bloody buggering shite. Oh sure, past-Carl." Sarcasm was dripping from Carl's voice. "What a bloody wonderful decision it was to jump into the world at this exact moment. 'I'll just jump in at the beginning of the rebellion. It'll be a great and fun time to shape the future of the Kingdoms.' Bloody wanker. Didn't even think about how you would be so attached to your new family, did you? Didn't consider that you would be giving me the mother of all headaches with this mess. Wouldn't have cared if you knew, right? Cause it's not you dealing with the problem, it's me!" The sarcastic rant against his past self didn't help better his situation, but Carl did feel slightly better having vented a bit.

"Okay, as far as the idea that the world only came into being at the moment I gained my memories, I'm going to have to bloody hope that it's a baseless fear. Cause thinking that way would make me start thinking that the people around me aren't real. And that way would lead to madness."

Carl had a thought and perked up a bit. "Besides, that Golden Crow Spirit knew about the Jump-chans and the Jumpers. So that lends credence to the idea that the world already existed, and the Jump-chans are just taking advantage of that to send jumpers in. Not that they are creating the world from scratch. So the world is real, and I won't be turning back into an empty void."

Carl nodded happily, carefully suppressing the half formed notion that it could be a huge bluff that a jump-chan threw in to convince him the world was real when it wasn't. Conspiracy theory thinking could only drive him mad now when he needed to be firm in his decisions, not wishy washy with paranoia. He didn't take that drawback for a reason!

"If I had known this mess was waiting for me, I'd have made sure to wake up two years ago so it wouldn't get to this point." Carl sighed while thinking of the dangers he was chancing by changing the past. "But it boils down to, am I willing to live with the guilt of not even trying to save my sister's husband? Am I willing to let so many people I like and care about just die without trying to save them?"

Carl had another realization that as a result of his actions, many of the characters from the original story probably wouldn't be born at all. Carl thought of Eddard and Catelyn's children from the original story that were the focus of so much of the canon story.

"But then again, with the way the world plot acts, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Catalyn and Brandon have the same number of kids, and name them Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon." Carl exclaimed to himself while rubbing his chin in thought.

"Besides, I don't have any desperate need to make the timeline conform to fictional stories that I only barely paid vague attention to when people were talking about them around the water cooler. In the here and now, I only care about the present, not the future 'what ifs'. The people I care about here and now are real. And I have the means to attempt a rescue to insure my family's happiness. What am I even debating here, anyway?" Carl rhetorically asked himself with a snort.

Reading too many time travel stories apparently made him more stupid. Thankfully he caught himself in time before making some dumb decision to not help his loved ones based on vague doubts and fears about keeping the timeline intact.

The true tragedy would have been not even making the attempt to save his loved ones. Letting people he cared about die due to some idea of letting fate play out as it should have would be incredibly stupid.

With his decision firmly made, Carl closed his hand over the Time Turner for a moment before putting it away in his dimensional storage for the time being.

Spending a few minutes to fly back to Riverrun, he cast his senses down to his rooms and saw they were empty at the moment. He apparated to his empty rooms and began his preparations.

After forging some messages from certain people to use as a cover and excuse for some specific actions in the morning, Carl pulled himself into the Time Pearl's inner world under time dilation.

He had made the decision to go to the past, but there were some preparations he needed to do first. If he was the first Carl to time travel, he wanted to leave some contingencies behind for his family in the case that he disappears from the timeline.

If he wasn't the first Carl to time travel, then when he caught up with this time he could deactivate the contingencies if they proved they weren't needed.

Carl made his way to the massive facilities that had been built in all the time he'd spent in the Time Pearl in the Stargate universe. He logged onto the computer and started setting up designs and build queues.

The first thing he had the VIs make was a copy of the updated Yamato. The computer installed on the Yamato II had a completely updated repository and all the up to date technology, including a cloning facility. He then stocked the new Yamato's hold full of needed all the needed materials for a start up.

Carl observed his unconscious clone in a tank that the cloning device created. It was already physically a disciple class marital artist, had his profound veins induced, and all 54 profound entrances opened.

