❝EVERYTHING WAS SO BEAUTIFUL.❞
—
It was so nice for Naomi to have the opportunity to use a shower. Since her community was destroyed, she had never been able to clean herself because the water of the rivers was either too cold or too dirty. The feeling of hot water on her skin reminded her of the good times. Home, family, normality.
They had then fed her, and for the first time in weeks it was not canned food or dead animals. She ate pasta and some vegetables. She had to admit that she felt so much better already.
She spent the night in her cell as Michonne had said, with the difference that they gave her a pillow and some blankets. Besides the cold, she wasn't unhappy. She was used to sleep in caves, an eye always opened to control the surrounding situation, so that cell was more than enough.
Negan was good company too. When she returned to her cell after settling down, he told her a bit about the place he was running before being locked up, the Sanctuary. He described it as heaven on earth, although he reiterated that his manners weren't the best. He also told her that if he had met her sooner, he would have convinced her to become one of his wives. Naomi was still confused about that.
The next day, Naomi was woken up by a metallic noise. When she opened her eyes, she saw Gabriel closing Negan's cell while the latter stood behind him, wrists tied up together, waiting for who knows what.
She got up, yawning. The father immediately turned to her then, approaching the bars of her cell. "Good morning. I'm taking Negan to the gardens, he kind of works there. Do you want to go with him?" he asked. Naomi was still sleepy, but she looked at Negan who was nodding slowly looking at the girl, as he wanted to encourage her to say 'yes'.
"Uhm- yeah, why not." she figured the fair would be held in the afternoon, so spending the morning busy wouldn't have been that bad. At that point, Gabriel opened her cell too, then led both Negan and the girl to the gardens. Gabriel left the two to their work after untying the man's wrists.
Negan started doing his job almost immediately, retrieving a basket from some wooden tables nearby. "Nope, all I have to do is pick tomatoes, if you're wondering." he said, imagining that the girl was waiting for something more than taking a basket and picking the vegetables.
She shrugged her shoulders then, doing the same thing: she took a basket, going on the opposite side to Negan. She kneeled, then started gathering cucumbers and carrots. "You've been a farmer for eight years? Every day?" she asked.
"Almost. I assure you that sometimes it's hella fun, you happened right in the harvest day." he chuckled.
"You said all you have to do is picking tomatoes."
"Now. But other times I take care of the land and I sow it. That's amazing, it's my favorite activity ever." Naomi could sense his irony, so she giggled. "Look on the bright side: you still take care of what's your duty. People, tomatoes. It's not a big difference if you're still the leader." she joked, causing the man to laugh.
"Yeah, I'm the leader of potato-land. Such a honor." Naomi liked to poke Negan, it was the thing she preferred to do the most when her best friend Prescott was around. She used to take care of the gardens and animals with him, when they didn't go scavenge. They were always together, she missed him to death.
"What's the matter, girl? First you joke and laugh, then you go silent in a heartbeat." asked Negan, having seen the melancholy expression of the girl.
"It's just- I used to do the same with Prescott. We used to do everything together, we passed the time poking each other," she smiled lightly, "I just miss him." she whispered then, swallowing the lump in her throat not to start crying.
"I understand the feeling." he murmured in response, stopping what he was doing to meet the girl's eyes. "But, c'mon, I may not be like him, but I'm damn charming. You can't help but like working with me."
Naomi chuckled, "You're terrible." said quietly.
"I know."
They stayed until lunchtime in the gardens, then Judith, Aaron and Michonne went to get Naomi. They were ready to go the Kingdom.
"You will stay with Judith and Aaron the whole time, okay?" said Michonne as they got up on a horse-drawn convertible machine. She thought it was kinda fun.
"Sure." nodded Naomi, smiling at the little girl sitting next to her. Aaron was on the other side, giving orders to the horses. Then, they left.
"How's your leg?" she asked Aaron a few minutes after, pricking on her hands.
