Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2021-11-24 03:26 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2021-11-24 03:26 pm
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Fanfiction: Familiar and Strange, Part Two (Uncharted 4)
Here's the second half of my 'Elena comes along for the ride in Uncharted 4' fic! I've realised while writing this that I'd probably have warmed more to Sam if the game had given him some proper interaction with Elena.
Title: Familiar and Strange, Part Two
Fandom: Uncharted 4
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Nate/Elena, but it's largely gen
Wordcount: 6,700 (this part), 11,400 total
Summary: What if Nate and Sam had told Elena the truth at the start of Uncharted 4?
Part One
They have to wait until nine for the local car rental to open, and then it turns out that Shoreline’s recognised Sully’s plane, they’ve got it under guard. Renting a boat is a long and tedious process. By the time they’re out on the water, the wind’s already picking up.
Sam could be far ahead by now. He could already be in Libertalia.
He could be dead.
They’re probably all thinking it, but Elena keeps her thoughts quiet anyway.
The island they have coordinates to turns out to be more of a cluster of tiny islands. No sign of Sam, but there is a giant statue of Henry Avery, which seems promising. The earth’s disturbed around it in a way that suggests it might have been underground until recently.
Nate climbs the statue to look through Avery’s spyglass.
“He’s looking at a big island,” he calls down. “That’s probably where we’ll find Sam.”
“That might be where we find Libertalia,” Sully says, as Nate returns to ground level.
Nate glances at Elena. “Yeah, well, let’s just stay focused on Sam.”
“I will permit a small amount of excitement over Libertalia,” Elena says. “We’ve come this far.”
Nate gives her a small, nervous twitch of a smile. “It is pretty exciting. I’m just... I’m gonna be so pissed off if he gets himself killed.”
“Believe me,” Elena says, “so will I.”
It’s starting to rain pretty hard, the storm rolling in in earnest. It’s probably a bad idea to head to the island right now. But it’s not like they have a choice.
And then Shoreline’s boats roar in, and the idea becomes a lot worse.
-
Elena comes to on a rocky shore, coughing up seawater. She tries to push herself to her feet the moment she remembers what happened, but she’s feeling too weak and unsteady right now. Their boat—
Where’s Nate?
She manages to get into a sitting position at least, looks around, shivering. The rain’s coming down so hard it feels like she’s still drowning.
There’s someone else here, just starting to stir. Not Nate; it must be someone from the boat that crashed into theirs.
That’s probably not a good sign. Elena’s mind is telling her to run and hide, but she can still barely move her limbs.
The person springs to their feet with a speed Elena can only dream of right now. Looks around, wary, and Elena manages to get a good look at them.
Oh, shit.
It’s Nadine.
Nadine’s seen her; Elena can’t hide, can’t play dead. All she can do is keep sitting there, in the pouring rain, looking back at a mercenary leader who’s clearly poised for a fight.
“Hi,” Elena says, because she has absolutely no idea what else to do.
Nadine says nothing.
“We met at the Rossi estate,” Elena says. Maybe, if she’s very lucky, Nadine won’t know what Elena’s been up to since then.
“Elena Fisher,” Nadine says. “Nathan Drake’s wife. I know who you are.”
Is that who she is in this world? Nathan Drake’s wife? “I mean, I’m also a reasonably successful journalist.”
“I’m sure,” Nadine says. “But your articles haven’t been competing with my men. I only research what I need to.”
Elena is definitely in trouble.
“Are you gonna take me hostage?” she asks.
It’s a suggestion more than a question; it’s almost a request. By all the accounts she’s heard, Elena doesn’t stand a chance against Nadine; she certainly can’t fight right now, after the battering she’s taken from the storm. If she’s taken hostage, she might be able to survive, at least.
“I’m not taking you hostage,” Nadine says. “Vile practice. Either I kill you, or I let you walk free. What’s it going to be?”
Elena hesitates. “Do I get to choose?”
Nadine looks down at her for a long moment.
“No,” she says at last. “We’re shipwrecked. It benefits us to work together. Stupid to kill you in this situation, unless you try something first. Plus the Drakes are causing enough trouble without making it personal.”
“I’m not planning anything,” Elena says. “I promise.”
“Good.” Nadine surveys their surroundings, squinting into the rain. “We’ll need to find shelter.”
“Just so you know, I’m not up to much climbing right now.”
