Chapter 66-Mending

Five days later

Beth's P.O.V

Beth stood on the porch to Barrington house with Tara beside her. She watched the gate as it opened, and a man rode in on a horse. He climbs off of his horse and walks up to them. Beth steps down. "I'm Beth, and this is Tara, we're in charge of Hilltop." Beth greets him. Beth looks at Tara, who is staring at the man's head a hand on her holster "Everything okay?"

The man turned and just stared at her blankly.

"Were you with the Wolves?" Tara asks the man who looks at her wide eyed now. He pulls a notebook out, writes something hastily, and holds it towards Tara.

"They attacked my community and killed everyone. I barely escaped. They cut out my tongue and craved this on my head." The paper read.

Tara read this and gasped Wwait where was this community?"

The man blinked and wrote a single word on it "Shirewit."

"Did you know someone named Noah?" Tara asks, making Beth look at her.

"I knew his brothers. We believed him to be dead after he went missing. Is he?" The man wrote, looking between the girls curious and almost hopeful that someone else was alive.

"He is now." Tara said sadly as Beth looked down "We found your place like it was. We lost someone there. Noah died a few weeks later." Tara tells him. After a moment, he looked up, nodding once.

Then he blinked and wrote again, showing "I was told that this community was run by a woman named Maggie that Georgie respected a great deal. Was there a change?"

Beth said "She...stepped down. It's a long story."

"So, you're Arthur, right?" Beth asks Arthur, who nods. Arthur had Brown hair, average height with a mild athletic build to the point of being slim, a massive gash across his neck, a W imprinted on his head. He was around 5'8 and carried in his belt metal tomahawk and a switchblade, along with several pairs of sharp looking knives. "And you can't talk?" He nods again. "Okay, well, why don't we go to the office" Arthur nods as he follows Beth and Tara inside.

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl was putting car seats in the truck for the babies. "Looks like you might be struggling a little." Morgan says with a chuckle as he walks up behind him. Daryl looks at him.

"I got it."" Daryl snapped, annoyed. "Alicia usually does it, but I decided I'd do it today," Morgan nods amused at the sight of the tough hunter being a disgruntled father. Daryl stops for a moment and looks at him. "What is it?"

"I need you to ask Earl something for me,. Morgan tells Daryl, who nods.

"What's up?" Daryl asks him.

"I want to get Rosita something special. Can you ask him to make a necklace, like a locket?" Morgan asks.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask him something anyway." Daryl tells him.

"What are you asking him?" Morgan asks.

"My knife got bent. I wanted him to fix it," Daryl says flatly as he turns around. Morgan watched him for a second before he nodded.

"Hey, boss," Negan says as he walks up to him. "The metal for Beth is loaded on the trailer. I can hook up the trailer when you're done."

"Thanks," Daryl says. "Negan, Eugene had some ideas for the place I want you to look at."

"Why me?" Negan asks, confused.

"You know what you're doing when it comes to stuff like the wall and keeping the place safe. The plans are in the desk of the office in the big cabin," Daryl says. Negan nods slowly as he walks away.

"I think you caught him off guard," Morgan says with a smirk as he watches the former savior leader walk away.

"He's done a lot for the defense of the campgrounds, even if he is an asshole." Daryl says.

Morgan smirked, knowing that was a great deal of improvement for the redneck.

"Everything ready?" Alicia asks as he comes out. Madison was helping her carry the babies. Daryl nods.

Maggie's P.O.V

Maggie walks outside when she hears the truck come into Hilltop. She looked at Daryl as he climbed out of the truck. She walked down to him and stopped a little away from him. She had done her best to give Daryl his space since the bridge and things hadn't been the same between them. "Hey," She says softly.

"Hey," Daryl says.

"I'll get the babies inside," Alicia says. "Tammy, you want to help?"

"I would love to, sweetheart," Tammy says as she grabs Merle. "Hey, baby," She says as she follows Alicia. Daryl and Maggie stared at each other, and the air around them was tense and awkward.

