The Darkness of The Heart

Chapter 1 of Episode 4 of my Walking Dead series, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or its characters.

Chapter 1

Clementine still couldn't believe what she was hearing, it couldn't be, could it.

'This, Minerva said, she said Delta. She said Sarah should seek Delta to help her and Rondi settle their differences.' She thought in shock. 'But she...she escaped Delta, she was kidnapped by them, why would she...unless she's actually, working for them...'

She couldn't believe it, even though she had to admit, it was the only way Minerva's comments to Sarah made any sense. But then a fresh worry hit her. Violet, how could she possibly explain this to Violet.

Clem shook her head. 'Violet and I have already had problems, ever since Minerva arrived back...She might end up thinking I'm...I'm...jealous or something, making stuff up...But I need to warn her.'

She was still conflicted and worried about this, along with the other problems to try and figure out. She was amazed she hadn't lost it completely and gone mad yet.

'Honestly, urgh...the mess of my feelings, my crush on Violet, all this crazy stuff with Gabe reappearing and revealing the truth, the police stonewalling the investigation, Delta itself, trying to investigate it and now this...Minerva revealing that, to Sarah after all she's been through...' She thought in amazement.

It was really a small wonder, Clem felt, that she was still mentally functioning as well as she did right now, dealing with all that.

She had been so caught up in her thoughts as she slipped away from Minerva and Sarah, trying to process her thoughts that she almost walked right into Violet.

"Oh shit...Vi, sorry, I..."

Violet shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, I wasn't...I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Same." Clem admitted before biting her lip. "Um, actually, I need to talk to you."

"S-So do I." Violet replied, shifting her feet, rubbing the back of her neck.

Pondering this, Clem nodded and they both slipped away until they found an empty classroom and slipped inside to speak in private. Finally, after a moment of silence, Violet spoke.

"So um, listen...I wanna say...look I've been kinda shitty to you, ever since Minnie came back." She said, her voice shaking. "I'm so sorry, really, I shouldn't have...after all we've done together, I should've...mom made me realize how much of a mistake I was making and I...I..."

Clem bit her lip, but then smiled. "Vi, whoa, take a breath."

Violet stopped and finally did just that, calming down. "Sorry."

"It's cool, I get what you're saying and I want to put this behind us, to just, fix this and be friends again, okay." She said; all the while noting about her feelings for Violet. 'Not just yet, things are just so confusing right now.'

Violet smiled, relieved. "Cool, me too."

They both smiled and felt things calm down, the two of them finally relaxing, tension leaving their bodies.

But Clementine was still worried, mainly for what she was about to reveal.

"Listen Vi, I...I have something I need to tell you, I don't know how to say this and it's gonna sound...weird, but I've gotta say it." She said.

Violet tilted her head, confused. "Clem?"

Taking a deep breath she revealed. "I overheard Minerva talking to Sarah, offering to help point her to people who could help resolve the issues between her and Rondi...But, she said...she said Delta could help them."

"What, Clem, I don't..."

"She said Delta, as in the cult, as if she, as if she was trying to get Sarah to join it and..." Clem continued.

"Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Violet interjected. "Clem that's crazy, remember when we saw her, she was injured, she escaped them, they kidnapped her. Sophie went missing at the same time too and she hasn't reappeared, and that was all Delta."

Clementine nodded, relieved that, at the very least, Violet wasn't accusing her of making jealous accusations to try and cause trouble.

"I know, I thought that too and I agree Vi. That's why it's so...confusing, why I don't understand it, because I know exactly what I heard."

Violet bit her lip, now worried all over again.

Finally she made up her mind how to approach this. "Listen, Clem...Let's, not say anything else about this for now. We just, don't have enough information to work things out, we'll wait and see, alright?"

Clem nodded. "Right, sure thing."

Leaving the classroom they both decided to just keep their eyes open and continue to try and figure out what was going on, hoping they'd uncover the truth, before it was too late.

Later, after going her separate ways from Clem, Violet knew she had one more thing to take care of. So it was she sought out Minerva, recalling what her mother had told her, she knew she had to act now, rather than later. She swallowed nervously, before squaring her shoulders and approaching Minerva who was standing outside their first class.

"Hey Minnie." She greeted her, putting on her best smile.

Turning Minerva smiled back. "Ah, hey Vi. Wondered where you'd got to."

She shrugged. "I needed to talk to Clem, had to...clear a few things up."

"Oh, right."

Violet knew it was now or never.

"Listen, Minnie, we need to talk." She said.

Minerva shook her head before moving in closer. "Oh really, and here I was hoping to pass the time with-"

Violet pulled away before Minerva could kiss her.

"Not that I don't want to, but this is important." She said quickly. "We can't keep on...doing what we've been doing."

Minerva narrowed her eyes, not liking where this was going.

"I have friends, other people, we can't always just be...us, we need to mix more and not...We can't just be together at the expense of my friends." She said at last. "That's just...not fair on them, do you understand?"

Minerva really didn't like this. This was not how she wanted things to go, Violet was breaking her control, but on the surface she kept herself calm and relaxed. She could play along for now, but in the end, she'd find a way to fix things, to make them the way they were supposed to be again. But truthfully she was shocked at Violet growing this much backbone, wasn't like her at all.

"Sure, I get what you're saying, sorry...we'll try harder alright." She said.

Violet nodded satisfied and Minerva decided she'd just bide her time. She'd get her chance, she was sure of it, she just needed to wait for the right moment.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.