#She gets angry and bottles up that anger sometimes till she lashes out

[merkerlerspeaks]

Zodi/Celeste/Raine is somehow both my baby and also the girl my inner little weird girl looks up to so much she adopts parts of her as her personality

[superleeleehipster]

“Cupid’s Arrow”

Hey guys! So this is a Caryl fanfic that takes place during All Out War, and it’s my own twist to a famous moment in the comics. 

It’s a bit on the angsty side but with a fluffy/happy canon cuteness at the end.

Rated M. Enjoy loves!

Daryl paced back and forth inside the small office, gritting his teeth as every single cell in his body was fuming with rage. Every few minutes it would boil over and he’d take it out on the office, not even caring about who heard him.

He was enraged about everything that has happened to him, unable to think clearly as the negativity coursed through his veins. He was angry at Negan, about the bloody war that never seems to end, about all the tragedy that has happened in his life.

But most of all, he was angry at himself, for his reckless revenge quest was the reason why Carol was struggling for her life just down the hallway. 

The thought of her immediately caused him to lash out, and he punched yet another hole in the wall, welcoming the sharp pain in his hand as his deserving punishment. She was trying to help him, trying to get through is stupid head, but he didn’t listen to her, for the pull for retribution too strong to ignore. 

Everything that Negan did hit home for Daryl, and it all became very personal to him. Negan represented his abusive father that he despised, he represented all of the people he loved that were gone because of this world, he represented all of the anger and sadness he had kept hidden all his life, and killing him would finally bring him peace... 

But not at this cost, not for her life. He’d rather die a thousand torturous deaths than to exchange her life for Negan’s.

Another shot of adrenaline hit his system, and he flipped the desk over as he screamed out to the world, to whomever was responsible for this bullshit. Tears were running down his face now, and the energy from the anger was starting to fade as the urge to sob became stronger. After one more weak punch against the wall, he finally collapsed and broke out into sobs, overwhelmed by the very real possibility of losing her. 

She had come to him the day before, expressing her concern over how badly he wanted to kill Negan, for he was constantly talking about just blowing it up, burning the Sanctuary to the ground even when he knew there were innocent people in there. She was afraid that he would do something rash just to get what he wanted, and she tried to get him to open up to her. She knew he was still hurting, for he hadn’t let go of the pain or the guilt from losing Glenn. But he refused to listen, unable to allow himself to feel it because he knew he wouldn’t be able to complete his revenge mission if he did. She understood him more than anyone, why couldn’t she see his side?

But then she did something bold, and kissed him, trying to show him how she felt about him, and why she was so scared for him. He immediately backed away in shock, his brain trying to process the sudden spark from her simple touch. But this wasn’t the time, they still had a war to end, and he shook his head and simply said, “I can’t,” before walking out the door, ignoring her pleading calls.

Daryl cringed at the thought of how he reacted to her, and he buried his face into his hands as he continued to cry. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the kiss, on the contrary, he really enjoyed it, and if circumstances were normal, he would’ve kissed her back. But he didn’t think at the time that they should start anything, for he wanted to wait till the war was over, wait for a moment that was more convenient for him. He wanted to remove the huge threat that still loomed over them before even considering being with her, because he did. He wanted to be with her so badly it was painful sometimes.

But now he’s once again learning the lesson he can’t seem to understand, and that was there’s no guarantee we’d all live tomorrow, so enjoy what you can now... and after all this time, he still hadn’t learned it.

He was so wrapped up in the sadness that he almost didn’t hear the door creek open. But when he did, he instinctively wrapped his arms around his legs and ducked his head from view, preparing to have his heart ripped out of his chest. He was shaking with fear, and he barely registered the touch of a hand on his shoulder, but what he heard next nearly made him pass out. 

“She’s okay.”

He slowly raised his head and looked up at Rick who was kneeling down next to him. “Dr. Carson was able to stop the bleeding, and he said he didn’t find any signs of internal bleeding... she’s okay, brother. She’s still here.”

He let out a sob of relief before Rick pulled him in for an embrace, which he gladly took. He had just unintentionally gone through his bottled up grief, unleashing it in screams and punches before releasing the rest of it in tears. He felt like a hollowed out log, raw and bare as he cleaned out the infected wound that plagued his body. But hearing those words was like aloe on a burn, and he felt the rest of the weight lifted off of his shoulders. That’s when he made the decision for himself.

He still had a chance with her, so he wasn’t going to fuck it up ever again.

