ClementineXLouis ~ The Walking Dead the Final Season

Moving On

|| Clementines POV ~
It was still difficult. Sleeping was always something Clementine somewhat feared and over the years, sleeping had become more and more hard with all the nightmares that came with it. And of course it didn't help that she hadn't had a safe place to sleep in ages and felt it would be stupid to let her guard down when she and AJ travelled in the car. But the car was gone. She has a roof over her head. AJ was safe. And it was still difficult.

The problem was, she felt guilty. Not only for Marlon's death but everything that came with it.
No one saw AJ as an innocent kid anymore. They seemed... scared? Worried? Intimidated? But he was just a child who believed his only purpose was to protect his mother. To protect Clem.
And now there was no leader. Clem sure as hell knew she couldn't lead. Anything and everything she touched was jinxed and always ended in death and heartbreak and, for once in her life, Clementine just wanted to relax.
But worst of all, Louis was broken. Absolutely smashed. And it was all her fault.

She hadn't so much as closed her eyes longer than a couple minutes since the incident and it was getting pretty darn annoying. Moving to her other side, Clem got herself comfortable for another sleepless night.

|| The Morning ☀️ ~
The second Clementine spotted the sun starting to rise, she concluded she had no more reason to pretend to be asleep so she got out of bed. She stretched in a lame attempt to make herself feel at least a little refreshed but all it resulted in was a huge yawn which make AJ stir in his sleep. Quickly clasping her hand over her mouth to stop any further noises escaping, she gathered her belongings and got herself ready to start the day.

Clementine hadn't expected anyone else to be awake but was still discouraged when she walked outside and no one was there. Everyone else seemed to be sleeping fine. After everything she had been through, she thought she was pretty tough, but maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was actually really weak and this whole time she was only kidding herself. As she sat on a bench and watched the sun slowly rise, she heard the faint playing of a piano. Clementine felt a wave of happiness wash through her - she wasn't alone and, it was so stupid how happy someone else being awake made her so happy, but this meant she wouldn't have to be stuck in her destructive mind for much longer. Well, at least not until the next time she was left alone.

She made her way to the piano, listening to the music which got louder and she got closer. Although Clementine didn't have much to compare Louis' talent to, she was pretty sure he had to be up there with some of the best pianists ever - at least, in her opinion. And she wouldn't just say that because he's Louis, she'd say that because she generally thought he was quite talented.

|| Louis' POV~
He could feel someone's glare on him as he pressed every key on the piano perfectly. But no one would be up at this time. No one reasonable anyway. So it must have been Marlon. Marlon watching over him or some type of shit like that. He almost laughed at the idea of it but after a second thought, it might not have been such a stupid idea. It had felt like the longest time since he'd had a proper 'bro to bro' conversation and, to be honest, he really needed one. So fuck it. Maybe he'd be talking to himself. Maybe he'd be talking 'Marlon' but at least he'd be talking to someone.
"This is gonna sound proper weird, bro..." Louis' tired voice said, "but I know you're watching."
"Oh, sorry," a tired voice stuttered in return.
Shocked to hear a reply, Louis missed the next few keys and shot his head towards the doorway.
"C-Clem?" Louis could barely see her in the limited light the barely-there sun was giving off but he could tell she looked horrible. And he didn't mean it in a mean way. He meant it in a concerned, protective way. "Ur... hi."
"Hey... I liked what you were playing."
"Thanks."
"You can keep playing I didn't mean to distract you."
"No, it's fine."
"W-why are you looking at me like that?"
Louis had unknowingly been staring deeply at her for a while. He tried to convince himself that it was because he was curious as to what she was doing up so early but he knew deep, deep down there was a longing for this girl - and that scared him much more then he'd like to admit.
"Just, er, shocked you're awake."
Clem opened her mouth as if she was about to defend herself but she sighed and walked into the room taking a seat, which was near the piano, instead.
"Can you play?" Clem said before yawning.
"Yeah sure."
"Thanks."
The room was filled with silence apart from the calming tune that came from the piano.
"I can't sleep" Clem suddenly admitted. "I-I know it's selfish but I just ... I just can't."
Louis stopped playing and looked into Clem's eyes which, although they were staring at her feet, were radiating 'helplessness' and it made Louis just want to hold her and stroke her hair. Tell her it'll all be okay and that he'll make sure she'll get a good nights sleep but truth be told he couldn't do that. Because he couldn't sleep either.
"I can't sleep." Louis responded which made Clem raise her eyes to meet his.
"Playing the piano at crazy early hours probably doesn't help." Clem said with a small smile which, was almost invisible. In fact, he's pretty sure no one else would have noticed.
"Walking in on some guy playing the piano at crazy early hours probably doesn't help either."
Clem giggled slightly "mhm, you got me there," she said followed by a dark smile.
He could see tears in her eyes. Tears she was trying so hard to hold in and he wanted to help her, he really really did, but he was just as broken. Just as sad, this whole moving on thing was way more difficult then he had ever predicted.

||Thanks for reading!
As you can tell, I'm not a good writer. I know there wasn't really a lot of Clouis action but I think it was really important to set where they're mindsets are at. Paint the setting, you know? I feel like they would highly rely on each other after Marlon's death as everyone else would, unwillingly, move on quite fast, preparing for the bandits and getting Sophie and Minnie back. I'll only write another chapter if anyone is interested, but if not, thank you for your time! It's much appreciated 💗