Hello there! I updated as quickly as I could! I spent the whole flight writing so that I could update as soon as I landed, but my Internet wasn´t working... It´s raining outside but I walked to the library to connect to use their computers and update.

I have been dying to write this chapter. I carefully thought about everything that I wanted to happen in the story, and what happens in this chapter is something that I knew from the beginning that was going to happen, it wasn´t a decision that I took recently just because. The story is near its end, but there are still a few chapters left. I will write the next chapter as soon as I can, and please review! I didn´t have a chance to individually reply to the reviews, but thank you so much for those who commented!

Enjoy!

Arya felt as if she was at the bottom of a very deep well that reached well into the core of the world, where the light could not reach her. She had been there a long time. She could not see, she could not hear… Only darkness surrounded her. She couldn't feel anything; no pain, no warmth, no cold.

But slowly, a small dot of light appeared in the distance, clearing the path in front of her. She could hear something, like an echo that came from far away… Arya followed that small dot of light and that distant echo that was no more than a whisper, and slowly she managed to crawl her way out of that darkness.

She woke up.

She could see again, but all she saw were rock walls around her that imprisoned her. She could hear again, but all she could hear was silence. She could feel again, but all she could feel was cold and the ache of her sore body. She was in misery.

Arya had n idea how long she had been locked inside that place, but she knew that it had been many weeks. Could a month have passed already? It was difficult to know when an entire day had passed, for she could only see darkness in there but never the light of day. She knew that she had spent a lot of time asleep because of the drug that they were giving her after she was kidnapped, but the Freys that were holding her captive had run out of that drug and she spent some time awake. She guessed that they were feeding her twice a day, though she didn't know how much time passed between each disgusting meal, but guessing by the number of meals that she had been able to count then she had already been there over two weeks since the sleeping drug had run out. All she did was lay there, chained to the rock wall, feeling constantly afraid that they might harm her or her unborn child, but the Freys never did anything to her. They only fed her, and mocked her sometimes. She never listened to them. The maddening silence was much better than the sound of their stupid and hateful voices.

She had stopped demanding them to free her a long time ago, because she knew that it was useless. They wouldn't let her go, not until they got what they wanted. Arya knew that they would never get what they wanted. The Stormlands, the North… It was too much. The Queen would never consent to that, it didn't matter that her life and her children's were at stake. However, that didn't stop worrying Arya. Bran and Gendry might still consent to giving up their titles to the Freys to save her and Robb. Maybe Bran didn't, because he had been raised to do his duty and his duty was to be the lord of Winterfell, even though he had already given it up to protect his people when the iron men had invaded during the war… But times had changed, and Bran was different now. The war had hardened him and he would not give up so easily. The North was safe with him.

But was about Gendry? Gendry hadn't been born heir to the Stormlands, and as easily as he had accepted his title he might as well give it up to rescue his family, the one thing that he had always wanted in his life. Arya didn't want him to give in to the Freys, he didn't want him to lose everything. But if he didn't then Arya was terrified for the fate of her son Robb. She was also terrified for the fate of the child growing inside of her. She wouldn't have been as afraid as she was if she hadn't been pregnant. She had to worry about much more than her own life now…

There might be a war, she realized then. She was thinking about it while she laid on her back on the cold and hard rock floor, looking at the rock ceiling above her. The rock hurt her back, but she had gotten used to it after all that time. The worst pain was the one in her wrists. They were sore and bleeding from the chains that bound them. Arya wished that she could get free of them, if just for a second. She had to stay still so that she wouldn't move her arms, because if she did the pain in her wrists was unbearable.

When I get out of here I will make them pay for this, she vowed in her mind. She was confident that she was getting out of there one way or another. She just didn't when. But she would get out. She wouldn't let the Freys defeat her, never. The Others take her if she allowed such a thing!

