Sorry guys for the gap in updating! School just started up again for me, and I'm incredibly busy!

Arya

"We have to take Hot Pie," Gendry hissed softly as they sat crouched between two cars in the garage, voices hushed. Arya glared. He had been pushing this for days now, and she was seriously considering just leaving without him. But... Well she needed him, didn't she? She might have been able to handle herself just fine, Arya knew that, but she also knew that there was strength in numbers, and it didn't hurt if the numbers included a good deal of muscle too.

"Why?" She snapped irritably. "He'll just slow us down."

"I know," he whispered back, "but he's... He's part of the team. We can't leave him."

"The team?" Arya said with a raised eyebrow. "What team?"

"Well," Gendry said, looking a bit thrown, "there's you and me..."

Arya felt her cheeks flare unexpectedly and her heart soared, jumping against her chest violently.

"We are not a team," she snarled under her breath.

"Then why did you invite me along?" Gendry demanded in low tones. "Ever since you've been irritated with me."

"That's because you're irritating," Arya said with a snap. "I invited you along because there's strength in numbers, that's why. And besides, do you want to end up on the wrong end of the pier?"

Gendry shook his head gravely.

"Also," Arya said, pushing her hair out of her eyes with an annoyed huff, "I knew you'd want to tag along anyway, wouldn't you? You and your stupid job."

"Oh," Gendry said, and to Arya's surprise he looked almost a bit wounded. "Right."

Arya blinked, frowning slightly. There was a feeling of guilt that jabbed at her stomach that she didn't like. Why should she feel guilty? She'd done nothing wrong.

"Hot Pie is a no go," she said firmly.

"If he doesn't go, then I don't go," Gendry snarled, bypassing hurt and instead displaying that stupid look of stubbornness on his face. Arya scowled. Stupid bull boy. Now she was really tempted to leave him behind.

"Fine," she relented angrily. "He can come, but if he slows us down, we're leaving him behind."

She pulled herself to her feet before he could argue, and then brushed herself off. They only had five minutes to talk everyday, during Arya's bathroom breaks. She had to go, so as not to arouse Tywin's suspicion. She made sure, however, to show publicly that she still greatly disliked Gendry. It wasn't all that difficult.

A Man was. She didn't know his name, but he always referred to himself as 'A Man' in broken English, and so that was what she had called him, in her head anyway. She hadn't spoken to him since that night before the match, and now every time she saw him... He was like a ghost. There one minute, gone the next. A shadow. How did one catch a shadow?

The winds were harsh, and they seemed to scream and cry as they railed against and tangled through the creaking old rides. Harrenhal had transformed since she'd been there, but, no matter what Tywin did... It would never be a beautiful amusement park. You just could make ugly things beautiful using ugliness.

"You're late," Tywin said when she came in. "And you didn't go to the bathroom. You went to the garage."

Arya stopped and looked at him, but he didn't glance up from his morning paper. She wondered if that should frighten her more.

"There are some things I had to discuss with him," she said flatly, looking straight at Tywin's eyes, cast downwards. 'He knows I'm watching,' she thought as she watched his eyes cease to move about the page. 'He knows I'm not afraid.'

Tywin's eyes were cold and searing, but they were also impressed, in spite of themselves.

"Yes," he said smoothly, setting down his paper and folding it neatly. "I would hope so. After that little indiscretion in the ring."

"He looked after me," Arya said plainly, her eyes never leaving Tywin's. "I owe him a great deal."

"But just how much?" Tywin asked, and she knew that this was not a light question. He was testing her.

"An explanation," she said shortly. "About what happened in the ring."

"What did happen in the ring?" Tywin pressed coldly.

"Nothing," Arya said, her heart beating wildly, and yet she remained completely calm. Tywin's eyes flashed.

"Is that what you told him?" He asked casually, reaching for his cup of coffee and then taking a sip.

There was a pause and she knew. She knew what he was asking. Somehow, in the only way that Tywin could, he had found her out. No, if he had found her out, he wouldn't be asking. He suspected. He suspected that they were planning to run away. He was asking her if they were planning something.

"Yes," Arya said. "That's what I told him."

Tywin gave her a long, hard look. She did not flinch. She did not look away.

"Do you know what happens when the tide goes down?" He asked her casually, and Arya felt her stomach twist.

"Yes," she said, her voice cracking slightly. "It rises again."

There was a pause, and then Tywin shifted and laughed. He chuckled, but it wasn't really a chuckle. It was cold and mirthless. 'He doesn't find me amusing in the least,' Arya knew, 'but I'm clever, and I'm not afraid of him, and he likes that.' She swallowed hard.

"Go finish your work," he said firmly. "But next time you need to go to the bathroom, don't make a detour to the garage. I'll be watching, Nymeria."

