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You kept your eyes trained on the floor as you were forced onto your knees, not daring to look up. You missed Dwight opening the van, missed as members of your group were forced out of it and onto their knees beside you. You didn’t look up, you couldn’t look up, not when Glenn called for Maggie, not as Maggie sobbed and Dwight shoved Glenn down.
You didn’t look up, not until Rick nudged you, then you turned to him and watched as he nodded ahead. You let out a sob as you saw a bloody Daryl on his knees, watching you with wide, scared eyes.
You went to stand, not giving a damn about the amount of guns trained on your group, not giving a damn about anything other than getting to Daryl but Sasha saw the move before you could make it and grabbed your arm. She held you tight enough to bruise but it kept you in place even as you fought against her, not taking your eyes off Daryl.
“Don’t.” She murmured to you, quietly but her tone was hard, knowing that one wrong move was all it would take for you to be killed.
You watched as Daryl shook his head, barely moving it but you caught it and a silent sob wracked your body as you sat heavily back on your knees, body shaking as you stared at him, pleading with him for something, anything.
“Let’s meet the man.” Simon said and your whole body tensed but you refused to look away from Daryl, desperately blinking away the tears.
A man, clad with a spiked baseball bat and a leather jacket stepped out of the RV with a smirk but you refused to look at him, eyes trained on Daryl who looked back at you like somehow his gaze alone could protect you.
“Pissing our pants yet?” The man asked and you scrunched your nose up, trying to hold back tears.
“Which one of you pricks is the leader?” He asked and both you and Daryl glanced away from each other for a second as you looked at Rick out of the corner of your eyes as Simon pointed him out.
You listened to Negan talk to Rick, hating everything about him as you knelt there, hating the sound of his voice but you also knew that if he was talking, he was distracting himself and not hurting any of you.
You could hear Rick’s shuddering breath as Negan told him the new rules, the cocky jackass demanding all of your supplies, letting Rick know exactly who was in charge and letting you all know that none of you were safe.
“You didn’t really think you were going to get through this without being punished, did you?” Negan asked and you felt your blood run cold at the words, eyes shifting from Daryl to the baseball bat he carried. “I’m gonna beat the holy hell out of one of you.” Negan warned as he stared at each of you, swinging the bat around as he introduced Lucille.
You heard Negan talk to Abraham and Carl and then he was crouched down in front of you and you could feel your heart threatening to beat right out your chest as he followed your gaze over to Daryl with a smirk before he took your chin in his hand and gently turned your face so you were looking at him.
You immediately lowered your gaze, looking at the floor instead of at him but still saw the way he smirked.
“You wanna pay attention?” He whispered into your ear, his smirk widening as you shivered. “That your boyfriend over there, that sonofabitch killed a hell of a lot of my men, maybe I should introduce him to Lucile.”
Negan grinned as your gaze snapped up to him, eyes narrowing into a glare as no words were needed to get your threat across, don’t touch him.
“Oh, I like you.” He laughed as he looked you up and down with an approving nod before he stood back up.
He moved onto Maggie after that, laughing as Glenn jumped for him only to be stopped by Dwight holding Daryl’s crossbow to his face. You watched as Negan let the man off with a warning, raising an eyebrow as a tear made its way down your face, certain that Glenn’s outburst would get him a one on one with Lucille.
Negan watched your face change as you looked at him and laughed before he warned the group against any more daring moves.
Your gaze shifted back to Daryl, seeking comfort in his scared eyes. Daryl looked right back at you, a warning in his eyes for you not to look away as Negan started whistling, fear coursing through your whole body as you nodded at him, hating that it felt like time was about to run out.
“I simply cannot decide.” Negan told you all and you hated that he was getting what he wanted as the tension and anxiety continued to consume you and you desperately wished to be by Daryl’s side. “I got an idea,” He said before the bat was pointed in Rick’s face, then Maggie’s, then Abraham’s , then Michonne’s.
Your heart stuttered as he pointed it at Daryl, using it to turn Daryl’s face away from you and letting it linger there before he moved onto Sasha, Aaron, Carl and then you, continuing down the line before he finally stopped, you and Daryl staring at each other with matching fear as tears slid down your face.
“Anybody moves, anybody says anything, cut the boy’s other eye out and feed it to his father and then we'll start.” He warned before he brought the bat down and people around you screamed.
