Chapter 86-Family doesn't end in blood

Alden's P.O.V

The sun was setting as Daryl, Carl, John, Alden, and Shane made their way to Maggie's house. They push the door open and see Maggie sitting on the couch in the living room. "Where is she, Maggie?" Alden asks her, the others already starting to search through the rooms to find no trace of her.

"She's gone," Maggie admitted, looking at her hands in her lap.

"You let her go? After what he did, you let her go!? She's going to help him escape!" Alden shouts, Carl, putting an arm on his shoulder to hold him back.

"It's her brother!" Maggie exclaims as she stands up, thee looks at Daryl pleadingly "You of all people have to understand where she's coming from."

"Don't compare Jesse to my brother. Merle did what he had to so he could survive. Working with the Governor, he did what he had to, but when he found me, he came back, and he joined us. He did his best to make up for what he did to you, Glenn, and Michonne. In the end, he died doing it and he gave his life to buy time, and we won because of that." Daryl growls. "We gave Jesse a chance, and he chose Richmond over Al, he killed Luciana and almost killed June. He's out of second chances, Maggie."

Maggie opens her mouth to protest, but Alden cuts her off angrily. "Luciana was pregnant!" Alden shouts.

The room fell quiet as soon enough she looked at Alden with shock and horror on her face. "He killed my girlfriend and my child. He dies Maggie."

Looking around, she saw that John and Shane looked grim, Carl and Daryl looking at her now pleadingly not wanting to argue about this with her, and Alden of course enraged and red-eyed from grief and anger.

Maggie stays silent as she sits back down in defeat. "Go get 'em," Daryl tells Alden and John.

"And if Al gets in the way?" Alden asks.

"Don't hurt her." Daryl says firmly as Alden and John leave "She's still one of us, just restrain her if you can."

"Daryl, Carl, please." Maggie pleads.

"She ain't gonna die or hurt," Daryl reassured her.

Carl added "I'm sorry Maggie, but Alexandria comes first. I'll start rounding up a party." With that the young leader left the house as well.

Daryl looks at Shane. "Have someone watch her. I'm gonna go radio, Morgan."

Shane nods grimely as Daryl leaves.

Morgan's P.O.V

From their place sitting with Coco, Morgan and Rick look at Tammy as she walks up to their cabin. "Daryl's on the radio. He said something's happened."

Morgan and Rick nod as they stand up and go into the big cabin. They sit down at the radio. "Daryl, what is it?"

"Jesse got out, he almost killed June, and we don't know the extent of her injuries yet. Morgan, he killed Luciana," Daryl says. Staring for a moment, Morgan then ran his hand over his mouth as tears formed in his eyes. He rubbed his eyes.

"Alden?" Rick asked softly

"He and John went after Jesse, so did Al, but she went by herself. They won't kill her, but I told them to restrain her. Carl's rounding up a search party to if they can't find him." Daryl tells him. "She was pregnant, Morgan." Daryl says as his voice breaks.

"Jesus Christ." Morgan says sadly.

"Can you guys dig a grave? We'll be there tomorrow," Daryl says.

"Yeah, of course," Rick answers as Morgan stands up. "We'll get her a grave, Daryl."

"Thanks. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

The radio goes silent, and Rick looks at Morgan. He lays his hand on Morgan's shoulder. "Luciana was one of the first people we met in Texas," Morgan says.

"I'm sorry, Morgan."

Morgan nods as he rubs his eyes. "We should go dig," Rick nods as they leave.

Troy's P.O.V

Troy and Laura stood on the south side of Alexandria on watch. Troy pulled his radio out. "Reilly, do you copy?" Troy asks.

"I copy." Reilly says.

"How's it going? The New Frontier try anything yet?" Troy asks him.

"We're still tracking them, they're moving a lot, but we're close. I would say they are only an hour or so in front of us." Reilly tells him.

"Good, check-in every hour. We need to know you're okay, and be warned in case they get a 'visitor," Troy says.

"Everything okay there?" Reilly asks, worried at that implication.

"Jesse's out. He killed Luciana. Make sure he doesn't meet up with them."

The radio was silent for a few minutes. "Okay, we will. I'll check in an hour," Reilly says before his radio goes silent.

Troy sets his radio down and looks at Laura. "It will be dark soon."

Laura nods. "I'm gonna miss her."