His clone would have to start all his training from scratch, which would be a pain in the ass for the clone. Carl was leaving the clone everything he needed to quickly train up again.

But compared to the rest of the inhabitants of Westeros, even the body of only a disciple class martial artist would make him a minor god of war. Once he trained up a bit, there was nothing that could stop him on this planet.

Carl's plan was to put the new Yamato in orbit with the clone in stasis onboard until 12 hours after he time turned.

If he was the first Carl to time turn and didn't turn up after 12 hours to shut down the automated process, then a copy of Carl's consciousness would be downloaded to the clone.

All of Carl's basic life memories would be downloaded to the mind of the clone, minus the repository of knowledge from the Stargate universe. Carl didn't want to burn out the mind of his clone the moment he woke up before he could get a handle of his situation.

If Carl didn't turn up, then when the clone woke up, the responsibility to take care of his family would be on his shoulders. If he wasn't the first Carl to time travel, then when he caught up with this time he would turn off the wake up alarm and dispose of the mindless clone.

This plan was a huge reason why Carl hadn't immediately started launching satellites into orbit to start inspecting the current situation of the planet when he regained his memories. If there was already another Carl sitting around while waiting for him to time turn, he didn't want to know about it. Avoiding even looking for that knowledge should keep the time loop de loop nice and stable.

To help the clone in case the clone was left on his own without a warehouse or farms to take care of business, Carl left many supplies in the ship's stores. He placed seeds and saplings of all the plants he would need. The cloning facilities could also create any of the plants or animals the clone Carl could possibly desire to populate his lands with.

Carl then placed all the cultivation resources needed to raise several dozen cultivators to the Sovereign Profound level. He crafted many weapons and armor that would help the clone Carl build a strong military force.

He also left a stockpile of various metals and several dozen Petes so the clone Carl would have everything he needed to build up his tech base and do whatever he thought was needed to help his family.

And finally he left a copy of the Philosophers stone so clone Carl could generate enough wealth to hire on more forces and get construction done if he wanted to keep things on the down low instead of simply taking over the world. Not to mention the ability to keep his family living as long as he desired.

If he himself was the one to wake up and realize he was a clone with no guarantee that he would continue on the Jump Chain, he would want to have as many resources as possible to build up the society he would want to live in for the rest of his life. And Carl didn't want to be a dick to his clone, so he was hooking him up with everything he could on the off chance that he really disappeared from this timeline.

Once his preparations were complete, Carl put the Yamato II in his storage space and then left the Time Pearl. He was back in his room only moments after leaving. Everyone but the guards were in their rooms sleeping, so Carl apparated back up into the airspace above Riverrun. Carl then pulled out the Yamato II with the clone and ordered it into orbit. The 12 hour countdown would start when Carl stopped transmitting a signal, which would happen when he time turned.

Without taking more time for thinking, or for doubts to settle in on his course of action, Carl flew south east towards Kings Landing. A short time later, he was hovering over the darkened city. Only a few torches were lit, here and there.

Carl frowned down at the Mad King in his castle, tempted to just end him right there.

Just one Ki attack, Fiendfyre, or Golden Crow bombardment would end the shit stain that was the Mad King.

Carl employed his occlumency to control his emotions so he didn't work himself up into anger and attack. He would hold off for now. He wouldn't want to deprive Clone Carl of the pleasure of snuffing out the damned thing.

As long as he survived his time travel experience he already knew he would get his chance to end the crazy Targaryen.

With that idea in mind, Carl flew down to the forests outside of Kings Landing. He didn't want to turn back time anywhere close to his past self to hopefully prevent any accidents. And outside this city was where he would intercept the impatient young Stark that was betrothed to his sister and replace him with a duplicate. Couldn't forget Lord Stark, or their bannermen either.

Being on solid ground was also a good idea in case something happened to his memories when he turned back time and forgot how to fly. That way he wouldn't be splattered upon his reintroduction with the ground.

