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「 nineteen. In the place where I used to be
He almost looks like a human being
And here she comes walking down the street
Maddie Klein sure loves her little loving machine.」

A TRAIL OF CRIMSON TRAILED UP TO THE ABANDONED HOUSE THAT LIED IN THE CENTRE OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. It wasn't the most hidden of places to hide a bleeding out man, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Inside the house, deep in the garage, a blood-covered duvet sat in the corner of the room, metallic from the stains of crimson that each drop of blood had provided.

After the incident at the university, the two girls had been desperate to find somewhere out of harms reach, but the closest place appeared to be a desolate neighbourhood.

Joel Miller clenched his jaw, his arm shooting up to pull away the small blonde girl who applied pressure to his gaping wound. He watch helplessly as she attempted to control her breathing, only for it to come out in a mess of panicked pants.

"I know. I know. I know." She empathised, taking one of his hands in her own as she moved over, allowing Ellie to fall beside her and bandage the wound.

The brunette girl cursed as she stared at the void of overflowing blood that blossomed from the hole in his stomach.

"Joel," Lizzie breathed out, "you need to tell us what to do. Please, tell us what to do."

"leave."

His voice was raspy and consumed with agony as he accepted the fate that had been bestowed upon him. There was no escaping the destiny he faced, he knew that, but he didn't want to the image to scar their minds for eternity. "Leave."

Ellie scoffed, her hair falling in front of her eyes as she continued to pressurise the wound. "Shut up, Joel!"

The man didn't listen, grabbing on Lizzie's white top and pulling her toward him. His demanding brown eyes stared deep into her crazed blue ones, the harsh contrast of light and dark shining noticeably. "Leave."

"Joel, shut the fuck up!" Lizzie barked, faltering when the man ragged her forward again. "Go." He choked out. "Both of you. Go North. Tommy." He nodded, his chin quivering sadly as he pushed her away, "I'm sorry."

He pushed her back forcefully, causing her to fall back into Ellie. They stared at him in defeat, unaware of what to do in the situation.

After a moment, Lizzie stood up.

She exhaled slowly—freeing her innocence and youth with a final departure by inhaling a new sense of ruthlessness and courage.

Joel Miller would not die—Lizzie would not allow it.

Ellie watched hopelessly as Lizzie picked up Joel's jacket, laying it over him as though it were a blanket. The man gazed up at her, his expression overflowing with emotion as he stared at her.

For a moment, she sat before him, debating her options. Then she leaned down, placing her head against his chest and leaving him with the tender words, "you promised to come back to me, cowboy. So I'll come back to you."

Then she rose, turning to Bellamy. She stroked his fur gently—the black vest still embracing him from the cold as he nestled beside Joel protectively. "You gonna take care of him, hm?" She cooed under her breath, the words falling deaf amongst Ellie and Joel's ears.

Slowly, she picked up her backpack, turning to Ellie with her hand outstretched. With a concerned glance to Joel, Ellie placed her hand in Lizzie's, interlocking their bloodied finger as the blonde led them towards the crooked staircase.

There was nothing Joel could do to prevent them
From leaving, however, he could sense that neither would simply go just because him told them to. They were far too stubborn for that, and maybe that's what Joel adored about them.

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Late May of twenty-twenty three.
Boston quarantine zone, Massachusetts.

THE HONEY-COLOURED KISS OF SUNSET GLISTENED OVER THE CITY OF BOSTON, meeting the gaze of an awe-struck Elizabeth Dean as she stood on the lid of an empty garbage bin.

Summer had hit Boston like a wave, encasing it in a refreshing summery breeze despite the chaos under the never-ending sky.

The glow of the golden haze shone in Lizzie's eyes as she stared up at it in wonder, fascinated by the essence of radiant beauty and femininity the sunset possessed.

Had the body of an unconscious girl not rested next to her, it may've been the most tranquil moment she'd experienced in the last year or two.

Lizzie almost jumped out of her skin when the body let out a groan, rolling onto their stomach as they did so.

In Lizzie's defence, standing opposite a FEDRA student with a worn out stop-sign near by, she couldn't take her chances. However, she felt bad leaving the teenager on the roof of an abandoned ally and decided to take her with her.

The person—a girl, actually. She was tall, slim, and her almond skin now adorned a red mark from where the sign had collided with her head.

