((I have realized my issues! These chapters do not match with the ones I have stored, so my bad! Also Pandora and Daryl are coming back together I promise! Bare with me! Let me know what you guys think!))
When the air fills with thick black smoke Pandora makes the choice the go inside. They layout of this place is getting easier to remember, and she is already on her way to her room before she notices Dave following a few steps behind her.
"Do you ever get time off?" She asks once she has slowed down to allow him to catch up with her. Why make it weird.
"What?"
Pandora quickly glances at him wondering if he had in fact not heard her. Instead of finding Dave's confused face, he is smiling. This prompts her to roll her eyes, a bit of her old self resurfacing.
"Do you do anything but follow me around?"
"Ya Princess I sleep, play poker on my days off. Other people take the night shift."
"Oh."
"Are you tagging along tonight?"
Up a flight of stairs out into a hallway and her room is going to on the right. "If he lets me."
Dave laughs than, nothing like Negan a rough wheezing sound that makes her wonder if he smoked a lot.
"If you want it to happen it happens, you should know that. Rumor mill is spinning after last night already."
The redness creeps up her neck making her cheeks hot. She didn't think anyone would be talking about that. When she is around Negan, it is sometimes hard to remember there is a world outside of him. His presence seems large enough to be everything, but there are other people and apparently they have been watching.
She didn't think the nickname he had given her that bloody night would be so true, but here they are Pandora Princess getting of anything she wants. Maybe Dave was right maybe she would get going tonight just because she asked.
In her room there is food waiting in the fridge, some pasta dishes. Pandora eats without really tasting it, everything tasted like ash right now. She had not been out for a long left when they started burning the dead like trash but still all she can taste is burning. She eats anyway though even if it taste like the dead.
Her little kitchen is clean when she leaves it. It is always clean, she always cleaned her own space. Before the world was burning, she used cleaning as a way to wind down, even though she was moving it was an easy way to clear her head. After practice she would come home in the morning and clean her room, not even changing from her clothes just cleaning.
Now she takes a book to her big chair, half reads and half watches the never ending hive of activity under her window. Trucks are getting loaded men are moving and buzzing about. Some of them speak into tiny black boxes. The war is going to end soon she can feel it Negan has too much rage, this will end bloody.
The sun is setting in the sky when she hears a knock on her door, a second later its opening the knock pointless.
Negan is shutting the door behind him, "Hey there Princess. What are you reading?"
Pandora has to look down at her lap to remember she had put it down some time ago to watch a fight break up in the space outside her window.
"The Iliad." she replies, "always good to reread a classic."
"If you say so," He tosses a black backpack on her bed. "Still want to come tonight."
"Ya." something always happens when she gets left behind, better to go. Better to know what happened. The world is growing ever dangerous, Negan has proven time and time again she is safe with him.
"Then pack some clothes, got other shit you might need."
Pandora pulls the zipper open on the bag, inside there is a small bag. It filled with travel sized products for her hair and face, there is even a travel sized curl cream like the one in her bathroom. "Where did you get this?" she asks with a tinge of laughter in her voice.
"What? Asked one of my wives to pack it for you, she knew her shit."
Pandora shakes her head, but she is smiling when she passed him for her closet she touches his arm lightly, "Thank you." it doesn't take her long to collect some clothes, Negan stands in the kitchen watching her.
In seconds Pandora has a pair of tights, jeans sweaters and tank tops. Slipping it onto her back she heads for the door, Negan already there.
In her head she keeps track of each turn they take, each staircase they go down. She cannot see much from where she is behind Negan. There are people moving all about her, they had left her guard at the door she can only assume. When they get outside there is more space to breathe, and they walk towards a line a cars.
It is already getting dark the sky turning a hue of pink, if she remembers right they will not get there until the sun has already set. The darkness will be the perfect cover, everything he does is for a reason.
There is a sleek black car in the middle of the line of vehicles and Negan stops beside it. There are two men standing there guns over their shoulders.
"Well boys come meet the princess." Negan waves them over and they nod at her. "Keep en eye on her tonight, she stays with the convoy no where else."
Pandora has never seen these men before, she wonders where Dave has gone. Left behind maybe he worked all day. These men are younger, she would say mid 20's if she had to field a guess. She nods at them hand on the handle of the back seat.
"One more rule the most important one, Princess?"
"Don't touch me." Pandora snaps eyeing them carefully. This had been a problem with anyone new around her. Physical contact was still a sore spot for her, it usually trigger a very violent response.
