A/N: We're back! Enjoy this Christmas gift!

The state of Colorado. Famous for it's beautiful landscapes, it's plentiful hiking trails and ski resorts, untamed and unmatched wildlife, and above all, the Rocky Mountains to the west.

All in all, Y/N couldn't complain.

Looking over the vast landscape like a painter eyed a canvas, he began to draw in his journal once again, sat atop his proud steed of a horse that had provided him with the much need of transportation.

That, and a really sore ass...

It had been a few months since their stop at Jackson, Wyoming. Meeting Joel's brother, seeing a hydroelectric dam for the first time. And Ellie's downward spiral of a angst teenager's post rebellion.

Running off like that, he'd admit that it had scared him.

But nothing had scared him more than himself. Even now, as he looked up from the pages of his journal, pencil stopped and halted, he recalled his own fear. Fear of moving on, fear of getting close. He still felt it, no matter what Ellie said to plaster a frown and grudging smile on his face.

Placing away his journal into his bag, he eyed the buildings in the distance, as his horse neighed below him.

Y/N reckoned he would always feel afraid of getting close to people. Fear of death and loneliness would always cripple him. But in the end, he just had to keep moving forward no matter what.

Always forward, in one direction or another.

Never backwards. The past was back there, and he wasn't going there. The future, however uncertain, was all he had. What they all had. And they had the chance to make something of it, with Ellie's cure, and a part of Y/N thought about the change it would bring...

No matter how much it would scare him—

"Ow! The fuck was that for?" Y/N exclaimed, flinching back hard as he kept the reins in his hands steady.

A small pebble had hit him right in the shoulder. Rubbing at the target area, Y/N turned to his right to glare at Ellie, who was sat behind Joel on their horse, and smiling wide at him with that bashful, illuminating smile.

"There was a bug on your shoulder." Ellie said coyly, crossing her arms as Y/N's glare went and lit her up.

"Yeah?" Y/N's hand reached down to grab a similar ordinance. "Well stay still, I think I see a bug on your face." He had been prepared to throw it, finding a sense of smug satisfaction in the surprise and squirming look that soon appeared on Ellie's face.

"Enough."

But before he did, Joel's exhausted and down right tired voice — not from the lack of sleep, but of two, mainly the one rebel, that had caused havoc these past months — penetrated through the barrier of their own little world.

Soon enough their eyes settled on the brick walls, usual streets and abandoned cars ahead of them. But nothing had them more mesmerised than the university itself that stood before them.

It was a giant campus. Buildings upon buildings situated in rows. Excellently built and placed to be a feast upon one's eye.

Marvelled and structured, what a place it was.

Suddenly, the pebble in Y/N's hand was soon forgotten.

Passing the brick walls, Y/N brought his horse to a stop as he noticed Joel dropping down from his own. Ellie taking the reins as the older man searched among the wrecked cars for any and all supplies.

"Stay, Callus." Joel said, ruffling Callus's mane. "What kind of name is Callus, anyway?"

Ellie pursed her lips, watching as he went ahead. "Not my fault you forgot to ask Tommy his name."

"He is a he, right?" Y/N asked Ellie, with an eyebrow raised.

"What do you think?"

Y/N snorted, "I think you're scared to check."

"Pfftt, yeah right!" Ellie exclaimed, pulling on the reins as she patted Callus on his side of the saddle. "Callus is a he, aren't you boy?" She turned to face Y/N with a grin that warned him that whatever she had to say would either annoy him or fluster him. "Besides, he isn't packing light."

It took his brain a minute to catch up.

"....You're so weird, I swear."

Ellie's eyes lit up like a set of fireworks, just in time as Joel returned bearing said supplies. Back on his horse, the three of them entered into the university campus, Callus and the other's hooves clanking against the broken stone beneath.

"Me?" Ellie scoffed, turning her nose at him like one would at the rottenness of the world. "You're the weird one. Who calls a girl horse: Nightwing?

