"A girl spoke the words."
She had no need to turn to the man lurking behind her. He could wear any face, yet there were some things he couldn't chang. Some things only a wolf, could identify. His smell, for example. He smelt of Braavos. Of the crisp ocean air and odd spices. Of the House of Black and White, of the burning torches and death. He could be anyone, but he would always hold the scent of Jaqen H'ghar.
"A girl knows a man should kill her. A girl was given a second chance, and she wasted it."
"I did what you asked," she snapped. "I added another face to the wall."
Oh, and how satisfying it was. To pierce Needle into that bitch's throat. To watch all her insults, all her abuse, all her spite gurgle up into her mouth and spill in a red river. To see her fall to the ground, staring up as she struggled to breath.
'Surely there is more on your silly list,' she had once mocked. And as she stared down at her dead face, smirking she thought to herself, 'Not anymore.'
"A man knows. A girl was sloppy in her cutting of the face."
Also very satisfying.
"But none the less, a girl betrayed the Many-."
"Will you stop with this 'a girl' shit." Arya groaned, way past her patience with his stupid speech pattern."I'm not 'a girl', I have a name."
"...Then speak the name, Arya Stark wishes to speak?"
She smirked to herself before replying in a cocky tone,
"There is no name."
She waited a beat, before turning to her old master. He was wearing the face she knew best, but instead of the blank expression with the slight smug smile tugging at his lips, he had expression of confusion.
"Arya Stark spoke the words-."
"I had no other way of reaching you," she explained, and he frowned.
"Arya Stark abused the sacred words."
"Wouldn't be the first time," she deadpanned.
He sighed, shaking his head. "Arya Stark lacks honor."
"Jaqen H'ghar still owes Arya Stark a job,"she stated.
Jaqen narrowed his eyes down at her. "What lead Arya Stark to believe a man shall perform a job for a traitor such as herself?"
She crossed her arms and mirrored his expression, "His vow to the Many Faced God. To honor the words. The answer the call. Especially when others will trudge their meaning through the mud. So, what does Jaqen H'ghar, the Faceless Assassin, say when I tell him Valar Morghulis?"
He binked, before sighing out, "Valar Dohaeris. Now what is Arya Stark's job?"
She laughed a bit before responding, "Well, about that 'man' part of the vow…"
"A man wishes to die."
"Valar Morghulis. But you are not a man now, are you?"
To be fair, she had no choice. Years away from her family made her susceptible to every request her sister had to hang out, no matter the activity. So when Sansa suggested a "girls night in" with all their friends, she had said yes without thinking. She had to bring a guest. She would've remembered that she had no "girlfriends" outside their small group. So she had to improvise, use her resources. And in this case, a faceless assassin was one of her resources.
Needless to say, Jaqen-pardon, Jaquelin- was not pleased by this.
"A man is considering blocking Arya stark on all communication devices."
"A man?" Arya asked in mock inquiry. "Where is this 'man' you speak of? All i see is a whiny bitch."
He was wearing...That face. The face she sent to him in a brown satchel with a drawing of a middle finger encaptioned with a "Valar Fuck You" after deserting the House of Black and White. It was amusing at the time, but now it was coming to bite her in the ass.
"Is this really necessary? Doesn't Arya Stark have no real girls as friends?"
"If you're trying to make me feel pathetic?"
"A man is genuinely curious."
"I asked you, an assassin who has me at the top of his hit list, to pose as a girl. Doesn't that answer your question?"
They rounded a corner, coming up on her sister's townhouse. She put the car in park before turning to her companion.
"Now, before we go in, what are the ground rules?"
Jaqen sighed, before listing in a bored tone.
"A man is now a girl. He is not to reveal he is a man. He is not to reveal he serves the Many Faced God. A man will not kill nor speak of killing. And a man shall pretend to enjoy himself.
Arya stared him down. "You're forgetting one."
"...A man shall stop speaking in third person."
"And that goes into effect right now," she said, turning off the engine and beginning to unbuckle. "Also, change the face."
"Arya St-you do not find it appealing?"
