𝐀 𝐖𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐓
i look inside myself and see my heart is black

"NOW, we're gonna work this out right now, and it's going to go our way," The static hissed as the woman spoke to the group.

"You can see we have one of yours. We'll trade," Rick told her through the walkie talkie.

"I'm listening."

"First I want to talk to Maggie and Carol, make sure they're all right," Rick told them as Octavia looked around for any signs of people or even life itself.

"Rick, it's Carol. I'm — I'm fine, but—" They heard the sound of the walkie turn off. "Rick, it's Maggie. We're both okay. We'll figure thi—" Octavia growled out as she knew that if they harmed Maggie, the baby most likely wouldn't survive. "You have your proof. Let's talk," The woman told them.

"This is the deal right here. Let 'em go, you can have your guy back and live."

"Two for one, that's not much of a trade."

Octavia angrily  growled and took the walkie out of Rick's hand. "You don't have another choice or you would've done something about it already," she told the woman, clenching her jaw as she awaited her response. "Look, I know you're talking it over. It's a fair trade. Just come out, we do this, we all walk away," she told her, glancing at Rick, giving him a look. "Do we have a deal?"

"I'll get back to you."

Octavia threw the walkie down and snarled. The grip that she had on her gun tightened as she felt the need to rip something apart.

"HAVE you thought about it?" Octavia asked impatiently, looking over at Rick as she held the walkie in her hand tightly. "Talk to me," she growled out, way passed angry now.

"You weren't listening. I said I'd contact you."

Octavia rolled her eyes at her reply. "Does it sound like I fucking care what you said? You took my friends, I want them back. Now, either you make the trade and I won't kill you when I see your face or you hold out on me and i'll make your death last so long that you'll be begging for it."

Octavia grabbed Rick's hand as he tried to grab the walkie from her, and glared at him, practically telling him to fuck off.

"What do you think?" She questioned, sounding amused.

"I think we're gonna make the trade, so tell me where."

"We haven't agreed to that."

"You will."

"You know what? I'm not so sure. We'd be taking most of the risk, not getting much in the way of a reward."

"The other option won't work out for you then, bitch," Octavia hissed out.

"We'll take our chances."

"BITCH, are you there?"

Octavia rolled her eyes at the name calling. "I'm here." She looked to Rick, smirking.

"We've thought about it. We want to make the trade."

"That's good." Octavia's smirk widened.

"There's a large field with a sign that says "God is dead" about two miles down I-66. Good visibility in all directions," She told them, not realizing that there was no static between their conversation.

"We'll meet you there. Ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes."

Octavia looked to Rick, nodding.

THE door opened as they had their guns ready, but once they saw that it was Maggie and Carol, they dropped their weapons.

"Maggie." Glenn hugged his wife as Octavia looked to Carol, looking her up and down, making sure that she was also okay.

"You okay?" Octavia asked the older woman who nodded. "We got your trail." She looked behind them. "Did you start a fire?"

"Yeah."

"Well, i'll be damned. You killed them, didn't you?" Carol nodded which made Octavia pout. "I really wanted to kill that bitch with my own hands. Well, it looks like she got lucky." She sighed. "You're friends are dead," she told the asshole who had Daryl's bike. "No one's coming for you. So you might as well talk."

"Let him burn," Daryl grunted out, his eyes hard, and his voice rough.

"Oh, he will, he just has to give us some information before he does," Octavia told her boyfriend before turning back to the asshole. "I'm gonna ask you one last time... how'd you get the bike?"

"We found it."

"Like hell you did!" Daryl shouted at him, still angry.

"We found it."

"Was Negan in that building last night or was he here?"

"Both." Octavia furrowed her eyebrows, confused. "I'm Negan, shithead. There's a whole world of fun that we can talk about, so let's have a chat."

Octavia stepped back quickly and shot him in the head without thinking. "Now, let's go home."

OCTAVIA looked over at Daryl who laid beside her, no shirt on. She hummed in satisfaction and ran her hand down his chest, feeling his heart thumping underneath her palm. Her blue eyes trailed up from his abs to his perfectly sculptured face. "Daryl?"

"Hm?" He opened one eye and grazed down at her, one side of his lips curving up into a smile.

"You love me, right?" She grew self conscious as he opened his other eye and looked down at her with questionable eyes.

"You think i'd sleep with ya and not love ya?"

Octavia shook bet head furiously. "No, it's not that." He sat up and looked away from her. "It's just that I have had my heart broken multiple times by guys who said they loved me, but didn't. I mean... my first boyfriend, he wasn't particularly nice to me." She cleared her throat as she remembered waking up in the hospital multiple times with fatal injuries.

"And it's not that I don't think you love me, it's just that I want to make sure you won't leave." She sighed. "The last man that I was in love with, well, uh, he was killed, but I found out that he wasn't really dead and he came after me and my brothers with a few other... people. They almost killed us." She noticed that he was looking at her now. "I love you Daryl."

