Let's Start A Riot! A Riot! (Hound and Abigail)

Abigail had just seen Lady Marsella being shipped off to Dawn and she didn't think that she would have been able to handle it as well as she had done. Through her time at the Royal court she had gotten to know both of the children very well and she had been almost devastated to see her favourite little Princess heading off to an unknown place never to return.

Her mother was beyond emotion at her grief which just showed how strong it was.

Everyone else was acting like this was all normal and expected, like the people upset were stupid for being so. Perhaps the place in society for women was to be married off but Marsella was barely 10 years old - there was no need to leave her mother so soon she would miss out on so much.

Biting her lip softly she trailed behind the rest of the court and wondered where her own new little imps had gotten to, she had instructed them to wait around here and she would meet up with them when they had finished with Lady Marsella. They had not come running up to her which worried her a little bit - Marcus was 13 and his sister, Meera was only 5 years old.

There seemed to be a foul atmosphere and Abigail warily went to grasp her sword for comfort, the youngest prince was hurried away and she knew that something was going to go down and she looked at the civillians lining the road. They were going to do something, something stupid but spurred on by hunger and neglect and therefore understandable.

All hell broke loose as soon as King Geoffrey was hit with a cow pat, and she wasn't ready for the wave of peasants that came towards her. All she could do was run, not let them pin her down for then that would surely be the end of her! Drawing her sword she tried to warn them back and looked around for her new wards.

"Marcus! Meera!" she cried "Where are you?!"

Rushing forwards through the gap the Kingsguard was making Abigail was buffered back by a larger wave of peasants that distanced her from Sandor, and from further help should she need it. Dashing down one of the roads leading from the square she frantically looked for Meera, hoping that she hadn't been harmed in the fray.

The Hound hated things like this because, deep down, he hated everyone about the nobility, even though he himself was a noble. He and his brother both were nobles and his brother was even a knight under Tywin Lannister. Of course they never did get along after the incident with the fire but the fact was he hated nobility before that. He sighed a little bit as he watched one of the young royals being literally shipped off to Dorn.

On the way back though... oh The Hound loved this!

The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife and it seemed that certain members of the crowd were growing so fond of their knives that they were stroking them. Almost like they were reassuring them that they would taste blood. But this wasn't an issue. With this many guards it would take something monumentally stupid for-

"Kill them all!"

Fucking King Geoffrey, the Monumentally Stupid.

He grabbed the king by the scruff of the neck and pushed him into the arms of the Gold Cloak who had taken his place as captain of the Kings Royal Guard,

"Do your fucking job!" He roared at the man as he drew his sword and slew an ambitious peasant, "I shall stay here and make sure the rest of the Court arrives!"

Tearing through the waves of peasants, The Hound roared out,

"Abigail!" he roared as he cut another man's head in two, "Where are you?!"

Abigail was tearing through the streets surrounding the square trying to find Marcus or Meera, but especially Meera. She wasn't young enough to handle herself and she might be hurt in the crushes and fights that were going on. Biting her lip she held her sword tightly in her hand and she finally saw a familiar face in the crowd, her heart leapt and she jumped over people, vaulting through gaps in the crowd as she shouted;

"Marcus! Marcus!"

He stopped running and turned around, his face was wild with panic and she was glad that she had found him, they would be able to work together to find his sister. As soon as they met Abigail could see that Marcus was upset, his eyes were red and it looked like he had been scrubbing them - had he been crying?

"Miss, I can't find Meera, I can't find her." he sobbed softly "We got split up on Guilder's Street and I haven't been able to see her since, I don't know what to do."

Looking around Abigail gave Marcus a job to do, he was reluctant to leave her alone but she needed to let Sandor know that she was fine and that she was looking for her child. He shouldn't put his life in danger trying to look for her when he could help others.

"But Miss...I don't wanna leave ya." he implored "Ain't no place for a lady on 'er own."

"It's okay Marcus, go, go now and find The Hound. He'll be able to get you to safety and if the riot isn't over by then he can come and help me, okay?"