"No, I know first hand it's very peelable," she deadpanned. "I find it offensive. I'd rather not have to watch whatever chick flick Sansa has in store and have to look at that face. So stay here until you're done. "
She stepped out of the car, placing her keys next to her switchblade in her pocket, and walked up the red brick steps to the black door. She rang the doorbell, causing the chime to ring through the air loudly. She waited a minute, before the clinging of a lock being opened came from the door. As it crept open, the sound of pop music escaping, the figure of someone very familiar, but definitely not Sansa came into view.
"Jon? What are you still doing here?"
Her old childhood playmate ran his hand through his curly black hair, looking exhausted.
"I forgot it was today, so when I got off duty, I went straight to bed to take a nap. That is until your sister woke me up with her bloody Beyonce."
"Hey! Don't go hating the queen bee!" a voice shouted, coming from inside.
Sansa slid into view, gliding on the hardwood floor in her blue fuzzy slippers. She wrapped her arms around Jon's neck from behind before resting her chin on his shoulder.
"Arya! Thank the gods you're here! We were about to pick out the first movie!"
"Oh joy,' Arya thought, internally cringing at the images of hour upon hour of watching every Barbie movie flooded her mind. Let us not forget the pre-Belle disney princess movies. That last thought caused her to force a tight smile.
"Great," She said through forced teeth.
"Well, you have fun with that," Jon said sleepily. "I'm heading to Sam's for a bit."
Sansa's face fell a bit. "I'm sorry I woke you up, Jon. I promise I'll make it up to you."
Jon feigned a thoughtful look. "I don't know, Sans. That's a pretty heinous crime." He then turned his head a bit and smirked at her. "Why, the only thing i could think of that would remedy that would be two batches of lemon bars!"
Sansa returned the grin. "One batch and a season of Walking Dead."
"Two batches."
"A season and a half."
"Deal," he complied, before giving Sansa a peck on the lips. He then turned to Arya and gave her a hug, and whispered a "good luck" to her, before heading to his car. Arya turned to Sansa, who looked out with a fondness in her eyes as Jon drove off. It still confused the hell out of her.
"I'm never going to be able to wrap my brain around you two together."
"Oh, shut it," Sansa scolded, but her tone held no malice, just pure teasing. She cocked her head towards Arya and smiled warmly. "Come on, take off your shoes. You know the rules: 'No walking, just sliding'. Gotta tell your guest that to….Say, where is she?"
Arya had been wondering that too. What was talking Jaqen so long?
"I don't know, she said she'd be out in a min-"
"I'm here."
Arya exhaled. 'Thank the gods he didn't ditch me'. But her relief was short lived, as Sansa's face morphed into shock. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of the water. Arya was almost afraid to turn around. But she did.
And she really wished she didn't, because she was looking at her own face. Behind her, she heard a loud 'THUMP' and she felt her rage buble.
"Jaqen!"
The room was silent. Only the ticking of the Stark Grandfather clock broke the silence. Arya shifted uncomfortably in her seat as all eyes were trained in her general direction. But they were not on her, they were on her companion/
He had forgone her face, thank the gods, and adorned the one she met him in. But he continued to irk her, as he sat there, one leg draped over the other and drinking diet coke from a plastic cup, as if he hadn't just caused their hostess to faint not even five minutes hostess was on Arya's other side, fidgeting before stammering out
"S-so..Y-your friend is a-"
"Faceless Assassin? Yes. Yes he is," Arya replied quickly, trying not to sound angry but good mannered, but damn it all, she was beyond angry at Jaqen. She had just started to develop a stable relationship with her sister after years of separation, and he went and scared her pisseless.
"Well..That-That's lovely!" Margaery exclaimed reassuringly. "People from Bravos are just lovely people, don't you agree, Arya?"
"Um, yeah, sure." 'When their not trying to kill you'
"Isn't he one of those fuckers that peel people's faces off?" Yara remarked blatantly, sipping her cup, which didn't look like it contained any soda or water in it. "Creepy."
"Yara!" Daenerys scolded.
"What? It's true!"
"You can't go assuming rumors are true, especially ones as ridiculous as-."
