Newly Revised
The Governor walked over to stand next to Tea, feeling the woman stiffen as he grabbed her and pulled her with him to the edge of the arena just to hold her back against his chest. He had positioned them so that he could see Chrystal clearly, and the woman was smiling devilishly as she looked at the small thing in his arms. Tea knew without a doubt that she was not getting out of this town alive without a miracle as she watched her sister glare down at her; she knew that look well and instinctively froze in place. She started kicking herself mentally, though, for letting just the sight of her sister get to her in that moment since she wasn't the same, lame, weak little girl she'd been the last time she had seen her. Tea wouldn't allow the crowd calling for their deaths and the glare from her sister stop her from making sure, somehow, that Daryl and Merle got out of that ring and on the way back to the prison. She wasn't expecting to call out the blonde that came out of the woodwork to argue their case even though her reward for calling out to Andrea was a backhand by Martinez. The man then went over and stopped Andrea from moving forward as the Governor pulled Tea further away from the woman even as they both struggled in their captors' holds respectively.
"Stay outta this," Martinez told the blonde as another scavenger grabbed her from him.
"Philip! They're my friends!" Andrea yelled as she struggled against the scavenger.
"It's not up to me anymore," the Governor said as he held the tiny woman in his arms. "The people have spoken."
"What?"
"I asked you where your loyalties lie," he said pointing at Merle as Shumpert walked up to Daryl and cut his hands free; Tea glared at the man as he had Daryl's crossbow. "Well, prove it. Prove it to us all. Brother against brother," he said, much to the crowd's delight. "Winner goes free. We'll even throw in the girl as a nice little prize," he said, bringing Tea further back into him close enough to where she could feel him growing against her back, making her mentally gag. "Fight, to the death!"
"Philip, please!" Andrea tried. "Don't do this! Don't do this!"
The crowd were cheering as Merle was pushed into the middle of the ring as he and Daryl stared at each other, both still wearing faces of shock. Tea was struggling against the Governor and would have broken his hold several times if it weren't for how securely her hands had been tied behind her back. She watched as the brothers stared at each other and hoped that at least one of them had some kind of plan to get out of their situation. It was absolutely disgusting to feel the man pressing close to her hands while watching her husband and brother-in-law squaring up against each other before Merle started talking to the crowd. Every single cell in Tea's body lit up at what the man was saying and she honestly couldn't believe that someone would be so callous towards their own family when, for both people, blood had been more important than anything.
"Y'all know me!" he said, arm raised high, egging the crowd on as Tea started shouting threats at him that if he touched Daryl, she would make him pay. "I'm gonna do whatever I gotta do to prove," he punched Daryl in the gut, causing him to fall as Tea cursed Merle's name, "that my loyalty," he kicked Daryl, sending him rolling over, "is to this town!"
Tea tried to run towards Daryl and Merle only to be grabbed back and held even tighter against the man, a warning growled into her ear using her full name, pressing the barrel of the gun he pulled to her temple. She could only watch with bated breath as Merle continued beating her husband down only for the Governor nod his head at someone else. Tea stood horrified as men brought walkers on snare poles close enough for the walkers to be trying to get to the men even while they still fought in the center of the ring. When Daryl finally landed a swinging punch on Merle, Tea couldn't help shouting for joy only to receive the butt of the gun the man behind her had in his hand. The action made her dizzy as all hell as her vision blurred over due to having already been punched in the head several times already. Daryl managed to get on his feet and charged Merle, but he was too injured from the beating he'd taken earlier. He hadn't said anything as he was tortures, just listened to the commotion from the room next to him before he heard Tea laughing like a madman in the next room. He could tell that she had been worked over more than he had with the bruising on her face and her shirt partially open with her hands thoroughly bound behind her back. Merle took him back to the ground without a fight while the guys holding walkers bringing the damn things right up on them. As his brother bore down on him while holding the shoulders of his shirt as Daryl brought his hands around Merle's neck.
"You really think this asshole's gonna let you go?" he asked his brother.
"Just follow my lead, little brother," Merle told him. "We're getting out of here. Us and your girl. Right now!"
He pulled Daryl up and stood back to back with the man as they began punching and kicking all the walkers back into the crowd, trying to find a way to get out. When Daryl went to punch a walker that was particularly close, it's head was blown open, followed by the sound of more gunfire, Tea taking the momentary confusion as an opportunity. She bent forward as much as she could before throwing her head back as hard as she could, hitting his sternum hard enough for her to hear a crack and the man to go reeling backwards while letting her go. She quickly spun on her heel and delivered a high kick right under his chin as a smoke bomb went off and more gunfire sounded making the man fall right to the ground with a bloodied mouth. Tea couldn't see anything in the smoke and having her hands bound so thoroughly made it beyond difficult to move in any way that would actually give her an advantage. If she didn't get out of here quickly, though, she would end up at the hands of her sister before she had a chance to even find Daryl. She'd already seen the bitch on the move when the first shot had gone off right before the smoke bomb had obscured her vision and she took her chance to attack the Governor.
