Ladies and gentlemen, here we go again! Fair warning though, I'm coming up on the roughest part of my semester very soon, so if you guys don't hear from me very much in the coming weeks, that's why. Also, did we all see the latest episode of TWD. Dude. So many friggin feels. I maaaaaaaay do a one-shot concerning it. Shit is getting real, and it's so, SO good. Ok now, read on and enjoy!

The smell of blood filled her nose, the metallic taste of it cloyed her mouth, waking the most primal parts of herself. The simple notion of want, take, have, the law of claw and fang, the strong over the weak, the fearless over the coward. She had not even come close to catching her breath by the time Mal had pushed her into a dark, empty hallway, holding her at arm's length as he stared at her, a wild, almost frightened look in his eyes.

"What was that?" he demanded.

It took her a long time before she remembered her words. So long that she instinctively signed her response, pulling her hand away from Mal's. She held her one hand out, and the other, the one she had taken from Mal, darted forward and closed over her second wrist and twisted just enough so the skin barely began to sting.

"I won." The words grated in her throat as her teeth all but grinded together like millstones.

Mal exhaled slowly with a nod. "Yeah, I can see that. But that wasn't the point."

Her eyes blazed. "Yes it was. It was always the point. Now they know. Now they've seen it with their own eyes what it is I can do. Now they are afraid of me."

Mal shook his head. "You can't do that, Luna. You'll never win in the long run."

She shrugged. "Wasn't it you who told me I'd die young? What do you care?"

The question was like the slender blade of a stiletto between his ribs, digging and twisting, gnawing at him incessantly, making it impossible for him to go back to the way he was before. But with the pain came an unimaginable clarity, a realization, an awakening. The smallest part of himself that he'd long since gagged and locked away in a darkened corner of his mind had shaken loose of its bonds and had begun to drive him mad, needle sharp teeth worrying at his sensibilities.

"I don't know why I care," he finally said, unable to bear the piercing look of her dark blue eyes any longer. He looked away from her, attempting to put her off, but she was not to be so easily silenced.

She flung herself at him and pinned him against the wall. He responded in kind, tussling with her sharply, flicking his wrist as he slung her off him, sending her rolling into the wall with blind strength. He did not pounce on her and he was surprised to find that when she got up to her feet, she was chuffing with throaty laughter.

"You do know why! And you just proved it!" Her laughter continued, filling his head, sending his brain spinning out of control.

"So say it then," he huffed in defeat. Dealing with her as he had, constantly wrestling with his feelings, had sapped his strength. All he felt now was exhausted. All he wanted was for the incessant splinter in the back of his throat and just behind his mind's eye to dull just enough to let him rest.

She shook her head. "No. You say it."

He turned towards her, his steely eyes sparking. "You have changed me, Luna."

"How?"

"You were right about me," he admitted quietly. "I licked the hands of everyone who mattered to get where I am. I played pet and bitch to Milton and Jenner and anybody else I needed to. They gave me a gun, the other kids did as I asked, I was in control of my life, at the price of who I might have been. I didn't know any other way. I didn't have a family like you, I didn't grow up raised by people who I could fail in front of and it still be ok. I grew up where either you did whatever you had to in order to be on top, or you took the shit from everyone standing above you. So I did what I had to do. And I had lived like this for so long I didn't think it would ever change." He paused and watched her closely, noting how the stark differences between them, and yet how similar they were too, and it just drove the roiling heat that made it hard to think up another notch. "But since you came here…the world looks different."

She loosened the tension in her shoulders and came closer to him. Slowly she shook her head and somehow, even with her face coated with a mask of dried blood that wasn't her own, she was still beautiful. Beautiful like the violence of a storm. He was just asking to be torn apart by her, but maybe if she ripped him open, she could find the speck of truth that still lived inside him and show it to the rest of the world.

"The world isn't different. The world has always been this way," she murmured. "My father told me stories of the world Before. People hurt people, people lie, people steal, cheat, and kill for what they want. It's not the world, Mal. It's you."

His hands fell onto her shoulders. He pushed her back into the wall and was infinitely surprised when she let him. She did not flinch or resist him, instead she merely looked up at him, power and truth and ferocious desire spread all over her face, but the glowing coals of its heart lay within her dark blue eyes.

