SEPTEMBER 2011

I need you to promise me something.

What is it?

If it comes to a point where it's me against Gregor, I don't want you to fucking help me.

Why not?

You think you've wanted revenge a long time? I've been after it all my life; it's all I care about. It's my fight.

But I'd want to help-

I know, girl. I know that's what you think you'd be doing, but he's too big and too crazy, and he is vicious. He is a bad man, and he will hurt you. That tiny shit of a dagger isn't going to help you against him.

What if he's about to kill you? I can't let him-

Look at me...LOOK AT ME! Pay attention. I do not want your help. If he's going to kill me, I'm ready. Don't do anything stupid to save me.

Fine… I get it.

Promise me.

I promise.

2019

When the rain finally tapers off at 2:00 in the morning, the two of them are too keyed up to go to sleep. Arya suggests taking a walk, and although that's the last thing Sandor wants to do, he agrees to it. They both have their hoodies on-to be seen together in New York would trigger all kinds of alarm bells. "Former Secret Service Agent and President's Daughter Seen On New York Street" is what Arya thinks the headline will be, although it's too long and she feels as though people have generally stopped caring about her after all this time. But they don't want to take any risks.

"I don't know why I keep letting you talk me into things," Sandor says as they leave the hotel. "Especially with the importance of tomorrow."

"Excuse me, but I don't think I had to 'talk you into' what we just did," Arya says, and reaches out to squeeze his hand. He squeezes her back. It's way too cute for words, which is not something that usually describes the two of them together.

"You know what I mean. We can't afford to let this get in the way of what we came here to do," he says.

"I don't get why you're always trying to categorize it. We can do both; I keep telling you that."

Sandor shakes his head, like he doesn't think that's possible. But it seems like he has something else on his mind.

"If Gregor is with her tomorrow… remember your promise to me?"

Arya thinks back to the conversation they had so many years ago. "I remember, but that was a long time ago. I can take him now-"

"No. Even if you could, I don't want you to. I will never forgive you, girl, do you understand? Gregor is mine. And you underestimate his strength. I've seen you in action and I respect your skills, but Gregor is no match for you. Just tell me you get it."

"I get it," Arya says. She doesn't really get it but it's so important to Sandor. "I promise. Again."

"Thank you."

Meanwhile, as they walk down East 61st Street, the smell of rain drifting up from the wet pavement, the clouds parting in the sky to reveal a full moon… Arya feels something she hasn't experienced in a while-real happiness. It's been so long that she almost has no idea how to identify it. But walking with Sandor into an uncertain future, after spending the past month doing what she does best, on the eve of her possibly finally killing her greatest enemy, Arya is happy. She realizes that things may not work out the way they're planning; that Cersei and Gregor might not even be in New York, or that she and Sandor could possibly not even make it through the impending battle, but... she's not going to think about that tonight.

They walk by a Starbucks and Arya says, "I'm going to get some tea. Come with me?"

"I'd rather walk on burning hot coals than be seen in a Starbucks. I'll wait out here," Sandor says. Arya chuckles and goes to get her tea. It's a short line at 2 AM and Arya is served quickly. "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel is playing on the speakers. Arya smiles for a brief second because it was one of her father's favorite songs. Edward loved Billy Joel. In fact, the whole family went to see him at Madison Square Garden when Arya was three-

As Arya walks towards the door, she sees Sandor outside, frozen in place. Just a few feet away from him is a huge hulking figure that appears to be as tall, maybe even taller than Sandor.

Gregor, Arya thinks, and she drops her tea and runs outside-from the patio exit. She unsheathes Needle and waits. It looks as though the two brothers are having a heated conversation. Arya knows how this is going to end and feels completely helpless to stop it from happening. She made that goddamn promise. Still, she wants to be back up in case he wants her.

"You dropped your tea," says a voice from behind her. Arya spins around to tell the voice to fuck off and comes face to face with Cersei fucking Lannister.

Arya grips Needle, but she sees that plunging it directly into Cersei is the wrong move, at least right at this moment. Her heart is beating out of control and she tries to focus so that she doesn't make a mistake. This is it. This is happening.

