Chapter 1: Home
Chapter Text
Wind pounded onto Clem’s face, whistling and charming into her ears. She was sat in an open door, legs overhanging the train’s floor. Whilst before, Clem would struggle to get a wink of sleep, too paranoid, never safe enough, she now longed during the day for the moment she can lay down and flutter her eyelids shut. The one time she can see Lee.
The familiar soothing voice appeared behind her, “How are you doing sweet pea?”
“Lee!” Clementine grinned as the familiar man sat beside her. Her voice sounded a lot higher, younger, a time where she could depend on someone.
For the past week, Clementine had been visiting this exact place. It had been a bad day, very bad considering what happened to duck, the only other kid she had met at the time. But she pushed that out of her mind, because this is also the day where Lee taught Clem how to survive. This was one of the reasons she was still alive today.
“I see we are back at the train?” Lee surveys his surroundings, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.
Clem looked around, the memory of the train so fresh in her mind, watching the passing landscape calmed her. “I can’t stop thinking about this day Lee, especially since I’m responsible for all these kids now.”
Lee turned to face Clem’s younger self, “as long as you never forget what I taught you, you’ll be okay Clem”
Clem treasured the reassurance from Lee, every night she saw him. She knew it would be alright because she had him.
“How is the boy doing?” Lee turned back to the scenery in front of the two.
“He’s doing well Lee, he’s starting to act like a kid again, you know chase around birds and say and do silly things.” Clem looked down at herself, seeing she was no longer in the body of her younger self. “You would be so proud”
“I am proud Clem, I am proud of everything you’ve done, just don’t forget, you’re a kid too,” He pokes the back of Clem’s hair. “I see you still haven’t cut this” he heartily laughs.
Before Clem could respond her mind takes her to another place.
There was one downside of these recurring dreams, they always had the same ending.
Clem was back to her younger self, something heavy rested in her hand. The cold metal sent shivers through her arms. Before her was Lee, handcuffed and on the verge of death. This part of the dream she had no control of, she knew what was going to come. The last words Lee had ever spoke to her.
She looks Lee in the eyes as he says “I’ll miss you” and then sends a bullet through his head.
Clementine wakes up, paralysed for just a second. She then turns her head to the side, AJ was fast asleep. He no longer slept with a gun in hand, so that was an improvement. The window separating the two revealed no sign of sunlight but there was no way Clem could fall back asleep now, she never could after the endings of her dreams. Not until the next evening came around. Over the last week she had developed a routine as a result of this. She assumed it was around 2 maybe 3am, that’s when she was usually awoken from her slumber. She sat up in her bed and stretched her arms.
The group recently had an improvement clothing-wise. They had ventured past Marlon’s safe zone and wondered into a small abandoned caravan, inside was old jackets and boots. There was even cloth, a sewing needle and thread. The group brought it back to Clem, who had been bed bound. Clem never really was taught to stitch but it couldn’t be that difficult, considering she stitched her own arm. So over the next month or so Clem made everyone some pyjamas or a spare t shirt here and there, it kept her occupied and feeling useful.
The pair Clem was wearing now were shabby, poorly stitched but made out of a soft warm material, she couldn’t quite recall what it was called though. It didn’t matter, they did their job, she wasn’t thinking about her pyjamas when she looked down anyway. Instead she was greeted with her grief over loosing her leg. Loosing something as vital as a limb scarred Clem’s heart, making her feel useless in a world of kill or be killed, but there is nothing she can do. It feels the same as when she lost her finger, except way more severe.
She reached her arms to the wooden crutches beside her, she couldn’t stay on them too long due to how tiring they were but it never stopped her from getting to where she needed to go, and she knew exactly where she was headed right now. There was only one other person awake at this time, due to him adjusting to Clem’s schedule.
Clem put her body weight onto the crutches and began to make her away to the music room. Guiding herself across the familiar path to the room, she approached the door. She wondered if Louis was here by now, if not he would be soon. Well that’s what Clem can hope for at least.
