"No! No way in hell. That was not the deal. You people swore you could take the Saviors out, and you failed. So any arrangement we had is now done... null and void, huh? We aren't trade partners, we aren't friends, and we never met. Hmm? We don't know each other. I owe you nothing. In fact, you owe me for taking in the refugees, at great personal risk." Gregory whined as he faced the group. Eloise rolled her eyes at the man behavior as Jesus took a step closer to him.

"Oh, you were very brave staying in here  while Maggie and Sasha saved this place. Your courage was inspiring." Jesus smirked, making the man whip around to face him. "Hey, don't you work for me? Aren't we friends?"

"Gregory, we already started this." Rick said and Gregory shook his head. "You started i-" "We did. And we're gonna win." "These are killers!" Gregory cried and Rick squinted. "Is this how you want to live? Under their thumb, killing your people?"

"Sometimes we don't get to choose what our life looks like. Sometimes, Ricky, you have to count the blessings you have." Eloise rolled her eyes again at the man when she felt a kick in the back of her knee. She spun around, glaring at Daryl before looking back at Gregory.

"How many people can we spare? How many people here can fight?" Maggie asked and Gregory laughed. "We? I don't even know how many people we have, Margaret. And does it even matter? I mean... w-w-what are you gonna do? Start a platoon of sorghum farmers? 'Cause that's what we got. They grow things. They're not gonna want to fight."

"You're wrong." Tara spoke up, making the room turn to her. "When people have the chance to do the right thing, they usually step up. I mean, people just–" "Let me stop you before you break into song, okay?" Gregory interrupted and Eloise bit back all the insults ready to spring out of her mouth.

" And, by the way, who would train all this cannon fodder?" Gregory asked and Eloise immediately raised her hand since she always worked with Rosita as Sasha and Rosita spoke. "I will." "Give me a week."

"Rhetorical, okay? I don't want to know. I never want to hear another word about any of it, ever." Gregory said as if it was the most disgusting thing ever.

"Would we be better off without the Saviors, yes or no?" Rick asked, getting just as annoyed as Eloise was. Gregory shrugged. "Yeah. Sure. Okay."

"So, what will you do to fix the problem?" Michonne asked. "I didn't say we had a problem. You did. And what happens outside of my purview is outside of my purview.

"What the hell, man?You're either with us or you ain't. You're sitting over there talking out of both sides of your mouth." Daryl snapped, pushing himself off the wall he was leaning on next to Jasper and  standing up beside Eloise.

"Well, I-- I think I've made my position very clear. And I want to thank all of you for not being here today and not having this meeting with me or-- or being seen on your way out. In other words, go out the back." Gregory said and Eloise immediately rolled her eyes, walking out of the room.

"What an asshole!" She muttered as Rosita scoffed. "Walking ballsack." "Wanna knock that idiot's teeth out." Sasha added

"Yeah, well, we don't need him anyway." Daryl scoffed.

"Yeah, that's right. 'Cause we have Maggie, Sasha, and Jesus here." Rick said, nodding his head. "And..." Just before Maggie could speak, Enid and Jace ran into the room. "Enid and Jace."

"Hey, um--" Jace stumbled over his words. "What's wrong?" Sasha asked and Jace shook his head, laughing. "Nothing. Just... Come outside." The two ran outside, Eloise and Carl right after them, the rest of he group following along.

"What's going on?" Maggie asked at the crowd of Hilltop civilians. "Hey. So, if you don't remember, I'm Bertie. And I owe my life to you all, twice over. A bunch of us do. Enid says that you want Gregory to get us to fight the Saviors with you. Is that true?" Maggie hesitated before nodding. "Yes." "Do you think we can win, that we really could beat them? Us?"

Maggie nodded again. "I do."

Bertie sighed, shaking her head. "Well, Enid and Jace said you could show us the way. I'm ready." "Me too." "Yeah. Let's do this." More voices spoke.

"It's a start." Michonne shrugged as the group walked towards the gate. "We'll get more. But it still won't be enough." Sasha huffed. "Well, we find the right stuff, then maybe we don't need the numbers. Blow 'em up, burn 'em to the ground." Daryl said and Eloise immediately shook her head. " But there weren't just soldiers with the Saviors, there were workers there. People didn't have a choice. We both saw that"

"We gotta win." Daryl shrugged. "We need more hands, another group. Negan has outposts. The geography, the distance works against us. We gotta get back. If they come looking for Daryl, we need to be there." Rick said and Jesus quickly cut in front of the group, stopping them from walking.

"You don't have to get back. Not yet." He pulled out a walkie talkie from his back pocket, making Eloise and Carl smirk. "It's one of theirs, long range. We can listen in, keep track of them."

