"Sometimes those with the most power have the least grace." - littlefinger

"The King in the North." Stannis mocked Robb when he descended off his horse.

"Stannis." Robb looked at him. Grey Wind growled the minute he saw Stannis standing there, the wolf bared his teeth and took some daring steps towards the Baratheon.

"Why did you put my brother and guardian in chains?" Robb asked with a glare, it even send shivers running down Elena's spine. She was standing next to Jon, behind Stannis and ser Davos. They both were in chains, one binding their hands together and one around their feet.

"I am the rightful king of the seven kingdoms, they serve the wrong man." Stannis said, clearly not afraid of Robb or Grey Wind. Stannis didn't fear wolfs, Elena did not know what he did fear but she was planning to find out.

"You don't have the Seven Kingdoms." Robb stated simply.

"And you don't have the North." Stannis said.

"All right, girls, stop arguing. You sound like some housewives deciding who the leader is. After all we know who would win if this comes to a fight." Damon sighed and leaned back against his horse. Robb and Stannis both turned to glare at him when Damon smiled and put his hand in the air.

"Me." Damon smirked. Robb rolled his eyes in annoyance and face palmed himself while Stannis raised his eyebrows at him.

"Give me my brother and guardian back." Robb said after a deep sigh. "Then I will let you pass without any further violence."

"You're an usurper, give me one reason why Stannis shouldn't kill you." Ser Davos stepped forward.

"Because I will kill him first." Robb narrowed his eyes at him, looking almost just as dangerous as his wolf beside him.

"Could you guys stop it already?!" Elena yelled and stepped forward, pulling on her chains in annoyance. "You need each other, you both may be too damn proud to say it but you know it. Stannis, you need Robb to get through the North safely and to pass the Twins. You also need his army seeing yours isn't very loyal or accustomed to the weather here. Winter is coming and I don't think your soldiers will survive without the help of true northerners." Elena said while looking at Stannis. Then she turned to Robb, her eyes and tone softening while looking at him.

"Robb, you also need his army. You know you can't defeat the Boltons and Lannisters with what we have now, not even now that we have Steven and all the others with us." Elena ranted but her voice was much softer as she spoke to Robb. "You both need to make a deal, work together. It's the only way."

"What if I decide to kill the usurper right where he stands?" Stannis said. Robb immediately narrowed his eyes again, grasping for his sword.

"Then you will have to go through me." Steven said and stepped forward, unwrapping his brown wings.

"I've got more than 10 000 men on the Wall, they will shoot you and your army down the minute they see something is wrong." Robb stated and took a step towards Stannis, Grey Wind followed him while growling.

"Don't forget the fact that I could easily draw a little smile on your grumpy face without you even realizing what's happening before it's too late." Louis smirked and stepped forward, showing off his slender and pointy wings behind his back.

"True king or not, Elena is right, we need each other to win this war. Winter is coming and the dead rise with it. We can't fight the White Walkers and conquer our enemies at the same time without each other' help." Robb said.

"Stannis..." Robb sighed and closed his eyes. "I have already lost more than I can handle. I don't want to lose more, nor do I want our armies to kill each other because we couldn't make an agreement. My father fought for you, I know he always did the rightful thing even when it meant he would have to sacrifice some things. So I will follow you on one condition: in the end The North will be its own kingdom and I will be its king."

Everyone turned to Stannis, holding in their breaths in anticipation. They knew that if he said no it would follow with a lot of death, possibly their own.

"You will have your kingdom only if you swear me the same vows your father swore to my brother." Stannis said. It was an huge step for him, giving up the North. But he knew it was necessary the moment he laid his eyes on the Guardians in front of him.

Robb nodded and stepped forward, extending his hand for Stannis to take.
"Deal."

~

"You know, after all that has happened I kind of thought you and your little princess would be making little princes right now." Damon chuckled and sat down next to Elena on the edge of the Wall.

