Login with:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Google

Yahoo

Aol.

Mibba

Your info will not be visible on the site. After logging in for the first time you'll be able to choose your display name.

The Hunter Within

What Comes After

Sophie - The Well

The group arrives back at Alexandria, no one making a hurried attempt to disembark the RV. When Vincent opens the door for them, he asking questions about where they have been and why Harlen isn’t with them, they all muster the strength to file out. As they do, they disperse, each needing to collect themselves before sharing the news with the rest of the community, the residents left behind, they having converged around their arrival. Vincent grabs Sophie by the arm as she passes, his hand moving up to squeeze at her shoulder and dipping to look her in the eye as he asks about those that were missing. As she shakes her head, a sob escaping through trembling lips, he swears under his breath, glancing over her head at the solem expressions at the others before pulling her close. Weakly hugging him back, feeling entirely numb, she asks if Oliver is okay and when Vincent tells her that he was sleeping, she asks for a moment. She doesn't wait for an answer, instead bypassing her house in favour of Glenn and Maggie’s.

Letting herself in, she moves through carefully, feeling only a little guilty as she enters their room but goes to sit in their closest anyway. It is there that she breaks down, curling into a ball and crying amongst the clothes. Enid finds her there sometime later, the young girl coming to sit across the floor from her. The two sit in silence, neither of them speaking for a long moment. When the young girl starts talking about how she resents Carl for looking her away instead of letting her come, Sophie just stares at her. Standing, she unhooks a single jacket from the hangers and moves downstairs to make a beeline for the trucks. Rick intercepts her as she approaches, Sophie telling him that she refuses to sit around and wait, that she needs to see Maggie, that she needs to bring her and Sasha home so that they all could be together. Rick tells her that they need her here, to which she asks what for, because there isn’t anything they could do. Michonne tells her that there is always something. Rick asks her to stay the week at least, to offer backup when Negan comes for his first collection.

“When we know what we’re dealing with, then you can go.”

“Is that an order?"

He considers the question for a long moment, a hand rubbing at the bristles on his chin as he sighs. “Get some rest. Calm down. In a weeks time when I can trust you to go out there without doing something reckless, then you can go.”

Daryl - The Cell

He is woken by the sound of Easy Street playing once again, cold and naked in a dark cell. He is suspicious when Dwight opens the cell to offer him both food and clothing. Despite the sandwich being dog food and smelling terrible, he eats it and then dresses in the scratchy clothing before curling up in the corner of the cell once again. The music is on repeat and he tries to ignore it with thoughts of his family, of Glenn and of Sophie. Fuelled by this, he tries to escape when given the opportunity.

Heading down the darkened halls and outside in search of a getaway vehicle he learns that it was actually a trap set by Negan. The man threatens him, using Sophie as leverage in hopes of getting a reaction, one that Daryl does not give him. Despite his lack of retaliation, he is beaten and taken back to his cell where Dwight comes to see him, tormenting him with a picture of Glenn’s beaten skull. He cries over his lost friend and after a restless night, is taken to see Negan, who tells him about how Dwight was brought back to him. Referring to their previous conversation, he asks Daryl who he is, the latter considering what Negan did to Glenn, also remembering what Sophie had once told him about being proud of who he was. After he refuses to call himself Negan, Dwight takes him back to his cell and Daryl confesses that he knows why he did it, but for the same reasons - for Glenn - he can’t do the same.

Sophie - Service

She wakes up in her own bed, Oliver having spent the night there, his monitor beeping and cartoons playing on the TV softly. Leaving him to sleep, pausing a moment to study his tiny face, she gets up and mechanically showers despite not usually doing so. Going downstairs, she studies the infirmary, they having spent the last few days clearing out half of its contents, it all boxed and in pushed to one side of the room, ready to be collected. She is picking up the strewn toys from Vincent and the kids visit the night before when Aaron comes in to see how she is doing, confessing that he and Eric have been fighting and he doesn’t know who to talk to because not everyone had seen what they had and therefore couldn’t understand. Making them both a coffee, they talk, she thanking him for stopping her that day. She tells him that she has to go to the Hilltop and he tells her that he understands, especially with Daryl gone.

