Before we begin, I wanted to quickly say that not just this chapter - but the entire story is dedicated to my best friend.

If it wasn't for The Last Of Us, and this angry little midget of an original character I made for her role play back in early 2014, I would of never met her.

After 6 years of being friends, I can't imagine a life without you.

Love you Jordyn :)

Chapter One: Late Night Encounters

Silence filled the run down apartment, wood rotting away on the pieces of old furniture that was present within the tiny home. In the living room a old dart board sat above a broken TV, holes that were too large to be darts very apparent on its surface, and a now slightly dull knife dug into the wall next it it.

In said room sat a girl who looked around the age of thirteen. She was seated on the single, long couch in the room. Her legs were pulled up to her chest and arms wrapped around her legs as she had seemed to doze off sometime during the night.

It was roughly one in the morning when the front door finally opened, rising the light sleeper from her very awkward sleeping position. The short dirty blonde blinked her blue eye's open. Rising her head and turning her attention to the door. At the sight of her mother, the girls expression lightened up almost immediately. She stretched out her now somewhat sore back before shifting her body around on the couch to direct her attention to her mother. Upon doing so, one detail seemed to stick out like a sore thumb.

Her mother arrived alone... Again.

"Oh, hi Angel." Her mother spoke, a somewhat tired expression on her face as she shut the door behind her. "What are you doing up so late? You should be asleep." As she said this, the women who looked to be somewhere in her forties moved into the living room and took a seat beside her daughter. The couch sinking slightly as her weight pressed into the surface.

"Well..." Angel started, running a hand through her greasy long hair and stifled a yawn. "I wanted to wait for you and dad to come home." The young girl explained, casting her eyes down to her hands sheepishly as she did. "But, I ended up falling asleep on the couch instead." Angel proceeded to cast her mother said sheepish, yet tired expression before it seemed to fade away as she asked "But dad isn't home yet?"

Angel's mother paused for a moment, as if she was considering her words carefully before speaking. "Your father said he had something to do before he comes home, he shouldn't be too long." Her mother kicked her shoes off onto the floor after she spoke, propping her legs up onto the worn out coffee table in front of her. "But it's late. Why don't you head up to bed?"

Angel quickly shook her head, fighting off another yawn as she seemed to be attempting to keep herself awake. Rubbing her hands over tried eyes as she did. "I want to wait for dad."

Her mother let out a short sigh, shaking her head as she cast her daughter a amused smile. "You can see him in the morning." She didn't miss the slightly disappointed look that graced the blondes face with that sentence. "Off to bed you go."

"Fine, fine." Angel grumbled, pushing herself off the couch and heading back towards her room. "Night mom."

"Goodnight Angel." Her mother responded as she watched her daughter disappear down the hall.

Three AM.

Three AM.

Where the living hell is he?

Katie had found herself seated at the old wooden kitchen table in the kitchen, tapping her damaged nails on said table in what appeared to be a strong level of annoyance, letting out long and tired breaths in exhaustion. She would never express her concerns (or anger) for her husband in front of Angel, her daughter didn't need to share the same frustrations as herself.

It had been a good two hours since the women sent the thirteen year old to bed before the front door finally opened, jolting Katie out her tired stance. The women took a short moment, much needed moment to gather herself before she stood up and walked over to the front door, leaning against the wall as her husband locked the front door.

The second her husband turned around he jumped in surprise, taking a large intake of air before letting out a relieved sigh. "Oh- Jesus Christ Katie. Was that really necessa-?"

"Where the hell have you been?" Katie cut him off, a irritated expression directed at her husband as she chose to take a even tone. "You said you wouldn't be long. I don't know when two hours began classifying as 'won't be long.'"

"I kno-" Ethan tried to start, a bit of a panicked look clear on his face (Almost like a deer in the headlights to put it bluntly). Though the attempt became futile as Katie continued on with her rant.

"I know? Your out practically all night and the first words in your defensive are 'I know'?" The women's voice seemed to be held in a bit of a aggressive whisper. A desperate attempt to keep her anger out the vicinity of their child's ears down the hall.

"If you would just let me explain-" Ethan tried again, though only found himself cut off once more.

"Why would I let you explain?" Katie's responsive was both blunt and cold. Steel grey eye's not leaving her husband as she spoke in her hushed tone. "You never give me a straight answer. We've had this conversation so many times and it's always the same pathetic excuses each time."

Ethan didn't have anything to say to that. Shutting his mouth and letting his lips seal shut as he just stared at the shorter women in front of him.

