The darkness was empty.
Yet it filled everything in every direction.
There was no beginning nor end.
Nothing below, nor above.
Only darkness.
And time.
This existed in it.
This had been here as long as it could remember, tied to the absolute nothiness surrounding it.
The passage of time felt indistinguishable from stasis, leaving only one consequence: profound, unbearbale boredom.
So, This had started counting.
The understanding of counting was very minimal to this, it was an idea it had come up with, in an extremely ordinary moment.
It's numbers often repeated frequently or too infrequently and the names This had decided to give each number where incomprehensible and easily forgotten.
Yet that didn't matter. Not to This.
One…
Two…
Three…
And like this time passed.
Whenever it had found itself incomparabley bored or with a clear mind it would count.
Although meaningless.
This fragile count was all it had.
Eventually, This reached a count of 7,950,883,411 before losing track.
So This tried again. But ultimately gave up.
And with that, somehow, counting had stopped meaning anything.
Boredom and emptiness soon became the only thing it felt.
With only its thoughts there to garner it's attention,This remained inside the darkness and waited.
Although, This didn't entirely mind. After all, Darkness was all it had ever known.
...
Time went by slowly like this. Perpetual, dark and unchanging.
Then, one unremarkable moment, something changed.
For the first time ever, This felt something.
At first, it was subtle, almost unnoticeable to This.
A faint pull tugging at a corner of itself , which it hadn't known was there.
Then the pull grew larger.
No longer pulling at a portion, something slowly wrapped itself around the form of This—something It had never realized It held.
Then it began to tighten.
The feeling was close to compression, but this wasn't something it could understand.
Instead, feeling the new sensation, This felt nothing.
It's mind was still remarkably empty, only focused on fully immersing itself into the new sensation.
Still within that compression, another change happened.
This felt itself being pulled.
The movement wasn't gradual, in one instant it had been studying the tight feeling surrounding it and in the next it was dragged forward with such impossible speed that even its thoughts seemed to lag behind.
Its shapeless form stretched violently in the direction it was being pulled, portions of itself trailing behind before snapping back toward the rest. The sensation was unlike anything it had ever experienced.
This couldn't truly comprehend the speed at which it was going at. It couldn't even comprehend movement itself.
All This knew was that something had taken hold of it and was dragging it through the nothingness with an incomprehensible force.
No longer caught up in its first moments of sensation, This tried to hold onto anything it could but failed.
The momentum tore its thoughts apart they moment they rose and left This with no chance to resist.
Experiencing such a thing for the first time, subtly, deep within its dark heart, This felt something closely resembling fear.
Yet with no choice but to give in to the strength of the compression, This allowed itself to be pulled further into the deep darkness.
It was only a few more moments in which it was forcibly dragged before the compression vanished entirely.
Afraid its thoughts may be ripped apart like before, This remained motionless in the darkness for a while, until; abruptly an intense barrage of new sensations slammed into it.
The first it noticed was the subtle soft brush against all of it at once, along with something else.
Thump.
This focused on it.
Thump.
Again, This felt it.
Something was moving, somewhere deep within itself.
This had no understanding of what it was. Yet instinctively, its attention was drawn upon it.
Thump.
Focusing intensely, This felt a force surge outward from that spot, rushing through countless different paths.
It could feel them now.
A Thin force spreading in every direction.
With every thump, the sensation grew clearer, branching farther and farther from that single point.
The more This focused upon it, the more of itself it began to perceive.
The shape of its form.
And the movement within it.
Slowly, guided by the movement within itself, this felt as if something had opened.
Along with that feeling, the darkness, the only thing This had ever known, was replaced by a blindingly bright light.
It was entirely different from what This had known.
It wasn't dull or boring, but overwhelming.
It had spent an eternity surrounded by nothing but darkness, and now something had invaded that emptiness with an impossible intensity.
Yet it still couldn't look away.
As it stared, This subconsciously pulled something into itself, it was only slightly at first, then with an intense fervour, until something inside itself felt full.
Enjoying the full feeling, This did it's best trying to make sense of what was happeneing, when something appeared infront of it cutting out the, bright light.
The thing was large, larger then the light from before, and thought loudly, somehow inserting it's own unique tone into This's mind.
"Lady Sansa, we really shouldn't be out here too long. How about we go have some tea?"
The words "Lady Sansa" echoed strangely inside This for a moment.
Then it hit.
Without warning, a violent storm crashed into its mind.
Thousands upon thousands of memories, images, words, and feelings that were not its own slammed in all at once.
Unknown images, sounds, thoughts, feelings and concepts it had never heard of, like family and dreams, lessons and songs, dresses and dolls, and more it couldn't understand even remotely.
