.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

Stella's leg bouched up and down, tapping the floor as she anxiously waited for whatever would happen next. They had been taken back to the prison as live bait. The givenour had riled up his cars and trucks outside the prison fences and announced his arrival by taking down one of their guard towers with a loud explosion. Stella heard the man call out for her father, telling him to come down to him.

"It's not up to me!" Rick's voice pierced through the air. "There's a council now. They run this place."

"Is Hershel on the council?" The governor's words were taken as a peak for a woman to roughly grab the older man before shoving him out of the car.

"Or Michonne? She on the council too?" Stella watched as Michone was brought out of the car just like Hershel and she held her breath waiting for her turn.

"What about Stella? You put your daughter on the council." A man grabbed the Grimes girl's arm, shoving her out of the car with great force. The sunlight hit her eyes and she had to squint to see what was happening. Just as she was brought of out the vehicle she saw Levi jolt forward with his gun in the air but he was quickly held back by both Tyrsee and Daryl. Carl lifted his weapon, sending Rick a glare of worry But his father's narrowed eyes didn't leave the man who violently forced Stella to her knees on the grass surface between Michonne and Hershel.

"I don't make decisions anymore," Rick shouted, noticing that his tone had gotten aggressively louder at the sight of his daughter on the other side of the fence.

"You're making the decisions today, Rick." The governor said calmly. "Come down here. Let's have that talk."

Stella's heart hammered against her ribcage and loud frightened breaths spiraled from her nose. Her fingers struggled to fidget themselves out of the rope's tight grip and her eyes roamed around hoping to find a way to escape. She watched her father walk over the gravel path toward the gates. He stopped a few yards away, staring at his daughter with big worried eyes and she tried to hide her fear.

"Let 'em go right now." Rick read the girl's terrorized expression. "I'll stay down here. Talk as long as you want. But you let 'em go. You got a tank. You don't need hostages."

"I do." The governor said. "I need to show you I'm serious. And whose better for that than your very own daughter... You and your people have until sundown to get out of here or she's dead. And so is the rest of them."

Rick shook his head, staring at him through tears. "Doesn't have to go down this way."

"I got more people, more firepower... We need this prison."

"There are children here." Rick's voice sounded pleading. "Some of them are sick. They won't survive."

The governor hesitated for a second before answering. "I have a tank and I'm letting you walk away from here. I could shoot you all. You'd all shoot back, I know that. But we'll win and you'll be dead. All of you. Doesn't have to be like that. Like I said, it's your choice. You got about an hour of sunlight left. I suggest you start packing."

Stella's mouth formed a tight pout as she tried to slow her enraged breaths down. Her heart's beats drummed in her ears and her eyes locked with Levi's from where he stood multiple yards away. Every muscle had tensed as he used all his strength not to shoot the governor right there and then.

"We can all... We can all live together." Rick fumbled over his words, struggling to think straight knowing that his daughter was being held at gunpoint. "There's enough room for all of us."

"More than enough." The governor agreed. "But I don't think my family would sleep well knowing that you were under the same roof."

"We could live in different cellblocks," Rick suggested, his voice croaky with tears.

"It could work." Stella heard Hershel say turning around to face the governor. "You know it could."

"It could've." The man nodded." But it can't. Not after Andrea."

"We're not leaving," Rick said, firmly. "You try and force us, we'll fight back. Like you said, the gunshots will just bring more of them out. They'll take down the fences. Without the fences this place is worthless. Now... we can all live in the prison or none of us can."

Rick's stubbornness caused a strong reaction from the governor as he jumped down from his tank before grabbing Michonne's katana.

"This what you want, Rick?!" He shouted as he rushed forward, heading for the three hostages. Stella gasped as she felt the cold blade against her throat which caused great commotion from her group. She heard Levi grunt against Daryl's grip as he stopped him from gunning down every one of the governor's group. "Your daughter this one right?! Yeah, I remember this one." He smirked devilishly making Stella's stomach turn. She held her breath as the blade on her throat pressed against her harder.

"Hey, you don't touch her!" Rick roared.

"My daughter doesn't get to live but yours do?" The governor looked back up at him as he led the katana to Stella's cheek. "I'm not gonna kill you." He said only loud enough for the people around him to hear. "But I'll make sure you remember." He added pressure to the katana letting the blade drag over her cheek, slowly marking it so deep it was bound to leave a scar. Stella winced in pain as the blood trickled down her cheek and her vision blurred with tears. It wasn't until the man was done with the mark he had created that she finally let out a panting breath.

