#27th death anniversary

[theroyalsandi]

Twenty-seven years ago, on August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, tragically died in a car accident in Paris, France. The news shocked the world and left millions devastated by the sudden loss of the people’s princess. She will be forever loved, always missed and never forgotten.

[thewales-family]

Ten pictures in memory of Princess Diana who died 27 years ago on August 31st 1997 -August 31st 2024.

[lunette3002]

Happy April 27th, aka the anniversary of Jason Todd's death ✌️🥲

I posted a fic about it, but NOT the unfinished one that's been a WIP for three April 27ths now 😂

Summary: When a change in Crime Alley brings the hurt of a lost little Robin back to the forefront of her mind, a Crime Alley resident needs a moment to herself on her roof. An unexpected visitor joins her.

[m-owo-n]

.

[jacensolodjo]

Tomorrow, October 27th, marks the 5th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting. For any of those who may not remember or forgot a few details, especially outside of the US: in 2018, a man named Robert Bowers went into the Tree of Life Synagogue during their Shabbat morning services and opened fire. 11 Jews lost their lives. On August 3, 2023, Robert Bowers was sentenced to death for this antisemitic crime. This was the worst mass shooting of Jews in the US to date.

Yesterday, October 25th, Jewish students at Cooper Union, a college in New York had to barricade themselves in the library while 'protestors' banged on the doors and shouted 'Free Palestine'. Note that the students had done absolutely nothing to cause this and have absolutely no power to do anything about the situation in the Middle East. This was an antisemitic attack, not a protest. You don't trap people for a protest. That's basic protesting rules. Disrupting is NOT the same as trapping. Peaceful protesting is defined as not blocking doors. Even if the students had opened the doors the demonstrators were right there and threatening. Not peaceful. It took over 40 minutes for the students to be safely escorted out of the building.

Also yesterday, a 6-person family in LA was woken up at approximately 520am by a man who kicked in their door and was wielding a knife. Blessedly (somewhat) he had entered the master bedroom first where he confronted the husband and his pregnant wife (at 9 months which means any amount of stress could put her into labor and put her baby at risk). All four children were also at home. By the grace of Hashem, the husband was able to fend off the knife-wielding antisemite. Multiple reasons he knew they were Jewish range from the mezuzah on their door to the fact he is apparently a neighbor and had talked to them before a few months previous where he found out they are Israeli. He apparently was drunk but had the wherewithal to state his intentions: he was going to kill them because they are Jews.

October has not been kind to Jews in the past few years and especially not this week in particular. Please, we are not okay. We are very tired and hurt and scared.

[thisapplepielife]

Written for the @steddieholidaydrabbles pop-up Anniversary challenge.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Prompt: Anniversary | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: Language | Tags: Future Fic, Eddie Munson Lives, Or Did He?, He Definitely Did Right?, A Glitch in the Matrix, Shifted Timelines, Parallel Universes, Sliding Doors

"What are you doing?" Eddie asks sleepily. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the familiar shape of Steve crossing along the foot of bed, heading towards the window. 

That isn't unusual. If Steve hears a siren, or a dog barking, anything, he crawls out of bed and heads to the window to look. But tonight, Eddie hadn't heard anything. 

"Huh?" Steve responds, from bed, next to Eddie.

Eddie looks again, expecting to see Steve bent over at the waist, looking out the window, but there's nothing there. Instead, Steve's in bed, and has clearly been asleep.

Eddie swallows. Maybe he was dreaming, "Sorry. I think I was dreaming," he says, hoping he can convince himself of that. He looks at the alarm clock on the nightstand, and it's just after three.

Steve chuckles, voice rough with sleep, and pulls the comforter up over his shoulder.

Eddie thinks, weird. 

But then it continues happening. 

All day, he's felt like there's someone just out of his line of sight, and that person seems a whole lot like Steve. Eddie isn't scared, per se. He's unnerved, for sure, but it feels like Steve. Not a ghost or a demon, or anything sinister. 

It's just like a second version of Steve is moving around the house, dancing along his peripheral vision, and Eddie is forced to only observe. 

It's not until later that he realizes the date: March 27th, 2006. 

It's the anniversary of his near death in the Upside Down. That can't be a coincidence. That's the day he was sure he was dying, if not already dead, and then he suddenly wasn't. The bites weren't that bad. All superficial. He barely even needed any medical attention at all.

Dustin had overreacted.

And, yeah, it felt hazy at first, but they all just blamed it on the stress and adrenaline he'd been pumped full of. Blamed it on the near death experience that wasn't actually that near death at all.

And now, he's seeing an echo, a ghost, of someone very much alive. 

There's a glitch in the matrix. 

Like when you see two people, strangers, on public transportation wearing the exact same shirt, sitting one row in front of the other. Only, Eddie's seeing Steve. A different version of Steve.

Eddie does a deep dive on the internet. Decides it's not a glitch in the matrix at all. Instead, he's pretty damn sure he's shifted timelines from the one where he died, to this new one where he didn't, and now they're bleeding together. All these years later.

Steve listens, patiently, and then kisses him on the top of the head, "Honey, I was there. You lived. I promise. 'Twas barely a scratch."

Eddie nods. 

Of course. Of course that's true. 

But he thinks maybe the other outcome was true, too.

Shadow Steve is getting more vibrant, and now Eddie can follow him around the house. Not really able to look at him straight on, but if he keeps the corner of his eye trained in his direction, he can see him for longer stretches.

He's the same, but different. 

Quieter, sadder. More alone. 

And there's no Eddie there. Eddie is 100% sure of that. 

He's gotta do something about this.

Eddie's sitting outside of Nancy's office when she comes out of the door.

"Eddie!" she says, surprised, but happy to see him. He's about to rain all over her parade.

"I'm dead. I'm in the wrong timeline," he says, and her face falls. She reaches out, and puts her hand on his forearm.

"C'mon," she says, and he gets in her car, and looks down at his hands.

"What's going on?" she finally asks.

"I'm seeing Steve, in the house," he explains, and she raises an eyebrow, and he laughs, "Not that Steve. Not my Steve. But he's there, too. He's good," he promises. Because he knows she'll worry.

"Start from the beginning," she urges, and he does. Telling her everything.

"It's just a glitch in the matrix," she assesses, and he shakes his head.

"It's not. It's too frequent. It wasn't a one and done deal. It wasn't a trick of the light, or a shadow. He's there. Just outta my sight. Like he's in a parallel universe."

"And you're sure it's Steve? Not something Upside Down-related?"

"It's Steve. I'm not scared of him. Because it's Steve."

Nancy follows him all the way back to Hawkins, then sits on the bed beside him. 

"Eddie," she says, and he shushes her. Taking her cheeks, forcing her to look in the direction he wants. It doesn't take long.

"There!" Eddie says, and Nancy gasps. 

Fuck. He was kinda hoping he was just losing his mind.

"You can see him?" he asks.

"I can see him. Barely. Out of the corner of my eye. It's definitely Steve."

Eddie sighs, "Told you. What the fuck do I do now?"

Steve can't see him. Eddie can. Nancy can. Robin can. Dustin can.

But, Steve? He just can't.

Nancy thinks it's because it is Steve. The same Steve. Just minding his own business in another timeline, that's now somehow bleeding into theirs. 

"Do you think this is lingering weirdness from the Upside Down?" Eddie asks.

"If it is, we should get El," Dustin suggests, and they all agree.

El takes one look at him, "That is Steve."

"Yes, we're aware," Eddie says, "how do we merge the two?"

"You cannot."

"Can we at least close the damn curtains?" Eddie doesn't want to keep seeing this Steve.

El thinks about that, "Maybe."

She forces Steve to hold her hands, and while reluctant, he's willing. For Eddie.

It's quiet, then Steve says, "Oh, whoa. That's me." Then, "Tingly."

And Shadow Steve fades away. Disappearing, like he'd never been there.

"Is he okay?" Eddie asks. He doesn't want any version of Steve to disappear. 

"Yes. Now you cannot see him. Not gone, just invisible again."

"Out of sight, out of mind?" Eddie asks. 

She nods, "Exactly."

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @steddieholidaydrabbles and follow along with the fun!

[yelena-bellova]

Twenty Years Later: Joel Miller x F!Reader - Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine: Dry Your Tears

Plot: Joel, Y/n, Henry, Sam and Ellie make their way out of the tunnel system, but Kansas City refuses to let them leave.

Word Count: 9.4k

Warnings: tlou ep.5 spoilers, implied s*ut, language, canon-typical violence, knives, blood, death, loss of a child, s*icide, (16+)

A/N: Oh, we’re really in it, y’all. This is the last chapter in which you get any sense of happiness, so hold it close to your heart. It all really goes to shit after this…

As always, and I really need people to read this, this series is 16+ and I will not be adding anyone to the taglist unless their age is listed in their bio. Gotta look out for younger eyes 👀

Good night, and good luck, my loves ❤️

———————

May 27th, 2003. Austin, Texas.

The referee’s whistle rang through the air, signaling the play was starting. Sarah had the ball, her team was one goal away from winning the season. If she nailed the shot, she’d bring them to victory.

Now, on his own, Joel was one of the loudest and proudest parents at the games. Adding in Tommy and Y/n had made them their own cheer section.

“Go, Sarah!” Y/n yelled.

“C’mon, babygirl,” Joel clapped, “C’mon.”

“Fuckin’ nail it,” Tommy cheered, earning a light knock to the chest from Y/n, “Frickin’ nail it!”

Sarah wasn’t listening to any of them, she was in the zone. She wound her leg back and kicked the ball, it flew through the air and straight through the goalie’s arms.

Y/n screamed and leapt into Joel’s arms, the whole crowd cheered wildly. Joel spun her around, this felt like a victory for all of them considering how much time they’d spent practicing with Sarah.

After celebrating with her team and taking their yearly photo, Sarah bounded over to her family.

Joel picked his daughter up, not caring if he was embarassing her. Sarah hugged him back.

“You were amazing,” he said, setting her back on the grass.

“You’re so freakin’ good, it hurts,” Y/n grinned, wrapping Sarah in her arms.

“Thanks,” the girl smiled up at Y/n.

Tommy high fived his niece, “Calls for a celebration.”

The four of them drove downtown to the ice cream shop. They parked themselves outside at a table in the shade. In celebration of Sarah’s impending graduation, her recent birthday and Y/n and Joel’s one year anniversary, they were driving down to the beach for a weekend.

“Okay,” Joel said in between bites, “I’ve got the confirmation for the hotel printed out.”

“I’m going to the store tomorrow to pick up the food,” Y/n raised her spoon.

Sarah hummed enthusiastically, swallowing her dessert quickly. “Can you pick me up when you do?”

“Yes,” Y/n nodded, “But you can’t run me into debt.”

“Can I come?” Tommy asked through a mouthful of ice cream.

“You will run me into debt,” Y/n replied with a smile.

Tommy reached into his wallet, theatrically handing Y/n a twenty dollar bill. “Beer money,” he clarified.

“Thank you,” Y/n replied, stuffing the money into her jean pocket, “What time are we leaving on Thursday?”

“I figure 9,” Joel answered, “Try and beat the traffic.”

Practical as he was, Joel was also plain excited. This was the first family vacation Y/n was joining them for.

“We’re leavin’ on a Thursday mornin’,” Tommy interjected, “There’s not gonna be any traffic.”

Joel peeked across the table to Y/n, who met his eyes with an equal level of contained enthusiasm. Celebrating one year of her in his life didn’t warrant waiting a single minute longer than necessary.

“Won’t hurt anybody,” Joel responded, shooting his girlfriend a wink.

————————

Come Thursday, the Millers and guest loaded their bags and coolers into Joel’s truck.

“Sarah?” Y/n called from the bottom of the stairs, they were nearly ready to leave and she was still upstairs, “We gotta go, babe.”

“Coming,” she yelled down, skipping out of her room and down the stairs, carrying something in her hand.

