A/N: Hope you guys enjoy :)
Chapter Three: A Pretty Wolf Locked Away
She doesn't have much say when her father and uncles put her in Lyanna's room and leave to deal with the gossip that was spreading after the incident at the tourney. Normally Arya would fight tooth and nail to not be treated like a delicate doll that needs to be hidden away, protected from harsh words, perhaps she should mind that they've left her to deal with business that concerns her but she doesn't.
This isn't her, this isn't Arya's body, her story, it's her aunt Lyanna's, and Arya wants no part in it. She has her own story to get back to, she wants to go home, she misses it, as destroyed as it is right now it doesn't matter because it's hers. She hasn't been away from her family that long, a mere few hours if she's calculating correctly, but already she misses them, she has spent years away, separated from them, having just got them back Arya doesn't want to ever go through that separation again. She should be with Jon, Sansa, and Bran right now, rebuilding Winterfell and planning their attack on Cersei, she should be with her family, healing their wounds, reinforcing their bonds as siblings, becoming a pack once more.
She shouldn't be here, how she's here to begin with is a mystery. Arya knows it has something to do with the Night King's touch, it's no coincidence that she gets transported into the past not long after his cold touch was placed on her, but how that was possible is something she couldn't fathom an answer to. She's seen strange, magnificent things in her time running and training but this is a whole other realm of extraordinary.
The room they placed Arya in is huge, like the one she fell asleep in mere hours ago, this one is lighter though, not just in terms of actual lighting either. In Winterfell the grey clouds that stain the sky don't always allow the sunshine to come through but here in Harrenhal, the sun is up in the sky shining beautiful yellow rays on everything it touches. The atmosphere feels lighter here to, less foreboding, the fear and dread that coat the walls of Winterfell aren't here in this sunny castle, it's something Arya didn't think she would miss but she does, that suffocating ambiance was a motivator and a comfort, familiar like a friend. The atmosphere is also a great deal different then the Harrenhal she remembers in her days of being a cup barer, the one she remembers was a cage, a dark bloody castle that stripped men of their dignity and their lives, this castle is more like King's Landing, she finds it uncomfortable and strange.
She sits on the bed, facing the windows of the room, they're closed but she can see the sun rays through the edges, she finds herself stuck staring at them. The windows are a barrier to the warmth the sun can provide her, she's almost tempted to open them but she misses the cold, longs for it so she doesn't. From behind her the door to the room opens and closes, Arya doesn't turn around, she doesn't need to, she knows exactly whose behind her.
They don't say anything but she can hear their steps get closer as they walk towards her, she feels the dip in the bed from the other side of where she sits. She holds her breath as the bed is gently rocked from where they climb onto it and make their way to her, pressing themselves against her spine.
"You shouldn't be here." Arya tells him in a flat voice. She doesn't want to admit to herself that his heat feels wonderful against the thin material of the dress she wears. She misses the frost Winterfell is known for but this heat, a different kind of warmness then the sun offers has her mind fogging. Arya's not entirely sure why he's in her room, but she assumes like many royal people who get what they want when they want it with little to no questions asked that he feels he's entitled to her, to Lyanna, after having given her the crown of winter roses.
He doesn't answer her, instead he snakes his arms around her thin frame pulling her back to lean more firmly against his chest, his breath is on her neck, she feels light kisses trail on her pulse. She hates the shiver that rakes through her body, she hates that she likes those chaste kisses. She needs to pull herself away, it's not right, he has no claim to this body, be it hers or her aunt's, but lust clouds her vision making it impossible to see.
He feels different from Gendry, whose the only other man she has any experience with, any comparison to. His body is warmer than her friend's, harder and softer at the same time. Gendry, someone she feels like she should miss but she doesn't, not really. At least not in the way she misses Winterfell's walls and her siblings, not the way she thinks she should miss a man she's been intimate with. He wants things from Arya that she can't give to him, doesn't want to give to him. She slept with him for selfish desires, she didn't think she would live past The Long Night, she didn't want to die knowing she's never known the touch of a man. But that moment meant more to Gendry then it did to her, she could feel it in the thrust of his hips and the press of his chapped lips. She does feel a shred of guilt for not being able to recuperate his feelings for her but not enough of it that she's willing to try being what he wants her to be.
Prince Rhaegar doesn't feel like a desperate attempt at having something that she might not live long enough to experience in her own time, he feels like forbidden fruit, he feels like sin, she can't lie to herself and say she doesn't like it. Arya's always liked being a part of things that she has no business being a part of.