The governor smiled wickedly as he shifted his attention from the girl to the older man next to her. Stella heard the Greene sisters throw themselves against the fence as the blade now made contact with his throat without him adding any pressure yet. Stella choked on a sob watching the scene play out in front of her.

Rick's worried eyes traveled over the governor's group members before he pointed to a scared girl. "You! You in the ponytails. Is this what you want? Is this what any of you want? I've fought him before. And after, we took in his old friend. They've become leaders in what we have here. Now you put down your weapons, walk through those gates, you're one of us. We let go of all of it, and nobody dies. Everyone who's alive right now. Everyone who's made it this far. We've all done the worst kinds of things just stay alive. But we can still come back. We're not too far gone." The man's words led the governor to slowly move the sword away from Hershel's throat, keeping his gaze plastered on Rick. "We get to come back, I know... we can all change."

Stella teared up at the sight of what looked like the governor giving in as the sword was almost completely removed from Herhsel's throat. The seconds felt like forever as she waited for the governor to say something. For a moment, everything was peaceful. Still.

"Liar."

The katana linched through Herhsel's throat making blood platter onto the side of Stella's face. A cry erupted from her very soul and she stared at the man as the blood slowly seeped out from his neck. She hunched forward, letting out a cry as she watched the man's body collapse on the ground next to her. She heard Maggie and Ellie scream on the other side of the prison followed by her father raising his gun as he yelled out. "No!"

Suddenly, chaos had broken out. Bullets flew everywhere, piercing through the air along with the chilling screams and cries. Tears fell freely from Stella's eyes but she was forced to slip out of her trance as to not be hit by the many bullets that spewed from the weapons. She pushed herself away from the scene, rolling over the grass surface not stopping until she was well hidden behind a car. She struggled to free herself from the ropes, frantically squirming against them.

She slid over to the car parked next to her, rubbing her ropes over the sharp license plate, desperate to get them off her. Once her hands were finally free she heard someone come up from the other side of the car. Before the person had a chance to notice her she put her foot out making them trip over it, falling to the ground with a thud. Stella quickly jumped on top of the man, trying to rip his gun out of his grip. She soon realized that he outmuscled her making it impossible to take the gun from him. Instead, she began to put pressure on it, forcing it to his throat making him cough and squirm under her.

The man was seconds away from slipping out of consciousness when she felt a sharp pain in her leg as the man stabbed her with his knife. She cried out in pain, letting go of the gun for a split second giving him the opportunity to roll them over giving him the upper hand. He copied her previous actions by forcing the weapon to her throat cutting off her air supply. She felt her face get heated as it turned to a crimson color. She let out a strangled scream as darkness crept over her sight making her realize that she was on the verge of suffocating. She brought her knee up to the man's crotch with full force causing him to throw his head back letting out a pained groan. Stella repeated the action even harder this time, throwing his heavy body off hers.

Once again she found herself on top of him, pressing the rifle against him blocking his airways. She didn't hesitate to use all her strength watching the man's face shifting to a darker color and his eyes staring at her so wide open that they looked like they were on the edge of exploding. She felt him slowly give up the fight before his body turned limp while his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

She pressed onto her leg where he had stabbed her watching as the red color stained her blue jeans. Stella grabbed the rifle and hurried away from the governor's men. She slipped past them, keeping her body crouched as she sprinted toward her group inside the prison fences. In that moment she didn't care if the governor was dead or alive or if she was the one who killed him or not. She had to get into the prison to retrieve her family.

As she ran up the gravel path she heard a crashing and clanking sound behind her as the tanks rolled over the fences giving both the governor's group and the walkers a chance to get inside. She watched in horror as the tank drove over the many graves on the field making her lift her gun, releasing bullets into the heads of the governor's men. She cried watching her mother's grave get mutilated.

Stella picked up her pace as the army was led towards her faster. Her home was collapsing, bringing everyone around it with it. The tanks fired into the prison forcing Stella to duck away from the cement and glass pieces that rained over her. Clouds of smoke and dust danced over the yard making it hard to see a few feet in front of her as she limped over it.

"Stella!" Levi's voice pierced through the air, drowning out all the other sounds. She looked up, squinting through the dust to see him ducking behind a car.

