Walking Dead Wizard

Chapter 88

Ezekiel could only gape in surprise, completely out of his 'king' character as he stared at Shiva shocked to the core. Nobody, and he meant nobody could get Shiva to do anything, except him. Even at that, Shiva wouldn't actually react that way it was as though she had been compelled to react, as if it was instinctive for her, which it most certainly was not. She was and remains to this day a wild animal, perhaps one of the few remaining tigers left in the world. How had he done that? How had he so successfully reigned in a wild animal? His people didn't even bat an eyelash over it, which meant he'd done it before – at least something similar – if not actually commanding a tiger.

"You alright Darlin'?" Merle whispered into her ear, as he pulled his woman towards him, keeping her close to himself. Not trusting anyone in front of him, those at his back though…he definitely trusted, completely. His fingers brushing along the seams of his trouser pocket, where he kept his hand precociously close to the gun, the only weapon he had to keep everyone safe. Ready to shove his hand in and remove the gun if need be and deal with the a threat. If the animal could be considered a threat now.

"I'm fine," Luna said, a little breathless with the excitement today was producing and of course her primal reaction to Merle's utterance of 'Darlin'' in that southern drawl of his. Which had gotten more and more refined the longer he spent with the Dixons. She wasn't sure if he knew how she reacted to those words, but she doubted it, otherwise he'd say it a hell of a lot more. Merle was insatiable, he had sex on the brain like seventy-five percent of the time.

Harry stared at the people on the platform, utterly bewildered by what had happened in just such a short time. A frown marred his features, before he turned to Jesus, "You're all just fucking with us, aren't ya?" sounding a bit like both Hagrid and Merle with an odd accent. He didn't quite sound as British as he had when he first came here, but he definitely didn't sound American.

Jesus opened his mouth but carefully paused, Harry sounded extremely pissed off. Even his own people were looking startled, perhaps at his vulgarity? Or perhaps it was the way he was speaking? From his somewhat limited experience he had interacting with the man, he wasn't one to easily anger. He was easy going, asked the right questions, in fact Jesus could see himself liking Harry if their interactions continued. They were on the precipice of change…one wrong move and his people would need to endure the Saviours and everything that came with it.

Regretfully he couldn't just lie to Harry and say that yes, they were screwing with him. The reality was, that this was all too real to these people. "I'm afraid not," Jesus revealed, his joyful tone nowhere to be found, as he stared grimly at Harry meeting his eyes head on.

"If that's the case…" Harry said to Jesus before turning to Ezekiel "You're completely fucking mental," Harry told Ezekiel, "Sitting on that seat, pretending to be the king of the jungle." And that was what the world was now, a jungle.

"Don't talk that way about the king!" Jerry called out, his tone unusually serious, he didn't like these outsiders coming here and judging them. It worked for them, and that was all that mattered.

"Shut up," Harry retorted, "He's not a king, he's not better than any other woman, man or child out there."

Jerry glanced at Ezekiel as if he wasn't capable of thinking for himself after that retort.

"Let me get this straight, Jesus, you actually want to deal with this?" Harry asked, staring at the four people on the 'stage' waving his hands over them as if saying the words wasn't enough. "A self-imported deluded idiot, who thinks oh I'm going to become a king now that the world has ended? Sitting on his throne, making decisions while everyone else risks their lives for him?" disgust and doubt coated his voice. "Right now I'm more concerned with who the hell is more deluded you or him!" throwing a look of incredulity at Ezekiel.

Daryl as always remained silent as he thought about everything, there were very few things that could make him react with violence, less so now than before. Seeing Harry commanding a tiger had been extremely hot to say the least, and the way he always spoke him mind was even more arousing. Like most things, he actually agreed with Harry, it was quite disgusting at how deluded this guy actually was.

