And then there were none - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

She was gone. Sansa was gone.

It wasn't unusual for Snow White not to see Sansa for a day or two. Sansa kept to herself much of the time, shy of many of the inn’s inhabitants. But she would find Snow, would talk to Snow, and it would always bring light and warmth to Snow’s day to see her. She didn’t understand why. She didn’t need to know, so long as she could have this.

Yesterday had been just about the most magical day in her life. She'd found Sansa building a castle in the snow, and they'd worked quietly together on this tiny model of a castle called Winterfell. Snow had finally worked up her nerve and kissed her after those last touches were made. It had been terrifying. It had been achingly sweet. But it had not been bad. Neither of them knew what it meant, and yet...

And then today she just knew something was different. Something was wrong. She had gone to Sansa’s room. Then to the desk.

She didn’t cry. Or scream, or rage. Instead she calmly and quietly collected four glass bottles from the bar and took them out to a fence along the road.

She had four bullets left in Rose Red. Two had been used in Songrun, and she had been saving the rest until Percy could make her more. She lined up the bottles on the fence, and stepped back as far as she thought she could manage.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Zero.

She dropped the gun and went down on her knees in the grass, staring at nothing.

Comments

[st_arkcrowblack]

Snow's breath caught in her throat. She balled her hands into fists and her breath came ragged and fast. She wanted to hit. She did not want to hit him. But he'd said, he'd said--

She shrieked like an angry cat and came up straight before swinging. It was clumsy and confused, her heart was in the force, but not in the aim.

[st_ingofthehundred]

The first hit caught the corner of his ribcage and drove a huff of breath from his lungs, but it was nothing. Nothing he couldn't handle. He let her swing and didn't hit back, didn't try to block even, but caught her in his arms if she lost her balance and put her back on her feet.

[st_arkcrowblack]

She didn't want to hurt him.

But she wanted to put a hole in something. She wanted to shoot up the whole hotel, the walls, the ceilings. Even now, though, she'd had enough control not to shoot wildly, the memory of that seagull she'd shot down and that man she'd shot on Hauloff weighing heavy in her mind.

She was out of bullets, and that made things at last a little clearer.

It was clear that no one had ever taught Snow White to fight. She got by on her size, her raw strength, and the instinct not to die if she didn't have to. She screamed and roared and swung at him and hated it, but as she swung she thought of the sweetness of Sansa's smile and her mouth, the bright flame of her hair and the deep blue of her eyes. She thought of those monsters back in Westeros who would hurt her, and how she wouldn't, couldn't be there to keep her safe. She would have been her knight. She would have tried.

Her fists kept swinging.

[st_ingofthehundred]

Snow's blows slammed into his chest and sides, again and again, and Kash rocked under them. He bore up under it, like he promised her he would. He kept his eyes on hers and when she started to falter, when the screams started to go flat, he caught her around the shoulders and held her against him, giving her something to struggle against or lean into.

He ached, but he felt balanced. Like he'd done something he could be proud of.

[st_arkcrowblack]

Snow herself didn't know which she would do, struggle or surrender. At first she flinched away instinctively. The last time any young man tried to hold her it had gone terribly for the both of them.

And then... she did not soften exactly. She was still just a split second away from shying. But she lowered her head and hid her face in his shoulder.

[st_ingofthehundred]

Kash didn't try to hold her tightly once she stopped fighting. He stroked her hair and kept his arm around her to hold her up if she started to fall, but that was all. He didn't know what was done to her, but it was bad. His ribs ached and his head, but he'd rather let her punch him for another half hour then to scare her at all.

[st_arkcrowblack]

Snow honestly didn't know if she actually felt any better, but she certainly didn't feel worse after all that. She let Kash hold her for a while in silence before mumbling, "Thanks."

[st_ingofthehundred]

"When you find the people who aren't dicks, you hold onto them," was all Kash said. It was all he needed to say.