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Arya Stark knew death he had many faces, she thought she had seen them all, faced them all, fought them all but she had been wrong.
Racing through the halls of Winterfell she had been filled with a terror the likes of which she had never known but she had survived, she had faced down the Night King and she had killed him. She believed she had rid the world of it’s greatest evil, even Cersei Lannister had paled in comparison to him but again she had been wrong.
Stumbling through the streets of Kings Landing she had felt that terror all over again but this time it was somehow worse, here she wasn’t facing it alone. She was surrounded by innocents, none of whom deserved what was happening to them and none of whom she could help. She tried again and again to get people out, to keep them moving, to save them but nothing seemed to work, there was just too much violence and destruction raining down them.
She had all but given up on saving herself let alone anyone else when she heard a voice, Jon’s voice. Somehow it rang loud and clear over the din of battel and death. He was calling for the northern forces to fall back, to retreat, to get out.
Arya had never disobeyed Jon not even when he was just her brother how could she do so now when he was her King (because despite what he may insist he was still the King in the North to her and he always would be). Hearing his order was enough to motivate her, to get her on her feet and start her running.
Arya didn’t know if she could make it out of Kings Landing alive but she knew she had to try. She wanted to live, she wanted to go back home and be with her family but there was something she needed to do first.
There was a new evil in the world, an evil that hid itself so well behind a vale of good intentions that even Bran had not been able to see it but Arya felt she should have. She had been taught long ago to see people and things for what they truly were, it was a skill that never failed her but it had this time. Daenerys Targaryen had fooled her; Arya had felt something wasn’t quite right but Jon had loved the Dragon Queen so much that Arya had wanted to be wrong for his sake.
She had loved and trusted her big brother so she let it blind her to the darkness that lurked within Daenerys. She had chosen to believe in the goodness Jon claimed he saw in his beloved Queen but after the battel of Kings Landing, she couldn’t do that anymore.
No matter how much it would hurt Jon to lose her Daenerys had to be stopped and as Arya pushed herself harder on her race to safety, she knew she would have to be the one to do it.
When she had left Sandor behind in the keep Arya had truly believed the days of her list were done but yet again, she had been wrong, there was one more name to cross off, one more gift to be given and this time it wasn’t about revenge it was about protection.
Daenerys Targaryen Queen of the seven kingdoms had to die so that her subjects might live.