What do we do?

Warning, this chapter is very gruesome, if you don't like torture and gore then don't read.

Queen Cersei, Tywin Lannister, Tyrion Lannister and Kevan Lannister all stared at the severed head of Joffrey. Cersei was on her hands and knees crying as she looked at the severed head of her oldest son, her golden lion. Joffrey had clearly been tortured prior to his beheading, one of his eyes had been gouged out and he had cuts over his face. Without the rest of his body, no one could be sure what else had been done to Joffrey but this was a horrific way to die. Tyrion while he hated Joffrey had never seen this coming, he might have been amused and inside he was, Joffrey had this coming but he would never say it out loud. Part of him also felt sorry for Cersei, he knew just how much Cersei loved Joffrey but she should have kept him under control otherwise this never would have happened.

"Father, what do we do now?" Tyrion asked

"First we must burry them." Tywin stated "At least what we can and then we'll hold a period of mourning. Then we crown Tommen as the new King."

Cersei's eyes were seething in rage "My son was murdered and you don't even think about him, you just want to crown my other son as King. The Stark Bitch murdered my son, I want her head."

"She'll long gone by now." Tywin stated "I'll send my riders after her but it's likely she taken some supplies. But we have to secure the crown, with the aid of the Tyrells we can secure control of the Iron Throne but once word gets out that the King is dead, they'll be panic. We have to think this through, the King is dead and the new King is only a boy of 10. That will mean a regent and we cannot afford to have everyone fighting each other, it will weaken our hold on the crown."

"I am the Queen mother!" Cersei hissed

"And you did a bad job as regent before with Joffrey." Tywin snapped "From now on I will be taking over as Regent and I will secure our alliance with the Tyrells, we still have a rebellion in the North to deal with."

"I will have the wolf's head for this!" Cersei snapped "That savage will pay!"

"First we'll have to catch her." Kevan stated "And by now, she'll be long gone. We'll be lucky if we catch her, Westeros is big and we have no clue where she's gone."

...

Astrid and Sansa were travelling as much as they can. Astrid wanted to get as far away from King's Landing as they could and so she limited the number of breaks they took, even at night. Astrid was using the Blackwater Rush as a guide to get them deep into the Riverlands. She knew the route and they had crossed the river early at King's Landing so that they could travel along the southern bank of the river. If they followed the river on the northern bank, they would end up close to Harrenhal which was still in Lannister hands and Astrid didn't want to take the risk. So by following the river on the southern bank, they would end up deeper into the Riverlands and hopefully there was a bridge to get them closer to where the Blackwater started at Acorn Hall where they would try and get information and then travel to Riverrun.

Sansa had watched when Astrid washed the blood off of her clothes and then changed. They had a few days head start of the Lannisters but Astrid wanted to get away and so did Sansa, if they got caught, everything they did would have been for nothing. As they sat down for a break, Sansa decided to ask Astrid a question that she had been thinking about. When Astrid had returned, she was covered in blood but she had no visible injuries on herself and Sansa worried what she had done.

"Astrid" Sansa asked after they stopped for a quick rest "I need to ask you what you did after you got the supplies, why did you have blood on you."

Astrid smirked "I took a chance and I got my revenge. I did say that Joffrey would pay for what he did to our family and now he has. He won't hurt us or anyone again."

Sansa looked at her "But what did you do?"

Astrid smiled at her and began her tale.

...

Flashback:

It had taken a while to bring everyone here but she had done it. This idea of hers was very risky but she wanted to send a message to the Lannisters and get her revenge on those that hurt her family. Her four prisoners were held in one of the Black cells which was empty and there were no guards around as they were all fighting on the battlefield or around the main Red Keep.

Her four prisoners were now ready; Joffrey was chained to the wall while Blount, Trant and Lancel were tied up. She had gagged them as well as she had no interest in hearing what they had to say but she wanted to have Joffrey awake to see them. Her capture of them had been easy as she had knocked them out using some burnt herbs she took from Pycelle's quarters. When they were burnt, the smoke would knock someone out when they were inhaled.

