He Knew

by Riordain2

This work is a post Season 4 fan-fic focusing on Clementine's future after the game's finale. Originally a one shot, He Knew evolved into a series as I saw more potential. He Knew's story is based on the Telltale series, but it also has elements from TWD's original comic series. So self discretion is advised since He Knew WILL contain major spoilers from the comics as well.

4. 4- To Ask

To tell…

…

"Hey, wanna race to the park?"

At first, AJ got really excited for this challenge, but it didn't take long for him to be concerned at the same time.

"You sure, Clem? What about…"

"C'mon!" Clementine yelled as she started running slowly to encourage AJ, which was successful since AJ started running as well to not fall behind. Within seconds, AJ was in front of her and Clementine kept up to his pace while staying behind him so she could keep an eye on her goofball.

She… was running. She was actually running! With no balance problems… No pain on her stump… Clementine kept smiling throughout their race since she still couldn't believe how easy running was for her now. She never thought she would be able to enjoy something as ordinary as this again but right now, she was above the clouds. AJ kept looking behind him to check on Clementine to see if she's keeping up and each time he turned back surprised and more excited.

However, as the park entered the duo's sight, Clementine got reminded the consequence of her lack of exercise for the last 10 months. Her lungs started to feel like they're burning and she lost control of her breathing.

"AJ… wait up…" Clementine said while she slowed herself. As she stopped completely, her hands resting on her knees, Clementine started to hyperventilate to take back control of her breathing. As soon as he heard Clementine, AJ also stopped and ran back towards her.

"Clem, you okay?" AJ asked a bit nervously.

"Yeah… I'm fine… Oh god…" Clementine responded while still trying to catch her breath. She couldn't help but chuckle to the reason of her demise towards the end. Clementine straightened herself slowly as it seemed her breathing got normal again, at last.

"...You've won, little guy. I'm beat." Clementine admitted with a disappointed voice in jest as they started to walk towards one of the benches beside the park. She was going to let him win of course, but thankfully her lack of cardio made her defeat look more believable.

"Sorry..." AJ apologized. Looked like he didn't really enjoy winning against his handicapped mentor. Although he thought that, the fact that Clementine was able to catch up to him throughout didn't escape his notice. Immediately after he apologized, to make her feel better, AJ said: "...You ran very fast, though."

"Thank you!" Clementine agreed with a jubilant smile. As they reached the closest bench and sat down:

"You were really fast, like…" AJ said but towards the end, he hesitated to continue. He was confused about why Clementine wanted to run with him all of a sudden and perform quite well, too.

It didn't take long for Clementine to notice AJ's hesitance as she started to smile and reach for her left boot. AJ looked at what his mentor was doing with questioning eyes while Clementine was unbinding her boot. As she was done with only the upper bindings, Clementine looked around to see if any Ericson kids were around.

"All thanks to this…" Clementine said as she curled the boot enough to reveal her new prosthetic's upper part.

"Wooooow!.." AJ exclaimed as soon as he saw it. "...That looks super cool!"

"I know, right?" Clementine agreed while chuckling to AJ's reaction.

"Did Ms. Greene give you this?" AJ asked immediately after.

"Yep!.." Clementine answered. After a split second, she decided to add: "...But AJ? Can you please keep this between us? Just for now."

"Why?"

"Because…" Clementine pondered a bit. She didn't want to lie to AJ but she also wasn't sure if she should tell him about the ranger offer just yet. Clementine wanted to know the details on the job before she could inform her friends about it. "… I want to surprise the others with it… on Monday." Clementine completed with a subtly worried look.

"Oh… okay." AJ accepted with a nod which resulted in Clementine giving out a sigh of relief within.

---

To fill…

"Okay, how about you go play till the lunch?" Clementine asked. AJ grabbed her hand and started to pull her to make her stand up as he said:

"Come on, push me on the swing."

"Ugh... I'm really tired, kiddo." she complained in a jesting frustration.

"Come oooooon…" AJ insisted but Clementine held firm. She really needed to take a moment's rest after that excruciating defeat she had against the famed 'mere youngling'.

"Hey, let me rest a bit and then we'll see. Please?" Clementine asked softly.

"Okaaay." AJ conceded as he let go of her hand and ran towards the park.

After telling her goofball to enjoy the park, Clementine started to contemplate about what happened this morning as she watched AJ playing with an adoring smile.

Thanks to Maggie's unbelievable generosity, she was able to run again. Almost as good as how she was before the barn, since she even held herself back to let AJ win. She needed to gain her old form back, surely but with this new leg, that wouldn't take long for her. She could even start starving herself a bit and train her sleep depravity to condition herself for the worst case scenarios and possible night watches.

The felicity she felt regarding her new physical capabilities however was not big enough to shadow her doubt about how this job would affect AJ. Maggie made it pretty clear that these rangers are supposed to operate on the outside world and that would certainly mean leaving AJ behind on occasions. Was she really ready for it? She could barely dare to let AJ come from school alone but how the hell was she supposed to leave him behind for God knows how long? Weeks? Months?

Hell, was she even ready to face the outside world again? After spending almost a year within safety, could she really go back to being the skilled survivor that everyone keeps claiming her to be? What about her fighti-

"I knew you'd be here."

Clementine's gaze were on the ground as she heard the hail, cutting her thoughts. She turned at the source and saw that it was Violet, walking towards her bench.

"Hey, Vi." Clementine greeted Violet with a smile as she sat beside her.

"How was the meeting?" Violet asked.

"Ugh… boring..." Clementine said with a frustrated voice. "...Aasim was right, apparently."

"Huh…" Violet exclaimed, a bit surprised. It seemed Violet was convinced to the lie which made Clementine feel both relieved and a bit guilty. Afterwards, Violet lowered her gaze to the ground, looking concerned. Deeming that it's because of her headache, Clementine, with a caring tone:

"You feel any better?"

Violet looked at her for a second in reaction, but turned her gaze back to the ground again and said:

"No… Not really." Violet looked really bothered to Clementine's eyes. She realized there was more to Violet's debility than being hungover from yesterday. She kept looking at Clementine and avert her gaze to imply she wants to say something but doesn't know how to start which made Clementine feel even more concerned for her. She put one of her hands on Violet's shoulder and with her same caring tone:

"What is it?" Clementine simply asked. Violet, after closing her eyes and exhaling lengthily to gain courage:

"I'm sorry."

"For?"

"Yesterday." responded Violet with a guilty tone on her voice. Clementine almost recoiled physically out of shock. Why the hell was she sorry for? Clementine felt nothing but bliss towards the end of that night but now Violet suddenly regrets what happened?! Her day was going wonderfully too which made this sudden exposition even more heart-crushing for her. After a brief silence:

"Why?!" Clementine asked with a disappointed frown. Violet looked at Clementine to see her disappointment which confused her greatly. She believed Clementine would understand why she had to apologize right away. With a bit frustrated tone:

"What do you mean 'Why?', Clem? Right after you said you liked Louis… Right after you said why you didn't want to go further with him, what did I fucking do? I mean… aren't you angry at me?" Violet explained which resulted in Clementine immediately dropping her frown as she started to laugh a bit.

"You… doofus…" Clementine said in her mid-laughter which left Violet surprised, speechless. Clementine was extremely relieved that Violet was feeling guilty not because she didn't feel what she did, but she was anticipating that Clementine would not want to have the relationship which couldn't have been farther away from the truth. After what Violet said to her that day, after what Violet made her feel… It was Clementine's turn to reassure her friend.

"Why the hell would I be angry at you?.." Clementine asked as her laughter subsided. With a low, sentimental voice: "...Didn't you mean the things you said?"

"I did, of course I did… but…" Violet immediately answered, but couldn't continue.

"Then, just shut it." Clementine retorted softly.

"But… What about AJ?" Violet insisted. Violet's confusion was off the charts. Ever since she met Clementine to this day, AJ was always her number one priority. Because of that, Violet felt extremely guilty for yesterday since she felt like she was forcing the exact same dilemma Clementine just complained about last night. But now… Now she couldn't make sense of Clementine's stance on this.

To her friend's question, Clementine looked at AJ who was busy on the slides, playing. Her still standing smile grew even bigger:

"Just look at him, Vi…" she said which made Violet turn her gaze towards him as well. "...Look how happy he is… How safe he's feeling here…" Clementine turned her gaze back to Violet as she continued: "...I love him, I love caring for him and I always will. But… After yesterday… I realized that I don't need to do it alone anymore… Thanks to this place and you guys…" Her face all red, with an affectionate voice, she completed: "… especially you."

