𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗬, 𝗿𝗵𝗲𝗲

❝𝗦𝗢 𝗪𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗢𝗖𝗘𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘, but we have their guns. Negan has Sasha. Daryl wants us to trust Dwight. Rick wants us to stay here in case things go wrong so there's another card to play, another safe place The Saviors think they control." Maggie lists. "But he doesn't know that Gregory's gone... that maybe he's telling them things that'll make them think something else."

Jesus nodded. "And it's all about to happen." The man sighed. Ivy crossed her arms as she looked down at Judith who was playing with her blocks on the ground.

"You're thinking of leading the Hilltop over there to fight." Enid assumed. Maggie nodded.

"I am. If Negan finds out they're planing something, they're gonna need help, even with those Scavengers on their side." Maggie explained.

The group nodded in agreement. "Well, you'd have to decide right now, and it's a very tough decision." Jesus smiled.

Maggie crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows. "Why are you smilin'?" Maggie asked, a small smile creeping onto her face.

"Cause I'm glad you're the one making it for us." Maggie scoffed at Jesus' words. Judith began to coo, and everyone turned their attention to her. Judith was way safer at Hilltop than Alexandria. Ivy smiled at the sight of the baby.

"How do I?" Maggie asked. Ivy's heart hurt as she looked at Maggie. The woman lost her whole family, then lost her husband and is now left with a baby and the stress of leading Hilltop.

"I don't know." Jesus sighed. "I just know you can." Judith cooed again and Maggie reached down to grab her, but Ivy stopped her.

"I'll take her." Ivy smiled. Maggie nodded as she watched the girl pick up Judith. Judith babbled in her baby language and giggled at Ivy. Maggie grinned at the sight of Ivy carrying a baby, and Glenn's pocket watch hanging from her jeans.

Jesus laughed slightly. "She's gonna be a great mom someday." Jesus stated.

"Yeah, she is." Enid smiled widely. Maggie sighed and pushed a strand of her hair back. Jesus and Enid turned their attention to Maggie. "What's wrong."

Maggie looked down at the ground. "That girl has lost so much..." Maggie trailed off. "Her sister, Aaliyah is a Savior, and if something happens to Aaliyah, I don't know if Ivy would be able to handle it." Tears brimmed Maggie's eyes as she looked out the window, seeing Ivy walking with Judith. "I just worry about her so much."

"We all do." Enid said. Maggie turned around and nodded vigorously. "I get so worried sometimes, too. I feel like she's gonna hurt herself... or someone."

Jesus shook his head no. "She wouldn't." Jesus stated. "She has Carl. She couldn't leave him." The group nodded their heads. "The way she talks about him... its— I've never seen someone love another person like that."

"Ivy's like that." Maggie smiled. "If you're good to her, she'll love you endlessly."

𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗡'𝗧 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗚 anymore. It was about surviving. About dealing with betrayal. About losing loved ones. It was about so many things— but, not living.

Surviving.

Preparing their guns, the people of Alexandria were ready to survive Negans wrath. To survive the horrors the man with the bat was about to force upon the group.

Betrayal.

The sound of The Scavengers hammers clicking, and the feeling of the barrels being pushed against the people of Alexandrians head. They were supposed to be working with them, not against them. But, betrayal.

The sound of Eugene's voice booming through Alexandria was enough to make anyone stop, and just... think. After all that Negan has done, Eugene went and worked with him. Worked against Alexandria. Worked against his friends.

Losing loved ones.

As the coffin opened, everyone was expecting Sasha to walk out and be fine. That's what Negan said. But, he was also a psychopath. Why not add liar to the list of things he is?

Surviving Negans wrath.

Carl and Rick weren't lucky. Of course, they were the ones to get trapped by the Saviors. They were the ones that were going to die along with Sasha.

Rick was slowly pushed around Alexandria by Jadis, gun against the back of his head. He looked around at all of the dead members of his community. In this moment, he wondered if this was all his fault. He wondered if he wasn't the leader, none of this would happen. Maybe, if he wasn't the leader, Glenn and Abraham would still be alive.

Maybe, if he wasn't the leader, maybe Carl wouldn't be kneeling before Negan.

