The Kraken

"Father." Theon called, stepping into the Great Hall of Pyke. His father, Balon Greyjoy was sat with his back to him as he watched a fire, giving light to the dark room. Yet despite this, his father never turned to him, continuing to stare at the fire and dismissing him entirely.

"Nine years, is it?" Balon asked eventually, the cracking of burning wood filling the room. "They took a frightened boy and what have they given back?"

Theon took a deep breath, realising that this was his chance to prove himself to his father. "A man." He responded firmly as he moved forwards, his foot steps echoing in the empty room. "Your blood and your heir."

"We shall see?" Balon hissed, his words bringing Theon to a halt. "Stark had you longer than I did."

"He did. Lord Stark has disappeared, dead or captured." Theon didn't know which, nor did anyone it seemed. He had watched this lack of answers tear at Robb who since the start of this campaign south had treated him almost coldly, at times he treated him as if they were still brothers, but it was far and few between.

"And how do you feel about that?"

Theon hesitated.

"What's done is done?" Again he paused, but realised that now was the time. "I've brought you're a proposal from Robb Stark." And again, Theon moved forwards only to stop, when his father spoke once more.

"Who gave you those clothes? Is it Ned Stark's pleasure to make you his daughter?" Balon asked dubiously as he rose to his feet.

"If my clothes offend you, I will change them." Theon spoke, his voice filled with irritation.

"You will." Balon growled back, twisting his head slightly as he looked at Theon closer. "That bauble around your neck? Did you pay the iron price for it or the gold?" Theon felt a scowl come across his face, he was getting tired of people looking down on him. First it was Robb, then the lords of the North and the Riverlands and now his own father.

"I don't know, did we pay the iron price for this castle?" The reminder of how Pyke was not originally theirs seemed to make Balon's straight face twist into an ugly scowl.

Eventually though, when it looked Balon was about to strike him, he turned away. Walking back to the fireplace and staring into it. "My fears have come true, the Starks have made you theirs."

"My blood is salt and iron!" Theon exclaimed.

"Yet the Stark boy sends you to me like a trained raven clutching his message."

"The offer he makes is one I proposed." Theon argued.

"He needs your council?" The tone Balon took showed his disbelief at the very thought.

Theon was not to be deterred. "I've lived him, hunted with him and fought at his side. He thinks of me as a brother." As much as Robb had been distant as of late, the memory of Robb when he proposed reaching out to the Iron Islands and his father for aid showed that, above all else, that it was true.

{Flashback Begin}

"You're sure about this?" Robb asked, looking to Theon who smirked.

"Don't worry, I'll convince my father to fight with you. With his ships we'll be unstoppable." Theon boasted, he could see it in his mind. Robb leading the combined armies of the North and Riverland on King's Landing while he led the ships of the Iron Island upon its sea gates. The two of them working together to conquer Kings Landing, as brothers.

"Theon, I want to believe you, truly I do. But your father, I don't believe he can be trusted." Robb eventually answered and Theon frowned. His main concern was the visions, the Kraken he had deduced more than likely symbolised the Greyjoys, but he didn't know if that meant Balon or Theon. He didn't think it meant Theon, they had been raised together, hunted together and fought together.

But he wasn't sure.

"You don't need to trust him, trust me. I swear to you Robb, I will bring back my fathers ships and together we'll head to Kings Landing and bring this war to an end." Despite his words, Robb didn't look convinced. "Don't you trust me?"

"I do, Theon. I just, I'm just not sure Balon will be willing to work with us." Taking a deep breath as Theon continued to argue as to why they should do this, Robb eventually relented. "Alright, go. I'm trusting you, Theon."

"Thank you, Robb. I promise that you won't be disappointed."

As Theon went to leave in order to prepare for his journey to the Iron Islands, Robb called out to him.

"Back then, when I was proclaimed King in the North and Trident. You asked if you were my brother, now and always? I said yes." Theon looked at him curiously, wondering where he was going with this. "Am I your brother, now and always?"

"Now and always." Theon responded firmly.

{Flashback End}

"No, not here, not in my hearing. You will not name him brother." Balon growled, staling towards Theon with a murderous glare. "This, son of the man who put your true brothers to the sword or have you forgotten your own blood?"

Theon paused, his mind temporarily halting as he looked into the anger filled gaze of his father. But he quickly affirmed himself. "I forget nothing." Theon spat back. "I remember my brothers and I remember when my father was a king." Here, he raised his hand, presenting a scroll to his father who looked at it and then him.

He said nothing, only stepping away and taking the letter, unfurling it as he moved away. He spent a few moments reading over its content before a mocking smile came onto his face.

"I see." He mocked. "I destroy Robb Starks enemies for him and he will make me King of the Iron Islands once again."

"I will lead the attack myself."

"Are you, well?" Balon asked, once again stomping Theon who looked to him in confusion.

"I'm your son, your only living heir." Theon continued, unsure of what Balon was getting at. "Who else…?" On that cue, the door opened and in stepped the woman who had given him ride to the keep on her horse. "Told you to wait outside!" He shouted angered at being disobeyed. "How did you get past the guards?"

"Anything with a cock is easy to fool." She snarked back, a cocky smirk on her face coming to a stop by Balon who rested one arm on her shoulder.

"My dear." He murmured, Theon at first wondering if she was his fathers Salt Wife, only as he looked at her closer did he realise he was mistaken. This wasn't his fathers Salt Wife, but his fathers daughters.

His sister.

"Asha?" He questioned in disbelief.

"So good to see you, brother." She shot back a smirk on her face. "This is a homecoming I'll tell my grandchildren about."

The subtle meaning behind it embarrassed Theon who angrily expressed his disapproval. "She can't lead an attack!"

"And why not?" Balon shot back.

"You're a woman!" He shouted, temporarily forgetting the numerous women warriors amongst the soldiers of the North.

Asha wasn't one to back down either. "You're the one in a skirt."

"This isn't Winterfell boy. Your sister took over command of your eldest brothers ship after your new father killed him. What's dead may never die." Balon growled, all three of them raising one hand to place over their hearts. "The nights she spent off these islands have been spent on the sea. She's commanded men. She's killed men. She knows who she is."

Balon moved to the fire, both Asha and Theon watching as he threw Robb Stark's letter into the fire.

"Her man gives me a crown. I pay the iron price. I will take my crown. That is who I am. That is who we have always been." Both he and Asha walking past him without so much as a glance back in his direction.

"You won't stand a chance against the Lannisters in your own!" He shouted.

But neither looked back. "Who said anything about the Lannisters?" Theon watching them leave the room, his gaze trailing back to the burning fire and back to the door in which his father and sister had left through.