A/N: This chapter ended up getting kind of long, but that's okay. I've been rather intrigued by everyone's reactions to Lakyn and this potential new romance. I don't want to quell your enthusiasm, but I should say that nothing in the world of The Last of Us seems to have a storybook ending, so I'd just caution you against expecting this story to be all "and they lived happily ever after." I'm afraid that in this world there aren't very many happy endings. That wasn't a spoiler, just to be clear. I just want to remind you of the world we're dealing with here.

For the first time, I've actually been throwing around the idea of an Aftermath: Part III. I know, I know... what could I possibly write that about? Well... I'm not telling. But I have an idea of where to take this. If Naughty Dog ends up making a sequel, I highly doubt it'll go this direction, but eh. This is my take on it. I should say, I haven't completely made up my mind about that, so let's not get ahead of ourselves. Enjoy the chapter in the meantime!

EDIT: Extra tip: if you want to really get the feels, while you read this turn on TLoU soundtrack and put the last song ("Returning") on repeat. I often put that song on repeat while I write these, and I think it adds to the tone in a profound way.

DISCLAIMER/LEGAL MUMBO-JUMBO: I do not own The Last of Us, it is Naughty Dog's property.

CHAPTER 17

ACCIDENTS

The hills were ablaze. The valley was ringed in fire, the brilliant colors encroaching the outskirts of Jackson. But the conflagration did not sweep in bearing a wave of heat. It rode on the coattails of colder days. The pines and conifers were as evergreen as their namesake, but the deciduous trees grew more brilliant with each passing week. Autumn was in full swing.

It had been a few months since the incident at the dam. People had looked fondly at the sight of Joel giving Ellie piggyback rides to get from place to place while her leg healed. These days, her leg had nearly returned to its former strength, but it gave her hot stabs of pain from time to time. There would always remain another grisly scar on her left thigh, replete with white bumpy patches not dissimilar from the ones surrounding the bite on her arm.

Joel's words of warning had proven true. Since the word of Ellie's condition had spread around the town, the townsfolk had changed their demeanor toward her. They always seemed to be nervous. Or uncomfortable. Most of the kids Ellie's age avoided her. She was an outcast. Joel told her that there were some things about kids that never seemed to change, no matter what condition the world was in. If they find something that makes you different from them, they band together and make you into the outsider.

Truth be told, she didn't really care. She found herself relating better with adults anyways. Sure, some of the adults seemed to act the same way as the kids, but there were a few that were still friendly to her. Grant hadn't warmed up since he had found out, but Tommy and Maria always treated her nicely. They would invite her and Joel to come over for dinner and a movie from time to time. Ellie had seen the town's collection of movies at least six times each, but they were still fascinating. The only movies she had seen in her life had been military propaganda films, and those didn't aim to be entertaining. Ellie enjoyed the opportunity to go to Tommy and Maria's house and see Joel shoot the breeze with his brother. It was a small window into a fading history, and she appreciated the view. She also used the visits to continually pester Tommy and Maria about why they hadn't had kids yet.

The only other adult she had interacted with on a regular basis was Lakyn. Joel had been seeing her from time to time, and occasionally Lakyn would come by and keep Ellie company when Joel had to leave for his guard shift. Ellie was fascinated by Lakyn. She had many similarities with her, but so many differences at the same time. It was no secret that Ellie was rambunctious and… unrefined in her choice of vocabulary. On the other hand, Ellie had never heard Lakyn utter a single curse word. She was still trying to adjust to Lakyn's soft-spokenness. They had both been exposed to a healthy amount of gunfire in their lifetime, and Ellie couldn't comprehend how Lakyn could even hear herself talk anymore. She felt a bit guilty every time she asked her to repeat herself when she couldn't hear her.

On some of those nights where she would come over to keep Ellie company - "girls' nights," as she called them - Lakyn had shared some details of her life with Ellie. Before the outbreak, she had wanted to be a veterinarian. Ellie had asked what that meant, and when Lakyn told her it meant an "animal doctor," Ellie squealed. She told Lakyn about seeing the giraffes in Salt Lake City, and how she had begged Joel for a puppy. They each clasped onto the things they had in common, hoping to use them as a catalyst for bonding with each other.

