Game of Thrones: Crossroads

Chapter 10 of my Game of Thrones story.

Reviews

Marina Ka-Fai: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, glad you liked it.
Veridissima: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, yeah, things are getting worse, it sure is. Well, only time will tell, but it is suggestive.
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks.
Boris Yeltsin: Yeah; well, she has her reasons for acting the way she is.
Harry PotterNut94: Yeah, it's freaky; well, she has a good reason for why she can't say anything.

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin.

Chapter 10

Arya groaned as she woke up; her head was aching fiercely, pounding continuously. She knew right away she had a monster hangover; as a result of all her drinking the night before in the club. Of course, the hangover wasn't the only reason she felt like shit.

'I know they deserve an explanation, but really, seeing my old friends isn't helping things here…Especially not Shireen or Gendry, dammit I don't want to keep hurting them, but they need to stop trying to get me to go back, back off and let me just do what I have to do.' She thought forlornly. 'I'll explain everything to them when the time is right; but for now, I'm my own. I would ask them for help if it wasn't such a personal matter I was dealing with. I can't rush this either; if I do, it just won't work, in fact, it'll probably be worse.'

Arya groaned and turned away from the needle cruel sunlight that was shining in her eyes through the window. Finally, with a long suffering sigh and great effort she pulled herself out of bed.

'I better get dressed, can't let the family know anything is wrong, just gotta act normal.'

With that she quickly stripped off her pyjamas and began getting dressed.

Finally, she was nearly dressed, just needing to pull her T-shirt on, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. She tensed; her head still pounding, even worse due to the sudden noise. She turned her head.

"Who is it?"

"It's just me Arya." Sansa said through the door.

Arya bit back groan, now she definitely would have to pretend nothing was wrong; she quickly pulled her T-shirt on. "Sansa, what's up?"

She opened the door; Sansa looked at her sister carefully. Noting how pale she looked and the dark shadows under her eyes.

"Are you okay, you don't look so good?" She asked worriedly.

Arya simply smiled and nodded. "I'm fine Sansa, don't worry; just kinda tired that's all."

Sansa shifted her feet; Arya certainly didn't look alright to her. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am Sansa." She said managing a smile although Sansa did not appear to be convinced.

They both began to head downstairs as Sansa spoke.

"Arya, you have drank too much last night." She paused as Arya gave her a pained look but said nothing. She continued. "Maybe you should stay home tonight, I'm sure the others won't mind."

Arya bit her lip, her usual nervous habit and Sansa tensed, wondering what her sister was about to say. To Sansa's surprise Arya shook her head. "No Sansa, I'll come along, everything will be fine, don't worry about me."

As she said that Arya turned away from Sansa, her thoughts on their conversation. 'After all, I should be the one worrying about you…You're the one who is terrible danger with them. I'm not going to leave you alone, especially not with Joffrey for as long as I can help it.'

Finally they went to the kitchen for breakfast.

Arya sighed as she left the kitchen, it was bad enough Sansa was suspicious; but her parents and Bran all remarked on her ill appearance. She bluffed her way through breakfast; pretending she was fine; ignoring her headache and brushing off any awkward or tough questions. Now, after all that, she was desperate for some alone time. She just wanted some time to relax, recover from her hangover and gather her thoughts, ensure that she was ready for tonight. She was annoyed at her lack of progress; she still wasn't able to work out exactly what was going on in the group, who knew the truth and how she could help Sansa. Finally, she stepped out onto her balcony and threw herself down on the lounge chair she had moved there. She lay back, staring at the sky, trying to clear her mind of her issues with her old group of friends.

'Especially Gendry; Gods the way he acted last night, I wasn't expecting that.' She thought with some sadness. 'I've never seen him so worked up; then again, he was clearly off his face…or he wouldn't have done something like that.'

Just then she was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of Rickon's voice. The others had said Rickon had been in the kitchen but left before the girls arrived. She sat up and listened carefully; judging from what she overheard Rickon was on the phone. What surprised her however was when her youngest brother mentioned the name of her best friend. Or was it ex-best friend, she didn't want to think about that.

She listened carefully to what Rickon was saying.

"Hey Shireen, is everything okay?" He was saying; his voice was softer than she had ever heard it. "I'm sure Arya's fine, she's always been strong…You shouldn't be that worried."

There was a pause, during which Shireen was talking to Rickon.

Finally Rickon spoke again, replying to Shireen. "Listen, she's the one hurting you; I…I don't want you to be sad. Do you wanna go meet at the park?"

Arya didn't hear the rest of the exchange; she had retreated back into her room, fighting back tears. She understood now why Rickon was furious with her; she had hurt Shireen, badly, she should've known Shireen would take it as badly as she did. She'd hoped that, the time she spent with Shireen would've made the poor girl stronger. But she had been wrong; Shireen was still as sensitive as before. However she was also surprised; she couldn't believe it. Her youngest brother was dating her best friend.

'Rickon, hopefully you can fix this for Shireen; I'm sorry, I hope you can help her, make her happy.' She thought sadly.

Arya threw herself down on her bed and sighed; things were really fucked up in her life now, but she had to do this, for Sansa's sake.

Rickon meanwhile had hung up; hurried downstairs, pulled on his shoes and jacket and slipped out of the house, before any of his family could notice. He couldn't help but smile; while he was still worked up about Arya's strange choices and her new 'friends', Shireen helped calm him down. He had a crush on her for some time; it was only recently he had acted on those feelings. He was surprised and overjoyed when she returned his feelings. She had been surprised too; she explained to him she thought nobody would ever show those sort of feelings for her, mostly due to her burns; his response had been to kiss her left cheek, the burned one. He arrived at the park and smiled when he saw Shireen sitting on a bench, waiting. He approached and she stood up, smiling in relief to see him. They quickly embraced and kissed; both allowing themselves to temporarily forget their troubles while in each other's arms.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.

Well, now we have the reason for Rickon's strange behaviour :)