Nadine looks back at her, expressionless. “If I need to leave you behind, I will.”
“Makes sense.” Honestly, being given that much of a heads-up is better treatment than Elena was expecting. Not being shot unceremoniously is better treatment than Elena was expecting.
Nadine helps Elena to her feet. It’s a weird day.
-
They find a shallow cave in the cliff face and take shelter. It’s not easy to get to sleep when you’re cold and wet and Nadine Ross is sitting close enough to slit your throat, but Elena’s so exhausted that she actually manages it.
When she wakes, there’s thin sunlight filtering through the clouds. Her neck and back are complaining with every movement, after a night on cold stone, but she’s feeling better than she was before.
Nadine’s still here. Elena was convinced Nadine would either kill her or leave in the night. But no; she’s still here.
“Don’t suppose you have any food, do you?” Elena asks through a yawn. She’s pushing her luck, she knows.
“Lost it in the wreck,” Nadine says. “There’s a waterfall nearby if you need to drink.”
Did Nadine scout out the area and then come back to wait for her? “That’d be great. Thanks.”
They’re both quiet as Elena climbs to her feet. She feels like she owes Nadine an apology, somehow, but she’s not sure where to start.
“Sorry my husband fought you,” Elena says, eventually.
Nadine snorts. “He tried.”
Sounds about right. Nate hadn’t actually said she kicked his ass, but he’d admitted he hadn’t won that fight, and his evasive attitude suggested it wasn’t close.
-
Nadine leads her to the waterfall, and Elena’s relieved that sleeping has left her slightly more able to move; it’s not an easy route. Climbing ledges, jumping over gaps, a couple of uncomfortable points where they have to edge along the slippery cliff face—
“Whoa!”
Nadine loses her footing, and Elena doesn’t even think about it; she just lunges and grabs her arm.
For a moment, they stare at each other: Elena almost lying flat on the ledge, Nadine dangling above the crashing waves.
If she let go of Nadine, Elena thinks, it wouldn’t solve anything. Without new instructions, Shoreline will just keep carrying out their orders.
She doesn’t like that the thought crossed her mind at all.
She hauls Nadine to her feet.
“I wouldn’t have fallen,” Nadine says, her voice tight.
Elena wouldn’t have minded a thank-you. “Okay.”
-
They find the waterfall without further incident, and they both drink and wash off the worst of the grime. At last, Elena stretches and sighs. “Guess we should look for someone.”
“Guess so,” Nadine agrees.
“If we meet up with the others, do we go back to being enemies?” Elena asks. “I don’t really want to fight you.”
“You shouldn’t,” Nadine says. “I’m good at fighting.”
“If we find Shoreline first, can you tell them not to kill me?” Elena asks.
“Depends,” Nadine says. “Will you do the same if it’s a Drake?”
“They wouldn’t kill you,” Elena says, and then, “Well, Nate wouldn’t kill you. I don’t know Sam that well.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like the assurance anyway,” Nadine says.
God, Elena really hopes they do find Nate. She hopes he and Sully made it out of the wreck. They have a way of surviving the most ridiculous things, but it’s never a guarantee.
She hopes Sam’s still alive. She hopes they didn’t get stranded chasing after a corpse.
She doesn’t say any of that. “I’ll ask them to spare you.”
“I’ll hold Shoreline back,” Nadine says. “Can’t make any promises with Rafe.”
-
The island’s not exactly easy to navigate, but they’re making progress. At one point Nadine boosts Elena over a ledge, and Elena helps pull her up. In the process, Elena’s hit about five times by how bizarre this situation is. She wonders if Nadine is thinking the same thing.
They keep the sea in sight as they go. If this place really is hiding a pirate utopia, it seems unlikely that it’s inland.
What would Libertalia look like? What will they find there, if they track it down?
What happens afterwards? By all accounts, Rafe’s been obsessing over this supposed pirate treasure for over a decade. He’s come this far in search of it. If someone else gets hold of it, it’s hard not to think he’d chase them down and claim it for himself.
Sam’s problem, probably. She thinks she can persuade Nate to leave empty-handed, for their own safety. But Rafe might come after him in search of Sam’s whereabouts. They might not be able to go home after this.
Unless they reach some kind of deal.
“If Libertalia really exists, it seems like there should be enough treasure to go around,” Elena says, as they walk along a rocky ridge.
