The sun was setting as Gendry walked through the ruins of the city he used to call his home, through the rubble, debris and broken dreams. The lingering rays of sunlight highlighted the dust, making it float like fog in the air. The light peered through cracks that shouldn't be there, creating dark shadows that matched the sooty facades of the few building that were still standing.

It was so quiet. A city shouldn't be quiet. It should be filled with chatter, shouting and laughter. Not the only thing that could be heard was cats and mice scattering in the dark alleys. The city was theirs now.

Gendry walked by places he had known so well. The orphanage where he grew up, the bakery where he used to beg for scraps to eat when his master refused to feed him, the well where he walked to get water several times a day, the workshop where he had been an apprentice. They weren't there anymore though. Nothing was there. Just dust.

He crouched down and let the dust sift through his fingers. It was all that was left. All that was remaining of his memories, of his childhood, of who he used to be. It was all gone, and so was the man he used to be. He hadn't become dust, but he had become someone else.

Eventually, he found himself standing by the West Gate. He paused there for a moment, reliving a moment from long ago. It didn't look the same anymore. Many of the houses had fallen apart and the open square was filled with rubble. But he still could see it. How he had walked out that gate, carrying a bull's head helmet. Next to a wagon carrying a young girl dressed in boy's clothing.

This was where his journey had started. This was where he met her for the first time. This was where the circle began and ended.

Suddenly he heard her voice. At first, he wasn't sure if it was real or if it was his mind playing a trick on him.

"Do you remember?" she said.

He turned around. And there she stood.

Arya.

Just like the city, she wasn't the same, but neither was he. Everything had changed. But yet when he saw her it felt like nothing had changed. They were still those kids who had walked out that gate.

She was still dressed like a boy, but her clothes weren't dirty and broken anymore. Her hair was longer now and the top of it was pulled back in a simple braid. She never was one for frills. The eyes were the same. Melancholic, curious and contemptful.

"Of course I do," he replied.

She nodded in reply and walked up closer to him.

"I know you've been hiding from me. But I wanted to see you before I leave. I wanted to say goodbye."

Of course, she had noticed him hiding, he should have realized that. She always knew everything.

"I have been hiding. I didn't want to... feel again. Are you going back to Winterfell?"

She shook her head slowly. It seemed like she pondered the best way to say what she was about to say.

"I'm not going back. I'm never going back. I'm leaving Westeros. Tomorrow morning."

He was taken aback, surprised, gutted. He knew she would never be his, but he didn't think he would never see her again. That she would just be gone from his life forever.

"Where are you going?" he forced himself to ask.

"I'm going to sail west of Westeros, I want to find out what is out there. I want to travel where no one has gone before."

"Will I ever see you again?"

"I don't plan on coming back, ever. But... you can come with me."

As she said this she got even closer. She put her arms on his shoulders and let her arms drape down on his chest.

It was everything he had ever wanted, right there. The girl he loved coming back to him.

"I thought you didn't want to be my lady."

"I'm still no lady, and I never will be. But you don't have to be a lord. Come with me and we will travel as we did before. We can be lovers, we can be friends, we can be companions."

He took a step backward, away from everything he had ever wanted. Away from love. It took all the strength he had in him to take that step.

"I can't... Not after everything I've done. I rallied those armies, I took that castle, I convinced the Stormlords to follow me. I did that. I didn't think I could, but I did. And I can't walk away from that. I got duties now. I got people who rely on me. I am someone now. You might not be a lady, but I am a lord. I am Lord Gendry Baratheon. And I swore on my father's grave that I would make the Baratheon name proud, that I would make our house rise again. I can't walk away from that."

There was also that flickering thought in the back of his mind. The feeling of a warm hand in this. The feeling of someone touching his chest. He didn't even realize it himself, but that thought gave him the strength to take that step backward.

He could walk away from love because that thought gave him hope that he could love again, that he could love someone else.

Arya nodded. She respected his decision. Because she could see what it meant to him. And she knew what it was like to promise something to a father that was gone.

"You've always been someone to me, Gendry. You're the kindest most honorable man I know. You didn't need to rally any armies, take any castles or convince any lord to be someone. But you did, and I'm proud of you."

She smiled slightly. It felt like a knife stab in his chest. Dammit, he wanted her to be proud of him so badly. And he wanted her to be his so badly. He wanted to take a step forward again and be in her arms. But he didn't, because he couldn't.

"Now I am someone not just to you. And I just can't walk away from that, it's not who I am. I will always know that I was someone to you first though, and... I will always love you, Arya. But I can't come with you."

He felt tears welling up in his eyes as he said it. It was words he had never thought he would speak. Words he would never be able to take back.

"I will always love you too, Gendry. You will be the only man I ever loved. Because love is no longer something I seek."

She started to walk away from him, towards the gate they had walked through together once. He wished he could run after her, that they could once again walk away together. But he couldn't because it wasn't his path. Soon she would be gone forever, walking another path.

But forever would have to wait just a little bit longer.

Because when Arya had almost reached the gate she turned around. She ran back. She flung herself around Gendry and embraced him.

He put his arms around her tightly, never wanting to let her go.

One last embrace before she went. It was an embrace that wasn't about romance or sex but about love. The kind of love that only two people who at one time only had each other could feel. They didn't speak. They didn't need to. They knew what they had felt, and they knew it was over.

He kissed her forehead.

"Arya, you need to go. While I'm still able to let you go."

She nodded but still held her arms around his chest. She held on for another moment.

Then she let go. She walked away again. This time forever.

She turned around one last time before she left. She smiled at him. The smile didn't hurt him this time.

"Goodbye Mylord," she said and curtsied.

"Goodbye Mylady," he replied and bowed.

Inside he was crying but he couldn't help but smiling. Right there and then they were Gendry and Arya again. They were still those kids running from everything together. Teasing each other as kids do. She was a young girl dressed in boy's clothing and he was blacksmith apprentice carrying a bull's head helmet.

They would always be those kids somewhere deep inside. But they would also never be those kids again.

She walked through that gate without him this time. She left for adventure and discovery. And he stayed to walk the path he of duty and family.

***

Once she had left Gendry collapsed. He had held it together while she could still see him but now he couldn't anymore. He slumped down against a still-standing wall. He felt everything and nothing at the same time. He felt empty and yet like he was about to burst.

He sat there as the dust of the city fell upon him, like specks of snow, covering him in the remnants of his former home.

The city where he grew up was gone. The girl he had loved was gone.

But he was still there. And he still needed to fight.

So he got up, and he walked the path the had chosen. He walked towards his destiny.

Because he was Gendry Baratheon now. Lord Paramount of Storm's End. Son of King Robert Baratheon. He was the fury, the storm, the only hope.

And there was one more place he needed to visit in the city. A place he had never been. A place where he could find his father.