So this is a spinoff/sequel to my story "Caught With Her Pants Down". Set a few months after said story, in this Modern Day AU. In addition to this, there will be some exposition on my modern variation of the War of the Seven Kingdoms, to focus on the characters backstories.
Disclaimer: I don't own Game of Thrones, or it's characters. Just this story.
Arya Stark woke up in the front seat of her sister's car. It was still the middle of the night, but she couldn't sleep. It was that same little nightmare all over again.
It started with a botched school shooting, one that still had a shadow over the city, but for more reasons then one. The day after the two week spring break, at Sansa's prep school, several men dressed in black nearly snuck in on the academy, but where caught by police. After a nightmarish standoff, the leader of the group was identified as Joffery Baratheon, jealous over losing a school election.
As stated, it was how it started, not how it ended.
During the trial, it caught everyone's attention. In addition to the chaos of that day alone, the Baratheon family got a lot of unwanted attention. Robert Baratheon planned on running for governor, but the incident shattered that goal. Robert publically disowned Joffery as his step son and stepped down from his election plans. Unfortunately, while the rest of the gang where quickly put away, there where rumors Tywin Lannister, one of the richest men in the state, would buy his grandsons freedom. And those rumors where enough to spark what would be known as the Kings Landing riots.
The riot culminating with a bodycount in the thousands. The riots ended when Joffrey's body was found by police; stripped naked, castrated and broken.
"You're still awake ?" Arya heard Sansa's voice ask gently.
"Aren't you ?" Arya asked her driver.
"You're not the one on caffeine." Sansa snarks.
"You're not the one having nightmares." Arya said looking at Sansa, who was paying attention to the highway.
"Why else do you think I'm taking caffeine ?" Sansa asked her thirteen year old goth sister.
During the riots, the Stark family stood together and stayed strong during the riots. They stayed in their house on the country side, until it blew over. Upon the end of the riots, the Starks, the Tyrells, Targaryen's came together again to do charitable relief. Along with the other rich families, such as Renly Baratheon who gave all he could. Robert Baratheon also sent a check, but he was lying low. Stannis Bartheon however was more concerned over his daughter, who was severally traumatized by the attempted shootings. The Lannisters also did some charity works, but some believed it was to save face.
"You seemed exited earlier." Arya said, noting how Sansa tried to do her best to see the brighter side of things, as her mother and father encouraged her to do so. It was easy for Sansa, seeing as she was always the bright and sunny sister in contrast to Arya's goth exterior, with her room covered in posers Alice Cooper, Danzig and one of Twilight that also doubled as a dart board .
"I should be, mom and dad said this would good for us." Of course the Starks where shaken up by the riots, however, while they spent plenty of time together as a result, they figured that time bonding with their friends would be good for them "Besides, Dany asked about you."
This caught Arya's attention. Dany and Arya had a close friendship, with Dany being a big influence on Arya. She was the sister Arya wished she had. Not that Arya and Sansa didn't love each other, it's that they where just two sides of the same coin - Sansa was something of a Mary Sue wannabe, dressing in school uniforms and tried to be the innocent type/ Arya was the little goth girl, a fan of old rock music, who claimed to be a bad girl but couldn't so much as smoke one cigarette. Hanging out with Dany, Arya felt like she had someone she could be open with. They spent most of their time talking about boys music, or even simply having fun, be it at the arcade or a amusment park.
"What about Margery ?" Arya asked.
"Yeah..I'm looking forward to seeing her." Sansa nods with a modest grin. Sansa and Margery where virtually glued together before Joffrey gone and fucked everything up. When they first came out to their families, they where surprised how accepting everyone was of it. Both Margery's grandmother, Olenna and Sansa's brother Jon gave a deadpan "Called it." when the girls announced their relationship. Sansa was especially shocked at how her mother accepted them, despite her religious background, but Mrs. Catlyn Stark explained that she was raised with a progressive book, that fixed it's mistranslations on homosexuality. Margery's brother, Loras, who was also gay asked if his lifestyle had to do with her choice, but Margery said it doesn't feel like a choice - she just loves Sansa, as Loras loves Renly.
