Chapter Text
No, it couldn't be... he thought,
could it...?
Memories of this girl flashed in his head before it dawned on him.
Oh my god, it was!
It was that inmate from the Wall!
What a relief to know there were some others that managed to make it out too, Henry thought. He continued to stare at her, wide-eyed in disbelief. This went on for a few more passing moments until the girl sensed that she was being looked at. She turned her head to see his face, then quickly looked back again until she processed those strangely familiar, piercing eyes looking at her. Struck in awe, she forced her eyes shut tightly to clear her mind until she looked back at him again to make sure what she was seeing was real. To her shock, she recognized him too. They both ceased movement and stared at each other in pure silence for a good few moments. The bustling of the train forced them to shift in their positions a bit.
Henry was about to open his mouth to try and say something before the hissing of the subway doors cut him off. Lines of people flew by him as new people took their places, rendering him unable to see the girl anymore. He got a bit panicked until the crowd calmed and he was able to see her again, now shuffling her way towards the emptier pockets of space to get a closer look at him. Trying not to be in people's way, she awkwardly slid herself between a few people, passing around some "excuse me"s and "pardons" to very annoyed passengers. She leaned down and began getting a good look at the ex-criminal, pulling her scarf down to expose her mouth jarred in shock. She took a couple more seconds to analyze the details of Henry's face before she spoke.
"I'm sorry but... Do I know you?"
The girl squinted her eyes at Henry. Rather than reply, he simply shuffled in his bag and pulled out a spare badge he stole from a guard member's hat: memorabilia of sorts. He held the badge up to the girl's face and her jaw dropped once again.
"It is you! I remember you! You had the guards freaking out when you escaped!" She said a little too loudly. She cuffed her mouth with her hand and looked around. She continued to speak in whispers when she felt safe that nobody was eavesdropping on their conversation.
"That aside, I'm Ellie. I'm glad to see you got out alright." She reached out and shook Henry's hand. This movement caused Charles to look beside him and notice the two. He chimed in with surprise.
"Yo, she's a friend of yours?"
"Sort of? I'm Ellie. We saw each other back at the Wall." Ellie briefly filled Charles in.
"Well, it's nice to meet you! Any friend of Henry's is a friend of mine!"
"Henry..?" Ellie looked down at the man sitting and looked back at Charles, realizing who he was referring to. "Oh right! That was your name! Henry!" She ran a hand through her soft bangs, still in disbelief that any of this was even happening.
They both shook hands above Henry and the three of them all got closer together to talk.
"So what brings you out here? You said you were at the Wall as well?" Charles felt the need to learn about this new friend and Henry listened in, also curious to know what happened in her own life after he escaped.
"Yeah, he was the first face I saw when I first got brought there. They had us in some waiting room until I got put in my own cell."
Charles nodded, following along the story. "So how'd you get out?"
Ellie gave a smirk and leaned closer to them, both boys leaning in also.
"Wellll, let's just say Henry here had a little bit of help with that!"
She rested her arm on Henry's shoulder as he dropped his jaw in shock and Charles gasped.
"Wha.. but how!?"
"Well, after Henry got out, they must've noticed he disappeared pretty quickly since they made an announcement over the PA and declared a search around the whole property. While a guard was searching through my cell, I knocked him out and took his hat and jacket to blend in." Ellie looked down and opened up her coat to expose the dark-grey, fuzzy sweater underneath, "It's actually where I got this from. I needed something to keep myself out of that cold. It's done wonders." She continued, "Once I locked him in my cell, I managed to reach the surface unnoticed. I ended up by some dock and found a lone ferry that I ended up taking. I didn't look back after that. I kept going until the boat gave up on me and I've been trying to make my way back home since. That was about a year ago now I'd say."
Henry and Charles looked at each other and back then back to Ellie. "Man, sounds like it's been a pretty crazy year for ya. Glad to know you're safe though!" Charles commented.
Ellie smiled, "I will say, I thought Henry here was as good as dead! I didn't quite stop thinking about him, even if we only really spared a glance before going our separate ways. I always was crossing my fingers he got out safe, especially since it's what pushed me to flee also."
Those last few sentences tugged at Henry's heart strings a bit, he normally wouldn't mind something like this, considering how many people were thinking of him often who are out to get him. But this in particular, an otherwise random stranger if the right circumstances didn't occur, really got him in the feelings. Instead of giving his own reply or comment, he chose instead to get up out of his seat and quickly give her a hug, scooping her up and standing her up straight. Both Ellie and Charles were caught off guard by this, but Ellie closed her eyes and rubbed his back still. Charles couldn't stop giggling at the sight before him. He knew how rare it was to see Henry come out of his shell and be vulnerable like that. It's a big reason he decided to do this hang-out in the first place.
When they ceased hugging, it prompted Charles to finally say something, "I'm happy to know that people see Henry the way I do, he's the best! He's unlike anyone I've seen! And I've seen some things!" Ellie laughed in agreement. This was another punch to the gut. Henry quickly sat back down and watched them talk, trying not to let his feelings get to him by crossing his arms tightly and huddling into himself. The two standing noticed and shared another light laugh at Henry's slight embarrassment.
