Chapter 27

Sophia apparated right on top of the old and rusty iron stairs going down into the main factory area, where most of the workers mingled at one point or another throughout the day's work, bartering with each other or exchanging points for supplies and services. Her sudden appearance above the workers pulling a few eyes on her that she tried to ignore as she calmly, and a little stiffly since her back was still a little sore and weak from her injuries, walked down and into the crowd

The workers greeted her as they usually did, some bowing their heads as she passed them, some calling her name and other few even kneeling. She tried to ignore the kneelers and nod in greetings to the bowers.

"Harpy!" A female voice called, she recognized it as Amber's and saw her coming up to her from nearby. The older girl looked a lot perkier than she used to, she thought, she had cut her hair shorter and now wore it in a neat ponytail. She looked like she had been either training or working on something.

"I heard about what happened, are you alright?" The blonde asked, giving her a lookdown.

"Yup, good as new." Sophia answered her, consciously trying to hide the fact that she didn't feel like talking at all from her voice.

Amber nodded silently and proceeded to curiously check her robe and new look.

"I've never seen you wear stuff like this before, it looks nice. Very witchy...a bit goth though." She complimented.

Sophia had to nod at that, her problem with most robes was that they were either really formal, exceedingly casual or typically gothy. She tended to lean towards more of a no-maj style, so formal robes were out of the question and casual robes made her feel like she was dressing up as a witch. Finally, the more simple and no-maj passable were seen as gothic for some reason, it was stuff that she didn't really understand because it came from the old world so she learned from other people.

"Thanks, I thought getting my clothes burnt and destroyed was a good time to change it up a little...I like the way you have your hair now." Sophia answered.

"I know, now that I've tried, I feel like my hair was really boring before…" Commented the blonde, then looked conflicted for a second before finding resolve. "Hey, are you ok? You seem a little off, I think." She said suddenly.

"I'm fine." Sophia assured her quickly. "It's just that today is one of those days I leave for a while...Remember?" She said trying to give a believable excuse. As an ex-wife of Negan, Amber had been privy to some things she usually kept from most people, like her name, face, and her curse.

"Oh, right…" Amber said thoughtfully.

"How is Arat? How's the training going?" She asked, trying to change the subject, which the blond obliged with a smile.

"Great!, you should join us someday, some combat training could help you next time. And about, well Arat is fine, I think she was a little spooked about what happened last night."

"What do you mean?" Sophia asked, a little confused, it wasn't like she was in death's door when she arrived.

Amber got closer to her and Sophia understood that she wanted to whisper, so she lent her the ear. "You know, the whole tremor and blackout that you did yesterday." She said to her in a whisper.

B...blackout!? Sophia thought a little alarmed.

Amber must have seen her worried eyes because she immediately tried to placate her.

"Oh, don't worry. Arat told me to never talk about it with anyone." The girl said, trying to reassure her.

"Did someone get hurt?" Sophia asked worriedly and looked around for any sign of her little panic attack or people giving her any kind of wondering look, but there wasn't.

"No! No one, just some light bulbs and window panes, that's all." She punctuated the comment with a glance above them to the big glass windows. Sophia followed her eyes and noticed some glass panes had been now covered with cardboard as a temporary solution.

Oh fuck… Sophia thought. It was the first time she had lost control like that.

"I'll fix that when I get back, don't worry." She promised the girl. "And by the way that won't happen again, I promise."

The blond girl waved her promise off like it didn't matter. "Oh don't worry, It wasn't that bad." She said.

But it was...somewhat bad… Sophia couldn't help but read from her comment.

"Hey! You know what we should do?" Amber asked and continued without waiting for her to answer. "We should give this whole place a fixup, a nice face wash too. Did you know I used to study interior decoration before everything went to shit?" She did know, the blonde had told her in the past.

"I do know. Sure, I'll try to be here more often anyway so…" Sophia said, not really feeling up to it but she wasn't about to reject the pretty girl.

"Great! Just find me when you want to start and I'll help you with ideas." Amber said happily.

"Cool…" Sophia answered and suddenly she didn't know what to say, but the girl was still looking at her with a wide smile. "By the way, how's your mom?"

"Oh, she's fine. I'm kinda happy that I haven't had to ask for your help as we thought." Amber said, a little more serious now. Sophia didn't think that much of her offer to help the transition, so she found it interesting that the blond was relieved that she didn't have to get involved again.

"That's cool, the offer stands anyway...What about Mark? Did the new look get his attention or something?" She asked.

Amber shrugged with an indecipherable expression on her face. "Mmmh, not that I have noticed...I think I'm just fine like this for once." She said with a finger on her chin as if thinking.

