Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay. I really did try to make this perfect, and so this is the longest chapter I've ever written so far. I do hope you like it and as usual! Thank you for all your support! Note the M rating and enjoy!
Gods and Monsters
In the land of gods and monsters
I was an angel
Living in the garden of evil
Screwed up, scared, doing anything that I needed
Shining like a fiery beacon
You got that medicine I need
Fame, liquor, love, give it to me slowly
Put your hands on my waist, do it softly
Me and God we don't get along, so now I sing
No one's gonna take my soul away
Living like Jim Morrison
Headed towards a fucked up holiday
Motel, sprees, sprees, and I'm singing
Fuck yeah give it to me, this is heaven, what I truly want
It's innocence lost
Innocence lost
In the land of gods and monsters
I was an angel, lookin' to get fucked hard
Like a groupie incognito posing as a real singer
Life imitates art
You got that medicine I need
Dope, shoot it up straight to the heart please
I don't really wanna know what's good for me
God's dead, I said 'baby that's alright with me'
No one's gonna take my soul away
Living like Jim Morrison
Headed towards a fucked up holiday
Motel, sprees, sprees, and I'm singing
Fuck yeah give it to me, this is heaven, what I truly want
It's innocence lost
Innocence lost
When you talk it's like a movie and you're making me crazy
'Cause life imitates art
If I get a little prettier, can I be your baby?
You tell me life isn't that hard
No one's gonna take my soul away
I'm living like Jim Morrison
Headed towards a fucked up holiday
Motel, sprees, sprees, and I'm singing
Fuck yeah, give it to me, this is heaven, what I truly want
It's innocence lost
Innocence lost
-Lana Del Rey
She stirred in her sleep, reaching for his warmth by her side only to feel his absence on the cold sheets. She woke up instantly, her eyes anxiously looking around the bedroom they shared in the safety of an abandoned morgue, searching for the object of her affections who had mysteriously disappeared.
"Daryl? " she whispered anxiously through the haze of sleep, terror spreading in her lungs from her beloved's sudden departure.
He was standing by the window, awash with the silver rays of the waxing moon that filtered in the warm, Georgian spring air. His fingers absent-mindedly running through the while-gold ring that still felt foreign and new to him, despite having worn it for almost a week.
Azure collided with silver-blue and he stooped down to her immediately, smoothing her wild ethereal cascade of silk from her face to her neck.
"Hey.. 's okay. I'm right here…." He says, his voice gentle and soothing—like talking to an injured animal cornered in the wild. She calms immediately, swinging her arms around his neck as she pulled his weight on top of her so that they were together back in bed. He huffs amusedly at her, and the angel sees him trying to hide his own concern.
"Come back to sleep…" she whispered, tracing her fingers around the wisps of hair in his honed chest, placing careful attention to the diagonal scars that he always yearned for her to touch. 'It cooled it down.' He used to explain, and she couldn't help but wonder if her fingers and lips were the only ice to his constantly burning pain.
"Can't." he gruffed, kissing her brows before rearranging them so that she was secured around his arms as they faced each other sideways. There weren't much more to say, and it was but a simple truth: He wasn't sleeping… because he simply couldn't
"Is.. is something wrong?"
She replied, worry now etched deeper in the bottomless depths of her eyes.
"Don't need you worryin' bout me, girl." He whispered motioning for her to close her eyes and return to the comforts of her dreamless slumber. Just because he couldn't enjoy the same privilege doesn't mean that she shouldn't. "Go on an' rest."
She resisted his cajoling, her eyes fighting to remain open while her fingers scraped the deliciously rough stubble of his jaws.
"Isn't that my job now?" she replied, sweet and concise, letting her silver-gleaming eyes to do all the talking for her that words couldn't allow. "To worry about you? …Because I do… worry… all the time."
"Tell me what's bothering you… please?"
Stubborn as he was, there was no way he would be able to resist the earnest sincerity in her eyes, and so he found himself rubbing the weariness off his heavy lids while he inhaled the midnight mist.
"Just ain't used to all this I guess…"
"Thought I'd feel better... after we got married… but now…"
His voice was gravel on his throat, the painful recollection of her fading away in his fingers rendering him seized and paralyzed in all the quiet moments of his time. It was exhausting, carrying the searing terror constantly dancing in his mind. He just wished he could do something to make the anxiety to go away… if only for a moment of peace.
"What is it?…" she replied, placing her palms upon the thundering of her chest, her pupils blown wide at the trepidation of what the man had to say about their nuptials. "Is this… not what you wanted?"
There was no stopping the scoff that escaped him, his gaze confused at the deliriousness of her thoughts. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her in, his gaze unwavering with such intensity that she felt herself being undone by the heat of it all.
" You know it ain't that. It's never that."
He wanted to consume her, wanted to find the comfort he sought so desperately after on the dulcet beat of her heart. But there was an emptiness that remained inside him, hollow and cold and desperate for the touch of light.
"Then what is it?"
she whispered, heartbroken and despaired, the taste of fear tarnishing his mouth. There was a vivid agony in his eyes, one that she had never seen before, all that she wanted was to yank the bare threads of his fears with her palms and set it all afire. Her eyes brimmed with tears for the pain he refused to share.
""I fucked up, Beth… I shouldn't ever have made you mine…."
The archer breathed, anguished. He needed to spit it out, needed to confide the burned nestled heavily in his hear. She curled around him, her limbs cocooning as her warmth seeped from her body to his, giving him all the strength and patience he needed to continue.
