Maisie returned to the ironically named Sanctuary heavy-hearted. She wished she was returning to Jonathan's home, where she was free to be Maisie, opposed to the caged-bird version of herself that Negan was desperately trying to hold under his thumb.

The night watch had already begun by the time she reached the compound. She nodded a brief thanks to the Savior who allowed her inside after parking the Harley and climbed the six flights of stairs to her room.

She undressed and changed quickly, placing the knife and sheath Deanna had allowed her to swap out for the ornate pearl-handled one on the nightstand, and crawled into bed. She fell asleep quickly, before she was once again haunted by nightmares.

〄

Maisie's eyes flew open when her chest began to tighten; she tried to take a breath, but the man's large hands constricted around her airway as he straddled her in her bed, placing his full weight on her chest.

"You killed my brother!" he hissed, squeezing tighter.

Maisie's bloodshot eyes bulged from their sockets as she clawed and grappled desperately at his hands, to no avail. When her head started to swim, Maisie started to accept the fact that she was gonna die. She was just sorry she was dying in a place she loathed.

No.

She brought her hand up, driving the heel into his nose until she was granted the satisfactory sound of crunching bone. The man recoiled and toppled off her bed, dragging her to the floor with him. It didn't take long for him to gain the upper hand again, the heavy trickle of blood from his broken nose dripping steadily onto her face.

Using all the oxygen she had left in her screaming lungs, she uttered a strangled cry and waited; the door flew open less than a minute later. Saviors, lead by Negan, trooped in and pried him off of her.

"Are you alright, Maisie?" Negan asked, kneeling down in front of her as she laid on the floor, gulping down the warm air that filtered in through the open window by her bed. There was a note of genuine concern in his deep voice, a first for Negan.

"She killed him! She killed him!" The man repeated, as he was dragged out by his wrists and forearms.

"I'm okay," Maisie panted.

Negan watched the reddish color slowly drain from her cheeks, eyes trailing over the blood on her skin, before he straightened up and offered her his hand. She took it and pulled herself up.

"If you want, you can sleep with—"

"No. I mean, I'm fine. Thank you, but you can leave now. All of you," Maisie added, casting a glance at the four muscled Saviors that stood in her room.

Negan left, annoyed at her dismissal. As the last Savior exited, closing the door behind him, Maisie ran to the bathroom to wash the blood from her face. Her skin clean and slightly reddened from her aggressive scrubbing, Maisie raised her eyes and held her own gaze in the mirror.

She had murdered that man's brother to aid someone she cared about; it hadn't occurred to her at the time that he might have family that would miss him. That man was just trying to avenge his murdered brother and she should've let him kill her.

A shiver ran through her, dancing down her spine. She killed that guard without any feeling or remorse — in cold blood.

But was it really murder if they were all gonna die sooner or later, whether it be from biters or from each other?

〄

Maisie was awake long before the short alarm sounded, she just hadn't gotten out of bed yet. At the sound of the alarm, she groaned loudly. Saviors meeting. Springing out of bed, Maisie changed quickly, donning her usual black jeans and a T-shirt of the same color. Glancing in the mirror, she frowned at the marks along her throat and collar bones, grabbing her leather jacket and holding it for a moment before throwing it down on her unmade bed.

Hiding a few annoying marks wasn't worth being cooked alive in a leather jacket under the blazing sun.

Scowling into the mirror, Maisie quickly combed through her blonde waves with her fingers before grabbing her new knife and bolting out of her room, securing the knife to her thigh as she made her way to the main floor.

She took her usual spot on the catwalk, although that day they were joined by Eugene. As she gave him a quick once over, she noticed a sock monkey-esque stuffed gremlin poking out of the pocket of his overcoat.

"What's that?"

"He's my grimbly gunk," Eugene replied, holding his face forward.

Maisie nodded, turning slowly to look over the railing, her eyes falling on Negan, where he stood next to the fireplace.

Dwight had been given the responsibility of holding Lucille. The more she surveyed the scene, the more she saw: a Savior holding an iron into the fire with a poker; Negan wearing one elbow-length welding glove, and the man who had tried to throttle her sat tied to a chair.

"So!" Negan began, booming loudly.

"Seems like you people need to figure shit out around here! It is so fucking rude to go around trying to kill my woman—"

"She killed my brother!"

Negan glared at the bound man, daring him to interrupt him again before his hazel eyes flicked upwards, landing on Maisie's pale green ones.

"Maisie —"

The second her name left Negan's mouth, all eyes were on her.

"— Did you kill this man's brother?"

"No."

The lie was too easy. Maisie's statement was met with accusing looks, but since she was so close to Negan, no one dared to contradict her in Negan's presence. It was both empowering and unnerving.

"Alright," Negan said simply, gesturing for one of his Saviors to hand him the red hot iron. Maisie's stomach turned.

"Stand him up," Negan coldly ordered, his mouth set in a frowning snarl as the Saviors did as they were told, standing Maisie's assaulter before Negan on shaky legs.

A smile — an evil one — spread across Negan's face as he leaned into the man and licked his lips. Even from high up on the cat walk, Maisie heard the sinister whisper, don't fuck with Maisie, before the sound and stench of sizzling meat filled the stale factory air, mingled with the man's cries of pain and suffering.

Maisie's empty stomach threatened to heave at the acrid smell. The screams generally subsided, and Negan removed the iron from his face. Maisie gagged and covered her mouth with her hands at the sight of the melted flesh clinging to the hot metal.

