Game of Thrones - the Remix!

The Command Center

Stefanna reluctantly makes her way to the command center, terrified of what she will find there.

"Saty, let me see Kings Landing."

All the major screens in the command center filled with aerial views of Kingslanding. On the three hills: Aegons, Visenyas and Rahenys, all the major structures had been destroyed. The Red Keep, gone. The Sept, gone. The Dragon Pit, gone. The carnage was unreal. More bodies than she could visually count.

"Saty, what's the body count?"

"367,236."

Kings Landing had been leveled - with the wildfire. Julian had some how ignited all of the wildfire underneath the city. As she surveyed all the damage she felt a pair of eyes on her, turned, of course it was Tyrion.

How could she ever explain this to him...why was he, even virtually, so deeply curious about this information that would destroy his entire concept of his self, his reality, his very world that he inhabited. Were there people who were just naturally nihilistic?

"What is this, your grace?"

"It's...it's a command center."

As he took in the images of destruction from all Kings Landing, he asked with deep trepidation,

"Is this...is this what your adversary has done to Kings Landing?"

"You said that wars were coming, what you didn't tell us, was that it would be your kind that would bring them. How can we possibly fight against this?"

"I'm working on it Tyrion."

"Are you going to tell the others about what has happened to Kings Landing?"

"No! And don't you tell them either! This...this would upset them greatly, and it's unnecessary."

"Don't you think they deserve to know? The sort of devastation that exists in your world, you've brought it to the realm and you're not even going to tell?"

"First of all-this destruction is from your realm...it's the wildfire. He ignited all the wildfire that was under the city."

"Why would he do that? Is he mad? Why kill so many innocent people over the arrogance of a few?"

It was exactly who he was, and what he would do. How could she not have seen it. All these years, she had been blind to this, and it had cost her dearly. Oh, these war games were quite effective. For the first time, in her life she was beginning to see it. She was beginning to understand what she had to do. She had to know him. She had to really understand Julian.

"I can fix this...and I will fix this. But...I need to think...I need to see what went wrong, okay. Trust me. This is not as bad as it seems."

"In a matter of hours, this monster has destroyed all of Kings Landing- all of it. And you say, it's not as bad as it seems."

That was a quiet, calm voice. Definitely not Tyrion's. She turned to also find Varys, standing there taking in the destruction of Kings Landing.

Stefanna exclaimed defensively,

"Cersei was going to do this anyway. He's only following her timestream to a slightly more destructive conclusion."

That wasn't the entire truth. Cersei didn't destroy all of Kings Landing.

"Cersei isn't smart enough to pull off anything as catastrophic as this." Tyrion arrogantly asserted.

"Now see that's where you are wrong. Remember Law 19, from the 40 laws of Power - know who you are dealing with, or as Sun Tzu would say knowing the other and knowing oneself keeps you out of danger." You and I have repeatedly made the mistake of not knowing either all that well and it has cost us."

Varys nodded in agreement. Stefanna almost mumbled, I wasn't talking to you. Beside, Varys did not know what she had lost. But she realized the sooner she made peace wth Varys, the better. She didn't necessarily like him, but she realized that she needed him. He was smart, at this game of war. And like her, he realized he wanted to do the right thing, and fight the good fight. Sure the using kids as spies was beyond creepy, but in their world what other options were there? In her world, how many other options were there. She couldn't deny was was happening to the children of her world. Still, Varys was creepy, much like Little Finger. The way they were always perpetually lurking and watching.

"Don't worry. I'm going to fix this."

Tyrion exclaimed,

"How can you possibly fix this?"

"Like this: Saty reveal codes!"

And the codes to the realm, packed the room so densely, she felt crowded in, as if she couldn't move. Of course that was an illusion as the screens were not solid. But there were too many to even shift through.

"Saty, just Kings Landing Code"

Still, thousands of screens of code. It was still too much.

"Saty, the wildfire codes only."

There were hundreds of screens still. But she could work with that, she believed.

"Well it's just code. We can recode it, and bring it all back, so stop freaking out, and just let me think. This is all just a part of the game. Julian is testing the parameters, using cheat codes, of course he would. Why would I assume he would play fair? That's my mistake."

She was thinking to herself more than anything.

"A mistake that cost you Kings Landing."

Varys, again. Stefanna responded,

"I'm well aware of what has cost me. You have no idea. Leave me alone. I need to figure this out."