Author's Notes: First of all I was kind of surprised at how positive the feedback was for the first chapter. I know one of the reviews talked about how the faith conversation between Ellie and Danni last chapter really connected with them, and that kind of feedback is great to hear. That's my #1 goal with the lyrics I write, connecting with people. When someone says that, it's a really good feeling to let them know that their experiences are shared. That's why I prefer writing in that medium, it's easier for me to communicate my thoughts that way.

Now that I've been given good feedback I can say with more confidence now that this story will be quite the journey. It will have its highs and it will have its lows. It will have happy moments and it will have sad moments. Sometimes all four will happen at once.

As for this particular chapter, it's only half of what I had originally intended, but it would have been much too long if I wrote everything. So I divided it into two shorter chapters. The next chapter will be a direct continuation of this one. In the game Ellie always showed curiosity and enthusiasm thinking about what life was like before the outbreak, and I wanted to make that an important part of this chapter as she gets just a small taste of that life. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Last Of Us or the characters in this chapter, except the ones I introduce. All credit goes to Naughty Dog.

Brand New Start

CH. 2: Friend

Joel awoke much later than he had been used to. The blinding sunlight coming through the window revealed the dust particles dancing in random patterns throughout the room. He shielded his eyes with his left hand and rolled over to check on Ellie sleeping beside him. She lay on her side facing Joel, still fast asleep. Her mouth was open slightly, and Joel could see a puddle of drool on the pillow. Well, she definitely slept soundly. The two had made it through their first night of safety, but Joel was still nowhere near adjusted to that lifestyle yet, and he doubted Ellie would be either.

He got up and walked around the bed over to the window to get a good look at the town. The house they were in was near the edge of town. Looking left he could see most of the buildings, each one reminding him of life before the outbreak. Soon he would be able to return to that life, or be able to come close at least. He took a step back from the window, and a creaking floorboard caused Ellie to stir and then wake. She let out a long moan and sat up slowly, stretching her arms over her head. "Good morning, Joel."

He turned to face her and returned the sentiment. "Mornin'. How'd you sleep, kiddo?"

"Surprisingly well," she answered as she nodded. She slept more soundly than she had in months, and felt very well rested. "It's so weird waking up in a bed and house that we own."

Joel nodded in agreement. "Definitely gonna take some gettin' used to." He stroked his beard with his left hand and turned to take another brief look out at the town. He thought about what they had waiting for them in Jackson. Life in the Boston QZ wouldn't be able to compare to the life they were living now. There would be no worry of running out of rations, no oppressive military running every aspect of their lives, and no worrying if they would live to see tomorrow. "What do you say we head to that diner Tommy mentioned yesterday? I could use a good breakfast."

The thought of eating a real breakfast instead of something from a can they found in some old abandoned building got her out of bed real quick. "Yeah, that sounds great!" She quickly put her shoes on and jogged over to the door before quickly opening and running out. "C'mon, let's go!"

Joel had never seen her, or anyone for that matter, have so much energy after just waking up. Even Sarah, who seemed to have endless energy, needed a lot of coaxing to roll out of bed. "Slow down kiddo! Wait for me." Joel was still groggy and couldn't keep up with her in the euphoric state she was in. She stopped at the top of the stairs and waited for him, only before running down the stairs and to the front door when he caught up. "Ellie, what part of slow down didn't you hear?"

"Cant' help it! I'm excited to finally be able to eat a real breakfast," she called from downstairs. She was waiting at the door as Joel got to the bottom of the steps, practically bouncing with excitement.

"Let me grab the key, then we'll leave." He kept the house key in a drawer in the coffee table. He opened it up, reached in, and pulled the key out. As he did, Ellie opened the door and gestured for him to lead the way. After they had both stepped outside, Joel closed the door and locked it, just in case.

As they approached the diner Joel caught a whiff of something very familiar. He wondered if his nose was playing tricks on him, but as they got closer he knew that he was not being deceived. "I do believe I smell bacon."

"Bacon?"

Joel turned to Ellie with a look of sympathy. "Oh, you poor deprived child."

"Why? What's so special about bacon?"

"It's the most succulent, heavenly strips of pig meat and fat you'll ever have. You're in for a real treat this mornin' kiddo."

After a few more steps she also caught the smell. "Well it definitely smells heavenly. But I don't think anything will top that barbecue yesterday."

"Oh, just you wait. This is it," Joel said as they got to the diner. He looked into the first window they walked past and saw Maria and Tommy sitting right there in a booth, Tommy getting the window seat. Joel tapped on the window a couple times to get his brother's attention, to which he responded with a wave of his hand and a large smile. Tommy signaled for them to come inside, and as they walked through the doors of the diner they were greeted by the smell of a home-cooked meal and the chatter of a whole town conversing with each other. Ellie was nearly swept off her feet by all of it.

They sauntered over to the booth where Tommy and Maria sat. "Ladies first," Joel said to Ellie as he stepped aside.

"Nah, you should sit across from your brother," she insisted.

Joel stood there, still gesturing for Ellie to sit down first.

