Beauty and Her Beast (Daryl Dixon Fanfic)

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"Who were you before?" Aaron asked.

"Me? Before all this?" He looked down, a small smile breaking through his sadness. "I was a music teacher."

"Waited tables at a truck stop." Magna answered.

Connie signed her answer. The girl, Kelly, turned to look at us. "She says she was a journalist, but she's just being modest." She continued signing so that Connie knew what he was saying. "She exposes a bunch of sleazeball politicians, and put them behind bars."

"And you?" Aaron asked Kelly.

She shrugged. "I was in high school, stressing about stupid shit that felt like the end of the world."

"And who are you now?" Gabriel asked.

"A fighter."

Connie signed, Kelly chuckled. "She says she's my guardian angel, but, really, it's the other way around."

"I guess I'm still a music teacher? Um, education never ends, not even in the face of monsters and mayhem."

"What did you do to survive?" Gabriel asked.

"What I had to-anything I had to." Magna answered without hesitation.

Connie signed. "She says she never gave up, but me, I grew up."

Luke shook his head. "I don't-I don't...I don't think I did anything special. I-I don't know what I did to deserve it. At-At first, I was just lucky. I was in the right place at the right time, and then, uh, I met the right people." He chuckled. "Here's the thing, is that-it's funny, but, before all this, if you saw us all sitting at the same table at, like, a restaurant, a bar, or something...you'd say to yourself, "Well, hey, I don't know, maybe these people work together?" Because we certainly don't have anything in common, except for the fact that we're breathing. And that's a lot nowadays, right?"

"Thank you." Aaron nodded. "If that's everything, I'd like to motion for a vote."

"I have a question." Michonne spoke up quickly.

"The chair recognized our fellow councilperson and head of security."

She stood up. "As a community, we want to be kind. We want to be generous. We want to be charitable. But, as we know, decisions like the one we are about to make can come with a heavy price." We watched her walk around the table and approach Magna. "Can you show me your left hand?"

Magna looked away. "Michonne, what are you doing?" Aaron asked.

Michonne graves her left hand, forcibly pulling it out of her pocket and removing the scrap of cloth from around her hand. She examined the back of her hand. "You get that at a truck stop?"

"Screw you." She answered.

"What is it?" Aaron asked as he approached.

"You wanna tell him?"

"Michonne if you have something to say, s-"

"It's a prison tattoo." She held up Magna's hand. "The four dots are the walls. The one in the middle is you, the prisoner. Hard time."

People in the crowd started whispering. Myself and a few others on the council leaned forward. "Look, just because she was a prisoner-"

"I can explain." She looked at Aaron.

"Oh, you wanna tell the truth?" Michonne asked.

"Yes."

"And you have nothing to hide?"

"Nothing."

"Put the knife on the table."

Magna unbuckled her belt, pulling out the buckle which doubled as a knife and set it on the table in front of her. "I remember, and I know that you do, too." I looked down, willing the tears brimming in my eyes to go away. "So, go ahead. Take your vote. I second the motion."

"Hey. Can I ask you a question?" Magna called.

"No."

~*~

I sat in the chair facing his cell, watching him bounce that tennis ball of his. "Why do I come down here?" I asked, more myself than him.

He shrugged. "Sounds like you need to find that answer yourself."

I sighed, leaning back in the chair. "You know, I never asked. Why'd you take Daryl? You could've taken Abraham, he was a soldier."

He nodded. "Exactly. That's why he had to die. He wasn't scared, not one bit, wasn't even sweating. He wouldn't have turned even if I held him for the rest of his life."

I shook my head. "Daryl was injured, taking him just wasted your supplies because you had to take care of him."

He chuckled. "I liked him. He was like the odd man out in your little family. Always has been, always will be. Easy to flip...well, I thought it'd be easy."

The door opened and I jumped. "Yumiko woke up, they're leaving."

"Thanks." They left. I sighed and stood up. "Well...hopefully I won't find another reason to come down here."

I walked outside and to the front gate, where the refugees were being prepped to leave. Like thanked Siddiq and Judith and I walked with them to the front gate. We were stopped by Michonne riding up on her horse. "Change of plans." She tossed something to Judith, I leaned down slightly to see. It was a little figurine of a sheriff aiming his gun. I smiled and it brought a tear to my eye. It's funny how the smallest things can remind you of someone. "There's a place a lot like this one. The leader might take you in. I'll escort you personally, talk to her." That was shocking to hear her offer.

"You're gonna take them to Hilltop?"

"With you. You gotta keep an eye on your patient till we get there." I smiled, this is the first time in years Michonne has been willing to do something like this.

Connie and her sister signed and then Connie crouched in front of Judith, signing Thank you.

"Good luck." Judith said. Kelly showed her how to sign it. She tried her best and they both laughed. "I'll work on it." Judith smiled.

I know Michonne going to Hilltop is only a small step, but for the first time in a long time, I was hopeful that we'd see our friends again.