A/N: I bet you are all wondering what is happening. Two posts in two days! What is going on, right? I had most of this stuff hand written for the last few months while I figured out how to get my old files off my dead computer, so I have been transcribing them. And with that said I hope you like this chapter. Oh and I know I have never done this before but I suggest that you have the song Say Something by A Great Big World playing when you read the part of Arya at the end of this chapter. It was a HUGE inspiration to this one. Okay thats all. Enjoy.
Myrcella
She had thought that she would only have one family emergency for the day. When Jamie had left, left for good, she had stayed with Tyrion talking about their family.
"Ever since we were small children your mother wanted more then was normal. She wanted everything for herself." Tyrion said leaning heavily against the pillows of his bed.
"So she was always sick." Myrcella said.
"That sickness stems from our father. He is the sick one. Tywin Lannister is the one that caused all our problems. But never forget that at the time of your birth your mother loved you. She might be sick, but she loves you Myrcella." Tyrion said.
"She might have loved me once, but now I know what a real mothers love is. Whet ever Cerise Lannister calls love is not real love. We both know that." She gave him a sad smile. Then her phone chimed. She read the text and looked at Tyrion. "I have to go. Arya is missing and Gendry needs me."
"You love your brother, truly love him. That is good Myrcella. Remember that we are nothing without our family. And I do not mean just the one that we were born into. Family is something we create around us."
She ran to Gendrys room. He was trying to get out of bed and Aegon was nowhere to be seen. It took her an hour to calm him down, but she got her brother in bed. She had feared that he would need to be sedated. Then she had gotten word from Sansa. Aegon had finally come back and they walked out of the hospital together. Since they knew where Sansa was they were going with Ned to get her.
"Aegon, I feel like this was my entire fault. It's like everything around me has dissolved. I lost my mother, my brother; my best friend is running away. It is all my doing." She confessed as they waited to be picked up.
"Cella none of this is your doing. Never forget that. You might have lost the woman who gave birth to you, and Joff was never really a brother to you either. And Arya is not lost either. Think of all that you have gained. You have your father back, and a woman who loves you the way a mother should love her children. And you have two brothers who love you as well. Never forget that." He wrapped her in his arms.
"And I have you. I know I have said this before, but you are the best thing in my life and I would not be able to make it one day to the next without you." She kissed him and tried to drink all the love he felt for her in that kiss.
"I just want you to know that if you ever try to do what Arya is doing to Gendry I will punish you once I have you again." He said once the kiss was ended.
"I would never leave you. You are my family. We have to stick together. Tyrion told me family was not what we were born into, but what we make. And you are my family, until you get sick of me." She gave him a sad smile.
"I will never get sick of you My Cella."
Ned's car pulled up and they got in to give him directions to Sansa.
Sansa
She had been stranded up on the overlook with Aegons bike. She knew how to drive one, all the Stark children did. But they were all dirt bikes. She was not confidant enough to drive it. She took her phone and called her father and told him what had happened and asked if he would come for her. He said that he would and so she sat under the oak tree and waited.
It was not long before her father came with Aegon and Myrcella with him.
"Arya is gone." She said as they got out of the car.
"We know. Why did you let her go?" Her father demanded.
"She was crying daddy. I haven't seen her cry in so long. You always say the North is our strength. She needs some right now. Who am I to tell her not to go?" She walked past him and got into the backseat. Aegon got on the bike and pulled the helmet over his head. He had a fast word with Myrcella then took off. Ned and Myrcella got back into the car and they drove down into the city.
"I suppose you want to go to the hospital?" Her father asked in a detached, cold voice.
"Yes." Sansa said.
They drove there in silence. Sansa replayed the whole scene with Arya in her head. She tried to think of a way she could have kept her here, but she still came up with the same ending. When they pulled up to the hospital and Myrcella got out Sansa slid to the middle of the backseat and asked her father the most important question she had ever asked.