She clutched the side of her head, looking around in disorientation for a moment, her eyes widening as she focused on the girl beside her.

"Hi." Lizzie grinned, watching the girl yelp in surprise, accidentally rolling off of the bin and landing on the floor.

The girl groaned again, lifting a hand up to her head and wondering if the manic laughter she heard was simply an illusion of her mind.

"Holy shit." Lizzie laughed, leaning over the bin to look down at girl.

After a moment of collecting herself, the girl squinted her eyes at Lizzie. "What the fuck?"

"What?"

"You hit me with a sign!" The girl pulled herself into a sitting position, her eyes wide and her mouth agape as she looked at the girl.

Lizzie tilted her head at the girl, an offended look crossing over her face. "Well, I wouldn't have to if you didn't—"

"What? If I didn't look at you?" The girl scoffed, raising an eyebrow at the blonde. She watched the blonde girl sit cross-legged on the bin, whilst she sat below.

Lizzie clicked her tongue, raising her eyebrows at the girl. "You didn't look at me, you glared at me. And besides, you're from FEDRA, anyway."

"Wait-" the older girl faltered, "-you're not from FEDRA?"

Lizzie laughed as though what the girl said was bizarre. "Fuck no, who'd you think I am—am i a fuckin' FEDRA guard? My god." Lizzie shook her head.

The girl stood up, watching as the glow of the sun shadowed behind the strange girl, highlighting her blonde hair as she stood before her. "Well, I don't know who you are, smartass."

Lizzie hummed, jumping down from the bin. "I don't go giving my name to strange FEDRA girls on a daily basis, you know."

The girl scoffed. "Don't call me a FEDRA girl. Do I look like a fascist dickbag?"

Lizzie shrugged. "Looks can be deceiving." She walked in front of the girl, "but I've never met a FEDRA girl who didn't like FEDRA." She hummed, inspecting over the girl.

"They're all a bunch of fucking cunts, that's why. They hang people for shit, it's them who should be suffering." The girl said bitterly.

Lizzie narrowed her eyes slightly at the girl. She hadn't recruited anybody in the past week, but she assumed Marlene wouldn't mind the extra recruit.

Noticing Lizzie's silence, the girl let out a humorous scoff. "What? You some firefly, or some crazy shit?"

When Lizzie simply stared back, the girl's jaw dropped slightly. "You're a firefly!"

"Well, you don't have to yell it."

"Oh, shit, sorry-" the girl lowered her voice, "-you're a firefly!"

Lizzie nodded. "Mhm. . . Do you wanna join?"

The girl's mouth fell open for a minute, looking at the blonde as though she were insane. "Wait—really?"

Lizzie nodded, "yeah." The other girl went silent, debating her choices as she looked at the empty streets nearby. "okay?"

"Good." Lizzie grinned, taking the girls hand in a handshake. "I'm Elizabeth Dean."

The girl shook Lizzie's hand hesitantly, as though extremely conflicted as she looked back and forth. "My name's Riley. Riley Abel."

"Well, come on, Riley Abel." Lizzie gestured for the girl to follow behind her as she walked. Curiously, the older girl asked, "Where are we going?"

"To Marlene."

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Late June of twenty-twenty three
Boston quarantine zone, Massachusetts

"SO, REMIND ME WHY WE'RE DOING THIS AGAIN." Lizzie groaned, a crowbar in her grip as she endlessly smashed the tool against the metal of the grey machine that sat in an abandoned arcade.

In front of her, Riley placed a hand over her head, obviously exhausted with the machine. "It's a surprise for my friend, remember."

"Oh-" Lizzie grinned teasingly, "-cause you wanna impress your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend, Liz." Riley corrected, "she's just special." She shrugged, a rosy blush coating over her cheeks for a moment.

Lizzie laughed at the girl's expression. "You like her."

"Shut up." Riley rolled her eyes, turning back to the machine.

Over the course of forty-five days, Lizzie and Riley became friendly with one another—taking comfort where comfort could never be provided.

Riley was sixteen years old, almost seventeen in the near month, meaning she was over two and a half years older than Lizzie, who was born in the mid-June of two-thousand-and-nine.

Despite Lizzie having been with the fireflies much longer than Riley had, the older girl had taken a somewhat older sister role to the blonde. Marlene allowed them to go on errands together, allowing them time to bond with one another.