"Ever since you wore that ring… I can't stop being afraid…
Can't sleep. Can't eat. Can't even close my eyes for a damn second anymore… All I can think about is how I'm gonna lose you… one way or 'nother… cause I'm a Dixon."
"Being a Dixon's a curse y'know…. We always lose everything we fuckin' touch…"
"And now.. that ring means you're a Dixon too…"
he whispered defeatedly, forlorn with heavy shoulders at the shame of twining his angel to share the same fate as him. It was never his meaning, of course… he had vowed himself to her with the purest intentions and adoration, up until he realized that the ritual of exchanging rings with her would come with a sobering epiphany; one that would leave him with panic attacks in the moment's when the quiet settled.
Because now more than ever in his forsaken life, the archer was finally someone who had EVERYTHING he feared to lose.
He was but a mere decrepit soul, thirsting for her grace, yet the archer could have never foreseen that bitter-sweet torture of finally possessing a seraph's heart in his palms. It was a far heavier responsibility than he ever thought, far graver and heavier in his soul….
"I'm sorry Beth… I never should've made you mine…"
She understood where he was coming from, understood his mortal dread, no matter how irrational it may seem to others. She knew his ghosts… she embraced them. And if a simple gesture would give her tortured beloved some sort of relief, then it was what she would have to do.
"Give me your ring…" she murmured, reaching for the diamond in her finger and placing the white-gold jewel in her palm. He hesitated for a moment, before he followed suit, reaching for the band of metal in his left hand before bequeathing it to hers.
She unlaced the thin strip of leather that used to hold a broken pendant which she had stowed away in storage, and placed the two circular pieces of jewelry within its strap, which glided perfectly in its center. Trembling fingers reached for the ends of the fabric, twisting it once again around her long, elegant neck until she bore a necklace made of two.
It looked so beautiful upon her throat, the stark contrast of pearlescent skin against silver sparkles of diamonds and a delicate line of leather… leather that was his… resting upon the beating of her chest.
"I'll always be yours Daryl… and you'll always be mine… " she spoke to him soflty, through half-lidded yet fervent eyes. "We've belonged to each other long before we wore these rings… Don't you know that already?"
"You're never going to lose me… even if I die…"
The seraph was breaking into pieces in his fervid embrace, and before she knew what she was doing, or what words she was supposed to say to comfort him, she had encased him. Her lips were on his mouth and he grabs her hips on his, her weight pinning his flexing torso down while she drowned him with the taste of holy wine in his tongue.
"Let me prove it to you…" she murmured, blindly sweeping her tongue from his lips, to his jaws, to the strained hollows of his throat until she has reached her destination on the skin where his heart laid thunderously beating.
The archer nodded slowly, shrouded by the haze of honeysuckle in the air that captivated him speechless. She marked him, right there, leaving crimson bruises upon his roaring heart that imprinted her lips on his chest. Her tongue branded him hers, sear him, possess him, more than any band of jewelry ever could.
And underneath the waxing of the moonlight, his soul settled, finally freed from his shackles as evangelic touches and whispers encumbered him, divine flesh merging with the profane, until her existence fused with his, and all else ceased to matter but the enlightenment in his soul while an angel consumed him whole.
"Is this hurting you, Daryl?"
The hunter's silent musing was disrupted by the dulcet notes of his beloved wife, who was busy tending to his wounds with meticulous care, her brows tight with unrivaled focus while she bit her pillowy lips down in concentration. She had been at this for half an hour, obsessively cleaning his gaping wounds and checking every nook and cranny of it for signs of infection.
"Woman, that's the third time you checked today, twentieth this week. If I was dyin' I would've croaked by now." He scoffed, placing his hand on her shoulder to ease her with the humor in his tone. It didn't work however, as his teasing only gained him the ire of the frenetic blonde who rewarded him with an angry frown.
"Don't even joke about that. It's not funny." She huffed, setting aside the peroxide and iodine to reach for his antibiotics. There was a sharpness to her movements that he could perceive, one that had been building and building as the days of his recovery passed in the clinical walls of the infirmary. It had been a week since he had woken up, and his strength had been returning in spades.
Yet the exasperating woman refused to allow him to exert himself anyway beyond walking to the bathroom and back, determinately catering to his every other need despite his protestations.
"Sorry… I was just tryin' t' calm you down." He replied with remorse, before downing the medication she handed to his palms, followed by a glassful of cooling water. "You need t'stop worryin' about me so much."
Beth shook her head at him, before plastering a façade of light-heartedness. "I'm not worried…" she smiled, thought it felt like plastic on her lips. " Who say's I'm worried? I'm perfectly fine…."
Daryl couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her, challenging her statement with a knowing gaze. He had been observing her carefully these past couple of days.. and what he had seen was distressing him more and more as time passed.
He would see her heal, day by day. See the swelters and bruises on her arms clot and peel and fade, leaving her with soft, faint traces of battles she had triumphed over. The bandage around her head had long been taken away, leaving her wild golden mane to flow freely in the static of the air, while her arms recovered their full range of motion, after the tearing of her muscles had dissipated. She was looking more and more like herself now, with her braids pinned to the back of her hair with small deadly slivers, her skin clear of any trace of blood while she sported a grey tank top over her favorite black lace bra.