"Yara Greyjoy speaks the truth, Daenerys Targaryen," Jaqen piped up, shocking the inhabitants of the room. "A man can use such a skill. A man uses the this skill on a daily bases. This is not even a man's real face. A man has no face. A man is no one."
There was a point of silence,before Yara leaned over to Daenerys.
"He knows our full names! You can not tell me that's not creepy!"
"Yara, stop it. That's highly offensive," Sansa groaned out. She then turned to Jaqen, and offered an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, it just that we weren't expecting Arya to bring-"
"Sansa Stark has not need to apologize, " Jaqen waved off, taking another sip of the coke, before lifting his eyes to the people sitting behind Yara and Daenerys. "Though, if a man may, he is curious about one thing."
"What is it?"
"If this is to be a 'girl's movie night', as Arya Stark described it, then why are they present?"
Arya followed his gaze, and gulped for a second. She had completely missed them. But to be fair, Grey Worm was practically a limb of Daenerys', consistently on her right side. And Theon..well, she always thought he needed to learn some humility, but he was to the point where he blended into the wall. Or the floor. Alright, he turned into a complete doormat, she didn't even see him crouched beside his sister's feet. But now that she did see them, she was curious as to why they were allowed. Daenerys was the first to speak up.
"Grey Worm is my bodyguard. I need him at my side a all times." She looked up at Grey Worm and smiled, but he returned it with a nod. Had Missandei not insisted otherwise, no one would have thought he knew how to smile.
"I wasn't about to leave Them alone at home alone," Yara scoffed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world before taking another swig from her cup. She also grumbled a bit into her cup, which sounded oddly like "especially with a kitchen full of knives."
There was an awkward silence, before Sansa spoke up, "Alright, how bout we pick out a movie?"
"What do we got?" Arya asked.
Sansa picked up the pile of movies on the coffee table ,and started to shuffle them like a stack of papers.
"Okay we got Mean Girls-."
"Sansa, you know I hate that movie," Arya grumbled.
"Oh, yeah, forgot about that one. Let's see...Mulan?"
"No!" Brienne pipped up. "I'm so sick of watching that movie!"
"But wasn't it your favorite?" Margaery inquired.
"Yeah, until Tormund mentioned he never saw it. Or any movie, for that matter. I've tried showing him other movies, but seven hells, he's convinced he'll never see something better."
"Then we have… Okay, who brought the Exorcist?!"
All eyes turned to the person sitting closest to the fireplace. Melisandre was frozen midway from eating a cheese cube from her plate.
"You said light hearted movies."
Arya stared at her in disbelief.
"What part of that movie is light hearted?"
Melisandre looks at her in confusion. "The part where she tells thinks the demon is an imaginary friend! It makes for a great set up, don't you think?"
"No! That's not light hearted at all!"
"A man thinks it's quite an enjoyable movie-."
"A man does not have a say in this!" Arya snapped, and Jaqen had the audacity to look hurt.
"Then that leaves the 2015 Cinderella-."
"Sansa, let's not watch that one," Arya piped up, shifting a bit in her seat.
"Why no- oh," Sansa seemed to flush a bit from realization, and quickly discarded that one. "Well, we still have the Lord of the Rings Trilogy-."
"Sansa."
"What-Oh, crap….Not that one either," she said hastily, throwing those three movies far across the room, accidently hitting Theon on the head. "Shit, sorry about that, Theon."
"Don't worry, its nothing I haven't deserved…" he said, adopting the look of a miserable puppy.
"...Okay, well that just leaves Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Star Wars."
"Which one?" Brienne asked.
Sansa looked down at her stack and frowned. "Phantom Menace."
"Fuck no," everyone said.
"Alright then! Monty Python it is!"
Sansa walked over the DVR and placed the movie in. She plopped back on the couch , grabbing her blanket and draping it over herself and smiled a bit, snuggling next to her sister as the movie began to play. It was nice to just relax and be normal with her watch a movie with sister and thier friends was actualy not as unbareable as she thought. Even with the assassin sitting next to her, she could deal. Besides, she could use someone to get her sir, this could end up being the start of a good thing.
