DAMNATION.

chapter twenty-four, old friend, why are
you so sad?
[ season eight, episode two and three ]

"MY SISTER," WHISPERS A voice.

Blue eyes turns to the source of the voice. Her vision is blurred by the sunlight.

A figure kneels in front of her. The light shines on him as if he's an angel.

He is her angel.

She reaches up, hoping he will take her hand one last time.

He does.

He smiles weakly at her.

She blinks.

And he's gone.

odessa grimes, the search for the guns at the office outpost.

Everyone dies.

It's inevitable.

Everyday someone will die. Whether it's a bullet to the chest, a walker bite to the neck, old age. It's not the matter of how, it's the matter of when.

Odessa wonders when she's going to die.

She never wonders how.

Whether it be the black blood cells that are slowly corrupting her red and white blood cells or her own blades. Nothing will kill Odessa Grimes but herself. It'll be herself and herself only.

Not Negan, not walkers, not Kathleen.

Nothing can kill a Grimes but a Grimes.

The compound where the guns are hidden is nicer than any other compound. The building towers over them.

Rick and Odessa take out the guards standing outside the door. Their blood and brain matter sprays across the glass.

Thirty-two.

Daryl, Rick, and Odessa go inside first. The others follow. With their guns raised, they round a corner.

"Signal if they're already inside. We'll be there." Rick tells the three men.

"Come on. Let's find the guns." Daryl gruffly says. And with that, the search for the guns begins.

The guns aren't on the ground floor.

Odessa searches by herself despite Rick asking her to stick with him. She's fully capable of taking care of herself.

They run into no problems as they search every floor of the office outpost. They have to climb the elevator shaft with every passing floor. When they finally reach the final floor, Odessa asks what Daryl is thinking. "Did Dwight lie?"

"He said they'd be here," Daryl follows up.

"Everything else he passed you checked out," Rick tells Daryl.

"That guy's a piece of shit," Daryl says.

"Those guns get to the Sanctuary, they could cut through those walkers and free up an exit." Rick looks at Daryl. "We'll move faster if we split up. I find the M2s, you find 'em, we use them, hit the courtyard right then and there."

"End this quick." Daryl says.

"Odessa," Rick then looks at his daughter. "Meet back up with me in ten minutes. No later or I'll come lookin'."

She nods because an uneasy feeling settles in her stomach. She doesn't like it. Something is going to happen.

She walks down the hallway with her gun raised. She likes her knives better. Guns have too much kick. It's much easier to kill with her knives.

Odessa moves to open a door. When she does, she shuts it behind her. It looks like someone lives here. Her brows furrow.

"What the hell?" She whisperers to herself. She spots the others door. She walks towards it. She takes one hand off her gun. She reaches for the doorknob.

That's when the man charges her.

She's slammed into the wall. Her gun hits the ground. The man shoves her face harshly into the wall. She cries out as she throws her elbow into his ribs.

He grunts and stumbles back. She whirls around. This time her knives are in hand. Her brass knuckles are suddenly heavy in her pockets. She wants to use them. She wants to hurt this man.

She bares her teeth.

He knows her. All the Saviors know of Odessa Grimes. Rick's daughter. The girl who has killed many Saviors. Who has killed over thirty people. She's the one that carved Kathleen's right eye from her face. She's the one that offered herself to Negan the night of the line up. She's the girl that's promised both Negan and Kathleen that she will kill them.

He knows her.

Because the Savior wavers, only for a moment. Odessa notices. It gives her the perfect opportunity to attack him.

She runs at him. She ducks under his outstretched arms, wrapping her around his middle. She rams him into the table. The fruit bowl shatters on the ground.

He slams his elbow in her spine. She grunts but doesn't let go of him. The man grips her hair. She screams out in pain. He brings her face into his knees. She's stunned for a moment. Blood gushes from her nose.

The man throws her on top the ground. He laughs and grabs her guns off the ground. He doesn't see it coming. Odessa slashes his Achilles' tendon. He screams and crashes to the ground.

She lets out a shout as she stabs her knife into his heart. He gasps. The words, "...Elle." Die on his lips.

When his pulse stops. Odessa stabs her knife into his skull and brain so he doesn't come back as a walker.

She stands and moves to the door from before.

When she opens it, she met with the worst sight possible. Curled between a bed and the wall, is a little girl. She can be no older than six. Tears stream steadily down her face.

She covers her ears and squeezes her eyes shut. Odessa walks forward. She slowly kneels in front of the girl. She gently sets her hand on the girls knee. Her eyes snap open. And she screams.

"Hey! Shh, shh! It's okay!" Odessa panics. "I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? I promise."

"Where's my dad?" The little girl asks. She tried to sound strong but she can't.

Odessa bows her head and the child understands. A small cry slips past her lips. "Why did you do it?" She sobs.