As soon as he had taken off to find the Hound, Abigail had hurried off towards Guilder's street which was easier said than done, she had to fight against the tide trying to get away from the square and she finally managed to get back to the center. There were bodies all over, dying and the dead - she would help where she can when she had found her girl.

Before anyone could latch onto her Abigail sped off towards the street she'd last seen her daughter on and called for her;

"Meera!"

As soon as she heard a faint squeaking reply, Abigail dashed towards it sword drawn and she saw there her girl being held by two men. She didn;t know what they wanted with her but she knew that she wasn't going to allow them to get it. No way, no how. Getting into her fighting stance Abigail furrowed her brow;

"Give her back to me!" she demanded "She is my ward under my protection, you mess with her you mess with me!"

Unable to do much when they began to attack her, Abigail countered their blows until she got the measure of them. They were strong but they weren't very experienced. Biting her lip in concentration she managed to get them on the floor and she almost hurrah'ed in victory before she saw Meera's eyes widen and a white hot pain flaring through her abdomen.

Someone had stabbed her from behind.

A noise of pain fled from her lips before she managed to knock the attackers hand from the knife inside of her and slice his stomach considerably from her position on the floor. Gasping softly Abigail stood up and pulled the knife out of herself swiftly with a whimper of pain. There was no time to bind it she needed to get Meera to safety.

"Come here baby." she whispered softly "I'm going to get you back to the Palace okay, Marcus is waiting for us there."

"But he hurt you Miss...the bad man hurt you!" Meera cried softly

"I'm fine sweetheart I just need to get to court quickly, to patch myself up. I'll carry you so we'll get there faster okay?"

Picking Meera up agitated the pain in her abdomen and she stifled the noise of pain that would surely have come - she didn't want to upset Meera too much.

***

Arriving at the gates to the Palace, Abigail was relieved to see them open and she hugged Meera to herself trying to find Marcus when they had ran inside away from the still ensuing fighting from the riots beginning. The clothes that Meera was wearing were ruined on the inside by her crimson blood but they kept her injury from view.

The Hound had been sweeping away resistance with barely a swing of his sword when a small body impacted on his leg. He raised his sword to finished it when he realised that it was Marcus, one of the little scabs that Abigail had picked up from the orphanage. He searched for what direction the child might have come from before dragging him behind a wall of Gold Cloaks,

"Where is Abigail, boy?" he demanded on the child, "Speak to me child! Where is the one that you wish to call mother?!"

Marcus shivered in fright,

"A-a-Abigail is trying to get to Meera!" he told The Hound with more than a little courage, "She was fighting with the sword you gave her! And lessons you helped teach her... she... she..."

The boy looked ashamed and The Hound knew why almost instantly. The boy was ashamed that she had sent him away to be protected - this one would be a fighter one day. If he lived long enough for his balls to drop that is,

"Fine." he growled, picking Marcus up under one arm and marching towards the castle, "We shall go to the castle and then..."

Both he and Marcus froze when they heard a woman screaming. He glanced down at Marcus, who had wriggled free and was racing towards the screams,

"We have to help!"

"Wait boy!" he growled out as he followed the boy fast enough to see him get knocked back after attempting to stop the rape of... Lady Sansa. The Hound growled before he set about demolishing the men attacking the young noble. He picked Marcus up and set him on his shoulders, letting the boy hold onto his head. He then slung Sansa under his left arm and carried the two of them, Sansa screaming and Marcus laughing, all the way to the palace.

**

Almost two hours had passed since the damn riot and there was still no sign of Abigail or her other little charge. He had been forbidden, on pain of death, from leaving the keep and the guards ready to kill the little boy made him sit where he was, right in front of the doors. He growled as Marcus continued drumming his fingers against The Hound's armour,

"For the last time... STOP THAT!" He roared right into the boy's face, annoyed beyond measure when the kid did it anyway. He was about to hit the child for the first time when the doors opened to admit Abigail and her girl. He paused, "SOMEBODY GET ME A FUCKING MAESTER!"

Moving over to Abigail, he lifted her up to carry her over to a table,

"Tell me all of this blood... tell me it's someone else's."