"Daryl! Stay close!" Merle shouted.
"Merle! Daryl!" Tea shouted, running into the smoke.
"Get over here, girly!" Merle's voice shouted as a hand curled around her bicep.
The urge to throw a punch just about had her ripping through her restraints and the fact that there was a hand on her bicep but she couldn't see clearly where the person's body was made it to where she didn't want to kick only to land on her ass. While it was one thing to fight six men in a space that only really allowed a few to get to her at a time, it was completely different being out in the open and not knowing how many she had to fight against. The men had only managed to get her back in that damn chair by tackling her and they'd still had a hard time getting her under control until one of them threatened to go back into the room with Daryl. She had willingly stopped fighting then, but had completely freaked everyone who came back in out with how she laughed through the pain. It was an unhealthy habit she'd developed after leaving home because the pain now was no where near what it had been as a kid and it always made her laugh at how ridiculous it all had been. Depending on who's grasp she was in would either make or break her future, though, and if it broke it, laughter would be all she had left to deal with it.
"Merle?!" she heard Daryl call out.
"I got her! Let's go!" the man said, alerting Tea to who exactly was holding onto her; We'll make it was her only thought.
As they fled out from the smoke, Merle dropped his hand from her and let her run, albeit awkwardly, by herself between him and Daryl. Shumpert used Daryl's bow to take out a walker coming at him, completely oblivious to the incoming Dixon parade from behind, which was the only reason they were able to keep the man from following them. He had left himself wide open dealing with the walker, making it easy for Daryl to grab his crossbow from him before Tea landed a jumping roundhouse kick to the man's back as she passed him, sending him right into Merle's waiting fist. If she hadn't been so preoccupied with escaping, Tea would have laughed and praised Merle for actually working with her instead of against her. Instead, they ran past Rick who looked completely pissed off but still covered them with Maggie. Merle led them through the streets before he stopped them on a deserted one and Daryl was able to take the knife offered by Rick to cut Tea's restraints. She stretched out and rolled her shoulders before popping them and her back to get all the kinks and pain out, though she did wince when she stretched her torso and the pain in her ribs sprung to life.
"They're all back at the arena. This way," Merle told them, pushing past Tea to lead them away.
"You're not goin' anywhere with us!" Rick said, not caring if the man had helped or not; he wasn't willing to take the risk.
"Are ya fuckin' kiddin' me, Rick?" Tea asked him.
"You really wanna do this now?!" Merle growled back at him as he began banging through the wall of the perimeter.
It made an awful lot of noise until Tea went over, pulled him back motioning for him that they'd do it together as Maggie, Rick, and Daryl kept a watch for them. She counted to three and they both charged the wall with their elbows, the metal giving way so fast that Tea started to stumbling and if it hadn't of been for Merle grabbing the back of her vest, she would have fallen. He scoffed when he saw the wings gracing her back as he scowled and the two of them took down a few walkers as Merle shouted at the others. Maggie didn't even hesitate when Daryl told them to get a move on to follow him and Tea behind Merle while Rick, however, was doing everything not to go off on the hunters. They ran as fast as they could through the woods until the sun was coming up that they reached the road where Glenn and Michonne were waiting. Glenn practically ran to Maggie and embraced her, even though he could barely walk. Rick rounded on the hunters almost as soon as they reached the car.
"What the hell was that stunt you pulled?"
"What fuckin' stunt, Rick? I saved ya ass and got grazed by a bullet then tackled! I don' know 'bout Daryl, but I'm guessin' similar happened ta him! We got our asses beat ta make sure ya fuckin' spaced out dickhead got out! Don' go fuckin' blamin' us for gettin' ya out a there, 'cause ya'd a died if we didn' cova ya ass!"
"You got hit by a bullet?!" Daryl yelled as he grabbed onto her and started looking.
"Nah, jus' a graze," she said, twisting her arm to show him the slight cut. "How bad ya hurt?"
"I'm fine," he said in a huff. "Heard you laughin'. I know damn well they weren't ticklin' you. Heard quite the ruckus, too."
"Yeah, they didn' expect me ta break out a the zip ties. Think I broke a couple limbs, definitely broke more'n a few ribs. Snapped some dude's neck," she said as if it was nothing.
"You snapped someone's neck?" Glenn asked surprised.
"Well, again, they didn' expect me ta break free. I got the drop on the first guy and then snapped the next dude's neck. But in that kind a situation, I'd a killed 'em all if it meant gettin' us out alive," Tea reasoned.
"You don't gotta explain yourself," Daryl told her, holding her too him as she brought her arms up around him.
"I know," she said, taking a breath, thankful for the closeness before she looked at the others. "Did Andrea make it out?"
"Andrea's in Woodbury?" Glenn asked.
"Mm-hmm," Daryl answered. "Right next to the Governor."
"Oh yeah, the Governor's wantin' to put the wood to her big time baby. Hell, he probably already has. Spent all winter next to our Nubian queen here," Merle embellished.
