The Guardian of the North (Robb Stark) Completed

Crashing down

With great power comes great responsibility. - the Amazing Spiderman

The night was long and full of nightmares for Elena. Eventually she just gave up on sleeping, she knew she'd have another nightmare if she tried and she wasn't ready for that. She was mentally exhausted already, let alone if she endured yet another of those horrible dreams.

The one she had before was utterly terrifying. She was walking through the forest alone when she heard Eddard screaming. Her heart skipped a few beats as she yelled his name and ran through the forest, not knowing where she had to go.

The scream suddenly changed, instead it was Catelyn's voice. It went on for a while, she was begging Robb to flee. After that Elena heard an unfamiliar feminine voice which soon turned into Gillian's.

The ground became soft and her footsteps slow and exhausting. Nevertheless Elena didn't give up, she kept on yelling Gillian's name in desparation. His agonizing screams still filled the cold air. When Elena finally arrived she saw him lying there on the cold hard ground. His screams had stopped, his body was unmoving.

"Gillian?!" Elena couldn't see his face, but the moment she saw his dark brown hair she knew it was him. She sprinted towards him, fear filling her body as she turned his body so she could see his face. What she saw next made tears spring up in her eyes, sorrow and complete desperation fill every fibre of her body.

The last thing Elena saw before she woke up were Robb's lifeless eyes staring up at her.

~

"Then you-"

"Yes, yes. Light a fire so you can see it. We know it already, you've repeated it over a hundred times." Gillian rolled his eyes. It was night, they were ready to finally attack Dreadfort.

"Make sure you do it then, Karstark." Robb glared at Gillian, both their eyes filling with hatred for each other.

"I'm ready to go." Elena mumbled, she'd had enough of them fighting. Robb nodded and turned to look at her. He tried to hold it back but he failed, he wrapped her tightly in his arms. He let out a deep sigh as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in the familiar scent of pine-trees.

Elena thought about telling him about the man from last night. If it really was The Dark One and he was here, they'd have an huge problem without a doubt. But Elena couldn't tell him, she knew she'd only worry him further.

"Please be careful." He whispered against her ear.

"I will." Elena untangled herself from his arms and smiled up at him. Then she looked at Arya, who was standing silently next to Robb. Arya wrapped her arms tightly around Elena but her face was clear of any emotion.

Too soon Ayra let go and only nodded at Elena, who sighed and turned towards Gillian. He was walking towards Arya and then kneeled before her while handing her a package.

"What's this?" she looked at Gillian. He had always been a good friend for her. He sometimes taught her how to fight and sometimes they made schemes together, mostly they involved Sansa and poo. One time Arya and Gillian put poo in Sansa's mattress, the maids had been searching for weeks from where the stench came. Needless to say, Gillian was the brother Arya always wanted and Arya was the little sister Gillian never had.

"Open it." Gillian smiled at her. Arya hesitantly opened the package. It was a dagger with a craving of a wolf on it. It was short but sharp, something Arya could use to her advantage. "I know it's not needle, but until you've found him back you can use this one." Gillian said and looked at Arya.

"How did you get it?" Arya practiced a bit with her new dagger, immediately liking it.

"It was my fathers gift to me." Gillian's smile vanished for a few seconds until his smile appeared again. "Don't try to kill your brother with it, I know how tempting it gets but... well, you don't want to be hanged."