EllieDina

EllieDina is the femslash ship between Ellie Williams and Dina from The Last of Us fandom.

Canon
A few days after Dina's break up with Jesse, there is a celebration in a church within the settlement. Dina dances with a man from the group, as Jesse and Ellie look on from afar. Dina later invites Elli to dance with her. Dina gets really close to Ellie, so Ellie tells her to be careful, as people are watching. Dina says those boys should be terrified of Ellie because she has more of a chance with Dina than they do, so Ellie says that she's just a girl, not a threat. At that moment, Dina kisses Ellie. But their moment gets cut by a homophobic man that tells them that they're on "a family event."

Ellie and Dina meet for the first time after the kiss they shared when they go on patrol together. Their interaction is very awkward. Both of them were fidgeting with their hands and avoiding direct eye contact. They both stumble over each other's words (Dina is even nervously sarcastic about it) and neither addresses the actual kiss they shared previously. The tension breaks when Ellie is hit by a snowball from off-screen. Dina's first reaction is to defend Ellie and their similarities start showing as soon as they start fighting back, with similar use of language and tone.

After they seem to be a bit more comfortable around each other, the both of them go on patrol together, alone. Ellie and Dina are riding horses down a peaceful creek trail and their dialogue immediately turns to discussing relationships. The both of them share a bit about their past relationships (Dina with Jesse and Ellie with Cat). Ellie wonders how come they never talked about their past relationships, while Dina tells her that Ellie never shared about Cat with her either. Both are nervous, overthinking, and worried.

The rest of their patrol is filled with awkward compliments and attempts to flirt, mostly from Dina. As well as attempts to setup a romantic moment or strangely timed compliments about how nice Ellie looks. From reading back in Ellie's journal to her reactions to Dina's advances, it's confirmed that Ellie is attracted to Dina and that she is wise to her attempts at flirting, but fears ruining their friendship. Eventually, they end up exploring a small abandoned neighborhood. They talk about how mundane this patrol really is, talking about what they are doing later that night. They also discuss movies and Dina tries to schedule more alone time with Ellie later.

Next, the two of them enter the first major combat encounter of the game where Ellie and Dina clear a strip mall and supermarket of infected. And here's where Dina saves Ellie's life, twice. This makes the two of them grow even closer together. As they leave, they find themselves in a blizzard and they make a desperate attempt to find shelter. While Ellie almost gets lost, they both eventually find themselves to safety in an old library. They are trapped by a storm, relatively safe from infected and coming down off some intense emotional highs.

As Ellie and Dina make their way through the library they discover that it is where a previously mentioned character, Eugene, must have had his own sanctuary. As they explore and discover Eugene's underground marijuana farm, Ellie and Dina eventually find some functioning marijuana to enjoy and their conversation quickly leads to the obvious, their own budding relationship. Dina turns the conversation to their previous kiss, as she bites the bottom of her lip and they share some nervous smiles. Dina asks Ellie to rate the kiss they had and Ellie is hesitant and nervous to do so at first. So they share some bickering, getting closer and closer to each other, until they finally share a passionate kiss, going for something even more passionate.

Aftter they made love, the two of them talk comfortably with one another, while lying next to each other. Ellie feels much more comfortable to share some of her scars with her, as Dina shares hers. But their moment gets abruptly cut when Jesse tells them that Joel hasn't been found yet, which sends Ellie to quickly go search for him. After this, Ellie ends up witnessing one of the most important and traumatizing moments of her life: the brutal murder of Joel, her father-figure, protector and the most important person left in her life.

After being knocked unconscious following Joel's death, Dina finds her, and she is the one who Ellie wakes up to. Ellie's survivor's guilt is thrust back into the forefront. At this moment in the story, Ellie has personally witnessed the death of everyone she has ever loved: Riley and now Joel. So Dina's presence is completely important to Ellie. As she decides to set out on a quest for revenge, Dina's role is not just as a friend. Now, Dina is shown not as a flirty love interest but also as a supportive and consistent partner. The next few scenes are filled with interactions and dialogue that reinforce the couple's deepening connection.

The dialogue in this section is so good because it slowly establishes the effect of the two spending more time together. At some point, while they're exploring an abandoned music store, their dialogue reveals that Dina's attraction to Ellie is not new at all.

This playful admission creates an intro into an intimate guitar scene where Ellie starts playing the song Joel taught her, the acoustic cover of Pearl Jam's "Future Days", which is their goodbye theme. Dina asks what it is but Ellie is not yet ready to open up and she plays Dina a song from their past, a cover of "Take on Me" by Aha as Dina watches wistfully. Finally, they also discuss their past feelings honestly.

Fandom
FAN FICTION