A/N: Okay, so Living in King's Landing is still being written, and I'm working on the sequel to Let's Not Go There, but this PLOT BUNNY IS NOT LEAVING ME ALONE AND IT IS SCREWING MY WRITING UP so here is yet another Gendry/Arya story.

Disclaimer: I own this plot, but no recognisable characters or the ASOIAF series. Those go to George R.R. Martin and to Dan Weiss and David Benioff for the HBO series.

Warnings:

This fic contains substance use and abuse, attempted suicide, suicidal thoughts, self harm, sex with a minor, domestic abuse, verbal abuse, bullying and mental illness. It is in a different universe to my other fics.

Chapter One: Welcome to My Life:

Arya Stark groaned as her alarm clock buzzed at six thirty on Monday morning. She felt the now-familiar weight settle in her chest as she fought the urge to lie in bed all day and avoid contact with everyone she knew. After what seemed an age, but was in reality a few seconds, Arya crawled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and felt her usual loathing towards herself as she undressed for the shower, trying to force her mind to stay away from thoughts of them.

As the hot water scalded Arya's skin, she woke up fully and contemplated what her day at school would be like. Probably no different to what it usually is, she thought, bleak, dull and full of fuckwits. Arya washed her hair and soaped her body up, her heart panging at the sight of her scars on her arms, stomach and thighs.

Arya swore that when she started being bullied at the age of eleven by the very same people who bullied her now that she wouldn't let their words get to her. Joffrey Baratheon, Mykaela Frey, Elmar Frey, Verity Lannister (a third-cousin once removed of Joffrey) and even to an extent her sister Sansa and Sansa's best friends Jeyne Poole and Margaery Tyrell had started out by ridiculing her for her rebellious haircut at the age of eleven – a short cut that in hindsight looked absolutely horrible and made her look like a boy, but the bullying had grown more intense as the years passed on. Arya surmised that they had simply enjoyed tormenting her.

Arya was sick of constantly looking over her shoulder at school, wondering when she was going to have sauce thrown onto her uniform, wondering when someone was going to trip and ruin her schoolbooks, wondering when she would be humiliated in other ways that she hoped her sister's group would never think of…

Arya shuddered as she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower to dry herself before dressing in her Riverrun Private School uniform – a royal blue pleated skirt, black tights and shoes, a white blouse with a royal blue blazer and matching necktie, all with the seven-pointed star of the Seven embedded into it.

Arya had never wanted to go to Riverrun Private School – she didn't believe in the Seven, but much rather preferred the Old Gods like her father. She had wanted to go to Winterfell Private School, but the children's education was something that Catelyn had put her foot down on and, seeing as she was a previous student at Riverrun Private School, she felt it would be the best place to straighten her unruly, wild daughter out.

Arya ran a brush through her hair and frowned at her reflection – pale, with dark shadows under her eyes, colourless, bland and not at all like her beautiful mother and sister. Arya knew she was jealous of Sansa for her fiery auburn curtain of straight hair and beautiful sky blue eyes, but her pride would never let her admit it. Arya truly didn't find anything about herself that she liked – where Sansa's face was heart-shaped, hers was long and solemn, where Sansa had gorgeous straight hair, Arya's was a dull dark brown and wavy, where Sansa had gorgeous blue eyes, Arya had boring dark grey eyes, where Sansa had a healthy weight-height ratio, Arya was tall, skinny and looked in desperate need of feeding and where Sansa was talented at almost everything she tried, Arya had to work thrice as hard to get decent grades. She felt that all the good gifts had gone to Sansa and Arya was left with the leftovers.

These dark thoughts penetrated Arya's mind and her hands shook as she fought against grabbing a razor from the drawer and running the blade along her skin, feeling her stress leave her as she focused on the satisfying burn that followed slicing her skin.

Taking deep breaths, Arya stared for a moment longer before losing it; her mind went blank as tears spilled from her eyes and she grabbed the razor and unbuttoned her blouse, slicing her skin over the scars that had recently healed. She gasped as the razor hit her skin…You deserve this, you're weak and good for nothing, you're jealous of your sister and for good reason…what do you have compared to her…these thoughts slowly left her as she continued cutting into her flesh until her head cleared. She washed the razor in the basin and put it back in the drawer before using toilet tissue to clean the blood on her abdomen.