Carl pulled out the Time Turner and placed the chain over his neck. He then firmly grasped a scroll that detailed what he had to do to save Brandon in the case his memories were sealed when going back in time past when the jumpchain had him 'waking up'. If that happened, he would just have to hope for the best that his memory-less self could accomplish anything and damn the timeline.

He began flipping the hourglass, counting out loud the number of turns needed for a week of travel into the past. Carl then watched the effect of turning back time. Since he was in the forest, he mostly only saw the movement of trees and grass moving oddly, with the occasional see through animal running backwards.

The world around Carl finally settled down.

After confirming for himself that the trip was over, Carl spent a moment laughing out loud, relieved that the world was still there and that he hadn't had his memories sealed up again. He looked around at the forest at night that he was in, double checking that no one was around.

He gave a sigh of relief at his successful gamble. Carl pulled off the time turner and put it away once more in its storage place in his Warehouse.

Flying up above the forest, he pulled out the Yamato from his storage space. Apparating inside his ship, Carl then launched the spy satellites into orbit to start tracking the comings and goings of people around Westeros, especially around the Seven Kingdoms.

It would take a while to fully catalog everyone of interest, but Carl started the task of tagging the various people of interest around the Kingdom to keep track of. He then set his ship to manufacturing various spy nano-tech that he directed to seek out and follow the people he was tagging so he could get video and audio recordings of their important schemes and plans. It was important that he be prepared for any schemes of enemies that would get in his way.

One of the things he wanted to learn while he was in the past was just what Rhaegar said to Lyanna to convince her to go gallivanting off without sending any word to her family.

And just what the hell was Rhaegar thinking when he set out to offend so many Houses?

Once Carl was finished detailing where to send the spybots, Carl sat back and started thinking over what he planned to do with Robert's Rebellion that was coming. Should he try to head it off? Or let it happen as it would have?

He knew he couldn't take any overt action until the moment when he had left. At most he could save some people while letting everyone think they had died. But once that point in time was past, he would have free rein to act as he thought best.

So once he reached that point in time where he would be free to meddle, how much should he interfere? Despite how furious and involved he was due to his memories and attachments, he was still determined to have a "vacation" jump. Which meant politics and cajoling nasty backstabbing politicians around to his viewpoint was right out.

He wasn't planning to take over the world. That would require too much politics. He may have to finagle a lot of things behind closed doors to lessen the amount of headache he had to deal with, but that was by no means politics! He was determined to have a vacation jump with as little work as he could get away with.

"I guess it all depends on what I find in Prince Rhaegar's head when I track him down. Cause I know from the story that Robert won't make a very good king. Robert is a fine warrior, but will make a poor king." Carl mused. "Well, time to get to work."

XX

Brandon was so furious he wasn't capable of thinking straight. He had just gotten word that the bastard Targaryen Prince dared to kidnap and abuse his sister. He would kill the bastard!

He and his guard of 20 men who were riding ahead of his family on the way to Riverrun for his wedding changed directions and rode hard for Kings Landing. He would give that Prince a piece of his mind!

Brandon and his men only rested as much as needed so their horses wouldn't die on them mid-journey. Everyone they came across took one look at their grim faces and detoured around them while talking softly to not get his attention.

They were only a dozen miles away from the city where he would kill Rhaegar when thing went a bit strange for Brandon. Very strange, in fact.

It felt like he was no longer in his body. Instead he was watching from the air above and behind his body. The forced perspective change and the inability to do anything forced Brandon's temper to cool in shock and fear. What kind of dark magic was this?

While Brandon could do nothing other than watch, his body charged into the city and stopped before the closed gates of the Red Keep and began yelling for the bastard Prince to come out and face his death like a man.

Brandon could do nothing but watch as the archers on the walls shot and killed all of Brandon's men, and shot his horse out from under him, sending his body tumbling to the ground.

He had only barely gotten to his feet when he was set upon by Ser Barristan Selmy and Jaime Lannister of the Kingsguard. They gave him no real chance to set himself, and disarmed and captured him. They let the guards tie him up and throw him in the black cells.

