Blake paled a little at the tone of Simon's voice.
For there was the mustachioed man, standing in amongst a small group of men, looking as cool and as collected as ever.
But there was something about his demeanour that was different today. Something that reminded her a little of David.
Simon stood there, arms folded, a smile on his face as he peered up at her and Negan.
Beside her, Blake heard the leader of the Saviours let out a harsh growl beneath his breath. But Negan was clever. And so kept a calm resolve as he pushed back from the railing a little, a wide and deadly grin flicking up onto his lips.
"So," hissed Negan easily, although his voice still echoed through the large expansive dining hall. "This some kind of welcome home party?"
He looked to Blake for a second.
"'Cause as flattered as I am, I would've thought some of my best men would have had better things to be fuckin' doin' at past-midnight on a Friday evenin'."
His tone was playful, but Blake knew that behind it, there was something else bubbling. Something furious and irritated.
There was silence for a short moment or two where nobody spoke.
But it was predictably Simon who finally did, raising his chin, and moving his hands to both his hips, keeping his shark-like eyes fixed on Negan all the while.
"You know, Boss," said Simon in an oily voice.. "We were actually all just waiting up to speak to you…."
Almost at once Blake felt Negan bristle beside her, his jaw tensing and his eyes becoming dark.
"Y'see there's been somethin' buggin' us for a while-" continued Negan's right hand man, pacing his way methodically across the concrete floor below.
But Negan didn't let him finish.
"When you say us, does that mean all of you, or jus' you, Si?" growled the dark-haired man, blackened eyes narrowed.
But Simon gave an easy laugh, pointing up at Negan. "I see what you're doing," he said nodding, before coming to stand still again, in the centre of the circle of men. "But we're all in agreement here, I can assure you."
At this Negan licked at his lips, blinking hard.
"About what?" he merely uttered in a dark voice, taking a step forward, his fingers tensing around the yellow railing in front of him, looking like he was trying to stave off his pure fury at being spoken to like this.
Blake didn't want to speak, feeling the thick and ugly tension that filled the room, as she held on, standing just a little behind Negan, watching Simon as he opened his mouth to speak again.
"Rick," said Simon coolly, the smile sliding from his lips as he spoke the name. "And how, yet again, we let him, his son, and those….people-"
For the briefest of seconds, Blake noticed Simon's eyes flick to her.
"-walk out of here alive and well."
Simon looked back to his men grimacing.
"Do you realise how weak that makes us all look?" he finished finally, with a shake of his head.
So that was what all this was about.
Negan letting Rick go?
Blake gave a gulp realising suddenly that all of this, it was because of her.
If she hadn't been here, none of this would be an issue. A cold sense of dread washing over her at the thought that this is what Simon and these men had been ruminating on.
But as ever, Negan remained calm and collected, lowering his eyes to the ground, pushing himself from the railing before him and giving a slow nod.
"Well, shit," said the dark-haired man making for the staircase beside them. "I am sorry that you all fuckin' think that…"
He paused, silence filling the room as Negan slowly paced down the metal staircase down towards Simon, taking the steps one-by-one on his long legs.
"So...what? You all decided you have a problem with the way I do things around here? With the way I rule?"
Everyone remained quiet at his words, a harsh silence falling across the room.
Blake could feel how tense the atmosphere was.
Everyone, including her, waiting with bated breath for Negan to yell, to lash out, to get angry.
But none of that came.
For here, right now, there was only Negan, as smirking and arrogant as ever, pacing across the concrete floor, into the circle of men, coming to stop six or so foot away from where Simon was stood.
But the mustachioed man kept his resolve, keeping his hands on his hips, fingers drumming away against the pockets of his jeans.
"We're all thinking the same thing, Negan," said Simon finally, lifting his chin defiantly. "That you've gotten soft. That you've forgotten how we do things around here. How we've always done things."
Blake moved a little closer to the railing, peering down at the men below, placing both her hands to the yellow bar, her fingers tensing around it.
"Have I?" replied Negan in a low and hard drawl, his eyes flashing dangerously in the shadowed room, betraying his easy smirk.
But Simon pressed on, looking around confidently at his men as he spoke.
"We've all seen it...things changing...and not for the better," said Simon in an icy voice.
But Negan narrowed his dark eyes, cutting across his right hand man.
"And, what? You think you could do a better job, huh?"
Silence fell across the space once more as Simon gave another cold laugh.
"Well...now you mention it…" he uttered clearly. "Maybe it's time things changed around here."
