Til Death Do Us Part...

Life with Robb 22

The campus was filled with life. The new semester had just started and students were either reuniting with the friends they hadn't seen for quite some time or making new friends with roommates and classmates they had met by pure accident.

But while they were surrounded by chatter and laughter, Ilva, Jon, Sansa and Robb kept silent.

Ilva knew that each goodbye would bring them closer to her own. With each day that passed, the day Robb would leave came closer and closer. She had so much she still wanted to tell him and yet she was afraid that telling him everything would be like inviting fate to play the cruelest game it could play.

She wanted to believe that Robb would return. Even if he would be harmed, hurt or traumatised, she would take care of him, hold him in her arms and guide him back to the light. But deep inside she felt the clawing fear that he would not return, that he would not come back, that he wouldn't just be harmed, or hurt, or traumatised. In her nightmares she constantly saw him stepping on a bomb or being shot by someone who thought he was there to fight against them.

She had not told him anything about her fears, about the nightmares plaguing her, about all the stories she had read on the internet about soldiers returning but not quite like themselves anymore. She played the faithful girlfriend, who was simply proud that her boyfriend was taking on such a task, was fighting for the rights of people who could not fight themselves, that he would be serving a country with the intention to build a wonderful land far away from home for the people who lived there.

Because that's what he needed. He needed to hear that he made the right choice. He needed to hear that she was proud of him. He needed to hear that he did the honourable thing, the best thing possible.

One year. He only had to survive one more year. And then he would come back and they would get their happily ever after.

"I am happy to know that my two favourite girls in the world have found each other and crafted a beautiful friendship." Robb took a sip from his fresh mint tea and leaned back in the wooden chair. His ankle rested on his knee and he curled his hands around the mug to warm them.

Even though winter had not officially arrived yet, the air was getting colder and colder.

Or maybe that was simply Ilva's imagination creating a beautiful metaphor for Robb leaving her behind in a cold and lonely bed for such a long time.

"Will you both promise me to look after Jon too?" Robb cocked his head slightly and Jon raised his eyebrows.

"Shouldn't I be looking after them?" The frown on his forehead however had grown deeper during the last couple of weeks, ever since he had known that his brother was following in his father's footsteps.

Robb's smile brightened and he shook his head. "They haven't broken up with their girlfriend lately."

Jon rolled his eyes. "We broke up because what we had wasn't working. It's not a sad thing. We loved each other enough to realise that the best we could do was letting the other go." He reached for the coffee on the table. "I'm fine."

"Will you girls please make sure that my dear brother here does not lock himself up in his dorm too much?" Robb ignored Jon's answer. "Once in a while he simply needs a little push to take life a little less seriously."

"I don't think it's a bad thing." Sansa shrugged her shoulders. "You took life not seriously at all and see where it has gotten you." She had traces of her hot chocolate on her upper lip, but the lack of a smile proved that she did not mean the comment as just a joke.

"Joining the army is a very honourable thing to do. And I doubt I would ever have felt the same kind of fulfilment I feel now if my adventure here on campus had been more successful." Robb's smile faded a little and his knuckles whitened when he tightened his grip on his cup. "I will do something that makes me feel accomplished and useful. I will do something that makes me happy."

Reassuringly Ilva placed her hand on his wrist. "We know, Robb." She smiled at him and waited until the smile on Robb's face returned too. "We're very proud of you."

"We are." Sansa added, her tone still a little cold and distanced. "We are very proud of you, but we would also have been if you had found something that wouldn't have endangered your life." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Robb for a short moment. "You're my big brother, Robb. The one who helped me with all my problems. The one who gave me the best advice. The one who never called me silly or stupid, even if I was." She shrugged. "You can't blame me for not wanting to let you go."

Robb relaxed a little and Ilva pulled back her hand so Robb could reach for his sister's. "The courier will carry letters back and forth and I will promise to answer them. And whenever I have the possibility I will call you or Skype you so we can have a proper conversation. And I know that I do not leave you behind all alone with no one to confide in." He gestured towards Jon and Ilva. "I know Ilva is very good at giving the right advice and support. I trust her to take care of you and to do all the things I have done and probably even better than I could ever do them."

Ilva bent her head and stared at her hands, folded in her lap.

"And I know that you and Jon have never been particularly close, but I still think that that is because you had chosen me to look up to and in my absence maybe your friendship will finally get the chance to blossom into what it could have been if I had never been there."

Jon and Ilva exchanged a short glance.

"And I hope that you will also look after each other a little." Robb looked at Ilva and Jon. "There is no one in the world I would rather trust with taking care of my girlfriend than the best brother and best friend I could have wished for." He leaned back again and reached for his mint tea once more. "I will be all alone, far away from home, but you will all be together and have each other. I am certain that you will all be fine and maybe better than ever once I return."