Arya closed her eyes at the burn that followed her session and she flushed the toilet tissue before doing up her blouse again and heading downstairs to get some breakfast.

"Joffrey and I have been going out for a month now," was the first thing Arya heard when she went downstairs. She rolled her eyes and helped herself to cereal, forcing herself to eat though it tasted like cardboard in her mouth. She knew that if she skipped breakfast, her mother would instantly be on her like a hawk and while Arya loved how caring Catelyn Stark was, she was not in the mood for overbearing-mother mode. Swallowing her food, Arya smirked at Sansa.

"Opened your legs for him yet?" she asked.

"Arya," Catelyn gasped.

"I've lived here for sixteen years and you're still not used to me?"Arya asked Catelyn. Sansa glowered at Arya.

"Just because no boy would ever look twice at you it doesn't mean you have to express your jealousy in such a manner," she snapped and Arya was stung. Sure, she enjoyed ridiculing Sansa for her embarrassing crush on Joffrey, but she had feelings too and she had liked people in the past.

"Just because I'm not a total slut it doesn't mean I haven't been noticed," she shot back and Sansa's eyes flashed angrily.

"I'm not a slut," she spat. "At least I'm not an ugly little bitch." Arya felt her stomach sink – while she didn't care what she looked like when she was a young girl, she did care what she looked like now and for her own sister to call her ugly…

"Girls!" Catelyn snapped. "Clear the table and get to school, and I'll hear no more of this ridiculous fighting, You're sisters; you should be closer than you are." Arya and Sansa silently cleared the table and left as Bran and Rickon came downstairs. Arya envied them their nine o'clock starts – she and Sansa had to be at Riverrun by eight thirty.

Arya put on her leather jacket and pants and put her helmet on before getting onto her motorbike which she had fondly named Needle – the only thing she had from her dead cousin Jon, who had died being betrayed by his fellow soldiers in Sothoryos. Arya kicked the bike to life and outstripped Sansa's Porsche, leaving it in the dust.

As Arya drove the familiar route to Riverrun, she wondered how she and Sansa had grown so distant. Sure, they had never been the closest of siblings, but they did have occasions where they got along splendidly. Arya remembered more than a few incidents where she snuck into Sansa's room with lemon cakes and hot chocolate and they would talk into the night about nothing and everything, but that had all stopped when Sansa befriended the people who had started bullying Arya and defending them and denying that they ever did anything to her, effectively calling her a liar and an attention-seeker.

Ned and Catelyn didn't know about the bullying – Arya felt she was handling it the best she could and she reminded herself that as of next year, the gang would be gone from that school and they would leave her and her friends at peace.

Shireen Baratheon, Willow Heddle, Hot Pie and Lommy Greenhands were Arya's best friends and had been since they each joined the little gang. Each and every one of them were bullied – Shireen had had a large scar on her face from a rare disease she had as a baby and Arya was disgusted that Joffrey, who was Shireen's cousin, gave her grief for it every day.

Willow was at Riverrun on a sport scholarship for track and field and she and Arya had been in a relationship two years previous, something Mykaela Frey found out about when she caught them kissing behind the school one day and the next thing they both knew, they were being made fun of for being lesbians. Arya clenched her jaw furiously – she and Willow couldn't help being bisexual and having feelings for each other.

Hot Pie had been chosen for a baking scholarship when he was and his family owned the Hot Pie baking business. According to Hot Pie, his mother had been high when she named him and therefore his full name was Hot Apple Pie, something he was given grief for – that and the fact that he was a scholarship student and overweight.

Lommy Greenhands had an art scholarship and was therefore judged as a pansy and not a proper man by – surprise, surprise – Joffrey. His work was amazing and he wanted to pursue his career in King's Landing, but he had low self-esteem due to the bullying.

Arya pulled into the school and shut off her motorbike and took off her gear. She headed to the cafeteria where she knew her friends would be and braced herself for another day in this deep pit of the Seven Hells.

"You okay?" Shireen asked softly as soon as Arya sat down. Being best friends since their first day as primary school students, Shireen knew Arya better than anyone, so of course she picked up on Arya's mood straight away.

