No.

Surely it had all been a dream? Please, let it just be a dream.

Let me just be back in my bed in Winterfell. Jon and Robb will come into my room and throw snow onto me to wake me up before training. I will go out riding with the boys, I'll play with Rickon, mess around with Arya, I'll spite Lady Stark as usual, I'll read with Sansa.

Everything will be normal.

Father will be there, laughing at Arya and Bran chasing after each other whilst we all train. I'll go to him whilst I'm having a break to ask if he thinks I could go to the wall. He'll write a letter to uncle Benjen and maybe, just maybe, I'll become the first woman of the Night's Watch.

Everything would be normal.

There would be no South. No Cersei to spite her, no Joffrey to be cruel to her. She wouldn't have to be queen to someone who orders her torture and their son's execution. She wouldn't have to be legitimised. She would be a bastard again and there would only the North, and her family.

Everything would be normal.

Nothing was normal, Lyanna realised as she woke to howling. A stabbing pain in the chest told her that as soon as she opened her eyes. Vision blurry, she struggled to remember what happened yesterday and how she ended up back in her room, until she remembered. The memories of it all flashed through her mind, the sight of her father just before his death and then nothing, as she'd closed her eyes like a coward. And then... Brandon... her little boy.

She didn't want to live anymore.

Joffrey had taken the man who raised her and her son. She wasn't going to let him take her too.

Except he already had. He'd taken her hand in marriage. He'd taken her maidenhead. He'd taken her dignity. He'd made her bare him a son that he would have killed not three weeks later. He'd ordered her to be tortured in front of the whole court. He made her stand and watch as her father was killed and then watch as they murdered her baby son. Just to spite her for being a Stark.

She wasn't even a Stark, not a true one anyway. She was a Targaryen, though that wouldn't help the situation anymore. She was a Snow. Always a Snow. Born a Snow, die a Snow. That was what she was going to make sure of now.

As if she could read her mind, Winter jumped onto the bed, diving on Lyanna's chest, licking her face. It was then she realised she had been crying, sobbing even. Her chest ached badly and her head was spinning. Her eyes were blurry and her throat hoarse from holding in cries. It was no use holding it in, she realised, and dissolved into real tears.

At first, she knew why she was crying. She was crying for Ned. He was her father, even if genetics stated him as her uncle. He'd raised her. He'd married her off to a monster. He'd been beheaded. She cried for the life she had with him, the life he gave her because he was too kind to let her starve.

Then, slowly, she dissolved into sobbing, then into screaming through thick tears, all whilst losing her purpose for crying. She no longer knew who she was crying for. She didn't know if she was crying for her dead father, for Robb, who was marching off to war, her son, who didn't even live long enough to see the horrible world he could have lived in, or for herself, trapped in King's Landing with the man who'd ordered her father and son's death. Soon, she was crying so much she was suffocating and gasping for air as well as screaming what felt like non-stop. It felt like the pain would never end, both mental and physical.

Finally, she heard a small knock on the door before it opened. Lyanna didn't bother to look up; she knew it was Alize. Poor Alize, who had been pulled into this game, not wanting to play. When Lyanna eventually looked at her, she saw yellow and purple bruises gracing her cheeks and any other parts of flesh Lyanna could see. She remembered seeing the poor handmaiden collapse on stage, and instantly thought of all the pain she must have gone through before she fainted, before she unknowingly gave Brandon away to Joffrey.

"Alize..." she began, trailing off when she realised she couldn't find the words. Alize looked wide-eyed for a moment, before looking down, her face the image of utter sadness. "I'm so, so sorry, you didn't deserve any of what happened, I'm sorry I dragged you into this mess,"

Alize looked down at the ground before choking out "You've had it worse,"

The memories flooded back again and Lyanna struggled to stop herself from screaming again. It hurt so damned much thinking about her family but she couldn't stop. She wondered if Robb, Bran, Rickon and Jon knew about their father yet. She wanted to go home to them all, but Robb was at war now, and Jon was at the wall. Everything was so different now to how it used to be.

"One month when I was five, I think, Jon and I got sick, really sick to the extent they thought we'd both die," Lyanna sighed out, the memories which had once been painful now nostalgic and light, merely because they involved Jon.

"I recovered a lot faster than Jon. It got to the point where no one thought he would make it through the night. It was the worst day of my life, because I couldn't be with my brother. I kept sneaking out of my room to go sit by his door, but Lady Stark, who was inside with him, kept calling for my father, who would carry me back to bed. It was the worst pain I had ever felt, the thought of not having Jon anymore. It felt like a dagger to my chest... but I would take fifty of them now, just to get away from this pain," As she finished, she broke down and wept, her dire wolf jumping up to lick the tears from her cheeks. Alize knelt by her, her had on Lyanna's back, careful not to hurt the wounds Joffrey had given her.

"I want to go home, I want my brothers, and my sisters, I want to get out of this shit hole and I want to go back to how things used to be," she choked out, running her fingers through Winter's thick fur. "But... if I go back, Joffrey will know where I've gone. If I leave for Winterfell, they'll follow me, sack the city and kill my little brothers, all whilst making me watch. If I go to Castle Black, they'll kill me and Jon, not like they appreciate the fact that we'd protect the kingdom from the Others. If I go to Robb, they'll follow me and surprise him with thousands of soldiers and kill us both. Anywhere I go..."

"I believe the true solution is to go to the east and go to family that no one knows you have," they heard a soft voice say in the doorway. Looking up, Lyanna saw Lord Varys, the master of whispers, holding a sword which could only be Ice. Jumping up quickly at the sight of the blade, she ran over to him and took it out of his grip.

