Set during 7x03 "The Cell."

Dark twisted fantasy turned to reality

Kissing death and losing my breath

Midnight hours cobble street passages

Forgotten savages, forgotten savages

Dig up her bones but leave the soul alone

Let her find her way to a better place

Broken dreams and silent screams

Empty churches with soulless curses

We found a way to escape the day

"Bones" – Ms Mr

(Trigger warning: rape, sexual assault, mention of rape, depiction of sexual assault)

Chapter 14: Part 2 — Forgotten Savages

Dwight was the one to show up at the sitting room to retrieve Mia.

"Where's Simon?" Mia asked as she joined him in the hallway.

"Negan needed him," Dwight said. He turned and took a few steps forward. "So, I'm staying with you for the rest of today."

Mia fell into step behind him, walking in silence for a while before she slowed to a stop in the middle of the hallway. Dwight turned towards her when she realized that she was no longer following him and Mia cocked her eyebrow as stepped up close to Dwight.

"Where's Daryl?" She asked calmly.

"In his hole," Dwight answered, steadily holding her gaze.

"Did Negan have you hurt him again?" Mia questioned.

"He asked us to make sure that he doesn't sleep, that's it," Dwight said.

"That's it?" She scoffed. "Sleep deprivation is a form of torture. You know that, right?"

"Negan promised you that he would have clothes and food," Dwight reminded Mia with a soft shrug. "He didn't say anything about a little torture. He's kept his word."

Mia pursed her lips and tilted her head up slightly, refusing to break their eye contact. "I talked to your wife today."

"Ex-wife," Dwight corrected nonchalantly, but Mia could see his body stiffen slightly at the mention of Sherry.

"Ex-wife. My bad," Mia shrugged and stepped closer to him, narrowing her doe-eyes. "Do you miss it? Having someone to hold… or kiss whenever you want? I mean, you must get lonely." Mia scoffed quietly, quirking her head to side. "Sherry's definitely not lonely. The way Negan talks about her… he probably spends hours in bed with her every day." She took another step towards the older man and raised a hand, running her fingers over the burnt area of Dwight's face slowly. "I'm sure you could have that, too. You could have someone to be with… to hold and kiss and screw whenever you wanted." She moved closer to Dwight so their faces were mere inches apart as she slid her hand lower on his cheek, refusing to break the tension building between them. Mia saw him lean down an inch. Their lips were almost touching and she knew she had his attention. "But you still love her… even though she's with Negan. She's probably fallen for him, too. I mean, it must be hard not to resist him. He's charismatic, powerful, smart, and nice when he wants to be. And I'm sure he's amazing in bed. Sherry must really enjoy that part."

Dwight barely let her finish her last sentence when he grabbed her by the wrist roughly and jostled her towards him. She ignored the pain from the fresh ligature marks and gave him a wicked smiled. He was angry, but that was the exact emotion she was trying to illicit from him.

"What are you trying to do?!" He growled.

"There it is. Your trigger," she snarled as she let out a breathless laugh. "Everyone's got one. Mine is family. Yours?" She said with an amused chuckle. "Sherry. Finding someone's trigger is one of the first steps to finding out how to destroy them."

"So what?" Dwight asked through his clenched teeth.

"So, help me find Negan's trigger," Mia proposed in a whisper. Even though the hallway was empty, she never knew who could be lurking around the corner. "Help me do that and I will make sure you and Sherry get out of here alive."

"You're insane if you think you can take down Negan," Dwight told her as he kept a firm hold on her arm, the anger beginning to fade from his eyes.

Mia shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe, deep down, you think I can do it. That's why you haven't told him what I said that day in the clearing when he left with Rick."

Dwight held her gaze for a long moment before letting her go. He sighed as he rubbed his face and turned away from her. "How can you not see it?"

"See what?" Mia asked.

"His trigger," Dwight told her as he turned around to face her. "It's you."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mia questioned, confused. "I'm just something he hasn't been able to conquer yet. He likes the chase. That's it."

"You're more than that to him," Dwight said, shaking his head lightly. "And, deep down, you know it."