"Daryl-" Maggie is cut off by Daryl grabbing her arm and pulling her into a hug. Maggie smiles as she wraps her arm around him. Maggie felt tears and her eyes as she gripped the back of his vest. She let him go after a moment.

"I know things have been tense between us. I...wanted to change that." Daryl says after a second. "Beth said you've been doing good."

"Yeah, I'm doing great, Al and I are doing good, and Hershel is too," Maggie says. "I miss you."

"I know, and I'm sorry I hadn't come by sooner, but every time I thought about it, I saw him on that bridge again," Daryl says. "But this is the start of the New World. I ain't saying that everything is all good again, but I want to be," Daryl tells her. Maggie nods.

"Well, Georgie has a scout here, and we are working on lunch. You wanna see Hershel?"

"Yeah, but give me a second," Daryl says as he walks over to Earl. Maggie watches as Daryl speaks with Earl. She saw him show him something and then tuck it back in his pocket. Earl nods, and Daryl walks back over.

"What was that about?"

"Morgan needed something," Daryl says.

"And the paper?" Maggie asks.

"It's what he needed," Daryl says flatly before he walks towards Barrington house. Maggie looks at him for a second before she follows him.

Negan's P.O.V

Negan sat at the table in the big cabin, looking at the plans that Daryl had talked about. "How do those plans look?" Shane asks as he walks up to him and sits down.

"Great," Negan says as he sets the paper down. "Professor Smartie Pants suggest that we expand the wall more for animals like cows, horses,"

"We could get those from Hilltop," Shane says. Negan nods and looks at Shane.

"What do you need?" Negan asks.

"You want to be my best man?" Shane asks Negan to the point. Negan stares at Shane for a second blankly as if not sure he heard right for a moment.

"You serious?"

"Yeah, you're my best friend here. You and Rick are the two people I want standing by me when I get married to the love of my life," Shane says.

"I would be honored," Negan says after a moment, and his voice caught for a moment. He froze and Saw the look on Shane's face.

"Don't cry, Negan. You might make people think you are soft," Shane says with a smirk.

Arthur's P.O.V

Beth looked at the paper Arthur had handed her. "Georgia wants you to stay at one of the communities as her ambassador of sorts?" Beth asks Arthur, who nods. Beth was about to speak when Marco came in.

"What?" Tara asks him.

"There's a group of walkers coming in. We already got everybody in. We should clear them before they get too close or to the crops," Marco says.

"Gather a group." Beth tells him. "We'll continue this."

Arthur writes in his notebook and holds it out to Tara. "Yes, you can help," They say as they walk outside. Daryl and Al come outside of Barrington house.

"You two coming?" Beth asked the two, who nodded. Among the group were Marco, Kenneth, and Earl. "Let's go," They walk outside Hilltop and walks down the hill. Daryl walks beside Arthur.

"I'm Daryl," Daryl says to him, then froze staring at the W on his head.

"What the Fu-

"That's Arthur. Daryl we'll explain later!" Tara tells Daryl, who nods as they enter the woods and see the group. Daryl raises his crossbow and shoots a walker. Arthur pulls a knife out of a potch on his hip and throws it into a walker's head, causing Daryl to stop, staring at this with an impressed look. He pulls out his tomahawk and slashes one in the face as the group starts to fight the walkers. Arthur kicks one in the chest and then slams his tomahawk down on another's head. He pulls his switchblade with his other hand and stabs another in the head. He pulls his tomahawk out and stabs another in the head. He raises his switchblade and throws it into the head of a walker behind Al. She looks at him and nods. He raises his tomahawk and throws it into the head of the last walker. The bodies lay on the ground.

"Everybody okay?" Beth asks everybody who nods, many staring at Arthur who took the small group on almost single handed.

