Chapter 132-Sins of another
Negan's P.O.V
Negan walked through Alexandria and towards Rick's house. He walked down the stairs and into the cell that he once inhabited. He sat down on the bed and stared at his blood-covered hands.
Then he heard a pair of footsteps coming down...then that...
Whistle.
"...Hey there buddy...little pig."
Negan just stared ahead at the wall as the figure outside the cell seemed to laugh again.
"Yeah, it's ok been a while since you and I had one of our little chats. But, come on man you know that little shit had it coming. I mean...you have monsters at the door now, you have fucked up freaks like Halloween trick or Treaters coming to get the candy, or in this case the heads."
He leaned through the bars and leered "You. Need. Me. Just...LET ME IN."
Then he heard more footsteps looked at the door as it opened, and Morgan and Shane walked in, the figure gone as if never there. "Quite the show you put on." Shane says.
Morgan just turned and hit Shane's shoulder with a disapproving scowl
"You two come down here to make sure the door was locked?" Negan asks.
"Of course not, you kidding?" Shane growls in disbelief, his fists clenched. "I was about to beat the fuck out of that snake myself. I understand, Negan. She killed Nick too."
"I know." Negan said blankly. "I guess you see the reason they all hate me. I did that to Glenn and Abraham, hell...I did that to a lot of people."
"That wasn't you." Shane says. "The man sitting in front of me, that's who you are. A man who would protect his family and kill anybody who hurt them. Brandon, he hurt our family, and I hope all he felt in those final moments was pain."
"I agree with Shane. You're still the same man." Morgan knelt down so he was in front of Negan, a hand resting on top of Negan's blood-soaked ones. "You're family. You're our brother."
"I failed her." Negan muttered softly. "I failed him."
"You didn't," Shane says. "You couldn't have stopped what happened."
"I should have stopped her from going."
"You couldn't have." Morgan says softly. "None of us could have. I wish we could have stopped all of it. Not just Laura... Tammy, Nick, Arat, John, Jesus, None of them deserved to die."
"Shane. Morgan." All three of them look at the door and see Daryl. "We're having a meeting."
"Alright, we'll be there in a minute." Morgan says, as Negan looked back at the wall, unable to face Daryl after reminding him of That Night and after he trusted him enough to let him out of this very cell.
For a moment, the other three were silent, then Daryl said softly "And you get your ass out of here, Kate's worried sick."
With that, the Dixon turned and walked out as Shane knelt next to Morgan, a hand on Negan's shoulder "You gonna be okay. I promise we'll talk to them."
"Yeah, go make sure those assholes don't hang me." Negan says. A couple minutes after they left, he stood and walked out of his former cell.
Rick's P.O.V
Rick, Daryl, Shane, Morgan, John, Tara, Reilly, Ezekiel, Gabriel, Strand, and Carl stood or sat around the large table inside Rick's house. Rick blinked back a tear as he remembered he was sitting where Jesus had sat a decade ago, telling them about Hilltop after breaking into his house. Meeting his son's gaze it was clear Carl remembered too, his head bowed.
Soon clearing his throat Rick started "Let's talk about what we do next. I know we all want to go after Alpha, believe me all of you so do I, but we can't. We don't cross that border, ever. She'll send that horde over here if we do, and we won't beat it. I promise you that. We stay away from the border."
"She killed my husband. Madison and Shane's son. Laura and her child. Tara's Sister. John's father. Our friends and family." Aaron protested angrily, banging a fist on the table.
"I know! I was there! I saw the heads Aaron!" Rick growls in anger back. "But I'm not risking everybody I love, everything we all built because of a fucking vendetta. I'm going to make a promise to everybody in this room. If you make a move on the border or Alpha. I will lock you in a cell. Does everybody understand?"
A few glared, but relented with grudging looks
"What do we do about Brandon's body?" John asks.
"Burn it." Rick barked. "I don't want him buried in the walls, take it outside and burn it."
"I'll do it," Shane started to stand to do so.
"What about Negan?" Tara asks quietly.
For a long moment there was silence but Shane turned to her, eyes irritated "What about Negan? Come on. I was inches away from pummeling that kid myself. Trust me I would have made it last longer, no less then that fucking shit deserves."
"Shane, she is merely bringing up a point. He could be erratic at the moment." Ezekiel explained.
"We might need that 'erraticness' right now." Strand cut in smoothly.
"Guys-" Aaron says as he tries to calm everybody down, clearly wanting to focus on his husband's killer.
Daryl stares at his best friend's husband. "Got something to say, Zeke?"
Ezekiel Stares him down stonily. "Merely informing what we just saw."
"He promised not to be that person again, and if he is on top of all this-" Reilly says grimly, clearly having seen Negan first hand better then most in his rule.
"He's Not!" Rosita says in anger.
