WHO: Aria Winters → Arya Stark WHEN: Morning of May 20 WHERE: Drew's house, mostly the kitchen SUMMARY: Early morning breakfast preparations are interrupted by so. many. memories. WARNINGS: Spoilers for the whole last season of Game of Thrones, as well as seasons that came before it. Some mentions of death. BINGO PROMPT: Throne
It had been weeks -- six, to be exact -- since Aria had woken up on a Monday morning without the odd heaviness settled on her chest that stemmed from what was essentially an uncontrollable unknown looming before her. And while there were still plenty of unknowns in her life as Aria Winters thanks to the life of Arya Stark, that morning she woke up with the knowledge that it was, for all intents and purposes, over. There would be no more revelations as they all gathered around the television, either as a group or split apart. There would be no more wondering at how the events would unfold and change their lives for a week, only to have start wondering all over again come Sunday evening. She knew that there would be consequences to how everything played out in the end within her waking life, but it was hard not to feel a certain level of comfort at knowing there would be some sort of finality to the memories.
After cancelling her alarm on her phone, Aria slipped out of bed with the sort of quiet stealth that only a girl that had spent years honing such skills could. Perhaps another girl might have used those skills to sneak up on her brother in the godswood of Winterfell or to come out of the darkness to kill a Night King, but Aria used it simply to ensure that her boyfriend could get a bit more sleep as she went in search of breakfast.
Pausing just long enough to stretch her arms up and over her head to shake off the remaining bit of sleep that had latched onto her body, Aria snatched up her lacrosse sweatshirt to tug it on over her head and the pajamas that she'd had the foresight to bring to Drew's the night before. She padded barefoot through his now familiar house, considering whether she might just leave the shorts and tank top behind, in case her staying became frequent. It would be nice, she considered as she squinted in the early morning sun that bathed the kitchen in brightness, to stay over for reasons not relating to Game of Thrones.
It happened while she stood in front of the open refrigerator, taking stock of what food supplies Drew had that she could craft into some variation of breakfast for the two of them before they both had to go to campus for finals. One moment she was Aria Winters, college student and waitress, and the next she was Arya Stark. But it wasn't just a handful of moments that she experienced, like those dreams she'd had in California or the scattered ones she'd experienced since moving home. No, this was everything.
She felt Arya's betrayal as she realized that the Brotherhood had sold Gendry to the Red Woman and just how much she hated the helplessness she felt at watching her last friend be taken from her and with nothing for her to do to help him.
She felt Arya's storm of emotions in the aftermath of her uncle's wedding that had left her without her mother and eldest brother and how it felt to kill a man for the first time.
She felt the hatred that Arya felt for the Hound, which slowly, so very much without her consent or knowledge, turned to a begrudging affection during their time together -- so much so that she couldn't end his pain when he asked her to.
She felt her struggle through the training at the House of Black and White, her failures resulting in blindness, but her sense of self never being truly stomped out, even after her vision is given back to her and she returned to her training. She would never truly be "no one", as she would always be Arya Stark of Winterfell.
She felt Arya's calculating mind work and make use of the skills she had learned with the Faceless Men to seek revenge on House Frey for what they had done to her family, wiping them all out with great ease.
She felt the relief that Arya felt as she reunited with her family members one by one, then worked with her sister to rid the world of Littlefinger once and for all.
Aria stepped back from the refrigerator, letting the door swing shut. As her lower back hit the counter behind her, she took in a deep breath, her eyes closing. The memories hadn't stopped there, of course, but had simply caught up to what she had already watched on the screen. Unlike some of the others, she hadn't been receiving memories with each viewing and she'd thought that may have been a blessing as she watched her brother war with the emotions that came along with them. But now, she lived through it all at once, from her reunion with Jon to Gendry and all of the complicated feelings he inspired to her bringing about the end to the Long Night. She remembered saying no to Gendry's proposal before the ride south with Sandor, then their farewell in the crumbling keep before she struggled to live through the dragon fire and destruction of King's Landing. And then, finally, the goodbye she, Sansa, and Bran bid to Jon.
When Aria's eyes opened, she almost expected to be on the bow of her ship that was headed to whatever might lay in wait west of Westeros, the salty scent of the ocean somehow hanging in the air of Drew's kitchen.
The influx of memories should have been overwhelming to her and they most certainly were to an extent, but Aria wasn't met with the dizzying confusion that she may have expected. Instead, she felt… complete. Arya's story had come to fruition and she had gotten the one thing she wanted -- freedom. She was free to explore, to be the woman that she had always been destined to be, even back when she'd been forced to do the traditional needlework that she'd hated. Her wild, independent spirit was no longer tethered to a life of a noblewoman or a life ruled by vengeance and revenge. No, she was Arya Stark and she had new purpose.
Nothing had changed for Aria Winters between the mere moments that passed between her waking and now. So many of her loved ones would be in a position that she doubted any of them had the life experience that would even begin to leave them with any idea as to where they were meant to go from here. Most of her worry revolved around Max, who she knew would almost certainly be struggling with the actions that Jon had been forced to take. But it wasn't only her brother. She worried for Danielle and the trajectory she'd watched her counterpart live. She wondered after Caty and how she was coming to terms with this all. She even thought of Theo and her aunt and uncle, all of which had ties to that world which had come to an end long before this final stretch of the story and would undoubtedly be just as affected by all of this in their own way as they tried to determine how best to give support to the others.
And, of course, there was Drew.
Aria's eyes lifted, looking toward the entrance to the kitchen and the direction of the bedroom that she'd left him sleeping in. Her heart warmed in that familiar way it so often did when her thoughts lingered on him, a feeling that she'd been so happy to welcome once more after months of chastising herself during their separation. He had been a support to her that she had both needed and hadn't anticipated, though she found herself wondering why she hadn't realized it long ago. Though Aria was convinced that their story had to have played out just as it did, despite all of the heartache, she couldn't help wondering just how different it might have been had she been open to his willingness to share her pain.
If there was one lesson that Aria could take from Arya, though, it was that it didn't do to linger on what might have been, not when there was a future ahead of her to live that she could mold into just what she wanted of it.
Glancing once at the clock on the microwave and realizing that she still had a few hours before her first final was scheduled to start, Aria smiled and left the kitchen behind. She didn't know what the future might have held for Arya and Gendry, if anything at all. But what she did know was that her boyfriend was here and breakfast could wait until she'd had her fill of sleeping in with him.