Chapter 51: Finale Part 2

(Year 295 AC)

(Aegon POV)

It had been half of a year since Aegon became king, and the realm wasn't too worse for ware. He had done a number of things that angered a lot of people, but he had his reasons and wasn't about to change them.

One of his first commands had been to Tywin Lannister, and this is what angered so many people. Aegon knew next to nothing about ruling over the Seven Kingdoms, but he knew Tywin had done it for over 20 years where the realm prospered, so he had named Tywin as Hand of the King. Most people thought that because Tywin betrayed the Targaryens during Robert's Rebellion that Tywin was unfit to be the Hand of the King now, but Aegon had ignored everyone's protests.

It seemed for a time that Tywin was getting everything he wanted, given how he was Hand of the King, and his son Jamie had been removed from the King's Guard and sent back to Casterly Rock to take up his place as Tywin's heir, something Tywin wanted more than anything. But not everything was so cut and dry.

After Jamie's "Trial" as it were for killing the Mad King, something Aegon actually thanked him for, most people looked at Jamie in a somewhat different light. The truth of what really transpired that day came to light, the information confirmed by William Castian. No one was willing to question it after that. They didn't hate or look down on him for killing his king, but the whole incest thing with his twin sister didn't earn him any favors.

Anyway, as for Tywin, he had to not only act as Hand of the King, but he had to train the next Hand as well, because Aegon thought it would be better to replace Tywin in the future with someone who could actually do his job, and who better than with someone trained by Tywin personally? And it wasn't just one person, but 3, which seemed to annoy Tywin to no end, but the man didn't make any fuss about it.

The number 3 was used more often in politics than was needed, but Aegon had had his reasons. The Small Council had basically been scrapped, only to be replaced by The Council, as is was called.

Aegon had the Lords of each Kingdom choose 3 representatives to come to the capital to speak on their kingdom's behalf, as he believed that those from the Kingdoms would know best what they needed and how the taxes and what not should be allocated. It wasn't a very popular decision at the moment, but Aegon felt it would get better in time.

He didn't like the fact that a small group in one place could dictate what everyone else on the continent had to do, even if he was the one in full control. The Council still answered to him, but he didn't just let things play out without ever knowing what was going on in each kingdom. He was trying to fix the mistakes of the kings before him, and this seemed like the best course for now.

The seats of the previous Small Council had also been changed to a degree, though they were still there. Somewhat.

Grand Maester Pycelle had been kicked to the curb as it were, and sent back to the Citadel. Aegon didn't even bother to listen to the man's words about how the Citadel wouldn't stand for this, and whatnot because he didn't care about the Citadel. They had too much power, and he was going to change it.

The Master of Laws position was removed entirely because Aegon believed the entire Council should have a say on the laws, and that one person should not have the responsibility such a position would have provided. By removing one key position, Aegon had to create 10 more to fix it, but the newer system seemed like it would work better, and be way less corrupt, which seemed to earn him even more respect from his citizens, who by now adored him.

The Master of Coin position was replaced by 3 men who were experienced with numbers. Each of them had the exact same job, and would keep track of the exact same spending. At the end of each month, the three of them would bring their books to Aegon, and if they didn't match up he would be able to find out where the discrepancies were.

His hope was to make so none of them dared to line their own pockets like Baelish did. Plus he didn't just give them complete access to the treasury without knowing exactly what they were spending the gold on, so it really did save him money, and all it cost him was an extra 3 hours of work per month.

The Master of Ships position pretty much stayed the same, only the royal fleet was reworked so that Aegon knew exactly what they were doing and where they were doing it at all times.

As for the Master of Whisperers, Aegon had named Drox as his Spy Master, a position Drox was all too willing to take. Say what you wanted about the man, but he got results when it came to getting information, and most people couldn't figure it out for the life of them.

Finally there was the Lord Commander of the King's Guard. Ser Barristan Selmy still held the position, and though Aegon heeded his advice often, the man did not sit on The Council. One reason being the man didn't want to, and another being was that he was far too busy leading the Strikers to actually sit in on meetings.

The Strikers were 100 of the best fighters in all of Westeros, or they would be in a few years time. Though they pledged their life to Aegon, he did not make them give up the family names, or the rights to have families. He knew why they took the vows to have no wife, father no children, and hold no lands, because Love is the death of duty, and duty is the death of love.

Someone could get through the Strikers by using their families to get to Aegon, but he saw it differently. He was trusting them to guard his life at all times, so he would let them trust in him to guard them and their families with his power and authority.

Besides, there was no guarantee that just because someone took an oath that they would keep to it. Just look at Jamie. He killed the man he swore to protect, and had children at the same time. Didn't stop him from doing his duty, which is what Aegon wanted. It wasn't a perfect system, and though many people worried about his safety, Aegon pushed forward with his plans.

The Strikers were knights that answered directly to him, and only to him. He would always keep 10 in the Red Keep with him at all times, but they would be swapped out regularly. When they weren't protecting him or resting in their homes, he would send them out on missions that needed to be covert, which is why stealth training was a big requirement for the position.

Not many people liked the idea of the Strikers, but Aegon was king so they had to bite their tongues. Besides, when Will approved of something, which he did in this case, most people just kept their own opinions to themselves.

Anyway, with the Capital mostly rebuilt, Aegon was focusing on sources of income for the crown. The Taxes alone wouldn't cut it, at least not with how he had cut the taxes in half for the next 5 years. That was more so the common folk could get back on their feet after everything that was happening, but they all knew it would increase in the following years.

Will had helped out a bit with the income, as he had cleared and plowed over a hundred square miles of farmland, and even helped people build some houses near them so they could work. Aegon of course had to have a contingent of knights patrol the lands to deter thieves and the like, but it was worth it to receive a bigger harvest.

The Reach could have supplied the Capital with everything it needed, but the amount the crown saved by growing a portion of those supplies was worth it. Plus it got people working, which was good for the economy.

Aegon also owned every brothel in the city, save for one, which Drox was adamant belonged to some woman. It didn't matter to Aegon because most people didn't know he owned the brothels to begin with, as he had led people to believe his managers owned them because it wouldn't do to be known as the whore king or something stupid like that, regardless of the fact that Robert probably held that title already.

One of the things Aegon had on the go, but wasn't actually a priority at the moment, was The Academy. About a month prior, a man named Marwyn, or Marwyn the Mage as he was known, an Archmaester of the Citadel came to the Capital to speak with Aegon, and the news had shocked him to say the least.

"Who do you think killed all the Dragons the last time around? Gallant dragon slayers armed with swords? The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles much less for dragons. Ask yourself why Aemon Targaryen was allowed to waste his life upon the Wall when by rights he should have been raised to Archmaester. His blood was why. He could not be trusted. No more than I can." The man had explained, going into great detail about secrets that Aegon and the others had not known before while also revealing to him and his family that there was another Targaryen at the Wall.

From what Marwyn was saying, the Maesters of the Citadel had been responsible for poisoning the dragons over the years, which explained why the last dragon was no bigger than a cat. Marwyn also explained that the Citadel was also responsible for poisoning the Targaryens and anyone who shared their blood over the last 300 or so years. It certainly explained the number of still-births the Targaryens suffered, and even why a number of them went mad, though incest probably played a huge role in that as well.

Aegon wanted to go and burn the Citadel to the ground that day, but sadly the world still needed them. It also quelled his anger somewhat to learn that most of those who had been opposed to the Dragons had been victims in a string of accidents, and were now dead.

Still, it really drove home the point that he couldn't blindly trust in the Citadel, especially when the lives of his family were at stake. It also made him feel better about getting rid of Grand Maester Pycelle.

Aegon's idea was more to improve upon Will's own idea in Asteria. There were a number of smaller schools already working where children could learn to read and write and basic arithmetic, but The Academy was a bit different.

Tywin had explained why no one ever tried to educate the common folk over the last 300 years, because they would follow along like sheep if they remained ignorant on how the world worked. The more they relied on their lords, the better it would be.

Aegon didn't fully believe in that, but he could at least see where the man was coming from, hence why the schools only taught the basic education like reading and writing. The Academy was where people went to learn about healing, philosophy, chemistry, astronomy, and so much more. It was like the Citadel, only they didn't learn for the sake of learning, and they didn't have to swear off women and abandon their families to join.

On the contrary, Aegon had given incentives for people to learn, and many were all too happy to join. One in particular was one Samwell Tarly. Aegon didn't know why, but Will had advised him to find a way to convince Samwell to give up the lands and title of Hornhill and accept a position in The Academy.

Will hadn't suggested anything like it before, so Aegon had created a position under Marwyn, who was the Headmaster of The Academy, that was basically someone who would take over as Headmaster when Marwyn resigned. The position promised wealth, political power, and a number of benefits so long as one was loyal and eager to learn.

