Ellie sat silently in the kitchen. She bobbed her knee up and down and stared at the tiled floor below her. The atmosphere around the house was a dull sensation and extremely depressing. Ellie was waiting for you to come out of the shower. It was early in the morning, she felt as if she'd had plenty of time.
The bathroom door clicked open after an agonising wait. Ellie looked up and rose from the chair almost immediately. Her blood ran cold.
You strutted into the kitchen whilst towel drying your hair. Your face lit up once you saw Ellie standing in the kitchen, waiting for you.
"Hey, you wanted to talk?" You smiled up at her, trying your best just to stay in good spirits for Ellie.
Ellie closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again with a light sigh. You gazed up at the auburn haired female in curiosity, waiting for her next thread of words. Ellie had sat back down and gestured for you to sit down in the dining chair ahead of her. You turned and slowly perched into the chair in front of Ellie.
"Now.. I care about you, Y/n, I love you a lot too." She started slowly.
You stared into her green eyes that avoided eye contact with your e/c ones.
"I've made a decision that I'm sticking with until it's over. I'm going after the WLF."
Your eyes widened within a heartbeat and you gasped. You were taken aback from Ellie's sudden answer, was she crazy?
"Ellie.. are you insane? You don't know how large that group is.. h-.. how many there are!"
Ellie cursed beneath her breath, she knew that this would happen, "Y/n, I don't care. If it was me or you, Joel would be halfway to Seattle by now."
You scoffed in disbelief and put your hands onto your hips, "How do you plan on finding them?" Ellie folded her arms and pursed her lips, "They're from Seattle. I can just make it to the city and go from there, them and their group have to be crawling around that place."
You dropped the damp towel onto the kitchen counter and turned your back to Ellie with closed eyes. Ellie sported a hurtful expression as she stared at the back of your head. Silence filled the air and the tension between the two of you grew.
"I'm not asking you to come with me.. I'm telling you that I'm going." Her eyes glistened with warm tears. You kept quiet before slowly turning around, your gaze averting to the falling snow outside.
You hiccuped in a soft sob and wiped the tears that began streaming from your eyes. Slowly, you turned around to face Ellie and looked her dead in the eyes.
"Ellie. I made myself a promise awhile ago. Wherever you go.. I go."
Ellie's bottom lip trembled and she pulled you into her warm embrace tightly. You held back your helpless sobs and wrapped your arms around your taller girlfriend. She smiled lightly but deep down she felt so much heavy guilt from dragging you along like this. Although, it was your decision to come along, you cared way too much about Ellie to let her go alone.
"How will we leave the town? All patrols have been postponed for the next few weeks.. nobody wants to take anymore risks."
She held your elbows and looked down at you, "We're gonna have to sneak out. Last night whilst you were sleeping, I snuck out and left my bag by the north entrance.. we can go from there, just trust me."
You nodded up at her.
"Okay.. okay."
"I just need to pick up a few things before we go.." Ellie stepped over the small fence that separated you from Joel's small grave. You huffed in pain and looked up at Ellie. Her puffy eyes told you everything she was feeling.
"Okay."
You offered your hand to Ellie and she slowly intertwined her fingers with yours. The two of you walked in silence towards the exit of the graveyard. Ellie stared the ground as you both walked, your warm breath showing in the winter air.
"Maria has closed off all the entrances completely.. there will be no luck getting out anytime soon. We'll definitely have to sneak out like you said." You spoke softly.
Ellie hummed in response. She tightened her grip onto your small hand and kept up the pace with you.
You approached Joel's vacant home slowly and Ellie parted from your surprisingly warm hand. She trudged up towards the closed door and reached her shaky hand towards the doorknob. Her hand continued to shake uncontrollably and she stared down at it. You noticed this and placed a hand onto her arm slowly.
"What do you need? I can go in and get it for you, love."
Ellie shook her head and looked towards you.
"No, I have to do this."
You nodded in understanding as Ellie pushed the door open with a deep breath. You followed suite and closed the door behind you respectfully.
"I'll wait down here for you, take as long as you need." You leaned up and pecked Ellie on the cheek lovingly. She nodded and drowsily made her way up the stairs. For a moment, you stopped and watched her with folded arms and a worried look on your face. Your sighed and made your way to the dining room where you sat quietly.
The silence throughout the dead mans house grew and grew. You stared out the window towards the snowy environment and held back tears that threatened to spill. You wiped your eyes and closed them, lowering your head.
Moments passed until the front door suddenly opened. You turned around to look immediately, only to see Maria strutting towards you with a piece of paper held firmly in her tense grip. You rose from the chair.
"Maria! I wasn't expecting you here."
She shook her head to you.
"Where's Ellie?"
"She's upstairs."
"Can you get her for me.. please?"
You nodded and shouted from the hall, "Ellie! Can you come down here?"
Ellie replied, "What is it?"
You cursed slightly, "Just come down please."
You slowly made your way back to the dining room where Maria paced back and fourth nervously. You slowly sat back down across the table from her.
Ellie dawdled into the room shortly after you had called her down. She locked eyes with Maria and frowned slightly.
Without another word, Maria began reading out the words on the paper in front of her. She swallowed nervously as you both listened intently.
Tommy had left his wife a letter, informing her that he would be going after the group that killed your beloved Joel.
You mouth dropped slightly and Ellie began to immediately retaliate.
"I'm not fucking staying." She folded her arms in disobedience and shot a foul look towards Maria.
"He's gonna get himself killed." Maria leaned herself against the table with her hands.
"He should've let me go with him." Ellie spat.
"It wasn't your idea was it?" Maria frowned towards Ellie. You sat with your arms folded quietly.
"I'm going after him, Maria. You can't stop this."
Ellie let her arms fall beside her and she shot Maria a serious stare. Maria scoffed and stood up straight from leaning on the table.
"So you're just gonna sneak on out of here?" She frowned at your girlfriend harshly.
"Yeah." Ellie replied almost instantly.
Silence fell between the three of you. Maria had her gaze scan over you both a couple times. She turned to you.
"You going with her?"
You stared up at the blonde woman with wide eyes. You nodded, "Yah."
The older woman sighed tiredly and folded the letter up whilst looking at the floor. She leaned onto the table once more and looked at you both.
"I told the stables to let you out with your horse. Grab some ammo on your way out, you'll need it." Maria's expression softened and you sighed with relief.
"Thank you, Maria." You smiled reassuringly at her.
Maria sighed, "Just do me a favour.. bring my dumbass husband home in one piece."
Ellie nodded with a stern frown, "Of course."