Zoe had lost track of time. She had stood with her head down and her eyes closed, listening as Y/N went from one Reaver, to the next, to the next.

She could hear full well what was happening, the stabbing, the turning of Reaver guts to slop, the splash as they hit the floor. Not one of the psychotically aggressive Reavers had moved, nor fought back.

Zoe was too full of fear to realise in that moment, but this was the chink in the Reavers armour- their submission to their alpha was absolute, and their new alpha was tearing them to pieces. Neither did she notice none of them had turned.

—~—

It was well past darkness when the noises finally stopped. Zoe opened her eyes and gasped at the scene of devastation. There was blood everywhere- bodies, blood and viscera covered the ground so thick it wasn't possible to see the earth underneath it, the whole scene spookily illuminated by the fires of the Reaver's camp.

Zoe took in the scene around her before she looked over to see Y/N across the other side of the ravaged camp standing still, looking up at the moon with his back to her.

She approached him cautiously, calling out to her young friend.

"Y/N... Y/N..."

But got no response, hearing him whisper:

"Weak... weak..."

"Y/N?" Zoe asked, touching Y/N's shoulder gently. He turned and Zoe was shocked at the amount of blood that covered him. She picked up a rag from the ground and wiped his face.

"We need to get home, Y/N. We need to get home."

"Home...Peace..." Y/N muttered. Zoe nodded and Y/N began walking in the direction of the battlefield, and back towards Wellington.

Zoe looked around the slaughter zone one more time, at her fallen allies- or what was left of them. She wiped her eyes and said a silent prayer before she turned and followed Y/N. Had she been closer she would have heard him muttering:

"... no peace..."

—~—

Clementine and Edith were sat next to Mal's infirmary bed as he began stirring. He'd gone into surgery and had his left hand amputated, he was now in recovery. Shep had woken the pair at about 2am, updating them on the situation. They had sat worriedly next to Mal since as Shep watched AJ.

Edith was up in a moment, leaning over her lover as he woke.

"Ughhh" Mal groaned in pain as he opened his eyes, Edith brushing his hair with her hand as she smiled.

"Shh... it's ok baby, it's ok. You're home. You're safe."

"My team, my team, my... hand" Mal said as he sat, looking around disorientated before he locked eyes with Edith.

"Edith?"

"Hey baby" Edith sobbed, hugging Mal as tight as she could.

"What happened, my team... the battle."

Edith looked down sadly before composing herself.

"From what we've heard it wasn't good. It was-"

"A slaughter" Mal whispered as his mindfog cleared.

"Wash was killed as we got there. Where's...?"

Clementine broke down in tears, sobbing as the worry she had managed to hold in finally took its toll on her.

"It's not good. I overheard the oligarchs saying it looked like 70-80% of our men and women are gone or missing." Edith replied sadly.

"And the Gamma?" Mal asked with trepidation.

"Jayne and Simon got you back. River died from blood loss on the way home. Kaylee was killed on the battlefield. Grey Wolf, Zoe and Y/N are missing... presumed deceased" Edith said with great difficulty as she moved to hug Clementine, tears falling from Mal's eyes as his world collapsed.

—~—

The walls and gates of Wellington were packed with soldiers and guns as dawn broke. Only a fraction of the battalion that had left had returned, and those who did expected retaliation from the Reavers at any moment. It was about 7am when one of the snipers on the highest tower called out:

"Incoming"

"Reavers?" Called out a commander from below as a number of trigger fingers and buttocks tightened.

"Negative. Looks like survivors. Two of them?"

"Alert the Oligarchs and leaders. Prep the gates!" The commander yelled out.

—~—

Zoe had walked all night with Y/N. Not much had been said, Zoe asked occasionally if they were on the right track. She got nothing back other than the occasional muttering, but given what Y/N had been through that wasn't much of a surprise. She had been relieved just after dawn to see the walls of Wellington on the approach.

"You did it, Y/N. You got us home" Zoe smiled, patting Y/N on the shoulder. "You got us home."

Zoe walked forward happily, Y/N looking up at the walls and the guns on them with weary eyes as he muttered to himself.

"...No home..."

—~—

Jayne was on one of the outer perimeters with a rifle pointed out at the approaching survivors as a huge smile formed on his face.

"They're ours! That's Gamma squad! Zoe Washburne and Y/N Dixon. Open the gates!"

"Open the gates! Get medical!" Voices yelled as Jayne rushed down to the large main gates as they slowly opened.