Failing to come up with a better comeback, Y/N found himself falling back on his baser instincts.

"Why don't you shut up?"

"Why don't you?"

Joel, who up until now was beginning to wear thin, decided to cut in before it was too late, "...You both fight like an old married couple." He snorted, more to himself, as he sensed the immediate silence and probable aghast looks.

But of course, Ellie was never one to go down without a fight.

She lifted her head to greet Joel with fire in her eyes, staring into the side of his head as far as she could go, "You got some experience with that, Joel?"

"No..."

"...I like Nightwing."

Ellie only rolled her eyes and shook her head in response, "You both suck."

Y/N glared from across the way, "You suck."

"Not as much as you."

"Clearly," Y/N followed her example and his eyes followed suit. "Says the girl that gushes over that Savage Starlight crap."

Ellie's stunned face was all he saw before he immediately ducked at an incoming pebble strike. Desperate not to be hit, he urged his horse forward and attempted to get out of her range.

"Y/N! You fucking take that back!"

"Ellie, Y/N, enough." Joel, ever the reasonable and calm guy, stopped them before it was too late. "We're here."

True enough, inside the perimeter of the university, they were in fact here...

"Finally." Y/N muttered as they urged their horses forward, stopping besides a building of sorts that had a garage. "Was starting to freeze over here with Mrs. Wonderland."

Ignoring his comment, Joel climbed down from Callus. "Stay here, I'm gonna check the inside."

They watched as Joel headed inside, vaulting up onto a platform situated in the garage, and onwards to find anything of use. For a couple minutes, the two teens sat on top their trusty steeds in silence. Only for Ellie to break it a second later, when her head turned Y/N's way, and flashed a smirk that had been him narrowing his eyes.

"You know," Ellie began, fiddling with the reins of Callus, "One of these days I'm gonna leave your ass behind with a group of clickers, then we'll see who's laughing."

Y/N took it in stride, snickering slightly. "Oh no, don't do that. Whatever would I do if the princess left me behind on my own."

It was strange kind of feeling, Y/N confessed. After so long being so self reserved and weary in his attempts. He was now more open. Not fully, but enough that it showed progress. A change that made him anxious, but in a silly way... it made him feel free?

Despite everything, he felt a load lifted off his shoulders, even if his trained mind kept his guard up.

"I'm so sick and tired of hearing that."

Y/N smiled a small one, bitting his lower lip, "Admit it, it's growing on you."

"Like a fucking weed." Ellie chuckled.

"....Okay, I walked into that one." Y/N rubbed at the back of his neck. His attention turned back to the garage door to find Joel returning. And on his back, he noticed what he assumed was a flamethrower.

'Holy shit.'

"I'm back." Joel announced, climbing back on Callus and away he went.

Ellie having given him the reins back. All while her gleefully voice pierced the air in a coo like allure, "Callus missed you. Didn't you, boy?"

Joel rasped out a cough, guiding Nightwing along as Callus took the lead.

"...I hate that name."

—

"Okay, none of these buildings look like a giant mirror."

Further into the campus, Ellie flatly gave away her observation which had Y/N rolling his eyes yet again.

"Great observation, Captain Obvious." Y/N said in that snarky tone of his.

Ellie chuckled, sending a mock glare in her fellow teen's direction, "Haha, screw you, First-Lieutenant Fuck Face." She scrunched her face up at her own comment. Seemingly thinking it was too far. But Y/N, he merely snorted. "So... Joel, any ideas?"

"Well..." Joel looked up ahead, eyes set on the buildings as he urged Callus forward. "We'll head to the central grounds. Should be able to see most of the campus grounds from there."

Callus and Nightwing vaulted over a set of barriers mirrored with barb wire. Urged by their riders, they took the command seriously.

Looking up, Ellie's eyes squinted at a yellow animal logo painted across a bricked building to their left. "That's a giant ram." She said idly. "You guys were like some idol worshippers

"When it comes to sports? Hell yeah."