The boy would still keep his family name, only he would be too busy to Lord over Hornhill. As for lands, being the Headmaster of The Academy promised a home for him and his family should he require one. The benefits were great, and with the Headmaster being able to speak to the king about certain matters, it promised a great deal of power and respect, something that not even most Lords would have.

For some reason, Lord Randyll Tarly, Samwell's father, seemed all too eager to have Samwell take the position despite the request coming out of nowhere. All Aegon had said was that he had been informed that the boy was smart and was an eager learner, which had suited Lord Randyll just fine.

As for Samwell, it appeared to be too good of an offer to refuse. The King himself had personally come to speak with him, and hadn't looked down on him in the slightest for his large size, so with his father's enthusiastic blessing, he accepted.

There were restrictions for The Academy, so there wasn't a whole hell of a lot applicants at the moment, but Aegon believed in a year or two that it would be flourishing. You know, provided they could get it completed. At the moment they only had a number of the classrooms built, and the library.

They were still in the process of acquiring the books and learning materials, but it was slow despite the number of books the Lords of Westeros had donated. All in all, the realm was at a stage of learning, and Aegon hoped he could keep it up for awhile longer.

------

(Year 298 AC)

(General POV)

3 years had passed in what seemed to be no time at all, and in those 3 years a lot had happened. For one, Aegon was engaged to Margery Tyrell, but the wedding wouldn't take place for half a year still, as the king was busy on a project that was taking up most of his time.

Will and Aegon were trying to open up the west coast of Westeros to the rest of the world without having to sail all the way around the south of Dorne and back up along the Sunset Sea.

From a bird's eye view of the continent, they decided that they could continue where the Saltspear ended and keep going towards Moat Cailin until they came out the other side near White Harbor.

Because it basically cut-off the North from the rest of Westeros, they had to find a way to make so people could still travel freely without having to cross such a divide, that was wide enough for 4 of the largest ships in Westeros to pass side by side.

It had actually been fairly easy, just time consuming. A massive bridge was built, and it was built high enough that ships could freely pass beneath it, but also so there would be no hinderance in travel.

The bridge wasn't overly long, but it was wide. It was almost a hundred yards in width, which worked out for people to still be able to travel. The real time consuming part of the bridge had been making it mostly out of Dragonstone, the indestructible black material that was created by the Valyrians before the DOOM.

Aegon and Will had learned how to make it from the books they had found in the Vault that Missandei read to them. The most important thing required to make it was a dragon, and luckily for them they had one.

Rhaenys had hatched the purple egg a little over a fortnight after Atlas was born, and it had been a sight to behold. She had named the beast, Smaug at Will's request, though he never bothered to tell them why.

Anyway, it took dragon fire and a great deal of rock and steel for them to get it done, but get it done they did.

After months.

It was ridiculous how time consuming the task had been, as they could have built cities in the time it took to build a single bridge, but in the end they couldn't argue with the results.

The bridge was 10 feet thick, and seven feet of it was the indestructible black material. The top three feet of the bridge was just dirt, rocks, and grass to make it not really jump out, regardless of how awesome it was.

There was a pillar made of Dragonstone directly in the center of the bridge that went into the water, as well as the cliff faces on either side of it that were holding it up. The point of the bridge was to last forever, and given how the bridge survived every test they put it through, they felt like it actually would last forever.

Lord Stark had decreed that no one was allowed to block passage over the bridge, and that if anyone was caught trying to hinder passage they would be put to the sword. It helped that Moat Cailin was within eyesight of the bridge, so it wouldn't be difficult for the Lords of the North to see to it that no one was barred passage.

The bridge itself hadn't actually hindered travel in any way shape or form, as the swamp lands to the west were inaccessible already, and the lands to the east weren't much better. The bridge had been built where the king's Road had gone before, and if anything it was actually wider than it was before, only it now went over a slight rise compared to the flat dirt road that it was before.

With the bridge in place, it actually made Moat Cailin more defendable, which some people thought was a good idea. As for trade, more than a few people benefitted.

Tywin was able to send shipments of potatoes right from Casterly Rock to Braavos in half the time it took before, and at a fraction of the cost. The Iron Bank were able to sail to Asteria without having to stop in White Harbor and travelling by land, which was quicker and easier for them.

Aegon was also able to travel to Asteria by ship without having to sail all the way around Westeros, which was nice because he liked to sail up that way every now and then, though usually Will was pushing the ship along so it didn't take them weeks.

One would think with the bridge there it would take trade away from White Harbor, but really it did the opposite. People stopped in at White Harbor before going through the Saltspear and when they were coming through. It usually took the better part of a full day to cross, so people usually took the time to rest or resupply there, which earned the Manderly's three times more trade than they ever had before.

All in all, the bridge was a huge boon to everyone involved, and no one had any complaints. As for the Capital, well things were going fairly well. The Academy was flourishing just like Aegon had hoped, and skilled workers were being trained annually.

Without having to swear their lives to the Citadel, more and more people joined up, and they were better than Aegon had thought. In the Citadel one had to learn a little bit of everything until they created their Maester chain, and then they would focus on their chosen profession. That was not how it worked in the Academy.

By focusing on a single profession like healing, the healers that came out of The Academy were far more educated in the art than most Maesters throughout the Seven Kingdoms. I mean really, why should a healer or scribe need to learn smithing and other professions that had absolutely nothing to do with what they needed to do?

Something of note, Myrcella Lannister, Jamie's bastard daughter, was adopted by Rhaenys, or rather she was taken by Rhaenys. It had not been planned or anything, but after hearing about how the little girl was treated because of her parentage, Rhaenys had simply taken the little girl.

Apparently it didn't matter that she had been legitimized with her brother to be Lannisters, the rest of the world saw a child born of incest, and unlike her brother, she would not inherit lands or titles that would have people want her.

By marrying her someone might be able to create ties with House Lannister, but whoever did would have the stain of marrying her hanging over them, and it just didn't seem likely.

Rhaenys knew all about children being born of incest, given how that was a Targaryen tradition going back 300 years where brothers married sister and cousins and whatnot. Hell, her own father was born of incest, but that wasn't his fault.

Her and the rest of the remaining Targaryens had agreed that incest would no longer be a thing with them, mostly because they learned just how gross it was from stories growing up. Not to mention the stuff Will told them about things called cells in their bodies that deformed when combined with the cells from the same bloodline. Or something like that.

Either way, it was instilled in them that trying to keep the bloodline pure by marrying each other was just stupid. And given how both her and Aegon had two different kinds of magic, and that their parents weren't related, they knew that they didn't need each other to keep the magic that had become apart of them.

Myrcella was just like them in a way, only she didn't have the crown to fall back on. They were royalty, thus most people would try and get with them despite the string of incestuous relationships in their family, but Myrcella wasn't. However Rhaenys could give her something better.

If she was tied to Will in some way, there wasn't a noble family alive that wouldn't want to marry her, no matter who her parents were. That had been her reasoning for taking the child, despite what some people thought.

Rumours spread that Tywin had paid Will to take her, but the rumors were stupid because everyone with a braincell knew that William Castian could not be bought. The world was at his command, and he didn't need to sit on a fancy chair to do it.

As for Myrcella's family, well Jamie had protested for only a moment before Tywin shut him up. Tywin was smart, and considered it like they were fostering the girl with House Castian, which would cause suiters from all over the world to beg for her hand in marriage.

He could see the benefits of such thing happening, and was doing anything he could to make it happen, even going so far as to offering a large sum of gold which he said would be to take care of the girl, but the amount he gave was more than enough to buy a castle.

The only thing Tywin asked in return for taking her was that they give her a proper education, which Rhaenys had agreed to. Will didn't care if the little girl came with them or not, as she was in no danger either way. Sure it meant someone else to take care of, but he could do the same thing for a thousand people and he probably wouldn't even realize it.

------

With the bridge's completion, Will and Aegon returned to the Capital where a wedding was to take place in fortnight. Aegon had kept Margaery waiting long enough, and Will feared if they waited any longer, Olenna would die from a heart attack. The old bat had been trying for this marriage for three years, and Will doubted she could wait any longer.

"Are you nervous?" Will asked Aegon once the city came into view.

"Excited!" Aegon answered, smiling widely at the thought of getting married.

'Poor bastard.' Will thought, knowing it wasn't going to be as easy as Aegon was thinking it was.

"You know, marriage isn't as fun as I make it look." Will said, earning a swat on to his shoulder from Rhaenys, who was standing beside them.

"Don't tell him that! Margaery is lovely young woman, and I'm sure they're going to love each other." Rhaenys exclaimed, almost daring him to say otherwise.

