A/N I know, I know. It has been a long time coming. My son broke my laptop around Christmas and I lost everything I had. And then I wrote everything by long hand and I liked what I wrote, but then I heard while I was transcribing out what had written dis satisfactory so I re-wrote everything. I would like to say thank you to Lady3Jane. She was and always will be a huge help to me, even if there is nothing to say between us. She has and alway will be my example. The one that I strive to meet. I thank you Lady. xoxo
And if you read this let me know what you think. It has been a while since I wrote, so let me know what you all think. I have ten more reviews till I get to 200 hundred. And if I don't get there I might not make the next update in the next week.
Love all my readers xoxo
Bran
Things with Jojen were getting out of hand. Four days since The Prom From Hell and his best friend was still happy and chipper about having seen what had happened. He wouldn't stop talking about it. Bran had tried to tell him that he didn't want to hear it any more, that he had lived it. That he had been there to watch his sister blow away someone that she had at one time had felt something for. He had been there to watch the life slip away from three people who he had grown to care for. But Jojen would not shut up about what he had known was going to happen and his questions to see how close his vision had come to reality were really starting to wear down Brans self-control.
"And then I saw Arya take up the gun and stumble over to the stairs where Gendry and Jaqen were and aim and shoot him. His head just blew and went flying all over her and the wall and then he fell. His brain had leaked out of his head onto the floor. That is when your father and the cops had burst in and then my vision had gone black. I have never seen anything so clearly before." Jojen said from his seat beside Bran in the theater.
"I was there and Meera and I have both asked you to shut the fuck up about it. So if I were you I would do that or I will be forced to punch you in the face to get you to shut the hell up." Bran was getting to the point of breaking. If Jojen said one more thing he would do something he would regret.
"Yeah, yeah I know. Your friends and sisters were in danger. I get it." Jojen smiled to himself.
"If you had known that we all were in danger why the hell didn't you say something? Why didn't you try and stop it from happening? You could have. The old you would have done that. This new you is a real prick." Bran said in a loud enough voice that the people three rows in front of them turned to glare at them. Bran had the urge to flip them all off but didn't.
"If I would have said something then the whole thing would have been canceled and Joffery and Jaqen wouldn't have been stopped. I did what I thought was right." Jojen said angrily.
"Well you sure fucked up, you know that right? Gendry, Sandor and Tyrion almost died. My sister became a murder. Meera can hardly stand to be around you. If this is what you are like at school I don't even want to know what you are like when you are home and there is no buffer for her to hide behind. You are sick."
"She is never home now. She's with you at your house and I have got the feeling that you two don't want me around." Jojen said looking straight ahead.
It hit Bran then that his friend was calling out for help with his questions. He wanted attention, but he wasn't getting any so he was being a dick so he would be getting some kind of attention.
"I'm sorry Jojen. But prom shook us all. I know you saw what happened but you weren't there. The worst part of this all is that Meera and I know that you knew that it was going to happen, but did nothing. We know you were doing what you thought was right, but it was wrong. We had a right to know. People were hurt, people died. You could have prevented it all." Bran stood then and walked over to Renly who was directing the actors on stage.
"Bran I know that you are still raw from prom, but could you not interrupts my rehearsal?" Renly sounded tired and not as happy as he usually did.
"Sorry Sir. I was wondering if I could cut class a little and go for a run before I hurt someone?"
"Jojen being an ass? I have noticed that he and Meera were having a hard time being around each other. I see his sister is not the only one who is tired of him." Renly looked out at the audience to Jojens seat. Bran followed his gaze and spotted his friend sitting with his eyes closed and a blank look on his face.
"I really need to go for a run now sir. I haven't been able to for so long. I need to clear my head."
Renly nodded and Bran took that as his permission to leave early. He exited the theater and headed for the locker room. He put on his running gear and walked out to the track. No one was out there. He stretched and did some warm ups. He started out slow, enjoying the feel of his legs carrying him. He had missed running the most. When he had thought that he would never be able to walk again he had mourned the loss of running the most. He did five slow laps then let his feet go faster and faster around the track.
His mind was blank and he was feeling what his body was doing. He felt his muscles flexing in his legs, reveled in the slap of his feet on the ground. He was on his tenth lap when he was shot from his body. He knew he was having a vision, but he had not had one since his surgery. He was unprepared for it. He collapsed on the track. He didn't know how long he had been there but he came to when the bell rang.
He sat up and knew that he was in pain. He looked at the right side, the side he had fallen on, and it was peppered with scrapes. He gingerly got to his feet and walked to the locker room. He stripped out of his gear and walked into one of the shower stalls. The water stung his arm, leg and face. But that was not what he was thinking about. His mind was on what he had seen.
