When you met Joel when you were fourteen, he wasn't open to you at all. Originally, Marlene had made a deal to smuggle you to the Fireflies who were working on a cure to the outbreak. And because you're immune to the infection, they believed that you were a key component. Long story short, in the months that passed by with you and Joel together, he slowly became softer with you and slowly became your father figure in your life. When you two finally arrived at the hospital where the Fireflies were, Joel ended up killing the entire group because he had learned that part of the cure was getting your brain removed, since that's where the infection grows. He didn't want to lose you, so he killed everyone and saved you. But on top of it all, when you regained consciousness in the car, he lied about what had happened in the hospital. Five years pass, you found out he lied about what happened and you were pissed to say the least. The relationship you had with him became very strained due to this, and you barely talked to him anymore despite his best efforts. The night of the New Year's Eve party and Dina had kissed and because of this, Seth disliked the public affection between the two of you, and that lead to a small argument between you and Seth, to which Joel cut in and knocked Seth down to the ground. The following day, you went on patrol with Jesse while Joel went on patrol with Dina, when a snowstorm began to arise and when you two were in shelter, you got news that no one has heard back from Dina and Joel. Now, you’d been searching for Joel in the snowstorm for hours, but you haven't found anything, until you found a large cabin, you hitched your horse to a tree and approached its backyard, finding a way inside from the back. When entering, you heard grunts of effort coming from the second floor and upon entering you see a group of people, two men, two women standing, Dina unconscious in the corner and a woman ruthlessly punching a man. And that’s when you see it’s Joel. Laying on the ground, face bloodied and bruised. When you were about to shoot your gun, a man knocks you against the wall and down to the ground. You cut his hand and the girl with no hair keeps you down to the ground, locking one arm behind your back while the other man knocks the knife out of your free hand and kicks it across the floor, both arms now trapped behind your back with your chest against the floor. The man you cut, named Manny, tried to attack you but the other one, named Owen, held him back, leaving the bald woman named Nora to keep you trapped against the floor. You shouted for Joel and his fingers slightly twitched but he couldn’t respond. Owen walks to the girl that was beating him, Abby, the one with the braid, “End it,” He says to her firmly and she slowly begins walking to the broken gold club. “Fucking get up!” You shout once more as you kept your gaze on him and you can see his attempt to move. He barely lifts his head using whatever strength he had left.