Hi people !

So first things first I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry for this taking longer than expected, I done my exam last Wednesday and it went far better than I expected so thanks to all the well wishers ! Unfortunately I was totally exhausted from the extensive study hours and there were a few RL matters I had to deal with as well.

Thanks for reviewing to : Elise Marie, Princess Britny, EatYourFudge, softballlover298, EchoOFanotherMind , Q, CheshireCat, dockfangirl, bluestriker666, DaliaGray, Draya Kane

Sorry if I didn't reply to your review, I will in future promise it was just the RL stress! ;)

And thanks to all the people who have put this on alert and on their favorites! Seriously the list just keeps growing!

A/N: Seriously these last three episodes have been sooooooooo friggin' awesome however TWO episodes with a Gendry-no-show really throws a spanner in my work, plus the small-best-scene-of-the-show-so-far-on-a-fangirl-level doesn't provide tooooo much for my muse :/

I promised two chapters so I will give them however it won't be two Gendry chapters – due to the lack of appearances - am totally enjoying the Tywin-Arya –Father/Daughter/who sort of want to kill each other-relationship !

This spans episodes 5 & 6, episode 7 should be fleshed out in the next Gendry pov chapter, because I have a feeling something is happening soon, besides I can't just make up too many interaction scenes because it might make it AU which would be bad, but I couldn't resist that dialogue, I think it could have happened (was edited, before it was even more shippy)

Disclaimer: I own nothing! It all belongs to HBO and GRRM, unfortunately *grrmph*

Every time things got as bad as they could, they'd seem to get worse. No he was no longer on death's door, as long as no one referred to him by name, but Arya was now teetering perilously close to the edge, one wrong word, one false look and she could be gone for good. It was hard for her, he knew having to bow down to the head of the family that had taken absolutely everything from her, her friend, her wolf, her father, her sister, her family, her freedom. He wasn't sure she could do it.

She was amazing in so many ways, but everything that he had made him come to care for her was what was making her new found role so very truly dangerous. She was harsh, abrasive, single minded, proud and stubborn and most of all she was a wolf through and through. The wild nature running deeper than just her blood, every look she gave a Lannister man, was one of contempt barely concealed by false meekness, every look behind the stubborn glare was a wish of death and the one she would sometimes give Tywin, when he had seen them together once, whilst bringing a sword into the castle for inspection, well that one chilled him to the bone.

Every passing day made him more certain their cover was going to be blown, because the moment she was exposed would be the moment he would risk life and limb to steal her away. Stealing her away was the one thing her service to Tywin had prevented, it was the one other thing he was thankful to the man for. Polliver would have had her in his cot before the sun had even set as punishment, however it also prevented him from stealing her, albeit for an entirely different purpose.

He was spending every waking minute in the forge and his thoughts were become as dark as the coals he kept glowing. She hadn't talked to him since the day he'd escaped the Tickler, she probably hated him, he was a smith, her smith in her mind and here he was hammering out swords for her enemies. It wasn't his best work he made sure a few had weak points but he couldn't risk too much, his work was checked by too many different people. One batch he had worked had been riddled with soft parts and brittle centres, shoddy handles and uncomfortable grips, it was his most brazen attempt at sabotage, he'd been lucky in many ways that day. The master observing him that day had lost his entire family, five children and a wife, to a Lannister hoard, he'd clouted him over the ear and pulled him into a dark corner, "Never ever do anything so obvious again boy, you still have a life and those two friends. You want to kill them and me too? Think I don't see what you do you little fool? We all do. You're not the only one that does it, not many get away with what you do. Never finished to become a master did you? That's the only excuse you have, you do any more of that and you'll end up skewered on one of your own swords, think how that's going to hurt with the shitty edges you've been making."

