ꜰᴏᴏʟ'ꜱ ᴍᴀᴛᴇ || ᴛᴡᴅ

084: ʜᴏɴᴏʀ

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"It's Sami!" Rachel ran forward, seeing Sami, beaten, bloody and bruised, tied to a tree in the woods.

Michonne reached him first, and he instantly started trying to get up the hill they were climbing.

But he couldn't walk. His leg was gone. So, Michonne cut him loose and supported him.

"What happened?"

"There . . . " His voice broke, as he fell trying to get up the hill. "They're . . . "

They could see it in the distance.

Sami had been there for hours. He had convinced himself it wasn't real. But as they climbed the hill, they could see the heads on pikes.

For a moment, he stood there, as Rachel and the others took it in.

It was real.

He did nothing.

It was real.

Ozzy, his mouth opening and closing in a bite. DJ and his man beside him.

Frankie, her red hair blowing in the cold wind.

Tammy Rose, her scarf keeping her hair in place.

Rodney and Addy, her glasses placed back on her face.

Enid, which caused Rachel's hand to go to her mouth. Enid. Enid was dead.

Sami began crying, too. "No. No, no, no. I didn't . . . no . . . "

Tara, who even in death looked tired.

"Don't look." Sami croaked, reaching out to Carol, but he needed Michonne for support, who was holding him tightly. "Carol, Carol, no."

Daryl was trying to turn her away, too. "No! No! Just look at me. Just look at me."

Sami and Michonne slowly fell to the ground, as his crying became worse, and her cried, too, trying to help him.

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"I was in the barn with them."

Sami stood on a stage the next day. He didn't want to, but felt he had to. 

He had a bandage on his head. Rosita had helped him clean his teeth, since he was too much of a mess to get the blood and flesh off. 

He cleaned up, and stood before the people of the communities. 

"I don't remember fully when I was taken. " He refused to look at the crowd. "That . . . woman came in. She was . . . wearing our clothes. She planned from the start for me to live. I wanted to die with them. I was ready to. But she kept saying . . . I was . . . there to tell a story. To you."

The crowd was silent. 

"I've been through stuff. We all have. But this?" He wiped his eye. "This was . . . beyond evil. I can't . . . there isn't a word to describe it. She said she was teaching me a lesson. That . . . there was a sickness within us, that I needed to cut. She wants us like her. Apart. Alone. Vile. She wants me to make you that way, by telling you . . . what she did to our family. Our friends. Our partners. Out parents." He felt a sob rise in his throat that broke his next words. "Our children. Tell you their last moments. But I . . . I-I believe there is a story in this. That much is true. But not hers. Ours. Because we've done so much. We've lost so much. Yet we still had that fair. We still came together. Because our family at the Kingdom needed it. And I believe that frightens her."

He looked over the crowd. Children. Families. Danny sat, shades on, watching him at the back beside Lydia. Rachel was beside Daryl, clutching a old piece of paper in her hands. 

"We should frighten her. Because we're together. And she wants me to tell you we need to be apart. That the world's dangerous, so we need to cut each other off, like before, to stay alive. But I'm looking at you all . . . and I'm so proud of you all. For coming together for this fair. For coming together since the start. Whether you've been here since Atlanta, or you joined along the way. We were strangers, and now family. Enemies, and now comrades. People, and now leaders. We've done so much together. And I don't want that to change. Because I wasn't . . .  scared the whole time. Because Ozzy came in, and fought the Whisperers. And everyone got up to help. And none of us knew each other, yet here we were. fighting together. The second we had the chance. They were amazing. They were . . . more than brave, they were beautiful. Right until the end, they were magnificent."

He wiped his eyes. The skin around them was so dry from crying, it hurt. 

"That shouldn't have happened them. To anyone. But it didn't happen us. And that needs to mean something. Not just for them, but for you. For each other. We need to keep going. To stay together. We . . . need to honor them. Honor what they did. Tell the story of their . . . bravery. Of their courage. Carry it with you. Because they didn't die for the bad to win." He shook his head, biting his lip as he looked down. "They didn't die for the bad to win."

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while writing Sami's speech, I realized he sounds really like Rick. Like, that could straight up be something Rick spluttered out. Hope it's not too cheesy or anything but if it is let me know so I can cry myself to sleep

Also Rachel was holding her note from Carl