Pushing past the doors and into the room she’s greeted with a silent piano. One of the things she has grown to hate. It was illuminated by a candle in a purple jar. Despite the piano not producing any melodies, the boy she had been looking for sat on the stool. He turned his head and smiled when he saw her.
“Came to blow on my strings again Clem” Louis chuckled to himself.
Clem rolled her eyes, despite the grin on her face. “Wasn’t funny the first time, definitely not funny the hundredth time” She approached the stool and sat down next to Louis, she placed her crutches along the side of the piano. Turning to face Louis, she sees him staring at her leg.
“Caught you,” Clem laughs as the boy shoots up his eyes from her leg to her face.
Louis’ face displayed a mixture of guilt and sadness. His eyebrows furrowed and as he went to apologise Clem placed her finger between his eyebrows. This was another habit the two had developed.
Louis laughed and said “well Clementine, what can I do for you today”
Clem turned back to face the piano, “play me a song?”
“Anything for you.” Louis’ hands outstretched and began to play the first notes of the song. A familiar one. A song he had composed himself called, clementine. Clementine’s arm reached out to the initials carved on the piano. She traced the L and the C with her finger and continued to the heart surrounding the letters. This reminded her of her first kiss, not like she could ever forget anyway. It seemed like the good memories stuck with her as much as the bad ones did. She looked through the corner of her eye and saw Louis watching her. Her eyes wondered down to his hands playing the piano. His pinkie was missing, she remembered Louis had to play for hours just to get use to being a finger down.
The song came to an end and the two teenagers turned to face each other.
“So what did you think,” Louis asked placing his hands back on his lap. The room filled with silence once more.
“Still my favourite song,”
“I’m not surprised I am the best piano player in the world right no-“ Before Louis could continue gloating, Clementine straightened her back and planted a kiss on his forehead. Before he could react she moved to plant another on his cheek, then the tip of his nose, and then his neck.
“Wow Clem, four tries and you missed every time, are you drunk?” He laughed at his own joke. This led to Clem pulling him in and placing a kiss on his lips. She savoured the moment for a second and leaned back. The sensation lingered on her lips, it wasn’t a new feeling, but the familiarity made it all the more important.
“Was that better for you smart ass?”
Louis raised his hands up in defence “hey I wasn’t complaining in the first place,”
Clementine lightly punched his shoulder “you totally were,”
“Okay maybe I totally was, but I am definitely not complaining now,”
Despite these frequent interactions the two had never established what they were. Not to each other, or to anyone else. It felt strange to have these feelings and experiences during “the walker age” as Tenn would describe it. However it never felt strange enough to stop it. Clementine associated Louis with home, as long as he was there she felt safe.
Louis stood up and wondered to the record player, he shifted through the shelves until he found the classical music record. Clem watched at he unveiled and placed the record upon the player. This was the next part of their newly developed routine. In the corner of the room was a collection of pillows and blankets, items the two had scavenged over the past couple of days. Louis wondered over to Clem and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, helping her up. They walked together as one until he set her down amidst the make shift bed. Louis sat down next to her and tucked the both of them in. Neither of them would get a wink of sleep, Clem couldn’t face Lee again, not until later and Louis struggled for his own reasons. Reasons he hadn’t shared yet.
“Clem I uh-“ Louis rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “God this is gonna be strange” he laughs slightly.
Clem planted her head on his shoulder. “I don’t think anything could get much more stranger than it is”
“Okay good point, good point.” Louis rests his hand on Clem’s arm, running his fingertips across her skin. “Okay fuck, I’m just gonna spit it out.” Clem nods at him approvingly, not wanting to distract him. “Okay so, I know relationship status doesn’t really matter or anything because ya know, everything but-“ His entire body tenses up next to Clem. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
The sound of classical music fills in for the silence from Clementine.
“Oh shit- I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make things weird I just, well-“ before Louis could continue rambling Clem reaches up and meets his lips with hers.
“When I was younger, I had always wanted a Prince Charming. A prince to live in a huge castle with and a pet dragon.” Clem smiled at the memory of herself. The time before the apocalypse.
“Well I can’t provide you with a castle or a dragon, but I can definitely give you a Prince Charming,” Louis’ body relaxes again, his fingertips return to gliding across Clem’s arm.
