People die, it's up to you if you can live afterwards.

After the council had ended, everyone left the tent except for Robb and Elena for he had ordered her to stay.

They stood there silently with Robb looking at the map while overthinking his plan. The way Elena proposed it, it sounded smart and almost too easy. Just as the wedding at The Twins. Robb was scared he had fallen into a trap again and that he now would lose literally everything he has.

As his eyes scanned the map and his mind was busy thinking about some possible mistakes in the plan, Elena stood there. She didn't know what to do. He had ordered her to stay but yet he didn't say anything.

"Your grace?" She walked towards him cautiously. She could see his mind was occupied with lots of different topics. She knew he was still hurt but he tried to hide it from everyone, even her.

"At the great hall, when you stood in front of the Frey family and aimed at me..." Robb paused but his eyes hadn't left the map in front off him. "Would you have done it if I went on with it? Would you have killed me if I planned to kill his family?"

"Yes." She said without a hint of doubt. It scared her that what she said was true. She knew that she had vowed to protect Ned Stark's children yet there were limits to what she would do. 

"Good." Robb said as he turned towards Elena. He observed her, her golden hair, her green eyes and her skin as pale as snow. Somehom just looking at her seemed to calm him down. Elena wasn't like all the other women. She wasn't a extraordinary beauty but she wasn't normal either.

She had light freckles covering the area around her nose, golden threads woven through the deep green of her eyes. The thing that made her most special though here in the north was her hair that shone silver in the light of the sun. 

 She raised her eyebrows at him. She had thought he would get angry about it, now here he is not even a slightest bit of angry.

"Can you now tell me how you came back from the dead?" Robb snapped out of his thoughts, dragging his eyes away from the woman in front of him.

"I didn't die Robb, I simply fell into a long sleep." Elena turned away from him. She was ashamed, for she was still angry at him even after everything he had been through.

"Could you please explain?" Robb urged on, Elena knew he wouldn't stop asking before she told him. She closed her eyes to stop the memories coming back.

Flashback, one year ago.

"My lord, my lady, I fear he won't make it through the night." The measter Luwin said with tears in his eyes. He looked at the little Bran who's eyes were closed. He had fallen off the tower, this much the Starks knew. Bran hadn't woken up  for a whole week, his mother had stayed by his side but left when she discovered something terrible.

She thought Tyrion Lannister had ordered someone to kill her son for she had fought off the murderer herself. She left for King's Landing immediately to go find her husband and tell him this.

Now only Rickon, Robb, the measter and Elena were here to look after Bran.

"His temperature is falling and his breaths are getting shorter. I'm sorry my lord." The measter said. Robb nodded and then gestured for the measter to leave, Rickon following him while holding in his sobs.

"My brother is dying and I can't do anything to save him." Robb stood there, desperately fighting against the tears. He couldn't lose Bran, he had lost his brother Jon too for he had left for the Night's watch, never to return again. Robb sighed deeply and sat down on the bed, waving his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Robb, there may be hope still." Elena laid her hand on his shoulder. They had grown close, Robb hadn't told her yet but he did love her. So much it nearly destroyed him because he knew he couldn't be with her. His father would never approve and his mother would forbid it.

It was not like Catelyn didn't love Elena like she was her own daughter, it was the point that Elena was a warrior, not a lady fitted for a future lord.

Robb looked at Elena with hurt in his eyes. "How is there still hope?"

"You know how." Elena said as she laid her hands on Robb's chest after sitting down next to him. She could feel his heartbeat through his armor. She looked up at him through her dark eyelashes.

"I won't let you do that." Robb said as he took her hands in his. "I can't take the risk of losing the both of you."

"Robb-"

"No Elena, you haven't done this before. You don't know how it works yet. It could kill you." Robb interrupted her. Elena looked up at him again, sighing deeply in frustration.

"I just wish I had been there to catch him when he fell." She looked back down again and let a single teardrop run down her cheek. Robb wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest.

"I know." He whispered as he then softly pushed her away, laying both his hands on the sides of her face. "But there are limits to what even you can do, Elena." He softly smiled as he stroked a strand of hair behind her ear, leaning in. Elena accepted his warm kiss gladly, melting against his strong figure as she savoured the taste of his lips. She found comfort in his arms as he did in hers.

~

That night Elena left the bed while Robb was still sleeping. He didn't let her leave for her own bed, for he couldn't sleep knowing she could leave him any moment. Yet still she could, and she did.

