love her madly; negan

10; natural

Chapter X; natural

"So, this Negan-guy we're on a rescue mission for..." Louis tried while walking next to Elizabeth, trying to keep up with her fast pace. "If he has done such horrible things, why are we saving him?"

Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest, feeling cold air seep in through the gaps of Abraham's too big jacket. She was walking quickly in hopes that the speed would offer her some heat, but it seemed as if the cold in her body came from within. Marlon had stayed behind, as he realized it was unwise for him to leave in the dead of night without forewarning to the kids – he was the leader after all. Instead he sent Mitch, who was strolling behind them in a casual manor, seemingly disinterested. Elizabeth liked him, but she rarely found reason to actually talk to him.

"I just care about him a lot," she said when she finished her train of thoughts, realizing how inadequate the response was. "We're very similar, he and I – we got to know each other after it all went down, and I guess I learned to see things from his perspective as well. A part of me still hates him, but I'd expect no less from him towards me after the shit I put him through."

"Well," Louis spoke, shoving his cold hands into his pockets. "I guess that's just the way things are now – people do crazy shit, and we're just expected to learn to live with it. Doesn't always work out, but we can damn well try," he smiled, and his words left Elizabeth comforted. He was understanding and kind, and though he had a good amount of attitude from time to time he knew when to let it go for a while. When he tried, he was a genuinely kind guy.

"It's hard to draw a line between good and bad people nowadays – shit, I guess we're all just somewhere in between, or borderline assholes by now."

"I guess we were lucky," he spoke, seeing Violet slow down her pace and fall into line with them. "We didn't have to find shelter or move around and we didn't really have much issues with other people. It's been different for us – we've been lucky so far."

"You've got a good place going, you're well hidden – you can keep things safe like this," Elizabeth spoke with a reassuring voice, noticing that Louis appreciated her words.

"What are things like out there?" Violet suddenly spoke, looking at Elizabeth with her icy blue gaze. "Are there many people around? We never leave the safe zone, so we hardly see anyone ever."

"There are lots of people," she responded, looking ahead of herself. "We have a... union of sorts, I guess you could say, with a total of five communities. Lots of people in each, we all produce different things to keep each other going, you know... food, medications – we make it work."

"Hm," Violet simply responded, though Elizabeth could tell she was intrigued.

"One of the communities in the union is called the Sanctuary – we used to be at war with them. Negan used to be the leader there – they called themselves the Saviors, made themselves out to be a gang of nice guys but really... they were tyrants. They threatened whatever communities they came across just to make sure people would work for them and provide food, weapons... whatever they wanted, they took."

"Sounds like real douchebags," Violet muttered, feeling grateful for having a safe and hidden away spot out of reach from others.

"They were," she spoke, looking down at her hands that felt sticky with the blood she'd washed off years ago. "Our rivalry with them started with us," she spoke, pain in her voice. "We took out an entire outpost of Saviors, sleeping men and women. It's horrible," she muttered, seeing Violet's reaction and the way she tried to keep her face from turning shocked.

"We got what we deserved after that I guess," Elizabeth mumbled. "They caught us as we were travelling between communities, got us down on our knees in a line. I guess what made me the angriest was the way Negan would smile the entire time he spoke to us, how he laughed when he-" she cut herself off as her throat choked up. "He said it was too hard to decide who to kill, so he started chanting a rhyme while pointing at people. In the end, he chose the person outside of my family I'd have no doubt given my life for. He bashed his head in with a baseball bat."