Nothing Left to Burn [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 9 - Once Upon A Jail Cell

As the Saviors closed in on Negan, Aven backed out of the room and dashed down the hallway.

"Regina, go get her!" she heard Jed order. "They might want her too." I'm not going back, Aven thought. Even though the Kingdom was a nice place, even though she'd barely even been gone for six hours, she made her decision and she was sticking to it. She didn't want to have to her explain herself to Ezekiel, Rick, and the others, but more than that, she'd crossed the line she'd been longing to cross for a while and she wasn't looking back.

As she ran back down the halls she'd already come through, the layout of the building started to make sense. She remembered more and more, just simple memories of being there and walking through the facility. She heard Regina's voice not far behind her and just as she reached a door to the outside, she was wrenched backwards by the collar of her shirt.

Aven used the momentum to fall into Regina with her full body weight, both women crashing to the ground. Aven immediately jumped back up to run but Regina grabbed her by the ankle and tripped her back to the ground, not letting go once Aven was down. Aven kicked down hard on Regina's shoulder enough to make the woman grunt in pain and let go, but before Aven could get to her feet again, two arms wrapped under hers and pulled her off the ground. She continued to struggle and kick against whomever was behind her, but when she realized she couldn't get away, she let her weight go dead in his arms to make it more difficult to control her.

The feeling of having a stranger's hands on her threatened to evoke the memories that played in her nightmares when she slept, but the moment was too urgent for her to lose herself in the dread. She stayed limp and the muscular Savior behind her cursed as he lost his grip and sunk slightly to the floor, his arms still wrapped under hers to try to get leverage to lift her.

By now, Regina had recovered and was rubbing at her bruised shoulder with a scowl. She muttered angrily under her breath as she stomped over and helped the man control their prisoner. The man finally got a good grip on Aven, holding her so she was standing up straight in a head lock with her back against his chest, and his feet placed between hers so she couldn't kick back at him.

"You've always been such a problem," Regina huffed, leaning down so she was eye-level with Aven.

"You don't know shit about me," Aven spat, her confident, stoney expression not faltering. She wasn't going to show fear, especially since she felt more anger than anything else.

"Oh, I know enough," Regina replied. "I know you slept your way up the ranks here and collapsed this place from the inside."

"I didn't-" Aven began to protest, furious at such an accusation.

"But I can't even blame you," Regina continued. "You worked so quickly. Used what you had and used it well. It's Negan's fault for being so blind."

"Then why not let me go?"

"Don't be stupid. It was Negan's choice to keep you around, but you still fucked us over yourself. You're not innocent."

"You know, you're making a hell of a lot of accusations towards someone who can't remember a God damned thing of what went on here."

"Just because you don't remember doesn't mean shit. We never trusted you and we never should have. Negan should have known to cut you loose after you attacked Simon but it was clear to all of us something was wrong when you killed his wife and didn't even get burned."

Aven's sharp expression faltered slightly as she was clearly working through what Regina's words meant in her head. His wife? Aven thought she must have heard wrong when Jed mentioned wives, but now she knew for sure there was something Negan wasn't telling her. She killed his wife? He told her earlier that night that Lucille died from cancer. What the fuck was going on?