Only… something about her still felt… off…
It was in her irises, cloudy grey with secret troubles when it should be gleaming cerulean with mirth. It was also in the hollows of her eyes, grey and sunken with nights of sleepless anxiety that she desperately tried to hide. But what was really unnerving him to his core was her nervous behavior and the escalation of her need for an assurance that he was fine.
It seemed so harmless at first, when she would constantly insist on spoon-feeding him his meals. That was tolerable for him- nice even… and so he paid it no heed and enjoyed being taken care of by someone for a change. Wasn't that what married people do anyway?
And then the angel began insisting on cleaning his wounds every day, giving him a warm sponge bath as an incentive to put up with her ministrations right after. Of course… he wouldn't protest, thirsting for her touches in every way he can receive it, no matter how fleeting and innocent the gliding of her fingers would be on him. That… was really.. nice as well.
The archer may not want to admit it out loud, but he had actually been enjoying these rituals a lot more than he expected, along with the many other ways that his angel insistently and tenderly catered to his every need. He never had truly been taken care like this by anyone else before…. Never relied on anyone for anything…
Until her…
Being taken care of by an angel; to say that it was 'nice' was a massive understatement.
Being taken care of by his wife… well… it was pure heaven.
But as the days passed and he had slowly regained his strength, he realized that her caretaking instincts only intensified, until he literally could not spend a single moment of his private time with her without the woman fluffing up his pillows, or turning down his sheets, or massaging his head, or making him homemade meals from home, or crooning him back to medicine induced sleep.
Singularly, all these gesture were sweet and tender, each of them highly treasured and cherished in his love-parched heart. But when he looked at the bigger picture of it all, his heart lurched, recognizing her tender ministrations for what they truly were, an obsessive penchant to keep busy in a façade that hid her constant distress. And then he knew…
His angel had been secretly suffering in silence… and he had been reaping the fruits of her agony.
"Oh yea… well if you're so damn collected then why haven't I seen you sleep in a while?" he murmured, his voice low and filled with concern for the woman who now refused to meet his eyes.
"I sleep just fine.." she lied, the taste of it bitter, brandishing on her tongue when the truth was she hadn't slept for more than twenty minutes each day for the past two weeks. She hastily brushed off the frenzied wisps of hair in her face before busying herself cleaning up her injury on her shoulder too, pouring fizzling peroxide on it before packing it again with a fresh gauze. "I just wake up earlier than you because you need more rest."
Clearly, he knew better than to believe her white-lies. It would be an insult to his observational skills if he missed the obvious signs of exhaustion, etched in the marrows of his song-bird's bones. But before he could protest, Beth rose from her seat next to him and treaded towards the door.
"I'm gonna get make us some dinner, before the storm rolls in." Beth gasped swiftly standing on her feet while she escaped his curious touch. Daryl's eyes narrowed, refusing to spend a moment longer, not knowing what pain she hid. Before she could retreat away from him, he called to her—his voice strained yet not harsh, insistent yet not demanding, strong yet not steady.
"Beth."
One word passing in the air, holding all the meaning inside its hallowed letters as he breathed it with utmost divinity and ardor.
'Beth.'
What are you hiding from me?
'Beth.'
Why are you going away?
'Beth.'
Stop running from me.
'Beth.'
Tell me what's wrong.
The seraph heard all his silent cries with one syllable on his lips and froze. She did not want him worrying about her, did not want him concentrating his thoughts on her state when he should be focusing on healing. She can hold herself together… if only for a day longer.
Before she could give him a reply, the door cracked open, revealing Abraham scampering towards the room as he avoided the light drizzle beginning from outside. The couple both shifted their gazed, distracted by the unexpected company visiting them at this time of hour.
"Hey! What are you doing here? " she smiled, surprised at his sudden visitation, when he had been busying himself for so long with fortifying their community ever since their return.
The burly redhead smiled, wiping away the dampness of his hair before he greeted the two of them with a raucous laughter. " Just thought I should see how the newlyweds are doin!"
"Well, I was just on my way out to get some more food and blankets." Beth replied with easiness, though her tension remained hidden in her bones. "But you should stay here and keep Daryl company, for the meantime."
"Actually, uh… Beth. I need'a talk to you." Abraham gruffed, his eyes urgent and serious, causing concern to flare up the sweet angel's core. "What's wrong?" she replied, her hands instinctively reaching out for his giant palms in a gesture of pure kindness and platonic solidarity. The man had slowly worked his way up to the list of people that Beth truly trusted, though as unexpected as the likely camaraderie might have been. He was arguably a tier higher in her level of trust than her sister- who remained unconcerned for her welfare in her sudden disappearance, sending her husband in her stead to her rescue and not even bothering to come visit her all this time.
Daryl's eyes narrowed green with envy at the contact of her skin to his. He seethed slightly with slight anger, but knew better than to act on his flaring temper. The man had saved them after all, and Beth had never given him reason to distrust. He coughed out a muted hiss of jealousy, making his brother smirk with knowing as he patted him on the shoulder with sympathy.
" Trust me sunshine… you wanna talk to me… alone?" He whispered signaling her with his eyes of his intent. This time, the hunter didn't try to hide his aggravation as a low rumble thundered from his throat.
The seraph paid no heed to her lover's possessiveness however, only nodding her understanding while she addressed the displeased man. "I'll be right back." She breathed, treading towards her forlorn protector and placing a chaste kiss on his surprised lip.