He was at a wedding and everyone there was happy and smiling. His sisters were there and happy, dancing to The Five Kings. Gendry was whole and Sandor was talking to his father. Myrcella was fixing Tommen and Rickons suits; they had spilled punch oh themselves. Jon was there with Dany the nurse and they glided on the dance floor. Robert and Helen were sitting at a long table with Catelyn and they were laughing with Renly. Everything was happy, everything was good. Then the vision had left him.
Bran didn't know what was going on, but he knew someone had been married and everything was well. He had never seen anything that happy before. Every time he had seen bad things to come for his friends and family. But this time everything seemed to be working out well. Bran got out of the shower, dressed and went in search for Jojen. He found him in the cafeteria eating lunch. Bran took the seat across from him.
"Bran what happened to you?"
"I fell while running on the track. But that's not the important thing. Jojen I just saw something. But it was different. Nothing bad happened. Everyone was happy and whole and nothing bad happened. I have never really seen anything like this before. What does it mean?"
"It means that what happened at prom was meant to happen so that the future could be happy for us all. It had to happen that way or that happy ending you saw would not have been possible. Now do you see why I didn't say anything? I saw two outcomes from the prom. One where I let things happen and one where I didn't. You are lucky you didn't see what the future would have been if I had told. Joffery would have been at that wedding and everyone, and I mean everyone would have died. Arya would have been taken and by the end of the night she would have wished she would have died along with your family and Gendry. Bran I wanted to tell you, but I knew if I had we all would have died." Then Jojen stood up and walked out of the room. Bran followed and found him in an empty classroom.
Jojen was crying. Bran knew that he had been carrying this weight of knowing that no matter what he did someone would be dead; someone's life would have been changed. So he had made a choice. Bran saw that now. He saw what Jojen had done. He had saved them all. Bran went to his friend and hugged him.
"I understand now Jojen. I understand." Bran hugged his friend and he held him while he cried.
"I just didn't want to see you all dead. This way was hard, but you all lived. The only ones gone are the bad guys. We won." Jojen said when he finally stopped crying.
"We sure did, thanks to you. Now let's go find Meera and tell her what a hero her brother is." Bran threw his arm around Jojens shoulder and they went in search for Meera.
Sandor
The first thing he saw once they took his out of the induced coma was the breath taking face of the girl that he loved. He didn't know if it was the drugs of if it was just her but the light was shining in her hair making it look like a halo of fire and her eyes were so clear and full of tears. He watched as the first one escaped the well of her eye and watched it make tracks down her pale face. He watched it until it reached her red lips and all he could think about was that he had not kissed her in so long. He reached up his hand and swiped the tear away. She pressed his hand to her cheek and then gave it a small brush of her lips. It was only after that contact that he realized that people had been talking to him.
"Sandor, can you hear me? Sandor can you look over here?" A doctor was asking and holding one of those pen lights out. He tore his gaze off Sansa and finally looked at the doctor. He did as the doctor had asked; he followed the pen with his eyes and then let them take his vitals. The doctor was pleased with his breathing and the sound of his heart. Then he was asked some stupid questions.
"Do you remember what happened? Why you are in the hospital?"
Sandor just looked at the doctor with a dumb founded look on his face and said the only thing that he could think of.
"I was shot. Please tell me that you didn't wake me up just to find out that I was shot." His voice was gruff and unused. Sansa gave a small smile and squeezed his hand.
"Well we know that you had been shot, we just wanted to know if you know." The doctor stuttered and looked down at the chart. "I want you to know the extent of your injuries. You had to have open heart surgery and we repaired one of you r ventricles. You lost a large amount of blood and we were afraid that you would have some damage to your head from the blow that you revived. But it appears that the swelling has gone down in your brain and that you are healing remarkably for someone who died." The doctor tried to be bright and cherry, but Sandor was having none of that. He just wanted to be alone with Sansa.
"Well I am so happy that I am doing alright. Now if you don't mind I would like a few moments alone with my girlfriend." He gave the doctor a look that had in the past sent people running for the hills. Beside him Sansa was smiling at the doctor, but her eyes held an intensity that matched his own. The doctor said they could have ten minutes but then the nurse would be in to check the bandages.
"How long have I been out?"
"Four days. They first said you would have to be under for a week, but you are a fast healer so they say." She brushed a kiss on the scarred side if his face then another on the whole side, then gave him a soft kiss on the lips. His hands tried to reach her and wind into her hair but he was attached to tubes and monitors. He lay in the bed and was passive in body, but his mouth devoured her.
They broke apart and Sansa chuckled.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but you really need to brush your teeth."
"You try dying, being revived and then forced into a coma for four days and tell me if you r breath doesn't stink. Now get up on this bed and press that body to me. I can't move yet." He pulled the thin blanked up and she slid in next to him. "Tell me what happened."
