Arya thought that the moment her entire world ended should have felt different. This was her nightmare, the thing that kept her awake at night, the thing that made her learn to fight because she never wanted this moment to come true. She thought that the moment her entire world ended, she would have fallen to the ground in despair or screamed at the top of her lungs. She thought she would have run into the woods and never come out again. That was how she thought that she would react to all of this, but the moment the words left Sansa's mouth, she didn't believe them because it couldn't be true. Gendry couldn't be dead because he was part of her, he was half her heart, and if half of her heart died, she would have known it. So disbelief was the first thing she felt when Sansa told her that Gendry was dead.

"It's not possible," Arya said. She was in Sansa's solar, and they were alone, which was good because no one else needed to hear these lies. This was some trick from some terrible house in the south that wanted to ruin their lives. It couldn't be true because half of her heart couldn't have died without her knowing it.

"Arya, I got ravens from both Davos and Daenerys, and they aren't fake letters. This is their hands and their seals. They wrote these letters, and they are explaining what happened," Sansa explained. There were tears running from her eyes, and she was pale, but none of this made any sense. Arya knew that Gendry couldn't be dead, so why was Sansa so upset? She shouldn't be crying over a trick.

"Sansa-"

"It was all four of them," Sansa said, and her voice cracked. "Someone broke into the castle, killed the guard at their door, and killed all four of them. None of them survived Arya. It's not just Gendry that's dead; Bella, Mya, and Edric were all killed as well."

"I would know, I would know if he was dead," Arya whispered, but Sansa threw her arms around her and sobbed. That was what Arya knew she should be doing because Sansa was not only telling her that her husband was dead, but all of his siblings were gone too. She shoved Sansa away from her and snatched both of the letters. They weren't addressed to her, but they were to her. Daenerys' letter explained what had happened or what they knew at that moment; all four of them were found dead, their bodies were mutilated with poison and cut the ribbons, they didn't know who did, and the maester had already entombed them because of the danger of the poisons. She apologized and told her that despite this tragedy, she still couldn't come south or risk the treaty between their nations.

Davos' letter was different; it was an apology. He was telling her how sorry he was that he didn't protect them, and the words he used were deliberate. He spoke about things that only Davos would know so she would know it was him telling her this. Davos said that he had tried to save them, bloodied his hands trying to do, but that nothing helped. They were gone, and there was anything anyone could do about it. Arya was reading the letters, but her hands started to shake because, despite her reading them, she knew this couldn't be true. It just couldn't. The love of her life couldn't be gone. They hadn't fought through the wars and to get home only for her to lose him. They didn't travel all over Westeros to bring Gendry's siblings home for her to lose them. This couldn't be happening.

Arya looked up from the letters and saw that Sansa was on her knees on the ground, and she was sobbing. The doors to the solar opened, and Theon rushed in as he tried to comfort her as Arya dropped the letters. Jon seemed to appear out of nowhere, and he picked the letters up as well. He made a sound like a dying animal when he read them, and Theon was rocking Sansa in his arms. There were tears in his eyes, but Arya couldn't find the tears. She felt numb inside as she tried to figure out a reason why Daenerys and Davos would say such untrue things, but no reason came. Jon drew her into his arms, and he held her as she shook and shook and eventually collapsed.

"He can't be gone, Jon," Arya whispered as her brother held her tightly in his arms. He was whispering how sorry he was in her hair, but Arya could barely hear the words. "He can't just be gone like that." Jon kept repeating over and over again that he was sorry, but never once did he try to tell her that it was going to be okay because there wasn't a single thing about this that was okay. Arya didn't know how she was ever going to be okay again.

Arya felt the world around her collapsed as the words repeated themselves over and over in her head; Gendry is dead, Gendry is dead, Gendry is dead, and he's never coming back.

Arya spent the next several days in a daze. She didn't remember doing much, but she felt a little rested and not too hungry, so she must have eaten and slept at some point. The news went through the entire castle, and she couldn't stand the looks of pity from the servants and everyone in Winterfell. Their pity didn't do anything for her; all it did was remind her what exactly she had lost, which was everything. She wanted to be angry at Daenerys for separating them in the first place, but she had no way of knowing something like this would happen. She had no way of knowing someone would manage to get into the castle and kill the heirs to one of the Great Houses of Westeros. Storm's End was a fortress and one that someone managed to sneak into.

Two days after they got the initial news Sansa got another letter from Davos, and this one explained things a little more. Davos was puzzled by how violent their deaths were since political assassinations were much more impersonal than this. Whoever did this to the Baratheon's wanted them to die slowly and painfully, which was not something that spoke to anyone seeking power. It spoke of rage, revenge, and Arya was inclined to agree with him even if it didn't do her any good. Even if Gendry died horribly or if he passed away in his sleep from natural causes, he was still dead. She still wouldn't ever see him or hold him or be with him again. Sansa wrote back, saying that she would come to see him as soon as she was able to, and Arya wished she could go but couldn't. In fact, she couldn't do anything about this, and that made things even worse.