She’s expecting Nadine to dismiss the idea. Nadine just lets out a hard sigh. “You’d think.”
“You think Rafe might go for it?” Elena asks. “Splitting the find?”
“Hard to say,” Nadine says. “Not like he needs the money. But he’s proud. He won’t want to give Sam a share after Sam betrayed him.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure how much I want Sam to get a share right now,” Elena says. “But I’m getting the feeling he’ll either get hold of that treasure or he’ll kill himself looking for it. I’d prefer to bring him back alive.”
“Suit yourself,” Nadine says, with a shrug. “Our share should be larger, anyway. Shoreline’s used up a lot of resources competing with you.”
“You... want us to compensate you for the bullets you fired at us?” Elena asks.
“Bullets. Explosives. Casualties.”
Elena’s stomach jolts. “Did we kill anyone?”
“Non-lethal injuries, as far as I know,” Nadine says. “But there are costs in replacing a man while he’s out of commission. Costs in getting treatment somewhere that won’t ask questions.”
“Well, if we actually find this place, maybe we can work something out.”
Nadine keeps walking in silence for a moment. “Ja, maybe.”
There’s a sudden burst of gunfire in the distance, and the two of them look sharply at each other. It feels like they’re abruptly enemies again. Elena doesn’t know what to expect.
“Sounds like we both want to be heading in that direction,” Nadine says, eventually. “C’mon.”
Strange that it’s almost a relief to hear gunfire. But it means someone else is alive, at least.
For now.
-
They spot Shoreline equipment, and Elena freezes instinctively. They must be nearby.
A moment later, she realises Nadine’s sped up. Strange to remember she’s travelling with someone for whom Shoreline is a welcome sight, rather than a threat.
More gunfire. Closer, now, but still a little way off.
“Nadine?” Elena calls, quietly.
Nadine looks back at her. “Mm?”
Elena gestures vaguely in the direction of the gunshots. “I have to keep looking for Nate.”
“Thought you were hungry,” Nadine says. “My men will have rations.”
She is hungry. Not hungry enough to risk it. Even if Nadine’s said she’ll vouch for her, Elena still doesn’t have a good feeling about walking straight into a Shoreline camp.
And she has to find Nate.
“Thanks for the offer,” she says. “I’ll keep looking.”
Nadine shrugs. Grabs a notepad and pen off the Shoreline crate next to her, scribbles something down, tears off the sheet and holds it out.
Elena approaches and takes the piece of paper, wary. It’s a phone number.
“If you find this place and you meant what you said about a deal, call me,” Nadine says. “Leave it a few days. It’s a landline. Lost my cell in the wreck.”
“Yeah, me too.” It seems less awkward to say than your partner forced me to destroy mine. She looks up from the number. “Thanks.”
“It’s that or Rafe commissions us to raid your house,” Nadine says. “That kind of work in civilian territory is always messy. I’m just trying to save us the legal inconvenience.”
-
Elena dodges and skids and leaps between ledges, bullets flying past her. She wants to believe that Nadine was telling the truth, that she just hasn’t had a chance to call off the rest of Shoreline yet. But, whatever the reason, Shoreline is definitely still shooting.
She manages to get clear at last. Climbs up as high as she can, although her lungs are screaming with exhaustion. If she can find a good vantage point, maybe she can spot Nate.
She drags herself up onto solid ground, panting, and then she realises in an instant that she’s not alone. She springs to her feet, grabbing for the pistol she wrestled off a Shoreline operative. She doesn’t want to shoot to kill, but if she has to—
“Elena,” Nate says, breathless.
“Oh, my God, Nate!”
He’s already running to her, catches her in a hug that nearly pitches them both straight off the near-vertical cliff she just climbed up. She’s somehow too exhausted and relieved to feel any panic about that; she just closes her eyes and presses her face into his shoulder.
“What happened?” he asks, letting go of her. “I couldn’t find you after our boat crashed – I washed up with Sully, we found the wreckage, you weren’t anywhere—”
She doesn’t know where to begin. She kisses him instead. He cuts himself off and kisses her back, moving his hands from her waist to her hair to her shoulders like he wants to be holding her everywhere at once.
“Where’s Sully now?” she asks at last, breaking away.
“Down at the docks,” Nate says. “Trying to secure one of Rafe’s boats.”
So Sully’s still alive, too. Elena lets out a long, shaking breath.
“He’s going to come after us, you know,” she says. “Rafe.”