She was patient and waited. She didn't know what she was waiting for. For Gendry to suddenly appear and save the day and take her away like a maiden in distress? The single thought of it made Arya feel sick. She was in distress, yes, and she loved Gendry and she knew that he would do anything for her, but the mere thought that she was helpless and needed someone else to save her was unbearable to her. She had always been so free and independent that being a prisoner that could no nothing for herself was killing her. And what if Gendry never found her? Was she going to wait for eternity?

Of course not, she would not wait that long. But she did wait some time. She didn't have a plan or any means to escape, so for once she would have to swallow her own pride and let someone else rescue her…

But waiting was hard, especially with the hunger. She was starving. The Freys fed her enough to keep her and her unborn baby alive, but hard bread and hard cheeses wasn't near enough to chase the hunger away. The silence of her prison was interrupted regularly by the angry growls of her belly, and pain always accompanied them. Arya felt weak, and she didn't know how long she could continue like that.

I have waited too long, she realized once day. I can't wait anymore.

She had to escape, but how? She didn't even know where she was.

It was colder that day than it usually was. The air around her used to be dry, but she noticed that it was very damp that day. She was shivering from the cold. It was a get coldness that was making her sleepy. It reminded her of when it rained in the Stormlands. The rain always brought cold days with it, and it made most people want to sleep though everybody was used to the rain there. Could it be raining outside, was that it?

She chose to ignore that cold that was making her shiver lightly, and she closed her eyes to rest a little. All she ever did all day was rest, as there was nothing else she could do in there, but her pregnancy was making her sleep more than usual. She had never complained about it, it was better to sleep and let time pass than to stay awake and suffer through the torment of feeling time pass slowly. But she didn't get to sleep that time, because someone suddenly arrived. She opened her eyes again, knowing that it would be one of the Freys. It was the tall one with the dark hair and dark eyes whose voice inspired her fear. His eyes were always cruel, just as he words, and Arya was thankful that the other Frey, Maldwin, was always there to keep an eye on him. He disgusted Arya, and she wanted nothing more than to kick him in the face and knock his teeth out, but that was a wish that she could not have… yet. She still didn't know his name, so she called him Rat-face in her mind. All the Freys looked like rodents.

Rat-face had brought with him a small bowl with food to feed Arya. Her stomach growled and the Frey heard it. He smirked rather mockingly and held the bowl with food in front of him so that Arya could see it. Even though the food was disgusting she was starving, and she wanted to eat. The sight and smell of food only made her hungrier, and her stomach growled louder than before, like an angry beast. The hunger was painful, but Arya fought to keep her expression blank. Rat-face wanted her to beg him to give her the food, but she wouldn't give in. She wasn't going to give him that satisfaction. She knew that he would have to feed her sooner or later because they needed her alive, so she wasn't worried. Still, feeling so hungry wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't the first time that she had been hungry. She had starved during the war as well.

The minutes passed. The heavy silence was only broken by the growls of Arya's belly, but neither she nor Frey spoke a word. Rat-face leaned against the wall while he waited for Arya to say something, and she glared at him. She then saw her sword, Needle, hanging from his belt.

Why do people keep stealing my Needle? She complained in her mind, feeling irritated about that.

She noticed the way in which Rat-face was looking at her. He wasn't looking at her in the eyes anymore. His gaze was full of lust as it went over each part of Arya's body. It was disgusting. It wasn't the first time that Arya had noticed that the cruel Frey wanted her, but she always looked away or glared at him furiously while he watched her. Sometimes he just looked at her with interest, and other times his lust was almost palpable in the air around them. Arya had been afraid that he would try something someday and she wouldn't be able to defend herself. She supposed that the only reason why Rat-face hadn't laid a hand on her yet was because Maldwin reminded him of what their orders were, and that included not harming her or the baby that she was carrying.

He can't touch me, but the temptation is there, a voice said in the back of her mind. It almost made her cringe. That man had inspired fear in her since the first moment that she heard him speak, and his lustful eyes didn't help to ease that fear. Maldwin wasn't there today to stop him if he tried anything, and Rat-face didn't look like the kind of man who cared about controlling his urges when there wasn't someone there to control them for him.

