Something To Remember You By

Old Habits

When Negan walked up to the familiar gate, he felt a strange wave of emotions flood him. First it was brief excitement, then fear, a flash of anxiety, and the gate was opening before he could do anything. He wasn't surprised that he'd been spotted already. The Widow - Maggie - stood on the other side, a gun in her hand. The moment she saw him her gun was drawn, and she crossed through the entrance, and before he could realize what was happening she had the barrel of the gun pressed to his head. He slowly raised his hands, smirking a little as her bright eyes locked on his.

"You're finally gonna put a damn bullet in my brain, congratulations." Negan didn't show fear, he wasn't afraid, strangely. Her eyes stayed on his, and Negan didn't want to look away.

"Maggie, drop the gun." his eyes left hers to lock on the woman approaching, and recognized her as Carol. His grin widened as his eyes met hers.

"Carol, long time no see!" Negan exclaimed, and Carol didn't answer, putting a hand on Maggie's shoulder. Negan looked back to The Widow, and was almost surprised to find her eyes were watering, her hand was shaking, gripping the gun tightly. He wanted to step back, give her space, but he was afraid she would shoot him. So he didn't move. Carol put an arm around her torso, pulling her back gently and taking the gun from her hand, mumbling something quietly to her. Negan almost wanted to comfort her, which he found strange. He wanted to walk by them, walk in like he used to, like he owned the place. But he didn't, not anymore. He didn't have an army to back him up, he didn't have guns or leverage. He was alone. So he waited for them, staring at the dirt quietly. Suddenly, without warning, Maggie turned on her heel and walked away, storming back to wherever she'd come from.

"Come on." Carol ordered, putting a hand around Negan's bicep and leading him inside. The gates closed, and Negan felt like the walls were coming in on him. He took a few forced breaths, trying to keep his cool. Ever since his years in their goddamn prison, he'd never done well with tight spaces. Carol seemed to sense his panic, stopping and pointing to the shady area under a tree.

"I wanna talk to Rick." Negan declared, and an odd look passed over Carol's face, and her mouth pressed into a thin line, looking off into the distance. Negan followed her gaze, but was unable to see just what she was looking at, as it was blocked by a building.

"I'll be right back." Carol said, turning and walking away, towards the main building. Negan sat there for a moment, waiting, but then his curiosity got the better of him. He got up, walking towards where she had been looking. He went around the corner of a building, finding a graveyard.

"Rick?" he called. Maybe he was back here, doing something. But, there was nothing back there but the graveyard, and it didn't look like there was anyone there. Negan walked up and down the grass, sighing softly and sitting down on the grass. Why the hell had Carol looked this way? He looked around, at the wall, the blue sky, the blinding sun. Then at the wooden cross nailed in the ground a little ways away from him, with Rick's stupid sheriff hat. Was that Carl's grave? He shifted closer, moving the hat to get a look at what was engraved.

Rick Grimes.