Arya felt ice rush down her spine, and for the rest of the day, she remained firmly at her desk and did not move.

Tywin's orders to stay away from Gendry would prove annoying, and a bit of a set back, but she was confident that they could go about their plan anyway. She didn't need to go to the garage to communicate with him. She'd already anticipated this reaction from Tywin. She knew he wasn't stupid, but she also knew he wasn't God. There were ways to even cheat his system, and she was going to do it. She wasn't going to end up with cement tied around her ankles.

"But how?" Gendry had asked her a few days ago when they sat hidden behind the carousal, one of their meeting places.

"The sewers," Arya had said with conviction. It was the only thing Tywin hadn't made sure to block off. "We go down in a manhole and we follow the flow of water until it runs out into the Trident, the river on the opposite side of the city."

"What's so special about the Trident?" Gendry wanted to know, his face curling at the idea of spending possible days in the city's sewers.

"It's where Robb is," Arya whispered in a hushed voice. "I listened in on one of Tywin's private calls. That's where Robb is currently hiding out, at Riverrun. If we get to him, he'll keep us safe."

"If Tywin knows where he is, then why hasn't he gone after him?" Gendry wanted to know.

"It's too dangerous," Arya said, feeling a sense of smugness tickle at the pit of her stomach. "He knows he'd be dead in a minute if he went anywhere near the Trident. It's only a matter of time before Robb moves this way, and when he does, Tywin better run."

Gendry frowned and gave her a queer look.

"What is there for me in Riverrun?" He had asked gruffly, picking at the bit of paint on the back of the carousal.

"I don't know," Arya had snapped. "Your big fat paycheck?"

He hadn't said anything, or even looked at her, but Arya had seen his eyes flash a furious color and the muscles in his jaw had jumped. 'But he agreed to go all the same', Arya reminded herself now, 'sewers and everything.'

Why was she being so awful to him anyway? Maybe it was because that was what she did. She was mean to people. Maybe that's why Pia and all the rest would look at her with disgusted eyes. 'I didn't use to be like this,' Arya thought to herself as she filed some paper for Tywin. 'I used to have plenty of friends.' She tried to remember them, but their faces all blurred together in her mind until they flickered into her fathers. She slammed the filing cabinet shut, her hands suddenly shaking.

"I am seriously loosing it," she mumbled under her breath. She needed to get out of there. And fast.

As Tywin signaled closing time, she slipped out of the office quickly, avoiding him, and then started down the pier towards the fun house. Ygritte and the others would still be working, but she didn't mind being alone. It helped her to plan.

Just as she was about to enter the fun house, out of no where a hand shot out and grabbed her, spinning her out of sight and slamming her against the side of the fun house. Her scream was crushed silence by a hand covering her mouth. A Man's hand.

"A Man apologizes," he said, letting her go. Arya rubbed the back of her head.

"Oww," she muttered, annoyed.

"A Man is waiting for an answer," he said in a hushed voice. "A Girl must decide who lives and who dies."

Arya took a deep breath.

"Wheeze," she said, and A Man grinned. "And Chiswyke."

The grin slid off his face.

"This A Man cannot do," he said, "this was not our bargain."

"Well I'm changing our bargain," Arya said firmly. "It needs to be Wheeze and Chiswyke."

"A Man offered to set the balance," he said just as firmly. "One life in the place of mine that was stolen. That was the deal. A Man cannot set the balance only to upset it again."

"Well then A Man can go kill himself!" Arya cried in annoyance. She was starting to panic. It had to be Wheeze and Chiswyke, or else they'd never be able to escape. Wheeze sat in the office and watched to make sure no one went by, and then Chiswyke sat in the toll booth. The nearest man hole was two feet from his perch. They would not be able to sneak past both of them unseen.

"A Man will keep to the bargain," he said, and his tone left no room for argument. "Wheeze will set the balance. As for the other death... A Girl can do herself."

Arya frowned.

"How?" She demanded. Gendry was getting them guns from the hold in the garage, but she couldn't shoot Chiswyke. Someone would hear.

A Man grinned, and then the pressed something into her palm. Arya looked down and gasped aloud. 'Needle.'

"Tonight," he whispered. "When the night is half way, yes?"

"Midnight," Arya echoed, looking down at Needle in her hand and feeling a strange sense of loss and happiness.

When she looked up, he was gone.

That evening, as she waited in line with Ygritte, Arya passed by Gendry and whispered, just loud enough for only him to hear, "tonight." She hoped he wouldn't bring Hot Pie. She knew he would.

When Ygritte offered for her to share the sleeping bag, Arya shook her head no. She didn't want to wake Ygritte in the night and have to explain. Besides, what if Ygritte didn't let her go? What if she told Tywin? They were friends, but... Arya didn't really think there was such a thing as real friends anymore, true friends. She couldn't trust anyone.

