52. Put On Your War Paint.

The King's Lansing airport was crowded that day, as usually. Gendry sat down near the gate of his flight, which was still not letting in any passengers, so they all had to wait. It was nerve-wracking, and which each passing minute Gendry felt himself getting even more anxious and paranoid. He tried to keep it cool so that his behavior wouldn't be suspicious to the people around him, from every once in a while he looked around, expecting to see his half-brother or someone sent by him to retrieve them. It had taken months since Sansa asked him to take Bran and Ned away to carry out the plan. It wasn't very complicated but they had to be careful, seeing how catastrophic the last escape attempt from Joffrey that someone had attempted had ended up being, because Joffrey was not someone that let go of his prey easily. And that was what he considered the Starks to be: his prey.

Gendry had been extremely careful with everything since the moment when he agreed to do what Sansa asked to him, not wanting anything to give them away. He had needed to include other people in his escape plan, but they were all of his complete trust. First of all, in order to get out of the country Bran and Ned needed new passports with completely new identities. Gendry couldn't forge the fake documents himself, for that would surely be a disaster, but he did know the perfect person to help him; and old friend of his uncle Stannis, Davos Seaworth. Because of his past lifestyle full of criminal activities when he always managed to avoid the hands of justice, Davos was the perfect person to help Gendry create new identities for Bran and Ned. As a result, Bran was now Matthew Madden and Ned was James Harington, a little boy who was travelling with his father (one of the most trusted and loyal bodyguards that the Stark family had) to Europe. Gendry had decided that it would be better to keep Bran and Ned separated during the trip, even if was just a little bit so that it would be harder to recognize them. Many of the bodyguards that the Starks had were travelling with them and were scattered around the plane in different seats to keep an eye on the two Starks for their safety. Also, as an extra precaution, Bran had changed his appearance very early. Joffrey had left the red keep mansion very early that day for meetings with politicians, as usual, which had given the two Starks an opportunity to leave early as well and without being spotted by the Lannisters. Bran and Ned had said goodbye to Sansa and Rickon and then they had left with Bran. In the many hours previous to the flight Bran had gotten a haircut and had dyed his hair dark brown, because his auburn hair was very recognizable. Besides, the fact that he was on a wheelchair made him even more recognizable, unfortunately, so it was better to minimalize the risks. He was also hiding his Tully eyes behind dark brown contacts, so whoever saw him at that moment would say that he was just some random 23-year-old dude travelling to the other side of the world for no reason in particular. Ned didn't get his hair dyed but he did get a quick haircut and put on a pair of glasses. He was wearing a hoodie that hid his hair and helped make him unnoticeable. So far, everything was perfect.

Gendry was travelling with his real identity because he had been a public figure for far too long to try to hide himself successfully, and it wasn't the first time that he had to travel all of a sudden. He could just pretend that he was on a business trip and everything would be all right. He was just there to accompany Bran and Ned and make sure that the plan worked out to perfection up until the very end, and once they were in Europe he would leave them in charge of their great-uncle Brynden Tully. The man had travelled to France weeks ahead and was now in Ireland, in Dublin, also with a new and fake identity. Once they arrived at their destiny Bran and Ned would get a second fake identity with surnames that matched Brynden's, so that they could pretend to be a normal family in the middle of Dublin, where they had purchased a little house where they could live peacefully.

Gendry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to relax. His heart beat furiously inside his chest, making him feel as if it would tear right through his skin at any moment. He was sweating, terrified that something would go wrong, that he would fail Sansa. He had promised her that he would keep her brother and nephew safe, but it was too risky. Joffrey had turned into a very dangerous monster that no one could escape, and Gendry didn't know why he thought that he could do what Sansa had failed at so many times already. He never thought that he would ever be so terrified of his own half-brother, but Gendry felt genuinely afraid. After what had happened to Eddard Stark, and to Robb Stark, Catelyn Stark, Talisa Maegyr and Theon Greyjoy (and possibly other people that they didn't know about) Gendry was terrified that he would suffer the same destiny for trying to help…

I have to do this for Arya, he realized then, and he opened his eyes. Arya had also been a victim of Joffrey, because he had massacred her family and forced her to turn into a killing machine. Joffrey was the reason why Arya had been taken away from Gendry. Arya had suffered and immense pain because of Arya, so Gendry owed it to her. He owed it to her to keep his promise and save at least part of the only family that she had left.