"That's right, you are not to put a fucking on her. If you do, she has full permission to kill you." Negan laughs at their faces he is closer and can see better, Pandora assumes the look is shock.
She would never kill them on purpose but accidents happen all the time.
"Car ahead is for you boys when we stop you stand guard." Negan takes her hand and moves it from the handle opening the door and crushing her inside.
He takes the passenger seat once he's inside. From where he sits he passes her what looks like a hand-rolled cigarette.
"What is this?"
"Weed Princess, one of my guys has been working on it, try it out."
With everything else swimming in her system she can see how this would be any worse. She has a habit of taking xanax on the regular how harmful can weed be. Negan lights it for her and after the first lung full of breath she is doubled over in the back seat hacking out a lung.
From the front Negan is booming with laughter handing her a bottle of water to help with the burning. It helps and when she finally stops coughing, there is a feather light feeling beginning in her fingers.
"Oh this is nice." as they drive Pandora smoked it down to the filter leaning her head out the window wind whipping her hair.
Before she knows it they are pulling up to the gates of Alexandria in the complete darkness. Before he gets out Negan hands her another small white roll and a lighter.
"Smoke that later if you want, but stay here I'll come back when it's over."
Once outside Negan is giving silent directions with just the movement of his hands. Pandora watches the men and women around him nod and move away. Negan is the puppet master pulling the strings of everyone around him. What happens when the strings are cut does someone else step up or does everyone else remember their place like she does.
"You may be wondering why the hell your lookouts did sound the alarm," Negan has a microphone his voice rings out in the night sky. "See, we are polite. I mean, I don't know when they're gonna wake up from that kinda shot, but they should wake up. So let's just cut through the cow shit - you lose. It's over. So you're gonna line up in front of your little houses, and you're gonna work up some apologies, and then the person with the lamest one is gonna get killed. Then I kill Rick in front of everybody, and we move on. You have three - count 'em, three minutes to open this gate, or we start bombing the shit out of you!" Negan pauses and even from the car a few cars from the gate she can see the grin he is wearing. Holding the microphone up to his lips be begins whistling.
At every turn Negan tries to preserve life the best be can, once she had not been able to see that but now she can. He is giving them time to come to the terms of their lose themselves. From what she knows about Rick he will not open the gates for them. No this will have to end in blood as much as everyone would rather it didn't. Blood on both sides really, maybe even some of her own blood since she is here in the back seat.
"Two minutes, people! Dig deep. I want these apologies to be memorable. Bonus points for creativity. Work up a poem, sing a song. I love that shit." Negan drops the microphone to his side and turns to the man to this right. "Get it ready we are going to bomb the shit out of this place."
The car is beginning to feel too small, no matter how she shifts her body in the seat nothing is comfortable. All the doors are unlocked she notices head rolling, the weed is making her slow but also so calm. When she opens the passenger side door, the chill of night air covers her like water and she is laughing a feeling of it.
The men watching her turn and for a few long seconds they all stare at each other in silence. Then they turn away back to watching the front gate. Pandora slips the rolled joint behind her ear holding onto the lighter. For a while she sits with her legs on the ground hanging out of the car. But the stars over her head are so beautiful she wants nothing more than to watch them in the sky.
There is a white truck a few cars ahead of them Pandora is moving for it before she really makes the choice too.
"Hey!"
Whipping her head around she grins at the man calling to her, "I'm going on the top of that truck, which is still in the convoy. So wait here or follow." a part of her has to admit that she loves the power being given to her. How many times had she pushed against Daryl's control in her recovery. Negan allowed her to steer the ship for the most part, and it was exhilarating.
The truck she has spotted has a ladder wheeled to the side, it takes her no time to climb to the top. Once there she lights the second joint breathing in the deep smoke, this time no coughing.
"Okey Dokey. Brought this on yourself, Rick. See, I was willing to work with you. All you had to do was follow a few very simple rules. Now - Well, now I see that you got to go. Scorched earth, you dick!"
Negan's tone makes Pandora seek him, rolling her head lazily to the side to find him. The men set the guard her had followed both standing in front of the truck speaking in low hushed tones. Probably complaining about her attitude, not that it mattered.
"He's not home!" a voice she would know anywhere rings out into the night.
Flicking out the last of her joint Pandora pulls herself up into a sitting position. Its slow and the world around her seems to glow with an unnatural light. She almost gets lost in the stars a second time.
"Oh-ho-holy shit! Everybody hold your fire. It's Carl. Look at you. Answering the door like a big boy. I am so proud. Daddy's not home, huh? Well, I guess he's gonna get back to a big old smoky surprise."