"They've only been around in public gatherings. How do they know they'll be able to stand each other? As far as I can tell, it's going to be a purely sexual relationship, and that's if they actually enjoy it with each other. If not he'll just be using her as a broodmare." Will refuted, bringing up some good points.

Aegon might have actually worried about Will's concerns, but he had kept a few secrets from Will and the rest of his family. For the last year, he and Margaery had spent more time together than anyone else realized. Whenever he was back in the Capital they would sneak into each other's rooms at night and talk for hours, or they would engage in foreplay.

Aegon knew better than Will how smart Margaery actually was, because over the last year she had helped him solve a few little problems that were keeping him awake at night. They hadn't consummated anything, as Margaery had told him they would need to marry first, but if her cunt was anything like her mouth, Aegon really wanted her.

"I'm sure we'll be fine." Aegon said, sounding far more relaxed than Will expected him to be.

"He'll be fine." Rhaenys assured him, then pulled him away to go find wherever Atlas had run off to with Smaug.

The following two weeks leading up to the wedding were actually less stressful than most people expected. All the guests arrived within the days leading up to the wedding, and the events were scheduled to go off without a hitch.

With Will's help setting things up, the wedding was actually much cheaper than any had thought possible. It was rumored that it would be the most expensive event in living memory, but Will had cut the price to a third of what it would have cost.

Like Will's own wedding, Aegon and Margaery stood before a Hearth Tree and recited the vows of the Faith of the Seven. The cheering was so loud it was heard across the whole city, and for the entire day people celebrated.

The feast had been grand for sure, but it wasn't something that would break the bank, unlike what some people wanted. There had been talk of a 70 course feast for all parties involved, but Will honestly didn't see the point.

He had set out tables of food that was indeed fit for royalty, and people could help themselves. No one complained. After the feast there was a short dance that lasted about an hour, then it was time for gifts. Each Lord tried to outdo the other, but none of the gifts were anything special.

The last person to step forward was Will, but he had planned it that way. The sun was just dipping over the horizon, but the torches around the area kept the darkness away, but they didn't for very long.

The fires seemed to extinguish themselves all at once, but before anyone could fuss about their lost sight, a shining ball of magic appeared in the courtyard. Everyone watched as the light transformed into a small boy, who shared a remarkable likeness to that of the king.

They all saw the boy face challenges, and after each challenge he seemed to grow taller and stronger. After 20 minutes of watching the boy grow into the king they knew him to be, everyone saw how the king picked up a beautiful shining rose, only to all gasp when the rose turned into a copy of Queen Margaery.

They all held their breaths as the king held the queen in his arms with such love it was surely blessed by the gods. The majestic display came to an end when the two figures flew into the air and burst apart into a grand explosion that lit up the city for a brief moment before everything went back to normal, making it seem as if nothing had actually happened.

The torches seemed to come alive, and the area was lit up once again, which was when everyone began clapping. When everything calmed down, Will approached Margaery and Aegon, then presented them with two medallions. Margaery looked confused, as it was unlike anything she had ever seen before, but Aegon knew right away what they were. They were identical to the ones Will had used to open the Dragonstone vaults.

Seeing their expressions, Will said, "You'll find out later. For now just enjoy." It wouldn't do to tell everyone gathered around that those two things were keys to the vaults he had made for them.

Tobho Mott had spend months building the keys, and had even helped Will on the vault for the king and queen. The man had remembered Will even after all these years, and like he had done the first time, Will had purchased every piece of armor in the man's shop.

On top of that, Will had made requests, of which the man was all too eager to accept. Under Will's recommendation, the smith became the Royal Smith, and when he wasn't helping Will with something involving Valyrian Steel, he was making the armor for the king or the Strikers.

Will himself didn't need a vault to store things in, so he had decided to place them where they could be best used. One of them was in Asteria in the main council building. Jenkins was given the key, and was able to withdraw any resources he might need. The other vault was placed in the castle in Sunspear for Elia to use at her leisure.

Will had created the third vault, mostly to see if he could, and had placed it in a private room beneath the castle. Aegon would have to wait until later to open it to find the gifts Will had given him and his new bride, but that would most likely wait until tomorrow.

Aegon was practically shouting with his eyes alone to get people to just leave. The crowd had not yet dispersed before Aegon finally couldn't wait a second longer, and he and Margaery slipped away to go back to their room.

Will had seen them leave, but didn't think anything of it. Instead he went and found Rhaenys and Atlas, and after making sure Atlas was okay with Elia for the night, Will decided to follow Aegon's example and took his wife back to his room for a night of passion.

------

(Year 300 AC)

(General POV)

The realm had prospered greatly over the two years after Aegon married Margaery Tyrell, and now the two were both happy to announce the birth of their son, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, named after his grandfather.

A great tournament was being held in honor of his birth, much like Will had done in honor of his own son's birth 5 years prior in Asteria. The tournament lasted 3 days, and the whole of Westeros celebrated to their hearts content.

For weeks after the tournament, Aegon wore a stupid smile as if he was on top of the world, but soon enough he was brought crashing back to reality when he received dire news from the last people he expected to see. The Northswords.

Will had been notified the as soon as the ships were spotted off shore, and was waiting for them when they docked at the harbor.

"William!" Bael shouted, a look of relief on his face as soon as he saw Will.

"Bael! How are you?!" Will greeted the man excitedly.

Ever since Aegon had taken the throne, Will had only seen the man once, but it was years ago in Braavos, and it had only been for an hour. The last time Will spoke to them, they were sailing to the Disputed Lands just south of Myr.

Apparently some slavers had gone to Hardhome and had taken some women and children to sell at the markets. The North Swords went to finish them off, and so they did. Despite not keeping in touch, Will kept hearing stories about the Northswords doing things all over Essos, and many of the stories were quite amusing to say the least.

He wasn't surprised when the North Swords never came back to Westeros, because he knew with all the laws and the bowing they would more than likely kill some Lords and then be hunted. They wouldn't have minded that happening too much, but they didn't want to risk killing anyone Will might be friends with and have him come after them.

He was something of a boogeyman to the Free Folk, and most if not all of them would rather steer clear of his wrath.

"Things haven't been so good as of late." Bael started after releasing a tired sigh.

"The dead have been acting odd. They're not only harder to find, but they're harder to kill. Not so long ago we could set traps for them, but now they set traps for us. Ice Spiders attack by the dozens, and it's almost impossible to kill them with our glass daggers. We're losing." Bael finished, looking as though he was aging after each word he spoke.

"How many of them are there?" Will asked seriously, knowing that the odds must be bad if they were coming to him for help.

"More than twenty thousand, but less than fifty. Mance Raydar was leading his party along the Frostfang mountains when they were set upon by hundreds of whites. There weren't enough men with dragonglass weapons to defend them all, and thousands of people were slaughtered. Mance was killed, but more than half of the Free Folk with him escaped to Hardhome or are holed up at the Fist of the First Men. By the time we heard about it, the number of walkers were too many to deal with on our own. We sent out scouts to find out where they went so we know when they are attacking, but…" Bael trailed off, looking confused as he tried to say the words.

"The walkers go further north until they get to the Lands of Always Winter just beyond the Thenns Mountains where we've seen them chopping away at the ice, but we don't know why. Gorne said he saw something inside the ice that looked like a great big beast, but no one else has seen it. He's killed more walkers than any of us, and he's no coward. I think he did see something inside the ice, and it's what the walkers are after." Bael explained, giving Will quite a bit to think about.

"What about the giants? How are they doing?" Will asked, hoping the giants hadn't been taken down.

"Most of them are at Hardhome, but about a dozen of them are with the dead now. Despite being overwhelmed they managed to cut a path through the walkers and make it further south, but not without losses." Bael explained, making Will frown in thought.

He didn't expect things to be anywhere even remotely close to the show because he had changed so many things way ahead of the story, but he didn't know how they had escalated to this. He was thinking things would have gotten easier with how many undead they had killed, and with everyone knowing how to kill the fuckers, he thought that would make the undead be like a walk in the park. Clearly he was wrong.

One thing he was really curious about was the thing in the ice, as there had been no mention of it whatsoever in the show, but this world was so different from the show it was basically a different world.

"How much longer do you think it will be before the dead get to the thing in the ice?" Will asked, wanting to use that as the time limit for when he wanted to be in the North.

"They've been going at it for at least a month that we know about, and they haven't progressed very much. Depending on how thick the ice truly is and if they continue like they are, I'd say we have a few months. Four at the most if we're lucky." Bael guessed, sounding a little unsure about his estimate.

