Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead.

I Am Strong

Beth was 19 when the outbreak happened, a baby-faced college freshman home on her first summer break. She had been studying music education at UGA and at that time her biggest struggle had been whether or not to break up with her sweet, but painfully dim boyfriend back home. The thought of Jimmy brought a quick but dull pain to her chest. She didn't know if it was better that he died under the illusion that she loved him or if it was worse that he died believing a lie. She never said the words to him, but it seemed that he and everyone else around them had concocted this picturesque love story about them. The sweet Southern belle falls for the simple hometown country boy and they get married, have babies, and die within months of each other because their hearts just couldn't go on. It was bullshit. They had only been together for a few months and she hadn't even really had to chance to figure out who she was and what she wanted before the world ended and then suddenly she was just stuck. Stuck in a relationship she didn't want, stuck in a lie about everyone she loved, and stuck with a label she couldn't stand.

There was a sign above her head that read, "Beth Greene, 20, Fragile. Weak. May break. Needs protection." Everyone in the group saw it, understood it, and heeded it. Her father and sister treating her like glass was unnecessary but at the very least understandable. She was the baby of the family, a family that already lost too much and no one wanted her to be the next casualty. However, she thought that she might have had different luck with the others, people who had no blood relation to her but that eventually became family nonetheless. Beth thought that maybe with these people she would be treated as an adult, but that was just a pipedream. They had seen the sign after all. That was just about all they had seen. It was all he had seen too. As if her life wasn't difficult enough, Beth had the misfortune of falling irrevocably in love with Daryl Dixon. Of all the stupid things that she has done in her life, this just about has to be the worst. To be fair, she didn't even notice that it was happening until one day she looked up him and boom that was it. The whole thing kind of snuck up on her and she just isn't prepared to be in love with a man twice her age who has no clue she exists beyond being Judith's caretaker. Beth suffers in silence, watching as Carol gets more and more close to breaking down Daryl's walls and sneaking into his heart. She dreads the day that it happens because she knows with every fiber of her being that once Daryl falls in love that would be it, he would never love another woman. That was just the type of man he was, and the whole situation leaves a bad taste in her mouth because she has grown to hate Carol.

As the thought crosses her mind, Beth immediately feels ashamed because how can she hate her family? If her father knew of her true feelings she knows he would be disappointed in her. Beth was raised to work hard for what she wanted and when defeat was inevitable, she should accept it with grace. Hating another woman for being the object of affection for a man she had no claim to was anything but graceful. So, Beth resolved to change herself. She would no longer be spiteful. She would no longer be invisible. She would no longer be weak. At the end of the day, when everyone else sneaks off into their dark corners of the prison with their significant others, all Beth has is herself. She has to learn to be okay with being alone with herself. The problem is Beth has no idea how to survive in this world. She can kill walkers behind a fence, but that's it. She became a mother to Judith mere hours after the girl was born and was relegated to that role ever since. Beth has never been taught how to fight or how to scavenge for food and supplies. She has never even been on a run. More than anything, Beth has to find a teacher…Daryl is clearly out, not that he would even bother with her in the first place. Her father and sister are very clearly not an option, this now extending to Glenn as well. Rick would never do anything to unnecessarily upset her father and Carl is too young. The idea that Carl is given more responsibilities than her, rubs Beth the wrong way. He is young and irrational, filled with anger towards any and every one. Yet, he is tasked with protecting the prison and its occupants…fucking ludicrous. Her only and best option has to be Michonne. She understands how to survive in this world as a woman, has been dealt the cruelest hand and somehow beat the demons that nip her heels. With everything that she's lost, Michonne has never tried to kill herself because there is not a weak bone in her body, and that is how Beth needs to be. With that her mind is made up, and Beth resolves to approach Michonne tonight during her guard, where no one can overhear their conversation and try to put a stop to her quest.

During dinner, Beth makes sure that she's as invisible as ever. The less attention she draws to herself now, the easier it will be to sneak away without anyone questioning her later. The task isn't nearly as difficult as she expects. Judith is with Rick and Carl, as he has finally begun accepting his role as her father and is making more of an effort to spend time with his children as a family. Maggie sits off to the side with Glenn, their heads close together and soft grins settling across their faces as they whisper to one another. Daddy retired to bed early, he won't say it but I know he feels that phantom pain from losing his leg. And of course, Beth knows exactly where Daryl is, it seems that she could find him in crowd of thousands, she only wishes she couldn't. He is where he always seems to be these days, sitting across from Carol. The two of them talking amongst themselves, a rare grin passing across his face every now and then. She thinks that there is nothing as beautiful as when Daryl grins, when he allows himself to feel joy without consequence. Selfishly, Beth wishes it was her that brought that side of him out, that only she was responsible for making him whole again after years of abuse and self-loathing, only she is not and can never be. On that thought, she quietly stands from her spot on the stairs and with one last quick glance around the room, she exits the prison and makes her way towards the guard tower that Michonne keeps watch in.