"No," Mia stated firmly. "Someone who cares about another person in that way would never hurt them like he's hurt me."

Dwight shook his head. "The beginning of that night was for Rick. The last part of it, though, that was for you. Negan knew you'd never let Rick or his son suffer like that." Dwight gestured to her and she dropped her gaze as she thought about what he said. "He knew you were smart enough to figure out a way to stop him and that you would do it… for Rick, for his son. Terrifying Rick into submission was just a happy coincidence."

Mia looked up at him and took a deep breath. "So, that was part of his plan all along—to get me to come home with him."

"He already knew your trigger." Dwight paused as he looked into her eyes. "And he used it to get what he wanted. He's done it twice now."

"The execution," Mia whispered.

"Yeah," Dwight murmured as he held her gaze. It almost looked like he felt sorry for her. "We should go before he comes looking."

Mia nodded and started to follow him, but she grabbed his arm before they entered Negan's room. "Dwight."

He looked down at her. "What?"

"I'm sorry for what I said before," she told him honestly. "It was all lies. I was just trying to get a rise out of you."

"Well, it worked," Dwight said. He let out a deep breath. "I understand why you did it."

Mia forced a nod and walked past him into Negan's room, sitting down on the bed. Dwight closed the door behind him and leaned against the wall. She let out a quiet sigh as she laid back on the bed, layering her arms over her face to block the light.

"I never got used to it: the loneliness," Mia explained quietly, keeping her face and eyes covered. She had every reason to hate Dwight for what he had done, but she couldn't overlook that they both had ended up in similar situations. "Growing up, I always had my brothers by my side. After the end, I tried to get used to being alone, but it never felt right. When I finally reached Alexandria, I just felt a lot better knowing that I wasn't alone anymore."

"You had brothers?" Dwight asked and Mia turned her head to meet his gaze, lifting her arms slightly.

"I did," Mia answered with a soft smile. Her expression sobered before she continued. "Aiden's dead along with my parents, but Spencer's still alive. At least, he was the last time I saw him."

"I was an only child," Dwight told her. "I always wanted siblings."

"I always wanted to be an only child," Mia replied with smirk and sat up slowly. She offered Dwight a shrug. "Guess the grass is always greener on the other side…"

They tore their gazes away from each other and looked towards the door when they heard it open. Mia was surprised that it wasn't Negan who entered the room. Instead, it was an older man who looked to be in his late forties. He was tall and had a muscular build, but his disproportionate facial features left a lot to be desired. Dwight stood up as the man walked inside.

"Negan asked for you to find him in the garden," the man stated. "There's a situation that needs to be handled."

"What about the girl?" Dwight asked, his gaze flickering over his shoulder to Mia.

The man looked at her for a moment before he turned his attention back to Dwight. "Negan told me to stay with her."

"Fine," Dwight said and looked at Mia. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay," Mia replied and folded her legs in front of her on the bed.

Dwight left Mia behind with Todd and immediately went to find Negan. He located the leader of the Saviors in the garden just like Todd had said, but the blond man waited until Negan finished his conversation with Arat to approach him.

"What did you need?" Dwight asked as he faced Negan.

"I don't need anything from you except for you to watch Amelia," the older man replied like the answer had been written on his forehead.

Dwight narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Todd said that you needed me here."

"Todd?" Negan asked, his expression becoming serious.

"Yeah."

"I never sent Todd to watch Amelia," Negan said. Dwight swore under his breath when both he and Negan realized that something was wrong. Negan called for Arat and Simon to join them and the four of them strode back into the factory.

Negan was the first one to reach his bedroom. He pushed the door open and stepped inside. He wanted to go to Amelia the moment he laid eyes on her, but he refrained. Dwight, Simon, and Arat had the good sense to remain silent as they observed the bloody scene before them.

Amelia was standing at the end of the bed, holding a bloody knife in her hand, her chest still heaving. Her upper body was covered with fresh blood. She even had splatter marks on her face along with a fresh cut on her cheek and a split lip. Negan noticed her pants sitting in a heap on the floor a few feet from her. The old shirt of his that she had been given to wear was torn at the hem. She wasn't looking at any of the onlookers, though. Her brown eyes were glued to the man on the floor in front of her. His throat had been cut deep and his clothes were drenched with his own blood, revealing his cause of death.

