Growing up Sansa Stark would have been the first to say that her relationship with her sister had never been close.

They were too different. Different likes. Different wants. Different needs. Just different.

Sansa did what was expected of her and actually enjoyed it. She was a straight 'A' student, hung out with the right people and even had the right boyfriend in society's eyes. She conducted herself what was expected of her and only went to places that were fitting for a woman of her status.

By society's standards, Sansa had it all. But in truth, it was her baby sister who had it all.

While Sansa struggled to maintain her straight 'A' average, Arya was able to get A's without even trying. Not matter the subject, no matter the lesson, Arya could ace the test with relative ease while for Sansa it would take her late nights of carefully prepared study guides and long hours in the library.

Sansa's friends were from some of the richest and oldest families. They had been the 'it' crowd at school. People wanted to hang out with them, hell, people wanted to BE them. But looks could be deceiving. The same bunch of friends that had been the envy of almost everyone in school were also some of the most superficial people you would have ever met. Who would more than likely stab you in the back if it meant their gain.

Arya's friends were an array of different people who hailed from the slums of Kings Landing to the exotic aisles of Braavos to the riches of the Targaryen wealth. They were a motley crew who had demonstrated more than once their loyalty and their love for each other time and time again.

Sansa's boyfriend at the time was Joffrey Baratheon, who was a Baratheon from his father's side and a Lannister from his mother's side two of THE most powerful families in all of Westeros, he had also been a vile and sadistic sorry excuse for a human being who gained his pleasure from someone else pain.

Arya's boyfriend was her hotter than hell best friend, Gendry Waters who had to be despite his larger than normal size was the most gentlest and sweetest guy Sansa knew. That was until you messed with his girlfriend. Then he became an enraged bull that only Arya could calm.

And growing up Sansa had never been jealous of Arya and her life. In her adolescent little head, Sansa had thought that she it better. The better life, the better friends, the better boyfriend. But now, as a woman staring back on her life, Sansa knew that she had only been kidding herself.

She barely had any of her old friends left, save Margery Tyrell, but then Margery had also been friends with Arya at school. Jeyne Poole, Melisandre, Ygritte Wilds. All girls who were the prettiest, the richest and the most popular in school. But Sansa soon found out that Jeyne had been friends with her because she had been sleeping with Joffrey behind her back, Ygritte because she wanted her cousin Jon and Melisandre because she thought that being friends with a Stark meant she would gain power beyond her imagination. All of who had stabbed her in the back the first chance they got.

But Arya, she still had her close circle of friends from high school. Gendry her best friend turn boyfriend who had been in love with Arya since they were kids. A guy who called himself Hotpie because of his love and skill for making the best and sweetest tasting pies you could ever taste. Daenerys Targaryen, of the house Targaryen, who was so beautiful and so exotic looking that it turned men into bumbling fools. And finally Podrick Payne. Someone who seemed so unassuming and well plain but who Margery was obsessed with after a one night stand that lead her into stalking him wherever the poor man went.

Sansa never understood her sister growing up. But now she did.

Arya was a true wolf. Fierce, loyal, untamable. Their father called her his little wolf-cub. Their mother, her wildling. And they had been names that Sansa had looked down on her for.

"Changing Arya is like trying tame the wind during a storm." Her mother had told her once when Sansa had complained about Arya and her wildling ways. "It's impossible. You have to learn what I eventually did. Love Arya for who she is, Sansa. Not for who we want her to be." Her mother had smiled at her softly, placing a kiss to Sansa's forehead.

But still Sansa did not understand her little sister. She tried, but then Arya would embarrass her in front of her friends, or would show up while they were entertaining the Baratheon's all mud streaked and sweaty from playing touch football with their brothers and Sansa would find it so hard to understand why Arya was the way she was.

Why couldn't she be less like a wildling and more like a lady? Why couldn't she be less like the sister she had and more like the sister she wanted? Why couldn't Arya be just like her?

But Sansa had been such a selfish, self-important little twit, because when it came down to it, Arya had been the only one who had tried to warn her about the evil that was Joffrey Baratheon.

Sansa closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, feeling that helpless clawing feeling of another anxiety attack come on.

He had been so beautiful to her. Literally beautiful. Green eyes that contrasted with bright blonde hair. Lannister eyes and Lannister hair. He was tall, taller than Sansa with a lean wiry build. Soft hands, and thin lips.

When he smiled at Sansa, she literally forgot everything around her. She would bask in that smile, knowing that she had done something right to gain his approval. He was charming, and rich and popular and guys wanted to be him while girls wanted to be WITH him.

And he had chosen her. Out of all the girls at school and in all of Westeros, Joffrey Baratheon had chosen her.

But it had all been a façade. His beauty hid an ugliness and a darkness that still haunted Sansa to this very day, 24 months later.

