𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞¹, the last of us

013. 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬

"Yeah," Ellie contributed, "There's, like, actually shit to do here."

Henry raised an amused eyebrow, "Wouldn't be so bad to wait the light out a bit. Safer in shadows when we pop back out on the other side."

Joel huffed, shaking his head dismissively as he gave into the pleas.

He and Henry had chosen to sit at a larger table, watching fondly as the younger trio chuckled over their childish antics. It was a sweet sight to see three children and a dog find something they could enjoy—despite the raging conflicts above.

Joel and Henry sat in a hushed conversation, the older man turning as he felt a tap on his shoulder. Joel turned with a raised eyebrow, meeting the childish stare of Sam's as the younger boy shyly held out a piece of paper.

Joel took it unsurely, his eyes scanning over it curiously. He heard the soft snickers the brothers shared as the younger one dashed back over to the older blonde, hiding his head in her shoulder as gently pulled him into her side fondly.

On the piece of paper, the drawing of a cowboy carrying a lasso, and wearing cowboy boots and a hat riding a horse adorned the page. Labelled under the drawing sat the words: Joel the cowboy! in childish writing.

Joel didn't need to guess who'd encouraged the boy to draw it, nor did he have to imagine how that conversation went. Simply from the innocent grin falling over Lizzie's face was he granted confirmation.

Lizzie chuckled lightly as she wrapped an arm around the boy, giving him a thumbs up with her free hand. She, Ellie, and Sam had spent the last while drawing all kinds of pictures—Lizzie's favourite being the one that now lingered in Joel's hand as the man stared at her, unamused.

She smiled lightly as the boy turned to her with a drawing—depicting Himself, Henry, Ellie, Joel, Bellamy, and Lizzie all lined up, each of their hands connected besides Bellamy's.

A character labelled 'Joel' sat first, his hand connected to Ellies, Ellie's connected to Lizzie's, Lizzie's connected to Sam's, and Sam's connected to his older brother's. Beside's Henry, Bellamy sat with the words 'Belamy' underneath, and Lizzie didn't have the heart to tell him he'd spelt it incorrectly.

Instead, she grinned at the boy, sharing a look with Ellie as she carefully folded the drawing and placed it in her pocket, ruffling Sam's hair fondly.

Before Lizzie could even blink again, a football collided with her head, causing her to let out a yelp as she fell backwards. Her ears met the sweet melody of Ellie's vibrant laughter as the girl doubled over laughing from her space in front of a net with the words 'Goal' written above it.

Lizzie turned in mock offence when she heard Sam's laughter flood her ears as he joyfully beamed. He moved from his space beside her, running over to Ellie as the girl beckoned him closer.

Lizzie raised an eyebrow, scoffing playfully as she got up and grabbed the football. She placed it on the floor, kicking it past Ellie and into the goal.

"That's not fair! I wasn't ready." Ellie chuckled, kicking the ball back to the girl.

The two girls and Sam played for a while, giggling and messing as they playfully tackled each other. Bellamy had also joined in, chasing after the ball as though it were the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.

What surprised Lizzie was the fact that she wasn't the worst at playing football—matter of fact, she was actually quite good.

She scored past Sam, grinning as she raised her arms in the air and twirled. She turned to look at Joel, and said as though she didn't need to think about it, "Joel, did you see that?"