"This is where I say my goodbyes." Gillian sighed. They were in front of an inn. Eddard, Robb and Elena were travelling towards King's Landing for king Robert's birthday. Only Gillian couldn't accompany them the whole way. His father had commanded him to come home, he had been gone for months.

"I'm going to miss you." Elena pouted and hugged Gillian tightly, breathing in the scent of his hair.

"Don't kill him." Gillian chuckled and withdrew from the hug. "Robb's mine to kill."

"Sure thing." Elena smiled. She was still shocked about the last time she saw Robb, he had kissed her. Since then Elena had been avoiding him, even during the journey. But now that Gillian was going she'd have no choice but to talk to him.

"Hey," Gillian smiled at her while putting his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. If he does something like that again just kick him right in the nuts and he would never even think about kissing you again."

"It's not him I'm worried about." Elena looked up at Gillian, seeing his expression change from happy to confused.

"What are you saying?" Gillian swallowed nervously, taking his hand of off her shoulder.

"You know what I mean." Elena tried to make him look at her.

"You love him." Gillian looked down at the ground while swallowing back the lump that was forming in his throat. He looked away at the trees beside them to try and hide the tears that were forming in his eyes.

"I know it's crazy but I..." Elena sighed and fiddled with her fingers, not really noticing how Gillian actually felt. "He has been almost nothing but an asshole towards me but still he..."

"There's no need to explain." Gillian interrupted her suddenly, his voice hard and cold. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to contain his emotions.

"It's okay, I understand." Gillian lied and faked a smile when he looked back up at Elena. "Anyway, I've got to go."

"I know." Elena looked down at the ground. She knew something was troubling her friend yet she didn't put any mind to it.

"Goodbye Elena." Gillian smiled and softly kissed her forehead.

"Bye." Elena smiled nervously, watching as he mounted his horse and drove away.

~

"Where's Gillian?" Robb said when he galloped towards Elena the next morning. Elena's body immediately tensed, remembering that Eddard didn't want anything to happen between them. She'd try and keep that promise, Eddard was the only reason why she was still breathing air. This was the only way to repay him.

"He went back home." Elena said, avoiding eye contact with Robb. She kept on staring at the Kingsroad with the reins tightly in her hands.

"Look, Elena." Robb took her horse's reins in his hands, pulling them both to a stop. He looked at his father who was driving at the front of the group.

"We can't avoid each other for the rest of our lives." He looked back at Elena when Eddard didn't notice anything. "And I do not regret the decision I made."

"We can't." Elena said, looking down at her horse. "We can't be together, you know that."

"You're a lord and I'm just a guardian. I'm no highborn lady, I don't even know how to curtsy." Elena looked at Robb's blue eyes. "You're the heir to Winterfell. People expect you to marry another highborn. High chance you'll be marrying a Lannister or a Tyrell, Not a guardian whose last name doesn't even ring a bell to the lowest of lords."

"That's not the real reason you avoid me." Robb said, looking deeply into her eyes. "I know you don't care about politics or any of these things. You don't care that I'm a lord. There's something else that's holding you back."

Elena bit on her lip and diverted her eyes away from him. She tried to make her horse ride away but Robb rode his in front of hers, blocking her way. She knew she couldn't tell him about the promise she'd made with his father.

"Is it Gillian?" Robb frowned.

"No!" Elena groaned and hid her face in her hands. "Just let me pass."

"Not until you tell me what's going on." Robb urged. He was happy to hear that she didn't love Gillian. He had always thought that there was something happening between those two.

"That's note a very lord-like thing to do." Elena narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're also not talking to me like I'm a lord so why should I behave like one around you?" A smile found its way onto his lips.

"I do not address you as a lord because you've always acted like a dick around me." Elena lifted one eyebrow at him.

"What did you just say?" Robb laughed while making his horse walk closer to her.

"You heard me." Elena smiled, her belly tingling in a weird way when he looked at her. She readied her horse so it could run away quickly.

"I will get you, you little..." Robb laughed when Elena suddenly galloped away. He followed her into the woods, jumping over twigs and roots in his way. He could see Elena in front of him, her long white hair blowing in the wind along with her dark blue cape. He heard her laugh when she noticed him following her, the sound of her chuckles filling the air around them as he chased her through the woods.