"That's okay. I'll get another one," Arya says, immediately feeling stupid. That's what she says when seeing this crazy bitch after an entire decade?

"Why don't you sit down with me? Gregor and Sandor have a lot to catch up on," Cersei says. Arya doesn't want to turn around to see what could possibly be happening with the two of them; she can't take her eyes off Cersei for a second. Fortunately she can hear them-Sandor and Gregor are yelling at each other very loudly and the mix of Scottish accents is getting harder to understand. But as far as Arya can tell, they aren't trying to kill one another just yet.

"I'd rather not," Arya says, and then notices the two huge men lurking behind Cersei, just waiting to do the dirty work for her. Arya figures she can get the upper hand here if she needs to. She just needs to pace herself-she can do that.

"Fair enough. Sit down with me." Arya realizes this is not a request. She sits down at the metal table with Cersei. Cersei sips her coffee and looks perfectly calm and collected. Out of all the ways Arya imagined this scenario, this never came up. She wanted Sandor by her side, and right now, she can't even protect him from his worst enemy.

"Do you think we don't know where you and your beast of a companion are at all times? You really think you two have been covertly finding all my associates and it wouldn't get back to me? You are truly a stupid, stupid girl."

"Of course we knew that," Arya says, struggling to stay in control. "Why do you think we came to New York?"

"Because you thought I was being honored at Nelson's house tomorrow night. That's what Roger told you, right? He was so easily manipulated, that one. Truthfully, I'm thankful you killed him. Saved me from having to do the job myself."

"How convenient," Arya says.

"It was. Why do you think I didn't warn him that you would be in Belgium? 'Look for a twenty-something woman that resembles a little girl, and her ugly, scarred sidekick.' It would have been so easy."

Arya hears Gregor and Sandor's fight escalating behind she and Cersei on the street. Arya knows Sandor has his dagger on him-he always does-but he might not be fast enough to unsheath it before Gregor makes a move.

A small crowd has gathered to gawk at the two giant men fighting on the street, but due to this being a somewhat normal New York City occurrence, most of the crowd gets bored before too long. Arya is trying to think of how to take Cersei and her goons out before running to help Sandor, but he doesn't want her help, and she needs to focus on what's right in front of her.

"Don't worry, Gregor will be done with Sandor soon. You worried about him?" Cersei smirks at Arya. Arya can't deal with this. Cersei's idea of a good time is a conversation, it appears. Arya bets Cersei has never been in a real fight in her whole life. She has to take this bitch out, and soon.

"Not really. Sandor knows what to do in a fight."

Cersei laughs. "You don't know Gregor." She takes another sip of coffee, which Arya wishes she would choke on violently. "Why do you even want to protect Sandor? He kidnapped you. Took you away from your family. Changed you. Are you two fucking or something?"

Arya is not going to let this bitch faze her. "He's a friend."

Cersei laughs. "I know all about 'friends.' But enough with the formalities. I know you want to kill me. I know you think I'm the reason for all your pain and suffering. If I could list all the ways I've suffered, all the pain I've been in… your life has been easy in comparison. By the way, if you do succeed in killing me, nothing ends. It only continues, darling."

Arya doesn't ask what the fuck she is talking about, but it doesn't matter because Cersei keeps talking. "For starters, you'll probably be executed immediately by one of my men-yes, I have less of them now since you started your murder spree across the world, but there's always more to be found. When one has money, there's a never-ending line of people who want to be my friend and my council. And I think you're forgetting one thing-your sister is married to my brother. I can take them both out at the same time. Once Sansa becomes a senator, she'll be a target anyway. I believe that makes us sisters-in-law, by the way. Would you really want to kill your sister-in-law?"

"Stop talking," Arya says before Cersei opens her fucking mouth again. "Just shut the fuck up. I can kill you and your guards and anyone else you send over to me. You killed my father, and my mother and my brother, and you're still not anything important. Any fucking cunt can have money, but that doesn't give you what you really want."

Cersei looks intrigued. "Oh, and what's that?"