She told him about again about what had happened that night, but this time he was awake and could ask questions.
"So the worm still lives. Shit. But with this they have more then enough to put him away for a long time. Two counts of attempted murder, escape from prison and those are just two of them. I am sure they will find more things to tack on." Sandor stroked her arm. "How are Gendry and Arya? She really shot Jaqen in the head?"
"She did. She was more worried with Jaqen killing Gendry then anything else. I don't think she has really processed that she had killed someone yet. He has two days left in the hospital. They had to give him a surgery on his shoulder. He refused to let them do it until he knew that you were going to live. He also died. He flat lined for five minutes. Jaqen had really killed him. Of the paramedics had not gotten there as soon as they did he would be dead now."
"Maybe we should become roommates while we are both here, since we both died and all." Sandor said.
"I am pissed at you, you know. If you had stayed with me you wouldn't have died." She said in a small voice.
"If I had stayed there he would have been able to hurt you or Myrcella or Margery. I couldn't let him come closer to you then he had been. All I wanted to do was protect you, so that's what I did. I will always be there to protect you. Forever."
"Good. I was hoping you would say something like that. I told the doctors that we are engaged so they would let me stay with you. Since you seem to think that we will be together forever I guess I wasn't a lie after all."
"I would give my life for you and have. Of course I will marry you. When I get out of here I will go ask your father for his blessing and then once we graduate we can announce it to the world." He kissed the top of her head.
Just then the nurse came in. Sansa sat up and slid off the bed, looking sheepish.
"If this had been the first time I have seen you doing that Sansa I would think you could look like you have been caught, but now I expect to see you sleeping up there with him. Now Sandor I need to look at the incision on your chest. It will be your first time seeing what they had to do to you. It is a very long cut that they had to make so be ready. I'm Dany by the way and I have been taking care of you while you were out."
She walked over to the bed and her hands were encased in purple gloves. Sandor had some kind of recognition to the name, but he was having a hard time placing it. He looked at Sansa in question.
"She was Brans nurse when we thought he had cancer. She is the one that Robb and Jon and Theon got their dander up over. Sorry Dany for saying it like that." Sansa looked over at the nurse while she worked on making the removal of the tape on Sandors chest not hurt when she removed it.
"It's okay. I know what you were getting at. How are your brothers? I am a hopeless gossip and this is the first time that I have heard you really speak in four days." She had taken the bandage off and Sandor looked down at his chest. There was a long line from his breast bone to the end of his ribs. It was held together by staples. His chest hadn't hurt until he looked at it, but now it really hurt. He sucked in his breath.
"Sandor what is it?" Sansa asked seeing him in pain.
"He is finally realizing he hurts. You had kept him in a love bubble and nothing could touch him but now he feels. I can get you something for the pain. Let me just replace the bandages. Sansa if you gossip it will help keep his mind off things." Dany nodded and went about her work.
"Um, Robb has a girlfriend now. She seems nice. Theon is going to South America over the summer, to do what I don't know. Jon seems to be doing okay, but he is distracted. I think there is something going on with him, but he won't tell any of us. He has been great with Arya, but he is just not as happy as he usually is."
"I think I know what is going on with Jon" Dany said without looking up from her work. "We sort of started to email and chat when we met when Bran was in treatment. He wanted to meet but things never worked out for us. School and work you know. So I told him that we should take a break until we got to see each other in person. That was a month ago. But he will be up for your graduation so I will be able to see him then and we can see if we can have a go at being a couple." Dany had kept her head down the whole time she talked and Sansa and Sandor had watched the top of her head with their mouths opened.
"You mean that you are, well were, dating my brother and you didn't say anything? I have been here for four days and not one word that you were Jon's. I…I am speechless." Sansa said.
Dany looked up once her task was done, stripped off her gloves and looked at Sandor.
"How are you feeling now? Still in pain? I will go get you some medication now." She walked out of the room and then Sandor gave a bark of laughter, but quickly fell back on the bed in pain.
"Who would have imagined that Jon had a secret girlfriend?" He said.
"I am texting this to Arya. She has to know and get to the bottom of this." She took out her phone and Sandor watched her type into it. He smiled to himself that no matter what happens the Starks always looked out for each other, and by the grace of god he was going to marry into the family. He chuckled at the fact that Sansa had forgotten that they were going to be engaged. She looked up from her phone and saw his smile.
"I know what you are thinking. You think that I have already forgotten that you and I are engaged, but I have had four days to know this and you are just now hearing about it. This thing with Jon is new. You get to adjust to the idea while I sick Arya on Jon. This is just the distraction she needs. If I wasn't so worried about her I wouldn't be doing this. But she is my sister and things have been tough for her and she needs a distraction." Sansa had not meant to sound defensive, but that's how she felt when he looked at her liked that.
