AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so this is also posted on A03 and over there, this story will be split into three different parts. But it's a little more difficult over here to do that, so I'l just be keeping it all in one part to avoid confusion. Notice this says "Chapter One", because it's the first chapter to the second part. Just so we're all on the same page. Without further ado, here's "Honeysuckle", part two of the Wildflowers series.

Chapter One

This Is How A Heart Breaks

Silence surrounded us as I held Colt to me. Not one part of my brain believed this was happening. I had seen him get shot. I know that I had. He'd fallen to the ground, right beside our parents.

I pulled back only slightly, placing my hands on either side of his head and pulling him back from me so I could see his face clearly. Taking him in, another cry fell from my throat.

It was still the same man I knew, the same face that looked so similar to our fathers, but I noticed the scar immediately. On the right side of his face, I could make out a scar from a bullet wound. Directly above it on the top of his forehead laid another scar. He'd been shot in his head and had somehow managed to live through it.

"I thought you were dead. I thought you were fucking dead, bunny," he cried, his eyes staying locked on mine.

I could only nod and wrap my arms back around him. Warmth filtered through the shock and gut wrenching sadness that coursed through me at the nickname he'd called me since he was little. I'm not sure how long we stood there clinging to each other, but no one said anything or tried to pull us apart.

Eventually, his crying slowed and I stepped back to look at him again, keeping a hand on his shoulder.

"Colt… I don't understand. I saw you get shot. How are you here right now?" I asked, my voice coming out wobbly.

"I don't know, bunny. Brendan said that you… that in Purcellville…" He stumbled over his words while his eyes continued to fill with tears.

"I killed him. I killed Brendan, for what he did to them," I told him, my head nodding once.

His eyes widened.

"That was you? I've been keeping tabs on him, sneaking out there every so often. The other day I'd gone by and the whole place was fucking leveled, Piper," he said, shocked.

I smiled at him, only a small curve to my lips.

"That was me."

"Mom and dad?" he asked.

I knew he wasn't asking if they were alive. He would've seen their bodies just as I had.

"I got them. We buried them."

His head bobbed up and down, fresh tears springing to his eyes that he never let fall.

"Good. That's really good," he said quietly.

"I need you to tell me everything, Colt. I don't even know what to think right now," I said, squeezing his shoulder.

"Piper," Negan barked.

I turned to look at him as he strode towards us. He stepped up to me, his back to everyone else in the lineup.

Our eyes locked. He winked at me and his face split into a quick, sincere smile before returning to the evil grin.

"While the family reunion is heartwarming, we have things that we need to finish up here," he bit out, before turning back to the group, "If it's not obvious, that lucky SOB has been granted immunity from Lucille. Which sucks for the rest of you. Slims your odds of survival a bit. Colt, step to the side with Piper while I finish up, will you?"

I grabbed Colt's hand and dragged him back to where I had been standing with Laura and Arat. Both of their faces were trained into a scowl, but their eyes held a shock that I was sure was displayed on my face as well.

I turned to Colt, whose face was angled towards Negan. I could see the anger behind his eyes as he glared at the man I was in love with. Something had changed with him, which I understood because same, but I needed to figure this out.

"Be quiet. Don't say anything, don't stop anything. Just stay quiet. Please. We'll talk when it's over," I whispered to him, bending down to pick up my machete.

"Be quiet while he chooses one of my friends to kill, Piper? Yeah, sure thing," he said back quietly, a sarcastic edge to his voice.

I raised an eyebrow and gently pushed him until his back was to the RV and he was standing between Arat and Laura. I glanced at each of them, silently commanding them to keep a hold on him should anything happen. They nodded almost imperceptibly, signaling they had it.

Every emotion humanly possible swam through my body, making me nauseous. I tried to get a hold of everything, telling myself there would be time later to talk to Colt, figure out what happened. While I was so incredibly fucking happy that my brother was alive, he obviously had an allegiance to these people and I wasn't sure how deep it ran.

I turned back to the scene before us, continuing my pacing. I noticed some of the group was looking between myself and Negan, some of them looked to Colt, obviously confused. I set a scowl on my face.

"Where were we?" Negan asked, as he started walking down the line again, stopping in front of a kid with a bandage wrapped around his head, "You got one of our guns."

He crouched in front of the kid.

"You got a lot of our guns. Shit, kid. Lighten up. At least cry a little," he chuckled, grabbing the gun and tucked it into the waist of his jeans as he started walking down the line.

