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“Are you ready to talk now?”
“Sure,” Ellie said with a shrug, “As soon as you tell me where the fuck my friend is.”
The two Fireflies looked at each other. One of them shuffled off behind the door, and she could hear the charged whispers from where she was chained up. Ellie didn’t know if she should be hopeful or worried from how secretive these assholes were being. Sure, Riley was one of their own, but could they could at least have the decency to tell her if her best friend had turned into a fucking monster.
Ellie tugged on the chain with a grunt, knowing it was futile, but left antsy with nothing else to do. Her mind raced: was Riley with the other Fireflies? Was she hurt badly after the Fireflies raided the mall? Did they kill her for taking Ellie to one of their spots?
She stared at the bite mark on her arm. It wasn’t getting worse; it was healing. That just… didn’t happen. But here she was, not growing weird fungi everywhere, still skin and bone. Still herself.
Another Firefly walked in. She was black and skinny, and her eyes seemed distant as they stared down at her. Ellie felt ice run through her veins, no matter how hard she tried to fight it.
“You’re Riley’s friend.” It wasn’t a question. Ellie jumped to her feet at Riley’s name, anticipation rattling her bones.
“Who’s asking?” she made herself say, instead of begging for information. The woman’s dark eyes flickered down to her arm - to her bite mark - then up to Ellie’s face.
“Riley’s dead.”
Ellie’s heart stopped.
“You’re lying,” Ellie said, because the alternative wasn’t possible. It just fucking wasn’t.
“I’m sorry,” the woman said, her eyes hinting something that might have been sympathy. “She was inflected. We had to put her down.”
And Ellie… Ellie screamed.
—
“Ellie?”
That voice. Ellie's heart jumped to her throat and squeezed all the air out of it. Maybe she wasn’t breathing at all; maybe she had died and not realized it. Maybe that was why she was hearing Riley’s voice.
A figure got closer, pushing through the crowd. A familiar figure. Long hair, round face, dark skin. And her eyes - those stupid, pretty brown eyes - were filling up with tears as she got closer to where Ellie was sitting on her horse.
I’m going crazy, Ellie thought, shell-shocked. I’ve finally fucking lost it.
“Ellie!” Riley screamed again, and this time, the sound sent a jolt of lightning running straight down her spine. Before she knew what he was doing, Ellie jumped off the horse and fell on her ass and didn’t give a shit, because God, oh God, this had to be real, because if it wasn’t, Ellie would fucking die, she really, really sure. She couldn’t do this again. She couldn’t.
Before she could get to her feet, she was being tackled to the ground again, and when those hands grabbed her by the shoulders, she knew without a doubt that it was her.
“Ellie,” Riley cried, rolling over so they could sit up together, and she grabbed the back Ellie’s neck to look at her, and— yes, yes, this was Riley, this was warm skin under her fingertips, that smile that made her feel like she was worth something, and there was that breathless laugh that stole the air right from Ellie’s lungs—
Hands reached out and grabbed at the closest part of Riley she could get her hands on. Ellie pulled her close and pressed her lips against her own, tasting the salt from both of their tears, and it was another amazing reminder that this was real, Riley was here.
“How did you—”
“They told me you were dead!”
“They told me—”
And they’re kissing and laughing and crying and kissing, and it was the closest thing Ellie had ever experienced to a miracle, fuck her immunity straight to hell.
When they pulled away, Ellie kept her hand on Riley’s face, awe-struck. Riley didn’t look any less blown away, and Ellie leaned in to touch their foreheads together. If Ellie could melt right into Riley, she could die happy, she really could.
“Well,” Riley laughed, squeezing Ellie’s hand, and that was all it took to get Ellie’s heart really and truly beating again. It had stopped when Riley died – but here she was, after all this time. “Welcome to Jackson.”
“Yeah, we got the warm welcome, jackass,” Ellie said, still grinning ear to ear, and then lit up as she remembered—
“Joel!” Ellie screeched in delight, pulling Riley to her feet, “Joel’s great, Riley, you’re gonna hate him.”
And as Ellie’s worlds collided, for the first time in her life, she thought that maybe everything would be okay.