"I was just thinking what have I gotten myself into. You Starks are a loyal lot and I have just said I would marry into it all. That's all. Honest." Sandor smiled and he forgot that there was a large wound on his chest or that he was in pain. All he could feel was love. Sansa smiled and slid back to the bed and kissed him.
"I love you Sandor. I really do."
"I love you to my little Vixen."
They stretched in the bed looking at the celling. Sandor felt at peace and he was happy, despite a near death experience. He felt Sansa's phone vibrate in her pocket. He knew it was a text from Arya so he didn't mind her talking to Sansa. Sansa sat up abruptly and looked at her phone and then to him and back to her phone. She slid off the bed and stood there beside him for a few seconds.
"Sandor I have to go. Something is going on. Arya needs me." She turned to leave but he called back to her.
"Sansa what is it? Is it Gendry?"
"I don't know. The text wasn't from her it was from Jon. All he says is that I have to go find Arya. I will let you know what is going on soon. Your cell is beside your bed. I will text you soon." She walked to the door then stopped and took one last look at him. "I love you." Then she was gone.
Myrcella
Her life kept shifting and turning faster then she could have imagined. With everything that had happened to her this year she was able to cope with everything that had happened in the last four days very well. She had split her time between her uncle and her brother. Sitting with Arya beside Gendry when he had come out of surgery and then as the only member of the family to be there with Tyrion. Her uncle Jamie had stopped once to see him, but Myrcella would not let him into the room. She had stood her ground and barred the door from him. The confrontation still caused her some discomfort; it made her realize that the Lannister part of her family was dead to her. Except Tyrion, but he had been dead to the rest of them for so long that they agreed it was alright.
Jamie had come up to see Tyrion on the third day he had been in the hospital. She had come to give Helen and Arya a change of clothes and had stopped off to see her uncle before going home.
Jamie had stood in the doorway watching the two of them going over her government book, their heads bent over the book so they had not seen him yet. He had cleared his throat and Myrcella looked up.
"Tyrion, I came as soon as I was able." Jamie had started taking a step into the room.
"Three days after the fact that he had been shot, by your son I might ad." Myrcella had stood up and blocked the two brother's view of each other. Earlier in the week Tyrion had made her vow that she wouldn't let any of them see him, not till he was whole and off the pain meds. She was keeping that vow now.
"How dare you Myrcella. I have had to do damage control and make sure your mother didn't do something stupid. Now move aside and let me talk to my brother." He had walked further into the room, but she had not moved.
"If you take one more step into this room I am calling security. You are not wanted here Jamie. I suggest you leave." He had looked around her to see Tyrion had turned as far away from them as his wounds would allow. Jamie took a step back. There were tears in his eyes. At the sight of the tears Myrcellas resolve wavered, but she held firm. "Let's talk in the hall uncle. There are something's I want to ask you and a sick room is not the place to get the answers."
Jamie walked out and then collapsed in one of the hard plastic chairs in the hallway.
"Why doesn't he want to see me? "Jamie whispered once she had taken the seat beside him.
"He knows that in the eyes of the rest of the family he isn't a real member of it and he is just now realizing that you, the one who he had loved above the rest is nothing but a tool. Used by your sister and father. You are three days late in coming uncle."
"But he is my little brother. I love him."
"But not as much as you love my mother, not as much as you fear the disapproval of your father. He knows where he rates in the Lannister family. What I do not understand is why you still go along with them, when they are clearly monsters." Myrcella tried to make her speech with a strong voice, not to let her emotions overpower her. She was after all talking about her mother and grandfather.
"How can you say that? She is your mother. She loves you Cella. And father is proud of you. We all love you." Her uncle lifted his hand and slipped a strand of hair behind her ear. She batted his hand away.
"I had said I have some questions, and I want honest questions. The first one is why? Why did you and mother create Joffery? He is evil uncle. He is everything twisted and evil, and don't you dare try to defend him. I lived as his punching bag for sixteen years. I knew what he was. How could you fuck your own sister and create such an evil and twisted creature?" She had not meant to be so harsh or cruel, but she needed the answer. Part of her feared that if her mother could make one evil child, maybe she and Tommen could be evil in part as well.
"Cella, Joffery was a mistake. The night that he was conceved was a little more then one year into her marrage to your father. They had gotten in a fight and she had been scared. I had bbeen drunk that night and things just happened. It was an accident."
"That's a lie. You and I know that she knew what she was doing. When I was little I used to think that she was something amazing. But then when she left there was a weight lifted from the Keep. She and Joff had been a sickness and it wasn't until they were gone was I finally able to see her for what she truly was. You need to get away from her Jamie. She is a disease and she will kill you unless you break away like I did."
