Title: The Prince's Game
Author: hoto
Rating: T (Teen)
Language: English
Length: 19,737 words, 15 chapters
Status: Complete
Link:https://archiveofourown.org/works/84065711
Summary: Martin handed over the ending. HBO showed us the result. What we never saw was the process. Same ending. Bran rules. Dany dies. Jon goes north. I just built the road there properly. Everyone was right. That is why everyone failed.
PART 6 The Feast
SCENE 1 Winterfell, City Gates
Sansa's room.
Sansa is writing a letter.
She bites her fingernails.
Blood flows.
A noise is heard from outside.
A line of carriages enters over the snow.
Tyrion Lannister steps down.
A sealed document in his hand.
Above the city gates, Jon Snow looks down.
His expression is blank.
SCENE 2 Great Hall, Evening Banquet
Candlelight. Music. People.
Northern houses at a long table.
At the head of the table:
Sansa Stark,
Jon, Bran Stark,
Arya Stark.
Tyrion is at the foot of the table. He holds a goblet and smiles.
Tyrion
"The last time we gathered like this…
some were trying to kill one another,
and some were already dead."
A few laughs.
Tyrion
"Fortunately, neither is the case today."
He raises his glass.
The atmosphere lightens slightly.
Tyrion looks at Sansa.
Tyrion
"A new king has ascended."
A pause.
Tyrion
"Let us put the past behind us… here and now."
Silence.
Sansa slowly sets her glass down.
Sansa
"I have already… forgiven all the houses during the War of the Dead."
A quiet voice.
Sansa
"As for Amber…"
A pause.
Sansa
"I merely eradicated the seeds of treason."
The air grows cold.
Tyrion, his smile fading.
Tyrion
"You needn't lie."
All eyes turn to him.
Tyrion
"I know
why the Ambers were wiped out."
A brief silence.
Tyrion
"So now… do not be afraid."
His voice drops slightly.
Tyrion
"You have the Queen,
you have Jon,
and you have me."
He looks Sansa straight in the eye.
Tyrion
"No one can touch you."
A pause.
Tyrion
"You are the Queen's appointed ruler of the North,
and you have legitimate authority."
Silence.
Sansa smiles.
Very faintly.
Sansa
"…Is a woman possible too?"
A brief silence.
Someone starts to laugh but stops.
Sansa, immediately following.
Sansa
"You didn't really need to use your power of pardon."
Tyrion's eyes flicker.
Sansa
"It's in the past, and I agree."
She raises her glass.
The music begins again.
SCENE 3 The Banquet (Mid-point)
A little time passes.
The wine flows.
The laughter grows louder.
Tyrion jokes with a woman on his arm.
Tyrion
"This is not the North,
but a place even more dangerous than the South."
A few laughs.
Jon barely touches his drink.
Arya quietly surveys her surroundings.
Bran remains motionless.
Sansa rises slowly.
The music fades.
Sansa
"To the Queen."
Everyone raises their glasses.
"To the Queen."
The glasses are emptied.
SCENE 4 Change
Maidservants circulate, refilling the glasses.
One maidservant stands beside Sansa.
Sansa, her eyes downcast, asks.
Sansa
"Where are your parents?"
Maidservant
"…They're all dead."
A brief silence.
Sansa looks up.
Sansa
"How did they die?"
The maidservant pauses.
All eyes turn to her.
Maidservant
"…When the Boltons took Winterfell…"
Her voice trembles.
Maidservant
"My mother… was raped."
Silence.
Maidservant
"My father… had his skin flayed."
Complete silence.
SCENE 5 The Feast of Blood
The music changes.
The Rains of Castamere
The expressions of several lords harden.
The soldiers standing behind them
move simultaneously.
Swords are drawn.
The first blood spatters.
Screams.
Chaos.
Tyrion stands up.
Tyrion
"Sansa"
Soldiers seize him.
Jon stands up.
He cannot move.
Arya's eyes narrow.
Sansa stands.
Her expression remains unchanged.
Sansa
"Begin."
A complete massacre.
The banquet hall soon fell silent.
The warmth of the room gave way to the smell of blood.
Jon
"Sansa… what have you done…"
Sansa
"I gave them back what they gave us."
Jon
"This is where your parents were."
"They wouldn't have agreed to this."
Sansa
"That's why they're dead."
A pause.
Sansa
"It's their game, their rules."
"I've just started playing my own way."