"You are fucking stubborn, aren't you?" he spoke then, admiring her own silence and her ability to resist her hunger. "Go ahead, starve. I won't do you any good."

"You can't kill me," she murmured. "Your lord gave you orders."

"Fucking Edwyn hasn't sent a raven in weeks. He might have changed his mind, for all Maldwin and I know. And if we don't get any orders we are to do with you as we think fit…" he let his gaze wander all over Arya's body after he said that.

"No, you can't," she insisted. If what Rat-face wanted was to scare her, she wouldn't let him win.

Rat-face didn't say anything; he just stared back at her defiant glare. It was like an invisible pulse between them, and Arya was determined not to lose. A cold breeze hit her all of a sudden and she shivered. Rat-face raised his eyebrows.

"Are you cold?" he asked, but Arya didn't reply. It was more than obvious that she was cold. Rat-face moved away from the wall then, and he left the bowl of food on the floor. "You know, it's a pity that lord Edwyn told us not to touch you…" he murmured then while he looked at her again. "I would fuck you real hard, lady Arya. That would make you warm real quick…"

Arya got tense when she heard him say that. Most women would have been terrified to hear their captor say that to them, and she was indeed afraid that it got to the point where Rat-face would be unable to control his own animalistic urges anymore… But perhaps, just perhaps, she would use that to her advantage. An idea started forming in her mind, and she tried to come up with a quick way to execute a plan…

Don't do it, the voice of reason said in the back of her mind. It's too risky!

Yes, it was very risky, but Arya didn't care anymore. She would make her new plan work, even if it could go terribly wrong. After all she had already decided that she would not stay in that place a second longer than necessary, and she had to use her only chance.

"Edwyn would never know," she murmured then.

She moved in a way that allowed Frey to get a better look at her. The chains grazed her hurt wrists and almost made her hiss in pain, but she bit her tongue and didn't make a sound. Rat-face kept looking at her, and seemed more than curious about the change in Arya's attitude. Arya didn't say a word. She just kept looking at him with an unreadable expression. There was nothing in it, making her seem mysterious and desirable. That was what she wanted. She wanted Frey to want her. She needed him to want her so much that he would finally give in to his sick desires.

She saw Rat-face hesitating. He had been following orders since he first abducted Arya, but now he was thinking that probably going against those orders was very well worth the risk. Arya knew when the debate in his mind was over as soon as he took his belt off and placed it on the rock floor along with his sword and Needle. Arya's heart beat faster.

Rat-face took a step forward. "I see it's true when they say pregnant women are just like horny bitches. Don't worry, lady Arya, I will warm you up."

She felt the bile rise in her throat while he watched him take off his tunic before he knelt by her side. He hid her disgust perfectly behind a daring look that only made the man's lust grow stronger when he looked at her. That wild lust mixed with the cold cruelty of his dark eyes was making every nerve in Arya's body scream, but she remained calm. She needed to do this.

I know what I'm doing, she reminded herself. Or at least she thought that she knew. She hoped that she was right. She forced herself not to look at Rat-face with hate. The only thing that will make me warm will be your blood.

Rat-face kneeled by her side. He placed one of his hands on Arya's side and caressed her down her body until he reached her leg. She had gotten skinnier since she was taken from the Stormlands, but that didn't seem to bother the man. "Being a prisoner agrees with you, lady Stark," Rat-face murmured while he admired her body with his eyes and his hands. "I think I like you like this better than I do when you are free."

With each second that passed Arya hated him more and more. She had to wait, and wait she did until the man lowered his body on top of hers and buried his face in her neck. She felt his lips kissing her skin and felt sick to her stomach. The only lips that she ever enjoyed on any part of her were her husband's, Gendry. Once, years ago, she had enjoyed another man's lips on her own, but that man was long gone from her life. She could only think of Gendry now, and of how much she missed him. If she endured this one small and brief torture hen perhaps she would get to see him soon.

