#maybe next year ill put up a decoration or two

[j-eryewrites]

Left Behind When We Are In Need

Part Seven of A Sinner's Redemption

SERIES MASTER LIST | MAIN MASTER LIST

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Word Count: ~21.k

Author's Note: This chapter covers some pretty dark topics. Most of the events happen in canon, but I will still say it. Do not read this chapter if dark themes such as SA trigger you. I have put discretions above the sections containing these triggers to warn you again. I am not in charge and do not control the media you consume. Please read at your own risk. That being said, enjoy this extremely angsty and dark chapter.

*Note: I very briefly edited it, and it has not been beta read.

Trigger Warnings: Canon typical violence, gore, gun violence, descriptions of injuries, attempted SA, mentions of death, descriptions of death, depressive thoughts, fire, cults/religion, mentions cannibalism, cursing/language, creepy men, mentions of pedophilia

꧁_꧂

Numb, that's all Piper felt as she sat on the porch. The chill morning light kissed her skin, and the birds sang their good morning, yet Piper couldn't feel anything. She couldn't hear the sweet song or sense the loving caress of the sunbeams. She no longer felt cold, and most of all, she was no longer sick.

She was well aware of how illness worked. It was human to contract illness, but Piper didn't feel human. She was alive and breathing, for that she was sure. However, after the scars left by Joel's words and the wounds that reopened, Piper was in pain. Sure, humans felt pain, but not like this, Not pain that lasts for 17 years. Not a pain that only increases with each breath. Sinking deeper into the frozen porch, Piper clenched her fists. No, the pain she felt wasn't human. It was a message calling out to her, a consequence, and a promise. It was a promise of death. She'd been right when she told Joel. Piper was only made to kill, and she only knew how to kill. She was a killing machine, built to survive and destroy. She wasn't human. She wasn't sure she'd ever been one at all. Maybe once, she could have been through the love she held for her sister, but it was revealed to Piper as she lay bleeding in the snow that maybe Ellie didn't want her love. Maybe Ellie was just as hurt and angry as she was, and no amount of love would change that.

Deep in her depressive derailing, Piper could not hear the crunching of the freshly fallen snow underneath Tommy's feet as he crept away from his home, family, and life to the house across the street.

A huff of air fogged Tommy's view as he stilled, noticing the statue of Piper on the porch. Her cheeks burned a bright red underneath the wood-brown knit beanie atop her head. Where tuffs of long dark hair used to lay were now pinkened, freckled skin. Around her cheeks and eyes, dark purple and blue shades merged as if a child mixed watercolor paints together. Tommy frowned at the sight, taking care to slowly approach.

"How long have you been out here?" Tommy asked her once he reached the front steps.

Piper shrugged and stood up, swinging her backpack over her shoulder. The sound of Tommy knocking on the front door was drowned out by Piper's heavy steps as she descended the stairs and began her trek in the snow.

"Hey, wait," Tommy called out to Piper. Suddenly, the door flung open and slammed shut, revealing Ellie. Ellie hopped down and trickled after her sister, leaving a wide gap between the two. For a moment, Tommy could only stand and stare before he realized he was supposed to follow the girls and lead them.

The walk to the stables seemed longer than Tommy remembered it being. With how fast the girls were walking, he was sure he'd get there faster than he thought. Yet the silence and grim expression of the girls made the trek over exponentially longer. The cold bitterness of the winter's day slightly softened as they walked into the stables.

Hay and straw decorated the floor, and various saddles, ropes, and grooming tools hung along the wall. Tommy motioned for the girls to follow as he led them down the stables. Arriving at the last few stables, Tommy stopped and sighed, stepping back.

A scowl formed on the girls' faces upon seeing what stood inside the stables.

"You came here to say goodbye or something?" Ellie spat.

"No," Joel replied as he saddled up the horse. "I came here to steal one of these horses, probably two since there's three of us, and go."

"I woulda gave you 'em," Tommy told Joel.

"I know," Joel nodded.

"Anyway…," Joel turned to the girls. "…that was 30 minutes ago, and I guess… you two deserve a choice. I still think you'd be better off with Tommy…"

"Let's go," Ellie declared and stepped into the stable.

"Okay." Joel stepped aside and looked at Piper. "Piper?"

Biting her lip, she stared at Joel. A wave of emotions crashed over her. Joel was standing in front of her, saying he'd stay. The deeper his words sank in, the more her nerves began to work. She began to feel the sharp cold that stained her cheeks and clung to her head. The soreness of the bruises Ellie had left behind struck deep within her muscles. Piper began to feel again.

With her silence, Joel stepped forward. The light trickling through the wooden planks of the stables illuminated the bruises and minor cuts from Piper's hasty haircut. Suddenly, Joel's eyes became watery, and his heart sank deep into the pits of his guilt. How long had those bruises been there? Why didn't he see them? How could he have let it happen?

After a few quiet moments, acceptance filled Piper's being, and she nodded, unsure if her words would fail her. She was glad Joel stayed, but the night before had left its mark and made her bleed. A wound like that is not so easily forgotten or forgiven.

Joel couldn't help the soft smile that melted onto his face. Waving his hand, he led Piper into the other stall where the horse he prepared earlier was ready to ride.

"You good to ride on your own? Hard to fight three people on a horse," Joel explained. Piper nodded before placing her foot in the staddle and lifting herself onto the back of the steed.

"Hold onto both," Joel instructed, gently taking Piper's hands. Mm-hmm," he hummed when they were on the lead. Once she was on the horse, Joel led the creature out of the stall. Then he got Ellie onto the horse before turning to Tommy.

"General direction?" He asked Tommy.

"Head southeast till you hit I-25. It's right off the interstate. Shouldn't be hard to miss." The crease between Tommy's eyebrows deepened, and he drew his brother in for a hug. Patting his shoulder, Tommy pulled back. There's a place for you here… The three of you," he explained with as much sincerity as he could muster.

Joel glanced back at his girls. They were his girls. It was a fact he could no longer deny. "Countin' on it." Joel pointed to the rifle hanging over Tommy's arm. "Can I borrow that?"

Tommy followed his brother's finger and nodded. "Yeah."

"'Cause Maria took mine, you know?" Joel continued to persuade.

Chuckling, Tommy handed him the gun. "I already said yes, Joel." After a pause, he continued. "Adios, big brother."

"Adios," Joel said with tears in his eyes. He had found his brother. Tommy was family, but after last night, he realized. The girls, Ellie and Piper, were family too. They were his girls, and he couldn't leave them. While he trusted Tommy with his life, he knew he couldn't bear the thought of not being there for them if anything had happened. Maybe he could have done something to save them if he had just been there. So, as he led the horses out of the settlement, he didn't feel as sad as he thought he'd be saying farewell to his beloved brother. After all, he had found his girls. He had his family.

꧁_꧂

Tommy said they had a week's journey to the university, yet Joel wished the days were longer. For the first two days, as they rode, he had successfully taught the girls, mainly Ellie, how to whistle. The first consisted of the actual whistle, and the second was about whistling a tune.

Ellie was more than eager to learn after all her failed attempts over the months they had been together. On the other hand, Piper was much more reluctant about anything with Joel.

He had tried to ask about her hair after she removed her hat the first night, but he was met with a grunt in response. Then he wanted to help her pack her sleeping gear in the morning while she was busy with other things, only to watch her repack it all. He knew he screwed things up when he left her broken on the porch that night. He knew his words had cut deep, but he felt it was more than just him.

The bruises garnishing her face only seemed to worsen in color as the days went on. They seemed to be an uncomfortable topic for the girls, with flashes of guilt appearing in Ellie's eyes every time she glanced at her sister. However, what Joel thought was the worst of all was the silence. Ellie still talked to him and made jokes here and there. Piper never spoke. Words hadn't trickled from her mouth since that night. Not even a word was spoken between the two sisters.

Today, Joel decided to teach the girls how to hunt. Well, it was more of a shooting lesson, but the knowledge was still applicable to hunting. Piper decided on a more observational approach as she sat in the snow near Joel and Ellie.

Returning his gaze to Ellie, Joel adjusted her hands and nodded for her to shoot. A thundering wave of gunshots echoed over the hills. After the third shot, Ellie sighed and loosened her grip on the gun.

"Wide right," Joel noted as he pulled the binoculars from his eyes. "You're flinchin'."

"The target's too small," Ellie complained.

"I made it bigger than I should've." Joel instructed, "Eject the cartridge."

Ellie grumbled as she did as Joel told her. "…And I am not flinching."

Joel hummed, "Mm-hmm."

"The rifle just sucks," Ellie said upon finishing the task.

Taking the gun back, Joel peered over at Piper, "Why don't you take a break and let your sister try?"

"No thanks, I already know I wouldn't miss," Piper declared confidently, leaning back into her hands.

For a moment, Joel's eyes widened. She had spoken to him. "If you're so sure, why don't you show us?" Joel teased in an attempt to have more interaction.

Piper rolled her eyes and sank deeper into her hands before pushing off and reaching for the gun. Joel passed the weapon to her without a word, and she raised it to fire. Ellie peered over as Piper's eyes narrowed and her breath stilled. Her finger pinched back on the trigger. The gun fired. The glass didn't break. Piper pulled back in confusion as Joel chuckled.

"Did she miss?" Ellie yanked the binoculars out of Joel's hand and zoned in on the target. "You missed!" she gasped before pointing at her sister. "Piper missed!"

Piper grumbled and shoved the gun to the ground. "Ellie's right. The rifle's fucked up."

Joel bit his lip from laughing more. He stuck out his hand and motioned for the gun. "Okay, give it,'" he sighed. "It doesn't aim right. Mm-hmm. You'll see." He raised the rifle into position. "A deep breath in, slow breath out,' he explained, earning a leer from Ellie. "You squeeze the trigger like you love it. Mm. Gentle… steady… nice and slow."

"You gonna shoot this thing or get it pregnant?" Ellie grumbled as she peered through the binoculars. Joel smirked and prepared to fire.

"It isn't gonna work. It doesn't aim right," Piper mumbled beside him.

Joel pulled back the trigger and beamed as he heard Ellie curse, "You dіck."

Piper only huffed and bit her lip. It didn't matter that Joel had hit the target. She had missed. She hadn't missed in years, not since that night. Not since she first killed a man. She wasn't allowed to miss. She couldn't miss. Yet, here she was. Her shot had missed the target. Peering over at triumphant Joel, Piper understood why. Even if he had hurt her and left her on the cold winter night, she was safe with Joel. Joel became home after months with him on the road, fighting for their lives. Joel became family. Frowning, she continued to grumble; even if Joel was family, he had to work to apologize. He had fucked up, and he wasn't going to get away so easily.

After Joel decided his bragging rights had been overused, he told the girls to pack it up and return on the horses. As Ellie begrudgingly trudged away, Joel called out to Piper.

She turned her head to look at him. "What?" She asked with hands in the pockets of her orange coat.

Reaching into his coat pocket, Joel pulled out a small book, brushing off some lint before handing it to her.

Piper hesitantly took it. She flipped it over and read the cover. It was white and frayed along the edges, as paper does with time. " Tiny First Aid Guide," she read. She raised it with confusion on her face.

Joel stood up and brushed the snow off his pants. "I found it in the room I stayed in. No one was using it. I thought you might like it, so you can start saving someone and not, you know…," he awkwardly smiled.

Piper felt blood rush to her face, and a soft, grateful smile appeared. With her fingers, she traced over the cover. "Yeah, I know. Thanks, Joel." Joel nodded in response and watched Piper walk over to her horse, holding the book tightly. Her head looked down as her brown eyes quickly scoured over its contents. With each word absorbed into her brain, Piper began to forgive Joel a bit more.

꧁_꧂

Question after question followed as Joel, Ellie, and Piper rode along. Ellie's curiosity bubbled to the surface once she realized Joel was willing to answer her questions. Piper, however, hummed along, listening as she directed her horse after Joel.

"So the way they ran things in Jackson was how things used to be?" Ellie wondered, remembering every aspect of Jackson: the Christmas tree, the movie, the communal relationship, the homes, etc.

"No," Joel smiled as he shook his head. "The country was too big for that. Back then, there were two main ways of lookin' at things. Some people wanted to own everything."

"Mm-hmm," Ellie nodded, adjusting her grip to hold Joel tighter.

"And some people didn't want anyone to own anything at all," Joel continued.

"Which one were you?" Ellie asked. She leaned over to look at Joel, trying not to fall over.

"Neither. I just did my job." Joel shrugged and glanced behind, noticing Piper's sudden interest in her book. She'd been reading it as she rode. The horse she sat on seemed to understand that it needed to follow Joel, allowing her the time to scan the pages of her first aid guidebook. He turned back around, proud of himself for the gift.

"Which was…," Ellie trailed off as her brain recalled her previous conversations with Joel. "Building?"

"That's right," Joel acknowledged. "Houses, stores, that kinda thing. We were called contractors."

Ellie smiled and cleared her throat. Deeply, she said, "The Contractor," as if it was a superhero name from one of her comic books. "That's pretty cool."

"Yeah. We were cool," Joel shrugged. "Everybody loved contractors."

"Nice," Ellie hummed.

The conversations continued one after the other. In one conversation, Ellie chose to ask about movies and television, questioning which ones were Joel's favorite. This led them down the path of football. Joel claimed he didn't watch much TV except for the Sunday games.

Ellie's brows pinched together as she tried to make sense of the game. "Okay, so if you mess up your fourth down, then you give the ball to the other team?"

Joel nodded. "Right. It's called a turnover."

"Turnover," Ellie repeated. "But if you make it to 10 yards, then you're back to first down?"

"Yep."

"So," Ellie concluded. "Basically, just moving in one direction."

"Basically…," Joel agreed. "But violent."

"Oh, well," Ellie sarcastically said. "There's that."

Up ahead stood the I25 sign. Joel glanced around, checking if Piper was still following. Stopping his horse, he announced, "Well, how 'bout that? Made it in five days. Easy days."

"I don't know what Tommy was so afraid of," Ellie noted.

"Still time to find out," Piper mumbled as she continued to walk her horse past Joel and Ellie.

"Still time to find out," Ellie mimicked.

The road went on for what seemed like forever. Snow covered the ground, but small tufts of dried grass poked out here and there. In the distance, stood tall mountains encasing a city that grew larger and larger the longer the road. As they entered the city, the snow traded for dead leaves and forgotten cars. Rusted signs led them to the university campus.

"Home of the Big Horns," Ellie read as they approached the sign. "What does that mean?"

"Team mascot," Joel explained. "It's a kind of sheep."

"Oh, see?" Ellie playfully nudged Joel's side. "One step closer to your dream."

"Don't see any Fireflies, though," Piper noted, stopping her horse beside Joel and Ellie's.

"They're probably in the middle," Joel said. "Safer."

"Uh-huh," Piper replied. "Sure."

"This way," Joel nudged his horse and led them down the road deeper into the campus.

"So these places…," Ellie began as the towering brick buildings surrounded them. "People would live here and, like, what? Go to classes and stuff?"

"Yup."

"Even though they were adults," Ellie questioned.

"Sort of adults," Joel explained. "I think it was just as much about partying and findin' themselves as anythin' else. Figuring out what they wanted to do with their lives."

"What they wanted to do with their lives," Ellie whispered before chuckling, remembering Joel's dream of a sheep ranch.

"So I've been thinkin'," Joel began.

"Mm-hmm?" Ellie hummed.

"I don't want a sheep ranch, actually." Ellie peered at Joel. Meanwhile, Piper stole a quick peek away from her book. "I mean, if the deal is I can do anything?"

"That's the deal," Piper recalled.

"Well… when I was a kid," Joel said, "I wanted to be a singer."

Ellie was unsure what she expected Joel to say, but it sure wasn't to sing. Her grip on Joel loosened as a bout of laughter overcame her.

"Shut up," Joel's cheeks flushed red. "Why is that funny?"He grumbled.

Finding a momentary pause in her giggles, Ellie swatted his arm. "You gotta sing something now."

"No," Joel shook his head.

"Come on, man. I'm not gonna laugh," Ellie promised. "Any singing will be better than Pipers."

Piper whirled around and sent Ellie a glare, who grinned in response. Joel made a mental note to ask Piper about the singing later.

"You're already laughin'," Joel observed.

Ellie agreed, "Yeah, okay, true. Well, you're singin' for me later. I'm gonna save the fսckin' world, man. It's the least you can do for me."

Joel weighed his options and shrugged. "Fair enough," he said, looking over at Piper. "What about you, Piper? Do you have any requests once you help save the world?"

At Joel's words, Piper grew quiet, and her eyes cast down. "No…," her voice shook. "No, I-"

"Are those monkeys?" Ellie squealed, pointing over to where a horde of monkeys was running across the stone stairs.

"Must be from the old labs," Joel muttered, slowing his horse.

Ellie laughed, watching the monkeys fumble over themselves. "Look at them go."

"First time seein' a monkey?" Joel raised his brow.

"First time seein' a monkey," Ellie replied for both her and Piper.

Joel smiled, directing his horse to return to the original pace. Up ahead, he noticed a bright yellow symbol covering the faded university signs. He'd recognize that symbol anywhere: the Fireflies.

"Look-it," he uttered, nodding his head to the sign. Piper and Ellie followed his gaze.

"Here we go," Ellie whispered to herself. Anticipation boiled in her blood as they approached the building that housed the Fireflies. She was so close. So close to making a cure and saving the world.

However, as the horse approached, Ellie realized the campus was too quiet and empty for a group of Fireflies to be there. "Guard stations," Ellie said, noticing the empty stations.

Joel frowned before bringing the horse to a halt. Hopping off, Joel grabbed the harness and tied it around a tree before helping Ellie down. Next, he helped Piper secure her horse.

"Mm. No guards," he noted, looking around. He began to walk with Ellie in tow. It was a few paces before he noticed Piper's absence. He turned around and saw her standing beside the horses. Her gun in hand.

"I'm gonna stay and watch the horses," Piper announced.

Joel sighed and began to walk back. "You're comin' with us."

"No, if the Fireflies are in there, then I'll come in. Besides, someone has got to watch the horses." Piper cocked her gun. "I can handle myself."

Biting his lip, Joel found himself nodding his head. "Okay. We'll be back."

Piper scoffed. "You better."

Turning around, Joel motioned for Ellie to follow him in. Together, they entered the building. Paper was scattered all over the floors. Dirt, grime, and mold clung to the once-white walls. Forgotten glass bottles and display cases created a maze along the floor.

Ellie and Joel glanced around the room, looking for any sign of life.

"There were definitely doctors here," Ellie said, picking up some test tubes.

Joel wandered over to Ellie, noticing a brown file on the turned-over cabinet. "This is a packing list—something you make before moving," he explained.

"They just left?" Ellie's brows furrowed.

In the distance, a loud clang of metal echoed throughout the halls. "Maybe not all of them," Joel whispered, readying his rifle.

The clanging continued to call Ellie and Joel deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of the science building. Nudging a door open, they discovered some of the monkey's from earlier banging against metal cabinets. Upon sensing their presence, the monkeys screeched as they fled from the window.

"Well… at least it ain't Clickers," Joel said.

"Yeah, no Fireflies either," Ellie added in disappointment. "Maybe in all that research, they turned into fսckin' monkeys."

Joel slowly blinked his eyes, watching Ellie begin to fiddle with the cabinets and kick random bottles along the floor. In the back of the room stood a board with numerous red pins. Joel stepped closer, his eyes narrowing at what he discovered: a map.

"That's where they went?" Ellie asked from behind Joel.

"All the pins lead there." Joel's finger traced the mass gathering of pins on Salt Lake City, Utah. "Maybe gettin' ahead of the weather… better facilities?" Joel suggested. "I don't know."

A harsh whisper from outside the window made the two of them freeze. Joel quickly snuck to the window. Beneath him ran a group of men, all armed. They headed towards the entrance of the science building, to the horses, and to Piper.

"This way," one raider loudly announced.

Another raider whacked his back, "Shut the fսck up," the raider hissed, causing the other to cough.

" Out the back," Joel whispered, trying to silence his steps as he ran down the hallway and stairs. He just hoped he could get to Piper in time. She could handle herself. He knew she could, but he would never forgive himself if something happened.

"Ready?" Joel turned to Ellie as he creaked open the back door. The horses and Piper were visible, but the raiders were nowhere in sight. Joel sighed. They could get out without being spotted.

"Yeah," Ellie nodded. The two crouched down as they sprinted over to the horse.

Piper stood by the horses, whirling around, when Joel whispered her name. For a moment, she raised her brow in confusion when she saw Joel and Ellie's crouched position until she realized why. There was something here—something dangerous.

As Joel and Ellie made their way over, Piper hastily untied the horses from the tree. She handed Joel his horse's bridle and quickly jumped on hers. Her horse grunted as it made a turn, adjusting back to its rider's weight.

"Come here. Come here. Come here," Joel soothed the horse as he instructed Ellie to hop on. "I got ya."

Once her horse was still, Piper noticed another figure. She raised her gun and screamed, "Joel!"

Joel didn't waste time ducking as Piper fired her gun, shooting the raider in the arm and making him drop the metal baseball bat he had swung moments earlier. A river of curses fled the man's mouth.

The sound of Piper's scream and the commotion startled Ellie's horse. The horse screeched, kicked its front legs up, knocked its head, and removed Joel's grip. Ellie cried out, trying her best to hang on.

In the raider's moment of weakness, Joel twirled him, sliding his arm around the man's neck. The curses soon exchanged for pleas and gasps of air as Joel choked the man. The raider's punches grew weaker until he tightened his grip and twisted. A sickening crack filled the air, and the raider dropped dead.

Ellie's horse had stilled when the commotion had died down, and Piper lowered her gun. Despite his heavy breath, Joel caught sight of his girls' horrified expressions. Slowly, his eyes trailed down. His shirt was wet. It wasn't wet before. The worst was the knife impaling his torso. He was positive that had not been there. Joel yanked it out of his body while the adrenaline still pumped through his veins.

The girls' terror only grew as they saw the group of raiders rampaging towards them. "Joel! Get on the horse!" the girls screamed."Get on the horse!"

"Joel!" Ellie cried, extending an arm to help him up. With a grunt, Joel sat upon the horse. He flicked the bridle and forced the horse into a gallop.

"Get him!" The raiders yelled. "Go!"

"Get back!" Piper growled before firing her gun and taking out another raider.

"Shit!" The raiders snarled as they watched another one of their comrades fall. "You mοthеrfսckеr!"

Joel, Ellie, and Piper ignored their curses and hurried their horses. They ran and ran until the border of the university and city was no longer visible. The gigantic buildings were exchanged for train tracks and a suburban neighborhood.

"They're not following us. I think we're safe," Piper breathed, looking behind her.

"Joel? Joel, no, no, no! shit!" Ellie cried as Joel's once-tall figure leaned over and toppled off the horse.

Panic flooded Piper as she fumbled off her horse and over to Joel and Ellie.

"Fսck! Joel? Joel? Shit. Joel, open your eyes. Open your eyes." Piper's hand felt Joel's wound. Pulling her hand up, she discovered it drenched in blood. Fighting the urge to puke, she wiped his blood on her coat.

"Joel, you gotta get up," Ellie begged. Her eyes were beginning to water to a point it was hard to see.

"I can't fսckin' do this without you. I don't know where the fսck I'm going, what the fսck I'm gonna do," Piper trembled as her hands shook Joel. "Joel. Please. Joel, please."

Joel did not answer. His eyes did not open, yet his chest still rose and sank. It was something. Fighting more tears of her own, Piper sniffled. "Ellie, help me get him up." Ellie was too lost in her fear. "Ellie!" Piper shuddered, snapping Ellie out of her panicked daze. "We need to find someplace to stay."

"Where?" Ellie whimpered.

Piper whipped her head around and spotted what seemed to be a neighborhood in the distance. "Maybe there. Looks like a neighborhood." Placing a hesitant hand on Ellie's shoulder, Piper comforted her as best she could. "He'll be okay. We'll be okay."

"How? He got stabbed." Ellie blubbered. "Piper, Joel won't wake up. How is that okay?!"

"I don't know," Piper felt her anxiety flutter to the surface. "But…but I'll figure something out. I always do. Just, come on."

Piper stood up and placed her hands under Joel's shoulders. Ellie placed her underneath his feet. Together, the two girls lifted him with all their might and put him onto the horse. Using her coat to secure Joel to the animal, Piper hopped on the horse, telling Ellie to ride the other.

Piper ignored the cold winter day that nipped at her skin. She ignored the stain on her pants from Joel's leaking wound. Her mind focused only on getting somewhere safe and saving Joel. She had to save him. She meant what she said in her terrified state. She couldn't do this without him. If this occurred months before, Piper would have been fine, but not now. Joel was her home—Her dad. She'd be damned if she was going to lose that after she fought so hard for her family. Piper had to be strong for Joel, like he was for her, and most of all, for Ellie, even if her sister didn't want her strength. If it were the last thing Piper would do, she'd ensure Joel and Ellie made it out.

꧁_꧂

The horses weren't content with the heavy thud of the garage doors. They squealed in discontent, making it difficult for Piper and Ellie to drag Joel off the animal. Piper was grateful the garage could hold the horses. Not only was it cold, but having two live creatures hiding outdoors was a calling card for bad things. If the raiders did decide to come after them, the horse would be the first thing they'd look for.

Joel groaned as his weight sank into the concrete floor of the garage. It felt as if a needle pricked every inch of his body as the blood slowly regained passage to his limbs. With hushed apologies, the girls lugged Joel up the stairs and into the remnants of a home. Trash and debris littered the ground and caught on Joel's feet, halting the girls’ movements every few steps until they could clear the floor. Sweat oozed from Piper and Ellie's skin as they withdrew into the basement.

Ellie argued a bed or a room would be best for Joel. Piper disagreed. It was easier to be attacked and cornered in the room. Besides, they had yet to learn if something resided here. The basement made it more accessible to hide in and guard. After they caught their breaths, the next step was to pull Joel down a long flight of stairs.

Each step left a dull ache in their hearts. Anxiety filled their lungs, and exhaled into the air. Piper swore the air only got thicker and thicker the more they breathed, making her lungs sting. Sweat threatened to drip into their eyes, but the girls refused to wipe it away. They refused to let go of Joel.

Their muscles burned as soon as Joel flopped to the floor. His face scrunched up in pain, and he twisted in turn, increasing his pain. Piper dropped beside him, feeling his head. It was wet and just as sweaty as hers, if not more. Suddenly, she didn't feel hot anymore; she was cold. Every inch of her froze.

"Ellie," Piper whispered. "Go upstairs and find a mattress or something for Joel to lay on."

Ellie huffed a breath of air and wearily nodded before trudging upstairs. It wasn't long before she returned with some worn couch cushions. They had an ugly floral pattern embossed onto them, but Piper did not care about their appearance. The cushions were soft and got Joel off the cold, hard floor.

Placing the cushions on the ground, the girls lifted him and put him onto them. Again, their muscles screamed, but they ignored it. Instead, the girls honed in on the blood that continued to pour out of Joel. Lifting his jacket, Piper got a complete picture of the wound. Joel's once dark gray shirt was now a wet black. His blood seeped into the girl's skin and stained the pages of Piper's book as she yanked it out of her coat pocket and flipped through the pages. Her eyes were wide as she scanned the page.

"It's said to bandage and put pressure," Piper read. "Something about antibiotics, too."

