Joel's Strength
by TimeAndLife21
Joel couldn't remember much after he fell from the first floor of the Labs and he hit the ground with the rusty pipe sticking out of him. He remembered Ellie yelling at him to get up and walk. So he did. He vaguely remembered that she took out a few thugs without his help. He would've been proud of her if he wasn't bleeding everywhere.
Then suddenly, there was a blackness after that. He could heard Ellie's voice, just barely, before he fell into darkness after that.
The next thing he knew was that he opened his eyes and he was back in his bed at home in Texas. The home that he had worked hard to buy for him and Sarah. Was it all a dream? The Infected? The Apocalypse? The Hunters and the Fireflies? All just a figment of his imagination? Just a horrible nightmare?
He got up out of his bed — strangely still in his normal clothes — and left his room to go downstairs. Nothing was destroyed. Nothing was taken. There were the pictures that he had picked for his tastes was well as pictures of family on the walls. He was still in shock that maybe the CDF was just a nightmare.
He then heard something from the back yard.
"Dad!"
He thought his heart was stopped.
Was it…?
Could it be…?
He opened up the sliding door and saw his little girl. She was standing there in the tall grass, smiling at him. She was wearing capri jeans and flip flops, and a blue and red shirt with stars on it. Her blond hair was cut in a short aline bob that fit her young face.
"Sarah?" He said softly as he walked out into the sun to his daughter.
"Hey Dad!" She said happily as she ran up to him and hugged him.
It felt so real! She was here! His baby girl! He felt his eyes get wet and he cried. He sobbed as he held her close to him and kept muttering that his daughter was alive.
"You're alive, Sarah! You're Alive!" He said as he pulled back a little.
But his baby girl only smiled sadly at him.
"Dad…I'm not alive." She said sadly.
"What? No. I just had a horrible dream. Sarah, it was horrible. The Infected, the Quarentine zones, everything. It was just a nightmare." He said trying to convince himself.
"Dad…it's all real. You are just here to make a choice." She said as she held his hand.
"A choice…wait…Am I…?" He choked up as he looked around.
Everything looked too….perfect. Everything glowed. Like it was basking in some sort of glory. He couldn't smell the distant pollution that came downwind from the city, he couldn't even see anything past the property line of his home.
"Are you saying…?" He paused.
Sarah nodded.
"Yeah…you're here." She said as she twirled around a little.
Joel was in shock. If he was here… it just made no sense. Was he dead?
"So I'm dead." Joel said accepting the fact.
He could remember when he was young, he would be on the church pews with his mother, father and Tommy, listening to the preacher speak of Heavens eternal glories, if they shall not sin.
Joel didn't really think that he deserved it. He had done horrible things, terrible things, unspeakable things. It made him feel dirty being in his daughter's pure presence.
"Honey, I…I've done…bad things. I'm not a good person." He said as he sat down on a bench that seemingly materialized behind him.
"It was for survival. Daddy, I get it. You and Tommy did everything you could to survive what has been happening. You've lived a longer life than most people…and that's saying something." She smiled at him as she sat down next to him.
He admitted that he stayed in silence as his daughter sat next to him. He looked over at her and saw that peace was etched across her face. It damn near broke his heart.
"So…what are you going to do, Dad?" She asked after a long silence passed between them.
"Well…I wouldn't mind stayin'." he said as he too felt peace etch into his soul.
He didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay here with his Daughter. This afterlife with peace and tranquility. He didn't have to run or hide anymore. He didn't have to keep fighting for his life. He could just…let go.
"But what about Ellie?" She asked.
Those words hit Joel hard and his eyes widened. How could he have forgotten her? The red-headed little spitfire with the mouth of a sailor and the hardened look of a survivor.
Why did he forget her?
"I don't know." He said simply.
He didn't know how much time had passed in this limbo. He kept thinking of either staying or going — Sarah had been playing with her soccer ball that had materialized out of nowhere — he looked at her as she went though her drills and smiling as she kicked it into the make shift goal that he had made when she was a bit younger.
He wanted to stay here. He wanted to stay and live in peace. But he was afraid of staying here, now that he realized it. He didn't live long enough. He hasn't survived long enough. And it would weigh on his conscience that if he stayed here, Ellie would have to fend for herself. Out there in an Infected world and hunters looking for them. She was just a kid.
He could feel the tears in his eyes as he looked around this wonderful place. He didn't deserve it…not yet.