It was Michonne's turn to face Rick's wrath, "You know Andrea?!"
The woman kept mum, but Merle answered for her, "Yep she does. She had two pet walkers with her. No arms, cut off the jaws, kept 'em in chains. Kinda ironic now that I think about it."
"Shut up, bro!" Daryl said as he let go of Tea and pushed the man back.
"Hey man, we snagged 'em outta the woods," he said with a shrug. "Andrea was close to dying."
"Is that why she's with him?" Maggie asked.
"At first, then she was supposed to be our mole. Not sure now that she's so infatuated with the Governor. So what ya gonna do now, Sheriff? Surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs, and cowards."
"Shut the fuck up, Merle," Tea growled.
"Or what?" the man growled at her, still pissed about her vest. "You gonna come over and make me?"
"Leave it alone, Ania," Daryl said, grabbing her arm as she made to march over and do just that.
"Ania? Thought your name was Tea," Merle said before something hit him like a ton of bricks, morphing his angered face into a stunned one; She's closer than you think. Raising his hand he pointed at her and yelled, "Fuckin' hell! You're Titania Marie Parker!"
Everyone froze in their spots, Daryl slowly turning towards his brother and pulling Tea behind him as Glenn, Rick, and Maggie formed a dilapidated triangle around the two. Tea simply held onto his bicep with a scowl across her face wondering how he knew that name even as she fought against her nerves to not show the other man anything. Merle, however, broke into a shit eating grin, disbelief clouding his judgment as he started laughing loudly completely caught off guard by the strange turn of events. He had been bound and determined to keep Titania safe if he ever found her and instead she had been the only woman he'd ever punched and the first woman to take him down. Merle could never have predicted that the psycho bitch banging his brother actually had a reason to be so strong and so quick to defend the others against him, especially Daryl. Family always came first, and abuse would never be tolerated by someone who had went through as much as she had and yet still came out on top. By the time his laughter quieted down his gaze on her had softened immensely for no apparent reason to the younger hunters and honestly put Tea more on edge than she already was.
"Fuck, girly, I didn't know I knew ya the whole damn time! No wonder Andrea grew soft on ya! Hell, I didn't even know it was you and I was ready ta chase your tail down ta keep ya under my own wing! You've got one twisted family, haven't you?" he asked, watching as her scowl turned to shock.
"The fuck ya know 'bout it?" she asked, tensing so much that even Merle could see how badly she was shaking.
"Everythin', girly. Everythin'. Everythin' from them druggin' ya and sending you to juvie for killin' the pedophile they sent you to," Merle said, causing all eyes to turn and look at her in shock, her face morphing into absolute terror, hoping and praying he wouldn't talk anymore. "Or how 'bout their initials branded on your tailbone? You tell my baby brother about that?"
"That's what those are?!" Daryl roared, ripping himself from her vice-like grip and turning on her.
"I didn'...I couldn'," she tried to say, unable to figure a way out of this situation until she turned to Merle. "Jus' tell 'im and go back. I can'...I ain'."
She left then, running as fast as she could through the woods knowing that her time with her new family was over now. There was no way they would want someone who had killed before even reaching teen-hood, someone who had been targeted since before she had even finished developing, someone tainted and claimed in the worst ways possible. She had made it out of that house with her physical innocence in tact but her mental innocence completely destroyed in every way possible. Everything she had been through, she knew that Chrystal would blab about her childhood, but for Merle, Merle, of all people to know was too much for her to take. She had never wanted to tell Daryl if she didn't have to, never wanted him to know everything that had happened to her and had glossed over what she had told him. Tea had deliberately left out details in an extremely selfish decision because she hadn't wanted him to leave her when he found out, but now that choice was completely out of her hands. It neva should a been in mine anyway, she thought by the time she managed to stop running, all of her breath gone as she began breaking down. Every last memory from that stupid box burst open into her mind and the only person who would ever be able to make it better would run away when he finally knew it all. The words and phrases she hadn't heard since she'd run away from Daryl at the quarry sprang to life all over again, louder than they had been in years, as she collapsed at the base of a tree.
~x~
Daryl stood staring at Tea's retreating figure trying to figure out what she meant by 'going back' and that she couldn't. What couldn't she do? Accept that Merle knew about her past? Come back to the prison anymore? Be with him just because he knew more about her past? It didn't help any that the rage he was feeling at knowing what those damn scars had been and that someone had actually treated her like an animal like that. He and Rick shared a look, although Rick looked like he was about to kill someone, both of them entirely too stunned in that moment to even talk. Daryl was trying to wrap his head around what the hell had just happened when it finally registered that she had told Merle to tell him what she couldn't. After all of that, after everything they had been through, it was his brother who would be the one to tell him and not his girl. It felt like could water had been thrown over his entire body as he stalked up to his brother and grabbed a hold of his vest more aggressively than he had ever treated Merle before.
"What do ya know, Merle?! Fuck do you know?!"