I have to do this… I will do this.

Gendry took a deep breath once again. He convinced himself that everything would be all right. Joffrey was a psychopath and a monster, but he wasn't an idiot. He might have taken down Presendent Stark's private jet, and Gendry thought him capable of doing the same to the plane that they were about to board… But Joffrey wouldn't be so stupid so as to crash or blow up a commercial plane full of international passengers just mere months after the President's 'accident'. Doing that would only raise a lot of suspicion- more so than the suspicion that already existed in a lot of people's minds. Sansa's little stunt in the funeral had caused more than one to think that there was something very shady in that whole situation- and probably an investigation would start. Joffrey could hide the truth from his own citizens, but not from the entire world. What would happen if he killed all those foreign people and he was discovered? Joffrey wouldn't risk war, or at least that was what Gendry hoped.

Soon they would start boarding the plane. Gendry shot a brief glance at Bran and Ned, and then he looked at the people that walked past them in the airport. He had always entertained himself in airports by looking at all the people around him and wondering where they came from, where they were going, why... There were so many possibilities! Sometimes he observed them and came to his own conclusions. There were the obvious people traveling for business with suitcases, entire families of excited tourists, people that were disappointed to have to leave... The worst part was seeing how some people said goodbye to their families and loved ones before entering the security control that would separate them. Gendry always found it awful to see how people cried when they departed, and he wondered what reasons were there behind those goodbyes. Sometimes children were leaving to study abroad for a long time and would be very far away from home trying to build a future for themselves. Sometimes parents were forced to leave their families behind to be able to look for something better. Sometimes there were personal reasons behind it all. It didn't matter what is was, but there was nothing worse that a painful and sad goodbye. On the other hand, Gendry sometimes found hope in airports, in the arrivals. Just as there was nothing worse than a goodbye, there was nothing better than a reunion, and watching people emerge from those gates and running to the arms of those that were waiting for them...

He was thinking about all those things when suddenly he saw something among the crowd of people that immediately caught his attention. There, in the distance, surrounded by dozens of people that walked all around her without paying her the slightest attention, was a woman. She was short, a chin-length locks of brown hair crowned her face. She wasn't looking at him, so Gendry couldn't see her face, but the way in which she was standing which her hands inside the pockets of her black jacket and with the hood of a dark grey sweater over her head was so familiar...

He stood up all of a sudden and he took a few steps forward rather quickly, startling the people sitting next to him. From the corner of his eye he could see Bran and the bodyguards shooting him curious and confused glances, but he ignored them. He wanted to run to that woman and shout her name to make her look at him, but he couldn't do that! That would only draw a lot of unwanted attention towards him. Besides, it couldn't be her... Arya had been missing for three years, and Sansa had told him that she had joined the Faceless Men. Arya was very far away from there.

Even though he was aware of that, Gendry still wanted the woman to turn her head and look at him, just so that he could finally confirm that she wasn't Arya and he could continue with his journey in peace.

It looked like she was about to turn around, and Gendry felt his heart beating incredibly fast inside his chest again, just as before, waiting for the woman's eyes to find him. However, that did not happen. A large group of people walked in front of the woman, blocking her from Gendry's sight. He closed his hands into tight fists and waited for those people to move away, but when they walked away the woman wasn't there anymore.

Gendry looked around all over the place, trying to see where he had gone, but it was in vain. The woman had disappeared.

It wasn't her, he told himself in his mind. He had never before felt so disappointed in his entire life. It wasn't her... She's not here. It wasn't her...

He didn't want to listen to his own mind, there wasn't a place in his heart for reason. He just knew that that woman had reminded him so much of Arya, the love of his life, the person that he missed so much that it hurt deep inside of him. He wanted to start running in the direction in which she had been to see if he could try to find her. He would have done it had it not been because business class passengers were called to board the plane at that moment, and he remembered the whole plan. He had to keep out of trouble and deliver Bran and Ned safely to Europe, to their uncle. There wasn't time to follow a vision.

It wasn't her, he bitterly told himself once more before turning around and heading towards the gate.