"We need to work together to deal with the Saviours," Jesus explained, seeing that they were moments from leaving. Part of him had suspected this would happen from the beginning, they weren't people who wasted time. Daryl was the most impatient out of them all, he hadn't even gotten to the Kingdom before he wanted to return to their base – wherever it was – he still had no idea and honestly, he doubted they would answer. They were a smart group and a smart group wouldn't reveal such a thing.

"What help is he going to offer up other than more people for the slaughter while he remains safe behind these walls?" Harry said derisively, his voice getting steadily louder. "How many people have died for him? For his worthless hide for a Mirage? To play along to his insanity! The price of admission is what…bowing and scraping before a pathetic man?"

Ezekiel stiffened as the words hit him like a ton of bricks, he had lost a lot of people, people close to him. He hadn't wanted their deaths, and if he could have taken their place he would have done so in a heartbeat. This setup had worked for them all, and the fact a stranger came in here and judged him and found him lacking shouldn't have affected him but it had. It took him everything he had in order to keep his façade up and not react as he wanted to.

"Harry," Luna said softly, cautioning him, she didn't need anything more said to see what he was thinking. Dumbledore had always been an open wound, no amount of time could heal those wounds truly. Dumbledore had thought himself a king surrounded by nothing but mere pawns, and he was assuming Ezekiel was the same. She had no idea if he was, but bringing anger into a situation wouldn't help anything. The look on Ezekiel's face hadn't been one of someone who didn't care, there was more going on here than they were seeing.

"No, Luna! The world is already fucked up without putting up with something like this!" Harry argued back, "Leadership isn't a damn position or title! It's action! Helping those get to where they need to be, to be all they can be!"

Andrea unconsciously nodded, in complete agreement with Harry. He was a great leader, and Harry hadn't set out to be a leader. He had set out to make a difference, he'd always been about the goal, not the role. He had helped her come into her own, along with everyone else at PA. So, to Harry, seeing a leader sitting there, boasting his title and acting like an idiot…well it was hardly a surprise Harry was furious.

Maggie watched the scene play out, Glenn's hand in hers tightening at the tension mounting. Harry hadn't just given them all confidence in his abilities…he had given them all confidence to grow into their own. He had inspired greatness in them all, they were alive because of him. he had taken more than his fair share of any blame for things that happened and less than his fair share of the credit. He never saw it as being a leader, to him he was just helping people. Her daddy said that was the best kind of leader there was, a true leader.

"Not everyone had our life experience when this started," Luna continued trying to calm her irate friend. "We shouldn't judge them, not so quickly, and not all of them on the actions of one man. If there's any truth to Jesus' word, we need to make sure the people here are safe. It would be all too easy to burn these buildings down, trap others inside or be surprised by a herd of walkers. This place…it's a casualty waiting to happen and this guy said they aren't even aware of the danger they're in. The women and children would be left vulnerable, they haven't been trained like the men have." Yes, she'd seen the training, the women were definitely not part of it. At least not that she had seen thus far.

"Yes, we noticed that too," Beth stated sourly, shivering in revulsion. It vividly reminded her of the first year of the apocalypse under Shane and Rick's leadership. If such a thing could be called a leadership, since they never did any leading just dictating and demands while they tried to make themselves seem tough and refused to listen to anyone. That had caught her off-guard the most, the fact Harry listened to everyone, took their advice into consideration or said why he was not going to follow said advice. He was strong, not rude, kind but not weak, bold but not a bully, humble and not proud. Exact opposite of Rick and Shane, none more so than the fact he clearly hadn't wanted to lead anyone. He had just gotten sick of following a bad leader. Rick had sometimes listened to her daddy, but not always, most people had been apprehensive about Terminus – for good reason it turned out now – but Rick hadn't listened.

"Jesus you're wasting your time instead of taking care of your own people," Harry said, "They deserve your concentration right now, they've just suffered losses." He could see how desperate Jesus was regarding his people. His disappearance would have people questioning why, wondering if they were just waiting to inevitably die. Unless they were confident in Jesus and know without a doubt he was doing something important to help. Which they might, but considering how new he was to the whole thing maybe not.

