Light | TWD | Daryl Dixon Fanfiction

054

Juliana and Daryl had left The Kingdom for Hilltop, and there they were reunited with Maggie, Sasha, Enid, Jesus and Rosita. It didn't take long for Juliana to catch on to the fact that Sasha and Rosita were going to leave to finish off Negan. Juliana had distanced herself from them, quietly idling around in the shadows or listening up against door frames while they talked. She didn't mention to Daryl what she had decided to do; he would have never approved anyways. As much as they were independent, Daryl still felt the need to protect her.

She didn't want or need that.

When The Saviors showed back up at Hilltop, things were kicked into high gear. Juliana had sneaked away from Daryl in the chaos, grabbing a pack she had stashed along with an extra weapon. She knew Sasha and Rosita would take this moment to head out to The Sanctuary and she couldn't miss it.

As she made her way as quickly and as she could towards the spot where the two would be, she could hear Daryl's voice raising through the commotion.

"Where's Jules!?"

"I don't know, Daryl!" Maggie replied. "She'll be okay, c'mon!"

Juliana's heart sank to the bottom of her stomach. She felt an urge to run over to him, but she had made up her mind. She needed to do this whether or not Daryl agreed with her. The guilt that still stayed with her after everything that had happened with Negan and even with Beth, was building up. As soon as she had eavesdropped in on Sasha and Rosita she had made up her mind. She wanted revenge. She wanted to make sure Daryl would be safe.

Pressing on, she moved quickly to the fence, just meeting Sasha and Rosita at it a they arrived. Sasha's eyes widened seeing Juliana there.

"Jules, what are you doing?"

"I'm comin' with," she said matter of fact.

"But Daryl-"

"Daryl ain't here, is he?"

Rosita huffed, "C'mon! We gotta go now. You two can bicker later!"

The three women moved quickly out of the Hilltop just before The Saviors entered. "Which one of you built that tunnel?" Juliana asked as they walked quickly through the woods.

"Maggie thought we needed a quick way out," Sasha told her, "So I made one."

They came to a stop, adjusting packs and getting their bearings on where they had ended up after leaving. "Well, we're out, so now what?"

Sasha turned to Juliana and Rosita, "You know," she said simply. Her gaze lingered on Juliana for awhile longer, the two women silently coming to an understanding that Juliana knew exactly what she was getting herself into. 

***

 Juliana spent the majority of her time either evading walkers or diffusing the awkwardness between Sasha and Rosita. Eventually, they made it to a taller building that was just outside of The Sanctuary where they could look for a better way in without being seen, or wait for Negan to come out to take a shot at him.

"See anything?" Juliana asked Sasha as she sat next to Rosita on the ground, fiddling around with her gun as the two of them waited for Sasha to report back to them.

"Negan's still not out. But Eugene is out there."

"Eugene?" Rosita questioned.

"It looks like he's ordering people around."

"Playing some angle." Rosita muttered.

Juliana huffed, rolling her eyes, "Bullshit. Some angle. He's too scared to know what Negan would do to him."

Sasha glanced over at Juliana, her gaze softening slightly, "What did he do to you, Jules?"

Juliana shifted around uncomfortably, "Which time?" she spat. Noticing her attitude, she sighed, shaking her head, "Sorry," she mumbled, "It's just..no one has asked. Daryl and I..don't talk about it. We don't talk about what happened. We just get..pissed and upset and then we get over it because that's all we know what to do."

The other two had fallen silent, letting Juliana continue, "The first time it was a threat. He wanted to know where everyone was; who we were. I didn't tell him. I just got lucky he moved me to that outpost where Maggie and Carol were otherwise.." she shrugged, "..otherwise I dunno. I'd be dead, probably." 

"And the second time?"

Juliana's jaw clenched and she swallowed hard, "Revenge. To make a point. To remind us that it was our fault Glenn and Abe had died." her voice shook slightly as she spoke, "If I had just spoken up before we wouldn't have been in this shit. They would still be alive, and we would just suck it up and let life go on because they would still be here."

"It wasn't your fault, Jules," Sasha told her, "You weren't the asshole holding that bat."

"I wasn't holdin' it. But I could have stopped it."

"You can stop it now," Rosita spoke up, looking over at her.

The sound of a vehicle outside brought them all to attention and they moved to the slightly open window to see Maggie's doctor being brought in on the back of a truck. All three of them cursed almost simultaneously at the sudden change in plans. Not to mention Eugene's voice coming over their radio to send people out to check the surrounding buildings.

"Change of plans."

"So. We go in," Rosita said as she grabbed her gun, cocking it with a satisfying click. 

"I'm ready," Juliana said, lifting her own gun and slid the clip inside.

The three women looked between each other, all in silent agreement of what was going to happen. 

They were ready.