VILLAINESS [TWD]

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Initially, there was only bliss.

Sweet, loving, pure, long-awaited bliss.

Pope threw a celebration for Anna and Ellie- plus Josh. Josh was quickly taken under the wing of Brandon and Pope. Anna and Ellie were living their happy ending.

There wasn't a group meeting the girlfriends didn't have their arms around each other.

There wasn't a middle of the night watch shift the two shared that didn't lead to kisses under the moonlight and sweet nothings.

There were dinners skipped by the couple as they stayed in their bedroom or isolated vehicle for the night- only indulging themselves in each other.

But.. Anna knew it was far from the end. And the happiness.. it was temporary.

It started a week after they found each other. Anna mentioned that they should go back and find Maggie and Hershel. Ellie started a fight and swore that couldn't happen. Not yet.

Anna let it go for the time being.

Another few weeks passed and Anna brought it up once more after Ellie woke up from a nightmare- screaming Glenn's name.

Maggie deserved to know that Ellie was alive. After all they've been through, Ellie owed her mother that much.

Leah attempted to get Anna into a routine with her. She told Anna stories about she and Ellie's past few years on the road. How they found each other in rough circumstances and helped each other through it. Anna hated how she never really said how and when they met- more so focusing on the state of emotions they were in.

Ellie promised that Maggie knew she was alive. She had to. She left those tracks behind for that reason. Anna reminded her that the tracks were cold. They have been ever since Ellie found the Reapers. Ellie brushed it off and Anna dropped the subject for fear of angering her girlfriend.

Josh moved up the rankings and became a stronger fighter. He and Ellie trained together under Brandon's cue and they never looked stronger. Brandon was a character on his own. Anna refused to stay in the same room as him for more than twenty minutes. Especially never just the two alone. She couldn't express why she didn't trust him. She was just wary.

The day Josh approached his sister with a skull mask of his own.. Anna knew things weren't right.

She couldn't keep pushing the anxiety away. 

The reapers were pushy. But, Ellie loved them like family. Anna liked that Ellie had a support system, but.. this one wasn't right. There was just something off about the way Brandon took jokes too far. The way Leah made it seem she knew more about Ellie than Anna- the girl's own girlfriend. The way Pope was just.. too invested in what was happening in everyone's heads.

It was that same night that it all seemed to fall apart.

Anna walked into her and Ellie's bedroom. Ellie was in the bathroom- talking. She didn't pay much attention. Ellie had a habit of murmuring to herself in a lost daydream. Especially when she was coming up with song lyrics. That was until she heard Ellie ask her 'dad' a question.

She pushed the bathroom door open a little. Ellie was sitting in an empty bathtub, talking to the wall.

"Brandon said this 'Meridian' place has a good amount of people.. But, we can take them," Ellie said into the void.

Anna tilted her head and just watched her girlfriend. Was she losing it?

"No, Dad, of course not. Brandon saw some of their people. One matched Rick's description perfectly, so.. I mean, it has to be them, right?"