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The duo heard a soft click and turned to find the door opening slowly, Elia standing on the other side.
"I think it might be a good idea if Rhaegar and I skip the rest of the viewing until we are both in a better condition to continue. I think with both of us being dead, us missing things wouldn't matter much."
"Are you both-"
"We just need some time to process it all" Elia smiled at Lyanna.
"But what if a Question is being asked and you are not there?" Lyanna stated
"The normal rewards don't to the dead as for the rewards of resurrection I really don't want live in the world where my children's are already dead." Elia stated
"Of course" Ned lowered his head in acceptance. Elia's eyes shifted to him.
"My brother tells me that you were the only one to demand justice for me and my children amongst the men who supported Robert. You have my deepest gratitude, Lord Stark."
"It was the right thing to do, Princess. I do not need to be thanked for doing what is right."
Elia smiled at him as well before closing the door gently.
Ned walked back into the great hall with Lyanna to find people in groups talking amongst themselves. He saw his family with his father and brother.
"Guess Catelyn isn't over Brandon yet," Lyanna said in a flat tone.
"Brandon has always been the better-looking one between the three of us" Ned shrugged.
Lyanna eyed him with a small frown.
Ned's eyes searched out Robert after that, finding him on the seat he sat on during the showing, surrounded by his brothers and Jon Arryn.
"I'll be right back" Ned mumbled and made his way to Robert and the group. Stannis and Renly looked frustrated while Jon looked resigned. He stopped right in front of Robert. Ned had known Robert for a long time, and not once had he seen the man so bloodied and lifeless.
It rubbed Ned the wrong way.
"Get up" Ned demanded, loud enough so Robert could hear.
But the man did not move.
Ned growled under his breath and yanked the man to his feet by the collar of his shirt. Which he found to be difficult. How heavy had his friend gotten?
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" the man rumbled in the man's face. Renly went to interrupt but Stannis stopped him with a hand.
"She never loved me, Ned, she never loved me like I loved her" the man whispered, his voice so weak that it took Ned everything he had to understand what the man said.
"So fucking what?!" he gripped the collar tightly. "You're the fucking King, act like it!"
Something stirred in Robert's eyes and suddenly the man was glaring at Ned, his pale face reddening slightly.
"Don't you dare say that shit Ned" the King growled. "I fought a fucking war for a woman I loved and all I have to show for it is a fucking throne! And to add salt to it turns out she doesn't even love me! What would you, who has everything, know anything about what I'm going through!"
"What you think I got everything I wanted?!" Ned hissed in the man's face. "I had a woman I loved, I had a vision of the future I wanted with her! I fought a war for my sister, to avenge my dead father and brother, and you know what I got for it? A dead sister, my only living brother in the Night's Watch, and I'm married to a woman who still holds a candle for my dead fucking brother! And you know what happened to the future I wanted" Gone in the fucking dust!" he hissed for just Robert to hear. "And you know what happened to the woman I loved? She couldn't take the loss of her brother, couldn't take the fact that I could no longer be with her. She fucking killed herself! She jumped into the ocean and fucking died!"
Robert stared at Ned wide-eyed, not expecting the man to explode like he did.
"Life is unfair but we need to move forward. Do you see me sulking about what could have been? Do you see me letting myself go because of it all? Do you see me break down when I have every right to do so as you? No! Because down when I have every right to do so as you? No! Because I have a fucking responsibility to my family, to make sure every last one of them is prepared to face the dangers of the outside world. And you need to do the fucking same!"
Robert looked away but Ned forced him to meet his gaze.
"This, this right here, it's a chance for me to fix the world for my children, so they don't have to get mixed up in what is coming as deeply as they probably would have normally. The future turns out terribly, but we have a chance to change that, for our children."
Robert's eyes shifted away from Ned, to Tommen and Myrcella who were speaking with Shireen. Occasionally Myrcella was glancing at him, and when her eyes met his, she smiled at him.
Something in Robert stirred, something warm and gentle. He hadn't felt that in a while.
Ned finally let Robert go and stormed away from him, right past his family to the screen as he didn't know where the system was.
"Elia said she and Rhaegar would join us later, and that they need time to calm down. She asks we continue without them."
"Everyone return to your seats. We will continue the viewing now" the system's voice came.
"What about Elia and Rhaegar?" Jaime asked.
"If they don't want to use this opportunity I won't force them"
Daenerys was standing to the side, watching everyone silently on her own. She jumped and then recoiled when Ned reached her.
"Sit with us until your brother returns," he told her kindly.
Daenerys stared at him for a moment before nodding.
Ned sat back down between his sister and his wife, the former of whom threw him a look. Ned smiled at her before turning to see whether the Targaryen girl had taken a seat. She had, on the other side of Jon.