Rat-faces hands roamed her body and tried to sneak underneath her clothes. Before he could succeed Arya wrapped her legs around him and used all her strength to push him to the side until he rolled over and was on his back on the floor with her on top of him. The movement made the chains hurt her wrists and she cried. Rat-face took her cry the wrong way and smirked.

"You are mine, bitch," he said, and in that moment Arya dropped her act. That was the worst thing that the man could have said, and she was done waiting.

Quickly and without giving him a chance to react and realize what was happening, Arya wrapped the chains around Rat-face's neck. He had underestimated Arya, and that had been his great mistake. She wouldn't let him have a chance to make it right.

She punched rat-face right in the face. Arya could hear and feel his nose chattering under her closed fist, and blood started running down his face. Arya pulled from her chains then to choke him. The chains had not allowed her to walk around the place, but they were long enough to put around Frey's neck. Rat-face was too shocked and in pain to react immediately, and that was Arya's advantage. She pulled and pulled from her chains, until Rat-face was so purple in the face that he couldn't even scream. Arya had to bit her lip to stop herself from screaming from the pain of the shackles around her wrists, but the satisfaction of seeing Rat-face choke and suffocate underneath her was better than anything she had experienced in a long time.

"You forgot that I am a Stark of Winterfell, you son of a bitch, and winter makes us stronger," she hissed in his face moments before he died. "Winter came a long time ago."

She kept pulling from the chains some time after Rat-face died, just in case he was just unconscious. When Arya was completely sure that she had killed him she finally let go of the chains and started looking inside his pockets to find the keys to free herself from the shackles. She started feeling a little panic attack when she couldn't find them anywhere. What would she do if the other Frey was the one that had the keys?! She wouldn't be that lucky killing that one when Rat-face's was right there by Arya's side… But maybe if he came looking for Rat-face Arya could take Needle and stab him…

It was when she looked at Needle that relief washed over her, because she saw that the man had kept all his keys in his belt. Arya couldn't reach them with her hand but she could reach them with her foot with a little patience. Once she had the belt in her possession she saw that there was only one key that unlocked her shackles, and a few seconds later she was free. She was so nervous and excited and her hands were sacking so much that it took her longer than it should have, but she was finally free.

Free! I am free!

She wanted to shout and jump and sing and dance from the happiness that she felt in that moment. She had done it, she had tricked Rat-face, killed him, and now she could at least escape. She had no idea of where the other Frey was, but she didn't care. She could walk, she could run, she could fight and punch and kick and she had Needle in her hand. She was invincible.

"Let's go home," she told herself before she disappeared into the dark tunnels from which Frey had come before.

It had been raining the whole time since they left the Twins and rode for Dorne. Everywhere they went on their journey across the country, people complaining about the raging storms and heavy rain that flooded fields and even castles and the lightning that struck and set trees on fire. Storms like those were easily seen very often in the Stormlands, but never had they been seen in the rest of Westeros. Storms like those could be enough to stop any army and make any soldier tuck tail and run, but not Gendry. He continued riding day and night, accompanied by Jaqen and Sandor and thousands of soldiers. He had the Gold Cloaks given to him by Jorah Mormont in Kings Landing, half of Edmure Tully's army, Sandor Clegane's army, and recently Rickon Stark's army from the Vale had joined them. The young lord remained at the Eyrie, but he had sent his most trusted men to command his army and help rescue his sister. Bran Stark was going to send his army from the North, but as soon as Gendry sent him a raven telling him that the Freys had intended to take the Stormlands and the North the young Stark had thought it wiser to stay in the North and keep his armies with him, lest they suffer a surprise attack like the one in the Stormlands.

Neither the rain nor thunder could stop Gendry. He crossed half the country riding as fast as he could, dead set on arriving at the Red Mountains in Dorne near the Tourentine river. He had faith that he would find Arya. They would be together soon. He had left Robb behind in the Riverlands for his own safety instead of taking the child along with him to Dorne or sending him back to the Stormlands. Because Edmure Tully had to return to Riverrun because of his injuries he took the child along with him and placed him under the care of his most trusted men. The child was safe and nothing bad would happen to him anymore. Gendry believed that he would never live long enough to thank Jaqen enough for saving his son. It was something that he would never forget.