"Calm down, baby brother," Merle told him, placing his hand on his brother's to get him to let go; no way in hell would he admit he was trying to comfort the boy. "Let's take a walk, shall we? Ain't somethin' that should be aired in public. Hell, wish I didn't know, but here we are. Y'all go back. We'll get the girly and get back."
"Is she coming back?" Glenn asked. "It...It didn't really sound like she was planning on it."
"We'll get 'er back, don't worry," the older brother assured him. "No tellin' what'll happen if we don't. Can't have the girly out here on her own."
"She seems capable enough to me," Michonne commented, earning Merle's ire.
"Who the fuck are ya to make that decision, huh?! You ain't know shit about her!" Merle yelled, going to stomp up to the woman who almost drew her sword at him before he calmed down.
"It doesn't matter what she knows or you know. It won't work," Rick said.
"What won't?" Maggie asked.
"Merle goin' back with us."
"It's gotta," Daryl insisted. "He helped Glenn and Maggie out. Helped keep Ania safe."
"It'll stir things up back at the prison," Rick stated plainly. "Look at how he acted in Atlanta. You really want to bring that back to the prison?"
"He ain't like that no more. Besides, the Governor's probably on the way to the prison right now," Daryl argued. "Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle."
"He did try to save my life," Maggie added, defending Merle.
"And he gave me a knife to help get us out of there," Glenn continued. "He could have just left us to fend for ourselves, but he was trying to help us escape."
"There's no way Merle's gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throats. Especially if he knows about Tea. Look how she ran off!"
"So you wanna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us after everything he did for Glenn and Maggie? For Ania?" Daryl asked.
"What'd he do for Tea?" Glenn asked.
"He pulled her outta there," Daryl told him. "Couldn't see with all the smoke and we were separated. Don't even like her and still got her out."
"Michonne's not coming back," Rick cut in.
"She's not in a state to be on her own," Maggie told him, feeling sorry for the woman.
"And she did bring you guys to us," Glenn defended.
"And then ditched us."
"Why you always tossin' people aside?" Daryl yelled. "You need the damn muscle, Rick! Ania won't let you risk the prison just because you're too much of a fuckin' pussy to take a risk!"
Rick squared up, ready to take the man on when Glenn piped up, "He's right, Rick. Tea wouldn't like it if we left them on their own, especially now."
"We started somethin' last night," Daryl said. "You gotta realize that."
Rick glared at the both of them before relenting, "Fine. Have it your way, then."
"I'm goin' after Ania first," Daryl said as he walked over to the vehicle. "I ain't leavin' her out here alone."
He popped the trunk and grabbed his bag out before walking over to Merle and headed out to follow Tea's trail, Daryl thankful that she hadn't bothered not trying to leave one. He was so anxious about what Merle knew and the fact that his wife had run off as soon as she knew someone else knew about her past. It was almost like she was trying to outrun it and while he understood the thought behind it, he was still pissed that she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him what those letters were or any details about her past. Either she had never had any intention of telling him what had really happened or she had so little faith in him that she thought telling him would change things between them. She had always been afraid that he would leave her and now he couldn't help but think she thought that he would just because he knew about her past. He wasn't sure what to believe as he walked through the woods, his anger festering with every step he took until he couldn't help but turn it on Merle before he lost it when he found Tea.
"Start talkin'!" he yelled as he rounded on the man.
"Well look at you!" Merle quipped, completely amused by his brother's actions. "Finally grew a pair of balls over the winter, have ya?"
"Dammit, Merle! Start talkin'! What d'ya know about her? What the hell do you know?!" he roared, grabbing a hold of his shirt once again.
"Calm down, boy, I'm talkin'! I'm talkin'!" Merle told him, holding his arms up in surrender. "It's no wonder that girl is so strong. Every bone in her body's been broke more'n once. Hardly ever went to the hospital to get treated; almost always had to set the damn things on her own and wrap them too. Her birthdays brought her marks on her back equal to the years she lived; can't imagine her back's pretty to look at." Daryl thought about the tally marks on her back as Merle watched the anger began to morph into one of nausea before he continued, "That sick bitch back in Woodbury convinced her three times to try to commit suicide, only to laugh when the girl would take the pills offered, start feelin' 'em take affect and throw 'em up. Damn near put her ass in a coma one time; slept for a week in her own piss, shit, and vomit 'cause her family didn't even bother to check if she was alive, just laughed at the state she was in. They'd lock her up in a room in the basement and slice 'er up good.
"She was fuckin' twelve years old when her parents drugged 'er up with an aphrodisiac; I don't even fuck with those. Her sister was the one that took 'er to the pedo, and the bitch was eighteen! Hell, her daddy was sick 'nough to try takin' 'er too. Only got away 'cause she had an old man she would run to who might as well a been drinkin' buddies with our grand-daddy. Wasn't even just her sister and daddy, either. Her momma used to hit her every chance she got, took a chain to 'er back when she acted up, which was any time one of 'em got angry or had a bad day. Those sick fucks would string 'er up in a room in the basement and leave her there until they were happy enough with their handiwork and then dress 'er up to make her go out with 'em to show just how perfect their little family was. Any time someone asked where she was when company was over and she was in that room, they'd lie through their teeth. If it wasn't her bein' out somewhere studyin', it was that she was sick. She quit talkin' around the age of seven since anythin' she'd say would get 'er beat or whipped."