Clementine stopped to see how Violet would take her wish but she still seemed to be in disbelief. Poor girl was so convinced she made a "mistake" that she was speechless against this unexpected exposition. To further solidify the fact that her friend's feelings were mutual, Clementine slid herself closer to Violet to gently grab her hand. After a brief hesitation, Clementine pressed Violet's hand unto her heart. Her eyes looking directly into Violet's, with her same affectionate voice:

"Here…" Clementine said as she chuckled timidly a bit. "…how is it now?"

Violet was done. She completely understood how Clementine was feeling as she sensed her heart's rapid beating while Clementine was looking at her. There were no grudges on her eyes, no anger, no dissent… Just, pure appreciation and sympathy. She started to laugh out of relief as she reached over to Clementine to hug her. She let out a huge sigh of relief mixed with her laugh right beside Clementine's head.

"Better?" Clementine chuckled during their hug. Violet broke the hug and went for a kiss on Clementine's cheek. Afterwards with her own, relieved chuckle:

"Now I am…" Violet responded.

---

To convince...

"What are you guys doing?" AJ asked all of a sudden which startled the young girls. He was right in front of the bench, looking at them. He was watching them for God knows how long which the realization of it caused the girls to panic adorably as they broke their hug completely.

"Nothing that should concern you, young man." Violet joked with a dramatically deep voice. AJ squinted his eyes towards the duo in a judgmental fashion. He definitely saw what they were doing but it didn't concern him at all. On the contrary, he was delighted to see Clementine this happy but he kept with the act for now.

"Can you push me now?" AJ simply asked to Clementine which she accepted with a nod as she stood up.

The trio spent the next hour playing in the park. Clementine didn't involve herself too much other than pushing AJ on the swing but Violet went all in. She was all over the park, trying out everything with AJ: seesaws, spring riders, slides… Clementine watched the two kids enjoying themselves with her adoring smile.

As the lunch time drew near, Violet and AJ was busy pushing each other on the slides. Before lunch, Clementine wanted to meet with this Martin properly to see if he could inform her about the ranger job.

"Hey guys!.." Clementine yelled as she walked towards the slides. "...Lunch's near, you should go ahead."

"What about you?" AJ asked immediately.

"I need to take care of something first. I'll be there shortly, don't worry." Clementine reassured him as she walked away from the park while waving her hand. She chuckled as she heard AJ's little yelp which was probably caused by Violet pushing him on the slide when he least expected it.

Clementine reached to the second dormitory which was on the same street as her owns, only a bit on the farther end. While she was readying herself to ask the kids nearby where Martin is, luckily Clementine recognized him, sitting on the stairs in front of the building. As she approached him, Clementine realized he looked like he was in a foul mood. He was holding his hands together in front of him and his gaze was towards the ground.

"Hey…" Clementine called out to him softly. That didn't seem to do the trick since he was still looking down so Clementine decided to try her luck again. A bit louder: "...Hello?.." Clementine called out to him again which was successful at getting his attention this time as he turned his gaze towards her.

"...Martin, right?.. I'm Clementine." She asked as she forwarded her hand for a handshake. Martin recognized her as he nodded and shook her hand. As she sat beside Martin, with a low voice:

"You accepted it?" Martin asked which caught Clementine off guard a bit. Maggie must have mentioned the other candidates to him.

"Not… yet." Clementine responded as Martin lowered his gaze back to ground again. He seemed really bothered with something but Clementine wasn't sure if it had anything to do with her. As his unwillingness to speak became more apparent with the lasting silence, Clementine decided to not bother the man any longer for now. It looked like, unlike hers, today was not a good day for him. As she stood up:

"You have any plans this Monday?.." she asked softly which startled Martin out of his thoughtful state as he looked up towards Clementine, shaking his head.

"...Me and my friends are going to gather up. Towards noon, I imagine. We stay in the other dormitory. Think you could come and explain what this ranger business is all about?"

"I'm… not sure." Martin responded.

"It's okay. No worries..." Clementine reassured him with an understanding voice. "...Whenever you feel like you can, my room's on the second floor. 217. Even if I'm not there, just… leave a note..." As she finished, Clementine felt like she needed to explain her persistence. With an embarrassed tone: "...I just… I really don't want to bother Maggie with this, she's busy enough already."

"I understand." Martin responded immediately with a little nod. Feeling glad, Clementine began walking towards her dormitory as she said:

"Take care." with a smile. Martin couldn't help but be impressed at how considerate she was right before he engulfed himself with his own thoughts again.

As Clementine entered the cafeteria, she saw Violet and AJ filling their trays while Omar and Louis were on one of the tables already eating. She waved a hello to everyone on her way to get her own tray.

"Thanks." Clementine said as she sat beside Violet which she just responded with a smile and a nod. There seemed to be no trace of frustration or distress left on Violet's expressions which elated Clementine greatly.

Louis, who were sitting beside AJ and Omar, right in front of the two girls, snapped his hand to get their attention. He reached for his notebook and showed an already written text.

"Talked to Omar, Ruby and Aasim. They can manage a 1-hour break for Monday noon."

"Shit… Nice!" Violet responded immediately. Clementine smiled, but she also realized a problem with the timing and it seemed AJ did too as he was looking at her concerned.

"What about Willy and AJ?.." Clementine asked. "...It's right on their school time."

"Shit, didn't think of that." Louis signed right before he facepalmed.

"Come on!.. They can skip the school for one day, right?" Violet offered but Clementine was having none of that as she shook her head immediately. She didn't want to compromise AJ's education in any way just because of a stupid birthday. However, Clementine recognized how disappointed AJ looked after seeing her response to Violet's offer. It seemed he really wanted to attend to his mentor's birthday which made Clementine think of a work-around right away. She knew exactly what she wanted to do the next weekend day.

"You know what… fine. You are off the hooks for Monday, kiddo..." Clementine said which caused AJ to celebrate the news with his sitting-victory-dance. It was cut short however, as Clementine added: "…On one condition…" Through everyone's curious gaze, she completed: "…first thing tomorrow, we go to Mr. Hannover's house to see what he planned for Monday. I'll be your teacher."

AJ dropped his posture in jest and nodded in response as the others chuckled to his sudden change in mood. He almost got away with one more holiday but unfortunately for him, his mentor was way too thoughtful to let that happen.

"I tried, little man." Violet couldn't help but say which was responded with an eyebrow treatment from Clementine.

"I'll see if I can do the same with Willy. I know his teacher." Omar stepped in. Clementine gave a thankful smile and a nod as everyone continued to enjoy their meals. Her eyes caught Louis for a split second and as she did, Clementine remembered what Maggie said about him.

"Hey Lou…" Clementine said to get his attention. With a jesting inquisitive voice, she continued: "… what are you gonna get me for birthday?" As a response, Louis raised his hands and shook his head to indicate that he had no idea. They never really did birthday gifts before with Omar's Aasim's and Louis' birthday, and sadly Willy and Violet didn't know theirs. The whole thing was just another reason to have an Ericson gathering.

"You could just… do something like usual. It doesn't have to be a gift." Clementine continued. The rest was having a hard time understanding what Clementine was trying to do as Louis signed:

"Sure, I'll grab the cake then."

"Naah…" Clementine opposed. With a shrewd tone to her voice: "…how about something only you can do?"

Louis' eyes widened as soon as he understood what Clementine meant. Violet, now realizing what Clementine's trying to do, got in on the encouragement as well with a nod. No teasing, no trying to annoy Louis, just with pure intention of welfare…

It has been so long since Louis performed. Not since the boat… However, seeing how heartfelt Clementine's birthday wish was as he looked at the girls smiling at him in anticipation, Louis couldn't help but sign:

"I'll think about it." accompanied by their cheering up right afterwards.

---

To wish…

Next morning, Clementine woke up before AJ and decided to visit Mr. Hannover as soon as possible. The teacher was understanding and seemed proud towards Clementine as he informed the young mother about the next day's subjects. Thanks to her effort to educate AJ while they were on the road, he was getting second grade lessons, skipping the first completely. Clementine couldn't help but find it funny that AJ beat her to the second grade. Thankfully though, the subjects were about grammar rules and some simple mathematical problems which obviously wouldn't be a problem for Clementine to teach.

She started with AJ's lessons when she came back to the room. Violet joined them as well after the lunch to hang out with them and help Clementine. Towards the evening, after some series of sabotaging attempts regarding the problems AJ was working on made by Violet, she yielded against Clementine's jesting death stares and left the duo to it as she laughed insidiously. Seeing how sincere their interactions and teases with each other throughout were, plus what he saw them do yesterday, AJ couldn't help but ask as Violet left the room:

"Clem?"

"What is it?" Clementine responded with the smile Violet left on her.

"Are you two girlfriends?"

