Chapter 21:
Rick was used to having many different types of weapons aimed in his direction, and he rarely took offence to it in recent months, but having Michonne's blade by his neck for a third time, under delicate circumstances, annoyed him greatly. While her stance told him that she meant business, something in her eyes told him otherwise.
His cloudy eyes didn't leave hers, "Are we going there again? Is that what's happening right now?"
"I need you to stop", her tone was low, her grip on the handle, tight, "I want you to calm down and listen to me-"
"I've listened to you and I know what you're going to say-"
"No, you don't!"
"I told you, I've let one too many thangs slide when it comes to him, and I'm not letting that happen again", He repeated firmly.
"I know what you told me, and I'm angry that we even need to go here again, but I can't let you go over there-"
"You're still protecting him? Even now? Even after what he did that to you, you're still protecting him?", Rick's brows knitted together as he stepped closer to her, risking a nasty cut from her blade, "Have you even seen your neck?"
"You don't understand-"
"He killed your son for you, he helped you out of a dark place, I get all that, but the man showed just you how much you really mean to him-"
"He was angry!-"
"So that makes it alright? You think he deserves a free pass from you because he was mad?!"
"He was angry because of what you told him! That wasn't your place to tell him that! I should have been the one to tell him when I was ready-"
"And I apologised for that! I didn't keep my mouth shut and let you go in there, unaware of what he knew, I came right out and told you, I admitted that I shouldn't have said anythan'! But that doesn't give him the right to hurt you!"
She turned took a small step back, "I will deal with him"
Rick shook his head, as he stuck out his hand to here, "No. No, you won't. Not anymore. Where's the key?"
"What?", She frowned, her eyes moving like a pinball all over his face while she finally lowered her sword.
"You heard me. I don't want you going over there anymore, and I want the key back", His tone was at its sharpest as his temper began to boil over, "Now."
"You can't do that! You can't tell me who I can and can't see-"
"Where are you right now, Michonne? Are you in the Sanctuary or are you in Alexandria? Do you remember who I am here?"
Her chest rose and fell quicker, "That is not fair."
"I've been more than fair with you!", He roared, throwing a hand in the air, "I have let him live when I shouldn't have, I've let him stay here, I've let you look after him- You think I'm going to continue to let him have control of you from inside that cell?!"
"He does not have control of me!"
"After everything he's done", His voice dropped to a throaty growl, "You're seriously trying to protect him? And I know you don't agree with anything he's said or done, so I don't know what it is that you're holding on to. Do you think he'll change? Is that what you're waiting for? Do you see even a shred of the man that you knew in there anymore?"
Her eyes glistened, and tears threatened to fall as she choked out, "Yes. I do"
Rick shook his head, "I don't believe that at all-"
"I do! You won't see it, no one else out there will see it, and even people that have been with us the longest won't see it, but I do", She wiped a tear from her cheek roughly, "He is having a tough time right now-"
"So what?!", His face contorted with disgust.
"He needs time! He's barely even been in there a month! You should know this! You should know that change doesn't happen overnight! Especially with someone as far gone as he was! And it's my fault that he's like that because I left him to handle things, I left him to learn how to be a leader and I left him when he's needed me. He's didn't start out like this, and he won't end like this either-"
"Plenty of leaders have made it this far without doing even half the things that he's done-"
"So you've always been on the straight and narrow? You're never done anything questionable to protect the people around you? To protect everyone from the 'bad people' out their?-"
"Who was he protecting when he attacked Tyreese? Huh?"
"He shouldn't of touched Tyreese, I know that, but at the same time he had ample amount of time to kill him. He could have if he really wanted to but he didn't! And I've seen that man make a decision to kill in the blink of an eye!"
"And what about you then?", He challenged, narrowing his eyes at her, "What was he doing when he did whatever he did to your neck? He grabbed you, right? Did he try to choke you?"
She exhaled through her nose, "That was him hitting rock bottom"
He rolled his eyes shut as he shook his head, "You are just full of excuses for him-"
"They are not excuses! If I truly believed that there was no hope for him at all, then I would have killed him a long time ago! No one would have had to ask me to do a thing because I would have made that decision myself!"
"Well you're done making decisions now", He sniffed as he straightened up, "The key. Now"
While her positioning remained still, he noticed a little tremble in her jaw, "Rick-"
"Michonne, give me the key now", He breathed through gritted teeth.
"Just don't-"
"You don't get to decide what does and doesn't happen to him anymore, and I don't want you anywhere near there again, and I mean that, so give me the key"
Despite their heated argument, it still pained him to see her so stressed. She snapped her eyes shut as she dropped her sword to the floor, turning away from him.
