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“Are you sure you’re not tired?” Ellie holds Dina close as they take a late stroll in Bright Moon Castle.
“Maybe a little, but I just want to walk around with you a bit more.” Dina has her head resting on Ellie’s shoulder.
“So what was it like? That fight thing?”
“Fighting for sport was… very different, the cheering crowed, guns and knifes not hurting, it’s strange doing all that and not feeling anything after.” She quickly looks the hand she tested her knife on in the match completely fine.
‘Fine’ not exactly a word Ellie has felt comfortable with lately. The world she was a part of, everything she expected changed so suddenly, she feels she should be happy but theres been an unease that’s been creeping inside her over time.
One moment she has that confrontation with Seth during the dance for the while community of Jackson to see. Then the whiplash of scouting with Dina in the winter to snapping into a much warmer city after a sudden white light engulfing everything.
“Weird but fun, even weirder how friendly the other fighters were after, except that Wolf guy.
“That whole Smash thing seem ‘neutral grounds’ some of those fighters don’t look like they would want to hang out.”
“Sounds about right.”
“Still, you were impressive back there and scary how you just summoned a whole swarm of clickers and they vanished just as fast.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure how that happened, it just all felt like… a rhythm?” Ellie’s face looks like it’s trying to recall some kind of dream, “can’t say I put much thought into it when it happened, I just saw everyone else stop fighting each other to break that floaty ball thing.”
“I’m glad we came here Ellie, I know things have been strange lately but this was fun hanging out with everyone like this, all of us fawning over that Urbosa.”
Ellie responds with a light laugh, “A lot of flirting there”
Dina lowers her tone “Are you in the mood for more?”
Ellie playfully ponders for a moment, “Mmm I did see a hedge maze somewhere in the gardens maybe-“
Dina pushes Ellie aside darting off to the nearest door and to the first bush she finds to throw up.
“Kind of a delayed reaction to that gravity thing we did huh?” Dina awkwardly tries to play it off, but doesn’t hid the hunched panting.
“That was hours ago, is something wrong Dina?”
Dina is silent only the sound of her strained breathing coming out, “You know how things have been… complicated with us,” she pauses, “And Jesse?”
Ellie makes a single flap of her arms with a head tilt.
“I… I think I’m…”
“It’s Jesse’s.” Ellie finishes the thought out loud.
Dina nods and Ellie turns around with a silent sigh, Dina is pregnant and now Ellie doesn’t know what to think, her mind is a mess only snapped out by Dina calling out to her.
“Come on it’s late.” Is all Ellie can think to say.
“Ellie?”
No verbal response from Ellie but she holds Dina close as they head their way to their room.
The air around the two feels someone tense while Ellie tries to temper it with a gentle handling of her supporting her girlfriend and her thumb lightly stroking Dina’s wrist, the feeling lets Dina relax into Ellie’s shoulder.
They walk through the garden and see Asami from up her room waving to them, they wave back before finding their way back to their room.
Dina halfway turns her gaze to Ellie, “You okay?”
“Me? You’re the one who just spewed out Etherian cake.” Ellie shakes her head with a chuckle trying to lighten the mood before getting back to their room.
***
Ellie gently sits Dina on the bed, she holds Ellie’s hand. After Ellie kicks her shoes off and plants her body into the bed.
Dina sit hunched over the edge “I thought… I felt like there was another reaction somewhere.”
Ellie sits up leaning on her elbows, her eyes scoping around not actually looking at anything, “I feel like we talked about this before.”
Dina’s head turns to Ellie, like she’s surprised yet understands what she’s talking about.
They’re remembering different paths, different lives, neither wanting to say it out loud.
Dina leans in towards Ellie, “You know, I think I want to keep it, theres something familiar about the little man.” She taps her belly as she says that.
“Think it’s a boy?”
“Feels like a boy.”
They both wear a smile in their face until Ellie asks; “What about Jesse?”
Dina lays down to Ellie’s level, “He doesn’t know, you’re the only one I told, though I think Naga could smell something.”
