It took Arya a moment to catch her breath, the shock of seeing Sandor still buzzing through her veins. Besides Gendry, he was the only connection she had to what she once considered home. Like a link to a place that no longer existed. At least not in her heart. She realized at that moment, as she stared at Sandor's still body on the cement floor, that no matter what happened next, how good or how bad things turned out for them, Sheffield would never really be home again.
"Is he dead?" she asked turning to Gendry, who was eyeing their surroundings warily.
"No. He's still breathing."
"We're gonna need to get out of here. He said he's been following me. He works for the Lannisters. He's Joffrey's man."
Gendry shook his head. "We need to get him inside." he said, pushing her aside and bending over Sandor's body to take his arms. "Grab his legs."
"Are you serious? He's large. It's a long walk to our room. Did you not hear me, he's a Lannister man."
Gendry tossed Sandor's arms back on the floor and stomped over to Arya. "We have no money left, it's freezing out, and he's a Lannister man, like you said. We may get some information from him." he turned towards the body again, once again grabbing the arms.
Arya grunted, but walked around the tall man, grabbing his legs by the ankles. "If someone sees..."
"Parking lot's empty. We're the only one's here beside the manager guy." Gendry interrupted as he lifted up the body by the arms.
Arya lifted the legs up with all her force, but the body still dragged by it's ass.
Gendry pulled either way, his eyes darting every where for signs of men, cars... anything.
"He told me he's been following us a long time." Arya said.
"I heard." Gendry grunted out from the effort, dropping the body to rest.
They'd only travelled a couple of meters.
"Shit." Gendry sighed out. Arya could see his hair was beginning to stiffen with thin icicles.
"Gendry, your hair! You need to get inside now." she commanded him. "You're barefoot! You'll get sick."
"What I need to do is get him inside. Come over on my side." he told her with a hint of annoyance.
She did, and they each grabbed an arm, dragging him along the sidewalk.
They did move faster that way.
"I told you to wait." Gendry whispered out to her.
"So this is my fault now?" Arya asked, putting all her anger and frustration into pulling. They were halfway there.
"I'm not arguing with you."
Arya rolled her eyes, tugging hard at the body.
As they slipped inside the room, Gendry told Arya to grab one of the chairs from under the small table in the corner of their room
They managed to sit the unconscious Sandor on it.
Gendry grabbed the sheets off the bed while Arya went through Sandor's pockets, taking everything out.
She found a knife, which she tossed to Gendry so he could tear the sheets with. There was also his wallet, a gun, a gun magazine, a lighter, a mobile phone, a liquor flask and a folded sheet of paper with random numbers an addresses written in a messy hand.
Gendry made several strips out of the blankets and with those, they both began to tie Sandor.
Arya dropped to her knees and began to work on the legs while Gendry grabbed a long strip and walked around the chair to begin on the wrists.
But then, out of nowhere, Sandor kicked Arya on the chest, sending her flying into the side of the bed while he grabbed Gendry by the neck, almost fully encircling it with one hand.
In one quick move, he brought Gendry into a headbutt, bringing a pained grunt from his lips.
The kick had knocked the wind out of Arya, but she rose to her feet quickly and scurried towards the night table, grabbing Sandor's gun.
"Drop... him!" she breathed, pointing the gun at the large man's head.
She stole a quick glance at Gendry. Blood was seeping out of his stitches, and his face and the white of his eyes were bright red.
"Now!" she yelled, regaining her voice, and Sandor released his grasp, letting Gendry fall to the floor, gasping and coughing for air as he crawled away from him.
Sandor smiled up at her sinisterly. "You're gonna hurt yourself with that." he said, looking at his gun.
Arya ignored him and turned to Gendry. "Gendry."
He was beginning to stand. "I'm fine." he coughed out, stumbling to take a stand besides her.
"Hold the gun while I tie him up." she told him, but he shook his head stubbornly. "I'll tie him." he mubbled out thickly as he picked up the strips off the floor and walked around the chair, beginning to work on Sandor's hands.
"How long have you been following us? How much do the Lannisters know about where I am?"
"The Lannisters didn't send me here. I'm here because of your sister." Sandor spat out.
"Sansa." Arya muttered out nervously.