"You are what we could all be," he breathed. "And in doing so we might all die young, and yet…I think…we would know what it's like to really live."

Luna's mouth twitched as her eyes seemed to glow in the muted glow of the lights above their head, their patch of shadow cloaking their skin. "If you ask, I will show you what it's like."

He knew what she was doing. If he asked, he was admitting that he wanted it so badly that he would sacrifice everything else he had ever fought and suffered to attain for that one moment. Maybe if she hadn't been standing so close, maybe if they had not been alone…he tried to reason himself out of wanting it, but he knew they were all lies. He had thought of nothing else since she had arrived. She'd finally worn him down, so thoroughly ripped apart all of his defenses that he no longer had the strength to fight her. But it wasn't just her doing, it was his own. He wanted it for himself. He wanted to know what it was like to taste her and the ever present fire that consumed her. He didn't care he would burn himself in the process. His curiosity and his need would not be pacified.

"Show me."

Her hands slipped forward and twisted into his shaggy dark hair as she arched up on her toes to reach him. Her mouth landed on his and lightening snapped through his spine, blazing outward with furious abandon and intoxicating inclination. She tasted like blood, like the wilds of the night, like the reckless abandon of running so fast his heart threatened to explode out of his chest. Wolves howled inside his head, their ancient song waking a relentless heat in his blood, the thrum of heady desire and urge to at last seize in his fist what he had always wanted. She was burning him alive, but he clutched her tighter, holding onto the burning stake. It drove him mad, and he wondered if maybe this was what Jenner felt like so often, and if he did, Mal would understand how he could swing so violently from calm to battle hungry so easily. Now, clutching Luna close, his mouth filled with her taste and her scent in his nose, the epitome of a bomb going off inside his skull, he wasn't sure what to do with the voracious energy pouring through him. He wasn't sure if he could contain it all. His fingers bit into her flesh and he could not let go. The kiss was poisoned, and at that point, he couldn't have cared less. It was poisoned with freedom, and he knew now that he was forever lost to its power.

She released him far sooner than he would have wanted her to. And when she did, she looked up at him, breathless and smirking as she did so. "You will never be able to live without it now."

He shook his head. He smiled ruefully and shrugged his shoulder. "You've ruined me, Luna."

"I told you I'd kill you." She grinned almost evilly at him. It was a morbid, dangerous game they were playing, but her scent still filled his nose and her taste lingered on his tongue, and he didn't care that there was blood rubbed against his jaw and chin. He didn't really care anymore what price he would have to pay, as long as he would be able to obtain more of that ferocious will to live that Luna possessed.

"And so you will. But perhaps I will also know what it's like to really live."

"I can show you what the world looks like without these walls. But you have to help me."

He didn't know how literal her suggestion might have been, and he decided not to press her for it right then. He touched her hand and tilted his head.

"We have to go back. The second rounds are going to start soon."

Luna bared her teeth but it was not with anger. "I wonder if I'll fight you this time."

Mal tilted his head to the side in contemplation. "It's possible."

He led her back into the pen and as he did, he wiped his skin free of the transfer blood she'd smeared onto him. The ghostly burn of her mouth on his still remained and he wasn't sure how he would ever shake the feeling, or if it had meant anything but a point to be proven. He was desperate to know why she'd done it though. Hopefully he'd get the chance to ask her.

"You know people have died from these fights right?"

She turned to him and he repeated his question. Her eyes darkened as she comprehended what he'd said. He could see her jaw tighten and her hands clench to fists.

"Tau and Leland told us. It won't happen. Not to me or Judith. We've been taught how to kill them. What's cruel is making those who aren't trained fight them."

Mal slowly nodded. He was quiet as were the rest of the remaining test subjects in the pen. Luna went up to Judith's side and they began to sign back and forth slowly. He watched them embrace for a moment before the door to the pen opened and Milton came to call the first match back to the ring. Eventually the number dwindled until it was only Luna, Judith, Tau, and Mal left standing. When Milton came he sized them all up, but Luna could tell he knew who he was choosing.