“I know,” Nate says. “I’ve been thinking it, too. Seems like the best outcome here is Rafe finds the treasure and the rest of us just get to go home.”
“Agreed,” Elena says. “That still means we have to find Sam, though.”
Nate seems to hesitate, for a long moment.
“What is it?” Elena asks.
“We don’t have to do this.” He’s clearly reluctant to say it. “We could turn back. Sam made his choice. And, hey, maybe he’ll make it out okay.”
“We have to do this,” Elena says. “He’s your brother.”
Nate flashes her a quick smile. “Thanks.”
“Plus he’s our ride home if Sully can’t get us a boat,” Elena says. “That seems relevant.”
“Eh, we’ll work something out,” Nate says. “But I’m glad we’re looking.”
Elena looks at him for a moment. “For Sam, or for Libertalia?”
Nate hesitates. “I don’t know. Both?”
It doesn’t surprise her. She knew before she asked.
“Like, I’m not saying we go home with the treasure,” Nate says. “I get that it’s safer if we don’t. It’d just be cool to see it.”
Elena laughs, just a little. “You’re not wrong.”
“Hey,” Nate says suddenly, almost cutting her off. “Do you see something over there?”
She turns around. “Like what?”
But Nate’s already walking past her. Brushing some vines away from a rock face.
Avery’s sigil, carved in shallow relief.
Elena catches herself beginning to smile. She can tell herself and tell herself why this kind of thing is a bad idea, but every new discovery is still a rush. “You want to keep looking around here?”
-
They find Libertalia.
It’s ridiculous and impossible, it took so much to get here, but somehow the moment can still fit into three words. They find Libertalia.
“Holy crap,” Nate says, quietly. “Can you believe we’re actually here?”
“After Shambhala?” Elena asks. “Yeah, kind of.”
Still a hell of a thing, though. She looks around, picturing the streets filled with people. A little community of those outside the law.
She catches Nate’s expression, wonders if he’s picturing the same thing. Wonders if he’s picturing living here himself.
“You’re happier like this, aren’t you?” Elena asks. “Running around the world, risking your life.”
Nate looks at her for a moment.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I love living with you.”
“It’s just you love this too, huh?” Elena asks. “Too much to leave it behind.”
“I can leave it behind. I said I’d retire, and I meant it. The moment we’re home, it’s over.”
But he’s looking around at the buildings again, and there’s something wistful in his voice.
“I get it,” Elena says. “Honestly...” She lets out a sigh. “Honestly, I love it too. It sounds good to spend the rest of our lives chasing after lost cities and ancient treasures together.” She pauses. “They’d just be short lives.”
Nate glances over at her. “You remember when we were looking for El Dorado? I think you were more into it than I was.”
“When we were what?” Elena asks. “I’ve totally forgotten about the time we stumbled across a mythical treasure and woke up a horde of zombies.”
Nate half-snorts. “All right.”
“First time I met you, too,” she says. “I guess that was kind of memorable.”
One of the earliest, most vivid memories she has of Nate is watching him and Sully roar off in their boat, abandoning her on the dock. She could never have imagined that they would both end up being so important to her.
“I know I was pushing to keep looking,” she says. “I was just... younger, back then.” Still kind of immortal, in her own head. “I hadn’t spent weeks recovering from a grenade blast. I hadn’t seen Jeff die.”
They’re both quiet for a moment. The scenery is incredible. Half the reason Elena was unhappy about this excursion was because she knew they’d both love it; she didn’t want to remember what she’d been missing.
At last, Elena sighs and stretches. “Adventures are great, but I want us both to stay alive, you know? Maybe we could find some kind of... controlled way to take risks. Go indoor climbing or something.”
“Pretty sure we’d get banned from climbing classes for making everyone else feel bad,” Nate says.
Probably. She feels like she’s on to something, though.
Exploring undiscovered ruins is a lot more interesting than sitting at a desk, probably more interesting than dredging trucks out of rivers, and Nate has a knack for finding them. If they rein it in just a little, go for discoveries on a smaller scale, maybe they won’t constantly find they’re competing with private armies.
It’s something to think about. She’s missed this.
-
The treasury is wrecked and empty. What happened here?
Did Shoreline beat them here? Unlikely, given the amount of undisturbed dust around the place. There are muddy footprints on the floor – they’re not the first ones here today – but it looks like one person at most, and there’s no way one person could have cleared this place out.