"Have the Free Folk here start gathering provisions. I'll arrange for someone to come to assist you with anything you might need. In the meantime, I'm going to go begin the preparations to gather enough proper weapons that we should be able to put up a decent fight. I'll plan to be in Hardhome in three months time, but we need to prepare. Stay in the harbor and I'll be back before nightfall." Will rambled off quickly, then before Bael could say anything else, Will was already gone.

With enough swords, axes and spears made of Dragonglass, Will truly believed the Free Folk would have been able to deal with the undead threat all on their own, but at the moment they only had the daggers he had given them.

It really made it a challenge to kill the walkers, especially if there were giant ice spiders that could rip them to shreds before they could even get close enough to stab the dagger into them. No, he would need to create real weapons, and with Aegon's help, he could have every smith in Westeros creating them.

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(2 hours later)

Aegon had heard everything that was happening beyond the Wall from Will and had immediately summoned The Council. Like always, Tywin was the first to arrive with his three minions trailing behind him.

The man had gone through 19 minions in the span of a year before he found three that he could actually tolerate, which was quite the accomplishment.

Seeing them, Will and Aegon nodded in greeting with no one saying a word. It was how things usually went until everyone arrived in the room, and they were okay with that. It wasn't much later before the rest of The Council had been gathered and had the story relayed to them. Expectedly, many people didn't believe the walkers were real, and many thought the king was making a joke.

"The walkers are real! I've seen them!!" Will's voice rang out, silencing the room.

Even if they didn't believe in the dead, no one was about to call Will a liar. Plus if he was saying it was real, the dead coming alive might very well be true.

Oberyn, who was also part of The Council on behalf of Dorne and one of the few people in the room who had not only seen the walkers, but killed them as well, was listening in as Aegon and Will tried to convince everyone else about the Walkers.

He knew he too would probably have been doubtful about the walkers as well if Will hadn't shown him, and knew most people would be the same way, so he decided that after the meeting he would discuss the idea of showing one of the dead to the Lords what they were facing.

Maybe once they grouped up together in Hardhome there could be a walker or two chained up for all to see, so they could know exactly what they were facing. If they went into battle without the proper mindset, Oberyn believed that thousands would die before they even did anything, and there was no point in adding numbers to their enemy.

"Every Lord will gather any piece of Valyrian steel or dragonglass they can get their hands on. We will make weapons out of it, then we'll sail North to Hardhome to deal with the walkers!" Aegon proclaimed for all in the room to hear.

Will wanted to tell Aegon that it wasn't necessary for the Lords to gather their armies, but he decided to wait and listen to what else he had to say. It took some explaining on how fire, Dragonglass and Valyrian steel were the only ways of killing the dead, which for some reason confused most people, but they all nodded in understanding all the same.

"Furthermore!" Aegon began, silencing the murmuring in the room. "Each kingdom will send 1000 of their best trained knights. I want them wearing the best armour we can supply and using the best weapons we have." Aegon stated, the room hanging on his every word.

"Why only send 1000 knights when each kingdom could easily send 20,000, your grace?" Lord Kevan Lannister asked, drawing all attention to him. Tywin of course was going to ask the same thing, but his brother beat him to it.

"The North Swords and the rest of the Free Folk have the numbers to fight the dead, but they lack the means to beat them. Archers are useless against the dead because you have to hit them directly in the heart with dragonglass, and we don't have enough of it that we could just waste it on arrows. I don't want to bring common workers and untrained fighters that will just die and add numbers to the army of the dead. Our goal is to stop the walkers, not help them." Aegon said, hoping that the Lords of Westeros would understand just how serious the situation was.

Hearing Aegon explain about them only gathering a 1000 soldiers each made a little bit of sense to Will, at least more than it did than if they all gathered their armies.

As for why Aegon was getting knights from each kingdom instead of gathering all the best from the Reach or the Westerlands, well Will figured Aegon was trying to have each Kingdom have a hand in fighting back the dead, that way no one would try and feel superior to the other, at least on this front.

It also showed that he wasn't going to sit on his ass and let someone else deal with a threat that would eventually make it's way to his kingdom if it wasn't dealt with. It proved that he had the best interest of the realm in mind, at least that's how Will saw it.

As the meeting came to an end, Aegon, Will, Oberyn, Tywin, and Ser Barristan departed the room and made their way towards the Tower of the Hand. Tywin's three little minions had been sent off to see about the provisions, materials, and a bunch of other things so they would not be attending the meeting. As for what they were doing in the Tower of the Hand, Aegon wanted Tywin to see to it that each Lord helped the cause, and they were discussing just how to do that.

"How many houses possess Valyrian steel blades?" Aegon asked Tywin, who looked lost in thought for but a few moments before answering, "Six Houses are known publicly to possess Valyrian Steel blades, but I know of 17 Houses who keep Valyrian steel weapons hidden away."

Tywin knew this because he had been trying to acquire a Valyrian steel blade for House Lannister for years.

"Oh I forgot!" Will suddenly spoke up as he snapped his fingers, then before everyone's eyes a beautiful Valyrian steel great sword appeared. It had a golden lions head pommel, with red wrapping for the grip. A big gemstone was embedded in the cross guard, adding to it's beauty.

"I found this when I explored Valyria a few years back and I completely forgot about it until now." Will said as he placed the weapon on the table.

There was only silence for a moment as everyone admired the blade before them, but it ended shortly when Aegon let out a low whistle.

"That is a beautiful sword." The king stated with appreciation.

Aegon himself had two Valyrian steel blades that Will had given him over the years, but neither of them were great swords, and they didn't have as much gold on them either.

Still, Aegon's swords were no less exquisite or valuable, and he didn't even think of trying to claim the sword before him. Unlike Aegon the Conqueror for whom he was named, the current king did not have a sword fetish.

"Brightroar." Tywin whispered as his hand grasped the handle.

"The ancestral blade of House Lannister dating back before the DOOM of Valyria. It was lost sometime before Aegon's Conquest when the Lion King, Tommen Lannister sailed with his fleet to Valyria to find treasure, only to never be seen again." Tywin explained, still not taking his eyes off of the sword.

He had read about the sword in his history books as a child, and he knew it to be the same sword because it looked identical to the drawings he had seen of it. Tywin had dreamed of holding this sword as child, but never did he actually believe he would even get to see it in person.

"How much is the sword worth to you?" Oberyn suddenly asked, breaking Tywin's reverie and drawing all eyes to him.

Seeing everyone staring at him, Oberyn smiled wickedly before saying, "It DID belong to House Lannister before the DOOM of Valyria, but now it belongs to House Castian. So how much gold are you willing to part for it? Say… the remainder of the crown's debt to your House?"

Truth be told, it hadn't even crossed Will's mind to make Tywin pay, but now that it had been mentioned, it did sound like a good idea. As for it costing the remainder of the crown's debts to House Lannister, well that wasn't actually too bad of a deal.

With Will's help, Aegon had repaid the crown's debt to the Iron Bank in full, as well as a little more than three quarters of what they owed to House Lannister, so Tywin would only be giving up about $500,000 Gold Dragons, which was more than a little costly for a sword, but it wasn't just any sword.

Looking around the room, Will saw the corner of Aegon's mouth turn upwards for just a moment before it went back to a blank expression. Ser Barristan, the ever watchful protector of the king was expressionless as always. Oberyn was sporting a wide toothy smile, not trying to hide his joy at getting one over on Tywin in the slightest.

Despite Elia being alive, Oberyn still didn't like House Lannister. After not so subtlety killing the Mountain, Oberyn had given up most of his animosity towards Tywin, but that didn't mean he liked the man in any way shape or form.

No, it made him feel good to irritate Tywin in anyway he could, and losing the man an absurd amount of Gold seemed like a good way to anger the man. Looking to Tywin, Will could see him frowning in irritation while not even trying to hide his disdain towards Oberyn.

It took a bit of negotiation, but eventually they were all able to come to an agreement that was favorable to all parties involved. The crowns debts to House Lannister was finally finished, and Tywin got the ancestral blade for his house back, along with a Valyrian steel ingot that he could shape into another, slightly smaller sword if he so wished.

As for what Will got out of the deal, well it was more along the lines of peace of mind. Will hadn't told Aegon or the others, but he and Rhaenys were planning to set out to who knows where. It still wouldn't be for awhile yet, but they were both planning for it.

Will was hoping to leave Aegon with a clean start with no debts and a flourishing continent to rule. As for Asteria, Will had planned on leaving Jon in charge of the place, that way it would still be controlled by their family.

With being connected to people in Dorne, the Capital, and the North, Will realized he would always have a place to settle down wherever he needed. Oberyn and Elia would more than likely let him take a section of Dorne if he wanted, and he could always settle back in Asteria if he really wanted to. As for the Capital, well with the number of people there, Will preferred to just stay there for a few weeks at a time before leaving to somewhere less crowded. He didn't like the big cities.

