AN: Alright folks, this is the second last chapter! Finally, time for some answers. Hope you all enjoy...
The wolves returned, striking fear in the hearts of a few people nearby. Shireen didn't understand why, the only ones they wanted to harm were long gone.
They padded slinkily over to the guest house and spread out in the garden, basking in the moon's glow and she joined them, laying out on the dewy green grass. She rested her head on Shaggy's fur and soon enough, felt someone lie next to her.
"I don't think we should chain them up again." She said, staring up at the stars.
"Nah, I think they'll be fine for the rest of the night."
"Morning." Shireen corrected, she grabbed Rickon's wrist and pointed to his watch. "It's almost four."
Rickon grabbed her hand and traced the blue bruises. Shaggydog sat up suddenly and reached his head around to lick the wounds lying under her skin, making her giggle.
"Someone's sure taken a liking to you." Rickon said, shooting his pet a look of disapproval.
"Yep, he's already wrapped around my finger." Shireen smile proudly.
"It would seem so." he said tiredly.
"Hey, Rickon?" She said, turning her head towards him.
"Yeah?" He replied, looking at her.
"Thanks for tonight."
Rickon shrugged, "We didn't even do anything. It was all you."
"That's true." Shireen smiled. "You were pretty useless." He laughed.
"I'm actually excited to go back home," She said happily.
"Really?" Rickon asked.
"Yeah," She said. "There's so much more to do now. I survived a trip to the North. Look at me, I'm still in one piece, that ought to surprise my parents. And I think it's time I started travelling around the South. I could drag Edric up and down the coast. Or maybe go East..."
"Do not go East." Rickon interrupted. "You'll never come back."
"What... are you worried about me?" She joked.
Rickon looked away from her. "Baby steps.." He said finally, "That's all I'm saying."
"Screw baby steps." Shireen decided. "I'm going to go... everywhere. Maybe I'll head up to the Wall."
Rickon nodded, "You know, it's awfully cold up there."
She smiled at his little hints, "Well, I'll having Shaggydog to keep me warm."
"You're so sure he'd go with you?" Rickon asked.
"Absolutely." Shireen said.
"No way." Rickon said.
"Wanna bet?"
Shireen got up and walked to the other side of the garden, Rickon did the same, sitting at the opposite end. They stared at each other in silence for a minute until finally Shireen waved expectantly,
"Go on." She said.
"Shaggy, here boy." Rickon called, followed by whistles and waves that beckoned the wolf closer. Shaggy lifted his head and stood, then turned in a circle before laying back down on the grass.
"Shaggydog." Shireen sing-songed sweetly. The wolf's head perked up and in the still dark sky his yellow eyes still had a glow in them. "Here Shaggy." She patted the ground in front of her gently and the wolf's body rose with each thump. When he stood in front of her he nuzzled lovingly against into her neck before lying down happily in her lap. She looked at Rickon and smirked.
He stood and walked over to Shireen and the wolf.
"Traitor." He muttered down at Shaggydog, who turned away to hide behind Shireen.
"See?" She said. "I'll be perfectly fine up at the Wall."
Rickon sat crossed legged in front of her, plucking up blades of grass from the patch between them. "You'll need a guide."
"I'll guess I'll have to make a friend or two then." She teased. "Maybe I'll meet a Crow, or a nice Wildling."
She stretched her legs out and let her head rest comfortably against Shaggy's fur. Rickon lay down next to her.
"Sure you could do that." He said dismissively, then grumbled "I lived up North, you know."
Shireen rolled her eyes and laughed. She sat up suddenly and rested a hand on Rickon's chest before leaning in and placing a quick kiss on his lips. Her soft black curls fell over his face, like a curtain keeping them hidden from the world.
She smiled down at him before laying back down on Shaggy's soft coat.
"I knew you were going to do that." He said smugly, staring at her while she stared at the stars.
"Oh who cares anyway?" Shireen decided. "The important thing is that I did it." She squirmed closer, resting her head on his shoulder. "And I'll do it again too."
"What a threat." Rickon joked, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
She smiled happily up at the stars.
Sansa smiled. She was crammed in between Mya and Robb, both had their arms around her.