"He's right, this is all bullshit," Merle grunted, standing there with Luna pressed against his front. Arms crossed over her, keeping her situated right where she is. "The world is ended, no need for this shit, he ain't gonna listen until the Saviours start their mind fucks here and this place ain't as protected as hilltop." Talking about him like he wasn't even there, nothing annoyed people more, especially people like him.

"We have better things to do with dealing with delusional people who think they're attending an renaissance fair, useful things like looking for people out there on their own. Scavenging for food, continuing to train both our men, women and children combat." Oscar spoke for the first time, eyeing them with blatant distaste. Making it clear what he thought of them so far, without actually saying a word against them. "If he wants to continue his delusions let him, on his head be the deaths of over a hundred people."

"Damn," Merle muttered, smirking in amusement, Oscar didn't give opinions often to others, but when he did…he always made it worth it. Throwing a look of respect Oscar's way, letting him know he silently approved. The youngest there looked as though he was about to wet his pants, if he'd seen any action on the outside he'd eat his fucking hand.

Luna muffled her giggles into Merle's broad arms, she'd come to be quite an expert in the Muggle world over the years. Well, not fully, but she was aware of what a renaissance fair was all about, and honestly? Luna loved the sound of it, or would have done if the world hadn't been a screwed up place to begin with.

"This has been the weirdest damn day of my life…and that's saying something," Harry muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Are you ready to stop playing dress up like a kid 'King Ezekiel'? Or will you risk your peoples lives out of pride and vanity?" he was doing this for the women and children, and only for the women and children here.

Jesus felt himself relaxing marginally, he knew that Harry was right, he should be with his people. He would be soon enough, he just hoped it was with good news. As soon as those saviours didn't show up back at their compound…Negan would be furious and the likelihood of another attack was eminent. Harry's people were trained in combat, that much was obvious and very well too. If anyone could protect his people it would be them. It was wrong of him to ask it of anyone, but he was desperate. He couldn't do what the last leader of Hilltop had done, he wasn't a diplomat, he couldn't make deals with the Saviours, not when they were blatantly attacking them and trying to kill everyone. He had to stop himself from outright begging Ezekiel to do as Harry asked, just this once. It wasn't just his people on the line, it was Ezekiel's too…the Saviours were going to do the same with them, he just knew it.

Harry stared blankly at Ezekiel, before his eyes wandered over to his people. The three that were there, only one seemed really happy by his actions. The one who had the desire for war, to stop the saviours realizing it was only a matter of time. The other two were quite…shaken by what he was saying, evidently they didn't like the truth of his words.

"Richard why don't you take the others for a look around? If they give advice I would strongly suggest you heed it, they're very good." Harry barked out at the guy at the other end of the room, nearly hidden from view. "I demand a private audience with your king."

Ezekiel could feel the eyes of his people upon him, wrapping himself in a cloak of 'King' mentally, he uttered, "Please excuse us," he said, he wanted to say more but he wasn't capable of it, his throat was thick and filled with air as he tried to stop himself succumbing to his own fears.

"Meet back up here," Harry said to everyone, giving them all a nod and quirk of his lips.

"Holler if you need me!" Jerry said, beaming happily as if he was completely oblivious to the undercurrents going on at this exact moment. Perhaps Ezekiel wasn't the only insane one here then.

Harry laughed, but it was tinged with something…indecipherable. "You find that funny?" Ezekiel asked Harry, his entire façade becoming somewhat different.

"Ah, it's nice to meet the true person behind the façade, there's nothing worse than a bullshitter, or someone pretending to be who they aren't. You realize that this place is a joke? Have you prepared every single person under your care how to fight? Would they survive the real world? If you haven't done that then you've failed both as a leader and as a so called king. The real world is fucked up, shitty, and just down right barbaric, that kid didn't look as though he'd seen the outside world since it begun…how would he react to seeing a walker up close? Has he even had a single day where he had to prove he had the mettle to protect himself and those he cares about?" Harry asked, as he stalked confidently towards the stage, growling back at Shiva who quieted down with a grumble.

