JellyBear

She/her who wishes I could live in a better world.

[jellybear455]

MASTERLIST

AVATAR Tsu'tey x reader (requested) - Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Let Me Heal You (Neteyam x reader) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

THE LAST OF US Ellie x mother figure!reader x Joel (TBC)- Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

INSPIRED BY SONGS Then we were one (Loki x reader) - Nancy Mulligan by Ed Sheeran My love will never die (Jack Sparrow x reader - Davy Jones by Fia Orädd

[jellybear455]

What's Left of Anna - Part 7 - TLOU

Image not mine

Okayyyyy we getting to the good stufffff today

Warnings: reader has a name, cannon violence, flashback

Previous part Next part

--

The sun rises too soon. I squeeze my eyes shut in an attempt to block out the light from the steadily rising sun. Ellie stirs beside me, her stubble scratching my forehead. What, what?

My eyes fly open, and I suddenly realise that in my sleepless delirium I snuggled up with Joel, not Ellie. I attempt to wriggle away, but somehow his arm is tucked around my shoulders, squeezing against my will.

Irrational panic takes the reins. If Joel were to wake up and realise what I’d done, he would probably never look at me again. Not to mention what Ellie would say if she roused first. I glance over my shoulder at her, relieved to see that she has her back to us and seems to remain fast asleep.

Slowly, I try to wriggle downwards, out of Joel’s grasp. With each rustle of the sleeping bag, I flinch. My plan seems to be working, until Joel stirs.

“Stop wrigglin’,” He mutters, barely awake. Then, as if struck by lightning, his eyes snap open.

For a second, neither of us move. We just stare, eyes wide as dinner plates. Then I take the opportunity by the throat and wrench myself from his deadly grasp.

“Sorry,” I whisper, when I’ve regained the ability to breathe.

Joel sits up and runs a hand through his hair. “S’fine.” He croaks hoarsely.

“No, it’s not. I’m sorry. I just got cold, and I thought you were-”

“Said s’fine.” He repeats, rising and walking over to the Chevy.

The second he turns his back, I flop back to the ground and bury myself in my sleeping bag. With any luck, I’ll metamorphosize into a massive butterfly so I can fly away and never have to look at Joel again. I can hear him rummaging around, but I don’t emerge from my cocoon until I feel a gentle poke in my shoulder. Maybe it’s God, here to finally take me away.

It’s not God. It’s Joel, looking down at me and offering a mug of something familiar smelling.

Wordlessly, I accept. Joel smiles. He fucking smiles. I wish to re-enter my cocoon. Awkwardly, I take a sip. It’s bitter and tasteless and triggers my gag reflex the second it hits my taste buds.

“Is this coffee? Where did you find this?” I excitedly take another sip and gag. Joel looks confused.

“You don’t like it?”

“Hate it. Never liked coffee.”

Joel swipes the mug from my hands and takes a swig. “Your loss.”

“Hey, I didn’t say I didn’t want it.” I snatch it back, feeling queasy at the smell. “This is a delicacy.”

“I’m not wasting perfectly good beans on someone likely to throw them back up.” Joel replies, taking the cup and walking away.

“Rude.”

I slowly rise and begin to pack away my sleeping bag. Within a few minutes Ellie is stirring. She squirms like a caterpillar to the small cooking stove, and I watch with a grin as she flips open the kettle. I don’t have to imagine the foul smell that must fill her nostrils as she releases a strange sound that is a mix between a groan and a gag.

“What the fuck is that?”

Joel looks up from the tray of the Chevy, eyebrows raised. “You don’t like coffee either?”

Ellie gives him a witheringly judgemental look. I burst into erratic, sleep-deprived laughter. The two turn their ridiculous facial expressions back at me, and I can’t help but cackle even harder.

--

“Is that seriously what those Starbucks in the QZ used to sell?” Ellie asks when we are back on the road. She’s in the back seat again, leaning over the centre console with a map in her lap.

Joel is sipping coffee from a thermos. This may be the closest expression to joy I have ever seen on the man.

“Well, theirs was a lot fresher than what Bill saved up, but yeah, this is what they’d sell.” He replies.

“Smells like burnt shit.”

Once again, I laugh in surprise. I seem to be doing that a lot today. Maybe it’s sleep deprivation.

Joel, very pointedly and very loudly, slurps from the thermos.

“Classy.” I swoop in and pluck the coffee from his hands, taking a swig.

“Hey, that is in limited supply.” He protests.

I shrug. “Somethings gotta keep me awake.”

“How are you drinking that?” Ellie asks in awe, leaning impossibly further into the front seat.

“Sheer will power,” I reply, handing the flask back to Joel.

“Take this from me again and I swear to God…”

“I ran out of fucks to give a couple of decades ago, Joel, so you better suck it up.”

Ellie whistles gleefully and Joel glares at us.

“Eyes on the map.”

“76 west, and then 70 west for, like, ever and ever and ever…” She glances at Joel quickly. “Where in Wyoming did you say your brother was?”

Joel is silent for a second but eventually decides to divulge the information. “Last contact came through a radio near Cody.”

I lean closer to the map, and together Ellie and I search for Cody, travelling up 70 until…

“Ah man. That is deep up in there.” Ellie comments, and I silently agree. “And if he’s not there?”

“Then odds are he’ll be near a settlement, probably close to another city out there, there aren’t too many in Wyoming.”

Ellie begins to pepper Joel with questions, but I stay quiet. Joel’s commitment to his brother is admirable, and when he tells Ellie that he’s the older brother, the puzzle begins to make sense. Anna spent her whole life running after her little sister, fixing my mistakes and drawing me back home. All it took was a particularly bad mistake for her to end up dead. I just hope Tommy doesn’t get Joel killed, too.

“Tommy is what we used to call a ‘joiner’. Dreams of becoming a hero. So, he enlisted in the army right outa high school. A few months later they ship him off to Desert Storm. It’s what they called that war, doesn’t matter. Point is, being in the army didn’t make him feel much like a hero.

“Cut to twelve years later, the outbreak happens, he convinces me to join a group making their way up to Boston, which I did, mostly to keep an eye on him, keep him alive. It’s where we met Tess. And that whole crew, we uh-…” Joel trails off for moment, and his eyes dart between the road and the flask, seemingly lost in sadness, or regret, even. His tone shifts, becomes harder, disbelieving.

“Well for what it was, it worked. And then Tommy meets Marlene. She talks him into joining the Fireflies. Same mistake he made when he was eighteen. Wants to save the world. Pipe dream. Him, Fireflies, all of them. Delusional.” His eyes drop to the flask again. I realise this is the most willing he has been to talk since we left the QZ. “Course last I heard he’d quit the Fireflies, too. So now he’s on his own out there, and I gotta go get him.”

Ellie stares out the glass and thinks for a while. “If you don’t think there’s hope for the world, why bother going on? I mean, you gotta try, right?”

“You haven’t seen the world, so you don’t know.” Joel replies, and I think that is the wisest thing to ever come out of his mouth.

“You keep going for your family.” I offer, finding my voice for the first time in a while. “The people you love. You stay alive because that’s what they’d want you to do.”

Ellie’s eyes swivel to me. “That’s why you’re still here? ‘Cause it’s what your sister would want you to do?”

I can’t disguise how I flinch when her words hit home. She’s closer to the truth than I’d like. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’d like to think so.”

“What was her name?”

“Anna.” It tumbles from my lips before I can lie. There is no flash of recognition, no accusing stare from Ellie, and I suddenly realise I never once told her what her mother’s name was.

“How’d she die?” Ellie asks softly. Her curiosity is insatiable, but her tone is gentle, like she knows she might be going too far. I breathe a gentle sigh, contemplating what to tell her.

Anna and I, despite being as close as we were, could not have been more different. I would drag us into trouble, and she would pull us right back out. Since she died, though, recklessness makes me sick.

“Anna was… a peacemaker, I guess. She was good at getting out of a jam. And the apocalypse is a pretty big jam. Knowing Marlene was probably the thing that saved us.

“On outbreak day, we were lucky enough to be far enough from to city to make it out. No one living inside any of the cities made it out. Too many dead. We ran to the countryside, because that was the only thing we could think to do. And we just… kept going. All the way from Illinois to Massachusetts. We kept picking up survivors, because… because I guess that was the only thing that kept us human.

“Anna and Marlene basically grew up conjoined at the hip. So when I found her near the Boston QZ… Anna and the rest of our group lived in a safe house on the outskirts of the city, and I let Marlene con me into becoming a Firefly. We kept each other alive. But then I…” I falter, realising this is the closest I’ve ever come to admitting to the truth.

Ellie is listening quietly, and when I meet her eyes, I wonder why I keep the truth from her. We’re safe outside the QZ, away from FEDRA and the Fireflies. I don’t have to worry about who she might spill to, because there is no one here to blow my cover. And would it even matter? I have no reason to be a Firefly anymore. I want to speak, I want to tell her the truth, because there is nothing stopping me. Except…

“I’m the reason she’s dead.” And Ellie might never be able to look me in the eyes again if she knew.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Ellie replies quickly, obviously eager for me to continue.

“Go to sleep, Ellie. You were up early.”

“Pff, I’m not even tired.”

She’s out like a light not ten minutes later.

--

After a few hours of driving, I offer to switch with Joel.

“S’alright. I’m fine.”

“I’m not asking. Let me have a go. Please?”

He relinquishes. I settle into the driver’s seat, feeling a little bit giddy. Ellie scrunches her nose.

“How come she gets to drive, and I don’t?”

“Because I’ve been driving long before you were even a thought.” I reply, setting the car into drive and taking off. The feeling is freeing, after two decades of travelling by foot.

“But you haven’t driven in twenty years.”

I raise an eyebrow at her in the rearview. “Neither has Joel.”

“Well, if you think about it, I haven’t even been alive that long, so I’m the more responsible choice.”

“What kind of terrible logic is that? You’ve never even seen a car in your fourteen years.”

“Not fair. You’re holding me back from getting the full teenage experience.”

“Seriously? Joel will you-” I glance over at him, and he’s dead asleep, cheek leaning against the glass. Sleeping Joel has no crease between his eyes, and his shoulders, for once, are slack.

“Changed your mind?” Ellie prods.

“Shh. I don’t want to hear another word out of you.”

She finally looks at Joel, and her mouth forms as ‘o’. She snaps her fingers a few times in front of his face. He doesn’t stir. “Hey, hello, wake up old man.”

“Ellie. Be quiet or you can walk the rest of the way.”

“Okay, mom.” She huffs.

The comment is harmless, but I can’t stop my hands from gripping the wheel tighter. I take a deep breath and focus on driving instead of my guilt.

--

The clock on the dash reads a few minutes before midnight. Anna’s a little more than tipsy, and I’m just barely sober enough to drive. The alcohol buzzes in my brain. I snort loudly as Anna loudly recounts how John, her fiancée, who is sprawled out in the backseat, drunkenly tried to convince the bartender that tequila was actually from a fruit only found in the island of Tahiti. She giggles uncontrollably, flipping through my book of CDs.

I laugh at her, wishing to hear the story again, but my drunk brain is distracted by the Thriller CD. “Absolutely zero skips here.”

“No way.” Anna scoffs. She looks away from the road holds up Red Hot Chilli Peppers. “Californication is musical genius.”

“Nah, you’re both idiots,” John slurs from the backseat, somehow, he’s still clutching a beer. He’s not wearing a seatbelt. “The Cranberries are the- is that a person? Oh my god!”

Thirty seconds later, he’s dead, and blood is trickling down my forehead.

The windscreen is smashed, and smoke rises from the engine in spluttering poofs. Anna is no longer next to me.

The driver’s door is heavier than a stack of bricks, and when I finally fall out of the car, the world tips on its side. My body seizes uncontrollably in pain.

I stare down at John’s beer bottle, now buried in my stomach. When I prod it gently, the pain is white hot and consuming. I grasp it, stupidly ignoring how much it hurts, and pull. Thick, dark blood oozes out. Six years of med school scream logic at me.

My head pounds with the realisation of my mistake. I press my hand to the wound quickly. The pain is excruciating, and it leaves me dizzy.

I drag myself to my feet, stumbling towards the blurry figure of my sister. A tsunami of pain leaves me shaking, but I stagger on.

Anna lies several meters away from me, sobbing loudly. I collapse in the dirt beside her.

My head stops spinning a little, and I realise Anna has her head buried in her fiancée’s chest. He’s sprawled out on the dirt, his limbs and neck at odd angles. Panic wraps its fingers around my throat, and I can’t breathe. His warm blood stains my knees.

I killed John.

Hauling myself upright, I look around for the man I vaguely remember swerving to avoid. I spot him limping towards us, dragging his left leg strangely. I try to call out, make sure he’s okay, but all I can manage is a pained gurgle. He steps into the glow of the headlights, and the pronounced veins on his neck and temples cast eerie shadows on his… no, it’s face. It’s skin is mottled, and a patch on its cheek looks almost rotten. Then it screams, and it isn’t human.

“Anna,” I croak, “We need to get out of here.”

“No…” She whispers brokenly.

I grab her by the arm, forcing her away from John. “We have to run.”

“No, no, no. John!” Anna screams. The thing breaks into a run. It’s faster than we are.

Outside of the beam of the headlights it’s too dark to see. I barely make it a few meters before my toes catch on something. I’m falling, falling, and the thing is on me, shaking, shaking me, Anna’s calling my name, or maybe it’s the thing screaming, and it’s got me I’m going to die I’m going to die I’m going to-

“Isabel!”

--

“Isabel! Hey, wake up,”

I wake as though a cold bucket of water has been poured on me. I’m in a car, but not the car I was just in with Anna and John. John, who’s dead. I killed him.

“It’s just a dream. You’re safe.”

“Joel?”

His hand is gently shaking my leg, his face concerned. “Are you okay? You started thrashing in your sleep.”

There is nothing I can do except stare. A dream. It was a dream. I’m so embarrassed all I want to crawl into a hole and rot.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He gestures out the windscreen. “I think you should wake up Ellie.”

We’ve pulled to a stop in front of an old ambulance. I twist to look around, and we are on some kind of highway filled with old cars. A rusty cargo truck blocks the entrance to a menacing tunnel. Like Boston, this city is creeping with vines and disarray. Unlike Boston, I have no idea what lies ahead. Normally, I wouldn’t have been phased by any of this, but after what I just re-experienced, all I want is for Joel to turn the car around and take us back to Boston.

I lean over to the back seat and gently rouse Ellie, ignoring how my hand shakes when I reach out. She blinks wearily, looking around in confusion.

“Stay put,” Joel says. I think he means both of us, but guilt wracks me at the thought of him investigating alone, so I follow anyway, gesturing for Ellie to listen to Joel.

I draw my gun as Joel recovers his rifle from the back seat. He begins to creep forwards, but when I follow, he pauses.

“Didn’t you hear me?” He murmurs.

“I did, and I elected to ignore.”

“Well I mean it. Stay here.”

Reluctantly obliging, I watch Joel slowly approach the truck. He peers through a slim gap underneath, barely a large enough for a child to crawl through. Which is weird, considering trucks tend to have a pretty sizable gap between the trailer and the road. Which means this is either incredibly bad luck, or someone did this intentionally. A cold shiver runs down my spine, and I spin in a circle, searching the surrounding buildings for any sign of life.

Joel strides back to the car, face grim, and I quickly follow suit, hopping back inside the Chevy.

“Where are we?” Ellie asks.

“Kansas City,” Joel replies shortly, laying the map out on the wheel. “Screw it.” He turns on the truck and quickly throws a three-point turn. “We can jog around this tunnel, take the next ramp and we’re back on the road. Minute tops.”

“Woah, woah, are you sure that’s a good idea?” I question quickly, looking down at the map. “Who ever built that blockade probably wants you to do that.”

“Someone blocked the tunnel on purpose? Why the hell would they do that?” Ellie says, eyes wide with surprise.

“Probably, and probably because they want to take our shit and fucking kill us. Joel, surely there is another way around.”

He barely glances at me, driving in the direction of the city. “Yeah, there is, and it takes us half a day. This will take us a few minutes.”

“Better half a day then dead.”

Joel snatches the map from my hands and shoves it in Ellie’s, refusing to say another word. Stubbornly, he keeps driving. The further we drive the more I want to be sick. I draw my gun again, and Ellie looks at the weapon in mild terror.

“Where the fuck is the highway?” Joel curses.

“I can’t tell from this, I’m all turned around,” Ellie replies, tamping down her fear so Joel won’t notice.

“Don’t look at the state map, Ellie, look at the inset.”

“I don’t know where we are in that either! This is my second day in a fucking car, man.”

“Oh my fucking God, I can’t fucking believe this.” I check the ammo in my gun and the spare bullets in my pocket.

“We’re heading north, right?”

Joel’s head swivels to check down roads as we pass. “It’s gotta be on the right. What the fuck?”

“It’s the apocalypse, Joel, nothing is fucking right anymore!”

“Stop!” Ellie cries.

Slamming on the breaks, Joel brings the car to a sudden stop. We stare at the subject of Ellie’s attention.

“Is that the QZ?” She asks quietly.

The QZ’s colossal iron doors, which should be sealed and heavily guarded, are flung open carelessly. Not a single person, or anything living, for that matter, is within sight. Outside of the engine, it is deadly quiet. No hustle and bustle of a city built on death. No FEDRA patrols looking for reasons to shoot someone. Complete and utter stillness. My bad feeling turns into an avalanche of terror.

“Where the fuck is FEDRA?” Ellie whispers.

I find my voice quickly. “Probably fucking dead, like we’re about to be. Let’s go, Joel. You’re no use to Tommy if you’re rotting in Kansas City!” He recoils like I just slapped him.

“Hey!” An unfamiliar voice snaps through our argument. He limps onto the road in front of us, clutching his bloody stomach and limping. It’s a convincing act, and my stomach turns with the weight of I told you so. “Please help!”

“Put your seatbelts on.” Joel says quickly.

Ellie confusion and shock is written all over her face. “Aren’t we gonna help him?”

“No.” Joel sets the car into gear and takes off towards the man.

“What? Why?”

The man dives out of the way at the last second, incredibly spry for being mortally wounded. I look up just in time to catch a glimpse of a second person above us.

“Joel, look out!”

He can’t swerve quickly enough to avoid the huge chuck of concrete that slams into the windshield, and none of us spot the spikes laid across the road.

--

[jellybear455]

What's Left of Anna - TLOU - Part 6

Warnings: cannon violence, reader has a name, spoilers, etc etc

Part 6 booyahhhh

Interacting really helps me know if my stories are reaching people, so don't be afraid :)

Previous part Next part

--

“Hit gold yet?” I shout to Joel from inside the abandoned car I’m rummaging through.

He’s attempting to siphon gas from one of the decrepit cars surrounding the gas station. He huffs a response, rising to his feet and moving to his next target. I sort through the glove box.

“How’s your hand?” I raise my voice again.

“S’fine.” He’s not lying. I snuck a glance earlier, and it’s significantly less purple, the wrap seemingly helping.

“Cool.” It’s suspiciously quiet without Ellie, who is currently using the gas station bathroom.

Slamming the stiff door shut behind me, I make my way to the car Joel is currently working on. I peek into the driver’s side to pop the boot, but instead catch a glimpse of something shiny.

“Oh, fuck yeah.” Joel’s eyes follow me suspiciously as I approach. “Backstreet Boys.”

He looks at me for along second. “Excuse me?”

“You’re excused. Millenium is the best album to hit the charts.” I brandish the CD. “Don’t you know it? ‘Larger Than Life’? ‘Spanish Eyes’? ‘I Want It That Way?’ Don’t make me sing, because you know I will.”

“I know who the Backstreet Boys are. I’m not an idiot.”

“If you say so. Now I can show Ellie some real music.”

Joel rises to his feet. “You will not be playing that garbage in my car.”

“You wound me,” I reply, pressing my hand to my heart in mock despair. “Shame it’s not your car.”

“Shame it doesn’t have a CD player.”

I frown, glancing over at the offending Chevy. “Fuck.”

Joel barks out a laugh. At least, I think that’s what it was. This man has two expressions; pissed off and heartbreaking despair. Laugh fits neither of those. He catches himself quickly, and for a second, we just stare at each other.

“What happened to your stomach?”

I blink. “Pardon?”

“You press your hand to your side whenever you get nervous.” Joel replies. He looks surprised at my surprise. “You’re not exactly subtle.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Joel pointedly looks down at my hand. “You’re doing it right now.”

I snatch my hand away from the scar. “No, I’m not.”

“I’m guessing it’s a scar, or an old wound. At least, I hope so. If it’s fresh I don’t want to deal with that.” He squints at me for a second, and the next words that come out of his mouth are fearful. “You been bit?”

“No! No, God no.” Swallowing my discomfort, I let my eyes drift away from him.

“Then what is it?”

“I’ll tell you what happened when you tell me who shot you.”

“Touche.” It’s quiet again, and suddenly I feel guilty.

“I got stabbed.”

“By who?”

“What. Bit of glass. Car accident.”

“Oh.”

I look back at him and realise he’s staring straight into my soul. He’s way too close, but yet somehow, so far away. My face burns and I yearn for something to break the awkwardness.

“So, do we have to do this every hour?” Ellie shouts from a few meters away. Relief floods me and I look over my shoulder at her. Joel drops back into a crouch.

“Gas breaks down over time. This stuff's almost water.” Joel replies, refocusing on the car. “Back in the day, we'd drive ten, twelve hours on one tank. You could go anywhere.”

“So, where’d you go?”

I open my mouth to reply but my voice, for some reason, is failing me.

“Pretty much nowhere.” Joel replies, before lowering his mouth to the siphon and blowing.

Ellie, ever the adventurer, marvels. “Nice, how does that work?”

