Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the "Last of Us"

Instruction : when you reach the ccc, continue reading with the following OST and keep it repeat:

The Last of Us [You and Me] by Gustavo Santaolalla

(I do not own any of the songs or soundtracks introduced in some chapters)

Please do so if you want to get the most emotional experience out of these chapters that was my advice.

Also make sure that you fully expand the text!

Enough of me talking! Happy reading!

"Now I know that's not what you want to hear right now, but it's-"

His words were nothing more than ultimate futility, as she had already detached from regarding his sentences, soon interrupting Joel by heaving a subtle dismal sigh only to desperately look him up in the face again.

"Swear to me" the emerald of her eyes pierced through his dark brown ones. Slight shudders traveled through her neck and shoulders, inhaling and exhaling. As if it was incredibly hard for her to explicitly express the doubt and chaos that was viciously gurgling up to the top of her throat. Joel could see the dense layer of accusation welling up beneath her glowing irises. Though there was something far more prevailing in her look that made Joel's whole being wince internally; there was an undeniable hurt flashing through her eyes. A fine mixture of hurt, ambiguous melancholy alongside a conspicuous pleading. Ellie was secretly pleading with him and Joel knew exactly what she was asking for.

'She knows.'

She finally inhaled a somewhat steady breath and cut it short.

"Swear to me that everything that you said about the fireflies is true." Her inquiring eyes remained in the direction, demanding him to clarify everything, to describe the limits and be cleansed of his probable sins. The slight pause of Joel spew some inner tension into the ambience.

'I don't want a single one of those goddamn fuckers after you, Ellie. We're done with this whole thing'

"I swear." Joel tried not to get trapped in her next straight scolding look, and instead adjusted the angle of his peripheral vision on a higher point; her remarkable evident eyebrow scar.

'So that's it. He made his decision. He pulled the trigger already. He decided to lie to me. Joel, you mean after all we've been through… '

She tried to believe him, she wanted to believe him, she strove to do so, but she also knew it was another lie. Joel had eyed her sternly and lied to her face a second time, as simple as that; in utter composure and impassivity. Both of their presences were a hundred percent aware that Ellie had woken up in a lucid blue hospital gown. The tiny fact itself betrayed Joel's carelessly congregated justifications. If only he had had some extra time to change some minor variables, fate would have probably turned elsewhere.

Joel had insisted on lying about the issue and nothing was to change that. Ellie gave up on him reproachfully. Her chest heavily rose and fell to each sharp but silent inhalation and exhalation which somehow mirrored her unbelief, mingled with some brutal discomfort. Her eyes fell to the ground, turning her innocent gaze from him fully this time. The deadly tornado in her heart kept on striking her again and again, each time confiscating a glued memory of her and Joel, waving it in a hypnotizing rhythm against her vision. There also stood silhouettes and memories of all the familiar deceased figures before her, literally leaving her with nothing but hysteric contemplation. She had never seemed so lost in life.

ccc

"Okay" was all that managed to leave her lips alongside a slight reluctant nod. The word more or less signified a barrier to any further repercussion on the two.

Ellie's eyes randomly scanned the town as her slender thumb rubbed the scraped surface of her shoulder strap. She searched the far distant figures, diffusely moving on from one half-timbered house to another grey one, some appeared single-story, the others two-story, all came in the forms of colorful shapes and lines. The dominant wooden site endlessly stretched itself to the eyes of the viewer.

"Now c'mon, let's go check it out." Joel's words reverberated through her ears, partly bringing her back to her senses.

Ellie allowed herself to pause for a moment,

"Yeah, let's go"

They slowly came to descend the gentle slopes, setting foot on grass and stray shrubs as faint rustles danced their way down to Tommy's with them. Joel was not quite certain how to approach the semi-distant figure, realizing how the silent girl stared around at pretty much everything in a dazed way as though none of it was any longer real in her astounding presence.

With the wisdom of hindsight, his mind immediately switched to the irony or perhaps the apparent reversal lurking behind his life at all stages. His portion had bestowed a daughter upon him, lazing around in their loving home, the ominous plague drips on the universe out of nowhere, forcing them to desperately maneuver into the car whose features are dragged to the floor, clattering. Hardly had he known that the car itself was somewhat of a devious testimony to the further inversion of an upcoming life. The soldier's imperious gestures and a subsequent BOOM. There she was, a lifeless Sarah hanging afloat in Joel's trembling arms. She was gone, to an ever ulterior territory that would not allow any Joel to step in. His baby girl was gone.

It was not a bit later when his path crossed with a being that was exceptionally an extraordinary gift for hope. As if he was replaying his past, he had gained a strong chance to put an end to her demise. As mindful as he was, it drove him to swim against the flow this round, starting from the end to the very beginning. He set off with a gingerly lift, encircling her in a haven so close that would initially put his life in the line first, slaughtering the relentless fireflies with his own hands, and finally putting the unconscious girl in the SUV. It emerged that he had ultimately succeeded in reclaiming what was his; it was for him and him only to decide upon Ellie's life. She was his jewel in the hollow of a hand. Then again, in a world that a sense of fundamental decencies had been swabbed down, who was to prove that words and emotions would harbor much weight? Even if that word was success?

Marching in unison with the tall old trees, the miles indubitably seemed to have multiplied. There they were. Back at Tommy's, the only warm center of the world whose seed of ultimate civilization could be easily outnumbered by the evil that crept outside.

The colossal metal gate immediately came into view. For some unknown reason, Ellie felt a surge of horrid ambivalence adjuring her to revalue her decisions.

Teasers for chapter two

"I was hoping to get our merchandise back"

A/N: thanks for reading! I apologize if this chapter was short. I was just seeing how far I could go. Next ones are gonna be longer I promise!