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A/N: This story is rated M for violence and mature themes.

(A Williams Never Cries)

Six days after her thirteenth birthday, Anna Williams crept down the dimly lit hallway. She was little more than a child but had already been taught how to kill. She moved toward the library in slow and measured steps, silent as a shadow. She knew she would find him there.

At the sight of the open door, Anna bit her lower lip and flattened herself against the wall and inched ever closer. When she reached it, she carefully craned her neck as far as it could go and peered inside. She didn't see anyone, but she was sure that he was there. Moving back into position, she tucked her long, brown hair behind her ears then went down on her hands and knees then crawled slowly inside.

To her left, was a cherrywood desk and empty, leather chair, to her right, six rows of dark, wooden bookcases parallel to each other. She froze when she heard the unmistakable turning of pages behind one of the bookcases.

It's the second...no, third row.

The floor in the room was dark polished hardwood, so she removed her shoes and raised herself into a crouched position, she put her hand on the knife tucked into her belt and began to advance toward the sound slow step by slow step. She stood upright when she reached the first row of bookcases and flattened her body against the side; she was small enough to conceal herself from view.

She pulled the knife out of her belt and moved to the second row; she felt her breath hitch in her throat when she realized that her target was standing next to the second bookcase, not the third. She didn't know if he had seen her but knew that it was now or never, she wasn't going to fail again. Anna turned to the side and held her breath as she peered behind the bookcase. He had his back turned; there would be no better opportunity.

Kick the back of his knee to bring him down lower, then slash his throat.

It was the best she could come up with.

She left her hiding place and leapt at her target, but before she could strike, he spun around, his arm outstretched. She was barely able to block his backhand, it hit her on the wrist and made her lose her balance, she regained it by putting her hand against the bookcase, that was when she realized that she had somehow lost her knife.

"That was pitiful, Anna." Richard Williams shook his head as he looked disdainfully at his youngest daughter. "Are you regressing?"

Anna looked down at her bare feet, her wrist hurt but she didn't want him to know so she kept her arms at her sides.

"I'm sorry, Daddy, I miscalculated your position and when I realized it was too late to-"

"That is why you should always have a plan B." He shook his head. "What were you going to do? Kick the back of the knee and slash the throat?"

She felt her cheeks flush. "Yes."

He sighed. "Your attacks are too predictable."

She looked up at him her blue eyes burning into his. "That's because you know all my moves and you've taught me half of them."

"Don't look at me like that." He chastised. "And you're supposed to take what I teach you and change it, make it your own. Nina," he said looking behind Anna, "what did she do wrong."

Anna shook her head, of course Nina was there. She turned around and saw her older sister, she was wearing her long, blonde hair in a braid, that usually meant that she and her father were going out of the house for training.

Nina looked apologetically at Anna as she spoke. "With your lack of experience and in these narrow spaces and close quarters, and with someone who is more experienced and bigger than you, you'd be better off using a gun and waiting close to the exit if you're certain he'll be leaving and you know when. If you're not sure, again, a gun, stay low and stay with your back to the wall, always. Your entrance was good though." She added with a small smile. Richard cleared his throat and Nina looked down at the floor. "...But crawling was a little unnecessary; crouching would have sufficed."

Richard shook his head as he looked at Nina. "Don't ever lie to your sister to protect her feelings. It could get her killed."

Nina nodded. "Yes, Daddy, I'm sorry."

He turned his attention to Anna. "Do you know how many times Nina's bested me?" He put the book in his hand back in the bookcase.

Anna sighed. "Four." She said dejectedly.

He held up his hand and turned his palm toward her. "Five. She surprised me in my office this morning. She picked the lock and was waiting for me inside," he smiled as he looked at Nina, "she put a gun to my temple."

"That's not fair," Anna protested, "I didn't know we were allowed to pick locks."

"I can't tell you everything, Anna; you've got to figure some of it out on your own, how will you ever get close enough to your target if they hear you coming? If you don't even have the foresight to pick a lock?"

Anna shrugged. "I have other ways to get close."

Her father's jaw tightened as he looked at her with furrowed brows. "What are you talking about?" He took a step toward her and raised his index finger. "No daughter of mine will resort to those shameful tactics, don't ever say it, don't even think it."

"Daddy," Nina spoke quietly, "she's only thirteen, that's not what she means."

Anna felt the heat rise in her face when she realized what her father was referring to. She shook her head. "No, I meant being friendly, striking up a conversation-"

"Now you want to become friends with your targets? Draw attention to yourself?" He sighed and shook his head. "And why are you wearing that skirt? It's too short."

Anna looked down at the floor but didn't say anything.

"She's wearing leggings under it." Nina defended.

"Leopard print," Richard looked at Anna. "What message is that sending?"