When they finally arrived at Dorne they found the region in a sorry state. The storms had also reached that dry region of Westeros, and as a result the land had been flooded. Water cascaded down the mountainside, and in some places the water flowed with enough strength to knock down anyone trying to climb the mountains. The flooded water reached up almost to the horses' knees. The worst storms were already over, and at the moment it was simply raining very lightly. However, there was thunder in the distance, and black clouds hung over them in the sky, making the day dark even though it was the middle of the day.

Gendry paid no attention to the water and the rain. He only had eyes for the Red Mountains, where he knew that the entrance to the caves was. Arya was somewhere in there, so close to him but so far at the same time… He felt his heart beating faster. Finally. Finally he was so close to getting her back. He could almost feel her in the air near him, and his skin burned with desire to touch her, his eyes longed to see her. He died to put his arms around her and hold her close. But first he needed to find that cave, which wasn't easy.

I am going to find you Arya, just wait a little bit longer… he thought, having no idea that his wife was done waiting.

"How the fuck are we going to find those damn caves?" Sandor Clegane asked then. He was looking at the mountains with his grey eyes narrowed. He was looking for the entrance of the caves, but he couldn't fid them. "I don't see anything."

"If there were any dornishmen around we could ask, they probably know where to find those caves," Gendry murmured. But the problem was that there weren't any dornishmen around, and they couldn't waste more time riding to the nearest town to look for a guide. They would have to find the entrance to those caves by themselves, and once they were inside they would have to be careful not to get lost in them. "Where shall we start? I can take us days to find that entrance…" The mountains weren't precisely small, and with the less than agreeable weather it would be harder than usual to walk on them, and even more so to ride with the horses. The animals were exhausted, and the flood was making them uneasy.

"At the bottom," Jaqen H'ghar said. "If we can't find it then we will go up."

"If the storm grows stronger later we won't be able to go up there," Sandor rasped, pointing first at the mountain peaks and then at the black clouds above them. "And that shit isn't looking pretty."

"If we climb the mountain and then the storm comes, we will be trapped," Jaqen said, and he looked at Gendry to see who the young man agreed with. "And even now the flood is strong enough to knock the horses down, it's dangerous."

"Perhaps we should split up," Gendry proposed then. "Half the men can climb the mountains, the other half can-"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Someone somewhere in the mountains had jus shot an arrow that hit one of the soldiers behind them right in the shoulder. The man fell of his horses with a scream and splashed water everywhere when he hit the flooded ground. Everyone else immediately raised their weapons, ready to defend themselves and attack the enemy.

Gendry unsheathed his sword and looked in the direction that the arrow had come from. He couldn't see anything there. Suddenly another arrow was shot from another spot in the mountains and it went straight towards Jaqen. The Faceless Man blocked the arrow with the blade of his sword with a swift movement that looked almost effortless. A second soldier wasn't that lucky, though, and the arrow pierced his chest.

"There are the fuckers!" Sandor barked, pointing at the mountains. They could finally see the attackers. The archers were far away, shooting arrows at their enemies from the distance. But they weren't the only ones that had been hiding in the Red Mountains waiting for Gendry and the army to arrive. The second half of the Frey army, what was left of that House, and the large sellsword army that they had hired had been hiding in the mountains, camouflaged in the rocky terrain. They were climbing down the mountain now, some on foot and some on horses. The flood water that streamed down the mountainside splashed everywhere as they descended towards the bottom, and it was knocking down several horses and men, but enough remained on their feet. The large army surrounded Gendry, Jaqen, Sandor, and their men; however, the large army formed by the goldcloaks, the Clegane army, Tully army, and Stark army outnumbered the Freys and their sellswords. They had a very good chance of winning that battle.

"Attack!" Gendry bellowed as the first Frey soldiers and sellswords reached them, and his whole fury fell on them. He killed the enemies that were near him with strong but fast movements of his sword.