Gendry noticed, for he looked over to her.
"What about my sister? Is she hurt?What did you do to her, you dog!"
Sandor tugged at the ties in his hands violently. "I'll tell you if you untie me." he barked out furiously.
"No, you tell me now." Arya snapped.
Sandor let his weight fall back on the chair with a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment before looking up into Arya's. "I left the Lannisters. Before I left I offered your sister protection. I would take her to your mother. Keep her safe..." he trailed off, gulping hard, before speaking again. "She denied me, but made me promise I'd find you and your brother. Make sure you were safe."
"You offered to help her. Why? What was in it for you?" Arya asked skeptically.
Gendry had moved to Sandors legs, double knotting the cloth thickly.
At her question, Sandor's eyes dropped to the floor.
Arya scoffed out dryly. "You're a liar."
"Untie me, you little cunt!" Sandor growled as he rocked back and forth in the chair, tugging at the ties.
Arya took a step back.
Gendry rose from the floor and joined her.
"You really expected me to believe that!" Arya yelled at him.
"It's the truth." Sandor met her tone.
"No. My sister would never do that. She would never send me someone she knew I wouldn't trust."
"When I left her, she was unaware of the Lannister's plot against your father. She had no reason to think you wouldn't trust me."
Arya shook her head. He was lying. It was all a lie.
"Untie me." he said more calmly.
"Not until you tell me the truth."
"I've already told you the truth, you stubborn bitch! Now untie me..." he took a breath to calm himself. "I'll tell you everything I know about the Lannisters up until I left, but free me first...I won't hurt you. "
Arya shot a meaningful glance at Gendry's bleeding brow.
The hit had caused a few of the stitches to tear at the skin, and the entire area around the wound was swelling, so that you could no longer see the thread.
Sandor ignored that. "Untie me. I'm only here to help... you fucking need me."
Arya slapped the gun into Gendry's hand with a groan and stomped over to the night stand, where she'd left all of Sandor's belongings, picking up the lighter.
She turned to face Sandor, taking slow careful steps towards him.
"I heard a story about you once..." Arya began in a slow, soft voice, looking into Sandor's eyes. "From my sister Sansa." she flicked the lighter open, bringing it to life.
Sandor's sudden intake of breath confirmed the story's accuracy.
Her eyes fell on the flame as it danced and licked at the air with every step she took, until she was right next to Sandor.
"Arya." Gendry called from behind her, but she ignored him.
"I'm not sure how much of it is true." she whispered as she neared the flame to Sandor's burnt side of his face. "but i really do hope it will help me figure out how much of what you're telling me is true."
Sandor began to breath, heavy shuddery breaths, his eyes never leaving the lighter. He opened his mouth, perhaps ready to speak, but no words came out.
Arya neared the flame closer to him... about an inch away from his face... but then Gendry caught her wrist, taking the lighter in his other hand.
"Arya, what are you doing?!" he cried out.
She pulled her hand away. "Let go! What are you doing?"
"Arya, I'm a cop... I'm not just going to.."
"Exactly, you're a cop." she said. "So you should know everything about this good cop, bad cop thing."
Gendry's jaw dropped, and he shook his head, unable to speak at first.
"Noo!" he finally stuttered out stupidly.
"You're the one who wanted to bring him here." she jabbed her finger into his chest. "I said we should have left, but you wanted to question him. How exactly were you planning on doing that?"
"I don't know, but not like this! I won't let you do this."
"He's one of them Gendry!" she yelled, pointing her finger at Sandor.
"I don't care about him. Or them, or anyone. I care about you!" Gendry rasped out desperately. "You've already been through enough... have seen enough. You don't need this too. You don't need to go through life knowing you did this to a man. I won't let you."
Arya stood still, taking in everything he had just said.
For a moment, the clarity of what she was about to do was chilling. She bit her lip to keep from shuddering at the realization. But then her thoughts trailed... to her father and mother, and to Rickon... to everything, and she realized that there was really no other choice.
"Then we kill him." she said nonchalantly, walking towards their bag for the one of the guns she'd stolen, knowing that reaching out for the one Gendry held would be useless.
"Arya, no!" Gendry yelled, as he wrapped his arms around her, locking hers down.