"Where'd you find this, and how'd you know about my family?" She demanded. If her face wasn't bruised and red from tears, her body half naked, only covered by a torn grey dress, and if she hadn't looked so broken and damaged, maybe she'd have looked threatening as she held out the great sword.

"My little birds are everywhere, even in the east, and they all sing about another dragon princess, a forgotten Targaryen," she said in a soft voice which made both girls uneasy. "I was so very sorry to see your uncle killed yesterday, as well as your son. So much potential lost, he could have been a good ruler,"

"You aren't here to remind me of what I lost yesterday, I fucking know, I was there!" She spat, more angry than upset.

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to hurt you more," he apologised. "You know that this city is dangerous, as well as the rest of Westeros. You would have been a good Queen, but it's too late for that now. You must go to the east and find Daenerys Targaryen. My birds sing that she is in a similar situation to you, her husband dead as well as her son, and no other family, except for you. If you go to the east and find her, if you teach her the ways of the West, you could shape her into being a great ruler,"

"My loyalty is to house Stark and the North. My uncle fought against her family and her father killed mine, as well as my grandfather," she hissed, not remembering the pact she made with herself to track down Daenerys.

"And your loyalty will remain to the north, but, for the good of the realm, and your family, go east, I beg you," he said, almost pleading. Sighing, she nodded.

"How am I going to get there, ride?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"A ship is waiting for you in the harbour with your horse, and your dragon egg,"

Her dragon egg! She hadn't thought of that since Stannis had given it to her. How could she forget her dragon egg? It didn't matter now though, she wouldn't forget it easily again as it seemed like she'd be carrying it around Essos.

"Fine, if you insist on me going, but I will not leave Winter or Alize here," she nodded.

"I will escort your hand maiden to the ship now, if it will make you feel safer," he suggested, to which Alize nodded, despite Lyanna's hesitant face. It wasn't like she had a choice though, as Alize was already leaving before she had chance to disagree with the idea. "I may not see you again, Lady Stark, so good luck," Varys said, before leaving with Alize.

"Wait! What about Sansa?" Lyanna shouted after him. The eunuch turned around at her words.

"Worry not for your sister, she knows how to survive in this game," he said simply. Lyanna had her doubts, but he was right. Plus, if she went to find Sansa now, she would put the plan in danger. Sansa was stronger than Lyanna when it came to the game of thrones, and she'd survive where Lyanna wouldn't. Although it hurt her to think about Sansa stuck here in danger, the thought of her being rescued by Robb put her mind at rest. She had heard it be mentioned that he was advancing further and further south by the day. With the rage of his father's death, whose to say he wouldn't reach King's Landing within a few weeks and rescue Sansa?

Wiping her reddened cheeks as she stood in front of her mirror, she picked up her dagger, twiddling in around in her fingers. If Lyanna was to escape, she had to change how she looked. Her hair had to go.

Lyanna wrapped a lock of her hair around her shaking hand before slicing the dagger across the hair quickly, cutting it shorter than she ever wanted her hair to be. She quickly worked on the rest of her hair until it was to her jaw in a messy pixie cut. Lyanna once had a very severe hair cut from Lady Catelyn when she was eight which left her with short hair and a self vow that she would never have her hair that short again. She would have given anything to go back to that time where fickle things like hairstyles and Catelyn's meanness towards Jon and herself mattered.

Lyanna scooped the cut hair up from the floor and threw it in the fire. The hair was evidence that she had changed her appearance, which would mean she would be just as recognisable as before. Lyanna also stripped out of her dress, throwing that on the fire also before quickly changing into her leather armour, the wolf of house Stark embedded into the shoulders. They had been a gift from her father for her fifteenth name day. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but in reality, it was only five months ago. She knew that having her sidgil on her clothes was dangerous, but she refused to cut them out or wear something different. It wasn't like she was only wearing wolves on her leathers, as she still had her Stark pendant hanging around her neck. She attached the golden dragon which had been her mother's to the chain next to the wolf. To hide it all, she threw a light black cloak over her shoulders.

She grabbed her bow, slinging it over her shoulder before filling her quiver with wooden arrows and the golden ones Jon had given her, attaching Joffrey's wedding sword (which she had named Avenger) to her belt as well as sliding her dagger back into her boot. She looked at Ice sadly, thinking about how it should be Robb's, but now it was undeservedly hers. Sniffing slightly, she clipped it on her belt next to Avenger. Within five minutes, she was heading towards one of the secret exits, an arrow in her bow, Winter at her heels, sprinting quietly, keeping in the shadows, away from noise and light.

'So much for the wall', she thought miserably.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Long time no see!

Oh my Sith Lord, you guys, this fic has hit over 4K! I'm so so happy! Thank you so much to my diligent and loyal readers for getting me and Lyanna to this point. I will forever be grateful to you for getting me this far, and here's to all the other milestones you'll get me to!

I did have some people a little upset/angry/devastated by the last chapter. Hahaha. Sorry, not laughing at the fact that I killed a baby, but laughing at the fact someone compared me to GRRM. I was so happy with the response to the last chapter, it really made me think that this story is half decent if I got an impressive reaction to it.

What do you guys think to this twist? I'd love for you to leave me a comment telling me what you think about Lyanna and Daenerys meeting soon. Dany used to be one of my favourite characters (now its Brienne/Meera/Sansa) and I'm super excited to write her. Also, I just wanna say I've been on a Pixar high lately and the name of this chapter made me laugh so much, as it just reminded me of Dory. I swear, I can't say escape normally after watching Finding Nemo!

Stay tuned for the next chapter,

~Olivia