"He isn’t dead, not like, not like Glenn, but he is still gone,” the man says softly, Sophie physically recoiling at the mention of the other man. “That’s tough too. Don’t think that you can’t grieve the fact.”

She nods ever so slightly, thanking him just as softly. As a comfortable silence threatens upon them once again, they hear trucks, the pair pausing to meet the others eye before going down to the gate. On the way, Sophie intercepts Rick and she moves alongside of him as he goes to talk to Negan, who has arrived a couple of days early. It is as Rick says Daryl’s name that Sophie notices him, she spinning to consider his beaten and tired frame sadly. They are both warned against so much as looking at him and the Saviors then move in. Dwight has Rosita and Spencer go out looking for Daryl’s bike, she warning Vincent not to start anything when the other man harasses the first.

Sophie takes to following Rick and Negan around in an attempt to keep close to Daryl, but after he asks about Maggie, Negan tells her to go, to leave the men to the talking. Sophie hesitates before Rick nods at her to do so. She heads back to the infirmary and it is there that she gets into a fight with the men that are talking packed stuff, arguing that they need it for Oliver. Her yelling against the attention of Carl and Thomas - who were upstairs - the pair considering the commotion down the sight of their pistol before the second fires a warning shot, Carl having raised his own weapon in backup. Negan and Rick enter the room as she tries desperately to defuse the situation and when she hears that he intends to take all of their guns as punishment, she goes to find Jake, warning him to hide his rifle because of its absence on the register.

It is discovered that two pistols are missing and after Negan threatens life and limn, Rick holds a town meeting to discuss their whereabouts. The tension between the residents is high, most frustrated that they had been allowed to take everything in the first place, most of their homes turned upside down in the process. Searching Spencer’s house as Jordan watches on, they find them both and Rick takes them to Negan. As the group moves to see the Saviors off, Rick excuses himself to talk to Michonne, who has returned from being absent all day. After they leave, so does she, but not before witnessing Spencer and Rick argue over the control Negan now has, as well as the supplies and lives they had lost.

Sophie - Go Getters Part One

Upon arriving at the Hilltop, the sadness and anger that has consumed her explodes as she gets out of the car, Sophie projecting those emotions out onto both Paul and then later Gregory. Sasha comes to get her as she pulls a gun on the latter, everyone frozen in place as she heaves, as if any sudden movement would convince her to shoot. She wonders if anyone cared more about him or the heritage grade rug beneath him. Maggie comes in seconds later, strolling in through and door to stand between the pointed barrel and the man confidently, knowing that Sophie would drop her aim instantly.

The trio go to see Glenn’s grave and Maggie tells her that she isn’t coming back to Alexandria, that she can’t without him. Paul and Gregory find them there, the latter telling them that they have to leave in the morning, especially after what Sophie had done upon arrival. Paul sets them up in his room for the night and as he leaves to give them space, Sophie excuses herself to speak with him. After she apologises, confessing that she knows it wasn’t his fault and it hadn’t been fair on her to imply that, he asks her about Jake and whether or not he had been there that night, Sophie telling him that he had been. She tells him that he had wanted to come, but she wouldn’t let him, that they needed to back at Alexandria. They are talking when the Hilltop is attacked, a welded shut car settling within the middle of the yard, blaring music.

She fights alongside of Paul and Sasha as the rotters are drawn in by the noise, Maggie being the one to finally silence it by running over the vehicle with a tractor.

Sophie - Go Getters Part Two

Gregory calls all three women into his office to talk, telling them that they need to leave before the Saviors come and find them there. As the discussion progresses, he becoming even more disrespectful as it does, Maggie punches him. As they all process what had just happened, Gregory the most shocked, they hear trucks rolling through the gates. Thinking quickly, Paul hides them in Gregory’s closet, he believing they were in one of the downstairs ones. The women try to listen to what is happening downstairs, they sitting in silence, door slightly ajar, until they are collected. From the second story of the house they watch the Saviors leave, Paul talking about Gregory and his leadership. After Maggie leaves, Sasha asks him to follow the Saviors to find out where they live. He agrees, glancing over at Sophie with raised eyebrows and arms folded.