"Gendry, stop!" she yelled, leaning forward to try and flip him over with his own weight, like he had taught her, but he must have been expecting it, because instead, he used his weight to make them fall on the bed, where he flipped over her, holding her wrists down on the bed.
"Arya, don't!" he yelled as she began twisting under him, tugging at her wrists.
"Gendry, let me go! Stop!" she yelled furiously.
From his chair, Sandor could be heard laughing heartily at them, which only made Arya angrier.
She began kicking her legs, while at the same time twisting her wrists, so that Gendry had to let go for a moment to keep his own hands from twisting, which gave Arya a small window to try and crawl away from under him.
But he quickly grabbed hold of her again, and this time, he flipped her so that her face was buried on the mattress, letting all his weight fall on her.
Sandor, all the while, kept on laughing.
Arya was drained of strength, but she still wiggled under Gendry, until his mouth came right by her ear.
"Enough. Arya. Enough. Stop." he pleaded in a hushed whisper, reminding her too much of the afternoon he had arrested her outside of ther old Winterfell home.
Before everything turned to rot. Back when, the only thing wrong with life was that Jon was dead.
She relaxed under his weight, a sign she surrendered, and after a few beats Gendry rolled onto his back on the bed next to her, blocking her view of Sandor, giving her no choice but to look into his blue eyes.
She reached a finger up to touch his swelling brow gently. i have to fix that.
Gendry closed his eyes at her touch. It was not a flinch.
"What should we do then?" she asked him tiredly after a long moment had passed.
"You only have two options." Sandor answered her, bringing Arya to sit up on the bed, looking over to Sandor.
"You either kill me, or you trust me."
Gendry sat up as well, facing Arya.
She looked for an answer in his face. She needed him to help her make this decision.
Gendry looked just as confused as she felt though.
"I can't trust you." Arya finally told Sandor, but there was doubt in her voice.
Sandor rolled his eyes. "And you won't kill me, so then let me go. At least that way I can keep the other half of my promise."
Arya sighed, closing her eyes.
"It's late!" Gendry let out weakly. "Whatever choice we make, it won't make a difference if we make it now, or in a few hours. It's not like we can leave. So we should rest. Pick up on this in the morning."
It made sense to Arya. Her head was so full of thoughts and emotions, and her body dried of all it's life, she couldn't think straight.
She nodded.
"You should sleep. I'll take the first watch." He told her as he swung his feet off the bed.
"I can take the first watch." she told him.
He'd gotten hit pretty hard, and their struggle had left him exhausted. He should rest first.
He turned to her with a laugh. "I really don't care much about having a 'my horse is bigger than your horse' discussion right now Arya. I'm taking the first watch. You're sleeping." he said with authority, completely misunderstanding what she'd meant by it. But Arya knew there was no use arguing, judging from his tone.
"At least let me clean your cut before I go to bed." she said flatly as she reached over to the night table for Sandor's liquor flask. Gendry nodded once.
"If anything my horse would fuck your horses up... through their asses too." Sandor said to them from his chair.
Arya and Gendry shared a look, and Gendry shook his head lightly.
"This is gonna be a long night."
xxxxxxxxxx
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes, was the buttons of his shirt.
A pain shot through his head as he made a move to lift it up to look at his surroundings.
He was in a large room, lit only by a large, stone fireplace.
Brienne sat on a chair a few meters away from him. Wearing a fitted white muscle shirt and jeans, her blonde hair sleeked back.
He could see bloody padding on one of her shoulders. She was staring at him.
Irritation made him shudder, and he tried moving, only to realize his hands were tied behind him, and his legs onto the legs of the chair he was sat on.
"Where are we?" he furrowed his brows at her, while fingering the knots on whatever it was she had used to tie him. They were too thick.
"Don't you recognize this place?" she rose from the chair.
Jaime glanced around. It was a large, elegant cabin, complete with stag heads and bear skins. He knew exactly where they were.
"It's my father's hunting cabin." he said, trying not to sound surprised. She nodded.
"My sister knows I was last with you. She'll be looking for me."
"And this is the last place she'll think of looking for you." Brienne said.
And she was right. Cersei would never think of looking for him here. He wasn't even sure roads around here were open for the public in the winter. Not with weather like this.
