Disclaimer: I don't own AMC's The Walking Dead. Everything belongs to whoever owns them, my wishful thinking aside.
Authors Note #1: Set post-season five, but before the beginning of season six with some past scenes in season one for good measure. This fic focuses on the daemon!trope, from "His Dark Material's" series, by Phillip Pullman. I recommend reading the wiki on the subject, but here is what is relevant for this story. *Dæmons are the physical manifestation of a person's 'inner-self'/soul that takes the form of an animal. Before puberty, children's dæmons can change form to become any creature, real or imaginary. During their adolescence a person's dæmon undergoes "settling," where the dæmon assumes the form of the animal which the person most resembles in character. Dæmons and their humans are almost always of different genders, except for homosexual characters which, are referenced as having a daemon on the same gender. Touching another person's daemon is strictly taboo and unless done with the full consent of both the daemon and the human, is a feeling akin to rape. It is acceptable between lovers but considered deeply intimate. A daemon and human can only be separated by a relatively small amount of space, so even if your daemon is a bird, they cannot fly far or high from their human counterpart.
Warnings: adult language, adult themes, fantasy-elements represented and discussed.
Spare me your life story (show me your soul instead)
He'd always found it interesting, watching how people reacted to seeing Carol's daemon.
It was one of those weird in-between cases where the result was both exactly what you'd expect, but at the same time completely fucking opposite. When they'd first met up at the Quarry camp and he'd caught a glimpse of Trelli quivering low between her feet - his dappled hyena fur thin and unhealthy - as her husband and his overlarge mosquito daemon sulked menacingly from the sidelines - it had made perfect sense. Male hyenas in the wild were the lowest of the low. Spending their lives getting the stuffing beaten out of them by the females and higher ranking males in the clan. Constantly fighting for what little status they could get, while always remaining below even the lowest ranked female or smallest female cub. And judging by her skittish eyes and the half-faded bruises that flirted with the ends of her short sleeves, he figured that at the end of the day woman and daemon at least made a pair.
It was hard to tell with daemons, but usually what you saw was what you got. Like Skandi, his brother's vulture daemon. Or Leena, Shane's massive brown and white-striped pit-bull. Daemons weren't the exact copy of the animal they portrayed, but rather a reflection of their human from the soul up. And frankly, if you took Carol and Trelli at face value – knowing about the bruises and midnight fights - most people would barely bat an eye.
He sure hadn't.
At least not at first.
The only reason he'd given her a second look was because his Dee had decided to get all nosy. He scowled at her the entire time. Telling her off under his breath, gutting a brace of hares as the woman and her daemon sat quietly together – sewing and shit. Watching her inch her way over to where Trelli was hiding underneath the shade of the RV canopy. Wolf nose wuff-wuffing with sedate, friendly interest as Trelli chittered nervously, head bowed low in submission.
They'd met eyes more than once like that, watching their daemons watch each other. Seeing the mirroring spark that'd started to grow in the back of her eyes as the days dragged on. Something that dared to ask...what if? What if?
Because the thing so many people forgot was that underneath that quivering mass of speckled fur and that pitching, off-kilter laugh was a cunning intellect and the most powerful jaws in the animal kingdom. Their bite alone could ramp up to a half a ton of force with stomachs that could withstand dissolving bone and even rotting meat. A survivor. A predator. A scavenger. A fighter. An animal uniquely designed to beat the odds.
So, yeah. To say he was interested, even way back then, was an understatement.
In spite of his best efforts he hadn't been able to leave her alone. Something Dee certainly did her fair share of crowing about it. Asshole. Silver-brown tail wap-wapping against the hard-packed dirt as she bared her teeth in a smile whenever she caught him looking. Frowning across the fire at her as Trelli kept a watchful eye on Sophia and Chell. The girl's daemon had been unsettled back then, flitting nervously between forms. But anyone and their dog could see that Chell favored deer. Prancing around in the sun as a young, white-speckled fawn that stuck close to either Trelli or Furia - Carl's daemon - whenever he could.