“Will I save you a seat?”

She considers the notion for a long moment, arms folded over her chest and eyes on the Saviors as she turns. “To be decided.”

Heading back to their trailer to grab her staff, she tells Maggie that she would be right back before moving to find Paul. Locating him by the fence, she places her weapon aside and beings to stretch, telling him that it has been a while since she has done a sprint after he raises a questioning eyebrow at her. Doing just that, he manages to get up into the truck ahead of her, turning to help pull her up into the back alongside of him. The two settle into their respective seats, he taking a swig out of a bottle of scotch and is handing it to her to do the same when they realise they aren’t alone. Sophie scolds Carl for his stupidity, stating that with Enid back there, she should have known. She warns him that his father is going to kill him and then her. After that, they travel mostly in silence and as they grow closer to the Sanctuary, they decide to jump out and scout the area. Carl tricks them by pretending to be scared, the pair watching as he waves from the back of the still moving truck.

“Forget Rick,” she growls, chest heaving as she stands to step out onto the now empty road. "I’m going to fucking kill him myself.”

Daryl - Sing me a Song

He is working the gate when Carl appears from the back of a truck that had just pulled in into the yard, he shooting down some of Negan’s men. Rushing to the fence, he watches as the teenager is pushed to the ground by Dwight, his knuckles whitening around the chain he grasped at desperately. As Negan talks to Carl, Daryl listens restlessly, growing impatient as he dares a glance over his shoulder to study the world beyond the Sanctuary, knowing that there was only one other person that could be as reckless as Carl was. Hearing his name mentioned, Daryl snaps back to the scene unfolding before him, Dwight being instructed to take him to the kitchen to prepare a platter. Meeting Carl’s eye, Daryl follows reluctantly, the pair moving in silence. It isn’t until they enter the kitchens that Dwight begins to talk about how he saw Sophie hanging around him that day at Alexandria, also telling him that she was the reason his fingers were all fucked up. Daryl grows still, picturing the way she had placed the tac on the map that day after he had returned to Alexandria, telling himself that it was him to had chose not to know what had happened there.

“Seems to me that she just can’t keep away from you,” he threatens, glancing around the room both dramatically and mockingly, having noted Daryl’s own suspicious nature.

They then go to deliver the platter to Negan - who is with both Carl and his harem. As he hands over the platter he meets Carl’s eye and dares to ask the teenager ever so quietly if he was alone, Carl just shrugging. Being forced to leave, Daryl bundles his fists, trying to keep his chest from heaving at the thought of Sophie being there, sure that Negan wouldn’t kill her if he caught her, but would force her into his harem just to taunt him.

They go and get the furnace ready upon instruction and he studies Dwight’s face as he looks into the flames, truly seeing just how far he want to protect Sherry, sure that he would go further for Sophie. After watching Negan iron a man’s face for sleeping with one of his wives, Daryl is told to clean up and then is put back on gate duty until Negan leaves with Carl. He abandons his work and moves over to the truck, threatening the man and as result is ordered back to his cell.

There, he receives a note telling him to leave. Believing that it could be Sophie, he follows the trail outside. Stepping out into the makeshift parking lot he intercepts and kills Fat Joey. It is then that Paul finds him, Daryl disappointed to find that he was alone. They ride off to the Hilltop where he is reunited with Maggie after overhearing Rick tell Negan that she had died. He goes weak at the knees, almost stumbling over himself as she rushes to embrace him.

Sophie - Hearts Still Beating Part One

She and Paul are sneaking around the trucks, looking for a way in, when Negan approaches with his men and Carl in tow. The both of them manage to hide before they are seen, they arguing in hushed voices over what to do next, Paul telling her that she needs to go with them to watch out for Carl.

