Until We Meet Again❄ (Sandor Clegane) Game Of Thrones (Wattys2019 Nominated)

74 - Her

Arya, the side of her forehead covered in dried mud and blood stared out longingly as she watched men carry bodies of the deceased and place them onto pillars of wood, hundreds of them. Her mouth was dry and the atmosphere was heavy but she maintained her emotionless expression, not wanting to show any form of weakness in this unsettling time.

She looked to her left, watching as people, the survivors, waited patiently for the ceremony to start. Her eyes landed on Beric, his armour almost ripped to shreds, his flaming sword was unlit and placed in the holster of his belt. His eyepatch was missing, showing the gaping scar on his eye socket. Beside him, Tormund and Edd. Tormund stood with his hands behind his back, his head high but she could see the dead look in his face. Edd, Alia's best friend, watched on emotionlessly. Since Alia had died, he didn't say a word.

There was one person she was looking for and that was The Hound. He would stand out like a sore thumb along the crowd but this time, he wasn't there. She knew where he was because he stood there for around two hours, not moving an inch and that was beside Alia.

Her body was placed onto the logs, Sandor and Davos ordering that she got her own but was beside Theon. Since she was placed there, Arya had watched him as he rested his arms beside hers, watching his lips move silently.

As the torches began to be lit, signalling that the burning was going to start soon, nobody had the nerve to tell The Hound that he had to move in case he snapped at them. However, having spent so much time with him over the last few years, Arya knew that if anyone was going to persuade him, it was her.

Her legs carried herself over to him, her movement completely silent as she moved with her hands behind her back, not making any harsh movements. A part of her wanted to know what he was talking to Alia about but she knew what she would hear would break her heart and it did.

She wasn't too far from where Sandor stood, his voice was hoarse, scratchy yet quiet and sad. His body was shaking from the cold and his hands were glued to Alia's pale ones tightly, not seeming like he was going to let go any second.

".... Why did you have to go and do a thing like that? Leave me?"

Arya listened but when he fell silent, she knew that he knew she was there and so she took a step forward and coughed slightly. "It's time... you have to let go now."

Sandor remained quiet, the touch of his hands seeming a lot more tighter than they were getting looser.

"I can't."

Instead of having an attitude with him, she accepted it and took another step forward so she was stood beside and pushed herself up on her tiptoes to look over Alia's body, the pile of wood being too high for her to see her.

When Arya saw her again, she could feel the heartstrings start to tear inside of her. Her eyes began to sting and her breathing got heavier.

Arya breathed out slowly, the strain in her lungs being heard by Sandor beside her, his eyes never once leaving Alia's closed ones.

"She was strong until the end." Arya whispers, the sound of faint wind drafting through the air, ever so slightly moving Alia's neatly brushed hair that lay past her shoulders.

Again, he stayed quiet but when he heard the faintest sniffle come out of Arya, his eyes slowly closed and he turned his head to look down at her. "Don't cry. She wouldn't have wanted that." Arya nodded in agreement to Sandor's comment and quickly wiped away a salty tear that had dripped down her left cheek and sucked in a deep breath, looking up to meet his eyes. "She loved you."

Sandor smiled slightly at her comment, finding it genuine and it was something he felt like he had to hear. A part of him just wished he would hear it from Alia instead.