"And… you are it."
Around Daryl, a few gasps of shock and terror resonated in the silence of the forest. The hunter didn't need to look up to know, simply know that Negan's bat was pointed at his face, its ugly shadow caressing the dirt in front of him. He took a deep breath in, slowly, and looked up at the smiling man in front of him with empty eyes, his mind still trying to process what was happening. His shoulder was hurting like hell but somehow, the pain was nothing compared to the looks on his family's face.
Sasha and Aaron, already crying, their hands finding the floor in front of them when they realized that it was gonna happen, no matter what they tried. Michonne, looking at him with an incredulous look, her head shaking in disbelief. Abraham, Carl, Glenn, all of them staying as strong as they could while holding back their tears, probably out of respect for him. Rick, looking like he was about to break down. If he hadn't already.
His family, the people he'd share so many things with. The ones he'd follow until the end. But then, this was it. This was the end.
"If anybody moves, anybody says anything, I'll cut the boy's other eye out and feed him to his father, and then we'll start. You can breath. You can blink. You can cry. Hell, you're all gonna be doing that."
Right before the bat smashed with his skull for the first time, Daryl looked up at Maggie. She was crying softly, holding her belly and most certainly still in pain. She looked at him, letting out another ugly sob, and he smiled weakly.
"Daryl's a pretty name, you know. For the little butt-killer in there."
Maggie sobbed even harder, her face twisting in pain when she let her hands fall on her lap, tears streaming down her face. Daryl blinked once, twice.
Then, the pain. The bat crashed with his skull, and Daryl bit back a scream of agony. It wasn't like anything he'd live before, this time. It was agony, pure and devastating pain that irradiated through his entire body in a millisecond.
"Oh, would you look at that! Taking it like a champ!"
He blinked the tears and blood away from his eyes, falling on all fours on the ground. The pain in his shoulder wasn't even comparable to the one running through his skull, and he tried to breath in again, ignoring how much it hurt to do so. He was vaguely aware of Maggie's screams, and he thought he heard Aaron, too. He wanted to turn, to look at them, to talk, but only blood came out of his mouth when he tried and he chocked on the words.
"Well well well, looks like that one here is trying to tell us something!"
Negan's voice was loud, way too loud for the pain ringing in his hears, yet Daryl found the strength to straighten a little, sitting back on his heals. Hell, he wasn't gonna die without at least flipping this asshole off. He was a Dixon, until the very end.
"Well go on then, we're all listening very carefully."
It was a funny thing, how life worked, Daryl thought. How he had lived through so many things, seen so many people die, people he loved, and yet there he was. Beaten to death by a crazy asshole with his bat, with a bullet in his shoulder and his family watching him choke on his own blood.
"Paul" he croaked again, blood flooding from his mouth and down his chin. "Paul…"
This time, Maggie's sob was clearer. She was two persons away from him but somehow, the ring in his ears made it sound so damn close.
"Who's Paul? Does anyone knows a Paul? Are you Paul?" Negan asked, turning to the assembly.
Daryl blinked again, feeling his strength leave him quickly. His knees were already shaking, and with a sob, he reached the little pocket in his cargo pants and closed his hand around the golden ring he was keeping there.
"Gotta tell Paul" he choked, using his last strength to pull it out of his pocket, keeping it in his hand as firmly as he could. "I love him, gonna be okay"
He felt a warm hand slip into his, and he was vaguely aware of Michonne leaning against him, her face watered with tears. Her fingers closed around the golden ring resting against his palm; and he nodded as best as he could.
"We will, Daryl, we will."
He let go of the ring, then, because he knew she was going to do as she had told. She didn't even know a few seconds before, about him and Paul, and he wanted to laugh at that. Or cry. Only Maggie knew. Because Maggie knew everything. Because Daryl had been too afraid to tell everyone about them, no matter how much he loved the younger man more than his life. As if it mattered, now that he was loosing his mind and about to be beaten to death right there in a dirty forest.
"Ah, if this isn't sweet" groaned Negan, voice bleeding of the smile crossing his face. "Well, well. Now that this is done, where were we again?"
Daryl knew what was coming next, but he closed his eyes anyway. He didn't want to see his blood covering the dirt, he didn't want Negan to be the last thing he saw before closing his eyes forever. Time slowed, like if he was in a fucking cheesy movie his brother loved to watch when he wasn't high somewhere in the back of a club. Everything went blurry, voices, sounds and sobs were forgotten. Daryl could only smile when he recognize the place before him.
Paul turned around, smiling at him, love almost palpable when he got on his tiptoes to kiss him fully on the mouth.
"It's okay, Daryl. You're safe."
And with that, everything turned black.
Please don't hate me for this. I really, really needed some angst lately, and... well, I wrote some.
Don't hesitate to tell me if you liked it (or hate me, your pick), and the next chapter will be added soon, and will of course be from Paul's point of view on this whole thing.
(Also, for obvious reasons, which means for the good of this fanfic, I've extended the time from the moment they meet Paul to the moment Daryl dies. It's been several months now, Maggie is about six months pregnant. It wasn't really useful to this first chapter, but I feel like it's better for the character's development -Daryl wouldn't have kept that ring in his pocket if he had known Paul for two weeks, you know? So I figured 5 to 6 months would do just fine, and it doesn't actually change much except for the fact that Maggie's heavily pregnant and Paul and Daryl had the time to fall in love secretly, and develop a relationship.)
I hope you still enjoyed it though! xx