It happened just like in the Twins. More and more enemies fell on them which each second that passed, but Gendry cut them down mercilessly, leaving a sea of dead Freys and sellswords behind him. Sandor, Jaqen, and the armies that they commanded were fighting fiercely as well, but the enemies kept attacking instead of turning around and running. Their leader was Black Walder, who had escaped the Twins before they were burned down and his House was destroyed. He had nothing left, and so he was leading his remaining men in a desperate attack to try to get revenge for the previous defeat. Black Walder tried to finish what they had started in the Stormlands, but it was all in vain. Just like in the Twins, Gendry Baratheon was going to win that battle, and so Black Walder turned around and ran, leaving his men behind to die.

Gendry kept killing every man that crossed his path and belonged to the enemy army. He looked around for a second to see how his men and companions were doing. Sandor Clegane was unleashing the wrath that had made him a famous warrior all around the Seven Kingdoms when he was the Hound at the service of the Lannisters, and Jaqen H'ghar was moving as quickly and effortlessly as a shadow, killing five men all at once every time he attacked. Soon the enemies learned to avoid him as much as they were trying to avoid Gendry, and that gave both of them the change to move forward.

And arrow hit Gendry's horse then, making the poor animal fall to the flooded ground neighing in pain. Gendry was thrown in the air and fell as well. He dropped his sword when he feel to the flooded ground, and in that moment one of the sellswords that were attacking them ran towards him, ready to kill Gendry. His heart stopped racing for a second; he really thought that his end had come. But before the sellsword could lower his sword and execute Gendry, Nymeria appeared and jumped on the man, closing her powerful jaw full of fangs around the man's neck and throwing him back. The sellsword dropped his sword and screamed while the giant direwolf mauled him. When the man's screams ceased to be heard the water around him was red.

"Well done, Nymeria!" Gendry exclaimed, thanking his wife's direwolf for saving his life. He found his sword underneath the flood water and rose on his feet again, rezdy to fight again. That had been a close one; he couldn't let that happen again. Nymeria looked at him and suddenly started running away. At first Gendry thought that she was returning to the battle, but he frowned when he saw her running towards the Red Mountains. Nymeria stopped running and turned around to looked at him. Gendry was confused, but when Nymeria howled at him and resumed running he realized that she wanted him to follow her.

He went after the direwolf, who took him away from the battle and towards the mountainside. She started climbing the Red Mountains and Gendry went after her. They had to fight against the flowing water, which threatened to make them slide back to the bottom if they didn't watch where they were going. Gendry wondered where was Nymeria taking him, but he didn't question the direwolf. Nymeria headed towards a large group of rocks. When Gendry arrived there his face lit up with joy when he saw that Nymeria had led him straight towards the entrance of the cave!

"You found it!" he exclaimed, unable to believe it. He was definitely going to find Arya now. He rubbed the direwolf's head and turned around to look at the battle at the bottom of the mountains. It wouldn't last much longer; the Freys and their sellswords were being crushed. They had put so much effort into their mad plan to crush House Baratheon and House Stark, and they were the ones being crushed. Most of the sellswords had realized that the battle was lost and they were running. Gold was the only thing that had led them to aid House Frey, they didn't follow duty or loyalty, and their lives mattered more to them than fighting. He looked at Nymeria again and then at the entrance of the caves. "Let's go find Arya."

Arya was lost. She had realized that she was in some sort of underground tunnels, but it took her several minutes to realize that she was walking in circles. The endless darkness made it so much easier to get lost. She had no idea where she was or where she was going, and in one occasion she ended up again exactly where she had started, in the placed where she had been chained during weeks and where Rat-face's corpse now laid. Se tried not to panic and to stay calm while she found her way out of that strange labyrinth. She made some marking in the walls with her sword, to know where she had been before in case she started walking in circles again. In several occasions she found those markings again, meaning that she was walking in circles, but after a while she started walking in places that didn't have the markings.

