Hey everyone!

Without further ado, here's the next chapter.

Once again, violence warning.

-Lexi

"You can call me Viktor." The bearded man had a slight accent, European probably. His dark brown eyes swept over the group, lingering on Rosita and Sasha for just a moment too long. He flicked over Maggie and Michonne but seemed to choose to ignore them. Daryl had seen Morgan shift towards Beth slightly and he'd understood: these men weren't friendly, at all.

"Is there someone behind you with the bow?" Viktor's gaze focused on Daryl. The archer didn't speak, just glared back at the other man. Viktor was strapped with a good hundred rounds of ammo draped in layers of belt around his waist, almost obscuring the pistols there. The straps of two automatic rifles crossed his broad chest, knives strapped to his large thighs and a couple to his arms. He held a large gun in his hands, which was angled at the ground but his finger hadn't left the trigger.

His friends on the other hand, were just as muscular and almost as well armed, but less prone to pretence. They all had their weapons raised, aiming at different group members.

"Come on now, we just saved your lives. We're friends now aren't we?" He started laughing as he finished his question. His laugh was loud and echoing, as if he was taunting the Walkers to hear him: daring them to come.

"We're looking for HyperTech Research Corp. That's all we're here for, we're just trying to deliver a man to his company. We aren't lookin' for any trouble." Rick spoke smoothly, his tone civil, but barely. Daryl could see the man was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of running, and tired of these types of people- taking whatever (whoever) they wanted.

"HyperTech? I've never heard of a HyperTech. But then again, we don't run the science section of the city. This here is our turf, which you'd do well to remind yourself of. We just want to see who's in your group- make sure we're greeting everyone equally." His eyes narrowed a little, and Rick's hand shifted towards his gun in return, but the locking of 3 guns on him, sights clicking into place.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Now bring out the girl. I can see her legs."

"She's a blonde." A voice from behind them came from above street level, and Daryl's head swivelled to see a skinny man leaning out a window, leering at Beth.

"Oh Viktor she's young and lovely." He started laughing hysterically, almost as if he wasn't quite sane. A smile crept across Viktor's mouth as Daryl's head turned back to look at him.

"That your daughter? Girlfriend? Come on archer, we're just trying to get to know you."

Daryl still refused to make a sound, the tightness in his chest squeezing almost painfully. No one would take her, not again. He'd lost her once already, he couldn't do it again.

Then, "Get off me!"

Daryl and Beth whipped around to see someone with a knife to Rosita's throat, and another man with a gun to Abraham's head. This hostile group had formed a ring around the prison group, trapping them, with a gun aimed at every person.

"Walk." The brown haired man ordered Rosita. She looked to Abraham who shook his head, but then the gun was pressed against his temple and with a broken look, Rosita was walking forwards.

She was marched over to stand just behind Viktor. Her face was impassive, almost angry, but she refused to show if she was afraid.

"This is the last time I'm going to ask you. Move aside with the crossbow. Frankly, we're being more than fair. All we're asking in exchange for our protection is two girls. They're young and you've got a big group already. We're doing you a favour by taking them off your hands."

Beth's hand twisted the vest, and she looked down to see her knuckles were white as they gripped her knife. She was going to have to do this again.

The dirt next to Daryl's feet exploded as a bullet sank into the ground inches from his foot. The crazed sniper in the building cackled.

"That's a warning: the last you're getting." Daryl lowered his head to line up his sight. He'd die before they took her.

Viktor took a step forward and then Beth's grip on his vest was gone and she was stepped around him. He reached to grab arm, his breath gone, heart sinking as she shifted just out of his reach. He could barely see the outline of her knife tucked under her shift, but it did very little to comfort him as she walked away.

Beth could feel her walls layering themselves with every step she took- getting higher and higher each time her foot met concrete.

Rosita watched as the blonde girl made her way over to the big European man. It scared her to think of what had gone into the making of Beth's eyes. She looked like death. Stone, cold death. In a weird, twisted way it brought her a sense of comfort. Beth wasn't going down without a fight.

When she'd first seen the blonde she'd been stand-offish and flighty. She'd grown to realize that the girl was much stronger than she looked, but she could tell by the way Beth had lost all her colour that this was what had made her the way she'd found them. These types of men weren't new to Rosita, but she'd always had Abraham or someone to protect her. Beth apparently hadn't been so lucky.

