A/N: Thank you so much for those of you who left comments and to my silent readers. I really and truly appreciate it and hope you enjoyed Carl and Andre's chapter.
Hold on to your butts, it's…
CHAPTER 9
ALL OUT War
Rick and Michonne reach Oceanside to rescue their boys. All Hell has broken loose, mysterious strangers come out of the woodwork, thangs are revealed and one heck of a storm is a brewin'. Who needs to save who?
Let's backtrack to Alpha's cabin, shall we…
Carl and Andre watched with disgust as their grandmother slurped, moaned and burped, as she chewed her food. They didn't have the best table manners but damn, they at least kept their food in their mouths. Keeping with their silent promise, they refused to eat the meat in front of them, even though it smelled really good.
They both sent a questioning look at each other. Each thinking the same thing. Whatever this was in front of them, it was not human. In fact, it suspiciously smelled like the fried pork chops their mom occasionally made.
The boys kept sneaking looks at the one called Beta. She sat down at the other end of the table and it was only when Teddy topped off her plate that she removed her mask.
Andre showed no signs of recognition but Carl's mouth dropped open.
"Andrea?"
The Alpha put down her fork and folded her hands together. She gleefully awaited this moment for her grandson to realize that his mother's number one enemy sat and worked by her side.
"I see you remember Andrea. The poor dear decided to join me after all the horrible things your mother did to her," she said as she resumed eating.
Andrea pursed her lips slightly and gave a brief shake to her head. Carl didn't understand what it meant. All he knew was the woman his parent's despised, was part of the Whisperers. And, if he ever got the chance, he would eliminate her once and for all. She would never get the opportunity to hurt his family again.
Andre felt the animosity coming off his brother, causing him to seek out why Carl's body tensed. He followed his stare to Beta at the end of the table.
Carl placed his fists on the table and informed his grandmother in a quiet, deadly voice, "Don't try to fool me with that BS. The only thing my mother ever did to her was trying to help her survive in this world." His head turned to Andrea, "I remember everything. How she found you at the point of death outside Hershel's farm. How you betrayed her to the Governor. You can lie to yourself all you want, but we all know the truth."
Andre stared at his brother in awe. He'd never seen him so intense and sound so scary toward an adult. He puffed his chest out, so proud of his big bro.
Carl wasn't finished, "And, if you think Andre and I are just gonna stand here…" His words cut off when they all sensed a low humming vibration attack their eardrums. The feeling/sound grew more persistent as it seemed to come closer and louder.
Alpha dropped her utensils. She sensed it too. "Something or someone's coming." She stood quickly, throwing her chair to the ground. She held out her hand and one of her guards moved from the wall to give her back the dry, leathered face mask of some human. She rushed to the door, "I don't know how they found us but they are not going to ruin my plans." She gave her people directives, "Beta, keep them inside. Do not let them escape."
The crash and crackling of lightning made everything flash white. Rumbling thunder grew until they felt its pounding beat against the walls and forced everyone in the room to cover their ears. Carl and Andre wasted no time. As soon as Alpha rushed out the front door, they too pushed their chairs back, pulled their weapons and started swinging at the men standing behind them.
Andrea reacted, as well. She pulled her scimitars and attacked the others opposite the boys. She kicked the first one she reached in the stomach, then sliced his throat. One guard was on his way to jump on Carl and she threw her blade to catch him in the back. While she fought with another, she admired the boy's skills.
Carl and Andre utilized the chairs and tables in the room. Parkouring over the chairs and shimmying under the table, only to pop back up behind the guard to smack them with their barbed sticks. It's a good thing Alpha let them keep their weapons, she thought. She was so focused on their fighting skills, she didn't notice that they were coming for her next.
Andre whipped to the right, while Carl moved to her left, splitting her focus so she wouldn't know which one was going to go in for the kill.
Carl had his mini-Lucille raised, ready to kill the Alpha's Beta and his mother's nemesis when the cook, Teddy, rushed in between them. His hands raised, hollering, "Whoa, whoa!"
Andre moved alongside his brother so they could take on the two Whisperers together. Before they could make a move, Teddy snatched off his mask.
Carl's eyes widened in surprise. He gathered his weapons in one hand and placed the other on Andre's to make him lower his.
Carl spoke with a voice high in disbelief, "T-Dogg?"