Fucking wench!
"How did you even know about this place?" Jaime asked her.
"I knew I recognized you when I saw you outside of the station that time. When I realized you were a Lannister, it still didn't click, even with your face was all over the news. Then I remembered the 12 page magazine article I read once in "Hunting"; it was on your father."
Jaime smiled. He remembered that horrid article. The whole family had to pose for a few pictures. "You should have killed me while you had the chance." he looked up at her through his lashes.
"No. You don't deserve to die. Not after what you did to Renly."
"That wasn't me." he cooed. "You were there. You saw it was..."
"It was that bitch. I know. And you allowed it." Brienne yelled, her face twisting into a grotesque grimace, as tears began to fill her eyes from the memories.
Jaime sighed. "What will you do to me then?" he asked her.
"You will tell me what she wants with Gendry. You will tell me everything I need to know about the officers she has working for her. You will tell me... everything."
Jaime laughed at that. This woman was clearly an idiot. "You do realize she is my sister. My twin sister. That bond is strong, and there is nothing I wouldn't do for her. I would even be willing to give my life for her, so this is all pointless wench. I'm not talking."
Brienne walked towards the fireplace at that, and reached down to grab fireplace poker that had been resting with it's tip inside the fire.
Jaime felt his body stiffen involuntarily.
He could not let her get to him. He would not.
His thoughts found Cersei. This was for Cersei. He would take this... for Cersei.
Brienne turned and started towards him, the hot poker's tip glowing a bright orange in the dark room. She blew at it, flaring it's color, before placing on the table besides him, where he noticed for the first time, an array of his father's tool, all set in a neat row.
"We'll start off easy. Slow. To warm you up." she said in a deep, menacing voice as she reached for his shirt and ripped it open, buttons clattering everywhere. "Then, if you don't cooperate, we can move onto removal of body parts. First a nail, then a finger. Maybe a hand." she picked up the hot poker, and his eyes followed the orange glow until it was before him.
For Cersei. For Cersei. For Cersei. Cersei. Cersei. Cersei Cersei Cersei.
xxxxxxxxxx
Someone was shaking her arm lightly, and she rose off the pillow with a fist, only to realize it was Gendry. She blinked, rubbing at the sleep on her eyes.
"Is it my turn?" she croaked out as she pulled the covers off herself and brought her feet to the floor. Her skin instantly filled with goosebumps.
"Almost... It's almost morning." Gendry whispered. "He's asleep. Watch him for a few." he told her as he shrugged into his jacket.
Arya hugged herself, rubbing at her arms for warmth. "Where are you going?" she whispered to him. He was fully dressed to go out into the cold.
"I'll be back." he placed the gun in her hand. "I won't be long. I promise."
None of this made sense to Arya, but she nodded, sitting on the floor, across from Sandor.
Gendry opened the door, letting the cold in, which made her shiver.
"And Arya?" Gendry called before closing the door. "Don't hesitate shooting him if you have to."
And with that, he closed the door after himself.
Gendry had kept watch all night. Stubborn idiot!
Sandor was snoring lightly, his head slumped to one side, and Arya fought with the sleep by inspecting his gun.
It took Gendry about half an hour to return. When walked into the room, his finger was held against his lips as he reached for her jacket and scarf and beckoned her over to him.
She stood, confused, and fed her arms into her jacket as he held it open. She zipped it up while he looked for her boots.
Once she was ready, they walked outside of their room. It was still dark out. And freezing.
The lights were all on outside all of the other motel room, except for theirs, and Arya noticed the bulb had been broken on theirs.
At the edge of the sidewalk, right in front of the parking space assigned for their room, were three small, white candles.
Gendry sat on the floor next to them, and patted the spot next to him.
Arya felt her heart pound wildly against her chest as she sat next to him. What is he doin?
He took Sandor's lighter out and flicked it open, holding the flame to each wick until it came to life. "On the train ride to Barcelona, you mentioned you never had a proper funeral for Jon."
He turned to Arya, and she saw his eyes were glazed over. Her heart sank at that.
"I didn't know your father long. Not even a year. But... well." he cleared his throat nervously.
Arya's jaw was already beginning to tremble with emotion.
