Hello! New chapter! (Ahh, the finale threw a wrench in all of my ideas. But don't worry, I've figured it all out.) Thank you so much for being great readers, especially now that this thing is coming to a close. Seriously, this is the most successful story I've had, and it wouldn't have been if it wasn't for all of you! Please REVIEW with your comments and concerns as well as critique. ENJOY!

69: For Whom The Bell Tolls

Part II:

The pain of not pulling the trigger was nothing compared to what happened next. There's this thing that happens when caring about someone deeply; this desire that your other half's life goes smoothly, that nothing bad happens. It's natural. It helps us know we really care. It helps us know we aren't calloused. It helps us feel as though we are good people, and right now that was what I needed. I needed to feel like I was still a decent person.

-o0o-

The sun was just starting it's daily routine, and it cast several shadows over the field. The groans that accompanied the scene might have bothered me another day, but today, right now, they were all I really wanted to listen to.

Rick stood in front of Daryl and me with Hershel to the side of us. He'd been trying to explain his reasoning, trying to explain what happened during the meeting, but all I could hear was he was considering sacrificing my friend. "It's the only way. No one else knows," it was as though he wanted our approval or something. Like I would ever say that was a good idea.

Daryl looked towards the building we'd all been calling home, "Ain't gonna tell 'em?"

Rick shook his head, "Not 'til after." All I could do is stand there in silence. What was there to say? I couldn't consent to this, any of it. Would he really keep everyone in the dark like that? My stomach ached and whatever sleep I'd gotten the night before did nothing to combat the headache growing in my skull; the whole thing felt wrong to me. He continued, "We have to do it today, it has to be quiet."

Daryl spoke again, skepticism still rampant in his tone, "Got a plan?"

"We tell her we need to talk," I couldn't even look at Rick anymore as he talked, I could just stare at the walkers on the other side of the fence, "Away from the others."

"Just ain't honest, man." Daryl wasn't lying. Not in the least. Lying to the group, and Michonne, all to appease the Governor. It was wrong.

"No," Hershel added, his words cutting, "No it isn't." The old man seemed just as disappointed with the situation as I was. Rick, who was such a stand-up man, a sheriff, a good guy, was about to do the bad thing, the wrong thing. I would have walked away with him, but I stayed. I had to.

Rick looked at the two of us, "We do this, we avoid a fight, no one else dies."

"Okay." Daryl spoke only for himself now. It wasn't okay to me. I knew it wasn't okay. You don't just do that to someone who's saved your ass time and time again, even when they didn't have to. When Rick looked to me for my answer I just stood there stuck in silence and casually breathed in the smells of morning; it was the closest to consent he would ever get about this decision.

He looked from me back to Daryl, "We need someone else."

Daryl took a step towards the cellblock, "I'll talk to him." Wait, now they were dragging Merle into this? I looked back to the fence-line, hiding my displeasure.

Rick stopped him, "I'll do it."

"I'll go with you."

Rick objected to Daryl once more, "No, just me." After the words were spoken he walked off leaving the two of us just standing there in the wake of a bad decision.

I broke my morning long vow of silence, "We shouldn't do this." I thought he would say something: say I was right, say that he agreed it was the wrong call. When he didn't I knew I had to ask, even if he wouldn't really know the answer, "He'll change his mind, right?"

He shrugged and started to walk off, "Don't know."

-o0o-

Even with Rick's plan, Rick's morally wrong plan, he didn't halt the fortifications. Everyone was still in preparation mode. Everyone still felt the war was coming. I felt lucky that there was nothing for Daryl and me to do but wait for Rick, Merle, and Michonne. It gave us time, even if that just consisted of checking the fence and road to make sure we were still safe.

On one of our walkabouts we ran into an angry-looking Glenn. He was trying to attach some rusty metal bars to one of the doorways, but he couldn't seem to do it on his own. Without word Daryl jogged over and helped him with it, but that didn't seem to calm Glenn down any.

I was standing close enough to hear Daryl start to talk to him, "Say he was sorry yet?" Great, they're going to talk about Merle. Glenn was very opposed to the thought of Merle being with us, and I know he had his reasons. I just wish that he didn't. "Cause he is," he continued, "He's gonna make it right, I'ma make him." Glenn's face didn't break as he continued to place various items that were strewn across the table into a cardboard box. Daryl spoke again, and it wasn't hard to see he was getting exceedingly desperate, "There's gotta be a way. Just needs to be a little forgiveness is all."

The second he said it I knew it was the wrong thing to say, or at least not a thing that would ever work.

Glenn finally spoke up, looking directly at him now, "He tied me to a chair, beat me, and threw a walker in the room. Maybe I could call it even, but he-he took Maggie to a man who terrorized her, humiliated her. I care more about her than I care about me." With that Glenn picked up the box and left for the cellblock. I couldn't help thinking about what he'd said; Maggie meant everything to him. It was sweet to hear, sweet to know that still existed somewhere, that it ever existed.

Daryl looked over to me, I hadn't moved since I got there, "You mad at him, too?"

I tilted my head as I turned my attention back to him, "You know I'm not." He didn't seem to believe me, so I continued, "He might've done the wrong things, but he did them for the right reasons." I started back, continuing the walk, "As far as I'm concerned he's a good guy."

-o0o-

After I spent some time walking around the perimeter by myself, inspecting the fence, scanning the forest line, Daryl returned to help.

Not long after that Rick came jogging up to us, "It's off. We'll take our chances."

I didn't hide my relief, nor my smile at the news.