Breathing hard from rushing to stop Rick's son from killing Andrea, he smiled wide. "Yeah, it's me. It's good to see you."
Andre looked from Carl to the big man with a huge grin on his face, "Carl, who's this guy?"
Carl reached out at the same time as T-Dogg and pulled each other into an exuberant hug, "I can't believe it! We all thought you died in the prison tombs. What happened? How did you get away and how did you end up here?"
The young man was so excited, he temporarily forgot that there was a battle raging just outside the cabin. About how he told his brother about T probably wouldn't put together that this man in front of them was the same man who was part of his family at the beginning of the Turn. He also forgot about Andrea and that he was about to kill her.
T-Dogg noticed the younger boy glancing at him curiously. He leaned toward Andre, "My name is T-Dogg and I'm an old friend of your dad. I'll explain everything later, but I want you to know," he pointed to his partner, "Andrea here… she's a good guy. She's been helping me save the folks of Oceanside ever since she got here."
Carl gave Andrea a suspicious look, "What about Enid, Nicholas, and Aiden? What did you do with them?"
Andrea walked around the corpses, stabbing them in the head to keep them from turning, "They're waiting on a bus we have hiding outside the community. We use it to get Alpha's victims to a safe place."
The boys spoke as one, "Enid's gone."
The wind began to batter the outside, wooden walls of Alpha's house, it was time to go.
Andrea ran to the door leading out the back, "Come on, we got to get you two out of here before this place goes to shit. Your mom and dad are going to raze this place.
T asked, "I wonder how they found you?"
Carl pulled out some chocolates from his pockets, "Well, we dropped these for Daryl to track."
Andrea added, "I dropped my hair in hopes that Daryl would follow us. Either way, they're here and that's the most important thing."
The Grimes boys calmly walked to stand near Andrea, "That's right and we're not going anywhere. This is our family and we don't run." Andre informed her.
Carl told her, "You and T-Dogg, get those people to where they will be safe and we'll take care of this. Our parents will need our help while they take care of Grandmother."
T-Dogg and Andrea admired the purpose and strength oozing from the teenagers. They each other a look and nodded, "I still have a lot to do to redeem myself. I can't leave. I'm going to stay and help. T, go to the bus and make sure you get as far away from here as fast as you can."
The man shrugged, "No can do, sister. I told Natania that if I'm not there in twenty minutes after I give the signal, she's to take off without me. She's got a map and knows the way. So, you guys are stuck with me helping too. Be right back." He turned and went back into the kitchen, only to return holding a large meat cleaver and a butcher knife.
"Alright, your parents are probably here fighting that bitch in the middle of the town. We will go out the back and circle around, sneak and take out her people from behind. That sound like a plan?"
All three agreed.
"Yeah."
"Sound's good."
"I can't think of a better one."
With their plan set, the four immortals set about to destroy the Alpha's army.
Back on track, outside…
As Rick and Michonne dropped down to the ground and witnessed a stranger battling the Alpha, the rest of The Family wasn't too far behind.
Shane stopped next to them first, "Whoever the fuck that is, I'm not gonna try and stop 'em." He and Sasha naturally teamed up and jumped into the fray, along with Abraham, Jesus, Daryl, Simon, Bud, and Cyndie and began to take down the dozen or so Whisperers that tried their best to shoot and toss spears at the mysterious man throwing electrified haymakers at their leader.
The goddess tried her best, but for every bolt she fired, he blocked. She couldn't understand, she thought she would be facing Rick and Michonne. Instead, some guy was floating out here, killing her men until she engaged him. She was not expecting someone so powerful that everything she hit him with, ricochet off him to destroy something else. Buildings started to catch fire and without taking her full attention off the one in front of her, she saw her men fighting Rick's people.
"How did all this shit go wrong?" She yelled to no one. The mortals were nowhere to be seen, "Probably hiding in their huts." She needed to hurry and get rid of this immortal she didn't know before Michonne and Rick showed. They were probably already there since she just saw Sasha pound someone into the ground.
As lightning brightened the area, Michonne grabbed her husband's shoulder, "There!" She pointed to a spot between two houses. Carl and Andre were doing their thing battling three soldiers. There was a heavily built black man fighting alongside them.