Their conversation fell again into silence, but Sophia didn't feel as awkward about it, then someone else interrupted them.

"Miss Harpy?" Came the voice of a woman from behind Amber, making the blond quickly turn around to see.

It was an older woman, she looked like she was around her fifties, and walked up to her with a smile and a brown paper bag.

"Hi, is everything alright?" She asked the woman, trying to convey a cheery tone with the woman, earning an interesting look from Amber.

"I don't mean to bother, it's just that I heard that you had an accident, and...since you helped me and my boy the other time. Well, I thought I could at least make your lunch, it's a sandwich and a fruit salad." She explained with a smile.

Sophia watched her in mild surprise, she didn't really remember the woman and debated in her head if she should say so.

"Oh shit, that's so thoughtful of you, thank you Miss...I'm sorry, I don't remember, what was your name?" She asked hoping she wasn't being disrespectful.

"Alice, it's alright Miss Harpy. We didn't offer our names, but you helped us after my husband died. With that man who came and…" The woman reminded her, and she did remember now.

This was the woman who had to stand by as Dwight went through her dead husband's belongings. "Yeah, I remember now. How's your boy?" She asked with interest as she received the paper bag.

"He has been a great help to me lately, but he spends most days at one of the outposts now that he is on his Savior training." Told her the woman, a hint of pride in her voice.

Sophia smiled internally at the news and really welcomed the lunch, which she would certainly save to eat at the bay for a late lunch.

"Well, thank you for the gesture, Miss Alice. I really appreciate it." She said earnestly. The woman just nodded happily and after sparing a glance at Amber, who had stood there the whole time, she walked away.

So now Sophia found herself with a homemade lunch and a broom in hand, she felt like she was about to go to school or something.

"Did you know you don't have eyelashes?" She asked out of nowhere, with her head cocked to the side.

Oh shit, that's right. She thought, remembering the comments from Arat and Laura the night before. She reached and touched her eyes through the holes of the mask, feeling the lack of eyelashes.

I guess I don't have eyebrows either…

"Oh my god, yeah, I forgot about that." She said, a little embarrassed.

"Can't you fix that with your wand?" Asked Amber with one of her eyebrows raised.

Is there?. She thought. A potion?

"I don't know, a potion maybe...or maybe I could paint my eyes black while I wear the mask. I thought about doing that once." She said, half mindedly weighing the lunch she held with her left hand. This got Amber suddenly excited enough to reach and grab her arm and pull.

"I can do it for you! I have a bunch of makeup shit I don't even use, are you busy right now?" Asked the blonde.

She wasn't really, all she planned to do was have a talk with Eugene and then leave for the bay. "I mean...I'm not, but aren't you busy?"

Amber took the answer as an agreement and pulled her even more towards the stairs and to the enforcers quarters. "I'm on my lunch break, so it's fine."

"Arat gives you lunch breaks? That doesn't sound like her." Sophia said incredulously.

"I think she just gets tired of me, says I talk a lot." Amber said while walking a couple of steps ahead of her. They turned a couple of times through the poorly illuminated corridors until she reached one of the standard quarters, the ones that were even smaller than the lieutenants, there were a few individual rooms and the rest were set up for two or more to bunk.

She noticed as soon as she opened the door that Amber's quarters were meant for two but she was the only one bunking there, leaving another bed empty. Sophia walked in a little awkwardly, trying to find a place to sit down, the room was composed of two bunk beds, a single desk with a chair and a mirror and a small fridge.

None of the regular enforcer quarters had real windows, but they had access to electricity, which was the only reason it was even possible to live there. It was positively cramped and poorly ventilated, but the walls were scattered with some colorful decorations like little lights and photographs. At least her side.

"I know, it's nothing like what you have up there, just sit at the chair." Ordered Amber, while she reached under her bed and pulled a big handbag, heavy with what sounded like many little plastic cases and little glass things.

Sophia obliged, sitting on the chair with a sigh, her hands on her lap as she looked calmly at her reflection on the wall. She did look a lot more witchy, it was the high neckline with the hat.

When she focused on her eyes, she saw for the first time the extent of the damage to her skin, but it wasn't much more than what could be a bad sunburn. She reached to the mask with her hand and released its grasp from her head, while at the same time removing her hat, to have a look at herself. There were a few little shallow scratches on the left brow, her eyes looked a little red and she had no eyelashes and little patches for eyebrows.

"I used to get so much of this stuff when I was with Negan." Commented Amber, she opened the bag and from it, she took a big plastic box with what looked like watercolors and a couple of brushes, nothing like Sophia had expected.

