Daryl

Daryl liked to hear about Glenn's past lives and the places he'd been. He didn't really care if he saw them himself but Glenn was looking forward to showing him the world someday. Daryl would be happy to go with him but the best thing was being together and he already had that. Maybe in fifty or a hundred years he'd be eager to shake the dust of Georgia off his feet but for now it was hard to imagine still being alive then. Glenn said you had to live a couple of lifetimes to really believe it. Besides, they still had to get through Wildfire and whatever else the future had in store for them. Something was building.

Glenn

Daryl and I wake up with the feeling that there's someplace we have to be. We don't know where exactly but it's northwest. The pull is strong and I suspect the reason. We go next door to the Grimes and it's confirmed. Little Judith got out of the house and tried to leave, heading northwest. They stopped her but she's restless and tearful.

"It's the Gathering," I tell them. "This is really happening."

"Judith can't go," Rick protests. "She's a baby. She'll never survive." Michonne lays her hand on his arm and he hangs on like it's a lifeline.

"That's the point," I say. "Probably none of us will. But this is the reason we exist. Daryl and I have felt it coming on. Something has been different the last couple of months. Now we know."

"We'll take care of Judith the best we can," Daryl says. "Her time was coming to an end. Maybe it's better this way."

"I'm going with you," Carl says.

"Immortals only."

"Or what? I bet me being there won't stop anything. And if it does, whatever power that's in charge won't let me get close. So I'll go as far as I can. Besides, someone should be a witness and I'm a Watcher."

It makes sense. And it would be good for Judith to have her brother along. We pack quickly and leave before noon. Long distance travel these days is slow and dangerous but not for us, not this time. Obstacles in the road are passable by the time we reach them and we find gas when we need it. We head northwest and finally straight west. We brought food and water and we take turns driving. I think Carl would be enjoying this if it wasn't so serious. He doesn't often have the chance to drive. In a normal world he'd get his license next year.

The first two hundred and fifty years of my life led to Daryl. The three years since then have brought us to this point. I'm proud of what we've done together. We helped a lot of people and they helped us in return. Mortals are capable of so much, and without the advantages of Immortals. I'm amazed by what some of them accomplish in one short lifetime.

Thirty-six hours later we arrive at the edge of the great salt flats of Utah. It was a desolate area even before Wildfire Syndrome. It's probably been abandoned by humans and walkers alike for years. The car stops and won't go further. We set out on foot, taking turns carrying Judith. As we approach the center of the flats, in the distance ten other figures are converging from all directions.

"How did everybody get here at the same time?" Carl asks.

"Everyone felt the pull at different times, depending on how far away they were. Some may have had to cross an ocean. That's why Daryl and I felt something months ago."

Carl takes Judith and I tell him to hold her tight. Right now she's content to simply be at this place but she might try to join the coming battle.

Daryl and I move towards the others, who don't seem to care about a teenager and a toddler nearby. With so many Immortals close together they might not pick up on the fact that Judith is Immortal.

There are no greetings even though many of us know each other. I quietly identify to Daryl the good Immortals: Methos, Amanda Darieux, Connor and Duncan MacLeod. I recognize only three of the six evil Immortals. The other four good Immortals speak together briefly. They're old friends but there are no smiles now. They nod, break apart and line up opposite the row of evil Immortals who have taken their places without discussion. There's no love lost between any of them. They're each here for one purpose: to kill everyone else and claim the Prize for their self.

Daryl and I take the two open places. I sense that our opponents are the youngest and least powerful, just as we are. Obviously the other four chose to give us our best chance of surviving the first fight.

We raise our swords. Everyone intones the words "In the End, there can be only one!" and the battle begins.

It's fierce, bloody, relentless and fast. There's no time to gauge your opponent. It's like speed chess with swords but without a timer between moves.

I take the first head, Duncan the second and Daryl the third. Our Quickenings are over in time to watch Methos win. Amanda fights valiantly but in her twelve hundred years she often won by guile and strategy. In a contest of brute strength, she falls to her opponent. Connor also cannot prevail. Thirty years ago he might have won easily but he's lost his taste for the Game since then. He fought well but some spark has left him and so does his head.

