you'll be safe and sound // Brienne O'Dale One Shot

Her knuckles still ached, bruised and chapped, from where she’d punched someone for saying that Gabrielle would not last long. It had only been days after the reaping, but now Brienne sat hunched over on the couch, picking at the scabs on her hands; nervous and twitchy from little sleep.

He’s wrong… Brienne thought, her jaw clenching at the memory of those words he spoke about her little sister He was wrong. It was a hope, wishful thinking but it had not stopped her believing it were true.

She had seen her sister survive fevers, her stepfathers wrath, the years without her the horrors of the bloodbath, she had seen her sister fight off giant rats in the dark with nothing more than a grazed knee. She was so much stronger than everyone had believed, she was so much braver than anyone could have ever imagined.

So why not wishfully think that she would come home on the train, fall into her embrace like Brienne had done on her return from the detention centre. She will come home Brienne had thought the morning of day 3, 2 weeks and 4 days since Gabrielle had left her.


The sight had worried her a bit, the four of them- Gabi, Geo Venn, Abel Mclaren and Tybalt Capulet- had all stumbled from a storm of some sort (dust??) into the clutches of a metal building, rusting and rotting away in the wasteland of the arena. Then out of the mist, came another alliance. Bigger and scarier, mainly consisting of careers.

The sight had struck fear in Brienne and it seemed to scare her sister, as the camera panned she noticed her sisters eyes widen.

Now Brienne watched them fight, like a pack of wild wolves, blood and screams from everywhere. The girl from 4 had brushed a kiss against Gabi’s cheek and it had made her laugh nervously, causing her to chip away at the scabs on her knuckles even more.

The fight had continued up until this point, Brienne was watching eagerly to see the outcome. One boy- the boy from 10- had already toppled to the floor like a domino not quite balanced correctly. Gabrielle was still fighting. There was still hope.


Then Circe Lyon’s arrow had plunged deeply into her sisters back.

Brienne’s hand clasped around her mouth, eyes widening in horror as she watched her sister begin to tumble, falling to the ground gracefully, blood seeping from her wounds.

No...No...Brienne shook her head slowly as if it would save her sister. She watched as Gunner La Torre made a joke as she scooped her little sister into her arms and placed her gently down on the conveyor as if it were a death bed. The sound of a canon made her gasp, but it was not her sisters. Her sister still breathed, so Brienne still watched.

And watched.


She was unsure how long she had watched, her eyes glued to the screen and her knuckles now raw with blood. She had picked them too much and now rivers of blood soaked into her skin. The smell made her gag, but she was too focused on her little sister bleeding to death to really care.

It must of been hours, because the camera had switched to night mode, a prickliy grey wash over the video feed on her TV screen. Brienne had been watching so long that she began to slowly drift off, her head lolling as sleep became ever more inviting.

Bang


The sound of the canon woke her. Brienne gasped awake, her eyes darting to the screen where the video feed had paused slightly to inform that another tribute had passed away.


Brienne had held her breath, for an unknown reason because deep down she knew that the canon was for her sister. Oh please don’t be her she still had hope; she kept up the hope. She prayed to Ripred that she was still okay, that she would survive.

Then her sister's face appeared on the screen and suddenly all that hope was washed away suddenly, like a flash of water washing away a house. It hit her like a smack to the face, the pain ricocheting throughout her wave after wave.

Her chest contracted as she gasped in, the noise mangled and choked; tears brimming her eyes as her sister stared back at her. She coming home in a box.

Brienne slowly stood as the video feed returned and she heard her foster mother moving through the house to find her. She heard her name being called but all she could feel was numbness. She felt numb from head to toe, she didn’t even feel her legs carrying her step by step to the front door.


From behind her she heard her name being called again but she didn’t stop walking. She took a deep breath as she stepped outside, stumbling down the steps of her house and onto the cobbled street.

It was raining warmly. The water drenched her skin quickly, in a flash of summer warmth she let out a long and choked sob as the realisation suddenly became too much. Her knees shook as her hands gripped and clawed at her scalp, her curls drenched in the summer rain, slick and dark like oil.

The warm rain mixed with her tears, dampening her cheeks as she looked to the sky, a crack of thunder shattering the world overhead. She filled her lung until they could hold no more air and let out a long, painful scream as the summer storm raged on.

Why…she sobbed, her knees finally giving way as her knees gave way beneath her weight. She crashed to the floor, the cobbled street cutting up her hands and grazing at her knees; it was painless. She felt nothing as she continued to sob. Her sister was gone. And there was nothing she could do.

There is nothing I can do.