paradisa | (no subject)

[ Of course, the initial call of her name takes her attention, but the voice that calls? The familiarity is both distant, yet right in front of her. It's been over a year, has she lost her mind? ]

[ The immediate thought of who that voice belongs to makes her want to deny it completely, old memories coming back to haunt her and causing her throat to burn. ]

[ Another thought passes-- Tess is here too... ]

Wh--

[ She takes a shaken breath, eyes staring at her journal and wondering if she really is going insane or just dreaming. Ellie looks to her arm, still scarred and speaking the words of a traumatic memory. ]

...

[ But she swallows whatever feelings she has, eyebrows furrowing as she opens her mouth to speak. She could be wrong. Maybe there are other Ellies in other worlds or... Something. ]

R...

Riley?

Somebody sounds new.

[Totally keeping this spoken because mmmm, that delicious fear.]

[There's the voice she was expecting. It's faint-- distant-- but it's there. She has to swallow a lump in her throat, close her eyes, just take another breath.]

Ellie.

[She's opening her eyes again, looking around. So this wasn't a shitty building, for one. She knew for a god damn fact there weren't any interior decorating this pristine. Soldiers wished they had it this good, and the fireflies could only gut places like this.

She'd chalk it up to some sort of afterlife, but this felt all too real. Wasn't she beginning to lost it? Her mind felt far too clear to be hallucinating. She didn't feel warm, she didn't feel... hungry...]

Where are we?

[Riley asks the question quietly as if Ellie's right there next to her, who gave a fuck whether or not she couldn't see her. Call her crazy. This was the one thing keeping her from losing it so fast before; why not cling to familiarity?]

Edited 2014-04-01 22:28 (UTC)

[ Ellie's eyes go wide enough to practically fall out of their sockets, she puts her hand over her mouth, a painful lump forming in the back of her throat. It's... It's her. ]

Holy shit.

[ The last time she saw her... The last she even spoke to her... It involved a gun. It involved a gun and a goodbye, and yet here she is. Ellie has to take a good few minutes to gather herself just to keep herself from panicking, and she can barely focus with her heart pounding as fast as it is. ]

We're...

Oh my god--

Where are you? I'll explain it when... I just...

I have to see you.

[That's... not a voice she's heard before. And yeah, that apprehension? Totally fear. That's what you get for living in a post-apocalyptic world where nearly every adult male is an insufferable bastard and untrustworthy...]

Who is this.

Yeah.

[It's all she can choke out for the time being. She's busy trying to make sense of everything. What she felt, last she remembered, the involuntary control of her own body, everything going black-- and now this.]

I don't know where I am. Some room, in some place I know we've never been before. [She looks down, not thinking anything of the open book nearby, and instead, looking at that certain... reminder between her fingers.

It just looks scarred over, but the way her face twists at the sight would have anyone think her hand was about to fall off the bone. She closes her eyes again.]

I take it we're not in any danger.

If you are new, I don't think I should bother telling you yet. You might not believe me, and you'll be much easier to convince once you've learned a little more about how this place works.

Until then, you may call me Pitch Black.

[Tess will just be eavesdropping on Riley and Ellie's conversation for now. Furtively washing dishes and all, not listening at allllll, nope.

[ Ellie, meanwhile, is quickly getting herself out the door and on her way through the castle. Without even a word to Joel and Tess. ]

Yeah... Yeah, we're safe here. I know it seems like total bullshit, but I need you to open the door to whatever room you're in and give me the number.

Nothing's out there. No infected, no hunters or soldiers, I promise.

[ She's panting, it's obvious that she's running and rushing to get to her. All she can do is keep going, regardless of the disbelief and utter fear that resides in her. It's not fear of Riley, but fear of the general arrival. How is she supposed to handle this? How did Joel handle Tess suddenly being alive again? All Ellie can think about is the way Riley had looked when she'd finally turned... When her eyes glazed over with that yellow film, the fungus slowly seeping through her pores and building a hardened shell over her features-- That wet roar that came from her when she screamed... ]

[ And the smoke that shrouded her face as it billowed from her gun, the gun that Ellie had to take in her own hands. She still remembers the burning in her gut, the bile that fought its way out of her at the sight of Riley's blown-in forehead. It was quick, painless, just as Riley said it would be... But... ]

[ She shakes her head when she feels her eyes start to pool with tears, and she forces herself to keep talking. ]

I'm probably gonna feel like shit for asking but, what's the last thing you remember?

[It's like a ABC Family original movie! Except one that hits closer to home.]

[What is even going on, Ellie? There are so many questions running through her mind, what can she do other than comply, albeit slowly. She feels tired, though not nearly in the same way she did last she remembered, but regardless she's on her feet and opening the door.

Habits were hard to break, of course, Riley opening the door a sliver before peeking out, tentatively opening the door wider and looking both ways before eyeing the number.]

Four twenty-three.

[She tries to scope out her surrounding a little more, still not piecing anything she would recognize. But her thought process is derailed when Ellie asks her what she remembers.

That was no easy answer.]

