This fic is part of the works for the Arya and Gendry Exchange, today is the first day and my work is for Baratheonbabe, as a response to the prompt "Arya as a witch and Gendry as a witch hunter, any universe."
Obviously, I don't own A Song of Ice and Fire. And I apologize for any mistakes (since I'm not an English native speaker)
I hope you like it!
ENJOY!
It was the 21st century, witches and supernatural creatures appeared in every movie, book or even on TV – but still nobody believed them to be actually real.
Arya knew that they were real, very very real – her mother had been from a long line of water witches, her family had for long protected the Riverlands. Every one of her kids had inherited her powers, even Arya, who unlike her siblings had her father's look; on her father's side there were very few stories of existing witches or wizards (and the ones that existed had been so long ago), but there were also stories, more recent – from three centuries past – of witch hunters.
Arya was coming home after going to the city to buy more food for them, when she heard a noise coming from the woods, she quickly turned and found nothing there, and started moving again – but her fists were clenched, ready to attack if needed, but nothing happened – so she arrived to her small cottage safely.
She took out the key from her pocket, trying to hold the bags in her other hand, and pushed the door open with her back, not noticing the people already present in the room, and when turning, she couldn't help but yell.
"Oh… Gods!" And at the same time, dropped the bags, so she could cover her eyes. "Can't you use your fucking room?"
"We thought you wouldn't be home until later," Theon said, standing naked behind the couch, only with a pillow covering himself, while Jeyne looked from behind him, hugging his chest.
"Right," Arya said, wanting to get out of there. "Where are Sansa and Myrcella?"
"In the back, training."
"Okay, I'm going to meet them," she pondered about going through the back door, but she would probably have to see some parts of Jeyne and Theon she didn't wish to, so she stepped back to the front door. "Call us when you finish whatever you're doing. And pack the bags. Dressed please."
Arya moved around the house, but she couldn't but keep picturing how much Theon's body had changed. He had grew up being best friends with her brother and cousin, until Arya and her family moved South, and had been a lot of times she had seen him shirtless, flirting with the girls who lived in the neighbourhood – he had been fit enough, with what Arya knew most girls considered a hot body – but now he was so skinny, and she couldn't help but notice that it seemed that parts of his skin had been peeled off, to join his missing fingers (in his feet too, besides the ones in his hands).
Arya tried to shake off the images of what Theon (and Jeyne) had suffered in the hands of the man who took the Starks' home and killed her younger brothers, before the couple had finally gotten away and found refuge with Arya and Sansa – if when they were kids, someone had told her that she would be actually agreeing to live with the girl who called her Arya Horseface, she would have laughed in their face, but now here she was…
When she reached the backyard, she quickly caught Myrcella moving blocks of dirt around, at least until Sansa was thrown back, Myrcella quickly stopped everything and ran to Sansa.
"I'm so sorry, Sansa… I didn't want to…" Myrcella said, trying to help Sansa up. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, it's nothing," Sansa said, checking the back of her head for any injuries. "You need to concentrate more."
"I was, I really was, I promise. But then the air started moving around me, and I couldn't hold everything."
"We will keep working on it," Arya told her, jumping the fence and joining them.
"You're back already?!" Sansa enquired.
"No, I'm still at the store," Arya answered sarcastically, rolling her eyes, before adding. "Did you know Jeyne and Theon are fucking inside the house?"
"Arya! Don't use that word!" Sansa reprehended her.
"What word?! Fucking? Ohh… Fuck! I can't say fucking, that's fucked up you know. Oh… fuck… I shouldn't say fuck either, right?! Or fucked up?!" Arya said, mocking her sister, who didn't seem to like it, while she could see Myrcella trying not to laugh.
"Theon and Jeyne need some time alone too," Sansa said seriously. "Leave them alone, Arya."
"But why are they in the fucking living room? We gave them one of the rooms, while we three share the other."
