Chapter 113-The New World

A year later

Rick's P.O.V.

Rick grinned as he pushed the door to his house open and looked at the streets of Alexandria. The streets were filled with cars, horses, and people from all the communities. He looked at the grass by the pond where tables were being set up. He looked at Daryl as he walked up to him. "Hey." Daryl says with a smile as he stands by him. "I've never had a Thanksgiving," Daryl says with a smirk.

"Really?" Rick asks, looking at him in disbelief.

"My Mom was usually drunk, my Dad was off with some waitress, and Merle was usually in jail." Daryl says with a chuckle. "We did it man. We've made Carl's dream a reality. We've built the new world," Daryl says.

"We did, a good part of that was you." Rick says. "Well, come on, let's enjoy ourselves."

Maggie's P.O.V.

Maggie watched as Hershel played with the kids. She looked at Alicia as she walked up to her. "The queen of the campgrounds." Maggie says with a smirk.

"Being a queen is Carol's job. Not mine," Alicia says with a smirk, giving her a tight hug. "When I shot Daryl in Texas. I never thought I would see this."

"Things have changed since you guys came back. For the better of everybody." Maggie says as she looks at her. She looks in the distance at Negan as he talks with Aaron and Gabriel, gesturing wildly at something or another...to Aaron's mild annoyance and Gabriel's amusement. Alicia looks at him and smiles.

"He's been pretty chatty since we found out Kate was pregnant." Alicia says. Kate was about seven months pregnant, and she was talking with equally pregnant Enid, who was eight months pregnant.

"Isn't he always?" Maggie just said lowly.

Alicia shrugged "Ok that's a fair point. I think it's nerves." Maggie looked at her in surprise, Alicia chuckled "Yh yeah he Freaked when he learned Kate was pregnant. He said he was a 'shitty husband' so he's actually very nervous being a full-time Dad."

"I still can't believe he will be a father."

"He's good with kids." Alicia says as she looks at her. "It also took him a while to come to terms with it. To not feel guilty."

Maggie looks at her and nods. "Mom, come here!" Hershel shouts from the lake. Maggie looks at him and smiles as she walks away.

Alicia's smile dropped a bit seeing that kid and looked back to Negan, willing to be there when that can of worms was opened.

Gabriel's P.O.V.

Gabriel sat in the church praying. He looked at the door as it opened, and Carl walked in. "You come to pray?" Gabriel asks him softly.

"Maybe," Carl says as he walks up to the priest and sits down beside him.

"What's wrong young man?" Gabriel asks as he turns to face the young leader.

"Enid will have the baby soon." Carl confessed as he looks at him.

"Most people would be excited about that," Gabriel says, and then he realizes why the man is worried, hearing what had happened. "Do you want to know what I was praying for?" Gabriel asks Carl, who nods. "For this to last, we've fought for this for so long, and now we have. Families are being made, lives are being built, and we are all together. Alexandria, the Campgrounds, The Kingdom, the Sanctuary, Richmond, and even Oceanside, we are all together, not fighting, but celebrating what we have built. And we will continue to celebrate for as long as their is goodness."

"Thanks, Gabriel." Carl thanked him, looking down. "You know the man we met in that church. He would have never said something like that."

"That man is dead. The man I am now will do whatever it takes to protect the people I love. That includes you and Enid and that baby."

"Will you join me?" Carl asks. Gabriel nods as he takes the man's hand.

Negan's P.O.V

Negan walked up to Rosita as she helped to set one of the tables "Hey, Mama bear, need help." Negan says, making Rosita look at him.

"Hey, soon-to-be papa bear, and I got it." She says with a smirk back, wiping her hands off.

"Where's your other half?" Negan asks. Rosita points at Morgan, who was playing with Coco while talking with Nick. "I guess I am helping repopulate the earth." Negan says with a smile as he looks at her.

"Just try and make sure that your kid has better manners than you do." Rosita tells him. "I don't need a second Negan. One is already hard enough to deal with."

"You love me, and you know it."

Rosita shakes her head with a chuckle. "You're a royal pain in my ass, that's never changed." She tells him.

"I'm a pain in everybody's ass. That's why you guys love me." Negan cackled "And I'm never boring."

"Well, come on, you can be helpful," Rosita turned and started to walk away

"What am I helping with?" Negan asks her, confused "I thought I was one of your guests here, guest's don't-"

"Finish dinner and set everything up." Rosita tells him with a smirk.

