Chapter 2: Dark Wings

Daenerys

She heard the screech from the air, a great sound that broke the silence and caught the attention of the entire group. Dany saw Drogon flying in from the distance, at first as a big, black shadow until the dragon had come close enough to land. The group had immediately drawn their weapons upon hearing the sound, it had caused an uneasy feeling to the people, but Dany felt her heart soften upon seeing him flying towards her.

"What the hell is that?" She heard Daryl say very nervously when the dragon was barely visible.

"Oh my god," Dany heard from a woman nearby. It was scream of pure terror which made the men aim their weapons at Drogon.

"Is that a dragon?" Carl asked surprisingly calm.

Drogon was now in full view flying over the group, his dark shadow acting as if night had come. "Everyone hide!" Rick yelled ready to shoot.

"No!" Dany screamed out.

Drogon still flew above the group observing the scene. "We have to kill it!" Glenn shouted to the men.

"No please!" Dany pleaded, "He won't hurt you!"

Jon had come to Daenerys side trying to calm her down, but she persisted. "Rick listen to me; he won't hurt you! Stop pointing that thing at him." Dany's tone had become commanding; she was acting like the queen she once was.

"That thing will kill us! Move back." Rick told her firmly.

"Rick, Daryl," Jon began with a loud voice grabbing their attention, "He won't hurt you, I swear it."

"No, everyone ready your weapons!" Rick yelled as he saw Drogon coming in for a landing. Dany ran in front of the weapons pointed at her, she wouldn't let them harm her child. He was damaged enough from the battle. Before he could land, she heard Carl start talking. "Dad listen to her, she's telling the truth." Carl lowered his gun and lowered his father's gun, the whole group then lowered their weapons as they saw Drogon had finally landed.

"Drogon," Dany said sweetly as he landed. The ground shook as the dragon landed making everyone even more nervous. Drogon put his head towards Daenerys, smoke emitted from his nostrils as Dany began to pet his snout.

"What in God's name," She heard Rick whisper from behind.

No one said anything, their eyes were fixated upon Daenerys and Drogon with terror and complete wonder. "Don't be afraid," Dany began, "He won't hurt you." Dany could feel eyes were on her, but somehow it made her feel more like the queen she once was. "This is Drogon, he is my son." She told them. Still no one said a word.

It about a minute later before Carl broke the silence, "Who are you?" Carl asked smiling.

Daenerys felt empowered at that moment, it was the same feeling she felt whenever her dragons had first hatched. "I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, I'm the Mother of Dragons."

"Mother of what?" Glenn asked.

Dany saw Carl walking towards her, he dropped his gun on the ground as he made his way over to her. "Carl, get back here." Rick said in a whisper, no doubt thinking Drogon would hurt him. Carl didn't listen, instead he continued on until he was in front of Dany. "May I pet him?" He asked. Dany gave him a quick nod before she turned around to face Drogon.

"Pet him here," Dany said gesturing to his snout. Carl had followed her orders and smiled as he pet Drogon. The dragon growled in response making Carl back away, but Dany assured him he was fine. "Don't worry, that's just Drogon's version of purring." Dany said laughing. The remark had made Carl smile and he continued to pet the dragon.

"I think he likes you," Dany told him while smiling. She was happy all of a sudden, it was something she never she would feel again.

"I hope so," he said in response. Carl turned around and smiled at the crowd, "Guys, I just touched a dragon!"

"Good, now get back here." Rick told him still nervous. "We can't have that thing here Dae... Daen… Da—,"

"Daenerys," Dany finished for him. "Please Rick, he won't hurt you I swear, not unless he feels threatened."

"He can protect this group," Jon said helping Dany. She gave him a smile of appreciation.

"Please dad!" Carl said practically begging. "It's so big! It can eat anyone we want."

"There's already enough of that Carl," Rick told him. Rick walked around and shook his head thinking of what to do. "Does anybody have something to say?" He asked. There were a few voices whispering to each other, but no one responded. Dany noticed more people had gathered to see this beast for themselves.

"Then I guess he can't stay," Rick told her.

Dany couldn't send Drogon away, she would never do that. "Fine." Dany said firmly, "If he goes then so do I." She told him.

"Dany please don't, we don't even know where we are." Jon pleaded.

"He is my son, I will never leave him."

"Dad that's her son, you can't tell a mother to leave her son."

"That's a dragon Carl," Rick told him, "And you never told me about this." Rick said looking at Dany and Jon.

"We didn't know how you'd react to it." Jon told him honestly.

"Don't send her away Rick," Daryl suddenly said. "Don't send either of them away." Daryl looked to Dany and gave her hopeful eyes. Rick stopped, thinking for a few more moments.