She had been sitting there ever since Stannis' army had gone through the tunnel. Right now he and Robb were negotiating in a room down in castle Black.

"It's complicated." Elena sighed with a small smile playing on her lips.

"Well if you look at the way he looks at you, it's very easy." Damon looked at Elena while his feet were dangling of the edge. "For example; I thought he was going to kill Stannis where he stood the moment he saw you in chains, even I had shivers when I saw his eyes."

"Damon, can I ask you something?" Elena asked and turned her body so she could have a better look at him.

"You already did." Damon sighed and looked at the endless forest on the other side of the Wall.

"Why do you make people think that you're the bad guy?" Elena asked either way.

"What do you mean?" Damon frowned.

"People calling you Dark one, you always acting tough and mysterious when around other people, always making up nicknames for everyone, never telling anything about yourself..." Elena sighed and looked at Damon's eyes. She always thought that they were black but in fact, now that she had taken a closer look, she saw that they were dark blue.

"There's a reason I don't tell anything." Damon looked back at Elena. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "Let's just say things didn't really go so well with the people I loved."

"I know the feeling." Elena chuckled sadly and took the doll from Gillian out of her pocket and looked at it.

"How did you get that?!" Damon suddenly stood up immediately, his eyes widening when he saw the doll that was in Elena's hands.

"It's just a doll, I..." Elena stuttered and looked up at the horrified look on Damon's face. "A friend gave it to me."

"You." Sudden realization flashed through his eyes, his brows furrowing. "Of course, how could I have been so stupid?!" Damon groaned and hid his face in his hands, pacing in front of Elena.

"What are you talking about? It's just a doll." Elena held it up before Damon, showing that it was just a wooden doll.

Damon mumbled some things Elena didn't understand and then suddenly flew away, his wings almost knocking Elena down off the Wall. She stared as his body became smaller every second, wondering why the mightiest guardian got afraid of a wooden doll.

~

"Sam!" Elena smiled when she finally found someone she recognized. "Have you seen measter Aemon? I've got something I wanted to show him."

"He's right down this way." Sam said. Elena followed his puffs and groans till the end of some hallway.

"He's a bit tired, just so you know. His health has been not as good as it used to be lately. I fear he doesn't have much time left." Sam sighed sadly.

"Thank you, Sam." Elena smiled at him and then opened the door, finding measter Aemon in his bed.

"The guardian of the North." Measter Aemon smiled and then made an attempt to get out of his bed but his chain around his neck made it a lot harder to do.

"There's no need to get up, measter, I only wanted to ask you something." Elena said and walked towards the side of his bed.

"What is it, child?" Measter Aemon asked with a smile on his face, his blind eyes searching but never finding anything.

"It's this doll my friend gave to me. The other guardian, Damon, The Dark One, he freaked out when he saw it. I was wondering if maybe you could tell me why." Elena said while handing the doll to measter Aemon.

"Ah, I see." Aemon turned the doll and felt it, his fingers tracing every curve on the doll. "It's your father's"

"You mean the doll?" Elena frowned while looking at the wooden piece. Had Gillian known this? Was that why he never let it out of his sight? Why didn't he tell her the doll was her father's'?

"Yes." Measter Aemon confirmed with a smile and gave the doll back to Elena.

"Do you know who my parents are then?" Elena urged, she got nauseous by the thought that maybe she would finally find out who her real parents were.

"Some things you need to find out yourself, child. It's not up to me to tell you these things." Measter Aemon got up from his bed, the chains ringing with every step he took. Elena watched in silence, wondering why he didn't tell her.

"Measter, you're a Targaryen, right?" Elena frowned and looked up at him.

"I am." Aemon confirmed.

"I've heard stories about Damon. Stories that told me that he was Aegon Targaryen's bastard and that that's why he took the throne. But lately I've been doubting that he ever did, he doesn't seem to be someone who would kill for a throne." Elena frowned and looked back up at the measter who was smiling at her. Questions about Damon clouded her mind lately, consuming every thought in her head.