Astrid smirked when she saw Joffrey begging to yawn and she walked over to him "Wake up!" she snapped "I said wake up!" she slapped the brat King who had caused her so much pain and Joffrey awoke instantly. Muffled angry yelled came from behind Joffrey's gag but Astrid had no idea what he was saying and she didn't care. Joffrey began thrashing around but that didn't do anything.

Astrid smirked "Now you know how it feels" she stated "When you tied me to a bed and had your way with me. Well now it seems that the tables have turned. I have only a limited amount of time with you but I have big plans with you. And I'm going to enjoy it. But first, let's see how you react to death of people you know."

She went behind Meryn Trant, the others had woken up but in order to make sure they don't try and fight, she brought another herb which made them dizzy. Trant could barely move and Astrid had struck him on the head before which had created bruises on his face. Blount had gotten the same treatment. Astrid brought her family Greatsword Ice out and looked at Joffrey "Look!" she said and with one great swing; she sliced Trant's head off with one swing. The Head rolled towards the wall and the Body fell to the side. Blood squirted from the headless body which Astrid place over a bucket to collect the blood for something else she had planned. Astrid heard a scream of fright from Lancel as she did this. Then Blount followed Trant's fate with Astrid slicing his head off with a single swing from Ice.

Lancel squired as he was afraid that Astrid would do the same thing to him but Astrid just laughed "Don't worry." She said to Lancel "I don't intend to do this to you. After all, I'm only killing those who have wronged my family and you haven't. And it's not just the three people in this room. Ser Ilyn Payne was the one who beheaded my father, I killed him to recover my family sword and Pycelle caused much devastation in this city at the end of Robert's Rebellion. I already killed them and it wasn't just them. I killed the traitor Janos Slynt in these very cells. I stabbed him more times than I could count. But the worst of all of them is you Joffrey!" she narrowed her eyes at the one person who had caused her so much pain "First you threatened my sister Arya on the Kingsroad, you lied and you manipulated Sansa. I was smart enough to see through your acts. Then you murdered my father after you promised to spare him after his confessed to crimes he didn't commit! You're an Oathbreaker, a murderer and a coward! You don't deserve to be King! You deserve so much pain for what you've done and I'm going to make sure that you last moments are painful as I can make them!" Joffrey yelled behind his gag but Sansa didn't know if it was out of fear or out of anger and she was focusing on the burning brazier in the room rather than Joffrey's eyes. Soon she took a knife where the blade had been heating in the flames and walked over to Joffrey who now began to whimper in fear "Remember the words I told you when you killed my father? I said that I would kill you and I keep my promises. I will be the last thing that you see before you die." She then pressed the heated blade onto Joffrey's face and Astrid heard muffled screamed behind Joffrey's gag. She left the blade against Joffrey's face for a few seconds and when she pulled away, there was a large burn mark on Joffrey's face. Then she lightly jabbed the knife into his left eye and pulled it out. The burning knife sealed the wound quickly. Astrid wanted Joffrey to suffer.

But Astrid was not done, nowhere near done. She had already removed Joffrey's armour leaving him in a tunic and she used the knife to cut that open. She then pulled out a pair of hot pincers from the brazier and began using them on Joffrey's chest. Joffrey screamed as Astrid burnt Joffrey multiple times with the pincers. Then she decided it was time to remove parts of Joffrey that he had used to harm her. The thing he had used to assault her. She tore Joffrey's breeches and left him naked. Astrid got back the knife she had used to burn Joffrey's face and with one quick slice, she cut off Joffrey's private parts. Joffrey let out his loudest scream yet and even with the gag, it was loud and Astrid threw the private parts into the fire. Now it was time for the end, she stabbed Joffrey's belly with the knife and pulled it across, slicing open his belling and causing his guts to fall out onto the floor. Most girls would have fainted at the amount of gore but not Astrid, she was not weak and this was not the first time she had disembowelled someone. Joffrey was screaming in intense pain and now he felt the pain that others had felt because of him. The people who had died in this war were because of him, he had started a war that had killed lots of people. Lancel throughout all of this torture tried to look away but Joffrey's screams forced him to watch as the King was tortured.