Well, until they started getting further into they started getting further into the movie.
"I think we should skip this part," Yara piped up as one of the Knights rode onto the screen, minstrels following him.
"How come?" Arya asked. "I love Sir Robin's song!"
"It's morbidity is quite amusing."
"See? Even Scarlet Witch over there agrees!"
"Ugh, if you must. Theon, could you be a dear brother and get some more soda?"
Theon nodded, picking himself off the ground and took his and his sister's cup before skulking into the kitchen. Arya returned her focus to the screen, and began humming along to the song.
Bravely bold Sir Robin
Rode forth from Camelot
He was not afraid to die
Oh, brave Sir Robin
Arya soon noticed that she wasn't the only one humming along. She looked to her left and saw Jaqen nodding his head along as he hummed along.
"You've seen this movie before?" She asked in a whisper. Jaqen didn't turn his head, but he still responded.
"Does that surprise Arya Stark?"
He was not at all afraid
To be killed in nasty ways
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin
"Considering your occupation, yeah, it kinda does. How would an assassin find time-"
"A man watched it back when he didn't serve the Many Faced God," he stated, shocking Arya. He never revealed anything about his life as an assassin. Not even when she was under his tutelage. Now he was telling her, while she kept him practically prisoner, he was telling her of something so personal as what he remembered.
He was not in the least bit scared
To be mashed into a pulp
Or to have his eyes gouged out
And his elbows broken
To have his kneecaps split
And his body burned away
And his limbs all hacked and mangled
Brave Sir Robin
"Arya Stark is even more confused now. Why is that?"
"It's just that..You never speak about who you were.I was beginning to think you were born an assassin. Coming out of your mother's womb with a knife in your teeth and snapping the neck of the bloke who tried to cut your umbilical cord."
He laughed, a soft chuckle compared to the snickers coming from the others. "No, the Many Faced God does choose us, but no one is ever chosen that early."
"Still doesn't explain why you're so open."
"Well, this is a night for friends to come and watch a movie. Can a man not be open with his friend?"
That caused Arya to stiffen. After everything she did..After everything he did...He still wanted to call her friend? She knew they should be at each other's throats. She knows she should keep her knife in her palm no matter what. But in this familiar environment, sharing popcorn and watching a movie with her friends and sister. With the two of them sharing popcorn and laughing at the same parts of a ridiculous movie...For a moment, she could forget what happened in the past. For a moment, she could forget why they were angry at each other in the first place.
His head smashed in
And his heart cut out
And his liver removed
And his bowels unplugged
And his nostrils raped
And his bottom burnt off
And his penis split and his-
CRASH!
Arya whipped her head to the direction of the crash. She could see glass shards splayed on the ground, covered in a bubbly brown liquid. It was below bare covered feet, a few shards embedded in the feet. She looked up, wondering why the person was not crying out in pain. But as she looked up at Theon's face, she saw no pain. Just pure stunted shock.
"Jesus! Theon! Are you alright?!" Yara screamed, rushing to her little brother, murmuring a few curses as she rushed to her brother's side in a mad scramble. Everyone followed suite, Sansa pushing her way to Yara's assistance.
"Theon! Come you little shit, talk to me!" Yara yelled distressed, holding his face with one hand and snapping her fingers in front of Theon's eyes with the other. He just shook like a chihuahua.
"Theon, you need to sit down," Sansa said calmly, gently guiding him to a chair. She sat him down, but he showed no response, just blankly staring out into the open, mumbling too low to hear.
"What was that?" Magerary asked, elevating his foot as Sansa and Grey Worm ran to the bathroom to get First Aid. He didn't respond.
"Theon, don't be a-"
"NO!" Theon suddenly screamed out, cowering in his seat, despite everyone's efforts to restrain his injured foot. "NOT THEON! NOT THEON I AM REEK!"
"Oh no," Sansa breathed from the bathroom entrance. "Not again."
She handed the supplies to Grey Joy, and marched over to Theon. She placed a gentle hand on Yara's shoulder, stopping her from her intense pep talk she was giving her brother,. She then crouched down to Theon's level, placing a gentle hand on the back of his neck and tilted his head so that he could face her.
