.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

The morning light stretched longer shadows across the forest, chasing away the last traces of night. The wind howled between the trees, the leaves whispering around her. It should have made Stella shiver, but she was already so numb, she barely noticed.

The Grimes girl sat leaning against a tree, her fingers fiddling with a slumped and dull-looking daisy, her vision blurring as she stared at the flower. What once was so beautiful, now looked almost lifeless.

The night had been a thick, suffocating fog of silence except for the occasional sound of the dead, reminding Stella that Beth wasn't one of them. She was just gone. Completely.

Her stomach twisted and she hunched forward, crashing into a loud sob as her hand clutched over her heart. Everything ached. The memories, the regrets, the sight of Beth's lifeless corpse.

The sobs tore through her, raw and unforgiving, echoing into the emptiness around her. Stella clenched the daisy tighter in her trembling fingers, its fragile stem bending, then snapping. And something inside the girl did the same.

She sucked in a deep breath, attempting to pull herself together but it was useless. The weight of everything pressed down on her as if she was being crushed under the rubble of it all. Her chest tightened, every harsh breath burning inside her.

She hadn't seen Beth since the fall of the prison and had gotten used to clinging to that small string of hope that she was still alive after she split up from Daryl and Levi. Now, there was no hope to latch into.

Beth was one of the few things still good in this world. She was warm, gentle, and too pure for the foul world that surrounded them. She had fallen victim of the cruelty in it and Stella couldn't bear the thought that the person who had ended Beth's life was already dead. With one quick painless shot in the dead. It wasn't fair. She doesn't get to get away that easy after what she did.

Stella spun her head around at the sound of leaves rustling behind her, the familiar groan of a walker approaching her. She sucked in a deep breath, dropping the flower to the ground before she shakily stood up. She was too drained, and exhausted after the day prior she didn't even attempt to do anything about the walker, strolling behind her. She made her way through the forest to where the group had put up camp.

Most of the members of the group had taken off to go to Noah's old home in hopes of finding someplace to settle down. Her father had left along with them, promising his children that he'd be back.

Stella made her way through the forest, reaching their camp when she finally killed the walker. The camp was quiet, still, and almost lifeless, like something had been torn from it leaving it in the abyss of silence. Most people who had stayed back while the others were either mourning for themselves or out scavenging. The only members in sight was Levi who sat with Carl and Judith. The two boys looked up when the leaves under Stella's boots rustled, their expressions tightening at the sight of her.

The girl walked to one of the cars, tossing her weapons and holster inside it like everything was weighing her down. She then silently sank down on one of the logs by the car as she began to tie her shoes. The camp was insufferably quiet, the thoughts in her head making too much noise. She needed to get out, find Ellie, do something - anything but stay there.

The gnawing pit in Stella's stomach tightened, her breath hitching as she reached to grab the shoelaces, two different colors, one stained pink and one white, one on each shoe. Beth had made her switch one of hers with her since Stellas apparently were "too boring", all white, and that way she would always have a piece of Beth with her.

Stella's hands trembled as she attempted to suppress the memories, her eyes glossing. Beth should be there, scolding her for never tying the shoes and then laughing at her later when she inevitably tripped over them. Her chest tightened, another sob tearing through the silence in the camp as her fingers weakly tried to tie them.

A shadow loomed over her. Levi crouched down in front of her without saying a word. Instead, he just stared at the girl's trembling hands that fumbled with the boots. The girl didn't move and he took that as permission and gently placed his hands over hers, carefully putting them in her lap before he began to tie her shoes.

"There," He said in a low voice once he was done, his hands carefully moving to her ankles. His touch was light and his dark eyes stared up at her for a moment as she tried to gather herself. She inhaled shakily, her hand quickly wiping off the single tear that rolled down her cheek.

"Thank you," Stella breathed. For once she could finally draw a deep breath, the tightness in her chest loosening slightly. A smile danced over Levis's lips and he slowly dragged his hands over to her knees, his thumbs drawing lazy patterns on them. Stella felt her body relax under his touch and her gaze flickered down on his. The ghost of what looked like a smile brushed over her face and the sides of the boy's mouth tugged up.

"I- I'm gonna go find Ellie," Stella said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Levi nodded, understanding. "You want me to come?"