"Tau, Mal, you're up."

Mal nodded to Tau once who clenched her fist but nodded as well, no ill will in her eyes. Despite herself, Luna crowded to the window of the pen to watch the fight.

"So what happened back there?" Judith asked softly, also watching as Tau and Mal began to circle again and again. Luna didn't answer until they had closed and broken apart again, chests heaving for breath but both of them mostly untouched.

"I think he may help us." Luna's voice was hoarse from use all night, as well as from trying to hold back the shaking.

"What did you do?" Judith turned to her, her brown eyes narrowing and hardening all at the same time. Luna balked a bit, shameful desire prickling the back of her neck.

"What I had to."

She'd kissed Mal to convince him of what she could give him, why he should help her, to help awaken that spark for freedom in himself, but that hadn't been the only reason. She'd kissed him because she wanted to, because the shadow in his eyes whispered danger in her ear, because he smelled like a battle won, and because he was the only one she'd ever met in her whole life that she'd never been able to scare.

"Your dad is gonna kill you."

Luna snorted. "It's not like we fucked, J. We just kissed."

Judith smirked and Luna realized then that she'd been tricked. Judith hadn't really known what they'd done, and Luna hadn't been planning on telling her, but now the cat was out of the bag.

"He's still gonna kill you. And him," Judith said as they continued to watch Tau and Mal tussle. Luna could see the sweat glistening over Mal's skin as he wrestled again and again, but he and Tau were evenly matched. She grappled with him with confidence, consistently able to throw him off or dislodge him every time he tried to wrangle her into a headlock to knock her unconscious.

Luna shrugged. "He doesn't have to know."

Judith rolled her eyes. "You've told your dad every single thing you've ever done, including stealing his bike when you were fifteen, even when you didn't get caught."

Luna snickered a bit. That had been a good day. She and Judith had been allowed to go on patrol together, and she'd given her sister the slip deep in the woods and had double timed it back to camp, knowing that everyone else would have been out in the fields. She'd stolen her father's bike and taken it for a joy ride on the highway for a good hour and a half and then walked it back to camp before refilling the tank by draining someone else's car. At first she thought she'd gotten away with it but as soon as her dad had checked it as was his habit, he'd known something was off, and his gaze had fallen right on Luna. He hadn't said a word, but the next time they went for a hunt alone, she could feel the tension, and she'd fessed up.

I'm sorry, she'd said. I just never get to do anything by myself. It's like you don't think I can handle it.

Doesn't give you the right to go touch what doesn't belong to you. We give you rules to keep you safe, Luna.

What is there to be afraid of out here?

He'd fixed her with a heavy look, and she realized she'd overstepped her bounds. She saw the depth of the pain in his eyes, of how much he'd lost over the long years of his life, and she realized that he wasn't angry at her because he was too relieved that she'd come back safe. With the guilt had come shame and a true feeling of repentance, and then she'd hugged him hard.

I didn't mean to scare you. I just can't stand being cooped up here all the time.

I know. His fingers had run through her hair gently. And I know that you're mine and your mother's daughter. I know you'll do things your way just because that's how we both are. But you gotta learn to listen, Luna. I had to. So did your mom. You'll get away with kicking the world's ass on your own for a little while, but you gotta sleep sometime, and breaking people's toes isn't a good way to get them to watch your back.

Mom doesn't listen to anybody. Not even you.

He'd sighed and pulled away from her and squeezed her shoulder tightly. She does when it counts.

Does it count now, Dad? She wondered to herself. Would her father really be upset with her if he knew what she'd done? He'd been reluctant to ever talk to her about the opposite sex, leaving that mostly to her mother, Maggie, and Judith, but the few times he had, it had concerned mostly about him threatening any man that wasn't a member of their family who ever came near her within an inch of their lives, and maybe even to the point of death, depending upon the intentions.

"For the record, I approve," Judith commented with a glance at her sister. "I think we have to do everything in our power to get what we need to get out of here."

Luna smiled ruefully. "Good. Because for a second there I was starting to think you liked it here."

