I do not own The Walking Dead.
Previously:
"I swear to God, if this was Merle, I'll- I'll-!" Faye snapped, tone irritated.
"You'll what?"
"...Make a load of threats I won't ever go through with."
"Sounds good."
It had been Merle to cause the gunshot.
Well, technically, he hadn't. Beth had fired the gun, but only because the Dixon had started a fight with Glenn. And Glenn had only been fighting him because he wanted to attack the Governor while Rick, Daryl and Hershel were still there. So, in the end, everything lead back to Merle.
As she promised, Faye had made threats.
To Merle's face? No! What did you take her for, a bad ass? Faye was a bad ass in training, as she would put it. She didn't deem herself worthy of the title just yet, although she made jokes about it with Carl.
The boy had called her out on this, but her defence was that she told him to go to hell, not be the one to send him there. That would come later.
For now, she settled with hissing under her breath that she would strangle him in his sleep if he carried on and deliver him to the Governor and tell on him to Daryl! She deemed those to be bad enough punishments.
But, it had been quite a while since then, and there had been other things to occupy her mind with other than the annoyance that was Merle Dixon. She and Carl had completed various jobs for Glenn and had eventually retreated to Faye's room, which seemed to be turning into their usual hang out place - with there being more space with only one person sleeping in there.
Looking at the boy beside her, hunched over against the wall, she put the comic book they'd been reading back on her knees and flicked to the next page. Carl was asleep, but this wasn't the first time they had read this particular story. He wouldn't be missing anything. Although the two had scavenged and comics they could find over their six months on the run, it wasn't as if they were a high priority, so their supply was still meagre.
There was a rustle of clothes next to her, and Faye looked to see the sheriff's hat fall on to it's owners face, his brown hair now dishevelled. Holding back the urge to giggle, the girl grinned as she debated whether or not to take off the hat. It was certainly an amusing sight. If she had had a camera, she would have taken a picture to tease Carl with later, but that was obviously not available.
Sighing, she lifter her hand to take away the hat before she paused, ears finally picking up on a conversation downstairs as she stopped reading.
After listening for a few seconds, Faye rolled her eyes. Merle was still dead set on attacking.
"-but they ain't killers." The Dixon finished.
They were. Rick had killed Shane and that prisoner Tomas. She'd heard Maggie had killed one of the Governor's men trying to escape. And if walkers counted, hell, they were all mass murderers.
"Rick is," Michonne defended. "Maggie is, Glenn is. Carl put down his own mother. Faye shot the only family she had left."
What.
"Mercy killin'. Don't make either a them kids assassins."
How the hell did Michonne know that?!
"And you are?"
Merle still had that annoying smug voice. "When I gotta be."
Faye tuned out most of the conversation from then. All she was bothered about was how Michonne knew about... before!
Had someone told her? If so, she would have to be mad at them. That was her secret to tell!
(Or rather, her secret to keep to herself and hope she would eventually forget.)
As she heard the conversation between the two adults end, she stood up. She would have to confront Michonne about this!
Peeking out the door, Faye saw Merle heading away again and a glimpse as the woman entered her cell. After checking Carl was still asleep, the girl snuck down the steps.
And so, she was stood outside Michonne's door yet again. "Has it been a week yet?"
It felt odd talking to Michonne when she wasn't cleaning her sword. "I believe it has been 24 hours."
"Well, I say that counts as a week."
"I say you have a strange sense of time."
Faye waved her arm in the air. "Stop distracting me! I actually had to ask you something and you nearly made me forget!"
"Ask away." The woman seemed to settle herself on the bed, as if expecting this to go on for a while.
The girl frowned as she spoke, tone calmer. "How did you know about... you know..."
"I don't know."
Swallowing, Faye let the words out quickly, as though she could reign them back in as soon as they escaped. "How did you know I shot my dad and my brother?"
At this, Michonne seemed to take the conversation more seriously. "Carol."
Dammit, of course it was Carol! Faye as trying her best to get along with the woman after everything that had happened, but she did not like people blabbing-
Apparently, the annoyance showed enough on her face for Michonne to cover up for Carol. "Not directly, at first. I asked her why she wasn't worrying and she replied that you had been through worse. No specific details, just the basics, I put two and two together."