Blake's knuckles were now white as she clenched the railing, watching the scene before her unfold, her blood running, all of a sudden, cold in her veins.
She knew now that Negan shouldn't be down there. Surrounded. Goaded into being in this situation.
His 'loyal men' could so easily be the ones to end him here and now.
But Negan didn't seem perturbed by any of it, merely giving a chuckle of his own, eyes on the floor now as he paced around the inside of the circle of men, Lucille swinging easily from his hand as he walked.
Even now he certainly was an imposing figure.
Tall, broad shouldered, with that glint in his eyes that gave nothing away about what he was thinking.
"You really think it's that easy?" Negan chuckled, leaning back on his long legs and gesturing in the air with his free hand. "You strap on a pair of big boy balls an' think you can take care of this place? Take care of these people?"
Negan looked up now, stopping still, his eyes meeting with Simon's.
"'Cause I know a goddamn pussy when I see one, Si," he continued. "An', shit. You are one big moutherfuckin' pussy."
Blake saw Simon blink a couple of times at the vulgarness of Negan's words.
But Negan didn't seem to be done, resuming in his pacing, circling around Simon like a prowling tiger, eyes never leaving him, not once.
"You reallly fukcin' think these men are on your side," he uttered, with a smirk. "You think when it comes down it, they'd be loyal to you?"
Simon visibly swallowed before answering.
"I do," he replied in a voice far quieter than the one he had used just a moment ago.
He sounded a little unsure of himself now, but carried on anyway in a tone full of spite.
"I'm definitely not the only one who think that this place has gone to shit since you shacked up with the Alexandrian" he uttered as Blake felt a hard lump appear in her throat. "An' judging by the way you let her strut around, letting Rick and his people into our gates and then back out again. I really dont think I'm the one that's the pussy here, Boss."
Blake's hands dropped from the railing in front of her taking a small step back.
Is that all she was to them?
Still an outsider? Still an Alexandrian?
All she had done was try and support these people, love them as a family. And yet people like Simon somehow still didn't see that.
To them she was a traitor.
But although Blake stood there silently, letting Simon's hurtful words settle into her head. Negan didn't.
His face, for the first time, twisting into a furious grimace.
"You know what, Simon," Negan hissed out, between bared teeth. "I am more than happy to stand here listening to you talkin'' shit about the way I do things...about the way I rule."
With that he took a sudden step forwards, eyes as black as the sky outside.
"But no one, an' I mean no one, fuckin' talks about her like she ain't one of us," he uttered in a deadly tone.
And in that moment, everyone in the room knew who he was talking about, several eyes flicking up towards Blake as she stood there, eyes wide and nervous.
"Cause you can all say what you like about me goin' soft, about me letting that shit with Grimes slide, but her…"
Negan glanced up at Blake for the briefest of seconds now.
"...you don't talk about her like she hasn't made this place ten times the place it once was. I mean, shit! Without her you'd still be rationin' off a can of beans for the week, rather than goin' to sleep with bellies full of fresh fuckin' food. An' you think I'd be lettin' half of you get away with the shit I know you're all gettin' away with?"
Negan turned to some of the men behind him.
"NOPE! An' that shit...well that shit is all down to her bein' here."
Negan gave a sniff, before turning back to Simon.
"An' you know what. If you dont like that, then lets see you step on up here an' tell me face to fuckin' face."
And with that, and with a hard grunt, Negan, with one swing, bashed the barbed end of Lucille against the concrete floor below him, causing everyone in the room to jump in fright at the sound as it reverberated along the walls surrounding them all.
Nobody moved, and Blake felt herself hold her breath in fear of what was about to happen, knowing full well what the outcome of ten or so men against Negan, even with Lucille in his hand, would be.
But to her surprise it was only an uneasy looking Simon who took a step towards the dark haired Saviour, scowling at the men around him as he did so.
The men who had so obviously ten minutes ago, been on his side.
But nevertheless Simon still looked as defiant as ever, lifting his chin arrogantly.
But, with her eyes shifting anxiously to Negan, Blake noticed that leader of the Saviours was now smiling that ominous wolf-like grin of his.
"Well, fuck, Si," Negan eased out, breaking the quiet finally. "Seems like you're on your own for this one."
Simon stood there still unmoving as he kept his eyes fixed to Negan.
"Me and Dwight-"
But the mustachioed man was suddenly cut across by another crack from Lucille bashing against the floor.
"NO, SIMON! YOU WANTED THIS. THIS SHIT HAS TO BE ON YOU!" shouted Negan loudly, causing Blake to finch back at the furious sound of his voice.