"What?" Negan stopped, looking at her dumbfounded.

Rosita pointed inside Rick and Michonne's house. "Yes they need help with the food and they asked me. But I have to set the rest of the tables up so go help for me."

"Wait wait, fuck no. I think I would rather go into the cell again." Negan complained to her as she grabs his arm and pulled him to the door.

"You also get to listen to all the gossip." Rosita teased

Negan looked down the street mumbling "Right now I wish you had actually shot me."

"So do I on some days, now come on."

John's P.O.V

John looked at Ezekiel as he walked up to him. "My king," John bowed deeply to him with a grin.

Ezekiel chuckles and pats his shoulder. "I am no longer a king, John." Ezekiel says. "I am just a man who protects his people."

"You've done a pretty damn good job at it, Rick said you'd probably be just as good at leading this Alliance as Daryl." John tells him.

"I have lost my fair share of people, so that " Ezekiel Sighed, shaking his head.

"Come on haven't we all?" John reassured as they passed by a running Gracie and AJ. "But we did it."

"Yes, we did, John. We survived for the ones we lost."

John paused then asked "Tell me about them. Like maybe Henry's brother."

At this, the former king paused

Shane's P.O.V.

Shane walked up to Rick as he was setting a chair up and patted his shoulder, making him look at him, Rick's face falling seeing Shane's face.

"I wish they were here to see this, not just Lori. But T-dog, Glenn, Hershel, Amy, Sophia, Jim, Jacqui, Merle, Andrea." Shane says as he looks at everybody, all gathering around Alexandria talking and living their lives. It actually looked like a normal day before the World fell.

"We did this for them." Rick tells him, looking around as well. "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for T-dog, Merle, Hershel, and Glenn. They saved our lives more than I could count. T-dog gave his life to save Carol in the prison. If he didn't, we would have never made it out of Terminus. Merle brought us time to make a plan against the Governor. Hershel kept us good, and I owe Glenn my life. I owe all of them a debt I can never repay."

"Rick, what I said, back on the farm, in that field."

"Shane-"

"I was wrong. I never said, but I was. You aren't weak. You never were. You're the strongest man I know."

"I think Daryl and Carl could also hold that title." Rick says with a smirk.

"They could."

Rick then grinned at Shane "But? Let's face it. Carol's stronger then all of us."

"You don't have to tell Me twice. That woman is a force of nature."

Shane paused and looked to see said woman walking up, smiling brightly "Now what are you two boys talking about?"

Grinning, Shane just said. "Just agreeing that seeing all of this is a sight and that your a certified badass."

Carol chuckled warmly "Oh stop it, now come on you two let's talk to the others. I think Ezekiel's always been a bit curious how exactly you ran into Jesus."

Rick's face fell "Oh. Joy."

Shane looked over "Didn't he kick both your and Daryl's asses?"

As they walked, Rick argued "He caught us by surprise!

Aarons's P.O.V

Aaron had returned from collecting the apples outside, to see a startling sight. Negan stood in the kitchen cutting vegetables as several others walked around him. Alicia walked behind him inside the house and stared wide eyed at the sight. "You look like you would rather have a walker tear you apart," Alicia grinned.

"It would be better than hearing you people tease me." Negan said. irritated.

Aaron gave him a small smirk "Well to be fair you were never a homey type."

"Who would have thought? We have domesticated, Negan." Michonne says with a smile.

"I hate all of you." He tells them as he puts the vegetables on a tray.

Aaron paused then looked over "Is it just me or are you more tense then usual?"

Michonne looked outside then back "Is it about Kate?"

"Chonne-" He gave her a warning look.

Alicia came next to him "Hey we Talked about this. You'll make a good Dad, we seen how you are with the kids."

But as he opened his mouth, he paused as Aaron turned to the front door to see Judith, Andrea, Ofelia, and Merle run into the house. Negan looked up when he heard Michonne speak in warning. "Kids what are you- wait Judith, don't!" She tells her daughter as Judith, who they realized had her hands full, threw a tomato at Aaron, who ducked.

The room fell silent the tomato then hits Negan in the face. Those in the room stare, Michonne looking at the children firmly, Aaron coughing out a snicker and Alicia bug eyed at Negan as the kids laugh. He then set the knife on the counter, calmly and deliberately.

"Excuse me. I'll be right back. Come here!" Negan then laughed and grinned as he chases the kids to a scream of laughter.

