Chapter Text
Louis POV
I used to love to ask those 'What would you do?' questions.
What would you do if you heard a walker talking?
What would you do if you woke up one morning and you were opposite gender?
What would you do if I dumped a bucket of water on you right now?
One of my personal favorites was 'What would you do if you only had a day left to live?'
I never thought about having to answer that question myself.
I stared at my reflection in shock, the bite on my neck stabbing my eyes like a knife. I gently touched it, wincing at its sting.
"It's just a tree branch scrape!" AJ proclaimed. "I saw it with my own eyes, the walker didn't get him!" I think he was more trying to convince himself rather than the others.
"It was dark outside," Violet told him gravely. "You might have just not seen it get him."
"We can just cut it off, right?" Tenn asked.
"It's on his neck, Tenn," Willy answered. "If we did that, it could kill him."
"It wouldn't work, anyway," said Aasim. "We've tried it before, remember?"
"There has to be something we can do!" AJ cried. "Let's go outside! C'mon, Louis, we just have to rinse it off really good and make it clean. That's all." He grabbed onto my hand, tugging me toward the door. "Let's go!"
I finally tore my eyes off my reflection, and replaced them on AJ. "AJ," I spoke softly.
"We have to hurry!" AJ exclaimed, still pulling.
"AJ, stop." My voice was firm, but not scary. It was enough to tell him I'm not going anywhere. He let go of me, exhaling a shuddery breath. I squatted down to be eye level with him, but he refused to look up. "Look at me."
"No."
"AJ-"
"How could you get bit?!" He interrupted. "You were supposed to take care of me!"
"I did. I went back to save you, didn't I?"
"What about now?" He looked up, his distraught eyes spilling fresh tears. "You're gonna become a monster!" AJ's voice cracked on the last word.
Without hesitating, I pulled him into a hug. He doesn't hug back; just lays his head on my shoulder, letting his tears soak my shirt. I didn't care, though.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, squeezing him tightly. He wrapped his little arms around me then, starting to ball. "I'm so, so sorry, AJ."
While he continued to cry, Violet came down with us, wrapping her arms around the both of us. Minnie joined the hug, too, and so did Tenn. One by one, the rest of the kids came in. Even Rosie walked over to us, nuzzling us with her nose.
Soon, we were all crying. No shame in it. Every single one of us was weeping, each of us creating our own little puddle of tears on the floor.
That was how I spent one of my last hours.
In a cry fest with my family.
0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0
Everyone fell asleep at some point. They all cried until they couldn't anymore, and they all just kinda fell on top of each other in a big heap.
I didn't fall asleep, though. I wasn't going to spend the little time I had left sleeping.
I still hadn't quite registered that I had been bit. Yeah, sure, my body felt like it was made of nothing but mushed potatoes, but my brain refused to accept the fact that I was pretty much dead.
I glanced out the same window that had been my mirror and saw that now the sky was actually visible. It was a very dark purple, which led into a bright pink. The sun was rising.
"This'll probably be the last sunrise that I'll ever see," I whispered out loud to myself. Carefully, I untangled myself from the rest of the kids, and walked out to the courtyard. Rosie got up and followed me.
I went over to the picnic table where Clem and I used to sit. I sat on the place where the food was supposed to go, letting my feet dangle over the edge. The dog jumped up and laid down beside me, resting her head in my lap.
"I can't believe I actually got bit, girl," I said to Rosie, patting her head. "I mean, I literally can't. My brain won't accept-" I cough, covering my mouth with my hand. When I finished and pulled my hand away, it was covered in splats of my blood. "My brain can't comprehend what happened."
Rosie whined in response, as if she actually understood me.
"You're such a good girl. You know that, right?"
She wagged her little stub of a tail, and I knew that she knew.
"Louis?"
I turn around to see Minnie walking over to me, rubbing her elbow nervously.
"Hey," I responded.
