Hey all! Finally got around to uploading this story! I'm very excited about this since I've been waiting to write a bunch of Louis x Clementine stuff. This first chapter might come off a bit slow to people, but it's kinda just to get the ball rolling. The first chapter is a little short since it's only around 2000 - 3000 words, but future chapters will definitely be longer! Also I'm still not sure if I'm going to be pursuing an actual storyline with these two or just uploading numerous oneshots that technically connect to something. (Which is still kinda like a story now that I think about it). Regardless, I'll kinda play around with the oneshot idea and the storyline idea for a little to see which one I like more, and which one other people like more. Anyway, that's enough of me talking, I hope you guys enjoy this first chapter of many featuring the Clouis/Louisentine ship!

Marlon was dead. Gone right in front of her just like that. Nothing would've been able to blindside her as much as this. She could watch a walker talk in full sentences and it still wouldn't trump what just happened. Her gaze slowly moved to AJ as he held the murder weapon.

AJ began to notice the the collective eyes that all locked into him at once. "W-what?" He asked looking worried. "I aimed for the head."

"AJ..." Clem spoke in a hushed tone. Looking on horrified at the young boy who had just killed someone for the first time.

"I-is something wrong? He was gonna hurt you..." AJ asked looking concerned.

"Oh my god..." Violet said in horror.

"He killed him!" Willy exclaimed. "He-he's dead!"

"Guys! We-we all need to...to calm down." Clementine cautioned, still baffled and taken aback by the carnage.

"Calm down?!" Ruby repeated. "Your boy just killed Marlon!"

"In case you forgot, Ruby, Marlon would've done the same to me." Clementine replied.

"What are we supposed to do when the Raiders come?" Aasim asked.

"We sure as hell aren't giving anybody away!" Omar replied.

"They're gonna want something! If we're not letting them take us, then what's gonna happen?" Mitch asked.

"Why not just give AJ to them?!" Willy offered. "He too dangerous to be here!"

"That's not gonna happen!" Clem snapped, glaring at the boy. "We all have to just settle down before he storm goes away, and our bickering attracts walkers!"

"She's right." Violet admitted, causing everyone to silence and stare at her. "Enough has happened already. The best thing for us to do right now is to get some sleep and discuss this tomorrow. No one is in any shape for this topic right now."

Clementine was relieved that Violet had her back and got everyone to finally simmer down without anymore dispute. It was already late as it was, and all this yelling and conflict was only making her more and more exhausted.

Nobody felt comfortable with having to sit on this issue for the night. But they all could agree that what they did need was sleep, and staying up yelling at each other in the rain would only result in more issues.

Most of the kids headed to their dorms while Mitch, Aasim, and Louis worked on finding somewhere to put Marlon's body.

AJ opened the door to his and Clementine's room. Clementine followed him in and shut the door behind her and leaned on it. Visibly conflicted.

"Clem?" AJ called in a worried tone. "I did the right thing, right?"

There was silence following that question. Heavy silence. The only noise audible in the room was the sigh Clementine let out as she gathered her thoughts.

"I don't think you did, AJ."

"But...he was bad. He gave Tenn's sisters away, killed Brody, and then tried to kill you too." AJ said.

"All of that is true, yes, but that doesn't always mean you need to kill someone. Marlon may have done very bad things, but he was remorseful for them." Clementine explained.

"R-remorseful? What's that mean?" AJ asked.

"It means he felt bad about what he did." Clementine stated. "He wasn't happy about doing bad things."

"He felt sorry?" AJ added.

Clementine nodded.

AJ hung his head. He was beginning to feel the weight of the situation and the guilt that followed. "I didn't know..."

"You should get some sleep, it's late." Clementine said ushering him to his bed.

"Are they gonna kick us out?" AJ asked, fear riddled in his voice.

Clementine tucked AJ in, filling in for the silence and hesitance to answer. "I don't know."

The answer she gave seemed to worry him more. She hated the fact that it did, but there was nothing else to tell him. There was no low balling this situation whatsoever.

"I'll be right back."

"Clem?" AJ called out in a worried tone.

"Just gonna get some fresh air. I'll be fine, don't worry." Clementine reassured, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Violet heard a knock at her door, slightly startling her.

"Come in."

Clementine opened the door and peaked her head in before fully entering the room. "Hey."

"Hey, Clem."

"Sorry, I just needed to talk to someone." Clementine apologized.

"It's fine." Violet reassured. "How are you holding up?" Violet asked.

Clementine shrugged. "Watched Brody die and turn. Thought I was going to die next. And AJ killed someone for the first time. I honestly don't know how I don't have ptsd right now."

Violet nodded. "We're all on edge right now. None of us knew Marlon would do such horrible things, or even try to blame you for it."

