ELEANOR . NEGAN

064.

Daryl was sat opposite the hut with narrowed eyes and a permanent hateful scowl. Negan was eyeing Eleanor, full of caring and worried stares - a different look Daryl has never seen before from him. Maybe he has changed — shut yur trap. Eleanor was restless, she was moving left and right in front of Negan with her hands to her face in what seemed to be shock. But she had that glimmer in her eyes of pure anger, and no one wanted to be on the other end of that stare.

Negan was.

The man nor Elle has tried to say anything, not yet at least. She was moving too quickly to even grab her attention and her quick steps hid away the limp she once held. Negan hasn't been able to get a good look at her, not yet at least. When she first showed up in the doorway of the hut, she saw Negan's familiar brown eyes decorated with dark circles and felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. But then she remembered it was Negan and turned around and walked away.

"Doll," Elle lifted her finger up to silence him, he stayed quiet. She kept walking left and right, her hands to her cheeks like she was quite literally a little girl having a tantrum. But really, she was just so overwhelmed with all the feelings that were moving in her brain. "Sunshine-"

"I said shut up."

"You didn't really say anything-"

"She says shut yur mouth up."

Negan dauntingly twisted his head to look at Daryl, raising a single brow. Daryl scoffed and put up his middle finger before leaning back against the stairs of the hut. Negan took that as a finish and looked back at Eleanor.

That's when he caught three inhumane gashes across her face.

He instantly stood up and two long strides to be in front of her. At his sudden movements, Daryl raised his bow while Elle stopped her moves and looked at him with wide eyes. "What happened?" His voice was low and dark, and his worry was still there but it was also laced with pure anger. "Eleanor."

"Stop."

"No, no, I ain't fucking stopping." Negan took one more step closer to her and slowly raised his hand, testing the waters to see if she screamed or yelled. She didn't — good. He cupped the back of her neck where his thumb rested on her jaw, eyeing the deep slices that decorated her skin. "Oh my fucking God, Eleanor."

She looked down at her feet and sighed. "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" Negan scoffed and gently lifted her head so she was looking at him. He spotted the bruised eyes, the sickening colour on the high point of her other cheek. There was a slit in her eyebrow from a small scratch and a string of dried blood along her nose. "Tell me, please. Was it her? I swear to fuck, sunshine, I will kill every single one of them skin freaks if she-"

Elle slowly cleared her throat. "Cave."

"Cave?" Negan furrowed his brows. "That some fucking Whisperer nickname?"

"Cave collapsed in on her, ya dick."

Eleanor told Daryl to shush, so he turned on his heel and stepped inside the hut.

"Is that true?" Elle shrugged. "How the fuck did you manage that?"

"Your stupid fucking Alpha put a horde of walkers in a cave we went into! We were stuck. So yeah, I guess if we want to use technicalities, it was your girlfriend's fault." Negan's mouth turned into an O, but the anger she had was just pushing the barrier. "And no, I am obviously not o-fucking-kay! I'm bruised up, I have cracked ribs, I can't even hold a fucking baby, and your fucking buddies and friends set Hilltop on fire — while I was there."