Shireen smiled as Rickon landed in the pool with what might be the biggest splash she'd ever seen. Everyone standing near the water was soaked and as he pulled himself out and shook the leftover water from his curls, the spray continued to fly as more people were pushed into the pool.
She paused for a moment, as spurts of blood tinted the water red. And she could Edric covered in blood, panting like a madman as three people circled around him. And Uncle Renly and Loras fighting people off from all directions to keep them away from a slightly battered Mya.
Shireen wheedled the knife around in her palm. I could help them, she thought, I could charge over there right now and start swinging. I could get in a few good hits before someone started swinging back. That's what they would do. She sighed, because they were stronger and larger and for them that plan would succeed. She needed to be crafty, she need a long term solution. So she turned the knife around and stuck it back in her pocket, feeling a pang of guilt as Loras Tyrell took another hit to his lovely face and Renly attacked a man twice his size.
She kept going, down to the garden and the path leading up to the guesthouse. It was quieter down here, and desolate. Now she pulled Needle from her pocket and flipped it open. The door was locked, breaking a window might draw some attention to her and the key, which was in Sansa's possession, was also nowhere to be found. But she a thing or two about another way to get it open.
She was rusty and she'd never worked with a knife before, but she tried to feel her way through the lock with the blade. After endless minutes of trying, she was able to break it open. She pushed her hair off her face and looked around the dimly lit room.
"Alright where are you?" She said to herself, searching the floor for a sign of fur.
"I'm here." A voice replied meekly.
Shireen looked around for the source of the voice. She found the light switch and flicked it on. Sansa lay in the corner, surrounded by the Stark direwolves, at her feet were piles of books and clothes and papers splattered around her in a circle.
"I think I've figured it all out." She said shakily.
"What?" Shireen asked.
"All of it." She repeated.
"Okay..." Shireen walked carefully towards Sansa, unsure of what would come next.
There was a loud banging outside that drew both girls, and six wolves' attention to the doorway. The wolves began to growl angrily.
"Arya's out there somewhere, isn't she?" Sansa asked.
"Yes." Shireen answered, cringing at a cry of pain that could be heard over the screams, "All hell has kind of broken lose out there."
"And what are you planning on doing about it?" Sansa asked. Little Shireen Baratheon, so much like the young Sansa Stark, who did nothing, and this grown up version, sitting on the ground in the dark while the other's fought their wars. She looked up at Shireen, "What are we gonna do about it?" She asked.
Sansa knew now where her sister had disappeared to, and why she'd come back, and all the work she'd done in between. Arya was such an angry little girl growing up, and after an hour of reading her notes, Sansa felt the same warm rage in the pit of her stomach.
"Well, I did have one idea." She said.
They looked down at the chains around the wolves' necks.
"I think I'm going to like it." Sansa said.
Gendry looked around and he could've sworn they were losing. He'd lost track of Arya. Across the crowd he could see the others; Edric's nose was broken and so bloody that his whole front was dyed red and Jon and Robb were so busy trying to save Theon from Ramsay's grip that they hardly noticed the two large guys coming up behind them with broken bottles in their hands. He
"Where's Arya?" He asked, gripping Bran's sleeve. He turned around, fixed his eyes on Gendry, and winced,
"You look like shit." He said.
"Thanks. You look good too." Gendry shot back. There was a long cut running above Bran's eyebrow and a bruise surfacing along his jaw. Behind him stood Meera, who had a cut oozing blood on her bottom lip.
"Your, um, your eye." Bran said. Gendry lifted his hand to his swollen left eye and found red swimming around in his blurred vision. His bottom eyelid was cut and left crusty blood staining his cheek.
"Fucking Boltons." He muttered before turning back to Bran. "Have you seen Arya?" He asked again.
Bran shook his head, "After Rickon cannonballed into the pool and all this shit really started, I saw her take off towards the forest. Haven't seen her since." Gendry curse under his breath. "What?" Bran asked, "You don't think she..."
"What? Waited until things got as bad as they could before completely skipping out? Sure, she's never done that before." He said.
"Sarcasm doesn't suit you." Bran said, hissing in pain as Meera tried dab at the blood on his forehead. He smiled a conciliatory smile and let her continue her work.
"She wouldn't leave." Gendry said, "Not again."
"Well, then you shouldn't have any trouble finding her." Bran said, turning his attentions back to Meera and the cut along her shoulder.