"So, how close are you from home? If you don't mind telling us?" Charles changed the subject, this made Ellie start to look up thinking.
"Hmm.... I'd say it's gonna be a little longer than I thought. I'm not even halfway home. Just getting out of Canada was a much taller task than I thought. I had to reach the East and make my way down from there." Her hands reached to her chin, looking past the two boys to ponder. "You see, I live closer to the South. If I were to guess, it'd probably take me another few months until I make it back. But I'm not in a rush, there's not much I'm coming back to, believe it or not." Ellie looked down, trying to keep a smile.
Both boys gave sympathetic looks. Who knew she lived so far away, Henry thought to himself, and the fact she had to embark on such a taxing journey by herself, the poor girl. An idea hatched in Charles' head, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and handed it to Ellie, her head lifting to see the phone in front of her face.
"Well if things don't work out, you can always give me or Henry a call if you wanna visit or join us for work! Not sure if the General is gonna be open to more enlistments right now, but I can definitely be a reference for ya!" Charles suggested as he scratched the back of his head out of nervousness, guess you could say this was the first time he was asking for a girl's number, or anybody's number for that matter. Ellie took the phone with a heartfelt grin as she punched her number into the little pin-pad. Charles had one of those phones with the sliding keyboard on the side, she paid close attention to where her thumbs landed as she entered her contact info. Geez, how was anybody able to get anything done with such tiny keys, she thought to herself. It must not bother him so much if he's still got a phone like this even in this day and age.
As she thanked Charles, she decided to pry into Henry and Charles also. "So what brings you two out here? Seems like things have been eventful for you too since you got out, Henry."
Henry nodded and Charles gladly filled her in as he was handed back his phone. He pocketed it as he collected his thoughts. "There's not much to be honest. Right now we're on our way to where I live to hang out since we've been given some time off. Henry here did a job for us sometime before he got locked up at the Wall to drop all his previous charges. While at the Wall, he gave me a call and I helped bust him out. Afterwards I.. kinda had to ask for his help again with another job. Fast forward to now and we've been co-vert ops doing missions together! It's been awfully fun having him around, he's always there when I've needed him most! Pulls me out of the.. err... the negativity in this world, y'know?" He took a grip of Henry's shoulder with his nearest hand, all the buttering up reddened Henry's face a bit.
Ellie laughed, "Guess so! I've got a few skills up my sleeve myself, so if you ever need a helping hand, don't be afraid to give me a call, chances are I'll still be on my way home, but I wouldn't mind a little side quest or two."
"You've got yourself a deal! If I had my helicopter right now, I'm sure it'd be more than fun to make your journey a lot faster."
A sigh drew from Ellie, likely imagining the comfort of laying back for once after nearly a year of travelling back home, "Maaan, I'd like that a lot." All three of them laughed.
Charles looked down at Henry then back at Ellie, "You know, I'm sure Henry here's more than glad you're safe, I think if things panned out differently, he totally would've helped you out in escaping too. He's considerate like that." Henry looked down at the ground a bit embarrassed, Ellie giggled a bit.
Henry's eyes were glued to his shoes, having more thoughts flooding throughout his head, Man.. he really should've helped her out, huh? Well, it wasn't like he could anyway, he didn't really think of any idea on how to escape himself, let alone a whole other person. He felt Charles' hand on his shoulder once again, forgetting that it was even there. He was brought back to the present, not even realizing how much time flew by. A ding interrupted whatever Charles and Ellie were conversing over, a loud PA announcing the station the train just arrived at. Looking at her phone, Ellie realized this was her stop to her dismay,
"Crap, looks like I gotta take off from here. I'm happy to have met you Charles, and got a proper introduction to you, Henry."
Henry smiled at her.
"Well don't worry, we'll definitely keep in touch, it was really nice meeting you, Ellie! Hope you make it home safe!" Charles remarked.
"I will! Take care now, bye!"
Before they knew it, Ellie pushed through the crowd out the sliding door. She turned back towards the train and waved goodbye to the both of them, smiling all the way through as the door cut off their vision of her. Henry's heart hurt a bit, but he was relieved at the same time, what a strong girl, he thought, it almost hurt possibly saying goodbye for the last time. Henry sulked in his seat while Charles finally found a free spot next to Henry to sit down himself. Charles reminisced to Henry,
"Wow, she was great! I really hope she makes it home soon."
Me too, Henry thought.
Charles stretched out his arms and cracked his fingers in the process, finally taking a seat after so long. He noticed Henry feeling out of it, he reached his arm out over Henry to grab Henry's suitcase.
"Here, let me watch your stuff. You seem really tired. Feel free to get some sleep! I'll stay awake and wait for our stop to arrive."
Charles' hospitality was something that Henry couldn't ever fully express his gratitude for, the most he could do was smile softly and pass his friend his suitcase as he relaxed into the hard, plastic seat. His vision began to blur through the view of the seats and people in front of him, his eyes grew weak, maybe sleep was just what he needed this whole time. He rested his eyes as he hugged himself across the waist, nodding off to the white noise of the vigorous traverse through tracks.
~*~