"Ok, what were you thinking? I have a bunch of options." She started excited, and turned towards her, casually holding her face and looking at the area around the eyes. "I could do like a metallic gradient, what do you think?" She offered.

"No, nothing like that. Just plain black." Sophia quickly told her. In truth, in the past, she had considered painting herself with magic, but she didn't want to straight-up reject the help. So this was more like a test for her, a trial run.

Amber huffed as if annoyed that she didn't get to do something more complex. "Booring."

Sophia easily ignored the accusation and watched as the blonde prepared the black paint.

"I never noticed, but you have like a sidecut going on with your scarred side, it doesn't look bad." She said as she worked.

"Yeah...it never grows on that side."

"It's a mess though, you must spend all day with your hair trapped in that thing," Amber said, giving her hair a look over.

"I don't mind, really…"

"You should get one of those half masks, like in that book." The blonde continued, as she started to carefully paint her eyes black with a cold wet brush and thick black ink.

"What book?"

"I don't know that one with the guy in the mask." Answered the blonde, offhandedly.

All in all, it was just a little part of her face that was to be painted, since the mask only had eye holes. So when Amber finished, Sophia just looked like a raccoon with a very unamused face, which apparently was really funny to the other girl.

They ended up sharing her lunch and talking casually while the paint dried. They talked about anything and nothing, but they laughed and Sophia managed to relax a little, get her head away from recent events.

At least the paint would hide the signs of the attack which was something she was very concerned about, to her, the Harpy had to be a character that was seemingly unaffected by such attempts. She had to be seen as above those that tried such things, so it would later discourage others.

That is why she was planning on going to Hilltop before heading out to the Bay, at least to be seen by Maggie.

The painting for her eyes looked really better once she placed her mask back on, convincing her that it had been the right decision since it hid a lot of the expressions that reached her eyes, and according to Amber, it gave her a much more dangerous air. Sophia didn't know about that, but it did feel more in touch with her current mood, especially when it came to the communities.

The whole double assassination had left her feeling a little resentful about them, to think that they would risk other people's lives to get their petty revenge. People died because of what Paul did, and same with Sasha. It was almost like they didn't care, either that or they were abusing the fact that Negan generally didn't want to kill many of them. The less of them died the better, but how far did it have to go before they called quits... because Negan and her were not about to stop anytime soon. No matter the fact that they had killed way more of her people than the Saviors ever did.

It was at least an hour after midday when Amber decided that it was probably time to go back to her job.

"It was nice, thanks for the company." Said the blonde. "And the awful sandwich." She joked.

The old lady had surprised them with a plain onion and tomato sandwich, with a little goat cheese too. Sophia knew was a luxury they got from Hilltop, so in truth, she appreciated it.

"I actually kinda liked it, very light and tasteful, and that cheese is not cheap." She said smiling, it actually gave her a little guilt that they laughed about the woman's food. And after reassuring the blonde that she would make good on the promise to fix up Sanctuary with her, they finally parted.

So, Sophia was again with the broom in hand and still in need of a conversation with Eugene.

I'm going to end up cutting it close, am I? She thought as she walked out and towards the other compound where the bullet factory was established.

She found Eugene at the bullet factory, he had about six workers with him now and by what she could tell, he had gone a little too far into the manager role. Judging by the way he was timing everyone's speed and registering the numbers on a little notebook. So focused he was in analyzing his workers' production rate, that she walked up to him and stood by his side without him realizing.

"It's nice to see things are going well here." She said watching over the workers.

"At this point," Eugene started, without taking his eyes from his notes. "Our biggest hurdle is materials and next it will be storage space. We are defini-" But it was at that moment he realized he didn't know who he was talking to, and when he looked at her and she looked at him, he couldn't stop himself from jumping in place and almost tripping on his own shoes. "Oh, sweet lord! that mask is the stuff of nightmares as it is, no need to enhance its effect with facial paint."

Sophia laughed a little at the man's reaction, pleased it had a bit of effect at least. Not that Eugene was a good measure for it. "You really think it works?" She asked, giving him an intense look just to mess with him.

"It's positively giving me the jibbies." He answered, now back on his straight and un-expressive tone.

"That's good though, it's what I hoped. Do you think we could talk for a sec?" She asked the man.

Eugene merely nodded stiffly and walked off to one of the corners of their workshop where they had set up a little table with some food and drinks.

"Actually, could we go outside?" She asked him, it wasn't that big of a room and she didn't want the workers to hear.

They walked out of the workshop and stopped right next to the door, under a little shadow. From there they could see some of the farming they did and the people working it, as well as other maintenance workers going about their days.

