"For the watch."

20 hours earlier

"She just jumped at her?" Robb's voice woke her. His voice was confused and loud, Elena could hear him pacing across the room. When her eyes slightly opened, she just wanted to fall back asleep. Her head was pounding like crazy.

"Basically, yes." Damon sighed. He leaned against the wall on the other side of the chamber, his arms crossed in front of his chest. It's not that he didn't understand why Elena did it, it's the fact that she didn't listen when he told her to stop that angered him.

"Out of the blue?"

"Uhuh."

"So you hit her?" Robb growled, obviously not content with what happened.

"She would've killed her." Damon objected.

"You could've killed her! Just a little bit more force and Elena could've been dead now!" Robb yelled angrily. Elena sighed and kept her eyes closed, her headache was already killing her.

"But she isn't." Damon shrugged. "She's my sister, little princess, do you really think I would ever hurt her without any reason?"

"I don't know, would you?!" Robb said. There were a few moments of silence before Robb finally noticed what Damon just said. "Wait, what?!"

"Elena is perfectly fine, your grace, she just needs some time to heal." Steven said calmly while pressing a cloth against the side of his head, trying to stop the bleeding. Elena had knocked him out when she send him flying towards the wall. Besides an enormous headache there was nothing wrong with him.

"I think you'd better start those lessons right after she wakes up, Damon. We can't afford any further accidents like this." Steven remarked.

"I know. But I fear she's already in too deep." Damon sighed.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Robb held his hand up. He then paused for a moment, looking at Damon. "Your sister?!"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"She's your sister?" Robb asked.

"Since the day she was born, smart ass."

"What?" Robb looked at him wide eyed.

"You know, when a man and a woman meet and they you know, make love and they have several children?" Damon explained, mocking Robb.

"I know but... What?" Robb continued to be confused, eyeing Damon up and down.

"They're bastards of Aegon Targaryen and Katherine Shadow." Steven explained.

"They don't even look alike." Robb said.

"Damon takes after his mother and Elena after her father."

"But she has her mother's eyes." Damon mumbled quietly.

Elena felt the weight on the mattress shift as Robb sat down next to her body. She felt his hand laying down on her own, the warmth radiating from his skin.

"I never knew." Robb mumbled.

"Neither did she." Damon said. "Just before Ethan went completely crazy he send her to a friend of his in the North, to take care of her. I never knew until a few weeks back."

"We never told her, we thought it'd be best if she-" Steven was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in." Robb muttered.

"Your grace." The man bowed and then handed him a letter. "There was a letter from the Night's Watch."

"Thank you, Eric, you can go now." Robb said, just as his mother always told him to.

"Is it from Jon?" Elena sat up immediately, opening her eyes as she looked at the letter in his hands. Everyone jumped back slightly.

"Ouch." Steven pouted when he accidently hit his elbow against the wall due to the surprise.

"What?" Robb frowned and blinked a few times. "I thought you were still asleep."

"Yeah, I wasn't." Elena took the letter from Robb's hands and began to open it. While doing so she looked up at Damon.

"Sorry for trying to kill your daughter." Elena apologized. "I still don't trust her though."

"It's fine." Damon chuckled. "But if you ever do something like that again I will hit harder."

"Sure thing." Elena looked back at the letter as she folded it open, reading the contents.

"He's back from Hardhome, Robb, he saved them." Elena said as she continued to read the letter.

"He's asking if I can come see him." Elena looked up at Robb with a wide smile on her face. Maybe it was the first smile after she had been saved from Ramsay. She continued to read the letter greedily.

"Here." Elena handed him the letter when she was done.

"Wildlings in the North, my people won't be very happy to hear that." Robb sighed and continued to read.

"Can I go?" Elena asked, almost jumping in excitement.

"Well, I..." Robb looked up at Steven for help.

"It will do her good, seeing a friend." Steven shrugged and smiled. Robb then turned towards Damon, looking at him for advice.

"I will come with her, maybe Steven too if he wants. For protection." Damon offered. Elena smiled and nodded at him and then turned towards Robb again.

"I guess you can go." Robb said hesitantly. Elena jumped at him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing her lips against his.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She smiled and continued to attack him with kisses.

"It's not like you needed my permission either way." Robb chuckled, happy to see that she was smiling again. He knew that soon the smile will fade again but he enjoyed it while it lasted.

Elena chuckled and looked at him with her arms still around his neck.

Robb sighed deeply, knowing he'd have to ruin her good mood. "There's just one thing left that we need to take care off before you leave."

~

"Where's your father?" Robb asked for the thousandths time as he circled around Ramsay with Grey Wind on his tail.

