I apologize in advance for this chapter.
43. Now We Stand At Heaven's Doors.
Sansa almost jumped up and down of excitement on her seat in the private jet. She was sitting next to the window and she looked out through the glass, watching with glimmering and wide-open eyes the military airport of King's Landing. She couldn't wait for the jet to take off and finally get her far away from that place, back to the North! She couldn't stop smiling. She couldn't believe that she was finally in that jet, with her family, ready to leave that hell of a life behind.
She hadn't spent a lot of time packing, since she was only supposed to stay in the North for a few days. Besides, once she reached the North she was going to almost immediately leave the country and go into hiding with her brothers and her nephew to some place safe, where Joffrey could never find them until he was finally locked behind bars for his crimes, and his accomplices too. So because she had to basically run out of the country, Sansa had only packed a few essentials and nothing else; she could replace everything else once she was away from there.
Next to her was seated her mother, who looked at her with a big smile on her face. Catelyn was happy to see her daughter so excited. She raised a hand to touch Sansa's auburn hair, so soft and identical to hers. When Sansa felt her mother's hand in her hair she turned to face her, returning Catelyn's smile.
"Are you happy?" Catelyn asked, though the answer was obvious. Sansa quickly nodded.
"Yes," she said. "I can't believe this is finally happening..."
She felt like she could almost shed tears of joy. She was escaping! She was going to be free! Well, she wouldn't exactly be free, because going into hiding wasn't exactly having a lot of freedom, but at least she wouldn't have to spend every day with that monster that had been tormenting her, hitting her, threatening her, forcing her to marry him... And before long he would be gone forever, and she would be able to come back and have a happy, peaceful life. It was all going to be perfect...
Though it wasn't as perfect yet as she would have wanted it to be. The original plan consisted in Sandor leaving with her, but he had had to stay behind. Sansa had been the one to tell him that Joffrey had not given him permission to fly to the North with her because he needed Sandor in the capital with him. After Sansa told him that, Sandor had become so furious that Sansa had feared that he would hit Joffrey and strangle him with his own hands. But Sandor had calmed down, and then he had told her that as soon as he could he would catch a plane behind Joffrey's back and meet her in the North, and then he would go with her to whatever place on Earth her brother sent them to. Sansa had smiled, cheered up by the thought that she and Sandor would be reunited soon and that they would run off together. That morning, when he came to her room to tell that her brother had come to pick her up, he had kissed her good bye. It had been a short and passionate kiss, that had been at the same time bitter and sweet. Bitter because it was a good bye kiss. Sweet because it was a "we will be together soon" kiss...
Sansa didn't realize that she had slipped deep into some corner of her mind while thinking of Sandor, but she snapped out of it when her mother called her name for the fifth time. Sansa shook her head to clear her mind and found her mother staring at her.
"Sorry," she apologized with a shy smile, suddenly feeling embarrassed because she had been ignoring her mother while thinking of Sandor. She blushed, and a knowing look took hold of Catelyn's blue eyes.
"You were thinking of him?" she asked, though again the answer was obvious. Sansa couldn't help but chuckle, and she blushed even more until her face matched her hair. She nodded.
"Yes," she said. It still felt awkward, talking to her mother about Sandor. Sansa supposed that it felt like that because she had kept the relationship hidden from everybody for such a long time, and it felt odd to have her whole family knowing about it now. It was extremely relieving that they all seemed to accept it, though she guessed that they would have no problem accepting anyone who wasn't Joffrey.
"I'm sorry that he had to stay behind," Catelyn said, and Sansa shrugged and sighed.
"Well, Joffrey had to ruin the day in some way or another," she said. "But Sandor will join us as soon as he can."
"You will be together again soon," her mother told her while smiling, and Sansa smiled too.
"Yeah, I know..."
"I thought he was such a scary man when I first saw him," Catelyn commented then. "I can see now that he is a nice person, in his own way... But it shocked me that you were together. He doesn't look like your type."
After her mother said that, Sansa laughed wholeheartedly. It was true, Sandor definitely wasn't her type, but who cared about types anymore?!
"I know," she agreed, "but I love him all the same."