Rick looked to his right, watching Daryl's expression break as Beth was taken from him yet again- and then Morgan was there, he'd moved too quickly for the group to do anything about it, but all he did was murmur something to Daryl that seemed to stop him in his tracks of whatever suicidal rescue plan he'd been in the midst of planning.

"They're dangerous, but so's she. They don't expect it- she's gotten out of this before. Trust her." Morgan had never really spoken to anyone in the prison group before, aside from Beth, but his words halted Daryl's train of thought, shifting it to a more rational course. They weren't going to kill Beth, but they would kill him without a second thought if he did something to get her back.

Beth watched as Morgan told Daryl to give her a chance, knowing she needed to do something before the archer's limited window of rational thought closed.

Tentatively, she called Viktor's name, slumping her shoulders and making her voice even smaller than she felt.

"Please don't kill 'em. You've got us, their debt is paid, right?" The big man grinned at her.

"I suppose you're right, but, we can't just let them wander our turf. So what would you suggest little miss?" Beth suppressed a cringe at the nickname.

"Why don't you- we- escort them out? Take 'em to the edge of the city- by the tree line. Then they won't be in your- our- territory?"

She knew they preferred it when she grouped herself with them- made them think they were a unit, as if she'd accepted her new role.

Beth also knew they needed to get out of this trap. There were buildings with their snipers, not to mention the solid ring of hostile men trapping her family. They had no advantage in this area, but out on a highway, one shift and that balance of power could tilt the other way. She needed to get them that possibility.

"An escort? Oh little miss I don't know about that- the trees are far. That's a waste of time, of resources." She knew he wouldn't agree to the tree line, but she needed to get him to compromise, so she could get what she wanted but let him think he had the power. Let him think he was being generous.

"The highway? Just to the edge of the city." She steeled herself for the final strike. She hated this part, it made her feel so weak.

"Please." Beth almost whimpered and while it echoed through his body, imprinting itself on his mind (he would never forget how small she sounded), Daryl knew she'd done it on purpose. Morgan had been right. Beth never begged, she was doing this to let Viktor think he had control of the situation. She was getting them out of the trap Viktor had set, and was making him think it was his idea. The highway was open and far enough away that they could use guns with the possibility of getting away with little interference from Walkers.

"So polite." Viktor murmured and slid a finger up along her jaw. Rosita watched as Beth's hands clenched into fists so tightly red blood pooled at her fingertips from digging into her palms. She wanted to kill the bastard herself but knew Beth would have to do that. This wasn't a game Beth was playing. She fought differently than anyone else Rosita had seen in this new world- but it didn't make her any less of a threat.

Despite how impassive Beth was aiming to be, Rick could see the sickened look in her eyes as Viktor touched her face. Morgan was holding Daryl back but Rick almost wished his friend had managed to break Morgan's grip. Beth didn't look strong. Beth looked closed off. She looked cold, like stone moments away from crumbling. He knew she'd hold it together but he also knew there'd be fallout from this. She looked similar to the girl who'd found them, only more like ice. This girl was angry, that girl had been hopeless.

When she'd found her hope, Beth began to become more like the girl he'd known at the prison. This person standing, allowing Viktor to touch her for a moment was an entirely different person. This was not the Beth Greene he, or anyone aside from maybe Morgan, knew. He only hoped she could find her way back, because Beth wasn't anything like the girl before him, and he knew her well enough to know she wouldn't want to be. This girl was built from the necessities of basic survival.

"Alright, we'll take them to the edge of the city, because you asked so nicely." Viktor straightened up quickly and grinned, his slightly yellowed teeth glinting in the sunlight.

"Move." Slowly but surely the entire congregation moved from the inner city back the way they'd come until the buildings were more spaced out and eventually there was a large open road in front of them. Cars littered the area, but when Daryl looked at them he saw only protection. They could use those cars as shields if they needed it.

They were mid walk and Beth could feel them slowing, knowing they needed to do something before Viktor's group managed to settle into a formation. His hand was clamped on her right shoulder, which wasn't ideal, but she'd learned to use her left hand when her right had been in a cast. Her left hand swung gently at her side.