Duncan and Methos rush Amanda's and Connor's opponents, leaving Daryl and me staring at each other. Duncan's grief and fury at losing Amanda and his clansman might have fueled his victory but works against him instead. His rage causes a moment of recklessness and he's done. Methos valued Amanda and Connor almost as much as Duncan did but five thousand years gives him a cooler head and he defeats Connor's opponent. He doesn't allow himself the weakness that comes with the Quickening but turns immediately to the remaining evil Immortal. It's over minutes later with Methos on his knees, incapacitated by his third Quickening in too short a time. He's probably the only Immortal who could have taken another head while fighting through his previous Quickening.

"Glenn," he gasps when he can speak.

I go to him, not caring that my First Teacher will take my head. Daryl will follow soon after and Methos is worthy of the Prize.

"We wanted to be sure that good would win so the last two both had to be good. I leave it to you to decide which of you will be the one."

Methos reverses his sword and beheads himself. As the nearest Immortal, I receive the Quickening.

"I'll do that, too," Daryl says when it's over. "You'll be the one."

"I don't want to be the one."

"Me neither. Not without you."

The other four made sacrifices to ensure this outcome but it left us with an impossible choice. Daryl helps me up and we hold each other.

"I love you." I've never tired of telling him.

"Forever," Daryl replies, as he always does.

"I know what we have to do." I whisper my plan and my reasons and feel Daryl nod against my shoulder.

"Merle was right." I realize it now.

"Who wants to live forever?" Daryl gets it.

This time I nod against his shoulder.

Carl

This is my last entry in the Watcher journal. It's all over now. Glenn explained what had to happen. I hated it but I couldn't disagree.

I held Judith over my shoulder during the battle so she wouldn't see the fights and Quickenings. I had to blindfold her for the last part. I told her it was a game and she had to sit still.

Glenn and Daryl knelt facing each other, hands locked on each other's forearms. I took their swords, one in each hand, and swung at the same time. The blades met between them, their heads rolled and their bodies fell towards each other. Lightning flashed and fire arced to Judith. She screamed once and her body shook involuntarily.

When her Quickening was over I told Judith I loved her and then I cut off the head of the sister I named when she was born.

I buried them together with the swords. Judith lies between Glenn and Daryl but nothing will ever separate them again.

I couldn't dig graves for all the others. I laid them out and stuck their swords between head and body. Good or evil, none of them asked to be Immortal. They'll be bleached bones by the time anyone comes back here.

I don't know what happened to Judith's Quickening. With no Immortal to receive it, maybe it returned to the mysterious Source that Immortals came from. Humanity is on its own now, maybe for the first time ever. Glenn said the time for Immortals was past. Humans have to face the future without help or interference from them. We already have anarchy and chaos. It's up to us to create our own golden age.

I'm going home to my family.

It took me a month to get back to Georgia. The car on the edge of the flats wouldn't start. All the Quickenings probably fried the electronics. I took the food and water and started walking. It was a week before I met anyone. The food was gone and I was almost out of water.

I didn't expect much help but people were friendly again, almost like they used to be. I found out that the walkers are dead. Really dead. A week ago they suddenly stopped. Movement, sound, everything.

The faithful say it's a miracle, a sign of God's mercy and deliverance. Everybody else thinks that someone, somewhere, came up with a cure and released it into the air like a reverse Wildfire. I don't tell them the truth. They wouldn't believe me and it doesn't matter anyway. I don't know how or why it happened, I'm just happy that it did.

I got rides across the country but it took much longer than the trip out. Roads were blocked again and gas was scarce. I walked the last few miles. Dad and Michonne and Andrea and Merle came to meet me. They were sad but not surprised that I was alone. I couldn't talk about it yet but I gave them my journal so they could read about the trip, the battle, and my part at the end. There was no judgment from them, only acceptance.

They had better news for me. Michonne and Andrea are pregnant. They're sure they will have boys. Their names will be Glenn Grimes and Daryl Dixon. Glenn would say he likes the alliteration. Daryl would say give the kid a name of his own. But he'd be secretly pleased.

Three months later Michonne and Andrea each felt the flutter of life within them. Fetal movement begins around the 20th week.

It's called the quickening.