Arya
'Who was he?'
"Him?" Yoren had grunted when she asked. "Nobody. What are you worried about him for?"
"He knows me," Arya insisted in a low voice. "I saw him, a few nights ago. He was at Robert Baratheon's boxing match. Yoren, he knows me."
Yoren gave her a long look.
"Never you mind about him," he said gruffly. "Might be he knows you, might be he doesn't. Besides, you look different now. Don't look like some dolled up mob daughter now, do you?"
"I never looked like that!" Arya had protested, but she had, that night when she had watched him. Perhaps he didn't recognize her. She chewed her lip and threw a look back over at him where he argued with the two idiots that had been bothering her. Perhaps... But it seemed unlikely.
He was watching her, she knew. He was bad at it too, she found out. Every time she looked at him, he would look intently out the window. But why was he watching her? What was he doing here? His presence set her teeth on edge. She needed to be careful. She didn't care what Yoren said, if she thought he was a threat, she'd have to settle things with Needle. If she could. He was huge and she was tiny. He could probably snap her arm like a twig.
The thought did not console her.
But he seemed to be... Helping her... Almost. It was strange. When she attacked the fat kid, Hot Pie they called him, the boy with the black hair, the Bull, had shouted for her to look out. He had also punched Greenhands so hard he had been knocked out cold. Was he trying to help her? But why would he be trying to help her?
Yoren knew, she was certain. But would he tell her? No.
"You bloody idiot!" He had shouted at her after he marched her off the bus. "I thought I told you to lay low!"
"They were bothering me," she said with a shrug. She got a slap for that. Her face still hurt and was probably bruised. Damn Yoren. Why did he have to be so fucking mysterious? She walked back onto the bus sullenly, but she did not cause any more trouble. If Yoren wanted her to lay low, then damn it she would.
It was their third day on the road, and still the Bull watched her. He even tried to talk to her once or twice, but she didn't answer him. She stayed close to Yoren, just in case. She was not about to trust anyone, especially not someone as suspicious as he was. He was probably a rapist like so many others on the bus.
Hot Pie was still whimpering, the pussy. He stayed as far away from her as possible.
"He's scared of you," the Bull had told her, but Arya bluntly ignored him. After that he left her alone.
He was alone too, she realized. He kept to himself, often times carrying around the helmet with the bull sticker on it. He was a mechanic, not a rapist, she learned. A mechanic who had a taste for illegal fighting, but she dared not say anything. She should not know that part about his life, and she was not about to go advertising it. After her little brawl with Hot Pie, she was determined not to draw any attention to her.
The sun was starting to go down when Yoren pulled the bus into the parking lot of a very run down looking hostel. Strictly male only, the sign read. Arya couldn't help but grin. There was always a certain something about breaking rules that she liked.
They all filed out of the bus and Arya sighed, content. It would be nice, to finally sleep in a bed instead of a tent or the seat of the bus. Her back ached along with her neck and she smelled like an old sweaty sock. She couldn't wait for a bath, or to take the thick binding off her breasts. Even if she didn't have any, what was being constrained certainly felt constrained. She just wanted a nice, hot shower where she could wash off and be a girl for three minutes.
"Communal showers," Yoren barked to the group, giving Arya a pointed look and she groaned inwardly. No showers for her.
She followed Yoren inside, and watched as the Bull, Greenhands and Hot Pie went off to the showers along with the rest of the men. That left her with Yoren, who went to the sitting room of the hostel and asked for a drink. He got her one as well and they sat down along with the other men, young and old who were crowded around a broken-down radio and television with a flickering screen.
"More violence north," an old man snorted, taking a swig of his sherry. "Does it ever stop?"
"I hear that Robb Stark has some sort of rabid dog with him," a younger man said, eyes wide.
It's a husky you idiot. And it's not rabid either.
Arya took a long swig of her drink. Flat beer. She made a face.
