Rick's POV
We're walking through the forest and Tara, the girl who helped Glenn, walks up to me and holds up her fist, I look at her with a slight smile as memories go through my head, I connect my fist with hers and she walks away. My gaze lands on everyone who knew Freya, especially Carl and Daryl.
Carl has a small smile on his face, but it turns to a frown, and Daryl just continues walking behind our group.
I hear Judith make baby sounds and I continue walking.
Daryl's POV
I stay in the back of the group, Beth.....
Beth isn't just gone anymore, she's dead. We got Carol and Sophia back, but we lost Beth cause of that fucking cop in that hospital.
Is Freya dead?
Flashback
"Dixieeeeee" I hear Freya say as she runs into my perch, I look up from my mattress on the floor and she is smiling at me.
"What?" I ask, moving to the side when she pokes me with her boot, she lays next to me and opens her drawing book.
"I tried to draw one of the horses" She says, handing me her book, I look at the page.
"This is a deformed dog that's mom drank and smoked when she was pregnant with him" I say, Freya glares at me before taking the book back.
We're quiet for a while.
"You've been distant since Merle" She whispers, I scoff.
"Seriously! It's like the mask you already wear took over" She says, looking at me, I ignore her.
"What I've learned is, most people wear a mask cause they feel they have to be protected. Like a shiny mental shield" She says, I continue ignoring her. She sighs and leaves, leaving the dog horse drawing, I grab the drawing and stuff it in my backpack.
I'll try not to wear the whole mask, kid.
Flashback Over
Michonne looks at me with a frown before she continues walking with Carl.
Fucking emotional crap.
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Freya's POV
2 Weeks Later
I frown as I fight with my hair that keeps getting stuck on my backpack. We've been walking for a couple weeks. Yeah, 2 weeks, I think. Roxy and Amethyst walk with me through the forest. We decided, more like Roxy and I decided, and Amethyst just nodded her head, that we would split up at an intersection of the forest so we can try to hunt something. Duane decided to stay with Hershel at the shed. About a week ago, there was a bad storm, it was bad, I'm honestly surprised we survived it.
When we reach the path, I smile at them before turning and going my way.
3rd Person POV
When Freya walks away from them, Amethyst starts walking through where they are gonna hunt but her older sister grabs her shoulder.
"You should follow Freya. She shouldn't be hunting by herself" Roxy says, Amethyst shakes her head and writes quickly in her notebook before showing it to Roxy.
Shes survived this long,
shell be fine, she's
a fighter
Roxy sighs and shakes her head.
"She got hurt when she hunted before!" Roxy whispers angrily, Amethyst starts writing.
When she hunted with me! That was my fault!
Roxy reads it before looking at her sister's mask.
"She shouldn't be around you then if she's gonna get hurt. I don't want her to end up like you! A broken-down woman who can't figure out if she should care about herself or not just because of that asshole!" Roxy whispers again.
I was gone before he did this
As Roxy is reading the note, Amethyst takes off her mask and points at her face, Roxy stares down her sister and looks over the scars on her sister's face, Amethyst puts her mask back on.
"Admit it, Ame, you'll never be the same after it" Roxy whispers, Amethyst starts writing but when she rereads it, she rips it apart.
"What'd you write? Is it about Sadie? Were you gonna use that to hurt me?" Roxy asks, Amethyst doesn't respond.
"Sadie was your fault, and you know it, I honestly hope the day you finally breakdown, the only thought that goes through your head is, Sadie was my fault" Roxy says, Amethyst doesn't do anything but listen to her sister.
Then Amethyst drops her notebook suddenly, and runs the way Freya went, leaving her sister to hunt alone.
Freya's POV
I pull up my mask as I climb down the tree I was sitting in for hunting. Pulling the arrow out of the rabbit, I tie the now dead rabbit to the rope around my waist.
I should get back to the shed. Those two are gonna get worried if I'm gone too long.
The prison fell too quickly for the group. It was our home for such a short time. I'm not sure if anyone else made it and I'm scared I might never see my brother again.
Quietly, I run through the forest, keeping my feet from hitting too many leaves. Pulling my weight from my steps, I continue running until I hear walkers and someone yelling angrily. They sound so broken.
Sneaking around a tree, I stab a walker with the longer tanto blade, ducking under another's arms as it reaches for me. Yanking my grandpa's knife out of it's holster, I push a walker into a tree and reach up to stab it.
I hear another walker behind me but it's groans quickly go quiet and I hear its body hit the ground.
The other person and I quickly kill off the last few walkers.
