Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman and Image Comics and RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.
A/N: Just wanted to say, if you have any suggestions for semblances for The Walking Dead characters let me know. I could use some ideas.
The bed was comfortable. Not too soft, not too hard, Christ he felt like Goldilocks. Melody had given him a room in the inn that she worked as thanks for what he had done. It was a kind gesture on her end, a rare occurrence for sure considering most people he knew were assholes, but he wasn't about to pass it up. Negan rearranged the pillows and propped his head on the soft fabric. Come morning he would be meeting with the mayor of this town, and the man better not be a pushover like Gregory had been. Dealing with people who had an inner fire was always more fun.
It still baffled Negan that he was here. That Ozpin guy knew full well the things he was capable of doing, and yet he still sent him off on a solo mission in the grand hopes that it would show he could "be trusted over time."
It's not like he was going to betray Rick and those others. What exactly would he have to gain from betraying them anyways? A sense of vengeance fulfilled? To satisfy bloodlust? For shits and giggles? The only thing he would get for betrayal would be a large death flag for his head for the price of betrayal, and judging from the crazy fucking weapons these people have, his death could get creative and painful.
Huh?
Was using the word "betray" wrong in that sense? After all only someone you consider to be a friend betrays you; and as Rick had said, his bar for friendship was just too low. Funny how he said that after Negan had saved his ass.
Negan ran a hand down his face. Why the fuck was he even thinking about stupid shit like that anyway? Well, apart from this world being a fresh start that is. No one knew him here. He wasn't the leader of the biggest badest most hard as fuck gang: The Saviors; here he was just some schmuck. Well, an extremely attractive schmuck with an above average sex drives. Hell he could probably have a semi-normal life here. Like he had once had with-
"Fuck." Negan lifted his shirt to see the scratch from before basically gone, but still flaring up in some unexpected pain. It would join along the scar on his right side from when he had killed his first human. What even was that pricks name? Alex Davidson*, or something like that? Ah, fuck it, he was just some dead asshole now. He deserved what he got.
Enough thinking about the past, what about that sweet fucking aura shit? Negan examined his hand. How the fuck does he get it to flare up without getting hurt? He waved his hand in front of his face.
"Aura activate." Nothing. "Turn on." Nothing. "Abra Kedabra. Shazam. Wax on wax off. Go go aura go. Fuck you aura." Negan moved to sit up, and some pain flashed from his fading wound once again. This time the pain receded much faster as Negan caught sight of that burgundy and black glow. Yeah, this was going to take some getting used to.
"…look at you. What were you doing out there? Were you waiting?"
"…It's no one's fault, you know? I'm…I'm sorry too…"
"…I don't expect you to understand…just…try to deal with it…"
"…It'd be cliché. I'm not going to say it. I'm going to show you instead…"
Knock-Knock!
He felt rays of sunlight peeking through the window shades and he began to stir from his slumber. "Hey, are you awake?" Melody opened the door to his rented room. Negan rubbed some sleep from his eyes.
"I am now." He stretched as he got out of the bed. "Bit of a redundant considering I'm able to fucking answer."
She didn't look impressed. "Right. Did you at least have a good sleep?"
"Slept like a fucking log," he answered. It was truthful for the most part. "Although…it got pretty lonely here. It would have been much better with a lovely lady to keep me company. And from what I've seen this place has got no short supply." He winked at her. It really was fun to watch her get all flustered all of a sudden.
"W-well you should be heading over to town hall then," she quickly changed topics. "Oh. And here." She tossed him his now repaired shirt. "Try not to ruin it anytime soon."
Town Hall was by far the largest building in the town, although that wasn't saying too much. The houses were only about two stories tall. Might as well meet the head honcho, Negan mused as he casually strode into the hall. No matter what type of person it was Negan planned to exelarite confidence and charisma, the two positive traits he held an abundance of.
"Can I help you?" the secretary asked as she saw him walk in.
Goddamn it! Seriously?! Was every single woman here attractive as fuck?
"In more ways than one," he answered. "But sadly I'm just here to meet with your boss."
