"You're all puppets, tangled in strings." - Ultron, Avengers; the age of Ultron.

The sound of The Dark One's paws galloping became like the sound of a breath for Elena's ears. After a while she just didn't hear them anymore. They were now north of Winterfell, riding through the Wolfswood. Elena looked at all the trees passing by, she couldn't focus on one because they were moving that fast. Everything was a blur.

Only one sign Elena could read, maybe it was because of its words that were written on it.

"Wait." Elena said to The Dark One mentally. If she'd spoken out loud he probably wouldn't have heard her. He stopped, his paws sinking in the earth.

"What is it?" he said back when he came to a halt, his voice ringing through Elena's head. He obviously couldn't talk out loud because he was transformed into a tiger.

"I know this place." Elena said out loud and dismounted him, her boots landing on the floor. She walked towards the sign and read the words. The dark panther followed her, his footsteps soft.

"Wickendale." Elena's eyes widened when she remembered what Gillian had asked of her in his letter. She still had it, she had put it in her pocket where it probably would stay forever. By now she had read it a thousand times. The grieve she felt hadn't become any less, it only became worse. In some way though she could bear it better than before. 

Every day she would miss him more, his smile, the way he would always make her laugh and even the way he would always talk ill of Robb. Maybe that's what loss does to a person.

"I have to go in here." Elena said and followed the path to the Orphan house. She didn't even hesitate.

"Where are you going?" the Dark One asked as his human feet touched the ground.

"I'm keeping my promise." Elena yelled back over her shoulder when she reached the entrance to the massive house. The last time she was here she was with Gillian. Elena lowered her eyes, she could feel the pain in her heart. She remembered the day like it was yesterday.

Gillian and her had stolen food from Winterfell's kitchen and brought it all the way here. They had 15 giant sacks full off different vegetables and fruit, they had struggled a lot to bring it all there. The result was a lot of laughter during the journey and a lot of grateful and happy children in the Orphan House. The only downside was that Eddard Stark became furious. He grounded her for seven weeks, much to Robb's satisfaction. He still hated her around that time.

Elena's head shot up when she arrived at the door, she didn't hear the laughter and shrieks of the little children. There was absolutely no sound at all coming from the house. She frowned and turned the knob of the door. It fell out of its hinges and fell to the ground, revealing an empty and destroyed hallway.Dust and spider webs covered the walls, the happiness stolen from them. The places were first stood toys and playswords were now all empty. Nothing was left but rotten old wood. It was like all of the joy had vanished, leaving only decay and darkness behind.

"They're gone." Now there was only grieve in Elena's voice. She had failed Gillian, the children were all gone. He had asked only for one thing and she failed to do even that. His second home had been destroyed and Elena didn't even know by whom.

"Roose Bolton has probably ordered them to come go Winterfell. Children can help repairing a castle." The Dark One's boots pounded on the rotten wood when he walked into the abandoned house, the sound filling it, echoing through the empty halls.

"He asked me to look after them." Elena sighed and placed her palm against the old wood.

"Gillian is dead now. He won't know it if you keep your promises or not." The Dark One chuckled.

"I'm not like that." Elena said while looking at a doll that was abandonned and lying on the dusty floor. She had a faint memory of a little girl called Adelaine holding it. Maybe now she was somewhere in Winterfell. Seeing she's an orphan she wouldn't have made it far. Elena dreaded the answer of what she was doing now.

"You killed him." Elena realized, her body filled with anger, the power flowing through her veins as her hands froze, ready to attack.

"It wasn't me, you know that." The Dark One narrowed his eyes, his irises becoming even darker than before, threatening her. Elena could feel that he was telling the truth though. The Dark One wouldn't try to lie because he knew that all Guardians know when someone's lying.

"Still, I promised Gillian that I would look after the children. That is what I should have done."

"You promised Robb you would never leave him, right?" the Dark One looked at Elena with a smirk playing on his lips. "Well, you're here now. So why keep a promise from a dead man but break a promise from a living man?"

"You don't have any loyalty hidden somewhere in the deepest part of your body, have you?" Elena sighed as her eyes narrowed at the Dark One.

"There's a reason they call me the Dark One, sweetheart." He smiled at her and leaned on the wall. Elena continued to glare at him until she gave up and left the house.

"I think I'm strong enough to fly now." She said and unwrapped her wings."Besides, I'm tired of holding onto your greasy animal hair." Elena looked back at The Dark one who chuckled at her, unwrapping his wings too. His deep black wings looked stronger and fiercer than Elena's, which looked more elegant and pure.

"Flying it is."

~

"Your grace, we're honoured to receive you." One of Karstark's brother said and bowed.

"Thank you, my lord." Robb nodded at him curtly and walked through the great hall of Karhold. His bannerman had convinced him to first travel past the castle for reinforcements. If they were to aid the Night's Watch in the battle they needed more weapons, arrows and armour. Half of the supplies they had were destroyed during the battle of the Twins.

"It's kind of funny, isn't it? You burn Roose Bolton's castle while he is rebuilding yours." Rickard Karstark said while walking next to Robb.