I remember everything just... feeling different. Probably because of-- [She sighs, her voice nearly inaudible. You have to know here she's going with this,.] It's still really blurry, but I remember pushing my gun your way.

[ Ellie sighs, weakly chuckling at the dark nature of her response. ]

Yeah, that... Sounds about right.

[ Almost there, and Ellie feels like she isn't running fast enough. Her feet feel like cinder blocks, her blood feels like tar, but she keeps moving. ]

[ And once she gets to that room? She stops, hand hovering over the doorknob as she hesitates to pull it. What if this is a trick? What if the castle is banking in on all the wishes she'd made upon arrival? What if this is just the start of a nightmare...?]

[ No. She has to see her. Ellie takes a deep breath, quickly forcing the door open in hopes of seeing her best friend alive behind it. ]

Riley?!

[ And she sees her, right in front of her, seemingly alive and well and... ]

Oh fuck.

[ Her eyes grow wide once again, bottom lip trembling as her stomach sinks. ]

You're....

You're really alive.

[She's looking down at her hands as she's waiting for Ellie, swallowing a lump in her otherwise dry throat. It all feels so surreal, and she's biting her lip as she tries to think of what she could possibly say to her at a time like this. Everything was okay, sure, but how did this all happen? How did they get a pass?

She'd just simply trust Ellie. That would remain a constant. She sounded like she had all the answers... Oh, how the tables had turned.

And when she hears her coming? She's turning. And smiling. Well, as much as she can muster from being brought back from the dead.]

Yeah. Surprise.

[ The door closes behind her, and she just... Stares. Everything that happened looms over her head like a heavy storm cloud. There was so much blood... She'd never shot someone a day in her life, and the first time was her best friend. Her heart beats out her ears, her hands are shaking, and she's trying so hard to not break down like some big baby. But Riley was dead. She's been dead for a while now. Yet here she is... ]

[ Ellie lets out a shaken breath, her gaze casting down to her feet as she tries to muster a smile but it falls flat. Looking at her is like looking back on a bad dream, all she can picture is how she looked when she turned. That single song they had shared playing on a loop, the blast of the shotgun echoing in the background. ]

[ Babe, I got you, babe... ]

[ It's like she's in disbelief and terror all at once because she had to shoot her. But here she is, fine and in perfect health and she fights not to lose herself when relief fights to let those tears out. Even trough the shock is relief, happiness... She missed her so fucking much. ]

Oh my god--

[ She finally lets it go, running to Riley with arms wide as she collapses into her. She holds her close, tight, face burying into her shoulder when the tears when the battle like the dicks they are. ]

I'm so sorry! I'm so fucking sorry!

[It was hard to put together what exactly had been going on, let alone everything she was beginning to feel upon seeing Ellie all over again. Everything seemed different. She could tell she was "better", no longer angry from having been attacked by infected, death no longer creeping up on the both of them.

And the emotions would come, all of which would only beexacerbated when they embraced.

No, Ellie. Why the hell would any of this be all your fault? If she hadn't ran off to chase her dreams, if she just stayed with a good thing, they could have been alive again, at least getting by together-- without the fear of turning.]

It's... [There's a shaky exhale.] It was my fault, okay? If it wasn't for me...

[She seethes loudly, choking on her own breath again. She can't help but interlock her fingers around Ellie's shoulders, her voice wavering.]

I should have listened to you.

Edited 2014-04-02 00:56 (UTC)

[There'd be a low chuckle at this. It was all dramatics, wasn't it?]

Kind of creepy.

Very creepy, yes.

Am I right in assuming you're new, by the way?

New to being dead?

... No, new to the castle.

You thought this was some sort of afterlife?

It would explain why it was so nicely decorated.

Ha.

But no, you're wrong there. The truth is far... stranger.

[ God, it's been so long and she can barely touch where they went wrong. But all Ellie can focus on is having to pull that trigger. Having to let go of someone she cared for so much. It was the reason she couldn't let go of Joel, and it's the reason she's been so scared to get close to others. ]

[ Ellie pulls away, still holding tightly to Riley. The tears are free falling, pouring down her face as she looks to Riley with so much tired anguish. ]

No, no you had dreams, Riley. We lived in a shithole.

[ She softly sobs, head hanging low as her fingers dig into her jacket. ]

Fuck, it's been so hard.

It's been so fucking hard since you died. I never....

[ Ellie shutters, her body giving in to the tremors that her flood of emotions cause. ]

I never turned! I waited for days and nothing happened!

[Yeeeep.

Tess is following on the journal now that Ellie's left. Oh ho ho, what's all this about?]

[If she was any older and wasn't minutes away from having lived through all of it, she would have said they were just stupid kids. But really, as it stood? It was all worth it.

What kind of life was being stuck in routine, anyway?

She's quiet, tears starting to fall down her own cheeks as she tried to anchor herself to whatever reality it was she was thrown into. At least they had each other again. At least everything was okay, for now.

Especially when those words hit her. Ellie turned out okay. That was...

Wait.]

What? [She has to pull away, just long enough, just far enough to look her in the eye. There was no way. Surely she heard her wrong.]

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