KINGDOM FALL
— 87. Out of Control Children

   Weeks passed after Annalys went missing at Castle Black. No one could understand where she was or what had happened. Jon tried to ask Robb what happened to Annalys and why he had killed a dozen men in the courtyard, but Robb didn't speak a single word.

He didn't even utter a single word to him when he left with Bran and Torra to head back to Winterfell. He hadn't taken any men with him, either. That concerned Jon most of all. Something wasn't right. Something happened with Annalys, but he didn't know what.

During the time of Annalys' disappearance, Stannis had made a move on Casterly Rock, believing he'd be able to lay siege to it during Annalys' absence. Robb hadn't it learned of it, though, since he was still traveling to Winterfell.

When he did arrive at Winterfell, however, Robb didn't feel all that happy to be home. As he rode into the courtyard on his horse, Torra along with him, he found his entire family waiting for him in the courtyard.

Summer and Grey Wind walked alongside his horse, Grey Wind looking solemn, just as Robb did.

Taking a deep breath, Robb climbed off his horse. He turned toward Torra, on the verge of helping her off when Torra roughly slapped his hand away. "Seven Hells!" He exclaimed, immediately retracting his hand away from her, "What was that for?"

"Don't touch me," She snapped at him coldly, "I can do it myself."

Robb rolled his eyes, taking a step back as he allowed Torra to climb off the horse on her own. Once she was on her feet, she turned to Robb, knowing he was on the verge of giving orders, "Listen to me. You will not tell anyone who you really are. My mother was supposed to marry your grandfather once. If she finds out, he had a bastard son--" He began to say, only to have Torra cut him off.

"I know," She snapped at him in a frustrated tone, "I'm Torra. Daughter of Freyja, Queen Beyond the Wall."

"No, you're Torra, a orphan girl from beyond the Wall," Robb corrected Freyja, sounding annoyed, "They can't know you're the Free Folk Queen's daughter."

"Fine," Torra sighed, hesitantly agreeing to Robb's terms, "I'm Torra, an orphan girl from beyond the Wall."

Robb nodded before turning away from her to address to the growing crowd. The horse drawn cart with Bran on it entered. Catelyn, who stood with Rickon and was on the verge of greeting Robb, immediately rushed over to Bran instead. Catelyn hugged her son, crying with joy at the sight of him.

Arya and Sansa, however, were the ones to make their way over to Robb, "Where's Annalys?" Arya asked her eldest brother curiously, "Is she coming?"

Robb looked down at the duo, a blank expression on his face. Sansa frowned, noticing how he seemed to be near-tears.

"Did something happen?" She found herself asking in concern.

Robb didn't answer, though. Instead of addressing the rest of the people waiting to greet him, he walked past them all and went inside the castle to find his children.

He didn't even bother to greet Margaery, who was still residing at Winterfell due to their betrothal.

On his way to his children's room, he was suddenly stopped by Jeyne Crakehall, Annalys' Lady-in-Waiting. "Where's Annalys?" She found herself asking Robb, whose expression remained blank, "Your Grace?"

Robb completely ignored Jeyne, walking past her and toward his own room, instead, which concerned Jeyne. The look on his face seemed like there was no emotion, as if something was missing. She wondered what the hell happened in Castle Black to make him act such a way.

After her encounter with Robb, Edric was the first person she went to, begging him to get answers out of the Stark man. She feared he was the only one who could, even if meant having to turn violent.

Later on that day, Robb was sitting in his room, in front of the fireplace. He held Annalys' dragonbone ring in his hand, eying it closely with tears in his eyes.

Lady's Wrath, Annalys' infamous sword, was laid out on the table a few feet away from him, along with Lionsbane and Annalys' bow.

Before Robb could react, the door opened without his guards ever telling him who was there. It ended up being Ser Edric and Lady Jeyne, causing Robb to turn to them both in confusion.