You choked out a sob, feeling vomit burning your throat as you watched the bat continue to thud down on Abraham. You continued looking towards Daryl as the tears poured down your cheeks and Daryl swallowed heavily as he took in the scene, hearing the noises and Negan’s enjoyment.
It took everything in Daryl to stay knelt down, knowing there were too many guns trained on your group, knowing that Negan wouldn’t give him an opening to get to you, to get you as far away from him as possible. Right now Daryl would give anything for you to be back home.
Then Negan started grinning and laughing, waving the bloody bat around, first in Rosita’s face, then Michonne’s, then Maggie’s before he stopped at you. Daryl watched as the bloody bat was ran along your cheek, leaving a mix of Abraham’s blood and your own blood that poured from cuts as the barbed wire nicked your cheek.
That’s when Daryl couldn’t take it anymore, that’s when he jumped into action. He was up before anyone even realised, taking two big steps towards Negan and punching him in the face with a grunt before Negan’s men had him on the ground, you crying out as Negan stepped close to him, holding the bat out towards him.
Sasha caught you as you went to stand up, pulled you into her and held you tight as you struggled against her, listening to Negan laugh.
“Stop,” She muttered into your ear, “You’re going to get him killed.” She hated the bluntness of her words but they worked, you stopped struggling and she let you pull away from her, you leaning forward as you cried, your forehead resting on your knees.
“That is a no-no,” Negan exclaimed and you lifted your head slightly, watching him crouch down in front of Daryl, missing the looks Rick and Sasha shot at you, Sasha ready to catch you again knowing that if Negan made one move you’d be up.
She wasn’t going to let him kill you too.
You watched as two of Negan’s men pinned Daryl to the floor and it took everything in you to listen to Sasha, to stay still even though every bone in your body was screaming to move, screaming at you to kill Negan.
“Do you want me to do it?” You heard Dwight say, aiming the crossbow at Daryl’s head.
“No!” You yelled and Sasha barely caught you as you leapt up only to have her pull you back onto the floor.
Negan turned to look at you, grinned as he watched you struggling and fight against your friend and let out a chuckle as he gripped Daryl’s hair.
“Get your hands off him!” You shouted and Negan looked between the two of you before he told Dwight no, shooting you a smile as he did.
You listened to Daryl grunt but breathed a sigh of relief as he was dragged back into the line up.
“I told you people the first one was free, then what did I say, huh? I said I would shut that shit down! No exceptions.” Negan exclaimed but you weren’t listening to him, you pushed yourself away from Sasha again and she let you go, keeping a hold of your shirt as her blood ran cold at Negan’s words.
You ignored the man as you turned to Daryl, Daryl already looking over at you, panting with fear clear in his eyes. You forced yourself to smile at him, it was a terrible attempt as your lips wobbled and tears continued to flow down your face but you watched as some of the tension left him as he smiled back just as badly as yours had been.
Neither of you listened to Negan, not until the sound of the bat connecting with a skull sounded. Daryl’s head snapped over to Negan as did yours, all of you watching in horror as Glenn was killed before your eyes, listening as Maggie sobbed and none of you were able to do anything.
You had to look away, your gaze turning to Daryl who kept his eyes locked on Glenn’s body, flinching with every hit and you knew he was blaming himself. You sobbed as the urge to kill Negan spread through your body, looking away from Daryl and lowering your head and not listening as Negan began to speak again.
“Give me his axe.” Negan said to Simon and you watched as it was passed in front of your face, Negan staring down at Rick before he stood and pocketed the axe for himself before dragging Rick away into the RV.
“I’ll be back, maybe Rick’ll be with me.” He said as he left and you closed your eyes, more tears making their way down your face.
You didn’t know how much time had passed before the sound of the RV coming back drew everyone’s attention but you kept your eyes scrunched shut and head down, not able to look up as Negan and Rick left the RV.
“Get some guns to the back of their heads.” Negan said and that made you raise your head, looking straight ahead.
You took a deep breath and let your shoulders square up, sitting straighter and preparing yourself for what was to come. You glanced over to your right, forcing a smile as you saw Daryl already looking at you, guilt, fear and anger clear across his face.
“ Not your fault.” You mouthed to him, watching him shake his head.
“Kid,” Negan said and you watched as he forced Carl over to him, watched as he strapped the belt to his arm and felt sick as Negan forced him to the ground and realised what he was going to do, listening as Rick pleaded with Negan.
You gasped as Negan demanded Rick choose between your lives or Carl’s left arm.