Abigail could hear Sandor before she saw him and it made a wry smile come to her lips, he was sweet to get her help and she thought that she would need it. she didn't know how deep the wound was and she would need it to be bound together. She didn't think that she could sew so well when it was on her own body as someone else might be able to.

When he approached her she was relieved to see that he wasn't hurt, she had been worried about him. Even the mightiest beast could be felled by any great number of ants. It seemed that was not the case this time however and she smiled happily, it made her warm to see her precious people safe within the walls of Kings Landing.

Setting Meera down on the floor Abigail wobbled a little bit when she stuck fast to her leg not wanting to leave her be it would seem.

"Meera, go to your brother." she ordered softly, the little shake of her head, and the crushing of her leg harder made Abigail smile softly and she motioned to Marcus "He was awfully worried about you, I have to get healed up now, you don't want to see something gross like that do you? I'll be back when I'm fixed."

As soon as she had scuttled off to Marcus, he seemed over the moon yet also horrified at the blood. He seemed to be ashamed about something but she didn't know what, she would have to ask later on but now she had more important things on her mind. When Sandor picked her up Abigail gasped softly as it tugged on her wound slightly;

"I could tell you that, but it would be a lie." she laughed softly "I think I need to practice some more with my sword hm? It's not a bad wound, just needs dressing and cleaning, sewing too of course it's a little too deep to just leave."

Laying down on the table she looked up at Sandor with a small smile on her lips;

"I was worried about you, there were so many of them I wondered if you would be able to hold them all off."

The Hound wasn't liking this one bit. She was being shorter with the children than he ever remembered her being in the past and seemed to actually command the girl to go to her brother. He knew Abigail well enough to know she would have only done this if there was something wrong with her and she didn't want the children to know how bad it was.

He clicked his fingers at Marcus,

"Boy." he growled, immediately getting the boy's attention, "Take your sister to your chambers and do it now. We shall come for you later. Do not open the door to any but me. Understood?"

Marcus nodded quickly before quickly ushering Meera away to the chambers that were just off from Abigail's own. Swearing a little bit when he saw the would as she spoke to him, he shook his head a little bit,

"Looks like you got fucked from behind." he muttered with a shake of his head, "You don't learn how to avoid that with lessons - only with practice. You've seen my back, you know that."

When she was set down on the table he was able to see her wound better and he knew it would be too big for Pycele to sew up as neatly as Abigail would want it. He sighed and grabbed some Eastern Wine, the kind that was clear as water and twice as strong as any wine. Preparing to wash her wound with it, he nodded,

"And I you Abigail... they were nothing to me but I was near frenzy when they said I couldn't go out to you." he told her honestly before growling, "Sansa! Your stitches are much closer than Pycele's... get silk while I clean it. Prepare yourself Abigail."

He began to clean her wound with a clean rag and some of the poured alcohol.

Abigail was grateful for Sandor sending the children away, she didn't want to have them see her in pain or hurt like this. She especially didn't want them to think that it was their fault in any which way which she could see both of them thinking. The fault was the people who had rioted and the people who had stabbed and attacked her - nobody else's.

"Thank you." she murmured softly "I didn't want them to have to see me like this. They'd only blame themselves."

Nodding her head, she was a little surprised how he could tell how she had gotten stabbed however Sandor was excellent at battles where as she was not. He could tell the nature of any wound it would seem. It was also true that she wouldn't be able to tell what would happen in battle, she couldn't have known she would have been stabbed from behind in order to counter it. In future she would be more careful.

"I did, I didn't even see them when I entered the building. I shall be more careful in future. My logic just went...poof when I saw her there, poor girl I should have kept her with me."

When he shared his worry with her Abigail would have blushed if it wasn't for the loss of blood and she gently squeezed Sandor's hand for comfort. Unable to stop herself from shouting out slightly when the wine touched her wound Abigail breathed in deeply trying to calm herself and ignore the stinging spreading through her body.

"Don't make her do that Sandor she's never done it before, I'll just...do it myself?" she offered with a lame smile before reclining back down again "Alright then Sansa, don't dig the needle too deep okay, I don't want more holes in me. Whenever you're ready."

