castle --- halsey
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[POV]
Sasha's undead attack on Negan had been like the shot heard round the world. One of the other saviors ended up sacrificing his life to save Negan's, allowing Negan to barely escape her teeth.
Carl took the first shot after that, and the others were quick to follow suit. Jadis still had Rick cornered with her gun at the top of the lookout tower. She wasn't letting up despite the chaos that surrounded them.
"Down. Now." She lightly spoke.
Rick huffed, "we can make another deal." She didn't hesitate shooting him in the side and kicking him to the hard ground below the tower.
"I said down." She peered over.
Once Jadis had climbed down the tower and had Rick up and moving, she led him to Negan and the saviors, who already had Carl on his knees in front.
"Hello again." Negan smirked, holding Lucille loosely over his shoulder.
Jadis took Rick next to Carl, "Down. Or again." She gripped his shoulder as he dropped on his knees next to his son.
"Well, shit, Rick. You just couldn't stick with us, huh. You had to go with these filthy garbage people?" Jadis glared at Negan. "No offense."
She ignored his comment, "Deal is for 12, yes?"
"10. People are a resource."
"12."
Negan wasn't letting up. He held eye contact with Jadis until she agreed, lowering her head with a nod, "10." He grinned, turning his attention back to Rick. "Oh, Rick. This is just gonna make you sad. Broken. You're gonna wish you were dead."
Negan paced to where he stood behind the two Grimes. "I like having fun. I do. But maybe you think that the guy that did what he did to your friends wasn't me, like that was some sort of a put-on. Like I'm not the guy with the bat, I'm just the guy who makes your kid spaghetti!"
Rick looked up to Negan as he continued with his tangent. "Oh, oh, shit. Maybe this is on me. Maybe this is all on me. I gotta make it right. I guess I gotta start all over again." He eyed Carl. "I gotta tell you, Rick, if I had a kid, I'd want him to be just like your kid, which makes this so much harder."
"You're not gonna win." Carl spat.
"Carl. It is over. Why don't you point your one ball up the street there and take it all in?"
The street was lined with Alexandrians on their knees with guns to their heads. Rick looked around in defeat.
As he did, an agonizing scream was heard throughout the community. It had come from the bell tower where Michonne had been stationed.
Rick knew, Carl did too.
"Oh. Oh." Once Negan realized, he used it to make their situation that much worse. He squatted in front of Rick, lowering his voice to a whisper, "Wow, you just lost somebody important to you right now- like, just now. Damn, that is timing. Well, Rick, you chose this. I truly don't know what more I could've done to warn you. And this isn't a warning...this is punishment."
"I'm gonna kill Carl now. I'm gonna make it one nice, hard swing, try to do it in one because I like him. I just want you to put that in your brain and roll it around for a minute. I'm gonna kill Carl and then Lucille here, she's gonna take your hands."
Rick narrowed his eyes, "you can do it right in front of me. You can take my hands. I told you already- I'm gonna kill you. All of you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow... but nothing is gonna change that, nothing. You're all already dead."
Negan seethed with anger before his mouth twisted into a smile. "Wow, damn, Rick." He was barely audible even to Rick. "Okay."
He stood up, "You said I could do it," and raised his bat.
Carl shut his eyes, expecting the worse. But Negan's swing was interrupted.
By Shiva.
A tiger.
A damn tiger.
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JJ's ability to operate a motorcycle was just about as bad as her driving skills. She'd only watched Daryl from over his shoulder, and most of the time, she wasn't paying attention. And for obvious reasons, he'd never let her drive.
JJ waved between the two sides of the road, barely able to keep her own balance. She'd cursed at the bike multiple times for 'not acting right', but really, it was her that didn't know how to drive it.
The drive had been long, and as JJ saw one of the signs pointing to Alexandria, whatever buried ounce of hope she had surfaced. She was less than a half mile and the lone drone of the bike was taken over by the ungodly amount of gunfire coming from inside the walls.
Ezekiel, Carol and the people of The Kingdom had partnered with Maggie, Jesus and the people of Hilltop to defend Alexandria against Negan's men.
After Shiva had bit into one of the men, Ezekiel led his people as a general would in war. "End these Saviors and their accomplices! Alexandria will not fall, not on this day!"
Maggie reared the next corner, leading Jesus, Enid and the rest of the Hilltop fighters. "Phalanx out, third group now!"
Daryl joined with the surviving Alexandrians.
Negan and Simon retreated behind a rusted old car.
"That widow is alive! Guns a blazin'!" He shouted after spotting Maggie. "You taste that, Simon? That is the taste of shit!"
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[JJ]
Seeing the gates of Alexandria was a relief. It'd felt like forever since I'd been here.
Part of me didn't know how to feel. I knew there was shit going on inside. Negan was here; he'd been here. Who knows if he'd already killed most of everyone, or if they'd killed him. Part of me wanted to know- to bust through the gate, guns blazing.