"And he loves you. He practically looked at you like you were a goddess!" Catelyn exclaimed, and Sansa giggled like a school girl and blushed even more.
Before Catelyn could say anything else to Sansa, her phone started ringing in her purse. Catelyn found her phone and picked it up, answering the call.
"Hello? Bran! No, we are still in King's Landing. We will be leaving soon, though. How is Rickon, is he around there? Tell him that the house better be in a good condition when I get there, or he will be sorry!" she said in a half-serious half-joking tone.
Catelyn continued speaking to her son, and Sansa looked around the jet and looked at Robb and Talisa, who were sitting together in the other side of the jet. Both of them were also talking on the phone, Robb with Jon and Talisa with Ned. Everybody wanted to wish them a good trip. Sansa had spoken with them before, so she was the only one sitting quietly on her seat while the others talked and talked.
Sansa had her own phone in her hand, but it was silent. She had a new phone that her brother had given to her that morning when he picked her up, because the old one was being spied on by Joffrey. She had texted the new number to Sandor right after she got inside the car after leaving the mansion. She couldn't help but look down at its screen, and she wished that Sandor would call. She wanted to hear his voice one more time before the plane took off and she had to be stuck there for hours before it landed in the North. She couldn't call Sandor, because she did not want to risk calling him while he was in Joffrey's presence or some other Lannister. She had to put her phone away back inside her purse to resist the urge of calling him.
I'll see him soon, she reminded herself as she leaned back on the seat and went back to looking outside the window. I'll speak with him then. I have all the time in the world to hear his voice. I won't have to miss him anymore.
She couldn't wait for that day to finally come. She just needed to have a little bit more of patience...
Joffrey was in an oddly good mood that day. Sandor couldn't remember the last time when he had seen his boss looking to completely and utterly happy, he was like a small child that had just been given a box full of candy. Sandor wondered what made the prick smile so much, but he noticed that he had been in a rather good and strange mood in the last three days. Sandor had looked miserable when he watched Sansa leaving the mansion and entering the car that took her away, but when that happened Joffrey's smile just became even wider than it had been before. It only made Sandor frown and feel more confused than ever before. He watched as the little shit went back inside the mansion and practically strutted around the hallways.
What the fuck is wrong with him? Sandor asked himself. He can't be so happy that Sansa left. She's going to be with her family, that's his worst nightmare.
Sandor stopped trying to understand the reasons behind most of Joffrey's actions, and he also stopped trying to understand his mood and emotions. There was no way in hell that anyone could ever understand a mind as twisted as Joffrey Baratheon's, and Sandor wasn't about to give himself a headache by trying to be the one to figure it all out.
He found Joffrey in his office, drinking a glass of wine. A bottle of the finest Dornish red was on the desk in front of him. Sandor raised his eyebrows when he saw that.
Is he celebrating? What the fuck?
Sandor knocked on the open door to announce his presence in the office, and Joffrey raised his gaze from the papers that he was reading to look at Sandor. His expression still glowed with satisfaction, but Sandor's expression was bored and annoyed.
He better have had a good reason to keep me here and make me watch as the little bird went away to find her freedom without me, Sandor thought. He was glad that Sansa was already out of there even if it was without him, though, but it annoyed him to no end that Joffrey had made them be away from each other again.
"Yes, Clegane?" Joffrey asked when he saw the bodyguard standing in the entrance of his office.
"Do you need me for anything today, sir?" Sandor asked. He figured that there was something really important that he had to do that day for Joffrey, because why would the Vice President had made him stay there instead of telling to go with Sansa, as always?
To his surprise, Joffrey shook his head and shrugged.
"No," he answered, leaving Sandor even more confused than he had already been. He couldn't help but frowning.
"Then why did you tell me to stay?" he wondered, trying not to make his voice sound full of spite. He was quickly getting angered.
Fucking little shit, he muttered in his mind. There must be a reason, he couldn't have just told me to stay to fuck up our plans!
Again, Joffrey shrugged, leaving Sandor even more perplexed.
"Just because," was his carefree answer. "You were of no use to me in the North. Now, you can have the day off for yourself. In fact, take all the days off that you want."
What the fuck?!
