The siren calms down, Nanami glancing back to see Amy still questioning Glenn relentlessly.

"Hey, wait up," Nanami waves for his sister.

Sakiko hardly looks to him, still feeling the weight of the guns in her jeans to focus on anything else.

"He's alone," Nanami explains his reason for stopping.

Growing curious, Sakiko turns, peering past a tree to look at Glenn who was by the red car all alone.

Then, they hear the news-

"Fine- everyone is.." Glenn assures Amy, "Well.. Merle not so much."

The man's name echoes in the twins heads before they're both rushing out of the woods to where Glenn was- Ryan now by his side.

"I got a cool car," Glenn offers the still angered group.

Shane is the one to take notice of the twins rushing forward, a crease growing in his eyebrows as they hurry over.

"Merle.. What happened to Merle?" Nanami pants out.

Glenn gulps, suddenly more nervous as he looks to Shane for help.

"Hey, kids, why don't we go sit down and-"

"Is he dead?" Sakiko asks, blunt despite her frantic eyes.

A weary silence settles over the group as they all look to Glenn for answers.

"Not.. Not exactly," Glenn mutters, biting at his lip.

"'Not exactly'?" Nanami repeats.

Shane steps closer to the kids, holding his arms out to bring them back from Glenn, "C'mon.. Let's go talk about this. We'll figure this out and when Daryl comes back-"

Sakiko jumps as Shane touches her back, though he'd already figured her out.

His eyes glaze over, an irritated look adorning his features as he pulls Sakiko's jacket back.

"Hey! What are you-" Nanami begins to defend, his words falling short as Shane pulls one of the guns from Sakiko.

"This the only one?" Shane asks her.

Sakiko nods, silent but firm. Shane sees right through her as he tugs her closer and pats down her arms and sides. Nanami wanted to argue with the man for touching his sister, but he couldn't hide the shock of seeing Sakiko holding possession of the gun. And guns when Shane retrieves the over, dumping her pockets of bullets into his hand.

"The hell were you doing with these?" Shane asks her, sliding the guns in his own waistband.

Sakiko doesn't say a word, only staring back at Shane with a blank face.

"Andrea!" Amy cries, breaking Shane's focus.

A large box truck had pulled up behind the red car, Andrea rushing out from the back to hug Amy. From there, Morales' kids and Amanda hurry to greet him as welcomes are traded all around happily.

"Merle told me to do it," Sakiko lies to Shane.

Shane breaks his gaze from where he was watching Lori comfort Carl to look down to Sakiko once more.

"But, he's gone now. So, I guess it was for nothing," she continues.

"We're not done with this," Shane shakes his head, "This is a serious matter. You could've gotten yourself or others hurt."

Sakiko nods, looking to the ground for a second. Shane sighs, running his hand over his head before patting her shoulder.

"Daryl and I will talk about it," he adds, "Seems we got a lot to talk about as it is."

Sakiko cringes at the thought. She got caught- would Daryl be mad? Then again, why was she so worried about how he would react? It's not like Daryl was Sakiko's-

"Dad!"

Sakiko jumps from her thoughts, looking over to see Carl running as fast as he could to an unfamiliar man that had gotten out of the truck last. The two collide, falling the the ground in a hug as they both cry in relief and happiness.

The twins had heard bits and pieces of Carl's father- or rather Rick Grimes' condition they'd last seen him in. The man was alive and had found his way here. The father had made his way to his child and the two were reunited by some miracle.

Uncomfortably, Sakiko shuffles her weight as Nanami purses his lips.

And both had the same thought in mind, though it was Ryan who voiced it as though he'd also been able to read their minds.

"Must be nice."

--

Shane kept Sakiko in the RV, Nanami also allowed entry as he waited for the right thoughts and plan to come into his mind. But, with Rick back, it was clear Shane wasn't thinking clearly by any means.

"Why'd you do it?" Nanami whispers.

Sakiko, who was staring at her hands, shakes her head slowly, "I.."

She could tell Nanami the truth. Really, she could tell him every single thought that was coursing through her strung out mind.

"Daryl told me.. I offered to do it first, though. But, now I don't even know how we're going to leave without Merle here. We don't even know if he's alive or not."