Negan speaks and Pandora allows her gaze to shift to Carl. He stands on top of the wall, she can only make out his shape light by Alexandria behind him. She wonders what this is, because nothing to how it seems it this war, nothing.
"There are families here. Kids, my little sister." Carl is shouting he doesn't have a mega phone like Negan. The shouting makes it easier for her to hear the shaky quality of his voice. Some time ago what feels like years she used to be included in the group he called family, now she is not so sure.
"Well that shit just breaks my heart. There at the Sanctuary, you must have seen them. Even a little baby at one of the outposts. Wonder what happened to her. I have Pandora at the Sanctuary remember? Had to bring her here with me keep her safe from you fuckers." Negan shakes his head holding lucille loose in his hand. "None of this shit's fair, kid. Hell, you know that. You had to kill your own mom. That is screwed up. Ergo, we need someone in charge who's willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that shit doesn't happen. Oh. Wait. That's me."
"Bad stuff does happen, but we can figure this out. We can stop this."
"Oh so now you want to talk?!" Negan is shouting now his affection for Carl wavering. "See, your dad had it that I died, He gave my people a choice. Not me. Now we're gonna need a new understanding. Apologies, punish-"
"Kill me!" The desperate shout of someone watching their plan unravel. Pandora should feel something about his shouted proposal, but she doesn't, really.
Negan on the other hand is heated, "What did you say?" His voice has a low dangerous tone, she no longer wants to go to him better to leave him now.
Somehow this feels like a movie, like she is watching this happen removed from everything. That is probably the weed, maybe she shouldn't have had so much in such a short time.
"If you have to kill someone, if there has to be punishment, then kill me. I'm serious." Carl must look serious because there is a silence in the night air now.
"You wanna die?"
"No, I don't. But I will. It's gonna happen. And I- if me dying could stop this, if it can make things different - for us, for you, for all those other kids - it'd be worth it."
There is a silence around her now as Negan and Carl stare at each other from their sides of the wall. Pandora can feel her heart squeeze painful, she cannot allow Negan to kill Carl, she just can't. This isn't his fault, not maybe Rick never gave him a choice in this flight. They cannot kill children.
"I mean was this the plan? Was it supposed to be this way? Is this who you wanted to be?"
That stings even thought she knows Carl isn't talking to her at all, it still hurts. Because she has come so far from who she wanted to be that she isn't even sure who that person was anymore.
The silence that has fallen is broken by a symphony of sounds, so many it's hard to pull one from the din. Guns firing, glass shattering, shouting, metal grinding. A line of garbage trucks blows through the metal fence taking out some cars in their convoy. Her own guard are holding their guns out now both have their eyes glued to the chaos exploding around them.
"Son of a bitch, Carl! Was that just a play?! I thought we were having' a moment, you little asshole! Bombs away!"
There is more noise now, huge explosions on the other side of the gates. For brief flashes it is day time, the flames blasting away for darkness. It hard not to find it so beautiful. Man around her are screaming, at each other or at no one. Her men are screaming at her she sees them now, doesn't hear them but sees them calling to her.
Then they stop both slumped over on the ground red lines dripping from their heads. In seconds Pandora is down at the ladder her hand touching the fresh bullet wound. This isn't right, it was not supposed to happen like this. She should get back in the car and wait someone would find her.
"Pandora!" Just as she makes the move to turn someone shouts for her. For a second she is sure it's Negan. But then through the smoke she can see Carl. Her hand reaching out gripping his arm painful, because maybe he is just a product of her mind something familiar in the panic.
Carl doesn't speak again just begins pulling her along with him. She goes with him for a second because it's easy, but when she passes into the front gates, she stopped in her tracks.
"No wait!"
Then she hears him Negan telling his men to spread out and search everything, he would wait at Ricks. Pandora wants to follow the sound but Carl doesn't allow it. He only touches his side and pulled her forward.
"On the ground kid!"
Pandora whips her head around, she doesn't know these men but she is relieved. 'Take me back' she wants to scream but somehow her mouth has refused to open. The surrounding air is suddenly so thick with smoke Pandora is sure that she is going to die.
Pop, pop, pop. Three small sounds cutting through the smoke, mostly harmless. Mostly because of the pops finds a home buried in Pandora's left side. Her mind shots awake in time to scream, not in time to break her down fall and she goes down hard. Stars explode in her vision when her head hits the floor, but only for a second then everything goes dark.