Ellie furrowed her brows, trying to understand, but opened them quickly once she heard the sound of fabric ripping. Piper grunted as she tore off a large strip of her shirt, and gathering the fabric, she carefully lifted Joel's blood-soaked clothes to tie it on.

"Ellie, help me lift him," Piper said as one arm snuck under Joel's shoulder and the other prepped the fabric. Ellie copied her sister's actions, and together, they lifted his chest just enough for Piper to wrap the fabric tightly around Joel. After some rustling, a wet squelch, and a whimper from Joel's mouth. The fabric had been secured. "Put pressure," Piper repeated to herself. Her hands hovered over the wound, the makeshift bandage already turned red from Joel's blood. She gulped, took a deep breath, and, with shaking hands, pushed down on Joel's wound.

A guttural scream burst out of Joel. His back cracked, arching up as his eyes flew open. He tossed around fighting off Piper's attempts to place pressure on his injury. Ellie closed her eyes as she helped fight Joel's panicked movements off.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," Ellie said as a mantra. Her muscles demanded she release Joel, who fought with all his might.

"Come on," Piper begged, feeling her cheeks grow wet. From blood or tears, she wasn't sure. "You gotta help me. Come on."

Suddenly, Joel's movements stilled, and his pupils fluctuated as he peered at the girls. The fog that had overcome his mind briefly faded as the knowledge of their situation hit him. He was bleeding out, and they had been attacked by raiders who could still be after them. His girls were terrified, and he could do nothing about it. Finding the strength to pull the girls in, he gasped, "Leave. Leave"

"Shut up, Joel." Ellie trembled.

Joel shook his head and continued. The pain in his gut grew more and more. "Take the gun." He felt a tear on his cheek. It wasn't his.

"Joel shut the fuck up!" Piper cried.

"You go. You go," Joel heaved. "You go north. You go to Tommy. You go."

Then he let them go and fell back down. He watched them. He watched as they sat, crying. There was so much more he wanted to say. He tried to tell them so much if only there was time. But life wasn't fair. It never was, especially not for Joel Miller, but he could at least give them a fair chance. So when they huddled back, trying to help him, he mustered all the strength he could and pushed. He pushed them away so that they might have all the fairness in the world, The fairness that Joel never got. As he watched them pull themselves off the floor and trudge up the stairs, he felt his cheeks grow wetter. Except this time, these weren't the tears of his girls. They were his own. If the world were fair, they'd stay, and somehow Joel would make it out. If the world was fair, they could be a family, and maybe Joel could tell them they were no longer cargo and that perhaps they never were. But that's different from the way the world worked, especially not for Joel Miller.

Cold crept into his bones and threatened to freeze his tears—a permanent reminder of what he could have had and lost. In the dim light of the basement, Joel stifled his cries as he heard his song fade away, and in his silence, his dream became clearer. He sat on a porch with the late afternoon summer sun on his skin, in the distance, fields of green and yellow home herds of sheep. From beside, he hears laughter and giggles. Beside him sit his girls, Ellie and Piper. Ellie's reading jokes from her stupid book. Joel won't admit some of them are funny. He smiles as he watches Piper roll her eyes and fight off a smile. He knows Piper's just like him and won't admit she's fond of Ellie's puns. At some point, the jokes end, and the girls look up at him. They smile and get up. Joel knows they're going to leave. They are going to fade along with him and the dream. The dream will end any minute, and the girls will be gone. Except they don't leave. They come closer.

Now Joel no longer shivers. He opens his eyes, and there are his girls—Ellie on his left and Piper on his right. She cleans his wound with a cloth and a bowl of some liquid. It stings, but not as much as the tears leaking from his eyes. His girls. They came back.

Beside him, Piper muttered to herself the words of the page. Her hands were covered with Joel's blood, but the color had lightened. She'd done her best to clean her hands. That's what the book said, and she was reading it now. It was telling her how to stitch a wound. She hadn't sewn someone up before. She'd mended clothes for herself and Ellie, but those were clothes. Those could tear and fall apart, and she'd be fine, but this was Joel. Joel couldn't fall apart. Joel couldn't leave her, so Piper had to do this right.

Collecting the remnants of courage left in her body, she took her lighter and heated the needle she and Ellie had found upstairs. Once the needle seemed hot enough, she threaded the string through the top, biting her lip as her finger brushed by the heated end. The string went through. Piper took a breath. Her eyes met Ellie's, and she nodded. Her hand lowered, and she began to sew. The needle threaded in and out of Joel's skin, leaving him gasping for air. Except this time, Joel didn't fight. He stayed still and cried, listening to Ellie and Piper's hush sorries. But Joel's tears weren't from the pain. His girls had come back. The world could be fair for Joel Miller. Maybe for a little bit.

꧁_꧂

EXTREME TRIGGER WARNING IN THIS SECTION! READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.

They had found her in the morning; it was easy to tell her apart from the crowd with the blood that covered her body. She was guilty. There was no doubt about it.

As she stood before the compound's officers and leaders, Piper realized. No one could protect her. Levi was gone. She had killed him. Now, Piper was alone to fend for herself.

No one listened when Piper begged them to. He had tricked her and trapped her in that room. She had come to him for help. Ellie was sick and cold. The cold was deadly at night. Piper didn't want her sister to die, so she asked for help. Late at night, she'd snuck out of her room and found Levi. She asked him for another blanket. She felt relieved when he'd said yes, but that feeling was soon replaced with dread when she heard his following words.

"For a price," Levi smirked and locked the door. "I need something in return if I'm going to keep helping you like this."

The next thing she knew, she was on the floor. Levi was above her. In her terror, she did as any 12-year-old girl would do. She fought. Then he held down her arms and legs. So, she battled with the one thing she had left—her teeth. Levi leaned in close, and she tore at his throat. Blood seeped into her mouth and tainted her tongue. She bit and bit until there was nothing left to bite.

Piper pleaded with the officers to understand, but they could not. All they saw was a body of one of their own—a vacant spot that needed to be filled before them stood a body—a body that could be put to use, a body of a young girl that could be molded into one of them.

No one cried any tears when the twelve-year-old received her verdict. If she were old enough to kill, then kill, she would do. Once the decision rang out, it was swept under the rug, along with the bodies and lies. Piper wished she could cry. She wanted to cry, but everything was numb.

When she got back to her room, Ellie asked. Of course, Ellie asked why her sister had been taken out of the room at dawn. Looking down at her sickly sister, Piper felt her throat grow dry. There was nothing to say. She couldn't tell her sister. How was she supposed to when her mind was still trapped in that room? How was she supposed to explain it to her sister? Instead, Piper crawled into the bed beside Ellie. As Ellie fell back asleep, Piper promised to protect her sister. To never let her see the horrors of the world as she had. It was a promise never to leave. A commitment to follow her anywhere. A promise to be her sister no matter what.

Piper's head pounded as the afternoon sun rose high in the sky and broke through the room window.

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.

She'd never let anyone in again. She'd be strong enough for herself and Ellie. That's all that mattered now. She and Ellie. Ellie and her.

꧁_꧂

"You thirsty?" Ellie hoarsely asked, reaching for her water bottle.

Across from her sat Piper. Her hands shook as she traced the indent of the needle on her fingers. She succeeded. She'd sewn up Joel's wound, and the blood had stopped. Piper sighed and wiped her forehead. The sweat along her body grew cold.

Water trickled from the edge of the water bottle into Joel's mouth. He eagerly drank it before his throat closed, causing him to choke and cough. Ellie's eyes widened, and she quickly pulled the water away. With worry, the girls lean over Joel. They watch his breath settle as he sinks deeper into the cushions. As they watched, his eyes grew heavy, and their own eyes' weight was felt. Adrenaline had left, and there was a yearning to sleep in its absence.

Placing the water down, Ellie slowly lowered herself onto the floor beside Joel. Her head rested on his chest, and her eyes closed. Piper fought the tiredness as long as she could before she caved. She lay beside Joel and let sleep take her. As the girl's breath synced with sleep, Joel inched his arms around them. He pulled them closer off the cold floor. With a trembling hand, he brushed his finger through Ellie's tangled hair and, with the other, ran his hands over Piper's head. His fingers ran smoothly over her short pixie. Joel cracked open his eyes for one last glance at his girls before returning to his dream.

꧁_꧂

Grumbles from Ellie's stomach were what awoke her from her slumber. Her eyes were still heavy even after the sun had gone down and returned. She groaned as she sat up, noticing the weight of Joel’s arm around her back. Looking to the other side, Ellie saw Piper reading the first aid guide in the corner. Her orange coat was zipped up, and her beanie was shoved onto her head.

“You hungry?” Piper asked without looking up from the book.

Ellie nodded before standing up and looking for her bag. Opening it up, she found not a single crumb. “Anything in your pack?”

Piper shook her head and placed the book down. “Nothing in Joel’s either.” Brushing dust and flakes of blood off her body, Piper continued. “We need to eat.” She watched as Ellie followed her path to Joel.

Carefully, Piper lifted Joel’s shirt and the bandage to check the wound. Instead of pinkened, angry skin, a white ooze surrounded the injury. Ellie gagged at the sight and glanced away as Piper cursed.

“It’s infected,” Piper said.

Ellie whirled her head around. “How do we fix it?”

Piper furrowed her brows. “Um, medicine. Antibiotics and shit.”

“Where’re we supposed to get those?”

Piper shrugged as panic rose in her voice. “ I don’t know, maybe…upstairs? Fuck, Ellie, I’m tryin’ my best here.”

Ellie bit the inside of her cheek, pushed onto her feet, and marched up the stairs. “Come on.”

“I’m gonna be right back, okay?” Piper whispered into Joel’s ear. She stood up and took a few steps before she glanced back. Returning to Joel’s side, she grabbed his rifle before scrambling up the stairs after her sister.

The two of them scavenged every single cabinet and corner. Nothing was to be found. As their search continued, so did their curses to the world and god, even if they did not believe in him. It was someone to blame, and that was enough for them.

Lastly, the girls made their way to the garage. The horses’ ears perked up as the garage door opened and closed. Piper and Ellie walked over to their horses, giving them pets and pouring water into a bucket. The horses greedily drank the water, splashing some droplets onto the ground.

Sighing, Piper reached for Joel’s rifle, which was slung over her shoulder. She opened it up and checked the bullets. Her hands swiftly shut it and returned it to its original place on her arm. “I’m gonna go find us something to eat.”

Ellie turned around and glanced at her sister. “Can I come?” She pulled out her gun, showing Piper.

Piper shook her head and walked to the garage door, pulling it up. “I need you to watch Joel,” she said as she stepped outside into the morning sun. She gulped, took another step forward, raised her hand, and began to pull the garage door shut again.

Suddenly, the garage clanged as Ellie resisted her sister’s attempts at closing it. “Where the fuck is he gonna go?” Ellie pleaded. “Piper, I…if Joel dies…”

“He’s not going to die,” Piper growled and pulled the garage down with more force, causing Ellie to wince from the pain. Piper froze and let go of the garage door. “Ellie, I’m s-”

“If he dies, I don’t wanna be here.” Ellie grew quiet. “I don’t wanna watch him die.” She peered up at Piper with watery eyes.

Piper bit her lip and groaned, caving in. “… alright,” she said.

꧁_꧂

With guns raised, the girls left the house. They twirled around, covering their corners, until they realized nothing was there except them and the bird song. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, Piper sighed. Her eyes closed as her skin soaked in the morning sun.

"Piper," Ellie grunted, using her eyes to point toward the nearby forest.

The elder sister narrowed her eyes on the evergreen trees and valleys of snow. Then she returned her gaze to the neighborhood—cars with flat tires, forgotten RVs, and doors hanging on their last rusted hinges. This place was looked over. There would be nothing here for the girls and nothing here for Joel. She turned back to Ellie and nodded her head, telling her to lead the way.

Ellie had to admit the forest was beautiful. Snow clung to the grooves of the tree bark, painting the dark a bright white. Deep, vibrant green pine needles littered the snow-covered ground as if they were the freckles of the earth. Even if the forest was pretty, the snow and pine needles made it hard for Ellie to spot any animal tracks. Ellie stopped looking a bit closer at the ground and noticed Piper doing the same.

The two of them repeated Joel's instructions as they tried tracking any animals. Rabbits, deer, birds were looking for anything at this point with how their stomachs rumbled.

Piper continued to walk around the forest until she felt Ellie slap her side. Turning around, she scowled at her sister, who rolled her eyes and pointed down the hill. Piper moved her head to follow Ellie's directions. In between two fallen trees and surrounded by brush and weeds poking through the white snow was a rabbit. IItsfur was a faint shade darker than the color of the ground. Piper smiled and raised her gun to shoot the creature. Ellie watched as Piper pulled back her finger. The gun fired. The rabbit jumped and scrambled away.

Cursing, Piper bit her lip, drawing blood from her chapped lips. She turned to her sister, but Ellie was already gone, chasing the animal. Her tiny feet trudged through the snow, sinking deeper with each step. With one more step, Ellie was knee-deep in the snow and crashed to the ground. Ellie groaned as she lifted her head covered in snow.

Piper carefully approached and helped her sister, pulling her to stand. "Come on," Piper nudged. "Let's keep going."

Grumbling, Ellie brushed off the snow and followed Piper, stepping in her sister's footprints as they went deeper into the forest and farther away from Joel. Soon, the trees grew sparser, standing tall and farther apart from the next. The sounds of snow tumbling off tree branches and screeching birds were the only things heard besides the girls' footsteps in the snow. Suddenly, a branch cracked, and a soft sound of repeated clicking was heard. Piper gulped and placed her hand in front of Ellie. She raised Joel's gun and slowly stepped closer to the sound. Ellie drew out her pistol and followed.

They tuned their ears into the clicking, and turning their heads in the direction of the sound, they found a stag. Although it was small in stature, the creature made up for it with the sheer size of its antlers. They were majestic as they sharply rose into the heavens. The deer hadn't seen or heard the girls as it was too distracted munching on some forest shrubbery.

Creeping as close as they could, the girls snuck behind a fallen log. Piper readied the rifle only to freeze upon gazing at the creature. Its dark eyes are filled with only one desire: survival. She swallowed her spit. Piper had failed to shoot the rabbit. She could not risk failure anymore, not when so many were counting on her. Taking a deep breath, she sat back and handed the gun to Ellie, who frowned but took the gun. Ellie settled down low and cocked the gun back. In an instant, the gun had been fired, and the deer toppled to the ground. As fast as it had fallen, the deer had risen again to run off in the opposite direction.

"No fucking way," Ellie spat as she stood up, chasing after it.

Piper spat her own cursing string as she followed her sister and the deer. Ellie had shot when Piper couldn't. As Ellie continued to run, Piper found herself slowing. Ellie had shot the deer. All by herself. Maybe she didn't need Piper anymore. Maybe Ellie would realize this and leave; leave Piper all by herself. Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Piper reprimanded herself. It was just hunger. It was only hunger.

Once the girls had tracked the deer and ran out of the clearing, they froze and raised their guns. There, before them, stood two grown men standing over their deer. They were armed, and that's all Piper needed to know before firing a warning shot. The men's gaze shot to the girls.

"Don’t! Drop your rifles!" Piper yelled. Ellie pulled Joel's rifle closer, ready to shoot. The men were hesitant to drop their weapons. It wasn't until the one with red hair nodded that the two lowered their guns. "Now!" Piper demanded, "Turn and face me… Slow. If you make any sudden moves, I will put one right between your eyes. Ditto for buddy boy."

The redhead smiled and raised his hands slowly to the sides of his head. "You’re quite a hunter. We didn’t even hear you coming," he gently spoke. "Both of you."

Piper clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes. She felt sicker than she had been when she was ill. Something about the man's voice made her ears ring and her lungs tense. It was as if her lungs refused to breathe air shared by whoever this guy was. She didn't like it.

"Turn around and walk away," Ellie growled orders of her own.

"Okay," the man said again, stepping back and nodding to the other. The other man shrugged his head and followed. Ellie frowned.

The snow beneath the men's feet didn't crunch fast enough to ease Piper's nerves. "Just go!" She barked when she realized their progression back had stopped.

"Okay," the red-haired man muttered. "All I ask is 10 seconds of your time. I just wanna talk."

Piper cocked her gun and shot another warning. The bullet grazed a nearby tree, making the men jump in their boots. "I won’t say it twice," she growled.

"Please. Just 10 seconds," the man spoke. "My name is David. This is my friend, James. We’re from a larger group: women, children, and we’re all… very, very hungry." He motioned to the dead deer near his feet.

"We're from a large group, too," Ellie announced. "Also hungry."

"Well, even so…" David began pointing to the two of them. "Ya can’t drag this back on your own."

"Thank you for your concern, but I think we've got that covered," Piper hissed. They kept inching closer to the girls. Her eyes darted to their feet. If they stepped one more time, she'd shoot them both in the head.

"We’re not asking for charity. We-we can trade you for some of the deer," David begged. "We have– What do you need? We have… boots."

"Medicine?" Ellie blurted. "Like, for infections."

Piper's attention was snapped away from their feet as David spoke. "We do. Back in our village. You’re welcome to follow us."

"We're not following you anywhere," Piper stated. Her feet dug deeper into the snow, securing her stance. "Buddy boy can go get it. He comes back. You get half the deer. Anyone else shows up, I put one right betw–"

"Put one right between my eyes," David finished with a chuckle.

"That’s right," Ellie said.

"All right," David agreed before turning to the other man. "Go talk to Howard. He’s got a case with some penicillin. Bring back two bottles and a syringe. It’s not code, James. Do as I said."

The man, James, hesitantly looked between David and the two armed girls. Each of them bore a fire in their eyes he'd only ever seen described in the bible. The eyes of the devil, of a killer.

"Ten steps back. Keep going," Ellie instructed James, carefully watching him as he backed away to fetch medicine.

It felt like forever as James sunk deeper and deeper into the forest. Piper was sure he'd sneak around them and attack from behind, but it never came. Still, she and Ellie stood on guard, their guns trained on David.

"That’s your dad’s gun?" David asked, pointing to the rifle in Ellie's hand. "He's the one that’s sick? That’s why you’re out here on your own?"

"What's with all the fucking questions?" Piper snarled.

David's posture caved upon hearing Piper curse. It was almost as if she was offended by her language. "Well, look, uh… it’s a four-mile round trip back to our settlement, he began. "It’s gonna be… a while before James gets back. I have some oil and matches in my pack. We could… take shelter, start a fire."

Piper's eyes narrowed. "We can handle the cold. I'm not sure about you." Ellie shifted beside her. Piper turned to look at her sister. Ellie's burned a bright red, and snot trickled down her nose. Her sister was cold. "…Fine," Piper agreed after a moment. She used her gun and pointed in the distance to a nearby shed. "There," and then waited for David to move.

Once David took his first step, Ellie demanded, "Bring him with us." David looked back and frowned, confused. Ellie pointed to the deer and repeated herself, "Bring him with you." David reached down and grabbed the antlers. "Go," Ellie continued.

She trailed behind David, the rifle ready to fire at the earliest sign of danger. Piper was in tow, tightly gripping the guns James and David had dropped in the snow.

Soon, they reached the shed and had David start a fire. The fire crackled and snapped as the flames consumed the firewood and other kindling. The heat from the fire reached underneath the girls' coats as they sat across David, who sat on the ground. While their guns no longer stood tall in the air, their hands never left the cold, smooth surface of their weapons.

"You know," David said with a smile as his eerie blue eyes flickered back and forth between Piper and Ellie. "You really shouldn’t be out here all on your own."

"Who said we were?" Piper scoffed. The flames illuminated the grim stare embedded in her dark eyes. The purple circles coloring her eye sockets only increased the darkness David found in them. Ellie, on the other hand, was warm. Her eye sockets were free from any darkness, yet her eyes still held a deadly stare, more somber than her sisters'. "From where I’m sitting, you shouldn’t be out here on your own," Piper scolded.

"Fair enough," David shrugged, trying to hide the shiver that covered his body. "So what’s your name? It’s hard to trust strangers. I know. But I honestly mean you no harm."

"I call bullshit," Piper hissed under her breath. She was right. It was getting harder to breathe around David.

David sighed and peered up at the girls. His voice was full of pity. "…For what it’s worth, there’s room for you in our group if you want."

"You’re inviting us to your Hunger Club?" Ellie rolled her eyes. She didn't need this suddenly profound pity David had mustered. She and Piper have never needed anyone's pity. It was worthless in the world the outbreak had created. "No thanks."

"It’s true. We’re hungry," David chuckled. "But… we’re still here…I’m a decent man just tryna take care of the people who rely on me."

Piper frowned. "You’re their leader?" She asked in disbelief. She eyed David up and down, and her frown only deepened. He wasn't a leader. Not in the way Joel, Tess, Tommy, and Maria were. No, he seemed weak yet confident. Piper was unsure where this confidence got assurance from. His people were hungry, and if they looked anything like James, then his people were also sick. Hunger does things to the human mind. It grows fragile and naive in search of comfort and food. Piper knew it well. The QZ would do it to punish the kids. Revoke daily meals, and the kids will start speaking a different tune. It unnerved her.

"Wasn’t my choice. It was theirs," David explained. "But… yes."

"They chose to follow you,” Ellie repeated as a thought formulated in her head. It seemed she and Piper were on a similar wavelength. "Is this some weird cult thing?"

"Uhh," David blushed. "Well, you sorta kinda got me there. I am a preacher, but just pretty standard Bible stuff."

"What?!" Ellie snickered the moment the bible was mentioned.

"The whole world ended, and you still believe that shit," Piper mocked.

"I started believing after the world ended," David corrected. He adjusted his seat to make himself appear taller and more prominent, but to the girls' he was just as small as ever, if not even smaller than before. "Before that, I was a teacher," David said, and a glimmer appeared in his eyes. Piper's breath stilled. She wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light or what, but she swore a flash of desire shone in his eyes when he said that. What was worse, his eyes honed in on Ellie. "Math. Taught kids about your age," he noted, pointing to Ellie.

"So you went from teacher to preacher because," Ellie scoffed, "what? It fuckin’ rhymes?"

David grinned and shrugged as if it was the funniest joke he had heard. "Yeah, exactly."

"But seriously," Ellie said, awaiting David's actual answer.

"Well," David sighed, beginning his story.

The more he spoke, the more Piper realized where the unease with David came from. His eyes, the look they held whenever he looked at Ellie, she had seen before. It was the same look Levi had in his eyes that night. The longer Piper thought about it, the more she realized Levi had always had that unsettling gleam in his eyes.

"I found God… after the Apocalypse," David continued. "Which is either the best time or the worst time to find Him, hard to say. But when the Pittsburgh QZ fell in ’17, Fireflies and FEDRA… I left with a few others, and that’s how I ended up with our flock."

"Long way from Pittsburgh," Piper said with a low voice. Her defense screamed at her to pick up the gun and shoot David. But she couldn't. Not when he had medicine that could save Joel.

David chuckled again. "Yeah, we’d settle somewhere, and then raiders would come, so we’d move again. And as we wandered, we picked up new people along the way until… we ended up here." He looked around the shed before settling on Ellie.

"Well," Ellie said, "your luck had to run out sooner or later."

"Hm? Luck?" David raised his brows and shook his head. "There’s no such thing as luck. No," David inched closer to the fire and, in turn, closer to the girls. "I-I-I-I believe everything happens for a reason. It does. I can prove it to you."

"Okay." Ellie urged him on.

"We didn’t expect this winter to be so cruel," David explained. "Nothing’ll grow. Game’s been hard to find. So I sent four of our people to a nearby town to scavenge what they could. And only two of ’em came back. One who didn't come back was a father. The other was a husband. The father had a daughter just like you. And her dad was taken from her. Turns out, he was murdered… by this crazy man." David hid his sneer under a smile as he looked between the two girls. "And get this. That crazy man… was traveling with two little girls."

Piper's eyes widened as she heard some of the shed's floor creak behind her. She jumped out of her seat. Gun raised, pointing into the forest. Her eyes narrowed, and she stilled her breath. While her body remained calm and controlled, her mind was on fire. An array of curses and fears swarmed each thought. These were the raiders. She'd killed one of them and Joel the other. With the glint in David's eye and the fury of the land, Piper knew one thing. Revenge was guaranteed.

Ellie stood alongside Piper, her gun trained on David instead of the vast forest, awaiting her sister's order.

"You see?" David continued. “Everything happens for a reason." Then, looking out into the forest that drew Piper's attention, he calmly called out. "James, lower the gun."

Suddenly, James appeared with his gun held high, trained on Piper. Piper let out a guttural breath and stared down James. Her finger hovered over the trigger. "They're the ones that killed Alec, aren’t they?"

David stood up with his arms raised. "The girls didn’t kill anybody," David assured. "Lower the gun."

James scoffed and prepared to shoot Piper. "She's the one who killed Desmond. The boys told me he got shot by a girl who looked like a boy. That's her."

"Drop it," Piper growled, and James ignored her, hardening his expression. "I said to fucking drop it. Unless you want a bullet to find a new home in your skull."

"Did you bring the medicine?" David calmly asked James.

James' expression broke upon hearing his leader's voice. "Yeah, but–"

"Throw it to her."

"David," James pleaded. His hand itched to shoot and kill Piper. However, David's stern demand did not falter, and James sighed. Reaching into his pocket, he tossed Piper the medicine.

With ease of breathing, Piper snatched the medicine out of the air. A syringe was taped to the side of the small glass bottle. She glanced down and pocketed the medicine before returning her gun to James.

"Back away," Ellie growled.

James slowly made his way around the girls and found a stance next to David. David handed him an extra gun in his pocket, but David didn't take it. Instead, he began to talk again. "I know you’re not with a group. You won’t survive for long out there. I can protect you," he assured.

"I'll take my chances," Piper snarled as she slowly began to back away. Her eyes never left David and James. Ellie mimicked her sister's movements until they were far enough away for the shed to be the size of their thumb.

James watched as the girls stopped and turned, entering a sprint. He scoffed, turning to David. "So you’re just gonna let them get away?"

David shook his head. "Patience, James," he assured. "God rewards those who wait."

꧁_꧂

It was stupid to run in the direction of Joel, but Piper couldn't care. They had the medicine, and Joel needed it more than Piper's desire to lead David and James astray if they decided to follow. Showing them the direction was one thing, but as the snow squashed beneath her feet, another thought soon overpowered her need to save Joel. Their footprints. They would lead David and his band of fucked raiders straight to them.

The air around her fogged up as Piper slowed her pace. "Els," she hissed, worried that David and James may be able to hear her.

"What?!" Ellie turned around to look at her sister.

Piper dug into her coat pocket and tossed Ellie the medicine. "Here, get back and give this to Joel."

Ellie's brows pinched together as a low level of panic boiled to the surface. "Piper, what are you-"

Her older sister had already moved on to her next task. Marching over to a nearby evergreen, Piper jumped on the lowest branch. A clean snap filled the air as Piper tore off the branch and swiped at their footprints. "I'm covering our asses, that's what."

Ellie's stare switched between the vial of medicine and her sister, who was hard at work erasing any trace of their footprints.

"What the hell are you still doing here?" Piper laboriously wondered. The small pine needle scratched at the ground, diminishing any sign of the girls.

