Come Back To Me

Part 1

"Vi, it's not your fault-" Aasim began, stopping midsentence when the scrappy blonde jammed her elbow back into whoever was holding her, feeling as they dropped her to the ground, grunting in pain as they silently stumbled back.

Violet figured out who it was a moment too late, a sinking feeling settling in her stomach as she turned back to see Louis on his knees, clutching his gut in pain. She blinked, taking a raspy breath as her senses came back to her. "Lou... I- I'm sorry..." the girl continued, a small sob breaking through the emotional walls she'd built up over the years, "Louis, I'm sorry... fuck, I didn't...".

He didn't let her finish, the boy just looked up at her and smiled softly with that stupid, idiotic smile he always had no matter the situation, nodding silently in understanding as he caught his breath.

"Just, everybody try and calm down," Ruby said standing between them, doing her best to keep the peace between everyone, "We know it was an accident, Vi, but just take a breath and we'll figure this out... can you do that?".

She nodded vigorously and scrambled up to her feet, dragging an arm across her face to hide her tears. It wasn't often that she showed any real emotions to the other kids, most of them just accepting her cold, brooding personality. She'd gotten better at being more open ever since Clem found her way into her life, but now... everything felt like it was falling apart before her eyes.

"Good, now... now go settle down while we try to think of something to do. It's still dangerous out there since we dont know if any more of Lilly's people survived the explosion," the southern girl continued, walking up and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, looking over at Louis who slowly climbed back up to his feet, "We'll send out a search party to find them, Vi, you have our word,".

The small crowd of kids nodded and murmured in agreement, everyone offering her encouraging and reassuring words. She wanted to believe them... she wanted to believe that Clementine and AJ would be found safe and unharmed, but Violet just couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible had happened to the duo. She shrugged Ruby's hand away, wrapping her arms around herself protectively as she walked off to the farthest end of the courtyard, cradling her bloodied hand against her chest, embarrassed and ashamed of her outburst.

It wasn't like this was the first time they'd seen her like this, nearly the same thing happened after Minnie and Sophie were kidnapped, Violet herself felt like a small part of her had been taken as well, but like she'd told Clem before everything went down on the ship... she wasn't sure if she could handle losing someone else.

And she couldn't.

Clemintine was all she had left.

A few more tears rolled down her cheeks as the blonde silently cussed herself out for acting so weak and immature... she was the leader now, and she needed to be strong for the whole group's sake, even if Clem (whether she believed it or not) was the strongest of them all.

With a sigh, Violet looked down to see Rosie trotting up beside her, whining and whimpering softly as she nudged her massive head against her leg. She'd barely even noticed the large dog following her around, having been so withdrawn and preoccupied with finding out where her friends were. "I know girl... I'm worried about them too," she muttered, reaching down with her uninjured hand and scratching behind her ears, "Goddamit, Clem, where the fuck are you?".

They both stood in relative silence, watching as the sun rose higher and higher into the sky, sunlight breaking through the holes in the barriers surrounding the school, the only thing that got Violet to budge from her spot was the very obvious footsteps walking up to her. "Ruby, I appreciate you checking up on me but I want to be left the fuck alone," she sighed sharply, crossing her arms over her chest, "I'll talk when we're ready to go find them,".