People were celebrating. Half of them probably had no idea what they were so happy about, but that hardly mattered. What mattered was her family by her side, although Arya had already gone missing, hand in hand with Gendry. Sansa had a feeling they'd be doing more than just catching up. What mattered even more was that she felt happpy, and safe, and strong, and that was something she hadn't felt in years.
She smiled to herself, and let her hand drop from Mya's. When she turned back to the pool she noticed how the party had been reinvigorated; people were no longer lounging on the pools chairs but bouncing on them, and jumping in the water and splashing around. Some were showing off their battle scars and cleaning out wounds while drinking more to numb the pain. Loras and Renly were loading a new keg into place while people stood by eagerly. Edric offered to help and when the whole thing started spraying like a rampant fire hydrant they just danced in it. Mya laughed and ran to join her brother, while Robb leaned away to shield Talisa from the spray.
Beyond that, near the door, waiting patiently to catch Sansa's eye, was Margaery. She offered a concilliatory smile and wave, which Sansa did not return, before making hasty, cautious steps towards her old friend.
"How are you feeling?" Margaery yelled in Sansa's ear. The girl shot a look to her beer soaked brother and his boyfriend as they shouted happily up at the sky.
"Pretty damn good." Sansa said. She crossed her arms and glared at Margaery, but the girl was determined, she stood her ground with a smile on her face.
"I'm proud of you." She said.
"An hour ago you wanted nothing to do with me." Sansa said.
"No, please, keep smiling. You should smile more often." Margaery reached up and brushed a lock of hair from Sansa's face before planting a kiss on her cheek. "I have a plan, Sansa. I always have a plan." The girl whispered. Then she pulled away and looked at Sansa. "Don't you trust me?"
Margaery smiled her clever little smile, but for once Sansa didn't feel herself melt at the sight of it.
"I don't." She said. Sansa turned and walked away, back to the middle of the crowd, where her real family, Robb, and Bran, and Jon, and Mya were waiting for her. Later Rickon would magically reappear as he always did, and Arya would be back with Gendry in tow, no doubt. Sansa had her sister again, her true sister.
She turned around for once last glance, vowing to never look back again, and found Margaery Tyrell standing alone with tears falling slowly down her face. Her eyes were set far away, like she was lost in a dream, and when she came back to herself she wiped her tears away furiously and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. No one had. Then she disappeared back into the house and Sansa returned happily to her celebrations.
"Where should I start?" Arya gulped nervously.
Gendry shrugged, "The day you left. Start with the day you completely disappeared from my life and don't stop until you reach tonight."
"Am I allowed to take breaths in between sentences?" Arya joked. Gendry didn't laugh. "Fine. The day I left the Brotherhood I ran North. I knew Robb and my mother were nearby, I figured if everyone... if you were going to abandon me, I could find them on my own. I was doing pretty well too, I would've made it, but I ran into the Hound."
"Sandor Clegane?" He asked.
"Yeah, you know the big burly guy with the scar on his face? He used to work for the Lannisters before he ran into the Brotherhood."
"And then they let him go."
"And he waited around for me. He brought me to the Twins to bring me to my mother."
"Why?" Gendry asked.
"Out of the goodness of his heart." Arya deadpanned. "Why do you think? He expected some kind of reward. Plus, he had information on Sansa. I found that out later."
"So what happened?" He heard himself ask.
"You know what happened." She said. "I still don't want to talk about that. I can't talk about that."
"Okay." Gendry said, finally sounding like her friend. "So, then what happened?"
"I'm getting there!" She snapped. Her eyes quickly looked away from him, then she kept talking. "He decided to take me to my aunt instead, I wanted to go to the Wall to be with Jon but he wouldn't go there. No possibility of reward from the Crows, you know?" She laughed humourlessly "It's funny actually, if I'd gone to my aunt's I would've found Sansa, and Mya."
"So if you didn't go there, where did you go?" He asked.
She shrugged, "I got away from him eventually. After hearing everything, the news about what happened at the Twins, what was happening with Robb and the business, the trouble in the North, and with the Crows at the Wall, and the rumours about Sansa in the South. So I found Jaqen and went East to Braavos, to the Academy, and I learned everything."