"I wish they would just leave it alone," another old man said. "Starks, Baratheons, Lannisters, the lot of them. Enough violence. Haven't we all suffered enough?"
"They wouldn't stop, not when it pads their wallets so much," another man said with a grunt. "Robb Stark's so rich, he shits money."
Disgusting or not, Arya took huge gulps of her drink to avoid saying anything.
"I heard the dog ripped out a babies throat-"
"That's a lie."
It was out of her mouth before she could stop it.
"What did you just say?" the old man demanded, glaring at Arya through thick eyebrows. She glared back.
"I said: that's a lie," she said in a low, steady voice. "Robb Stark would never allow that to happen. He's a good person."
"Know him personally, do you?" the old man snorted, chuckling.
"Oh yeah, has dinner with his family every night," Yoren cut in sharply, his glare murderous. I'm really in trouble now. "Why don't you shut your filthy, lying mouth boy? No one wants to hear what you have to say."
Arya stood abruptly, having had enough. She slammed her drink down and whirled on her heel, stalking out of the sitting room and into the growing dark. It was nippy outside, but there was a certain humidity in the air. She sighed, feeling strangled. She picked up a stick and began hacking at the air with it.
"Boy, lovely boy."
Arya jumped and whirled around to see that they had left the window the squad car slightly cracked, though the bars were still there. Warily, she approached the car to see a man looking at her. Older, in his thirties perhaps, but good looking with a shock of white in his hair.
"Could a lovely boy get a man a drink?" He asked in a broken accent. "A man has a thirst."
"Oi you little shit! Get us some beer!" A voice roared from within the car.
"No," Arya said with a snap. "Even if you asked nicely I wouldn't. You wouldn't be able to drink it with the bars and all."
"My apologies," the man with the accent said. "A man cannot chose his companions. A boy will forgive him."
Arya raised an eyebrow.
"Get us beer or I'll shove that stick up your ass and fuck you with it!" The other voice roared again, and then an ugly face was replacing the man with the accent, his hands gripping on the edge of the window.
In a fit of madness, Arya reached out and slammed her stick against the ugly man's fingers. He howled and swore, and she hit him again.
"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" The ugly faced man screamed.
"What's going on here?"
Arya spun around to see the Bull standing behind her, his face crumpled in a curious expression. His hair was wet and hanging in his eyes, and his face freshly shaven. He looked a lot less imposing in the dark, strangely.
"Yoren said not to talk to this lot," he said, frowning.
"I don't care what Yoren says," Arya snapped, folding her arms across her chest. "They don't scare me!"
"Then you're stupid," the Bull said with a bit of a chuckle. "They scare me."
He jerked his head towards the hostel and Arya followed him reluctantly for a few feet before she stopped. He stopped too and turned around, his look questioning.
"You're watching me," Arya said. It was an accusation, not a question.
The Bull looked stupid, stunned, his mouth hanging open in a very unattractive gape. She couldn't help but sneer.
"I don't know what you're talking about-"
"Yes you do," Arya cut across him. "Why? Why are you watching me?"
He looked like he was going to reply, but then something else passed over his face. Confusion... And almost fear. He was looking up the road behind her.
"Lannisters," he said with a frown, and Arya whipped around, her heart seizing in her chest. There was no denying the lion on the car that was coming up the road. The headlights were glaring right in her face...
"Quick!" She hissed, grabbing him by the hand and yanking him towards some thick bushes.
"What are you doing?" He asked as she pulled him behind the bushes with her and out of sight. They sat crouched, Arya's heart pounding in her chest.
"Shut up!" She snarled, and he complied.
The car pulled up, agonizingly slowly, and then stopped. The lights did not turn off. Arya held her breath, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Unconsciously she squeezed the Bull's fingers, the pounding of her heart flooding in her ears. She only realized that she was still holding his hand when he squeezed her fingers back.