Breathing heavily, I look at the double dead walkers. We killed 10 walkers.
Looking at the person, I instantly pull down my hood and complete shock is flowing in my eyes, the person stares back before a small shocked smile shows on his face.
"I would say I'm surprised, but I knew you were a survivor when I met you. Hi again, Raven" He says, sadness overtaking his eyes.
"You're broken, more than before" He says, making me slightly glare at him.
"Don't call me broken, I've never been broken" I say, an amused smile crosses his lips at my response. My eyes travel around the forest.
"What should I call you then?" He asks, I look back at him.
"Call me a fighter" I say, he nods and watches my stance how my hand twitches with the blade in it.
"Good to see you're alive" I mumble, wanting to run up and give him a fist bump but also knowing people changed.
He smiles back at me.
"Same" He says.
We stay quiet until suddenly, Amethyst is by my side, her bow aimed around us.
"No! Amethyst it's okay, he's okay!" I say, grabbing her arm, she hesitates but lowers the bow, and doesn't even try to unnotch the arrow.
"Hershel and I's group met him in Atlanta" I say, she stares at me before looking around, she uses one of her hands and signs.
"Who?" She signs, I look at her confused and glance at him.
"You can't see him?" I ask, a joking tone to my voice, she nods.
"Guillermo" I say, looking back at him but frown when I don't see him. I look around for his prints and ask Amethyst for help but she shakes her head.
"We need to get back to the shed. We can hunt while on the move" Amethyst signs, I frown. But Guillermo...
"You've been cooked by the sun, sweetie. It was in your head" She signs, poking my head.
It's hard to understand her signs since I can't see her mouth. We start walking and I adjust my mask.
"You're right...." I mumble with a frown, Amethyst kneels in front of me and pulls down my raven mask, she traces the healed cuts and pushes my hair out of my face.
"You're still beautiful, don't forget that. Ever" She signs, I nod, she stands up and I go to pull my mask up but she stops me.
"It makes it hard for you to breathe, I hear you when we're on the road" She signs, I hesitate but leave it down and we start walking back, Amethyst looking behind us every now and then. I jump when I hear a gunshot. Amethyst grabs my hand and we start running towards the shed.
"Hershey! Duane!" I yell when we get there and quickly pull up my mask, I catch myself on the doorframe as I try to breathe, I look at the inside and see a scared strange man, I feel my arm being grabbed before I'm pulled out of the doorway. Amethyst stares at the guy before tilting her head to the side, I look around for Hershel or Duane but sigh in relief when I see them come out from behind a tree with Roxy.
"Amethyst, Roxy had the-" I stop my sentence when Amethyst waves her hand for the man to come out, we all aim our guns and bows at the man he holds his hands in the air and nervously smiles, Duane opens the backpack and goes through it and he finds pictures.
"I live in a community. My job is to search. I normally have someone with me but....yeah" The man says, I glare at him.
"Amethyst, look at these!" Duane says, running to her, she looks at them before rummaging through the guy's backpack.
"Look, we brought in another group about a week ago, I know you can't trust me but atleast go there, if you don't like it, you can leave. No one will stop you" He says, Amethyst writes on her notebook and holds it in front of him.
"My name? It's Aaron" He says, Amethyst goes back to his backpack and scans through the pictures again.
"I'm sorry about this, son, but the world is different" Hershel says, handing Roxy rope.
"I understand, I truly do" Aaron says, Roxy ties his hand behind his back, I see Aaron flinch at how tight she ties the rope.
"Don't tie it so tight" Amethyst signs quickly, I translate and Roxy sighs but loosens the rope slightly, but not enough for him to escape. The man looks at Duane and I before looking back at Roxy.
"You have kids here. Don't you want them to feel safe?" The man asks, Roxy looks at Duane and I with a frown.
"I'll go. Make sure it's safe, then we come back for them" Roxy says, crouching in front of him. As they talk, 4 walkers walk over.
"Walkers!" I say, I walk over and kill one after kicking it's knee in, Duane aims and throws a knife, Amethyst pushes one against the tree, strikes it in the head with her axe, before cutting its head off. She grabs the head by the hair and walks over to Aaron. She drops the head in front of him and tilts her head before wiping the side of the axe on Aaron's face, leaving walker blood on his cheek. She starts signing after putting her axe in her belt.
"She said, If you hurt my friends, you become like him" After I translate, she kicks the head into the forest before moving back to Duane and I. Aaron looks at me.
"You said walkers?" He says, I nod as I wipe the blood from my tanto blade onto a walker's shirt.