They fall to sleep half an hour later, while Dina is in a deep slumber.
Ellie is wakes up in the dead of night staring out into the distance but seeing an image of an empty house in her mind, a brief wash flash of fear washes across her face followed by an immediate blank stare and a sigh.
Leaving the room without waking Dina, she walks about to clear her head and deal with the tightening feeling in her chest.
What is she suppose to do with this information? With Dina pregnant is it over? What if she wants to go back to Jesse? Is she going to leave me again?
“Again?” Why did the word ‘again’ pop into her head?
Ellie gets lost in her thoughts trying to process these sudden thoughts wondering the castle halls.
She knocks on the door to Joel’s room.
He answers with no signs of sleep on his face.
“Ellie? What’re you doing up so late?”
She enters the room without saying a word clutching her arms, 10 seconds of silence feeling like a minute, “Theres these dreams I’ve been having, they feel…”
She takes a moment hesitating to get the words out, “feel real, like familiar.”
Joel closes the door and just listens with a fold of arms.
“Everything’s gone, you, Dina…” the look on her face is like she’s reaching for something, “Someone…” the memories of another life feels like it’s gripping her lungs and keeping away from the opposite end of a long hallway.
She brushes hair from her face trying to compose herself before slamming down to the edge of Joel’s bed, “Dina’s pregnant.”
Joel blinks, at a loss for words.
“Sounds intense.” Aerith said, who was apparently in the room already and holding a guitar.
“Jesus!” Ellie leapt back up to her feet completely unaware of the flower girl.
“But that would explain why the three of us are here at this hour.”
“What?” Ellie was ready to ask Aerith to leave until she said that.
“I know a thing or two about such thoughts.”
Ellie sits back down, “You do?”
“Aren’t you gonna ask about the guitar?” Aerith puts it down.
“You know what these thoughts are?”
“Thoughts, dreams, visions, windows into another time I know where you come from magic isn’t real but.”
Ellie finishes the thought, “But I’ve seen enough crazy shit by now to believe what you have to say.”
“Good.” Aerith smiles while her eyes have a slight somberness, “I’ve seen my own death.”
Joel hangs his head down with a slight nod.
“Lost in a maze, every step was further from the path.
I lost a part of myself trying to find a way out from that fate, and yet when my friends helped me out of that it, it became more terrifying.”
She stands up locking her hands behind her, a world of uncertainty wasn’t what I expected.”
Ellie sighs turning her gaze to Joel, he returns a look, both too afraid to say what they’re probably thinking. A bloodied body, pinned to the ground, a group standing above them.
“I think what she’s trying to say is we’ve been given a second chance.” Joel stays still in a defensive stance.
Ellie looks down at her feet, “Didn’t expect a second chance to feel so terrifying.”
“Yep.” Aerith replies, “I still feel that fear of uncertainty but I’ve also learned to embrace it’s freedom, this new life, whatever it is, whatever it throws at us, it has given so many people an escape they’ve never had in their previous lives.”
Just like the first day, when people were mobbing out against Max, there were just as many defending her, Ellie and Joel included. Theres no need for kids like AJ to carry a gun anymore. Now he’s just being a kid playing, learning and making Chloe donate to the swear jar.
“So just… what? Live my best life? That’s it?” Ellie looks expectingly to Aerith.
“I don’t know your whole story but I changed the way I approached certain relationships, like with Tifa for example.” Aerith’s expression warms, “We didn’t exactly get along in the first one, reliving it again it we grew closer and instead of fighting of a boy we share and make him our pack-chocobo.”
Joel has no idea what a chocobo is, Ellie kinda does thanks to Max.
But Aerith’s answer does bring to light that fear she felt next to Dina, and nods, getting a little bit of certainty somewhere in her heart what to do next.
“I get it.”
Now Aerith puts her fists on her hips, “So, what’s this about pregnancy?”
“Uh…”
Joel cuts in “I think this is a more of a one-to-one, Aerith.”