She starts to laugh at the joke she hasn’t even told yet, “well let me know when he arrives,”
“Hey!” Louis exclaimed. He moves his head on top of hers, smiling in her hair. “So.. was that a yes?”
“Yes Louis you may be my Prince Charming,”
“I’ve never been more honoured,” he says starting to laugh. “I’m so happy I’m here with you Clem,”
“I’m happy too Louis,”
For the first time that week the two fell back asleep, subconsciously refusing to let each other go.
Chapter Text
AJ was travelling in the direction of the current in the river, spear in hand and bucket in the other. He had caught a decent amount of fish. No one’s stomach will be rumbling tonight, he thought to himself. It was almost time to head back, he approached the hut to return his spear and discovers Louis, he was crouched down looking at something on the floor.
“Oh hey man- or well.. boy.” Louis turns his head around at the sound of AJ’s footsteps. He gathers whatever he was looking at in his hand and tucks it into his pocket.
AJ points at his pocket suspiciously “What have you got?”
“Ah this, this is just a little present for Clem,” Louis bringing back presents for Clem was a frequent occurrence, he had once spent all day weaving a crown made out of grass and flowers for her. Of course he did this instead of helping Aasim hunt.
AJ was always interested in what Louis got Clementine as it meant a new addition to their room, they had plants and skulls dotted around, James’ mask and whatever Louis delivered. One of Clementine’s favourites was an old picture of Louis, it stayed untouched next to her hat, you could tell their room was theirs by just a glance. You could tell that they had a home and they treasured it.
“Can I see, I promise not to tell her.. not like last time,” AJ sheepishly said, he struggled to keep things from Clem.
“Nope! I still haven’t forgot your betrayal,” Louis puts the back of his hand to his forehead, a fake expression of disbelief and betrayal on his face. “You’ll see later at the campfire anyway.” AJ huffed at this and crossed his arms.
“Fine then” but before AJ could remain in his bad mood Louis slid something in his hand. An old string full of beads rested in his palm, the beads varied in different colours of blue, the string was slightly darkened in some places due to water damage but overall it was a interesting trinket AJ had never seen before.
“This, little man..” He extends a finger to the object, “is called a bracelet,”
AJ stared at it for a while, what use could this have? “What does it do.” He demanded an answer. Louis took the bracelet out his hand and slid it onto AJ’s arm.
Louis began his explanation, “Well you know how you decorate your room?” AJ nodded. “It’s like that except it’s for you, not your room, you understand?”
“Yeah.. I think. Is this what you got Clem?”
Louis averts his gaze, “well kind of, I found a whole box of the stuff when I ventured out earlier, don’t tell Clem!”
“I won’t tell Clem about the box of decorations…” AJ began to smirk “But I’m telling her you went off on your own,” Before Louis could beg the younger, but apparently superior kid AJ bolts to snitch on Louis.
“Damn it, not again” He sighed as he began his way back to the school. When he had left Clem was still asleep in the music room, he wouldn’t dare disturb the off chance she gets some actual peaceful sleep, so he sent everyone on their tasks for the day himself, and set himself a challenging task. Find a gift for Clem to commemorate them officially being in a relationship. He was finally her boyfriend, and he was ecstatic.
“Clem!” Clementine began to open her eyes. “Clem! Clem!” She scrambled to get up. Except she couldn’t, not without her crutches.
“AJ! AJ where are you, what happened?” She threw the blankets off her and tried to reach the two faulty sticks that allowed her to walk, only to be greeted with a grinning AJ. “AJ, don’t worry me like that!”
AJ’s grin faltered, “I’m sorry Clem, but guess what.” Clementine crossed her arms. “Louis went off again alone, AND got you another present,”
Clem looked down to AJ’s wrist, she spotted the bracelet Louis had given him earlier. “A bracelet huh?”
“Oh yeah, this one’s mine.” He glanced at it. “Louis gave it to me, I think he got you the same thing, well maybe not as cool as mine,” Clem smiled to herself and right on queue, Louis bursts in.