A bit abacked by this sudden question, after a split second silence; Clementine, one eyebrow up and with her still standing smile:

"Why? You have a problem with that, kiddo?.." she asked. To her, it seemed that AJ was getting a bit jealous of her tiny shift of attention towards Violet which Clementine found it to be adorable. AJ simply shook his head to imply "No." but Clementine wasn't convinced as she slowly approached towards her goofball with her hands creeping in front of her:

"...Cause if you do…" she said right before she started tickle the jealousy out of him as he bursted into forced laughter during his futile effort to fight back. As AJ saw no way out of this torture other than begging for it to stop, Clementine conceded. After their laughter subsided, Clementine wanted to know for certain if AJ, in fact, had a problem with the relationship. With her caring voice:

"...Seriously though, do you not like it?"

"Getting tickled to death? No!" AJ said immediately with a cutely upset tone. Clementine started to chuckle as she said:

"No… Not that…" As her chuckle subsided, she added: "...I meant me and Violet." AJ dropped his gaze for a split second but right afterwards:

"I don't mind." he simply answered. Although his voice implied that he had no problem with it, Clementine couldn't help but sense that he was at least worried a little. Her smile withered to a concerned look as she put her hands on her goofball's shoulders. Looking directly into his eyes:

"Look… No matter what happens, I want you to know that nothing… And I mean nothing, will make me love you less..." she explained and as she put a smile back to her face, she completed: "...Understood?"

AJ, to show that he understood and appreciated how compassionate she was towards him, hugged his mentor. Feeling greatly relieved, Clementine broke the hug a while later with a kiss on AJ's forehead.

"Come on, let's finish up." Clementine said afterwards, tilting her head towards the books on the table.

As they were done with AJ's homework, it was time for bed. AJ was quite excited for the birthday tomorrow, but his excitement also brought up a question about himself he had for a while. After Clementine put out the light and lied on her bed:

"Clem?"

"Huh?"

"When's my birthday?"

Clementine froze up since she had no idea. Remembering how the first snow fell the day AJ was born, she always aged AJ in her head at beginning of every winter but she never was able to pinpoint the exact date of his birth.

"I'm… not sure, kiddo..." Clementine admitted at the end. She felt horrible for looking forward to her own birthday while her goofball didn't even know when he could enjoy his. However, a quite easy remedy to AJ's concern dawned on her as she smiled and with her caring voice:

"You know what… tomorrow, let's celebrate your birthday as well." Clementine offered. They had a month left before winter and Clementine thought "What the hell, it must be close enough." to herself. She heard little AJ chuckle excitedly in response as both of them tried to fall asleep.

Next morning, Clementine woke up very late and AJ was still sleeping as it seemed spending the previous day completely on lessons and homework took a toll on the two. There was barely an hour left to the guys' planned noon break for the gathering. After she was done with her morning routine as she went back to her room, her hat that she left hanging on bunk bed's leg caught her eyes. She frowned a bit as she realized it's getting dirty again and picked it up as well as a towel. On her way to the floor's bathroom, Clementine encountered Violet, running in a hurry.

"Where are you off to?" Clementine asked as she chuckled to how panicked Violet was looking.

"To grab the cake that I totally didn't forget about…" Violet yelled while running past her which turned Clementine's chuckle into a laughter.

As she went in the bathroom, Clementine soaked and applied some soap on the towel she brought with her and started to clean her father's hat. However, as she always did, she left that specific part on the front of the hat untouched. After she rinsed the hat carefully towards the end, with a bittersweet smile; she gently caressed the still dirty, bloodstained part with her thumb right before she wore it and went back to the room to wake up AJ.

The duo saw Omar, Aasim and Ruby organizing the table with silverware as they entered the cafeteria.

"There's the birthday gal!" Ruby yelled as Clementine waved a hello towards them.

"Hey guys!" Clementine greeted as she reached the table. While sitting close to the head of the table, AJ right beside her: "I saw Vi… where're the rest?"

"Not sure about Louis, but… " Omar stepped in. With a bit downbeat voice, he continued: "… Willy won't make it."

"Is he okay?" Clementine asked immediately.

"He's fine, just… schoolwork's worrying him a bit so he didn't want to skip it. He said he's sorry."

"Oh, it's completely fine." Clementine reassured with a smile. She was aware that Willy was having a rough time with the drastic change to his lifestyle so the crew did their best to comfort him however possible ever since they moved here.

"Violet's here!" AJ yelped which resulted in everyone to look towards the cafeteria door to see the young survivor breathlessly walking towards the table with a cartoon cover on her hands.

"Shit… can't believe… I almost… slept in…" Violet exclaimed as she put the cake down on the table and sat in front of Clementine accompanied by everyone's chuckles. The crew was almost done with the table organization including the beverages even as Louis also showed up with a bag in one hand and a guitar hanging over on his shoulder. Everyone started cheering him up and applauding to further encourage the young musician for his seemingly oncoming performance this gathering as he sat beside Violet.

It looked like Louis brought some birthday accessories as he started to empty the bag he brought. Some candles, party whistles and a huge cone-shaped birthday hat which Louis, as soon as he grabbed it, reached over to Clementine to put it over her own hat with a childish smile.

"Is there another one?" Clementine asked with her own thankful smile but Louis shook his head as he looked a bit confused at her reasoning.

"Well, that sucks. Since…" Clementine said while she removed the hat. As she put in on top of AJ's pompous hair, she completed: "… we have two birthdays today."

"Really?" Ruby yelped immediately as everyone looked right at the jubilant AJ.

"I don't know the exact date, but… why not today? It was the beginning of winter so, might as well." Clementine explained with her hand over on AJ's shoulder as Omar got finished with the candles on the chocolate cake. Aasim, who was sitting between AJ and Ruby, slid the cake with burning candles over to the birthday duo. AJ looked at the cake that was now right in front of him and he got confused a bit as he asked to Clementine:

"Why the candles?" which resulted in everyone smiling to him. They only had a proper birthday cake for Louis' and AJ couldn't attend to it as well as Clementine since AJ caught a bug that day which resulted in the two had to spend Louis' birthday in the district's infirmary.

"Well, it's a birthday tradition..." Clementine started to explain. "...You close your eyes and make a wish within. After that, you blow the candles out."

"And then it comes true?" AJ asked immediately, still confused as to how the whole thing works.

"It might…" Clementine responded with her caring smile as she stroke AJ's shoulder. She slid the cake closer to AJ and said: "...Go ahead."

AJ closed his eyes to make the wish, but he opened it right back and looked at Clementine.

"How about you?" AJ asked which grew Clementine's smile even bigger. She gazed upon the crew as a sudden rush of incredibility filled her. Ever since everything started, she wanted so hard for things to go back to normal. And as she met AJ, her wish started to be more about him than herself. And now… thinking about what happened since they moved here, thinking about the things they were able to enjoy again, the things AJ got to learn about and experience which Clementine thought he'd never be able to…

"Naah… " Clementine exclaimed as she turned her gaze and smile back to curious AJ. "…I don't think I need it." she completed with a wink towards Violet which she received with a bashful smile. The Ericson kids, understanding what Clementine meant, kept silent and smiled towards their honorary leader as AJ closed his eyes back. After some time, he blew the candles out, accompanied by the crew's cheers and applauses.

---

The dread…

The crew enjoyed the cake for some time as Violet and Louis were having a fight; trying to hit each other's faces with the party whistles which, obviously, Violet started. Almost everyone seemed to be done with the cake as well since only one slice of it was left but noone went for it, feeling full. Enjoying the scenery of her friends hanging out and laughing, Clementine got reminded of what she wanted to do for today before Omar, Aasim and Ruby went back to their duties. She was about to grab everyone's attention to tell them about Maggie's offer but she got cut by AJ.

"Louis?" AJ called which immediately put a pause on the battle he was losing as he looked towards the little survivor. All of a sudden, AJ's next words got stuck on his throat as he hesitated to ask what he was about to. His eyes went down under the table where Louis leaned the guitar's lower bout. Seeing how curious he is about it and understanding why he hesitated to ask, Louis didn't want to disappoint the birthday boy as he conceded from the battle and grabbed the guitar which was accompanied by the excited gazes from the whole crew.

Louis readied himself to stroke the first note but… he froze. His right hand was shaking right in front of the strings as his look got fixated on his hand. His eyes were not reflecting any emotion as if he was dealing with a sudden anxiety attack. Seeing how challenging this was getting for Louis, Violet put her hand on his shoulder which startled him a bit as he suddenly turned towards her.

"Come on… you can do it." Violet said with a reassuring voice and smile. After receiving that remark, Louis looked around the crew to see they were also encouraging him with their smiles and looks of anticipation.