Judith was about to reply but at that moment Mal finally managed to pin Tau down and choke off her air supply just long enough to knock her out. When he staggered back, Luna could see the sweat pouring off him, his shoulders trembling as he leaned forward. Milton came into the ring to revive Tau and take them both out to recover and Luna and Judith squared off.

"You wanna call it now?" Luna signed.

Judith shrugged. "It's up to you."

"Let me win. I want to fight Mal. I want to see how serious he really is about helping us."

Judith nodded. They both saw Milton walking up and so she quickly signed "Make it look good," before the door to the pen opened.

This time when they were led into the cage Luna scanned the crowd. The ranks had swelled a little since her previous fight, mostly with the defeated test subjects, but amongst them, sitting near Martinez, was Jenner. He leaned forward, intent and interest clearly shining in his eyes. Luna narrowed her eyes at him and then turned her attention back to Judith.

The whistle sounded but there was no furious clash of movement. They might have rigged the fight, but Luna would do as Judith had asked and make the fight look good. That meant playing it like a real fight, and in a real fight, Luna knew not to rush Judith, at least not right off the bat. She'd just dart out of the way and make her run in circles to exhaust her, and when she lost her footing or couldn't quite spin fast enough to keep up, her sister would pounce, and while Luna had the brawny strength, Judith was exceedingly fast.

They circled again and again and Luna decided to attempt to put Judith on the defensive. She rushed her, trying to clip her side with a fist, but continued to blow past even as she swung her fist. Judith grabbed Luna by the wrist and used her momentum to send her reeling towards the wall of the cage. Luna struggled to correct the pitching motion, knowing Judith was already spinning towards her, ready to strike. Luna kicked her legs into gear and sent another fist flying towards Judith to force her to leap back and give her room to breathe while she got her feet under her.

They danced like this repeatedly, Luna attempting to close and Judith dodging, playing right into Judith's game, and therein Luna knew though she had the upper hand physically, Judith was the better fighter. Because Judith was the patient hunter, something she had learned this from her father, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. And in this same moment, Luna was exceedingly grateful for the fact that she and Judith would never be enemies.

At last Judith switched to offensive and lunged towards her sister. She swung around and grabbed a fistful of Luna's messy waves and yanked hard, sending her twisting at a very awkward angle and already Judith was trying to wrap her in a headlock to choke the life out of her, but Luna grappled hard and managed to twist away before shoving her sister's arm up her back. They tumbled to the ground and rolled on the dusty floor, both of them hissing and snarling even as the crowd yowled and cheered them on. Luna managed to force Judith onto her back and wrapped one hand around her throat, the other she was using to pin down Judith's arm. The other was clawing at Luna in vain to try and get her off even as her feet kicked, but slowly Judith's struggles weakened. However, before she could truly pass out, she went limp, as if she were already unconscious, and Luna let go. She stepped up from Judith's body and leaned against the wall of the cage, catching her breath while Milton slipped in and roused Judith with a splash of cold water to the face. Judith played her part well, following Milton in a false daze while Luna remained in the ring.

Time to go the real twelve rounds she thought to herself. She focused on her breathing and her own mental stability, grateful that she couldn't hear the howling of the crowd for once because it gave her the clarity to think. When Mal came back into the ring he looked haggard but determined and she knew that this wouldn't be like all the other times they had grappled. This would be different. How she wasn't sure, but she knew she had to proceed with caution.

She let the years her father had spent teaching her run through her veins, soaking back into her muscles like warm water after a hard day in the fields.

See what you need to see. The rest can wait.

She and Mal began to circle, both of them sizing each other up. He had a weight and height advantage, but strength wise they were likely equal, especially since Tau had already run him ragged. Luna would have to remember to thank her for that.

Strike where they're not looking.

She lunged, trying to rush him head on, ready and willing to just get this all over with. Mal braced for her impact, but it didn't come, at least not how he expected it to. She looked like she was trying to tackle him but at the last second her hand lashed up to try and twist into his hair, but even as she lunged, he tried to bat her away, but that was exactly what she had wanted. Their arms touched, her fingers closed on him, and she bit down with as much strength as she had. She jerked him down with all the power in her upper body and when he staggered, she jammed her elbow into the back of his neck. He staggered and fell against her, taking her down, but her feet were already bowed in, and she sank both straight into his gut. She flung him off her and was immediately scrambling to try and pounce on him but he wriggled like a snake, breaking loose of her hold and getting up to his feet. He didn't give her a moment's rest, shaking off the pain in his belly from her blow and hounding her. She darted back and forth, trying to wear him out, hoping his previous exertions would help, but he seemed absolutely determined not to give in.

