ACT TWO
(the road to remission)

     AIDEN RETURNING safely yesterday didn't change Veroníca's rage for Rick. Instead, seeing her brother alive just further reminded her that Rick had wanted to kill a human. That human being her brother.

Currently the Hayes siblings stood in Rory's cell. Though the boy shared it with Carl, the Grimes boy happened to be angry at the moment. So the sight of the Hayes siblings had been enough to make him leave the cell.

Normally Rory would've cared but he was too occupied watching his family pack his bag, listening intently to their conversation.

Aiden had been trying to convince Veroníca that the entire ordeal wasn't Rick's fault, it was Merle's.

The woman obviously wasn't accepting that, her anger for their leader never faltering. "I'm just saying.. It probably made sense, for the sake of the group."

"No." Veroníca paused her packing, looking over to her brother with a stern look. "No, it doesn't. What Rick did was messed up, Merle just went along with it... Rick's lucky you are safe—I'd do much more than just leave peacefully if you weren't."

At her subtle threat, Aiden widened his eyes. He then walked to the cell door, peeking around the corner to make sure no one had heard his sister's threat.

After he was sure they were in the clear, he retook his spot. "Veroníca, you can't say stuff like that. He's still in charge."

Veroníca glared at the man for just a moment before scoffing. She didn't bother arguing, instead, she took a seat next to Rory. Who currently sat on the bottom bunk. "Excited?"

"I guess? I like the woods..."

"Maybe you'll see some animals?"

"Maybe.. Carl's mad, he said he wants to stay here with you guys." Rory mentioned, seeming torn by his friend's unnecessary anger.

"Well, Carl will get over it when he gets to spend time with you." Veroníca reassured, a smile on her face as she kissed her son's cheek.

The duo then looked back up, watching as Aiden packed the last shirt. They weren't sure why Rick had Rory pack up his clothes, but no one felt like arguing.

So when Aiden zipped the bag up, he picked it up. Gesturing for the other two to follow him.

-

    The Hayes trio made their way into the courtyard. While Aiden and Rory went to talk to Beth, Veroníca opted to stand by the wall. Leaning her back against it as she nervously watched her son.

She wasn't nervous by his current action, she was nervous due to the fact that he was going to be practically alone in the woods.

Beth, Hershel, and Carl were also going, but Veroníca knew if it came down to it; none of them would kill someone for Rory.

Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but seeing as their enemies were currently heading over here. It wasn't a shock that she was a little nervous.

She had asked Rick if she could go with them, which he immediately denied. He claimed it was because they needed help shooting, but Veroníca wondered if it was because he was upset with her.

Her thoughts were put to an end as Glenn stood beside her, leaning on the wall as-well. Their shoulders touching. "He's gonna be okay."

"I know."

At her words, Glenn glanced over at her. He examined her expression for a second, looking away when he determined how she was feeling. "It's okay to be scared."

"I'm not—" Veroníca paused, sighing a bit as she shook her head. "I don't want to lose anyone else.. Not now, not ever."

"Hey. Hey, don't think like that." Glenn turned to face the woman, their shoulder's no longer touching as he inched closer. "We're gonna be okay."

Veroníca reluctantly nodded, she didn't fully believe the man but she also didn't want to argue. Not now at least.

Though she didn't reply to Glenn, he didn't seem to mind; seeing as he pressed a friendly kiss to her forehead. Making his way towards Rick immediately afterwards.

Her cheeks turned a light pink at the action. Her former frown turning upwards while she looked down at the ground, hoping no one would notice her now hot-cheeks.

-

Daryl and Veroníca had been left in charge of the smoke bombs. So as the gunfire sounded through the air, an occasional explosion taking place. The two shared a look.

While Veroníca seemed nervous, Daryl didn't show much emotion. Not that she expected different, after all, it was Daryl.

Another silence consumed the air around them, this one seeming tense.

Eventually, as the silence began to deafen their ears, they were semi-relieved to hear the sound of footsteps

They knew exactly who it was, Veroníca smiling to herself while they both tightened their grip on the smoke bombs.

They could both hear the governor, who had commanded the group to split up. His idiotic plan making the duo smirk.

The Governor's group entered the halls, turning corners as their leader quietly ordered his men around.

When the group turned the corner where Daryl and Veroníca had resided, the woman smiled before they both stepped back into their positions.

"Shh." The Governor commanded, hearing the duo's light footsteps. "They're here."

The man took a step closer, instantly regretting it as both Daryl and Veroníca had tossed something at him.

He took once glance at the smoke bomb, his eyes widening as the explosion immediately sounded.

The rest of the group screamed in fear at the bomb, in doing so Veroníca and Daryl subtly snuck away.

They had now resided in a random room, unknowing that Lori had given birth in this very room weeks prior.

Daryl and Veroníca continued listening, the woman laughing at the sound of their enemies screaming. "Get down! On the ground! On the ground!" When snarling added into the mix of screams, her laughing only grew.