She waited until the moon was just about full in the sky, and then she zipped up her jacket and said one last, very unapologetic goodbye to the lake and its murky, unmoving surface, and then, as quiet as a mouse, she stood and walked back inside. Next to her feet, Ygritte shifted.

"Take a cigarette for the road," she whispered softly, and Arya watched, frozen, as Ygritte lifted a freckled arm and handed her a pack. "And don't end up on the wrong end of the pier. I'll be watching out for you."

"I won't," Arya said with a cracked voice, taking the pack. Ygritte looked up at her with shining eyes and grinned her crooked grin. Then she rolled over and curled into a ball, as if she had always been asleep.

"Goodbye," she whispered.

"Goodbye," Arya managed.

Heart pounding in her ribs, Arya picked her way around the sleeping forms, shoving the cigarettes in her pocket. She tiptoed down the stairs and then out of the fun house, the clown's eyes seeming to watch her as she went. She quickly darted into the shadows, looking for Hot Pie and Gendry, when she felt a hand over her mouth. She screamed, but the sound was muffled, and the grip was too strong- She bit down.

"Oww! Fuck! Arya!" Gendry swore under his breath, and she whipped around to see him glaring at her in the darkness, Hot Pie by his side.

"I thought you were Chiswyke," Arya said, her heart beating so fast that her entire body was pulsing.

"Clearly," he said darkly, inspecting the blood that was draining from bite marks in his hand, glittering dark red in the shadows.

"We've got to get a move on," Arya hissed. "It's past midnight now."

"What about Wheeze?" Gendry demanded. "What about Chiswyke?"

"I've got it sorted," she said firmly. They hadn't had time to discuss the strange foreign man, or his promises. She hoped he was a man of his word.

"Sorted?" Gendry grunted in indignation.

"There's no time to explain you dildo!" Arya hissed. "If we sit here any longer we'll be killed! Do you want a cement block tied to your legs?"

"No," Hot Pie said quickly.

"Good," Arya snarled. "Come on."

They followed her through the shadows, weaving in and out of the hulking structures and towards the toll booth. Arya held her breath as they neared the offices...

Hot Pie screamed. Or, rather, he started to scream, but Gendry grabbed him by the mouth and muffled the sound. Arya stood for a second, transfixed, staring right into Wheeze's eyes, but knowing he wasn't staring back. Under his chin, there was only red.

"Come on," she hissed, and Gendry and Hot Pie followed. Hot Pie looked terrified, but she could not read Gendry's face as he moved next to her in the light of the moon. All he was was a stony shadow.

They neared the toll booth and slowed to a stop.

"What about Chiswyke?" Gendry asked. Arya curled her fingers around Needle.

"I've got that sorted as well," she said darkly. "You stay here until I give the signal."

She made a move to go, but Gendry stopped her, his grip surprisingly strong.

"What are you going to do?" He demanded, his eyes flashing bright while his face sunk in the shadows.

"I'm going to save our lives," she snapped, wrenching her arm away. She didn't need his morals. Not now.

He let her go, and as she crept towards the toll both, she tried to think of how she was going to do it. She needed to get him out of there, out into the open where she could attack him, but how? She fished around in her pockets, looking for something, anything, that could help her. Her finger slid over something smooth, and frowning, she lifted it into the light.

It was a coin, but like none that she had ever seen. It looked strange, foreign, like the man that must have slipped it in her pocket. There was a piece of paper too. Valar Morgulius, it read. Whatever the hell that meant.

Shoving the paper in her pocket, Arya crouched low, and then she tossed the coin out in front of the toll booth.

She held her breath...

There was a click, and Chiswyke stepped out of the toll booth, going out to where the coin had landed. He bent down-

Arya, like a flash, leapt up, clicked out Needle's blade and then, without thinking, slashed it across Chiswyke's throat.

There was a split second of terror, and then his blood exploded across her hands, and he was making horrible, retching and gurgling sounds, his fingers at his throat... And all she could think about was how she ought to be horrified. She ought to be screaming, panicking, but she wasn't. All she felt was empty.

"You deserved it," she whispered, and then she signaled for Gendry and Hot Pie.

She had gotten the lid to the manhole off by the time they got there, and Hot Pie looked like he might faint.

"You killed him!" He cried, but Arya ignored him.

Gendry stared at her long and hard, but he said nothing.

"Let's go," she said, looking down the hole into blackness. 'Down the rabbit hole, Arya Stark, and once you go down, you can never go back.'

She lowered herself into the hole and did not look back.

Will Arya and her friends reach the Trident? Or will they run into an unexpected band of brotherly trouble