“Whatcha got?” Y/n pointed to the small package.

Sarah waved it nonchalantly in the air, “It’s an anniversary present. For you and Dad.”

Y/n’s heart swelled, “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Well, I did,” she gave a small smile, before scrunching up her face, “Just please don’t make out the entire trip.”

Snorting, Y/n wrapped her arms around Sarah’s neck and walked the two of them out of the house.

Joel and Tommy had just finished their thirty minute game of Tetris with the luggage. There were so many bags for only four days and four people.

“No,” Tommy called out, spotting Sarah’s present, “Not one more fuckin’ thing comes into this truck.”

“It’s a carry-on,” Y/n shouted back with a smile, patting Sarah’s arm after, “Be there in a minute.”

Sarah skipped off to the backseat, passing her dad as she did. Joel ruffled her hair before locking eyes with Y/n across the driveway. She looked so natural, standing on his porch with his daughter in her arms, locking up the front door with her spare key. She’d settled into the family so well.

“See somethin’ you like?” Y/n smiled, sticking her nose up in the air and letting the sun hit her.

“Somethin’ I love,” Joel replied, walking slowly towards her. He encircled her waist with one arm, his other hand holding her hip.

Y/n let her hands slide up Joel’s chest, “Your daughter has requested a vow of celibacy from us this weekend.”

Joel chortled, “That’s ‘cause one day she woke up and decided us lookin’ at each other was disgusting.”

“Well, then,” Y/n got on he tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the tip of Joel’s nose, “Save it for the evenings.”

Joel nuzzled his nose against her cheek, savoring the warmth of her skin and the promise of her words.

“What happened to beatin’ traffic?” Tommy teased from the passenger seat.

Rolling his eyes, Joel turned around to his brother and glared at him. Tommy just smirked and tapped his foot against the dashboard.

“Come on,” Y/n intertwined her fingers with Joel’s, pulling him behind her and marching them both to the truck.

“Seatbelts,” Joel ordered as he got in the front seat.

Y/n settled herself in the backseat next to Sarah, who absentmindedly grabbed her hand and started playing with it. Of all the milestones her and Joel had hit in the past year, Sarah’s casual comfort with her was Y/n’s proudest.

“Alright, gang,” Joel started up the car and backed it out of the driveway, “6 hour drive, settle in.”

Y/n and Sarah cheered from the backseat and Joel swore he could feel a physical warmth spread across his chest.

—————————

It took them all day to get to South Padre Island, having stopped for bathroom breaks and lunch on the way, but they made it in one piece.

Their hotel was modest and one of many on the strip that backed straight up to the beach. The view from the balcony was unmatched, nothing but sand and ocean as far as the eye could see.

Their first full day there, they spent all day on the beach. It was early enough in the year that the full force of summer’s heat hadn’t hit yet. Joel stayed with their cooler, messing around on the guitar he’d brought in a beach chair. Tommy switched between relaxing in the shade with a beer and flirting with whatever lucky woman was in their vicinity. Sarah and Y/n walked the shore, searching for seashells.

Leaving Sarah to keep hunting, Y/n walked back to their spot, admiring the sight before her. Joel looked more at ease than she’d ever seen him, strumming away in the cool shade.

“You’re ogling me’,” he said, trying to sound put off.

“You look happy,” Y/n smiled, pushing past the humor.

Joel peeked up over his sunglasses, taking in the wind blowing through her hair and how the sun shone off her skin. “I am happy,” he replied.

Y/n walked around the back of his chair, bending over to encircle his neck. Joel kept on playing, trying to stay focused as she pressed a loving kiss to his cheek.

Looking out on the beach, Y/n’s eyes found Tommy, buying some girl an ice cream at a vendor’s cart. She watched Sarah, crouched down in the sand and hot on the trail of a particular shell. With Joel in her arms, and her chosen family happy, she felt like everything in her world was just as it should be.

Y/n rested her chin on Joel’s shoulder, “Me too.”

—————————

They’d celebrated both Sarah’s graduation and Y/n’s anniversary on Saturday night with dinner on the beach. There’d been good food and good laughter, especially when Sarah tried oysters for the first time, managing to swallow the bite with a grimace.

When gifts were exchanged, Y/n, Joel and Tommy had compiled their money to get Sarah tickets to see her favorite band. She’d leapt out of her chair and bear hugged all three of them. For Joel and Y/n’s anniversary, she handed them a CD she’d burned a playlist to. Songs she’d heard them listen to or that the three of them had sung together in the car or while Joel played guitar.

Deep into the evening, when Tommy and Sarah had retired to their room across the hall, Joel and Y/n celebrated their anniversary privately.

Joel’s body weight Y/n’s down, pinning her hands above her head and pressing soft kisses across her face. At some point in the night, she’d slipped on his t-shirt. He was convinced that if there was a heaven on earth, he was in it.

“Promise me something,” Y/n breathed, her lips brushing Joel’s cheekbone.

Joel rubbed his nose against Y/n’s, “Anything.”

Pressed into the bed, completely consumed by the man she loved, with a soft ocean breeze flooding through their balcony window, Y/n was in utter bliss. There was nothing that could have made the moment more perfect.

“Promise me it’ll always be like this,” Y/n whispered, her urging eyes boring into Joel’s, “Even when it isn’t.”

Joel’s grip on Y/n’s hands loosened, letting her slip out of his hold with a need to feel her arms around him. Neither of them were under any illusion that life was without its problems, they’d run into them eventually. But through it all, Joel knew that the one thing that would never fade was their complete and utter devotion to one another. That was forever.

Joel brushed away a strand of hair stuck to Y/n’s face from the ocean’s humidity. He ran the tips of his fingers along her cheek, down her neck, tracing the path his lips had traveled moments ago.

“Always,” he promised, his voice soft, but determined.

The room’s energy was emotionally charged, bringing tears to Y/n’s eyes as she gazed up at Joel. He looked so beautiful hanging over her, it nearly broke her heart. She was so overcome with love for this man, she truly didn’t know if she could handle any more. Joel overwhelmed her in the sweetest way possible.

The moonlight reflected off a single teardrop that slipped down Y/n’s cheek. Joel adjusted himself in concern, taking her face into his hand, “What’s wrong?”

Y/n smiled, she’d never known one could be moved to tears by the simple act of adoring someone. “I just love you,” she pushed past the lump in her throat.

Joel’s breath caught in his chest. Even though he’d heard her say those words a hundred times, something about this utterance felt new.

He stroked his thumb over her cheek, wiping away the tear’s streak. They lay intwined, coming alive in one another’s eyes. They’d known for months, really since their first kiss, that they’d be together a long, long time…but there, in a beachside hotel, wrapped in lily white sheets and each other, they knew they could never leave one another.

Joel dove back into Y/n’s lips, his hands slipping under his shirt she wore to hold her hips. He prayed that when the day came for him to die, he’d do so in her arms, her kiss stealing his final breath.

—————————

2023. Kansas City, Missouri.

While the tensions were high the whole way, the five survivors made it through the tunnel system with no issues.

“Do you know where we are?” Joel asked Henry as they made their way through a door. He was still suspicious, nothing was ever as simple as a few tunnels and some luck.

“Yeah,” he answered, “The other side.”

Henry shone his flashlight on a dirty sign stating that it was, indeed, the parking lot to the Bank of America building. They’d made it out. Y/n huffed a sigh of relief, it was a much needed win.

The group headed for the street of the residential area, it was dark and empty allowing them the perfect cover. Joel had still insisted on no flashlights, just to be safe.

Joel led the group, with Ellie, Sam and Henry at the rear, and Y/n sandwiched between. She didn’t particularly feel like being near Joel after the conversation with Henry. She was still trying to shake the memories from her brain, twenty years of wasted energy and not a single one had faded.

Joel didn’t quite know what to do either. He felt at war with himself, a poorly docked ship being drawn out to the open waters against its will. It was getting harder to deny the increasing intensity of his pull to her. Not that it mattered, he still considered her a liar and she hated him with a passion that would never die. But seeing her with the kids, showing the humanity still left in her, had left him unsettled. It was like seeing a home he could never go back to.

“No,” Henry said, having just been signing with Sam, “No one is here. No one’s gonna be here because…my plan worked.

“So much damn talkin’,” Joel remarked from the front of the group.

“I’m just saying,” Henry continued, “I delivered. Make this right, go down the street, embankment behind the last house…and we’re out.”

Y/n and Joel wanted to believe that they were home free, but they’d seen more of the current world than anyone else in the party. Things that seemed too good to be true, almost always were.

“So we cross the river and then what?” Ellie asked, “Where ya gonna go?”

“Don’t know yet,” Henry shrugged.

“Well, we’re goin’ to Wyoming,” Ellie announced.

Joel glared back at her, earning a light hit to the arm from Y/n, who glared right back at him.

“What?” Ellie replied, “It’s a huge state, it can fit two more people.”

“Yeah,” Henry stretched the syllable, not any more keen on the idea than Joel, “Maybe we just call this one a success and say our fond farewells.”

Y/n drifted to walk alongside Joel, his stubbornness breathing a little bit of life back into her. “If you’ve got any happy pills left in your pocket,” she muttered low enough for only them to hear, “I suggest you take them.”

Joel shook his head, glancing out the side of his eyes at her. He couldn’t decide if her silence or her snark was preferable.

“No, he’ll change his mind,” Ellie said to Henry, “Trust me. This is how it goes, he’s like,” she dropped her voice and added a twinge of an accent, “‘No, Ellie. Never, ever, ever happening.”

Y/n couldn’t stop the snort before it escaped her, it physically jerked her body forward. When she looked up, Joel’s hardened stare was resting on her.

“That supposed to be funny?”

“It’s hilarious,” Y/n smiled, still trying to contain her laughter, “And you know it.”

“And then I’m like,” Ellie continued, “‘I’m gonna ask you a million more times.’ And he’s like-“

A gunshot flew past them, killing only the levity.

Joel and Y/n ran for Ellie at the same time, colliding with one another in a heap of arms.

“Move! Move!” Joel ordered, shoving both of them forward, “Go!”

The five of them dove for cover behind an abandoned car, crouching on the asphalt.

“Where the fuck is that coming from?” Henry asked, shielding Sam with his body.

“Shut up,” Joel ordered, peeking his head above the trunk of the car to scan the area. As soon as he was semi-visible, another gunshot hit one of the nearby vehicles.

Henry tried to get a look at the house where the fire seemed to be coming from, earning another close call.

“Fuck,” he muttered, grabbing Sam’s hand, “Let’s move. Let’s go.”

“Henry!” Y/n shouted through her teeth.

“What are you doin’?” Joel yelled, not budging.

“Getting the fuck outta here,” Henry called back, barely making it to the other side of the road before another shot blew past them. He rushed him and Sam back to the first car, “What do we do?”

Y/n and Joel’s brains were working overtime, trying to figure out the best possible course of action. Joel, closest to the house he guessed the gunman was inside, peeked out once more and got another near fatal shot. He was right.

“All right,” Joel breathed, “Stay here.”

“What?” Y/n and Ellie exclaimed in unison.

Joel turned to them, addressing Ellie but drifting his eyes to Y/n at the end of each sentence. “If you don’t move, he’s not gonna hit you. I’m gonna go around, try to get in the house through the back, and then I’ll take him out.”

“No,” Y/n blurted out, “No fucking way.”

“Yeah, if you go out there, he’s gonna kill you,” Ellie agreed.

“It’s dark and he has shit aim,” Joel countered, “Nobody’s gonna kill me.”

“Then he’s gonna kill us,” Ellie replied.

Joel’s eyes flicked between the kid and the woman behind her. He addressed Ellie first, “Do you trust me?”

Hesitating, but eventually rolling her eyes and nodding, Ellie answered.

Joel looked up to Y/n, silently begging her to listen to him. He’d trusted her when Ellie had revealed her immunity, now he needed her to do the same.

