Arya peeked through the trees and saw a lone deer standing in the middle of a small circle of trees. Its head was down as it chewed on something, perhaps food, or perhaps some leaves, it didn't matter. She chewed her lower lip, squinting her eyes in concentration.

She must've stepped on a leave or something because she heard a crunching sound, followed by a sound coming from the prey as its head shot up. The stag was spooked now, and another noise would make it run. She cursed under her breath. Gods was she hungry. Food was so scarce nowadays, and no one was giving out hand—outs, nor did many people open their doors to her. She managed to find a nice family who let her stay in their inn for about a month or two…until they asked her to begin paying, then she just darting off into the woods, fending for herself.

Arya unsheathed the dagger from her belt as quietly as possible. She gripped it in her hand and leapt towards her dinner. She caught in her arms and it tried to squirm free. She slit its throat and it stopped squirming. A breeze flew in and the wind seemed to sigh through the red leaves of the trees. Arya took a deep breath as she wiped the sweat of her forehead.

…

It's so cold, she thought to herself as she rubbed her hands together next to the fire. Her fire burnt low. Arya stared at the embers that swayed and danced all around the fire. Her teeth chattered as she ate her food. Arya thought about how lonely it was here. To be fair, Arya never really liked company, they always slowed her down, but this was different; she missed the eating and laughing around the warm fire, the jokes they would share, and the silly quarrels they would have. But the one thing she missed the most was the sense of belonging. Sure, it wasn't something she was used to, always being the odd one out, and always being alienated from those her age, but when she was with her old friends, she felt like she had a place there—maybe a small place, but still a place.

Arya's thoughts stopped when she heard a loud crunching sound. Her head shot up as she looked all around her. Her hand reached for her obsidian blade, her eyes wide to see better, but she saw nothing but darkness.

"Mind sharin' some food, mate?" a male voice asked through the darkness.

"Who are you?!" she called out, "I have a weapon with me, and I'll kill you with it without a second thought. Now, tell me, who are you?!"

A man emerged from the shadows. He didn't look like a threat, but everyone was dangerous to her. He looked around twenty-two; he had a strong jaw, and was tanned. He was built and covered in sweat. He had black stubble along his jaw, and his hair was a long mop of shaggy black hair. The man had a curiously familiar pair of piercing blue eyes. Arya tilted her head, could it really be? After all these years?

"Do you mind not starin' at my face so hard? I'm quite hungry, and you seem to have some food there. Mind sharin'? Er…what's your name?" he said, rubbing his neck.

Arya chewed her lip, "Tell me who you are first…"

The man flashed a smile, "Gendry…" he said, extending out his hand, "Gendry Waters..."

"Are you gonna tell me who you are?" Gendry smiled again. Does he know who I am? She thought, maybe not, considering we haven't seen each—other in a while…And I no longer look like a small boy.

She was right; she didn't look like a boy anymore. She was flowered, and her hair grew out to a long tousle of soft curls which she usually just had in a side braid. No longer did she have a stick figure, there was now a soft curve in her hips.

"That's no business of yours…" she said, turning away from him, walking back to her seat.

"Wait, wait, no, you can't do that…" he said, following her, "I told you who I was, now you gotta tell me who you are…" Arya turned back to face him and he shrugged, his hands up, "It's only fair…"

Arya rolled her eyes, "I'm Ebony Stone…" she lied.

"Ebony Stone?" he raised his brow, "What kind of a name is that?"

"I didn't make fun of your stupid name, Gendry Waters"

"I wasn't making fun of your name, Arya Stark…"

Arya froze, cursing under her breath, "Who's Arya?" she asked, lying once again, maybe if I keep lying, he'll stop thinking that I'm Arya. I stopped being Arya a long time ago, so is it really lying? "I told you, my name is Ebony…"

"Cut the crap, Arya," he shook his head, sitting down next to her, rubbing his arms, "I know that face and attitude anywhere…"

Arya sighed, there was no point in lying anymore, he was too damn persistent, "Fine," she rolled her eyes, "What are you doing here, Gendry? It's been far too long for me to welcome you back into my arms…"

Gendry frowned, biting his lower lip, "Yeah, I knew you wouldn't ever forgive me for leaving…"

"So why are you back?"

"I ran away from everything. It just got too heavy, and I couldn't handle it. Not without you…" he chuckled, "Ha, you were the only thing that really kept be sane back then, even though you were a huge pain in my arse…" Gendry pursed his lips, "I guess I'm here is because I wanted to find you. There were so many rumours that you were dead, and that was so hard to process. I knew that you weren't dead; I knew that you couldn't be dead. Hells, maybe I didn't want to believe it. So I ran away and searched for you, I knew you weren't dead, you can't be killed…"

"Anyone can be killed…" she whispered to herself.

"But you can't, Arya," he murmured, "I won't allow it."

Gendry leaned in to hug her and Arya froze, not knowing what to do. Should I hug him back or slap him on the chest for leaving me all those years past? No, he doesn't deserve my forgiveness, or my love.

Arya pushed him off, and began slapping him on the chest. He fell down and she was on top of him, straddling his waist as she continued slapping and punching his chest. She yelled and yelled, what she yelled was unknown for it was muffled by her fast breathing and the tears in her eyes. Eventually, she gave up as she rolled off him and curled up on the ground.

She thought she had forgotten about him, forgotten what he had done to her, forgotten the residual pain that he left behind…she thought it was gone, but all he did was scratch the scab off, and allowed it to bleed all over again.

How unbearable…