Ellie x Female!Reader [The Last Of Us 2]

You Have No Idea What Loss Is

  Spoilers further down this chapter if you haven't yet played the game!

 

Kurtis' hooves crunched through the snow. The storm was heavy and it was difficult to navigate your surroundings.

You huffed in fear, your heart rate speeding up and slowing down every time you reminded yourself of every negative possibility.

"Please be okay." You mumbled softly and gripped onto the reigns.

Your sore leg ached. This was a bad idea, you were supposed to be resting considering your cast had literally just been removed from your leg. You winced at every bump Kurtis trotted over, your leg seemed to have gone dead after the same pain coursed through it.

You made your way along the familiar trail and shuddered in the freezing cold weather. With your heart racing, you held your hood over your head and whispered silent prayers to yourself.

"Ellie?!" The panic rose in your chest quickly. You called out her name.

"Dammit. Cmon boy."

You kicked the side of Kurtis and ushered him to run onwards as he did so. The adrenaline rushed through your blood quickly, your body had wasted no time warming up despite the cold environment around you.

"Please be okay.."

The trail seemed to never end. You struggled to suss out where you were due to the heavy snow that pelted down around you. The pain in your leg seemed to fade.

Your mind shrivelled from everything else and just seemed to focus on Ellie. The fear you had felt deep down in your chest kept boiling throughout your blood.

"Ellie!!"

Your stomach churned every time you had awaited an answer. You hoped to hear a yelp from Ellie or Joel within the distance of this storm. You attempted to keep your mind focused on that thought alone, but it was impossible at this moment.

You moved further throughout the trail and began to lose hope. Until, you spotted a large silhouette in the distance.

You pulled Kurtis' reigns as he stopped. You breathed heavily and squinted, slowly approaching the figure on horseback cautiously.

"Shimmer!"

You practically threw yourself from Kurtis and ran up to Shimmer, holding her face whilst gasping for breath.

"Oh my god.. Shimmer.. "

You panted and your eyes scanned the area to figure out where Ellie had ventured off to, "Where's Ellie, girl?" Shimmer tugged back on your grip and shook her head with a distressed neigh. You looked towards the direction that she was facing and spotted a fence with several gaps in the bottom.

"Oh.." You huffed.

"Stay with each other." You brought Kurtis next to Shimmer and headed towards the broken fence without a second thought.

"Ellie..! Joel..?!"

You called out whilst squeezing through the gap. Your heart raced as you dropped down onto an outside deck connected to a large lodge, "The hell.. have we ever patrolled here before?" The snow crunched beneath your sneakers as you shivered. You slowly drew your pistol from the back of your pants and cautiously approached the open patio door.

You stepped into the warmth as the freezing cold temperature on your cheeks began to fade. The smell of firewood and damp made its way up your nose. You kept your guard up whilst continuing on throughout the large building.

"Ellie.."

You tightened the grip onto your pistol and very cautiously checked every room upstairs. The hope to find Ellie or anybody else was slowly fading and thus made panic rise deep in your aching chest. The crackling of the fireplace at the front of the lodge was the only noise that cut through the damp, quiet, air. You took each step carefully. Your now curly hair that had been soaked by the snow hung around by your face and dripped the moisture onto your features.

Coming to a set of stairs that lead down into the basement, a sudden chill ran up your spine as you let out a shaky exhale. Your heart rate sped up as you hesitantly made the first step closer to the door down below. With each step you took, you desperately wanted to turn back up the creaky stairs and search elsewhere for your people, but something kept you drawing closer.

You placed a shaky hand onto the doorknob and twisted it slowly. Pushing the door open, you pointed your loaded gun into the room with a dedicated frown. Upon entering the space, a gasp was caught in your throat as the pistol you held dropped to the floor. You hiccuped and stared in absolute horror at the truly horrific sight before you.

Joel lay battered and bloodied on the harsh floor. His dead corpse gunked with dried and crusty blood with a deep wound caved in the side of his swollen head. The smell of iron wafted towards your nose, the putrid stench causing you to retch. Tears began falling as you gasped for air. You couldn't believe it. You never saw this coming, nobody did.

Your attention immediately turned to a half conscious Ellie laying on the cold ground. You dropped to you knees in front of her, purposely blocking the gruesome sight just yards away from you both.

"Ellie.. oh shit Ellie I'm so sorry."

Blood trickled from her nose and her eye had seemed to of been bruised badly. Tears were dried on her face as they seemed to just keep falling.

"..Y/n."

You sobbed quietly and closed you eyes extremely tightly.

"It's ok.. I'm.. I'm here now, Ellie. I'm so sorry."

Her eyes stared straight ahead into your stomach. She whimpered gently and hissed at the awful agony in her face.

"Y/n.." She sobbed quietly.

You looked back at the awful sight behind you and cried harder than before. You had never felt so guilty. Perhaps if you had your cast removed earlier in the day like you intended to, maybe Joel wouldn't of ended up dead on the cold floor of a lodge basement. Maybe if you weren't such a burden and would've been an extra help.. maybe things wouldn't of ended up this way.

"God Ellie, I'm so sorry, it's all my.. m.. my fault."

With the little strength she had, Ellie shuffled closer to you. You lay down on the ground next to her and you held each other. You cried in one another's arms and painfully pushed through the terrible scenario.

Ellie had regretted so hard on how she acted with Joel the last night. The guilt had never been so hurtful. She could never forgive herself for something that wasn't even her fault. You, on the other hand, was feeling the exact sand amount of guilt on your weak shoulders.

"Y/n.."

"Ellie.."

"Please don't leave me."

"I will never.. leave you."