Brandon continued to float above and behind his body, able to do nothing but watch as his body was manhandled and thrown in a dank and dark cell. He could hear every word and insult that was thrown his way. He couldn't feel the beatings, or torture, thankfully. But watching everything happen was torture enough.

After some time, Brandon began getting even more frantic, but could do nothing but watch. Every time his emotions started getting too out of control, a sense of calmness would descend on him. The interminable time passed. The infrequent meals and the faint sunlight from a window at the end of the cellblock was all that told Brandon that days were passing.

Several days later, Brandon watched as his body's hands were bound and he was brought to the throne room, in front of King Aerys II himself. By this point Brandon's hot rage at Prince Rhaegar had long cooled, allowing him to, mostly, calmly watch the proceedings.

"Your father has demanded a trial by combat for your fate, young Stark." The thin and sickly looking king declared nastily.

Brandon felt some hope at first that his father would get him out of this mess. But the hope was quickly quenched. He was still hovering over the scene, being forced to watch but not being able to act. Even if his father could free his body, he wasn't in command of his body due to the foul sorcery.

His body was forced to kneel at the feet of the mad king while hearing the news that his father would soon be there. Even if he wasn't in his body, he hoped that his father could do something about the situation. But looking on the face of the Mad King, Brandon got a sinking feeling in his gut that it wouldn't be so simple to escape whatever the Mad King was planning.

"We have decided to grant him his request." The King cackled madly.

Brandon's body was then forced to the side and a rope was tied around his throat and tied to a pillar. He was starting to feel especially bad about the situation as he had a moment to look over the rest of the hall. There was a group of alchemists who were working on some kind of fire pit that Brandon couldn't help but focus on with a feeling of helplessness and despair.

But looking at the rest of the people present, Brandon saw that there were no allies of House Stark there. Only those yes-men of the King were present.

Soon enough Brandon's father, Lord Rickard Stark strode into the room, wearing his armor and prepared for combat. Brandon's heart sunk to see that his father was alone. He had no allied Lords or guards to support him.

"Lord Stark, welcome." The King sneered with a glint of madness in his eyes. The King made a signal, and the guards in the hall mobbed Lord Stark.

"What is this treachery?!" Lord Stark bellowed. "I was promised a trial by combat!"

"And you will be given it!" The King snapped gleefully. "And my champion, as a Targaryen, that you will have to combat is fire!" The King began laughing at his own wit, soon followed by the courtiers.

The guards that had grabbed Lord Stark tied him up to a post in the fire pit the alchemists had been working on. They soon started the fire.

Brandon, floating over the scene couldn't do anything but yell in his mind, going almost crazy at the scene in front of him while his body was yelling and pleading for the king to spare his father, that he would gladly take the punishment in his stead.

"Don't let the people say I didn't give Lord Stark a fighting chance." The king said as he ordered a guard to place a sword just out of reach of Brandon's body. "If you can reach the sword and free yourself and your father, boy, I will let you walk out of here alive." The king gave his offer with a sneering smile.

Brandon's body stretched out, fighting to reach the sword, strangling himself in the process while Brandon, floating just above, urged his body to fight! He was almost there! Just a little more and they would be free!

But it was not to be. Brandon's body died, strangling himself as he struggled to reach the sword. Brandon felt a huge shock, a jolt of fear, from seeing that lifeless and strangled look on his face.

If that weren't enough, he was then forced to continue watching as his father was burned to death.

Brandon, floating above the horrifying and dreadful scene, couldn't believe that his and his father's lives ended just like that. He realized he never even had a chance. From the moment he lost his temper when hearing the news and recklessly charged into Kings Landing, his fate was sealed.

His identity as the Stark heir and the next Lord Paramount didn't protect him from the King's perfidy one bit. It even seemed to make the king gleeful that he had such power over his life and death.

Brandon only then realized what a colossal fool he'd been to let his temper get the best of him, thinking that like so many situations before he could wriggle out of any real repercussions. Looking down at grizzly remnants of his death, Brandon wondered what was next? If he couldn't affect anything, why was he still here?

The world around Brandon started to dissolve into blackness.