"Yeah, me too." Troy says as he kisses her head. Laura looks at him and smiles and leaned in.

"We're gathering groups to look for Jesse." They both turn around, jumping at the sudden intrusion and look at Negan, grinning at them. "Go get ready." Negan says to Troy with that same worrying grin, who quickly nods as he walks away, still very intimidated by the man. Laura walks up to him sternly and slaps his shoulder.

"Stop being an ass," She says as she follows Troy, and Negan chuckles.

Alicia's P.O.V

Alicia looked at Daryl as he walked into the house. "You going on any of the searches?" She asked him.

"No, I'm going to stay here, Carl will handle that front." Daryl says. "Make sure nothing happens. You?"

"No, I want to be here in case Nick needs anything." Alicia says as Daryl walks up to her.

"You doing okay? You knew her a lot longer than me."

"I'm managing." Alicia says, rubbing her face. "We knew people were going to die. But we were supposed to be safe in Alexandria. We should have never let him in."

"I know." Daryl says then he promised. "But he's going to die. Then we're going to bury her."

Alicia nods. "I'm gonna go check on Nick," Daryl nods as Alicia leaves. She walks through Alexandria and goes into Nick's house. She knocks on the door, and Nick opens it, his eyes a blur She smiles at him warmly as she wraps her arms around him. "Where's Sherry?"

"She's getting food," Nick says as Alicia walks in. "Mom's with Maggie."

Alicia nods as she sits down across from him, a hand comfortingly on his knee. "Has anybody seen Strand?"

"No, I think he's with Cole." Nick says as he sits down beside his sister. "She was pregnant."

"Yeah," Alicia says. "I heard. We've lost people, but this one feels different. It hurts more."

"She's been with us for so long. We just always thought she'd be here, and now she isn't, and we have to learn to live without her."

"First, we have to say goodbye."

"I think we mourn today and say goodbye tomorrow," Alicia nodded as she grabbed Nick's hand and gave him a small smile.

Maggie's P.O.V

Madison sat in a chair in Maggie's house, as Maggie was still sitting on the couch...as if in a state of shock, likely from hearing that Luciana was pregnant. She had left Nick with Sherry after Shane asked her to watch Maggie, Shane helping Carl with the searches. "I didn't know what to do." Maggie says, making Madison look at her. "I understood that she wanted to see good in him."

"And you let her go, Maggie. And if it goes bad out there, Jesse could find Badger, and he could tell him where Alexandria is. I know you did what you did because you love her. We aren't ready to fight yet," Madison says softly, trying to get her friend to see from their side.

"I need to check on Hershel. You wanna escort me to the radio?" Maggie asks her suddenly. Madison looked at her, furrow in her eyes at the sudden but nodded as she leads Maggie out of the house down the street. They go to the church, and Maggie goes into the radio room and sits down, Madison sitting outside to give her privacy.

After a moment to compose herself, Maggie tapped in "Anybody there?"

"Hey, Maggie. You wanna talk to Hershel?" Kenneth answered on the other end happily.

"Yes please." Maggie says, wanting to hear her son's voice. It was silent for a minute before Hershel's voice came over the radio.

"Hi, Mommy." Hershel chirped, the voice instantly bringing a smile to Maggie's face to calm her nerves.

"Hey, baby, are you doing okay?" Maggie asks warmly.

"Yeah, are you ok? You sound sad." He asked innocently.

"Yeah, baby, I'm fine." She paused and took a breath then asked "Hershel, sweetie can you get Grandpa for me? I need to talk to him," Maggie says.

"Awwww why?" He complained.

"Hershel it's...grown up stuff." Maggie tried to say delicately to her boy, and wanting Rick's help with this.

"OK Mommy."

After another minute, Rick's voice came on the other end, filled with worry and concern.

"How are you doing, Maggie? I heard it's been a rough few hours."

"Not good," Maggie felt a tear down her face and wiped it off, then confessed "I don't know what to do, Rick. I didn't want to let her go, I knew it was a bad idea, and now people are out there looking, and she could get caught in the crossfire. She might get in trouble if Jesse get's her to help him head back to the other Richmond soldiers and if that happens-"

"Maggie," Rick's voice cut in, soft but firm.