Rick got up and helped Daryl off the ground, not giving any attention to the destruction of the room, which Daryl was grateful for. They both made their way to the room she was in before opening the door. Maggie was in there helping to cover Carol with a sheet along with Dr. Carson, who was checking on Carol’s vitals. Maggie saw Daryl and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He nodded shyly in thanks before she and Rick left the room. 

Then he slowly made his way to the side of Carol’s bed, sitting down on the chair next to it. She was laying on her stomach and sound asleep, most likely from all the pain meds. She had a sheet covering her due to the fact that they had to cut off her shirt to get to the wound on her stomach, but it was low enough that he could see her bare shoulders. He leaned over and gently tucked a curl of her hair behind her ear before resting his hand just under her neck, in between her shoulder blades. 

“I’m going to give her more pain meds in a few hours,” Dr. Carson said. “Hopefully she’ll sleep straight through the night.” 

Daryl nodded to him and mumbled a thank you before the doctor left the room. He gently caressed her head and watched her as she slept, enjoying the look of peacefulness on her face, for he knew that would change when she woke up. 

��Imma be here when ya wake up, alright?” he whispered in her ear. “I won’t ever leave ya again.”

She didn’t react to his voice at all, which he wasn’t necessarily expecting her to, but it was still hard to not get acknowledgement from her. He couldn’t help but be selfish and want her awake, just so he could see for himself that she would be okay. 

He sighed and slowly pulled the sheet back, exposing her very wrapped middle. He ever so gently placed a hand on top of her wound, an injury caused by one of his very own arrows, and he leaned in until his forehead was against hers. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered as tears ran down his face. “I’m so sorry, Carol.”

“Everybody, fall back!” Rick yelled as they continued to shoot at the saviors in the compound.

“We ain’t done yet,” Daryl growled. 

“We can’t stay here Daryl, the herd’s too big,” Rick said. 

The plan was to take out all the outposts before hitting the Sanctuary full force, but all the fighting attracted some unwanted attention from a nearby herd, and they were forced to flee before completing their task. 

“We gotta finish this!” Daryl yelled, taking out a few walkers. “We can’t give ‘em any time!”

“Daryl we have to!” Carol said. 

Daryl growled and continued shooting, taking out two saviors in the process. Rick ran over to the others to tell them to fall back and to get the cars ready.

“Come on!” Carol yelled, yanking on his shirt. “All the other outposts have been wiped out, we can afford to leave this one.”

Daryl’s rage was radiating off his body, the frustration mounting as he continued shooting. She didn’t know how to snap him out of it, for she’d never seen him this angry before. She didn’t know what else to do but she wasn’t going to leave him, so she began taking out walkers around him as he focused on the compound. But as she looked towards the tree line, she saw a shine of metal within the bushes. When she narrowed her eyes she recognized the shape of a crossbow, and she didn’t hesitate to move in front of Daryl to block the shot. 

His focus was solely on defeating the saviors, to kill every single one of them so that this nightmare was over and he could finally get peace. But the sudden spray of blood hitting his face was like a rush of ice water on his hot skin, and he turned to see Carol’s shocked expression as she began to fall forward, an arrow sticking straight through her stomach. The anger from before dissipated completely, and he dropped his gun before grabbing her before she hit the ground. 

“Carol!” he sobbed, staring at the arrow still stuck in her body. “Oh... oh my god!” 

“Daryl!” Rick yelled as he ran towards him. 

“H-Help!” he choked out, holding Carol up who was struggling to breathe.

“Come on!” Rick said, grabbing Carol’s arm and hoisting her up on her feet. 

Daryl grabbed the other arm and both men helped her to the car. Then they sped out of there and headed straight for Hilltop. They tried to cover her wound with cloth but there was only so much you could cover when the culprit was still inside the body. She was sobbing and wheezing the entire time, for any kind of jostle or movement would cause severe pain. Daryl tried to help her in a good position but there was no such thing at the moment, and he let her claw her nails into his arms as she continued sobbing from the pain. And for once, he wished that she would pass out from it, just so she could stop hurting.

When they arrived at Hilltop, Carol was barely conscious, and her face was pale from all the blood loss. Daryl’s heart dropped to his stomach when he picked her up and she didn’t flinch, and he rushed over to the infirmary where Dr. Carson was waiting. Carson quickly doused both the arrow and the wound with alcohol, and Carol sobbed again from the pain.

“P-Please,” she whimpered. “It hurts.”

Maggie came in along with a few nurses and got extra supplies ready once the doctor extracted the arrow. They had no idea if it hit any major organs, or arteries, for sometimes objects that impale the body can actually stem the bleeding on the inside. But once you remove it, the person can start to hemorrhage. 

“Daryl, does the tail piece come off or do we need to cut it?” Carson said. Daryl was in a daze as he looked down at Carol with horror. “Daryl!”

