Drabble: "Miles To Go Before I Sleep"

[lumy12]

Title: "Miles To Go Before I Sleep"
Fandom: The Last of Us
Characters: Joel & Ellie
Prompt: 3 of puzzleprompts's 6 prompts for April: a winter's night, time, bloody
Word Count: exactly 300!
Rating: G
Summary: Joel flirts with death after his injury in Colorado
Author's Notes: Title taken from my favorite Robert Frost poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Crossposted to AO3 and FFN.

~

The cool, crisp air of fall was gone, chased away by the cruel bite of winter. Joel had been slipping in and out of consciousness --and lucidity-- for God knows how long, losing all sense of time, but it seemed that this change had happened awfully fast. Day and night had swapped often enough that he knew it had been at least several days since he’d fallen. It felt like mere moments had gone by, even if each moment inexplicably seemed to span hours.

His fuzzy brain was playing tricks on him. He was bleeding to death… no, my shirt’s bloody but dry. He was freezing to death… no, my head’s on fire. He was something-ing to death -- the pain in his side was unrelenting, unbearable. He wanted everything to stop. The end was near; he could feel it. Like a hokey cliché, snapshots of his past flitted before him. Resigned to his fate, he closed his eyes... yet every time he did, it was as temporary as sleep.

He woke in darkness to a shadowy figure hovering over him. Small, silver-haired, glowing… Sarah? Was he delirious enough to believe in angels now, or…

“Oh thank God. Joel, don’t die on me. You can’t. I need you to… I need you.”

Ellie! It was moonlight that defined her as a silvery silhouette. Her cold hand soothed his fiery face for a moment, or maybe hours… he was slipping away, and she felt it, her head on his chest, body quaking with silent sobs.

Then something inside him snapped into place.

I can’t leave her all alone, I’ve gotta fight. Ellie tethered him to this world; he wasn’t going anywhere. Unable to transform the thoughts into words, he’d have to show her –- by not dying. I got this.

~

Comments

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

Yay! TBH, my reading comprehension is non existent right now, but I love the line he was something-ing to death. So funny and realistic.

Cheers for the true drabble! I find them challenging in a fun way too.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Aww thanks for reading! I know it's not your fandom! I am determined to find at least ONE other TLoU fan on LJ, dangit :) The something-ing popped in my head and it felt Joel-ish for some reason.

AO3 counted it as 298 words. Phooey! I have to go by MS Word...but I was tempted to add 2 words in that version anyway lol

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

I was tempted to add 2 words in that version anyway lol

Hmm... "the end"? Lol.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Bwahaha I should! How cheeky would that be!

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

See, I think I'm getting weird word counts too, from using Google docs. I'm trying to see what's what's, but I think it counts things like parenthesis as extra words. But, I would never expect anyone to manually count all the words in their fic, so we'll all just have to do the best our word processors will allow us, lol.

LoL, I hear you on being a fandom of one. On LJ, that's me and The Venture Bros. And my current pairings aren't exactly earning a lot of fans, lol.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

I think Word does weird things like that too, like counting dashes as words! FFN keeps the word count but I think that's only because I upload the document and it just takes what the doc says? If we get it exact to the word count being displayed for us then we're tackling the challenge appropriately, methinks.

Aww I hope you find some VB fans to join your party of one!

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Your writing has a nice flow to it. The transition from seemingly certain death to a flicker of hope was well done. :)

He's so close to actually biting it but that all changes when he's reminded of a reason to live. I'm glad he won't be dying to death. ;P

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Thank you! So kind of you to read when it's not even your thing :D I've been so long-winded writing the million-chaptered thing it was challenging to get back to my "roots" of... crispness. Heh.

Hmm, DYING to death, that was probably the word he meant, lol!

I just watched TFA (I love that I have Thursdays off now)... I kinda wanted to do a little Kylo Ren drabble with these same prompts, but I don't really see it coming together into anything post-able :( If I do another one it will have to be of the 200- or 100-word variety. Just cuz.

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, please do! I've been blocked as usual but would be happy to read and review something TFA by you! :)

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Oh, motivation!!! I'm just intimidated by TFA in general I think... maybe partly because I'm not reading anything there right now and it's so popular, yet if I read I know I won't want to write. Pffft!

I hope you get unblocked somehow. Maybe we should try to write Girls fic!

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

My problem was not remembering enough about the prequel and original trilogies, and not being familiar with the lore itself. I checked out the canon novelizations from the library last week and have also been reading the scripts online. Hopefully I'll be unblocked from doing this. I want to do a Kylo Ren redemption story of sorts, with a twist that I don't think I've seen on AO3. I was also having difficulty writing Rey as a character, I don't identify with her and would probably have to write her as darker than how she appears in TFA. I believe Snoke was in her head when she was fighting Kylo at the end, both the script and novelization mention that she hears a voice telling her to kill him. I will probably make use of that when I write my story. From my attempts though, I've found that I really enjoy writing from Hux's perspective and, surprisingly, Luke's as well. Judging by the troubled look on his face, and the failure he probably feels as a Jedi Master, I interpreted him as someone who is haunted by the past on a level comparable to Obi Wan (I am not finished going through the prequels yet, so the parallel I have drawn is not complete).