You looked away from the scene, looked towards Michonne before looking past her at Daryl who’s horror was reflected in his eyes.
“ Look at me.” He said and you swallowed, not looking away from him as you listened to Rick hand himself over to Negan.
Daryl repeated the words to you, making sure your eyes stayed locked onto his even as he glanced back over to Rick watching as his best friend, his brother, sobbed, begged and pleaded with the bastard. Daryl’s eyes couldn’t keep watching the scene but he couldn’t look away either, his eyes darting from you back over to Rick and Negan every few seconds, shaking his head when you tried to look away just as Rick picked the axe up.
Daryl felt himself let out a breath of relief, tension leaving his body as Negan stopped him from cutting Carl’s arm off. He nodded over at you again and you felt yourself gasp breathlessly, nodding back at him.
“Dwight,” Negan said and Daryl glanced over to him watching as the bat was pointed at him, feeling his stomach drop and he glanced over to you, glad you missed the action as you did as he said, not taking your eyes off him.
“ I love you.” He mouthed, watching as your eyebrows knitted together.
“ I love you too.” You told him before Negan spoke words that turned your stomach cold.
“Load him up.”
At those words though your head shot over to Negan and saw exactly who he was talking about, not even getting a chance to react before Dwight was pulling Daryl up and throwing him into the back of the van he was brought in.
“No!” You yelled, standing up and running over to him, clawing at Dwight’s back, desperately trying to tug him away from Daryl, screaming and sobbing when you felt a hand grab the back of your shirt before you were thrown onto the floor.
“Get your damn hands off her!” You heard Daryl yell as Negan held you against the floor, roughly holding your hair and chuckling as you struggled against his knee on your back, trying to fight him off of you.
“You people just don’t learn do you?” He asked with a grin, “You really want me to kill another person?”
“Take me,” You begged him, still struggling against his hold despite the fact it was getting you nowhere.
“Best get your hands off her or I swear t’God-” Daryl was still shouting and Negan looked over to Dwight with a sharp look.
“Shut him up,” He said and chuckled as Daryl fell silent whereas you were still pleading with him, tears slipping down your face.
“Please, please, just take me. I’ll do whatever you want, just, just leave him alone, please, leave him alone, don’t take him.” Negan relaxed his grip on your hair, brushing it out of your face and watched you look up at him with wide, pleading eyes.
“Shit girl, you’re almost making me feel bad.” He smiled, his fingers trailing across your cheek. “I like you but I want him, he’s mine now.”
“No!” You yelled, still trying to get his weight off of you.
“Yes!” He shouted back, sick of the group now. “I cannot make these rules more simple, you do as I say, I say he’s mine you smile and say yes Negan. I already let your people off with one warning, do not test me today.”
You watched as the door slammed shut on Daryl’s face and you sobbed as he gestured for somebody to take his place, the man pointing a gun at you as you turned around you were on your back and glared up at Negan.
“Want to try something else?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, “And the answer to that better be no because if one more person forgets my rules I’m going to start cutting pieces off…” Here Negan trailed off, looking towards his second in command. “Hell’s his name?” He asked and you felt anger burn inside of you as you sat up, trying to calculate if you could snatch the gun out of the man’s hand and kill Negan before somebody shot you.
From behind him you saw Michonne shaking her head at you, pleading with you to just let Negan do as he pleased.
“Daryl.” Simon said after a pause and you turned away from Michonne to glare at him.
“Wow, that actually sounds right.” He chuckled and crouched down next to you again, locking eyes with Rick as he spoke, “I will cut pieces off of Daryl and put them on your doorstep or better yet I’ll bring him to you and have you do it for me.”
He turned his head towards you and gave you a grin before he leaned in close, whispering words meant only for you.
“Now I have a feeling you aren’t going to follow my rules so let me be very clear, I will not hesitate to hurt him, you make one move I don’t approve of, his death is on your hands.” He smiled as you turned to face him, so close to each other and he could see the hatred clear as day in your eyes as everybody watched you.
“Go to hell you bastard.” You whispered back, hearing your group gasp and cry as they expected Negan to retaliate.
“I like you.” He repeated with a smile, patting your cheek and standing you.
“I’m gonna leave you a truck.” He told you all, “We’ll be back for our first offering in a week until then,” Negan waved a hand at you all and you could do nothing but watch as they all left, your eyes not leaving the van that held Daryl.
You were going to get him back.
You had too.