As she walks up the steps, Beth makes sure to make as much noise as possible to alert Michonne to her presence, and when she opens the door the woman's eyes are already set on her. With a quiet hello, she makes her way across the room and stands next to Michonne against the window. They stand in companionable silence for some time before Beth gathers the courage to address the elephant in the room. Staring out across the woods surrounding the prison, she decides the best option is to just cut to the chase, so with a quick breath she declares, "I want you to train me." As the words trail off her lips, Beth takes a chance and glances at the woman to her right, but Michonne has her gaze trained towards the outside world, searching for any threats. It takes everything she has to not speak again, to go off on some tangent about how she's tired of being treated like a child, but that is what a child would do and Beth has resolved to change. So with the knowledge that Michonne heard her, she turns her own eyes back towards the woods once again and waits. Michonne finally speaks, after what felt like hours but that could have only been minutes, "Why do you want me to train you?" The question seems logical enough, but something tells me she already knows the answer. Nevertheless, if it's the truth she wants, Beth will give her every bit. She takes a few moments to gather her thoughts, knowing that she needs to articulate her feelings without sounding crazy.

"I made a choice once, to opt out, after the group came upon our barn and shot up everyone I knew. My daddy had made me believe that there was a cure, that the walkers weren't dead only very sick. He made me think there was a chance that my momma and brother would come back to me. Then I watched them spill out of the barn, rotten as anything and my world ended. Ran over to my momma thinking I saw just her die, and then she attacked me. My own mother tried to rip the flesh from my bones, and I knew in that moment that I never wanted to die that way." She could feel Michonne's eyes on her, fully ensconced in the story she was weaving. Beth paused, fiddling with the bracelets around her wrists before slowly pulling them off, one by one. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Everyone put me on some quasi suicide watch, refusing to let me even have the choice to live or die by my own terms. Andrea knew better than anyone about having your choices taken away from you, so she gave mine back. I shattered my bathroom mirror, took up a piece of glass like Jesus taking up his cross, and I slit my wrist. The minute I made the cut I knew that I didn't want to die. Despite knowing my odds, I knew that I wanted to try to make it for as long as I could. After that, it was as if everyone put me in this box and shoved me way up on the very top shelves of their minds."

Her hands are clenching the railing at this point, unable to relinquish the frustration she feels at being shoved aside and forgotten. "They look at me as if I'm some feeble-minded child, and I'm not. I stopped being a child the minute the blood flowed from my wrist. I chose to live, and now no one will let me. So what was the point of it all? I am invisible." Michonne tries to interrupt her at this point, but Beth cuts her off viciously. "Don't insult me by trying to deny it Michonne. Maggie is playing house with Glenn, Daddy has his own troubles, Rick has suddenly decided to be a father again so there goes Judith, and Daryl—" Beth's voice cracks at the mention of his name, and suddenly she senses that the other woman gets it. Michonne grabs one of her hands, unclenches it from the railing, and wraps her fingers around her own. "You're in love with him." It's simply stated, no question mark punctuating the end because there really is no question. Tears spring to her eyes as Beth can do nothing but nod an affirmation. "And Daryl and Carol…?" Michonne trails off, the question lingering in the space between them.

"You would have to be blind to not acknowledge the bond that they have. He doesn't love her yet, but he will. Every day she comes closer to breaking down his walls, two tortured souls helping each other heal. Fucking poetry at world's end." She can't help but spit this bitterly, but Beth has held these feelings in for far too long. "In his mind, I am weak. Just another ward under his care, another mouth to feed. That's how they all see me, though they'll pretend otherwise, I can see through the pretenses. I don't want to be this way, that's why I need you to train me because I'll never survive on my own. I'm just making it right now, and this is sure as hell not the life I chose when I decided to live." Beth turns to look Michonne directly in the eyes, the first time in their entire conversation, "So will you help me?" This time she doesn't hesitate, Michonne only replies with a gently squeeze of their hands and an affirmative "Yes." And so her metamorphosis began.