He knew what he had done was stupid, but it was the only way he felt like he wasn't betraying Arya, even if he was betraying himself. He hated making those shitty blades, even if he hated what they were being used for. It was the one thing he was really good at, the one thing that gave him any sort of peace. Forging was an art, it was the dance of metal, muscle and fire, it was the only home he had ever had, but something was changing. This wasn't Thobo Mott's forge and that had something to do with it, but it wasn't everything.

Something was different in him, a lot of the time when he was in King's Landing he would batter out the image of some drunk fool with leering eyes and disgusting teeth, other times it was some groomed Lord that hadn't kept his breeches laced, it was always the face of someone who might have been his father. Then as he got a little older it would be the fact that he would always be a Waters, if he became a master amourer he could maybe have another name, that made him spend his time over the coals, then it just became a part of him, the hammer became an extension of his arm and the rhythm the echo of his heartbeat, the searing heat reminded him of the blood running through is veins. He was an amourer's apprentice and all he wanted was his own small forge, where he could make pieces of art, that every knight would be proud to bear the sign of Gendry Waters.

Now everything was beginning to get fuzzy, he needed the forge, he needed to smith but it wasn't everything the way it had been for so long. He had someone now, he'd not been anything to anyone since his mother had died, he was just some brat that was paid well for to be a master amourer, he was a source of money nothing else, a good pupil at most. Meeting Arya though, no even before that in some ways, when Yoren had taken him, everything was becoming blurry and he hated it.

In the forge only his thoughts would accompany him, there were daydreams when he thought he was back in that cage, or strapped to that chair, days when they were back at the stream, how his world had spun out of focus then too. It all had to do with the secrets, his and hers, their secrets were haunting and taunting him. The Grey of her eyes would float before him with hateful stares or with an anger burning raw or worse of all empty and closed to him.

He needed to see her, to explain, he wanted to go to Riverrun, he would take her there, he had promised her, he had sworn it to himself. She was Arya of House Stark, she would be his liege-lord, as long she wanted him to be by her side, he was a stubborn bull with southern blood but he would remain in the north, because that was where he was starting to belong.

He was starting to understand why the forge wasn't enough, he needed to prove himself, prove he wasn't enjoying supplying the men to face her brother, what choice did he have though? She was serving the Lannister himself, surely she could understand. He needed to live to escape, to escape they needed weapons, they needed each other. He wasn't going to let her go on her own and she would go, that he knew, she would never say she needed him either, but that he knew too.

He knew they would get away together and take Hotpie too, but it was going to take time and time was the one thing they didn't have. She was the strongest person he knew, but everyone had a breaking point and she would be reaching hers soon, no one could be expected to see their father's murderer every day and curtsy with a smile, if she even curtsied. He couldn't help but grin, no Arya wouldn't curtsy even if she did like the man, she would never curtsy.

She was a she-wolf in the making and he prayed she'd remain the same, she was a savage feral beauty and taming her would kill her. He didn't really know when he'd started thinking about lords and ladies, maybe it was this place, imagining her rule a place like this in some stuffy dress, her being here made it all the more real. It was a castle and she was princess, it made him itch but he knew that day would come when she'd be in Winterfell and all he'd be was a smith she picked up on the road. She'd always be more than she knew and he'd always be less than she thought. She wanted to take him to Riverrun, but she didn't understand, if they went to Riverrun he'd get a thanks and be sent packing, he'd ask to fight and they'd give him a sword, he'd die and she would live and he would do it gladly. But when she had mentioned it she had had a hopeful gleam, she seemed to think they could stay the same, that she would be Arry and he Gendry, brothers on the way to the Wall, but it would never be allowed, a princess was never friends with a baseborn bastard smith, not even a warrior-princess.

He sighed to himself, trying to suppress the seed of sorrow blooming at the thought of eventually losing the only person that saw him for him, a friend, maybe a brother even, someone worth caring for, he had been so deep in thought that he hadn't seen her enter. She just stood there the grey sky reflecting in her eyes, with resignation on her face. There was no angry glare, no accusation on her tongue, no blankness to her face, she just stood tired with an apple in her hand, throwing it to him, seating herself on the edge of a stone, chatting away as if nothing had changed, as if they had never been parted.