"Do you know someone named Rick Grimes?" Aaron asks, I almost drop my tanto but I walk to him and put my tanto to his neck.
"How do you know that name?" I ask, he tries to move his neck as far from the blade as he can.
"We brought in his group last week" He says, I grab Roxy's arm and drag her away.
"We have to go with him!" I say, she grabs my shoulders and tries to calm me down as tears fall from my eyes and sink into my mask.
"Is it cause of this Rick guy?" She asks, I nod.
"Hershel and I's group. Please we need to go with him Roxy! My dad is in that group" I say, she frowns at me but nods.
"Let me check it out first" She says, flicking the bill of my cap, I nod.
"Okay, Aaron" Roxy says, untying the rope on his wrist and helps him up.
"Take me to your community" She says, Aaron nods.
"It's half a day drive. You can bring everyone, they can wait outside so you can check it out" Aaron says, Roxy looks back at us before nodding.
"Fine" She says.
As we walk, I pull out a picture in my back pack. Glenn went around taking pictures of everyone when he found a polaroid camera on a run. He took a picture of Daryl and I a couple times. The one I kept is when I had a nightmare one time and went to Daryl's cell, he let me sleep next to him, in the morning, Glenn came to get Daryl but ended up taking this picture instead.
"Hey Mister! Was this man with Rick's group?" I ask, showing him the picture, he looks at it before a smile shows on his face.
"Yeah. He's kind of intimidating. I didn't know he had a daughter though" He says, tears almost come to my eyes again but I run back to Duane. Duane smiles at me when I hug him.
"He's your dad?" Duane asks, I nod. I look at Hershel and I see tears in his eyes.
"You're gonna see Beth and Maggie again, Hershey. I told you they'd be okay" I say, he smiles with a nod.
"I told you Daryl would be okay, we were both right, my dear" He says, I reach for his hand and hold it.
"Our family is gonna be back together again" He says, I nod with a sad smile. T-Dog won't be though.
"We even have more to add to it" Hershel says, looking at Duane, Amethyst, and Roxy. Amethyst looks at Hershel and gives him a nod of respect.
"We're happy you want us to be a part of your family, Hershel" She signs, I translate, and Hershel asks me what she signed for family.
"Family" I sign, connecting the two f signs together, Hershel does the same before looking at Amethyst.
"Family" Hershel says while signing it, Amethyst claps her hands together and nods before giving him a thumbs up.
I laugh and look ahead and see a car Aaron walks to it and opens the driver's door, Roxy shakes her head after grabbing his arm.
"I drive" She says, pushing him towards the passenger side, Aaron nods with a sigh, we all get in the car.
As we're driving, Hershel reads the directions off the map found in Aaron's bag to Roxy.
Eventually, I end up falling asleep on Duane's shoulder and I feel something being put on me like a blanket.
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"Freya, wake up, we're outside the gates" Duane's voice wakes me up while shaking me, I open my eyes and crawl out of Amethyst's door, a shawl falling off me as I crawl. Amethyst grabs the shawl and shoves it in her backpack.
Roxy and Aaron walk up to the gate and Aaron says open the gate to a man sitting up there.
When they walk in, they come back 15 minutes later, Roxy looks at us and nods.
When we enter the gates we instantly have everyone's eyes on us.
"Have everyone put their weapons in" A man says, bringing two white baskets, I hide my slingshot up my sleeve, putting my bow and arrows in the basket. I really don't like this, but we need to be in these people's good graces for now.
Roxy puts her guns in the basket, Hershel puts his gun and machete in the basket. Duane puts his two knives in it, I see one in the back of his belt and elbow him, he nods and pulls his shirt, so it covers the knife. The man looks at Amethyst and me.
"Can I keep these please?" I ask, patting my tanto blades, the man looks at the blades and nods after sighing, Amethyst puts her bow and arrows, blades, axe, and knives in the basket.
"Rick!" Aaron calls behind a group of people, and a man comes out from it.
Rick's gaze lands on me but I'm already running to him and wrapping my arms around his waist.
"I missed you" I say when he hugs me back, absolute shock on his face as he looks at me, then he looks at my tiny group and sees Hershel and Duane.
"Hershel" Rick says, walking to the older man and hugging him. I look around for Daryl but don't see him, Aaron looks at me and tells me to follow him, I look at Amethyst and she nods, following us soon after.
"He's been working on a motorcycle in my garage" Aaron says, we walk to a house and see the garage open, a familiar man is in it. Before I even know it, I'm running towards the garage and slow down to stand still.
"Dixie!" I yell.