With everything settled, Will left the Tower of the Hand and went to go find Rhaenys. He found her with Margaery shortly after, and after finding out that Atlas was napping in their room, he decided to check on the boy before he planned anything else.

Nearing the room, Will saw the 4 guards stationed outside the door, all of them on guard and at attention. At least, that's the way it looked.

When he was only a foot away from them, Will couldn't help but notice how they didn't seem to react to his approach. Waving his hand in front of one's face, the man didn't so much as blink, which not only confused him, but put him on high alert.

Without a second to waste, Will was through the door and approaching the nursery where Atlas was sleeping before his Magic Sense even had the chance to show him anything. Standing in the doorway of the nursery, Will stared at the figure sitting next to his sleeping son, her unsettling red eyes looking at him with a smile on her lips.

She was a beautiful woman, with long hair the color of deep burnished copper, and unblemished pale skin. Any other time and Will would have smiled at her as he checked her out, but as he watched her hand caressing his sleeping son's cheek, all he wanted to do was rip it off and shove it down her throat before he tore her heart out.

"Hello, Lord William. I am Melisandre, a priestess in service to-" Will didn't let her finish whatever she was going to say as one hand snapped around her throat faster than she thought was possible, while his other hand pulled her away from Atlas.

She began to gasp for breath, her eyes now wide in fear. Ignoring her struggling, Will slammed her up against the wall hard enough that he was sure he broke something, the cracking noise he heard only confirming that fact.

He was about to slam her against the wall again when the hand holding her throat began burn, which was odd because it was the first time such a thing happened since he came to this world.

Letting go of her throat, Will healed his hand instantly, however before he could grab hold of her throat again, he noticed a large red ruby held tightly around her neck on a choker necklace, and for some reason, it was glowing.

Will could feel the power coming from the ruby, and almost instantly knew it was what had managed to burn his hand. Knowing that, Will didn't reach for her throat, but rather her arm, getting a tight grip.

Once he was holding her still, Will did something he had never actually done, but knew he could do. Where he was touching the woman's skin began to turn blue, almost immediately causing her to turn her gaze towards her arm.

The moment she was able to scream she did, but Will didn't seem to care, despite her cry of agony waking up Atlas. The little boy didn't look scared at the sudden sound in his room, rather he curiously turned to look at what was going on.

Upon seeing his father he knew that everything would be alright, but he still had no idea what was going on. Before he could ask a question, the guards from outside that had been dazed rushed into the room with their weapons dawn.

Upon seeing Will one of them spoke, "Lord William!" Hearing the man, Will looked to the man out of the corner of his eye before ordering, "Get my son to his mother, NOW!!" The guards didn't need to be told twice before one of them grabbed Atlas from his bed, then they quickly left the room.

With the two of them being left alone in the room, Will focused his full attention onto the woman. Pulsing his magic even more, Will robbed the heat from her body as he slowly froze her from the inside out.

Not even the glowing ruby around her neck was able to stop what he was doing, which might be one of the reasons why she was screaming out in agony.

"I don't care about the red cunt you serve, nor your reasons for coming here! You should never have came near my son!" Will growled out through clenched teeth, a wave of anger he hadn't felt in years washing over him.

Before he only ever got this angry when Rhaenys or Elia's lives were threatened, but his son was just as important to him if not more than them. He loved the little boy more than life itself, and he would be damned if he was going to let some preaching bitch get anywhere near him because she thought her God was important.

Sure she hadn't actually done anything to Atlas, but just the way she had been touching him while he slept angered Will. R'hllor, or the Lord of Light as his followers called him was a shitty god in Will's opinion, and anyone who followed him could get fucked. The number of people they burned alive in sacrifice to their god was appalling, and Will felt no guilt whatsoever for what he was doing to the Red Bitch.

It took almost 5 minutes of Will dragging it out before the woman completely turned to ice, almost as if she had been frozen with liquid nitrogen. She was still like a statue, her agonized expression frozen on her face. Will didn't let her remain like that for long because once he was satisfied, he slammed his fist into her, causing her to shatter like glass into thousands of pieces.

"Let's see you bring her back from that, you piece of shit!" Will challenged, doubting the Red bastard even knew he was there.

Looking down at the remains of what once was a woman, Will saw how the big ruby was left intact, only now the glowing had stopped. He wasn't sure how the ruby worked, but he didn't really care. He wanted nothing to do with the Red God, especially if some stupid priestess tried to paint him as 'The Warrior of Light and the Lord's Chosen'.

All Melisandre wanted to do was explain things to Will, but she had chosen the wrong way to go about doing it. She had been trying to meet with him for months, but Will was never around too long before he disappeared, and when he was around he was always busy doing something else.

She never intended to do anything to his son, but she hoped that he would at least let her explain herself. It was too bad she didn't know what an angry individual Will was, or how overprotective he was of his son.

With but a thought, Will encased the ruby in a ball of stone, then walked over to one of the windows facing the sea. Channeling magic into the stone, Will made it shoot like a cannon ball, only it went much further than a cannon could go. Even after he lost sight of the ball with his eyes, his magic sense kept track of it for well over 2 miles before it finally splashed down and sunk into the depths of the ocean.

Going back into Atlas' room, Will eyed the remains of the Red Bitch still frozen on the floor for only a moment before he used magic to gather them up and walked out of the room. He dumped them down a nearby privy before he moved on to where he could feel Rhaenys and Atlas. In but a few seconds he was holding his wife and son in his arms, grateful they were both fine and healthy.

Later that night when they were alone in their bed with Atlas sleeping in the nursery only a few steps away, Will told Rhaenys all about them going North to fight the dead. She had asked a fair number of questions, but agreed with their decision to deal with the threat approaching them.

"Will you be taking Smaug?" She asked curiously. Everyone knew of the horse sized dragon, and with fire being one of the dead's main weaknesses, it seemed like the obvious choice to take the beast.

"No. He'll stay here protecting you all." Will told her, then before she could argue on the matter, Will explained about how the Night King could snuff out his life in the blink of an eye, and then they would have to deal with an undead dragon.

Will had mentioned something briefly with Aegon, though he didn't go into too much detail about the Night King, mostly because he couldn't really explain the information.

Anyway, after he finished telling her about everything that had happened that day, Rhaenys grabbed his hand and placed it on her stomach, then looked at him with a knowing smile. It took him a second to realize what the smile was about, his eyes instantly moving to her stomach. With a burst of magic, Will checked inside of her, and sure enough, he could see the start of a new life beginning to take form.

"I love you." He told her before he pressed his lips to hers. For the next hour the two fucked like they had when they first began sleeping together, then they fell asleep in each other's arms.

-------

(3 months later)

Like Will had promised, a fleet of ships landed in Hardhome at about the time he had promised them, give or take a day or two. It had taken some time to get everything in order, but they had accomplished their goal.

They had created more than enough Dragonglass weapons to outfit the 7000 knights that came North as well as most of the Free Folk residing in Hardhome. They could have built more weapons, but Will had insisted on making 50 massive weapons from Dragonglass that could have easily made over 100 regular sized weapons each.

He knew the giants, if armed properly would be a force to be reckoned with on their own, so he had made sure to think of them when the weapons were being created. He would have had enough made for all of the giants, but 50 of the great weapons had already consumed a massive chunk of their stock of dragonglass, and it didn't seem right to only arm the giants in this fight, even if he did like them more than the others.

"William!!" Gorne shouted in greeting, followed by 3 others, Bael included.

"Hey! Long time no see!" Will greeted back as he moved to meet them.

Aegon, Jon, Ser Barristan and Tywin soon joined them, Tywin looking far happier than he had any right to be. Will guessed it was because he got to leave his three little minions back in the Capital to suffer all the work of ruling, but he couldn't be sure.

Drox and Oberyn both remained in the Capital, but that was because Will had asked them both to watch over Rhaenys and Atlas until he returned. Even having a Dragon protecting his family he still wasn't satisfied, but then again he was never assured of their safety unless he himself was there guarding them.

Some would call him untrusting, and they would be right, but that constant vigilance had saved them more times than he could count, so he wasn't about to just magically start trusting people in this world. That was a good way to get your throat slit.

"You know William, a few of us were wondering if you were going to hold another competition like last time? Even though it is a fight for our lives, it would still give us a little excitement for the fight to come." Gorne asked with a hopeful look on his face.

Looking at Bael, Will could see the man trying to hide a smirk, which let him know he was also interested in the competition.

"What competition are you talking about?" Tywin asked curiously, not having heard this story before.

