Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warnings:
Category:
Fandoms:
Relationship:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Series:
Part 2 of wolf pack
Stats:
Published:
2017-08-07
Updated:
2017-09-20
Words:
1,395
Chapters:
3/6
Comments:
16
Kudos:
130
Bookmarks:
21
Hits:
3,121

5 times Ned worried about Arya...

Summary:

... and one time he didn't have to.

 

~ series is a collection of unrelated Stark family stories ~

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Ned watched as his youngest daughter dodged the Braavosi's attacks. She was as unlike her sister as it was possible to be. Sansa was sweet, and obedient, and loved nothing more than songs of brave knights who rescued princesses.

 

And Arya loved tales too, tales of warrior princesses who rode dragons, preferring to ride around on her pony playing with sticks than to sit with her Septa and sew and pray.

 

She reminded him so much of Lyanna it was almost painful. She looked like her, it was true, but more than that she had that same wolf blood in her, a certain wildness. She felt out-of-place sometimes, he knew, and maybe it was because of Lyanna that he felt he could never deny her anything.

 

And, after all, in this place of lions and snakes, perhaps it was just as well that she would learn to protect herself, have something to keep her occupied. Syrio Forel had seemed a good man, if a little odd, and while his teaching methods were unconventional, at least Arya was happy enough.

 

He remembers Lyanna at that age too - Brandon had taught her to fight with swords he remembered, and with no one to stop her, she had excelled at it. Arya hadn't told him who had given her the sword, but he wasn't a fool. Jon and Arya had always been close - and he had been thankful for it - undoubtedly he had given it as a present before leaving. Lyanna's son, he thought. It was almost fitting.

 

But he remembered what had happened to them, Brandon and Lyanna, as the clash of the swords sends him back to that distant day at the Tower. He remembers how all their bravado and skills could not help them in the end. Jon and Arya are not Brandon and Lyanna, he reminded himself. And yet, he was afraid.

 

King's Landing had already affected her and Sansa, what with Joffrey and the wolves. Sansa may be the one with fairy tales in her head but Arya loved stories of knights too - and she had been forced to learn that knights would harm innocent young boys too, if they were commanded to do so. A harsh lesson to learn so young. And surrounded by lions who had already snatched two wolves from them, he was afraid. Afraid of what the wolf blood in her could lead her to do. Afraid he had put her life into the greatest danger by bringing her here.

Notes:

I have a couple of WIPs but I was attacked by Ned and Arya feels, what could I do?? xD

Anyway, this isn't much, but it (hopefully) gets better.

 

~ I'm teamtonystarkneedsahug on tumblr ~

Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Ned’s thoughts were a blur as he was dragged outside, Varys’ words still echoing in his head. Arya had escaped, he had said. How she had managed that he could not see, but Arya, wolf pup that she was, had a way of slipping out unnoticed and mingle with the common folk, much to her mother’s and her septa’s exasperation. But this was King’s Landing, the streets would not be safe for her either - how would she survive with no food, no one to help? She was but nine years old, was she even still alive? He should never have brought the girls south, he should never have left Winterfell – but it was no use to think of that, Sansa was still here, with those lions, and her safety was in his hands. He would lose his reputation but that would be a small price to pay for his daughter’s life. And maybe once he was on his way out of King’s Landing he could send someone to look for her –

And then he saw her. Right there, by the statue of Baelor. She could be mistaken for a raggedy street urchin but it was his daughter, alive. His eyes darted around, frantically, hoping against hope that he could send a message to someone, protect his daughter – and he saw a man in black. A scene flashed before his eyes -

"This must be your son. He has your look."

"I'm a girl!"

 

Yoren, Ned realized. Baelor he shouted at him, as he was marched past. He shouted again, when Yoren looked confused, and hoped, prayed, that he would see her, recognize her, understand. There was no godswood here, the Old Gods of the North were far away, King’s Landing had no place for them, but yet he hoped they would hear his prayers, for nothing could be more important to him than this. Please, he thought, keep her safe. Don't make her pay for my foolishness.

