End Game// Tormund Giantsbane (3)

55. Becoming

"Not what you're looking for?" Arya questioned when she found Sansa rummaging through her chambers. Sansa gasped turning to face her.

"I have hundreds of men here at Winterfell, all loyal to me." Sansa shouted.

"They're not here now." Arya countered calmly.

"Stop scaring her." Caro instructed looking between them before she saw something in Sansa's hand. 

" What are these?" Sansa whimpered holding up skins, masks, faces.

" My faces." Arya answered. 

"Your... faces... yes that is a normal thing to say." Caro agreed as she took one from Sansa. 

" Where did you get them?" Sansa countered disgusted.

"This feels really real." Caro remarked. 

"In Braavos, while I was training to be a faceless man." Arya answered. "and they are real." Caro practically threw the face across the room. 

"And you let me touch it!" Caro shouted wiping her hands on her pants. 

"What does that mean?" Sansa whimpered. 

"Well... Bran is a raven, Jon is a king and Arya is a faceless man?" Caro pondered. "Is that what I'm understanding." Arya nodded.  "What the literal hell."

"Back in Braavos, before I got my first face, there was I game I used to play. The game of faces. It's simple: I ask you a question about yourself and you try to make a lie sound like the truth. If you fool me, you win. If I catch a lie, you lose. Let's play." Arya suggested her hands clasped behind her back.

"Like snaps?" Caro pondered. 

"Not like snaps." Arya corrected narrowing in on Sansa. 

"I don't want to play." Sansa whispered. 

"How do you feel about Jon Snow being king? Is there someone else you feel should rule the North instead of him?" Arya questioned.

" Those faces, what are they?" Sansa begged. 

"You want to do the asking? Are you sure? The game of faces didn't turn out so well for the last person who asked me questions." Arya remarked.

"You sound like a psychopath." Caro remarked honestly. That smirk Arya gave her wasnt helping. 

" Tell me what they are!" Sansa shouted

"We both wanted to be other people when we were younger. You wanted to be a queen." Arya remarked. "To sit next to a handsome young king on the Iron Throne. I wanted to be a knight, to pick up a sword like father and Aunt Caro and go off to battle. Neither of us got to be the other person, did we?"

"Battle is terrible. Forget why the hell we wanted such fun." Caro murmured.  "But the world doesn't just let girls decide what they are going to be, you have to fight for it." Caro remarked. 

 "Thats right and I can now. Because I fought. Like you taught me. With the faces I can choose. I can become someone else. Speak in their voice, live in their skin. I can even become you." Arya remarked as she took the dagger from the table. Pointing it casually at Sansa as she got closer.

" I wonder what it would feel like to wear those pretty dresses. To be the Lady of Winterfell. All I'd need to find out is your face." Arya remarked before flipping the dagger handing the hilt to Sansa. 

"Thats fucking psychopath behavior." Caro declared. "You okay Sansa?"  She just nodded. "Maybe dont play with Arya's masks... faces..."

+

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Jon remarked but Dany shook her head taking Jon's hand. "I wish I could take it back. I wish we'd never gone." Jon rasped

"I don't. If we hadn't gone I wouldn't have seen. You have to see it to know. Now I know. The dragons are my children. They're the only children I'll ever have. Do you understand?" Jon nodded slightly. " We are going to destroy the Night King and his army. And we'll do it together. You have my word." Daenerys assured him.

"Thank you, Dany."

"Dany? Who was the last person who called me that? I'm not sure, was it my brother? Not the company you want to keep." Daenerys remarked.

"Alright. Not Dany. How about "My Queen"? I'd bend the knee but..."

"What about those who swore allegiance to you?" Daenerys countered gently.

"They'll all come to see you for what you are."

" I hope I deserve it." Daenerys remarked.

"You do." Jon assured. 

+

"They got to the capital." Bran remarked. 

"You are better than a raven." Caro mused. 

"Tormund is back at the wall." 

"Thanks Bran." Caro whispered. "Any others secrets or news you wish to relay to me?"

"Petyr." Bran answered. 

 "It's not easy for ravens to fly in these storms. Perhaps Jon tried to send word earlier." Petyr remarked.

"No, this is the way he is, the way he's always been. He never asked for my opinion. Why would he start now?" Sansa countered

"I can't believe he'd surrender the Northern crown without consulting you." Petyr countered.

"This is his writing, his signature. He pledged to fight for Daenerys Targaryen. He's bent the knee." Sansa hissed

"I've heard gossip that the Dragon Queen is quite beautiful."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sansa questioned.

"Jon is young and unmarried. Daenerys is young and unmarried." Petyr went on.

"You think he wants to marry her?"

"An alliance makes sense. Together, they'd be difficult to defeat. He was named King." Petyr agreed

"Even if I wanted to, Aunt caro and Arya would never go along. Arya always loved Jon far more than she ever loved me, and she'd kill anyone who betrayed her family. Caro isnt happy with me again either."

" You are family, too. Would Arya really murder her own sister?" Petyr questioned.

"Do you know what she is now? Do you know what the Faceless Men are?" Sansa questioned curiously.

"Only by reputation. They worship the God of Death, I believe. I never trust godly men." Petyr agreed

"They're killers. And Arya was one of them. What do you think she's after?"

"She's your sister. You know her far better than I ever could."

"She could want me dead because she thinks I wronged my family."

" Why did she come to Winterfell?" Petyr pondered.

"To kill me for marrying our enemies and betraying my family." Sansa offered

"Why did she unearth the letter Cersei made you write?"

" To provide proof of my betrayals. To provide justification after she murders me." Sansa hissed

"And after she murders you, what does she become?" Petyr questioned and Sansa went pale.