Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Image comics and Robert Kirkman, and RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.

A/N: The characters from the walking dead are from the original comic universe so they will be different from how they are in the show. And if you aren't caught up with the latest issue this will contain spoilers.

Dead moans filled the air as thousands upon thousands of the undead filled in the Alexandria Safe-Zone. The walls meant nothing. The trenches outside the walls meant nothing. The gate that had once kept the people safe had fallen under the sheer number of the dead being pushed up against it. The Whisper war was over, but in the aftermath chaos thrived.

Rick Grimes, a man who had lived through so much never felt as helpless in the apocalypse as he did right now. He had recovered after the Governor severed his right hand. He carried the pain of losing Lori and Baby Judith, but was able to move on after time. Even after the injury done to his leg, and watching countless friends die were all obstacles he was able to overcome. But now…

He just didn't know.

It always seems like this at first, he reasoned with himself. But we find a way. We always do.

The former small town cop was currently taking refuge in one of the houses of Alexandria to escape from the ocean of walkers that had flooded into the communities walls. Christ, there weren't nearly this many when the last horde got in two years ago. The memory of himself and his friends being forced to take shelter during the event he had dubbed, No Way Out, surfaced to the forefront of his mind. Hard to believe that was nearly two years ago.

Two years ago.

Hard to believe it had been that long since then. Even harder to believe it had been four years total since the whole fall of civilization and the dead began feasting on the flesh of the living. Just how long ago had it been where those crazed Whisperers had started wearing walker skins as a means to survive?

Rick didn't hold the answer to that. He just wished that Dwight and the rest of the militia had been able to eliminate Beta before he unleashed the mega herd on his community.

At least Dwight was out there right now beyond the walls trying to lure as many walkers away to get them outside of the walls. The former Savior lieutenant had really stepped up and became one of Rick's most trusted allies after his betrayal to his former leader two years ago. Rick just wished his body allowed him to be out there helping him, or Andrea and Michonne, or Jesus, or anyone.

But no. because of his leg and missing appendage he wasn't as cut out for the heat of battle as he once was. Instead he found himself hiding away in an empty house with the one person he never thought he would.

"Fuck. Those blue-balled motherfuckers don't stop coming. Just like Clinton all over Monica's titties." Negan observed, peeking out the window into the walker infested street.

Yes. Negan. The former leader of the Saviors was who he was hunkered down with. Honestly if Rick were to go back in time and tell himself two years ago that he was in a room with Negan with a loaded gun, but hadn't fired yet, he would have gotten hit in the face by his past self.

The war between the three united communities and Negan's Saviors had culminated at The Battle of Hilltop, where Rick had gotten the jump on Negan and defeated him. Of course Negan had broken his one leg during that battle and forced him to walk with a cane, but Rick had kept him alive. He wanted to show the man just how wrong he had been in his philosophy of the strong "helping" the weak. So he kept him alive, turned a basement in Alexandria into a prison cell and kept Negan locked up for two years straight.

Andrea had objected to the idea, but accepted it all the same. Carl, had tried killing him at one point, but backed down at his father's command. Maggie was the one that concerned him the most. She wanted him dead for sure, but Rick was able to convince her with the notion that Glenn would want him to live and die in a prison where he belonged.

He had intended Negan to stay locked up for the rest of his days, but that evidently proved false.

When Rick told him of the problem between their communities and the Whisperers, Negan had gotten out, snuck into their camp and beheaded their leader, Alpha, and presented it to Rick and Andrea both.

Something had changed in Negan since he was imprisoned. He looked at Rick with more respect almost as if to say "you beat me, you got balls for that." He could have just walked off, he could have joined with the Whisperers, but instead he helped Rick. Not even an hour ago when the gate had fallen, Negan was the only person who came back to help him run to safety.

Rick even surprised himself when he blew out the brains of a walker that was about to bite Negan from behind.

"Take a look out there," Negan told him. "On a scale of 'just the tip' to 'cunt buster' just how royally fucked do you think we are?" Rick gripped his cane as he stood up and cautiously peeked out the window.

There were still hundreds of them inside the walls, maybe even a thousand altogether. But it was not as large as it had been before. "It's thinning out." Rick dryly stated. "Dwight and the others must be doing a good job of drawing them away outside."