“It’s a siphon.” Joel looks for an answer, but I grin when I realise, he doesn’t have one. “It's when liquid... travels against gravity, because pressure...”

“When you blow on the hose, it makes a temporary vacuum in the tank,” I jump in. “But it’s filled up with the gas that has to go somewhere, so it comes out the other tube because of the difference in pressure.”

Ellie makes a face. “Nerd.”

“You asked.”

She rolls her eyes, before her attention is captured by something else, and she begins to move towards it.

“No wandering.” Joel commands.

“Okay…” Ellie says, swinging off her pack and pulling out a small book. “But what happens next is your fault.”

Joel and I exchange a look of confusion.

"It doesn't matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery." Ellie recites, giggling like a schoolgirl. She reveals the cover of the book with glee. "No Pun Intended: Volume Too by Will Livingston. Volume Too. Look. You get it? ‘Too’? Like, T-o-o.”

“Jesus.” Joel groans.

“God, no.” I clamp my hands over my ears.

"What did the mermaid wear to her math class?...An algae bra." Ellie cackles. “Like, algae bra. I stayed up all night..."

“No.” "…Wondering where the sun went... and then it dawned on me."

“Feel free to wait in the truck.” Joel says, standing up and leaning against the car beside me.

Ellie sighs, reluctantly putting away the book. “Ugh, okay, but just know, you can't escape Will Livingston. He'll be back. There's nothing you can do to stop him.”

“How ‘bout I set Will Livingston on fire. Think that’ll stop him?” I peel my hands from my ears.

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would.”

Despite the banishing of Will Livingston, Ellie’s mouth continues to run. As the Chevy takes off from the gas station, Ellie discovers a whole new world of questions.

“How come all the cars are pushed to the side like that?”

I glance out the window. “The military came through with trucks to free up the road.”

“Must’ve been some truck.”

“Yeah, they used to stick big ass plows on them and clear the roads for their tanks and such.” Joel replies.

Ellie lights up. “I want to see a tank.”

“You will.”

“For better or for worse.” I mutter under my breath.

“Tanks, choppers, all that stuff.” Joel continues. “But they'll fight the wrong enemy. Just scattered around now.”

Ellie has already been distracted. I can feel her rummaging in the pocket behind my seat. “Quit that.”

“I got something. This make you all nostalgic?” Ellie reveals a faded Hank Williams tape.

“This is actually before my time.” Joel replies.

“Speak for yourself, this is gold!” I eject Linda Ronstadt and replace her with Hank Williams.

“Better than Backstreet Boys,” replies Joel, cranking the volume.

“Hey, watch your mouth.”

“Shut up, idiots.” Ellie interrupts.

‘We met in the springtime when blossoms unfold, The pastures were green, and the meadows were gold.’

Closing my eyes, I whisper the words under my breath. With the warm sun on my face, I pretend I’m somewhere safe, and I ignore when Ellie triumphantly reveals her next treasure.

‘Our love was in flower as summer grew on, Her love like the leaves now have withered and gone.’

I jump when Joel attempts to snatch a magazine from Ellie’s hands.

“Why are all the pages stuck together?”

Finally glancing over my shoulder, maternal panic sends me into a flurry. I snatch the magazine out of her hands and fling it out the window. Ellie dissolves into laughter.

“I was just fucking with you!” She winds down her own window and shouts, “Bye-bye, dude!”

I shake my head turn up the volume.

‘Alone and forsaken by fate and by man, Oh Lord, if you hear me, please hold to my hand, Oh, please understand.’

This time I sing along comfortably, staring out the window at the countryside and the cows. Ellie goes silent for once.

--

None of us have said a word for hours, and Joel refuses to let me drive. Ellie’s sitting in the front seat, staring out the window. I’m lying along the back seat, eyes closed, trying to sleep a little. I don’t know where Joel plans for us to stop tonight, and I want to be prepared for the possibility of a sleepless night. That is, if Joel plans to stop at all.

“She asleep?” Joel asks suddenly.

Ellie looks back at me, and I keep my eyes closed. “Think so.”

“Hm. Surprised she stuck with us so far.” I try not to flinch at Joel’s comment.

“I’m not. Bel’s been there my whole life, and I’ve been told I’m a handful. I don’t think she’d chicken out now.”

“No kidding.” Joel considers this. “She said that she gave up being a spy to keep an eye on you. That true?”

“Yeah. Apparently FEDRA didn’t know she was a doctor. She fessed up when I was born. Said she was a… child nurse? That sounds weird.”

“Paediatrician?”

“Something like that. They put her with the FEDRA kids. She taught us how to read and count and cook and all that good stuff. Bel pretty much raised a whole generation of sad orphan kids.”

“So you’re important to her?” Where is he going with this?

“I guess so.”

“And you’ve never questioned it?”

Ellie is quiet for a second as she thinks, and I hold my breath. When she finally speaks, it’s in a small voice. “I know she knew my mother.”

“You never asked how?”

“I thought you said no backstory stuff.”

Joel doesn’t say anything else for a long time. “All right. That’s enough for today.”

He pulls off the road into a field, and I am forced to give up my façade as the bumpy dirt threatens to send me flying. “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere safe,” Joel replies, glancing at me through the rearview mirror.

“That’s cryptic.” I mutter back, but I don’t object because for some reason, I trust his judgement, despite his strange questioning of my motives.

I push myself upright and pull on my seatbelt. The Chevy is headed for the forest, where under the shelter of the trees we will be safe. Probably. Joel eventually decides we’re far enough from the road and turns off the engine.

Leaping out from the back seat, I call, “Bathroom.”

Leaving the Chevy and my companions behind, I venture off into the shrub. Under the guise of needing to pee, I keep walking until Ellie’s voice sounds like a hum in the distance. Joel trusted me enough to fall asleep in the car today, so I trust him enough to take a moment to myself. A particularly thick oak tree calls my name, and I flop down in front of it.

The light streams through the leaves in sloping columns, the sun slowly slipping towards setting. Dust and pollen swirl though the beams, making patterns in the air and tempting hay fever. The trees stand tall and proud, protecting the forest’s innocent inhabitants, and, by proxy, me.

It’s quiet, which doesn’t always mean it’s safe. But for now, all I want to do is breathe. And think.

Joel claims his brother is in Wyoming. He claims he is… was a firefly. I know this is at least partly true; when we first pointed guns at each other, Marlene mentioned Tommy. But there is absolutely no reason why Tommy would know where the doctors researching the cure are. Which means at some point, Ellie and I might have to venture off on our own.

The thought twists my stomach. Leaving Joel and his protection was a risk I’m not so sure I want to take. It might end with me, or Ellie, or both of us for that matter, dead in a ditch. Anna would expect me to keep her daughter safe, and I have, but travelling without Joel could see me break that oath. Ellie’s blood could save us, but was it worth dying to get her there?

Slowly, as not to disturb the stillness of the forest, I slip my hand into my pocket and retrieve the silver wedding band. Anna had no belongings for me to keep, so a ring that reminds me of her is the closest thing I have. Before she traded away her own engagement ring, I remember she used to whisper to John through it.

“Anna?” I whisper. “This feels dumb, but you used to say talking made you feel... closer to John. So here goes. I wish you were here. I’m really trying to keep Ellie safe, but to be honest the further we get from the QZ the harder it gets. She’s just so… fiercely independent and totally hard-headed, which makes sense because she is your daughter. I just hope… I hope I’m doing this right, making the right choices. It’s hard without you.”

I raise my head from where it was leaning against the trunk of the tree. I have no idea how much time has passed, but the thump of my heart is a little steadier and my thoughts a little clearer. The sun is heavy in the sky. Soon it will set, and the forest would be unsettlingly dark. I pick myself up, heading back in the direction I came until I hear Ellie and Joel quietly conversing.

“I know, the infected will see the smoke.” Ellie says sarcastically.

“No, fungus ain’t that smart. Besides, it’s too remote for infected out here anyway.”

Ellie looks at him incredulously. “People? Well what are they gonna do, rob us?”

I step out of the trees, finally catching their attention. “I think what they’ll have in mind is a little more… permanent than that.”

“You came back.” Joel mutters. Both he and Ellie are watching me cautiously.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Why would you?”

With a frown, I match Joel’s stare. “What is your problem, old man?”

“Try’na figure out what’s in it for you, old lady.”

“Okay…” Ellie interrupts, pushing a tin bowl towards me. I sit, taking up the bowl of… ravioli, I think. It’s good.

No one says another word as we quietly eat, then roll out our sleeping bags. I strategically place myself between Joel and Ellie. I’m too tired to be trusting now.

“This smells… kinda good,” Ellie comments, pressing her nose to her sleeping bag.

“Must be Frank’s, then.” Says Joel bitterly.

I give mine a quick sniff. Smells like dust. Must be the spare. I zip myself up into it, folding my jacket behind my head and laying my pistol within arm’s reach. Ellie looks at it longingly, and I raise my eyebrows at her in return.

Switching off the lamp, I give my back to Joel, but quickly change my mind as Ellie pulls out her torch and a familiar looking book.

“Joel…” She whispers. He ignores her. Or he’s already asleep. “Joel!”

“What?” Not asleep, then.

“Can I ask you a serious question?”

I attempt to shut my eyes and block Ellie out.

Joel sighs. “Yeah.”

“Why did the scarecrow get an award?”

It’s silent for a second as Ellie waits for Joel to bite.

Finally, Joel replies. “Because he was outstanding in his field.”

“You dick!” Cries Ellie. “Did you read this?”

“No.”

“Everyone’s heard that one Ellie.” I mumble. “Go to sleep.”

For a second I think she’s finally learned to follow instructions. I close my eyes, and sleep is within reach.

“Joel? Those people you said… there’s no way anyone knows we’re here, right?”

“No one’s gonna find us.” Joel replies faintly, clearly drifting off.

“No one’s gonna find us.” Ellie repeats, then goes silent.

Thoughts of a restful night are pulled out from under me like a rug. Suddenly, the trees that felt so safe before are leering and haunting. Shapes move behind my lids every time I try to close my eyes. Each rustle is like a gunshot.

My body goes into lockdown when a twig snaps a few meters from my head. My eyes snap open, and through the dim moon light I spot a familiar figure standing to attention, rifle at the ready.

I wriggle out of my bag as quietly as I can, tiptoeing over to Joel. He watches me over his shoulder.

“I thought you told Ellie we were safe here.” I whisper.

“Not safe anywhere anymore.”

“True, but you can’t keep her safe if you’re dead on your feet.” I say, and he looks away into the trees. “At least try to sleep.”

“You go, I’ll be fine,” He insists.

Gently, I reach out and take the gun from his hands. “Joel, you drove all day. You’re old enough to know that you need to sleep.”

He finally looks back at me, and we stand together in the dark for a second. My eyes strain to make out his features. Cautiously, I take his hand and tug him towards our sleeping bags.

“Please?”

“Fine.” He relinquishes, taking back the rifle and laying it down on the ground.

I don’t relax until his breathing evens out and his body softens with sleep.

Both Joel and Ellie are sleeping soundly on either side of me, but my eyes remain wide open against my will. I toss and turn for what feels like hours, the cold creeping into my bones. I scootch closer to Ellie, hoping to steal some of her body heat. She is absolutely roasting, borderline feverish, and normally I would be concerned, but right now it’s all I need to fall asleep. Tucking my head into her shoulder, I drift off.

--

[jellybear455]

What's Left of Anna - TLOU - Part 5

Warnings: cannon violence, reader has a name, vomiting

Summary: Summary: Nearly fifteen years after the death of her sister, Anna Williams, Isabel Bailey journeys through post-apocalyptic America with her niece and a closed off stranger.

This has been sitting in my drafts for six months.

Previous part Next part

--

Joel re-enters the house about half an hour later. There’s a look in his eyes that makes me want to cry.

As if on cue, Ellie bounds down the stairs, hair damp and grinning. “Dude, can we please take some of this soap with us?” Then, as if the rest of the day has only just hit her, she sobers.

“Show me your arm.” Joel demands shortly. Ellie obliges. The wound looks shockingly neat. Joel accepts this. “I just made a truck battery. It’s charging now.”

Ellie nods. “Okay.”

“And I have a brother out in Wyoming. He's in some kinda trouble, and I'm heading out there to find him. He used to be a Firefly. And my guess is he knows where some of them are out there. Maybe they can get you to wherever this lab is.”

I frown a little. This is the most information he’s given us.

“Listen,” Ellie begins. “About Tess-”

“If I'm takin' you with me, there's some rules you gotta follow.” Joel interrupts. His voice is stern and there is clearly no room for argument. “Rule one, you don't bring up Tess. Ever. Matter of fact, we can just keep our histories to ourselves. Rule two, you don't tell anyone about your... condition. They see that bite mark, they won't think it through. They'll just shoot you. Rule three, you do what I say when I say it. We clear?”

It's silent for a few seconds, then- “Yes.”

“Are we clear?” Joel asks again, and this time I realise he’s looking at me.

“Yeah, uh-… We’re clear.”

--

I scrub at my body painfully with my towel, as though getting rid of the water will get rid of the memories. This house is weirdly domestic, and it reminds me of an easier time. The mirror is fogged up, so I wipe it with my hand. The face staring back at me is… disturbing. Sharp jaw and cheekbones from too many missed meals, heavy eyes from too many sleepless nights. Tangled and wiry, my hair reaches the bottom of my shoulder blades, far too long and dry from neglect.

With a surge of purpose, I tear myself away from the mirror and pull open the drawers in the cabinet. In the bottom drawer are a pair of scissors. Before pre-apocalypse me can complain, I chop off the knots, leaving my hair just brushing my shoulders.

I towel dry what is left of my hair, and tie away that pieces that always fall in my face.

Pulling my clothes back on quickly, I rush down the stairs. Joel and Ellie turn to face me, stopping whatever conversation they were having. I catch a hint of the faraway look from outside that QZ in Joel’s eyes. He diverts his gaze quickly.

“Nice hair-do. You cut it with your eyes closed?” Ellie grins, but her smile lacks its usual bite.

“Hilarious.”

A few minutes later, we are below the house in a hidden basement. Apparently, this Bill guy had been preparing for the apocalypse since birth. The walls are covered in weapons and security footage from around the abandoned town plays on the monitors. An old radio splutters ‘Chains of Love’, and disassembled guns lie on the table.

“Ho-ly shit.” Ellie mumbles. “This guy was a genius.”

“More like a psycho,” I reply, before glancing over at Joel. “Sorry, that was insensitive.”

He doesn’t react other than to turn the music off.

“Why was the music on?” Ellie asks.

“If he didn’t reset the countdown every few weeks, this playlist would run over the radio.” Joel explains quietly. I move closer and look at the screens over his shoulder.

Ellie peers over the top of the monitor. “80’s.” She said triumphantly.

“Go grab some cans from over there. Nothing dented or swollen.” Joel replies after a moment.

Reaching out a hand to touch a rifle, Ellie glances over at Joel. “Dude-”

“No.”

Ellie huffs, before retreating to examine the cans. I watch her go, shaking my head.

Joel scans the monitors, and I scan his face. “Joel, are you okay?”

“What do you mean?” He asks, glancing up at me.

“A lot of stuff happened today. This can’t be easy for you.”

He sighs, setting his jaw. “I’m fine.”

“Okay.” I hesitate for a moment, then rest my hand over his. “But I’m here if you need me.”

Joel looks surprised but hides it quickly. “Okay.”

--

We spend the next few hours raiding the house. Joel pulls out old boxes, and Ellie collects toilet paper. I put myself in charge of the food, grabbing cans from the shelves in the basement and stacking them on the kitchen bench. Once I had gathered a sizable pile and filled up several water bottles, I leave the kitchen in search of another backpack.

Joel had rummaged through the hallway cupboard not long ago, so I male a beeline for there. I drop to a crouch, dragging an obnoxiously large duffel bag from the lowest shelf. What the heck would Bill have needed this for? Smuggling bodies? Not unlikely.

I rise to my feet, spinning around to leave and bumping straight into Joel’s chest. I stumble back, tripping over my own feet. Joel’s arm wraps around my waist, holding me steady against him.

“Jesus, Bel. You alright?” He huffs.

“I-… yeah…” I splutter, feeling my face turn fiery. Clearing my throat, I nod. “Yeah. I’m fine. Thanks.”

Joel hums but doesn’t let go. He looks at me strangely, like he’s trying to figure me out. Moths thump uncomfortably in my stomach. I feel his breath on my cheek, warm and strangely comforting.

“Bel!” Ellie calls from upstairs.

I grab Joel’s hand, pulling it from my waist, and haul the duffel bag out of the cupboard. My face is on fire as I run up the stairs. Why am I so embarrassed? The thudding of my heart slows to a lonely thump.

“There are some clothes here if you want any. Why is your face so red?” Ellie asks as I enter the bedroom.

“Nothing. I don’t know what you mean.” I answer quickly, grabbing a hoodie from the bed.

“Uh-huh.” Ellie replies, not convinced. “Is this about your mega crush on Joel?”

My jaw drops. “Excuse me?”

“You’re excused.” Ellie sniggers, clearly pleased by my reaction. “Come on, it’s obvious. Don’t make that face. You’re perfect for each other. You’re old, he’s old. You’re lonely, he’s lonely. You have a gun, he has a gun.”

“Jesus, El. You barely know how to shoot. If we do this right, we won’t even use any bullets.”

“You’re a tightass, he’s a tightass. Match made in heaven.”

I shake my head, pulling the hoodie on under my jacket. Ellie tosses me an ‘I’m right you’re wrong’ look and a pair of cargo pants.

“Shut up Ellie, or I’m grounding you.” I reply, striding off to the bathroom to change my pants.

“Grounding me? How is it even possible to ground me in the middle of bumfuck nowhere?”

“Language.”

--

An hour later, I’m curled up on the couch with one of Bill’s books. Or maybe it was Frank’s. Either way, they have a surprisingly diverse collection of classic literature. I’m thirty pages into Of Mice and Men, and had already stuffed at least three more books in my backpack.

“Don’t you look pretty.” Ellie sasses from the dining room.

Joel stands in the hallway, wet hair pushed back from his handsome face. Handsome? The butterflies are back, and my face is red at the thought. Jesus Christ, I must be sick. He tosses Ellie a stick of deodorant, then strides out the door. Ellie uses it quickly, before she chucks it to me with a wink.

I blink, surprised. “Don’t wink at me, girl.”

“Aww, don’t be like that Bel. I can see you blushing.”

“Don’t be stupid. I’m not a teenager.” I reply quickly, slinging my bag over my shoulder and following Joel out the door and towards the garage.

Ellie immediately skips towards the passenger seat of the car, totally in awe once again. “Wow.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” I ask.

“Wyoming apparently.” She replies innocently.

I raise my eyebrows. “Back seat, child.”

With a groan, she complies, flopping into the back seat and leaning over the centre console to fiddle with the radio. I toss my pack in after her, before climbing into the front seat, watching as Ellie discovers the vents.

“This your first time in a car?” Joel asks incredulously.

“It’s like a spaceship.” Ellie grins excitedly.

Joel turns back to the wheel. “No, it’s like a piece of shit Chevy S10. But it’ll get us there, I think.”

“I like your confidence.” I sigh. “Seatbelt, please.”

Ellie looks at me dubiously. Joel reaches over and pulls the seatbelt out for her. Her eyes light up. “So cool.”

I buckle my own as Joel starts the engine. It sound’s surprisingly smooth for a car this age. Bill must have kept it running. As we pull away from the garage, Ellie reaches over my lap to open the glove box, revealing an old tape. She inserts it into the car’s radio despite Joel’s protests.

“C’mon, put it back Ellie.” He groans.

The tape clicks, and music pushes it’s way through the old speakers.

‘And I think it’s gonna hurt me,

for a long, long time.’

Ellie reaches out to turn it off, but Joel objects. “No, no, leave it. This is good, this is Linda Ronstadt. Do you know who Linda Ronstadt is?”

She shakes her head, “You know I don’t know who Linda Ronstadt is.”

I huff a laugh, but I nearly choke when a memory hits me with a jolt. Me, driving, Anna in the passenger seat, her fiancé in the back seat. September 26th, 2003. The scar on my stomach burns like a fresh wound and I press my hand to it. I watch Joel press a button on a remote, I watch the gate open through the windshield. But I see myself at the wheel and my soon-to-be brother-in-law flying through the glass. I see the shard sticking out of my stomach and I see the infected we swerved to avoid. I feel it’s blood in my hands as I kill for the first time.

I want to throw up. I want to scream. Maybe I did, because Joel has stopped the car and he’s shaking me.

“Bel? Are you alright? Isabel?”

'Cause I've done everything I know

To try and change your mind.'

Ripping myself out of his grasp, I wrench open the car door and stumble out onto the road. Then I empty the contents of my stomach into a bush. I can hear Ellie asking if I’m okay, but all I can do is sit numbly on the asphalt, watching the gate close behind us.

Then I get up, and I sit back in the car. I keep going, the same way I have for twenty years.

‘And I think I'm gonna miss you

For a long, long, time.’

--

[jellybear455]

What's Left of Anna - TLOU - Part 4

Image not mine**

Warnings: cannon violence and swearing, reader has a name, you know the drill

Summary: Nearly fifteen years after the death of her sister, Anna Williams, Isabel Bailey journeys through post-apocalyptic America with her niece and a closed off stranger.

Chat I'm back :D Tried to live the non-nerd life for a while but here we are.

Previous part Next Part

--

It was dark by the time Joel stopped walking. Ellie and I dump our things by a creek, exhausted. We’re about ten miles out from Boston.

Joel drops his pack beside me, before following the steam away from us. I watch through a gap in the trees as he slowly sinks to his knees by the river. Guilt burns in my gut. There is nothing I could have done to save Tess, or stop her from getting bitten, but I still feel responsible.

