Always ~ Violentine

8 ~ Second Chance

"Jesus," Lou said aloud. "Wish I had a cool name like that." He abruptly stopped and fell into a ninja stance - feet planted, hands at the ready. "Ninja Lou at your service," he uttered in a low, dark voice.

Clementine softly chuckled, and Vi did her full-body eye roll that always made Louis' day. "Trying to butcher your name even more, Lou?" the blonde teased with a sly smirk.

"That sounds like jealousy. But fine. If you're in danger, don't expect Ninja Lou to show up and save the day."

"Yeah, expect me to," Clem cut in. Her and the blonde exchanged smiles while the dreadlocked boy kept to himself.

"So Clem, how do you know Jesus? I know you said he helped you before, but how do you really know him?" Violet questioned while scanning ahead for any sign of dead life possibly roaming around.

"The guy he mentioned, Javi, and I were trying to reach a place called Richmond," she started off.

"The baseball star?" Lou questioned.

"Yeah. His group and I ran into Jesus along the way. Told us Richmond had been taken over by a group called The New Frontier. They were bad people led by Joan, one of their leaders. Before I met Javi, I was taken into The New Frontier; I didn't have a choice." The girl lifted her left sleeve and revealed the brand.

"Shit, Clem." Vi muttered. "How did I not see this before when we.. you know."

Clementine recalled the time the two had together, forcing herself to not smile in front of Louis at the thought or she'd never hear the end of it. "I mean it's pinkened a lot since then. Plus it was kinda dark, and you weren't really focused on my arm."

Violet heavily blushed. "I suppose," she stated, still wishing she had noticed it before. It looked like it must have hurt a lot.

"Ouch," Louis stated.

"I know. They made people get them to show their commitment to the group. Luckily, I got out of there. I left Javi to go find AJ, but.. I came back because the entire city was surrounded by a herd of walkers. I met back up with Javi and got involved with a bunch of shit-."

"Clem, there's this thing. It's called 'long story short'," Louis informed in a jocular manner.

Clementine playfully shoved him with her shoulder and continued. "Javi and his group took over Richmond with the help of Jesus. They changed it into a well-functioning community. That was before it turned back into a warzone. I left to find AJ."

The brunette's eyes brimmed with tears from the poignant memory of it all. She tried to fight it off, but the tears just started to fall out uncontrollably. Violet pulled her into her arms, gently rubbing her back. "It's okay, Clem. He's safer now, with Tenn and his parents," she comforted.

"Oh, AJ.." Clementine weakly forced out. After a few sniffles, she gradually pulled back from Violet's arms. "I'm sorry. I know I can't be breaking down all the time from a single thought of him, but it just hurts so bad. I don't know how to move on."

"You don't have to apologize," Violet pointed out. Holding onto Clem's hand, she stated, "it's hard to let go of the people you love. It takes time. It's always going to hurt when you think of him, but as time goes on, the thought of him will hurt less and less. I promise."

"You're right. Thank you for that. I really needed to hear it."

Eventually, Clem knew that they had to get back, and forced herself to refrain from letting out more tears. Louis was watching out for walkers while the girls had their moment, but he was still there for Clementine if she needed him.

"You okay?" Violet whispered.

"Yeah, I'm okay now. Let's keep moving."

~~~