- Thank you, KLSLAY, for the donation. This update is for you! -
Chapter 5: Foreigner's God
Michonne rushed to the kitchen where she was heating a pot of boiling water and garlic. When she saw that it was well-heated, she poured the brew into a nearby bowl and then rushed back to Marsai's room with the mixture of garlic water in her hands.
The twins were already in the room, taking turns placing a cool rag against Marsai's forehead.
Their oldest sister's fever just wasn't going down and Michonne didn't know what to do about it. She had expected the fever to break hours ago.
"Here," she said, sitting down on the bed and carefully holding the bowl out towards Marsai's lips.
"What is it?" Marsai asked.
"Hot water and garlic." Marsai jerked away from the smell and blocked the bowl from coming any closer by pushing it back towards Michonne.
She shook her head. "No. I'm not drinking that."
"You know she doesn't like garlic," Sara, the younger twin said.
"I know!" Michonne shot back, sharpness edging her tone since she was already anxious. "Do any of us? But what choice do I have? We don't have any ginger." Marsai moaned and held her stomach as if she felt pain there. Sweat made itself apparent on her skin. "See?" Michonne pushed. "Here. Drink this. And don't push it away; it's hot. It might spill on you."
Marsai glared at Michonne for bossing her around, but she allowed her younger sister to put the bowl to her lips and tip the contents into her mouth. She winced against the taste but struggled it down.
"When is Mama comin' back?" Mara asked, a worried wrinkle creasing her forehead.
"I don't know," Michonne responded. "But I'm sure she'll know what to do when she gets here. We just have to wait until then."
"You think she'll be able to save that woman?" Sara asked.
Michonne frowned. "I don't know."
"If she does save that woman, where does that leave you?" Mara asked Michonne, feeding off of her twin's curiosities. "I mean...she's Rick's fiance. You're his girlfriend."
Michonne scowled at her tactless sisters. "Whether Mama saves that woman or not has nothing to do with whether or not Rick will come back. He's going to come back."
"How do you know?" Sara asked.
"I just know," Michonne said. "Rick was never truly engaged to that woman. Not in his heart. I can tell."
Marsai chuckled weakly looking at her sister. "I thought you weren't waiting for him," she teased Michonne.
Michonne sighed. She hated to be teased but she knew Marsai was just making an accurate observation. She was trying to guard against feelings that had already taken root. She thought about Rick almost constantly and he made her curious. She cared for him. "Drink more," she told Marsai, ready to divert the attention elsewhere.
Marsai frowned but she drank more without a fight.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
For the second time that night, Michonne stood at the window waiting for Rick's arrival.
There was something about the night that made her feel a disturbing disquiet. "Hurry back. Please," she prayed fervently into the empty night.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Rick felt a strained silence between himself and Michonne's mother. It may not have been a strained silence – she might have been as comfortable as anything with the lack of words, he didn't know. But he felt that the silence was strained.
He felt like he needed to get to know the older woman better.
She held onto the sides of his jacket so as not to fall off while the horse strided comfortably along. "You okay back there?" he asked, trying to strike up a conversation.
"Yes." Her reply was short and to the point.
He noticed she didn't call him "sir", and he found he was quite happy with that fact. He only wondered if it was because she was letting him know that she wanted to lessen formalities since they would be growing closer over the years or if it was because she was letting him know that she didn't respect him at all and was very against him entering into a relationship with her daughter. He hoped it was the former reason. Or he hoped he was just overthinking things. Anything was okay as long as she wasn't disapproving of him.
"...Your daughter's very pretty," he said. And then he could have hit himself out of embarrassment. If he wanted to prove to his girlfriend's mother that he was an honest and true gentleman, he realized her looks probably shouldn't be what he commented on first thing.
"I know," her mother responded, not sounding very offended but her reply was still short so Rick couldn't help but to think that she didn't sound very pleased either.
"I was thinking I might want to marry her..." Rick said nervously. He was met with silence. "I mean...i-if that's okay with you, that is." He was met with more silence. "I was thinking she and I could...get a house, settle down...maybe after a while have some kids." He vaguely wondered if he was going too far since her mother hadn't even answered yet, but the longer she stayed silent, the more he felt like he had to sell his vision of the happy home he could provide for Michonne. "I know it'll be difficult," he continued. "But if we commit to this-"
"Do you think you can protect my daughter, Mr. Grimes?"
"Yes, ma'am," Rick replied wholeheartedly. "I believe we can have a good life together."
Another silence stretched between them until Michonne's mom finally responded. "...Good."
"...Good?" Rick asked, wanting to know more of what the older woman was thinking.