"I'm protecting them," Ezekiel stated, staring at Harry, not sure what to think of him.

"You're giving them a fairy tale, a happily ever after, in their tower where they're safe from any and all harm while bargaining with the devil behind their backs. Something that will come back to bite you in the ass, if they have half a brain they will know exactly where you are, its how bad guys think." Harry retorted, tapping his mind as he said it.

"Perhaps they need the fairy tale," Ezekiel countered confidently, even if he wasn't quite so confident in his assessment inwardly.

"Right and having everyone bowing and scraping like your life actually means shit is just a perk right?" Harry said sardonically. "I've met men like you in my time, it never ends well for them, the power goes to their heads and they actually start thinking they're better than everyone else. Newsflash man, you die the world will continue on. There won't be long periods of mourning you…life doesn't allow that shit anymore." He'd be burnt like everyone else at the end of the day when his body wasn't even cold.

Ezekiel sighed, his body just slumping as if the weight of the world was becoming too much, "People want someone to follow, its human nature. They want someone to make them feel safe. And people who feel safe are less dangerous more productive."

Harry watched Ezekiel tell his story, wondering if Ezekiel was more like him than he could have possibly fathomed. Only time would tell.

"They see a dude with a tiger shot and start telling stories about finding it in the wild, wrestling it into submission, turning it into his pet. They make the guy larger than life, a hero." Ezekiel continued as Harry froze on the spot, "Who am I to burst their bubble?"

Harry laughed bitterly, "You think telling them would make a difference? Oh, no, their minds made up, nothing and nobody could un-delude them otherwise."

"Next thing you know, they treat me like royalty, they wanted…no needed someone to follow so I…I acted the part. I faked it till I made it." Ezekiel said, his exhaustion evident, "I wasn't made for this, to be a leader, I was a zookeeper, Shiva…" he said gesticulating towards the tiger, "She fell into one of the concrete moats in her exhibit…it was empty but her leg was ripped open. She would have bled out, the sound she was making…she was in so much pain, I knew the risk, I had to try and got my shirt up around her leg and saved her life. After that she never so much as a tooth in my direction. Keeping a tiger isn't logical I know, she eats as much as ten people and she could yank the chain out of my hand…hell, she could yank my arm right off but she hasn't. she won't. I lost a lot like everyone else, when it all started to fall. I found myself back at the zoo."

Harry nodded, he'd tried to head to familiar ground as well, Hogwarts, a place that felt safe, normal so he understood the desire.

"Shiva was one of the last animals alive, she was trapped, hungry and alone like me, she was the last thing in the world that I loved. She protected me, made me larger than life and got us this place." Ezekiel's story just continued to pour out of his mouth. He wasn't sure why he was telling this guy everywhere when he'd already judged him so harshly. Yet he couldn't stop it, and it didn't help that those green eyes were filled with nothing but solemn understanding. Ezekiel was pandering to them.

"Larger than life always seems like a good idea…until things start going wrong. And inevitably they do, no matter how long it takes and how much good you do it's never enough, they always remember the bad and all the good you've done is just swept under a rug and forgotten." Harry said icily. "Being a hero is never what it's cracked up to be."

"There's nothing wrong with giving them what they want," Ezekiel answered, "I will be the bad guy if it keeps them all alive, feeling safe and productive."

"Giving them what they want…isn't the same as what they need," Harry said seriously, "Do you truly believe that your people will be left alone? So far the Saviours don't seem to care about the carnage and death they leave in their wake. Jesus wasn't exaggerating the slightest, if we hadn't come…there is a possibility that all but a few would be dead, and all it took was a few walkers and a perfectly placed vehicle,"

"Do you know the real reason I keep this deal from my people?" Ezekiel questioned, not really expecting Harry to understand his reasons but willing to explain nonetheless.

