The Guardian of the North (Robb Stark) Completed

Tough choices

"You chose the wrong side." -Tony Stark, Captain America: Civil War

"At least I don't have to ride a horse, I can just sit here and do nothing." Gillian chuckled lightly, looking at Elena who was riding next to the prisoner cart he was in. His hands were clasped around the metal that kept him inside and separated from everyone outside.

The Dark One seemed to be the one who had started the fire a few days ago. Probably to trigger everyone, make everyone confused and disoriented so that they were all distracted. What he had aimed to accomplish nobody knew, except for Abigail. Probably also to kill Gillian and to make sure Elena would finally break.

It was Robb who had stopped her from firing the arrow. He had ran through the whole burning castle after he found out she was inside only to stop her from killing her friend. Yes Gillian had been raised from the dead and yes he may have killed people in his weak state but that didn't mean he had to die. Robb knew that if Gillian would die Elena would crumble even though he was with her, Robb knew that she would give up and give in to the darkness.

This was the first time after Damon had given permission for the two to marry that he regretted it. Damon knew that Robb would never mean to hurt her, physically or mentally, even if it meant he'd have to make a terrible mistake. Someone had to make these hard choices. Damon knew though that he couldn't possibly kill Gillian himself now, the relationship between him and his sister would crumble and he'd probably be sentenced to death by Robb for disobeying his command.

"Why won't you tell me what happened?" Gillian asked after some time and looked at Elena. Her face was hidden from his sight by a large black hood.

"I don't want you to worry." Elena answered.

"A few days ago you aimed an arrow at me and almost let go, of course I'm worried." Gillian frowned and crawled closer to her. Elena only sighed and petted her horse.

Elena remembered it like it happened just a few seconds ago. If it hadn't been for Robb storming in, she would've let that arrow fly. Damon had been encouraging her to do it, to finally let go and to accept the fact that her friend was dead. When Robb arrived though, he immediately laid his hand on her arm and pushed it down so the arrow wasn't aimed at Gillian anymore. He then took her out of the castle without saying anything whatsoever.

When they arrived outside, Elena and Robb before Damon and Gillian, they saw the chaos outside. Many people were coughing due to the smoke filling the air. Steven looked up at them and saw the blood covering Gillian and immediately knew what had happened. He also knew that he couldn't finish what Elena had started, in a way Steven knew that that's what Ethan wanted him to do.

"Where's Abigail?" Damon had asked after a few seconds, sprinting towards Steven.

"I don't know." Steven looked up at Damon with an apolagic glance.

It was then that Abigail ran towards the little group positioned in the courtyard with a few splashes of blood covering her arms and clothes. She looked at them with sorrow in her eyes, her whole body was shaking and her lips were trembling.

"Father, I'm so sorry." She sobbed while looking at Damon.

"What are you talking about?" Damon's eyes widened in worry. He ran towards his daughter to try and take a better look at her but she diverted her face away from him. "Abigail, what's going on?"

"Where's Ella?" Steven asked slowly and clearly, standing up from the ground and looking at Abigail cautiously. "Abigail, where's Ella?" Steven repeated, his hand reaching for his sword.