"Are you going after her?"
Ned hung his head until it rested on the steering wheel.
"No. She needs time. I know that. She is like Lyanna for a reason. The two of them have always needed time. My sister always ran when things got tough. Why should Arya be any different?" Ned was looking out the windshield like he was watching a ghost before his eyes. A memory was playing out in his head and Sansa had no idea what to say.
They sat in the car. Neither spoke. They were both thinking about their sisters. Neds long dead and Sansas alone and in pain.
"Will she come home daddy?"
"Where is home now?" Ned asked.
"With you and mother and the boys. No matter where we are, as long as we are together, surrounded by love, we are home." Sansa put her hand on her father's shoulder and he finally turned and looked at her.
"Home. You r idea of home sounds right. Gods I have to go to the house and tell your mother. I don't want to have to, but I know I must. I fear we will have a fight. I will have to say things to her that might make her hate me. Sansa she is not of the North, she has no idea of the power that land had over us. I think she will demand that we go after Arya. But I know if we do that we might lose her forever."
"Speaking from your own experiences?"
"Yes. Lyanna. When she found out about Jon she tried to go after his father. She said she loved him. I did not let her get far and she hated me until the day she died for that. Sometimes I think about what would have happened if I had just let her go. Jon would have had a mother who loved him and a father who knew he was here on this planet. But I let my pride get in the way and I lost my sister. You did what I was not strong enough to do all those years ago Sansa. You let her go." Her father started to cry.
She had never heard him talk so much about Lyanna. He always told Jon he could ask him anything about his mother, but he never did. Because to Jon Cat and Ned were his parents. Lyanna might have been the woman who gave birth to him, but she was just a story to him really.
"It's okay daddy." Sansa tried to hug him, but the car seat got in the way. "It's okay. It will all work out in the end. I swear it."
"I know you are right. Now go inside. Helen can drive you home when she and Myrcella leave for the night." She reached for the door handle and his hand settled over hers. "I love you Sansa. And look in on Gendry for me. Try to tell him what it is going to be like for him to love one of us Starks. On second thought I might have your mother do that. Once she is no longer mad at me." He gave her a sad smile.
"Okay daddy. I love you too."
Sansa got out of the car and walked the way to Sandors room. She opened the door and his eyes sprang opened.
"Sansa what is it? I have been going crazy here waiting for news. No one is getting back to my Texts."
"Arya is gone. I gave her my car and she is going home." Sansa walked to him then crawled into bed with the man she loved and let him hold her.
Bran
The night Arya left shocked him. He had not expected her to leave, not after what he had seen. After he and Jojen had found Meera and explained everything to her they had thought that the drama would be over. They expected for them all to have the happily ever after that they were promised.
"I did not see this coming." Jojen said as they sat in the backyard of the Stark house.
"I didn't think she would do something like this." Bran said. He watched his parents in the kitchen. For the first time in his life he had seen them fight with one another. They never argued, not really. It had always been playful banter between them, even if they didn't see eye to eye. This was something new, something he feared.
"Bran don't." Meera said, reading his mind. "None of this is your doing. Or you either Jojen. Arya just needs time. She has suffered more then the rest. She took a life. Let her go get her head on. You are always telling me Bran that the North is where you Starks get your strength. Let her go home and get strong. That is probably what your father is telling your mother. There is nothing that any of us can do for her."
"How do you know me so well?" Bran asked looking into her eyes.
She stood and came to sit on the ground beside his chair. She took his hand and smiled. It was a sad smile.
"I know you Bran. I know everything about you. Never forget that." Then she leaned up and pressed her lips to his. He relaxed against her and felt something that he had not known he was holding in flow out of him.
"Gods Meera, do you have to do that when I am right here? I am your brother and in my opinion I would rather not see you and Bran make out. I thing I have said that before." Jojen huffed.
"Stuff it Jojen." Meera said as she slid onto the lounge chair next to Bran.