Ramsay only chuckled and smiled at Sansa who was standing on the other side of the dungeon. Elena grasped her hand when she noticed her shivers and gave her a tiny squeeze.

"Damon." Robb nodded at him, giving him permission to use his powers.

Damon smiled and extended his arm towards Ramsay. Something invincible grasped his neck and lifted him up in the air, his body struggling and kicking against the force.

"the coordinates, please." Damon demanded. Whilst holding him in the air he looked inside his mind. Nevertheless he didn't find anything, Ramsay kept his mind shut off from him.

"He's not going to give up." Steven muttered with his arms crossed before his chest. Damon let his arm down, causing Ramsay to fall to the ground immediately.

"Well, what do you suggest?" Damon snapped at him.

"Kill him." Steven mumbled.

"Aah, dear Steven, how dare you condemn your old friend to death? Where are your manners?" Ramsay chuckled as he pushed himself up from the floor. "First you take my powers away and then you sentence me to death."

Steven nodded at Robb, telling him to just end it all now. Robb unsheathed his sword and walked to the front of Ramsay, laying the point of his sword against his neck.

"I, Robb Stark, king in the North, hereby sentence you to death." He said as he lifted his arms with the sword.

"Wait!" Elena grasped his arm before he could kill him. She looked at Robb pleadingly. "There's one thing I need to know."

Ramsay frowned at her actions, not understanding why she would ever safe him. "Have you grown fond of me, slayer?"

"Gillian Karstark, you knew him, didn't you?" Elena stepped in front of him, pushing Robb aside.

"Aah, so this is about your lost boyfriend?" Ramsay chuckled. Robb sucked in a deep breath and clenched his fists, trying not to hit Ramsay.

"He's not... her boyfriend." Robb corrected him.

"In his eyes he was."

"What did you do to him?" Elena ignored his comment.

"I never hurt him." Ramsay smiled up at her. When Elena's eyes narrowed and grew dark he continued. "Well, not physically."

"What did you do?" Elena growled.

"I'm growing tired off this game, aren't you?"

"Tell me." Her voice was ever lower than before.

"What's in it for me?" Ramsay asked while lifting one eyebrow. "You're going go kill me either way." He shrugged.

"A quick death."

"Just as quick as you killed all those men at the Twins?" Ramsay smiled, knowing this was Elena's weak spot. "I heard the stories. I bet everyone has. Stories about a murderous guardian, sinking a whole army by destroying a bridge with one flick of her hand."

"That's not what a guardian does, now is it?" Ramsay smiled.

"Tell me what you did to Gillian." Elena repeated.

"There's another story also about the same demonic guardian. What was it about..." Ramsay hummed and looked up at the ceiling. "Ah, yes! I remember. She turned against her own king during a normal council. Out of the blue she jumped at him."

"Elena, just kill him. He's trying to get inside your head." Steven reasoned and took a step towards her, sensing her hesitation.

"A guardian like that, so reckless and treacherous, should be locked up in a dungeon somewhere far away from the world." Ramsay continued, his eyes boring into Elena's.

"Just like her brother." Ramsay smiled, thinking about the Dark One. The moment the last word slipped from his tongue Damon launched forward and stabbed him.

Ramsay looked down at the knife in his belly, grasping the hilt. He then looked up at Damon, smiling. "I heard about your family, Damon. Such a shame. Makes you think what could've happened if you helped your brother from the beginning."

"Shut up." Damon growled.

"If only you saved your mother. Thousands of lives could've been saved but you were too busy thinking about yourself." Ramsay spoke slowly, mocking him with every word he spoke.

"Just like his sister and brother, reckless, arrogant and selfish. It's a family trait isn't it?" Ramsay chuckled but then started to cough. "Everywhere you Targaryens go, death follows."

"What did you do to Gillian?!" Elena grew desperate, Ramsay was already dying. She needed the answers, she needed to know what Gillian wanted to tell her.

"Aah, Elena." Ramsay chuckled again and wiped his mouth, smearing blood all over his face. "He's dead. Get over it."

Ramsay looked up at her. "You loved him didn't you? Do you regret choosing Robb over him?"

Elena looked behind her, glancing at Robb as he took a deep breath.

"You know, life could've been so much easier. Gillian would've been good for you, would've protected you instead of letting you kill a whole army. He would've-" Ramsay started to cough again, blood spattering on the ground before him.

"Just bloody kill him, Elena." Damon growled. She needed to be the one to do it. It would end all her endless nightmares because she'd know for sure that he was dead.

"He would've loved you for infinity." Ramsay continued and smiled through the pain. "Not like Robb who married another a few months after your death. Now that I've come to think off it... Why did you even choose him? He's done nothing but use your powers and hurt you afterwards, claiming he loves you. That's not love, is it?"

