Chapter Text
The first thing Carl's aware of is shooting up in bed like a diver out of a lake. He's gasping and looking around, still trying to process what he's seeing and where he is. Not sensing any threats, his breathing levels out, and his system calms down. Then he realizes he's... home.
Not 'home' as in Alexandria; the house his father was given when they first entered the community, or the church that he remembers laying in, gathering his strength to shoot himself. He's in his house in Georgia. The house he spent all of his childhood memories in, the house he'd lived in for as long as he could remember, before the world ended.
Recalling his last memories before waking up, Carl panics and lifts his shirt currently covering the place where a zombie had bitten him the day before. Nothing. No bite, no scar, no wound at all. In fact, as he looks just slightly further down his ribs, he notes there's no scar from his first gunshot wound either.
It's only as he notices this that he realizes; he can see. Not just from one side. For the first time in almost a year, he can see out of both of his eyes. He jumps up to look in the mirror above his dresser, stunned to see a both familiar and unfamiliar face. It's him... but not as he'd ever seen himself.
He looks the same age as he remembers being. The age he was when he was bitten, and shot himself, in a burnt out church in Alexandria. He figures he's almost 16, but it's not like they'd managed to keep track of a calendar during a war. But inside his teen-aged face is both of his eyes, whole and unhurt.
He's not actually sure how he feels about that; his 'eyepatch' (such as it was) was part of him, and he'd learned to accept it. Not to mention all the other wounds and scars he's now missing, that helped make him who he was. He'd been shot for fuck's sake. Twice. (Technically three times.) Now, looking at this boy in the mirror, he's not sure he recognizes himself after all.
He remembers having a conversation with his dad when they'd first arrived in Alexandria, about becoming soft and stupid. That's how this boy looks to him with his long hair and unscarred body, soft and stupid. Before he can really dwell on it, he hears a quiet scuffling noise from his closet.
Years of survival instinct have him reaching for the weapons he always carries on him only to find himself grasping at air. While he seems to have somehow come here as himself, he appears to have mysteriously lost so much of what he considered the parts that made him... him. He only vaguely notices that he seems to be wearing the same clothes he'd put on after his shower the day he'd been bitten, minus the hat.
Scrambling around, he grabs a baseball bat from the corner of the room and slowly creeps toward his closet. As he hasn't had time to consider more than where he is and that something weird (weirder even than walking dead people) is going on, he's careful as he steps to the door. Breathing deeply, he pauses long enough to brace himself then pulls the door open wide, readying himself to swing.
It takes less than three seconds to drop his bat and reach in to grab his little sister. Judith looks exactly the same as she did last time he saw her and he can't be more thankful that she seems also completely unharmed, if confused by her surroundings. He sits on his bed (after locking his door, just in case someone's around) and quietly questions her on what she remembers.
Judith, being two and a half years old, doesn't speak much. She'd spent most of her life needing to be quiet while hiding. She'd understood the reasoning for that and it has made her a quiet child that barely spoke. It doesn't mean she can't, just doesn't.
Carl quickly figures out that all she remembers is waking up here, in bed with him, not recognizing the room, and being slightly frightened of his healed face. She hadn't been hiding long when he woke up and found her. Relieved that at least one thing has gone right, that his sister was alive and there with him, he gets up and starts pacing the room, trying to figure out what's going on.
Seeing a brand new Playstation 3 sitting in the floor in front of his tv, Carl looks around and spots the console's box shoved behind his hamper. Thinking back, he's almost certain that his mom had taken the box to the attic in case he needed to return it no more than a week after his birthday. Realizing that means it's the week between his 12th birthday and the 4th of July, he starts counting. Best he can figure it, it'll be less than two months before his dad gets shot and not long after, the world ends.
Now the main problem is that his parents are probably asleep and will wake up soon and check on him. The minute one of them sees him... well, he has no idea. But it won't be good. He's assuming that instead of the 12 year old they'd put to bed last night, they'll be met with a teenager and a toddler. Until he has a better idea of what's going on, he needs to leave.
He finds his old backpack and a notebook, trying to think of anything he could leave in a note that would keep them from calling in reinforcements to find him. As he remembers the last months before his dad got shot an idea occurs to him. Knowing he'll hurt his parents but not knowing any other way he scribbles quickly and hopes they don't know his handwriting enough to notice a difference.
Mom and Dad,
Don't worry, I'm fine. I don't want to listen to you guys fighting all day so I'm going to a friend from school's house. His parents work all day so we can hang at his house and play video games. I'll be back by 4. If I'm not, then you can call the cops or whatever. See you in a few hours.