Just as they were going to go to their boys, Negan dropped his hands on their shoulders, stopping them. "They're fine, they have plenty of help. We need to get rid of her and I'm afraid that young man over there, won't be able to do it."
He yelled what he needed them to do through the wind and thunder blocking out most of his instructions. The flashes of lighting and the power of the two gods battling in the middle of the village brightened and darkened the scene. Creating an eerie and spooky battlefield of chaos.
Having confidence and trusting that their sons were okay, Rick and Michonne took to the air once again. They went to either side of the unknown immortal, both holding out their hands. Rick yelled to the newcomer, "Blast her. Now!"
Carl finished putting down the man in front of him, then checked on the whereabouts of Andre. T-Dogg fought next to his brother. T punched the mask off a man bigger than him and Andre went low to take out the guy's knees. He had no idea where Andrea was and made a note to self to make sure he kept a better eye on her. Even though T gave his approval, she still had a lot of making up to do, before he fully trusted her.
They kept the fight between the houses since they were using the stealth approach. They snuck around grabbing people and dragging them back, either knocking them out or sad to say, killing them, if they fought back. It still shook him whenever those things were either getting whacked in the head or punched in the face, they never screamed or spoke a single word. His grandmother really did something foul to their brains.
They were alive, yet dead but not like the undead. They could think, they could feel, they just couldn't speak.
However, they could still turn and he had to keep reminding himself to put them down before they had another mess to deal with. Carl had just pulled his knife from the base of a Whisperer's skull when a young woman's screaming taunts caught his attention.
"How do you like that, bitch?"
"You think you're gonna come here and eat my people and get to live? I don't think so."
He peered around to make sure Andre was fine while he went to investigate who talked so much during a fight.
Peeking around a corner, he found her. She had long curly-wavy hair, her skin tone was a golden, buttery brown and a very pretty face. She stood in a fighting stance, her fists up in the air as she faced off against one of his grandmother's minions, who was at least, three feet taller than her. Yet, it didn't seem to scare the girl. Carl noticed she had thick shiny bracelets on her wrists.
His eyes opened in shock, as she leaped forward, yelling, "Bye, bye, bitch," before hauling her fist back, a short blade sprang out of the contraption around her skinny arm, and drove it into the guy's throat. Her leap surprised the fuck out of the man and he only had time to hold up his hands in a useless effort to stop her.
She landed on top of him as the hidden blade went straight through muscle and his spinal cord to poke through the back of his neck. Using her left hand as leverage, she yanked her knife from the lifeless form. She wiped the blood on his clothes before holding her wrist up and with a brief squeeze of her fist, the blade slid back down to hide away until the next time she needed to use it.
In awe, Carl's mouth dropped open, "Goddamn. I'm gonna marry her."
Andre slapped him on the back, startling his brother, "Marry who?"
Carl pointed to the mysterious girl, "Her."
"Who, Cyndie?"
Coming back to himself, he searched for T-Dogg and found him fighting next to Andrea this time, "You know her? How?"
Andre shook his head, "If you didn't have your nose so far up Enid's butt with trying to get her to be nice, you would have come with me when we came to visit Oceanside before. She's the leader's grand-daughter. And, you can forget about marrying her."
Carl turned, puzzled, "I'm not talking about now, we're too young. But, when we grow up, she will be my wife."
"What about Enid?"
"Who?"
Andre laughed, "Never mind. I'm not talking about marrying Cyndie now. You won't marry that girl because she not an asshole and she's too nice. You tend to hang around girls that are mean to you."
Contemplating his brother's words, Carl's gaze swung back to the teenager who found another soldier and attacked them with her words before attacking with her hidden blade, "Hmm… Maybe I'm maturing and seeing things differently." He watched her a few more seconds before telling his brother, "Come on, I see Uncle Daryl and rest are here, let's finish this."
They stood from where they crouched and hopped back into the fray.
Surrounding the Alpha, Rick, Michonne and the stranger shot three thick shafts of silvery-blue light beams toward the goddess, tethering her to the spot. She flailed wildly trying to get herself free, but it was to no avail. The deities held the streams of light steady as they slowly walked around her, entangling her more and more until her arms were pinned to her sides, rendering her helpless.
The beams were like a highly evolved spider web with the backing of three powerful gods of Olympus.
