Smile [ TWD Negan ]

one.

“I simply cannot decide.”

The words echoed in Victoria’s head a million times as she knelt down between Sasha and Carl. Her hands were shaking and she could feel her breaths getting caught in her throat but she’d be damned if she was going to show the man in front of her any of this. Negan laughed,

“I got an idea.” The smile on his face was one of pure glee and Victoria felt anger bubbling inside of her, she wanted to slap that stupid smile off his face.

“Eenie meenie miney mo...” Victoria closed her eyes and remembered back to before everything happened, to when she was a young girl and would use the simple rhyme to decide who was going to be the first person to count during hide and seek, that memory would now forever be tainted and she’d only be able to remember the twisted man using it to decide which of her family he was to murder.

“..you are it. Anybody moves, anybody says anything, cut the boy's other eye out and feed it to his father, and then we'll start.” She opened her eyes, but wished she kept them closed. It was Abraham. The friendly ginger who’d rescued her and Glenn after the fall of the prison and that was only the first of many times the man had saved her ass. Abraham and Victoria got on immediately, both using humour as a way to cope during bad situations.

Seeing Abraham looking unafraid, ready and willing to die for his family broke her heart into a million pieces. Seeing him sitting up, accepting his fate made her respect him so much more.

“You can breathe. You can blink. You can cry. Hell, you're all gonna be doing that.” And with that the nightmare really started. Showing no emotion went out the window and Victoria let out a loud sob as the first hit landed. She could tell Abraham made a remark to the man, but her head was too busy spinning to process what it was.

The next few minutes were strange for Victoria, her whole body was shaking and she couldn’t find it in herself to concentrate on what else was going on around her. It wasn’t until Daryl landed a punch to Negan that she began to pay attention again.

She prayed. She wasn’t religious but oh god did she pray that Daryl’s actions hadn’t caused another death. She couldn’t take another death.

“Now, I already told you people -- first one's free, then -- what'd I say? I said I would shut that shit down! No exceptions. Now, I don't know what kind of lying assholes you've been dealing with but I'm a man of my word. First impressions are important. I need you to know me. So back to it.”

The scream that came from Victoria was enough to cause tears to come to everyone’s eyes. Of course Maggie was yelled and crying, it was her husband after all, but Glenn and Victoria had been close from the beginning. They went through everything together, it was as though they were brother and sister. People would laugh and say the bond between them was unbreakable, that they’d always find eachother. They weren’t soulmates in the way Maggie and Glenn were, but in a way it was as though they were too parts of a puzzle being put together. They had been inseparable, and here this wicked man was separating them from each other forever.

“Maggie, I'll find you.” The words were broken as they fell from Glenn’s shattered face and it broke Victoria even more. She knew nobody would ever be the same, but Maggie would be ruined forever. Neither of them deserved this, Victoria wished they could have met in another life so the pair could have been happy together in a little white picket fence house with kids and a dog and family sunday dinners.

Negan was taunting the group, breaking them down with his words as well as his actions. Victoria had kept quiet she couldn’t speak and then three words fell from Negan’s lips and she was madder than she’d ever been.

“I am Sorry.”

Her gaze shot up and met Negan’s. Her jaw clenched.

“What is it sweetheart, got something to say?” He let out his signature laugh, “Did i hit a nerve? Well actually - if you wanna get technical - between your two friends, i have hit many a nerve tonight, you get what i’m hinting at?”

She could heard Rick in the back of her head telling her not to do anything, whether he actually spoke or it was just the voice her conscience had taken on was up for debate but she ignored it either way.

“You don’t get to say you’re sorry!” She screamed, “You can’t do something like that then act like you feel bad you fucking asshole! You show up here acting like a fucking king, well you know what? Kings come and go, they aren’t around forever and if it’s up to me you certainly won’t be. Mark my words you fucking prick, one day your time will come and you can bet your ass it’ll be the one to end your miserable excuse for a life you sorry bastard!”

Everyone fell silent. Everyone held their breath, waiting for Negan to decide his next victim in return for Victoria’s outburst. She, however, took inspiration from Abraham and sat tall. Her tears had dried up and the anger radiating off her was enough to scare more than a few people.

“Well fuck me up dollface, that’s quite a mouth you’ve got there.” Negan paced towards her and knelt to her level, taking her face in his hands he smirked, “I’d love to see what else it can do.”

He stood again, “But don’t get me fucking wrong, you speak to me the way you just fucking did again and i will not fucking hesitate to get rid of another one of these miserable fuckers, do you understand me?”

Victoria gave no answer, but he took her silence as a yes.