"Fine." Rick finally said, "But if I catch him hurting anyone, I will put him down myself." Just like that Rick walked away, the whole group was still in shock not knowing how to react to the dragon. Drogon opened his wings and flew off into the distance again. Dany watched him fly until she couldn't see him anymore before turning back to the crowd.

"So you have a dragon," Glenn stated to her, or rather the silent crowd.

"So cool," Carl told her whiling smiling.

"Where did you guys say you guys from again?" Glenn asked.

Daryl

The woman was so strange as she stood next to that beast she called a son. Once the dragon flew away, Daryl felt himself let out a sigh of relief. "You were going to show us to our rooms my lady, "Jon told Maggie.

"My lady?" Maggie laughed loudly, "Boy you two are really strange." She said smiling. "I mean no offense."

"Sorry, it's term of curtesy in Westeros," Jon told her.

Daryl watched as Maggie showed Jon and Dany to their room, or rather their prison cell. Daryl wondered if the two kids were a couple, they both were so different in their own way, but they didn't seem like they were together. His thoughts were still towards the dragon, Daryl wondered what the dragon ate, how it got here, and so many other things about these new members. Jon was particularly strange dressed in heavy black clothing with a great sword hanging around his waist, Daryl thought they just come from a Halloween party. But the way the pair acted suggested otherwise, it was too real to be fake.

The redneck made his way back inside the prison where he found the group all in one room. He didn't see Dany or Jon anywhere so he knew Rick would be asking for opinions about them. "Where are they?" Daryl asked Beth who was sitting with Judith in her lap.

"Maggie just showed them to their cells, I think they're resting." She told him. Daryl nodded and turned his attention back to the meeting.

"Alright," Rick began, "What are your thoughts about them?" Many voices began each talking with each other until Glenn spoke up, "I like them," he said.

"They are both really sweet, but I think something bad happened to them." Maggie stated.

"What makes you say that?" Rick asked her.

"I don't know, I just think there's more to them then we think."

"You think they're bad people?" He asked her seriously.

"No," Maggie said, "Not at all."

There was more mumbling amongst the others, Daryl could see Rick was still nervous about letting Jon and Dany stay with them. "I don't know if I will let them stay forever," Rick said rubbing his temple, "We don't even know where they came from."

"Dad," Carl said slowly, "I think they were sent here to protect us. I don't know how, but they came to us. Dany and Jon, and even Drogon came to the prison for us."

Rick looked down at Carl, he was wearing his old sheriff hat which made Rick smile a little bit. Daryl saw Rick's expression lighten up, he knew Carl had talked his way into letting the two strangers stay with them. "Meetings over," Rick shouted. The group went back to doing their daily chores and Daryl went off to check on Dany and Jon. "You two doing alright?" He asked when he found them leaning against the stair railing. He noticed Dany was still in her white dress, Daryl tried not to stare too long at her, but he was mesmerized by her.

She gave him a light smile, "We're fine thank you Daryl," she said with a foreign accent. It wasn't like anything he'd ever heard before, but he liked the sound of it. "May I ask why you all reside here in this… well what is this?" She asked him.

Daryl knew for certain something was definitely strange. How can someone not know what a prison is? How can she not know they didn't have any other choice? "A prison," he said bluntly. Jon was leaning against the railing staring down, his face was straight and gave indication as to what was on his mind. Daryl shrugged it off, he wasn't one to invade someone else's space or get involved in their issues, but something drew him closer to these two. He must've been standing there a little too long, he saw Jon look up and stare him straight in the eyes. He didn't say anything, but Daryl knew there was something very wrong. "You alright?" He asked. Jon looked to the floor again as if he was hiding something. Finally, the man spoke.

"We won't stay here long," he said looking at Daryl, "We have to go back home."

"Our home is gone," Dany said to the both of them. "Everything we had and ever loved is gone. There is nothing to go back to, we're better off here." Dany said sadly.

"There's still a chance," Jon told her.

"A slim chance."

"Better than nothing. I can't live with myself if someone in my family is still alive and I'm not around to protect them." Jon said loudly.

"They killed everyone Jon! Our home is gone, but we are not; we've been sent here for a reason."

"Sent here? I never wanted this, any of it. If I knew this would happen when I followed you, I wouldn't have done it." Jon told her loudly. Dany's face cringed a little, the comment seemed to upset her.

"I see," Daenerys said as she began to walk away. The young girl looked very saddened by his words, but she held her head high and walked down the stairs. Jon let out a sigh, his face softened and he looked a bit guilty about what he said. The young man shook his head and went inside his prison cell where he didn't come out until the morning.

xxxx

Daryl picked up a rusted steel pipe and made his way over to the fence. The sun hadn't yet risen making the sky a mixture of oranges and pinks. It was Daryl's favorite time to be out, he specifically picked the morning to watch the sunrise. There was something about it that made him feel better, more relaxed. When he reached the fence, there was only ten walkers spread throughout the area. Each walker immediately noticed him and began to growl and moan, they shoved their hands through the fence trying to reach for him but Daryl jabbed the pipe through each one's head. Soon enough, more walkers arrived from all the commotion, but luckily enough, they came at a reasonable pace. Daryl continued on his routine when he heard someone calling his name. He turned around and saw it was Dany headed his way. She had changed from her white dress into a pair of black jeans with a loose blue top.

