Gareth's POV

I shuddered to myself, my head rested over my hands atop my knees, as I sat in the cold darkness of the storage unit that Jadis and her little henchmen had shut me away in.

Her little goons, as Sadie would likely have called them if she were here.

I chuckled quietly to myself a little at the thought.

My small amusement, slight as it was, was cut short by the sounds of footsteps that seemed to be approaching from outside, not too far away.

I shuddered again as those very sounds brought my mind back to….those days….back at Terminus…..back in that damned train car.

"You're not there." I mumbled to myself. "...you're not fucking...there."

I shook my head in an attempt to block the screams from re entering my mind.

….Her screams, at the very least.

Another thought that was, thankfully, cut short by the latch click as it slid open and allowed for the large doors of the God forsaken container to open as widely as they would open.

I flinched slightly at the suddenness of it and slowly stood up, attempting to raise a hand over my eyes to shield them from the bright sunlight until I remembered that my hands were still tied together.

I glanced back down, clothed only in my boxers, and gradually stepped toward Jadis and a few others that stood around her.

Most of them stood to each side of her, while another sat in a chair near her.

I shook my head again to clear it a little further before I spoke.

"Sadie's offer still stands." I reminded her. "...You can join us…..or you can die."

She didn't answer, just snapped a picture with an old fashioned camera she'd been holding.

"Turn." She instructed, coldly.

I sighed but did as she said, waiting for the camera to click before I turned back around. "Just be sure to get my good side." I joked.

She said nothing more, but snapped another one when I was facing forward again.

"...think you're funny?" She finally remarked.

"...think I'd like to know what the point of this is." I replied instead. "What do you need these for, anyway?"

"Sculpt you." She answered. "...after."

I sort of scoffed at that. "After what?"

She didn't answer, but instead signaled for two of her people to shut the storage container again.

The doors didn't even make it halfway shut before Sadie snuck up right behind Jadis, close enough to breathe right down her neck, and held her knife right up behind it.

"You have about five more seconds to untie my husband's hands and have one of your precious little servants go fetch his clothes before I make every last one of you sorry you were ever born.

She glanced back up at me, looking me up and down, before letting a little smirk escape. "..not that I don't like what I see, of course." She chuckled briefly to herself at her own joke. "You okay, hon?"

I couldn't help but smile back at her. "Guess I could be worse."

She smiled again, nodding before returning her focus back to Jadis. "Move it."

Jadis turned her head briefly, not moving except to give the signal to the two others by the doors not to shut them again.

She then turned her head to glance back at Sadie over her shoulder, then back to look me up and down once more, before giving a signal for one of her guys to go fetch something for her.

Sadie turned slightly to her side, just enough to see better over Jadis's shoulder, to watch for whatever that asshole would return with.

When he finally did return, he walked behind a dead one that he appeared to be guiding toward our direction.

The dead one, much like the one Jadis had made Sadie fight, was wearing a spike covered helmet to protect its head and was being guided over by a long pole that was acting as a leash for the damn thing.

"After thi- " Jadis started to say, likely referring to my earlier question, but was it off by Sadie as she shoved her roughly off to the side and down on her hands and knees and proceeded to yank the man's grip off the pole to take it for herself.

She swung it around at the few people who'd been standing around, knocking them out, before using it to rip off the dead one's head and gin swinging that.

Jadis started attempting to get back up but Sadie kicked her right in the face til she could get down and straddle her to begin trying to choke her out.

"That wasn't one of the choices!" She snarled, tightening her grip.

"...that means you all die. Maybe not today, but our people will be back, and they will attack!"

As I watched Jadis gasp for breath under Sadie's hold, I decided to kick the dead one's head just a little bit closer to hers….more for added shits and giggles than anything.

Sadie half smiled at the gesture in appreciation, though still managed to not totally take her focus away from Jadis.

"...and after that.." Sadie continued. "...maybe you should just run.

Jadis reached up, with whatever strength she had left, to give a signal to the group of others that had appeared on the scene so that they would lower their weapons.

"...had enough yet?" She asked her, seeming to mostly ignore the gesture.

Jadis nodded weakly.

"Good." Sadie scoffed.

As she started to step off of her, I reached out my still tied up hands to offer her.

She snickered a little at the offering, considering, but took it anyway as she pulled herself the rest of the way up. "Thanks."

She looked up and Jadis, who had turned over onto her knees and was still glaring at Sadie.

Sadie responded by acting as if she were offering her own hand for her to take and pull herself up, til Jadis reached for it and she pulled it back away.

"Help your damn self up." She scoffed, taking a knife off her belt and turning back to me to cut the rope off my wrists.

"Alright, now hold still." She cautioned gently, doing her best to cut the knife through it carefully so as not to so much as even graze too much against my skin til I was free and the rope had fallen to the ground beneath us.

She gently pulled my hands back closer to kiss them and smile back at me before releasing them again to return back to Jadis.

"...His shoes and clothes, NOW." She ordered before Jadis could say anything further.

Jadis shot Sadie another glare but dropped it, likely thinking better of challenging Sadie any further. She raised her hand to give another signal to someone else who nodded back and quietly left the scene.

Jadis then returned her attention back to Sadie.

"Join you…" She finally said. "...what then?"

Sadie scoffed, making a point of returning her knife to her belt right in front of her.

"The Sanctuary is surrounded." She explained. "Dead ones….twenty deep around the compound. You'll come with us there, we'll wait til the others meet us, and when we do, we'll ask the lieutenants to surrender. All of us, together…...then I kill Negan….me alone. Take the deal."

"After…." Jadis replied instead. "...Saviors' things, our things. Yes and yes."

"It'll be all of ours." Sadie corrected. "...you'll get a fourth and you're lucky to get that."

"Half." Jadis insisted.

"A fourth." Sadie repeated.

Jadis glanced behind her at me, as I started to get back into my clothes, and then looked back up at Sadie. "A fourth and I sculpt your husband after."

"A fourth, no sculpting…" Sadie glanced around the area briefly. "...and the camera you dropped when I got here."

"...my jacket too." I added, noting that it was still missing from the small stack that had been returned to me.

Sadie didn't say anything else but nodded toward me.

Jadis sent another person off, to go get it, and looked back to Sadie...finally nodding.

"A fourth." She agreed, pointing off to the side where a woman was holding the camera she'd been using earlier.

Sadie obliged, snatching it out of the woman's hands as she did so.

She found the photos that had been taken, left neatly stacked on a nearby foldout chair, and took those too.

She slid the photos into her pocket and the camera strap over her shoulder.

"Let's head out then."

I couldn't help but snicker a little at the gesture as I took her hand and led the others out, alongside her.