"Oh, you must be the one they sent. Sure. His office is right upstairs and to the right. Do you want me to show you?"
"Nice of you to offer, but, and I swear this is the only time I'll pass up an offer to spend time with a woman as drop dead gorgeous as yourself, I'll manage on my own." As he climbed the steps he knew the mental image he would be picturing tonight: that secretary and Melody going to town on each other. God, he could see the scene playing out in his head now. And who knows, if one of them were agreeable to it he wouldn't need his hand to keep him company during the night. Maybe have a pleasant dream once in a while.
He got the top floor and spotted his destination; the door to the office was slightly ajar. As he got closer he heard two men conversing inside. "…Doctor is holding him overnight, but he says he hasn't seen anything like it."
"Now, now I understand that you're concerned. What parent wouldn't be? But rest assured, the beast that harmed your boy will be dealt with. I've taken measures as to see it done and done right."
"Thank you, Mayor Vaughn." Sensing that particular meeting coming to an end, Negan chose to make his entrance.
"Knock-knock! Anybody home?"
The two men looked to see him enter. Negan recognized the first man easily enough. He had seen him twice the other day. It was the man whose son had been attacked, the one who had been wandering around the woods. The second was a new face however. He was on the shorter side, with a bit of a pompadour style haircut, which the color was starting to gray. He had bit of a pot belly going on indicating he was living relatively easy. He was clearly the mayor.
"…Can I help you sir?" the mayor asked not looking too enthused that Negan had more or less had just barged in.
"I think I should be asking you that question. You did call after all."
The father looked to the mayor. "He's the huntsman they sent? The one who will bring justice for what happened to my son?"
"As I said mister Greenfield, I've taken measures." The mayor replied sounding a little too proud of himself. "Now, you wouldn't mind giving us two a little privacy now, would you mister Greenfield?"
"No, of course not."
The mayor, Vaughn, closed the door as the other man left the office. "I trust you saw the commotion in the street yesterday?"
"Yeah, he's the dad of the kid who got fucked up something fierce, right?" Negan already knew the answer, he just wanted to see how the mayor would respond.
"You are correct on that account," Vaughn said. "Nasty business. Just nasty."
Negan half nodded. "So, that what you need me to do? Track down the sick beast and put it out of its fucking misery?" he smiled. "Cus' I'll do it. It would be good to repay the fucker for scratching me."
Vaughn shook his head. "Oh, no. no need to trouble yourself over just one Grimm. From what mister Greenfield told me the Grimm looked sick, if you can believe it."
"Sick?"
"Mmm, yes. It was coughing like it was gagging, he said. Moving very sluggish and such. It caught them by surprise though, hardly made chase after them after he had gotten his boy away from it."
"…" Negan had no comment for that. It sounded an awful lot like… "So where is the little tyke anyway? He holding out like a trooper?"
"At the doctor's clinic," Vaughn disclosed. "Going through an ordeal like that, well… he's not in the best of states right now."
"All the more reason for me to hunt the fucker down right?" Negan asked.
"As I said, no need to trouble yourself over just one Grimm," Vaughn sounded a little annoyed repeating himself. "If you want to please the boy's father just bring back the head of any ordinary Beowolf. We have much bigger problems at hand."
"Oh?" Negan slightly tilted his head. "And what in the fuck may that be? I'm curious as all hell."
"Well… I'm not sure if anyone's told you this or not, but we've had some, uh well, bandit trouble." Vaughn reluctantly admitted. "Complete brutes really, they come at night usually twice a month to raid our friendly little town."
"They show up and ask for you to give up half your shit?" Negan guessed. It's what he would do after all. If there was a source of income that you could benefit from, easiest solution would to have them bend over backwards for you. Killing them would cut off that income after all. Best to let them know who the boss was.
"They do take any valuables they can get their hands on, of course. But they have also been confirmed to steal a few citizens as well."
"Like hostages? That way they got leverage in case you just try to bring them down."
Vaughn looked uncomfortable. "That's what we assume. Truth be told, no one really knows what happens to the ones who get taken. They could be forced to work in a Dust mine as slave labor, but I have no real answer to that."
