Light | TWD | Daryl Dixon Fanfiction

048

Juliana wasn't sure how long she'd been left in the cell. Time slipped away quickly, and the only ways he could tell if it was daylight or night was by the amount of feet that shuffled through the hallways. Her mind drifted in and out of memories of the group before everything had happened; before they lost Glenn and Abraham. Before they lost Beth. It was never supposed to be like this, and yet here they were.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, letting just a sliver of dim light from the hallway float into the dark room. A random savior shuffled her out, yanking her up and out by her upper arm and down the hallway. Using his shoulder, he pushed the door to the outside open while he kept ahold on her. Juliana was met with the blinding light of the sun, something she hadn't seen in days. Her eyes instantly shut as they met the bright light, causing her to lose sight of where she was headed and stumbled forwards. Her face made contact with the ground, a puff of dirt coming up around her as she did so. She slowly began to open her eyes, adjusting the best she could to the sunlight and to stand on her own when the savior who had been dragging her along kicked her in the side, knocking the air out of Juliana and causing her to collapse back down on the ground.

"Stupid bitch!" the savior hissed.

A series of whistled from behind him caused the savior to stop kid kick, his eyes becoming wide with terror as his body stilled.

"Oh-oh, is that how we treat a fuckin' lady?" Negan questioned, stepping into view. His large frame blocking out the sun just enough that Juliana was able to open her eyes more this time and carefully began to push herself up off of the ground.

"N-no sir."

"Well, Jesus Christ! I know our guest is a fucking bad ass and we shouldn't treat women differently and all that feminist shit but –" he clicked his tongue, taking a long step towards the man, close enough that his chest was almost pressed up against the other mans, "-that shit doesn't fly with me."

She watched as the man swallowed, avoiding eye contact with Negan, "I'm sorry, sir I-"

"Nope. No." he raised his hand beckoning over to a few other saviors who had been standing a few feet away, "Arat. Take this fucking asshole and shove him in a cell. I'll deal with him when we get back. Hurry up."

The man was dragged away with the other two saviors, pleading and apologizing with Negan the entire time until his cries were muffled behind the door that entered The Sanctuary.

By now, Juliana was standing, staring at Negan who quickly turned his attention to her. "I'll take a 'thank you' in any sort of way from you, sweetheart. Even if you look like shit."

She was quiet, biting down on the inside of her cheek as he strode over to her, Lucille resting across his shoulder.

"Oh, c'mon. No threat? Nothin'? Shit." He bent down ever so slightly so he would be eye level with her. As Juliana locked eyes with him, a sinister grin crossed his features, "Ah, there you are, princess. You're gonna love where we're headed today."

**

She hadn't expected for Negan to be so bold as to take them back to Alexandria. It was the first time in days she had seen Daryl, and even more since she'd seen the rest of the group. He had placed Daryl in a separate vehicle from Juliana, but once they arrived at the gates, he purposefully stood them next to each other, telling Dwight to cut someone's hand off if they tried to touch the other.

Her heart sank when she saw everyone, minus a few, back at Alexandria. Rick was the first to try to say something to the two of them, turning around as Negan's back was turned.

"Jules, Daryl – hey-"

"No." Negan warned. "Nope." He took a few long strides in between the two of them and Rick, "They're the help. You don't look at them. You don't talk to them, and I don't make you chop anything off of them. Excluding what Dwight will chop off if these two so even as look at each other."

Rick looked away, not even trying to fight the monster that was Negan. He had given up at this point, and Juliana's heart sank. As much as she and Rick didn't see eye to eye, she had thought that maybe he had a plan. That he would fight back. But he had left her and Daryl to rot and bend to Negan's will. Her anger boiled up inside her, mixing with the overwhelming grief that still consumed her.

"Fuck you, Rick," Juliana spat, causing both the men to turn towards her with surprised looks on their faces. She had stepped to Rick, only to be held back by a couple of saviors, "Fuck. You. You were supposed to be the one who was going to make things right! You're no better than this asshole!" she shouted at him, struggling against the two who were holding her by her upper arms, "You think you're the only one who is suffering – what about Maggie? Rosita? Daryl and I? You are supposed to be the one to save us, Rick!"

Rick's jaw clenched as he stood in front of Juliana, his eyes finally casting downward as he turned away from her. Negan's ominous chuckle broke the tension as he stepped in between Rick and Juliana. He bent slightly at his hips so he was more eye level with her, lowering his voice, "If only we had saved you earlier, Juliana."