Rafe, maybe?
That raises a more troubling question: will Rafe believe that they weren’t the ones who took the treasure? Will he come after them in search of riches they don’t have?
“Nate?”
Nate and Elena nearly jump out of their skin. Whoever beat them here, they’re still here.
Elena whips around. It’s Sam, peeking out from behind a cabinet.
“Holy crap, Sam!” Nate exclaims. “You’re alive?”
“Uh, yeah.” Sam comes out into the open, glancing down at himself. “Yeah, I think so. I thought you were going home.”
“I was looking for you, you asshole.”
“Well, you found me,” Sam says. “Plus Libertalia.”
“Plus Libertalia,” Nate agrees, his voice softening into something amazed.
“I was really hoping to see it for the first time with you, y’know?” Sam asks. “I’m glad you made it, at least.”
“It’s pretty impressive,” Nate concedes.
There’s an uncomfortable silence.
“I’m sorry,” Sam says. “I guess I caused you guys a lot of trouble.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Elena says.
“But it was worth it, right?” Sam asks. “I mean, have you seen where we’re standing?”
She’s not ready to allow him that just yet. “Ask me again if we all get out of this alive.”
“Yeah, well,” Sam mumbles. “Thanks for coming after me, anyway.”
-
Nate and Sam manage to pin down where they think the treasure’s been brought to: a nearby settlement called New Devon, where the founders supposedly lived.
Nate catches Elena’s eye. “If we go there, we might actually find it.”
He’s asking her for permission, she knows. And she wants to say that they should head down to the docks, find Sully, get off this island. It’s the sensible thing to do.
But she also wants to see this through. And, by this point, Rafe might end up convinced that they have the treasure, when they have no way to pay him off. It could be more dangerous to leave empty-handed.
“Looks like we’re going there, then,” she says.
-
New Devon is a ruin, half underwater. Tragic and fascinating and strangely beautiful. They follow the trail, and it leads them to a room full of the greatest pirates who ever lived.
And then they keep following it.
It’s a curse she and Nate share, however much she’s tried to convince herself she can bury it. They have to know how this ends.
-
“We actually made it,” Elena says, quiet and awed.
They’re standing on a dock in a cave, side by side, and Henry Avery’s ship’s right there, just a short swim away. They’re probably the first people to see it in centuries.
Sam sends her a quick grin from Nate’s other side. “Pretty cool, right? You could almost say it was worth the journey.”
“Don’t push your luck,” Elena says.
But she’s smiling too, despite herself. They’re really here.
“Fisher!” a voice calls from nearby.
They all whip around, hands at holsters in an instant.
It’s Nadine. Pushing Sully ahead of her, along the dock, a shield between herself and the three of them.
“Hey, guys,” Sully says, casual but slightly strained.
Nate lowers his gun with a frustrated growl. “If you hurt him—”
“You can calm down,” Nadine says. “He’s a present.”
“He’s a – what?”
“Guns down and you can have him,” Nadine says.
Nate’s already lowered his gun; Elena never raised hers. She glances over at Sam, who’s keeping his aim steady on Nadine.
“Sam,” Elena says.
“Oh, come on,” Sam says. “You don’t know a trap when you see one?”
“I think she means it,” Elena says. “I spent some time with her earlier. I don’t think she’s here to hurt us.”
“Wait, what?” Nate asks. “When?”
“Sam, can you just lower it so she can hand me over?” Sully asks.
Sam eases his gun down, slow and reluctant. Nadine shoves Sully towards them.
The moment Sully’s safely away from her, Sam raises his gun again.
Nadine huffs out a short sigh. It’s an eye-roll of a noise, but her eyes stay focused on Sam, along with her pistol. “Couldn’t see that coming.”
“Put down the gun, kid,” Sully says.
Sam doesn’t move. “I mean, forgive me for being kind of suspicious of the person who’s been sending soldiers after us all this time.”
“I sent them after the treasure,” Nadine says. “You’re the one who put yourself in their path.”
This argument doesn’t seem like it’s going to go anywhere good. Elena cuts in. “Anyway, thanks for Sully. How’d you find him?”
“My men caught him trying to steal a boat,” Nadine says. “Wasn’t easy to persuade them not to kill him.”
“Wasn’t easy?” Nate asks. “You call the shots with Shoreline, right?”