"I don't know why our lives were supposed to be entangled with yours," the older woman said in a quiet voice that barely rose over the quiet noise of the forest stretching out on either side of them. "And I don't know what's best. Your very proximity to us could cost us our lives, but...fate is a funny thing. And sometimes it's best to let it play out than...try to fight it."
"So if you're sincere about protecting my daughter...I'll trust you."
A wave of relief washed over Rick. He guessed this was the closest he was going to get to having her blessing. "I appreciate that ma'am," he said. "It means a lot. And I won't let you down."
"I'll hold you to it..." Michonne's mother said. "And call me Sabel..."
They finished riding to the town in silence, and when they arrived...Jessie Anderson was on her last breath.
0000000000000000
~ She moved with shameless wonder
The perfect creature rarely seen
Since some liar brought the thunder
When the land was godless and free ~
The room that held Jessie was crowded and hot. A fire blazed in the fireplace built into the structure of the home and Jessie lay on the bed, her body limp and her face pale. Red blood coated piles of cloth and the bedsheets next to her. It seemed that someone had tried to hurriedly and clumsily staunch the bleeding to little avail.
Her father had arrived and he was hovering over the bed with an anguished and distressed look about him. Rick's mother was also standing by her side and his fellow lawmen were hanging back in the corner.
When Rick entered the room, a heavy mood was palpable.
"Oh, thank God, she's here," Rick's mother said when she looked up and saw her son come through the door with Sabel in tow. The face of Jessie's father didn't reflect any such relief. His frown deepened.
"Do you think you can help her?" Rick asked Sabel quietly. To him, it appeared that Jessie was already gone.
"She has a little breath left in her," Sabel replied. "Where there's life, there's hope."
Shane wandered over next to Rick and touched his arm. Rick took a couple of steps away from the others to speak to him in private.
"I don't think she's gon' make it," Rick said in a low voice. "And it's not gon' be pretty. No one wants that man on a rampage." He discreetly nodded towards Jessie's father. Rick looked at the old man, who already looked like he was one held breath away from imploding and he knew that Shane was right.
Jessie's father, Jeb, was a large man – just as wide as he was tall – and he owned all of the banks from three towns over. To say he was a powerful man was an understatement. The only person he answered to was the Governor and even then...the Governor could be swayed because Jeb handled his money.
"I still don't quite understand what happened..." Shane said. "Jessie always seemed pretty well-balanced to me...For her to stab herself just 'cause you said you was movin' away...It don't make much sense." Rick shrugged. "Are you sure that's all it was about?" Shane asked. "Why were you breakin' up with her? Why not just take her with you?"
Rick started to open his mouth to, once again, tell Shane that he just didn't love her, but he was interrupted by another voice filling the room.
"Don't you lay a hand on her!"
Rick turned around to see Jeb blocking Sabel from getting to Jessie.
"Now, Jeb, let her try," Rick's mother said. She laid a hand on Jeb's arm and tried to get him to calm down. "I know it's unorthodox, but it's all we've got right now."
"No nigger woman's gonna touch my daughter with witchcraft!"
Rick hurriedly stepped forward to diffuse the situation. Sabel was completely dwarfed by the man hovering well over six feet, but she stood unflinching before him. "Jeb-" Rick started.
"That's Mister Sutton to you," he growled, turning a glare to Rick.
Rick guessed he had heard why Jessie had chosen to wound herself. "Mr. Sutton," Rick acquiesed. "We've tried everything medically possible. This is the only way. Miss Coor doesn't even want to be here; she was summoned by my mother. So she would have no qualms about turning around and leaving, but...do you really want to risk losing the chance that she could actually do something?"
Jeb still glared, but his girth seemed to deflate.
He glared over Rick's shoulder at Sabel. "You think you can save my daughter's life?" he asked.
Sabel's voice was calm and steady when she replied. "If she lives, it is because she is meant to live."
Jeb's expression furrowed into one of angry confusion so Rick just spoke to ease the situation over some more. "She'll do her best."
Jeb continued to look reluctant, but he moved to the side. "You better save her life," he threatened coldly as Sabel made her way over to Jessie's bedside. "You just had better."
A sliver of unease wove through Rick's body at Jeb's threat. Looking at the state Jessie was in, Shane was right. There wasn't much possibility of her coming back from that. If she survived, it would be nothing short of a miracle.
"I'm gonna need a few things..." Sabel said, examining Jessie's pale form lying on the bed. "And then I'm gonna need to be alone with her."
"I'm not leavin' this room!" Jeb roared.
Rick held out his hand. "Is it okay if Jeb and I stay?" he asked Sabel.
Sabel considered for a moment and then she nodded.
"Okay," Rick said, relieved about the compromise. "What items do you need?"
"I need a candle, incense, parsley, warm water, a bell...And I need the rest of these people gone."