"And yet..." Gendry said, motioning to the lack of Arya in his general vicinity.
"Just give it a few seconds." Jojen said, appearing next to them. There wasn't scratch on him. .
"What do you know?" Bran asked.
Jojen eyed them knowingly. "Usually everything." He shrugged. "Right now I know that everyone else fighting, and yet, look at your baby brother."
There eyes turned to Rickon, who stood still, balancing on the tall speakers as the fighting continued beneath him.
Gendry squinted through his bad eye, "Why is he grinning like that?"
"How do you know how to do this?" Sansa asked, watching as Shireen wrestled with the lock that kept the chains in their place.
"My father is a very secretive man. He likes locks and keeping things in them." She said. "I've gotten pretty good and working around them these last few years. Especially the last few days, it seems."
The lock clicked open and Shireen smile triumphantly.
"So we each take three wolves?" She asked Sansa. She approached them warily where they lay in their corner of the room.
"Can you handle three wolves at once?" Sansa asked, she held the chains for Lady and Grey Wind in her hands and was struggling to wrangle Summer into place as well. They seemed to be as restless as their masters tonight.
"I don't know if I can even handle one." Shireen said. At her feet, one was sniffing around her ankles and rubbing it's fur against her bare legs as it walked around her.
"He seems to like you." Sansa laughed. Shireen leaned down and patted his fur, the wolf lifted his nose up to her wrist and sniffed happily. "That's Shaggydog, Rickon's wolf."
"Of course it is." Shireen said.
"He'll be a handful." Sansa said, "Maybe I should take him?"
"Then which one should I take?" Shireen asked.
"I could take a couple off your hands." Both girls turned and found someone else standing in the doorway.
Arya smiled at the broken lock on the door, "I see you've put my knife to good use."
Shireen smiled and stuttered a unintelligible response before shifting her eyes to Sansa.
Sansa let the chains fall from her hands. The direwolves went running to Arya's side and she leaned down and patted their fur lovingly before straightening up and smiling at her sister.
"Hey, Sansa." Arya said.
"I-" Was all the older Stark could manage.
Shireen stood in the middle of the two sisters, they were at opposite ends of the room, speaking in short, half sentences.
"I'm home." She said.
"I figured that out." Sansa said. She gestured down to the papers covering the carpet. "I figured it all out."
Arya looked down at them and her lip quivered. She rushed to Sansa, grabbing her arms and holding on for dear life. "Once I found out what he was doing I had to finish what he started. And I did, I got it all. And once I found out what the Lannister were doing, what Joffrey did to you, I had to try and fix that too. I did my best, and it wasn't enough and I failed you and I'm so, so sorry Sansa. I'm so sorry."
Arya cried and rested her head on Sansa's shoulder. The older Stark girl patted her her on the shoulder as her eyes, miraculously dry, stayed trained on the floor. "You did good, Arya, you did so good."
"It wasn't enough." She sobbed. "I couldn't bring him back, I couldn't bring them back, I couldn't save you." She was crying furiously.
"There was nothing either of us could've done." Sansa lamented, still holding her sister up. "We were so young. I was so foolish..."
"After I finished I still couldn't come back. All I could think was how I'd failed you and I couldn't bear to look you in the eye. I'm so sorry Sansa."
"Arya," Sansa said, holding her sister at arms length and doing her best to smile, "Look at me, I'm fine. I'm great! I did that, and you helped! We both made it back here where we belong, let's be glad for it."
Shireen watched, utterly confused, as Arya nodded and wiped her tears with the back of her hand like a small child, "Yes. Good." She sniffled and suddenly she was the strong, tough Arya Shireen had always imagined. "So what's this plan?"
Sansa smiled and handed her sister two chains. But Arya shook her head.
"I've got one small change to make." She said, smiling down at her hands.
Rickon smiled and looked over the party. There was blood, bodies and spilled beer everywhere. His brothers were still standing and Joffrey, surrounded by his loyal lackeys, was too. But that was about to change.
He could feel his blood pumping with adrenaline. After landing in the pool he'd found Robb and Ramsay Snow beating the shit out of each other. Eager to get into the fight he'd all but picked his brother up and moved him out of the way in order to slam his fist into Ramsay's face. He'd taken on countless others after leaving Ramsay floating in the pool, and now he was standing victorious, waiting for the cavalry to come.
There was a tug on his ankle and he kicked reflexively, the heel of his boot connecting with skin and bone.