Taking a step forward to rush up to him, she felt her body jolt backward and a burning pain radiated through her stomach. She let out a gasp as she stood paralyzed in the middle of the battlefield. She shakily put her hand to where the pain had stuck her, pressing into it before staring at her bloody hands. She gasped upon the realization. She had been shot.

𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢

The gunshot that had torn through Stella's abdomen rang in his ears for several seconds after it happened. He screamed so loud that people might have mistaken him for getting shot. He didn't waste a second before he aimed his gun at the man behind Stella who had fired the gunshot. Several bullets spewed from his machine gun bringing the man down instantly.

Levi ran. The fastest he had ever run in his entire life. And he didn't stop until he was next to the blonde. Just as he made it there, her knees caved in making her collapse in his arms. The unexpected pressure brought them both to the ground. He cupped a hand behind her head and gently placed it on the ground as panic coursed through his veins. His hands trembled as he stared at the forming red spot on her shirt.

"You're okay. You're okay." He repeated, feeling the tears crawl to his waterline. The girl under him gasped in pain, struggling to breathe as she was still in shock. Levi ripped off the sleeve of his shirt and began to put pressure on the wound making her cry out in pain. "I know, baby. I know." He cried, placing a reassuring hand on the side of her face.

She groaned in agony and Levi noticed how her breathing quickened. Hearing her unsteady gasps for breath he felt himself lose control of his tears making them roll down his cheeks without seeming to stop. His hands fumbled around, unsure what else to do than to put even more pressure on the wound. He watched in horror as Stella's eyes slowly turned into white shallow holes before her eyelids rolled over them.

"No, baby, stay with me. Stella. Open your eyes, love." He sobbed uncontrollably over her body. "Please, don't leave me. Please.."

He was unable to think. He sat paralyzed out in the open as the tank got closer along with the governor's men. He would have probably not moved if it wasn't for Daryl who rushed up behind him, shoving the boy to his feet before lifting Stella from the ground.

"Go! In there!" He shouted, nodding towards a small slot between pallets and plants. Levi stumbled forward before sliding through the pillars.

Daryl joined him in his hidden area, placing Stella on the floor where he could attempt to save her life once again.

"Stella, hey! Open your eyes! Stella, sweetheart." Daryl tried to get the girl awake but she remained still. Levi's trembling hands moved up to her neck, desperately searching for a pulse. He broke down as he was unable to find one. He got on his knees swiftly putting pressure on her chest. He pushed down rythimaclty before holding her nose to blow in a few breaths every now and then. Daryl continued to check her pulse before finally letting out a relieved sigh.

"She's got a pulse!"

Levi hunched over crying, holding her hand tightly. "We need to get her on the bus!"

"It already left!" Daryl's words felt like a stab. "We have to get the kids to safety and get the sick ones out of the cellblocks!"

"I'm not leaving her!" Levi argued.

"You're no good to her here. When she wakes up she's gonna want her sister and brother alive. Come on!" Daryl shouted, grabbing his crossbow as he stood up. Levi sobbed as he finally placed a kiss on the top of the girl's head.

"I'll be back." He whispered before grabbing his gun, joining Daryl in a stance. The two did their best to hide the girl as well as possible before heading into prison. Walkers roamed the area and loud explosions continued to rattle the ground.

The boy rushed through the prison, joining up with Beth and they ran back to retrieve Stella.

Running over the courtyard Levi suddenly felt his body jolt backward upon the impact of an explosion that quickly brought the stocked wooden pallets where they had hidden Stella, into flames. Levi lifted his head from the ground, screaming at the sight of the love of his life getting blown up. His chest tightened making him gasp for air watching the flames grow high on the smoke-filled sky.

He stared through tears before turning around with his finger on the trigger, screaming as he brought down any living or unliving thing in sight. He cried out violently while gunning down the walkers and the governor's men. He felt Daryl grab him from behind forcing him to lower his gun. The boy cried out while his knees weakened almost bringing him down but Daryl held him up.

"I know, brother. But we have to go." The older man told him. Levi tried to fight against his grip before the two finally joined up with Beth who held her face in her hands, muffling her sobs into them.

Their home had collapsed, burned to ashes along with the love of his life. He hated himself for leaving her. He was stupid to do it. He knew he'd never forgive himself.

_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟐𝟗𝟏𝟓 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

𝐀/𝐍
uhm.... so.. yeah