Chapter 4

- The Cave - Four Months since leaving Winterfell -

{"You have come along way since your arrival here my apprentice. I am pleased at seeing you surpass my high expectations,"} commented Count Dooku with Jon was hovering off the ground using the Force, his eyes closed and arms crossed in intense mediation, but he still heard him all the same.

"Thank you Master," said Jon while delving deep into the Force through his mediation per his Master's instructions on how to do it.

Since passing Dooku's test, Jon had taken to his training in the Force and the powers that came with it. At first, Jon was scared. Thinking it was sorcery of some kind. A power the Faith of the Seven would consider unholy and should be put down. But Dooku had told him the Force was a cosmic power, meaning it was natural, and part of life itself with a certain number of people being sensitive to its connection. It didn't matter if the person was high born or low born. The Force apparently chose who it wanted to use its power and required only to carry out its Will when called upon.

In the months that followed being in the cave, Jon had grown stronger in the Force, his connection increasing by leaps and bounds. It got to the point where even the Holocron representation of Dooku was impressed and the image of the infamous Count was not easily impressed by him. The Sith Lord didn't lie when he told Jon his expectations for him were incredibly high. Dooku wanted Jon to have a deep connection to the Force and be able to use it power immediately when called upon.

And right now, Jon was using the Force to look into the past. When Dooku told Jon about how one can use the Force during mediations to see the past and look into the future, the boy wanted to try looking into the past. When Dooku asked why he wanted to look into the past over the future, Jon answered that he wanted to see if the Force could reveal who his Mother was. He had never been told and his Father had never told him for one reason or another. Jon suspected whoever his Mother was, she was someone important, a high born lady of a powerful House, but due to being in a noticeable position so she could not take him. OR she was a whore from a one night stand his Father had during a moment of weakness during Robert's Rebellion and only took him back to Winterfell because honor demanded it.

Either way, Jon had to know. He needed to know. Not knowing who his own Mother was made him feel like he was walking around with his soul being incomplete. He deserved to know.

And it was in this moment that Jon saw it. He saw everything.

He was standing in a desert. He could feel the intense heat of the region coming down on him like cold did in the North. A tall tower nearby and two men in armor bearing the three headed dragon sigil of House Targaryen standing guard. He knew one of them was Ser Gerold Hightower and the second man was the legendary knight and Kingsguard Ser Arthur Dayne.

The Sword of the Morning.

Jon soon heard horses coming off in the distance and saw they were Northerners carrying the banner of House Stark. As they got closer, he saw one of the riders was Ned Stark and he was clearly ready for a fight.

"Lord Stark," replied Ser Arthur causally.

"I looked for you on the battlefield at the Trident. Your Prince died there and you failed to protect him," remarked Ned Stark with Arthur not taking the bait.

As for Jon, he was confused by this since the only Prince at the time of this was Prince Rheagar Targaryen. What did the Prince have to do with his Mother? And why was his Father here in what could only be Dorne?

"We weren't there," replied Ser Arthur Dayne casually.

"Your friend, the Usurper, would lie beneath the ground if we had been," Ser Gerold Hightower added.

"The Mad King is dead. Rheagar lies beneath the ground. Why weren't you there to protect your prince?" questioned Ned Stark.

"Our Prince wanted us here," answered Ser Arthur Dayne as if the reply itself was all the group in front of him needed to know.

Ned Stark looked up at the tower above them. The tension between the two sides slowly growing and the anger in the future Warden of the North's face growing.

"Where's my sister?" asked Ned at last with his mind already suspecting something and it was not pleasant.

"I wish you good fortune in the wars to come," replied Ser Arthur Dayne while giving the people in front of him a small smile on his face before putting on his helmet.

And in this moment, Jon saw the look of caution on Ned Stark's face.

"And now it begins," remarked Ser Arthur Dayne before he and Ser Gerold drew their swords.

"No. Now it ends," countered Ned Stark before he and his companions drew their own weapons.

Jon watched in fascination at how two members of the Kingsguard could hold their own against three times their numbers. He was shocked and saddened to see Ser Gerold fall in battle at the hands of Ned Stark, but the real fighting surrounded Ser Arthur Dayne. He cut through the men around him like they were nothing. The man's skill with his two swords could possibly rival the skills of even Count Dooku himself the Sith Lord didn't use the Force to shift things in his favor if called upon.

The Count had shared his own memories of his past sword battles he had when using a weapon called a Lightsaber and how his skills with it were almost unmatched by those the man knew in life. So to see someone like Ser Arthur Dayne fight and cut through multiple opponents was simply inspiring despite the man was killing Stark bannermen with those skills.

And was confused with how when facing Lord Stark one on one, Ser Arthur Dayne was winning since everyone knew the man had fallen in battle to the former. So how is it that a man with such skill with not one, but two swords like Ser Arthur Dayne could lose to Ned Stark?

The answer came in the form of Howland Reed. A loyal bannerman of House Stark Jon had met only a couple times in the past when the man visited Winterfell. A man who was thought to have been struck down first by the Sword of the Morning when the battle first started. In truth, he had only been severely wounded and out for the rest of the fighting. Only for him to see an opening when Ser Arthur Dayne was moving in for the final strike against Ned Stark and stabbed the knight in the back through the chest. With the Sword of the Morning now on his knees and severally injured, but surprisingly not dead, Ned Stark took the man's own sword and struck him down with it.

