"And so then.. Glenn and I bolt out of the house as fast as we could! The whole time, his dad is running after us. We end up going to my old treehouse and hiding. His dad is looking all around the backyard before finally seeing us. He's still soaking wet, then my mom comes out of the house and she's just laughing.."

Sakiko takes a breath from her laughter, shaking her head at the story as Ryan attempts to finish it through his own giggles.

"He starts making a deal with us.. That if we end prank week than we don't have to do chores or anything for a week. I add in that we get to order pizza five times anytime we want and he says okay. We climb out of the tree house and Glenn's dad grabs the water hose and just-" Ryan pauses, making a 'whish' sound like he was spraying the water hose himself, "Glenn uses me as a shield! How messed up is that?"

Sakiko bows her head, her chest bubbling with laughter. Ryan sighs, still offended by Glenn's heinous acts seven years later. He peeks over to Sakiko, a smile growing on his lips at the sight of her own.

"You know.. I've told you everything about my life before. From my school friends to Glenn and I's prank weeks.. How come you don't talk about yours?"

Sakiko's smile leaves her eyes before it's fallen off her lips.

"You said Daryl's not your dad.. He's just a guy you met. Then, what about your real-"

"Doesn't matter," Sakiko cuts him off, "Really."

"Ryan! Sakiko! Kids! Carl!"

The sudden screaming nearly makes Ryan and Sakiko jump off the balcony. Ryan is the one to stand, peering through the door and asking who was calling for them. After a few seconds, Ryan is waving for Sakiko to join. The two climb down, being met by Glenn and Maggie.

"Stay by our side. We have to move," Glenn breathes, loading a gun the entire time.

"What's happening?" Ryan asks.

"Walkers.. Too many.." Glenn points to the other side of the house, "We gotta move, now."

"Where's Nanami? Daryl?" Sakiko asks.

"Daryl is trying to cover us so we can get out. Nanami is with Carol and Sophia. They're safe now let's go!"

Maggie leads the teens by their shoulders, dashing through the house. As they pass the kitchen, Beth and Hershel join with bags they'd packed from the kitchen.

"Daddy, be careful," Maggie instructs, helping Hershel down the steps.

Sakiko's eyes dart around, soon catching the sound of Daryl's bike. Just as she begins after him, Glenn grabs her arm.

"He'll be right behind us. He told me to get you," Glenn informs, "Come on."

"But.." Sakiko begins to argue, unable to fight as Glenn pulls her along.

Sakiko is shoved into the backseat, soon followed by Beth and Ryan. Maggie climbs in as well, sitting more on the door as she aims her gun out the window- squishing the three teens together. Glenn hops into the driver seat, Hershel in the passenger.

Glenn speeds the car off, Maggie's gun firing shots. At once, the panic fully sets in as Sakiko gasps- her chest heaving up and down.

"Kiko, I need you to stay strong? All right?" Glenn shouts- trying to comfort the girl despite his own panic.

Maggie fries another shot, Sakiko plugging her ears closed and curling into a ball. Distantly, she could hear Glenn yelling to the others that Sakiko was afraid of guns. A hand wraps around hers, pulling her forward. Sakiko fights at first, though in her anxiety, it's a losing battle. She's tugged to the front seat, Hershel placing a hand on her head to keep her against his chest as he holds her to him as tight as he could in his lap.

"Take some deep breaths, darlin'," Hershel says, his voice sounding like an echo to Sakiko.

Her hand reaches to his suspenders, gripping the strap like her life depended on it.

Maggie continued shooting out the window, Sakiko falling deeper into Hershel's chest with each shot. As Glenn catches sight of T-Dog driving away, he veers the car to follow.

"Maggie get down!" Glenn screams.

Maggie ducks back into the car just in time- the horde nearly grabbing her, "Bethy, help me!"

Beth reaches over with shaking hands, rolling up Maggie's window as Maggie uses the butt of the gun to knock any walkers back that dared reach inside the vehicle. Once the window is up, Glenn stomps on the gas, speeding them off the farm.

Once on a back road, Sakiko's breaths begin to even out. Hershel pats her head, telling her she was doing good and to keep listening to the sound of his voice.

--

"Here.. You know how to shoot, right?" Andrea pants.

Nanami nods, "I've only been to a couple shooting practices."

Andrea hands him a gun, "That's good enough."

She hurries back to her feet, waving Nanami along. Nanami follows, fast on his feet though his exhaustion was beginning to set in.

"Andrea.. We can slow down," he offers.

"No," she shakes her head, "We won't slow down. We won't stop."

Nanami swallows the lump in his throat, looking back at the direction they'd ran off the farm.

"Dale.." Nanami names.

Andrea pauses, the name cutting like a stab wound.

Nanami had been with Carol and Sophia and the three had gotten cornered. Andrea and Dale saved them and just as Andrea helped Sophia to her feet, Dale jumped between them when a walker grabbed at them. Dale sacrificed himself for them.

That's why Andrea couldn't let Nanami get hurt.

"He told us to go," Andrea reminds dryly, "So, we go."