"I promise we'll talk later… okay?"
She smiled, soft and sweet, her breath lingering on the goosebumps of his skin, washing him with the heady haze of honeysuckle, amber and something… celestial… in the air. He nodded to her, promising her his patience forthemeantime while she concluded her business with the burly veteran.
"Don't take too long." He whispered, gripping her wrists slightly while she took a step away from him.
"I'll be back before you know it." She smiled, placing a tender kiss on his brows before finally retreating out to the hallway where Abraham waited, her wrists tight on his fingers until the very last inch he could possibly reach before he truly had to let her go. He stared at the empty air which she had occupied, dazed and longing for her return, wishing more than anything else that he would heal and recover soon so that he may never have to part with her once again.
"… thank you so much for doing this for me."
She gasped, wrapping her slender arms whole heartedly around the circumference of his shoulders while she pressed her translucent face against his chest. "I can't believe you found it."
The redhead tried to ignore the vermillion flush that was spreading on his pale freckled skin as the woman before him showed her utmost sincerity for his deed. It hadn't been that difficult after all, especially not when he had Rosita's help in the quest she had given him.
"Found your knife too, if yea still want it." He grumbled, gently placing the ivory hilted blade upon her quivering palms. There was no blood staining it any longer, having been meticulously washed away by the abrasive yet secretly thoughtful warrior. Her heart thrummed at the reunion of her beloved dagger, slightly worshipping it with her adoring gaze before she holstered it back to her hips where it belonged.
"And… her…. Did you… did you take care of her?" she murmured, low and hesitant for anyone to hear. She would have done the deed herself if she could have, but her beloved needed her and her blood by his side. The robust man nodded his assertion, his face solemn at the cumbersome memory of it all.
"Buried her by the river. Just like ya asked." He gruffed. She breathed easily, finally, finding relief that her worthy adversary had been put to rest with grace, more than she deserved but received all the same. Her hasty decomposition had been bothering the seraph, leaving her sleepless and haunted by nightmares of hazy molten eyes that transformed into the undead snarling at her throat. It gave her great comfort to know that the woman, as deranged and troubled as she might have seemed, had found a quite spot under earth to rest peacefully upon.
Because in the end… it does matter.
"I hope you know this means I'm the one who owes you now." She whispered, trying to show her appreciation for the matter. She wanted the old man to be released of feeling indebted to her after her small accident.
"Sunshine… it ain't about debt no more. It's about family."
He ruffled her hair at the crown of her head in a gesture of endearment, wondering at how tiny she truly looked compared to him, yet her strength rivaled his own. The woman had woven an unknowing trance to the old sullen man, one that he would treasure and cherish in a corner of his heart.
"Now you go on back to Mr. Bowman now… and holler at me if ya need something." He breathed with a genuinely warm, Abraham-styled grin as he handed her the folded blankets from her home that he assisted her with. "But sunshine… try to take care of yerself too… ya look like shit." He spoke with concern, pointing to the eyebags forming under her otherwise flawless complexion.
"I'll try." She murmured, brushing her hair to her ear in shame, as the veteran recognized her state of anxiety. " It—it-Its just that…."
"I know, I know…" the soldier sighed as he rubbed the exhaustion in his eyes. "Seeing him like that really did a number on ya, huh?" The seraph nodded once with hesitation, before she nodded again and again, finally allowing herself just a moment to admit to herself that all was not fine.
"We both know your husband isn't going anywhere anytime soon." He answered, trying to be as consoling as someone as brutish as him could be. He patted her awkwardly on the shoulders before he spoke some more.
"I'll feel better once he's healed completely." She replied, steadying her voice as she caught herself in a moment of vulnerability. There was no time to waste, feeling this weak when she could be back where she was needed, where she could actually ensure that her beloved truly was not going anywhere, away from her.
"Thank you again.. for everything."
And with a final, wave the two comrades parted, one headed towards the clearing of the roads, the other towards the gates of sweet bliss and torment.
His eyes were staring hazily out the window, slight melancholy simmering in his chest as he observed a blanket of black nimbus clouds closing the distance between the horizon and where they were. Another storm would be coming soon, and from the looks of it, this one would last for a while.
He didn't know whether to be displeased or happy with that fact. On one hand, the deluge would mean that he would be stuck here in the infirmary far longer than they anticipated, which was truly to his despair, considering just how much he longed to finally be home… with his wife. Yet on the other hand, it would also mean that their community would be much harder to find again, once the precipitation washed away their and the deceased huntress' tracks. The storm would buy them more time… which was a blessing on its own.
Daryl decided to look at the glass half-full.
His concentration on the small drizzle spattering the asphalt streets was broken when he heard the sound of the door opening, signaling his angel's return. His head twisted swiftly to his side, where he found Beth concentrating, one hand busy with placing more blankets for him to use, while the other placed a metal pot , simmering and wafting delicious smells all around him, by the nightstand.
"Dinner's ready…" she breathed, while she presented him with a home-cooked meal of veal stew. She smiled softly at the archer who salivated before her, brushing his brows tenderly before placing an adoring kiss on his lips.
"Hope you didn't miss me too bad…" she sighed, placing bother her arms around his shoulders before he reached for her waist as she helped him lean against the backboard so that they could eat their dinner together in comfortable silence, a habit they had formed in the past several days of his eager recovery.
