crooked heart → the walking dead ⁵

[ 005 ] the fate of strangers.

CROOKED HEART.

chapter five, the fate of strangers.
[ season nine, episode six ]

THE COUNCIL WAS FORMED a couple months after the death of Rick and the disappearance of Odessa Grimes. It was created to enforce the laws of Alexandria, to keep the people and the community safe from any type of threat. Alive or dead.

It is made up of a few of their strongest fighters and well-minded citizens. Theo was given a seat on the council as soon as it was formed. Michonne didn't make herself Head of Council, she left that to Gabriel. She remains as the Head of Security.

Theo sits beside his mother. The four strangers stand in front of them in a line. A crowd has gathered to see what the council decides on. Theo sends the occasion glance at Jax, who stands in the very back of the room with his arms crossed.

Gabriel starts, "as you can probably tell from our turnout here, it's been a long time since we've seen new faces inside these walls." His sits in the middle of the table. His hat sits on the table and his hands are folded in front of him. "We're a fair community of decent-minded people, but. . . we are not soft. And that's not going to change today. So let's begin."

Theo's eyes sweep over the four. Luke stands at the far right end. Magna stands beside him, a stony expression on her face. Then the sisters, Connie and Kelly, stand side-by-side. Their fifth, Yumiko, is still in the infirmary.

"Which one of you is the leader?" Gabriel asks.

"What makes you think we have one?" Magna asks quietly. Theo's eyes narrow ever so slightly.

"Did you know each other before?" Gabriel continues.

"No," Luke speaks up. "It was, uh, Magna and then Yumiko, uh, first, and then, uh, Connie and Kelly, and then— and then me, and then Bernie."

Theo's brows crease. He tries to search his mind for an past knowledge of the name but he comes up with nothing. He doesn't know of any Bernie. Before or after finding this group.

Luke inhales sharply. He believes he's masking his emotions but he isn't. He tries not to cry in front of the people who could potentially take him and his group in. But Theo wants him to cry. It sounds sick but that's not his intention. If this group displays their true emotions, Alexandria's council might just decide in their favor.

"Bernie was the one that we lost yesterday," Luke informs them. He bows his head. "Um. . . there were others, of course. But like, Bernie, they just. . ." He starts to cry. "They, uh. . . they didn't make it."

"I'm sorry for your losses," Theo says. And he means it. He knows what it's like to lose people you love, especially the ones you love the most. He lost his biological sister, Penny Blake. Then he lost the man he saw as his brother, Cole Taner. Then he lost his adopted brother, Carl Grimes.

Luke nods, "thank you."

"Who were you before?" Aaron pipes.

"Me?" Luke asks. "Before all this? I was a music teacher."

"Waited tables at a truck stop," Magna says.

Connie starts to sign her answer. Beside her, her younger sister translates. "She says she was a journalist, but she's just being modest. She exposed a bunch of sleazeball politicians and put them behind bars."