The wind, thunder, and lightning continued to reign down and cause chaos along the battlefield. Though, it didn't stop the gods and their allies from waging war and destroying the flesh-eating mortals of the Alpha's army.
When the Alpha was entirely wrapped and entangled, Negan stepped onto the scene in front of her. Michonne, the stranger, and Rick held onto their electric web at her sides and at her back.
Leaning to the point of falling backward, he straightened, "I thought I would never in a millennium have to do this, but you've given me no choice. I explained what I wanted for this world. I wanted to save it, save our children, save the gods… our pantheon, but you just had to go and try and destroy everything we've built. You turned my brother against me. You tried to turn my son. But, the thing that's got me fucked up the most, you went after my grandbabies."
He held his open palm out to his former wife, as her eyes widened in fear. She totally forgot that her husband, if he put his mind to it, could destroy her. She never thought he would go that far.
Negan's other arm raised into the air and clenched his fist. He called to the power-driven voltage from the dark thunder clouds above, and the lightning bolts sitting inactive next to his throne on Olympus. They obeyed the sky master's command to come to him. They raced and gathered into the raised hand of the king of the gods, passing through his celestial form to settle in the palm of the hand facing the Alpha.
A spark of silvery light began to grow. The more he called, the larger the illuminating sphere grew. One could see streaks of lightning speeding and dash in circles within, searching for a way to extend its energy before it imploded on itself.
The rest of the deities dispatched all of Alpha's army in time to watch the father of the gods display his true power they had only heard stories about but never witnessed. As the immortal web held the goddess steady, the Grimes family and the stranger kept their eyes on their task.
Negan's hair turned white and grew till it reached his shoulders, his beard to his chest. His body bulked to the point of busting out of his leather jacket and skinny jeans. A bright, iridescent glow covered his nakedness as the sphere in his hand grew deadlier and more powerful.
When he felt it was enough, he held it with both hands and with a monstrous shove, he yelled at the same time, "Drop it."
Alpha screamed "No!" as she continued to try and struggle.
The three deities followed his command and let go of the light streams holding the Alpha, right before the ball of ferocious, electric current blasted her.
A loud explosion accompanied by her screams pushed everyone back. A blinding light flashed, preventing anyone from seeing what became of the goddess, then all went silent.
When they could see again, a large hole in the ground replaced the Alpha. A now normal Negan flew up into the air and drifted down inside. He reappeared quickly and landed in front of his children. In his hand, held an ash covered, beating heart.
With a tear sliding down his cheek, he held it up for those in front of him to see, "I couldn't kill her, but she will never harm anyone again." He called Jesus over to him, "Take this to Persephone. Tell her to put it in Pandora's box next to Phillip. She is never to let them leave for all eternity."
Jesus just nodded. Daryl stepped next him and place a hand on his back. "I'm going with you." They both disappeared.
"Mom! Dad!" Their boys drew Rick and Michonne's attention away from Negan, the stranger and everything else. They flew into their parent's arms. Happy to see that no one was hurt.
Negan went over and spoke with the stranger while the Grimes' family reunited.
Andrea and T-Dogg slowly walked over and stood quietly while Rick and his wife spoke with their boys. Rick was the first to look up and like his son, his eyes widened in surprise when he recognized him. "T-Dogg?"
Kissing his wife on the lips before stepping away, Rick pulled his old friend he thought he lost into a bear hug. He pulled back, "What the fuck happened? Where have you been?"
With her arms around her boys, Michonne walked over, curious. The rest of the Family followed when they heard Rick bellow T-Dogg's name.
Andrea, not feeling very brave facing her ex-best friend, hid behind T, not ready to reveal herself just yet.
Shane recognized the man and went to stand behind Andre, beside Michonne. T spotted him and his eyes squinted, "Is that Shane?"
Rick laughed, "Yeah, it's a long story. He's cool. He's more than cool, but I want to hear about you. How are you alive and how did you end up here? Wait, hold up, I need to introduce you first." He turned to the love of his life, "This is my wife, Michonne, my heart, my soul-mate, and my Queen. She's the one who kept me going through all this shit. I see you've met my boys. We have two more, and you'll meet them later. Shane is alive and he's Michonne's brother, by the way. When we get out of here, we talk details. This is Abraham and Sasha. These guys joined me after you were gone."