"Not bad. It still hurts, but at least I can walk." the man smiled slightly, causing Naomi to look down. She felt so guilty.
"I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. I understand, you defended yourself and you were tired. But next time I'd rather be threatened first." he chuckled.
"I'll keep that in mind." the girl laughed, then looked down at the little girl beside her.
"Thank you for letting me come, Judith."
"You're welcome. Even if we still don't know you, I have a sixth sense for good people. I'm sure you're one of them." that sentence made Naomi smile ear to ear. That little girl looked special, and not just because she was a child. She was smart and caring at the same time, someone like her was hard to fool.
When they arrived to the Kingdom, she thought she happened to a typical village party. Colored streamers were attached everywhere, there were stalls of clothes, work tools, food and even jewelry all around. There was already a lot of movement, everyone seemed to have fun without any other thought in mind.
They listened to the 'king's speech', Ezekiel, who talked about three other men that Naomi didn't know. Their names were Rick, Carl and Jesus. He talked about how everything had been organized for them, how with that fair they were progressing as those three men would've liked, how they've fought for it to happen. She got the shivers. Everything was so extraordinary, she felt so happy that for a while the thought of the outbreak disappeared from her mind.
Later, she accompanied Judith to take a candy apple with Aaron, then they stopped to listen to a little music show. There was a man who played the violin while another one was singing some nice lyrics, and she realized how much she had missed even the slightest note of a song.
But perhaps, the best moment was when they announced the beginning of the movie. The ones who were interested -who were so many that they had to broadcast it more than once- had gathered in a large hall which looked a lot like an old theater, then watched cartoons programmed with a projector.
She never wanted to leave. The atmosphere of that place gave her so much positivity. Until something happened that completely ruined the quiet of that day.
Naomi was rushed back to Alexandria along with Judith after panic spread at the Kingdom. Aaron quickly explained the situation to the girl once in Alexandria, leaving her in a state of shock.
"This can't be true," she murmured to the man as he accompanied her back to her cell. "I'm- I-" she tried to say, but not a word came out of her mouth. They arrived to the prison, Negan was awake reading something, but his attention soon landed on the two when he realized something was clearly wrong.
"Hey. What's going on?" he asked, but neither Naomi nor Aaron seemed to hear. She quickly hugged Aaron, it was a spontaneous gesture. She was as terrified as he was, and to her surprise, he hugged her back. They needed a moment of comfort before handling the storm.
"I have to go. I need to-" Aaron started, "Of course, go. Hurry." the girl interrupted him, then entered the cell which Aaron locked quickly before leaving.
At that point, she really started to panic. It was like an adrenaline rush destroyed her brain. All she could think about was the moment those people walked through the gates of the Kingdom with their pale faces and terror in their eyes. It all happened too fast to be able to process, in a moment the panic had spread and it was all over. Again.
She started crying. Negan kept on calling her name, he was seriously worried. But she didn't answer as she sat on the floor, her face in her hands while she tried to adjust her breath. It all had happened again. In a moment of quiet, arrived the storm.
"Naomi, hey, listen to me. Follow my voice, listen to me," Negan was holding the bars with all his strength, as he wanted to break them just to run to the girl. He felt helpless locked in there, he needed to reassure her somehow, given that his words seemed not to work.
"I need you to breathe, Naomi. C'mon, you're so fucking strong, you've been through so much. Breathe and tell me what happened, take your time, but fucking breathe." he was exasperated.
Naomi was listening to him, but didn't have enough strength to look him in the eyes and tell him what was going on. "I need a second." she only managed to say between the hiccups, starting to regularize her breaths again.
"Take every second you need, sweetheart." he spoke softly as the girl lied on the ground, keeping her wet eyes closed. She started thinking about something else, something happy. But it was hard.
When she used to have a bad day, Prescott was always there for her. They spent hours together, one beside the other, most of the times hugging. That was what gave her most comfort, she got used to it because of her best friend. But she couldn't hug him, or Negan. And that made her feel so lonely.