"That's enough all of you. The priority is Alpha!" Rick stood and shouted at them.
John looks at Rick critically, "Yes. She is. But I'm not waiting for a knife to my throat. I've never seen him like that."
Daryl looks at John incredulously. "John…," Daryl says as he looks at one of his best friends.
Carl stood at the side of the room, filled with rage, Rick holding a hand up to his son wanting him to stay calm and let him handle this.
A table is knocked to the ground, causing a loud bang, and everybody jumps as Father Gabriel stands, saying icily. "That man...is a very dear friend of mine. That person has done every FUCKING thing possible to make amends for his past. He slips up ONCE, and you're lunging at him?! That man loved Laura. Loved her like a daughter, so it's understandable that he cracked under the pressure for this ONE moment. He is hurting and grieving, and he lashed out in PAIN! I know him better than most, and I can assure you that he is still the same man, the FLAWED man who wishes to heal this world. And rest assured, any attack on HIM is an attack on myself," Gabriel growls, glaring at all of them.
The crowd of people all stared at the priest in shock, the tirade striking the room silent as they looked at him, then at each other.
"I'm with Gabriel, he's right." Daryl sat in his chair.
"Me too." Shane says. Rosita and Carl nod.
"Negan is my people, he's an asshole but he's still my people. If you attack him, you attack the Campgrounds," Daryl added.
But before anyone could react the door to the outside opened and Michonne came inside with a frantic Kate at her heels
"Negan left." Michonne says.
"What?" Rick asks, staring at his wife as if not sure he heard right.
Kate screamed, "He just took one of the cars and just fucking left!" Carl gently took her hand to try to calm her down, rubbing the sole.
"Christ, is he going to the border?" Strand asked, clearly wondering if Negan was going straight after Alpha
"I'll find him." Rosita says, putting a hand on the pregnant woman's shoulder. "I have a feeling about where he went." She looks at Carl who was still next to Kate, Rick knowing he still felt Negan was his responsibility. "Trust me."
"Bring him back."
"I will," Rosita promised as she leaves.
Maggie's P.O.V
Maggie sat by the lake, staring at the water her hands digging into her knees. She tried to keep her eyes open cause when she closed them she was back...
There.
"I saw it, too." She looks up at Daryl who had sat next to her on the grass, staring out into the water.
Maggie just looked back at him and then back out into the water.
"That night," Daryl says softly. "I saw it with every swing of the bat, I saw Abraham and Glenn, but that doesn't change anything. I don't blame him for what he did if Alicia, Morgan, John, Charlie, Rick, or Carl were on that pike. I would have killed him slowly and made him scream, and if that Al or Beth up there, I know you would have done the same."
For a long moment, she was silent...then she looked at her knees, quietly asking "What did they say in there?"
"I think some of them wanted to lock them back up, Gabriel stood up for him, and Shane, Rosita, Carl, and I stood with him. If they go after Negan, they'll be going after my people."
"You gonna go back there?" She looked at him
"I don't know yet."
Sighing Daryl stood "if you want to head back to Hilltop you can be with Tara and Beth, give it time again."
But as he turned Maggie found herself saying "You're right."
At his confused look, Maggie said stonily, hating herself for telling the truth "You're right. I would have done the same thing."
Rosita's P.O.V
She looked up at the factory in the disheveled sorry state of repair with a grim look as she marched inside. Trying to remember where Negan once pointed it out she went around the side to one of the old gardens and heard his voice... "I'm so sorry."
Turning around of the smaller ruined buildings she saw him kneeling down over a makeshift well kept cross, tears in his eyes...the playful assholish even at times vicious jackass was gone and all she saw was a man in alot of pain "I promised you I would protect her, and I couldn't. I couldn't protect the love of her life. I tried Franklin, I tried so damn hard," Tears were now going down Negan's face. "I couldn't save her, and I couldn't save your grandchild. I'm so sorry," Negan says as he lays his hand on the cross and cries. Rosita just stared at this and despite it all, her own eyes watered and her heart clenched seeing the former warlord so broken down.
"Negan." He lifted his head up and turns around and looks at Rosita as she walked up to him, seeing how His eyes were red. "It wasn't your fault."
"I couldn't protect her," Negan says. Rosita walks over to him and bends down in front of him, her face soft.
"I couldn't save them either, and I was there. It wouldn't have mattered."
"You saved Kate." Negan reminded.
"So did Arat and all of them. They held the Whisperers off so I could get her out. None of their deaths were in vain. They saved your family, and your child. They may not have thought it at the time, but they did."
"I loved her."
"I know, I did too. She was a sister to me. I'm sorry, Negan."
Negan looked at the cross, and bowed his head saying in a choked up voice "...I'm so sorry too."
Rosita just hugged the larger man who lays his head on her shoulder and cries.
