prologue

"Humans are just… so strange."

Beth's voice was slow and thoughtful, and it felt like syrup in Daryl's ears. "I mean, once you get past all the weird little mannerisms, the thing that really gets me is how… they're basically designed ta feel. Every human has so many different emotions and thoughts at all times, and their brains are wired to accept every good thing possible – yet they experience so much pain in life. Some suffer so much, and survive, and then they're walking around with these extreme chemical imbalances and-and weird impulses, and memories that cause them physical pain, and damaged brains. It's so tragic and… incredible. At the same time."

He couldn't hold back a light chuckle as he raised the glass to his mouth to take another drink. "Ya talk about it like ya ain't human."

Daryl's mind was swimming from the booze they'd been sharing on the porch for the last couple of hours. He was in control and coherent as always, but he felt like he couldn't take his eyes off of Beth. She had a glow about her under the beaming stars, and her blue eyes were sparkling brighter than he could ever remember, and he couldn't recall a time when he'd been so hung up on another person's every word. Something about the way she spoke entranced him. And he couldn't stop watching the way her soft, pink lips curled smoothly at every word and smile.

She laughed quietly and took a sip from her glass. "It's just… observations. Stuff you end up thinkin' about."

"When?" He prodded, taking in her golden hair and shy smile once more while her eyes were looking away.

"I dunno," she mumbled before taking a longer drink.

Daryl smirked. "Yer gettin' a little drunk."

She shook her head and smiled like she had her own inside joke. "This stuff doesn't even affect me like you. I jus' like the taste."

He furrowed his brow and remained silent for a moment in confusion, then his voice got deeper as he became more serious. "Whadd'you mean?"

Her smile disappeared as she pursed her lips and Daryl silently urged her to look at him and explain her odd comment, but she continued staring at her glass. "What if I told you somethin'… that sounded really, really ridiculous. But I promised you it was true, even if you thought I was crazy…?"

Daryl quirked a brow, intrigued. "Like those damaged brains you were just talkin' 'bout?"

Beth's lips tugged at a smirk but failed and her voice came out soft and hesitant. "Yeah."

"I guess I'd ask fer some proof, but… what reason do I got not ta believe ya?"

"What if I told you," she started, her eyes finally flitting up to meet his for a heartbeat, "that I'm not from here?"

The alcohol put Daryl's mind in a goofier state, and his reflexive reaction was to jokingly answer, "What, like yer from Canada or somethin'? Are you illegal?"

He expected at least a smile from her, but her face remained stoic, her tone flat. "No… a lot farther away."

His smile disappeared and he tried to read her, tried to guess what she was attempting to tell him. But she was impossible to figure out. She always had been. "Okay. Where?"

He tried to convey to her that he didn't care what her secret was and that he just wanted her to tell him. He'd told her so many things in their time together that he figured he probably owed her at least a couple hours of venting time. But he was also genuinely curious at what she could've been keeping from him. She had seemed like such an open book, and if there was anything he admired about her, it was her honesty. Raw and real, consistent and without fail.

"What if I told you," she started again, speaking a bit louder and making a point to enunciate her words clearly, "that I crossed… galaxies… to get here…?"

Her bright blue eyes had looked up again to meet his, glinting in the moonlight, and he stared intently into them. He studied her, wracking his brain. Was he dreaming right now? Was this the alcohol? She returned his stare with a completely straight face, and then he saw a flicker of fear and doubt cross her features.

He knew she'd never lie to him. Somehow, he just knew.

He responded with the only words he could think to put together. "How many galaxies?"

A/N: This was originally posted as a photo+blurb on Tumblr about a year ago, and then a lot of people showed interest in it, and THEN I got a weird and sudden burst of inspiration and made like, an outline of the plot and I thought up a whole backstory and did some research to support it, and I even thought of an ending. And then I got even more inspiration and began writing the first chapter.
However, there won't be any smut (sorry), and it won't be super long, probably 10-15 chapters, maybe 100k words at completion. Also, it will be Beth and Daryl in an already established relationship - like, dating without the label, already fallen in love with each other but not quite "moved in together" kinda thing. We will see a lot of scenes from their developing relationship, as the timeline will jump back and forth for like half the story.

I hope y'all enjoy it. I won't be posting on any particular schedule, and Most Wanted will still take precedence, but this plot bunny was TOO fun for me to ignore. Chapter 1 will be posted soon. Let me know what you think!

As always, this story has a Pinterest board (currently in inspo mode), and is cross-posted to AO3 with photos.