"That I'm better at fashion than I am at murder!" Anna said exasperated, she immediately looked down and clasped her hands behind her back knowing that she had overstepped.

"Go to your room and dress like a proper young woman."

"Yes, Father." Anna bit her lip to keep from saying anything that would add more time to her training for the day, she knew that failing to overcome her father meant he had already added an hour.

Richard looked at Nina. "Are you ready?"

"Almost."

He checked his watch. "I'll see you downstairs in fifteen minutes."

Anna was glad that her father would be out of the house soon, sometimes it felt like he sucked the air out of the room. "Where are you going?" She asked her sister.

"Nowhere that concerns you," Richard responded. "I'll put more trust in you once you're able to surprise me."

He said it was to measure their progress; he expected his daughters to overpower him and perform a mock assassination whenever the opportunity arose. Once they exceeded his expectations, they were to be tested in the field. Anna dreaded that day. Five times. She looked at Nina and wondered if that was where they were going.

"Fourteen minutes, Nina," Richard said before exiting the library.

"Where are you going?" Anna asked again once her father was out of earshot.

Nina shrugged and put her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "I don't know, he hasn't told me."

"Why didn't you tell me we were allowed to pick locks?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know," she sighed then fixed her blue eyes on Anna, "he says he wants you to figure it out on your own, and he's right." Anna crossed her arms and looked sullenly at her. "I'm not trying to make things harder for you," Nina put her hand on her shoulder, "I'm trying to make sure you're prepared when it's your turn."

Anna knew that her sister's concern was genuine, she knew that Nina tried her best to fill the void that their mother had left. But even though she acted much older than her years, Nina was only fifteen, a measly twenty-five months older than her and being trained to be an assassin, not the best person to take the place of her mother, but still, she tried. It was more than their father had ever done.

Anna looked her sister in the eye. "Is it your turn today?"

Nina smiled then looked at the clock above the door. "I need to finish getting ready." She began walking toward the exit then stopped and looked at Anna over her shoulder. "Don't try to get out of training that extra hour, I'm sure he's told Auntie by now."

Anna was not at all surprised that Nina kept their destination secret, she always did what her father asked. But Anna didn't resent Nina because she had disobeyed their father when Anna had needed her the most.

Anna and Nina's mother, Rebecca, had died in a car accident fourteen months prior. After hearing the news, Anna felt lost not knowing who she could turn to and would burst into tears spontaneously while Nina remained stoic. The day before the funeral Richard had taken Anna aside and told her not to shed tears in public or even in private. A Williams Never Cries, he had said, then warned her that if he saw her cry, there would be dire consequences. Anna didn't know exactly what consequences he meant, but she knew that he was serious, he wasn't one to carry out corporal punishment, but there was something about the way he spoke that day that scared her. She kept a stoic expression at the funeral and throughout that day. That night Nina had opened her bedroom door then crawled into her bed.

"Are you all right?" Nina whispered.

"Fine," Anna said dejectedly.

"You were so quiet today."

"I'm fine," she repeated robotically.

"It's okay to cry," Nina said taking her hand, "I won't tell him."

Anna sighed. "A Williams never cries."

Nina pulled the covers over herself then reached for the lamp on the bedside table and turned it off. "Remember last year when Mummy and Daddy went on holiday?" Anna nodded because she didn't trust herself to speak without crying even though she knew that Nina couldn't see her in the dark. "They were gone for more than two weeks, and I didn't miss her at all, I wished they had stayed away longer." She inhaled sharply. "...But it's only been three days, and I already miss her so much that it hurts...it hurts right here in my chest and I…" Her body began to shake and Anna put her arms around her older sister.

They both cried themselves to sleep that night. For more than two weeks Nina would come into her room at night, and they would cry together in the dark then never speak of it the next day. When they had no more tears to shed, they said nothing, but Anna felt comforted by her sister's presence nonetheless. Eventually, Nina stopped going to Anna's room; but it was months after their mother's death.

She never spoke of it and never disobeyed her father again. But Anna was grateful for her sister's one act of rebellion.

Anna picked up her shoes and made her way to the sitting room downstairs. From the top of the stairs, she could see her aunt Christina sitting on the red velvet sofa, leafing through a magazine. Christina Williams was the only other living Williams, she was beautiful and had inherited the blond hair that ran in most of the Williams family. She looked like a woman in her early thirties, but she had to be at least ten years older.

Upon Rebecca's death, Richard had asked his sister to come live with them and be a mother figure to the girls. Christina had left her life and her boyfriend in Vienna for them. Anna thought it completely unnecessary. She didn't mind having her aunt around, but they already had a maid and a cook, all Christina did was attend dinner parties with her snobby friends, go shopping, and take trips to Vienna to see her boyfriend. Anna wished that her aunt had stayed in Vienna and gotten married or whatever she wanted to do, at least one Williams deserved to be happy.

