Game of Thrones: An Uneasy Return
Chapter 1 of a new Game of Thrones story, a Gendrya modern AU, hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin.
Chapter 1
It was a quiet day in the Stark family manor, the Starks were the most prominent family in the region of Westeros known as the North, the largest region of the land. The head of the family was governor Eddard Stark, a man of forty-four with the usual physical traits of his family, brown hair, grey eyes and a long narrow face. His wife, Catelyn was two years younger, with auburn hair and blue eyes, as well as high cheekbones, all traits of her family, the Tullys.
It was her traits that all but one of their five children had inherited. The two of them were together as they made their way into the living room. In the living room, those four children sat, all watching TV, although their expressions made it clear they weren't really seeing what was on the screen. They were all clearly distracted.
The oldest of the children was twenty-two year old Robb, then was the oldest girl, nineteen year old Sansa. On the other couch sat their two youngest boys, sixteen year old Bran and twelve year old Rickon.
Seated on the floor by one of the couches was another young man, the same age as Robb but with the typical Stark traits. This was Eddard's nephew, Jon, the son of his deceased younger sister, Lyanna.
"Ned." Cat said quietly. "I still feel we're...going in circles."
Ned nodded sadly, knowing what she meant, they were all in the same state, they had been like this for the past two years.
Before he could muse any further, the shrill ring of the phone distracted them all. He went to answer it, picking it up and beginning to speak.
"Stark household, Eddard Stark speaking."
An official voice replied. "Mr. Stark, I am calling from the police station."
Ned tensed; it wasn't the first time they had received a call like this. "Yes?"
The answer surprised him, more than anything. "We have important news...We've found her, we've found your daughter."
"What, Arya?!" He gasped, his heart leapt.
The entire family reacted to that, all turning towards him, shock and concern written on their faces.
"Yes." The officer replied. "She's here at the station with us; I think you best come and get her."
"Yes, of course."
He hung up, still hardly able to believe what he just heard. He turned to the rest of the family.
"It's Arya, she's been found." He told them.
At once they all reacted. "Arya!"
Cat looked ready to faint; Sansa almost screamed, the boys looked amazed and relieved. Arya was Ned and Cat's third child and the youngest girl, two years younger than Sansa.
She was also perhaps the most difficult of the children, she was combative, rebellious and tended to frustrate any attempts of her mother and sister, who had rather feminine tastes, to have her join them.
Ned sighed as he recalled. 'Then we found out she had started dating Gendry, Robert's illegitimate son, a man five years her senior.'
Robert was the current president of Westeros, a man of 'unique' tastes, which included women. Many of these affairs ending in illegitimate children, Gendry was one of them.
'We argued with Arya, were angry because of this, his age, where he lived, what we...thought about him.' Ned thought sadly.
It was shortly after that Arya stormed out of the house and disappeared.
When she didn't return home that night, the family went to the police. Gendry was instantly a suspect, but was very quickly found to be innocent. The full horror of what happened only became apparent five days later.
Arya had in fact been kidnapped, by the notorious people trafficking group, The House of Black and White. That had been two years ago; when she had been fifteen, two years of agony for them and Gendry, over the months and then years, the Starks and Gendry grew to trust one another. They finally realized Gendry truly loved Arya and now, she had been found.
"Arya is, she's alive?" Rickon gasped.
Ned nodded, truly smiling for the first time in two years. "Yes, we better hurry and get down to the police station."
"Not just us." Cat reminded them softly.
They all nodded and, as they got ready, Cat meanwhile picked up the phone and dialled the number.
"Hello?" Came the confused voice of Gendry Waters.
Cat replied at once. "Gendry, it's me."
He noticed her tone and replied. "Mrs. Stark, what's happened?"
Cat couldn't help but smile as she told him. "It's Arya Gendry, she's been found, she's at the police station up here, we're going to get her."
"What, seriously...that's, that's great." He gasped, clearly amazed. "I'll be right there."
They hung up and Cat smiled to the others and they quickly left the house together.
When they reached the police station, Gendry was also just pulling up. He got out of the car in a hurry; a frantic yet hopeful expression on his face.
"Are they sure it's Arya, positive?" He asked desperately.
They all nodded as Cat explained. "Yes, they told us about it, they made a positive DNA match, it's definitely Arya."
Hope blossoming in all of them they entered the police station. They quickly approached the desk and Ned spoke quickly.
"We're here to see our daughter, Arya Stark."
The office looked up, looking strangely worried, but nodded. "Ah, yes, of course. We've been expecting you all. This way please."
They followed the officer and soon reached a door, the officer turned to them.
"Now, I must warn you, prepare yourselves for this."
That confused and worried them, but nevertheless they entered. Inside the room was a sickly looking girl of seventeen. She was clad in a dirty grey knee length dress that may once have been white. She had no shoes, her feet were filthy, but while her hair was shorter, just reaching the shoulders, but there was no doubt about it.
"Arya!" Catelyn gasped.
The girl started at that. "Mum…?"
Sansa almost laughed in relief. "It is you, thank the Gods."
"Sansa..." The girl replied; almost in disbelief.
The family all grinned and began to move closer. Arya seemed agitated and trembled; then, suddenly, lifted her head to look at them and they all froze.
"Gods..." Cat gasped.
Gendry inhaled sharply. "Arry..."
That got the biggest reaction from her, tears filled in her eyes upon hearing Gendry's voice. But she quickly wiped them away, the family remained frozen however, for they had seen her eyes.
Arya was no longer a prisoner of the House of Black and White, but she hadn't got away unscathed, they had robbed her of something important.
The milky white appearance of her eyes testified to that; she was blind.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.