"Zoe! Kid!" Jayne smiled, rushing forward hugging Zoe right as the three communities leaderships arrived. After releasing a tight hug Zoe asked:

"Captain?"

"He's alive. In recovery. River though..."

Zoe sobbed and covered her eyes as Jayne went to hug Y/N, realising though he was caked in dry blood, a jawbone round his neck.

"Y/N?" Jayne asked, as Y/N stared off into the distance as though mesmerised.

"He's in a bad way Jayne. He-"

"Simon get over here!" Jayne yelled as the exhausted doctor with tear streaks down his face rushed to Y/N:

"Y/N, Y/N can you hear me?" Simon asked as he flashed a torch across Y/N's eyes, checking for a concussion.

"Why the hell is he wearing that?" Simon said to Jayne next to him, pointing to the jawbone.

"Let's forget we saw that for now" Jayne answered, placing away the jawbone behind his back and hoping no one noticed.

Y/N stood there silently, as Tommy, who had walked up next to Joel and the other leaders with his arm in a sling, suddenly clicked who he was and exclaimed:

"That's him. That's him Joel. That's the kid that ripped the door off my car. He saved my life!"

Joel looked towards Y/N with gratitude as Simon examined him and yelled:

"He's burning up! Get me some-"

He was cut off by Rawlins, the military commander of Wellington, who walked forward arrogantly and sneered at Zoe:

"What happened?"

"We were captured by the Reavers, sir. Anyone who wasn't killed on the battlefield. We were taken back to their village and..."

Zoe's eyes watered as she paused, the haunting images flooding back into her mind.

"What happened!?!" Rawlins roared, spittle flying from his mouth as he stepped forward and yelled again:

"If you two are here did you escape? Or are the targets dead? Are the targets dead?"

Y/N's eyes cleared as he heard Rawlins yelling, memories flooding back to him of their argument in the command office. He pushed Simon aside easily as he walked forward, yelling at the top of his lungs:

"You son of a bitch!"

He threw a right cross, the hardest he had ever hit someone, and it connected with the corner of Rawlin's zygomatic and frontal bones, right where they joined on the outer orbital.

Blood poured from Rawlins eye as he hit the ground murmuring as Y/N roared again:

"This is all your fault you son of a bitch!"

Y/N was rushed by soldiers who pulled him away as Zoe yelled out:

"Wait, it's not his fault. They made him watch!"

"They made him watch?" Riley, the leader of Bethnal Green, asked in horror before adding:

"Greens men!"

His soldiers quickly raised their guns, pointing them at Y/N as Joel, who felt a kinship to Y/N- one for rescuing a child in the apocalypse and two for saving his brother's life, yelled:

"Men!"

And his soldiers pointed their guns at Riley's men.

"Whoa. Whoa" Hugh said as he stood between the two groups, arms out, attempting to stop a massacre.

"I'm not trying to be an asshole, but we've seen it before" Riley pleaded, Hugh staring at his ally momentarily before telling his men who had hold of Y/N:

"Take Dixon to the brig for now. Get Rawlins to the infirmary.

"But he needs medical treatment" Simon yelled, ignored as Hugh and the others turned to Riley and asked:

"What do you mean you've seen it before?"

Riley sighed and turned to Zoe, asking:

"Were you forced to watch?"

Zoe shook her head and replied:

"No, I was the last one left. When I was brought up the leader wanted Y/N to kill me. Instead Y/N turned the knife on him. Killed him in front of the others. They just stood there. They just stood there as Y/N went from Reaver to Reaver and..."

She closed her eyes.

"They're gone. They're all gone now. He killed them all."

Gasps and whispers broke out among the soldiers and onlookers. Were the Reavers all gone? Were the Reavers all dead? They were brought back to the conversation though:

"Not all of them" Riley sighed again and continued:

"We've seen it before, a survivor. Forced him to watch. That poor bastard, he was forced to look right in the face of it and was made to stare. That darkness, the kind of darkness you can't imagine, blacker than a starless night."

"Very Poetic" Joel interrupted with a roll of his eyes.

"The point is they made him watch" Riley replied.

"He tried to turn away" Zoe yelled

"And they wouldn't let him, right? You call that poor kid a survivor, he's not. The only way to deal with that kind of darkness, I suspect, is to become it."

Whispers again filled the silence of the onlookers and soldiers who had gathered for the spectacle as Riley continued:

"Y/N's following the only course left to him. He slaughtered them all. Next he'll start to look like one, cut on himself, desecrate his flesh, and then he'll start acting like one. I'm sorry."