Love you both,
Carl
Hoping that it's enough to keep them from overreacting, Carl puts the note on the bed and goes back to his dresser. All of the clothes are child sized, making him realize just how much he'd grown since the last time he was here. He picks a shirt that could be used as a dress for Judith in a pinch and grabs the rest of a set of clothes, to make it look like he got dressed and snuck out.
After shoving the clothes into the backpack he gathers up any money he has, including the change from the small piggy bank that he'd forgotten he had. Knowing it wouldn't be near enough, he packs up the Playstation 3 as quietly as possible, along with all of his brand new games, and controllers. He's going to need a plan in case his parents decide not to believe him. At least with the box, he'll be able to sell it for more. Making sure the bag won't make too much noise (or damage the box too badly) Carl slings it on and pushes his window up.
After he's through, he leans in with his arms out for Judith. Once she's crawled across the bed to him, and out the window, Carl starts walking away from the house, carrying Judith in his arms. As he walks out of the neighborhood, keeping close to (but out of sight of) the roads, Carl's head is spinning with ideas on what to do, who to go to for help.
But really, he shouldn't even exist, at least not like this. Judith definitely shouldn't. Who would help him? No one is likely to remember anything that happened, and he has no proof. And Jesus... who would believe him? The most likely people are maybe his own parents, because he's obviously himself, but older, but he just can't bring himself to approach them first. He can't imagine that being a fun conversation and he doesn't know how to face their reaction.
He needs an adult to help him figure out what to say and to provide him with help if they just can't believe him. The adults he'd been closest to a few days ago are spread possibly all over the country. Some of them are in Virginia. Most of them have families, kids, spouses, jobs. How is he supposed to approach these people as a complete stranger, with a child in tow, telling a story about time travel and dead people eating everyone?
The only person he can think of that's nearby and doesn't have any of those things... he has no idea how to find. Deciding his best option was to find a computer, Carl turns left when he makes it to the main road and walks down to the library. It's in the opposite direction from where he'd thought he was headed, but he needs an address first.
After walking for half an hour, and being thankful that it was early enough not to be sweltering yet, he makes it to the public library. Noticing it won't be open for another hour, Carl goes into a coffee shop nearby and is just glad to set his sister down. She's small but after the long walk, it was starting to get tiring.
Luckily Judith is used to just accepting weird situations without question. Hell, a random trip to a coffee shop is the most normal thing she's ever done and all she does is stare around wide eyed at the colorful displays and clean tables. She'd never actually been inside a business while it was open and serving people. Carl pulls out the cash he'd managed to bring and winces.
He barely manages to scrape together enough money to buy Judith a breakfast sandwich and a glass of milk, and settles in to watch her eat and plan his day. He pulls his notebook back out and starts making a list of people he thinks he should warn, if he figures out how. Even if all he does is freak those people out, maybe it will make them more vigilant and save their lives. Maybe he can save a few this time.
Next he writes out a plan for everything he'll have to do to find help. First stop is the library to look up information and hopefully find a destination. Then he'll have to walk the almost three miles north to GameStop. He figures if he sits outside with his PS3, eventually he'll talk someone into buying it. Even from a teenager he should find someone that'll want the brand new console for a decent price. With all the games and everything he should be able to get at least a couple hundred dollars for it. Then he'll have to find a car. Luckily he remembers very well how to hotwire a car, it just became common knowledge in the apocalypse. Once he finds a car, he can finally track down some help and then figure out where to go from there.
Carl looks up at Judith who had finished her food at some point and was still looking around with confusion and wonder at the coffee shop. Seeing her fascination at everything, he smiles. At least she's getting to see the world before it all goes to shit. Hopefully he can make enough of a difference that the rest of her life won't look as bleak as the life she'd lived until now.
After knocking loudly on the door, Carl steps back and clings to his sister, hoping he wasn't making a huge mistake. There's a very slight chance that anyone but him and Judith will remember anything about what's going to happen in a few weeks time. He'll know the minute the door is opened just how alone and screwed they are.
He'd found the apartment building first, then parked a few streets over and walked through the woods. Looking around, he's not sure he should have worried. It wouldn't surprise him a bit to find out at least one of the cars surrounding him were stolen, he doubts this is the type of neighborhood anyone reports that kinda thing.
The door swings open and Carl holds his breath while Daryl looks him up and down, raising an eyebrow at the baby in his arms.