“You can’t kill him if Negan does,” he smirks.

“I’m not leaving here without Daryl.”

“You are. And you have to trust that I won’t.”

Not really having time to fully consider the prospect, the truck rumbling to life and its passengers threatening to slip away, she climbs into the back to hide amongst the empty crates in defeat, watching curiously as Paul climbs up onto its roof. As they pull out of the compound, she catches her first glimpse of Daryl, she following his gaze as he glances up at the way the metal roof above her sighed ever so softly. She drops her gaze to study him once again before they move through the gates.

Upon arriving back at Alexandria, she waits until Negan’s men are distracted to sneak out, Vincent having seen her and offered her one. Moving up the main street as casually as she could, she moves passed Tara and Olivia, the women heading towards the pantry, the latter in tears. Pausing to ask them where Negan was, sure that he was the reason for Olivia’s crying, she goes straight to Rick’s, moving into the house without an invitation to find Carl’s face unbandaged and Negan holding Judith. Furious, she tells him to leave, that they were to collect their share and go, as she steps forward to take the little girl from him. Negan evades her attempt by swinging Judith around as if it were just a game before casually mentioning that Daryl had said to say hello.

“You gotta be missing him, don’t ya?” The man teases, his eyes crinkled and smile somewhat genuine. “Yeah… Ain’t gotta be that way, though. If you’ve got an itch, I’m happy to scratch it. That’s just the kind guy I am.”

With a playful smirk, he winks at her, almost daring Sophie to test him further, before changing the subject, smile still etched onto his face. Negan asks if she could run along to check on how Olivia was going with the lemonade, adding that they would have to get started on dinner if they wanted to eat soon. Sophie doesn’t move at first, her jaw tight and arms folded.

“You’ll be joining us, right?” He murmurs, inviting the challenge, his breath brushing over her neck as he stepped forward. Taking a slight step back, her gaze meeting the way Carl watched on protectively, she stood her ground. “Good. You better get cleaned up,” he continues, raising an eyebrow as he dipped slightly to brush the dust from the knees of her jeans almost questioningly. “We eat at six.”

Sophie - Hearts Still Beating Part Two

Moving back out through the front door reluctantly, she brushes at the dust more forcefully before going in search of the radio that Rick had left them to call through to him, only to find out that Michonne had taken it with her. Making sure that Vincent was watching the other Saviors, she then moves to help Olivia carry the lemonade up to the house. Opening the door, Negan invites her to sit, the smell of the cooking pasta making her empty stomach growl. Meeting Carl’s eye, she moves slowly across the kitchen for the dining room table, Negan warning them that the telepathic communication was going to have to stop, that it was rude to leave others out.

Soon after dinner is served and while they wait for Rick to return, Negan eager to tell him about Carl, it is ultimately decided that they wouldn’t, Negan instead telling her about what the teenager had done, she feigning surprise. He then talks about Daryl and the things he had been doing for him at the Sanctuary, telling her that she is still welcome to join as he reaches out to brush her hair out of the way as she leans forward to scoop a spoonful into her mouth, both she and Carl stiffening. After eating, they are washing the dishes when Spencer comes to offer him some scotch, Negan excusing himself from the cleaning to join the younger man on the porch. With hushed voices, Sophie and Carl argue, continuously glancing over their shoulders to check that Negan was still oblivious.

When she catches sight of the two men moving down to play pool, they follow, Sophie abandoning her position on the porch to move ever closer as they begin to discuss taking out Rick. A crowd has begun to gather as Negan listens intently, he asking why Spencer didn’t take Rick out himself, stepping closer to the man before stating that it was because he had no guts. The sound of steel cutting through flesh has her stopping mid-step, her lungs seizing around a sharp breath. Negan laughs, booming that Spencer did, in fact, have guts as the man’s spill out onto the asphalt, he holding them in weak hands as he collapses to his knees.