Daryl spoke for the both of us, "I'm not saying that's the wrong call, cause it's definitely the right one." For all the good news there was still a strange expression on Rick's face, one that I couldn't place. Daryl must've had the same problem because he flat-out asked, "What's wrong?"

Rick sighed slightly before confessing, "I can't find Merle or Michonne. They've gone."

Merle. Merle the wildcard. He would have gone through with it on his own if it meant keeping his brother safe. Daryl started running towards the stairs, "Come on." We snaked through the tunnels until we reached the generator room. I couldn't smell a thing, not a trace of either of them. Daryl started looking around, "He was in here, said he was looking for drugs. Said a lot of things actually."

Rick and I both asked in unison, "Like what?"

"Said that you were gonna change your mind," he continued his search until he found a pillowcase. "Here we go," he lifted it up and scanned the room again, "Yeah, he took her here."

Rick kicked the air, "Shit." Then we all looked towards the door, but only Rick spoke, "I'm going after him."

Daryl scoffed, "You can't track for shit."

Rick kept moving towards the exit, "Then it'll be the three of us."

"No," Daryl stopped him, "Just us. I said I'll go and I'll go." Rick looked to me and I nodded, "Plus when we come back here you need to be ready. Your family too." When Daryl said family Rick's eyes darted to me for a split second, and that made all the difference. I could leave them for a bit, find Merle and Michonne. They could handle it. I could handle it.

We didn't waste any more time. All we did is run, at first with Daryl leading, but soon I caught a scent and took off ahead of him.

When we caught up to the scent we found Michonne. Just Michonne. She was stabbing the head of a decapitated walker.

Daryl called out immediately, "Hey! Where's my brother?" Michonne nodded towards the direction she appeared to be coming from. Then Daryl asked something that made me hold my breath, "You kill him?"

When Michonne shook her head 'no' I let out a huge sigh of relief. She glanced at me, hunched over trying to catch my breath, then back to Daryl, "He let me go."

He let her go? She didn't fight him? He just let her go?

There was no time to ask her anymore questions, because Daryl was already off running again, "Don't let anyone come after us."

We ran for a long time. We ran and every few feet I was hoping a scent would make itself known to me. I'd hope to catch his trail, but nothing. Daryl seemed to know where we were going though. Eventually we made it to the place where Rick and Phillip had their meeting. All I could smell was death. He can't be here. He can't be here. It wasn't long before we saw a few fresh bodies: shot. They looked like they could be from Woodbury. Daryl was a good twenty feet ahead of me now. Shit. He stopped dead in his tracks.

When I looked passed him I saw what he'd seen. Merle, only he wasn't Merle, not anymore. He had blood on his face, and even from this distance I could see the cold eyes. Shit.

I saw Daryl's shoulders moving before I heard his cries. Shit. Merle approached him, and twice Daryl had to push him away. Then he lost it. Stab. Then more stabbing. I stood back, paralyzed, as one of the few people I still cared about stabbed his own brother eight times.

It's not Merle. It's not Merle. Just like Joey wasn't Joey and Mama and Papa weren't themselves. It's not him. I took a few steps closer to him, writhing on the grass, howling. I couldn't take the rest of the distance to get to him, not yet. Instead I just watched the horizon; I watched the sun lowering in the sky. I watched it all and everything in that field became perfectly clear.

Vengeance is stupid. It's petty and ridiculous. In this light nearly everything seemed ridiculous. I looked back to Daryl. As I watched him cry out I thought about consoling him. I thought about saying it would be okay, or anything at all. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. For every impulse to hug him there was this voice screaming at me that he needed time and space. He needed to go through this on his own, at least for a bit, a few seconds.

So I stood in silence. The deadies around us groaned and snarled, but it didn't even faze me. All I could do now was stand there and watch him cry as the sting came to my eyes. I glanced over to the body that caused this pain and in that second I saw Death. It was a flicker of him, the suit, the perfection. Then it was gone and it was Joey standing there. My brother, my blood. I saw him standing there and I remembered that night.

My limbs came back to life at the memory, and I knew what I needed to do. I took the few steps and sat down beside him. He was still wailing, and I couldn't blame him. Blood. When you lose your blood it's like you're all alone. That's a lie though. We all still had each other. Blood wasn't all there was. There was still hope. There was still something.

I opened my mouth slowly to speak, "He was something else entirely." I wasn't sure if he could hear me, but I kept talking, "We didn't meet under the best circumstances, and I know the others had their issues with him, but I didn't. I only knew him at his best. I've always wondered which is more noble, to be born good, or to be born evil and, through excruciating effort, overcome that darkness." I stared at the body of my companion's brother. I might've called him a friend, and I think I do. We were friends because we had a mutual interest; we both were fighting for the safety of the same person. That sort of thing binds two people together. Merle and I were comrades. I wiped the tears from my face, "Whatever darkness anyone else might have seen, I don't see it here. Death will be kind."

When I said it I knew Death would hear it. He was here, and he would be watching. He would be kind to my fallen friend.

NOOOOO! This was the saddest episode ever, and as much as I didn't want to do it I had to. :(((( I hope you still enjoyed it. PLEASE REVIEW! When you review I am more motivated to write, and I'd really love to break 600 before this story is done. Only a few more installments left, so the pressure is on.

Also, if you are feeling like checking out another WD fanfic you should check out my new one, Take Us Back (Romance-ish) or Veni, Vidi, Vici (Adventure/Friendship/BadassCollaboration). THANK YOU FOR READING! YOU'RE AMAZING!