Game Of Thrones Joffrey Baratheon Purple Days

"Estimates?" Joffrey asked as he took another set of stairs. He'd been in the Bastion District when the horns had thrummed, and he'd merely needed to take three flights of stairs up the great keep before his vision became unobstructed by the walls and towers.

"Unknown sir" Loh said as they reached one of the Bastion's terraces.

"After two damned weeks with barely a skirmish…" Joffrey muttered as he walked out, unfazed by the chilly wind and the falling snow as he extended his hand to his left.

Half a second later Loh handed him a far eye, which he used to gaze at the tree line at the far back of the Plains of Dawn. There was barely any sunlight left as he gazed the see dozens of large, yellow-grey behemoths charging through the clearing and quickly eating the distance to the Dawn Fort, the White Walkers atop them wielding long spears of jagged ice.

And behind them a grey sea followed, larger than any attack yet.

They're… They're mounted atop fucking sandrakes… Reanimated sandrakes…

"Sir?!" Loh asked as Joffrey slowly lowered the far eye, his expression as still as a marble statue.

"That… Shock Cavalry will punch through the Outer Wall like a trebuchet through a barn…" Joffrey said almost to himself before turning back in haste. "Come on Loh! Let's move!" he said as dashed down the stairs.

-.PD.-

Outside the East Inner Gatehouse was pure chaos as officers and soldiers scrambled out of barracks and halls, donning weapons or even armor as they ran. Colonel Sabu was in the middle of the madness, calling out names and getting his men in formation.

"Sabu!" roared Joffrey as his horse slammed to a halt right in front of him.

"Commander! Give me ten minutes and we'll be ready smash any breech" Sabu told him as more men kept pouring out of the barracks nearby.

"You have five! And I want you take the fallback position in the Outer District, we need to hold the area as long as we can so that soldiers at the Outer Wall can fall back here!" Joffrey commanded as Loh reached him atop his own horse.

"Commander" he said, giving him his helmet.

Joffrey put his helmet on and secured the leather strap forcefully as Sabu spoke. "But Joffrey… We're giving up the Outer Wall?" he asked.

"No choice, too many wights and they've got reanimated sandrakes, they will punch the holes and the wights will fill them… the Outer Wall is too fucking long to hold it against that… we don't have the men!" Joffrey said.

"Loh! Establish the new War Room at the Inner Stand, and send me Shah's Hunters as soon as you see them!" he ordered. His aide looked slightly rebellious at the prospect of leaving his Commander alone in the face of the coming storm, but duty and discipline quickly won out.

"I'll get to it sir!" he said.

"I'll try to buy some time, keep an eye out for flyers!" Joffrey bellowed as he rode out, followed by the few soldiers of his retinue that had managed to reach him.

All the firewalls are exhausted… we can't break up the stream of undead effectively…

There's too little time… he thought as he raced his horse desperately towards the Outer Wall. He could already see flaming stones flying above him, more of their brethren joining them as stone after stone left the Inner Wall's trebuchets.

His horse leapt up the big, wide set of stairs six at a time, whining in fear as he neared the dead. If he'd had any doubts about his plan, those were quickly dismissed as he gazed upon the unrelenting tide of undead jumping over the Iron Cemetery.

Ballistas and trebuchets all along the wall and the battlements loosed as fast as they could, but even then the swarm of wights seemed undeterred, a grand legion of undead bigger than he'd ever seen, some of the corpses reaching a state of decomposition that made Joffrey ill.

The real death sentence were the White Walkers… they had finally joined the fray. He could spot a handful of them in his wall section, spread along it and killing and maiming without stop, their long icy spears skewering through armor, undeterred. Their mounts twisted and smashed into groups of defenders even as more of the monsters scaled the Outer Wall as if it were nothing more than a ladder. Behind them, making use of the space cleared the wights swarmed past the defenders, flanking to the sides and fighting all over the wall's width.

His retinue reached him on foot, having chosen to leave the horses below rather than risk them up the stairs. Joffrey turned back to them as another flight of burning stones raced over the sky and the screams of the dead and dying seemed to intensify.

The whole Fort could fall tonight if we fail here… he thought as he gazed at his men, their faces illuminated by the now frequent flames all over.

"Shui, get to the horns and signal 'Fallback'!" he commanded as something shrieked. He turned back to the wall and saw one of the sandrakes opening its big maw and unleashing a concentrated torrent of grey sand almost too fast for his eye to see, flaying alive a small clump of soldiers that had been trying to hold it off with pikes. They screamed as they stumbled back, some falling down the wall as others put their hands over what used to be their faces, stumbling and spilling blood everywhere.

Joffrey snarled as he turned his horse in circles, his eye looking wildly over his scrambling retinue until he found something he could use.

"Give me that!" he snarled as he took his banner from a soldier. He hefted the long pole about as the banner depicting the Silver Lion fluttered wildly under the strong wind and the falling snow. "Get back to the Inner Wall and signal the Dragon Choirs to open fire! GO!!!" he bellowed before spurring his horse.

"HYA!" he snarled as he spurred the frighten animal into a gallop, dashing through the wall's back edge where there was still some clear space. "MAKE WAY!!!" he roared at a small group of soldiers in front of him, making them scramble to the sides as he reached the veritable clearing that had formed around the whirling sandrake.

The beast was three times bigger than a warhorse, its dark grey-yellow scales interrupted by frequent spikes. The Walker atop barely had a moment to turn when Joffrey was suddenly upon him.

"EEHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Joffrey roared as he aimed at the Walker, the banner fluttering wildly before the long pole (and it's spiked head) slammed into the Demon. Joffrey had never jousted in all his lives, and between the awkward grip, the darkness and the swaying pole he reckoned it was a small miracle he hit the Walker straight in the chest.

He let the pole go as his arm screamed in pain and the Walker was propelled out of his mount. The sandrake roared as it opened its deceptively huge maw and took in a deep breath of air.

Shit.

Joffrey pulled back his reins and shoved his weight backwards, making his horse rear up on its two legs just as a gust of grey sand hit them with the strength of a catapult.

His horse whined in agony as it stumbled back and Joffrey screamed, feeling the sand trying to tear his leg open. The plate held, but the sand still managed to tear through cracks and joints, and small clusters of it raked the left side of his face.

He leapt to the side as his horse tumbled to the ground, shaking in deep agony before laying still. He landed in a haphazard water recovery, barely managing to roll back up with his armor weighting him down.

All around him he could see clusters of wights fighting against legionnaires, claws against a few sabers, naginatas and even more katanas, gaping mouths against mailed fists, gauntlets and improvised mallets.

The sandrake seemed to regard him with its dead blue eyes for a second before taking in another great breath. Joffrey ran at the beast, crouching for a half second to grab the pole before slamming it with all his strength against its opened maw. The dead mount shrieked as it stumbled trying to blast Joffrey with another breath of foul sand but unable to with the pole and the banner rammed down its throat. It desperately tried to remove the pole as Joffrey ran away from it, through the melee. He quickly reached the nearest ballista as wights and legionnaires lost all cohesion and the battle over the wall became a wild, closed in melee.

"KEEP AT THEM! GIVE THEM FIRE!!!" roared a wild eyed Sunbeam as he slammed his saber against a climbing wight next to his position. The Oneray by the ballista let loose, piercing a wight right in in the chest before the bolt flew past the crenellations and slammed against the tide of undead below the walls, bursting in fire.

"Sunbeam!" bellowed Joffrey he reached him, "Turn the piece around and put a bumblebee through that thing's gob!!!" he bellowed at the man's face as he pointed at the snarling sandrake, who was turning around in circles, slamming into both wights and legionnaires.

The Sunbeam shook his head as he looked at the monster, "A-Aye Commander!" he bellowed as both of them turned back to the ballista and the three soldiers manning it. "Crew! Hundred degrees left" he shouted, as he turned back to Joffrey. "Aim for—Watch out sir!" he suddenly shouted as he slammed Joffrey to the side. Joffrey fell on the hard black stone before looking up and seeing the Sunbeam gurgle, his hands trying to grab the blue sword that had ripped through his chest before suddenly falling down like a puppet with its strings cut off.

The Walker pivoted with a single step towards Joffrey and brought it bloodied sword down upon his head. Joffrey rolled to the side, the icy chill cooling the nape of his neck as he stood up again, jerking his head back and barely avoiding a backslash that would have slit his jaw.

