Weapon Of War (Clementine x Louis)

Chapter 4: Human Again

    The pounding of her own heart deafened her from her surroundings. Looking around her was a cloud of smoke. Clementine took a step forward only to be greeted with a surging pain throughout her left leg. Looking down she saw her pooling blood.

    The urge to turn around controlled her consciousness. It was a mistake. Once she turned her eyes felt like she betrayed them. For what she saw could never be erased. A trail of dead bodies lay behind her. Looking down at her hands she could see their blood on her hands. The hands of a monster.

    Turning back around to continue her path she heard the click of a barrel. There was a rifle placed into her hands and Lee was against a wall in front of her. The agony of her leg and her mind left her hands trembling. Her surroundings had changed to those of her memory. Lee was staring at the barrel of her gun.

    "Please Clementine. You have to kill me." His voice shook from his pain.

    The only instinct she had was to raise the gun to his head. Tears stung her eyes. Her index finger gripped the trigger. Taking one last breath she whispered "I love you Lee." Her vision disappeared once she heard the thunder of the bullet.

Her heart calmed at the seeming peace. At a moments notice it stopped all together. The echoes of screams, pain, and death was all she could hear. Clenching her eyes shut Clementine murmured "I am so sorry." The plea for it to stop continued. Perhaps this was her punishment. For all the men and women she had killed were no different from her. They were fighting for what the were led to believe. To them, Clementine was their killer. To them, Clementine was a monster.

Opening her eyes again she found herself drowning in water. Water stained the colour red. Looking down she could see a man. A man drowning. A man she knew as Luke. His body was limp and his eyes lifeless. The sudden realization that she too, was sinking. As hard as she paddled her attempts were useless. Her screams were muffled by the bloody water that was filling her lungs. This is it. It can be over. She could throw a rock and it would hit deaths door. She let the peace come to her, accepting her fate.

The sounds of her memory were lacking clarity to her blinded eyes. She was always taught to kill the monsters. It's what she taught AJ too. But now she realizes if he really listened, he'd kill her too. For she is what many would consider death. But she was not peaceful. In fact she was so fragile and hectic many could call her life.

Her fight would soon end. Her actions have no undo and she has taken the life of those who were defending themselves. It's time someone took hers. The light shining in the water was warm as she drifted further into the drink. "Clem!" Was that... AJ?

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With eyes open and muscles tense Clementine's body sprang awake. Her body was drenched in her sweat and her cheeks were drown in her tears. Swollen eyes prevented her from examining her surroundings. This was not a nightmare. Nightmares are figments of your imagination. This was memories. Guilt and death. Two things that haunted her constantly. Once her mind woke up she realized that Louis's alarm had not gone off. Taping the screen she examined that it was nearing 3:00am.

    Taking a shaky breath Clementine managed to calm her shaking body. A knock at the door caught her of guard. Who could be here this early. The alarm hadn't even gone off yet. The sun was still asleep. Just like she should be. Thinking it was AJ she rushed to open it. Her leg felt a great deal of pain. She never took her prosthetic off in fear that if something were to happen she wouldn't be able help or get away. She had been wearing sweat pants. Thankfully they were cinched at the ankle. Limping to the door she opened it a crack. To her surprise it was Louis.

    His shoulders relaxed when he saw Clementine. "Are you alright?"

    Was he a mind reader? "What are you doing up?" She asked ignoring his question.

    Looking closer he saw her red swollen eyes. He took a step closer trying to get a better look. Soon he felt a light in his peripheral vision. Clementine noticed this too and yanked him into her room. Louis tripped over his feet but managed to stay up right. Looking around he noticed her room looked particularly plain. Nothing interesting in it at all. Of course she has probably never had a room of her very own. That was just a hunch of course.

    No longer in fear of being caught left the plain room quiet. "So why are you up so early?" She asked sitting on her sweaty bed. Gross.

Louis's eyes darted around the room. He pulled out a candle. He lit it, placing it on the night stand. "I honestly don't know. I had a weird feeling that something was wrong or something happened to you. It was whack!"

"Well now that you know you may leave." She stood up, her bare foot and prosthetic shuffling along the old wooden floors. He grabbed her wrist.

Quickly removing it not wanting another black eye. "I may be annoying but I am not stupid, for the most part. Your pillow is soaked your tee shirt has sweat stains and your eyes are swollen. I am smart enough to put two and two together."

"Ya and what did you get, 8?" She remarked sitting back down again. The comment was somewhat cruel. "Listen it was just a few memories that's all."

Ya right. "Bullshit." Her head snapped up and his eyes snapped away. "I am just saying, Clem. Maybe you should talk about it."

Her laugh was almost violent. "You have no idea what's it like out there. You don't just talk about it. You have to relive it, re-feel it. Every single night." She shuttered at the thought.

Louis felt horrible "You still have a heart Clementine."

Their eyes met. "It's hard to have a heart when you've stopped so many others." He had forgotten just how many people she had killed in her little amount of time being alive. Her grief was something he couldn't imagine.

He could see what she thought of herself. He has only seen that look on himself. The look of someone who destroyed someone's light. "Clementine you are not a monster. Do you hear me?" He was now crouched in front of her. His heart was begging for her eyes to look into his.

When they did he wished they'd look away. They were cold and lifeless as they stared. It left Louis in a trance. A trance of misery and guilt. "You have no idea who I am." Looking past him, Clem stared at the candle. "I've killed hundreds of people. People I loved. I've been shot twice, stabbed once, had a finger taken off by a fucking door, and to top it off I had my calf slashed then my leg hacked off." Taking a breath to finished she continued "The world is a cruel place Louis. These aren't things you just talk about. You can't just fix them. I don't expect you to understand." He stared at her, silent. He didn't know what to say. So she continued. "It's good though, that you don't understand. Because to understand, you would have to live through it yourself. You Louis, are what I fought to protect. The innocents in the world."

He sympathized with Clementine. She had seen the hurt and the war that he will never know. He'll never know because of her. "You know what Clementine?" She looked back to him. He had lots of freckles. They suited him. "I think we have a lot to learn from each other."

He opened his phone to see the time. Clementine looked over his shoulder. "You should get back to your room." Louis stood up and slapped his thighs. He took a breath then let it out. He made his way to the door. Clementine was bobbing her leg frantically. She took a final look at Louis. The green base ball tee and grey sweatpants did suit him and his body very well. She heard the click of the door knob opening.

Louis felt a sense of accomplishment. He felt good. Before he could take a step out the door he felt the grip of someone hugging him from behind. He turned his body feeling the grip loosen so he could face the embracer. Clem had her head on his chest. Her poofy curls were so cute on her. Not that he'd ever tell her that. He wrapped his arms around her back and they shared a moment. "Thank you Louis, for caring. You make me feel human again."
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Shortest chapter but I thought it was cute. Idk I hope you liked it though!

Idk if you care or not but if you have any spare time wish my team and I luck tomorrow. We have div 1 provincials!