It was over. It was won. Lyanna could barely believe it, and though all of her body hurt and her stomach was creasing over in severe pains, she still felt the joy of the victory. Except as soon as the rest of the force came through, Lyanna began to feel overwhelmed by everything, her head spinning and the baby kicking harshly, to the extent she found herself collapsing onto the floor, falling back, her back resting against the hard stone walls she had dreamed about for so long, her head on her knees. Her hands found their way to her belly and her thumb began to stroke where the babe was gently, panic seeping in that something was wrong with the child, hoping that the stress of the battle hadn't made the child ill. She took in slow, deep breaths, trying to calm herself and her body down. Eventually she felt someone kneeling by her and she lifted her head to see Jon.

"Are you hurt? Are you alright?" he asked urgently, his eyes darting over her quickly to check for injuries.

"I'm fine, just-" she considered telling him about the baby then, but stopped herself, biting her lip. "We're home, Jon,"

He offered her his hand, pulling her into a tight embrace. Though standing brought the stomach cramps from the baby on more, she breathed through it, attempting to act as though everything was fine. Over Jon's shoulder, she saw Garlan and Loras dismounting from their horses, and the sight made her grin.

"We would have lost if not for the Tyrell's," Jon admitted. "I'm assuming it's you I should thank for writing to them?"

"It was Sansa's idea," Lyanna shrugged, beckoning over her brothers-by-law. "But you can thank the Tyrell's yourself,"

"If it isn't our favourite Stark," Garlan called to her as they approached. "Good to see you're alive,"

"Only because of you, I can't tell you how relieved I was to see you riding over the hill," Lyanna grinned, pulling both Loras and Garlan into a tight embrace. As she pulled way, she remembered Jon. "Loras, Garlan, this is my twin brother Jon. Jon, this is Garlan and Loras, my brothers-by-law,"

It seemed as if the Tyrell's and Jon were sizing each other up in that moment, Jon looking the two other men up and down as they did the same to him. It wasn't as if they were distrustful of each other, more like Jon was examining the men who had protected Lyanna in High Garden, whilst Loras and Garlan were checking Jon out as if he was a legend; they had heard so much about him, after all.

"So you're Jon Snow," Loras finally commented, with a slight smirk as he looked at Jon once more, except this time he was looking for his own enjoyment.

"Good to finally meet you," Garlan spoke, stepping in front of Loras, knowing his brother's thoughts. He held his hand out and after a second, Jon took it, nodding seriously.

"I guess we owe our lives to you, Lord Tyrell's," Jon nodded thankfully.

"Oh please, no formalities, we're family," Garlan grinned. "Not just to us, you should thank Lyanna for writing to us, and our poor dear father for allowing us to ride north whilst he went back to Kings Landing to assure good King Tommen about our allegiance to the throne,"

"Your father is in King's Landing?" Lyanna exclaimed, feeling almost horrified.

"We thought it would be best if one of us would go to assure Cersei we're on their side," Loras explained. "Margaery did volunteer to go, she thought that if she married the king that would be reassurance in itself but also would help you by having someone you can trust in the south. We wouldn't let her though, or at least Willas wouldn't,"

"Where is he?" Lyanna exclaimed again, though this time in excitement.

"He was riding behind the army with the rest last we heard," Garlan shrugged.

"The rest?" Jon asked with a small laugh, raising an eyebrow.

"As if our grandmother would be left behind, she insisted on travelling north," Garlan laughed with a small shake of his head. "And then there's Siane with little Brandon, along with her sisters and brother, the ones who didn't ride with us at least,"

At this, Lyanna grinned. Alize's family, the ones she had promised to look after were all to be at Winterfell soon. She had to admit that she'd failed them to selfishly look after her own family, but there was another person who had made the same promise to Alize, and Lyanna knew that wherever Alize's family was, Eryk would be with them.

It was right on cue then, that a knight galloped into the courtyard through the wide open gates. At least he looked like a knight, one from the stories Lyanna used to hate from her childhood. His armour was shining, imprinted with the Tyrell rose on one shoulder and the Tully trout on the other. His horse was pure black like the night and when it reared slightly as he pulled it to halt, the knight didn't seem phased.

Once halted, the knight pulled his helmet off, shaking out his shaggy brown hair, Lyanna realised this wasn't a knight, it was Eryk. They saw each other at the same time, so as soon as he halted his horse, he leapt off, sprinting over to her, and before she had chance to move to embrace him, he'd already gotten hold of her, engulfing her tightly, practically lifting her off the floor.

"Lyanna! Oh, Lyanna, Lyanna!" He cheered. "You've done it, you always said you'd get back to Winterfell, you always told Alize and I you'd do it, and you have!"

At the mention of Alize, Lyanna noticed a mournful glint glaze over his eyes, though the joyous smile didn't fade from his face. Instead, he simply grinned at her, setting Lyanna back down on the floor, before turning to the Tyrell's and Jon.

"I think we handled that quite well, my lords? Did you see how they fled?" He spoke rather excitedly to Loras and Garlan, making Lyanna realise that Eryk staying in High Garden was the making of him. He was no longer the shy, scared slave she had met in Quarth.

"And you must be Jon Snow, Lyanna's told me so much about you," Eryk turned to Jon, grabbing hold of his arm excitedly. "All she ever used to talk about was what the two of you did growing up. Oh, Lyanna! I can't believe it!"