Shane's P.O.V
Shane stared at Brandon's burning body outside, having been dumped onto the pile of sticks hastily set up. "You wanna go after her?" Shane looks at John as he walks up to him, staring at the body as well.
"Of course, I wanna go after her. Hell kind of question is that?! She killed my son." Shane growls.
"You mean Madison's."
Shane's eyes went wide in disbelief as John continued "She killed my Dad. We could do it."
"We couldn't." Shane growls his hackles up by John's insinuation. "Rick and Daryl aren't making up the shit about that horde, and you know it. I wanna kill Alpha, but I won't risk my wife, daughter, and grandchildren for revenge. I know Nick wouldn't want that, and I know Dorie wouldn't want you to risk June and JJ his damn grandson for revenge."
"He's dead. The dead don't want anything." John looked at him, eyes sharp.
"Fine, do you want your family to be torn apart by walkers? No worse, they'll become walkers and walk with her. Cause that is what will happen if we attack with no plan. This is how we survive. We have to survive for the people Alpha killed," Shane says before he walks away and leaves John staring at the burning body.
Negan's P.O.V
Negan and Rosita rode back into Alexandria and climbed off their horses staring at the gate as it opened. Carl walked up to Negan with Kate quick behind and hugged him. "You okay?"
"No, kid, I'm not," Negan muttered. "But I will be."
Carl nods as he lets the man go. Kate walks up to him and hugs him, and then steps back and slaps his shoulder. "What the hell were you thinking? I thought your ass was going over that border!"
"I'm sorry. I knew I would be okay." Negan looked down, almost sheepish. "I went to a friend's grave."
"Come on, let's get you cleaned up," Kate says taking his hand. Negan nods as he followed her but paused as he looks at Rosita.
"Thank you for everything."
"Of course, we're family."
Negan paused, a strange look across his eyes and turned to Kate "Got to talk to you about something."
Kate looked curious as they entered the gate Carl and Rosita looking at each other with furrowed brows
Rick's P.O.V
Rick walked up to Ezekiel as the man watched Lydia, who was sitting by herself on one of the towers. "I need to get back home." Ezekiel says. "What are we doing about her?"
"I'll keep her here." Rick says. "Alpha knows about the Kingdom, but she doesn't know much about Alexandria, and Arya will be here. I don't think Carl will have a problem with taking her in."
"Alright, and Daryl's group?" Ezekiel asks.
"That is for Daryl to decide." Rick shook his head. "Will you let Negan back in there?"
"I don't imagine I'll have a choice. Carol will tear me apart if I send Daryl away." Ezekiel sighed. "We'll stay here tonight and then head home tomorrow."
Rick rubbed his head "Understood...shit none of this would have been possible if it wasn't for Paul. Remember when he introduced us to each other?"
Ezekiel gave Rick a wary smile "I remember you were stunned by Shiva."
"As anyone would...he was among the best of us." Rick put a hand on Ezekiel's shoulder "Believe me Zeke, I promise someday Alpha will answer for this."
"You have never led us astray Richard, I know yourself and Daryl will lead us through the dark days ahead," Ezekiel said confidently.
Arya's P.O.V
Arya watched Lydia as she stared at the water from the tower. "Arya," She looks at her father as he stops by her, looking at Lydia and back. "I just talked with Dad, and he wants Lydia to stay here for now. I talked with Enid, and she was okay with it. Lydia's going to be staying with us. Only for a couple of days while Daryl figures out what he's going to do with his group, and I know wherever Negan goes, she'll go with him. But she'll be safe with us till then."
"I'll go talk with her. And thanks Dad." She paused then asked "how's Uncle Negan?"
For a moment, her father stared then said tiredly "How much of that did you see?"
Arya looked away "Enough."
"Arya-"
"I'm fine Dad I am. I'm just worried for him is all. I think..." She looked up at Lydia "She'll be good for him."
Carl nods as Arya climbs up and over to Lydia and sits down on the tower. The girl looks at her her eyes wracked with guilt "You should hate me."
"I don't," Arya says as she takes her hand. "I will never hate you, and neither will anybody here. What your mother did, wasn't your fault. The sins of your mother, they're not yours."
"I don't want to go back to the Kingdom, away from you," Lydia says softly.
"You don't have to," Arya says softly. "You're going to stay here with us for a couple of days until Uncle Daryl and Uncle Negan figure out what they are going to do, but I bet I can convince them to stay here. Keep you here, okay?"
"Okay," Lydia says as she lays her head on Arya's shoulder.
Thanks for reading. I had a lot of fun with this chapter and the friendship between Rosita and Negan. Next chapter, Daryl will decide if his group will return to their home. Sherry will deal with the death of her husband, and Clementine will make a choice about her future with A.J. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.