"What's everything?"
"A bunch of stuff you don't want to know about." She said. "Besides, you couldn't pay me to tell you, not for all the supposed gold in Casterly Rock."
"Why not?" He asked.
Arya bit her lip nervously and looked down at the floor, "It's stupid." She muttered.
"So is this conversation, but we're having it." He joked.
"Yeah, but I don't want you to hate me by the end of this conversation," She could feel her face turning red as she spoke, "So I'm not telling you what I did at that school."
"I don't hate you." He said.
"That's because I haven't finished yet." She said, looking down at her hands. "I know what you heard out there, you've probably pieced together most of this by yourself, I'm not going to pile on by telling you all the other horrible things I've done."
Gendry nodded solemnly, "Okay. So... you're final project?"
"Yeah." She said, getting back on track. "I'd tried to put everything out of my mind. You know, the whole 'I'm going to forget everyone and everything that I've lost and that's left me and then I'll be just fine' thing?"
"Yes."
"Well, it didn't work. So, I changed my plan."
"How?"
"I remembered everything." She said. "I thought about my family, and wondered where they might be, what they were doing, whether they remembered me or still cared. Then I started thinking about my father, and the last time I saw him, the last time we talked, and how he died. I thought about our time living in King's and how he was working so hard and he had all these files and books surrounding him all the time and how he kept warning Sansa about Joffrey. And I started wondering why. Once I got ahold of them, I started digging through my father's old files, but I didn't stay as secret as I would've hoped. In the end, I ended up learning a lot more than I bargained for."
Gendry's head poked up. "So when Jon found out..." He began.
"That was a mistake." She said. "Kind of."
"How did it happen?" He asked.
She took a deep breath and continued on, "A boy I met over in the East. When I went to King's we kept in contact and he provided me with the necessary information."
"What kind of information?" He asked.
She shrugged, "Diaries, files, first person accounts and interviews. Aunt Lyanna was Jon's mother. It's a fact."
"I've seen the proof. Everyone's read the articles."
"I didn't plan that." She said quickly. "For everyone to know. I didn't mean for it to happen."
"How did it happen?" Gendry asked.
"There's this guy, in King's, called the Spider. He knows everything, literally everything. I still don't even know how he found out." Arya looked up at him finally, her eyes clear and worried, "How upset was he?"
"He was pissed." Gendry spoke truly. He remembered the day Jon had found out. It was the same day everyone else had. "It got him dumped, you know, although I guess tonight fixed that at some point. It changed things for him, here and at work. Most of it was for the better, but it took him a long time to realize that. He was so pissed. But now. he's made his peace with it."
"Good." Arya nodded, "That's good."
Silence descended over them. Gendry could heard chanting and screaming coming in from the backyard through the window.
"Who was the boy?" He asked.
"What boy?"
"The one who... he gave you the information about Jon's mother and-"
"He was just a boy, also hiding out. A Targaryen." Her eyes glazed over again and a smile crept onto her face, "Very handsome."
"Let's move on." Gendry said. Arya snickered. "What happened next?"
"Next, the party." She said.
"Right. Last year. Why?"
"Sansa." She stated. "It was all for her. I'd heard... I'd thought. I never knew we got separated in King's Landing. I thought she stayed behind... with them. I hated her for it. I thought my parents were dead, and that Robb and Jon had forgotten me, and that Bran and Rickon were also forgotten, or lost, or in hiding, or most likely dead. And the worst of it was that my sister had abandoned our family. I thought she left us for them, for the Lannisters, for the people who killed... actually that's not the worst part. The worst part is that I believed it so easily. I thought she turned on us and so I turned on her."
Arya swallowed loudly, fighting tears, "So, last year's party. I didn't intended to come. All the mess with Jon had just come out and I was trying to clean it up and continue my original work. I sent the letter to Jon, after the news came out and I felt bad, and I was just going to leave it at that. The promise that I was okay and would be home eventually. Then I ran into the Hound again, and the Spider, and I started snooping through Lannister's personal records and the first thing I uncovered was what they'd done to Sansa during the three years I spent wrongly hating her. I-" Her fingers were shaking as she attempted to crunch them into fists. "I just knew I had to fix it." She whispered. "So I came home, sooner than I would've liked. I knew I couldn't stay long, I wasn't done my project. There was... more to do. I smuggled myself in and stayed hidden, and then Rickon found me and helped me hide out. As you know, I found some very interesting information during my visit." She said, thinking of Gendry and Jeyne.