Maggie's ramble stopped as Rick continued "Al's a good person. She's smart, she's perceptive, and she has a good head on her shoulders. She'll make the right choice just like Daryl did when he came back to the prison when he left with Merle. She will come back. She'll choose you and Hershel, your her family. They may be related by blood, but we're her family Maggie," Rick says. "I know she'll be back."

After a moment, Maggie smiled and said "...Thanks Rick...so have the kids driven you crazy yet?"

"Not yet, but not for lack of trying," Rick said tiredly, her already imagining him rubbing his brow as she started to laugh.

Al's P.O.V

Al slowly walked through the woods, tracking her brother. The moon was rising in the air. Al stopped when she saw her brother leaning against a nearby tree, breathing heavily, head turning clearly his wits still about him. "Jesse," Al says. Her brother turns his head and grabs for his gun, but stopped locking eyes with his sister.

"Al, you shouldn't have come out here," Jesse says warily, looking around still

"You killed Luciana," Al says.

"I had to. I have to save my people," Jesse says. "You understand that, Al, I just want to go home," Jesse begged as he stands up straight.

"She didn't deserve that," Al says.

"They all deserve that, Al. They're not good people. They've lied to you, this new world your buddy Shane talked about? They can't build it, Al. But we can. You and me, we can work with Richmond, we can kill them, and then we can build this new world. They're using you, Al, come on you have to help me. Get me back to Badger and we can be a family again. Please," Jesse argued as he moves closer to his sister. "We can remake the world." Al was about to speak when a bullet went through Jesse's side, sending him to the ground. Eyes widening, Al grabs her gun, but it is shot out of her hand before she can raise it.

"Don't move, Al. I don't want to hurt you." John says as Alden and John exit the woods. John had his revolver raised at Al for a moment, the slightly lowered it, clearly not wanting to do this.

"John, please. You said you wouldn't let anybody hurt him."

"That was before he killed my friend and tried to kill the love of my life." John says as he pulls the hammer back on his revolver, turning it to Jesse. Alden ran up to Jesse and punches him as he tries to stand. He kicks his gun away and catches his hand as Jesse tries to stab him with a nearby knife, struggling a bit. Alden throws the knife down and punches Jesse again. He grabs him by his shirt and starts to punch his face, Althea trying to step forward, yelling for Alden to stop, to stop this but John held her back.

"We gave you a second chance! We gave you a chance at a new life! One with your sister! And you took it for granted! You hurt June! You killed the woman I loved!" Alden screams.

"She deserved it, you took me prisoner" Jesse growls as he spits blood in Alden's face.

"You killed the woman I loved. You killed our unborn child!" Alden shouts, looking crazed with fury and blood on his face now. Al looks at Alden in shock, a feeling of horror growing in her gut, realizing slowly there was no way out of this for him.

"I granted the kid mercy. Kept the child from being raised by savages. You should be glad I killed them." Jesse says. Clearly seething with fury, Alden punches Jesse again and pulls his rifle out.

"Alden, wait!" Alden looks at Althea, eyes ablaze...even John pressing his lips and clutching his revolver, wary that Alden would try something to her now.

"I'll kill you, Al. Then I'll kill him." He warned, eyes clearly wanting her to stay back

"He has to die," Al says as her voice breaks, causing Alden to pause. "I see that, but let me be the one to do it." Al pleads. Alden stares at her more, as if unsure he heard correctly...but then he lowers his gun. John walks up to Al and holds his gun out to her. Al takes the gun and walks up to her brother.

"Wh...Al...wait no, hold on. We can work this-" Jesse says as he pushes himself up to his knees.

"I said I thought you died in our home town. I was right. My brother died when the world ended." Al says eyes welled in tears as she pulls the hammer back.

"I wish that the was case cause then I wouldn't have had to see the monster you've become," Jesse growls then. "Your gonna kill me? Your last family?!"

"My family is at home, my families right behind me. You killed a member of my family. Goodbye, Jesse," Al says before she pulls the trigger. The bullet goes between Jesse's eyes, and he falls to the ground as it starts to pour out of his head. Al stared at the body for a minute before she turned around and walked away. She handed John his gun and walked into the woods, followed by Alden and John as walkers came out of the trees and towards Jesse's body.

Thanks for reading. The next chapter will start with Luciana's funeral most likely. Al was always going to kill Jesse. At first, he wasn't going to kill Luciana, but I figured that was a good way to show who he was. The next chapter will start to set up the next fight and show June's condition. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.