Y/N pulled along side them. "Rams, Fireflies, lots of animals."

"Mhm." Ellie clicked her tongue, turning to Y/N. "You ever had any Fireflies in... you know?" She asked hesitantly, fluttering her eyes at him.

Months ago, he would've probably told her to mind her own fucking business.

Now...

"Nope." Y/N shook his head as they continued on their path. "Had these guys called the Scorpions though."

"Scorpions?" Ellie's deadpan tone of voice was mirrored by Joel's own face.

"...Yeah." Y/N explained. "Like the insect? Because of the eight legs and a tail. You cut off one of them and another will just keep it going. They... lasted a while."

Ellie hummed in thought, as Joel listened in, "What happened to them?"

Y/N's face seems to darkened, a shadow across his face, before he reined it in, "They didn't survive, at least from what I remember, when I left the Chicago Quarantine Zone."

"You know," Ellie pursed her lips, "You never told me how you ended up with... Rachel." Y/N seemed to tense at the name, but he didn't say anything. "She saved you. So... I'm guessing what made you leave wasn't good."

Y/N sat in silence for a minute as they continued on. Ellie wasn't expecting an answer, if she was being honest. He was always closed off in that area, and she understood why.

"Let's just say..." Y/N trailed off as they vaulted another barrier. "Chicago doesn't belong to the living anymore."

It was a chilling thought. Quarantine Zones falling one by one. They had seen it in their travels, and in Pittsburg.

Speaking of that city...

"...Like Pittsburgh?"

Y/N met Ellie's eyes, and she got her answer.

"...Like Pittsburgh."

—

"Hey, over there. Is that it?"

A building in the distance. Covered in rows upon rows of glass windows tinted to last. Ellie was spot on it, and it seems Tommy's description was correct.

"Huh, it does look like a giant mirror."

Y/N followed after Joel, the man leading them into a building through a destroyed wall that had given way.

"How many people do you think are there?" Ellie asked. "Fireflies, I mean."

Joel turned his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye, "Reckon it takes quite a crew to run that operation."

Ellie nodded, and turned, taking a look at Y/N. Forcing him to do the same, before back to Joel, "...Do you think there'll be other people my age?"

They were all thinking it.

Sam...

"Ah..." Joel trailed off as they approached a barred metal shutter ahead of them as they got deeper into the building. "I'm not sure."

"You can't be the only one immune." Y/N voiced his thoughts aloud. "I mean... you think there'd be more people like you."

Ellie smiled, somewhat between a grimace and a smirk, "Yeah, but who's to say they aren't adults."

"...True." Y/N said as Joel climbed down from Callus. "You ever meet any immune adults, Joel?"

Joel huffed, "No, 'afraid Ellie's my first immune. Kid or otherwise."

"Well that's a bummer." Ellie slumped in her seat, eyes trailing to the floor.

Y/N pulled along Callus, bringing Nightwing to a stop yet again. "Hey," he tried reassure her, even if he felt awkward and out of place to do it. "I'm sure... I'm sure they are more like you." He reached out to grab her shoulder, to pat it, but it dropped when she turned his way, that teasing smile on her face again.

"Who the fuck are you and where did Y/N go?"

Y/N grumbled, "Screw you..."

Ellie chuckled, the two of them unaware that Joel was watching them from the sidelines, waiting to go ahead. "...Thanks, Y/N. I... appreciate it."

The smile, it was worth being awkward and out of his element.

"...No problem, princess."

Ellie rolled her eyes, "Aaand you've ruined it."

Cough, cough.

The two teens were jumped out of their own little world yet again, as their gazes turned to Joel and suddenly their insides turned to mush from pure embarrassment.

"You two ready, or do you wanna hash out some love letters?"

Ellie's eyes lit up like fire once more, and turned her tongue of ash and smoke towards their protector with fiery words.

"...Fuck off, Joel."

Joel simply chuckled.

A/N: Merry Christmas!