"Eryk..." Lyanna began, letting out a small laugh in surprise. "I can't believe it either, you're so different. I'm so proud of you, Alize would be too, Eryk,"

"I'm Ser Eryk Rowe now," he explained with a small smirk. "Willas had me made a knight, and I gave myself a surname inspired by Rivers, because of where I was from, and Snow because of, well, you. Siane and the others took the name too, since they were Flowers before, and I knew that Alize would have wanted it this way. Actually... Kianna, Kirane!"

Eryk shouted the names as the rest of the troops piled through the gates. Many of them were injured, limping, holding on to friends to get them through. In this crowd, Lyanna watched as a tall brunette, towering over half the men darted over to Eryk, an excited grin coming onto her face as she waved excitedly, followed by a more sullen boy at the same height with the same hair. The boy had an arrow lodged in his shoulder, but the confidence in his walk suggested that he was trying not to take notice of it as if not to see weak in front of all the other soldiers who were evidently older and more experienced than him.

"You're Alize's brother and sister aren't you?" Lyanna asked as soon as they came near her. The two of them nodded, and Lyanna felt her heart ache slightly. "I'm so sorry. I- I miss her everyday. She'd be so proud of you, in fact, I'm proud of you. I didn't expect to see another woman here,"

"You said bring our best fighters, Kianna Rowe is one of our best fighters," Garlan pointed out with a grin. "I believe she could give you a run for your money,"

"Well, maybe we'll have to spar together one day," Lyanna suggested, raising an eyebrow at the challenge.

Kianna beamed proudly and looked as if she was about to say something, except that was when two northmen came through the gates, carrying a stretcher. Jon grabbed Lyanna's arm, pulling her out of her little bubble of happiness, reminding her of what caused it all. It was like the one gentle grab of her arm had thrown her back into reality, a harsh return to the difficult world they all lived in.

"I'm sorry, I've... we need to go," she excused herself nervously, and as soon as the words had left her she began to run.

When she saw the body of her little brother laid out on the stretcher, Lyanna began to sob, any previous feelings of happiness being drained from her very being. Her shaking hand reached out to stroke his face, aged way beyond his ten years, and whilst her eyes saw him, her mind failed to take in any details. It was as if her mind was protecting her, understanding all the pain she had already gone through and deciding to block the rest out as a coping technique. That being said, she still wept, crying into Jon's shoulder as her stomach aches horribly, reminding her of when her father had been injured in Kings Landing.

"He looks like father..." she managed to say, the only details of his face she could see reminding her of those borne by Ned Stark.

"Have him a placed in the crypts with his father," Jon told those holding the stretcher up.

"I have Robb's bones on my ship back at the wall too, have my men bring him home to his family too, please," Lyanna added, managing to regain herself slightly, before turning to Jon again. "Have them pull down the Bolton banners and burn them. Put the Stark ones back where they belong, I'm going to go find Sansa,"

Lyanna could have walked to the kennels blindfolded. Everywhere around Winterfell was exactly the same. It was like she was fourteen again, and on the walk to find Sansa, she couldn't help but look up to the balcony, half expecting Lord Stark to be there. When she didn't see him, the reality of being home without half of her family dawned on her completely and she almost began to cry again, her hormones and grief messing with her once more. She managed to get a grip on her emotions though before they could show, and continued on walking, off to find her sister, who she knew would be in a worse position than herself.

However, she didn't need to head down to the kennels like she thought she would have to, instead seeing Sansa lock up the gates just as Lyanna reached them. Lady was at her side, the wolf's ears pricked up excitedly, her grey muzzle stained bright red. Lyanna didn't need to ask, she knew what had happened. The blood on Lady, the agonising screams coming from the kennels below, and the small smirk Sansa was wearing.

"I'm proud of you, Sansa," Lyanna sighed at the sight of her sister, who couldn't quite meet her eye. "It's difficult to... do what you just did. I remember my first man, I did it on instinct, but he'd never hurt me before, not like Ramsay did to you. He deserved it,"

"It felt good," she admitted, the smile appearing again. Lyanna knew that the meek little lady she had grown up with was now gone. "Don't you wish that you could have done the same?"

"You mean kill Joffrey?" Lyanna frowned. "used to dream about it every night in the east. It was the only thing that got me through everything, imagining all the ways I could make him suffer. In the end it wasn't me that killed him, and yes that did hurt at first, but if I thought about it for too long it would have destroyed me in anger and I guess jealousy. I personally would have stabbed him repeatedly in the stomach, stabbed his eyes out, cut his tongue out with a serated knife and then I would have set fire to him, but I guess poison did the job well enough, and anyway I guess he killed himself that way. His cockiness killed him, but Ramsay... well, you did that. You saw it, you set those dogs and Lady on him, and that was the most painful death he could have ever received,"

Sansa appeared shocked at first, her mouth falling open slightly but then she laughed, pulling Lyanna into a tight hug, so tight that when the baby moved, Sansa could feel it. She jumped away in surprise, her eyes wide as if she'd forgotten. Lyanna laughed slightly, linking her arm through Sansa's as hse began to lead her off to go see the Stark banners being put back up.

"Are you going to tell Jon now?" Sansa asked cautiously, not mentioning the matter of Lyanna's pregnacy overtly, knowing that any northerner walking past would hear.

"Soon, there's still a lot that we need to do first,"

"I never did congratulate you on it all,"

"Congratulations to you too, Sansa," Lyanna smirked. "I may be pregnant, but we're home, and we owe a lot of our cause to you. We're Starks, and we're conquerers now too,"

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Word count: 2301

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