The Golden Twin - A Game of Thrones Fanfiction

Chapter 20

The clouds were dark, preparing for the storm, the people hid, many families had travelled further south, the warriors were getting ready, the scenery screamed war.

Joanna had put on her best armour,  it was silver with the sigil of her house, a proud lion stood at the side of her arm. She had her hair in a tight braid, not a single hair loose. She had been getting ready for this moment since she had stepped foot in Winterfell that, however, didn't mean she wasn't scared. She was terrified, not only of her and everyone else dying, but of tfhe outcome their loss would have. 

She now walked solemnly with steady steps which echoed through the crowded corridors of the frozen castle. She nodded as a greeting to everyone she saw until she reached the door she was so nervous to knock. She took a deep breath and armed herself with courage. A voice inside let her come in, she opened the door only to see her mother sitting at the end of the bed, the sparks of the fire slowly dying down. Her hair was still short and the dark bags under her eyes betrayed her nights of endless nightmares. She sat next to her in complete sinlence, no words were needed in a moment like this one, in less than an hour the battle would begin and, maybe, this would be the last time they saw each other. 

"I need to speak to Sansa." Joanna's eyes shot up to her mother's, she looked confused. "I need to apologise." Cersei clarified. 

"Oh." That was everything Joanna could muster in that moment, she had never seen her mother apologise to anyone, it was strange, to say the least, but a good strange. "I can go find her if you want to-"

"No, we'll talk when we go to hide." Joanna only nodded. They remained in that awkward silence until Cersei wrapped her arms around the only child she had alive, the hug was weird, her pregnant belly getting in the middle of it but, still, Joanna enjoyed it. It was such a simple yet pure and truthful act, it had been awhile since she had truly felt comfortable with her mother. With finding out about the baby, the war, getting the throne and everything, they hadn't really had time for anything other than discussing strategy. 

"I think you should be going to the shelter and I'll get going to grab my weapons." Joanna broke the embrace as she heard the warriors settling the last details. 

"I love you, Joanna. My little cub." Her eyes were glossy and full of tears, so were Joanna's. 

"I love you too, Mother."

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Jon looked at his right side and saw her, there she was, a fiery look plastered on her face, she had never looked more beautiful in her eyes. The night was dark and only the moon could be seen in the sky, the white walkers stood in the horizon, closer than he would like. Joanna looked at her right and saw her father, she gave him a small smile and he returned it with concert and fear present in his eyes. 

They knew there was only one way to win this battle, with fire and blood, you can only battle ice with fire, with heat against the cold, the living against the dead. They all awaited and saw Melissandre, who Joanna didn't especially like, walk to the front of the crowd, as her hand touched the freezing steel of the sword, all the others lit on fire. 

A scream of war pierced their ears, the war had begun. 

The dothrakis and unsullied charged first, the sound of metal against metal was loud, the grans of pain could be heard, the thud with which the lifeless bodies fell to the ground too, Joanna paid attention to every detail she could, it made her not focus so much on the negative ending this could have. No, she though, stop thinking like that! We are fighters, warriors and brave, these stalactites will not defeat us. 

The wildeners joined the battle, Brienne, Jaime and Joanna launched into the fight as Jon ran up the tower to join Daenerys in her dragons. It was freezing cold until it wasn't, Joanna looked up from the corpse she had just killed and saw the fire erupting out of the dragon Dany was riding, burning the white walkers and some of their men with them. That is what Joanna didn't like about fire, you can't control it, once you light it, it's free. 

In the meanwhile, Theon protected Bran in the holy woods under the red-leaved tree. Arya shot arrows from the castle and Melissandre tried to light up a barricade to protect them. 

In the shelter, the ones who had taken refuge there would hear the sound of was, wondering what was happening, whether they were winning or losing. 

"I'm sorry. I know this is not the place nor time to do this but, I am sorry. For letting Joffrey treat you the way he did, for the pain I caused you and your family. You don't have to forgive me, just know that I truly am sorry." Sansa didn't know what to reply to the woman before her, Cersei freaking Lannister was apologising. She wanted to believe her, but couldn't bring herself to it, she had been through so much pain and lies. "And Tyrion, I am sorry too. I am not trying to excuse myself from what I have done to you all this years but I think you should know the truth. When you were born, I didn't hate you or look at you any different that I would look at another baby, I didn't see how you were different. At first, I took care of you but I was only four and couldn't do anything by myself but, still, I wouldn't let anyone touch you because you were my brother and I didn't want anyone hurting you. Of course at the time I didn't know I would be one of your biggest sources of pain." Tyrion had tears in his eyes, he was just as shocked as Sansa, to say the least. "You know, when I was three, I wanted to have an army of dolphins to fight against the 'bad men' of Westeros and, look what I have become, a monster." Cersei dried the tears she now noticed had fallen from her cheeks. 

"You are not a monster, Cersei. I know you don't care about your people, why should you? You have hurt them and they hurt you. But you are not a monster, I know this because I have seen it. You've always loved your children, more than yourself and Jaime. More than anything. But you have hurt so many people. Yet, here you are, against all odds, apologising. Maybe that means you are not the monster you think of yourself to be."

As Cersei opened her mouth to speak, the door flew open, revealing a dark silhouette standing in the shadow. Who that figure was would tell them their who fate would belong to, the living or the dead.