Life Goes On || TWDG Season 5 Fan Fic

To Trust or Not To Trust

Clementine woke from a short slumber. Nowadays, she got worn very quickly. She was still recovering from her near death experience and horrific injury. She saw AJ sitting on the bed across from her, messing around with Tenn's old toys. She frowned, remembering the sweet boy. No matter how hard she tried to wish things had gone differently that night, she knew AJ did what he had to. She had no idea what she would've done if she lost Violet. She sighed, sitting up. 

"Hey Clem!" Aj looked up. "Violet said that everyone wanted to talk to you." Clem nodded. "Alright then. You wanna come, kiddo?" He nodded, dropping disco broccoli and a fireman figure. Together, they stepped out of the school to find the Erickson kids on one side of the yard facing the strangers who had set up on the opposite side. Upon further inspection, she saw Javier and Mariana playing on the swing. AJ frowned. He wasn't very good with sharing, but Clem was confident he would not make an issue. She reached her friends and smiled, taking a seat. On the table was a rusty watering can, a map, and a few seeds left over from the apparent gardening that occurred while Clementine was fast asleep. They all greeted her warmly. "So, who are these folks?" Ruby was the first to ask. Aasim sat next to her. "Not to question your judgement, Clementine, but.. we don't know them." He glanced over at the group suspiciously. She pressed her lips together, deep in thought. Violet took a seat on her right hand side, AJ on the left. Louis pulled over a chair and sat leaning forward on the back to face everyone. Omar was tending to the soup, and Willy was nowhere to be seen. 

Clementine released a sigh. "Well, it's a long story.." Violet looked at her, interested. "I mean.. it's not like we have anything to do really." Omar interrupted. "Easy for you to say, you aren't the one cooking." He looked back at Clem. "But, of course, go on." She looked across the table. "Well, to make it.. well.. make sense.. I kinda have to explain a lot." Louis nodded, giving a thumbs up. "That's fine darlin." Ruby said, unfazed. She nodded. "Okay..."

(The following will be an overall summary of some aspects of TWDG - some choices being left out so it feels less one path.)

"When.. everything happened, I was little. Only a bit older then AJ is now. I met a man named Lee a few days after it began. He protected me, even when shit got.. really bad." She swallowed hard, trying to find the words to describe him. "Of course.. I did something stupid, and he got bit." Everyone listened intensely, their faces falling hearing of her heartbreak. "He taught me everything.. and in the end, he kept me alive. He put me  before himself." She took a deep breath and continued. "We had been traveling to Savannah to look for my parents.. but of course, they were gone. We met a lot of people, including Lily.." Louis closed his eyes tight hearing the name, still a bit traumatized. "And Christa." She gestured to the woman chatting away, distracted. "She had a husband named Omid. He was a good man. After Lee.. I ended up with them. Long story short, Omid passed away and Christa and I got separated not too long after. I'm glad we did though. I ended up with a new group, where I met AJ's parents." She booped his nose and he smiled, intrigued by the story despite having heard it a thousand times before. "They were all running from their own problems. As usual, everything fell apart.. and in the end, it was me and this little goofball." He frowned, interrupting. "I'm not little!" "Ah, no interrupting kiddo!" He made a pouty face. She smiled, continuing. "We found a new group. One of the leaders was Javier's brother." She scowled. "God, he was an ass. He took AJ from me.. and I was left alone. AJ was taken to a ranch to be taken care of. Anyway, I met Javi when there was some conflict with the community. He had a niece, a nephew, and.. I guess a girlfriend? It was technically his brother's wife. She's the mother of his kid, though, so I guess so." She shrugged and Willy approached hearing this. "Who stole their brother's girlfriend?!" Aasim shushed him and Willy took his seat, trying to figure out what was going on. "There was a bit of a war with a bunch of shit happening within the people running their community. Javi led me and a handful of folks to end it. A lot of people died." She thought back to that day and scowled. "I was so angry at the world for taking away AJ.. I didn't care about anything else. I should've but.. I just didn't." She wrapped an arm around him. "After that was all done, I set off alone to go find him. Tension built when I asked for him back, and Javi and the rest defended me. Eventually, smaller situations popped up with the opposing group and another battle began: this one much larger scale. So I decided to grab AJ and.." AJ chimed in. "Go." She nodded. "Yeah. It wasn't safe. I guess it got a lot worse after.. I shouldn't have left, but.." She looked down at him. "I couldn't lose him. Not again." He smiled up at her. "Ya didn't!" She smiled back. "Nope!" Clem returned her attention to the group. "Anyway, yeah. After all that, we ended up on the road for a really long time, eventually winding up here. You all know the rest." Violet sat there, wide eyed. "Holy shit.." Clem nodded. "Yeah I.. I was really close with some people. But that's just how it goes now. I wish we didn't have to worry about killing or dying, but that just isn't how the world is. Not yet." Louis sat there, just kinda shocked, unable to communicate his thoughts. Aasim piped in. "Well.. I guess if you genuinely trust them.." Ruby nodded. "Yeah, sugar. It's fine." Willy shrugged, running over to the cooking food, seemingly uninterested. 

Clem stepped up, Louis handing her her crutches. Violet took her aside for a minute. "Holy shit.. Clem I.." She shook her head, looking at the ground. "Shit.. I had no idea you went through all that.." Clementine laughed, trying to push down the pain in her heart. "That was just the summary.. there was a lot more." Violet nodded. "Hell, it makes everyone else's issues seem like nothing." They stood there in silence for a moment, Clem semi unresponsive, just zoning out in deep thought, before Violet grabbed her hands. "I really care about you, Clem.." Clementine snapped out of her reminiscing and looked at  her, a hopeful expression painted across her face. "I care about you too, Vi.. you know that.." She gave her a soft kiss before backing away as Omar called out for everyone to come eat. 

"Hey, Vi.."

"Yeah?"

"You up for some cards?"

(*Authors Note: AH! Hello! I've been having some writers block along side some family shit, so forgive me if my postings are inconsistent. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Make sure to follow and vote if you're enjoying it, maybe even comment :> have a good day! Or night! It's 1 AM for me so I mean- yeah, bye!*)