Was this mayor fucking serious? Negan stepped toward the mayor. "You're telling me, you run this town, and yet you have no fucking idea what happens to your people? So are you full of shit, or just too much of a coward to take any real responsibility?" Negan was a good head and a half taller than Vaughn, and the height difference was made quite clear as he stared him down.
"W-what do you… h-how dare you say such a thing!" Vaughn withered under the look he was receiving.
"You're right," Negan said with sarcasm. "It wasn't my place to say. I know! Why don't I consult my crystal balls and have them tell me what to do next?" Much to Vaughn's disgust, Negan fondled his balls from outside his pants. "Let's see… ah! Here they are! Uh-hmm, yeah, yeah I see. Well, the musings of the future have told me to ask you what exactly you want me doing if you don't want me killing a Grimm, and since you don't know jack shit about those bandits, you best make a pretty convincing sales pitch, otherwise I'm just fucking leaving."
"…" Vaughn was silent for a minute and took a handkerchief to wipe some sweat off of his brow, clearly uncomfortable with Negan. "…Well, we do know one thing about the bandits."
Did it have to fucking rain?
Negan pondered that question as he observed the log cabin from behind a bush. Evidently the one thing Vaughn knew about the bandits was that they had a hideout a few miles out of the town. Apparently a citizen passing by saw some shady looking thugs ushering people out of a van and into the cabin. Next thing the mayor did was call in help, hence his current position.
Drip, drip. Some water droplets landed on his head, making him run a hand through his hair. It had been such a nice day outside, what happened to the sun?
He caught sight of two male figures moving around the first floor of the cabin. Two guys and one of him. Eh, he's faced worse odds. He was probably bigger and stronger than those two anyways. What stopped him from moving in right away was caution. Caution because he now knew about aura. If these guys had it, he doubted their skulls would cave in with one hit, and they would tag team him instead.
But from what he also knew, aura could be turned on and off. Last night he had somehow gotten it to activate again to test it out. These guys looked content for now. No reason to expect any danger. If their aura wasn't activated he could stealth kill them. Maybe throw a witty one liner in as he did so. But how to get in?
The front door was out of the question. Maybe through the top floor. If he snuck around back he might find a way to climb up. Negan moved from behind the bush and headed towards the cabin; the sound of rain falling masking whatever noise his boots made in the mud. He hugged the side of the cabin as he moved around towards the back.
Peeking around the corner, Negan quickly withdrew his head as he caught glimpse of a man standing at the back door. Luckily the guy hadn't seen him. Slowly peeking again, Negan saw that the guy was facing away from him. He was holding something in his hand which was making a faint click noise. He was trying to lite a smoke.
"C'mon, c'mon," the man grumbled. Actually, kid seemed a more accurate term judging by his voice. Okay, well maybe not kid. More like a young adult. Eighteen, nineteen? Negan slowly approached from behind. He stopped when he was only a foot or so away from the young man.
"Need a lite?" Negan casually asked.
"That'd be great man," the young man turned around to face him. His eyes widened. "You're not-" Cr-snap! Negan had twisted the young man's neck. The body twitched a few times before going limp.
"Too bad. I don't have one either." He kneeled down to search the body. He had what looked like a basic firearm, a knife, and a set of keys. He took them all. Never knew when one of those could come in handy. With one guy on the outside taken care of, Negan quietly opened the back door to the cabin and moved inside.
The door creaked ever so slightly as he shut it behind him, but the two guys in the front room were talking about something or other and the noise went unnoticed. Time to deal with these guys. They didn't know he was here, so the element of surprise was on his side. With the gun he grabbed from the dead guy he could shoot and kill one guy, before giving the other the beating of his life. He wouldn't kill him, just make him talk so he could get any information about some of the other bandits not at this cabin, and what happened to the people who got nabbed.
Negan pulled the hammer of the stolen gun back. The room the two guys were in was just two doors away, excluding the stairs to his left which led to the basement. The two laughed about something or other. As he got closer he was able to hear their conversation better.
"So then what happened?"
"Well I said this: The White Fang are always getting screwed over by people right? So why not let them being the one's doing the screwing this time around?"