She silently unwrapped herself from Robb's arms and left the room. She walked through the many hallways in Winterfell. The darkness seemed to engulf her and it was cold yet she didn't notice it.

She entered Bran's room and accidentally woke Summer when she locked the door. The animal looked up at her and knew she was no threat to his keeper. Elena loved the wolfs, in some sort of way they were much alike. They protect the people they were raised with, as did she.

Elena sat next to Bran, she could hear his breath getting shorter and hasty. The measter was right, the boy didn't have much time left.

Elena was angry at herself, she promised Eddard Stark to protect his family yet she let his son fall from a tower. She felt useless, she didn't feel like a true guardian. She had heard lots of tales from the past about the brave Guardians whom never failed to protect their people. They had numerous powers which they used indeffinitally and with great wisdom.

Elena couldn't even protect an innocent boy.

In some way, she realized, she still could. She hadn't done it before but she knew how to do it. She also knew the consequences, raising the dead will bring death to her and healing the wounded would exhaust her, the bigger the wounds the more exhausted she could get.

Sometimes, she heard, Guardians had been asleep for almost 70 years because they healed someone. Which most of the time lead to them becoming crazy because the person they had healed had died in the time they had been asleep.

Elena wasn't afraid of that. She had to heal Bran, no matter the consequences. She did not only do it because she was a Guardian, she also did it for Robb.

She loved him and she knew how much he cared for his little brother. Losing Bran would drive him mad with grieve but losing her would be a good thing. They knew they couldn't be together but they also couldn't stay away from each other. If Elena was to die, it would safe Brandon and spare Robb the heartbreak.

She positioned her hands on Bran's slowly lifting chest and closed her eyes to concentrate. Immediately she could feel the power flowing towards her fingertips and into the boy's dying body. The more seconds passed, the more light came from her hands and the more exhausted she got. But she couldn't give up just yet.

Wind was howling through the room, objects falling to the floor as the light and power filled the space. There was banging on the door which made the wolf bark, slightly pulling Elena from her trance but not completely.

"Elena!!" Robb screamed through the door. He knew what she was doing so fear started to build in his chest. "Open this door or I will make it open!"

Elena couldn't answer, she would only exhaust herself further or lose control of the power that was now surging within her. She could barely contain it, she didn't know she had this much power flowing through her veins.

"Elena, stop it, right now!" Robb could see the light that was coming from underneath the door and he could hear the objects falling in his little brother's room. He started to bang his body against the door in a desperate attempt to get inside  and stop Elena.

Just when the door broke under the weight and Robb barged in, Elena fell from the bed and onto the floor.

"Elena?" Robb spoke, his deep voice filling the room. Fear filled his entire being when he saw her face. He picked her up from the floor with one hand under her knees and the other arm around her shoulders. Her eyes were closed and he couldn't hear her breathing. He put her down on the bed at the other end as he was shaking and softly whimpering.

"Elena? Co'mon wake up." He whimpered and silently sobbed. He was angry, so angry that she had done what he had specifically told her not to.

"Robb?"

Robb turned around and looked at his brother with tears in his eyes. "Brann?"

Brann was confused, he felt like he had only woken up from a slumber. "What's wrong with Elena?" He said, his words being dragged out form the sleep that still consumed his body.

Brandon and Elena had also been good friends. She would teach him how to fight with a sword when his brothers weren't around. Which soon let to Elena always teaching him because she never laughed at Bran when he made a mistake.

They also used to climb a lot, first Catelyn hated the idea. After some time Catelyn did permit Bran to climb, only when he was with the Guardian. Elena was always making sure Bran didn't fall. When he did she could easily catch him or make his fall softer.

Yet this time she failed. Well now succeeded, Bran had made it, only he couldn't walk anymore. And she herself had fallen into an endless abyss.

"She... She's dead." Robb stuttered his defense breaking and now the tears were freely flowing down his face.

~~

"I didn't die, your grace." Elena mocked him. Her anger had finally made its appearance, she couldn't hold it back anymore. Especially not after the memories came right back to her. For her they happened only yesterday since she couldn't remember the past year.

"I told you that when someone's not dead, I can heal them without dying. Or were you too busy thinking about other things when I told you?" She hissed and turned her back at him.

"You're angry with me." Robb sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned his hands on the table in front of him. He pressed his eyes closed and let a single tear escape from his eye. His emotions were so confusing to him. He wanted to hold Elena in his arms, tell her that everything would be okay and they would be together again just like before. Yet the though of Talisa held him back from doing so. 

"Obviously."