“Whatever he’s saying he’s lying,” Louis exclaimed as soon as he spotted the two talking. AJ stuck his tongue out at Louis and ran out the room. “He’s really energetic today, jeez,” he muttered to himself. Louis looked at Clem, stranded on the floor. He left her crutches by the piano, how could he be so thoughtless? He raced over there and grabbed them.
“Shit I’m sorry Clem,” he said as he placed them next to her. He sat down and the rattle in his pocket made Clem’s ears perk up.
“So, Louis where did you go today?” By the look on Clem’s face, Louis knew he was already screwed.
“Ok Clem before you scold me I was just hunting until I spotted a old house and went to explore,”
She looked him up and down, not quite believing his story. “Okay… and what did you scavenge?” Despite Louis breaking the rules of leaving the safety zone Clem had created (it had the same premise as Marlon’s except it was bigger and ever expanding) she was excited for what Louis had came across.
He reached into his pocket and revealed a green semi-transparent bag, and placed it into Clem’s hand. “Something to celebrate.”
Clem looked down and carefully unraveled the small bag, inside were a set of earrings. They were miniature silver hoops that had small, green, almond shaped gems dangling from them, they looked brand new, as if the owner never got the chance to wear them. Would the owner miss these, dead or alive? There was no use thinking about it, everything anyone owns now is stolen, anyway that wasn’t the main problem. “Louis.. these are amazing and I love them but.. I don’t have my ears pierced.”
“Exactly,” Clem gives him a confused look. “Our official first date as boyfriend and girlfriend.., oh I just cringed at myself,” Clem laughed, unsure at where he was going with this. “Is to pierce your ears!” Louis stared straight at Clementine trying to read her reaction, he didn’t think she would be thrilled but, he wanted to do something spontaneous, prove to her that sometimes you have to tell yourself that you only live once, no matter the shitty conditions.
“Louis, I’m sorry but I can’t, we cant use up our medical supplies,” Louis nods along to her reasoning and watches Clem clumsily fiddle with the earrings in her hands, “I mean we would have to use needles and those are hard enough to come across, and then what if it gets infected?” She looks up to him and kisses him on the cheek. “I really appreciate the thought Louis, I really do but this isn’t something we can risk.”
“What if I came across a box full of exactly what we need, all we would need to do is sterilise the needles,” he reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small wooden box, the hinges looked rusted and the box was dark and worn. It was around the same size as Louis’ hand, and rectangular. He nudged his hand forward and gestured for Clem to open it. She looked at the broken golden latch on the front and lifted the lid, inside were around six needles, some string, a button and a plastic bag containing a silver stud earring with a shiny gem in the middle. “I was trying to find the pair to the earring in here, but I found something much better,” Louis smiled, hoping this would be enough to convince Clem.
Over the past couple of weeks Clem started to live in the moment more, take the time to enjoy things. Sure, she was surviving moment to moment in the wilderness but surviving isn’t the same as living. In some rare moments Clementine was prepared to let herself live and enjoy the moment without worrying about the past or the future, she was stuck in the present in those brief amounts of time and all Louis could think about was how breathtaking she was.
A smile crawled up upon Clementine’s face. “I’ll do it if you do it,”
Louis’ eyes widened for a second, that took a lot less convincing then he assumed, and of course he was going to piece his ear anyway but Clem didn’t know that. “If that’s what it takes to make this memorable,” Louis let out a fake sigh.
“You were so gonna do it anyway weren’t you,” Clem laughed rubbed Louis’ knee. Clem knew him too well.
“Yeah I so was, so are you being serious? Like this was not how I was expecting it to go,”
“I’m serious, worst case scenario we take them out,” she shrugged it off.
“Well there are actually quite a few worst case scenarios-“ Louis began to talk.
“Louis do you want to do this or not, because if so you better be quick before I start to think about those other worst case scenarios,” Clem gave him a playful angry look.
“Yes ma’am, I’ll go get the rubbing alcohol right now,” Louis got up from sitting next to Clem, “do you need any help up?”