He dodged again before slamming his mace against the Walker's arm. The Demon took a half step back, the flanges barely leaving a wound on its hard body as it brought its one handed sword sideways as if to cut him in half. Joffrey kneeled at the last moment, feeling it pass above him before standing up. He barely had time to bring his mace hand up parallel to his body, blocking the Walker's hand slash. The thing's superior strength made Joffrey slide to the side as he desperately eyed the Walker's sword. The thing angled the sword over his stomach for the killing blow, the Walker's hand stilling pushing and leaving him unable to disengage his mace hand.

Joffrey unsheathed his saber just in time to receive the walker's blade with a directional parry, not even trying to pit his strength against it. Instead, he directed it upwards where it joined his mace and the Walker's hand, joining them briefly before he pivoted away and slashed his saber against the thing's calf. It staggered as Joffrey took a step back, turning towards the ballista crew as they turned their levers furiously and the piece turned towards the sandrake who was now coming back for its rider.

"RAM A BUMBLEBEE DOWN ITS THROAT! NOW!" Joffrey roared desperately as the monster headbutted two nearby a Shock Irons, sending them tumbling down the wall as more and more wights reached the crenellations.

"LOAD NOWwwwwaaaaahhh--" shrieked the Tworay manning the crank as the White Walker cut him down. It took a step to do the same to the loader but Joffrey rammed him with his shoulder, biting his lip in pain and forcing it to take a step back before he pounded it with half a dozen slashes. A few of them got through the Walker's defense, leaving a few wounds before his saber broke after a particularly well timed parry. When the Walker used the opportunity to cut him in half Joffrey was already a step to his side. He slashed at the Demon's neck his obsidian dagger, the thing shrieking as it stumbled back, holding a hand to the side of its neck. Joffrey aborted the follow up killing blow as he heard a scream behind him and turned.

The loader lit the fuse atop the bumblebee before the sandrake behind him crushed him with its jaws, taking a few pounding steps back as it shook the shrieking man about like a terrier with a rat before tossing the broken carcass to the side.

It shrieked a harrowing scream as it turned to Joffrey and opened its maw, taking in a deep breath at point blank range.

Joffrey ran for two steps before jumping and slamming his mace against the lever, sending the sparkling bumblebee right into the sandrake's opened maw. The reanimated beast stumbled back, screeching eerily for two seconds before bursting in flames from within.

Joffrey used the ballista pull himself up, wiping blood from his broken lower lip with his gauntlet. To the other side was the White Walker… he was illuminated by his burning mount as it used its icy sword to stand up, still staring at Joffrey and seemingly unfazed by the battle around it.

The Demon kept walking towards him as Joffrey got his obsidian dagger from the floor and the Dragon Choirs roared in the distance. Tongues of fire leapt from all along the Inner Wall with startling speed, shrieking projectiles whose fiery tails propelled them up the night sky.

THHTSUUU-THHTSUU-THHTSUUU-THSTSUU-TSUUU-TSUU-TSU-TSU-TSU-TSU-TSU-TSU-TSU—

More and more of the Inner Wall's battlements joined their voices to the unearthly choir as the batteries of coiling dragons launched themselves from their racks, any semblance of a synchronized volley lost as the individual dragon's differing burning rates made the launches staggered and mixed with each other.

Joffrey walked towards the Walker as the grand melee atop the walls was illuminated in full by the hundreds of coiling dragons over the skies, their combined roar getting steadily higher as they reached their maximum height and started to come down.

Joffrey screamed in anger as he ran up a couple of crates to his side and jumped towards the walker with a mighty slash, angling his mace to the thing's head.

The Walker didn't have time to bring up its sword; instead it received the blow with its arm as shards of ice and blue flesh chipped and splintered.

The Walker screeched as it slashed diagonally. Joffrey stepped to the right, angling a cut at the Demon's hand with the dagger and making it shriek in pain as he advanced and slammed his mace against the things face.

Contact with the obsidian doesn't only wound them, it seems to make them weaker too.

Joffrey leapt back as the Demon tried to pummel his face in with his hand, missing by a hair's breath. A brave legionnaire slammed a half pike against the Demon's rib cage, making it stagger a bit to the side before bring his sword down and cutting the pike, using the backswing to slash the man across the chest brutally.

Joffrey used the opportunity to shank it once in the back, but before he could do it again a wight jumped from the side, tackling him to the ground as it tried to bite off his nose. He rolled with the force of the blow until he was over wight, jamming his mace against the skeleton's sternum as his hand grabbed it by the collarbone. He slammed the rotten skeleton against the hard black stones of the Outer Wall a dozen times in half as much seconds.

DIE! DIE! DIE!

The thing barely looked humanoid any longer as it finally lay still and Joffrey felt something vaguely cold behind him. He rolled to his right just in time to see the Walker try to skewer him through the chest with its sword. The Walker was like some sort of mechanism, not minding its miss. It just lifted the blade again and slammed it back down. Not having time for another roll, Joffrey's directional parry managed to deflect it at the last moment, the steel from his prosthesis protesting loudly as he shifted the icy blade towards his side, slamming into the black rock and rebounding off it. Joffrey flexed his legs as back as he could despite the armor before kicking the Walker with all his strength, barely making it stumble back.

He leapt up and smashed the thing's arm with his mace, breaking another piece of his arm. The Walker's reaction time was noticeably lower after the stab he'd given it…

The 'dragons were slamming all over the Iron Cemetery now and beyond, the continuous barrage of explosions leaving Joffrey deaf as the world itself seemed to tremble and malfunctioning 'dragons exploded amongst the wall, tossing bodies around and starting fires everywhere. Him and the White Walker traded blow after blow, the Walker's sheer stamina and strength driving Joffrey back relentlessly as the sky itself seemed to bear down on them in red fire.

DIEEEEEEE!!!!!

Dozens of yellow-red streaks erupted from the battlements every half second as the volume from the explosions seemed to only grow. Joffrey screamed as he dodged the Walker's swing, stepping in close and ignoring the painful, chilling cold that enveloped the Walker, ramming the obsidian blade through its lower jaw and up its head. He kept screaming as he stabbed it again and again in the same place, pieces of it falling down or blowing away like so much smoke. The Walker shrieked at him in promised retribution and eternal hatred as it thrashed… or so Joffrey thought. All he could hear was an overwhelming ringing like the world's largest bell stuck in mid swing.

The Walker crumbled like so much steam and snow, dissipating in a matter of seconds.

Joffrey stayed there, swaying lightly, staring at the puddle of water and steam before spitting a glob of saliva at it.

"For your troubles…" he told it, his face twisted into a hateful sneer as his heart pounded and his body tingled in fire. He absentmindedly took note of the sheen of sweat all over his body and the rapid breathing that didn't seem to slow down. Before he could completely process what was going on, something touched him in the back.

Joffrey twirled around lightning fast, twisting and grabbing the startled Threeray by the neck as he raised his mace with a snarl.

'WUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU' said the Threeray, though the strange, omnipresent twine didn't seem to correspond to his mouth…

Joffrey shook his head, blinking wearily as the soldier's voice got steadily louder and he released the man's neck.

"--iiiirrr!!!" he choked, massaging his throat with one hand as he stared at him in awe and terror. "The Choir's wrecked their offensive, but---" he broke off with a cough, "we only have a few minutes until, cough!-- until more arrive! You've got to move sir!!!" he rasped.

Joffrey sheathed the obsidian dagger automatically and looked around, his mind still quiet, or rather still fully synchronized with his body. The soldiers that had been defending the outer wall were using the brief respite given by the choirs and the spreading fires to fall back, running to stairs or keeps as the horns kept sounding in the distance.

"Right, everyone!" he shouted as he turned around, gazing at the hundred or so men nearest to him which were apparently waiting for orders or confirming their kills. "You've got three minutes to grab what you can and set fire to the rest! We're going to the fallback position and then the East Inner Gatehouse, move it!" he bellowed.

-.PD.-

Joffrey and the men at hand used the side alleys and twisting streets of the Dawn Fort to loose and outpace the clusters of wights that had made it in before the barrage, and (more importantly) the half a dozen mounted Walkers roaming all over the area.

