Trigger Warning:

Discussion of Mental health, misconceptions of mental health care, and mentions of low self-esteem.

It was foolish for her to think that she understood this world.

I know nothing, Jon Snow, she thinks, stillness taking her.

And not for the first time in her new life, she misses her brother. She misses his strength, his warmth, and the way he would look at her as if she was the most intelligent person in the room. She feels…

She feels small.

Young.

A foolish little wolf-pup in a world she knew nothing about. She had been so ready to think ill of the people she had claimed her Pack. She was so ready to see cruelty, to see betrayal, and all they had been doing was acting foolishly for her. Not against me. Am I so poisoned by my tormentors that I see shadows where there is only light?

Ser Eraserhhead sobbed. Tears fall freely from his dark eyes. His face, stoic and usually so calm, aghast, and pained.

"I'm sorry, Sansa," he said softly, tender and oh how much he loved her, she can see it, feel it in the very marrow of her delicate new bones, "We didn't- We didn't mean to make you think you were like that. You- You are the sweetest, most considerate child I have ever known."

Her lips trembled.

"You do not know many children, Ser To-San," she whispered back, swallowing back tears.

He huffed. Almost a laugh.

"No one could compare to you, Sansa."

She swallowed thickly.

"I have held doubt in my heart. You must think me so stupid."

He is suddenly in front of her, dark eyes fierce. He reminds her of a wolf, of strong and sure protectors. He is Ghost, he is Nymeria, Shaggy Dog, Summer, and even Greywind and her Lady in that wild, strong look. Carefully, his large hands cup her face. Warm and strong and holding her as if she is the most precious thing in the world.

"Never. Sansa, it was a miscommunication. We failed you when we didn't present this to you correctly. You are not stupid. Don't call yourself that."

She feels a lightness then.

"So," she says soft, "We get better at that. I- I know I am your charge."

"My daughter," he corrects, carefully, but it is said so earnestly that Sansa's heart feels fit to burst.

All I ever wanted to be was to be loved. Have I been so blind by mistrust that I do not see it when it is so earnestly here?

"You're daughter."

"We reacted badly. We'll do better. Whether or not you decided to go to therapy, is your choice, Sansa. Whether or not we take that step will not be forced on you."

A warm paw covered her's careful. She startles.

Animal eyes stare at her. Warm and as strong as her father's. It is Lord Nezu. King. Lord. Protector.

"Lord Nezu?"

"Sansa-Joō. I don't think you're crazy. I do however know, that you have been through horrible things. In this life, and your last."

She twitches in Ser To-san's hands. Lord Nezu tilts his head.

"I spoke to many after my final escape. I had to. To prove I was more then just an animal. To give me rights to my own body."

She blinks, and grips at his paw with her hands.

"They forced you to prove your existence, your sentience. It was cruel."

"Humans are cruel. So are animals. Life is cruel, Sansa-Joō."

She hums.

"A universal constant."

He presses his head against her. Nuzzles, scenting her and she breathes easier at the tender gesture.

"You should speak to someone about what has happened to you. All of you. Both the Stark Queen and the girl you are now, Sansa Stark."

"Why?" she whispers.

"It isn't madness that compels us to ask this of you, Sansa. It is love. Mental health care is meant to help you truly overcome what has happened to you. It isn't a weakness to need help, Sansa. I can't say much of the mentally-ill people you faced. But I know it will help with… everything you've been through. It did for me. And yet, I am not human nor am I completely sane myself. I still speak to a mental health professional. It helps me… But things in perspective."

She winced. Shuddered in horror as she realized something.

She had been thinking like Cersei, like Baelish, so certain of her own opinion without taking into consideration everyone else who is with her. And twice the fool for it. Perhaps that was madness itself.

"I will... I will head your console, Lord Nezu."

"It'll start slow, dearie," says Lady Chiyo-sensei, "And I will be your Doctor in this case."

Sansa blinks.

She feels a wave of relief course through her, near taking her breath.

"You will?"

"Who else could I trust with you? No one, sweet girl. And it will be at your own pace."

Sansa's internal dialogue with herself will not be kind at times.

I think I've already established how much I adore Sansa Stark as a character. This is not made in belittlement of her, or what I am constructing for her in SIHC. Instead a natural thought process of someone with massive internalized trauma, and self loathing. In all iterations of canon!Sansa, we have instants of internalized hatred for herself and some of her actions, and her own previous thought process when she was more sheltered.

It lends to the fact that she will think ill of herself.

It isn't right. Sansa thinks she is the one that made the mistake in this chapter isn't what is really happening. Sansa is taking the blame herself because that is how she thinks. It isn't what really is happening. Everyone in this situation fucked up to some extent, but as the literal CHILD in this situation, Sansa is not to blame. That is not how she sees it, and its gonna take a while for her to see that.

'Cause you know, TRAUMA.

But, well, that has been established. The adults fucked up in this situation, but Sansa is also in their care and not technically in charge. She needs to relinquish control, and allow herself to BREATH after all that's happened to her. She no longer has the mantle of Westeros on her shoulders.

She's just a four-year-old kid that's gonna HEAL by Jove, but it's gonna take her a moment to get there, as these things do.

In my own personal experience, therapy is not the end-all cure-all. It's a PROCESS. A process and a tool. It can be highly beneficial, and it is a wide range of treatments that takes time, with ups and down. In the case of Sansa in SIHC, it will be an ongoing process that will unravel across the fic. Sansa will have a very potent experience in it in the next chapter in regards to therapy, but it will also be an ongoing thing throughout the fic. I cannot, in good conscience, portray someone with Sansa's level of trauma as just being 'fixed' in the course of a moment. That's not how mental health works. And it won't be how I'm portraying it.

It will have its up and downs.

ESPECIALLY considering the number of shenanigans heading out faves of MHA's way.

Trauma? Class 1-A is all over that shit.

But I digress.

See you tomorrow my lovely readers!