Daryl could barely breath the more Merle talked and if it weren't for his hold on his brother, he would have fallen to his knees. How many times had she been forced to fend off guys like Shane all because her parents seemingly hated her? How many times had her family locked her down in that damn room she'd only mentioned in passing? Why hadn't she told him the truth about those damn scars to begin with when he'd asked so many times? Was she really that afraid of him walking out on her that she would rather run away than tell him the truth? He knew he hadn't exactly been forthcoming with his own past, but it had always paled in comparison to what she had said about hers. The scars on her body were so much worse and there were so many more than he had and he hadn't even been sure he really wanted to know everything when he'd asked, he'd just been insecure. She had said that he was her first in everything, but what if her family had managed to get her to one of those assholes? What would he do if she had lied about that? What had she been trying to protect by not telling him anything?
"Her daddy was gonna kick her out for not doin' her sister's work or some shit like that, but wanted to have a little fun first," Merle continued. "Chased her all the way to that man's house before lettin' up. Had her practically naked, only panties keepin' 'er covered, all kinds of beat up. Soon as she stepped into the old man's property, he had a rifle raised in 'er daddy's face. Even after they kicked her out at fourteen, they'd visit wherever she was living. They'd beat the shit outta her and try to sell her off 'til she was seventeen and shot 'er daddy in the shoulder and damn near killed some sort of instructor dude. If she'd a been just a little harder at the time, she'd a done the smart thing and shot her daddy in the head; could still be out here lookin' for her. Don't know why she was soft on him; she's had to kill at least three guys her parents have thrown on her in a beat down and drugged up state, maybe more. She's been starved, beaten, humiliated, and treated like shit in ways we never once had to deal with. Never thought I'd say it, but I'm kinda glad we had the daddy we had 'cause of that girl's story."
"She never told me any a that," Daryl mumbled, his breath leaving him as he tried to process everything he had just learned. "'Bout the beatin's, her sister likin' to cut her up, but she never said..."
"Can't blame her for not tellin' ya," Merle told him. "I gave ya the cliff notes version, the long version you're too soft for, at least on her. But trust me, any of those son of bitches come 'round the little girl, I'll give you first go at 'em. She's stickin' with us from now on. Nothin' bad's gonna happen to her ever again. So let's go get your girl and get back to that prison, ya hear?" he asked, pushing the boy in the direction the girl had gone. "Go on now."
Merle trailed behind, still unable to believe that he'd actually found the girl he had been wanting to protect, let alone knew her all along. Now he understood exactly how his own punch hadn't dropped the girl and how she had been able to drop him not once, but twice. Her reaction to him hitting her had been just that, a reaction to getting hit and having the ability to actually hit back now that she wasn't so helpless. It was no wonder she hadn't let up; in her teen years when she began defending herself, letting up meant she got taken down in a constant 3 on 1 match, sometimes more. Merle had to hand it to the girl, she was stronger than anyone he'd ever met and she had balls bigger than any man he'd ever seen. Not just anyone could go through hell and back over and over again and still come out thinking about how to protect others like that pistol had. He could only hope that his little brother could handle what he'd learned and not blame the girl for not wanting to tell him. Now that he knew who she was, he had to admit, he was damn proud of his brother for sticking with her and even happier that he'd given her the Dixon name. At least that's what he assumed had happened with that damn vest of hers.
~x~
"Merle! Merle?!" a feminine cried out from the trees just as everyone was getting ready to pile into a car. "Merle! Where are you?!"
A woman with dark hair, pale skin, and blue eyes came out of the woods, bringing all their guns up to her, a reaction that had already been anticipated. She immediately shrieked and cowered, lowering herself to the ground and raising her hands above her head as if she was going to be struck. The survivors looked at each other somewhat perplexed by the woman's reaction considering she looked completely harmless. Her clothes were partially dirty and they had been ripped in places with scratches on her skin that made it look like she had fallen or tripped trying to follow the oldest Dixon. She didn't even carry a weapon on her, no knives, no guns, nothing to defend herself against walkers at all. Rick couldn't help but put his gun back in his holster seeing such a defenseless woman, telling everyone to do the same before he crouched down, the girl flinching back as he did so.
"What are you doing out here? Why were you calling for Merle?" Rick asked, trying to use a gentle voice.
"They, they had my sister!" the woman said still cowering.
"Who did?"
"She was the girl who ran with them, Titania!" she said as she finally looked up at him.
Rick looked at the girl closely, noticing the similarities in the two, "You're her sister?"
"Yeah," she said.
"Merle just said some pretty bad things about your family," Rick told her.
