@imunities asked: over my dead body.
ㅤㅤHER MESSAGE HAD BEEN CLEAR. and even if it hadn't been, her silence certainly was. he recalls the fear with startling clarity: it was the type to make your blood run cold even in the dead of summer, dry heat be damned. a note left in her absence ── he was foolish to be stunned even for a second at her quest for the truth. foolish still to think that fear was somehow worse than grieving someone still alive.
ㅤㅤellie had stayed true to her word. he couldn't remember the last time they'd spoken outside of hopeful pleasantries in the public eye. she was often the topic of his every conversation with everyone else, still trying desperately to be a part of the life he'd fought for her to have.
ㅤㅤhe'd meant for this conversation to be just like the others: protective & absent. the group of travelers passing through hadn't been able to supply much in terms of goods but had delivered more than their fair share of information. they'd lost a few men, some ravaged, some bitten, when they'd run into infected migrating in the opposite direction. with a storm on the horizon & a threat not too far out, he hadn't thought twice to ask tommy to adjust patrol schedules. keep the kids back. tommy had agreed. let ellie know before she gets ready to head out. a fool yet again: TELL HER YOURSELF.
ㅤㅤjoel had found her in the stables. like a man with a death wish, he wasted no time in announcing his intentions. though he knew she wouldn't react kindly to his meddling in her schedule, he knew she no longer held the patience to tolerate him for longer than was necessary. one day he would learn.
ㅤㅤhad the situation been different, he may have rolled his eyes at the dramatics. instead, he readies his shoulders for a battle he was at fault for starting. " ellie, you've got no business goin' out there lookin' for something we're not prepared for. " stay here where you're safe. he would take her anger tenfold if it meant the risk was mitigated. " this isn't an argument. "