Their relationship had started out like a fairytale. Joffrey had spoilt her, showering her with gifts and jewelry that had her friends green with envy. He took her to the finest restaurants where people fell over themselves to serve them.

Even took her shopping at the finest boutiques that you had to book to get into.

Joffrey had been a girls dream. Her dream. But Sansa soon found out that that dream was only a nightmare.

Six weeks of pure bliss turned into 12 months of pure hell.

The first time he hit her it had been because Edric Dayne had smiled at her. He had accused her of cheating, screamed that she was a whore. When she had protested her innocence he had lashed out at her telling her a true lady would know when to shut up.

She had been shocked. Hurt that he would question her love for him. Hurt that he would not believe her. Hurt that he would hit her.

The next day had him on her doorstep with 2 dozen roses and a stuffed wolf that looked a lot like Lady, her wolf that she had since she was 14. Apologies had poured out of his mouth, those green Lannister eyes begging for forgiveness.

So of course Sansa forgave him.

Two weeks later he hit her for the second time. But this time he split her lip. He had been screaming that she had made him hit her. That it was her fault. If she would only just listen to him. If she would only just obey him.

And so began the cycle of abuse that had consumed her life for 12 whole months.

Sansa had become adept at hiding bruises and covering black eyes. Had mastered the art of lying convincingly when she had shown up to the house with a broken arm. Had even hid the cigarette burns that would litter the tops of her breasts. Low enough so that her tops and blouses would cover them, and deep enough to leave marks.

Normally he left her face alone. Unless what she did was so bad that he would forget himself and lash out at her face.

And it was always her fault. She embarrassed him, she didn't wear the right clothes, a boy looked at her, she wasn't articulate enough. There were times when he would just hit her to see his mark on her.

But it was that last time, the last time he laid a hand on her that had been the worse time ever.

Even now she couldn't remember how it started or even WHY it started. But what she did remember was him trapping her against the wall, her cowering away from him, curled in a ball, him and his fists hitting her head, her neck, her back the side of her face and finally her screaming and finally swinging at him wildly until her hand connected with his face.

Everything seem to freeze at that moment. Him. Her. Time.

He had stared at her shocked. Stunned that she would dare to raise her hand to him. Shocked that she would dare fight back. It was then that Joffrey's anger had turned into pure unadulterated rage.

Even now so long after, she could almost feel the impact of his fists as they smashed into her face. The force of his boots as he kicked her, over and over and over.

She remembered screaming. She remembered crying. She remembered blacking out.

It had been Tommen – Joffrey's younger brother - who heard her screams. Tommen who knocked his brother out cold. Tommen who contacted Arya – whom he had a crush on for years – to let her know what his brother had done to her sister. Tommen who had saved her life.

She remembered waking to the sound of beeping and her mother's sobs. She remembered sound of her father's deep raspy voice, praying at her bedside, for her to live. She remembered waking to find Arya fast asleep in the chair beside her, her face pale, dark circles under her eyes, her hand in Sansa's. She remembered her brothers, Jon and Theon included, all visiting her, their rage barely controlled as they showered her with hugs and kisses. She even remembered Gendry, showing up with Arya on numerous occasions, large arms full of flowers, food and gifts from his and Arya's friends, all wanting to wish Sansa a speedy recovery.

The only person from her friends to visit her had been Margery, brown eyes full of fire as she told Sansa gleefully that Joffrey had been taken into custody, crying for his mommy.

The Starks had gone for Joffrey's throat. Her father had cut all ties with his old friend Robert Baratheon and had even gone as far as sell his shares in the Baratheon Empire. It was a badly kept secret that the only reason Baratheon Empires was so successful was because of Ned Stark and the work he put into the place. Robert Baratheon was just a figure head with his name on the building. Ned was the man behind the success. Once he left, clients began to jump ship and there was nothing that even Tywin Lannister – Robert's father in law – could do to save the company.

Joffrey' mother had hired Petyr Baelish to represent him. Known far and wide for his manipulations and his cunning, Sansa thought they had no chance.

That was until her father had hired Oberyn Martell, the best prosecutor in all of the Free Cities and all of Westeros whose reputation outmatched Baelish's but was so charming and enthralling that he had the jury eating out of his hands .

What had started off nice and pleasant and turned into a drop down dirty fight to the end. The Lannisters had called to question Sansa's honesty, her fidelity and even her state of mind. Accusing her of being borderline bipolar they had accused her of beating him and that more times than not he had to subdue her so she wouldn't end up hurting herself. They even had her so called friends Jeyne, Ygritte and Melisandre as their star witnesses. All three girls spinning their tales of lies and accusations.

Oberyn had called into question the three girls integrity. Jeyne who was sleeping with her best friends boyfriend, Ygritte who had an addiction to self-mutilation and was on probation for stalking. And finally Meli who had been in and out of mental institutions her entire life, believing that she was the red priestess for some god called the Lord of the Light.