His head shot up. “W-What?”

“Does the tail end come off?” Carson asked.

“Uhhh... y-yeah.” 

Daryl grabbed the tail end that was sticking out of Carol’s back and unscrewed the end piece, removing it so that the arrow could come out of the body with minimal damage from the arrow itself. 

“Alright, we need to hold her down,” Dr. Carson said. Maggie grabbed her legs along with a nurse and Rick held onto her waist. “Daryl, can you hold down her shoulders?” 

He nodded and grabbed her shoulders, looking into her pain filled eyes. “You’re gonna be okay, Carol... you’re gonna be okay.”

“D-Daryl,” she whimpered. “P-Please... I-” 

Dr. Carson jerked the arrow out of her body and she let out a blood curdling scream that would haunt Daryl for the rest of his life.

The nightmare began to fade as he slowly regained consciousness, but a cold shiver ran up his spine as he tried to push away the trauma of his dream. He let out a shaky sigh as he tried to calm down his racing heart, for the nightmare felt like the whole ordeal happened all over again in front of his eyes. He was so worked up that it took a few minutes for him to register the soft hand caressing his head. But once he did, his breath hitched and he slowly lifted his head, meeting her gaze. 

She was pale, but she still had more color than the night before, and she had a soft smile on her face. “Morning.”

He let out a sob and cupped her head with his hands before leaning his forehead against hers. “Thank god... oh thank god.” He began kissing her forehead and trailing down to her cheeks before kissing her jawbone, so relieved to finally see her awake.

She giggled and gently cupped his face with one hand. “If I knew I’d get this kind of attention from getting shot by an arrow, I would’ve done it willingly.”

“Stop,” he growled, but he couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips. He leaned back but kept his hand on her cheek, looking down at her with such rapture that it made her toes curl. “How ya feelin’?”

Her smile faded slightly and she shrugged. “Like I was shot in the stomach with an arrow.”

He sighed and looked down, the pain on his face visible. “I... I’m so sorry Carol.”

She shook her head. “It’s not your fault-”

“Yes it is,” he interjected. “You were right, I was just so focused on killing him that I didn’t even think about what would happen to people around me... it’s jus’ like how I killed Glenn.”

Carol’s brow furrowed and she grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze. “That wasn’t your fault.”

He shook his head as fresh tears ran down his face. “He was out there cause o’ me. I went out to kill Dwight cause I wanted fuckin’ revenge for killin’ Denise and... I... I didn’t even know you were gone either.” He let out a shaky breath. “None of it woulda happened if I... I coulda been there for ya... I could’ve-”

“Stop,” she said before pulling him into the bed so that he was laying next to her. “It’s okay.”

She wrapped an arm around him as he buried his head into her neck, grieving for all that had happened to him in recent times. Her side was hurting like a bitch but she ignored it, for this was the first time that he opened up to her about everything that’s happened with Negan. She had been so worried about him since he wasn’t opening up, even after she came back from her little hiatus, and she was nervous that he didn’t trust her. But now that he was letting his guard down, she couldn’t help the small smile forming on her face, for she knew that they were going to be okay.

As he began to settle down, she took the chance and began to speak. “Daryl, Glenn would’ve been out there no matter what... Maggie was sick, so Rick was trying to take her to Hilltop when they got captured. Glenn would’ve been with them if he wasn’t out there looking for you.” She tugged on his hair gently so that he could look at her. “And what if you went after me instead, we probably would’ve gotten captured too, and I would’ve been kneeling right beside you... hell I could’ve been the one that Negan picked.”

“Don’t,” Daryl hissed before burying his face into her neck, unable to even think about something like that. “Please don’t.”

She sighed. “My point is, no matter what you did Daryl, it was Negan that killed Glenn, Negan that forced people into becoming his guards, and it was Negan that gave the order to kill you yesterday.” She kissed his temple. “I don’t know if it was Dwight who shot it, but even if it was, you didn’t pull the trigger... and I’m not sorry for getting in the way.”

“Carol,” he sighed before leaning back and looking at her. “Ya coulda died.”

“You could have too,” she replied. “But I didn’t, and you didn’t either. So I’m glad I took it instead of you, because the outcome was in our favor.” She smiled at him. “Besides, you’ve been shot by your own arrow already, so it was only fair for me to get the chance.”

He sighed, trying to hide the smile that was threatening to break free. “Woulda taken it again if it meant you weren’t in pain.”

“What? And miss the opportunity to get matching scars? Hell no,” she said with a mischievous smirk.

