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twistnet · 3 years ago

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ghosts [ joel miller ]

⋯ SUMMARY ; old ghosts have a way of appearing when you least expect them to // @bitmorejordan

⋯ WARNINGS ; female!reader, crossover [ marvel & tlou ], mention of past relationship [ yelena belova ], angst [ general arguments ] + happy ending

“we’ve got some traders comin’ down from alberta. should be arriving any time now, considering all that snow is now gone.” tommy states, guiding his horse along the trail back towards jackson. the patrol had been rather uneventful, a blessing in disguise considering the amount go infected that had traveled through during the winter months.

it wasn’t often that traders made their why through, as many tended to stay near their settlements due to the fear of hunters and infected that lingered in-between. though, a few towns had managed to travel north in search of supplies, and stumbled upon jackson -- forming trading deals and bonds before the town’s went home with their new finds.

“how do you know they’re coming this way?” joel questions from his horse, still somewhat new to the inner workings of jackson. the two of you, including ellie, had permanently settled in jackson almost a year ago. and there were still new things to learn each day. “we’ve got a waypoint at the boarder or wyoming and montana. set up exactly for this very reason. it’s a system maria came up with when we first began trading. didn’t want anyone thinkin’ they were hunters when they came up to the wall.”

tommy waved, signaling to the watchers the three of you were friendlies, before the large wooden doors opened enough to allow the three of you through. you pulled your horse to a stop, giving her a few pats before climbing off, “you got it?” joel calls from the ground, eyeing you softly as your feet plant firmly on the ground and you throw the reins over the horse’s head, “i’ve ridden a horse a time or two, joel.”

“i’m just looking out for ya, sweetheart. nothing to worry about.” he defends, furthering the action with a gentle kiss to the temple as the three of you walk back towards the stables to check in. after doing so, and maria gives you the all clear, you and joel walk hand in hand back towards your shared home.

the smell of coffee fills the small room as joel pours out two cups, sliding a mug your direction the minute it’s filled and you take a sip, humming softly as the liquid warms you. you idly sip your coffee as joel works on breakfast -- eggs, toast, and some meat.

you eat together silently, simply enjoying the others company before moving towards the living room to read, cuddling up next to each other on the couch with your respective books.

it’s not until almost two hours later that a knock sounds from the front door, and joel moves to greet whoever came by, “hey! those traders just came in. why don’t you come meet em.” tommy greets, waving the two of you on to join him. he makes conversation with joel as you slide on a jacket and grab your pack before following the two men out. your hand slips into joel’s, fingers squeezing his as you walk down the path towards the large community center where most of the trades take place.

“you two otta see what they brought with them this time. it’ll blow your socks off.” tommy smiles, pushing the door open to let you enter in front of him. the large community center is already crowded, with jackson’s townsfolk looking to make trades and deals with the new arrivals. many greet each other like long lost friends -- hugging and patting shoulders in greeting as they welcome everyone back.

you smile up at joel, giving his hand a tight squeeze before dropping his hand and moving to look around the different tables the traders and jackson community members had set up to trade. you look after a few things, trading what you have from your backpack in exchange for some items you had been looking for. you thank the trader, stuffing the new item into your bag before slinging it over your shoulder and moving onto the next table.

you stop in your tracks when a familiar voice calls your name. and it only takes a few seconds for your brain to fully register who exactly it was. you tense harshly, not at all prepared for the sight as you turn around and are greeted by what could only be described as a ghost.

yelena stands a few feet away, just as wide-eyed as you, and looking more uncomfortable for wear as time passes. she breaks contact after a short while, glancing over to one of the members of her group with a smile before turning back towards you, “what...are you doing here?” she questions, harshness seeping into her tone.

“i live here in jackson. have been for awhile.” you answer more leveled than she comes across, but you don’t blame her for the harshness. after all, you were the one who left without so much of a word to her -- yes, the two of you had fought about the task marlene had come asking for assistance on, but at the end of the day, it was your decision to make.

“so... you’ve been here since you took that job from marlene?” you swallow hard as the name falling from her month causes a few heads to perk up. “not exactly...” you trail off, the story of how you ended up here wasn’t something that could be explained in a short amount of time.

“so, are you going to explain where you went? or are you just going to leave it at that... like you did with our last argument?” she huffs, not caring that most of the traders and jackson community have tuned into the conversation the two of you are having. you feel heat rise to your face, and before you get the chance to further embarrass yourself, maria and tommy bound up to the two of you -- with joel following close behind, “why don’t we have this conversation somewhere more private?”

yelena huffs, cursing something in russian under her breath as she heads for the double doors. you feel three sets of eyes on you, yet you make a quick exit to avoid any premature questions. you catch up with the blonde woman outside, where the five of you are ushered into an empty bar room to hopefully sort things out.

