"I know you lost something back there."
Three weeks Rick had said. As though he hadn't counted every day since they'd been separated.
As if he hadn't spent every second of the day reliving those last precious moments they spent together.
"Oh."
How he couldn't bring himself to move, only watch as she stepped out of his grasp and the safety of the group. watched as the bullet tore through her flaxen hair, blood coating the back of her head.
"I know you lost something back there."
Rick didn't know shit. Sure Rick had lost his wife, Lori, The mother of his children. Daryl? Daryl had not just lost a partner. Daryl had lost his everything. He'd lost his light, his best friend, his other half, his better half.
Beth had been everything he wasn't. She was soft, kind, helpful, beautiful. A light in this dark world. She was the most beautiful song, the greatest work of art. She didn't just help him survive, she helped him live.
He hadn't just lost something.
Daryl had lost everything.
…
The day was hot, they always were. Water was scarce and yet someone, a friend, had left them plenty.
His mouth was dry yet he couldn't bring himself to drink. Couldn't bring himself to do much of anything besides the minimum
Maggie had shut down upon seeing him exit the 'hospital', only eating and drinking because Glenn told her to. He had no one to look out for him that way, just like Beth had no one to look for her after she had been taken.
The irony was that she hadn't needed anyone to do that, she took care of herself, she was tough. He hadn't believed her when she'd first screamed it at him but when he started looking at her, really looking at her. He saw that not only could she could take care of herself, she had been.
She wasn't Carol, she wasn't Maggie, she wasn't Michonne, she was Beth Greene and she had made it. That was until he had come into her life, he believed with all his heart that had he not been separated with her after the prison that she would have made it. That she would have lived.
Beth had always been the stronger of the Greene girls.
It was Glenn who shook him from his thoughts, demanding that he drink something, that he needed to drink something.
Glenn needed to shut the hell up and mind his own damn business.
"Goin' ta look fer water" he mumbled to Abraham, the former sergeant, a man he still didn't care for. Before disappearing into the foliage
...
The hunter stumbled out the trees onto a long forgotten dirt road, the shack in the
distance echoed of another, burned to the ground, it did nothing to soothe his
aching heart or extinguish the memories that burned in his mind. The ghost of
her memory followed him everywhere. His tired body gave out on him as he
collapsed under the shade of the large oak, digging through the pockets of his
battered he grabbed the stale tobacco. With a shaky hand he lit the paper, praying the sweet nicotine would soothe his aching heart. A previously favorite form of relief, did nothing to help the empty, hollow feeling.
Pulling the cigarette from his mouth, he it twirled it between his finger, contemplating. So much of his life had changed. She had done all of that. He continued to stare at
the burning cylinder as he heard soft light steps approaching him. He felt as
though he had floated out of his body, watching as he extinguished the glowing cherry on his hand. Pressing it deeper and deeper into the calloused and scarred skin, hoping to feel something. Anything.
The sun was blocked out for a moment, and her heard the rustle of clothing. A soft, feminine sigh was released. Peeking up through his bangs he watched as she, silhouetted from the sun, crouched down in front of him. Tormenting him with a presence he knew was only in his over active, over tired, imagination.
"Why would you do this to yourself Daryl?" she asked, taking his injured hand into her own. She had the sweetest voice and softest touch.
"Miss you" he mumbled, voice raspy from tears that had yet to fall.
A gentle hand moved from his own up to his chin, tilting it so he was looking right into those beautiful eyes, eyes the colour of the sky.
"Do you remember the last thing I said to you that night?" he shrugged not wanting to think about that godforsaken night. "Tell me Daryl, what did I say to you?"
"Not gonna leave you."
"That's right , I'm not gonna leave you. And I meant it Daryl. I'll always be with you. Always." she said placing a hand over his heart.
"Beth" he groaned his own hand hovering near her face.
"I'm not gonna leave you Daryl" she said before pressing her lips to his. The kiss nothing but a gentle breeze as she disappeared from sight.