He immediately stood up, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "I'm not in the mood for visitors right now. Just lea--"

Before Robb could finish his sentence, Edric punched him in the face, causing Jeyne to gasp and place a hand over her mouth, "Edric! You weren't supposed to--" She began to complain, only to be cut off by Edric grabbing Robb by the neck and slamming him against the wall.

Robb didn't try to fight back, however, which horrified the duo. What the hell happened up North?

"Where is she, huh?" Edric asked threateningly, demanding to know where his queen was, "Where is Annalys? What aren't you saying?"

Robb began to tear up, but didn't answer, blood dripping from his nose. "Answer me!" Edric demanded in a stern tone, but got no answer.

"Edric, stop!" Jeyne shouted, moving closer to the two men as she sighed in defeat. She turned to look at Robb, both of them locking eyes as she gave him a pleading look, "Robb, please. You must tell us where Annalys is. It's important. We're all at risk here if she doesn't return soon. Please, just tell us."

Robb nodded, telling them that he would tell them the truth. After noticing the look Jeyne was giving him, Edric sighed in defeat and let go of his grip on the Stark man.

"She was killed," He informed the duo quietly, causing all three of them to begin tearing up.

"What?" Jeyne asked softly, on the verge of crying, "How? How did this happen?"

"She let the Wildings through and allowed them South of the Wall. Some of the men at Castle Black didn't like that. In the middle of the night, when everyone was sleeping, they lured her into the courtyard. They each took turns stabbing her with a knife. The one that killed her stabbed her in the back. The Wildlings weren't the reason he did it, though. He did it as payback for her father killing the Mad King." He explained, tears threatening to spill from his broken eyes.

"Where is her body?" Edric asked in concern, trying to maintain composure after hearing that his queen had died.

The queen he promised to serve. The one he wasn't there to protect. It was apart of his vows to do so, but he wasn't there to do so. He felt as though he failed in his duties as a member of the queensguard. He felt like he failed her.

"I don't know," Robb confessed, a single tear falling down his cheek as he glanced between Edric and Jeyne.

"How do you not know!" He snapped at Robb angrily, growing frustrated with the Stark man and his lack of answers.

"Edric," Jeyne warned Edric in a low tone, causing Edric's eyes to soften at the look on her face, "Look at him. He's just as heartbroken as we are by this. Be nicer to him."

"I fought off the men, but when I looked back, the body was gone," Robb continued on, glancing between the duo.

The two people Annalys trusted most in the world. It felt odd to Robb to be speaking to them. He heard so much about them from Annalys and about how much she cared about them, but he had never gotten the chance to speak with them before.

"Someone took her, then," Jeyne realized, feeling a bit of hope at the revelation, "She could be alive."

"It was the middle of the night. No one was there to take her," Robb argued, shaking his head at the presumption.

"Perhaps she walked off," Edric suggested and before Robb could claim that she was dead again, he cut him off, "You said it yourself. No one was there to take the body. That means she's alive. She could still be out there."

"Perhaps," Robb whispered softly, a distraught look on his face.

He wanted to believe she was alive, but how could it be? He searched those lands around Castle Black for days after her death. It was the reason it took him so long to get to Winterfell. He didn't find anything, though. It was as if Annalys had fallen off the face of the earth.

"Casterly Rock is under attack by Stannis," Jeyne suddenly informed Robb, causing his eyes to widen in shock.

"What?" He asked in disbelief, his voice a whisper.

"Stannis heard of Annalys' disappearance. He thought it to be the perfect opportunity to lay siege. Since the moment she left King's Landing almost four years ago, Annalys has been storing food and provisions inside Casterly Rock's walls, enough to supply a whole city for months if need be. Stannis is running out of food to supply his men and the capital. He wishes to use and Casterly Rock's forces to remain on the throne," Edric explained to Robb, sounding frustration, "Ser Jaime and Lady Cersei are unable to call their banners. Stannis has his men shooting down any raven that leaves Casterly Rock," He paused, letting out a sigh in defeat, "If Annalys really is dead, Lyanna is now Queen of the Westerlands. As her father, you can be acting Regent. You can call her banners. You can do something to help them."

