(Three Years Ago)
It was after the party that was being attended in the center of the town. Enid had decided to attend after being convinced by Jesse. As expected, the tension between her and Ellie was high; They barely said a word to each other.
Joel made his way back home as well. He got his guitar and sat down on the back porch and started to play it. As for Enid, she stayed inside the house, in the living room.
She felt a bit jealous when Dina kissed Ellie. She still had feelings for Ellie, but she knew that Ellie wouldn't reciprocate said feelings after what Joel and Enid did with the Fireflies.
Then, Joel saw Ellie coming up on the porch. He looked up at her with a grin. "Hey." he softly said, setting the guitar aside. Instead of sitting next to him, Ellie walked over to the railing and let her hands rest on it. She glanced over at Joel as he got up from his chair.
Ellie saw that he was carrying a mug that had an owl on it. "What're you drinking?" she asked, looking down. "Coffee." he replied, leaning against the snow covered railing. "Where'd you get it?" Ellie asked, now looking at him.
"Uh, those people that came through last week. A little embarrassed as to what I had to do to get it, but…" Joel answered, taking a drink of his coffee, "It's not bad." Ellie sighed and looked away from him.
"Where's Enid?" Ellie asked, not seeing Enid anywhere. "She's inside the house. Got too cold for her, I suppose." Joel answered, taking another drink of his coffee. "No, I don't think so. She's pissed at me," Ellie sighed, coiling her fingers around the railing.
"Well, she did seem upset earlier. Said you two got into an argument." Joel sighed, looking down. Silence fell between them, neither one wanting to break it for a good minute or so. "We had Seth under control, you know." Ellie said, glancing over at Joel.
"Yeah, I know." Joel sighed, taking another drink. "And you need to stop harassing Jesse about our patrols." Ellie scolded, pushing herself up on the railing but her hands were still on it. "Okay." Joel said.
"Is Enid still your girlfriend or is she just your friend? After what had happened, you…" Joel asked, still looking down at his coffee, which had steam rising from it.
"I know what I said. I did say that we were done but… after what she said back there got me thinking. So... I guess we're still friends," Ellie replied, feeling bad after the argument they've had.
"Yeah. I know that she still loves you." Joel says, looking at Ellie, who was looking away. "Is Dina your girlfriend?" Joel asked her sincerly.
"God, I'm so stupid." she sighed. "Look, I know what her intentions are but… I know how lucky Enid is to have you as a friend. That other girl would be lucky to have you too," Joel replied with a sigh.
"If that's it then, you two are such assholes. I was supposed to die in that hospital. My life would've fucking mattered. But you two took that from me." Ellie said sternly, hitting the wooden railing with the side of her hand.
Joel pushed himself up and he sighed in defeat. "If somehow the Lord gave me a second chance at that moment… I'd do it all over again." Joel replied, being completely honest with her.
"Yeah…" Ellie sighed, "I just… I don't think I can ever forgive you guys for that… but I'm willing to try."
"I'd like that." Joel said, nodding his head a little bit. "Okay." Ellie replied.
"You should go check on Enid. I'm sure she'd love to hear from you." Joel said, looking forward. "Alright. I'll see you around." Ellie said, walking away from the railing and towards the door. She carefully opens the door that led into the kitchen.
Closing it behind her, she calls Enid's name softly. At the sound of that, there was movement coming from the living room. Ellie followed the sound and saw Enid sitting up on the couch, obviously trying to sleep after that night out.
"Hey." Enid said with a grin. "Hey, sleeping?" Ellie asked, sitting down next to Enid. "Well, tch, I was trying to." Enid answered, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Yeah, you always were a light sleeper." Ellie pointed out. "Psh, thank you captain obvious." Enid joked. A silence fell between them for a few seconds.
"So… at the party…" Ellie commented. "If it's about what Seth said to you and Dina, and how you bitched at Dad and me for helping you, I don't want to hear it," Enid said bitterly.
"It's not about that. I thought about what you said back there," Ellie clarified. "Really? I'm glad you listened to me. But I don't think that's the reason you came to talk to me, is it?" Enid asked her.
Ellie looked away for a moment and sighed in defeat. "You're right. It's not. I already talked to Joel about this." Ellie said, glancing over at her.
"Ellie… about what happened at the hospital. I know now that you had to die to save what's left of humanity. I realize now that I was being fucking selfish. Fuck, joining them was being selfish," Enid said, biting her lip.
"Yeah, I know you were. Both you and Joel. But, why did you do that?" Ellie asked her.
