This was going to be a crazy long chapter, but then I decided to split it into two.
Arya was trying to run, but everything was black. Maybe not entirely black, per se, but the world around her was sort of oozing. A melded blend of dark colors, not unlike the appearance of a bad bruise. Every step she took seemed to take her three steps back, and yet... She knew she had to keep moving. There was something that was telling her that if she stopped, then everything would stop. Then it really would be blackness.
Suddenly, a small hole of light opened up, and she couldn't tell if it was far away, or very close, but suddenly it was swirling, opening like a great big mouth, and it was swallowing her, wind rushing against her. She squeezed her eyes shut, and when she opened them, the world was white, not black.
Her skin glowed, a transparent porcelain, and she could see every vein pulsing blue with blood beneath the thin layer pulled across her flesh. She could hear her heart beating too, loudly, far more loudly than it should. There was a strange smell in the air, and then something fell against her lashes, and then drifted downwards. Perplexed, Arya bent down and picked it up. It was a blue petal of some sort of flower, and as she looked down, there were more and more petals landing on the ground.
Her heart began to beat louder, and louder still, and Arya realized that she should know these petals, and she did. They were wolfsbane.
She stumbled backwards, throwing them off, but already her skin was breaking out in horrible, ugly blisters, the flowers beginning to ooze together, as if melting. But they didn't melt blue, like their shade, but red. Blood red.
Arya began to panic, trying madly to wipe away the blisters that were spreading down her arms like wild fire; but when her hand rubbed over them, they burst, and her hands came away bloody. She screamed, stumbling back, sloshing in the melted petals, which were rising higher and higher so that the liquid reached around her ankles. Stumbling, she fell, and tried desperately to scramble to her feet, but her arms were so weak that she couldn't manage to lift her body.
She started to cry. The blood that ran from her arms was starting to bleed black, and she felt a gurgling in her throat, and when she spit, that was black too. She was going to die. She was going to-
There was a sound of wet foot falls and the mixture sloshed against her. Arya looked over to see feet clad in boots walking towards her slowly, and when she looked up, she saw it was Gendry. Relief washed over her, but only for a moment.
Slowly, mechanically, he pulled out a crossbow and then, looking at her with dead eyes, shot an arrow straight through her chest.
Her eyes snapped open.
Everything was blurry, and she was cold and shaking, but when she was able to move her head and look at her arm that lay sprawled out over a clean white mattress and blue sheets, it was not covered in blisters drained in blood. 'It was just a dream,' her mind informed her nobly, her muscles quaking with relief. She could breathe again.
"Arya?"
She looked up, frowning, and there was Gendry standing over her, a look on his face that she couldn't quite place. Remembering how he had shot her with an arrow, she lifted up a feeble arm, her hand reaching for his face. A loopy grin formed at his lips that was quickly smacked off with a slap.
"Prick," she grumbled, rolling over onto her good side, still exhausted.
"She's awake!" He cried. "And she's fine! She knows who I am!"
"Ugh," Arya groaned, her mouth tasting unbelievably foul. She stuck her tongue out but that didn't help much. "Where am I? Why is this entire room blue and white?"
"Highgarden, we like to call it," an unfamiliar female voice said, and Arya rolled onto her back to see that the voice belonged to a brown haired young woman who was smiling at her. "And I like to coordinate my colors. It's rather refreshing, don't you think?"
"Who are you?" Arya snapped distrustfully, eyeing the tray the woman was caring with distaste. The brown haired woman raised an eyebrow.
"Margaery Tyrell," she said, setting the tray down, which happened to have a good deal of attractive looking toast and biscuits on it, along with tea that did smell very appetizing. Was that jam as well?
"Margaery's the one who's responsible for you being alive," Gendry said with a frown, obviously not approving of Arya's irate behavior.
"I've just been shot with an arrow," Arya said, "twice, actually... And anyway, if there's any time to be irritable, it's now don't you think?"
Gendry and Margaery shared a look and shrugged, as if mutually agreeing that this was fair.
"Well I'm sure you'll be hungry," Margaery said with a smile, nudging the tray towards her.
"I am," Arya said with a frown, snatching up a bit of toast and nibbling on it before shoving it in her mouth, munching loudly. "Why am I so hungry?"
"Nice," Gendry said sarcastically, and Arya made a face at him, causing a bit of toast to fall out of her mouth. He just shook his head.
"Happens with wolfsbane poisoning," Margaery said with a shrug, sitting at the edge of the bed. "Wolfsbane in itself cuts off the appetite while sucking away at the nutrients in the body. Such occurrences cause powerful hallucinations."