She bit bet lip. "My life, you see, has been full of storms, clouds of rain, death, sorrow, and regret, but then I met you and — and everything changed. At first, I thought you were a complete dick." They both chuckled. "But I grew to think of you as a partner in crime and then came the friendship, and then love. It's been one hell of a ride but I do know something. Daryl Dixon, I am truly, utterly, completely in love you."

"DARYL, I just found out what happened."

Octavia ran to the one person who she knew was most affected my Dennis' death. She grabbed his hand in her's and looked up into his teary blue eyes, and she felt an ache in her chest as she hated when he was in any type of pain.

"know she was your friend. I know how much you cared for her, so that is why when I see Dwight, I will kill him myself." Octavia put her hand on his cheek lovingly. "Everything–"

"Everything is not going to be fine." He pushed past her angrily, huffing.

Octavia looked down, saddened by the whole ideal.

"WHAT time did she leave?" Octavia asked Tobin as him as Rick and her made it to the gate. "Do you know when she took off?" Carol had just up and left, barley leaving a trail for them to be able to find her.

"Sometime in the night. I never heard her go, but she made a bunch of food, you know. She took her pack, one of my coats–"

"Did she leave on foot?"

"I — I don't know."

"Rick, Octavia, I took over at 12:00, I was on till 6:00. I never saw anything," Sasha told them, looking worried.

"Front's been quiet since the others left."

Octavia looked to Abraham, alarmed. "What? Who?!"

"Daryl," Abraham said, and Octavia sucked in s breath. "He went ICBM after the Saviors from yesterday. Glenn, Michonne, Rosita, they all went to shut that shit down."

Octavia looked out onto the road, her heart thumping against her chest. She was worried about Daryl. When he's angry or upset, he is always reckless. She knew she should've kept an eye on him.

"Where's the other car?" Rick looked at Tobin in confusion. "We added two more cars yesterday. One of them's missing, the one we put right between those houses."

"You can barely see between the houses from up top, especially at night," Octavia realized and then looked to Rick who nodded, in thought.

"The note, can I see it?" Tobin handed Rick the note. "You never saw any headlights, taillights? She's smart enough to cover her tracks."

"She must've left during the shift change," Octavia stated and Rick nodded in agreement. They looked to Morgan who started walking away. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go find her."

"Wait." Rick turned to Octavia. "Tell Carl I'll be back soon." She nodded. "No one else leaves. Everyone else stays ready for a fight." She went to speak, but he cut her off before she could, "You're the strongest one here. You know how to hold your own so I want you to stay here and protect anyone if something was to happen."

Octavia nodded, sighing. "Okay."

"IS Daryl going to be okay?" Beth questioned as she walked into Octavia's bedroom.

"He'll be fine once Rick finds him," Octavia told her, entwining her hands together.

"But, what if he doesn't find Daryl?"

Octavia looked up at Beth as they blonde sat down on her bed. "He will." She nodded. "He will." Her chest ached. "He has to," her voice cracked, Beth sat down beside her, and took Octavia's hands in hers. "He has to or else i'll be losing yet another person I love."

Tears started to gather in Octavia's eyes. "I can't — I can't go through another death, not again, not ever. I've had my heart broken, stomped on, glued back together just to be ripped apart again. If something were to happen to Daryl, I think that my heart would just stop all together."

Tears were falling from her blue eyes now. "I love him with everything in me. I would literally risk my life for him. I would jump in front of a bullet for him. I would – I would do anything for him. I mean, sure, yeah, at first I hated him, but he reminded me of Dean, you know, with his stupid bravery and that is how I knew I would like him. He grew to be a close friend, someone who I would go to, to be comforted. And then I found myself falling for him... hard." She sucked in a huge shaky breath.

"Octavia–"

"No," Octavia interrupted her. "You have to know how I feel. Someone has to know this stuff before something happens to me. And don't say nothing will. I've been lucky for these past few years, but I can feel the luck being drained. Like, I can literally feel everything fall apart as if it's being beaten by a bat."

Octavia looked up at Beth, tears and more tears falling down her cheeks. "Winchesters. We never have luck especially in the family department. First came my mother, then my father, then Dean got sick and almost died, then Sam was killed." She saw Beth's confused face. "Just let me explain."

Beth nodded and Octavia continued, "Dean made a deal with a devil, and yes, the supernatural is real. And, being heart broken by this, I made a deal, thinking it would stop Dean from being dragged to hell, but that didn't work out. We were both pulled to hell by hellhounds, ripped to shred right in front of Sam. Four months later, we rose from the dead by an angel. Then..."

Octavia went on a whole explanation about everything that had happened to her and her family. By the end of it, they were both in tears and clutching each other.