Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog, but all the Oc character are from my invention.

Warning: This story is rated M for languish, violence and sex in some chapter. So is not for kids, read if you're an adult or 18+. Most of the story is just rate T but have some adult containment. Now this Fiction story includes: Age difference relationship romance, but not underage since Ellie is 20 in this one. I recommend that you read the first 2 part if you going to read this one. Is not obligated but it will help to understand the story.

A/N: First I want to said to the people reading this series, that I'm Sorry for the the long waiting that it take me to posting this part. But as I have to work on the plot, and as I didn't have much in mind for this one, it take me some time to finished. Also I have to finish my other one that got delay by the huracan we have here last summer. Now I want to LYK, that after the first chapter. Some of the follow chapters are going to be like a prequel of the main story. The first chapter is going to be the continuation of the last chapter in part -2. But the ones after that is going to jump to the past, to show the begging of Joel and Ellie romance relationship. This was something, that I not planned at first in this series as I was thinking on do it apart of it as a prequel after I finish this one. But as not much people read this one I decided to do it in here. Sorry that you need to wait a little longer to see what happen to Ellie. But this is a change that I wanted to try, so I hope that you like it. Thank you for be patience and I hope that you continue reading this story.

Chapter 1 : Just a little late

The Fireflies got them. Those words are in Joel's head and make him freeze for the last 5 minutes after the man died. Bibi is talking to Joel and shaking him but he just stays there, kneeling beside the dead man, in shock. The Fireflies... why did they have to be Fireflies? That was a name that he didn't think he was going to hear again. It's been 5 years since the incident in Salt Lake City, so how can it be possible that the Fireflies are still looking for Ellie? A moment later, he starts to hear Bibi calling his name, which pulls him out of the shock.

"Joel!... what is wrong with you…. Answer me?" asks Bibi, worried.

Joel moves his head and looks at her. The Fireflies have Ellie now, and all that is her fault. He wants to be furious at her, but he knows that they kind of forced her. But that is not going to change the fact that she helped them, and now Ellie is gone again. Joel stands up from the floor and walks out of the room without saying anything to her.

Bibi looks at him with her mouth wide open, not knowing what is wrong with him. But her boy is gone, too, and she needs to find him, so she stands up too and goes after him. When she gets out of the house, she sees him standing on the porch, looking at what was left of the slave camp. Bibi grabs his hand and makes him turn around. "Hey, what is wrong with you… and why did you go so pale when he said that the Fireflies took them... and why did the Fireflies take my boy?"

Joel looks her in the eye. "If you knew them as well as I do, you'd be worried, too… They're nothing but trouble. So we need to find them before they-" he stops before he says something he's not supposed to.

"You didn't answer my question?... I hear things about this Fireflies group, and how they are against the military… but for what purpose did they take my boy?" she asks Joel again.

Joel starts to move away from the big guest house and starts to look at the bodies. He tries to see if the men are from the slave group or the Fireflies. He gets close to the first body he sees, kneels down, and starts to search him. "Look, I don't know why they took your boy, or killed all these people, but we need to find them."

Bibi gets close to him and asks, "What are you doing?... we need to go after them. If that asshole was still alive when we arrived, that means that this battle can't have happened too long ago. So they're probably close to here."

Joel checks the bodies and doesn't find anything, so he stands up and starts looking for another. "This one wasn't a Firefly either, so move and check another one," says Joel to Bibi while he moves close to another body.

"Why are you searching the dead bodies?... We should be looking for the ones that have your girl, and my son. We should be going after them, don't you think?" she asks as soon as she gets close to another body.

Joel starts to search another body. "Of course I want to go after those assholes. But we don't know how many there are, or what direction they went. So we need to find out if any of these dead men were Fireflies and check if they have something on them that can help us to-… damn it!... This one has nothing, either," says Joel, looking around. He continues looking for other bodies while Bibi starts to do the same. After awhile, they just find that all the dead were from the slave camp.

