Jon managed to convince the people in the hallway to go back to bed and not to say anything to anyone that would start a panic. Daenerys and Tyrion both stumbled into the room and Arya never imagined she would see the Queen of Westeros with her hair in a messy braid with wrinkled clothing. Meera and Bran were talking quietly to each other as everyone settled into chairs and on the bed. Once Bran seemed more present Jon sat down on the edge of the bed and took Bran's hand.
"What happened?" Jon asked.
"You have Eastwatch evacuate once they were able to see the army which was the right decision. The Black Brothers can do a lot but they can't fight an entire army. The Night King isn't able to just bring humans back to life but anything back to life. They have animals and even giants under his control. He sent forward all of the bears and the giants and with all of them working together they were able to break through the gates. The dead are pouring through the gates at Eastwatch and they will make their way toward Winterfell now." Jon turned to Tyrion.
"Will you go and make sure raven's go out to make sure everyone evacuates to Winterfell?" Jon said.
"I'll go now," Tyrion replied and he hurried out of the room. Jon turned back to Bran who looked like he was holding back against something.
"Tell them," Meera said softly as she stroked Bran arm with her hand.
"I looked at the Night King too closely," Bran confessed. "He's coming for me and he knows where to find me at all times. We have a month before they get here."
"Could we take an army and meet them before they come to Winterfell?" Daenerys asked. "Jon said that these things and perhaps even the Night King can be killed with dragonfire. All I need is to get close enough and my children can take care of it."
"He can bring back anything," Meera said softly.
"If he kills one of your dragons and puts it under his control we're done for," Jon replied.
"We also can't fight them yet," Gendry said and everyone turned in the room to look at him. Arya could feel how uncomfortable he was to have all of the attention in the room on him but he stood up a little straighter. "Your Graces, my men and I have been working around the clock but there isn't enough time or people working to make the weapons. I need more time and even if I have another month I'll still be working until the last second."
"There's no point in sending the army ahead of time if we can't kill them," Arya finished and Gendry nodded.
"I'm sorry, Your Graces, I-"
"Gendry, please," Daenerys said. "Jon and I were in no way criticizing you or the other men who are working so hard to make sure we all have the weapons we need." Jon nodded as they all sat in relative silence for a moment.
"We can't bring the fight to them," Jon said. "We just don't have the manpower. If we had more time to prepare maybe we could have but as it currently stands we have to let them come to us. We have no choice. We can't risk sending the dragons against the dead any sooner than necessary."
"I confess I didn't even consider that he could hurt my dragons or the fallout from it," Daenerys admitted. "Lord Bran, you said that he is coming for you specifically, are you sure of that?"
"Yes," Bran said without hesitation. "It's the reason that Meera and I had to flee for our lives before we decided to come back to Winterfell. He wants to kill me and he knows where I am."
"Then we use that against him," Theon said softly and he too seemed to wilt as everyone turned to look at him. Sansa moved so their shoulders were pressed together and he seemed to relax a little. "In a ship battle where you are is extremely important and if you put the right ship in the right place it can win a battle. We know what he wants and we can use that against him; we put him in the right place so we can kill him."
"Are you suggesting we use my little brother as bait?" Arya asked and she was not okay with this plan. Not even a little. Jon frowned and opened his mouth to disagree but it seemed that Bran beat them all to it.
"I'll do it," Bran said without hesitation.
"Bran, no,-" Jon started but Bran held up a hand to silence everyone.
"It's my decision and Theon is right. The only way we are going to win this fight is if we get the Night King in the right place at the right time," Bran said. "He could be the catalyst that is keeping all of the Wrights and the White Walkers alive. If he dies the others may follow."
"And if they don't?" Daenerys asked.
"Then at the very least no new corpses will join his army," Bran said. There wasn't much to say after that and the sun was still a few hours from coming up. Everyone left the room to try and get some more sleep. Arya could tend that Gendry wasn't going to get more sleep but she pulled him into bed nevertheless.
"They don't blame you," she said.
"But if I was faster we could have drawn the fighting away from Winterfell. Maybe we could prevent some people from getting hurt," Gendry said. Arya thought about what Melisandre said about Gendry's good heart and the fact that the guilt was going to eat him alive. She could see it already and it was more terrifying than the idea of an army of dead people marching on her home.
"You are working yourself half to death as it is. You can't work any faster." Arya wrapped her arms around Gendry and twisted her body so he was flat on his back and she had him pinned to the bed. He looked up at her and she could see the dark circles under his eyes and the burns on his arms and hands from all of the blacksmithing he'd been doing since the dragonglass arrived. At this rate, he was going to hurt himself if he didn't start taking care of himself and she wasn't going to allow that to happen. "You are going to start eating three meals a day and you are going to stop working once the sun goes down."