“I don't know what you're selling kid, but I'm not interested.” Before he can close the door, Carl holds out his free hand.
“Wait! I need to talk to you. It's really important.”
As Daryl considers him, Judith finally recognizes him and starts to babble loudly, reaching her arms out to the other man. Carl can't really blame her for taking a minute, he'd forgotten just how much Daryl had changed too, since the beginning. His hair was so much lighter and shorter he's not sure he'd have recognized him on the street. Not to mention he'd lost a great deal of hostility in the years since the world had fallen.
But no matter what, Carl had to hope that Daryl was Daryl, and he'd help him. Perhaps realizing that it wasn't smart to have these kids hanging out on his doorstep, Daryl steps back and grunts for them to come in.
He hadn't really thought about what Daryl's place would look like pre-apocalypse but if he had, he guesses it wouldn't have been much different than what he's looking at. A lot of junk, some cheap furniture and a lot of old fast food containers.
Carl stands inside the door, facing Daryl and his mind just blanks. He'd thought of a few ways to approach this, but for the life of him, he can't think of a single one now. He knows he's going to sound crazy, there's just no way around it.
Letting out a huge sigh, Carl just blurts out, “I'm from the future and the world is going to end soon. I know I sound like a nutcase and I'm sorry for laying this at your door but you're literally the only person I could think of to come to and I don't know what to do. I can't start preparing on my own because I'm supposed to be 12 years old and I don't know why I'm not or why Judith came with me but I'm really glad she did, even though I guess technically she shouldn't exist and I'm just really confused and overwhelmed and I don't know what else to do. So please help me.”
Once he stops talking, Carl just stares at Daryl with wide eyes and waits to be thrown out of his house. Instead the older man just stares back at him, eventually responding with,
“What?”
Carl exasperatedly throws his free arm out. “I know, okay?! I know I sound like a crazy person. Trust me, I'm struggling with it too. The last thing I remember before waking up this morning is being in the middle of the apocalypse and shooting myself. Then I wake up and it's years ago, before the bad stuff starts to happen and not only am I the same age as I was when I died, but I have my little sister, who is two, with me. The problem is, we went about three years into the past. None of this should be happening!”
Daryl must notice that screaming is only going to attract attention to the fact that he has a nutjob in his house and the last thing he needs is cops knocking on his door, so he starts to placate the kid. “Alright, calm the hell down. I have no idea what's going on or what you're talking about, but you need to stop freaking out.”
He gestures for them to sit down and starts rubbing the back of his neck, watching as the older kid sits down and holds his sister on his lap.
“What's your name?”
“Carl. Her name is Judith.”
Nodding his head, Daryl starts to pace a little. “Okay, so you claim you're from the future. Just assuming I believe that, and I don't, why me? Why come here?”
Carl smiles. “You're family. Where I'm from, you're basically brothers with my dad. We met shortly after the world fell, and I've been with you ever since.”
Daryl stares at the kid. “You sure you have the right guy? I have a brother, he's an asshole. The last thing I'd want is another one.”
Nodding, Carl looks around. “I know. I thought you'd be with Merle, but he's not around. Is he just out or is he in jail or something?”
“How'd you-”
Daryl barely gets to start to respond before Judith is done waiting. She'd been trying to escape Carl's arms ever since he'd sat down. She'd been wiggling and struggling to get down off his lap and make her way to the older man. Carl had been distracted looked around, and she'd finally managed to break free and run for Daryl.
Not knowing what else to do, Daryl had caught the tiny girl as she'd hurled herself at him. Carl stands up and starts to reach for her again, but finds himself stopping and staring at them as Daryl just casually swings her up on his hip and then stops and stares at her with wide eyes.
Carl watches warily, waiting to see what Daryl will do. It's not that he doesn't trust him, he does. He trusts his Daryl with his life, his sister, everything. He's just not sure this is his Daryl.
Daryl's day had started like any other; wake up, hate everything about his life, and sit around waiting on Merle to get back from his dealer.
When he heard a knock on the door he figured someone was lost. Anyone that came here wouldn't show up before noon, and wouldn't knock that politely anyway.
Instead he'd been bombarded with two kids he'd never seen before and a lot of questions that he figured wouldn't have sensible answers. I mean, the kid had said he was from the future for God's sake. What the hell was he supposed to do? Call his parents? Have him committed?
When the kid (he'd said his name was Carl.) had asked about Merle, Daryl was floored. Okay, so not the wrong house, but how had he known about Merle, when he'd been gone since last night?
