Author's note: Hi there everyone. I'm new to the TellTale (RIP) Walking Dead fan fiction world. I've been playing the games for years, but The Final Season just really inspired me – I haven't cared so much about characters that aren't Clementine since the classic Season One days.

Just to give some context: This story starts just before the raiders show up at the school and will continue from there. I stick quite strictly to the story-beats and dialogue of the game, but I do deviate every now and then (like in this chapter) Also, it's a Violetine. Also also, it's told from Violet's point of view – so it's pretty sweary in places ;)

Hope you enjoy. Any constructive criticism would be massively appreciated. – Thank you

Constellation Daydreams

Chapter One

Violet stood looking out from the front guard tower of Ericson's Boarding School for Troubled Youth; or at least that's what the school had been called, back when the world had been normal. Nowadays, for the kids surviving within its walls, it was mainly known as 'home.'

It was sometime before the sunrise of a new day.

She couldn't be sure exactly what day it was, or even what month it was. She'd given up counting the days some time ago and mainly marked the months through their varying seasons. At the moment everything was still green, but there had been a definite nip invading the air these past few nights, so she figured the warm months might be on the turn.

Violet paced, looking out into the darkened land and shaking out limbs that were steadily growing stiff. She had on an over-sized, thick-ish coat that came down passed her knees that had once belonged to one of the male teachers of the boarding school. It was her go-to night-time guard duty coat and did a respectable job of keeping out the chill of the clear night.

Picking up the bow she'd rested against the wooden rails of the tower, she wiped down the string with her coat sleeve; not wanting it to get wet with dew; and pulled it back a bit. Her fingers ached slightly being thrown into sudden action, but she stubbornly persevered until the bow was bent to full draw. Violet smiled, satisfied, and gently relaxed her draw. She decided to keep hold of the bow and absently patted the coat's long pockets to double check that the arrow she'd placed in there hadn't disappeared. There was a bucket containing a whole load more arrows in the corner of the tower.

She'd been on look-out for about two hours, give or take. Louis was meant to relieve her soon, but Violet wasn't going to hold her breath on that score and potentially die from all the asphyxiation. Louis was unreliable at the best of times, but early-morning guard duty seemed to make him particularly absent.

Violet sighed and looked through the binoculars that hung from her neck for something to do.

Nothing. The world was just dark and still.

It had been just under two weeks since Clem had first announced that a raiding party would be coming to bash down their gates and attempt to take everyone at the school prisoner.

Two long, strained weeks.

At first everyone was all rushing action – writing signs, fortifying walls, making traps – now, everything was ready, except for the raiders it seemed, who were just point-blank refusing to turn up in any kind of polite timely manner.

It made Violet feel constantly anxious. Maybe that was the raiders plan; drive them all insane with nerves and then rock up with a huge fucking child-snatching net to finish the job.

Tenn had asked her the previous evening if she thought that Minnie and Sophie might be among the raiders. She'd told him truthfully that she didn't know, but couldn't deny the thought hadn't plagued her own mind recently too.

Violet honestly wasn't sure what would be better. On the one hand, if the raiders did bring them, then maybe that would be the best chance to get them back. But on the other, it had been a whole year since they'd last seen them. What if, somehow, the raiders had managed to turn Minnie and Sophie against them in that time? What if the sisters even came armed with guns, ready to kidnap their old school friends?

Violet shuddered, despite her coat.

There's no way they'd do that, she told herself forcefully. She couldn't think that way.

Ever since finding out from that bastard, Marlon, that Minnie and Sophie could still be alive; Violet's mind had been churning.

Her knee-jerk desire had been to stage an attack – to go and find the raiders camp and bring the twins back. But, in the unlikely event that they even survived against an army of adults with guns, and they actually did manage to succeed in bringing Minnie and Sophie back home; they still had no idea where to even begin looking for the raiders' camp. The woods in the area stretched on for miles and miles. It was impossible.

But she detested doing nothing while there was still a chance that her friends could still be alive.

Violet tormented herself by imagining the sisters waiting for the first few weeks of their capture; hopeful for any sign of a rescue party on the horizon; and then, as each month went by with nothing, them slowly losing all hope.

Violet sighed. She had been so sure that Minnie was dead. She'd mourned her for a year…and now, with this news of her possible survival; as if Minnie had somehow been resurrected; Violet didn't know how to deal with that.

She wondered if Minnie did come home, what things would be like between them. Would Minnie want them to go back to how they'd been before? Together, as a couple?

Violet's fingers twisted around the bow arm as she contemplated this.

The truth was she wasn't sure how she'd feel if Minnie did return; ecstatic of course…but then, what after that?

With a familiar gnawing guilt, and as she so often did recently, Clementine swept into her mind.

Clementine thoughts were dangerous territory.