" Always do…" he replied, brief but tender while he scooted over to his side of the bed so that she can plant herself comfortably by his side.
"Careful… it's really hot." Beth whispered as she blew on the spoonful of the aromatic stew that she offered upon his lips. He accepted it gratuitously, unfazed by the heat sweltering his tongue, instead reveling on the warmth radiating from his throat to his core as he filled his hunger with the indulgence of eating food he did not have to kill himself. Only her would manage to make something so delicious with so little ingredients... especially at the end of the world.
These were his favorite moments during the past difficult days, when the waves of visitors retreated back to their homes, leaving him in his lonesome with the only person whose presence he could never get enough of. It was in this quiet intimacy when he could simply just observe her… and trace his hooded azure irises on every arc of her lithe body, every pore of her translucent silver skin, every rise and fall of her chest that synchronized with the restful beating of his heart.
If only she didn't look so forlorn, in the bottomless depths of her eyes.
The sound of thunder signaled the beginning of the storm, and the two of them sighed at the sight of the rain, pouring down from the outside, howling winds hazing the streets in a fiery battle of water against wind. The crackle of lightning illuminated the dark walls of the room for a split-second, followed by another ear-piercing rumble of thunder and he found himself staring back at wide-reddened eyes, alert and unwavering despite the exhaustion that was plastered on darkening irises.
He almost wasn't surprised to find Beth, rising from her seat again as she busied herself with re-fluffing his pillows, now that they had finished their light dinner. She placed another kiss upon his brows before fussing over every expanse of skin of his she could reach.
"How are you feeling? Do you want some water? Maybe some meds?" she breathed in a frenzy, searching for any sight of discomfort from the wakeful man, her fingers twined around his as she searched for a way to feel useful by his side.
"I think I found some pain pills over there but I'm not sure if they can hel-"
"Stop." He whispered, finally, a command- a moment of assertion to figure out the problem at hand. He pulled her closer to him, allowing her feet to lose balance so that she would have no other choice but to lean against his length. "This ain't like you, Beth…."
"Tell me what's wrong…"
She couldn't help the instinct that overtook her, and she forced a bright smile upon her lips while she blinked her weariness away. "Nothing's wrong, silly. I'm perfectly fine." Her words sounded steady, but there was a quality of plasticity in her tone that she couldn't mask away from him, despite her very best efforts.
"Thought we promised not t'lie anymore.." he hushed, delicately caressing the back of her neck to hold her still as he scorched her with the worry in his stare. "Can't keep pretending everything's alright if it clearly ain't."
"I'm here Beth… let me help you."
Tears began to brim around grey-blue eyes and she couldn't help but shiver as the tendrils of his fingers glided along the arch of her skin. She leaned in to his touch out of reflexing longing, her gaze blank and bereft of light as her lips parted in a heart-wrenching sliver of a whisper.
"How… How did you do it? …"
She breathed, unblinking down through the fringes of his brows, desperately seeking for some sort of answer within the depths of his eyes. "How did you turn off the pictures in your head…. After… after… you saw me die in your arms?"
A cheerless smile formed on her lips, tightening and trembling as she tried to push down the grief in her throat. "Because I keep trying… and trying… But every time I close my eyes…"
"… All I see is the ghost of you."
Daryl couldn't help but tighten his arms around her, burying his nose to her flaxen hair as he folded his wife in a fiery embrace. "I didn't…" he replied. "I still haven't…" he spoke each word ever so softly. The seraph wrapped her arms around the sinews of his shoulders and shuts her eyes tight, for the first time in a long while allowing herself to not have to be strong… and just.. be.
"Doesn't really go away. " he murmured, allowing her the truth of the affliction which they now both shared. "And there ain't no getting used't it either." The defeat in his tone inebriated the angel, and her shoulders sagged down on his, bitter whimpers escaping her lungs while she clung on to the solidity of his body like she was at the precipice of falling down a dark abyss.
"I don't know how you do it Daryl…" Beth cried, sinking into him deeper, surrendering to the overwhelming emotion that she could no longer contain, sobbing huge wrenching sobs and finally letting all her tears flow unrestrained. It's been a while since she cried her heart out like this… it felt so cathartic… felt so freeing to let the agony in her soul that she's been keeping under tight tether unfurl in massive waves. "I don't know how to sleep when I know now what it feels like to have the love of your life die in your arms…."
"Hey…" he says, gently pulling the weeping angel onto his lap so that she was cradled against him while he rocked her against his aching chest. "Please…. stop cryin' for me… " he begged.
"I love you too much to be worth all your tears."
He cooed softly upon her neck, stroking her back in long languid caresses that broke her in his tenderness even more.
"Stop saying that!" Her nails dug deep into his skin, gripping him tightly upon her fingers while she tensed at the agonizing thought of her beloved fading away. Even after all this time, even after all their vows… he would never be able to grasp just how irrevocably she adored him, with every fiber of her body, her heart… her soul.
"Why do you even love me Daryl?"
"I hurt you all the time, even when I try not to. Even when I try to do the right thing, it always ends up blowing in my face. I hurt everything I touch, everyone I love… But for some reason, you're the one who stupidly still wants to be with me… even after I practically killed you with my own hands." There was no stopping the torrent of her acclamations now, not after the barriers of her angst have been chipped away by the relief in his arms. "Do you even realize that every time you get badly hurt, it always has something to do with me?"
"But you still tried to save me…. Even though you knew you that I'm a walking curse..."