"What's going on?" His voice whispered in her ear. He smelled like soap and aftershave. "Why do the Lannisters scare you?"
"NOOOOO!" It was as though Sansa's shriek of pain and horror was ripped from Arya's lips. Arya would have screamed. She would have. In fact she was screaming. The shrieks in her head were enough to turn her deaf.
"NO PLEASE!" Sansa screamed, and someone ran forward to restrain her as she rushed towards Joffrey, tears running down her face already. "YOU SAID! YOU PROMISED! PLEASE!"
Joffrey ignored her.
"I believe," he said, and his voice sounded cold and... Smug. "That an executioner is in order. Illyn, if you would be so good."
She turned to look at the Bull, and for a second, a split second, she wondered what it would like to tell him.
His blood spilled like rain, and when I saw his dead face... He wasn't even my father any more. Death had taken everything from him.
"Shut up," she said, turning back to the car, which was turning off. The doors were opening...
Yoren stepped out of the hostel, his hand on the belt of his pants. Behind him trailed the newly clean members of the Night's Watch. Hot Pie and Greenhands were even there too, looking wary like the rest of the crowd. A man in a white suit stepped forward.
"What's your business here?" Yoren demanded.
"Maybe I'm looking for a place to rest, same as you," the man in the white suit said, and Arya could tell he was trying to be smart. He was failing miserably.
"Not a Lannister man," Yoren snapped. "You lot would never rest in a place like this. You'd rather shag your brothers. Oh wait..."
Laughter rippled from the men and the man in the white suit turned beat red.
"I could kill you for saying that," he snarled, and the smirk was wiped clean off his face. Arya dug her fingers into the Bull's hand.
"You could, but you won't," Yoren sighed, not threatened in the least. "I'm the only one that could help you finding what you want. What is it that you want again? You seem to have neglected to tell me."
More laughter. Arya's heart pounded so hard it would surely break. 'Me,' she thought, 'they want me. Oh gods.'
The Lannister man looked angry.
"We're looking for a boy," he spat. "A young man, to be exact."
"Sorry," Yoren said with a very unsympathetic shrug. "I couldn't give two shits as to what you want. These men are member's of the Night's Watch now. You can't touch them."
The Lannister man reached in his pocket and pulled something out. A knife.
"I'm sorry," he said, flicking out the blade, "but when I ask a question, I expect to get some answers."
"And I'm sorry," Yoren said, reaching behind his back and pulling out a gun so fast that Arya might have missed it if she blinked, "but this is my answer."
He pointed the gun straight at the man's crotch and grinned.
"Now," Yoren said, taking a step forward, "I know you don't know me, and I don't know you, but, if I were you, I'd believe me when I say I'm a good shot. I could shoot off your balls in one clean shot, and I'd do it too, if you continue to be an annoying little shit. So, my advice is to turn around and get back in your nice little car, and you can tell Cersei Lannister to go fuck herself because what she's looking for isn't here. Got that? Or do I have to repeat myself?"
There was a huge swelling silence. Arya held her breath...
"Fine," the man snarled, apparently not about to lose his prized testicles. "But you can bet that I'll be back old man, and I won't be alone next time."
"Just get back in the fucking car, no one cares about your threats," Yoren snapped, sounding bored. The man seethed.
"I'm looking for a boy named Gendry!" He shouted at the crowd. "Whoever turns him in will be richer than you've ever fucking imagined!"
With that he high tailed his way back to the car and speed off, tires screeching when Yoren shot a few bullets at the road behind him. He was gone in a matter of seconds, but his words hung in the air like they were holding their breath...
This time, it was the Bull that gripped Arya's fingers. Because it wasn't Arya they were looking for... It was him. Gendry Waters.
'Who are you?' She wondered.
Apologies for how canon this chapter is. The thing about this story, I think, is that you think you know what's going to happen, and you'll be reading it and be thinking 'oh this is so predictable, I know where this is going.' Trust me, you don't. ;)