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Scars… they're way cooler than stumps.
Violet lays awake, running her hand against the wall. She can feel chipped paint, dry wall, and something hanging on the wall. She can't get the thought of Delta out of her mind, even if she was told that Lily had been shot dead.
She has a feeling inside of her that if someone were to try to try and kidnap her and her friends again, they would be successful.
It just sucks, because if it were to happen again, she would be useless.
Besides her, Clementine shifts around in the bed, and Violet stops moving. She listens, the only thing she could really do, and hears Clementine's deep breathing, going in and out in a slow but steady tempo.
Violet's mind brings her back to the time on the boat, watching Minerva hit Clementine with her crossbow, and seeing Clementine pass out right next to her. She was conflicted then, her mind broken.
That was truly the last time Violet saw Clementine sleeping. Her face had looked so peaceful then, considering the circumstances that they were in. Violet wonders if Clementine's face looks the same, or somehow it looked even more peaceful.
Clementine shifts again, and Violet hitches her breath. She hears Clementine make a noise, then in a swift movement, her arms wrap around Violet's torso.
Violet breathes out, her breath shaky. With small movements, she brings her hands down, and she ever so slightly runs her hand over Clementine's arm. First, she feels her hand. It's warm, and Violet fights the urge to hold it.
Slowly, Violet makes her way up Clementine’s arm, feeling her soft skin, until she touches something. Shifting a little, Violet begins to trace out the lump of something that resides on Clementine's arm.
Clementine's breathing becomes slightly faster, and Violet stops her tracks. But a few moments later, Violet can hear that she had awakened the other girl.
"I'm sorry for waking you," Violet croaks out, her voice coming out as a whisper. Clementine shifts a little, and Violet can feel that the other girl has pushed herself closer to Violet's back, "No it's okay. I was going to wake up anyway," Clementine yawns.
They stay in that position for a few moments, laying down close to one another, Clementine's breath running down Violet's neck. Violet, less confident this time, brings her hand back to rub against Clementine's arm, and she can feel whatever scar she has on it.
"A dog bit me there," Clementine says, her voice coming out barely above a whisper, "About 5 or 6 years ago. Before AJ was born."
Violet is silent, her hand still tracing over the scar on her arm. It feels pretty long, and Violet feels like she's intruding Clementine's privacy, "Is that why you didn't really feel safe around Rosie?"
Clementine chuckles, as Rosie is practically her dog now, "Yeah. I found this dog, who's name was Sam, I think, after I had been separated from the person who was taking care of me. I had been alone for the first time since this whole thing started, so I was scared. Sam led me to an abandoned campsite, where I found a can of food. Beans, I think. Anyway, I was eating the beans and fed him some. I guess he was really hungry, because when I tried taking it back, he just bit me."
Violet frowns. She can't see Clementine's face, but she knows that she's trying to bring humor to the situation, as she can practically feel her smile against her, "What happened to Sam?"
"I had to kill him. Poor dog. I tried to get him off me, but I guess I pushed him too hard. Next thing you know, he landed in something sharp stuck in the ground. I didn't want him to suffer. Later that day, I had to stitch up the wound myself. The group of people who I found thought it was a walker bite."
Violet's frown deepens. She didn't mean to intrude into Clementine's past, "I'm sorry for asking," she says, her hand moving back towards Clementine's hand. Clementine grabs hold of it, "No it's okay. I've been wanting to tell you how I got these scars. Please, I'll help you around, get a feel of them."
Clementine lets go of Violet's hand, and Violet misses the warmth of it. She can feel Clementine move up on the bed to a sitting position, and Violet is quick to follow, "If you want to do this, I'll help you. If you want to stop, just tell me, okay?"
Violet gulps, "Okay," she croaks out. Clementine takes both of her hands, and Violet is quick to notice the lack of a finger. Violet remembers seeing it before, but she never got around to asking her how it happened.
"What happened to your uh… your finger?" Violet asks, rubbing her thumb over Clementine's left hand, feeling the empty space between two of her fingers.
"It got caught in a car door about 3, 4 years ago. I was on the road with Aj, carrying him on my back. I was going to do something risky, so I decided to leave him in a car to keep him safe. Walkers came and started swarming the car, so I tried to get him. While getting him out the car, a walker closed the door on my hand. Aj fell to the floor and started crying, I had to kill the walker, and get my hand free from the door. My pinky finger was broken, my middle finger was fine, but my ring finger was fucked up. So I decided to just cut it off rather than to have a useless finger."