They all greeted each other and T kept a curious eye on Shane. The last thing he remembered about the man was that he tried to kill Rick. He couldn't wait to hear his story.
Rick pointed to Negan and the men who preferred to stick to his side. "That man over there, is my father, Negan. You'll meet him soon."
T-Dogg turned back to him, "Oh, you mean Zeus? I already know that guy. He's the one that saved me in the tombs. He said he appreciated me sacrificing myself for Carol and he gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. He made me immortal and put me down here at Oceanside to help protect the people. Said something was coming and to keep myself hidden until the right time."
Michonne spoke, "We came here a few months ago. We didn't see you."
Embarrassed, he gave her a sheepish look, "Uhm… I had a friend and was gone that day. Natania told me that someone came to visit, but she didn't tell me your names. She only said people from Alexandria. If I had known it was you guys, I'd have been right at your front door."
Carl spoke up on his old friend's behalf, "Dad. T-Dogg saved the people from being eaten by Grandma. He fed her pig instead."
Rick asked, "Where did you take them?"
"There's a place called the Kingdom a few hours away from here. My friend King Ezekiel runs it and he's been taking in our people in exchange for me keeping him informed on the Alpha's whereabouts."
Rick placed his hands on his hips, "Ezekiel. Kang Ezekiel?" He looked to his wife for clarification, and she nodded. "We've met with him too, why didn't he tell us he was taking in refugees?"
T-Dogg shrugged, "I couldn't tell you, man. Everyone was so concerned about what the Whisperers were doing, everything else must've been put to the wayside."
Dawn was on the horizon when Carl caught their attention again, "T-Dogg also had help." He stepped around the big man and gestured, "Come on out. They won't hurt you." He went back to stand next to his parents. "Mom, Dad, Andrea helped T-Dogg protect Oceanside when Grandma took over. She helped Enid, Nicholas, and Aiden escape on a bus with the rest of Natania's folks. They're now safe, thanks to these two."
Andrea timidly stepped around T-Dogg and kept her head down. Not sure what Michonne was going to do to her.
Rick squinted his eyes and leaned forward without leaving the side of his wife, "You saved our boys?"
Andrea looked up, her eyes moving from a non-smiling Michonne to the intimidating stare of Rick. She whispered a hesitant, "I tried my best. It was mostly T-Dogg though. He saved me after being recruited by your mother."
T-Dogg went on to tell the story of when the Whisperers invaded Oceanside and how he noticed her standing to the side, lost and not being part of the mayhem that befell the residents. From that day on, they discreetly moved all mortals away to safety and she helped him infiltrated the group to become Alpha's favorite cook.
Keeping an eye on Andrea, Michonne asked, "How did you fool a goddess into believing she was eating flesh?"
T-Dogg laughed heartily and rubbed his chin, "I don't know how you guys cook your food up there on that mountain, but y'all must not have ever heard of seasoning salt."
Michonne laughed with him, "Wait, are you telling me you fooled her into believing she was eating long pig instead of pork with just some seasoning?"
He shyly looked down at his feet, shucking, "Well, I kind of over seasoned it, but yeah, it worked."
Shane guffawed, "So, that's why her heart was the only thing left."
T-Dogg, Michonne, Andre, and Carl were the only ones to laugh at Shane's joke, "What? Y'all don't know nothing about down home-cookin'?
Rick shook his head, "Yeah, we do. It's just your joke ain't funny."
His brother-in-law flipped the bird, "Fuck you, man."
Rick hit back with, "That's Sasha's job now."
Sasha's head tilted with a ninety-degree turn, "Hey, now. Keep me outta y'all's mess."
Michonne stopped laughing when her focus went back to Andrea, "You really have changed. Thank you for taking care of my sons." She snapped her fingers and a loud clank could be heard.
Andrea's head fell to peer at her pelvis. She looked back up to Michonne, "Thank you."
Michonne winked, "You're welcome." Then she asked, "Would you like to come back to Alexandria with us? There's plenty of room. You can get re-acquainted with everyone."
Andrea adjusted the knives on her belt when she smiled with appreciation, "Thanks, but I still have a long way to go. I think I'll go hang out at the Kingdom for a bit." Before Michonne could say anything, "And, don't worry, I have no plans to try and get with the King. He cares for a lot of people who are disabled and I want to do my best to help with his rehabilitation program."
