Chapter 87-Grief

Alden's P.O.V

The Camp was quiet as Alden and Nick carried a coffin with Luciana in it, soon taking a step back. "You should say something," Nick whispers to Alden, who looks at him for a moment, face still ashen, and nods. He takes a deep breath as he turns around.

"When I met Luciana, she was the nicest person I ever met. When I was around her, I felt like I was alive. More than I ever had before. She was different," He stopped choking on tears but knew he needed to press on. "She gave everybody a chance regardless of what they had done...because she was a good person. I loved her more than I have ever loved anybody in my life. Luciana believed in this world that we were building. For her and me and for our unborn child, we can't bring her back, but we can win this war and build the world she wanted." Alden says.

He soon stepped back, the others comforting him as they stood around the grave for a few more moments

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl sat on the steps with Merle, Ofelia, and Alicia. "Daddy, what happened to Auntie Lu?" Ofelia asks.

Staring at them for only a moment, he closed his eyes and sighed "A bad man...took her. He was one of the bad men trying to hurt all of us. That's why we are out there. So we can stop the bad men," Daryl tells her softly. "Auntie Lu is in a better place now. She's at peace."

"Did she become a monster?" Merle asks them innocently.

"No, she never became a monster," Alicia answered, wrapping an arm around her boy in comfort..

Daryl looks at Morgan as he walks toward his cabin. "I'll be back," Daryl says as he stands up and walks over to Morgan. "Hey."

Morgan looks at him, blurry-eyed but still holding up. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Well as can be," Daryl tells him. "How about you?"

"Same," Morgan tells him. "You should keep an eye on Alden. I know what it is like to lose the woman I love."

"Yeah, but I don't think Alden is going to start screaming Clear" Daryl says with a small smirk. Morgan chuckles despite himself and nods.

"Have you talked to Al?" Morgan asks him.

"No," Daryl tells him. "I will soon. How are Rosita and Coco doing?"

"Good," Morgan says. "How long till you leave?"

"An hour," Daryl tells him. "We gotta get back to Alexandria. I'm going to go back to Merle, Alicia, and Ofelia."

Morgan nods as Daryl walks back towards Alicia, Ofelia, and Merle and sits down.

John's P.O.V

John walked into the infirmary of Alexandria after they got back. He looked at June, who had her eyes open, and she was staring at the ceiling. "June." John says slowly. June looks at him and gives him a small smile. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Jesse attacked me." June says, wanting to raise her head, but a wince sent her back down. John smiles as he sits down beside her and takes her hand.

"I was so scared."

"I'm okay, John," June says as she squeezes his hand. "What happened after?"

"Jesse got out...and...Lucy...Luciana...she's dead." John tells June.

"Oh god." June says sadly "Alden?"

"He's struggling, but I think he'll manage." John says. "Luciana was pregnant June. After Al left to find Jesse. We found them both in the woods, and Al killed Jesse."

"Oh my god, poor Alden...and poor Al." June says as she wipes the tears from her eyes. "Edwards said you went back to the campgrounds. He said you should tell me why. Was it to bury Lucy?" June asks John, who nods.

"Did Edward tell you about your injuries?"

"He said I have a concussion. Suggested that I rest for a few days," June tells him.

"You will rest for a few days," John says. "We need you to heal."

"I'll stay," June tells John. "I promise."

Clementine's P.O.V

Clementine finds Alden with his back against the wall near his house, clutching ring in his hands. "Were you going to propose?" Alden looks at Clementine and nods.

"After the war, no chance of that now," Alden tells her stonily as Clementine sits down beside him.

"I haven't got the chance to say I'm sorry about Luciana," Clementine says softly.

"Thanks," Alden says. "Those assholes have to pay double now."

"Yeah, at least the person who killed Luciana is dead. Badger is still out there." Clementine tells him. "But we'll get him too."

"We'll get them all." Alden reassures her softly, his fist tight around the ring. "For Luciana and Kenny."

"Come on," Clementine says as she stands up and holds her hand out to Alden.

"Where are we going?" Alden asks her.

"I wanna show you something," Clementine tells him. Alden blinks at her, but nodded as he grabs her hand, and Clementine pulls him up and leads him through Alexandria. She leads him to Anna's house and pushes the door open.

"Anna's with Reilly, right?" Alden asks Clementine, who nods as she leads Alden into a room. In the middle of the room was a stand with a painting on it. Taking a closer look at it, Alden asked softly "Is that...Kenny?"

"Yeah, she's in the process of painting it. But I asked her to do it after we got back. You could ask her to do one of Luciana."

"I will," Alden says as he stares at the painting. "Thanks, Clem."

"No problem, friends look out for each other."

Al's P.O.V

Al sat on the stairs of her house, staring at her camera emotionlessly, the tape she had made for Jesse when the world went to hell inside it. She looks up at the sound of approaching footsteps to see Daryl.

"Mind if I sit?" Daryl asks Al quietly, who shrugs her shoulders, Daryl sitting next to her on the step.

"You just get back?"

