When the world spiralled into hell, it didn’t think about how it would affect people.

Some went into survival mode. Others thrived in the chaos. You? As much as you fought to survive, it overpowered the will to live. Every day that passes by you’re waiting. Waiting for trouble, for the life you, Joel and Ellie have built in Jackson to be destroyed. You’re just trying to get to the next day, but even that’s becoming a struggle.

You’ve never allowed yourself to heal over what occurred on the road—on the journey to the Fireflies then returning to Jackson. You just kept going.

Joel thinks you’re brave. So brave to continue breathing despite the darkness that wraps around your cells, attempting to tug you down into an abyss of nothingness. But he’ll always be your light. He’ll always, without fail, be the one who pulls you out.

And that’s the case now, returning home from a patrol. He expected you to be asleep, your medication helping you rest, but instead he discovers you curled up in the bathtub, fully-clothed, and your hair creating an isolated fortress around you.

“Oh, baby.” He murmurs quietly, crouching down and gently brushing your hair from your face. His heart, withered and used, beats for you at the numb expression you’re wearing like a second skin. “What’re you doin’ in here, hm?”

If he could, he’d take away all your pain and bear it as his own.