Ellie really wanted to get along with Lakyn, mostly because Joel seemed to have taken a liking to her. She had tried to surreptitiously gain some insight into their relationship by asking unassuming questions here and there, but Lakyn remained quite reserved about it. All Ellie had figured out was that things were going better than not, but it certainly wasn't smooth sailing. She figured Joel was probably trying to overcome memories of his previous relationship, and from talking to Lakyn, Ellie had gathered that she was quite emotionally damaged as well. They were each hesitant for their own reasons, and it had caused some tension.

The autumn evening chill had driven Ellie to shut the windows of their house to keep in the warmth. Joel had left for his guard shift an hour ago and had told Ellie that Lakyn would be coming by to keep her company. Lakyn was sitting at the kitchen table, cleaning her favorite rifle, the one she had deftly used the day of the incident at the dam. She had informed Ellie that it was a heavily modified Remington M24, but that didn't mean much to Ellie. She wasn't old enough at the time to have gotten her hands on any real rifles in the military preparatory school. It was just BBs and rats for her.

The kitchen table was covered with gunmetal. Smooth, oiled pieces were all arranged in an order Ellie didn't understand, though clearly fitting into some system Lakyn had devised. Ellie didn't dare touch them, but watched Lakyn intently as she cleaned each component with fastidious fingers and a trusty rag.

"So," Ellie began as she watched Lakyn work, "where did you learn to shoot?"

Lakyn's eyes darted up to look at Ellie before darting back to the component in her hand. "My father. He taught me. Used to take me shooting pretty often before he… before he passed…" Her gaze narrowed as she focused her mind on cleaning the piece rather than let it dwell on the memory.

"Oh," Ellie replied.

"How about you?" Lakyn asked, trying to lighten the conversation from where it had gone. "I hear you're a crack shot."

Ellie blushed a bit and shrugged. "I don't know. Joel says I'm a natural."

"Yeah, I heard there's quite a story about some shootout in Sinclair?"

"Oh man. Yeah. That was fucking intense. What'd Joel tell you?"

"All I know is you saved his ass."

Ellie beamed. "Damn right, I did. I suppose he didn't tell you I did it by putting down three motherfuckers with three bullets, did he?"

Lakyn's eyebrows raised. "He didn't mention that."

"All three were headshots."

"Really?"

"And I did it all after being shot in the arm."

Lakyn whistled. "Sounds like you'd give me a run for my money in a marksman competition."

This morsel of praise made Ellie swell with pride. She had seen Lakyn in action. She was a trained professional. "Oh geez, I wouldn't go that far."

Lakyn smiled and went back to cleaning the components. Ellie twiddled her thumbs for a while, still struggling to strike up conversation with this new, mysterious woman who had entered into her life.

A thought sparked in Ellie's mind. "Hey… you grew up before all of this… what was it like being a young girl back then? I've only learned snippets here and there."

"Hmmm," Lakyn started, "it could be… dramatic… from time to time. Heck, they made a movie about how mean girls could be in high school. It was mostly spot on. A lot of fussing over fashion and being thin. And boys…"

"Oh, here we go-" Ellie leaned forward, brimming with anticipation.

Lakyn frowned to herself for a split second, thinking again about Ellie's condition and the isolation that came with it, but Ellie didn't notice so she continued. "All the popular girls would chase after the popular boys. There were love triangles and breakup drama and… well, whatever you've heard is probably accurate."

"I found this girl's journal in a ranch house an hour or two from here," Ellie said. "She talked a lot about boys. About which boys she liked, and which boys were supposed to like her, and which boys her friends were after even though they knew she liked them."

"Yeah, that all sounds pretty much spot on," Lakyn said.

"Huh… that's just… bizarre."

"Looking back on it now, it really kind of is. We took everything for granted in the world before. Not everyone died due to the cordyceps or other people, you know. Thousands died at the hands of the military. Most of them unarmed, trying to get into the QZs. That's what forced me to leave. I wasn't willing to gun down people without a good reason to do so. But thousands, probably millions died simply because they couldn't cope with how harsh the world had become. They were too pampered. They weren't… adaptable."

"Survivalism wasn't that popular back then, huh?" Ellie inquired.

"Oh, it certainly had its avid fans, but survival became about more than just knowing where to find food, shelter, and drinkable water. If you wanted to survive, there were certain… lines you'd have to be willing to cross. A lot of people couldn't will themselves over those lines, and they didn't last very long. Others…" she drifted off for a moment. "Well, others crossed it all too easily. It was like they were waiting for the excuse."

