Rebel || Daryl Dixon

s e v e n t y s e v e n

"She can go wit' me." Daryl said, breaking the silence with a hot knife. Even Aero didn't find the desire within herself to challenge him.

Not that she really wanted to.

"I'll take her." Carol said quietly. Quiet, like candlelight. 

Still as deadly as a flame. 

The pair stopped and looked at each other. Aero could see a slow-burning friendship between them, nestled warmly between two pairs of eyes who had seen too much. Carol and Daryl shared experiences that nobody could ever even try to fathom, and Aero knew that by simply watching the way that they looked at each other. 

It was love... in the most platonic way. 

Aero wasn't ready to be apart from Daryl-- not again. She wanted nothing more than to follow him onto whatever adventure he was going to... but somehow, she knew that Carol's order of Aero was more of a logical one. 

Daryl's eyes followed Aero, but he mounted his bike and kicked it to life. 

The bike she'd given him.

Wearing the wings she'd saved.

Wearing the crossbow she'd given to him. 

Reluctantly, she looked to Carol, "Let's go, then." 

Daryl didn't utter a word. 

- - -

He still remembered that day when he came home and Maggie told him to meet her up at the house. 

He'd known immediately what the meeting was all about when he saw his leather vest and the crossbow sitting on the desk. Gregory stood in the back, chewing on his nails while he looked between Daryl and the crossbow.

Daryl had picked up the crossbow in his hands, noting that all the arrows were still intact. He ran his finger along a plastic feather, fletched onto one of the arrows.

"Where is she?" He'd asked, dreading the answer that he'd already figured out himself. 

"She dropped those things off and then she left." Maggie said quietly, her southern accent dripping with curiosity. "I didn't even see her to get the chance to ask who she was." 

SHE'S EVERYTHING--

AND NOTHING AT ALL. 

He'd looked up, knowing that Maggie was asking an indirect question. "Nobody."

- - -

Aero drove, likely so that Carol could keep an eye on her. Carol was a little powerhouse, and Aero burned just as brightly. It was interesting to see them both in the same vehicle together. 

Aero didn't look at him as she turned the key in the ignition, but he watched her. 

 - - -

"I figured you were dead." Carol said, pointing down the next road to take.

Aero was well aware of the hand gun resting in Carol's lap. Her own was still in her belt, and her sniper was in the back of the car. Aero kept both hands on the wheel and accelerated at a moderate pace.  "Nope." Aero said simply, adjusting one of the mirrors. She caught a glimpse of Daryl taking off in his bike, going the other direction. 

She didn't just die. She'd nearly died... not that she'd ever admit that. The biters snapping in her face was all too vivid of a memory. She explored that memory tentatively--

And then came the explosion. 

She couldn't help but jump, her eyes flashing over to Carol.

Carol, however, was calm. She looked at Aero levelly. 

"What are you guys doing?" Aero asked quietly, placing all the pieces together.

The blown up Saviors car.

The armor.

The inflicted explosions.

Another explosion sounded off in the distance. He was drawing the herd, but to where? 

"Taking care of it." 

They, as in Daryl and the rest, were leading the herd to the Sanctuary. 

It, as in the Saviors.

"There are children there. Workers, too. Innocent people who have nothing to do with your squabble." 

"Who's side are you on, Aero?"

Aero took deep breaths. She clenched the steering wheel and lifted her chin. "There are innocent people, Carol." 

"Who's side are you on?" Carol snarled again.

Aero looked at her with equal fierceness. Carol was intimidating, but Aero was almost a complete equal. "My own." 

You poor babies went a little while without an update, didn't you? I'm sorry. <3 

However, I am now officially a graduate and summer is here and I couldn't be happier. I'll be attending college this fall and I'm honestly so excited. 

Pleaseeee comment, vote, follow. <3 I love talking to you guys!