"Good job, man." Daryl says as he hands Arthur his throwing knife. Arthur nods as he grabs his switchblade and tomahawk. They start to walk back. Daryl and Arthur walked in the back. "Why don't you carry a gun?"

Arthur pulls out his notebook and writes in it. He holds it out to Daryl. "To much noise, I don't like them." He wrote. Daryl nods back at him.

"I get it. I prefer to use my crossbow before a gun," Daryl tells him. Arthur nods as they walk back into Hilltop.

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl kissed Ofelia's head as they watched Hilltop from the balcony. "You look happy." Maggie says from behind him. She had Hershel in her arms. Daryl looks at her and nods.

"I am happy. I never thought I would truly be after again after we lost the prison." Daryl says honestly. "For awhile Alexandria didn't feel like a true home and when it started to the wall went down, and I was scared of losing it. I got a home, kids, girlfriend, friends, family."

"I wish Glenn was here to see this. We would talk about this sometimes, being with our kid, watching our people work together in peace, and being with our friends." Maggie says after a moment.

"He would have had a good laugh when he heard about Alicia being pregnant, and Abraham would have teased the hell out of me." Daryl says, causing Maggie to smile and nod.

"They would have called themselves the cool uncles and turned our kids into little demons." Maggie says with a chuckle.

"They would have sworn just as much as Abe," Daryl says. Maggie nods.

"How's Rick?" Maggie asked worried.

Daryl shrugged "he's walking now. He was the one who told me to talk to you in the first place, saying that both of us did our fair share of mornic crap."

Maggie couldn't help but laugh at that idea.

After a second of thought...Daryl broached a subject he had been pondering for a while now "You ever wonder if what Negan did was bullshit?"

"What do you mean?" Maggie asks, frowning but curiosity got the better of her.

"That Eenie Meenie Miney mo." Daryl says. "Sometimes, I wonder if he just killed Abraham because he knew he was a threat."

"You could ask him." Maggie says, not looking at Daryl and looking in the distance.

"I could, but I won't. Maggie he's moved past all of that and is starting a new life. I ain't bringing it up." Daryl says as he looks at her. Maggie nods. "How are you doing with that?"

"I've come to terms with it. Let him do what he wants as long as he never comes here," Maggie tells Daryl sternly, who nods.

"Daryl, I'm going to get the babies in the truck. We should get going if we want to get back before dark," Alicia says from behind him. He nods as she leaves.

"When will you be back?" Maggie asks.

"As soon as I can," Daryl tells her. "Maggie, I forgive you, you know that, right?" Maggie nods as she hugs him.

Beth's P.O.V

Beth looked at Maggie as she walked in after Daryl left. "How are you and Daryl?" Beth asks her sister.

"We're on the road to repairing things," Maggie tells Beth, who nods. "What about Arthur."

"He'll be staying here for now, and he'll travel around and decide where he wants to stay himself," Beth tells Maggie, who nods. "He seems like a good guy, but we'll keep an eye on him. We can never be too safe." Maggie nods. "I'm going to sleep," Beth says as she starts to leave.

"Hey, Beth," Maggie says, making her look back at her sister. "Instead of taking up two rooms, maybe you should just have Tara move into your room."

Beth blushes and nods as she walks up the stairs. She heard Maggie laughing behind her.

Alicia's P.O.V

Alicia grabbed Merle out of the car as Daryl walked towards the cabin with Ofelia. She started to follow. "Alicia," Morgan says from behind her. She looks at her. "Daryl get his knife fix?"

"What's wrong with his knife? He used it just fine today," Alicia says, confused as she looks at him. Morgan looked at Daryl as he walked inside the cabin.

"I must have miss heard him, goodnight," Morgan says.

"Goodnight," Alicia says. She shrugged her shoulders as she walked towards the cabin.

Thanks for reading. I had a lot of fun with the chapter, Arthur will be joining the story as another main character, and you will learn more about him in upcoming chapters. The next chapter will focus more on characters like John, Nick, and people like that. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.