The second time they closed, he landed a solid blow right into her hip, causing her to stagger against the wall of the cage. As she did so, he hesitated, unsure of whether to press his advantage or not, and it was that moment that Luna knew he needed a little bit of a wakeup call. He needed more of that spark, that sure confidence to fight, and to win, where it really mattered.

She flung herself at him and they closed in a fury of fists, kicks, and flying limbs. When they broke apart they were both gasping for air, sweat pouring down their faces. Mal's shoulders were trembling, Luna's chest was heaving, her knuckles cracking, the tendons in her hands popping out against her skin. She needed to end this, soon. She needed to prove that she might have been playing a game, but she was holding all the good cards.

She lunged at him, fire and fury pouring through her, that same anger that she'd been reduced to fighting for the amusement and pleasure of others giving her strength. Mal took her blows and resisted as much as he could, getting in a few of his own, but Luna was not to be deterred. She twisted herself around him, trying to get her hands on his throat to knock him out. She could feel her body shaking, crying out for rest and relief and a caseation to the fight, but she could not let go, not yet, not until it was over.

They tumbled to the floor again and this time when Luna forced him on his back, it took every iota of strength she had to hold him down. He bucked, kicked, screamed, thrashed, but still she held him down, her hands on his neck, but her hold on him was tenuous at best. Her muscles were screaming with the effort it took to keep him pinned, and even she was able to hear the desperate sounds of his struggle as he resisted her. It was cruel and sick but still she held on, knowing she had to finish this game.

The sweat on her palms, though, proved to be more of a challenge than she'd realized. Mal bucked with all the strength he had left in him, and due to the slickness between them, her grip slipped. She staggered forward a bit and Mal's head twisted to the side and his teeth sank deep into her wrist. She let out a throaty cry with the pain that began to roar through her. Her fist came down and she punched Mal clean in the nose, forcing him to let go. Blood began to flow from his badly damaged nose even as she wrenched her hand back, trying to ignore the blood running down her hand, but the pain was worth it when she saw the spark of life was came back into both of them. So he was willing to do what it took. Good. It pleased her to know that even down, he hadn't lost his fight.

He flung himself at her and now she was at a severe disadvantage because of her crippled hand. She fought through the pain as much as she could, trying to use Mal's growing physical weakness from exertion to her advantage, but they both knew they were getting close it the end. It was such a close match between the two of them, she had no idea how to make it end without having to endure so much more pain and effort.

They paused, stepping back from each other, both gasping for air, Luna cradling her bleeding wrist, Mal gingerly wiping the blood that was continuing to flow down his face from his busted nose. She dared to risk looking away from him for a moment and finding Jenner in the crowd. It was clear from his expression he desperately wanted to see who would win, and there would be no stopping until one of them fell.

She was determined to end it. For both of them, but mostly just so Jenner could no longer exploit them. She wasn't sure she was capable of hating the man more, but somehow she found an even greater depth of rage towards the mad scientist. Anger driven strength flowed through her and even though she was still getting her breath back she turned her attention towards Mal once more.

She could see a similar roil of feelings in him too, and she was glad for it, but it would make it all that much harder to win. She tried to ignore the insanity that was wrangling its way through her the way a snake coils around a rabbit to suffocate it, and tried to keep her focus on the fight at hand.

She launched herself at him and they tussled hard, clawing and kicking, fighting like ally cats as one struggled to pin the other to the floor. She could feel that both their strength was waning fast but she was determined to hold on. She and Mal scrambled wildly, until her back was shoved against the wall of the cage, her legs wrapped around Mal's hips and torso even as she wrapped her arm around his throat. He kicked and pulled and struggled madly against her, but she squeezed tighter and tighter and tighter, beginning to feel his struggles subside. When he finally went limp against her she let go and rolled away.