Eugene remained in silence, even when they stood there awkwardly for a minute, she didn't mind. Sophia didn't really know what she wanted to say to the man, but it had crossed her mind at some point when she arrived last night that Eugene had to be feeling the weight of his friends' lives.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Sasha." She said simply, trying to judge the man's reaction, not something easy to do when he was mostly like a robot most of the time.

Eugene seemed to think for a few seconds, his eyes on the floor. "I take it they have done the deed?" He asked.

"Yeah, this morning. Negan said he had Rick do it." She said, never taking her eyes off his. She could see that he was trying to put down his feelings about it, she didn't really understand why it would be normal if he was affected by it.

"I...was forbidden to talk to her." He started.

"I didn't know, I wish I was awake for all of this." She lamented.

He looked like he was unsure if he should say something. "I trust you, Eugene. Just talk to me." She tried to reassure him.

"...Miss Harpy, I believe we may have built a rapport lately. So I'm gonna take a risk here and say that I did in fact talk to Sasha last night, despite the rotund denial from the bossman." He said finally.

It didn't surprise her that Negan was being careful with the man, but Sophia wasn't about to go tell him. "And how did it go?"

"Well, I offered my support if she wanted to get on board with the program, but she refused...then she asked me for a painless way out." He finished sadly.

"What did you do?" Sophia asked, not worried since the woman had already been dealt with. Apparently with no issues.

"I would have in fact provided an untraceable cocktail in the form of a capsule that would send her to sleep and die, were I to have either the resources or the time but as it was, her execution was scheduled for hours and I had no access to the required pharmaceuticals." He explained, always trying to keep his nonplussed facade.

That would have been bad in any situation, either for Negan or for some other innocent Alexandrian.

"I won't tell anyone, but consider that those...lessons...Negan tries to transmit to the people under us are important to prevent more deaths." She said, trying not to sound like she was chastising him.

If Eugene agreed, she didn't know because he remained silent and staring down.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about all this…" She said gesticulating to the bullet factory. "You have been helping us so much, and...well after yesterday, I thought it might have crossed your mind that these very same bullets might one day be used on your friends. If things continue going like this... there's gotta be a point when Negan or the lieutenants will say enough if it continues, I just hope it doesn't get like that." She tried to explain.

She reclined against the wall with her hands on her back and sighed. The man continued to hold his thoughts.

"I mean...you get it right? What are we doing here?" She asked the man, her frustration getting to her voice. It was his silence that bothered her

"You are different, Eugene."

"When Negan took Daryl, he wanted him to get under his command a capable soldier or lieutenant, he knows those are rare. He has good instincts for people, that's why he took you in instead of killing you, but I don't think he knows just how much you were meant to be here." She continued, not really knowing what she was trying to say.

"Did you know I invited my mom to join us?... I wanted her to be a pacifying buffer between Alexandria and us, I wanted them to think twice about doing something rash and her to think twice about letting it happen…" She kept her eyes on the floor as she talked, it felt more that she was the one that needed the talk, instead of the man.

"But... you know? I get her, she is tired of the fighting and killing, it's getting to her. But shouldn't that be an incentive? Yet, when I tried to show her what we were about, she kept her distrust so blatantly on the surface, it actually kind of hurt. She never gave us a chance, or me. She doesn't understand… but you do." Sophia said.

At this she looked at him, searching for any sign of agreement in his eyes, but still the man was difficult to read. "You do right?" She asked.

Eugene nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "I believe Negan and you are trying to provide a centralized hierarchy structure with the settlements on the area, to sustain a stronger and more stable authority, capable of both protecting and policing the territory."

"Yess, exactly!." Sophia felt a little relieved that he understood. "Where are you from? Where did you start?"

"Abraham, Rosita and I came all the way from Texas. It took us more time than we expected, the journey was plagued with detours and hurdles, people died but from day one with them, I made it very clear that this was the place to be when shit hit the proverbial fan." He started.

"See? I know you understand that this is the place where you are supposed to be, this place, this mission Negan and I share is the reason you came all the way from Texas to the east coast. The best use of your time is working at the center of that power structure, where the resources from all the communities gather and support all these workers who can dedicate themselves to the slow but secure progress." She said a little bit more excited, as she found the point she was trying to make.

"Yes, I guess that is what I wanted to say. I know that you believe in us and in the Sanctuary, but...I also thought that you might be struggling with the fact that you may be making bullets that could end up killing your friends, or that they might consider you a traitor or something." She finished, gazing at the man that had been listening to her ramble on.

"I confess to having been struggling with insomnia, and I may be trying to fix it with alcohol. Yes." He admitted.