After a long moment, Mia tore her gaze from the corpse and looked at Negan and his lieutenants, her eyes brimming with tears as she let the knife slip through her fingers. Dwight could see the genuine guilt in her expression. Her lips parted slightly to take a deep breath and her shoulders fell when she let it out.

"Amelia, what happened?" Negan asked as his eyes scanned her for injuries. In any other situation he would have enjoyed her lack of clothing, but this was different. She had been hurt by one of his men while under his protection. That was a line that never should have been crossed.

"I didn't—I didn't have a choice," she stammered. Mia didn't want to cry, but it was too late. The tears that had yet to spill onto her face finally did, streaming down her cheeks. "He said he was—he was—he would have killed me."

"What happened?" Negan repeated calmly.

"He…" Mia swallowed the lump in her throat despite the faint ache it created and placed a hand over her bruised neck as she recounted the images playing over and over in her head. "…he was choking me. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't. He just pushed down harder and harder and kept telling me it was my fau—fault."

Simon stepped forward and leaned in closer to Negan, lowering his voice a little. "Todd's brothers was at the satellite station the night of the attack. He thought you should have executed Rick's entire group that night in the clearing."

"Did he say anything else?" Negan asked Mia. She averted her gaze and nodded.

"He told me that you would never be able to do your job while I was here. He said… you wouldn't be able to protect your people, so there was no reason I should be protected," Mia answered as she looked at Todd. He was bigger than her in every sense of the word and a lot stronger. When he pinned her to the bed she tried to push him off, but even with using all of the strength she could muster, he wasn't swayed an inch.

Negan walked up to her and she didn't have the energy to move away from him when he placed a hand under her chin. He tilted her head up and inspected the injuries he could see. Negan met her gaze after he made out the bruises under the blood. He cupped her face lightly and pressed a kiss to her forehead. His touch was softer than she ever thought was possible. Mia couldn't stop the sob that had built up in her chest, letting it roll out of her as Negan wrapped his arms around her. She tolerated his touch, but she didn't embrace him. Mia didn't want to have to rely on Negan for anything. She wanted to be at home with Rick and her brother, but she was stranded at the sanctuary and Negan was all she had at the moment.

She had been hurt by people before, but this was different. Todd made her remove her pants at gunpoint before he attempted to get take off her underwear, but Mia hit him hard enough to spark the rage that led him to choke her instead of rape her. The hatred the man held in his heart for her was so palpable that Mia knew he would have choked the life out of her if she didn't do something to stop him. She never would have killed him if she had any other choice. Mia had to keep her promise to her mom, though. She had to do whatever it took to survive.

"Where did you get the knife?" Negan asked once she pulled away from him. Mia used her unsteady blood-stained hand to push her hair out of her face, leaving behind a red streak on her forehead.

"He had it on him," she answered as her gaze returned to the body. "I managed to get it off his belt and then I… I…."

"Dwight," Negan said before she could finish and the man stepped forward. Dwight grabbed her pants off the floor and handed them to Mia. She pulled them on slowly as Negan addressed him. "Take her to the sitting room. The girls will clean her up in my bathroom and get her clean clothes. Then bring her back here."

Dwight nodded and hesitantly wrapped an arm around Mia. He didn't know if she'd even let him touch her, but she allowed him to guide her out of the room and down the hall. Somehow, her feet kept moving, but her mind was still back in Negan's room. She couldn't get the sight of Todd's body out of her head. They walked in silence until they reached the sitting room. Mia turned to Dwight abruptly and exhaled sharply.

"Negan believes me, right?" She asked. Her brain was running at a 100 miles a minute, but then she remembered that she wasn't the only one in danger. She still had family in the Sanctuary. "He has to know that I would never jeopardize Daryl's safety just to kill one Savior."

