The Last of Us: Comfort in the Storm

"This storm's not going to do us any good!"

Some things just never seem to change, even long after the world has ended. Beautiful and sunny one moment, heaven's hell fire in the form of water the next.

"Do you see anything Ellie?!"

"I can't see shit beyond my fucking hair Joel!"

Their clothes were soaked clear to their bones and the rain had already flooded their ankles. If they didn't find shelter soon, the infected they were running away from earlier would be the least of their worries.

"Joel! They're still on our fucking tails!"

Well maybe a close second.

The thunder did very little to keep the infected calm. Each boom riled them up even more. At this rate, the infected could be riled up enough begin tearing trees out of the ground. With each flash of lightning it felt like they were getting closer. They were sitting ducks, literally, if they didn't find a way of this.

Most of the homes around them were pretty well boarded up. But if it came down to it Joel may have to start yanking them off or bust a few windows. Privacy be damned.

And that's exactly what he did.

Joel quickly (or as quick as he could since his feet were completely under water) started making his way down the series of houses, hoping one of them would have wood that is easy to break off.

So far nothing.

Until he got to one house, that didn't have any wood on it at all. Not even on the windows.

Joel twisted the door knob and was able to open the door with no resistance.

"Ellie! Over here!"

"Joel, I can't fucking see!"

Joel sighed. "Follow the sound of my voice, focus your hearing!"

"Um...okay!"

Joel rattled his brain to think of things to say.

"You know you're going to actually have to speak for me to follow!"

"Um..." Joel only had one idea of what he could say. Shit...did he really have to do this?

"Joel! Have you drowned over there?!"

"You know...I wasn't originally going to get a brain transplant, but then I changed my mind!"

Silence.

"Fucking classic! Keep going!"

The power of puns.

"A friend of mine tried to annoy me with bird puns, but I soon realized that toucan play at that game."

"And that's the truth!" Ellie responded. "Joel! There's a clicker that sounds really fucking close!"

"I'm on it!" Joel said, keeping his revolver on hand. "Hey, if you ever need an ark to save two of every animal, I noah guy!"

"What the fuck does that even mea-?" Ellie had bumped into a body. "Joel?"

"I'm right here. Hurry up let's get inside." Joel grabbed her hand and quickly guided her inside. Once inside, he closed the door and locked it.

"Jesus Christ. Where did all that rain come from?" Ellie undid her pony tail and proceeded to shake her hair out like a dog, an action that didn't surprise Joel one bit.

"All I know is we're gonna be here for a good while. Doesn't seem like this storm is easing up anytime soon." Joel said while looking out the window. The rain seemed to have intensified, the wind howled louder and the thunder boomed even fiercer, all in the last thirty seconds. One powerful lightning bolt had even struck down and fried a nearby clicker.

What were even the odds of that?

"This house looks like it was just recently abandoned." Ellie commented. "Think we'll find anything here?"

"Hopefully we do. Staying in these wet clothes won't do us much good." Joel said, shaking some water out of his own hair. "You know the drill, take a look around."

Luck was in their favor. Joel and Ellie had managed to run into a good storage of food and other basic supplies. They also found a fireplace with some firewood. A full matchbook was on the counter in the kitchen.

"You think whoever was here will be back? They might have gone out looking for more supplies, probably just got caught up in the storm."

"Hopefully we're gone by then. Let's take a look around upstairs."

The two of them went upstairs, Joel continuing down the hallway while Ellie went to the first door on the left. Joel opened a door, leading to a bathroom, where he found some pills, rubbing alcohol, and a gauze pad. He took them and put them in his bag.

Joel then went to the door at the end of the hallway. Inside was a bedroom where he found a closet, packed with a mix of clothes for men and clothes for girls, right around Ellie's size.

"Ellie! Found us a change of clothes! Come see what you like!"

No response.

"Ellie?"

Joel left the room and saw the door at the beginning of the hallway was still open.

"Ellie? You in there?"

"Yeah...I'm in here."

Her voice sounded off. Joel made his way down the hallway to that room.

What he saw upon entering the room was chilling.

There was a man hanging from the ceiling, the noose fashioned from a series of long sleeved shirts were wound tight around his neck.

"Come on, you don't need to be looking at that." Joel made a move to grab her hand to get her out of the room but she shrugged away from him, her eyes remaining on the body.

"Did this happen a lot?" Ellie asked. "I get this was the easy way out but...was it the only option?"

Joel sighed. "It ain't easy. For a lot of folks it was easier than letting a clicker or hunter get to them. But trust me...it ain't easy."

Joel spotted a crumpled note on the floor beside the corpse. He picked up and began to read it.

I couldn't protect her.

She died in fear.

My Lily bud...

Forgive me

"I don't think he was worried about a hunter or infected getting to him." Ellie said, reading the note. "Why did he do it then?"

Joel looked beside the hanging corpse and saw another body on the bed, partially covered by the sheet. He went over and pulled it back. The body of a young girl, roughly around Ellie's age lied lifeless.

"She has bite marks." Ellie commented. "One on her arm, looks like she was bit in the neck too. There's so much blood."

"Clicker must of gotten to her and bit into her neck. She bled out."

"Fuck..." Ellie said. "I'm guessing she's Lily, maybe he was her dad?"