Snapping herself out of her daze, Ellie tightened her grip on the medicine and ran. Worry filled her being the farther away she got from Piper. She was leaving her sister alone. David, James, and whoever was out there could come after them. They could be coming now, and she had left her sister alone. Her only thought of respite was Joel. If she could save Joel, he could save them. That's what he did. He always saved them.

The house appeared before Ellie's vision faster than she thought it would. Her legs burned as she darted into the house and down the stairs to Joel. Desperate pants left her mouth as she collapsed beside Joel. With shaking hands, she lifted the blanket off of him. Then, deftly peeling up his shirt, she winced in disgust. The wound seemed even more infected than it had been before. Sweat beaded on her forehead and trickled down her brows as she handled the antibiotics with as much care as possible. A new wave of panic filled her once the syringe was filled to the brim.

"Ah, okay," she said, wiping away the sweat threatening to cloud her vision. "The fuck do I put this? Alright, what would Pipes do? Uh…" Ellie glanced around the room and spotted Piper's blood-coated first-aid book. Scrambling over, she snatched it up and flipped through each page. There was nothing about injections and antibiotics.

"Fuck," she cursed and crawled back over to Joel. "Joel? Joel? Joel, where the fuck do I put this?" Joel lay unresponsive. A layer of sweat and grime coated his skin, making his dark skin appear pale. "Fuck it," and with one swift motion, she stabbed the syringe directly into the sewn-up wound.

Joel groaned. His eyes tensed but never opened despite the immense pain his body was in. Once the syringe had been emptied, Ellie withdrew the needle before debating giving him another injection. Shaking her head instead, she carefully wrapped the needle and medicine and placed them into Joel's bag for safekeeping.

She watched Joel's tense expression soften and sighed, feeling a wave of exhaustion fall over her. She had run. For how long, she didn't know, but she had run. Her whole body ached: her legs, her shoulder from the kickback of the rifle, her back, and her head. Everything hurt, and she was tired. She was a little girl who only wanted to curl up beside Joel and fall asleep into a beautiful dream of a sheep farm on the moon. So, that's what she did. She snuggled up close to Joel, pulling the blanket over them, and sank deep into sleep.

By the time Piper had reached the house's front steps, her orange coat had been removed and tied at her waist. Her shirt was soaked with sweat from disguising her and Ellie's footsteps. Groaning, she wiped away the last of Ellie's prints and opened the garage before tossing the branch with the horses. With the garage door closed, Piper slid to the floor and took a moment to breathe. One of the horses trotted beside her, sniffing her hair before deciding to try to nibble on it. She couldn't help the giggle that escaped her mouth as she brushed the horse away.

Standing up, Piper pulled off her coat and threw it over her shoulders, not placing her arms through the sleeves due to the heat her body was still disposing of. She'd done her best removing any sign of where the girls went, but the knowledge that David and James knew the direction they had gone in and the footprints from before she began her bluff that they could trace and track. She prayed that they were enough to keep them safe. At the very least, to give the girls time to recuperate and Joel time to heal.

Her feet felt heavy as she stepped down the stairs and into the basement. "Ellie, did you…" Piper's voice trailed off when she saw the scene before her.

Ellie's chest softly rose and fell. Her arms were wrapped around Joel, who looked better than he had ever had since the injury. A soft smile melted onto Piper's features, and she quietly stepped down the rest of the stairs.

It felt colder in the basement, so Piper placed on the rest of her coat, zipping it up. Carefully, she picked up Joel's rifle and tip-toed over to the basement window. Sitting beneath it, she cracked it open, just enough to hear the world outside but not enough to invite the cold in. Leaning up against the wall, Piper rested her head on the wall and closed her eyes, Not to sleep but to relax. Piper had no time to sleep, especially if predators were hunting them.

꧁_꧂

Voices cascaded over the ground like the morning fog. Piper's eyes shot open as a wave of footsteps and grumbles grew closer and closer. Her blood ran cool, and her skin paled as white as the snow. It was David, and he brought company.

They were too far away for Piper to make out anything they said, but that didn't matter. Securing Joel's rifle over her shoulder and pocketing her pistol, Piper shuffled over to Joel and Ellie.

"Ellie," Piper hissed, shaking her sister awake. "Ellie, wake up."

Ellie's eyes flew open, and her lungs gasped. "Piper?"

"They're here," Piper anxiously explained. "They found us."

Ellie gulped and looked down at Joel. Placing her hands on his shoulder, she shook him. "Joel! Joel, wake up. Joel, wake the fuck up, Joel," Ellie pleaded.

Joel's eyes shot open, and he darted around the room before settling on the girls. His mind was still in a daze, making it difficult for him to process Piper's words.

"Okay… okay, look at me." Piper turned Joel's face to look at her. "There are men coming, okay? I’m gonna lead them away from you, but if anybody makes it down here, you fucking kill them. You got it?"

Joel's eyes slowly closed, causing Ellie to snap her finger loudly next to his ears.

"Joel, do not fall asleep," Ellie demanded, but it was useless. Joel's eyes closed, and he returned to his sleep.

Piper pushed herself off the floor and began to hike up the stairs when a pair of footsteps accompanied her.

"What are you doing?" Piper asked.

"I'm coming with you," Ellie replied.

Piper shook her head and walked her sister back down to Joel. "No! Ellie, I'm serious. I need you to stay with Joel. He's…he's fucking out of it. I need you to make sure no one makes it down here."

"I'm not letting you do this alone," Ellie desperately said.

"No! Ellie," Piper commanded. "Just fucking stay. Or you'll get us both killed. Stay with Joel. Protect him until he wakes up. I'm gonna lead them away and kill'em. Stay here."

"No-" Ellie began, but Piper shut her down.

"I didn't ask you," Piper growled. Her voice grew dark and dangerous, warning Ellie to back down. "You're staying." In the blink of an eye, Piper shoved Ellie to the ground and darted up the stairs. When Ellie got to her feet, the stairwell door had been shut and barricaded.

Ellie pounded on the door, tears in her eyes. "Piper! Let me out!" She cried. "Pipes! Fuck!"

Fighting the tremble in her voice, she spoke to her sister through the door with clenched teeth. "I'm doing this for your own good."

Without another word, Piper readied Joel's rifle and snuck out the back door. A sigh of relief escaped her once she realized the horses had stayed quiet. With the silence of the late morning, Piper crouched down low. It was up to her now. She couldn't miss. She had to keep Joel and Ellie safe. She had to lead them away.

Her first thought was to take them into the forest, but she knew they would expect that. They'd only send so many men after her and keep the rest in the neighborhood. Instead, Piper chose to lead them deeper into the neighborhood, away from Ellie and Joel. Recalling her faint memory of what the rest of the neighborhood consisted of, Piper remembered a school. She could lead them there. Like a forest, the hallways and classrooms would provide a vantage point to take out the group quietly. That's if Piper was brilliant. The problem there was getting the group into the school. She had to make them think that's where she was staying.

Sneaking around the backyards of the homes that littered the street, she crawled onto a fence and into one of the yards. On the ground lay a rusted ladder. Glancing at it, Piper realized she could sneak onto the roof. It was the perfect place to shoot them down one by one. Maybe she didn't have to lead them to the school.

Pulling herself up the ladder and onto the roof, Piper crawled across the tiles until she spotted the group. David walked into the center with James on his right. There were eight of them. Each of them were armed, all except David. He pointed to the homes on the right and started barking orders.

Preparing the rifle, Piper lay down and peered through the scope. Her sights were on David. She could pull the trigger and kill him right then and there, but then she'd have a pack of revenge-hungry cultists after her. She smiled. That's exactly what she wanted. Kill the leader and then lead the whole group to the school, where she'd pick them off one by one.

Steadying her breath and focusing on David, she pulled back the trigger and fired. There was a cry as the gunshot echoed off the homes. A raider fell, soaking the snow a dark red. But it wasn't David. Piper cursed. She shot the man behind him. Hurriedly, she got ready to shoot again. Her head was down low as she prepared to fire. A cool, sharp whisk of wind flew by her head. She whirled her head around.

"Shit," she snarled. They'd found her. Getting up from her spot, she heard them fire a few more shots as she crawled off the roof.

"Get her! Remember, alive!" She heard David scream as thundering footsteps ran in her direction. She pulled herself over the fence and ran. The school, she kept telling herself, away from Joel and Ellie. She had to keep them safe.

When she heard the raider reach her old spot, Piper had circled the back of the neighborhood. She could see David, James, and one other man.

Piper scoffed and snuck closer, preparing a shot. "It's their own fucking funeral," she whispered to herself.

A horse's shrill filled the air as she readied to fire again. Piper froze as the body of a horse ran onto the street. It wasn't the horse that terrified her—it was the person who sat on the back of the horse.

"Hey, motherfuckers!" Ellie yelled. She shot her gun a few times, taunting the raiders.

David and his group ran after her. Piper bit her cheek, drawing blood. "Fuck," she cursed and ran after her sister, who was half-hazardly firing her gun from atop the horse.

"Shit!" A raider screamed after a bullet grazed his skin. Then, they began to fire at her and the horse.

"Fucking hell, Ellie." Piper's speed picked up, and her breath grew labored.

"Go! Let’s go," James yelled as he motioned for some people to follow him.

"Alive!" David shouted over the chaos of it all.

"Keep comin’, fuckers!" Ellie teased.

Piper continued to run. Her feet blurred as she ran on the pavement, not caring to hide behind the cars and homes. All thoughts of the school were gone. Ellie was out. They had seen her, and she was taunting them to come closer. With each fire of their guns, they got closer to stealing Ellie away. Piper's heart pumped faster and faster. She had to save Ellie. She couldn't let them get her sister. She had to-

A gun fired, and the horse fell to the ground, sending Ellie flying to the ground.

"I got her!" James triumphantly yelled.

"Ellie!" Piper's voice cracked. Raising her gun to fire, she didn't care if she missed. She had to get them away from her sister. She had to get David away. "No, no, no," she breathed, watching David pick up her sister and cradle her in his arms.

Suddenly, a searing pain shot through her leg. Piper screamed and clutched her thigh, feeling the blood trickle out. Her ears screeched as she tumbled to the ground.

"Got the other one!" A raider announced from behind her. He stepped up to her side, yanked the weapons out of her hand, and kicked her in the chest just for good measure.

Piper gasped and clenched her teeth to stifle her cry of pain. She wouldn't give the fucker the pleasure. The pain flooded her, making it hard to notice anything around her. Suddenly, the sun's gaze was blocked by a shadow. Worn leather boots stepped up to her face.

Peering up, fighting the tears in her eyes, she saw David holding Ellie. He smiled down at Piper and brushed away some stray hairs on Ellie's face. Piper groaned and spotted her pistol just beside David's foot. She pulled her hand away from her bleeding leg and reached before James stepped up and kicked it farther away.

"Everything happens for a reason," David muttered.

"If you fucking hurt her," Piper growled. "I'll-"

David nodded, and then her world went black. A dull pain traveled from the base of her head, encasing her in darkness.

"Shhh," David whispered to Piper. "Everything will be alright. You're in God's hands now." Then, turning to the group, he began giving out instructions. "Two of you with me. Drag the horse. The rest of you, stay here. Go door to door. Are you so hungry for vengeance? Deliver it."

The men didn't need another word as revenge and rage flooded their souls. With a sickening grin, they readied their weapons and began their search. They were determined to find the man who had killed one of their own. The girls would be dealt with on David's accord, and only God'; would save them.

꧁_꧂

Something inside Joel forced him awake. It was a whisper tickling the back of his mind. Gently, it eased his eyes open. The location of the basement dimmed the light of the sun that fought its way through. Flickering its way down to the concrete floor, the light touched particles that bounced in the air. They shimmered as the air flew them around.

In his daze, Joel's dark eyes followed the dust as they captured the sun's light. A soft smile crept onto his face. The sun's light reminded him of his dream. It was such a good one. One he hoped to make real—him and his girls. Just as fast as the smile had come, it had faded into something more grim. His girls.

The whisper in his mind grew louder and louder. Words that were once fumbling together now became apparent. "There are men coming, okay?" He heard Piper's voice as it struck away the fog clouding his mind. "I’m gonna lead them away from you, but if anybody makes it down here, you fucking kill them. You got it?"

Joel nodded to an empty basement, and his face paled upon realization. The girls were gone. He shot up, wincing from the pain in his stomach. The guns were gone. The familiar colors of Ellie's purple and Piper's orange coats were replaced with the wooden walls of the basement. His girls were gone.

A cool metal burned his skin, causing him to look down. Ellie's knife. He'd recognize it anywhere. She never let it leave her sight. It had been a gift from Piper. Joel's grip around the knife tightened. His girls. Where were they?

A cloud of dust fell down the ceiling, catching more of the sunlight. Joel froze before looking up. The floor above creaked as footsteps pounded down. Whoever the steps belonged to was trying to be quiet, but they were heavy on their feet—almost sluggish, Joel noted. His girls' footsteps didn't sound like that. Ellie held the weight of her feet on her toes, and her step was springy.

On the other hand, Piper's step was silent. It was almost as if she floated above the ground with how she walked. Joel knew his girls, and whoever was above wasn't them.

The footsteps stilled momentarily, and then a screech was heard as something dragged across the floor. It was an unmistakable noise. Close to the door. Joel stifled his groan as he stood up to a standing position. Clutching the knife close to his body, he quickly scanned the basement for a place to hide. Creeping into a dark corner, Joel held his breath and waited.

Footsteps descended the stairs. Joel heard the heavy breath of the invader, and the shakiness of his hands at the gun he held rumbled between his hands. The man had crept deeper into the basement, flipping around for any sign of Joel. With his back turned Joel saw his chance. He pounced on the man, wrapping an arm around the man's neck.

He struggled and fought Joel's grip, dropping his gun to favor his hands. They beat against Joel's arm before coming to a still once a sharp blade pierced his jugular. The man fell weak and turned to look at Joel, who drove the blade deeper. Blood squirted out, spraying all over Joel's hands. As the man fell, his weight dragged Joel down with him, and with a deadly grin on his face, the man died.

Joel released his grip on the blade and yanked it out of the man's neck. Blood pooled out of the wound and spilled onto the concrete floor. Joel groaned as the wound on his side sent flashes of pain along his body. His lungs wheezed and craved the restful slumber he had before, but now wasn't the time for slumber. Piper wouldn't have let this man get into the basement. He'd seen how she killed that boy. He'd seen her fight. The only way she'd let it happen was if she was gone.

He knew now what happened. Joel understood from the footsteps outside the basement that his girls were gone. These people had come to hunt them. If it were a hunt they wanted, he'd give it to them. He'd get his girls back.

꧁_꧂

The floor was cold and uninviting when Piper woke up. A chill rolled through her body quickly to be replaced with pain. In waves, it rippled from her thigh, roaring as it left echoes of agony in its wake. Her breath tensed as the pain reached her chest. Hastily, she clutched at her head and leg to ease it. That's when she felt it, the coarse cotton of a bandage. Peering through the sweat and tears, Piper saw her leg neatly wrapped up. She felt around the bandage and almost immediately regretted her decision, biting her lip to stop the cry of distress that thrashed within her.

"I started worrying you wouldn’t wake up." A ghostly voice said.

Whirling around, Piper caught sight of David. He stood outside her cell with a smile on his face. Piper scowled as she took in her surroundings. A chain-link fence tied the walls together, trapping her in a cage.

"Don't worry, it was a clean shot. The bullet went right through," David noted, pointing to the leg Piper had been clinging onto.

"Where's my sister?" Piper asked. Her voice seemed alien to her with how hoarse and dry it was. It was as if she was speaking on the edge of death.

David folded his arms across his body and looked down at Piper. "She's safe with us," he assured her, and his smile grew large upon seeing Piper's reaction. "You'll see her soon."

Piper lunged at David, only to be stopped by the fence. She violently shook it, causing the room to erupt in a screeching fit. "Let me out, you fucker." Piper screamed.

"Well, that’s certainly the goal," David chuckled.

Feeling another spasm of pain from her leg, Piper collapsed to the floor. "Why am I in a cage?"

Crouching down to her level, David answered. "Because I’m afraid of you. You’re a dangerous person." His eyes slowly looked Piper over, leaving trails of goosebumps over her skin. "You’ve certainly proven that. The others, they want me to kill you for all that’s happened. Did you hear me say the others wanna kill you?"

"Yeah," Piper coughed, her original voice poking through.

"But I stopped them," David added and leaned in close as if he wanted Piper to be grateful and get on the floor and beg for forgiveness.

"I don't need your fucking protection," Piper snarled before spitting into David's face. She watched as David's smile faded.

With jerky motions, he flicked her spit off his cheek. "Well…," he said, returning to his terrifying gentle expression. "Why don’t we just start with your name?"

"Buster Hi-Man," Piper smirked.

Something in David snapped, and he lunged for Piper but stopped before reaching the fence. "Hey, listen to me!" He yelled. "You can’t survive on your own. No one can. But I can help you. Let me protect you."

Piper growled at David, and through clenched teeth, she corrected him. "I’m not on my own."

"Right," David scoffed. "Your friend. And how is he? I can see how much you care about him, so I know it hurts. But even so…" he looked at her leg and sighed. "You gotta face reality. That part of your life is ending. And what I’m offering you is a beginning. But if you can’t find a way to trust me… then, yes, you are alone."

"Fuck you," Piper hissed. She couldn't let David see how deep her words cut. Joel was out there. She had left him with those monsters. She had let them capture Ellie. She had failed. She had failed Riley. She had failed Tess. She had failed Henry and Sam. Now, she has failed Joel and Ellie. She had failed, and now she was truly alone.

"Everything happens for a reason," David muttered with a smug smile. Pushing off his feet, he stood up and walked to the door of the room Piper was being held in.

"Where the fuck is my sister?!" Piper roared.

"Like I said," David said, peeking over his shoulder. "She's safe. Maybe she'll be smarter than you. I can keep her safe. I can protect her, unlike you. Ponder what I've said."

With that, David was gone, and Piper was alone. Piper had failed, and now she was alone.

꧁_꧂

Joel had hunted. It was easy to take out the two other men who were after him. With one swift bang of the butt of the rifle, he had knocked them out and tied them up in the living room of the house he and the girls sought safety in. He'd find his girls and bring them home.

The first man was a denier. He pleaded with Joel as he brought his hand to his face, beating him over and over. If the man wouldn't speak, Joel would tear it out of him.

"Stop… stop. Please," the raider begged as Joel punched him again. A sharp groan escapes his mouth.

Joel withdrew his hand and reached for Ellie's knife. In doing so, he saw the other man awake. With a threatening smile, Joel raised the knife for the other man to see.

"Leave him alone," the other demanded.

Joel ignored him and instead tuned into the raider before him. He kept spouting the exact words. "Please… I don’t know any girls," he cried. Joel clenched his jaw and stabbed the knife deep into the man's thigh before twisting it. "Oh, fuck!" The raider screamed as his body involuntarily squirmed.

"Jesus!" The other raider whispered, alerting his fellow man to his presence.

"Marco," the raider called out, leaning his back to catch a glimpse of his partner.

Joel snatched the raider's head and yanked it forward, forcing the man to look at him. "No-no, no-no-no. He can’t help you," Joel used the knife to point to himself. "You focus right here. Or I’ll pop your fuckin’ kneecap off." He placed the knife at an angle to do just as he said. The tip of the knife dug under the skin, and the raider whimpered.

"She’s alive," the man confessed. "Both of 'em."

"Where?" Joel growled, leaving the tip of the knife embedded in the man's knee, but he didn't answer. Joel's body tensed as the urge to live up to his promise became stronger and stronger. But today wasn't the day Joel would fight his violent urges. His girls were gone. Whoever was with these men took them, and Joel would get them back. He pulled the knife back and stabbed it back in, lifting it.

A raw scream erupted from the man's throat. "Ah, fuck! Fuck! Ah, the town!" He shrieked.

It wasn't enough. None of the answers were enough. He pulled the knife with as much force as he could muster. "What town?!" He roared in the man's face.

"Silver Lake," the man whimpered, and Joel twisted the knife. "Ah! It’s not a real town name. It’s a resort," he exclaimed.

"A resort?" Joel asked. The man didn't respond fast enough, so Joel twisted the knife further into his knee and leaned in close. "You’re gonna point to where we are… and where your “resort” is. And it better be the same spot your buddy points to," Joel warned.

Taking the knife out of where it impaled the raider, Joel shoved the knife's handle into the man's mouth. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a map. Carefully unfolding it, he held it open for the raider and awaited his answer.

With a trembling head, the raider used the knife to point to a location on the map. "Okay," Joel muttered, marking the spot in his mind.

"…That’s where we are. I swear. Go ask him. He’ll tell you. I’m not lying," The raider explained.

Joel stood up and removed Ellie's knife from the man's mouth. He nodded as his mind absorbed the raider's words. They were to be his last. Within the blink of an eye, Joel drove Ellie's knife into the heart of the man. The blade twisted as the man's life slowly faded from his eyes.

He had died faster than Joel liked. The more pain he could give these men, the better, but that required time. Time his girls didn't have, so he had to settle for a swift, bloody end. Pulling the blade out, Joel marched over to Marco, who scrambled to escape.

"No… no!" Marco cried. "Shit! Jesus! No! Why the fuck did you do that?! He told you what you wanted!"

Joel wiped Ellie's blade and carefully placed it in his jacket pocket. Then he picked up a pipe he had taken from one of the raiders. The metal felt light as he flipped it in his hands. Then he sauntered over to Marco, who resorted to cursing out Joel.

"You motherfucker. Fuck you. I ain’t tellin’ you shit." Marco spat at Joel.

"It’s okay…," Joel coolly said. "I believe him."

He raised the pipe in the air as if praising the heavens above. Then, allowing the weight of gravity to take over, Joel brought the pipe down. Marco didn't have time to scream his god's name before his face resembled a dirtied bowl that not even the devil would use.

꧁_꧂

Ellie snickered to herself about her captors' stupidity. They had put her in a cage with a window. While the window was too tall for Ellie to reach on her own, her captors kept a bucket in the cage. Flipping the bucket upside down, Ellie placed it under the window, stepped up, and jumped. Her hands caught the bottom of the windowsill. Grunting, she bent her arms in an attempt to pull herself up.

It failed, and Ellie was no longer laughing. Maybe her captors were more competent than she thought. Hearing footsteps outside her prison door, Ellie pushed herself up and pulled the bucket away from the window. By the time the door flung open, Ellie had shoved herself into a corner far away from the bucket and window.

"It's good you're awake," David greeted. Your sister woke up a while ago," he mentioned as he pulled a chair to Ellie's cage.

Ellie's head shot up and ground her teeth together. "What the fuck did you do to my sister?"

David smiled and waved off her aggression. "She's fine. You know, my people," he added. "They wanted to kill her. She killed two of our men. It only seemed fair, but I stopped them. I protected her. I can protect you, too. How are you feeling?"

"Eat shit," Ellie growled before tucking herself as far as she could go into the corner.

David smiled before looking to his side. He picked up a bowl and slid it through Ellie's prison bars to her. "Here, this is for you."

Ellie glanced at the bowl and scowled, but it soon faded with the look of pure horror. Beyond where David sat lay a bloodied ear. Ellie glanced down at the bowl of soup containing chunks of thick meat. She felt sick.

"For what it’s worth," David added, "this is just deer meat. I swear."

"You’re gonna chop us up into little pieces," Ellie accused.

Shaking his head, David replied. "I’d rather not. Please, just tell me your name." She refused to answer. She wasn't giving this fucker her name. "If you wanna judge me–"

"Judge you?" Ellie shouted from the top of her lungs. as she kicked the bowl out of the cell. The glass shattered as it hit the wall. "You’re eating people, you sick fuck!"

"Yes," David agreed with a soft voice as if he was trying to quiet Ellie. "There are only a few of us that know. But I would’ve told you. Sooner or later. I guess sooner,' he shrugged.

"You’re an animal," Ellie hissed.

"Well, yes, we all are," David said. "That’s sorta the point." With a deep sigh, David continued. "It was a last resort. You think it doesn’t shame me? But what was I supposed to do? Let them starve? These people who put their lives in my hands, who expect me to keep them safe, who love me?"

Ellie scoffed. "Yeah, maybe."

Stepping closer to the cage, David adamantly shook his head. "You don’t believe that. I don’t think your friend would either. Didn’t he take another man’s life to save yours?" Ellie turned away. She couldn't bear to look at the monster anymore. "What about your sister? She took two men's lives. She did it for you."

"They were defending themselves," Ellie refuted.

"They were defending you. But you knew that. You see a lot. So do I. And you know what I see when I look at you? Me. You remind me of me," David stated. Ellie wanted to throw up. "You’re a natural leader, you’re smart… loyal. Violent."

"You don’t know anything about me," Ellie replied.

"But I do," David corrected. "If I let you out of that cage right now, put that knife of yours in your hand, you’d stick me in a second. You have a violent heart. And I should know. I’ve always had a violent heart. And I struggled with it for a long time. But then the world ended, and I was shown the truth."

"Right…," Ellie rolled her eyes. "…by God."

"No. By Cordyceps," David said. Ellie's brows pinched together, and she turned to look at David. "What does Cordyceps do?" David continued, having caught Ellie's attention. "Is it evil? No. It’s fruitful. It multiplies. It feeds and protects its children, and it secures its future with violence if it must. It loves."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Ellie's feet had pulled her closer to the bars of her cell. Her hand wrapped around the cool metal and squeezed it with the image of David's neck in her mind.

"Because you can handle it. The way the others can’t. They need God. They need heaven. They need…," David paused and looked at Ellie. Cautiously, he approached her. "They need a father. You don’t. You’re beyond that. I’m a shepherd surrounded by sheep; all I want is an equal. A friend."

Ellie frowned. "What about my friend? What about my sister?"

David sighed. "Like I said, loyal. I can tell the others to stop looking for him. I can tell them to let your sister go."

The hope in Ellie's voice betrayed her. "Really? They’ll just let them go?"

"Yes," David nodded. "If they leave us in peace, my people will just let them go. They do what I tell them to do. They follow me. And they would follow us. Lord knows I could use the help." Taking the final steps, David stood directly in front of Ellie. The only thing separating them were the bars of the cage. "I– Look what’s happened. Think of what we could do together, as strong as we are. We’d make this place perfect. We’d grow, spread out. And we’d do whatever we needed for our people. Imagine the life we could give them. Imagine the life we could build." Then David gently wrapped his hands around Ellie's.

Chills were sent down Ellie's spine as she turned a ghostly white. "Oh," Ellie muttered. She hesitantly looked up at David as his finger began to rub against the skin of her hand. The shock on Ellie's face was wiped clean and replaced with a deadly snarl. She grabbed David's finger and pulled. She pulled until she heard that snap.

"Ah, ah!" David screamed and pulled his arm back, but Ellie wasn't done. She would break every bone in his hand and then move to his arm until David was a pool of shattered bones. She yanked his arm back, but David was too strong. With one swift pull, he freed his hand and pulled Ellie into the poles of her prison.

Ellie fell to the floor, clutching her bleeding nose. Her fingers gently pressed against the ridge of her nose. It wasn't broken. She knew what a broken nose felt like. After all, she had broken Piper's.

"You little cunt," David cursed, clutching his broken fingers. "Let’s see what I go tell the others now. Let's see what I tell them about your sister and friend."

"Ellie," Ellie said through the blood and pain. It trickled down from her nose and into her mouth.