Joffrey went back to reading the documents in front of him, so he didn't get to see the way in which Sandor clenched his jaw and turned his hands into trembling fists. Sandor wanted to close the distance between himself and Joffrey and smash the man's face against the wooden desk, but that would be counterproductive. He took a deep breath and calmed down. Joffrey had given the day off to himself. Good. That was very, very good...
"Thank you," he rasped before leaving the office. He meant that 'thank you', for Joffrey had just left the doors open for him to finally leave that place and get the hell away from there to reunite with his little bird.
Sandor hurried to his room. He changed into normal clothes and then he took all the money that he had, which wasn't much but was enough, and his passport and shoved them into his pockets, and then he left the room again with not so much as a last glance at it. He didn't pack anything because he couldn't walk out of the mansion with a suitcase without looking suspicious, and he didn't care to take anything with him. He could replace everything once little bird and him were far away from there.
He left the mansion and took one of the cars, the black Mercedes that was always at his disposition. He didn't waste any time and he quickly got to the road in direction to the airport, leaving the Red Keep mansion and Joffrey and all the fucking Lannisters behind. He wasn't planning of ever going back.
Bugger them all, he thought as he drove away, and he couldn't help but smile a little bird when he realized what he was doing. He was leaving! He was sending it all to hell, the life that he had always known, to go with Sansa and always be with her. That was the only kind of life that he wanted to have.
Finally, he thought after recalling the last two years. His life had been a fucking emotional roller coaster ever since he met Sansa that night so long ago at a concert that he did not want to go to, but he wouldn't change it for anything. Sansa was finally free, and she wanted him to be with her. What could be better than that?
Sandor drove to the normal airport instead of to the military airport because he knew that there was no way in hell that he would reach that place in time before the jet took off. Maybe it had already left. Just to be sure he picked up his phone from his pocket. He knew that he should r be on the phone while he drove, but that was an emergency. He quickly dialed Sansa's new number and out the phone in speaker, leaving it on the passenger's seat while it rang.
Sansa had closed her eyes when suddenly her own phone started ringing, startling her. She opened her eyes and fished the cell phone from inside her purse, and she gasped when she called who the caller was. A huge smile took over her expression, and she quickly pressed the green button on the screen and took the phone to her ear.
"Sandor!" she exclaimed full of joy, making everybody look at her.
"Little bird," she heard him say at the other side of the line. Oh, she had just seen him less than two hours ago, and she was already missing him so much! "I thought you wouldn't pick up. Hasn't your flight left yet?"
"No, we are still here... How are you? Are you driving?" she asked when she heard the sound of cars passing by in a road.
"Yeah, I'm heading to the airport," Sandor said then, making Sansa gasp again.
"To the airport? Why?"
"Your stupid husband gave me the day off, so I'm not staying in that mansion for another fucking moment. I'll get a ticket on the first flight to the North available, and once I get there I'll go see you and I'll kiss you senseless, little bird, you'll see."
"Wait, you are going to the airport to fly to the North? Now?!"
"Yes."
"Wait!" she put Sandor on hold and turned her head to look at her brother, who had just gotten off the phone from speaking with Jon. "Robb! How soon are we leaving?"
Robb checked the time on his watch. "In about ten minutes. I don't think your boyfriend will make it here in time, we really need to leave," he said with an apologetic look to his sister.
Sansa was disappointed, but she knew that Robb was right. They couldn't wait more, and the drive from the Red Keep mansion to the military airport of King's Landing was a long one. It had taken them an hour to get there, and they hadn't had any traffic. Sandor wouldn't have that privilege.
Then suddenly an idea struck her mind, making her eyes go wide. She knew it was crazy, and she knew that her brother would probably say no to it, but she had to try. She but her bit a little with hesitation before asking:
"Can I go with him?"
As she had deduced, Robb stared at her with wide and confused eyes.
"What?"
"Please! I know it's crazy and stupid but I will be biting my nails off if I have to wait to get there to see him!" she said with a pleading tone, begging her brother to listen to her. She could see her mother looking at her from the corner of her eyes too. "Please, Robb, please."
"Are you crazy? No! How are you going to take a plane with him alone? What if they see you?"