"Come here, Arya," Sansa said, calling her to sit next to her, and Arya came forward, while she noticed Myrcella moving closer to the lake to keep training. "Arya, very bad things happened to both of them in the hands of Ramsay Snow. Jeyne was in a relationship with him, and he wasn't a man who took no for an answer, Arya." Arya knew bad things had happened, but she didn't liked to think how bad had been. And when they arrived, Arya had been too worried trying to process the fact that her little brothers had been killed. "It took her a long time to be able to trust Theon in the way you found them, or him to trust her either, you have noticed how much he has changed from the old Theon we knew. They had only been sharing a room for comfort before, but now they are trying to trust each other, and Theon is trying to get a bit of his old self back again."
"What do you mean old self?" Arya didn't want to have Theon flirting with every girl all the time.
"Of course, not in that way. He really cares for Jeyne, he just wants to gain a bit of his confidence back, it seems that to him means doing it in inappropriate places," Sansa said blushing.
"Okay, just tell Jeyne to not use the kitchen, for fuck's sake."
"I will," Sansa said, and couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Now we should really go and help Myrcella." So they both stood up and moved to where their friend was; water was the element Myrcella could better control, since both Arya and Sansa had been taught by their mother on it and they had taught Myrcella everything they had learned before moving South.
"Cella, how's it going?" Arya asked.
"Good," she said, without dropping or blowing up the bubbles she had created. "I want to try something can you hold the bubbles?" Both girls agreed and took their place, each of them choosing one, and enlarging it.
They both looked directly at Myrcella, waiting to see what she would do, she only closed her eyes and concentrated, and after a few moments Sansa's bubble caught on fire, which caught Sansa by surprise, and then while Myrcella still held the bubble on fire, with the air she reached for the one in Arya's hand and dropped it on Sansa's to put out the fire.
"Did it work?" Myrcella asked with her eyes still closed.
"Yes, I think so," Sansa said.
"I think I'm getting better at these easy things," Myrcella said, opening her eyes. "But it's still painful to use all the powers at once." Yes, that's the unique thing about Myrcella… she was a witch who could control the four elements – water, earth, air and fire. This was already rare, only intensifying that she came from a family with no known witches – more shocking a family of witch hunters, the same ones who killed Sansa and Arya's parents and older brother; that was why she ended up here, having had to run from home – but she never told them how she got away.
"I'm sure that with time it will become easier," Sansa said. "We could barely do anything when we started; it took years for mom to teach us enough so we wouldn't cause a flood or something. I can't imagine what must be trying to control the four elements at once." Arya couldn't help but feel sad at the mention of their mother, mom hadn't been able to finish her classes with Arya – mother and Robb were suppose to know how to use it, but they were still killed…
"I'm just afraid I'm going to hurt someone," Myrcella whispered.
"We can talk to Theon, about some kind of potion to help you manage it," Sansa suggested, but Myrcella shook her head, knowing that if she wanted to keep training, she couldn't loose her powers.
"I think I heard my name," they heard Theon saying coming from the house, luckily dressed this time.
"Nothing of your business, Theon," Arya yelled back. "Is it safe to go back? Or are you and Jeyne still fucking in the living room?" Arya could see Sansa rolling her eyes again to her type of language, while Theon didn't even have the sense to blush – and somehow Arya was happy for him, that mean he would get back to his old self… but maybe without so many smirks.
"Yes, you can come in. We also packed the stuff in the kitchen, and Jeyne is making dinner."
They moved inside, the house was incredibly small, especially for five people – and comparing to the house they had in Winterfell or even the penthouse in King's Landing – it was only a living room connected to the kitchen, two bedrooms and one bathroom.
The girls immediately walked to the kitchen, and right after Arya made it inside the kitchen, Jeyne blushed, and tried to hide her face behind her hair, Arya was about to make a comment when Sansa sent her a I will kill you look, and Arya couldn't help but keep her mouth shut.
Sansa joined Jeyne at the counter and they continued working on dinner, while Myrcella put the table, Arya noticing Theon outside, decided to join him, he was chopping the wood, or at least trying, his lack of fingers made it complicated for him to hold the axe – but he still thought it was his mission as the man of the house to do it.