After some time, she finally found the strength to speak. "It was the Whisperers," she started, turning her sight to the man. "Everyone was having such a good time. We ate, listened to a concert, watched the movie. Everything was- so beautiful." she murmured, staring into his hazel eyes as he was doing the same. "Then, all of a sudden, some people rushed inside. I don't know who they were, but they were looking for some people, including Aaron. At first nobody seemed to understand what was going on, but soon the situation got out of control. People who had heard what happened started going crazy, causing everyone else to panic." she took a deep breath before sitting, sliding a hand through her hair, "Aaron told me the Whisperers decapitated ten of their friends and sticked their heads into poles."
***
Weeks had passed after what happened at the Kingdom. The atmosphere had changed a lot since. Before, everything seemed so perfect, it seemed like nothing could go wrong. But after what had happened, there seemed to be no hope anymore.
There had been visibile melancholy among the people, everyone was busy with their own affairs so as not to think about what happened, and the cold, increasingly overbearing, certainly didn't help.
Michonne, however, had left more freedom to Naomi. As long as she helped, as well as Negan, it was nothing than a good thing.
When the cold started to get even worse, the two, together with father Gabriel, Rosita, Eugene, Judith, Siddiq and other citizens, took shelter in the last wooden house left with a working chimney. They couldn't afford to get back to their cells or they'd freeze to death.
"I swear to God I have memorized every square inch of this room..." started Negan. It had been a couple of hours since they got in there and a severe snowstorm was starting outside. "...and it still feels like a party." the man continued, causing Rosita to snort.
"I mean sure all right it smells like a goddamn barn in here and you're all bored shitless, but-"
"Language!" Judith interrupted Negan, making Naomi giggle.
"Sorry...sorry, kiddo. But, I mean...we've got ourselves this hot little love quadrangle here to entertain us. It's like Christmas to me." he then said. Naomi knew what was going on between the four adults Negan talked about because of him, he had told her everything he knew about the people of that group when they were bored in their cells. She could sense Rosita's hatred from her nice and pretty face.
"Gabe. Your girl's doc is also your girl's baby daddy, which kind of begs the question: you ever wondered what the hell was going on in there when she had her 'appointments'?" Naomi rolled her eyes. She was getting used to Negan's sick sense of humor, but she could understand how much of a prick he was sometimes.
"You could try to be a little less predictable." Gabriel said.
"That hurts, Gabe, truly." the father made a step towards Negan before continuing to speak. "You know, we're all grown-ups here and none of us would never let that ruin the long-standing friendships and mutual respect we have."
"You know what, you're right," started again Negan. "There's a very mature attitude, father...not the father." he chuckled. Naomi wanted to laugh and lecture him at the same time. "Is that unfixable enough for you?" none of them answered anymore, for a couple of minutes was audible just the whistle of the wind and the creaking of the walls.
Naomi decided to take the floor, seeing how close Judith was to the window. "Jude, don't sit so close to the window. The glass could break." she said softly. The little girl nodded, then walked to her and sat beside her. On Naomi's lap was Judith's little brother, RJ, so that she could warm him up as much as possible.
"Hey, kiddo. You still worry about that dog?" asked Negan. Judith sighed, "Daryl told me to take care of him while he's busy with the Kingdom and the Hilltop. I don't know where he is."
"He will be fine, Jude." Naomi reassured her, caressing her little head covered by a wool hat. Silence fell again. A strange smell was beginning to be perceived in the air and she wasn't the only one who smelled it.
"Does anybody else smell something?" asked Negan.
"Can you stop being such an asshole?" said Gabriel immediately, but Naomi stepped in. "No, he's right, something's funky in here." everyone looked at each other for a few seconds, then Eugene stood up immediately.
"Get away from there!" he pointed at the chimney, running towards Gabriel and Siddiq to pull them away before a huge amount of snow fell in the chimney, extinguishing the fire and letting the darkness make room in the little house.