Note: The Mountain's men appear in this so expect some triggering violent situations.
Chapter III
She hears wolves during the nights, and she wonders if they're Nymeria and Lady, whom she set free before leaving the Red Keep. She had to kill three Lannister men to get away from the Tower of the Hand, other two at the kennels and yet another two in the gate where she let the wolves run.
The nights and days blend together in an endless passing of time. All she can think of is getting to Winterfell and detaching Joffrey's head from his shoulders. Her body ached everywhere, not only because she is not used to sleeping on the ground but also because of the whole that slowly grows inside her. A part of her wished Gendry could hold her in their sleep without raising suspicions, but another part was so angry for what his brother had done to her father that nothing felt better than push him away from her.
Not that he went to her a lot. In fact, they hardly spoke, and he seemed to be as angry as her. He was always caring for her safety and well-being, but there was a silent fury in him that she could feel when they walked side by side in the Kingsroad.
Her heart longed for Winterfell and her body ached for a bed, but all she got was a bunch of criminals, youngsters and smelly men and the cold hard ground. Gendry had offered her his cloak more than once so she could sleep on it, but she didn't want the others to suspect something. More than once she had seen a few men watching her funny, but whenever one of them stared too long, she would do something like scratch her armpit or speak with foul words to seem less feminine, but there was only so much she could do. She binds her breasts and cuts her hair, rubs her skin with dirt and acts roughly with anyone but she knows some of them are already pretty sure she's a girl. It doesn't help that Gendry is always next to her, with his newly grown beard and muscles, looking so much like a man that of course she seemed delicate next to him.
Gendry and her meet a fun lad, nicknamed Hot Pie, but she tries not to like him too much. She was always friends with commoners back in Winterfell, but her friend Mycah died at the hands of the Hound and whenever she thought of Hot Pie as a friend, she mentally corrected herself. Friends and family get butchered, she reminds herself, and no one cares about how much that hurts.
"Eat." commands Gendry.
"mmh?" she is distracted.
"You hunted the rabbits, got a full leg for yourself, eat." She was clearly distracted thinking and definitely should eat before it gets cold, but doesn't mean she doesn't get pissed off by his attitude.
"Don't tell me what to do." She mutter but starts eating anyway. Gendry opens his mouth probably just to be nasty back, but he closes it and focuses on his own rabbit stew. She wishes he could act normal and fight her but he has acted strangely towards her since they left the city. It bothers her endlessly.
They eat in silence, and Gendry hates every second of it.
Then they're walking again and he remembers when they used to walk around Winterfell or the Red Keep and they were young and happy. He doesn't feel old enough to feel nostalgic about the past, but apparently that doesn't matter when you become an orphan. It seems to be the only connection they had from before. Arry and the Bull are orphans as are Arya Stark and Gendry Baratheon.
"Hey Bull" whispered Hot Pie next to him. Arya was walking a little ahead of him, and he was a bit glad he didn't have to look at her sad face or feel her accusatory eyes on him.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think, do you think there's something weird about Arry?" Asked the fat boy. Panic went through Gendry at the idea of the boy finding out about her being a girl. He didn't seem like the rapist kind, but he could speak to someone else and that was dangerous.
"He's uh, he seems like a normal lad."
"Yeah I know he looks like a normal lad, but there's something suspicious about him, don't you think? When we were at that village and the man spoke about the Stark king and the battle, did you see his face?" Hot Pie seemed to be the kind of person who wasn't very bright and if he had seen her reaction then probably some other could as well. He would have to speak to Arya.
"Maybe he has family in the North, who cares, it don't matter now." His tone was final, and Hot Pie seemed to let the subject go to speak about food. Lommy joined them, and Gendry had an excuse to lose himself in his thoughts.
Later in the night, when most men were inside the Inn getting washed, he asked for two buckets of water and some soap, paying the innkeeper with a one of the coins he had come with. While the men went to the baths, he quickly cleaned himself and went to find Arya. She was outside, at the back of the inn where they kept a jenny and a foal. She was sitting there just staring at the dark forest.
"Arya" he called her. She turned to him but said nothing. "I got you some warm water, so you can clean yourself."
She stood up and walked towards the trees, he got the hint and followed her not too much into the woods, just enough so they wouldn't be seen.