Catching sight of the crown of winter roses she placed on the dresser coming into the room is what gives Arya the pull she needs to extract herself from his hold. She doesn't want to pull away from him, not at all, she likes the way he feels but the shame and embarrassment of how she's responding to him is heavy in her heart. Arya wants to blame The Night King's touch for her behavior, blame him for the way her body is reacting to the Prince but she can't, she can blame him for putting her in the situation, for placing her in the past but she can't blame him for her lust.
She stands from the bed, turns her attention to the silver-haired beauty still sitting perfectly still behind her and aims her best glare at him, a glare that has driven many to their knees before her.
"You need to leave." She tells him with the most hostile voice she can muster. Arya doesn't understand why she's not reacting to his actions the way she should be, why it's hurting her to do the right thing. This man is responsible for all the pain and torture that happens to her family, he's the one that lights the fire that burns her family for many years to come, burns her and Jon, separates her and Jon. This man also has a wife, children with that wife, he has a family that would be hurt by his actions as well as her actions. He's the man that kidnapped her aunt Lyanna, took her away from her family, raped her, held her hostage and was ultimately the catalyst for her death.
So why even knowing all that does she want to crawl back on the bed with him? She's doesn't know him, has barley spoken a handful of words to him, he's only spoke one to her, and yet she yearns to have herself pressed against him again.
"You didn't like my gift?" His voice is deeper then Arya expected it to be, earlier when he had called her beautiful, it was barely more than a murmur, something that disappeared into the wind, but now his voice is for her ears alone. It's a nice voice, he sounds like Jon, husky and honeyed all at once.
"Your gift was inappropriate." She answers back, and it was, he should never have given that crown to her, technically it was to her aunt Lyanna but the sentiment still stands, it was not an appropriate gift to bestow upon a woman that wasn't his wife, a woman who is betrothed to another. Those pretty roses weren't worth the implication that followed them.
"Was it?" He asks with teasing lines in his eyes and on his mouth. It angers Arya that he doesn't comprehend his own actions, or he does but he doesn't care. Actions such as these are over looked when it comes to royalty, they don't pay the price, no one dares to speak ill of them in front of them, but for normal noble girls like herself and Lyanna, they don't get that luxury.
"It's not something you should jest of. I believe it's time you left my room Your Highness, your wife must be looking for you." She doesn't know what else to say to him, she needs him to leave before her body takes what it wants.
"I highly doubt that." He doesn't elaborate on his statement, but he does get up from the bed, instead of walking towards the door like she wants him to though he walks towards her. He stops right in front of her, her aunt Lyanna is taller then she is but not by much so it's still a significant height difference between them.
"My father will be coming to check on me soon, I don't believe you want to be caught in here when he comes back." Arya's not actually sure where her father or her uncles are but she does know they will check on her before it gets later, before she's set to go to sleep. Prince Rhaegar being seen in her room is not going to do her any favors, he needs to leave.
"Your father?" He repeats back to her with a confused tone. Arya forgot for a moment that her father is not actually her father here, but her brother, the man who is her father, Rickard, is at home in Winterfell waiting for his children to return from their trip to Harrenhal.
"You need to leave." Arya avoids his question, she made a mistake, talked like she wasn't her aunt Lyanna but right now she doesn't have the energy to form a proper excuse or explanation for the Prince. He looks like he wants to ask more questions, the confusion still present on his face but Arya's relieved that he doesn't.
"Of course." He leans his body down and forward and before Arya can move out of the way he kisses her, it's gentle and sweet, much like the ones he pressed to her neck on the bed. He doesn't try for more than a single kiss like she thought he might, Arya's slightly disappointed in that, but when he pulls away she doesn't chase after his lips or tries to stop him. He's walking away and is out the room without another word, the space around her feels empty without him there. It's ridiculous for her to feel that way and she knows it, but it doesn't stop the emotion from swelling inside her.
It's not long after the Prince leaves her room that her father and uncles come back to check on her. Arya is back in her place on the bed, staring at the window, the sun rays are long gone. Like with Prince Rhaegar she doesn't need to turn to face the people who come into the room without knocking, she already knows it's them.
"Are you alright, little sister?" Her father is the first one to approach her, Arya finds it ironic that he calls Lyanna what Jon calls her, like father like son. It's wrong though hearing it come from her father's mouth and not Jon's, Arya's not his little sister, she's his daughter, she wants to scream that to him but she knows it will do her no good, more likely all it would do is get her committed to seeing a Maester.
"I'm fine, just tired." She lies to him, she's not fine, she won't be fine until she's able to see Jon, Sansa, and Bran again, until this nightmare is no longer her reality.
