It wasn't until Lollys screamed that Sansa even realised he had entered Maegor's keep. Lollys seemed to scream often nowadays for no apparent reason. Sansa couldn't help but envy her in some strange way. Lollys still had her family. That's what Sansa envied. She wanted her mother to braid her hair again while her brothers were practising in the yard and her father to be alive again because he'd know what to do. She also missed Arya sometimes. All those times Sansa had wished not to share a room with her sister and now it just felt empty without her.
Sansa realised she was dreaming again; about the life she once had and stopped to turn her attention on the new arrivals. It was Ser Lancel Lannister come to address the Queen. They're talking about the war. Are we losing? She wondered.
"He was on the bridge of boats when it broke apart, we think. Ser Mandon's likely gone as well, and no one can find the hound…" and that's all that Sansa heard. Her ears seemed to be ringing and her eyes kept going out of focus. No they weren't. Her vision was clouded by her tears. The tears for the hound. He can't be dead. He can't be. Please don't be dead please. Please. I prayed for him. She felt like she was going to be sick. Everything that had happened between them ran through her mind like a montage in quick succession.
The time Joffrey made her visit her father's head and one of his knights had hit her. Sandor clegane had wiped the blood from her lip and she never knew he could be so gentle. The next time he saved her was when Joffrey wanted to take his wrath out on her for Robb winning another victory. He went as far as telling the King to stop and afterwards gave her his cloak. The time he shared his deepest secret about how he received his burns and she wanted to kiss him then and promised to never tell anyone. It wasn't like in the songs and it never did seem like much but every time he called her "Little bird" she felt a little bit happier each time. He may not have wanted to be a Ser, but he was her knight.
She heard them shouting behind her. Queen Cersei was outraged, Sansa only hoped she was drunk enough to forget this in the morning, if they survived the battle. She didn't care though, not really. She just had to reach him. He had to be OK.
She saw knights inside the walls the fear written all over their faces but she kept running. All her courtesies and fears forgotten as she pushed past anyone in her way. The only thought on her mind was Sandor Clegane. Sansa reached the doors and was just about to wrench them open when she was grabbed from behind.
"What do you think you're doing, you stupid girl!"
"Are you trying to get us all killed?"
"There is no way in hell I am going back out there!"
Sansa didn't recognise any of them. They were just people in the way. She screamed then. Screamed just like Lollys. And she kicked too. A few of her blows didn't land her target. Sansa thought she must look deranged to them all but she just needed to get outside!
"LET. ME. OUT. NOW!" she screamed while flinging her legs and arms about. She heard a crunch and it registered somewhere in her mind that she had hit him in the face, with the force of her blow he dropped her and she feel unceremoniously to the floor. She didn't care that he was bleeding. Sansa ran for the door as the guard fussed over his most likely broken nose.
"Oh" Sansa said aloud. He heart was pounding in her chest and her eyes bulged wide. She prayed to the gods that the hound wasn't in this. There were corpses littering the grounds. Helms and weapons strewn about the place. The sound of battle calls rang in her ears and the stench clung to the inside of her nostrils. It smelt of death. Sansa backed away against the door as she looked around in shocked horror. No matter how far she backed away though, she could still hear the sounds of wood on wood as the ships crashed into each other. The splash as knights fell in the water and the screams that followed as they caught fire. That was the worst part. From here it could also be seen as beautiful in some eerie way. The colour so bright and vibrant that swayed with each ripple of the waves but it was also the deadliest thing Sansa had ever set eyes upon. It was as if the water had turned into a volcano but not even water can stop this destruction. It caught everything that came too near and covered the world in the emerald green shadow of death. No man could escape it once it was on him. Sansa felt paralysed with fear…and then it hit her.
He's alive! As soon as she thought it, she knew it was the truth. She knew it as much as she knew Joffrey wasn't fit to rule. My knight, where would you have fled?
Sansa knew. He had told her what his brother did to him as a child. The fire had scared him in more ways than one. But she still had to find him. It wasn't enough for Sansa to know that he was alive. She had to see it.
Turning she ran back inside the castle. Shouts of protest and confusion followed her as the knights for earlier tried to block her path. It did not matter though, once she was past them all she didn't stop. She felt free, running so fast her dress billowed out behind her, giving her wings. Sansa ran past Maegor's keep once again, not even turning to see who still stood there. Up the stairs she went and tears in her eyes she finally glimpse it. She flung open her room and was greeted with darkness.
She felt like screaming. She thought he would be here. She was so certain. Her disappointment was evident in her voice as she choked back a sob and then she heard it.
"Why are you crying, little bird?"
The voice came from her bedside. His voice. She followed it and finally there he was. Her knight. The man that had saved her in so many different ways. The man she had come to love. She crouched down in front of the hound with a smile on her face.
"I saw the fire, and I…I knew you would be here" Sansa stumbled for the right words but in the end it didn't matter. Sandor reached out for her and she went to him. They held hands in the darkness knelt by each other, sharing his cloak of the kingsguard.
There may have been a war raging on outside of her window but it didn't affect her. Not in that moment because she had her knight with her. It may not have been like in the songs but to Sansa, this was so much sweeter.