"Fucking hells, Rickon!" Gendry's muffled voice shouted as he rubbed his jaw.
"Sorry." Rickon laughed.
"What are you smiling at?" Gendry asked.
"Come take a look." He said. Gendry fought off a few bystanders before he climbed up next to him. Bran, Meer and Jojen continued to fight and catch of glimpse of what the other two were looking at. Momentarily, Gendry's eyes landed on the balcony, where people were crammed against he railing and pointing towards the property's edge.
He turned around and saw the cause of the commotion. Several of the fights near the garden had hit a standstill, as everyone paused to look at the girls emerging from the guesthouse.
He could see Sansa with Grey Wind and Lady at her heels, Shireen walking tall with Summer and Shaggydog at her sides, and Arya leading them both with Nymeria and Ghost growling in front of her.
The crowd parted for them, their eyes wide and their jaws dropped in fear. The wolves ran ahead, growling and eager for a hunt and the girls followed behind, more patient than their pets for the slaughter that was coming.
"You just never fucking learn, do you?" Arya hissed as they approached Joffrey.
The Lannister boy had to suppress his nervous shaking at the sight of the six Stark direwolves and it made Arya feel powerful to know they were at her command. She scratched Nymeria behind her ear and felt her whimper happily from the touch but when her hand pulled away the wolf returned to her snarling, her teeth barred towards the trespassers.
"Last year, you walked around here, acting like you owned the place, calling yourself Robert Baratheon's son and I told you that you weren't. And didn't I prove you wrong? Or do you need a reminder?" She asked. "I wasn't exactly subtle with my discoveries. Everyone here has read the articles! Everyone's seen the proof!" She shouted, her voice echoed into the air above the silent crowd. The wolves howled their response.
"So you think you would've taken me seriously when I told you to stay away from my sister. And yet, it took her another two months to get away from you. And three to get home. You think you might've taken me even more seriously when I destroyed your family's reputation, your business, your social respectability, and the name you all lied so hard to hold onto." Joffrey moved his foot an inch but stopped as Ghost and Nymeria began circling him where he stood.
"And yet," Arya growled, "here you are, acting as if hiding behind another family makes you strong again." Joffrey opened his mouth to speak but the wolf's bark cut him off.
"The important thing was that you stayed away from my sister, my home, my family. That's what I cared about. But you didn't listen. This is your last warning, let's hope third time's the charm." She turned to Shireen, "Anything to add?"
Shireen crossed her arms and shook her head, "I said everything I needed to say earlier, unless you need me to freshen your memories?"
Lancel glared at her and mutter something under his breath, but he stopped as Shaggydog circled around Shireen, ready to charge.
"Shaggy, no." Shireen whispered and the wolf stilled. She smiled triumphantly and her eyes landed on Rickon who looked impressed and slightly mystified.
"Sansa?" Arya asked. "Anything you'd like to say?"
Joffrey scoffed and when he turned back to the Lannisters they began to laugh.
Slowly, Sansa walked forward, each step more certain than the last. Once she was mere inches from Joffrey, her eyes wavered and fell to the ground.
"Is there something you'd like to say to me?" Joffrey challenged, his jaw set rigidly in its place.
She said nothing and kept her eyes trained on his mouth, her fingers flexed at the thought of how much she wanted to punch him. He sniggered as she stayed silent. Then her eyes lifted to his, piercing blue meeting sinister green.
"You never should've come to the North." She said. She spoke hardly above a whisper, and Joffrey taunted her by holding his hand up to his ear,
"Speak up you worthless piece of-" He never got to finish his sentence. Sansa smacked his arm away with one hand, the other grabbed the collar of his shirt and she shoved him to the ground. She stared down at him, the small boy she'd thought was her first love. As she towered over him he still looked like that same boy, only now she laughed at the thought of him, the petty, spoiled little boy she'd always known.
"It's time for you to leave and never come back." She said firmly. "They'll show you out." Sansa stood and returned to Arya's side.
A look of confusion set in on Joffrey's face but as the direwolves growling increased and their paws padded towards him, recognition slowly replaced it.
"Would you like to do the honours?" Arya asked.
"Don't mind if I do." Sansa smiled. Joffrey flailed before finally arriving to his feet with the help of his frightened cousins. With a small wave of her fingers the wolves snarling increase, and then they charged.