"I insist, Joel."

"Alright, then," he said as he sat down and slid up against the window.

"Good morning you two," Tommy greeted Joel and Ellie. "How was your first night in your new home?"

Home. The word seemed so foreign to Ellie. In her whole life she had never lived anywhere she would consider a home. Just hearing someone else say it was weird for her. "It's going to take me a while to get used to it," she said. "But it was great. I slept like a rock."

Tommy smiled. It was exactly what he wanted to hear. "Glad you enjoyed it. Maria, how bout fixin' them some plates?"

"Sure thing," she said as she stood up. She then turned to Ellie, "You ever had a true home-cooked breakfast before?"

Ellie shook her head. "Never, this will be my first. What's on the menu?"

"Everybody gets a piece of toast, two pieces of bacon, and a biscuit. All made from scratch."

Everything Ellie heard, saw, or smelled only got her more excited about the meal she was about to eat. Her lively green eyes were lit to the point where they could serve as a flashlight in the dark. She began bouncing up and down in her seat, like a dog waiting to be fed a Filet Mignon.

"Calm yourself, kiddo," Joel said as he put a hand on her shoulder to settle her down. Slowly, she stopped bouncing but still sat up perky and eager of what was about to come. "It's just breakfast."

"I knowww. But it's going to be a really good breakfast."

Joel wasn't going to try and argue with that, because he couldn't. He hadn't had homemade biscuits in nearly two and a half decades. The thought of sinking his teeth into a warm, buttery, fluffy biscuit made his taste buds dance with anticipation.

"What do you say after you guys eat, Maria and I could give you a tour of the town? Show you the important buildings and introduce you to some of the important people."

Joel was going to answer, but Ellie was quicker on the draw. "Sounds good." Again, the excitement over the meal she was about to eat got the better of her and she started bouncing in her seat once more. Joel again put his hand on her shoulder, this time without saying anything, and again she slowly settled back down.

She didn't stay settled for long, as Maria came back with the plates of their food. Ellie let out an excited squeak as she set the plate down in front of her. "That bacon just came off the skillet, sweetie. It's going to be very hot," Maria warned. Ellie ignored the warning, and picked up one of the strips with her thumb, index, and middle fingers, before quickly dropping it back onto the plate.

"Aah…Aah…Aah!" She screamed as she flailed her hand around before sticking those three fingers into her mouth to soothe the burn.

"You know, bacon grease is hot," Joel informed her.

She turned with her fingers still in her mouth and nodded. Then she took them out of her mouth to retort. "So I've heard." She inspected the tips of her fingers and saw that they had turned red, but thankfully she did not hold the searing strip of succulent swine long enough to cause blisters.

"Why don't you start with somethin' else, Ellie?" Joel tried to persuade her.

She decided it was best to wait for the bacon to cool, despite how tempting the smell was. She looked at her plate trying to decide between the biscuit and the toast, deciding finally on the biscuit. Having come out of the oven a while ago it was fairly cool. She took a bite and Joel saw her face light up. "Mmmm. That's really good," she remarked with a full mouth.

"You had biscuits before?" Joel asked.

She swallowed, and stopped for a second trying to remember if they had anything like this at the preparatory school in the Boston QZ. "Kinda. There were these roll… things… in the boarding school. But they were pretty shit compared to this." She turned to Maria to ask a question. "Who made these?"

"The biscuits were made by Allyson. She's the wife of Andrew, who runs the stables."

"Tell her she knocked them out of the park. Whatever that means," she said as she savored the fluffy, buttery delight.

Maria chuckled. "Sure thing."

After Ellie finished the biscuit, she decided that the bacon was cool enough to attempt to eat. She picked it up, still a bit hesitant after burning herself the first time, but found that it had cooled off quite a bit. She took a bite and, like she did with the barbecue, froze. "Holy moley! This is better than the barbecue."

Joel smiled and ruffled her hair. "Told you you'd like it."

Just then Hannah walked up to the table and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey Ellie. I wanted to talk to you yesterday after Danni finished talking but you looked like you wanted to be left alone. Mind if we go outside so we can talk without all the noise in here? You can bring your plate so the food doesn't get cold."

Ellie looked at Joel without saying anything, asking permission without actually speaking. Joel just gave a slight shrug of his shoulders indicating that it was alright by him. "I don't see why not."

"Great." Ellie picked up her plate and followed Hannah outside and away from the chatter of the diner. They sat down on the sidewalk with their backs against the building about ten feet away from the door.

"It's real refreshing to have someone like you come to town. It's nice to have someone my age I can talk to."

Ellie took it as a compliment, but it seemed weird for Hannah to say that. There were other kids in the town around their age. "Thanks, but, there's other kids our age. Why don't you talk to them?"

Hannah looked down when Ellie asked that. "I… I'm kind of a loner. Never really tried to make friends with anyone before. But there's something about you… you have this… pleasant aura. It makes me feel like I can talk to you."

Ellie wasn't sure what she meant by that, but assumed it was a good thing by the way she said it. "Thanks, I guess."

