Chapter Text
The sky was beginning to clear when Y/N woke up. Daryl felt her stiff in his arms, but when she pulled back and looked at him, she relaxed, smiling weakly. Daryl reached out to run his fingers through her messy hair and Y/N closed his eyes, leaning into his touch.
Daryl leaned to kiss her but he heard footsteps approaching and he was on alert in a second, keeping his arms securely around Y/N. Most of the men seemed still asleep, but Joe was approaching.
“Morning Daryl,” he smirked, looking at them. “We’re leaving soon, but got out and hunt as something we can take with us, okay?”
No, it wasn’t okay, but he didn’t want to argue it, it wouldn’t help, and so he just nodded. He got up, holding Y/N’s hand to take her with him.
“She’s not a hunter,” Joe said when he noticed it. “I need her here helping pack the stuff.”
Daryl tried not to snap. If he got into a fight with Joe, nothing good will happen to Y/N, he knew, but still… “She’s mine,” he growled.
“Yes, you claimed her, everyone knows,” Joe smirked again. “Now go and hunt us something.”
It took all of his willpower not to snap again, but then Y/N let go of his hand. She still seemed scared, but she nodded at him and she knelt down and began packing things. Okay, okay, they could play this…Daryl glared at the men around the warehouse, trying to remind them of his claim, and rushed out and to the woods to hunt anything as fast as possible and go back with Y/N.
He had managed to get a rabbit when he heard some screams, and he recognized it was Y/N. He ran towards the sound and saw her on the ground, struggling against Len, who was on top of her.
“Shut up!” He yelled at her as he slapped her, before holding his hand to her mouth, and her other hand tried to hold her down to stop her struggle. “I don’t care about Joe’s bullshit, I claimed you! Have you forgotten it?!”
Without even stopping to aim, Daryl loosed the bolt of the crossbow, running to them. Len cried out as the arrow pierced through his side, and Y/N pushed him off her as Daryl reached them.
“Don’t touch her!” He grabbed Len, throwing him onto his back on the ground, falling on top of him as he began to punch his face, seeing red, but Y/N’s hand on his shoulder and her calling his name made him stop.
Len was still alive, and Y/N knelt in front of them, looking at Len, who Daryl was still holding down. She reached out to take Daryl’s knife from his belt before focusing her attention on Len again, and she sank the knife into his throat, killing him.
Y/N wasn’t saying anything, wasn’t moving, she just shook, eyes still on Len, and Daryl took the knife from her hands gently. “Come on,” he whispered, taking her bloodied hands on his. “We have to get away from here, okay?” Y/N nodded, letting him pull her onto her feet.
“Well, now…”
Daryl heard Joe’s voice before they could run away and he saw him walking to them with another two men, holding their guns, and so he pushed Y/N behind him and aimed his crossbow at them.
“I always knew Len was a liar who wouldn’t follow the rules and who we couldn’t trust.” He smiled. “Thank you, Daryl. Now lower that.” Daryl didn’t and Joe’s smile was gone. “Lower that.” He warned and Daryl didn’t know what to do, but finally he lowered his crossbow. He didn’t want to risk a fight, not like this, not when Y/N could get hurt or even killed.
“Good.” Len smiled again. “Thank you too, girl.”
“I’ve claimed her! You didn’t see him taking her?!” Daryl snapped, Y/N was supposed to be safe according to Joe’s stupid rules, though he was starting to feel he’d played him to get ride of Len.
“I was busy.” Joe shrugged, smirking. “We’re leaving. Come on”
While everyone finished getting their stuff ready, Daryl managed to sneak a minute to clean Y/N’s face and hands of blood.
“Are you okay?” He asked her softly, and she nodded. “You did good, I’m proud of you.” Y/N gave him a sad smile at that and Daryl leaned to kiss her forehead before he looked around, making sure nobody was looking at them. “Be ready to run, okay? We get behind and we run away, alright?” Y/N nodded, clutching his hand tight, and Daryl kissed her lips softly before they began walking with everyone.
They walked at the rear of the group, ready to run as soon as they could, but Joe walked right next to Daryl, frustrating their attempt. It didn’t seem he knew what they had planned, he just seemed to want to talk with Daryl about this and that, and Daryl was getting more and more agitated but he tried not to show it…there had to be a way…
It was dark already when they got their chance. One of the men that had been scouting came running. “Joe! We found him!” He must be talking of the man who had killed one of his own. “Come on, you gotta see this!”
Joe rushed with him and Daryl clutched Y/N’s hand. “Come on, come on, we’re leaving!”
“No, wait, wait.” Y/N tugged at his hand, stopping him. “Look, I think…I think that’s Rick?”
