𝐍𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 | daryl dixon

- 𝟓𝟐

     "and you're part of that family." rick added, "but he's not. he's not."

     daryl looked to rosaline for support but she couldn't go against what their leader ( and her father ) said. like he'd stated a year ago- this wasn't a democracy anymore. whatever he said goes- and despite him being her adoptive father and he considered her word greatly, this wasn't her argument. she'd rather keep daryl over merle.

     the marksman was disappointed at her lack of speech, "man, y'all don't know. fine, we'll fend for ourselves."

     rosaline jumped forward, "what!?"

    "that's not what i was saying," the korean piped up, noticing the panic that had arisen in rosaline at his words. the girl would be devastated if he left - they all knew that.

     "no him, no me." the younger dixon concluded.

     "are you serious, daryl?" rosaline asked, stunned. "you're going to leave us?"

     maggie ran to her defense, "daryl, you don't have to do that."

     daryl spared rosaline a look, "it was always merle and i before this."

     tears welled up in her eyes, making him look away. if he looked at her more, he would never leave. so he didn't.

     maggie wandered over to rosa giving her a one-armed hug. she looked like she was about to burst out crying, the girl stared daryl down, "don't." she leaned closer to him, "are you seriously going to do that to her? can't you see?"

     "see what?" he snapped.

     "you're as blind as a bat." the eldest greene girl sighed.

     glenn decided to jump in, "you serious? you're just gonna leave like that?"

     "you'd do the same thing," he murmured, shooting him a look.

      the asian looked to the ground as maggie led the girl away for a word, "what do you want us to tell carol? what's rosaline gonna do?"

     "they'll both understand. rosa just needs time, she knows." it seemed like what daryl was saying, he was only trying to convince himself. even he knew that without the girl there'd be an empty pit in his stomach.

     rick stared at the dixon in perplexity, his eyes swaying between him and rosaline. he knew the two were inseparable and that daryl cared a great amount for her - he just wasn't so sure that he'd leave her so easily for his own brother that was absent for months.

     daryl nodded pushing past them, "say good-bye to maggie's pop for me."

     "daryl, are you serious? daryl!" glenn called.

     in the back of the car, rhaegar bayed and howled. seeing as his owner embraced maggie trying to calm her down, he sensed her sadness and wanted to get out. the woman that was with them stared at the dog in wonder. she was shocked at how the dog could sense the tension in the air so easily.

     rick jogged up to him, "hey, hey. there's gotta be another way-" he began.

     "don't ask me to leave him." he offered, "i already did that once."

     "and you're willing to leave her?" rick pointed behind him angrily at the two girls as maggie held onto rosaline. daryl didn't dare look at them, "we started something last night. you realize that, huh?"

     daryl opened up the boot, letting rhaegar out to run to his owner, "no him, no me. that's all i can say. take care of yourself, take care of her, little ass-kicker, carl - he's one tough kid."