Daryl couldn't help but subtly smile as well, listening intently to the Governor's yells. "Go! Go!" When the gunfire filled the air, the snarling ending, loud footsteps took its place.

It was then clear that the Governor's group had been fleeing the scene, causing Daryl and Veroníca to share a high-five.

Silence took back over, making Veroníca begin to whisper to her friend. "We did it!"

"Ain't in the clear yet." Daryl replied, noticing as his friend's smile faltered. "We did it." He finally caved, Veroníca smiling wide once more.

-

Rory nervously bit his nails, intently staring at the fire that burnt the top of the guard tower. Nobody had told him the plan, so he silently hoped that the guard tower was empty prior to the explosion.

His nail biting came to an abrupt halt as a man ran towards them, fear clear in his eyes. "Woa, woah, woah, woah, woah.. Don't shoot." The man pleaded while Hershel and Carl pointed their guns at him.

"Drop the weapon, son."

"Sure... Here, take it." He tried to hand the weapon to Carl.

When Rory could see that Carl wasn't going to take the gun, he went to grab it from the stranger.

Unfortunately, just as he had touched the gun, the stranger dropped to the ground. A bullet in between his eyes.

Rory dropped the weapon in shock, glancing between Carl and the now-dead stranger as his mouth stayed agape. "You—you killed him." Rory squeaked.

Carl rolled his eyes at this, barely glancing at his friend. "No, Rory. He was going to kill us."

"But—" Rory paused, feeling Hershel place a hand onto his shoulder.

The curly-haired boy took this as his cue to stay silent, which he did as he pried his eyes away from the dead stranger.

"Let's go, kids." Hershel mumbled, lightly tapping Rory's shoulder as if to urge him to move.

-

    Veroníca leaned her head on Maggie's shoulder, feeling genuinely exhausted due to the recent events. Though she seemed half-asleep, it was clear she had been listening to Rick as he spoke. "We did it. We drove them out."

"We should go after them."

"We should finish it." Daryl agreed with Michonne.

"It is finished. Didn't you see them hightail it out of here?" Maggie questioned.

Veroníca removed her head from her friend's shoulder before speaking. "No. It's not finished, not until the Governor is dead."

"Vee's right. We can't take the chance, he's not gonna stop." Glenn agreed, subtly checking his crush for any signs of wounds.

"They're right. We can't keep living like this."

"So we take the fight back to Woodbury? We barely made it back last time.." Maggie reminded, seeming fearful.

"I don't give a shit. He needs to die." Aiden finally added, crossing his arms while Daryl nodded at his words.

"Yeah.." Rick agreed as well, walking passed them as he spoke up again. "Let's check on the others."

The group agreed following behind Rick, now entering the cellblock.

-

Veroníca and Aiden stood side by side in her cell. She wasn't sure why but as soon as she entered the cellblock, Rory had rushed her into her cell.

He had done the same to Aiden, meaning the sibling duo currently stood across from them. While Aiden had his arms crossed over his chest, Veroníca just stared at the boy.

"So, is there a reason were here?" Aiden finally questioned seeing as Rory had been silent.

"Yes!—Yes.. Carl killed someone."

While Aiden began quietly laughing at this, Veroníca frowned. "He did? Who?"

"Some guy from the other place—he shot him.."

"I didn't know he had it in him."

Veroníca elbowed Aiden's side at his words, when the man groaned dramatically she spoke up. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Ro." she softly spoke reaching over to place a hand on her son's face.

Rory leaned into the hand for a moment before ultimately pulling away. He didn't need to say much else, Veroníca understood the toll this must've taken on the boy.

He hadn't seen death up close before, which she was previously thankful for, but not anymore.

Veroníca knew that he was a kid, but with everything going on, it was better to have a desensitized mindset. Which she knew Rory didn't have.

So she sighed a bit, pulling her son into her arms as she kissed the top of his head. "Remember that episode of Rugrats, that one with Chuckie's mom?"

Rory seemed confused but nodded none-the-less, making Veroníca continue. "Sometimes people unfortunately die before their time to——Everyone dies, but we should try not to kill people.."

Her son furrowed his eyebrows, seeming a little confused on how this was helping. Veroníca caught on quickly, deciding to change direction of the conversation. "Listen, Ro.. Everyone dies—i'll die, Tio Aiden will die, Glenn will die, Carl will die—but it's okay..

"How?"

"Because even when we die—we'll still be right beside you, you just won't be able to see us."

"She's right." Aiden nodded, ruffling Rory's hair. "I could die tomorrow, or in a year—either way i'm going to watch you and make sure you ain't putting up with anyone's shit. Got it?"

Rory playfully rolled his eyes at this, seeming to get a little bit of a better grip on death.

The kid didn't fully understand but Veroníca knew she didn't want to go on and on about death with him, not yet at least. Veroníca knew Rory was smart enough to know about death, she just had wished he hadn't seen it. That was something she never would've wished on him, or anyone for that matter.