"That sounds about right." Joel said. This feeling was all too familiar to him.

"I still don't know why though. Like...I don't know."

"Sometimes if the guilt is heavy enough...it can make you think of things...even attempt to do those things."

Ellie stared at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

Joel cleared his throat, blinking back tears. "Come on, go see what you like in the room down the hall, I'll get changed and get a fire started downstairs."

Without another word, Joel left the room and made his to the bedroom, leaving Ellie stunned at his subtle revelation.

~T~L~O~U~

After changing into an Angel Knives t-shirt and shorts, Ellie made her way downstairs.

Joel, having changed into a dark blue polo shirt and jeans was tending to the fire in the fireplace. "Food's on the counter. Eat to your heart's content."

Ellie saw a plate with meat and immediately rushed to it. She grabbed her plate and sat down by the fireplace, next to Joel. Once Joel was set the fire would hold, he went to grab a plate of his own.

The two of them ate in silence, the sounds of the crackling fire and the storm blended together and filled the air.

Ellie sighed. "Joel...what you said upstairs...did you really?"

"Did I what?"

"Try to take the...not so easy way out?"

Joel didn't respond, a faraway look in his eyes.

"Right, too much. Sorry I asked, never mind."

"After I lost Sarah, I wasn't in the right state of mind. No one was really. Tommy kept me level, most days." Joel said.

"I would intentionally try to piss off the military sometimes. Just so...it could happen. But Tommy always tried to talk them down, blaming emotional distress and all that."

"It took Tommy a long time to trust me with a gun, even years after the fact and I had moved on the best I could." Joel chuckled. "Funny he didn't trust me until he ran off with the fireflies."

"What happened after he left you?"

"I stuck with Tess. She didn't really know about my...well let's say issues, but I reckon she had some notion. She kept me occupied. Busy work kept my head level."

Thunder rumbled softly in the background.

"Have you ever thought about doing it again?" Ellie asked.

"Not for a while. If I didn't get you out of that hospital in time...I don't know." Joel rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Well, I'm here now. And I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Sticking to you like fucking glue."

Joel chuckled. "Right back at you baby girl."

"Wait...do you hear that?" Ellie got up and went to the window. "The storm stopped."

Joel got up and went to the window. The rain had been reduced to a harmless drizzle and the occasional rumble of thunder was in the far distance.

"Might be best if we stay here for tonight and get a move on in the morning. Storms tend to come and go for a bit."

"Oh dude! Can we make a fort?" Ellie jumped up and down in excitement.

"Sure thing kiddo."

The two of them grabbed some pillows and blankets and rearranged the furniture. Once the fort was done they went inside, forgetting the tragedy upstairs, and exchanged the most terrible puns they could think of with each other before dozing off for the night.

The storm never returned.

~T~L~O~U~

"Oh thank god!" Maria opened the gates and immediately ran to Joel and Ellie, giving them both big hugs. "I thought we were going to lose you two in the storm."

"We found a place to hunker down. Got a haul of supplies while we were at it." Joel responded.

"Glad to see you two made it. If we knew it was going to storm like this, we would have never sent y'all out for supplies. Or anyone for that matter." Tommy said, emerging from the gates.

"No harm done." Joel said.

"Looks like we still gotta make some adjustments to that device of ours." Tommy rubbed the back of his head. "Anyways, meet up with Jackie and give her the stuff you guys gathered. Y'all got the day off today so feel free to do what you like."

"Ellie, Earl is taking a bunch of us to go horse riding later, you wanna tag along?"

"Hell yeah!" Ellie exclaimed.

Maria chuckled. "The group will be going this afternoon, I'll come by and pick you up when it's almost time to go.

"Awesome! I can't wait."

After dropping their supplies off with Jackie, Joel and Ellie made their way home where they each took some much needed hot showers. Once they were done, they relaxed in the living room, continuing their contest of who could tell the worst puns (that Joel was surprisingly winning).

A knock on the door interrupted their contest. Ellie got up to go answer and saw it was Maria at the door.

"Hey, Ellie. You ready to go?"

"Yep." Ellie turned around to get her jacket as it was a particularly chilly day. Before leaving she looked at Joel, staring at him as if she was trying to read him.

She turned back to Maria. "Actually, can you give me a sec?"

"Of course."

Ellie closed the door and made her way to Joel, sitting beside him.

"What's up?" Joel asked.

"Joel, can you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"If you...y'know ever get those thoughts again...come talk to me? I wanna help you not have them anymore. I don't want you taking that way out. Or going out at all really. I don't wanna lose you yet."

Joel smiled. "Sure thing baby girl. Thank you."

Ellie hugged him tightly. She opened the door and shot one last smile at Joel before leaving with Maria.

Joel laid back on the couch, feeling genuinely content and at ease. He really didn't have anything to worry about anymore. He was surrounded by friends and family now. His head was level and it would remain that way.

Because Ellie would always be his comfort in the storm.

This is probably the most emotional piece of emotion I've ever written ;-; Then again, listening to Lana Del Rey, especially Born to Die, will probably do that. This story is based off the optional conversation that can be found in the Hotel in Philadelphia when Joel and Ellie find the two corpses in a tub. It's ambiguous but it is a possibility that Joel had struggled with this as well.

Many thanks for reading and please leave a review if you'd like. Love you all :3