“Well I tried, night!”
“Night,” Joel closes the door as she leaves.
Ellie grabs the guitar and holds it to her, “She plays?”
“Not well.” He sits down next to Ellie, “Think she wanted to learn how to play for her boyfriend and girlfriend, dating multiple people, I can barely handle one relationship.”
“It’s Jesse’s.” Ellie’s fingers trace small circles around the headstock.
“Oh..”
“Yeah… she thinks it’s a boy”
“What do you plan to do?”
Ellie relaxes herself onto the instrument, “She wants to keep it.”
Joel sits patiently waiting for her to finish.
“I could use your help.”
He nods, 2 long feeling seconds, “Yeah, o-of course, I can teach you a few things and babysit.”
Taking a long look at her left hand and fingers tapping at the guitar and plays a sample of Future Days.
She stops at ‘myself,’ “I’m sorry.”
Silence surround the room as the guitar stops.
Joel keeps silent, something gripping his throat like a vise.
Ellie hands the guitar to Joel, she hesitates a bit, but gets up with a single hand tap on his shoulder.
“Night Joel.”
“Night kid.”
“Really?” Ellie opens the door to Aerith scuttling behind a potted plant, closed eyes and a shake of the head she heads back to her room with Dina.
***
Sliding back into bed next to Dina she tried to get back to sleep without waking her.
“Where’d you go?” Dina’s eyes are closed but felt the lack of Ellie’s presence.
“Sorry, it was nothing.” She snuggles up to the expecting woman, arms wrapping up to her, a kiss to the back of Dina’s head. “I’m not leaving your side again.”
Dina’s hand instinctively gets hold of Ellie’s without waking and an affirming mumble.
It takes a moment for Ellie to close her eyes.
***
The next morning they get a large breakfast for everyone staying at Brightmoon, Ellie tends to Dina getting a chair ready, filling her cup and so forth.
“Wow, if I knew I was gonna get pampered like this I would’ve-“ she laughs instead of finishing her sentence.
“Shut up.” Ellie returns with a smile.
Korra and Asami come down next to them trying to fight back against yawns, while the avatar takes Naga to her food next to Melog.
Dina gets a quick pet in as the massive polar bear dog walks by.
Aerith sits from across as Glimmer sparkle poofs into her chair.
Ellie gives a light and quick smile to the nosey mage for her words from last night, hopefully she doesn’t blurt it out.
Glimmer stretches out with a relaxed sigh, “I can tell this is going to be a quiet and peaceful day.”
Immediately after a winged horse crashed through a window and lands on the table splitting it in half, “Did somebody say Swiftwind?!” He flips his mane with one hoof in the air.
Dina is too shocked for words, Ellie has a mix of confusion, annoyance and amazement at the sudden sight of the colorful speaking horse, “What the fuck?”
Glimmer smacks her own face with an open palm.
Joel comes in with a bit of pep in his step that quickly fades at the sight, he walks away from the nonsense.
***
Ellie and Dina lounging in a room with a watching two other women, Scorpia and Perfuma, decorating by creating vibrant fantastic flora with magic.
“Imagine what it would be like to smoke magic weed.” Dina says while Ellie massages her scalp.
“Seriously? That’s the first thing that comes to your head?” Ellie has one leg wrapped around the expecting mother’s.
“Can’t really do that for a good while now, just uh, using my imagination.”
“I can get high for you.”
Dina taps at Ellie’s knee, “Don’t you dare.”
“You’re no fun.” Ellie pouts.
“You’re a brat.”
“You pee a lot.”
“Cause I’m pregnant, you’re gay.” Dina starts cackling.
“No shit!” Ellie joins Dina’s chuckling, and kisses her shoulder.
She takes a hold of Dina’s hands, locking fingers together, full admiration of the woman sitting in front of her who interrupts these thoughts with “I have to pee again.”
Ellie slowly helps Dina up as part of their new routine.
The fear may not be gone completely but with Ellie’s awkward talk with Joel and tending to Dina, she’s making steps.