Hmm, Girls fic. For once the smut would be canon. :P

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Oh my, I haven't read the novelization yet! I will get around to that soon. I suppose if I wrote anything I'd need to state that I'm familiar with movie canon only? From what you've seen, does it seem to be expected that we've read the book? I would love to read that fic you hope to write so I hope you work out your issues with Rey's character -- can you write her if it's not her POV, maybe?

Like 95% of my Star Wars fic is from the prequel era, it's definitely what I'm most comfortable with... and yet, I still haven't finished watching TCW. Go figure. (and note that I haven't written anything in years... ha) Obi-Wan and Luke definitely have parallels, with the hermit thing and being haunted by the past. I like to think Obi-Wan's been talking to him on that island.

I read an interesting crack theory yesterday: Ahsoka is Snoke. It's perfect! Their names are similar! Ah-Snoke-a! Hehe, someone needs to get high and write that.

LMAO you're so right about Girls fic! I haven't even seen what's out there. It'd be funny if people don't write smut because it IS canon... it's not exactly unexplored territory...

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, I don't think you'd need to add a disclaimer for that. The canon novelizations are essentially the movies. The one for TFA was based on the shooting script. I think you're fine. Authors on AO3 seem to range wildly between those who've seen Star Wars only once, and the lore masters with Wookieepedia as their home page. :P

I haven't seen the Clone Wars at all. I need to do that.

The latest crack theory on the Jedi Council Forum is that Rey is the reincarnation of Anakin, made from his severed hand. It started off with one person continuously talking to himself about it in the speculation thread about Rey's parentage while everyone ignored him, but apparently it's now taken off as a serious discussion. I... I just can't...

Girls AU fic: No smut, everyone has their shit together, and Hannah/Adam are happily married. My, wouldn't that be boring. :P

[luminations.livejournal.com]

The RotS novelization blows the other prequel ones out of the water, haven't read any of the OT... I suppose there will be a lot of people who can't be arsed to read TFA. That's not me, I'm just slow. It's the fic I can't be arsed to read. Ha! And it's not like Harry Potter fandom, where the book canon seems to trump the movie canon, at least in LJ fandom. I wonder if ASOIAF/GoT is like that too. Maybe it's different when the books are written first, and the movie/show/whatever is created from that.

I'm enjoying TCW but much prefer Rebels. It took me a long time to get over hating Ahsoka for existing. Poor thing.

It's a serious discussion? Really?? It's not just people PRETENDING it's a serious discussion for shits and giggles? I mean, that one's pretty out there. Maybe they could somehow CLONE from that hand, but reincarnate into a completely different person? Nah, I'm with you.

No one would read that! EWWWWW don't say that about Hannah and Adam, he is way too good for her. And I do like Hannah. Sometimes. She has her moments. Adam's too good for everyone, though, that's the problem. Sigh. I must search for Girls fic now and see what all is out there, just for fun. I wonder if there's a lot of Adam/self-insertOC stuff...lol ETA: In case you wondered -- I just looked and there's not much out there at all. Between AO3 & FFN, not even 30 fics, and I swear some of those were tagged "Girls"-TV by mistake, even. Mostly Jessa/Marnie!

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Your icon reminds me, I forgot to answer your question about me writing from Rey's POV. This was months ago, but I noticed I had trouble even writing her into a scene that wasn't being told from her perspective. It's interesting to me, since I had less difficulty writing Snoke. :P I think it'll get easier, some characters just don't click with you right away.

I remember that about the Harry Potter fandom. I never wrote much fic but I used to role-play quite a bit in closed groups. I do think canon is seen differently when the book is written first. The books are generally more complete whereas the movies have a tendency to gloss over, change, or totally omit certain details.

Yes, "Rey is Luke's father" was being seriously discussed yesterday, on the same board that banned Reylo from being mentioned as a positive (they bash it often, though). It was so ridiculous that even Pablo Hidalgo took the time to shoot it down on Twitter, probably with some measure of glee as he did so. One of the worst theories I've seen about Rey's parentage.

Haha, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Adam is too good for Hannah. I feel like pretty much all the guys are too good for the girls. I had to do some serious suspension of disbelief to accept certain couples on the show. I'm surprised to hear there are so few fanfics, though. I was into a rather obscure fandom a few years ago and that was how shallow the pool of fanfics were, too.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

LOL hmmmm what does it say about your psyche that you're more in tune with Snoke than Rey? I knew I liked you for a reason, bwahahaha -- okay so that was my inner Palpatine talking :) Oh wait, I don't HAVE an inner Palpatine anymore (or he's hibernating). Guess it was just me!

Were you in either hogwartsishome or hogwarts_elite? Maybe one of us sorted the other without realizing it!

So did people let the dumb theory die after that?