Once they were inside the plane Gendry sat on his seat in business class, 6D. He always travelled in business class so it wouldn't make sense that he didn't this time. He knew that it would be better that Bran and Ned were not too close to where he was, so Ned was sitting with his bodyguard in seat 1A, not too far from Gendry but just enough, and Bran was sitting in the very first seat of tourist class with his bodyguards. Now Gendry was only praying so that no one recognized any of them and did something stupid like tweeting something about them being on the plane. Gendry couldn't wait for the plane to take off, and he felt like each minute was a century.

While the other passengers boarded Gendry got up and walked to the bathroom. He didn't particularly enjoy flying and he did not want to get up during the flight, and also he needed to throw some water on his face to refresh himself and calm down. He didn't notice the person walking behind him towards the bathroom...

When Gendry reached the bathrooms he saw that one of them was already occupied, but the other one wasn't. He had just opened the door when suddenly he was pushed inside the tiny bathroom by someone behind him. He almost tripped and crashed against the sink, and he tried to turn around to see who had pushed him like that and why.

"Hey!" he started exclaiming angrily when he saw that whoever had pushed him had entered the bathroom with him and had locked the door. Gendry was about to start shouting, but he couldn't, because suddenly the person that had pushed him and locked the door had turned around, and now Arya Stark was fiercely kissing him in the mouth.

For about five seconds Gendry was completely in shock. He didn't understand what was happening. Arya was there, in the plane, kissing him. None of it made any sense! What was happening?!

But then Gendry realized that he didn't care at all if nothing made sense. Arya was there, with him.

Unable to stop himself, he threw his arms around her and kissed her back, with thrice the passion and intensity with which she was kissing him. He put a hand on the small of her back and the other hand on the back of her head, and he pulled her against him as much as was humanly possible. Arya didn't protest; in fact for a moment Gendry thought that a lot of tension was leaving Arya's body and that she relaxed, as if she had been nervous or afraid of that moment. That made Gendry laugh in the back of his head. Arya was never afraid of anything. If anything he was the one that was always afraid of everything, and at that moment he was shaking as if he was in the middle of an earthquake. He was afraid that he would open his eyes and he would discover that his mind had been playing a sick trick on him, he was afraid to wake up from the fantasy and find that Arya wasn't there... But she was. It was real, everything was real!

It was almost impossible telling where one of them ended and the other one began. It was impossible to tell both people apart. They were joined together by their passionate kiss, which turned deeper and deeper as time seconds passed and they let their passion consume them like flames lighting a bonfire. Their tongues danced together the dance of two lovers separated long ago by terrible evil and reunited at last. Gendry tasted Arya's lips, her mouth, and realized that she was more intoxicating than the best and most expensive liquor in the whole world. He was addicted to her, and he wondered how on Earth he had survived without her that long without going mad. His hands roamed her body over the fabric of her black jacket, and he felt spark going through his veins when Arya's fingers got tangled in his hair and pulled gently from it to bring him closer to her.

The tiny little bathroom was filled the the sounds of their heavy breathing, of their kisses and of the moans that sounded deep in the back of their throats. Gendry was sure that if anyone was standing outside the bathroom waiting they would be scandalized, but he didn't give a damn. He kissed Arya fiercely, devouring her, and he smiled against her mouth when he felt her playfully and sensually biting his lower lip. Arya's hands wandered down his body, all the way from his hair down to his abdomen, and they slid under both his shirt. Gendry groaned in the back of his throat when he felt Arya's cold fingers grazing his burning skin. He moved forward and made Arya's back crash against the locked door of the bathroom, making it shake, and trapping the woman's body between it and his own heated body.

The kiss lasted longer than any kiss that Gendry could remember. He just couldn't bring himself to separate himself from Arya, even if it was to take a short breath. He had never felt so irrational or impulsive in any moment of his life, but at that moment he just wanted Arya, and nothing more. He wanted to rip his and Arya's clothes off take her right there and then and take her, but he had at least a little bit of sense left to know that he couldn't so that. But he could keep kissing her, and he did so until Arya stopped him, pressing her hands against his chest and moving her head back, breaking the kiss. For Gendry it felt as if a tsunami had just hit him. He didn't want to move away from her.