XX

The next thing Brandon knew, he woke up back in his body, lying on the ground. He sprang to his feet, looking around desperately. He was on a road, surrounded by forest and men. Looking closely, he saw that they were Stark men around him. They too were just now waking up and springing to their feet with curses and exclamations of being surprised they were alive. And more importantly, he saw his father in front of him, unharmed!

"Father! You're alive!" Brandon yelled out in joy.

"Brandon! My boy! How do we live?" Lord Stark called out as he grabbed Brandon in a hug. He then looked around at the 220 men that were standing off to the side. "All of our men are alive too." Lord Stark said in wonder. "Captain Tarlae, what do you last remember?"

One of the men stopped gaping around at the scene around them and stepped forward. "I remember riding with you to Kings Landing, my lord. But just as we were about 12 miles away, suddenly I wasn't in my body no more. Some magic had me floating along behind and watching the scene. You had just entered the Red Keep to go to the trial by combat when archers ambushed us and killed us. We tried to charge the gates, but they was closed before we could get inside, and then a troop of the kings men had us trapped against the walls of the keep and slaughtered us. Then after a bit, we woke up here, my lord."

"We didn't fare any better inside the keep, Captain." Lord Stark ruefully admitted and told everyone what had happened inside to him and Brandon.

"That's exactly what happened to me too." Brandon stated while all the guards muttered agreement and started worrying about witchcraft.

"What are we going to do now, father?" Brandon asked. "Going to Kings Landing is a suicide mission, I see that now. I was a fool to charge off like that. Did none of that happen? Was it just a vision?"

"I have no idea, son. But whatever magic allowed that to happen, we survived. Remember that! We're alive!" Lord Stark answered and encouraged his son and men at the same time. He spent some time observing their surroundings. "We no longer have our horses, so something definitely happened. It looks like we're in the Riverlands, judging by the terrain. But where exactly?"

Brandon and the rest of the group then heard the sounds of horses approaching from just out of sight further along the road they were on. The group didn't have any weapons, but they were still fighting men. They grabbed up any rocks or sticks they could find, and settled into a defensive formation.

A group of 12 riders came around the corner, and in surprise at seeing the men in front of them, pulled their horses to a halt. The lead rider squinted at Brandon and Lord Stark in surprise, before nudging his horse forward.

"Carl Tully! What are you doing here? Do you know how we got here?" Brandon exclaimed when he recognized the rider before he could talk.

"Brandon Stark. Lord Stark." Carl nodded to the men. "I could ask you the same question. And what's more, I'm most interested in finding out just how you are alive, when just a day ago we received word that the Mad King had killed you." He dryly stated.

"What?!" More than a few exclamations came from the large troop of men in front of Carl as they became restless.

"Indeed. We even received word from Jon Arryn that the Mad King demanded that he send Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon to Kings Landing to be turned over as traitors and executed." Carl reported. "Jon refused and began calling his bannermen for war. Eddard and Robert also immediately set out back to their lands to gather the Stark and Baratheon men as well, to resist the King." Carl explained, ignoring the constant yells of excitement from the men as he recited the news. He too would have been discombobulated by their situation if he was in their shoes.

"My father, Lord Tully has already begun rallying his bannermen." Carl admitted. "Although, I must say you chose a decent time to come back alive, Brandon. My father has been demanding that the marriage agreement between the Tullys and Stark be honored before he will join the rebellion. So if you had come even a week later, you may have found Catelyn married to your brother Eddard." Carl exaggerated a bit to give Brandon a bit of a shock. Who told his brother-in-law to go get himself killed and leave his sister crying?

"What!?" Brandon exclaimed, shocked at the speed at which things had gone crazy.

"We are only about two miles away from Riverrun at the moment, Lord Stark. Could I interest you in a mount to ride there, while some of my guard guide the rest of your men there, since it seems you have misplaced your own mounts?" Carl offered.

"Thank you, Carl. That would be most appreciated." Lord Stark solemnly nodded in thanks.

Carl ordered half his men to dismount and offer their horses for Lord Stark, Brandon, and a few of their guards so they could ride to Riverrun, while Rickard Stark gave orders to his men. They soon set out in the direction Carl had been riding from, back to Riverrun.