Despite nodding her head in the usual slow fashion, Faye wasn't stupid. Michonne might have seemed smart-
(And cool. And bad ass.)
-but there was only so many dots you could connect to complete someone's story.
However, she found herself unable to be mad at Carol. Wasn't Faye the one to approach the woman and practically ask to be friends? Yes, she was. And that meant getting to know each other. The rest of the group knew, and the girl was determined to let Michonne be part of that.
Besides, she knew it was bad to take all her frustration out on Carol. The woman was trying to help her, and she wasn't being fair. It was immature, and the last thing this group needed was a child throwing a tantrum every five seconds.
With this in mind, she nodded. "Okay." Something else that wasn't fair was the fact that Faye knew Michonne was a cat person and Michonne knew Faye put down her family. That was uneven. "Have you lost people?"
She was stepping on thin ice here, but felt the urge to ask.
As usual, Faye couldn't read the look on her face as she replied. "Yes."
"Who?"
When the woman looked away, eyes suddenly finding the wall that bit more fascinating, Faye knew that was a little too far a little too quickly. She had no idea why she had to remain mysterious, but didn't question it. The girl herself didn't like talking about who she lost, it was practically forbidden territory. "Not yet?"
When she received a shake of the head, Faye acted as if she had never asked, hoping it would make the air less heavy. "Well, thanks for talking. Carl fell asleep on me, and it was boring enough reading the same comics over and over without him drifting off on me."
She seemed to take to the change of subject quickly. "Why don't you wake him?"
"He looks... funny."
Yes, funny was the word she would use. Not cute. Faye did not think Carl was cute. It's not like the way his hair was messed up was adorable and she only wanted to remove his hat so she could see his face-
"Funny, huh?" Apparently, Michonne picked up on it. "'Till next week then."
"'Till next week."
Faye decided to late Carl continue sleeping in the end, hat removed from his head. After all, it was like any of them had been having the best night sleeps lately, not with the Governor on the prowl.
(What she failed to admit, however, was that she too fell asleep on his shoulder.)
Her attention was suddenly brought to a focus as voices came from the cell block, more than simply Michonne and Merle. Standing up, Faye ran a hand through her newly tangled hair with a yawn, fringe behind her ear, as she walked out her cell to see what was going on.
The whole group was walking in, Rick, Hershel and Daryl leading them.
Daryl.
He really did come back! He kept his word this time! So did Hershel, come to think of it.
Grinning as Daryl acknowledged her with a nod, Faye noticed Rick also looking at her.
'Carl?' He mouthed.
Nodding, Faye headed back into the cell to wake the boy. Leaning over to him, she poked him between the eyes. "Oi, wakey wakey, dumbass,"
Groaning, he mumbled a reply. "What time is it?"
This was highly amusing. Picking up the sheriff's hat, the girl put it firmly on Carl's head. "Who knows, sheriff. I do know that Rick, Daryl and Hershel are back."
The boy shot up at this. "They're back?"
"Go see for yourself."
The two walked back outside the room and headed down the stairs, Carl meeting his Dad with a brief hug and Faye heading over to check Daryl was alright before the two head to the back, Rick preparing himself to bring the news.
He picked up a rifle as he stood in front of the group, checking everyone was present.
"So, I met this Governor." He nodded. "Sat with him for quite a while."
"Just the two of you?" Merle challenged. At a further nod, the Dixon walked away, sending an unimpressed glance to Glenn. "Should have gone while we had the chance, bro."
Glenn simply glared, Maggie doing the same next to him. Faye tried not to tense as the large man stopped walking behind her.
He wants the prison. Wants us gone. Dead. He wants us dead."
Rick stopped as his eyes flickered past everyone, meeting there gaze for just a moment. When he arrived at Faye, chills ran down her spine. If he wanted to scare them, he was doing a damn good job at it.
"We're going to war."
The words hit Faye like a ton of bricks.
War. War. War.
War was what they taught in history class, it was bloody, it was hell.
But that was the world they were living in anyway, war would simply destroy the already torn up battlefield.
Besides, they couldn't go to war. They had twelve people on their side. And a baby. How were they supposed to look after Judith through all this? The Governor had a whole town.