She came and sat down next to me. "How do you feel?"
"Like shit."
"Oh. That sucks." She looks up at the sky, taking in all of its colors. After a few seconds, she says, "Its beautiful."
"I know. It's a pretty good sunrise for a last sunrise, don't you think?"
"Yeah."
We were both silent for a few minutes, marveling as the colors changed in the sky.
Finally, I said, "I'm sorry. For pushing you away for so long, even when you tried to make amends with me."
"I'm sorry, too. For, y'know... everything."
After as few more moments of silence, I uttered, "I'm glad you're here."
She looked surprised at my words, and the corners of her mouth slowly turned upwards. "I'm glad I'm here, too."
"Y'know, Violet's going to be in her one of her moods after this," I informed her, trying to escape the sappy mood. "At first, she'll just be really sad, but then she'll be sassy and sarcastic as hell. That's what happened after we lost you and you're sister."
"I'll try my best to get her back to normal."
"I'm sure you'll get her there." I turned my face away from the sky and looked at Minerva. "Try your best to get everyone there, okay?"
"I will," she promised.
We watched the sky some more, until all the different colors were gone, and it was back to its familiar blue.
"Alright, I think I'm ready to go in. I want to spend as much time with everybody I can."
"Okay." Minnie hopped off, offering me her hand. I accepted it, pushing myself off the table. However, I almost fell to the ground as I did. My legs felt weaker now, as if they could barely support my weight. My knees felt like they were about to crack under the pressure of my body.
"Are you okay?" Minerva asked, concerned.
"Yeah, it just..." I groaned as I attempted to take a step. "It hurts."
"Here, let me help you." She wrapped my arm around her shoulder, pulling me up with her. Minnie was carrying most of my body weight.
"Thanks."
"No problem, Lou."
Then, slowly but surely, we started to make our way to the music room. Even then, I knew those would be the last steps I would ever take.
0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0
I had asked Minerva to help me to the piano, so I could play a song on it while my hands still worked. However, as I sat and stared at the keys in front of me, my fingers just rested there, useless.
"What do you wanna play?" Minnie whispered, not wanting to wake the rest of the sleeping children.
"I don't know," I answered. "I was hoping my fingers would just kind of choose the song for me, without me having to think about it."
"Well... take your time."
I tried to think of a song that I could play. The song I wrote for Clementine? No, that doesn't have any words. 'Oh My Darling Clementine?' Maybe...
"Never mind the darkness."
Minnie's voice startled my thoughts, and it takes my brain a moment to process what she had sang.
"Never mind the storm."
Ah, "Don't Be Afraid."
"Never mind the blood red moon,
The night will be over soon,
The night will be over soon."
Suddenly, my fingers come to life, and start to pick up where we were in the song.
"Brush away your sorrow,
Brush away your tears,
Sing away your heavy heart,
The night will be over soon,
The night will be over soon."
As I play, I begin to forget my situation. I don't think about how in a few hours, I'd be dead. I brushed off the fact that this might be the last song played on that piano. This was just one of mine and Minnie's performances that we liked to do so much. Nothing more.
For the last verse, I decide to sing along.
"For every night goes quiet,
And every moon grows blue,
Beyond the dark, c omes something new,
The sun will be rising soon,
The sun will be rising soon,
The sun will be rising soon."
After I played the last note, the room was silent. My fingers began to tremble on the keys, shaking with pain. As they ached, the reality of my circumstances set in again.
Slowly, I turned around to face the kids. They were awake now, and they were all staring at me. Their tear stained cheeks glistened in the sun shining through the windows.
"Beautiful as ever, Minnie," I complement, smiling weakly at her.
"You, too," she responded, trying her best grin back at me. But she couldn't, just like everyone else in the room.
"Since when can you actually sing?" Vi teased, wiping her eyes of tears.
