Would've, Could've, Should've // Ned Stark // Hayley Marshall

2. Epiphany of Purpose

Hayley didnt know how long she lay there on the ground waiting for that moment of clarity. An epiphany of purpose. She didnt find it.

She felt the sharp edge of her fangs and felt the pulse of claws ready to come free.

"Damnit." Hayley spat. She thought peace would be, human Hayley, not hybrid Hayley. She thought peace would be less forests and more waterfalls and Jackson.

Not hybrid Hayley, stiff clothes and knotted hair. She brushed herself off as she got up looking around. The farther she got out of the woods the more confused she got. Castles, knights, torches. She was not at peace, she was in hell. She was very confident in that now.

"AFTER ALL I FUCKING DID!" Hayley shouted up to the sky. "HELL? REALLY!"

''Mum?'' Hayley spun around. That wasnt her Hope. That was a man, she didnt have a son. ''Mum?'' Robert asked again and Hayleys head snapped around but she was the only one here for this very robust man to be talking to. ''How are you- I don't understand.'' Robert stammered getting closer.

''What?'' Hayley corrected.

"Mum, I don't understand." Robert declared "The ship sunk... you went down... you died."

"Well you got one thing right." Hayley informed him. "I did die." And before she knew it Robert was hugging her. "Um..." She pat his back awkwardly. "Let go now." Hayley instructed.

"How did you... how are you..." Robert was completely giddy.

"Look, I'm Hayley Marshell, I'm not... your mother. You are probably older than myself and therefore not possible. Also I have a daughter. No sons. I did... I did have a daughter." She corrected softly.

But Robert couldnt hear a thing she was saying. His mother was reborn again.

Hayley put up quite the fuss until she got to the castle and they prepared her a bath and got her new dresses. Maybe this was peace? Hayley thought as she soaked in the tub.

Robert ravened to Renly in the storms end and Stannis at dragonstone. He proclaimed that their mother was alive once again.

For all the fuss everyone made about Targaryen's the real reason Robert was able to claim the throne after his rebellion was because of his mother had Targaryen bloodline. Cassana Estermont. She had died at the beginning of Roberts rebellion with her husband on their ship Windproud it sank in shipbreaker Bay.

"Mum?" Stannis questioned.

"Still not your mama." Hayley corrected drinking back her wine.

"I don't understand. Shes a spitting image of mum." Stannis murmured to Robert.

"It is mum. Reborn again!" Robert corrected. Renly was a child when his parents died but he still remembered his mothers face. She tucked him in at night and sung him songs. Told him that he was her favorite and not to tell the others. Renly assumed she told them the same thing but seeing her now just as beautiful and perfect as she left. It was like a sign. Fate. Divine intervention.

Renly didnt say anything as he moved to Hayley. She offered him an awkward smile before he hugged her.

Maybe her peace was helping this family. Maybe she didnt get peace but get to give others peace. What a load of bullshit.

But Hayley hugged Renly and she thought he might never let go. She leaned her head into him and closed her eyes. She lost her husband. She lost her daughter. She lost her home in new Orleans, Louisiana. Maybe she could live in a castle and be the kings mother. That didnt seem like an awful after life.

"My name is Hayley." She reminded them. "Im not claiming to be your dead mother. But stranger things have happened than the undead coming back to life in other peoples bodies."

Klaus had possessed a teacher at Mystic falls when he couldnt get into his own body. But Hayley looked in the mirror to be sure. She was definitely herself. Doppelgänger she thought and a smile quirked her lips. They had bad luck with evil doppelgängers in the past but she was herself. She wasnt evil. Unless this was hell or purgatory. She was a vampire. And a werewolf. She was a monster and she was evil.

But these boys- correction. These men Hayley thought as they flocked around her in tears proclaiming a miracle. She knew she could give them this. Give them their mother back.

+

The first family dinner roberts wife and children were not invited. Just the four of them. Hayley and her pretend sons. They told her all about herself.

Which in itself was strange because how much did her own daughter Hope actually know about her? Sure the basics but everyone had secrets everyone had a darker past that their children their lovers no one knew about. A past that if brought to light only darkness and pain would be revealed.

But the women in westeros seemed the type to sit still and look pretty. Hayley wasnt good at that.

Renly wasnt wed and was lord of the storms end. He enjoyed jousts and tournaments.

Stannis was wed. He had a wife and daughter. Hayley immediately wanted to meet his daughter. Stannis face pinched as he brought his glass to his lips. Sore subject apparently. 

Robert the king was the least impressive of her fake sons Hayley thought. He was also the largest. He had a wife that Hayley already didnt like and three children. Seven kingdoms and grunted every time he got up. She figured he wasn't fighting in any battles. But he seemed sweet always smiling, which she liked and clearly loved his mother.

Hayley heard -with her wolf and vampire hearing- she heard everything and she heard Roberts oh so loving wife being fucked. Cersei tried to stifle her moans as Jaime moved inside her but Hayley heard from across the castle.

What a lovely family she had adopted.