Jon let Sansa finish stitching the wound on his arm as he told her about what happened with the Night King. He told her about how Gendry nearly bled himself to make Longclaw stronger and how he was more than willing to do the same at the end. He told her about how he still didn't feel safe even though the dead were dead and they weren't rising again. And finally, he got up, told Sansa to make sure that their family was safe, and walked out of the room. There wasn't time to dwell on anything at the moment.
For the next three days, Jon worked tirelessly to separate the dead from the living. Massive funeral pyres were being put together outside of the castle that they were going to light once everything was ready. The numbers were starting to come in and it wasn't looking good. The Dothraki were all but gone with less than fifty of them remaining all together. The Unsullied were a little better off but a good half of their forces were gone as well along with their leader. Jon had no idea what Daenerys was going to do about that but now wasn't the time.
As he expected the Northern forces took a terrible hit as well and they were down more than half. On top of that, there were men loyal to houses that no longer existed. Jon didn't know what he was going to do with the Umber men or the Karstark men when their house was gone. Rhaegal's wing was also not healing properly and it was beginning to look like even though they had three dragons only two would be making the journey south.
They didn't have the numbers to take King's Landing and Jon was beginning to think that Daenerys was coming to terms with that as well. She didn't say anything about it and Jon didn't want to think about it right now. There were more important things to focus on.
Such as the fact that the first time Theon woke up he was in such terrible pain that he screamed. It terrified Sansa and she tried to calm him down but he said it hurt too much. It triggered something and he was convinced that he was back with Ramsay. It took three people holding him down to get more milk of the poppy in his system so he could get more rest. Sansa quietly cried and when Wolken mentioned cutting off the leg again she insisted that Theon needed to agree to it before anything was going to happen.
Whatever was in Bran's head appeared to be gone and all Jon found these days was his little brother. He wasn't as goofy or smiley as he was when he was a kid but he smiled and laughed a little which was more than Jon could say for Meera. She seemed to spend a lot of time curled up in a chair and staring out of the window. Bran would sit next to her and occasionally reach over to take her hand much like she would when he used to get lost in his own head.
"I love her Jon," Bran said one morning that Meera wasn't in the room. "I love her but her father and her brother have died for me. I'm not sure if she will ever forgive me for that and I'm not even sure I deserve it."
"This isn't your fault," Jon insisted but Bran carried the weight of this battle on his shoulders. There was still a mark on his arm from the Night King and Bran would stare at it like it could provide him answers. Jon didn't want to tell Bran that Meera would forgive him because he didn't know if she would. Right now, the best thing they could do was to let her cope the only way she could. Jon caught Meera and Sansa quietly talking and if there was anyone who knew what it was like to watch their father die it was Sansa. House Reed didn't deserve this, he considered Meera family at this point, and he hated seeing her in pain.
Arya and Gendry slept and barely moved from the moment they were taken off of the battlefield. Wolken and Sam both insisted that they were healing well, that none of their wounds were festering, and that Gendry's arm should make a full recovery. When he asked why they weren't waking up Sam and Wolken didn't have an answer and Jon spent many nights sitting by their bedside to watch them breathe. It helped chase away the nightmares of blue eyes that never shut.
Arya didn't remember much. One moment she was holding Gendry as he went slack against her and the world was ending. The next she was opening her eyes and she was in her room in Winterfell with Jon sitting nearby. Arya blinked a few times so she could see properly and tried to say something to Jon. Instead, a groan came out and he nearly jumped out of his skin.
"You're awake," he whispered and for a moment she thought her proud brother was going to cry. Arya felt weak but she also wanted to sit up more than anything. Jon put his hand behind her back and between the two of them, they managed to move her into a sitting position. It wasn't until Jon handed her a glass of water to drink that Arya realized she wasn't alone in her bed. Much like the bandit attack that nearly took their lives all of those years ago once again, Arya found herself in bed as they both recovered from terrible injuries. "He's healing," Jon said when he saw her looking at him. Gendry's arm, the one that the White Walker broke, was wrapped in an elaborate splint. She could see a bandage around the wound that was on his wrist and there were healing bruises all over his bare chest. He was warm, despite how pale he was, and she could feel him breathing.
"We're still alive so I guess we won," Arya said and her voice sounded terrible. Jon winced and Arya touched her throat where the White Walker had nearly strangled her. The skin was rough but she could feel it healing just like when she got burned by ice when she was a child.
"We did," Jon whispered. Arya blinked and stared at him as she made a gesture for Jon to continue. "I will explain everything when Gendry wakes up. That way I won't have to say it twice."
"Did the Great Hall fall?" she asked and Arya was unsure if she wanted to know the answer.
"No, you and Gendry held the line and nearly died doing so," Jon said. "Bran, Meera, Theon, and Sansa are all alive and healing. So far it looks like Bran is himself again. When the Night King died the Three-Eyed Raven let our brother come home."
"Who did we lose?" Arya said and Jon looked like he didn't want to answer her. "Jon, tell me who we lost."
