𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐜 ☀︎︎ 𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒙 𝒐𝒄

Heavy Weights

{tw: none!}

Ellie didn't come back for a long time. Renae couldn't sleep, she couldn't think. After hour three Renae was getting more and more worried. Was she dead? Was she kidnapped and was she never coming back? The thoughts raced in her head as she paced in front of the door. Jesse slept more, but he even woke up and Ellie still wasn't back. The atmosphere was tense, and they both felt something was wrong.

But around four hours later there were gentle knocks at the door, and a shaky voice.

"It's me." The voice said. Renae instantly knew. She ran up and quickly took the chair off of the handles, tossing it aside to get the door open as quickly as she could.

Ellie was shaky, and looked like hell. Blood was covering every inch of her, and she trembled like a scared puppy, breathing heavily. Renae gently touched her arms, pulling the girl into a hug.

"Ellie." Renae breathed out all of the pent up fear, knowing now that her girlfriend was returned. "Are you okay?" Renae asked. It was like Ellie wasn't there. Her mind was somewhere else.

Jesse looked at the girl as well. "Christ. Is that your blood?" He asked. Renae hadn't even thought about where or who the blood belonged to. She didn't want to.

Ellie still hadn't said anything. But she pulled out the map, looking more bloodied than the last time Renae saw it. When she opened it up, she could see the tremor in Ellie's hands. With few shaky breaths, Ellie finally began to speak while pointing to the map.

"She's hiding out here.. In this aquarium." She said, her beautiful voice quivering. This is when Renae knew she had to step in. Ellie needed to calm down and think rationally, which she wasn't.

Renae placed her hands over Ellie's, and closed the map. "Okay. Let's go and clean you up." Renae said quietly, handing the map to Jesse. Ellie just looked spaced out again, but still nodded. Renae placed a hand on Jesse's shoulder, which seemed to give him the right message. He nodded, and sat on the couch, keeping watch.

Renae took Ellie backstage, into a dressing room. She left the girl alone while she went and found a cloth, alcohol, and grabbed water from a bucket of rain water that had been collecting outside. When she walked back into the dressing room, she could tell how fragile Ellie was. She was breathing heavily, and always looking nowhere. So Renae knew she was going to have to take care of Ellie as best as she could.

"Arms up." Renae said, gesturing to the shirt Ellie had, covered in blood and sweat. Ellie didn't even make a witty comment or anything. She just quietly began to take her shirt off by grabbing the back of the neckline. But she was in pain. She winced as she pulled, but Renae grabbed it from the bottom and slid it up the rest of the way.

In any other situation, Renae would have freaked out. But now wasn't the time to even think about fangirling. She had to clean all of the wounds on Ellie's back. Her beautiful back. She sat down behind Ellie, and quietly began to wipe the blood away with the cloth. With the first swipe, Ellie let out an exasperated breath, like she had been holding it in for years. Renae didn't say anything, letting Ellie focus on her breathing.

"I made her talk." Ellie said. Which made Renae's world crash down a little. She knew exactly who Ellie was talking about, and she could only imagine what Ellie had done to get her to that point. As she said those words, Ellie put her hands to her mouth, like she couldn't believe what she herself had done.

"It's okay." Renae said quietly. Was it though? Was she okay? Was she gonna be able to sleep tonight and not see them laying dead around her? Renae pushed the thought aside, rubbing Ellie's back gently. She wrapped her arms around Ellie's neck, loosely hanging them as she slowly kissed Ellie's shoulder.

"I don't want to lose you." Ellie breathed out, holding Renae's arm with her shaky hands. Renae sighed onto Ellie's shoulder.

"You won't." Renae said as she kissed the back of Ellie's neck. Ellie seemed to calm slightly with her touches. Renae continued to clean her back, and put some alcohol on the larger wounds. Ellie didn't say much the rest of the night.

"I love you Ellie." Renae said quietly as she laid next to the girl on two ottomans pushed together. She didn't know if Ellie was even awake at this point.

"Do you mean that?" Ellie asked quietly. Renae pushed a piece of hair behind the girls ear.

"Yes. I've never meant something more." Renae quietly spoke, leaning in closer to Ellie.

Ellie leaned in closer, touching their foreheads together.

"Thank you." Ellie said, before quietly pulling their lips together. The kiss wasn't intense, it wasn't steamy. It was a kiss that said a million words, it was a kiss of gratitude. A kiss they both needed. A kiss saying they were in this together, until the end. It lasted a long while, and when the kiss was over, Ellie quickly fell asleep. Renae did not.

She stayed awake, thinking about all of her old friends. What had lead them to kill Joel? Why did it have to be them? Why? She had so many questions, none of which could be answered anytime soon or even ever at this rate. She just needed to know why.

Before she felt herself fall asleep she shed tears. One for Alissa, one for Joel, one for each of the salt lake crew that had passed so far, and one for each one that was still alive. Guilt was eating her conscience, and one thought even crossed her mind. If she hadn't left them, would she also be a target? Would Ellie be on the hunt for her?

She didn't sleep much that night after all.

__________
shrub speaks!

damn that's such a heavy burden