Arya could feel so many memories return to her as soon as the castle of the Twins appeared in the distance, with every memory become more painful and more vivid as she neared the two looming towers.
The hope, watching the Twins from the hills while the hound ate his pork, eager to move on and see Robb and my mother. I didn't know I would never see them again…
More and more images began to flash in her mind;
The wolf… Greywind, watching him get butchered… seeing the Stark men get butchered… seeing the burning Stark banners… seeing Robb…
I was so useless… cradled in the Hound's arms! She muttered to herself, feeling the sadness being forced away by the anger that by now was all too familiar to her. A smile grew on her face as she added, I won't be useless today. Today I will be the one who causes bloodshed and death, not them. She wanted vengeance, she needed vengeance. Her lust for it burned somewhere deep inside her, I can feel it… and it only burns stronger and brighter when I'm here.
"The North Remembers." Arya uttered as she sped up her horse. She had heard a man say those words in a tavern a few days ago, and then she saw that man be hauled outside by Frey soldiers, never to be seen again. Arya had repeated those words in her head, again and again as the man was beaten outside, his screams ringing in her ears.
The North Remembers, the North remembers, the North remembers. She decided that by killing Walder Frey, that she was avenging that man, too.
XX
Slipping into the vast castle of the Twins proved to be surprisingly easy, and Arya was quickly inside the halls and hallways of the keep, wearing a pretty peasant girl's face. What had been even easier, however, was seducing two of Walder's sons, Black Walder and Lame Lothar Frey and killing them both. They suspected nothing until she peeled the girl's face off, revealing the face of Arya Stark underneath.
She killed Lame Lothar first, leading him into an empty room, distracting him while he reached for her blade stashed in her boot, taking the peasant's face off, and furiously stabbing the lanky man in the abdomen several times before announcing to the dying Frey who she was. "I am Arya Stark, good-sister to my brother's wife and aunt to his unborn child, both of whom you murdered." She smiled then, watching blood stain Lothar's clothing as he died.
She killed Black Walder next, once again announcing gleefully "I am Arya Stark, daughter of Catelyn Tully Stark, whose throat you slashed and whose body you dumped into the river." She watched his beady eyes widen at the revelation, as she drew her blade to his throat, the same smile etching onto her face.
Black Walder chocked on his blood as Arya's knife cut into his meaty neck, making her smile widen even more. Then, he said something strange,
"I- I didn-." His spluttering was making it hard for Arya to comprehend his words, but Arya felt sure he had started to say I didn't. This perplexed her, causing her to furrow her brows in confusion as she watched the life drain from the Frey's eyes.
What did he mean? She began to ask herself, before firmly shaking her stubborn head and assuring herself that the Frey was just attempting a desperate escape from his imminent death. Cowardly stupid Freys, to think they could avoid death by my hands after what they have done to my family!
"Valar Morghulis." She recited her accustomed words after both killings because although she had left the mysterious House of Black and White behind, Arya knew that a part of her would always carry the weight of her time there, the rituals, what the Waif had taught her, the god of death, the faces which she possessed. A part of me has grown… for better or for worse.
In that moment, she glanced down at the pie she had carefully made in the kitchens, with Frey fingers and Frey skin visible in its grey meaty filling. Admiring her hard work, she grinned, telling herself "Definitely for the better."
XX
Arya made sure to smile as she looked down upon Walder Frey's horrified face, with her pie on the table, its human contents having been revealed. To her delight, the old man tried to make a pathetic escape, his ugly beady eyes frantically darting from her to the door. He hastily tried to stand up, but she was quicker. He tried hard to fight her off, but she was stronger. He pathetically tried to plead for his life with his ugly eyes, but Arya Stark had no mercy.
"My name is Arya Stark, I want you to know that. The last thing you're ever going to see is a Stark smiling down at you, as you die." And she smiled; she smiled when she said her words, she smiled when the blade met his throat, she smiled as blood fountained from his neck.
But her smile faded when she heard the man's pathetic last words, "Not… dea-" She was once again perplexed. What does he mean? She couldn't ask him of course, since his body was lifeless and motionless, his face contorted into a twisted pained expression. That alone brought the grin back onto her face, growing wider and wider as satisfaction washed over her.
The North Remembers, The North Remembers, The North Remembers.
XX
Gods… there are so many Freys, Arya mused, watching all of the male Freys enter the hall to break their fasts. She wore Walder Frey's face over her own. Dead Walder Frey's face, she added, joyfully. They all filed in, sitting into their seats, making bawdy jokes, taking no notice of Arya, sitting in their dead father's seat, wearing their dead father's face.
Servants came in next, carrying steaming dishes of porridge. Arya noticed some of the servant girls were grabbed by the Frey men, in a similar manner in which Lord Walder had grabbed her before his death. She knew she mustn't scowl, so she had to turn her attention elsewhere, as she knew she surely would if she looked at the disgusting Freys abusing the poor girls for any longer amount of time. She dismissed all the servants to avoid giving the poor girls any more grief.
"Do not disturb us until I say so!" She ordered in Walder Frey's voice as the girls scurried away and the Frey guards marched out of the room, leaving only Arya and the Freys inside.