Not long after Ser Arthur fell, a female cry was heard throughout the tower window right above them. Running up the stairs into the tower and leaving Howland Reed behind in order to rest. Jon however, followed Lord Stark up the stairs to find a woman on a bed, the sheets soaked in blood, surrounded by what he could only believe were handmaidens.

It was here Jon saw events playing out that revealed why the Force had shown him this moment in time. This woman wasn't just anyone. This was Lyanna Stark. The woman who was said to be kidnapped and raped by Rheagar Targaryen, which caused the North to join Robert's Rebellion to bring down the Targaryen Dynasty.

Only now, Jon was hearing her confession of how everything Ned knew about the war was a lie. How she never loved Robert or wanted to marry him. How she even told him as such, but the drinking and whore loving man wouldn't listen. He saw her as a prize to be claimed. A trophy to parade around for all to see while he strut around claiming the she-wolf has been tamed by his hands. Lyanna confessed how Rheagar and even Ned's own brother Benjen knew this, but kept silent to protect Ned's friendship with Robert. How she loved Rheagar and married him. She told Ned the named of the location where they married under the Old Gods and New. She even named who was there to perform the ceremony and how there was no doubt a copy of it at the Citadel to slowly gather dust.

She told Ned how Elia Martell and Rheagar annulled their marriage so the Prince could marry her. She told him where to find the documents needed to prove it. Lyanna even said how she has sent their Father messages claiming Rheagar's innocence and there was no kidnapping. Why those message never reached their family, Lyanna did not know, but suspected foul play on someone's part to ensure the war happened. How someone wanted to take down the Targaryen Dynasty and ensure someone else was on the Iron Throne.

Ned of course was telling Lyanna she was speaking nonsense on her part about that due to her current situation and to focus on the here and now.

Ignoring her brother's attempts to redirect their conversation, Lyanna finally mentioned how she feared Robert's wrath on her now born child. How the child was Rheagar's son, who she brought into the world, and was now the Heir to the Iron throne by right. She had begged her brother to protect the child from Robert and Tywin Lannister along with those who would use the babe for their own benefit when he was fully grown.

She even told Ned Stark the child's name before her death.

And it was here Jon realized that the boy Lyanna Stark had brought into the world was in fact him. Jon Snow was a name Lord Stark had given him to hide the boy from everyone, but his true name was in fact Aegon.

Aegon Stark Targaryen.

He was a true born. Not a bastard.

He was not just true born, but a high born.

No. Not just high born. A Prince!

A Prince and Heir to the Iron Throne and future ruler of the Seven Kingdoms!

And just as that thought came into his mind, the vision shattered like glass with darkness surrounding him once more.

As well as the cave ground.

{"You lost concentration. You haven't done that since your first day attempting to mediate and reach out to the Force. What happened?"} commented Dooku curiously.

So the boy told him. He told him everything. The truth. All of it. How Robert's Rebellion was a lie. How Prince Rheagar didn't kidnap Lyanna Stark and rape her like everyone had assumed. How they had married and had a child. A son. Him. How his name was not Jon Snow the bastard child of Ned Stark. But rather he was Prince Aegon Stark Targaryen.

And future King of the Seven Kingdoms...provided he made a claim to the Iron Throne.

"My whole life up until I met you was a lie. My name. My position in life. Even my own destiny. Lord Stark was never going to tell me the truth, was he?" asked Aegon with the figure of Count Dooku looking like he was deep in thought.

{"Possibly. It does sound like your Uncle cared more about preserving his friends right to be King over protecting you properly. Had Ned Stark really cared about your well being, he would have told his wife the truth later on in private and together they plan to make it look like she was willing to accept you among the family. The fact he did not means the man was worried about you possibly growing strong in all aspects and possibly opposing the current King for your right to rule,"} answered Dooku with Aegon clenching his fists in anger.

"He had no right to deny me the truth for this long! I can understanding how my Uncle had to protect me from the likes of Robert and Tywin Lannister, but that was when I was a weak and helpless child! Would it have been so bad to tell me when I was old enough to understand? Or tell his wife so she wouldn't hate me so much as she does right now?" questioned Aegon with Dooku shaking his head while not liking how Ned Stark had let this boy become so badly damaged on different levels without even realizing it was happening.

{"Indeed. He had no right to deny you the opportunity to stake your rightful claim on the Iron Throne and being King of the Seven Kingdoms. Though I also suspect there is more to this situation then we both know. Or even your Uncle knows. When possible, try to look into the past through the Force. See if it will reveal to you more of the situation and if everything else is above suspicion. Though I have a feeling it is not,"} commented Count Dooku with Aegon nodding.

"I also want to see into the future. Or possible future I would have had if I didn't run into this cave and found you," said Aegon with Dooku nodding.

{"Acceptable. But first, you need to know more about this past which is connected to you. Only by learning about it and the truth can you make a true future for yourself,"} replied Dooku with Aegon nodding since his Master had a point.

He would rest first before making the attempt again. Seeing into the past takes a lot out of you.