"Theon," she greeted him, and he looked back at her, having done this enough times with her, he passed her the axe, and traded for the job of putting the logs in place for her to cut. Neither of them ever said anything, Arya could understand he didn't like giving up this job.
They had gone through a big part of them, when Jeyne came outside to tell them dinner was ready and that they could go in. Myrcella had put her book aside, and was making space on the table for Sansa to bring the pan filled with pasta to them, Arya took her place next to the blond girl, putting the book behind her, Sansa took the head of the table, while Theon and Jeyne sat next to each other on the other side.
And as every other night before, they ate together, Arya took the opportunity to share the news from the city and the rest of Westeros – some were happy, others sad – but Myrcella was always the one who suffered the most with the news, because either the Lannisters lost or gained power, she could never go home again.
Arya was coming home from the city once again, and as every time she left this past month, she could feel someone following her, and hear weird noises from the bushes. Arya hadn't told anyone about this, if she had, she knew they would want to leave again, and Arya didn't want that, she liked their little cottage in the Riverlands – it reminded her of her mother's stories – so she knew that this time she couldn't let it go and needed to find the source of those sounds.
So she waited... whoever or whatever it was couldn't wait forever. Its presence was strong, and she needed to know what it wanted; it had been about an hour when the moment presented itself, another noise came from the bushes and Arya was able to call to the underground waters which ruptured the soil and were able to catch it – and then she heard a yell.
"Fuck off! Let me go," a male's voice, clearly, so Arya made her move to him, he was with his back turned to her while trying to fight the water, but she could see he was much bigger than her (maybe would have been better to bring Theon… he wasn't as strong as before, but at least he didn't look as a fucking ant compared to this man… boy…), in height but also in muscle, he could probably hold her down easily, so she knew she had to use her powers as her real advantage. So catching him by surprise, she was able to push him from the bushes to the clearing where she had waited for him.
The boy turned and finally looked at her, he had black hair (that Sansa and Jeyne would probably mention was too uncombed, much like hers), and the most blue eyes, she had ever seen – so different from her mother's or Sansa's… or her brothers'… For a second she could read fear in the boy's face, but quickly having the water left him alone, he regained his senses and was ready to face her head on.
"What do you want?" He asked from the floor, still not able to stand up.
"I should be the one to ask that, you've been following me for weeks," the boy looked truly surprised at that, he can't actually think he was doing a good job, can he? "Do you actually fucking think I wouldn't hear you?"
"You weren't supposed to," the boy answered.
"So maybe you should a fucking better job at it," Arya told him, and the boy seemed a bit shocked by it. "But what I asked it what do you want for me? Why are you following me?"
And to that the boy closed off, and she knew that for now she would get nothing out of him; use your powers, stupid, a voice said in her head, but another, quite resembling her sister's said manners first.
"At least your name can I know?" She asked and he nodded, answering.
"Gendry. You?" Not a very good spy if he doesn't even my name knows.
"Arry."
"Good name."
"Thanks. Now can you tell me what you were doing."
"Just walking around." Is he stupid, he has already admitted to following me.
And Arya has no other choice anymore, since he wouldn't admit to anything the easy way, she summoned the waters – not from the rivers or underground, but the ones from inside her – she felt them swim through her body, like they were the blood in her veins, until she felt a few tears in her hands, and then more and more and more, and soon she could form a sphere of water in her hand. Gendry looked terrified, looking from her hand to her face, trying to decide what would be his best option; that was when she threw the first ball of water against his face, catching him by surprise.
"What are you doing?" He asked after spitting the water that had gotten into his mouth.
"Are you going to speak or not?" But Gendry still didn't answer, so Arya threw another ball, he kept quiet, two more and little different it made – so she knew another method was needed. So Arya straddled his legs, being able to hold him down like that, and held her hand, which water flew from, against his face – and she knew he would have trouble breathing, maybe just enough to give in and finally speak, he needs to, I need to protect Sansa…
For a second, she feared she was going to kill him and he would hold on, and that she would never know if he was alone or not, until Gendry started pulling at her, and she knew he would talk now.