The fallback position itself was barely organized, filled with teams of small carts dashing back and forth shuttling the wounded. The fortified perimeter had already defeated multiple wight incursions before Joffrey arrived, defending the area vaguely in front of the East Inner Gatehouse and buying time for the surviving soldiers to regroup and fallback to the Inner District itself without bottlenecking the Gatehouse too tightly.

Joffrey wasted no time getting to work, receiving messengers and dispatching orders at the same time as he tried to organize a coherent defense with the enormous help of Colonel Sabu.

The legion of the undead returned all too soon though, and this time Joffrey had no hidden cards under his sleeve. They crashed against the perimeter with ungodly strength, driving them steadily back. There was still a chokepoint at the Gatehouse, and Joffrey knew they weren't all going to make it in time.

He'd been putting off the decision for several minutes before he finally nodded to himself, at ease with his prospects, serene.

"Colonel Sabu" He said, grabbing an extra saber from a nearby wounded officer. Behind him was the gatehouse, jammed tight with soldiers as they tried to get in before the steadily advancing horde of wights and the occasional mounted Walkers slayed them from behind. Despite the sheer quantity of artillery pieces all over the wall it was clear the undead would push through before everyone could enter.

Unless, that is…

Joffrey took in a deep breath as he regarded the companion who'd followed him into the abyss and back.

"Colonel Sabu, you are in command of the Dawn Fort. I'll be leading a counterattack as you finish the evacuation" he commanded.

Sabu regarded him with a sad smile as he spoke.

"No, Joffrey. You will not" he said as strong arms grabbed Joffrey from behind and started to pull him towards the gatehouse.

"What do you think you're doing?! Let me go damnit!" Joffrey bellowed desperately as Sabu hefted his bloodied battleaxe over his shoulder.

"We're Rangers Joffrey, remember?" he said with a slight smirk as he turned back towards his men. "FIRST ONES IN!!" he roared as he lifted it over his head.

"LAST ONES OUT!!!" roared his Rangers as they formed into a wedge, shields at the front and heavy weapons behind them.

"LET ME GO!!! SABU!!! SABUUUUUUUU!!!!" Joffrey screamed as he struggled against the half dozen men that held him tight and carried him past the raised triple portcullis.

The Rangers charged straight against the ranks of the undead, passing by the disintegrating perimeter held by Genshua's Garrison Irons and slamming against the undead like a furious storm. Joffrey lost sight of them in between the gusts of grey sand and the fires, the remaining men using the time bought to evacuate through the rapidly closing triple portcullis.

"SAAAAAABUUUUUUU!!!!" Joffrey bellowed, his throat hoarse as the multitude of hands started to strangle him and he sunk to the ground, an impossible weight pushing him down, chilling him to the bone as a big White Walker emerged from his side, carrying a huge warhammer in one hand and Sabu's head in the other.

"SAAAABUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!" he shrieked as he scrambled up from his bed.

"Breath sir! Breath!" shouted Loh as he shook him, his hands holding Joffrey's shoulders firmly.

Joffrey jerked his head from side to side wildly, his breathing out of control as he felt the sea of cold sweat that enveloped him.

"BREATH JOFFREY! BREATH DEEP!!!" Loh shouted as he grabbed Joffrey's head with one hand, forcing his Commander's crazed eye to focus on him.

Joffrey took in a deep, harrowing breath, quickly followed by a dozen more as the shaking stopped gradually. "Dhid--" he tried to say, his mouth clammy.

"Here, sir" Loh said as he handed him his canteen. Joffrey took a swig before breathing yet again, coughing a couple of times before his throat was finally clear.

"Did someone hear me?!" he asked his aide desperately.

"They're going through the same, Commander. Don't hold yourself up to--" Loh stared before Joffrey grabbed him by the shoulder and used him to stand up.

"Loh. Did. Anyone. Hear me?" he asked again, dead serious.

Loh shook his head with a sight, "No Joffrey. It got worse near the end but not louder than this" he said, resigned.

Joffrey sat back down in relief, feeling almost frozen by the cold sweat. "Good" he said simply.

Loh stood a bit back, assuming a more professional posture for a while as Joffrey kept breathing loudly, each time more regularly.

"Sabu again, sir?" He asked tentatively.

Joffrey slowly massaged his face with his hand, taking out a bit of filth in his eye. "… Yes…" he said. Loh stayed quiet as Joffrey held his forehead, the light from the afternoon sun barely illuminating anything under the heavy cloud cover and the closed curtains. "Details always change…" he suddenly found himself saying. "The light delivered by the 'choirs, where exactly we find High Moon Kio's body… if we find him at all, if the ballista's loader was shredded by a sandblast or eaten by the sandrake…" he continued, his eye staring at the floor. "Sometimes even that big Walker with the warhammer shows up… But Sabu's smirk always stays the same. Every time. It's like he's sad he didn't have time to say his piece… sad but proud to charge into his death…" He muttered, his voice hitching near the end.

No.

He gripped his small ponytail and yanked down hard, the pain relieving his mind and the moisture that had started to flood his eye.

I have not cried in years, I will not do so now… they can't see me like this… he thought with an iron will.

Loh at least had the decency to make himself busy with the small tray he'd brought, inspecting it carefully before bringing it to the room's table.

Joffrey sat down on one of the chairs, not at all hungry but understanding the importance of good nutrition for a soldier.

He mechanically ate the rice in the bowl, quickly but not too fast. It was the rhythm of siege, one he'd mastered quite a while ago. He stopped when he was halfway through it, frowning before he tossed his sticks aside and glared at his aide.

"Loh…" he said dangerously.

His aide was readying his armor, wiping a bit of grime off it. Joffrey kept staring at him until the man sighted and stood up. "Joffrey, you look like you've lost half your weight and the wound in your leg is not healing properly. An extra ration now and then-- "

"Take it back to the kitchens, Sunbeam" He commanded as he stood up and walked to the window.

"… Aye Commander" said Loh as he shook his head again.

-.PD.-

Tworay Genki had been staring at the Hospital's ceiling for a while, loosing himself in old childhood memories in a vague attempt at distracting himself from the cries of pain that occasionally cut through the late afternoon, but he wasn't having a lot of success at it.

The nights were worse though, as the frequent nightmares that cursed most of the room's residents left Genki unsettled and unwilling to sleep.

"How are you feeling, soldier?" suddenly asked a voice to his left.

He blinked as he stopped staring at the ceiling, shifting his head to the left and gazing at the man that had spoken. He wore a black plate that depicted the Dawn Fort's Jingshen, her spirit itself, in all its majestic, furious glory. His right forearm had been replaced with a mace, and a white eye patch covered what used to be his right eye. The crimson cloak behind him made him seem larger than he'd thought, and his remaining eye was gazing at him with concern. Even without his helmet, the man looked imposing.

Tworay Genki managed to close his mouth as he finally processed the sight, before promptly opening it again as he tried to stand despite the huge pain in his chest. "D-D-D-Dawn C-Commander sir!!!" he mumbled as the Silver Lion himself spoke to him.

"Stay still Tworay, you've done more than enough for now" said the Dawn Commander as he placed a placating hand on Genki's chest, gently pushing him down.

"Y-y-yes Dawn Commander sir!" he said as he lay back down on his small bed, trying not to move a single muscle after that.

Why is the Silver Lion talking to me?! He thought in the midst of heavy confusion. He'd only seen the living legend up close a few times over the last five months, twice when he'd been inspecting their position one morning, and once when he'd personally charged at the wall section Genki and his men had been trying (and failing) to hold. The whispers and legends had fallen far, far short of the real deal, Genki had found. The Silver Lion and his retinue had slammed against the wights like a furious storm, renting limbs and heads with their weapons, a whirlwind of death that left almost as soon as it had arrived in search of other critical areas.

"Keep at it, Tworay. Those wights are not going smash themselves…" he'd said as if he'd' been commenting on the shit weather they've been having.

And then he had stormed off.

In retrospect, it was the sheer dauntlessness of the Commander that had most shocked Genki. When he'd been fighting the wights his expression had not been one of fear or controlled panic… it had been disdain, as if the wights were some kind of personal affront to him. Disdain and furious anger, that's how Genki had described his expression to his peers.

The Silver Lion kneeled by his side as he gave him a proud smile. "They've been treating you well here, soldier?" he asked.