Something in Nadine’s stance tenses, although it wasn’t exactly relaxed before. “Anyway, he’s yours.”
“Thanks,” Elena says. “We’ll take good care of him.”
“Well, that’s unsettling,” Sully says. “Since when were you and Nadine on good terms?”
“I’m just returning a favour,” Nadine says. “Now that we’re even, I’ll shoot the Drake if he doesn’t put down his gun in the next ten seconds.”
“Put it down, Sam,” Elena says.
“I’ll be honest,” Sam says: “that threat isn’t making me want to trust her any more.”
“I’ve known Nadine a while,” Sully says. “She keeps her promises. She’s just promised to shoot you. Put the gun down.”
Sam lowers the gun. Not completely, but enough for it not to actually be pointing at Nadine any more.
“Wise decision,” Nadine says, half-lowering hers in return.
“You here for the treasure?” Sam asks, wary.
“I’m just making a delivery,” Nadine says, indicating Sully with a jerk of her head.
“We’re supposed to believe you’ve come right up to the finish line and you’re going to walk away?”
“Believe what you like,” Nadine says. “I’ve lost enough on this fool’s errand.” She looks at Elena. “I’ll take that deal, if you’re still offering.”
“You cut a deal with Nadine?” Nate asks.
“Uh, not formally,” Elena says.
“Double-cross me if you want,” Nadine says. “I really don’t care any more.”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Elena says. “I’ll talk it over with these guys if we find anything, okay?”
“And if you get out alive,” Nadine says. “Rafe might be on that ship already.”
They all turn and look at the ship in unison.
“Nate,” Elena says, quietly, “if Rafe’s already found the treasure, I say we just let him have it. It’s the best way to make sure he doesn’t come after us.”
“Are you serious?” Sam asks. “It’s right there. It’s right there.”
Nate looks at her. “You really want to walk away?” he asks, quietly. Not incredulous; he’s sincerely asking. But reluctant.
“No,” Elena admits. “But I think we should.”
“We’re potentially looking at pretty much all the pirate gold from the seventeenth century,” Sam says. “That’s not the kind of thing you can pass up.”
“Sully?” Nate asks, looking over at him.
“Wouldn’t say no to a cut,” Sully says. “But I’ve got less to lose than you do. It’s not my call.”
There’s a loud splash, and Elena knows what it is even before she looks. Is this guy seriously—?
“Sam!” she and Nate bellow after him simultaneously.
“I’ll bring something back for you!” Sam calls over his shoulder, already swimming for the ship.
“Goddammit.” Elena tugs off her shoes and jumps in after him, swiftly followed by Nate.
“Jesus,” Sully mutters audibly from the dock behind them. He raises his voice. “Don’t know how we’re getting anything out of here, but let me know what you find once you’ve scouted it out, I guess.”
-
Elena’s halfway up the side of the ship when a blast knocks her down into the water.
“Holy shit!” Nate’s pulling her up onto the rocks, touching her face, checking her for injuries. “Elena? Are you okay?”
Elena blinks up at the roof of the cave, waiting for her vision to stop swimming. She’s feeling bruised and her heart’s in her throat and she thinks some splinters might have lodged themselves in her arms, but the shock of it is worse than the injuries. “Who – who the hell is using explosives—”
“—in a seventeenth-century wooden ship?” Nate finishes for her. “Nobody smart.”
“Sam?”
“Hey, he’s not that bad.”
“Which means someone’s trying to blow him up.”
Nate breathes in deeply, lets it out slowly. “Yeah.”
“You can go after him,” Elena says. “I’ll catch up.”
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’ll be fine. Go get your brother.”
Nate kisses her on the forehead, and then he starts climbing the ship. Elena watches until he’s out of sight.
She desperately wants to follow him, but she has to stay there a little more, a minute or two, before she gets to her feet. Just until she’s feeling stable enough to move.
-
It feels like she’s taking in the scene in confused flashes. The burning hold. The treasure. Sam, pinned under a fallen rafter. Nate and Rafe holding each other at gunpoint.
Elena draws her own gun, aims it at Rafe, her heart beating so hard she feels like she might throw up. If she’d taken a little longer to get here—
“Drop it, Rafe,” she says.
“You brought your wife along?” Rafe asks. “So you can cower behind her?”
“I brought myself,” Elena says. “You’re outnumbered. Put down your gun.”