So she released a sigh, placing a kiss on his cheek before speaking once more. "What he said.. Listen, i'm gonna go find out the whole plan—be right back."

Rory nodded, not being able to reply seeing as Aiden had playfully picked him up. He then threw him over his shoulder, spinning in a circle as he began tickling his side.

Aiden knew the topic of death was not a fun subject for anyone, so he tried his best to make it seem unimportant. In a world like this it was important to make death seem normal, because it was.

Rory then began giggling loudly at his Tio's actions, making Veroníca smile to herself as she made her way out of the cell.

-

Veroníca now stood beside Daryl, awkwardly awaiting for Rick to finish talking to Carl. While normally she would've spoke with her friend, she had seemed to lose some trust for everyone in the group due to the recent almost-sacrifice.

She had definitely lost the most trust for Rick and his right hand man. Seeing as she knew that he had definitely known about the plan.

The awkward silence came to an end as Rick came over to them, Glenn and Michonne joining as well.

"Alright, we're going. Michonne, Daryl, Glenn, Aiden are with me."

"Like hell they are."

"Hey." Daryl warned his friend, understanding where she was coming from but also knowing her words wouldn't change anything. In fact, they'd just make matters worse.

"No. There's no way Aiden's going, you'll probably sacrifice him the first chance you get." Veroníca harshly mocked, making Rick's head tilt a bit. "I'll go for him."

He clicked his tongue at this, glancing at Daryl who sent him a subtle look. "I can't have that. I need you here, incase the Governor comes."

Veroníca let out an angry laugh at this, glancing down at the ground as she thought of a proper way to spew profanities at the man.

Thankfully, Glenn knew the woman well enough to see what she was planning to do, making him butt in. "I'll stay too, help hold him off."

He didn't mind that the woman was very outspoken, but he did know that Rick was stressed. Last time the man was stressed he kind of killed his best-friend, so he didn't want to take any chances.

"So, it's just the four of us? Alright." Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder, making his way over to his bike.

"I appreciate you both staying."

Veroníca ignored Rick's words, making her way around him as she went inside. Ignoring the stares she felt on her back.

-

Veroníca sat on the bottom bunk of the cell, her foot tapping rapidly as she tried to calm herself down. Thankfully, Carol had seemed to be able to tell when the woman was upset.

So, when she had joined her Veroníca wasn't shocked. "What do you say, Ronnie.. Book Club? Like the old days?" Carol questioned.

Veroníca paused, thinking for a moment before letting a smile grace her lips. "How could I say no to you?"

Carol shrugged, making her way to sit beside her friend on the uncomfortable bed. As she did, Veroníca pulled a book off of the ground beside her bed.

She opened to her current page, leaning completely against the wall beside the bed as the duo slowly went into a comfortable silence.

Veroníca adored Carol. If she had to list the people in the group that she had trusted most it would have been Glenn, Carol, and Hershel.

Originally Rick would've been on that list. The man had always done right by her, even as far as listening when she had many sleepless nights crying over Aiden's 'death.'

That's probably why his actions hurt her so much. He had seen first-hand how his false death effected her, yet he still decided to let him die as a cruel sacrifice.

She tried not to think of it, yet it was difficult not to. After all, she had genuinely trusted her family's life in his hands and he completely broke that trust.

The only thing the event did was teach Veroníca not to trust those around her, no matter how much she liked them. They would eventually let her down.

Her thoughts were paused as words began slipping out of her mouth. "Carol, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Would you have done it—what Rick did?"

Carol pondered her questioned, placing her bookmark into her book as she had tried her best to correctly place her thoughts into words. "I can't answer honestly.. Of course, i'd do anything for the group—but I haven't been faced with that so—so I can't say what i'd do."

Veroníca hesitantly nodded, her nod stopping when Carol continued. "He had our best interests in mind—even if he didn't make a good decision."

Veroníca sighed, she could see where Carol was coming from but also didn't like the idea that the discussion of her brother's life had come down to a matter of minutes.

She didn't bother replying, knowing nothing she wanted to say would come out correctly. Instead, she was thankful when Rory had joined them in the cell.

"Hi, mama. Hi Ms. Carol." He greeted, gesturing for his mother to let him sit in her lap. Veroníca complied, pulling her son into her lap as she kissed the back of his head.

There was a brief comfortable silence, Rory reading along with his Ma before abruptly speaking up. "You guys should have a book club—Maybe, Carl and I could come and-and we could read comics?"

Veroníca smiled at the idea, glancing over to Carol who seemed to agree. "I think that's a good idea, Rory."

Rory smiled proudly at his suggestion, leaning his head backwards onto Veroníca's shoulder as another silence filled the air.

As the trio sat comfortably, they hadn't been aware of what was soon to come. Seeing as Rick was currently on his way back, a bus full of the Governor's people alongside him.

-