Nymeria seemed to know that something was wrong and immediately went from shadowing Meera and Jojana to attaching herself to Arya's side and refusing to leave. Her wolf curled up next to her when she slept and let Arya cling to her when she cried. Arya remembered trying to leave Gendry before the battle against the dead and how she thought leaving him would protect her heart, but this was all the proof she needed that her heart was vulnerable. This had broken something inside of her, she could feel it, and the thought of losing anyone else made her feel sick. She slept, but she didn't sleep well and spent far too much time guarding the doors to her family's rooms to keep them safe. Val caught her on one of her patrols one night but didn't say a word about it. They let her mourn the way she needed to.

It was too much one day, the looks of pity, and Arya escaped to the forge. They hadn't hired another blacksmith yet, everyone clinging to the hope that Gendry would be home soon, but now they needed to hire someone. She was curled up next to the dead fires with Nymeria close by when the door opened. Arya had a dagger in her hand in seconds but blinked when she saw Corbin walking into the forge. He and Gendry were working on a project to get Rhaegal flying again and had spent a lot of time together. He looked at her, and he wasn't pitying, which was something Arya needed at that moment.

"What can I do for you?" Arya asked after a long moment of silence. Corbin began to pick through the forge as if he was looking for something. It wasn't the Valyrian Steel; Arya had that protected in a locked case under her bed.

"He was a good man," Corbin said as he walked around the forge. "A mad bastard too for thinking he could get a dragon to fly. When you lot went south, he told me he thought he had figured it out. He said he thought he had a design that could get that dragon flying again with the help of my leather. So I thought, what the fuck, what better legacy than being the mad bastard blacksmith that got a dragon flying again?" Normally, Arya would be angry that someone was calling Gendry a bastard, but with Corbin, it sounded like a term of endearment, so she let it slide.

"You're trying to find his designs?" Arya asked.

"Aye, I want to finish what we started," Corbin replied, and he made a noise as he found some papers. Arya pushed herself to her feet and looked at the complicated designs on the papers. They didn't make any sense of her, but Corbin was nodding and grinning. "Yeah, he figured it out. We can make that dragon fly again."

"Then I'll find you the best blacksmith in the North, and we'll finish what he started," Arya said, and Corbin looked at her. "It's what he would have wanted." Corbin nodded, and they began to look over the plans together. Arya still wanted to know why Gendry was dead, but she needed more information to do that. This was something that she could focus on right now, and that was what she needed. Gendry wanted Rhaegal to fly again; it was a mad dream he had about doing the impossible, and he might be dead, but Arya would move Westeros itself if it meant Gendry's dreams becoming a reality.

The next time Gendry woke up, he felt a little more human and aware of things. He was also not lying on the ground anymore but on someone's lap, and they were holding his hand. The first thing Gendry thought was that Arya was here, but then he remembered the stabbing and the boat and realized it must have been one of his sisters. He groaned, and he could hear Bella telling him to take it easy. It took some time, but he managed to hit up and ignore the sharp pain in his back. It hurt, but it also felt like someone had treated and bandaged the wound, so wherever he was, they didn't want him dead.

"You're awake," Edric said from across the room. He was sitting next to Mya, and she had an arm around his shoulders. He was pale but looked alright while Mya looked a little green around the edges. This might be the first time she had ever been on a boat. "We were worried about you."

"How do you feel?" Bella asked. She was sitting next to him and trying to look him over like she could do anything about his wounds in chains.

"Like I got stabbed," Gendry said, and all of his siblings huffed laughter and then groaned when it hurt their wounds. "We're alive and on a ship, were we kidnapped? Davos and Daenerys must have sent someone on the way. There's no way we could have gotten far."

"No one has been by to see us," Mya said. There is some food by the door, enough to last us a couple of weeks if we don't eat much, and some water. There's a bucket for us to use and what looks like a salve for our wounds. I can hear people talking, but they aren't coming down to see us."

"They also don't seem worried," Edric said. "I listened to the tones of their voices, and they don't seem to think the Ironborn or a dragon is going to come down on their heads. They seem calm, which is strange. They kidnapped four members of House Baratheon, how could they not be worried?"

"They must know something we don't," Bella said. It took some effort, but Gendry and Bella leaned on each other and made their way over to the supplies. Mya was right about the rations and the water and even the salve for their wounds, but this didn't make any sense. Why would someone lock them in chains and then leave them at the bottom of a ship? Gendry couldn't focus on that since they needed to get out of these chains. If Daenerys or Davos or Yara attacked the ship and it started to sink, they would be the first ones to drown. The chains keeping them to the wall were the first thing they needed to deal with.

For the first day, Gendry and his siblings tended to each other's wounds and ate some food. They were all weak from the attacks so far, but it looks like all of their injuries were healing well, and there didn't seem to be any sign of infection. Whoever stitched them up did a good enough job, which just made all of this even stranger. Why lock them in chains but make sure that their wounds were well cared for? They set up a rotation, so one of them was awake at all times and rested.

