The Two of Us - Epilogue - Endure and Survive

~~~Me~~~

20 Years Later

I sat at the top of the hill overlooking the city of Jackson, Wyoming, my legs dangling over the side of the short drop to the small brook below me.

21 years ago, Joel, Ellie, and I returned here after our journey to find the fireflies, and a cure, had ended with us killing most of the remaining fireflies.

It was peaceful up here, only the sounds of water and nature finding my ears. Looking up at the shining blue sky, dotted with fluffy, lolling clouds caused memories to come flooding back to me in a wave of very emotional nostalgia.

"I thought I'd find you up here." Ellie said as she sat down beside me.

Ellie rested her head against my shoulder as she looked up at the sky with me.

"Everything is so different now." I said to Ellie after a few minutes of silence. "Sometimes I feel like we don't belong in this world."

Ellie grabbed ahold of my hand and squeezed it.

"That's because we don't." Ellie giggled. "I'm not sure we'd belong in any world."

"But at least we can be psychopaths together." I told her.

"Always."

We sat silently again, for a few short minutes before Ellie spoke up.

"What do you think Joel would think of us right now?" Ellie asked.

I looked down from the sky and towards the old tree we had buried Joel beneath.

"I think he would be real proud of us. Proud of how far the world has gone, and proud of us as parents." I told Ellie.

"I think you're right."

I picked myself up off the ground and stretched upwards, my back and joints popping into place.

"My Dad always told me that no matter, I needed to make a difference in this world." I said. "And I think I did just that."

"You surely made a difference in my world." Ellie joked as I helped her off the ground.

"How about we head back and make more of a difference in our kids' life?" I asked Ellie.

Ellie smiled as we held each other's gaze, her gleaming emerald eyes captivating me.

"Okay."

A/N Thank you all so much for reading! I am terribly sorry for how long I made you wait for this, but every time I would write out this final part, I felt like it didn't work. I rewrote this final part 16 times before I finally settled on this ending. In the meantime, I wanted to let everyone know that I'm taking awhile off while I write my next couple of series. I'm doing this because I want to update them regularly and not make you guys wait too long for them, anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys on the other side!

P.S. This isn't the last you'll see of Ellie and Cameron either.