Disclaimer: I do not own Game of Thrones.
"Has anyone seen her?"
"Not since Tyrion's trial."
"Not even the Dragon?"
Arya shook her head.
Arya remembered the way Jon stood by his Queen, with such a pained expression on his face. He had found her standing off to the side from his place behind the woman who had burned the city to ash. He looked at Arya, knowing what she was capable of, and asked her with his eyes a question he never expected to ask of his little sister.
Arya had stayed in King's Landing to kill Daenerys. She had planned to, but seeing Jon stand next to that woman, in all his desperation and confusion.
No, Arya thought, shaking her head at him. He made that decision himself. He bent the knee without council. He refused to listen to me or Sansa. We told him to be careful. He has to deal with the repercussions of his decision himself.
Arya turned from the assembly and found her way out of King's Landing.
His beloved Queen was as good as dead. People from all over Westeros knew someone in King's Landing. They had all lost someone. If Jon didn't put an end to her reign someone else would.
Arya was done. She loved her brother more than anything. But this was part of his mess. He would have to fix it alone, because that was how he made it. She would not lose more of herself taking down his Queen, just so he could wash his hands of it.
Arya hoped he would find his way back north. She wanted to see her family all together, without Dragon Queens or Night Kings. It was a vision she didn't expect to see when she came down south, and she still wasn't sure it would happen now. She just needed to get home, somewhere else, anywhere else but here. She never wanted to return to King's Landing. The place where she had seen such horror. Where she saw her father's head fall from his body. Where she saw a daughter's charred body clinging to her mother's. A woman raped. A man looking for his wife. Screams and limbs. Fire and Blood.
She was grateful, as she left the city, that the ash that blanketed the city covered up most of the bodies.
In war, good people die too, she thought. Not just our enemies. Why do so many people long for it? They long for battle, for violence. They got it now. Did they enjoy it? Do they like what they see?
Now, Arya sat with her sister at Winterfell.
"She may try to come for us, my ladies," The commander of the Knights of the Vale said.
"No, she won't." Sansa leaned back in her chair. "If she comes after either of us she will have the North and the Riverlands against her."
"And the Stormlands." Arya added. "Gendry was raised in King's Landing. He had a life there. He's disgusted by what she's done, and he's loyal to our family."
Arya remembered the look on his face when she saw him again. He sat upon his horse, looking like a lord about to enter King's Landing. He was staring up at the wall that had been burned down the middle, a pure expression of horror on his face. When he noticed her on her horse, riding opposite the procession, he led his horse to follow her. She had been relieved to see him alive. They had ridden off a few miles away from the entrance of the city, they tied their horses to a tree and sat by a small brook.
"What happened?" he asked.
"She burned the city down. The bells rang to say they surrendered and she burned the city down anyway."
"How could she do such a thing?" He spat out after a moment.
Arya kept her eyes on the water, "She lost everything. All her people."
"We've all lost people, we don't all go burning cities, killing innocents."
"We don't all have a dragon."
"Jon's expecting you." She said after a moment of silence. "And the Queen is expecting Lord Baratheon."
"I'm not going in there." He shook his head. "I might try to kill her if I see all she did. I'm not Lord Baratheon."
Arya rose her eyebrow at him.
He rose and dusted himself off. "I told you none of it mattered without you." He held out his hand, which she took gently, he lifted her off the ground.
"Your father arranged to save my life. I went North for your brother. I made weapons for the North and I fought for you. My allegiance is to the Starks, to the North. Lord Baratheon or not."
They had ridden North together and Gendry was still recognized as Lord Baratheon. The Stormland waited anxiously for their Lord, but Gendry remained in the North.
The Seven Kingdoms were at a stand still now. Daenerys had flown off and hadn't been seen in weeks. Jon was still in King's Landing.
"As of now the North is still loyal to Daenerys Targaryen. We will make no declarations." Sansa said. "We have to tread lightly."
"These times will be difficult with a Mad Queen." Lord Royce shook his head.
"She's not mad." Arya said. "She knew what she was doing that day. It's why she's disappeared."
"We can't think of her as an enemy." Sansa mused. "She's alone. She didn't think she would be. She doesn't know what to do anymore. We need to lay low until she decides."
They left Sansa's solar.
Arya made her way down to the forge. Gendry looked up and smiled at her.
"It's finished." He said walking around her and taking down a double-ended staff, like the one he made her for the Battle of Winterfell.
She twirled the staff fondly. "It's better than the last one, thank you."
"Well, it wasn't as rushed."
She set the staff down. "Do you have time for a walk?"
They hadn't spent much time together since arriving in the North. During their time on the road, they had slept next to each other. But Gendry must have realized that Arya needed space after what she had seen in King's Landing. She needed time. She loved him for that, for knowing her like that.
She knew what he meant when he proposed, he meant for her to be his equal, his companion. She knew he didn't mean it the way it may have sounded. Still, at the time, she had to say no. She couldn't leave him hoping for the future, when she was sure she would not have one. She had things she need to do.