She tried to be aware of her surroundings, preparing herself in case that Maldwin Frey appeared where she was in any moment. She would have to kill him quickly, though if she managed to defeat him and make him lead her to the outside before she killed him that would be better. She would take no risks, though. If it was dangerous to keep the man alive she would kill him without a little bit of hesitation.

As she arrived in a tunnel that she hadn't been in before, she started to hear something other than the silence that constantly surrounded her. The new noise was distant, echoing in between the walls of those tunnels. She tried to listen closely to find out what that noise was. It came from the outside, and it reminded her of the times of the War of the Five Kings, and of the battles that she had witnessed and participated in… Arya walked forward, and the more she walked the stronger that noise was. She could hear it more clearly now. It was the sound of men shouting and yelling and of steel crashing against steel and horses neighing. It was the sound of war.

They have found me! She realized, and she had to fight the urge to laugh with joy. They have come for me!

It was the only thing that made sense and explained why there was a battle being fought outside those tunnels. She stopped worrying about making markings on the walls around her and she started running though the tunnels, following the noise that was louder and louder with every step that she took.

"You fucking bitch!" she heard Maldwin Frey sneaking up behind her. Her joy and the noise had distracted her enough for him to find her without her noticing, and she turned around and found the man standing there, looking angered. He had already found the other Frey's body before and knew that she had escaped by herself. "Come back here!"

Maldwin was weaker that Rat-face, and not at all scary, but he did have a sword and he knew how to use it. He attacked Arya, but she dodged the blade. She thought that she no longer needed him to escape, and so she made a quick movement and stabbed him right in the belly before he could keep attacking her. Maldwin Frey gasped in shock and pain when Needle's thin blade pierced him deeply, fatally injuring him. He dropped his sword and Arya took Needle out of the man's body, making blood spurt from the wound. Maldwin fell, dead just like Rat-face, and Arya continued running following the noise from outside as if nothing had happened.

She noticed that the ground was wet then, and the more she ran the more she noticed it. Soon she entered a tunnel that was flooded. There wasn't a lot of water, but it was enough to cover her feet. She happened upon another tunnel whose floor was steep, and she had to hold onto the walls and use Needle to be able to climb it. Water came down that steep floor, but the tunnel was lighter than the other ones had been. She had approaching the exit.

When Arya finally made it to the top of that steep tunnel, she found herself on another tunnel, but that one wasn't steep. There was light at the end of the tunnel. She had finally found the exit! But light wasn't the only thing that she found at the end of that tunnel. There was someone there, a man that was running towards her. She couldn't see him very well, but then he called her name…

"ARYA!"

"Gendry…" his name caught in her throat. She couldn't believe it. He was there, he had found her, after all that time… He really was there. She could see him now. She could see his black hair and the blue eyes that she loved so much, and she felt she was going to explode. "GENDRY!"

She ran towards him while he ran towards her. They met in the middle of the tunnel, and in a second they had their arms around each other. For a moment it was as if both of them were afraid that the other one was simply an illusion, a trick of the mind. It was as f they were afraid that they were going to disappear like smoke and slip through each other's arms. But that didn't happen. They were real, and they weren't going anywhere.

"Arya. Arya…" Gendry said her name many times, enjoying the sweet sound of it. That name had tormented him during a month, because he thought that he would never see Arya again. But now she was in his arms, alive and well, and he wouldn't let anyone take her away from him again. "Oh, Arya, thank the gods… I looked everywhere for you, I am so sorry-"

"Where is Robb?"

"He is all right, he is in Riverrun with your uncle. Jaqen found him. He saved our little boy."

"Jaqen?" Arya repeated, astonished. Gendry nodded and smiled.

"Yes, he is here, he is outside. He was always there taking care of you…" he explained while he caressed his wife's face. He was too happy to notice how thin and how tired she was, but once he did notice he felt angered at the treatment that she had received. But the Freys had already paid for that. "Come, we have to go outside."