Dwight pursed his lips as he glanced around, making sure no one was listening. He looked down at her and sighed. "I think Negan would believe you even if you told him you hadn't killed Todd."

The thought made her flinch. She held out her bloody hands and squeezed them into fists, willing them to be still. She screwed her eyes shut for a long moment as she pressed her hands to her forehead, releasing a shaky breath. Dwight watched her, waiting to speak until she dropped her hands to her sides.

"You good?"

"No," Mia stated. Until that point a lot of what she had done while in the Sanctuary had been a part of the act she was putting on to get through this ordeal. But the tears in her eyes were real. The pain she was feeling was real. "I'm not."

Dwight opened the double doors to the sitting room after holding her gaze for a moment longer. He knew there wasn't anything that he could say to her to make her feel better. Todd had taken any sense of safety she had felt in the Sanctuary and there was nothing that could give it back to her.

The wives that were seated inside looked up at them as they walked in, but Sherry was the first one to approach them. Mia could feel the older woman's eyes on her before she forced herself to meet the older woman's gaze. She knew she probably looked like a bloody mess. Sherry turned to Dwight for an explanation.

"Negan wants you guys to clean her up and get her some new clothes," Dwight told her, keeping his tone detached and professional. "He said you can use his bathroom."

"Okay," Sherry said. She glanced over her shoulder at a red-haired women sitting down on one of the couches and gestured for her to join them. "Frankie."

Sherry and Dwight took Mia to the bathroom while Frankie went to get some clothes. Once the women were inside, Dwight locked the door behind them. Frankie and Sherry helped Mia strip her bloody shirt and started to clean the mix of fresh and dry blood from her upper body. Sherry used a light touch as she cleared the blood away from the cuts on her face and bruises on her neck. Mia tried to find the willpower to help, but she couldn't move. After killing two men in under 24 hours she was running on empty.

"Here," Sherry said before she helped put on the oversized flannel shirt that replaced Negan's bloody t-shirt. The younger girl pushed her arms through the long sleeves and Frankie tied Aiden's leather bracelet around Mia's wrist. She had only taken it off so the redhead could clean the blood off it.

"Mia," Sherry started hesitantly as she started to roll up the sleeves for her. "Did he rape you? I don't want to pry, but if he did, we should take the right precautions."

"He tried, but," Mia paused. She had heard Dwight explain what happened to his ex-wife, but he left out the nature of the assault. "I stopped him."

"I'm sorry, Mia," Sherry murmured and pushed a piece of hair behind Mia's ear.

Sherry gave the younger girl a sad smile and she and Frankie finished shortening the sleeves. Mia thanked them when they were done and Dwight guided her back to Negan's room. She decided to wait outside since she couldn't go inside until the janitors were done cleaning the blood off the floor. Negan and the man Mia had come to know as Dr. Carson met her in the hallway.

"The shape of the bruises indicates that she was choked," Dr. Carson said after he inspected her. "And the cut on her cheek and lip are definitely from being struck."

"We weren't questioning her story, doctor," Negan told him sternly. "I just wanted to make sure she'll be okay."

"You'll be fine," the doctor said as he met Mia's gaze. "It will hurt to swallow for a few days, but the pain should go away soon. The cut on your cheek will need some stitches. I can also give you something for the pain if you need it. The bandages on your wrists should be changed as well."

"Thank you," Mia replied, her voice quiet. She leaned against the wall as Negan talked privately with the doctor. Mia assumed the man must be a relative of the Dr. Carson at the Hilltop, but she couldn't say anything without revealing the alliance between Alexandria and the other Savior colony.

"Dwight," Negan said, causing Mia to turn her head to watch the interaction. "Go help Arat and Simon with the questioning. Make sure you talk to anyone Todd could have even possibly spoken with."

Mia waited until Dwight walked away to approach Negan. She looked up at him and hugged her arms to her chest. "You don't have to do that. I just want this to be over."

"It'll only be over once I make sure that no one else is going to try to hurt you," Negan explained.

"Negan," Mia began, "I'm fine. He didn't kill me and all wounds heal with time."