"Jesus. You look shitty," he said to a woman who clearly looked ill, "I should just put you out of your misery right now."

Screams of "no" from the man that had been beside Colt sounded out as he tried to scramble towards the woman.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Colt tense. I looked over at him, his eyes were wide and angry as he looked at me. He shook his head once. I nodded my head, but I knew Negan wouldn't kill the woman. No, he would kill the red head. He was just fucking with everyone right now.

Dwight was on the man, holding the crossbow to him as the woman screamed.

"Nope, nope. Get him back in line," Negan commanded and Dwight dragged the man back to where he had been, tossing him to the ground.

Negan chuckled and the grin took over his face, as the man pleaded for him to leave the woman alone. It pulled at my heart, watching the man sob over the clearly ill woman.

"Alright, listen. Don't any of you do that again. I will shut that shit down. No exceptions. First one's free. It's an emotional moment. I get it," he said, pointing at the man and staring at him for a few seconds before looking at Rick, "Sucks, don't it? The moment you realize you don't know shit."

Rick looked like he was on the verge of a mental break, his eyes wide, body shaking. Silence surrounded everyone.

"This your kid, right?" Negan asked Rick, pointing Lucille to the boy with the wrap around his eye and laughing, "This is definitely your kid."

"Stop this!" Rick screamed and I tensed as I continued to pace, ready to act at any moment.

"Hey! Do not make me kill the little future serial killer. Don't make it easy on me! I gotta pick somebody. Everybody's at the table waiting for me to order," Negan started whistling as he walked slowly past everyone.

When he reached the end of the line, he threw a hand up, exclaiming, "I simply cannot decide!"

And then he started playing eenie meenie miney mo as a hand reached out and grabbed my elbow. I looked to see Colt clutching at me. Arat and Laura watched the interaction with a fierce intensity.

He leaned close to me, whispering, "You have to stop this, Piper."

"Stop this?" I questioned, "Are you kidding? They took out one of our outposts, Colt. They murdered over thirty of our people. People with families. The fucking red head almost killed a seventeen year old kid who is very fucking important to me."

His eyes widened.

"Piper… I was with them that night. I was at the outpost, too. I killed people too," he breathed.

I'm not sure why my brain hadn't pieced that together, yet. He was with them. He had participated in the massacre.

"Why?" I whispered.

"Because Negan is a monster. He's a bad guy, Piper," Colt replied passionately, "And because I thought he was the reason you were dead."

"Our parents didn't think he was a bad guy. And Negan would never hurt me."

"Our parents didn't know that man. He's using you, Piper. He's using you for what you can do for him, like Brendan did," Colt said, his eyes hard.

"You have no idea what you're talking about. He is nothing like fucking Brendan. We work together."

"Look around you Piper! He's about to kill someone with a fucking baseball bat! In front of everyone."

"They god damn deserve it, Colt. None of this would have fucking happend if you guys hadn't taken out our outpost. None of it. If that redheaded fuck hadn't shot Harvey. I can't believe you're really trying to put all of this on him right now," I exclaimed.

Laura coughed quietly, letting me know we were getting too loud.

Colt released my arm and straightened himself. Normally, when I thought of Colt, I still pictured the eight year old boy who used to follow me around, demanding I play with him. At this moment, though, I realized Colt was a man. A man who had formed a bond with people who would rather see my friends dead than alive.

"If they deserve it, then I deserve it too, Piper."

"Colt…" I trailed off, completely baffled by how this was turning out.

"I love you, sister. I would do anything for you and you know that. You have no idea how happy I am that you're alive, but if you ask me to choose between my people and yours, you're going to be disappointed in my answer."

My mouth parted as I took in a breath. This wasn't happening right now. It couldn't be. I'd spent months grieving Colt and our parents. I had beat myself up for not being able to get his body back. My family, my people, had made a goddamn headstone for him for me. And he was telling me that he would be sticking with these monsters.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and he walked away from me.

I watched his retreating back as he marched back to where he had been and dropped to his knees at the end of the line. I was frozen in place. My brother, who had also thought I was dead, had made a very obvious choice.

Negan only briefly paused his little game, glancing back at me, before continuing. I felt a hand reach out and squeeze my wrist once. It was either Arat or Laura. I wasn't sure which, but I didn't care right now.

