The Lost Winter Rose

Chapter 1

The wind was blowing strong as it moved its way in through the gates of Winterfell. The battle had just been won, and at the moment, people were tearing down and burning anything that could be associated with the Boltons. Sansa couldn't help but feel proud as she watched the familiar banners gracing the halls of her home once again. After everything their family had been through, after all the pain and suffering, they were finally back where they belonged. Home.

Well, almost all of them. There had been no news about either Arya or Bran, and Sansa prayed to the old gods and new that where ever they were, that they were safe.

"Lady Sansa" She was broken out of her thoughts and turned her head to meet the eyes of Brienne, who looked as if she had just seen a ghost. Panting as if she had run from wherever she came from, her eyes wide, and her skin had turned a few shades lighter than usual.

"What's wrong?"

"We went to the basement as you said to see if there were anything left from the Boltons. However, we passed upon a door that looked like it had been sealed off, but then reopened." Sansa's eyes glistened in recognition as she remembered the door that her father had sealed off when they were younger. It had been an attempt to stop Robb and her older sister Lyanna from running off and hiding down there with Jon after getting into all sorts of trouble they could manage.

"I remember that door. It leads into a hidden room; father sealed it off years ago because my older siblings wouldn't stop hiding down there." She gave Brienne a quick nod to signalize that they would start to make their way down there. "I suppose that bastard found it. I don't understand what could have been so important that he reopened it. It's just a room." Brienne gave her lady a swift look as they continued to make their way down the several staircases until finally reaching the door leading down to the basement.

" M'lady, I really think you should see what's inside." the pair ascended down the stairs, and in the far right corner of the room stood a group of men who looked like to have a rather aggressive whispering argument. Moving her eyes from one to another, she cleared her throat when no one noticed her. Tormund was the first to look her way and gave what looked like a rather harsh slap on the arm to the man next to him, the man shot Tormund a glare before following his gaze and seeing the two women.

"Lady Stark," the man bowed his head slightly, and soon the others followed. "You asked us to get rid of anything associated with the Bolton's, right?" This time it was Tormund who, along with two others, stared daggers into the man. The wildling wanted at that moment nothing more than to hit the man in his face, repeatedly.

"That's right, I did" From the corner of her eyes, she could see Brienne trying to control her temper by taking a deep breath. However, her eyes were the same as Tormunds, dark. "What did you find?"

The man looked almost proud of himself as he made his way closer to the opening of the door. Sansa followed him; however, seeing the reactions both the wildling and her sworn sword had made her both curious and a little on guard. This wasn't the first time that Sansa had seen the hidden room. However, she had never seen it like this. On the walls, she could recognize some of the drawings that had been made years ago, of her parents, her older siblings Robb and Lyanna, and Arya, Bran, and Rickon, along with Jon and then Theon.

She could remember Jon trying to suppress his laugh, as Lyanna would disapprove of Robb's drawing skill, refusing to let him draw anyone but himself. The red-haired girl let out a slight smile as she saw Robb's drawing, which looked more like a stick figure than him. What caught her eye were the several new additions to the wall, new drawings of herself and her family, names that were repeated several times, the words Winter is coming, and The pack survives along with the dire wolf were also to be seen.

She noticed Brienne, who had not left her side, carefully step towards one of the dark corners where the light couldn't reach. It was first then Sansa noticed the old bed that was placed close to the stone walls, but it wasn't the bed nor the bloody rags that lay on the floor that made her halt her step but rather the body that laid in the bed.

"Is that.. a woman? Is she alive?"

"Yes, she appears to have a fever and is currently unconscious. Most likely, one of Ramsey's whores. Shall we get rid of her?" The man looked at the figure in the bed with clear disgust in his eyes. Brienne placed herself in front of the bed, with her hand on the hilt of oath keeper; a murderous look covered her eyes.

" You will not." Her voice was loud, echoing through the room. The wildling stared at the tall woman with admiration in his eyes before moving his eyes to the bed, making sure that the unconscious woman had not been turned conscious by the voice. Brienne's hard and dark eyes stared holes into the man, and she looked like she wanted to kill him on the spot. "She is not some common whore. She is.."

The man stepped closer to her, furring his eyebrows and raising his voice to match hers. "It's not her. She is dead. This lass, however, is not, at least not yet." Stepping away, he turned around to face the other girl in the room. She had, without the others realizing it, stepped closer to the bed in hopes of getting a look at whoever was the one to occupy it. Grabbing the thin blanket covering the woman's face slightly, she gave it a small tug, making the fabric slide down so the woman's face was bare for everyone to see. "She's just some girl probably loved that Bolton bastard or something, better to let her go when she's half-dead already. No one even knows her."

"That's not true." Staring down at the girl who was older by three years, Sansa couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. For a moment, she thought that perhaps she had been the one to get a fever and that all of this was just some crazy hallucination. But it wasn't. She knew that it wasn't. Her eyes ran over every single part of the older girl, the bruises on her arms, the cut on her bottom lip, her left eye who had slight darkness signaling an injury that had almost disappeared.

Apart from the thin old fabric that served as a blanket, the only thing that kept the girl warm was a thin underdress; one would think that the dress had been washed in the dirt, as it held a color of dark brown with some splotches of blood on them, one of the sleeves had been ripped off. Sansa almost didn't want to look under the fabric to see what else of the dress was ripped.

"I know her... She's my sister."