And death. War would mean death, on both sides. Would Faye had to kill? Would she have to shoot somebody who was alive, who had a life? The thought that she might scared her. The girl found it hard to not blame herself for her family's deaths, her mother before the apocalypse and her brother and father afterwards. They weren't the same as shooting someone alive, with thoughts and blood running through their veins, though.
As she noticed the group separating off, Faye walked up the stairs, not wanting to be the last person, standing alone. She didn't go too far, perching on the edge of a higher step to watch what was going on. Someone had to react openly at some point.
Faye jumped slightly as someone sat down next to her. The gruff voice gave it away without having to look. Daryl. "How're ya doin'?"
How was she doing? Considering she had been thoroughly questioning her morals and had just found out they would go to war, she was doing surprisingly well, in her opinion. "Okay, I think."
"Ya think?"
Faye remained silent as she nodded. She held her chin with one hand, staring forward at nothing in particular. "Are we really gonna do this?"
"We do what we gotta do. Ain't gonna let the Governor kill us, take the prison, nothin'."
That was something she liked about Daryl. He didn't dress up the truth for her, he just lay it out the way it was.
"So, we'll kill them before they kill us?"
"If that's what it takes." No frills.
"Daryl," He didn't ask her what, simply letting her figure out the sentence as she struggled. "What if- Does it make me- No, just-"
Stopping herself from stuttering any further, Faye sighed before finally restarting. "What if they attack, and I have to kill someone?"
The girl didn't turn to meet his gaze, but Daryl was staring at her. Running a hand through his hair, he answered. "If ya gotta kill, it's 'cause your protectin' your own, tha's all that matters now. At some point, we all gotta do it. Don't make us bad, not always. You won't be bad, I know it."
"How can you know that?" Faye asked, finally turning to see his face. "It ends someone's life, how can that ever be alright?"
The man seemed to dislike telling her this, practically encouraging her to kill, but did so anyway. It was best she understood now before the real fighting started. "See it this way: If they was trying to kill one of us, like Carl, would ya let 'em? It's them or him."
"I'd save Carl." She replied instantly, not wanting Daryl to get the impression she'd let one of the group die. "I'd choose any of us over any of them."
He nodded, as if agreeing. "Exactly. Ain't none of us want to kill, not really, but it protects us. Keeps us alive. We ain't the bad ones."
"Okay," She said, unsure at first, until she repeated it again with more certainty. "Okay."
"Don't want it to come to that, though, ya still ain't properly healed yet. You only shoot that gun," He motioned to the pistol by her belt. "If you've got to."
"I know." Faye poked her forehead, not wanting to make the stitches sting. "Hershel said it would be two weeks or so. Which is ages!"
"Well, ya got plenty a stitches, wouldn't surprise me if it took longer."
The girl gave a frustrated sigh. "You know what, it's not even worth being shot. It's boring, Carl won't even let me steal his hat!"
"The worst thing 'bout being shot is that ya can't have Carl's hat?"
"Yep."
"Why?" Daryl gave her an incredulous look.
"'Cause, you know," She held her hand out as if she were a teacher explaining a fact. "When you get shot, the hat is passed to you! That's the rule, Rick gave Carl the hat, but Carl said no because it was in the head, not the main body. Which is total bullshit."
"Oi," Daryl nudged her with his arm, as if it would reprimand her. "Watch it."
"What? It is." Carl was her best friend, he was awesome, but she had to find a way to get back at him for this. Maybe one of Andrea's rules would help, but she could think about that another time.
However, despite telling her off, this got the hunter thinking. Or, at least, his thinking face, Faye had learnt to recognise it. It gave Faye a minute or two to ponder over what had just been said.
Daryl had said she wouldn't be bad, that none of them were the bad ones.
She'd always listened to him before, when she asked for advice, or he was simply telling her something in general. What had changed? Faye knew she had to start trusting him again at some point. After all, Daryl had kept his promise this time. He'd even sworn to it.
But was she willing to take his word when it came to killing? If she shot someone, would she not feel guilty because Daryl had told her it was okay?
He had made complete sense. If it came down to him, Carl, or any of the group, she would choose them over a stranger. The group was far too important, they were all the family she had now.
