"You remember when we first met?" Robb asked Elena as he was staring at King's landing. He did that quite often, expecting the Lannisters to attack them at any given time. He seemed to think that standing there, staring, might give them a chance to react sooner if they did. Since Daenerys would take another few months till she'd arrive Robb will be standing there for a lot of nights to come.

"Yeah, and you tried to kill me?" Elena chuckled as she followed his gaze. Taking in a deep breath after seeing the many archers who were stationed on the walls she diverted her eyes quickly while fumbling with the crown that rested on her head.  After she birthed Gillian everything seemed so much more complicated in a way. She didn't just joust her life as easily as before, knowing she couldn't let her children grow up without a mother like she did. She looked behind herself and saw Damon's back turned towards them as he was playing with both Gillian and Lyanna.

"Right, I forgot about that." Robb cracked a smile.

"Was this an attempt at being romantic?" Elena laughed at him as she took his warm hand in hers. Even after all these years, a weird tingling feeling went up all the way through her arm and towards her chest where it warmed her whole body. "Because, honestly, that was pathetic."

"I know, I know." Robb laughed even harder, the happiness finding its way into his eyes. He then squeezed her hand gently. "I'm glad I didn't succeed."

"You better be 'cause you'd be dead if you did." Elena squeezed back. Robb sighed deeply as he continued to stare at the red castle before him.

"I hate all this waiting, I hate being unable to do anything but sit and stare." Robb growled lowly. Both the wolfs, Loki and Grey Wind, picked up on the anger in his voice and lifted their heads to inspect him. Behind them the princess and prince were giggling as the dark haired guardian showed them a few tricks.

"I know, but we have to wait for Daenerys. We don't have enough numbers to defeat the Lannisters on our own. We're barely holding on as it is with holding two fronts at once." Elena said. They were surrounding the castle but from the other side armies were attacking them, including the Tyrells.

"You're sure she'll help us?" Robb asked.

"I'm not." Elena confessed with a sigh. "But it's the only hope we've got left."

"Damon? What are you doing?" Steven asked, rather concerned. Elena looked behind herself to see him walking towards Damon quickly. To be honest, that didn't concern Elena. Damon did some stupid things with the children quite often, including showing them tricks which might be dangerous if it got out of hand. Steven was always there to protect the children though.

"Maybe we could send the kids to Winterfell, make Sansa and Arya come with them." Robb said, making Elena turn towards him again. "It'd be safer than this, the battlefront. Who knows where Ethan is."

"Don't you think they're safer here, with all the guardians protecting them?" Elena raised her eyebrows at him. "If Ethan finds out we're planning to move them he'd surely use it to his advantage, most likely kidnapping them on their way there."

"If he wanted to kidnap them he'd done it already. He's had numerous of opportunities with Damon being so uncarefull the whole time." Robb sounded frustrated.

"Don't be so mad at him." Elena elbowed him playfully. "You know he basically lost the opportunity to raise his own children."

"I know, but-"

"Damon?!" Steven yelled and after that Elena heard something crash, making her turn around swiftly and watch as Steven flew through the air and crashed against a tent which collided onto him, burying him.

"What in the seven hells-" Robb followed suit, his body flying through the air until his back collided with a tree and slit down its trunk.

"Da-" Elena stopped herself when she saw the knife positioned against Lyanna's throat and a threatening hand on Gillian's shoulder. Elena stood still, watching her so called brother as he looked at her. "Ethan." She growled, Loki standing up beside her and baring his teeth.

"When are you ever not going to mistake me for my dear little brother?" Ethan smiled while still holding the children.

"When you're dead."

"Then you won't have to wait long." Ethan chuckled. "You see, I'm going to speed things up a bit. I'm taking my little nephew and niece with me to the Red Keep. "

"You're not taking them anywhere." Even though she sounded confident, Elena was afraid. It was one of the only times that she felt entirely powerless.

"Oh, I am." Ethan chuckled. "Don't want to wait till our half-sister catches up on us. She didn't really like me, after all. Seems you were a step ahead of me." this seemed to infuriate him. "Not anymore, sweet sister."

"Uncle?" Abigail appeared as she ran through the camp with Jon following her. She noticed Ethan standing there, with the children in his grasp. She was probably the one who shared the strongest bond with Ethan after spending so much time together with him. "Uncle, please, let them go." She slowly dropped her weapons and made her way up to him cautiously. She knew she had an advantage. "We can talk this out." She continued, even after Jon tried to stop her.

Ethan didn't say a word, just stared at her while watching her every move. When she came too close though he put the dagger tighter against Lyanna's neck, who started to sobb silently. That's when Elena noticed the dark bags that had formed underneath Ethan's eyes and the scratches all over his body. His pitch black hair was hanging in strands before his dark eyes that almost seemed drained. But there was emotion, something Elena hadn't expected to see.

"The dagger." She mumbled softly while watching in awe at the obvious symptoms of humanity that showed on his face. Turning around to face Abigail, she mouthed the word to her. Abigail nodded in response, her hand reaching for the bulge in one of her pockets.

Ethan noticed the movement and lifted his arm quickly, freezing Abigail in place while glaring at her. The ice started to cover her skin as her lips turned purple.

"Stop it!" Elena yelled when he continued to freeze her, probably trying to kill her right there and then for betraying his trust. Ethan turned towards her with his arm still lifted, his eyes turning ice cold with anger. His dark wings unwrapped from behind his back which now had small green and yellow spots while a cloud of smoke that had formed around him and the children. "You have till sundown tomorrow to surrender."