Blake could see Negan's shoulders tensed. Visibly seething, and not for the first time tonight.
Dwight seemed to be nowhere to be seen, and Blake wondered if this was all one big set up.
Negan spoke again, his voice very slightly quieter this time, but still with just as much impact as his last sentence.
"Shit, you know as fickle as these damn sons-of-bitches are," he said gesturing to the men around him with a wave of his gloved hand over his broad shoulder. "They have been fuckin' loyal when it counts. And most of all...they know who they are…"
Negan took a sudden looming step forwards, coming to stop just a foot away from Simon now.
"You know who you are, Si?"
There was silence now. With Simon not even opening his mouth to speak.
Negan raised a single dark eyebrow at this.
"No?" Negan uttered with contempt in his voice. "Well let's test this out shall we?"
Negan took a step backwards now, addressing the crowd of men around him.
"WHO ARE YOU?" he suddenly bellowed, only to get an immediate reply from the crowd in unison.
"NEGAN."
The sound of the reply seemed to fill the entire space, and Blake swallowed hard looking to Simon now, almost feeling pity for the man who had tried to stab Negan in the back…
….as he stood there looking very alone in the world right now.
Negan turned back to his right hand man.
"You might want to reconsider your earlier stance, Si," he murmured. "'Cause I know it feels like shit to take a fuckin' bow an' admit when you're wrong. But I've gonna say...its gonna be much fuckin' easier in the longrun if you do."
And with that, Negan, with a low growl stepped into Simon, coming to stand nose-to-nose with the tall man.
"Who are you?" the dark haired Saviour asked in a voice as deadly as an approaching predator.
And Simon, with his eyes fixed to Negan's answered.
"Simon."
Blake instantly closed her eyes with regret at the words... knowing full well what was about to happen now…
THWACK.
Blake's green eyes snapped open at the sound, to see Simon staggering backwards clutching his middle.
By the looks of it he had been hit with full force in the stomach with Lucille, and Blake found herself blinking rapidly, as a sudden flashback of David being dealt the same fate by her own hand, swam clear in her vision.
Simon let out a groan, doubling over, shifting hurriedly away from the dark haired Saviour.
But unfortunately for him, Negan was unrelenting, advancing on the mustachioed man.
"Who are you?" repeated Negan again, giving Simon a second to speak.
But when there came no answer, Negan grasped the back of his neck roughly with his Lucille-bearing hand, punching Simon square in the face with the other.
From the circle of men surrounding them, no one moved. The irony of those who had stood, so loyal with Simon, and yet here they were watching his fate unfold before their eyes.
Simon was knocked off balance, falling backwards, ass-first to the floor, nose now bloody, splatters of red covering his entire face.
He didn't fight back, merely spawled there, almost waiting for the next blow to come with the last shred of dignity he had in tact.
"Who are you?" repeated Negan again.
But still there came no answer from Simon's lips, as Negan, visibly seething, marched up to him once more, crouching over him and throwing another hard punch across his face.
Blake watched the scene unfold, unable to take her eyes away from the grotesque spectacle.
Simon, lying on his back and breathing hard, coughed with great difficulty, blood pouring from his mouth and nose as he did so. His eyes were already dark and puffy and his skin blossoming with bruises.
Resigning himself to hisfate now, knowing that he had been stabbed in the back by men who had turned on him like they had promised they would turn on Negan.
It was almost poetic.
But even so, Blake lifted a hand to her mouth, watching as Negan tossed down Lucille and punched at Simon's face...again and again…
...just as he had done with Rick…
And both, in Blake's eyes at least, were justified.
This was the reason he was a leader.
This was the reason he had climbed to the top, never looking back, using his ruthlessness and anger to his advantage...using it when he needed it the most...using it on those with no respect, no morals, no understanding of just what Negan had sacrificed to be here.
Even from her position up here on the balcony, the blonde woman could hear Simon desperately gasping for air as Negan pulled back furiously, after laying on blow after blow to his right hand man's face until he looked almost unrecognisable.
Negan was crouched there now, teeth bared, looking like an animal ready to tear the throat out of his prey.
And, lifting Simon up by his shirt collar, leant his face close to the man's bloody one and uttered three single words...
"Who are you?"
Everything was quiet now, time almost standing still, as Blake held her breath.
She wasn't sure now if she wanted Simon dead for what he had done. For trying to betray them both.
Would he have been as forgiving to Negan if this had been the other way around?
But both Blake and Negan had already been responsible for another man's death today.