Gendry did his best to get them out of the chains as the days turned into a week. He was able to look out the small window and could see that they were heading east though he didn't know where. No one came to see them, and they continued to huddle together, heal, and try not to run out of supplies. Gendry tried not to gag the first time he managed to dump their bucket out the small window, and he thought maybe that would be enough to get someone's attention, but still, no one came to see them. They counted the days as a week turned into two, which turned into three, which turned into a month, and still, no one came below deck to see them, and no one attacked the ship. Their wounds had mostly healed, and they tried to keep up their strength the best they could, but the room was small, and the chains weighed them down.

No one came to see them.

Gendry was no on guard duty when the port came into view, but Edric was, and he immediately woke all of them up. They huddled around the small window and looked out into the vast port of the city none of them had ever seen. It wasn't Lyse, which was all Gendry and Edric could tell looking out, but they were in one of the far eastern cities. Perhaps it was Braavos, but that didn't make any sense either. The ship pulled into port, and footsteps made their way toward their door for the first time. Gendry and Edric put themselves between the door and their sisters because they didn't know what these men would do to women. The door opened, and they saw another person for the first time. The man smirked as he looked all of them over.

"I see you figured out how to ration your food, well done for a bunch of nobles," the man said.

"If you think we're just nobles, then you don't know anything about us," Gendry replied.

"I am Lord Edric Baratheon, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, and cousin to Queen Daenerys, and I demand to speak with your captain," Edric said, but the man laughed, which wasn't a good sign for them.

"You keep that mouth of yours shut, little lord, or we'll take your tongue," the man said. Edric bared his teeth, but Bella squeezed his hand, and he didn't say anything. Their chains were all connected, and the man disconnected them from the wall and began to pull them through the ship. Gendry tried to get a good look at his surroundings, but he didn't know where he was or what was going on. They were surrounded on all sides by armed men who took them out into the bright sunlight that burned Gendry's eyes a little. They were given no time to adjust as they were led through the streets of this city, and no one seemed to care that four well-dressed people were being led around in chains. No one even looked at them.

They were led to a massive pyramid-like castle, and a man with a sharp smile was waiting for them. Their clothes were unfamiliar, and the man grinned when the soldiers kicked the back of their legs and sent all four of the Baratheon's to their knees. Gendry knew this position all too well, and he remembered Cersei Lannister calling him beautiful while digging his nails into his skin. He refused to show fear and looked this man directly in the eye. He walked up and looked at all four of them.

"They certainly have the look from what I've heard," he said, and he looked at the soldiers. "Well done, you'll be rewarded."

"If you let us go now, we won't tell Queen Daenerys about any of this. She might spare your life," Edric said, and the man laughed.

"The Queen is in mourning right now. We left bodies back in Storm's End that look like all four of you. As far as Westeros is concerned, House Baratheon is dead," the man said. "Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Daario Naharis, and I would like to welcome you to Meereen."

"What exactly are we doing here?" Gendry asked, but Daario pulled out a knife. He walked over to Bella, and she paled immediately. Gendry, Edric, and even Mya began to fight against their restraints, but Daario tilted Bella's chin up, so she was forced to look at him.

"Sweet girl, if you and your siblings don't fight, no one has to get too terribly hurt," he said.

"Don't hurt them," Bella said.

"Tell them to stop fighting," Daario replied like it was that easy. Bella glanced at them, and Gendry grit his teeth and forced himself to stop fighting. Daario proceeded to cut a lock of Bella's hair and take some blood from her arm and then did the same to all of them. The wounds were terrible, but they bled enough and would likely leave scars on all of their forearms. He looked at their blood and hair like they were treasures and Gendry felt his stomach turn. "Lovely, as I said, all of you are presumed dead, which is exactly what I want, at least for now. Queen Daenerys will learn what I did for her eventually, but first, some things need to fall into place."

"Daenerys is our cousin, and she loves us," Mya said, and Daario looked furious for the first time.

"Lies, you are the children of Robert Baratheon, and she has sworn vengeance on House Baratheon for what they did to her family. She would never call any spawn of Robert's her kin," he snapped.

"She legitimized us," Edric said. "She is the one who made me the Lord of Storm's End." Daario narrowed his eyes and clearly didn't believe them. He stood up a little taller and looked down on all of them.

"I love Queen Daenerys, and this is my greatest gift to her. I am removing all evidence of Robert Baratheon from this world, so she doesn't have to think about that horrid man anymore," Daario said.

"Why kidnap and fake our deaths if you're just going to kill us?" Gendry snapped.

"Oh, no, killing you four would be too kind for the children of the men that took everything from my lovely Queen," Daario said, and he smiled wickedly. "I intend to sell you four into slavery because I can think of no punishment more appropriate for the enemies of the Breaker of Chains than slavery."