"I bet they're the fuckhead types that became hunters."

"You'd bet right," Lakyn said through a sad half-smile. "There were plenty of us who knew our stuff, got a gun, knew how to shoot, and tried to keep our heads down. People couldn't be trusted anymore. We were the ones just looking to survive. Others, well… others became predators. They preyed on us every chance they got. When… when the walls of society crumble, you quickly realize how much they were holding back. You really see what me-" she hesitated and corrected herself, "what people are capable of."

Lakyn had finished cleaning the components and had begun reassembling the rifle. Its intimidating form began to take shape as pieces were snapped back into place with satisfying metallic clicks. Lakyn's eyes bored into the rifle as she worked, and it took Ellie a couple moments to realize that she wasn't actually focusing on the rifle in her hands, but something miles and years beyond it. She noticed a flourish of pain in her eyes as memories replayed in her head. Occasionally, Lakyn's stoic exterior would crack and reveal the broken woman that hid beneath it. This was one of those occasions.

Ellie hesitated before gathering the courage to ask, "What happened to you after you left the military?"

Lakyn's gaze remained distant, and Ellie considered repeating the question until she broke free and her attention returned. Her sentences were fragmented as she attempted to wrest her mind back to the present. "I, uh… I left New Mexico and thought I should push north. I thought the, uh… the cold winters would… hamper the Infected, or something."

"I have it on good authority that that isn't the case," Ellie said blandly.

"And you'd be right," Lakyn nodded. "The cordyceps is hardier than we thought. Sure, if it found a relatively sheltered, warm place to bloom, it would stick around, but it mostly relied on the Infected that were still alive to keep perpetuating its growth. The fungus would cause them to burn hot in the winter to stay alive, and once the thaw came, they'd go off and die and germinate, keeping the cycle going."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"I'm observant. Pays to know how the stuff works, what places to avoid, and all that. We thought the north would bring safety, but we were wrong. And where Infected weren't the problem, there… there were always…" her words drifted off again.

"Fucking hunters," Ellie stated.

Lakyn snapped the final piece of the rifle into place and worked the action, looking at the smooth, oiled mechanical motion with approval. "Yep."

"Can you believe Joel used to run with the-" Ellie stopped, horrified at what she had let slip. "I mean-"

Lakyn looked up at her, wide-eyed. "He what?"

"Fuck. I didn't mean-"

"Ellie," Lakyn began, sternly. It was the first time Ellie had seen her show a hint of anger. Her voice was more audible than it had ever been before. "Who did Joel used to run with?"

Ellie felt helpless. She felt like she had betrayed her dearest friend. Sure, what she had begun to say was the truth, but it was one of those truths that was better served in omission. Still, the truth had stepped a toe into the light, and once that fragment is visible, the whole truth had to be brought forth.

"Sometime between when he lost Sarah and when I met him, he… ugh." She stopped, feeling sick, and tried to regain her composure. "Well, he's never come out and said it, but I got the impression that he was a hunter for awhile." She moved quickly to excuse his actions. "But it was only for survival. Joel didn't relish it. He just did whatever it took to survive." She wasn't sure that part about him not relishing it was true, but it felt necessary to say.

Lakyn's eyes danced over the weathered wood of the kitchen table. "I see." She rose from her seat, leaving the rifle splayed across the table, and began pacing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-" Ellie chirped. She felt unbearably foolish and didn't know what else to say. "I'm sorry."

Lakyn stopped in the doorway of the living room, facing away from Ellie, with her arms crossed over her chest. Ellie strained to hear her voice even more than usual, as her soft-spokenness combined with her facing the living room. "Those hunters… those… animals. They took from me what…" Ellie was mortified as Lakyn began to shake softly. "I need to lie down. I need some time to think…" She walked into the living room and quietly stretched out on the couch, rolling onto her side to face the wall of fabric.

Ellie was downcast, and uttered one more "I'm sorry" before trudging up to her room to lie down herself.

The sound of a door closing pulled Ellie out of her dozing. She picked her head up off of the mattress and looked around vacantly for a few moments, trying to register where she was. Upon remembering, she quickly sprung out of bed and softly padded into the hallway. The faint light pouring in through the window bathed everything in the cool blue light of predawn. Ellie crept to the top of the stairs and risked slinking a couple steps down until she could see the living room.