"Well, despite the recent attacks and deaths... Negan believes that it might have been the last of the resistance, and I think with some of the work I've put recently, we might have bought us enough peacetime for them to get used to the way things work."

"So I guess I just wanted to say is...Believe in us Eugene, we will save them, I will save them...and that we need you." She finished, instantly feeling better for getting it out of her chest. She looked at him straight in the eyes and hoped that he could see her earnestness in them.

He took his time to answer, the monotone of his persona somehow diminished.

"I believe in you, Miss Harpy."

Despite her original intention of leaving for the bay before lunch, it was not midafternoon and Sophia was flying towards Hilltop, she agreed to take it easy but she couldn't leave without tying up some loose ends. And one of them was making sure she was seen at Hilltop after the attempt on her life, she wanted to be seen as untouched and unaffected, it was about not letting them think she was weak.

At least just their leader.

She saw Maggie walk into the mansion from above, probably going to her office. Then it occurred to Sophia that she knew where Paul used to sleep, so without giving it much thought, she flew around the big house and stopped outside the window she knew used to be his.

It wasn't hard to climb in and no one saw her since it was looking towards the back wall of the settlement. Inside, she let out a breath of relief after getting away from the bright and hot sun and had to wait for her eyes to get used to the less illuminated room. The door to the room was closed, so she felt comfortable enough to leave the window open and enjoy the breeze coming in as she moved to the bedside table to look with curiosity at what the man had left behind.

Sophia sat on the bed and sighed, breathing in the homely smell of the old room, then she opened the little drawer and saw that inside there wasn't much really. An opened pack of cigarettes that caught her by surprise, she had never known the man to smoke and generally, she could smell it on smokers. There was also a blue headband with a little blue ribbon, which at closer inspection had some old bloodstains on the inside.

Finally, the last object was an old and weathered leather wallet, there was no money or cards inside, only a couple of pictures of what seemed to be the man's family. A couple of fairly standard parents, if only a little old to have a daughter in her teens. The girl was beautiful and dressed in a pristine summer dress, a bright smile on her face as she held Paul's arm. He was clearly a bit of a different breed, with his long hair tied up in a high bun and a beard. The last picture was of two men, one of which was Paul, well-trimmed beard and mane while the other perfectly shaven and a clean cut.

She heard the steps first, so she wasn't surprised when the door opened and someone's breath hitched. She didn't need to take her eyes from the photograph to confirm it was Maggie, she had the hunch that she would come from the start.

With another sigh, Sophia left the wallet and photographs on the bed and stood up, turning around and locking eyes with the pregnant woman. Maggie was glaring at her with such hate that she thought it would burn the house to ashes, tears fell from her eyes, going around her mouth as she ground her teeth and dripped from her chin.

Her whole body was trembling.

"Jesus was right, I used to think you were just a lost kid… you are a monster." Maggie almost hissed.

The tone in the last word was what caught Sophia unaware, the meaning behind the word bringing her to think about her mother and the last words they shared.

"Are you mad at me for killing Jesus? Or at yourself for letting him go that far?" She asked calmly.

The questions had a visible effect on the woman. Her already hitched breath haltered for a second and she took a step forward, but then held herself back.

"I guess you know about Sasha too..." Sophia continued and calmly walked to the wall closet near the window, it had a full-length mirror and she used it to check herself. She looked taller with her new boots, and she liked the way her new clothes hugged her body warmly yet lightly. The blackness in her eyes gave more weight to the glare from the Harpy mask.

"I'm sorry about how things turned out, Maggie." She said honestly. "I'm sorry that Jesus-" But the mention of his name moved the woman to talk.

"Don't call him that." Said Maggie filled with tearful indignation.

Sophia gave her a side look, from her position in the mirror then rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I'm sorry that Paul blew himself up trying to kill me." There was a hint of mockery in her tone that she didn't know if she should have intended.

"It used to be you, Sasha, Jesus, and Enid eating dinner that time, right?" Sophia continued. "I bet it's getting lonelier and lonelier here."

"Is that it? You came here to say you are sorry? Because if that was it then you can leave, never come back to Hilltop." Maggie demanded, trying to hold herself back.

Sophia turned squarely to the woman. "No, I didn't come here to apologize, I just wanted you to see...that I'm fine, Negan was at Alexandria earlier today too, so it was all for nothing."

"Great, just go before I try to kill you myself." Threatened Maggie, tightening her fist and reaching for a knife she had on her hip.

"Do you want to know where Paul's body is?"

The question left Maggie without words, the shock in her eyes told Sophia that she didn't even consider that.

"You know where my mom lives right? Yeah. I know you all know all about the Kingdom too, all about how good pals you all are, talking behind the boss's back." She continued, enjoying the surprise on the face of Maggie.

