It's amazing what one can write in a History lesson while she avoids doing work. So yes, this is my first ever ASoIaF/GoT story, also my first ever Arya/Gendry. So if it's a little ooc or crappy, let me say sorry in advance.

But hey ho, here you go. ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE RIGHTFUL PERSON.

It had to be a dream, there was no other explanation for what he was seeing in front of him. Her hair was longer, almost to the middle of her back, messy from the long ride she'd surely had. Mud splattered the bottom of her brown trousers, turning the fabric a different colour, hugging to her legs where they might have once hung lose. But he knew it was her by the sword at her belt, tied securely around her waist, thin and delicate, made just right for a 9 year old girls hand. He must have looked odd to the people in the inn, stood in the doorway staring at a girl, no, a womans back, because that's what she was now, a woman grown.

"Seven hells." he muttered stepping into the the inn to allow the door enough room to close. Any head not looking at him was now, including her. Any doubt he had vanished when he saw her face, her eyes. The baby fat was gone from her face and in it's place left the skin had drawn tight over her check bones, giving the impression she hand't eaten in a long time. But her eyes hand't changed, they were still grey like an on coming storm, like winter, like the North. It was really her, and if he was dreaming, he'd take it over the reality of her being dead.

"Arya?"

She looked at him, her eyes searching his face for something, looking in his eyes, doing what he'd done moments before. A part of her wanted to run away from the feelings stirring inside her, run and hide, but even she knew there was no chance of that. He wouldn't let her run, not this time.

"Gendry?"The name sounded strange and foreign on her tongue where it had once been right. His shoulders where broader, filling out what little of a boys frame he had once had, but his hair was still the same. Unruly on his head, falling into his eyes as he said her name, his eyes looking her over, those blue eyes that seemed to tell her everything. They were looking her over like she was some sort of dream that would vanish.

"Arya? It's you. It's really you." He sounded stupid even to his own ears, but he couldn't help himself, not now when she was so close to him.

"Who'd you think I am stupid."she said, reverting back to using the name 'stupid' like a defense.

"We all thought you were dead. Everyone thought it. I thought it." there was pain in his eyes she noticed, a pain she's caused.

"I...I...I'm not. And if I was, I didn't think you'd mind, you left me remember? You left me to join Beric and his stupid brotherhood." She didn't mean for it to come out as harsh as it had, but only when Gendry flinched slightly did she realise how it must have sounded. She was more angry about it then she'd realised.

"That's not true. I searched for you when you disappeared. I searched that whole forest and every other place we went, I looked for you. Everywhere! You're the one who walked out that night, remember? If you'd just stayed The Hound wouldn't have gotten you, wouldn't have taken you! When we heard you were spotted near the Twins during the Red Wedding, we all thought...we thought you were dead. No one saw you after that, no one. And then when that stupid rumor got to uh about you marrying Bolton, that's when we knew it wasn't true. Not you, you wouldn't marry him, you'd sooner die." He'd stepped closer to her while he'd been talking, part of him knew this wasn't how this was meant to go, he shouldn't be shouting at her. But he couldn't stop.

"I...I didn't kn-" she'd stared talking, trying to defend herself from him words, but he cut in before she could get far.

"Where did you go? Why didn't you let us, let me know you were okay? Seven hells Arya! Where were you! It's been 5 years!"

She didn't know what made her do it, one moment she was stood looking at him, tears slowly forming in his eyes from the stress of his words, the next she was running at him and jumping up to wrap her arms around his neck, they way she'd once hugged Jon, all those years ago.

He hadn't expected it, but there she was, clinging to him like it was all she could do, and his arms wounded themselves around her waist, holding her close as her feet dangled from the ground. He was still taller then her, by a head at least. She smelt the same as she had all those years ago, of wood and leaves and horses and the North. Still the North clung to her like it was it's last hope, like she was clinging to him now.

"I'm sorry, you're right. I did leave you. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have." She mumbled softly against his shoulder, closing her eyes to block out the tears. "I didn't know what else to do."

"It's okay. You're here now, you're back, you're alive. It's okay. You can go home now. It's okay." He was well awere he was repeating himself and of the confused looks the people of the inn where giving them, but he didn't care. She was alive, living and breathing and that's all that mattered right then. Whatever was coming or going to happen could wait, because this wasn't a dream and everything suddenly seemed okay.

Thoughts on what you think of it would be greatly accepted, thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed it.