Negan towered over her. "Not all wounds. You were my guest. I told my people you wouldn't be harmed while you were here. One of my men went against what I said and tried to hurt you. I saw what he did to you. I know he raped you."

"He didn't. I fought him off, Negan," Mia said. She swallowed hard before she continued quietly. "I killed him. No one else should have to die for this."

"If someone knew he was going to try to hurt you or helped him do it then they will share his punishment," Negan said and placed a hand on her arm as he kissed her forehead. "I won't let something like this happen again."

Mia met his gaze and exhaled, knowing she wouldn't be able to talk him out of it. She gave the only response that came to mind. "Thank you."

Once the room was clean, Negan saw to it that Mia's cheek was stitched up and her bandages were changed. The sun had just set, but she was exhausted and simply wanted to go to bed. She wished she could forget what had happened. She wanted to forget that she stabbed a kid to save Daryl and cut a man's throat after he attacked her. But she knew better. Her dreams would be filled with memories she would rather forget.

Mia wanted to be with Rick. Being near him would make her feel better, but they were miles apart and Negan was all she had.

"You ready?" He asked after Dr. Carson left.

"Yeah," Mia said. Negan sat down next to her. She bit her lip as she pulled her hair into a loose ponytail.

Mia looked at Negan once her hair was tied up. "Why me?"

"What do you mean?" Negan asked as he continued to stare at the floor.

"Why do you treat me like this?" Mia questioned. "Why am I so important to you?"

Negan met Mia's gaze. "You remind me of someone I used to care about."

"Who?" Mia asked even though she doubted he would tell her.

"My wife," Negan said, surprising her. "My real wife. Not any of the ones that followed."

Mia took a deep breath and let it out. That was the last thing she expected. "I remind you of her?"

"You two have a lot in common," Negan admitted as he ran a hand over the stitches on Mia's cheek lightly. She had to fight the urge to pull away from his touch. "A lot of things I miss about her, I find in you."

"What was her name?"

"Lucille," Negan answered and dropped his hand from her face.

Mia nodded her head understandingly. "Lucille. You named your bat after her."

"If, one day, you were to marry me I would leave my other wives." Negan paused as Mia tried to comprehend what he was saying. "I wouldn't need them if I had you. You're all that I want."

"No, I'm not. You want Lucille back and I'm the closest thing you have to her. But, Negan…" He met her gaze when she paused. "I'm not your wife. I will never be your wife."

"I'm not going to give up. No matter what you say," Negan said and Mia dropped her gaze.

"Once I'm out of here, I'm done giving you what you want. Does that change things?" Mia asked. She cocked her eyebrow when he wouldn't look at her. "What if I try to kill you? Would you be okay with killing me then—just like you did with Glenn and Abraham—or would you have someone else do it… like you did with Henry?" Negan narrowed his eyes at her as she continued. "I know you had him kill for you. Then the day came when he had to die and you made me do it."

"That was just business," Negan explained and his eyes filled with an emotion Mia couldn't identify. "But I will never fucking hurt you."

"So, if the time came for me to die, you would just have someone else pull the trigger and watch me bleed," Mia said.

"No," Negan replied lethally. "Because the day for you to die won't come as long as I'm here."

Mia's looked at him in disbelief. She didn't understand how someone so strategically smart could have fooled himself into thinking his love for her was true. "You actually think you care about me."

"I know I do," Negan said, but Mia shook her head firmly.

"No, because if you did you never would have killed my friends… and definitely not the way you did it."

"That was business," Negan justified. "It wasn't personal."

"It wasn't personal?" Mia asked. She scoffed quietly. "Tell that to Glenn and Abraham's family. You made it personal the moment you looked into their eyes and the eyes of the people who loved them and decided to kill them anyways."

"Amelia, listen to me," Negan began, but she cut him off quickly.

"I bet you don't even know how many people you've killed… how many lives you've destroyed. You just stroll in, conduct your business, and then walk away without caring how you leave them. Death, despair, chaos… those are the memories you leave behind. That's your legacy."

Negan held her gaze as he raised an eyebrow. "So what?"