She was physically shaking, gasping for breath, her head swimming despite the fact that she could not hear the roar of the crowd, and for this she was grateful. She leaned against the wall of the cage as Milton ducked back in to tend to Mal, and as he did so, Luna dropped into a crouch next to him as his eyes slowly opened again.

"You fought well," she rasped. She smiled for him and he did the same for her, until Milton hauled him up by the shoulder and led him out of the pen. He returned quickly though with a role of gauze and she didn't even resist offering him her arm.

"We're allowed to bandage the fresh wounds, but no weapons," he explained as he tied the gauze around her wrist, helping to stem the flow of blood. As soon as Milton was finished he gave her a forlorn, almost sad look, and left the cage again.

She didn't know where the strength for this final round was going to come, but she learned quickly when she saw Martinez and two other men approaching the cage. They had long metal sticks in their hands, and at the end of those sticks were biters, snapping and snarling, their decomposing limbs flinging wildly, fresh blood caked around their mouths. Her stomach twisted hard with a sickening realization. Someone was feeding these things, keeping them strong, a true challenge.

Luna twisted back around and stared at Jenner. "It's not fair without a weapon!" she howled. Jenner merely narrowed his eyes and grinned sadistically at her before leaning back in his seat.

She spun back around and stared at the men with the biters. The monsters were riled by the smell of the fresh blood that had dripped onto her hand and stained her skin scarlet. An icy coil of fear wound it's way down her throat and into her gut as she tightened her fingers into fists once more.

The Walkers swung their arms wildly in a mad straining struggle to reach the fresh food. Almost simultaneously Martinez and his helpers released the clamps around the biters' necks and stepped away, hurrying out of the cage, letting the monsters loose and leaving Luna to defend herself.

Group them, then go for the edge, but how am I going to kill them without a weapon?

She didn't have time to answer herself before she was forced to dodge. She couldn't hear their raspy, wet growling noises but she knew they were making them. Their jaws clicked and gnashed hungrily as they staggered around and around for her. Their arms lashed out, she jumped back, but she could feel how badly her limbs were shaking with exhaustion. She wouldn't be able to carry this on for long.

She grabbed one of the biters by the shoulder and the back of the neck, her fingers biting into the rotting flesh. She ignored the way her stomach turned over so hard that she wanted to retch and hauled the monster forward, kicking up her feet to get some speed going and slamming the monster into the side of the cage, headfirst. It took two more tries but the skull finally cracked, but she couldn't even catch her breath before she was letting out a yowl of fear as the other two Walkers closed in around her. Using a trick that she'd learned from Judith, she knocked one of their outstretched arms out of the way, ducked under, and made it out of the kill zone and hurriedly skittered to the other side of the cage to give herself some room to breathe, but it didn't last for very long, the Walkers rounded on her and came for her again and again, a relentlessly hammering weapon of teeth and claws. She couldn't keep this up much longer, the need to rest was making it hard to see. The bulging yellowed whites of the monster's eyes seemed to take up her whole field of vision. She cried out in frustration as she struggled to think through the exhaustion and physical pain.

One of the Walkers was close enough to strike, but she lunged first. She knocked it back into it's fellow, throwing her whole body weight against the monsters, using one foot to dislodge their shaky balance and send them crashing into the floor. Hands scrambled at her jeans but she reared her foot back and sent it slamming through the face of both abominations. Blood and guts and gore spattered all over her boots and pant leg, spilling out in a gritty pool behind the crushed skulls. She turned to walk away from the mess but she slipped in the slick, oily fluid and came crashing down in a pile of limbs and tangled hair.

She didn't know if it was her mother or her father she was picturing inside her head, maybe a combination of both of them as her limbs weakly dragged the filthy floor of the cage. Get up, Luna. Get up. You won but they're not finished with you yet and you know it. Get up.

