Ok, I have no excuse for why it took me so long to update. It's a long and boring story that could turn into a book itself.
Please take this virtual cookie to make up for it and the reviewers get 2! ^^

anyway, we have now reached the final chapter. I want to thank everybody that read and reviewed the story. You guys are the real MVP!

I'm thinking of writing another TWD - game story. Maybe even one for season 2. any ideas?

*SPOILER ALERT*: slight spoiler for the first 3 epsiodes of season 2!

The stranger and the end

Lee knew he had reached the last part of his journey, but he couldn't rest until it was over.

He had one las person to face, and admittedly it would be the hardest.

Though inadvertently, this man was to blame, not only for many of his friends deaths, but for his own.

Heck, it pained Lee to think how different things could have been, had this person not lured Clementine away with his false hope of security, only because his warped mind hadn't accepted his own families death.

They could have all left together. Lee, Clementine, Kenny, Omid and Christa. The boat was gone, but Lee knew they would have figured it out somehow.

They could have found a safe-heaven. Let Christa have her baby in baby in peace, help Kenny get over the deaths of his son and wife, made a new family for themselves.

But as Lees mother used to say: regret before the act doesn't exist and regret after the act doesn't count. There was nothing to be done about it now.

Not that this knowledge did anything to relieve his pain.

He had made a full circle now, and found himself in this same place where his life had (practically) ended previously. A dirty hotel room, darkened and dusty, sitting in an armchair opposite the man that had ruined his future.

The stranger wore the same clothes and manic impression as on their first meeting, with that glint in his eyes that made Lee feel sicker than any apocalypse gore ever could.

"Here we are again, Lee. what goes around really comes around after all." the stranger hummed.

In all respects this was the same as first time around, including the gun loosely held in this strangers hand, but this time, it didn't scare Lee in the slightest. There was no harm from this many anymore.

"Except of course, this time I don't even need to state my case. I've already been proven right." The gun swung around in a careless gesture. His words made Lee feel cold to the pit of his stomach.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. The stranger smiled wolfishly and raised the gun again

"Why, Clementine, of course. If you would have just seen the sense in my words back then, she couldn't have had to go through all this misery. I would have been a better father for her than you could have ever wished for." He seemed so sure of this, Lee could feel the anger rise in his chest.

The stranger aimed the gun between Lees eyes with a nonchalant look and pulled the trigger.

He didn't even flinch, but his mind was immediately evaded with vivid imagery.

Clementine walking, a baby dying, Omid getting shot, loneliness and death. New friends perishing in horrible ways. Old friends getting disfigured. A unknown enemies face beaten in until the was little more left than a bloody pulp. And sorrow. So much pain for such a little girl.

When it was over, Lee felt positively sick, but somehow relieved at the same time, knowing what was happening with Clementine after his demise, even if it were horrible things.

"You understand now, don't you?" the stranger was asking. "All this agony, she would have never had to go through it if you could have just left her with me. I had things figured out. My wife and children were fed and warm and save, before your group had to go and ruin our lives. You are as responsible for their deaths as I will ever be of yours."

He didn't seemed angry anymore, just determined. determined to get his point across.

And on some level, Lee knew there was truth in his words. At least the last part. The first, not so much…..

"But she survived, didn't she? All the things she had to go through, she did because I taught her to. She's alive because she is strong." He determined.

The stranger raised a skeptical eyebrow at Lee. "Is that really such a good thing, then? for such a a little girl to be alive in such a cruel world?"

"Yes!" Lee answered without losing a beat. "People need her to be alive. She is different. She bring hope and can bring people together. She is the strongest person I've ever known, and without her, I would have probably died long before that day. I needed her as much as she needed me. And even if it's a selfish thing to say, people still need her out there. I can only be proud to have formed her into who she is now."

The stranger had furrowed his brows in a thoughtful way, but didn't seem impressed with Lees speech. "Whatever brings you sleep at night, Lee. enjoy your peace."

And with a non-committal shrug, he was gone, as was the dirty hotel room.

He was back at the pharmacy in an instant, but not the way he had last left it. Instead it was organized and sunny, they way he remembered it in a long past childhood, and Lee knew what to do now. He could feel how they had moved on. The people he talked to were free to have their quiet afterlife, god knew they earned it. But he still had one last job.

Making himself comfortable on top of the till, something his father had alway chided him for, he prepared for a (hopefully) long wait. It could take a while, but Lee just smiled. He would have plenty of time to contemplate how to greet Clementine when he could finally hold her again.

End.

Thanks for the read. I would still love your reviews! *hint hint*