Louis closed his eyes, exhaled greatly to calm himself down and turned his gaze towards the strings. He collected himself and stroke the first note of a slow, mellow tune accompanied by everyone's cheers.

Clementine was greatly elated to see Louis enjoy music again as she held the rhythm of the tune with her foot which AJ joined in soon after. First part of the promise she made to Maggie was done, however Clementine really wanted to get the offer talk out of the way before she engaged in the second part. Just as she was about to grab everyone's attention, again:

"Hello?"

Clementine, a bit frustrated, turned her gaze towards the source of the greetings to see that it was Martin.

"Oh hi! I thought you weren't coming." Clementine immediately said as she got cheerful. This was perfect for her since she aimed to just give a heads up regarding the offer but now that Martin was here, her friends now could receive the details with her. While grabbing up a chair to sit at the head of the table, beside Clementine:

"You didn't mention it was a birthday party." Martin said in a quite uncharacteristically jesting tone. Clementine could swear that this man was not the Martin she met couple days back. His expressions were a lot more merry and content. Whatever he was dealing with that day seemed to not bother Martin anymore.

Clementine, at last realizing that she owes the confused Ericson kids some explanation, readied herself to introduce him, but suddenly she came to another realization which worried her.

"How did you know it was a birthday?" Clementine asked which resulted in Martin pointing towards the hat AJ was still wearing with a smirk. Afterwards, he started to explain:

"Not only that, I went ahead and read your file. Maggie mentioned if you accepted, two of us would work as partners so, wanted to know more about you." Clementine was relieved a bit as she tried to remember what else Martin could gather from her file. She recalled being asked very superficial information like family, age and health problems. The officials were also interested in affiliations but she got lucky as she didn't have to mention her past with New Frontier since Clementine had no idea how the Commonwealth would react to it.

"Work as partners?! Okay, what the hell is going on?!" Violet suddenly asked as she ended Clementine's thoughtful state, looking a bit perturbed. Clementine finally collected herself as she started to introduce:

"Sorry. Umm… guys, this is Martin. I've met him a couple days back, after I talked with Maggie and invited him here… Martin, this here's Violet, Louis, Omar, Ruby, Aasim… and Alvin Junior." Clementine finished as she tapped AJ's birthday hat and everyone, other than Violet who was busy staring down Martin judgmentally, accompanied Clementine's introduction with nods and waves.

"Oh, I know him…" Martin said immediately as he forwarded his fist towards the birthday boy. "…your bodyguard, right?" Clementine chuckled a bit to his jest. Well, at least he thought he was jesting but probably had no idea how underestimating his verdict on AJ was.

"More like… a guardian angel." Clementine corrected him after her chuckle as AJ accepted the fist-bump.

"So… partners?" Omar queried with a calm voice to understand what Martin meant by the remark which was followed up by everyone else's questioning stares towards Clementine. A bit worried, Clementine started to explain:

"The day I met Maggie, she offered me a job..." Clementine said and as she did, she looked at Violet: "...Sorry, I lied a bit." she admitted with an embarrassed look but Violet didn't seem to care as she just nodded understandingly.

"What's the job?" Louis signed.

"It's… military." Clementine admitted.

"You're becoming a trooper?" Aasim yelled in surprise immediately. He even seemed excited but it was cut short by Clementine:

"Not… quite. She wants me to be a part of another unit called rangers." she explained. Through everyone's questioning and worried stares, Martin took over with a neutral voice:

"Yeah, I already accepted it and know all about it. That's why she invited me here, to explain it to you all."

"Yeah, but… before that… Clem?.." Violet cut him as she wanted to grab Clementine's attention. "...I'm sorry, but… how on earth do you… I mean… shit." she tried to continue but she couldn't pull out the words since she worried it would sadden Clementine.

However, despite everyone's expectation since all of them understood what Violet was trying to refer to, Clementine smiled greatly as she stood up. She distanced herself from the table to give everyone a clear vision of herself and started to unbind her left boot. As the new prosthetic she got from Maggie started to reveal itself, the Ericson kids showed their surprise.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Violet asked immediately.

"Maggie…" Clementine simply answered as she showed the flexibility she could now enjoy with the ankle by leaning back and forth on foot. Aasim was the first one to notice the relevance:

"Shit! You can run, now?" he asked, looking genuinely happy and as he did, Clementine nodded rapidly in response with her still standing smile. The rest, other than AJ, started to smile and congratulate Clementine as the facility the new prosthetic provides clicked on them as well.

"We even raced!" AJ jumped in excitedly to further prove that his mentor could run again.

As jubilant as Violet was for her dear friend, she was also the first one to notice the resemblance between this charity and the offer made by Maggie. While Clementine was coming back to the table to sit again, Violet's smile slowly degraded as she asked:

"Does this mean… that you accepted?"

"No… no..." Clementine answered immediately as she sat down again, chuckling a bit. "...She basically gifted it… and said I can keep it even if I refuse."

"Wow…" Violet could only say, impressed and jubilant again.

"Yeah…" Clementine responded as she was still amazed how generous and caring Maggie was for her. Afterwards, going back to the task at hand, Clementine turned her gaze to Martin as she said:

"…I wanted to inform you guys first before I decide on anything, so…" Clementine ended with a hand gesture to let Martin know that it's time.

"From what Maggie told me…" Martin started to explain with a neutral voice. "…rangers are supposed to be more flexible… more resourceful than troopers. That's why she wants to vet them herself, based on our past, what we went through…"

"Wet?" AJ asked as Martin was done with his sentence.

"To recruit. Umm… to choose a person for something." Clementine explained as she held her hand on AJ's shoulder.

"So it has two meaning?" AJ asked again. Understanding why AJ was struggling:

"It's spelled with 'V', not 'W'." Clementine clarified with a smile.

"Ooooh…" AJ nodded to signal that he understood as Martin kept going.

"…Rangers are to be another layer of protection for Commonwealth, mainly for their expertise of the outside world. Maggie said she has a lot of plans for us, but for starters, she wants to launch a final, smaller expedition with rangers involved before the winter hits. Apparently there have been some close calls with herds in this year's expeditions so…"

"Aasim?" Ruby yelped in sudden worry. Aasim just smiled and shook his head to signal it didn't happen to his'. Seeing how Ruby trusted him as she smiled as well, Aasim let a sigh of relief within. Last thing he wanted was her to find out how close it was…

After Ruby's query was resolved, Martin continued: "…Rangers will be tasked to secure a per… the surrounding area of the expedition as it moves." Clementine appreciated his effort to keep it simple for AJ with a smile, as Louis grabbed up his notebook:

"Why rangers? Can't troopers themselves do it?" he wrote and showed to Martin. After a split second silence where Martin looked a bit confused, Louis emoted a scissors in front of his mouth with a bittersweet smile.

"Shit, sorry..." Martin apologized as soon as he got the grasp of it which Louis responded by shaking his head rapidly to imply "No problem." Afterwards, to answer his question:

"...Like I said, Maggie wants these rangers to be expert at what they do. There's… also another reason that…" Martin tried to explain but couldn't figure out how to continue. Seeing his struggle, Clementine couldn't help but interfere:

"Politics, believe it or not." she simply said with a chuckle. It didn't seem convincing as the Ericson kids looked even more confused but Martin was grateful as he nodded towards Clementine with a half-smile. After that, he continued:

"Anyways, needless to say, the rangers will operate mainly on the outside world."

"To work…" Clementine whispered towards AJ in anticipation as she tried to hide away her worry regarding what she just heard. She guessed as much, but Martin confirming it didn't make her feel any better. Afterwards, she wanted to dig in for more details on this expedition, for herself and for her friends' worries.

"...What do you know about the expedition?" Clementine asked.

"Small one, 16 troopers; 8 from Georgia crew, 7 from Maryland plus their commander; 2 container carts, 6 rangers. We'll be the first two, if you accept…" Aasim looked even more worried as he briefly turned his gaze towards Ruby to see if she saw the resemblance of the expedition containing Georgia crew troopers but thankfully, she seemed more worried about Clementine.

"..From what I've gathered, rangers will form a triangle around the expedition in pairs. 1 pair in front, 2 around back, all distanced… about a mile and a half from the expedition, radio coordinated."

"Makes sense." Clementine thought to herself. It could use more rangers to cover more angles of course, but Clementine guessed that Maggie was still trying to find more ranger candidates as six was probably the number Maggie expected she'd manage to find.

"Sucks… she probably won't pick me." Aasim sighed.

"You're a trooper?" Martin immediately asked.

"Cadet…" Aasim corrected with a smile as Martin raised his eyebrows and nodded in acknowledgement. Afterwards, Clementine wanted to forward more of her questions.