“I’m good, I’ll wait here,” she pulls him by his arm gently, signalling for him to bend down. She puts her hands on either side of his neck and pulls him in. The idea of retrieving rubbing alcohol vanishes from Louis’ brain, until Clem pulls back. “Be quick, okay?”
“I will be after that,” Louis stands back up and winks at Clem, and heads out the music room doors. He lets out a small sigh, wondering how he got so lucky. Most the time all he could think about was her, even though he was often plagued with the thoughts that he wasn’t good enough for her, and that she doesn’t really like him, she proves him wrong all the time. Well the second point he thinks, at least.
He speed walks to the hallway and up the stairs, in front of him he encounters Marlon’s office. Instead of passing it like he normally does, he peeks inside. There he sees AJ and Rosie, AJ was sat in the centre of the room playing with some toys, Tenn’s toys. Instinctively Louis barges in and picks them up.
“AJ, this.. these aren’t yours,” Louis hurriedly says. There was no malice behind his tone of voice, only longing and guilt.
A familiar voice however intercepts Louis’ train of thought. “Louis is that you?” He turns to look to his right. Violet. As she gets closer she gains the ability to analyse the situation better. Louis felt another twinge of guilt just looking at her, the scarred tissue around her eye, the other completely concealed as it now had no use. If only he had been taken instead that day, maybe he would’ve been of use to someone for once.
“Yeah, um.” Louis looks guiltily between AJ and Violet, “I’m really busy catch up later,” He dumps Tenn’s toys into Violets arms and dashes out of Marlon’s office. Collections of bad memory’s come to him all at once, his despair and guilt ridden heart could never be salvaged, not even if it was loved by Clem. That reminded him, he had a girl waiting for him, waiting to do something fun, something probably stupid. So he pushed back his thoughts and continued to the medical room. Behind him he heard Violet comforting AJ, reassuring him that Louis is just going through a hard time. Another pang of guilt hits Louis, right through the core of his what he can only assume is his soul.
The medical room didn’t really have anything medical about it, except the massive lump of storage they had, bandages, more needles, medicine, pills. Sure half the kids there didn’t know what most of it did but you never know, anything could be handy. Louis walked over and opened one of the cupboards, there in front of him was the rubbing alcohol, he grabbed it and stuffed it in his pocket before anyone could even suspect he had been in there and left. He quietly passed Marlon’s office, Violet and AJ were still inside, he didn’t have the stomach to face them so he just went downstairs.
He just wanted to get back to Clem right now, he wanted to see her laugh at his stupid jokes. It wasn’t that easy though, not with Clem, not with anyone. The group had lost so much. Marlon and Brody had both lost their lives. Violet couldn’t see out of one of her eyes, ever again. Clem, the girl he was head over heels for, she couldn’t even stand without support. Tenn was shot dead, and Louis didn’t even want to think about Tenn’s sisters. And what had Louis lost? A finger.
Before he could dive even deeper into the pit of his thoughts, he had reached the music room, to Clem. As soon as he opened the doors he put the brightest smile on that he could. “I got it! Are you ready Clemster?” Louis walked over and sat down beside her.
“What did I say about calling me that?”
“Not to call you that or you will trap me with the walkers for a week, which would have no effect on me because I’m the strongest person in this place,” Louis laughs and flexes his arm.
“Whatever you say, so what do we do first?” Clem turned to face him, excepting a long procedure.
“We clean the needle with rubbing alcohol and shove it through your ear, how does that sound?” He looked at Clem’s blank expression, “fun, right?”
“I’m starting to regret this,”
“You can’t regret something you haven’t done yet, now as they say, ladies first!” Louis uses a small white cloth in his pocket and poured some rubbing alcohol on it, despite using it for an unnecessary cause he still made sure to ration it the best he could. Now this was actually happening he was scared, what if something went wrong and Clem hated him. “Clem you don’t have to do this, you know that right?”
“Don’t worry Louis, I want to, and it’s not like I’m doing it alone, you're next,” Louis smiled at this, he knew Clem would tell it to him straight if she didn’t like or want to do something, it’s one of the reasons he admired her so much.