She descended the stairs and went to join her aunt on the sofa.

Christina closed her magazine then smiled at Anna. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Auntie, I like your dress."

She smoothed down the skirt of her blue, long-sleeved dress. "Thank you, I bought it in Paris last month, Viktor surprised me with the trip on our two year anniversary."

Anna nodded. "I remember."

Christina set her magazine on the coffee table and picked up saucer and cup. "What's wrong, dear?" She asked before taking a delicate sip of her beverage.

Anna shrugged. "I failed again, that's all."

Her aunt set the saucer and cup back on the table. "It's nothing that practice can't fix." She looked pointedly at Anna and took her hand. "Is that what's really bothering you? You seem troubled."

Anna gave her a forced smile. I think my sister is about to go on her first field mission and I'm scared for her. But she knew she couldn't say that, she could never tell anyone. Still, she knew Christina's concern was genuine. When she wasn't too busy with her own social life, she could be a good listener. Anna couldn't tell her what was really troubling her, but she decided to share one thing that had bothered her that morning.

"Daddy's always disappointed in me and thinks that I can't do anything right," she spoke quietly as she looked down at her aunt's perfectly manicured, red nails. "He even complains about the way I dress."

Christina sighed and patted her hand. "Don't worry about that, you're thin and you're pretty, changing your style won't be difficult, anything will look good on you. I can even take you shopping one of these days if you want."

Anna gently pulled her hand away. Christina reminded her of the popular girls in her school, they had wanted her in their clique, but Anna rejected them because that was exactly what everyone expected of her.

She heard her father's heavy footsteps and immediately corrected her posture. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and put his hands in the pockets of his brown leather jacket.

"We should be back before morning." Richard looked at his sister and didn't even acknowledge Anna.

Christina nodded. "Very good."

Nina walked quickly down the stairs as she zipped up her black, hooded jacket while trying to keep the straps of her duffle bag on her shoulder.
Richard looked at his watch. "One minute to spare." He shook his head. "Too close."

Nina nodded. "I will do better next time."

"Let's go," he looked at his eldest daughter. "We can't waste time." Richard headed toward the exit without sparing Anna so much as a glance.

Nina gave Anna a reassuring smile before following her father, but Anna couldn't return it. She watched as they walked across the entrance hall and out the heavy, wooden door. When it closed, the silence seemed deafening, and Anna spoke not because she was interested in a conversation, but because she needed to break the silence.

"Do you miss Viktor?"

Christina looked taken aback by her question but gave her a genuine smile. "I do."

"Is he a banker like Daddy's an investment manager?"

Her aunt smiled and reached for her cup on the coffee table. "What do you mean?"

It took every bit of self-restraint that she possessed to stop herself from rolling her eyes. She hated that everyone treated her either like she was a child or an adult, it all depended on whatever was convenient for them at the moment. No one ever thought to treat her like the person that she really was, a thirteen-year-old girl who missed her mother.

She decided to answer her aunt's question even though it was terribly condescending. "I mean, like...if you gave him a .45 would he know what to do with it?"

Christina giggled. "The only 45 he would know how to use is a record."

Anna tried to smile politely at her aunt's attempt at humor, but she couldn't do it. Christina sighed and looked at Anna with concern. "You're worried," she stood up and walked to the ornate fireplace, "maybe it would help if we prayed." She opened a small wooden box on top of the mantel and pulled out her rosary.

Anna tried to keep the bitterness from her voice but found it impossible. "Mother prayed every day and it never did any good."

"Maybe she was praying for the wrong thing," Christina suggested as she made her way back to the sofa.

Anna chuckled, she wondered if Christina was naive and genuine or if she really was that deep in denial. The more likely choice was that she thought Anna was a child who could be fed lies and who believed in fairytales.

"What's the right thing to pray for then?" She asked despite herself.

"Let's pray for a successful mission for Richard and Nina, and for their safe return."

Anna shrugged as she watched her lace the beads around her fingers and mirrored her aunt touching her forehead, her chest and her left and right shoulder in the sign of the cross. She watched as Christina moved her lips but didn't hear her words, she tuned them out, they were meaningless to her. Still, despite herself, she prayed for Nina's safe return, nothing and no one else mattered, all she wanted was her sister, her best friend.

A/N: I am extremely proud of myself because this story is actually finished. It is about 30k words long and 10 or 12 chapters, I may have to adjust that a little but it won't change much. It will be told solely from Anna's point of view. There are plenty of Nina stories out there and some are actually very good and very well written. It seems like poor Anna is always dismissed or tossed aside and I wanted to give her the story that I feel she deserves because I think that there is so much more to her character than meets the eye. I wanted to explore her origins and figure out what the hell actually happened between her and Nina that made them hate each other. All the info we have is so vague. So be warned, lots of headcanon with this one.