Rickon came out of the house and sat on the ground by them. He looked frightened.
"Are mom and dad going to get divorced?" He asked once he was settled.
"No they are not." Bran said.
"Then why are they fighting? I have never seen them yell at each other." Little Rickon said.
"They are scared. They are scared for Arya. People day and do silly things when they are afraid." Meera said to Rickons serious face.
"It's not like she is not coming back. I think she will be back on Saturday. Gendry will go and bring her home. I think she will realize that she doesn't need Winterfell to be her home, as long as she has him." The three teens looked at the boy as if he was something from outer space.
"Rickon, when did you get so insightful?" Bran asked, amazed at his younger brother.
"Well I watch people. You all still think I am a baby, but I have eyes. I see. Arya loves Gendry like Father loves Mother. There is nothing that will keep her from him or him for her. They have shown that already. I know Arya killed someone to protect Gendry. And Tommen says that Gendry died for her. The only time you see two people willing to do that for each other is in story books. And I don't think that their story is over. They need the Happily Ever After, don't they?" Rickon looked at Bran for his thoughts. Bran knew what his baby brother was saying was right. He felt so stupid not to have realized all this himself.
"Rickon you amaze me. I am at a loss of r words. I think you have it all right." Bran said.
"From the mouth of babes." Jojen said, and then laughed.
Sandor
Sandor held Sansa and they flipped though the TV channels looking for something to watch. He found something that he knew would brighten Sansas mood. Something that he knew was a comfort to her. Titanic was on and they had just made the opening of the movie.
"Sandor, do you really want to watch this?" She asked from her position beside him.
"I will watch it if you do." He said, trying to make a joke out of the line you jump, I jump. He had never thought that was the best thing to say, but holding Sansa to him and thinking of the night of prom, he finally understood what those words meant.
When he had jumped off the stage to face Joffery the only thing he was thinking about was Sansa. He was thinking of her smile, the way she flushed when she was about to have an explosion of passion, the way that she tried to see the good in everyone. He had jumped off that stage and took a bullet for her.
"You know I now understand why Gendry did what he did for your sister." He said as they watched Leo dash along the wharf.
"What do you mean?" Sansa asked.
"When I faced Joffery, even when he shot me, all I could think about was you. I told you once he would pay for what he did to you. I wanted to kill him. For hurting you."
"That is in the past. I thought we had moved on from that." She shifted so she was looking down at him.
"So did I. But when he had stood there and threatened you I knew that the only way he would stop was to stop him. I f he had not shot me I would have killed him." He shrugged.
"Then you would have felt the way Arya feels over Jaqen. I am glad you didn't kill him." Sansa said.
"I understand why Arya did what she did." Sandor said, trying to get her to lie back beside him.
"What do you mean, you understand?" Sansa demanded.
"When the one person in the world you care about, more then your own life is hurt, threatened, something inside you opens and this other person comes out. That happened to me that night. You know how they called me Hound all those years?" He asked.
"Yes."
"That night that place where most of us keep locked tight opened and the true Hound was let loose. I was going to rip Joffery apart. I am just sad that I won't get the chance to kill him."
Sansa sat there and looked at his face. She was shocked and he watched her struggle to make a logical conclusion to his words.
"I never want to have the pain that Arya and Gendry are going through right now. I am glad that you didn't kill Joffery. But I don't think you understand what you nearly dying has done to me. I watched the blood, your life pump out of you. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. Not ever when Joffery attacked me. Then I knew I had some control about what could happen. That night I had none. I prayed to every god that had ever existed for you not to die. I never want to be that helpless again. And I think this is what Gendry is feeling. Helpless."
Sandor sat back and Sansa allowed him to pull her back to them to watch the movie. Kate was about to jump off the back of the ship. Sandor would never understand why she wanted to jump, but he was to afraid to ask Sansa now. She would give him another lecture and he was tired to sit through another one. So he lay there with the woman he loved and watched the sappy movie.