Ellie leans against a tree, Joel’s jacket over her knees. She hasn’t said a word since we started walking.

Joel strides back towards us. His face is blank, but I can see the grief weighing on his shoulders.

“Do you want your jacket back?” Ellie asks quietly.

Joel shakes his head, before tossing her a package of jerky. She takes a piece, before handing it to me. I stare at it, feeling the bile rise in my throat. Quickly, I shove a bit in my mouth, handing the package back to Joel. Guilt makes it hard to stomach.

“I’ve never been in the woods. There’s a lot more bugs than I thought.” Ellie says. It’s as though now she’s started talking, there’s no stopping. “Listen, I was thinking about-”

 “I don’t want your sorries.” Joel cuts in quickly.

“I wasn’t gonna say I’m sorry. I was gonna say that I was thinking about what happened. Nobody made you or Tess take us. Nobody made you go along with this plan. You needed a truck battery, or whatever, and you made a choice. So don’t blame me for something that isn’t my fault.”

Joel stares back at her plainly, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I’m glad Ellie doesn’t feel responsible for Tess. Joel nods in recognition, before picking up his stuff.

I stand, but Ellie grabs my hand. “I’m not done. I know you feel guilty, Bel, but this isn’t your fault any more than its mine. There is nothing you could do.”

It’s my turn to stare. “Okay.” I whisper dumbly.

“How much longer?” Ellie asks Joel, letting go of my hand and holding out his jacket.

“Five-hour hike.” He replies curtly.

“We can manage that.” Ellie says confidently.

Despite myself, I find the walk enjoyable. Once I pull my gaze from the back of Joel’s head, I can’t stop looking around. The change of scenery from the grey, depressing walls of the QZ is incredibly welcomed. We cross an old rickety bridge, and I pause in the middle. The water is smooth and undisturbed. I stop fighting the smile pulling at my face. Anna would have loved this.

“Are you okay?” Ellie calls out from the other side. “You’re smiling like a crazy person.”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” I respond, but I can’t bring myself to look away yet. When I finally make it across the bridge, Joel is looking at me funny.

It’s barely thirty minutes until Ellie starts talking again.

“You go this way a lot?” She asks, changing tactics when Joel doesn’t respond. “No infected?”

“Not a lot, no.” He replies, scanning the paddocks around us.

“What are you looking out for?” Ellie asks, looking around.

“People.”

That keeps Ellie silent for a moment. “Are Bill and Frank nice?”

“Frank is.”

I snort. Joel sends me a weird look.

“How’d you get that scar on the side of your head?”

Joel exhales loudly. I spot the scar on his temple for the first time.

“What, is it something lame? Like you fell down the stairs or something?”

“I didn’t fall down any stairs.” Joel says quickly.

“Ellie…” I warn, feeling the scar tissue burn on my stomach.

She ignores me. “Okay, so what then?”

“Someone shot at me and missed.” Joel claims.

It’s too simple an answer to have avoided the question for so long. I sneak a look at Joel. His jaw is clenched and his shoulders tense. Ellie doesn’t think twice before replying.

“See, that’s cool. You shoot back?”

“Yeah.”

“You get him?”

“No, I missed.”

I look away, pressing my hand to my side. Something glints in the sunlight, and I pause. Ellie keeps talking, but I stop and crouch by the side of the road. Lying in the dirt is a silver wedding band. The diamond in encrusted with grime, and the silver is tarnished, but it still shines when I hold it to the light. Stuff like this is worth nothing now, except sentimental value.

Anna got engaged barely a few weeks before outbreak day. I remember how she showed me the silver band excitedly. It looked like this one. She never got married.

“Hey, Bel. You okay?” Ellie calls out, attracting my attention. She and Joel are standing a fair distance away, and I have to raise my voice to reply.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m coming.” I shove the ring into my jeans pocket and jog to catch up.

“What were you looking at?” Ellie asks curiously, looking back at where I was crouched.

“Um, nothing. I was just tying my shoe.” I fumble for a lie. I don’t know why, but the ring felt like a secret, like seeing it would make Ellie see that I was to blame for her mother’s death.

“Sure.” Ellie replies sarcastically, but surprisingly doesn’t say anything else.

Silence falls again, until Joel leads us off the road and strides towards an old convenience store. “Hang back a minute, I gotta grab some stuff I stashed.”

“Stashed? Why do you have stuff stashed here?” Ellie asks, not slowing down in the slightest. I pull my rifle off my shoulder and follow.

“You ask a lot of goddamn questions.” Joel replies, opening in the front door and peaking inside.

“Tell me about it.” I scoff.

“Are you gonna answer my question?”

Joel sighs. “We hide supplies on routes in case we find ourselves short on gear, which I currently am because-”

“No. Way.” Ellie interrupts, rushing over to a Mortal Combat arcade machine. “Did you ever play one of these? I had a friend who knew everything about this game.”

I roll my eyes as she rants, scanning the shelves for anything of use. Jumping over the counter and climbing onto an old, rickety milk crate, I run my fingers over the top of a display cabinet.

“You forgot where you put your stuff.” Ellie accuses Joel from behind me.

“No, I’m just zeroing in on it.” He corrects.

“Uh huh. I’m gonna go look for… stuff.” Ellie responds.

“No use, this place has been picked over already.”

I zone out of the conversation as my fingers close around something square at the very back of the shelf. Pulling it out, I realise it’s a box of ammo. How anyone missed this is beyond me. Glancing over my shoulder, I watch Joel spin slowly in circles, obviously lost. I laugh, looking back down at the box in time to watch a big, hairy spider crawl onto my hand.

I jump about five feet in the air before pitching the box at the wall in a panic and screaming. Unfortunately, the twenty-something year old milk crate can’t handle the sudden movement, and I fall straight through it.

“Fuck!” I scream, landing straight on my ass.

“Jesus, Bel. What’s goin’ on?” Joel asks, rushing over the counter and brandishing his rifle.

“Spider!” I splutter, pointing to the freak of nature crawling up the wall.

Joel visibly relaxes. “What do you want me to do, shoot it?”

“Yes, shoot it!”

“Christ, woman.” Joel groans, before flicking the spider behind the cabinet with his gun. “There, is that better?”

“That is worse, so much worse!” I screech, grabbing the box and vaulting over the counter. The floor makes an obnoxious clunk as I land.

Joel follows, shooing me back a little. “Fuck yes. You genius.”

“Thank you?”

Joel sticks his fingers between the floorboards and opens up a compartment to reveal a rusty green toolbox full of supplies. He shoves some in his pack and hands some to me.

“Also, I found this. They’ll work in our pistols.” I say, holding up the bullets. I open the box, and sure enough, it’s full.

“Take ‘em. We’ll try them out later and see if they still go.” Joel replies, before pausing to listen. “Ellie?”

It’s silent. I watch Joel’s face worriedly, before snatching up my rifle and turning to look for her. She emerges from the doorway at the last possible second, making me jump.

“Picked over my ass.” She says, holding up a box of tampons.

I lower my gun. “No way! This place is a goldmine. Can we share? Please?”

“Aren’t you in menopause or something?”

Joel rolls his eyes, before picking up his own rifle and shoving it into the hole with the toolbox.

“What are you doing?” I ask with a frown.

“There ain’t much ammo for these around. Makes it mostly useless.” He replies, holding out a hand for mine.

I look down at the rifle in my hands. It had become a sort of security blanket over the last few days, and I hate to see it go. Still, I hand it to Joel.

“Well, if you’re gonna just leave them there-” Ellie began suggestively.

Joel cut her off quickly. “No.”

She frowns, looking over at me for back up. “Sorry, honey.”

Ellie huffs, glaring ahead as we leave the store. She doesn’t stay silent for long.

“So, everything came crashing down one day?”

“Pretty much.” I sigh.

“How? I mean, no one was infected with cordyceps, everybody’s fine, eating in restaurants and flying in planes. And then, all at once…”

“An infection like this follows an exponential pattern.” I reply. Ellie stares at me blankly. “Well, it starts with one person getting infected, patient zero. Then zero infects, say, two to three people. Then those two to three people infect two to three people each, so on and so forth. Then boom, it’s everywhere. Eventually, it will get to a point where so little people are left to get bit, and the amount of living infected decreases. That could take from as little as six months to a hundred or so years.”

Ellie nods slowly in understanding. “But how did it even start to begin with? Like, if you had to get bit to be infected, then who bit the first person? Was it a monkey? I bet it was a monkey.”

“It wasn’t a monkey. I thought you went to school.” Joel replies shortly.

“FEDRA school. They don’t teach us how their shitty government failed to prevent a pandemic.”

“No one knows for sure, but my best guess is the fungus mutated.” I explain. “It happens all the time, for example, the flu used to evolve to find biological loopholes in vaccines. Cordyceps originally only affected insects.”

“Some of it got into the food supply. Probably a basic ingredient like flour or sugar. There were certain brands of food that were sold everywhere, all across the country, across the world. Bread, cereal. Pancake mix.” Joel continues.

“So, the infected product hits the shelves on Thursday. People everywhere consume a lot of it in everything straight away. Friday, they start feeling a little off. By the evening, they’re biting. Saturday, half the planet’s dead or infected.” I finish.

“Friday night, September 26th, 2003.” Joel recites. I swallow the lump in my throat. “By Monday, everything was gone.”

Ellie walks silently for a few meters. “Makes more sense than monkeys.”

I huff out a laugh.

“What was it like to live without constant paranoia?”

Joel doesn’t make any move to answer.

“There was still stuff we were worried about, just usually less life-threatening things. Like… taxes or getting to work on time. Stupid stuff that didn’t help us survive the apocalypse.”

“But it helped you survive then?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

Ellie hums. “What was your life like?”

“Stressful. Tiring. A little bit rewarding. But mostly stressful. I spent all of my adult life working for a PhD that doesn’t even matter now. My sister would say that I’m helping people with that knowledge now, so it’s not entirely wasted, but to be honest, I wish I spent more of my life living.”

“You have a sister?”

I clamp my mouth shut. The words kind of just tumbled out of my mouth without a thought. I close my hand over the cool metal of the pistol on my hip to ground myself before I reply. My voice cracks, despite battling to keep it steady. “Yeah. I did.”

“I’m sorry.” It’s not Ellie that responds, but Joel.

I nod thanks, then stare out into an empty paddock. Fifteen years of grieving, only to weaken at the thought of Anna.

Joel stops, putting a hand out in front of Ellie. I tense, looking around for any kind of danger. “We’ll cut across the forest here.”

“Isn’t the road easier?” Ellie asks doubtfully.

“Yeah, it’s just-” Joel sighs. “There’s stuff up there you shouldn’t see.”

Ellie stares silently. I’m relieved but a little surprised.

“Well now I have to see.”

“Ellie, no.” I warn.

“I don’t want you to see.” Joel confesses. She ignores him and strides forward. “Ellie, seriously.”

“Will it hurt me?” She calls out.

He pauses. “No.”

“You’re too honest, man. Should’ve said axe murderer.”

Joel exhales in defeat and starts walking. I step closer and brush his hand with mine.

“Thank you for trying.”

To my surprise, Joel grabs my hand and squeezes tight, like he’s trying to steady himself.

“Whatever it is, I think it’s… gone…” Ellie trails off, staring down into a ditch.

We get closer. In the ditch is dozens upon dozens of charred human bones. My blood runs cold, and I grip Joel’s hand tighter.

“A week after outbreak day, soldiers went through the countryside, evacuated the small towns. Told you that you were going to a QZ, and you were, if there was room. If there wasn’t…”

I spotted the suitcases and personal belongings scattered in the mass grave. These people thought they were being given a second chance. My throat tightens and my eyes burn. In the last twenty years, I’ve killed my fair share of infected, but that sadness doesn’t compare to this.

“These people weren’t sick?” Ellie asks quietly.

“No, probably not.”

She frowns. “Why kill them? Why not just leave them be?”

“Dead people can’t get infected.” I whisper, feeling a tear roll down my face.

“That’s wrong.” Ellie mutters back, voice shaking.

“People are cruel, honey. So cruel.”

Joel tugs on my hand, and I wrap my arm around Ellie. We walk like that for a while, before Joel lifts his guard and places his hand on his gun instead.

--

Tension knots in my shoulders as we draw closer to a tall, almost definitely electrified wire fence. Vines twist though it, and the abandoned town on the other side looks strangely well kept. Joel keeps walking confidently, pressing a code into the keypad. The door unlocks with a beep.

I reach for my rifle, but it’s no longer there.

Joel opens the door, and Ellie walks through first, I follow, unsure whether to be comforted or unnerved by Joel’s lack of caution now that we are inside.

We approach an almost pristine house, the American flag flapping on the front porch. I swallow, eyeing the dead plants. One of three things has happened here. Infected, raiders, or Bill and Frank had just packed up and left. I hope it was the later, although it seemed less likely.

Joel opens the unlocked door slowly. I could see his hesitation, so I gently move my way in front of him and entered first, gun raised. If his friendsre dead, I didn’t want him to see it. He had lost enough today.

The house has a long hallway down the middle, with stairs at the back and rooms each side. I look through both doorways on either side of me. A living room and dining table. Both abandoned. I keep going, scanning the kitchen and glancing up the stairs. It’s deadly silent.

“What the fuck?” Ellie mutters, making me jump.

“Bill?” Joel calls. No answer. “Frank?”

My brows furrow in pity, turning to creep up the stairs as Joel instructs Ellie to stay put. The upstairs part of the house is painted a similar shade of blue as upstairs. All the doors were closed, but not locked. I crack one open, revealing a perfectly made bed.

I peer into the next room, surprised to see a surprisingly well-kept bathroom. Doubtfully, I turn the tap on, marvelling as warm water rushes out, splashing in the sink. Other than the thin layer of dust over everything, the house is pristine.

“Bel?” Ellie calls out, and I shut the door again, rushing back down the stairs.

Ellie sits at the head of the dining table, a letter in her hands, reading aloud. “If you find this, please don’t come into the bedroom. We left a window open so the house wouldn’t smell, but it probably will be a sight.”

My heart sinks, and I glance over at Joel, who is staring into nothing, listening. I reach out and touch his arm. He doesn’t move.

“I’m guessing you found this, Joel. Because anyone else would have been electrocuted or blown up in one of my traps… hehehehehe…”

I raise my eyebrows, and Ellie looks at Joel incredulously.

“Take anything you need. The bunker code is the same as the gate code but in reverse. Anyway, I never liked you, but still, it’s like we are friends, almost. And I respect you. So, I’m gonna tell you something because you’re probably the only person who will understand. I used to hate the world, and I was happy when everyone died. But I was wrong because there was one person worth saving.”

Tears well in my eyes, as I watch Ellie read. My person worth saving.

“And I did. I saved him. Then I protected him. That’s why men like you and me are here. We have a job to do. And God help any motherfuckers who stand in our way. I leave you all my weapons and equipment. Use them to keep…” Ellie stops, pursing her lips. I can guess the rest.

Joel took the letter and read the rest himself. “Stay here.” He strode out the front door, clutching the letter tightly. I watch him go, before turning back to Ellie.

“Go have a shower, El. There’s running water.”

She perks up significantly, before running up the stairs in search of the bathroom. Half an hour later, she has returned, but Joel is still outside. I glance at the door one more time before settling down at the dining table to wait.

--

Taglist: @mattm1964 @casaboiardi

[jellybear455]

What's left of Anna - The Last of Us - Part 3

Pairings: Ellie x mother figure reader; Joel x reader

Warnings: canon violence, swearing, follows plot of the HBO series, I gave reader a name just in case that triggers you

Word count: 3100

Summary: Nearly fifteen years after the death of her sister, Anna Williams, Isabel Bailey journeys through post-apocalyptic America with her niece and a closed off stranger.

Part 1 Part 2

--

The museum, like the hotel, would have been gorgeous in it’s day. It stood almost stubbornly, surrounded by collapsed buildings and piles of rubble. It would have been pristine, if it weren’t for the browned cordyceps growth covering it. I gulp nervously, remembering what Tess said about the fungus. One wrong move, and infected will be coming at us from all directions.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” Ellie mutters, echoing my thoughts down to a tee.

“Well, there is a way across from the top floor.” Tess says casually, adjusting her pack.

I raise my eyebrows. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m totally convinced. Thanks, Theresa.”

“Oh, shut up, Isabel. We used to take it all the time. We’ll be fine.” Tess snaps back.

“You are so reassuring- what the fuck are you doing?” I ask. Joel whacks a pile of fungus with the butt of his gun.

“It’s bone dry.” Joel replies, as though that’s some kind of answer. “Could mean they’re all finally dead in there.”

Tess nods confidently, and the two pull out flashlights. I shake my head, pulling my own light out from my pack.

“Oh man,” Ellie groans.

“Marlene pack you one of these, or just sandwiches?” Joel snarks back.

“Yeah,” Ellie replies with a sigh, rummaging through her bag.

“Okay, so more ground rules.” Tess begins, shooting me a look that clearly says don’t argue. “We’re gonna go slowly. If we come up against anything, you get behind us and you stay there, okay?”

“Yes.” Ellie replies quickly. Everyone looks at me.

“Yeah, whatever, boss.” I roll my eyes, taking my rifle of my shoulder. “You are the experts, after all.”

Ellie looks between Tess, who has a gun, Joel and I with our rifles, and the pistol tucked in my pants. “I have a spare hand, you know.”

“Congratulations.” Joel replies shortly, before striding towards the museum door. He gestures for us to follow.

Just like the exterior, the museum is surprisingly well kept. Besides a few upturned cabinets, and the dead cordyceps everywhere, it looks disturbingly untouched. I sweep my light down a corridor. Empty. We approach the stairs. Joel shines his light past them and reveals a room drowning in the fungus. There is no empty space on the floor. A few decaying corpses litter the space.

“Cooked.” Joel says triumphantly.

“Finally, some luck.” Tess says.

“I wouldn’t say that yet.” I mutter, looking up to the next level.

Joel sends me a look, but otherwise ignores me. “We should have come this way in the first place.”

“Oh shit,” Ellie cries from around a corner. I rush forward, gun raised.

Slumped against the wall is a fresh corpse. The cuts across his forehead and neck looks relatively fresh, still glistening with blood.

“What the fuck did that?” Ellie asks.

Tess looks at Joel. It’s the first time I’ve seen her lose her cool. “Maybe, maybe he was attacked outside and crawled in?”

“The door was open.” I agree quietly. I want to believe it, because the other alternative is nastier. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Who would you hear?” Ellie asks. Too loud.

Joel and Tess hush her quickly, and I strain my ears, searching for anything.

Ellie lowers her voice to a whisper. “Are you saying an infected did that? Because I’ve been attacked by one, and it wasn’t like that.”

“From this moment forward, we are silent. Not quiet. Silent.” Joel mutters, just loud enough for us to hear.

“But why-”

“Just do it, El. No questions.” I cut her off. She sees the look in my eyes, and she is silent.

I follow Joel up the stairs. Ellie is close behind me. The only noise is the occasional scuff of a shoe or creak of a stair. We freeze every time. Nothing happens. My body starts to ache from tension. We approach the next flight. The cordyceps is everywhere now. If it wasn’t dead, we would have been found long ago. Even more disturbing than the fungus, is the pile of decaying infected. I try not to look at them.

Ellie steps on something and it lets out an uncomfortably loud noise. I jump, scanning the floor above us for any movement.

Joel pushes the door open gently. It creaks softly and I cringe. He scans the room, before nodding for us to follow. I let Ellie go first. I freeze, gaze snapping upwards as the roof creaks. Tess shoves me in the back, pushing us to the floor in time for the ceiling to cave in. Ellie groans beneath me, and I look back to see rubble right where I had been standing, blocking the exit. Tess had saved my life.

I grab Joel’s outstretched and uninjured hand, pulling Ellie up with me. He gives us a once over, and I turn to check on Tess. We are all unharmed, thank God.

The little scrap of relief I felt shattered as a growl reverberated down the hall. Joel and I point our rifles in the direction of the noise simultaneously. A chattering follows, and I nearly choke. Clickers.

The hairs on my neck stand up, sending a shiver down my spine. I shove Ellie behind me as we slowly back away. I struggle to control my breathing as the clicker stumbles through the doorway. It’s arms bend in unnatural shapes, and it drags one leg behind it. It’s most prominent feature, and arguably the most terrifying, was the fungus that had forced it’s way out of its skull, splitting the flesh in two and flowering across it’s face.

The clicker can’t see us, but that doesn’t make it any less deadly.

A second screech echoes from another hall, and we whir around in unison. A second clicker staggers in, and we back away from it’s path. I press my body against a display case and grit my teeth. Joel’s shoulder presses into mine on one side, and Ellie clutches my arm on the other.

Joel looks at Ellie over my head and gestures to his ears. She nods. The message is clear. Make a single nose, and you die.

The clickers screech and Ellie winces. She squeezes my arm tightly, and I squeeze my rifle. The infected stumbles past us, and Ellie sucks in a breath. That was all it took. The clicker spins around, screaming, and Joel fires his gun right in it’s stomach.

It barely flinches, launching itself at him. Joel shouts at us through gritted teeth as the other clicker charges forward. “Run!”

I fire my gun in vain until Ellie’s hand yanks on my arm. We run through the displays. The second clicker throws Joel to the ground, and I skid to a stop, aiming for it’s head. I miss, hitting it in the shoulder and gaining it’s attention. It takes after me instead, and I run for my life.

My heart beats wildly as I run, shoving over a pedestal in a desperate attempt to get it off me. The clicker takes the bait, slowing to a stop, before staggering off in another direction. I relax a little, before my flashlight flickers and I nearly drop it in surprise. It flickers again, and an idea pops into my head.