Arya undressed and he did not bothered to look away. He has hardly touched her since the day of Ned Stark's beheading, and they have not even kissed since that day when her father found them in his chambers. As he saw her peel her clothes off her pale body and even if she was thin, and dirty, she was still beautiful to him. She had always been a delight to him, no matter if she was in dirty breeches or fancy dresses. He let his eyes wander all the way up her legs and something in him fired up when he saw her naked sex. Then her navel and the cloth that was binding her breast.
She was trying to undo the knots that kept the cloth in place, and he couldn't help himself when he walked over to her to help her. He felt her eyes on his face as she lifted her arms and he passed the cloth from one hand to another behind her back. Slowly, he let the piece of fabric loose and it felt to the ground at her feet. Any other occasion, he would have taken her right there in the ground, with desperation and need overtaking him.
But all he did was crush her in a bone-breaking hug.
Her arms went to him and enveloped him as well. He had not imagined feeling her safe and alive in his arms could make him feel better, but it did. Her firm limbs and the all too familiar scent of her sweat made him feel at home.
She disentangled herself from his arms and started to rub herself clean. She could feel his eyes on her and it made her ache for something she did not know she could still ache for. She had not wanted his touch for all this time, but when she felt him so strong and close to her, she could not help herself from remembering how comforting and nice his body was.
Suddenly, she was wet from reasons that had nothing to do with her bath.
His hands wandered all over her body and she got a pleased smile when her skin felt the callouses in his fingers and the itching of his beard whenever he gave her some kisses. Her waist, the space between her breast, her collarbone, her neck, her jaw and finally, finally he kissed her on the lips.
Strange as it was, Gendry and Arya usually fucked in some chamber in a fancy castle with a soft bed and candles warming them. But Arry and her Bull made love in the hard forest ground, with only the light of the moon. They imprinted in their minds every touch, every taste, every sound and every feel. They were already familiar with each other, but that only made them feel more strongly.
She was never ladylike or refined, but under Gendry's hands she had always been a fulfilled woman. Now, covered in rags and without her braided hair or her riding clothes, she needed more than anything to feel the reassurance that she would always be herself when she was with him.
They came together, and for Arya it felt as a promise to be together then and always.
As days and nights passed on the road and they sometimes crossed soldiers or guards, a fear of losing him crept up on her. And even when she was frowning in worry he was still stubbornly smiling at her. One day they came across a bunch of graves and though she feels sad for the death, Arya knows this means they're getting closer to the war and Robb.
When they lose a member of their party due to a coughing sickness, she realises that just because they're meant for the Wall that doesn't mean they're safe from death. And when the Gold cloaks come along and she and Gendry are hiding behind some trees, she becomes aware of how close to being death they are.
When the Gold Cloaks ask for a boy and a girl of their description, she sees Hot Pie and Lommy eyeing them funny, but she tells herself it's only because they're hiding. Arya wants to step out and fight them, made them take her to Joffrey and split his ugly head from the rest of his body. But when she makes a move to step outside of her spot, Gendry looks at her with all his silent fury and she stays put.
Yoren bravely sent the Gold Cloaks away, but wastes no time in telling them that whatever happens the two of them should ran. To Dragonstone, to Winterfell, to the Wall, anywhere far away from the city.
After that, they start travelling on a different road, avoiding Gold Cloaks and come across a burned village. Only a woman and a two year old survive. But the woman dies that night and Gendry helps dig her grave. When the little two-year-girl starts to whimper and cry, Yoren gets sick of her and hands her to Arya. Gendry has to suppress a laugh at Arya's clear discomfort.
However, as time passes, Gendry notices the little girl - who they named Weasel - clutching Arya's breeches and holding on to her leg.
"She's fond of you." He tells her one day as they eat some apples and the girl is sitting next to Arya, head on her shoulder.
"Aye," she says, "I think she knows."
He smiles at the little girl, and he wonders what would his children look like. He has heard the Baratheon look runs strong in the blood, but you never know for sure. The idea of a little girl who looks like Arya warms his heart. Then he remembers he's supposed to have little girls the Sansa's Tully look.
