.

.

Bran doesn't feel the cold anymore. He doesn't feel anything.

"Stop," he commands, murmurous-soft but steady. It halts the person wheeling him forward. A snowy, immense backdrop to the gathering of red-capped weirwoods, surrounded in the towering-high walls, has been forever etched in Bran's consciousness.

Theon fell here, bleeding—dying—Bran realises. He gazes down at the blanketing white.

Letting Theon decide to fight for his life and for Bran… it all had been part of their destiny. Just as Bran needed to not act. Changing a single line meant Arya would not have come in time, and that the Night King would have killed the Three-Eye Raven.

Bran.

The whole of creation.

Theon listened to his heart, and he willfully chose the path to death with honour and nobility.

But…

He wasn't meant to watch. Bran chose to keep his eyes on a screaming, exhausted Theon charging, as well as when the splintered spear ran him through. Theon grew up with Bran Stark, as his older brother, and no-one would carry the memory of this but him.

This is as much Bran's responsibility as the Night King. One took Theon's life away, and the other allowed it without protest.

Jon steps in front of the chair, examining his face, as warm, glistening tears slide down Bran's cheeks.

"What's happened?" he asks, Jon's voice keeping gentle. "Do you need to go back—?"

"Leave me," Bran mutters, his eyebrows pinching together. Something's happening to him — something Bran hasn't felt in so long. Like there's heat roiling under his flesh and a lump forming deep within his throat.

"Bran—"

"Leave."

It's spoken like a breathy, harsh hiss of air.

Bran's hands tremble apart. This wasn't supposed to happen. Bran wasn't meant to feel so intensely, as if this darkness manifests and twists inside him. Jon stares in disbelief, not sure what to do with the clear display of emotional aggression, before he kneels down in the snow. Jon's sword-hand cupping the back of Bran's nape.

"Never," he declares, low and firm. Bran stares into Jon's dark eyes, his skull ringing, flinching and blinking out more tears. The same eyes as their father. Jon's mother. "I'll never leave my little brother again. So you better get used to it."

The cold winds blow over Bran's skin, his ears exposed and red-chapped.

"Jon…"

"I'm here," Jon promises, urging Bran in to hold him close.

.

.

GoT isn't mine. Requested by anon: "Platonic JonBran. Trauma catches up to Bran. Jon comforts him. SFW." It's interesting to see people go wow you write Bran like he's actually a person and I kinda wanna be like,,,,,,,, but,,,, he is? Bran is a deeply DEEPLY traumatized young man and has been tormented by greensight and he's so strong for getting this far and not collapsing. We stan Bran Stark in this house. WE STAN THE KING OF THE SIX KINGDOMS EVEN THOUGH IT WAS COMPLETELY LEFT FIELD AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT THAT BUT WE STAN THIS BOY REGARDLESS.