"I don't know. Since just now, I guess. Maybe having the dead in your veins does something with your voice." Although meant to be somewhat of a joke, my last comment dampened the mood. I decided to try and brighten it instead. "Hey, I'm hungry," I announced, even though I didn't feel like eating. "Omar, you think you could whip us up-" I cough again, sputtering up more blood than the first time. The kids gasp at the sight of it. After I finish, I wave my hand dismissively, before continuing, "Could you make us some lunch?"
"Absolutely," Omar agreed.
"Good," I reply, "Because it's almost time for the 'Stew with Lou' finale."
"We wouldn't want to miss that," Violet concurred.
"Okay, then," I chimed with a raspy voice, "Let's go." I went to stand up, only to find that now my legs couldn't support my weight at all. I fell to the floor. "Shit!"
"Lou!" Vi yelped. All the children rushed to my side, AJ and Violet being the first there.
"I'm fine," I assured them from the floor, trying my best to hide how excruciating the pain was. "I'm just... I'm getting a little to old for this."
"Louis, don't be silly right now," AJ requested, holding my hand worriedly. "This is serious."
"Aw, serious smerious," I quipped. "There's always time to be silly, AJ. Always." I gently squeezed his hand.
Suddenly, a gut wrenching wave of pain washed over me, causing me to squeeze AJ's hand harder than I had intended and groan in distress. "Oh, dear God!" I cried through clenched teeth.
The wave passed, and I let go of AJ's hand. "Sorry," I breathed.
"It's okay," he promised, pulling his hand away and massaging it.
"Omar, you can hold off on lunch until later," I told him. "Could you go get me that one bean bag chair from your room?"
"Why?" Willy asked.
"I want to at least be a little comfortable as I die." As soon as the words left my mouth, my whole understanding of what was about to happen hit me hard. My brain finally accepted what it had been refusing to accept the last couple of hours: This is it. I'm going to die. "Jesus. Never thought I'd have to say those words anytime soon."
"I'll go get it," Omar said quietly.
"Okay. Violet, there's some duct tape in that drawer over there. Could you get that for me, please?"
"For what?" She questioned.
"So I won't be able to hurt you guys. After I, y'know..."
"I'll get it," she hastened, so I wouldn't need to finish my sentence.
0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0
I chose to be duct taped to the piano, my favorite object in the school. After they got my left arm nice and secure, they helped me get settled on the bean bag chair.
After that, my condition went downhill, and fast.
Within the next hour, breathing got incredibly harder. It felt as if there were a rope around my neck, getting tighter every second. I could barely speak, and my breaths only came out in shallow wheezes.
It was a fight to continue living for as long as I did. It was even a struggle to just simply keep my eyes open. But I fought as hard as I could, for them. I wanted to stay with my family as long as possible.
Everyone sat in a semi circle around me. They were close, but not close enough that I could reach out and grab them, just in case I suddenly turned. But they sat close enough that I could feel that every one of them was there, and I could here as they quietly cried.
Finally, I whispered weakly, "I guess it's time for goodbyes." When they all stared at me with their lips quivering, I added, "You might want to hurry, guys. I don't know how much longer I have."
"I'll go first," Omar volunteered. Scooching ever so slightly forward, he started, "Even though you annoy the hell out of me sometimes, I just want you to know that you've always been one of my best friends. And I'm gonna miss the star of 'Stew with Lou.' Be careful wherever you end up, okay?"
"I will," I promised.
"I'm gonna miss you, Louis," Willy stated next. "This sucks."
"It does," I agreed. "I'll say hi to Mitch for you, though, alright?"
"Okay. Thanks."
"I, um..." Tenn said nervously, tugging on his shirt collar. "I drew a picture for you." He shyly pulled it out of his pockets and unfolded it, handing it to me.
Even though my vision was terrible, I could still make out what it was:
Me, with Chairless on my shoulder. Above me, it said, "Louis, the funniest guy in the world. We'll miss you."
"Thank you, Tenn. I love it."