Michonne wakes her every morning at dawn, the empathetic woman from their heart to heart replaced with a drill sergeant, for which Beth is grateful. She isn't looking to be coddled, she is looking to be molded into the warrior she needs to be. Michonne has her start off her training with running laps around the prison, and afterwards strength training. She is doing more squats, pushups, and pull-ups than she has ever done throughout her collective 20 years of life. These exercises are all done in the shroud of morning fog, when the inhabitants of the prison are still sleeping warmly in their beds. When Michonne decides that Beth's stamina and strength has vastly improved, her training takes a violent turn. She is learning hand-to-hand combat in addition to weaponry because the world hasn't changed that much, and men are still threats against women, even more so now that the country is ungoverned. Michonne never takes it easy on her, and more often than not Beth limps her way back to the showers, littered in bruises and blood. During the nights Michonne has watch, Beth comes and keeps her company and the woman tells her stories about the things she has seen on the road. The thought being to introduce Beth to the evils that she never once thought possible, to show her the real world. On these nights, she never sleeps. The days come where Beth is winning more than Michonne is, and no one is more shocked than herself. Turns out that being small and lithe, makes her faster and more agile than most of her opponents and what she lacks in strength she makes up for in wit and speed.

When Michonne has gone through every possible dangerous scenario, she decides it's time to kick Beth's training up to the penultimate level. Their early morning trainings are traded for meetings in the pitch dark, where Michonne brings walkers for Beth to practice killing. For the first time, she has to kill one without the safety of a fence to bolster her confidence. Michonne picked an older walker, clearly much slower and less vicious than the others surrounding the prison at this time. It is an easy kill, but the second she pulls the knife back from the man's head she is struck with an innate sense of joy. At Michonne's questioning look, Beth tries to explain how the kill is affecting her. "I'm happy because my training has progressed to this point, but I'm also happy because I did something meaningful right then. I laid his body to rest, so that his soul may also. He could have been killed by someone who would disrespect what he once was, but instead I gave him peace. There's a tragic beauty to it, I guess is what I've realized." As she trails off, Beth is positive that Michonne thinks she some sort of psycho, but instead her friend just grabs her hand and squeezes before letting go with a small smile.

Beth progresses with every session, killing bigger and nastier walkers every night and before she realizes it, Michonne declares her ready to go on her first run. The next morning, Rick asks for volunteers to go out that afternoon. Daryl and Michonne volunteer, as is expected, and Carol, Glenn, and Maggie soon follow. Just as Rick goes to end the meeting, Michonne steps forward and declares that Beth should go on the run as well. Within seconds, the room explodes in chaos, with one person scrambling over another to shout six ways to Sunday all the reasons why Beth is a liability and shouldn't even go near to prison gates. Her eyes meet Michonne's and she knows that the woman finally grasps just how weak everyone believes her to be, but they don't know shit about her, they never did. Setting her jaw, Beth moves to grasp her pistol and releases a warning shot into the air. The voices finally cease and everyone in the room turns to look at where the shot came from, shock settling when the see it was from her. "I know that y'all believe that I am incapable of doing anything besides be a glorified housekeeper, but I would take this moment to inform y'all that I am anything but. Michonne has been training me for months and she says I'm ready, so I'm going on this run. I don't give a damn whether you agree or not, it isn't your decision." With that, she turns on her heel and heads towards her cell to prepare for her upcoming run.

Beth had about two minutes to herself before Maggie barged into her cell with their father meandering in behind her. Maggie shouts all kinds of ignorant things before giving into her own frustration at Beth's lack of response and storming off leaving Daddy behind. He and I look at each other for a split second before identical grins cross our faces. He sobers up relatively quickly and when he begins to speak, Beth pays rapt attention. "Bethy, I confess to not understanding your desire to train with Michonne when you first came to me, but after seeing the reactions today, well, I get it now. I don't much like the idea of you putting yourself in danger, but I trust you and Michonne and I know that you can't be my little girl forever." Tears well before Beth launches herself at her father and wraps her arms around his neck. Nestling her head into the crook of his neck, she whispers, "Thank you Daddy. For finally seeing me as the woman I am, not the girl I used to be. I love you." When her father leaves a few minutes later, Beth straps on all her knives and guns, some blatantly obvious and others hidden out of sight. Michonne swings by her cell and Beth greets her as they walk together toward the gates where the others are waiting.

It's been decided that Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, and Beth will ride in the car while Daryl and Carol ride together on his motorcycle. While she expected nothing less, seeing Carol wrap her arms tightly around Daryl's stomach sends a shot of pure fire right through her heart. Michonne, seeing Beth's reaction, does nothing but grab her hand again and squeeze before letting go. That has become their thing, the two of them needing nothing more to communicate than a brief touch or a meeting of their eyes. Michonne has become Beth's best friend over their many hours together, no question about it as she is hers. No soul on earth knows more about either of them than each other. Beth averts her eyes from the window, holds her head up high and stares straight ahead as the car starts moving.

AN: I was originally going to write more about the run and so on, but I've had this far written for weeks and it just really felt like a great point to stop. Daryl and Beth are always gonna be endgame, but this piece was just more about Beth and her transformation than it was about trying to make it a romance between the two, even though in my head that is the next progression! It also leaves the door open to write a continuation if I ever get the chance and inspiration So I hope y'all enjoyed.