"There's no time," Arya suddenly said, sounding a bit rough for a second. Her expression softened then, and she stared at him directly in the eyes, and the cupped his face with her hands in an almost gentle way. It was the first time that Gendry had heard her voice in three years, and he thought that it was just as he remembered. Or was it? She sounded a bit different, truth be told, harsher and stronger. He guessed that that was not the only thing that had changed in her in all that time. "I'm sorry," she whispered then.

He frowned. Why was she apologizing? For ending that kiss? He didn't understand, Arya didn't have to apologize to him for that...

And then he understood. She wasn't apologizing for the kiss, she was apologizing for everything else. Her disappearance without saying goodbye, those long years that she had spent away without ever contacting him, the death of his uncle Renly... But Gendry didn't want Arya to apologize for any of those things, they weren't her fault.

"Arya, it's ok..." he started saying, but she wouldn't let him finish.

"No, it's not," she insisted. "I should have told you where I was, I should have let you know what was going on..."

"Your sister told me," he informed her. It was true that he did wish that Arya had trusted him enough three years ago to let him know where she was going and why so that he could at least have stopped being worried sick that something terrible had happened to her. Up until the day of his uncle Renly's funeral, when Sansa had told him that she had seen Arya in King's Landing, he had been afraid every day that the police would call him to tell him that they had found his girlfriend dead somewhere in the middle of nowhere. "Where have you been? Sansa said that she didn't know where you were, that the last time she saw you was years ago..."

"It's a long story... I know that Sansa told you about me. I was with the Faceless Men and I was trapped in india and then in Siberia and... Gods, Gendry, I'm sorry that you had to find out everything so suddenly. It must have been hard for you, knowing what your brother has done-"

"He's not my brother," Gendry hissed. He had always treated Joffrey politely because they shared half of their genes, but he wanted nothing to do with that monster anymore. Just knowing that he shared that man's blood made his own blood boil in his veins, and he breathed heavily.

Arya didn't say anything, she just stared at him while Gendry closed his eyes and let his anger burn away. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Arya's, and for a couple of second he focused only in their closeness, in the sound of her breathing, in the way in which her fingers felt against his skin... It was like Heaven, and also like a little bit of Hell, because Gendry knew that that moment would not last forever.

Suddenly, every cell in his body was screaming in agony with the realization of how much he had missed Arya. He was trembling slightly, and there was a salty taste on his lips... He hadn't noticed before, but he realized then that he had been crying silently ever since he realized that the woman that was inside the bathroom was Arya. He couldn't resist it and he kissed her again. The kiss was once again passionate, but it wasn't fierce like before. Instead it was soft and slow, but it made then burn with the same intensity as the previous kiss had. They pulled away from each other at the same time and they stared into each other's eyes. Gendry was surprised to feel Arya's storm-grey eyes full of remorse and guilt and sadness, but there was also a cold determination in them, mixed with something strong and fierce and... dangerous. That was not the same Arya that had left him three years ago, and he could tell. But deep down she was still his Arya, and that was enough.

"I didn't want to leave you," Arya murmured then. She spoke softly so that the people outside the bathroom in the plane wouldn't hear them. "But I didn't have a choice."

"You shouldn't have had to carry that weight in your shoulders," Gendry murmured, thinking about how heavy the burden of revenge must be.

"Someone had to," Arya said. "It had to be this way. Besides, I'm not the only one with a heavy weight on my shoulders. Sansa has been living a worse hell than mine, and I had to help her. I still have to."

"It's too dangerous."

"So is what you are doing! Taking Bran and Ned out of the country? That's insane, Joffrey could kill you!"

"I promised I would keep them safe," he told her, though he guessed that Arya already knew that. Otherwise how could she have known that he was going to be there in that plane with her brother and nephew? Gendry was sure that Arya's spying skills had given her all the knowledge that she needed to get to that place.

"I know. Thank you..." Arya said, sounding more thankful and relieved than ever. "Don't let anything happen to them, please. I can't lose them too."

"I won't, I promise," he said, taking her hands in his and squeezing a bit, trying to comfort her and let her know that he was speaking truly and planned to keep his promise. He hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "Come with me."

