A Part Of You I'd Never Seen (Daryl Dixon/TWD)

Chapter 27: For Our Futures

I'm doing the right thing.

I had to believe I was as I tried my sneaky entrance into Hilltop. The wooden walls provided enough traction for me as I scaled them, but it increased in difficulty as I slowly found myself more and more fatigued. My heavy breathing would have caught the attention of passersby if I hadn't tried entering from the back. It was unlike me to be tired so fast; I made a mental note to refill my water before leaving.

Once I hit the top of the wall, I quickly let my legs fall over the side. There was no way I could fall from this high, I'd break my leg for sure. Exhausted, I moved my feet until I found a good start to my descend. In and out. I quickly moved down the wood, losing my footing a few times before catching myself. Once I was close enough to the ground, I slid the rest of the way. I landed roughly on my feet, causing myself to lose my balance and fall back on my butt. I grunted along with the thud, slowly sitting up and sighing. 

"Kate!?" 

I recognized the voice from anywhere. "Shit," I cursed, wanting nothing more than to not turn and hug my best friend with all the force in the world, but wishing at the same time that I didn't run into her. Maggie shouldn't have known I was here. 

I got to my feet, turning to face her as her eyes welled up. She looked amazing. Her skin was glowing, a vast difference from the pale and ill Maggie I had seen just a week prior. Her short hair that I had cut myself had grown in the slightest way, framing her face neatly. She was healthy, and it brought tears to my eyes. 

"You're okay," I confirmed out loud, and she nodded with a laugh.

"We both are," she corrected, her hand gliding over her stomach. I noticed in that split second her extremely tiny bump had grown into a barely larger bump. It was there, though, and growing. 

"I'm sorry Maggie," I confessed, my watery eyes finally producing the tears I struggled to keep back for so long. "I couldn't protect you. I couldn't protect Glenn. It's my fault he's gone, h-he went looking fo-for Daryl. It should've b-been me," I squeezed my eyes shut as the sobs racked through my body. I felt her warm body embrace me, and my arms flew around her back. 

"Don't you dare blame yourself," she whispered. Her voice was strong as she spoke. "It's not on you. It's not on anyone."

She pulled back, her eyes red with tears but held my gaze fiercely. "I failed him," I sniffled, shaking my head. 

"You didn't. Nothing you do could ever make Glenn think you failed him."

"Maggie-"

"Enough, Kate. Glenn is still here, and he lives on as long as we are here breathin'. Now we fight. We take back what was ours, and we make lives for ourselves. Futures. We honor him. Yeah?"

"Yeah," I agreed. Blinking away the last of my tears as we shared another hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Don't get me wrong, I love seeing you, but... Why're you here? 'Nd why did you not just go through the front?" Maggie chuckled, looping her arm in mine and leading me further into the Hilltop. 

"I wasn't trying to be seen by anyone," I admitted. I almost spoiled my plans of killing Negan before thinking of something to cover my appearance here up with. "Uh- Rick. He didn't want me coming and seeing any of you but I just had to, um, make sure everything was fine. You, the baby, Sasha. I was just gonna see Glenn's grave and go, but..." 

Maggie bought onto my cover up, smiling. "You're silly. Why wouldn't Rick let you come?"

"He thought it was too dangerous. He's out scavenging though, so I took the opportunity. I was gonna hunt on the way back." That part was no lie.

"You wanna go see 'im?" She asked softly, referring to Glenn's grave. I nodded solemnly, my eyes glossy with new tears. Maggie wrapped her arms around my shoulders and tugged on me, and we walked. Beside the wall I had scaled to get in was a stout, wooden building, almost directly next to the big, main house that Gregory was living in. I narrowed my eyes at the thought of that selfish and rude man. Around the back of the wide living quarters was a stretch of grass, and in a corner, two makeshift crosses poked out of the ground, side by side. 

My breath caught in my throat, and I involuntarily stopped walking. Glenn's pocket-watch gleamed in the shining sun as it rested on the freshly dug up dirt. Under the earth laid Glenn and Abraham, their heads bashed in and unrecognizable. Dead. Cold, and unmoving. Never to smile again or kiss their loved ones. The thoughts hurt. 

I stepped out of Maggie's embrace and shuffled forward, almost collapsing next to his grave. My hands skimmed the dirt before I leaned forward on them, my eyes screwed shut in an almost pain. "I'm so sorry Glenn," I whispered. I never had a chance to really say goodbye to him, even his body. After the Saviors left and I passed out, I woke up at home and everyone had gone to their respected homes.

Until seeing the mound of dirt, hiding Glenn's body, he didn't feel dead. He didn't feel gone, it just felt like he was away. It was sinking in now; he wasn't coming back. The tears fell freely, spotting the dirt beneath me. "I'm sorry, I mumbled, again, and suddenly there was a hand on my back. "He didn't deserve this. He was one of the good ones. He was so good," I cried quietly.

"You're right," Maggie agreed quietly. "But he is gone, and now we have to keep going. You're one of the good ones, too. So is Daryl. Glenn always said it. 'They're good. They're going to do good.' He meant it, and I believe it."

I looked up to Maggie, her face long with a frown as her eyes were locked on Glenn's pocket watch. "We're gonna get Daryl back, Kate," she looked at me then, so fiercely that I suddenly felt all of her strength radiate onto me, and I wiped at my tears. "We're gonna fight Negan, and we're gonna win our lives back."

"For our futures," I added into her wisdom, and she smiled.

"For our futures."