“I can still kill one of you before you shoot,” Rafe says. He gestures with his free hand: at Nate, at Sam, at Elena. “So many choices.”
He gestured at Sam. Sam is still alive.
“That’s not what you’re here for,” Nate says. “You came for the treasure.”
“And now it’s burning,” Rafe says. He swings his gun sharply to Sam. “Because someone couldn’t leave it alone.”
“Because Shoreline used explosives!” Sam gasps out. “On a seventeenth-century wooden goddamn ship!”
It’s one of the strange moments when it really hits Elena that he and Nate are siblings. Not that that’s the most important thing right now.
“There’s time for us all to get some coins out of here,” Nate says. “This doesn’t have to be a wasted journey for any of us.”
“A wasted journey?” Rafe asks, aiming at Nate again. “Do you have any idea how many fucking years I’ve poured into this? For a handful of fucking coins?”
The smoke is choking Elena, making her eyes water. If they’re in here much longer, they’re going to pass out. But they can’t leave without Sam.
Rafe’s not focusing on her; he’s focusing on the brothers. She’s the person in the best position to do something here.
She could try to injure Rafe. But, if she shoots him, he’ll probably kill all three of them..
Unless she shoots to kill.
Her hands are shaking on her gun.
Too much of a cost. Too much of a risk. If he doesn’t die straight away—
He notices that she’s taking more careful aim, shifts his gun to her. “Looks like your wife’s volunteered for my first shot, Nate.”
“Hey!” Sam yells. “Here’s your handful of fucking coins!”
His throw is awkward; he’s still pinned to the floor. But coins scatter across the hold, Rafe jerks back as a few of them hit him in the face, and—
Elena doesn’t know which of them fires first. But, in an instant, she and Nate have both fired.
“Oh, my God,” she whispers.
Nate’s drawing in sharp, unsteady breaths, loud enough for her to hear them above the flames. And Rafe—
“Did I—” Elena swallows. Looking at the blood on the boards, because she can’t look away, but she can’t look at Rafe’s face either. “Did I do that?”
“I did that,” Nate says, in a quiet, half-wavering voice she hasn’t heard from him in years. He seems to shake himself into motion, moves to grab the rafter that’s pinning Sam down. “C’mon, we need to get out of here.”
“I think it – I think it was both of us.” Elena takes hold of the rafter as well, strains against it. She’s shaking so badly that she’s surprised she can keep hold of it. But, with their combined effort, it’s starting to shift. “I mean, we both – I think it must have been both of us.”
Is that better or worse? Does it help, having someone else to carry this with? Or will Nate just be an uncomfortable reminder to her from now on?
“Guys,” Sam says. They’ve lifted the rafter just enough for him to get some purchase on it, and the three of them manage to shove it aside. “It was me.” He clambers to his feet, coughing. “I’m the goddamn hero who threw those coins. And I’m the asshole who dragged us here in the first place.”
“We need to get out of here,” Elena says.
She and Nate move to support Sam as he stumbles towards the hold’s door. The ship is burning fiercely, the smoke is thick in the air. But they might actually make it.
Elena glances back at the man who won’t.
“Seriously,” Sam says, “let me take the blame for this if you need it.” He finds his feet as they head for the deck together. “I may not be much of a brother-in-law, but I’m a pretty great scapegoat.”
-
They swim back to the cave’s dock; they left their shoes and Sully there, after all. It’s a risk; Elena feels like the whole cave might come down on top of them. It’d probably be safer to swim for the open air.
But the rocks stop falling around them when they’ve gained a little distance. It seems like the damage hasn’t extended too far from the ship.
Nadine’s still on the dock as well, it turns out. In fact, they find Sully and Nadine sitting on the wooden slats, playing cards.
“Oh, I’m sorry, did you get bored watching the ship we were on burn and sink?” Nate asks.
“We started before the explosions,” Sully says. “Watched until we saw you coming back. Didn’t seem like any reason not to finish our game after that.”
“Wow,” Nate says.
“I’m glad you guys are okay,” Sully says.
“Rafe?” Nadine asks.
Was she waiting here to see if he made it out? Elena doesn’t know how much to say. “He, uh – he didn’t make it. I’m sorry.”
Nadine looks back down at the cards. Elena has no idea how to read her expression. “Brought it on himself.”
“I’m guessing the treasure hunt wasn’t a success,” Sully says.