"Please… stop…" he said, spitting water from his lungs. And Arya let him relax and get the water out, before pressing him for more answers, after he seemed calmer, she asked.
"So can I make my questions, now?" And even if it was a question, there was no chance for him to deny without suffering the consequences, so he nodded. "Do you work alone?" She asked, still straddling him and holding him down.
"Arry…"
"I need you to speak," she yelled. "Or this time I'll drown you."
"I work for the Baratheons…" he said looking down. "…and the Lannisters, I suppose." God, do they know we are here? Are they coming after us?
"What's your mission here?"
"Mission?"
"What did they told you to do with us?"
"Us? I've only seen you. And they told me nothing, they just threw me in here and said to look," he said, and Arya could tell he wasn't lying; and she cursed herself by giving away that she wasn't alone.
"You never followed me?! Are you stupid, or something?!"
"I don't think I like doing this…"
"Doing what?"
"Being a witch-hunter…" he said, and Arya wanted to pull away, but she knew that would be even more dangerous. "I've never actually done anything… and I don't think I want to anymore." Arya, stay strong, he's trained to lie – don't believe.
"So why did you join in the first place?"
"My mom died when I was really young, and I was shipped off to an orphanage – it wasn't the best – three years ago, someone showed up telling me they worked for my father, who I had never met," he took a deep breath, and looked down, before looking back straight through her eyes. "His name was Robert Baratheon." There's where the familiar felling came from, Robert had been father's best friends – the only that kept their family from dying earlier.
"So how did that lead to today?"
"They gave me shelter, and food. And a job – firstly I was building stuff, only parts and pieces, which I didn't know what was the purpose."
"Didn't you wonder?"
"I did. So they told me to join the witch-hunters, and that the witches had killed my mother," he said sadly. "I didn't have anything else, and I wanted to get revenge for my mother."
"Did you?"
"No, and I think they lied to me – I wanted to find a reason or a face behind her death, than just God decided to take my mother for me. Do you understand? I suppose not, it's stupid, but…" Gendry said, starting to blubber on.
"No, it isn't," Arya said, it did made it easier for Arya to name the Lannisters and Baratheons behind her parents and Robb's death, and Ramsay Bolton behind Rickon and Bran's.
"And then I watched you…" he told her. "And you don't seem cruel to me. Okay, you did try to drown me… But I don't think you're evil, like they made witch seem," he told her, and Arya told herself again not to believe. "And I want to be in your side," he suggested; and this finally shocked Arya who stood up quickly, pushing back, she quickly regretted it, knowing that leaving him free could be a terrible mistake, so she prepared another ball of water.
"What do you mean?! How can I trust you?"
"Arry, I don't believe them, I think they want to hurt innocent people, and I can't do that, I just can't…"
"So quit. Why me?"
"Because you seem honest. But in some kind of trouble and I want to be useful."
"I can't trust you," she told him honestly, but he didn't seem to give up.
"I suppose that would be pretty stupid. What if I bring you information about them?"
"Gendry, I don't know…" Arya still said, she couldn't trust him, she would put not just herself at risk, but also Sansa, and Myrcella, and Theon, and Jeyne.
"Arry, please… I don't want to work for them anymore! They have hurt innocent people – I just can't… Think about it, I'll be here at the same hour in one week and two days – that will be when you go shopping, right?" She nodded, actually surprised he had figured out her system. "And look at his," he said, before taking some folded paper from the back pocket of his jeans, and throwing it at her, and running back to the city.
All the way back home, she couldn't stop thinking about the paper burning in her pocket – her need to look inside was excruciating, but she knew she had to wait.
When she got home, she packed the groceries with the help of Theon and Jeyne, and listened to the yells outside, from every time that Myrcella's fire training didn't go as well as she wanted.