"When you're ready to tell me the truth, come talk to me." Katie turned her back to him, not saying another word as she headed for their shared bedroom. Only when she reached the bedroom door did she stop. Hand on the door knob as she spoke up once more for what would be the last time that night. "Until then, you can stay on the fucking couch." She disappeared into the bedroom after that, shutting the door behind her.

Moving down the chilly streets of Chicago Quarantine Zone was quite frankly not her favorite past time. At least at night for the most part. Due to it being curfew, soldiers found themselves paroling the streets, making getting around quite difficult if the intent was not to get caught.

Angel wasn't particularly headed anywhere specific, leaving the house to see if she could find her father without much of a game plan wasn't her wisest decision of the week. Though, she wasn't usually the bearer of smart idea's to begin with.

Finding her father was proving to be a difficult task, difficult and pointless as she had found herself out the house for at least a few hours now. The likelihood of her father having already arrived home by this point was honestly not bending in the young teens favor in the least.

Angel moved silently through a old alleyway not too far away from her home. Having already begun to head in the general direction of her home and end her long and useless hunt for the night. Though, the brunette found herself halted in her tracks. The sounds of footsteps and soft talking that seemed to progressively get closer with each quick step.

"C'mon, we have to hurry back!" A somewhat deep voice spoke up in a hushed tone as Angel pulled herself behind a old dumpster piled with years worth of garbage.

"I am fully aware dumbass, I'm moving as fast as I can!" Another voice hissed back, this one not as deep as the one prior, but could still easily be deciphered as belonging to a guy.

Angel could feel herself holding her breath, anxiety following the arrival of two faceless voices stringing a strong level of fear into the girl.

"Well it's not fast enough Zack!" The first voice snapped back almost immediately. His voice rising in volume level slightly before being hushed by the second voice - Zack.

Angel finally allowed a small intake of air as the pair of footsteps entered the exit to her current location. Both of which slowly moving to a halt as Angel would finally allow herself to peak around the large dumpster. The sight she was met with, was not what she was expecting.

What she was met with was two guys. The first voice looked roughly around the age of fifteen, the other only slightly younger at maybe about fourteen or thirteen. The older of the two looking to be of a Asian heritage. Short cut black hair and grey eyes. Zack on the other hand, had somewhat of a mixed skin tone. Amber eye's and sightly longer dark brown hair.

"Luke, I really need a bit of a breather here. We have an hour. That's more then enough time to get back." Zack heaved a bit. Taking in a deep breath as her leaned against the brick wall of their shadowy hiding place. Sweat dripping down from his forehead as he wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.

Luke let out a irritated huff, mumbling something along the lines of "I knew I shouldn't of let you come with me" before turning his attention back to Zack with a gruff "Fine, but if we are even a millisecond late for Military Drills and we get in shit. That is, completely on you."

The mention of Military drills seemed to peak Angels interest as Zack waved off his companions threat in a nonchalant manner. "Stop worrying before you age a extra decade before you can handle it." That earned another irritated huff from the elder of the two.

Military Drills? Boarding school kids?

Angel seemed to have found herself a little too distracted over the two teens. Watching the two as she listened to their conversation. Her intention was, by all means to wait for the two of them to leave before she moved from her spot. Finding herself unsure if showing herself to the two boarding school kids, even if they didn't seem to far in age from her.

However, she didn't seem to have much of a choice anymore, as she shifted her body slightly and accidentally smacking her knee on the dumpster she was hiding behind. The loud bang of her knee connecting with the metal paired with a loud hiss of pain was more then enough for the two boys to immediately halt their conversation and turn their heads in her general direction.

The blonde ducked her head back behind the dumpster, hoping she hadn't been seen due to her own stupidity. It was dead silent, a pin could hit the ground at that moment and it would probably ring out clearly within that alley. Though, the hope of not being seen was short lived, as the older teens voice rang out towards her.

"I'd advise you come out." His voice was more calm then startled. If anything, seeming to come off more irritated then anything. "Hiding isn't going to get you anywhere, I just saw you."

A small "Fuck." left the blondes mouth, taking a deep breath in before pulling herself out from her hiding place and standing to her feet. A sheepish, small smile present on her face as she gave a small wave towards the two in a attempt to show she wasn't going to try anything. "Uhm... Hi."

Two pairs of eye's were glued to the shorter girl for a moment. Not a single word exchanged between any of them for a few seconds. The first person to break the silence was Zack. The boy finally shifting her gaze away from the girl and over to his friend. "Luke, she's doesn't even look that much younger-".

"Shut up." The older of the two - Luke apparently - snapped, not even giving Zack the decency to look at him. Instead, opting to finally speak to the girl in front of him. "How long were you there?"