"How far are we ?" Arya asked.
"Another twenty minutes." Sansa a little vacation was in order to spend time with friends. Sansa and Arya where invited on a girls trip to Dany's cabin in the woods.
By the time they arrived it was almost midnight, but both Sansa and Arya where awake as if it was mid day. They saw the cabins front lights where on, and it was pretty high tech. It was the kind of cabin rich people from the city own when they say they want to be out in about with nature, but are really just wanted to get away from the city. IIt was protected by a gate and electric fense, with an access code Dany given Sansa earlier.
As they drove closer to the cabin, Arya notices it was close to a lake, upon seeing it she playfully made a "chi-chi-chi-cha-cha-cha" noise that you would here when watching a slasher film. When they park, they see Margery and Dany waiting out, dressed in their usual valley girl getup. As the sisters got out, Margery was quick to run up and give Sansa a hug.
"Sansa! I felt as I haven't seen you in forever." Margery exclaimed.
"Margery...it's been four days." Sansa said in a snarky tone.
"Four days too long." Margery said in her theatrical "lovey dovey" voice. Both Arya and Dany exchange a "vomit" look at eachother as Sansa and Margery kissed. They knew that the two only had a week to focus on their relationship before everything went to shit, and didn't have time to do so, but they where using this vacation to fix that - however, Arya and Dany couldn't help but have fun at their expense, especially that the two where not afraid of public affection.
"I can't wait to till tomorrow. I was thinking we could go water skiing." Margery said with a grin "I have a little bathing suit I can't wait for you to see me in."
Sansa leaned in and whispered in Margery's ear "I'd rather see you out of it."
The two other girls rolled their eyes and started their own conversation "So Arya, how's things with that boy Gendry. Last time you talk about him, you seemed really excited to ask him out."
Arya shooked her head "He moved. Being the step brother to a punk who tried to shoot your friends, isn't exactly something that would make you want to go public."
Dany nods understandingly "I bet Robert Baratheon really regrets marrying that Lannister bitch. Seriously, she is just way to close to that twin brother of hers." Dany leans down to whisper "And between you and me I think some real weird shit went on between the two."
"Well, we have a lot to look forward too tomorrow, and it can't start until we get some sleep." Sansa said as she went back to the car to unpack.
Late that night, the girls where asleep in their respective rooms (well, Margery wasn't in her room and she and Sansa weren't sleeping at the moment), but Arya was having a nightmare; the same one as before.
"There he is." Arya said to herself Gendry Baratheon, son of Robert Baratheon, and the stud on a lot of girls minds, except he was her tutor, and his only damning quality is that he was step brothers to that punk Joffrey.
Arya walked towards him at a water fountain, wearing her mandatory uniform. They where in a public hallway at Kings Landing Academy, but she didn't care; all she had on her mind was the encouragement of Dany, and these words that stuck with her "If you have nothing to loose, you have everything to gain."
Arya felt so nerdy, they way she held her books, she had to wear white makeup over her normally pale cheeks, because she knew she couldn't resist blushing. She knew she couldn't resist when she first saw Gendry shirtless and working on his car when her family visited his. And her cheeks where enflamed when he turned around and smiled at her.
"Arya, how's it going ?" Gendry asked politely.
"I...uhhhh" Arya stammers.
Gendry chuckles "Is that French for something ?"
The makeup failed; Arya's face was a red as fire "M- my brothers have an upcoming lacrosse game and I was wondering if you wanted to go."
Gendry smiles "Of course I'll be going...I am on the team you know."
Arya felt like and idiot. If she had a pillow she would scream to the top of her lungs about it, but she worked up the confidence "Oh...right. But what I meant to say was I was hoping some time we could-"
Before she could finish the sentence, she heard students screaming. Both she and Gendry looked to the front door and saw several police cruisers, with Joffery Baratheon barging through the door with a handgun, like a rapid dog from hell, growling/shouting his cousins name "Shireen! Come out you little cunt!"
At that point, Arya wakes up in a cold sweat, like she did every night. She never did like what happened next.
