Chapter Text
His friends stopped him the first time. He was making a mistake they said, a man who took the black had no family but those who had sworn themselves to the night’s watch in front of the ancient tree his people worshiped so much. He had agreed with them then, no matter how much his heart ached to be with his brother, to avenge his father’s death, to rescue his sisters from the clutches of the lions but Jon was a man of honor and he would never break the vows he had made that fateful night.
But what good honor did for him or his family? Where was the honor when Walder Frey decided to betray the gods and slaughter his family after eating and drinking with them? No, honor did no good in a world like the one he lived in.
His father’s death had shown him that.
So when news arrived to his ears of Frey man attaching Grey Wind’s head to Robb’s body, Jon had snuck in the middle of the night after stealing a fine good horse and rode to the south as fast as the wind could carry him.
He didn’t allow his friends to stop him this time.
His family was truly gone now. Bran and Rickon’s body were nothing but ashes after being betrayed by a man whose heart never left the sea, Robb’s body lay mutilated somewhere near the Twins, his father’s head had rotted on a spike in King’s Landing and gods could only know where Arya was if she was alive at all, but Sansa still was, prisoner of the golden lions in the south.
The sister he had been less close to, the sister who had never treated him as such too much like her mother, too proud and proper to ever acknowledge the existence of the bastard brother who was the shame of their father. But she was his family and the wind was getting colder in the north, he needed the warmth only loved ones could provide, and despite their lack of closeness growing up Sansa was his family and he loved his family.
So that night he broke the most sacred vow he ever made.
The journey was excruciating, a deserter from the night’s watch who had Stark blood was a dangerous man to be, so Jon had to be careful to avoid the roads by day and keep an eye open for the dangers at night. When he finally felt the sticky salty humid air and the rotted scent of King’s Landing he felt as if he had been on the road for years instead of weeks.
He missed the north after only a few hours of being in the city. There was something foul in King’s landing. A nastiness so deep that stained everything that touched. His family should have never left the north, leaving their sacred lands was the beginning of it all.
The first time he saw his half-sister again was a couple of days after his arrival, he had been hiding in dark alleys and rotten inns, trying to make himself as invisible as he could, not that it was hard for him since he had been doing that ever since he was old enough to understand what being a bastard meant.
She was sitting on the dock with some dark-haired woman; the dress she was wearing was purple and her long red hair fell straight down her back, while he could see the familiar features he had known his whole life there was something different in the girl sitting by the sea. It wasn’t just that her features were sharper since she had lost the roundness of her youth or that she was taller and even more beautiful if that was even possible. The change was in her eyes, the soft blue orbs had been bright and starry before but were cold and closed off now, it made something in his chest ache, to imagine what the girl who lived for songs and love stories had seen to make the light in her eyes die.
The second time he saw her it was a coincidence. He had sneaked out of his lair in order to search for a bit of bread when a commotion of horses and carriages crossed his path. The young king was nowhere to be seen but through the open windows of the carriage, he caught a glimpse of his half-sister and a beautiful woman with cunning eyes and loose brown curls. Sansa was laughing demurely at something the other girl said and not for the first time since he set out on his journey, Jon questioned himself whether his sister was going to agree to escape with him when the time came.
The idea put a damper on his mood for the rest of the day.
The third time he saw her was planned. He had waited patiently for days, watched and hunted the right man for the job. He had scraped every penny, made every arrangement, and prayed to every God known to his people so the plan wouldn’t fail, he only had one chance after all.
The morning was especially hot that day. Sweat covered his skin and made the fabric of his clothing adhere in a way that couldn’t be considered comfortable. The nape of his neck was covered in sweat from where his hair fell and the putrid smell that seemed to surround King’s Landing was impossible to escape.
Yet when he finally saw her everything else ceased to exist. She was in purple once again, the soft fabric was cinching her waist in a very flattering manner and the long sleeves moved graciously as she walked through the gardens of the Red Keep, alone for the first time since he arrived, all thanks to the buffoon he had managed to snatch to do the dirty work.
“Hello, Ser Dontos?” The quiet voice of his half-sister reached him from across the bushes where he was hiding and did something to the heart he believed frozen long ago.
“Sansa” The words had barely left his mouth when her head spun in his direction. Her breath shook as she stepped further into the garden, her hands moving away the tangled bushes until she was facing him.
“Jon” The words were barely whispered, her eyes widened and a flash of shock crossed her face, the dark-haired man almost expected her to shout at someone to come and get her before she surprised him by throwing herself into his arms.
He barely had time to catch her before her face was hiding between his neck and shoulder and her hands were buried in his curls, he held on for dear life. Breathing in the familiar northern scent she hadn’t managed to get rid of, burying his face in the red locks she had shared with her mother and her eldest brother.
For the first time since he could remember, Jon Snow felt at home.
“How did you-?” A string of words left her lips as she pulled away from him, her lithe frame shook with the force of the emotions boiling inside at being reunited with all that was left of her family “How are you here?”
Jon took a deep breath, his dark eyes drank her in, the last piece of the north that remained, the last remnant of his home “It was a long journey”
“But you took the black”
Shame ran through him at her words and the implication behind them, he was a deserter and no good deed in the world would change that “I had a more important oath to fulfill” He stated and hoped the shame wouldn’t filter through his words.
She nodded in understanding, her hands finding his and squeezing gently “Are you going to take me away?” He relished in the feel of her soft unmarred hands between his calloused ones, it was the first time Sansa had let him hold her hand and it was also the first time in so long that Jon held something as beautiful as her between them.
“Aye, that is, if you want to”
A look of panic crossed her face before she threw herself at him once again, her hands holding onto the front of his jerking “Don’t leave me here please, please”
“I won’t,” He said softly “We’ll never be parted again”
Her eyes softened, a flash of incredulity crossing her face “Do you promise?”
Jon nodded and moved her a few centimeters away, his rough hands went to cup her face, her skin was flawless and cold, the only thing cold in that suffocating southern sun “Do you trust me?” He asked and while seeing the surprised expression on her face at the touch of his skin wondered how it was that there were the last two Stark standing.
If he was honest with himself she was the last of his siblings he thought of when the war started and yet she was the only one standing before him now, so beautiful and fragile. As he took in the fear of her red-rimmed eyes and the hollowness of her cheeks he felt an unnatural urge to protect her at all cost, the shadow of the little girl he once knew, the one who believed in fairytales and happy endings.
“I do” She whispered before the sound of footsteps nearby made them snap back from their family reunion.
Jon released her before leaning close enough to murmur in her ear “Meet me by the docks, tomorrow once the sun is down. Can you manage to do that?”
The girl nodded enthusiastically before sparing a hurried glance behind her, perhaps imagining who the footsteps could belong to. “I’ll see you then” He stated before stealing a quick kiss to her forehead and disappearing between the high bushes. The sound of voices and female laughter reached his ears as he walked further away.
Just one more night.
He had to hold on for one more night and they would finally be free.