"Aegon fathered more bastards than you know." Aemon smiled.

"But that means that he doesn't necessarily have to be the Dark One..." If Aegon truly fathered more sons, maybe one of them was also a guardian, maybe Damon wasn't the Dark One after all. Elena frowned and looked down. "But why does he call himself that then?"

"Damon is a complex man, my child. Even I can't know everything." The measter said while staring at nothing. Elena nodded silently and looked back down at the doll in her hand. She turned it around and examined it, wondering why her parents only left a wooden doll for her.

~

"He's so ignorant, that red woman has him in the palms of her hand and he doesn't even know." Robb groaned in annoyance, plumping down on the bed. He had ordered several guards to guard the room. Robb also commanded Elena to stay with him that night, he didn't trust the men of the Night's Watch or Stannis' men.

"He calls himself Azor Ahai, whatever that means. Thinks he's the hero that will save everyone from the darkness or something." Robb rolled his eyes while clenching his fists.

"How am I ever going to fight a war with such a stupid man who thinks himself a god?! How?!" Robb groaned and hid his face in his hands.

"I should've just killed him, I should've kept you and Jon behind the Wall so that we could've shot Stannis from it." Robb said and looked up at Elena who was slowly walking towards him.

"He's delusional, thinking that that fire god of his chose him as a champion or something." Robb sighed deeply.

"You need him." Elena said as she placed her hands on Robb's cheeks so she could make him look at her.

"I wish my father could've been here. He was far more wise than me, he always did the right full, honorable thing. I'm just... A boy." Robb looked at Elena's green eyes while he stroked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You're a good king." Elena reassured him while softly tracing his jaw.

"I don't want to be a good king. All I ever wanted was to have my family and you back." Robb whispered softly.

Elena sadly smiled at him, knowing that it was a wish that'd never come true. She leaned down and softly kissed his lips, her hands tangled in his soft auburn hair.

It starts as a simple and gentle kiss but Robb felt it warm her body, making him need more. Robb grasped her arm pulled it to gesture for her to climb on his lap. Elena quickly obliged and straddled him, her fingers tangled in his hair as their lips moved against each other.

Elena lifted Robb's short slightly and moved her hand up his chest. His hands moved up her thigh, pushing her blue dress out of the way. She softly moaned at his touch, her hands moving up his chest.

Both their eyes shot open when suddenly someone knocked on their door. Elena quickly got off his lap, her eyes wild and confused.

"You've got to be kidding me." Robb groaned in annoyance and walked towards the door with furious steps. Before he opened the door he let out a deep sigh, knowing he'd have to behave like a king before his men.

"Your, grace. It's your brother. He went to the other side of the wall with a body of a wildling girl." One of his guards said.

"Right." Robb sighed and closed his eyes.

"Go after him, he will need his brother." Elena said and softly kissed Robb's neck, sending shivers down his spine.

"I will be back soon." Robb nodded.

Elena nodded and let out a sigh, watching as Robb gathered his armor and weapons and then went out the door after giving her a quick kiss on her forehead.

"Steven, please make sure he's all right." Elena spoke mentally, knowing that Steve had the night shift to guard the Wall.

She could hear the soft smile through his voice as Steve responded. "Yes ma'am."

author's note

Hellooo there ;)

A short time ago I discovered that most of you readers are from America or England. Knowing myself I have a lot of typos/grammar mistakes. So pleaaaase forgive me for my poor english  'cause I'm from Holland, okay?

Also, I've been quite sick lately so please forgive me if the last part was complete rubbish. The dedication will also be a bit late seeing I can't look on my phone who voted last 'cause my parents stole it, dammit. But it will be up as soon as possible though!

For this chapter I wanted you guys to comment your theories about Damon/the Dark One! Who he is, why his is what he is and so you go on. I just really want to know your thoughts ;)

So that was it for this chapter, see you next one!