They come across the God's Eye lake, and the abandoned village seems too dangerous but Yoren says they're part of the Night's Watch and they have no enemies. They don't even get to spend a night in the Holdfast when the Lannister men come. Amory Lorch is name of the man who orders their attack and Arya can't help but wonder if Gendry revealed himself they might not harm them. But Gendry seems to read her mind, because without her asking anything he tells Arya that he did not know the lords of the Westerlands and Amory Lorch wouldn't recognize him. So Yoren organized a defense and the men came in through the gate.
Arya fought in the siege at Bear Island and then again when the Greyjoy's had gone to Winterfell, but now it was dark, she was underfed and aside from Gendry, Hot Pie and Lommy, she had no one by her side. She fought men while shouting "Winterfell!" and she was about to kill her third man when Yoren's voice told her to grab anyone she could see and run. She only found Hot Pie, Lommy and Gendry, the rest were either dead or dying. They are making their way to the tunnel when Arya remembers Weasel.
"Wait!" Gendry stops, but the other two go inside the tunnel. "Weasel, we have to get her!"
"Arya," he starts and she knows he's not going to let her go back. "We have to go."
She's already running around looking for the girl. She sees fire and blood and hears wolves in the night. She looks in every corner but cannot-
"Let's go!" Gendry grabs her hand and guides her towards the tunnel once more, Weasel perched on his shoulder. They run and go through the passage, and when they're safe, he sets Weasel on the ground. She walks a few steps ahead of them.
Gendry doesn't let go of her hand the whole way to the exit.
They pass a few days surviving on their own. Arya steals a Kurz's hunting bow after he dies and she manages to get them food, they only make fire at midday and it's a small one, so they don't earn attention from anyone. That would be enough for them, but Lommy is hurt and they need shelter and proper cloths to take care of his wound. They leave Hot Pie and Weasel eating while Arya goes find a tall tree to see if she can spot some village, Gendry and Weasel giving her company from the ground.
"Well, there is a village, but it doesn't seem like people are still living there. Probably Lorch already passed and everyone just left." She shouted at them from her place high above the tree.
"We may still found some leftover food, maybe a mule even. If not at least we can sleep under s roof or in a cot." Gendry answered.
"Oh, already tired of the ground?" Arya mocked as she went down, "look at you complaining like a little girl."
"I am not complaining like a little girl." He shot back.
"You're right, look at Weasel," Arya said as she neared the lower branches, "she's quiet and not complaining at all."
The little girl smiled and when Arya reached the lowest of the branches Gendry took her by the arm and pulled her down. She let out a yelp but Gendry catched her in his arm, pecking her on the lips. Weasel laughed. That was new.
"Let's go, those two will get eaten by wolves if we don't go soon."
Gendry let go of her after another shot kiss, and Weasel took Arya's hand when they walked back.
Lommy and hot Pie wanted to go to the village as soon as possible, but Gendry insisted on scouting first. Arya offers since she's quieter and everyone agrees except Gendry, who will not let her go alone. So Arya threatens them both not to let Weasel alone. The girl still clutches her leg when she tries to walk away and it takes some soft words and the promise of her return soon.
Once they get there they go separate ways finding if there's something useful, but before she can do much she hears noises and hides. There are men and she sees Gregor Clegane dragging Gendry. Her heart stops when she realises that he could possibly know right away who this is, that taking him to Joffrey would earn him lots of gold and land. Or he might not know at all and kill him right there because he can.
"We found these three!" Announces a man and a group comes with Hot Pie and Weasel, and some other dragging the hurt Lommy. She can't see Gendry's face, but she can sense that he must feel he failed to protect the others. Arya wished she could be at his side to let him see it's not his fault.
"Ask 'em." Simply said Clegane.
"Where is that fucking Beric Dondarrion lad?" The guard asks Lommy, when he fails to respond a laugh escapes some soldiers.
"These know nothing, just like the folks of the village." One of them says.
"But they can work, or these two can," the Mountain signals Hot Pie and Gendry. "The other is hurt and useless, Raff get rid of him. The girl is too small to be useful, even a quick fuck."
The men roar with laughter and before she can do anything a spear goes through Lommy's throat. Then a man goes towards Wease...
"No!" She says as she makes her presence known. She can't do much damage with Needle, but she can distract them, convince them to let her live, anything...
"What are you? A small lad? What can you do?" Asks a guard. She's surrounded and she can see in Gendry's eyes that fighting is futile. She still tries to make a run towards him, so she can free him and together they can fight get Weasel and escape...
