Author's Note: I know this chapter is short, and strictly in Gendry's P.o.v but I am setting up for something. Since it's obvious my story is pretty much AU and going to stay such, things are going to happen sooner than in the show if they happen at all. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Game of Thrones, I own only Lyrina.
Chapter 31: His family.
Gendry
His sister was with child, he was going to be an uncle. From the day Gendry met Lyrina he knew she would become something in his life. He knew from the moment the girl came to get weapons from him that she would be a special woman in his life. Her eyes had been his own, and for a moment he had found peace in that. When he rode north on her command, he had never expected to grow attached to the Starks, and he did not intend to find a family. He had lost his mother young, and his father never took the time to claim him. His only family, his only blood, was shared with Lyrina Baratheon.
"Robb and Lyrina are having a child?" He told Arya first,and she had to question him.
"I just said that, my Lady." He knew she hated when he called her Lady.
He watched her grey eyes shine and her brow furrow, Arya was someone he enjoyed looking at. If she was older, he would even considered her for a wife one day, but she was far from a woman.
"Is the baby coming to Winterfell after the birth? Is Lyrina to come back?"
"I do not know, I was not told all of those things. I am sure your brother has all those things handled, you know how he is."
Gendry had grown fond of Robb while he was at the war camp, he was a man Gendry could look up to. He was thankful that his sister had found a man such as Robb, he could only imagine what her life would have been if she had remained in Kings Landing. Thinking of Joffrey, and Kings Landing did nothing but make his blood boil. If he ever got his hands on the bastard king he would kill him himself.
"I have to go tell Bran and Rickon."
Arya was off before Gendry could speak, and all the boy could do was let out a laugh. She was spirited and wild, he would give her that. He enjoyed hearing the stories of the times Lyrina and Arya would skip lessons, he liked imaging a time where his sister was free. He wanted the war to end so he could see her be free again, and so he could get to know his sister better. She was his family, and he was hers. They had each other. Sometimes Gendry thought of finding what other bastards remained from their father, and learning of them as well but he had no idea where to start.
Gendry made his way through the courtyard, assessing the damage that had been done in the last attack. Men had swarmed the gates, and entered the courtyard but they were pushed back. Gendry, Ser Rodrik Cassel and his men had kept the force of men without banners away. Winterfell would not fall as long as they were there to defend it. If his little niece or nephew were to come to Winterfell, it would have to be safe.
Gendry caught a flash of something out of the corner of his eye, a man trying to scale the wall out of Winterfell. Without thinking Gendry was pulling the man down to the ground, holding a dirk to his throat. He had never seen the man before, he was dirty and stunk of shit.
"Please, just let me go, I must get back." The man's voice was meek.
"Who are you?"
Gendry pushed the dirk deeper into the man's neck, barely drawing a thin line of blood.
"I.."
"Tell me,now." Gendry's voice boomed over the meek man.
The man did not speak, he instead froze in Gendry's grip. With a sigh Gendry took the man from the dirt and began dragging him toward the dungeons. He would get the man to talk, he would find who wanted to come after Winterfell and he would keep it safe. The man did not speak as he was dragged to the dungeons, he did not speak when Gendry locked him up, but Gendry knew it would only be a matter of time before the man spoke.
He found Bran after he locked the man away, informing the young Lord of what he knew. He could not simply lock a man in the dungeons without telling the Lord of the land. He would never think of such a thing. Bran thanked him, and told him to do his duty as a guard of Winterfell. Gendry had never thought he would be a solider, or a guard, he thought he would be a blacksmith forever.
Lyrina had changed his life, one little day had changed his whole life. She took him from Kings Landing, and in turn saved his life, she gave him a new life. She gave him a family and he knew if he asked for it she would give him a name. He could be a Baratheon, he could be a King if he sought to be. He could rule the Seven Kingdoms, and change everything but it was not what he wanted. He was content to be helping her, to be helping the true heir take the throne.
When the war ended, he would join her guard if she would have him. He would give his life, and future to protect her. He had never imagined having a sister, never imagined feeling protective of someone. Lyrina changed that, Arya changed that in him. For those two women he would do anything, and kill anyone. They were his family.
In the middle of the night Gendry found himself in the Godswood. He was always curious of the place, he had never prayed to the old Gods of course, he truly prayed to no Gods. Though he knew if he was going to pick a faith it would undoubtedly be the faith of the Seven, the faith of his old home. But it never killed his curiosity of the old Gods, the faces in the trees and the first men who worshiped them.
"You always come out here."
Arya found him, and he did not doubt she knew where to look. She took a seat beside him under the heart tree, her long brown hair falling freely at her shoulders.
"I am quite curious of this place, M'lady."
"Will you stop calling me that, I am not a lady."
He knew the young girl hated the term but he saw her as a Lady. Even when they road north and she was muddy. Even when she trained in the yard with breeches on, even when she let curses fly from her mouth, she was still a Lady to him.
"It's what you are, Arya, a highborn Lady. Just like my sister, and the rest of your family."
Gendry kicked the dirt in front of them. He never minded being a bastard, he had just always wanted a family. He had found one, but as he looked at Arya in the moonlight, he hated that he was a bastard. She was so much younger than he was, but it wasn't improper for her to marry at her age. He wondered if he was a high born Lord if she would marry him.
"You could be too, if you let my brother give you your father's name." Arya looked hopeful. "Lyrina wants it too, you know. She loves you."
