Light | TWD | Daryl Dixon Fanfiction

020

At first, Juliana had thought that Rick had turned. The dark, red blood contrasted sharply against his blue eyes, coming across as shocking. Daryl quickly mumbled to her that Rick had killed Joe, who laid dead on the ground at Rick's feet; a large pool of blood settled around his body. The rest of the men had suffered the same fates as Joe, and the man who had been on top of Juliana had his face smashed in so hard by Daryl he was unrecognizable.

She tugged at the hem of her shirt, pulling it up to wipe at the blood that was still rolling down her chin. Daryl's eyes narrowed as he turned to face her, "Are you alright?" he questioned, his voice quiet.

She nodded quickly, letting the fabric of her shirt drop, "We gotta kill 'em before they turn," Juliana told him simply, her voice monotone. Daryl reached out before she could walk away from him, his hand firmly wrapping around her upper arm causing her to stumble backwards as he restricted her from moving forward.

"You just got the shit beat outta ya'."

"You'd do the same thing."

"It's different," he mumbled, down casting his eyes.

"How?" she questioned, roughly yanking her arm out of his grasp with a twist and a tug. Her eyes were slightly wider than normal as she stared at Daryl through the dark. Briefly her gaze flickered over to Rick, still standing over Joe's body while Michonne held Carl close to her before returning her gaze back to Daryl, "What if you weren't here, Daryl?"

It didn't take but a second for Daryl to respond, "You wouldn't have made it here if I hadn't been with ya', Jules! We both know what they would've done!" his voice rose slightly, causing Juliana to sink back. When Daryl yelled, it was always for a reason; his emotions swelled up in him until they burst, or he was worried enough that they just spilled out in the form of yelling. Juliana was sure that both reasons were why he was yelling now.

Her gaze softened, "I'm sorry," she choked out, voice still scratchy from the pressure the man's hand had had around her throat. Juliana watched as Daryl chewed on his bottom lip, his gaze flickering between her and Rick and Michonne, "Daryl," Juliana repeated reaching out with her hand to grab a hold of his. She could feel him tense under her touch, watching as his Adams apple bopped up and down as he swallowed, "I'm okay. Let's get these guys outta here. Carl doesn't need to see this shit."

Daryl held onto Juliana's hand until she was the one to let go.

**

The two of them went to work getting rid of the group of men. They made sure they weren't able to turn and drug them off down the road until they were far out of view of the van. They rolled the men down a small embankment and out of sight. Daryl had done most of the heavy lifting as the two worked mostly in silence together. Eventually as daylight began to break, he shooed her off back to the van to get some rest. Juliana noticed Rick hadn't moved from the spot he eventually settled at, sitting with his back up against the van, staring off into space. The blood had dried by now, but still covered him. Juliana's lips parted, wanting to say something to him, but nothing came out. With a heavy sigh, she made her way around the van, pulling open the passenger side door and slid in.

Michonne lifted her head as Juliana entered. Juliana quietly shut the door as she had glanced back a noticed Carl sleeping with his head on Michonne's lap.

"How's he doing?"

Michonne gave a small shrug, her hand gently caressing Carl's hair as he slept, "Okay. I'm sure he could be better."

"He'll be okay," Juliana tried to reassure her. Michonne offered Juliana a small smile which Juliana reciprocated.

"Are you okay?"

A small laugh escaped Juliana's lips and she shook her head, "I feel great. Another day at the fuckin' spa," she teased. Michonne grinned at Juliana, both of the women glad to have something to lighten their moods.

The conversation between the two quickly ended as they heard Daryl come back, and Rick finally begin to speak. They exchanged glances before turning their attention towards the conversation between the two men.

"I didn't know what they were."

"How'd you and Jules wind up with them?"

"We were with Beth," Daryl said, her name causing Juliana's heart to sink, "The three of us got out together. We were with her for a while."

"Is she dead?"

"She's just gone."

Juliana sunk back into the front passenger seat, her head falling back against the head rest as she continued to listen to the two of them.

"After that," Daryl continued, "That's when they found us. I mean, we both knew they were bad. Jules didn't want to hang with them in the first place, but they had a code. It was simple. I had to..claim Jules so they wouldn't.." his voice trailed off for a moment as he admitted he had to proclaim to the group that Juliana was claimed as his. It was new to her, and Daryl had probably done it on purpose as not to cause anything strange between the two of them, "Stupid," he continued, "But it was somethin'. It was enough."

"You two were alone. You had to protect Jules."

Daryl nodded, "Said they were lookin' for some guy. Last night they said they spotted him. Jules wanted to leave, so we had hung back. We were gonna leave. But then she heard you, and we saw that it was you three. I didn't know what they could do."

"It's not on you, Daryl. Hey. It's not on you."

"You and Jules being back with us here, now, that's everything. You're my brother, and I know how much you are about Jules." There was a silence then, and when Rick had made the comment about her, she couldn't help but feel her heart flutter.

"Hey," Daryl broke the silence, "What you did last night..anybody would have done that."

"No. Not that."

"Something happened. That ain't you."

"Daryl, you saw what I did to Tyrese. It ain't all of it, but that's me. That's why I'm here now," Juliana sat up again, turning slightly so she was better able to check on Michonne and Carl. His comments causing Michonne and Juliana to lock eyes for a minute before both their gazes dropped down to Carl, who had woken up, "That's why Carl is. I want to keep him safe. That's all that matters."

It was then Juliana realized how far she andDaryl would both go to protect each other.

It was all that mattered.