Mia sighed. She had seen that coming from a mile away, but a part of her hoped he would have at least pretended to care. "And that right there is why I don't think you're capable of caring about me. In order to do the things you've done and not care about the fallout, you have to be dead to the world. You can pretend to be a functioning human being all you like, but I think you're broken beyond repair." Mia ran hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face. "You're angry. Dark. That's never going to change."

"You don't think good people ever do terrible things?" Negan asked, seemingly unfazed by what she said.

"There are no more good people. We all have evil in us. It's there and it will never go away." She leaned towards Negan and narrowed her eyes. "The difference between us is that you don't kill so people can live. You do it to destroy them… to control them, to terrorize your victims, and I can't justify that. I won't justify that."

"I'm a survivor," Negan said and pointed to her. "Just like you."

"You… are a glorified serial killer," Mia corrected quietly.

"One day you'll understand why I did all this," Negan told her as he put a hand over hers. She dropped her eyes to their hands and took a deep breath. He had taken too much from her family to ever get validation from her. She pulled her hand away and met his gaze.

"I won't… and I will never marry you."

"Give it time," Negan told her. "Everyone changes their minds eventually."

Mia didn't have to be told that they'd come to the end of the conversation. She didn't want to debate with him anymore, if that's what they were even doing. Negan would never understand how he made Mia and her family feel, the level of despair he had left them on. He didn't have the ability to understand because there was nothing he truly cared about, not even his own people. He claimed she was it, but she couldn't allow herself to believe that. Negan was a monster and monsters aren't able to care about anything other than themselves.

Negan didn't attempt to stop her when she got up from the bed. She walked out of the room without looking back and found Dwight waiting in the hallway. They didn't say anything, but fell into step beside each other as they made their way to his room. He opened the door for her and she sat down on the chair with a sigh. Mia raked a hand through her hair before resting her head on her fist.

"Do you want a minute alone?" Dwight asked quietly as he leaned against the wall.

"That's the last thing I want," Mia murmured, closing her eyes. "Being here sucks, but being alone..."

She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence, but Dwight didn't need to hear it. He cleared his throat. "You want me to get you something to eat?"

"I lost my appetite," the younger girl responded as she opened her eyes. "I just want to go to bed. The sooner this day ends, the better."

Mia looked at Dwight for a moment and stood up. She didn't bother changing before laying down on the bed. Dwight shut off the lights and took his spot on the floor. He didn't argue this time when she threw her pillow and blanket down beside him.

"When I was out there, I had to get used to sleeping on cold, hard ground," Mia explained, staring into the darkness. "A bed is more than enough for me."

It was quiet for a long moment. Dwight's voice eventually broke the silence. "Thanks."

Dwight was already gone when Mia woke from her nightmare and she spent no time dwelling on the ghosts of her past. She got dressed and met him outside. The older man took her to get something to eat in the market before going to the sitting room. Mia tried to ignore the fact that she was spending the day with Negan's wives, as if she was one of them. She had nothing against the women. They were kind to her and welcoming, but she hated the idea of being seen as one of Negan's triumphs.

Mia was sitting with the wife closest to her age, Amber, when Dwight came to get her. She was taken to Negan's room and was happy for a split second when she saw Daryl. He was cleaner than before and so was his clothes, but he was still injured. Mia then noticed that Negan was sitting in his recliner, smiling wide. She exchanged a look with Daryl before looking back at Negan.

"Negan," she said, making him meet her gaze.

"Don't worry. I didn't hurt him. We just had a little chat, that's all."

"About what?" Mia asked after inspecting Daryl quickly.

"His life here, and what it would be like moving forward," Negan explained. "He could have been an integral member here, but he chose not to join us, which was a fucking dumb-ass choice, and now his life is going to be fucking hell." He pointed at Mia and smiled. "Not even you can stop that."

Mia knew he was telling the truth. After everything she said the night before there would be nothing she could do to stop the hell that Daryl was about to endure, and even if there was, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to do it. She was already giving Negan everything she could offer him without crossing the line.

"Can I talk to him before you put him back?" Mia asked Negan.