After a while he couldn't even see her anymore, he could only hear her chuckles and her horse's footsteps. When he didn't hear that anymore he stopped, pulling on the reins while looking around nervously.

"Elena?!" He yelled and looked around. He got afraid that maybe Wildlings or any man had taken her again just like last time. He could still remember everything clearly, the way the wildlings held her tightly with her dress half torn apart.

"Elena!!" He yelled again and grasped for his sword when he heard someone sneaking up on him. His heartbeat fastened but his mind however, relaxed. He had been training years for this, for war.

"Woah!" Robb yelled when suddenly a horse jumped out of the bushes. He almost fell of his horse, now trying to calm the animal by stroking his neck softly.

"I got you good, didn't I?" Elena laughed while letting her horse walk circles around Robb.

"I think you've been spending way too much time with Arya lately." Robb laughed, his nerves finally going away.

"Maybe you should too." Elena smirked, guiding her horse further into the forest.

"And why is that?" Robb followed her, grasping the reins in one hand while putting his sword back in its sheath.

"Because you're always so stern, cold, emotionless and just... not yourself it seems." Elena frowned while looking at the path before them. "Arya could help you loosen up."

"I'm going to be the lord of Winterfell, Elena. It's how I'm meant to be." Robb pulled his horse to a halt when they arrived at the top of a cliff, looking out over the sea.

"Is it who you want to be or how people want you to be?" Elena asked while looking out over the wild water.

"I was born to be like this, it has always been my fate to be like this." Robb looked at her, his brows furrowed.

"We choose our own fate." Elena also looked at him. "At least, that's how I see it. If every lord lives up to their expectations, how will they ever truly live if they can't decide for themselves? How will there ever be an more enhanced form of leadership when every lord does the same as their father did?"

"My father's a good man, I wouldn't mind being like him." Robb glanced back at the sea, thinking about what Elena was trying to say.

"I'm not saying your father isn't, all I'm saying is that the world is changing, the people are changing. The lords and ladies need to evolve in their behaviour too." Elena turned towards Robb and rode towards him. "How do you plan on leading the next generations when all you know is how to lead the old?"

"Elena..." Robb sighed deeply and closed his eyes.

"No, just listen." Elena continued, Robb saw the fire burning in her eyes when she spoke again, her words filled with passion. "You say that you need to be cold, just and honourable. But what if the people in Winterfell are getting tired of the facades the lords put up, what if all they want to see is the man behind the mask?"

"It's not that simple." Robb said, letting his horse walk closer to Elena.

"I know, I just..." Elena bit on her lip, trying to keep the frustration that was filling her inside hidden. "Sometimes I just wish that there were no highborn or lowborn. Sometimes I just wish that everybody was the same and that they could do whatever they wanted to do."

Robb fell silent, looking at the frustration in her eyes.

"I know it's stupid, to think about such impossible things. You probably think I'm crazy for having these ideas." Elena sighed and fiddled with the reins, uncomfortable under Robb's stare. "I mean, look at me, I'm a 16 year old girl. People expect me to be nice and beautiful, they expect me to sew dresses, to breathe into every word a man says and to not have an opinion about anything. Yet here I am having ideas about a different world."

"People must think I'm crazy to even think I could be a true guardian." Elena sighed deeply and looked down at the cliff.

"I think you're amazing." Robb suddenly said, laying his hand a top Elena's while smiling at her.

"What?" She looked up at him, terribly confused.

"Just like you said, people have the right to be who they are. Maybe it's not that simple but right now, right now all I want is to hear you talk about these impossible things." Robb smiled at her genuinely. "I mean, just like you said. Everyone is trying so hard to be who others want them to be that they forget who they truly are inside."

"So why are you avoiding me when you actually don't want to?" Robb asked, his eyes boring into hers.

"That's different." Elena looked down again, trying to avoid eye contact. She just couldn't stand how he just kept on staring at her eyes.

"No it isn't, Elena." Robb whined. He closed his eyes in frustration and let out a deep breath,

"I made a promise, I do not plan on breaking it." Elena looked back up at Robb.