Arya shuddered visibly, taking a sip of tea.
"Powerful is an understatement," she muttered darkly, grabbing a biscuit and smothering it with jam. Gendry gave her a look as she shoved it in her mouth. "What?"
"You're disgusting," he informed her, but he was chuckling.
"I'm hungry! And you shut your mouth," she grumbled through crumbling biscuit, "you were the one who shot me, might I remind you!"
"Point taken," Gendry said, sighing.
"How are you feeling?" Margaery asked, reaching out and feeling Arya's forehead. "Still clammy. Hmm. You'll be feeling weaker for a little bit, but you should have no trouble phasing, though I recommend laying off of that for at least a couple of days. Your pulse is fine though, which is good. It slowed to a crawl last night. A normal person would be dead, of course, but thank the gods you're not. I can only imagine what a dead Stark would mean."
"Who are you exactly?" Arya asked as she took another gulp of tea. Margaery grinned.
"A witch," said Gendry with a bit of amusement.
"That's not very nice," Arya snapped at him. He laughed, and so did Margaery.
"No need to defend me," Margaery said. "Gendry's right, though I like the term 'magical consultant' much better."
"Yeah because that sounds waaay cooler," Arya said sarcastically. Margaery frowned. "I didn't know there were witches. Please don't tell me there are wizards."
"Hot Pie's still geeking out about it," Gendry said. "He keeps asking Loras if there's a Hogwarts."
"Who's Loras?" Arya wanted to know.
"My brother," Margaery said. "Practicing magic sort of runs in the family. We've been doing it for ages, actually. First it used to be a whole power thing, but now it's just to help out with stuff that happens in the... Errr... Supernatural world."
"Like when people shoot werewolves with arrows," Arya said, throwing an accusing look at Gendry.
"Exactly," Margaery said blithely. "Though, to be honest, that doesn't really happen all that often."
"You amaze me," Arya said sarcastically, taking another bit of toast. "How were you able to stop the infection?"
"That," Margaery admitted, "wasn't all me, truth be told. I was able to halt the course of the infection by actually adding wolfsbane into the wound, but that didn't mean that the wound would necessarily heal. The fact that your side is all healed is due to my brother."
"Loras?" Arya guessed.
"No, though I'm sure he'd take the credit if he could," said a voice from the doorway. It belonged to a man who looked similar to Margaery, but perhaps less fair, and older. He looked scholarly, with glasses, and he had a cane that supported him and a brace on one of his legs. "I'm Willas, the oldest of the Tyrell brood."
He smiled and shuffled into the room, leaning down and extending a hand to Arya.
"Willas is the best at this sort of thing," Margaery said, smiling at her older brother, who shook his head.
"That's only because I have so much free time," he said. "When you're lame in one leg, sometimes you find yourself indoors more often than you'd like to be. I had a lot of time to study."
"Well thank god you did," Margaery said with relief. "Or we'd be in a very different predicament."
"Indeed," Willas said gravely, looking at Arya with a crinkled brow. "This is a very serious situation, isn't it?"
"So you've heard about the vampires then?" Arya said, chancing a look at Gendry. He nodded.
"I told them everything you told me," he said. "And then some. Do you remember Joffrey utterly destroying my car?"
"So that did happen," she sighed. She had been wondering.
"Yes," Gendry muttered through gritted teeth. "Unfortunately."
"I can't say it's surprising," Willas said, sharing a look with Margaery. She nodded.
"Actually, we've been wondering for some time now," she admitted, "but obviously we couldn't investigate, because if they were... Well then it would be very bad, and if they weren't..."
"They'd be wondering why you came bearing gifts of garlic cloves?" Arya asked. Gendry gave a suppressed snort of laughter.
"Something like that," Willas said with a raised eyebrow.
"Well then why didn't you at least warn us? Doesn't that seem a bit important?" Arya demanded, feeling anger flare within her. If they had only told them... Maybe her father would still be alive.
"We didn't want your father... To... Well..." Margaery said haltingly. "Well, he'd confront Cersei, wouldn't he? And we didn't want to risk it, because if she really was what we suspected..."
"She'd kill him," Arya said stonily.
There was a moment of silence, an awkward silence, where everyone shifted uncomfortably. No one knew what to say, so Arya would have to say something. Silence made her want to scream.
"Does this mean war?" She asked the room at large.
"I don't know," Willas said with a serious frown. "If it was war..."
"Then they would have made a move by now, don't you think?" Margaery said, frowning as well. "They have the advantage, why not press it? But it's been days... And silence."
"Yeah nothing," Gendry said, shooting Arya a look.