As quietly as possible, I unscrew the back end. It squeaks a little, and I wince. The clicker rattles it’s throat, and I peak around the corner slowly. The flickering light illuminates the disgusting flowery fungus for a moment, barely half a meter from my face, before shutting off completely.

I hold my breath as the infected stalks away and tip the batteries into my pocket. Crouching low, I cautiously creep back into the main room. Ellie looks petrified. A surge of protectiveness floods through me, and I nod my head towards where Joel crouches a few meters away, then hold up a finger.

Pulling a battery from my pocket, I chuck it at a display on the other side of the room, hoping Tess isn’t anywhere nearby. It clangs off a metal bar, and the clicker nearly trips as it hurries away.

Ellie starts crawling towards Joel, and I and I grit my teeth with each groan. I keep my eyes on Joel. Glass crunches beneath my boot.

The clicker throws itself towards me, and I kick it away, pushing Ellie to Joel before I’m pinned to the floor. It screams in my face, and I struggle it keep it at bay as it snaps at me. I battle a wave of hysteria, scrambling for my life.

The knife tucked in my belt is my only hope, and I desperately grapple for it with one hand. Just as my fingers close around the handle, a shot rings out. The clicker falters, and I drive the knife into it’s chest, shoving it off me.

I scramble backwards and into Joel’s legs. He holds his pistol steady, shooting the clicker in the head. It falls to the ground, but he keeps shooting until the gun clicks. I sigh in relief, and Joel helps me up. His hand squeezes mine.

The first clicker suddenly leaps out from behind a display and screams loudly. Tess jams an axe into its skull, and it writhes wildly, but doesn’t die. I snatch my rifle from the ground. This time, when I pull the trigger, I don’t miss.

Breathing heavily, my shoulders slump. Ellie rushes forward and buries herself in my side. I hold her tightly, but I don’t feel relieved. If there are any other infected in here, they’re coming for us.

“Everyone alright?” Joel asks after a moment.

“Yeah,” Tess replies, limping towards us. “Twisted ankle, but yeah.”

I look down at Ellie, running a hand up her arm. “Are you okay?”

“I didn’t shit my pants, so yeah.” She says quickly. She tries to play it off, but she’s shaking like a leaf. She winces suddenly and pulls away to roll up her sleeve. A second bite bleeds freely right on top of her scar. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

“Let’s get the hell out of here, and I’ll patch you up.” I tell her.

Joel leads us to a window, sliding it up and climbing out. I go last, my hands on Tess’s back to support her. She groans in pain. I crouch next to her on the roof, and Joel hands me a roll of tape. He hands one to Ellie for her arm.

“This way?” She asks, pointing to a wooden beam.

“Yeah,” Joel calls back. “I know it looks scary.”

“That was scary. This is wood.” She replies quickly, crossing the scaffolding with ease.

I wrap the tape securely over Tess’s sock, supporting her ankle. She tenses slightly. “Not too tight?” She shakes her head.

“There’s probably more up ahead.” Joel says from behind me.

“So we’ll deal with it then.” Tess replies shortly, snatching the tape and finishing the job herself.

I raise my hands in surprise and back away. “Are you alright, Joel? Nothing hurts? How’s your hand?”

“Fine.” He looks over at Elle on the next building. “What about her?”

“She’s fine. Or she will be,” I reply, putting my pack back on. “Ellie’s a tough nut.”

“What about the second bite? Maybe the first one just didn’t take hold-”

“Just take the good news, Joel.” Tess snaps suddenly, shoving the tape in her bag. Her voice is uncharacteristically harsh. “Can you do that? Like to think for once we could actually win?”

She waves us away, and Joel frowns, before following in Ellie’s footsteps. I linger for a moment.

“Tess?” I ask quietly. My voice shakes a little, and I clear my throat to steady it. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

She looks like she’s going to snap at me too, but she averts her eyes and nods. Tess looks nearly defeated. I nod back, before crossing the scaffolding and trying not to look down.

--

The State house is concerningly quiet. We crouch behind an abandoned car, watching for any signs of life. The only hint that the Fireflies have been here at all is the truck parked out the front. Although it was so rusty that I wouldn’t have believed it still ran if it weren’t for the fresh tire tracks behind it.

“Where the fuck are they?” Ellie whispers.

Joel shakes his head, doubtful they were here at all. He rises to his feet, stepping out into the open cautiously. We follow, and I take the rear. Joel quickly yanks the truck door open, pointing his gun inside. There is nothing except blood. A concerning amount of blood.

“Stay back,” Joel whispers. We reluctantly obey, and I plant myself in front of Tess and Ellie.

Joel makes a slow, full circle of the truck, before pulling open the back. It’s empty.

“What the fuck is going on?” Tess asks, stepping past me with her own gun.

“I don’t know.” Joel replies.

“Bel?” Ellie whispers. I follow her gaze and spot the drops of blood leading up the staircase.

“They went inside,” I say, loud enough for Tess and Joel to hear.

Tess snatches Ellie by the arm, infuriated, and marches up the stairs. “Come on.”

“Hey, get your hands off her!” I call out, shouldering my gun and following.

Gun first, Tess strides into the building. She doesn’t wait for us, and I shove my foot in the gap to stop the door from closing. I pull Ellie from her grip, but she doesn’t resist.

“There has to be a fucking radio or something.” Tess swears, rummaging through piles of equipment.

“Who killed them? FEDRA?” Ellie asks Joel.

“No,” He replies, rolling over a corpse with his foot. There is a massive hole in the back of the dead man’s head, and his eyes are pearly white. “One of them got bit. Healthy ones fought sick ones. Everyone lost.”

“Tess? What are you doing?” I call out.

She looks over, ignoring me and making a beeline for Ellie. “Where did Marlene say she was taking you?”

“I don’t know. Just west.” Ellie replies quickly.

I step closer, disturbed. Tess was frantic. In all the time I had known her, she was calm and collected.

“Just west. Fuck, okay.”

I remember how defeated she looked after the encounter with the clickers

“One of them’s gotta have a map on them. Joel, can you help me?”

“No, Tess. It’s over.” He stresses. “We are going home.”

“That is not my fucking home!” Tess cries. I can see the tears in her eyes. She turns away for a second, collecting herself, before standing up to face Joel. “I’m staying. Our luck had to run out, sooner or later.”

I push myself between her and Joel. “Tess, show it to me.”

“What do you-”

“Shut up, Joel.” I say, teeth gritted. “Don’t be a bitch, Tess.”

Tess sighs. “Come on, Bel. Don’t be like this.”

“Show. Me.” I hiss.

“Make me.” Tess snaps back.

“What are you going on about.” Joel butts in.

“She’s infected.” I say. It’s quiet, but everyone hears. “Now show me.”

Swallowing another argument, Tess throws her hair to the side and pulls down her shirt. The skin on her collarbone is pink and inflames, and veins pop out around oozing sores in the shape of tooth marks.

I press a hand to my mouth to stop from throwing up. It’s not the gruesome wound that makes me nauseous, but the knowledge that Tess isn’t walking out of this.

“Oops, huh?” She says, voice quivering.

I glance over at Ellie. She looks sad. “Take off your bandage.” Her wound looks sore, but not infected.

“Look, Joel. This is real. Joel, she’s fucking real.” Tess pleads, taking Ellie’s arm gently. When she lets go, her hand shakes uncontrollably. “I need you to get her to Bill and Frank’s.”

“No.”

“They’ll take her off your hands.”

“No.”

“They’ll handle it from here.”

“No. No, I can’t. They won’t take her.”

“They will, because you’ll convince them.” Tess insists. “Joel, I never ask you for anything, not the feel the way I felt-”

“No.”

“Shut the fuck up because I don’t have time. This is your chance. You get her there, you keep her alive, and you set everything right. All the shit we did… please say yes, Joel. Please.” Tess was almost sobbing now.

“Oh, fuck!” Ellie cries out, jumping away from the corpse on the floor. It groaned, flailing its arms.

Drawing my pistol, I put it out of its misery. I stared at the man’s hand, watching as fungus wrapped around his fingers. Glancing over at the other bodies, I spotted more of it twisting over their limbs. How we didn’t notice before- “We have to get out of here.”

Joel rushes to a window, but I can already hear the screams of infected in the distance.

“How many?” Tess asks. Her face glistens with tears but her eyes are hollow.

“All of them.” Joel answers, rushing closer. “Maybe a minute.”

Tess picks up Joel’s rifle, slamming the butt into a barrel. She tips it up, and gasoline pours out. She moves onto the next one quickly.

“What are you doing?” Ellie asks.

“Making sure they don’t follow you.” Tess replies, tossing a box on hand grenades everywhere. She stops, walking over to Joel. He avoids her eyes. “Joel. Save who you can save.”

Joel stares for a moment. Then, he grabs Ellie and pulls her towards a back exit. I snatch a discarded magazine from atop a crate, following after. I stop in front of Tess. The infected are close, I can hear them, but I can’t stop myself from reaching out and touching her face.

“Thank you. I’m sorry.” Then I run.

Ellie screams in protest as I grab her other arm, dragging her with us.

We make it out the back and into the empty field. Ellie is running freely, but I cling to her arm still.  The State house explodes with a boom. A single tear runs down my cheek. I didn’t know Tess long, but Joel did. My heart aches for him.

He turns and walks away, leaving me and Ellie to stare at the burning building. I take her by the hand.

“I’m sorry, honey. It’s gonna be okay, I promise.”

She doesn’t look at me. “Will it?”

“Yeah,” I whisper back. “It will. Eventually.”

--

Taglist: mattm1964 casa-boiardi

[jellybear455]

What's left of Anna - The Last of Us - Part 2

Pairings: Ellie x mother figure reader; Joel x reader

Warnings: canon violence, swearing, follows plot of the HBO series, I gave reader a name just in case that triggers you

Word count: 4200

Summary: Nearly fifteen years after the death of her sister, Anna Williams, Isabel Bailey journeys through post-apocalyptic America with her niece and a closed off stranger.

Part 1

--

Ellie is fast asleep. Her head is in my lap, and I run my fingers through her hair with one hand. The other is covered in a mixture of Joel and the soldier’s blood. I have nothing to clean it with.

Tess and Joel sit a few meters away. They both clutch their guns, watching wearily. We had been hiding out in this decrepit building since late last night. It was the furthest we could go without the daylight.

“Why are you so attached?” Tess asks suddenly.

“Good morning to you, too.” I reply quickly, as though she and Joel hadn’t been taking shifts to watch Ellie all night.

“Seriously, Bel?” Tess raises an eyebrow. “How are we supposed to the trust you if we know nothing about you?”

“I know nothing about you, either. And my name isn’t Bel.” I don’t really care that she called me by my nickname. I’m just spiteful.

Joel lifts his head. “The soldier called you Bailey. How’d he know?”

I swallow. We’re out of the QZ. These two are the only protection I have. I can’t risk lying. “My name is Isabel Bailey. I’ve known Ellie since she was born, and before she was taken to FEDRA.”

“So you’re not her mother?”

“No,” Her mother, my sister, is dead, I want to say, but the words burn at my throat.

“And the soldier?” Joel presses.

“My turn,” I say quickly. “How do you know Marlene?”

Joel glances at Tess, before speaking again. “How did the soldier know your name?”

He stares at me intensely. His eyes are stony, and there is no trace of the faraway look I saw last night. The staring contest lasts for a few more seconds before Ellie stirred.

“Did you guys sleep at all?” She asks with a yawn. She moves to stand, and Joel raises his gun. “Do I look infected?”

“Show us your arm.” Joel insists.

“Yeah. It’s not getting any worse, is it.” Ellie snarks back.

“Ellie. Tone.” I remind her. My lips twitch slightly despite myself.

Tess and Joel exchange a look for the millionth time this morning. There has to be something between then. The thought makes my throat tighten. I didn’t have time to ponder the feeling before Ellie is talking again.

“If we’re out in the open city, why aren’t we getting swarmed?”

“Don’t worry about that.” Joel replies without looking at her.

“Well, I’m gonna.”

Tess stares. “What was Marlene doing with an infected kid?”

“I’m not infected.” Silence. “She found me after I was bitten.”

“And she didn’t shoot you.”

“Clearly not. She’d lock me up and have her guys test me everyday to see if I was getting sick.”

“Test you how?” Tess asks.

I shift slightly, willing Ellie not to say much else.

“I have to pee.” Ellie says abruptly.

“Test you, how?”

“That’s enough, Tess.” I warn.

“It’s Theresa.” She mocks.

“They made me count to ten then hold out my hand and keep it steady. But, you know, I think what impressed them the most was that I didn’t turn into a fucking monster.” Ellie stands up quickly. “Now, can I please?”

Joel stands too, raising his gun. I grab my own and move in front of Ellie slightly. He sends me an irritated look.

“Fine,” Tess says, breaking the silence. “Back there, you can find a spot. Here. Tear out a couple pages.” She tossed Ellie a magazine.

“Are you sure there is nothing bad in here?” Ellie asks as she disappears through a rotting doorway.

“Just you.” Joel respond, sitting back down.

“Ha, funny.”

It was quiet for a long moment, before the annoyance boiling in my stomach bubbled over. “Jesus Christ. She’s just a kid.”

“We don’t take chances.” Joel replies after a beat. He looks down at his hand. It shakes slightly as he stretches it, and the sores look painful. Some of the irritation gives way to pity.

“Let me see.” I say, stepping forward and holding out a hand. Joel glares and Tess raises an eyebrow. “Chill out. I know what I’m doing.”

I sit cross legged in front of him, taking his hand carefully. The skin on his knuckles is torn and beginning to bruise. “Make a fist.” I instruct. “Tell me where it hurts.”

“I don’t think-”

“Tell me where it hurts.” Joel points to the knuckle of his middle finger. “Okay. Open.”

He stretches out his hand again, and I gently poke his hand, taking note of when he winced in pain.

“Marlene said you were a doctor.” Tess says.

I hummed, keeping my attention on Joel’s hand. “Graduated a few months before the outbreak.”

“I thought FEDRA took everyone with medical training?” Joel asks. I stay silent.

“That soldier knew who you were because you’re FEDRA.” Tess guesses.

“It’s fractured. Probably just hairline. If you’re careful it will heal quick.” I reply, pulling away. Joel grabs my hand with his injured one. His face contorts slightly. “I just told you to be careful.”

“Answer the question.” He presses.

I glance at Tess. She is staring intensely at me, clearly irritated with both mine and Ellie’s attempts to evade their questions. I sigh.

“Yeah, I’m FEDRA.” Tess opens her mouth to shout, but I cut her off. “I joined as a spy for a Fireflies. It wasn’t hard, all things considering. Then Ellie was born, and I shifted positions to watch over her instead.”

Tess drags her hand over her face. “So, you’re just another mindless follower.”

“No.” I snap back quickly. Now the truth was out, I couldn’t stop. “Marlene wanted me to dump Ellie. She was pissed I gave up my position for her.”

“I can imagine.” Tess replies, rolling her eyes.

I look up at Joel. He hasn’t said anything, but his hand still clutches onto mine tightly. “I didn’t know that soldier, but he came to me a few weeks ago for a broken nose. I can promise you that I am not loyal to FEDRA, or the Fireflies, really.”

Joel looks up. “Then who are you loyal to?”

Anna. “Ellie.”

He raises his eyebrows.

“Don’t be shitty. She made it through the night.” I snap.

“That doesn’t matter. It will happen, sooner or later, alright?” He turns to Tess. “We’re still close to the wall. We sneak her back into the QZ. We find a different way to get the battery.”

“This is our best shot. We take her back to the QZ, someone’s gonna notice her arm. They’re gonna scan her, and they will kill her.” Tess shoot back.

Joel squeezes my hand subconsciously. “Better her than us. We need to stop talking about this kid like she’s got some kind of life in front of her.”

“She is not gonna turn, Joel.” I hiss. “We are not turning around, do you hear me?”

I glare at him, and he frowns back.

“Are you guys gonna make out or something?” Ellie suddenly appears behind me. I jolt in surprise.

“Shit, El.”

“What? You guys are holding hands, in case you didn’t notice.”

I snatch my hand from Joel’s, but regret it when I see him wince in pain. Ellie sits back down in the middle of the room, placing the rifle I took across my knees.

“You hungry?” Tess asks awkwardly. “You can share some of ours.”

Joel gives her an offended look.

“Thanks, but Marlene sent me with my own.” Ellie replies, pulling a sandwich out of her back.

Grinning, I rummage through the pack Tess gave me, finding a few sticks of jerky. I watch silently as Joel struggles to pull apart his jerky with his injured hand.

“Is that chicken?” Tess asks suddenly.

“Yeah,” Ellie replies nonchalantly. “Marlene says they get it from smugglers. Guess it’s not you guys.”

I snicker. “’Smugglers’ my ass.”

“You’re joking!” Ellie cries.

“Nah. The guy in the apartment next door has a room with just chickens. It’s inhumane, but fucking hilarious.”

Ellie laughs, but quickly sobers when Tess stalks forward. I scramble to my feet, and Joel quickly follows suit, gripping his gun.

“Why- it’s fine, Joel. Why are you so important to Marlene? And don’t lie to me, or we’ll take you back.”

Ellie gulps, glancing over at me. I open my mouth to protest.

“And don’t you say anything, Bel. We want it from her.” Joel cuts me off. I don’t argue. About Ellie or my name.

“You take me back you don’t get the battery.” Ellie replies confidently.

“You heard that?” Tess asks. Ellie shrugs. “Well then you must have heard he wants to shoot you.”

Ellie glances over at Joel. He looks away, only for his eyes to meet mine. I grasp my rifle tighter. He won’t shoot her. If he wanted to, he would have done it already. I saw how he didn’t hesitate before killing that guy outside the QZ.

“I’m gonna talk to you like you’re an adult.” Tess stalks closer, crouching in front of Ellie.

“I wouldn’t do that,” I warns.

“Let her speak.” Joel demands, shouldering his gun. He’s injured, but he wont miss. I lower my rifle.

Tess continues. “Joel and I aren’t good people. We’re doing this for us because, apparently, you’re worth something. But we don’t know what you’re worth if we don’t know what we have. So answer my question.”

Ellie puts down her sandwich. “She told me not to tell anybody, and I’m gonna tell the first people that I-”

“Ellie…” I hiss.

“Shut it.” Joel snaps.

“There’s a Firefly base camp somewhere out west with doctors. They’re working on a cure.”

“I’ve heard this before.” Joel grumbles, putting down his gun. I follow suit.

“What ever happened to me is the key to finding the vaccine.”

“That’s what this is?” Joel snaps. “We’ve heard this a million times. Vaccines, miracle cures. None if it works. Ever.”

“Fuck you, man. I didn’t ask for this!” Ellie shoots back, standing up.

“You and me both. This isn’t gonna end well, Tess. We need to go back.”

I picks up my pack and rifle. “Fine. You go back to that hell hole. You look Marlene in the eye and tell her you’re too afraid to follow through.”

The quiet was deafening as Joel stared me down. I glower back, willing him to deny that he was afraid.

“Let’s just finish it.” Tess insists. “It doesn’t matter if she is or isn’t what they Fireflies say. If they believe she is, then we get when we want.”

Joel glars at me for a few more seconds. “Fine. But if she so much as twitches.”

“If you pull a gun on her you’ll be the one with the bullet between your eyes, alright buddy?”

Ellie makes a noise somewhere between a gurgle and a choke. I spin around, and she’s grinning. “Don’t you dare.”

“Sorry.” She whispers, looking slightly ashamed.

Joel exhales sharply picking up his rifle and attempting to shift the cabinet he showed in front of the door. I move to help, but he sends me a scowl. “Don’t call me buddy.”

Barely two minutes later, we’re outside, and Ellie is flabbergasted. “Woah…”

I was frozen, too, but for different reasons. Boston was in ruin. Sadness tugged at my gut. I wonder what my house looked like if this was the rest of the world. The only thing truly left of my sister is Ellie.

“Looks different in the daylight, huh?” grins Tess.

Joel hops onto a fallen chunk of cement, surveying the area. “We should get moving.”

It takes about five minutes of walking for Ellie to find her voice. She peers down a large crater, and I grab her pack to stop her from falling. “It looks like a fucked-up moon. Is this where they bombed?”

“Yeah,” Tess replies, slowing to a stop. Joel keeps walking. “They hit most of the big cities like this. They had to slow the spread somehow.”

“Worked here, but it didn’t in most places.” I speak up. It certainly didn’t work in Colorado.

Joel slows and comes to a half right on the edge of a huge empty street. There are no old cars or debris. It’s unnerving to see such an undisturbed space in an otherwise ruined city.

“State house is just across there. About a ten-minute walk if you could go straight.” Tess explains.

“’If’?” I ask at the same time as Ellie says, “So?”

“Long way, or the short way.” Joel replies, ignoring me.

“Well, it’s the long way of the ‘we’re fucking dead’ way.” Tess corrects. Well, that answers my question.

Ellie looks between the pair. “I vote long way based on that very limited information.”

“We have to check the hotel first.” Joel insists.

Tess takes the lead again, and Joel brings up the rear. It had been a long time since I’d walked freely. Or how ever free you could be when the world has ended. A little part of me misses the five years after the outbreak began. We never knew if we’d see the next day, or when we’d eat again, but after we met Marlene, I was free to do what ever I wanted. Anna wanted to settle, but I was wanted to explore and find survivors. My stubbornness got the better of me far too often, and Anna was dead because of it. The most I could do was keep Ellie from making the same mistakes. I owe my sister that much.

“Why are you still here?” Joel asks suddenly. I look up, surprised. Back to the present, where Anna was dead.

“I’m sorry?”

“Why are you here? You have stayed in the QZ. I don’t understand why you’re risking so much for that kid. And don’t say for the cure. If I’ve heard that once I’ve heard it a thousand times.”