"What?" David lowly asked, turning away from the door.

"Tell them," Ellie began, "that Ellie is the little girl who broke your fucking finger!"

David stood stunned as he took in Ellie's appearance. Her face was bloodied and filled with raw rage. Biting his tongue, David glowered at Ellie. "How did you put it? Hmm? “Tiny little pieces”?" Then David was gone, and Ellie was alone.

She was alone, and her strength faded. Her eyes only held fear. She was trapped here with cannibalistic cultists. She only wanted to help Piper. She had heard the gunshot and freaked out. She only did it to save Piper; instead, Ellie led the monster to them. They had Piper. Her panic only multiplied as the image of the ear burned in her brain. They were going to kill her and Piper and who knows what else.

Tears mixed in with the blood that fell from Ellie's face. It was her fault. She left Joel alone with those fuckers. She got herself and Piper caught. She was the reason they were going to be killed. If only she had listened. If only she didn't curse everyone around her. Everyone left. No matter how much she clung to them, they'd leave one way or another, and they'd leave because of her. The more Ellie thought about it, maybe she was the reason. After all, she was the reason Henry and Sam died. She couldn't cure him. Hell, she was the reason Tess and Riley died. She was the reason Piper got caught. She was the reason Joel was alone and dying.

Ellie no longer fought the sobs that fled her mouth. She was a curse, and she was alone, utterly alone.

꧁_꧂

Spite filled Piper's being once the doors to her prison flung open. She jumped back as David and James surged into the room. "Welcome back, you fucker. Oh, brought back up. Scared of little old me?"

David ignored her taunting and fumbled with the lock, keeping her cage closed. Piper scoffed and opened her mouth to spill more curses when the door flung open.

David and the other man lunged for her as they reached for her arms and legs. She ducked before slamming the man closest to her into the brick wall. A sweet crack filled the air as the man swung his hands to clutch his broken, bleeding nose.

"Fuck!" he cried before shooting Piper a glare as he jumped back to his feet. He looked at David, and the two nodded before stepping closer to Piper.

With each step they took, Piper took one back. Suddenly, her hands felt the cool metal of the cage. She was cornered. In the blink of an eye, firm hands squeezed her arms. Then, her legs were lifted into the air. Piper screamed.

"Get off of me! Fuck off." She swung her head around, trying to bite anything she could grab, and found James' hand. He bit his tongue as her teeth entered his skin, drawing blood.

"I tried to redeem you," David scolded her as his hands were replaced by another's, the man who shot her in the leg. "To save you in God's eyes, but you're too far gone. The devil has claimed you."

"Fuck you," Piper growled as she flailed around.

"Take her and bring her to the other one," David instructed them. The men nodded and began to drag Piper out of the room. She scratched, screamed, bit, cried, and did anything she could to free herself, but to no avail. They were going to kill her and kill Ellie too. Piper had failed, and now she was going to die.

꧁_꧂

No matter how much pain he was in, Joel had to keep going. It was as if the blood pumping through his veins was replaced with the need to ensure his girls were safe and back in his arms. Even if the wind and snow howled at him and the cold bit his skin, he kept going. He had to save his girls.

Despite the fogginess the whirling snow created, Joel had found the resort. It was huge, buildings lined, what Joel assumed was the road. As he passed, most of them were empty. Glass windows were broken, and dust and snow littered the insides. Yet he continued. His girls had to be safe so he could tell them they were no longer cargo. He needed to tell them his dream and to share it with them. It was vital he found them, and Joel knew if he couldn't, he'd be gone.

It seemed so long ago his only goal was to find Tommy. Tommy. Tommy. Tommy. The girls were a means to an end to get to Tommy and his family. But fate had a different plan, and the girls stuck around longer than Joel intended. With each horrible joke from Ellie's mouth and eye roll from Piper, Joel found his goal to be changing. Yes, he needed to find Tommy, but most of all, he was searching for his family. He found Tommy and discovered Tommy had a family of his own. With the smiling faces of Maria and his unborn kid, Joel knew Tommy didn't need him anymore, but Joel needed someone.

So, as Joel lay in the dark in the bedroom, he claimed it was his own, and he gazed up to the heavens. The longer his gaze lingered, the denser Joel. What was he looking for in the darkness, staring at the ceiling? He stared that whole night, and as the sun trickled in between the bent plastic blinds, Joel's mind awakened. Joel had his family. They had been with him all along. He'd found them under his gun in a hallway in the QZ. Piper and Ellie became his girls, and most of all, they became his family. Just as quickly as he found them, he lost them as fast. They were taken, trying to protect him and their family.

Clenching his jaw, Joel pushed further into the storm. Leaning his back against the stone wall of one of the buildings, he caught his breath. The wound in his side seared with pain. He quickly checked it for blood. It wasn't bleeding, yet the snow around him was red. With narrowed eyes and careful steps, Joel followed the trail of blood into the building.

He found the door to be unlocked and stepped inside. With his flashlight equipped, he searched the room for any sign of his girls. It didn't take long for him to set sights on the girl's bags tucked underneath a table. He frowned, pushing himself to a stand. The girls were here. The raiders hadn't lied. Making a mental note of the bag's location, Joel pressed forward.

Not one of Joel's steps rang out across the building as he continued his search. His flashlight flickered as it bounced from wall to wall, searching for Ellie and Piper. Suddenly, his light stilled. The beam floated towards the beams in the ceiling. Tied from the beams were three bodies. Their heads were gone, and their skin was paler than white as they dangled from the ceiling.

Joel felt all sense wash away from him. He no longer felt the jabbing pain in his side or the way his lungs heaved air in and out of his lungs. Instead, the purest form of fear entered his body. It infected every inch like a disease, invoking an urge he hadn't felt in twenty years. It was intuitive paternal protection. If it was clear before, Joel had to get his girls out, and he'd do anything to get them back.

꧁_꧂

As the door flung open, Piper's ears were met with the worst sound in the world: Ellie's screaming.

"No! No! No," Ellie screamed as David tried to grab her. With one swipe, he snatched the collar of her shirt, pulling her in. She jabbed her fingers in his face and bit his hand, forcing him to drop her, only to find his boot kicking her down to the ground. Ellie coughed and wheezed as she protected her head from David's attack.

"Get off of me! Get off!" Her violent shakes grew stronger as she tried to free herself from the grasp of her captors. "Ellie!" Piper called out to her sister as David stepped out of her cage, closing the door behind him.

"Shut up!" James yelled at Piper as they dragged her

Ellie pushed her head off the ground, allowing Piper to look at her sister. Blood steadily flowed from Ellie's nose down her face. Scratches littered her sister's once-pale skin. "Piper!" Ellie croaked, raising a hand to reach towards her sister.

Suddenly, there was a thud, and the oxygen in Piper's lungs disappeared. She gasped for air and clenched her fists as James and the other man held her down on the table.

Ellie began to scream again. The words were incoherent in Piper's mind as the assailant from before squeezed her bullet wound. With a knowing smile, he watched as Piper jerked around in pain.

A silver glint appeared. A hand was placed beside her head. Above her stood David with a cleaver raised.

Air fled back into Piper's lungs. "Wait, wait!" She pleaded, shaking her body even more.

"Shut up!" James yelled again.

"Hold her still," David commanded as he steadied the blade above Piper's neck. Her eyes widened as the fight began to drain from her body. She was going to die. She knew it, and after she was dead, they were going to kill Ellie. Piper had failed. She had failed Ellie.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Don’t! Don’t do it!" Ellie cried out. She clung to the chain link fence and shook it. "Please, don’t do it! Please, don’t! Don’t!"

"You had your chance," David reminded her.

Ellie's breath escaped her lungs faster than her heartbeat. "We're infected!" She exclaimed. "We're infected. Both of us!"

James scoffed and then glanced down at Piper. He froze. His grip weakened as the sight sank deep into his mind. It was a bite mark. Piper had been bitten. Ellie also flashed her bite mark in her cage, lulling James' eyes to her wound.

The room grew quiet as James looked to the other men for guidance. His hand was still bleeding from when Piper had bitten him.

"And now, so are you," Piper chuckled. "What did you say? Everything happens for a reason, right?"

"David," James whispered, but David didn't hear him over the sound of his own heart beating in his ears. Ellie had bitten him. She was infected. Both of the girls were infected.

Shaking his head, David began to pray and not the scripted bullshit he continuously repeated for his flock. For the first time, he began to truly pray to the God he always preached about. "No. No, they would’ve turned by now." He tried to assure himself and James. "This isn’t real."

"It looks pretty fuckin’ real to me," James cried.

The other man released his grip on Piper. His feet failed him as he stumbled away from the table, checking his skin. There wasn't a bite mark. He was safe. He glanced between James and David.

"You're infected. You-"

"Now, Peter," David began calming the man down.

"You're infected," Peter gasped before running out the doors.

Piper grinned, seeing her chance, and flung herself off the table at David, knocking the knife out of his hand and forcing him to the ground. Jumping up, she scrambled to open Ellie's cage. With swift hands, she swung it open and pulled her sister out.

"Ellie! Run!" Piper yelled, shoving her sister out the door. Ellie listened this time, and this time, she regretted what she did.

Once the door settled, James retrieved the cleaver and pounced on Piper. She grunted as they toppled to the ground.

"I've got her!" James yelled to David. "Go!" With another word, David ran after Ellie.

Piper screamed and thrashed as she watched David chase after her sister. But there was nothing she could do. James sat above her, forcing the cleaver down closer and closer to her neck. Yet Piper fought. Her arms shook as they pushed against James' weight. Her eyes began to darken, and her heart thundered. Despite her efforts, the cleaver came closer. Tears formed in her eyes as she kicked her legs. She was going to die.

The silver blade shined in the faint light of the sun as it sliced her face. From her right eyebrow to cheek, her face burned. It was a scalding, searing pain as she felt warm blood trickle down her face. She pushed back, but the blade sunk deeper and deeper. Her dark eyes widened as the blade's fine edge hovered above her eye.

In one last effort to force James off of her, Piper gritted her teeth and screamed as she kicked him in between his legs. His eyes bulged, and his grip loosened. Turning his force against him, she swung the blade into her hands. The silver blade shone no longer as blood splattered over the walls, onto the floor, and Piper.

The blade never clattered to the ground as Piper pulled it back and drove it deeper into James' neck, except it wasn't James she saw, with his blue eyes and scraggly beard. Instead, she saw a face that only haunted her nightmares: Levi. She swung and swung until her hands were drenched in red. Her tears stung as the blade finally clattered to the floor. It was then Piper realized the room was darker than it was before. Clouds of gray and black filled the air.

Tilting her head, her eyes followed the trail. It was smoke, and it came from beyond the doors. That's where Ellie had run. Piper's heart clenched, and she grabbed her chest, wincing in pain. Ellie, she thought. She had to get Ellie. She had to save Ellie. Piper pushed herself to her feet. Her eyesight grew muddier as blood continued to flow into her eyes. She tried blinking it away, but her face spasmed in pain. It was as if the pain on her face caused a chain reaction; Her leg buckled from underneath her, bringing her to the floor. Instead of a hand touching the door handle, it was her head. Piper's head hit the floor with a smash, and her world grew black.

The darkness was a sweet relief from the pain and fear. There was no monster hovering above her. In the darkness, she was a kid again, safe in her room with her sister tucked beside her. She could dream in the dark. She could dream of that farm with the sheep and her family sitting beside her. Anything was possible in the darkness, so Piper sank deeper into the darkness.

꧁_꧂

EXTREME TRIGGER WARNING IN THIS SECTION! READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

Ellie ran. Piper had told her to do so, and she ran. The doors she opened only seemed to end in more doors. Twirling around, she searched for anything to protect herself with just in case it wasn't Piper who came after her. She was in a kitchen now. Knives hung from the walls, too high up for Ellie to reach. If she had time, she'd grab them, but time was not on Ellie's side. A glint of red and orange from beneath the stove caught her eye. It was the remnants of a fire still lingering on a chunk of wood. Without much thought, she snatched it and ran through the next pair of doors.

Wood and shades of red clashed together as the new room appeared. Seats, tables, and benches were everywhere. Ellie darted between the tables for the glass door, for freedom. When she reached the door and pushed, it didn't budge. It was locked. Cursing, Ellie whipped her head around. She had to hide until she could get out or until Piper found her.

Hiding behind a wooden wall, Ellie crouched down and caught her breath. Her ears listened for any sign of Piper or an oncoming assailant. There was a deafening creak as the doors swung on their hinges. The footsteps Ellie heard following were heavy and frantic. This wasn't Piper. Holding her breath, Ellie waited until the footsteps were a few paces away before she jumped out. With all her strength, Ellie threw the stick. It flew towards David, who ducked out of the way. The stick landed underneath a window. The remaining fire flew onto the curtains, swarming the fabric with desperate flames.

The fire grew upwards, reaching the ceiling before spreading over the chairs and benches. Crackles came from the fire as it consumed everything around it.

"There’s no way out, Ellie," David said as he stalked around the dining hall. His steps were calculated as he peered under each table for Ellie. "The doors are locked. And I have the keys. Ellie?" David cooed. "Ellie!"

From underneath a nearby table, Ellie squeezed her body tighter. She needed to be invisible until Piper came. Ellie knew Piper would save her from David. After all, her sister had made a promise.

"Ellie…" David called out as he continued his hunt. "I know you’re not infected. No one infected fights this hard to stay alive. So… how did you two do it? What’s the secret? Or are you girls just that fucking special?"

The roaring fire had consumed most of the building. Clouds of smoke soared from the flames, filling the air. Ellie's lungs tensed as the black mist threatened to enter them. She crept deeper into her hiding place, covering her mouth to stifle any coughs.

"No one likes being humiliated, Ellie. You don’t know how good I am! You don’t know what I could’ve given you! If you had just let me!" David's search grew more frantic as he searched for Ellie.

Meanwhile, the young girl darted from spot to spot until she crept behind the bar. With shaking hands, she picked up a steak knife and held it close, ready to strike if needed. Sweat clung to her skin, and worry filled her mind. Where was Piper?

Suddenly, an ear-piercing scream erupted from the back room. Ellie shuddered and slapped her free hand over her mouth. It was Piper. The scream seemed to last an eternity before the sound was abruptly silenced. Ellie whimpered as the blaring quiet filled her ears.

"Did you hear that Ellie? That was the sound of your sister dying. She has failed you. I won't fail you. I never will if you'll let me!" David yelled with a gleeful smile on his face. From her hiding spot, Ellie began to cry. Piper wasn't coming to save her.

"Ellie," David taunted as his steps grew closer to Ellie's hiding place. "I have news for you. Neither one of us is dying today. You see, I’ve changed my mind. I’ve decided you do need a father. So I’m gonna keep you… and I’m gonna teach you. Ellie. Ellie…"

With tears and blood adorning her face, Ellie crept out of her hiding place. David's back was turned to the raging fires. Instantly, Ellie lunged and stabbed the steak knife into David's side as he turned and swung the cleaver at her. She ducked before tripping over her feet and bringing herself to the floor.

Above her, David groaned as he pulled the knife out of his side. "Ah, fuck," he cursed, clutching his side. He pulled back his hand, which was dripping blood. Biting his lips, his venomous eyes trailed over Ellie as she crawled along the floor. Her hands desperately reached for the cleaver David had dropped in their struggle. He took a step before swinging his leg into her stomach. He kicked and kicked, forcing a grunt of pain to escape from Ellie's mouth.

When she turned on her back, he pounced. His hands flew to hers, forcefully holding her down as he sat down on her legs, keeping them still. Ellie screamed as she thrashed around. David leaned in close, and Ellie spit. Pulling back, David chuckled; "Oh. I thought you already knew. The fighting is the part I like the most."

Ellie screamed as loud as she could. It was a call for anyone willing to save her. She begged that it reached her sister's ears, so that just maybe, Piper would awake from the dead to rescue her. But the dead don't return that quickly. Next, she screamed for Joel, who lay dying in the basement. Maybe he'd be able to hear her call and save her. Someone had to come for Ellie. Someone. Anyone.

"Don’t be afraid," David soothed as Ellie continued to scream. “There’s no fear in love.”

As David released one of her hands to reach downward, Ellie reached. No one was coming to save her. Piper was gone. She risked her life for Ellie's escape. Joel wasn't here. No one would save her, so she had to save herself. Her finger brushed against the handle of the cleaver. Pulling it down, she grasped the handle and, with all her might, swung it down onto David's neck.

David fell back, struggling to stop the blood from falling from his body. Gurgles escaped his mouth when he tried to speak, but Ellie wasn't listening. She was saving herself. She brought it down repeatedly with her hands clinging tightly to the cleaver. As the blade cut deeper into David's face and body, Ellie cried. She cried for her loss: her sister, her childhood, Joel, Tess, Riley, Henry and Sam. No one came to save her, and Ellie was alone.

The fire raged on as curtains fell into piles of ash. The wooden walls and ceilings turned dark as the flames consumed them. Hovering David's body, the orange and red blaze reached out to Ellie. The heat was trying to comfort her mourning heart. Stumbling to her feet, Ellie brushed the gentle flames aside and headed towards the door's light. With bloody and trembling hands, she placed the key into the lock and stepped out into the bitter cold.

Smoke trickled out as the door opened. Her body shivered, and her feet sluggishly wobbled in the snow. She had nothing now. There was no Joel and Piper. Her coat and bag were stolen from her when she arrived. The only thing she had was herself. In a daze, she shuffled forward deeper into the snowstorm.

Suddenly, a pair of large dark hands flew onto her shoulders. Ellie screamed and flailed her arms around. "No! Get off of me! Get off!" She pleaded.

"Ellie," a deep, gentle voice uttered. "It’s me."

"Get–" Ellie yelled as the hands turned her around.

"Ellie," the voice repeated her name and a soft hand cupped her cheeks. "It’s me."

The fog from her dark eyes faded to reveal Joel. His face was all pinched up as he looked at her. His brown eyes welcomed her in and told her she was safe. Someone had come for her. Ellie wasn't alone. Joel had found her.

"Hey…," Joel said. "Look, It’s me… It’s me. It’s okay." He brushed some of the hairs from her face away.

"He-," Ellie began to mumble.

Joel nodded and gently pulled her into his warm embrace. She didn't hesitate to place her head on his chest and allow the tears to come. Joel had come for her. "It’s okay. It’s okay, baby girl. I got you," He soothed as his hands rubbed along her back. Closing his eyes, he rested his chin against her head. Ellie was safe. He only had one more daughter to find.

"Where's Piper?" He asked and immediately felt Ellie's legs grow weak. His grip tightened as he held her up.

Choking on her sobs, Ellie peered up at Joel. "She-she's," Ellie's voice shook. "I heard her scream. It was so loud. Joel, she's-"

"Okay," Joel said as he looked at the building Ellie had emerged from. "Ellie, I need you to come with me. We need to fi-"

The shrieking sound of glass shattering filled the air. Smoke tumbled out from the side of the building, pulling Joel and Ellie's attention. What they heard next was quiet. It was a plea for help. It was Piper.

꧁_꧂

Pain. It's all Piper felt once her eyes opened. The room was as dark as her unconsciousness had been. Piper's lungs heaved as they remembered to breathe, only finding nothing to take in except for dark, heavy smoke. As coughs erupted from her chest, Piper felt her body grow weaker than it had ever been before. The temptation to fall back into the darkness grew too much. It had been so welcoming and peaceful, but the darkness couldn't give her everything. The darkness couldn't hold Ellie and Joel.

She placed her hands in the sticky pool of blood that had seeped out of her and pushed herself to a stand. Her hand instinctively covered her mouth as she opened the door she had seen Ellie run out of. As the metal doors opened, a roaring fire was ready to greet her. Quickly, she closed the door and turned around for a new escape.

Above her, a faint light seeped through the dark fog of black. She limped over to the countertops and pulled herself atop them. She prayed Ellie made it out and ran. It was the only thing keeping her going. If Ellie was gone, she might as well sink back into the fire and smoke and return to the darkness.

Standing tall, Piper reached her hands into the air. Her scorched and bloodied fingers felt the cold glass windows. She banged against them, fighting the smoke that forced its way down into her lungs. The windows refused to open. She grew more desperate with each hit. She had to get out. She wanted to live. She needed to find Ellie and Joel.

A glint shone through the darkness. A metal rolling pin glimmered. Piper dragged her feet along to grasp it. Her arms dropped down from the weight. This would break the glass, Piper thought as she lugged it back to the window. She raised it and swung. The metal thudded against the glass. She swung again. The glass cracked. Swinging one final time, the glass shattered. Using the pin, Piper enlarged the hole so that it was big enough for her to crawl through before dropping the pin to the ground.

Piper's knees buckled beneath her as the rolling pin clattered to the floor, and she fell. She was so tired. Her lungs had given up any fight to inhale only breathable air. Her wounds continued to scream in pain as red liquid soaked her skin. Everything in her body told her to crawl into a ball and welcome the fire. However, her heart and mind sang a different tune. It was a song of freedom. It was her dream.

Struggling to stand, Piper clung to the walls, searching for anything to help her up. She reached to the window and clenched her fingers around the ledge. Her muscles strained against her will to pull herself out. Glass dug into the palms of her hand as she forced herself off the counter and into the air. Flinging her elbow onto the ledge, she kicked her legs into the air, allowing her second elbow to gain a grip. With both arms on the windowsill, she pushed down, throwing herself through the window.

A cry fled her mouth as she removed her hands and arms from the window. Shards of glass embedded themselves deep into her skin, and even more blood fell from her wounds. Swinging her legs around, Piper jumped. She welcomed the white snow, which immediately turned a dark pink.

Her head rang with a static noise as her world began to spin. Something loud was crying out into the air. She winced, trying to make sense of it.

"Piper!" Joel and Ellie called out. They ran to her fallen body in the snow. Joel's knees fell to the ground as his hands wrapped around her broken body. Worry and guilt filled his being as he took in her torn-up figure. With heavy eyes, Piper looked up at Joel and Ellie. Ellie was in tears as she lunged for her sister, enveloping her in a desperate hug. Meanwhile, Joel took both girls in his large embrace. He held them tight to fight off the biting winter cold.

His daughters were home in his arms. His daughters were alive. His shirt grew wetter the longer they sat in the snow, holding onto each other.

"It's okay," he whispered into their ears. "I've got you. I've got you."

꧁_꧂

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꧁_꧂

[itsabouttimex2]

Hope you’ve been well! I’ve done nothing but lurk on thin internet for years so this may be my first request on any platform. And it’s about a Lego monkey😭

With that said, can I get a romantic yandere Wukong with big feels for his exasperated lawyer? Or just and exasperated reader in general if you want lol

Can’t Fool You

(Well, I hope to receive more requests from you in the future! And I’m here writing about that monkey, so… we’re in the same boat!)

By now, you have your own little “everything” in his house.

Your own snacks. Your own mug. Your own “spot” on the worn-out couch.

And all three are conveniently laid out in front of you, an enticing spread of exotic and varied chocolates laid out next to your trusty porcelain stein, filled to the brim with a steaming brew. The couch cushion has been dusted and sprayed with a floral perfume. Your case files are neatly stacked on the edge of table.

This is probably the cleverest trap he’s created yet- not that it’s nearly enough to fool you.

“Sun Wukong, reveal yourself this instant.”

The Great Sage has learned by now that there’s no real way to argue with you, not unless he wants to spend this lovely afternoon sitting awkwardly on his knees, receiving a very lengthy lecture about wasting your time with petty and ill-built debates.

So instead he sounds a very lengthy whine, groaning and huffing as golden light emanates from the cushion placed right before the enticingly decorated table. It shifts and bends and sparks, slowly reforming into the Great Sage that you had come to know and tolerate.

“Bud, you always see right through me,” he compliments, though there’s still the edge of a soft whine through those honeyed words. He’s growing impatient with the lack of skinship and affection. “How could you tell?”

“Sun Wukong, the real cushion is clearly sticking out from behind the couch, you didn’t bother to clean any other part of the couch, and I heard you giggling as I came through the door!”

“Aww, hun!” He coos, disregarding every single time you had told him to refer to you by first or last name. “You’re SO smart!”

From another mouth it might’ve sounded sarcastic or demeaning. Maybe even spiteful. But in those five words alone has Wukong loaded love, admiration, devotion, and obsession.

“This is why I picked you as my lawyer, hun.”

No the hell it’s not, you want to say. And that would be true- you were picked as his lawyer because no one else could:

1. Stomach his constant jokes and tomfoolery

2. Work around dozens of mischievous and rowdy monkeys

3. Reliably out-scream Ne Zha

And you only kept working at this tedious job because he provided free boarding and food, and spoiled you with treasures. It was an unorthodox manner of payment, but stupidly lucrative.

You won a case. He “paid” you with an ancient relic. You took it to an antiques dealer. They considered scamming or skimping, then caught sight of Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. They paid you fairly.

And you walked away with heavy pockets.

It made for a good routine.

And you could tolerate that chaotic and breakneck lifestyle right up until you came “home” and had to spend half the night warding off both Wukong and his little troop of monsters from your bed.

Those little white-furred monkeys…

“They think you’re their other grandparent,” he had said once, dumping half a troop into your bed beside you as you protested and argued about their thieving hands and loud mouths. “Since you spend so much time with me, hun.”

“Then tell them I’m not.”

“Sorry, Y/N. Too late~”

…it had taken you two hours to pick out all the white strands of monkey hair, and an hour more to clear the smell. You had sworn to put up spikes, wire, fences- anything to prevent

Only to go soft at the begging of a baby; the runt of her troop, and allow her to settle on your pillow as you worked.

Damn the weakness of your heart- it had been a major mistake on your part.

You ended up throwing that pillow away after a very characteristic “monkey mess”, burning it in broad daylight and scattering the ashes amongst Flower Fruit Mountain’s fertile soil.

Ugh.

A muscular hand falls on either of your shoulders, directing you forward- Wukong’s replaced the old cushion and decorated it with silk pillows and peach blossom petals, and even taken the time to light a candle.

He nudges until you’ve reached the seat, then- perhaps with more force than intended- pushes you onto the couch.

“Wukong!” You call in anger, planting both hands firmly onto the furniture to steady yourself, making a move to stand- only for the Great Sage to throw himself into your open lap with a smile. His fur tickles at your thighs, a snug coat of ginger to warm your legs.

“…Sun Wukong, remove yourself from my lap this-“

“Aw, peaches! How can you be so mean to lil’ ol me? I just wanna spend some time with my favorite lawyer!”

“I am your only lawyer, because no one else can put up with your nonsense!”

“That’s what makes you so special to me, peaches.”

It’s a statement that manages to be vulnerable through its own simplicity, straightforward and sincere. If you had been standing, perhaps your knees would have buckled in surprise.

But you can’t, because Sun Wukong is splayed across you with all the might of a warrior, a king, a bogus immortal. He nestles closer, nearly purring in delight with each rub from his cheeks to your thighs.

One hand, clawed and built strong- sharply moves to grip at your wrist. Though you futilely try to pull away, he effortlessly yanks it to his head.

“Pet me,” he whines. “Please, peaches…?”

You pause, and consider the request. The relationship you share is already unprofessional, bordering on unhealthy at both ends. His obsessive nature comes through frequently enough…

The king barges in on your meetings with other clients to ruin them. He nuzzles your suits and dresses against himself until they bear his scent. He wards off friends and family alike- by being so exuberant and “accidentally” destructive that they fearfully retreat.