"And then you beat the shit out of Joffrey." He finished.
"Gods, I have to say when he said his bit about being Robert Baratheon's son my brain nearly exploded." She laughed, "I didn't have enough proof then, and I wasn't in any position to bring it up, but it made the next month just that much sweeter."
She sighed, "I went back to King's Landing, kept working, followed sources. I was continuing my father's work, it's what got him in so much trouble back when he was working for the Baratheon Company. He knew something was wrong, so he went digging, and the Lannisters didn't like that. He found Joffrey's real father. It wasn't Robert Baratheon, one look at you now and that's plain as day. Joffrey is your polar opposite. But my dad didn't stop there, he figured out who his father was as well."
"Jaime Lannister." Gendry said.
"I stayed around long enough to see Joffrey's face, and to watch their pathetic lives fall to pieces, then I made my way home."
"Very slowly." he said.
"Yes..." She said. "I was afraid." He kept staring at her. "See, this is the part that makes me nervous." She said. "This is the part where I hope you'll still like me once I'm done talking."
Gendry nodded, "Let's find out."
"When I found out about Joffrey, other questions came out of the woodwork. Robert Baratheon wasn't exactly a... modest man. He was known for not being... loyal to his wife. He had kids out there somewhere. Someone just had to find out who."
"And you took that on yourself?" Gendry asked.
"Well, naturally I thought of you. You got fired from Mott's shop so suddenly, you got evicted and you didn't know why. Didn't you ever wonder why everyone turned on you so quickly? I know you did. And so did I. Then I remembered that you met my father one time. He came look for you. Now why would a man looking to disprove Joffrey Baratheon's illegitimacy come to a random mechanic in the back alley streets of King's Landing? It wasn't a hard line to draw."
Gendry nodded, "I see." was all he managed.
"Finding Mya and Edric was harder but I knew there had to be others. I knew there was someone in the Vale, there were notes on it keeping track of her, not that she knew it, but by the time I got over there to confirm it, she was long gone with Sansa. As for Edric, Stannis Baratheon is a very serious man. If he wants a secret kept it stays hidden."
"So how'd you find out?"
"I didn't. I mean, I had a hunch. He announced it himself not soon after."
"Hmm."
"So it was me. It was all me. All the scandals, the life ruining secrets, the royal sized fuck ups, I'm behind it all." Arya stared at him. "Do you hate me for it?" She asked quietly.
Gendry ran his hands over his face and through his hair, suddenly exhaustion was hitting him and all he wanted was to go home and sleep. He sat next to Arya on the bed.
"I think you know I don't." He said.
"You deserve to." She said.
He nodded, "I do. You ran. You hid. I thought you were dead. You told everyone secrets I didn't even know I had." He sighed again, "But you gave me a family, and you came back." He shrugged and smiled, "So it all evens out, don't you think?"
Arya laughed despite her self and that made him feel good.
Then she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, and for a moment he tensed, though he would always tense at her touch. Then she spoke quietly.
"You know my aunt and your father had a thing going." She said.
"Really?" He said, but he did know. He'd learned a lot about Robert Baratheon since the truth had come out, but he wanted to hear about it from her.
"Yeah. He was going to ask her to marry him before she ran away with Jon's father. They'd known each other for years, since your dad was friends with mine. I think he really loved her."
"Aren't you supposed to be the spitting image of your Aunt Lyanna?" He felt her nod.
"My dad always said I was exactly like her."
"Sounds like a bit of repeating history, to me."
"But you're nothing like him." She raised her head up from his shoulder and smiled. "You're not a drunk, or a cheater, or an angry blithering idiot. You look like him, nothing more." She stood and looked down at him. "Play your cards right and I just might not leave you for that Targaryen."