"Yeah, Maggie and Alicia stayed to spend time with the kids. They'll be back before nightfall." Daryl answered her.

After a moment, Althea stared, gesturing to the camera in her hands the tape inside "I made it back at the beginning. It was for Jesse, just in case I ever found him. I never got to show it to him. Now I never will." She looked down, tears welling up "It Doesn't matter, these tapes don't matter."

"You're wrong, they do, that one does. What's on the tape?"

"Stories. Stuff we did together, I talked about them. Why?"

"Because those stories, the person in those stories, that's your brother, Al. The man you killed last night wasn't him. You knew that. That tape and you are the last parts of your brother that are alive. And the other tapes, they are the truth, stories about all of us, and they matter because they show our history. They matter, Al. What you do matters."

"I don't know how to move on from this, Daryl," Al confessed quietly "I had to put down my own goddamn brother."

She wasn't sure he'd answer at first...but soon enough Daryl did, starting to say "After I put Merle down, I was pissed, at the world, at the Governor, hell, I was pissed at Rick for getting Merle involved. So I went out with Michonne, killing every walker, hoping that I would find the Governor so I could do the same thing to him that he did to Merle."

"How'd you get past it?" Al asks.

"About a month in, we were in a store. Michonne and I were looking through it." Daryl's eyes were far away, remembering "I went into the back room, and a walker took me down. Knocked my crossbow out of my hand. I couldn't get my knife and it was so fucking close to my neck. It would have gotten me if Michonne didn't kill it. As we camped outside that night, I thought about Merle, T-dog, Andrea, and everybody we had lost up to that point. They died so we could live. So that's what I started to do, I stopped looking for the Governor, and I started to live. So we win this war, and then you live, for Kenny, Luciana, and your brother you lost at the beginning of all of this."

There was nothing but silence for a full minute, then Al looks at Daryl and nods.

Strand's P.O.V

Strand walked up to Nick as he stood on watch out by the warehouse...soon saying grimely as Nick looked at him "The group from Mexico grows smaller and smaller."

"Me, you, Alicia, Shane, Mom, and Daniel." Nick says sadly, knowing it could get smaller if this didn't end soon, coming a long way from LA.

"How are you kid?"

"Trying to distract myself right now," Nick informed, his eyes clearly not able to sleep. "You?"

"Taking my anger out in other ways." Strand says calmly. "I will grieve our friend when this is over. Until then, I will use the anger I have to kill all of them and keep you all safe."

"Don't do anything stupid, Strand." Nick said worried "We lost enough friends."

"I won't, Trust me, I'm a survivor Nick." Strand says as he walks away.

Alicia's P.O.V

Alicia watched Ofelia and Merle as they played with Judith, Andrea, and Hershel, the children all blissfully unaware of the danger outside these walls. "You don't want to leave, do you?" Rick asks as he stops beside her.

"I hate leaving, but I have to. They need every man possible to fight Richmond." Alicia tells him.

"You're scared?" Rick says. Alicia nods, hugging her arms around her chest.

"I pushed the possibility of dying in the back of my head. I was just focusing on the war and keeping everybody safe. But then I saw Lucy, and it came flooding back that I could die at any moment. I could leave my kids without a mother, and then Daryl could die, and they would be orphans," Alicia says softly. Rick lays his hand on Alicia's shoulder.

"There is always that chance, Alicia, if something was to happen to you and Daryl, Merle and Ofelia will never be alone. Maggie's Father once said 'every day you risk your life, we have to know what we're risking it for.' and we'll take care of them. There will always be somewhere there for Merle and Ofelia regardless of what happens." Rick tells her. Alicia gives Rick a small smile as he wrapped an arm around her comfortingly. "If you want to stay, then you stay. Everybody will understand why you did it."

Alicia shakes her head as she lets Rick go. "I know they will." Alicia says. "But I have to fight this. I'm going to stand with my husband and the rest of our family."

"Good, you'll keep Daryl out of trouble." Rick grinned as Maggie walks up to them.

"You ready to go?" Maggie asks Alicia.

"Let me say goodbye," Alicia says with a deep breath as she walks toward their kids.

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl was in the church with Elijah, over a table and a map. "I want you to spread your men out along each wall. If they do attack, they'll be able to defend whatever wall they are on. Each Of them will be protected until the rest of us get there."

Elijah says as he points at a red mark on the map. "The hell is this?"

"A warehouse full of walkers." Elijah looked up, baffled "When we know they are coming, we are going to send Strand, Cole, Nick, and Sherry to let them out and lead the herd here. Richmond will have to fight the walkers and us at the same time" Daryl explains.

"It's a good plan. We brought mines. Where do you want them?" Elijah says approvingly.

"Try and spread them," Daryl tells him. Elijah nods as the church door opens, and Reilly walks in with Anna and Arat behind him.

"We found them," Reilly says with a smile.

Thanks for reading. The next chapter will pick up from here and will start to show preparations for the next fight and the group plan after. Over the next few chapters, you will see how Luciana's death changed Alden and how Al killing Jesse changed her. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.