John Snow is A Girl

Chapter 1: Welcome home



Olivia Snow looked at the man in front of her who seems to scrawl at her appearance. The man seems taken aback by the poor condition of her body. 

"Did you try to assassinate the lady of Winterfell?" Ned Stark asked her with a harsh tone.

The girl crawled to the front of her cell and took a good look at her dear father. But this way, Ned can also have a good look at his daughter. Her body is covered in blue and bloody bruises that seem to have started festering because he can see the decaying skin from where he stood.

Her face is scrawnier than usual, her lips are blue and cracks from hunger and the cold. She seem to have suffered a great deal but the look in her eyes makes him unsure. Her pair of grey eyes are still as sharp and piercing as before but now with an added layer of frost. Its as if her heart has turned completely cold.

looking at her eyes, even as a war veteran he would groan in agony when his body is covered in such open and infected wounds but she has a pair of expressionless eyes. Taking her time to look at him over, not clear if she is checking for wounds of something else. 

Opening her mouth she spoke with a strong but dry voice not sounding weak in any way. Her large grey eyes holding his gaze not at all like she is on the verge of dying.

"Welcome home, did you win? It is hard for me to get news while 'reflecting' in the dungoen." Olivia looked at lord Stark with a pair of unfeeling eyes. They made him uncomfortable. 

He asked the same question again. He could swear he saw the already unfeeling pair of eyes turn even colder.

"She is with child. What evil creature would do such a thing?" Tilting her head she continued. "Is that what I am to you? A monster you are feeding that might or might not turn and bite you one day? Is that why you turn a blind eye to the endless abuse your wife gives me for simply having come from your loins?"

Ned is taken aback by the tone and words she is using to address him. Usually she would respond to him normally but she doesn't like being near him for longer than necessary. He had assumed she is scared of him. Now however, he realizes it might be because she blames him for her suffering. 

"Then explain what happened in my home the moment I turned around."

"Why should I? You already know what happened. You just don't want to believe it." She did not change her expression for a second while they talk.

"Just tell me in your own words what happened." His voice turned gentle with an undertone of helplessness.

"A few days after you left your wife sent me to feed the horses and clean the stables as usual." Ned subconsciously nodded in agreement showing that he knew how she is being treated like a servant. 

"But then, two men and your wife entered the stables while I was there cleaning by myself because she instructed the others not to help me closed all the exit. The two men had unusual excitement in their eyes. I instantly became alert." She moved from the light and went back to seating in the shadows.

Ned is surprised by the way she is conducting herself even after all that has happened. The most surprising thing is how well spoken she is. Just how many things have silently passed him while he was trying to keep his own secret?

"I thought she had ordered them to beat me up like she usually does when she is pregnant. But I was too naïve. One came to hold my arms while the other one started taking off his pants." She became silent.

"I looked to your wife for explanation but instead saw a madness in her eyes. She seemed a bit guilty but her resolve got her through. I saw a new kind of desperation in those hateful eyes. I was to be destroyed and she would watch it happen. I wonder...why?" As if she is not expecting any answer to her question she continued with her narration.

"Seeing that crying and struggling did not help me I dislocated my arm and managed to free myself from the man. With quick movements I took the knife I always keep with me to slice the hanging worm off the naked one but ended up just stabbing his stomach and turned to lodge the same bloody knife in the other one's eye killing him instantly." She finished talking but Ned stood there not knowing how to proceed.

"If this is true than we owe you an apology." He said after a long silence.

"Save it. I'm ten not stupid. I am well aware of my position in this cold place. Your apologies are too late anyways I have given up on you and your family from now on I am on my own." She said coolly.

"You can never be on your own, you have my blood the blood of the North." He said with what seems to be compassion.

"And I have several bone fractures, broken ribs and tens of infected wounds to show for it. So you can save the speech for your actual children who are dying to hear it. I am done waiting for you. From today on wards you and your merry family mean nothing to me." Ned left with heavy steps and tears on his face.

Ned is coming from the war with the Iron born only to find that such an out of control situation has happened in his home. His wife and Olivia had a big fight this time and they seem to have finally shed all pretense.

He had always seen the innocent and smiling child turn cold and gloomy. Her eyes that used to shine with kindness and warmth gradually turned indifferent no matter how unfair his wife treated her.

In the beginning Olivia used to try getting his attention unlike his other children. She didn't shy away from his gaze of cry when she patted her head. In fact she liked hos attention very much.

But after she turned five she stayed away from him and never made a sound. If you speak to her she would give you an answer but it is always cold and detached breaking his heart. Obviously something happened to her but he was afraid to find out what.

His wife loves her own children but her heart always turned cold as the Winterfell lake whenever she saw Olivia. It didn't help that Olivia looks like a Stark offspring much more than her own children.

He had let his wife dislike and discriminate against Olivia because it would provide perfect cover for her and protect her from any suspicions but this has gone too far. He had let it go too far. "Lyanna, I have failed you."

His mummers are ceased when he reached his destination Maester Luwin's quarters. After knocking he found the man sleeping like the dead. "Maester Luwin wake up!"

He felt is anger boil up in his throat. His family member is left like that and this man is sleeping here as if nothing happened.

"My lord." Luwin woke up and busied himself trying to help Lord stark get a descent place to seat.

"Why is my child rotting with wounds when you are still alive?" He roared at the old man.

Maester Luwin shrank his neck in obvious fright.

"When the lord is away, I am to follow the lady's orders my lord. Forgive this old man but I had requested several times to treat Olivia but the lady was obstinate in her decision to let her die."

"Is that what she said she wants?"

"I had informed her what would eventually happen if she is left in that state for too long but she still refused it is only logical for a scholar like me to assume she only wanted the girl to die." The old man is so scared he has no filter.