Y/n wanted to be unreasonable and illogical, to stew in her anger a little longer. But Joel hadn’t failed them yet on their journey, this wasn’t the place to start.

“You go around the left,” Y/n countered, “I’ll create a diversion so he won’t see you coming.”

“You stay here,” Joel replied, his voice turning to steel.

It was the first time that Y/n didn’t want to argue. She withdrew her pistol from her holster, “I wasn’t asking.”

Joel was busting his ass trying to make sure she was safe and she was throwing herself into open fire to protect him. He felt sick to his stomach.

Y/n took Joel’s reluctant nod and mirrored it, hoping she looked more confidant than she felt. They both brushed a hand against Ellie’s arm, who was terrified to let the only two people she cared about run headfirst into danger.

Joel and Y/n crossed past one another, he grabbed her arm to stop her. The pain-stricken worry in both their eyes communicated all that they couldn’t out loud.

They took up their positions on either end of the car, cocking their guns and drawing a deep breath. Joel nodded to Y/n, signaling for her to move.

Y/n jumped out from the car and ran for the one directly across from her. A gunshot kissed the air behind her, she slid into the asphalt behind the vehicle like it was third base. She could feel the fear creeping up her spine, threatening to break her, but breaking wasn’t an option. Tess’ last wish rang in her ears; keep Joel safe.

Spotting the next car, in the row, she made a beeline for it, dodging two shots on each side of her. She kneeled behind the trunk, peeking out just enough to fire a distracting shot towards the house.

“C’mon, Joel,” she whispered.

Joel was making his way down the street, Y/n serving as the most perfect and unwelcome distraction. Every shot sent a cold shot of panic through him, terrified that the gunman was going to be too quick for her. Just before making it behind the house, he snuck a look over his shoulder and caught her racing across the street, dodging more fire. It urged him to move faster.

Y/n was getting closer and closer to the house, praying that Joel had made it. When she made a clean run to the next car, she assumed that he’d put a stop to the fight. A final shot rang out, but it had come from a different gun. Joel’s gun.

Y/n slumped against the car and exhaled, he was safe.

Joel felt grief pass over him, a drop of it trickling down his throat, as he grabbed the old man’s rifle. He was about to stick his head out the window and signal to Y/n that they were clear, until a sound caught his ear.

“Anthony…Anthony…” a staticky voice called, Joel tracked it beside the old man’s body and found a walkie-talkie, “Anthony, hold them where they are.”

“Fuck,” he muttered, rushing to the window, “Run!”

Y/n stood up, Joel’s voice reassuring her they were in the clear before she registered his words.

“Run!”

Y/n bolted back toward Ellie, Sam and Henry. In the near distance, she could hear the sound of a truck. The same one they’d been dodging for the past day.

“Run!” Joel urged, watching Y/n’s shadow run straight towards the threat.

The truck’s headlights shone down the street, shining right on Y/n. She collided with Ellie, wrenching the girl ahead of her and racing back towards the house. Behind them, the fleet of trucks were beginning to plow through the rows of cars.

Determined, Joel started to fire at the truck’s windows, trying to take out the driver.

Blindly, Ellie and Y/n began to fire their pistols at the main truck after them. Without being able to take proper aim, their attempts failed, but they kept trying.

Ellie’s gun ran out of bullets as the truck began to gain on her. Y/n wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pushing her to go faster. Ellie tripped, bringing Y/n down with her. Y/n enveloped the girl in her arms, putting her body between the truck and Ellie.

At that exact moment, Joel had fired a perfect shot, taking out the driver and causing the truck to crash through the front of a nearby house. He’d bought them mere seconds, a whole fleet of cars were behind them and their passengers were about to surround Ellie and Y/n.

“Come on,” Y/n urged, pulling Ellie to her feet, “Move.”

They’d barely made it two steps before they were thrown to the ground again by a blast. The crash had somehow started a fire and both the vehicle and the house surrounding it were set ablaze.

The smoke filled Y/n’s lungs, restricting her airways and letting dizziness to set in. The only clear thought ringing through her head was Ellie, save Ellie.

Joel watched helplessly as Ellie and Y/n lay on the ground. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat, waiting for them to get up. Henry, a godsend in that moment, darted out from behind a car and pulled them both to their feet.

Y/n stumbled back to the car Henry had sought as protection, blindly reaching for Ellie and making herself a barricade once again.

“You okay?” Henry asked them both.

“Yeah,” Ellie muttered, Y/n gave a breathless nod.

Up above the flames, Joel watched a group of rebels walk through the smoke with guns drawn on his window, calling out orders to raid the house. They’d found him.

“Fuck,” he breathed, hiding behind the wall. Unlucky for them, Joel wasn’t so easy to throw in the towel and lose his life.

Below, Kathleen surveyed the damage, strolling casually amongst the flames. “Dead end, Henry,” she called, “Gonna step on out? Save us some time?”

“Is that her?” Y/n whispered, Henry nodded in response.

“No?” Kathleen asked, her tone was eerily even, “That’s all right. Doesn’t matter.”

Henry looked to Sam, who Y/n had an arm around, and knew what he had to do. “I’ll come out,” he replied, “Just let the kids go!”

“No,” Kathleen responded, “Sorry. The girl is with the two who killed Bryan, don’t think I don’t know that the woman’s back there with you too.”

Y/n shut her eyes, the back of her head digging into the car. She knew she’d die eventually, she woke every day faced with the possibility of death. But she wasn’t about to die before she could get Ellie out west.

Joel’s blood ran cold at Kathleen’s words, his hands squeezing the rifle tighter. He had to fight every instinct to fire a bullet straight through her head.

“And Sam” Kathleen continued, “Well, Sam’s with you.”

“You don’t understand,” Henry yelled.

“But I do,” she said calmly, “I know why you did what you did. But did you ever stop to think that maybe he was supposed to die?”

“He’s just a fucking kid!” Henry called back.

“Well, kids die, Henry. They die all the time.”

Y/n’s fear turned to shock and that shock turned to rage. Deep, bitter, twenty year old rage.

Joel watched carefully from his spot, feeling the anger swell in him.

“You think the whole world revolves around him?” Kathleen continued her monologue, “That he’s worth everything? Well, this is what happens when you fuck with fate.”

Henry turned to Y/n and Ellie, bracing himself for his own fate. “Get ready to take him, and run,” he instructed.

“No,” Y/n argued, “I’m not-“

“Yes,” he said, his voice like steel, “Do it.”

Y/n gave in, nodding and taking Sam’s hands with Ellie. “You stay in front of me at all time,” she instructed, reaching out for the girl, “If I go down, you don’t turn back.”

Ellie’s eyes widened, “But-“

“You don’t turn back,” Y/n repeated, forcing her voice to sound strong.

“It’s time, Henry,” Kathleen gritted, her soft voice suddenly dripping with venom, “Enough!”

Henry took a few shuddering breaths before getting to his feet, hands raised in the air. Sam anxiously started to go after his brother, but Ellie and Y/n pulled him back to the ground. The three of them sat there, Y/n and Ellie’s pulses racing as they waited for the inevitable sound, their signal to move.

“It ends the way it ends,” Kathleen said, her calm demeanor returning.

Y/n froze as she listened to Kathleen cock her pistol, squeezing Sam’s hand a little tighter.

But the bullet never came.

Instead, there was a terrible creak from the totaled truck. Ellie scrambled to get a peek while staying hidden, Y/n held up a hand to her and poked the tip of her head out. Just enough to see the car sink into the wreckage of the burning house.

Joel aimed his rifle and came to the window, watching it all happen from above.

Three ominous seconds of silence.

And then they came.

Hordes of Infected came sprinting out of the sinkhole.

Henry rushed back to their spot, Y/n and him shoved the kids in between them and sinking against the car as far as they could. One of the Infected leapt on the hood, a well-timed bullet sinking into its skull.

Joel reloaded the gun, waiting for the next shot.

“Come on,” Henry called, the four of them got to their feet and took off in the direction of the embankment.

Ellie obeyed and stayed ahead of Y/n, who was frantically cocking her handgun. One Infected was chasing after them and she couldn’t get her weapon ready in time.

Joel aimed at the creature trailing Y/n and fired. The body lurched forward, falling on Y/n and causing both her and Ellie to topple to the ground.

Somewhere in their fall, Y/n and Ellie had lost sight of Henry and Sam. Y/n kicked the dead body off of them and glanced up towards the house, she knew who was acting as their guardian angel. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have a job to do as well.

“Car,” Ellie yelled, having quickly crafted a plan in her head.

“Stay low,” Y/n responded.

The two of them army crawled their way through the chaos, screams of both the living and Infected filling the air.

Joel tracked their movements, shooting down any Infected that even looked in their direction.

Ellie and Y/n ran the final distance and dove into the abandoned car through an open window. As Infected began to crawl across the behicle, banging against the windows, one of Joel’s bullets took each one out.

“Get to the back,” Y/n instructed.

The two of them crawled over the seats, taking shelter in the very rear of the vehicle. Ellie’s eyes were wide with terror as she watched the scene play through the dirty glass.

Joel saw them make it in, but his relief didn’t last long. He watched as one of the Infected snaked through the window and into their car. His breath trembled, taking aim and realizing he couldn’t do a damn thing to help them.

Y/n and Ellie heard the dreadful snarling together, their heads turning to watch the Clicker flip through the front seat of the car. Y/n raised her gun and took aim.

Click.

She was out of bullets.

Joel’s brain switched off, his primal instinct to protect taking over as he fired relentless shot after relentless shot, trying to take the Infected out.

The Clicker acrobatically made its way through the car. Ellie blindly reached for the door handle, whimpering in fear as she couldn’t open it. Y/n kicked it with her boot and it swung out, she shoved Ellie roughly out of the car. Y/n slid out, slamming the door behind them and feeling the slam of the Clicker throwing itself against the window.

Joel had lost visual on them briefly, but saw the swing of the car door and how it was still rocking. They’d trapped it.

Somewhere in the noise, a child’s cry could be heard. Y/n’s eyes darted around them, finally spotting Henry and Sam trying to fend off a group of Infected underneath a car.

“Help! Get the fuck away!“ Henry screamed, kicking at one of the creatures, “Get the fuck off me!”

Ellie looked first to Y/n, who was already pulling out her knife from where she hid it in her boot, before they both looked up to where Joel was. Y/n could barely make out his face with the distance.

Joel looked down, knowing that they couldn’t possibly be making eye contact from so far away, but knowing that they were on the same wavelength.

They had to work as a team.

“Go!” Y/n yelled, and they were off.

Joel shot with more precision than he ever had, this was the most he’d ever had at stake. As Y/n and Ellie moved through the crowd, he took out every Infected that were heading for them. He worked as a machine, but the terror he felt was the most human sensation he’d experienced in years.

Y/n shed her humanity, becoming more beast than woman, mercilessly ripping through the throats of any Infected that came near Ellie. She swung onto one’s back, stabbing her knife into its head, and let the collapse of its body land her back on the ground.

Joel and Y/n worked seamlessly together, ground and aerial coming together to protect the one thing that couldn’t be lost. Or in Joel’s case, two somethings.

Ellie and Y/n finally made it to Sam and Henry, there were two clickers still clawing at them. One dragged Henry out from underneath the car, Ellie got behind it and stabbed it. Y/n wrenched the Clicker attacking Sam backwards, staring into where its eyes would have been as she sliced through its heart.

A bullet whizzed past her head, landing in the monster’s skull. Joel needed to be sure.

“Come on, come on,” Ellie helped their friends to their feet, “Go! Go!”

Y/n shoved Ellie in front of her again and they fled the chaos, climbing into the lawn of the house Joel was in.

“Stop!”

The four of them turned to see Kathleen with her gun aimed at Henry, but her eyes flicking between him and Y/n. They didn’t have time to fear for their lives, they clocked the same Clicker who’d almost gotten her and Ellie creeping up an old piece of furniture behind Kathleen.