She tried to push herself up, but she knew that even halfway to her feet she didn't have the strength to get up by herself. She struggled for her balance but before she could tip over again someone's hand darted out to catch her. She expected to see Judith's slender fingers, but instead she saw the tough, slightly tanned hand of Mal on the side of her arm, helping to brace her and offering her the support she needed to get to her feet. In the haze and thick of everything swirling around her she wasn't sure why, but a few tears slid down her face as he helped her to her feet and led her safely away from the crowd.

mrskaz453: I keep forgetting to review and I'm sorry for that... This story is awesome, intense, so much drama, pain, and betrayal...I liked this chapter...I have to say that I feel bad for Daryl... .Rick is supposed to be his best friend, but he's crossing into Shane terrority...and becoming no better than Shane... his lusting after Fox is BS and her telling him that if she wasn't with Daryl that she'd be with him is a slap to Daryl... Rick is right.. Fox has hurt Daryl before and treats him like crap at times, but he still stands by her...Maybe, Michonne can get Rick's head straight and stop him from lusting after Daryl's wife... Michonne is right.. .Rick is seeing what he wants to see in Fox and it wouldn't work out with them...Fox isn't a saint... .She can be an outright bitch when she wants to be...and she has betrayed Daryl before so she's not to far off Lori in that area...and she didn't have the excuse of being alone & scared.. She just did it to hurt Daryl... I wonder what Daryl would do if he found out that Rick wants Fox and she would be okay with that if she wasn't with him... It would probably break his heart... He'd probably kick Rick's ass and pull away from Fox, which is maybe what they need... Daryl has always had both thier back, stuck by them, loved them... Maybe, Daryl finding out about this crap would be just the thing to give everyone a wake up call and remind Rick what happened with Shane... and give a wake up call to Fox that her brutal honesty can brutally hurt the one who really loves you. I know Fox loves Daryl in her own way... I've just been ticked off since she told Rick her name.. .that was something that was only for Daryl and now he shares that with Rick.. okay, rant over...LOL. Daryl going to Benji hoping to help Rick... was good... Daryl still being a true, caring friend to a man that is lusting after Daryl's life...Michonne's talk with Rick was awesome... She's right about everyone she said... Maybe, just maybe she will get Rick do the right thing and stop stabbing Daryl in the back...LOL. Benji... You killed Benji... I can't believe it... Benji was an awesome character... Not really physicall strong, but strong in heart & mind... and he just found Ivy... I have a feeling that once he got lucky with Ivy something would happen, but this was shocking and sad...Benji's words to the group... Sad, heartful, sad and made me cry my eyes out reading that... even in death, Benji pulls the group together and tries to make them stronger... Damn you for making me cry...LOL. Awesome chapter for an amazing story...Sorry for bashing on Rick & Fox...not bashing your writing by any means... Your writting is excellent. Just ticked off at Rick & Fox, but it isn't the first time… I also want to add that I really love the Judith/Luna parts of the story... going back & forth...knowing whats going on with Judith/Luna and Daryl/group... that has to be so difficult to keep straight, but your doing it so much better than any writer on TWD. Excellent and thank you for such an awesome story..Update soon...