"So what? He is my bodyguard, everyone is used to seeing me with him everywhere by now! And if Joffrey finds out, then screw him, he can't do anything to me anymore once I'm in that plane!" she said, surprising everyone with her use of the word 'screw'.
"What? Sansa, no," she heard Sandor saying in the phone, but only she could hear him. "Sansa, stay with your family! You are much safer in that jet! Sansa!"
She didn't listen to him, and she hung up the phone after quickly telling him that she would call him back soon. She continued looking at Robb with pleading eyes, and he looked at her with complete seriousness, about to say 'no' to her request once more. Their mother spoke then.
"Let her go, Robb," Catelyn said, surprising both of her children. "If that is what she wants then you can't stop her. She's more than capable of making her own decisions."
Robb hesitated, but finally he sighed and rolled his eyes, defeated. He couldn't say no when both his mother and his sister were asking him to say yes.
"Okay," he muttered. "But call Bran to tell him when your flight leaves, and call me as soon as you get off the plane, understood? I'll have someone waiting in the airport the whole time so that you can leave as soon as you get there."
Sansa squealed, feeling immensely happy that Robb had allowed her to go. She agreed to all his requests, knowing that it was only fair after all. She quickly gathered all her things and stood up from her seat. She hugged her mother, who was still smiling at her.
"Thank you so much, Mom," she said, thanking her mother for helping her. "You are the best."
"You deserve to be happy," her mother told her, and kissed her cheek. "I love you."
"I love you too, Mom."
Then she went to where Robb was sitting and hugged him. He hugged her back, and Sansa kissed him in her cheek as well.
"Thank you," she said to him, and Robb grinned.
"If that damn bodyguard doesn't take care of you properly, I'll kick his ass when I see him!" he exclaimed, making Sansa laugh.
"You wish!" she exclaimed, amused. She hugged Robb again. "I love you, Robb."
"I love you too, sis," he said. "Take care, all right?"
"I will," she said, and then she hugged Talisa good bye. "Good bye!" she said as she made her way to get off the jet.
"Good bye!" her family exclaimed after her.
Sansa got off the jet, helped by the flight attendant that was at the top of the stairs that led to the runway. One of Robb's bodyguards went with her to the car, which was still there. Robb had quickly ordered his bodyguard to accompany Sansa at all times, and his chauffeur would drive her all the way to the airport. She got inside the car, unable to stop smiling, and she out on her seatbelt. After the bodyguard got into the passenger's seat and told the chauffeur where to go, they left, making their way to the airport. Sansa knew that her probably couldn't see her, but she waved goodbye to her family while looking at the windows of the jet. She didn't stop looking at the jet while they were still close enough. She read the words that were on the side of the small private jet and that she hadn't seen before: Frey Airlines.
Those words were the first thing that she stopped seeing after the car drove away from the runway. Eventually she stopped seeing the jet when they left the military airport. They were in the road heading directly to the airport a few minutes later, and Sansa could see how the jet came back into her view when it took off. She watched in see as it rose to the sky, becoming smaller and smaller the higher that it raised towards the clouds.
I'll see you soon, she thought as she watched the jet disappear in the distance.
Then, Sansa took out her phone. She had to call Sandor and tell him that she was heading in his direction.
There was turbulence ever since the jet took off. Robb took a deep breath to relax. He hated flying, but he had to do it so often that he had gotten used to it. He had chosen the jet to be from Frey Airlines because they built the best private jets and usually he was more comfortable in them than in other jets and planes, but the turbulence was still there. Talisa noticed his discomfort and smiled, amused. He saw her from the corner of his eye and grunted.
"It's not funny."
"It is," she said, smiling.
Robb couldn't stop thinking about Sansa. He wasn't sure if it had been the wisest decision to let her go, but he knew that she would be in capable hands. Besides, his mother was right, he couldn't tell Sansa what to do and what not to do, she was a grown woman completely capable of making her own choices. If she wanted to fly with Sandor Clegane and that was going to make her happier and feel better, the. Who was he to say no? He couldn't help but feel nervous, of course, because he didn't know how safe Sansa would be. He hoped that everything would be alright and there weren't any problems.
"You are worried," Talisa said, noticing the lines in Robb's now frowned forehead. He nodded.