Lakyn must have fallen asleep too. Joel shrugged off his jacket, hung it on the hook, and went to sit down on the couch next to Lakyn's dozing form. She turned her head back to look at him upon feeling his presence on the cushion.

"Mornin'," he said.

"Hey."

He leaned in to give her a kiss of greeting, but to his surprise, she turned away. Joel's demeanor shifted immediately to concern.

"What is it?" he asked.

She scooted up into a seated position and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her ankles. She stared into her knees for a long time. Joel placed a hand on her back, but she shrugged her shoulders to tell him she didn't particularly want the contact right now.

Ellie held her breath to make out the words she spoke. "Were you… were you ever… a hunter?" Lakyn asked timidly, turning her head to look into his eyes.

Joel studied her face for a long time before his gaze shifted to the stairs. Startled, Ellie shrunk back into the shadows, hoping she was hidden within them.

"I, uh… look… we did whatever it took. I had to take care of Tommy, keep us alive…"

Lakyn dropped her gaze, blinked rapidly and drew in an uneven breath. Ellie could hear the tremor in her diaphragm from the stairs.

"Look at me," he said. When she didn't comply, Joel lifted a hand to her face and turned her chin to face him. "That's who I was. Not who I am. I killed when I had to. I didn't-"

"Did you ever-" she swallowed hard. "Force-"

"Of course not," he cut her off, knowing what she meant. "I wouldn't ever do something like that. I ain't like that."

Ellie saw a twinkle of light bounce off the pools forming along Lakyn's lower eyelids. She sniffled and then took a deep breath. "Okay. I just… I need a little time."

"Alright. That's alright."

Lakyn rose and went into the kitchen, returning to the living room with the rifle slung across her back. She crossed to the door, Joel on her heels. She turned back to face him. "Just a little time… I have a few things to think about."

Joel nodded. He felt hesitant to go in for a goodbye kiss, and wasn't sure if an embrace was a good idea either, so he just stood there uncomfortably. After a moment, she moved in and gave him a brief hug before turning and leaving. Joel stood at the door, watching her silhouette shrink and disappear down the street. He turned to the stairs and began climbing them.

Ellie was wrought with guilt and couldn't bring herself to move. She sat there, curled and huddled up at one of the top steps, staring at the faded wallpaper and trying her hardest not to cry. Joel ascended the last few stairs between them and sat down next to her. He rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on his clasped hands.

After an agonizing amount of silence, Ellie dragged her head around to face him. "I'm so sorry, Joel," she said weakly.

He turned to face her. She expected to find anger on his countenance, or disappointment, or annoyance, but all she found was a soft sadness. "That's okay, Ellie. She needed to know."

"It was an accident," she stammered. "I - I didn't mean to…"

"Ellie, really, it's alright," he soothed, placing a hand on her shoulder. "C'mere." He gestured for her to scoot next to him and put an arm around her, trying to reassure her that it would be fine.

"It's just… I know how much you like her… I wouldn't want to fuck that up…"

He chuckled. "We'll be fine. Lakyn's been through a lot. The world's got all manners of hell to offer, and people all see different pieces of it. And, well… what she got was a particularly vicious piece."

"What happened to her?" Ellie asked.

"It's not my place to say, but it's one of the worst kinds of things that can happen to a person. No one deserves it, and I mean no one."

The comment didn't make Ellie feel any better. She didn't want to create a link in Lakyn's mind between Joel and that kind of evil. She felt like no matter how many times she said it, it wasn't enough. "I'm sorry."

Joel smiled. "Well, you're forgiven. Now, I'm spent. I need to get some rest. How long were you two sleepin'?"

Ellie thought about it. "I'm not sure. We were up pretty late. She was telling me what it was like growing up as a girl in the world before."

"Sorry I missed it," he said as he rose. "Well, you get tired, you know where I'll be."

He walked into the room and pushed the door behind him. It shut most of the way but didn't latch. Ellie stared at the gap between the door and the frame for awhile. After ten minutes of watching the hallway light up as the sun rose, she decided a couple more hours of sleep would probably do some good. She rose to her feet, rubbed the pain out of the scar on her leg, and padded softly into the bedroom. Before long, she had drifted off.

AFTERMATH: PART II CONTINUES

WITH CHAPTER 18