I watch Ellie talk Tess’s ear off a few meters in front of us. “I told you. I’ve known Ellie since she was a baby.”

“But?” Joel presses. For someone so reserved, he had a lot of questions. “You said Marlene gave her to you to leave with FEDRA. Why would she give her to you?”

“I owed Ellie’s mother a debt.”

“What kind?”

I adjust my grip on my rifle anxiously. “One you don’t break.”

“And now?”

Silence falls. Even Ellie didn’t know I was her aunt. I wasn’t going to tell a stranger. Especially one who wanted to kill her. Tess and Ellie draw to a halt in front of us. I miss what Tess says, but I could see a bit of pride gleaming in her eyes.

Ellie tries to hide her grin. “Thanks.”

Slinging my rifle over my shoulder, I follow the pair over an upturned car. 

“So,” Tess start talking again. “No ones gonna come looking after you? Mom, Dad… boyfriend?”

“Nope. I’m an orphan, and… no.” Ellie replies, wrinkling her nose slightly. I grin. “Bel’s my only family. And my only friend.”

“What about you, Doctor Bailey? No family?”

“No one but Ellie and Marlene.” I reply truthfully. The end of the world tends to do that to you. It takes nearly everything from you. Like sisters and courage.

Ellie looks around again. “Everyone said the city was crazy. Like, swarms of infected running around everywhere.”

“Not exactly like that.” Joel replies. It was the first he had spoken in a while.

“People like to tell stories.” Tess adds, smiling humourlessly.

“So, there aren’t super-infected that explode spores on you?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Shit, I hope not.”

“Or ones with split open head that see in the dark like bats?”

Tess looks at Joel, then me. I purse my lips, and Joel stares at the ground.

An uncanny scream echoes through the buildings. We freeze, straining to listen past the screeching crows. Subconsciously, I check my knife is still on my belt and pistol is within reach. Just in case. Ellie holds her breath, so I reach over and take her hand reassuringly. She squeezes back, holding tight as we waited.

“What was that?” She asks. None of us answer.

“Let’s keep moving.” Joel says instead.

Any inkling of companionship that we had built was gone.

--

A better name of the ‘hotel’ would have been the ‘lake’. Joel heaves the door open, scattering a few ducks and revealing the entire first floor was flooded. Once upon a time, the hotel would have been a grand establishment.

“You gotta be kidding me!” Ellie cries. “Did you ever stay in a place like this?”

“No, a little out of our league.” Tess admits.

“I did.” I answer with a grin.

Joel glances over at Ellie. “How do you even know about this stuff?”

“Have you heard of books?” She sasses back. “What was it like? Tell me everything. Don’t skimp on the details.”

I laugh out loud. It takes me by surprise. I haven’t laughed in a while. “My sister took me to a concert for my eighteenth birthday. Apparently, this is part of the experience.”

“Cool.” Ellie breathes. When I don’t say anything else she adds, “And?”

“Later, babe.”

Joel takes off down the steps towards the water.

“Wait, are we going in there?” Ellie asks, her fascination temporarily forgotten.

“Yeah. We gotta get to the stairwell on the other side.” Tess replies, following behind Joel.

Ellie looks petrified. “I, uh, I can’t swim.”

“Seriously?” Joel looks dumbfounded, and I send him a dirty look.

“Do you think we have pools in the QZ?”

He rolls his eyes. “No, smart ass. I mean-” He jumps off the last step. The water barely went past his knees.

“I don’t know how I was supposed to know that.” She replies, heading down the stairs more confidently. Still, she hesitates on the last step.

“It’s okay, El.” I reassure her, striding past through the water. I try not to think about what creepy crawlies could be swimming around.

“This is so gross.” Ellie laughs, rushing towards the service desk, and tapping the bell. The dull clunking caught Joel’s attention, and he turns to watch. “Ding ding! Yes, sir, I would like your finest suite please.”

I hoist myself up onto the desk. Shoving my finger under my nose like it’s a moustache and putting on a fake accent, I reply, “Yes, ma’am. Would you like me to take your luggage?”

“Yes, sir!” Ellie giggles back.

“Right away, ma’am.”

“You guys are weird.” Joel remarks.

Ellie grabs the luggage holder, pushing it forward. “You’re weird- oh fuck!”

A body falls from the holder, knocking against Ellie’s leg. I point my gun towards it, but it quickly becomes clear that the skeleton is harmless.

“Oh my god…” Ellie pants.

“Are you okay, honey?” I ask, hopping down from the desk. I notice Joel is suddenly right in front of me, gun raised. Last I saw, he was nearly at the stairs.

“Yeah- I… sorry.”

Joel offers Ellie his hand, helping her up from where she leant against the piano. Too late, he realises its his injured one, and he flinches as she let go. I glance at it as I walk past. The bruising is purple now. I make a note to check on it soon.

“Are you okay?” Tess calls out.

“Yeah. Fucking fabulous.” Ellie replies with a sigh.

I shake my head. I wonder where that kid got her mouth, because it sure as hell wasn’t her mother.

Climbing the stairs made me miss elevators. My heart is pounding by the time Joel announces we were there.

Tess pauses to catch her breath. “Fuck. Holy shit.”

“You can say that again.” I huff.

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad.” Ellie insists. The kid was barely swayed.

“Cut me some slack, girl.”

“Is it ‘cause you’re old?”

I scoff. “I’m forty-five, not ninety.”

“Try climbing ten flours with these knees, kid.” Tess replies, gesturing for us to follow Joel.

We round a corner and stop dead before a pile of rubble. What that supposed to be there?

“When the fuck did that happen?” Tess grumbles. Guess not. They try the doors. Blocked. “Okay, I guess maybe I could climb up there, work my way around. Open it from the inside.”

Ellie pipes up, “Uh, no, I’m the smallest, so it’d be easier-”

“No. I’ll go.” I cut her off.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m perfectly capable.” Tess scoffs. “Help me up?”

I shrug. “You were just complaining about your knees, you know.”

Joel moves to help Tess, but I get there first. Kneeling, I cup my hands. Tess steps up, and I give her a boost. She crawls into the gap, disappearing in the debris. “You good?”

“Yeah, it’s just a bit of a mess. Might need a few minutes.”

Ellie slumps to the floor, leaning her lead against the wall. I follow suit, and eventually, so does Joel.

“I could have done that.” Joel mutters.

“Not what that hand you’re not. Let me see.” I demand. He holds it out reluctantly, and I examine the bruising. “I told you to be careful with it. That means don’t use it unless absolutely necessary.”

“I haven’t used it.” He retorts.

“Don’t lie.” I reply simply. “It’s childish.”

Ellie pulls out her knife, flipping it in her hand over and over.

“Nice knife,” Joel says. Ellie glares at him, before tossing the knife again. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

“The circus.” She snaps. She folds the knife up. “Where are you from?”

“Texas.” Joel replies after a moment.

“What about Tess?”

“Detroit. It’s in Michigan.”

Ellie scoffs. “I go to school, I know where Detroit is.”

I continue to stare at Joel’s hand, partly to hide my grin and partly because I like holding his hand. Wait, what?

“So, are you and Tess like…”

“Pass” Joel answers quickly. I’ll take that as a no. My stomach flips a little. What is wrong with me? I’ve known this man all of about five minutes.

“How did you get to Boston?”

“Pass. No more questions about me.”

I huff a little and Joel gives me a look. He doesn’t move his hand from mine.

Ellie let the silence continue for less than thirty seconds. “How long do infected live?”

“I thought you said you went to school.”

“Yeah, it was a shitty one.”

“Ouch.” I grin. “I though I was a good teacher.”

“Oh, shut up. You were. Everyone else sucked.” Ellie replies with a smirk.

Joel exhales, thinking for a moment. “Well, some live for about a month or two. But there’s others, been walking around 20 years.”

“You guys ever kill one?”

“Yeah, a lot.” Joel replies without hesitation. Ellie looks at me expectantly.

“Um, yeah. A bunch. Too many.” I shift uncomfortably, and Joel’s thumb traces a circle on my hand.

“Is it hard knowing they were people once?” Always with the difficult questions.

Joel doesn’t answer. I sigh. “Yeah. But they aren’t people anymore, honey. It’s kinder to kill them then let them live like monsters.”

Ellie thinks it over for a second. “Joel?” He hums in recognition. “What about that guy last night?”

Joel freezes, his hand clutching mine a little tighter. Ellie notices, but she doesn’t say anything. A thud sounds from the other side of one of the doors. Joel grabs his gun, his hand slipping from mine.

“You can put the gun down, Joel.” Tess’s muffled voice calls out. She pushes something heavy out of the way, then opens the door.

“What now?” Joel asks.

Tess doesn’t meet his eyes. Instead, she leads us through the room and out onto a balcony. I lean over the end, looking down into the street. Sprawled below are dozens of infected. They groan and twitch, but otherwise remain motionless. The sight is unsettling. “Jesus.”

“There is so many.” Ellie whispers.

“The last time we were here they were still deep inside the buildings. But I guess enough people can through looking for a QZ, they went inside seeking shelter, and that’s how they’d get more and more of the city, bit by bit, year after year.” Tess explains, and I feel nauseous.

The infected writhe in a sort of Mexican wave. “They’re connected.” Ellie realises.

“More than you know,” Tess replies. “The fungus also grows underground. Long fibres like wires, some of them stretching over a mile. You step on a patch of cordyceps in one place, you’ll wake a dozen infected from somewhere else. Now they know where you are. Now then come. You’re not immune from being ripped apart. You understand?” Ellie looks surprised, doubtful, almost. “This is important. I’m trying to keep you alive.”

Ellie nods, stepping back from the balcony. “So, what now?”

“Short way?” I ask, looking over the buildings.

Tess and Joel stare at each other, another silent conversation. “Museum.” Joel says finally.

--

Taglist:

[jellybear455]

What's left of Anna - The last of us

Pairings: Ellie x mother figure reader; Joel x reader

Warnings: canon violence, swearing, follows plot of the HBO series, I gave reader a name just in case that triggers you

Word count: 2700

Summary: Nearly fifteen years after the death of her sister, Anna Williams, Isabel Bailey journeys through post-apocalyptic America with her niece and a closed off stranger.

Author's note: Readers name is Isabel Bailey (previously Williams). Her physical features remain blank. I have the next 4 parts of this series already lined up, so lmk if you have any feedback. This story will be posted on wattpad upon completion.

Part 2 Part 3

--

Gun shots echo through the hallway. Someone is screaming at me to run. I fly around the corner, skidding to a stop at a locked door. My hands shake uncontrollably as I wrestle with the key. Footsteps boom behind me, getting louder and louder with each passing moment. Bursting inside, slamming and locking the door, I rush across the room. Chained to the wall is a terrified girl of no older than fourteen. She flinches as I run towards her, shoving a second, smaller key into her cuffs, setting her free.

“What’s going on?” She asks. Her voice is unsteady.

“Shh, Ellie. Stay close.” I whisper back, pulling my gun from where it was tucked in my pants.

We creep silently across the floor, cringing at gunshots and creaky floorboards. What felt like hours pass as we crouch by the door. Somehow, the lingering silence is more unnerving than the sounds of violence. I squeeze Ellie’s hand to keep the memories poking the edges of my mind at bay.

Eventually, the quiet is broken by the muted whispering of a recognisable voice; Marlene. She’s clearly distressed, and a second voice reassures her. I exhale in relief, before seizing up again. A quiet tapping of feet on the wooden floorboards.

Stay. I signal to Ellie. Sucking in a breath, I slowly reach up to unlock the door, dreading the inevitable soft click. The footsteps grow closer, and Marlene is still oblivious.

I burst out of the door, pointing my pistol down the hall. A few meters away is a man, pistol raised. He steps towards me slowly, and I point my gun at him, backing further away.

He’s average height, with short, greying hair. His eyes are stony, and his pistol is aimed right at my forehead. As he comes in line with the open door, Ellie leaps out, brandishing her knife. It takes the man no longer than a second to get her on the floor, her knife under his foot.

“Godammit, El, I told you to stay put.” I mutter, placing my finger on the trigger. Anger swells in my chest. “Let her go, you asshole, or I swear to god I’ll-”

“Joel?” Marlene says from behind me. Joel seems to recognise her as well, and takes his gun off me. “Stand down, Bel.”

Reluctantly I lower my weapon, but don’t lower my guard.

“Shit…” Ellie cries, looking past me at Marlene.

I press my back against the wall, reluctant to turn away from Joel, and realise Marlene has been shot. Her companion, Kim, is missing an ear.

“I’ll be fine, kid. I said stand down, Isabel.”

“I am!” I protest.

“So, this is who Robert screwed us over with.” Another voice echoes down the hall, and a woman emerges from around the corner. “The Che Guevara of Boston? Your war must be pretty shitty to be buying from scumbags like him.”

“Yeah, it kinda has been,” Marlene replies, annoyance and pain leaking into her tone. “The merch was bad, and he obviously didn’t take ‘fuck off’ as an answer.”

“Why do you need a battery?” Joel questions.

Ellie grapples for her knife, and Joel points his gun at her. I raise mine again. “No! No. Not at her. Point at me.”

Joel looks down at Ellie, giving her a warning look, before slowly turning his gun to me. I exhale slowly, lowering my weapon. “What we need that battery for is more important that what you do, I can promise you that.”

“No offense, Tommy is just one man.” Marlene says from behind me. Joel’s face contorts, as though he is trying to conceal his shock. “It’s our business to know things.”

“’To know things’?” Joel repeats. He looks pissed. “You were the cause of it. You turned my own brother against me.”

I shift on my feet, uncomfortable with the anger in Joel’s face, and the terror in Ellie’s. “That was a lot of gunfire. FEDRA will be on their way. We need to leave.”

“I know. We were gonna move Ellie out of the zone tonight. But we won’t make it anywhere like this. Not for a while.”

Glancing over at Marlene, I flash her a look. “Do you think this is-”

“I think you should do it.” She finishes, ignoring my concerns entirely.

“The hell we are.”

“I’m not going with them!”

“I am not leaving her with strangers, Marlene.”

“You won’t.” Marlene sighs, looking to me, then Joel. “You’ll do the job for us. And take Bel with you. She’s a doctor.”

“Fuck’s sake, are you seriously doing this?” I shoot back.

“Leave with her or leave her.”

I look away, shuffling my feet. She determines, and she isn’t wrong.

Joel scowls. “Tess, we don’t have time for this.”

“Oh, you don’t have time?” The woman, Tess, scoffs. “Who is she?”

“To you? She’s cargo.” I snap back.

“We don’t smuggle people. Sorry.” Joel replies quickly.

Ellie’s head whips back and forth, unsure where to look. I pull my gaze from Joel’s gun and meet her eyes. “It’s okay. We’ll sort this out.”

“I can do it.” Kim insists from beside Marlene.

“Kim, you don’t have a fucking ear on your fucking head!” Marlene snaps, “Could you please-… There is a team of Fireflies waiting for her at the old State House. I know what’s out there, we were going with an entire squadron for that exact reason. Now I don’t have a truck. I don’t have a squadron. FEDRA is five minutes away. What I do have is you. And I know what you’re capable of. For better or for worse.”

“What…” Ellie starts, clearing her throat. “What are they capable of?”

“Stay calm, honey. I’m not leaving you.” Ellie sucks in a shaky breath at that.

“You will get her there safely. They will give you what you need.” Marlene pleads. “Not just a battery. The whole thing. Fuelled-up trucks, guns, supplies, all of it. I swear.”

Joel looks towards Tess, before flicking Ellie’s knife away.

“Asshole!” She cries, watching as he walks away.

I shove my gun in the back of my pants, cautiously moving forward and grabbing Ellie before she can retaliate. I push her behind me protectively, but I can feel her glaring over my shoulder at Joel. We back towards Marlene and Kim. Joel’s pistol is still pointing at me.

“What the hell are you thinking?” I mutter. “How do you expect to keep her safe if she’s with strangers?”

“Easy, Bel. You’ll be with her. And I trust them.” Marlene reassures me. She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself too. She raises her voice. “Ya’ll talk it through, but please remember I am bleeding out.”

Tess stares intensely at Joel for a moment longer. “Okay, here’s the deal. We get her to your crew in the State House, but before we hand her over, they give us everything we want. If not, we kill her then and there.”

Joel shoves his pistol into his jacket pocket, and a little bit of relief spreads through me.

“Deal.” Marlene says quickly.

“Really?” Ellie scoffs. “That fast?”

“You are all the matters. My team will not jeopardise you. Remember what I told you?”

I sigh. “Go get your backpack.”

Tess and Marlene exchange a look as I watch Ellie disappear through the door. When she returns, Tess doesn’t waste any time. “Let’s go.”

Ellie stares at Marlene, a silent goodbye, before disappearing after Tess, bumping Joel in the shoulder. I send Marlene a nod. I’m reluctant to leave her when she’s injured, but I don’t have much choice. “Please be careful. And see a doctor.”

“I’m looking at one.” A pained smirk flickers at her lips.

I don’t bite. “I’m serious. We still need you.”

“Keep her safe.” Marlene says. “And don’t die. She doesn’t need any more of that.”

--

“What the fuck?” Ellie cries, thumping a fist against the door that Tess had just shut on us.

“It’s okay, honey. They’re just talking.” I reassure her, flopping down on an armchair.

Ellie grumbles in annoyance. I watch silently as she navigates her way through the messy apartment and picks up a book. The door opens again, and Joel storms in, taking a seat on the sofa opposite me.

“Sooo, who’s Bill and Frank?” Ellie begins, looking down at the book. Joel gives her a baffled look. “The radio’s a smuggling code, right? 60’s song, the don’t have anything new, 70’s, they got new stuff. What’s 80’s?”

Joel snatches the book, tossing it on the table. He lies down on the sofa, closing his eyes.

“What are you doing?” Ellie asks.

“Killing time.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do?

“I’m sure you’ll figure that out.”

Ellie huffs, and I hold out an arm. “Come here.”

She grabs the book of the table, sending Joel a dirty look before curling up on floor by my legs, resting her head against my knees. Before long she’s fast asleep.

--

“Her name is Ellie.”

I looked down at the little pink baby in my arms. She was out like a light, breathing softly. Her tiny hands clutched at my finger like it was a lifeline. She was too sweet for a world this cruel. “Where’s Anna?”

Marlene nodded to the closed door. Someone was crying on the other side. There was only one reason my sister would give up her baby so easily. Ellie stirred in my arms, and I rocked her gently. I wanted to say something, anything, to break the silence, to smother the knowledge that this sweet baby girl would never know her mother, but no words came to my lips.

“Let me see her.”

“We have to give her up to FEDRA.” Marlene whispered, subtly wiping a tear from her cheek and placing her hands firmly on my shoulders. “I can’t keep her safe.”

“Let me see her!” I shouted. “Anna!”

“Isabel?” I could hear her sobbing. “Keep her safe, Bel. I love you.”

Grief bubbled in my stomach. It burned. Ellie began to cry, and I clutched her tighter. “I love you, I’m so sorry. Let me go, Marlene. Please.”

“I’m so sorry, Isabel.” Marlene turned away.

“If you’re sorry, let me see her.” My breath came in gasps.

Marlene glanced over her shoulder once, before the door closed behind her. Just for a second, I could see her. Anna was covered in blood, and she was pale. Most of all, she wasn’t fighting. My sister, who could scare the fleas off a dog, had given up. All of a sudden, I wished I could erase the image from my brain.

Then the door was closed, and I would never see Anna again.

I struggled to cover Ellie’s ears as a single gunshot rang out. She cried louder and I tried in vain to calm her. It was difficult when grief made it hard to stand.

It was a few hours until we make it back to the QZ. I stood at my apartment window with tiny Ellie in my arms. We watched the sunrise together. I cried until I was numb. Then, I walked her right into hell.

--

Joel presses his shoulder to the sewer cover, forcing it open. A crack of light sweeps through the dark space, before moving past. He crawls out of the gap. Tess pushes Ellie forward next, then me.

“Jesus Christ, I’m actually outside!” Ellie cries, standing up and looking around.

“Ellie!” I gasp, pulling her down beside me just in time for the light to sweep past us again. “Stay the fuck down.”

We stay still for a few more moments, listening for any signs that we’d been spotted.

“Okay, we’re gonna take the left edge around the buffer zone.” Tess whispers. Her tone is one of utter disbelief as she processes Ellie’s total lack of survival skills.

I wrap one hand around Ellie’s wrist. “Stay close, and for god’s sake, stay down.”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course.” Ellie replies quickly. Joel makes a face.

“Let’s go.”

Tess leads us under an old, rusted bus. I keep a hand on Ellie’s backpack as we crawl. It’s more than slightly inconvenient, but I am not letting her out of arm’s reach. We emerge from the bus and weave through a maze of broken cars.

A FEDRA truck rumbles past, sweeping a light across us. Joel yanks me back into his chest by the waist, separating me from Ellie and pulling me down to where he was hiding. We crouch there for a moment. My breathing is unsteady, and my heart thuds in unnatural patterns. I can feel Joel’s behaving similarly against my shoulder. His hand presses into my waist until the light disappears and he pushes me onwards.

My hand is back on Ellie’s pack as we shuffle through a busted pipe. Another light sweeps past, and we freeze again. The wonder of being outside the walls had worn off, and I could see the tension twisting Ellie’s shoulders. I pat her pack twice, offering silent reassurance. A flash of lightning illuminates us as we continue through piles of rubble.

“What the hell?” I spin around, spotting the FEDRA soldier too late. He scrambles from where had been taking a piss, grabbing his gun and pointing it at us. “Don’t move!”

Lightning flashes again, and I see the man’s face. A flicker of recognition sparks in his eyes as he looks between me and Joel.

“You gotta be shitting me.” He grumbles. “I told you to stay home, man.”