The reality of it all hit her in King's Landing. She didn't want to die. What would have been the point? Cersei met her death either way. Arya felt a small satisfaction knowing that Cersei had met her match in Daenerys. Another woman who wanted power just as much she did and took it from right underneath her. Cersei died knowing that all her schemes, all her plots, everything she had done would mean nothing because she would not be last standing. She did not die a Queen, she died a woman, crushed by stone and fire just like the common folk she had looked down upon. Arya could live with it when she thought of it like that.
Arya led Gendry to the Godswood. She was sure he hadn't seen it, had never seen a Weirwood.
"It's beautiful." Gendry said, as they stood in front of the Weirwood tree, in the same spot she had slayed the Night King.
"Remember the stumps we counted that time?" Arya nudged his arm. He nodded.
"This is what they used to be."
She watched Gendry stare at the face.
"Normally," She started heading over to sit on one of the roots. "During the summer, there's this spring of water, right where you're standing. It's frozen over right now, but it adds to the magic."
Gendry moved to sit next to her.
"Arya, I" He licked his lip. "I think we should talk about what happened before and after the Night King."
Arya nodded. "Okay."
"I just thought there was something between us. I mean there was. I love you."
"I love you, too."
"Then why?" Gendry shook his head in confusion. "I know I didn't word it the right way but why did you say no. The way you looked at me I thought that maybe you would at least tell me to wait for you. I'm not mad, I just want to understand."
"I just wasn't ready." Arya said, simply. "In that moment, you wanted to start a new life with me and I wasn't ready to move on yet. I still had to kill Cersei."
"And did you?"
Arya shook her head. "No, Sandor talked me out if it."
"Clegane?" Gendry's eyebrows rose in disbelief.
"He told me to go home."
Gendry almost laughed, "And you listened to that?"
"Yes," Arya leant back against the tree. "He more or less said there's more to life than revenge, and that I should go find out what that means."
"That's very poetic for the Hound."
Arya chuckled, "I suppose I cleaned it up a bit."
They sat in silence for a few moments, taking in a breeze that blew around them.
"Why did you ask me to marry you that night?" Arya asked finally. She figured she already knew the answer, but…
Gendry scoffed at himself. "I was drunk on wine. I was on high from having survived the dead. I felt confident because I was legitimized. I was a war hero and lord. I felt worthy of you."
"War hero would've been enough." Arya said half joking. "A smith's apprentice would've been everything."
"I know you always said it, but do you really hate being highborn that much."
"It just has no value to me." Arya turned to face him fully. "There have been times where I have been blind, literally blind and begging on the streets. I've been homeless, I've been beaten, and stabbed, and made to believe that I was No One. I had no identity and I had no one for the longest time."
Arya felt tears try to build in her eyes so she turned and blinked them away. "Castles and lordships don't mean anything to me."
"They never meant much to me either. The only way things have meaning is when I'm with you." Gendry took her hand. "Whenever it came to you, I felt like I had purpose. To protect you, to serve you, to love you."
"I just want your love." Arya leaned into him. "That's all I'm sure of. When Sandor told me to go home, you were who I thought of."
"Be my family then."
"We're already family."
Gendry paused.
"How does one formally renounce a lordship?"
"Don't do that," Arya turned and took his face in her hands. "You deserve it. You've earned it."
"But you said-"
"I know, but Sandor… I promised him and myself that I would start a new life. Storm's End seems like a good place to start. I've never been. I heard the Stormlands can be just as wild as the North. I could work with the Master of Arms and make some kind of training place. We could still travel during off seasons. I think you'd like Bravos."
Gendry grinned. "You've been thinking about this for some time then."
"Well, there's been no one to warm my bed the past week or so. What else is a girl to do at night?"
"Is that an invitation?" Gendry's voice lowered.
"It's more of a command." Arya leaned in and pressed her lips against his.
"We'll have to wait until all the business in King's Landing is settled before we make plans. But for now we can hope." Arya broke away and laid her head on his shoulder.
"And if we can't go to Storm's End."
Arya shrugged. "Then we'll stay here. Sansa doesn't need my help to run things, but she's lonely. She likes having me around, whether or not she want to admit it."
"The two of you together are quite intimidating."
"Thank you."
"So does this mean you'll marry me?"
Arya nodded. "I owe it to Sansa to let her plan a wedding. She had no control on any of hers."
"Does that mean I'll get to see you in a dress?"
Arya smacked his chest. "Don't push it."
Gendry took her hand and lifted it to his lips.
"I know growing up, marriage meant something different to you. It was an obligation. Our marriage will be a choice. It's us choosing to start a life together. That's what I meant the last time."
Arya smiled. "I know."
They sat like that for a while, underneath the Weirwood tree, in each other's arms. This was why she chose him. They could sit like this and the darkness of the world would fade away. The teasing and easy nature of their relationship made her feel good. He made her feel good. His humility, honesty, loyalty were all such a rare combination to find and it helped Arya get out of her head. She found she liked that freedom. Arya could have fallen asleep like that until Gendry shifted.
"I just have one more question."
Arya looked at him curiously.
"When we were at Harrenhall, and you would sit with me while I smithed, were you… admiring my body back then." He finished suggestively.
Arya scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I'll never tell."
Gendry laughed. He leaned his head back against the tree and sighed. "Oh, it's been such a long road."
"It has." Arya agreed. "But we made it."