My heart beat in a painful rhythm, but I resumed my pacing down the RV, with a face that was more feral than it had been before.

I was on the verge of a full blown panic attack that I was trying damndest to contain. Not even five minutes ago my world had been flipped upside down and I had Colt back and now… now it felt like that had been ripped away from me, by Colt himself. He had chosen other people over me and I couldn't wrap any part of my brain around it.

I watched Negan stop in front of the red head as he ended his game.

"Anybody moves, anybody says anything, cut the boy's other eye out and feed it to his father. And then we'll start. You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry. Hell, you're all gonna be doing that."

And then he swung, Lucille arcing above him and coming down on the man's head hard.

"Did you hear that? He said, 'Suck my nuts'!" He laughed and swung on the man's head some more, just for dramatic effect, since there was nothing left to even hit.

He turned away eventually and walked to the middle of the half circle.

"Oh, my goodness! Look at this!" Negan chuckled, swinging Lucille around, flinging blood across the faces of some of the people on their knees, "You guys! Look at my dirty girl."

He stepped towards another woman holding Lucille up and started talking to her, but my eyes had landed on Colt, who was looking up at me in horror. I kept my face in an emotionless state.

His eyes stayed on mine and then slowly looked to the woman Negan had spoken to before, the one who looked sick, and the man directly beside him who had freaked out when Negan suggested killing the woman, then back to me. He shook his head once.

Without saying a word, I knew he was asking me to protect those two people. I stared back at him, making no indication that I understood what he was asking of me. My emotions were a mess, but I didn't let it project on my face.

I turned away from Colt, focusing back on Negan, just in time to see a man jump up from the lineup and swing on Negan, his fist crashing into Negan's face with a crunch. Two Saviors were on him quickly, but I was already moving.

I pushed the two men away and shoved my foot down onto the man's throat, cutting off his air as I put my machete in his face, centimeters from his eye.

"You're in big trouble now," I cooed to the man softly, as his piercing blue eyes locked on mine. He made no motion to move.

"No!" Negan yelled, "Oh, no. That? Oh, my! That is a no-no. The whole thing, not one bit of that shit flies here!"

Negan was crouched down to look at the man in the face, as I pressed harder on his neck. Dwight came forward quickly, raising the crossbow to his eye and aiming at the man's head.

"Do you want me to do it?" Dwight asked, his eyes locking on mine for a moment.

Negan grabbed the man's hair and pulled his head to the side to make eye contact with him.

"No, no you don't kill that. Not until you try a little," Negan chuckled.

He looked up at me and winked before tapping on my ankle twice. I removed my foot, but kept the machete pointed on the man. I nodded to Dwight and the Savior next to him and they drug him back to his spot.

Negan stood, and draped his arm around my shoulder.

"Anyway, that's not how it works. Now, I already told you people that the first one was free. And then what'd I say? I said I will shut that shit down! No exceptions. Now, I don't know what kind of lying assholes you've been dealing with, but I'm a man of my word! First impressions are important. I need you to know me. So, back to it. Piper, baby, pick someone and take care of it for me, will you?" He asked, before leaning in close to me and whispering in my ear, "I'm thinking the man beside your brother, just so you know. Rick has looked over at him multiple times, but it's up to you."

I turned to my left, facing Colt, my machete twirling in my hands as I walked down the lineup. Faces turned up to me and fear laced most peoples features. Part of me wanted to just pick someone and start swinging. Not only for what they had done to us, but because anger was a living, breathing beast in my soul right now, taking up residence in me right next to my anxiety and gut wrenching sadness.

But the bigger, more prominent part of me was done. I wanted this to end. I wanted to go home and get in our bed and cry until I couldn't cry anymore.

Regardless, I kept up my slow walk, smiling to all of them. When I reached the mullet man at the other end of the line, I quickly spun towards Negan and skipped to him. Regardless of how over this shit I was, if he wanted him to think we were all unhinged, I wasn't going to upend that.

"I have an idea," I said, smiling up at him.

"Please, share with the class," he murmured, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Let's take that asshole with us," I said, pointing to the one who jumped up and punched Negan, "Make him a Savior."

"No, no don't," Rick said, his voice breaking.

Negan looked around me at the man, grinning at him.

"Excellent fucking idea, baby," he said to me, kissing my forehead and walking around me, slapping my ass on his way past.

Negan walked towards Rick, just as Rick muttered, "I'm gonna kill you."