"The Westerlands alone won't be enough to defeat Stannis," Robb argued, shaking his head, "Not all of them will be willingly to follow a Stark, especially since it wasn't too long ago where they were fighting in battle against me."

"Use the Wildlings, then," Edric suggested, causing Robb to tense up.

Hearing Edric's suggestion, Robb wasted no time shaking his head, "Annalys didn't bring the Wildlings South of the Wall to fight for her." He argued in a calm tone.

"She brought the Wildlings South of the Wall so that they could be apart of the Seven Kingdoms. If they want that, they're going to have to fight for the bloody thing!" Edric raised his voice, causing it to become silent between the three of them, "Stannis would have already been defeated if it wasn't for you. Fix the mess that you made or none of us will live to fighting the great war, the same war Annalys was so hellbent on taking part in."

Edric was the first to glare at him and then leave the room. Jeyne stood in place for a moment, giving Robb a sympathetic look before leaving the room as well and following after Edric.

Once they were gone, the tears began to form in his eyes once more. He yelled out, punching the wall out of anger. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down before he did something he regretted.

Just then, the door opened again. Robb sighed in frustration, tears streaming down his face as his back faced the door, "I thought I said no vi--" He started to snap at the person, not knowing who it was.

"Papa?" A small voice asked, causing Robb to immediately wipe his tears before turning around to face little Eddard.

"Eddard?" Robb asked, a small, yet sad smile forming on his lips at the sight of his eldest son. He walked over to his son before kneeling in front of him, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Lyanna and Olyvar?"

"They don't like me," The four year old child confessed, much to Robb's confusion.

"What do you mean?" Robb questioned, a concerned look on his face.

"Lyanna doesn't play with me anymore. She only likes to play with Olyvar," He complained, a sad look on his face, "She told me I'm boring."

"Well, that's not nice," Robb commented, giving the kid a sympathetic look, "What about Olyvar? What does he say?"

"Nothing!" Eddard exclaimed loudly, sounding frustrated, "He listens to everything she says. He's my brother. We're boys. We should be playing together. Aunt Sansa says Lyanna should be playing with girls."

"What do you think?" Robb found himself asking, a small smile forming on his lips, despite saddened by the whole Annalys ordeal.

Talking with Eddard made him realize he had to be strong, for his children, despite feeling like he wanted to die for failing to protect Annalys, after everything they had gone through.

"Mother says she used to play with boys all the time. She says Lyanna can, too," He explained enthusiastically before a deeply puzzled look grew on his face, "Where is Mother? She said she was coming with you to the castle."

"She's..." Robb trailed off, trying to maintain composure, "She went on a little adventure to save some people, but she'll return."

"She always goes on adventures," Eddard complained, looking down at the ground, disappointed, "I miss her. I don't see her anymore. She always has to fight the bad men."

"I know," Robb admitted, a saddened look on his face, "I miss her, too, but she'll be back soon. I know it."

"Will we stay together this time? After she comes back?" Eddard suddenly asked Robb, much to his horror, "I don't like when you and her fight."

"What are you talking about?" Robb questioned in concern, not knowing what Eddard meant, "We never fight. Well, never in front of you and Lyanna, at least, but that's beside the point."

"At Mother's castle," Eddard informed Robb, causing him to frown, "Lady Jeyne was taking me to my room after giving me something to eat. I heard you yelling at Mother. She was crying."

Robb furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He didn't know what Eddard meant until he suddenly realized that the boy was talking about the night Robb left Casterly Rock after Annalys chose the Iron Throne over him.

Robb felt saddened that even after more than six months, Eddard still somehow remembered it. He didn't even know the poor boy heard it.