Sansa looks at a stunned Tyrion.
Sansa
"The Queen's Hand is under arrest."
SCENE Winterfell, storeroom / After the Feast of Blood
Darkness.
A heavy odour hangs in the air.
Blood, grain, damp.
The door is locked.
Inside, Tyrion Lannister sits.
His hands are not bound, yet he cannot leave.
The effects of the drink have worn off.
His expression is shattered.
Outside the door.
Footsteps.
They stop.
The lock clicks.
The door opens just a crack.
Jon Snow enters.
He looks over his shoulder and closes the door.
A brief silence.
Tyrion
"…You came in on the sly."
Jon
"…Yes."
Tyrion chuckles.
Tyrion
"The wine?"
Jon does not answer.
Jon
"Why is that?"
Tyrion
"...I'm not the one to answer that."
Jon's gaze wavers.
Jon
"Will Daenerys... attack us?"
A brief silence.
Tyrion looks up.
He looks Jon straight in the eye.
Tyrion
"It's only a matter of time."
A pause.
Tyrion
"It's our job to make sure that doesn't happen."
Jon's jaw tenses.
Jon
"Then… we have to stop her."
Tyrion
"Who will?"
Silence.
Jon
"…I will."
Tyrion slowly shakes his head.
Tyrion
"No."
Jon frowns.
Tyrion
"You've already made your choice."
Jon
"...I haven't done anything."
Tyrion
"That is a choice."
Silence.
Tyrion
"You couldn't stop Sansa,
and here you are, talking to me."
A pause.
Tyrion
"Seems we're in the same bind."
Jon's gaze drops.
Jon
"I… what should I do?"
Tyrion takes a breath.
Tyrion
"Stopping this war"
A brief silence.
Tyrion
"is up to you."
Jon cannot speak.
His eyes waver.
Jon
"…What went wrong…"
A beat.
Jon
"I don't understand a thing."
Silence.
Tyrion watches him quietly.
Tyrion
"…That's why everyone dies."
Jon's breath catches for a moment.
He says nothing.
He turns and heads for the door.
He pauses before opening it.
But he doesn't look back.
He walks straight out.
The door closes.
Darkness.
Tyrion is left alone.
SCENE Winterfell, storeroom / A few days later
Darkness.
The smell of dust and grain.
It is so quiet it feels as though time has stopped.
Tyrion Lannister is sitting with his back against the wall.
His beard has grown a little, and his eyes are subdued.
Outside the door.
Footsteps.
The lock clicks.
The door opens.
Sansa Stark enters.
She is carrying bread and wine.
The door closes.
A brief silence.
Tyrion looks up.
Tyrion
"...Am I going to die at the hands of my ex-wife now?"
Sansa does not reply.
She walks slowly over
and sets down the bread and wine.
Sansa
"You won't die."
A brief silence.
Sansa
"Not this time either."
Tyrion's eyes shift ever so slightly.
Sansa
"But you failed again."
Silence.
Sansa
"You used your talents better than anyone."
A pause.
Sansa
"Yet Father never acknowledged you."
Tyrion looks down.
Sansa
"You saved King's Landing, but…"
A brief silence.
Sansa
"At the trial… everyone wanted you dead."
Tyrion says nothing.
Sansa
"You saved me from Joffrey, but…"
Her gaze fixes on Tyrion.
Sansa
"In the end, you let Littlefinger use me."
Silence.
Sansa
"Your way always fails."
A long silence.
Tyrion breathes softly.
Sansa
"Tyrion."
Sansa
"You're a good man."
A pause.
Sansa
"Two things saved you."
A brief silence.
Sansa
"One is that I need you alive."
Briefly.
Sansa
"And the other is"
She pauses.
Sansa
"That you protected me from Joffrey."
Silence.
Tyrion looks up.
Sansa
"Go back to Daenerys."
Tyrion's eyes harden.
Sansa walks towards the door.
She stops at the door.
Sansa
"Go and tell them."
She does not look back.
Sansa
"That the blood of the Starks"
A pause.
Sansa
"…must not be used for your political gain."
"The North no longer serves the Seven."
She opens the door.
Light floods in from outside.
Sansa throws something.
A pardon.
Sansa
"Take this back with you."
Silence.
Sansa leaves.
The door closes.
Tyrion is left alone.
He looks down at the pardon in his hand.
He does not smile.
He says nothing.
Cut