"They don't have anything on them. They're cleaned out, and the weapons close to them are empty or damaged," says Bibi, throwing the one she has in her hand to the side.

Joel starts to look around the complex, trying to figure out what happened there before they arrived. "Okay, these men capture people to sell them as slaves, or worse... right?" he asks Bibi as soon as she gets beside him.

"Yes, that asshole sends a message to hunter camps or people like that as soon as they have some to sell. They didn't tell me much... they just used my son to make me trap people that pass through the mountain. Then they trade them for supplies, and sometimes for things that are worthless to anybody but the leader."

Joel looks at her, not believing that she is helping these people do that. "Okay… So somehow, they called the Fireflies and tried to sell Ellie and your boy to them. And for some reason, something went wrong and they killed all the slavers. From what I see here, there's like 12 bodies here. So the Fireflies have to be at least more than 5," says Joel, looking at the surrounding ground.

Bibi looks at him with some curiosity. "I don't get any of this!... Why did they contact the Fireflies? Or, a better question: why did the Fireflies want to buy a young woman and a kid?... that doesn't make any-"

"What we need to know now is how they got here!?... because I don't see any- wait -" Joel starts to walk toward two cabins that are supposed to be the entrance of the camp. When he gets close, he starts to look for any marks in the snow.

"What are you looking for?" asks Bibi while getting close to him.

"Tracks!... from horses or any kind of vehic- bingo!" As soon as he passes the cabins, he sees the tracks from a vehicle. He kneels down and starts to check them.

Bibi stops beside him and sees what he's looking at. "Are those truck tracks?" she asks, leaning down to see more closely.

"I think so. The tracks look big enough, so they probably have a military one." Joel moves his head and starts looking at the surrounding area to see if he can find more. "I can't see any different ones, so that means that they arrived in one truck. So they can't be more than 10 or 12 men," Joel finishes, looking at her.

"Okay!... the good news is that we can follow the tracks and see where they're going. The bad news is that they're too many for just the two of us. And they have a vehicle, so how are we going to catch them?" she asks him with some concern.

"It's going to be difficult to get down this mountain with a truck that big. So that is going to slow them down. But going after them on foot... that's going to be hard." Joel starts to look around again, looking at some of the cabins that were burned down. "You know this mountain, right?" he turns and asks her.

"Yeah... not all of it, but yeah… Why?" she answers him.

"Because I need you to find a short way to get down. Check the map and find a better way to intercept them." Then Joel starts to walk toward the small buildings.

"How?... even if I find one, they're at least a few hours ahead," she says, following him.

Joel stops and turns to her. "You want to find your boy, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, that's good, because I'm going to get my Ellie back. So use your knowledge and find a way," says Joel, then starts to walk again.

Bibi starts to get the map out of her pocket, then looks at him. "Where are you going?"

"To find us transportation," Joel says while he continues walking without saying anything more.

Joel starts looking into the cabins that aren't burned until he sees a larger one close to the big guest house. When he enters the cabin, he finds two horses in there… their horses. The cabin was transformed into some kind of storage, but they don't have much in there, just a few boxes and other stuff - not serviceable things. Joel moves close to the one that belongs to Ellie. "Hey… how are you doing, boy?" Joel passes his hand over the side of the horse and starts to check him to see if he has any injuries. "Do you miss Mommy... ummm?" Joel asks the horse. The horse moves his head, like he's saying yes. "Yeah, I miss her, too… but don't worry, we're going to get her back, I promise," Joel says while he continues passing his hand over the horse.

A few minutes later, Bibi enters the cabin. "Hey, I think I found- wow… are they your horses?" She walks close to Joel and starts to look at them. "Wow… how did you know that they were still here?" she asks, very surprised.

"Well, I wasn't sure, but then I remembered that you said that they took the horses when they took Ellie. So I was hoping that they were here."