He didn't need to say anything else, Arya knew what he meant. With a sad expression in her face she closed her eyes and shook her head briefly from side to side.

"I want to, but I can't. You know I can't."

"I know what you plan to do. You don't have to do it yourself, Arya, you can come with me and let another Faceless Man do it for you! I will pay whatever is necessary for them to do it, but please, Arya, come with me!"

"I like to keep my promises just as much as you do, Gendry," Arya hissed, and the sudden aggressiveness in her voice would have made Gendry take a step back if he could, but there wasn't enough room to do so. He saw Arya the assassin in that moment, not the normal Arya that everybody knew. The way in which her eyes darkened would be enough to make even the mightiest soldier cower in fear before her. "I promised my sister that I would take her away and that I would kill Joffrey, and I will do it myself. No one else will."

Gendry knew that he didn't have a chance to fight her on that, so he didn't even attempt it. He sighed, trying to accept Arya's will. It was difficult, he didn't want to let her go now that he had finally found her again. What if...- a shudder ran down his spine- what if something went wrong...? What if she was hurt?

Arya was able to read the worry in his expression, and she once again cupped his face with her hands. They had a gentle touch, but they were hard and calloused and strong: hands of a fighter.

"Everything will be ok," she assured him. "But you must promise me something. Promise me that you will stay as far away from the Lannisters as possible. Please. Stay away from
Westeros if you can."

"Why?"

"Things are going to get ugly. This is so much bigger that we thought at first. The problem isn't only Joffrey..."

"I don't understand," Gendry was becoming more worried now. There was something in Arya's tone of voice that he didn't like.

"There is a group of people. A gang, an army, call them whatever you want. They follow a man, and that man wants Westeros no matter what it takes," Arya told him. Gendry's eyes became wide with worry. What was she talking about?! "I will be infiltrating that group tomorrow. If I work from the inside I can bring them down, and I can take Joffrey down at the same time."

"Are you crazy?! That's too much, they will kill you!" Gendry exclaimed, horrified, forgetting to keep his voice down. Arya quickly shook her head.

"I know what I'm doing, believe me. Please, Gendry, I need you to trust me. I will be fine. I will save my sister, and I will do my job. And then..." she smiled, and she tangled her fingers in his black hair once more, making him feel waves of pleasure traveling down his spine. He loved when she did that. Arya's eyes shine with a bright light when she said the next words, "and then we can be together again. I promise. I never break my promises."

"I know you don't," Gendry smiled softly. He was still extremely worried for her, and he couldn't hide that he was afraid.

"And please, listen to me. Though you never do, you stubborn bull-headed idiot..." Arya murmured, making both of them laugh under their breath briefly before they became serious again, "stay away, ok?"

"I will do what I can. I can't promise anything, though."

"And take care of my brother and nephew," Arya pleaded him.

"That, I can do," he said, nodding his head. He had already promised Sansa, and now he was promising Arya. As long as Bran and Ned were his responsibility nothing bad would happen to them. Over his dead body...

Arya was about to thank him, but she thought it better and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him instead. Gendry closed his eyes and enjoyed the kiss, even though he knew that it was a goodbye kiss... He remembered what he had been thinking before when he was waiting to board the plane, about reunions and goodbyes in airports. He had just experienced the best and happiest reunion of his life, but now he was going through the most painful goodbye of his life. He didn't want to let go of Arya, he didn't know how long it would be since he could see her again...

He didn't know how long they had been there, but if Arya was leaving she would have to do it soon before they closed the boarding gate and the plane took off. Maybe if Gendry managed to hold on to her and distract her long enough she wouldn't have to go, and then she would fly away with him and Bran and Ned to Europe... He was beginning to have hope again when Arya ended the kiss, but she didn't leave immediately. They pressed their foreheads together like they had done before, and Gendry though about everything that she had told him in the last minutes.

"War is coming..." he murmured under his breath, more to himself than to Arya. She heard him and slowly shook her head.

"No," she whispered. Her voice was cold once again, and hard as steel. When they separated and he looked into her eyes he found a storm in them. "It has already begun."

And then, before Gendry could even say goodbye, Arya turned around, opened the door of the tiny plane bathroom, and just as quickly as she has arrived she left.