"In truth I am glad you're not dead, Brandon. My sister has been most upset at the news, and I'm hoping by bringing you back to Riverrun, that her tears will finally dry up." Carl mentioned as they were riding along the road.

"Really?" Brandon looked a bit happy at the mention that Catelyn had him in her heart, despite the dire circumstances they had found themselves in.

"Aye. I still think she's crazy. I don't know what she sees in you myself!" Carl jested.

"Hah! It's the wild wolf's blood in me!" Brandon boasted.

"Oh, I guess she just wants a little doggy, then huh, mutt?"

"There's nothing little about this wolf!" Brandon bragged.

"Sounds like you're all bark there, little pup!" Carl laughed as he spurred his horse into a gallop.

"I'll show you little!" Brandon yelled back as he too urged his horse to a run.

"So you do have something on the small side to show me? No thanks, I don't swing that way, Little Stark!"

"You better keep running there Tully! When I get my hands on you!" Brandon howled in anger, accompanied by Carl's laughter.

XX

Carl dismounted and handed off his horse to a servant to take care of. He then ordered his men to prepare to house the 200 plus men of House Stark that would be arriving soon. He then turned to Rickard and Brandon Stark, smiling at the two men. They swiftly completed the guest ritual of sharing bread and salt.

"I'll have a servant show you to your rooms while I go break the good news of your survival to my family. Expect to have a visitor soon. I'm sure Cat will want to verify your survival for herself Brandon. And I imagine that my father will want to meet with you soon, Lord Stark."

After a few more words exchanged about plans for the evening, Carl departed for his father's solar after sending a servant to gather Catelyn, Lysa, and Edmure.

When he arrived at Hoster's solar, his father and the Maester were going over reports from their bannermen. Hoster looked up, surprised to see him.

"I thought you wouldn't be back for another day, Carl." Hoster said in shock.

Carl chuckled. "I ran across something strange on the road, father, and brought it back home to show off."

After a few moments when it was obvious that Carl wasn't going to say anything without more prompts, Hoster snorted impatiently. "Well, out with it, then."

"I ran into a troop of men who were surprised to still be alive. Lord Rickard Stark and Brandon and their 220 men were standing on the road without horses or weapons, as if they had just been placed there. There were no tracks leading to them. Both they and I have no idea how they got there. But it's truly them."

Hoster and Naet gaped in shock for several moments, their brains rebooting from the unexpected news.

"The Will of the Seven…" Hoster trailed off. "If it's truly them, this changes very little in the grand scheme of things. And yet it changes a great deal." Hoster started thinking aloud. "The king has already gone too far and won't stop unless he destroys House Stark and House Baratheon. And since House Arryn joined them in rebellion, he's in it too. With the impending marriage between Brandon and Catelyn, we're in it too, no doubt. The only thing we can do is go all in and make sure our family survives."

"Father, there is one thing that could really turn this war our way. So far, the madness of King Aerys II has driven this conflict to grow larger. But what about Prince Rhaegar? He's been out of sight for some time. No one knows what he thinks of these matters, despite what he supposedly did in kidnapping Lyanna."

"If we can get to him before King Aerys' men do, and convince him to overthrow his father, then it would be much better for us." Carl continued explaining. "It wouldn't be us rebelling against our rightful King. It would be the proper heir deposing the unjust and mad King. We would get a lot more support from not just our banner men, but from other houses too. At the very least it would split the pro-Targaryen forces from being fully against us. They would have to decide who they support, the Mad King or Prince Rhaegar."

"What Carl says makes a good deal of sense, my lord." Maester Naet added in. "But where would you go to find him, Carl? And how would you persuade him? No one has seen him for some time, as you yourself pointed out." Hoster nodded, waiting to see what Carl's answer would be.

Carl simply chuckled. "Aye, the Prince has not been seen for some time. But I've had word from a friend who swore he saw the Prince not far from Harrenhal. I was on my way to check the area and see if it was true when I ran into Lord Stark and his men. So now I must hurry if I hope to catch up to the prince and convince him to join us."

