Work Text:
“I can be your family.”
Those few words repeated in Gendry’s head everytime he had a moment to think about something other than hiding, running, and smithing. Arya Stark was always in his mind - he was hiding with her, running with her, or while he was forging weapons Arya was sitting near him watching him or was near him enhancing her fighting and shooting skills.
For the last three years of his life, Gendry had spent every moment with Arya Stark. They had left the Capitol together, had lived on the road together, and experienced all types of new hells together. He learned a lot from her - of family, of faith, of vengeance and of strength. They were leaving childhood behind them and it made everything in Gendry’s life more confusing than it already was.
He loved Arya - she understood him better than even himself and she had stayed with him through everything. The night Yoren died, Arya had been the first person in his life to come back for him. She depended on him as much as he depended on her.
But now Gendry didn’t know what his feelings meant. He had realized it was love he felt toward Arya a long time ago, but they were both children in a dangerous world and they needed each other to survive. Now, they are in a dangerous world and need each other to survive, but they were hardly children.
Arya wasn’t the little girl who could pass as a boy anymore. She were oversized men clothes still, but when they would spend a morning washing their clothes in a shallow pool of water Gendry could see the small curves of her body. And it was then that he realized that his confusion came from these changes. Arry had been a flea bottom boy he had to protect but quickly became a high born girl in hiding that he had to protect and now she was a girl becoming a woman right next to Gendry and he knew he was in trouble.
When he had told her he meant to stay with the Brotherhood when they reached her family and he saw, for the first time within knowing her, tears spring to her eyes he realized that he loved Arya. Not only as his best friend, but that he was in love with her. Gendry met her a the day her father had lost his head and had been with her as they watched men get murdered and never did he see her cry.
Arya had left him in the cave and had refused to speak with him for the remaining portion of the day. When Gendry finally cornered her when she was getting water for the night, she had no choice but to listen to him.
“Arya,” he had said as he approached her. He had seen her shoulders stiffen. “Arya - wait! I want to tell you that I’m sorry. I will stay with you when we reach your brother, if you want me to.”
Arya had turned around and looked at him with her steel eyes wide with wonderment. “If you don’t want to stay with me then don’t,” she then responded coldly.
“I don’t want to smith for your family and never see you.”
Arya had hit him hard enough that he fell on his ass on the bank’s rocks. “My brother won’t care that you’re a bastard,” she had told him, her voice sounding like venom. “Robb loves my brother Jon, and he’s a bastard. And he and I will both silence my mother if she were to say anything!”
And with that, Arya had stormed off and left him near the water.
However, Arya was not angry with him after that. She had slept near him as she usually did and had spent the next day at his side as if he hadn’t said anything at all and for that Gendry was greatful.
It wasn’t until a fortnight later that Gendry fully realized that he could never leave Arya alone in this world. The two had faced so many horrors since leaving King’s Landing, but nothing in his life would ever compare to what they had seen at the Twins.
Lord Beric and Thoros had seperated from the Brotherhood long enough to take Gendry and Arya to the Twins to be sold as ransom. At least Arya would be sold as ransom, and she would plead his case to her King brother and Lady mother. The four of them stayed on the skirts of the land - close enough to hear the celebrations of the wedding but far enough away that no man or woman saw them. In the morning, Arya had only been excited to return to her family. But now, Arya seemed to be more vervous than anything else.
That is why Lord Beric and Thoros had initially ignored Arya’s worried statements: she kept saying, “This isn’t right.. Something is wrong.”
Gendry agreed that everything seemed to fine, but he could tell that whatever anxiety Arya had was eating away at her insides. They had not made it in time to find the Northern camp before the ceromony but had arrived early enough to have a few hours to sit on the ground and wait for the feast to be over.
There was a wolf howling in the close distance and that is what began Gendry’s worry. He had forgotten that Arya herself was a wolf until she reminded him. Lord Beric and Thoros were both leaning against a wooden crate with the eyes closed. They would travel a few miles back to where they had left the Brotherhood after they sold Gendry and Arya and the Brotherhood, including Gendry and Arya, had hardly slept the night before.
