Summary: After a major attack on the one the prison, our favorite group of survivors find themselves awakening almost nine years in the past, back when it all began.

AU: The never left the prison; Set eight years after first attack by the governor

Warnings: Mentions of Torture; M/M; Time-Travel; Death; Nice-r! Merle; Mentions of human experimentation; Violence;

Chapter One: Days go by

The attack came just after sun down.

No one had been expecting it, yet they were all prepared for it. As soon as the first rumble shook the prison they ran out ready to defend their home.

Shots rang out all around them, the loud boom of the tank firing on the prison filling their ears. Carl felt his heart speed up, pounding a rapid tattoo in his chest as Daryl ran up to him dragging Judith behind him. The archer shoved the seven year old girl into his arms as gently as he could, his grey-blue eyes dark.

"Take 'er. Get 'er outta here."

The twenty one year old shook his head.

"What about you?"

Daryl shook his head sadly, one hand going to a bleeding gunshot wound in his abdomen.

"Been shot. Ain't gonna make it. Find Carol or Michonne an' get out. I'm gonna distract 'em so y'all can get out."

Carl swallowed, forcing back tears as he realized that the man that had been his 'mother' for over eight years wouldn't make it and not because of that stupid gunshot wound. Daryl's eyes softened, just slightly.

"Stop that. We'll see each other again, you'll see. Now go!" His piece said, the archer turned and ran back outside to fight. Carl ran the opposite way, sneaking out of a secret entrance they had created just for this purpose.

"Carl, is mama gonna die?"

Judith whispered softly, tears welling in her eyes.

Carl didn't respond, running faster as another rumble shook the prison. Debris rained down on them and a loud BOOM sounded. The building shook violently. He only had enough time to hear Judith cry out before the entire world went dark.

Daryl was confused.

Last he remembered he'd been behind Rick both of them fatally wounded but still shooting so that the others could escape in time. The governor had shot past them at the prison, sending debris flying before everything went dark. Now, however, he was lying in a very familiar tent, one he hadn't seen in almost nine years.

Everything was just as he remembered it right down to the four bags belonging to Merle sitting in the corner. He shivered, gasping as a blinding wave of agony shot through him, reminding him of the gunshot wound in his abdomen. The pain reassured him, allowing him to realize that he truly was in the tent he and his brother had shared at the quarry all those years ago. With gritted teeth the archer sat up and began to wrap his wound, absently noting that he still looked like he had at the prison, right down to his worn dark wash jeans, his trusty crossbow lying beside him. He was glad for that, still in slight disbelief over this entire thing. After all, he'd always believed that time travel was impossible yet here he was. Worry wormed its way into his mind.

Had anyone else come back?

Rick? Carl? Judith? Glen? Was he the only one?

He sure as hell hoped he wasn't. He didn't think he'd be able to handle it if his family wasn't there, not after- he cut that thought short. No, he couldn't- wouldn't think about that.

Throwing his shirt and vest back on, grabbed his crossbow and exited the tent.

Everything looked just as he remembered it, the RV, the tents, everything! It was overwhelming and for a moment all he could do was stare at it all in wonder. It had been so long since he'd seen most of these people. Dale, Amy, Jim, Jacqui, so many people who had died before the end of that first year.

He noticed Carol sitting by the fire with Sophia in her arms, watching him with a strange look in her eyes and he realized with a jolt that she was the same Carol from the night before. He moved over to the fire and took a seat beside her, the other campers sending him a surprised, suspicious look.

"Finally decided to leave that tent of yours?" Amy teased and Daryl frowned not used to speaking to anyone outside of the family he'd helped create at the prison and even then it had taken him almost two years to get comfortable enough to tease him playfully without fearing him yelling or getting offended. Still he tried not to bristle at the harmless question and Carol sent him a worried glance.

"Just needed a change in scenery is all." The blonde let out a surprised laugh while Carol giggled quietly. Dale snorted as did Shane.

"Bout time. Thought you was gonna hide in there til that brother of yours got back or til it was time fer ya to go huntin." The former cop said and Daryl glanced at him, then shrugged, hate flashing in his eyes. This was the man that had almost killed Rick. The man whose death had almost broken his husband and he wasn't in the least bit happy to see him.

Lori walked over to join them and Daryl truly had to keep himself from lunging at the woman who had fucked up his husband's mind. Due to her it had taken almost a year for Rick to fully acknowledge Judith as anything but the cause of his wife's death and the result of her torrid affair with Shane. During that time he had left most of Judith and Carl's care in Daryl's hands and it had led to a rift forming between Carl and his father that had never healed. Forcing himself to remain calm he sent Carol a significant look and stood.

"I'm going hunting." He said stiffly before turning and storming off into the woods.

Maybe his mind would finally settle itself after went hunting.

Rick scowled darkly as him, Morgan, Duane, T-Dog, Glenn, Andrea, and Merle stood on the roof of a very familiar building, the latter yelling and waving his gun around. The former cop had been on edge since awakening in his hospital room almost three days earlier, a hospital room he hadn't been in in nearly nine years.

Luckily he hadn't been in the pathetically weak and dehydrated body from before, instead he was in the war hardened body he'd been living with right down to the gunshot wound in his gut and too long curls falling to his shoulders. Even his clothes were the same as they had been when the prison attack had begun.

He'd immediately ditched his soiled clothes, dressing in the change of clothes that had been left at his bedside. Then he had raided the hospital for food and medicine and left. Once he'd finished he'd gone to his house and raided it, meeting Duane and Morgan along the way. Afterwards he and Morgan had rescued the group from the hardware store just as they had remembered. Now they stood on the fateful rooftop watching Merle rant and rave waving his gun in the air like a lunatic.

So the question was: handcuff him and leave him like he had last time, or save him somehow and let him continue being a danger to others.

Honestly it shouldn't even have been a question, but somehow in his gut he knew that he hadn't been the only one sent back in time and he knew that if that was true then his husband had come back and he would be pissed if they knowingly left Merle behind.

Rick grimaced and Glenn snickered quietly.

"Thinkin' bout the asskickin' we'll get if we leave the stupid bastard here?"

The former officer glanced at the young asian sharply, then chuckled. Of course Glenn would've been sent back. His surrogate little brother would never leave him and Daryl to do this alone.

"Yeah. Daryl'd kill me, wait for me to turn then kill me again."

Glenn snorted. "He'd kill me first, just to make you suffer and you know Carl'll help 'im."

Rick nodded and turned his gaze back to the ranting lunatic that was his brother in law.

"Hey, Glenn was telling me that you have a younger brother back at your camp."

Merle fell silent, his grey eyes glinting dangerously with protective fury.

"What of 'im?"

"If you don't stop making noise and attracting attention I'm gonna hand cuff you to that pipe over there. Then if you continue to be a threat to the group I'm gonna shove my knife through the base of yer skull and leave you for the walkers. You wouldn't want your brother to lose the only family he has in this world, would you?" Rick replied calmly, but his eyes were cold icy chips.

Merle stared at him then to the surprise of everyone present he let out a loud full-bellied chuckle.

"Alrigh' then, Officer Friendly. Le's do this yer way."

The former cop stared at him for a moment then nodded and set about making a plan.

Morgan and Glenn would distract the walkers with the police cruiser and the little red car while everyone else would hope in the van and head out the city. Then they would all meet up just outside the city and head back to the camp together.

Glenn and Rick shared a look as everyone moved to execute their part of the plan.
This time things would be different.

They had been given a second chance and they weren't going to waste it.

TBC…

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3/25/2015 8:53:39 PM