"i still love you, i promise. nothing happened in the way i wanted." - gracie abrams

the hours drag on as i lay in the bed, charlie in and out of sleep the whole day. tara had come in and told me daryl left in the night with henry and connie to go find lydia. she also told me michonne had changed her mind about the fair, alexandria would be a part of it. i spend the afternoon grabbing our things and packing up our bags, as we are to leave hilltop after the fair to return home to alexandria. 

"mom, do we have to go?" charlie asks, groggily. "alexandria is our home." i answer without turning to face her. "hilltop is too." she answers, not seeking an argument just a simple comment. "go back to sleep, charlie." i answer softly. 

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the warmth of the sun beats down on me as i lead the first wave of our people to the kingdom. tara decided it would be best to send a scout out with each group in case we ran into the masked freaks again. charlie sits snug in the makeshift trailer, alongside some other kids and families. magna and tara walk beside me, yumiko riding in the trailer with the people, all our eyes shifting to the trees beside us now and then. up the path, i notice a tree has fallen in the road. "we got to get the road cleared before alden's convoy meets up with us." i explain, looking at the tree. "i'll set up a perimeter." yumiko says, hopping out of the trailer.

the horses whine as we start picking up fallen logs and moving them off the road. branches thud and crack so loud i almost miss a noise coming from the trees behind me. i turn quickly and see a group of the dead walking through the trees, coming toward us. "walkers!" i shout, pulling out my knives. "watch their hands!" tara shouts as the rest of them ready up. the dead growl and moan as they stumble out of the leaves. people from the trailer shout for their children, and the children cry. i watch charlie jump out of the trailer, sword in her hands, piercing it through the dead making their way toward the wagon.

more and more walkers pile out of the trees. "there's too many! we might have to leave the wagon!" magna shouts, stabbing her way through the bodies. "no! we need this! the kingdom needs this!" tara replies. suddenly the sound of hoofbeats echo down the road. a group of people on horses arrive, helping take out the rest of the small horde. "who the hell are you guys?" i ask, knocking a walker down as one man does the same. 

"we're the highwaymen. we're your escorts to the fair." one man with a cowboy hat answers, knocking a walker's head right off its shoulders. the number of the dead start to dwindle as we get farther down the road. "ezekiel sent you?" i ask the man, ollie, as he rides on his horse beside me. "i'm holding up our end of the deal, the king is holding up his." ollie answers, his thick southern accent sounding familiar and comforting. "thank you, for coming." i say and he nods.

"are we lost?" charlie whines, dragging her feet along. "no, we aren't lost." i answer as we approach the hidden entrance to the kingdom, the one i stood before with the same confusion, years ago. knights on horses ride out from the hanging ivy, stopping before us. "hilltop. welcome to the fair." one younger knight announces. the ivy is pushed aside and we walk through the gates into the community. the kingdom glows with life. greenery and plants are everywhere you turn, colorful decorations hang everywhere, and people are scattered around mingling with one another. 

"hey, dude!" jerry exclaims, throwing his arms around me as soon as i walk in. his smile grows from ear to ear as he pulls away and looks down at charlie next to me. carl's hat resting on her head gives her away to everyone. "you don't remember me do you, charlie?" he asks and she shakes her head 'no'. "you remember jerry. he lives here with the king and carol. you used to be attached at the hip, the two of you." i explain, a little sad charlie has forgotten many of our close friends--family. 

she smiles and jerry gives her a high five. charlie and i follow the rest of our group to the inventory. i hand charlie boxes of apples and lettuce which she sets inside the building. carol and ezekiel walk up behind me and i flinch as carol startles me from behind. "hi!" she chirps, hugging me. "hey." i answer, then hugging ezekiel. ezekiel introduces himself to charlie and takes her on a tour of the kingdom. "did you guys make it here alright?" carol asks, helping unload. "yeah, a bit of a fight with some of the dead but your cowboys arrived at the right time." i answer and she chuckles. "i don't even know where ezekiel found them. i came back and here they were." she replies and all i can think of is how easily ezekiel let them into our lives.

"where's henry?" carol asks looking around. "he's not here yet?" i ask setting down my box and scanning the crowds. "no." carol answers and i watch her shoulders tense. "what about daryl? we were meeting them here." i ask, my chest filling with the same tension. "where exactly are they?" carol asks sternly. "i don't know." i answer with a worried sigh. 

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"i stand before you today at the start of a new tomorrow. a tomorrow made possible by the sacrifices of many over the years. among them was a man whose mission was to build community and strengthen our bonds. a man who had to destroy the very thing that connected us in order to save us. it took us far too long to fulfill the promise of what rick grimes and his son carl envisioned." the king announces to the hundreds of people gathered around the balcony of the old town hall building. charlie smiles as she hears her father's name. "this same promise paul rovia, better known to most as 'jesus' believed in when he brought us all together those many years ago. we've always been bound to each other." the king grins.

i look down at charlie as she stares back up at the king, squinting in the sunlight. "we fought our way back to each other. we have grown. the crossing of the river may be gone, but we have rebuilt a bridge, nonetheless." ezekiel adds and scattered clapping echos. "today is proof that we can unite, not against the common enemy, but for the common good. so eat, drink, trade, and be merry...cause we got a lot of lost time to make up for." ezekiel says and jerry steps up to a cage holding a few dozen doves. 

"let the first annual inter-community reunification fair begin!" jerry announces excitedly. "jerry, we changed that." ezekiel quietly hushes down to him. "for reals? f.a.i.r fair?" jerry adds and some people in the crowd chuckle. "forget it. let the fair of new beginning begin!" ezekiel shouts and jerry releases the birds. they fly into the blue sky, flapping their wings as they mix in with the white clouds above. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.