Nymeria reached them first, sinking her teeth into Joffrey's leg and pinning him in place for the others to pile on. They heard him scream, all high pitched and sad, but they did nothing to stop it. The other Lannisters were unharmed, and stood by mouths agape until Joffrey was able to form the words that commanded them to help. Hesistantly they tried to intervene. And then the direwolves were everywhere. And the whole thing was a flurry of blonde hair and fur and blood. The Lannisters picked up their fallen cousin and together they managed to hobble away in a pathetic attempt to flee.
The wolves snarled as they left, waiting for a decent distance, just enough to let them think they were safe. Then they took off, eager for the hunt, chasing anyone caught on the wrong side of the brawl up the side of the house and down into the front yard, sending howls and screams into the night.
Those sounds filled the air as everyone nearby watched, mystified.
A moment later the music started up again, louder than it had ever been, to drown out the rest of the night. And to celebrate. Everyone was riled up and excited both from the fight and the Lannister's final exit.
Except the Starks... they had more important matters to attend to.
The six of them, finally reunited, stayed in the middle of the backyard, under the moon and while the party consumed everyone else. They enveloped each other in endless embraces. Arya and Sansa, now inseparable, stood at the centre of the group, surrounded by brothers shouting questions filled with anger and love, around them the Baratheons and the Reeds stood, waiting for their turn.
They stayed there for so long, shouting incomprehensible sentences at each other "I'll explain everything if you would just let me breathe." "No I had no idea either. I know I'm sorry, but you have to admit..." "WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GO THAT DIDN'T HAVE A WORKING TELEPHONE?" "I knew the whole time, all of it. I knew everything." "CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?"
Mya weaseled her way over to Sansa's side eventually, "Where'd you go? I was so worried about you. I was looking everywhere!" She pulled the girl into a hug.
"I was worried about me too." She said. "But I'm okay now."
"Looks to me like you're more than okay." Mya laughed. "That was incredible!"
"It was Shireen's idea, she was the one who found me." Sansa said.
Mya grinned and turned to her little cousin, picked her up and twirled her around before placing her back down and allowing Sansa to give her an equally appreciative hug.
"Why didn't you tell me you were back?" Jon shouted into Arya's ear.
She glanced nervously at him. "I wasn't ready yet. I was... afraid. I couldn't even go in the house until Gendry dragged me inside tonight."
"I don't mean tonight." Jon said. Arya looked away guiltily, "You should've told me, I deserved more than one letter." He said, not letting her squirm away from his view. He put a hand on her shoulder, as if to hold her in place, and watched her as she wrung her hands around each other anxiously.
"I know you did. It's just... After the news got out I thought you wouldn't want to look at me let alone speak to me. I couldn't have handled that."
"You wouldn't have had to." Jon said. "Gods, Arya, do honestly think I would've done that to you?" Her big eyes looked up at him as he pulled her into a hug. "I just wanted you home. You're my little sister, none of that other shit matter. I was fucking worried."
Arya smiled up at him, and stood on the tips of her toes to hug him again.
"I suppose I'll have to wait til later to get the full story won't I?" he said with a sigh.
"Why's that?" She asked. He placed her back on the ground and pointed over her shoulder. She turned and saw Gendry watching her, his face made of stone.
"I'll still kick his ass." Jon said.
Arya laughed, "I can do that myself now."
Jon smiled, "I know. But I'll be there to help." He patted her shoulder and she smiled at him before he was attacked by a wisp of red hair. She smiled for moment as he was attacked by harsh kisses and then she turned away.
She took a deep breath and walked over to him. "I guess I've got some explaining to do, huh?"
Gendry reached down for her hand without saying a word, and led her into the house. Arya bit her lip and took once last look at the party. Jon was busy now with Ygritte. Talisa was cleaning up Robb's wounds while he continued talking to Sansa, then he reached out to pull his sister into a hug. Mya and Edric were talking to Bran and Meera, comparing battle scars. Then the door closed behind her and they were gone.
The house was practically empty. The only people who weren't outside were the ones so comatose they'd slept through the whole thing. Gendry walked past all of them and stayed silent until they were in her old room.
The purple walls, the fencing posters, the books on direwolves, it all came flooding back to her. She sat on the bed while Gendry perched himself on the windowsill, he stared out at the front lawn for a moment, filled with passed out partygoers and a few staggering people, still running for fear of wolves. Then he turned back to Arya, his arms crossed, his expression stoic.
"Talk."