"Because they will want to fight, despite the consequences, which they would go in fully acknowledging and understanding." Harry stated, "It's you that holds the fear they won't return and won't allow them to think for themselves, you're not a leader or a hero really…you're a dictator masquerading behind a façade of a benevolent king."

"What and you tell your people everything?" Ezekiel asked dubiously.

"Yes," Harry said staring blankly at Ezekiel, "Keeping information from people…it leads to innocent peoples deaths. It always does, so yes, in the event we're threatened or someone is out there that's concerning me, I call a council meeting and make sure everyone is made aware of the situation and we plan according, together." And his past actions displayed that clearly, although they hadn't truly had to do it at the PA, the prison was where the last concern had truly been. Oh, no, they had discussed Negan and the Saviours in the PA he'd forgotten that. "They all know about Negan and the Saviours, they have to be informed, the last thing I want is anyone being killed or hurt while on a run."

"Harry?" Luna called from the door, her head peeking in, curious to see if he was done but also cautious.

"I'll be right there," Harry commented standing up, "I'll be back tomorrow for an answer, you should think about everything I've just said. Truly think about it…everything I'm telling you isn't guesses…it's from personal experience. Let me tell you though, it was exceedingly much more pleasant to deal with the real Ezekiel not the king." With that Harry walked out without once turning back to face the man still sat on his 'throne' but he didn't look like a king any longer, he looked like a man burdened down with the weight of the world.

"How does it look?" Harry asked as soon as he stepped out.

"Well their defences are somewhat decent," Andrea explained, "but if a group of walkers made their way here…those defences would be demolished remember the strain our fence went through with the dozen walkers that ended up at the prison?"

"Yes," Harry said, its' why he'd had walls created all around their safe heaven, fences just weren't strong or good enough at the end of the day.

"They have quite a few openings, but are manned, with only one person," Merle stated, "No outlook, no protection, easy to pick off and get in if they really wanted to."

"Damn it," Harry sighed, "Though have to give credit where credit is due, he's kept this place up and running thus far. Not everyone has military experience or the head to pull off a truly safe environment," Looking around pensively, it was a good place, just a little vulnerable, he wondered if it would be a good thing to put some spells around the perimeter.

"So, what happened?" Amy asked, grabbing her weapons as soon as the guy – Richard – stepped up with them the guy almost had a smile on his face.

"We're returning here tomorrow for an answer," Harry stated, "He will just have to live with the consequences of whatever he decides, Oscar is right, we have other things to deal with, I've given it my all Jesus, but I can't force him to see reason."

"Thank you," Jesus said sincerely.

"Goodie, hopefully the tiger will be there again," was all Luna had to say about that.

Harry closed his eyes and groaned, "You're not getting a tiger Luna,"

Luna just grinned in return.

Daryl, Merle and the others all just smirked very used to Luna and Harry's antics by now tension slowly bled from them all.

There we go! I know you're probably disappointed since Harry didn't lay into Ezekiel the way I actually originally planned...I sort of wanted Harry to completely destroy him...but he definitely broke him a little :D it was fun to write I must say regardless of whether it didn't go the way I originally planned like months and months ago! I'm just wondering if I should introduce the ocean people and whether the men should still be around...or perhaps running into more of Negan's men and stopping it before the full assault took place...so many options and quite a bit of time to choose :D so Will we see Fidelius charms going up simultaneously over Hilltop and The Kingdom? securing more of the only populations they have thus far? Or will we see what's left of the Hilltop population coming to PA? Not all of them can come since realistically the fractions would fight and argue...and that's not something I'm really prepared to write as fun as it would be especially since there's a lot of other fighting factors already in it (like Negan) given what's been happening in the TV series...I'm not sure how many people are actually still watching it! I can't say I really blame everyone and not sure how it's going to work but I'm definitely giving it a chance :) Read and Review please!