"Elena." Robb growled, warning her that if she didn't kill him anytime soon, he would.

"I can see it in your eyes. The regret you feel. You and I both know that you made the wrong choice." Ramsay said. "Just like I did when I only killed his sister and let him go. We're much ali-"

Elena drew her sword and drove it through his chest. "We're nothing alike." Elena growled as she looked into his eyes. Ramsay gagged and groaned, his vision blinded.

"Sansa." Elena turned around towards her as she extended her hand with Gillian's dagger in it for her to take. "If you want to, I think you have the right to finish it. He hurt you the most after all."

Sansa silently took the dagger and slowly walked towards Ramsay, her eyes eyeing her prey.

"Wife." Ramsay gasped and groaned, his hands wrapped around Elena's sword. "Will you miss me?" He smiled for one last time.

Sansa stabbed him in his heart in one swift motion, her eyes burning into his. "Never." She growled. It was that moment that she became a true Stark, the moment when she killed her prey without mercy.

During his last moments Ramsay looked up at Elena, smiling. "Never give up." Ramsay said in a mocking tone just before he shut his eyes and fell backwards.

"How did you-" Elena's eyes widened.

"What the hell did he mean?" Damon frowned and looked at Elena, seeing her chest rapidly rising and falling.

"How..." Elena mumbled. All of those words combined that Ramsay had said to her weren't at all as affective as these last ones. He had planned this all along, one last scheme before his death. One last thing that he knew would torture her.

"How did he know that?" Elena mumbled.

~

The voyage was long and exhausting. That winter was coming became very clear to the three guardians as frost began to form on their wings. It stung and hurt like hell but nevertheless they never stopped.

"Elena?" Damon called mentally, knowing that when he'd speak his voice would be carried away by the wind.

"What is it?" Elena questioned.

"I just wanted to tell you that I... Well, I'm sorry that I..." Damon sighed, not knowing how to say this.

"Just say it."

"I'm sorry that you had to live without your family. I never knew Ethan brought you there, I didn't even know for sure that you were alive. Not until I saw the doll in your hands at least." Damon said. When Elena remained silent he continued. "It must've been lonely for you, never knowing who your real family was, never seeing them."

"I have a family. I've been a Stark for as long as I know. I'm not a Targaryen, you're not my brother." Elena snapped.

"Our father-" Damon began.

"There is no 'our father', Damon. My father died. Well, fathers."

Damon remained silent for a while. "Look Elena, you can deny it all you want but I'm your brother. The Starks may have raised you but you have Targaryen blood flowing through your veins. That means something."

"Or nothing." Elena snapped. Castle Black came into their sight, the Wall towering over it. "I've got four brothers, 2 of them are missing and 1 of them is dead. The last one is there, in that castle. You may have the same blood as me flowing through your veins but furthermore that means nothing to me."

"And your mother, the one who raised you, set you on this world, gave life to you, she means nothing to you too?!" Damon growled.

"I've never had a mother." Elena said when they landed in the courtyard. There was a group of men standing in the corner of the courtyard, all their faces turned towards something in the corner.

"What's happening?" Steven frowned. it was night but nevertheless many people were outside. The strangest thing though was that they were all as silent as the grave.

"Jon?" Elena frowned when she heard someone groan. She heard voices speaking but they were inaudible.

"Jon?" Elena repeated and walked towards the group, wrapping her wings behind her back. An uneasy feeling began to form in the pit of her stomach. The men on the outside of the crowd looked at her as she pushed her way through it.

"Jon?!" Elena called when someone groaned again, the noise filled with pain. She started to run, pushing harder to find her way through.

"For the watch." Elena saw a man stabbing Jon in his belly, the murderer's eyes cold and merciless. He took the knife out just as fast as he had stabbed and turned around when he heard Elena.

"No!" Elena screamed and launched forward. Hands grasped her arms and stopped her from reaching Jon.

"Get off of him!" Elena yelled, everyone turning to look at her. She looked at Jon, his chest covered in blood, his face blank.

"Elena? What's happening over there?" Damon said, he was on the outside off the crowd. The men didn't let him pass, their swords pointed at him when he tried to.

"Jon, please, say something." Elena begged. She pulled with her arms, trying to get out of the grasp she was being held in. Her power though seemed weakened. Someone kicked at her knees, sending her to the ground.

"Elena!!" Swords were unsheathed.

Jon looked up at her slowly. Tears were forming in his dark eyes as he was sitting on his knees. He gasped for air when blood continued to flow out of the several wounds.

Jon smiled weakly. "Elena." He mumbled and looked at her for a few moments until he fell backwards.