"Yeah, we know. You thought we didn't? That you could all talk behind our backs and get away with it? Ha!"

Maggie remained silent, and Sophia wondered if she was going to say anything at all about that. "I was in a hurry, so I left his body there. I'm sure someone from the Kingdom already picked him up though, or what was left of him."

They stood in silence for a minute, Maggie didn't move a muscle the whole time, her eyes locked on hers filled with hate. Then she unsheathed her knife and flipped it so that she held it by the blade.

Sophia shook her head in disbelief and took out her wand. Since she now carried one wand and no wand holsters, she had nestled it neatly within the mess of feathers enveloping her head. "I thought you would know better than to try that." She said menacingly.

"Get out! Now." Ordered Maggie. "Don't ever come back, you are not welcomed here, you are not needed here. We already have Simon, so what are you even doing? What are you even good for!?"

The last question took her by surprise, and she couldn't help it bounce around her head a few times.

"I don't know…" She said thoughtfully. "Killing, I guess."

Maggie had enough at that time and quick like a whip, she threw the knife at her, but Sophia was ready for it. So it was all for nothing when she apparated out and onto the roof of the mansion, directly on top of them, as soon as the knife was thrown.

Crash! She could hear almost immediately the sound of the mirror breaking inside the room, followed by the sobs and cries of the woman she was just talking to. Sophia really felt bad for her, but the question still lingered in her mind.

Good for killing seemed sad to her, but what else had she accomplished that was worth noting?

The line of thought gave her a feeling of anxiety that was new to her.

The mention of Jesus's body had left Sophia with the itch to go and check the scene of her explosive night, see what was left and if her mother was still there, not that she thought the woman would be. Carol had made it very clear to her that she was done with her, her mother couldn't accept the way she chose to live her life, she didn't approve and had unfairly compared her with two of the worst men that Sophia had met in her life.

It wasn't out of a need to see her that she was going back. Or at least that was how she thought she felt about it.

I would have never worked out, Mom never wanted to join us… She thought.

Mom wanted me to join them and betray everything Negan and I have been working for the last two years, she wanted me to betray Negan, the people that look up to us.

Why would I ever choose them, a group of strangers I only knew for a little while back then when I was basically a different person, over the one man in my life that was good for me and helped me when I most needed it. What did Rick ever do for me? Get me fucking bit by a walker.

Why would I ever betray myself like that, abandoning my dream, my destiny… She thought.

Soon she reached the area where the fight had been, all of it looked very different in the light of day, what was left of the car that had exploded in her face was there but the body had been removed as she expected.

Mom must have told them and they came to get it. She said to herself

But there were no signs of her mother there, both the door of the iron fence and the house were left open. It really surprised her seeing the way the fence had bent where she had crashed, it looked more painful that she even remembered, with it's twisted iron bars and pointy broken ends.

The house was empty of any of her mother's possessions, a fact that didn't surprise her, there was a giant hole on the side after all. She had made a mess of the place, and it took a while for her to realize, but she had done it with her broken wand and pure intent. She had swiped her half wand and raged at everything in front of her and all of it was ripped apart, all of it breaking and tearing with the wails of strained materials. It was a first for her, she knew she could do magic like that or even without a wand but never expected to achieve such an effect.

It was all bent iron pipes, broken wood, and crumbled concrete where her mother's room used to be. She walked back to the front door and sat on the floor near the door with her knees up against her chest and her chin resting on them, thinking about nothing, the exploded car plain on sight

So focused she was on the car across the street and what she had done to Jesus, that when their eyes crossed it really caught her by surprise, halting all her thoughts.

The man had been walking on the street and past the abandoned house when he saw her and it had stopped him on his tracks. Maybe it was the way she was sitting on the floor, a guarded yet vulnerable position one would not expect a character like the Harpy to be found In, maybe her small frame hid her from view and he had not seen her initially.

Sophia stood up silently, slowly, and watched Richard stare at her from the street… When the man broke into a run, cutting the street and into some trees near her mother's house for cover but he should have known he wasn't going that far. She apparated behind him between some trees and caught him with a tripping jinx.

The man fell on the floor like a sack of potatoes, his big backpack rolling to the side when one of the straps broke with the fall.

"Richard, this really caught me unaware. Were you not locked up in the Kingdom?" She started, walking closer to the man and watching him roll on his back and give her a very contemptuous look.

"They exiled me, that's what you wanted right? I know it was you, somehow you did this to me." Richard accused.

Sophia didn't pay attention to the accusation though. "Exile? Damn… were you going to Hilltop?"