"Theon, look at me," she his hand and stroking it. "Ramsay's not here. He'll never be here. He's gone. And Reek died with him. But you're still here. Theon Greyjoy is still here. And right now, Theon Greyjoy has some glass in his foot. So will he come with me to the bathroom to get that fixed?"
Theon looked at Sansa like a lost child, before nodding. She smiled,before taking his hand and guiding him to the bathroom, followed by Yara who had his arm over her shoulder like a crutch.
It finally clicked in Arya's mind. 'That's why Yara didn't want to watch it. Shit, if I had realized that it would trigger The On-.'
"Why did Theon Greyjoy act like that?"
Arya looked up at Jaqen, who seemed to be clueless about the events that just occurred. Arya considered it for a bit, before motioning him to lean in. When he was close enough, she said in a hushed voice.
"Ever heard of Ramsay Snow?"
Jaqen nodded. Of course, he knew everyone. "Ramsay Bolton was quite...Notorious within the House of Black and White."
"Not surprised, he was a real bastard, figuratively and literally. A lot of people probably wanted him dead."
"Not that a man was able to," Jaqen mumbled, sounding a bit disappointed. "Word came that one of his dogs escaped and murdered him, so a face was not added to the hall. Of all the ridiculous- "
"Well, congratulations. You just met the dog."
Jaqen blinked a bit looking in the direction of the bathroom, and looked back at her, face blank, but eyes full of questions.
"Theon Greyjoy was Ramsay Bolton's dog?"
"It's complicated..."
"A man understands. But why would the song-."
"Jaqen, what do people do to dogs when they don't want them to get their bitches pregnant?"
"...Arya Stark means Ramsay Bolton-"
"Yes."
"...That makes a lot more sense."
"Good," Arya spoke up, walking back to the living room, walking over to the cabinet she knew her sister stored all her movies. She called out behind her"Now help me pick out another movie-."
"Not the movie part, no," Jaqen said at a volume that was a bit concerning. He walked over to the cabinet "A man meant he knows why Theon Greyjoy was allowed. Because Theon Greyjoy is technically not a man."
THUD!
Arya turned to see yet another cup on the ground. It was plastic, but the contents, which looked oddly like chocolate milk, was spilled over the floor. And yet again, Then stood there still as a tree, but this time he looked hurt, as if he'd just been kicked. Arya felt shame flush over her, and looked up at Jaqen, silently begging him to apologise. But he didn't look mortified or anything. He just held the same blank expression. She felt anger boil into her, but held it down to walk over to Theon.
"Theon, I am so sorry," wow she had never expected to say that, but seven hells, what Jaqen said, what the guest she brought said, that was awful, no one deserved that horrible comment. Not even Theon "smirking asshole" Greyjoy. But he wasn't smirking now, he just shook his head as he looked down at the ground.
"It's alright. I haven't been giving my therapist anything worth their time lately, anywho."
Oh great. "No, it's not okay." She snapped her head to Jaqen and mouthed 'apologies!'. He just looked at her blankly, and didn't say anything. She felt her rage boil to the brink, she spoke through ground teeth.
"Theon, go into the kitchen, I'll get you a new glass."
Theon looked at her, and she glared. He scampered to the kitchen, and she turned her glare to Jaqen.
"You are going to go in there, and you are going to give him the best fucking apology he's ever heard."
"Why must a man apologies? He was only thinking aloud-"
"You know damn well why you should."
"A man is not pleased with how Arya Stark has been speaking to him. Arya Stark is abusing her privileges."
She saw red as she pulled her knife and held it against his chest. She snarled, channeling her wolf, teeth bared as she seethed out, "Do not use that word. You know nothing about abuse, you who sends trained murders after children, saying that it must be done for a damned stone statue."
He looked down at her, eyes wide, but face set in solemness. "Arya Stark is making this about herself. Not very curtyous to Theon Greyjoy."