Sarah stopped playing with her soccer ball, and kicked it up to grab it. She placed it under her arm as she walked over to him. She stood right in front of him with a smile on her face.
"So…what's it going to be Dad?" She asked as if she already knew the answer.
Silence permeated between them.
"I…I can't stay here, Baby Girl." He said brokenly as he looked up at her.
"I can't leave Ellie out there. She's too young. Too naive. She can be killed out there…either by Infected or by Hunters. I can't just do that too her." He said as he stood up and looked around in this peaceful afterlife.
"She could be the cure we need. But she also needs me…" He said as he looked at her.
"You're her protector." Sarah smiled at him.
"I'm sorry. I want to stay here…" He said as he kneeled down on the green grass.
Sarah dropped her ball and went over to hug him. She knew that he wasn't ready to die. She knew that he had to go back. She just wanted to see her Daddy again before he goes.
"I understand. I'll help you get back." She said hugging him tightly.
"You will?" Joel said hugging his baby girl close.
"I'll always be with you, Dad in this world or the next." She said as she helped him up to his feet.
She took him by the hand and guided him to the edge of the property where it looked a bit more darker as they went along the path.
"Really?" He asked Sarah.
"Yeah. Dad, you and Ellie need me. I'll be your strength when you think you don't have enough. I promise." She said as they have reached the darker parts of the property.
"Promise?" He asked her.
"I promise." She smiled brightly up at him, with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"If you do one thing for me, though. You have to keep this promise for me." She asked softly.
"What would that be?" He looked down at her with a smirk.
This was something that he always had done. Making promises. Sometimes he made them, sometimes he breaks them. But making a promise with his daughter again, made his heart soar.
"Take care of Ellie — you are like a father figure to her. You've protected her. You've listened to her. She likes your stories before the outbreak. And I can see that you are attached to her too." She said chuckling at the surprised face he made.
Joel chuckled and shook his head.
"She would like you, Sarah. I think the both of you would have been good friends." He said as he looked to the darkness.
"I would have." She said smiling.
The look dat each other for a time and she jumped onto him and gave hims a long big hug. He crushed her to his chest, not wanting to let go. He only wished that he could take her with him.
"This isn't good-bye, Daddy." she said burying her face in his chest.
"It's not a Good-bye, Baby Girl." He said as he could feel the tears come to his eyes.
"I'll see you again." She said looking up at him.
"Promise?" He said down to her.
"I promise." She replied back to him.
After they separated, Joel walked into the darkness, not looking back for fear that is he did, he wasn't leaving.
"I have to get to Ellie." He thought as he blearily opened up his eyes to a cold ground and a pain in his side.
He needed to protect her. He needed her to be safe. And He was going to do it no matter what.
When he woke, he still felt the warmness of the hug that he received from his baby girl. He could feel his strength return as he still felt the pain in his side sting and ache. But he couldn't let it bother him. He called out to her in the basement of a home. He followed the stairs upward and it was still empty.
He had to keep his promise to Sarah. He wasn't going to waste this second chance this time. No hunter or infected was going to stop him. He was going to find her and keep her safe.
It was now time to find Ellie.
TAL21: I was playing The Last of Us again, and I came to the part of the University where Joel fell onto that pipe. I still cringe every time I play that scene. I figured, what happened to him as Ellie was taking Joel to the Mountain Cabins for shelter and safety? He was mostly out of it While Ellie was with David (*Shudders*, he was damn creepy), kicking infected and hunter butt. So I figured that Joel must be having at least hallucinations or an out of body experience. I like looking for the Spiritual aspects of the game. How this effects the characters of the game, what they feelings were as they keep over coming obstacles, trying to get to Utah to get to the Fireflys for the cure. I honestly think that when Sarah was killed, Joel din't have much to live for. Sure he survived in the Post Apocalyptic world, but he never LIVED. I would think that after the game and when Ellie and Joel went back to Tommy's, they wanted to LIVE. Not just survive. Sure they would still have to defend themselves from hunters and infected, but at least they have a colony to stick with instead of being stuck in a Quarantine Zone.
Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed this one shot! Please give my other one-shots and stories a read as well! I'm currently working on BATBION and TBW and a new story that I will update once a month KGE(AOT). Give them a read! I hope you guys leave awesome detailed reviews and opinions about my stories and one-shots! I love hearing from you and it keeps me going as a writer! I'll see you in the Next One-Shot! :D
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