A/N I do not own 'The Thief Lord' or anything related to that. I made this fanfic 'cuz I LOVE the book, and well, an idea just popped into my head... This is my first fanfiction, so please don't hate on it. BTW, I didn't know how to start it, so the beginning sucks...

Aniella was awoken early to the sounds of screams. Most people would sit up right away and leap out of bed to see what had caused such a ruckus . But Aniella, unlike others, just stared at the ceiling with her blue eyes and a frown across her face. After about ten minutes of this, she turned her head to the right to see that the time was 4:23AM, she then sighed as her light brown hair fell across her pale face.. Unlike most people, Aniella had family issues. You see, her dad is a complete alcoholic while her mother left them right after the incident. It wasn't always like this though. Before Aniella turned six, her parents loved each other dearly, and they loved Aniella, and they also loved Derek, Aniella's brother.

As soon as she started first grade, she was bullied. It wasn't the typical 'you stink,' or 'no one likes you because you're ugly,' It was full out insults like that along with physical harassment. The kids would trip her, push her, and sometimes even punch her. The teachers were just as bad, they just sat back and did nothing, and when a kid came telling them that they were getting bullied, well, they couldn't care less. They'd ignore her like any other student in the grade.

The only comfort she had was her brother, and sometimes her parents. But mainly her brother with his dusty blond hair and innocent dark brown eyes. Although he was still younger than her, he cared for her like an amazing older brother. She could tell him anything, and vise versa. It all changed when the accident happened.

It was about 11:00PM when Aniella started to get tired. She had insomnia ever since she had been three, but it was getting better, and she fell asleep quicker now. Just as she was heading up the stairs, a rock was thrown through the window. Aniella, in shock, just stood there as a man with a ski mask climbed through the now broken window. By that time, Derek was standing next to his sister trying to get her to run up the stairs. But Aniella was frozen with fright. After a few seconds, the burglar notices them and pulled out a gun.
"HANDS UP!" The burglar shouted quite loud. Immediately, Derek's hands shot above his head, Aniella followed his lead.
"NOW, WHERE DO YOU KEEP YOUR MONEY?"
"We're only kids, we do not know" Derek replied shakily. Right after Derek said that, Aniella and her brother heard their parents coming.
"WHERE. DO. YOU. KEEP. YOUR MONEY?" The burglar started to get irritated.
"I don't know" the answer from Derek was so soft it almost wasn't audible.
"Fine then.. The girl goes first." The gun was now directed towards Aniella. It all happened so fast after that.
The gun was shot, but it didn't hit Aniella. Derek had managed to run in front of her to protect her. The bullet had hit his heart. A piercing scream came from Aniella. Right then, their parents had entered the hallway at the top of the stairs. All they saw was their beloved son get shot straight in the heart. Derek then fell forward into Aniella as tears streamed down her face.

"No, no. no. NO. NO!" Came from Aniella's mouth as she realized what had just taken place. She caught her brother as he started to go down to his knees. He then whispered something into her ears and put on a weak smile. By that time, the burglar had already fled the scene of the crime. What Aniella heard come from her near dead brother rang through her ears as he slowly closed his eyes and made her sob even harder.

"I'm glad to have been able to save you. Please, be strong."

…...

That day has haunted her all this time. Her parents blamed her for Derek's death, and she was starting to believe it too. Either way, after that, her dad kept getting drunk and her mom had left Aniella to defend for herself. Whenever her dad got into an angry drunk state, he beats Aniella. Normally, it's just a punch in the face, a slap, or something like that. This time though, her father was angrier than usual, much angrier.

Her father came up the steps and opened the door to Aniella's room.

"It's all YOUR fault they're gone!" He was screaming so loudly, Aniella couldn't hear herself think. Her father's shaggy black hair covered his face as he walked over to her. He extended his hand to choke her, but she quickly dodged it and ran out her room and down the stairs.

She made her way to the kitchen and was about to go out the back door when her father's hand grabbed her by her hair. He dragged her up the stairs and shoved her into her room. That's when he repeatedly hit her on her face and stomach. After about fifteen minutes of that, Her father stood up. She thought that he had gotten tired of beating her up for tonight as he began to leave.

"You're the reason they're gone, the reason my son is dead and my wife left." With that he then left the room and started breaking multiple things. She had multiple bruises on her arms, a black eye, and a ton of scratches that were bleeding wildly. She then decided to wipe the blood off.

After a few minutes of that, Aniella got up and headed to her closet. She grabbed her black backpack and started packing. She couldn't take it anymore, so she started packing. In the end, she had three pairs of pants, five t-shirts, two sweatshirts, and some other articles of clothing. She also had her pencil case, a notebook, sketchbook, and some staff paper(she loved to write songs), and all of her money, which was about five hundred dollars. Aniella grabbed her viola and headed out the door without another thought. Her father was in his room so she didn't have to worry about him. Once she reached the kitchen, Aniella grabbed enough food for at least two weeks and grabbed her dad's wallet and stole the thousand dollars he had in it. With that, she burst out the front door and sprinted down the street.

Aniella planned to go to Venice. She had heard that it was one of the most beautiful places to go. The only difficulty was that she was in Belleville, France. Venice was at least four hundred fifty miles away. Despite that, she wanted to go there. From belleville, she headed to the trainstation. Aniella snuck aboard the first freight train she saw. Sneaking past the guards, she climbed into the third cart and made herself comfortable. As the train started moving along the tracks