"Michonne."
She reached in her back pocket, and fished out the singular key and slapping it in the palm of his hand. She spun around and stalked up the stairs without another glance or another word.
Rick stayed rooted in the same place until he heard a door slam close, and he finally left her home.
To say he was angry would be an understatement, and despite all that he felt instinctively, he found himself conflicted. On the one hand, he had the perfect reason to kill Negan before him, and he had wanted to for so long that the opportunity felt like a gift to him. The fact that this man could turn on Michonne after all she had done to keep him alive only told Rick how selfish the man was, and how unappreciated he was of her. He was sure if he were to offer all the people around him, and from neighbouring communities the chance to kill Negan, the queue would be the longest he'd ever seen, and he would be sure to be at the front.
On the other hand however, he couldn't help but consider Michonne in his decision making process. He wouldn't understand her loyalty to the man, and he almost thought her as foolish for still choosing to stand beside the man, but to see how much she cared for her friend left Rick torn.
"Carl?!", Rick yelled as he marched into his home, stopping near the kitchen to listen for his son.
"I'm here", The teenager stepped out of the living room, holding a babbling Judith in his arms.
"Where was she when you left?", Rick quizzed, moving closer to them both.
"I gave her to Gabriel to hold. I saw Michonne climbing over the gate and figured something was up…", The teenager explained with slightly frustrated tone, "I know I shouldn't have gone out-"
"Yeah, you shouldn't have", Rick issued, "She wasn't thinking straight so shouldn't have followed her out-"
"What was wrong with her?"
Rick softened when he noticed the concern surrounding his son, "She just needed to blow off some steam. That's all"
The teenager didn't seem to accept his response, but nodded for his father's sake, "Okay."
"Listen, I trust you. I think you're smarter than a lot of the adults in this place when it comes to dealing with thangs out there, but I need you to be a little bit more careful with stuff like that"
Carl nodded a second time, "I know, but Rosita was just standing there and I don't think she even knew what to do"
"Yeah… well we haven't had anyone climb the damn gate to get out before", Something about the way Carl's gaze quickly dropped to his sister made Rick squint at him, "Who?"
The teenager hesitated, his lips pressing together.
"Who?", Rick repeated firmly.
Carl shifted his stance, "If I tell you then you have to promise not to get mad?"
"Fine", He lied, "Who?"
"Enid. She goes out sometimes-"
He almost had to ask 'Who?' for a fourth time as the teenage girl slipped his mind, "What for?"
The boy shrugged, "She was outside for a long time too. I think she prefers it out there…"
Rick knew virtually nothing about the girl, besides the fact that she and Carl read comic books together, so if she had been sneaking out, he would have never known, "Right, where is she now?"
"You're not going to say anything are you?"
"We've everythan' we've got going on right now, the last thang we need is people sneaking out. We may not know much about this other group, but we do know their hostile, so unless she wants to come face to face with them by herself, I suggest you warn her that staying put is her best option"
"Yeah… I'll talk to her"
"Good… and you should probably wait a while before you go out looking for Michonne", He instructed, heading back towards the front door, "I mean it"
"I know", Carl called, bouncing Judith as he strolled back into the living room.
"There you are", Sasha sighed, stopping at the bottom of the porch steps as Rick closed the door of his home, "What happened?"
He shook his head, "She just needed to blow off some steam"
Sasha raised a questioning eyebrow, but still nodded as if she found the excuse reasonable, "Right… well I'm going up to the watch tower, a few walkers are building up over on the north wall-"
"How many is a few?", Rick paused on the steps to look at her.
"I don't know yet, Tobin came and told me about it because he couldn't find you."
His eyes darted back to the street, "Yeah. Alright. I'm gonna go handle somethan' quickly, then I'll come get you, we'll check it out"
"Alright. Got it"
He checked the barrel of his gun as his feet pounded the pavement, slapping it shut when he saw it was full. He approached the home that housed Negan and stomped down the stairs, ignoring Eugene, who was sat outside with a book.
"Go", He rasped to Bruce, stepping past him and placing himself in front of her cell door.
Bruce hopped up without a word, allowing Rick to glower in peace as he zeroed in on Negan. He was sat on the floor, his head and back against the wall, with his legs splayed in front of him. He looked at Rick with hooded, tired eyes, making no attempt to speak.
"Don't mind me", Rick swung the chair, that had been placed outside the cell, and brought it behind him, taking a seat, "I'm just deciding on whether to kill you or not"
Negan continued to stare at him.