Well hello my old friend! I've missed seeing you in my inbox, glad to see you're back! Let me say, I am so relieved you find Wolfsong to your liking, it's definitely one of the hardest things I've ever written in terms of character development, plot, and time commitment it takes to put out a quality product, and I can't tell you how much I've waffled and wavered over different ways to take this story. But it's all worth it in the end to hear from such fantastic reviewers like yourself =) I know, I feel bad for Daryl too, I am kickin' him in the feels pretty hard, but I'm doing my utmost to try and be true to the themes of the show, and in the show, Rick is no angel, plus one of the things the show does so spectacularly is show both the light, and darkness, that lurks in everyone, and so I was running with that theme here. As far as Fox's potential reciprocation is concerned…she didn't mean it like she'd ever choose Rick over Daryl. That would never happen. She meant it more as if she'd never even known Daryl, and had known Rick, the outcome between the two of them might have been different. And as Michonne so rightly pointed out, Fox is honest to a painful degree. Fox has indeed hurt Daryl several times, but the stress of what's been going on with the group and losing Luna has pushed her beyond what she really knows how to cope with. It's no excuse, and she knows it, and she's trying to maintain as much as she can, but it doesn't always work out that way. Fortunately for her, Daryl loves her, and Rick too, unconditionally. Michonne is definitely good for Rick, and for the group in general. She's perceptive and intelligent, but unlike Daryl and Fox she has a way of communicating with people in a way that doesn't have to rile them into anger or being defensive. She'll continue to work on Rick as much as she think he can handle, because she knows that Rick is just desperate in the sense that he's lost almost everything he holds dear, and he's losing sight of what it is he fights for, because it keeps getting ripped away. She'll remind him though. Sometimes it takes an outsider to show you what's right in front of you. Fox knows about Rick's convoluted feelings for her, she's acknowledge them before, but she has also told Rick flat out that even if Daryl wasn't around, it would never work out between the two of them. There is an attraction between Fox and Rick, but she knows better than to think that they would ever do anything but ultimately kill each other if they were together romantically. It wasn't my intention to have Fox hurt Daryl when she told Rick her real name (so maybe I should have been a little clearer as a writer), my intention was to have it show both her fear, and her devotion, to someone that she loves, regardless of what that love is really composed of, and Daryl understands that. Daryl also knows about Rick's attraction to Fox (they discuss it very briefly at the end of Wildflower), and Daryl's not really thrilled about it, but he trusts Rick with his life, and he doesn't hold those feelings against his friend, because he knows that sometimes feelings just cannot be helped. So it's not like Daryl doesn't know…he just doesn't say anything. He's secure in his relationship with Fox. Just like Michonne pointed out, the only one that could ever really handle Fox is Daryl, and both of them know it, and they will not lightly forget it, let me assure you…And yes, I killed the nervous nelly Benjy. It was so cruel to do so right after he'd found Ivy, but this is the Walking Dead after all. Nobody's ever really and truly safe. Awww! I made you cry!? Wow! Feeling a little bit of writer pride there, but I'll stop giving myself airs. I was just trying to do justice to Benjy and all the things he does for the group. He's a subtle form of glue that helps bind them all together. The one odd ball that wasn't from Georgia, and wasn't tough and gritty and downright cutthroat when it came to the end of it all. His words, especially to Ivy, were as always, future oriented, trying to foresee all the problems that might happen and trying to circumnavigate them as best he can. I'm so glad you're enjoying the Luna/Judith bits as well. Finding a balancing act between those two story lines is tough, having to switch points of view can throw you for a loop, especially when writing Luna. She's fucking tough to write, because she really is so different from who I am as a person, so keeping her in character and true to who I see her as has been an awesome (and sometimes downright stressful xD) challenge for me. But I can rest assured that nothing really slows down =) And again, thank you so much for dropping in on me, it was wonderful to hear from you again.

Emberka-2012: It's sad, very sad. Benji just met his old love, and did not have time to enjoy it. It was a wonderful character. Rick was carried away in the wrong direction, hopefully not for long. He needed to his family with a pure mind, who do not speak to ghosts, and certainly not envious of the relationship Daryl and Fox. It seems a conversation with Michonne helped him, she is quite a good psychologist.

It was sad killing Benjy off, and I was contemplating on sparing him, but after all this is the Walking Dead and nobody is ever truly safe. Rick is starting to spin his wheels on the crazy train so to speak, but I think anybody in his situation might start to lose sight of who they really are when put under so much stress and pressure. But Michonne will be good for him in that sense, she's smart and understands people very well, despite being so naturally aloof. She will be useful to the group for more than just her sword, that's for sure.

jouetdedestin: I can't believe you killed Benjy! He found his love and got some and then it all had to end? Poor Ivy! How will everyone go on without the medic?

This is the Walking Dead, of course nothing can stay fluffy for long! It's just the nature of the beast xD. They are definitely going to have to take a lot more precautions now and think twice about what they do and what kind of situations they put themselves in…

Brittney:

Wow! That was a very intense chapter and it made me cry. I wonder how the group will cope? It's been a long time since they lost someone close to them...

Aww, I made you cry! Wow, I'm kind of flattered to hear that, but to be honest, I was totally crying too when I was writing it. I really didn't want to kill Benjy off…but it had to be done. The group is definitely rattled in a very distinct way. It certainly has been a very long time since anyone has actually died, and they're not used to it like they were before…it'll make for some interesting dynamics, that's for sure…