"Tell me Daryl… why would you do that to yourself?"
It was a loaded question, so pregnant and ready to combust at the slightest prod. Why did he choose to love her? Why did he choose marry her? Why did he choose to shield her? Why did he constantly risk dying for her? Just… why?
"Dammit, Beth!" he growled grabbing her chin to hold her in place as he ravished her with an abrupt and frantic kiss. "For someone who's so damn smart, you're also so fucking stupid sometimes."
"Weren't you the one who told me nothing else mattered, 's long as I'm yours and you're mine?" His grip was tenacious, his eyes storming steel-blue as he seared her with the veracity, the primal roughness of his voice. "Ain't nothing you ever think, or say, or do can ever change the damned truth that I would take as many bolts or arrows to the chest for you is that's what you needed…
Cause I know, there ain't no fighting the fact that no matter what happens.. if you live and I die… or the other way around.. None of that shit matters. I'll always come back to you. And you'll always come back to me."
She's the one to engulf him this time, her body flying towards him, pinning him down to the mattress while she pressed her lips with utmost ardor against the swells of his mouth. Unbidden desire swept through him, and her body responds with the same consuming flame—the both of them so tied and attuned to each other's yearnings that they couldn't help but deepen the urgency of their kiss.
She pushed her tongue against the inside of his mouth, loving the way his honed, muscular body tensed as the pressure increased. Beth moaned and his hands came around her back, as the archer tried to get all of her weight against him, all injury forgotten. He would never feel as alive as when this fallen angel, this perfectly exquisite, broken miracle of a fallen angel that unmanned him time and time again, was within his embrace. Beth could almost believe that his heartbeat was her own, as cherried lips danced and mingled with wine.
"Prove it to me…" she breathed, her irises darkening with the desperation that what she was feeling was no mere mirage. "Prove to me you came back…"
Her lips are at his ear, his jaws, his throat, as her fingers swiftly removed the fabric of his shirt and threw it against the floor. Lightning illuminated the room once more, followed by the quaking boom of the rolling thunder, but all that Daryl could hear was the heated breathing of his angel, whose face peered down at him with hopeless desperation from above. The rain from the outside intensified, mirroring the chaos of sweltering emotions swirling violently inside his ribs.
He wanted to… God, he wanted to so bad…
But this would be the first time that they would lay as man and wife… and he so thoroughly hoped that it wouldn't be here in the dreadful rooms of an infirmary that only held memories of hurt and pain.
Didn't Beth deserve better than that?
"Come here." He growled, his voice embers upon his scorching throat. She whimpered in jubilation as he pulled her mouth to his once more. She tugs at her grey cotton tank, and tosses it aside, while the hunter greedily peels away the lace covering her breasts so that he could trace the skin from her neck down to her chest with his tongue.
The seraph buried her head in his neck, leaving a trail of scarlet marks of possession along the hollows of his throat while he licked languid circles over her nipples. She shivers violently against his lap, grinding torturously against his stone rigid flesh, demanding urgent attention.
"I fuckin' need to feel you too…" he chokes, and it's a strangled moan, his hips reflexively bucking upwards, seeking her heat. She makes a motion to get rid of her pants, before releasing his erection free from the straining of his pants and plunging her mouth down to taste him, until his hardness had completely filled her throat.
They needed each other, in the worst possible way… frantic and rough and discorded… any way they could forcibly assure their anxieties away while the flames of their carnal desire consumed them whole. His hands reach for her, raising her from her exhilarating ministration of sucking and licking his hardness to his hilt. He didn't need that from her right now... there would be another time later… when they could worship each other in every way possible, as the hours of the night passed by.
But now was not that time.
He flips the both of them over, and she splayed beautifully before him, sapphire eyes shimmering with lust while a beautiful hue of vermillion washed over her milky, pearlescent skin. The silver rays of moonlight filtered through the stormy clouds, washing over her, illuminating her in an evangelic incandescence that could only belong to a goddess of the night. There was a silent understanding that passed between them, both lungs heaving in breathless pants as the anticipation of what's to come coiled tight beneath their waists.
She spreads her legs wordlessly, shame dissipating to make way for blazing need. She needed to feel alive. Needed him.. to make her feel alive.
She murmured, her eyes glowing with feral intensity. " Make me feel better please… make everything else go away…"
His expression softened slightly, and his eyes filled with compassion for the fragility of his angel's emotions. Watching her made his heart ache, as if that organ had become linked to her emotional state, rather than targeting its primary task in keeping him alive. If this was what she needed from him to seep the ghosts away from her soul, then who was he to withhold her of the peace that she has constantly bestowed on him?
"Angel, all you needed t'do was ask…"
Practiced fingers traveled down her tightening belly… down… down… enticing her with every scrape of nail to velvet skin until his fingers were finally on her… and then in her. His other hand caressed her, worshipped her, gliding his way through the dips and shallows of her writhing body, eliciting the spark of electricity radiating between them, rivaling that of the lightning from the storm. Beth shivered against him, her nails scraping frantically along the lines of his rippling back while he plunged his fingers deep into her, filling her, until two digits turned into three and she was lost in its torturous bliss.
Just when she thought she was about to break, he retracted his hand away from her sex, making her hiss in frustration until she felt the impassioned man align his straining hard length upon the glistening heat of her entrance.