Kathleen heard the sound, turning around just as the Clicker shot through the air and latched onto her. They watched in terror as the creature claimed the resistance leader’s life.

Joel hurried out of the house, running faster once he saw Y/n and Ellie. He stopped a second, watching as Kathleen lost everything she’d fought so hard for, but didn’t care so long as his people were safe.

“This way now,” Joel yelled, grabbing Y/n’s arm to urge her forward, “Move!”

The group took off, leaving those who had sought to kill them to their fates. Joel and Y/n ran together, keeping one hand on each other the whole time. Their grudge was suffocating, choking under the weight of their undeniable devotion to one another.

————————————

The motel the group landed was a haven to their weary eyes. They broke into one of the rooms and tried to get it through their heads that they were safe. Joel had made sure that no one followed them, they were miles away from any Infected. They could breathe.

Once Ellie and Sam had been squared away with food, they went into the bedroom and began reading Ellie’s collection of comic books. They were either bouncing back spectacularly fast or burying their fear.

Henry, Joel and Y/n sat out in the main room, trying to come down from what they’d just been through. Since fleeing the hellish nightmare, Joel and Y/n hadn’t left each other’s side. She hadn’t even bothered with putting space between them when she sunk down onto the floor. They were pressed against one another and neither of them minded.

“You think they’ll be okay?” Henry asked, picking at a bit of his food and watching his brother from the next room.

Y/n’s eyes drifted to Ellie, she was growing more and more worried about the girl’s psyche. She’d seen so much in such a short span of time.

“Yeah, I think,” Joel answered, “It’s easier when you’re a kid, anyway,” he met Henry’s stare with intention, “You don’t have anybody else relying on you. That’s the hard part.”

“Well,” Henry looked down at his food, “I guess we’re doin’ a good job then.”

Y/n and Joel both looked to the kids, Ellie was helping Sam to read one of the pages.

“What’s that comic book say?” Joel asked, “‘Endure and survive?’”

“Endure and survive,” Y/n repeated.

Henry chuckled, “That shit’s redundant.”

Joel shook his head, this was as close as he’d come to laughing with another person. “Yeah, it’s-it’s not great.”

Y/n gave a small smile, not quite to the point of being able to laugh about any part of the day.

Joel turned to look at her, drawing her gaze to him and focusing on the two quirked corners of her lips. It used to be his favorite game, making them rise until she’d complain her cheeks hurt. Tonight was the first night that he’d been able to make her smile again, and the little bit of his old self that was on life support took a breath.

Y/n let her eyes drift across Joel’s face, resting in the way he returned it. It was a dangerous fucking place to be, but after what they’d just gone through, she was too tired to fight her way out.

A loud laugh from Ellie snapped them out of whatever moment they were having.

“Look,” Joel turned to Henry, “I don’t know exactly how we’re gettin’ to Wyoming, we’re probably walkin’. But,” he stopped, still uncomfortable with the full spectrum of his emotions, “You know, if you want to.”

“Yeah,” Henry answered instantly, “Yeah. Um…yeah, I think it’d be nice for Sam to have a friend.”

“Oh, trust me,” Y/n smiled, looking on to Ellie, “You won’t find anyone friendlier than her,” she glanced at Joel, “Then again, we don’t set the bar very high, now do we?”

Henry laughed under his breath, even Joel couldn’t stop himself from smirking. “No, you don’t,” Henry replied, “I’ll tell him in the morning. New day, new start.”

“We’re not getting anywhere if we’re carrying them on our backs,” Y/n remarked, dusting the crumbs off her jeans and getting to her feet.

Henry got up with Y/n and heading into Sam and Ellie’s room. He knocked on the door and began to sign to Sam.

“Whatever he’s saying,” Y/n pointed to Ellie, “Same goes for you. Real adventure starts tomorrow.”

Ellie rolled her eyes lightly as Y/n approached, letting her take the comic out of her hand and place it on the nightstand. “Hey,” she said, “Is Joel’s brother like him? All grumpy and constipated?

“He is,” Y/n started, a flood of pleasant memories hitting her, “Way more fun. Not a stick to be found up his ass.”

Ellie snorted, Y/n knew she’d fall in love with Tommy in a minute. Everyone did.

Y/n ran a hand over Ellie’s head, they weren’t close enough for a hug but she wanted the girl to know that she had someone that cared about her. If Joel was her protecter, Y/n wanted to be her comfort. The oasis she could run to in the desert.

“Get some rest,” she ordered.

“Why?” Ellie cocked an eyebrow, “So you and Joel can have more time to cuddle?”

Y/n knew she’d be paying for her unconscious choices as long as Ellie was around to witness them. She lightly pushed her forehead, sending Ellie back on the bed in a fit of giggles.

“Will Livingston dies a slow and painful death if you ever bring that up again,” Y/n retorted, giving Ellie a pat on the leg after, “Goodnight.”

“Night,” Ellie called in a teasing tone.

Y/n stopped by Sam’s bed, tapping his hip to get his attention. She signed ‘endure and survive’ back to him, Sam nodded with a smile.

“Practicing,” Y/n beamed, earning herself a thumbs up, “Goodnight.”

She left the room before Henry, Joel hadn’t moved from their spot against the radiator. The door had been open the whole time.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “‘Stick up my ass?’”

Y/n leaned up against the wall and crossed her arms, almost relaxed. “I said what I said,” she smirked, “She called you constipated.”

Joel shook his head at her, fond memories of her and Tommy ganging up on him filing his head.

He wouldn’t tell her that he’d heard the whole conversation.

Henry exited the room, shutting the door behind him. “I don’t know about y’all, but I’m exhausted,” he said, staking out the far right corner of the room for himself.

“Yeah,” Y/n sighed.

Joel rose up from the ground, already dreading trying to do another bed time shuffle with Y/n. He glanced over at her, first spotting the blood seeping through her bandages.

“Your hand,” he said, crossing the space between them.

“Huh?” Y/n furrowed her brows, holding it up to examine it, “Oh, shit. I didn’t even feel that.”

Joel was hesitant to grab it, but was itching to fix it up. “Adrenaline,” he settled for.

“So much for sleep,” Y/n grumbled, bending down and picking up her backpack.

Joel followed, setting the corner table back on its feet along with the two nearby chairs. Henry was already asleep in his corner. Joel sat down across from Y/n and watched as she pulled out the first aid kit. As she unpacked the supplies, his fingers began to twitch with nervous energy.

Y/n picked up on his fidgety state, stopping what she was doing to look at him. “Are you really that much of a control freak that you need to do this?”

Joel didn’t know what he was, just that he needed assurance that she was going to be alright. The only satisfactory way to do that was to do it himself.

“Fine,” Y/n scoffed, sliding the kit across the table to him, “Have at it.”

Joel unpacked the same supplies they’d used yesterday as Y/n unwrapped her hand. He was glad she’d taken extra gauze from his stash back in Massachusetts, they were running low.

“How long do you think it’ll take to get to Wyoming on foot?” Y/n asked as Joel grabbed an alcohol wipe. She’d already clotted, but the sites still needed to be cleaned.

He bristled, “A long fuckin’ while.”

“And are we measuring that in miles or kilometers?” Y/n asked, her tone deadpan.

Joel nearly smiled, gently rubbing the wipe over the bloody surface. Y/n hissed as it made contact with her skin, digging into her chair and drawing a deep breath after.

“Killed, like, four Clickers,” Joel decided to joke, never looking up from his ministrations, “Can’t handle a little wipe.”

“Says the man who can navigate his way across the country, but couldn’t explain a siphon to a fourteen year old,” Y/n remarked, matching his wit.

Joel peered up, a small smirk playing on his lips, mimicking the one on Y/n’s. This was the longest they’d gone without fighting during a conversation. One shift could turn the almost peaceful moment to a shipwreck.

“What happened out there tonight?” Joel asked, his mind still spinning from anxiety.

“Ran out of ammo,” Y/n answered, she know immediately what he was referring to, “Perfect timing, huh?”

Joel scoffed and ran a second alcohol wipe over her wounds. “Yeah,” he muttered, unsure of what else to say.

“But there was this weird guy hiding out in an abandoned house who took care of things,” Y/n remarked, her eyes traveling from her and Joel’s hands to his face.

Joel paused and met her stare, surprised that she was acknowledging his effort at all.

“Thank you,” Y/n continued.

Joel shook his head, returning to his work, “You don’t need to thank me.”

“Would you rather me say ‘Fuck off, you dick. I can take care of myself?’”

“That would fall in line with what you usually have to say,” Joel replied, reaching for the gauze pads.

Y/n nodded in reply, a smile pulling at her cheeks. She didn’t know what the hell she was doing, only that she was traumatized, tired, and in need of someone to talk to. If that someone came in the form of Joel, then so be it.

Joel tried to focus on Y/n’s wound, breaking it down into steps. Sterilize, gauze, wrap. He couldn’t get caught up on the fact that they were getting along. As benign as the it sounded, it was leaps and bounds ahead of where they’d come from.

Y/n, on the other hand, had nothing to do but sit and wait for him to be done. She watched how precisely he placed the gauze pads, as if one inch off their assigned spots would cost her her life. It reminded her of how precise he’d been with his lips, his hands. Every touch had carried purpose, the ultimate goal to make her know how much he loved her.

This touch, so warm and gentle, felt the same to Y/n.

Much like the day before, it took a lot of effort on Joel’s part not to get caught up in the feel of Y/n’s hand against his. He wrapped a fresh strip of bandage around it, weaving the roll between her thumb and under her palm. Back at the house, watching her narrowly avoid Infected had choked him. Every five seconds, she’d been brought to the edge of death, only for one of them to strike back at the very last moment. It had drained any and all energy left in Joel’s body, and had brought on a whole new set of questions.

If he were to lose her or Ellie at this point, what would it do to him?

He anchored the bandage down, sealing Y/n’s wound, and tried to escape the scenarios his mind was creating. They were alive, they were safe, and they would make it to Wyoming. If that was what he needed to keep repeating to himself the whole way west, he would.

“At the risk of inflating your ego,” Y/n examined his work, “Well done.”

Joel didn’t respond, he simply handed her the supplies to pack up. He was caught between a rock and a hard place, or rather, what he wanted and what he knew he couldn’t have.

Y/n threw the kit back in her backpack and came back to where they’d been. Joel was already kneeling down on the ground, removing and balling up his jacket. She didn’t want to land herself in another situation where cuddling up to Joel was a possibility, she also didn’t want to infringe on Henry’s personal space.

“You mind keepin’ an ear peeled?,” Joel asked, it was like he could read her mind, “In case I roll over on the wrong side again.”

“Yeah,” Y/n replied, coming to sit beside Joel with just enough space between them. Close enough to protect, far enough away for clear minds.

Joel stretched out one arm just above Y/n’s head. It wasn’t the closest they’d been in the past day, but it was certainly the most intimate. Y/n was facing him, the top of her hair nearly grazing his forearm. Every signal in his brain told him to roll over, put another wall between them, but there was a stronger thought that cancelled the noise.

He simply didn’t want to.

Y/n adjusted herself on her jacket and was left with nothing left to do but stare at Joel. The lines on his face were deeper, his features had grown sharper, yet somewhere underneath it all…she could still see the man she’d fallen in love with in the heat of an Austin summer. Perhaps that was what was playing with her mind the most; how she got glimpses of Joel as he was before morphing into the new version. She used to wonder what age would do to them and she knew that if Cordyceps had never mutated, Joel’s frown lines would be smiles lines. The skin underneath his eyes would wrinkle from deep laughter. And in the times where his brow would crease with concern, a single kiss from her would have relaxed the muscles.

It was enough to bring her to tears.

“What’s wrong?” Joel asked, his voice gruff but his words filled with concern.

It was all wrong. All of it. Everything that had happened to them. Everything the world had become. Risking their lives every day for a future that wasn’t guaranteed.

It was all so horribly wrong.