They left the cave then. Nymeria was waiting outside, making sure that no enemies went in. Arya was happy to see her, and she was happy to see that the battle was as good as over. All the sellswords had run, and what little Freys were left alive had surrendered and were in the process of being unarmed. Gendry, Arya and Nymeria climbed down the mountain, careful not to slip and fall. When they reached the bottom they stood next to some dead Frey archers who had been shot and killed by either Sandor's or Rickon's army.

Arya looked around, enjoying the fresh air and the light of day. There wasn't much light, but to her it seemed like the brightest day of all of her life after living in darkness for weeks. She smiled and laughed, and Gendry enjoyed looking at her. He felt as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest. He pulled Arya close to him then, and he kissed her. To them is was as if the world had stopped spinning and time had stopped running, and they were the only people left in the world. Arya had never felt happier or safer in all of her life…

They broke their kissed then, and Gendry looked at her as if he was trying to memorize all of her features all over again. He had the biggest smile of the entire world in his face.

"I thought I had lost you," he murmured.

"You will never lose me," Arya assured him. She intended to keep that promise.

Gendry was going to kiss her again, but something stopped him. He saw something behind Arya; she didn't know what it was, all she knew is that it wasn't good. Gendry's smile disappeared from his face and it was replaced by horror. Before Arya could ask what was wrong, Gendry grabbed her and he switched places with him. Arya gasped, confused by what was happening. She was about to ask him what was going on when suddenly she saw that Gendry's face was twisted with pain. His body shook all of a sudden and he gasped with pain.

"Gendry?" Arya was confused. Gendry's body shook again; it was more like a violent spasm, and he cried in pain. His body fell forward, but Arya managed to catch him and keep him on his feet. She was panicking now. "Gendry! Gendry, what is happening?! Gendry!"

She looked behind him, and saw what he had seen before. Black Walder was there, many feet away, with a bow in his hand and a look of satisfaction in his face. He didn't have any more arrows, but the three he had fired were buried deep in Gendry's back.

"No... No! Gendry!"

Arya reacted automatically, without even thinking. Her body moved as if guided by the explosion of wrath that was running through her veins. She placed Gendry on the ground, which wasn't very flooded in that part of the Red Mountains, and she picked up one of the bows and an arrow from one of the dead Frey archers that were next to her. She didn't even aim, she just fired the arrow, and it buried itself if Black Walder's forehead. He dropped dead right away, and Arya dropped the bow and arrow just as quickly and knelt beside Gendry, picking him up with her arms and carefully placing him on her lap.

"Gendry!" he was still breathing, but he was weak. Arya could feel the life slipping through the wounds that the arrows had made. This can't be happening… They had just found their way back to each other. They couldn't take Gendry away from her now, not so soon. Not so cruelly. "Gendry! Gendry, look at me! Gendry, please, stay with me… Stay with me! Gendry, please! GENDRY!"

But Gendry couldn't stay. He raised a hand, slowly, using all the strength that was left in him, and he gently caressed her cheek. His fingers felt cold to the touch. There was a pool of blood forming beneath Gendry; it stained Arya's clothes and dyed the ground and the water of a deep red color.

"No, Gendry, please don't do this to me!" Arya begged. She was unable to hold her sobs and cries back. "You can't do this to me! Gendry… Somebody! Please! Help!" she screamed desperately. She looked up for one second and saw Sandor running towards them, and someone else too… Jaqen. So he really did come… But that wasn't important now. All that mattered was that Gendry was dying in her arms, and she didn't know how to stop it from happening. Her tears stung in her eyes and clouded her vision. The gods were cruel. They had given her a brief moment of true happiness before taking it away and ripping her heart apart. "Please, help…"

Gendry's hand was still on her cheek. Arya returned her gaze to Gendry, whose bright blue eyes were only half open. He was looking at her. The pain was gone from his expression. He looked very calm, as if he was at peace.

"Gendry, no… No!" Arya cried when his hand fell from her face. "Please, stay with me. Look at me, look at me! Please, don't do this to me, please…"

"Arya…" Gendry murmured before he closed his eyes. With her name still on his lips he exhaled his last breath.