"Ah, yes Dawn Commander Joffrey, sir!" he stammered.

"Please, let's just leave it at Commander, if not we'll be here all day" he said with a small, private chuckle.

"Seriously now, how do you find the hospital area? Speak truthfully soldier" Said his Commander.

"ahh… Da--.. Commander, I reckon it gets the job done…" he commented halfheartedly, but the Commander was looking straight at his eyes with his own, his expression calm and almost tranquil. He'd heard some of the other soldiers talking about the strange, serene presence that almost permeated the room the Commander inhabited, a kind of mantle that seemed to sooth worries and made one somehow have an easier time breathing.

It seemed the Commander had found his answer wanting, not by any outward reaction but by the fact he was still looking at him, waiting. Genki suddenly found himself rapidly reexamining the rumors about the white eye patch and it's often spoke of powers of lie detection.

Later, Genki would not be afraid to admit he'd lasted under five seconds under that gaze. He thought lesser men would have lasted two. "Well Commander… Its just… the monotony is almost worse than the actual siege. At least out there, in the middle of the fight we can stop worrying. But here… there's nothing to do but stare at the ceiling and… remember…" he said with a shudder.

Commander Joffrey nodded thoughtfully as he seemed to genuinely think about that. "I see. Quite a few of the men seem lucid enough… hmmm.. yes…" he muttered almost to himself. "I think we could organize a few dice games if we moved the beds a bit, it should give you all something to do besides staring at the ceiling" he said with a wry smile.

"I… think the men would appreciate that, Commander" Genki said as he felt a small smile greeting his lips. It had been a while since he'd felt one of those.

Later he'd been told they've spoken for about ten minutes, but Genki thought it had been over an hour. He found himself more talkative than usual as the Commander asked about his life before the Legion and he told him about his childhood in Lodu, its great white mountains and sky blue waterfalls.

When the Commander had been about to stand, Genki had suddenly found himself pleading. "Please sir… I can keep fighting… tell the Body Scribes I-"

"No, soldier" His Commander said, shaking his head. "You've done your part for now… rest. You've earned it" he commanded.

Genki leaned back with a sight as he watched his Commander turn back and receive a messenger. They conferred briefly before he turned back again, nodding respectfully at Genki. "Tworay" he said.

"Dawn Commander!" Genki said snapped, unable to stop his (good) hand from slamming into his chest. He ignored the pain as the Commander shook his head with a wry smile and walked to another bed.

-.PD.-

The Fort Hospital held the men that had given it all for Dawn, men that had taken the hit Joffrey had asked them to. He couldn't bear to imagine them alone through day and night with nothing to do except stare at the ceiling and relieve their nightmares again and again as Tworay Genki had put it.

So, whenever he had the time he'd stroll through the Hospital and listen to their tales, their stories. From old war tales to wild descriptions of faraway hometowns, Joffrey had found himself loving the little talks, learning a bit more about his men as they both took a break from the unrelenting grey cloud which lay siege for months not only to the Fort but to the men themselves. The admiring or awed looks he had to withstand to share those little moments where more than worth it.

Most of all, they helped at keeping the nightmares at bay. After months of siege with irregular but unrelenting assaults…

He spoke as he kneeled beside another bed, right beside a Oneray that looked barely older than Tommen when he'd last seen him, half of his face covered in bandages.

Tommen… gods… its been so long… he wondered, what had been of his little brother? Was he even alive now?

"How are you feeling, soldier?" he started as he usually did, but the man… no, boy, didn't respond. He was staring fixedly at the ceiling as he shook, his eyelids fluttering wildly.

Joffrey put his hand on the boy's neck, feeling the sluggish, haphazard heartbeat. He then put his hand on the boy's forehead, feeling the intense heat despite the soaked rag that had been over it just a second before.

He took a halting breath as the boy's shaking slowly eased, his eyes gradually stopping their constant movement. "Hang in there soldier… hang in there…" he whispered.

The boy suddenly focused on him, grabbing Joffrey's hand. The boy squeezed tightly in desperate strength as his brown eyes bored on him, unfocused. Joffrey squeezed back, blinking rapidly as he felt his throat constrict. "You did good soldier… you did good…" he whispered again as the shaking kept slowing down.

"Papa?" The boy suddenly asked, his voice filled with an almost childish hope, his eyes still staring at him, unfocused and lost.

"I'm here…" Joffrey whispered as he leaned closer, the strength behind the boy's hand suddenly doubling.

"Papa…" whispered the boy in unexpected joy, the corner of his mouth that was not covered in bandages twisting up in a surprised half smile.

The smile lasted a couple of seconds before slowly dissipating as the shaking stopped completely, the boy's hand lax in Joffrey's grip.

Joffrey took in a ragged breath as he tidied a bit of the boy's hair, looking at the still, brown eyes for a moment before closing them gently.

'bbbbboooooouuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU' thrummed the Dawn Fort.

They're back, he thought as he stood up, slowly fisting his hand. He couldn't stop staring at the boy however, the way the ragged remains of his uniform seemed to make him smaller still, the way that what little color remained in his face was slowly leeched by the heavy cold that was felt even here.

'booooooooooooooouuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU' thrummed the Dawn Fort again.

Joffrey turned back with a snarl, seeing vague edges of red in the corner of his eye as he quickly strode out of the room.

"The Oneray by the sixth bed" he told one of Bo's helpers before walking out.

They had to burn the body soon… and he had demons to fucking maim and kill.

-.PD.-

Joffrey's maddened scribbling finally reached a halt for the twelfth time, and he screamed in rage.

"Why would anything do this?! What is the fucking point!!!" he raged as he turned back and grabbed the chair he had been sitting on, smashing it against the ground.

The wight tied to the other chair just screeched, shaking as always as it tried to move. "YOU!" Joffrey roared, pure bloodthirst in his eyes, "YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE!!!" he roared as he started to smash the thing with his mace, leaving nothing but crumbled bones.

No matter how hard Joffrey pummeled though, the half tattered sigil still remained whole. Its twin blue towers mocking, insolent.

"I HOPE YOU GAVE A FIGHT AT LEAST YOU FREY SON OF A BITCH!!!" Joffrey screamed as his mace reduced the rotten corpse to so much pulp.

He was breathing raggedly as he turned back to the map he'd drawn, grabbing the parchment with his hand slowly crushing it. It depicted the landmasses of the world as Joffrey knew them, with one difference. The Beyond kept tilting to the North East until it touched an imaginary land bridge, connecting it with the Lands of Always Winter.

Strawberries on a white saltrine…

A tattered blueish falcon…

A merman over green…

Houses Turnberry, Manderly and Frey serve the White Walkers.

Those had been the ones he'd been able to piece together, but there were more, so many more… He turned back to stare again at the veritable armory he had collected here, plate armor painfully similar to that used in Westeros, greatswords and helmets and all the panoply of war that his old home had loved so much, all in display for his own perusal.

He didn't even know why he'd ordered the men to bring the Frey corpse animated… wights couldn't be interrogated. It had helped a bit with his rage though.

Defending the world… a self-depreciating snort left his mouth as he shook his head in disgust. Turns out we've already lost. Westeros must have been overrun quite some time ago for a freaking Frey to have made it here…

It was not that big of a leap to make. White Walkers, Lands of Always Winter, the huge fucking wall bigger than the five forts combined. In hindsight, it all made sense.

For all he knew the rest of the world had already been overrun and he was about to get hit from the West. Condors had not reached the Dawn Fort since even before he'd taken command… he'd assumed that had been because of the roving bands of flying wights intercepting them… but what if there was no one left to send messages?

He shook his head harshly, burning away the soul crushing thoughts as Loh opened the door carefully and eyed his commander.

"Back for another trashing, Loh?" he asked with a halfhearted smile.

"They are persistent bastards, sir" His aide responded.

Joffrey sighted as walked towards the door, "Let's get to it then…" he said, replacing his weary expression for something more… it would not be good for the soldiers to look at him like this.

-.PD.-

"Keep up arrow discipline. Sunbeam! Get your men in order!" Joffrey barked as he strode through the Bastion's Wall, grabbing the dazed Sunbeam as the man rubbed a bit of blood off his face. He nodded before turning back to his men.