Violet had become aware that she might actually maybe like Clementine.

Maybe quite a lot.

And that thought made her feel like a cheating bitch.

Minnie could still be alive and here she was thinking about the new cute girl that had crashed – quite literally – into their lives.

But it was a bit more than that. It wasn't because Clem happened to be the only available, pretty girl around; Violet appreciated Clem's fire and self-belief. She was strong and smart, and didn't let anyone push her around.

Violet found those traits really attractive…plus, the fact that Clementine was also physically really attractive didn't hurt either.

She wondered sometimes what Clem thought about her.

Violet, admittedly, hadn't made the best first impression when they'd met. She'd been pretty rude to Clementine actually.

It had been a defence mechanism, she knew that.

Violet hadn't fancied getting chummy with any new people and potentially running the risk of actually coming to care about them.

Because caring about people brought pain. It was an inevitable consequence.

She'd often felt the need to escape the school and go and find a nice cave somewhere to live out her days in complete isolation. That way, Violet could stop worrying.

Everyone alive was going to one day die obviously, but in this changed world it wasn't just a question of when anymore; there were suddenly the new horrific questions of 'how violently?' and 'would you become a walker?'

It was a bad world to have a heart in.

But feelings were stupid, untameable things and Violet had discovered that she not only liked Clementine, but really liked her.

Violet thought that Clementine genuinely liked her too, but perhaps just not in the way that Violet liked Clementine.

There was no proof either way on that score. Thanks to Louis's probing in the 'getting to know you' card game they'd all played on Clem and AJ's first night at the school, and which had been specifically invented so that Louis could hit on Clem (Violet was sure) Violet knew that Clementine had never had a boyfriend. But that didn't mean anything obviously.

It was hard. Sometimes Violet caught herself staring at Clementine; just lost in the idea of what it might be like to kiss her. Clementine would often catch her eye and Violet had to pretend that she'd just been staring off into the middle-distance and not really looking at Clementine at all.

Minnie and her had shared many kisses before…

Violet wondered if Clem's lips would feel different to Minnie's. She supposed so. Thinking about that brought a warm buzz to her lower stomach.

God, she should stop having thoughts. Thinking about Clementine while attempting to guard the school was not a good combination.

She had to focus.

With a strong force of will, Violet stretched open her tired eyes and stared into the dark wood.

Nothing moved between the trees, which was all the go-ahead her mind required to drift back into its thought bubble.

Being one of only two girls that now remained in the school, and having been the only girl in that school to be in a same-sex relationship; as far as Violet knew anyway; she really didn't have anyone to talk to about her feelings. She'd fallen in love with Minnie naturally. It had felt normal.

Violet remembered way back in her childhood learning about homosexuality. Well, at least, learning the word. She'd grown up in a Christian family and therefore a lot of her childhood had been spent in and around the church.

Her Sunday school teacher had had a huge book of Bible stories for children that she'd read from every week. One time the story of 'Sodom and Gomorrah' was chosen. The words of the story had sat alongside disturbingly colourful pictures of cities and people burning that had terrified Violet.

The teacher had solemnly explained that those people were burning for the sin of homosexuality. One child had asked what the word meant and the teacher had replied that they'd be told properly when they were older, but to know that it was a terribly evil thing.

Violet, like probably all the kids there, had taken that to heart; they didn't know what the word meant exactly, but they knew that whatever it was, it was an awful sin that deserved a horrible death.

Of course, the years had done their work and now Violet understood – she was that awful sin, apparently. A homosexual.

Violet shook her head angrily. Words were stupid.

Violet had never thought of herself as gay; she'd never thought of herself as anything really. She was just a girl who'd fallen in love with another girl, and it had been beautiful and loving.

So fuck her old Sunday school teacher who had called it sin. Violet had abandoned that part of her life the moment the world had gone to shit anyway, which incidentally, hadn't been long after her parents had abandoned her at the boarding school.

When people started coming back from the dead to kill the living, she knew that there could be no God.

It had all tuned out to be a load of crap.

So, she'd had a relationship with Minnie and now she was attracted to Clem – well, if you wanted to title it, she guessed that made her gay then. Not that she'd ever had a fair shake of the heterosexual stick, she had to admit.

The only guys she'd been around were the ones she grew up with and the idea of getting with any of them made her feel like last nights rabbit stew might make a second appearance.

Never say never, she supposed, but Violet was fairly confident that ladies were her thing, and that idea had never worried her. Nor had it seemed to bother any of the others, which was great; but Violet would still love the opportunity to talk to someone who understood about all this girl/girl relationship stuff. She still had questions that she hadn't quite figured out yet.

She'd kissed Minnie, sure, and that had felt natural….but they'd never gone any further than that. Violet knew about sex obviously, but no one could talk to her about girl sex.

