A Light in The Dark
This is NOT A ROMANCE.
Welcome to my first ever GOT fanfiction! It is starring two of my favourite characters: Jaqen H'Ghar and Arya Stark. Their father-daughter/teacher-student relationship is something I love more than anything, and to be honest I wish there was something like this fic in the show :,) But there wasn't, so I made this to make myself feel happier XD
I'm not sure who will read this, but if you do… I hope you enjoy! Please review and tell me what you think! :D
Arya sighed as she dropped onto the bed, cushioning her head on her arms and staring up at the ceiling.
She was getting extremely irritated now. All Jaqen – or whoever he said he was – wanted her to do was sweep the floors of the House of Black and White; she had cleaned them so many times now that she could practically see her face in it!
Why was he doing this? When Arya had had nowhere else to go, she had journeyed to Braavos because she believed Jaqen would be able to help her. And, okay, he had given her a place to sleep, and food, and clothes, but he hadn't been there for her like she had foolishly thought he would.
The man didn't seem to understand the concept of losing someone you loved. She had lost her mother, her father, and her brother. Surely Jaqen knew they were dead? Otherwise, she would be with them, wouldn't she?
And if he did, then making her throw everything that made her Arya Stark into the river, and not even bothering to ask if she was alright once in a while was absolutely horrible, even for him. Sure, she had Needle, but she wasn't supposed to, and if he ever found out, he'd probably smack her with that stick he carried around…
Couldn't she still become No One even if she kept her belongings? They would have made her feel safer to be in a strange country with no money and no family, with a man she barely knew…
And suddenly, Arya felt tears brimming in her eyes.
She missed her parents. She missed Winterfell. She missed her brothers. She missed her friends. She missed Nymeria. She missed Sansa. She had absolutely no one. Even the god-damn Hound was dead at the bottom of a cliff somewhere.
She was so alone.
"Who are you?"
Arya jumped as she turned her head to see Jaqen stood there, grey hood up over his head as he looked at her with that expressionless face of his.
"Not today," the girl said simply, bringing her hand up to wipe her eyes before turning on her side to face the wall.
And then she felt that familiar sting as the Faceless Man cracked his stick down on her arm.
"OW!" Arya screamed as her hand flew down to where he had hit her, immediately sitting up and turning to glare at him.
"Who are you?" he asked again.
Arya felt positively distraught, and couldn't help it as the dam broke and tears came flooding from her eyes. She backed up into the corner of her bed and brought her knees up to her chest, resting her head against them.
Jaqen tilted his head slightly to the side. "Why does a girl cry?" he asked. "A man did not hit her that hard."
Arya shook her head. He was right – he never hit her hard enough for it to ache, only enough for it to hurt for a few minutes and redden a bit. But she couldn't tell him why she was crying. He was a Faceless Man; he wouldn't understand.
When the girl made no move to answer him, Jaqen frowned. Arya was so witty, and short-tempered. Usually he'd get a response shouted angrily at him, or at least a yell of 'No One!', but no… something was different today.
"Arya…" he said, and the Stark didn't even notice that he had called her by her name. "Why do you cry?"
Arya stayed silent, except for the occasional sniff or hiccup, but she felt her heart begin to beat wildly as the bed sank a little, and she realized he had come to sit next to her. She lifted her head slightly, eyes still shining with unshed tears, and looked at the stick still clenched in the man's fist. Jaqen saw this, and threw it to the floor, the impact of it hitting the hard ground making it echo around the room.
He looked back at Arya, face slightly less expressionless. "Something tells me that a girl has something on her mind."
Arya shrugged, not meeting his gaze. "No," she said.
"Yes," Jaqen insisted, raising one dark eyebrow slightly. "And a man is not leaving until a girl tells him."
Arya couldn't help but think of what the reasons behind him caring were. He shouldn't. He was No One. And so was she. If she told him why she was upset, surely he would tell her to bury those thoughts, as they were a part of Arya Stark. But then again… he was the only one she could speak to, and she needed someone to spill all her tormenting thoughts to…
"If I tell you," she said hesitantly, "you might hit me."
The corners of the Faceless Man's mouth drew upwards, and he put his hands out in front of him. "A man promises," he said. "Unless a girl asks him to kill himself again."
Arya giggled, and she felt her foul mood starting to drop slightly, as well as being a little confused as to why Jaqen was acting this way. He was less of a tense, distant… 'Jaqen-y' man and more of a… well… he seemed like he cared about her. Which was strange.
Slowly, Arya sat up properly. She stayed in her corner, still a little wary of the man who had hit her with a stick only a moment ago, but crossed her legs and put her hands in her lap. "I-well… I don't know where to start."
"A man is patient."