And you’ve allowed it this long, haven’t you? You could’ve left, or rejected him, or at least told him to stop… but no such words had ever left your lips.

And now that Wukong had settled into the routine that you allowed him to build, it felt like a wall, a cage, a web all around you.

Which brick to pull? Which bar to rattle? Which thread to cut?

This constrainment had built itself high, feeling like an ever-present gilded collar tight around your throat.

Shelter. Food. Money. Love.

He provided it all and more without hesitation- and all you had to do was play along, to some small degree. He could take rebuffs and insults and discouragement, could sit with a wagging tail through your lectures, could handle you kicking him out of your bed every night…

And he’d still come back for more.

You lower your hand to Wukong’s forehead. Under the fur, there’s a deep indent- it feels like a band once sat there. He perks, eagerly pressing his head upwards to savor the touch.

This is all you have to do. This earns you your room, your pay, your food and drink… more than any of your services as a lawyer, or your fervent legal defense of his character…

All that really matters to him is you, your time and attention.

You pet his head. He purrs.

In time, he’s sure that you’ll love him as much as he loves you.

And he has all the time in the world to wait for it.

[headingalaxys-sweet]

Spooky Season Shenanigans for the Nekos Part 1

America-Cat 

He begins to gather clumps from his litter box and soil that is damp from the backyard. America cat has taken some of his owners socks which he uses as casings to store his ‘ammunition’. This crazy cat is even in the midst of crafting an underground lair of sorts. He’s stored a few long lighters, fireworks, toilet paper rolls, eggs he’s brought to ‘ferment’, masks, costumes, etc. America cat is going to be putting on an entire production. If he already wasn’t the King of Halloween this will make him the king now for like ever meow! 

Canada-Cat 

Has gone to cat markets, candle shops, and bakeries where cat’s all over the world come to visit when Sept 1st hits. There is one shop in particular that sells this legendary Maple Fish Cake, which only available during this time of year. They’re so popular in fact that they have to limit cats with only being able to purchase 5 of these specialty cakes for the season. [Yes, there were many years where scammer cats hoarded the entire stock of cakes in the morning. They’d mark up the price of them 300% to say that ridiculous is an understatement but the cakes are that yummy. And they may or may not have a special cat-nip lacd in them] 

Canada-cat tentatively passes by the costume shops debating with himself on if he’s going to attend his brothers cat’s annual Halloween party and prank-a-thon. 

China-Cat

Busy raiding his owners' pastry / cookbooks to make an entire special Fall menu of food for the season. He will do more to spend time in the sun while it still lasts. China-cat wants his dark chestnut fur to get nice and toasty so he can store it away for the Winter months. [So his old bones don’t get frozen and brittle.] China-cats favorite pass time is to go to Yi Dian Dian & The Alley once or twice a day to get a hot or cold milk tea that occasionally has Boba in it. 

England-Cat 

His tail will be flicking back and forth lowly on the carpet. The season where he got to be on the fresh grass or out on the open sea. When he daydreamed about the wide open waters he thought about the days that he was a mouser alongside his swashbuckling and commanding owner. As England cat was in the midst of his thoughts clouds made the sky darker and the air became colder. When his head rises he was able to catch the last milliseconds of a lightning boldt. He hears low chattering rising from the basement. 

‘Arthur must be at it again so he can try to win Halloween this year against that Yank. I guess now is a good time for me to maybe get ready for America cats shenanigans this year as well.’

France-Cat

He’d invited ‘Charmy Chartreux,’ a famous cat known for doing home holiday decorating, planning, and execution. By the time Spet rolls around, France cat will be ready for the season of the spooky but make it posh & elegant. Tangerine tea lights, pumpkins with the flur de lese, macaroons, & the Eiffel Tower carved into them. He even managed to make a deal with Canada-Cat to have a shipment of Maple Fish Cakes sent to him. 

Germany-Cat 

Planning safety guides for cats and what to do when you’ve had too much cat-nip contingent plans. He knows America-cat is planning an insane rager complete with ill-advised pranks, stunts, and performances all meant to stroke his ego. Germany-cat also makes note to buy extra sausages, treats, and Apfelsaft (Apple Juice—just make it sparkling). He does this so no cat is on an empty stomach and has its whiskers twisted by catnip. 

Italy Cats 

They haven’t thought about Halloween all that much. They’re just vibing with the season changes. The crisper air carried the fresh scent of harvested grapes, olives, pumpkins, etc. The two of them love stealing Felicianos tortelli di zucca (pumpkin soup), minestrone, and strudel di mele. 

“Germany! Germany! Help me! The kitties have run a-way with my delicious food again!” 

Japan-Cat 

Yet, another cat who loves to watch the season transition into the next. He adores watching the thousands of leaves float down to the ground. The mesmerizing colors of the fall leaves are cornsilk, fawn, midnight greens, and burnt oranges. All these colors melded together to create a beautiful scene that is ephemeral and sort of angelic in a way. Japan-cat has a special stash of tuna that he likes to eat when he finds a magnificent view. 

While he eats he’s working out how he’ll survive another America-cat rager. 

Russia-Cat 

Happily roaming the streets receiving belly rubs, scratchies, and treats from the last of the summertime tourists. Halloween only seems to come to his mind when his owner mentions it or begins to decorate for it mid-September. When Ivan does begin to get the decorations out Russia-cat gets far too comfortable in the organs of one of the pumpkins Ivan has made. 

“Really, my little cat?” He crouches down to pet his loveable but somewhat mischievous cat. 

“Meow.” (Da.) Russia-cats beady eyes will be looking at Ivan like: “I’m cute and a cat. What are you not understanding? I’m number one now, BELLY RUBS human BELLY RUBS!” 

[mariacallous]

(New York Jewish Week) — The corner of Ludlow and Rivington streets in New York City is now officially known as Beastie Boys Square.

The co-naming of this Lower East Side street corner — where the shop featured on the Jewish rappers’ second album, “Paul’s Boutique,” once stood — was the result of a 10-year effort spearheaded by Leroy McCarthy, an activist who has successfully lobbied for other New York City streets named in honor of rappers, including Notorious B.I.G. and the Wu-Tang Clan.  

Hundreds of New Yorkers packed the downtown intersection Saturday afternoon for the official unveiling of Beastie Boys Square. Though some kvetched about the humidity and the unexplained 80-minute delay, the Gen X-heavy crowd — plus a smattering of their offspring — was a respectful one, singing along to years’ worth of Beastie Boys songs played on loudspeakers as they waited for the ceremony to begin, and for the appearance of the two people everyone had come to see: Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz and Michael “Mike D” Diamond.

Horowitz, Diamond and Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died in 2012 at 47, formed their highly influential band in New York City in 1981. Though they started as a teenage punk band, they eventually pivoted to hip-hop — and after their first rap album — 1986’s “Licensed to Ill,” produced by fellow Jewish hip-hop fan Rick Rubin — produced a series of hits, the Beastie Boys became household names. 

The group followed up with 1989’s sample-heavy “Paul’s Boutique” — featuring the photograph of the Lower East Side street corner — which flopped upon its release but is now widely considered a masterpiece. Their next albums, 1992’s “Check Your Head” and 1994’s “Ill Communication” were cultural juggernauts, and four more albums followed.  

All three Beastie Boys have Jewish backgrounds: Horovitz, 56, grew up on Park Avenue, the son of playwright Israel Horovitz and a Roman Catholic mother. Diamond, 57, grew up on the Upper West Side; his father, Harold, was an art dealer and his mother, Hester, was a famous decorator and art collector. Yauch hailed from Brooklyn Heights, the only child of Frances, a Jewish social worker, and a non-Jewish architect.

In 2004, the group gave a very Jewish interview with Heeb magazine, in which Yauch disclosed he was trying to get his Uncle Freddy to teach him some Yiddish “so I could work some Yiddish lyrics on an album.” Diamond said he was raised by “a Barney Greengrass family,” referring to the famous Upper West Side appetizing shop.

Following Yauch’s death from cancer, the group disbanded. So, on Saturday, anticipation crept up alongside the mercury in the thermometer as the crowd waited to catch a glimpse of the remaining Beasties. 

But first, local politicians had things to say. Kicking off the speeches with a “mic check” or two was Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who put the Beasties’ Jewishness front and center.

“I was 16 when ‘Licensed to Ill’ came out — it was like a thunderbolt came down and struck me,” he said. “Now, I know these guys didn’t advertise it, but trust me: Every Jewish kid in America, we knew they were Diamond and Yauch and Horowitz.”

“Were you a Jewish kid in America back in the 80s and 90s?” Levine shouted to the crowd, and many — including this reporter — cheered back. “Yes you were! Personally, that was the first moment I realized there was maybe a faint hope that I could be cool. It didn’t work out, but I still have hope.”

As it happens, the Beasties have a few Jewish lyrics in their stable, including biblical references, a shoutout to Ellis Island, and Ad-Rock’s line “Well I’m a funky-ass Jew and I’m on my way/ And yes I got to say f— the KKK” on “Right Right Now Now” from the 2004 album “To the 5 Boroughs.”

Three other local politicians spoke: Assembly member Grace Lee and City Council members Carlina Rivera and Christopher Marte, the last of whom Levine credited with making Beastie Boys Square happen.

“You have no idea how hard it is to get a street renamed in New York,” Levine said of Marte. “He did it.” 

The activist McCarthy’s initial proposal for Beastie Boys Square was rejected by Community Board 3 in 2014 because the name change didn’t meet requirements. McCarthy was subsequently barred from reapplying for the name change for another five years. His renewed proposal was approved in 2022 with the support of Marte and other local politicians. In 2013, a small Brooklyn playground was named for Yauch. 

At last, it was time for the main event, and Horovitz and Diamond took to the stage while the crowd cheered. Horovitz, who said he “brought notes,” spoke first, exclaiming that he didn’t realize other people would be speaking. “Sorry if I’m saying what they said,” he said, thanking McCarthy and “everyone who loves Beastie Boys music.” 

“I don’t really understand why, but I know that I love it, so in a way that makes us kind of friends, right?” he added. “Like we bonded over these weird records, so thank you.”

He also thanked New York City, not only for the street renaming, but “for teaching us what to look at, what to listen to, what to wear, how to love, how to live.”

Next, Diamond took the mic, thanking the crowd for coming despite the heat. “Everyone is so dedicated, willing to put in the work to show the love, not only for this band, but, I think, everything we came from, coming from New York City.”

After giving a shoutout to his deceased parents, Diamond also expressed his love for New York, saying that the Beastie Boys couldn’t have come from anywhere else. “Growing up here in New York City and hearing all this incredible music, being all this incredible art, being around all these incredible people — this only in New York City,” he said. “So thank you so much, y’all.”

He concluded his remarks with moving words for Yauch, whom he described as their “brother on this amazing journey.” The crowd responded with chants of “MCA! MCA!”

But Horowitz, who appeared to get a bit verklempt as he concluded his speech, arguably summed up the meaning of the event best. 

“We walk around these streets and we don’t really think about who they’re named after, like Ludlow Street, Irving Street, Father Demo Square,” he said. “But it makes me really happy to know that some kid on their way to school 50 years from now is gonna pass by this and look up and be like, ‘What the f— is a Beastie Boy and why do they have a square?’ Just like I did when I was a kid, looking at Perry Street, Charles Street, wondering what it’s about.” 

[abyssal-cryptid]

Thinking about the storytelling genius of Unpacking and the contrast of levels three, four and seven. (Spoilers btw)

Every single person I've watched play the game for the first time gets annoyed in level four. They start insulting the boyfriend and his apartment and decore, especially before they realise you can move his stuff. Then they joke and go "thats not fair to him" because at that point he still seems fine. Inconsiderate but fine. Whatever.

Then you take out the diploma. And it doesnt fit anywhere. Strange. None of the rooms. This room has posters on the wall surely I can.. Oh. The toilet? Oh wow this man is a dick, the only place your diploma can be put in is in the toilet.

And then. You complete the final box. The wrong placements flash red. Maybe it takes a while for you to go to the toilet. And then you stare at it. The flashing red on the diploma. What? This is the only place in the apartment it fits. Where...?

Your face falls as you discover the only other place the diploma can be put in. Under the bed (or alternatively in the closet). It breaks your heart. Maybe you get angry. Maybe you find the drawing tablet on the fridge and clicked on it and found a cool picture she drew of him.

This is the moving in point. The next level is mot set in the same year. Not even the next year but two years later. It breaks your heart.

There is great talent in crafting a game where you grasp the story of this person, their life, achievements and talents through their moving boxes and the environment you interact with.

Levels three and four are perfect mirrors to each other. Both have you moving in with other people and they trick you with their appearances. Level three's house is messy, full of stuff. Well that's a little rude when someone is moving in with you. You shouldnt have dirty dishes in the sink. Level four's apartment is immaculately clean and well organised.

They trick you. Because you cannot move anything not yours in level three but your stuff fits there perfectly. You can place your D&D figure next to your friends' figures. Your books and stuffies and games fit on the shelves. Your friends made space for you in this house.

You can move almost anything in level four. And you have to if you want to move your stuff in. Everything is clean here yes, but you dont fit. Your posessions dont fit in with his. You have to organise the shelves yourself to have space for your books or games. His clothes take up all the space in the closet so you need to spend time to move them to fit your stuff there. Youre ill fit in this space. It's clean but it does not have space for you.

Level seven has you move your partner's stuff into your home. You've made the space. You got her her own drawer for clothes. You reorganise your stuff to make her fit. Youre welcoming her to your home, helping to make it her home as well.

[roanofarcc]

PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER THIRTEEN → BLIND FAITH

summary: steve harrington x oc | on Ao3

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. 5.8k | masterlist

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

previous chapter ← → next chapter

The Harrington’s attic was dangerously hot and stuffy in the dead of July heat. Twelve-year-old Steve wiped the sweat from his brow and felt hot air fill his lungs each time he breathed, warming him up from the inside out.  

His dad stood at the bottom of the ladder in the garage with his arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. “Come on, Steve. It’s the only box with your grandfather’s name on it. It shouldn’t take this long to find it.” 

Up inside the attic, his dad couldn’t see Steve roll his eyes, and that gave the pre-teen the slightest bit of satisfaction. He continued to look around the nearly suffocating space until he was looking at the last two boxes in there that he hadn’t touched. One had his grandfather’s name sprawled across the side in loop handwriting that once belonged to his grandmother, and the other box had his name on it. 

“Steve! I don’t have all day. Hurry up!” 

He grabbed his grandfather’s box and hauled it over to the ladder. 

His dad met him halfway up the ladder and took the box. Holding it against his hip, he looked pointedly at his only child. “Put the boxes back how they were. Make sure there’s a path so we can walk up there. I don’t want to be climbing over shit while looking for Christmas decorations. Then help your mother inside when you’re done.”  

Steve didn’t even have time to protest his chores before his dad turned on his heel and headed right for his car in the driveway. 

With his dad gone, Steve returned to the attic and peeled back the tape on the only box with his name on it. Inside were memorabilia from when he was a baby. A blue blanket with his name stitched into it, baby clothes, a stuffed animal, and a scrapbook. 

Despite the heat, Steve sat on the floor, which was covered in a thin layer of dust, and pulled the scrapbook into his lap. Each photo was dated at the bottom and was arranged in order between the laminated sheets. 

It started the day he was born, wrapped in the very same blue blanket that now rested in the box. His mother held him with a wide smile and there was even a glimmer of admiration in his father’s eyes too. 

There were pictures of baby Steve in his dad’s arms as he stood beside a chain-linked fence that surrounded a baseball field. His dad stood beside another man, one a little shorter who also held a baby in his arms. Both men looked engrossed in a conversation in baseball caps and cotton t-shirts. 

It was hard to believe that was actually Steve’s father. He didn’t remember ever seeing the man in anything other than a button-down and a scowl. But in the photos in the scrapbook, there was an ease that engulfed his dad. He thought maybe it was a rare photo, but it wasn’t the only one inside the book. There were others taken with Steve from the day he was born up until the very last photo his mother had taken in 1973. 

All of the photos were illuminated in a warm, happy glow, and a good handful of them were shared with another family. In some, they lingered in the background, occupied with their own child. But in others, they were posing with Steve’s parents, laughing, smiling, and talking. 

He didn’t know why it was strange to him that his parents once had friends. Maybe because Steve couldn’t remember the last time his parents spoke to anyone in Hawkins without insulting them or rolling their eyes. It clearly hadn’t always been that way. Whoever the people in those photos were, they seemed to get along well with his parents, and their child seemed to get along well with Steve even though he didn’t remember them. 

They all looked happy with each other. Then the pictures stopped in the middle of summer, 1973. The last photo was of just Steve and the other couple’s kid. Their faces were smushed together in a frame and smiling wildly. The little girl had dark hair that was braided in two and a constellation of freckles over her cheeks. Steve had a chipped front tooth and sunburnt nose. 

The date wasn’t the only thing written at the bottom of the picture. Steve's name was there too, and the same as the other kid too. Ellie. 

Steve & Ellie. Steve didn’t know an Ellie, at least anymore. When he asked his mother later that night, she clutched her wine glass so tight that her knuckles turned white but shook her head. Steve believed her when she said she didn’t remember. Maybe it was best that none of them did. 

Steve was going to make amends. 

His fingers drummed against his steering wheel nervously as he pulled into Jonathan Byers’s driveway with an apology on his lips and a swollen face. 

He messed up, big time, monumentally. It didn’t take him long to reach that conclusion. The only way he knew how to make things right was to apologize to Jonathan first, then maybe he’d have a shot at winning back Nancy Wheeler. He didn’t deserve a second chance, but they deserved an apology at the very least. 

Pulling the keys from the ignition, Steve took a deep breath before he left his car. He had practiced his speech the whole ride over, but he worried that he would screw it up or that Jonathan wouldn’t give him the chance to get a single word out. 

On the front porch, Steve paused with his hand raised. He heard muffled voices on the other side and a part of him wanted to turn around and leave, but he couldn’t. He knocked before he chickened out and made things worse for himself. 

No one answered for a long moment, which only grew Steve’s anxiety. He knocked again and accompanied it with half his apology. “Jonathan? Are you there man? It’s Steve. I just want to talk.” 

There was another prolonged pause, and he went to knock again, but before his knuckle met the wooden door, it swung open to reveal not Jonathan, but rather Nancy.  

“Steve, listen to me-” she started, taking him by surprise. 

“Nancy? What-” 

“You need to leave,” she said. Her tone was harsh, but he figured he deserved it. She also kept the door mostly closed; it was only open enough to reveal her face and not whatever was happening inside. 

“I’m not trying to start anything, okay?” 

There were a lot of things he wished he hadn’t said to the two of them. Steve wanted to be with Nancy, not Tommy H. and Carol. Nancy made him feel different, but a good difference compared to how he often felt when he was around his other friends.

“I don’t care about that. You need to leave.” 

He wasn’t giving up, not until he at least said what he came there to say. 

“No, listen, please. I messed up, okay? I really messed up. And I just want to make things right.” 

Nancy glanced over her shoulder and readjusted her grasp on the door, not paying attention to what he was saying. There was a bandage wrapped around her hand and it was stained red with what he assumed was blood. 

“What happened?” he asked, darting his gaze between her eyes and her hand. 

The look Nancy gave him when she refocused on their conversation rather than whatever was happening inside the house didn’t sit right with Steve. Her stumbling over her words made it even worse. 

“N-Nothing. It’s nothing. It was…an accident.” 

“What’s going on?” Steve pressed. “Did he do that to you?” 

Nancy shook her head like that was the most absurd thing he could have asked. “No!” Someone inside cursed and something crashed against the floor. 

There was something wrong, and he didn’t plan on leaving until he figured it out. “Nancy, let me in.” 

“No.” Steve placed his foot in the door to prevent her from closing it on him. “No! Steve, stop!” 

Despite her protests, Steve managed to push the door the rest of the way open and stumbled inside the house. He didn’t expect to see, well, everything that was happening inside. His eyes widened in confusion as he gazed around, ignoring the words coming from Nancy’s lips. 

The house looked like a twister had run through it. Furniture was pushed around oddly. Above his head hung Christmas lights in a messy web from wall to wall, despite it only being November. There were a series of weapons placed on the coffee table. On the far wall, the alphabet was written in black paint, and lights were hung between the letter too. 

Steve took in the bizarre sight around him in a dizzying manner until he stopped on another person inside the room. Staring back at him with just as much confusion was the girl from the woods. 

Sunshine was dressed in what looked like Nancy’s clothes. Her face was still littered with bruises and her eyes wide with confusion that mirrored his own. 

“W-What is…Sunshine?” He stumbled over his words, trying to make sense of everything. 

Grabbing a fistful of Steve’s jacket, Jonathan tried to push him in the direction of the opened door, but Steve stayed rooted in place. 

“You need to get out of here.” 

Jonathan’s face was unscathed from their fight, but his knuckles were red and split open. He didn’t look angry; he looked…scared? Worried? Something that Steve couldn’t make sense of either. 

“What is all of this?” he asked all three of them, but none of them looked like they wanted to answer him. 

“Listen to me,” Jonathan said. Steve noticed that his hand was wrapped in a red-stained bandage too. “I’m not asking you; I’m telling you. Get. Out.” 

He stumbled back, getting out of Jonathan’s grasp, but not leaving. His eyes found Sunshine’s and he shook his head. “You. How…How did you-” 

Cutting him off with a frustrated and flustered groan, Nancy hastily grabbed something off of the coffee table before she faced back to Steve. “Steve, get out!” 

A gun was in Nancy’s hand, pointed at his chest. 

Steve felt like he had stumbled into a very, very confusing nightmare. 

“Wait! What?” Steve yelled. “What is going on? What are you doing?!” He held his hands up in defense. He didn’t know where she got a gun from or why she had it in her possession period. He also didn’t know why it was aimed at him. 

Steve knew he said some shitty thing, but none of it warranted that; at least, he didn’t think it did. 

She rolled her shoulders back, faking confidence in her ability to wield a gun, even though her hands shook. 

“You have five seconds to get out of here.” 

“O-Okay, is this some kind of joke?” Steve really wanted someone to laugh and tell him it was all a sick sort of prank; it was payback for the movie theater marquee and the fight. But no one said a thing, no one dared to move from their position. 

“Stop!” he yelled. “Okay? J-Just stop and put the gun down!” 

She also looked sympathetic, but it was overshadowed by the gun in her hand. “I’m doing this for you.” 

A voice tried to break through the sound of Steve’s erratic heartbeat, calling out Nancy’s name as the Christmas light started to blink, but Nancy didn’t listen. 

“Three. Two,” she started to count down, freaking Steve out even more. There was no way she’d shoot him, he thought. Yet, when he stared into her bright blue eyes, he wasn’t so sure of that. 

“No, no, no!” Steve panicked; his brain refused to come up with anything to get him out of the situation he had stumbled into. 

“Nancy! The lights!” Jonathan yelled, getting through to Nancy. They all glanced upwards as the lights began to blink faster and faster. They didn’t blink in uniform either; it was sporadic and disorienting. 

Nancy lowered the gun but kept a tight grip on it. “It’s here,” she cried. 

There was a rabbit hole Steve continued to fall deeper into. There was no time for him to get caught up in what the hell was happing; he was left in a state of confusion that grew more profound with each flicker of the Christmas lights. 

“What’s here?” he asked, but still no one answered. They clearly knew something he did not. 

“Where is it?” Jonathan asked. He and Nancy stood back-to-back. She wielded her gun, and he had a baseball bat in his grasp. They spun around, looking for something. Sunshine did the same, only she didn’t hold a weapon. She stood with her hands balled into fists and gaze set in stone that was splintered with fear. 

“I don’t know,” Nancy replied. “I don’t see it.” 

Running his hands through his hair, Steve’s attention was pulled all around the room. The lights stained his eyes and frustration bubbled over inside of him. He wanted to know what the hell they were doing and what they were looking for inside that house, under the lights, with a series of weapons that they definitely shouldn’t have. 

“Where is what?” he asked, raising his voice loud enough to speak over their clashing voices. “Hello? What is going o-” 

His question broke from his throat as the house was filled with a terrible, ear-splitting screech that rattled the walls. Everyone snapped their heads in the direction of the noise. 

Pieces of the ceiling fell to the ground in chunks, and something crawled through the hole it made. Long, sickly gray-colored legs dangled down from the gaping hole before they dropped onto the living room carpet. 

There was words Steve had stored inside his brain that he could’ve strung together to describe the thing standing at least eight feet tall in front of them, bathed in strobing lights. The other word that came to mind was, whatever it was, it couldn’t have been real. No, Jonathan must have knocked Steve into some comma-induced nightmare because there was no logical explanation for the being with no face and clawed hands that stood in a pile of plaster. 

Its mouth peeled back, revealing rows upon rows of teeth stained red, and let out a roar that Steve felt like a bass beat in his chest. 

All he could do was stare; he stared in shock, disbelief, and a kind of terror that was so new and unexpected that he felt like he was experiencing it from outside his body. 

“Go!” Someone yelled, but Steve couldn’t move. “Run!” 

The Thing let out another roar before it lunged forward with claws bared. Steve watched as it closed the distance between it and him; he couldn’t get his legs to move, not until a hand grabbed a hold of his wrist and pulled him back into reality and toward the hallway. 

Sunshine led their way, trailing behind Nancy and Jonathan. 

“Jump!” she shouted, and he stumbled his way over a set bear trap left in the middle of the hall, just missing getting his foot snapped in it. 

Sunshine’s grip on his wrist tightened as she pulled him into a bedroom. Nancy slammed the door shut behind them and raised her gun at it. 

“Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” Steve repeated as he started pacing around the bedroom. Outside was a real-life monster; it was inside the Byers's house and looked like something torn from the pages of a comic book or horror film. He couldn’t believe it; it couldn’t have been real. 

His mind was on fire, melting into his hands as he held onto it. 

“What was that? What is happening? What is out there?!” 

“Shut up!” Both Nancy and Jonathan yelled in unison. 

Silence engulfed the room while they listened for the creature. 

After a moment of nothing coming from the other side of the door, Nancy whispered, “What is it doing?” Still clutching her gun between her trembling hands. 

“I don’t know,” Jonathan replied. 

Pressing her ear against the door, Nancy listened for some sign that the monster was close, but when she pulled back, she shook her head. The house was silent; Steve wasn’t sure if that was better or worse. 

Slowly, Nancy opened the door and peeked out into the hallway to see it empty. They all followed her out into the living room only to find it empty too. The monster was nowhere to be seen. Maybe it had never been there at all. 

He didn’t know what exactly overcame him, but Steve was snapped back into reality with a jolt. He was suddenly very aware that he was not dreaming. Before he fully registered what he was doing, Steve grabbed the phone from the wall to call someone. Who, he wasn’t entirely sure, but he had to call someone. Someone had to do something. 

However, the phone was ripped out of his hands before he was able to dial a single number. 

Her eyes were bloodshot and wild; Steve was sure they matched his own. 

“What are you doing? Are you insane?” He tried to grab the phone back, but she slammed it back into the wall receiver and glared at him. 

“It’s going to come back,” she said, so certain of her words. “So, you need to leave. Right. Now.” 

The lamp in the corner of the room flickered and Steve flinched. He looked around the room at the eyes that all were on him and let out a shuttered breath. 