She looked behind her to see Rosita in the same position as her, but the brown haired man who'd brought her into the group was in Viktor's position at her shoulder. She met Beth's eyes and raised her eyebrows, to which Beth nodded in answer to the unspoken question.

Beth looked to make sure they every person in Viktor's group was accounted for and out of the city, including his snipers. When she was sure they were she looked to Daryl and found him looking back at her.

This time she couldn't put him in a box to avoid her actions. She couldn't pretend he would think of her the same. Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment and then she was moving.

Daryl met Beth's eyes and saw something that looked a little like regret, almost as if she was apologizing to him. He nudged Rick with his shoulder, who knocked Michonne's hand. The motion travelled through the group immediately. Beth was doing something. He didn't have time to look closer at her expression before her big blue eyes closed for a second, her back straightened, her left hand swung back further than it had while was walking and then her knife was in her hand and she had slashed Viktor's throat.

The shouts began immediately followed quickly by shots. Rosita's captor went down, courtesy of Abraham, before Rick yelled,

"Don't aim to kill." And so soon the rest of Viktor's group was on their knees, shot in the leg, shoulder, arm or foot. This time, they were the ones held at gunpoint.

"We don't want trouble. You took our girls as payment for saving our lives, but now we've spared yours. You saw we can kill you, and now you owe us your lives. Are we clear?"

When the kneeling men didn't answer Rick stalked forwards and pressed his gun to the temple of one of the men in the front. "I said, are we clear? If we see you again we'll kill you. This is our territory now. Do you understand?"

Rick had no intention of staying in the section of the city, but if kicking these men (who demanded payment of people) out meant a clear run through to the research centre he wasn't going to pass on the opportunity.

The man with Rick's gun to his head nodded.

"I can't hear you." Rick stated.

"We're clear."

"Good, now drop your guns, take your knives, and get out." The prison team had filed behind the men so when they stood up there was a line between them and the city.

It frightened Rick, what he had become, but he protected his own. These men had threatened his family, and taken two of them. He wouldn't regret what he had done.

Guns clattered to the ground and then they were up and walking towards the tree line. They watched until the last man disappeared into the brush before moving.

Glenn and Maggie ran to each other. The Grimes family hugged, while Sasha and Tyreese stood quietly near Bob, murmuring softly to each other. Abraham scooped up Rosita, speaking almost incoherently in her ear. Tara and Eugene stood to the side, smiling at the sight.

Daryl turned to Beth to see Morgan standing near her. The man just patted her shoulder once before stepping away and turning to Daryl. To his surprise, Morgan also brushed his shoulder as he went by, almost a gesture of solidarity, before he walked over to Viktor and made sure he wouldn't come back.

Beth was standing slightly away from the group. She didn't move when he approached her. When he talked around to her front, she continued to stare at the ground, covered in blood. They were all dirty, but red was caked in her hair and Viktor's blood covered her face and shoulders.

In all honesty she looked kind of frightening, but the worst was when he bent down to see her eyes and found big, blue orbs of nothing.

There was no expression, her eyes were flat, their bright blue had dulled. She shifted them away from Daryl and continued to stare at the concrete.

Watching her standing before him, with her shoulders tensed but slumped forwards in defeat, Daryl racked his thoughts for what was going on and then it hit him. She hated this version of herself. She had fought to come back from her, but had been reduced to her again. She'd had to kill. The same type men who haunted her past had come back into her life, and she'd been forced to slam those walls that she'd slowly lowered over the past weeks back into place.

She'd told him she missed being Beth Greene. She missed being the girl from the farm because she was strong enough to not kill people. She'd said she missed being able to smile without effort. She hated this killer. She hated killing, and so she was pulling away. What she hadn't said was that she pulled away from her own judgment, but it was clear.

This girl in from of him may look blank, but she was fighting a war that she'd chosen to ignore. She was fighting herself.

He may have almost lost her, but she had lost what little of herself she'd managed to bring back.

Daryl always did better with actions but he knew that wasn't only what she needed from him at the moment. She needed words too.

He picked his words with extreme care, not wanting to say the wrong thing. Finally he reached one hand out slowly, so she could see what he was doing before he tilted her chin up, forcing her eyes to meet his.

"You're still Beth. I still see you." Her eyes watered slightly, but the blue was still dull.