Nanami nods, assuring his sister that he was listening.

"Shane said that he and Daryl will talk but.. Why does he need to talk to him when we aren't even family?"

"He's looking out for us, though, Kiko," he reminds.

Sakiko shakes her head again, the sight of Rick and Carl still on repeat in her mind.

When Daryl gets back from his hunt, it wasn't going to be like that. They wouldn't rush to each other, excited to see one another. They would give a simple greeting and move on. Sakiko knew Daryl was only someone who was looking over them, but what made everyone think he was more than that? What made her want to believe he was more than that?

"I'm leaving," Sakiko states.

"What?" Nanami sputters through shock.

"Before Daryl gets back, I'm leaving."

"Wha-"

"He's not our dad, Nana," she reminds, a sense of anger rushing through her, "He's not anything to us. He's a guy that we don't even call our friend because it would make us all uncomfortable. We don't have anything like these other people do- we just wanted to think that because of what we left behind."

"That doesn't mean you leave!" Nanami cries.

"So, I should stay here?"

"Yes!" Nanami nods, wondering how she could think anything else.

"Stay here where people already don't trust me? Now, that's going to get worse because they all saw Shane pulling out those guns I stole," she rambles, holding her hand up to silence anything Nanami might say, "And yes, I know that I did it myself. I know that I took those guns, but I did it because Daryl asked me to when I offered anything."

"Kiko, you can't just leave," Nanami pleads.

"Why not? All of my stuff is already packed-"

"And there are geeks out there that we've never seen. We don't know how to-"

"Daryl and Shane both said that if we ever get trapped, to keep running. And Daryl showed us how to use the knife to take one down-"

"Kiko-"

"I'm leaving," she finalizes, "You can't change my mind. I'll just be treated as a prisoner or something if I stay here. These people will think I'm.."

"You're what?" Nanami challenges.

Sakiko shakes her head, "Come with me. We'll leave tonight before Daryl gets back."

"Kiko," Nanami exasperates, running his hands over his face.

"As long as we're together, we can handle anything, right? We've already been through enough.. We can go out there, find another group.. Anything that's not here. Anything that would be better than this."

Nanami closes his eyes, "Kiko, I can't keep picking up after you and chasing you wherever. It's safer if we stay here and just listen to what Shane says-"

"Chasing after me? Picking up after me?" she repeats, "Is that what you think of me?"

"It's because that's what you keep doing to me! First I have to save you from teachers and juvey, then I'm leaving the house for you and going with Daryl, now you want me to do this? Kiko, I'm tired of running and all. Can't we just stay here, abide by rules, and just.." Nanami sighs, "Just not worry so much? Let other people, other adults, take care of things?"

Sakiko could only sit in silence, now feeling a burdening weight on her shoulders. She had no idea she made her brother feel that way. Nanami was the only person in the world she could truly trust and yet this is how he's felt over the years.

"I'll stop being your problem, then," she shrugs off with a crack in her voice.

"Kiko, that's not what I meant," Nanami defends as she stands up, "Where are you going?"

Sakiko doesn't say anything, rushing out of the RV as he continues to call her name. He stands as well, hurrying after her, seeing her leaving into the woods as he steps out of the RV. He starts after her, looking around camp to try and find Shane, though the officer was nowhere in sight.

"Glenn!" Nanami calls, running to him.

"Hey, what's u-"

"I think Sakiko is running away," Nanami points to the woods she'd ran into.

"Running.." Glenn mutters before his eyes widen and he stands, "What'd she say?"

"Well.. She said she was running away," Nanami admits, "She asked me to go with her and I told her no. We got into a fight and she just ran off."

"Okay.. Okay, come on," Glenn waves to both Ryan and Nanami.

Glenn informs T-Dog of what was happening, T-Dog telling Morales, who all sort out to find Shane still to no avail.

Even as they stopped by the tent, Sakiko's bag was gone. As they scanned the woods around them, it was clear she was as well.

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈--

hi in case you didnt see my msg board~

i have a new job 🎉

ill still update as much as i can, though i doubt daily uploads will be manageable 💔