Jamie sat in the chair and cried. She had not meant to cause him such pain, but she loved her uncle. All the memories from her childhood that she had of him came to the forefront of her mind.
"She is not the only one who can love you Uncle. Tyrion and I love you and we want you to love yourself." She took his hand in hers and they sat without saying anything for a long time.
"I used to wish that you were my child. Not Joff. You are right; I knew what he was, even when he was small. He is twisted. I fucked my twin sister and our union made a sick child. How can I live my life with knowing I fathered a monster with my sister?"
"You will never be able to forget it, but you must get away and try to live the life you want, not the one other wants you to live." She kissed her uncles cheek and walked back into Tyrion's room to the quiet sobs of Jamie behind her. She had told Tyrion what they discussed and he was proud of her for breaking through to Jamie. The next day, the fourth everyone had been in the hospital, Jamie came back. He had a bag with him and he had said he wanted to say goodbye to her and Tyrion.
"I thought over everything you said, and I looked back at my life and you were right Myrcella. I cut you out of my life Tyrion, because Cersie and father never loved you and they thought that if you felt unloved you would die. But I did love you and you are alive. I want you to know that no matter what I do or where I go you will always be my brother." Jamie and Tyrion hugged, they both cried then Tyrion said his goodbye.
"I love you too Jamie and I hope that where ever you end up you find happiness."
Next he came to stand in front of Myrcella.
"You are more like your father then I had expected, but I am glad for that. He has made you strong in ways we Lannisters never will be. I love you Cella." He hugged her to him and kissed the top of his head.
She was crying when she told him she loved him. And she made him promise that he would let her know where he ended up. He told them he was thinking of Alaska. Somewhere cold, so his father and Cersie wouldn't follow. Tyrion made a remark that without him there for Joff's trial Cersie would be even more crazy then normal. Jamie looked at him for a moment.
"You know what, for the first time in my whole life I don't give a fuck about Cersie. You two take care of each other. I will call you when I get to where I end up." And with that Jamie Lannister walked away to start his life.
Arya
Life used to be black and white. Her life in her home up North had been in black and white. She was the invisible child of Catelyn and Eddard Stark Then she had moved with her family South and she had discovered color. At first it was pale, muted and she had felt like an outsider, then things started to become clear. With each new person she met and let into her life she stopped being the invisible girl. She stopped living in black and white and started living in color, pale as they were. Then Gendry happened. He had showed her that the world was bright and vibrant and showed her that she was wanted and loved. If you had asked her if that was something she had expected to happen in her lifetime she would have said no. But it had happened and she was awake for the first time in her life. But that had all been cracked when Gendry had been shot. There were imperfections in the new reality now. She realized that Gendry would have been fine if it had not been for her. She thought him being shot was the worst thing that could have happened to him.
Then prom happened and she watched the man that she loved, the man that she lived for die. She had gone numb. She had felt nothing at first, but then Jaqen had turned with Gendrys limp body in his arms and smiled at her. Her emptiness had dissolved into a fire. It did not burn hot, it was cold and it caused her to pick up the gun from the floor, take aim at his head and squeeze the trigger. She had felt no remorse as she did it. She had felt no sorrow or pity. The only thing she felt was a small amount of regret that she had ended Jaqens life to fast for him to get what he deserved for killing Gendry. Then the doors had burst open.
The gun had still been hot in her hand and her father was there and she was in his arms. She had refused to leave until they had Gendry was on a stretcher and in an ambulance. She had pawned her father off on Sansa and he had gone to her willingly. Arya had stayed with Robert and in that moment of mutual fear they had held onto each other in the back if the ambulance as they watched as the rescue crew brought Gendry back from the brink of death.
As he lay limp and lifeless before her for the longest five minutes of her life she had felt her whole world shatter. She knew if they had not been able to save him she would have ended her life, so at least they could have been together where ever it is that people's souls or whatever goes to when they die. But then the monitor that was attached to Gendry jumped and she saw his chest rise on its own. His eyes had opened and he had reached out for her.
She had taken his hand and placed it on her face. Her hot tears fell into his palm and he had pulled her down to his lips. She had meant it to be soft and fleeting, just a reminder for them both that he was a live. Gendry kissed her as if he had died and she was the only reason he had come back. Later, after they had learned that Sandor was going to make it and he had gone to his surgery for his shoulder and was in recovery she had asked him what that kiss was about.
"I had died. I had felt my life slip away. I died knowing that I had failed to protect you and that the sick fucker was going to get his hands on you. I had my last glimpse of your face and it was full of horror. Then when I was back I saw only joy and love and I wanted to show you with my kiss how much it meant to have you in my life and be my love. Words would not have been possible, since my wind pipe was crushed." He had said in the deep voice of having a crushed wind pipe.