"Arya, there's too much-"
"You are of no use to anyone dead and I won't lose you. Not now and not ever," Arya stated loudly as she glared at him. Gendry looked liked he was going to argue with her but eventually he sighed heavily and nodded. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her until they were holding onto each other tight enough to bruise. They stayed like that until the sun came up and Gendry went out to the forge to get more work done.
The Black Brothers came from the Wall several days later and with them came the Umber's and the Kastark's, both of whom were allied to the North and to Jon. It was good, they needed more people, but seeing even the children of the people that helped the Bolton's made Arya nervous. She was doing her best not to judge people so quickly but it was hard when so many people were judging them.
Gendry's father was no longer a secret and people made sneering comments about him being a bastard and would loudly ask when he was going to start whoring around like his father. When Theon and Sansa would walk around together people would ask when he was going to pay for his crimes against the north. They made Sansa nervous and as such Podrick became Theon's personal guard after Arya insisted that Gendry was safe now. Podrick grumbled about it but Arya promised that Nymeria would remain close to Gendry and keep him safe.
Bran and Meera were another topic of conversation as people wondered if she was good enough for the last trueborn son of Ned Stark ignoring how close Howland and Ned were and how loyal the Reed's were for many years. There were also whispers from people wondering why Bran wasn't the king over Jon which was another thing that Arya didn't want to deal with. People and their gossip were making her see red and when she heard someone say that Jon was obviously fucking Daenerys and was going to bend the knee to her it took Gendry forcibly pulling her to away to keep from punching someone. She wished for a distraction and the next day one rode in on a horse.
Of all of the people to show up at the gates of Winterfell looking like he hadn't seen a wash in several months Jaime Lannister was not high on her list. People were scrambling as they put the man in chains and dragged him to the Great Hall. Arya wasn't sure what made her go to the forge to grab Gendry but the two of them had made it to the Winterfell because of Jaime. That seemed like a good enough reason for them to be present when he stood before two monarchs that wanted him dead. Both Daenerys and Jon were glaring at him like they wanted to fight to see whether Drogan or Ghost was going to have the honor of eating Jaime alive. Sansa appeared disgusted as she looked at him while Theon stayed off to the side and looked very uncomfortable. Arya took her place at the table and Gendry stood behind her with his hands folded behind him.
"Do you not value your life, Ser Jaime?" Jon asked. "You must not because I can't think of any reason why you would ride into Winterfell unless you had a death wish. Why are you here?" Out of the corner of her eye, Arya could see Tyrion shifting. She knew what it was like to watch a family member die and while there wasn't any lost love between her and the Lannister's she didn't think even he deserved that.
"My brother came to the city and we spoke about the war against the dead. He said that there was a chance you were going to try and bring proof to the sister so we could join the fight but you never came," Jaime explained.
"Yes, we decided that there wasn't any point in trying to reason with madness," Daenerys replied cooly. "Even if we presented proof to your sister and even if she agreed to fight with us, would she have sent the men? Do you really believe she would have?"
"No," Jaime replied honestly. "Right now Cersei is barely able to control the city. Ever since the attack on the Sept the people have been trying to overthrow her. She needs all of the soldiers at her disposal just to keep them from breaking down the gates to the Red Keep."
"So then I ask again; why are you here?" Jon repeated. "Did she send you?"
"She did," Jaime said and he stood a little taller. "She sent me to kill as many of you as I could knowing that I wouldn't make it back alive. She sent me to die up here. That may be how I got out of the city but I'm not here to hurt anyone. I'm here to fight. I understand that if you lose up here we will lose in the south and there isn't any avoiding that. I also understand that my sister cannot be saved, not anymore, not since she let our son die and didn't even care."
"So you admit that she had something to do with Tommen dying," Arya said and everyone turned to look at her but she didn't care. She suspected that Cersei did something to Tommen but to hear the proof hurt.
"She is responsible for the attack on the Sept that took the life of Margaery Tyrell and her family. Tommen loved his wife and he loved his faith. Cersei took both and he couldn't handle it anymore. Or at least that's what I assume happened since he took off his crown and threw himself off of the Red Keep to his death." Jaime looked down at the ground and Arya could see how much he was hurting. "I know he was an enemy to both of you but Tommen was a good boy with a good heart. He didn't deserve what his mother did to him so I left." Jaime dropped down to one knee and bowed his head. "I'm here to fight for the living and then I will help you remove my sister from the Iron Throne for the good of all of Westeros."
"You're a Lannister," Sansa spat out. "You stood by as your son and sister tortured me for years and you did nothing. Why should we believe you?"
"I will speak for him," Brienne said as she walked out and stood in front of Jaime. "Ser Jaime is many things but I trust him."
"You would hand him a blade and fight side by side with him?" Jon asked.
"Without hesitation," Brienne replied.