"I would not deem it fun, we're at war and he is taking my castle and my land." Robb frowned and looked at the boy. Robb knew that the Karstark wasn't ready to become a lord, he was 15 years old and wasn't trained to be the lord of Karhold.

"I'm sorry, your grace. I didn't mean to offend you." Rickard bowed his head in shame.

"You haven't." Robb sighed and patted him on the shoulder. "Call the banners and command your men to load the carriages with supplies."

"Your grace." Rickard bowed and then stormed off.

"Any word from my sister?" Robb asked the Umber.

"No my lord, I have sent a party to search for her and another to the Eyrie but none have returned yet."

"Send out more." Robb commanded and sat down on the biggest chair at the end of the Great Hall. "Is Arya doing well with her training?" Robb looked up at the Glover that had also walked beside him the entire time.

"Yes, your grace. She is now practicing in the courtyard."

"Good." Robb let out a deep sigh and buried his head in his hands. All of the worry his was feeling over Sansa, Elena and Arya was killing him.

Sansa had not returned from the Eyrie after they had sent a raven asking her to join him. Maybe she hadn't received the letter or maybe something bad had happened. Robb mostly thought about the last possibility.

Arya was with him here but still Robb worried over her. She was quiet and hateful, every time he asked something she would answer with curt sentences. Maybe she was still grieving over Gillian. He also hadn't heard a word from Elena. His heart ached for her, he had almost tried to kill her. Robb would wonder if Elena knew that it wasn't him, that someone had been in his head.

Robb had become scared that he would kill his sisters and all his loved ones himself, if he couldn't protect Elena how could he protect his sisters? How can you protect against yourself?

On the other hand things finally started to look well for Robb. He had regained half of his army with the Karstarks back. Now he had over 19 000 men under his command. The Tullys were back at Riverrun and the Twins, guarding the castles.If only now they would win and drive the wildlings back to where they belong, Robb could finally kill Roose Bolton and reclaim the North. Robb wasn't sure if he'd march back south. He could barely remember why he would still do that. Yes, he would avenge his father but how many lives will be at risk? Would revenge really be worth all the lives of his men?

"Your grace, the men are asking when we are going to leave for Castle Black." Hornwood said, waking Robb from his deep thoughts.

"When will we have all the supplies ready to go?" Robb looked up at him.

"Within three days, my King."

"Make it two."

~

"Here we are." The Dark One sighed in relief and prepared for the landing. The cold northern air had frozen him till the bone. He could already smell the fire in the Castle.

Elena on the other hand yearned to see Jon. Just now she realized how much she had missed him. She wondered how he was, if he was even still alive.The two had seen the wall from far away, at first it was just a small white line at the end of the horizon. When they came closer and closer though they realized how big it really was. Castle Black looked like a bunch of black boxes compared to the enormous ice wall.

The two Guardians landed right in the middle of the courtyard, their wings filling the training grounds. Elena folded her wings behind her back and looked around at the faces of the men that were staring at them. All of them were unfamiliar, most looked confused, others just grumpy. For a long moment nobody said a thing. Several men came walking out of the buildings to look at the newcomers, but none of them Elena recognized. After a while they formed a circle around their winged guests. A voice from the back of the crowd interrupted the uneasy silence.

"Elena?" Jon Snow gently pushed some of his brothers out of the way. He had seen the tips of Elena's wings peeking above some of the heads and he had immediately recognized her. He didn't believe what he saw though.

"Jon." Elena's heart filled with relief when she saw him alive and well. He looked different than before dressed wholly in black but his face hadn't changed through the years. She let out a deep sigh of relief, her whole body relaxing at the sight of him.

The relief was soon replaced with sadness though. Elena knew she had to tell Jon about Gillian's death. And when she saw Jon's eyes she remembered all the family he had lost, the family Elena failed to protect. Jon frowned when he had crossed the crowd and saw her standing there.

"I'm so sorry..." Elena's voice broke, tears streaming down her face. "I, I... I tried to help him but I was too late." She choked on her own breath.

Jon had crossed the space left between them and had pulled her into his arms, his hand rubbing circles into Elena's back.

"All right everyone, back to work. There's nothing to see here." The Dark One shooed everyone away. Strangely the men of the Night's Watch listened.

"You couldn't do anything about it, nobody could. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, as was his mother." Jon whispered while holding Elena who buried her face in the thick black coat. Jon was actually still confused about how she was here. He thought she had died. He had received a letter from Winterfell two years ago saying that she died healing Brann.

Elena realized they weren't talking about the same person. She pulled back and looked at Jon. His eyes were broken and full off grieve, He mourned for his brother.

"Jon, Robb isn't dead."

Author's note

Helloooo there

Sooo jeeeij, Jon and Elena are back together!! :D

This chapter is dedicated to targxryen because she was the last one to vote last chapter and I really liked your comment ^^ Talking about comments, last chapter you guys were absolutelly amazing. I loved reading all those comments! So please do it again!!

I'm sorry if this chapter was boring, it did contain a lot of information for the following chapters so it was important! Next chapter won't be a filler chapter like this one though. There will be an huge plot twist, just so that you know ^^ Don't want some of you to go all crazy on me :P

So thank you all and see you next chapter!!