All That's Left Behind - ronance

chapter 15

Author note: omg I just realised this is the last chapter, anyway hope y'all have liked this story, I'm still updating the immortal Robin fic and I'll be starting a high school ronance au soon as well :)
Tell me what you think about this fic and vote !!

She’s probably going to miss the way Nancy smells the most.

Okay, that’s not true. She’ll miss her righteousness and her snippy remarks and her eye-rolling and yeah, everything else. But right now, crammed into her tiny cot, she’s thinking that she’ll never find anything that smells as good as she does ever again.

“I’m leaving,” Nancy says.

Robin has no idea what time it is. The only light in the tunnel are high-powered flashlights mounted about as high as people can reach on the walls. She doesn’t know if it’s light yet, but it probably will be soon.

“You should go,” she says, voice small.

Robin inhales one last time, holds her breath for a second. “Yeah,” she says after a moment. “Don’t want to get attached.” she doesn’t say it with venom. She won’t ask Nancy to stay. Nancy won’t ask Robin to leave. It’s like a terrible romcom only it’s worse because it’s happening in real life. Still, Robin waits for her to say more. When she doesn’t, Robin gets up, yanks on her jeans and t-shirt, and makes her exit. She gets one last glimpse of Nancy before she zips the tent closed again; Nancy’s sitting up, eyebrows drawn together, hair floating around her shoulders. It sort of hurts to think about.

(If you’d told pre-apocalypse Robin she’d be feeling something so strong about a girl that wasn’t Max she’d have laughed.)

*****

Robin jolts awake about four hours later when someone smacks her shoulder hard.

She yelps, blinks rapidly up at her sister. “What?” she grumbles.

“Steve said Nancy’s leaving,” Max says.

Robin scowls at her and rolls over, yanking her blanket up over her shoulder. “Not for a few hours,” she mutters.

Max’s weight settles down pointedly on her right ankle. “Do you want to go to Oregon?” she asks impatiently.

Robin doesn’t remember eating rocks, but it feels like there’s a pile of them weighing down her stomach. “No,” she says. “The weather sucks there.”

“The weather sucked in New York,” Max reminds her.

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” she says irritably. When Max doesn’t reply she sits up.

She’s looking at her with unusually soft eyes, with that look that used to make her agree to anything a lifetime ago, from ice cream for breakfast to ditching school. “Of course not,” she says. “I just got you back.” She smiles, and it makes Robin feel weak and helpless.

“You want to stay here,” she says. “That means I stay here.” she’s about to add, What’s in Oregon for me? But that would be a useless attempt to hide that thing between her and Nancy, that thread that everyone seems to see.

“I want to be wherever you are,” says her little sister.

She stares at Max, bites down hard for a second before prying open her mouth. “You should be able to want things for yourself, Max,” she says slowly. It hurts enough to say without making herself add the words without me.

She tilts her head. “I’m able,” she replies. She sighs. “I thought you were dead, Rob. I cried for three days. I didn’t talk for four.”

“Is that all?” Robin says. Her mouth feels dry, probably because she’s pretty sure her reaction to Max’s death would be…death. She wonders how Steve had reacted, she'll ask him one day.