Life Goes On || TWDG Season 5 Fan Fic

Games and Regrets

Both groups crowded together, the tables split. Clementine and Violet approached after everyone else, Vi instinctively sitting with Louis, Aasim, Ruby, and AJ. Clementine looked between the two groups. She paused, flashing back to the old ski lodge: remembering Luke and Kenny. She frowned, and cleared her throat. "Hey, everyone." A few people looked up to greet her. "Can we move the tables together?" Some said nothing, respectfully getting up. The new group seemed to be hesitant to question any decisions they made in fear of being kicked out. Violet and Louis stood, AJ raising an eyebrow. "Why?" She shrugged, not really wanting to cause a scene. "Dunno.. just feel like it." Everyone nodded, and Javier, Antoine, and Louis moved one table to meet the other. Clementine took a seat between Violet and Javi. Two other people had arrived at last: Clementine remembering them from before. They carried more supplies. Evelyn greeted them. "Clay, Viola. What took so long?" The woman, Viola, laughed. "Clay here wanted to take photos." She said, rolling her eyes and nudging the person next to her. They went a bit pink, clutching an old polaroid camera. Clem looked the person up and down. She couldn't really tell if they were a girl with short hair, or a guy who looked very feminine. She moved on. Evelyn nodded. "Well then, that's alright. Have you met everyone?" She gestured towards all the kids. The woman had an intense British accent as she spoke, her voice loud. "These are the people? God, they're children!" Clementine frowned. Javi came to her defense. "Watch yourself, Lala. These kids are tough as nails. Did you see the fucking corpse at the gates?" The woman scowled. "You know I hate that name.. whatever." She plopped down in-between them, offering a hand to Clementine. "Name's Viola. You?" She hesitantly shook her hand. "Clementine.." Her eyes widened. "The Clementine? Crickey, I've heard loads about you." She smiled wide. Clem returned the smile, nodding. "Good things I hope." Viola confirmed and turned to look at the food. "Any chance there's enough to spare?" Omar overheard and stood, heading over to his pot, and making two new bowls: plopping them in front of the newcomers. "Eat up." There was no hesitation.

After some time, it dawned on Clementine that Willy was nowhere to be seen. She excused herself from the conversation, internally scolding herself for not noticing. She hobbled up on the crutches, slipping away to look for him. She did a quick sweep of the yard, before finally coming across the graveyard to find Willy sniffling in between two graves. "Willy?" She approached slowly, trying to be quiet. She looked at the names carved into the graves, knowing them all too well. It was Tenn and Mitch. Tenn's grave was far more recent, the dirt still soft above his body. He had been found in the woods, wandering as a walker, so they all buried him. The only solace any of them found was knowing that he was somewhere with his family. She rarely saw Willy sad, only angry or just.. silly. She tried her best to crouch down, but eventually ended up sitting. It wasn't easy with the crutches. Clem put a comforting hand on his back. He wiped his face a bit, dirt smearing across his cheek. "W..what.." He was trying to hide his expression. "Do you need to talk?" She tried not to push, but could see that he needed someone. There was a moments pause. "I just.." He took a deep breath. "I still can't believe he's gone.." He turned to face Mitch's grave. "I didn't even get to say goodbye.." He sniffled, then turned to face Tenn's makeshift headstone. "And Tenn.. I.. It was his fault.." Clem was about to intervene, but Willy continued. "But.. he didn't deserve to die.. and the last time we spoke was me yelling at him.." He punched the ground. "I feel so stupid!!" Clementine fell back a bit. "Willy.. you didn't do anything wro-" He got up quickly. "Don't try to fix this, Clem." Willy dashed off into the admin building. She decided it was best not to follow. She sighed, looking up to see Vi walking over with Javi. "Are you alright?" Violet offered her her hand, while Javi reached over to grab the crutches. "What was that about?" Javi asked, confused. Clementine shook her head. "He just.. needs some time." Violet nodded, taking the hint. "Alright." Javier remained confused, but decided to drop it. "Alvin Junior said that they were starting war and that you needed to be there." She laughed. "Alright, let's go."

They arrived back to find Louis already shuffling the cards over near the couches with a few people scattered around. It was a lot more players then everyone was used to. It appeared that Aasim and Ruby had already turned in for the night, but Omar, AJ, Henry, Viola, Clay, Antoine, and Christa had all decided to play as well. Evelyn simply sat on the side, spectating. Some sat on the ground due to lack of seating, but it looked like everyone was decently comfortable. The others had gone to their tents on the far end of the courtyard, apparently unpacking and relaxing a bit. They probably needed it, Clem thought to herself. Who knows how long they'd been on the road. She remembered the days she was with AJ alone: the constant close calls, the sleepless nights. It was miserable, but she'd do it all over again for this outcome. She took a seat, Omar moving so she could relax. She appreciated the gesture and smiled. Violet took a seat on the ground in front of Clem, looking up at Louis. "Are we dealing or what?" He nodded, flashing her a toothy smile before dramatically dealing the cards. He nudged AJ, who began to read a paper. "W..war. A game as old as time. A game played b- Louis, this is stupid. Can we just tell them to play normally?" Everyone laughed. Viola chimed in. "Listen to the squirt, we all know how to play." AJ's flinched at the word, raising his voice. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!" She was taken aback. "Jeez.. sorry, kid.." Clem looked at him, and he scooched closer to her. She wrapped an arm around her baby. "He.. doesn't like that." Viola nodded. "Sorry." Henry groaned. "We gon' play or what?" Louis nodded. Everyone flipped their first card onto the ground. Violet scowled when she didn't win and looked around. Turned out Henry had the winning card. "Okay.. so can I ask a general question?" Louis gave him a thumbs up. "Well.." He looked down, deep in thought. "Not to kill the mood early on but.. what happened here?" He gestured around to the damages from the raiders. Clem answered. "A.. group. Came here. They tried to fucking abduct us all for their war. We had to fight back." AJ continued. "They were fuck heads!! They chopped out Louis' tongue and killed Mitch and messed up the school!" Henry nodded. "So.. war." Vi nodded. "I guess you could call it that." Louis pointed to the cards, laughing, clearly trying to lighten the mood. Clay had been fixated on Louis the entire time, and Vi took notice. She nudged Clem's leg, whispering up to her. "Someone likes Lou~" Clementine chuckled. Lou could use some love after all that's happened.

It was time for the next flip. Everyone mimicked the last round, this time AJ won. He smiled up at Clem. "I won!" She smiled. "What ya gonna ask?" AJ looked around, deep in thought, before pointing to Clay. "You!" They seemed startled. "Me?" He nodded. "Are you a boy or a girl?" He said, tilting his head to the side. "I can't really tell." Vi looked up attentively. "O-oh I'm uh.." They shrugged. "I don't really know. I kinda feel in between." Aj widened his eyes. "You can be in between?" They nodded. "I guess." He smiled. "That's so cool!" The person smiled, grateful that they didn't get any pushback. Evelyn spoke. "Clay is a relative of mine. They were about 11 when it first started. Before that, they told us they were.. what was it again, dear?" Clay answered quietly. "Non-Binary.." "That's it!" Evelyn smiled, trying to deny the awkwardness. Vi shrugged. "Whatever makes you happy." Everyone flipped one final time. Javi won. He had been a bit distant all round. Immediately as he won, he looked Clem in the eyes to ask his question.

"Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?"

(Hey guys! Few, that was a long one :I Anyway, lmk what you think in the comments! I might make the next chapter a bit of a recap/character description sorta thing to help visualize the new characters like Evelyn, Mariana, Clay, ect. Have a great day/night!)