"Go outside," she growled, pushing him back with her knife. She lead him to front door, stopping him short of the steps, before closing the door behind her. She turned to face him, her knife stored back in her pocket.
"You are an insufferable shit," she snapped.
"A man still does not take kindly to all these insults."
"Will you just quit it!" She snapped. "All I asked for was for you to help me out with this, but after your little 'joke', my sister is going to start prodding into what I did all those years, and you insulted the person who helped save my sister from that flaying bastard! I trusted you to help me, but you went and made it worse!"
"Surely Arya Stark saw this coming," he goaded. Arya's face fell from anger to hurt confusion. "Did Arya Stark really believe that she could betray the Many Faced God and not suffer some Arya Stark should've asked herself why would a man help her in the first place?Of all the people to ask, why would she choose a man to help her?"
"BECAUSE YOU WERE MY FRIEND!" she screamed, causing him to back up a bit. He looked at her with wide eyes, and she continued. "You were my friend, the only one I had left in the world. Gendry, Hot Pie, the Hound….They're all gone.I'm never going to see them again," she said the last part painfully, her hands beginning to shake. She might've lost a lot befor her life on the streets, but what she found, who she found, their loss affected her just as much. "...But you. You were still here. You were the only one I knew was still here, and I thought I could depend on you."
He looked at her oddly, like she had just grown a head. "But Arya Stark said-."
"I know what I said!" She snapped, her eyes started to burn. "I know I said I didn't need your damn help or friendship. But I still stuck my neck out for you,I helped you get out of that damn cage. And when I gave you those names, I don't know, I started to respect you. To depend on you. Damn it, was starting to see you as a friend. And when I went to Braavos, I thought I would be going to a friend."
Her expression morphed from the vulnerable hurt little girl to the fierce wolf, murderous intent seething at the one she once called friend. "But...But ever since I walked into the House of Black and White… Ever since you started training me, since you tried to destroy who I was, who I would become.. Ever since you tried to make me become no one. I..I began to loathe you. I loathed you for everything that you did behind those monochrome doors. What you allowed that bitch to do. I trusted you, called you my friend as you lay still and cold on the ground, and you betrayed that! You blinded me! You allowed me to starve as she beat me to a bloody pulp every. Damn. Day. Until I was a shell. An obedient little puppet that you two could control. And when I tried to save a woman, a good woman, who had done nothing to deserve death, what do you do? Tell me what my friend, Jaqen H'ghar, did when I just wanted to save someone who was the only one to show me true kindness in five fucking years?!"
He continued to stare at her, his expression began to crack from indifference to something all together did not belong on his face. He had no right to look guilty.
"Tell me what you did," she commanded, Stark steel coating her voice. Jaqen relented.
"A man allowed the one Arya Stark referred to as the Waif to carry out the will of the Many Faced God."
"No, don't tell me that," she growled. "Tell me the exact words you told her."
"...A shame, a girl had many gifts."
"Don't fucking toy with my, Jaqen, tell what words you used to tell her it was okay to fucking kill me."
Jaqen seemed to consider it for a moment, before looking down, and sounding almost disgraced when he said it. "Do not let her suffer."
"Don't let her fucking suffer," Arya spat. "Well, shall tell you how she decided to carry out those words?"
Arya lifted up her t-shirt to expose her stomach. Multiple rough white scars protruded from the flat surface, all the way from the where her ribcage started, down towards the top of her hip bone. Jaqen's eyes widened a bit as he saw the multiple scars, seemingly deep and jagged, as if they were created in an erratic stabbing.
"If this was her not letting me suffer, I'd hate to see what she would've done had you'd not told her that."
He looked up at her face, and she really wished he hadn't. He looked surprised and guilty. She wanted to kill him for daring to feel guilty, especially now. She pulled her shirt hem down, and then ground out:
"Don't look at me like that. You knew full well what she was capable of. You knew she was never going to hold back. I was never going to be no one, and she knew that. So she wanted me dead. She went straight for the my identity, my family's identity."
He seemed to wrap his brain around the phrase, and looked back down at her stomach.
"Yeah, it's a good thing Sansa's still able to," Arya said cynically.