"Keep those volleys tight!" the man shouted as he manhandled a few of the soldiers into their correct positions. Joffrey had already passed through though, marching right past the line of archers.

To his side, lines of infantry fought against the wights, same as the day before, same as it would be tomorrow.

The Siege had started months ago.

Joffrey kept walking, arrows raining down occasionally in a haphazard pattern, grazing or wounding men as they screamed and died. Still, they kept fighting. "Sunbeam Fehj! Get a half section--" Joffrey trailed off as the man he grabbed fell back like a plank, dead. Joffrey left him there as he made his way to the line of infantry who were keeping the wights at bay with pole weapons, preventing them from gaining a foothold atop the wall.

An arrow slammed against Joffrey's pauldron, staggering him slightly before he kept walking and grabbed a Threeray by the arm, "Threeray! Your Sunbeam is down, where's your Captain?" he asked him before smashing a wight's skull that got too close to the crenellations.

"Captain's dead sir!" half shouted back the soldier, single mindedly ramming his naginata against the undead that kept periodically poking their heads over the wall.

The Outer Wall had fallen quite a while ago...

"I'm promoting you to Sunbeam then, effective immediately. Keep them pinned here but get some of your men in between the spears, you need more soldiers up front for close in defense!" Joffrey told the soldier.

The soldier kept ramming and pushing the undead back down the wall with his naginata as he nodded, "Understood sir!" he shouted.

"Keep at it" Joffrey said as he patted him in the back before taking off again, a few arrows now pelting his position. Another one struck his breastplate as he bit his lip in pain, still walking as he tried to give some coherence to the grinding battle atop the wall.

The Inner Wall had been overrun a month ago…

Joffrey spotted two soldiers hurriedly carrying a load of ballista bolts before one of the arrows took the one behind in the neck.

"Keep moving!" Joffrey shouted as he grabbed the back of the small litter full of crudely made ballista bolts before they tumbled to the side. The soldier in front didn't even look back as he kept carrying the front end, rushing towards a ballista piece.

"Puen… gods… We've been waiting… ages… for those bolts…" rasped the Captain by the ballista. He was sitting on the wall, his back leaning on one of the crenellations as blood poured over from a dozen slashes all over his body. He had an unloaded crossbow in his hands, its small bolt on a wight's skull that lay sprawled to his side.

"There's barely any of these pieces of shit left Cap'n… oh shit…" Said the loader as he dropped the load before rushing to the Captain.

Sprawled around the ballista were the other crew members, all slain as a few dismounted Garrison Cavalrymen to the side took care of the wight's responsible for it.

Joffrey started winching back the ballista as Puen assisted his superior, struggling with his mace hand as he pulled the cranks. "Sir!... Captain!!! SIR!!!" screamed the soldier as he shook his Captain, the officer unresponding as his head tilted slightly to the side.

"Load a bolt soldier!" Joffrey rasped, his mouth dry as he finished cranking back the winches.

Puen looked startled as he turned back, "Wha--?... Aye commander!" the man said, wiping something from his face as he stood up and grabbed one of the fallen crudely made ballista bolts. He jammed one right through the piece, stepping back before inspecting the piece for a second, his movements precise, bored out of hundreds of hours of doing it again and again.

"CLEAR!" he shouted as he stepped back.

"Loose!" Joffrey shouted himself as he let loose. It was a bit unnecessary, but the familiar routine had become ingrained in his psyche anyway. The bolt flew down the Bastion's Wall briefly before impaling a grand total of two wights, pinning the shrieking bodies to the ground as a dozen more rushed past.

They've been on quarter rations for two weeks now…

"Captain! We're back! We…" two legionnaires stopped short when they spotted their Captain and the bodies of the rest of the crew.

"Drop that stretcher and take over the piece, make them pay" Joffrey commanded as he stepped back, the soldiers only taking a second to process the order before taking over the ballista.

"..Aye Commander!" snapped one of them as he grabbed another bolt and loaded the ballista.

Joffrey kept walking as the night sky gave to dawn, the telltale sign of the steadily brightening horizon slowly illuminating the Mountains of the Morn.

"Commander!" saluted a Tworay with a sling as he helped carry a wounded comrade with another soldier. Joffrey nodded as he kept walking, surveying the wall section as the ferocity of the wight attacks slowly diminished.

"Silver Lion!" said one of the archers taking another quiver from a wooden barrel. "Dawn Commander!" said a heavily armored Shock Iron, rushing to the wall's edge to help a small pocket that had broken through momentarily. "S-S-Sir!" said a startled Oneray as his skinny frame struggled to carry a bucket of water up a set of stairs to one of the battlements.

He nodded back each time, his throat constricting steadily with each look the various soldiers gave him.

"Commander" said a familiar voice from his right eye's dead zone.

"Loh, did you find Genshua?" he said as he turned. His aide looked crestfallen as he stared at Joffrey.

"… He's dead sir… there was a breach through the South West. He fell before Colonel Hu's reinforcements retook the section" he said, holding his bloodied forearm. The clean bandages from before the siege had long ago been expended, most being replaced by torn pieces of cloth.

"… He was a good man…" Joffrey said as he stared at the floor for a second, taking the unexpected hit in the gut. He took a breath and looked back up. "Did Valyon's men fix the water well? I've been waiting for news through the whole night" he asked him.

"… What?" he asked his aide as Loh kept staring at him strangely.

"Its… Its Colonel Hu, sir. He's in the Fort HHHHHospital right now" he said.

-.PD.-

"What did I tell you about getting cocky Hu?" Joffrey asked as he kneeled beside his old friend.

Hu lay on a makeshift bed in one of the storage rooms nearby the hospital, breathing shallowly as he looked back at him.

Over the long months, Bo's healers had truly mastered the art of triage, setting procedures and rooms to be set aside for the different states their patients arrived in…

Hu had been placed in the room reserved for those who weren't much longer bound to this world… not that it was much used nowadays. The pitiful rations they had been reduced to, plus the long strain of the siege meant that most of the wounded lasted a day or two.

Hu grunted as he stared at his friend, "L-leave that… to the… Horse Chiefs…" he said with a slight smile before exploding into a coughing fit, bits of blood sticking to his small beard.

"Easy there Grey Gull… just… take it easy…" Joffrey said with a halfhearted smile as Hu vaguely tried to stand up, only to be gently pushed back down by Joffrey. "It was a rhetorical question you idiot…" he said, blinking rapidly as he heard the rattle coming from Hu's lungs each time he took a breath.

"Co…commander…" Hu tried to say, trying not to break into a coughing fit again.

"Don't, don't talk Hu" he said as he looked around for a bit of Gehji extract to dull the pain. He stopped when he remembered they had run out of those over two months ago.

"Joooffrey…" he rattled.

"What is it? What is it Hu?" Joffrey asked, slightly distressed as he leaned forward, trying to hear him better.

"Jooffrey… Its… It's been my… my pleasure…" Hu struggled to say, his voice barely louder than a whisper in an effort to avoid another coughing fit.

He's saying goodbye.

"Hu, don't…" Joffrey whispered, but Hu was still staring at him, his eyes urgent as he tried to say what was in his mind.

"I don't know if I… would have… stayed here… without you… " he said, clamping down his mouth and his eyes as he fought the urge to cough.

He thinks he would have lived on… he's right… he would have lived on if I hadn't dragged him here… Joffrey thought in mounting anguish.

Hu was looking at him again, mouth clamped, on the verge of another fit as he slowly took in another breath.

"Thank you" he said suddenly, the pure gratitude in his voice hitting Joffrey like a sledgehammer. "Thank you Joffrey, thank y--" he repeated again and again before he broke off into a massive fit as he coughed blood all over his blanket, his pale body jerking again and again from the force of it.

Joffrey held him as he shook, the coughing stopping as abruptly as it had started.

"Hu… Why?" he asked as him as he let him lean on the makeshift bed.

Hu didn't answer him, his eyes still as a bit of blood dripped from his mouth.

"Hu!?" Joffrey asked as he shook him. "Why would you say that Hu?! WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!" he screamed as he shook him, feeling a stinging feeling in his eye.

Joffrey felt as if someone had driven a sword through his belly as he stumbled out of the room, the two soldiers from Hu's command nodding respectfully before entering the room.

He kept walking, struggling to contain the pit of despair deep within him.