On top of it all was something called "Sansa Stark".
This tried its best to understand, but the thoughts continuously flooded in allowing not a moment of reprieve.
This felt it's mind begin sting intensely.
Subconsciously raising both hands to where the new sensation was coming from. This understood why it struggled to think properly.
It's too much...
Its mind spun, the loud thoughts from outside continuously mixing with the unknown thoughts within.
'Where is This?' This asked itself, but no answer came.
The sensations continued to pile up; the thoughts seemed unending.
The thumping inside This grew faster, stronger, louder, like something was about to burst.
"Lady Sansa? Are you alright?" This heard the thoughts but could not comprehend them; they only added to the unknown stinging sensation in its mind.
This felt something was wrong.
Earlier, there had only been darkness.
Now there was... everything.
This lowered it's hands and moved the top part of whatever it was.
Doing so, it could see everything around it. They where similar to the flash of images it had seen in its mind, yet no matter where it looked, it couldn't find the darkness it had known anywhere.
Although it couldn't see it, This felt keenly that the darkness was still present.
Somewhere.
As if the place it existed in had shifted, forced somewhere else entirely.
The connection was still there, although faint, like something stretched too far but not yet broken.
This could not understand it.
But it did not need to.
Because something inside it already reacted to it.
Before This could properly think, it had somehow begun moving forward at a surprising speed.
This had never known what it meant to move, but regardless, it had done so. With only the desire to find the darkness and escape the loudness in its thoughts, the blinding light and the endless new sensations.
As it moved, the thoughts that had inexplicably sounded before grew quieter and the further it went.
"My lady, stop!"
Not hesitating at the thoughts, This kept moving.
This pushed between two tall shapes, the layer beneath it making a crunching sound with each movement forward. The further This moved, Around it, tall, dark shapes grew more and more common.
This did not know where it was.
Yet, the stretched feeling when connecting to the darkness had shrunk, along with the loudness of the moving things from before.
Looking back, the only thing This could see where the various tall things around it, and the eerie quietness of where it was.
Continuing its movement, This felt the stinging sensation from before had begun to simmer, feeling more like a slight buzz.
Although, there was plenty it still couldn't understand, like the rapid thumping inside of it, accompanied by the strange sensation pressing softly in from all around it.
Slowing to a stop, This did it's best to think and analayze what was happening.
This is no longer in the dark... This is here... This can feel... With the full understanding that it was no longer in the darkness, and that it could feel, it's mind slowly calmed itself.
That single understanding cut through everything for a single moment.
This was no longer in the dark.
It was here.
But that wasn't enough.
This could steel feel a pull from what It could assume was the darkness.
Until I could connect and reach it, This felt it couldn't stop, even with the comfort of knowing it could now feel.
Pushing forward, This continued for a while until the bottom portions of itself felt like they'd give out, how it could even move, felt like a miracle on its own.
The thought barely formed before its next step failed entirely.
Unable to resist the movement, This fell forward.
The impact struck This's seeing parts hard, forcing the light and everything around it to disappear.
Not fighting, This let itself be swallowed by the darkness again.
It wasn't the same darkness This had known. But it was close.
In the darkness, This began to organize its thoughts and understand what had happened.
This had been pulled from the darkness and forced into a new place.
A mass of foreign memories still swirled inside it: memories of something called Sansa Stark, of something called a family, along with a place called "home".
This felt the new body it now inhabited. Two gripping extensions. A steady thumping in the middle.
This could only get a slight understanding of what was happening before a bright shape appeared within the darkness.
[Unstable Interpretation Detected]
Name: Sansa Stark / Unknown Host
Age: 13
State: Overwritten / Merged
Classification: "Void" (approximation)
Ability Fragment: Mindscape
[Note: Interpretation incomplete. Data inconsistent. Please further understand humans for more information.]
This examined the strange shape. At first, the lines were incoherent; then they slowly settled into something meaningful.
'Name?' Although This had only seen the lines for the first time, it felt as if its full meaning was shown directly to it.
The lines said This was Sansa.
Not This itself. But the body. The thump. The loud thoughts. The memories. It was all Sansa.
Disregarding the apparent understanding, This read the rest of the shiny lines.
'Race: Void..' Understanding the lines, This felt even more confused than before. Even with the absolute understanding the lines gave, it still didn't make sense.
This's mind told it that it was a "void", yet it also told This that "void" was the absence of anything. But This was clearly not nothing.
This thought, back to the familiar time in the darkness; even then, it was never nothing.
This considered for a moment whether to trust these lines. Saying This was nothing was like saying darkness was light.
Moving on, This tried to understand the rest.
'Abilities: Mindscape'
The word appeared clearly. A faint understanding came with it, not a full explanation, but a feeling.