"Get some rest Lyanna, you'll need it, preparations to leave in three days' time are being made." Her uncle Brandon is the one to tell her, he has worry in his eyes. Her father never told her much about the brother that HER brother is named after, she's never asked either, she regrets that now, he clearly loves his siblings very much and soon he will die trying to protect Lyanna, his fate like all theirs is cruel and undeserved.
"Has anyone said anything?" She's hesitant to ask, the last thing she needs is for her father and uncles to think she's invested in something she shouldn't be in.
"No." Her uncle Brandon says to her, he's lying, The House of Black and White taught her a great many things, this was one of them, she can spot a lie with ease and right now her uncle is lying to her, her father and uncle Benjen don't contradict his words. It's impossible that no one in all of Harrenhal has spread gossip about what happened at the tourney, the whole reason they left her in this room was to scope out what was being said and by who as to reign it in before it becomes fact rather then opinion despite lack of evidence in either case.
"Okay." Arya can't help herself from throwing him a look that clearly states she knows he's lying but she keeps her mouth closed, it's enough for her to know that he knows she knows he's lying, a slight tick to his hard expression lets her know that he received her silent message.
"Good night sister." The three of them chime in together after a moment of silence before leaving the room together, her father glancing back right before the door shuts to throw her a small smile of reassurance. That small curve to his lips says that everything will be fine, things will work themselves out in the end, but this story doesn't have a happy ending like in the fairy tales Old Nan use to read to her and her siblings, not for Arya and certainly not for her aunt Lyanna.
"Good night." Arya whispers to the empty room.
Without waiting another moment, she pulls the furs from the bed over herself and sinks down. She pulls her arm free from the confines of her night dress, the arm the Night King touched. It hasn't occurred to her to look at it since waking up in this horrible piece of history.
She expects for her arm to show some semblance of his touch, but there's nothing there. No purple skin or black veins, no red splotches or cold skin, nothing. There's no evidence of his touch still on her, she's not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but she supposes it doesn't matter much now.
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to drop a review :)
***ANSWERS TO REVIEWS***
To Bella-Swan11: I love how you addressed the review to Arya :) thank you so much for taking the time to write a review at all, it's beyond appreciated. Arya will have to be careful about what she does and doesn't do in the past, no doubt if she chooses to change things it could end up better in the future but there's also a large chance she can make things worse (at least in her personal life), also there's that chance of no matter what Arya does the past still plays out the same and nothing changes because what was meant to be already happened and she's just there for the ride. I haven't quite decided how I want to spin that time travel factor yet because there's all sorts of choices and paths it could go down lol
To Guest: Your not being rude at all, I understand what your saying and I'm not taking any offense :) First, I want to thank you for leaving a review and for reading the other reviews as well as my responses to them lol that was unexpected. Second, I have to be honest I had a very clear vision on how I wanted to take this story when I first started writing it (Which is Arya just going through Lyanna's past and not changing things but experiencing them), I even wrote out a few chapters for that vision that I have yet to post because I'm re-imagining that vision triple times over. The more I wrote the more I realized that this plot line can go in so many directions and I want to go down all of them but sadly I can't so it is hard to choose and pick what I want and what makes sense for the story and have them mesh well together. For instance (just an example based off your review "Hides in a tower well her family dies for her"), I don't want Arya's uncle Brandon and Grandpa Rickard to die but if they don't then Ned doesn't marry Catelyn and he doesn't become the Warden in the North and Lord of Winterfell, and none of the Stark children are born :( so it's not only changing past events, it's thinking about the consequences that would result from that change. I'd hate to lose you as reader but I can't really give a definite answer yet as to how this story is going to go right about now, I feel I need to write out a few chapters (without posting them) for a different direction the story can take and see how I like it and if I can even do it before I ultimately decide how I want the story to progress. I'm so sorry I can't give you a clear answer right now, but I don't want to make promises for something I don't even know if I can do or want to do just yet which is why I answered to Bella-Swan11's review the way I did because I didn't want to say Arya does this or that when I haven't wrote it yet so I have no clue myself lol. I hope you do stay tuned at the very least for the next couple of chapters to see where I decide to take the story, either way you decide though thank you again for your review :)
To Mel: Right! There such an unconventional couple but with all the comparisons and similarities between Arya and Lyanna, I thought there would be at least a few stories and to my total surprise there is none (only glimpses and snippets of them), which absolutely sucks lol. Thank you so much for reviewing, it's beyond appreciated.