Her eager ears picked up the voice of one of the many Frey's asking, "Where is Black Walder?" Many scanned the room for their brother in response, all of their heads turning simultaneously, only to find no Black Walder. How stupid of them! Arya had to supress her urge to laugh.
"And what about Lothar? Where is he?" The Freys all once again stupidly searched the room for Lame Lothar, and obviously found nothing.
One of the Freys turned to her, speaking carefully, "Father, have you seen them?"
"No… how strange." Arya replied, Walder Frey's gruff voice filling the room. Her response clearly caused alarm in some of the men, with one of them widening his eyes. She ignored this reaction, continuing to speak in Walder Frey's voice, "No matter. I'm sure they can be found somewhere. Now, let's eat!" She raised her cup in the same way Walder Frey had during the feast with the Lannisters a few weeks prior, motioning for all the Freys to eat their porridge.
She watched eagerly as every son tucked into his food, with some finishing their food in mere seconds. One of the sons ate his porridge particularly fast, devouring the contents of his bowl in a blink of an eye. He was the first to fall asleep, his large head plunging hard onto the table, creating a loud sound.
Some of them began to laugh, with one of them remarking "What a damn fool Patreck is! Already passed out, the drunken fool!"
That man was the next to fall, his laughter being cut off by the sound of his body falling onto the floor.
"What the-" Another Frey said, before also slumping onto the floor.
Some of the Freys were starting to panic, with men jumping up from their chairs before collapsing themselves. A few managed to run a few steps, some even got as far as the next table along, one man reached the door, but they all fell victim to the poison, sooner or later.
XX
Is this what the Red Wedding looked like? Arya asked herself as she stared over the mass of Frey corpses spilled over the floor and tables, with half-eaten bowls of poisoned porridge splattered all over the place.
Narrowing her eyes, Arya said "No." There is no red blood, she added wickedly, knowing exactly what she would do next. First, she removed Lord Walder's old foul face, nonchalantly discarding it on the table, grinning from ear to ear as she watched it fall into the scattered corpses.
The North Remembers, The North Remembers, The North Remembers.
Then, she hauled old Walder's corpse into the hall. Much to her disappointment and her dismay, she noticed that his blood had dried onto his clothing, no longer bright red and sticky, instead feeling rough and course, an unappealing brown colour. Not red enough.
"I guess I'll have to make do…" She said aloud, gazing over the mass of corpses that lay before her.
She grabbed the corpse of one of the men who had grabbed the servants, whose face was frozen in an expression of terror, which made Arya beam down at her work even more. She plunged her blade into his neck, and watched as the blood oozed out, soaking her fingers.
The North Remembers.
She painted the words on the wall in large, clear crimson letters.
The North Remembers.
The Frey blood dripped from the wall onto the floor, a heavy metallic and sweet smell wafting into the room.
The North Remembers.
Arya tied Walder's corpse up by the arms and hoisted him up against the wall, having attached some rope to a hook onto the ceiling, decorating her art piece.
As a final finishing touch, she brought her prized pie onto the table, lifting the pastry back over the filling.
Taking a few steps back, Arya admired her work. Walder's body hung limply between the words The North and Remembers. Freys intricately adorned her hard work, with their blood soaking the walls.
"The Red Wedding." She muttered, with her eyes shining at the beautiful sight.
She laughed, the merry sound echoing around the room. And not a soul to hear, not even Cersei Lannister.
XX
Arya already missed needle and she had an aching feeling by her hip where her sword should be. She would have liked to have been able to kill the Freys with needle, but Arya knew that peasant kitchen maids and serving girls were not supposed to carry swords, especially in castles. I needed to play the part, it makes the end result even better, she thought, still feeling a great sense of satisfaction and pride after what she had done.
However, Arya's longing for her needle was beginning to irritate her and spoil her mood, so she urged herself to walk faster, back towards where she had entered a few days earlier, with needle waiting for her somewhere nearby. She wasn't sure where she was going to go after she left the Twins, but she was sure she wanted to leave the wretched Twins so that she could continue with her list. Kingslanding perhaps? Cersei, Ilyn Payne and the Mountain will be there. She thought, a million questions swarming her buzzing mind, where would the Red Witch be? What about Beric and Thoros of Myr? Where would they be?
Just as she was about to delve deeper into her theories on the locations of Beric and Thoros, her pondering was interrupted by a sudden scream. It was piercing and loud, so very loud. Another three screams followed after the first, all of the voices screaming so loudly Arya was sure her ears would burst.
I guess someone found my work, she thought, a smirk forming on her face.
After a few seconds, all Arya could hear was a chorus of terrified screams and wails, getting louder and louder, sounding more and more terrified.
Arya listened for a while, feeling satisfaction burn inside her once again. After a few minutes of listening, Arya heard footsteps from somewhere nearby, sounding like someone was approaching up a flight of stairs. And after following the sound, her theory was confirmed, with a Frey guard marching up the stairs, clearly following the screams, his face scrunched up.
After watching him walk away, Arya wondered where he came from. She was on the bottom level of the Twins, where the kitchens and servant's quarters were. Where did he come from? Why is he armed?
And then it came to her; he must have come from the dungeons! There are prisoners down there!