It was a sort of space inside This, a place where its thoughts could be stored, sorted, and examined without the noise of the light. A place that belonged only to This.
This paused.
It seemed similar to the darkness it had always been in.
Mindscape... a place within This where the many memories could be slowly processed.
However, This keenly felt as if something in the explanation was missing.
This knew the ability's name now, as well as its existence somewhere inside it, but how to use it or what it really meant was still unanswered.
This stared at the shiny lines for a long time, turning the new words over and over.
Void. Mindscape.
Two new things that only made This more confused.
The shiny box lingered for a moment longer, then quietly faded away, leaving This alone once more with the softer darkness and the endless amount of Sansa's memories.
This let itself succumb to its new body's urges; it had done so frequently, but it wasn't sure what else to do.
For now, This only wanted to be alone with its thoughts… and whatever this new "Mindscape" was.
---
I had been searching through the Godswood for most of the evening.
The search party had split up to cover more ground after Sansa had been seen running toward the Godswood. Father had sent them out the moment he'd heard, yet the light was already failing, and there wasn't a trace of my sister.
"Seven bloody hells," I muttered, voice low. "Why in the gods' names would Sansa run outside into the Godswood at this hour? Alone as well?"
"Haah, you know our sister. Maybe it's getting around that time in her life? Where doing nonsense like this becomes fun."
The man next to me responded calmly, then let out a hearty chuckle, seemingly thinking of something humorous.
"Reminds me of when we were that age. Remember when we stole two horses and left for the brothel? We were around her age then, too. So don't be too harsh on her."
Robb looked at me for a few short moments whilst speaking. I gave a nod of acknowledgement and continued to search.
Robb and I kept pushing forward, the Godswood growing darker and quieter the further in we went. We were already deep inside, the distant lights of Winterfell barely visible behind us, but there was no other choice.
Then I saw something.
Between two large twisted trees, a small dark shape was tightly curled against the base of one of them. Completely still.
For a second, my stomach dropped.
"Sansa!" I called loudly, loud enough for my brother nearby to turn and see what I saw.
I broke into a run, heart hammering.
Gods, if she were hurt out here… alone in the dark because she decided to wander off…
I knew what it was like to be clumsy or irrational; it was part of growth. But if that growth came at the cost of her life...
Loosely letting go of the thought, I inhaled sharply and skidded to my knees beside her. She was covered entirely by her cloak from her face down to her shoes.
I loosely held my lantern in one hand and allowed the light to spill across it.
Grabbing the cloak, I removed it entirely in a moment of rashness.
Underneath was a young girl with ginger hair, overly pale skin, her face still and slack.
She lay on her side, eyes closed, with her small hands tucked close to her chest.
Expecting the worst, I reached out and gently rolled her toward me.
Pressing the back of my palm against her chest, I noticed the slow and even rhythm of her breaths.
She was alive.
I exhaled sharply, relief mixing with fresh annoyance. "What were you thinking?" I grumbled under my breath.
"Running out here alone like that? You could have gotten hurt."
"Yes, that was stupid of her.. C'mon, let's take her home quickly." Hearing the presence beside me begin to trot off, I didn't refute and slid one arm under her knees, the other behind her back and lifted her.
As I stood, I adjusted her against my cloak and pulled it around her, when her eyes opened.
I froze mid-step.
Sansa stared deep into my eyes. I was too stunned to speak anything coherent in the moment; I hadn't expected her to wake up. Holding eye contact, for a moment, neither of us spoke, only silently looking.
Something was off...
Subconsciously, on my way here, I had already imagined what I'd see when I found my sister. A crying mess was my conclusion.
Whether she had found her way back or been lying here since she fell, I couldn't have known.
But I was certain she would be knee-deep in regret and overjoyed that someone had found her.
Yet what was in front of me was the opposite.
Where fear should have been, a deep layer of calm sat instead.
I had seen those eyes before, on my father, although rarely.
We continued to stare at each other for a moment. I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to interpret this in any way. Thankfully, before I could overthink, she had closed her eyes again.
Her small body relaxed completely, perhaps after knowing it was her brother holding her. She even began to nudge in closer for warmth.
I stood there for a heartbeat longer, staring down at her peaceful face.
"Gods…"
I shook my head, lightly muttering as I started the long walk back toward the distant lights of Winterfell.
"What was that look? You run off alone, collapse between the trees, and then look at me like you've already made peace with the Stranger himself…" I spoke absently, not expecting a response from my sister.
"Why would you do that? Father will want answers. Tch, and I'm the one who has to carry you back like a sack of grain…"
Despite my words, I held her carefully and carried her back to Winterfell. Yet the strange look in her eyes lingered in my mind the entire way back.