“We can talk about this.” Joel replies quickly.

“Get on your knees!”

Tess sighs in resignation. “Do it. Get on your knees.”

It has been a long time since I had prayed, but I guess when you’re about to die that doesn’t matter. I pray that the soldier doesn’t know who I am. But from the look on his face, I’m almost sure he does.

“Listen, if you let us do this run, we’ll split the cards with you.” Tess reasons.

“Will you?” The soldier scoffs.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, I’m so blessed. Hands on your head, eyes forward.”

Reluctantly, I thread my fingers behind my head. The soldier holds a familiar square device to Tess’s neck, and my blood runs cold. Ellie stiffens beside me.

“Really, man?” Tess cries.

“Yep. We’re doing this by the book.”

Ellie stares ahead, terrified. “Bel…”

“It’s okay. I got this.”

“How about three quarters?” Tess is almost begging now. A light flashes through the dimness. It’s green.

“Unauthorised exit.” The solider announces. He sounds almost smug. “They’ll hang you for that.”

“Fine, everything off this run.” Joel pleads as the device is turned to him. His screen turned green, too. “And half off on all the pills.”

“Half off? All off.” The soldier scowls. My screen is green. He turns to Ellie. “Risk my job for ‘half off’. Out of your fucking mind-”

I leap to my feet, throwing a fist into the soldier’s face. He stumbles back, clutching his nose. I grab his rifle, pointing it back at him. He whips out a pistol, aiming it at Ellie. I want to shoot him so badly, but that would destroy any chance we have of getting away.

“Jesus, Bailey.” He shouts. I flinch slightly. “Yeah, I know who you are. I thought you would be better than this.”

I suck in a breath. “Whatever you say, asshole.”

“Let’s talk about this.” Joel cuts in. He’s strategically positioned himself in front of Ellie.

“Move.”

“Put down the gun.” I snap. Nobody moves.

 “Move.”

My gaze flicks over to Joel. His hands are raised, and his face is stony, but his eyes are elsewhere. The soldier takes a step forward, and my finger moves to the trigger. Joel wavers beside me, and within a second he is on the soldier. His fist pummels into the soldier over and over, until doesn’t fight back. Ellie stares. The soldier is dead, but Joel isn’t slowing down. Without thinking, I rush forward and grab his arm. “Joel! Stop.”

His fist soars in my direction, narrowly missing my cheek. “Joel!”

He freezes. I can see the confusion in his eyes. I take to moment to grab his bloody hand and pull him to his feet. He doesn’t resist.

“Joel!” Tess calls, flipping the device screen up. Red.

“I’m not sick! This is three weeks old. No body lasts more than a day!” Ellie cries desperately, ripping up her sleeve and revealing the veiny, white scar on her arm.

I swear loudly. This exactly what we were trying to avoid. “There is no time for this. We need to go. Now.”

Tess snaps back to reality, looking around for more soldiers. I sling the rifle over my shoulder. Joel is still dazed, and I drag him away from the body. Tess leads us through a hole in the fence, and we are free.

--

Taglist: --

[jellybear455]

Tsu'tey x reader

So this is part 2 of this request. Let me know if you guys want a part 3 xx

Warnings: angst ig

Word count: 2800

Italics is Na'vi

--

The cliffside cracks and crumbles underneath my foot, and I nearly follow it down. Tsu’tey throws an arm across my chest, pushing me back against the rocky wall. My face burns, partly in embarrassment, partly because his chest was pressed firmly into my shoulder.

“Keep walking.” He grumbles, withdrawing himself quickly.

Tsu’tey had been my mentor for the last half year, training and teaching me. Today is my first step in becoming one of the Na’vi- claiming an ikran. I inch further across the small ledge, keeping my eyes on Jake in front of me and willing for the heat in my face to subside.

Tsu’tey never once showed any emotion other than annoyance to me, and yet I had fallen for him. Hard. Are Na’vi even supposed to fall in love? Do they love? Or do they feel other things instead? I don't know, and there was nobody I could ask without giving away my little crush.

And besides, Tsu’tey is promised to Neytiri, I tell myself. He could not be with me even if he wanted to. But I saw the little looks that the Na’vi princess sent Jake when he wasn’t looking. And I saw how Jake was killing his human body just to spend a few extra hours with her. Not unlike me.

Neytiri will just break Tsu’tey’s heart eventually.

Finally, I step off the tiny ledge and onto a bigger slab of rock. I breath a sigh of relief, only to seize up again at the sight of dozens and dozens of ikran. Tsu’tey’s hand presses into my back gently, strong and familiar, guiding me away from the entrance so the others could follow.

“Who wants to go first?” Neytiri asks, settling down on a large boulder to watch, eyes gleaming in interest.

Jake hesitates, eyes darting back and forth between Neytiri and the banshee, before opening his mouth to speak.

“I will go,” I blurt before he could say anything. Jake’s shoulders slack in annoyance and Tsu’tey squints slightly in surprise. Did he think I was brave? Or just stupid?

I turn my back to him before I could second guess myself and step shakily toward the ikran. A few glare at me curiously, making my heart leap, but they mostly ignore me. I had nearly made a complete loop of the nest, and look back to Tsu’tey despairingly, hoping he could offer some kind of advice, but his eyes aren't not on me. Turning around, I search for what had taken his attention, only to come face to face with an ikran.

It's a purple that is so dark it's nearly black, and red lines trace the muscles of its back and wings. It's the smallest of the group, but the intimidating look in it’s eyes makes up for it. It opens its jaws, letting out a piercing hiss. Rocking back on my heels, I steel myself, before lowering my body into the fighting position Tsu’tey had taught me. I swallow quietly, before hissing back in a way I hope is frightening. The noise comes out of my throat easily, which, surprises me.

The surprise is quickly drowned in the relief that comes with the next realisation. This ikran wants to kill me, and I am ridiculously happy about it.

The ikran launches itself at me, and I duck quickly, detaching a rope from my make-shift belt. I throw the loop upward as I slide beneath the belly of the beast, snagging the tip of it’s nose. It rears its head, roaring, and dragging me out from underneath it. I fly into the air, followed by the rope, which I still grip in my hand tightly.

I land hard at Tsu’tey’s feet. Pushing myself up, I meet his eyes for a moment. I can see something in them, a kind of fear that I have never seen him wear before. Before I could figure out what it meant, the ikran roars again, and I spring back into action.

Throwing myself up into Neytiri’s rock, I fly through the air and onto the neck of the ikran. It thrashes wildly, but I hold on. It rears it’s head, and I fling myself around, slipping the rope around its neck and holding on tightly. I reach out, feeling it’s queue just slip out of my reach. With a final screech, the ikran rolls right off the edge of the cliff.

We're free falling. I scream with fear and determination.

My fingers finally grasp it’s queue, and I gasp in relief. The ground is becoming dangerously close. Panic begins to set in. I would have to let go of the rope to grab my own queue.

Hooking my feet together underneath it’s neck, I squeeze tightly, bracing myself. I suck in a breath and let go.

When our queues finally connect, we didn’t stop falling. My hands grip at the rope tightly and frantically.

STOP! I thought, squeezing my eyes shut. Surprisingly, the ikran jolts to a halt. I open one eye slowly.

The ikran’s wings beat gently, and we rose a little with each flap. “Well, damn…” I whisper.

Cautiously, I let go of the rope with one hand and stroke her neck. Her? As soon as it appears it my head, it feels right. We land on the forest floor, and I dismount.

Without disconnecting our queues, I walk around to stand in front of her. “What’s your name, gorgeous?”

I run my fingers under her chin, and her tail flicks madly. I grin. She reminds me of a puppy. A name barges to the front of my mind.

“Hey, Lady,” Her tail thumps the ground harder. “You like that, my Lady?”

A shout rings out from the top of the mountain, reminding me what I'm here for. Quickly, I pull the rope off Lady’s neck and put it back on my belt. Leaving a last pat on her nose, I swing my leg back over her neck and we take off into the sky.

We fly almost vertically up the cliff face, soaring past the others, then circling down the land in front of them. I can't help the massive grin that has planted itself on my lips.

Jake is smiling too and shaking his head slightly in disbelief. Neytiri watches with her usual air of uninterest, but I can see the glint of relief in her eyes.

Tsu’tey’s eyes are bright with something like pride, and he calls his own ikran. “Come, first flight seals the bond.”

Lady takes off again, Tsu’tey following behind on his Ikran. I laugh as we rush through the air. We fly loops and flips and circles. Tsu’tey watches from above, but I don't miss how his lips curl up in a small smile.

--

It's done. I'm one of the people. The ceremony finished hours ago, and yet I am alone, sulking deep in the forest. Cupping my hands, I dip them in the river, splashing water onto my face. The paint that Tsu’tey spent so long decorating me with is ruined.

He sat with me all morning, his fingers running cross my skin. The paint was ceremonial, I know, but the way Tsu’tey touched me felt so intimate and personal. And now he wonn’t even look at me.

The reminder feels like a stone has been dropped in my stomach. My eyes burn with tears. Were all the months we spent together for nothing? Was I a chore to him? I stare at my reflection in the water. The paint is gone.

Lady huffs from behind me and nudges my back gently.

“I know, I’m being stupid.” I sigh, wiping my face, and rising from the stream. “Why would I even think he felt anything for me? I’m not even a real Na’vi.”

A grumble sounds from a clump of bush. I sigh, running my hand down my Ikran’s nose. “Go, my Lady. I will see you later.” She takes off and disappears into the sky. “I know you’re there, Tsu’tey.”

The bane of my existence steps out from a clump of bushes, hissing in annoyance. “What are you doing out here?”

“What am I doing? What are you doing Tsu’tey? You haven’t said a word to me since the ceremony and now you’re stalking me.” I growl back, folding my arms tightly across my chest.

Tsu’tey steps closer, his eyes scanning my face. “You have washed off the paint.”

“Answer the question, godammit.”

“You looked beautiful.”

“Answer me- what?” My brain comes to a hard stop. “What did you just say?”

Tsu’tey shrugs nonchalantly. “You heard me.”

“I- Are you serious?” I cry out, turning my back and taking a breath. “You ignore me, avoid me, then compliment me? Make up your mind.”

“I was not avoiding you…” Tsu’tey begins. I send him a dirty look over my shoulder. “I swear I was not. It is just… You are one of the people. I am simply giving you space to adjust.”

“Tsu’tey, I don’t need to ‘adjust’. I’ve spent the last six months with you. You have taught me everything I know. I don’t want that to just stop like that was nothing. I guess a little part of my believed you felt something for me, but even if this is just a job to you, it is everything to me. If there is one thing I need it’s you.”

The silence was deafening. I press a hand to my mouth as though it would take back what I have said. My only hope is that the sudden switch back to English would be enough. Tsu’tey steps closer, but I keep my eyes glued to the ground. I will not look at him. I will not.

“I promise that I am not avoiding you, yawne.” Tsu’tey gently places his fingers under my chin, guiding me to look at him. He uses the same tenderness that he had that morning, and I forget to resist. “But… you are eligible to choose a mate. I do not want to hinder your decision. It is better this way, because when it comes time, you will not need me anymore.”

The English is foreign on his lips, but the message is clear. He understood. My neck aches from tension as I try to look away, but Tsu’tey holds my face in both hands now.

“You must understand.”

“No,” I want to go home, back to Earth, anywhere that is not here, but the words spill from my tongue. “No, you do not get to decide that I cannot see you. It is not better this way. And besides, I have already chosen my mate.”

“Oh,” Tsu’tey visibly droops, hand his hands leave my face. I catch them before he can walk away.

“I chose him because he is brave and strong and he was the best teacher I could ever have been given.” We are impossibly close. I can feel his breath tickle against my lips. “I chose him a long time ago. I’m just waiting for him to choose me.”

Tsu’tey exhales slowly, and his hand touches my face again. “You are certain it is him you want?”

“So certain. I see you, Tsu’tey. It is you I need. I do not want anyone else.”

“I see you, yawne.” Tsu’tey whispers back. His eyes bore into mine for a moment more, before he presses his lips to mine. “I am yours.”

--

The pod whirrs around me as it opens. I keep my eyes closed tight, but I know Grace is standing there, staring at me.

“Put me back in.” I tell her.

“No. You need to eat.”

I open one eye to see Grace holding out a bag of dehydrated fruit. “I want to go back.”

“Eat.”

I grab the bag, letting out a noise of annoyance. The desperation to return to my Na’vi body burns in me as I shove food in my mouth, hands shaking. My skin is pale and dry, and I can feel the grease in my hair. Somehow, I do not care. I want to go back. Back to my Tsu’tey. My mate. Warmth tickles my stomach. I eat faster.

“Can I go now?” I ask, mouth full.

An empty laugh echoes from the pod beside me. I look around for the first time. Jake is awake, too. In his hands is a bag similar to mine. He looks horrible. But then, so do I. “Congratulations, by the way. I didn’t see you after the ceremony.”

“Thanks. You too.” I reply. He smiles, and I see Tom.

“Look what you are doing to yourselves.” Grace says. Her eyes are sad and her voice shakes. “If you keep going this way, you’ll die.”

The realisation should stir something in me, but it doesn't. I will die if I am not with Tsu’tey. That is worse. “Put me back.”

Grace sighs. I lie down and the pod closes on me.

--

Tsu’tey’s steady breathing is calming. I can feel his heartbeat from where my head lies on his chest. His hand is threaded through the hair at the base of my head. I could stay like this forever.

An ear-splitting screech shatters the peace. Lady drops from the sky, and Tsu’tey jolts awake. His own ikran is close behind. We exchange a look, before separating to mount our ikrans. I connect my queue to Lady’s, and I am reminded of how Tsu’tey joined his queue with mine. The lack of connection is almost weakening. I am missing something I did not know I should have.

We soar over the forest towards the hometree. I keep one eye glued to Tsu’tey beside me. He gasps, and I follow his line of sight. Dread creeps over me. Huge, yellow machines, flanked by armed humans, are destroying the forest. Tsu’tey groans in pain.

Quickly, I drop from the sky and down into the trees. I yell for Tsu’tey to follow. He is furious. I can feel the angry radiating from his skin like hot coals in a fire.

Soon, we have landed, and Tsu’tey grabs his weapon in one hand, and my arm in the other. He pulls me through the crowd of shouting Na’vi. The Olo'eyktan spots him, gesturing him forward.

Tsu’tey lets go of my arm. His eyes are stony. “Stay here.”

“Tsu’tey-“

“Yawne. Stay.”

I watch as my mate rushes to the front of the crowd. The Olo'eyktan shouts over the noise. “Tsu’tey will lead the war party!”

No. There cannot be a war. If there is a war, the Na’vi will lose. They will all die. Tsu’tey raises his weapon, and the crowd cheers. I can see Grace desperately trying to make herself heard. I raise my voice.

“Stop! You must be calm.” The cheers turn to confusion. Tsu’tey sends me a look of surprise.

“This will make it worse.” Grace pleads to the Olo'eyktan.

“You do not speak here.” Tsu’tey snaps, tearing his eyes from me. My shoulders drop in disappointment. “We will strike them in the heart.”

A hand lands on my shoulder, and I spin around to see Jake. His hand is intwined with Neytiri’s. My jaw drops.

“Tsu’tey! Don’t do this.” He calls.

Olo'eyktan storms forward and points his weapon at Jake’s chest. Neytiri cries out in protest. “You have mated with my daughter.”

“Is this true?” Mo’at hissed.

Neytiri stands tall. She is brave, and I am grateful that Tsu’tey has not broken her heart by being with me. “We are mated before Eywa. It is done.”

A sigh of relief, then Tsu’tey’s hand on my waist.

“You are promised to Tsu’tey. How could you do this?” Mo’at growls. I could see Neytiri’s lips twitch slightly as she glances over at us. The Na’vi gasp. Grace swears.

“We have welcomed you into our home,” The Olo'eyktan’s voice is dangerously low, and he stalks towards Jake. “Taught you our ways, and this is how you repay our kindness? Not only have you taken my daughter, but you have brought the enemy to us!”

“No! I am not your enemy. The enemy is out there, and they are very powerful.” Jake shouts over the noise, tossing his weapon down.

“Tsu’tey,” I plead, “You have to believe me, I had nothing to do with this, I didn’t know-”

“Calm, yawne. I know.” His voice is soothing, and his eyes meet mine. My stomach flutters a little.

“Thank you.”

He nods, before pulling me behind him and turning his attention back to the furious Olo'eyktan. I tear my eyes off him just in time to see Jake’s eyes roll back in his head. He drops to the floor. Tsu’tey isn’t quick enough to catch me before I follow.

--

@qu33n0fth3n3rds @thesheelfsworld @misscaller06 @bee814

[jellybear455]

My love will never die - Jack Sparrow x reader

Summary: Jack trades you for his life. He promises to be there when your ten year sentence is up.

Warnings: Jack is not the good guy here, friends. Rough treatment of reader, unrequited love, heartbreak, angst, a singular swear.

Inspired by Davy Jones by Fia Orädd

I'm considering making this inspired by a song thing a series. I really enjoy doing it. Anyway I hope you enjoy this delicious crunchy angst.

---

"Don't let them take me! Please, please!" I screamed and cried and kicked and punched, struggling to escape the iron grips of the men on either side of me. "God, please! Jack!"

Jack stood on the dock, his back to the shore and hands in his pockets. He did not flinch as my hands were bound in thick iron chains. He did not blink when I screamed at him to take me home, please just get me out of here.

A hand clamped over my mouth, and without thinking, I sunk my teeth into the calloused flesh. The man yelled, withdrawing his hand and slapping me across the face with it. His blood dripped down my cheek, mixing with my tears.

"You bitch!" He screeched. Wiping his hand on his shirt.

"Just let me say goodbye," I sobbed. "I won't run, I won't run I promise..."

The other man snapped shackles on the ankles and gave them a tug. "What ever, sweetheart. But if you so much as look in the wrong direction I'll-"

I didn't stick around to hear the rest. I half ran, half waddled down the dock and threw myself into the arms of my lover, sobbing into his shoulder. "Don't let them take me." I begged.

"I have to. I will be here when you get back." Jack's voice was smooth and calm, like it always was. Usually it was reassuring, but now I was unnerving.

"Aren't you afraid, Jack?" I cried. "Aren't you sad that I'm going away?"

His hands rested against my hips casually. "Of course, darling. But I must not let myself feel it, because I won't be able to let you leave if I do."

"Don't let me leave, Jack, take me home... take me home." I croaked, voice hoarse from screaming. I could hear one of the men stomping up the dock behind me, and I grasped his shirt desperately. "Kiss me, Jack. Please." "No." He replied, firmly and sharply.

"Jack-" The man grabbed my arm painfully. "No, no no, Jack... Jack, please just kiss me one more time."

Jack could not look in my eyes. "Take her away."

"NO!" I screamed and screamed as I was dragged up the dock again. I screamed until after I had been locked away below deck, and I no longer could see the dock out the small window. Then I cried until my eyes were red and I could nor cry anymore.

---

Ten years. That was the time I had to serve aboard the ship. Jack had said the wrong thing to the wrong guy. The price he had to play was me. Ten years of my hard labour, or they would take his life.

It was not a hard decision. I would have cut out my own heart for Jack. But I did not think I could survive ten years without him close.

I had been at sea for nine years, eleven months and thirteen days, and finally- finally- we had docked. I was home. Home to Jack. I ran down the dock, and this time I was not shackled. I ran until my bare feet hit pavement, then stopped. Jack was not here.

More slowly this time, I ventured back up the dock, looking more closely at the fisherman nearby. None of them were Jack. He told me he'd wait for me.

Tears filled my eyes as I remember Jack, my Jack. Who could never truly show how he felt, not even to me. Who could never tell me he loved me for fear that I would leave. I didn't need him to say it, though. I knew that he loved me. He never said it words, but he showed it in actions. The way he would glare at any other men who glanced my way. How he would take away my bottle of rum when I had had too much. How he would leave food on the desk in his cabin when I slept in.

He loved me. So why wasn't he here now? Maybe he was late. Jack was always late. But he always showed. Mostly. I concentrate on my list of things Jack does to show he loves me, but the more I think about it the more I see.

He would glare at the men that glanced at me when I wasn't looking, but then he would spent half the night staring at another woman's breasts. He would take my rum when I got to tipsy, but then would down the bottle himself and leave me to stumble across the deck into his cabin. He would leave food aside if I was still sleeping when he ate, but would yell that he was looking forward to having it as his lunch.

Jack didn't love me. He never did. I just made myself believe he did. He let me believe he did. I think back to the day they took me. Jack told me he hated to see me go. But he wouldn't kiss me. He did not mourn. I had spent the last ten years pining over a man who couldn't think twice about my feelings.

A dull, throbbing pain pulsed through my chest, and an unsettling rage nestled in my gut. I would make him pay for what he had done. The time he had taken from me.

I once would have cut out my own heart for Jack, but I did not have to. He had torn it to shreds.

---

[jellybear455]

Then we were one - Loki x reader

This was definitely out of my comfort zone oml... I tried my best not to make it feel like Disney

Inspired by Nancy Mulligan by Ed Sheeran

Warnings: cringe, tooth rotting fluff

Word count: 1.4k

--

"What do you think we should do with her?" Natasha Romanoff questioned her companions.

The two men on either side of her stayed silent for a while.

"I guess we could turn her in." Tony Stark replied uncertainly.

Steve Rogers exhaled slowly. "For what? She didn't touch anything."

The three were facing what seemed like a fish tank, except the glass before them was not glass, but an industrial grade plastic invented and tested by Tony Stark himself. Inside was a sad, lonely bed nailed to the floor. The only other occupant was a woman. Her tangled hair swished too and fro as she swayed to the music that only she could hear.