Ricks heart dropped when he saw Carl sitting on his knees, head down, hat covering his face. Dozens of Saviors stood around him, armed to the teeth.

The mans eyes brimmed with tears due to his son being there, and his actively bleeding gunshot wound. Jadis pressed down on the wound, making Rick gasp in pain. Jadis was quick to push Rick near Carl.

Rick looked over to his right, his eyes landing on Negan who was walking closer. "Hello again." Negan greeted with a smirk. Negan grabbed Lucille from Dwight's hand and placed it on his shoulder.

Jadis pushed Rick besides Carl, forcing him onto his knees. "Down. Or again." Jadis ordered, referring to shooting him. Rick dropped to his knees, holding onto his wound.

"Well, shit, Rick." Negan spoke. "You just couldn't stick with us, huh? You had to go with these filthy garbage people?" Jadis shot Negan a look. "No offense."

"Deal is for 12, yes?" Jadis asked.

"10." Negan stated. "People are a resource."

"12." Jadis argued. Negan and Jadis stared each other down for a moment, pure silence filling the air. The only thing that was heard was gunfire in the distance. "10." Negan smirked, chuckling a bit as he looked to Rick.

Negan sighed. "Rick. This is just gonna make you sad." Negan began walking towards Carl. "Broken. You're gonna wish you were dead." Negan stopped besides Carl. "I like having fun. I do. But maybe you think that the guy that did what he did to your friends wasn't me, like that was some sort of a put-on, like I'm not the guy with the bat— I'm just the guy that makes your kid spaghetti!"

Rick shot Negan a look. If looks could kill, Negan would be dead. "Oh." Negan sighed. "Oh, shit. Maybe this is on me. Maybe this is all on me. I gotta make it right." Rick furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I guess I gotta start all over again."

"I gotta tell you, Rick, if I had a kid, I'd want him to be just like your kid," Negan started. Carl looked up at Negan with a pleading look. Carl didn't want to die, but it seemed inevitable at this point. "which makes this so much harder."

"You're not gonna win." Carl spoke.

"Carl." Negan said. "It is over. Why don't you point your one ball up the street there and take it all in?" Carls face turned angry extremely quick. "Your friends are dead, the widows dead, your girlfriend is dead. Which, by the way— totally sucks. Aaliyah is totally fucked up over it." Negan bent down besides Carl.

"I liked Ivy. She's cool." Negan whispered to the boy. He placed his hand on Carls shoulder, which made the boy flinch. "So, I'm so sorry for your loss, kid. But, it's not gonna matter in a moment—"

Negan was cut off by the sound of screaming. In the distance, the group saw a body fall from the roof of a building.

But, that was the building Michonne was on.

Rick felt his whole world collapsing. His head spun as he tried to regain himself. He looked down at the ground, shaking.

Carl felt tears brim his eye. He felt locked in a trance. He just lost the only mother figure he had in this life. He was only broken out of his thoughts when he heard Negan laugh.

"Ohh." Negan chuckled. "Oh." Negan bent down in front of Rick. "Wow. You just lost somebody important to you right now— like, just now. Jesus. That is timing."

"Well, Rick... you chose this." Negan sighed. "I truly don't know what more I could've done to warn you. And this isn't a warning..."

"This is punishment."

A tear fell from Ricks eye. He didn't know how to react to this situation.

"I'm gonna kill Carl now." Negan explained. "I'm gonna make it one nice, hard swing, try to do it in one because I like him." Ricks demeanor changed. He was no longer shaking. He was just staring into Negans eyes. "I just want you to put that in your brain and roll it around for a minute."

Carl had began to cry a bit. He couldn't die. He couldn't leave Ivy. They were going to get married, start a family together, and Negan wasn't going to take that away from them. Especially Ivy. All the girl wants is start a family with Carl and Carl only.

"I'm gonna kill Carl, and then Lucille here, she's gonna take your hands." Negan explained.

Rick saw red. "You can do it right in front of me. You can take my hands. I told you already— I'm gonna kill you." Rick spat, getting closer to Negans face. "All of you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow... but nothing is gonna change that— nothing. You're all already dead." After a few silent moments, Negan began laughing.