Richard didn't answer immediately, instead, he started slowly getting up with the carefulness of an aging man. Sophia let him since she could see he had no ready available weapon except for a machete.

"You took everything from me, I don't even know if they will take me. But I don't have anywhere else to go." He explained.

"Oh, ok…" Sophia said thoughtfully, she was thinking if she should do something with the man now that she had him all alone for herself. She had initially planned to let the man be, thinking that maybe they would kill him or lock him up and that would be it, no one could prove that it wasn't him who stole the ammo.

But now that I have him alone… might be the best opportunity to get rid of him.

Richard regarded her with concern for a second while she thought about it and then decided that he would be better off going, so he casually picked his backpack and after turning his back on her, he started walking.

"Wait, Richard." She said, her mouth almost moving on its own, making the choice in that second. "Not that way." She aimed the wand at him again and his face fell. "Walk a little more into the trees, would you kindly?"

All the little hope in the man was gone at that moment, his shoulders sagged.

"Really? More? What else do you want from me? What did I ever do to you?" He begged but Sophia wouldn't respond, instead, she flicked the wand towards the direction she had ordered him and waited for him to comply.

With a sad sigh, he walked, almost like an undead ahead of her. She took him a little further into the mess of trees he had run to initially until there was no way to see the street or the house, only trees and wild nature.

"Sit there." She ordered him, there was a big tree with a wide trunk the width of a man and roots that crawled in and out of the ground like the slowest worms ever.

The man sat there and rested his back on the tree, giving her a defeated look, expecting. Sophia sat in front of him, Indian style on the dirt, and played with her wand between her fingers.

"It wasn't anything personal, I never had a problem with you or anything." She started thoughtfully and the man listened.

"I hope it brings you peace of mind to know I did frame you. I used one of your hairs and a potion to turn myself into you for a time, then ordered the guards out of the armory, I moved everything there within my hat and then placed some other evidence against you." She confessed, the act of telling the truth to the man lifting some of the weight from her shoulders.

Richard watched her with a horrified face, his blood drained and then he cried, like a man at his lowest point would.

"You… your mother said." Richards stammered, his voice trembling and his eyes wet.

"I put her to sleep so that I could sneak out, she never knew I left." She admitted somberly. It was the way that his brows knit together and his eyes widened that broke her heart a little.

"This world...I lost everything when the world fell, I had a wife and a daughter I wasn't strong enough to save." Started the man, Sophia would let him cry and talk all he wanted, he deserved it.

"I said to myself, I don't deserve to live, I should kill myself and be with them again...But I couldn't!... I couldn't kill myself, I'm a coward!..." Said Richard between sobs…

"Then I found Ezekiel and him...he gave me purpose, he showed me how I could make up for it. So that when I die, I could die proudly after helping all the people that I could, and then I could look my wife in the eyes and tell her that it wasn't all for nothing."

"All I ever wanted was to give my life to those who needed it! I wanted to die knowing it was for something!... Not like this! Not like this…" He finished, his head down and his spirit crushed. It was the second time in the day that she felt bad for someone and it was all her doing.

"It wasn't for nothing!" She said earnestly. "I promise your death is not for nothing!"

"Do you know what Negan says?" Sophia asked the man who had his head between his knees.

"He says that when you kill the right person, at the right time, then everything falls into place. You see, killing the right person the right way can save more lives than you think! Richard, your life may have saved many of your friends…" She explained, the argument bringing the man from his stupor, the way he looked at her, one would think he was looking at an alien.

"Oh don't play dumb, we know you all were up to something. Disarming the Kingdom was crucial for the safety of everyone, it was just a matter of time before something happened, framing you kept the peace between us while at the same time left the Kingdom harmless. Everyone won." She finished, ignoring the sting in her eyes and standing up, looking around.

"If telling yourself that makes you feel better… Then get it over with! I want to be with my family once and for all!" He said desperately.

"Not yet, I'm waiting for one of them to show up." Sophia said, not giving much more detail about her plan.

"Them? Who?" Asked Richard.

"We keep the big groups out of the area, but there are always stragglers that come one way or another, then they hear something and walk into the trees and end up lost within them. The place is filled with them." She explained.

The face of the man told her that he was catching up, his face draining from it by the second.

"No…" He said. "Please!"

"Isn't it curious how they work? Sometimes, when they get lost, they just stay in place until they hear something or some unlucky soul walks by them. I've discovered a few odd bits about them in my experiments." She continued.

The man stood up in a panic and was about to bolt from there, but Sophia was quick in conjuring ropes that tied him to the tree.

"I'm sure one will come with all this talk." She finished.