"A man did not know this, a man never meant for that to happen."
"No, what you meant to happen was for the Waif to slit my throat,'" she snapped, and shifted her gaze at the ground. "In some ways, I wish she had. Not the whole kid thing, never wanted them anyways. But if she had, I wouldn't have had to find out that my so called 'friend' saw me as nothing more then some pawn, some girl he could order a psychotic bitch to kill at any time, and not have a second damn thought about it. The reason you didn't know, was because you didn't fucking think. And let me tell you, to a sixteen year old girl who had literally no one besides that so called friend in this damn world, that's a damn heartbreaking realization."
It wasn't until she saw a damp spot on the ground below her feet that she realized she'd been crying. Quickly she turned away from him, and rubbed her eyes. 'Fucking emotions, not now' she mentally cursed. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she brushed it off.
"Valar Dohaeris," she said, her voice wavered and sounded broken with emotion. "You're released from your vow, now get out of here!"
"...But a man need a name to be bound to contract-."
"Fine then! Jaqen H'ghar! Go fucking kill yourself again, because I'm done with you!" she snapped. "I should've never called you hear in the first place!"
"If a man is not Arya Stark's friend, then why call him?"
Arya paused. Why did she call him hear? The answer was obvious, the skills he had, and their history made for him to be the easiest choice. But instead, another answer came out.
"Because I'm stupid, and I thought that perhaps I was wrong."
Silence rang through as it set in her. Yes, she clung to the past far too much, it' what made her incapable of becoming no one in the first place. How ironic was it that she making her incapable of letting go of the person who wanted her to become no one.
She took a deep breath, before speaking behind her. "Go home, forget this ever happened. I'm sorry I dragged you into this. If you want to kill me when i get back to my car or apartment or whatever, feel free to."
With that, she shut the door, locked it, and slumped to the ground. She buried her face in her knees, taking deep breaths and collecting herself. She heard soft feet patter over to her, and looked up to see Sansa,who cradled her head in her hands.
"I...I really fucked up." she said, and her sister gave her a reassuring smile.
"Don't use that language. Especially when talking about my little sister."
"But I really did. I scared the living shit out of you, Theon's an emotional mess because of what Jaqen said, and I ended a long friendship on the worst possible terms."
"Did you stick him with the pointy end?"
"No..."
Sansa sighed. "Arya, I'm not going to ask you about what happened all those years until you're comfortable talking about it. We've both got scars, and I'm not gonna reopen them. But from what i gathered, you really trusted this guy, didn't you?"
It took a few second, but Arya nodded her head.
"But you both seemed to be on the edge, so it seems to me that you've both done some fairly messed up things to each other."
"He was the only one who messed up big time," she mumbled.
"That's probably how you see it, but he probably sees it vice versa."
"He knows he fucked up. I told him so."
"Ah, there you go. You told him your side of the story, but you never heard his side."
"He has no side, he's no one. No ones have no opinions or feelings."
"Arya, if he truly was like that, why do you think he agreed to come with you to the movie night?"
"Cause I forced him to."
Sansa shook her head. "You didn't force him to sing along to Monty Python, or to laugh at the most inappropriate lines. No matter what you think, I know what I saw. He may be no one, but he's a person. And I think you forgot that."
Arya glared at her, "So now your taking his side?"
"I'm just saying that you might not be the only one who's hurt by this. And I think that you should check, because if you don't, then you truly left this friendship on the worst of terms."
Arya blinked a bit, letting her sister's words sink in. She felt something she hadn't felt in a long time: guilt. Before she could become accustomed to it, Sansa lifted herself up.
"Well, I'm going to go see if we've piked out a new movie, something we can all watch. So, when you're ready and finished whatever it is you're going to be doing, come back inside, I'll save your spot."
Arya didn't watch her sister leave, instead she picked herself up and turned to the door. She took a deep breath, and unlocked it. She creaked it open,and peaked out and whispered
"Jaqen?"