"We're- g-gonna- mi-iss, y-you!" Ruby told me, her sniffles causing her to stutter on each word.
"So much," Aasim added.
"I'll miss you guys, too."
Then, Violet came up next to me, taking my hand in both of hers. "You mean a lot to me, you big idiot. I hope you know that."
"I know." I inhaled deeply, the imaginary rope tightening on my neck. "You're important to me, too, Vi."
"I promise I'll take care of him for you," she uttered only loud enough for me to hear. She looked back to AJ, her tears trickling freely down her cheeks. If I had had the energy to cry, I probably would have, too.
"Thank you."
Violet backed away and into the arms of Minnie, who held her comfortingly. Minerva nodded my way, showing me that she was already working on what she promised me.
Finally, it was AJ's turn. However, he refused to look at me, crossing his arms and biting his lip.
"AJ-" I spoke, my voice lower than a whisper.
"No," he cut me off. "I'm not saying goodbye. I hate goodbyes."
"You'll hate yourself later if you don't say goodbye."
"Fine." He slowly made his way in front of me, and then knelt down. However, he still didn't look me in the eye.
"You're gonna have to look out for everybody for me."
"I know."
"You know what you'll also have to do?"
"What?"
"You'll have to make sure that my jacket doesn't get stiff."
"Huh?" He asked, finally making eye contact.
"I need you to make sure my jacket is still used."
"Why?"
"Because it's super warm and cozy, and I don't that comfortableness to just be wasted! Oh, if only there was someone here who could keep wearing it for me..."
"Aasim could wear it," AJ suggested, gesturing behind him with his thumb.
"No, he's not worthy of wearing such a treasure," I teased my friend, winking at Aasim. "Maybe, though, YOU could wear it."
"Me?"
"Yes, you. It'll keep you nice and warm, and it'll improve your look by a thousand percent."
"Okay, then, I guess I could wear it."
I tried to get off my trench coat, but when I struggled, Aasim and Ruby helped me get it off. AJ put it over his shoulders, and it hung on him like a dress.
"It's big," AJ observed, holding up his dangling sleeves.
"You'll grow into it," I assured him.
"You look weird without it."
"Aw, how sweet."
"I'm never gonna see you in this again." As he made this realization, the curiosity that had hidden his sadness disappeared. His chocolate eyes began to water as he stared at me.
I reached up and gently squeezed his shoulder. "I'm going to miss you, little dude."
A salty dropped escaped from AJ's eye, sliding down his dirty cheek. "I'll miss you, too." He let another tear fall. "A whole lot."
Without thinking, I opened up my right arm, inviting him into a hug. Without hesitating, he wrapped his arms around me and began to sob into my shoulder.
"Hey," I cooed, "It'll be alright. I'll be okay. I'll be with Clem, right?"
"R-right."
"So I'll be happy."
"But what about me?" He cried. "I won't be happy."
"You'll get there. I promise."
He wiped his runny nose, shuddering out another breath. "I love you, Louis."
At first, his words made my eyes widen, and I froze. He loves me.
I held him a little tighter, whispering in his ear, "I love you, too."
Then, while we were in our embrace, something happened. My brain started to do that thing, where it gives me all this useless dumb shit to think about before I die. But this time, not all the shit was useless.
My life was flashing before my eyes.
My earliest memory floats into my brain, the one where I discovered that I liked music. I was at a concert, and a pianist was playing a beautiful song on the piano. I remember thinking, even at that young age, I want to do that someday. After the concert, I begged my dad to get me a piano, as I begged him for things often. Sure enough, for my next birthday, I had a toddler sized piano waiting for me.
Soon, that memory passes, and another takes its place. Skip a few years ahead, to when I was seven years old. I was playing at the park, running around and letting loose all of the built up energy I had from school. However, I wasn't watching where I was going, and I ran smack into another kid. We both fell on the ground, our mouths bleeding. Turns out, me and the kid both knocked out our front teeth. We thought it was hilarious, though, even if our mothers did not. We decided to call ourselves 'brothers' after that.
