Gendry

'Who was she?'

Gendry felt her wrench away from him, and his mind spun in confusion, exploding with a million questions because 'Arry' was certainly no boy. So why was a little girl dressed up as a boy? And why had Yoren lied to him? And why did she look so utterly terrified of him?

Her eyes were gray and round, and Gendry realized that there was something about her. Something familiar. 'Should I know her?' She seemed to know him. Or maybe she was just frightened? It wasn't uncommon for people to be frightened of him. Gendry had walked down the streets more than once and had girls button their coats tight or people lock their cars. He was huge for his age, all muscle, and the fact that he couldn't afford to buy decent clothes didn't help. The only jacket he had was leather, and for some reason that made him a criminal.

He smiled at the girl, trying to let her know that it was fine, that he was not a threat, but that seemed to back it worse. She gasped and stumbled backwards, looking horrified.

"Stay away from me!" She cried, and Gendry blinked, astounded.

"I'm sorry I-"

"Just fuck off!" She shouted, and then she bolted, disappearing into the crowd.

"Jumpy little twat that one," one of the kids that had been terrorizing her said. The idiot with the green hands. "But I liked the look of that blade."

"We could pinch it," the fat kid said. "You've pinched loads of stuff before."

"Oh yeah," the other boy said cockily. "I even robbed me a bank."

"Not successfully," Gendry snapped, snorting with laughter as he took a look at the boys dyed hands. "The dye bag get you, kid? It must have been pretty easy to find you. Yoren probably didn't even have to look. I can see your hands for a mile."

The kid with the green hands face went beet red.

"You just leave him alone, all right?" Gendry demanded, pointing after where the girl had disappeared.

"What's it to you, Bull?" The boy said, crossing his arms over his chest. Gendry raised his eyebrows and then sighed. The damn helmet. He might have guessed.

If there was one thing he was bitterly regretting leaving behind, it was his motorcycle. It had been like his child. He had molded it from scrapings, nurtured it, worked with it, and it had turned out to be so fine. He had even fashioned the handle bars to look like bull horns, just for fun. And for added effect, he had made a bull sticker to go on his helmet. For some reason, he just couldn't leave the damn helmet behind.

"Making nicknames are we?" Gendry asked, thoroughly unimpressed.

"Mine's Hot Pie," the fat kid said proudly.

"Why am I not surprised?" Gendry said drily. "And what's yours? Greenhands?"

The blonde kid scowled.

"The short kid's name is Lumpyhead," he said with a leer, as if daring Gendry to challenge it. Gendry raised his eyebrows.

"Give him nicknames all you like," he said, "but if I see you fucking around with him, you better bet I'll be there."

"Oh yeah, and what are you going to do?" Greenhands said smugly. 'This kid's the stupidest person I've ever met.'

"I'll beat your ass," Gendry said darkly. "And I'll wipe that smug little smirk off your face."

He didn't have to. The smirk slid off of Greenhands face faster than melting butter on toast. 'That's right. Look terrified, you little shit.'

"Why do you care so much about him anyway?" Hot Pie demanded suspiciously. "Are you in love with him or something?"

"Ask me that again, kid, and I'll make you squeal so loud, your mum will hear it all the way back in her pig pen," Gendry snarled, and with that he turned and left.

"Don't you say that about my mother!" Hot Pie yelled after him, but Gendry ignored him completely. Let him whine. He had more important matters to attend to, like why Arry was not an orphan boy, but a girl.

He found Yoren by the bus, dealing with some sort of situation. There was a squad car, with bars in the windows, that apparently was holding three other guys going to the wall. They must have been scary as shit, because Gendry had gotten an eye full of some of the guys that were not in the squad car, and they were hardly someone anyone would take their daughter out to dinner with. The Night's Watch was supposed to be a police force, but Gendry thought it was a sad day when a police force took in rapists and thugs.

"What do you want?" Yoren grumbled, looking up from his list of names.

"What the fuck's going on?" Gendry demanded in a low hiss so that no one would hear them. The girl stood a few paces off, kicking dirt with her toe.

"What do you mean?" Yoren snapped. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific-"

"Why the fuck is Arry the orphan boy a girl?" Gendry snarled, cutting across Yoren and right to the chase. Yoren didn't look surprised. He merely went back to his list.

"I thought I told you not to ask questions," Yoren said.

"Yeah, well sorry to bother you, but I think this is a pretty important turn of events," Gendry seethed through gritted teeth. Yoren's head snapped up and he glared.

"Listen boy," he snarled so fiercely Gendry stumbled backwards, "there are things that are going on that you can't begin to know about. Things that are so out of your ball park that you couldn't even try to play."

"I don't know if you know this," Gendry said in a low voice, "but I wasn't kidding when I said I was done with you being so fucking mysterious. What have you gotten me into?"

"The less you know, the safer you are," Yoren said, and Gendry blinked in surprise to see how serious he was. "Do yourself a favor. If you want to stay alive, don't ask questions."

Gendry took a few steps back, shocked.

"You said this was going to be an easy job-"

"It is easy," Yoren snapped. "If you keep your damned, stubborn mouth shut."

"I didn't have a choice," Gendry growled, feeling rage bubbling up in the pit of his stomach. "I never asked-"

"ENOUGH!" Yoren roared so loud that everyone jumped and the entire group went silent, staring at them. Gendry shot a look at the girl and saw that she was staring at him, frightened... And wary. 'Where do I know her from?'