Elsewhere, Brandon Stark was sitting on a couch at the Stark house. Still awake, he considered Arya lucky in spite of her own nightmares; at least, she managed to sleep. Brandon spent countless nights awake as if the sun itself was beaming in his eyes. Its been like this ever since Ramsay Bolton used him as a human shield during a police standoff. He didn't need nightmares to remember what happened to him.
He didn't need to remember what Ramsay and Joffrey did when they tried, in vain to start a school shooting, his leg brace was a reminder enough. His only mistake was that he and his best friend Jojen where standing out front of a school talking about...neither of them remember, they just hope it was something important. By the time they realized what was going on, they where side tracked as Ramsay Bolton made his way to them. The rest was a blur but the next thing they knew, Brandon was stabbed through his left knee, lying next to Ramsay, who was subdued by three officers, and Jojen was being pulled away by paramedics, who wanted to stop the bleeding, but was too scared to remove the knife sticking in and out of his left knee.
"Brandon ?" he heard his brothers voice break his train of thought.
"Oh..it's you." Brandon said, speaking for the first time after hours of silence.
"Who else would it be ?" Jon Stark asked, taking a seat beside Brandon.
"I don't know." Brandon said.
"Look, if you're not feeling up for the trip tomorrow, you don't have to-"
"No..I'm still good. It's just..In case you haven't noticed, I haven't exactly been a heavy sleeper lately." Brandon said.
"Not surprised. For what it's worth, none of us had it that easy. I remember how mom would stay up later at the hospital...when she got those sleeping pills for you, I thought she'd take them herself." Jon explains.
"They never work anyways." Brandon shrugs.
The two brothers laugh before Jon says "Look, it's all right if you don't want to talk about it-"
"It's not like I don't want to talk about it.." Brandon interrupts "Its that I can't. All I can remember is-" Brandon starks before the all to familiar image of the knife sticking in and out of his knee. After a paramedic told him not to look no less.
"Your eyes say enough." Jon says again "But like dad said, we're together...so its all right. Joffrey can't hurt anyone anymore and-"
"What about Ramsay ?" Brandon asks.
"Ramsay's in jail."
"Like that would do any good." Brandon nearly exclaims.
"Okay..okay." Jon says "You gotta have some faith, it's not like anyone wants that scumbag out anytime soon. And incase you haven't noticed, his top connection is also in jail. Do you really think someone who cripples gets to walk themselves ?"
"That's being optimistic."
"Comes with being a Stark. Sometimes, you sound like Arya." Jon points out.
"And you sound like Sansa."
The two brothers share another laugh. Jon pats Brandon on the back and asks "So you still up for the trip tomorrow ?"
"Truth be told, I think I waited too long." Brandon shrugs.
"Well then, that makes two of us." Jon gets up from the couch and walks back into the hallway and up the stairs.
Brandon was back sitting on the couch in silence, only with a little more optimisum. He looked out the window, noticing how the city always seemed alive at night, even after is burned months ago; how the lights blended with the stars, how the ones from cars move in the darkness and the ones from buildings and houses stood still. The noises added more life, the sound of cars driving by, with the faint sound of music from the clubs of this city. His thoughts now focus on the coming trip he and his brothers will be taking. They're friends will be accompanying them as well, Yiggrite, Theon, Jojen and his sister Meera. He thought of how some time together would be good for them. Of how he and Jojen never really hung out since the incident, of how Jon never properly introduced them to Yiggrite. It would be a good week, something to look forward to.
And then his eyes fell upon his leg brace, and it all came back to him again. Even in this city, which had a lovely night life, there was undeniably pain beneath beauty.
So here's the first chapter. I'll try to update, but this isn't the only story I'm working on so it might be a while. So if you like how I wrote a modern "war" storyline, just wait till you see how I characterized Ramsay and Myranda. For those wondering why there's little angst here then there should be, it's because I'm not good at writing PSTD in stories, and haven't had much practice in it so far. Be sure to review as they are always appreciated.
P.S: In case you're wondering, yes, in this AU Cat is Jon's mother.