"It's been days?" Arya blinked, surprised. "How long was I out?"
Margaery smiled warmly.
"A while," she admitted.
"It takes the body time to heal after being so close with death," Willas informed Arya. "Sleep is the only way it can heal properly, without any bodily strain to halt the course of the process."
"So a while," Margaery said, rolling her eyes, "which is what I said. She doesn't need a recitation from, 'A Study in Wolfsbane.'"
"That sounds like a fascinating read," Gendry said, winking at Arya, who snorted, inhaling her tea. Then she frowned. It was odd, them making jokes like that. They weren't friends. In fact, they barely knew each other. If she should be anything towards him, it was mistrustful. True, he saved her life, but... Well she wouldn't need saving if he hadn't shot her with an arrow, would she?
"Trust me," Margaery said, "it wasn't."
Willas looked put out.
"You didn't even read it," he said. Margaery shrugged.
"Who needs to read when they have you?" She said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at her brother, who looked thoroughly annoyed.
"I believe we were talking about something serious?" He snapped. That sobered everyone up.
"But then if I've been out all this time..." Arya said, putting the jumbled pieces together. "And you say they haven't done anything?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Though something odd did happen," Willas pointed out. "Jaime Lannister disappeared."
"Did he?" Arya couldn't help feel hope bubble up inside her. "Was it Robb? Is he preparing for a fight?"
"I don't know," Willas said again, sharing a look with Margaery. "He hasn't tried to contact us... And our efforts to inform him that you are in our care have failed."
"Did you try calling him?" Arya asked.
"No we decided to use a magical fireplace," Margaery said sarcastically. Arya glared.
"With Robb's silence and silence from the Lannister's end, the only possible conclusion I've come to is that both sides are planning something," Willas said, as if sensing danger. "And I think we'd be wise to focus on what the Lannisters are planning."
"But shouldn't we try to find Robb?" Arya asked, panicking slightly. "He needs me! The pack's not as strong when we're not all together."
"Exactly," Margaery said. "We've all been talking... And we think it's a good idea that we focus on a different member of your family."
"What?" Arya asked, confused.
"I believe your sister is still in Lannister control?' Willas reminded her gently.
"Sansa?" Arya asked, feeling extremely let down and angry at the same time. "Why worry about her? She wants to be there!"
"I think she hardly wants to be with the people that murdered her father," Gendry said, and when Arya looked at him, his expression was dark.
"What's important now," Willas said, plowing on, "is research. If we're going to get her out, we have to do it right. There is no room for mistakes."
"That's what we've all been doing while you got better," Margaery interjected. "It's been incredibly boring-"
Willas hit her with his stick.
"- But also very enlightening. Oww."
"If you'd like, you can join us," Willas said. "Unless you'd prefer to stay in bed?"
"No," Arya said hastily, feeling a twinge of guilt about her reaction to rescuing Sansa. "I'd like to help."
"Good," Willas said, standing. "It would be preferable though, if you didn't walk. Not yet. You need to save your strength."
"I'll carry her," Gendry offered quietly, his eyes flicking to Arya. He still looked angry with her. Well that was stupid. Who was he to even judge her for a second? He had shot her with an arrow for all the bloody gods sake!
He walked over to her bed and scooped her up like she was nothing, blankets and all (Margaery diving for the tray in the process). Drowning in her down comforter, her legs flopping out, Arya watched as Willas led the way out of the room, and then down a set of lavender colored stairs. They passed the front room, which was stocked to the brim with flowers, no vase left empty, and then into a small study.
"This is it?" Arya asked. Willas laughed.
"Hundreds of years of family history and you think this is it?" He said with a chuckle. "Well... It would be if Margaery wrote it."
"I resent that!"
Chuckling, Willas reached out and pulled a book from the shelf. But it wasn't a book. There was a tremendous, rumbling click of what sounded like a thousand locks, and then the bookcase was pulling back and sliding to the right. There were a set of stairs that Willas beckoned them to follow him down.
Arya gasped aloud.
"Holy shit."
Gendry chuckled against her.
"You should have seen Hot Pie."
They followed Willas through the secret door and into the biggest and coolest library Arya had ever seen. It was massive, curved, with rows upon rows of books. It was just as she would have imagined it. Cobwebbed, yet perfect, with deep maple paneling and spiraled staircases. The books reached to the ceiling, which domed at the top, the roof made of glass, sunlight pouring through. There were tables covered with bottles and bones and disgusting looking liquids, books sprawled open, notes written on the pages.
"It's like "Beauty and the Beast' with a 'Hocus Pocus' twist," Arya said in awe. Gendry laughed again.
