ringleadering | ic contact.

[ Whatever. He could be terrible about this but he's going to let Rick talk his plan through, because Rick's the one who has the power to tear it most apart. It isn't that he doesn't like the idea. It sounds great, except for him, mostly. The Kingdom, the Hilltop, and Alexandria - as well as potentially other groups he'd pissed off here and there - would rip him to pieces at the first opportunity, and he was plenty wary of that.

But there were other reasons he didn't think it would work. Because it doesn't. Because it hasn't. ]

Let's say you put this thing together. Let's say you get what you want, and these different groups start networking, rebuilding. Who's rules are they going to follow? When a horde breaks out one of the traps we set and comes crashing down on the people here, who punishes Hilltop when they refuse to risk their people on defending the rest of you? When someone from the Kingdom takes that little daughter of yours out back and hurts her, maybe kills her, what's gonna stop them going to war with you over the way you handle it?

How many times have you seen this stuff break down, Rick? My way may not be perfect, but it works. I have order, and damn right I have loyalty, people who would take a bullet for me, who have, I figure. Negan isn't a name, it's an idea.

But in case you're wondering, it is my name. Now ask yourself. Your people. Have they ever turned on you? Have they ever broken your rules? Say, killed someone they weren't ordered to? Are you really capable of leading this brave new civilization of yours? Your kid's already lost an eye. The higher you raise your head the bigger the sword hanging over his gets.

All the communities together would create a charter and those who break the stipulations would be banished. Each community would give two representatives to sit on a council and they'd work out the judgements and hear the grievances together, putting everything to a vote. Mixing the old world with the new world. We'd put laws into place for people to follow.

Funny you say that when people are already turning against you. If your way worked so well you wouldn't have this mutiny facing you now.

Sure people have messed up. We've made bad calls but we come together when it counts most. I have been. Till you and your people came into this. Carl was my fault. I admit that. That's on me but I won't be making that mistake again.

It's tighter control but making it look like more freedom. Setting up check points, setting boundary lines and those going against what's put in place are sent out beyond those to fend for themselves.

So, we should leave you in charge and bleed all of us dry? Worry about our people dying every few days?

[ He could feel the tension rising higher and the frustrating pulling at him. But he didn't and wouldn't give up. ]

Which one of us are you trying to convince? Man, are you trying to get approval from me? That is hella messed up, you know that?

I'm not bleeding anyone dry, Rick. I'm not pushing anyone beyond their means. You mentioned the Kingdom, Hilltop. They don't rebel, and I don't ask too much of them. We support our own fair share of dead weight, but we do it respectfully. Like, for example, when food is short, the people who need the most energy get it. Now that isn't to say that nobody else eats, but resources are distributed where they're best used.

That girl you had on your stores, for example. Now. You weren't feeding her the same as yourself, out on all your messy adventures hunting for supplies for us, were you? I mean that? Is bad leadership. You mismanage resources like that and down the line you got yourself a famine on your hands.

"Tighter control that looks more like freedom." Man. I think under that gruff dead eyed exterior you might even be a bigger asshole than I am, and that's saying something.

Was giving you an opportunity; a chance for negotiation but I see now that won't work. What I told ya is going to happen whether you and your people are apart of it or not. We are going to create a trading network. The others are rebelling and this is only the beginning.

From what I've been told on how you handle your group, there are plenty of people getting more than their fair share and all the others suffer for it. You want to talk about bad leadership.

We're creating a new future and maybe some of your people might be apart of it. We'll take in anyone who wants the refuge.

Rick.

Look, it's not that I don't respect you. You've come this far after all. The way I hear it you've been kicking ass the whole way as well. That takes some doing, and I know. Hell. You kept your kid alive. One piece--eh, well who cares about that. Alive has gotta be good enough.

But you can't negotiate with someone from a position of maybe. Especially since you would have to try a whole hell of a lot harder than this to make me think you held all the cards. You think a dog negotiates with his bitch? No. If he wants a fuck he gets a fuck. And sure, she might turn around and bite him, but that's why he's got teeth too. He's bigger, stronger. He'll rip her fucking throat out if he feels like it--but he doesn't, because he's got his next fuck on the mind.

I'm not going to rip your throat out, Rick. But boy, I am going to fuck you, whether or not you try and bite me back. That's just nature.

You can think what you want but I meant what I said. I meant all of what I said. All of you are already dead. Each one of you will fall at our feet. We've got alliances against you and I'm sure there's other groups you've screwed over. We'll find them and pull them in too. We'll get to your people. The ones who aren't happy bout your leadership skills. One by one you'll lose everything you've built.