“I’m just tired,” Y/n spoke past the lump in her throat, “Really fucking tired.”

Joel wanted to reach out, place a finger underneath her lashes to catch her tears before they fell. In another life, he’d have taken her in his arms and grazed his lips across her ear. He’d have called her Rosebud and told her to sleep, that he wouldn’t let anything hurt her.

But he’d lost the right to act on such feelings a lifetime ago.

“Get some sleep,” he replied, it was the only part of the urge he could listen to.

Y/n shook her head, smiling with sadness, “It’s not that kind of tired.”

Nothing else needed to be said. Joel understood those six words better than any other. His exhaustion went so far past his backaches or cracking knees. His soul was seeking rest that it would never find.

It wasn’t lost on either of them that it took nearly dying for them to start drifting back to one another. The hate faded into background noise, or ceased to exist at all. They picked up their anger when they were safe, because it took effort. It took effort to stay mad, a fire requiring constant attention. But protecting one another was natural. At the end of the day, all that had transpired between Joel and Y/n would never come in the way of saving one another. Hate was a choice, care was an instinct.

Joel’s soft gaze traveled across Y/n’s face. “Try,” he encouraged, his voice barely above a whisper.

Y/n nodded, her eyes still resting on Joel. She knew if she stared at him a minute longer, she’d no longer be able to choose hate.

Though she’d never know it, Joel felt the exact same way. He was becoming weaker and weaker for her with each moment they spent together.

They didn’t bid each other goodnight, they didn’t even fall asleep at the same time, despite sharing the same exhaustion. Joel stayed awake a few extra minutes after Y/n drifted off. He watched her frown relax, her brows unclench and her chest rise and fall, keeping the same steady beat that used to lull him to sleep.

—————————

Y/n had scooted closer in her sleep, her and Joel’s bodies still not touching but their breaths mingling together.

Had they awoken with the sunlight peeking through the blinds, strips of the warm glow across their eyes, urging them awake, they wouldn’t have backed away. It would have been the first time in twenty years they’d have woken up to one another. They wouldn’t have been mad.

Instead, they startled awake to the sounds of screams.

Joel and Y/n sat up in time to see Ellie fall out of the door, a snarling Sam jumping on her and pinning her down. Henry woke not two seconds after them, barely able to register the sight.

Sam was infected.

Joel was the first to reach for his handgun, but Henry was quicker and yanked it away. He had it aimed at Y/n and Joel before they were even on their feet.

“Nope, nope, nope,” he warned.

“Joel!” Ellie’s heartbreaking scream filled the room, “Y/n!”

Joel and Y/n took one step in Ellie’s direction and Henry fired a shot at their feet. Joel shoved Y/n behind him, she clung to his arm.

“Joel!” Ellie shrieked again, begging for help from either adult, “Y/n!”

Before they could have a coherent thought, it was all over.

Henry turned his gun on Sam.

He fired a single bullet.

Sam collapsed to the floor.

Ellie sat up with tears in her eyes.

Joel lowered his hands, but Y/n still kept a firm grip on him.

“Ellie,” he breathed, his heart was racing, “Are you okay?”

The girl looked to her guardians, shocked and heartbroken.

They took a cautious step towards her, but Henry put a stop to it as he trained his pistol back on them. Joel threw his arm back out in front of Y/n, not knowing what the man might do.

Distraught seemed too small a word to describe the expression on Henry’s face. He was gutted.

Joel ensured Y/n was still fastened to him before he cautiously held out his hands to Henry, “Easy, easy, easy,” his voice was barely audible, “Henry, gimme the gun. Henry, gimme the gun.”

“What did I do?” Henry choked out.

Joel shushed him, as one would a wild animal on the verge of attacking.

“What did I do?” Henry asked again, “What-what-what did I do?”

“Henry,” Y/n nearly whimpered, her breath trembling as she did, “Henry, stop, please.”

Henry stared through his tears at his little brother’s body, blood spreading across the floor, “Sam?”

Joel urged with a new desperation as the realization deepened, “Henry, gimme the gun.”

“Henry, please,” Y/n let go of Joel, taking a calculated step forward, “I know. I know.”

“Gimme the gun, Henry,” Joel continued.

Henry’s eyes, still focused on his brother, glazed over as he raised the gun to his temple.

“HENRY, NO!” Joel cried out.

Y/n rushed past Joel, “HENRY, I KN-“

It was too late.

As it happened, Joel jumped forward, wrapping his arms around Y/n and pulling her into him.

“No!” Y/n screamed, she lurched forward as if she could still save him.

Y/n’s eyes were flooded with tears, her sobs tearing her apart so hard that they came out silent. When the noise finally came, it was a guttural cry that might come from a wounded animal. Y/n’s knees gave out on her, Joel caught her and helped lower her to the ground. He kept his arms tight around her as she wailed.

When Y/n came to, and she realized Joel was holding her, the rage reignited. “Get off me,” she yelled, clawing her way out of his embrace.

Joel let her go, shrinking back slightly at the sudden reaction. Ellie watched, consumed by terror as her rock crumbled under the weight of the trauma.

Y/n crawled towards Henry, avoiding the blood, and clung to his shirt. She wept into his still warm body, wishing that he’d have let her finish her sentence. It could have changed everything.

The three of them sat there, waiting for their grief to come to a managable level.

“We gotta go,” Joel said eventually, the words feeling heavy in his mouth.

“We can’t leave them here,” Ellie muttered, wiping her sleeve across her eyes.

Y/n was sitting beside Henry’s body by then, waiting for him to breathe air that would never reach his lungs.

“Gimme a minute,” Joel said, getting to his feet and moving mechanically out the motel room door.

Time moved slow and all at once to the three of them. Joel went into the maintenance closet and found two shovels, bringing them back to the room where nothing and no one had moved. Him and Y/n, trying to spare Ellie what little trauma they could, carried Sam and Henry’s bodies across the road and to a patch of grass. The two of them began to shovel shallow graves, burying their friends.

The job was nearly done, they were just patting the soil back down when Ellie returned. She’d retrieved the few posessions they still had, dropping Y/n and Joel’s coats and Y/n and Henry’s backpack at their feet. She came to kneel at Sam’s grave, taking it in before setting his magnetic pad atop the dirt.

Standing back up with a weight no child deserved to carry, she turned to Joel, “Which way’s west?”

Joel looked off to his left and nodded, Ellie set off in the direction.

Y/n could feel herself slipping into a heavy numbness, a grief filling her that few could understand. She felt like she had one nostril, barely taking in oxygen, above the waters that slammed into her. But as soon as she saw Ellie’s handwriting, the words ‘I’m sorry’ written across the magnetic pad, she lost the fight.

She understood Henry’s fight.

She understood his decision.

And she understood his guilt.

She dropped her shovel where it was, picked up her jacket and slung her backpack over her shoulder, following Ellie and leaving Joel by himself. He was the last person she could stand to look at right now.

Joel watched her leave, any softness that had existed between the two of them a few hours ago had disappeared.

He leaned against his shovel, staring down at the dirt and Ellie’s makeshift headstone. Having done what they’d just done, having known Henry and Sam, watching them interact….it gave Joel the answer to the question he’d pondered the night before.

If anything happened to Y/n or Ellie, he wouldn’t know how to carry on.

And that was the most terrifying feeling he could have had, because he’d had it before.

Ellie had snarked, sassed and snuck her way into his heart. Y/n had always been there, his affection never fading over time despite her perceived betrayal. But he’d buried her, another name in the long list of people he’d lost over twenty years. To have her come crashing back into his life had been unexpected and unwanted. He couldn’t stop himself from letting her consume his mind, just as she had the first time.

Now here he was, a child and the woman he’d loved relying on him, killing for him, and he wanted to run.

“Let’s go,” Ellie called out, she was even beginning to sound like him.

Joel startled, looking on to see Ellie and Y/n waiting for him. Y/n refused to look at him. They were right back to where they’d begun their journey. Perhaps even further, she’d met his gaze even after the ambush that had brought them back together. Something had shifted in her that Joel couldn’t figure out, nor did he think it was best to look too deep.

He put on Henry’s backpack, feeling the weight of it, and slipped his jacket through the strap. He gave a parting glance to the brother’s graves and headed off to join the women.

Despite their failure to keep their pasts hidden, the three of them had scars the others didn’t know about. Intricate pieces of them that had made them who they were in the Cordyceps dominated world. But past the secrets, there was a loyalty too real to deny. They were too deep in to quit on each other. Trudging westward, with grief still fresh and fragile in their palms, they were all each other had.

If one of them died, they all would.

———————

TYL Taglist: @bachiracore @stolenxkissess @kayleezra @the-wistful-reader @allthesesonsofbitches @goth-detectives365 @trippovert @rh1nestonecowg1rl @emiliaserpe @khaleesihavilliard @frietiemeloen @gracie7209 @dorck26 @thegirlnextdoorssister @alanis-altair @mariwinns16 @whosscruffylooking @endofthexline @alexiaricciardo @eonnyx @pedrosmexicangf @scarlettequinn @ao-sleepy @toinfinityandbeyonce2 @deanlovescassie @turmoil-ash @sorrowjunky @kpopslur @xxlilyxx90 @midgetpottermills @presidential-facts @scoopsnini @tubble-wubble @jamesdeerest @burninggracesandbridges @star-wars-lover @lucyhotchner @cococola-cocaine @witheringhqarts @fall-writes @alwaysdjarin @xxmoonn @emilia-the-artist @wand-erer5 @boneyarrd @lizard-zombie @itwasallinmyhead1 @cassidylea123 @paleepeaches @mxltifxnd0m @kettlekatie @ultimate-cinephile @gloryekaterina @caramelkatsukis-bitch @whovianayesha @memeorydotcom @deadunicorn159 @get0ut0fmyr00m @siriuslymooned @emmyeed @superbreadsoul @hellu-people1 @ourautumn86 @inas-thing @noraapple05 @givemylovetoall @luvwanda (tags cont. in comments)

[thegeekproblem]

i've read a lot of fics of jason's death anniversary in which bruce or jason deal with the date in their own ways or learn to deal with it together but i would like to propose another idea:

jason who has no idea which day he died so he has no trauma attached to the date. i can see bruce and jason not caring much about which date it was after they had spent weeks in ethiopia traveling looking for jason's possible mum and then dealing with the joker so the only thing he knew it was that it was in april and that's it.

now imagine a just-returned-to-the-family jason that has no idea why bruce is so depressed during the week leading to the 27th, why he's more clingy, he calls jason every day and jason's like ???? jason going to the other birds asking why bruce is being so weird, why he's calling him three times a day and dick being like what do you mean, he's being pretty normal about it, stephanie being like that's pretty restrained for him, maybe tim goes like it's the 27th jason, what did you expect? and jason being like so? and the family realizing jason doesn't know when he died.

and because jason has no baggage attached to the date maybe he spends the day with bruce to calm of his nerves and to get him of his back for a bit because bruce is from the stalking-is-caring school of affection and jason cannot deal with his crime lord bussiness unless the bat gets off his back

[brighter-by-the-daly]

Millie Bright x Reader

Part One: Lover’s Auction

AN: This turned out so long I’ve decided to turn it into a series.

Prompt: Billionaire reader meets Millie though a charity event, reader bids on one of Millie’s shirts, Millie then asks reader out for drinks (reader spoils Millie) ~ @kayls93

TW: this story is based around reader’s mum who passed away (past tense). No mentions of how/why she died to minimise triggers.

It was the night of the auction your dad had spent all year planning, it was to raise money for his company’s charity in honour of his late wife and your mother. He often hosts big auction nights to celebrate the woman you both loved and lost and this year it’s the 20th anniversary which coincides with your 27th birthday. All your life you’ve only known him to be a manager of some big company in London, it’s meant you’ve led a very comfortable life but never completely understood his job role. You did know that he was very well connected and treats his staff like family - from the moment you were born you were adored by all his colleagues, you made them all aunties and uncles. He would often bring you into work with him as a little girl and enjoyed watching you crawl around his office, dreaming of the day he would hand his empire over to you. After your mum’s death he bought you in everyday for months, he needed somewhere to take his mind off things and knew you loved being fussed over by your extended family. They would sit with you to do homework and talk about the friendship drama at school while your dad worked - he was never short of babysitters!