"And you seem relatable to me. That's nice."

Ellie scoffed slightly at that remark, she knew it wasn't true. The things I've been through, I don't think we can relate at all. "I'm really not."

"Oh don't say that. There's gotta be something we can relate about."

Ellie spoke in a bit more serious tone this time. "No, I don't think there is."

"Ellie, I know there are things we have in common." Ellie was starting to get annoyed at this point. "Like, we-"

"Have you ever killed someone?" Ellie snapped and cut her off.

Hannah was caught off guard at the question. She thought it was a stupid thing for a young teenager to ask another young teenager, and she audibly scoffed. "No. Of course not. Never needed to." Ellie looked away, and Hannah's mood changed drastically. "Why? Have you?"

Without looking back, Ellie replied with "dozens."

Hannah let out a heavy sigh, she felt bad for Ellie having to go through something like that. "Wow, really?"

Ellie turned her head to face Hannah and nodded. "Yep."

Hannah was still trying to find something the girls had in common. She really felt like she needed to befriend Ellie. "Well, that's just one-"

"Do you have parents?" Ellie again cut her off.

Why's she asking me this? I just saw her sitting with her dad. "Just my dad, my mom ran off long ago. But, you have your dad too though."

"Joel's not actually my dad. I've been an orphan my entire life." Her voice was raised now, and she was not aware that she was practically yelling at Hannah. "I've been through a lot of shit in my life. I never knew my parents, I grew up in a military orphanage, I've seen people close to me die, I've killed people, and I've almost been killed myself." Her emotions were getting the better of her, she did not realize that her tone of voice was becoming increasingly more angry. She didn't know that she was hurting Hannah. "Don't fucking try to say we have a lot in common, because we don't. Okay, we just don't."

Hannah turned away from Ellie as Ellie went back to eating. Ellie looked over and saw her head hung and her shoulders heaving slightly. She could tell the girl was crying. "Hannah, is something wrong?"

Hannah turned to face her with tears running down her face. "I was just trying to be friendly. I really wanted to be friendly to you. And then you just shot me down."

When she said that, Ellie slapped herself in the face, figuratively of course. She reached out to put a hand on her shoulder to apologize. "Hannah, I didn't-"

"No." Hannah shook her hand off and stood up. "You were right, we have nothing in common. I shouldn't have tried to befriend you," she said looking down at the girl who had brushed off her attempt at making friends. She turned to go back in the diner, but Ellie quickly stood up to block her path trying to apologize.

"Hannah, wait," she pleaded as she put her hands on Hannah's shoulders. Hannah stopped and looked off to the side, trying not to make eye contact. "I didn't know that this was so important to you. I didn't mean what I said, I'm just an idiot sometimes. I just… those were my emotions talking. And they're… they're unruly and never mean what they say." Hannah tried to walk around Ellie, but again she blocked her path. "Please wait and listen to me," she said, putting her hands on Hannah's shoulders again. Hannah now was at least making eye contact with Ellie. "You have to understand. I've been through a lot of traumatic stuff, and my emotions tend to get out of hand. I didn't mean to hurt you. I never want to hurt anyone. Please… just... disregard everything I said, and please forgive me."

Hannah stood there for several seconds, pondering what Ellie said. She sounded like she was genuinely sorry, and decided that it would be best to forgive and forget. She smiled, and said "I forgive you."

Ellie smiled back, thankful that the girl took her apology to heart. "Hug it out?" she asked bashfully as she shrugged her shoulders.

Hannah chuckled a bit at Ellie's proposition. "Sure." They both wrapped their arms around each other and held on for a few seconds. "I really hope we can be friends."

"Me too," Ellie replied as she let go.

"Oh, and… do you think I'll ever have to kill someone?" Hannah asked, seeming sincerely worried at the thought.

Ellie paused. She knew that at some point it may be necessary, but she didn't want that time to ever come. "I hope not."

"Me too. Well, let's go back into the diner now."

"Right behind you – oh wait!" Ellie quickly went back to where she had been sitting on the sidewalk and grabbed the plate she nearly left out there. "Don't want Buckley to get this. That mutt's fat enough as it is."

Hannah laughed. "Yeah. And if he farts afterwards we'd have to evacuate the entire town."

Both girls broke out in manic laughter at that remark. "Yeah, tell me about it!"

As they walked back into the diner, they looked at each other and knew that this was the start of a great friendship, despite being shaky at first. Hannah was especially grateful, having never had a true friend before in her life. Ellie realized, after hearing what Hannah said, how important this friendship was to her. She told herself that if she was the only friend Hannah would ever have, she'd need to make sure it was really meaningful.

Despite not having much, if anything at all, in common, the two felt a strong connection. Ellie had been hesitant to become close to anyone because of what happened with Riley and Sam, but at last she felt like she could push those memories aside for Hannah.

That concludes chapter 2 of Brand New Start. In the next chapter: Ellie and Joel get the grand tour.

P.S. If you follow or favorite it, please also leave a review! Even if it's only one sentence, feedback is what's most important to me.