When she hear no answer, she opened the door fully, and looked outside. No one was in sight. She hurried down the steps, and looked up and down the street. Empty. She felt the tears well up in her eyes as the guilt filled her stomach. She lost him. She lost her..seven hells, was he her friend? Her enemy? She didn't know, all she knew was that she lost someone who was a part of her past, her life, and it felt empty. She turned to her car, and bumped her head against it in bitter defeat.
And accidently set off the alarm.
She quickly jumped off the car, scrambling backwards, and she reached into her pocket to grab the keys. She felt nothing but her knife. She mentally cursed herself, thinking she dropped it in the house. That is until the she saw something moving inside the car. Instinctively, she grabbed the handle to find it was unlocked, and swung the door open.
To say that she was relieved when saw Jaqen scrambling to turn off the alarm on her keys was not quite the word she would use. More like a mixture of shock and anger.
She quickly leaned over, snatched the keys, and turned off the alarm. Jaqen looked up at her, as he was splayed out on the back seat of her car as if he had been sleeping. And she glared at him.
"You stole my key."
"A man does not steal," he stated calmly, yet his heaving chest suggested he had been just as panicked as she had been. "A man was only borrowing them to rest."
"So you stole my keys to take a nap in my car. That makes no sense, why not just steal the damn car?"
"A man has no driver's license."
Arya stared at him in disbelief. "Then steal my license and use my face-jesus, why the fuck am I telling you this?"
"Why is a girl here?"
Arya paused for a moment. Jaqen stared at her inquisitively, and she felt her frustration begin to simmer down, back to that vulnerable sadness.
"To...to tell you...that….I-I'm sorry."
Jaqen blinks at her, before responding. "A man accepts the apology."
"No, just here me out first...Look, I've been a selfish bitch-"
"A girl is now just realising this?"
"I am trying. To make. A heartfelt. Apology," she sethed out, and Jaqen held out his hands defensively, before nodding for her to continue.
"Yes, you were a real douchebag to me. Like a really scumfull douche. I was considering putting you on my list for a while, to be honest."
"Who taught a girl to apologise? This is one of the worst apologies a man has ever-"
"But," she said, rather loudly. "I haven't exactly been the only victim in this whole mess."
Jaqen stiffened, and looked at her in shock. Arya took a deep breath, before continuing.
"I left you in a burning cage with only an axe to get you out. I had you kill three men for me, and only repaid it by insulting your religion, your customs,insulting you, and I did kind of reduced your staffing drastically, so yeah. As much of a dick as you were, I've been a real cunt too. So I don't think it's fair that I leave this whole ordeal the way I did. So, if you really wanna kill me to please the Many Faced God, then do it by knowing that from the bottom of my heart, I am really sorry for being the shit friend I am." She reached into her pocket, took out her prized switch knife, and placed it in his hand. "Here, you can even do it with Needle."
Jaqen looked down at the knife for a moment, and Arya braced herself. But instead, he handed it back to her. Confused, she looked him in the eye, and he his usual smirk, but a genuine smile
"A man accepts your apology, lovely girl."
He picks himself up out of the car, and looks down at her. "But will Arya Stark accept Jaqen H'ghar's apology?"
Arya stares at him. At the man who broke her time and time again. Who she in turn broke. Perhaps it was time to stop this continual cycle of using each other for their own gain. Perhaps it was time to truly become friends.
"Only if you'll sit through whatever movie they picked out in there with me."
Or perhaps not.
But as the hours passed. As the living room was littered with popcorn, as Daenerys, Grey Worm and Missandei fell asleep in a clump, with Yara and Theon passed out at their feet. As Melisandre continued to stare at the fire, nodding off and into sleep. As Brienne was sleepy fighting off Tormund, who had came in with Jon a few hours earlier, and decided that he wanted to spoon with his amazonian girlfriend. As Sansa gently snored on Jon's chest, as he held her and smiled in his sleep as he held her close. As all this happened, Arya sat there next to Jaqen, quickly changing out Mean Girls for Monty Python, and fast forwarding to the Sir Robin song. They sat next to each other, quietly singing along to the dysfunctional song. Because that's what they were: dysfunctional. But as Arya sang about limb being cut off and penis being split with Jaqen, she found that she prefered it this way..