Ned ordered the old man to go and treat Olivia then have her moved into the castle. He went to his room and changed his clothes meanwhile ignoring his wife. She had gone too far this time.

He was fool to assume that she being a mother would eventually feel pity for a motherless child. Instead she had turned vicious and cruel. He can not face her at all. A person who can do what she did can not be considered a human.

"Ned, listen to me don't believe her lies. She is an evil spawn who seeks to divide us." Caitlyn said with hysteria in her eyes.

Ned just left her in her room and went to check on Olivia. When he entered the cell he found her refusing medicine. "Have me moved to my quarters and I will take care of myself. I don't need to be poisoned on top of all the pain I am enduring." He heard her cold voice as he entered her cell. The place is cold and wet. She is seated on the ground without any blanket.

No wonder she hates him. She is treated worse than an animal, he schooled his expression and pinned her with a hard stare.

"Why are you refusing treatment?" He asked but she scoffed at him. In the past she used to give him a flat expression and only spoke to him if he spoke to her. She would always leave his presence as if she is being chased. He had assumed she was just scared of him like the rest of the children but now he can see it. She hates him.

"How do I know it is treatment and not you finishing what your wife started?" She asked him coolly. The three guards and Maester Luwin stood frozen stiff hearing the way she spoke to the lord of Winterfell.

"Is that what you think of me?" He asked her gloomily.

"Yes. I honestly think that you wish me dead." She said with red eyes. Ned felt like his heart is pierced by needles.

"Why?" He asked her but she gave a dark chuckle.

"On my fifth birthday I heard that mothers would give sawing kit nd start teaching their children how to saw. I went to Caitlyn Tully and eagerly called her mother asking for a presence. She asked her guard to open my back and she whipped me until I passed out. I know you must have know about it but you did nothing."

"The man was offended and one of my bones was shattered. I walked funny for a week before Maester Luwin cut me open to pull out the pus and cut out the infected flesh. Before taking out the small bone fragments so that I can heal. It was excruciating."

"When I was seven she made me shovel shit in the stables for the entire night putting one of her Southerner knights to ensure I don't rest. You know this too. I got a terrible fever afterwards and no one brought me medicine until I healed on my own."

"My eight birthday I ran away from home but you sent your knights to find me. When you went hunting that week she fed me molten bread until I got so sick I couldn't eat anything for a week but no one gave me medication or checked up on me. So yes, you all want me dead!" She shouted in anger.

Ned just instructed the men to hold her until she is treated thoroughly. Seeing her struggle being fruitless she allowed them to treat her. Ned left to catch up on work.

Olivia's body has been harmed beaten and malnourished since she was young but there is finally hope. After the last beating she woke her last life's memories on the verge of death.

She was an orphan in her past life and lived in a world where the strong ruled and where might is always right. Her life was not amazing but she was a small time alchemist learning under a genius doctor.

This place is her new type of hell it seems but she will not be outdone by an old hag and an absentee father. "I don't need them. But I will make them see how much they need me."

As a low level student in her master's army of students she was forced to partake in several projects that were considered low level chores for the proteges.

She was a hard worker her entire adult life but she just wasn't talented or lucky enough to stand out. Failing to breakthrough to nascent soul realm for a very long time she joined an expedition that led to her death.

Just as she is still reminiscing about her old life, her new life interrupted. Robert peaked from the door. Olivia has been moved to the medical room and her body is exposed. All the bruises and wounds are laid bare for the boy to see.

He became scared seeing her condition that he is stunned in place for several seconds before gaining courage to enter the room fully. Who knows what the young Stark is thinking.

Robert Stark saw a frail body covered in wounds and rotted flesh on the table but wanted to enter to try and comfort his sister. But when he saw Maester Luwin cut into skin, blood and pus coming out he couldn't handle the gruesome scene and puked on the side.

No one paid him any attention because the guards are also stunned speechless by the girls unchanging eyes as she is cut open and cleaned of blood and infections. Even as grown ups they would be crying at this point.

"I..is it not painful sister?" Robert raised his doubts.

"It is excruciating. Young Stark." Olivia answered honestly baffling the boy.

"Then why aren't you crying?" He asked her.

"Because crying is useless to me now. It will not reduce the pain nor will it make it go away." She answered again.

"How are you able to endure it without crying." Ten year old heir apparent to Winterfell asked curiously.

"With sheer will." She said. Distracting herself from the pain.

"Can it help here too? Do I have sheer will?" He wondered. Olivia looked at him up and down and sneered.

"You think too beautifully. How would you train your will? Suffering from mommy's excessive pampering? Or is it father's negligence?"

"I definitely have sheer will you are just jealous." Robert said seemingly wanting to cry. Olivia mocked.

"Yeah, Would you cry if I say no?" She amusedly asked. Robert wiped a sigle tear that had come out and shook his head.

"At least you know how to lie." She mocked.

"I am not lying!" He said shouting.

"Sure. What the young lord of Winterfell says will become the truth. I guess you have a golden tongue to match your golden spoon. Mi lord." She said.

"Young Olivia it will be best you don't move around or eat heavy food. I will see you every day until you make a full recovery. Please move her to the castle." Maester Luwin instructed the guards but Olivia scoffed.

"Piss on that. I am going back to the shabby servants quarters I have always lived in." She said just in time for Ned Stark to enter.

"You will live close to me until I am sure of your full recovery." He said with finality in his voice.

"Didn't you just come from war?" She asked him. Seeing her looking at him with less hostility than before he assumed it was because she was bantering with Robert a while ago.

"Yes. I have come back after winning the war." He answered honestly

"That means you have a small mountain of work to catch up on. Are you sure you have time to bother with little old me?" She raised an eyebrow.

...


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