Nothing that was happening made a lick of sense, but there was one thing he knew for certain. Steve did not want to be there when that Thing came back. 

So, he finally listened to them; Steve clumsily ran right back out the front door and collided with the cold breeze that swept across Hawkins that night. 

The little voice in the back of his mind told him to go home and to never, ever think back to what happened inside Jonathan Byers's house. 

When he reached his car, he fumbled for his keys and dropped them on the ground. Cursing under his breath, he managed to grab them with his shaking hand and was ready to unlock his car just as the light inside the home flickered wildly again. 

Terror clawed it's way up his throat when he realized he had two options at that moment. He could run away; it would be easy and who would blame him? Or he could stay and face whatever was inside that house. 

Every fiber of his being wanted to run, but he came to make amends. 

He wasn’t going to run away, not again.

→←

Electricity hummed in the small, white-tiled room. The jolts sunk into Jim Hopper’s muscles painful enough to send him to his knees. 

Hawkins National Laboratory had, once again, backed him into a corner, both figuratively and literally. 

With his hands pressed against the wall, holding him upright as a taser kissed his skin again. He clenched his jaw and muffled a scream through his teeth. 

“What do you know?” the man dressed in a suit asked. He stood back with his arms crossed and a lack of emotion on his face. 

Jim almost laughed despite the pain that flared up throughout his body. He turned his neck to look the man in the eyes and spit blood from his mouth onto the floor. “I know you do experiments on kids you steal from their parents.” 

In one week the veil overtop of Hawkins was pulled back, revealing what had gone down in the sleepy town behind closed doors and barbwire fences. The odd occurrences and scattered, unsolved tragedies led him to the source of it all. The picture was almost clear to him; he almost had it all figured out. 

“You tried to cover it up by destroying those parents’ lives, making them think they’re insane for looking for their kid. You let these people spend their lives wondering what they did wrong, believing that it’s their fault they lost their kid. While you…what? Turn them into some kind of illegal weapons for the war?” 

The man in the suit faltered and Jim knew he struck a nerve. He was getting close to the truth, the full truth. 

He continued, “I know you went a little too far this time. Oh, yeah, you messed up, didn’t you?” 

There was a moment earlier that day when he thought maybe he had lost his mind when he saw the oddly familiar gaze of a girl much older than he remembered. The girl he’d seen plastered across missing posters all around Hawkins. Her face stayed pinned to bulletin boards and telephone poles for months, mocking the town’s PD for their “incompetence” in the search. 

She never was found, for ten years. And then a dark hole opened up again in Hawkins, taking Will Byers and Barbara Holland down with it, and a girl was hauled into the police station with Nancy Wheeler and Joyce’s son. 

“That’s why you’re trying to cover your tracks,” he said. “You killed Benny Hammond. You faked Will Byers's death. You made it look like Barbara Holland ran away. And you sent the Torres family on a wild goose chase looking for their daughter when she’s been here the whole time.” 

A bloodied and smug smile pulled on Jim’s lips. 

“See, I told you. I know everything.” 

→←

The group of three teens anxiously awaited the return of the horrifying creature that the children had named the Demogorgon. 

The lights blinked wildly all around them, coating the scene in a blur of colors that matched their erratic heartbeats. 

“Where is it?” Nancy asked in a water voice. 

If Sunshine didn’t know any better, she’d think the monster was taunting them, making them suffer until it showed itself just in time to rip them apart. 

“Come on,” Jonathan muttered. “Come on, you son of a bitch.” 

They spun around in search for only a moment longer before another screech pierced the air and altered them of its return. 

They all let out a frightened scream in response as they came face to face with the Demogorgon once more. It joined them in the living room again with a newfound fury tangled up inside its slime-coated body. 

It wasted no time in its attack. Sunshine hardly had time to react before it lunged at Jonathan. He yelled out in pain as his body was thrown to the floor by the monster. The baseball bat fell from his grasp and clattered to the ground before it rolled out of his reach. He was pinned down by the creature, unable to wriggle his way out of its pointed claws and skinny arms. 

“Jonathan!” Nancy cried and aimed her gun at it. Bullets assaulted the Demogorgon, but they rolled off its skin like drops of rain, not doing an ounce of damage; the only thing it did do was make it angrier. 

The monster loomed over Jonathan’s body just like it had the deer’s the night before. Its flower-petal-shaped mouth peeled back and flashed its teeth. 

Sunshine sucked in a sharp breath and cupped her hands in front of her chest. In a quick, adrenaline-fueled moment, her palms were illuminated with light. 

The second a drop of blood fell from her nose, the monster’s attention was turned onto her. It peeled itself off of Jonathan and roared at her as she turned her bright palms outward and threw her arms forward. A burst of light struck it square in the chest, sending it stumbling back but it wasn’t enough to knock it off its feet. 

In its distracted state, Jonathan was able to scramble to his feet with the help of Nancy. They regathered their weapons and bearing as the Demogorgon took off toward Sunshine. 

She unleashed another beam of light and seared the monster’s skin, causing it to howl out in pain. 

It recovered too quickly, though. Sunshine moved backward to keep the distance between them until her back hit the wall. She flexed her fingers and threw another ray of white-hot light, but the monster twisted its body and only managed to get nicked in its side. 

Before she could attack again, it closed the gap and knocked Sunshine to the ground. She gritted her teeth and desperately tried to get the creature off of her, but it sunk its claws into her arms and prevented her from using her abilities to fight by pinning her to the floor. 

It happened too fast. She went from fighting to staring up at its pointed teeth that were ready to rip her apart. An involuntary scream tore past her lips as pain shot down the length of her arms from its hold on her. 

More bullets flew from Nancy’s gun and struck the monster, but they only irritated it. 

“Sone of a bitch!” she screamed. “Get off of her! Get off!” 

The Demogorgon lowered its head and Sunshine braced herself with a pitiful cry for the pain of its teeth sinking into her, but it never happened. 

The sound of skin ripping, and a horrible screech filled her ears instead. The monster pulled its claws from her arms. Sunshine held onto the wall and pulled herself back up to her feet. Blood seeped out from the scratches and the pain made her arm felt it was set ablaze, but there was too much adrenaline that pumped through her veins for her to fully feel it, yet. 

Catching her breath for a moment, Sunshine gazed around the room at what drew the monster's attention away. With Jonathan’s nail bat in his hands, Steve stood under the flickering lights, facing the Demogorgon head-on. 

He came back. 

The bat collided with the monster’s head, causing black blood to spray out from the wounds inflicted by the nails. The weapon still wasn’t enough to kill it, though, and Sunshine knew Steve would only be able to hold its attention for a little longer before it gained the upper hand.

The familiar strain from using her abilities caused the on-start of a headache to throb behind her eyes, but Sunshine pushed all of her pain aside and focused on what she was there to do; she needed to kill that monster before it killed one or all of them. 

They had formulated a plan on the ride from the school to the police station- where they stole their weapons back- and back to Jonathan’s house. 

She brought light back into her palms and used it and the blood from her arms to pull the Demogorgon’s attention once more. The glow caught its eye, and the horrible smell of iron, and the monster pulled back from Steve to refocus on Sunshine. She began walking back toward the hall, where the bear trap was set. 

The group caught on quickly to what she was doing; they rushed behind her, ensuring that she stayed in front of the monster, and kept their various weapons raised. 

As soon as Sunshine jumped over the bear trap, the creature stepped right into it. The metal contraction clamped down hard around its foot, locking it in place for the next phase of their plan. 

The Demogorgon thrashed violently in an attempt to free itself; it didn’t have much time before it managed to do just that. 

“He stuck! Do it now!” Nancy’s was right in Sunshine’s ear, frantic and wavering. 

The dark-haired teen set her jaw with steely determination and pulled the last threads of energy inside her body together. With both of her hands outstretched, fingers spread apart while white light burning brightly between the gaps, Sunshine focused everything on the monster. 

Energy buzzed from the tips of her fingers to the bottom of her spine as light burst forth and engulfed the Demogorgon. She held the stream of light on it in her shaking hands. The headache grew inside her head, expanding like a balloon ready to pop behind her eyes. Pressure pushed against the skull painfully the longer she stood there, trying to sear the skin off the creature until it crumbled to the floor. 

The feeling was intense, and it burned through her veins like kerosene. 

It brought a scream to her lips that bled together with the howls from the monster. 

She fought herself to stay upright, not to falter. Squeezing her eyes shut, she used everything she had within to try to kill the monster. She thought she could kill it; she was close. But the buzz in the back of her head fizzled out. 

There was a sudden, sharp disconnect that snapped in her brain. Like a rubber band, she had pulled her abilities to their end and then lost her grip. The rubber band snapped back violently, and her abilities were cut off before she fell to the floor.

“Holy shit!” someone yelled, but it sounded like they were underwater to Sunshine. Any of the adrenaline that masked her pain left her. Her body felt built of heavy stones that she couldn’t lift. All she could do was lie there, in the hallway of the Byers' home. 

“Where’d it go?” 

“No, it has to be dead. It has to be.” 

Sunshine didn’t know if she killed the monster. She wanted to believe she had, but the monster wasn’t there anymore. If she had killed it, wouldn’t it have stayed with them? It only could have escaped if it lived; Sunshine wasn’t ready to face that thought yet. 

A pair of hands gently shook her shoulders and she forced herself to open her eyes. Hovering over her were a pair of brown eyes brimming with confusion and terror that intertwined. 

Steve, with a face black, blue, and red, asked her, “Are you okay?” 

With a groan, Sunshine pushed herself upright. She used the sleeve of her borrowed sweater to wipe the blood from under her nose before she opened her mouth to say something, but all of their attention was pulled onto the slow twinkle of Christmas lights that hung over their head. One by one, they blinked down the length of the hall. 

Nancy and Jonathan followed where the lights were trying to lead them. 

Sunshine struggled to her feet with the help of Steve before they stumbled their way after the two teens. It led them outside and onto the front porch, where the single porch light flickered before it moved onto the streetlight at the edge of the driveway. Then it was gone. 

“Where is it going?” Nancy asked. 

Jonathan shook his head, standing beside her with his eyes trained out onto his dark front yard. “I don’t think that was the monster.” Everyone waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t seem to know anything beyond his statement. 

The throbbing inside Sunshine's head blurred her vision. She all but fell onto the top step of the porch before she pressed her fingers against her temples. 

Someone sat close beside her, bumping their knee with hers. “Are you okay?” Nancy’s soft voice asked before her hand grazed the bloodied sleeve of the sweater Sunshine wore. 

Sunshine had suffered worse, she supposed. Not in the same way, she’d never fought a monster before, but she’d been pushed to her limits when it came to using her abilities. Though, at least back in the Lab, when she was done, she had a bed to crawl into. It was fitted with a thin blanket and sat alone in a colorless room, but it was a routine she’d grown used to. 

There, in the open of Hawkins, Sunshine had no routine; she had no idea what came next. She was half tempted to fall asleep right there on the concrete step. 

Sunshine nodded slowly and unconvincingly. 

“I don’t…how…” Steve croaked, unable to string together his thoughts, understandably. 

Nancy exchanged a quick look with Jonathan before she sighed. “That Thing is what k-killed Barb,” she explained. “It took Will too. And we’ve been trying to figure out how and why. We went looking for it and then brought it to us so we could kill it and…and get them back.” 

It was a loose version of the story, but no one had the energy to explain it fully and Steve didn’t look ready to fully digest the truth either. That little information was enough, for the moment. 

There was a beat while Steve put the rest together inside his head. He blew some air from his cheeks before he muttered, “That’s why you two…” he trailed off, looking between Nancy and Jonathan. 

“Yeah,” Jonathan sighed, looking out at the dead grass of his yard. 

Steve’s gaze then landed on Sunshine. “And you?” 

And her. 

“I didn’t want anyone to know the truth. I didn’t want anyone getting involved.” But it was hard to keep people from getting tangled up in what she didn’t know was happening. The Lab was one thing, monsters and other worlds were another, even if they stemmed from the same place. 

She turned her head to look at him with a deep frown and whispered, “I’m sorry.” 

Steve closed his eyes for a moment, taking in a breath of the cool nighttime air. “Don’t be,” he said. “It’s not like I would have believed you even if you did tell. I wouldn’t have believed any of you. Or any of this shit.” 

A tense silence fell over the group while they all mulled over what they just had experienced, unsure of what they were supposed to do next. 

After a couple of long beats, Nancy spoke up. “We should go back to the school and grab the kids, make sure they’re okay,” she said. “Then we’ll just have to wait for word from Hopper and Joyce.” 

A series of weak nods followed her words and they all piled into Jonathan’s car. Nancy rested her head against the cold passenger-side window and did her best to hide the tears that fell from her eyes. Jonathan drove white knuckled and kept his weary eyes glued onto the dark and lonely roads of his hometown. Sunshine and Steve occupied the backseat, each focused out their windows. Every so often she felt his eyes on her, probably with more questions on his tongue that he had to stop himself from asking. 

Sunshine stared at the stars that dotted the sky. She made wishes on them that it was all over and come morning she and Eleven would be somewhere new. 

But she should have been careful about what she wished for.

Tagged: @sattlersquarry @lovefrom-theother-side @suniloli

[lumalalu]

man fuck it im gonna start doin wip wednesdays here

Summer is sweet and endless and she has nothing to do but look at me. She's looking at me now, through the sun's glare on her mirror. She shadows the shapes of my mouth, but doesn't put her voice to my words.

My parents are worried about Grace. They think something's wrong with her - I know what it is. Grace knows, too, looking at me, looking through the glare in the mirror. Everything about her is wrong. I could fix her, if she would let me.

Solid, measured knocks. "Gracie?"

"Yeah?" She pulls her braids back to look at her shoulders uncovered. The angle of her jaw. She is trying to see how it matches up to mine.

"Your mother and I are going to go to the mall. Do you want to come?"

I've never been a fan of the sweltering heat of a cracked-asphalt parking lot, nor the chill on my skin in a Macy's. Grace says, "Okay." But she only said that so that she can look away from me. She is a fool. I can be found in anything that can reflect. I watch her in the windows, in silver lockets, in the mirrors she models new boots in. She parades about like a wind-up toy, a ballerina in a music box. Her mother hands her new skirts for the new school year, button-up blouses, low-cut but not whorish, and modest stockings.

The dressing rooms are hidden in the corner, neatly separated by two icons of triangles - one upside and one downside. I follow her to the wrong one, the wrong stall. It's cramped and ill-fitting, somewhat like a body. Grace tries her best to avoid me still. It's a valiant effort, I'll give her that much. But at some point, in a few minutes, maybe, she'll have to turn around and face me.

Grace takes off her tanktop like the accused pushing off concrete slabs. She hisses with impatience at the clasp of her bra and its stubborn claws in her skin, throws it on the bench with more violence than is necessary. Branded into her back it remains, aching, smoking. Cramped and ill-fitting. She itches at it like the fabric is stuck in her, like it still remains subcutaneously and she could pull it away finally, permanently, if she also removed the skin. Her nails are well cared for, and so, won't do the job. I smile at the sound of her bent elbows.

Her pants go too, her keys squeezing free of the claustrophobic pockets and diving with raucous applause to the floor. Her phone is in her purse, because the back pockets are only decorative. Grace doesn't curse. Her words are never ugly. Instead, her lips bend into the shape of: "shit", and then she bends and picks up the keyring. It is unadorned. Why should it be anything else? A key only has one purpose.

For a moment we stand there together, Grace's back to me, my back not quite to hers. She is hesitating, stretching out the moment between one set of clothes and the next. The blouse is slippery and coarse in texture, sends spider legs running over her back. The skirt is of good quality, but takes up in the back, so she is afraid to bend. No pockets.

I ask her if I can see it. She stares at the off-white wall in silence, and then she turns.

"Oh, no, Gracie. That won't do at all." I tell her. "That thing isn't even fit to be a tablecloth. It's see-through, it's itchy on my ribs. It's pushing my skin too close to my bones, the points of my ribs poking at my lungs. It's like a coffin leaking air, sighing its way into the ground." 

Her breath hitches. "I don't know what's wrong with me." She's saying to herself, to the mirror, to me. I make a sound - in my mouth it is sympathetic, but in hers it is animal, pained, cornered.

[akela-nakamura]

Advent Who Wrote That. I used the prompts Candle and Hot Chocolate.

This also contains SPOILERS for @halfagone's Lex Luthor's Ascent From Supervilliany to Fatherhood. Enjoy!

Lex realized quite early on that his son had no fondness for Christmas. Danny had not been shy when decorations had started to go up in November, nor when Holiday music had started to creep onto the radio and in stores. They’d escaped to California one year, to the beaches and away from the “winter wonderland” but of course, nothing in their lives was that simple. 

“Lex,” Danny groaned, staring dramatically at the ceiling. “We don’t need to escape the entire state or half the country every Christmas, you know.” 

Lex scoffed. “Next year we might try leaving the country. I have some property in Southern France that would be quite out of the public.” 

Danny rolled his eyes. “And I’m the teenager here, aren’t I supposed to be more dramatic?” 

Lex raised a single brow. “You are plenty dramatic.” 

Danny turned and looked at Lex with the driest of looks. “You’ve literally spent the last decade or more being a supervillain, and in the words of Megamind, it’s all about presentation.”

Lex refused to admit that possibly, maybe, the teen had a point. “Who is Megamind?” 

Danny waved it off. “Not the point.” He sat up, running a hand over Pepper’s back. The cat purred loudly, content. “The point is, neither of us like Christmas, but it doesn’t mean we have to run off. Cass asked what I had planned.” His son frowned. “I think she’s plotting something.” 

Lex huffed. As much as he wished his son hadn’t become so…attached to a Wayne, there were worse options, even within the family. Cassandra was, at least, a responsible and competent young lady. 

“You both have made quite the effort to make time for each other,” Lex reminded him. “Would it be so bad if she is plotting something? At the very least, her plotting won’t lead to explosions.” 

Danny’s face twisted and his eyes flashed toxic green. “Don’t joke, Lex.” 

Lex grimaced and signed. “That was ill said of me.” He could still remember the panic- Danny missing and LexCorp aflame. His own injuries buried under his fury and worry for his son. “She may just be trying to do something nice. You two are quite sickeningly sweet with each other.” 

Danny pouted. “We aren’t that bad!” 

Lex pointedly took out his phone and pulled up Twitter. Danny’s eyes widened when he realized what Lex was doing and he launched off where he’d been sprawled on the couch to grab the phone. 

“Okay, okay, I get it!” Danny said when Lex gave him a pointed look. 

“If you wish to stay around here this year, that’s fine,” Lex said, putting his phone away. “Go try and be an actual child for once and enjoy a night with your girlfriend. Hopefully without some form of disaster.” 

Danny looked pained. “Please don’t jinx it for me.” 

—

Cass was unusually tight lipped when Danny met up with her a week before Christmas. Even Gotham got into the Christmas season, although it was almost defiant in a way. A nearly violent cheer that lived through rogue attacks and wanton destruction. 

When Danny asked, she shook her head. “It is a surprise.” She squeezed his hand, eyes glittering in the light of the Manor. 

Christmas had always been a fight. Or at the least, a disaster. Maybe—just maybe, Cass could make it something- pleasant. It couldn’t be worse than fighting Christmas dinner or getting stuck in a Christmas story controlled by an overzealous ghost. And while the music grated on him and the lights were obnoxious, at the very least Cass was a sight to behold. She danced to music that spilled out of speakers. The way she looked into the defiantly lit Christmas lights was nothing short of breathtaking. 

…Okay, maybe Lex did have a point. Maybe they were a bit sickening, but despite it all, Cass was one of the best things to happen to him. 

Everything had been so exhausting. The kidnappings, the run-ins with various heroes, the explosion at LexCorp, Lex’s injuries, the fallout of his grandfather kidnapping him and nearly killing Lex. The court case. Setting boundaries with Cass. And- everything beyond that. 

It was nice to not have to think. To let Cass plan something and to know it was going to be something he’d like. He knew it wouldn’t be tied to Christmas, and that he wouldn’t have to sit and pretend to enjoy it. 

She led him through the city in the way of the heroes- over rooftops and through shadows, knowing that he could keep up. It became a game, after a bit. They danced and teased each other through the city and she must’ve planned the route, because there was very little in the way of Christmas decorations or music along the way. 

They ended up on the edge of one of Gotham’s islands, where the land tumbled down to the sea and the city started to fade. Out here, Gotham’s ever present gloom seemed to lighten and if one squinted, there were almost stars. 

The roof they landed on had clearly been prepared. There was a spread of blankets in the middle with a basket on the corner. Unlit candles were scattered across the roof, of all sizes, colors, and shapes. There was one perched atop the basket that was bright red and shaped like a duck, but there was also an oddly shaped blue one- Danny thought it might be a horse but it was hard to tell. 

Danny stared in awe. “Cass, this is…” He stepped further onto the roof, taking in the small pile of games that sat on another corner of the blankets. Cass moved, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the blankets. Danny laughed and went along. 

“Surprise!” Cass said with glee, practically glittering with joy. Danny laughed. 

“This is so awesome- just a night for us?” 

“Yes!” Cass said, tugging him down onto the blankets. “This is just for us. I have games, hot cocoa, and you.” 

Danny felt his face go red at that and he ducked his head. “I love this. This is perfect, Cass, thank you.” 

Cass beamed and she was never more beautiful than now, sitting on a spread of blankets on the outskirts of Gotham, lit by nothing but the vague cast of city lights. She tossed him a lighter and together they went around and lit the candles. For some reason, he couldn’t bear to light the red duck or the horse. 

And in the candlelight, with hot cocoa warming their hands, they played games. The cocoa was like velvet and had the slightest tinge of spice. The candles’ glow was gentle and between them and a lantern, they easily were able to play the games. 

Beyond the lights, the music, and the expectations, it was like it wasn’t even Christmas. It was just a rooftop date- and all was right in the world.

❄️ Haunting Heroes DPxDC Winter Advent 2023 ❄️

The Haunting Heroes DPxDC Discord Server is happy to announce its first official event: Haunting Heroes Winter Advent 2023.

❄️ ABOUT THE EVENT ❄️

🔹 What is Winter Advent? A DPxDC (Danny Phantom and DC Comics crossover) winter event to celebrate the winter holidays and the end of the year. Each day has two prompts you can choose from, along with a total of 6 free days where you can create anything you want!

🔹 When? December 10th to December 31st (2023)

🔹 Where?

Tumblr: If you post on Tumblr, feel free to tag this blog @haunting-heroes-creative-games and use the tag #hauntingheroesadvent23 so we can find and reblog your submissions

AO3: You can submit to our AO3 collection. We'll close the collection on January 31st, so you have plenty of time to catch up.

Discord: You can share your work on our Haunting Heroes DPxDC (safe for work 18+) Discord server. To join, just send us an ask

🔹 What kind of submissions can we send?

We welcome all kinds of creations for this event: art, sketches, drabbles, one-shots, multi-chapter mania, you name it! You are free to combine or skip any days of your choosing. You don’t need to post every day in order to join! The most important thing is you have fun and enjoy these last few weeks of 2023.

We are so excited for this upcoming event, and we hope you can join us as we wrap up the end of the year and look forward to a thriving fandom in the next.

Thanks @disillusioneddanny for the calendar!! 🩵

[Full prompt list under the cut]

December 10: Free Day

December 11: Mistletoe // Snowman

December 12: Holiday Songs // Fireplace

December 13: Free Day

December 14: Candles // Winter Holiday

December 15: Stories // Hot Cocoa

December 16: Past/Present/Future // Sledding

December 17: Free Day

December 18: Stars // Gift Exchange

December 19: Workplace Holiday Party // Blankets

December 20: Free Day

December 21: The Grinch // Snowball Fight

December 22: Baking // Movie Night

December 23: Lights // Gingerbread House/Men

December 24: Free Day

December 25: Holiday Market // Cuddles

December 26: Family Time // Decorations

December 27: Free Day

December 28: Sleigh Rides // Love

December 29: Ice Skating // Money

December 30: Resolution // New Year’s Party

December 31: Year in Review

[transexualpirate]

couple years ago i created this character who's sole purpose in the marvel universe is to mock the avengers and imprint onto bruce banner these are some jokes i put together

tony: and that was the day that i was told my parents died.

kai: m-hm. (googling "orphan jokes")

--

bruce: ignore him, please, he's just trying to gaslight you

tony: what does gaslighting mean again?

kai: you already know what it means though.

tony: what? no i dont

kai: yes you literally do. think about it.

tony: i am thinking about it, i dont know what it means

kai: yes you do-

--

ross: the hulk is filled with rage

kai: you are going to be filled with bullets if you keep running your mouth like that. straight up

--

kai: just ended a two years relationship

bruce: im sorry??

kai: oh its fine. it wasn't mine

(steve and tony shouting in the background)

--

steve, walking in: what are you kids doing?

kai: WHAT KNIFE?

steve: what do you mean what kn- why are you holding a knife?

kai:

kai, to peter: why am i holding a knife?

peter: because you want to be an artist.

kai, to steve: because i want to be an artist!

--

kai: ill be on national tv today

kate: really? what for?

kai: got arrested

--

kai: we have fun. don't we, tony?

tony: ive never been more stressed out in my life

--

steve: tony won't wake up what do i do?!

kai: did you try kicking him

steve: yeah!

kai: hm. im out of ideas

--

peter: im embarrassed cuz im walking down the sidewalk and a rat is walking next to me and it looks like we're together

kai: did you consider that maybe the rat is embarrassed too

--

reed: remember to be kind and polite today.

kai: nepotistic pig you will be a decorative rug when the revolution comes

--

kai: i am taking a break from my mental health to focus on my career.

steve: what career?

kai: killing people

--

steve: i think you own me an apology.

kai: ILL APOLOGIZE TO YOU IN HELL.

steve:

kai:

steve:

kai: i actually don't know what this is about, what did i do?

--

stephen: preposterous

kai: your mom is preposterous

stephen: im ignoring you. what you're doing is pointless.

kai: your mom is pointless

tony: let's leave the mothers out of this, alright? especially considering the fact that neither of you have a mother anymore

kai: if she did live she'd be preposterous and pointless.

--

kai: oh, so when crows remember people who wronged them and hold grudges, its “intelligent” and “really cool”

kai: but when i do it it's "revenge" and i "need to let go"

kai: i see how it is.

--

kai: people say i have an unique way of lighting up the room.

bruce: it's called arson and those people are witnesses

--

steve: girlboss! gatekeep! uh- wait. uhhh what's the one im missing?

kai: there isn't one

steve: no, there's a third one, im sure of it!

kai: you made it up.

--

tony: bisexuality isn't that hard to explain. girls are cute, guys are cute. what else do you want from me?

kai: your wallet

--

kai: damn this escape room is tough

bruce: this is dinner night with the avengers.

--

bruce: oh my god, kai is that blood??

kai: not mine

bruce: oh you scared me there for a second

--

kai: i hope im not just an insane person to you guys but also a menace and a threat

[sebyth]

Cross-posting this from my twatter (it will never be "x" to me, fuck that fucking jackass). Personal experience anecdotes to give context for why I feel a certain way about Certain Recent Fandom Drama. It's kinda long (didn't even count how many tweets it took up) so putting it under a read-more. Keeping most of the formatting as it was in my tweets, except a couple that were run-on. Fixing a handful of spelling errors and gonna change my on-twitter use of "unalive" back to "suicide".

tw suicide mention, tw bullying, tw mental illness

I have been angry for almost two days and have not been sure if I should say anything about it, or if that would make things even worse. So I am gonna talk about myself for a bit and work up to it. It's gonna start with my childhood and end up with fandom drama, if I finish.

