The Stag and The Frog - (GendryxMeera GOT fanfic) Part 1: Alone

22: Always, but never again

The sun was setting as Gendry walked through the ruins of the city he used to call his home, through the rubble, debris and broken dreams. The lingering rays of sunlight highlighted the dust, making it float like fog in the air. The light peered through cracks that shouldn't be there, creating dark shadows that matched the sooty facades of the few building that were still standing.

It was so quiet. A city shouldn't be quiet. It should be filled with chatter, shouting and laughter. Not the only thing that could be heard was cats and mice scattering in the dark alleys. The city was theirs now.

Gendry walked by places he had known so well. The orphanage where he grew up, the bakery where he used to beg for scraps to eat when his master refused to feed him, the well where he walked to get water several times a day, the workshop where he had been an apprentice. They weren't there anymore though. Nothing was there. Just dust.

He crouched down and let the dust sift through his fingers. It was all that was left. All that was remaining of his memories, of his childhood, of who he used to be. It was all gone, and so was the man he used to be. He hadn't become dust, but he had become someone else.

Eventually, he found himself standing by the West Gate. He paused there for a moment, reliving a moment from long ago. It didn't look the same anymore. Many of the houses had fallen apart and the open square was filled with rubble. But he still could see it. How he had walked out that gate, carrying a bull's head helmet. Next to a wagon carrying a young girl dressed in boy's clothing.

This was where his journey had started. This was where he met her for the first time. This was where the circle began and ended.

Suddenly he heard her voice. At first, he wasn't sure if it was real or if it was his mind playing a trick on him.

"Do you remember?" she said.

He turned around. And there she stood.

Arya.

Just like the city, she wasn't the same, but neither was he. Everything had changed. But yet when he saw her it felt like nothing had changed. They were still those kids who had walked out that gate.

She was still dressed like a boy, but her clothes weren't dirty and broken anymore. Her hair was longer now and the top of it was pulled back in a simple braid. She never was one for frills. The eyes were the same. Melancholic, curious and contemptful.

"Of course I do," he replied.

She nodded in reply and walked up closer to him.

"I know you've been hiding from me. But I wanted to see you before I leave. I wanted to say goodbye."

Of course, she had noticed him hiding, he should have realized that. She always knew everything.

"I have been hiding. I didn't want to... feel again. Are you going back to Winterfell?"

She shook her head slowly. It seemed like she pondered the best way to say what she was about to say.

"I'm not going back. I'm never going back. I'm leaving Westeros. Tomorrow morning."

He was taken aback, surprised, gutted. He knew she would never be his, but he didn't think he would never see her again. That she would just be gone from his life forever.

"Where are you going?" he forced himself to ask.

"I'm going to sail west of Westeros, I want to find out what is out there. I want to travel where no one has gone before."

"Will I ever see you again?"

"I don't plan on coming back, ever. But... you can come with me."

As she said this she got even closer. She put her arms on his shoulders and let her arms drape down on his chest.