Riley had told Lizzie about her time at FEDRA—specifically her time with a young girl around the same age as Lizzie. Lizzie watched curiously as Riley practically glowed as she talked about the girl, simply entranced by her.

Riley had tried to convince Marlene to allow her friend to join, but the woman remained stubborn, denying her request. Marlene had even denied the plea when Lizzie had asked. Lizzie couldn't understand what difference one girl could make, but Marlene remained careless.

Instead, Marlene decided it would be best to send Riley to a base in Atlantic City, meaning she'd no longer have anyway of communicating with her friend. Obviously startled by the news, Riley had confided in Lizzie, who had suggested having one last night with her friend, to which Riley had decided to go with the place Marlene had stationed her at—The Mall.

Unfortunately, Riley hadn't a clue how to break open the machine storing dozen's of coins Riley and her friend could use at the arcade, so she brought Lizzie to help her do so.

"Riley, it wont fucking open." Lizzie complained, using the crowbar to hit the machine. Riley grumbled, taking the crowbar from her. "Cause you're not doing it right, idiot."

Riley jammed the crowbar into the machine, gesturing for Lizzie to help her as she did so.

After an hour of pulling endlessly at the machine, it finally burst open, leaking piles of money. "Okay, now help me put the money back." Riley instructed, picking up the endless piles of coins and placing them back into the slots.

"Back?" Lizzie scoffed, raising an eyebrow. "I know we haven't just done this for an hour just to put it back!"

Riley rolled her eyes. "It's all quarters and shit. Nothing import—oh wait, shit, that reminds me, have you got a dollar I could borrow?"

Lizzie's mouth fell open. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"There's money right there."

"No but I need a note. Please?"

Lizzie clicked her tongue. "This is my last one as well. You owe me now, dickhead." She reached into the pocket of her jeans, pulling out a dollar bill and throwing it at the girl.

"Wont forget it, Lizzie." The older girl grinned, shoving the crumpled money into her pocket.

Lizzie scoffed, rolling her eyes and looking through the arcade. "Cant believe Marlene stationed you here. Fuckin' crazy." She mumbled, picking up her backpack and walking through the neon shop.

Riley followed after her, a grimace on her face. "Yeah, it's not that bad though. There's a Halloween shop over there," as they exited the shop, she pointed to the store, "it's got some cool stuff in there. Wanna check it out?"

Lizzie nodded, following beside the girl as she led them into the Halloween store. It was filled with supernatural masks, costumes, and items.

One that caught Lizzie's eye in particular happened to be a purple cushion storing a skeleton head. Above it, the sign read, 'ask Skeleseer a question. . .
and shake for your fortune."

Lizzie picked it up, almost dropping it as she thought she had witnessed a spider run by. Riley walked over with a grin, noticing the way the younger girl freaked out at the sight of the bug.

"Look at this," Lizzie gestured to the skull, "looks like you." She chuckled when Riley pushed her away in fake annoyance, then turned back to the skull. She shook it back and forth for a couple of moments, asking, "are we gonna die today?"

She looked back to the skull, frowning when nothing happened. "Nothing." She turned to Riley, placing it back down on the cushion.

Riley rolled her eyes, picking it up and dropping it back into Lizzie's hands. "You gotta turn it over, genius."

"Oh." Lizzie realised, turning it upside down and reading from the bottom of it. "Seems dreadfully unlikely. Ah," she cheered, "what a relief."

Riley nudged her over. "Okay, my turn." She picked up the skull, shaking it the way Lizzie had previously done whilst asking, "will Lizzie ever stop sucking at poker?"

"I can hear you, you know, and I don't suck at poker!" Lizzie defended, giving the older girl an offended glance.

Riley simply hummed, shaking the skeleton head and looking at the words underneath. "The signs aren't clear." She read out, "ah, there's still hope for you."

Lizzie rolled her eyes at the girl, moving to the entrance of the shop when she noticed the darkness of night cast over the Boston Sky.

"Okay. well, I've got to go, or Marlene's gonna drag her ass out here and take me back." She sighed, "come see me tonight before you leave—unless you and your girlfriend are busy." She raised her eyebrows suggestively, to which Riley attempted to throw the skull at her. "Get outta here, loser."