She evades the grasping hands of two soldiers before another catches her and takes Needle from her. She wants to cry, that sword was a gift from Jon, her dearest brother. He taught her how to use swords and arrows since she was young and she practiced with Bran, Gendry, Robb and Jon. They had taken her from her, the last thing she had from home.
The man's dirty hand roamed over her body and she felt as he groped her breast. As he took Needle away from her, the man let out an evil laugh. "What is it Polliver?" someone asked and Arya wants to cry because Gendry is not the only man to had touched her, now this strange Polliver also has. She can't see Gendry's face and she wished now more than anything to have his blue eyes giving her reassurance. "This one is a girl, but we can't see if she's a pretty lass with this light."
"We will find out in the morrow if she's worth a fuck. Well, anything with a cunt is worth a fuck." Says Clegane as he grabs Weasel and put his hand in her neck. "Except this one." He twists the girls neck and Arya doesn't even get to let out a cry before he drops her and the little girl just lies death in the ground.
Arya gets her hands roped together and thrown in a storehouse with Gendry and Hot Pie. The village folk is in there.
"Arry" comes Gendry's trembling voice and she wants nothing more than hurt all these men for making fierce and brave Gendry scared. "Are you ok?" he asks concerned, she nods and then sees his expression get calmer. He was scared for her. Behind him, Hot Pie eyed her carefully, as if wondering when did she became a girl.
Arya let her head fall on Gendry's shoulder and her eyes closed. If she tried hard enough, the image of her family playing with the snow in Winterfell came to her and she was lulled to sleep by the constant howling of wolves.
First they spent days in the storehouse at the village, listening as a man called the Tricker tortured the villagers for information about The Brotherhood without Banners. They always killed men and let women, elders and children alive to be questioned. Gendry and Hot Pie were left alive because they were deemed as useful because of their size, but they were chained instead of just roped like the rest of them. They spent days walking while man took them to Harrenhall, where they would all serve Tywin Lannister. When Arya and Gendry heard the Mountain say these they exchanged looks. Tywin was Gendry's grandfather and if he revealed himself to him they could get away.
"He is a proud man who would never stand a part of his family being slaughtered, he's a Lannister and he never lets Lannisters behind." She said in silence as everyone sat to 'eat'. The Lannister men ate, but the prisoners only got a watery soup to fill their bellies. One day when she had dared to speak too loud and a guard had caught her, he had slapped her so hard her lip had split open.
"You're right but..." Gendry seemed to have something in mind that made him unsure and when he looked at her sadly, she understood. Tywin might save him, but he was at war with her own brother. They already had Sansa as a hostage in King's Landing, there was no need for another.
She opened her mouth to answer but a hand yanked her from her head and she mentally prepared herself to be slapped for speaking. The slap didn't came though and she realized she was being dragged away. She did not understood what was happening until she saw the horror in Gendry's eyes.
"Let me go! No! Let me go!" she shouted as she dig her heels in the dirt and grasped the hand that grabbed her with her own hands.
"Shut up bitch!" It wasn't a slap that shut her, but a punch. She saw white for an instant and when she got her eyesight back Gendry was tackling the man to the ground. She got up and picked a rock, throwing it to the first man that came their way.
"You little shit!" shouted the man she hit as Gendry shouted profanities to the one he was punching to the ground. She recognized him as Chiswyck, and she recoiled at the thought of that man touching her. Gendry had him pinned to the ground and was beating him senseless, but soon enough several man came to drag him away from Chiswyck.
"Hold it lover boy, or do you wanna loose your head?!" Shouted one of them. Three men held Gendry as Chiswyck stood up and walked over to him, punching him hard in the stomach. Arya's hand closed as fists, and she longed to have Gendry's strength so she could take those men. Chiswyck took out a long knife. "You do? Well I want it, but first I'll cut out your cock, for not letting mine have fun." On of the man started to undo Gendry's breeches laces and the knife glisted...