"Sansa is my little sister, and this city is dangerous. This whole situation is dangerous, of course in worried."
"She will be all right."
"I know. I still worry, though."
"Well, that's natural."
More turbulence. Robb hissed, and Talisa took his hand.
"Damn it," he muttered between gritted teeth. "I hate flying."
"Don't be such a baby," Talisa chuckled, and he glared at his wife. He couldn't help but laugh later as well.
"This is pathetic," he said, shaking his head. "I never liked flying. I should take the train the next time, I like it better."
"It takes more hours to get to the North in a train," Talisa pointed out.
"I don't care, I will take the train. This thing moves too much."
One of the two flight attendants that were in the jet with them came over to where they were seated and asked them if they wanted anything to drink. Talisa asked for water and Robb asked for whiskey. He needed something to make his mind foggy during the flight. He really, really hated flying.
When the flight attendant brought him the glass of whiskey he almost drank it all in a single gulp, but he left a little bit, a he put it down on the small table in front of him. He sighed and looked at his wife, and then at his mother who was now sitting alone on the other side of the jet. Catelyn didn't like flying either, but she didn't hate it as much as her son did.
"What are we going to do once we get there?" Talisa asked then softly, wondering what their fate was going to be.
"We will stay a day in Winterfell and pretend that everything is normal," Robb told her, taking his mind off the turbulence for a second to answer to the question. "Then Sansa, Ned, Bran and Rickon will take a night flight to Europe. I was thinking of sending them to Ireland, and then start moving them around Europe so that they can't be found. Just in case."
"Ok," his wife whispered, not finding anything to disagree with.
"Also... I want you and my mother to go with them," Robb said then. "I don't want you here, it will not be safe."
"What? No! I'm staying," Talisa protested then, making Catelyn Stark look over in their direction with curiosity, wondering what was going on. "I'm not leaving you."
"Talisa, it will be dangerous," Robb insisted. "I'm sending my siblings and our son away to keep them safe, and I want you both to go too. You should be with Ned, he needs me more than you do."
Talisa was going to protest, but she knew that her husband was right, Ned did need her. He was just a child, and he needed his mother. His whole world was about to turn upside down, and it would not be fair for him to be alone.
"Ok," she agreed then, and she softly kissed her husband on the lips. "But just because of Ned."
The next half an hour of the flight were somewhat peaceful. They passed in silence, save for the low music that played through the speakers of the jet. It was relaxing music, and it helped Robb distract himself a little. The turbulence did not go away; in fact, it became worse. The clenched his jaw and did his best to not protest.
He closed his eyes, wanting to try to get some sleep. Like that the flight would go fast quickly...
The song that had been playing for the last three minutes ended and was replaced for a new one. The new song called his attention, because the sound was louder than that of the previous songs.
"And who are you, the proud lord said,
That I must bow so low..."
Robb frowned, and he opened his right eye. He did not know the song, but the female voice was so familiar... Beautiful, soft and strong at the same time, almost hypnotic. He would recognize that voice anywhere.
"Only a cat with a different coat,
That's all the truth I know..."
"That's Sansa," Catelyn was the first one to say out loud, though everyone else had already noticed it.
"I had never heard that song," Talisa said, listening with interest. "It's not from one of her albums. Is it a new single?"
Robb hoped it wasn't. He liked his sister's singing, and he recognized that she had great talent, but he did not like the song. It wasn't that he didn't like the lyrics or the melody, he just didn't like the feeling that the song gave him. It was so... dark. It made him feel a hole in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't put his finger in what it was that was making him have such a bad feeling, but he wasn't liking it. He want liking it at all.
"In a coat of gold, or a coat if red,
A lion still had claws..."
"The Rains of Castamere," Catelyn murmured, recognizing the lyrics. All the color was drained from her face, and Robb frowned when he saw his mother's expression change like that.
"Mother, what's wrong?" he asked.
"That's a Lannister song," his mother said.
Right after she pronounced those words, the jet shook violently, making them scream. It wasn't turbulence, it was actual shaking. Bags fell to the floor, and Robb's glass of whiskey fell to the floor as well and shattered in tiny pieces. The only thing that prevented the three of them to fall off their seats was the seat belts that they were wearing. The two flight attendants did scream as they fell down.
