Brother's Keeper ¹ || The walking dead

99.

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Carol and Reagan sat in front of Riven and Melanie at the dining table. Reagan had his arms crossed over his chest, leaning back against the chair with glare that was more directed at his sister than Riven.

Carol had her hands clasped in front of her on the table, staring at Melanie and Riven with an unreadable expression, but Riven knew Carol, and he could tell she was pissed.

Melanie leaned back against her chair as Riven put a band-aid on his finger, and he let out a sighed,

"So..that happened." Riven broke the silence, drumming his fingers against the wooden table, earning everyone's attention on him.

"Look, we weren't extacly planning on anyone ever finding out about this.."

"You lied." Carol spoke, interrupting Riven, "You lied to everyone, you of all people, you risked your life just to kill Negan, only to save him and keep him locked up in a storm cellar."

"I asked him to keep him alive,"Melanie told her, and Carol looked at her, "when I found them, Riven was ready to kill Negan, but I asked him to keep him alive."

"Why?" Reagan questioned, and Melanie sighed, leaning forward, looking at Reagan.

"I asked myself that question every time I see him. I always asked myself why, why did I save him? And truth is, I don't know, Reagan. At first, I thought that he deserved a slow death, that he deserved to rot in a cell for the rest of his life, " Melanie shook her head.

"But it's not that. I really don't have an answer for you, but we couldn't let anyone find out about this, If it gets to Maggie, she'll will risk everything and everyone just kill Negan once and for all." Melanie said, glancing between Carol and Reagan,

"You both understand that, right?" She questioned, and Riven suddenly stood up, looking towards the window.

"What's wrong?" Reagan stood up, and Riven glanced at him before gesturing for everyone to be quiet and to listen.

They stayed quiet, listening, and a creak was heard from the porch, like someone was walking up the stairs.

Reagan pulled out his gun, nodding at Riven, who walked over to the door, and opened it.

Reagan aimed his gun but scoffed when he noticed who it was.

"Whoa! Wait, don't shoot!"

Riven leaned against the door with narrowed eyes, "You know, it's dangerous out here to be by yourself, Henry."

"But I'm not by myself, "Henry smiled at him, "Not anymore."

Reagan put his gun away, glaring down at Henry, "I could've shot you."

Henry looked up at him, "If you did, my mom would kill you."

"Think she'll kill you for sneaking out and wondering off by yourself." Riven told him, reaching his hand out and grabbing Henry by the collar of his shirt and dragging him inside, closing the door.

"Henry, did you follow us?" Carol walked over, stopping in front of Henry, who glanced at Riven, who chuckled.

"Don't look at me. I know better than to mess with Carol." Riven told him, raising his hands in surrender before heading towards the kitchen.

Henry sighed, "Yes. I followed you, but only because I thought you were going to take Reagan into the woods and kill him."

Reagan raised an eyebrow at Carol, who grinned at little, "Just a plan if you ever step out of line."

Reagan nodded, "Yeah, make sense." He muttered before heading towards Riven.

"How much did you hear?" Melanie questioned, coming to stand next to Carol.

"Negan's alive and in your cellar." Henry replied,

"You won't tell anyone, right?" Carol asked, and Henry quickly shook his head,

"No, I won't. Snitches get a bullet between their eyes." Henry told her, and Carol turned to look at Reagan, who shrugged at her.

Carol sighed, giving him a pointed look before looking at Henry. "Good because if this gets out, a lot of good people could get hurt."

Carol nodded, "We're gonna head back to the kingdom, then most of us will head to Alexandria to help with something Rick needed our help with."

"I'll head back, too." Melanie said, turning to look at Riven, who shook his head at her.

"I'll..um, I'll stay here," He told her, "I still gotta fix that fence."

"I'll fix it." Reagan announced, "Don't want any more accidents."

Riven huffed, holding up his injured finger, "This was your fault, I am very capable of fixing a fence."

Reagan chuckled, "Right, then why is it still broken?"

Riven glared at him, "You know what's gonna be broken in a second if you keep talking.."

Carol cleared her throat, "Are you sure, Riven? Daryl's been asking about you, and so has everyone else."

Riven frowned, averting looking at Carol, "Yeah, I'm sure.. just tell them I'm busy like always."

Carol nodded, "Of course." She gave Reagan a point look, "anything happens to him, and you won't even see me coming."

Reagan nodded. He wasn't going to let anything happen to Riven.

"Alright, we'll be leaving now." Carol announced, ushering Henry out of the cabin.

"Bye, Ri! Reagan hurt him, and my mom knows how to hide a body!" Henry waved goodbye before he walked out of the cabin, followed by Carol.

Melanie threw Reagan a knowing smirk as she headed towards the door, "Remember to lock the cellar at night. Behave both of you."

The door closed behind Melanie, and Riven walked past Reagan, smacking him in the arm.

"Seriously, I know how to fix a fence." Riven muttered, and Reagan grinned,

"I know, shortstack." Riven lightly punched Reagan in the stomach, but Reagan groaned, hunching over.

"I'm not short." With that, Riven walked out of the cabin, and Reagan quickly followed, rubbing his stomach.

"You are short. You're like super short, Gracie's probably gonna be taller than you when she's one." Reagan teased him, and Riven spun to face him,

Gracie was Aaron's daughter, who was found in one of the outpost they took over, and Aaron had decided to take her after his husband, Eric, had died.

Reagan had been surprised when Gracie had practically attached herself to him with her little baby hands, and everyone, especially Melanie, had teased him about it.

Melanie had joked once saying something along the lines, "You know, if  Aaron surprisingly just dies out of nowhere, you and Riven are going to raise Gracie together."

Aaron had overheard the joke and had been secretly watching his back for now on.

Melanie and Riven obviously noticed and laughed whenever Aaron would jump when Reagan was near. Nonetheless, Aaron completely trusted Reagan,

"On second thought, I'm gonna use your guts to fix the fence." Riven threatened, and Reagan raised his hands in surrender

"Sorry, sorry, I won't make fun of your height.." Reagan smirked,

"Garden gnome."

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1028 words

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