"A few years ago, Will came here with Drox and organized a small raiding party to hunt the walkers. Will made a game out of hunting them, and the ten men who killed the most walkers were granted prizes. A few of them were given ships, which is how the North Swords started." Aegon explained to Tywin, who seemed genuinely surprised by the story.

"You're telling me he simply gave them ships?" Tywin asked, unsure if he heard that right.

"Aye! And he created the harbor here too." Jon answered, speaking up and making himself known to the group. The young man was quite vocal compared to how he was as a child, and was far more learned than most people would have thought him to be.

Jon could speak 2 languages and could read and write in both of them perfectly. In swordsmanship he was second only to Will, and occasionally Aegon. The two were more on equal footing now that he was older and more experienced, though he couldn't say he was better than his brother, but he did win just as many duels as he lost, so again, they were about equal.

Though he preferred to roam the Wolfswood near Asteria or the King's wood near the Capital, Jon had learned to enjoy reading a good book by the fire at night with Asena laying next to him. He was coming to find joy in the little things in life, and understood people better than he did as a child.

Will thought over the idea of holding another competition, and after hashing out how it would go with Aegon and the others, he agreed. Word soon spread throughout Hardhome about the competition and rumors of what the rewards might be were on the tip of every tongue of both men or women present.

Ignoring the talks of the competition, Will was led by the chieftains of the Free Folk to a nearby area where he deposited crates of dragonglass weapons. He didn't want to have to make sure each person coming along was properly armed, so he was going to make them do it.

Once that was done, Will went about taking measure of those who would be coming along for the fight, and he had to say he was quite impressed with the Free Folk, well, the North Swords at least. All of them were decked out in armor that made them look nothing like the Free Folk wearing furs, and they all moved a bit differently as well.

It seemed fighting battles across both continents had helped them learn a thing or two, which was a good thing. Come to think of it, now that he got a proper look at Hardhome itself, Will realized there were quite a few permanent structures where tents had been the last time he was here. It appeared even the Free Folk were capable of evolving after all, and all it took was them experiencing the real world.

Once he was done with his observations, Will went to go find Aegon and Tywin so he could find out when they wanted to head out towards the Thenns Mountains.

Along his way, Will saw Jon and Robb hanging out together with some of the Lords from the North. Even Ned was there, which actually wasn't that surprising anymore.

After Aegon became king, Ned finally told Catelyn and the rest of his family the truth about Jon, and how he was the son of his sister, Layanna.

Catelyn had been happy at the news about Ned having never been unfaithful to her, and despite realizing she had been a complete bitch to Jon for no reason, she had never once tried to make amends with him, which as far as Aegon and the others were concerned, she was a cunt that could remain out of their lives for good.

Robb on the other hand still loved Jon as if they were brothers. It didn't matter that they were only cousins, as far as the two of them were concerned, they were still brothers and nothing anyone said would change that fact.

Ned had also grown closer to Jon since his origins were revealed, the two of them acting more as father and son than they ever did when people believed that's what they were.

Ned's brother Benjen Stark, a member of the Night's Watch, rode south upon learning of Jon's origins and beat Ned bloody. He had been the closest to Layanna between himself, Ned, and Brandon, and loved her more than anyone in the world.

He was infuriated that Ned had kept Jon's origins secret from even him, but Ned had argued that if he was the only one who knew then there was no chance of the secret ever getting out. Benjen understood his reasoning, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Before Robert's Rebellion, he had seen Layanna sneaking off with Prince Rhaegar, but before he could tell anyone, Layanna had caught him spying and made him swear to her that he wouldn't tell a soul about them, to which he regretfully did.

His silence had cost him his father, brother, and his sister. The guilt of it all had eaten away at him, and once the Rebellion was over he set off to the Night's Watch and swore his vows.

Even if he had known about Jon's true origins when Ned first brought him to Winterfell, he wasn't sure he would have done anything differently, but it would have been nice to know that apart of his sister still lived on.

-----

The following day, Will went out alone to scout the Haunted Forest in case the walkers were moving faster than they had thought. Thankfully everything seemed to be calm for now, or at least as calm as the Haunted Forest could be. It wasn't exactly a place one wanted to go prancing about in search of food, but it wasn't a bad place to go if you wanted to get yourself killed. At least that's how most people thought of the place.

Anyway, Will searched the forest until he found a small group of walkers mulling about the area, then he went on to capture them in a little stone cages he created around them. They could thrash about, but they were unable to actually turn around or stand in their cages. Will wasn't about to let them do that.

With his targets acquired, Will headed back to Hardhome where most everyone got the chance to see exactly what they would be facing. Will demonstrated how normal weapons were simply useless against the things, and how the dragonglass weapons they had were able to deal with them. Needless to say, but everyone was a lot more thankful to have their weird looking weapons.

It wasn't until early morning of the second day after their arrival that the group set out from Hardhome and into the Haunted Forest. They made pretty good time the first day of their march, but the second day they covered quite a bit less ground.

The Free Folk, who were used to travelling through the forest, often insulted the southern knights who were much slower than them. Nothing ever came to blows because everyone knew that Will would deal with them should they get out of line, and after witnessing some of the things he could do, fighting the dead sounded a lot more fun than angering him.

After a little over a week of marching at a relatively slow pace, they arrived at the Fist of the First men where they met up with a few thousand Free Folk who had been holed up here since Mance had died. Most of them refused to join up with the army, but a good number of them did, one of them being Tormund Giantsbane. The man remembered Will, and was happy to have him there fighting the undead.

As long as they got rid of the walkers once and for all, he would march with the crows of the Night's Watch if he had too. The army camped out at the fist for two days while the scouts went on ahead to find out about the walkers, which was good because the men needed rest. Walking for over a week straight wearing heavy armor and carry heavy weapons, they were all tired.

Despite not feeling tired like everyone else because of the lack of horses, Will missed Trojan. He had set the stallion loose near the Watergardens in Dorne with a herd of mares to run along with him. Doran told him that he would see to it that the horse was left alone, and that there was also food a plenty around the area for him.

It had been 2 years since then, and Will dearly missed the magnificent beast. Sure he had went to visit Trojan less than a year ago just to check up on him, but it would have been nice to have the animal there with him.

Once the scouts returned, the army set out once more. The walkers they came across were dealt with quickly without any loss of life, but that was only because the odds were heavily in their favour. Once they met the real undead army, Will knew there were going to be casualties, and he wasn't looking forward to that.

They had only been gone a week from the Fist of the First Men when the Thenns Mountains could be seen only a few miles away, making most people sigh in relief and fear. They were glad that they were finally reaching their destination, but they were all terrified because they knew what they would be facing when they did finally arrive.

When they exited the Haunted Forest into a clearing at the base of the mountain, the army seemed to stop as one without any order being given, which only cemented the how serious the situation was.

Like they had been waiting for them, the army of the dead was in formation at the base of the mountain. Will tried to find out where the Night King was, but for the life of him he couldn't find him because he had no idea what he looked like. None of the walkers even resembled the Night King from the show, so he couldn't just end this whole mess before it even had a chance to break out. That would of course be too easy.

The commanders of the army were quick to get everyone into formation, at least the knights that came from the south. The North Swords did their best to try and organize the Free Folk, but you couldn't just expect them to be good at taking orders over the span of a week when they never took orders from others before.

Still, in no time at all everyone was lined up and waiting for the undead to charge, only to their confusion the charge never came. Curious about what was going on, Will used Magic Sense around the area, and to his surprise he actually found something that pulled his attention away from the army of dead in front of him.

Two miles away east of their position, a horde of walkers on horses and giant Ice spiders were just standing there. Will figured they were going to strike from the flank once the battle got underway to deal a heavy blow to them. Of course it could be that he was over thinking things and they were just standing in that direction in case the army had marched there, but Will doubted it, especially after he got a look at the area in front of them.

About halfway between both armies was trench hidden by snow, but that wasn't what surprised him. No, what surprised him was the fact that there were more than a thousand undead inside the trench waiting.

'These fuckers really are learning!' He thought, surprised at how they had evolved.

In the show they were mindless beasts that ran into a fight with killing being their only purpose. Never did he expect them to actually plan something like this out. Still, they didn't come all this way just to run straight into a fight, that would be stupid. No, Will had something other than magic, and they had decided to fully capitalize on it.

Walking down the line of the army, Will made trebuchets appear with a stack of jars filled with Wildfire near each of them. Camp fires appeared a short distance away and Free Folk with bows came to stand near them to wait for what came next.

Small barricades were created from the earth, making bottlenecks that would funnel the undead into defensible locations, which only seemed like the right thing to do. A few other items were placed near key locations before Will went back to where the commanders were.

After relaying the news about the traps to the commanders, Will decided to probe further to see if he could find anything else. He didn't find anything right away, but after 5 minutes of searching he found something surprising.