"Wait." Beth whispered, suddenly very aware of the fact that her lover still remained injured despite the ravaging of their desires. She pressed both her palms upon his shoulders, before carefully pushing his weight off her, assuaging his confused and worried stare with a gentle smile.
"Let… let me…"
There was a bashfulness to her tone as she directed Daryl back on the bed, not quite lying down but not entirely sitting either, his back leaning against the wall while her thighs straddled over his hips. His eyes widened at her intent as she rolled over him, their heaving chests a breath's away from each other while she brushed the overgrown soft- hair away from his brows.
"I want to feel you… for myself…" the silver-lit seraph whispered, both her palms seeking support on his broad shoulders, pausing for a moment while she waited for his response. She needed his permission… needed him to allow her to take what she needed from him at her own pace and accord. He nodded, tracing his fingers against the sensitive hollows of her hips, and guided her until her sex was gliding upon the droplets of pre-cum forming at the tip of his erection, mixing its musk with the cloying honey of desire pooling at her thighs.
She stroked her thumb against his jaws and lifted up slightly, until slowly… so slowly.. she sinks herself down on him, taking him… filling her inch by magnificent inch of his thick throbbing flesh she was certain that she couldn't take any more of him, only to be pulled down by her hips so that he was completely sheathed in her core.
The incredible sensation rushed through her body, causing her head to collapse against his brows, her lips parted in quick murmurs of heated pleasure. Daryl released a riveting groan, unable to keep his eyes open at the feeling of heaven in her warmth. His head collapsed on the headboard behind him.
"Open your eyes," the seraph whispered, still unmoving against him. 'I want you to watch me.'
He rips his lids open and it's the easiest thing that he had ever been asked to do, because she was so fucking beautiful on top of him right now, her aurous mane cascading from her golden halo to her back, her eyes speckled with the sapphire of carnal desire and silver of devout adoration, moon rays dancing along her translucent, ethereal skin incandescent in the flashes of lightning as shadows of the storm swirled around her evangelical face.
Truly… there was nothing more breathtaking than the sight of an archangel in love.
"Don't look away again," she ordered, lifting herself up, before torturously sinking herself down on him once more. "I need to see that you're real…"
She wouldn't need to ask twice… not when it would literally kill him if he ever had to stop staring at this celestial being who anchored his soul to hers. How would he ever let go of infinity, when it was at the very palm of his hand to hold on to? The answer was he couldn't… nor would he ever want to.
The ragged archer reached for the seraph's hands, twining his fingers around hers so that she could use his strength as leverage. "This what you've been needin from me? 'S this it?" he murmurs, low and booming at the same time from the gravel of his throat. She rose again, heady with the sensation of his hips meeting hers, matching her rhythm while her lips quivered with a heated nod.
"Yes… Yes…" she replies, half sobbing half whimpering, as she writhed in exquisite crescendos, arching her back again and again while she held on to his hands for dear life. "Oh please… yes…"
Her feverish moans fueled him, and he set her palms free to seek support on his shoulders, while his fingers wrapped around her waist to counter her rhythmic sinking in perfect symmetry. His mouth hungrily reached for her, leaving perfect trails of fire circling around the tip of each aching breast, while he worshipped her with his tongue and she was lost in the void that he engulfed her with, nothing but unadulterated ecstacy simmering in her veins.
"Take what you need from me Beth.." he rasps, his smoldering storm of irises unblinking, just as she had ordered, while wanton moans and ragged pants escaped her scarlet lips. "Forget th'rest and take what you need."
His body. His heart. His life. His soul.
Whatever it is she sought after to balm the ravaging tempest of terror that had nestled in her weary heart away….
Take them. Take EVERYTHING.
Though she was the one with power, it was him that was saving her from her ghosts this time… giving her peace… a piece of heaven she could never reach with her broken wings alone.
The seraph opened her eyes in exaltation at the man who was purging her of her demons, moving… gliding… Up and down… again and again and again… and then she's arching over his chest quivering as her sighs escaped her lips only to flutter down his tongue as he moves her back and forth and met her with fevered thrusts. He could feel her quiver… could see the ghosts in her eyes shuddering away with every glide of sweltering skin against skin.
Together, they rose and fell, embers of their primal need to feel the solidity of their hallowed touches to serve anchor while they fell to the depths of their carnal despair and longing. It was a symphony of songs… breathtaking reprise… planting them both in the cool earth while the storm washed their profanities away. They clutched to each other tightly, a goddess wrapped in the tendrils of rapt devotion, finally finding what had been so far out of reach for so long; a love so strong it consumed her whole, yet so kind that it also healed her soul.
Beth began to have trouble breathing; and could not decide if it was the heat and immensity of the moment, or the fact that she just loved this man so goddamn much that it tore at her very core.
"Don't ever leave me again…" Beth cried, love laced on her lips that she printed across his revering tongue, painting the archer in her kisses a canvas of utmost tenderness. "I'm not as strong as you…"
She was pinned under him before she knew it, the bridge between them never disconnecting while Daryl took over her, plunging himself harder and faster inside her in a frantic pace of desperation to expulse all her fears away from small space they shared, filled with steam and moans of pleasure. He assaulted her with unmatched ferocity, their eyes colliding in a passionate gaze, needing to watch each other as the two of them got closer and closer to the edge. Her silver-eyes half-lidded, she looked at him, past his eyes through to his very soul, as he changed to slow, long, torturous thrusts that slammed inside her hard. The electricity between them was relentless now, coiling in tight unbearable currents through their sweat-covered skin, threatening to erupt and blind them both should the currents of euphoria enrapture their bodies whole.