"Because he attacked me." Odessa whispers. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

The girl sobs.

Guilt eats away at Odesa's heart.

"Can— can you tell me your name?" Odessa asks her. "My name is Odessa."

The girl's eyes snap back to Odessa. "You're the Grimes Daughter." She scrambles backwards. "Don't hurt me, please!"

"I'm not," Odessa gasps for air. "I'm not gonna to hurt you. That's not— that's not me. I don't hurt people who don't deserve it."

The girl stares at her for several seconds before she says, "Brielle. My name is Brielle Danvers. But everyone calls me Little Bit."

"Well, okay, Little Bit. Do you wanna leave this place? I can keep you safe in Alexandria. You'll be safe there, I promise." She tells her.

"Negan will be angry," Brielle whispers as if Negan is around to hear her.

"Negan will never reach you, I swear it." Odessa promise. "Now, I just need you to stay right here, okay? I will be right back."

Brielle nods.

And so Odessa leaves.

Odessa meets back up with her father. "Dad?" She says. He spins around. He sees the tears in her eyes, the scarp on the side of her face. Blood pours from her nose.

"Des?" Rick asks in concern.

"There's a little girl. She's only six," Odessa gasps. "I killed her dad. I didn't know, Dad. I promise, I didn't know. I didn't kn—"

Rick walks forward and grabs the side of his daughter's face. He presses his lips to her forehead. "I know," he whisperers to her. "I know. I did it too. There's a baby. Gracie. I killed her dad."

"We didn't know," a fear falls down Odessa's sweaty face.

"We didn't know." Rick repeats.

Rick moves away from her and picks up a picture. It's the man he killed and a pretty lady. Obviously his wife or a girlfriend.

"Keep your hands down." A voice tells the father and daughter. Odessa knows that voice. It's been years since she's last heard it. But she knows who it is. Realization hits her directly in her chest. "And turn around slow."

Her eyes widen before she even sees him. Her father is the first to turn to the man. Odessa refuses. She can't. She can't see what he's become. He was her friend so very long ago.

She can't. She can't face him.

"Hi, Rick." The man says to her father. His eyes then fall onto Odessa. "Hi, Dessa."

She gasps because it hurts. It hurts to hear the man that was once so kind to her say her name. Dessa. Not Odessa. He says it like he's still her friend. Like he's still the same man he was all that time ago in Atlanta. But he's not. And Odessa isn't the same girl she was in Atlanta.

She finally brings herself to face him. Her blue eyes slowly turn to him. And she's right. She faces a man she once knew. A man that was her friend, a man that saved her.

"Morales?" Her voice breaks. "You were... you were in Atlanta."

"That was a long time ago." He tells her. "It's over, Rick. It's over, Odessa. I called the Saviors back. And they're coming."

"Weapons down... now." Morales orders. Rick puts his guns on the ground. Odessa doesn't date put down here knives. "Put the knives on the ground. Now, Odessa. Or I'll shoot him."

Morales remembers the Grimes family reunion. How can he not? He remembers the way Rick's children screamed and ran for their father. He remembers the way Odessa arms and legs went around her father. He remembers the way rick cradled Carl and Odessa. He remembers the way he held Lori. And he also remembers when Odessa attacked Shane.

That was when Morales first saw the darkness in the girl. He had been the first to see it. But he won't be the last.

Odessa drops her knives on the ground. Tears blur in her eyes. "So, y'all are Rick and Odessa from Alexandria. This whole time, it was you."

"You called your men in for nothing. The fight's out there. It's just us in here," Rick says.

"Did you hear what I just said? I know who y'all are. I saw it in the mirror through the open door. And it wasn't any kind of blast from the past. As soon as I saw you... I knew you'd both made the same trip as me. From there to here. Shit, well... well, I guess we aren't the same people we used to be, huh? Cause you're both monsters.. I called them because because you're both prizes. We've been told. We don't kill you, the Widow, the King, the Sister, or the Grimes Daughter... not if we don't have to. So why are you two here? I know you... just like before. You're always the guy willing to rush in, Rick. And you, Odessa, are the girl always willing to die for her people. But why? What is it you're looking for?"

Neither of the Grimes say anything.

"Nothing to say, huh? It doesn't matter. Not anymore. Not for you or anyone else you brought in here. Because what's left of my people... they're comin'. And we'll get you both to Negan. Or we won't. Either way, we're gonna settle your shit, Peaches." Morales hisses.

Peaches.

That's what she and T-Dog called Glenn on the farm. He delivered peaches to everyone.

"What happened to Miranda? To Lewis and Eliza?" Odessa asks him. "Are they here?"

The man lowers his gun a little. "We never made it to Birmingham. They didn't," Morales tells them.

"I'm sorry," Odessa tells him.