"Twenty two grand kids, now growing old..." She mumbled, almost inaudibly. "In the house that your brother bought you..."

The eerie rhythm sent a shiver down Tony's spine.

"Turning her in for forced entry will have her out of jail in a couple years, especially since she didn't touch anything." Steve continued. "She was just sitting there."

The team had found the woman cross legged on the floor of the sitting room that morning, not unlike her current position, mournfully mumbling meaningless poetry.

"I asked her father but her daddy said no, you can't marry my daughter." The woman sung under her breath.

"What ever it is, there is something wrong with her. She hasn't said a word other than her awful chanting." Tony grumbled.

It was as though his words flipped a switch. The singing, if it could be called that, stopped, and the woman turned to look Tony dead in the eye. "You do know I can hear you?"

Natasha covered her snigger with a hand, before stepping closer to the glass. "Why did you break into the tower?"

"Technically I didn't break in. The sliding door was unlocked."

"Godammit, I KNEW I was forgetting something!" Tony groaned loudly.

"You're avoiding the question." Natasha said, ignoring her team-mate. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

"My name is Y/n."

"And?" Steve pressed.

"She and I went on the run." Y/n mumbled, looking away into space again. "Don't care about religion..."

"And... she's gone. What now?" Tony asked nobody in particular.

"I guess we keep her around for now." Steve replied with a heavy sigh.

"I hate to interrupt, but our guest has arrived." F.R.I.D.A.Y. said, robotic voice echoing through small space.

The three Avengers silently exited the room, taking the elevator back down to the common space. Only Natasha noticed the sweet smile that spread on Y/n's lips as she heard the verdict, and the way she fiddled with her ring finger, at a band that was not there.

"She took my name and then we were one. Down by the Wexford border."

--

Loki stepped out of the elevator, chains rattling, and straight into a suffocating silence. He scanned the room, examining the stony faces of the original Avengers, and the curious and cautious ones of the new members. Despite the drowning weight of the people before him and the chains on his wrists, Loki stood tall, completely determined to show no feeling. Odin forbid the guilt poking at the corners of his mind creep through.

Thor clapped his brother on the shoulder concerningly enthusiastic. "Welcome to your new home, brother!"

"Uh uh, nope, rewind." Tony cut in, waving his hands. "Reindeer Games is only here until the shiny people in the sky say otherwise. Not forever. That was the agreement. Capeesh?"

Loki raised an eyebrow, a sharp remark readied on his tongue, when F.R.I.D.A.Y. interrupted. Always with the perfect timing.

"Mr Stark, our down stairs visitor is asking to meet our upstairs visitor."

Natasha furrowed her brows, deep in thought, as Tony huffed in annoyance.

"Tell her-"

"Tell her yes." The assassin cut in.

Tony did a double take. "Tell her what?"

"Lady Natasha said to tell the recipient her request was granted." Thor said helpfully.

"No I know what she said, but-"

"How do you know Y/n, Loki?" Natasha cut in.

Despite himself, Loki perked up slightly, then darkened in anger. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. Answer the question, Loki." Steve said, still stony faced.

"She is an old acquaintance." He replied, quickly pulling himself into line again.

Thor laughed heartily. "Nonsense! My brother and her were quite close back in the day. Very old friends. And if I'm not mistaken, old flames, too."

"Don't be too hasty, brother mine." Loki replied with a hiss.

"Are you sure it is Y/n, Lady Natasha? Our Y/n went missing many years ago."

Natasha watched the exchange, greatly interested. Loki's interest in seeing you was greatly obvious. She remembered how Y/n's lips had quirked up at F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s announcement. This was the most fun Natasha's had in ages.

--

"I met her at Guy's in the second world war..."

The room was silent apart from Y/n's haunting singing, and the scratching of the nail she had managed to pry from the bed on the wall. In the small time they had been gone, she had covered the space in intricate patterns and words.

Loki stood, slightly frozen in the doorway. Thor hovered impatiently, but silently, behind him, and Natasha watched intently. Tony was totally done with the whole charade already, and Steve tried and failed to hide how uncomfortable the singing made him feel.

"And she was working on a soldiers ward..." Y/n remained blissfully ignorant of the group behind her, focusing on scratching her patterns into the wall. Her voice had become more confident, and now she sang loud and clearly. "Never had I seen such beauty before, the moment that I saw her..."

Loki finally came to his sense, stepping forward. Tony had replaced the chains with two electronic dampener cuffs around either wrist, and the new freedom in his movement was relieving.

"Nancy was my yellow rose," He whispered, much to the surprise of the Avengers around him. Y/n lowered her screw, and slowly turned around to meet his gaze. "And we got married wearing borrowed clothes..."

Natasha watched as Y/n's face turned into one of pure adoration and joy, and as cracks chipped through Loki's stony facade. It made a smile of her own twist her lips.

"Loki?" The woman whispered.

"Hello, love." Loki replied, his gaze finally softening.

The two closed the distance, until all that remained was the glass between them. Tears filled Y/n's eyes, and Loki longed to wipe them away. The ache of separation had stretched their hearts to painful limits, but now that pain seemed tiny compared to the screaming agony that clawed at Loki's chest. He has waited all this time, only to be defeated by a sheet of plastic.

Loki strained his magic, desperate to over come the dampeners. He pushed until he phased straight through the barrier, leaving the cuffs and shocked Avengers on the other side. Tony stepped forward in rage, only for Natasha to hold him back.

Instead, they watched as Loki threw his arms around Y/n as she sobbed. The pain faded, but instead of leaving an empty space, it was filled with the love and longing they had been so long without. Loki pressed his lips to her jaw and neck, the motion so natural he did not know how he lived without it.

"I never worried about King and crown..." Y/n murmured. "Because I found my heart upon southern ground... there's no difference I assure you."

Finally after many long seconds they pulled away, now content to gaze into each other's eyes and remember.

"Y/n, where have you been?" Thor demanded, shattering the moment into little tiny pieces.

The woman laughed. "I found a new purpose. Perhaps you can meet her soon."

"Her?"

"Yes, how is my little love?" Loki asked, reaching out to touch Y/n's face.

"She'll be better when she sees you."

"Hold up," Tony exclaimed dramatically. "Reindeer Games has a child?"

"I am an uncle and I did not get to witness the miracle of the birth..." Thor wailed loudly. "How did this happen?"

"He and I went on the run," Y/n explained. "We didn't care about Odin's blessing."

"I told him 'I'm going to marry to woman I love, be it in an Asgardian forest.'" Loki said proudly, pulling his love back into his embrace protectively. "She took my name and then we were one, somewhere in an Asgardian forest." --

[jellybear455]

HBO Velma has me breaking out. Gotta watch some good Scooby Doo with an actual dog and not some last ditch effort for money.

[jellybear455]

let me heal you is one of my fave fics ever!! could i request a dreamwalker!reader x tsu’tey where tsu’tey has to teach reader the ways of the people because if he teaches jake he’ll rip his head off and he develops a major crush on the reader

Thank you for your request! This took me way too long to do for some reason.

Tsu'tey x reader

Warnings: blood, violence, loss

Word count: 3.2k

Part 2

--

Pandora. A planet full of new colours, knowledge and danger. Compared to Earth, it was heaven. Except, you can’t get there by dying. Instead, you must pledge your life force to science. Even then, only incredible luck got me here. Not as much luck as Jake Sully had, though.

The ex-marine, paralysed from the waist down, had a brother. I remember when Tom died. There was no funeral. No one hold funerals anymore. We spent years together, learning about Pandora and preparing to be launched into space. Tom was killed barely a month before we were due to leave. Six years in cyro can’t fix that pain.

Now, I watch Jake Sully, standing in Tom’s tall blue Avatar body, marvelling at the dirt between his toes. Human or not, he looks exactly like his brother.

Today was our first time linking to the artificial Na’vi vessels. The lack of a mask on my face feels strange, but strangely relieving. The Pandora atmosphere, containing curiously higher percentages of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and xenon, feels different to oxygen, somehow thicker as I breathe it in. It’s almost an out of body experience. I can feel my body, and I know it is mine, but when I look, it feels as though it is someone else’s. But that will go away in time. For now, I will enjoy the new freedoms and sensations that come with the Avatar.

--

The next morning, at 0600 on the dot, I am in my Avatar, and we are soaring above the Pandora jungle. I lean out over the edge of the helicopter beside Jake, who is also in his Avatar. We are zooming low over a huge body of water, accompanied by a flock of purple creatures, that squawk when we get too close.

The air craft rises again, over the trees, before descending onto the forest floor. Immediately, I jump down, ignoring how Jake waves his gun around like an idiot. He pushes ahead of me as the helicopter shuts off, tail whipping my leg. I hiss in annoyance, but follow behind without protesting.

We trepass through the jungle, and despite the mind-blowing scenery, all I can think about was Pandora’s humanoid inhabitants. The Na’vi. The people we are impersonating with our Avatars. I'm fluent in Na’vi, but Doctor Grace likes to tell me that my pronunciation is off. I think she just wants to get on my nerves.

The Na’vi are hunters by nature, and dangerous creatures that could kill you without batting an eye. Or so everyone would have us believe. Doctor Grace says the Na’vi are intelligent, sympathetic creatures, no different from us. Either way, I am certain that they are watching us right now.

Green monkey-like creatures with six legs swing through the trees. Jake raises his gun, but I reach out to lower it.

“Prolemuris.” I tell him, watching as they cartwheel away from us. “They are not aggressive.”

“Relax, marine. You’re making me nervous.” Grace says loudly, rolling her eyes and pushing past.

Eventually, Jake keeps walking.

“So,” Norm speaks up after sometime. “How will they know we’re here?”

“I’m sure they’re watching us right now.” Grace replies nonchalantly, echoing my thoughts from earlier.

We emerge from the thick forest and into a clearing. In the centre is a small, rotting, wooden hut. Grace strides in confidently, and the rest of us follow, a little less certain. Inside is the remains of a school. Books, which used to rest neatly on shelves, are scattered across the floor. Most of the desks remain upright, with chairs tucked underneath, but some are upside down and have been strewn across the room.

I watch silently from the door as Doctor Grace trails her hand sadly across a desk. When she moves to another part of the room to gather equipment, I approach where she previously stood. Squinting a little, I can make out the rough letters scratched into the desk. ‘Sylwanin’.

“What happened here?” Jake questions, snapping me out of my thoughts. He stands next to an old black board, which is riddled with bullet holes.

Grace inhales sharply, and I watch as she fumbles for an answer. She finally settles on avoiding the question entirely. “Are you gonna help us here? We’ve got a lot to do.”

--

As Doctor Grace and Norm collect samples from a tree root, I wander off into the jungle. I enter another clearing, this time filled with round, spiralling plants. My hand brushes one, and it shrinks back into a little bud on the floor.

“What are you doing?” Jake demands, appearing from behind me.

I can’t help but giggle like a schoolgirl. “Watch this.”

When I poke another plant, Jake laughs too. I touch another, then another, and then they all shrink, leaving the clearing empty. My amusement fades away as Jake tenses beside me, and I spot a huge, armoured hammer-headed creature snorting at us from the trees. Jake yanks me behind him, and raises his gun. Fear spikes in my chest.

“Don’t shoot. You’ll only piss it off.” Grace’s voice crackles through the intercom in my ear.

“I think it’s already pissed off.” Jake responds, still pointing his gun at the creature.

“Trust me, Jake. That armour is too thick.” The marine relents, lowering his gun. Grace continues. “It’s a territorial threat display. Don’t run, or he’ll charge.”

“Thank what am I supposed to do, dance with it?”

"Listen to her, you idiot." I hiss.

“Just hold your ground.”

The animal huffs, pawing the ground, before letting out a roar and charging anyway.

“Grace…” I mutter, frozen in fear, suddenly doubting the knowledge of my mentor.

With a scream of his own, Jake runs, headfirst, towards it. My heart skips at least three beats before the creature skids to a halt, the webbed fans behind its hammer head spreading in alarm. It slinks away into the forest and Jake whoops in victory.

“Oh yeah! Who’s bad?” He shouts triumphantly. “That’s right. That’s what I’m talking about. Bitch.”

I laugh in relief, turning away from Jake to catch my breath. It doesn't take long for my blood to turn to ice again.

“That’s right, get your punk ass back to mommy.”

“Jake,” I whisper.

“Yeah, yeah you got nothing! You keep running.”

“Jake!” I hiss, a little louder.

Finally, he turns around. “What?”

The black, slick, panther-like thanator opens its menacing jaws and roars, the sound rattling my bones. It looms high above on the tree, before leaping over us and growling at the pack of hammer heads. Jake raises his gun again in alarm.

“So, uh, what about this one? Run, don’t run?”

I grab his arm and pull him in the other direction. “Run, definitely run!”

Leaping over a tree root, I rush into the forest, Jake following close behind. I weave around a tree, then through bamboo looking plants, then under a tree root. Still the thanator roars and crashes behind us. Launching myself off a particularly high rock, I curl my hands around a vine, using the momentum to swing myself up into a tree. The creature races past, instead favouring Jake, who has taken refuge in the roots of another tree. He fires his gun desperately, but it does nothing to slow his pursuer. I search my surroundings frantically, looking for someway to help. My eyes land on the crack in the branch I stood across from.

My hands grapple for another vine, and I swing at the branch, hard. I am rewarded with a sickening crack. Still, the thanator digs at the roots, claws dangerously close to Jake. I swing again, once, twice, three times, until, with particularly loud crack, the branch plummets to the ground, landing on the thanator’s tail. It screams, and Jake scrambles, running into the jungle. I grab another vine, sliding down and following after. The thanator keeps screaming.

Jake ducks under a root ahead of me. Before I can squeeze through, the thanator soars over me, grabbing Jake by the backpack and swinging him through the air. He unclips the pack, and tumbles to the ground. I rush between the creatures legs as it shakes the bag out of its jaws, and pull him up with one hand.

We hurtle through a break in the trees. The little control we have over our Avatar bodies isn't enough to stop us as we realise we are fast heading off the edge of a cliff. A scream rips out of my throat as the thanator snaps its jaws behind us. I cross my arms over my chest and push my legs together. All I can do is hope that there is water beneath us.

My feet hit the rapids first, and the rest of my body follows. I don't have time to swim to the surface for air, because my head strikes a rock in a painful collision.

--

When I can think clearly again, the first thing I wonder is if I am dead. Then I realise that I certainly am not, because why is my dead spirit being jostled around like a sack of potatoes? I peel my eyes open, glad the light is not too bright. As it turns out, the person tossing me around was strangely familiar.

“Tom?” I am most certainly dead.

The person looks down at me and grins. “You’re awake.”

It's Jake, still in Tom’s Avatar. He has one arm under my knees, and the other across my shoulders, carrying me through the jungle. My head throbs, and when I reach up to touch my forehead, my fingers come back with flakes of dried blood on them.

“How long have I been out?”

“Hours.” Jake says worriedly. “I was beginning to think you wouldn’t wake up at all. But hey, look on the bright side.”

He nods ahead of us. A tall blue Na’vi woman carrying a bow stalks through the trees. She looks back occasionally, as if checking we're still here.

“Is that…”

“Hell yeah it is. She’s taking us back to their village.”

“Oh wow,” I mutter, taking her in. “What’s her name?”

“That’s a good question. I’ll ask.”

He doesn't get the chance, because his legs came out from under him, and we fall from the particularly high tree branch we have been walking across. I groan loudly in pain when we hit the ground, unable to move as Jake frantically pulls on the rope around his ankles. As he tosses it away, more Na’vi on 6-legged, horse-like creatures emerge, wielding weapons.

Jake draws his knife, turning to see more Na’vi behind him. I struggle to stand, the pain in my head making me dizzy. I looked up, only to meet the eyes of a Na’vi. He aims his arrow, no doubt laced with a neurotoxin, at my chest. I raise my hands in fear.

“Calm, people, calm.” The woman that had been leading us through the forest shouted. Despite being fluent, it takes me a moment to translate the words.

The Na’vi pointing the arrow at me lowers his weapon, dismounting his horse thing, and stalking toward the woman.

“What are you doing, Tsu’tey?” The woman asks.

Tsu’tey. His name was Tsu’tey.

“These demons are forbidden here.” Tsu’tey replies.

“There has been a sign.” The woman insists. “This is a matter for the Tsahìk.”

I could not begin to comprehend what that meant, because my legs begin to shake uncontrollably, and I fall to the ground again. Tsu’tey stares down at me, before grabbing me roughly under the arms and pulling me up on the horse thing with him, and laying me across his knees. I gasp, the sudden movement amplifying the dizziness in my head. I look back to see Jake being dragged behind us by the Na’vi on foot.

When the jungle begins to thin out, a huge tree comes into sight. This is where the Omatikaya clan live. The tree is at least three times bigger than the tallest tree in the jungle, and Na’vi flow in and out of the trunk from a cave-sized hole at the base of it.

We ride straight into the hole, and the horse things begin to slow down. Tsu’tey dismounts, pulling me down with him. My legs are still weak, but I manage to stand.

“This is so cool,” I whisper, gazing round at the curious eyes of the Na’vi around me.

Tsu’tey gives me a funny look, before ushering me forward through the crowd, that parts like a sea. I can count the four fingers pressing into the skin between my shoulder blades, although his touch isn't rough like before. Some of the people whisper among themselves, and others reach out to touch me, darting away quickly, as though my five fingers are contagious. A little girl grabs some of my hair, forcing me to stop. My hair fallls past my waist, since I haven't had the chance to cut it. I smile at her, and she giggles shyly, letting go. Tsu’tey pushes me forward.

We come to a stop, and soon Jake is pushed into position beside me. The woman steps in front of us, talking to an older man with a huge belt across his shoulders. He approaches, scanning us critically. I made the gesture the woman had made a few moments before. Three fingers to the forehead, then forward. I see you.

“Why do you bring these demons here?” He questions. The commanding tone, plus the decorations adorning his body. He is Olo'eyktan, the leader of the Omatikaya clan.

“I was going to kill them,” The woman says. “But there was a sign from Eywa.”

That’s the second time she’s mentioned a sign. What does that mean?

“I have said before, no dreamwalker will come here.” The Olo'eyktan booms.

“What’s he saying?” Jake whispers.

“The alien smell fills my nose.”

“You smell bad.” I whisper back, holding in a laugh at the confused expression on his face.

“My father is deciding whether to kill you.” The woman says.

Jake shifts uncomfortably. “Your father. It’s nice to meet you, sir.”

He steps forward, offering his hand, and the Na’vi behind him leap to restrain him. I step forward too, quickly shoving Jake’s arm back to his side. The woman shoves him back, and Tsu’tey steps in front of the Olo'eyktan defensively.

“Step back!” Someone calls. “I will look at the aliens.”

A woman descends from a stairway above. She is decorated too, but not as much as the Olo'eyktan.

“That is mother.” The younger woman says. “She is Tsahìk, the one who interprets the will of Eywa.”

“Whose Eywa?” Jake asks.

I groan in annoyance. Can he be anymore oblivious? The Tsahìk circles us, pulling on Jake’s braid and tail, then running a hand through my hair and examining my fingers.

“What are you called?” She asks, her Na’vi accent dripping over the English words.

“Jake Sully.”

“And you?” She looks to me.

“My name is (Name).” I say in Na’vi, gesturing I see you to her as well.

The woman huffs a little, then withdraws a small pointy spike from her necklace. She reaches out suddenly, slicing it across both our faces in one fluid strike. I recoil in shock, then steady myself again. She licks it with her tongue, and her expression immediately changes to one of surprise.

“Why did you come to us?” She questions.

“We came to learn.” Jake replies confidently. I look at him out of the corner of my eye.

“We have tried to teach other Sky People. It is hard to fill a cup that is already full.”

“My cup is empty, trust me.” Jake insists. “Just ask Doctor Augustine, I’m no scientist.”

“Then what are you?”

Jake is silent. “I was a marine-“

“He is a warrior.” I cut in, thinking as quickly as I can with the pounding of my head. “Of the Jarhead clan.”

“A warrior!” Tsu’tey cries. “I could kill him easily.”

“No.” The Olo'eyktan stops him. “This is the first warrior of the Sky People we have seen. We need to learn more about him.”

“My daughter, you will teach him our way.” The Tsahìk says.

“Why me? Why not Tsu’tey?” The other woman hisses.

Her mother’s lips twist a little. “They will likely kill each other before the day is out. It is decided. My daughter will teach you our ways, Jakesully.” She approaches me again.

“What about her?” Jake asks, gesturing to me.

Yeah, what about me? Butterflies flap in my stomach. What if she kicks me out? I’m not a warrior. I am a scientist.

“That depends. Are you a warrior?”

“No…” I say. “But I can learn, too.”

The Tsahìk cocks her head. “Why should I believe you?”

“She is a warrior.” Jake cut in. “Just a different kind.”

“What are you doing?” I whisper.

“Saving your ass.” He mutters back. “She came here to save her people down on Earth. She will learn, trust me.”

It is silent, as the woman before me contemplates what to do. “Tsu’tey, you will teach this one.”

Tsu’tey growls. “But-“

“You will learn, child, or you will leave. Now go.” Tsahìk waves her hands. “You must begin immediately.”

With a hiss, Tsu’tey stalks toward me, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me through the crowd. I stumble on my own feet, struggling to keep up with his pace.

“Why are we in such a rush?” I huff in annoyance when we ascend to a higher, less crowded level of the tree.

“What is rush?” Tsu’tey asks, still leading me through the village.

“Um, to do something quickly, I guess.”

We stop at large hut. As we go inside, I take in the three women sitting in the corner, and the piles of bowls containing brightly coloured pastes around them. The rest of the floor is covered with woven mats.

“This is the healing hut.” Tsu’tey says.

