✓ | 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝑻𝒐 𝑹𝒖𝒍𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 (R.STARK 2/3)

Chapter One::Running

The grip finally released, despite the long period of time that had passed since the pairs' departure from the massacre, in which the secured grip had failed to falter, it dropped, now, from the girl's waist, leaving her free from the hold of the unfamiliar assailant. Raina pushed away the arm once its grip had lessened, wishing to be no where near the man that had caused an otherwise preventable outcome. Raina wished he hadn't saved her, she wished he'd left her in that hall, not preventing her from running to Robb's side, the only place she ever wanted to be. Instead she now had to live with the memory of what she'd just witnessed, the torture of her love and his death, the two worst things she'd ever thought could happen in her life. The idea hurt so much, like a fire set in her rib cage. She blamed herself, she blamed the man at her side, she blamed Catelyn, and Walder Frey, and Talisa, she wanted someone to hold accountable for this, someone to hate with an undying passion just so this was not all for nothing, so that the fray in which she had just witnessed was not a waste, and all the death would be avenged by her despising of anyone who could hold the blame. She wanted to die, right there and then, if not at the side of her King, desperate to be spared of this pain that had been caused by the ambush. She hadn't even thought about her brothers, or the Forresters, all she'd even begun to consider, when running to the Twins, was Robb. And now he was dead, and presumably so were her friends and family. That was what hurt the most, she'd let them down too.

Desperately sprinting, as fast she could, Raina tried hard to get away from the figure that had dragged her so far from the battle, and had previously prevented her from rescuing the man she loved. Whilst running, the young Glover's mind raced uncontrollably, images and thoughts of the night's events haunting her head as she tried to distract herself. She tried to look around her, to focus on anything but what plagued her mind, but it was futile. The burning in her chest only grew with the neglect she held towards the memories, stabbing at her internal organs with an undeniably painful force that eventually knocked her to her knees.

She fell to the floor, her lungs heated by an unquenchable pain that pierced her chest, her limbs aching from the sudden burst of energy that had soon depleted, and her uncontrollable trembling. She curled into a heap upon the muddy forest floor, head buried deep into her dirty hands, shielding her eyes from the night's breeze as the waterfall began. Her throat ached, as did her contorted face, yet all she could do was continue to sob in hopes it would cease the pain. But nothing did. Nothing brought Robb to her side, or cleared her mind of the traumatising thoughts, or took her back to the times when things had been alright, and perfect beyond their wildest dreams. None of that happened. Instead she remained on the floor, her eyes flooding the palms of her hands, as she cried out from the ever growing pain that consumed her entire body. It hurt so much she failed to explain it. She couldn't breathe because of the burn it brought to her throat, and could feel nothing, hear nothing, see nothing, other than the dark abyss growing in her soul, and in the space in which her heart had previously occupied, before being crushed to nothing more than dust. She wasn't weak, or vulnerable, or innocent in anyway, she was a strong character, Robb had said so himself; she was a Glover, a feisty, hot-headed, uncontainable force to be reckoned with, whom had survived much more than simple loss. She had failed to experience much true pain in her life, the only true occasion being the receiving of news, a few months back, that her sister had been killed; but with that exception, Raina was not a broken person, one to have experienced any sort of hurt in her life time, and hated that now, after everything she had endured, she'd become no more than a crumpled heap upon a forest floor, broken inside, and feeling nothing but raw, inextinguishable, boiling agony - that failed to resume to normality in the near future.

"Raina," hushed a voice looming over her, one that should have felt familiar in some instance, but in that moment all Raina heard was a soft tone of someone whom she could not see, and held only disregard for, at the time. This was the person to have, not saved her, but spared her from interfering in a life altering event. This was the person to have, despite all her efforts to prevent it, dragged Raina from the Twins, kicking and screaming, and kept her away from the fight she so wished to take part in. This was the person that, without intention, had prevented Raina from saving the man she loved, and her King, and had, in turn, caused all the pain she felt currently. Robb was dead. Raina could still see his mangled body, that after so much effort to stay standing, had fallen at the hand of Roose Bolton; and, though Raina had spent so long thinking he would not, Robb had managed his own form of farewell to the Glover he so loved, before hitting the ground with a deafening thud. His hair, his eyes, his face, his body, his heart, his love, his voice, his blood, his death, all haunted Raina as she was cradled by the man to have pulled her away, but no matter how much comforting he attempted, no matter how sensitive and sympathetic he was to her, nothing could mend all the hurt that paralysed her body - and no amount of sobbing, crying, denying it all, would fix the pain Raina would have to tolerate for some time. "Sister," the figure breathed, head resting carefully against her head, holding her closer now than before, securely, and safely, embracing her trembling frame as best he could. She said nothing, did nothing, but the word he had uttered did cause a break in her recollection of past events; instead, she took a moment to finally breathe, a warm air around her now compared to before. Sister... Delvin? Or Finn? Which one of them had made it to her before she'd saved Robb? Which one of them had brought her out into the dead of night? So far into the forest, and away from the fray, that the horrifying screams sounded like the nights air, rushing at the speed of wind, through leaves and around trees. She wished to know, but the effort and energy it would have taken to stand, or at the very least turn her head, or ask the question she needed to know, was overwhelmingly difficult, as currently, all of her body had one thing that it was able to do; shiver, and retract into the smallest shape possible, crying away the stores of water Raina had remaining.

"We must go." The voice spoke again, the whisper of a recognisable voice, still lurking overhead as pain still branded Raina, despite the time that had dragged on. "We have to get home now," The words continued, reassurance in his tone, which, though it being futile, still helped Raina at least breathe without acknowledging the pain that ate at the walls of her lungs. Moving was the last thing she wanted to do in that moment. Everything she had, everything she had ever loved, had been shot down by Freys, or stabbed by Boltons. Her friends had been taken from her, her family, and her love all being pulled out of her reach, leaving her an empty husk, alone in a world she was ignorant enough to think she could survive in, when in reality, they were her only salvation. Her home, and comfort, and source of all things pure. Which had now, in one night, been crushed beneath the boot of the Lannisters; everything Raina ever had. Gone.

"We have to run."