And despite what she knew should be done, her heart seemed to be betraying her, pounding in her chest at a hundred miles an hour, her palms sweaty, her face white...knowing what Negan was about to do…
"...Negan…" came a sudden rasping voice.
Simon's.
Blake looked to the man, lying bloodied and beaten as he spoke again.
"Negan," he repeated in a hoarse voice,that was just about audible. "I-I'm Negan."
And with that, Negan let go of Simon's shirt collar, allowing is head to drop back down against the concrete floor behind him with a dull thud.
With a hard sniff, Negan got to his feet, picking up Lucille as he did so, as Simon continued to groan on the floor behind him, spluttering up more blood onto his chin. Defeated.
"You see that? Loyalty? That shit needs to be earned," Negan bellowed in a sudden loud voice. "By any fuckin' means nesccasary."
He bashed his baseball bat against the ground again, hard, causing the crack to echo throughout the room.
"This is why we do what we do. This is why we are the Saviours," he continued scowling and turning on the spot to look at all the men surrounding him. "Because we earn that shit. That loyalty."
He paused for a moment, his face twisting into a dark malevolent grimace.
"And you'all better be fuckin' thankful Peaches up here exists," he said in a sudden low and denagrous voice, spinning arond on his heel and ponting at the men around him with the end of his bat. "Because if she didn't, if she hadn't've come here an' made. me . soft, well...for that shit you all just pulled, you'd all be strung up on that fence out there."
Negan bared his teeth angrily.
"Every last one of you."
His words hung in the air for a long moment, filling the room with a harsh tension that was only broken when Negan finally spoke again.
"Now get this piece of shit outta my damn sight," he said pointing at the groaning Simon one last time before turning on his heel and moving back over to the staircase. "An' trust me when I say. That if any of you boys try this shit again, you'll be dead before you know what's happenin'. Now fuck off. All of you."
The men all around instantly did as they were told, lifting Simon up from under his arms and taking him from the room, as the rest of them dispersed by the time Blake had moved to the top of the stairs leading down to where Negan now stood.
She waited until the last men was gone, leaving them all alone, watching as they went before she turned back to Negan.
"You alright, Darlin'?" he asked in a voice far different from the one he had just used on his men, full of pure concern for her now.
And Blake didn't answer until she had reached the bottom step, coming to stand in front of the dark-haired Saviour, staring up into his eyes and tilting her head to the side.
"Are you alright?" she said lifting a hand to his cheek.
What had happened here tonight...it was all down to her being here. Her being a part of Negan's life.
Negan nodded, lifting his free hand and placing it on top of hers.
"Me? I'm fine, Darlin'. Ain't the first time these sorry shits have tried to overthrow this place, an' I guarantee you it won' be the last," he said, pressing his lips into straight line before letting out a huff of air.
"I'm sorry," said Blake after a moment, giving a sad shake of her head. "I feel like all this...its all my fault. Simon was right. I was the one who let Carl and Tara in here. I'm the one who's been trying to change this place. Change you."
But Negan frowned at her words, giving a shake of his own dark head now. "You don' need to listen to anythin' that asshole-"
"I'm the weak link, Negan," Blake said, cutting across him.
But at her words, Negan took a step back, causing Blake's hand to drop from his cheek as he stared at her, frowning.
"Blake, listen to me, Darlin', " he said using her name properly now. "You are anythin' but a damn weak link. I mean, shit. If it wasn' for you, this place would still be runnin' on empty. An' I meant what I said back there, you have made this damn shitty place ten times what it was."
Blake looked at him, worrying at her bottom lip a little but nodded, understanding that perhaps he was right.
She had learned from her mistakes. Learned that Tara and Rick and Carl and the others, they weren't heroes. Far from it. And the Saviours, well they weren't so different either. Everyone has flaws. Everyone does things they regret. And Blake knew now that if she wanted to survive in this world, she needed to fight to protect what she loved. She needed to be as strong as Negan had proved himself to be all this time.
"And I meant what I said last night," Blake uttered quietly now. "It's them and us now. And...you know what? Simon was wrong..."
And with that, Blake stared deep into Negan's eyes.
"I'm not an Alexandrian. I never was," she said firmly, "I'm a Saviour."
At her words Negan, blinked, a look of pure awe dancing across his tanned features as he stared down at her.
And before Blake could say anything more, Negan had reached down and grasped her hand in his, pulling it to his mouth and pressing single firm and meaningful kiss to her knuckles.
"Oh...you certainly fuckin' are, Peaches."
Sorry its taken me so long to update. Hope it was ok and some of you are still interested in readin