"You have five minutes," Negan said before walking out of the room with Dwight.

"What happened to you?" Daryl asked the second the door shut behind Dwight and Negan. He stepped up to her and inspected her wounds.

"A man tried to hurt me… kill me, but I stopped him," Mia answered. She smiled faintly at Daryl when he gave her a concerned look. "I'm fine. My face and throat hurt, but there's nothing like a little pain to remind you you're alive."

"You'll make it through this," Daryl said.

"We'll make it through this. We don't have any other choice," Mia replied with a knowing look. "We have to survive and make it back to everyone at home."

"Negan get the guy who did this to you?" Daryl questioned as he gestured to her. "Did he kill him?"

"No. I killed him."

"Good," Daryl told her. "A person who can do something like that doesn't get to live."

Mia hesitated to tell him the whole truth. She didn't have anyone else to talk to, though. She sighed as she ran her hands through her hair and met his gaze. "The man, Todd, he didn't just try to kill me. He tried to… he tried to rape me."

"Did he?" Mia could see the anger and concern in his eyes.

"No," Mia replied as eyes began to burn with the threat of tears. Daryl had never seen her cry and she had been hoping to keep it that way, but she couldn't bring herself to care about how strong she looked anymore. "I punched him and he hit me then started to choke me. That's when I got the knife off his belt and cut his throat."

"Are you okay?"

Mia pursed her lips as she shook her head. The tears were on the verge of spilling over and her voice wavered when she spoke. "No. I want to go home to Rick and Spencer and the others, but then I remember that it's only been two days. I mean, if it's been this hard to get through two days, what is it going to be like after a month?" Mia sniffled and wiped away a tear. She couldn't afford to waste time talking about herself. "I don't know what he's going to do to you, Daryl. He'll try to break you in every way he knows how, though. He'll try to take away whatever amount of restraint you have left and there will be nothing I can do to stop it. I have nothing else to give him and he knows it."

"You'll be okay," Daryl said and placed a hand on her uninjured cheek.

"I'm not worried about me. Negan won't hurt me, but he'll hurt you… or worse."

"Don't worry about me," Daryl said. "I'll be fine. I can take whatever shit they throw at me."

Mia placed a hand over Daryl's and he kissed her forehead. "I wish I could believe that."

They dropped their hands to their sides when the door opened behind them. Mia stepped towards Daryl and embraced him in a hug. He didn't hesitate to hug her back this time, wrapping his arms around her as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Stay strong," Mia whispered before she pulled away. He nodded when they met each other's gaze.

"Time's up," Negan said and Dwight took Daryl out of the room a moment later. Mia's eyes caught on Lucille as she looked up at Negan. It was dripping blood just like it had been the night Glenn and Abraham died. She wanted to ask what happened, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Be ready to leave in an hour," Negan said as he walked towards the door.

"Where are we going?" Mia asked before he could leave.

"Alexandria."

Negan closed the door behind him and Mia rested a hand over her closed mouth as she tried to think a way to talk him out of it. She doubted that Rick and everyone else back at home would be ready for him. They were told he'd be there in a week and only two days had passed.

Dwight returned a short while later and told her that he was to take her back to the sitting room. Mia didn't bother arguing about that. There were bigger battles.

She stopped him after they turned down several hallways, though.

"What happened?" Mia asked after Dwight faced her. She continued when he raised an eyebrow at her. "I saw Lucille."

"We found a couple of Todd's friends that knew he was going to attack you and did nothing to stop him or warn us," Dwight answered.

"Negan killed them?" Mia questioned even though she knew the answer.

"He beat them worse than he did your friends," Dwight told her and Mia sighed. "I've seen him kill people before, but this time was different."

Mia narrowed her eyes. "Different how?"

"All the other times was just business. He did it because he had to," Dwight explained. His blue eyes met her brown ones, resting there. "But this time, he did it because he wanted to."

Mia didn't have to wonder why. Negan did it for her and only her. She took a deep breath when she remembered that four people were dead now… because of her. There was no telling how many more would end up dead by the time she destroyed Negan. And how many because of Mia's presence in his life?