"That's great!... now we can follow them more easily." She moves close to Joel and shows him the map. "Look, if they're using the truck to get off of the mountain, the only road that they can use is this one. But it was in bad condition, and with all the snow that's fallen for the last 3 days, it's going to be more difficult for them. And now with the horses, we can go down this way and get close to them before they do get out."

"Okay, that sounds good. I will prepare the horses while you go back to the main house and collect all the food you can and anything that we can use, okay?" Joel moves away and starts to look for the horses' saddles.

"Okay," says Bibi while she folds the map and puts it in her pocket. Then she walks out of the cabin.

( 30 minutes later )

Joel finishes putting the saddle on Ellie's horse and starts to pass his hand over the horse again. As he does that, Joel starts to think of Ellie.

They are sitting on the couch, watching a movie. Sometimes when they do that, it reminds Joel when he did the same with Sarah. Ellie has her head on Joel's shoulder, enjoying the movie.

"Joel!"

"Hum?"

"Can you promise me something?" she asks him without looking at him.

Joel has his right arm around Ellie's neck, and he is playing with her loose hair. "Sure… whatever you want, kiddo."

"Promise me that whatever happens, you'll stay with me until the end." Joel stops playing with her hair. He knows that Ellie is afraid that if the people know about them, they will try to separate them. Joel loves her and wants to be with her as much as he can, but he knows that someday, he is going to die, and she will be alone again.

"Ellie… you don't need me to-" He stops when Ellie puts her hand on his mouth to stop him.

Then Ellie moves her head to look in his eyes. "Just promise me… please!"

Joel looks at her. "I promise that no matter what, I'm always going to be with you. There's nothing in this world that's going to take me away from you, okay?"

Ellie smiles, then moves close to him and gives him a kiss. "I love you!"

"I love you too, kiddo," Joel says back to her, then he leans down and gives her a kiss, too.

Joel is taken out of his thoughts when Bibi enters the cabin, carrying two bags. "Hey, I found a few things that we can use, Including two coats. Also, I found some food, but I brought only what we can carry," says Bibi, putting the bags on the ground.

"Yeah, that's fine. The horses are ready, so help me put the stuff on them, so we can be on our way," says Joel, moving close to her and grabbing one of the bags.

After half an hour, both of them go out of the cabin with the horses and mount up. Joel looks at the sky before they start to move on. "I think that another storm is coming soon. So it's better to move faster and get down the mountain before that," says Joel while he gives Ellie's horse a kick and moves out. Bibi does the same and moves beside him.

"You know, maybe that can be good for us. If the storm hits them before they get off of the mountain. They're going to get stuck, and that way, we can get to them before they have the chance to escape," she says, looking in front. Then she looks back when they pass the entrance of the now-half-destroyed slave camp. She smiles a little, knowing that these people are not going to hurt anyone else again. Now the only thing on her mind is to get her son back from the Fireflies.

After they put some distance between them and the camp, Bibi takes the lead to guide Joel on the route they need to take. Joel looks back for a moment to see the camp in the distance, thinking that he was a little too late to rescue her from that place, but he is not going to lose hope, and he'll find those assholes who took her again. He turns his head to the front and looks at the back of the woman that betrayed them. She might be helping him now, but he's never going to forget that trusting in people so easily doesn't work all the time. Joel starts to hear Marlene's voice in his head.

Ellie is the key to end all this. Her sacrifice is going to save us all. Yeah, a sacrifice that he is not ready to make. Not back then and definitely not now. He is going to find them and get Ellie back - he promised her, and he is not going to break that promise. After a moment, he looks at the sky again as some snow starts to fall. I will find you, Ellie, and we're going to be together again, I promise.

A/N: Okay, as this is the start of this part of the story. I decided to posted today since is a holiday and because is the first post of the new part is going to take more time to do it and I can't do that at work this Wednesday. This story is going to be post one a week on Wednesday until the end. Is only have 15 chapter, but that is more the the first two part. I hope you like it and remember to left review, if you do or not. I like to read you opinion on it and those always are good motivation for the writers, so they are appreciated. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this part of the story.