"Ellie… after Marlene told us that… they were going to kill you to get the vaccine, something inside of me snapped. Dad and I couldn't let you go. You have the right to not forgive us for what we did. I can't tell you how bad it hurt me that I kept that from you. We shouldn't have made that decision for you," Enid said, feeling her eyes welling up with tears.
Enid then felt her hand being covered with Ellie's, getting her to look at the older girl. "You're right. I shouldn't have to forgive you and Joel. But… I'm willing to try. I mean, why didn't you tell me sooner?" Ellie said, still having her hand on Enid's.
"You don't know how many times I wanted to tell you the truth. Guess the thought of losing you was unbearable to me and Dad," Enid quietly said. "Oh. I see. Please be honest with me next time, okay?" Ellie replied, recoiling her hands.
"Yeah, I know," Enid replied, looking down.
After a few minutes of silence, Ellie spoke first. "Okay. I'll be in our garage," Ellie said, getting up from the couch. "Okay. See ya," Enid replied, giving Ellie a smile. Ellie walked to the door and left.
Enid knew her relationship with Ellie was rocky ever since she found out the truth. She would sleep on the garage couch for the night.
Little did they know, it would be their last conversation.
(Present Time)
The duo had dinner and laid back on the couch to watch a movie. Ellie had found a DVD set of Savage Starlight while Enid was gone. Before all of this, they had no idea that there was an adaptation to their favorite comic books.
Enid wasn't able to sleep that night. She didn't feel tired for some reason. She sat up in bed and she rubbed her eyes.
She was sleepy, but she just couldn't sleep. Enid glanced back at Ellie, who had fallen asleep an hour prior to her.
After kissing her on the forehead, expressing her love for Ellie, she gets out of bed and walks to the adjacent room from theirs.
She opened the door and found that it was dark in there. She turned on the lamp that sat on the desk. The room was flooded with it's small yellow light.
The guitar that Joel had given her and Ellie laid by Enid's feet with the case closed. Enid knelt down in front of the guitar and she opened it, seeing the polished wooden instrument sitting comfortably in the case.
She pulled it out by the neck and sat down in one of the chairs that was in the room.
After tuning it, she tries to play Future Days, but some of the notes were distorted. Hearing this made her feel so discouraged. She couldn't play the guitar anymore because of two of her fingers being severed.
She felt like a terrible person for even going out after Abby. But at what cost was it to her and to those around her?
It cost her her fingers, her mothers knife, one of her eyes. Killing Abby wouldn't fix anything, it would only keep the cycle of violence going without any signs of stopping.
But she did the right thing by stopping what she was doing and sparing Abby's life.
She let out a sigh, resting her arm on the side of the guitar. "God... I'm so stupid..." she said to herself and she set the guitar against the wall. She got up and went into the bathroom.
Turning on the light, Enid looked at herself in the mirror. "Jesus..." she quietly said, not recognizing herself anymore.
She rubbed her disfigured eye, seeing how it was clouded over. The scar was smooth to the touch. "This isn't me... What did I do to myself?" she muttered, walking out of the bathroom.
She went downstairs and went outside. It was pitch black outside, but Enid turned on the porch light. The light didn't get passed an inch off of the porch.
She sat down on the porch swing with a sigh. It felt really chilly tonight. Enid shivered, rubbing her bare arms. Why didn't she think to grab a jacket before coming out there?
Enid looked down at her severed fingers and wiggled them around. A part of her was hoping they were still there.
Suddenly, she felt a blanket being thrown over her shoulders, causing her to jump with a yelp.
"Easy, it's just me," Ellie said, backing up a bit. Enid looked up and saw Ellie standing away with her hands raised.
"Oh... sorry. Been a bit jumpy lately," Enid said, relaxing and pulling the blanket further around her shoulders. Ellie sat down with her and clasped her hands together.
Enid glanced over at her. "Blanket's big enough for both of us," she said, opening it up to let Ellie in. "Oh, how generous of you," Ellie said sarcastically, getting under the blanket with Enid.
"You're such a bitch in the morning," Enid said with a chuckle as she tightened the blanket around their shoulders. Ellie let out a chuckle. "It's the company I keep," Ellie replied with a cheeky smile.
"Yeah, yeah. What happened with sleeping?" Enid asked. "Well, the bed was cold. I saw you sitting out here so that's why I brought you the blanket," Ellie replied.
"Oh. Sorry, I couldn't sleep," Enid replied, letting Ellie rest her head on Enid's shoulder. "How come?" Ellie asked, sounding a bit worried.