As T-Dogg continued to speak of his adventures and what he'd been doing, Rick explaining Shane's role in the whole thing and how Negan set everything in motion, Michonne watched the young god speaking with her father-in-law. There was something familiar with how he held his head as he listened to the older man and how he seemed to be leaning on his belt. She moved closer, taking note of his light-brown skin-tone, the broad nose, thick eyebrows and curly, dark brown hair. When she was close enough to see him clearly, she saw his azure-blue eyes.
She knew.
"Rishawn?"
The young man who seemed to be in his early twenties looked up and gave her a warm smile, "Hi, Mom."
Elation and disbelief along with surprise seized her. Tears springing from her eyes, she ran the rest of the way and grabbed up her baby boy who was now several feet taller than her. She dropped kisses all over his face between cries of happiness, relief, and astonishment of seeing her baby standing before her as a grown man.
Michonne's first cry caught her husband's attention and he watched as his wife ran into the stranger's arms. He put his hands on his boy's shoulders and told them, "Stay here till I find out what's going on." He hurried over to his wife's side and just as Michonne quickly discovered, Rick soon joined in the celebration.
Andre and Carl didn't wait long before heading over themselves. They heard Rishawn's name repeatedly and gawked at their baby brother.
With tears streaming down all their cheeks, Michonne held her boy's face she sniffed, "How did you do this? How did you know to come here? My god, my boy is a man," she exclaimed.
Rishawn hugged her, "I'm not a man, mamma. I'm still the same, just in a grown body. I read Grandma's mind and saw that she was going to hurt my brothers. I didn't have time to tell Father G and Judith. I had to get here and stop her. I knew you were on your way, but I didn't want to take the chance."
Rick growled at his father, "You let him do this? What if he had gotten hurt?"
Negan held up his hands, "Whoa, hold on there, Rick. I didn't let him do anything. I couldn't stop him if I tried and believe me, I tried. Your boy here wasn't having it." He exhaled an exhausted breath, "Now that this ordeal is over, I'm going to head back to your sister and her garbage dump and make sure Eugene cleaned her nasty ass up. Then I'm going to go pick up Olivia from Alexandria and I'm taking her to some uninhabited island. Y'all got this. You don't need me anymore."
He called Simon over, "You're in charge of Sanctuary now. Don't do nothing stupid."
Negan picked up and kissed the back of Michonne's hand. "It's been a pleasure and you have made me so very proud. He hugged his grandson's and then spoke to Rishawn, "Use your power wisely and listen to your parents." He patted him on his cheek before turning to his son. "Rick, you got this. I swear on the River Styx, I won't interfere with anything else in this world. I'll stop through and say goodbye to my sweetie-pie Judes on my way out."
To his other children present, "I'm out. Y'all take care of this place." He held up two fingers to his forehead, saluting them and disappeared before their eyes.
With Negan gone, everyone turned back to the powerful, young deity. With all eyes on him, Rishawn shyly rocked on his feet and clasped his hands together behind his back.
Carl spotted Cyndie watching everybody with a crazy look in her eye. He sidled his way over to her and patted her on the back, "Hey. We haven't met. My name is Carl, Andre is my brother. I take it, this is the first time you've seen anything like this?"
Cyndie smiled at the cute boy with long hair and shook the hand he held out to her. "Nice to finally meet you. Your brother kept bringing up your name when we met. And, no," she chuckled, "I've never seen anything like this. When we cleared out that horde in Alexandria, I thought I saw some odd things, but everything was so chaotic, I didn't pay that much attention. Here, though? Lightning, your parents flying around with wings and your grandpa looking like he could be Storm's daddy, nah… never dreamed I would ever see something like that."
Carl grinned, elated. "So, you know about the X-Men? Do you know anything about Greek Mythology?"
Cyndie slapped his arm, she was so excited, "Hell yeah, I do. That's my favorite topic next to Marvel. I used to go swimming in the ocean and try to talk to Poseidon every day. Sucked he never talked back."
Oh, Carl was going to make this girl's day. Not only will he get his Great Uncle to answer her, he would take her to go see him. His mind started racing with all the places he would tell her about and where he could take her. If their parents gave their permission of course. Done with plotting and planning, he pointed to her weapon. "I saw you fighting. Is that what I think it is?"
