Never Had A Dream Come True

Retribution

Later that day

As he had promised, he returned to their cabin before it had gotten dark. Sunset was still an hour away. Daryl's shirt was covered in blood, he had a fresh black eye and some new cuts and bruises but the look on his face was grim but content. The cabin looked peaceful and quiet and Daryl quickly made his way inside to find Beth.

„I have something for you. Come with me,“ he only said when he had found her. He took her by her hand and led her through the forest to a small clearing that wasn't far away. Daryl had done the only thing he could do. The only thing he had been able to think of that would give Beth back her dignity, her self-confidence, per power. The only thing that would put her back in control.

At the clearing, a man was chained to a tree. He looked worse than Daryl did and his eyes widened in fear when he saw them coming. It was the leader of the group of men from the church. Daryl stopped in his tracks and turned towards Beth. „They are all dead,“ he then said. „I made sure of that. They are not going to harm anyone again, ever.“ He then pointed towards the man in front of them, who had started begging by now. „Please, let me go. I am so sorry for what I did, please.“

Daryl ignored him and only spoke to Beth. „But this pig. He is yours. Do with him whatever you want. Whatever you have to do.“ Then he stepped back.

Beth buried her face in the crook of his neck when he wrapped his arms securely around her, and for once in a very long time she felt safe again...not so cold and alone. She could feel his anger at the men for what they had done and his compassion for what she had been through. She never thought she would feel whole again but Daryl was the missing piece in her broken self esteem.

When her tears finally stopped she clung to him for a few moments more like a drowning man in the sea would a lift raft but slowly she released him when he stood up and told her he had she nodded and headed inside. Her mind was racing at the thoughts of where he had gone but she filled them by cleaning up the cabin and had just finished when he returned. When he entered the cabin she noticed the black eye and cuts and her mouth flew open "God Daryl what happened" he did not reply but took her hand and led her outside and to a small clearing.

Her eyes went wide when she saw what he had 'brought' her...it was one of the men from the church she turned to Daryl with surprise when he said the others were all dead..they would never hurt anyone ever again. She placed her hands on each side of his face "You could have been killed....I don't wanna lose you again". She was torn about the man who was pleading in front of her, they had never listened to her pleas when she had begged them to let her go...to not hurt her anymore. She knew her father would tell her to forgive, but this man was like the ones from Terminus...pure evil.

Daryl just watched her from the shadows. This was her moment. Her chance to start to heal. He never had been good with words so this was the only comfort he was able to offer to her. And he had risked his life to do so. Because he wanted her to live, he needed her to live. And he also needed her to heal. She was the one that saw what he couldn't. She saw light in the darkness, she had hope when there was only despair, she smiled through all the pain. And she had seen him, as he really was. And she had turned towards him instead of going away as so many people in his life already had. And he knew that from now on he'd do anything to protect her. No matter what it would take.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjP2XKD0Gb0#t=37

Meanwhile

He knew that he was screwed. Maybe he deserved this. Maybe he deserved to die. Before the apocalypse had come, he'd been a postman, never had done anything illegal. But then things had changed. And what they had done to that woman....

For a moment he remembered what it meant to be human and he felt shame. He knew that what they had done, wasn't right but then, the world had changed hadn't it?

"How does it feel being the hopeless one?" she asked and he did not answer because there was no answer to this. He knew that he would die. Because even if the woman would not kill him, the man would. He had seen it in his eyes. He would not forgive him for what they had done. For what he had done. And even though he knew that he would die, his survival instinct wouldn't allow him to give up.

„Please,“ he said to the woman whose name he never had bothered to find out. „Please, don't do this. I am so sorry, I really am. Please, let me go and I promise that you'll never see me again, I swear. But please...“

Daryl really hadn't know what she would do to the man and he had watched her patiently while she made her decision.

Swallowing a lump that had formed in her throat she continued to glare at the man her thoughts went to her extended family...Maggie, Glenn, Judith, Rick, so many people that she had loved that she would have died to protect. She had told Daryl to have a little hope had she lost that belief herself? NO she couldn't she knew there was still good people left she had even convinced Daryl before she was taken..she had watched him become a different person, he had opened up to her more than she had ever seen with anyone else.

She couldn't fail Daryl, the man pleaded more..that he would go and she would never see him again, but would he really change? What would happen to the next innocent person he came across? If she couldn't do this she knew Daryl would finish him off...she needed to show him that she was not weak, that she was not just another 'dead girl'.

Beth knew she could torture him, make him suffer the way she had suffered. Leaning over so she could look in the man's eyes "I am not like you...I believe this world can be good again" she removed the knife from his throat her hand was shaking but she looked over at Daryl and turning back she sunk the knife in the man's temple, twisting it the warm blood spilling over her hand and fingers. She held tight until his body stopped thrashing and slowly withdrew the blade, wiping the blade off on her jeans she replaced it in it's sheath and stood up walking to where Daryl still stood.

"He will never hurt anyone ever again" standing on her tiptoes she brushed a kiss against his cheek allowing it to linger for a moment before looking back in his eyes.

In the end it didn't really matter what she'd do. What mattered was that she'd be the one to decide who to be and what to do. In a way, Daryl only mirrored what she had taught him because for a while she seemed to have forgotten.

And when she turned around and came walking up to him, he knew that he had done the right thing. Because of what he could read in her eyes. Next to all the pain and the despair, there also was some part of the old Beth again and Daryl just knew that this little part of her would grow stronger and stronger again. Because this was what she was, how she had been raised, who she had been and who she had decided to be again.

„No, he won't,“ he said. „And I won't allow anyone to hurt you again,“ he then added, meaning it. She looked up at him with her large, soulful eyes and he felt drawn towards her like a moth to the flame. It scared him but at the same time he just did not seem to able to break the eye contact or bring some physical distance between them. The moment lasted and suddenly the air was filled with tension between them. Daryl felt himself slowly lowering his face down to hers in order to kiss her, without actually wanting it. Or did he?