The other part of me just wanted to lie down in the middle of the road and take a long nap until morning. I didn't have the energy or motivation to fight. There was a thought lingering in the back of my mind- what if I didn't catch the pill in time. What if, at any given moment, I was to just, you know.... take a nap on some nice, warm concrete and never wake up again.
Apparently, trying to think and ride a motorcycle isn't the best of ideas, or at least, not for me. I hit the brakes as I began to run off the road.
I was so close to the gate that I prayed there were no Saviors waiting by the truck.
I got off the bike, giving myself a moment to think. I had no idea what was waiting for me inside those gates- what Negan'd done to my people.
I stood in the road, just staring at the asphalt in front of me, clueless on what I should do.
Just as I was debating all things, a high-pitched scream came from inside the walls. Someone had fallen from the lookout tower. Within a minute, the shooting continued.
My heart raced as I swung one of the rifles I'd stolen from the Sanctuary over my shoulder and got back on the bike.
Things were uneventful at the gate, but two feet in, complete chaos. After stumbling off, I left the stolen motorcycle just outside of Alexandria's walls, going in on foot and maneuvering through the street.
There were people from Alexandria and Hilltop fighting to protect the community. There were even people I'd never seen before.
I ran into someone- someone I knew.
"Morgan," I got his attention, tossing the handgun to him since he'd freshly run out of ammo. "Here."
He nodded in appreciation, clearly surprised by my presence.
"Glad you're back." He stated.
I smiled in response as we joined in with others, fighting the Saviors.
I recognized immediately who'd we'd joined by the RV. It was my brother, Rick.
"JJ." He paused.
"Well, don't stop on my account. Keep shooting, dumbass."
Rick grinned as we each covered a different direction.
"They're fallin' back!" Someone yelled. "Eduardo, Bertie, between the houses- cover the gate."
Maggie.
She was alive. She'd been alive this whole time. I broke my stance as I let my thoughts consume me.
"Oh, my God, JJ." She realized.
"Hey," Rick intervened. "It's not over. Keep shooting."
"Don't let them get away! Go!" Maggie shouted.
Most of them chased after the saviors, but I held back, becoming a bystander.
Maggie, who had planned on bringing up the rear, recognized that I wasn't moving, "JJ? You coming?"
Whatever adrenaline rush I had, it was gone. I stared blankly into the street in front of me.
The rifle, which had laid loosely in my hands, dropped to the ground.
"JJ, you okay?" Maggie hurried next to me, putting a gentle hand on my arm. "You're safe. You're home now."
I remained motionless.
"Hey, the other can take care of themselves." She moved her hand to my back, "Let's go get you cleaned up, yeah?"
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[POV]
Maggie had helped JJ up to her room, sitting her on the bedframe as she turned on the hot water in the shower. There was still no mattress since the Saviors took and burned all of theirs.
JJ still hadn't said anything since the moment she'd realized it was over, but Maggie stayed hopeful.
"Bet it's gonna be nice to get back to your boots." Maggie said as she undid the small buckle on the high heels that JJ was wearing, tossing them to the side. She stood back up, extending her hands to help JJ off the edge of the bedframe. "Come on, a nice hot shower is gonna make you feel ten times better."
Once Maggie pulled JJ to her feet, she helped her with the zipper on the back of the dress. She only saw the littlest bit of bruising, but it was enough to make her uncomfortable. "Alright, you take your shower and I'll grab you something to eat."
Rick stood in the kitchen as Maggie came down the stairs.
"Did you find Michonne?"
He nodded, "She was beat up pretty bad, but she's gonna be okay. How's JJ?"
Maggie shrugged, sighing deeply, "I don't know. I think she's in some state of shock. She hasn't said a word since the fighting stopped." She lowered her voice even more, "Does Daryl know?"
Rick shook his head, "Haven't seen him. I'll go find him, let 'em know."
Upstairs, JJ had stared at herself in the bathroom mirror until it made her mad enough to do something about it. She knew she couldn't go after the Saviors; she knew she couldn't do much of anything.
Her hair was fully blonde, her face was softly painted with foundation, her eyelashes coated lightly with mascara- one would think she was well taken care of. Brought a whole new meaning to how looks can be deceiving.
The eye contact with herself angered her to a point to where she'd had enough. She took the dull, bathroom scissors that she'd used to trim the dead ends off her hair and began to cut.
JJ stopped cutting when the hair met the length of her chin. She breathed, heavily, holding back tears as she through the excess blonde hair in the small trash can.
When she came downstairs, she was met with Maggie, her brother and Daryl gathered in the kitchen.
"You look better already." Maggie warmly smiled.
Rick hesitated, but knew it was necessary to ask of his sister, "I know it's been a long day, but in order for tomorrow to happen, we need to know some things."
a/n: late update. oopsies. but a short bonus chapter next!