"Since before you guys got here." Angel wasted no time in responding with, shifting her eye's between the two of them before continuing. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you guys-"

The older boy didn't seem too interested in hearing what she had to say on that front, giving the girl similar treatment as he did to Zack, effectively cutting her off as he began talking again. "Sure you didn't. You just happened to be hiding behind that dumpster after curfew."

"Luke, we look just about as suspicious as she-" Zack was once again, cut off by Luke as the teen continued to run his mouth, not too concerned with anything his companion was saying.

"Who are you with? Were you following us? Because I swear if your going to rat us out-" Luke looked like he was about to start walking towards the younger girl, visibly fuming. Though, before Angel could react, and before Luke could do anything. The teen was effectively cut off by a hard smack on the back of his head.

"Zack! What the fuck do you think-" Luke started to say, his voice rising in volume levels - only to be effectively cut off by his friend who seemed to be over the bullshit Luke was attempting to dishing out.

"First of all, shut up before you actually get as caught by someone who will get us in shit!" Zack hissed out in a quiet, but somewhat passive aggressive voice. Narrowing his eyes at Luke as the boy shut up almost immediately. "Second of all, if she were following us to rat us out. She would also get in trouble for choosing to follow us out after curfew rather then go tell someone immediately." The reasoning in Zacks words seemed to have its desired effects, with Luke no longer attempting to talk - instead just giving his friend an annoyed look. Despite not liking being talked back to like this, he was right. Luke didn't have anything to throw back in response, despite usually being the brains behind the two of them.

With Luke effectively quieted, Zack finally turned his attention to Angel, curiosity filling her gaze as he spoke to the girl directly for the first time. "I'm sorry about that, my friend Luke here is just a bit on edge." The snort Zack received in response to that wasn't missed, though he chose to ignore it instead. "Anyways, I'm sure you've caught our names by now. But we never got yours?"

"Angel..." The blonde spoke, trailing off as she gave herself a chance to gather her thoughts over what just happened. Giving herself a moment before continuing. "Are you guys from the boarding school?"

Zack seemed to look a little surprised by the question, opening his mouth to speak again. Though, he was beaten to it as Luke seemed to recover from Zacks previous words and attempting to take charge of the situation again. "Yeah, no shit. Aren't you?"

Angel quickly shook her head. "No, I live in the Quarantine Zone with my parents." The blonde girl explained. "I was actually out looking for my dad when I saw you guys coming and hid..."

"Why would you be out looking for your dad after curfew?" Zack questioned the girl as soon as he found a chance to speak again. "Shouldn't he be at home?" The question in itself earned a bit of a sour look from Angel, the blonde not looking to appreciate the question too much.

"I don't see how that is any of your business." Angel quipped back, the unsureness that was in her tone of voice prior, being replaced with with a bit of a defensive tone.

Before Zack could respond with anything however, Luke started talking again. The older teen seemingly done with the conversation and interaction. "You've rested enough, right Zack?" The boy in question opened his mouth to try and ask why for the sudden shift in topic, though he had no chance to do so as Luke turned his attention back to Angel. "Well, we don't have time to sit around and talk. Shouldn't you be leaving?"

Angel raised a eyebrow at Luke, not really appreciating the guys dismissive nature. Though, she would be lying if she said she wasn't kind of relieved for it. "I guess..."

"Great, Let's go Zack." Without any sort of goodbye, Luke was already gone. Turning around and leaving the Alley, not bothering to wait up for Zack.

Zack, who was both a bit taken back by the sudden departure, looked after Luke before turning his attention back to Angel. Something about the girl interesting him. "Hey... Angel right?" The blonde gave him a short nod. "Meet me back here, tomorrow night? At ten?"

A little confused, Angel gave the boy a short nod rather then a verbal response. Not missing the small smile she received in response to her agreement. "I'll see you tomorrow then." And without so much of a goodbye, much like his friend, Zack was gone. Going after his friend who already had a bit of a head start on him.

Tomorrow would be interesting, to say the least.

AND WE'RE DONE!

This story is a rewrite of a FanFiction I wrote in 2014 called "Angels Past". As, I got so elaborate with her backstory, I decided I wanted to turn it into a story rather then just a general summary of it.

The original story itself was a lot shorter, as well as poorly written. Over the past few years her backstory has been changed, adjusted, added to, and improved as I've both grown up and improved as a writer.

I know most people don't tend to enjoy Original Character based FanFictions, so if for whatever reason you find yourself here and enjoying this story. I hope you enjoy. This story is more of a passion project based out of my undying love for 'The Last Of Us', as well as this character.

Thank you.

Word Count: 3061