As he'd started to ask that very question, the little girl had broke free from her brother and came running toward him. With no other choice, and not really seeing the harm in it, he'd picked up the apparently two year old 'time traveler'.
The second his hands touched her sides, he remembered. His memories didn't slam into him all at once, or make him pass out, he'd just suddenly.... known. It was like hearing a favorite song for the first time since childhood. He didn't know he knew it, but he did. All it had taken was holding Judith and he'd remembered everything that hadn't happened yet.
He remembered the reports on the news of people attacking other people, the rumors that had spread, how quickly it had gone wrong after that. He remembered everything right up until he was walking through the woods, holding this same little girl and silently crying because he knew somewhere behind him, his nephew was dying.
Now that nephew was standing in front of him, completely whole, watching him warily. His voice breaking, Daryl says, “Carl.” and grabs him in a one armed hug, his other still holding Judith.
It takes a few seconds for Carl to get it, but eventually he wraps his arms around him. “Y- you remember?! How? How do you remember now?! You didn't two seconds ago!”
A few minutes of hugging and crying later, Carl is pulling away and asking again, “How do you remember? You didn't when we got here.”
Wiping his face with his now freed hand, Daryl shrugs. “I don't know, I've never dealt with time travel before. All I know is when I picked up the Lil' Ass Kicker, I remembered.”
“How much do you remember? I remember dying. I shot myself so Dad wouldn't have to.”
Daryl sits, still holding Judith on his lap and tries to calm down while responding, “Everything. Probably more than you, since I wasn't a kid the first time. The last thing I remember was trying to get Judy and the rest of the group to Hilltop after you...” He suddenly cuts off and shakes his head. Clearly his fresh memories are still overwhelming him and he chooses to stop thinking about his last moments. Carl and Judith are both here. The apocalypse hasn't started, dead people are still dead and the living are still living. That's enough for now.
He glances at the clock. “I'm assuming you didn't want to tell Rick and Lori since you ain't 12, and even they're bound to notice. Should I be worried about the police department knocking down my door? How did you even get here?”
Carl shrugs. “I left a note and slipped out this morning. I sold my PS3 for $200 and stole a car from a parking lot near GameStop. There weren't any cameras and I parked it a few streets down from here. I don't think anyone's gonna miss it much. We can drop it off somewhere downtown if you have a car, I just needed to get here.”
Shaking his head, Daryl bounces Judith and considers their next move. “Well, I'm glad you made it, and I got my memories, somehow. Now we just need to decide what's next. I'm assuming you need to get home soon or your parents will call the cops. But first, we gotta figure out how to handle Merle.”
“Well, what do you want to do? He's your brother, so it's really your choice. We could probably just leave and he wouldn't find you. I'm assuming he'd have no reason to look for you in a cop's house.” Carl says this wryly, and it shows Daryl just how much Carl remembers about the early days. Merle had been (and currently was) addicted to meth and apparently Carl knew enough about it to know going to Rick would definitely hide him. But if he had a choice...
Daryl ducks his head and leans it against Judith. “If possible, I'd like to make him remember. If he remembered how it ended for him, and he had a chance, I'd like to think he'd make better decisions. If not, well... it's not like he lasted that long. We could go to anywhere after he died and he wouldn't be able to find us. Maybe even just go to Alexandria. No one lives there yet, they're still building the place.”
Shrugging, they both realize they don't care where they go. Just who goes with them. As long as they can reform their family, and hopefully save more of them this time, they don't really care where they live. They just need to prepare. They never found out what caused the outbreak last time, so they can't know when or how it'll start. They just have to assume that it will, and around the same time. If it doesn't, well that'll be a problem for them in the future.
Carl and Daryl go around the living room and clean up or throw away anything that could harm Judith so she can sit on the floor and play with the Pokemon plushie that Carl had bought for her before stealing a car.
They're still sitting and making plans, keeping an eye on Judith until they hear the footsteps stomping up to the door. Carl quickly scoops up the toddler and runs into the bathroom, as they had decided that it would be better to determine how fucked up Merle is before introducing a small child into the mess.
Daryl is slightly relieved when Merle comes in the door frowning and stomping. He was only really pissed off when he was sober, or at least mostly sober. If he were truly messed up he would be smiling and barely able to walk.
He keeps quiet and waits until his older brother flops down onto the couch before he decides to just jump in. “So, no luck scoring?”
Merle sneers and starts to make a taunting remark when the bathroom door opens. Carl steps out, holding Judith. The baby girl just clutches her Pikachu and watches Merle stare at them confusedly.
