The air you breathed in this environment was completely different than the one you had left behind these cold gates. As a soldier approached he showed you his straight and perfect white teeth with a smile.

"Fuck, welcome back, I still can't believe it!", he continued, gesturing and checking you as if you were an illusion. "What the hell happened and where are the others?"

You lowered your eyes to this question so as not to respond.

"I understand, we'll talk later, in the meantime follow me, they'll all be glad to see you again."

He tried to control himself, but every damn pore from him radiated joy. It was nice to be back, but Martinez never seemed so important to you. But when you saw him standing peacefully in front of you as a machine gun rested on his right shoulder, you felt better. The citizens of Woodbury ran to hug you, to greet you, some of them stroking your cheeks and some who gave you food. And then there were those who in the distance experienced the terrible fate of their loved ones and cried silently.

"Come on! In the end you have to kill them, damn it. That would be ironic!", he said and burst out laughing.

"Nonsense, but thank you."

Martinez pushed the crowd away and said they should clear the way for you.

"We will certainly organize a party for tonight.", Martinez intervened again.

Then the crowd calmed down and muttered about the party. Martinez shrugged with his usual rude methods. "Let's go to the lab first."

His hand, suddenly resting on your forearm, reminded you that everything was true again right now. When you got there, he pushed the door to open it and startled the man sitting at his desk trying to meditate.

"Milton, take off those damn glasses and see who's back!"

He turned and his eyes lit up. He scrambled to his feet, letting his chair fall back and mumbling something.

"Y/N, I... I'm really glad to see you again, you're going to have a lot of things to talk about, but at the moment I also have some information to collect on the stories of others and...", he said pointing to a notebook on the other table: "...- now I don't want to bother you, we'll talk later, okay?"

"Great Milton, really great!", Martinez said ironically.

Milton straightened his glasses and brought his forefinger to the bridge of it.

"But I'm really happy, but..."

You decided to interrupt because Martinez always enjoyed annoying people. Nothing had really changed. It seemed impossible.

"Milton, I'm glad to see you as well, I'll tell you everything later.", you lied, because you wanted to forget certain events.

"Very good, I'll join you later, you're probably going to the Governor now, right?"

"Yes."

Milton smiled bitterly and sat down again, nodding his head. You missed this funny man, unable to show emotions, always embarrassed or in any trouble. Martinez shrugged and you both went back to the street.

"Martinez, the group is back with new weapons and supplies."

"Shumpert, look who's back!"

He greeted you warmly and shortly afterwards you moved away from Martinez and him. After all this time outside of Woodbury, you almost felt lost. You went, staring at the dirty streets, reminding yourself that you were in quite a pitiful condition. Maybe you should have freshened up first, but while you were thinking about it, you stumbled against someone. It didn't take long to find out who it was. These immaculate clothes... You slowly raised your head and looked up with the fear of losing yourself in those icy and deep eyes. Meanwhile, his hands were on your shoulders. But you were scared. An eyepatch... What the hell happened? Who hurt him? You were petrified and the Governor noticed it.

"Good afternoon Y/N. Welcome home. As you've noticed, I don't look like myself anymore, like when you left us."

Without any words, you continued to stare at him.

"Don't worry, you should take a shower and then we'll talk about it."

This bandage gave him a mysterious appearance in a disturbing way. He remained the charming and charismatic man who'd welcomed you to Woodbury months ago. The hot water that you had missed was an indescribable feeling. These little warm drops on your body, gliding on your skin. This shower cubicle and four walls... Security. You felt reborn and lighter. No traces of blood or dirt on your skin.

The backpack and the various foods were already in your apartment.

"I have had your clothes and sword washed and cleaned.", a voice suddenly came from behind you, as you came into the Governor's apartment some time later.

"Thank you.", you replied.

"I'm sorry what happened, I feared the worst, but you're here now, you're back."

You wanted to say a thousand things, but the words stuck like a knot in your throat.

"Please sit down.", he said pointing to a sofa. "We'll go step by step. First I'll tell you okay. And don't tell me you're not curious."

Right. You were curious. Angry too. You hoped in your heart that those who hurt him were dead...

"Of course I am, but first tell me, how are you? Is it still hurting?"

He put his head back on the armchair and folded his arms over his chest.

"Well, the wound is some weeks in healing process now... You know that Merle found two of his former Atlanta group people, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember his story... Those bastards who forced him to cut off his hand to survive and who left him behind."

"Right... We found out they live in a prison not far from here."

"A prison... That is a perfect place to start a life from scratch."

"They live in Block C, but with all the staff we have, we could free it from these people, trying to convince them that we could all live there together. Not that Woodbury isn't safe, but we've got a lot more space then, and it's going to be cultivable, but its leader, Rick, is crazy... He did not accept it, you know, he declared war on us, they organized an attack, they killed some of us, including Haley..."

You got up, you didn't want to hear anything anymore. The Archer at the gates of Woodbury was like a sister to you. So you approached the window and looked at the other houses.

"In any case, they overwhelmed us, we were not ready. They freed their friends and one of them, Michonne, whom I once hosted, decided to take revenge."

"What?"

"I put her and her friend Andrea in Woodbury, gave them food, shelter, safe walls and hope. Michonne decided to run, you know, while her friend stayed, but I had to kill Andrea, one of the Walkers from the lab bit her... I shot her and believe me, it was hard... "

You sighed: "I know..."

"The problem is, Michonne arrived at that very moment and wanted to convince her to follow her, so I sent my men into the woods to look for her, I wanted her to know the truth."

"So she joined this crazy group to kill you, to take advantage of her, to get in here?"

"Just because..."

"Tell me, you killed her."

"Not yet, but soon..."