It made Robb feel guilty. Not just on his part, but Annalys' as well. They had children who were forced to be on the sidelines as Robb and Annalys constantly fought about something they didn't agree on. They had to endure Robb, but mostly Annalys, running off to fight in battles and for something believe in. All the while, their children were forced to stay in castles with people who might have been their family, but weren't their parents. They never would be.

Robb just hoped it would all be over after Stannis was off the throne and Annalys was Queen. Perhaps then they'd have peace.

"Are you okay, Papa?" Eddard suddenly asked Robb, snapping him out of his thoughts, "You look sad. Are you sad?"

"No, my son," Robb assured him, forcing a smile on his face as he stood back up, "Let's go find your brother and sister, to fix this whole mess about you being excluded."

"Lyanna told me I was a baby when I said I would tell you about what she did," Eddard complained as he held onto his father's hand while they exited Robb's chambers and headed to Lyanna's.

Soon enough, they arrived and Robb opened the door to find Olyvar and Lyanna jumping on her bed. Feathers from one of her many pillows floated around the room as the duo threw them around.

As they jumped around, Olyvar and Lyanna swung sticks that seemed to be from outside at each other. Grey Wind, of all the direwolves, laid at the foot of the bed, clearly watching over the children as they caused mischief.

"What in the seven hells is going on!" Robb exclaimed, causing both Lyanna and Olyvar to freeze in motion, taken by surprise by their father's sudden appearance.

"Uh, oh," Olyvar muttered under his breath, knowing he was in trouble.

Of course, he wasn't the one who started the whole idea, but he was the one who decided to follow Lyanna in her mischief, once again. He was just as guilty as she was.

Lyanna snatched the stick from Olyvar's hand before throwing them both off of her bed, as if that was supposed to help, which it didn't in the slightest.

"Father!" Lyanna exclaimed, her eyes widening at the sight of her father, "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know if you've heard, but I live here," Robb responded sarcastically, earning a snort from Eddard, who smugly smiled at Lyanna since she knew she was about to get in trouble.

"Shut up, Eddard! No one likes you!" Lyanna shouted at Eddard, causing Robb's eyes to widen in shock.

"No one likes you!" Eddard retorted, glaring angrily at his twin sister, "You're the reason Mother isn't here!"

"Not true!" Lyanna screamed as she jumped off her bed, "Take it back!"

"I won't!" Eddard snapped at Lyanna, moving toward his sister as well.

"I said, take it back!" She demanded, just as she reached her brother.

"No!" He roared at her, only up being pushed by Lyanna.

Lyanna screamed as she pushed her brother and before Robb could rush forward to stop it, Eddard pushed her back. Unlike Eddard, Lyanna wasn't able to steady herself and fell backward.

Seeing Eddard push Lyanna, Olyvar ended up intervening and pushing Eddard, so hard he fell onto his bottom in the same fashion that Lyanna had, "Leave Lyanna alone!" He shouted at Eddard before going to help Lyanna up.

"You're both the reason Mother isn't coming back!" Eddard yelled at Lyanna and Olyvar, the boy who stole his sister away from him, "And you're not my brother, you're nothing but a bastard!"

"Hey!" Robb shouted, finally deciding to intervene.

He grabbed ahold of Eddard, who tried to lunge at Lyanna and Olyvar. Olyvar, oddly enough, pulled Lyanna back as she tried to attack her twin brother. "I hate you!" Lyanna screamed at Eddard at the top of her lungs, "When I'm queen, I'm going to lock you in a tower and never let you come out! Olyvar will be my new twin."

"It doesn't work like that!" Eddard shouted at his sister as he struggled against Robb's grip.

Robb was horrified by the sight. What the hell happened while he was gone? They never acted like that. They were completely different people than when he last saw them. Perhaps that was what happened when you left two four year olds and a three-year-old alone for almost near months to be taken care of by people who weren't their parents.

"Listen up!" A voice suddenly spoke up, causing Robb to turn his head to see Torra entering the room.