Rick nodded. Her firm voice broked no arguments. There would be no more compromises. "Alright, you heard the woman," he said to his fellow lawmen. "Everybody out."
Everyone filed out of the room until only Rick, his mother, Jeb, and Sabel were left.
"We should have some parsley and a candle already here," Rick's mother said. "Will any candle do?"
"Yes," Sabel said. "Any candle will do."
"Show me where they are, Mother," Rick prompted, knowing Sabel probably wanted her out of the room as well.
An expression of consternation settled on his mom's face and she hesitated, looking between Jessie and Sabel. "Fine," she finally said, turning on her heel to lead Rick out. "This way."
It didn't take long at all for Rick to return with the items Sabel needed. The most difficult part after returning with the items was waiting around under the thick veil of tension while Sabel worked her magic.
He hoped she could work a miracle.
~ Her eyes look sharp and steady
Into the empty parts of me
But still my heart is heavy
With the hate of some other man's beliefs ~
000000000000000000000000000000000
"Michonne!"
Michonne rushed into Marsai's room after hearing her sister's shrill scream. She hoped it wouldn't wake the twins, but then again, they slept like logs so she probably didn't have anything to worry about.
"What is it?" she asked.
Her sister shivered against her bedsheets. Michonne made her way further into the darkened room and pulled her close to her chest. "What is it?" she asked again. Fear was clamping her heart.
"I had...the scariest dream..." Marsai said. Her teeth chattered. Michonne rubbed her arms to warm her up. She found her sister's chill strange since the room wasn't that cold. And her body itself was burning up.
"What was it about?" Michonne asked.
Marsai didn't answer for a while. She simply shivered next to Michonne, absorbing her body heat. But when she finally spoke, it sent a chill through Michonne's body.
"...I think I'm dying..." Marsai said.
"Don't say that," Michonne said quickly and firmly. The thought alone was unacceptable.
"I'm not getting better," Marsai said. "And my bones...my bones feel like glass..."
"That doesn't mean you're dying," Michonne refuted. "You just have a fever. You'll get better."
"If I die..." Marsai started.
"You won't!" Michonne rebutted firmly.
"Okay, I won't. But if..." Michonne tried to keep frustrated tears from falling down her cheeks. She didn't know where Marsai's sudden forboding was coming from, but it wasn't doing anything to help her nerves, which were already close to wrung out due to her worrying over their mother. "Make sure to take care of mother, okay? And the twins."
"I'll promise no such thing," Michonne said in a hard voice. "Because you're being ridiculous." She moved off of the bed and gently laid Marsai back against her pillow. "Now lay back while I bring you some more soup."
She rushed to the kitchen and filled a bowl with shaking hands. When she realized her hands were trembling too much to get anything done properly, she took a moment. 'Please,' she thought, praying for Rick and her mother to arrive any minute. 'Please hurry and come back.'
~ Always a well-dressed fraud
Who wouldn't spare the rod
Never for me ~
000000000000000000000000000000000000
No one spoke during the entirety of Sabel's ritual.
Finally, she drew away from Jessie's bedside, picked up the bell that she had asked for, and rang it once. Rick and Jeb watched her carefully as she knelt beside Jessie's beside once more and took the woman's hand in her own. She began to mutter softly.
"What are you doing?" Jeb asked.
Sabel didn't answer him immediately. She finished up her soft whispers and then lifted her head. "I'm praying for her," she said. "Hoping that she'll have a smooth journey to the afterlife."
Rick's heart dropped into his chest.
"What does that mean?" Jeb asked, sounding genuinely confused for a moment. Then he stood up. "What does that mean?" he bellowed, pure anger in his voice.
"There was nothing I could do for her," Sabel said. "She's gone. The best we can do now is pray for her spirit to be at peace."
Jeb reminded Rick of the snakes he used to try to catch when he was a kid. They'd still at the sign of any threat and then spring forward, like a string filled with tension jerking forward upon release. And that's exactly what Jeb did.
He lunged towards Sabel, his body tense and angry. Anticipating his move, Rick leapt in front of him before he could reach her and pulled his gun on him. He knew he was physically no match for the other man. This seemed to be the only way he could stop him.
"Don't do anything foolish," Rick warned. "Just go on outside and cool off."
"She killed my daughter!" Jeb bellowed.
"We both know that's not true," Rick said. Rick's fellow lawmen poured into the room at the sound of Jeb's loud voice. "We both watched her the whole time," Rick continued, keeping his attention on the man looking to place blame. "There was nothing she could do; it was just too late."
"She could have been saved!" Jeb yelled, unwilling to listen to reason. "She cast some spell on her! Killed her!"
"I do not do anything against nature," Sabel interjected in a hard voice.
"She didn't kill her, Jeb," Rick said, trying to get through to the other man. "You know that."