As soon as she began Abigail pressed her lips together in a hard line, wanting it to be over already.

The Hound sighed a little bit as the children left. The children should have left long ago, to be spared ever seeing their mother figure like this. But maybe that was just him? The only woman, the only person, Sandor had ever really cared about before this puzzle with Abigail was his mother and when she had died he had been there.

He had watched as the Mad King poured wildfire onto her head.

"No child should see their mother in pain." he answered with a frown, "It does horrible things to the children themselves."

He sighed a little bit and lightly hit her on the back of the head,

"You can, and have, been taught to always look in all the corners of a room when you enter expecting a fight." he told her in a lightly scolding tone, "I would have thought you'd have remembered that, you have a very good memory."

The Hound shook his head a little bit,

"And let Pycele do it with his hands shaking? No. She has mastered cross-stitch and many other forms of lady-hood." he reasoned, "She can sew a straight line much better than some senile old man. And this way you will have much less of a scar."

Pouring slightly more wine to clean it a little more for Sansa, The Hound easily held both of Abigail's hands above her head with one of his own. He did the same for her legs, not wanting her to buck too much as ruin Sansa's work and make her wound worse.

Abigail blinked a little bit at Sandor, he was being awfully chatty around the other people here but she didn't mind that it meant that he was opening up to her and she enjoyed learning more about him. The fact that he mentioned mothers, and what seeing them in pain did to their children made her think that he had experienced that - he hoped not because she wanted only the best for him...yet it was obvious his life hadn't been the best.

"I was always going to be okay." she stated with a soft smile "I'll just have to make it up to them later, as if they aren't spoilt enough."

Unable to stop herself from laughing softly Abigail ruffled the back of her hair sheepishly, Sandor was a little angry with her for getting herself into this situation but then again she was angry at herself. It was something that would have been so easily avoided.

"I know I know, my bad." she poked her tongue out at him and grinned "Don't you think being stabbed is punishment enough for forgetting?"

Now that she was held tightly Abigail looked up at Sandor taking strength from his strength, she didn't want to make a fool out of herself here, she wanted to be strong for him and for herself and Sansa. All three of them were nervous for different reasons and for the minutes it took to stitch her back together they stayed in complete silence, except for the occassional gasp of pain from Abigail as the needle re-entered.

As soon as it was done Abigail was sitting up and admiring the work;

"Amazing job Lady Sansa, I thank you greatly for your kindness." she stated with a warm smile "I guess I had better get to work myself."

Standing up Abigail wobbled a little bit but righted herself, the only problem was the painful throbbing in her side from the disinfectant and the fact it still hurt from being stabbed and then stabbed multiple times again as it was sewed together.

The Hound was not here to be pandered to.

He shook his head at her deduction that she was always going to be okay. It was a lie as much as it was a deduction. If the blade had struck slightly to the left, experience in battle told him that she would have bled out in moments if not seconds. He shook his head a little bit and contented himself with holding her steady against the pain,

"If you say." he replied with a small shrug before pausing and shaking his head, "I shall take the boy. He desires to learn how to defend himself... this shall be his 'present' as you call them."

He sighed a little bit and was very tempted to poke her wound like his father used to do, to drive the point home. Instead he just flicked her nose,

"Make sure that you only make it this one time." he told her with a raised eyebrow, "You'll never forget now and I won't have the fear that I will soon have to forget you due to the sands of time and the veil of death."

Sansa had done a much better job than the Grand Maester was capable of and everyone in the room knew it, including Abigail and The Hound. Sandor nodded to the young lady, who was led away by her handmaid to try and wash the blood and wine off of her hands. Taking a hold of Abigail's shoulder, he raised an eyebrow,

"Back to work? Are you seriously implying what I think you are?"

Abigail blinked when he said that he was going to train Marcus. She was...conflicted immediately. Of course Sandor was one of the best fighters in the whole of Westeros and Marcus would be delighted to train under him, however the mother within her was saying that he was more likely to come home bloody and bruised from his training and that was not something that she would like. It would cause her much worry.