Your dad is the only man you have ever loved, he knew you would come out years before you actually did. He held you when the tears didn’t stop after your first break up, he attends Pride with you every year and always texts that he loves you at the end of every day. Since your mum passed away he had become your best friend and no other woman has entered his life except for you. Whenever he was invited to work parties or social events you were always his plus one and would parade you around the dance floor standing on his feet as he tapped along to the music. In his eyes, you were a princess and nobody would ever be good enough for you.. or so he thought.

Your dad had been running around all week putting the final touches into place, trying to rally up promo and extra giveaways to make this year’s auction extra special that he hadn’t noticed how down you had been lately. The anniversary was a lot to bare for you - hating the world that your mum wasn’t here to spend your adult days with, often wondering if she would have been your best friend and sad that you’ve missed out on growing up with her. Dad was rushing around the house like a tornado when he stopped in his tracks at the sight of you on the sofa under a blanket. “Honey, why aren’t you dressed?” his tone soft and gentle as he ushered over to join you. “I don’t feel like it dad” you tried to brush off the emotion held in your throat as you stood up to correct his tie. You didn’t know that he knew exactly how tie them himself but your simple act reminds him of the mornings he would kiss your mum goodbye after she corrected it for him. Straightening it down his chest you tiptoed to kiss his cheek “you can buy anything you want?” he said with a cheeky smile as he waved his credit card in the air which was enough to get your attention. Holding out your hand to shake a deal with him you rushed upstairs to your bedroom to see a new dress hanging on your wardrobe, smiling at how dad had got the perfect colour to match your skin tone. Over the years he has had to be your dad and mum; learning how to plait your hair to teaching you why periods happen and buying your first bra, he was practically one of the girls by now. You slipped on your heels and delicately curled your hair but before leaving you snuck into dad’s room, fumbling around on your hands and knees trying to reach under the bed until you felt a velvet box. Blowing the dust off, your fingers traced your mother’s name etched into the woodwork, clicking the latch open the black and white photo of your family hidden inside made you choke up as you chose her favourite necklace to pair with your outfit. You heard dad calling as you straightened your dress in the mirror then made your way down the stairs like you were on your way to prom. Your dad was still rushing around the house to get ready when he suddenly came to a halt at your entrance. “Darling” his voice whimpered as he spotted the pearls around your neck, holding out his arms for one of his famous bear hugs.

Entering the formal occasion you were quickly swamped by your dad’s colleagues, greeting them as Aunty This and Uncle That they gawped at how grown up you looked. Pawing over the “when did you get so big” and pulling at your cheeks like they haven’t seen you in years when you only saw them last week. You instantly felt the glow of love they shared and was so glad you’d came as they showered you both in affection. When the group dispersed you immediately turned to dad with a puppy dog look in your eyes and your hand spread waiting for him to offer up his credit card, pecking him on the cheek when he did and making a beeline for the bar. “My darling (y/n)” the bar lady called as you approached, “hi Aunt Sally” - yet another one of your make believe family. “I’m going to need some ID my dear” the dark skinned woman joked with you. “Aunty, you know I’m nearly 30!” batting your eyelashes at her. “My dear, don’t be wishing your life away, you’re miles off that number yet” her thick Jamaican accent rolled off her tongue like honey. Sipping on your cocktail she asked if you’d had a chance to view what’s on offer yet, you said the bar was your first pit stop as she started listing off some things that she had spotted earlier. Glancing around the room at all the people from your bar stall your attention was caught when you heard her say “vaginal rejuvenation” making you scoff just as you took a big gulp of your drink, trying not to choke the liquid dribbled out of your mouth and back into the glass in the most unladylike manner. Trying to hold your giggles inside she passed you another drink when and said you don’t think your dad would appreciate that purchase on his card!

After a few cocktails and catching up with Sally you wandered over to the rows of items and experiences up for auction. Running your finger along the table your eyes scanned the placards of descriptions; bungee jump – “no”, flying lessons – “no”, lunch with Harry Kane – “who?”, spa day - “hmm..” scribbling your name and bid down before moving on, personal shopper spree - “yes!” enthusiastically setting a high bid that you anticipated wouldn’t be beaten. Moving to the next row you spotted the vaginal rejuvenation Sally was talking about earlier, snickering to yourself as you wrote down her name and a bid. Looking up you saw dad watching you intently, raising his eyebrow as he caught your gaze when you threw him a sarcastic little wave.. you knew he was watching how many items you were bidding on! You finished scrolling past the next few tables until your eyes landed on a pristine condition football shirt. Your fingers stroked the fabric as your brain flooded with memories of simpler times, days where mum would drive you miles to games and sit for hours in all weathers watching you play. Remembering how you would purposely tackle as many people as you could to try and get your kit dirtier than the week before, your mother’s groans rang through your mind when it rained knowing she’d have a hard time beating the stains out. It didn’t take her long to get clued up on your antics because she began packing a change of clothes, threatening to tie you to the roof so you wouldn’t sit in her car in your muddy kit. “Are you gonna bid or stare into space with a weird smile all night?” a voice suddenly made you jump out of memory lane. Still stroking the comfort of the fabric with your thumb and forefinger you answered them, “it just brought back some memories, that’s all” upset that your daydream had been interrupted. You didn’t make eye contact or even look towards the person before scurrying off toward the bathrooms to hide the tears that had started to fall. Hearing your heels click audibly across the wooden floor your dad’s eyes looked on in worry as he could tell something had upset you.

Locking yourself in a stall you tried to dab your eyes without ruining your make up and took some deep breaths to compose yourself before making your way back to the event. Just like when you walked in a few hours earlier you went straight back to the bar, “my sweet child, are you okay?” Sally greeted you with a cocktail she’d already made when she saw you leave the room. “I bid on that treatment you wanted” you laughed, trying to move past what had just happened. Watching Aunty Sal gasp in disbelief but her face turning from embarrassment to amusement made your heart happy as she moved away to serve someone else. Hearing the voice of the person ordering was the same as the one who approached you at the bidding table moments earlier your body tensed up again. You looked up to examine them, catching her eyes as she shuffled closer to you, “erm, I didn’t mean to hit a nerve” she said eyes firmly on her drink. “You didn’t, the shirt did. A nice nerve” you reassured before going on to tell the woman about your childhood days on the pitch and all about your mum. She hadn’t realised that this event was for you, your dad had done business with her a few months ago and had asked for a favour, the woman can never say no to charity, so she says! “Why did you stop.. playing football?” she said quietly, wondering whether that was okay to ask. “It hurt too much not seeing mum there” your voice croaked as you tried to hold back the tears again. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to” she said, placing a comforting hand on your arm. “No, I want to. It was the only place I felt truly happy and then suddenly… it wasn’t” peering into your drink stirring it anxiously with the straw, you were yet to make eye contact with the woman and she must have noticed. She invited you over to a table that was free where you talked about how you’d have a competition of how muddy you could get your kit and soon you were laughing and smiling over the memories rather than letting the sadness take hold.

You spent the rest of the evening talking to your new friend until your dad announced himself on stage, tapping the microphone as it echoed around the room. “That’s my dad!” you hollered from your seat as all eyes found you and the table full of empty glasses. He started muttering into the microphone as he began to read out the winners - “the vaginal rejuvenation goes to Sally!” Laughing to yourself as you stood up and shouted for the woman who’s been the closest thing to a mum you have had for years as she hid her face behind the cocktail shakers in her hands. Dad listed off the final prizes until he reached the last one - “the signed England shirt goes to my beautiful daughter (y/n)” Double taking to check what you heard was correct, your face turned to confusion.. you didn’t bid on it? “I know how much you enjoyed football with your mum and I saw your face as you remembered those times earlier, you were smiling and I hope it helps you hold onto the good times” he said as tears welled in his eyes. “Oh dad!” you whined an alcoholic filled ‘aww’ as you run up onto the stage to hug him. His arm pulled you into his side when he thanked everyone for coming. “From both of us, thank you so much for coming out tonight and raising such an incredible amount of money for an outstanding charity that we hold so close to our hearts. We welcome you to stay as long as you wish, to Marla!” “To mum!” raising your glasses into the air as clinks rattled around the room.

Stumbling back to your seat with the shirt in one hand and a drink in the other. you slumped next to the mystery woman who had turned into your company for the evening. “I think you could use some air” she giggled trying to stop all the glasses from clattering as your hip nudged the table. Nodding reluctantly she held out her arm for you to balance on and walked you out to the car park underneath the street lights. Clicking her car keys made the boot of her car rise by itself, “ohhhh fancy!” your voice echoed at the magical car opening before a hand had even been laid on it. “Think fast!” the blonde shouted as a football came flying towards your face. “What the fuck?!” you yelled dropping the shirt to catch the ball at the last possible second. “You’ve still got it! Didn’t you say you were a goalie?” she smiled. “I played everywhere! I did like being in goal but I preferred tackling people, risky business as a goalie!” instinctively dropping the ball to land on your foot as you started keepy uppys, counting 12 until you got distracted by the woman rummaging in her boot for something else. “If you throw another ball at my face you’re gonna get it!” kicking the ball above your head and catching it under your arm. “Fancy a 1v1?” she appeared behind the boot lid wearing a Chelsea shirt… “with a Chelsea fan? My mum would turn in her grave!” you laughed as she asked who you support. “I was raised on our home team, not the big guns!” you continued to poke fun at her but admitted you hadn’t kept up with the growth of the women’s game, you hadn’t watched a match since your mum’s passing and was very out of touch with the sport. “Arms up!” she instructed as she pulled the new shirt over your head, “first to 5?” You objected at first as you were wearing heels until she suggested moving to the grass verge next to the car park and made the trees the goalposts. Kicking your shoes off to cries of cuteness at how short you really were in comparison to her and tying the skirt of your dress into a knot to be able to move more freely. Little did she know how fiercely competitive you are and how surprised you were that you still knew how to play.. amateur maybe, but it felt good with a ball at your feet even though the cold condensation from the grass tickled your toes. Cheering as you scored your first goal in 20 years it lit a fire in your belly as you went in to tackle her, laughing at how you bounced straight off the broad woman leaving you laid on the ground as she scored too.

