° Open re-arrival

[thesamurai]

Who: Michonne, possibly you
Where: Roof, Grounds
When: April 17th
Rating: R for mentions of violence and most importantly, death of a child.
Summary: Michonne's back. Again. Tell a friend.
The Story:

[ She's back. And for the first time in all of the coming and going she's done in the three years she's been in Wonderland, this is the first time she's not pissed at leaving in the middle of something. As she stands on the rooftop, holding a letter in one hand and a walkie-talkie in the other it's the blink of an eye and slow realization when her setting has changed. Alexandria becomes Wonderland, the smell of the dead is almost startlingly gone, and the memory of everything she's built in this place comes back.

I don't want you to be sad after this.

Closing her eyes, she drops her chin to her chest and lets out a breath as her eyes move over Carl's letter to Negan. It wasn't going to work. It was never going to work, hoping that his words might inspire some kind of truce. But she had to try, for him. She had to try and make it right. Staring out at Wonderland, she lets herself have a single fleeting thought, that Carl could come here. That he could come here and have a life and be a kid for a little while. But every time he does show up, he leaves in a matter of days or weeks. Still, she'd do a lot to see him again, to say the things she didn't because she couldn't believe she was losing another child. She'd vowed never to get close again, and yet somehow there'd been Carl and Judith and Rick, and here she is: carrying Carl's letters in her back pocket, grieving when he told her not to.

You're gonna have to be strong for dad. For Judith.

The rooftops of Wonderland have always seemed busy, so when she hears the door open behind her, she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Folding the letter carefully, she tucks it into her back pocket with her own letter and then stands and waits for whoever's arrived to either join her or go do their own thing. Her walkie-talkie is still in her hand, the static lightly hissing.

For yourself.

Later, on the grounds, she sits by the garden she made last summer, the beautiful dahlias a reminder of everyone she's lost both here, gone to their own worlds, and at home. With the letter Carl wrote for her out now, in her hands, she reads it over and over again, face tense and tears right there at the rim of her eyes but not falling. When the letter drops, she looks at the flowers, speaking, not to anyone, just to Carl. ]

We're going. We're going now to make it better. I'm here right now, but there? We're ending it with Negan. And I promise - I promise you - Judith has me. She'll always have me. World's gonna look good. I'll fight for it, for you. For her. We can be how we were. We will be.

[ She doesn't realize it, if anyone overhears, and she goes back to the letter in her hands. ]

Comments

[rightcall]

( Clementine still flinches when Michonne says the words even if she can't say she's surprised. Some people think they own other people. They want revenge at any cost despite the fact it's already hard to just survive where they're from.

They want to hurt. She glances away as her hand becomes a fist at her side. )

I hope you all kill him.

( Slowly. She reaches for the letter when Michonne offers it. Her eyes burn as she reads. It's written by Carl. Her throat locks as all at once she understands and wishes she didn't (or wishes this wasn't a truth Michonne had to live with).

Her hand lowers, and finally, she winds her arms around Michonne again to hug her tight. It's shitty, and there's nothing to say to make it less shitty, less terrible. )

He sounds really brave, but I know it's bullshit he even had to be. ( brave. )

[thesamurai]

That's the plan. At least right now.

[ Maybe it will change. Maybe they have to show that an eye for an eye can't work, won't work. If they kill Negan, make him an example, where's the line? For now, killing him isn't off the table. But she knows how much there is to consider, especially when you're one of two people trying to piece society back together.

Wrapping her arms around Clementine, Michonne closes her eyes and rests her cheek on top of her head. ]

He was good. Least, he tried to be. He was tryin' to put some good back into the world somehow.

[rightcall]

Good.

( Clementine does not have much of a sense of morality in general, or it's skewed at least. In Wonderland, she's better about it, because she remembers all the development she's had here, because she has people again. But in this case, she can't think of a reason to do anything else after all Negan has done.

Don't let him have a chance to hurt anybody else after all he's done. She closes her eyes here, tightening her hold on Michonne as if that can somehow take away all that hurt. It won't. It doesn't. It's just another piece inside to have to live without. )

He seemed like- like he was really good. Finding someone who wants to do good in the world, it's like a miracle where we come from. I'm sorry you lost him. I'm sorry the world lost him.

( They need those good people. They need someone trying to do good. )

[thesamurai]

[ Michonne lets out a soft breath, just holding onto Clementine, never really wanting to let her go. But she does after one more squeeze and then stands right beside her. ]

I have one kid left, we have babies on the way. We have to make this right. Not just with Negan, but to show everyone that isn't how we rebuild. We can't keep killing each other. There has to be something again, some kind of mercy. Justice, peace. Otherwise, it won't stop. It'll never stop.

[ She wants to kill Negan. Oh, she wants to so badly. But she knows, even now, it'd just start some brand new cycle. ]

[rightcall]

( Clementine pulls back when Michonne does. She can't say she understands it. She doesn't think she'd be able to risk leaving someone alive. She can't say she's brave and kind like Carl seemed to be.

Clementine's ruthless. She'd kill Negan in a second for what he did to Michonne alone. No hesitation, no guilt. )

You think that's something that can be created again? There are communities out there, but they seem like they're fighting each other. No one can trust anyone else. We've all been burned so many times.

[thesamurai]

I don't know, Clementine.

[ Michonne sighs; she's tired. Fuck, she's exhausted, and she runs a hand over her face before taking a deep breath and letting it out. ]

It has to end somewhere. Otherwise, we never have a chance of rebuilding, all of us. Takin' everything back from the dead. I don't know where that even starts. So, maybe it has to start with us.

[rightcall]

( Clementine doesn't say anything more. She can tell how tired Michonne is. It's not the time to question it all (morality and what can be done about it). It's not like Clementine will do anything to change the world if- when she goes back to it. She just tries to live without giving a shit about the cost.

She stays quiet. Her hand winding around Michonne's wrist. )

I'm sure you want to go see Regina, but I'm around if you need anything, okay?

I'll stop by tomorrow. ( to check in on her. )

[thesamurai]

[ She nods, but then reaches out one more time, even as Clementine holds onto her wrist to hug her again. ]

Love you, kid.

[ That's what she should have said to Carl, before she was saying it as he died. ]

[rightcall]

( Clementine reacts by winding her arms around Michonne immediately, closing her eyes against her, nodding. The words strike her powerfully, unshakably. They aren't words people give easily or regularly in the world they come from. Bullets may fly easier than i love yous. The words mean so much. )

Love you too.