Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

34- Don't leave

"Henry!" Tara yelled as they came upon the old shed in the woods. It took a moment before he walked out. He was clearly furious that people had even dared to follow them.

"She's not going back!" he snarled at them.

"She has to," Rose insisted. "They have Alden and Luke. If we don't give her back to her mom, they're going to kill them.

"Tell them we weren't here. Please? She doesn't want to go back. Her mother hurts her," he tried.

"Henry, that's not an option. There's no other option," Tara countered calmly. "If there was, we'd go for it."

"It's not what any of us want," Rose added.

"You said you'd kill her if it meant Alden would come back safe," he growled back at her.

"That was before I knew," she replied. "Before Daryl told us what her mom does to her."

"There has to be another way," he pleaded.

"There isn't." She let her head hang. "I'm sorry."

"That's not fair. That's not right."

"There's nothing fair or right about this world anymore. We try our best and live with it," Tara said.

"How?" He was almost tearing up now.

"By trying to help as many people as we can when we can," Rose replied. "It's alway going to suck when you can't."

"Henry, it's okay," Lydia spoke up softly as she came out of the shed. "I'm gonna go. I have to."

"What? No,no, we can–" he stammered.

"I want to," she insisted. "She's my mother. They're my people. I miss them. I'm gonna miss you, too." She took a deep breath. "And I'm going to be okay. So will you, okay?" She leaned in and their foreheads pressed together as they kissed.

This sucked, but there was nothing else they could do. Not with the hostages they had. Maybe later, when everyone was safe, they could do something to help her.

It was time for the trade now. Daryl had elected himself to hand her over. He walked her out of the gate and towards the skin freaks. In return they walked Alden and Luke forwards to meet in the middle.

The two of them looked scared and disoriented, probably barely understanding what was going on. Maggie instructed Sasha to keep the gates open, in case they needed to flee inside quickly once it was done. Everyone kept their hands on their weapons, ready to attack if things went awry.

Alpha flicked her hand and the knife was pulled away from Alden's neck. He let out a sigh of relief and his body language relaxed. A rough hand pushed him towards the gate and he limped forwards. Luke followed closely behind him. They still had their hands bound behind their backs and they were still gagged.

Maggie ran up to Alden before he had even passed underneath the threshold of the gate. She cut through the ropes and freed his wrists. Magna ran past her to do the same for Luke. With his hands freed Alden pulled the gag out of his mouth, gagging as he did, and threw it to the ground. Maggie held him tighter than she had ever before, cutting off his air supply slightly. By now they were both crying and holding each other up.

"I'm never letting you leave again," she sobbed, pressing her forehead against his.

"I don't want you to," he breathed back. He swung his arm over her shoulder and they walked inside together, away from the people that freaked the hell out of him. It was only once the gates closed behind them that he felt remotely safe again.

"Either of you hurt?" Enid asked, looking them up and down for any signs of injury.

They both shook their heads in unison.