"Silver Lion" said a Body Scribe as he bowed, carrying a set of vaguely clean bandages.

Joffrey nodded quickly as he walked, not wanting to look at him.

He made his way to the wall, passing through a room full of soldiers doing carpentry, mainly crude bolts for the ballistas. "Dawn Commander!" snapped one of them as he stood up. "Sir! Silver Lion sir! Commander! Commander Joffrey!" they said, all of them standing up and saluting with some sort of deep respect, admiration even.

Stop it.

Joffrey nodded sternly as he kept walking, his throat constricting steadily.

He reached the Bastion's walls themselves as the sun peeked from the east and the remaining wights left the Dawn Fort entirely. They left after every assault, as if daring Joffrey to man the Inner or Outer Walls again… but he didn't have the men to hold them, they would be spread too thin… A fact both him and the Demons knew. The Walkers themselves usually just stood in plain sight, right past the Outer Wall in the middle of the plains of dawn. They were a constant, crushing reminder of the hopelessness of their last stand, a constant sight that chipped at the morale of his men.

He looked to his side as he walked through the wall. The last of the wights had retreated past the distant tree line, but a line of White Walker remained. They just stood there without their mounts, unflinching, always staring at the Dawn Fort, no need to sleep or rest. They also made sure no foraging party could safely exit the Dawn Fort, which combined with the constant attacks instead of one colossal swarm made Joffrey consider the possibility that they were indeed trying to starve them out instead of trying to take them out with one colossal wave that would shred more corpses than the Legion was worth.

"Commander" said a soldier as he carried a fallen comrade to the fires below.

"Silver Lion" said another Oneray as he stopped cleaning his katana.

"Commander Joffrey" said a Captain as he nodded respectfully before getting back to his men.

Joffrey hurried his stride, the burning agony within him only barley kept at bay as every soldier that spotted him stopped to acknowledge him in some way.

"Silver Lion… sir" said a wounded legionary as he was carried by a comrade.

Why..? Why do they keep..? It has all been for naught! We will barely last another week, perhaps even less… why?

Joffrey almost ran up the last few steps to the Bastion's War Room. The room barely needed his supervision anymore with the reduced men and supplies, and the ample training they had been subjected to under the Walkers.

He finally arrived at the Observation tower, where Shah was surveying the retreating wights and the silent, unmoving walkers. "I heard about Hu…" he said when he heard him, but Joffrey said nothing as he leaned on one of the crenellations beside Shah.

His breathing was irregular as he felt his eye fill up with tears, the burning sensation spreading from his chest to the rest of his body.

"…Why?" he asked him.

Shah looked at him for a few seconds, disentangling the web of meanings that surrounded that simple question. He looked back to the steadily brightening horizon as he thought, tapping his fingers against the crenellations.

They spent a few minutes like that in a rare moment of silence for the Dawn Fort, before Shah finally spoke. "Why do they still bless your name even as they die under your orders? Why do they carry on even as they lay on the ground bleeding to death? Why do they thank you for the end you have led us all to?" Shah mused, still staring at the horizon. Joffrey said nothing, still as a statue as he heard his old friend. He nodded slightly, trying not to crumble.

"It's not a big mystery Joffrey. Anyone can simply die, that is after all the inevitable end no matter how long the journey to get there was…" he mused out loud as he turned back to gaze at his commander. "That end became inevitable the day the men were born… its cause became apparent the day the legions fell, or perhaps the day these things first appeared from the grey wastes… What you gave them was not death Joffrey… you gave their deaths meaning" Shah said with a slight smile.

"That is what's in their eyes. Gratitude, Commander" he said.

Joffrey swallowed, not trusting himself to look at him as he managed to find his voice. "…Gratitude for locking them up here..?" he asked.

Shah snorted as he shook his head, "You made them conquer their fear. You led them as they gave their own lives so that others could keep theirs. You made them all, all of them Joffrey… you made them all masters of their fate" Shah sentenced.

Joffrey felt the deep thrumming envelop him completely as his breathing stopped.

"You did not lock them up here when you took command Joffrey. You set them free. That's why they fight for you, that is why they die for you" Shah said simply.

Joffrey felt tears slide down his left cheek, their paths frequently interrupted by the pockmarks and scars that had been left there courtesy of a sandrake. He gave out a single, contained sob as he thought of his men, his friends. They had leaned on him, and he had leaned on them.

He looked down as he the tears kept falling and the thrumming drowned out all other sound.

I'm proud to call them my men. I'm proud to call them my brothers.

'RRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAR'

He lifted his head up and gazed back at the plains of dawn to find the Silver Lion rearing up in all its majesty as it gave a mighty roar, not too far away from the Walkers themselves.

The lion roared again with all his might, directing raw fury and pride at the Demons. Joffrey was somehow not surprised to know the meaning of the lion's roar. It was defiance, it was pride, pride in his men. All along the walls he could hear his soldiers shouting in awe and defiance as they rushed to see the silver lion itself, their cries of joy somehow shaking free of the miasma of grim defeat that had permeated the Dawn Fort for so long.

Joffrey didn't know how much time he stayed there, mesmerized as he gazed the roaring lion as the tears kept streaming down his cheek. Shah startled him when he shook him, gesturing him to follow.

They ran past the deserted War Room and down the many flights of stairs before arriving at the base of the Gatehouse, where Joffrey swore half of what was left of the Legion must have gathered. They seemed more than in good cheer, handing out weapons and armor in somewhat of a frenzied state even as more legionnaires emerged from the main keep.

They were angry, they were proud, they were defiant.

"Loh! Valyon! What in the hells is going on here?!" Joffrey asked when he found the both of them, trying to give a bit of order to the chaos that surrounded them.

"Commander!" shouted Loh as he turned back, his eyes lit with a fiery zeal that Joffrey had not seen in a long time, "They want to go outside sir! The men want to sally forth and smash into the Demons for once!!!" He said.

"Are they mad?! The Dawn Fort will fall soon after!" Joffrey exclaimed, looking in incomprehension as even the healers and their limping charges emerged from the keep, looking for weapons.

"…they know, sir" Loh said suddenly. "It's no secret that our supplies won't last another week… and after seeing the Silver Lion… they don't want to die like scared rats, sir" he said meaningfully.

"…They want to stand with their brothers…" muttered Joffrey.

"They don't want to listen to that melody of despair…" said Shah as he nodded to himself.

"To fulfill vows muttered from time immemorial…" Joffrey continued as he turned back from them all and he gazed at the gatehouse.

"To end the uncertainty once and for all… to bring the battle to the enemy and resolve our fate one way or the other…" Shah said, his voice becoming more animated by the second.

"They refuse to lay down their arms, they refuse to go down quietly into the long night" Valyon said.

The masters of their fate…

"And they shall not!" Joffrey said as he suddenly turned back, his crimson red cloak fluttering wildly under the gusts of chilly wind and snow. "The men of the Dawn Legion shall Stand Together one more time!!!" he said, the tears on his eye still sliding down his scarred face, the anguish and the doubts evaporating as he pivoted towards Valyon.

He hadn't realized he'd shouted that last part, but the wild growling and snarling of the men made him take notice. They seemed almost frenzied, spurred by the sight of a long lost hope in the form of a defiant silver lion and a renewed purpose beyond simply taking the punishment the Demons had meted out week after week.

To Attack.

"Greatbeam Valyon!" he said.

"Sir!" he snapped.

"See that everyone in the Fort is armed with whatever they can carry, we'll sally forth and smash into the Demons within half an hour!" he ordered.

"Aye commander!" he snapped as he turned and started to give out orders to the men nearest to him.

"Shah, go to the armory and take all the obsidian arrows we have left, distribute them to your Hunters and the officers, at least one each" he said. Shah gave him a meaningful nod as he got to it.

If we can take out their commander… perhaps…

"And Loh…" he said as he gazed at his aide meaningfully.

"Bring me my banner" he said.

-.PD.-

The entirety of the Dawn Legion stood in attention, one long column as wide as the great Gatehouse would allow. The armor the soldiers wore was dented and filthy, their banners tattered and torn. Many wore bandages or pieces of ragged clothing over old and new wounds, and others who could barely walk were supported by their comrades in arms.

The display would have gotten a sneer out of any Reacher Knight, but if Joffrey would have had to led an army into the hells, he would have taken these men rather than a million chivalric knights.

