Bringing the Dawn [IN EDITING]

***Prologue

NOTE: I am currently working through a mass edit. Everything with *** in front of it has been edited, anything without this may have portions that will change with the edit.

"Promise me, Ned. Promise me you'll keep him safe. If Robert finds out, he will kill him. You know he will. Promise me."

Those words haunted Eddard Stark from the moment they left his younger sister's mouth. Her tears that were rapidly falling to the way she was holding the babe tight to her chest still covered in blood, and especially the blood gushing out of the incision that had been made as the babes shoulders were stuck. Which if the midwife in the room said was true- would soon take her life. He thought the predicament through, trying to find a way he could keep the babe hidden from her betrothed and his best friend.

"Ned, promise me. Please."

Ned hesitated for only a moment as he thought everything through. Could he do it? His answer was reached when he looked to her terrified face and the promise was made to her. The midwife reaching to take the babe from her chest still covered in blood from where it had been freed from his sisters body as she was too weak to do so herself judging by the way her voice was beginning to shake and quieten. He knew she would only have minutes left. She cleaned the babe quickly to remove as much of the blood as she could with the little supplies she had before wrapping a towel around it before handing it to him. The babe made no sound and if it weren't for the fact the chest was rising he would think the babe had been stillborn.

"Tell him Wylla- I can-can't."

Even those few words she struggled to get out and he tried his best to ignore the way it felt like his innards were constricting. How much more must he lose? He'd lost his mother years before, he'd lost his father and brother only the year prior, and now he was losing his sister. The midwife- Wylla- gripped Lyanna's other hand and squeezed slightly before looking directly to him and speaking.

"His name is to be Jaeron Targaryen. The Princess wishes for him to be raised in the North as she was. Robert Baratheon is not to know of the babe. He is the heir of his House now with the loss of Rhaenys and Aegon, he is a threat to his rule. Raise him as your own if you must, my Lord, and when the babe is a man grown he is to be told."

Targaryen. Not Sand. Targaryen. There was only one way that could be true. Seven hells, they had been wed. He always had a feeling there was more to it than what was let on, but he didn't want to dishonour his sister and enrage Robert Baratheon as the stag had a temper that even the Mad King couldn't rival. As he looked down at the babe he saw the eyes were very pale in colour but whether they would be purple or grey was yet to be determined. Hoping they would be grey for that would be easier to explain.

"You are to take this chest with you back to the North. It contains various items left to him by the Prince and those who knew. There is also a written record by Septon Maynard of the marriage of Princess Lyanna and Prince Rhaegar along with the annulment of Princess Elia and Prince Rhaegar and the terms agreed for this. Once the babe is a man grown, he is to be shown these items."

Wylla pushed the small chest closer to him and opened it, wondering what it contained. This was answered as Ned took in the contents of the chest. It was rare Eddard Stark was taken aback, and Lyanna had to bite back a laugh at his facial expression with the little life she had left in her. She already looked paler than he remembered and he noticed the pool of blood was growing around her as she bled out on the bed.

"That is Dark Sister, it's been lost for decades."

"Lord Commander Brynden left the sword with Maester Aemon before he went on his final ranging. Prince Rhaegar was in regular correspondence with the Maester and the sword was retrieved from Castle Black."

A loud cry from the infant broke him from his trance as he shifted his arms position. Once the boy settled, he had a plan. He had been away for just over a year. He would tell his wife that after a battle he had strayed in a moment of weakness. That the woman had died giving birth to the babe, and he couldn't leave him. Then on his sixteenth name day, he would sit down with the boy and explain everything to him. He would support his nephew with whatever decision he made when the time came. Jaeron Targaryen. He would call him Jon for short- a name derived from the Northern name Jonathor. He was about to explain his plan to his sister, but when he looked to her, he noticed her eyes had closed forever. Squeezing her now limp hand tightly for a few seconds as he fought back his tears and speaking.

"I'll do it for you Lya, I promise."