Violentine Megafics | Collaborations

Along the Way

The sun was shining bright, her skin burning in the afternoon heat. How she had hated when her parents made her wear sunscreen as a kid, loathed it. She remembered running away, making them chase her through the house as she would giggle and try to hide, only to have them catch her in the end. They always caught her, lathering the thick lotion on her face and shoulders, as she cringed like she was in pain.

The memory was both happy and sad, as most of her memories were now. She adjusted the brim of her hat, grateful to have it to protect her face, but the heat was too unbearable to put on her jackets or over shirt to protect her arms. It seemed like a good trade-off now, the coolness of her tank top for the risk of sunburn later, but she knew she'd regret it later that night. She knew Violet would chastise her, saying something about dying of skin cancer, the thought made her chuckle.

Clementine wiped her hands on her pants, looking up at the treehouse that was almost finished. The treehouse Clementine and Violet had imagined weeks or months ago, Clementine wasn't certain how long it had been now since they had defeated the Raiders and returned home broken but ready to pick up the pieces.

Getting up to the bell-tower to build the treehouse without a foot had proved difficult at first but they had worked together and built a pulley system. Clementine could sit on a wooden swing, basically a board hanging from a rope, and pull herself up to the top of the wall. It was also useful in moving materials to the top that they needed to build the treehouse. They had gotten a lot of useful supplies from the Delta, wood, nails, tools, metal bars, lots of useful building materials. Clementine thought it was a fitting 'screw you' to the raiders to use those supplies to build something frivolous and fun.

AJ and Louis smiled at her as they hammered away at the walls, checking for loose nails and making sure the structure was sturdy. "Ready for inspection ma'am!" AJ yelled, hands at his sides in a military manner. Louis laughed his throaty laugh and copied AJ's movement.

Clementine stared at the boys in front of her with a mock stern look on her face."Alright soldiers, let me see what we have here." Clementine had hope-filled eyes. By the looks of it, it seemed like it would work perfectly.

She proceeded to hop into the small wooden structure, taken away by the resemblance it shared with her treehouse as a child. Everything from the sound it make when she opened the door to the way it smelled like freshly cut wood on the inside or how calm she felt as she found things to take up her attention.

It was beautiful. She could already tell she wouldn't be able to step foot out of it once she settled in. "Is it good?" AJ looked up at her with the biggest smile she'd ever seen. "Well, what do you think?" Louis was just as curious as AJ, asking questions with his hands on his hips. "It's amazing," Clementine whispered on the verge of crying as her mind was flooded with memories.

"AJ and I are like peanut butter and jelly when it comes to working together." Louis shot a wink to AJ, giving him a high five not too long after.

"What's peanut butter and jelly?" The younger boy looked up to Louis for answers. "Well, it's quite the divine meal. Especially when you have to eat it for lunch. Peanut butter is creamy, salty, but not too salty, just the right amount. Jelly is sweet, but not too sweet. Natural sugar and no artificial flavours involved. It's amazing."

"Is everything good?" Violet came up behind us, pretty much startling AJ. Clementine couldn't escape her thoughts. "Clem?" Violet placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to snap her back into reality making the caramel-skinned girl jump.

"Yeah... It's perfect." She finally replied barely above a whisper.

Violet took in her surroundings and gave a small smile, "You don't want anything else? I mean, I know we don't have that much, but we could get you some water bottles and stuff so you don't have to keep coming up and down. You're gonna get a sunburn if you keep travelling. You won't like that." Violet had eyes filled with concern knowing how sunny it was outside.