"What about the route?"

"Real small, within Ohio. Shouldn't take more than three weeks. We are to go through counties that were considered not worth the time, looting." Martin explained. While Clementine considered what else she could ask, Violet jumped in, breaking the silence:

"How long till she needs to decide?"

"Well, the Maryland crew's not here yet. They're expected tomorrow. Maggie wants to give'em at least a couple week's rest, so… I'd say till then." Martin explained which was immediately followed up by another question from Violet as she had a look of determination:

"Are the other rangers certain?"

"Maggie mentioned another girl… named Lydia. But other than that… I'm not sure." As soon as she received the remark, Violet's mind was set. Rangers being tasked with outside world disturbed Violet greatly as the last thing she wanted was something bad happening to Clementine out there. However, she also didn't want to outright make the decision for her, so…

"That settles it, then..." Violet said with a serious tone as she turned her gaze towards Clementine. "...If you go, I'll go." As soon as she received the remark, Clementine was about to oppose it but…

"Me too." AJ jumped in before she could. His face was just as determined as Violet's. After seeing Violet and AJ, Louis also shared his desire as he casually raised his hand and shrugged.

"Guys…" Clementine sighed in frustration. She got overwhelmed as her friends, including AJ even, was not really understanding why they couldn't be a ranger.

"Your rule…" AJ simply said, still with the determined look on his face. Clementine turning towards him:

"AJ… you're too little and you still-"

"I don't care." AJ retorted, cutting Clementine which made her close her eyes in slight anger. Just as she was about to further persuade him, Violet jumped in:

"She's right, AJ. You shouldn't..." Feeling briefly relieved to see Violet was helping her, Clementine turned towards her to smile but now, Violet was looking directly into her soul.

"...But he's right too…" Violet said with a decisive tone. "…I'm not letting you do this alone."

"She won't be alone." Martin felt the need to interfere and reassure with his neutral voice but Violet didn't care. Her eyes were still on Clementine to show how resolute she was about this. Clementine, out of frustration, put both of her elbows on the table as she covered her forehead with a sigh. She had no idea how to convince her friends that this job isn't suited for them. Especially for Violet and Louis since frankly, if not for his age, Clementine believed that AJ would have been a much better candidate than even herself.

Witnessing her dear friend's expression, Violet couldn't help but feel sorry. She didn't mean to pressure Clementine like this. Just when she was about to console Clementine and try to convince her it could work, Martin jumped in as he turned towards Clementine:

"Can she?" Martin simply asked. Clementine slowly recovered her posture and shook her head in refusal, without saying anything.

"Gee, thanks." Violet complained impulsively which she immediately regretted as Clementine closed her eyes again in response. She looked like she was in the cusp of yelling out loud.

"Clem… I'm…" Violet tried to say but it was cut short by Martin:

"Do you believe you're as good as her?" he asked to Violet. She was seriously getting sick of this random dude trying to interfere:

"How about you just fuck off for a sec!"

"Vi!" Omar yelled immediately after. Omar's warning, however, was nowhere near as staggering as Martin's change of expression was. His face was motionless, but his stare on Violet was intimidating. It was so devoid of emotion and sympathy that Violet could swear, it was impossible for those eyes to belong to a living person. After a couple of very long seconds in which Violet just froze up, Martin blinked twice and as he did, with a calm voice:

"I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry, but my question was genuine..." he apologized. "...I can put in the word if y-"

"Martin…" Clementine tried to oppose with a tired voice but Martin raised his finger to her to give him a chance while still looking towards Violet.

"…if you really think you can do it." Martin completed. Violet stood silent for some time but eventually said:

"I mean… I can fight. She saw me fight…" Violet tried to defend but Clementine cut it short:

"That's not what it's all about…"

"What is it, then?" Violet retorted. Clementine, looking defeated, saw no other way but explain why. She didn't want to, but Violet's selflessness made her feel like she had no other choice.

"The dread…" Clementine simply answered. A silence ensued after the remark in which Ericson kids waited in confusion and Martin leaned back on his chair, lowered his gaze in acknowledgement. Ultimately, Clementine continued with the same, tired voice:

"...Out there… not knowing where you can be safe… that fear, it keeps you on your toes."

"We feared it too, Clem." Violet responded. She kept her voice calm and not assertive. Not after she saw how stressed Clementine was getting because of her…

"Not in the same way I did…" Clementine said afterwards. With a bit embarrassed voice, she continued:"… I know it looks like I'm self pitying here, but… you guys didn't live with that fear half your life. You always had a safe haven, somewhere to retreat from what's out there… And most importantly, you had each other…" With that last remark, Violet wanted to bring up Marlon so bad but AJ was still here, listening to his mentor with a pensive face. With him around, Violet hesitated and decided not to as Clementine continued with a more woeful expression:

"…I've seen people, just… collapse when they faced the absence of those. More than once…" she looked at AJ as her face got sour a bit as if she was about to tear up: "…I feared the same happening to him, so much…" However, she smiled as she continued: "…but thankfully, he's far more stronger than I'll ever be..."

AJ initially smiled back against the praise, but it was cut short as Clementine completed with one eyebrow up and an angry voice in jest: "...But he's still little!"

"Uuuugh…" AJ sighed as everyone else smiled. Appreciating the change of mood, Clementine got back to her original argument:

"I just… don't want you guys to risk the same."

"Yeah, but… why do you?.." Violet asked. "I mean… Yeah, you can handle the fear and we probably can't, sure but… Out there's still dangerous. You don't have to go, anymore. Not when we have here."

"I know..." Clementine simply answered. "...That's probably the only reason why I haven't accepted it yet..." she completed which resulted in Violet having a sigh of relief within. Afterwards, with her tired voice, Clementine completed: "...Can we please drop this topic, for now. It's giving me a headache." with a chuckle towards the end. As everyone accepted it by nodding, Clementine turned towards Martin with a smile:

"Thank you so much."

"Of course, no fa… no problem." he responded which immediately made Aasim raise his eyebrows in suspicion. He didn't act on it, he just stood silent and kept it to himself.

Violet shared her dear friend's sentiment as she also started to feel sorry for how she acted towards Martin. Unlike herself, he seemed like a really level headed and considerate person. Violet's eyes caught the last piece of cake that was still sitting in the middle of the table. To make amends in her own way, she slid it towards Martin as she said:

"Here you go, you earned it, I guess." with an unimpressed voice in jest. Martin couldn't help but smile as he said:

"Thanks." while Omar stood up to grab another fork from the buffet with his own smile.

---

To play…

"Oh… fuck..." Omar exclaimed as he forwarded the fork to Martin and his eyes brushed over his watch. "...I'm dead." Through everyone's questioning stares, Ruby also yelped:

"Oh crap!" in panic as she stood up as well. The rest, other than Martin who was still clueless to what's going on, started to laugh as they saw their friends try to gather their things in a hurry. Towards the end, Ruby turned to Clementine as she said with a smile:

"Hun', happy birthday again and… Know that whatever you decide, I'm with ya."

"Ditto." Omar simply backed up.

"Thank you, guys." Clementine could only say with a great smile that reflected her appreciation. Afterwards, Clementine noticed Aasim's inaction.

"You aren't going?"

"Naaah… this is better." Aasim responded.

"You sure?" Ruby asked immediately as she seemed worried a bit.

"Yeah, he'll yell at me a bit but, who cares." Aasim answered with a careless voice in jest.

"How… disciplined…" Violet couldn't help but tease as Ruby went for a brief goodbye kiss on Aasim. As both of them reached to the cafeteria's door, Omar turned back and yelled:

"I'll fill Willy in." Clementine nodded and waved in response.

"So, what are we, idlers, doing?" Violet asked. Clementine looked towards Martin to ask:

"You okay to tag along a while more?" Martin shrugged slightly:

"Got nothing else to do…" he responded which cheered Clementine right up. Seeing how Martin helped her and how he dealt with Violet's brief tantrum as well as his overall placid nature, Clementine really wanted Martin to be a part their merry band.

During their conversation, Louis grabbed his guitar back in enthusiasm. The headache that she had seemed to delete itself as she enjoyed another enchanting melody from Louis.

After a couple of minutes in which the group kept silent to bask in Louis' performance, Clementine saw an opportunity for the second step of the promise she made to Maggie. She turned towards Aasim with a huge smile:

"Hey…" she whispered towards him while Louis was distracted. "…go bring the other one."

"The other what?" Aasim also whispered as he asked, though he had no idea why. Clementine's smile slowly turned into a frustrated frown in jest. With one eyebrow up and a sarcastically angry voice:

"Doughnut…" Clementine teased. Through Aasim's really confused stare, Clementine subtly tilted her head towards Louis. Aasim, finally understanding what she wants, stood up without saying anything and went for the rooms.