"Do you really think you can do that, son? Going against his father like that…" Hoster asked intently. "Even if he thinks his father is wrong, he would likely not want to lessen House Targaryen's authority and legitimacy in a fight like that."

Carl smiled full of confidence, thinking about what he had done over the previous week after time turning. "I'm very confident, father. I'm certain that once the Prince knows the stakes, he will choose the correct side."

Hoster nodded, smiling at his son's assurances. Even from a young age his son had been beyond excellent. Even if he failed in a task, he kept at it until it was done, and done properly. Hoster wasn't completely sure how, or if, Carl could convince the Prince to take up arms against his own father, but like Carl had said, it was a chance to seriously curtail the war. It was something worth attempting.

"Okay, son. I want you to take a good sized guard with you as you travel. War is stirring, and I don't want you to suddenly be captured and held hostage in these troubled times."

"I think it would be better if I only took a few men, at most a dozen, father. Speed is the key here. If he is found by those who support the king in his madness, then we will lose a prime opportunity."

"Very well. It's a gamble, since anyone who sees the Prince will likely have similar thoughts to yours. But moving fast may be the best choice at the moment. Gather your men and depart as soon as you can." Hoster agreed to Carl's plan after some thought. It was an important strategic move that would shorten the coming war.

The door to the solar banged open at that moment, with Catelyn, Lysa, and Edmure spilling in, excitement, hope, and fear all being present in Cat's face.

"Is it true?!"Catelyn demanded of Carl. "Is Brandon really alive?"

Carl got to his feet and in a few steps was in front of his twin. He held her shoulders, looking in her eyes and letting her see his sincerity. "Yes, it's true. He and his father appeared on the road near here suddenly. Your fiancé is alive, Cat."

Cat swayed a bit, finding the emotions running through her almost too much to keep herself steady. Carl guided her to a seat.

"That's wonderful news!" Lysa almost squeed in happiness as she latched onto Cat joyfully. A smile bloomed on Cat's face as the reality finally sunk in.

Carl chuckled a bit. "I'll go find Brandon and his father and send them here so you can have a proper reunion." Carl promised. "After that I've got some things to do." He then departed the solar and noticed his brother had followed him.

"What are you up to, brother? You just arrived and already ready to depart again?" Edmure asked as he followed Carl through the halls. At Carl's questioning look, Edmure elaborated. "You have that 'Things Need Doing, and I'm About Business' look on. I figured you would be leaving soon to do…whatever it is."

Carl chuckled at the evidence that he was still himself if his younger brother could still read him like that. Yet more evidence that the family bonds they had were real and not manufactured.

"You're right. I've got to leave immediately on some errands. I'll only be away for a couple days, but with the completion of my task, we'll be in a much better position in this troubled time. I don't want to say more about it where there are ears to hear, though." Carl warned Edmure against asking more questions.

The two brothers arrived outside the apartments set up for Lord Stark and his heir. After knocking and being bidden to enter, because it would be impolite to do otherwise, Carl greeted the two men.

"My father knows about your survival now, Lord Stark, and is eager to get some planning done, while my sister is eager to reunite with her future husband." Carl passed on. "Edmure here will escort you there, while I have a task to fulfill. I must depart hastily to accomplish it. I'm sure my father will tell you more of it when you have your meeting."

With a few more suitable exchanges of pleasantries, Carl departed. He gathered several of their skilled guards to accompany him on his journey to meet up with someone who had been impatiently waiting for some time.

The group of men were soon galloping out the gates of Riverrun on their way. It was just past noon, so they had some travel time still left in the day, and a fair few miles to go.

As they were traveling, Carl thought back to what he had been doing the past week to set up his actions for this day. It had certainly been a busy week in the past, given that he wasn't supposed to do much before he caught up in his time.

After a bit of thought Carl had realized that he hadn't necessarily needed to be too circumspect. There was a lot happening that his past self wasn't aware of, due to the pitiful information passing ability of this world. So he had had a lot more leeway than he originally thought he did.

The first thing he had done was to break into…