Lizzie laughed, flipping her off as she left the store. "Tonight or tomorrow morning, bitch!"

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late December of twenty-twenty three.
the abandoned house, Wyoming.

THE DOOR OPENED WITH A THUNDERING SLAM, revealing an awfully annoyed Elizabeth Dean as she endlessly searched the house for any medical supplies she could find.

Recklessly, she threw the draws that were neatly tucked in their desks, cracking them amongst the floor. At the sound of the noise, Ellie ran into the room, not bothering to question what Lizzie had done and deciding simply to carry on searching.

Ellie knelt to the floor, her eyes catching sight of a small green thread attached to a shiny needle. "This'll work, right?" Her hands trembled as she held up the item, her breaths quick and frantic.

Lizzie nodded, practically throwing herself after Ellie as the girl sprinted down the stairs.

The basement door swung open as the two almost fell down the stairs, dropping down beside the man and pulling back the jacket.

Beside Joel, Bellamy's head lay protectively over his chest, as though willing to eliminate any harm Joel would come to face.

As the two girl's dropped beside him, Joel shivered noticeably, his eyes tightly shut and his breathing became uneven.

Lizzie felt her chest ache as she looked at him, an undeniable sense of hopelessness infiltrated her thoughts as she tenderly clutched his hand. She could feel the sickly dampness of blood that coated his fingers as he squeezed her hand back lightly.

Lizzie looked to Ellie, nodding her head gently as a sign for Ellie to move any fabric away from Joel's stab wound so that nothing would be able to make it anymore painful than it would already be.

Lizzie bit her cheek as she watched Ellie pull back the cotton rag, her eyes turning wide as she gazed upon the amount of dark red liquid that oozed out from the wound.

Gently, Ellie began to wipe away any and all of the blood, trying not to gag as she felt the liquid deep into her fingers, staining the sides of her fingernails.

Lizzie leaned towards Ellie for a moment before the girl could begin. "You can do this, okay? And you can do it for Joel, and for me, and we are both so fuckin' proud of you, ponytail."

Ellie looked at the girl, nodding her head as she listened to her words. She could've asked Lizzie to stitch Joel up instead, she knew that. and she knew Lizzie would've agreed in a heartbeat.

Yet some underlying sense of worthiness influenced her actions. Joel and Lizzie were skilled and powerful, as was she of course. However, she felt the need to prove herself to them both—to appear collected and courageous.

Stitching up Joel's wound may've appeared to be a task that hadn't required much skill, but as the blonde beside her stared at her with a proud gleam in her eyes, she felt as though she were special. She liked the knowledge of Lizzie's eyes praising her with a hypnotic gaze as she accomplished the things she did, it was something she'd like to get used to.

With a nod, Ellie turned back to Joel's wound, taking a deep exhale as she picked up the needle and thread.

Gingerly, Lizzie laced one of Joel's hands through her own, rubbing her thumb over his hand calmly—creating an illusion of tranquility to disguise the overpowering pain he would soon endure.

With a wince, Ellie stuck the needle through Joel's skin. He groaned loudly, his hand tightening around Lizzie's as the younger girl attempted to comfort him.

When Ellie began faltering, Lizzie placed her hand over Ellie's back, a small gesture that proved successful as the girl regained her even breaths.

The two girl's watched as Joel's head lolled to the side, an overbearing sense of trepidation building inside of them at the sight.

Joel Miller wouldn't die that night—that was for certain. Elizabeth Dean would raise hellfire before allowing Joel to slip from her grasp, as she would had it been Ellie or Bellamy.

The world would burn in a blaze of orange and amber as smoke poisoned the atmosphere, hungry flames devouring anything in sight. Pandemonium would embrace the earth in agonised screams and at the heart of it all, Elizabeth Dean would watch with a golden smile.

☼

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I love Ellie and Lizzie so much istg

Anyway the David episode comes out in like three hours for me so that's just brill but I'm nervous for Ellie. The winter arc was my favourite part of the game though tbh. And for anybody who's not played the game or seen the gameplay, David is an absolute weirdo— just a warning.

Also I wrote this chapter whilst watching titanic so now I'm fighting the temptation to write a jack Dawson fic lmao

But speaking of fics if any of u have any good Ellie books or decided to write an ellie book pls recommend I need some more I love them.

ALSO THANK U FOR 50k UR ALL AMAZING