daryl dixon imagines

twenty-eight

He rolled right up to those gates. Right to the front gate, his dumb bat hanging over his shoulder before rattling it against the bars. You knew exactly who it was, as soon as you heard his sing-song voice. But Spencer, he confusedly looks over at you, obviously wondering who just referenced a classic children's song while shadowing over your gates.

"Let him in," you say, your voice just over a whisper, barely loud enough for Spencer to hear. Spencer reluctantly listens, opening the first gate to reveal his wicked smile. The same one he had before swinging his bat to bash Abraham's head in. The same damn smirk he gave you before throwing Daryl into the back of his truck, driving off with him to god knows where. And you don't even want to think of what the fuck they're doing to him.

"Um, who are you?" Spencer asks. Great. You're all fucked now.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Negan yells backing up slightly.

"You're early. You said a week," you say, walking out from behind the gate to reveal yourself.

"Hell, i missed you guys! Especially you, pretty. I even brought a little surprise, a sight for sore eyes," he says, pointing his bat behind him, directly towards daryl. He stands there in the crowd of Negan's people, except he's not one of them. He's not dressed in black clothes and leather like the others, like he would normally be dressed if he was home. He's wearing a cream coloured sweatsuit, a large 'A' spray painted in what must've been red at some point and faded out to orange on his shirt, dirt and blood stained all over. Almost as if he doesn't deserve a name, just classified as the letter 'A' at the hell he's been staying at. His hair looks even greasier as it hangs far over his face, but you can still make out the deep purple bags under his eyes. His face is even dirtier than his clothes and is all bruised up, a streak of blood stained from his nose all the way down to his top lip. His body language stays tense and his facial expression doesn't change, but his deep blue eyes staring into your soul are telling you everything. Telling you he's gone through endless torture, telling you he needs to get away, telling you he needs you like you need him. And the tears welling up in them, brightening the blue as his shoulders shake slightly, make tears enter your own eyes as you stare directly into them.

"Why? To rub it in?" you ask, not allowing the tears to fall in front of Negan. Because everyone, especially Negan, knows that your biggest weakness that he has against you right now is Daryl, who he most likely keeps locked up and is using like just another worker for him.

"If that's the way you wanna look at it. Now, do not make me have to ask," he says, his voice deep as he stares into your eyes. You let a breath out from your nose, walking over and pulling open the second gate, revealing Alexandria to Negan and his dumb people. Rick shows up behind you, and you slowly step aside as Negan's people walk in first, the trucks coming in after them. You and Daryl make straight eye contact as he follows the crowd inside, but it's quickly cut off when Rick walks up, everyone's attention turning to him. He looks just as confused as everyone else when he sees Negan, slowly approaching him.

"Spread out," Negan calls out to his crowd, all of them walking away and out into the streets of Alexandria. Everyone except Daryl, and the guy you recognise as the one who held you and Daryl in the woods along with two other girls. Then they stole your weapons and Daryl's bike. You guess he's a part of this group now, except he no longer has the girl with him and the entire half of his face is burned. You're pretty sure you remember one of the girls calling him Dwight.

"So, you gonna show me around? You and sweet-cheeks over there," Negan smirks, glancing over at you. Rick does nothing but walk past Negan, leading him down the street as the rest of you follow. You stay fairly close to Daryl, watching him as he walks ahead of you. You know you won't be able to see him much longer, because there's no way Negan is going to let him stay. Daryl glances back at you quickly, looking broken as ever and it absolutely shatters your heart. All you want to do is hold him. Hold him tighter than you ever have, not giving a care in the world about how dirty and bloody he is. You just want the feeling of his head against your shoulder, let his tears soak into your shirt. Especially since you can't remember the last time you've even hugged him.