"Well...I suppose if he wants to learn there is nobody better but...be careful with him please." she stated with a small sigh, toying with her fingers to distract herself "I worry about him, I don't want you breaking any bones or anything like that." Abigail added with a warning tone to her voice.

The sweet words coming from Sandors mouth made her blush softly and she wanted to be able to act on them now but it wasn't right, they needed to be in private. They weren't married or even engaged so people would look at the two of them in a bad light if they were to see them kissing and such in public.

"I think not Sandor." she smiled gently up at him "If I have to keep that fear alive in my mind so shall you have to, but no matter how formidable the force against us, I'd never be able to forget you." Abigail whispered softly.

Nodding her head Abigail turned to look at Sandor;

"Well yes there are many people that need healing I should get to helping them, as is my job. I'm fine really I'm simply a little lightheaded."

The Hound could tell that she didn't want her little son to be a fighter but the fact of the matter was that her son either became a fighter or he became something else. And if he was a fighter he could defend himself and his family from danger. If he was something else he would likely be unable to do so. And the boy had already made it abundantly clear to Sandor what he wanted to do,

"Your boy wants to defend you and Meera." he told her honestly, "He is ashamed that he turned and fled, even under your orders. He doesn't even fully understand what he's feeling but I do... the boy is ashamed of himself and seeks a way to make sure that his shame can never be repeated. He wishes to defend something Abigail."

He had to admit that he found it rather concerning that he was speaking so freely in front of others. Shaking his head a little bit, he hummed a little bit,

"Only the Gods will be able to decide what happens to us after death." he spoke quietly, "But I will tell all of the Seven to jump off the Red Keep into the Black Water if it meant I would remember you."

He looked at her without saying a word.

One heartbeat.

Two heartbeat.

"Fuck that."

Picking Abigail up, he carried her rather tenderly in his arms but at the same time making sure that she would not be able to wiggle free,

"You're going to bed. Right now."

Abigail knew that boys grew up to fight in this world but she didn't want that for Marcus, she wanted to take him back home with her where he could be safe. He could grow up and be...be anything he wanted to be in a world full of more possibilities than this one could ever hope to hold for him, the same for Meera. She didn't just want her to be some wife and a baby carrier, she could have a career, she could do amazing things.

"Very well." she admitted begrudingly "I don't like it but I know it has to be done, still, be careful with him or I'll have to devise amazingly harsh punishments of my own."

The strength of the feelings for each other seemed to be growing more and more, at least they were being vocalised more in any case. Perhaps that was a good thing, maybe it would make them talk about what they were to each other finally. Was she going to be marrying Sandor, or would they become engaged for a while?

As soon as she was picked up Abigail gasped and wrapped her arms around Sandor's neck, she hated the way it degraded her but the way he had so forcefully decided did rather pleasant things to her in reality.

"But there are many people who need my help Sandor I shouldn't be so selfish my wound isn't even that bad any more." she protested lamely, wiggling slightly against his grip before giving up he was too damn strong for his own good "I'll be bored in bed!"

The Hound knew that where Abigail was from (where exactly he still did not know) they did things differently but surely a man could still be a fighter where she came from? And were fighters and defenders not considered strong and virtuous? He wasn't going to teach Marcus to be a Hound after all, he was going to teach the boy how to be a knight.

Just because The Hound spat on the idea of becoming a knight, didn't mean he didn't know what you had to do to become a knight.

"He will become a knight Abigail, not a Hound like me." he assured her before chuckling a little bit, "And women have always devised the most powerful and torturous of punishments I can assure you milady."

Sandor was not going to have her working when she was 'light headed' as she put it. She had explained what that meant to him when discussing a patient who had been on the verge of losing his lifeblood. In this context, 'light headed' meant that she had lost a lot of blood and blood was needed for lots of things.

Standing up.

Moving.

Breathing.

So he was not about to let her waste her blood and suffer the effects of a lack of it by letting her heal minor cuts and bruises,

"There are none who need your help Abigail, you arrived back at the palace two hours after the last wounded man." he advised her, "All wounded have been treated."

He laid he in her bed and smirked a little bit at her as he tightly (very tightly) tucked her in under the covers,

"Should I bring the children? They are far from boring."