"What's going on?" Shane asked, stepping forward.
"Jessie's dead," Rick answered, not taking his focus off of Jeb. "We're going to need funeral arrangements to be taken care of as soon as possible."
"I'll go get Joe..." Shane said, carefully shifting his eyes between Rick and Jeb.
"No!" Jeb roared. "No one's going anywhere!" He didn't move but his hands stayed clenched at his sides. Apparently, it was taking all of his power not to. A vein bulged at his temple as well – physical evidence of his explosive temper. "My daughter can't be laid to rest until someone is brought to justice."
Shane stayed where he was. He held his hands out just in case he needed to make a sudden move. His eyes continued to shift between the two people standing in confrontation.
"And how would you suggest we do that, Jeb?" Shane asked, careful to keep his voice low so as not to anger the man any further.
"We hang that voodoo witch!" Jeb roared.
Rick bristled at the man's bullheadedness and vileness. He thought back to the promise he had made Michonne. He had promised her that he would bring her mother back safe and sound. "That's not gonna happen," Rick said in a cold voice.
Rick's mother walked into the room and gasped at the sight in front of her. Jessie's dead body laid on the bed and her son held Mister Sutton at gunpoint. "Good Lord!" she gasped. "What is going on?!"
"Your boy here," Jeb sneered. "Is protecting the witch who murdered my child! Who knows? Maybe we should string him up as well. He seems to be awful friendly with that group lately! Being their personal bodyguard through town, now this! I wouldn't be surprised if one of those girls ain't got her hooks in him. Maybe that's why he's leavin' town!" Jeb's eyes blazed with fiery, accusatory passion. "Maybe that's why he broke my daughter's heart."
Rick's mother's hand went over her heart. "Why, Jeb!" she gasped. "Why are you spouting such ridiculous things?! My son has nothing to do with those people!"
"Then why is he protecting them?!" Jeb bellowed louder.
"Because it's my job," Rick sneered. "My job is to protect the citizens of this community-"
"She's not a part of this community!" Jeb yelled. He gestured toward Jessie's lifeless form. "My daughter was! My family is the backbone of this town! And, I tell you right now," he pointed his finger in Rick's face. "If you don't do what's right, and give my daughter justice, I'm going to bring a hammer down so hard on all of you that you'll be practically destitute by fall. Your husband never finished payin' off his loan," he said, turning to Rick's mother. "The very roof you're living under will be snatched away, by God! You know I can do it!"
Claire, Rick's mother, grasped her chest. So much of the blood had drained from her face by the end of Jeb's speech that she resembled Jessie's lifeless form on the bed.
She held out her hand to Rick.
"Rick..." she said. "What are you doing? Get away from there."
Rick stared at his mother in disbelief. They had always disagreed on quite a few things, but he never knew she would be a woman such as this in a tight situation.
"No," he said. "This woman is innocent. No one's going to touch her!"
"How do you know if she's innocent?" his mother asked him. "You don't know what she's capable of! None of us do!"
"I was in here the whole time!" Rick shouted. "Jessie bled out! There was nothing she could do!" He looked around the room for support, but everyone turned away from him. Finally, his eyes landed on Shane. "Shane..." he pleaded.
He was ready to fight tooth and nail to get Miss Sabel out of there safely, but a lot of his faith in humanity was crashing to the floor with each downward eye and shifted gaze.
He hoped his partner and best friend would not let him down.
Shane looked down and, for a moment, Rick's heart sank. But when Shane drew his gun and raised it, he was pointing it towards Jeb. "My friend here says the woman's innocent," he said. "I believe him..."
Rick inwardly rejoiced. He knew years of friendship couldn't have been for nothing.
"Take her and go," Shane said. "I'll hold him."
Blood rose in Jeb's face and if he looked like he was about to explode before, he looked positively on the verge of combustion at the point when Rick grabbed Sabel's hand and headed toward the door, doing as Shane instructed.
"Don't none of y'all stop him," Shane saidto the rest of the men. "The amount of times he's saved your lives, you owe him this much..."
After a small moment of hesitation, the men stepped aside and peacefully let Rick go through the door with Sabel following after him.
"You're gonna regret this..." Rick heard Jeb promise as he left the house. He ignored him. With Miss Sabel in tow, he fled as quickly as he could towards safety and towards Michonne.
~ Screaming the name of a foreigner's God
Screaming the name of a foreigner's God
Screaming the name of a foreigner's God
The purest expression of grief ~
- Don't forget to find Lyra Verse on P atreon and donate to the writing cause! :D
Each chapter of this fic is inspired by a Hozier song, so this fic will probably (probably, not guaranteed) be thirteen chapters. That's how many songs are on this particular Hozier album. I may end up ending this fic sooner, though. I haven't decided yet. -