Louis saw him leave all of a sudden and shook his head towards Clementine to imply the meaning: "What's going on?"

"He… forgot to say something to Ruby." Clementine lied which seemed to do the trick as Louis didn't pursue and continued to play. AJ looked at his mentor with questioning eyes since he heard what Clementine said and understood that she just lied to Louis. Clementine, noticing her goofball's worry, quickly tapped her index finger on her lip towards him while smiling.

After couple of minutes, Aasim entered the cafeteria back with Louis' other guitar. Louis stopped playing as soon as he saw what Aasim was carrying. Clementine stood up and grabbed the guitar as Aasim reached the table. With a huge smile, she walked to the other side of the table and said:

"Scoot over a bit." to Louis which as he did:

"You play?!" he signed with a shocked expression on his face. Still smiling, Clementine looked towards Louis as she sat down between him and Violet and responded:

"No, but I'd love to learn it."

It didn't take long for Louis to completely understand what Clementine was trying to accomplish. Between her asking him to play for the party the other day and now to this…

His shocked expression changed to an angry stare in jest as Louis dropped his eyebrows and squinted his eyes towards Clementine. She was trying to mimic Louis' guitar positioning on her lap while he let out a grunt:

"You… son of a…" Louis expressed with his lips which Clementine caught up on. She feigned being offended as a response.

"What?" Clementine exclaimed lengthily with a surprised tone but Louis was having none of it.

" e?" he signed.

"Maggie? What?!." Clementine complained. Obviously the jig was up but she enjoyed acting innocent too much.

"...Can't I just really wish to learn how to play guitar?" Clementine added with a slightly theatrical voice. She also gave a quick wink towards AJ who was the only other person that knew Maggie's wish as Clementine assumed Louis didn't share it with anyone. AJ's jubilance towards his mentor's effort was through the roof as he reflected it with his own adorable smile and even with some small giggles.

"Ugghh" Louis sighed in defeat as he grabbed the guitar Clementine was still struggling with and gave her his own. After seeing how enthusiastic she actually was about learning plus her effort to encourage him to finally accept Maggie's offer, Louis didn't want to break the ever-caring birthday girl's heart by trying to teach her with a session at least.

Clementine got confused a bit as they swapped guitars. The reasoning behind it became apparent however, as Louis started tuning the guitar Aasim brought.

"You… cunning devil…" Violet said softly as she put her elbow on the table to carry her head with her hand, smiling towards Clementine. Understanding why Violet said that, Clementine turned towards her. A bit surprised:

"You knew?" she asked.

"Yeah, for a while." Violet responded.

"Care to share?" Aasim butted in suddenly as he looked really puzzled to what the girls were talking about. Clementine turned towards Louis briefly to ask his permission which he responded with a slow nod as he continued to tune the guitar.

"Maggie wants him to become a music teacher." Clementine explained.

"Shit?!" Aasim exclaimed with a smile.

"Aaaah…" Martin also expressed as he acknowledged what's really going on. After seeing Louis' initial struggle to play earlier, he put two and two together and gave an approving smile towards Clementine's effort.

Meanwhile, it looked like Louis was done as he positioned himself and tapped Clementine's arm gently to get her attention. While he was showing the correct way to carry the guitar, his eyes got fixated on Clementine's left hand.

"Oh…" Louis expressed which made Clementine realize her missing finger's hindrance towards what they were about to do. Just when she was about to exclaim in disappointment as she lowered her gaze, Louis tapped Clementine again. He turned the guitar other way around and encouraged Clementine to do the same. Clementine did it as her hype reignited. She turned towards Louis to ask in surprise:

"It won't be a problem?" Louis shook his head in response and signed:

"Not here." as he tapped the body of Clementine's guitar. Through her radiant smile, Louis slowly and showingly put three of his fingers to assume a chord. Clementine copied him with the same strings, but she didn't realize she had to care for the frets. Louis immediately reached over to Clementine's fret board and pointed out the vertical lines on them. Afterwards he turned back to his own and assumed the chord again, emphasizing on where his fingers are located exactly.

"Oh, gotcha." Clementine understood as she also assumed the chord, correctly this time.

With a smile, Louis waved with his left hand to grab Clementine's attention on it. Right afterwards, he stroke those three strings to play the chord. Clementine did the same, but a bit slower which resulted in Louis giving a proud thumbs up and a smile. Louis spun his two fingers to imply the meaning "Keep going.". Clementine did the same chord again and again. With each, she started doing it faster and more comfortably which the realization of it made her smile even greatly. Clementine didn't really expect to like playing the guitar while she planned her plot but now that it worked, she was surprised to see how interested she got in it.

Louis snapped his fingers to stop Clementine after a while. He diverted her attention to his right hand as Louis assumed another chord, a four finger one this time.

"Oh boy…" Clementine expressed as she saw the new chord. After Louis played it, she followed up right after. It sounded like she misplayed one of the notes, so Clementine looked at Louis's right hand more carefully and corrected her mistake. After couple of tries, Clementine got good playing this chord as well. She repeated it for some time, just like she did with the previous one. After seeing how comfortable she got with this chord too, Louis snapped his fingers again.

What he did afterwards scared Clementine a bit as Louis played the two chords in rapid succession. Louis chuckled a bit as he played it again, slower this time. Afterwards, he forwarded his hand towards Clementine to emote the meaning "Go ahead!".

Clementine tried to do it as fast as Louis did at first, but failed miserably as she completely messed up the second chord.

"Dang it." she expressed right before she tried it again, to no avail since the second try was basically carbon copy of her first. Violet was still supporting her head on the table as she started to chuckle sarcastically. Clementine turned to her with an intimidating gaze but also an embarrassed smile:

"You shut your face, right now!" Clementine complained cutely which resulted in everyone else, excluding Martin who just smiled, join in on the mockery with their own giggles and chuckles. Afterwards, Louis tapped Clementine's arm to sign: "Slowly, first."

Clementine listened to what Louis said and played the chords with a pause between them in which she adjusted her fingers correctly for the second one. After playing that one correctly, Clementine repeated with a bit shorter pause. With each repeat, she shortened the pause more and more and eventually, Clementine ended up playing the tune almost as fast as Louis did first time.

"Theeeere you go!" Violet said as she started to applause softly which was followed up by everyone else's briefly after. Feeling encouraged by the congrats from the group, Clementine put on a cocky expression in obvious jest as she turned to Louis:

"How about something more difficult." she said with a voice that reflected her expression. Louis, to punish Clementine's apparent impatience, ennobled his posture and gave Clementine a theatrical holier-than-thou stare. Then he coughed as he readied himself to play which resulted in a facepalm sound behind Clementine that made her laugh.

Louis started playing a really fast paced melody with bunch of different chords. At first, Clementine actually tried to memorize the chords but the transitions were so rapid that Clementine's smile didn't take long to fade as she realized Louis was jesting. As soon as he was done serenading with a cocky smile of his own, Clementine exclaimed:

"Okay… Fuck you." which resulted in Louis gently hitting Clementine's head with his guitar's headstock. Looking defeated in act, Clementine rubbed his head as she let out an "Ow…".

"That's not how you treat your teacher, Clem." AJ butted in sarcastically which resulted in Clementine copying what he said in gibberish format while she swung her head to the sides. Everyone laughed at the imitation. Clementine was having way too much fun with this lesson as she also started to laugh at the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Louis was writing something and as he -and the laughters- were done, he showed it to Clementine.

"Muscle memory is the key in this. You gotta be able to close your brain while you play." As Martin read the note too, he nodded and felt like he had to add:

"Yeah, you gotta practice those chords more, first. It can be boring but, that's how you learn." A bit abacked by his intervention, Clementine turned towards Martin in surprise:

"You play, too?" she queried. Martin chuckled slightly as he responded:

"Not much. Nowhere near as good as him, that's for sure." he finished as he pointed towards Louis. After Louis accepted the praise with a hand gesture that was still influenced by his cocky expression, Clementine continued to practice the chord combo more.

After series of very successful repeats, Clementine started to fail them towards the end all of a sudden. She stopped and started to rub her right hand's fingertips with its thumb as she complained:

"Huh, starts to hurt." Louis raised his lower lip and nodded in sympathy. Then, he signed:

"Let's stop for today, then."

"For today?.." Clementine immediately asked with a smile and a sly voice. Realizing what he just paved the way for, Louis sighed as he lowered his gaze. It took him a while to decide on it, but eventually he signed:

"Fine, I'll talk to M G."