When I was a kid I was weird and didn't get along with people very well. I still am not sure why. There are mental health reason that might be it or maybe it isn't. Maybe I'm just weird and off-putting in general. My report cards always had "doesn't get along well with others".

There is one memory I have when I was maybe 8 and watching some of my classmates be fawned over by older girls (like 11 years old) and hugging them. So I ran up with my arms out for a hug too and they looked at me with revulsion and turned away.

It never really got better from there. Later in jr high (that would be about 13, 14 years old maybe), I had no friends and had learned that I wasn't gonna have friends so I didn't waste my energy trying. I hung out with the other two kids who also had no friends.

This was before the internet mind you, late 1980s maybe early 1990s. One day a rumour started circulating that a letter had been found, which was supposedly us three talking about each other sexually (I never saw this letter so idk the details). It spread over the school fast.

On top of the jeers and scolding from everyone in class at us (nothing we said made any difference), walking the halls to get to the next class had everyone from other grades looking at us like we were monsters. This really affected me for years.

In high school one of the two other kids got friends, the other moved away, and I spent all my time alone. Even though there were new people at the school I didn't try to make friends because I knew people from my school would tell them about me being gross and awful.

In my first year of university my roommate asked to transfer to another room fairly quickly because "I was a witch" apparently. Luckily the rez staff didn't escalate even though it was a religious-adjacent university. At least I got a double room to myself for the year.

Eventually I decided to go full weirdo. If people were gonna treat me like a freak my entire life I might as well do what I want. I cut my hair however I wanted, I wore decorative paint on my face, I started making and altering clothes however I wanted.

I sometimes even smiled when I'd be walking down the street and hear things like "omg is that guy wearing a -dress-?! wait is that a guy…" Though people shouting "freak" etc suddenly from cars passing by never got easier.

I got the idea that maybe it was because I lived in a small town. In a small province with small-minded people. Maybe if I went somewhere big, a city with lots of people, I'd find people like me to be friends with. And surely I wouldn't be so eye-catching in a city.

So I moved to Ottawa and almost the next day started getting people STILL shouting "freak" and "it's not Halloween" at me. I tried to make friends but I still didn't seem to fit in and had a falling out with those people too. That was the first time I tried to kill myself.

Well that made people hate me even more I guess. Every time I started hanging out with a new person, it would end quickly. I started finding out that anyone I hung out with would get phone calls warning them about me. Not to hang out with me.

I'm unstable, I tried to commit suicide, I'm no good, or whatever else they were saying. My current friend S was one of the few people who stuck with me despite his ex gf from ANOTHER CITY who had NEVER MET ME calling him to warn him that she heard I was bad news.

I stopped leaving the apartment. I stopped trying to make friends. Something was clearly wrong with me, and i would never find people like me. Was I the problem? Was other people the problem? I don't know even to this day I struggle with this.

One of the last times I bothered to talk to my mother I was complaining about people yelling shit at me when I walked around outside and her response was "you're just dressing like that for attention aren't you, why are you surprised people do that"

I was like "no you dumb bitch I'm dressing like this because it is ME and i don't know why people need to yell at me for it". But I thought if that is the message people are receiving then maybe I should never go outside in front of people again.

So I was a shut-in for about 10 years with depression and anxiety and my only support was a guy who had problems of his own and we helped keep each other alive until he couldn't anymore for Reasons. And I did finally get help. But I still can't fucking socialize.

So I never really participated in fandoms much and I still found it very hard to know how to make friends or be a friend or anything like that. Every social attempt seems like a failure waiting to blow up in my face and have everyone telling everyone that I'm bad.

And it is with shame that I realize I was kinda doing the same thing when I heard that "mods of the tyk/qy zone might be whalers or anti-cpf" and went to dms to warn someone that it might be the case even though I personally couldn't find any proof of that being the case.

And I'd heard that it was being investigated by reasonable people so to sit tight and wait for more info. It did seem a bit odd to me that given how heavy-handed I've been blocking whalers that none of these people were blocked by me. Then it breached containment.

If you don't know who or what I'm talking about it, don't worry about it, but a big-social-pull person made a post declaring that everyone involved with the zine are "whalers" and that everyone should be aware. But they didn't include any proof. Usually people calling out c>

whalers in this fandom the most loudly and obnoxiously are like "omg look at dez whalerz " And now it looks like we've gone fully into "I said they are whalers so they are whalers" territory.

If the mods of the zine are doing bad shit, that should be addressed (with fucking evidence maybe at least). But "friends with someone who liked a whaler's post one time" is not evidence of wrongdoing. And being said by a person whose words carry weight should have proof.

Especially in the damn fandom where a man's life was destroyed by "he's near a evil place he's secretly evil I heard he had a girlfriend when he wasn't supposed to have one omg look his hand is up in this photo"

I feel like I'm caught in the middle, because i get where fans of the books come from. They don't want to have to keep up with ZZH's case etc just to enjoy stories that existed before he played his role in the show. But I also get that his fans feel like they are taking advantage of his image and the popularity of WoH while disregarding him if they don't keep up with the case. And I get that people deal with this terrible grief-causing situation with ZZH in all kinds of ways, be that moving all their focus onto GJ and looking for every scrap of gesture or clothing as proof that ZZH is okay, or be that being fans of a guy who sorta vaguely looks like ZZH who is doing stuff they can interact with. I was fine with just blocking the people who were excited about "new ZZH" so I don't have to see it. But this whole "rooting out secret whalers" and "everyone is a whaler if they looked at a whaler once and didn't immediately renounce zsj or whatever" bullshit Is really getting out of hand.

And on top of that maybe it's my paranoia but it's a little fucking convenient that this thing has shown up to drive a bigger wedge between book fans and show/actor fans as we get closer to the second anniversary of 813.

And I guess I should state clearly my stance for when the hounds inevitably come for me for being a bad person AGAIN. I don't believe the instagram/zsj. I am not a cpf. I have nothing against cpfs or GJ, he just doesn't spark joy for me like ZZH does and I'm not into RPF/RPS.

But I'm also a god damned adult and a very old one at that so I just don't bother with stuff I am not interested in. People like RPF/RPS and that is awesome for them! I don't wanna fucking see zsj stuff so I block it so I don't have to see it.

And if the mods of the zine are doing shady things, call it out with PROOF. OF THOSE THINGS. Even if that thing is "looked at zsj and didn't turn away" show some PROOF. OF THE THING, IN THE CALLOUT POST.

[were-all-idjits-here]

Pie & Ice Cream

Requested by @agirlwithanangelheart​ Pairings: Dean x Reader Warnings: references to past self-harm & self-harm in a TV show (not described), depression, anxiety, panic attack, fluffy Dean who bends over backwards to make you feel better. Summary: After getting unexpectedly triggered, Dean does everything in his power to comfort and take care of you. Read here on AO3

It should’ve been a good day. It was February, and there was a light blanket of snow on the ground outside. You and the Winchesters had even decided to take the week off to heal your wounds from the last hunt, and Castiel was planning on popping in several times over the week. All in all, you were in for a peaceful little vacation—until you suddenly weren’t.

A new Netflix show you’d started watching had suddenly took a dark, unexpected turn with one of your favorite characters self-harming mid-episode as you watched alone, all comfy and cozy in the TV room Dean had set up in the bunker. It had caught you off guard, and you soon found yourself triggered, shaking, and hyperventilating. You’d fled to your room to have a panic attack, then curl up into a ball and cry for what felt like years. You had no idea where the boys were, but they always had too much on their plate—you wouldn’t add to it with shit you should’ve been over by now.

Once you felt like you’d cried all the moisture out of your body, you rolled onto your back and stared at the ceiling. You used to self-harm when you were younger, and if you’d known that scene was coming, it would’ve been a different story. But you were especially drained lately with all the back-to-back hunts—some going worse than others—and it left you with little energy to resist falling into that dark pit of despair.

You took several deep breaths through your nose, letting them whoosh out your mouth as you watched the blades of the ceiling fan Dean had insisted on installing in your room spin above you. It suddenly felt like all the energy and motivation had been sucked out of you all at once, and you wondered if the recent hunts were taking more out of you than you’d originally thought. Not to mention with the constant hunting in the last six weeks, you’d barely seen the bunker and had constantly been with the boys. Not that you minded, but it had left you no time by yourself to recharge.

You took one more shuddery breath before dragging yourself up off the bed and changing into your favorite pair of PJs, climbing back under the covers of your bed, and closing your eyes to the outside world.

~~~

“Hey, Y/N/N—Y/N?” Dean stopped in the doorway to what had originally been the mancave. But since you’d come into his life, he’d started calling it the TV room, since he didn’t want you to feel unwelcome anywhere within the bunker. You’d slowly started decorating it with your own little nick-nacks and favorite blankets, and Dean couldn’t deny how it made him feel even more at home just being in the presence of your things. He’d even helped you move a nice desk and computer into your own little corner so the two of you could just enjoy being in each other’s space.

But he could’ve sworn you were watching a show in here and had come to join you, bowls of buttered popcorn at the ready. Instead, he found an empty room, the blankets strewn haphazardly everywhere, and the show still on pause on the TV.

He frowned before setting the popcorn on a side table next to the couch. You never got up mid-show and always at least put the blankets back on the back of the couch when you were done using them. Dean looked around, before waiting several minutes in silence. Maybe you’d gone to the bathroom?

After ten minutes with no return from you, Dean grabbed the remote and hit “play,” wondering if something in the show had bothered you. Although you’d never given him details, he knew of you past struggles with mental illness and noticed more than you thought. Like the way you tensed up whenever self-harm was mentioned.

He sighed as the episode onscreen continued with a character hurting themselves. He quickly turned the TV off before heading towards your room, wishing you’d just come to him for comfort when you needed it.

After several unanswered knocks, Dean gently pushed your door open, the sight before him making his heart plummet into his stomach. “Sweetheart…”

~~~

You’d heard the door open, but didn’t have the energy to even lift your head. Light from the hallway spilled into your room as you heard Dean’s voice murmur a sad “sweetheart.”

After a few moments, you felt the bed dip. “Scoot over,” he insisted. Knowing better than to argue, you did as you were told, feeling him laying down and spooning you from behind. Normally, that action would’ve sent a thrill through you—the man who was your best friend, who you’d been in love with for years, cuddling you in bed. But today, it just broke the dam. Tears you didn’t think were possible anymore flooded out your eyes, drenching your face and making your nose burn. You curled into an even tighter ball, grateful when Dean just silently curled himself tighter around you and let you cry it out.

After you’d calmed down and taken slow, deep breaths for several minutes, you felt Dean shift behind you. “You forgot to turn the TV off. I saw the scene.”

You finally rolled to look at him, worry reflecting in the apple-green eyes you could see so clearly, even in the dark of your room. “I just…” you sniffled as more tears fell, “wasn’t expecting it.”

Dean nodded, brushing the tears off your cheek and nose with his thumb. The action surprised you. Sure, you two had hugged and even spooned on occasion in motel beds, but he’d never been this touchy-feely with you. “I’m sorry, I don’t wanna freak you out—”

“You haven’t,” he swallowed hard, the look in his eyes breaking your heart, “…done anything since you paused it—”

“No,” you replied quickly. “That’s why I came in here, so I could collect myself enough to not do that.”

Dean nodded, his thumb still stroking your cheek. “Did you…used to?”

You stared at him a moment before nodding.

Dean sighed and pulled you to his chest, burying his face in the crook of your neck. “If you ever feel like that again, please come get me. I don’t care what time it is, where we are, just…do something, even a code word, to let me know.”

You smiled faintly into his chest, enjoying his uncharacteristic sweetness. “What kind of code word?”

“I dunno…Tell me you need some pie?”

You laughed for what felt like the first time in a long time. “Well, in that case, I need a lot of pie right now. But you have to promise to tell me when you need pie too.”

“I always need pie, sweetheart, that phrase isn’t gonna work coming from me. It’s gotta be something I don’t normally say.”

You melted as his hand moved to smooth up and down your back. “Tell me you need…lettuce, then?”

He snorted. “I can’t say that around Sammy, he’ll think I actually want his rabbit food. Or that I’m having an aneurism.”

You smiled, pulling back to look at him. “I’m trying to give you solutions.”

“Yeah, well…” He gazed off into a vacant corner of your room, thinking as he rolled onto his back. “How about ice cream?”

“Pie and ice cream is a good combination.”

“Damn straight, kid.”

You smiled as he met your eyes. “Thank you.”

“’Course…What would help right now?”

“Just a nap, I think.”

“Want me to stay or go?”

You hesitated, finally registering that Dean Winchester was in your bed, offering to be at your beck and call. “You don’t have to do that, Dean.”

“I want to.” The look in his eyes was so sincere, it almost made you cry again.

“Why?”

Dean looked down at his hand laying on his stomach. “That’s just what family does, kid.”

You hesitated before mumbling, “Just family?”

Dean’s eyes met yours and he started at you for several long moments. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Sam’s voice came from your doorway. “What are you two doing?”

You lifted your head to see him with his hands shoved in his pockets, frowning as he took up the entire doorway.

“Just some R&R,” Dean replied as you leaned up to turn the light on.

Sam chuckled. “Okay, well, Cas is here, and you did promise to make us all burgers.”

“What, I’m not allowed to lay down for 10 minutes? I’m not a maid. Cas doesn’t even eat, so what’s he griping about?”

“He’s not griping,” Sam laughed, “I am. I’m hungry.”

“I’m hungry,” Dean mimicked as he sat up, making you laugh. “Oh, wait, hold on.” He ducked back under the covers before coming up with the comforter on top of his head like hair. “I’m Sam, the less handsome Winchester who needs a haircut, and I’m hungryyyyy.”