You so sure we don't already got people on the inside? That there aren't already those who are against you? You talked about me being cocky but I'd look in the mirror, Negan. This is your last chance to stop this. This is the very last chance I'm giving you the opportunity to prevent what's gonna happen.

Might not be now or tomorrow or even next week. But one of these days, you're gonna be the one on your knees.

If you thought I was scared of that, do you think I'd be where I am? You're right. Bubbles always burst, and you. Just how many times have you done the bursting, Rick? How many communities have you busted in and torn up because you don't like the way they're doing things? You ask people their numbers, but what about you? How many people has your morality gotten killed?

If it's like you say, if I end up on my knees, I ain't gonna mourn it. My ticket got punched a long time ago. Same day as yours, I bet.

Some things are unavoidable, like this I suppose. What about yours? How many brains have you bashed in? Who started it all? It's choices. We've all made some we can't take back. Some of us don't get another chance to make it right.

No, mine did a long time ago and I'm still here. I'll still be here until my people are safe. Can promise you that.

I've never made a choice I wasn't square with, never killed anyone on purpose without having a good reason. That goes for your folks too. Like you say, we all make choices. If you ain't happy with the choices you make, then you ain't gonna be happy, and there's no point living your life at other people's expense just to be an unhappy son of a bitch every damn day you're living it.

Nobody's died for me who wasn't happy to step in front of that bullet. Because I keep my people safe. Because when someone kills a bunch of them I make it fair.

Guess that makes us more similar than you'd like. And guarantees only one of our ways is gonna work. But then I don't envy whichever group survives, do you? This kind of shit circles the drain. You get done with one fight, you're only going to have to fight to keep what's yours all over again. And more people die for no reason. Humanity's not coming back until there's so few of us left that we can stay the fuck away from each other.

That was the reasoning for the negotiating. To stop this before it gets too out of hand. To make a way that benefits everyone more and not just a group. Your group. Everyone's got to pull their weight and we got to come together more than to be divided. Like you said, it's going to keep being more fights.

What do you suggest, then? Give me something to work with.

Also, I don't regret keeping my people alive. What we've had to do. We're still standing. We're still breathing.

What do I suggest? You mean other than you making a square effort to get back into line? Giving me Daryl back?

Neither of those things are happening. You're not getting Daryl back.

You wound me, sweetcheeks. I mean me and Daryl, we've got a rapport, like you and me. That kid could go far.

You're not making much of an effort to sweeten the pot here. I mean, especially since I'm the one still sitting on it.

Hate to break it to you but Daryl doesn't like you. That must come as such a shock to you.

What else do you want?

He should. Two of us, we have a lot in common.

Aren't you supposed to be courting me? Maybe I want one of those houses of yours. A lawn. A pool. And, oh, a puppy. What else?

Oh no, that's right. You want to implement your rules, right? Disperse my wives, maybe? Things only work the way they do because I keep them working that way. If this goes the way you want, then I'm as good as dead. What's my motivation?

He'd knife you for suggesting that. But I think he wants Dwight more than you.

I was trying that and you weren't having none of it. What would you do with a puppy? Kill it?

I don't care what you do with your own social life there. That's your business. You don't got to die. If you stop overlording everyone things could be different. We could find a way to move past this.

They'll need to be things done, however. Dwight and the guy who shot Benjamin. What's fair is fair, right?

Why would I kill a puppy? Jesus. You know, you are one hell of a really fucked up guy, Rick. This apocalypse thing has done some real shit to your head if you think I'd kill a puppy.

I am all for discussing your theoretical terms. How better to get to know a guy, right? But first you've gotta answer me this.

Who's Benjamin?

Why would you bash peoples heads in with a baseball bat rather than just shoot them? Answer me that.

A kid who was apart of the Kingdom. One of your guys killed him. He was Carl's age I think.

You've looked down the barrel of a gun. You tell me. Some people think that kind of end would be a relief. They'd be happy to play it up for the sake of their loved ones and get shot, some of them, just to get out of the game. Nobody wants Lucille to cave their heads in. And nobody wants to watch that shit either, do they? Which one do you think gets people to shut their mouths and play by the rules sooner?

Normally speaking, I'd have to kill just one of you to make my point. That's a low body count for control.

You think a story like that might have got back to me. Question: what was the kid doing that got him shot? You know, since you clearly know more about this unacceptable bullshit than I do.

Alright but which do you think makes people want to rebel against you more?

Why Glenn? When you were - deciding - why him?