"Then I will break it for you." Robb said, placing his hand on Elena's cheek and pulled her closer, pressing his lips firmly on hers. He just couldn't stop himself. First Elena tried to make herself stop him but even she couldn't resist, especially when he placed his other hand on her waist to pull her closer.

It was even more intimidate than the first time, it felt deeper. It felt like they both were on fire, the skin underneath Robb's hand felt like it was burning. It was from that moment that Elena knew she couldn't keep her promise, It wasn't like she could've kept it anyway, it wasn't her decision to fall in love with the man before her.

She knew from that moment that instead of staying away from Robb she actually had to stay close, watching over him as a wolf would do over its owner. Just like the guardians from the old stories, the legends that the people in Westeros will never forget about.

Elena knew from that moment that she would never leave him again, that she would do everything in her power to protect him even if it'd mean her own life.

~

Elena galloped towards the forest, passing hundreds of soldiers in her way. Her horse jumped elegantly over all the roots and branches. Every time she passed one of Robb's or Stannis's men, they'd look at her.

"You're going the wrong way, woman!" One of them yelled when she passed him, causing him and his friends around him to burst into laughter. Elena ignored all of them, if she hadn't she'd probably have killed them. She was furious to say the least, Damon just came back from whatever happened the night before. He was heavily wounded but luckily Ella was a master in healing.

"Elena, don't do it!" Damon screamed inside her head, trying to stop her. He was at the front of the army, he thought she'd be there. Instead she was at the back, ready to sprint inside the woods on either side of her.

"Robb is okay, dammit, there's no need to confront him!" Damon yelled again. Elena ignored him and let her horse run inside the woods, passing numerous trees while running further and further away from the army. It was true, Robb had woken up in the morning. Only he wasn't himself, he kept un muttering words they couldn't understand and just kept on staring in front of him. "He is stronger than you, Elena! He will kill you the second he lays his eyes on you!"

"This is what he wants Elena! Come back, damn you!" Damon screamed furiously when he saw that she wasn't anywhere at the front of the army.

She stopped in the midst of a clearing, climbing off her horse. She took her bow in her hands and nocked an arrow.

"I know you're there!" Elena yelled and looked around, drawing her arrow. The anger that was filling her inside was ready to explode. First he had hurt Robb and then he nearly killed Damon. It pissed her off, if there's something Elena can't have it's the people around her getting hurt.

"I'm so sick of your fucking shit!" Elena yelled, still pointing her arrow everywhere she looked. It was like the anger was taking over her whole body. She knew it'd make her vulnerable when it came to her mind but she just couldn't stop it.

"If you want the damn doll, come and take it!" Elena said, ready to fire when he showed himself. She wasn't even afraid, hell, all she could think about was driving an arrow through his chest. He might be the strongest guardian on earth but once someone makes Elena angry, there was nothing that could stop her from taking revenge.

"Elena..." The Dark One chuckled inside her head. "You never learn."

"Show yourself, coward." Elena growled while looking around her. Her horse was neighing, nudging her nervously with its nose. She pushed it away roughly, completely ignoring the horse's attempts to make her leave.

"Why? You would only see someone else's body." Elena could hear him smirking through his voice.

"Don't think I won't kill you." Elena growled and pulled harder on the string, the point of her arrow pointed somewhere in the midst of the trees where she thought something moved. She didn't care if she would kill the man The Dark One had under control, if she could hurt him in any way she would do it no matter the circumstances.

"Give me the doll, sweetheart." The Dark One commanded. He stepped from behind the tree in front of her and extended his hand. The man he had taken under control was pale with light brown hair and brown eyes,

Elena narrowed her eyes, her grip on the bow tightening. "Come and take it."

Author's note

SO heloooooo there my little guardians.

Little cliffhanger right there for you :))

I know I'm evil, I must be the Dark One's sister or something like that xd

So that flashback I wrote to make all of Elena's decisions so far clear to you, I felt like I didn't really explain her motives /character yet in this story. I feel like I haven't made her seem as badass as she actually is xd So I hope you're happy with it because it took a hell lot of time to write that part. (I had an HUGE writer's block, you wouldn't believe)

Thiss chapter is dedicated esmeedj17 for her rain of comments and because I love you :))

See you guys next chapter!!! :)