Sometime later they were both shaken awake by Helen. She was saying something about it being time for Sansa to go home. Sandor snapped awake. He looked to the screen and Kate was saying she would never let go of her promise. As Sansa slid from the bed he took her hand.
"I swear that I will never make you feel helpless. Never." He kissed her hand and then she leaned down and kissed him.
"Never forget this."
"I will always remember, especially when you make me watch this movie."
Sandor watched as she walked out of the room. He felt a swell of desire surge inside him. He wondered how long it would be before he and Sansa could make love again. He fell back asleep remembering their times together.
Gendry
He had not meant for the last thing he was going to say to Arya to be goodbye. They had been through to much shit for that to be it. And if she wasn't going to Winterfell where would she go? He picked up the phone and tried calling her back, but every time it just rang until it went to voicemail. The first message he left was the only one.
"Arya I love you and this is not goodbye. I want you to know that there will never be a goodbye for us. I love you. I will follow you to the depth of hell and back. I will be there for you no matter what. But I need you to want me to be there. You are my heart Arya. I cannot lose you. So this is not goodbye"
He hung up the phone. Helen came in the room. He could tell she knew about Arya.
"Mom she's gone." He choked on his words. It was as saying them out loud made them true.
"No one is ever gone until they no longer draw breath and their heats stops beating. She is still here honey. You just need to not give up on her." She sat on her son's bed and held him to her like she used to when he was a small child.
"But she left. She is going gods only know where."
"I think you get this attitude from your father. You have too much Baratheon in you." She chuckled as she stroked his head. "He thought I was lost to him when he was forced to marry Cersie. He gave up. And he was miserable the whole time. Me I never gave up. Yeah, it might have taken longer then I wanted, but in the end I got the man that always held my heart, didn't I?" She asked, tilting her sons face up to look him in the eye.
"Yeah mom, I guess you did. And now you both are happy." He smiled at her and wiped his face with the blanket.
"You are going to be able to go home tomorrow. I have done some talking with the doctors and nursing staff here. I have gotten their approval that you can travel, as long as you have a trained medical person with you. And it just so happens that I know one who is as eager to head up North as you are. I have talked your father into letting you take his plane and be in Winterfell when Arya gets there." She beamed at her son. Gendry sat there with his mouth opened.
"Mom. That's wow!" He hugged her. "But I don't know if she is going to Winterfell. She said she lied to Sansa."
"She didn't. She lied to you. She is going home. All girls try to find home when we get scared. I know I did. I hope you won't make the same mistake as your father and go after the girl you love. They discharge you at three tomorrow. You and Dany will be on the plane by five." She kissed his head and walked to the door. "I want you to be fully rested. That is why I talked to the doctors about giving you a sleeping pill. You will need rest in the days to come."
Arya
She was driving on Highway 101 along the coast. She had already passed San Francisco and had decided to get onto I-5 for the rest of the drive. At first she had decided not to go to Winterfell, but now with every mile she drove North, the more she needed to go there. When she had first left she had been called by Gendry for an hour straight. She had not wanted to talk to him so she had turned off her phone. Two hours into her trip she had called her father. That was a conversation she would have rather not had, but knew that she must.
"Arya are you out of your mind? Running away is never the answer to the problem. Do you realize how many people you have hurt and how many are worried?" Ned had yelled at her.
She had not known what to say so she said the only thing that she could.
"I'm sorry daddy. I need to go home. I need to go home. I'm sorry."
After said this for the tenth time in a row she thought that it had all sunk in. Ned had been silent for a long moment then came back on the line.
"No Arya, you do not need to be sorry. I should be sorry. I should have realized that things were not alright for you. I failed you sweetie. Take all the time you need. But I just have two requests. One, drive safe. You still don't have a license and I really would hate to have to bail you out of jail for your driving. And the other is could you try to come back in time for Sansa's graduation and Robert and Helens wedding? That's in a month."