Scoffing at the mention of Dwight, Negan said, "You really think Two-Face is going to be able to handle this fuck load? The man can't even come to accept that his wife was cheating on him."

"With you, you mean?" Rick sardonically asked.

Negan smirked. "Sherry had a meat log on the side loooooong before I came into the picture."

An image of Lori and Shane came to Rick's mind. "It might be clear enough for you to make a break for the armory." Rick changed the subject.

"Are you fucking for real right now?" Negan questioned. "I only have a kitchen knife remember?" Negan waved the knife around for further emphasis. "It's not like I have-, a gun or something. How about yours?"

"Not a chance." Rick firmly told him. "I told you before, that you will be allowed to help, but without a gun." He knew Negan was not actually asking for a gun. He was asking for the item that had ended Glenn's life. Lucille.

To bad for him the bat broke.

From what Dwight had told him after the initial battle against the Whisperers, Negan had been using Lucille to deal a beating to Beta, only to hit him so hard that the wood shattered and splintered. He actually dug a grave for it afterwards.

"So you expect me to go into the armory, pick up a bunch of sweet fucking guns, and not actually use one of them?!" Negan demanded. "That is some pretty fucked logic right there."

"Flawed or not, I don't trust you enough to handle one."

Negan had the gall to look offended. "Really? Even after I saved your crippled ass an hour ago? Even after I killed someone who was planning on betraying you? Even after I brought you that bitches head back after what she did to your people? You still don't fucking trust me?"

Rick's fixed him with a deadpan expression. "You're the reason my leg is the way it is."

"Annnnnnd, I saved you because of it," Negan countered. "That has to make up for it right?" Rick didn't respond. "Tch. Is this how you converse with all of your friends?"

"We are not friends." Rick strictly told him. "Your bar for friendship is too low. I've made it clear where you fall into the new society."

Negan didn't seem all that phased by his rejection. "Keep telling yourself that Ricky Dicky Grimes. It's like I told you before. You and I are a lot alike."

Rick wouldn't dignify that with a response.

BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!

BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!

KPOW!KPOW!KPOW!

The sound of rapid automatic fire was enough to drown out the moans and groans of the decaying corpses outside of the house. Being attracted to sound, many of the walkers began to herd themselves in the direction of the loud noise, much to Rick's pleasure.

Negan let out a whistle. "Sounds like Dwighty boy and the dick brigade are making quite a stand."

Rick nodded in agreement. "That is the plan."

"Actually letting me in on your plan?" Negan asked. "I knew you'd warm up to me eventually."

"Fuck you." Rick said.

"Like I ain't a funny motherfucker."

"You're not," Rick told him. "Don't misunderstand me Negan, me telling you what the plan is doesn't change anything between us."

"Only that you trust me with that information," Negan remarked, much to his annoyance. "Kind of fucking hypocritical considering you said you didn't trust me with a gun."

BLAM!BLAM!

KPOW!KPOW!KPOW!

"Fuck. Things must be getting pretty fucking heated out there." More walkers had moved out of the windows view and allowing the two men a look at the main street of Alexandria. Rick saw Paula's mangled body lying sprawled out in the middle of the street. Not a single piece of flesh remained on her body which gave her the appearance of having being stripped by piranhas.

"Think you can make it to the armory now?" Rick asked.

"Hmm. I don't know, will you let me use one if I could? It would be a lot fucking easier than stabbing them, or crushing them under the might of my freight train cock." Negan said in that sarcastic tone he had taken when he made his first introduction to Rick. "And you know it would too."

Rick still remained hesitant. "Come on!" Negan complained. "If I wanted you dead I would have left you to get eaten. Or I could just stab you right here and now. I doubt you could stop me grandpa." Negan mocked Rick's appearance.

"I'm thirty-eight," Rick retorted.

"And you look like you could end up on the cover for fucking Old Man Monthly."

"Can you make it to the armory or not?" Rick repeated his question.

"Fuck if I know," Negan dryly answered. "As long as I don't get swarmed, I'm as golden as a shower." Rick nodded and walked over to the door.

"There's two right outside this door," Rick told him. "The rest have more or less moved all the way to the back wall, or are going near those gunshots. Get to the armory, and we might be able to help out."

