Aegon looked forward. Four guards stood at the final gate to the black cells, spears in hand and eyes filled with boredom.
Aegon stepped out of the shadows, his illusion slipping away. His black hair and black eyes melted away, replaced by his true form. Long silver hair and deep purple eyes seemed to glow in the dark.
The guards seemed shocked by his sudden appearance, and they moved to shout, but their voices never came.
The four clutched their throats, as their faces twisted in pain, as they collapsed, still trying to scream.
Faster than they could have reacted, Aegon had thrown four small daggers from his waist into their throats.
"Even with a dagger in your throats, you all are so noisy." Aegon whispers as he looks at the struggling guards.
He raised his other hand, and fire bloomed in his palm. He flicked his wrist, and the flame flew forward and expanded, engulfing all four guards. The guards writhed, their bodies thrashing violently, but they could not scream or beg.
The smell of burning flesh was now thick in the air. When the last of the flames died, nothing remained but charred pieces of armor and what was left of their swords.
Aegon stepped over the remains without sparing them a second glance. The black cells were colder, almost completely still, and silent.
The silence pressed down like an actual weight, adding to the dreadful atmosphere. It didn't take long for him to see his target.
Ned Stark.
The lord of Winterfell sat chained to the wall, his face pale, his hair dirty, his eyes closed.
When the sounds of footsteps stopped at his cell, he opened his eyes and looked at his visitor.
Before him stood Aegon in his full Targaryen glory, and Ned's eyes scanned him from head to toe. An expression of shock quickly appeared on his face.
"Of all the expected visitors, a Targaryen is someone I never expected." Ned says.
"Hahaha, your response to my presence is calmer than I expected, but I should have expected such a response, after all the things you've lived through, especially the things you've found out since coming to Kingslanding, I guess there isn't much that can surprise you....."
"Isn't that right, uncle?"
"Uncle?"
The word seemed to shock him; he looked at Aegon as if he had seen a ghost. The shock on his face seemed to multiply thousands of times over.
He sprang to his feet as quickly as he could manage.
"It can't be."
"Oh, but it is, did you think I died after leaving Winterfell?" Aegon asked as he took a seat.
"Jon I....."
"Stop right there, I'm pretty sure you know my name, uncle. In case you didn't, it's Aegon Targaryen."
"...."
Ned looked at him and sighed.
"You look like a different person Jo..... I mean, Aegon, you look like a Targaryen except for that black strand of hair in your head."
"I guess it stuck around to remind me I'm still part Stark."
Ned looked at his Nephew's appearance change and wanted to ask how it happened, but believed he wouldn't get a straight answer, so he let it go.
"Last I heard, you had just taken Pentos. What are you doing here? Are you really here?"
"I am really here, I am in Westeros to have some meeting with the lord of the realm, I think could serve me in my coming descent on Westeros."
"So after all, my efforts were in vain. I just wanted you to live a peaceful life."
"Hahahaha, don't fool yourself, you would have let me go to the wall to spend out my days out of what? Some false sense of loyalty to Robert Baratheon."
"Living on the wall, what kind of life would that have been?" Aegon asked.
"A good one, one without war, one without the only thing in your life being fighting for that good for nothing throne."
"Hahahahaha, Ned Stark, I really can't tell if you actually believe the things you say. A life without war, you say? A life where I am not fighting for that good for nothing throne you say?" Aegon asked.
"It wasn't your choice to make. What kind of life could I have lived not knowing who I really was?" Aegon asked, playing into what the original Jon was feeling when he took over the body.
But Aegon didn't care about all this melodrama; he just wanted to see where Ned's mind was when I came to him, to gauge the chances of his plan working.
"Enough with bringing up the past, I am not that boy who could be bullied anymore, the boy looking for acceptance or love is long gone. Before you stands, .... sits Aegon Targaryen, father of dragons, Great Khal of the Dothraki, the blood dragon, future king of the known world."
Ned Stark looked at him, and for the first time, his expression turned serious.
"Future king of the known world? Just how much blood are you willing to spill?" Ned asked.
"As much as needed."
"Don't you fear your enemies will join together, your goal is too much, spilling that much blood will consume you."
"My enemies coming together? Ten thousand ants gathered together are still ants. I fear no man but God, and most times I don't even fear God."
"Enough about me, let's talk about your situation."
"What about my situation?"
"I've come to offer you something you can't refuse, though I suspect you might." Says Aegon.
"And what is that?"
"Yours and your two daughters' lives."
The black cells fell into Silence, as the two men looked at each other.
"I could free you from this place."
"Spare you from the execution, Cersei and her bastard son have planned for you, but nothing is free, you know that."
"You speak as though my life is this all-important thing." Say Ned.
"I know you aren't afraid of death, but what of Arya and Sansa, Bran and Robb?" asked Aegon.