Astrid smirked at Joffrey "And now Joffrey, you have suffered a fate worse than what most suffers. You will be remembered as the worst king who suffered a horrific death, possible the worst death of any king. This is the end of King Joffrey." Then she sliced Joffrey's throat. Joffrey began choking on his own blood and then his eyes rolled into the back of his head and then Joffrey Baratheon, first of his name was dead. Astrid quickly undid the chains and Joffrey's body crumpled to the floor. Lancel was crying and watched in horror as Astrid chopped the head of the dead Joffrey. She then placed the severed heads of Joffrey, Blount and Trant into a sack and picked up the body of blood. Then she dragged the bodies one by one into the cell next to Lancel's where the headless bodies of Pycelle and Ilyn Payne were. Then she knocked a barrel of oil over on the bodies and went back to Lancel.

Astrid leaned in closer to Lancel and whispered in his ear "I'm not going to kill you Lancel. You haven't done anything to wrong me so you shall be my messenger. They will find you eventually and you will tell them this, tell them that winter has come and the North remembers the crimes you've committed. We will never to you southern pricks anymore." Lancel whimpered and Astrid left him behind. She went back into the cell and used the bucket of blood to write her message on the Wall. She grabbed the bag of severed heads and threw a torch onto the pile of bodies and walked out of the cell.

...

Flashback end:

"After that I place the heads of spikes and left the Keep." Astrid finished "You know what happened after that."

Sansa was in shock, King Joffrey, her tormentor; the man who had caused her so much grief was dead. And he didn't die quick, Astrid made sure he died slowly and painfully. Sansa didn't know how she should feel, she was glad that Joffrey had paid for what she had done but she felt that Astrid had taken it too far. Did Joffrey really deserve to die in such a painful way? She didn't know herself but knew that Astrid had been worse off than she had since she had been raped by Joffrey so maybe Joffrey did deserve the pain. Sansa looked at them "So what do we do now?" she asked

"Well we have to get to the Riverlands." Astrid stated "We're close to the borders with the Reach, the Crownlands and the Westerlands. The Gold Road is not far from here and there will be patrols looking for us now. That's why we have to get into the Riverlands fast. Once we find a way to cross the Blackwater near the Riverlands, we should be close to Acorn Hall, the seat of House Smallwood and vassals of House Tully. If we get there fast then we can get to Riverrun."

Sansa was worried but kept a strong look and then she asked Astrid something "What will happen once we get to Riverrun?" she asked

Astrid sighed "I don't know. It depends on how this war is going but with the Tyrells and the Lannisters in an alliance, it won't be easy. We may have no choice but to retreat north and retake our own lands from the Greyjoys. If the new Lannister Tyrell Alliance invades the Riverlands, we may not be able to hold them off."

Sansa looked at her, she knew nothing about battles or wars but she could tell that Astrid was right; this war was not in their favour right now. But she had something to ask "Sister, when we get to Riverrun, I want to learn from you. I want to learn how to defend myself."

Astrid looked at Sansa in shock; she had not expected to hear that at all. Sansa had always been someone who listened to mother and be a proper lady. Now she wanted to be more like Astrid and Arya who hated being proper ladies. "May I ask where this is coming from?" Astrid asked "You've always been against this kind of behaviour."

Sansa sighed "I was wrong, I admit it." She stated "Ever since I was a child, I was told stories about how the south was a land of dreams, handsome knights saving ladies and being honourable warriors. You always said that those were just stories and weren't true. You said the South was a land of manipulation. The Game of Thrones where lords fight for power. I didn't believe you and then the truth hit when the King died. We were both used and we both suffered, though you suffered worse than I did. I don't want to go through that again. I want to defend myself; I don't want someone to take advantage of me again."