“Uh... why the hell'r there kids in the damn apartment?”
Daryl sighs and steps between them. “It's a long story, which you wouldn't believe if I told you. I have no idea how to explain this, so I'm just gonna ask you to either pick her up or touch her shoulder or something.”
Looking at his brother like he's crazy, Merle scoffs. “I'm not touching that girl. She's not mine, I don't care what no bitch said. I've never seen either one of those brats.”
“No shit she's not yours. She's my sister. You just need to like... touch her arm.” Carl doesn't exactly hold fond memories of Merle, not that he'd really been around for his worst either, but it's Daryl's brother. That makes him family. Hopefully. The only reason he's not freaking out more is because Daryl had promised that after their childhood, neither he or Merle would ever actually hurt a child.
Merle gets to his feet, pointing at them, “I'm not going anywhere near her. I have no idea what you guys are doing, or who you are, but I'm not gonna touch some random little girl and end up arrested for god knows what.”
Pretty thoroughly done for the day, even with it barely after noon, Daryl reaches out for Judith. She goes into his hands easily enough (which stuns Merle) and within seconds, Daryl is stepping close to his brother and holding her out to him. Despite his cursing and flailing arms as he tries to lean back and away from her, she makes contact with his chest and Merle immediately falls back onto the couch, staring up at them.
Daryl settles Judith in his arms and steps back, watching his brother to see if just touching her would make Merle remember too. He and Carl had talked about it, and it kind of made sense that the only way to remember a time that hadn't happened was to touch the baby that should really only exist in that time. But the only way to test that theory was to... test the theory.
Carl remembering could be because this all seems to somehow tie in with his death, or because when he asked Judith, she said she'd woken up on top of him. They didn't know, all they knew was with Daryl, it had taken him touching Judith to regain his memories.
Eventually, Merle stops staring at them and looks to the ground. “What the ever loving shit is going on? I could have sworn I didn't get anything.”
Daryl scoffs, “You're not high, you moron. You probably just suddenly remember the future. What's the last thing you remember?”
“I was fighting the Governor. I lost. I'm pretty sure the son of a bitch shot me.” Merle looks back and forth between his brother and what he remembers should be a little kid. “What happened? How did we get back here? Why am I only remembering now?”
“He did shoot you. We don't know why we got sent back, only that my little sister and I did, and remembered it right away this morning. I came to Daryl for help because I don't know how to handle my parents and I didn't even know if anyone else would remember. The only way we've found to force the memories is to touch Judith. Maybe since she's not supposed to be here, she's a link to the future or something.” Carl shrugs again.
Merle nods. He's read books with dumber plots, so sure. Why not. He literally remembers dead people walking around eating people, why not time travel? He turns to his brother, who is still watching him warily.
“What's your fuckin' problem? And why are you holding the kid? How much longer did you live?” Merle remembers now what he'd never known before, Daryl had been beaten by their father. He'd always assumed that when he'd left, his dad had just lost his punching bag. He didn't think he'd turn to hitting Daryl or he'd have killed the motherfucker before he'd have left his baby brother there. Finding out he'd died to try to save his brother makes him feel a little better, but if Daryl had died soon after, it was pointless.
Daryl speaks in a monotone voice, face blank. “I was still alive when Carl died, which is when our memories end. It was years later. We killed the Governor. I... I found you, shortly after he shot you in the chest. I put you down.”
Noticing that his brother is clenching his hands on the little girl, he decides not to ask how that went, and just nods. Merle instead waves his hand (and he's suddenly very glad it's not gonna get left behind on a rooftop in Atlanta) at the two of them. “Okay, now what? We got a place to go, or what?”
Raising an eyebrow at him, Daryl questions, “What, you're not gonna demand to be in charge or start acting like an asshole that knows better than everyone else?”
Merle jerks up off the couch and gets in Daryl's face. “Look, man. I've just been saddled with a shit ton of memories of the world ending and I have a lot of choices to make. The last fuckin' thing I need right now is the only family I got being an asshole for shit I ain't done yet. If you've got a fuckin' plan, lets hear it.”
Instead of being pissed off or upset at Merle's response, Daryl and Carl grin at each other. Daryl claps his hand on his brother's shoulder. “Yep. Now we have to go tell Officer Friendly.”
As Merle starts cussing again, Daryl hands Judith back to Carl and goes to look for a duffle bag or something. They need to pack what they need and get the kids home in the next couple hours. He really doesn't want to try to explain their situation to the entire King's County Sheriff Department.