In a way, he already had.

They looked fearsome. Steely eyes and ferocious snarls, they had the look of men who had accepted their deaths, that look one has when there's nothing left to loose and everything to gain.

They had the look of men ready to march to their dooms, and grateful for it.

Joffrey strode quickly down the column towards the front, his eye meeting those of every legionnaire.

"I never thought it would end like this…" he said as he paced down the column, pitching his voice to carry. "But I am glade it did!" he shouted, "To share the last moments of my life with my brothers!" he said, his heart beating wildly.

"For that is what we are! Brothers! We who have shed blood together, we who have killed for each other, we who have died together!" he bellowed, his voice raising in intensity as he paced back, not ashamed of his tears. "We share a bond far beyond the sad slavery of the Demons, far beyond even their comprehension. They have forged us into something they will never understand…" he trailed of as his gaze became unfocused.

"For that I thank them. Because of their actions, I march to my death in peace. No…" he suddenly interrupted himself when he reached the head of the column.

"In PRIDE!" he snarled suddenly, eliciting a primal response from his men as they snarled with him. "In peace and pride! Because we have become something greater than any single one of us! We have become those who stand in vigil! The watchers of stars! THE MASTERS OF OUR FATE!" he roared with all his might as the army in front of him roared back, eyes wild, raising spears and swords and maces and banners and all the panoply of war to the air in a splendor of color, a sharp contrast to the snowfall all around them.

Joffrey put his helmet on, the red sun suspended by the golden horns for all to see.

"Dawn Commander, your banner" said Loh as he hefted the long pole with the Starwatching Silver Lion. There was something there that had not been before though… It was a small yellow red sun, barely peeking over the great mountain the Silver Lion sat upon.

It was Dawn.

"It was the best I could do in such a short time but…" Loh trailed off with a rare smile.

"Loh… It's perfect" he said as he gazed at the banner with a serene smile.

"Commander" said Valyon as he joined him, carrying what seemed to be a coiling dragon modified for Choir use but with a strap tied to both ends.

"I thought we had fired the last of those a few months ago…" Joffrey asked as he checked his obsidian dagger and made sure his mace arm was strapped properly to his arm.

"Kind of. This one has a malfunctioning fuse, too dangerous to fix… if the cord is pulled the charge should explode almost immediately…" Valyon said as he gave Joffrey the 'dragon.

"I see…" Joffrey mused as he put the 'dragon on his back, hanging from his torso by the strap. "Well, I still have another arm available…" he said with an erstwhile smirk.

He turned back to the column of men as a strong breeze let the banner in Loh's hands fly free. "When the bastards understand what's happening we'll have but a few minutes to take them down before we are drowned under a sea of wights. We shall hit them like a hammer!" he snarled as he raised his mace hand to the air and the men snarled back. "We will destroy them, hack them apart, with our bare hands if we have to!" he snarled, "We will show them what it means to be human! To be afraid!!!" he bellowed as he paced back, the banners of all the surviving units and those had that fallen too, fluttered in the wind and snow.

"We will show them the meaning of pain! The meaning of despair! They shall learn to fear the sound of the marching Dawn!" he screamed.

The Dawn Legion roared back as they started pounding their spears against the ground, their swords and maces against their shields. Slowly, very slowly, the rhythm started to emerge.

Pum.... Pum.... Pum.... Pum....

"Through Light and Dark Joffrey" Shah said as he took an obsidian arrow from his quiver and let it rest over his bow, standing to Joffrey's side. He didn't need to say anything more.

"Through Dusk and Dawn" Joffrey told him as he grabbed his shoulder, "Through Dusk and Dawn Shah" he said before raising his arm high, "Open the gates for Dawn!!!" he bellowed.

----

The portcullis rose as the slamming of weapons against metal intensified in both volume and rhythm.

Pum..Pum..Pum..Pum..Pum

"LEGION! SALLY FORTH!!!" he roared as he slashed his saber forward.

Like one, the legion sallied out the Bastion's gatehouse, quickly clearing the burned ruin that was the Inner District.

"LEGION! QUICK MARCH!!!" roared Joffrey as they cleared the deserted Inner East Gatehouse.

PumPumPumPumPumPumPumPumPum rattled the Legion, the beating of metal synchronized to their footsteps.

They passed the opened East Outer Gatehouse, the noise of their all-consuming pounding drowning everything else. Joffrey could see the Walkers as the legion quick marched past the Iron Cemetery, nearly three dozen of them… with the big one at the middle.

The Walker Commander, as Joffrey had named him inside his mind, was a bit taller than the rest. He was armored in the typical grey-blue armor of his comrades and carried a big warhammer; a big blue stone tied to the end of a wooden staff. The thing didn't seem fazed by the charging legion, though then again Joffrey had never really seen an expression on the face of a Walker… besides maybe pain when he stabbed them with obsidian.

Their distress was apparent in the way the swarms of wights immediately started to charge from the treeline… but they were too far away. The Legion would have a bit of time to play with their guests…

"DAWN LEGION! CHAAAAAAARGE!!!" roared Joffrey as he broke into a run, his saber high in the air and quickly followed by Shah, Valyon, Loh and all the rest of his brothers.

PUMPUMPUMPUMPUMPUM thundered the Legion, the beating of metal synchronized to his heartbeat.

The men screamed their defiance as they charged behind their commander with wild abandon, and Joffrey smiled. A good day to die, he thought as Shah loosed an arrow that pierced one of the Walkers straight in the eye, dissolving him to mush as a few of his obsidian equipped Walker Hunters did the same with their bows.

And then, they clashed.

The Walkers had grouped a bit closer together, but the sheer force of numbers and ferocity behind the Legion was like an avalanche that couldn't be contained. Joffrey dashed past the dissolving body of a Walker that had received another of Shah's arrows before slamming himself against another Demon, his directional parry with the saber ensuring the icy blade did not gut him like an animal. The Walker stumbled back as Joffrey dropped the saber and in one swift motion took out his dagger, ramming it up the Walker's jaw, snarling as he stabbed again and again against the dissolving snow.

Behind him crashed the Legion as hundreds of swords, maces and spears reaped a blue harvest even as the Walkers killed more than half a dozen men for every one of theirs.

He found himself next to Shah, covering his back as he put down a Walker every two arrows, both Valyon and Loh by his flanks fending off attacks with deflections and directional parries like he'd taught them to.

The battle was a blur as Joffrey fought like never before, body and mind moving as one. He found himself calm even as his breathing struggled to keep up with the demands of his body and the bone chilling cold from near missed cracked his skin. He got lost in the wild melee, bellowing and rallying his men as they pinned Walkers down with spears as others closed in and hammered them down. He dashed past a Walker's blade as the beast tried to cut him in half, using his dagger to cut through the things arm twice. It screeched as it stumbled back and Joffrey used his mace hand like a claw, shoving it on the thing's neck and pushing it towards him with a roar of strength as he brought his dagger up. He slammed it brutally against the thing's stomach, the blade shattering against the armor even as it slipped through.

Joffrey cursed as he moved the blade sideways and he disemboweled the Walker like a pig, extracting the now shattered obsidian blade.

The thing evaporated even as Joffrey turned back, moving past groups of legionaries fighting and dying, lending a hand where he could.

He found Valyon in one of the groups, the Greatbeam's chest had been completely crushed, smashed like so much pulp.

Joffrey said nothing as he kneeled and closed the man's eyes. He took a deep breath, taking just a second from the battle that surrounded him to say goodbye to his old friend. "Swift winds, Chief" he whispered before standing back up. He'd be joining him soon enough.

He made quick time towards the big figure that moved through his men like a leviathan, smashing apart his brothers like so much driftwood with its great warhammer.

Joffrey snarled as he ran towards the walker commander's back, intent on shanking him. Before he could though the Walker turned suddenly, his warhammer sweeping low. Joffrey jumped, but the head still grazed his left leg, leaving an agony of pain as if he'd been burned. He stumbled as he landed, the Walker brutally slamming the butt of his hammer against his belly and sending him flying back and crashing against another Walker. He slammed what was left of the dagger's blade on the Walker's foot, making it bend down just in time for him to stand up and slam the hammer in his face. The Walker fell on the floor as he put his boot on its back and hammered it in the head like a madman, chips of his mace hand flying about as he reduced the Walker's head to brown snow.