Negan crouched in front of him.

"What? I didn't quite catch that. You're gonna have to speak up."

"Not today. Not tomorrow. But I'm gonna kill you," Rick said, his eyes locked on Negan's.

I tuned out of the conversation, turning my attention elsewhere, as Negan spoke to Rick, drawing Simon into whatever he was saying.

My eyes roamed over Colt, who was watching Negan. I caught a glint of blonde hair and I looked at Dwight, whose eyes were bouncing between the man who punched Negan and myself.

He mouthed, 'are you alright?' to me.

I nodded my head quickly, but he didn't look convinced. He raised an eyebrow and I shot a small smile at him. I would talk to him later.

Suddenly, movement from Negan had my eyes bouncing back to him. He grabbed Rick by the collar and started dragging him across the dirt to the RV.

"We'll be right back. Maybe Rick will be with me. If not, well we can just turn these people inside out, won't we?" He called, throwing the man into the RV roughly.

I just watched as he went, uneasiness falling in the pit of my stomach. I flinched slightly as he started the RV after a few attempts and pulled away. So much for hoping we were about to finish this up.

Simon made his way around the group, to my side.

"You okay?" He asked quietly in my ear.

"No, I sure am fucking not," I replied, just as quietly.

I looked to the sky, which was starting to lighten as the sun had barely begun to rise. For some reason, the morning light made everything feel and look even more gruesome.

"You need to take a walk?" Simon suggested.

I shook my head.

"No, I want to watch these idiots. Make sure they don't try anything."

"I've never met anyone less of afraid of a fucking fight," Simon chuckled, before looking to the Alexandrian's and the Saviors around us, "Get comfortable, fuckers. We might be here a while."

I started walking around, not looking at anything specific. The same thoughts kept replaying in my head on repeat: My brother was alive and he had found a group that hated my people so fiercely, they'd killed an entire camp of them. He picked those people over me.

Part of me, a small part, was glad that he had found people he was close to. That he hadn't spent the last however many months alone. Or worse; dead. However, while I found myself grateful to them for looking out for Colt, I couldn't get over what they had done. What Colt had done.

Colt was smart. He wouldn't do something just because someone told him it had to be done. He believed that what they had done was justified and that fucked with my head. He knew Negan, had met him many times and they always seemed to have a decent relationship. He'd never once told me he didn't like him or thought he was some god awful person.

My eyes landed on the sick woman as I passed her. I stopped, curiosity getting the best of me.

"Were you bitten?" I asked, my voice softer than it had been before.

Her eyes looked up to me as she shivered and sweat poured from her face.

She shook her head and gave me a simple 'no'.

I crouched in front of her, keeping my machete to the side in an attempt to make my presence less frightening.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She swallowed hard and tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm pregnant and something is wrong," she breathed out, her body curling in on itself.

Well, fuck.

"Were you guys going to a doctor?"

She nodded her head slowly, her eyes looking to the man beside Colt.

"Maggie," a stern voice came from my left.

I looked over to see a woman with long dreads glaring at me.

"Maggie is in the middle of a conversation. Why don't you keeping thinking about the piss poor choices you fucking idiots made to get yourselves in this situation, hmm?" I threw the words at her, venom coating every syllable.

I turned my head back to Maggie. I tried to tell myself that I didn't know why I was being kind to the woman, but deep down I knew it was because Colt obviously cared about her and the man.

"How long have you been in pain?" I asked, my voice soft again.

"A while. Hours," she responded, another shiver rocking her body.

I nodded my head and stood up, making my way to Simon. I snatched his radio from his belt and continued walking far enough away from everyone that no one could hear me.

Pressing the button and holding it to my mouth, I spoke slowly into the radio.

"Negan? Do you copy?"

"Wildflower? Everything okay?" He responded instantly.

"Yeah, I need to talk to you. Alone."

"Only I can hear you right now, baby."

I paused, "Did you kill him?"

"No. He's running a little errand for me. I'll explain later."

"How much longer until you're back?"

"Maybe forty-five minutes. Why?"

"Can you make it thirty?"

"I can for you. Care to tell me what's going on?"

"The woman, the sick one. She's pregnant. They were going to a doctor. Something's wrong with her baby."

Silence met me for a moment.

"Well, fuck. Yeah, wildflower. I can be back in thirty."

"Okay. See you soon."

