Chapter 1

-Sansa Stark

She was alone, again.

She came to the Wall, she went to the place where her possibly last living brother resides, as Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.

Jon Snow

A Snow is the only stain on the white cloak of her honorable father, but still, even being a bastard, he is my brother.

During my childhood, he was the one I would run to during stormy nights or after hearing some scary story.

A smile appears on the beautiful face of young Sansa, something that catches the attention of her traveling companions.

But how not to smile? How not to smile when remembering the best years of her life? A time when everything was simple, with no court intrigue or its games, a time before the depths of court etiquette, when I could be a free wolf with my two older brothers.

And that makes my smile fade. I was a fool to my brother after my eighth nameday, which was when my lady mother and the septa began to instill their hatred for bastards into my mind.

And now, I go to him, to the only one who will not try to use me for their gains, who will not manipulate me or throw me to the ground, laugh at me, beat me, or torture me.

My brother never mistreated me, and I, in my immaturity, repaid his love and kindness with anger and disdain.

So I will understand if he does not accept me if he refuses to shelter me in his castle, feed me, and embrace me. It is fair for everything I have done or the way I treated him.

A voice pulls me out of my thoughts. "My lady, we are arriving at Castle Black," says Brienne, my sworn sword.

Turning my attention forward, with great expectations of seeing the proud Night's Watch, only to have them destroyed, as Castle Black is... decaying.

Only the sight of the Wall makes Sansa feel as excited as a little girl, her eyes shining. "It's incredible, I've only heard stories about the Wall, but seeing it, it's truly incredible," Sansa says, and Brienne speaks shortly after.

"Indeed, I knew it was large, but this... this is enormous," she says.

"I heard Lord Tyrion talking about it, he came here before," says Podrick, their other traveling companion and Brienne's squire. "But seeing it in person is a different experience. It seems like he pissed from the top" the last part of his sentence bringing a tug at the corners of both women's lips.

"That sounds like something the dwarf would do," says Brienne.

"Maybe he even thought, 'I'm the tallest Lannister alive' when he got up there" I joke, trying to ease the anxiety that's been building up inside me for the last few hours. Seeing my last living brother... and not knowing how he'll react has left my nerves very shaken.

"Lady Sansa making a joke? That's something very rare" teases Podrick.

A loud, deep voice draws our attention as we near Castle Black. "Halt! Who goes there and what do you want here?" says a man dressed all in black, a brother of the Night's Watch.

Brienne is the one who answers. "This one with me" she points to me, "is Lady Sansa Stark, sister of Jon Snow, your Lord Commander" she finishes.

The man looks at me, and now his eyes, once full of suspicion, are filled with pity and sympathy—the look everyone has been giving me lately. "I'm sorry, Lord Commander Snow is dead. The pyre is about to be lit if you'd like to say your goodbyes" the man says.

Sansa takes a moment to react. She even feels like laughing, thinking it's a joke, but the man's eyes show no hint of lying, and that makes her weak, almost falling from her horse.

The man speaks again, "Everyone is gathered to say goodbye to him. I'll take you there" he says without giving Sansa time to speak, think, or react.

Sansa doesn't even know how she got to the front of the raised pyre. She doesn't know or register when she dismounted from the horse, but here she is, standing before a funeral pyre. They are going to burn him, burn him according to their customs, instead of laying him where every Stark should rest.

A voice speaks to her, "Who are you?" says a man.

Sansa finds her voice, though she doesn't take her tear-filled eyes off the body of her last brother, lying atop something, a sword in his hand, and three strange stones beside him. "I am Sansa Stark," I say.

The man makes a surprised sound and speaks, "I'm sorry for your loss. I am Eddison Tollett, a friend of Jon's" says the man, and Sansa glances at him out of the corner of her eye, not wanting to take her gaze off her brother.

Eddison Tollett is like all the others in attire, all black, but his face... his face seems to be in pain.

I ask him, "What happened to him? It wasn't long ago that I heard about him and he was alive!" I end up raising my tone slightly at the end.

Eddison Tollett lets out a weary sigh. "He was betrayed by other brothers. They were captured and will be judged today. He... was lured and killed by them," Sansa feels her legs weakening and her blood stopping.

Another, another member of her family killed by betrayal... Is her family destined for this? Destined to die at the hands of those who should have been trusted? Robb, father, mother, Bran, and Rickon... and Arya, who is missing.