“Okay lean against the wall and close your eyes, I’ll count you down,” Louis helped Clem shuffle her back towards the wall and he began to line up the needle to her ear. This is such a stupid idea. He wouldn’t forgive himself if he hurt her, he really didn’t think this through did he? So much for memorable.
Louis began the countdown, “3” Clem took a large inhale of air. “2” “1” She exhaled and the needle stabbed straight through the lobe of her ear. “ are you okay?” Louis asked panicking.
“That wasn’t bad at all,” Clem sighed “I’ve had worse anyway.” She glanced down at her leg.
“I just need to put the earring in and then move onto the next one, is that alright,” Louis asked cautiously.
Clem smiled at his attentiveness, “all good here,”
“All you have to worry about is if they’re even,” Louis laughed as he took the needle out and replaced it with the silver hoop. It suited her perfectly.
“They better be even, or else,” she laughed but there was a subtle sense of seriousness behind it.
He switches sides and readied a different needle, you could never be too careful, especially when it came to Clem.” Same as last time okay, 3.. 2.. 1..” he jabbed the needle through her ear. She didn’t even move a muscle, “oh I see you’re trying to impress me,” Louis joked as he changed the needle out to the remaining earring. He moved from her side to in front of her.
“Oh Clem, you’re not gonna like this…”
“What did you do!” Clem said suppressing a smile.
“I just want you to know that I will always be your boyfriend, even if you have wonky earrings,” Louis covered his mouth to hide his laugh.
“Louis!” Clementine laughed, “you have to take them out,” Clem’s hand reached up to do the job herself, but Louis lunged forward and stopped her.
He grinned at her “No, no! I’m kidding, you look beautiful,”
Clem seemed relieved, “good, now you’re up.” Louis pushed himself to lean against the wall next to Clem. He points to the centre of his lobe on his left ear.
“Right here please,” Louis asks.
Clem takes the rubbing alcohol and reaches into the small box containing the needles. She reaches in and grabs the earring, she took it out the plastic bag and examined it. “You got lucky, I think this will suit you.” Clem cleaned the needle and the ear piercing, she didn’t want to take any risks either, not when it came to Louis. However Clementine had a mischievous idea.
Louis was sat next to her, back against the wall and legs stretched out straight, she set down the needle and piercing on the white cloth and used her stronger leg and arms to shift on top of Louis. His face turned to a colour the shade of beetroot.
“There now I can see what I’m doing,” Clem smiled. “Now close your eyes,”
“You’re the boss,” Louis laughed as he closed his eyes, he was unsure where to rest his hands, so he kept them to his sides, he felt as if something was alive in his stomach, squirming to get out. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the needle that was about to be jabbed through his ear or the fact Clem was sat on his lap.
Clem, unlike Louis gave no countdown or prior warning, she stabbed Louis’ ear and he let out a sound like a whimper. Before he could open his eyes however, his lips were met with Clem’s. She leaned into the kiss and Louis cautiously held the back of her waist, like she was a precious gem too expensive to break. Neither of them wanted to part from the kiss but they needed air, Clem pulled back, slightly out of breath.
“That might’ve been your best performance yet” Louis slyly added, Clem placed her head against his shoulder, hiding her face which was now also beetroot red and non stop smiling. Louis ran his fingertips down and up Clem’s spine. “I don’t mean to ruin the moment but could you please take this needle out my ear,”
Clem laughed “I guess I should huh,” she kissed his forehead and grabbed the earring, changing and placing it into his ear. “You look good,”
Louis saw this as an opportunity to mess with Clem, he needed to get her back for the stunt she pulled, or the stunt she was currently pulling as she was still on his lap, “Good? Is that all, not spectacular or devilishly gorgeous?”
“You look handsome,” Clem confirmed.
Louis didn’t know whether to thank her, laugh it off, or get emotional because someone likes him, so instead, with his hands still on her waist he carefully pulls her in and kisses her. And he didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
Notes:
Writing this instead of revising for my exams lol
SeleneUnderworld3 on Chapter 1 Wed 23 Apr 2025 08:59AM UTC
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