She smirked at herself for thinking the thoughts; but she wanted to know about it. She got the gist, but were there specific techniques that were employed?

Absentmindedly tapping the bow arm against her thigh, she considered.

She'd managed to scavenge what must have been the only book about a lesbian relationship from the school library some years before when she'd first realised that she had feelings for Minnie. The feelings hadn't scared her, not really; they'd just been surprising.

She had wanted to make sense of all these new emotions that had suddenly crept up on her, and had turned to teen literature for some kind of guidance.

She'd discovered a book with two girls on the cover that had peeked her interest. 'Annie on My Mind' was the title. She'd stashed it in her room and Violet still secretly read it every now and then.

The only reason Violet thought it had earned a place in the strict boarding school was because it had been written way back in 1982 and was probably deemed a classic or something. It was her only glimpse into a world that was so different from her own reality and yet so similar as well.

The two girls in the story struggled, like Violet was struggling; but for different reasons. In the story, the two girls inevitably couldn't hold on to the happiness they'd found in each other because the people around them couldn't accept their relationship. In Violet's world, she too hadn't been able to save her love. The situations were different, but in an odd kind of way, it was a small comfort to be able to relate to those girls in the book.

Violet bit her lip.

If only she'd been there with the twins that day…

She sighed. 'If only' the world hadn't taken a nose dive into hell. 'If onlys' were useless.

The idea of the two girls in the story being split apart purely because of society's views at the time had boggled Violet's mind. She'd never suffered any prejudice or mutterings behind her back from her school friends. It seemed so weird to her that anyone else would care so much about who other people loved.

She guessed if the world hadn't all gone to shit, then maybe people would still have enough free time to waste on concerning themselves with who other people fell in love with. Maybe she herself would have had a hard time of it, being brought up in the church as she had.

She thought back to her church-going parents and wondered what they'd think if they could see her now.

Violet didn't remember too much about them. Their faces in her minds-eye got fuzzier with each passing year; but the overwhelming memory of, at least, her early childhood, when everything was still good; was one of love and safety.

As she got older, her Dad had started drinking more heavily and her Mom had spent more and more time at work as a result, but Violet remembered these amazing moments before that time, even if the details within those moments were blurred.

She remembered her Mom wrapping her in huge hugs before bed time and her Dad taking her down to the dirt pitch area in their trailer park home to throw a ball about.

It made her heart hurt to think that all that love might have been taken away because of who she was.

Maybe her parents would have accepted her. Who knows? They were most probably dead now, so the 'what ifs' really didn't matter.

Violet had felt so lost and angry at her parents for ditching her at the boarding school.

She'd been left alone with a group of strange kids, and teachers who mostly treated her as if she were a 'troubled child;' as they delicately liked to term it; even before they got to know anything about her; and who took her sullenness as rebellion rather than the defence mechanism it really had been.

Violet looked back on that time and thought what a waste of emotion it had all been. But in hindsight, being brought to the school had saved her life. When the dead began to rise, she was safe with the other kids behind sturdy walls and huge, metal gates.

The teachers had mainly all fled, it was true, but the school had offered the kids a chance to recover from the shock of the walkers and given them the ability to observe; unmolested by the dead and living alike.

Violet realised that she'd been driven off-track in her thought process. She'd been thinking about the book, and Minnie and the conundrum that was Clementine.

There were some very tame love scenes in that book she'd read. As coyly-written as they were, they'd opened Violet's eyes to the intimacy and the tenderness you could feel with someone else.

Violet had felt so close to Minnie, but they'd never made it far enough to know that particular brand of closeness. She knew that she wanted to feel that; to be so immersed in someone that everything else just melted away.

It was stupid to think, but sometimes Violet worried that she might die a virgin. It was a waste of thought, but there you go. It often concerned her.

Clementine came to mind again, followed by that same warm feeling that seemed to spread throughout her lower region. Her cheeks flushed, despite being alone.

"You fucking horn dog," she muttered to herself.

"You talking about me?"

The sudden voice made Violet turn on her heel towards the tower's ladder; bow coming up and arrow snatched out of her pocket and notched before she'd even had time to think about what she was doing.

Upon finding Louis grinning at her sheepishly, Violet lowered her weapon.

"Christ Louis!" She snarled. "Haven't you learnt yet not to sneak up on people who are fucking armed?! I could have shot you!"

Louis, nonplussed; as was his usual state of being; continued to grin. "But Vi, aren't we all armed at the end of the day?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows and proceeding to wave his arms about him like some weird, humanoid jellyfish.

Violet rolled her eyes, irritated. Louis had a habit of irritating her. "You're an idiot."

Walking up to him, Violet forcibly pushed the bow into his chest. He put a hand around it and she held out her arrow, which he also took.

