I would have uploaded this earlier if it wasn't for the internet being annoying. X(

Gendry

'That's it, I'm fucked.'

Gendry looked from the Mountain, whose expression was completely unreadable, his eyes like two black coals under the thick of his eyebrows, to Arya. If the Mountain's eyes were unreadable, Arya's were an open book. Wide, alarmed, and stunned. She completely believed it, every word. And if Arya believed it...

"What do you know?" the Mountain demanded, handing a shocked Arya to Chiswyke and striding over to him. Looking up at him was almost like being swallowed alive, Gendry mused.

"Let her go first," Gendry said. "Or I won't say anything. You can break every bone in my body and I won't talk."

There was a swelling moment of silence...

"Let her go," the Mountain barked.

"But-"

"LET HER GO!" He screamed with such violence that Arya gave a little scream herself. "Or I'll drag your sorry ass of into the forest and shoot you through the fucking head!"

Chiswyke dropped Arya's arm.

"What. Do. You. Know?"

'Absolutely fucking nothing.' Gendry could really punch himself in the face for being so stupid, but what was he supposed to have done? He couldn't have let them hurt her. He couldn't. When he saw Chiswyke put his hands on her...

But now what was he supposed to do? He had about fifteen seconds to spill all about something he had no fucking clue about or they were going to hurt Arya, and kill him too. His heart began to beat uncontrollably. What had he done? 'You fucking stupid!' This would make it worse! This would make it so much worse...

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?"

"Tell us or she gets it," Chiswyke said hastily, snatching Arya again. Arya stared at him with horrified eyes. She was trying to look brave, to be brave, he could tell. Her face was the perfect picture of defiance... But it was all a sham, because her eyes betrayed her. He had to do something. He had too.

"Just let her go," Gendry said, and Chiswyke did what he was told, looking disgruntled. Gendry cleared his throat, his mind racing. "I'll... I'll tell you everything... I'll..."

"You're lying."

Ice stabbed Gendry, turning his sweat cold and his body numb.

"You're lying," the Mountain said slowly. "You're-"

"What's going on here?"

Everybody jumped, and then Gendry gasped aloud, because the last person he expected on the planet to ever show up at a time like this was Tywin Lannister. But there he was, beige suit and all, glaring at the Mountain with such a white, pure look of fury that would send Gendry running. But the Mountain was the Mountain, and his hand remained firmly on Gendry's shoulder.

"Shouldn't you be at Harrenhal by now?" Tywin demanded, glaring disapprovingly at them all.

"I- Sir, we... We weren't expecting you for three days," Chiswyke sputtered, terrified. Tywin closed his eyes.

"I decided to come early," he said, as if he really shouldn't be explaining all this. "I was just driving to Harrenhal when I saw the bus pulled off onto this dirt road, when it should be on its way to Harrenhal."

"Piece of shit broke down," the Mountain grunted.

"It's true!" Chiswyke said quickly. "It wouldn't move another inch. We had to stop, and it was getting dark..."

"So you decided to camp out here for the night," Tywin said, and Gendry could tell that he was feeling the height of irritation. "What about this? Hmmm? What are you doing with this boy."

"He said he knew something about the Brotherhood, but he was lying," the Mountain said darkly. "Seems to me there's nothing left but to shoot him."

"Shoot him?" Tywin gave Gendry a long, searching look. "That would be a waste, I think. For example, how would we know why he's been lying if we shot him?"

The Mountain didn't seem to have an answer.

"Why were you lying?" Tywin Lannister demanded. Gendry gulped, his throat dry. Words were piling up in his head, but they weren't coming out of his mouth...

"I didn't want them to touch her," he said in a rush. "I... I didn't want them to hurt her."

Tywin Lannister stared at him for a long, painful moment. Gendry held his breath, his heart hammering and his broken arm tingling oddly. There was a very real possibility that Tywin Lannister would spit in his face. Would call him a stupid cunt, maybe not unjustly, and then order the Mountain to get on with it. Shot him in the head. Hurt Arya. The moment seemed to drag on and on forever...

"Do you mean to tell me that you intended to hurt this girl?" Tywin Lannister said in a low voice.

Gendry held his breath as Chiswyke sputtered and tripped over his words, guilty.

"I... Uh... We... She... She asked for it!" He retched out, white as sleet. Tywn eyed him coldly.

"How old are you, girl?" He demanded of Arya.

"Six-Seventeen," she said in a shaky voice.

"Seventeen," Tywin said, closing his eyes for a moment before he opened them again, livid. "Do you mean to tell me that a seventeen-year-old girl, who is looking terrified at the moment, I might add, asked to be taken into the woods to be deflowered by you?"