"That was my parents! I never touched her! I swear! I never...she was always so smart and pretty. Sure, we had our misunderstandings, but I never once touched her! Our parents were assholes, but they didn't understand her! She's autistic and ADHD and they thought they had to beat it out of her! I tried to protect her, I did! But they'd just send me away to boarding school or to a relative's so I couldn't get in their way!" she said quickly, sounding weak and pathetic having perfected this role as a child.
"Why'd you follow Merle?" Rick asked, seeing how much the woman was crying and standing up, offering her a hand up.
She took it as she said, "I've been looking everywhere for her. Ever since she got in trouble when she was seventeen, I've been keeping an eye out on her."
Bet they know nothing of her past, Chrystal thought to herself, making sure to keep the waterworks on her face instead of the smile that threatened to come out. She had been doing this since her sister was born, the little bastard deserving of every little thing that had been done to her. Titania should never have been born and there was nothing that Chrystal would do to ensure the bitch died as soon as she could get her alone. And now that she knew that her sister was involved with the man she had heard so much about and wanted, it just made the game more fun. Daryl Dixon was just her type with that ruggedness and dark hair with blue eyes and she had wanted him since she had first heard Merle talk about him. Now that she knew exactly where both of them were going to be, she would be able to kill two birds with one stone, maybe even three. After all, if Merle got in her way to get her hands on his brother, she'd just have to make sure Merle never came back. It was as simple as that and Chrystal knew that she could get away with it since she was just a sweet, innocent, protective big sister who only had her little sister's well being in mind. Chrystal turned the laugh she couldn't hold in into another sob as she covered her face with her hands, pretending to wipe away tears as she worked on controlling her face.
"She got in trouble when she was seventeen?" Rick asked, this being the first time he'd heard anything about it.
"She has violent tendencies, sir, violent outbursts. It wasn't so bad when she was a kid, but after she ran away when she was fourteen she got so much worse. She was almost charged with assault and battery of three men. They only dropped the charges because she threatened them because she was a minor. She threatened that she'd say she was assaulted and had acted in self-defense, but it wasn't! She was just angry at being criticized," the woman cried; Chrystal cheering her victory in her head as the man ate her story up hook, line, and sinker.
Glenn and Maggie looked at each other because something within that story just didn't add up and one look at Michonne showed that it didn't sit right with her either. Michonne knew the true story, she'd been there when it took place; this woman's words were all jumbled for someone who claimed to be keeping an eye out on her sister. She noticed the couple's eyes on her and looked at them, subtly shaking her head no before looking back at the girl on the ground. If she remembered right, it was the woman who had shown her and Andrea around Woodbury, Chrystal, someone she'd seen the man, Merle, avoiding like the plague. She had always wondered why a man like that wouldn't want to be around a woman like Chrystal, but as the woman spoke more and more, it became all too apparent. The man had been almost obsessed in looking for his brother while someone in Woodbury had been dead set on ruining their own sibling's life. One critical look at the woman showed that she wasn't even crying out of distress as there were only single tear lines on either side of her face. Such tracks were made by crocodile tears and she'd seen it time and time again at her own job so she wasn't fooled at all by this woman. If she had been in real distress over her sister like she was trying to make it sound, her cheeks would have been red and stained with tears, all of which were lacking as she continued to make noise.
Rick, however, considered the woman's words and thought about the few outbursts Tea had had throughout the months. It was more than most people, but were screaming matches with Daryl, Merle, and Shane really considered violent, or just aggressive? And she hadn't openly attacked anyone since Merle, either. Still, she might have reigned it in during the apocalypse thanks to being able to get the violence out on the walkers, especially with how nonchalantly she had just spoken about breaking a man's neck. He was beginning to question the woman he knew as these revelations came to light and the more he thought about the way she had acted, the more he put pieces together that he had considered unimportant before. She had never wasted time in pulling her knives or her gun whenever they ran into other people that she considered bad. She had also told the entire group to refer to her as the resident killer during the winter so that others would fear them more. And Shane; she might have been bruised, but who had really started the fight and had he really tried raping her? Even in the man's crazed state, Rick had never really believed he would do something like that and now he might as well have been proven right. Tea had always been dangerous in her own way and it might be a good idea to have someone around who could help them keep her under control.
"She hasn't killed again, has she?" the woman asked, her voice wavering as if she were afraid of the answer with a look of terror on her face.
"Again?" Glenn asked, wondering what the woman meant since Tea had never been afraid of killing, but how would this woman know that?
"She killed before the turn. A few times. Always claimed it was self-defense, but I wasn't there to know what really happened. I tried to get her help, I did! But she just refused any kind of treatment. I don't know what the real circumstances were around those deaths! No one does! There were no witnesses, no evidence! The trials were always thrown out!" the woman said. "And with what I just saw in Woodbury, She was made for this world. I'm afraid she'll lose herself completely." The survivors looked at one another as the new information was soaked in. Chrystal brought her hands up in front of her face and folded them, bowing her head to hide her smile as she cried in a desperate voice, "Please, can I go with you? I have to keep her safe from herself! Now that I know where she is, I...I just have to keep my baby sister safe!"