Daryl looked towards where she was pointing and yes, that was Rick…it couldn’t be…he was alive too…but then one of the men was holding him at gunpoint and…were those Michonne and Carl? They were going to kill them.
“Come on!”
Y/N and him ran there even though Daryl didn’t have a plan but he knew he had to do something, arriving right when Joe was going to shoot Rick.
“Hold on!” Daryl stopped him, and though the men wanted to kill Rick for having killed one of his own, Joe allowed Daryl to speak. “These people, you’re gonna let them go. These are good people.”
“Now, I think Lou would disagree with you on that, I’ll have to speak for him because your friend here, strangled him in a bathroom,” Joe said.
Daryl looked at Y/N, whose eyes were focused on Rick, before she looked at Daryl, scared. Yeah…yeah, he had to do something, he had to fix this. She was not going to like it, though.
“You want blood, I get it.” He nodded, throwing his crossbow to the ground. “Take it from me man, come on.”
“What?! What are you doing?!”
Daryl heard Y/N’s voice, he knew she wasn’t going to like it, but he had to do it. He looked at her to try and tell her to stop, when one of the men pointed his gun at Y/N’s head. Shit…shit, he was making everything worse…
“This man killed our friend, you say he’s good people.” Joe pointed at him. “See, now that right there, it’s a lie!”
Daryl had barely time to react before one of the men hit the butt of his rifle onto his stomach and another kicked him onto the car.
“No!”
He heard Y/N’s scream when she saw it and then one of the men was grabbing her, throwing her onto the ground, but he couldn’t see anything else as he was beaten into the car. He punched one of the men, but the other threw him against the car again, and before he could do anything they were beating him again.
“He’s dead so I claim you now.”
Daryl heard the man who was holding Y/N saying, and he heard Carl whimpering and struggling too, but he couldn’t manage to break free, and he grunted as they hit his head against the hood of the car.
Then, something must have happened, because the men beating him stopped. He managed to look up and saw that Joe was on the ground, gurgling as he grabbed his throat, while Rick’s mouth was bloodied. Michonne took advantage to grab the gun of the man who was holding her, shooting him dead, and so did Daryl, punching at one of the guys holding him, managing to break free.
He looked at Y/N, but the man holding her down had gotten distracted too and so Y/N had pushed him off her, kneeling his gut and punching his nose, and then she was rolling towards his crossbow on the ground. Daryl tried to help her, but one of the men threw him against the car again. Daryl managed to dodge his punch, punching him instead and he pushed him onto the ground, kicking his head until he was sure he was dead.
He felt another man grabbing him, but when he turned to punch him the man was falling on him, dead, and Daryl noticed an arrow on his back. He looked around and saw that Y/N had managed to grab his crossbow.
“Y/N!” Daryl yelled when he noticed another behind her, but he warned her on time and Y/N turned around and hit the guys head with the crossbow, not time to reload, hitting him again when he fell to the ground.
There was another one going for her and so Daryl took his knife as he ran to him, sinking it into his head. He could hear shoots and he knew Michonne and Rick were shooting at the remaining men, and so he went to Y/N, who was still hitting the man’s head.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he stopped her, holding her arms gently. “He’s dead.”
“Yeah.” Y/N looked at him, passing him the bloodied crossbow. “But that one isn’t.” Daryl followed her gaze and saw that the man who had been holding her had gotten up and was going to them, though he was holding his bloodied nose, that Y/N seemed to have broken, and he seemed to have lost his gun on the struggle with her.
Daryl reloaded the crossbow, but he noticed Y/N going for the man, knife in hand. “I’ll do it,” she growled. Daryl shot he arrow anyway, afraid of the man hurting Y/N more, but he aimed for the leg. The man cried out, falling onto the ground, holding his leg, and then Y/N grabbed him by the hair, making him look at her before sinking the knife into his head, ending him for good.
Once Y/N was done, Daryl approached her, reaching out to hold her hand and help her get up. “Are you okay?” He asked, hugging her to his chest before leaning back to inspect her. She had a couple of new bruises and her lip had opened again.
“Yeah…yeah, and you?” She reached out her hand to caress his face softly, and everything hurt, but Daryl nodded.
He took the rag from his back pocket and pressed it to her bleeding lip, hating how it made her hiss in pain. She took the rag herself and Daryl wrapped his arm around her, turning around to check on the others.
For a moment, everyone stared at each other in disbelieve, but then Y/N rushed to Michonne. “You all are alive, I thought I’d never…are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I am.” Michonne smiled weakly, reaching out to grab Y/N’s hand with the arm that wasn’t holding Carl, the kid looked traumatized but he went to hug Y/N when she reached out her arms for him. Michonne let go of Carl and went to hug Daryl, who was there unsure of what to do and feeling absolutely guilty about everything, but when he hugged Michonne, it felt a bit better.
