Disclaimer: GRRM owns the characters. I make no profit except amusement from playing around his masterpiece. :)

Prologue

His head hurts. His head fucking hurts. Gendry tried to squeeze his eyes shut and shake his head violently to remove the grogginess but those just seemed to make matters worse. He tried standing up by grasping at the grass beneath his hands but—

'Wait... grass?'

"Fuck."

He tried to focus his vision as much as possible against the dizzying hindrance.

Trees. More trees. Much more trees.

He's now sitting up, realization dawning on him. He's in a damn forest. How did he even get there in the first place? His knees are buckling under his weight as he stood up. He can't even stand straight!

"Fuck." he muttered while struggling to be on his feet.

"That is like the hundredth time you said that."

Gendry whirled at the voice so fast he lost his balance, falling hard on his bottom.

"Aww! What's your problem?!" he spat at the person instinctively which he realized soon might be wrong considering his current situation.

The boy is wearing a cloak with a hood reaching just below his eyes, enough to hide his identity.

"You're stupid."

'Did he just call me stupid?'

"Sneaking up on people is stupid."

"It is called 'stealth', bullhead."

He could almost feel him rolling his eyes under his hood.

"You know, you should not insult people who are bigger than you." Gendry said with a successful attempt of getting up, standing straight and towering over the younger man. He's trying so hard to look intimidating but it doesn't look like it works. He thought himself funny.

"Then I would not get to insult anyone."

Gendry supposed he's right. The boy—girl?!

"Holy shit." Yes, he is aware that his mouth is hanging open.

The 'supposed-to-be-boy' girl just removed her hood and stared right through him. He must have looked comical.

"You're a girl!" he said, well, maybe shouted.

The girl just rolled her eyes in response as if to confirm that, yes, he really is stupid. She started walking past him, grass and twigs crunching under her knee-high boots, like she knows he'll follow even though she made no attempt of looking back. She just left him to his gaping world and that's when he got a good look of her... back. She's really small, reaching just above his shoulders with her petite frame and her unruly hair a good shade of brown, long enough to settle on her shoulders. She's still wearing her gray-colored cloak. The clothing stops above her knees but does a great job of hiding what's beneath. She looks like a hunter. A very small and young one, though. How old is she? Thirteen?

"If you keep standing there gawking at my back, I'm going to have to leave you here with the wolves."

His trail of thoughts was cut by the girl's sudden remark. She doesn't have a very good choice of words, he noticed. But wolves?!

"There are wolves in this forest?! And I'm not gawking at your back. I'm not interested in kids. You don't even have the curves a man looks for in a woman." he said the latter so soft, he almost whispered.

"Don't get...cocky." The last teasing word strained to leave his mouth because, to his surprise, the girl turned to face him, her face burning red. If she's blushing, embarrassed, or angry, he could not tell. Maybe it's the combination of the three. Her mouth opened and closed, as what a fish would do on land, like there's something she wanted to say but could not get it out of her system. Suddenly, guilt surged through him.

'She deserved it anyway for being mean to him.' Gendry thought to himself. But he doesn't quite believe he himself was convinced by the lie. He tried to shrugged the feeling by coughing and focusing on the real problem.

"Where am I?" he asked looking everywhere except the girl.

"In Winterfell, stupid." the girl said in a proud voice. It looks like she had recovered from earlier awkwardness.

Gendry's head shot back to the girl, his mouth open like the idiot she'd been telling him he is.

But what can he say? Gendry has never heard of a place called Winterfell before.

"Winterfell?"

He's really doing his best to catch up to her. His strides are much bigger than hers, so why is he still being left behind? She didn't answer the question though.

"Are you a rider? A messenger? Or another idiot who wants to ask for my sister's pretty little hands? What are you doing in the forest alone?"

She had so many questions, he settled to answer none of it.

"Hold on the questions there, lady. You didn't answer my question, though."

"I'm the one who gets to ask the questions." The girl stopped and whipped around so fast startled Gendry froze in his place.

"And I am not a lady. So which is it?" she asked.

"Look." But she just rolled her eyes in resignation, like she knows he has no intention of answering her, and returned to walking. He continued with his speech anyway. "I don't even know where I am nor do I have a single idea what you're talking about. The thing is, lady—"

"I am NOT a lady." she butted in but didn't stop walking.

"-if you would just gladly escort me back to the main road so I can catch a ride and help me get my sorry ass back to New York, you can get rid of me and be back on your way." He almost sounded like he is whining. But she doesn't seem to be listening.

"We're here." She stopped on her tracks and look straight ahead.

"You don't seem to—woah." Gendry followed her gaze and BAM! He's enchanted. The place is so beautiful and full of life. There's a huge castle complex spanning several acres, with two massive walls on each side and a village just outside of it in front of him. The scene is so dazzling, he was left gaping.

"How come I didn't notice those two massive walls on our way?!" Gendry shouted, never taking his eyes off the beauty.

"Because you are looking at your feet while walking this whole time. You do that but you don't seem to notice it. It is a miracle you didn't bump your head on a tree and died." The girl is wearing this smirk he could not place. Amusement?

"Well, you roll your eyes a lot and you don't seem to notice it, too." he said more defensive than necessary.

"Don't worry, I do that on purpose." Just then, she turned her head and gave him this genuine, wide smile. That and together with those two steel gray eyes he only noticed now. Suddenly, Gendry wasn't sure enough if the place is the only thing beautiful in front of him.

Author's Notes: Hi, everyone! This is actually the first fanfiction I've written here. Any feedbacks from you would be great! Just so I could know if my work is worth the while and continuing. I hope you had fun reading. :D