"She just ran off with Merle and his brother," Rick told her remorsefully.
"Merle found his brother?" she said sounding shocked, even though she already knew he had and couldn't wait to sink her claws into him. "And she left with them?!" her voice hitched an octave higher as a look of painful resignation flashed across her face.
Rick found himself trying to comfort her, "Hey, hey now. They're coming back, just a little later. Why don't you come back to the prison and wait with us?"
"Rick," Glenn said. "I don't think that's such a good idea."
"Me either," Maggie said, remembering the little bit that Tea had mentioned to her about her family.
"Look, we can't leave her out here as defenseless as she is and we all know no one knows Tea's full name unless they knew her from before. It's safe to say...what was your name?"
"Chrystal, Chrystal Abigail Parker."
"Right, it's safe to say that Ms. Parker is just trying to get back to her sister. We're letting Merle come back, why not one more?"
"We know Merle. Merle helped us get out," Glenn told him. "Merle's family."
"But I'm blood! That's more important than family!" Chrystal cried through her tears.
"Not to us," Maggie ground out. "We choose our family. Blood of the covenant and all that. Tea has always been rather adamant that her only family is us. She wants nothin' to do with the Parkers."
"She...she said that? She," the woman collapsed all over again, her shoulders slumped in defeat before she scoffed and began crying again. "She still hates me. Even after nine years, she hates me. I didn't mean to make him angry or for him to take it out on her! I just asked her for help on a homework question I didn't understand! I didn't know she would say no and he would hear! She ran away because he was beating her so bad. I tried to get him to stop, but he just locked me in my room! I couldn't do anything and she's refused to even speak to me since then!" Chrystal sobbed. "I just want to make things right! I promise, if she doesn't want me there, I'll go, but please! This may be my only chance!"
Chrystal internally smirked triumphantly as she successfully got Rick to take her back to the prison so that she could have her chance at reconciliation. She sat in the back behind Rick the whole way to the prison talking about all of Titania's achievements, throwing a few stories of her violent outbursts in for good measure, though leaving out the reasons for those outbursts were her and her parents. It was always fun being able to worm her way into her sister's social groups to make the girl's life a living hell. She always had done this to Titania, and this one would be even more fun to tear apart for the little girl who never fully learned to stand up for herself. Well, at least not without a weapon; the damn bitch had shot her daddy once, and the threat had been enough to make them back off for a bit until they heard she'd come into more money. They'd tried to sell her off again to no avail, but managed to pay someone off to try to rape her in an attempt to get her to back down. Who had known the little bitch's strength had increased so much she could take on men more than twice her size? It didn't matter, though, as she happily continued her praises and fears, painting such a picture that the man behind the wheel looked completely confused. Let this be a lesson, little sis, you can never get away from me, Chrystal thought to herself gleefully while telling yet another one of the amazing achievements her sister had gotten, some prestigious award in psychology or something like that. Whatever got her in the doors of the prison and her baby sister back in her waiting arms so that she could show the bastard just what happened when the Parkers didn't get their way.
~x~
Tea was sitting facing a tree having managed to calm her breathing while hugging her legs as tightly as she could to her chest when she heard Daryl barging through the woods who knew how much longer later. She could tell he was pissed by the way he wasn't bothering being quiet, not trying to sneak up on her or trying to hide his presence at all. Tea didn't want to see his disgusted face or the hurt or the anger or the pity that had always been on people's faces when they heard of her story or saw her scars. Daryl had been the first person, the only person, who hadn't looked at her like that and now thanks to stupid ass Merle opening his stupid as mouth, he was going to. Merle had probably cost her the best thing that had ever happened to her and the only real family and home she'd ever had. Sure, the home had been a traveling caravan all winter and the prison was just starting up, but they had been the only good to ever happen to her other than Jesse. Even Jesse had changed, though, when she'd learned of Tea's past and she knew without a doubt that Daryl would be the same; everyone was. When his footfalls stopped right behind her, she flinched and bound herself into her ball even tighter. It felt as if the world had stopped turning for a moment, dread filling her stomach at the thought of what he would do, what he would say. The last thing she expected was for something to land hard on either side of her and then heavily lean against her back and shoulder.
"He told me," his whisper blew into her ear.
When Daryl was storming through the woods, he had been so angry that he had every intention of telling her off for not telling him. Yet when he saw her body shaking so badly as she held herself that it barely looked like she could remain sitting up, he couldn't hold onto his anger. Everything in him wanted to scream, shout, kick something, punch anything, just do something, but he knew if he did, it would only hurt her more. He knew she was already scared about what would happen now and she had always been so scared that she would lose him for some reason or another. Now he understood why; there was so much more in her past than she had ever let on about and so much that she probably just couldn't talk about. Daryl wasn't sure how he wasn't breaking down himself now that he knew the truth, or as Merle had called it, the cliff-notes of the truth. His girl was even stronger than he already thought she was and had fought for her life just as hard as he had, probably more, especially since he knew how to fend for himself from an early age. All he could do as he looked at her on the forest floor was fall with his knees on either side of her and put his head on her shoulder, afraid that he would break her with how tight he wanted to hold her.
