TWD ~ Daryl + Reader ~

Split

The Kingdom's gate squeaks open as Daryl quickly walks through them. Morgan and Richard watch him go, not knowing if it's really smart for him to go or not, but neither one of them wanting to try and stop him.

. . .

The sun gleams through the two windows in the far wall and hits the back wall. You open your eyes just enough to see the light hit the mirror and feel the warmth wrapped around you. You feel Negan's arms tighten around you and a grunting sound from behind your head. You slightly pull your body away from Negan and slowly flip over to face him.

Negan's face is contorted as he sleeps. You finally bring your left hand up to lay it on his cheek and his face seems to soothe.

What he did to Emmette still bothers you, but not as much as you thought it did. Unlike when you lost your mother Emmette's death doesn't hit your cour. You were upset last night and you know that you would've hit Negan, but now you understand that some people are just not going to make it in the world with how it is now. You can only hope that Negan doesn't take anyone else that's close you away from you.

Your thinking kept you from realizing that Negan's brown eyes are looking at you. When you finally look up he's peering down at you with guilt-stricken eyes.

"What?" You ask pulling your hand away from his face. He stays quiet and continues to look at you. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm sorry." He takes his right hand off your side and brings it up to your face, and lightly brushes your cheek with his thumb. "I didn't mean to hurt you by killing Carson, he just let out one of my new pets."

You advert your eyes. You know he's talking about Daryl and you hate that. But you have to go with it, you have to play the role of not knowing anything about Alexandria.

"You're new pet?" Your eyes flicker up to his. "Like a dog?"

Negan's guilty eyes melt into happy squinting eyes as he snickers. "In a way yes, he is truly like a wild animal, but a dog could suit him."

"Who was he?" You look up at him with curiosity written all over your face.

As the end of your question leave your mouth, you see the delight in Negan's eyes cease. He did like questions at the best of times, and when it came to something that he knew you wouldn't like he didn't want to answer.

Negan sighs and finally gives in to your pleading eyes. "He's one of the more wild ones from a new community that we found. After I showed them who the was boss he had the audacity to hit me, so I had some of my men grab him and bring him back here." Negan moves a piece of your hair as he continues, "He was in one of the cells for four days, almost broke him, I could see it in his eyes. But a few days ago Carson let him go while I was dealing with other matters, at he killed one of my men and stole a motorcycle."

"Did you send someone out after him?" You already know the answer, in fact, you were listening to the radio when Negan and Simon sounded through it. You even know where Daryl is right now, he's safe in the Kingdom.

. . .

Two hours in to walking to Hilltop and having killed 10 walkers, Daryl stops and sits against a tree for a moment. He didn't mind the walk back, in all honesty, he liked the quiet.

The Kingdom was so busy and so make believe, he couldn't believe Rick and everyone left him there. Sure it was for his own safety, but he could take care of himself. He'd been doing that since he was a kid.

Many different instances played through his mind, but he shook them away. That was another time and another life. He doesn't need to think about that now.