Disclaimer: I own nothing

also here is the post that inspired this fic: shaenatargaryen . tumblr post/97071165605/the-winters-are-hard-but-the-starks-will-endure

"Throw her outside." Joffrey commanded, and she had seen the look on her lady mother's face, and she hit the ground. A knight, not a true knight, a liar, Sansa thought, picked her up roughly by her arm. She almost demanded he let her go, but she held her tongue, and he released her with a shove. She was barred from walking back home, she had realized. The man behind her made her keep walking. Into the woods of Winterfell.

Farther and farther into the trees, she saw her breath as it grew dark. And the man behind her stopped. She looked back, to see familiar eyes staring at her in the inky darkness.

Near the familiar eyes was a bloody mouth.

"Lady!" She stooped down and hugged the direwolf, who made a keening noise. She didn't want to think of the untrue knight-

"Lady, what's wrong?"

Lady tipped back her head and howled and then there was noise. An unfamiliar, but not frightening noise. It was comforting to Sansa, in a way she didn't understand yet.

Not until she heard a familiar voice a few moments later.

"Nymeria! Nymeria! Come back!" Arya. Sansa recognized the voice. She'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Sansa?" Arya asked in wonder as she collided with her. Nymeria sat next to Lady.

"What are you and Nymeria doing out here?" Sansa asked.

"I was about to sleep and then Nymeria made noise. So I opened the door and followed her here." Sansa absorbed this for a moment before they heard quiet cursing nearby. They looked at their direwolves who didn't move. If they had thought the source of the voice of hostile, they would have moved.

"Damnit, Ghost." They heard a familiar voice say.

"Jon?" They chorused.

"Arya? What in seven hells are you doing out here? Sansa?" Jon squinted.

"Why do you have a sword with you?" Arya asked as she saw a silver gleam.

"Why do you?" He countered, knowing she didn't take it off for almost anything. He hoped she had taken it with her while in the woods.

"Arya!" Sansa half heartedly scolded.

"I also have a dagger." Arya confessed. Jon grinned.

"You should give that to Sansa. Just in case." Jon advised. Arya did, and they heard a few twigs breaking.

"Bran- Rickon- we will check it out and then we are going back to bed before father finds out." They heard a voice- faint and near sounding. They didn't hear a response. Sansa felt Arya fidget against her.

"Robb?" They asked as they saw a tall figure, flanked by two shorter ones.

"Sansa?"

"Arya and Jon are with me too." Sansa told him, wishing she could see her eldest brother's face. They all heard him swear, and Arya giggled and Sansa hushed her.

The wolves all sat next to each other, they noticed as the moon became bright and illuminated them.

They heard a shout- their lady mother and the rough tone of their lord father, and they stood together, weapons drawn, direwolves next to their respective Starks.

"Where are they?" They heard a shout that sounded like a pitiful attempt at a loud roar. A female voice.

"The queen." Sansa whispered and they listened.

"Where are your children, Lord Stark? Is this a game to you?" The woman tried to sound powerful. Arya thought that she was a horrible person. Especially after almost killing Nymeria. She hoped to sheep shift her soon.

They didn't hear his response, it was drowned out by their lady mother's call of Sansa's name.

"Should I respond?" Sansa whispered, leaving the question open for her sibling's opinions, namely Jon and Robb.

"No." Robb whispered. And the loud voice of the queen of the seven kingdoms grew closer.

"Is that my guard? He's dead. Your daughter is a killer!" The blonde woman accused with a rising voice.

"You-" Jon trailed off in a quiet tone. Sansa shook her head.

"Lady." She clarified softly. The direwolf nudged her.

"What is it?"

"I found them!" A boyish shout was heard very clearly by the Stark children.

And the source came within inches of Robb's sword before he attempted to move backward, into a tree.

"Sansa? Let your traitor brother let me go! This instant-before I have him killed." He threatened.

"Small talk from a little boy." Robb retorted. Arya giggled and Jon had a small grin.

And just like that, all doubt and feelings for Joffrey were removed from her mind. Joffrey was in line to be king. The king. The king of the seven kingdoms, the most powerful man in Westeros.

But no one threatened her family. Not even the future king.

She moved quicker than Robb, and pressed the borrowed dagger flat against his throat.

"What?" He gasped.

"You threw me to the woods. Didn't you know direwolves come in packs?" Sansa asked, and as she was pulled backward, Lady moved forward.

"If you thought Nymeria hurt, wait till Lady sinks her teeth in. They're rather sharp, Joffrey." Arya taunted.

And they heard a scream, and looked to see Nymeria tear into the queen, who began to scream.

Their lady mother rushed at them, and they dropped their weapons as the direwolves tore into guards, and she engulfed them all in an embrace. Jon stood by Ned, who whispered something, that Arya gathered, made Jon very happy, by the way he nodded.

finis