"I wish it could've gone differently." Clementine said, looking down.

"We all do. It's gonna weigh pretty heavy on us." Violet said. She paused to look at Clementine with a serious look. "Especially for Louis."

Clementine felt a pang of guilt strike her suddenly. She almost forgot that Marlon and Louis were extremely close before all of this. She couldn't even imagine how someone as light hearted as him would take a loss like that.

"Oh god. Do you know where he's at right now?"

Violet shook her head and shrugged.

Clementine sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You should get some sleep. Who knows what's gonna happen tomorrow."

Violet silently agreed and kicked her legs onto her bed.

Clementine headed for the door thinking about where Louis would be at.

"Clem?" Violet called. Stopping the teen before she left.

"Yeah?"

"Make sure he's okay."

Clementine hesitantly nodded. "I will."

She closed Violet's door and began thinking about where Louis would be in a time like this. Her first thought about his whereabouts was his dorm room. One of the obvious places she could look to find him. But there was something in her gut that told her he wasn't there. She didn't know exactly what it was but it was pulling her away from going to his dorm room. Instead she decided to go to a different room. The one where she first met him after waking up in this school. The room where he sang to her.

Clementine slowly opened the door into the piano room. The first thing her eyes spotted was Louis. He sat in front of the piano like a statue. It didn't look like he had moved much or pressed many keys for a while. He just sat there in silence. The image of it all frightened Clementine, being the first time she saw Louis in such a depressing manor.

She walked into the room and silently closed the door behind her.

"Hey, Clem." Louis spoke in a solemn tone.

"Are...you alright?" Clementine asked walking closer to Louis.

Louis let out a small but audible scoff. "Just watched my best friend die. I think I'm far from that."

Clementine silently pitied him. She cautiously sat next to him and tried to meet his eyes.

"I'm really sorry."

"I've known him my whole life. Never in a million years did I think he was capable of killing. Or even willing to let Sophie and Minerva get taken." Louis said.

"That's...just how this world changes people. Maybe he just couldn't handle it." Clementine said.

"Clem." Louis spoke. "What did AJ mean when he said he 'aimed for the head'."

Clementine paused. Sensing how easy this question could get out of hand since it was her advice that he took. She was hesitant to respond but figured he needed answers.

"When I was teaching AJ how to use a gun...I told him to always aim for the head."

"What?" Louis snapped in disbelief, standing up and looking into Clementine's eyes. "You TOLD him to shoot Marlon in the head?"

"No!" Clementine denied. "I told him this before we even met you guys. Before you found us at the car crash!"

"But you told him how to kill someone? You told him where to shoot!"

"Louis, I was teaching him to kill a walker! I never intended for him to shoot Marlon."

Louis turned and shook his head in disbelief.

"He's just a kid! He heard about what Marlon did and saw that he was about to kill me. He got scared! He doesn't know any better!"

"So that just makes it all better, huh?" Louis asked meeting Clementine's gaze again. "That justifies him taking my best friends life?"

Clementine's features softened, realizing Louis' eyes were filled with tears. He was confused and angry, but mostly sad. Clementine felt her heart ache just seeing how much pain he was in. She never thought someone like him could ever be in such a low state.

"Louis...I can't tell you how sorry I am for what happened. I wish I could've stopped AJ. I..." She looked into his eyes. Almost feeling the agony he must've been feeling right now. She stood up to walk closer to him, stopping just a few feet apart. Slowly grabbing his hand. "I wish there was a better outcome."

Louis looked down while the tears in his eyes rolled down his cheeks.

Clementine bit her lip, feeling worse and worse as she watched him breakdown for the first time. She was thinking of anything and everything she could say to comfort the poor teen. Anything, something, to help him cope with this loss.

"Louis..."

"Clem, I..." Louis spoke with a shaky voice. He slowly pulled his hand from hers. Something he never thought he would do in a lifetime. "I just need to be alone right now."

Clementine stared at him concerned. She didn't want to leave him in this room by himself, especially with how distraught he was.

"Louis I don't think-"

"Please, Clem." Louis begged meeting her gaze with his watery eyes once more.

Clementine reluctantly obliged, slowly heading to the door to leave. As she opened the door, she looked back at him one last time in pity. Wishing she could do something to ease his pain. She hesitantly turned, finally leaving back to her room. All she could think about was the look he gave her before she left. Looking into his eyes was like looking into someone's fragile, shattered soul. It...actually hurt her thinking about it. She couldn't tell as to why, but knowing the state Louis was in now made her feel horrible. Why she was so attached to his feelings right now was beyond her knowledge, but seeing him like that hurt her more than she would've thought it would. Even as she arrived back in her shared room with AJ her mind was still stuck on Louis. The image of him broken down was etched into the back of her mind as she closed her eyes to sleep.