"YES!" Clementine exclaimed in delight which was followed up by the rest's apparent jubilance. Martin didn't have to guess what Louis' response was as he smiled towards the group cheering for the mute musician.

---

To ask…

As the guitar session ended, Clementine returned to sit beside her goofball again and the day continued with more of Louis' mellow, cheerful tunes. After some time, Violet's gaze caught Martin, enjoying the music. With an inquisitive, tone that didn't have a speck of judgment:

"So, you wanna keep hanging out with us?" Violet asked which resulted in Martin smiling immediately. He threw a gaze towards Clementine but right afterwards, Martin turned back to Violet:

"I'd like to… if you'll have me."

"Sure…" responded Violet. Seeing how Violet started to get around her initial jealousy, Clementine smiled greatly towards both of them. However, Violet continued:

"…but, know that we have a procedure."

"We do?" Aasim jumped in which made still playing Louis chuckle a bit.

"Yep!" Violet simply affirmed as she tried to reach her jean's pockets. Clementine, now understanding what Violet's talking about:

"Oh, God…" she sighed as she closed her eyes. Afterwards, with an apologetic and sympathetic voice: "…I'm really sorry for what's about to happen." Clementine completed towards Martin who got really confused.

"I'm not!.." Violet retorted in jest. While she was still struggling, Violet added: "...You know War?"

Martin froze up. "What the fuck?!" he said to himself. "How the hell does she know that my br-"…

"The game?" Violet completed as she finally grabbed the playing cards from her pocket, cutting Martin's thoughts.

"Oh… Uuumm, no. No I don't." Martin tried to respond calmly which seemed to do the trick as noone really noticed how panicked he got.

"Everyone gets a deck and flips the top one over. If you get the highest, you can ask a question. To all of us or one of us, doesn't matter. If we get the highest, we ask you a question." Violet explained while she distributed the cards, including AJ.

"Those are some slim odds…" Martin complained.

"Gotta get to know ya." Violet responded as she flipped the first card, and Louis' since she didn't want him to stop playing the guitar just to flip a card.

First winner: Clementine. Seeing how uncomfortable Martin got as the game launched, Clementine didn't want to start with a hard question. The difference between first time she saw Martin and how he was today crossed her mind.

"What was up with you, the day we met?" Clementine asked. In response, Martin lowered his gaze towards now finished cake plate that was in front of him. After a brief silence, he finally answered with a neutral voice:

"Accepting the offer was… harder than I thought it would be." Martin explained. Even though he didn't really explain why, Clementine nodded understandingly and flipped the next card since she could sense that Martin didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Second winner: Aasim. He seemed to be excited as he squinted his eyes towards Martin and asked:

"How old are you?"

"Oh my god! You guys are booooring…" Violet shrieked as she threw her head to back theatrically. Clementine put on an angry face in jest as she tapped Violet's leg under the table to punish her which resulted in them having a minor kicking battle that Martin took notice.

After his question, Martin didn't respond right away. Instead, he wanted to challenge Aasim.

"Guess once." Martin simply said. Aasim didn't expect him to respond like that since he wanted to verify his judgement regarding Martin. Because of that, Aasim decided to go for a number that could justify what he had in mind.

"30?"

"Jeeeesus…" Violet exclaimed immediately, accompanied with everyone's surprised stares towards Aasim. "… you killed him, dude." The group, even Martin, started to laugh to what Violet said. Afterwards, Martin wanted to clarify by answering as the laughter subsided:

"I'm 19."

Aasim, starting to look a bit embarrassed, felt the need to defend his guess:

"I… thought he was in the army. Him being as young as us wouldn't have made sense."

"What made you think of that?" Clementine asked afterwards, looking confused but Aasim didn't respond to it right away. During the silence, Martin also got confused. He thought about what he did today to make Aasim think that he served. It couldn't have been just his appearance, could it? Was it the way he explained ranger business? He did want to keep it clean and short, to not cause misunderstandings down the line, but...

While thinking about what he said, the likely reason for Aasim's judgement dawned on Martin. Just when Aasim was about to explain, with a little chuckle:

"Guess the lingo stuck, huh?" Martin jumped in. Aasim, feeling relieved that Martin didn't seem to be offended:

"Yes, exactly!.." he responded but as soon as he did, Aasim realized it still didn't make any sense: "…but how?" Just as Martin was about to answer, he heard AJ whisper to Clementine:

"What's lingo?"

"I have no idea." Clementine also whispered as she chuckled. Hearing their exchanges, Martin decided to explain:

"It's the words that you don't normally use, like vet and operate..." he said to AJ. It wasn't really what the word meant, but Martin opted that explaining it like this would make AJ get the gist of it which looked like it was successful as AJ nodded. After receiving the thanks from both AJ and Clementine in form of their smile, Martin turned back to Aasim:

"...I obviously didn't serve, but…" He paused a bit, hesitantly. "…my big brother did." He eventually completed as his gaze fell down to his deck of cards. Aasim, understanding the reasoning, felt like he had to ask:

"What-"

"Hey!.." Violet retorted, cutting Aasim. "...You ask one question, not bazillion." Through some chuckles that accompanied Louis' mellow tune, everyone flipped their top cards again.

Third winner: Clementine. Through Violet's jesting frustration, Clementine decided what to ask. She found herself be curious about the brother Martin mentioned. However, She didn't want to sadden him by asking as she feared the worst.

"Umm, how... comfortable are you talking about your past?" Clementine asked a bit hesitantly. Her caution made Martin smile as he readied himself for the tough queries.

"Let's see." he simply responded, still smiling. Just as Clementine was about to ask, Violet butted in, again…

"Hey! That was it."

Clementine, understanding what Violet meant: "Oh, come oon. Really?"

"Yep." Violet terminated the argument by flipping her and Louis' next card.

"Ughh… laame." Clementine complained, accompanied by everyone's chuckle.

Fourth winner: AJ. The birthday boy didn't wait long to ask his question.

"How many walkers have you killed?" he asked.

"The… dead." Clementine felt like she should clarify with a smile.

"Cool name…" Martin praised and continued: "…around 500, I think." As the answer was received, the group let out a series of "Woah"s to reflect how impressed they are. Eventually Aasim said:

"No wonder Maggie wants you." Martin laughed softly in tiny embarrassment as he said:

"Yeah, I guess."

Afterwards, he flipped the card to continue the game.

Fifth winner: Martin.

"Finally." Martin couldn't help but say. He looked around to see everyone waiting in anticipation. During, his gaze got snagged on Clementine. He couldn't make sense of a thing…

"That hat…" Martin started but it was cut short since suddenly everyone's expression changed. Louis stopped playing and slowly turned his worried face towards Martin as Violet and Aasim shook their heads rapidly to discourage him from continuing. AJ didn't seem as worried but Clementine…

The moment Martin saw Clementine's death stare, he could swear his bones just froze shut. Her right hand was on top of the table as a shaking fist and she looked at him slightly from below as Clementine lowered her gaze a bit. Her intimidating hazel eyes were leaned at the roof of her eye socket, looking straight through Martin's soul…

"She'll murder you." Violet whispered to Martin as she curtained her mouth towards Clementine as Louis was emoting knife to the throat with a painful grimace.

After hearing Violet's whisper, Clementine almost smiled but she barely held onto her act by squinting her eyes even closer. Martin seemed genuinely afraid as he started to mumble a bit because of Clementine's intensified reaction.

Ever since she had that magnificent dream about her parents and opened up to AJ about her past, Clementine found herself nowhere near as irritated as she was on this specific topic. Of course she had stuff that she'd rather not mention, but Clementine didn't want to inhibit every single drop of her memories from her friends anymore either.

After a brief silence in which Martin seemed to almost take his question back, Clementine started to chuckle to not only Martin's but everyone's surprise. Amidst the groups questioning and confused stares:

"Go ahead…" Clementine said in her mid-chuckle.

"Naaaah…" Martin exclaimed immediately. As he also started to smile: "…that's a bait, isn't it?"

"Ugghh…" Clementine sighed as she took her hat off to hold it on top of the table. While looking at it, Clementine readied herself to prove that she genuinely wasn't going to murder anyone over it. After a huge inhale and exhale, she started explaining.

"...It was my dad's and he gave it to me. Well… technically, he told me to hold onto it…" she said as she let out a chuckle towards the end. But her smile withered as she continued, still looking at her hat: "…till he came back..."