"Sorry Uncle Negan!" Judith yelled over.

"Not yet you're not!" Chasing them out the door.

Aaron looked at the two women "Should we be worried?"

Shaking her head, Alicia said "Relax I think he needs this. He's been worrying more by the day let him use the break."

Morgan's P.O.V

Morgan sat down beside Daryl and looked at his best friend as they were on the wall, Morgan grinning at all the face. "I never thought this would happen when we decided to leave." Morgan says, making Daryl chuckle a rare chuckle.

"I thought I would stay in that Junkyard for a couple of weeks and then leave and help Maggie kill Negan." Daryl says. "I can't imagine a world where I tried to kill him now."

"If he hears that, you will never hear the end of it." Morgan says with a smirk.

"Don't tell him." Daryl warned him, then softened his tone. "I gained a wife, kids, and a lot more from that trip, but before I gained all of that. I got a brother." Daryl says. "A brother that I couldn't imagine my life without."

"Glad to know you need me," Morgan says with a smirk. "I love you, brother."

"Love you too, asshole."

Carol's P.O.V

Carol walked up to the steps of the church and looked at Carl as he came out "Shouldn't you be with your husband and son?" Carl asks her.

"Shouldn't you be with your wife and daughter?" Carol grinned as she sits down. "Do you know what you're going to name your kid?"

"No clue. We've been throwing names around," Carl tells her. "Nothing has stuck, though. At first, I was thinking about Sophia or Lori."

"They would be honored," Carol tells him. "And so proud of you. They all would be."

"He would be too. If T-dog could see you now, I think he would have thrown himself to those walkers all over again," Carl says.

"He was one of best of us, and so was Sophia and your Mom," Carol says as she stands up and holds her hand out to the man. "If they saw us sulking by a church while a party was going on, they would kick our asses."

Carl nods as he takes her hand, then froze "Uh..."

Carol looked over and almost burst out laughing as Negan walked by holding Carl's sisters, one under each arm.

"Uh...dare I ask?" Carl asked flatly.

"Threw a tomato at me." Negan said.

Andrea grinned, always the more rambunctious sister "Was my idea! I dared Judy!"

Judith though blushed "I'm sorry. Can you let me down?"

"Fine." Negan set the two down "Ok little Angel, Kiddo next time...get more tomatoes."

"No." Carol cut in sternly "No troublemaking."

She swore he looked up, actually a little worried then nodded "Actually yeah, good idea. OK kids, I'll play later. I got to help with the food."

Andrea pouted then hugged his leg and ran off, Judith chasing after her as Negan beat a hasty retreat.

Carl grinned at her "You know he's always been a bit scared of you right?"

"What exactly have you told him?" Carol stared at the younger man suspiciously.

"Enough."

Daryl's P.O.V

The tables were filled with people as they talked and ate. Michonne was talking with Jesus, laughing about something or other. Clementine was with AJ and Arya, the girls telling him some stuff from the old world.

Daryl was talking with John when Rick tapped his shoulder. Daryl looks at him. "Someone has to give a speech," He tells him.

"I didn't do this, man. You did." Daryl protested to him.

"No, you did. You led the alliance longer than I have. You brought people together, brought in Richmond into the fold, and brought Oceanside back." Rick tells him as he lays his hand on his shoulder. "I just helped, but this, this was you."

Daryl stared at him for a moment, then nods as he stands up, and everybody stops talking as they look at him. "When all this started, we ended up on a farm. After Carl was shot, a man in our group, his name was Dale, he wanted us to hold onto the old world, hold onto our humanity. We've all lost that part of us at some point or another. Let our demons take us over. Dale told us that this group was broken, and he was right. We wanted to honor him by unbreaking it. We have honored Dale. This group isn't broken. We've fought each other and tried to kill each other, but today. We stand together as a family. If Dale was here right now, he would be proud of each and every one of us. We've kept parts of ourselves. We have our humanity. So raise your glass," Daryl says as everybody raises their glasses. "We raise them for the ones we've lost. For the ones we've found, the families we built, the places we've built. We raise them for the new world."

Everybody cheered as they took a drink, and Daryl sat back down. Today would be the last day that they all sat together. As in the woods not far from Alexandria, a new evil emerged. A danger that they could have never prepared for, one that would leave them divided and fighting for the world they built.

Thanks for reading. This is the official start of the WW arc. There is a lot to come, and this is going to be quite long. I hope you guys are ready. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.