Arya was watching the two men carefully, and Gendry was watching her carefully. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
“Lets move closer,” she said to him quietly. Gendry seemed surprised. “We should wait untilt he feast is over -”
“Something isn’t right,” she said once more. Her expression was stubborn and Gendry knew that she would move closer by herself if he refused. “I can feel it. Something isn’t right, Gendry. And that wolf? Howling? Robb has his direwolf, Grey Wind… I think it’s him howling.”
“Why would he be howling?”
Arya bit her lip. “All of the Stark children are connected to their Direwolves.. Those dreams I’ve told you about, do you remember?” Gendry nodded. “We should move closer.”
Gendry caved and quietly stood up with Arya. He carefully picked up a small axe that Thoros had near him and together, the two of them left the men and approached the castle. The kennels were what they saw first. Gendry and Arya were crouched down behind a broken stone wall. Gendry took in his surroundings while Arya stared intently at the kennels. The howling was even louder than before and Gendry could see huge feet beneath the kennel door.
The wolf - Grey Wind, Arya confirmed - stood and let out another howl. When on his hind legs, Grey Wind was taller than teh kennel itself. He seemed pained, even Gendry feel that. Arya leaned forward to look around the half wall to see if there were any people in the mostly empty courtyard. Gendry pulled her back as quickly has he heard a group of men trudging through the mud.
Arya leaned back, almost into his side and Gendry felt his breathing hitch and he cursed himself.
There were three Frey men, and they went to the kennels without seeing Gendry or Arya. At first, it seemed that they were prehaps going to feed him or find another way to silence him, but instead, one man pulled a crossbow from his side and horror filled the two fugitives. With a loud cry, a crossbow shot the Direwolf and the animal collasped to the ground. From where they were crouched down, Gendry could see the wolf’s face clearly. His large, bright eyes saw the two of them and then slowly, they lost their sight.
Gendry grabbed Arya’s wrist. The act brought her attention to him and she turned to look at him, her steel eyes wide with horror.
“Arya…”
She turned away from him and watched the Frey men leave the courtyard. Before Gendry could pull her back to the ground, Arya sprung to her feet and walked further to the courtyard. Out of instinct, Gendry stood and followed her quickly. They were walking into trouble, Gendry was sure of it, but better the two of them than just Arya.
More men appeared as they were in the middle of the courtyard and Arya and Gendry grabbed each other at the same moment, pulling one another to the ground behind a wagon. Arya, kneeled in Gendry’s shadow, pulled him with her body so that they could both peer around the wagon. A Stark banner was leaning against a worn table with six men eating at it. The Frey men who had killed Grey Wind and a few others went up to the table.
“Arry,” Gendry muttered. He could see the Stark men dying now. “Arry, we need to leave.”
Arya did not respond to him. She continued to watch in silence and a moment later, the Frey men were stabbing the Stark men over their shoulders and cutting their throats. Gendry pulled Arya back so that she wouldn’t continue to watch. She turned around and looked at him with her eyes wide and filled with horror.
Gendry felt emotion stick to his throat. “Arya, please, we need to leave -”
“Arya! Gendry!”
The two turned to look the way they came and saw Lord Beric and Thorors running toward them. They both looked furious. Gendry looked back at Arya and her horrified expression had been replaced with a blank expression. The two men crouched down near them.
“What the fuck were you think -”
“They killed my brothers wolf,” Arya whispered. “They’re killing Stark men.”
Lord Beric and Thoros both looked to Gendry and then looked around the yard. They saw the bodies of the men who had just been murdered, and then looked at one another.
“We need to leave.”
“No shit -” Gendry could have hacked at Thoros with his own axe if it wasn’t for the dining hall opening up across the yard from them. Arya and Gendry looked around the wagon enough to see the door.
More Frey men were in the yard now, two of them were carrying a body. It was a woman in a gown with long hair but Gendry didn’t know who. He had a guess, but he prayed to whatevr Gods were listening that it was not -
“That’s my mother.”