That night, when she could hear the quiet breathing from Myrcella and Sansa, Arya stood up from the bed and tried not to make any noise leaving the bedroom to go to the living room, and being almost sure that Theon and Jeyne were sleeping too – she turned on the light of the living room, and took the paper from her pocket. It had a note attached I caught this paper on the floor, but it seems something from a bigger list, it was a list of names, and with some information – name, age, location, end, reason – she wondered "end" of what, until she started reading: poison, gun, stab, and so on – it meant end of life.
She read over the names, and she couldn't recognize them, but she could see something that coincided with each name – this was the list for the name starting with P, and maybe even not the entire list for that letter. But it was when she was almost at the end of the page, that she read something she never had wanted to read – Poole, Vayon; 46; the North (Winterfell); stabbed in the belly; affiliations with the Tully and the Starks.
Arya knew she should tell Jeyne about this, maybe closure was better – but wouldn't she would have already seen it in her visions, maybe she just didn't tell us – Arya had to decide what to do, but since it was late, she put the paper back in her pocket and went to bed.
For the rest of the week, Arya couldn't stop thinking about that page, she wondered if she should tell Jeyne – I wonder if she can read it in my face… – and mainly she wondered if she should meet Gendry this week too.
So when Wednesday finally arrived again, Arya took the money from their safe place – counting as always how much money they had left, from the when Jeyne and Theon had stolen it from their imprisonment in Winterfell, and the money Myrcella had brought in when she joined them – and said goodbye to her roommates, leaving the house.
As always the walk to the city was long, but worth it; as always Arya didn't take long in the supermarket, not wanting that anyone to recognize her, even if she had changed a great deal since she was a ten year old girl, so with three bags in her hands she made it back to the forest, taking the longer path, knowing that way she would meet Gendry.
He was sitting in a stump, looking at his hands, when he heard her come in, and immediately stood up.
"Arry," he exclaimed, looking really surprised how seeing her there. "I wasn't sure you would come."
"Is that list really real?" She asked immediately, knowing if she would ever talk to Jeyne she needed to be sure.
"I think so. I've no reason to think it isn't." Gendry said, offering to take a bag from her hands, but she denied it – she could carry it alone, after all.
"What do you have to tell me today?"
"What do you want to know?"
"Could we… I take them down?" Arya asked
"You, alone?! No. But with me in the inside, maybe," he told her, and he seemed more sure today than last week, not so scared at least.
"Okay. Do you have any more papers for me today?"
"No," he said, and Arya interrupted him before he could say anything else.
"So what are you doing here?!"
"I found a document with other buildings, besides the Red Keep, that the Lannisters and Baratheon hold power. With their defences as well – if you want to raid one of them, you need those reports."
"And what tells you I can't find them in some other way?" Arya argued back, still not really sure that this wasn't an ambush to finally get her.
"Okay, if you have, good for you, Arry. But I still want to help."
"Why? What do you win from this? They pay you, and you'll receive nothing here," Arya said, how could he choose me? When we have nothing and their side has everything.
"Why? Arry, they lied about who killed my mom, they manipulated me to be part of them – telling me my father was one of them… But you know, my father didn't give a shit about me, okay…so why should I be there for him, when he wasn't there for me? So I stayed for my mom, but I'm never gonna get revenge on the Gods," Gendry ranted, and Arya could see the fury building inside him, seeing him like this, made her realize how strong he could be, how easily we could ever overpowered her last week. "And they want me to kill innocent people, children and teenagers, you can't be older than fourteen," FOURTEEN!
"I'm sixteen, stupid," Arya told him, and he looked at her like he didn't believe. "I am. It's not my fault that you're built like a bull," she said, and surprisingly he laughed, and she laughed back. It was the first time that either of them ever heard the other laugh, and Arya took special attention to his, immediately she noticed it was different from his father's – quieter – and that he had small dimples when he laughed.
