The CROWN ☁︎ Negan

PART 6

"WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?" Negan was furious. Lucille trembled in his hands, he was ready to get her dirty again and it took all of him not to take every last one of his men down one by one that instant. He couldn't unwind himself, yet. Too bad, he needed them. He needed every one of them to look for Sally.

One moment she was in slumber next to him in bed, next thing she wasn't and she was nowhere to be found. He didn't know if he was more angry with his men who were unable to prevent her from getting out of the premises unnoticed or if he was actually beating himself up for not waking up when she was moving around and about, fleeing.

The truth was, he was used to somebody laying next to him, he had enough wives to get him used to that so he wouldn't wake, besides Sally could teleport herself from one place to another without a sound like a ghost. She was in the building the first day, so she could easily get herself lost in the maze especially in the dark, yet everybody was claiming she was not there anymore. But Negan was not having that.

"GET HER HERE! NOW!" He was at a loss for words, no witty remarks. The change of mood he underwent was apocalyptic. He was ready to take the whole place down and take all those sorry shits down with it in the process. Nobody dared to even look at him, not to mention telling him another bad news, not even his closest associates. It's easy to get used to good life, and that's exactly what they did and all it took was one afternoon. They saw what Sally's presence did to Negan, he was all mushy around her. Everybody enjoyed that side of Negan and they took it as a new given in no time. With Sally gone, they jumped back to square one, if only. They welcomed her in right away and wished Negan went back to the state he was in before he and Sally disappeared into his room.

---flashback---

"It's just one of those days, isn't it?" Negan groaned, worn out beyond his limits. He just had a little chat with Daryl and it led absolutely nowhere so far. Daryl needed just a little bit more time to comprehend what situation he was in so Negan let Dwight to reinforce some understanding onto him.

The door slammed shut behind Negan as he stepped out into the daylight. Everybody knelt down by the sight of him, but somebody was catching up to him. "Sir, excuse me, but..." Negan stopped and sighed, crumpling his face in a grimace. Yes, it was definitely one of those days. He leaned back and turned around, Lucille resting on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry to bother you, Sir, but you told me to talk directly to you..." And that's about everything Negan heard of it. The door behind him creaked and all heads turned into that direction. Even the man talking to Negan couldn't hold his eyes straight. Negan turned to see what the fuss was about and he was glad he did, because it had just made his day.

His laugh echoed through the yard as he saw Sally approaching him. She looked just like when he left her after lunch, only her hair was up again and she crowned herself again - with the plant from his room. She actually managed to interweave the long leaves of the plant into a shape resembling a crown and she put it onto her head. He had been just fooling around back then but the joke was definitely on him this time.

"What have you done to my damn plant? Is there any left?" He struggled to catch his breath.

"Actually yes, I can wear it tomorrow, if you insist again," she stopped right by him, head tilted to see into his eyes flooded with tears of amusement.

"Isn't she fun?" he sought approval of his men. Their laugh was hesitant but all of them nodded.

"You promised me a tour of your kingdom," she reminded ready to move.

"That I most certainly did," he smiled. "Your highness," he lend her his arm to hold onto as they began the house inspection.

--- end of flashback---

Negan paced back and forth, his mind got stuck running in circles. Sally left his room barefoot wearing only some dress she found on their tour and called it a nightgown. The plant crown she wore that day was laying on the bedside table, where she put it right before she got into bed. She was in no condition to leave the building. She would get nowhere. That was why he got everybody to search the building but finding her there might be just a wishful thinking.

Maybe she found some clothes and boots on her way out she knew where to get them after the tour, she could learn the whole building plan. Negan cursed himself once again. He lost his judgement, let his guard down and broke all the rules... all that at once. But at this moment when all he saw was red he was not about to stop.

He did not keep all those people in his compound just from the goodness of his heart. They had a job to do and they failed. Sally was most probably roaming around the dirty roads barefoot, almost naked, and it was beyond him how she could for god's sake rule the situation without her crown. She was out of her mind half the time. It was like the danger was luring her in. Negan saw how her eyes glowed everytime he got close to his bat. Lucille drew Sally close, like a moth to the flame, last time and Negan was ready to try his luck again.

"Who's on guard tonight? Get them here! Bring them in!" Blood throbbed in his ears like Sally's bare feet stumbling through the forest. It was all he could hear, no excuses could get through for him to comprehend. Three of the guards were already lined up in front of him, others were somewhere out with the next group looking for Sally outside the walls. What was in front of him was perfect imitation of the last night with Rick's group. He was not aware of what he was saying, he just made sure he was loud enough for the whole compound to hear.

Lucille was the shining center of the universe again and Sally just had to look into the fire she couldn't help it. Negan lifted her up and just as he was about to swing her back down, crashing another skull, somebody pierced the wail of his concentration.

"There she is, Sir! She's up there!"

Negan, still holding Lucille up in the air, only followed where she was pointing and there he saw her. Sally standing on the edge of the roof. The moment he would hit the head would be the moment Sally would step off the ledge just to be closer to him.