Arya was crawling on all fours before Gendry could stop her. More men were leaving the dining hall and there was another body. This time it was a man - it was Arya’s brother. Gendry knew. Gendry followed Arya and as soon as he was near enough to reach her, Gendry grabbed her arms and pulled her roughly to the ground.
“LET - GO - OF -ME -”
Arya’s yells were drowned out by all the Frey men chanting.
“THE KING IN THE NORTH! THE KING IN THE NORTH!”
Gendry saw men push Robb Stark’s body onto a horse. His head had been replaced with the head of his Direwolf. Gendry held to Arya tightly, but both were frozen with horror. Never in his shitty life had Gendry ever seen something as disgusting as the Frey men.
Arya pulled herself out of shock before Gendry did and began to cry out against his grip on her. She was kicking him and clawing at his arms. He felt hot blood cover his arms and she broke skin. Gendry wrestled with her body to try to turn her around, so that she would be facing him and not the horrific scene in front of them.
“Arya - Arya! ”
Without thinking, Gendry moved his arms so that they were no longer supporting his weight and he laid on top of Arya to stop her fighting. He grabbed the axe at his hip and hit her in the back of the head with the side of it. Her fighting stopped and her body slouched under him.
Arya woke with a jump on the back of Lord Beric’s horse. Her face was facing away from Gendry, but she slowly turned to look in his direction. She seems dazed and exhausted, and she had remained unconscious during their path back to the Brotherhood and for a good portion of the morning ride.
Arya and Gendry stared at each other in silence and eventually, Arya began to drift into sleep against Lord Beric’s back. Gendry continued to watch her as he had since she got put on the horse behind Lord Beric. He was exhaused and he knew he needed to sleep, but he also needed to watch Arya.
When Gendry woke up, it was to Thoros tapping his leg.
“We are going to sleep here,” he told Gendry. Gendry rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around. It was a small clearing in a patch of trees.
“Where’s Arya?”
Thoros seemed surprised by how quickly Gendry dismounted the mare but pointed to the opposite side of him. Gendry quickly stepped around but paused when he saw Arya. She was sitting on the forest floor with her arms wrapped around her knees. She was staring where Anguy was kneeling to start a fire but she wasn’t seeing him.
He walked over to her and sat down beside her. Almost numbly, Arya turned her head slightly to look at him. Gendry gave her a soft smile that was not returned and Arya turned back toward the starting fire, her steel eyes turning blank once more. Gendry felt as if he has been just hit in the gut. He could hardly breath and his eyes burned.
He looked away from her to find Anguy staring at him and when he saw Gendry’s face he gave him a sad smile. The fire was of a good size now and Anguy stood to leave the two. Gendry could have sworn he heard Anguy say to leave them be, but he couldn’t be sure. If he had, Gendry was thankful.
Arya didn’t speak, or make any sounds at all, for the remaining portion of the day. She hardly ate the rabbit that they had cooked for supper and as soon as she had finished the few bites she did eat, she rolled to her back on the furs Gendry had laid out for them and didn’t move for the rest of the night.
When Gendry woke up the following morning, Arya was still laying on her side, facing away from him. He hesitantly reached out toward her and placed his large hand on her back. She wasn’t sleeping, Gendry noticed, and he hoped that she had at least slept at some point throughout the night. Arya turned around so that she was now laying on her side and facing him. He gave her another soft smile and this time it was returned.
Seeing the small smile on her face lifted a heavy weight from Gendry’s shoulders. He took that as a sign that he could attempt to comfort her, and was pleased when Arya allowed him to pull her into his side. Still she didn’t cry, and she didn’t say anything but she hugged Gendry’s body to her own fiercely.
Once the others woke up and began to build a fire, Arya sat up to watch the flames again. Gendry stood and walked into the wood to take a piss and to his horror, Arya was gone from the clearing when he returned.
“Where did Arya go?” he demanded.