The next few days were spent in the hospital. She hopped from Gendrys side, to waiting with Sansa and comatose Sander to sitting with Myrcella with her uncle Tyrion. She had not had time to stop and think about the fact that she had taken a life of another human being. On the fourth day the police had come to talk to her. Ned was with them and he had asked if they could be in Tyrion's room, since he was a lawyer and could be trusted.
Detective Bronn sat across from her and her father stood behind her. He'd had placed his hand on her solder.
"We have shown all the evidence of the events to a judge and it has been deemed that the shooting and death of Jaqen Hagar was in self-defense and in the defense of others. There will be no charges taken against you." Bronn's deep voice resonated in her. She looked up at her father and she saw the tension flow out of him.
"Sir I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, but I just want to make sure that I understand things. I killed a man, shot him dead and I will not be seeing the inside of a jail cell?" She asked in a soft and cold voice. Her father dug his hand into her shoulder.
"That is right. A judge has ruled that you were not in the wrong. Justice had been served to the departed when you pulled the trigger." Bronn smiled at her. She felt her own mouth stretch into a smile in answer.
She walked back to Gendrys room and she felt pleasure. She had taken out the threat. She had protected her family. She thought back to her childhood and the nickname that Jon had given her. Little Wolf. She had sure acted the part of the wolf. She had attacked when her mated was under attack. She had come out on top of the challenge. She was the wolf.
"Gendry I have amazing news. A judge has deemed that I will not be going to jail for killing Jaqen. I am a free woman. And in two days you will be free of this hospital bed." She walked over to his bed and kissed him.
He had to clear his voice twice and take a sip of water before he could say anything.
"That's great Arya. But I was never worried. You did what needed doing. I love you."
"I love you too." She leaned her head over his heart. It beat steady under her ear. After watching him die, his heartbeat was something she never got sick of hearing. Tears welled in her eyes. The shock of it all finally hit her. Today when they had said she was not guilty of murder made her really realize for the first time Jaqen was dead and she had killed him. The tears were streaming down her face, making a damp spot on Gendrys shirt.
"Shhh," he tried to hold her and run his hand down her head at the same time, but it was impossible to do both with only one arm, so he held her. She let everything that she was feeling go for the first time since the shooting.
"I killed someone Gendry. I killed him. I see it whenever I close my eyes. I see you lying dead at his feet and his sick smile as he turned to me. And I remember feeling happy when I pulled the trigger and he fell to the floor. I was happy for fuck sake. For taking a life." Her voice broke and she sobbed.
"It's going to be okay." He kissed her and held her and she heard his heartbeat against her ear. "I swear that nothing like this will ever happen again. I will not fail you like this again as long as I live." Then he pushed her face up and looked in her eyes. "I mean that Arya. I would trade everything to take this memory away from you. All I can do is love you and hope it is enough." He kissed her and she felt him send up all the love he was feeling for her in that one kiss.
She pulled away and his hand slid across her face to wipe away her tears.
"I love you too. But now I have to go. My dad is waiting to take me home. I have to do some homework or I'm going to fail." She gave him one more kiss then walked out the door.
When she was away from his room she took her phone out and called Jon. He answered on the first ring.
"Arya. What did they say?" He knew that the police were going to decided what to do with her today and he had been waiting for her call.
"Because I acted in defiance of others and if myself there are no charges being filed against me."
"Oh Little Wolf that is great. But why do I get the feeling that you are less then happy about it all?"
"You know me to well. It's just that I ended a life, and no one cares. Jaqen wasn't a bad guy Jon, not until I came along. I pushed him until he became a black and twisted person. And then I shot him."
"You did it to save yourself and Gendry. You know what Jaqen would have done to you if he had lived. I for one am glad you killed him." Jon said with a fierceness that scared her. She had not really thought of what would have happened if she hadn't shot him, or the cops hadn't gotten there when they had.
"How would have done something really bad to me, I know that. Gebdry told the cops what Jaqen had said to him. I know he would have raped me. But I still cant stop seeing him fall Jon. Once his bead was shot he just fell. I don't know Jon. I think that I just need to have people stop talking at me. I think I need to go for a drive and clear my head, without people telling me I did the right thing. I'll call you later."
She chould hear him say "Arya, wait" but she hit the end button on her phone. Aegon was walking in to the hospiral and he had his helmet under his arm. She stopped when they drew even and then she asked if she could borrow his bike to go to get something for Gendry.
"You aren't going to disappear again are you?" He handed over the helmet and the keys.
"What makes you say that?"
"The last time you asked you ran away. I don't want to be the one that tells Gendry that I let you escape twice. You are going to come back rigt?"
"Right. Like I said I just need to get something for Gendry."
Sansa
She hurried down the halls of the hospital. The text from Jon had really worried her. All it said was Find Arya before she does something stupid. To have Jon that worried about Arya scared her. She wold look in Gendrys room first. If anyone knew what was going on with Arya it would be him. She reached the room and Aegon was in there as well. The two were talking about how Beric wanted to make a song about what had happened and how he wanted them both to write one. She stood in the doorway and didn't see Arya anywhere.
"Have either of you seen Arya? I got a text from Jon and I am worried about her." Sansa asked as she entered the room.
"She left a few minutes ago. She was heading home to do some homework." Gendry said.
"I saw her in the hall." Aegon said. "She said that she was going to get you something. Oh fuck." The other two looked at him. "I gave her my bike, again."
"Where would she have gone? Gendry where would she go?" Sansa demanded.
"I don't know." He tried to sit up in the bed and swing his legs over the side of it. His injuries prevented him from finishing his task so he fell back on the bed and gave a wordless cry. A nurse came running in.
"Mr. Baratheon, what is wrong?"
"Everything, fucking everything!" He yelled.
"Calm down young man. Just try to be calm." The nurse hurried around trying to calm him down.
"Our spot on the cliff. Look there. It's our spot." Gendry said once the nurse had given him a sedative and calmed him down.
"Text me directions. And Aegon call Robert and my father." Sansa shouted as she ran out of the room and down the hall. She had to find Arya. Sansa knew that guilt must be eating away at Arya. She knew at one time Jaqen had been someone she liked. Sansa felt stupid for neglecting her little sister and the pain she was in. All she had been able to think about was Sandor. She should have been there for Arya. That's what sisters were supposed to do.
Her car was in the car park. She threw it into reverse and her mini sped out of the structure. Her phone chimed and she knew that she had her directions. She hoped that her sister was there. Sansa flew out of town and her car climbed into the hills. If she wasn't so scared the drive would have been beautiful. She took the last turn and her mini was at an over look of the city and in the view there was the ocean. The sun was setting on the horizon and it was amazing to see.
Sansa let the breath that she was holding go out of her body. Aegons bike was there and Arya was sitting under an oak tree. Everything that she had been thinking to tell her evaporated as she saw the way that Aryas shoulders were shaking. She was crying. Sansa could count on one hand the number of times she had seen her sister cry in her life. She approached her as if she was a wild thing, like the wolf Jon had named her for.
"Arya." Sansa called out when she was twenty feet away.
"I heard your mini come up. I know you are there. You don't need to walk up to me like I am going to jump off the cliff."
That was just like Arya Making snarky comments when she knew Sansa was worried about her.
"Arya what did you say to Jon? And why did you run away again?"
"I knew that Jon would go crazy. I just wanted to clear my head and think. Sans I killed someone, okay. And I let myself get wrapped up in everything else before I could process it all. But it all just hit me when they told me that nothing would happen to me after I snuffed out another living beings life." Arya threw an acorn so it rolled to the edge of the cliff and tumbled over the edge.
"What will you do Arya? What do you want to do?" Sansa asked standing beside her sister looking out over the view.
"I want to go home. To Winterfell. I want to go back to a place where the world was simple and made sense." Arya took a shuddering breath then whipped at her eyes.
Sansa knew that she should talk her sister into going home. She knew it was the right thing to do. But looking down at her, at the lost girl that she had been in Winterfell before they had moved South she knew what she had to do. She had to send her home. She knelt down to grasp her sister's hand and looked her in the eye.
"I have a full tank of gas and seventy five bucks in cash. The mini makes great gas mileage and you should only have to refuel once. I will tell father that you are going home. You go straight to Winterfell. Nowhere else. I will let Jon know that you are on your way and to have the staff make your room ready." She hugged her sister. "Will you do one thing before you go? Will you call Gendry? He needs to hear that you are leaving from you, not second hand."
"Yeah I can do that. Why does love suck some times Sansa? I love Gendry so much but I will never forgive him for dying or being shot."
"I have the same feeling about Sandor. But I know what Sandor did was to protect me, so I forgive him. And Gendry put his life on the line for you, not once but twice. I think he really loves you and has proven it to you more then once. If there is anything that I can advise you on, it would be if you are running, don't run for long and don't run from him. He is the best thing that has ever happened to you. I have known your whole life and I will tell you that he is the very best thing that would happen to you in your entire life."