Joffrey coughed blood as he limped from the demon's back, broken dagger and chipped mace at the ready as he stared at the Commander.

"That's all you got you sad puddle of snow?" he asked it before spitting another gob of blood. The Walker seemed to regard him for a few seconds… almost in… curiosity before straightening and dashing towards him with unforeseen haste.

Joffrey dodged a strike that would have left his arm as so much mush, the strength of the blow shaking the earth itself. He tried to use the opportunity to jump in close and shove what was left of his dagger down the thing's neck, but the Walker somehow moved just as fast, shifting the mace about and catching the blade in the wooden handle.

Is that… Is that weirwood?!

He didn't have time to process the thought as he stepped back and bent, the hammerhead sailing just over his face. He crouched and jumped to the side as the Walker tried again to catch him with the back blow, but Joffrey was had already learned that lesson. He stabbed what little remained of the obsidian on the thing's leg, barely eliciting a response as the monster punched him in the shoulder, unleashing a sea of pain as he tumbled in a wild spin before crashing on the mud and snow.

The Demon walked towards him and raised its hammer, angling it right over his chest before an arrow got it in the belly.

Joffrey rolled away from it as the Walker stumbled back in pain. "That was the last one!" bellowed Shah as Joffrey got to his feet. He'd managed to get a shot out even with three separate wights trying to cut him down.

It seemed the first of the undead slaves were already joining the battle.

One of the arriving wights dashed towards Joffrey, but a long pole smacked it into the ground before it could reach him.

"Commander! I'll distract the big one, you take him down!" Loh shouted as he hefted the long pole, using it as a heavy pike as he impaled the wight's skull using the pole's spiked top.

"Alright! Watch out for that hammer, he's faster than he looks!" Joffrey shouted back as he tossed the useless dagger aside.

"DAAAAAAAAWN!!!" bellowed the burly Sunbeam as he ran towards the Walker, the banner fluttering wildly.

"FOR THE LIVING!!!" echoed Joffrey as he ran behind him, mace low as he eyed the arrow sticking from the Walker's chest.

The Walker used the hammer's haft to slide the pole to his side, allowing the spiked top to pass harmlessly by right over its shoulder… and letting Loh's own speed bring him closer to it. The Walker slammed the haft on Loh's neck brutally, slamming the aide to the ground at the same time as it shifted the grip on its hammer and raised it over its head.

Joffrey was barely 3 meters behind Loh, but the thing was still somehow too fast.

"Fhor the lih-ving--" spluttered Loh before the icy head of the warhammer smashed into his chest, rending apart flesh and bone.

Joffrey screamed as he jumped right on the Walker's chest, using his mace as a climbing rake while his hand took the obsidian arrow from its chest and he stabbed it just above the collarbone. The Walker shrieked as it stomped back, dropping the warhammer and grabbing Joffrey with both hands as it tried to get him off it.

Joffrey snarled as his shoulder froze and his skin turned black, holding to the thing's body with all his strength as he stabbed it with the arrow again and again.

The Walker crumbled into snow with a soul shivering scream, melting as Joffrey tumbled to the ground, his body burning in agony as he stared at the unmoving form of Loh.

Loh…

Someone grabbed him from behind, helping him stand up as strength returned to his legs.

"Still We Stand Commander!!!" shouted Shah in his face, one of his legs limp and bloodied as the other grabbed the fallen banner, raising it to the skies and letting the Silver Lion flutter free.

"Still We Stand!!!" bellowed back Joffrey, tears of pain sliding down his cheek as he grabbed a katana from the mud. The wights where everywhere now, sneaking in between the pockets of legionnaires and killing and maiming without stop. Shah and Joffrey made their way through the chaos, limping and holding each other by the shoulders as Wights seemed to emerge from every direction. Each one they managed to bring down managed to leave a wound on either Shah or Joffrey, and soon both of them were soaked in their own blood.

Huh… I had been hoping that without their leader the rest of the monsters would have just…

He snorted, a small, bloodied grin adorning his face despite the pain and the mind numbing exhaustion.

Hope is ever eternal… he mused as he pummeled a wight to the ground with his mace.

Shah's weight suddenly gave out, both of them falling back on the mud, over the corpses of the slain which had mercifully not yet returned.

"Come on Shah… we can rest when we die… ehh kind of" Joffrey quipped, his head hazy as he looked at the blue, cloudy sky.

"Shah…" Joffrey muttered as he turned his head, trying to bring his friend out of his right eye's dead zone.

----

Shah was gurgling blood, a sword rammed past the cracked armor and through his chest. He turned his head when Joffrey spoke, blinking quickly as more and more blood seemed to come from his mouth, preventing him from speaking.

Joffrey dragged himself closer to him, using what was left of his right arm to bring the Long Scout closer.

"We are the ones who stand in vigil…" Joffrey whispered into Shah's ear, bumping his forehead against his helmet. "We are the watchers of stars…" he recited as blood stopped coming out of Shah's mouth. Instead, the corners of it lifted into a vague half smile.

"We are the masters of our Fate…" Joffrey whispered, his voice sounding strangled to his own ears.

Shah let out a deep breath, his eyes still open as his head hanged back, limp.

Joffrey grabbed his banner from the mud, using the long pole to support him as he tried to stand up. The ragged banner was still somewhat whole as Joffrey limped through the melee, using his mace hand to shatter wight ribcages and break skulls, even as his armor kept being dented and blood ran down his legs.

One wight impaled him with a pike, the force of the blow making Joffrey stagger back. He screamed in pain as another wight ram a half pike through his blind side, managing to pierce his mangled plate and stabbing him in the ribs.

His vision was a bit blurry as he snarled, trying to close in with the wight in front of him as another one drove a spear through his left leg, and another one rammed a pike through his back. The wights shrieked wildly as they kept pushing from all directions, driving Joffrey to his knees.

The pole swayed, the banner fluttering wildly as Joffrey coughed blood.

No. I'll die standing.

"hhhhhhmmmmmmMMMMMRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" he screamed in pain and exertion as he stood up, smashing his mace against the shaft of the spear, breaking it. The sudden lack of force from that side made the wights push him left, making him close with the undead spearman. Joffrey mauled him down with the mace before brutally twisting sideways, the pikes dislodging from him even as they tore his body apart.

He gave a wordless, bloody scream as pummeled the pikemen to the ground, shattering bones and flesh until there was nothing left of his mace hand but a small steel pole.

He stood there, swaying as he noticed something strange…

The battlefield was quiet.

Several Walkers approached him from all sides as Joffrey drunkenly pivoted in circles, leaving a trail of blood as he waved his destroyed mace arm threateningly. He suddenly charged at one of them, but cold, freezing hands grabbed him from behind, freezing and shattering both his shoulders as they raised him a bit, holding him still in midair.

The pain was so intense Joffrey could barely think, could barely scream when one of the Walkers positioned itself right in front of him and brought its blade up right over his heart. The icy blade lit into a brilliant white, almost blinding Joffrey as the Walker slowly started to pierce his heart.

Joffrey was assaulted by an agony a million times worse than the Purple, a rending of his very being as the blade slowly made its way to his heart, a rending of his very self as seconds stretched to hours to weeks and pure agony became his only knowledge, his existence.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAFFFFFUUUUUCKYOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!" he screamed as he pulled the hanging cord that reached to his hip.

…

The explosion engulfed him in fire even as he felt himself fly, cleansing the mind killing agony like a soothing balm and leaving only a buzzy, tingly sensation in his head.

He blinked dumbly at the patch of snowed dirt he had landed upon, gazing at where his torso ended and where his legs should have started. Joffrey was very confused at the sight before letting his head fall back on the mud, he couldn't feel anything below his neck anyway. Even his head felt strange.

He blinked slowly as he gazed at the white sky.

I'm sorry Ned, Shah, Tyrion… everyone… I tried…

He blinked again as a realization hit him.

He was not afraid of this. He was not afraid of the end.

He had not been a fraud, he was not the spoiled brat, he was not the monster.

He was dying as Joff. As Joffrey.

Just Joffrey.

Joffrey smiled as he felt the air leave his lungs, his thoughts loosing cohesion and dissolving into nothing as the world turned black.

...

and purple...

-.PD.-