Always ~ Violentine

10 ~ Trust

Both girls' eyes gaped, utterly shocked and confused. Minnie, who had disappeared after the boat explosion, was now in Javi's group? Clementine felt a surge of rage and anger course through her body. She glared at Minnie indignantly.

"Minnie, you're back. Find anything on the run?" Javi questioned happily.

"Um, no, there wasn't much out there," she replied faintly, not even bothering to look at the man. Her focus was solely on Clementine.

"We'll have to go out further then. Oh, Minerva, this is Clem, old friend of mine."

"Hey.. Clementine," Minnie greeted, her voice shaken and despondent.

Clem walked right up to her and got in her face, standing her ground. "I have to get back. You don't come near me or Violet. And don't fucking bother coming back to the school," she affirmed. The brunette loathed the redhead's presence, flashbacks of her betrayal arising.

"You two.. know each other?" Jesus cut in.

The brunette didn't answer. Instead, she stormed off into the woods. There's no fucking way she's back too. After what she did to Violet and the rest of the kids.. how could Javi trust her? She'll only cause problems in his group. Violet! Fuck. What the hell do I tell her? Babe, your controlling, manipulative, traitorous ex is back in our lives. Okay, calm down, Clem. It's weird, though. She didn't seem.. angry. She seemed sorry if anything. God. I have to talk to Vi.

"Clementine, wait," the redheaded girl spoke from a small distance. She had followed Clem in the woods for a bit, wanting to keep their conversation private. "I want to talk real quick about everything that happened.. everything I did."

"Why don't you save it for someone who actually wants to listen. How could you hurt them the way you did? They were your family!" Clementine asserted, feeling the heat rushing to her cheeks.

"I-I know. You have to understand, Lilly was evil. If I didn't comply, she would have killed me," the girl pleaded.

"So because of that you killed your sister? Betrayed everyone you loved?"

Minnie's voice was really starting to tremble now. Looking down at the ground and sighing, she declared, "I didn't have a choice. I was.. I was scared about what would happen."

Clementine didn't know what to think. Part of her still hated Minnie, but part of her also felt a little sympathy for her. "Look, I have to go. We'll be coming back in a few days. Try anything, and you won't be so lucky," Clem asserted.

Minnie began to walk away but slowly turned around. "Tenn. Is he, okay?" the girl asked.

Clementine paused for a moment, looked down, and closed her eyes. "He-he didn't make it. I'm sorry." She heard Minnie begin to whimper, but she didn't stick around to comfort her. She had to get home, but what the hell was she going to do now that Minerva was back.

~~~

Ericson's Boarding School for Troubled Youth, now named Texas Two, stood in front of her. Violet immediately pushed the gate open and ran to Clem, throwing her arms around her tightly. "Thank fuck you're back," she gracefully said, resting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"Heh, thank fuck you're okay. I missed you," Clementine replied, relishing in the moment.

"Me too. C'mon, let's get you inside."

As they entered the courtyard, the other kids stopped what they were doing to reunite with their friend. Clementine hid the fact that Minerva would be back in there lives shortly for now, not wanting to ignite that argument quite yet. They needed this group more than anything.