Jon Snow & Sansa Stark - Game of Thrones Fanfiction

A Thousand Years

TW: Suicide attempt (by sunlight, because this is a vampire au)

There was something magical about sunrises. Maybe it was because not that many people would ever witness one. Maybe it was because they were the promise of a new beginning, of a new day filled with new chances and possibilities. Maybe it was the fact that for almost a thousand years Sansa had never seen one.

But today she would. She would stay here on the beach to watch the sun climb higher and higher. She would watch the bright colours taking over the night sky. She would wait for the burning fire to consume her and to end the way too long and way too miserable life she had known.

And this time she would not crawl back at the last possible minute, like she had done so many times before, hoping against better judgement that maybe there was still something worth living for after what Ramsay Bolton had done to her.

She wasn't made for this life. She wasn't made to live in darkness and to shy away from the light. She wasn't made to lure innocent humans into her trap so she could fill her unending appetite for blood.

She was s summer child. She loved playing in the sun with her siblings. She loved creating flower crowns. She loved swimming in the cold lake near their house.

And even though it was almost a thousand years ago since she had seen the sun and her siblings she still missed them every day.

"Damn..."

Sansa looked up when someone appeared next to her.

The boy was out of breath and his skin covered in sweat and the black curls glued to his forehead showed that he was probably running for quite some time already. "Usually I have the beach for myself at this time of the day." He smiled however and he took a few deep breaths while he followed her glance to the horizon in the far distance. "Are you here to see the sun rise?" Without an invitation he sat down next to her.

Sansa saw the vein in his neck beating and the smell of his blood made her throat dry.

She had tried everything she could to prevent herself from harming anyone. She had stolen bags from the blood bank, even though she knew there were patients who needed the blood a lot more than her. And before that she had tried to live on animal blood, but she had hardly been able to keep it down.

So eventually she had always lost control and had killed more people that she could bear.

It was only because of her own cowardice that she had allowed herself to live this long.

"Mostly I'm the quiet one." The boy leaned back on his elbows. He didn't seem to care about the sand and his sweat mingling. "But I get it, sometimes we just don't wanna talk."

"I'm a monster." Sansa blurted the words out. She didn't really know why. Maybe it was her version of a confession on a death bed. Not that she had the illusion she would be welcomed in Heaven, if it even existed. "I've lived almost a thousand years and killed more people than I can count." At least someone would know she had eventually done the right thing. Although she doubted if he would believe her. "I came here to burn in the sun. I came here to die."

The boy kept silent. He pulled his knees up and pressed them to his chest. A visible shiver went through him when he wrapped his arms around his legs.

"You think I'm just making something up. You think I'm crazy and belong in an asylum. But it's true." Sansa felt tears stinging in her eyes, but fought them. She was not gonna die crying. She was gonna die with her back straight and her chin up. "I should have done it right away when I discovered what I became, what Ramsay made me." She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know why I've lived for so much longer."

"You must've been lonely." The boy's voice trembled.

"People like me don't have friends." Sansa let out a deep sigh. "You can't be friends with people when you can never tell them who you are." She paused for a moment. "And as soon as you tell them the truth they run away screaming."

"I don't." The stranger turned his head towards her. His eyes were beautiful, but it was the deep frown on his forehead that caught her attention.

A smile spread across Sansa's face. "No, you don't." She swallowed. "But you should."

"Are you gonna kill me?" The boy kept his glance locked with hers. "Will I be your very last victim?"

Sansa thought about that question for a moment. "I think I can control myself until I'll die."

"No one would miss me if you would." His voice was nothing but a weak whisper and Sansa furrowed her eyebrows and cocked her head.

"No one? You don't have a nice and pretty girl waiting for you in your bed? Or a father and mother worried about your early morning runs?"

He shook his head. "My mother died when giving birth to me. My father sent me away to boarding school because I looked too much like her."

"And what about the pretty girl?"

The boy shrugged. "Like I said. I'm not really a talker. It's not a great way to start something."

Sansa swallowed. "You're talking to me now."

"Yeah, I don't really know what's happening there." The boy smiled back at her and Sansa stretched out her hand to touch his warm cheek. "Your hand is ice cold." He grabbed her wrist, but instead of pushing her hand away he ran it down his own neck. "I like it."

"You're the first one who ever said that."

"In a thousand years?" He raised his eyebrows and weakened his grip on her wrist.

Quickly Sansa pulled her hand back. "Like you said, it was quite lonely."

"Why do you wanna die?" He licked his lips and Sansa stared at his tongue as if it moved in slow motion.

"Because I'm a monster." She closed her eyes for a brief moment and took a few deep breaths.

The stranger shook his head. "I don't think you are."

"Then you're a fool." Sansa shove away from him, his body heat all of a sudden overwhelming her. "I could kill you."

He chuckled. "So can everyone else on earth."

"I need to drink blood to live." She paused. "I tried animal blood, but that didn't work. And I can't keep on using blood bags meant for the ill."

"I'm sure there are other solutions." He stared at the sea and the light that appeared in the far distance. "Does it have to be tonight?"

"What?" Sansa shook her head.

"Do you have to die tonight?"

She thought about it for a moment and then she slowly shook her head once more.

"Come with me." The stranger stood up and held out his hand. "Let me be your first friend and let me help you."

Sansa stared at his outstretched hand and then she reluctantly placed hers in it while pushing herself up. "I don't even know who you are..." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "And I have to be inside before the sun comes up."

"I'm Jon." He didn't let go of her hand. "Jon Snow." He pointed at a roof, hidden behind the dune. "I live right there." He started walking with her hand firmly in his.

Sansa could have freed herself easily, but she didn't do so. "Why are you doing this?"

"I don't know." Jon admitted. "Just like you don't know why you've lived a thousand years even though you didn't want to."

Sansa smiled and Jon smiled back at her. "If I've lived a thousand years just so I could meet you here..." She paused. "It was worth it."

"Then so is saving your life right now."