The girl shook her head. "No, I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

She nodded and the boy looked hesitant before he wrapped his hands around hers. "Be careful." He stood up, still holding onto Stella's hands as he assisted her to her feet before placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head, a quiet reminder that he was there for her. The girl gave his hands a quick squeeze before she walked off. Levi lingered at the spot behind the car for a moment, his eyes following her until she was out of sight.

______

Stella wandered mindlessly, going deeper into the forest. It was still, quiet, and almost peaceful if it weren't for the heavyweight clutching to Stella's shoulders.

Something inside her had changed. The hope that she had felt had vanished, crumbled into something that was crushing her from within. People died around them all the time. Funerals were almost a daily thing and Stella thought that she had learned to adjust, learned to be strong. But this time, she couldn't be.

Stella heard the distant groan of a walker and her pace slowed, looking around. She stepped out from between two trees, stepping into an open area when she saw the source of the sound- a walker trapped under a fallen tree with its rips crushed but still fighting to move. But it wasn't the walker that made Stella's heart stop and her breath catch in her throat. It was the sight of Ellies exposed wrist on display in front of the dead. Her head leaned down, tears streaming down her face.

Stella didn't think. She lunged forward, but as if triggered by her movement, the walker suddenly tore itself partially free. Its decayed lower half remained wedged beneath the tree, but its upper body surged forward, arms reaching, teeth snapping.

Ellie, whose attention had shifted to Stella, shriek at the wight of the walker shooting on top of her. 

Stella's legs were moving on their own. She raced to the girl, her hands wrapping around her knife. The walker was fighting against Ellie's grip, desperately biting the air and slowly getting closer to dig its teeth into her flesh.

The Grimes girl pierced her knife through the skull of the walker and shoved it off the girl beneath as hastily as possible before kneeling down in front of her.

Ellie's eyes were widened to their limits, her chest heaving. She let out a few ragged breaths as she stared panicked at the dead walker beside her.

"Oh my God, are you hurt? Did it get you?" Stella panted, her voice almost breaking. Ellie shook her head, a loud relieved breath escaping her lips, soon transforming into a quiet sob.

The girl's frame trembled and she let out a shaky breath, her throat raw from screaming. "N-no."

Stella crumbled in tears, her shaky hands traveling up Ellie's arms, her eyes raking her, searching for any signs of injuries. "Sweetie, what-" Her eyes rimmed with tears. "What the hell were you trying to do?"

Ellie didn't respond, instead, a loud sob tore from her throat. She pressed her palm against her chest, her heart racing inside. She wanted to speak but her words tangled themselves in her throat, stealing her ability to breathe.

"Oh, Ellie.." Stella's words came out as a low whisper, her voice trembling under the weight of what she had just witnessed. She didn't want to believe what she had seen, Ellies exposed wrist lingering in front of the walker's snapping teeth.

She pulled the girl into a tight embrace, unable to control the tears that trickled down her face. Ellie crashed into her arms, burying her face in Stella's shoulder to muffle her sobs.

"Baby, don't ever-" Stella sniffled. "I can't lose you too."

Ellie trembled in her arms, her sobs quieting but her breath still uneven, still gasping like she couldn't quite fill her lungs. Stella's heart ached to the point where crying stung in her eyes. "I've got you," She whispered, her chin resting on the top of Ellie's head.

"I can't-" The girl sobbed and Stella physically felt her heart shatter. "Everyone's gone.."

Stella rocked back and forth a little. "I know, baby. I miss them too," she admitted in a broken whisper. In between her silent cries she desperately tried to string together fragments of words to sentences, anything to give the younger girl any sense of comfort, hope -anything. "I know you're hurting, but we're still here. And we need you. I need you. Maggie needs you."

A broken sob clawed its way out of Ellie's chest and Stella instinctively tightened her grip on her. She brushed damp strands of hair away from Ellie's face, cupping her cheek with one hand while keeping her other arm around her. "I love you so much, Ellie."

The girl looked up at her, her eyes red and sore. She tried to say something, struggling against her cries. Stella brushed her thumb over her cheek, wiping off a few tears before pulling her closer. Letting her rest against her as she tried to gather herself.

_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟐 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

𝐀/𝐍
Ellie is my baby:(