She falls to her knees and begins to cry, like a child, but Sansa no longer cares about that. She doesn't care about losing her image as the perfect lady; to hell with that, she deserves this. She is allowed to cry now.

The man from the Watch speaks, "We will light the pyre. His body has been here for a long time. May we, Lady Stark?" says the man.

Sansa looks at him with furious eyes. "You want me to give permission to burn the body of my last brother?" she says, with a tone angrier than she intended.

The man opens his mouth and closes it about three times before giving up and letting out a sigh. He goes to the side of the pyre and raises the torch with three other men and begins to speak.

"Today, we say goodbye to Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. He gave his life for this frozen place and for a cause that not everyone understands... but he understood more than all of us. His sacrifice will be remembered by us, even if the world outside does not, we will not forget him. He was one of us, now he is no more, for his duty is finished and he may rest in peace. The night ends, brother, and your duty is done," he finishes his speech with more emotion in his voice than Sansa would have expected.

And as they set the pyre on fire, Sansa nearly faints from the pain, her sobs now revealing the agony she has been holding in for so long. Even with hunger and exhaustion from the journey, nothing compares to watching her possible last brother go away, leaving her as the last Stark alive.

The lone wolf... that is what she is.

When Sansa finally gathers the strength to stand, to say goodbye to her brother on her feet, she is thrown back along with the others nearby by the explosion of the pyre.

Cough

Cough

Cough

Hands help her up, which she realizes belong to Podrick, with Brienne coming to her side shortly after. "Are you alright, my lady?" she asks worriedly, while checking her body for any injuries from the explosion.

I take a deep breath and say, "I'm fine, Brienne," and look at the pyre, where the fire burns with enormous intensity, its color a bright blood red, making Sansa and everyone nearby swallow hard.

RUUUAAAARRRHHHHHHHH!!!

A powerful sound makes the ground tremble, a roar that Sansa covers her ears from, feeling her whole body shake with fear, much like a roar, resembling thunder splitting the sky.

And in the same sky, a red comet with a dragon-like head, very similar to one that appeared many moons ago, but this one looks angrier and seems to be tearing through the very sky.

RUUUAAAARRRHHHHHHHH!!!

The roar echoes again, and everyone instinctively looks to the sky to find the monstrous sound that made them all tremble with fear and the horses restless. Then Sansa feels something large pressing against her as if to protect her, and hears Brienne and Podrick let out a sigh of fear.

When Sansa looks at what is pressing against her, the first thing she notices is white fur and red eyes staring at her. "Ghost!" Sansa screams with wide eyes upon seeing the wolf, her lady's brother.

Ghost is now enormous, easily the size of a war horse. The wolf presses its head into her hands, which Sansa, without realizing it, has extended to touch the great wolf.

RUUUAAAARRRHHHHHHHH!!!

Another roar, and then a shadow falls over all of them. As Sansa presses closer to Ghost, she finally sees the source of the powerful roar.

A winged beast

Red as pure and brilliant blood, with some dark scales, the beast lands right next to her brother's pyre. The beast is enormous, its skull easily the size of Vhagar's skull, or even larger than the mighty dead dragon.

A dragon

Sansa's and everyone else's eyes widen as they realize the fact. The enormous beast, with its massive wings blocking out all light and bringing darkness to them.

Well... damn

That's what she thinks as she sees the dragon glaring at everyone with anger. Its golden-orange eyes and teeth as large as great swords show the immense desire of the enormous dragon...

But then

Then a voice sounds "Gīda ilagon, valonqar, pōnta issi daor īlva enemies, gīda ilagon, nyke sȳz sir, urrax." says the voice coming from the vogo in front of the dragon, the voice that makes the great dragon calm down and look at the fire.

And we all do the same, looking at the now smaller fire, where a tall man emerges, with... what seems to be three small dragons on his body, two on each shoulder and another on his chest.

The ash-covered man emerged from the fire, with no burns; the only thing that was scorched was his hair, which now remained as ashes on his head.

Sansa mustered the courage to overcome all the fear and terror she felt to speak "Brother? Jon!" she almost shouts.

The man looks at her with eyes of bright purple/violet, like two lights turned toward her. A gentle smile forms on his beautiful face as he says, "Hi, Sansa."

And Sansa runs, she doesn't think, doesn't even remember the great dragon with one of its paws touching her brother's snout.

She just wants to embrace him

Just wants to be there with him

Feel him

Feel safe

In her brother's arms

Who, somehow, is alive

But Sansa doesn't care

As long as he is here

Alive and by her side