Astrid actually smiled at Sansa "Sister, I know we haven't always gotten along but maybe we can put those bad times behind us and look to the future. The man who hurt our family is dead and now we need to defend our home. If you want me to teach you to defend yourself then I will. This is not over yet and we have a long road ahead of us. We need to stick together if we want to survive this but I will not let the south win. The North has always survived and House Stark survives just like how a pact survives even when the lone wolf dies."

Sansa smiled at Astrid but then she gasped when she heard a rustle coming from the bushes "What was that?" she gasped scared "Have we been found?"

Astrid herself was worried, if they were found by Lannister or Tyrell patrols then they would be dragged back to King's Landing and they won't be shown any mercy after what Astrid had done. If they were going down then Astrid wasn't going down without a fight. She drew Ice from the scabbard and prepared to defend herself. But it was not a Lannister or Tyrell who came out of the bushes. It wasn't even a person but in fact a wolf, only this wolf was about twice as big as a regular wolf with thick grey fur and a white mark over one eye. This was a Direwolf but not just any Direwolf, Astrid recognised this wolf "Huntress!" she gasped and the Direwolf quickly knocked her down and began licking her which made Astrid laugh "Alright Huntress, it's fine, I'm alright." Huntress got off her and Astrid knelt and placed her hand on Huntress' head "I missed you girl."

Sansa smiled at the scene, it made her think of her Direwolf Lady who had been sent back to Winterfell after the incident on the Kingsroad with Joffrey and Arya. She had been worried about her ever since she had heard about the Greyjoys taking Winterfell, she hoped Lady was alright.

Astrid smirked and had an idea "Hey Girl, do you know how to get us to the Riverlands quickly."

Huntress let out a wolf like bark that was more like a wolf than a dog and Astrid smirked "Well help us get back home and soon our family will be reunited." She stated and Astrid and Sansa began their journey again led by Astrid's Direwolf who had managed to survive out on her own for the last few months. Soon the Starks would be reunited and they could plan what to do next.

Chapter end: Well another chapter done and now you've seen what I did to Joffrey. Pretty gruesome but this is what I have planned for him. When I write my stories I like to give good characters and emotional death and truly evil characters like Joffrey a horrible death. Now maybe I did take it a bit too far and you may love or hate Astrid for this but after what Joffrey has done to her, I felt like this was Joffrey's punishment. I'm putting this story on hold for a while as I need to plan the next arc and I want to work on my other stories. I have a chapter of Rise of the Divines which is nearly complete and should be finished in early June. I am also working on my proper novels where I have decided to do a total rewrite. I need to plan the history of the story and it's much easier just to start over from the beginning.

I also have one thing to say to a certain Guest Reviewer who calls himself Astrid Stark Fan:

You have a lot of nerve to call yourself that, all you ever do is wrote insulting comments about me and it's clear you are not a real fan of Astrid Start, you're just a plain cowardly bully who needs to get a life. You probably don't have any friends and you say all these things about what you would do but you don't even do anything. You don't even have your own account which proves that you are just all talk and no bite. Well I don't care about what you have to say and the same goes to those other guest reviewers who keep harassing me. Your just a bunch of cowards who have nothing better to do and no matter what you say, your comments will never appear on my stories so why don't you grow up, get a life and actually start writing your own Fanfiction. This story has over 60,000 views so it's still popular with most of the Fanfiction community and no matter what you say, I will not stop or change this story so you're the real losers here as all you're doing is wasting your time.

Sorry about that to all the other readers but I needed to say this to those cowardly bullies who have been harassing me for months by placing the same comments on my story nearly every day, sometimes I get 5 comments from them within the space of an hour so you can see just how much of a bully these people are and they've made me very picky about what Guest reviews I accept since most of them come from these bullies.