AN: My first actual Walking Dead game fanfic. Wow. Weird.

HI! For those who do not know me, my name is Jenny! I'm currently 18 years old and writing my debut novel in real life. I stopped writing fanfic for a hot second but decided to pick back up, letting out ideas that I've had (and will never write in a novel), and hopes to spark inspiration for my personal projects. I wrote one one-shot for TWDG but that's about it. Normally, I write Life is Strange works and such.

I've been a huge fan of TWDG for a while now. It wasn't until season 4 where I was like; "You know what? Why the hell not?!" and decided to put pen to paper... well, fingers to keys, and try writing for this fandom. Though I do ship both ClemXViolet and ClemXLouis, I'm more of a Clouis shipper. Sorry :/

With that being said, this story will be a Clouis friendship/romance story! It'll be in a different universe, so sorry if you're not into that stuff either. It'll be in a world where everything didn't go to shit. Well, as shitty. Lee is Clem & AJ's adoptive father and Ericson is a regular old high school in Macon. I'm not going to give to much of the plot away, but it'll be typical high school bullshit. Friends, enemies, dances, etc. I'm also aging up a few characters to my liking. Especially the teens/kids Clem ran into in earlier seasons (such as Sarah and Duck) who'll be around her age in season 4. According to Wiki, AJ is about five. But, I want him to be eight, around season 1 Clementine's age.

But... I need to warn you guys. Especially the people who don't get actual warning tags compared to the AO3 community.

This story will touch on a lot of topics. Especially mental illness. This includes anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and anger management issues. This story will include self-harm, suicide attempts, and violence. This won't be your cute little high school love story, even though I did say "typical high school bullshit" earlier. It'll also be a story of forgiveness and self-acceptance.

If you're okay with all of that, I hope you enjoy! :)

Mother-fucking-Macon.

That's all I could think of whenever my adoptive-father, Lee, smiled up at a two story house. This was apparently his childhood home. My grandparents used to live here before they passed away. My dad was in college in Atlanta and he couldn't afford to keep the house. Neither could my uncle which resulted in both of them selling it.

Now, here we are with a truck full of our shit, on the doorstep of memories.

I held a box that was destined to go into my new room up to my chest, glaring at the empty house. We lived in a small town in northern Georgia, close to Alabama, but he was offered a better job with a higher pay. I don't blame him; he didn't get paid much at my old school. He's excited, though. Who could blame him? He gets to be a college professor and live in his old childhood home. It's a nostalgia trip and dream come true. He was practically killing two birds with one stone.

My little brother AJ, stood beside me. He's in third grade. His little dark brown afro bounced as he jumped in excitement, happy to stay at this house. I must admit, it'll be pretty cool to take over my dad or uncle's old room. But, I sure as hell missed my old friends. All I ever known was that little town of six-thousand people. It sounds like a lot, maybe. But compared to Macon's population of apparently one thousand and fifty-ish people, I think we know which one is bigger.

"Come on sweetpea," my dad grinned, "a fresh start is always a good thing!"

"Not always."

He sighed, "We talked about this."

"Talking doesn't solve everything."

"It can, though."

I rolled my eyes before walking up the few stairs that were made of brick. I placed the cardboard box onto my left arm as I used my right hand to turn the knob. The old door creaked open before I was forced to use my sneaker to open the rest of the way. I was welcomed with a staircase in a little hallway. Two rooms with large archways welcomed the left and right of me, both empty. In the left room was another archway, which lead into the kitchen. From the right of the staircase, through the other empty room, lead into another one which had an archway too. Both the kitchen and empty space connected together, forming what I could assume was a kitchen and living room combo. I grumbled to myself as I pictured our family hauling furniture around, filling the empty spaces of the house. Especially the upstairs, which I wasn't looking forward to at all. Pushing a mattress up a flight of stairs isn't easy!

"I call dibs!" My little brother yelled as he pushed passed me, racing up the stairs. I gasped as his little body hit the side of my leg, causing me to stumble a bit. He laughed as he grabbed a hold of the wooden railing, skipping stairs as he ran. His little excited voice bounced off the walls. as I watched his untied shoes go around the corner, excited to explore the new rooms and claim one.

"Sounds like a competition." My dad teased, smirking down at me.

"Whats the prize?"

My dad paused before glancing between me and the staircase, "A new... room?"

"And...?"

"Hmm..." He rested a few fingers on his chin as his brows came together. He pretended to think hard about the situation before tapping his foot against the carpet. Finally, he snapped his fingers with a smile, "Whoever claims my old bedroom gets to choose what we have for dinner."

"I'll have one extra large pepperoni pizza, please." I laughed, "Deal's on." I began to haul the box up the carpeted stairs before I saw my little brother burst into one of the rooms. He looked around with a large gasp escaping his little lips. As the room came into view, I saw a huge rounded window, almost blinding me due to the sun poking through. The room wasn't large enough to be considered a master bedroom. But, it was definitely a large enough room. Especially for a teen who needs a place to study. My little brother spun in a full circle, looking at every little edge of the room, before meeting my gaze. His smile turned into a hard frown.

"I call it." His arms crossed over his chest, "It's mine."

"Did you even check the other rooms?"

His little arms slumped to his sides, "No."

"Then how do you know there isn't a better room than this one?" AJ raised his eyebrows before walking past me, not wanting to admit that I was right. I smirked before he turned the corner and saw another series of doors. I giggled and shook my head at the little boy. Though he can be stubborn and sassy, he was still childish in a good way. I decided that for now, this was my new room. I glanced out the large slightly rounded window that had a view of the backyard. It was weird, mainly because I saw an old tree house. It looked like the one I have. Well, had. Turning around, I noticed my dad leaning against the door frame. We both smiled at each other before he glanced around the room, breaking our gaze, before sighing loudly. Taking his hands out of his distressed jeans, he made his way across the empty room with a twinkle in his eye.

"God, a lot of memories were held in here." He smiled wide, "Some good... some bad. Mainly good, though."

"I swear if you had sex-"

His booming laugh caught me off, "No! Well, almost."

"Gross." I snubbed my nose which caused him to laugh harder.

"I'm just kidding... sort of." My father winked before wrapping his arm around my shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "No, but I used to sneak out all the time using that exact tree. That tree would actually scare me as a child. Whenever I was little, it's shadows and branches would look like a huge scary monster."

"You snuck out?"

He nodded, "Not my proudest days." He gazed out the window with a small smile, remembering anything that occurred to him years prior my existence. Shaking his head with a small chuckle, he rubbed the side of my arm. "Who knew that you'd be staying in this room later on."

"Don't hold your breath." I placed my head on his shoulder, "AJ already called dibs on it."

"Well, in that case, who knew that he'd be staying in this room." Just then, my little brother came around the corner, almost on cue. My father's arm dropped as our attention focused on the little child. AJ bounced up and down in excitement, clearly overjoyed by exploring the house. His little grin grew wider as his slightly crooked teeth were exposed, shining as the sun from the bedroom window shined on them and his eyes, which sparkled with happiness.

"The other room has a green dinosaur drawn on it! I want that one!" He raised his hands into fists, clenching them against his chest, as he jumped higher. AJ's favorite color was green. Most of his old bedroom was nothing but green. His old theme revolved around green race cars with occasional super heroes here and there. Now, I guess it will be dinosaurs. "Can I please, please, please have that one?! Please?!"

My father turned towards me with a smirk, "I guess we're having pizza tonight."