Fire With Fire // D. Dixon

chapter fifty

They all stood upon the hill watching cautiously as Negan clutched his throat, all the while Rick loomed over him.

Nobody knew what to say. He wasn't dead, just as Daryl had said. But what now?

What happened now?

"Save him." Rick spoke to Saddiq, the man that Carl had died saving. With the wave of his bloodied hand, Saddiq did as he was told.

Maggie charged forward, just as Michonne had stopped her, "NO! No, he can't! No, he killed Glenn..."

"We have to-" Rick spoke solemnly, seeing a distraught Maggie sobbing against Michonne. He hated this for her, he knew she wanted nothing more than to see him dead. But there would never be peace that way.

"We have to end it! Rick...We have to make it right!" Maggie's voice shook and cracked, her sobs making her words nearly incoherent. Chloe felt a pang of sadness in her chest, seeing her friend so upset.

Rick spoke again, "We can't make it right, but this makes it over. It's over-"

"No, it's not over! It's not over until he's dead!" Maggie shouted, her sobs taking over. Chloe looked away, not bearing to see her like that. Daryl pulled her closer to him, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly.

Rick paused, "What happened, what we did, what we lost...there's gotta be something after."

Looking back up at everyone, "The ones who have them up, put your hands down. We're all gonna go home now. Negan's alive, but his way of doing things is over...and anyone who can't live with that will pay the price, I promise you that. Any person here who would live in peace and fairness, who would find common ground, this world is yours by right. We are life, that's death...and it's coming for us unless we stand together. So go home, then the work begins."

Rick paused, "The new world begins. All this...all this is just what was. There's gotta be something after."

-X-

Most people had walked away after a while, watching as Rick sat underneath the tree. Chloe looked at Daryl, and they decided to walk over to her father.

"My mercy...prevails over my wrath." Rick spoke, crying softly as he looked, more like stared, into the soft glare the Virginian sunset had made through the stained glass that hung gently from the tree above him.

"Dad..." Chloe spoke, sitting beside her father. He looked over at her, his face red and his eyes glossy. He smiled at her, pulling her shoulder into his. Daryl watched the family, leaning against the tree with his arms crossed.

"We're gonna be alright, Chloe. I know I've said it before...but this is real." Rick spoke, his tears still prevalent on his face.

"I know-" Chloe sighed, looking at the sunset again. Rick touched her face, turning it to look back at him.

"No. For all those times I promised you, swore to you that I'd be there to protect you and I wasn't...I'm so sorry. I haven't always done the right thing, I know that..." Rick sighed, sniffling as he looked at his daughter, "But I am gonna be there, like I always should have been."

"I know you will..." Chloe looked at her father, "Carl was right, you know. We don't have to forget what's happened, but we can make it so that it doesn't happen again. I know you'll protect me, Dad...you always have."

"I know I don't say it enough, Chloe," Rick smiled, brushing her brown hair behind her ear, "I love you."

-X-

Things had straightened out. Alexandria had been fixed, Hilltop had been repaired, the Kingdom was back to the way it was, even the Sanctuary had become new again. Things were okay, not just okay, but good.