✓ | 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝑻𝒐 𝑹𝒖𝒍𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 (R.STARK 2/3)

Chapter Nineteen::Hope

A/N: Guess what people, it's my birthday!!! I thought I'd update just for your guys as I'm probably not going to get the chance over the next couple of days. I am going up to London on Wednesday to see Romeo and Juliet with our favourite Scottish actor in and may not be able to write anything until after that, so sorry if this is the last update for a couple of days but I hope you like the chapter anyway!

The hunt had passed in a blur, but there was something still distinct about the trip. What Raina heard, what she knew she'd heard, from deep in the Wolfswood, had been a Direwolf. Ghost was up at The Wall with Jon, Nymeria was somewhere near King's Landing, or so everyone believed, Shaggy and Summer were roaming the North (and it could've easily been them), Lady was killed years ago, and then there was Greywind - she thought he was dead, no, knew he was dead, yet something in her gut still made her believe that it was Robb's Direwolf that she'd heard, Robb's Direwolf that was still alive and howling to her from within the dense trees. Perhaps it was her imagination, perhaps she was still holding out on the illusion of Robb having survived, and the howl was not a direwolf, but the Young Wolf himself that howled for her to come to his aid. That was far fetched, she knew, but if Raina gave up hope of her King, that what hope could she rightfully have anymore. Robb had always been the one to instil hope, in Raina, in everyone, and without hope there was no way he would have succeeded as he did in the war. It seemed wrong to say he 'succeeded' in his effort, considering how it all ended, but Robb was truly the best King Raina had ever seen, and had truly believed he would have won the war had it not been for the Boltons and the Freys. She hoped one day she'd get the chance to kill them all.

It was currently some ridiculous hour of the night, probably even morning by now, and Raina still sat away, glaring at the ceiling as though it had just insulted her. That was what seemed to bide her time at night, just looking at the roof, waiting for some miracle to take her away from here. Even being in Robb's room diminished all potential comfort she might have gained from the familiar setting, as all it meant was that she was here and he wasn't - not exactly how she wanted to end up in his bed.

She couldn't sleep, or think, or even distrac herself from the thoughts lingering in her head. All of Robb and whatever Direwolf had called out to her hours prior to now. She wanted to know that they were alright, whichever of the 4 - possibly 5 - that remained, and could easily be wandering about the lands surrounding Winterfell. If only to ensure that they were not injured or dying in anyway, Raina wished to run out to them, find them, check on them, and look after them - let them know they're not alone anymore, like her. She wanted the comfort if a familiar face around, even if it was that of a Direwolf.

The thought of one of them being close, the only living link to the Starks Raina still had, kept her awake. All she seemed to be able to do, besides eyeing the ceiling with daggers, was try to comprehend the possibility of whichever Direwolf lurked beyond the walls of her prison, a place in which always seemed welcoming and marvellous before all that had happened, occurred. The Direwolfs evidently remembered their home well, just as Raina did before coming back to this place. If you had asked her a week ago, a month ago, a year ago or longer, she could've drawn a detailed map of Winterfell, telling you where every tiny thing was hidden, or the location of every room - being back only made her want to forget the imprinted memory she had of a once loved keep.  Perhaps with the Direwolf at her side, Raina would feel somewhat warmer in this cold place.

And then it echoed again; a shrill noise through the fog of night, that shrouded the surrounding landscape, but could not conceal the source of the familiar sound. Raina bolted upright, eyes cast straight to the window, that was plagued with condensation, recognising the sound instantly. She climbed out of Robb's bed and all but sprinted towards the glass, pressing a juxtaposing warm hand to the cool surface of the windowpanes. All she could see was blackness beyond the grey mist on the glass, and her own vague reflection, however she could hear it still - more clearly than ever. A howl. A series of howls, one after the other. Whichever Direwolf it was, it was wounded and wanting help; maybe it was Raina's exhausted mind, but she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Greywind, if it were indeed him, could tell she was there - could sense a familiar face within his home - and he was crying out to her, in a desperate attempt to be rekindled with a loving, recognisable, person. Or maybe that was Raina's dying hope, that somehow she could still have a piece of Robb, beyond his room.