After that day she came as often as she could, sometimes with food, sometimes with a tale and other times with just her silent presence. Then she told him of the threat. She had out and out threatened Tywin Lannister in front of other lords and he had known exactly what she was doing. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, she was going to get them killed before he could fulfill his promise. It was just Arya, entirely Arya, he hadn't really expected her to do anything else other than threaten him, but he had fervently prayed to the seven she wouldn't, not that the Gods ever listened to his prayers, maybe he should go find a tree, might have more luck, besides she was of the North, they would probably look after one of their own, then again, it didn't matter here. He didn't bother chastising her, she wouldn't listen anyway. He just shook his head, and told her she should be more careful, that was when he really saw the cracks when she just turned around and said, "He will die Gendry, all men die."

She was slipping from him and there was nothing he could do about it. After that though she started to become more Arya again, she even half smiled occasionally, he couldn't make her smile properly here, there was just too much evil. Still she was changing too, this place was affecting her more deeply than he had thought, he needed to get her out before the fractures became too deep.

The day at the forge showed him just how deeply the scars were beginning to run. That whole day was confusing enough without the aftermath, she had been pretending not to watch, it wasn't the first time she'd seen him shirtless, but this was different. On the road it had always been fleeting and he would then stand guard as she washed, but it was also the fact that she was just sitting there. Any other girl and he would suspect what would be going through their heads, usually they'd be a bit older too but he knew similar looks from King's Landing, he wasn't as stupid as everyone thought him to be. He had always labored hard and that meant he was well built, he knew it, didn't mean anything to him though, if anything the girls sometimes watching him was more annoying than anything. Especially if they started to bat their eyelashes at him, especially the lord's daughters that sometimes came to Thobo Mott's he wasn't a piece of meat, not that any of them cared.

This was Arya though, his little wolf pup, his little wolfling Princess of the North, she was too young and too Arya to think like that, knowing her she was probably thinking where it would be easiest to stick Needle through and cause the most damage, that or that he was strong or that he could be useful in a fight. She was always thinking about practical things, he doubted a girly thought had ever entered her head. Still he hadn't seen her act so peculiar before and it set him on edge.

He didn't really know why he started to slash around with the sword, he had been practicing at night against a beam, the fight was long from over and he wouldn't be as useless as he had been before. If anyone asked then he was checking the balance. Then she had to speak, no of course not a word of encouragement just her telling him he was doing it wrong, she always had be right, no not a highborn, milady didn't have a clue just how highborn she sounded, it annoyed him and combined with the tenseness he already felt his words came out harsher than intended. She had only meant to help, and he knew that, she even knew what he was doing but still. Would figure though that she knew about sword fighting, she had always bested him when they had mucked around on their travels with Yoren.

Still the way she sat analyzing him, sent a chill down his spine, she was better than she had even pretended in the forest, that was sure. Still he could help a slightly bashful smile, she wasn't calling him stupid for practicing and in a way she was praising him, even if most people couldn't see it, her offering help, useful help, was not something Arya done. Maybe she could practice in earnest with him eventually.

Before he could even bring himself to ask though, they heard a commotion. Rushing to see what had happened, he stopped as he realized who it was lying there, he couldn't hang around for too long or else they'd maybe start pinning it on him somehow, he wouldn't shed any tears, no one would for that fucking bastard. Before he left though he thought he saw Arya smile the most fullest and chilling since coming here.

Something was going on inside that head of hers and he suspected it was dark and twisted. This place was infecting them, it would turn them inside out until they didn't recognize themselves anymore. They needed out and soon. Not long after he saw Arya being chased around the courtyard by some cumbersome man named Lorch or something stupid like that, but in that instance he hadn't cared, what the hell had she managed to do that had sent her running like the Stranger himself was on to her.