She bent down and was kneeling before her sister. Aryas hands shot out and wrapped around her in a vise like hold. Arya was hugging her and Sansa let her sister hug onto her. It was if she was Aryas life line and the only solid thing in the world. Sansa wrapped her arms around her and held her sister for the first time since they were small children. She remembered Arya holding her after the attack from Joffery. She had cried her heart out. Now her sister did the same thing. She had never would have imagined that her sister would reach out to her this way. She had always been so strong. Even when they were little. Even when Sansa and her friends would call her Arya Horse-face and she knew the words stung. Then when they had entered High School and she and her friends said she was ugly and plain and would never have a boyfriend. She had not seen her sister cry and had never gone to her to make amends. That is what she was trying to do for her now. Sansa had been unable to make amends while they had been home, but here in the South she could make up for it. As if echoing her thoughts Arya pulled away and loomed over her sister.
"If we would have been home you would not have come for me. I guess I am not the only one who has changed here. You have too. The South has made us friends as well as sisters and I think I like this best of all." Arya ran her hand across her face. Snot and tears were tracked across her cheek. Sansa wanted to wipe them away but knew better then to do that for her sister.
"We both have grown up a lot since we have moved down here. For the better I think. You will call him, won't you? Sansa asked looking her in the eye.
"I will call him. He needs more then to hear that I have left from someone else."
They said their goodbyes. Sansa kissed her sister on the head and pressed her keys into her hand. She warned Arya if there was a dent or a scratch on her baby she would kill her. They chuckled at the joke, and then Arya got into the car and drove away.
Sansa watched her sister drive away in her car. She had a feeling that Arya would be better once she cleared her head of the North. That was their strength. She took out her phone and called her dad.
"Daddy, I found Arya. No she is not with me now. Yes she is alright. No I let her go." She heard her father yell about how could she let her sister go like that, but the only thing her sister registered was that at her sister's greatest hour of need she had been there for her.
Gendry
If he hadn't been strapped to a hospital bed he would have been leading the search for Arya himself. As soon as Sansa had left he called Jon. They had had a weird conversation about how Arya felt guilt over killing Jaqen, and anger at Gendry for dying again on her. Gendry told him that he had just done what he had felt was right.
"Gendry in any other person you would have been right, but with Arya is different. She has always seen things in black and white. Before you she never saw things in grey or color for that matter." Jon had said.
"But what she did was right. Killing Jaqen was the best thing for us all. She is a hero. Why can't she see that?" Gendry demanded.
"She will in time. I don't know when that will be, but it is not the end my friend. She has always been rash. Let her cool off and get her head together." Then he hung up the phone.
Gendry sat in his bed. Aegon had gone off to find his sister and her aide in making Gendry not be so lost in everything that he had done.
He never would have thought that Arya killing Jaqen would have caused a rift between them. But then he remembered that Jaqen had always stood between them, so why should he not do it when he was dead? He tried to remember when his life had not been so complicated. It had ben when he was still a bastard, not having a father, when his mother was working herself to death to support the two of them. Then Arya Stark had come into his life. She had made it possible for him to have a father, a family, a home. But now she was gone. She had left him when he was in need of her the most. He felt a stab of guilt. Again he was only thinking of himself. The woman that he loved above everything else was in pain and he could not do a damn thing to heal her wounds.
He was lying in bed realizing all this when his phone rang again. He snatched it up and looked at who was calling. It was Arya. He fumbled to answer it.
"Arya. Thank the gods. Where are you? Did Sansa find you?" He demanded.
"She did. I am on my way home. I just wanted to call and say goodbye. I need sometime Gendry. I need time to come to terms with what I have done." Her voice was cold and distant.
"You have dine nothing wring Arya. You did the right thing." He persisted.
"Gendry I killed a man. It will take more then words to help me realize what you are trying to tell me. That is why I have to go." "GO. GO where? You r home is here. With your family, with me." His voice broke on the last word.
"Gendry I love you more then anything, but I need time. I know that you don't understand, but when I killed Jaqen I killed a part of myself. I died too. I did it to save you, and I would do it again. But I killed a part of me that night. I was able to pretend that I hadn't while I waited to make sure that you would live, but I killed a part of me." Arya reasoned.
"Where ever you go I will find you. There is nothing in this world that would keep me from you." He vowed.
"I know that. That is why I mislead Sansa. I am not going to Winterfell, like I told her. I am going somewhere else. I will let you know when I am better. Remember that I love you." She stopped talking to hear him say I love You too, but he couldn't say it back. She was throwing away her life, their life because of some feeling of stupid guilt.
"Say something stupid. I need to know you understand." She insisted.
"I don't understand. All I have is hope, but it won't make me feel better. This is goodbye Arya. Just like you want it." Gendry was silent for a moment and he could hear her crying on her end of the line. "I love you Arya Stark. More then you know." He clicked End on his phone
HE sat in his hospital room and cried. The tears streamed down his faced. This is how Myrcella and Aegon found him.
"Gendry what is wrong?" Myrcella asked as she rushed to his bedside grasping his hand.
"She is gone. Arya is gone." Gendry sobbed.