He huffed out a laugh and grazed her cheek with his thumb. Here she was, the most important person in his life, laying in bed with a severe injury as she’s joking around with him like it’s nothing. He didn’t deserve her kindness but she did so anyone, he didn’t deserve her forgiveness but she said there was nothing to forgive. She had always been there for him, letting him vent or even take out his frustrations against her without taking anything personally. She knew how he was feeling before he did, and despite all the shit he’s put her through, especially the last few days, she still greeted him with open arms. He couldn’t hide it any longer, not from her or from himself. 

He was head over heels in love with Carol.

“Daryl?” Carol asked, jolting him out of his thoughts. “You alright?”

He chuckled. “Shouldn’t I be askin’ ya that?”

She smiled. “I’m okay, as long as I don’t move any part of my torso... or breathe.”

He smiled and cupped her cheek, his eyes subconsciously darting between her eyes and her lips. She didn’t let on if she noticed the subtle action, but he felt her heart rate quicken on her neck. 

“Carol?”

“Yeah?”

He let out a shaky breath. “Can I kiss ya?”

She smiled but her brow furrowed. “You don’t have to... I don’t want you to give me a kiss if that’s not-”

“It’s what I want,” he interjected. “I’m sorry I wasn’t... I just... I wasn’t in the right place earlier. I thought that things had to settle down before we could even try this. But we don’t know how much time we got left, and I don’t wanna waste another chance with you.”

She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. “Really?”

He smiled nervously before leaning in and capturing her lips with his. It was a very chaste kiss, and it only last a few seconds before he broke away, but it was enough to send a shiver down his spine. He only parted from her just enough to look into her eyes, and she smiled, rubbing her nose against his. He didn’t think a kiss could be as powerful as that one was, but he wanted more, and he immediately went in and gave her a more passionate kiss. Her moans sent jolts of electricity through his body and his need to be with her suddenly became overwhelming. 

She slowly moved towards her side and he instinctively trailed his fingers over the newly exposed skin around her collarbone. Her skin felt amazing under his hands, that is until they both seemed to notice the lack in clothing on her part and looked down between them in shock, realizing that she had nothing on from the waist up. But when he looked back up at her with wide eyes, she burst into a fit of laughter, her face showing a mix of humor and pain.

“I uhh... umm, sorry,” he stammered, his face turning beet red as he failed to keep his eyes off her chest. 

She giggled and bit her lip. “I didn’t even realize I wasn’t dressed.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Oh well.”

He looked at her in bewilderment. “I don’t know... what do you want me to do?”

She gave him a loving smile and kissed him tenderly. “It’s okay. Do what feels right.”

His confused expression began to change into something of a mix between nervous excitement and lustfulness, and he kissed her again before grazing her collarbone again with his fingers. It wasn’t until a few minutes later of kissing when he finally got the courage to move his hand onto her breast and squeezed it gently. The sounds she was making was driving him crazy, and he quickly learned that her nipples were a very sweet spot for her. He broke the kiss and chuckled when she whimpered at the loss. He looked down and admired her beautiful breasts, watching as she struggled to breathe with the sensations he was giving her. He then ducked down and latch onto a nipple, making her cry out as she struggled to stay still.

But when he flicked it with his tongue a few times in quick succession, her body jerked, and she suddenly pushed away with a hiss, turning herself back onto her stomach. 

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, resting a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s okay,” she replied hoarsely, trying to get through the sudden shot of pain in her back. “Just forgot I had a hole in my body.”

“Guess we need to wait for you to heal before we do anything else,” he said, laughing when she replied to him with a growl. “Ya want me to get the doctor? He can give you more meds.” When she shook her head he sighed. “Hey, if you’re hurtin’ then take ‘em, don’t disregard yourself over others.”

“I know,” she groaned. “But if you get the doctor that means he’ll come in, along with every other person we know, and then I’ll have to answer all these questions and just...” She sighed. “I just want to lay here with you when it’s still quiet for as long as possible... is that okay?”

He gave her a rare grin. “Sounds good to me.”

She smiled and nodded before scooting over a little more so that he could lay his head on her pillow. He caressed her cheek again before giving her a very gentle kiss on the lips again, forcing himself to hold back. But then she turned her face into the pillow and started giggling.

“Wha’s so funny?” 

She peered up at him and bit her lip. “I know this is going to sound like a dumb joke but... I just realized I was shot by cupid’s arrow.” She gestured towards her injury and laughed at his bewildered expression. “What? You kissed me and groped my boobs after I got shot with one of your arrows. It’s the only explanation-”

“Hush,” he growled playfully before covering her face with one hand, laughing at her as she giggled into his palm.