"I don't know honestly. I guess it was about me going after Abby. I wanted all of this to end. I was so close to killing her. But... something happened," Enid said, remembering the vision that she had.
Ellie raised up and looked at her with a perplexed look on her face. "What?" she asked.
Enid glanced down for half a second. "Just as I was about to kill her, I saw both you and Dad in a vision. That's what made me stop. The continuous cycle of violence had to end. When I looked at myself, I couldn't recognize who I was anymore. Hell, I don't even know who I am anymore," she explained, feeling disgusted with herself.
Ellie pushed herself up and looked at Enid. "I know who you are," Ellie said to her. Enid looked back at her. "You do?" she asked her.
"Yeah. From day one, you weren't afraid to protect the ones who are close to you. You're resilient. You're funny. Quite the smartass too. You're the best person I've ever known," Ellie explained, holding Enid's scarred face in her hands.
Enid felt hot tears rise in her eyes. She knew that Ellie meant every word. "Ellie..." she gasped, covering her girlfriend's hand with her own.
"I love you for you, Enid. Don't think yourself as a monster for everything you and Joel had done. You did what you had to do in order to come back," Ellie explained further.
"E-Ellie... Thank you. I am my father's daughter, ain't I?" Enid said. Ellie leaned over and kissed Enid deeply yet affectionately. Enid kissed her back just as affectionately.
"You definitely are. Why don't we go back inside? It's cold out here," Ellie suggested, already pulling Enid onto her feet with the blanket still around her shoulders.
"Yeah, sounds good," Enid replied, following Ellie inside the house. Ellie shut the door behind them. It was much warmer inside the house.
"I'm still not tired though. I would play the guitar, but... I can't..." Enid said as she went upstairs to their bedroom. She sat on the bed.
"How come?" Ellie asked. "My fingers," Enid answered, looking down at her severed fingers.
Ellie sat down next to her. "Oh. Well, how about I play?" Ellie suggested. Enid smiled a bit. "Yeah, that'd be nice. It's been a while since I... uh, heard you play last," Enid replied.
Ellie smiled back. "Okay. Let me go get it," she said, getting up from the couch. She went across the room and came back with the guitar in her hand.
She sat down on the bed. Enid scooted back a tiny bit to give Ellie some room.
Ellie tuned the guitar to where she needed it and she started strumming it. A sweet sound came from the guitar as Ellie started to play it.
Then, Ellie started to sing:
I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
I don't care 'cause I'm not there
And I don't care if I'm here tomorrow
Again and again, I've taken too much
Of the things that cost you too much
I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun
When I was a very small boy
Very small boys talked to me
Now that we've grown up together
They're afraid of what they see
That's the price that we all pay
And the value of destiny comes to nothing
I can't tell you where we're going
I guess there was just no way of knowing
I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun
I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
The chances are we've gone too far
You took my time and you took my money
Now I fear you've left me standing
In a world that's so demanding
I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun
After a final few strums, Ellie rested her arm on the side of the guitar.
"That was nice, Ellie," Enid replied, unable to stop blushing when she heard Ellie sing the song.
"Yeah. Been playing a lot since you were gone," Ellie said, sounding grim. "Oh... I see. But I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere. Nothing on this damn planet is going to seperate us ever again," Enid announced, taking Ellie's hand.
Ellie squeezed Enid's hand again and she smiled back but only for a moment.
"Ellie?" Enid said. "You've left me four times before. I don't want that to happen ever again," Ellie said, setting the guitar on the floor.
"And it won't happen again. I promise you, Ellie. I love you. I swear to you, I won't ever leave you again," Enid said earnestly.
"Are you sure?" Ellie asked. Enid scooted closer to her and kissed her. She broke the kiss and pressed her forehead against Ellie's. "I'm sure..." Enid declared.
Ellie leaned closer and kissed Enid again, who kissed back. A second later, they melted into it and Enid lowered Ellie on the bed while they kissed.
Enid laid atop of the love of her life, Ellie, whose arms were wrapped around Enid's neck. After a while, they broke the kiss and Enid laid next to her.
They were less than an inch away from each other. This was the only place they wanted to be, at each other's side.
Enid opened her eyes and stared at Ellie with her good eye. She couldn't be more happy to have Ellie right beside her. She reached over and gently brushed a loose lock of hair over Ellie's ear. Ellie opened her eyes and gazed back at Enid, smiling brightly.
There wasn't anything that could ever tear them apart after all they've been through. Never again.
There we go. This is the end of this story. There is more to this, however, I'm not gonna post it on here. Thank you for sticking with me. If I made any mistakes, please let me know.