Clementine woke up the next day to a knock at the door. She glanced over to check on AJ, finding him still in deep sleep. She paused in bed briefly, contemplating staying in the bed, but ultimately pulling herself out of it in order to answer the door. She was met with Violet once she opened the door.

"Hey, Clem. Do you have a minute?" Violet asked.

Clementine checked on AJ one more time before returning to Violets gaze and nodding.

She followed Violet outside to the courtyard. Everyone except for Willy and Tenn was attended for. As they neared the group, Clementine's gaze fixated on Louis. It was no surprise he was the first to catch her eye this morning, but what was actually surprising was the fact that he was sitting by himself at one of the tables. She assumed he came for the group meeting as that's why everyone else was there. Violet must've let him keep to himself, only requiring him to be there for any insight and to keep him in the loop. She didn't want to ask too much of him given his current status. No one did.

"I wanted you to join us, Clem, cause we were on the topic of leaders." Violet explained. "We all agreed to have Aasim, Louis, and I look after everyone. We were actually thinking you'd be a pretty good addition to help us lead."

"Me?" Clementine asked.

Violet nodded. "You helped bring back a bunch of food before, plus you seem really capable for the position. Even after last night, we talked about it, and thought you'd be a good fit. That's assuming if you want the position?"

Clementine contemplated on the offer, seeing that she did have a lot of survival knowledge and was trustworthy enough. Not to mention she liked the idea of not having a sole leader. At least not one that called absolutely all the shots and kept secrets from everyone.

"Yeah. I'd be willing to step up."

Violet smiled at her. "Good. We're gonna start discussing where we need to go for food and think about possibly expanding the zones we can search through."

Clementine nodded understandingly.

"You can go ahead go on about your day. We'll call you when we need you." Violet dismissed.

Clementine turned to head back to her room but paused and looked over at Louis. She didn't think he was ready to talk again after last night. He looked slightly better than he did last night. Slightly. Though visibly, he didn't want to be bothered at the moment. But Clementine had to get something off her mind.

She walked over and sat next to him. Silence followed as the two acknowledged the others' presence.

"Louis?" Clem asked.

Louis slightly turned his head towards her, but not enough to look her in the eyes.

"I...um...I just wanted to thank you. For standing up for me last night. I know you were hesitant at first, but you did come around, and you did protect me. I really appreciated it."

"Yeah, um, anytime." Louis replied. Almost sounding like his normal self.

Clementine had a lot more gratitude about his actions than he would've known. She felt a sudden urge in her stomach take over her body in a swift fashion. She placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned in, kissing him on the cheek.

Pulling back she looked at him and saw his flustered expression as he held his cheek. He looked generally shocked at the contact. Hell, she didn't even understand why she did that herself. She just acted on a strong impulse. It just felt right...for some reason. She quickly glanced at the kids in the meeting, hoping none of them saw that. Feeling some relief wash over her seeing that they were still busy in their discussion to noticed what had happened.

At this point they were both blushing, the atmosphere becoming a little awkward as both of them were unsure of what to say next.

"Um..." Clementine trailed off. "If you need to talk to someone or anything, just let me know."

Louis nodded, still blushing wildly, but trying to play it off.

With that, Clementine got up from the table and headed back to her room. The thought of where the impulse had come from was still lost upon her, but she couldn't deny that she felt some sort of spark when she did it. A spark that felt new to her, something...good.

Aaaaaaaaand that's chapter 1! Honestly I feel like I could've done a bit more to start it of with, but I feel like showing how Marlon's death affected and conflicted Louis at the start was a decent way to begin. I'd like to think that Louis inherently brings out Clem's softer side. I think it's a common thought in the fandom with the Louis x Clem shippers, hence the reason why Clementine would even think about showing a small form of affection let alone actually doing it. But slowly, that softer side is gonna get a lot more attention in the chapters to come, and I think it's safe to say that Clem is gonna find it rather interesting. Possibly even odd at first since she's never really felt this much affection for someone, outside of Gabe I guess, (still don't know if they were canonically a couple or not...). Funny thing about my fanfic idea actually, I was originally going to write in an OC to ship with Clementine before The Final Season Episode 1 came out. I literally had scenes written out with the two of them and began to have a story planned for it. But as soon as I saw Louis and saw the scenes where he interacted with Clementine, I basically threw my OC x Clem idea out the window, Louis and Clem were just too perfect in my eyes. But anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter! Feel free to review and let me know what you thought or if you wanna just talk about how much you love Louis x Clem or whatever. If you wanna see more from me then feel free to follow and or favorite this story! Until the next chapter, see ya!