The CROWN ☁︎ Negan

PART 37

"The Hilltop stands with Maggie!" Shouting the statement out loud, Jesus hit two birds with one stone. And he meant those words from the bottom of his heart. He encouraged people to stand in their power. At the same time, this educated guess was supposed to attract a little bit more attention to him. He was hoping to catch an eye of a certain deluded girl.

Today, Negan didn't mind the misbehaviour of these self-called revolutionaries. In fact, giving up their position played very much in his favor. Sally was up on the roof ready to blow them off their feet at the slightest indication of rebellion or discourse from Negan's plan to keep The Sanctuary intact.

As it turned out, Rick was following his own made out rules. He started his own countdown but never got to the bottom of it. Negan and his people were living on borrowed time.

Ten - nine - eight - seven and fire!

Negan and his lieutenants crouched in an attempt to shrink themselves and become invisible for the bullets flying their way. They made it back to the factory and took cover.

Negan promised Rick a shitstorm, but he didn't deliver. The ticking time bomb didn't go off. The fuse was too long or it wasn't burning at all. Sally was on the rooftop fully armed, she could blow Rick and his sidekicks up in no time. But she stayed idle. And no action is an action just as well.

"Fuck!" Negan screamed. "Where is she? Why didn't she blew their fucking guts off?"

"We'll bring her..."

"NO! Handle it here, I'm coming for her." Negan's boots thudded away drowning the sound of gunfire piercing a thousand holes in The Sanctuary. Lucille was swinging at his side.

☁︎

Sally lost track of Negan. He was nowhere to be seen and that could only mean one thing. He made it back inside. The Sanctuary swallowed him back up, opened its insides and lead him right to her.

There was not much space for security measures. Sally could take the easy way out and stay right on the edge of the rooftop or buy few more seconds hiding behind the entrance door. She stuck with the second option.

Negan almost kicked the door to the roof out of the hinges. He hacked Sally's plan and blinded her by throwing imaginary sand into her eyes. The door pushed her back one small step and in one swift move Negan got Sally up against a wall. He pinned her in place with his body and Lucille's spikes were touching her neck.

"Always on their side, weren't you, little assassin?" Even when uncovering a traitor, Negan found space for a smirk playing with the corner of his mouth.

"You left your kingdom in the hands of a mad queen. What did you expect?" Sally didn't have much humor left in her for this situation.

"Queen," Negan scoffed. "After the crown, aren't we?" He could take only so much amusement. At this point, he was quite over-entertained.

"I told you, I could have whatever I want." Sally reminded him.

Negan shook his head. "Your head is not on right. The crown... You think you can wear it better?"

"I never said it was for me to have."

Negan only slowly decoded the words Sally spit out to him.

Not for her?

The confession wavered with the king's power for a mere second but it was enough to empower the queen.

Sally's bare hands grabbed Lucille, her spikes bore into Sally's skin and drew the first blood. Sally embraced the pain and pushed back with force. She screamed as Lucille's wire sunk deeper into her flesh but she pushed back harder one more time.

Negan lost his ground. His leg still couldn't hold him balanced after his injury. His ass hit the rooftop hard. His breath hitched for a few seconds, giving Sally enough time not to allow him draw in his next breath.

Sally jumped over Negan and crouched behind him. Reaching into her hair, she fetched the blindfold holding her hair back and wrapped it around Negan's neck.

His back stretched to create just a bubble of space between the cloth and his throat. Sally only tightened the blindfold harder.

"Sally," Negan tried to draw out. At the sound of her name, Sally loosened her grip. She couldn't do it like this. She needed his eyes staring hers down. Negan grabbed the cloth and removed it from his neck. He took in few deep breaths.

Sally swiftly launched for Lucille lying next to Negan. She grabbed her into her bloody hands and directed her at him.

"Up! Stand up!" She growled at him.

"What are you doing?" He stood up with severe difficulties.

"Would you like to feel her touch again?" She asked calmly.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Negan stood frustrated at the loosing side.

"Lucille. Would you like to feel her touch again?"

He looked for her strategy in her eyes. He bet on honesty.

"More than anything," he breathed. Tears blurred his vision. He expected her to feel sorry for him. And just maybe she had more compassion for him than anyone ever did.

Sally swiped Lucille up to the side and charged her at Negan with all her power.

Negan instinctively lifted his arms to protect his head. The wire ripped his leather jacket. It looked a lot like Sally's face scars. She charged one more time, but this time, Negan was ready for the hit. He set his hands in the way and felt the wire rip through his palms.

He tugged at the bat and Sally stumbled to him, stubborn to let the other side go. They swirled in a push-pull game for Lucille.

And just like on a starry night, the two lovers tiptoed on the edge of a cliff. Their embrace was not a sign of love but of desperation. A desire to find someone to hold on to.

Negan could hardly hold himself up straight. At the moment, it was only Sally who kept him from walking the air. "Sally, you can't mean this..."

"I promised my brother..."

"So what? You push me down and then what? All that responsibility falling on your head..."

Sally was a bad shot, long distance was not her thing, but fighting up close, that was a whole another story.

She was grasping Negan in their dance pose for far too long. She gave him time to run his mouth, just like he always liked it. But the song was coming to an end. Only one last dance move left, before swaying over the ledge. All it took was a gust of wind hitting the small of her back and it pushed them both down.

I never said the crown was for me to have!