Arya smiles. "Your brother is dead. He's never coming back. And now you've joined up with Gods know who to blow up the country to get your revenge. You're a fucking psycho."

Cersei doesn't deny this. Instead she looks past Arya to Gregor and Sandor.

"This is my favorite part of Gregor's plan," Cersei says with admiration in her voice. "When he told me about it, I could believe how masterful it was."

Behind her, Arya hears a liquid being poured on to the pavement. It seems like everyone and everything in New York City goes quiet, because Arya can hear what happens next-the sound of a match being struck.

"Poor Sandor, he really hates fire, doesn't he? This is probably his worst nightmare-"

With one swift move, Arya pulls out the umbrella from the patio table and hits Cersei in the head with it, causing Cersei to fall over on the ground. The two guards come rushing at Arya and she shoves the umbrella sideways at them, causing them to fall as well. Arya grabs Needle and stabs both of them in the heart. Cersei is unconscious and can wait a minute while Arya figures out how to kill Gregor without breaking her promise to Sandor, which seems rather impossible.

Arya turns around to see what she feared was happening-Gregor lit a huge fire in front of him on the sidewalk, and Sandor is staring at it, unable to move, like he is in a trance and the fire is the only thing he can see. Arya wants to shove her dagger into Gregor so badly, just end this fucking thing, but it's not an option.

The fire is in the way of her running to Sandor, and she can see how this is going to play out. In seconds, Gregor is going to stab Sandor while he's mesmerized by the fire. She has to do something.

"Sandor! Look at me, you dumb fuck! Don't be a fucking idiot!" She's screaming, and absolutely nobody is paying attention. Gregor doesn't even turn around to look at her. Sandor is still staring into the flames with a blank expression on his face.

Gregor is walking out of the fire over to his brother now, Arya sees. Before she can question what the hell she's doing, Arya picks up another umbrella from the table (they're surprisingly light) and throws it at Sandor. It hits him in the head, and he nearly falls down. But it does knock him out of the daze he was in, and he manages to block Gregor's hand right before he stabs him. Arya watches in horror as the two of them fight it out, stabbing each other multiple times, but not quite connecting with any vital organs. Arya could end this right now; Gregor is so focused on Sandor that she could stick her knife in his back with no problem.

Arya cries out when Gregor sticks his blade directly into Sandor's hand, which makes Sandor let out a high-pitched scream. Sandor looks across the fire and makes eye contact with Arya. It causes her a physical ache in her chest to see that the light is slowly draining from his face. He is realizing that he never had the upper hand and she is sure that pisses him off more than anything else about this.

"Sandor!" Arya screams out, knowing that it's not going to help. Sandor again finds her through the flames, right as Gregor kicks him in the stomach. Sandor falls down to the ground, and Arya's heart breaks.

Sandor lays on the ground for way too long. Gregor gives him a second to stand up, continue their fight, not be such an easy target, but Sandor doesn't move. Gregor kicks him in the leg, and then moves to stab him again. Before he makes contact, Sandor grabs the umbrella Arya threw at him and pierces it right through Gregor. Gregor tries to pry it out of him, but it's in too deep. Arya watches as Gregor falls right into the flames that he personally ignited. And suddenly, Gregor is gone. It all happens so fast, Arya barely has time to process it all.

Before Arya can run to Sandor, she hears quiet footsteps behind her. She lifts up a chair and turns around, throwing it straight at Cersei, who had a knife in her hand, ready to strike. Cersei falls once again, and that's when Arya takes Needle out. She kneels on the ground and grabs Cersei by the head.

"You'll regret this, I swear-"

"I will never regret being the one who gets to kill you," Arya says, and slits Cersei's throat. Arya wants to watch as the blood comes pouring out of Cersei's mouth, but she knows the bitch is dead. She runs to Sandor and kneels again, holding his head in her hands. He's still alive, but just barely.

Arya hears sirens in the distance and knows someone called 911. The best thing to do would be to run as far away as possible, as quickly as she can, but she's not going to leave Sandor. No matter what the consequences, that's not an option.