“Rick,” Y/N called for him. “Rick, you okay?” He only nodded, bloodied up and looking at the dead men on the ground, and Daryl knew him good enough to know he wasn’t doing good. “Rick, I have to tell you something.” Y/N stopped holding Carl but kept her arm around him. “I saw Tyreese taking Judith and some other kids, I was going to run to them, but one man got me, and when I killed him they were already gone. But I’m sure they left the prison, I’m sure they ran away safely.”
Judith…Daryl didn’t want to get his hopes high, thinking about the baby was like getting his heart crushed, but Y/N seemed certain she hadn’t died in the prison, that Tyreese had gotten him out of there, that maybe they were alive somewhere…
Rick was looking at Y/N without saying anything, but Carl did. “Do you think she’s alive?”
“I…I don’t know, but we’re alive, aren’t we?” Y/N said, and Carl nodded, smiling weakly and letting go of her to go back to Michonne.
“She’s right.” Michonne nodded. “We saw something written on a traffic sign, talking about a place, a refuge for all, Terminus. All the train rails go to it, if some of us follow it, we could meet there.”
“Good, good, that’s good.” Y/N smiled, walking back to Daryl, and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close to him and kissing the top of her head. He didn’t have much trust in that Terminus place, or on finding anyone, but maybe Y/N and Michonne were right, after all they had found each other, at least it was worth a shot, and it wasn’t like they had anything else to do.
At last, Rick spoke. “We stay here this night, tomorrow we keep going.”
“I’ll help you clear the bodies from here,” Daryl said, they needed to do it, and he wanted to check on Rick. “Stay here with Michonne and Carl, okay?” He whispered to Y/N, who nodded, and she gave his lips the softest of kisses, trying not to hurt her lip more. Daryl reached out to cup her face, resting his forehead on hers for a moment before forcing himself to pull away.
While helping Rick with the bodies, Daryl tried to talk to him, tried to apologize, but like Y/N, Rick didn’t blame him either…he blamed himself, though, no matter what they said.
Once the bodies were taken care of, Rick instructed everyone to sleep, and they all would be leaving towards Terminus with the first light. Daryl tried telling him that he’d take watch for half of the night so Rick could sleep too, but he didn’t want it. It still worried him, but Daryl decided to let him be for the night.
Carl and Michonne took the car and Daryl went to sit down with Y/N, who had found a blanket and had spread it over the ground. Daryl reached out to caress her cheek and ran his fingers through her hair, pushing it away from her face.
“Are you okay?” He whispered and Y/N nodded, smiling softly.
“I am now.”
Daryl wrapped his arms around her, pushing her close, and Y/N let out a content sigh as she snuggled to him.
“I’m sorry about what they did to you…” He murmured, he knew she didn’t want to think about it, neither did he, but he couldn’t help it.
“I know…but that’s not on you, you’re not guilty of anything.”
“But-”
“No.” She said firmly and Daryl stopped trying to apologize, kissing her forehead and holding her close to his chest.
“I thought I had left you to die, that I’d never see you again, that you were gone…” Daryl whispered, nuzzling into her hair as he tried not to cry, though he failed. “I should have…I don’t know, but…I…”
Y/N pulled back from his chest, reaching out to cup his face. “Shh. I know. We are together now.” Daryl nodded, leaning to rest his forehead on hers, staying like that for a little bit, and then he held her against his chest again, running his fingers through her hair, and Y/N wrapped her arms around him too as they curled up together.
“You really think Judith is alive?” Daryl whispered, he still didn’t want to get his hopes high, but needing to hear it from her again.
“I don’t know,” Y/N whispered back. “But I think there’s a possibility she’s, and more of us too.”
“Waiting at Terminus?” Daryl couldn’t really believe it.
“If they follow the rails…I know, it’s a long shot.” Y/N let out a sigh. “But it’s the only thing we got.”
“I ain’t sure about that Terminus place…”
“Yeah, I don’t think any of us trust it.” Y/N nodded. “But we gotta give it a try, it’s the best chance we got.”
“Yeah…”
Y/N pulled back slightly, looking at him with a soft smile, reaching out to softly caress his face with her fingers. “We’re together again now. That’s what matters.”
Daryl nodded, she was right. He’d found part of his family, he had found Y/N again, and he didn’t plan on letting go.
“I promise I’m gonna keep you safe.” He whispered, and Y/N smiled softly before snuggling against his chest again.
Daryl didn’t know what would happen now, what they would do, if they would find more of their family, if they’d find a safe place, if they’d find nothing, or if it was just another threat.
But Y/N was right, they were together again, and that was what mattered. He could deal with anything, if they were together, he meant it, he’d keep her safe, he’d keep their family safe. Together, they could do it.