Something was wrong with the drop off but it could have easily been fixed. Your guy went off leash and shot Benjamin and he died. He was just standing there from what I was told. They all were.

It could have been anyone. Any one of you. And then your friend just had to have his outburst. We'd talked about that, and the most important thing with having rules is that you enforce them. Which one was Glenn? The little one, right?

Maybe there was some preference favored in there. Maybe I kept you alive, and your kid, because you were the leader. Maybe I didn't kill Daryl cause I have a thing for crossbows. Maybe I didn't beat any of the women to death because the children are the future. Could be. Might've just been dumb luck, though.

As for the drop off, I'd have to look into that with prejudice. If someone did a thing like that, and kept it from me, well they would need to be admonished, wouldn't they? Eye for an eye, and all that.

It's still a game to you. All of this. All of that and look where it's all ended up. Glenn was one of the last actually decent men around here. Abe was one of the best fighters. The girl Dwight killed, Denise, was our doctor. She took care of us. Olivia, the one yours shot, was a good woman. She didn't take more than anyone else. The one who did, well, you cut him open. Sasha, well, she always did things by her terms. Respected the hell out of her. The people you lost, did you have that much of a bond with them? Do you really give a shit or were they just numbers?

Could be the start of more going against your 'rule' and what you 'say'. They're getting tired of such tight control.

When's the last time you lived in a house? With your wife? She turn or get bitten?

[ Maybe it's the game comment that gets to him, this time. Maybe it's that, god damn him, Rick is right that there's been a whole hell of a lot of fuck ups, and that someone not telling him about this Benjamin kid is a pin in the machine of it all falling apart. Maybe it's Sasha, dying in that box. He wasn't so convinced of the circumstances, but how else could she have died? How else? It hadn't been supposed to go down like that.

Whatever the reason, he answers with one word. He hasn't talked about that shit in a long time. If he tries hard enough, there's a whole other story with his name on it; he never cared about anyone or anything, and nothing he loved ever mattered. It hadn't even existed. ]

Turned.

[ Pushes on as though there was no slip at all. ]

If you want Dwight for the girl, and another guy for the boy, then your people are gonna wonder: where's the justice for Glenn? For Abe? That girl of yours - you called her Maggie - she ain't gonna rest until she sees me rotting like the rest of them. Your own people will shit all over your own peace, that's the way this works.

Not to mention I couldn't turn over my folks like that even if I wanted to. If I can't punish them myself then that makes me responsible for their shit.

[ In some ways, he didn't know why he asked but in others he knew exactly the reasoning. Humanizing Negan had the ups and downs, all of which he knew about from his time before the world turned into creating monsters. At least, more visible monsters ready to tear apart flesh and eat organs.

Relating to Negan again had ups and downs, none of which any of the others would understand but they weren't in the leadership role. They didn't understand the lengths it took and how swallowing your pride sometimes became necessary for the greater good. ]

My wife turned too. While giving birth to Judith.

Not if we find a way to make peace for everyone and make this work for everybody. To avoid a war, they'd swallow it down and it is what Glenn would have wanted. He always put everyone else's safety ahead of anything else. He's the one that wanted to build something, to make a life and be something greater than all of this. He had the hope that we didn't have to become monsters right along with the walkers.

Don't matter who ends their lives as long as they are ended. If you want to handle it, fine. Daryl gets his freedom. He gets to pick which community he wants to live in and that goes for everybody else. There will be four main communities and everyone will gather things each week to put in at the trading post. Then every community gets some of what is found. If the saviors are offering protection from the walkers, they can have a bigger cut than the other three but not half. The saviors have to offer things along with everyone else. They also don't come into our communities anymore unless they want to live there.

What did you want Daryl for? What purpose was he going to serve?

If you actually wanted a house I can look into that. Can't promise a puppy and don't got any pools but a few places got those slip n slides.

Well that sucks. About your wife, not your grand ideas.

[ He isn't going to express his opinion on that right now, either, because it is not only ambitious, but difficult for a man like him to imagine working. Every time anything got close to comfortable it would go to shit. Walkers always came, always ruined everything; it was like there was an endless supply. Hard to believe there were still so many left; he felt personally like he'd killed enough it should have made a dent.

So he skips all that to go straight to the next question. ]

Daryl's got all the skills I look for in a right hand man. He's tough, but he has a sense of fair. Without that, you get accidents. You get innocent bystanders getting shot for no reason, and I can't stand for that.

You don't leave a guy like that hunting rabbits on the sidelines. You give him a job to do, you make him useful. He's happier when he's busy, isn't he? Am I wrong?

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