What seems like a lifetime later, Sophie gaze snaps up to the sound of a bullet echoing through Alexandria, Rosita hitting Lucille with a homemade bullet. Negan’s men instantly force her to the ground, Sophie watching on as Vincent pushes through the crowd only to be pulled away by two men. He tells them that he made it, his eyes leaving Rosita’s angry stare to look directly at Negan, who does not believe him.

It was me, it was me, I swear.

But do you swear on the life of one of these fine people? No? Arat. Shoot someone.”

Before Sophie has a chance to fully process the demand, Arat chooses Olivia. Swallowing the lump in her throat, her chest heaves as she considers where Carl stood so close by, feeling guilty to be relieved by the Savior’s choice, knowing how easy it could have been to shift her aim and take out the teenager instead. They wouldn’t, though, not if they wanted Rick to conform. They were smarter than that and for now, Sophie was thankful for the fact. Negan asks again and eventually, Eugene appears from behind the hands he tried to hide himself with to confess, reciting the materials when his claim is doubted. Rick then arrives at the scene, a wounded Aaron slung over his shoulder, to tell Negan that he needs to leave, Negan attempting to state his case and telling him that Eugene would be going with them before Rick repeats the notion.

As they leave, Vincent moves to off Rosita a hand up, she ignoring it entirely as she pulls herself to her feet and storms off, Sophie making a mental note to see her about the knife wound on her face after she had been given some time to calm down. When Rick moves off to talk to Carl, Sophie takes to cleaning up the bodies with Vincent and Thomas’ help, the three of them scrubbing blood from the pavement by the time either of them spoke. It was Thomas that eventually did, his familiar grey eyes meeting his brothers before sweeping over Sophie.

“We can’t live like this.”

“No,” she agreed with a sigh, dropping the teenagers gaze to consider the scrubbing brush in her hands, the water that pooled at her knees soaked red. “We can’t.”



Notes

Thanks to Thanya. As always, please take the time to comment. They are always appreciated and welcomed. Let me know what you would have liked to see or maybe what you did like in the plans. There are three uploads to go, it would be nice if we could end this with some excitement.

Thanks x

Comments

Who's here on 2020 for a re-read? :D

Tee- Tee-
4/17/20

@QueenUchi

New readers make my heart sing, especially when they start this journey ten months after I ended it (abit abruptly but we won’t get into that because it’ll make me sad again).

Thank you you so much for leaving a comment. Nothing is more motivating for the unmotivated than a little bit of love. Whenever I get a comment from someone new all I find myself wanting to sit down and grill them with a million different questions.

If youre chasing updates about any eventual stories I write, please follow me on instagram @ sophyl_

Thanks a million again!! xx

aryaaa aryaaa
11/28/18

thank you @sanders151 for recomending me this fanfic

Your fanfic has been in the center of my life for the whole month November. Let me just tell you that im in love with everything about this story. Im even at loss of words about how amazing this journey has been.

There have been moments when i actually had to get up and calm down from all the feelings may they be joy sadness or just extreme suffering. Ive been cheering, i've been crying to the point of ugly sobbing, ive been screaming while reading this all.

I dont even know how to tell you how i feel about this fanfic there arent any words for it so ima just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH about it cause thats the closets that i can think off "insert all the feelings i cant express here"

I am just so thank full for all your time and effort and everything youve put into this story. Cause WOW youre an amazing writer and when you do make your original story please do know that I WOULD LOVE TO READ THAT TOO.

This journey has ended but it will forever be in my heart.

QueenUchi QueenUchi
11/27/18

@Sanders151

I was so surprised to see a new notification on this story after all these months. Thank you so much for taking the time
to comment, I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read since. Please feel free to leave me updated on your thoughts xx

aryaaa aryaaa
11/25/18

Hello,

It's been a looong time since i've read this story. Life got busy and i totally forgot to finish it.

SO i decided to reread everything and lemme tell you...I STILL LOVE IT AS MUCH AS THE FIRST TIME.
Im currently at chapter 62 (right after fort hill) and i can't wait for what is to come.


Sanders151 Sanders151
11/15/18