Chapter Text
-Theon, aren’t you tired?
His mother’s quiet voice craked the silence that had been ruling over the car for an hour. It was raining outside – no, it was a storm, so loud that anyone would have said the noise was deafening. And yet Theon couldn’t hear it.
The rain, the car’s engine, the city lights shining far away, it was like they all didn’t exist. There was nothing but the sea of thoughts in his mind. He gazed into the rearview mirror, meeting his mother’s demanding eyes, and shook his head. Well, he was tired, but he was too upset to sleep.
A sudden flare, and a few seconds later the dark clouds were groaning loudly. Asha, who was sleeping crouched next to him, muttered something and snorted. She raised her head from her uncomfortable position and glared at Theon with tired, red eyes, just to go back to sleep a moment later. Theon hoped she would have woken up again, but she didn’t. Oh, if only she could break that silence! Maybe she would have started asking questions about everything that was going on.
Theon would have loved to ask those questions too, but he was too afraid they would have upset his mother. She looked very upset already, there was no need to make it worse.
-You’re eight years old, Theon. You’re mature already, aren’t you? You understand why this is happening, I’m sure you do.
Theon nodded, but it was to make his mother feel better. He didn’t understand. Hell, he didn’t even know what was happening in the first place. Where were they going in the middle of the night? Why wasn’t their father with them? What about Maron and Rodrik?
A thought drifted in his sea of thoughts. A sad, cruel thought. He drowned it back in the abyss, far away from his certainty that everything was going great.
Theon hated his new home. He hated its cold, sad looking furniture, he hated his room and he hated having to share it with his sister. He hated the fact that nobody explained nothing to him and he hated being forced to spend his next years in that place. He hated having to go to that terrible building that was his new school, and he hated the garden that surrounded it. He hated the whole city, he hated the mess of hundred of staircases, alleys and hills. He hated the stone roads, he hated the buildings clumped on eachtoher and he hated the faces of the people who inhabited them. Theon was sure that everyone was definitely stupid in that city, and the other children wouldn’t understand a word of what he said, leaving him eating lunch by himself in the courtyard. He cried at that thought, because he didn’t want to be alone.
He had complained to his mother one night. They were having dinner; Theon always thought that expressing problems or complaints in front of a meal was the best way to go with that. And there he sat in front of his plate. His mother was so upset she started yelling at him.
-How can you do this to me? After how hard I tried to tear you off that place, now you want to get back there?! I thought you were mature, Theon, but it turns out you’re still a child. A spoiled child! – she said, anger in her voice.
Theon had never felt so miserable in his short life. He jumped down the chair, tears in his eyes, and ran to his room into which he locked himself. Tucked under his blankets, he cried for an hour. It felt like everything was crumbling down! He wanted to go home, his real home, back to playing with his friends by the harbour. He wanted to sit on the shore again, and watch the boats’s sails dance in the wind, wondering which one Rodrik was on. He wanted to jump from the cliffs and dive into the sea, landing on the soft sand that covered the ground under the water. Theon had been just a bit happy when he discovered there was an harbour in the new city, but when he actually visited it with Asha they both cringed, remembering how clean and nice was their hometown’s harbour. In that horrible city the sea was so dirty that walking by the harbour masses of dead fish floating on the water’s surface could be seen. That was rare though, since there usually were so many boats and ships docked that water couldn’t even be seen. His hopes of finding a way to live happily in that city died in that moment.
Theon lied on his bed, half-awake, half-asleep. He dreamed of his older brothers coming to rescue him on a sailing ship, the most big and glorious ship he had ever seen, with a golden kraken painted on each sail. It felt nice to look at, and started thinking he could’ve found his peace.
A knock on the door brought him back to reality, to his room’s blue walls and his green bed sheets.
-Open the door, little brother. I have cookies with me. – Theon’s mood lit up. Maybe sharing a room wasn’t that bad after all. He let Asha in, grabbed a cookie from the jar she held in her arms and went back to sitting on his bed. Silence fell between the two siblings. Theon could smell the awkwardness in the air. He tried his best to focus on his food instead. It was clear Asha hand’t made her way into Theon’s room just for the sake of feeding him; she wanted to talk. What Theon found weird was that she was hesitating. Asha, for a twelve years old girl, was very blunt. She spoke everything that came to her mind without too many worries, and her usually sharp words always came along with some cuss words thrown around. Her voice was always loud, Asha was always making sure everyone could hear her. But that night her voice was soft, and she didn’t cuss.
-You really don’t like this place, do you?
-I hate it! – he replied with disdain. Asha looked at him with sympathy in her eyes.
-Can’t say I like it either. But we don’t really have a choice, Theon. We need to get the best out of this place. It sucks, I know, but we can’t spend the next years complaining, can we? – she rested her hand on his shoulder.
-But, I never asked to come here! It’s all mom’s fault! – he muttered, and Asha seemed to be hit by sadness.
-Mom’s not to blame, she did her best to help us-
-I don’t recall ever seeking her help! – Theon cut her off. Asha sighed and placed her hand on his brother’s. Her hand’s grip tightened a bit.
-Mom and dad are divorcing.
Her words hit him like a train at full speed. Then he was right. In the end, that was the answer all along. Of course, how could he have been so stubborn to refuse to see that. He couldn’t believe it was happening to his family, he could never accept it! Those kind of things were far away from his world. They only occurred to poor, unfortunate families. Not to the Greyjoys, not to his family, not to him! Theon felt his cheeks burning, and before he could realize it he was crying again.
-Shit, no don’t cry. I mean, you can cry if you want, but stay strong. I know you are.
-But, Asha! Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Why didn’t anyone tell me earlier?! – Asha shook her head and hugged her sobbing mess of a brother.
-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep it a secret from you. I just…I didn’t want you to be hurt.
Theon didn’t reply. He hide his face in his sister’s shoulder and tried to get a hold of himself.
-Come on, cheer up, little brother. We’re lucky. Mom will take care of us better than dad ever could. We have a nice house in a rather nice part of the city. School starts in a week, and I’m sure you will make so many good friends you’ll start loving this place soon enough. I know this isn’t enough; it will never fix our family up. But, trust me, this is much more than some could ever hope for. We’ll work something out.