"I am fine without a name, let's speak of something else."
Their topic turned to the man Gendry caught,and he told Arya all he knew. Which was really nothing but he knew by morning the man would be more willing to speak. He could only hope that whoever the man was reporting to didn't try to attack in the mean time. They would no doubt fend them off again, but it would be better when the men sent by Robb got to them. More men meant less causalities, and a quicker fight for the men of Wintrfell. Gendry needed to keep Arya safe, to keep her brothers safe.
Gendry awoke to the sun shining through the trees of the Godswood, and a warm body stirring in his arms. He looked down to see a still sleeping Arya writhing in his arms, as if she was having a horrid dream. He gently removed his arms from around her and began to shake her away.
"Arya, come on." She still did not open her eyes. "Arya, it's just a dream, everything is alright."
The girl's grey eyes shot open and met his own. He could see the fear and worry in her eyes. He went to ask her what was wrong but she had already thrown her arms around his neck. He hugged her trying to soothe the young gitl.
"It was horrible. It was so horrible."
He held her and soothed her until she finally calmed herself. After a few moments he placed the girl back on her feet with a smile. He told her he was going to find out where the man had come from, only causing the girl to follow him. He tried to shoo her, telling her that it was not a place for her to be but she argued. Gendry could not help but crack a smile at her behavior, she was truly stubborn.
In the cells Gendry found the man cowering the corner, shielding himself from Gendry's gaze. Gendry knelt down next to the cell, Arya holding a torch above him to light the room.
"You need to tell me your name."
The man made no move to look at Gendry, made no move to speak. Gendry kept his composure.
"I can't let you out unless you speak. I can't help you unless you speak."
At the mention of the word help, the man picked his head up. Gendry saw the fear in the man's brown eyes, he looked horrified. Gendry felt a bang of guilt inside of him, this man had suffered something.
"You'll help me?"
The man's voice was cracked, as if had not drank in sometime. Gendry looked to Arya.
"Fetch me some water for him, leave the torch."
The girl was gone and he was left alone with the stranger. He watched him shake in the corner.
"Speak to me, and I will do my best." The man crept to the edge of the cell, to Gendry. "If you tell me who sent you here and why, I will do everything I can to help you."
As Gendry mentioned who sent the man he once more cowered away from him. Gendry could not imagine what could cause a man so much fear. His eyes looked almost dead. Before long Arya returned with a pitcher and cup of water. Gendry handed the cup to the man, and as he took ir from Gendry their eyes met.
"He will come and he will kill you all, if you are lucky."
The man cowered away, drinking the water as if it was the last cup he would ever get. Gendry turned once more to Arya, begging her with his eyes to leave. He knew the conversation was not going to end well, something bad had happened to the man. Something sinister. Still the girl remained.
"Arya, fetch the Maester."
"I am not leaving, you can't send me away."
"Arya, I want to help this man. Is that not what my sister would do? What your brothers would do?" His words were true. "Fetch the Maester, and you can return."
Once more the young girl ran off leaving him alone. Gendry turned to the man, compassion in his eyes.
"Who are you, give me a name."
"I don't have a name, he took it."
Gendry did not know who this "he" was, but something was chilling in the way the man said it.
"Everyone has a name, you must have had one. Who were you before he took it?"
"Lannister."
Gendry stood from the cell, the man was a Lannister. Then the fears of the men had been true it was the Lannister men who had attacked. The man was playing him, pretending to be frightened. Gendry went to leave, to leave the man to rot until he called out to him.
"Please, you have to help me."
Gendry went back to the cell, glaring at the man who held tightly to bars. He pleaded with Gendry.
"Why should I help a Lannister? They have done nothing but attack us, try to kill my sister and everyone she loves." Gendry put his face close to the man's. "The Lannisters can burn in hell."
"I was only a messenger before he took me, and broke me. He isn't a Lannister, the man coming for you, coming for you home and your lives."
Gendry watched him, careful not to believe a word from his mouth.
"He won't kill you first, he won't give you that. He'll torture you, and break you. You'll forget who you are, and right before you die you will find your peace. The children will not be spared, and the women, the women face a trail worse then death."
Gendry went to question what he meant when the Maester crept into the darkness. He took a look at the man and Gendry saw weariness fill the old man's eyes. He asked Gendry for help, and together they took the man in chains into the Maester's quarters.
They looked over the man, and washed him. Each time Gendry touched him the man would cower away from it, and shake. Eventually the Maester bid Gendry to stand in the corner and just watch over them both. After the cleaning of the man, Gendry could notice the Lannister golden hair. Without the dirt he looked young, no older than Gendry himself.
The Maester checked the man's wounds, all of which were healed, but Gendry saw the places where his skin had been flayed from the man. A thought clicked in his head, and panic rose inside of him.
"Sir, Lannister, who did this to you?" His voice was harsh and the man shook at the tone.
Gendry got no answer, and he looked to the Maester for help. Gendry's panic was rising.
"Boy, tell me who has harmed you?" The Maester's voice was calmer than Gendry's.
They got no answer, the man kept silent and Gendry cursed. He had nothing to send his sister, nothing to warn her off. He had a worry but he could not send accusations to the King in the North. Only certain words could spare him the shame of being wrong. Evidence is what he needed.
"I will take him back to the cells, Maester." Gendry helped the shaking man to his feet. "Gather the men, we must discuss this."