Clementine gulped as she turned her gaze to Martin. With a bittersweet smile: "...Never got the chance to give it back." she finished. Martin just nodded sympathetically as he assumed the most probable reason behind it. Seeing how her chuckle wasn't truly a trap, he was about to ask his original question but Violet jumped in:

"Clem? What changed?" she asked as her smile and gaze reflected how surprised Violet was. Clementine turned towards AJ and Aasim to see both of them smile towards Clementine as well. Without saying anything, Aasim just gave a quick nod as Clementine turned back towards Violet and said:

"I'll fill you in later." Violet looked between Aasim and Clementine back and forth, but didn't peep as Martin finally forwarded his original question:

"Actually, I wanted to ask about that dirty spot." Martin said as he pointed it with his finger. As she received the question, Clementine assumed her bittersweet smile back and started caressing that dirty spot. Eventually, while looking at her hat:

"It's a bloodstain. I'm not sure, but… I'd like to believe that it belonged to someone… I really cared about. I keep it there…" Clementine paused. After a brief silence in which her smile turned into an angry stare and she adopted a serious tone: "…to remind myself of my stupidity."

Without giving anyone the window to ask why, Clementine turned her gaze to Martin. With glistening eyes and her voice back to normal:

"If it's okay with you, that's all I want to say about it." Clementine kindly asked as she embraced worried looking AJ from the side.

"Of course." Martin agreed with a nod as he flipped the next card.

Sixth winner: Louis. He paused his tune for a moment to come up with a question. He eventually found one, but he hesitated. However, he remembered Martin's earlier response to Clementine's latter question and encouraged himself to sign towards her:

"Where's his brother?"

"Come on, Lou…" Clementine complained softly but Martin persisted:

"What? What is it?" he asked calmly. Clementine, knowing that she's going to regret it, turned to Martin with a downhearted look and said:

"He wants to know what happened to… your brother." Despite her expectation, Martin smiled as he received the question. It looked like he anticipated this query to come, sooner or later.

"He's… no longer with us for… over 2 years now..." Martin answered. Even though it seemed enough as Martin saw Louis nod with a bittersweet smile, he didn't mind continuing: "...Died to a stupid bite… No one's fault..." Afterwards, his gaze lowered to the table and he gave out a single chuckle as he finished: "...Thankfully, he died fighting… That's all that mattered to him." As Martin finished, he turned his top card to signal that he was done with this particular question.

Seventh winner: Martin.

"Okay, fuck this…" Violet complained at last as she opened up her whole deck to see the highest card she had was an 8 that she already opened.

"...Are you fucking kidding me?!." Violet almost yelled, facing the bitter reality. "...I'm done." she said as she threw her whole deck to the middle of the table and crossed her arms in her cutely frustrated manner and frown which got a giggle out of Clementine. Louis stopped his performance to tap Violet's shoulder reassuringly, but mostly in mockery as he had a sly smile on his face during. Martin slowly raised his hand up to his face to ask:

"Can I… still ask the question?"

Clementine chuckled again as she said:

"Of course, go ahead."

Martin smiled in response as he started thinking for a good one. He didn't really wish to ask a question about pasts, considering how his last one ended up being despite the receiver's modesty. Excluding that, Martin found himself struggling to find another type of question.

Meanwhile, during their wait, Martin realized how endearing Clementine's look towards still frustrated Violet was. Eventually, Violet gave up on the act and put on a similar smile and gaze to the birthday girl as well. Between how Violet acted when she faced the ranger business, to the scuffle he noticed, to how they look at each other now… Martin started to suspect as he believed he found a perfect topic to ask about. However, he also didn't want to seem crudely direct.

"Any romance on the table?" Martin asked at last.

"What the hell?!" Violet immediately retorted as a response. Her face was white from shock as she started to have tiny hints of blushing. To properly respond to his question, Aasim jumped in a bit hesitantly:

"I mean… me and Ruby are a thing, but… other than that…"

"Yeah, no." Violet cut as she shook her head rapidly. The blushing hints grew even bigger as Violet received a surprised but smiling gaze from Clementine as a response. Martin noticed it, but did not say anything as he realized what he was suspecting proved itself to be true. However, there was someone that couldn't hold out on the table…

"Clem and Vi are girlfriends!" AJ almost yelled.

"You little shit!" Violet screamed while Clementine just bursted into a huge laughter. AJ freaked out for a second but eventually started to smile and even giggle, accompanying his mentor. Martin just leaned back and bound his hands on the back of his head, watching the ordeal unfold with a content smile. After seeing how red Violet's face was getting, Aasim jumped in as he realized:

"Wait… he's not joking?!"

Clementine downgraded her laughter into chuckle as she turned to Aasim to shake her head.

"Oh my god…" Violet sighed as she tried to cover her exploding red face in embarrassment.

"Since when?" Aasim asked.

"The other day, after the gathering." Clementine responded as her fit of laughter subsided and she held unto AJ. Right after, Violet opened up her face. While smiling, but also with her still embarrassed gaze:

"Why are you so eager to talk about this?" Violet asked as she tried to calm her voice. Clementine, still smiling but a bit confused:

"Why are you not?" she responded immediately. Violet, looking defeated, started to chuckle a bit as she said:

"I don't fucking know…" Her conflicted nature seemed to be at it's most adorable state, as Clementine responded to Violet with her own chuckle. Afterwards, Louis tapped on Violet's arm. With a huge, proud smile, he signed:

"Finally, dude."

"You shut your hands, right now!" Violet yelled immediately. Abacked by what she just saw:

"What does that mean?.." Clementine asked calmly. "...Vi?"

"Absolutely noth.." Violet tried to answer but she caught Louis going for his pen and paper with a wily smile on his face. Violet immediately tried to take them away from Louis which ended up them having a childish brawl over the items' control.

"He can still sign it…" Aasim butted in while the rest of the non-fighting group was busy laughing.

"Not if I chop'em off!" Violet yelled theatrically in response as she grabbed the knife that was used to slice the cake and try hitting Louis' hands with its dull end. Even Violet eventually began laughing at their struggle as it finished. However she still looked embarrassed as she turned towards Louis, with a diplomatic tone:

"Lou, could you let me explain, please?.." Violet asked which Louis responded with an understanding nod. "...Not today though… "Violet added which disappointed Clementine a bit. "…gotta gather my thoughts, first."

"You okay?" Aasim felt like he needed to ask. As she stood up, Violet responded:

"I'm fiiiine… just gotta dig a grave in my room..." she said with a chuckle towards the end. Before walking to the exit:

"...Damn, your questions suck Martin." Violet teased.

"Sorry…" he responded, with a singular chuckle. Clementine watched her dear friend leave the cafeteria with an endearing but also a worried smile.

"Minerva?" Aasim queried to Clementine as Violet left the room.

"Hope not… but who knows..." Clementine spoke out. "...I'll talk to her tomorrow." she added which both Aasim and Louis nodded as a response. Louis decided not to mention anything to keep his promise. Martin started to feel a bit guilty as he noticed how worried the trio started to get all of a sudden.

"I… didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. I'm sorry."

"It's all good." Clementine reassured as she stood up as well. Looked like the party was over as everyone started to clean up the table. When they finished, Louis and Aasim waved goodbye as they retreated to their room. Martin asked for a minute before he left on the main hallway, so Clementine sent AJ to their room in advance.

"Thanks… for the invitation." Martin felt like he had to say as AJ disappeared on the stairs up.

"Don't mention it..." Clementine immediately answered. After a brief silence, she added: "...Looks like you're stuck with us now…" Clementine smiled as she finished: "…we even did the ritual."

"Yeaaah…" Martin sighed with his own smile. Clementine, her initial judgement and wish regarding Martin still on her mind:

"Don't refrain from visiting us on lunches or dinners from time to time." Clementine kindly offered. Martin smiled as he appreciated how welcoming her and her friends was to a complete stranger. Albeit he was there to explain something important, but afterwards they could have just asked him to leave but they didn't. Having friends all around him was an alien feeling for Martin that he couldn't enjoy since the outbreak. Not since the orphanage…

"Of course, I'd love to." Martin responded with a smile as he went for a handshake which Clementine didn't turn over with her own glad smile.

Clementine and AJ spent the rest of the day in their room, as she decided to go over the lesson topics her and AJ studied yesterday again. It seemed AJ wanted to talk about something throughout, but he never did. Clementine opted that it was his concern towards Maggie's offer, so she also did not peep and let AJ respect her wish to not talk about it anymore today.

After she tucked her goofball in for his bedtime, Clementine almost threw herself to her bed, feeling mentally exhausted. Between the ranger ordeal and Violet, today seemed to take a toll on the young survivor. Clementine tried to calm her thoughts and worries as she tried to fall asleep.

It took a while, but finally she found the serenity. Her eyes shut, she started to feel a subtle, relaxing breeze sweep through her body and heard a familiar, continuous sound slowly emerging and getting louder. As the noise was loud enough for Clementine to be sure what it is, she began smiling.

It was the sound of a working locomotive…

…