"What about the others?" Nanami asks, quickening his steps to catch up, "How do we find them again?"

Andrea wasn't able to answer as walkers emerge from the side, growling and snarling at them. Andrea shoves Nanami aside, shooting two of them down before jerking the teen into a run.

"We'll run into them sooner or later, we need to go!" Andrea shouts.

As more of the herd from the farm surrounds them, Nanami brings his gun up as he runs. He fires, a bullet hitting one of the walkers in the shoulder. He fires again, the bullet hitting the tree beside it.

"Andrea, I can't do it!" he cries, breaking into a faster run.

Andrea risks a look back, shooting down another walker. She glances to Nanami, then to the gun in her hand, then the bracelet that Dale had given her weeks back.

"Here, hold this," Andrea calls, passing Nanami the bag of guns, "I'll take that."

She grabs his gun, now holding two of the weapons in each hand. They continue on running, the sky now becoming brighter as the sun rises after the night of hell.

Andrea fires shot after shot in front of them, Nanami looking back to see the herd still behind them.

Just as Nanami begins to tell her she should clear more of the back, Andrea stops running.

"Andrea?" he asks, tripping to a stop of his own.

"Go," she calls, "Find the others."

She raises her gun, shooting down another walker.

"Andrea.." Nanami begins again.

"Find your sister!" Andrea smiles, "I'll go to mine, too."

Andrea sends him another smile before turning around, shooting down any walker that got close to them. Then, a walker grabs her arm.

"No.. No!" Nanami argues.

As he takes a step closer to Andrea, the walker sinks it's teeth into her arm.

"Nanami, go!" she screams, gun still shooting down walkers.

Nanami couldn't move, only able to watch helplessly as more walkers surround Andrea, dragging her to the ground.

When walkers would attempt to go after Nanami, Andrea would force enough strength to shoot it or grab it- letting it's attention fall onto her instead of him.

As Andrea shouted for him to go, Nanami forced his feet to move.

--

"Kiko!" Daryl's relieved shout calls.

Sakiko leaps from Hershel's lap, her feet hitting the pavement as she runs into his arms. Daryl picks her up, keeping her as close to him as he could.

Around them, the other family and friends reunited with similar happiness and relief. Sakiko could only cry, burying her face in Daryl's shoulder as she trembled in fear.

"Where's Andrea?" T-Dog's voice asks, "And Dale?"

"Dale went down protecting us.. He sacrificed himself," Carol answers.

Daryl sets Sakiko back on her feet, though he still pulls her to stick around him- her arms still wrapped around his waist. There, Sakiko and Daryl both take in a reality of their own.

"Nanami?" Sakiko asks, voice weaker than anyone had heard, "Where's Nanami?"

"He was with us.. After Dale, he and Andrea got separated from us," Carol answers once more.

"Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?" Beth asks.

"He was in the RV.. We saw it happen," Rick answers.

Shane steps forward, doing a quick headcount, "We're five down."

"I'm going back," Daryl announces, pulling Sakiko back to Glenn, "Stay with Glenn. I'll be-"

"No," Rick voices, "We don't go back."

"That's my kid out there," Daryl argues.

"Carol said he was with Andrea. They got off together," Rick denies.

"He's right," Shane supports.

Sakiko shakes her head profusely, everyone caught off guard when they see the tears roll down her cheek.

"That's my brother!" she wails, "We have to find him!"

"Kid, we gotta worry about those standing around us right now-" Shane begins.

"You let him go missing back at the quarry now you're doing it again!" she screams, "You don't care about him!"

Shane sighs, looking to Rick who shakes his head and glances to Sakiko, "He and Andrea got off together."

"Which means we should go find them! They're off the farm, so we should look for them!"

"Daryl, I want you to think about this," Shane calls just as Daryl was about to swing his leg over his bike.

"I thought about it," Daryl retorts.

"You're leaving one kid behind to look for another. Nanami is with Andrea, Sakiko needs you. We all need you," Shane says, "We gotta look after our own. Sakiko needs you."

Daryl pauses, looking down to Sakiko. Her bottom lip puckers out as she tries not to fall to the ground crying and Daryl is certain he heard his heart crack at the sight.

He'd never seen her so broken.

This was Sakiko. She was his trouble maker. She stared danger in it's eyes and laughed- something that amused and terrified him at the same time. Sakiko who wasn't afraid to say what was on her mind, no matter the consequences. Sakiko who he'd seen fight back against people before and after the world was taken over by the walkers.

But, the girl that looked up at him with watery eyes was a shell of the girl he knew. And he needed to be there for her so that shell doesn't crack and she falls to pieces.

"Cm'here," Daryl waves, tugging Sakiko into a hug.

In his arms, the teen shakes and begins crying aloud once again.

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈--

we going chaos route ✈

shane gets to live past normal- let's see how this plays out

andrea dies early bc tv andrea is p wack

sakiko and daryl's bond growing we love to see it

ALSO SAKIKO AND RHEE/GREENE CONTENT

MY BRAND