SURVIVORS GUILT
୨⎯ chapter fifteen ⎯୧

━━━━ "let me see her! joel move!" ellie shouted slamming her fist on joel's chest. he promised the girl that they would be able to see maria after they finished eating with his brother which they met.

the second that maria past out they didn't waste any other time than to bring them all to their small town. as they arrived inside, maria, the woman showing maggie where to put mariposa - it's confusing still for them to call them both maria so they chose to call maria mariposa or mari for now on - for the time being. joel stayed behind when his eyes landed on his long lost brother, tommy.

ellie's emotions were already scrambled up and ready to burst out at any second but she didn't. tommy invited them to go eat lunch with them. ellie protested against it for a solid 30 minutes, maggie told them that mariposa was stable that they just needed to wait till she woke up.

ellie demanded to see mariposa at that exact moment but maria said that it'll be best to let her rest, that to waste some time to go eat. ellie stomped the entire way and even snapped harshly at a girl who wouldn't stop looking over at their table.

she munched down her food in a hurry and bounced off her seat the second she finished. joel excused himself from the table - after saying congratulations to maria and tommy - and rushed after ellie. he manage to get ahead of her and prevent her from going inside.

"god fucking damn it, joel! just let me see her!" ellie shouted even more starting to earn weird looks from the people surrounding them. one of the people there already gave them the ok to be able to see and visit her. "please, just move."

"joel," maria then appeared from behind them, her arms crossed over her chest. joel looked over at maria, "tommy said he wants to talk. if you want, i can stay with ellie and take her over to the house y'all are going to be staying in to freshen up. we'll transfer sasha over there as well."

"where's maggie?" joel asked.

"you're not actually considering?" ellie asked which sounded more demanding. from them not letting her see her best friend and to this, ellie was close to boiling point.

"she's out with tommy and she volunteered to help at the school we have." maria said causing joel to nod his head and glance down at the furious fourteen year old.

"you'll be safe, i promise." joel said putting a hand on ellie's shoulder and gave maria another stiff nod. ellie watched sending joel daggers as he walked past them and greeting tommy outside.

"go on, i'll be out here once your ready." maria said sitting down on the chair besides the door and pulling out a book from the mini bookshelf on her right. ellie stared at maria a little longer before bursting through the door shutting it behind her.

the scene in front of her was the last thing ellie needed to just pop. tears didn't even process or whelm up in her eyes, they just started flowing down in a rapid pace and didn't stop. all her emotions settled into one single burst.

mariposa was laying down, her arms on each side of her body. her face looked so peaceful, her breath was even and despite the heart monitor telling ellie that her heart rate was okay and that she was alive, it still scared her shitless.

"mari," ellie cried out softly walking up to her side and sitting down on the bed. ellie sniffed up and wiping her tears aggressively. ellie reached down to sasha's hand and intertwined them together. she brought her other hand and pushed sashas fingers down to hers.

ellie dropped her head down to mariposas stomach. her soft cries filling the empty room. "i hope you can hear me. remember that bet we made a few hours ago?" ellie whispered frowning her eyebrows deeply and sniffed up her tears. her lips started to quake and her voice broke with every word she said, "wake up. that's the only thing i'm asking you to do, wake up."

ellie waited and waited. waited to hear the familiar voice of the brown head girl. waiting for her fingers to move by themselves and squeeze ellie's hand for comfort because that's what she needs right now. she needs mariposa, awake, with the knowledge that she's alive. maria told her that she's just in a small coma, to just imagine her sleeping. but ellie couldn't.

because is mariposa was sleeping she would have woken up the second that ellie started crying and go to comfort her. to be with her go-to person. ellie knew her feelings for the brown head girl, but she never knew how attached she was with mariposa espinosa.

ellie brought her head back up and shook mariposas hand gently. "wake up, asshole! please," ellie whispered getting impatient, "wake up."

the first thing mariposa woke up to that she noticed was a bed. a huge bed with a heavy blanket on top of her. mariposa groaned softly shifting on the bed and onto her side. then once she recollected her thoughts, her eyes snapped open.

the tribe, ellie, the dog, her fainting and then everything went blank. mariposa sat up on the bed and glanced around the room. the room was pretty. the walls had printed flowers on them, there was a desk that had books and coloring stuff in it. a closet, a cabinet. the lights were turned off and the only thing lighting on her was the sunset shinning through the window.

mariposa then looked down at her bed. there was a new set of clothes, and a letter. mariposa - still looking around the room in alert - reached forward and grabbed the letter. it was small, folded in half and it read, From Maggie.

mariposa scooted herself until her back touched the wall. she brought the heavy blanket further up to her chest and opened up the letter and started to read it.

Good Morning sunshine, your most likely confused on where you're at. well, after you fainted and gave us all a scare they brought us to their town, which might i add is beautiful. seriously mariposa, it's like so beautiful.

anyway, your currently either at the nursing office where maria put you or your either at the house that tommy and maria said that they'll let us stay at. tommy is joel's brother by the way, the genes are strong in his family.

and you guys have the same name so to not get confused we're going to just say mari or mariposa or mar or any other nickname when we're around maria. but you'll always be our favorite maria obviously.

mariposa snorted at her older sister last comment rolling her eyes.

off topic. maria is tommy's wife and she very sweet, well at least to me. about our whereabouts, i volunteered at this daycare center so im going to be there till the end, joel is having a catch up with tommy. maria is, idk.

oh before i forgot! ellie is fine, she's alright. if she's not in the room across from you than she's probably in town watching a movie. let me tell you sasha, that girl is head over heels for you. she gave joel and i the silent treatment until we let her see you.

if i didn't already know that ellie has feelings for you than the moment that you fainted just gave her away. trust me, i know the eyes. and that girl, she gives you the eyes.

