Quick note before we start:
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters/places/anything mentioned from the Last of Us or anything else and everything belongs to its respective owners.
Silently Calling Out
Joel is not the easiest person in the world to be traveling with. He's closed off most of the time, making any possible conversations hard. He's killed more people than I can count, and I'm betting just as many Infected.
Despite all of this and more, he still puts up with me, taking me across what is left of the United States.
It was after some hesitation of course, but who doesn't ever hesitate. It wasn't like I was just jumping for joy with the idea of traveling with a complete stranger.
Joel is hard to figure out sometimes too. He doesn't like talking about the past, and usually makes a good point of telling me "not to dwell on it" nearly every time I try to ask him something. Even so, there are some moments when a simple object or the mention of something can send him backwards in his memory, opening him up a bit.
Sometimes, people are silently calling out for help, even if they don't know they are. I believe Joel is like this.
The pandemic is all I have ever known, but Joel has known happier times. This world that I am used to, he has had to adjust, seeing all of its horrors and darkest secrets.
There are even things that I see or hear about that I am not used to; things that he might be because he has had to adjust to this new world. Coming from the old world, and everything ending for you in a short period of time must have been hard.
I guess I can somewhat sympathize with him; I've lived in a military boarding school for practically my whole life, essentially being shuffled around where no one else cares about what happens to you.
The world outside of the quarantine zone is like that; no matter who you run into (Infected, hunters, the military), none of them care. They all are just focused on living one more day, surviving in any possible way they can. It's a desperate cycle; one that I am starting to know.
Sometimes in those moments where I can see a softer side of Joel, I know that somewhere deep inside of him, his old self from before the pandemic corrupted everyone is still there; still waiting.
All it needs sometimes is a little bit of help along the way.
This one-shot is from Ellie's (first person) POV, essentially describing Joel in the earlier stages of their journey. I got this idea while writing my other Last of Us fanfiction and decided that I wanted to write it down. Please tell me what you thought, as well as any ideas (I might be able to continue this, but I'm keeping it as a one-shot for now)!
-AnimeWolfGirl9