Shrugging, Negan stood up and gripped his kitchen knife. "You're the boss." Whether he meant that to be sarcastic or not, Rick was unsure.

"Same as before," Rick said. "I'll cover you from here as you make a break for it. Grab what you can, and come right back here."

"Don't get your panties in a twist Richie," Negan said. "If there is one thing I excel at, besides beating the fucking shit out of the undead is pleasuring people." Yeah, right. Rick opened the door.

"Go!" He shouted and Negan ran out. Rick watched as the larger man thrust his knife through the skull of one walker, while simultaneously kicking the others legs out from underneath it. Not even bothering to stab the fallen walker, Negan opted for the easier option of just stomping its face in.

"Curbed fucker!" Negan yelled in excitement as he cut down a few more walkers on his way to the armory across the street.

"I better not regret this," Rick said to himself as he shot down a walker that was lurking up behind Negan.

Hearing his shot fired, Negan had the nerve to give Rick a thumbs up before disappearing inside of the armory. Now Rick just had to wait until Negan reemerged. Putting his blind faith in a man such as Negan was not an idea Rick liked to entertain. But still, perhaps Negan had changed during his imprisonment.

No.

No, what was he thinking. Negan was still the same lethargic, profound, brute he had been before. He was just helping out to get in Rick's good books. And even if Negan did help out now, it didn't change what he had done in the past. Just how many people would still be alive if Negan wasn't a problem?

BWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The sound of a large horn being blown was heard. Rick tore his gaze away from the armory to try and see if he could spot the horn blower. No, of course he couldn't it was being blown from outside. But he recognized the horn well enough. It was the type Eugene had invented to herd large groups of walkers. And one of the people to have one was-, "Andrea."

The idea that his girlfriend had completed her task of driving a portion of the herd into the ocean filled Rick with a sense of hope he thought lost. They always did find a way.

The horn blew again, but this time it was different.

BWHAAAAA! BWHAAAAAA! BWHAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Three blasts straight in a row. Rick knew what that meant. And the hope he had been feeling one moment was replaced by a cold constricting fear that creeped its way up his spine to send shivers all over his body.

Somebody was hurt, or dying.

BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!

The sound of gunfire returned once more, but instead of hearing the ceased moaning of walkers, he heard the yells and cries of the living. There was a battle going on outside, and it wasn't just against the walkers.

Rick's first thoughts went to the Whisperers, but he knew that wasn't the case. Dwight and Michonne both confirmed that nearly all of those maniacs had been put down, with the exception of Beta. The only other option he could think of were, the Saviors.

"Fuck!" Rick cursed at the realization. It made sense. They had withheld sending troops to battle the Whisperers for a reason: to attack after the war was over. But who was leading them? Dwight had taken over after Negan's downfall, but had given it up when he felt he wasn't cut out for it. So who?

"Gruugh!" A walker grumbled as it made its way over to Rick who stood in the threshold of the open door. Feeling a surge of adrenalin take its hold on him, Rick struck the walker on the side of its head with his pistol. The corpse fell the ground, and Rick brought his cane down so hard it went right through the eye socket with a sickening s-plop!

He failed to notice a second walker blindside him, until he felt the cold touch of its rotting flesh brush the back of his neck. His left hand, and metal claw right hand grappled with the walker, as he tried to push it away from himself.

Rick lost the grip on his cane and the both of them fell to the ground with the walker on top of him. Rick used his metal claw to poke the things eye out, but not enough to get to the brain. The walker snarled as it snapped its exposed and rotting teeth mere inches from his face.

KAKRAK!

The butt of a rifle slammed itself onto the walkers head hard enough to knock it off of Rick. Negan brought the rifle down again on the walker hard enough to crack the skull open. "Fuck! You're going soft Rick Grimes."

Negan had a multitude of guns slung over his shoulders and a handful of sidearm's strapped to his belt. He reached down and offered a hand to Rick, which he took at damage to his pride. "Is this going to be like a thing now?" Negan asked. "Me saving your ass? Because I have a lot of fucked things to make square with you don't I?"

"We have to get beyond the walls," Rick told him once he was back on his feet.

"Have you gone fucking nuts?!" Negan asked. "Douche bag Dwight has things covered outside. We have to worry about ourselves."