"Gendry and I will speak for his honor as well," Arya said. "Ser Jaime is the reason we sit with you today. We never told anyone this but he is the reason we escaped the Black Cells. Without him, Cersei would have killed Gendry and used me as a ransom."
"He trusted us enough to give us our weapons and he gave us some money so we could find a way out of the city," Gendry said. "He asked me if I was a threat to Cersei's reign and when I told him "no" he believed me. My word was enough. I would fight with him." Jaime stared at the two of them like he couldn't believe that they were allowing him to live let alone fight.
"I trust Brienne," Sansa said softly.
"We should allow him to fight," Bran said. "He carries a Valyrian Steel blade which is one less dragonglass weapon we need to make." Jon and Daenerys looked at each other and began to talk quietly to each other. Tyrion looked like he wanted to say something but was holding his tongue. After a moment both Daenerys and Jon sat back in their chairs.
"This is your only warning that if you should betray me or King Jon you will not live to see another day, is that clear?" Daenerys asked.
"You have my word," Jaime replied.
"Then welcome to Winterfell, Ser Jaime. I hope you're prepared for what's coming," Jon said. Brienne visibly relaxed as everyone started to talk over at each other as Jaime released a breath. He spoke to Brienne for a moment and then walked over to her and Gendry with a small smile on his face. He had a dark beard, he was dirty, and he didn't look anything like the knight they met in King's Landing all of those months ago.
"I'm not sure I'd be alive if it weren't for you two vouching for me," he said.
"I know I wouldn't be alive without you," Gendry replied. "So let's call us even for now."
"I'm glad to see that you made it back here," Jaime said. "Things in the city just got worse after Cersei realized that you escaped."
"They were already bad when we were there, you're saying it got worse?" Arya asked and Jaime frowned deeply.
"My sister did not take you both escaping very well. She decided that because you escaped that means that you're going to make a move on her," Jaime explained as he looked at Gendry. "She is convinced you're going to ask either Jon or Daenerys to make you a Baratheon and you're going to challenge her for the Iron Throne. It didn't matter how times I told her that you didn't seem like the type she thinks that you are coming for her." Jaime sighed as he looked around the Great Hall and the various people that were glaring at him like they wanted him dead. Much like Theon Jaime was not going to be safe in Winterfell even though Jon welcomed him. "Look, I don't know if we're going to survive this but if you two want some free advice here it is; don't go south while my sister is in power. She wants you dead, boy, and she won't stop at anything until your head is sitting on a pike. You were one of the ones she asked me to kill when I came here. That's how threatened she is by you."
"It doesn't make any sense," Gendry said with a sigh. "I'm not anyone and so many people want me dead for the actions of a man that didn't even know I existed."
"Thanks for letting us know," Arya said as she took Gendry's hand into her own. She could see that he was having a hard time seeing hearing about someone else wanting his head. "And thank you for coming to fight. We need all of the help we can get." Jaime nodded and walked over to speak to Tyrion. The two brothers didn't seem to know how to react to each other and Arya eventually looked away to give them at least a little privacy. Jon walked over and glared at Jaime.
"So were you ever going to tell me that Jaime Lannister was the one who let you out of your cell?" he asked.
"Was it important?" Arya asked.
"Well, not at the time, but-" Jon cut himself off and sighed heavily. "Cersei knows that we're all up here. I'm worried that she'll send an army to attack us if we survive the Long Night when we're weak. It would be the smart thing to do."
"From what Jaime said she is barely holding the city together. I don't think she can afford to send away her army unless she wants the smallfolk to break down the gates and deal with her themselves," Arya replied. "If Bran says we should let him fight then we should let him fight. He says he's going to help us take down Cersei if we survive. That kind of insider knowledge is important since not many of us here have a lot of knowledge about the inner workings of the Red Keep." Jon sighed heavily and looked like he didn't entirely agree with her but he let it go.
"You really trust him?" he asked.
"He got us out," Gendry said. "She would have killed me if he hadn't." Jon nodded and patted Gendry on the shoulder. Arya could tell that Gendry didn't want to be here anymore and walked back out of the Great Hall to the forge keeping a tight hold on his hand. He was silent but Arya could tell he wanted to say something. "I'm starting to wonder if I'll have to leave Westeros to keep away from people who want me dead."
"We're not going anywhere," Arya said with an emphasis on the 'we'. "We're not going to let our enemies dictate our lives and we're not going to let them drive us from Winterfell which is our home now. Not mine, ours, and we're here to stay." Gendry nodded and squeezed her hand. She watched him walk into the forge to get back to work and Arya knew she wasn't going to see him for the rest of the day. The dead got closer every minute and if they didn't have enough weapons Gendry was going to see it as a personal failure. Arya turned and walked back into the Great Hall where Jon was talking to Daenerys.
"Can we help you with something, Arya?" Daenerys asked.
"I think you can," Arya said. "I think it's time for my husband to have a name."