"I apologize, m'lady," he said, trying to contain his laugh – but doing a very bad job. And Arya prepared to hit him on the arm – like she used to do with her brother or with her cousin Jon when he came to visit – but she stopped herself before she could, he's not your friend…
"Don't call me that," she only said, and then she heard him whisper.
"As m'lady commands," but before she could say anything, he kept speaking. "It's getting late, Arry, maybe you should go. I'll be here next time you go to the city, if you have made your decision by then, you know where to find me," with that Gendry turned his back to her, and took the path that she had made to meet him.
And like that, Arya started making her way home was well, when she finally reached the house there was no one, so quietly and alone she packed the groceries before going outside.
Myrcella was training once again, this time she was fighting Sansa – not really fighting, just trying to defend the blows coming from Arya's sister – while Jeyne and Theon were sitting on the grass, her head resting against his chest and with her eyes closed.
"How's she doing?" Arya asked talking about Myrcella's performance.
"Better," Theon answered quietly.
"Is Jeyne away?" Arya awkwardly asked, noticing Theon's care, trying not to bother her.
"I'm not sure, but she was been having some confusing dreams lately, by what she tells me," Theon said, and Arya looked at Jeyne peaceful face, who would guess she was dreaming about the future, their lives or just someone else's.
Her powers as an oracle had appeared later in her life, in her time in imprisonment – when they were kids neither Jeyne or Theon had any; Theon still didn't have any, but he seemed to have paid much more attention to Maester Luwin's potion lessons than everyone ever thought. But still it wasn't the first time Arya met someone with this kind of power, her younger brother Bran, besides controlling the water as his siblings and mother, he had the greensight which was similar to Jeyne's powers, but much stronger.
"I was really just sleeping, guys," Jeyne mumbled, waking up and trying to lift herself up.
"Sorry I woke you," Arya said, sitting next to them.
"No problem. And I should start dinner after all," she said, standing up and leaving the garden for the house.
Arya sat there for awhile quietly, until she decided she had enough and threw a ball of water in Myrcella's direction, surprisingly she quickly reacted, raising a wall of dirt from the floor, and quickly after, with the control of wind sending one of Sansa's bubbles in Arya's direction – leaving Arya wet from head to toe, and for Theon to fall down laughing, his laugh made Arya think of Robb… before Theon himself was met with a ball of water, this time thrown by Sansa.
"Hey! Don't do that!" Theon said, trying to stand up.
"Come here," Myrcella called. "I can try to dry you."
"Dry us!" Theon exclaimed, but Arya focused in another point.
"Try!"
"Come on, it can't be that bad," Myrcella argued again.
"You could just burn us alive," Arya said sarcastically.
"Please, Arya let Cella do this. I'll be ready if anything goes wrong. This is a good exercise; she has real pressure not to fail."
Arya was still not sure, she never wanted to die burned (a common fear for any witch, after everything that happened to their kind), but she decided to trust Myrcella, even if Theon went first of course.
Myrcella closed her eyes, and seemed to concentrate, and Arya started feeling the floor tremble, before a small fire wall started growing, but Myrcella immediately stopped, and instead she decided to use the air. Arya could feel the air growing hotter, and shared a look with Sansa – if this goes bad, you can't extinguish it – but Sansa mouthed back trust her; so Arya kept her eyes on Myrcella's movements, trying to ignore the sweat she could feel dropping behind her short hair, the blond girl was able to concentrate all the hot air in a single ball, and only then did Myrcella opened her eyes.
"It worked," Myrcella whispered, looking at Sansa.
"Great thinking," Sansa said, but Theon said.
"But you know Arya and I are still covered in water."
"Right." And with that she started using the wind as it was a simple hair dryer, and it even took almost as long, so Arya quitted after getting completely dried.
It had been a few days since she last saw Gendry, and he didn't get out of her mind, and it bothered that he had invaded her dreams as well, Arya didn't know what to do – she had a gut feeling that she could trust him, that he would come to help her eventually, but she couldn't be sure if she could trust… if it was just me, I would… but I can't risk Sansa…
Arya had awaken up again, after dreaming of him, she could never remember the dreams – or she just tried to not remember them – not wanting to stay at the house, she left and made her way to the small lake near the house, she was surprised to find it already occupied.
"You can sit too, Arya," Jeyne whispered, and Arya took a sit near the girl (but not too close). "It reminds me of home – Winterfell…" Jeyne said, like talking to herself, and Arya could help but agree, that had been the reason she loved it so much, the problem was that the water wasn't warm enough. "What brings you here?" Jeyne asked. "Still confused about the blue eyed boy?"
"You know."
"Yes, Arya," Jeyne said calmly.
"Do you know what I should do?" Before, Jeyne would probably be the last person Arya would come up for advices.
"Go with your instinct, Arya. It's right."
"I don't want to put anyone at risk."
"You won't, I promise you. The boy is good, he can be a big help for us… and he can make you happy…" Jeyne said, and the last part was whispered.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing, Arya," Jeyne answered.
"What are you doing outside at this hour?" Arya finally asked.
"Couldn't sleep," she said, hugging her knees to her chest. "And I didn't want to wake up Theon, he was sleeping so peacefully, which sometimes it's hard for him."
"Ohhh…" Arya didn't know how to comfort Jeyne, especially when her mind kept pressuring her to tell her about her father, oh… Gods… I wish I could call Sansa…
"Also I know about the paper…"
"You saw that too?!" Arya asked, now wondering what Jeyne didn't see.
"No… not that, but you left the paper in your pockets when I went to wash your jacket."
"Ohhh… I'm sorry about your dad, Jeyne. I truly am."
"I already knew, or at least suspected – my first vision was of my dad getting killed." Arya even pitied Jeyne more, seeing her father die must bee awful, Sansa had gotten them out quickly enough – so there no images, just the yells coming from her parents and brother, and it was enough to keep her awake at night
They sat together in a comfortable silence, while Arya made little bubbles in the water – like she had seen Sansa do together with Jeyne back in Winterfell. After awhile Jeyne finally stood up and bid goodnight to Arya and went back inside; Arya stayed a bit longer, thinking about what Jeyne had said, finally growing tired enough to retire back to bed.
It was finally the day for her to go back to town for groceries, and when finally making her way back, she couldn't stop fidgeting, wondering if this was the right choice.
When she finally arrived to his place, she couldn't see him anywhere – maybe it had been a lie, and he wouldn't appear, or would appear with reinforcements – but not two minutes later, he appeared from out of bush, breathing hard.
"Sorry, got caught up with something else."
"No problem. I've just arrived," she answered.
"So have you decided, Arry?"
"Yes," she said, noticing he was anxious and nervous about her answer. "Gendry, I'm believing what you told me and putting a lot of trust on you. I'm going to show you to the people I care about. I'm going to expose myself to you." And then she looked him straight in the eye and said. "If you dare to cross us, we will drown you; we will burn you; we will burry you alive; we will make the air crush your lungs; we will poison you; but we'll never let you die, so torture can go on forever." Arya said with fire in her eyes, and Gendry seemed truly terrified of her now.
"Yes, Arry, you can trust me. I'm with you," he said, and everything told her he was being honest.
"Okay, so come on," she said, giving him the bags to carry. "I'll lead you to our house."
"You're not alone?!" He asked surprised.
"You know, I'm already second-guessing accepting you, but what kind of spy are you that doesn't even know I'm not alone? Especially after I already let it slip before"
"A really bad one."
"Yeah. It seems so."
"So there's my sister, Sansa; then Jeyne and Theon; and Myrcella," Arya told him, leaving their special habilities out for now, as well as their last names.
"Are you all able to… you know?"
"You'll find out soon," Arya said, using her free hand to grab his – so much bigger than hers, and that covered her entire hand, making it fit perfectly – and started running through the forest. "And my name is Arya, by the way. Arya Stark," she told him, but kept running always holding his hand and wanting to change something.