Hello guys! This was a quick update! It's a very short chapter that I wrote during a very boring class but I hope you enjoy it! :D

His face hurt. It hurt a lot. Specially his jaw and his nose, though he wasn't sure if he could feel his cheek. Bloody hells! Who would have thought that such a little thing as Arya Stark would have such a steel-like fist?!

Gendry took his hand to his nose and found blood in it when he removed it. He was shocked. He knew that Arya was mad, (ok, very mad) but he had thought that he would push him away or something, like she always did when she was younger and she got pissed off with him.

But she no longer is that little girl, Gendry realized while he stared at the blood in his hand. Everyone knows that. She's like the bloody Stranger now.

He got up from the ground, shaking the dirt off his messy clothes, and he wiped the blood off his face. His nose wasn't broken, but he didn't care about that anyways.

He had been so relieved when he had seen her come back. For weeks, he thought he had really lost her forever this time. He couldn't sleep, he had nightmares of a raven coming from the Twins warning about Arya's death, murderer during the attempt of her crazy, suicidal plan. He couldn't eat, he couldn't even think properly! He thought he was going mad with each day that passed and he looked at the horizon outside the walls of Winterfell and she was not there. He remembered how he had had the change of going with her, he could have talked her out of her stupid idea on the way to the Twins! But he, being a stupid bull as he was, hadn't done anything. He had just stood there and watched as she rode off.

He had thought about taking one of the horses and going after her, but he hadn't for two reasons. He was afraid of two things that could happen at the Twins. One was watching her die, his heart would shatter in pieces if Arya were killed and he was there unable to stop it from happening. His other fear, however, was that his guilt would haunt him to madness. Guilt of what happened years ago…

He raised his head then, and he saw the people watching him with concern and shock after what had happened with Arya and him. No one had expected the young lady to punch him, much less to punch him with so much anger! Sansa Stark sighed and ran off chasing after her little sister, hoping to see what was wrong. Gendry glared at everyone else, and they all took their eyes off him…

… All of them except one man. At first, he thought that he had never seen that man before in Winterfell, and he frowned. Then he recognized him, and he could feel the blood draining from his face, making him pale. He just felt plain confused, and then… then he felt furious.

It was that man, Jaqen Whatever-The-Fuck-His-Family-Name-Was. The assassin, the man that had helped them escape Harrenhal… The man that had spent a great deal of time with Arya when they were prisoners, whispering the-gods-knew-what in the shadows…

He walked towards the man, who didn't move even an inch when he saw the young man coming. Gendry stopped in front of him, and shot daggers through his eyes to the other man. The braavosi didn't even seem to care, his face was like cold hard marble.

"What are you doing here?" Gendry hissed.

"A man was doing his job" was the simple answer.

"Oh really? And what was that?" Gendry spat. "We haven't seen you in years, you just left after you took us away from that place. Why have you come back now? Why were you with Arya?"

Jaqen raised his eyebrows with curiosity. Gendry found it annoying, and extremely so.

"A boy suddenly cares? A boy asks why a man was in the company of a girl?"

"I always care about anything that has to do with her" Gendry said. He really hated the way that that man had of speaking and referring of himself and other people.

Jaqen looked skeptic. "Really? A boy cares about a girl? But a boy does not seem to care much about what happens to a girl. A boy left her alone."

Wait, what?! Who was this guy anyway to come and say to him that he did not care about Arya?! Gendry wanted so badly to punch him in the face, but he restrained himself. He knew that the man was dangerous.

"What she wanted to do was stupid and suicidal" he said, shaking.

"So a boy left a girl to die alone."

"I didn't…!"

"Yes, a boy did. A boy knew that a girl would be in danger, and a boy was too coward to do what he should have done if he were a real man."

"How dare you…?!"

"A man dares, because it is true" for the first time since the beginning of that conversation, Jaqen seemed annoyed and displeased. He looked down on Gendry like he was some worthless little insect. He took a step closer, intimidating Gendry with his gaze. The smith had to admit that the braavosi man did have a dangerous halo around him. "A boy wants to know what a man was doing with a girl? A man was doing what a boy was not able to do."

Those words hit Gendry just like Arya's fist had hit him in the face, or maybe even worse. His first reaction was being infuriated and indignant; he wanted to yell at the man and lunch him and kick him out of that place... But he couldn't kick someone out of a castle that was not his.

His second reaction was feeling pain at the realization of how right Jaqen H'ghar was. It was true, the man had been doing for Arya was Gendry couldn't do. It had always been like that, since years ago. Back at Harrenhal, Jaqen had killed for Arya, he had helped her and her friends escape... He had given Arya the freedom that Gendry couldn't. And now he had protected her while she carried out her revenge, a moment in which she needed help and Gendry had not been able to see it.

He swallowed hard, trying to put his thoughts in order. It was very difficult, with the pain and fury and shame and guilt that he was feeling. And also, envy. He remembered the day that Arya had said that she needed Jaqen. She had said it with such desperation in her voice... It felt like something was eating Gendry's intestines.

"You also left her alone" he muttered, trying to come up with an excuse to not feel like such a huge little shit. "You went to whatever hole you came from and left her alone."

"A man proposed her to go with him, but she said she had to find her family" Jaqen hissed. It was unnatural to sense such sudden anger in the foreign man's voice. "And even then, she had a man's help, help with which she travelled to Braavos, to a safe place! It was in Braavos where, without her knowing it, a man was watching over her day and night, training her, making sure a girl was alright, until her family came and took her away. Then a man let her go, and then travelled to Westeros to see with a man's own eyes that a girl was happy and safe. And what did a man find? A cowardly boy that would let a lovely girl die a terrible death."

Jaqen took a step forward, and Gendry took a step back against his will. Jaqen grinned.

"Perhaps a man should turn a cowardly boy into an offering for the Red God?"

Gendry paled. He had already had his share of bad experiences in name of that fucking red god, and only the memory of Dragonstone almost made his tremble. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to defend himself, when Sandor arrived at their side with a suspicious look on his face.

"Everythung alright here?" he rasped, eyeing both men.

Jaqen raised his eyebrows at Gendry, waiting for him to answer. Irritated, Gendry answered between his teeth:

"Yes, milord. Everything's just fine..."

Sandor didn't appear to believe it. That man could sniff lies, Gendry was sure of it.

"You know each other?"

"We've met before" this time, Jaqen answered. Sandor didn't seem happy with him, Gendry could sense it.

"Look, whoever the fuck you are, just know that I don't like you" Sandor rasped, and Gendry felt a faint sensation of relieve upon hearing those words. "I don't trust you, though the little she-wolf has told us to do so. But I don't like all that shit of changing faces. If you cross the line, just know that Arya can go bugger herself for all I care, because I will kill you. Understood?"

Instead of threatened or scared, Jaqen seemed highly amused an about to burst out laughing. Maybe if Gendry was lucky, the man would do just that and the abound would kill him. But he didn't laugh.

"Of course" he said. And without saying another word, he turned around an left, leaving a very annoyed Sandor and a very angry Gendry behind.

"I hate him" the young man muttered, and Sandor stared down at him, looking displeased.

"Just so you know, I don't like you either" the huge scarred man said. "From now on, if I were you I would be more careful around Arya, if you don't want to end with something worse than that bloody nose. She could stick you with the pointy end."

Then he walked away, leaving Gendry alone, and incredibly confused but with the certain knowledge that, regarding Arya Stark, he had completely screwed up everything.