She, Carl and Judith were the children, as much as the older two hated admitting it. And if Carl was Rick's son, that made Rick the Dad. Besides, Rick was the leader, so he kind of automatically took that role. But, he wasn't Faye's Dad, Daryl would probably take that role, so that meant Daryl and Rick were brothers.
(Faye tried to ignore the warm feeling when she thought about Daryl becoming her father. She didn't do well at it.)
T-Dog and Glenn were like the uncles, Faye supposed, so Maggie became the aunt. Beth was a bit too young to be that, she became the cousin. Hershel was undeniably the Grandfather, but Carol was too young to be the Grandmother. As much as it frustrated her sometimes, Faye deemed Carol to be the mother. Maybe Lori would have had that role, but that was the past.
As for Michonne and Merle, Faye didn't know where to put them. And Andrea, where the hell did she come? Was she even part of the group anymore-
But Faye was rambling. And confusing herself.
The point as, they were all family. There wasn't a single one of them she wanted to give up.
Suddenly, the girl was brought out of her thoughts. "You know, we both got shot in the head."
That they had. "...Yeah?"
"How 'bout we make our own rule?"
Faye liked the sound of this. "What kind of rule?" She asked with a hopeful smile.
The man told her to wait there before he left to his room. Watching as he walked back, something clutched in his hand. His palm opened to show a piece of patterned black fabric. He spoke as he handed it to her. "Don't need no damn sheriff's hat. Tie it 'round ya neck."
Faye stared at piece before turning to Daryl with a grin. "Is this your bandana?"
"'s yours now." He nodded.
At this, she unwrapped and looked at the clothing, holding it up in front of her, as if checking it over.
Yeah, it was definitely awesome.
Not wasting anymore time, Faye brushed her hair round to one side so she could make a proper knot. When she struggled, Daryl straightened out the fabric for her and tied the back. "There. I got shot in the head, you got shot in the head. Now you get the bandana."
After looking down at the material for a few more seconds, Faye shuffled around and hugged the man tightly, not caring if he appreciated the contact or not. "Thanks, Daryl. You're the best."
He tensed for a few moments before he relaxed ever so slightly, awkwardly patting her on the back.
"Your welcome."
There was suddenly talking from the main room, Merle's voice being surprisingly loud. Drawing back from Daryl so he could stand up and deal with his brother, Faye added one last thing.
"Daryl," She started. "I think, if it came down to it, I could kill someone for the group. To protect them."
He frowned at first, but saw she was taking the matter seriously. "Only to protect."
"Only to protect." She repeated, etching the words in her mind.
Author's Notes:
Hello! Sorry this is a day late, my brother nabbed the laptop before I could finish the chapter. I realise this was only two rather long scenes, and next chapter should be plenty more.
Right, I had a few things to address and I need to remember them!
First, to the reviewer talking about Faye's maturity. I'm also that age, one year older than Faye, but a lot of my friends act extremely immature. That doesn't apply to everyone, of course :) I see your point, and I have gone back and read a few chapters to see. Sometimes, I write her like that because the life from before suddenly stopped, so there are a lot of general knowledge things she wouldn't know. However, I guess that can only go so far and, if anything, the apocalypse would make her mature more. I understand what you're saying and I'll try to mature her character more.
The second point I need to add is a thank you for the PM from Neverland123 with the suggestion that Daryl gave something to Faye because they both were shot in the head. It was a great idea that I thought would help with rebuilding the bond between the two, so a big thanks is sent to you!
My last note is I've changed my idea for the next few chapters, but just wanted to just check and see what my readers would like! It's great to have you involved. Anyway, my original plan was that Faye would join Daryl when he goes to track Merle and Michonne. However, after re-watching the episode, I found that this was a bit of a stretch to pull off. Daryl was doing a lot of running which would be too hard for Faye to do in her injured state - I originally thought he took the bike, but found he didn't when I checked the episode. There's also the fact that he wouldn't want her to go simply because they would be going to where the Governor is and he was the one who shot Faye. However, if you guys really want to see that, I could work it in. So, tell me your thoughts? Do you think that's the right decision?
Man, that was long. Anyway, next chapter will be up on Sunday. See you then!
Please review, I love to hear your thoughts and advice.
Thanks.
Cobalt Flame.