"Howland, all of the Brotherhood, most of the Dothraki, over half of the Unsullied, several entire houses in the North are extinct now, Grey Worm," Jon said and he was hesitating and it made Arya's stomach twist. "Podrick." She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together. Podrick was a good friend and someone that she was getting close to. She couldn't imagine what Brienne was going through to lose a squire like that.
"He wanted to be the first man knighted by the first female knight in Westeros," Arya whispered and she felt Jon sit down on the edge of the bed. He took her hand into his and she held on as if for dear life. When she opened her eyes she could see how hard Jon was trying to keep himself together and she wondered if there were more deaths that he wasn't telling her about. "What else?"
"Theon took a knife to the knee," Jon said softly. "He's been waking up screaming from the pain and Wolken thinks we might have to remove his leg from above the knee to save his life. Rhaegal's wing also isn't healing so we're minus a dragon for the fight in the south." Arya didn't ask if they have the numbers to beat Cersei because she was fairly sure that they didn't. She didn't know how Daenerys would take that information. "Get some rest, Arya. If Wolken says it's okay and you won't tear Sansa's stitches you can come to the lighting of the funeral pyres tomorrow."
"How long have we been asleep?" Arya asked.
"Five days," Jon replied. "I'm sending Wolken up in a moment so he can check you and Gendry out. Maybe he can tell us when he's going to wake up." Arya didn't bother to correct her brother with "if" instead of "when" since there was a chance that Gendry might not wake up. He'd dodged death once from massive blood loss; there were no promises that he would make it this time. Arya nodded and settled back into bed as Jon walked out of the room. She gently ran her fingers through Gendry's hair as silent tears fell down her cheeks.
"Time to wake up my stubborn bull," she whispered. "We need to put our home back together."
Gendry woke up a few hours after Arya did and managed to scare the living daylights out of her when he touched her arm. He was smiling a little at her reaction and Arya had to resist hitting him for it. The sun was down and the rest of the castle was sleeping but now they were awake and looking at each other again. Arya's heart clenched as she realized that she was the one who was going to have to tell Gendry about all of the people they lost.
"My arm is killing me and I'm assuming I wouldn't be in pain if I was dead," Gendry said softly and Arya nodded.
"Yeah, we're alive," she whispered. "I thought I lost you. When we were kneeling in the snow I felt you go limp in my arms and it was like the bandits all over again. I don't want to watch you die yet the Gods seem keen to keep putting me in that situation."
"I don't want you to have to watch me die either," Gendry replied as he reached forward with his good arm and ran his thumb along her cheekbone. "But we made it, we made it through another battle, and we'll just keep trying to get through them until the battles stop."
"I don't think they will ever stop," Arya said. She turned her head and pressed a soft kiss to Gendry's wrist. Arya could feel his pulse beneath her lips and it helped settle the anxiety she felt. They were both still in danger of their wounds getting infected but the fact that he was awake at all was a good sign. Wolken mentioned that there were people who were still alive that hadn't woken up from the battle and might not ever. The thought that he might be one of them terrified her. "The selfish part of me wants to ask you to stay here in the north and not go south to fight. I know that Jon and Daenerys would let you if you asked. In fact, they might agree that it would be wise to keep you away from Cersei considering how much she wants your head."
"Would you stay behind?" Gendry asked with a raised eyebrow. He already knew the answer to that question; she couldn't. Cersei was responsible for taking her family away from her and Arya still wanted revenge. She still wanted to be the one to put Needle through that woman's throat in the name of the Stark's the same way she killed Walder Frey. "If they asked me to stay behind and I told them the only way I would is if you stayed as well, would you listen?"
"No," Arya whispered. "No, I want to be there, I need to be there when she dies."
"I told you I would follow you into the Red Keep if I thought revenge would bring you peace. I don't think it will but I will follow you. You can't ask me to stay behind," he said.
"But she'll be looking for you. You and Jon and Daenerys are the ones that she's going to want dead. Her soldiers know what you look like and she's going to want to hurt you for escaping. You're going to be in danger even with the Stark name now and-" Gendry didn't let her keep rambling as he pulled her into a soft kiss. It was distracting and she couldn't stop herself from getting a little lost in it as he slipped his tongue into her mouth. They were both far too hurt to do anything more than this but Arya loved the feeling of his mouth against hers.
"We go together or not at all," Gendry whispered against her lips. "She'll be looking for you too. She'll be looking for anyone so she can use us against each other because that's what she does. I deserve to be in this just as much as you do and you know it." Arya did know it but that didn't mean she was secretly hoping there was some way she could keep him safe. She wouldn't ask him to stay behind again and they settled down into the bed together. "You're avoiding telling me who lived and who died."
"I am," Arya whispered. She told him the good news first, that their family was largely unharmed and that Jon was the who killed the Night King. However, his face shut down a little as she told him about the losses. Gendry was a lot closer to Podrick than she was and seeing the way he had to close his eyes to keep from letting the tears fall was enough for Arya. She didn't hold back as she cried with him and he eventually let the tears fall too.