"What are you doing?" She asked completely puzzled.

"Taking out these walkers," he told her as he killed another through the fence.

"Has your world always been like this?" She asked him.

"Nope," he said.

He turned around when there weren't any more walkers at the fence. He pulled down the bandanna he wore to protect his face and looked at Dany. Daryl was a bit nervous by her presence, he had no idea what to say her. He had always been terrible at talking with people, especially women. Dany observed the prison, she focused her attention to the fence then back to Daryl. The two both stood in silence, but surprisingly enough, Daryl broke it. "Are you really not from here?" He asked her. It was hard to believe that she and Jon teleported from another world, but then again the dead were eating the living in this world. Daryl believed anything was possible now.

"Yes, I know I am not because our worlds are so different." She said staring at him. "We never had this," she said gesturing to the dead walkers. "Not at least until the end."

This had Daryl more curious, he wanted to know what she meant by that. "What was your world like?"

"Beautiful, dangerous, mysterious, I can't explain it. Truth is I never paid much attention to it, I was more focused on ruling." Dany told him.

"Ruling?"

"Yes, I am a queen," Dany looked to the ground, "Or at least I was a queen."

Suddenly more walkers had come to the fence, Daryl readied his steel pipe and began to jab them in the head again. Daryl could see more were coming out of the forest, he quickened his pace, but soon enough over two-hundred were pushing against the fence. "Go get the others," Daryl told Dany calmly. He could see the fence was beginning to bend, it wouldn't be long until the walkers managed to break it down.

Dany ran back with Rick, Maggie, and Glenn who were already prepared to kill off as many as they could.

"Go get that piece of wood!" Rick yelled to Dany.

She quickly ran back to Rick, he leaned the large piece of wood against the fence to help stabilize it, but the force of the walkers was too overbearing.

"It's gonna fall!" Maggie yelled.

The walkers had all gathered from the noise and soon enough the fence was about to fail. Daryl saw Dany a few feet away from him, but she seemed to have her eyes closed. What the hell? He continued to kill as many walkers as he could until he heard a familiar screech. Drogon flew from the forest, his great black wings shadowed the walkers as he flew in for a landing. The great beast let out a huge breath of fire that burnt the walkers to dust. Virtually all the walkers were either a pile of dusk or embolized.

"I will never get used to having a dragon around the prison," Rick said smiling. It was the first-time Rick smiled since Lori had passed away.

"Thank you Drogon!" Glenn yelled to the dragon.

Drogon continued burning all the walkers, but Daryl noticed he took care not to burn the group. After the fire ceased, the whole herd of walkers was completely gone. The big dragon flew back to wherever he came from leaving the group speechless again. Daryl and the others worked on repairing the fence for another couple of hours until they felt it could withstand another herd. It was almost dinnertime by the time he got back inside, he noticed Beth was stirring a pot of what looked like noodles. It was a common meal they ate at the prison, but Rick and Hershel had started a small garden so the prison would be able to eat fresh vegetables.

Jon was sitting in the corner of a table eying his bowl of soup, he gently stirred the spoon around whiling staring into his bowl. Daryl was about to go up to Jon when he saw Carl, Maggie, and Glenn had filled up the table. He walked along to the next table where he sat by himself and began to eat. The meal lacked flavor but Daryl was so hungry anything tasted good to him. It didn't take long him for to finish so when he was done he put his plate in a bucket and went inside his prison cell. Daryl began to clean his arrows when he saw Dany standing at the doorway, "May I come in?" She asked.

"Sure," Daryl said awkwardly. Her presence always made him nervous.

"Your world is terrible," Dany said. The comment made Daryl laugh, it was so terribly true. He noticed that she gave him a small smile. "But then again my world wasn't much better."

"You still never told me what your world was like," Daryl pointed out.

"I did," Dany said as she sat down next to him, "I'm not very good at explaining things."

"That's alright." There was still silence between the two, uncomfortable silence that Daryl couldn't stand. He knew that he liked this woman, she was strong, kind, and definitely beautiful. The power she had over him scared him. "I like your hair," Daryl told her. It was more than true, he loved it. Everything about her he admired.

Dany smiled, "Thank you." Suddenly, Dany gently pushed the strands of his hair away from his face to reveal more of his eyes. Daryl flinched in response, but Dany wasn't troubled by it. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Daryl said. "Why do you ask?"

"After everything that happened today, I thought it might have troubled you."

