snow and stars| jon snow

xxiv: love and duty

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Everyone had calmed down by the time lunch got to the table. There was relaxed chatter, which proved to be fake by the way the air was set. Jon couldn't find it in himself to stop staring, and even Sansa couldn't stop glancing towards her. After long moments of poking around it, Jon finally asked her. "How are you alive?"

The whole table stopped their talking to realize that two of the three rulers of kingdoms were speaking. "Did you think me to be dead?"

"No." He said, shaking his head slowly. "But you weren't moving at all when I left you, and I left you for an hour and a half. Suddenly, you're up and walking again. How?"

"The gods truly wanted me here." She answered in all seriousness.

"Your heart stopped." Arya said skeptically. "I didn't think you would wake, not after your heart stopped. There was nothing we could do, and Jon went practically insane next to you the whole time. We should know how you're alive."

"I..." she sighed. "I'm overwhelmed. I just came back from the dead after seeing one of my closest friends die, and now I have to live with it."

"Take your time, my love." Jon said quietly, reassuring her as she took her breath.

"So, I died." She revealed obviously. "I don't know if anyone realized that I died for eleven minutes, during an eclipse." It was clear that none of them had noticed. "My family killed me for eleven minutes, brought me to the afterlife to see them. That's why my heart stopped."

"They killed you?" Gendry asked, leaving forward and completely entranced with her story. He believed it.

"I'm a sense," she paused, her eyes analyzing all at the table as they listened to her speaking. "They spoke to me, they told me things." She said, eyes glancing to Jon momentarily.

   "Like what?"

"They told me how I was able to be there, how things between Jon and I were meant to be. We were the god's last real chance. It-" she sighed. "It's something Jon and I have to talk about alone."

   "I don't care," Ser Davos said rather rudely, nearly cutting her off. "All I care about is that you're alive."

   She smiled rather brightly for a woman who had almost died for good. "Thank you, I'm glad to return." The table got silent again, this time a good and comfortable silence, a bearable silence. There were no obvious questions hanging in the air, and it was as if everything was the way it was supposed to be.

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  It took almost all day for her to be alone with Jon. Between talking and grieving with Odda to explaining everything to the Stark Sisters and company, it took very long time for the love birds to be together again. Now, they stood in the middle of the empty throne room, a few paces away from each other. They stood just staring, one in disbelief and the other in pure tranquility. He was staring with wonder in his brown eyes, adoration and love. Andromeda was a woman with cold eyes no longer as she saw the man she basically shared a soul with standing before her. She was as happy to have him alone as he was her, and she just wanted to feel him in her arms again. She was at peace when she was with him, and she knew her heart was calm just hearing his voice or grazing his hand.

    They rushed towards each other, bodies colliding in a tight hug. She almost cried when her face buried into his neck and when she felt him hold onto her tightly, completely forgetting about the injury that had taken her away from him momentarily in the first place. Her rocked her back and forth slowly, as if cherishing her until the last moment before he pulled away.