"Please, just kill me. Why would you do it this way, you said you had nothing against me!" Richard pleaded.

"I won't have you eaten alive by some undead corpse." She said and the news silenced him in confusion.

"I'll show you something that I've told no one...Not even Negan...It's crazy when you think about it." Sophia said, getting a little excited that she was about to show someone one of her biggest secrets.

Then they heard them, shambling clumsily towards them, they were two undead corpses. The fresher one was a woman, but the one lagging behind was an old one, all bones and saggy flesh mixed with nature. Dirt, mushrooms on his chest and some thin roots along his arm, his flesh was gray and black and his head was mostly a skull with just the eyes maintaining a minimum level of freshness.

"Ah...There they are." Sophia said, then walked back to RIchard and took the machete from his person, then with it in her right hand, she walked over to the undead woman.

It was taller than her, so with a swift kick in the knees she brought it down and then moving to the side, she split its head with a hard swing of the machete. Then let go of it, the machete and the undead woman falling on the ground, abandoned.

"Now look carefully." She said to the man, and in plain view of him, she faced the decrepit remains of the man walking over to them and intoned loudly and clearly.

"IMPERIO!" Sophia said with as much power in her voice as she could muster. Not a shout, a command. The curse moved like a creeping tendril of luminous gas that reached to the head of the walker and filtered through every hole, almost like the corpse was breathing it.

The walking undead immediately stopped and lowered his arms, suddenly calm and passive, waiting for her command.

Sophia looked back with a smile plastered on her face that she knew he wouldn't see, but Richard wasn't watching her at all, he was looking at the undead stop and obediently waiting in place.

"How!?" He asked in disbelief.

Sophia asked herself the same thing after all these were dead people. "It's almost like they are conditioned to it!" She said to the man and silently commanded the undead to walk to her side.

"They all have a weak will, to consume the flesh, living flesh." She told the man as she rounded the standing corpse that was under her will, looking at it carefully. "I can tell when I curse them, it's proof they have a will and I'm not sure it's entirely their own."

"But once you break it they become really docile, and with this curse I used they get more and more susceptible to it, I suspect that with time and repetition this guy would remain mine for a long time." She said with amazement.

"You can control them?" Asked the man, his voice almost a whisper from the disbelief, his head unconsciously shaking.

"Just the one for now...but it turns out there were wizards who did it to many living people for a long time, so I think I could control more of these things as I grow in power."

"You can do that to people too?" Richard asked, terrified.

"Yes, but I never did. Only to these things." Sophia said, turning to the man, placing her metallic arm on the head of the corpse, and giving it a pat.

"Now…" She said looking at the waiting corpse thrall. "Give my friend a bite. Just one and then come back." She ordered excitedly. The curse always gave her a rush through her body that felt amazing, complete control, almost like a drug.

The corpse moved slowly but surely, this time walking more like a regular person and not like a decaying corpse with barely a working muscle. It almost seemed impossible for it to walk so well, but it did, and with clear hunger in its face.

"Why! How is it fair that people like you exist, It…" Cried Richard tied to the tree. The corpse was already on him, it grabbed his head to keep him still and pulled it to the side, then plunged it's head on his shoulder and took a healthy bite just over his shoulder like the one she had.

"AAARGH!" Cried the man as the walker tore the flesh from his body with the ease of a predator.

Sophia watched everything from her place, the man held his eyes on her as the teeth sunk in his shoulder and she saw the tears streak from his eyes, his body shaking involuntarily. "That's it, come back." She ordered. The walker stopped, swallowed and moved back to her side, to wait patiently.

"You monster! It was your kind who did this to the country, these things are your creation, You shouldn't exist! It's all your fault! If I had my life again I would dedicate it to killing your kind!" Raged the man, his shoulder bleeding profusely and soaking his shirt.

Sophia let him rant, it was not the first time someone said such things about her kind, it was clear to her that the undead plague was of magical origin anyway. Just another reminder of how different she was to them.

"Go and bash your head on the tree, please." She ordered quietly, the man's words resonating in her mind.

The corpse moved without complaint, it went over to the same tree Richard was tied to and with one undoubting motion, it reared back and then bashed it's head with such force that it was destroyed on impact. The corpse fell to the ground, finally put to rest after maybe years of roaming the lands.

The bits and pieces of the head splashed to the sides and covered Richard in guts, his wounded shoulder too, but it would make no difference at that point.

"Finite." She intoned with her wand to dispel the ropes, they dissipated like a vapor, letting the man fall on his knees on the floor. Completely surrendered to his fate.

"When you turn, I'll have you walk back to the Kingdom so that they give you a proper burial…" Said Sophia.

"I promise."