Daryl felt Dany's hand resting atop his own, it made him feel nervous and excited at the same time. She looked him in the eyes as if trying to tell him something, but couldn't bring herself to do so. "Are you alright?" He asked her.

Dany let out a sigh and looked to the floor. "I used to be a queen. I freed three slave cities and destroyed the wise masters, I hatched three dragon eggs that grew so big that they burned cities to the dirt. But that power wasn't enough, I wanted to rule all of Westeros and take back my birth right, and for what? I went to war to win the iron throne, but I lost. My friends are dead because of me, my dragons are dead because of me." Just then Dany let a couple of tears slid down her cheeks. She managed to keep her head and look Daryl in the eyes, "I am just as terrible as my enemies." Dany walked out of the cell, she didn't say goodnight or look behind. Daryl couldn't explain why she told him all this information about herself. He guessed it was because it had bothered her so much that she had to at least tell someone. But the former queen chose him of all people. It made Daryl feel slightly special that she felt him trustworthy of all this information, that she knew he wouldn't judge her or tell her she was lying.

Daryl walked back to his bed deciding to call it a night. He climbed in and started at the walls for a quite a long time. His mind was fixated on Dany, he didn't doubt his feelings towards her, but he doubted he would ever be able to do something with them.

Jon

Jon awoke early in the morning feeling well rested for the first time in a long. He put on a fresh pair of clothes that Maggie had given him. It was a pair of blue jeans and a black shirt that felt very light. Maggie told him they were Glenn's clothes, but he wouldn't mind Jon taking them. He made his way downstairs noticing that most of the prison was still asleep. Jon walked outside wanting to get fresh air when he saw Drogon sleeping in the field. The big dragon had made a nest for himself with what looked the bones of smaller animals. Jon walked along fence noticing that there were no walkers around. He found it quite strange seeing the area was clear of the dead since he always saw a couple each time he went outside. Jon assumed that maybe Drogon had scared them all away, but then again the dead are incapable of having such awareness.

"Jon," someone said from behind him.

He turned around and saw that it was Hershel walking towards him with his crouches. Hershel stopped whenever he faced Jon, a small smile formed on his face. "I don't believe we've fully met yet," the old man said kindly. Jon noticed that he was missing a part of his leg, the stump that was left barely passed his knee.

"I'm sorry, I should've made sure I introduced myself to everyone," Jon said. This environment was so new that Jon didn't know how to act. He felt like such an outsider from not knowing anything about this new world. Jon wanted to talk to people about Westeros, about the watch and the wildlings, about being a bastard, a lord commander, and named traitor. He had so much on his mind, but couldn't share it with anyone. He thought about telling Dany all of this, but she was so destroyed about losing that Jon thought otherwise. His feelings and past would have to pushed aside for now.

"No need to apologize," Hershel put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a necklace with a blue stone, "Does this belong to you?" The necklace had a thick silver chain that rested at the neck with a light blue stone in the middle. The stone had seemed to glow when Hershel placed it in Jon's palm, it reminded Jon of the eyes of the white walkers. "It was in a pocket in your cloak, my daughter Maggie found it whenever she was doing laundry." Jon didn't understand how this necklace had gotten into his pocket. It wasn't anything he had seen before.

"Thank you," Jon said confused.

"That dragon is a real blessing," Hershel said staring at the sleeping Drogon. The dragon tended to sleep most of the day besides going off to find food. The walkers had become less frequent from Drogon guarding the fence, it was amazing how smart the dragon was.

"He really is," Jon smiled. "Have you talked to Dany?" He wondered. Jon thought Hershel would've already become acquainted with the dragon queen.

"I have not had the opportunity yet, but I definitely will. I wanted to speak with you Jon. I've heard many things about you and Dany, many things that are hard to believe."

"I don't expect anyone to believe me." Jon said knowingly.

"Is that why you keep to yourself?" Hershel asked.

Jon didn't say anything, he focused his attention on Drogon in the distance. He noticed Hershel moving in front of him, "You don't have to be afraid of telling people who you really are. Your past might be foreign to us, but believe me Jon, we've seen so many strange things. Although I will admit, Drogon was very hard to take in." Hershel smiled. Jon knew the man was being friendly, but he doubted the group would believe anything he had to say.

"We both have that in common," Jon said laughing.

"Indeed, as does everyone else. Jon," Hershel began placing a on hand on his shoulder, "You may not know this, but this group is very close. We consider ourselves like family, we've all learned to trust each other and work together. Learn to trust people Jon. We are good people, something you rarely find today." Hershel began to walk away on his one leg back inside the prison. Jon knew the man was right, he had to let people in, he had to tell someone about his past. Jon held onto the necklace Hershel had given, it glowed in his hands reminding him of the weir wood tree. The necklace made Jon uneasy so as he walked away he let it fall to the ground.