𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 || 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑾𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝑪𝒓𝒚 𝑶𝒖𝒕

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑽𝑰𝑰𝑰

"First out father and sisters, then our little brothers..where do we draw the line on this, Ben?"

Jon asked, turning somewhat sharply, holding Dawn up in one hand, almost offering the blade, but Ben could see it was an ultimatum. Neither choice was right or wrong, but were just choices. So taking a long moment of silence, Ben finally shook his head, looking into Jon's Stark-like eyes with pitty and a sadness that weighed heavy on his own.

"We're not leaving the Night's Watch."

Not yet, he almost continued, but held it back. Jon clenched his fist even tighter around the scabbard laced with bits of gilded steel.

"And why in Seven Hells not? What are we even doing here, still?"

"You have been back here longer than I, so you heard what has happened in the South. I'm telling you, Jon, the Lannisters and all our enemies have never been as powerful as they've ever been."

"But a group of strangers-fucking monsters-sleep in our home as we speak, while the lions of Lannister rule the Realm with impunity."

"No-you're not reading the lines here, Jon. The wrighting thats on the wall."

Benget took a step, raising his hands in an attempt to cool the conversation, but he knew it would not do anything. Jon took a step too, and both twins stood nearly in front of one another.

"Between the both of us, we cannot gather the men and loyalty needed to raid a pantry. Boltons in the North, Freys and Lannisters in the South and West and a whole lot of unknowns evermore.
We cannot win that. This game we play is ugly...filthy-fucking disgusting, even. But we play regardless of who comes to stand on the other side of the board, Brother."

Reaching out carefully, Jon still was nearly at the point of fumes, but Ben narrowed his eyes and held firm, not allowing Jon the moment to reach that point, and then, touched his shoulder. Shaking him lightly, Ben looked into his brother's eyes with concern and care, sadness, and above all, understanding. He understood in that moment how he felt. As soon as he read those letters from Robb, from Lady Catelyn, he punched the wall as hard as he could until his knuckles bled. His anger did nothing for him in that moment except make him bleed.

"There's too much at stake here, Jon. You know as well as anyone that I want to burn the Lannisters to the ground, rip out their House root and stem, end their fucking line and all. But you also know what happened at the Fist of the First Men, what Sam and Grenn told us..what I-"

He left a long and silent pause hanging in the air as Ben felt a chill of frozen horror run down his spine. He could see those eyes-those blue eyes. Blue eyes of winter..

"What I saw at the Nightfort..I can't explain it. I can't convince you, even if I tried my damndest, it's too hard to believe. I'd have better luck taming a fucking dragon than convincing anyone that the White Walkers are coming."

"I believe you."

Jon said quietly, still looking at the floor for a lingering moment. But in the next, he looked up to Ben and shook his head.

"But I know that a debt has to be paid. An eye for an eye."

"And a tooth for a tooth. That's from one of my songs."