"Really, Odessa?" Morales eyes narrow.

"We lost people, too." Odessa tells him. She isn't sure why her father won't speak. But Odessa isn't scared to. She knew Morales long before her father did. "Andrea. Sophia. T-Dog. My mom," Morales watches as she takes a deep breath. "Dale, Shane."

"You killed him." Morales sees the lost look in her eyes. He knows it well.

She nods. "We lost Glenn. Negan killed him. Forced him to his knees. Bashed his head right in front of me. In front of Maggie, his pregnant wife. Glenn was beside me in the night up. His blood was on my face. Your leader murdered my best friend right in front of me."

"He had a wife?" Morales asks.

Finally, Rick speaks. "Not from before. He met her."

"In this?" Morales questions.

"Yeah. In this." Rick's eyes fall on Odessa. Her eyes are vacant. And he knows who she's thinking about. Her eyes always go devoid of anything when she thinks of Beth Greene. "She's the Widow. Are you Negan, too?"

Morales raises his gun. "I lost my family. I lost my mind. I was in some tow trailer, sleepin' myself to death, waitin' to become nothing. And the Saviors— they found me. They thought I was worth a damn. Worth bringin' back with 'em. So, yeah, I'm Negan. To make it this far, this long I had to be. Had to be something. Just like you two."

"We're not the same," Rick shakes his head.

"How's that?" Morales asks him.

"Well, look at you." Rick gestures to him with a snarl.

"Look at me? Look at us, Rick. Look at your daughter. We're just two assholes who'll do what whatever we have to just to keep going. She's just a girl looking for revenge she isn't gonna get. And the only difference between us, Rick, is I'm the one holding the gun. That doesn't make me any worse than you, Rick— that just makes me luckier. Cause let's just face it, if it wasn't me, if it was either of you holdin' the gun, I'd be brains out on the floor right now."

"You don't know that," Odessa whispers.

"And you do? Huh?" Morales stares at her.

"I know I wouldn't want to." Rick steps in.

"Come on. Is that the best you can do?" Morales asks him.

"I'd— I'd at least try to find another way." Rick growls.

"Yeah, why's that? Because we knew each other for a few days back at the start?" Morales grows more tense by the second.

"Look, I know— I— I wouldn't— I wouldn't just—" Rick is cut off.

"You know what I think? I think you can talk all you want. You can say all the words. Lori, Sophia, Dale, Shane, T-Dog, Andrea, Glenn... they're all dead, and somewhere along the way, Officer Friendly and that kind girl died right along with 'em. Just like I did with them. That what I know, Rick." Morales says.

Rick eyes move past Morales's shoulder. "Wait— no!" He shouts. But Daryl Dixon doesn't listen. Odessa stumbles backwards as Daryl releases a bolt into Morales's head. She lets out a noise between a gasp and sob.

She can't take her eyes off the man. She reaches down and picks up her knives. "I have to get the girl," she tells her dad. "Before the Saviors get here."

Daryl and Rick exchange few words. Odessa looks at Morales. His eyes stare blankly at the walls. She can't help it. A part of her from Atlanta is still there somewhere. So she reaches for him and closes his eyes.

She wastes no time in getting up and running to where she killed the man. As she races inside the room, she hears a bang. The Saviors are here.

Then the gunfire starts.

The little girl sits by her father's bloody corpse. Her bloodshot eyes meet Odessa's. Odessa rushed to her. "Look," she places her hands on Brielle's shoulders. "We're going to hide until whatever happens out there stops, okay?"

She nods. She rushes back to her room. Odessa settles herself behind the wall, her gun pointed at the doorway.

When the gunfire ceases, she hears Aaron's comforting voice. She sighs in relief. "It's okay," she turns back to the girl. "We're safe now."

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word count: 2,631

everyone meet brielle danvers!! my baby has arrived and i'm so so excited to bring her into this series. she has such a sad introduction. and the fact dessa is already taking care of her even though she killed her dad 🥲. but she didn't know, just like rick said.

and the return of morales HURT!!! odessa reaction to hearing his voice and then seeing him after so long actually hurt to write. that whole entire scene did. seeing someone who was once such a good person turn into a bad person is so heartbreaking. y'all should know how it feels. y'all are watching it happen to odessa.

i wish they would've explored morales as a savior more. they should really make it into a tales of the walking dead episode. i'd love that so much.

anyway guys, i just finished writing carl's death chapter 🥹🥹. it's still several chapters away so y'all still have some time to mentally prepare yourselves for that tremendous heartbreak. let me just say, i was screaming and crying while writing it. literally.

next chapter is a flynn & odessa/brielle chapter. it's the first flynn chapter in the whole series but certainly not the last!! i hope y'all are excited to see into his mind a little more and the way he feels more!! because i loved writing a flynn chapter. there will absolutely be more to come.