End Game// Tormund Giantsbane (3)

57. The Face of Death

"Come in." Bran said as he sat by the fire. Sam entered peering in. "Samwell Tarly." Bran remarked.

"I wasn't sure if you'd remember me." Sam remarked

"I remember everything." Bran corrected as sam closed the door. " You helped us get beyond the Wall. You're a good man."

"Oh, well, thank you, but, um, I'm not sure that I am. What happened to you beyond the Wall?" Sam pondered.

"I became the Three-Eyed Raven."

"Oh!" Sams smile fell. "I don't know what that means." he admitted

"I can see things that happened in the past. I can see things happening now all over the world. Why did you come to Winterfell?"

"Um, Jon's the one to lead the fight against the dead. I know he is. But he can't do it alone, so I've come here to help him." Sam declared proudly.

"He's on his way back to Winterfell with Daenerys Targaryen." Bran informed him.

"You, you saw this in a vision?" Sam questioned as Bran held up a scroll. Sam read it over and his eyes went wide, not expecting a gift. "Oh."

"He needs to know the truth." Bran remarked.

"The truth about what?"

"About himself. No one knows. No one but me. Jon isn't really my father's son He's the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and my aunt, Lyanna Stark. He was born in a tower in Dorne. His last name isn't really Snow. It's Sand." Bran remarked.

"It's not." Sam corrected knowingly.

"Dornish bastards are named Sand." Bran corrected.

"At the Citadel, I transcribed a High Septon's diary. He annulled Rhaegar's marriage to Elia. He wed Rhaegar and Lyanna in a secret ceremony." Sam remarked.

"Are you certain?"

"It's what the High Septon wrote in his private diary. I don't know why he'd lie. Is this something you can see?" Sam questioned.

Bran had seen the wedding.

"Father, Smith, Warrior, Mother, Maiden, Crone, Stranger. I am hers and she is mine from this day until the end of my days." Rhaegar said as he held to Lyanna's hands.

"Father, Smith, Warrior, Mother, Maiden, Crone, Stranger. I am his and he is mine from this day until the end of my days." lyanna had echoed happily.

"Robert's Rebellion was built on a lie. Rhaegar didn't kidnap my aunt, or rape her." Bran declared. Rhaegar and Lyanna's loving kiss replayed in Bran's mind. "He loved her. And she loved him."

Lyanna had given birth to Jon, but she is dying. Ned knelt beside her, holding her hand.

"And Jon - Jon's real name." Bran rasped in memory.

"His name is Aegon Targaryen. You have to protect him. Promise me, Ned." Lyanna had rasped with her dying breath.

"He's never been a bastard-- he's the heir to the Iron Throne." Bran realized. "He needs to know. We need to tell him."

+

"Are you all right?" Arya questioned gently.

" It's just strange. In his own horrible way, I believe he loved me." Sansa remarked.

"You did the right thing." Caro assured her. 

"Arya did it." Sansa corrected wanting to push her guilt off on Arya.

"I'm just the executioner. You passed the sentence. You're half of the Lady of Winterfell."

"Half." Caro mused. "You can have it. I was never meant to rule." Caro assured her. "You want it more. Dont be a dick to Jon though. He is doing his best, same as all of us." 

"Does that bother you?" Sansa questioned softly. 

"I was never going to be as good a lady as you." Arya remarked. 

"Me either." Caro agreed. 

"So I had to be something else. I never could have survived what you survived." Arya admitted

" You would have. You two are the strongest people I know." Sansa remarked.

"I believe that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." Arya remarked. 

"That was sweet. I love it." Caro agreed. 

"Well, don't get used to it. Arya you're still very strange and annoying." Sansa assured her.

"And I?"  Caro countered. 

"I dont know that I like your boyfriend." Sansa remarked. "He is very loud and strange." 

"Fair point." Caro agreed. "But I like him... I miss him. I love his girls. They are the sweetest but I worry." Caro rasped. 

"Winter is coming." Arya remarked. 

"Winter is fucking here." Caro grumbled. "Its what lies beyond that winter... the man that brings the storms." Caro informed them gently. 

""In winter, we must protect ourselves. Look after one another." Arya declared. 

"Father." Sansa agreed and a smile curved Caros face. She missed her brother.  ''When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.''

"I miss him." Caro whispered tears freezing to her cheeks. 

"Me, too."

+

"Tormund proposed before he went back to the wall." Caro remarked softly as she tucked the girls in. She glanced back at Bran. "I didnt give him an answer." She added as she wheeled him down the hall. 

"Tell him yes," Bran said. "Even if you are dying of fear, even if you are sorry later, because whatever you do, you will be sorry all the rest of your life if you say no."

"When did you get so smart?" Caro pondered. Bran smiled back at her. Caro nodded in agreement, it was now or never. Caro started a scrolling, signed sealed, and ravened it out.

Tormund saw the face of death when he received a scroll. The direwolf sigil on the seal.

"Carolina?" Beric mused.

"This is probably the I found a better man, but I'm keeping your girls they like me better than you scroll that she didnt want to say in person." Tormund remarked. He pulled it open and his eyes pinched closed. Be brave damnit. He thought as she opened his eyes staring down at the words. 

~Very well, I will marry you if you promise not to make me eat vegetables. Caro~

He could almost see Caro laughing as she wrote it. He stuck it in his cloak giddy. 

"Thats a big smile." Beric remarked. 

"SHe agreed." TOrmund remarked. "To marry me." 

"Wow, congratulations!" Beric declared patting his back. 

"Thank you... now I got to get the fuck out of here." Tormund decided. Beric nodded in agreement as Tormund looked over the wall.

"It's a long way down." Beric remarked.

"Yeah. The crows keep telling me I'll get used to it." Tormund agreed but his eyes narrowed in. "But I'm out of here... what's that?"

"I can see movement..."

"Watch, on the tree line!"

"What is it?"

"They are here." Tormund declared as horns blew out.

The white walkers stood at attention as the crows waited then a dragon came swooping down. Danaerys dragon screeched out, ice blazing from his mouth.

Tormund watched it tear through the wall as though it was piss in the snow.

"Run! Run!" Tormund screamed out as the wall was crumbling around them. 

The Night's Watchmen flee as the undead dragon attacked the wall will blue flame. The wall began to buckle and fall. The stairways shook and broke. Many fell to their deaths as they tried to get down. The undead army watched, motionless. Tormund and Beric barely escape from the collapsing section of the wall. Once it had came to the ground, the undead army started to advance. The army seemed endless, and included undead giants. The Night King led from above, riding Viserion. The undead marched south of the wall.