"I will daddy. I hope that I am better by then. I love you daddy."
She had gone back to driving and sat there fiddling with the radio. Every song that came on was either to happy, sappy or to spot on for how she was feeling. She was coming over Mt. Shasta when the oldies station she had on started playing We've Got Tonight. Arya had to turn off the road. It felt like someone was squeezing her heart. She couldn't breathe. She clutched her chest and felt the key that Gendry had given here right before the first time they had made love. Her head swam and she couldn't see because she was crying. She sat and sobbed as the song played. Once it had ended she turned the station.
The song that came on next was not an improvement. It was Say Something by a Great Big World. The melancholy notes of the piano filled her with such sorrow and longing. The words resonated in her. She felt like a coward now for running away. In a way she was giving up on Gendry and the love she had for him and the love he had for her. She knew that he loved her, more then life it's self. He had proven it twice now. He had even died to protect her.
As the song ended she picked up her IPod and found the song and turned it on. She had to have it playing, as a reminder of what she was doing, what she was giving up when she made this call.
He answered on the first ring.
"Arya where are you? I've been discharged. I can come to y9ou. We can go away for a while together. We can leave it all behind. Just tell me where you are."
"Gendry I am not giving up on us." She said, and then took a shaky breath.
"I don't understand."
"I'm not going to give up on us. I just need time. I know that you did everything for me. Everything. You died for me. And then I killed for you. But I have to be honest. Sometimes it hurts to much to be around you right now. I look at you and all I see is your dead body and Jaqens dead body and I am standing above you, holding a gun. I dream that, every night since the shooting. Most nights they don't make it to you in time and I am left there standing over your dead body. Then I wake up and I realize that I have killed you and I have had you shot and if we never would have meant nothing like this would have happened to you and it kills me to know that it is my love for you that is the cause of all this pain." Her voice broke and she was hyperventilating.
The song was in the background.
Say something, I'm giving up on you.
"Arya don't talk like this. Come back to me. To us. If we are together we can work it out. Arya come back to me. I love you." His voice was getting thick and she could imagine him with tears in his eyes, threatening to spill.
"Gendry…"
You are the one that I love and I am saying good-bye.
"Gendry I have to not be around anyone for a few days. That's all I need. But I just wanted you to know that I am not giving up on you. I love you."
"I'm going to fight for you. Just like I always have. I am not going to make this easy on you. I know that you are going home. I will be there when you arrive. I will hold you, make love to you and remind you that everything that I have done, everything you have done was for this, for us."
And anywhere I would have followed you.
She let out a breath and let one out again. She was so afraid to speak. She was afraid she would tell him to come, or worse afraid to tell him that it was the end of them if he did. So she just sat there and let the music wash over her. She was dimly aware of him calling out to her on the phone.
"Arya, Arya. Say something."
"Okay." She hung up the phone. She didn't know if she was saying okay to his plea or saying okay to his idea to be in Winterfell when she got there, but she had said the only thing she could think of to say.
She sat behind the wheel of Sansas car and cried. She was finally able to let go of what had happened. She felt like a weight had been lifted from her. In that moment she realized that Gendry loved her and it didn't matter to him that she was a killer. He loved her despite it all. He would be waiting for her once she got home. Now she had a reason to make it North. She knew that the man who had died for her would be there waiting for her. The man she had killed for would be there and he would always be there for her.
With renewed hope and a reason to finish the drive she pulled back onto the road and headed home.
A/N again. I know I had one at the start, but I wanted to say that I think I am almost done with this story. If the gods are willing I should have less then five chapters left, depending on the lengths. If they are long chapters then they will be cut down. But I just want you all to know that the end is here and I will not rest until it is over. (well I will rest, but I will not stop till its finished. From now on. No more children allowed to touch my laptop!)
Remember to review! I really want to know what you all think of the way things have turned out for everyone.