At the peak of the nearest mountain on the side opposite the army, a massive creature was lying in wait. Having helped raise one of the creatures for the last five years, Will recognized it right away as being a Dragon, only he couldn't understand how there was a dragon beyond the Wall for the dead to acquire.

In the show the Night King had killed one of Daenerys' dragons and turned it into an undead, but Will had changed that. There shouldn't be any dragon to turn into an undead because he had left Smaug back in King's Landing.

Realizing that the shit just got a whole lot more real, Will quickly informed Aegon and Tywin about the undead dragon lying in wait for them, and after informing them that he would deal with it so they could try and deal with the Night King, Will shot off high into the sky.

The dead must have realized that they weren't going to be able to get the army to approach them without doing something began to slowly march towards them, drawing the armies full attention.

When the order was given, the jars of wildfire were launched through the air, landing just shy of the approaching walkers and painting the ground a sickly green. Despite the dead still not being in range, the jars never ceased firing, and even when the dead did get close enough to get hit by the jars they didn't do anything but knock them to the ground for a minute before they got back to their feet, covered in the sickly green substance.

Once the dead were a good ways past the area where the wildfire was, the signal was given and the Free Folk archers began raining fire arrows, and after a dozen or so missing the mark, one did. The explosion was massive, enveloping well over a two thousand of the walkers. The explosion was deafening, but it also served as the signal for the undead to attack.

It must have been clear that the trench was useless to them because the army refused to advance further than their barricades, so the walkers lying in wait shot up from the ground and charged with the rest of them, beginning the battle that would come to be known as The Great War.

-------

(Tywin POV)

After the wildfire had been ignited, Tywin pulled 3,000 men from the rear of the army and moved them to the east. King Aegon had everything at hand here so he didn't need to worry allowing him to focus entirely on the strike to their flank.

By the time he got organized, movement could be seen through the trees, but Tywin wasn't worried in the slightest. Will had prepared caches of wildfire ahead of their position, setting jars on trees and anywhere else he could put them in a hurry.

Tywin could see a few of the jars of wildfire from his position, which is why he chosen to stop where they were instead of moving further ahead.

Grabbing a bow from one of the nearby Free Folk, Tywin grabbed an arrow before lighting the tip on torch the man next to him was holding. Waiting until the approaching walkers were within range of the blast, Tywin let loose the bow string and almost a second later there was another explosion, only this one was much smaller than the previous one created by the main army.

Tywin let loose 4 more arrows, striking jars of wildfire that rained down fire onto the walkers beneath them. It was on the fifth shot that Tywin hit the largest cache of wildfire that Will had placed, the explosion killing over a thousand walkers.

"Spears and shields!" He shouted, the knights around him following suit. A few seconds later and what remained of the approaching walkers clashed with the knights.

Before they had been outnumbered by the approaching horde by half, but now they outnumbered the walkers by 2 to 1, which was much better odds.

Regardless of the situations severity, Tywin's thoughts were on tallying up the number of walkers he had been able to kill. By his estimation, he had killed around 3000 of the walkers by himself thanks to the wildfire, which he figured put him at the top of the competition.

Of course he might have to split those numbers with Will, but even then he calculated that he had a commanding lead over everyone else, which was good. It didn't matter that he was one of the richest Lords in the world, any chance to gain more wealth and he would capitalize on the opportunity.

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(Will POV)

Once the battle had begun in earnest, Will shot towards the dragon which was just beginning it's assent into the sky. With a combined strike of wind and water magic, Will sent a massive blade that severed one of the dragon's wings, causing it to fall from the sky and back onto the mountain.

After it struck the ground it began to roll down the mountain side towards where the army was fighting. Will tried to hit it with lightning, but it was a lot harder to hit the damn thing as it bounced down the cliffside.

Even when it got to the base of the mountain the dragon began flopping around like a newborn dear. It seemed that it couldn't get the handle of moving without one of it's main appendages.

As he approached the dragon, blue fire shot towards him, but he easily moved to the side and avoided it. The sudden appearance of the undead dragon pulled the eyes of most men in the army, but they quickly focused back to their own fight when the walkers kept coming at them.

Meanwhile, Will unleashed his own fire onto the dragon, but he quickly realized that the thing was immune to fire, it being a dragon and all. Apparently not even death took that ability away from them.

Will was going to just dismember it entirely, but after finding out the wing he cut off from before was still flopping about, he realized that probably wasn't the best idea with it being so close to the army.

Still, he needed a way to end the damn thing once and for all so he could go and try and find the Night King. Knowing that fire was out of the way, Will tried to use Valyrian steel to end it, but none of his weapons were large enough to reach the things heart, which is where he needed to strike to put it down for the count.

He was mostly letting an earth and water golem smack it around as he tried to figure out what to do when something caught his eye. One of the giants near him was using the massive dragonglass sword to mow down rows of undead before he swapped out with another of his people.

Leaving the dragon for a moment, Will hurried over to where the giants were, then swapped his massive Valyrian steel axe from his inventory out with the giant's sword. Though it was smaller than what the giant was used to, it was still better than nothing, and it would almost guarantee a kill if he hit a walker, so the giant hadn't complained about it.

With the large weapon placed inside his inventory, Will went back to the dragon that had managed to crumble the earth golem with it's fire, but was still struggling against the water golem.

Commanding the golem to lash out, Will pinned the dragon's limbs and head so it was lying flat against the earth. Once that was ready, he flew so he was a good hundred or so feet above it, then dropped the Dragonglass sword from his inventory.

There was a loud shwelping sound as the blade pierced the beast, but it still had not been enough to kill it. Flying down to it's level, Will saw how the giant sword pinned the dragon to the ground, and with a small burst of power, the sword split apart into thousands of little pieces inside of the dragon's body.

It was like a grenade went off inside of it, peppering every part of it's insides with dragonglass. Clearly it had been the right move because the beast stilled completely after that, and all signs of it being alive were gone.

Will wasn't sure if the thing would be able to be brought back a second time, and not wanting to risk it, he walked over and placed it's corpse into his inventory, letting him know that it was really dead.

He had tried once to put the walkers inside his inventory, thinking that because they had already died before that it would be possible, but it seemed the magic of the Night King was enough to hinder that little idea.

With the beast now done, Will turned towards the battlefield, taking stock of the battle that was underway. Not to far away from him, a group of Free Folk were chopping away at the undead flank, and he noticed one of the men looking over at him with wide eyes.

The man's surprise only lasted for a moment before he shouted, "It still only counts as one!" Then he went back to hacking away at the dead around him.

Hearing the man whom he had never met before say that, Will couldn't help but laugh. He couldn't place where he heard that before, but he knew he had and he knew it had been funny then too.

With the dragon now dealt with, Will flew into the ranks of the undead unleashing a wave of fire around him. It certainly wouldn't do to come in last in his own competition.

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(Aegon POV)

Unlike most kings who would never have even come north with the army to deal with the undead threat, Aegon was right in the thick of things, standing side by side with the men around him. Granted there were far more of the Strikers fighting beside him, most of them using the Valyrian steel blades he had been given by Will. He was the king of the Seven Kingdoms after all, and it wouldn't do for him to be unprotected here.

Being in the thick of the fight, Aegon was always engaged in fighting one walker or another, so it surprised him when the undead around him seemed to take a step back and make a path for a blue-skinned undead man.

Seeing the crown of ice on his head, Aegon made the educated assumption that this was the Night King that Will had briefly mentioned to him in the past. Steeling himself, Aegon went on the offensive, his Valyrian steel blade clashing with the Night King's.

The two were engaged in battle for only a minute before one of the undead charged at Aegon from the side. Just when the thing was about to reach him, Ser Barristan intercepted and cut the walker down. The king's protector moved around Aegon's back and sides, keeping any undead from reaching his king. The man might have been old, but he was still one of the greatest fighters in the known world.

With complete faith in Ser Barristan, Aegon turned his whole focus back onto the Night king and the two went back at it. Despite his skill with a sword, it was clear the Night King was no slouch either, and after a few minutes of trading blows, Aegon felt himself being pushed back.

Not willing to give in to this enemy, Aegon tried to push back. He tried to go in for feint, but the dead man had seen through it, slashing forward and delivering a deep gash along his hip, forcing Aegon to one knee.

Just when the Night King was about to deliver the final thrust to end him, Ser Barristan once more came to his aid and parried the blade to the side. However in his defense of the king, Ser Barristan was left open and an undead stabbed a spear through the man's chest, forcing him to the ground.

Aegon hadn't yet seen Ser Barristan go down, choosing instead to capitalize on the moment to thrust his sword into the Night King's heart, causing the undead king to shatter like glass. The rest of the walkers followed suit across the battlefield, and everyone watched as the last of the dead fell to the ground.