"Damn." Negan whispered. "Wow, Rick. Okay." Negan stood up and walked behind Carl. He took the boys hat off and tossed it on the ground.

"You said I could do it." Negan raised Lucille. Carl scrunched his face up trying to stop the tears from falling down his face.

As Negan went to hit Carl, a roar was heard. Yells were heard from all around. Negan and the Saviors began spreading out, running away from Shiva.

The people of The Kingdom came out from behind one of the houses, shooting at any Saviors in sight. King Ezekiel came forward. "End these Saviors and their accomplices!" The king yelled.

"Alexandria will not fall, not on this day!"

Rick and Carl looked around at the chaos unfolding before them. Rick reached to grab a free gun on the ground, but a Savior was quick to point a gun at Rick.

The Savior fell to the ground, and the Grimes men looked to where the bullet came from. The two men looked and saw members of Hilltop, including Ivy coming forward.

"Phalanx out, third group, now!" Maggie yelled. Enid and Ivy followed Maggie as the shot at any Saviors in their path.

"Move up! Now we got your backs!" Daryl yelled. Rick and Carl both grabbed guns and joined the fight.

As everyone ran around, Negan, Simon, and Dwight all hid behind a car. "A goddamn tiger!" Negan exclaimed. Negan looked over and saw Maggie with her two daughters. "Look at that! The widow and the orphan are alive, guns a-blazin'!"

Ivy shot at a Savior coming towards the group. His body fell to the ground.

As they passed by a house, Ivy saw a familiar figure in between two houses. Ivy stopped in her tracks, and Maggie quickly picked up on it. Maggie nodded at the girl and Ivy ran in between the houses.

Ivy raised her gun in front of Aaliyah. "Hi." Aaliyah breathed out. Ivy dropped her gun and punched her sister in the face, sending her to the ground. Aaliyah groaned as she held her bloodied nose. "What the hell?" Ivy picked up the gun and pointed it at her sister on the ground.

"Why are you doing this?" Aaliyah asked. Ivy furrowed her eyebrows. "Why are you with them? They've radicalized you! Turned you into someone your not!"

"You don't know who the hell I am!" Ivy yelled over the sounds of gunshots.

Aaliyah laughed. "Yeah, I do." The girl smirked. "I was your best friend and your sister. I held you whenever you would cry. I changed your diapers for fuck sakes! So, yeah! I do know who the hell you are! You're a Castillo—"

"I'm a Rhee." Ivy corrected. Aaliyah scoffed. "These people took me in when I lost our parents! You weren't there! I looked for you, and I looked, and I looked! But, it didn't matter in the end. But, now I have a family! I have a life! I have a baby sibling on the way and I have a boyfriend!"

"You don't even know—" Aaliyah was cut off by feeling a bullet enter her shoulder. Ivy lowered her gun. "Did you just try to fucking kill me?"Aaliyah slowly stood up.

Ivy shook her head no. "I shot what I aimed for." Ivy sighed before running out from in between the houses. Aaliyah groaned and yelled in pain as she watched her sister run away.

The girl shot at any passing Saviors. She made her way to the front of Alexandria where she saw a bunch of the Saviors trucks driving by and out the gate.

Ivy looked up at one of the remaining trucks and saw Daryl standing on top of it. Daryl looked down at the girl.

"You okay?" Ivy called up. Daryl nodded. "Thanks for not being dead!"

𝗜𝗩𝗬, 𝗝𝗘𝗦𝗨𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗, 𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗚𝗜𝗘 all walked through the forest together. They were doing a perimeter check, making sure no Saviors were still lingering. All their attentions were shifted to their right as they heard a walker.

But, it wasn't just any walker. It was Sasha.

Tears brimmed Ivy's eyes as she watched Jesus walk up to Sasha, re-killing her. Tears fell rapidly as Jesus lowered Sasha down on the ground.

Maggie took Ivy into a side hug and held her close. The two girls cried together, just holding each other. Maggie took the girl into an actual hug, holding her tight.

Why was life so hard?

𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘
why are my eyes sweating...