Hello my wonderful readers and reviewers! So, here we are, a very short one-shot concerning the new episode released tonight. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT OR DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AND DON'T WANT IT TO BE SPOILED STOP READING! REPEAT! LOUD AND CLEAR! IF YOU DON'T WANT TONIGHT'S EPISODE SPOILED, STOP READING! Otherwise, enjoy. This was a self-imposed challenge fic I did myself- describe what happened in the beginning of the episode in 1 page. I took inspiration from the song 'Burn' by VersaEmerge, and I highly suggest you listen to it while you read, but if not, I shall post the lyrics for you, cause they're awesome. And don't worry! I am working on the next chapter of Wildflower, I just HAD to write something for tonight's episode. Enjoy guys, and as always, reviews are beautiful things.

Hey, it's not that things have changed

It's all just so the same

I'm losing it all over again

And this rock that spins so slow

So self-destructive when I'm alone

It's so hard for you to let me go.

Let me go.

And I'm just so stubborn, Burn, Burn, Burn

And I'll never learn, learn, learn,

And you're so concerned

That I won't return, turn, turn, turn

And I've done this before

And I'm ready for more

And I'm just so stubborn, Burn, burn, burn

And I'll never learn, learn, learn, learn

Hey, I argue with myself more than anyone else

Even though it hurts like hell, oh well

I'm not trying to start a war

Not the one that you're looking for

It's so hard for you to let me go

Let me go

And I'm just so stubborn, Burn, Burn, Burn

And I'll never learn, learn, learn,

And you're so concerned

That I won't return, turn, turn, turn

And I've done this before

And I'm ready for more

And I'm just so stubborn, Burn, burn, burn

And I'll never learn, learn, learn, learn

Oh I'm sorry...

I'm not sorry...

Oh I'm sorry...

I'm not sorry...

And I'm just so stubborn, Burn, Burn, Burn

And I'll never learn, learn, learn,

And you're so concerned

That I won't return, turn, turn, turn

And I've done this before

And I'm ready for more

And I'm just so stubborn, Burn, burn, burn

And I'll never learn, learn, learn, learn

It all happened so fast, it was a visceral, twisting thing, like something out of his nightmares come to life. The familiar hand and foot and pain punching through him as his body hit the dirt, his brother's foot striking him in the gut, sending him to the ground. He could taste the dust and the bile as he choked, struggling to breathe. Damn his brother had a mean roundhouse…

He can hear the crowd screaming for their blood. Its so loud but it riles him all the same; shut the fuck up is all he can think. Shut up and let him sort through exactly what's happening here. He's never been the best at thinking on his feet and right now he doesn't care, cause he's on his knees anyway.

Another blow, straight to the chest. Merle kicks him to his back and his eyes stare up at the inky black sky. There's no stars tonight, either drowned out by the eerie glow of the lanterns in the arena, or the night is just pitiless and black. His whole life has been like the starless night sky. Except for recently…there's been light. A kind of faint glimmer, a tiny glistening diamond that he had no idea he cared so much about until he saw her face to face. He hadn't felt a spark like that since he'd risked his life for a doll in a ravine almost a year ago. It was enough to really undo a man's knot, the one he twists into the end of his rope so he's got something to hold onto at the end of it all.

When the fighting is over the pain has stopped except for lingering throbs from his brother's blows but he can't be bothered to care. The world is starting to shake. Violently rattling itself to bits as Rick refuses to allow Merle into the fold. Inside Daryl is begging for the man to understand. Please. Don't make me choose. Not this. You won't like what happens. Don't do this do yourself, to the group. To me.

He'll never say it out loud of course. He can't. But it burns. It burns so much. He grabs his stuff from the car and slings it over his shoulder, and looks Rick in the eye. One last chance, but Rick won't bend. He won't let go of his fear. He can't. Daryl sees the resolution on his friend's face and something inside him jerks hard. Jerks the same way it did when he failed to save a little girl from a world full of walking monsters. But it doesn't just jerk. Something in him rips completely free from his skeleton and courses through his blood, burning like the fierce Georgia sun that hounds them no matter how far they run. He hates it. For a split second he hates Rick. Hates him and his fear and his stubbornness and his inability to give just a little bit more. Does he really think Daryl will allow his brother to cause trouble for the group? He'd never let that happen. Ever. But Rick will not bend, and neither will he. Merle, for everything he is, and everything he isn't, is his flesh and blood. The pain and the insults and the strikes don't matter now. They've been apart for almost a year, and the odds decrease every day that they will ever find each other alive again. He won't let it happen.

He tells Rick to take care of the group, of Carl, of the little ass kicker whose name he knows but refuses to say. He doesn't wish the man ill. He could never. Rick is a good man, but just like in himself, something in him is ripped. Torn. Burned. Unable to be fixed. They all have their vices, and as Daryl walks into the trees towards his brother, he forgives the man who cut him so deeply. A testament to how far he's come since last year when he could have killed him in a fit of rage on a Georgia rooftop.

But its not enough to change what's happened. He walks away with Merle, and Rick is left standing on the side of the road, without the only man he could truly count on to do what had to be done. Daryl wonders if he will regret his choices; he can't decide about his own.