"It's over." Dwight's voice rings out into the night when he called them waiting in the trees.
Daryl is the first through the trees, he had been nothing but rage the moment he heard Pandora's name. Everything they were doing here was so time sensitive that one thing was missed it was over. Oh how he had almost left them all in the woods, the moment the bombs began going off and the flames light the sky he was ready to go.
Rosita had almost shot him where he stood, and he had almost let her. Thinking be must be able to run with a bullet hole, he had lived through the line up with one after all. He didn't leave thought because Michonne is forever his voice of reason, she goes over the plan again reminding him why they are here. They will go back she promises him she will go back with him.
So instead he is standing in front of Dwight crossbow in the other mans face trying to form his thoughts into a sentence.
"I made sure you guys got out the back! I drove the convoy right up to the road black, I knew what it was. I can't go back. One of em got away. She's gonna tell them." Dwight is pleading for his life, Daryl is finding it hard to hear over the pounding of his own blood.
"Is Pandora here?" Finally he cannot bear to listen to the other man talk for a second longer.
"She's here! I swear to God Negan brought her and left her in the cars."
That causes Daryl's arm to sag lowering the gun a fraction.
"Eugene got us out I can still help you. I know how they work, how Negan thinks. I want you to win. I want Negan to die. And we can settle up after."
Daryl pulls him too his feet tugging his long stolen vest off of him.
"I'm going to get her."
Michonne touches his shoulder nodding just slightly. This isn't like the other times he will not be talked out of leaving them. The last few weeks had been hard for him they had all seen it. the moment he came back to Hilltop he had been ready to march back there and get her. Maggie had him held back, made sure no one would open the gate for him.
The whole group had tried to talk to him for days explaining that they were going to war but this wasn't the time. They didn't have enough guns, enough people, enough anything to go back into the Sauntry to get Pandora. Daryl had cursed, shouted, and sworn at all of them. They asked Daryl where she was inside there, he couldn't answer that. He knew the layout of the lower floors, but he never saw where they were keeping her.
When Dwight had come to them looking to help Daryl was going to kill him, but he said her name it changed everything.
"I know where he keeps Pandora." Dwight had shouted at the crossbow in his face. That had calmed the rage, had Daryl demanding to know everything write it all down in a blank notebook he found. He kept writing things down, all the things they learned the parts of the plan when he could try to get her back. Every time the group had shaken their heads sadly and said they didn't think it was possible. Every time he raged a new.
These memories played in his head as they headed for the manhole cover, near the front gates. Daryl had promised he would make sure they all got there, then he would go for Pandora and come back to meet them. They knew they couldn't talk him out of it this time.
Daryl drags the manhole cover out of the way dropping a rock down into the water. When he hears it hit bottom, he turns ready to leave.
"Daryl?!" he hears Tobin calling him from the darkness. "Is Daryl here." Daryl doesn't answer suddenly there is no air, he only looks down into the hole seeing Tobin with a flashlight. "You need to get down here."
Daryl is jumping down in a flash and Tobin is already moving towards the dim lights in a run.
"Carl found her at the front gate."
Daryl doesn't need to hear anything else he is already way down the tunnel in a full run. He knows Tobin is talking about Pandora.
Carl had planned this well, and all Daryl needed to do was follow than light and there she was. Slumped against the wall closet to Carl Pandora is unconscious. In a matter of seconds Daryl is on his knees before her, clearing the hair from her face so he can see her.
Her face is different more round again, she looks better than when he had last seen her. But her color is off, paling now more than he had even seen it.
"Oh my god." Rosita is behind him. "She's here."
"I slowed the bleeding as much as I could, but my supplies are limited." the new young man is speaking from where he kneels on Pandora's right side. He is wiping the blood from his hands on a rag.
Daryl's eyes shift to the hole in her shirt, and the red stain spreading outwards. His fingers tug up her bloody shirt. Under bits of material are pressed to her side, held in place with duct tape.
"They shot at us, I wasn't fast enough."
"Carl, I. I, "Daryl cannot form a sentence all is can do is hold Carl tightly and cry.
"Thank ya."
There is a sharp hiss of pain when Daryl tightened his grip and slowly he pulled away. That's when he notices there is something wrong with Carl's face, he looks pained. In utter silence Carl lifts his shift slowly to expose a bit on his stomach.
Daryl is immediately filled with rage and looking for a blade.
"It's too late, it was already too late."
"Fuck, Ahm sorry."
"I did this last thing, I brought her home."