“so... what seems to be the problem here?” maria crosses her arms over her chest, taking on the role of the mediator as joel and tommy watch on, “she was just getting ready to explain it to me when you stepped in.” the blonde all but growls out, eyes hardening at the older woman.

maria only sighs, hands dropping to her hips, “avoiding conflict between groups -- especially when it comes to trading, is needed. now, if you need adam in here, you are more the welcome to.”

“the problem isn’t with your group. it’s her.” yelena states, looking over at you as she saids those words, “she left. took some stupid mission, and never came back. and now, i find her in a town in the middle of fucking nowhere, acting like it never affected her.”

“things changed! the mission was supposed to be a simple drop and go -- you know that! but we got to the courthouse, and those fireflies were slaughtered by fedra. so, we had to make a choice on where to go from there. and based on your last words, you weren’t exactly going to accept me back with open arms!”

“i feel like there’s some backstory we’re missin’ here...” tommy comments, and you turn to him with a small sigh, “yelena and i dated for almost seven years.” the room creeps into a silence as your words take effect, and they fail to hide the shocked and surprised expressions that fall across their features.

you sighed, shaking your head softly as you continued on, “we met after running back alley jobs for various people. it was toward the end of those seven years when marlene came to us and asked to have us transport something out of the city. yelena didn’t want to because there was no information on what ‘goods’ we were going to transport. but the deal was too good to pass up, or at least i felt it was.”

yelena scoffs out a laugh, crossing her arms over her chest, “ha! she fails to mention that those guns wouldn’t have done us any good because we didn’t sell anything! and besides, those two runners in the free zone pushed most of the guns.” you scoff in return, getting in her face as you feel anger rise in your chest, “we could have! robert was always looking to make a deal!” there’s a moment you hear joel snort in the background at the name mentioned, but it doesn’t cause you to

“because he was too busy paying off -- how does that one saying go?” “stealing from peter to pay paul?” “exactly! he would have screwed us over!”

“you don’t know that!” you yell as maria steps between the two of you, ushering the two of you away from one another to avoid a fight breaking out, “okay! why don’t we settle down a bit? there’s no need to get hot-headed over things. especially things that happened years ago.”

“you never came back... that’s the problem. i sat in boston wondering if you were okay. a unit had gone through, and reported bodies in the courthouse, but they never said who’s. so, i had no clue if you were dead or alive.” your eyes soften at her words, already hearing the change in her tone as she drops her gaze away from you.

“it wasn’t an easy decision to make -- but it was one that had to be fast. there weren’t many options on what we could do.” you attempt to explain as her eyes shoot back up to yours, “we?” she questions, not realizing you had been joined by others on this transport.

“yes... joel, tess and i.” the names ring familiarity as she looks over at the tall man standing behind you, then it all makes the connection. “the runners from the free zone...” she whispers, trailing off as anger builds back in her chest,“lena...”

at the time, the runners of the free zone were picking up jobs faster than people could put out -- leaving a lot of the other runners for various zones without jobs. the part that had made it more difficult, was no one had known what the runners looked like, other than the names that floated around whenever someone got something new.

yelena had hated them from the first moment your employer had stated all jobs were taking and nothing was going to come through for another week. and after a few threatening sentences, had gotten him to at least give her the names.

“why the fuck were you working with them?!” the anger already present in her voice, cause joel to step forward just in case things took a turn for the worst, “by the time i got back to marlene, she had already brokered a deal with them, and i was willing to take the lesser cut if it meant i got something for us. it was supposed to be a simple drop and go, but tess got bit and the group of fireflies that were supposed to take ellie were dead. we couldn’t just leave her there!”

yelena’s face scrunches up at the mention of someone unknown to her, “who the fuck is ellie?” while the wording wasn’t the best, you feel joel tense behind you at the hostile tone. and wanting to avoid joel taking a defensive stance against someone he considered his own, you quickly turned and calmed him with a gentle look -- stating loud and clear you were handling the situation.

“the ‘goods’ we were supposed to transport. she’s a really sweet girl. tess told us to find tommy -- he knew where the fireflies were and it was our best bet. we didn’t find fireflies until we got to salt lake, and even then... it was all for nothing.” joel’s hand reaches forward, squeezing your shoulder lightly in comfort as you replay the events in salt lake. the gesture knocks you from your memories and you shoot him a soft smile over your shoulder as you hand squeezes his fingers in return.

what turns your attention back to yelena, is the loud scoff and burning gaze before she storms from the room. and you know then the connection she made, but you make no move to go over her.