"...Well, he was the first person to believe in me. He saw, past skin, past image, beyond what everyone else saw when they looked at me, and he saw what I could be."
Arya sniffed.
"That's the kinda man he was. That's what made him such an incredible man... And it' why I loved him."
She pressed her hand against her lips as her chest heaved and her tears fell.
"You deserve, the best, the best this world has to offer..." he reached out for her hand. "...you don't deserve any of this. Any of it."
He began to sob, but he quickly composed himself, wiping his ruddy face with the back of his glove.
"You do deserve, a proper good bye." he said.
Arya let her face fall into her hands as she began to weep.
On her side, she felt Gendry begin to rise.
He pressed a kiss on her head gently, and leaned in to her ear. "Happy birthday, Arya." he said, and she heard his footsteps walk into the room, closing the door behind him quietly.
She looked up at the candles, the flames flickering in the night air, casting a warm glow on the sidewalk. She dragged herself closer to the candles, and turned to the first.
"Goodbye Jon. I miss you so much...I love you." leaning in, she blew out the candle.
"Mother." she said to the second one. " Im... so... sorry. Im so sorry I wasn't there. Im so sorry you were alone. I love you." she leaned in and blew the second candle out, turning to the last one.
"Dad?" she spoke out to the night sky.
Images of his death began replaying in her head, and she fell to one side, leaning her head on the cold cement, sniffing hard, then exhaling slowly before rising up again to face the last candle. "They'll pay father... I promise you... They will pay. They will pay for taking away such a beautiful man from my life." she said, and she leaned in to blow out the flame of the last candle.
Three strings of smoke rose from the extinguished wicks, dissolving into the night sky, along with the breaths that rose from her nose and mouth.
She sighed, peacefully. Surprisingly, she felt better.
She had needed that.
Walking inside the room, she saw Gendry sitting agaisnt the wall, looking through Sandor's phone. He looked up at her.
Arya smiled at him from the door, mouthing "thank you."
He bowed his head with a smile, and she sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder, taking in his scent.
Before long, he was snoring lightly. She smiled, and she took the phone from his hand, and the open wallet from his lap.
There was very little cash, and a few credit cards. Sandor's ID. Some business cards, and a folded picture, tucked deep inside on of the pockets.
Arya fingered inside the flap until she managed to pull it out. When she unfolded it, she was staring at her sister. An old picture. Almost two years old. On the back, written in blue ink, was a dedication to Joffrey.
To Joffrey, with love, from your friend, Sansa
Arya looked up at the still sleeping Sandor, then down at the picture again.
Careful not to wake Gendry, she stood off the floor, and found Sandor's pocket knife.
It was on the dresser, next to the television and what remained of the bed sheets.
She took it and walked over to Sandor, gently shaking him by the shoulder.
His lids blinked up and he rolled up his head with a pained grunt.
"My sister." Arya said, holding the picture open for him to see. "You really were trying to help her, weren't you?"
It took Sandor a while to fully wake up, but when his eyes fell on the picture, he answered.
"Yes."
"You... cared about her?"
Sandor let his gaze fall at that. "I hated the way Joffrey treated her."
"So you did. You like, loved her or something?"
Sandor's eyes met hers fiercely. "I wouldn't expect you to understand anything relating to you sister. Since you two are nothing alike."
Arya was too tired to let that irritate her. "You did, didn't you. You're really here to help us?"
Sandor nodded once. "Yes."
Arya nodded, walking around him and grabbing a knot of the cloth that bound his wrists together.
Her hands were trembling as she sawed at it.
She finally cut through and the strips of cloth began to fall to the floor as he pulled his hands forward, rubbing at his wrists.
"So, you trust me." he rasped out.
"No." Arya told him gently. "But I believe you."
AN
Happy birthday Arya.
Well, i just realized, that a put two "torture" scenarios back to back.
I'm so glad Sandor didn't get tortured after all, thanks to Gendry's sense. But I'm afraid, Brienne will mess about with Jaime a bit.
Please don't hate me. I love him dearly. They're my second GOT OTP.
But you have to understand Brienne jsut lost Renly, and the only reason Jaime is even alive, is because Gendry is still in trouble, and it's not like she can call him to warn him.
Thank you all for your reviews :) and for reading this.