The treehouse community was up with the first light. Negan's unwanted presence fell heavy on their sweet dreams, but Sally was awake a long time before them. She only fell into light sleep after Negan woke up and promised to keep watch. They had talked right after they laid down and agreed it would be best to leave without delay.

Xavier was restless, not being able to fall asleep for a second. He knew once he would, the morning would've been there in a blink of an eye and Sally would've been gone in a matter of minutes. After they had come back from the cliff, he was handling *his people* who were having some objections to the latest turn of events. They wanted Negan gone but he was leaving either way and that helped him to persuade them to let him live one more day.

We owe it to Sally. Xavier kept on repeating.

There was only one condition the tree-house community insisted on. And Sally herself promised it was not an issue. So the two were free to go.

"Is everything ready?" Sally was giving her last goodbyes to Xavier in the conference room.

"You don't have to go, Sally." Xavier couldn't help himself and had to try once again to keep Sally by his side. But her unamused glare shut any further attempts of persuasion.

"I fucking can't believe you!" Nico was standing in he corner of the room, just by the door. He swore he wouldn't let her leave again once they got her back but still, he did nothing to stop her. Once Sally made up her mind there was nothing that could stand in her way. If they tied her down, she would literally break her bones or chop off her limb to break free. If they tried to play nice with her, she would deceive them and nimbly find her way out. He cursed under his breath and fled out of the room. Dottie followed after him.

Sally stood unmoved by Nico's tantrum, Dottie would understand eventually. Her attention was on Xavier. Only he could provide what she needed the most now.

"Everything is ready for you," Xavier nodded, defeated. "The car is waiting, you've got water and snacks on the backseat and fuel to get you far enough from here. Here are your clothes, weapons and... don't forget the one condition or they'll be shooting on sight."

"Got it," Sally murmured but her eyes were set on something else. Lucille was lying among their clothes ready on the massive table. It's been too long...

She grabbed the heap and few moments later she was causing a sensation walking down the rope bridges to pick up Negan.

She was whistling his favourite tune, the one he thrilled when others were in trouble. And she was looking more savagely than ever before, even though they saw her covered in walker blood and gut on more than one occasion.

Her dress was back on. She was shot in it, bled all over it but she wouldn't give it up. She resurrected it. It was washed from the blood the best it could be, still the stains were there. And just like her shot-wound, the hole in the dress was sewn together.

Her hair was pinned up, showing off the scars on her face and there, only inches away from them, on her shoulder, rested Lucille.

Sally did not stop whistling even as she materialized on the threshold to Negan's shelter. He propped himself up on the bed. Once the silhouette made a step forward, the light evened and there stood Sally in front of Negan all geared up, almost like the first day he met her. Only this time around he knew better not to mess with her. Insanity brought uncertainty and he could hardly compete with that.

Sally threw Negan's old clothing on the bed next to him and asked him the most anticipated question. "Ready to get back home?"

"Sure as hell am, ma'am," Negan smiled, wasting no time putting his clothes on. Once he was back on his feet, Sally took Lucille and handed her back to her rightful owner.

Negan weighed her in his hands for a second and softly run his fingers across the barbed wire. "Damn, how I missed you, baby. Let's get you busy." He caught Sally's devoted gaze. "We've got a war to win."

Sally called for help with Negan and Xavier kept his word. There were no attempts to stop or stall them. Citizens of treehouses were monitoring their every step like they were a ticking time bomb but the descent back to the ground was peaceful.

Once Negan sat safely in the passenger seat of the car Xavier got for them, Sally made her way to his side and bent down to him.

"I'm sorry, love." Sally held a dark cloth in her hand. "It's their only condition. They don't want to you to know the way."

"Go ahead," Negan shrugged. "Maybe we can have some fun with it later." A devil spark was the last thing that flashed in his eyes before he closed them and Sally blinded him, tying the cloth at the back of his head.

"We're definitely using it later," Sally whispered to him with the same dirt in her mind. Negan was smiling widely. Sally straightened up, ready to get to the driver's seat, when a sharp whistle echoed from the woods. Every single person on the patrol up in the trees got their gun ready.

"Negan, get down!" Sally took care of Negan immediately. She made sure he was covered as much as possible.

"We've got trespassers!" Xavier's eyes went wide, looking out for Sally.

Was it possible Rick had found them? In that case, the last minutes of Negan's life were running out. But if the intruders were The Saviors, the treehouse community was doomed.

"How many?" Sally shouted, taking cover behind the open doors of the car they were supposed to leave in. Had they left mere minutes earlier, this wouldn't have been their problem.

"Let's get the hell out of here, Sally. It's their business." Negan tried to talk her down.

"We don't know how many are there." Sally couldn't keep her cover. She shut Negan in the car and moved forward the rush happening underneath the tree-houses.

"Sally, don't!" Negan shouted after her, still blindfolded and this time even stifled.

"There's only one," Xavier told Sally, as she joined the crowd surrounding the thread. She had to make sure this was nobody from Rick's people or a Savior. She fought her way to the front of the crowd and froze in her tracks. Her feet almost gave way.

Her eyes glitched.

The man held captive in front of her was covered in sweat, dust and maybe even dried walker blood. To her the mask only highlighted his face lines. She recognized the exact shade of his brown hair laced with gold and his eyes could be mistaken for her own. Sally positively identified him at first try.

"Jonathan?" Her voice broke.

The man visibly relaxed at the hands of his captors.

"How did you... I tried... I tried to find you... I did... I couldn't..." Sally's eyes wandered back and forth as if she was reading over in her journal written on that day she was looking for the man. She recalled all those blurry events in the world at the brink of an apocalypse.

"I know you did." The stranger grounded Sally back in the present moment. "We did, too."

With these words they caught up. Everything was explained between the two. The self-blame forgiven.

Xavier kept following this secret conversation, switching his view from Sally to the man who threatened their security. Maybe he just got lost. Maybe he was looking for them on purpose. He was about to call Sally out to explain. Nico was quicker. He broke the peace between Sally and her new found... who?

"What the hell? Who is this?" Nico's interrogation was lost to any pleasantries. Xavier would tone down the indictment but the question was out there all the same.

"Who the hell is this, Sally?" Nico examined the prisoner closer.

Jonathan stood his ground. "I'm her brother. And who the hell are you?"

"Brother?" Xavier mouthed, retracing into the back of his mind, going over everything Sally ever said to him about this subject, about this relative of hers.

In the meantime, Sally launched forward and finally hugged her long lost brother.

☁︎

Author's Note:

Heyyyyy, my lovely Negans, how are you doing! 💜

It's been over 2 years since the last update of The CROWN. 🌳 Thank you so so much for all the reads, votes, comments and support in the meantime. 💝

I promised you the ending of this story. 🖋

It's all ready. Are you? 🌸

Love,

🌩