Anguy looked around teh clearing and then back toward Gendry. The smith felt his face heat with anger.
“Probably to take a piss, like you.”
“ Probably ?” Gendry repeated. “Shouldn’t you probably know where she is?”
“Why don’t you go find her then?” Anguy said, a snarl curling at his lip. “Why should we have to watch your girlfriend at every moment of the day?”
Gendry was too angry to respond. He turned on his heel and went back to the trees, nearly tripping over Lem as he searched through his bag for something.
“Arya!” he called out. Even if she was just taking a piss, she would come to his voice. Maybe Gendry searching for her would annoy her enough for her to insult him and shove him. He almost ached for that Arya again. “Arya!”
Arya did not appear or yell back to confirm she was alright and after the fourth time Gendry had yelled out her name, he began to get worried. He began to run through the tree and was trying his best to listen for any sounds. If Arya had run away, he would furious. Of course she would have done it the minute Gendry wasn’t around, she knew that she would never be able to get away with it with him near her. Gendy stopped all of a sudden at the sound of horses.
Fear flooded Gendry and he broke into a sprint toward the sound of the animal’s heavy breathing. The closer he got, he heard men groaning and gasping and… and a girl crying.
“ARYA!” he yelled again, this time much more loudly than before, He broke into another clearing and found the horses he had heard. There was a man laying on the ground with a shield next to him. Gendry noticed at once that it was a man who served House Frey. He was groaning and clutching at his middle where a thick stream of blood flowed from his body. Gendry then saw Arya, she was hunched over another Frey man.
“Arya!” Gendry yelled. He ran to her and fell to his knees, pulled Arya away from the man and toward him.
Arya turned as he pulled her, her hands were covered in blood and were holding Lem’s dagger. There were streaks of tears running down her cheeks and when she looked up at Gendry she looked so broken, so frail.
“Arry…” Gendry said, his voice thick.
A sob wracked through Arya’s body and before Gendry’s brain could process any thoughts, he pulled Arya into his lap and wrapped his arms around her small body. More and more sobs shook her body and Arya clung to him as if his life depended on it. Gendy himself thought that his life depended on this moment, with Arya Stark in his arms. He vowed to stop arguing with himself - he didn’t only love her, but he was in love with her. There was no longer anyway that he could deny it.
Once her sobbed had ceased she pressed her face farther into his tunic. Gendry could feel that she was still crying but it seemed that his slow rocking had helped calm her down.
“Please don’t leave me,” she said so quietly that Gendry nearly missed it. He gripped her impossibly closer to him.
“I will never leave you, Arya. I promise you,” he said. And without thinking, Gendry continued: “I love you, Arya.”
Arya pulled back out of his arms at once and stared at him, her eyes wet and wide and red. Gendry nearly grimaced. He opened his mouth to explain himself but was cut off. Arya wrapped her arms back around him so tightly that it hitched his breathing.
“I love you, too, Gendry.”
Suddenly, Gendry felt his eyes wetten and he cursed himself. No one had ever said that to him. Those three words were almost like a foreign language to him. Gendry had told her this countless times, but only in his head, and his imagination of Arya repeating them back to him had never caused such an effect on him.
“You are my pack,” Arya mumbled into his tunic. “You are everything that I have. I love you, I really do. Don’t be a stupid bull and over think it.”
Gendry let out a wet laugh half in order to keep himself from letting tears spill over, half because of the shock that he was experiencing.
“We should leave tonight,” Arya said, pulling back from him once more. She dried her face with part of her sleeve that wasn’t drenched in blood and then wiped Lem’s dagger off on her leg.
“Where would we go?” Gendry asked her.
Arya pulled a piece of silver from her pocket, a piece of silver he had noticed after they escaped Harrenhal. “To Braavos,” she answered. She looked around the clearing. “We’ll take their horse back to the Brotherhood so that we can ride it today, and we can take their swords,” she said. “And once they’re asleep tonight we will leave.”
Arya seemed to sure of their plans that Gendry only nodded.
“Tonight,” he repeated.