"Wait! Please don't!" Her voice reflected her desperation. "Don't hurt him please..." It amazed Arya how little her voice sounded. It had been a few years since her voice had become womanly but now she sounded like a girl all over again. "I'll do anything just don't-"
Chiswyck laguhed. "You'll do anything? I'll do you girl." He took a step towards her and Gendry struggled against the men. "I'll fuck you and I won't kill him, I will have him look." She heard Gendry screaming something, but her mind only focused in Chiswyck as he pushed her to the ground and kept her there with his knife at her throat. She saw him untying his breeches and she looked away. The men at camp ignored them, some prisoners threw a pitying look before looking away, Hot Pie stared horrorized and with tears in his eyes.
Gendry was looking at her with his blue eyes filled with desperation and fury.
Arya tried to fight him, she scratched and tried to bite him, but Chiswyck pressed his knife harder against her throat and when some blood came out she stilled. Gendry wanted her to keep fighting him. He knew she was strong, much stronger than he was. He was a failure after all, he had let Weasel and Lommy die and now he couldn't do anything as Arya looked at him with tears in her eyes and trying to keep her cries of pain quiet.
When it was all done, Chiswyck barely looked at him and Gendry bowed to kill the man when he catched his satisfied smirk as he told the other she was 'no maiden, probably just a town's whore'. The three who held him let him go and told him to get her back in the group because they had to keep walking. He ran to her and quickly covered her before searching her eyes. Her head was to the side, staring at the woods.
"Arya" he called to her. He cradled her head and caressed her tear-stricken face. "Arya look at me." Her eyes focused on him and when he saw the deadness in her grey orbs, he couldn't help himself.
He didn't get to Chiswyck. He hardly even punched one men before the whole lot of them hit him and kept him at bay. Every pain he felt must have been nothing compared to what she felt and he fought back as much as he could until he was bruised all over and his body ached and he couldn't stand no more. He heart the raper's voice and felt his spit in his head. "I won't kill you. I will have her as much as I want and I will make you look."
Everyone stood to begin their walk and when he could finally stand in his two feet There was a hand holding him by the elbow. Hot Pie was grasping him and next to him was Arya, pale and weakly supporting herself on Hot Pie's arm. Gendry's hand reached out to touch her, but before he could do anything a guard shouted at them to get moving. Hot Pie put one of his arms across his body, helping him support himself as Gendry put his arm around his shoulders. Arya walked to Gendry's other side, and she took his arm, quietly crying on his shoulder.
Three days and nights Chiswyck took Arya in front of him. Three days and nights he got beat up for everytime he tried to stop the disgusting man from touching her. Three days and nights Hot Pie helped him and then Arya walk.
On the fourth day, they reached Harrenhal. Chiswyck quickly forgot them as they were prettier and more womanly girls here and no lads to try to kick his ass. When Gendry is assigned as help for the armorer and he in turn hands him a hammer, he vows to kill the man who raped his lady with his hammer.
Arya and Hot Pie get assigned to the kitchens and he looses sight of them as they are taken away. He gets a cot in the forge and a warm meal. He has lost lots of weight since he left King's Landing and he was surprised when the hammer actually felt heavy on his hands.
When night comes, he has trouble sleeping. He wishes they had shown him where the kitchens are so he could go to Arya, but there are armed man and he is tired and bruised. Still, he wants nothing more than to see her and he is ready to stand up when a noise comes within the darkness of the forge.
"Who is there?"
He gets no answer, but soon enough grey eyes are looking at him in the darkness and his heart starts beating faster. He hardly sees her face before his arms are around her and he can feel her tears in his shirt. She's skinny and underfed as well, her hair is shorter, probably the maids have cut it once more. He tries to drown the rage that grows in him when he sees her bruises. His temper has done them no good until now.
"They changed their minds, put me on the service of the understeward of the Wailing Tower, Weese." She informs him, and he just holds her closer and pets her hair. "He likes to beat people, but I am not afraid."
"I know," he says as she closes her eyes and he can kiss her eyelids. "You're a brave she-wolf." She gives him a small tearful smile then but it only makes him sadder. She is broken and beautiful, and he vows to have her willful and unkempt once again. " I love you."
"And I love you." She replied as once again she settled herself in his arms, her mouth near his neck and her warm breath giving him a small reassurance. "Please, don't leave me. Don't let them kill you."
"I won't, I promise." How could he survive away from her anyways? "I will stay by your side and take you to Winterfell." She just nodded in his neck and he held her tighter, not willing to let fear get in between them and tear them apart.