"See you soon, doll."

I returned the radio to Simon before walking back towards Maggie, the machete swinging next to me. I crouched in front of her once more and she looked at me.

"Given Rick acts right, they should be back in thirty minutes. You'll be able to get to a doctor after that," I whispered to her and she nodded her head as I stood up.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Don't mention it. Literally, don't mention it ever," I said, the left side of my mouth lifting momentarily.

I started to walk away, when her soft voice stopped me.

"Your brother talks about you all the time."

I looked at the woman's face, making mine fall blank, and continued walking away.

I paced around the area, watching all of them, until the sun was high in the sky and the rumble of the RV sounded. The sound eased something in my chest. He was back.

I stopped where I was, to the right of Colt and watched as the large vehicle halted abruptly, kicking up rocks behind it. The door slammed open and Rick came flying out of the RV and onto the dirt. Negan was behind him in an instant, grabbing him by the collar of his jacket and dragging him towards the group, dropping him on his face.

He started in again, talking about how the look Rick kept giving him was unacceptable. He directed the Saviors to put a gun to the back of everyone's head. When a man I didn't know stepped forward and pointed his shotgun at Colt, I used the flat side of the machete to knock his hand away violently.

"Get the fuck back before I cut your arm off myself," I gritted out.

The man had the common sense to look scared before backing away.

I felt Colt trying to catch my eyes, but I refused to look at him, instead focusing on the scene before me.

Negan had the kid laying in the dirt, telling Rick to cut his son's arm off. Rick begged, pleaded, cried, but Negan kept goading the man. Right before Rick did it, Negan stopped him, crouching down next to the sobbing leader.

"Rick. You answer to me. You provide for me. You belong to me. Right?"

The man nodded his head, his breaths coming out in pants, which apparently didn't appease Negan, who clutched Rick's face in one of his hands.

"Speak when you're spoken to!" He screamed, "You answer to me. You provide for me. You belong to me. Right?!"

"Right," Rick repeated.

"Right. That is the look I wanted to see!" Negan stood up, walking in a small circle.

I had to look away for a moment. I could kill someone who deserved it, and Rick definitely deserved it, but Negan was playing the long game and actually breaking the man. For some reason, this was harder to stomach.

"We did it. All of us, together. Hell, even the dead guy on the ground. He gets the spirit award for sure!" Negan declared, walking around and looking at the group, "Today was a productive damn day! Now, I hope for all your sake that you get it now. That you understand how things work. Things have changed. Whatever you had going for you, that is over now."

Negan looked to me for a moment and down to Colt, before moving his eyes to Dwight.

"Dwight! Load him up," he said, pointing to the man who had punched him.

Dwight threw the man in the back of a van and slammed the doors shut as some of the people sobbed, including the pregnant woman.

Negan crouched next to Rick again.

"He's got guts, not a little bitch like someone I know. I like him. He's mine now. But you still wanna try something? 'Not today, not tomorrow'. Not today, not tomorrow? I will cut pieces off of… Hell's his name?" Negan asked Simon, who grinned at him.

"Daryl."

Negan laughed.

"Wow. That actually sounds right. I will cut pieces off of Daryl and put 'em on your doorstep. Or, better yet, I will bring him to you and have you do it for me."

Negan's eyes met mine again as he stood. I made a small gesture with my hands, indicating that I was ready for him to wrap this shit up.

"Welcome to a brand new beginning, you sorry shits! I'm gonna leave you a truck. Keep it. Use it to cart all the crap you're gonna find me. We'll be back for our first offering in one week. Until then, ta-ta."

And then he started walking away, stopping only to reach his hand out in my direction. I went to grab it, before I heard Colt.

"Piper, you don't have to go. You can come back with me," my brother pleaded.

I looked at him and then at the faces of the people on their knees next to him.

"No, I can't, but you can come with me," I said, making eye contact with him.

"I can't leave them," he said, sounding desperate.

I nodded my head. I knew that would be his answer, but every part of me had hoped I was wrong.

"And I can't leave them, little brother," I said sadly, my head bobbing towards my people.

His eyes grew misty as he stared at me before they locked on the necklaces hanging around my chest. I saw him focus in on our parents' rings as a sad grimace pulled at his features.

"I love you, bunny."

"And I love you."

I reached for Negan's hand, threading my fingers through his, and followed him to our truck, my heart shattering into a million tiny pieces as I did.