10 minutes later, we emerge again. The wound on my head is clean and covered with a patch. The healers had retrieved a few garments of Na’vi clothing. A cloth top winds around my back, across my chest and loops around my neck. A second, much smaller cloth dangles between my legs, held up by a strap that curves above my hips. It definitely covers the extremities, but not as much as I’d like. I suppose this is a part of the learning.

Again, Tsu’tey grabs my arm, leading me further up and into a large communal level. In the centre is a bonfire, and Na’vi circle it, all crouching on their hunches. We walk right through the crowd and sit at the front. Tsu’tey hands me a rolled up leaf. Upon opening it, I pick up one of the contents. It is a beetle shaped thing. Tsu’tey crunches on his own, so I follow suit. Its hard on the outside, but soft and smooth in the middle. It kind of tastes like chicken soup, just… solid.

Beside me, the woman from the forest pushes Jake down to sit.

“Hey,” He says to me.

“Hi.” I wave back, munching on a beetle thing.

Jake talks to the woman, who eventually introduces herself as Neytiri. Tsu’tey hasn’t said a word to me since we left the healers.

“So, Tsu’tey, what is this stuff?”

“Teylu. You call…” Tsu’tey pauses to search for the words. “Beetle. Larvae.”

“Oh.”

[jellybear455]

Thank you for 100 followers, and your comments on 'let me heal you'!

Requests are open and appreciated <3

[jellybear455]

Let me heal you - Neteyam x reader (Part 10) FINAL

Characters are aged up.

Warnings: a LOT of spoilers (don't come at me for it), Lo'ak being a shxawng, violence, injury

Readers name is Stela, and uses she/her pronouns.

Word count: 1202

Previous part

a/n: Thank you for all the support on this story. I appreciate every like and comment. It truly makes my day to see people enjoying my work. I love you all. So with out further ado...

---

“Ma?” I called, attracting the attention of a tall, beautiful Na’vi woman.

“My ‘eveng (child).” She cried, opening her arms wide.

Tears cascaded down my face for the thousandth time this week as I embraced her. It did not worry me that my mother was long dead, and that to see her, I would have to have suffered the same fate. My mother took my face in her hands. She was crying too, and she looked at me the same way one looks at a beautiful flower.

“My Stela…” She whispered. My name on her tongue was sweeter than I had imagined. “I have missed you.”

“I missed you too, Ma.” I muttered back.

“You have grown to be so beautiful… and you have your father’s eyes.”

She hugged me again, and we stood there for so long. Many minutes passed before the reality of the situation settled in.

“I am dead, aren’t I?” I asked, somehow not afraid of the answer.

“Not yet. But close. Eywa has sent me here to help you, my Stela. You must make a choice. You can come with me. We will pass through the eye and spend forever with the Great Mother. Or, you can go back to Pandora, and live again amongst the Na’vi.”

I could tell from the look in my mother’s eyes that she wished I would go with her. She had no need to worry. How could I leave her so soon? I reached up to touch her face, to reassure her. My hands were covered in blood. Neteyam’s blood. I died saving him. My Neteyam. I did not even tell him that I loved him. I love him.

My mother, as though she could sense my hesitation, took my hand. “Go. You have a whole life to come. I will be waiting.”

“I see you, Ma.” I said, capturing her face in my memory.

She pressed her forehead mine, and I closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, she was gone. Replacing her was the woven roof of the healing mauri.

“Ma?” I croaked, squinting at a blue figure crouching beside me.

“Stela?” It was Ronal. Her hand gripped mine. “You are awake.”

“Is Neteyam okay?”

Ronal laughed, but her voice was hoarse, as though the practice was unfamiliar to her. “He is just fine. It was you we were worried about.”

“Why?”

“You have been asleep for a week.”

“Oh,” I replied. A week? I could only stare plainly up at my aunt. Noticing a cut on her cheek, I reached to use my gift, but I could not find it. “My power is gone, Ronal.”

“That is alright. Do not worry yourself. Rest.”

I scoffed, feeling a rush of energy blow away my drowsiness. “I’ve been sleeping for a week, Ronal. I think I’ll be fine.”

Ronal hissed as I pushed myself up. Surprisingly, my head did not spin. After a few laps back and forth to stretch out my limbs, I stepped out into the light.

“Be careful Stela. You have only just woken up.” Ronal called from behind me, but I waved her off, eager to feel the salt water.

I weaved through the crowd until I reached the beach. Wiggling my toes, I wondered why I had never stopped to appreciate the feeling of sand before. The water lapped at my ankles. I took in a deep breath, preparing to dive in.

“Stela!” Someone shouted behind me.

Before I could turn around, a tiny cannonball barrelled into me, her arms wrapping around my waist.

“Tuk,” I laughed, lifting the girl onto my hip.

“You’re awake,” She said, snuggling into my shoulder. “And you saved Neteyam.”

She dropped from my arms, taking my hand, and pulling me away from the water. I protested, but only for a moment, when I realised where we were headed. When we arrived at the Sully mauri, Neytiri scooped me into a bone crushing hug. She thanked me over and over. I hoped she would hug me more often. It reminded me of my mother.

Jake Sully took me by the shoulders and looked me in the eyes. “You saved my son. We are in your debt.”

“Dad, I found the-… Syulang?”

Turning around, I met Neteyam’s eyes. Immediately, I searched him for any trace of an injury. There wasn’t even a scar. I sighed in relief, a tear trailing down my cheek. I met him halfway, wrapping my arms around his middle.

He was okay. My Neteyam was okay.

--

The Sully mauri was empty. Soon, there would be no evidence of them ever living here. The thought of it broke my heart just a little more. I hugged Ronal tighter.

“You must visit.” She whispers.

“Only if you do.” I whisper back. I never thought I would see Ronal cry, but here we are. I pry my finger out of my new cousin’s little hand. “I will see you again, little one.”

I step back. Tsireya is standing behind her mother, the tears flowing freely down her face. Anoung is stony faced, but I can see the sadness and regret in his eyes. Tonowari sends me a nod. I smile back, before retreating to Neteyam. He wraps an arm around my waist comfortingly. We mount his Ikran, and I settle in front of Neteyam.

The Ikran takes off with a screech, and I watch as the Metkayina clan grows smaller and smaller. At first, Neteyam objected to me going with them. I am glad he relented, because there is little left for me here. I have no gift, and the only man that I could ever mate with is leaving.

Neteyam’s arms are strong around me the whole flight. Surprisingly, I liked flying. Not more than being in the water, which I will surely miss. By the time we reach the Omatikaya clan, I am windswept, and my legs are stiff.

I climb off the Ikran, and watch as Neytiri rushes to a decorated woman, presumably Tsahìk, and envelopes her in a hug. The Tsahìk opens her arms again, and the Sully children have a sort of group hug with her. It is now that she spots me. Nervousness flaps in my stomach. She can make me leave if she puts her mind to it. Neteyam, as though sensing my uneasiness, steps back to take my hand.

"Syulang, this is the Tsahìk, and my grandmother, Mo'at."

“Who are you?” She demands, although her tone is not unkind.

“I come from the Metkayina clan. I was a healer.” I say as she approaches me.

“And now?”

I stayed silent for a moment, contemplating the question. I was no longer Metkayina, nor was I Omatikaya. I was not of the sky people, although their blood ran through my veins. I thought of my mother, a beautiful Na'vi woman, and my father, who had come from the stars. It was obvious who they were. Who did that make me?

I looked to Neteyam, who was scanning my face for any sign of distress. Looking into his eyes, I was reminded of the last eight months we had spent together. I was not just a healer, and I did not have to light the path alone. I was who ever I chose to be.

“I am Stela.”

Mo'at smiled. “Welcome home, Stela.”

--

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[jellybear455]

Let me heal you - Neteyam x reader (Part 9)

a/n: Guess what? Stop guessing this is the second last chapter! Also wayyy too many of these are ending with Stela passing out. Gotta work on that.

Characters are aged up.

Warnings: a LOT of spoilers (don't come at me for it), Lo'ak being a shxawng, violence, injury

Readers name is Stela, and uses she/her pronouns.

Word count: 1365

Previous part

Next part

--

Passing out was not fun. I hope to avoid it in the future. Two times is enough.

When I pushed through the foggy, dream-like state of half-consciousness and forced my heavy eyelids open, the first thing I notice is the pounding of my head, and the bright light reflecting off the water. Then it is my wrists, bound to a railing. Beside me, Lo’ak kneels, stock still. Tsireya and Tuk struggle on my other side. The tulkun murderer has his gun pressed to the back of Lo’ak’s head, and is gazing out to sea, where a flock of Ilu are gathered, carrying an army of Metkayina.

The murderer says something in English. He speaks into a small device, one that I recognise as Lo’ak’s, which he used to call his father earlier. One Ilu, holding a slightly bluer Na’vi, inches forward. It is Jake Sully. He barely makes it halfway before Bayakan leapt out of the water and soared through the air.

The Avatar raise their guns, shooting at him in a panic, but do not pierce his armour. A laugh bubbles up and out of my throat as the tulkun lands on the ship with a crash, flapping his fins. Sky people are knocked down left and right.

Raising his gun, the murderer staggers to his feet beside me. I kick him, hard, in the back of his knee, and he is on the floor again. He glares at me, holding us his weapon again, before becoming distracted by an explosion rocking the boat. Bayakan dives back into the water. Avatar and sky people abandon the deck in favour of joining the battle, and the four of us are left unsupervised.

I scan the deck, eyes locking on the knife I had dropped before. This is our chance to escape. I stretch out my leg, attempting to grasp it between my toes. Tsireya watched intently, and Tuk urges me to hurry. Just as I grip the knife, a second explosion sounds, and the boat begins to rock violently.

“No, no, no.” I mutter, watching as the knife slides away.

The ship lurches forward, and crashes into a rock, soaring into the air. Tuk screams, and Lo’ak is thrown into me. Sky people are thrown overboard, and we are saved by the restraints holding us to the bar. The boat hits the water again, and we hit the metal deck, hard. I cry out in pain, for my knees are surely bleeding. The ship tilts at an abnormal angle, and sirens sound. We are sinking.

“What do we do?” Tuk cries, tugging on her restraints, and searching for any way to escape.

“We wait,” I said, pressing my shoulder to hers in what I hoped to be a comforting way. “Someone will come to get us. Be brave, little Tuk.”

As if on cue, Neteyam hurls himself over the side of the ship, brandishing a knife.

“Brother!” Lo’ak shouts, and Tuk cries with relief.

Neteyam frees Tsireya free first, sawing quickly at the bonds. Tuk is released next, and he pushes her towards Tsireya, urging them to get as far away from here as possible. He slices at my restraints, then Lo’ak’s. His arm goes to my waist, guiding me to where Tsireya and Tuk disappeared to. Lo’ak runs in the other direction.

“Lo’ak, what are you doing?” Neteyam calls.

“They’ve got Spider. Come on.” He says, taking a gun from the Avatar lying nearby. Neteyam does not move. “We can’t leave him.”

Neteyam hissed, then turns to me. “Go. Follow Tsireya. I will find you.”

“No.” I do not know what spider is, but I will not let Neteyam out of my sight again. “I am coming, my Teyam.”

He is silent. Then, he presses his lips to mine. The brief touch is not enough. “Fine. Stay close.”

Soon, we are shimmying along the pipes on the ceiling of the boat. My head and knees throb, but I do not care. The sooner we find the spider, the sooner we can get out of here. Below us, a group of sky people rush through. Among them, is a young boy, wearing a cloth and blue war paint. The spider is a human boy.

Neteyam drops down on top of one of the sky people, throwing him over the railing. Lo’ak follows suit, taking out another. I hit the floor, unsure. I watch the three boys take out the sky people. Then, I spot one on them raise his gun at Neteyam. I dive, knocking the weapon out of his hands and ripping off his mask. I single punch to the face knocks him out cold.

Looking up, I see Neteyam, his eyes sending me a silent thank you. I nod in response. He helps me up, and we face the Spider.

“Thanks guys.” He says with a nod. His Na’vi is clear and fluent, as though he has been speaking it all his life.

The moment is over quickly, as Lo’ak spots the murderer stalking the ship, and raises his gun. Neteyam shoves him along, his hand in mine, and we take shelter behind a wall as shots ring out. He takes Lo’ak’s gun and fires. I do not know if he shot anything, because he is ushering his brother over the railing and into the water. The spider goes first, and Lo’ak follows, swallowing his objections.

“My Teyam!” I shout over the pinging of metal on metal.

“Go!” He yells back.

I run and throw myself over the railing. Shots ring out above me, but I am home free. Neteyam crashes into the water behind me. Lo’ak whoops in celebration, and I can not help but laugh. I can see Tsireya approaching on an Ilu. I turn to face Neteyam, and my grin fades. He is struggling to stay afloat, and the water around him is stained red.

“No!” I rush to him and pull his arm across my shoulders. “He is shot! Tsireya, help me.”

Lo’ak mounts the Ilu, pulling Neteyam across his knees. The rest of us hold on to what ever we can as the Ilu tears through the water. Fear settles into my chest as we come to a halt by some rocks and pull Neteyam up and out of the water. What if I cannot heal him? Or if I lose consciousness before I can finish the job?

Lo’ak screams for his father, who scrambles to reach us, immediately rolling Neteyam over to check for an exit wound. Blood seeps out the back of his chest.

“Get out of the way,” I command, placing one hand underneath Neteyam and one on his chest, either side of the bullet wound. He groans from pain. “I know, tìyawn (love), I know. Just stay awake for me.”

“Syulang,” Neteyam mutters.

“Sh, my Teyam. Do not speak. You will be alright.” I told him, ignoring the tears running down my face as my hands began to glow.

Neytiri collapsed on the other side of him, a sob escaping her. I remember how she comforted me as I cried. I can comfort her now, by keeping Neteyam alive. My hands get hot, and my vision is blurry. If it is from the tears, or my powers, I do not know.

Neteyam gasps for breath. “I want to go home.”

“It’s okay, we are going home. We’re going home.” Jake reassured him.

“Stay with me, my Teyam.” I urged, fighting to stay awake.

“Stela,” He panted. “I…”

The light disappeared from his eyes. I scream ripped at my throat. No, no, he would not die, not on my watch. I poured every ounce of my power into him, begging for Eywa to help me now, even if it killed me instead. Neytiri sobbed from beside me, and her grief only fuelled me. I couldn’t see, and I couldn’t feel anything except for Neteyam and the slow beating of his heart. He would not die. He would not. I screamed again, battling the to urge to sleep.

Then, gently, he began to breathe. His heart rate sped up and gasped in relief. Then, the heat in my hands disappeared, and I let myself go.

--

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[jellybear455]

Let me heal you - Neteyam x reader (Part 8)

a/n: I have discovered action scenes are not my strong suit.

Characters are aged up.

Warnings: a LOT of spoilers (don't come at me for it), Lo'ak being a shxawng, violence, injury

Readers name is Stela, and uses she/her pronouns.

Word count: 1437

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--

“One of the tulkun have been murdered by the sky people.” Ronal yelled, and our clan gasped and muttered in response.

I stood amongst them, Neteyam’s hand in mine. I did not join the ruckus. The pain of losing my sister was still fresh in my chest. The only thoughts that echoed in my mind were those of revenge.

“This war has come to us,” Tonowari declared. “We knew about the hunting of the tulkun, but it was far on the horizon. Now, it is here.”

The crowd whooped and crowed in response.

“You don’t understand how the sky people think,” Jake Sully insisted, speaking over the shouts. “They don’t care about the tulkun way. They don’t care about the great balance!”

“Listen to him!” Neteyam snapped from beside me, to no avail.

“The sky people will not stop. This is only beginning. You have to tell the tulkun to leave. To go far away from here.”

This was met with gasps of confusion and anger. Despite the protests of my people, I could not help but agree. No one else will have to feel the pain of loosing their spirit sibling.

“Leave!” Ronal shouted. “You live among us, and you learn nothing.”

“We will fight for our brothers and sisters.” Anoung called, and was rewarded with a cheer.

Jake Sully attempted to silence them. “No, no, no! If you fight, and if you attack, then they will destroy you. All of you. And everything that you love.”

Ronal clutched her swollen stomach. The Metkayina only roared with anger. Jake snatched the harpoon Neteyam was carrying. He held in in the air, and somehow, the crowd went silent.

“You tell the tulkun that is they are hit with one of these, then they are marked for death. And to call for me.” He told them, his words finally gaining a reaction. “Saving their lives. That’s all the matters. Saving your family.”

It was silent for a long moment. Finally, Tonowari raised his voice. “Tell them. Tell the tulkun.”

The crowd dispersed almost immediately. I did not follow, because I no longer had a spirit sister to warn. The pain lashed at my chest again, as though I was realising Naola was dead all over again. I think of the first time we met, when she was a calf, and I was very small. We spent hours splashing and leaping and diving. Then, the second time, when we had both grown a little, and we bonded. It was so special. The feeling of the words ‘spirit sister’ rolling off my tongue was sweeter than nectar. Tears rolled down my face again, salty and hot.

A pair of arms surrounded me. It was Neytiri. She spoke to me softly and did not seem to mind when I cried into her shoulder. Her motherly embrace was welcome, but unfamiliar. Ronal, despite raising me, had never quite been a mother to me. So now, as I sobbed uncontrollably, the haze of grief suspended over my mind began to clear, and for the first time I felt wanted. I knew I would never truly recover from Naola’s death, but as much as it hurt, life was still liveable.

I withdrew from Neytiri’s embrace, wiping the tears from my face.

“Do not forget that we are here for you, my ‘eveng (child).” Neytiri said, combing my hair with her fingers. “You are not alone.”

“Thank you…” I whispered back. My voice has hoarse and weak.

“Neteyam went that way, he followed his brother, I think. If you are quick you can still catch him.”

I thanked her again, unsure of what else to say. Neytiri hugged me again, before letting me follow the Sully girls and my cousins in the direction Neteyam had gone.

“Lo’ak!” Tsireya called and he dove into the water and onto his Ilu.

“Come on, he is going to Bayakan.” Neteyam urged, calling an Ilu, and pausing for a moment to let me mount behind him, before racing off after his brother.

We rushed out of the bay, barely keeping Lo’ak in our sight. Neteyam’s hand kept a firm grip on my thigh, and my arms circled his waist tightly. We emerged to see Lo’ak on top of a tulkun, presumably Bayakan, and tugging at the flashing harpoon in his side. In the distance, I could see a flying metal ship approaching. They are the people that killed my sister. They must be. And I will make them pay. In the meantime, we must save Bayakan.

Neteyam urged Lo’ak to call their father as we tugged on the harpoon. I dove back into the water, grabbing a length of rope from my Ilu and looping it around the harpoon. I commanded the Ilu to pull, and the harpoon began to shift. With one last tug, a combination of all our efforts the tracker came clean out of Bayakan’s side.

“Go that way, I will draw them off.” Neteyam shouted. I tried to mount the Ilu behind him, but he pushed me away. “Go with Tsireya. I will come find you.”

With my arm around Tsireya’s waist, we went tearing through the water. Eventually we slowed to a stop, hiding in amongst the seaweed. It was silent for a moment, until a whirring sound echoed through the ocean. Metal divers dropped into the water not far from us and swam in our direction. We took off again, away from the machines. Our efforts were fruitless, as we were soon surrounded. Tsireya guided the Ilu deeper still, where the weeds were thick.

The combined speed and continuous assault from the leaves caused me grip of Tsireya to slip, and I was thrown backward into the water. Tsireya disappeared in the leaves, still being pursued by a diver, and I searched frantically for her. Instead, I spotted Tuk, who had suffered a similar fate, and was beginning to struggle.

Grabbing her under the arms, I guided her to a bell-shaped plant filled with a pocket of air. We gasped for breath. The flesh of the plant glowed with the red light from the metal divers.

“Are you alright?” I huffed.

A head popped up beside us, and Tuk did not answer. It was Lo’ak, and rising behind him was Tsireya.

“It is coming,” She cried.

“We gotta go,” Lo’ak urged sucking in a deep breath.

We dove back down out of the plant, only to come face to face with a diver. Swimming frantically in my other direction, I pulled Tuk onto my back to make sure she did not fall behind. Tsireya changed direction again quickly, and I spotted another diver. The panic was beginning to set in as we kicked frantically though the water.

A pop sounded behind, and a net draped over us. Tuk squeaked in surprise and flailed violently. Lo’ak who had managed to avoid capture, pulled on the net in an attempt to set us free. We were scooped into the air by an Ikran, but Lo’ak managed to hold on, slashing the net with his knife in an attempt to set us free.

“Go, Lo’ak. Swim!” I shouted, urging him to flee.

“No. I am not leaving you.” He hacked furiously and determinedly at the rope, but the no avail.

We were dropped onto the deck of the metal ship, and instantly surrounded by Avatar and sky people. The net weighed me down, and I struggled to escape as Tuk was grabbed violently. I broke free, scooping up the knife she had dropped, and slicing at the hands of the Avatar reaching for me. I quickly gained the upper hand, pinning him with my knife against his neck.

I hoped that he could not feel the shake in my hands. I was a healer, not a soldier. I had never hurt anyone before. A tall, short haired Avatar dismounted an Ikran. His confident swagger and the way the sky people shyed away under his gaze told me he was the leader.

“You,” I shouted, gaining his attention. “You killed my spirit sister.”

“The tulkun? Yeah, yeah that was me.” He grinned, showing no remorse.

The anger burned in my chest. Screw the tulkun way. I would avenge my sister. With a scream, I leapt off the back off the Avatar I had overpowered, swinging the knife. Barely bothered, the leader dodged and threw me to the floor. Before I could get up again, his gun slammed into my head, and I collapsed again. I fought furiously against the black clawing at the corners of my eyes. The battle was lost, and the fury melted into unconsciousness.

--

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