There was silence for a few seconds as everyone digested the fact that they had won, and moments later a cry of victory rang out for all to hear.

With a smile on his face, Aegon turned to find Ser Barristan, one of his closest friends, only instead of finding the indomitable figure who had stood by him since the beginning of his reign, he found a dying man clutching onto the spear still lodged deep inside of him.

"No no no no NO! Barristan!" Aegon cried as he hobbled over to the man, finding him still breathing.

"My King…" Barristan spoke in a whisper, the act of talking more painful than he had thought.

"Don't you die on me, Barristan! You can't!" Aegon pleaded as he looked around for someone to help him. He tried to call out for Will, but amidst the cheering it was impossible for anyone to hear him.

"It was my… dream… to die protecting a worthy king." Barristan spoke, his words difficult to hear because they were like a whisper, and everyone was shouting, but Aegon had his whole focus on the man and was able to make out what he was saying.

"You… are a king worth… dying for." Barristan struggled to say, then after giving Aegon a half smile, the life left his eyes forever.

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(General POV)

With the fight now ended, the knights and the Free Folk went about gathering their wounded and dead. Of the 7,000 knights who sailed North, just over 1,000 had perished in the battle.

The Free Folk lost five times that number, but their losses were minimal compared to what it would have been if Will and the others hadn't sailed north.

Will spent the next few days after the battle healing everyone who wasn't dead, and the Free Folk went about burning the bodies of those who died. Aegon had come to him and asked him if it would be possible to bring back the bodies of the knights who died back to King's Landing so they could be laid to rest in their home.

Will had agreed to the request because it only seemed right to send them to their homes so their families could properly mourn them. It had taken a few hours, but eventually he had stored all of the bodies he could find that belonged to their party.

Despite the loss people suffered, everyone was eager to learn about the Competition's conclusion. Will had decided to not partake in the competition, making Tywin the winner. Unlike the previous competition where only the top 10 got rewarded, Will did the top 100, though most people did end up getting something out of it.

Every knight, regardless of how they placed received 100 gold dragons. As for the Free Folk, they got an absurd amount of food placed for them in Hardhome.

The top 100 winners however received grand prizes, the likes of which involved ships, more gold, weapons, and any other item Will had stored away inside his Inventory.

Of the top 100 winners, 83 of them were knights from the Seven Kingdoms, which helped to show their superiority and made them feel better about the whole thing.

Even being as outnumbered as they were compared to the Free Folk, the knights of the Seven Kingdoms had killed more walkers than the Free Folk had, which went to show how good their training was.

It had taken almost a month to get back to the Capital, and when they got back, no one wanted to do any sort of fighting for as long as they could put off. Most people had nightmares of the dead, while others had nightmares of certain arachnids dangling from ceilings of their bedchambers.

Tywin had the servants clean his room daily for a month after the battle, having felt chills every time he even looked at a spider. He had come near death when one of the giant spiders made it over the shield wall and hit him to the ground.

Right before it sunk it's pincers into him, a knight had shoved his spear up the spider's ass before another knight cut off it's head. He had rewarded both knights with an absurd amount of wealth when they returned to the Capital. A Lannister always pays his debts, and there was no higher debt than his own life.

Aegon had created a massive statue of Ser Barristan Selmy that stood behind the Iron Throne, showing everyone that the greatest protector was always vigilant in his duty.

As for his body, Aegon had returned Ser Barristan's corpse to the Dornish marshes of Harvest Hall, which was the seat of power of House Selmy from where he had been born.

Aegon had taken Ser Barristan there personally, and built the funeral pyre himself. Ser Barristan was more than a guard, he had been one of Aegon's councillors and one of his best friends. To have him die the way he did, Aegon felt guilty, even if that was the man's job.

Aegon vowed in the memory of Barristan Selmy to be the greatest king the Seven Kingdoms had ever known, that way he could feel as though the man hadn't wasted his life.

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A few months after they had arrived back in the Capital, Rhaenys gave birth to a little girl, whom they had named Sara in honor of Will's sister. Like her brother and father, Sara had beautiful glowing red eyes with a tuff of white hair mixed in with the black hair that she got from her father. She had a cute little button nose and a crooked little grin that helped her get her father wrapped around her finger.

It was almost a year later in 301 AC when Jon got married to Lyra Mormont of Bear Island, the third daughter of Maege Mormont. Will and Aegon had been happy for him, and were even happier still when Lyra gave birth to two beautiful little twin girls less than a year later. Jon had named them Layanna and Elia after his two mothers, not getting a complaint from anyone his family. Elia had cried in joy as she held the newest members to her ever growing family.

Despite the distance between them, the Targaryens, Martells, and Will were a pretty close nit bunch. Jon was Lord of Asteria and still managed to come to King's Landing twice a year to keep in touch with his brother. The Capital was usually where they met up because it was around the halfway mark between Dorne and the North.

When Daenerys got married a year after Jon to Edric Dayne, the Lord of Starfall in Dorne, everyone had been happy for her, though Edric did have his life threatened by each person in her family before they were truly happy.

The boy seemed nice enough and was more of a lover than a fighter, which was what Daenerys had been looking for when Elia had helped set up her suitors. The fact that Edric was a Dornish Lord only made Daenerys all the more happy, because then she could stay near Elia all she wanted.

One would think Elia would remain in the Capital with Aegon, but she was happier in Dorne and none of her children argued her decision. Aegon especially didn't argue about it because if he had to live in the same building as Daemon Sand, he was going to cut the man's dick off.

Daemon was a Dornish bastard whom Elia had apparently been seeing over the last few years, which did make sense as no one wanted to be alone forever, but the man was a pompous little windbag when he was near Elia.

When Will found out about the guy, he almost ripped him apart, but Rhaenys had calmed him down, telling him that it was a good thing their mother could still be with someone and be happy. Will wanted nothing more than for Elia to be happy, but he didn't have to like the dunce.

He had given Missandei's two brothers who watched over Elia express orders to kill Daemon if he ever laid a hand to Elia, which they both vowed to do, so he could live with that.

As for Missandei herself, whenever she wasn't doing her job as Will's translator, she was teaching in the Academy. She never got married as far as Will knew, but she did have 3 children, though the man who fathered them was never revealed to Will.

He would have pressed the issue if she had asked, but she said it was okay and he left it at that. She was happy, that was all that mattered.

------

(Year 310 AC)

Westeros had flourished over the years, and now that all threats were dealt with, Will had made the executive decision that it was time to go out and explore the world., only unlike the the trips over the last 10 years, they wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.

Despite taking the odd trips over the years to Valyria and the Free Cities of Essos, Will wanted to travel to the far reaches of Asshai in the Shadowlands and explore the ends of Sothoryos, which to date had never been reached before.

Jon and Aegon had seen their fair share of Essos over the years when they went on trips with Will, and they honestly didn't see what was so special about some of the places. The slavery and torture that went on was too much for them, and decided that Westeros was the place for them.

Will and Rhaenys on the other hand, well they had remained in Westeros a lot longer than they had planned despite the little trips that gave them a bit of freedom. Besides, they could always come back whenever they finished exploring.

And now that Sara was older, they could go about traveling without worrying too much about raising an infant. They never did have any more children after Sara, but that was okay. They loved their precious children more than anything, and everyone knew it.

Both Atlas and Sara shared Will's ability to use elemental magic, and Will had begun training them as soon as they were old enough to comprehend his words. Atlas was a force to be reckoned with in any sort of fight, but he was a peaceful boy. He excelled at fire and earth magic, whereas Sara excelled at wind and water. Sara could defend herself if need be, but she would rather not fight altogether if she could help it. Unlike her father, she didn't deliberately seek out battle.

Will, Rhaenys, Atlas, Sara, Myrcella, Missandei, and Missandei's 3 little girls set out to sea a few days after Will decided it was time for them to leave. Myrcella had lived with them for almost 12 years so when she was given the option to come with them, she hadn't hesitated.

Tywin didn't bother saying anything, knowing that only good things would happen as long as she was with Will. The man was proven right when a week into their voyage Will walked in on Atlas and Myrcella fucking like animals.

For some reason Rhaenys seemed overjoyed, but all Will could think was that he was too young to be a grandpa. Will knew that Tywin would probably jump for joy upon learning the news, so he didn't bother telling the man. Tywin would find out in a 3 years time when they went back to visit Westeros, and it would only be then that he would learn about his great-grandson, Tywin Castian, at which point he would smile non-stop for a whole day.

For the remainder of his life, Will travelled to every corner of the world with his family by his side, being true to his House Words, "Forever Free" as the fabled Uncrowned King of the world.

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(Image of House Sigil)