"But at least you're a sort of on-time idiot," she said with more softness. "I'm gonna catch some zs before breakfast."

Violet walked past him and had started to descend the ladder, when she heard Louis ask, "Seriously though, who are you horn-dogging? Come on, Vi, I wanna know! There should be no secrets between us."

Violet's head snapped up in surprise. Louis had turned to look at her; his immortal and increasingly infuriating smile, still intact.

"Wait. I think I might know," he continued, teasingly.

"Whatever," she countered, but didn't make a move to continue down the ladder.

"Um hmm," Louis mumbled, taking a few steps over to her. "Let me think. Whose cute and cool and recently come to our school? – Hey, that rhymes! Ha. ….But seriously, who is it? They might have recently been in a car crash maybe. Has a kid who bites. ….Oh, I know -"

"Can it, Louis," Violet growled.

Louis held up his hands in mock surrender. "I'm just saying Vi, that despite my best efforts, sweet Clementine doesn't seem to be feeling my charms -"

"That is shocking," Violet deadpanned.

"I know!" cried Louis, pointedly ignoring Violet's sarcasm. "But c'est la vie. If the lady doth not want to hang with your buddy Louis here, then well, maybe you got a shot, Vi."

Violet snorted in derision.

"Despite what everyone thinks of me, I'm not into chasing girls who aren't interested – and it's pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that Clem, sad as it is, isn't interested. Not in me at least. Not in that way." Louis said this a little wistfully, but then shrugged. "So you never know. …And it would be really nice to see you happy again," he added, quietly.

Violet rewarded this comment with a rare genuine smile.

She was reminded that Louis really did have his big heart in the right place most of the time.

She looked down at her feet balanced on the ladder rungs, so that she didn't need to meet Louis's eyes. "Yeah…I…hmm. Might…"

Violet shut her mouth. Voicing her feelings was hard, even with knowing Louis now for what felt like forever. There was quiet for a moment and then –

"You just use that awesome Violet charm and see what happens. …You know, that aloof, snarky, bordering-on-aggressive thing you do so well." Louis said, giving Violet a wink to take the sting out of his well-meant words.

Violet put her middle finger up at him in silent response and finally started to move down the ladder.

Her head had just dipped below the guard tower platform when she heard Louis shout jovially after her, "That's the one!"

Violet decided she'd stop into the kitchen for a drink before getting some sleep. They kept a ready-to-go store of boiled rain and river water in plastic bottles.

As she neared the kitchen, she was surprised to see a dim light radiating from its open door. She walked to the doorway to find AJ in there; a candle sitting on the side countertop next to him.

"Hey, morning little man," Violet greeted. "I gotta admit, I didn't think I'd have a fight on my hands for the kitchen at this kind of hour."

"Clem had a nightmare," AJ explained, meeting her eyes. He gestured to the coffee container in his hands. "They said before that I could have some – I – I'm not stealing it."

Violet smiled. "No, it's okay AJ. Of course you can have some. It sounds like Clem might need it."

AJ nodded importantly. "She does! I know after a nightmare sometimes a hot drink can help… and I want to help Clem. She's always getting the nightmares."

Violet frowned. "Is she? That's – bad." She was going to say 'shit,' but censored herself.

"They're all about…before. Before we came here."

Violet nodded. Everyone had bad memories now. "Well," she said, smiling again. "You're really cool for looking after her, AJ. I bet Clem feels really lucky that she has you."

"Yeah well, I'll always protect Clem," AJ told her; eyes huge with sincerity.

"Oh, I know," Violet replied, attempting to keep a serious expression on her face. The kid was just too damn cute sometimes.

A vision of Marlon crashing to the ground with a bloody, ragged hole in his forehead flashed without warning into Violet's mind. AJ had thought that he was protecting Clem then too; protecting them all.

She pushed the image aside. Her thoughts on Marlon were conflicted and not something to deal with on an early morning without enough sleep.

"See you, Violet," AJ said; breaking Violet from her morbid flashback. "I better go get this to Clem."

Minutes later; glass of water in hand; Violet was making her way to her room. She had to pass AJ and Clem's room on route, and hovered by their closed door for a moment. She could hear AJ and Clem quietly talking inside and wondered if she should knock and pop her head around the door to offer Clem some comfort.

Would that seem weird?

As Violet debated this with herself, she listened to the room's inhabitants. They were so at ease with each other; a self-made family in a world full of broken homes.

Violet began to feel awkward standing there; like an outsider looking in. If anyone saw her there they'd rightfully want to know what she was doing.

She had no right to barge in on Clem and AJ's cosy morning together. That wasn't her world.

With a regretful sigh, Violet walked on.

And that's it…for now

Next chapter will be up very soon. If you enjoyed, if you didn't enjoy – all feedback is super welcome.