Long Live // Rhaegar Targaryen // Elia Martell

10. They Call Him The Mountain

Kill 'em with kindness / Gregor Clegane out now! (bad part for this to be announced, oh well)

Rickard burned alive and Brandon strangled, Ned couldnt hide at winterfell and wait for Jolene to appear for all he knew, she was across the narrow sea and didnt know what was going on. He had to fight for his home, for his family. He had to stop the mad king. 

Robert, delusional as he was that Jolene loved him as well was loud and rowdy and got the troops to gather around him. To get Jolene back and fight for a better future. One where good men were not burned. 

Jon Arryn raised the banners against Aerys, with Ned and Robert joining him, beginning Robert's Rebellion for the woman he loved too much, never to receive that love in return. 

The maester said Jolene needed to remain in bed, that the baby was in a bad position, that moving too much, riding all the way to winterfell or the capital would risk not only the babes life but Jolene's as well. Jolene was to remain at the Tower of Joy. 

Rhaegar wouldnt leave her side, but if things were getting this bad, Elia needed to see if her family was alright, he had brothers, she packed up the kids and ran into some trouble along the way. 

They were staying in an inn Elia had just gotten the kids to sleep when she stepped onto the balcony for some fresh air. They were foolish, the three of them. She took a deep breath and didnt smell fresh air but blood soaking into the breeze. Elia's eyes snapped to the ground, the carriage she was in destroyed. The horses bucking wildly, her trusted handmaiden lay bloody, her clothes torn from her body, Elia couldnt breathe. 

+

"Lannisters? WHy would they help? Their son is in your fathers kings guard." Jolene remarked as Rhaegar paced. "Rhaegar, I have a very bad feeling about this." She admitted. "We never should have left, I could have lived on stupid storms end, my father and brother would be alive."

"Don't put this on you." Rhaegar instructed grabbing her hand. 

"Who else can I put this on? I ran away and you ran away and now the world thinks the worst of you and you are an amazing man, you would be a great king-"

"I blame that damn Baratheon. You never loved him. He is jealous and mad that you rejected him." Rhaegar offered. 

"He started a war for me." Jolene whispered. "He got my family killed because I was the idiot that ran away from duty, wanting love, desire instead...." Jolene sobbed into Rhaegar. "I'm the monster that left."

"You are not a monster." Rhaegar corrected. 

"This baby has a monster for a mother!" Jolene whimpered. 

"You are a wonderful woman, you will be a wonderful mother." Rhaegar corrected. 

"They are going to find out what we did and kill us all." Jolene realized as he kissed her gently. 

"I wont let them touch you." Rhaegar corrected. "Or this baby." Jolene sobbed out when the door flew open Rhaegar pulled his blade free but it was a disheveled Elia. 

"Elia," Rhaegar moved to her, "What happened? Are you hurt? Where are the children?" 

"He killed them! He killed them! He killed them!" Elia sobbed out. "I... I..." she choked for breath as she fell into the side of the bed her bloody hands staining the sheets. 

"Who?" Rhaegar demanded. 

"I dont know his name, they called him the Mountain." Elia's lip quivered at his name. "He bashed their little heads in." She sobbed out hiccups filled her chest as she curled her knees into her chest. "He killed my babies!" 

Aerys saw knives in every shadow. House Stark and House Baratheon were the first to protest Rhaegar's actions so they were the first on Aerys hit list. 

Jon Arryn was the Defender of the Vale, the Warden of the East and a respected nobleman. Both Rickard's second son Eddard Stark and Robert were fostered with him as children and became close friends. When Aerys demanded that Eddard and Robert be turned over to the King's Justice, Lord Jon refused and raised his banners in revolt.

"The mountain, how did you get away?" Jolene questioned as Elia cradled into Rhaegar. 

"I jumped." Elia remarked. "He went for the kids and I heard Rhaenys cry and ran for her but he took his hand, he just-" she fisted her hand around the air. "-just like that, she was gone..." Elia sobbed out. "I ran to Aegon but this mountain of a man shoved me back. Aegon screamed, I heard the crunch before I could pull myself back up and then... I saw him coming at me... I jumped over the edge of the balcony, I took a horse and I didnt look back." Elia sobbed out. 

"Elia," Jolene rasped hugging her. Rhaegar's jaw clenched his hands fisting at his sides. 

"I will kill this man!" Rhaegar declared. 

"No, he will kill you." Elia corrected. "He will kill us all, no doubt he is working for the Baratheons or Lannisters... they will kill every last one of us to secure their own reign." 

"I will get justice for them." Rhaegar declared. His face pinched, as Elia sobbed into Jolene. Jolene looked between her two closest friends and thought look how far we have fallen. They were so alive and free a few moons ago and now they were bleeding and broken. 

"I can't get the sound of their little heads crunching out of my head." Elia whimpered. Jolene didnt know how to help her, so she held Elia as she sobbed out. 

"I should have forbid you from leaving." Rhaegar declared. 

"I would not have listened." Elia corrected. "I'm too stubborn to listen when I have my mind set." 

"Thats true." Jolene agreed softly. "We will get revenge, we will get redemption." Jolene assured her, tears in her own eyes as Rhaegar punched a hole in the wall.