Violet frowns once again, and she feels like that it's going to keep happening over and over tonight, "How long did you keep it before you decided to cut it?" She asks, still rubbing Clementine's hand, "I don't know, maybe a month. I knew it would take a while for it to heal, but I guess I just couldn't wait."
With that, Clementine takes Violet's hands, and she starts leading them to her body. Violet's hand touches Clementine's shoulders, and she stops her breath. It was nothing sexual, but the intimacy of the whole situation was something new to Violet.
Violet wishes she could see where her hands were going.
Slowly, Clementine takes Violet's hand, and leads her hand under her shirt. They stop just below Clementine's left shoulder, "Can you feel that?"
Violet rubs her hand wherever Clementine had stopped, but she can barely feel anything besides soft skin, "No. Not really."
Clementine stays silent, and Violet wishes she could see the look on her face.
"I was shot there. With a rifle. I'm pretty sure it went through, but I can't really remember right now," Clementine explains, breaking the silence. By herself, Violet tries her best to move her hand to Clementine's back. She reaches for the general area, and instead of soft skin, she can feel a large scar in the shape of a circle, "It went through."
Violet moves her hand back to Clementine's chest, and now she can feel a small scar, but not as bad as the other one.
"It was a few days after Aj was born. The group I was with was… shit... we were so broken. We had a prisoner with us, a Russian guy named Arvo, who said I stole medicine from him when I never did. Since he lied, he got people killed and hurt. He took us to a cabin, and we lost another guy on the way there, Luke. Fell into a frozen lake. I tried to save him but he saved me instead.
"That night, two people in our group took all of our supplies and were gonna leave with Arvo, but I woke up before they left. I don't know why, but I asked to come along. I regret asking that, but it didn't even matter anyway, because Arvo still shot me with a rifle."
Violet stays silent, and she feels Clementine put her head on her shoulder. Slowly, Violet removes her hand from Clementine's chest and wraps her in a hug, not daring to let go.
"Can I… touch your face?" Clementine ask, right into Violet's ear. She shivers, the warmth of her breath going down her ear, "Go ahead."
Ever so slightly, Violet can feel a pair of hands touch her face, tracing over the scars that the bomb had left her. She can practically feel Clementine's hesitance, and she doesn't blame her.
"Your eyes… they used to be green. They're kinda… gray now."
Violet tries to look at Clementine's eyes, seeing something in front of her. She can barely make out Clementine's basic outline, but she really wishes she could see her facial expression.
Hands move towards her eye patch, and slowly, Clementine removes it. She can hear Clementine gasp, then she feels hands touch the right side of her face, tracing the even larger scars. Violet tries her best to look at Clementine in the eyes, but she feels like she's failing.
Clementine kisses Violet under her left eye. Her lips are soft and somewhat chapped. She doesn't care.
Then, Clementine takes Violet's hand. She places it on her arm, and Violet can feel the tingling on her sleeve against her hand, "Move your hand down. You should feel it."
Slowly, Violet moves her hand downwards. All she can feel is the softness of Clementine's skin. Then, she feels something. It's huge. At this part, her skin feels rough, "What… what is this?"
"It's a… it's a brand," Clementine explains, shame in her voice. Violet nods, running her hand through the brand.
"It's from a group called The New Frontier. I only joined them so that I could help Aj. But since they didn't really trust people, they required everybody who joined them to get branded to show their loyalty.
"They still kicked me out. Said I couldn't take care of Aj. They took him from me. I tried to fight back but I couldn't. I spent such a long time trying to look for him."
Violet traces the brand with her finger, trying to figure out its shape.
She got this for him to be safe .
Clementine really loves him .
Clementine moves her legs, and her stump hit Violet's hip, "Sorry about that. I'm still… trying to get used to it," she apologizes.
"No no it's okay. I don't mind," Violet assures her. She places both of her hands on her shoulders and slowly brings herself to hug Clementine, resting her head against her neck.
They stay like that, in that position. Violet doesn't dare move, and she's afraid of what's going to happen next. She can feel Clementine wrap her arms around her and bring her in closer, and Violet loves it.
"Clem… shit I uh… Clem, I love you," Violet finds herself saying, then she proceeds to mentally slap herself.
Clementine stays quiet, and Violet wishes she had her eyesight, or that she could melt away, right at this moment. The only thing she can hear is her heart racing and Clementine's soft breathing.
"I love you too, Violet," Clementine's words come out as a whisper against Violet's ear, and yet was the loudest thing Clementine's had said tonight. The hug becomes tighter, as neither of them dare let go of each other. Violet feels as Clementine wraps her bad leg around her, letting it stay there.
They sit there, and Violet isn't too sure when she falls back asleep.