The funeral pyres would be lit in a few hours and Arya knew that Gendry was going to go against the advice of Wolken and Sam and he was going to be out there in honor of his comrades in arms. She tried not to think about Melisandre and the guilt that she said Gendry was going to carry for the rest of his life. Arya wasn't sure how much she believed in the Old Gods but she silently prayed for strength for both of them.
Wolken and Sam both pitched a fit when they walked into the room and saw that Gendry was awake. They insisted that someone should have grabbed them as soon as it happened but Arya wasn't really listening. She was distracted by the way her family reacted to Gendry waking up and how he reacted to them. Jon walked into the room and immediately pulled Gendry into a hug that was apparently so tight that it hurt Gendry's broken arm. Sansa stormed in and immediately started berating him for staying out to fight when he was clearly extremely hurt and when she was done with her rant she hugged him tightly. Gendry, to his credit, seemed to deal with this about as well as he did everything else; with a bemused expression like he wasn't quite sure what was happening.
Jon sat down and explained to them exactly how he managed to kill the Night King. He told them that Gendry's blood and his made it possible. Sansa glanced at Arya and they both knew that Jon wasn't telling Gendry about why his blood was powerful. He didn't question it but as soon as Jon mentioned it it made sense. He was the son of a prince, a would-be king, the same as Gendry and there was power in king's blood. He also told them, quietly, that Melisandre had vanished after the battle ended and no one knew what had happened to her. Arya hoped that she was dead but she also didn't think they would get that lucky.
Wolken and Sam came back in and both tried to convince Gendry not to go to the funeral because of his leg wound but he insisted. Sansa told him that plenty of people were too injured to attend and there was no shame in it but he wouldn't hear it. Arya knew better than to argue when her husband set his mind to something so she got a crutch and helped him out of the castle. She tried not to look at the damage that was done to the castle but it was hard not to. So many parts were shattered and broken and the snow on the ground still looked as if it was stained red with blood.
As soon as they were out the gates of Winterfell Arya almost wished they hadn't come. All of a sudden people were crowding them, thanking them for keeping everyone in the Great Hall safe, for their sacrifice. Whenever someone said that Gendry would reach for the wound on his arm. Arya wondered just how much everyone knew about what he did to help save them and why he nearly bled out in the snow. There were chairs set up for the wounded. Edmure looked up and gave them both a small smile. He was pale and his leg was in an elaborate splint like Gendry's arm but he was alive. Arya tried to get Gendry to sit but he insisted on standing in honor of the dead.
The pyres really seemed to bring home the reality of how many people they had lost. They were several feet fall and filled with bodies from Northmen to the Unsullied. Jon and Daenerys did their best to give speeches that honored the dead but there was something about it that ran hollow to her. Arya clenched Gendry's good hand and held onto him. She was glad they had won, she was so happy that the people she loved were still here, but they had lost so many. Missandei was shaking as she tried to keep her emotions in check and Brienne looked like she was going to be sick. Jaime pressed his shoulder to hers and it really didn't seem to help.
The gods had spared her family in this battle but there were more to come and she didn't know if they would be lucky again. Her family didn't tend to do well when they went south and there was no avoiding going south now. If Daenerys had any chance of taking King's Landing she needed the north now more than ever. Jon would be on the frontlines and Gendry would follow her wherever she ended up in the battle. If they lost the battle in the south they would all be executed and Cersei would march on Winterfell to make sure that Sansa paid for her insolence with her life.
Gendry squeezed her hand and let her take one of the torches out to light the pyre. She passed by Podrick's pale form and lit the pyre where the Brotherhood lay. It was strange to see men like Beric and Thoros gone after their god had spared them for so many years. Arya couldn't help but wonder if their god had abandoned them or if they had completed what their god wanted them to complete. The Brotherhood killed a White Walker and it was one that helped keep Winterfell from being completely overrun. They were outlaws and thieves but they were good men and, if nothing else, Arya was glad she could honor them nobly for their sacrifice.
There was a feast tonight and as a member of House Stark she should attend but it was the last place she wanted to be. If seeing the bodies was bothering her she knew it was bothering Gendry as well. She hoped that he wasn't blaming himself but she knew he was at least on some level. If not for the lies that Melisandre fed him but the fact that he couldn't get the weapons made fast enough and they needed to fight at Winterfell instead of somewhere else.
"Arya, really, you should go," he said as they slowly made their way up to their room. "Walking out the pyres took a lot out of me and I just want to go to sleep but you should go. The people need to see their princess."
"And what of the knight that forged the very weapons that saved their lives? That gave his blood so they could live?" Arya asked as she closed the door to their room. Gendry might be stubborn but she would win every time. The truth was that she didn't want to go to the feast because Jon told her that tomorrow was the day he would abdicate and she didn't want to be around the people that could try to take his life or his crown. Right now she wanted to be with someone that she could trust and that was Gendry.
It took some work to pull off their layers without making their wounds worse and Gendry was pale and sweating by the time he got back into bed. Arya wanted to tell him about Jon but he was asleep within moments of his head hitting the pillow. She watched him sleep for a long time until her eyes hurt and the exhaustion of the day won out in the end. Arya slept and tried not to think about the blood soaking into the dirt just outside these walls.