"What the hell?!" Robb exclaimed, and the jet shook again, even more violently than before.
The lights flickered. Talisa and Catekyb screamed, while Robb held on to his seat to try to keep himself steady. He was too scared to scream. He felt the hole in the pit of his stomach spreading all through his body. His heart was in his throat, beating a thousand times per minute.
"And mine are long, and sharp my lord,
As long and sharp as yours..." Sansa continued singing through the speaking of the shaking jet.
"What is happening?!" Catelyn wailed, panic taking over her.
"I don't know!" Robb shouted. However, in the back of his mind, he knew exactly what was happening...
Joffrey, he thought. He could practically see the man in his mind, laughing hysterically after having fooled them all. Because that was what he had done, he had fooled them. Just when the Starks thought that they were going to win, they found out that they had already lost the game.
Robb wanted to scream full of rage. He had been defeated. He had wanted to protect his family, and in the process he had led them directly to the wolf's den!
"And so he spoke, and so he spoke,
That lord of Castamere..." Sansa continued singing, her voice providing an eerie feeling to the whole situation. She could be heard over the screams, over the noise of things falling to the floor and shattering against it, over the noise of the screaming engines of the jet. It was like torture.
"Mayday!" a male voice could be heard shouting panicked from behind the closed door of the cockpit: the pilot. "Mayday!"
The jet shook her again. The violent moment made Robb hit his head against the window beside him, making him dizzy. Blood ran down his face from an open cut in his temple. He felt his was spinning, and the screams of his mother and his wife and the flight attendants seemed distant and muffled for a couple of seconds...
The jet shook yet again, and suddenly it baked forward, making the front of the jet point towards the ground thousands of feet below them and the tail raise higher towards the sky. At Robb's side, Talisa screamed and started crying completely panicked.
"Oh, God, please!" she cried. "No! Please, no!"
"Yes now the rains weep o'er his hall,
and not a soul to hear..."
The jet started nose diving towards the ground, falling from the sky at an increasing speed. The sound of the engines was so loud that it was almost deafening, the shaking of the jet was so violent that everything became blurry to their eyes. As they fell, Robb somehow came back to his full senses again, and the reality of what was happening hit him like a truck at full speed.
We are going to die, he realized, almost too late. His wife's and his mother's scream were tearing at his soul, and he wished he could somehow make them disappear from them and take them somewhere safe. It was what he had been trying to do, and he had failed miserably. At least Sansa got out. She's safe, she'll live another day.
It was strange, how peaceful that thought made him feel all of a sudden. The fear was still there, and the panic, and the desperation and the anger, but at least the was hope in his heart for his sister, the only one who would survive that tragedy. At least he had succeeded at keeping her safe...
"And so he spoke, and so he spoke,
That lord of Castamere..."
What sick game do you think you are playing, Joffrey? Robb asked in his mind as the her kept falling down. One look through the window revealed how awfully close the ground was, becoming closer and closer with each fraction of a second that passed. He couldn't stop listening to his sister singing in the radio, though.
One that I'm winning, Joffrey's voice replied to him in his mind.
Robb hugged his screaming wife, and she held on to him as if it was for dear life. There was nothing left to do after all. Robb extended one of his arms towards his mother, who was sitting alone and terrified.
Mother, please, he thought, wanting her to hold his hand. He didn't want her to be alone in that final moment.
"Mother..." he murmured, his voice low and weak and almost inaudible under all the noise from the falling jet.
But Catelyn heard him. She opened her eyes, which were swollen and scared and full of tears. She looked at Robb and then at his hand, and the she took it, holding it tight with her own trembling hand.
"Mayday! Mayday!" they heard the shouting coming from the cockpit again. "We are going down! We are going down!"
Robb closed his eyes. The end came too quickly, almost taking them by surprise. None of them felt a thing.
"And now the rains weep o'er his hall,
and not a soul to hear..."
The jet hit the cold hard ground, to which it had fallen all the way from the sky, shattering into thousands of pieces. There was a devastating explosion, flames...
Then it all became dark.
*Runs away and hides under a rock.*