Sam was already walking away as you doubled over laughing on your bed. Dean came out from under the covers, his hair a mess, giving you the biggest shit-eating grin. “Hope you’re hungry too, ’cause you’re about to get the best trigger-curing burger known to man.”

~~~

It had been three days since the incident, and you’d made sure you only watched your favorite comfort shows in that time. Dinner with Cas, Sam, and Dean had been fun, but ever since, Dean had been hell-bent on making everything all about you—checking in every few hours, offering to go on walks with you despite the cold and his exercise-allergy, stocking up the fridge with all your favorite foods, making sure all your favorite, comfiest clothes were clean. Anything and everything. He really was at your beck and call, despite your protests that he should take care of himself as well. But even hanging out with you all the time had him smiling and laughing more than you’d seen him do in a long time.

You looked up from putting your laundry away when you saw Dean enter your room. His face lit up as he clapped his hands together. “Okay, so what are we watching tonight?”

You laughed as you closed your dresser drawer. “Dean, you don’t have to keep watching HGTV with me, it probably bores the hell out of you. I’ve been picking all week, you should pick something.”

“Hey, something easy on the brain could do us both good right now. I’ve already got a few options set up in the TV room.”

“Dean…” you turned so you were facing him, “this is your vacation, too, you don’t have to do all this just for me.”

“Who says I’m not having fun, too?”

“Just…why?”

Before Dean could answer, a loud beeping made you both jump. You watched as pulled a timer off his belt, his face lighting up in a smile as he smacked your shoulder. “Just…go get comfy in the TV room. I made us some dinner and will be in with it in a minute.”

“Do you want help?” you yelled after him as he ran down the hallway.

“Nope!” he yelled back. “Go get in the TV room before I throw your ass over my shoulder!”

You smiled and shook your head, following instructions and getting comfy on the couch with your favorite fluffy blanket. You knew Dean always bent over backwards for the people he cared about, so this wasn’t completely out of character. But lately, he just seemed so…sweet and gentle and so excited to spend time with you. Did he just feel bad, or did it mean something more?

You sighed and looked around what had become almost exclusively your and Dean’s comfy corner of the world. Your breath hitched when you realized the TV was on and saw what was on the screen—all Studio Ghibli movies, one of favorite comfort series, ready and waiting to play. They weren’t on any streaming platform that you knew of and buying all of them was hella expensive—especially digital copies. You felt tears well in your eyes at the trouble Dean must’ve gone to—and the fact that he remembered how much you loved these movies.

You wiped your cheeks as you heard Dean’s voice float closer. “Okay! Here we go!”

Your jaw dropped when you saw he settled a bowl of your favorite home cooked meal in your lap. “Dean!”

He ignored you, settling on the couch and stretching out with his own bowl in his lap before handing you the remote. “Kay, you pick.”

“Dean.” You set your bowl and the remote on the coffee table in front of you. “Seriously. Why?”

He paused, suddenly looking nervous. “Is it…do you not like it? ’Cause I can find something else.” He reached across you to grab the remote, but you stopped him.

“No, I mean…why are you doing all this? I need you to tell me this time.” You needed to know if this meant your hope wasn’t completely misplaced. At least if it was, you could move on and take whatever affection you could get from him, but you couldn’t keep wondering.

He shifted in his seat. “You’d do the same for me.”

“Yeah, but…” you bit your lip, glancing down at your feet, unsure how to continue. You met his eyes again to find them heavy and apprehensive.

“’Cause you’re…a hell of a lot more than just family, kid.”

You stared at him in shock for several minutes. He cleared his throat and set his dinner on the coffee table before rubbing what you now noticed were clammy palms on his pants. “I can…eat in the kitchen, if you want—”

You grabbed the collar of his Henley at a speed that surprised even you before yanking him closer, smashing your lips onto his. He made a noise of surprise before sinking back into the couch and pulling you against him, one arm around your waist and the other hand around the back of your neck. His lips were soft, pliant, and tasted better than you could’ve imagined. You gently pushed your tongue past his lips, drawing a soft groan from him that vibrated through your chest to travel down the front of your pants.

You finally pulled back for air, feeling both surprised and satisfied when Dean panted as well. “Damn, sweetheart.”

You pressed your forehead to his and closed your eyes, sitting like that for several minutes as Dean’s hand traveled from your neck up into your hair, his thumb caressing the edge of your jaw. You raked your fingers through the short ends of his hair in the back, content to sit that way forever.

“Am I interrupting something?” a monotonous voice suddenly said, making you both jump.

“Cas!” Dean growled as you laughed. The angel stood there with his head tilted in confusion. Dean sighed, his hands still holding you close. “Yes, but there’s—”

“My apologies.” There was a low whoosh and then Cas was gone.

Dean sighed, letting his head fall back against the couch. You laughed, planting one more kiss on Dean’s lips before grabbing your food and the remote and settling against Dean’s chest again. He  mimicked your gesture, shaking his head as you scrolled to Kiki’s Delivery Service, planting a kiss on your head before gently squeezing your shoulders.

[snexy-the-snail]

Such as this wip that's been sitting in my Google drive for... oh shit 3 years-

Baby Stark Do do(Part 1)

Tony had a strange feeling about the meeting he was invited to hosted I Japan but pushed it aside after Pepper forced him to go despite his conplaints. He had been before with the same people and still shuddered at the memory of eating live octopus but relations were important and they were a large client of their easy to use products.

“Shake it off, nothing bad is going to happen.” He grumbles to himself as he fixed his sleeves. He had to admit he felt incredibly guilty about the idea of eating the poor thing alive which meant he would try everything he could to not condemn an innocent sea life to an unnaturally cruel death.

>Ah Stark! It is nice to see you again, come come.< His host greets excitedly leading him to the table. Tony mentally groaning when he saw the dishes with squirming tentacles. His was different though, a cup rather than a fish, decorated designs on it.

>I have to say I wasnt expecting octopus again.< He says calmly as he takes his seat, the other members taking their seats infront of the dishes. Much to his relief they weren't living anymore, maybe his wasn't either.

>We got you something special, it isn't exactly octopus.< the host says plucking his own octopus up with chop sticks. Tony riases a brow at that and popped his lid off of the cup his heart nearly stopping when a tiny and terrified face peered back at him. There was no way he was leaving without saving this kid..even if it was risky and going to be utterly terrifying for the kid and they would probably eat him if he didnt. If he drank enough water there shouldn't be any ill effects.

Peter wasnt sure what was happening after he had been caught by weird and large land creatures but they stashed him away with other sea creatures that had tentacles like him. He got a pretty good idea of what was going to happen to him when a few of the staff members proceed to kill the friends he had made. He tried to stay away but they put him in a cup and sealed it. He didn't understand why they wanted to eat him! They looked like him just..odder

“Please please no! Please.” He tries begging when his prison was opened, trying to climb out, two wood sticks stopped him however, the rude land creature who trapped him with said sticks saying something in the language he didnt understand before lifting him up. He knew that English was a land creatures tongue but that's not what they were speaking!

He whimpers trying to grasp tightly onto the wood as the air form the land creatures mouth hits him. It was strange at how upset the creature looked. He stared back at the creature refusing to let go of the wood. He didnt want to be chewed up like the other friends he had made, or chopped up.

“Please let me go.” He whimpers. He flinches at the sigh of teeth hating he didnt even get an answer. The other land creatures laugh at him making all his hope of being saved disapate. He clings onto the wood as he was lowered down, the heat making him shudder in utter fear. He didnt want to die, he didnt want to be chewed up!

“P-please I dont wanna die.” Peter almost sobs at this point. He squeezes his eyes shut clinging desperately onto the wood as he felt the warmth incase him. It didnt matter apparently because soon enough the land creatures tongue pushed him off, the wood disappearing instantly.

It was warm and slick in the land creature's mouth and he found himself waiting for the next move. He yelps at the awkward swallow surprised he wasnt taken down with it. That was cruel the land creature was toying with him. He sniffles and rubs his face grimacing when it just left a slick trial of saliva. He was surprised when the mouth opened again, cool water rushing into him and dragging him down with ease.

Tony felt awful for the small thing he really did, even more so at the poor things begging and pleading. As long as he kept drinking water the kid would be fine, probably freaked out by fine. He squares his shoulders as he takes a large gulp of his water feeling something cold and wiggly slip into his throat. It wasnt a pleasant experience, even more so when he felt the small thing squeeze into his stomach. God he could practically feel every movement. He quickly finished his glass, asking for another. Might as well make the kids stay as pleasant as possible.

He sighs shakily, resting a hand subtly over his middle lightly rubbing where the squirming mass was. He could do this.. surely the meeting wouldn't last very long.

It was a long meeting with the kid squirming around in his stomach but after 20 minutes the kid seemed to get he was alright. Tony was quick to duck into the hallway the second the meeting ended, pressing the area he felt the small weight settled in. He winces when a startled but muffled yelp sounded out.

"Woah there kiddo, how you doing in there?” He asks quietly as he heads down the hall. He felt ridiculously full with all the water he had drunken that meal but Hey the kid was alive. He could feel the small things tentacles wriggling around.

“P-please can I come out?”

This kid was going to tear his heart apart he swore. He glances around as he heads to his jet, relaxing now that he was alone. “Of course, just give me a second.” He murmurs softly heading to the bathroom.

He frowns and starts filling the sink up with warm water, the kid squirming around anxiously as if he was going to be digested any second. Considering where he was Tony didnt blame him, his stomach letting a gurgle of protest out as the water sloshed at the movements.

“Alright kid brace yourself.” He says grimacing. He takes a deep breath before sticking a finger down his throat gagging heavily a few times before water started trickling out. He grunts slightly and sticks his finger down further gaging loudly before he felt something slip back his throat and plop into his hand. He let's a shaky breath out quickly dipping the small thing into the awaiting water.

He grimaces and wipes his mouth relived the kid seemed alright, nervous and looking around but alright.

Peter almost missed the soft walls and darkness of the area but he was grateful to be out. “So...it’s nice to eat you and everything, I’m Tony Stark.”

“M’ Peter.”

[cafedanslanuit]

♡   —   pairing: eren x reader

♡   —   tags/warnings: mentions of cheating and alcohol. side aruani and yumihisu. honestly just a feel-good fic, with humour and fluff <3

♡   —   a/n:  honestly, this is the most “romantic comedy” fic i’ve ever written and i love it <3 shout out to @ofoceansandtombstones​ that beta read this one mwah thank u

♡   —   masterlist

There was an ill taste in your mouth that wouldn’t go away, no matter how many drinks you had. And you already had more than a few. From your spot on the table, you could see your friends dancing and having the time of their lives. You really wished you could join them. Nevertheless, you had wasted all your energy forcing a smile and clapping along during the ceremony. Once you had arrived at the hotel reception with the rest of the guests, you had slid a bill to a kind waitress and told her to keep the drinks coming. 

Ymir and Historia were dancing in front of you. Stoic, sour-faced Ymir couldn’t help but smile as her sweet girlfriend twirled and giggled, her cheeks red and eyes just the tiniest bit unfocused. Next to them, Sasha, Jean and Connie were owning the dance floor, moving in sync to the happy music. A grin formed on your face as you saw Connie lifting Sasha up and her almost falling to the floor. Jean was holding his stomach as he laughed loudly.

On a nearby table, Mikasa looked over at them, a small smile on his lips. She was sitting next to her girlfriend, who was holding her hand as they watched their friends dance. You saw her girlfriend leaning over to her and whispering something in her ear, to which she chuckled. It was so strange -and so beautiful- to see Mikasa laugh that it took you aback. And apparently, also the girl she was with, because her lips slightly parted as she watched her in awe.

“How’s the party animal doing?”

You looked up and saw Eren staring down at you with a funny expression. He was wearing black dress pants and a white shirt. The first two buttons were undone, and he was carrying his suit jacket over his shoulder and a beer on his other hand.

“Someone’s gotta keep an eye out for everyone,” you replied with a shrug. Eren scoffed and took the seat next to you on the empty table, leaving his jacket on the nearest chair.

“I mean, I know attending your ex’s wedding isn’t bound to be a good time, but you’d think you would try to put on a happy face.”

You rolled your eyes. “Hey, at least I’m here.”

“After Mikasa tried her best to convince you during a whole week,” he said. You turned your head to Eren, eyes wide open. “What? Of course she told me.”

“That little… That’s it, I’m going to tell her girlfriend about that one time Mikasa got drunk with us,” you muttered angrily, standing up. Eren was quicker and pulled you back to your seat.

“You and Armin broke up a year ago. Why are you so upset he’s moving on?”

Before you could answer, the music stopped and the dance floor erupted in applause. Eren and you watched as Armin and Annie walked in between their guests, greeting everyone as they made their way to the bride and groom table, covered with a pearl cloth and decorated with the finest flowers. Every detail screamed elegance and you knew Armin had been the one to decide most of it. It had his taste written in every napkin and strategically placed flower.

Armin’s smile was almost too big for his face and if you had to guess, those small red marks on the external corner of his eyes meant he had been crying just a few minutes ago. You rolled your eyes. So sentimental. On the other hand, Annie’s smile was far less noticeable, but for someone who always repressed her public displays of emotions as much, that little smile must have felt heavenly to her new husband.

Husband. You took a big gulp of your drink.

“I’m telling you this because I care for you,” Eren said, redirecting your attention to him. “You’re looking like a petty ex.”

“Rather be petty than a cheater,” you shrugged, finishing your drink. You gestured to the waitress and she immediately walked to you, handing you a full glass. Thanking her, you wasted no time in taking a sip.

Eren’s eyebrows were deeply furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Armin never told you why we broke up, right?”

Eren scooted his chair closer to you and you bit back a laugh.

“He said you just weren’t good together,” he said, trying to remember his friend’s words. “And you said something similar when I asked you back then. Where does this ‘cheating’ thing come from?”

You let out a long sigh. “Maybe it wasn’t cheating. Not by definition, at least. But when your boyfriend starts dating someone else a week after you broke up a two-year-long relationship and he gets engaged four months later… you draw your own conclusions,” you explained, taking another sip of your drink and making a grimace. “Fuck, this one’s strong.”

After not getting a response from Eren for a long moment, you finally turned to look for his emerald eyes. You could almost see the numbers flying around his mind, trying to make sense of everything you had just told him. It was endearing.

“Wait, no-- wait,” Eren gestured at you with his hand. He stopped himself again and took a sip of his beer. “The first time Armin told me about Annie was in February. I remember it clearly. We were shopping for Mikasa’s birthday gift and then he went to pick something for Annie. And you guys broke up around Halloween, that’s the time I found you crying-- in Jean's backyard during our costume party.”

“We had a big fight at that party. We hadn’t broken up,” you clarified with a smirk. “He broke up with me after Mikasa’s birthday party. The same party he convinced me not to attend.”

Eren’s face dropped once all the pieces clicked together. He turned his body to look at the bride and groom table, where Armin and Annie were taking a sip of their champagne glasses and talking to each other enthusiastically, while the rest of their guests kept dancing.

“That son of a bitch,” he breathed out. You burst out laughing at his reaction. “No, I mean it! I really thought you had broken up during that Halloween party! You didn’t upload any more photos together, I don’t even remember even seeing you together--”

“I told you, we were fighting and… not in the mood for photos or public dates. Most of those months were spent at his apartment, fighting over really, really stupid things or just not texting each other for days,” you explained. “Honestly, when he broke up with me he made the decision I was too afraid to take. He was right, we weren’t good for each other anymore. But... fuck,” you chuckled icily. “I wish he would have broken up with me before getting with Annie.”

Eren listened in silence, his eyes still on his friend. You gave him time as you kept drinking, your gaze drifting to your friends again. You really wished you could have the energy to join them and forget Armin and Annie. It was true you didn’t love him anymore, yet seeing them together only made you remember how you had been fooled by someone you thought loved you the most.

You had had many dates ever since, but no one ever stuck. It was fun, getting someone’s attention for a couple of weeks, but then you couldn’t help but ghost them, putting up shitty excuses like wanting to focus on yourself and not having enough time to spare with them. You had lost so many amazing opportunities with both boys and girls that a couple of months ago you had decided to stop dating at all. It was lonely for sure, but at least you didn’t find yourself feeling guilty for not being able to open yourself up emotionally for someone else.

“Want to get back at him?”

You turned to Eren so fast you almost hurt your neck.

“What?”

“I have an idea. Just play along,” he explained, standing up.

“Eren, hey, what are you--”

“Everybody! If you could give me a minute please!”

You watched horrified as your friends started turning to you and Eren, confused at the commotion. Eren kept waving his hand, gathering more and more people’s attention, Armin and Annie included. He even gestured to the DJ to lower the music and she complied. In a few seconds, all the guests of the party were looking at you, who was still sitting down with a confused expression, a drink in your hand. Once he deemed enough people were looking at him, you saw him fumbling with his hands nervously.

“Eren,” you called for him again in a whisper, but all he did was take the drink you had in your hands and put it on the table.

“Sorry for interrupting, I know a lot of you were having a lot of fun dancing. But all I’m asking is one minute of your time. I hope that’s okay with you guys,” he grinned back to the bride and groom table, where they were as confused as all the guests around. “I have something really important to say.”

“Eren, no, you can’t tell them about--”

“No, no, give me a moment,” he hushed you again. The DJ walked to both of you and handed an inalambric microphone to Eren.

You didn’t like how devilish his smile turned.

“Great, thanks, this is much better,” he told the DJ, who just kindly smiled at him. “Anyway, I don’t want to take much of the bride and groom’s time, so I’ll try to be concise. The thing is…” he said, turning to face you. “I love you.”

Your mouth flew open as you heard multiple gasps coming from the guests. Yet, you couldn’t bother with looking anywhere but Eren’s eyes. What was he doing? Since when did he have feelings for you? If he wanted to say something, he could have easily said something a few minutes ago, when--

Just play along.

Oh.

Your questioning glare turned into a big smile and you noticed Eren softly nodding at you.

“You already know how much I love you. Honestly, I never get tired of telling you so. And hiding our love from our friends has probably been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Sorry about that, Mikasa,” he said, gesturing to the woman.

You could imagine your friend’s dumbfounded face, but you knew better than to turn and check for yourself. You knew you wouldn’t be able to hold in your laughter.

“So I’m here in front of all our friends and some other guests I don’t know to ask a simple question.”

In a swift movement, Eren got down on one knee. Your hand flew to cover your mouth, trying your best to hide any trace of laughing on your face. The flash of the cameras startled you for a moment, but that only meant Eren’s plan was working. The excited murmurs and squeals only fueled Eren, as he pulled up a ring and showed it to you. You immediately recognized it as one of the rings he had been wearing a few moments ago. 

“Would you marry me?”

A huge, honest grin made its way to your face and you nodded quickly. You grabbed the microphone Eren was holding and spoke right into it.

“Yes, I’ll marry you!”

You hadn’t listened to a crowd erupting in applause and cheers as loud as the guests at Armin’s wedding when Eren slid his ring on your finger. Once again, the flash of the cameras were right into the both of you as you leaped into his arms. He stood up while holding your body close to him, even giving you a small spin and you buried your face in the crook of his neck.

When he finally put you down, the music resumed and all your friends began running to the both of you.

“You’re fucking crazy,” you whispered to Eren, holding his face between your hands. He laughed.

“Kinda ruined the reception, huh?”

“When the fuck did this happen?” Jean inquired as soon as he reached you.

“Dude, why didn’t you tell us?” Sasha whined, with a small pout. “But congratulations!” she quickly followed, hugging you tightly. As you hugged her back, you felt someone taking the hand that was now wearing Eren’s ring.

“This is one of your rings,” she noted, shooting Eren a dirty glance. He lifted his hands in surrender.

“Hey, I didn’t plan this! But I will get her a prettier one soon,” he said, winking at you. You laughed and shook your head.

“Nah, I like this one,” you replied. You shared a knowing grin and soon it was Connie’s turn to hug you.

While you were hugging your friend back, you saw in the corner of your eye Armin getting up from the table and starting to walk to both of you. Your smile immediately vanished from your face and once Eren caught it and followed your eye trail, he understood the reason why. You heard him mutter a curse before he pulled you from Connie’s embrace.

“Well, we’d love to stay, but my fiancée and I want some time alone.”

“C’mon, you haven’t told us yet how you got together!” Sasha complained.

“Next time, we promise,” you hurriedly assured her.

Eren picked his suit jacket from the table and before Armin could reach your group, you quickly walked away, exiting the hotel. Eren whistled to a taxi and you jumped inside, telling the man behind the wheel to drive. Loud laughter filled the vehicle as soon as it began moving.

“How-- how did you even have this idea?” you asked him, holding your stomach as you laughed. “Dude, Armin looked so upset, we totally stole his thunder.”

“That was the plan,” Eren shrugged, a winning smirk on his lips. “Knowing the gang, everybody’s going to be talking about us and the engagement for the rest of the party.”

“Remind me to never have you as an enemy,” you chuckled, leaning back on the car seat. Letting out a long sigh, you took off Eren’s ring and handed it to him.

He shook his head. “Nah, keep it. As a souvenir of today,” he winked.

“Thank you,” you smiled. You put the ring on your thumb this time, since it was too big for your ring finger anyway. “You didn’t have to do this at all, and yet--”

“It’s okay,” he assured you.

“No, really. It’s just-- I’ve been having a tough time since the breakup,” you admitted. “To have you doing this for me means a lot. Makes me feel someone really cares for me. I never said anything to anyone back then because Annie is also a part of the group and I thought…”

Eren leaned his head towards you.

“You thought…?”

“I thought you would pick her too. It’s stupid, I know,” you shrugged, turning your head to Eren. “But Armin had just broken up with me and a week later he was already in public with Annie. Back then, I thought everyone knew we had just broken up and if no one had said anything was because they didn’t care. So I just… stopped hanging out with all of you as much as I did before.”

“Yeah, I noticed that,” he muttered.

“You did?”

Eren nodded. “That’s why I asked Mikasa to pressure you into coming to the wedding. I hadn’t seen you in a while.”

“You could have just asked me to hang out, you know,” you teased him. Eren chuckled, pushing some of his loose hairs behind his ear.

“I think we know by now I don’t take the conventional route.”

“Yeah, all of the guests know that too,” you quipped, making both of you laugh.

This time, when the laughter came to an end, you realized how close your faces were. Your noses were almost brushing as you both were lying your heads on the back of the car seat. You looked into Eren’s emerald eyes and noticed he wasn’t looking away from yours either. Was it the alcohol that made his cheeks turn a lovely shade of pink? If it was, then you could say the warmth crawling up your face was its fault too. It had to be the alcohol, or else, you would have to also ponder about the reason your heart was beating out of your chest at having your friend so close to you. He was handsome, he had always been and you knew this. But why were you losing all your composure just now?

A brief look at Eren's lips gave your thoughts away and, in less than two seconds, he was pressing his lips against yours.

For a spur-of-the-moment kiss, as you thought this one was, it was rather soft. Eren kissed you as if he thought you were the most expensive and fragile thing he had ever seen. But of course, this was just a product of the adrenaline and the fact that -as far as you knew- he hadn’t been dating anyone as well, right?

Your small theory crashed and burnt when you felt his hand softly cradling the side of your face. No. This wasn’t an adrenaline kiss, neither one that you gave without a thought. Maybe it had been unprompted and maybe you hadn’t seen it coming, but it sure as hell seemed he did. Eren’s lips gilded against your with ease, revealing a soft tenderness you didn’t know he possessed. You kissed him back, matching his rhythm as you softly pressed your hand against his chest.

Eren pulled away from you softly, and if his longing eyes were any indicator, a bit reluctantly.

“Hi,” he breathed out, making you grin widely.

“Hi,” you replied. You gently caressed his cheek with the knuckles of the hand that was previously resting on his chest. Eren took it and kissed your palm, making your heart flutter.

“Sorry to interrupt kids, but where are we heading?”

The voice of the taxi driver startled you, making you pull away from Eren. He chuckled at your reaction and then looked back at the man.

“Take us to that pizza place near the central park. Gotta have a celebratory dinner with my fiancée,” he said cheekily, taking your hand into his. You squeezed his hand back, his ring digging a little on your skin.

“So young and engaged already? Congrats!” the driver said, turning left and heading towards the direction Eren had given him.

“Thank you!” you smiled brightly at Eren while he took your joint hands to his mouth and placed a kiss on your knuckles.

A part of you knew you weren’t taking that ring off anytime soon.

[reidsnose]

love letters

overview: spencer has a wonderful idea after finding out that reader had never gone to her senior prom

genre: fluff fluff fluff

a/n: i mixed two ideas that have been sitting in my notes app for this lol but i think its sweet!! i wrote it a little rushed and definitely not bc im not getting a prom this year due to miss rona👀 LMAO but as always please lmk what yall think ab it :)

masterlist

-

the idea had fully occupied his thoughts the second after the words left your mouth.

it was "the buttcrack of dawn" as you had called it, though spirits were high on the late jet ride home. it was a rare but much needed positive end to the case, and everyone was happily chatting with each other. since the case was involving high schoolers, the subject fell on prom. everyone went around sharing their prom stories one by one, recalling awful dresses and questionable dates til the questions turned to spencer.

"what ab you, pretty boy, what was your prom like?" morgan asked, still smiling widely from recalling his own.

you watched spencer shift uncomfortably for a second.

"i uh..i never went to prom." he stammered, a tight lipped smile on his face.

"no! you just dont wanna tell us!" prentiss cried, throwing her hands in the air.

"i graduated high school when i was 12! why would i have gone to prom?" he reasoned.

"you had to have gone when you were older or something! everyone has!" jj countered.

"thats not true, i never went to prom either," you defended, subconsciously inching closer to spencer.

before anyone could even ask you to explain why, spencer got the idea. he mentally left the conversation after you gave your answer. he spent the whole rest of the ride home and the next couple of weeks brain storming and planning.

and casually after work one day, as he was walking you to your car, he asked you if you wanted to hang out with him that weekend; at his house.

you and Spencer had hung out before, but mostly at your house or at coffee shops; he didn't invite people over very often.

of course you agreed but you grew confused when he told you to dress fancy.

you raced home afterwards to raid your closet, looking for any fancy dresses you may have stuffed in there.

spencer spent the whole day preparing his apartment. he put up streamers and balloons. he made a playlist of all your favorite songs. and then he rushed to get his clothes from the cleaners.

and when you knocked at his door the breath that left your lungs struggled to come back after he opened the door.

he stood in a gorgeous suit, different than he had ever worn to work. he rubbed the back of his neck and gestured to the living room, revealing the adorable (albeit poorly made but its the thought that counts) decorations.

"um.. welcome to prom," he said, turning back to you, revealing a blushy smile.

he tried not to stare too much at you, but it was difficult. your eyes sparkled as you stepped inside and looked around. and the dress you were wearing fit you so gorgeously he truly couldnt take his eyes off of you.

"spencer, i..." you trailed off, enchanted by what he had done.

"sorry if it looks bad. or if you think its weird that i did this. i just thought cause neither of us went to prom maybe you wanted to have a little one with me? yeah now that i say it out loud maybe you hate it im sorr-" he rambled behind you.

you turned quickly to him as he got lost in his words, eyes glued to the floor. cutting him off by wrapping your arms around his neck and hugging him as tight as you could. you could feel the tension leave his body as he melted into the embrace, returning it gladly. he doesn't like to be touched by anyone really, except for you.

"i love it. thank you," you whispered, giving him one last squeeze before letting go.

he has a spread of snacks lying out on the coffee table which he has mooved to the corner of the room to make space for a makeshift dancefloor.

he turns on the music and you two start talking and dancing and laughing. two fools with four left feet completely and obliviously in love. well, oblivious the the other anyway.

a slower song came on, an old one that you had wanted to slow dance to ever since you were a little girl. and somehow naturally you two came together, his hand dropped to your waist, the other delicately cradling your own. your other hand found its way up to his shoulder, feeling as though a magnet was pulling you two closer. and closer.

he looked absolutely stunning. the soft lights he had strung around the apartment sparkled like stars in his eyes; its was...dizzying, in the most incredible way.

unbeknownst to you, as you stared at the stars in his eyes he was looking at his whole world that he had been somehow lucky enough to hold in his arms.

he held his arm out, allowing you to spin and when he pulled you back both of your arms ended up wrapped around his neck, and his around your waist. you were less dancing now and more...hugging. with your head pressed to his chest, he hoped with all his might that you wouldn't be able to hear his hammering heart. you most definitely could, but it was calming to know he was as nervous as you were. you smiled, listening more to his heart than the music he had played for you.

you were both sure that you could burst from pure bliss. the song ended a little too quickly for either of your liking and reluctantly you let go of each other. and suddenly Spencer was hit with the realization that he forgot something.

"oh my gosh," his eyes widened as he looked around the room.

"what?" you asked, mirroring him and looking as well.

"i can't remember where i left your corsage! i was gonna give it to you at the door but i forgot!" he exclaimed, running around the room checking shelves.

you smiled to yourself. he got you a corsage!

"ill help you look" you decided.

"please do," he chuckled.

"i thought you had an eidetic memory, shouldn't you know where you left it?" you joked, shooting him a smug smile.

"y/n, my brain was all jumbled to day and it wasn't just from being around you," he realized what he had said and quickly turned back to the shelf he was looking at, "could you check in my room please?"

his heart was racing at his own stupidity; how could he just say that so nonchalantly? he had been planning to tell you that he liked you for the longest time he cant afford slipping up and having it be anything less than perfect.

you slipped into his room, your cheeks warm from the idea that you make his big brain all jumbled. he probably didn't mean it like that, you were just looking too much into it.

you sighed as you crouched to look under his bed for it. you found a small wooden box that you slid out from underneath. it had your name on it.

is it normal to keep a corsage in a wooden box? you wouldn't know, you never went to prom.

you shrugged your shoulders, "i found it spence!"

with out thinking you opened the box, except instead of a band of flowers you were greeted with letters, all addressed to you. there were annotations written in the margins with purple ink. you furrowed your eyebrows as you scanned the various letters.

dear y/n,

today you complimented my glasses and my heart skipped a beat. thats dumb spencer dont start like that

dear y/n,

im in love with you. too forward

dear y/n,

you make life worth living. shes gonna think youre a creep

you felt a rush of euphoria fill your chest. did he really feel these things for you? your thoughts swirled in the most wonderful way. a wide smile broke across your face, butterflies running rampage through your stomach as you reread his words. his words addressed to you.

"oh thank God i really thought i lost-oh. oh no." spencer started as he walked through the door of his room immediately walking back out. you followed, blinking your watery eyes at him. "i can explain.

"i think youve explained enough, theres like 20 letters in here!" you chuckled, flipping through them.

"i didnt know how to tell you and i dont want to ruin what we already have and i-"

"it wasnt too forward." you stated, grabbing one of the letters.

"what?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"in this one," you held up the letter, "you wrote dear y/n, im in love with you. and then you crossed it out and wrote that it was too forward but i dont think it was."

"youre not mad?"

"mad? spencer ive been trying to admit the fact that im in love with you since i realized it myself, why would i be mad?"

"youre..you feel the same way?" he looked back up at you, a hesitant smile pulling on the corners of his lips.

"more so," you beamed, stepping closer.

he wrapped his arms around you, "thats good or else the rest of this prom would have sucked."

you chuckled, pulling him impossibly closer to you as another perfect song played.

-

-

ultra mega super cool taglist

@mac99martin @imhreid @spencersmagic @hollydaisy23 @raelady1184 @a-broken-pact @padfootswife @hey-there-angels @star-stuff-in-the-cosmos @sonnydoesrandomshit @averyhotchner @laurakirsten0502 @reidyoulikeabook @rem-ariiana @spencerreid9 @vampire-overlord @takeyourleap-of-faith @spenxerslut @violetspoetic @aperrywilliams @b-a-utiful @eevee0722 @srhxpci @reidemandweep @imdefinitelyfloating @random-human-person @gurkiloni @luvspence @calm-and-doctor @ssavanessa22 @singularityjc @sydnee-kom-spacekru @sydneekomspacekru

[authorofdragons]

you know what? lifes shit. come make something with me

So for context, these are my comfort dolls I crocheted over a year ago: Bonehill and Zerako.

theyre also the main characters of my webcomic Skull & Pyro but you dont gotta worry about that rn all you gotta know is that theyre husbands. (if you wanna worry about it its ok go check out my pinned post)

So I love making them minature things and I'm a horrible little christmas goblin so I wanna make them a mini christmas tree (and a whole scene to boot but lets start with a tree).

Here you can see the leaves fighting against their creator as I bring them into this wretched world (aka my loops kept falling off my hook). I went off of The Lazy Hobbyhopper's pattern here. Base of the tree is made with bulky green yarn I found in a bin and then worsted weight white yarn to make the leaves look smaller to make sure the green would be seen underneath. I Also skipped every other row when making the leaves to further achieve this.

Next I need a sturdy interior so the tree is firm for decorating. There could be better materials for this but my brain will use any and everything I have on hand before it'll buy new materials so my grubby lil hands grabbed some cardstock and made it a cone

Next for the trunk I used the left over cardstock to make a tube and then grabbed a old CVS paper bag to give it trunk texture and color. The final touches are with crayola marker because thats just the crisis situation we're dealing with here.

Now the base of the tree is made, rad, cool, looks neat.

Ignore the fact that my camera decided my walker is the star of the photo this is what happens when I screenshot my videos.

We need a topper and I refuse to make a normal star bc my boys are agents of chaos so I asked my mom what it should be and she suggested a mushroom gnome. She knows me well.

I make a lot of these little guys purely bc my brain eel has decided they are The Shit right now. This is my own pattern that is minimal sewing because I Hate Sewing Extra Shit it just makes more steps in my mind which makes the brain eel angery. So I bullshit stitches and run with it. If I can learn to translate the horrors that are my patterns into words, maybe one day Ill share it. Unfortunately the horrors are winning

Now for ornaments and lights. I could crochet those but brain eel doesn't want to so Target it is.

Now on with the lights, these fairy lights were bright as fuck and with the white leaves I felt assaulted with color ASDFJFLGK like listen I love color but Im used to green trees and didn't realize the frosted leaves would just Become The Entire Light Spectrum

they are entranced.

So I just swapped the fairy lights with my taco lights that were on my own mini tree and honestly, that fits better in every way given Zerako notoriously loves tacos and its much less stimulating. And the fairy lights look great on my tree.

Of course I need cheesy couples photos of them putting the tree up because it Is their tree, they deserve this moment.

you're doing great boys (they are not doing anything)

NOW for ordaments. Percieve them putting on the ordaments.

Now pretend you never perceived them (for I am doing the rest).

All together it looks great!! The colorful ordaments really help balance the plain yellow/white lights.

I adore how this turned out. Life is still shit but my boys have their own tree so I'll live with it 💚 I got more christmas crafts planned for these two so follow me for more mild serotnin inducers.

Hope life's a little less shit for you today 💙

[cvtqr]

365

pairings; eren jaeger x reader [+ jean x reader]

notes; this was also posted on my ao3, which has the same username as this one [cvtqr]

“i never loved you y/n.” 

“WHAT DON’T YOU GET? I NEVER LOVED YOU SO STOP COMING HERE Y/N.” 

he slammed the door in your face. you didn't know why he was treating you this way. you've been with him every step of the road. there was no way he couldn't love you. you didn't want to leave. you didn't want to stop coming to see him. so you didn't stop. you weren't going to leave. you sunk down onto the concrete in front of his door.

on the other side eren was doing the same thing, just sitting against the door. he didn't want to see you. he didn't want to give into you. if he hurt you now he wouldn't hurt you in 365 days. but seeing your face was so hard. he never wanted to scream at you and slam the door in your face. right when you showed up the only thing he wanted to do was pull you into his arms. he wanted to feel your warmth. but he can't. he knew you were like a drug, he couldn't get enough. he also knew that he could never be with you again. no. not after 365 days. he could never give you a family, the life you deserved. his biggest mistake was falling in love with you. it was impossible to give you everything he wanted to. he never even knew when it happened. when you walked with him in the snow during training? when you saved him countless times? your soft, sweet smile? he needed you, but you didn't need him.

you ended up falling asleep on eren’s front porch, waking up the next morning from the bright sun shining directly onto your face. and the blonde boy standing in front of you.

“so he won't talk to you either hm? you should go, you don't deserve that y/n. he hasn't talked to anyone in days, im just leaving a bag for him to make sure he's taking care of himself and all.” 

you nodded and stood up, walking down the step on eren’s porch. 

“the captain wants to see you too. i think he wants you and jean doing field work today.”

“thanks” you mumbled out before going to meet up with levi. 

armin was right, you and jean were out on the field today. jean secretly cared about you and he hated seeing you like this. the bright cheerful girl, now not saying a word. you lost the glow in your eyes. as the sun set, you and jean were about done. riding your horses back to the stables, jean took a turn.

“where are you going.”

“come on, y/n.”

sighing, you turned the direction of your horse, following jean.  

he stopped over the lake, the sun setting above you two.

“i used to come here with marco all the time.”

you looked up and over at jean.

“s-sorry, lets go.”

“wait jean.- i, i miss him too.”

“do you maybe wanna get dinner in town? we haven't ate in awhile and you seem very down today.”

“i don't know jean...”

“oh come on, my treat.”

knowing you couldn't go home and cook with eren like you used to do, you accepted his offer. 

279 days

the time for you and jean to do field work all day came around again. after, you found yourself in town with him again. over the past 86 days you found yourself going to eren’s less and less. after hanging out with jean all day for the first time, you realized that you both had a lot in common. jean lost someone and even though eren was still here, you lost him. you now only go there about once a week with armin, just to leave a bag with a note on his doorstep. he completely ghosted everyone. he hasn't talked to anyone in almost 100 days. you were the last person he spoke to. 

back to today, you found your smile slowly coming back. but were you over eren? no. not at all. jean just simply made you somewhat happy. out in town the both of you decided to try food from a bunch of carts. that was until you got to a small band playing music. jean pulled you close to him and started slowly swaying the both of you together. jean knew you were probably wishing he was eren, but that was ok with him. he had you in his arms.

what you didn't know, eren was sitting on a nearby bench. from a far, he was un recognizable. his hair draped over his shoulders and he hasn't shaved in months. he looked like shit. he questioned his decision of pushing everyone away. should he have spent the 365 days with you? no. no no no no no, he made the right choice. now he would just have to watch your life with jean. even though it hurt, it hurt like hell, this is what he wanted for you.

123 days 

wow, its been awhile since you've seen eren. you stopped going there. you didn't feel like need. its been way over 200 days. you had jean now. you were so close, yet so far to being over eren. but you didn't want to hurt jean by going to see your ex-lover. jean didn't bring up marco, you didn't bring up eren. you haven't had as much time with jean that you had with eren, but you were slowly falling in love with him.

just the little things.

4 days

letters. eren had written a letter to each and every one of his friends, but no. he only needed you to see yours. he ripped up the rest, but put yours into a plain white envelope, leaving it on his kitchen table. he needed to think about a lot of things in the next four days.

1 day 

eren took all his decorations down. all the pictures of you two that he's been looking at for the past 364 days. the only thing left was the letter, still set on his counter.

2 days after 

y/n. open in five years. i understand if you want to throw this out and forget about me, but give it a chance.

that's what you read on the envelope left on eren’s counter. 

you and close friends cleaned out eren’s house, collecting his personal belongings.  

saying the day was gloomy is being generous. the next few years were gloomy.

1825 days after

“marco kirstein! get back here right now or im getting your father.” 

you never imagined yourself chasing after a three year old toddler while your husband drank coffee on the balcony five years later. 

1826 days later

“have fun on your camping trip boys. connie loose my child when jean goes on that interview and ill kill you.”

“mommy stop worrying! uncle connie is a great babysitter!” 

6 hours later

you un crumpled the old envelope sitting in a box of belongings. 

hey sugar! so i see you didn't forget about me. if im right you have started a family? or that's what i hope at least...

those last 365 days were painful as all hell. sorry for bringing up old memories but i just want to clear things up with you. i lied the last time i saw you. i love you. i loved you so much. that's why i needed to let go. I've been watching you and jean over the past few months. you seem happy. stay that way please. i fucking cannot stand jean but please don't let go of him. if you're reading this and you did, i hope your children get/got your genes so they don't have horse faces. 

i don't even know why im writing this, i guess i just wanted to say i had to let go so you wouldn't get hurt once i died. i thought it would be less painful for you that way. im so sorry if i hurt you at first. so, so sorry. at least you had jean. someone, just like i wanted you too. 

im not sure if i regret my decision. actually scrap that i shouldn't have wrote that because i don't have an eraser. i don't regret it. but i just wanted to let you know that i loved you over those last 365 days. tell the gang i said hey.

i love you, my atlantis.

-eren