 

 

He did what he had to do, but he should have known not to trust the Lannisters. Joffrey announced his sentence. His heart twisted as he heard Sansa screaming behind him. He looked up again - Sansa wouldn’t have a choice, but Arya - she shouldn’t have to see him die. And he saw that she was no longer there, and felt hope and worry at the same time.

 

He bent his head and muttered his final prayers as he waited for death. Keep my children safe, he prayed, images of the six children flashing before his eyes - Robb, too young to bear the responsibilities of Winterfell, gentle Sansa, singing in that sweet voice of hers, Arya with her toothy grin as she brought flowers for him, Bran, whom he hadn't seen since the fall, baby Rickon, and Jon, poor Jon whom he had sent to the Wall, with so many things left unsaid. I tried, Lya, he thought, I tried to keep your promise. He had grown to love the boy as his own, and with a pang he realized he would never see them grow... Keep them safe, he thought again, and Cat too. Let them not suffer for my mistakes.

 

And he felt a strange sort of contentment at the thought of meeting Brandon and Lyanna again.

Notes:

One of the rare show-only scenes that I really loved.

~ I'm teamtonystarkneedsahug on tumblr ~

Chapter 3

Notes:

THIS IS MUCH LATER THAN I INTENDED BUT I LOST MY NOTES, SORRY :(

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

He was numb.

 

He could see things that his living family could not, true, but even he could not imagine a massacre like this.

 

Robb did not deserve this. Hell, he was sixteen! He should not have been fighting a war at all, and -- Cat, his dearest wife, Cat did not deserve this. No one did.

 

He would see them soon enough, but he couldn't stop the tears that came through. They deserved a better and a longer life than this. And he couldn't help but blame himself, questioning everything that he had done, in King's Landing and before, wondering if there was anyway he could have prevented this, any of this, kept his family together, and safe. Even with seeing everything that he could, he did not understand if it was all written somewhere, set in stone, or what the... Three-eyed Raven... could control...

 

But there were other things happening too. He looked at Arya, tiny Arya looking around at the bloodshed and the screams. This was no place for her -- and he had been thinking this from the moment she had left King's Landing. The Night's Watch, the starving, Harrenhal, the Brotherhood, the Hound - and now this. It tore at him, the things she'd had to go through, the way she would stop herself from hoping for too much - and she would still get up, after every setback, and go on.

 

He was terrified. His oldest son and his wife would be joining soon, and soon they would find out that Bran and Rickon were alive too, and there would be tearful smiles - but Arya too? He didn't want Arya to join them, not so soon; she was nine. And yet - what could she do there? Not back to King's Landing to her sister, not to Winterfell, with Robb and Cat dead, that left Jon - and not only did he doubt the Hound, or anyone really, would want to take Arya that far, what could Jon do? His life wasn't his anymore - and the most the Watch could do was send her to some Lord who would doubtless either send her to the Lannisters or marry her to someone.

 

He nearly cried out when she ran away from the Hound to look for Cat - Run away, Arya, please run away... 

 

And when he hit her with his axe, he thought she might actually have been killed, and he did cry out.

 

But no, she was safe so far, at least physically.

 

She was brave, they all were, all his beautiful children, but how could she find the strength to go on after this?

Notes:

I generally have all happy headcanons but then one day I made myself sad by thinking about Ned looking at everything his kids are going through from the afterlife :'( because I mean??? Even by Westerosi standards the things they go through are horrible. And if it was hard for US to read/watch the Red Wedding, imagine how it was for Ned, haha.

(bye, i'm off to wallow in sad Stark-family feels :( )

 

~ I'm teamtonystarkneedsahug on tumblr ~

Notes:

~ I'm teamtonystarkneedsahug on tumblr ~

Series this work belongs to: