Febuwhumpday10 - Tumblr Posts

Don't Stop Believin'

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Febuwhump Prompt - "How Long Has It Been?"

Prompt - ‘Don't you stop believin', once you do there ain't any damn hope for the rest of us.’

The night seemed to pass in silence and by morning it was no better, though what could anybody say? People had died, good people had died. Your gaze shifted over to Andrea who had yet to move from Amy’s body before you turned to look at Daryl, wincing as he brought a pickaxe down on another walker’s skull.

You heard the group talking, worried for the woman, and watched as the new guy, Rick, walked over to her, speaking gently only to have a gun pointed to his head.

“Hell,” You heard Daryl say as they continued discussing what to do, “I’ll take the shot from here.”

You rolled your eyes as you stood up, the statement was met with angry outbursts as expected.

“C’mon,” you said to him, grabbing his upper arm and pushing him away from the small group that was gathered only for him to shake you off with a glare as he marched over to Glenn, picking the axe up again only for a teary-eyed Glenn to start shouting at him about where the dead went.

You went to follow him but were stopped as a hand grabbed your arm. You felt your eyebrows pull together as you looked from it and up to Shane who shook his head at you. You glared at him before looking back to Daryl and pulling your arm out of Shane’s hold with a grunt, turning away from both men.

It wasn’t long before the arguing started up again, you glancing over when you heard Daryl shout.

“Y’all left my brother for dead, you had this comin’.” He told them.

“Hey,” You started but were cut off by Jacqui’s yell, all of you looking at her, eyes widening when she told you Jim had been bit. T-dog stepped forward, grabbing the man in his arms as Daryl lifted his shirt and upon seeing the bite he took moved over to you, gently pushing you back as he placed himself between you and Jim.

“I say we put him out of his damn misery right now,” Daryl said as the group argued over what to do next.

“You’d want that, would you?” Shane asked with a scoff.

“Yeah, and I’d thank you for it.” Daryl shot back, taking a step closer to Shane.

“I hate to say it, but Daryl’s right-” Dale began but Daryl cut him off.

“Thank you, someone with some damn sense.” He said before he launched himself at Jim, pickaxe swung and ready to kill but he was stopped when a gun was aimed to his head causing you to take a step forward.

“We don’t kill the living.” Rick said, causing you and Daryl to let out a joint scoff.

“He says with a gun to a man's head.” You said, watching as Rick turned to glare at you.

“Get him out of here.” He said to you, and you rolled your eyes at the man before you grabbed Daryl’s arm and pulled him away.

“You need t’calm down,” You told him as you pulled him away from everyone, watching as he looked at you in disbelief, “I know you’re pissed as hell for Merle, you have every right to be but now isn’t the time.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Daryl said with an eye roll as he swung the pickaxe down on another walker.

Eventually the group decided to head into the city and towards the CDC on nothing but a theory. The next morning you were all packed up, shoving your bag in the bed of the truck next to Daryl’s bike, the two of you leaning against it as the rest of the group said their goodbyes to the family who decided Birmingham was a better option, you couldn’t say you blamed them either. This CDC business didn’t seem like a sure thing, hell even Shane hadn’t been sold on it, but Daryl was going and that was good enough for you.

Shane gave the group a nod before he told them they should get moving. You climbed into the car with Daryl, glad it was just the two of you as you’d had enough of the constant arguing between the group.

You glanced over at Daryl as he drove, staring straight ahead and chewing on his thumb. You knew he was worried about Merle and hated that you had no words to say to him for the first time since he’d saved you.

Daryl had been out hunting alone one day and came across you, alone and tired and about to be bitten by a group of walkers. You only had a knife and couldn’t deal with them all, so with an eye roll Daryl lifted his crossbow and took them out easily leaving you panting and looking up at him with wide eyes.

From that moment on you’d become Daryl’s own shadow, a permanent fixture in his life, worming your way in without his permission. And it was without his permission because that man had put up every wall, snarled and snapped at you, tried to put as much distance as he could between the two of you, but you were nothing if not persistent and somehow Daryl found himself accepting that you were there to stay, accepting and finding that he didn’t mind.

Merle had found it hilarious, this girl who in the other world wouldn’t have given somebody like Daryl Dixon another glance was hanging around him like he was fucking Brad Pitt or whoever it was these days.

You couldn’t help but smile as you remembered Merle’s words, remember the slight pinkness that spread across Daryl’s cheeks as he shoved his brother's hands off of him with a grumbled ‘shut up’.

“What you smilin’ at?” He asked as he glanced over at you.

“The day we met.” You told him, watching as he looked away from the road and at you with a scoff.

“The day you nearly died, ya mean?”

“I had it under control.” Was the rehearsed response he expected, you’d been saying it since that day even though the pair of you knew it wasn’t true, without Daryl you would never have lasted this long.

“Sure ya did,” He chuckled, turning back to the road.

You turned in your seat, bringing your legs up to cross them together as you faced Daryl. He glanced at you questioningly but you stayed silent for a few moments.

“I’m really sorry about Merle.” You told him quietly, looking away from him and down to your hands, fiddling with your fingers.

“Don’t be,” Daryl said, tone hardening before he shook his head, “He’s a tough sonofabitch, he’ll be alright wherever he is.”

“We’ll find him,” You promised him, laughing softly at the doubtful look he shot at you.

It took a little over four hours before you arrived at the CDC, climbing out of the truck and scrunching your nose up at the smell of the dead. You walked over to the pavement, sticking with Daryl with your knife raised.

As you walked closer to the building the smell became worse, everyone coughing and you gagged, smiling gratefully as you took the red bandana from Daryl and held it to your nose, choosing to breathe in Daryl’s scent over this any day.

You watched, feeling any bit of hope you had leave you, as Rick banged desperately against the shutters, begging to be let into no avail.

“We gotta go, now.” Daryl said, turning around and grabbing your arm as he pulled you back in the direction of the vehicles.

“He’s right,” Lori said, “Rick, we can’t be in the city at dark.”

“The camera moved.” He said before he went back to banging at the shutters, Shane grabbing him around the neck and pulling him away, but you all froze as the shutters lifted and the door opened.

You let out a huff of disbelief, looking up at Daryl who raised an eyebrow down at you.

It wasn’t long before you were all sitting around a table, actual food and alcohol spread out before you. Daryl sat next to you, happily sharing a bottle between the two of you as everybody laughed and talked.

After getting some food, Jenner showed you all down to where you could sleep and shower causing you to all laugh in relief. Everybody went their separate ways, Daryl followed you and the two of you paused outside of one of the rooms.

You both turned to face each other, words on the tip of your tongues but nothing coming out.

“Together?” You managed to ask because something about sharing a room was different to sleeping close together outside.

“Together.” Daryl murmured and opened the door, holding it open for you to enter.

You laughed loudly as you flopped down onto the sofa, letting your eyes fall closed as you savoured the soft feeling underneath you, missing the way Daryl’s lips turned upwards as he watched you from the door before he shook his head.

“You want to shower first?” You asked as you sat up, gesturing towards the bathroom.

“S’all yours.” He told you softly.

That night you tried to offer the sofa to Daryl but he was adamant about sleeping on the floor, blanket bundled around him as he lay in your eye line.

“You think there’s a cure here?” You mumbled tiredly, the hot shower and alcohol running through your system were doing their best to make you sleepy.

Daryl scoffed into the darkness; arm flung over his eyes as he thought about your question.

“Nah, I don’t.” He told you, just as quietly as you had spoken.

“Me neither.” You admitted causing him to open an eye and squint over at you, out of the two of you, you were the hopeful one, the one with wonder and belief in a better future.

“Don’t you stop believin’,” He mumbled, and you barely caught the words but managed to make them out, a smile spreading across your face, “You stop believin’, ain’t no damn hope for the rest of us.”

“How long has it been?” You asked him quietly, “since you gave up on a cure?”

“Hell if I remember, Y/N/N, I knew the world had gone to shit long before damn walkers started roaming ‘round.” He told you honestly, practically feeling the frown he couldn’t see through the dark and for some reason he wanted to say something else, something to make you happy. “Then I met this dumbass who nearly got herself killed in the woods, damn walkers tryna take chunks outta her. The same dumbass got me believin’ that there must be somethin’ good left in this damn world.”

“I had it under control.” You told him after a few moments had passed, voice soft and a smile clear in it.

“Nah, you didn’t,” Daryl told you with a chuckle, “don’t matter though, I’ll deal with them all, gotta make sure you stay alive.”

“I’m terrified,” you confessed quietly, “of walkers, of there never being a cure, of what’s to come but there’s this part of me that’s glad for the damn end of the world because I wouldn’t have met you otherwise.” You told him with a laugh, letting your hand dangle off the edge of the sofa, stretching in Daryl’s direction.

You fell asleep that night with a smile and a warm feeling in your stomach that had nothing to do with the alcohol in your system and everything to do with the hand in yours.

Good things never lasted though and that warm, happy feeling was replaced with sickness and dread as you stared at the screen showing how the disease infected the brain, watched how the brain stems became active again though the human part remained dead. You felt your eyes tear up as you struggled for breath, looking over to Daryl who looked as unnerved as you felt.

“You’re not listening to him,” Andrea said, back against the worktable, “There’s nothing anywhere, no scientists, no cure…nothing.”

Her words sent ice through your veins, turning your blood cold as anxiety turned you sick and you struggled to hold back tears as you stared at the screen, watching as the walker was put down.

“Man, I’m gonna get shit faced again.” Daryl said into the silence causing you to let out a startled and slightly manic laugh.

“Count me in.” You said and followed him out of the room.

The two of you sat together on the sofa, the room sombre as you passed a bottle back and forth between you.

You didn’t know how long you sat there before an alarm sounded and the lights went off for a moment before the emergency power set in. You turned to Daryl with wide, scared eyes and he hated it. He hated that you always turned to him because he didn’t have an answer, all he knew was he had to get you out of there.

“We’re gettin’ out of here now.” Rick shared the sentiment it seemed and you all made your way down to the computer room, seeing Jenner sat there.

“What’s happenin’, doc?” Daryl yelled just before the door shut, sealing you all in the room.

Your eyes widened in panic as you looked from the door to Jenner and then to Daryl.

“You sonofabitch!” He snarled, lunging for the doctor. Rick barely caught the man before he got there and shoved him over to you, you catching him by the arm and digging your nails into his skin in fear.

“Jenner, open the door.” Rick demanded.

You listened with dread as Jenner explained exactly what the CDC was, just how many secrets it held, how many dangerous things that were contained within the walls.

“V.I, what’s H.I.T.S?” Rick asked and you let out a shuddering breath as she explained it, closing your eyes as tears escaped them.

“High-Impulse Thermobaric fuel-air explosives consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000° and 6,000° and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired.” The voice explained.

You choked on a sob as you turned into Daryl’s chest, the man tensing for a moment before he wrapped his arms around you.

“It sets the air on fire, no pain, no grief, just…nothing.” Jenner said and you felt Daryl tighten his grip on you.

“Open the damn door.” He said, his voice scarily calm.

“It’s better this way.” Jenner told you and you felt Daryl let go of you and picked the pickaxe up before making his way over to the door and began trying to break it open.

“It won’t work,” Jenner told him, voice devoid of emotions, “that door is designed to withstand a rocket launcher.”

You watched as Daryl flew down over to Jenner, pickaxe raised to swing down on him.

“Yeah, well your damn head ain’t.” He snarled but was, once again, held back and dragged away from the man.

“This is our extinction event.” The scientist said and your nose flared as you tried to keep the tears at bay but his words turned your blood cold.

You jumped, stepping closer to Daryl as Shane started shooting computers, sparks flying from them as Rick wrestled the gun off of him.

“You done?” He asked and Shane looked up at him in defeat.

“Guess we all are.” He said coldly.

Jenner started talking about test subject 19, his wife and you almost, almost, smiled as Daryl rolled his eyes before he picked up the pickaxe again and made his way over to the indestructible door and began hitting it.

You followed him over, taking a seat on the railings as you watched him.

“Daryl,” You called softly, and he paused for a second to look over at you,

“Could help, ya know.” He mumbled as he turned back to the door.

“Took us dying for you to let me use the pickaxe?” You asked, finding it wasn’t as hard as it should be to smile.

Daryl went to reply but before he could the door opened and relief flooded your system. Daryl grabbed your hand tightly, pulling you off the railing and out of the door, not sparing a glance back.

“Yeah, it did,” Daryl said, causing you to look at him questioningly before he tossed a pickaxe over at you. “Get ‘em open.” He gestured towards the windows.

You barely caught the axe but did as he said, running over to the windows and trying to smash them.

“Who throws a pickaxe at somebody?” You asked with a grunt, fear taking over as they didn’t crack under the pressure.

Pretty quickly the others joined you and Daryl trying to get out of the building, smashing anything they could find at the windows, firing bullets at it and finally Carol pulled a grenade out of her bag causing everybody's eyes to widen.

Daryl grabbed you and practically threw you onto the floor seconds before Rick set the grenade off, you all watching in relief as the windows shattered and quickly ran over to the truck, climbing in and looking over at Daryl.

“Holy shit.” Was all you could manage causing him to chuckle breathlessly as the two of you watched Dale and Andrea stumble out of the building.

“Get down,” Daryl yelled, and you did as he said just as the building exploded, watching in horror as the fire engulfed it and realising how close you were to being in that.

Daryl panted next to you, eyes darting over to you to assure himself that you were here, you were fine, you were alive.

He’d gotten you out, he’d gotten you out and you were safe.

__________

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Febuwhump Day 10: Difficulty Breathing

Fandom: Star Wars

Timeline: The Bad Batch

Warnings: Attempted murder and drowning

The sea of Kamino could be  beautiful. When it wasn't storming the sky's blue could compliment the sea very well. The storms however were common, making seeing the wonder of Kamino rare.

    It was a rather windy day. The sky was mostly clear with a possibility of rain in the later part of the day. Currently it was late morning; around 9:00. Tech liked watching the water. Today the waters were rough and choppy.

    Tech paid no attention to the regs that whispered behind him; he had no reason to. He walked closer and closer to the edge of the platform. The regs followed.

    Crosshair had a bad feeling. The rest of his brothers sat inside their barracks with him. Hunter was listening to the regs. He didn't think anything of it. The regs were mostly all talk. The man simply continued laying on the floor. Wrecker and Echo told each other stories and Crosshair cleaned his rifle.

    The regs inched closer to Tech. "Do you need something?" Tech turned around to face them. The clone closest to Tech smirked. "Can I help you?" Tech asked again.

    "Na I'm good." The clone answered. Tech recognized the trooper as Kitty.

    "Then why are you here?"

    "For this." With that Kitty pushed Tech over the edge. It didn't take long for him to hit the water. Had this been the normal platforms the soldier would have died on impact. This one was closer to the sea. He chose this platform because it made it easier to see the water.

    Hunter heard his brother's scream and sat up. He had left the barracks not to long ago simply to take a walk. The clone broke out into a sprint, raising his arm to contact Crosshair. "Cross get your rifle and meet me outside, one of the regs pushed Tech into the sea."

    "Understood." Crosshair answered immediately.

    The water was cold. Really cold. Tech's mind was both full and empty as he struggled to fight against the waves. His body was submerged in the water. He'd pull his head above the liquid only for the it to grab him again.

    Water entered his lungs making it difficult to breathe. Fighting in the fight of water vs man, water was winning and quickly.

    He felt like his life was flashing before his eyes. Tech felt helpless. With the lack of oxygen and the physical properties of trying to survive, Tech started to feel tired. He had to survive this; for his family, for himself, for the knowledge he hadn't learned yet, and for the people he was yet to help.

    Hunter ran out to the platform. He found the regs laughing, watching his younger brother drown. "Crosshair where are you?" Hunter's voice was laced with panic.

    "I'm almost there." Not even 30 seconds later Crosshair ran to meet Hunter.

    "Stay back" Hunter hissed at the regs. He'd watch them as Crosshair scanned the sea for Tech.

    He couldn't fight much longer. His body was exhausted and his lungs overworked. He seemed to both accept the fate that he thought was laid in front of him and not. He was both angry and eerily calm.

    Crosshair found Tech. He aimed and took his shot. The grappling hook grabbed him harshly and started to pull him up. Tech wasn't sure what was really going on until he saw Crosshair. Then he knew he was safe.

    The struggle was not over yet as Tech fought to breathe. His lungs had been working as hard as they could. He coughed, water coming up and out of his mouth. Even when the water was gone Tech breathed heavily.

   Air rapidly moved in and out of his lungs. The clone felt as if he couldn't breathe. It frustrated and scared him. Tech could barely hear Hunter calmly telling him to breathe.

    Hunter looked over Tech. The regs had abandoned the platform quickly after Hunter and Crosshair had arrived.

    Eventually Tech could breathe normally again. He hadn't moved from his place against the metal. Finally he noted how cold he felt. The wind only and this feeling worse. Standing Tech looked over to his brothers and thanked them.

    "I love you two. I may not stay that often or do much to reinforce this statement but I do." Tech stumbled closer to them.

    "I love you too Tech." Hunter put his arm under the others and helped him walk.

    "Love you" Crosshair grumbled.

    When the other members of the batch met up with the three Tech would repeat the same sentiment to them.

    "Awww love you too buddy!" Wrecker yelled. He went in for a hug but decided it would wait until Tech felt better.

    "Love you too Tech." Echo smiled and laid his hand on Tech's shoulder.

    For the first time Tech really thought about how lucky he was to end up with the four of them. Though it was sometimes hard to remember he tried to keep the thought of how lucky he was to be living and breathing with him.

@febuwhump prompt: killing in self defense

TW: attempted non-consensual sexual activity

***

It had been easier than she'd expected.

Well... sort of.

Scrambling over refuse strewn across a darkened alley, kicking forcefully at the bigger stronger brutal stranger trying to subdue her by sheer domination, clawing for any sort of object that could serve as a weapon... that was difficult.

Terror had locked her throat up so she couldn't scream for help. She was practically hyperventilating which wasn't doing her focus any favors. Her blood was pumping in her ears so loudly she couldn't hear the swearing of the man she kept smashing with her heels.

Her knees were scraped. Various gross-smelly wet things had smeared against her exposed skin and her formerly clean clothing alike. There were sure to be bruises on her knuckles from how much power she'd been putting into her punches before the stranger had managed to trap her in this dead-end alleyway.

She could taste blood in her mouth from the backhand he'd given her. That casual slap had sent her sprawling but had given her a brief bit of space from her attacker. It had offered her a false escape, letting her lash out with her powerful legs from a position on the ground where he'd probably intended her to lay insensate and unable to move his bulk aside once he'd descended upon her.

Fortunately she had a thick skull or something because she hadn't been knocked completely silly and she'd been able to put her all into her attempts to defeat him or at least distract him with pain to the point where she could slip by and run out of the alley.

One of his beefy hands managed to secure her left ankle in a vice-like grip and he yanked her backwards so hard that she belly-flopped onto the concrete and smacked her chin with enough force to see stars. He took advantage of her disarray to wrestle her onto her back and pressed his full body weight down against her, covering her hips and her belly and her chest.

His face was above hers - too high for her to attempt to headbutt him - and his leer was something out of a nightmare. There was too much delight in his sky blue eyes... too much lust... he was getting off on the fight she was putting up as much as anything else. Nausea roiled in her stomach and she hoped she might be violently ill with enough propulsion to coat his face in bile and the scraps she'd managed to swindle earlier from the open market.

Her heels drummed on the pavement uselessly and her arms, free at her sides while he concentrated on holding down her body, beat weakly at his shoulders and ribs. He was grinning, a rictus smile dripping with confidence in the inevitable outcome of their altercation. And she kept landing feeble punches that seemed only powerful enough to tickle him.

It was infuriating.

And then her right hand swept over something cold and hard.

There was no time for thought. Familiarity shot through her arm like she'd struck something against her funny bone. Her left hand continued to strike him while her right hand traced muscle-memory movements along the shaft of the lethal device she'd discovered.

And then the safety was off and the gun was pulled free of the holster and the bullet - point blank through his side just beneath his ribcage on that side - was tearing into his innards on a mission of vengenance.

And then he was slumping over her, still too-fucking heavy for her to easily pull free, and hot blood was pouring out of the entry wound and coating her in stickiness that would never wash out of these clothes.

Gradually her heartbeat began to slow down to normal. Her breathing, still labored due to his bulk spread across the majority of her body, became calm. Disgust and frustration at the situation warred within her even as she realized she was safe.

Panic set in again. The unexpected panic of having survived intact. The desperate panic that would help her slip out from beneath this corpse.

Seconds or minutes or hours later, she found herself on her hands and knees with the gun still gripped tightly. The nausea returned and she made sure to vomit all over the asshole. It was a move she only mildly regretted later, once she had truly regained control of herself, and decided to pick through his pockets for anything else of value.

It was the first time she had had to take someone else's life.

She wasn't entirely sure what the rules on murder were in this dystopian future world but surely killing in self defense was still something that wouldn't land her in prison.

Best not to find out though.

She took the rings off his limp fingers, the watch with the broken face, the wallet and the keys and the comm. She took everything he had and, almost as an afterthought, yanked his pants down to his ankles before picking up a piece of wood from a busted up entertainment center near the dumpster in the furthest corner of the alley. Whacking his calves and thighs and ass with the board over and over and over was a form of stress release. With any luck it would also give the impression that he'd been the victim in this instance. If police thought he'd been accosted by one or more people, beaten savagely and then robbed blind, well... that meant they wouldn't be looking for some nearly-raped woman.

Satisfied at last with her work and worried about lingering too long at the scene of the crime, Faye took his jacket to cover the blood coated shirt she wore and fled into the night.