ꜰᴏᴏʟ'ꜱ ᴍᴀᴛᴇ || ᴛᴡᴅ

138: ᴀᴄʀᴏꜱꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ

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"So, the slates just wiped clean?" Aaron asked, as they took cover under the awing of an old railway station.

"Debts, deaths on both sides. We get supplies, water, weapons. Pamela provides everything we need to finish rebuilding. Free and clear." Carol informed them of her deal. 

"Then we just go home?" Gabriel crossed his arms. 

"That's for everyone to decide."

"What's she gain?" Joel asked, leaning against the wall by Maggie and Danny, who were sitting on a stack of crates with their legs crossed. "Pamela."

"Hornsby. We tell the people what he did, out here, back at the house where - where folks died. He takes the fall for it."

"So, this is about saving her son." Daryl said what Danny was thinking. 

"It's not our problem anymore."

"We'll talk about it with our people, you with yours." Grace said, looking at her. "They slaughtered our people. Most won't just let that slide."

"Anybody else?"

Maggie looked at Daryl, and then put her hand on Danny's knee beside her. "I think the most important thing is that we're together. I don't want to go it alone anymore. I don't trust them, but if you say this deal gets us back in our homes, with our own rules, then I think it's worth the risk."

Danny wasn't sure what to think. He'd follow Maggie, and hope it leads him home to all his people. He didn't like being alone, either. 

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It felt weird, leaving. 

Pamela had pinned everything they found out about Sebastian on Lance Hornsby, who was in no way innocent, but certainly wasn't the main problem. 

They were going home. Maggie, Danny, Elijah, Lydia - they were all here, now, even with Apollo, who was stuck to Hershel. They were in the Commonwealth before they'd all head home, only hearing from the Commonwealth for supplies to build their home back up. Aside from that, they'd be left alone. And the work they'd done to try fix the Commonwealth would be swept under the rug, and they'd all go back to how it used to be. 

Aaron, Jerry, Lydia, Elijah, Joel  and Danny set out on the first trip to home. Danny hated the Commonwealth, and after catching up with Sami, just wanted to get out. Back to where he knew things. 

Lydia cried before she left, but Danny looked after her. Sami didn't want to just leave them, but there were too many of their people still in the Commonwealth. He had to be the last to leave, make sure everyone else got out okay. 

The day after they left was Founder's Day. Which meant another fair. 

Ezekiel had told Sami he wasn't leaving the Commonwealth. He felt that his place was there. He belonged there. Sami assumed there'd be more. People who felt they fit better, they could do better. He knew his own place wasn't in the Commonwealth. It was too fabricated. Then again, maybe someone just had to fix that. 

Grace had told him as soon as she saw him that she was having a child. With Negan. Which was weird, to say the least. Sami was glad she wasn't really his mother. The thought of Step-Dad Negan was just really fucking weird. He didn't like the thought of her having another child. He hoped she'd stay away from him and be a better mother. 

"You wanna stay?"

He was standing in his room, looking at the clothes and such folded on his bed. In his hand - a bible. It was from Hershel, Maggie's father. He used to carry it with him everywhere, but left it in his bedside table ever since Deanna died in Alexandria.