“is she...?” tommy questions, looking between you and the door yelena had just left through. you shrug, sighing softly as you look over at the older man, “she’ll be fine. just needs some time to cool off. it was probably a lot, and i really don’t blame her.” you hand comes up to pinch that bridge of your nose, hoping to relieve the pain building in your head after the whirlwind of a conversation you just had.

joel’s hand drops to the small of your back, a wary look set on his face as he looks over at you, “you two...?” his question trails off, not exactly knowing how to word the rest of his question before you get the hint, “yeah, i would have told you sooner, but we left things on a bad note. and i didn’t see a reason in opening up old wounds.”

“it’s alright. did you still want to stay and look through everything, or...?” “i just want to go home.” joel nods softly, holding his hand out for you to grab. you spare a quick glance behind you toward maria and tommy -- not missing the looks of reassurance they shoot you as you are guided out in the direction of your shared home.

the next day are just as equally stressing. considering most of the town is caught up on the latest gossip of the conversation that had taken between you and yelena. more so, the fact no one had really seen you out aside from running patrols with your partner.

if you happen to cross paths with yelena, the two of you promptly avoid each other like the plague and continue on with your tasks. more so, you’ve begun avoiding the local gatherings knowing it was a petty move, but you didn’t have the energy to argue and provide free entertainment for the rest of the town.

the knock at your front door does rest suspicion as you weren’t expecting anyone, and joel had only left a few moments ago to run a errand with tommy. you stand from the couch, dropping your book on the coffee table before moving towards the door.

“why do you avoid me?” she questions quick and straight to the point the second you open the door. “i could ask you the same. consider we’ve both been avoiding one another.” the blonde woman only offers a shrug in return, leaning forward in the slightest to see inside your home as her hands clasp behind her back.

“probably for different reasons, but i don’t want to leave things on a bad note like we did back in boston.” she states, finally looking you in the eye for the first time since yesterday’s conversation. you nod, opening the door wider to offer invitation, “i agree, why don’t you come in? we have coffee.” she smiles, but snorts at the offer of the old world drink, “somehow, i don’t trust that.” guiding her into the kitchen, you hold out the bag of coffee beans with a bright smile, “it’s good, i promise.”

she waits patiently as you prepare and pour her a cup of coffee before diving into her questioning, “so, would you explain how exactly you ended up out here?” yelena prompts, taking a sip of her coffee as you nod, and recount the story of how after you left your shared apartment. from the time you met ellie for the first time to your last moments in salt lake. she listened intently, grimacing at some parts in your story and smiling at some of the more sweeter moments.

“that... sounds like a lot. i’m almost glad i didn’t take the job.” she jokes in attempt to relieve the tension in your shoulders. you join in, smiling as you nod -- in turn cracking your own joke, “yeah, you probably would have complained the whole way.” the room dissolves into laughter as the two of you share a gentle moment, and yelena pats the kitchen island with her hands, “that is true, but i would have at least known you were safe. is that how you feel here?”

her question, while genuine, catches you off-guard for a moment. as it had been the question she had asked you after the two of you had joined together back in boston. “i feel safe here. i was from the moment i stepped back through those doors after being in salt lake.” the same answer you had given years ago, now with some slight changes. she only smiles, “and that... joel. he cares for you, yes?”

you match the smile on her face, setting your cup down to answer, “we wouldn’t be together otherwise.” there is a long pause as she nods, now knowing the answer to the question she had originally came by to ask you.

“i had the idea of coming here to ask if you’d come back to alberta with me. but, after seeing how well you mingled here, i felt it was wrong to rob you of that.” she states, dropping her mug to the counter with a saddened smile, “besides, even if i had asked, i had the feeling you would say no.” you nod softly as guilt builds in your chest, “i would have.”

“perhaps when it is jackson’s turn to travel, you can go with and i’ll show you alberta.” she offers with a gentle smile, and you nod enthusiastically, “i’d like that.” she nods happily, doing her best to mask the sadness that is creeping into her chest as she looks at you one final time, “good. we leave in two hours. adam wants to be to the waypoint by sundown.”

“it was good seeing you. i’m sorry for the way i left things, but i did miss you. and i was glad to see you yesterday, even if all you did was yell at me.” she chuckles softly, patting your shoulder before pulling you in for a tight hug. your own arms wrap around her waist, hugging her with the same intensity, “i missed you too, милая.” she whispers against your neck.

she pulls away after a moment, uttering a goodbye to you under her breath before exiting the house. you look over at the mug of coffee -- still steaming hot, and for a moment, you’re back in boston. sitting in some rusted out apartment with yelena wondering when your next ration cards were going to come in. and while you were saddened to see her go, you knew that the lives you led now were far better than the ones you had before.

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