You didn’t know your dad was watching from the window as she came to lie down next to you. “Look you’ve got your brand new shirt dirty already!” she cried tugging at the grass stained patch on your side. “My mum would be so annoyed!” you laughed as she pulled you onto her chest. “You’d make a good defender yknow!” you suggested to her, eyes fluttering with tiredness as she stroked your hair. “Good job I am then, aih?” she squeezed you a little tighter, making you sit up immediately alert. “Really?” “Yeah… that’s my shirt you’re wearing” she smirked watching you glance down at the crest displaying three lions as the realisation suddenly broke through your drunk mind. “Shut! Up!” your voice irritatingly loud as all the puzzle pieces started falling into place, “you play for England?!” Shrugging at your question she nodded and snickered before adding “and Chelsea!” Your mouth became wider with each admission, “why didn’t you tell me?” you slapped her arm thinking about what you’ve said, especially taking the piss out of her ‘being a fan’ of the London club. “I just did!” her voice turned high pitch as she raised her hands to display innocence. Your head tilted in a confusion as you tried to work her out. Moments of silence passed as your mind ran through everything you’ve talked about since the beginning of the night. “Did my dad set this up?” you questioned her integrity. “No, not at all” she assured you but you were already looking towards the building that the party was continuing in. Spotting your dad at the window with a huge grin on his face and holding a thumbs up to the glass. Mumbling under your breath you clambered to your feet with your hands on your hips to show him you’re very unamused with him playing Cupid. He displayed a “shoo” action with his hands trying to usher you back to the woman who was also now on her feet. “If I knew who you were why would I say what I did at the auction?” she tried to reassure you. Her question changed your demeanour, looking up at the blonde in a way that showed she had a fair point. “I didn’t think I’d have so much fun tonight, I didn’t plan on staying out this long!” she said packing the ball and her shirt back into the boot of her car. “Oh sorry, you probably have a boyfriend to get home to” untying the knot in your dress. “Girlfriend. Annddd.. nope, just the dogs” your eyebrow raised at her admission which she couldn’t see as you were still trying to make yourself presentable again. Grabbing your hand she turned you around so your back was facing her and wrote something on the back of your shirt. Her fingertips grazed down your arms, tightening around your wrists to lift your arms in the air as she slipped your shirt over your head. Pulling it in the right way she laid it over your hands and pointed at the name she’d scribbled above ‘BRIGHT’ on the back. “Millie” you said squinting to read her hand writing and noticing her phone number written inside the number 6. “Yes, Millie.. nice to meet you” she smiled, holding out her hand to shake yours. “(Y/n), it’s been a pleasure” you joked, holding your dress out and dipping into a curtsy, almost losing your balance when she grabbed your arms to keep you upright. Asking to borrow her pen you delicately wrote your number on her arm like a teenager in school, not registering that it was a marker until the last number. Millie had known the whole time but didn’t stop you, she just wondered how she’d explain it to the girls at training tomorrow.

Part Two

[samgirl98]

Mending a Family 37/?

Prev | Next

Happy Death Day, Jason! Have some suffering

The snow was finally thawing, and it was getting warmer. (Winter lasted longer up north.) Though cold and miserable sometimes, Jason felt better as the days lasted longer. Things were looking up.

Then April 27th hit.

The day hit him like a wrecking ball. It’s not as if he had completely forgotten about the day he got murdered, but it had fallen on the back burner as he spent the days with his new family and practiced his new powers.

His body was lethargic when he woke up that morning. Jason could barely move. He felt his bones grinding against each other. He felt as if they were breaking like…like that day as that monster beat him with a crowbar. The only thing that would distract him from the feel of broken bones was the licking of an explosion on his skin, the feel of lack of oxygen in his lungs…

Jason heard the door to his room opening. He couldn’t turn his head; it felt too heavy.

“Daddy,” a small voice said, “are you okay?”

Jason wished he could reassure Danny.

I’m fine, chum, he wanted to say. Daddy’s just feeling a little under the weather—nothing to worry about.

Jason could hardly blink away the tears falling down his cheek.  

He lost track of time after that. When he came to again, the pain of broken bones had dissipated, but it was getting harder and harder to breathe. His lungs were full of smoke, his throat burned, and the tears felt good on his hot skin.

A cool weight on his arm helped bring him back a little. He suddenly noticed a red blob above him. As Jason’s eyesight cleared, he saw Jazz’s worried face. In her hand was a thermos.

“Hey, Jay. I won’t ask how you’re feeling, but the ecto in this thermos will help you feel better. Think you’ll be able to swallow?”

Jason’s throat burned worse at the thought of swallowing.

Jazz didn’t wait for an answer; she picked up Jason’s head and put it on her shoulder. She opened the thermos and poured a glowing, green liquid that reminded him of Lazarus' water into the thermos cup. She put the cup to Jason’s lips and dribbled some into barely parted lips.

She rubbed her fingers to Jason’s throat to encourage the citrusy-tasting liquid to go down.

After finishing the drink, Jason felt a little more alert. It was both a blessing and a curse. He could recognize Danny’s weight on his arm and hear Jazz’s calm breathing, but he was more aware of his feelings and the sensations he felt when he had died.

“Danny’s first death day was terrible, too. This is the first time you’ve experienced your death anniversary as a full halfa. Don’t worry; Danny’s second one was better. This time, his third one showed almost no symptoms. From what I could tell, he was just a bit tired.”

“Following that logic, your next one should be less bad. Danny told me the first time it felt as if he was relieving his death over and over again. I’m sorry you’re going through that, Jay. We should’ve explained this was going to happen to prepare you a little. I completely forgot, though.”

Jason could infer what a ‘death day’ was, but he still opened his mouth to ask.

“Shh, rest, big brother. You need your strength. Danny and I will explain later. I’ll be here to watch over you. Sleep.”

Jason couldn’t help but close his eyes. He felt comforted by his little family.

As the feeling of fire left his skin and he could breathe easier, Jason fell into a deep, dark oblivion he welcomed with open arms.

____

Red Robin and Robin flinched as Batman’s fist crunched under the goon’s face.

They both knew it wasn’t Batman who had been injured.

Red Robin had decided to patrol with Robin and Batman. He knew the date, coupled with Jason’s disappearance, would negatively affect Batman’s judgment. It was his job to keep Batman in line.

“Batman,” Red Robin called out as he hit the man’s face for the third time, “that’s enough. He’s unconscious.”

“Hn,” Batman dropped the man and handcuffed him. The man’s head lolled to the side.

Batman deployed his grappling gun and disappeared into the air.

“Was he this bad when Todd first died?”

Tim stared into the darkness his father had disappeared into.

“Worse,” he said before going after Batman.

Robin stared at the beaten goon for a second, contemplating. Then, he, too, followed his father. Todd needed to come home soon.

So, good news, I haven't updated not because of my depression or illnesses but because I moved from a little apartment we had been living in since I was a child into a house and also because I have a new job that I love!

Anyway hoped you liked this chapter.

@itsberrydreemurstuff @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @skulld3mort-1fan @theauthorandtheartist @emergentpanda-blog @jaggedheart11 @fisticuffsatapplebees @booberrylizard @fantasticbluebirdfan @thegatorsgooseoose @cyrwrites @kjoboo91 @crystallicedart @amaramizuki666 @spekulatiusmuffin @meira-3919 @kilasmess @bubblemixer @lexdamo @wonderland-daisy @mj-arts-n-stuff @amyheart19 @dolfay @the-church-grimm @undead-essence @aph-mable @lizisipancardo @purrloin77 @writer-extraodinaire @charlietheepic7 @sinfulloccultist @nootherusernameworked @coruscateselene @chaoticchange @itsberrydreemurstuff @gmkelz11 @feral-bunny31 @paroovian @thatonegaybitch68 @d4ydr34min9 @overtherose @fandomwandererer @vipower001 @thordottir45 @blackrabbitt3t @rosecinnamonbun @bianca-hooks123 @epilepticnerd @dat1angel @consouling @flamingenchiladadragon @all-mights-asscheeks @ender-reader @fuyu-bitch @ravenswife

[yonderghostshistories]

Happy Halloween Month Everyone! Also, Happy Monty Python Month to all and everyone as well!

On This Spooky & Pythonesque Month on This Spooky & Pythonesque Year, it will mark/commemorate/celebrate/remember:

-4th October; it will mark the 35th Death Anniversary of Graham Chapman, who unfortunately passed away on this day in 1989.

-5th October; it will mark the 55th Anniversary of the first episode of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” (that being “Whither Canada”), which aired on this day in 1969 at 10:55pm on the BBC.

-19th October; it will mark the 13th Anniversary of the Monty Python Biopic, “Holy Flying Circus” (2011), which aired on this day at 9:00pm on BBC 4.

-27th October; it will mark John Cleese’s 85th Birthday, who was born on this day in 1939.

Hope this list helps to remind anyone reading this! I hope you have a wonderfully spooky, Pythonesque Month ahead of you!

[thewales-family]

Princess Diana's 27th death anniversary : ten pictures of Princess Diana and Prince William -August 31st 2024.

[impromptu-sketches]

BUDDY DADDIES MASTER POST

Happy Buddy Daddies 1 Year Anniversary!!!!

To celebrate 1 year Buddy Daddies, I've created this master post featuring the english sub episode list and all of the extra content in chronological order for new and re-watchers to enjoy! Plus, my commentary 🩵💁🏻‍♀️

✨ If you're about to watch Buddy Daddies for the first time, I recommend going in blind except for reading my little blurb below.

-

Buddy Daddies is a 12 episode original anime from P.A. WORKS that aired from January 7th to April 1st, 2023 about two assassin partners who somehow end up taking in a four-year-old girl. You can watch it in sub or dub on Crunchyroll. I personally recommend watching it in sub especially for the first watch.

Tags: action | comedy | found family to the MAX | family life | character development | wholesome adult characters | hilarious and emotional | red character x blue character

CONTENT LIST

Dec. 9, 2022 | Before the series aired, there was a short preview from Kazuki's POV.

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December 31st, 2022 | Also before the series began, they debuted Kazuki's instagram account - fantastic_sweeper0516 - which has real life photos of Fukuoka, Japan, the city where the anime takes place and photos of food that they (mostly Kazuki) makes in the show. I don't think many people knew about his instagram account until later into the series. Kazuki's 1st instagram post: fantastic_sweeper051 - street photo

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January 2nd, 2023 | Kazuki's 2nd instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - street photo

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January 5th, 2023 | Kazuki's 3rd instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - grocery shopping

January 5th, 2023 | Kazuki's 4th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - cooking

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January 6th, 2023 | Kazuki's 5th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - work outfit

January 6th, 2023 | Kazuki's 6th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - cooking

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January 7th, 2023 | Episode 1: Piece of Cake

January 7th, 2023 | Kazuki's 7th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - cooking

January 7th, 2023 | Kazuki's 8th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - dinner

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January 11th, 2023 | Kazuki's 9th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - street photo

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January 12th, 2023 | Kazuki's 10th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - apartment photo

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January 14th, 2023 | Episode 2: The Kiss of Death

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January 15th, 2023 | Kazuki's 11th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - cooking

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January 16th, 2023 | Kazuki's 12th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - food

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January 18th, 2023 | Kazuki's 13th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - food

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January 19th, 2023 | Kazuki's 14th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - playground photo

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January 20th, 2023 | Kazuki's 15th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - food

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January 21st, 2023 | Episode 3: Spice of Life

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January 22nd, 2023 | Kazuki's 16th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - food

January 22nd, 2023 | Kazuki's 17th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - banana note

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January 24th, 2023 | Kazuki's 18th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - breakfast

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January 28th, 2023 | Episode 4: What Will Be, Will Be

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January 29th, 2023 | Kazuki's 19th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - clothing store

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January 31st, 2023 | Kazuki's 20th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - sewing

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February 1st, 2023 | Kazuki's 21st instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - journal

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February 4th, 2023 | Episode 5: Crunch Time

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February 5th, 2023 | Kazuki's 22nd instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - financial planning

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February 11th, 2023 | Episode 6: Love is Blind

February 11th, 2023 | Kazuki's 23rd instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - food

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February 12th, 2023 | Kazuki's 24rd instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - food

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February 15th, 2023 | Kazuki's 25th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - food

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February 18th, 2023 | Episode 7: After Rain Comes Fair Weather

February 18th, 2023 | Kazuki's 26th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - note

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February 20th, 2023 | Kazuki's 27th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - cooking attempt

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February 22nd, 2023 | Kazuki's 28th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - after dinner

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February 23rd, 2023 | Kazuki's 29th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - new umbrella

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February 25th, 2023 | Episode 8: Nothing Seek, Nothing Find

February 25th, 2023 | Kazuki's 30th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - Rei's birthday cake (Rei's birthday is August 10th which is when this takes place in the show)

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March 4th, 2023 | Episode 8.5: Recap episode that summarizes episodes 1-8 with Kazuki and Rei's narration (mostly Kazuki's).

I personally recommend watching this because I enjoyed their voice overs, it added even more cuteness.

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March 11th, 2023 | Episode 9: No Sweet Without Sweat

March 11th, 2023 | Kazuki's 31st instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - Rei cooking

March 11th, 2023 | Kazuki's 32nd instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - Rei's cooking

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March 18th, 2023 | Episode 10: Lost At Sea

March 18th, 2023 | Kazuki's 33rd instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - Ferris wheel :'(

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March 21, 2023 | Dangle on YouTube posts an English cover of the opening song, SHOCK! by Ayase.