"So, if we're not going back, what are we doing, then?" Michonne asked.

"I think it's time we introduced you to Ezekiel. King Ezekiel." Jesus said with a big smirk, making the groups faces scrunch. "King?" Eloise asked as if the man was crazy.

...

Eloise slowly got out of the car after Daryl after being squished in the car with seven other people. As she ran a hand through her semi-tangled hair, she heard horses come up to them.

"Who dares to trespass on the sovereign land of the- Oh, shit. Jesus, is that you?" One of the men on the horses asked as the other man glared. "Who are all these people, Paul?"

Jesus smiled at the meaner one. "Hi, Richard. Nice to see you." "It's good to see you, too. Your friends,
who are they?" Jesus spun around, pointing to Rick. "This is Rick Grimes. He's the leader of a like-minded community. These are some of his people. We would like to request an audience with King Ezekiel."

Richard hopped off the horse, looking in the car. "Get out of the car and line up." The group slowly started to line up and Daryl groaned, standing beside Jasper. "Okay. This is a waste of time. Come on. Let's go."

"Maybe you're right. The King is a busy man. And it's a dangerous world. We don't usually allow a pack of strangers to waltz through our door." Richard said and Eloise turned to the ground.

"We want to make the world less dangerous, and we are all here to show the King how serious we are about that." Michonne tells the man and he nods. "The car stays outside. You gotta hand over your guns."

"We only have two." Rick reassures, tapping Carl on the shoulder and they both gave Richard their guns.

"Okay. Follow me." Richard screamed, grabbing his horse and leading the group to the Kingdom entrance.

...

Eloise walked beside Carl and Jasper as Jesus and Richard showed them around the Kingdom.

"Morgan?" Tara called out, making Eloise whip her head to the direction Tara was looking. Eloise smiled at the man as he walked up and hugged Tara. "Hey." "How do you know each other?" Richard asked and Rick chuckled.

"We go back to the start." Richard nodded. "Well, the King is ready to see you." The group started walking into the theater as Eloise, Rick and Daryl stayed back to talk to Morgan. "Did you find Carol?" Eloise asked, her voice filled with worry. Morgan bit his lip, nodding. "I did, yeah."

"Where is she? Is she okay?" Daryl asked and Morgan sighed. "She was here, and then she left. You know, she wasn't too happy, me following her. She wanted to get away from us, from everyone. But when I found her, she was shot. It was just a graze. I got her back here. They got doctors. They're good."

"Was it them?" Eloise asked, referring to the Saviors. Morgan turned to her but wouldn't meet her eyes. "It was. She had crossed with some of them, and one of them followed her, tried to kill her, but I stopped him. I killed him. I had to. Carol was here. She got help. Now she's gone. I'm sorry." Eloise looked down sadly, Daryl went to pat her shoulder but she quickly walked away, walking into the theater with her head down.

Eloise went beside Carl and huffed. "Carol's not here." Carl didn't answer her words, instead, let out a breathy laugh and elbowed her lightly in the ribs. "Louie... Look up." Eloise turned to him, scrunching her face before looking ahead at the stage, her breath immediately getting caught in her throat. "That's a tiger..."

"Jesus! It pleases me to see you, old friend." A man on a thorn beside the tiger cheered. "It pleases him, indeed!" The man beside him said and the 'King' glared at him. "Jerry." The man scolded, making Eloise snicker until both Daryl and Jasper hit the back of her had from behind her.

"Tell me, what news do you bring good King Ezekiel? Are these new allies you've brought me?" King Ezekiel asked and Jesus nodded. "Indeed, they are, Your Majesty. This is..." Jesus stopped when he noticed the Alexandrians shocked faces. "Oh, right. I forgot to mention that-" "He has a tiger." Eloise breathed out, slowly nodding as the tiger roars, making Eloise quickly grab Carl's hand, interlacing their fingers.

"This is Rick Grimes, the leader of Alexandria, and these are some of his people." Jesus said as Eloise and Carl walked into one of the rows. "I welcome you all
to the Kingdom, good travelers. Now, what brings you to our fair land? Why do you seek an audience with the King?"

"Ezekiel.." "King." Eloise whispered, leaning over her row to correct Rick. He gave her a 'really' look, making her stand back up straight and Carl laugh as he turned back to the King. "King... Ezekiel. Alexandria, the Hilltop... and the Kingdom. All three of our communities have something in common. We all serve the Saviors. Alexandria already fought them once, and we won. We thought we took out the threat, but we didn't know then what we know now. We only beat one outpost. We've been told you have a deal with them, that you know them. Then you know they rule through violence and fear." Rick explained and Eloise grew worried at the royalty's once happy smile dropping.