He took a breath, praying he could say the right thing, "People survive, we do what we have to t'make sure we get the chance to live. I ain't surprised that you had to do those things. Y'know what I've done and y'told me not to let it define me. That we ain't our actions, but we can't be ashamed of them either. I ain't gonna pretend you didn't kill someone today, but you also saved all of us because of Beth Greene I know protects the people she cares about. She fights for her family. That's who I saw today."

By the end of his words, her eyes were filled with tears but she refused to let them fall. "But I killed another person. His life wasn't worth any less than mine and I took it-"

"No." Daryl cut her off. "He tried to take you against your will. He said we fucking owed him you. It don't matter how much his life was worth. If he had kept you I woulda done something that would have ended up with me dead. I ain't got a problem dyin' for you but I got a problem dying because of that piece of shit. I'm glad he's dead, 'cause he deserved it. His actions deserved it. Don't you feel bad for his loss girl, who knows how many other people you saved from owing him."

At his words a tear from Beth's eye and she stepped forwards, tucking herself into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her, finally allowing himself to hold her. She started to shake and he tightened his arms, as if he could hold the pieces of her together. One of his arms wrapped around her waist while the other cupped the back of her neck, holding her head to his chest. Her arms were tucked between them, but he felt her shift to wrap them around his waist.

He heard her mutter, "You aren't allowed to die, Daryl Dixon."

"I ain't goin' anywhere." He mumbled into her hair, tucking his head into her neck. He could feel her eyelashes brushing against his neck and they were suspiciously wet, but he had a feeling his eyes weren't all that dry either so he ignored it.

They stood like that for what seemed like hours. Beth's hands gripped Daryl's wings as he stood there and held her to his body allowing her to anchor herself. She cried for the second time since she'd found them, for everything she'd done that day. She hated herself for what she'd had to do, but she clung desperately to Daryl's words as if they could save her from drowning in herself. The walls she'd put back up fell bit by bit as Daryl's arms tightened around her, covering her in their own safety net. She let herself believe for a minute that maybe she didn't need them as long as she had him. Daryl accepted her no matter who she was or had to be. He took her good and accepted her bad, just as she'd done for him.

She couldn't help it as she mumbled, "Thank you for saving me."

"You saved yourself." Beth shifted in his arms to look up at him, her eyes as bright as the bluest of skies again.

"That's not what I meant." She didn't bother to explain, which left him slightly confused but she smiled this soft, gentle smile that he hadn't seen on her face in what felt like forever. He didn't want to risk losing it by asking questions, rather all he wanted to do was be closer to that smile so he just leaned his head down and rested his forehead against hers.

Her eyes closed but her beautiful smile remained and he watched it for a few minutes for before closing his own eyes and just taking in the opportunity to be so close to Beth. He wanted to kiss her, but he knew she was still recovering from the day (not to mention he was afraid, so afraid of kissing this girl and contaminating her with his unworthy darkness). So instead, he lifted his forehead from hers and let himself do the next best thing and pressed his lips against the blood free spot on her forehead. She stilled for a fraction of a second before leaning into him until he pulled away.

When he looked down at her, that soft smile had stretched further and she was almost glowing with happiness, even through the blood she still looked ethereally beautiful.

"We should get back." She spoke quietly before untangled herself from all but his hand and pulled him back over to the rest of their family.

Rick nodded at their arrival before announcing, "We should find a place to stay for the night. It's been a long day. We'll get to HyperTech tomorrow."

Everyone voiced their ascent and then they were moving through the city, still on watch, but carefully looking for somewhere to say the night.

Tomorrow they'd finally get Eugene where he needed to be.

Just to clear up anything, Viktor is nothing more than a plot device, he needed to be brought out for Beth to address some things. Negan may or may not appear later in the story (who knows... :P), but as you can tell this is completely divergent at the moment but it will ultimately draw on the comics and certain aspects of the TV show (minus the MSF- still not over it) later.

Thanks for reading and hopefully you liked it! Please let me know :)

Considering tomorrow is Christmas I probably won't be able to finish the next chapter for the next couple days but I'll try. No promises though, but something will be up within the next week.

Also, you guys are really gonna like the next chapter hehe. It'll be worth the wait- that I will promise.