"Andrea is out there," Rick insisted further.

Negan pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look a guy like me knows the joy of getting laid, but getting your ass killed and your cock eaten is going a bit too far."

"They're under attack!" Rick argued further. "By your former people."

Negan looked confused. "What the fuck do my Saviors have to do with this shit?!"

"They're not your Saviors anymore," Rick told him. "Someone else is leading them!"

"Grrrruuuuuuuggghhhhhhh!" A large group of walkers had made their way over to where Rick and Negan were.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuckity fuck!" Negan yelled as he pulled Rick inside of the house and slammed the door shut.

Boom!

The mass of undead crashed into the door with enough force to knock a man like Negan down. "Fucking fuckers!" Negan shoved himself against the door as it was close to being knocked off of its hinge's.

A line of perspiration formed on Negan's brow as he attempted to hold the door closed. "Hey!" Negan shouted at Rick. "Just because you're a fucking cripple doesn't mean you're useless! Get your fucking ass over here and help godfuckingdamnit!"

Limping his way over, Rick put all of his weight into his shoulder as he helped push back against the tide of walkers on the other side of the door. He had to shift weight to his left leg, as his right would only flare up in pain if he put too much pressure on it.

"I-it's not going to-," Rick said as he felt the door being pushed back more on their side as the undead began to stick their rotting limbs in to try and grab at the both of them.

"I don't fucking care! Just fucking-!"

KRICK!

The door was knocked right off the hinges and a horde of the undead filed into the house.

Negan acted fast and un-slung a machine gun from over his shoulder and began firing off into the mass of advancing corpses. "Fuck you all right up your asses and right out your mouths!" He yelled in a mad rage.

Rick fired off his own shots as well, taking down half a dozen of them. But they still kept pouring in. "No." Rick said as the both of them were backed into a literal corner. "This isn't… this can't be…"

He became increasingly less aware of whatever profanity Negan was shouting next to him, as cold rotting hands reached towards the both of them, pulling them ever so closer to gnarled teeth and milky white eyes.

As white as the grave.

…

…

…

…

…ck."

"…ick."

"…Rick."

Someone was… calling for him?

"…Rick."

Who was that? Rick? Was that his name? Yeah, yeah that sounded right. Rick. Rick Grimes

"…Rick!"

That voice sounded familiar. Who did it belong to?

"Rick!" whoever it was shouted a little more forcefully than necessary. He did know that voice. It was someone he called a friend.

"Rick!"

His eyes snapped open to a blinding white light forcing him to squint due to the harsh brightness. He felt sheets under and over him. They were warm and soft. A glace to his right saw an IV running out of his arm and to a monitor. He was in a hospital.

Harrison Memorial Hospital?

Was it all just a dream? He lifted his right arm to see the metallic claw hand was still attached to his stump. No, it wasn't a dream.

"Rick?" His eyes picked up the form of Jesus sitting in a chair next to his bed. "You're awake."

"And alive?" Rick had to ask. This couldn't possibly be real. He was about to die, how could he be- wherever this place was.

"As alive as I am," Jesus told him, but he didn't smile. He looked as confused as Rick himself. Sitting up in his bed, Rick looked around to see other people he knew laying on other hospital beds. There was Carl and Lydia, Maggie her baby and Sophia, Magna and Yumiko, Eugene, Dwight, Laura, Michonne, and Andrea. Negan was out of his bed and looking out a window at something or other.

So the both of them had somehow survived.

"Where are we?" Rick asked Jesus. The biblical look-a-like just shrugged.

"I remember luring the herd away from Alexandria. It was getting bad, we were being swarmed. And then- somehow I fell from my horse and was surrounded by all of you in a forest of red trees."

"The Forever Fall, is the correct term," a new voice said from the entrance to the assumed medical ward. Rick reached for his gun, only to find that he did not have it on him. The new arrival seemed to pick up on his movement. "Relax. Your weapons are fine, and you will be as well."

"Who are you?" Rick demanded of the man. "What is this place?"

The man took a sip from his coffee mug. "You can just call me Professor Ozpin."

A/N: That's the first chapter. If you haven't read the latest issue #165 of The Walking Dead this is set in an AU around that time just to put some perspective on it. Thankyou for reading.