"she's insane." mariposa breathed out. that funny feeling going through her entire body.

i have to leave like right now. okay so uh, here are new clothes settled down for you. i don't know where i just know that i picked it out cause i have the best style, obviously, shower. there is shampoo, conditioner and body wash and a scrub there for you too. brush your teeth and do everything you need to do.

and go see ellie before she has a heart attack for not seeing you an entire day.

i love you! be safe! see you soon, bye.

mariposa laughed softly and closed the letter placing it on the nightstand besides the bed. she got off the bed and did the things that maggie told her to do. she hopped inside the shower, deep washed her hair, her body. when she got out she put on a new pair of everything.

she walked out the bathroom and back to her room looking at the clothes. she sighed deeply and put them on. the khaki cargo pants fit her loosely on the body but perfectly on the waist, she put on the black sports bra that maggie was able to find her, a navy blue crew neck sweater.

maggie also put her her usual big jacket that she always wears down but she wasn't going to need to use it at the moment. mariposa put on her socks and the thought of seeing ellie again flooding her mind. once she had her socks on mariposa hurried out of the room and went to the one across.

she didn't bother knocking and just burst through the door. "ellie?" she called out once but nothing. mariposas eyes landed on the dirty clothes on the bed. she's probably in town... she remembered what the letter said.

mariposa didn't waste another second than to rush back inside her room and put on her boots and rush downstairs and outside the house. mariposa was immediately hit with a cold breeze. which probably hit her worse since her hair was still wet and it took forever to dry.

she crossed her arms over her chest shivering slightly. from the medium distance she saw lights and a distant laughter. mariposa started making her way over to the lights and laughter. soon she entered the town. mariposas eyes widen and her mouth gaped open at the sight.

maggie was right, it's beautiful. she thought. she went further into town and turned a bit, her head thrown back at looking directly at the stars that could be seen clear as day. mariposa brought her head back down and continued walking forward until she stopped abruptly.

there she was. also looking at the stars as she aimlessly walked. she's beautiful. was all mariposa could think of. ellie's hair was down, her soft waves making its form, her face looked light up which was probably because of the lights and the stars.

"ellie?!" mariposa called out. she didn't shout, but her voice was normal. it was perfect enough for ellie to hear her. the brunette turned her head down and her eyes widen at the sight in front of her.

ellie could feel her breath hitch. it was just like seeing her for the first time, again. ellie could remember when they first met, it was her core memory. "el!" mariposa said and started running over to ellie.

ellie was brought back in time and pushed herself off the ground and ran to mariposa. the fourteen year old girls met each other halfway. sasha threw her arms around ellie's shoulder and she wrapped her arms around mariposa waist lifting her off the ground and spinning around.

mariposa arms only tighten more when ellie settled her down not wanting to break away just yet. "i should kill you for scaring me so much." ellie grumbled. her voice sounding muffled as her head was pressed against her shoulder.

mariposa giggled and dropped her head on her shoulder as well. "i missed you too." mariposa whispered. ellie and sasha broke apart slowly, their bodies were still pressed against each other, their arms were still holding on another but their faces were only inches apart.

maybe it was the heat of the moment. maybe it was the fact that ellie nor sasha can't escape their feelings anymore and mariposa fainting just proved it even more. or maybe it was the thought of losing one another and never acting against their feelings. but at this moment, it felt right. it was right.

their breaths mingled together, their nerves rising up to the top. they both wanted too. only heaven above or hell below knew how much mariposa just wanted to do it. how much ellie has been ready to go for it but scared.

"mariposa i-"

"shut up." mariposa cut her off shaking her head and pushing aside any negative thoughts that went past her head at the moment. mariposa quickly put her hand on each side of ellie's face and collided her lips onto hers.

ellie was taken back at first not expecting mariposa to do the first move. that was until she realized mariposa was kissing her. ellie brought her own hands and placed them right under her jawline deepening the kiss and not wanting to get away. savoring each second of this precious moment.

mariposa broke it off first, even though she really didn't want too but she needed to catch her breath first. ellie stayed with her eyes closed and her lips puckered up until sasha burst out into giggles. ellie reopened her eyes and soon she started to giggle as well.

"strawberries?" ellie whispered asked her dropping her head on top of sasha who closed her eyes. ellie licked her lips as mariposa taste was still lingering on.

"chapstick." mariposa breathed out.

ellie leaned forward again capturing her lips. "mhm. i don't taste it," ellie fake denied and leaned against and started flooding mariposa with short kisses just to feel them again. "wait," ellie stopped for a split second looking at mariposa who had a wide smile on her face, her eyes brighten up with joy and love. all because of the girl in front of her. "i think i need to try a few more times."

"el!"

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

a.n -
so what if i made this entire chapters
abt ellie and mariposa
y'all better savior this moment
cause y'all know the hell
they're gonna go through

also i know the ending of this book
and let me tell you - HELL.
also i'm not ending this book in season 1
i'm actually gonna continue it but with
the video game version.