"Now, have you learned your lesson? Have you all learned your lesson?"

Murmurs agreements rippled through the crowd.

"Good!" Negan smiled, taking off his glove before putting a strong hand on the man's shoulder and hurling him into the open fire.

As Negan dusted his hands together in a job well done manner, gunfire erupted from outside the compound.

Maisie, both faster and lighter on her feet than all the heavy-set Saviors, flew down the metal stairs and outside, blatantly ignoring Negan's angry shouts of her name.

Outside, Maisie skidded to a stop and surveyed the scene: the supply truck, with a farm logo emblazoned on the side, was stopped. Fruit and food was scattered amongst the blood of two gunned down-men. The rest of the Saviors held the gunman against the gravel. Maisie caught site of a blue flannel.

"Carl?"

It was Carl!

"Hey! Get off of him! Get off of me!" Maisie shrieked, fighting the strong arms that closed around her midriff and pulled her out of the gathering crowd.

"Get 'er out of here," the Savior pressing his knee into Carl's back snapped.

Maisie struggled against her captor.

"Relax, girl," a calm voice whispered in her ear as she was dragged back inside.

"Let me go, Simon!" she growled, finally ripping herself from his grasp and whipping around to see Simon blocking the door.

"Move."

"Make me, princess," Simon countered, smiling down at her.

Scowling, she faked right and went around his left side, shooting out of the door and down the hall, listening to Simon cursing himself as she ran.

Maisie stopped and slowed her breathing outside the door before she raised her fist and knocked. She heard faint voices from the other side before the door swung open, revealing none other than Carl Grimes. His hat was missing, but she couldn't care less. Maisie threw her arms around him, holding the back of his flannel tightly in her fists.

"Maisie," Negan boomed.

The woman released Carl and looked over his shoulder to see Negan sitting calmly on the couch in his room, Lucille propped on the couch beside him.

"Why don't you join us? That is, if you shut the fuck up and stay in the background. I know that'll be hard for you, but if you can't, I'll gladly sit here alone with Carl," Negan told her, a challenging smirk on his face.

Her eyes darting to Carl's, and then to Negan's smug face, Maisie nodded. She could tell he was annoyed at her, but she didn't care. She had to make sure Negan didn't kill her friend.

Maisie stepped into the room and took a position in the background behind Negan's couch as Carl closed the door and sat down on the couch opposite from the man. His gaze constantly flicked between Negan's face and Maisie's.

"Right, now, where were we? Oh, yes. I want to see your eye. Take off the bandage," Negan said darkly.

"What? No!"

"Don't make me kill you... what's your name?"

When Carl didn't answer, Maisie did.

"Carl. His name is C-Carl," she told him, her voice shaking slightly.

"Didn't I tell you to keep your fucking mouth shut."

Maisie went quiet.

"Don't talk to her like that! Why don't you just jump out this window and save me the trouble of killing you," Carl demanded, getting to his feet to stand by the window.

"Sit down, Carl."

Maisie shot him a warning look and he reluctantly sat down across from Negan.

"Now, I told you to show me your eye!"

With shaking hands, Carl untied the bandage from behind his head. Maisie gasped. His eye socket was no more than a gaping hole, pink with scar tissue. Carl bunched up the bandage in his hands and tilted his head slightly, allowing his shaggy hair to fall over the empty socket.

"What a badass! Can I touch it?"

Carl said nothing.

"Silence is not a good move. Sing me a fucking song."

"No."

At that, Negan slammed his fist against the coffetable that separated them.

"God fucking damn it, Carl. You're really being a pain in my fucking ass. You gunned down two of my men, I should've bashed your brains out right on the spot."

Carl's gaze slid over Negan's shoulder. When their eyes locked, Maisie gave him a slight nod.

"I don't know any songs," he quietly admitted.

Negan leaned back against the couch and smirked. "Nothing your mother ever sang you?"

Something in Carl's mind clicked.

"Y-You are my sun-sunshine, my only sunshine..." Carl began, his voice shaky and awkward.

"Did I tell you to stop?"

"You make me happy when skies are grey..."

Maisie clamped her hand over her mouth as she noticed tears welling up in the teen's undamaged eye.

"You'll never know dear, how much I love you..."

In the back of Maisie's mind, Daryl's face flashed from the dark depths. She pushed it away. It wasn't the time.

"Please don't take my sunshine away..."

Holding back an unwanted sob, Maisie ran from the room and down the hallway, only stopping when there was two floors between her and Negan's room. Through the tears that snaked down her cheeks, another stab of hatred attacked her chest.

Negan could bully Maisie all he fucking wanted, she was an adult. But, forcing Carl to reveal his biggest insecurity to him and then embarrassing him was taking things too far. She felt another sudden stab, this one of regret; she felt bad for leaving him in that room with Negan, but there was something she had to do.

Wiping away her tears and their tracks, Maisie lifted her head high as she strode through the Sanctuary and out into the compound. As she walked towards the produce truck, she saw three Saviors bickering over something held in one of their hands.

"I'll take that, gents," Maisie said, plucking Carl's hat from Morales' beefy hand and wiping the dust from it.

When Morales made a swipe for the hat, Maisie, quicker than anyone had ever seen, drew her knife and slashed it across his inner forearm. Blood spattered the dusty gravel and Morales retracted his hand immediately, holding it close to his body.

"You bitch!"

"This is mine now, got it? Take it back from me, or do anything to it, and I will personally kill you."

With that said, she turned and walked away, placing the sheriff's hat over her platinum blonde waves as she went.

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