"Just sick of everything," she said quietly, not noticing her friends sharing a worried look. "Sansa and Joffrey have been together for a month and she was…"

"Being her usual self?" Lommy suggested and Arya forced a smile.

"Pretty much," she said. "Anyway…it's just hard to deal with them when I constantly live with one of them at home. Never mind that Jeyne is there practically every day and soon Joffrey will be too if he has his way…"

"You can always crash at one of our houses," Shireen said kindly. "Dad likes you even if he doesn't show it."

"Thanks," Arya said with a small, but genuine smile. The bell rang for class and they all stood and went their separate ways – Hot Pie and Lommy to History, Willow to English, Shireen to Biology and Arya to advanced maths.

If there was one thing Arya prided herself on, it was that she was brilliant at maths. She remembered many a time where she helped her father with calculations for his business and she loved the challenge that the advanced maths class gave her.

After class in which everyone completed the Linear Equations chapter, Arya headed to art which was definitely her worst subject. She was too impatient for painting and she didn't have the eye for the detailed.

After art, Arya headed to Literature and everyone in the class had their snack as they copied notes from the board for the text on Visenya Targaryen and were assigned their assignment – the Dragons helped shape Westeros into what it is today – discuss. The essay was to be five thousand words which was difficult but possible.

Arya headed to lunch and sat with Shireen, Lommy, Hot Pie and Willow and found it odd that only Sansa, Jeyne and Margaery were sitting at their usual table. Brows furrowing in confusion, Arya looked at her friends and saw they had noticed the same thing.

"Where're the dickheads?" Willow asked through a mouthful of chicken and salad roll. Arya shrugged and stood, taking her rubbish to the bin and walking back. She stopped short at the three familiar figures around the familiar motorbike and, horrified, she left at a run, Willow, Shireen, Lommy and Hot Pie following and she saw what had happened.

It took a moment for Arya to register that the scream that could be heard was coming from her mouth and she ran forwards to inspect the damages done to her bike. The paint was completely scratched off and it had been set alight – nothing would salvage it, of that she was sure.

Arya felt her entire world crumble as the only thing she had of her favourite person in the world was now ruined and she felt that now that there wasn't anything tying her to Jon, there was nothing worth living for. Perhaps if there was an afterlife of some sort, Jon would welcome her with open arms, mess her hair and call her 'little sister' like he used to…when he hadn't been betrayed by those people he called brothers, when he hadn't run off to war and when she hadn't watched his casket be buried in the crypts underneath the ancient manor house her family resided in. Arya silently held her hand out and, sensing what she wanted, Shireen dropped her car keys into her hand. Arya went to Shireen's Mini Cooper and drove, not stopping until she got home to Winterfell.

Arya lost the fight against Joffrey, Elmar and Mykaela…they won. They weren't going to hear from her again; no one would ever hear from her again, she'd make sure of it. Walking to the bathroom she was in that morning – was it only that morning – she took out what she had bought off her dealer a year ago and deduced there was enough. Arya took the pills, not knowing what they were called, only knowing they made her forget about everything that ever brought her down…

Arya crumpled to the floor as everything went black.

A/N: Arya is MAJORLY depressed in this, so I'm sorry if it's out of character, which it totally is. Yes, Jon is dead in this story, sort of like how he 'died' at the Wall but he was shot instead of stabbed. Arya is bullied every day by Sansa, Jeyne, Margaery, Mykaela Frey (an OC), Elmar Frey and Joffrey, though Sansa, Jeyne and Margaery pull back and keep it tame. Why has she not told anyone, you ask? Simple. She's too proud, considers herself too strong to have help from adults. She's fiercely independent and that includes not telling her parents about the bullying (though you shouldn't think they're as clueless as they let on).
Yes, Arya attempted suicide after losing the one thing that held her together – Jon's motorbike. It kills me that he has to be dead but it's necessary for her character and a major reason as to why she is as depressed as she is – the bullying simply enhances her anger, grief and sadness.

Anyway, enough of that. Tell me what you think by pressing the blue button that says "Review" – you know you can't miss it ;)

Until next time!