"It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse." -Life of Pi
The pair rode in comfortable silence, eyes alert and looking for threats as they plodded through the woods.
Around them, the world began waking up slowly, the earliest birdsong just starting, soft pastels of dawn illuminating the way.
Negan held his head high and relished in the scents and sounds of his newfound freedom.
The man whistled cheerfully, and for a moment Ellen felt the hair stand up on her arms, but it laid back down when he just whistled a simple melody.
After deeming the coast clear around them, Ellen pulled at Speed's reigns, slowing the mare to a halt. "We should stop for grub. You hungry?"
Negan agreed, sliding off the horse's back. "Hungry for something," he teased.
She ignored the man's comment and reached into her bag, pulling out a wrapped half loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter.
"Here, eat so you can grow big and strong like me," she said, flexing an arm before tossing him a chunk and flopping down on the cool earth below their feet.
"How did I know you'd have a jar of that shit stashed somewhere?"
Ellen grinned.
"Some things never fuckin change," the man chuckled.
"What were you before all this?" She finally asked the man, cutting through the stillness of their meal after a while.
Negan looked at her, surprised. He raised a brow as the signature dimpled grin worked its way onto his face. "Holy shit."
She raised a brow back at the man in confusion. "What?"
"Nothing, I guess I should just be making a note of this pivotal fucking moment in our seriously fucked and unstable roller coaster of a relationship."
Ellen's eyes scanned the woods behind the man. "In English?"
"It's taken you all this time to ask me that. Jesus, how long have we known each other? Going on, what, almost ten fucking years?"
Ellen scowled and just shrugged in response. "You're acting like I forgot our anniversary. It's not like we were friends at all during that time. I guess I never really cared to ask."
She stopped when she noticed the smallest hint of an uncharacteristic sadness in the man's dark eyes.
It was subtle, and only lasted for the briefest of moments, but she saw it nonetheless. She blinked and examined the man's features, as if it only just dawned on her that he was a real, living person with human emotions and feelings.
Negan noticed her staring, but she didn't look away. Instead she just laughed to herself.
"See something you like?" He growled, returning to his normal brash self, a small smile creeping its way back on his face as he met her eyes.
"Not even a little," she teased. "Y'know, after all this time, I'd almost forgotten you were an actual person."
"Fucking Christ."
"What? No offense, but you've only either been my boss, an evil overlord or an angry captive."
"What can I say, I'm a man of many talents."
"Negan of all trades," she said with a chuckle.
Negan grinned, his eyes twinkling. "I was a bad motherfucker."
YOU ARE READING
Outcast (A TWD Fanfiction)
Horror(DarylxOCxNegan) A medium prior to the apocalypse, aggressive outsider Eleanor has always had an abnormal connection with the dead. But in this new world, Ellen is forced to rely on her survival skills and nerve to withstand another monster entirely...