"GUYS! GUYS THIS IS SO FUCKING COOL!" Hot Pie's head appeared over one of the bannisters on the upper level. "THERE'S A BOOK IN HERE THAT TELLS YOU HOW TO INCREASE THE LENGTH OF YOUR-"
"Ahh she's awake!" Loras said, looking extremely haggard, as he walked towards them. "Finally."
"HEY LORAS! HEY! DOES HOGWARTS HAVE WIFI?"
"I don't even know what he's talking about," Loras said, looking ready to strangle Hot Pie. "But I assume it's from a book."
"Yeah it is," Arya and Gendry said at the same time. Again. She hoped they weren't going to be making a habit of it.
"So far," Willas said, "we've complied a lot of data that might be useful."
"Like vampires weaknesses and strengths," Margaery said, "and how to kill them and yada yada."
"And the blueprints for the house they currently live in," Renly said, walking up from somewhere in the depths of the library. "Which will come in handy, I think."
"The problem is getting in," Margaery said with a frown as Renly tossed her the blue prints. She swiped some bottles off the table carelessly and set the blue prints down. Renly pulled up a chair and Gendry set Arya in it so that she could see what was going on. "Which is why-"
"No," Willas, Loras, and Renly all said at once. "Absolutely not."
"Will you all be quiet?" Margaery snapped. "I'm perfectly capable of handling myself!"
"Umm I'm missing something here," Arya said.
"Stupidity," Margaery said darkly. "As if I couldn't handle myself against a couple of vampires."
"You say it like it's similar to taking out the garbage," Willas said, scandalized.
"You can't even deal with a gopher," Loras pointed out.
"In my defense," Margaery said, "that thing had some pretty lethal chompers and a psychotic death wish."
"And is anyone else seeing the parallels here or is it just me?" Renly said, just as protective as all her brothers. "Margaery, you can't just waltz into a horde of blood thirsty vampires and expect to live to tell the tale!"
"Yes I can," Margaery said with a frown. "I mean, obviously I'd have to be sneaky about it, but... Well... Joffrey can't be to found of Sansa at this point..."
"NO!" Willas shouted. "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"
"Margaery are you serious?" Renly said. "Doesn't that sort of border on pedophilia? He's like what, thirteen?"
"Eighteen," Margaery snapped.
"Oh yeah, let's just ignore the fact that that little shit ripped out Ned Stark's throat!" Loras rounded on Renly.
"Obviously I wasn't-"
"SHUT UP!" Margaery, Loras, Gendry and even Hot Pie all shouted. It was clear that this arguing between the two had been going on for sometime.
"Margaery I'm putting my foot down," Willas said sternly. "And don't even think about making any cane jokes."
"You insult me."
"I agree," Loras said. "No good cane come of this."
Willas glared and Margaery made a strangled coughing sound that strongly resembled a snort of laughter.
"Sorry," Loras said innocently. "Slip of the tongue."
"I'm sure," Willas said coldly. "But forget Margaery's plan. We're not doing it. It's far too dangerous."
"Fine," Margaery said sassily, crossing her arms over her chest. "So then what's the plan?"
There was silence, and she smirked.
"I agree with Margaery," Arya spoke up, and everyone jumped. She supposed they had quite forgotten her.
"Well thank god someone has sense," Margaery said in relief.
"It's the only way we can get inside access without arising suspicion," Arya said firmly. Gendry and Willas exchanged looks.
"I... I don't think you'll be so receptive to Margaery's whole plan when you hear all of it," Gendry said.
"Why?" Arya demanded, and for the first time Margaery looked apprehensive.
"First, you should know that Cersei's been put in police custody on the suspicion of murder," Willas said gravely.
"Good," Arya snarled vindictively. Then what were they looking so on edge about? She was certainly shedding no tears over it.
"Secondly," Loras said, "we don't just you know... Study the supernatural."
"No because we'd be broke if we did," Margaery said.
"We're lawyers," Willas said. "The best this county has to offer, not to flatter myself too much."
"And...?" Arya asked, having a feeling she was about to get very angry.
"Well... To really get in with the Lannisters and save your sister, we'd have to gain their total trust," Margaery said apprehensively.
"And?" Arya demanded.
"What Margaery's saying is we need to prove Cersei innocent," Willas said with a sigh.
I made the Tyrells supernatural consultants cuz I figured their thing was flowers, and flowers and herbs and stuff must equal witches right? I hope you guys know that I'm doing this all in good fun and it shouldn't be taken too seriously (kind of like Buffy the Vampire slayer). Humor alongside badassery.
