HI PEOPLE! This is the fastest i have ever updated for a story, but since i'm currently crazy over this story, i'll just write it :)

I hope you'd like this chapter. Not much, just the 'prologue'. Just for a sneak peek, Joel and Ellie will be having two separate journey for a while, and then some things would happen. Anyway, please review, and if you like it, simply press the follow or favorite story yea? I don't mind criticisms too :) But please let them be reasonable and correctable.

Also, there will definitely be no slash. The love between them is purely about father and daughter. I'm sort if I'm insulting anyone here, but thinking of them as romantic makes me a little sick, cuz Joels more than twice Ellie's age. Don't get me wrong, I've read some of your stories and the writing is great! The feeling is great and even the story is great! If it wasn't between Joel and Ellie, i would give some of the stories a 8/10 or 9/10 already!

Sorry, just letting it all out cuz i've been a little disturbed by the pairings. PLease take no offense to this...just sharing my opinion.

Pls R&R! :)

Joel sighed, his face seeming to age ten years in a matter of seconds, the weight of what he had done fully weighing down on his shoulders. It didn't help that his little brother was staring at him with eyes that would scare almost anyone else away.

The bandits in cities and jungles did not scare him. The military in quarantine zones that killed infected people without a second thought did not scare him. Not even the infected and their spores scared him. Even his little brother, who could scare many people with just his gangster-ish looks, could not scare him.

The only thing that scared him was Ellie, which was the best as well as the worst thing that had happened to him for the past twenty years. She was his only weakness, but at the same time, his only happiness too.

He had tried to stop this for very long. Always leaving things behind, saying that it's the past and there is no use thinking about it. Always remaining somewhat aloof, making sure that no matter who his partner was, who his companion was, he would not be too attached to them. That way, he would be in control of his life, and would be able to make the right choice for his survival instead of doing some ridiculous self-sacrificing thing that would get him killed.

Unfortunately, a certain girl suddenly appeared into his life, and that was when he lost control of it. He couldn't understand.

Even when Tess had died, he had not even shed a single tear. Of course, he had felt pain, but he had been careful not to be too attached to Tess, and hence he hadn't felt too much pain. But for Ellie, it was different.

He couldn't stop himself from becoming attached to her. At first, he had hated her, thinking she was just a pain in the neck. Then, his hatred toned down to dislike. Then came the part in the jungle, when he looked at her staring with amazed eyes at the fireflies, his dislike for her faded.

He found out that his hatred, his dislike for her was at first, due to the trouble she was bringing to him. Then, he hated her with all his being when Tess died, putting all the blame on her when it wasn't really her fault at all.

Then, during the journey to the forest to Bill's, he had realized that she was actually quite an innocent girl. She obviously didn't notice, but he had been observing her through the corner of his eyes for the whole journey, seeing every single awkward step she took, every hint of amusement and amazement at the outside world. He realized that she had never experienced the outside world before. That was when he softened up a bit, as even though she was foul-mouthed and rebellious, she was still a innocent, young, fourteen-year-old girl. It reminded him painfully of his daughter in the past, Sarah.

Over the months, after each and every close encounter with death, every single cooperation that had to have to past obstacles, every time they saved each other's asses, he became more and more attached to her. He still managed to act aloof and at least a little mean to her though.

Then, when she had ran away from Tommy's the first time they had been there, he had freaked out entirely. He had rushed all around the forest, fighting and killing off bandits while tracking her. When he had finally found her, he then realized how panicked he had been.

At that very moment, when he stood in the room with her, he found out that he had become attached to her in more than just partners. She was now a friend, and a close friend at that. But, even then, he tried to fight it, making up excuses that Tommy had more knowledge of the fireflies than he did, that she would be safer with Tommy as he didn't even trust himself, but it was to no avail.

In the end, he couldn't abandon her, when he said that she was not his daughter, his heart filled with dread, but also a little happiness, as he realized that slowly, but surely, he was thinking of Ellie as his very own daughter. Hence, he couldn't abandon her, especially when she said that every single person she had cared for had left her or died except him.

Then came the part where they had thought that their journey was finished. They had reached the university, thinking that there would be a whole lot of Fireflies up and ready to get a cure out of her. During this time, the two had bonded even more, so much that he could already talk about his late daughter with her.