"And that idea actually flew? I mean they actually went with it?"
"Last batch was sent off to one of their camps in Vale. Suppose we got Torchwick to thank for that."
"Why? He smuggled them?"
"No, man. But everyone's so busy looking for all that stolen Dust, no one's bothering with the lesser known crime dealings. Especially ones in a small area like this one. I'm telling you, easy money."
"Dude, you're the smartest person I've ever-,"
Blam!
Negan fired off a round into the one man's head, dropping him dead instantly.
"What the-?" the other began, only for Negan to charge at him, bat swinging and colliding with his midsection. The thug hunched over, no doubt clutching some broken ribs. Negan swung downwards and brought his bat down on the other man's back. Whump!
The thug collapsed onto the floor. Not moving.
"Don't tell me you passed out?" Negan asked, and received no answer. "Tch. Pussy." He bent down to grab the thug by his long dirty blonde hair. "I was hoping to make this beating last longer, but seeing as you passed out I might as well take you back to that town. Maybe have them erect a statue in my honor."
Dragging the man by the hair, Negan was ready to leave out the way he had come, but stopped when he heard a very faint, very weak: "help." Come from somewhere down in the cellar. Leaving the unconscious man at the top of the stairs, Negan paused at the door at the base of the stairs. He shimmied the handle, but it wouldn't budge. He turned to the keys he had taken from the first guy. He tried a key of the keys and eventually found the one he was looking for. Very cautiously, Negan opened the door, his bat in one hand, and gun in the other.
What he saw almost made him drop both.
There were half a dozen beds in the basement. Each one had a woman handcuffed to it. They all looked to be human and not one of those Faunus people. Their clothing was disheveled, their skin pale and hair a mess.
"What in the fuck?" no one knows what happens to the ones who are snatched. This is what the bandits were selling them off for. The White Fang is always getting screwed over by people right? So why not let them being the one's doing the screwing this time?
One of the women reached out towards him. "…please…help…" Negan hurried to the bed and shuffled through the keys to find the one to unlock her cuffs.
"Holy fucking shit." Negan had to steady the woman as she tried to stand. "Whoa, slow down. Your leg…"
"…Have to get home…my baby…"
"Yeah, I'm taking you back to the town. All of you."
"…ughhh…" the groan came not from one of the women, but from the man lying at the top of the stairs.
"Wait here." Negan instructed as he marched up the stairs to the man who was coming back to his senses. Wramm! Negan's boot collided with the man's chin as he tried to rise. Negan grabbed him once again by his hair.
Whammm!
Negan slammed the man's face into the closest wall possible. "You motherfucker!" Negan growled as he slammed the man once again into the wall. "Think you're fucking tough?! Try doing what you were doing to those women on me! See what fucking happens fucktard!" He grabbed the man's head between both hands and brought his knee up Krakk!
"…AGH! Stahp…!"
"Stop?!" Negan angrily repeated. "How many times did those women ask you to stop huh?!" Hegan pulled out the knife from the first guy. "Let's see how you like it!" he stabbed the knife into the man's crotch.
"AHHH!"
"Yeah. Fucking hurts doesn't it?" Negan pulled the knife out. "You know, if I hadn't found that basement I was going to let you live." He picked up his bat and gripped it with both hands. The metal felt like it weighed nothing, but also capable of doing massive damage. "Guessed you got screwed over big time."
Whack! Whkrack! Krarakk! Kraggh! Krakeegh! Splaugghh!
An hour or so later saw Negan escorting the half dozen women back to Croftshire. It had taken some coaxing to get them out and moving, but they had all risen to their feet eventually. The rain was already dying down at that point, so at least they weren't completely drenched. Although, that was the least of the worries.
He led them in a beeline to where the doctor's clinic was. Each followed after the other in a sluggish fashion. Not even knocking on the door he led the women inside. "Hey doc, get your ass over here," Negan called to the doctor who was hovering over the bed of the boy from earlier. "Got some clients for you. So help them out and earn your fucking pay." As the doctor ushered them all to beds in the open ward, Negan grabbed a chair in the waiting area and sat down.
