"Why didn't you tell me he was here!" Sakiko snaps as soon as the door is closed to the apartment.

"Because I wasn't sure how you would react. Clearly it was best that I didn't since you're angry," Nanami sighs.

"I'm reacting like this because you didn't tell me!"

"Then, if I would have told you that Merle was here.. Would you have come?" Nanami challenges.

Sakiko pauses, words of anger and deceit on her tongue as she stares at her brother like he was a complete stranger.

"That's what I thought," Nanami figures, sitting on the couch.

The door opens, Merle walking in with a grin on his face. The smile grows as he sees the twins already inside and once the door is closed, he opens his arms out.

"Hey!" he laughs, dropping his arms to his side, "Was wondering where you ran off to."

Sakiko falls silent, only watching the man as Nanami gives him a small wave.

"What? Not a 'hi' or anything?" Merle asks Sakiko.

"Hi," she spits out, turning away from him.

Merle chuckles, setting his jacket on the back of the recliner before plopping down into it.

"Well, allow me to be the first to say 'welcome home'," Merle says.

Sakiko has to fight back the urge to remind him that this place wasn't her home. Then, she remembers her actual home and why she ran off.

Daryl.. Sakiko's eyes widen in panic as she looks back to Merle.

Shane said the prisoners killed Daryl and now.. Now Sakiko was looking at Merle who they thought was dead all along.

Merle notices her mannerisms and sighs as he moves to sit at the edge of his seat, "Guess we got a lot to talk about, huh?"

Nanami begins to feel his own unease creep through his skin and picks at his fingernails.

"You're alive and I'm here," Sakiko shrugs, "Seems simple enough to me."

"But, how am I alive and how are you here?" Merle questions.

"You cut your hand off and Nanami found me," Sakiko answers simply.

Merle scoffs, suddenly remembering how hard headed the girl could be. He looks over to Nanami for help, but Nanami doesn't meet the gaze despite feeling it.

"Daryl's dead," Nanami reveals.

Merle laughs.

The sound has both twins shooting glares to Merle until he sees them and slowly stops his laughter.

"You're serious?" Merle asks, looking to Sakiko.

"Shane said-"

"I don't give two shits what that pig says!" Merle snaps, making Sakiko flinch, "Is he dead?"

"Walkers got into our camp and.. Shane, T, Daryl," she tries to remember, "Shane said it.. He said they killed Daryl and Lori."

Merle slumps back in his seat, staring at the metal around his hand.

Anger was all he felt.

Those people left him behind. They left Nanami behind. They got Daryl killed. Now, something had clearly happened for Sakiko to be here.

Standing up abruptly, Merle stomps to the door.

"Where are you going?" Nanami calls after him.

"Going on a run. Clear my head," Merle gruffly replies, slamming the door shut.

There's a few minutes of pure silence until Nanami sighs, "You can use my bed for the night. I'll sleep here."

Sakiko begins to argue but Nanami gives her a look that causes her words to fall short.

"On the left," he points over his head.

With a curt nod, Sakiko pushes her feet to move to the room. Once she closes the door, she begins to walk away before the memory of the day comes back.

Nanami's changed demeanor, Merle being alive..

Quietly, Sakiko clicks the lock in place.

The feeling brings back those thoughts of growing up- the twins hiding from Shinsuke in their room or sneaking out the window.

The fact that she was doing it again after all these years..

The fact that she was doing it again out of fear of her own brother and Merle..

Sliding down the door, Sakiko keeps her hand firmly over her mouth to keep down her cries.

--

"It's about damn time!" Michonne hisses as she storms into the apartment.

Nanami tiredly rubs his eyes, "What?"

"'What'?" she repeats, "I've been looking all over this place for you since yesterday and-"

"I told Merle to tell you I was going on a run," Nanami remembers.

"Sure, tell the guy that doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground," she scoffs.

She walks past him, picking up his belongings and throwing them in her bag.

"What are you doing?" Nanami asks.

"We're leaving this shit place," Michonne glares.

The door to his room creaks open, Sakiko holding her knife behind her back as she scopes the noise.

Michonne's eyes fall to her, the women looking the other over.

Angrily, Michonne's lip curls and she storms to Nanami again, whispering under her breath, "I was looking everywhere for you and you were laid up with a girl?"

"Hey!" Sakiko calls, pulling her knife into view, "The hell are you shit talking my brother for?"

Michonne looks back to Sakiko, "Brother?"

"I found her yesterday," Nanami informs, "This is my sister, Sakiko. Sakiko, this is Michonne."

Slowly, the women's guards begin to drop as they stare at each other once again.

"Michonne, why are you acting like this all the sudden?" Nanami asks.

"This place," Michonne looks around the room as if it was the entirety of Woodbury, "Is not what it seems."

Sakiko lowers her knife, stepping closer to the pair, "What do you mean?"

"These people," Michonne shakes her head, "They keep the dead in cages."

Sakiko begins to comment, but Nanami beats her to it, "Milton does research on them."

"Milton?" Sakiko repeats.

"He's a scientist. He does experiments on the walkers-"

"That's sick," Sakiko scrunches her nose, "The others have been to the CDC. You know just as well as I do that it's doing nothing."

"He thinks-"

"He can take his thoughts and shove up his ass," Michonne growls, picking her bag back up, "Come on. We're leaving."

Sakiko's head perks up at the words, "Leaving?"

"I'm not arguing on this. I'm leaving-"

"I was far from arguing. I'm going," Sakiko cuts her off.

The women trade a shared nod, both agreeing it was time to get the hell out of Woodbury.

"We can't leave," Nanami shoots down the premise.

"Like hell I can't," Sakiko glares, walking back to Nanami's room to get her bag.

"Merle-"

"Merle was the dumbass that got himself handcuffed on that roof because he's a two brain celled dumbass! Merle is the junkie that put us all at risk before and after the walkers. Merle is not Daryl," Sakiko argues.

"And now Daryl is dead because of those people-"

Nanami's own argument is disrupted as Sakiko's palm meets his cheek.

Michonne's eyes widen, looking between the twins at a loss of her own.

"Daryl died because of outsiders!" Sakiko shouts, "That group is my family. Daryl's family."

"Yeah? And what happens when it's the quarry all over again? The farm?" Nanami challenges.

At the reminder of running away and being left behind, Sakiko's jaw locks with anger.

"Face it. Those people would throw you to the walkers to keep their own asses safe."

Sakiko takes a step closer to him, putting the twins at eye level as her eyes were colder than ever before to him.

"I'll give them my life if it meant to keep them safe," she dangerously informs.

"For Ryan? Carl? Sophia? Beth? Are any one of those people worth-"

At the names, Sakiko feels an ache in her chest.

She could remember those nights bunking with Sophia as they opened up to each other on their similar pasts with their fathers.

Carl's growth that made her think she could be better, too.

Beth's hopefulness that was trying it's best to seep into her brain.

Glenn's strength that was giving Sakiko strength of her own.

Hershel's words that made her feel at home.

Maggie's comfort that gave her confidence.

Rick's leadership that made her feel like they would survive.

Ryan that just made Sakiko feel safe.

"They're my family," Sakiko repeats.

The twins hold the hard gazes to each other until Sakiko bumps her shoulder against Nanami's with a demanding 'move'.

Michonne gives Nanami a look as well before following Sakiko out the door.

As the door closes behind them, Nanami feels that pent up rage spill over. If they both left, he killed those men in cold blood. If they left, he was just a murderer. An angered shout leaves his mouth as he kicks the door, running his hands through his hair before picking up a nearby lamp and throwing it against the wall.

Without them, Nanami was just a monster.