I didn't know about this until JUNE!!! And then I analyzed the lyrics of both the original and the cover. Absolutely LOVE both the opening and credits songs + this english version.

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March 25th, 2023 | Episode 11: Everyone Will Be Hypocrites

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March 29th, 2023 | Kazuki's 34th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - breakfast

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March 31st, 2023 | Kazuki's 35th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - french toast

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April 1st, 2023 | Episode 12: Daughter Daddies (series finale)

The end! And then I cried for three days straight ☠️ But fear not! We've been blessed with more content all year! The lovely @Lily_20210401 on Twitter, one of the animators who worked on Buddy Daddies (so I consider these canon-ish), has posted many drawings of the characters throughout the year. We also got four drama CDs which were AMAZING!!!! And Kazuki's instagram has continued! These and more are listed below.

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May 16th, 2023 | Kazuki's 36th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - Kazuki's birthday cake! (Kazuki's birthday is indeed on May 16th)

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May 24th, 2023 | Kazuki's 37th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - nighttime street photo

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June 29th, 2023 | Kazuki's 38th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - hydrangea garden

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June 2023 | Special Drama CD Volume 1 Audio on Soundcloud & English translation by kudouusagi on Tumblr. Thank you kudouusagi!!! ♡♡♡ We appreciate you!!

Also for the Drama CD Volume 1, the angel known as gandoon on Youtube posted the Special Drama CD Volume 1 with English subtitles and images from the anime. (ノ ˘_˘)ノ thank you gandoon.

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Summer 2023 | Special Drama CD Volume 2 Audio on Soundcloud & English translation by kudouusagi on. Tumblr. Thank you, kudouusagi ♡ Drama CD photo thanks to @moriokart ♡

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Summer 2023 | Special Drama CD Volume 3 Audio on Soundcloud & English translation by kudouusagi on Tumblr. Thank you, kudouusagi ♡ Drama CD photo thanks to @moriokart ♡

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Summer 2023 | Special Drama CD Volume 4 Audio on Soundcloud & English translation by kudouusagi on Tumblr. Thank you, kudouusagi ♡ you're the best! Drama CD photo thanks to @moriokart ♡

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August 11th, 2023 | Kazuki's 39th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - Rei's birthday cake! (a day late) (Rei's birthday is August 10th)

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November 8th, 2023 | Kazuki's 40th instagram post: fantastic_sweeper0516 - Miri's Birthday cake! (Miri's birthday is indeed November 8th)

This is currently the most recent post. More to come?

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Throughout 2023 | The amazing Lily on Twitter has posted drawings of the characters throughout the year and will continue to post them in 2024!! Her latest has them celebrating the holidays and the new year!

★゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★

I plan on adding all of her drawings to this master list, but since there's so many that will take a while longer.

I also plan on adding to this list as new content comes out!

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OFFICIAL LINKS

Official Website

Official Twitter

Even more news & content on their official platforms including the full soundtrack and an 'on air' radio show.

[publishinggoblin]

Today is the 3rd anniversary of my sister's death, and her 37th birthday. Diana Marcela Pedersen was truly an amazing, kind, and sweet person. I wish the poems I wrote after her death had been about her and a celebration of her life. I hope someday soon when things feel less the way they do now, I can include a good, kind ode to her life in a collection.

But I have never been a particularly bubbly writer. My collection of poems, Like Warm Plastic, is about surviving the grief process. It's live on Backerkit still until September 27th, so I thought, since the project and her birthday coincided, I would read some of the poems from the collection today. And I cried a bunch, and I'm going to go have that final drink with her again, every time this date comes around.

So please, if you have the time today, do something nice for yourself, or someone else, or tell someone you love that you really do love them dearly. Then if you have more time, take 30 minutes to listen to some poetry about the last three years of my life.

Then if you have, somehow, even more time, and $20, consider pledging for a copy of my new book of poems about the grieving process, and back Like Warm Plastic. https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/publishing-goblin-llc/like-warm-plastic

[jo-harrington]

Hell - Vampire!Eddie Munson

Summary: Vecna, weak and wounded after the events of March 27th 1986, seeks to enact revenge on those who foiled his plans. And his key to such revenge? A boy left behind, barely clinging to life.

Warnings/Themes: Angst, Violence, Kas!Eddie/Vamp!Eddie, Vecna Lives, Body Horror, Blood, Physical and Psychological Torture, Manipulation, Brainwashing, Necromancy, Loss of Soul, Transformation, Major Character Death and Rebirth, Other Biblical and Literary References

Note: So…welcome to my take on Vampire/Kas!Eddie. This fic, entitled Hell, can be read as a stand-alone, but is essentially going to be one of three companion prequels to a Vamp!Eddie AU fic I have in the works. I want to finish FF and get a few more chapters of Store Manager Verse published before I really start working on this idea…but with tomorrow being the “anniversary” of Eddie Munson’s “death” in the Upside Down, it only seems poetic to explore this first.

That being said, this fic and the subsequent fics/chapters in the series will not be for the faint of heart. Please check the above warnings and ask yourself if you are in the correct headspace to proceed. I am happy to answer any questions via PM or Ask.

You can find the As Above, So Below masterlist here.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

"And I looked, and beheld a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."

—Revelation 6:8

In the beginning, there was pain.

Enough pain that it should have been The End.

Eddie believed the pain meant The End.

But he had never been so lucky to experience the end of any suffering before, so he should have known better.

He couldn't recall the moment Dustin's hands were wrenched away from his body, leaving him floating in the darkness. Or the way his body felt before the teeth ripped into him. Or the act of kindness that led him to this horrible punishment.

The road to Hell was paved with good intentions. It vaguely echoed in the back of his mind, taunting him.

And in some way, Eddie Munson always knew he was going to Hell.

Just not like this.

First it seized his body and paralyzed him, as acrid tendrils poisoned his veins and his heart and his mind; he briefly recalled reading about Komodo Dragons in 5th grade. The way they ripped into their prey and let the venom work slowly and painfully to overtake them before the feast could begin.

He would not be a feast for the creatures of this realm but for their Master. Repentance for their failed tasks. They would not feed again until he did, wouldn't taste power until his was regained.

And feed is exactly what Vecna did.

The tendrils carded through Eddie's memories and poisoned them: his hopes and fears, everything and everyone he loved and held dear. His joy and indifference and hatred.

They decimated everything good; ripped them up from the roots and salted the ground below them, only leaving unrecognizable scraps behind. Then they latched onto the bad with no intention of ever letting go. Suckled on his sorrow and his hatred gluttonously.

Vecna especially liked to graze on the pain though; those morsels were most succulent and came in abundance. It was never enough, though; in the howling silence, even more pain was willed into existence.

You are alone. They are at fault. They tricked you. Sacrificed you.

Eddie never had a reason to let the pain weigh on his heart before, but his tormentor would see that rectified. He would break him down...

They left you behind. Left you to this fate. Left you to me. To do with you what I please.

...Until he no longer felt anymore.

And do to you I shall...

After eternity had passed, Eddie's body was unceremoniously dragged across the barren, uneven earth of the Upside Down. He watched the chilling, sizzling, flashing of the unfamiliar sky as he was transported for miles and miles, ad infinitum.

Until a threshold was crossed, and he entered the next circle of unending torture.

His carcass was rent into unnatural shapes, bones cracked, the marrow scraped out. Skin was flayed, flesh split open, until his barely-beating heart was on display and blood splashed weakly onto the over-saturated ground.

His eyes though...remained.

For some reason, Vecna wanted him to see.

The eyes are the windows to the soul, after all.

So he let Eddie stare at the rest of his collection—an unfinished one, but an impressive one nonetheless. He let Eddie stare at the looming pillars; at the empty sockets and gaping maws. At twisted husks that would never truly be filled again.

Because he wanted Eddie to choose to lose his soul. Wanted him to sell it. To trade it for salvation, lest he end up like the others.

It was almost disappointing at how short a time it took...

It was only a day—a day of staring at Chrissy and Fred and Patrick—before he wailed so wildly and begged so loudly that his jaw unhinged and every part of him truly became broken.

And at that moment, everything Eddie Munson was or had been or could ever hope to be no longer belonged to him. He was ripped apart both literally and figuratively. Whatever damage the bats had instinct to cause, it was but a mere drop in the sea of carnage that their Master endeavored to create.

He could sense the creatures around him, sense their anticipation to frenzy. Whether that was to fight or to feed, only time would tell.

They had worked tirelessly to stitch him back together. Followed their Master's instructions. Some were sacrificed to the cause: their bodies freely given, because their minds would remain.

Part of the greater whole.

He would never be considered whole anymore, but he was possible more than whole; the extra pieces sustained what would have perished due to the crucial part of him that was missing.

"Rise," a groaning, creaking voice sounded and all went silent. As all the creatures of the Upside Down witnessed the completion of a wicked metamorphosis.

The product of their collective toil began to writhe and twitch as it was reborn.

Resurrected.

"Rise," Henry repeated, "and become what you were always meant to be."

And in a realm full of monsters, the thing that rose was truly monstrous.

Leathery wings. Rows of teeth, too many to fit so they left his jaw unnaturally wide. Talons that could rip. Eyes that could cut through any sort of darkness.

He wouldn't bow. His Master remade him so he would never bow. But he still knew his place.

This gift he was given could easily be taken away. He wouldn't squander it.

He made a vow. A promise.

He would serve.

But he made a promise before, he recalled.

A promise not to be a hero.

And as a consequence of breaking that promise, he could never be one again.

Eddie always knew he was going to Hell.

He simply never thought he would become the Prince of it.

“You are privy to a great Becoming and you recognize nothing. You are an ant in the after-birth. It is in your nature to do one thing correctly: before Me you rightly tremble. Fear is not what you owe Me[.] You owe Me awe.”

—Thomas Harris, Red Dragon (1980)

[blueshistorysims]

March 27th, 1919, Newcrest, England

Just when they thought Peter would recover, he took a turn for the worse, and Rebecca had to consider the possibility that she and her husband would not grow old together. Nearly 32 years they had been married. They had raised four children. And now one of them was dead and another ill with the same sickness killing Peter. Dr. Ingalls had told her all she could do now was make him comfortable as he died. The thought was heart-wrenching. 

“My… my father died in the exact same spot,” Peter wheezed. “I was where you were, kneeling while my mother held his hand.”

Rebecca sniffled. “I remember. I felt so helpless, standing in the corner and watching. I still feel helpless.”

“To think I could have been a Duke. And you a duchess. I would have loved to see you decked out in fancy pearls and beautiful dresses.”

“You’ve made me happier than any jewel or coin would.”

“I wish we would have made it to our 32nd anniversary,” he coughed. 

Tears pooled in her eyes. “Oh, Peter,” she whimpered. “What am I to do without you?”

“You’ll be fine, my darling. You won’t need to worry about fiances, and once Byron becomes Duke, you’ll be living in only the finest houses.”

“If he doesn’t manage to get out of it. If anyone could, it would be him.”

“Stubborn.” He smiled sadly. “Like me.”

He coughed again. “Rebecca?”

“Yes, darling?”

“I don’t want to die.”

Tears escaped her eyes. “I don’t want you to die either.”

He sighed and closed his eyes. His face had paled and yellowed, and she knew he was at death’s door. “Lie with me,” he whispered. “Do yo know how I wanted to die?”

“How?” She whisepred.

“Of old age. You and I would spend the day with our many grandchildren and after dinner and prayer, we would get in bed and pass away peacefully.”

More tears streamed down her face. “Peter.”

“Lie with me,” he repeated. “I want someone next to me as I die.”

Rebecca took her husband’s sickly hand and closed her eyes, listening to his shallow breathing until it completely stopped.