"Never again." He vows to her, and it was enough to undo them both. Beth's back bowed so perfectly in a half moon, tension spreading to her body… tightening every muscle from her center radiating to her fingertips until she was sure that she would crumble to a million pieces under him… until Daryl gave a final thrust, pushing both of them to the edges of a climax so debilitating that they could almost feel the threads of destiny shift its course.
"Daryl!" she cried out, heated relief pulsing inside her, filling her lasciviously with his seed while she writhed in blissful delirium under his quaking arms. The archer's head fell back and she latched onto his mouth, breathing in the strangled air out of his lungs and filling him with the carnality of hers, while the two of them rode out their orgasms in a prolonged frenzied kiss.
"I can never leave you Beth." Daryl whispers upon her brows as they remained connected with each other, sated and spent. "I can't…"
Slow tears formed in the aurulent seraph's eyes… but this time not of heartache, but of welcomed relief, her fears finally quelled for a blessed moment in time while her beloved shooed her demons away. It was the greatest blessing he would ever give to her.
"I know…" she replied, pecking him softly on the lips while she used her elbows to lean upwards, so that she may brush the brown sweaty fringes off his brows. "That's why I have something for you…"
He gazed at her with a look of confusion, before following her pointed finger to her jeans fallen on the floor. She winced slightly as his weight left her body, leaving her empty of him once again, before he handed her the pants she was reaching for and retrieved something out of her pockets.
"I… I had Abraham find it for me… after you first woke up and told me that Rebecca took it…" she whispered, her fingers trembling at the weight of the metal on her hands. "I want you to wear it… if that's okay with you…"
Azure irises blew wide with surprise as her palms parted to reveal the missing counterpart of their wedding ring. It had been so long since he had worn it.
"Of course." He replied, this time feeling no fear no trepidation at bearing the weight of a simple band of gold that held so much meaning. He would be a man worthy of this ring this time… a changed man… a man who knew the heavy responsibilities of caring for a golden seraph's heart, and carried it's duties whole-heartedly to his grave.
He wouldn't let her down this time.
He reached for the ring on her hands before she slapped him away. He almost hissed at her with shock, until her feeble fingers reached for his instead, before placing the jewelry upon its rightful place at last. He had never seen her smile so widely in his entire life, not even during the night that they had exchanged their vows. There was an airiness to her eyes, a moment of pure euphoria that made no room for any other emotions in the marrows of their ribs, but love and adoration.
He would forget his own name before he ever forgot this moment, in his life.
"Do you remember the time when you were so scared of losing me… because I'm a Dixon now?" she whispered, twining her hands along his as the two of them jubilantly stared at the rings that branded them each other's, gleaming side by side.
"Don't think there ever was a day I didn't think about that…" he whispered, moving himself so that he was laying on the mattress on his side, his smoldering eyes unwavering against hers while their hands remained tightly clutched together. The beckoning of sleep summoned to two of them… their energy both dissipating while they cradled each other under a thick layer of blankets in a small double twin bed.
"That was the biggest mistake of my life you know…" he confessed, heartbroken and panged with an ache that he had been bearing for so long. It was the root of all his shame, the reason he had kept the state of their relationship a secret for far too long…
He had failed her that night… in more ways than one.
"I never should'a made you taken it off… maybe things woulda been different… maybe you wouldn't have forgotten 'bout me for so long.."
There were so many moments in his life that he wished he could come back to… but none of them would rival the despair in his grave mistake of ever taking away the token of their love.
But Beth only shook her head against him, tracing her fingers languidly from his jaws, to his throat, to his thrumming, thundering heart. "No… that's where you're wrong…" the angel softly breathed, with heated convicting and certainty in her resolute, glassy stare. "I understand why you were so terrified now, you know… even if I never really did before."
"Seeing you like that… seeing you… fading in my arms… I think it changed me."
"Don't say that Beth.. I don't wanna hear it. " Daryl whispered, pure concern glazing in his hooded eyes and tightened lips, searching for more signs of distress on her face, should she try to hide it away from him. He understood just how much a vision like that could innately change a person from within… he had experienced it himself. The archer thoroughly hoped that it had not killed a part of her soul, just like the moment of her 'death' had killed a part of his. It would be a curse too cruel for the both of them too bear.
Only… he was right.
"I would burn the whole world down before I ever let you go again, you know?" The blonde woman whispered, tears brimming in her moon-glowed eyes. "Because… I've realized something now…"
"What is it?" he rasped, truly wondering what revelation the seraph had, at the anguishing moment of his almost demise. Would it be the same revelations he had when he thought he had lost her forever?
She nuzzled closer to him, sinking, breathing in the scent of woods and petrichor in his skin, before she would succumb to the ultimate oblivion that had been beckoning her for so long.
But not until she whispered words so sobering in his ears, that it would unman him and his very soul.
"I would rather be lost in the darkness with you... than ever live through a second of my life alone without you…"
And he all that he could feel was his fear… not for himself, nor for her… but for all the doomed souls in the world that would ever make the mistake of crossing their possessive hearts.
End Notes: I plan on giving our couple a couple chapters of rest and happiness. SO don't worry about that. I feel like we all deserve a break while Daryl heals and the group prepares for what's next to come.