YES that's so true about the guys! Fran's too good for Hannah too. Ray is way too good for Marnie. Oh, Desi is acceptable for Marnie I guess. I really like Ray. He's got his quirks but he's so much more mature than the girls. Of course, he's supposed to be, being older and all.

I'm glad you joined the comm, maybe it will help unblock you? I think prompts are generally good for that. Plus it's very new and small and quiet, I'd love to see it grow.

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Lol, I don't know what you mean... *adjusts halo* :)

Ah, no, I think I was only ever in that main HP community on LJ, to discuss theories back when the books were still being written. Most of my RP was in really small, closed groups on Yahoo or in private chats. I never really bothered with getting sorted, I'm 100% Slytherin and won't hear otherwise. ;P

Hmm, I haven't checked the parentage thread today. It's funny though, they're coming up with outrageous theories when Daisy Ridley said in an interview that she 1) knows who Rey's parents are, and 2) doesn't think it's a big deal. My guess is that they're not important nor well-known and are probably dead since they never came back for her.

Having prompts did help, I wrote a short fic here (http://puzzleprompts.livejournal.com/3379.html). :)

[luminations.livejournal.com]

I didn't do a lot of RP (in HiH) but I did do some of the house contests, for both comms. I was a Gryffindor in HiH, a SlytherPuff in h_e, ultimately in Hufflepuff. That was the better assessment of me, even though I had said Slytherin was my least likely house due to my lack of ambition, but the head of Slytherin house was swearing I was a Snake anyway, and she made a good case. If she had sorted me earlier, I think I might have ended up there, because I got a lot of Slytherin votes after that. But! Hufflepuff does feel more like my primary house. It's an interesting combination of houses and silly as it sounds, the sorting process there made me more accepting of certain qualities in myself. Like, it's okay to be manipulative (or at least not the worst thing in the world) because all these cool people weren't appalled. I'm still stupidly proud of how well my application was received. That was 5 years ago! LOL.

OMG I soooooooo hope her parents are nobodies! That's what I wanted all along! A lot of Reylo shippers will feel that way, right? But a lot might be like "meh, it's Star Wars, twincest is canon so who would bat an eyelash at 'kissing cousins'"? I hope she's not just saying that to throw people off. Another reason I wanted her to not be Luke's daughter was because of The Last of Us. That story wouldn't have been nearly as powerful if it was father/daughter and not just two strangers who went through all this shit together and ended up bonded for life afterwards. And I can't believe the makers of the game (Naughty Dog) actually had to explain that to people! Duh, of course the guy would do anything for his daughter. There's no drama in that. So now I'm spoiled for other things :\ I want Luke and Rey (and Rey and Leia) to bond because of who they are, because of their connection to the Force perhaps, but not because they're family.

Boy I'm rambly today. It's my designated writing time, I'm at Starbucks... I stared at the last few paragraphs I'd written for a few minutes, stuck, then went online, hopefully only distracted for a wee bit. And now I have a fic to read by you! Yay!!!

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

SlytherPuff, that is an interesting combination. Would be cool if they had something like that in the books.

Most Reylo shippers (that I know of) want Rey to be a Kenobi, a nobody, or to have some sort of dark origin. There is actually a lot of evidence against her being a Skywalker, it has been all but officially debunked by numerous credible sources. I highly doubt Luke is her father at this point, I don't think her parents are going to have any significant role in the films. Rey's story is about Rey, and she will have a mentor-apprentice relationship with Luke which is special on its own. That is more than enough. His story has already been told, and it'll really drag things IMO for them to insert some long-winded explanation for why he'd abandon his child. Luke himself knows exactly how it feels to grow up not knowing his true parents, he should be the last person to do something like that. It would be terribly out-of-character at best.

I did research on Jakku (I know, I need a life, lol) and it's such a desolate world so far removed from everything else that it's where people go when they're on the run from something. There is almost literally no other reason to be there except to hide. Han wasn't kidding when he called it a junkyard. I doubt that her parents meant to strand her there forever, especially to work for a troll like Unkar Plutt. They were being hunted by someone and meant to come back but were killed, that's the head canon I'm sticking to unless proven otherwise. ;)

[luminations.livejournal.com]

And I really liked that comm's interpretation of Slytherin. It would have been awesome if the books had shown the house as more than just a one-dimensional incubator for future death eathers. At least Draco got to be more than a cookie-cutter villain type by the end!

I don't like the idea of her being Obi-Wan's granddaughter either but that would be better than her being Luke's daughter. I don't think Luke would abandon his child... the hopefuls probably had theories about this though? Like maybe he didn't even know she was his daughter? I really really hope she's a true nobody. That'd be a great lesson for kids -- even nobodies can go on to do great things :D LOL. And yeah, srsly, she was practically a slave. If her parents plunked her there to keep her safe from Force knows what, they should have their heads examined, because a girl doesn't learn how to be scrappy like she is without being accustomed to such violence (even with the Force perhaps helping her a bit with her "instincts"). They'd have been wiser to do like Obi-Wan did and somehow arrange to send her off to be raised by some royals!

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

puzzleprompts looks fun, by the way. I joined. :D