He dropped the shield he'd been forging once he saw the sheer panic on her face, the last time she'd looked like that was when he was on the chair. This was bad, something was seriously wrong, what the fuck had she done, he tried to catch her and pull her around a corner so she could tell him what had happened but she was in too much of a panic to see him, the last thing he saw her do before he lost sight of her was pulling a long red-headed man around to face her and then run off. She was looking for the bloody Lothraki, what in the seven hells had she gotten herself into? What did she want with him?

His blood was pounding in his veins, whilst anger and concern started bubbling in his stomach, why was she turning to him? How had she fucking got involved with him? He was bad news, he knew that much, and she was seeking him out? He had told her to staying damn well clear of him and she totally ignored him. The rejection stung for a second, he had thought she knew she could turn to him for anything. He would do anything and everything for her, how could she not know?

He tried confronting her about it afterwards, even if his anger was rolling off him, he wanted some damned answers, she was keeping secrets from him and he needed to know.

"He nearly knew" , was the only answer she would give him, no matter how hard he pressed, no matter how angry he got, she wouldn't tell him why the Lothrak and helped and she wouldn't answer how the man had nearly known, "Gods dammit Arya, you need to be more careful. I told you no one would know from me, I swore it and I promised Yoren to keep you safe, don't go making it so hard."

His rage was boiling, he would need to go the forge afterwards, he tried to keep his language in check she was still highborn, but hells was she making hard with her stubborn attitude.

"I won't, besides I never asked you to keep me safe, I can do it myself. Stupid Bull, why would I want your help anyway?"

"You don't need my help. Fine, but I swore an oath m'lady" , he stated with his jaw squarely set, he hadn't ever been angry at her before, but how was he meant to keep her safe when she kept him out of the loop?

"Don't call me that", she hissed pushing him.

"Arya", he grabbed ahold of her wrists and kept them still whilst looking deep into her eyes, "I will keep you safe I promised, we will get out of here and we will find your brother, just please, please don't do anything stupid, I know you hate him. I know. Please though. All men die and so will he but please, let the King kill him."

"Why would Joffery kill him?"

"I said the King, not Joffery. Arya, you saved my life, Robb is my King and that makes you a Princess, I'm only a stupid bull as you call me, but I will keep you safe, it's my fault you're here anyway."

"I'm not a Princess, I'm just Arya"

"I know but that's not how Tywin Lannister will see you nor the other Lords."

"But Littlefinger didn't …"

"Littlefinger? You mean Lord Baelish? He was here?"

"Yes he was here and…"

"Wait a minute you know Lord Baelish and you had to serve him? Did he recognize you?"

"I don't know, maybe, possibly, Gendry it doesn't matter he's gone."

"Gods dammit Arya, you could have told me. Arya please, please be more careful. Tywin is not stupid."

She guiltly looked away and realized he was still holding her wrists, quickly letting go, he stepped back and possibly looked slightly bashful. He'd said more than he wanted too and though he didn't quite say how she was his wolfling princess and that he was sure as hells going to keep safe even if it cost him his life, it was more than he'd ever really said in one go and she would just punch him for it anyway. The moments he had called Robb The King though, he knew he meant every word. He was now a part of the North, the cold harsh people were the only ones who had ever shown him any sort of sign that he was worth the breath he took, Jon Arryn, Ned Stark and Arya Stark most of all.

He might only be a stupid stubborn bull, a lowborn bastard but he would fight for what he believed in and right now that was one person, his little wolf pup, who was too much a warrior for her own good. She was a pup not fully grown, her teeth and claws too blunt right now, but by the Old Gods and New what a fearsome sight she would make when she was grown, but first she had to survive, and that was his responsibility, whether she liked it or not. She would be a Wolf-Queen yet, if he had anything to do with it.

PLEASE REVIEW – Will hand out Mockingbird cookies! – or a Gendry torso – your pick!

Feel free to criticize the dialogue either due to AU-ness or due to the actual dialogue itself :)