He had discredited and disputed their claims providing evidence on Jeyne's cheating, Ygritte's self-harm and Meli's trips to the mental institutions that Baelish thought he had swept under the carpet.

He had also provided video evidence of Joffrey's cruelty and in turn questioned Joffrey's state of mind. But what had been a nail in their coffin had come from none other than Jamie Lannister. Joffrey's uncle.

Cersei twin brother who for some unknown reason known only to Oberyn and Arya had been able to get Cersei to back down, drop the case and allow Joffrey to go to jail for his crimes and not do anything about it.

Sansa remembered Oberyn calling the house, crowing that he and his little wolf – obviously Arya – had done the impossible and gotten Cersei and Tywin Lannister to back the fuck down.

Arya would not tell her what they had over the Lannister family; it had been a part of the agreement. She would not even tell her mom although Sansa suspected her dad knew. But whatever it was, was big enough for a family as powerful as the Lannisters to back down and back off.

During the trial it felt as if Sansa was trapped. Trapped in the nightmare of that night, trapped in the torrent of emotions that refused to leave her in peace. Just trapped.

She couldn't bear to have anyone touch her suddenly and tried to force herself not to flinch every time her brothers or her father would touch her.

She remembered seeing the frustration and the rage in her father's eyes, the helplessness in her all her brothers eyes and the worry and overprotectiveness in her mother's eyes.

It had been Arya who had hid her emotions from Sansa and just sat with her. Arya who just let her be.

Sometimes they would sit for hours, saying nothing, doing nothing, feeling nothing. Other times Sansa would be raging, crying or screaming.

But during those times Arya never wavered. Never got frustrated. Never left her. It was during those times when Sansa finally appreciated the little sister she had, and not long for the little sister she wanted.

It wasn't till after the trial that Sansa heard that on his way from remand into prison, Joffrey had been beaten badly by a couple of inmates. He had been beaten so bad in fact that he started having delusions.

He had claimed that it was Arya that had come into his well-guarded private prison cell and attacked him. Breaking his jaw, shattering his kneecap and breaking his leg in two places.

But video evidence had shown Joffrey starting the fight with two well-known criminals Biter and Rorge and those same criminals beating Joffrey bloody. Arya had not even been in town when it happened.

But Sansa also knew what her sister was capable of. Everyone who truly knew her did. And Sansa knew that if there was anyone capable to beating the crap out of Joffrey and make it look like someone else did it, it was Arya.

Sansa shook her head trying to clear her mind from her past. Joffrey was still in prison, Cersei hadn't been heard of since and Joffrey's father had continued to drink himself stupid. They couldn't hurt her now. None of them could.

"Sansa." Sansa's head jerked up, meeting the familiar blue eyes of her mother. "Honey, are you okay?" Catelyn asked worriedly, coming towards her.

"I'm fine, mother." Sansa said quickly, shying away slightly and ignoring the hurt look on her mother's face at her rejection.

"Maybe you should go home, honey. This can't be good for you." Her mother suggested softly.

Sansa felt a flash of irritation at her mother's coddling. She understood why, she did, but sometimes her mother could be smothering to the point where she felt as if she were suffocating.

"I'm fine mom, really. I just needed to talk to Arya before she left."

Something flickered over Catelyn's face as she glance at Jaqen's impassive face and then back to Sansa.

"Sandor is with her. She'll be fine." Her mother told her, reaching out to squeeze Sansa's hand.

"I know." Sansa took a deep breath her eyes going to the door that Arya had stormed through. "It's Arya." Sansa shrugged trying to nonchalant. "She's always fine."

"But it doesn't stop you from worrying, does it?" her mother smiled, wrapping her arms around Sansa's shoulders. "It doesn't stop you from wanting to drag your entire family close to you and never let them out of your sight again." Catelyn kissed Sansa's temple.

"Arya's strong." Sansa told her. "She has strength enough for the entire family."

Her mother sighed.

"So do you Sansa." Her mother told her. "The same strength that Arya has, you have it too." A smile twisted her mother lips. "You just show it differently." Her mother ran her fingers through Sansa's hair. "It was something I refused to see until Arya forced me to see. We show our strength in different ways. You have your father's strength. Quiet, steady, unwavering. She said what happened to you didn't break you, it just changed you." Sansa was stunned at her sister's description of her. Who knew that's what Arya really thought?

Her mother cupped her face, meeting her watery gaze a wry smile on her face.

"It's just you are the only one that lets me baby you. Even my baby doesn't let me baby him." her mom pouted causing Sansa to give her a shaky smile. "Let's go and stop your brothers from going on a man hunt. We already have one Stark to worry about. We don't need more."

Sansa licked her lips allowing her mother to drag her back into Theon's room, knowing that if anyone had things under control, it was her little sister.