She sobbed a laugh before , "Yeah, well, now ya know. Go on and be angry at me for not tellin' ya I'm a murdara and always have been! Tell me how much a monsta I am for killin' someone when I was barely out a bein' a child! Tell me how much a coward I was for not fightin' 'em tooth and nail! How I must a liked all the damn attention I got so fuckin' early on! Tell me how fuckin' useless and disguastin' and sick I am ta have done all that! Jus' fuckin' tell me ya hate me like everyone else 'cause a what I done, what I am and jus' get it ova with! Then ya can go back ta the prison with everyone else. I'll jus' stay gone," she said with a scoff, trying to move away
"You ain't fuckin' goin' anywhere!" he growled at her, wrapping his hands around her waist and pulling her with him so that he was off his knees. He had her sitting across his lap, side pressed against his chest with her chin tucked low, his arms wrapped tightly around her as he told her, "I don't hate you, girl. I never have, ain't ever goin' to neither."
Even though she was silent and refused to look at him, he could feel every hot tear that fell from her cheeks onto his arm. How many times had she been told those things for her to so firmly believe that about herself when she'd only ever done what she'd had to to survive? She'd been the one who had saved Sophia, the one who had pulled him, Rick, and Glenn out of any trouble they'd get into on runs, the one who had made sure the kids were safe. She'd always taken up extra duties and responsibilities if the others needed a break, were sick, or just couldn't do it themselves. Her strength had always been something he admired, not just her physical strength, but her mental and emotional strength, too. She had been everyone's rock over the winter and had been the one to do the most at keeping morale up when they were at their lowest. Hell, Tea had even done her best to patch up the relationships between the mothers and their kids and Lori and Rick with their marriage. She had always thought of others more than herself and now, holding her as she shook and silently cried, he really wished she would just think of herself more often. How could one person hold so much pain and anger inside while still smiling and helping those around her?
"I'm sorry, Ania," Daryl told her as her tremors began to subside. "For everythin'."
"Ya didn' do it, so don' apologize," she chastised, her voice barely above a whisper and cracking.
"You know you ain't no damn monster, Ania. You did what you had to," Daryl murmured against her hair. "Fuck, baby girl, you're more of a fighter than you ever let on. And I thought my daddy was mean."
"He was. There's kids out there who've had it worse than me," she stated, barely able to look at him through her lashes. "It jus' doesn' make my life any betta, or ya's."
She couldn't tell what his face looked like, but he wasn't running for the hills like she thought he would after hearing what had happened to her, what she'd done. It wasn't for the faint of heart and she was still certain that he would leave her at some point, disgusted by her past and what all the scars on her body really meant. Tea had been hearing it her whole life, how no one would really love her, how she would always be alone, how whoever she did end up with would leave her in disgust. She had always believed it, too, since she had never been able to connect with those her age and people older than her saw her as a child playing grown-up. Going through school, she knew many of her classmates had known that she was injured and yet they still ganged up on her to bully her thanks to her age, her brain, and her sister. Anyone who had tried to help her had been either threatened or successfully removed from the picture by her parents, her grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins; even the staff that worked at the houses knew and kept quiet. No one had ever cared about her in her entire life other than Daryl and eventually the rest of the group and she couldn't take it if she lost them due to her past. She would rather run away again and start her life all over, or rather, stay alone for the rest of her life until the walkers got her. Tea couldn't handle losing someone by their choice again; she would always make the choice for them so they wouldn't feel guilty when she left.
"Ya should jus' let me go," she whispered.
"Ain't happenin'."
"Will some day."
"No, it won't."
"Ya don' know that."
"Dammit, Ania! Shut the fuck up with that nonsense! I'll fuckin' tie you to the bed if I have to! You ain't goin' nowhere, dammit!" Daryl growled out, holding her closer.
"Ya goin' ta regret it soona or lata. I ain' good. I ain' eva been good," she scoffed, though she couldn't help but lay her head on his shoulder as he just sighed, not wanting to fight her about it right now; that was a hill he'd die on another day.
"How many total?" he asked.
"Countin' Woodbury? Twenny-five," she said softly, feeling his breath shutter at the number.. "I'm sorry I couldn' tell ya."
"S'fine," Daryl said. "I get it, girl. I get it. You're good."
"Nah, I ain'. That's ya. I've always been tainted, always been-"
"Shut up," he told her, his hand going into her hair and forcing her to face him, leaning down and kissing her before she could say another word. "You're my wife. Ain't nothin' gonna change that, you hear?"
"Yeah," Tea said quietly, tears running down her face. "I love ya, D."
"I know, you too," Daryl said before gently kissing her again.
"God, it's like readin' a damn romance novel with the two a ya actin' all lovey-dovey like that," Merle's voice rang out, both of them looking over to see him leaning against a tree. "C'mon. Gotta get goin' 'fore it gets too dark."