He put his hands on her hips and she wiggled closer, "You think I'm letting you leave again?" He said.
She smiled softly and leaned down to kiss him. He kept pulling her closer until she was falling onto the bed. Her breath was pushed out of her as she landed on top of him and for a moment she pulled back, the smile still on her face, "I'm not going anywhere." She whispered.
He flipped them over as her hands ran up through his hair. "I'm not leaving, I promise." She repeated. His hands founds hers and held them above her head. "I'm not going to run away again."
"I know." He said as he kissed his way down her neck. "You're not going anywhere tonight."
He lips traced their way down her neck, along the edge of her bra, down her stomach, only to feel Arya's hands pulling him back up to her lips.
"I missed you." Arya said breathlessly.
Gendry stared into her grey eyes and replied, "I missed you too."
She forced her lips back to his and grabbed at his hair with her fingers. Gendry was fighting just to keep her there, in his arms, but just as quickly as she'd begun to kiss him she pulled back.
"I'm sorry I took off." She said, her lips barely parted from his.
"I'm sorry I didn't drag you back." He said.
"I should've stayed." She cried.
"Well, I should've followed." He said, his voice low and guttural.
Arya gulped, "So how do we...?"
"I think we just have to move on from the past." He said. "Can you do that? After all this time? Not forgetting just... letting go?"
She stopped and truly considered it, pulling away from Gendry completely so that her profile shone in the moonlight. Could she leave behind all her anger from the past few years, everything from her father's death to her sister's abuse, and move on? Everything she'd planned for and everything she'd give up to get here.
She's done all she'd set out to do. The Lannisters were in ruins, her sister was home, the Baratheons were reinstated as a powerful family in Westeros, as were the Starks. She had nothing left to do, all she had left was her anger. On any given day she could always rely on that feeling bubbling deep in her core, spurring her on, but today was not one of those days.
"I could." She stated simply.
"Really?" Gendry asked, sounding surprised.
"I could," She repeated, "For you." She nodded her head towards the backyard, "For them."
Her fingers plucked helplessly at the tattered comforter they were lying on. "Can you?"
"I could." He echoed. "For them and for you."
"Good." He said.
"Yeah," Arya laugh lightly. "It is. I feel good."
Gendry leaned over and kissed her forehead.
"Mmm," She smiled, "Now I feel better."
He leaned in again and kissed her cheek. "Now?"
"Better." She smiled.
He kissed her lips. "Better?"
"Much better." She said, lacing her hands in his hair and pulling him closer.
The party was officially over. It was five in the morning the sky was the clearest dark blue. Everyone left in the house or out on the lawn was passed out, either drunk or already hungover. Most of the Starks had managed to make it to their respective rooms wrapped in the arms of their significant others. Some had yet to make it there.
"I'm cold," Shireen said, her fingers slid against Rickon's as they both scratched Shaggydog's fur. "We should go inside."
They stood up and Shaggy followed as they moved out of the garden towards the house. As Rickon shut the gate behind them, Shireen stared out at the backyard.
"This place looks like a war zone." She said.
Rickon laughed "It's actually worse than last year."
Shireen yawned and smiled as Shaggy nipped her her heels. Rickon wound his hand through hers and together they walked up the grass, past the countless sleeping bodies, the smashed bottles and empty red cups into the house.
Sansa couldn't go to sleep. Mya had passed out in her bed hours ago. Her brothers and sister were all asleep, in the arms of whoever they loved, tucked away in their beds, and although she'd felt elated earlier, now with everyone else sleeping happily with someone they loved, or wrapped up in the arms of their friends, all she felt was alone.
She felt so terribly lonely and confused and all she wanted was someone to call her own but the thought of letting someone in, of trusting someone, it only made tears well in her eyes.
With her knees tucked up to her chest and Mya snoring softly next to her, Sansa willed those tears away and stood up and got ready for the day. The sun was coming in through the windows and blinding her eyes but it also felt warm on her skin. She tiptoed down to the living room and out to the garage and found a box of garbage bags.
As the garage door peeled opened and let the sunshine in, she stood alone at the top of the hill, took a deep breath, and went to work.