Arya glanced at him quickly before sighing and speaking again. "You know about my father, don't you?"
Jaqen nodded once, and the girl continued.
"Okay… um. Well, I'm not sure if you know this, but… but my brother, Robb, and my mother… they were killed by Roose Bolton at a-a wedding not long ago…"
Jaqen said nothing, and so Arya took a deep breath and looked down, trying to think of what to say next. She wasn't sure he'd understand, but it would be nice to get it off her shoulders at least, even if she didn't receive the comfort she craved. She wished more than anything that she was sat on her bed in Winterfell, her mother, or her father, or Robb, or Jon, or even Sansa sitting beside her, waiting to hear what she had to say. Gods, she missed them all so much!
"I feel so alone, Jaqen," she suddenly burst out, not even caring that she had used the name he insisted belonged to a man that was now dead. "My parents are gone, my brother is gone, I have no idea where my other siblings are and if they are still alive, Winterfell is gone, Theon is gone… I have no one… and I know you say that if I am to become No One then I must get rid of Arya, but… but that scares me! Being nothing scares me! And I don't understand how I can become nothing if my f-family is constantly on Arya- on my mind!" And tears flooded from her eyes, running down her cheeks and dropping onto the bed. She felt so stupid for crying in front of a man she held a lot of respect for and wanted to be like, but she had been holding it in for so long that she was just unable to keep it there any longer.
"A girl is brave to have told me this," Jaqen said quietly. "I can see it is something you have said to no one."
"I have no one to say it to," Arya said, voice breaking slightly as she took in a shuddery breath.
Jaqen smiled at this. "You have a man."
The girl looked up. "But-"
"No," the Faceless Man firmly interrupted her. "Whoever a girl is, whoever a girl becomes, she will always have me."
Arya felt herself calm slightly at those words, although she was still a little unsure. "But you're so bent on me becoming No One… why are you letting me talk about my- about Arya's troubles?"
Jaqen was such a confusing man, yet, oddly, the girl felt so much admiration for him. It was almost like… almost like she loved him, as she had loved her father… she didn't know why, but he always seemed to be there when she needed someone most, whether it be to kill someone who was chasing her, or to comfort her broken heart, if this was allowed to be classed as comforting…
"A girl has time," Jaqen said after a while. "You have only just arrived here. Things will be… difficult at first, and a man accepts this. He knows a girl is young, and inexperienced, and has lost much of her family. I do not know how that feels, but I promise I will try to understand how you feel. A man is not cruel, you must know that. He wants only the best for a girl, and the best is what a girl wants. A girl wants to become No One, and a man must help with that. Do you understand?"
Arya nodded, completely overcome by what the Faceless Man had said. She had had no idea he was even capable of speaking those words. "I… I think so," she said, reaching up to wipe a tear from her nose.
Jaqen nodded. "I am not uncapable of feelings, despite being No One. No One is not stone, he is not clay, he is not bricks… No One is a man, and a man is No One. Just like a girl. You are afraid of becoming 'nothing', so you say. You will never be nothing. A girl will become No One, just like she was Arya Stark, which is someone, is it not? She will always have that name, but she must learn not to use it. Are you still afraid?"
Arya said nothing for a moment, but she felt that she was no longer as scared of becoming No One as she had been before. Her eyes flicked up as the Faceless Man continued to speak.
"A girl will never be alone. A man understands that terrible things have happened in your life, and though I am not your flesh and blood, and I am not your father, I will be here, if a girl needs me."
And this time, Arya found she knew exactly what to say.
"Thank you," she said, a smile gracing her lips. She felt her tears subside, and a warmness fill her heart at the kind words of the only man she had left now. And before she knew it, she had left the corner of her bed, and was crawling towards the Faceless Man, circling her arms around his neck and resting her head on his robed shoulder. Jaqen returned the hug with a small smile on his face, not at all indecisively.
"A man does not need thanks. A man does not want thanks," he said, and Arya pulled back.
"But a girl gives it to him all the same," she said, and the man chuckled, patting her on the shoulder before bending down to pick up his stick and stand to his feet. Turning, he looked at Arya.
"Who are you?" he asked, and the Stark smiled.
"A girl is No One, and No One is a girl," she said, and Jaqen nodded, turning to walk out of the room.
"Wait!"
The man paused, looking over his shoulder at Arya, who hesitated slightly before biting her bottom lip and beginning to speak. "You don't have to be flesh and blood to be a father, you know. Remember that," she told him.
Jaqen's dark eyes twinkled for a moment, before he said 'good night', and walked out of the door, a smile playing on his lips that would remain there for the rest of the night.
May [he] be the light
in the dark
when all other lights
go out
Valar Morghulis
Valar Dohaeris