One Whole

Chapter 1: Together

They couldn't get enough of each other, it was like the days that followed their first time in the cave. Even when their bond had grown to its strongest point before, even when the ghosts of feelings had started to seep through their connection, it had never been as strong as it was then.

Jon's breath crystallized in the air as he huffed and panted, his body ached beautifully. They rolled apart and pulled their clothes back into place and he could feel everything. He could feel her heart beating faster, still fighting off the pleasure from the sex, he could feel it like it was beating in his own chest alongside his own heart. He could feel her happiness and joy, contented and full of love. Her emotions had become a part of him, it was something stronger than anything that had been recorded since a hundred years before the birth of the seven kingdoms. No longer just the ghost of something. It was so strong it was almost a physical thing.

"Remember what you said to me once?" Jon breathed as Ygritte drew him into her arms. He drew a gentle hand through her fiery hair and studied her face as if taking it in for the first time all over.

"You know nothing?" she smirked.

A smile pulled at his lips and he had never felt happier. She was there, the fur of her clothes creasing around his gloved hands, her breath was warm against his cheek and ear and her chest rose and fell against his own. She was so real, so so real. She was there with him, part of him. He felt whole, no longer an empty, broken shell. It was almost too good to be true. Yet it was true.

"You are mine and I am yours," he murmured, kissing her like he had wanted to every day since her death. "Remember that? I remember that."

"I remember," she whispered and he was almost shocked to see the tears running down her cheeks even though he could feel how overwhelmed she was through their strengthened bond.

***

They rode together through the gates, through the tunnel and back to Castle Black. Ygritte's arms were wrapped around Jon's waist, her breath hot on his neck and her legs bumping against his as the movement of the horse beneath them jostled them. Heads turned as they passed, free folk and Night's watchmen alike.

As they slid from the horse, Tormund, Ed, Davos, and Melisandre strode towards them through the thin layer of snow. Jon looked to them nervously as a stable boy took the horse away and the two were left facing the four.

Tormund carried on forward after the others stopped, drawing Ygritte to his chest. Jon watched as the two hugged fiercely before Ed came up to him.

"What are we going to do about the traitors then," he asked.

Thorne, Yarwyck, Marsh... Ollie. The two other brothers in black that he was too preoccupied to recognise. He knew what he had to do but the thought was less than savory. The thought of taking Ollie's life, a boy younger than Bran was... he didn't want to do it. He knew he had to though.

Ygritte seemed to get the turmoil inside him, pulling away from her friend and turning to Jon, it must have shown through their bond.

"Erect a gallows. Ser Alliser, Yarwyck, Marsh and Ollie will be hung tomorrow," Jon said in a low voice.

"As you wish Lord Commander," Ed dipped his head before hurrying off to carry out his task.

"Lord Commander?" Ygritte questioned with raised eyebrows.

Jon looked to her, his soulmate, and felt the lightness of reuniting fall away and the heaviness of everything around them return. Once again he felt older than he was, tired and sick of it all. He no longer wanted the Night's Watch, it held no allure anymore. Looking at her then, Jon realised that the vows he took those years ago no longer applied to him. His watch had ended. He had died, he had come back but he had still died.