That kid was Marlon.
Next, I get a glimpse of the worst thing I ever did. Hitting 'send' to deliver all the receipts and jewelry from my dad's fake mistress to my mom.
Jumping forward to after the apocalypse, I'm taken back to the time when Violet and I really started to become close. Minnie and Vi had gotten into their first big fight, and I found her alone in the music room crying. So, I tried to play a song to cheer her up, and when that didn't work, I told her all the jokes I had ever known. Eventually, I realized that she didn't need to laugh right then, she needed to be consoled. So I let her confide in me, and soon I tried to steer her off the topic of her and Minnie to distract her from her pain. It worked, and I actually managed to make her laugh at one of my jokes. Since then, we always went to each other anytime we needed to talk.
The memory after that was quick. It's simply Marlon getting shot in the head, and falling to the ground.
Then I'm with Clementine. I was back on the piano bench, rambling on to her about how surprised I was that she had feelings for me. And then she shut me up with a kiss.
The one after that is with Clem again, but it's the one where she's dying. The first and last time she told me she loved me.
And then I'm with AJ, snuggling in Clem's old bed.
Back to the group hug from this morning.
And finally, I'm back to the present.
I was still hugging AJ. He nuzzled his nose into my neck, and I rested my head on his shoulder. While I did, I took a moment to really look at all the kids one last time.
Ruby. One of the sweetest girls you'll ever meet, and smart, too. She probably could have been a doctor if the outbreak never happened.
Aasim. A good pal of mine, although we didn't always have the same opinion on things. He's smart, though, a little bit of a nerd. His arm was wrapped around Ruby, and he was holding her close. Hey, at least he finally got a girlfriend.
Omar. He's the one I'm pretty sure I annoyed the most. From my constant whining about food, to my teasing him about his creepy rabbit's foot, I always found a way to get on his nerves. But he always put up with me, and if I needed him there, he was there. He's a good friend.
Willy. One of the only ones who laughed at my jokes, always. I appreciated that.
Tenn. The most pure-hearted person I know. Tennessee always helped keep the calm in the school. We would've killed each other before the walkers did if it wasn't for Tenn.
Minnie. First my friend, then my enemy, then my friend again. Though I still found myself loathing her from time to time, thinking of what she did to her sister and how she was a part of what happened to Clem, I knew that she still had a good heart.
Violet. Sarcastic, snappy, bossy Violet. One of my best friends. The girl who helped me cope with the loss of Marlon, who helped me forgive Clem and AJ. The girl who would chop someone in half if it meant protecting me.
Finally, AJ. AJ, who sometimes acted older than me, despite me being three times his age. The little boy who helped me grow up a bit these past few weeks. The tot who was the closest thing to a son I would ever have.
Suddenly, I feel as if I'm drifting. My arms fell limp, and my head slid off of AJ's shoulder. Startled from my head, he let go of me and backed up to take a look at me.
The rope around my neck had sealed off my air. I could hardly move, my lips and eyes now the only thing I had control of.
I watched as AJ registered what was happening, the way his face scrunched up as he wiped a tear from his eye.
"I love..." I wanted to tell them I loved all of them, but I just didn't have the energy any more.
I started to drift again, but desperately tried to hold on longer.
"We know," Violet says. "We love you, too, Lou."
Whatever tried to pull me out of the world gave a big hard yank, but I fight to keep consciousness just a little longer.
I took one last look at my family, all huddled together, their cheeks wet with tears.
I love you guys.
And then I drift again, but I don't try to hang on. I let myself be taken.
I couldn't hear anything, see anything, or feel anything.
I was dead.
AN: Wow. This was sad. Depressing. Short. Ugh.
Anyway, did you catch the Pete reference in this one?
The FINAL update is on Wednesday.
See you then...