"Your Majesty, I only told them of the-" "Our deal with the Saviors is not known among my people... for good cause. We made you a party to that secret when you told us of the Hilltop's own travails, but we did not expect you to share-"  "We can help each other." Jesus interrupted Ezekiel.

"Don't interrupt the King." The man beside Ezekiel screamed. "We brought you into our confidence. Why did you break it?" The King asked slowly. "Because I want you to hear Rick's plans." Jesus answered slowly and the King slowly turned to Rick, a slight glare on his face.

"And what plans have you, Rick Grimes of Alexandria?"

"We came to ask the Kingdom, to ask you, to join us in fighting the Saviors, fighting for freedom for all of us." Rick said and the King slowly shook his head.

"What you are asking is very serious." Ezekiel slowly spoke. "Several of our people- good people... were killed by the Saviors, brutally." Michonne spoke up and Morgan tensed up on the side of the stage. "Who?"

"Abraham." Rosita spoke up. "And Glenn." She seethed.  "Spencer, Olivia. Eugene was taken." Eloise spoke up, looking off towards the ground.

"They took Daryl. He escaped. Every second he's out here, he's a target." Rosita said before smirking. "You gonna say you were right?" Morgan immediately shook her head. "No. I'm... I'm just real sorry they're gone."

"Negan murdered Glenn and Abraham, beat them to death." Rick spoke, his voice wavering. "Terrorized the Hilltop, set loose walkers just to make a point." Sasha grumbled.

"I used to think the deal was something we could live with. A lot of us did. But that's changing. So let's change the world, Your Majesty." Jesus said.

"I want to be honest about what we're asking. My people are strong, but there's not enough of us. We don't have guns- not enough, at least. Not a lot of weapons, period." Rick said and Richard shifted on his feet before turning to the group. "We have people. And weapons. If we strike first, together, we can beat them. Your Majesty, no more waiting for things to get worse beyond what we can handle. We set things right. The time is now." Eloise smiled slightly, nodding her head.

"Morgan, what say you?" King Ezekiel asked, turning to Morgan. "Me?" Ezekiel nodded. "Speak."

Morgan sighed, looking to the ground. "People will die. A lot of people, and not just the Saviors. It... If we can find another way, we have to. Maybe it's just about Negan- just capturing him, holding him. Maybe..."

Ezekiel nodded, turning back to the Alexandrians. "The hour grows late. Rick Grimes of Alexandria... you have given the King much to ponder."

"Well, when I was a kid, my mother told me a story. There was a road to a kingdom, and there was a rock in the road. And people would just avoid it, but horses would break their legs on it and die, wagon wheels would come off. People would lose the goods they'd be coming to sell. That's what happened to a little girl. The cask of beer her family brewed fell right off. It broke. Dirt soaked it all up, and it was gone. That was her family's last chance. They were hungry. They didn't have any money. She just sat there and cried, but... she wondered why it was still there... for it to hurt someone else. So she dug at that rock in the road with her hands till they bled, used everything she had to pull it out. It took hours. And then... when she was gonna fill it up, she saw something in it. It was a bag of gold. The king hadput that rock in the road because he knew the person who dug it out, who did something, they deserved a reward. They deserved to have their life changed for the good forever."

"I invite you all to sup with us and stay till the morrow." The King said and Rick shook his head "Yeah, we need to get back home." "I shall deliver my decree in the morn." The King bangs his staff on the ground and the group slowly walks out of the room. Carl turned to Eloise. "You coming?" Eloise nodded. "Gimme a minute." Carl nodded, walking out.

When King Ezekiel noticed Eloise still in the room, his brows furrowed. "And how may I help you young one?" She sent a small smile to the King, taking a step closer to the stage. "Hi. I'm Eloise Atkinson... of Alexandria."

The King nodded, making Eloise bite her lip at the awkward silence. "Morgan told me Carol was here." The three on stage straightened up at the woman's name. "You know Carol?"

Eloise softly smiled, nodding her head. "She was the main one taking care of me when I first joined the group. Before we found my brother. I just... I don't know if she might've told you where she went or if any of you have seen her but I don't want her to be alone... No one should be alone in this world. So if you could just check on her every once and a while. She might get annoyed but someone should check on her. If you know where she is."

Ezekiel softly smiled at her, nodding his head. "Your words are very kind Eloise of Alexandria. I will remember them." Eloise smiled, nodding her head and walking out of the theater.

Little did Eloise know, that the teenage boy standing beside King Ezekiel was sneaking out that night to check on Carol anyway.

—Eloise worrying about Carol😫🤚