And then it echoed out again, different to the previous cries of night, higher pitch than the last. A second Direwolf. Raina could have identified it as that species from a mile away, but it was clearer now that it had been two separate direwolfs roaming the woods outside of Winterfell, rather than the one Raina had believed it to be. Perhaps it was Shaggy and Summer, come home after losing their owners and getting lost in the woods; but something about it didn't make Raina believe that. She wanted it to be Greywind, so that what little hope she still bared for Robb, could come true and not just be a pathetic fantasy of a lonely girl, destined to marry a man that she didn't love - which seemed to be the realistic scenario rather than what Raina prayed for. But, nevertheless, she had to know. She had to see whose Direwolf it was howling at the moon, she needed to see them, and know which one it was. She couldn't stop herself.

So with that in mind, Raina bolted for the door, not caring about the cold or who might see her dash off into the night. It would look like she was making a run for it, leaving the Boltons empty handed once again - but she couldn't care less, she just had to know. Maybe she was deluded in thinking it was Greywind, or even a Direwolf for that matter - she could just be imagining that it was - but she wanted to be the one to prove herself wrong, rather than constantly being conflicted about the realistic and the potential. She left Robb's room quickly, pressing the dagger on her hip closer into her skin, the gentle leather of the hilt being cold to the touch, and adjusting her eyes to the gentle hum of light that burning embers produced in the stretching, stone, corridor. She couldn't hazard a guess as to what time it was, but the chance of anyone but the guards being awake at such an hour was slim, which boosted her confidence about not being spotted as she made for an abandon corridor nearby, one of the many which Robb had showed her in their wild adventures around his home. She remembered how eager he was to teach her of all the secret places and passageways so that when she lived there alongside him there would be no where in the keep that she could get lost, or didn't know. That was back before neither Robb or Raina really understood what marriage entailed, or the seriousness of it all. They had no consideration for their future back then, and how Raina wished she could go back to when the pair were like that. Ignorant and blissful.

She shortly broke out into the northern chill of night, with darkness cloaking her surroundings enough to prevent her being able to see past a few feet in front of her. She didn't bring a torch, she didn't need one, she knew the way with her eyes closed - which they may have well have been considering the shadows that fell around her, and contorted her vision. She cold vaguely make out the dark figure of the tree line ahead of her, as she carefully stalked across the terrain, cautious about ditches and dykes in her path, and as she listened to the musical howls of the Direwolfs that was now clearer in the crystal stillness of twilight, than it had been as she stood beyond the glass barrier of her 3rd floor window.

Robb had brought her out into these trees many times at night, and it was no different now than it was as a child - only she no longer had Robb's warm hand to hold as she was dragged deeper into the plunge of blackness. He was her guide on every occasion, keeping her grip in his own as she pushed through the scary cloud of darkness, and bravely faced the night with her in his grasp. She didn't have that now. All she did have was the distant memory of his hand in hers, which was enough to persuade her further into the trees than any sane person would have willingly gone at such a time at night. The thought of him made her do a lot of crazy things, this wasn't one of the wildest occasions to have happened on his behalf.

When Raina stopped herself, she was in the pit of pure ebony, the distant whispers of leaves echoing above her, and the vague sweep of wind through branches could be heard if she tried hard. She couldn't recall when the howling had stopped, as she had been buried in thoughts of childhood memories when it did, but now there was pure, alluring, silence - save for the faint sounds of nature - which diminished any small sense of reassurance that she had received from the continuous cry of familiar Direwolfs.  She just hoped it hadn't been all for nothing, and that perhaps she had been correct in her thinking that Direwolfs, that Stark's Direwolfs were out here, waiting and calling for her. She at least hoped that was the case, and that it wasn't her dwindle to insanity. But then it touched her, physically touched her; she wasn't alone.