Chiswyke had no response for that.

"Idiots," Tywin said, disgusted. He turned to Gendry. "What's your name?"

Gendry gulped. He remembered, in a flash, that Cersei, Tywin's daughter, had been looking for him. It would be unwise to say his real name.

"Umm... Uhh..." He searched desperately. "Robert."

"Robert?" Something in Tywin's eyes said he wasn't convinced. "And what is it that you do, Robert?"

"I'm... I'm a mechanic."

Tywn Lannister gave a long, slow in take of breath.

"Is anyone else here a mechanic?" He asked, turning to the group at large. No one raised their hands or stepped forward. There was a swelling, crackling silence as Tywin slowly turned to the Mountain.

"Do you mean to tell me," he said, getting very red in the face, "that your bus breaks down, and you decide to shoot the only person who can fix it?"

There was a pause.

"Didn't know he was a mechanic, did I?" The Mountain finally replied.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Tywin said with a sigh. He shook his head. "Well, I certainly didn't hire you for your brains, did I?"

No one seemed to have a response for that.

"Let go of the poor girl," Tywin snapped at Chiswyke. Reluctantly, he released Arya, who wrenched away from him rubbed her arm. "And don't put your hands on her again. Not after her poor boyfriend's gone to so much trouble."

"He is not my boyfriend!"

"Can you fix that bus?" Tywn asked Gendry, ignoring Arya completely.

"I could," Gendry said, "but my arm's sort of broken."

Tywin gave another loud sigh.

"All right," he said. "You, come with me. I'll see that you get medical attention. We'll be needing your mechanical eye at Harrenhal."

"No," Gendry said at once. "Not without her."

Tywin shook his head.

"Sorry," he said, "but the girl stays. You'll see her at Harrenhal soon enough."

"I can't leave her," Gendry said at once as Tywin snapped his fingers and a man, not one from the Mountain's party, came forward and helped him to his feet. "I'm sorry but I can't. I promised-"

"No harm will come to her," Tywin vowed. "You have my word. I'll even leave one of my men to stay at her side and make sure she's untouched."

Gendry looked at Arya, who looked just as distressed as he did. He couldn't leave her. He didn't trust Tywin, even if he just saved his life. Lannisters were after him, and they were dangerous. Tywin might say he'd protect Arya, but would he really do it? It seemed likely, but then again...

"Look," Tywin said, as if reading his mind, "this isn't up for debate. Either you come quietly, or we'll have to use force. I'd prefer quietly myself."

Gendry threw Arya a wretched look.

"Go," she said. "I'll be all right, honestly."

She didn't look all right, though. She looked exhausted and alone and she was sad, Gendry could see, terribly sad. He didn't want to leave her in the lion's jaws.

"I'll give you a moment alone," Tywin relented. "But then I'm taking you to get that arm fixed."

They all turned and left, the Mountain, Chiswyke, all of them. It was getting hard to see, but Gendry could tell that Arya was shivering. She was looking at him too, he could tell. He lifted his head to look at her.

"You didn't know anything, did you?" She said, shifting from foot to foot. "About the Brotherhood?"

Gendry sighed.

"No."

"You idiot!" She shrieked, marching over to him and punching him, her small fists surprisingly sharp. "You could have been killed! They were going to KILL YOU!"

"Oww!" Gendry cried, trying to block her furious punches. "GET OFF!"

"You bloody idiot!" Arya shouted, and he could see in the moonlight that tears were streaming down her face. "You are honestly the stupidest person I have ever met!"

"OWW!" Gendry roared. "THAT'S MY ARM YOU HIT!"

She stopped hitting him, but she was still glaring at him.

"What would ever possess you to do something so stupid?" She demanded.

"I couldn't-they were going to-You were stupid too!" Gendry shouted back, feeling frustrated as well. "You were the one who walked into Chiswyke!"

She had no response for this.

"Look," Gendry snapped. "I've got to go."

"Fine," she said, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "Go. I don't want you here anyway."

"Good," Gendry snapped, pushing past her and making his way to leave, when he remembered something. He turned around and strode back to her, fishing around in his pocket.

"What are you-"

"Here," he said, shoving it in her hand. "Happy birthday Arya."

Then he turned and left. Left her standing there, in bewilderment, tears still sticking to her face, darkness swallowing her up, her fingers clutching his present to her. The last thing he had made before Yoren came with his little proposition. The necklace with the head of a bull.

I always felt like Twyin Lannister was really Scar.

I'd love to hear your thoughts... But I'm afraid you all hate this