Elena's eyes widened, frozen to the bone with fear.

"Ethan!!!" A deep voice yelled from behind him. Elena could only see him as a daze as he ran by her unmoving body at an unbelievable speed. Time seemed to slow down with each step he took, seeing the children engulfed by the thick smoke and the tears that dropped from Lyanna's eyes. He heard Robb's yell behind him and the sound of the ice cracking around Abigail but he focused on them, standing there, disappearing while a smile played on Ethan's lips. Using his telekinesis he grasped the dagger from a few feet away and threw it towards him with all the force he had.

"Always too late, sweet brother."

Just before either Damon or the dagger could reach him, Ethan disappeared together with the prince and princess, leaving just an empty place behind. Damon fell down on his knees, yelling angrily while throwing the dagger away. "Dammit." He bit on his lip and stared at the ground where the children first stood.

Robb walked up to him after he had stood up, still in a daze after his head had hit the tree. He walked slowly and painfully numb, staring at the now burnt grass before him. "How could this have happened?"

~

"I'll kill him, I swear, I will!" Damon paced in the King's tent. All the important people had gathered after hearing the grave news, including the bannermen, guardians and the family of the king. "I'll rip his spine out after tearing-" he continued to mumble angrily and occasionally throwing something breakable on the ground.

"Till sundown, you say?" Lady Mormont asked while eyeing Robb. She was a little girl but was just as courageous as all the men there, maybe even more. Robb nodded in response while staring at the map. He hadn't spoken a word after seeing his children being abducted.

"Or he'll kill them." Elena muttered.

"That leaves us with no choice, then." Rickard karstark said, standing tall.

"We have too few numbers. We won't even make it to the Red Keep alive." Steven intervened. He was leaning against the wall, staring in front of him.

"I would've suggested a rescue mission were it not for the fact that Lyanna and Gillian are now surrounded by the most powerful woman alive in Westeros." Damon growled while folding his arms before his chest. "And the ugliest ass-fu-" he continued cursing at which Steven gave him a threatening glare.

"Then what?" Elena's voice broke at the end. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to compose herself before speaking up again. When she did her watery eyes looked right at Steven. "I can't leave them there, I..."

"I'm not asking you to." Steven said.

"Then what are you saying, that we let her go on her own without any support?" Sam objected, looking between Steven and Elena. He knew though that Steven would never do something like that. Beside the conversation going on, it was dead silent in the tent. Even Damon had shut up after Steven's death glare. Everyone shared the same grave and exhausted look on their faces, the empty look in their eyes.

"I'm saying that I'm going with her." Everyone immediately looked up at Steven as he shrugged.

"Steve, please" Mary laid her hand on his shoulder at which he looked at her sorrowfully.

"It's a suicide mission, I won't lie. But that doesn't mean that it's not the right thing to do, the kids will understand." He whispered to her softly while placing his hand on hers. He walked forward and leaned on the round table. "It's the prince and princess we're talking about, two of the most kindest, courageous, just people I've ever met and they haven't even grown up yet. I won't just sit here waiting for some queen to come rescue our asses while they are being held there, in our enemies' lair, waiting to be killed. Not while I'm still capable of doing something about it, not if I can still lift myself from the ground and pick a weapon up. Not if I can still muster the strength to walk. If I'm the only one who thinks the same way then so be it, but I'm willing to bet I'm not."

There was a silence, a long and agonizing silence that seemed to stretch on forever. "I'll come with you." Sam spoke up, laying his hand on Steve's shoulder and nodding at Robb and Elena. "If I'm going to die, at least it will be while I'm fighting for something right."

"I'll come too." Liane walked forward. "Can't leave my friends to do all the work for me. After all, you might need some of my help outsmarting Ethan."

"You know my answer." Jon cleared his throat.

"Yeah, why not, it's not like I have anything better to do." Abigail said.

"Now or never, I suppose." Stannis muttered to everyone's surprise.

"I think I can speak for the rest of your men when I say that I won't leave you alone in this." Lady Mormont said while looking directly at Robb.

"This is all rather tearful and moving but I think we forget one thing." Damon spoke up. "We're still outnumbered. We still won't even reach the gates alive. If you guys just want to sacrifice yourselves for something that won't work I won't stop you. But before we all jump to conclusions lets first think about how we can solve this problem."

And again, silence.

"I can help with the outnumbering problem." A small smile appeared on Abigail's lip. Everyone turned towards her, eyeing her suspiciously as the grin seemed to grow even more. The silence stretched on as everyone stared at her green eyes. She lifted her eyebrows as she straightened her back and spoke. "Have you ever heard of the army of the dead?"

Author's note

Hello my little guardians! It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that, just experienced the first few weeks of my exam-year (or so we call it in Holland) which is rather horrifying by the way. But I promise you, the end is near! Hang on for just a little but longer and you'll finally know how this long as story is going to end.

I would also like to thank all of you guys for your amazing support. Seems the amount of readers has multiplied since last chapter which is, honestly, something I'd never expected. So thank you so much guys for brightening up every day with your sweet comments J

That's it for now and I hope to see you next chapter! (the battle is starting guys, grasp your swords and bows (or wands, whatever you like. The Colt would be fine too, I guess.)and let's get this started .)