"Sit your asses down and listen to your father," She demanded and the three children stared at her in shock.

Just then, Summer appeared beside Torra, growling at the three children. It was odd to see. Summer was Bran's direwolf and Bran was named after Brandon Stark, Torra's paternal grandfather. Robb just wondered how she convinced the direwolf to obey her. Perhaps it was because she spent almost two months with the animal beyond the wall.

Not knowing the direwolf like they did Shaggydog and Grey Wind, the trio obeyed Torra's command. The three of them took a seat on the ground that was covered with feathers from the pillows that Lyanna tore up.

Robb smiled slightly at Torra's ability to get them to listen. Robb gave her a small nod as a way to say thank you before they both knelt on the ground in front of the three children, Summer and Grey Wind alongside them.

"Now, tell me from the beginning what happened while I was gone to start all this fighting," Robb insisted and before the trio of siblings could fight to determine who spoke first, Torra beat them to it.

"If you'd like to speak, raise your hand and King Robb will call on you," Torra suddenly stated, causing Robb to give her a weird look at the odd idea while Lyanna, Eddard, and Olyvar quietly giggled at their father being called "King Robb".

For hours, Robb spend the rest of his day listening to the three children moan and complain about problems he wished he could have instead of the ones he was forced to deal with as an adult.

The trio's only issue was that Eddard was jealous that Lyanna and Olyvar were getting closer to each other while he was cast off to the side. He wanted his own bond with Olyvar, but he also wanted a bond with his twin sister. Olyvar wanted to be close with Eddard, too, but Lyanna stopped that from happening.

Robb couldn't understand it, but the girl had somehow manipulated Olyvar into following her around like Grey Wind would follow him around.

As it seemed, his children were showing all the worst sides of themselves due to their lack of parenting and discipline while their father and the twins' mother was away.

Away. Now, that was the nice of putting it.

Robb could see what each of his children were like now. In a different way than he had seen when they were younger.

Eddard was the most innocent and a Daddy's boy without a doubt. He was the most obedient and tried to be the leader, but failed due to his bossy twin sister. He had a temper, but was usually able to contain, unless it came to his sister.

Olyvar was the most obedient to his father, but also his sister. He literally did whatever she told him to do. He was calm, but definitely not quiet. He was hyper and had a bit of an attitude. He was also protective, mostly of his sister.

Then, there was Lyanna. Oh, Lyanna. Now, that one was going to be the death of Robb for sure. But Robb saw that coming since the moment when she was born and cried each time she was being held by her father, but the second her mother appeared, she'd shut up. She was the troublemaker. She didn't listen, she had an attitude, and she had anger issues. She reminded Robb of Arya, but ten times worse. She was wild like a wolf, but had much more Lannister in her than Eddard did.

She was already learning how to manipulate and got away with most things when she started mischievous. She favored her mother over her father, that was obvious. Robb began to wonder if she even liked him at all.

As he heard each of their sides of the story of what happened while he was gone, Lyanna was the one who asked about her mother the most.

Where was she?

When was she coming back?

Was she hurt?

Robb realized that after all those questions that Lyanna wasn't getting worse because there was no parenting, it was basically a cry for help. She wanted her mother. She needed her mother, but she couldn't have her.

Catelyn was there to be a woman figure in her life, as was Lady Jeyne, but they weren't Annalys. They didn't know what Lyanna was like. They didn't understand how the girl preferred to be taught with the boys about "boy-things" rather than being taught what it was like to be a "lady".

Only Annalys would ever be able to teach Lyanna how to be both a Lady and while learning how to fight and doing "manly things" at the same time.

Robb felt saddened by it. He had no idea what to do. He had no clue how to help her before she became wore. He also had no idea how he'd tell the children their mother was dead if she actually was. It broke his heart more than it already was.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Lyanna is gonna be such a handful just wait😭

Who's your favorite of the children?

Lyanna?

Eddard?

Or Olyvar?