Cyndie's smile grew even bigger, "Yup, you know it. It's Assassin's Creed's hidden blade. Arno's version, to be specific."
The two young teens looked into each other's eyes and spoke the Creed's mantra together, "Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted."
Andre turned away, shaking his head after watching the teens gush over some video game.
"Dorks."
While the deities stood around after Negan's departure, the fire burning the cabins and huts of Oceanside, slowly dwindled away.
The orange glow reflected on Shane, Sasha, and Abraham standing to the side, talking quietly with T-Dogg and Andrea while Rishawn spoke to his stunned parents, "I should probably get back to Judes. She's probably wondering what's happening and I don't want to worry Father Gabe any more than I have already."
Michonne hadn't let go of her son since she recognized him, "You're not going anywhere, young man. Not until you explain how this all came about. How long have you been able to read minds and whose minds have you read?"
Rick wrapped an arm around his wife's waist and raised his eyebrows. He felt a glimmer of worry for what his son was about to tell them.
Rishawn blushed again, "Uhm… that would be since I was born? As for whose mind… Don't get mad. I kind of intruded on you guy's thoughts one time…" he rushed to hold up his hands, "but I promise, as soon as I figured it out, I stopped. That taught me a very good lesson not to go poking around where I shouldn't. The only time I purposely went after someone's thoughts were after I overheard you tell Father Gabriel to take me and Judes back to Mt. Olympus, while you searched for Carl and Andre.
"You said that Grandma took them. I thought I could help by looking for her myself. When I found her, I searched her mind and discovered she was going to sacrifice my brothers to show her people that they were more important than her own family." His face crumpled at the thought of harm coming to the family he loved with all his heart, "I had to do something."
Rick pulled his son and his wife into his arms, comforting them, "Shh… shh… shh, it's okay. Everything's okay, now. What you did, was perfect son. You did what you had to do to protect your family. I couldn't be any prouder."
Rishawn sniffed and kissed his parents on their cheeks, "Thanks, Dada. I love you, both of you. It's time I get back and change. I don't want to stay like this, it feels weird."
They chuckled at their baby feeling strange being in a grown man's body. Michonne halted him, "Baby, can you do us a favor before you leave? I know you were protecting Daddy when you changed Spencer into a rat. I think he's learned his lesson. When we go back to Alexandria, can you change him back?"
"Momma, I can change him back now if you want."
Carl and Cyndie came back to stand with the group, "You can do that from here?
Andre needed to know what else his little brother could do, "Can you see what Spencer's doing right now?"
Rishawn rolled his eyes before shutting them, "Yeah. Ms. Deanna is looking for him. He's under the couch, chewing a hole through the cushion."
Carl, Andre and Cyndie clapped their hands with glee, "Change him back now!" Speaking at the same time. Rishawn gave a cheery, "done," before he opened his eyes.
Shane, hearing their conversation, yelled over at them. "My nephews are gonna be some little terrors," he laughed.
To that, Rick replied, "If they are, it'll be your fault and they're gonna go stay at your house."
Waving her hand at her brother, Michonne pulled Rishawn down to her height, hugging and kissing him once again, "Thank you, baby. Now go home, change back and get to bed. It's way past your bedtime."
A/N: Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed my version All Out War. I love to read your comments, so please keep them coming. If you have any questions or critiques, I welcome them and will try to answer as best as I can.
KEY
Michonne-Nike-Goddess of Victory.
Rick-Ares-God of War.
Daryl-Atlas-Titan god that led the war against the Olympians.
Sasha-Selene-Titanide goddess of the moon.
Jesus-Hermes-God of athletes, thieves, and adventures. Messenger and trickster of the gods.
Abraham-Hercules-world's greatest hero
Shane-Kratos-God of strength and power
Eugene-Hephaestus- God of blacksmiths and metallurgy
Negan-Zeus-Lord of the Sky
Father Gabriel-Pan-Satyr god of the wild, hunting and companion
Phillip-Chiron-Immortal skeleton responsible for ferrying the dead to Tartarus.
Andrea-Medea-Mortal sorcerous given immortality.
Alpha/Mary-Hera-Wife of Zeus
Gareth-Hades-Lord of the Underworld & brother of Zeus
Jadis-Aphrodite-Goddess of Love
