My Fallen Angel (CARYL/TWD FANFIC)

Hard Decisions For Pookie

Daryl opened his eyes. He looked around. He was in the loft, alone. Carol was gone. He crawled over and went down the first top few pegs before jumping off. When looking around, nobody was there.

Daryl cursed under his breath while looking around. When he said he wanted to go off, he meant he'd like to do it. Not them leaving him.

He didn't get to say goodbye to Rick. He didn't get to say goodbye to Carol.
He didn't get to tell Carl how strong he was.
He couldn't say bye to Little Asskicker.

He heard something, coming from outside the barn and walked stealthy towards the doors. They were shut, but the old doors had a small crack about his eye level that he could see out. Outside, he could see the whole group looking at something. He took a breath finally.

He couldn't make out words, but he could tell somebody was whispering and another was crying. Daryl hoped that nobody was hurt. He couldn't walk away if someone was hurt.

What if Rick told Carol that he was leaving? She could've walked out to take a walk and clear her head, and got bit.

He slammed the doors open, making the lock break and fall to the ground. "Carol? Carol?!" Daryl pushed through the group and stopped when he saw Carol on the ground, sobbing. "What the hell?"

Rick gave everybody a look, and they started heading towards the barn again.

"Is it true?" Carol cried, looking up at him. He wiped away her tears. "You're leaving me."

Daryl didn't know what to say. The answer was yes, but how do you tell somebody that? If it was a man, you could just say yes. Women were foreign to Daryl. At least women like Carol.

"After all of this?" Carol added, sniffling in air. Daryl bit his lip, still unsure what to say or do. He was breaking here. He was an outcast here. It just wasn't the right place for him. "Nobody here gets me."

"Come with me," Daryl blurted out. He blushed brightly and opened his mouth to say something but he didn't know what. 'Sorry'? 'That was stupid'? How was he supposed to make that alright?

"Sure," Carol took a deep breath. Daryl looked up at her, shocked. "I will."

Daryl wasn't sure how to respond. She was more here. She had a family here. Here, she was more than she would be with him. He couldn't compare with the friendships she could get here. He had too many problems, demons in his past. Why would she go with him?

"I've been wanting to start over for a while," Carol swallowed. Daryl nodded and turned around. He walked past her, off into the field. He sat in the grass and laid down.

"You're just a bunch of redneck trash to them," Mearl's voice blared through his head. Daryl pulled his crossbow off his chest and sat it beside him. Mearl had been wrong. Mearl, as much as he loved him, he was really wrong.

Daryl cared about them.

"They aren't your kin," Mearl had said. But they were.

"I might be the one that is walking away, but you're the one leaving," Daryl had said it himself. He, himself, had been wrong. Daryl was walking away, and Daryl was leaving. He couldn't take Carol. There was no way.

He closed his eyes, and tried to think about what he could do. He could stay, but guilt and grief might catch up to him. He could go, leave Carol, but he couldn't hurt Carol like that. He could go with Carol, but that would mean taking her away from the family here.

Instead, he let his fatigue take the best of him and drifted into sleep.

"Daryl," Eugene's voice awoke Daryl. He blinked and grabbed his crossbow. He spun around, and held it up. Of course, there wasn't a bow prepared to shoot, but it was just an instinct. "Shit, I can see where that was wrong on my line. Please don't shoot me."

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Sneaking up like that shoulda' got ya killed," Daryl warned. Eugene looked at him and nodded.

"Should've? That's... I deserve that. I wanted to ask you if you're actually considering leaving. You are a valued member of this group, and one of the only ones I'd want in the new society after all of-"

"Society? You think it's gonna be all sweet and swell lollipops? Yer outta your mind," Daryl sighed as he laid back down. Eugene nodded and began to walk away.

"Could I possibly use your squirrel expertise to-"

"Shut up," Daryl yelled. He stared at the bright sky. He tried to get up, but realized it had to be afternoon, and he was horribly sunburned. He finally pushed himself up and ran back to the barn, where everybody sat around. Abraham was eating dandelions, one slowly at a time. "God, you would starve without me!"

"That was kind of the point we were trying to make," Glenn grinned. He looked over at Abraham, who smiled widely. "He gets the point. You can stop now."

"They're actually not bad," Abraham smiled and spat some out. "But they're definitely not your deer meat."

"Yeah, whatever," Daryl shrugged and sat down. He didn't like the attention being on him. He looked around, but didn't see Carol, Maggie or Carl. "Carol's coming with."

Rick tried to hold back a grin. "You think that's a good idea? Running off into the sunset together?"

"A better scenery than Walkers growling at frogs," Daryl looked around. "Frog legs, mmm."

"Don't try to change the subject, Daryl," Glenn said softly. Daryl glared at him. "It's not running out into the sunset, it's not pretty out there."

"You think it's gorgeous here? That barn smells like horse shit," Daryl spat. He picked up a stick and carved a D in the dirt. "Her choice. Not mine. Tomorrow."