"I mean, I want to kill you. I should, I know I should, for many reasons. I have a list of reasons, in fact. The one that's bothering me the most right now is what you did to her. That's somethan'… somethan' I'm struggling with", He gently swung his weapon in his hand, "You know I've actually thought for quite some time now, that you don't deserve her? And I guess I was right. You really don't… It doesn't matter what you did for her… she shouldn't have to put up with you"
The prisoners lip twitched, but still he remained quiet.
Rick tilted his head at him as he sent his glare through the bars, "And do you wanna know what I actually think? Well I know you don't but, I'm gonna tell you anyway. I think you'd prefer it if I killed you. I think you'd welcome a quick, painless death, over sitting in here for the rest of your days. And as I said, I'd love to do the honours, but I hate you enough to wanna see the complete opposite happen. I wanna get you another way"
Negan blinked, his nostrils flaring.
"I've already figured out what your punishment will be. Actually, I figured it out when you broke out the last time, but now I'm in a position to put it into place, instead of killing you", Rick sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees, "It's her, ain't it? It all leads back to her. That's the only thing that really gets you going, huh?"
While Negan didn't move, Rick noticed that his chest moved quicker than it has been.
"So, Michonne won't be coming down here anymore, and I imagine you're probably thinking that that isn't much right now, but you need to come to terms with the fact that you might not see her for a very long time, so it's going to get pretty lonely...", Rick scratched his brow with his thumb, "I mean, it's not like anyone else was dying to come down here anyway, which is especially sad when you think about all the people you were surrounded by not that long ago..."
One corner of Negan's mouth curled ever so slightly, though he still leered at him.
Rick sat back with a sigh, "That's gonna be your punishment, and I can't wait to watch it sink in, because it will, really soon. You'll be stuck in here, while she's out there, helping us. Helping me. I mean, she's already done so much but the fact is, she's a part of this community now, and we value her, I definitely do. I couldn't help but notice how she's changed since she's been around everyone else but you... I never saw her smile when she was with you, and she hardly ever spoke, but it's like she's thriving now she's here. She's talking to people, and laughing… her laugh is somethan' sweet, ain't it? Especially when she finds somethan' really funny… or when she's being tickled…"
Rick has to stop himself, as he had sworn not to use his personal relationship with Michonne to get to Negan, but seeing the man's jaw clench as he spoke, told him he had said enough.
"...The more time she spends around people like her, the sooner she'll realise what you are."
Negan snorted as he rolled his eyes, muttering sarcastically, "Yeah yeah"
"You have somethan' to say now? You've been awfully quiet? What happened? Have you realised that you screwed up? You made the wrong move a while ago, didn't you? Has it sunk in that quickly? That's amazing if it has", Rick stood up with a huff, giving the man one final look, "I don't think you'll be hard to train at all"
His one sided conversation with Negan only left feeling slightly satisfied, as he was still bothered by his argument with Michonne. He was so excited to see his relationship with her develop further, but he was afraid that Negan had managed to put things on hold between them. He had originally believed that if he showed that he respected their friendship, then it wouldn't be that much of a nuisance to him, but he was beginning to think he was wrong.
"All done? Ready to go?", Sasha queried as he approached her at the gates, stood beside Abraham.
"Yeah", Rick huffed, his eyes scanning the area, "Did you have any problems taking them out?"
"Nah, but I was just telling Abraham that they looked weird from what I can see up there"
"Weird?"
"Yeah, like they didn't have any skin or something"
Rick looked at her strangely as he shifted his stance, "That's not really anythan' new-"
"That's what I said. I've seen some missing half their damn bodies before", Abraham added with a snort.
"Well let's go check it out and you can see for yourself. I know what I'm talking about", Sasha rolled her eyes as she turned towards the gate.
Rick followed behind the two of them, forcing himself to concentrate on the task at hand, and hoping Sasha's latest discovery wasn't part of the ever increasing problem that lingered in the town's future. He still held some confidence at the thought of having to go to war with another group, especially with the alliance of the other communities, he hated not knowing what he was up against.
"See. Told you".
Rick and Abraham looked down at the bodies scattered in front of them, which were obviously missing the skin on their heads. The larger man frowned, "They were either killed, then skinned, or skinned after they turned... either way, it's fucking creepy"
"Creepy seems to be the pattern here...", Rick groaned as he raked his fingers through his hair, "Just what we need"
"We need to find these fuckers real soon. Their closing in on our asses"
"We will".