"All right you sorry sons of whores!" Yoren shouted. "It's time for role call and then our little road trip can begin! Gendry Waters!"

"Yoren you know I'm here-"

"DO WE HAVE A GENDRY WATERS?"

"PRESENT!" Gendry shouted. "I'm fucking present all right?"

"And deaf, apparently," Yoren said, drawing a few chuckles from the crowd. Gendry felt his face flush with humiliation. "Arry?"

"Here," the girl said sullenly, her head bent.

"Lumpyhead," Greenhands called out, and Hot Pie sniggered. They were so lame it almost hurt.

"Well don't just stand there waiting for the grass to grow!" Yoren barked. "Get in the bus!"

Scowling, Gendry spit on the ground and then stalked off to the bus, the girl in toe. He had never been more furious in his life. What was Yoren playing at? Lying about who the girl was, and saying she was a boy? And why wouldn't he tell Gendry the lie? Yoren had gone to a lot of trouble to get Gendry to step on that bus, but why? What the fuck was going on?

The girl took a seat towards the back, so Gendry took one a row back and across the aisle. That way he could watch her, but she couldn't watch him without being obvious. It made his skin crawl a bit, to be watching her. But that was what he was supposed to be doing, right? Making sure she was okay?

Soon the bus filled up with all sorts of lowlifes. Greenhands and Hot Pie took the seat right behind her, and Gendry had a bad feeling that they were going to cause some trouble. This made him feel like he was going from stalker to babysitter. Did Yoren hire him just to ward off bullies? "There's big money in this." He had said. So that couldn't be it.

Maybe Yoren didn't want her to get raped. There were plenty rapists on the bus. One was even sitting behind him and it was making his skin crawl. If this was Yoren's fear, it was a pretty valid one. She was small, tiny, and now that Gendry looked at her... she wasn't a little kid at all. Her face was older, serious. She had to be about fifteen or fourteen, sixteen if he was really stretching it. If one of those perverts caught even a whiff of her, they'd take full advantage. Gendry vowed he wouldn't let that happen.

The bus ride was quiet for him. He popped in his music and turned it on low, his helmet sitting next to him on the seat. It was a stupid thing to bring, but it was here now, and he was strangely glad of it. He watched the girl, who also listened to her iPod and stared out the window, detached and apparently lost in thought. Ever so often she'd turn to look at him, and then he'd turn away and pretend to be looking out the window as well.

It was after three when the ruckus started. After a thoroughly disgusting lunch at a roadside grill, they had all piled back in the bus, taking their old seats. The perverts in the back of the bus seemed to be doing something, probably drugs, and instead of being quiet like they had all morning, they began to laugh loudly and swap stories Gendry would rather not hear. It was getting to the girl, he could tell. She got out her knife again and wrung her hands around it, the blade still tucked away.

"Oooh look!" Hot Pie said, getting up and leaning over her seat. "Lumpyhead's got out his knife again."

"Let's have it," Greenhands said, catching on and getting up as well, making to swipe the blade.

"Leave off!" The girl snarled, wrenching away. "Leave me alone."

"Aww we've made Lumpyface sad," Hot pie crooned, and Gendry saw something flash across the girl's face. 'Trouble,' he thought.

"Lumpyhead," Greenhands corrected.

"Give it here!" Hot Pie snapped, growing impatient. He slammed the girl's head down and tried to grab the blade. He wrenched it away from her.

A mistake.

Before Gendry could even come to her rescue, the girl was leaping up, screaming, and dove over the seat, clamping her hands around Hot Pie's throat. He screamed as well as they toppled into the aisle, the girl's fingers clenched tight. He started gurgling and screaming, thrashing about, and she released his throat, only to punch him in the face.

"Behind you!" Gendry shouted, leaping to his feet as well as Greenhands leapt down on top of her. She whirled around just in time and punched Greenhands in the face as well. Gendry dashed forward and grabbed Greenhands around the middle and yanked him back as the girl turned back to Hot Pie and began to beat him as he screamed.

"GIVE. IT. BACK!" She roared, kneeing him in the balls. There was a sickening crunch as Hot Pie shrieked in pain.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Yoren shouted from his place at the front window. "STOP THAT!"

He threw a murderous look at Gendry, who was trying his best to pull the girl off of Hot Pie and keep Greenhands at bay at the same time. It was proving impossible as Greenhands kept running for her, shouting all sorts of stupid threats. Having enough, Gendry turned around and punched him, knocking him out.

"Take it!" Hot Pie was crying. "I don't want it! Take it! Take it!"

But by now it almost looked like the girl had forgotten her knife. She was beating Hot Pie wildly, screaming, and when Gendry finally pulled her off him, kicking and shouting, he saw, to his shock, tears running down her face.

The bus pulled to a screeching halt and Yoren wrenched up, marching down the aisle and grabbing the girl from Gendry. He threw Gendry a thoroughly dissatisfied look before marching the girl outside, turning and saying, "see to the fat kid."

Hot Pie was whimpering.

"I thought I told you to leave him alone," Gendry said, heaving him to his feet.

"I will," Hot Pie whimpered, tears of his own running down his face. "I'll never insult him again I swear!"

"Good to know," Gendry said, helping him so that he could lie on one of the seats. "Let that be a lesson."

He straightened up to see Yoren and the girl arguing outside the bus. Yoren slapped her across the face and she glared at him, but she did not attack him like she did Hot Pie, and when she got back on the bus, the tears were gone.

'Who are you?' Gendry thought again. 'Who are you?'

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