He pushed his way through the crowd and looked into the pit.

On the far side of the pit lay a huddled heap of mangled flesh surrounded by muddy pink cloth. A large brown grizzly feasted on Brienne's broken body. Her red blood shone starkly, garish on her torn white skin.

For the second time in a moon, Jaime screamed. He was leaping into the pit before he had a conscious thought. He charged at the bear unarmed, prepared to fight it off with his one bare hand. Arrows sailed over his head, forcing the bear to retreat. Jaime fell to his knees next to Brienne. Both his hand and his stump reached for her face.

She lay on her side with her eyes closed. Her face was intact except for a large gash across her cheek. Trembling, his eyes traveled down her body. Blood pulsed from a deep wound in her throat. Her side was torn open, her organs spilled and smashed upon the ground. It was clearly a fatal wound, but it would be a slow and torturous death.

His screams had given way to desperate moans. She was still alive, breathing shallowly. She opened her eyes at the sound of Jaime's voice, glassy with pain. He saw her mouth form his name, but only a strangled gasp came from her ruined throat.

Jaime had seen many deaths, even horrible deaths, but nothing prepared him for the terrible choking feeling in his throat. He felt like a giant's fist had squeezed his windpipe closed. The ache radiated through his chest and body. For a moment he couldn't breathe or see.

"Brienne, oh gods, Brienne, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Oh gods! I should never have left you. Brienne. Oh Brienne!" He tried to gather her into his arms, but parts of her remained streaked on the ground. His stump scrabbled uselessly through the mess of her organs. She let out a hiss of pain when he moved her. He flinched at the sound. There was nothing he could do to ease her pain.

The few minutes he held her felt like hours. At last her eyes rolled back, and she was dead.

Relief flooded through Jaime for a moment before it was quickly replaced by fury. He gently laid Brienne's body down, then stood and picked up her wooden sword. His eyes were dark and terrible. The crowd fell silent. In the blink of an eye, he had climbed out of the pit and was upon them. A day before he had been weak with hunger and infection, but despair lent him a superhuman strength. Lords and soldiers scattered before him. His rampage did not end until he had slaughtered every last onlooker.

****** JBJBJBJBJBJB ******

Author's Notes:

Hoooo boy. This one is a real mood! I churned out this little bucket-o'angst in a half-hour angst dump. Don't know what got into me. It's kind of gory (I'm not into gore, in literature or otherwise), and frankly it's a little gross. It was a couple days after S8E2, and I was drunk on their lingering gazes and probable imminent death. I wanted some despair!

Well, the grimdark mood is gone. It's not entirely polished, and I'm not thrilled with Jaime's sudden unexplained superstrength, but I'm unlikely to work on it much more. So here we are, the product of darkness, love, and a bear. Hooray.