"Fuck." He closed his eyes.
If he could get some sleep, that would be fucking amazing.
Just sleep.
Sleep.
Sleep…
"AAGH!"
Oh what the fuck now?! his eyes shot open to see nurses running to where the scream had come from. "Hey nurse!" he shouted to one of the staff. "Mind telling me what the fuck is going on?!"
"Deranged patient!" she frantically replied. "He's bitten the doctor."
Bitten the doctor.
Bitten the doctor.
Bitten…
"Fuck. Me."
He ran to where the commotion was going on. He paid little to no attention as he shoved hospital staff aside. Sure enough, he spotted the source of the hubbub. A doctor was clutching his bleeding forearm as it gushed blood from where the boy had bitten him.
"Son! Son it's me!" the father pleaded with the corpse as he grasped its shoulders. "You need to stay still! The Doctor can help you!"
"Raaghhh!" the little boy walker growled as he leaned to take a chunk out of his fathers neck.
Negan was faster; pulling out the knife from before he grabbed hold of the walker boy and drove the knife into his temple. The body went limp almost instantly.
"S-son?" the father looked down in disbelief at the now corpse of his child. Negan looked to the doctor.
"You have to cut that off." He pointed the knife to the doctor's forearm. "It'll spread if you don't."
"Y-you killed that boy…" the doctor backed away from him, pointing an accusing finger at him. "K-killed him."
"He was already dead," Negan tried to explain. "That was his fucking corpse that took a bite out of you."
"M-my boy," the father wept. He turned to glare daggers up at Negan. "You-you killed him. He was sick and you just killed him!"
"He was dead and I put him out of his misery." Negan said once again. "And if you want to keep that disease from spreading doc over here has to lose his arm."
The father leapt up and grabbed Negan by his jacket. "You're crazy! You're a murderer! You killed a sick child!"
"Get off me!" Negan swatted the man's hands away. "You would have a piece missing from your neck if I hadn't saved you just now."
"S-security!" the doctor yelled. "We need security here now!"
"Goddamn it!" Negan cursed as two hospital orderlies went to grab his arms. He struggled to free himself, and felt a fist hit his jaw.
"You murdered my son!" the father screamed as an orderly restrained him as well.
"I don't have time for this shit!" Negan seethed as he head butted one orderly, and kneed the other in the stomach. He grabbed the knife he used to put down the boy and bolted for the exit, making sure to grab his bat on the way out.
"Stop him!" a voice yelled as Negan made for the town's gate. He shouldered the two watch guards aside. He could hear the town in an uproar behind him, but he didn't look back as he continued running into the woods.
He stopped at an uprooted tree and took a minute to catch his breath. "Fuck…today…and every other day like this." How could this have happened? Walkers, here?
Actually, scratch that. He had an idea how. The Beowolf. The one that scratched him, it had licked some of his blood. That's when it had started acting weird. If it was the same Beowolf that bit that kid, then that boy would have the walker virus in him. Right?
He couldn't think of a more scientific way of explaining it. Negan sighed. He knew what he had to do. He took out the scroll he had been given.
"Hello?" A tired Rick Grimes answered.
"H-hey, Rick! It's not a bad time to be calling is it?"
"It's three in the morning," Rick sardonically replied. "What is it?"
"Just relieved you picked up right now to tell the truth."
"What is it?"
"Listen, you know that solo mission I got assigned to? I mean of course you do. You're a very important man at that school aren't you? Well listen…" Negan swallowed a large lump in his throat. The sound of a gun being cocked sounded from behind him, and he knew it was aimed at his head. A glance behind him reveled it to be the boy's father: mister Greenfield. "I fucked up."
*I believe that the guy Negan killed in part 14 of his backstory was Alexander Davidson. I mean the man was kicked out of Alexandria for raping some of the women, and when he met Negan's group he was basically prostituting his women out. It could serve as a neat tie in to the original comic series.
A/N: Also once again, if you have any ideas on what characters semblances should be, let me know because they will come into play next chapter to conclude this mini arc of mine. Thank you for reading.