But of course, nothing was so easy in this world. The Fireflies had already moved to a faraway place, and bandits attacked them viciously. He got injured in the process, and went into a coma, causing her to fend for herself and him. This lead to that, and they ended up in a burnt out building, with him hugging her tightly and repeating "my baby girl", consoling her about what she had just done. Of course, that was the last straw. He couldn't act like he didn't care anymore, that he didn't love her as a father would to his daughter. He couldn't hold it back any longer.

The next few months were one of the best in his life. They became extremely close, like real father and daughter, so much that he even thought of what he would do with her after everything was over.

So of course, when he heard that Ellie would have to die, his World came crashing down. Everything he had been looking forward to was all non-existent. He had two choices. Whether to allow her to die for humanity, and by doing so sacrificing whatever happiness he would ever have from then on, or save her and keep his happiness, even if there were great risks to it.

He chose the latter.

"Tommy…I'll get straight to the point. They were going to kill her." Joel said with a weary voice. Tommy's eyes widened in slight surprise, but his accusing glare did not diminish even an inch.

"What do you mean "kill" her? She shouldn't need to die." He asked suspiciously.

"She did need to die. They were going to operate her, take out her brain and study it for a vaccine." He said with a dead, cold voice, one that he had been using for the past twenty years before meeting Ellie, and when he is really angry.

Tommy stayed silent for a few moments, studying Joel with emotionless, blank eyes. Joel did the same right back at Tommy. The atmosphere was tense, so tense that if anyone else was there, they would have wondered why the windows in the room hadn't broken yet.

"So what?" Tommy spoke up, deciding that Joel was indeed telling the truth. "So what if she needed to die? Does that give you the right to kill the fireflies, to kill Marlene, to take her away without giving her a choice?" Tommy said each sentence with more and more force, each word felt like a dagger going through Joel's conscience.

"Look, I know that it was wrong, I know I shouldn't have killed them, but I-" he was cut short when they both heard a loud gasp on the other side of the door, followed by a soft, female sob and the sound of some shouts and crashes outside. The two brothers, with the speed of light, stood up and sprinted to the living room, ready for a battle. What they saw instead was a bewildered Maria and a few crying children.

Joel's fear suddenly spiked up as he thought about the thing he was scared of the most. He frantically looked around, trying to even et a glimpse of Ellie, but with each passing second, his heart beat faster, and panic and despair quickly took over. It had came to pass.

"What happened?" Tommy asked urgently. He watched as Joel made his way outside in a hurry, his face openly showing worry and anxiety, as well as fear for the first time. Maria noticed it too, but decided to ignore him.

"Ellie just ran out of the house. She was supposed to deliver some drinks to you two." Maria said. They both heard a strangled choke, which sounded suspiciously like a gasp of despair from Joel, and turned to see him sprint out.

"Joel!" Tommy shouted as he ran after him. Joel was already sprinting across the place, towards where he knew Ellie would go-the stables. Tommy was right behind him, running as fast as he could to keep up with Joel. He couldn't help but be amazed and astonished at the stamina Joel still possessed even though he was already in his mid forties. Then, he thought about what Joel had been doing for the past few years, and his amazement was replaced with sympathy and sadness for Joel. He had never found peace, had always been fighting.

"Where is she?!" Joel asked loudly as they finally reached the stable. The man tending to the horses looked at him fearfully. Even Tommy felt a little intimidated by Joel. Joel, at that very moment, looked like a very angry killer. His eyes shone with malice, and his aura emitted anger and some sort of power.

"Sh-she just took a horse and r-rode away on it. I c-couldn't stop h-her in t-time!" The poor man stuttered. Joel cursed loudly as he heard those words and ran to the stables, jumping onto the nearest horse and rode towards the jungle, where Ellie's tracks lead to.

"Wait, Joel! There's a snow storm brewing! Going out there is suicide!" Tommy shouted after him, but immediately regretted it. What the hell was he thinking? Telling him that going out there was suicide would just spur him on to chase after Ellie.

He mentally cursed himself after a few seconds of quick self-discussion of whether to chase them or not. By then, Joel's figure was nothing but a dark silhouette in the jungle, and quickly fading. Tommy swore under his breath and rode after him.

"Tell Maria I'll be back!" Tommy shouted back at the man as he chased after Joel, into the dark, cold forest with the impending snowstorm coming.