He would have bet, dollars to donuts, that if they'd made it, Chell would have settled on a white-tailed deer. Growing up into a tall, pretty-coated buck that would had been a sight to see, make no mistake. Only they didn't. They didn't get that chance. And the last time they'd seen Chell was curled up in the form of a ghost-pale Ermine around her neck as Sophia scrambled down the side of the road and took off into the forest.
"She's different," Dee whispered, the night before they set out on their hunt. Nosing into the sweat-slick of his neck as the soft sound of Jim and Nallie, his Great Horned Owl daemon hush-hushed through the long grass that ringed the camp. Talking quietly on watch, just as they always did. Even though Nallie herself hadn't said a word to any of the other daemons. Not even to Zia, Dale's daemon. Sticking close to his side like they were both nursing a broken wound – sullen and hurting.
"You don't know that," he grunted, unwilling to get into it - get invested - as he curled his hand under his pillow and stroked the cool curve of his Glock. "Ain't my fault you got a crush. That's 'yer business, not mine."
"She is," Dee hummed, nasal and annoying as she butted him with her freezing-ass nose until he turned around to face her. Knowing he wouldn't get any peace until he did. "You know it too, I know you do."
"And if she is? Then what?" he shot back, digging his fingers into the thick fur of her neck. Carding through it as he picked out a couple tangled burrs and flicked them out of sight. Scratching just like he knew she liked, as he went. "Got a husband. A kid. Ain't our business. Besides when Merle and Skandi come back from Atlanta, we're gonna have our hands full."
"We can't let them loot camp," Dee returned gently, huffing like his frustration was contagious as she stretched out beside him. "These people won't make it otherwise. They need us."
He didn't say anything after that.
But he didn't do a whole lot of sleeping either.
Then, predictably, before they could get any further, everything went straight to hell and suddenly what was left of them were running again. Only this time it was for the CDC – for answers. Merle and Skandi were gone – lost. But he still counted it as something whenever he caught Carol watching him from the sidelines, hands on her girl's shoulders as Dee and Trelli broached the space that existed between them in fractions of inches.
These days Trelli was a large male hyena in his prime. Muscled, healthy and with a chuckling, pitchy sort of laugh that made his lips pull up in a grudging half smile no matter when he heard it. He was cunning and smart – just like her - but still cowered low and submissive whenever Deanna and her black-maned lion, Matimba breezed by. Skittish and quiet as anything around the Alexandrians. Playing his part along with her as the two of them hid in plain sight, but picked play fights with Hubrand, Aaron's honey badger daemon and Kandi, Abraham's lazy bull-mastiff, like he'd been born fuckin' fine and fancy free. Lounging in the shade with Kanyen, Michonne's African Serval daemon and keeping a close eye on Judith and her daemon Leetan, whenever the pair were outside of the safety of their crib. Sleeping curled up every night with his Dee like it was the easiest thing ever and not the accumulation of years of slow-built trust and a mutual willingness to take a chance on someone else again.
He knew the feeling.
And frankly, he couldn't imagine his life without either of them in it anymore.
Even if it had been Dee who'd forced him into taking a second look.
A/N: Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. – This story is now complete. I wouldn't be opposed to making this into a series if people are interested, let me know.
Reference: Hyenas get a bad rap. I have watched like 450 different documentaries on this subject, I am informed and I will fight you.
Daryl: 'Dee' short for Delilah (wolf daemon, female)
Carol: 'Trelli' (spotted hyena daemon, male)
Ed: 'unnamed because no one cares' (mosquito daemon, female)
Merle: 'Skandi' (vulture daemon, female)
Shane: 'Leena' (brown and white-striped pitbull daemon, female)
Deanna: 'Matimba' (Black-maned Lion daemon, male)
Abraham: 'Kandi' (Bull-mastiff daemon, female)
Aaron: 'Hubrand' (Honey Badger daemon, male)
Michonne: 'Kanyen' (African Serval daemon, male)
Jim: 'Nallie.' (Great Horned Owl daemon, female)
Dale: 'Zia' (unmentioned daemon, female)
Sophia: 'Chell' (unsettled daemon but preferred deer form, male)
Carl: 'Furia' (unsettled daemon, unmentioned, female)
Judith: 'Leetan' (unsettled daemon, unmentioned, male)