I don't own The Walking Dead okay? I know I have not updated in awhile and I should be updating one of my multi-chapters everyone seems to be loving but after seeing Beth get shot and Daryl crying there, I had to do this kind of Bethyl tribute fic. I know it may not be very long but Bethyl is for life! Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!
In this world of Walkers, land of the living dead, there are so many things that never could or would have happened in the old world. Things I have never seen, despite the type of life I lived before the world turned, still amaze me to this day. I know I don't seem like it, but some of the people, places and things I have seen haunt me even now. But yeah, I never thought I would be valued by a cop like Rick, (aka Officer Friendly as Merle would call him.) Hershel and Glenn. I mean, sure I may have been the group's kind of enforcer, but I guess I am that type of guy anyway. Hell I was even on the council while we were trying to make a go of life at the prison. Me, a guy with a criminal record who couldn't even own a gun before the dead started eating the living. I mean before no one gave two fucks about me and wouldn't give me a chance to prove that I am not just a piece of paper in the records of the Georgia Department of Corrections. And I never thought that a girl with such a good heart and pure soul would care for me, and even once more that I would care back for her.
Angel wings always seemed to follow me in one way or another. Merle laughed when I got that vest with those wings on the back. He said it didn't seem to suit me and I was trying to be something I was not and living a lie. "Who are you trying to kid? You are more of a demon than an angel." Was something that he would always say to me when I put the vest on. I really didn't care. All I thought was that it looked pretty bad-ass. God knows that I am no sissy romantic poet type when it comes to shit like love. I am just a simple man who non longer can stand the thought of a pig roast. (Hey, being a redneck in Georgia, that is a huge deal. You kill the pig right there at the party and when you are nearly killed and roasted like that pig, you tend not to like pig roasts anymore.)
But rather than caring about being slaughtered and roasted like a hog, caring that my beloved crossbow that seems is a part of me in everyone's eyes was beyond my reach, there was one thing (or should I say person) I could even give two shits about and made me want to kick those motherfucker's ass and that was a blonde angel by the name of Beth Greene. And what the fuck of it is that I would never have met this angel if not for those Walkers. Now isn't that a nice way to open a story? "Where did you meet your gal?" "Oh I met her at her house while Walkers were eating everyone and then the prison we were living at got attacked by a crazy guy who thought he was a governor or Snake Plisskin and we escaped together." Yeah really romantic. Yet maybe it is good to be found in the worst. I knew her old man, Hershel, said that all the time. Never really sunk in until now. He was the wise man who held us all together and helped us forge ahead without losing our souls. He claimed one could keep their soul even in the worst of times when you had to do the worst of things. I mean when I looked for Sophia and all that I have done, Hershel said he knew I was a good person deep down inside. Hell, if that Governor bastard hadn't cut off his head, I think that Hershel would see me as worthy enough to care about Beth. (I mean Glenn and Maggie started off just fucking each other. Glenn doesn't think I don't know but I have been around the block a few times myself. Anyway Hershel thought Glenn worthy of Maggie.) I mean I never saw our age as being much of an issue. All I knew her was as a beautiful, sweet, caring and smart young woman. Besides in times like this, age doesn't mean shit. 100 years ago no one would even blink at our ages. I need to forget about that anyway; it's too late to worry about what could have been now. Beth went back to her father. That angel has flown to Heaven. Nothing good can stay.
I have seen that angel go from a scared girl to a strong and independent woman. She would always say she and Maggie were totally different and Maggie was the strong one but she never could either accept or understand strength comes in different forms. I can respect a woman who keeps her soul when Hell is all around her. I know how she acted back at the farmhouse made her feel bad, but we all have to start somewhere. But when that dumb bitch Dawn's gun shot her, I had had it. But instead of heading up and knifing her in the gut and leaving her to die, I seemed to care more about Beth than I did killing Dawn. I mean Rick had seen to that. (Not to mention as a fellow cop before the Walkers, he had his own code to follow on things like that.) I took Beth out of that hostile hospital and tried to keep my composure. I mean I am Daryl Dixon and while I had a reputation to protect, Beth was my world. She was the only thing I cared about finding her and then to see her shot like that, either on purpose or by accident, was just too much for me to take. I kept trying to tell myself, Stay cool Dixon, stay cool. I mean Maggie was outside and still wasn't completely at terms with the Governor cutting her father's head off like some terrorist in a video in front of her face. If the best woman you would ever know (and I am not going to down Carol, but I didn't feel the same for her, she was more of a mother figure) is lying dead in your arms like a life size doll, staying cool is no longer possible. Fuck that shit. Maybe it is like what Tara said that crying together helps. I don't know. She even tried saying that when I cried, it was okay for the world to. All I can say is Tara has a way of looking at things... But yeah, sorry Maggie, I couldn't save your sister even though she was the last member of your family left.
And while I don't think much of that wimpy priest Gabriel, I do appreciate him eulogizing Beth. I made damn sure I was the one that dug the grave. Alone. Glenn wanted to help but I told him his duty was to Maggie. He is her husband. Beth was only an in-law. Maggie was going though about as much Hell as I was and I wanted to make sure she could have an easier ride that I was. Besides I owed it to Beth that I was the one who laid her to her final rest. Somehow I always thought that she would be the one putting me in the ground. More people wanted to kill me than her. I never wanted to see her go before me. This world was not meant for angels. At least now she can go back to that big farmhouse in the sky with her old man waiting for her to arrive. (I am kinda sounding like Gabriel and Tara now, fuck it.) At least she is with her old man again. Beth, even though I never got to say it, even though I could not grow a pair and tell you myself, I loved you and I will always miss you. Be the best goddamned angel in heaven and tell your dad I said "Hi" and "Thanks a lot dude". Tell him also that Daryl Dixon loved you. I will always miss you and always love you. Beth I am sorry I couldn't have saved you, but knowing you, you held your own till the end. I can't say it enough but I love you. Now you can rest as I place you in your final bed. See ya on the other side Beth.