“I mean, we found the treasure,” Nate says. “It just happens to be underwater. With half the cave roof on top of it.”
“We know exactly where, though,” Sam says.
“If you want to come back and dig it out, you’re going to have to do it yourself,” Elena says.
“Oh, I might need you guys to help with that,” Sam says. “You know Al Capone? He’s kind of given me a deadline on this one.”
It’s an extremely brazen joke, and Elena’s slightly annoyed with herself for laughing.
“We still got to see Libertalia,” Nate says. “That was pretty cool.”
And they killed a man together. Some family bonding activity.
Elena nudges Nate with her arm, to distract herself from her thoughts. “Hey, you actually managed not to destroy the lost settlement this time.”
“Only ’cause Avery already destroyed it himself,” Nate says.
“Besides, there’s still time,” Sully points out.
“We did kind of take down Avery’s ship,” Nate says. “That’s got to be another square on Ancient Wonders Destruction Bingo.”
“Can’t believe you’re fifteen years ahead of me on that game,” Sam says. “I’m gonna have to catch up.”
Nate scratches his chin. “Eh, it’s not that great a game.”
“Boys,” Sully says. “There’ll be time to compete once we’ve dealt with the most pressing issue. Don’t know if you guessed from Nadine dragging me here, but I didn’t manage to get us a boat.”
“Wait, do you not have your plane here?” Sam asks.
“Shoreline had it pinned down,” Sully says. “Had to rent a boat instead. It, uh, it didn’t go well.”
Sam looks from Sully to Nate to Elena. “Are you telling me you guys got shipwrecked?”
“Please tell me you didn’t,” Sully says.
“Uh, no,” Sam says. “’Cause I can actually steer a boat.”
“Any chance there’s room for three passengers?” Nate asks.
“Maybe four,” Elena says. “Hey, Nadine?”
“Nadine?” Nate and Sam demand simultaneously.
Nadine gets to her feet. “What?”
“You were shipwrecked too, right?” Elena asks. “Do you need a ride back to the bay?”
Nadine looks at Sam. Pulls her lips back from her teeth in distaste. “I’d rather swim.”
“We can’t just leave you here,” Elena says.
“Speak for yourself,” Sam mutters. “She’ll be fine. There are Shoreline boats; she can jump on one of those.”
Nadine winces. “My relationship with Shoreline may have... changed.”
Sully blows air out through his teeth, sympathetic. “Rafe bought them out from under you, huh?”
Nadine looks sharply at him. “How did you know?”
“’Cause he can afford it,” Sully says. “Seemed like the most likely scenario.”
It’s jarring to hear Rafe spoken of in the present tense. If Sully had been there in that hold, what happened wouldn’t have slipped his mind.
“Is that why Shoreline kept shooting at us?” Elena asks.
“You sure about that?” Nadine asks. “You asked me to tell them not to kill you. You didn’t say anything about this lot.”
“Seriously?” Sully asks. “Elena, making deals with the enemy is like making deals with an evil genie. You always go specific.”
“But you’re right,” Nadine says. “I told them to stand down. Found out what Rafe had done when they refused.”
“She could just be saying that,” Sam points out.
“Look, right now she’s not any more on my shitlist than you are,” Elena says. “If we’re saving you, we’re saving her.”
“Uh, I think we just established that I’m saving you,” Sam says. “Who’s got the boat here?”
Nate leans over to Sam, mock-conspiratorial. “I think you’re now slightly more on her shitlist than Nadine is.”
“Ugh,” Sam says. “Fine. The woman who tried to kill us is completely welcome on my boat.”
-
Elena breathes out, watching the island recede in their wake. It feels like a breath she’s been holding for a long time. Maybe now she can finally start to believe they’ve actually survived this.
She looks around at the others. Sully’s at the helm; Nate is with him, talking animatedly. Nadine is off to the side, keeping a wary eye on the rest of them. Sam—
Sam is crossing the deck towards Elena, and she’s not sure what to expect.
“Hey,” he says. He leans against the railing next to her. “Thanks for saving me back there.”
By lifting the rafter? Or by killing Rafe?
“It wasn’t just me,” she says. It’s definitely true for lifting the rafter. For Rafe... well, they’ll probably never really know.
“I already thanked Nate,” Sam says. “I’m thanking you.”
She weighs up how to respond, discards several potential replies for being too catty. “I’m glad you’re alive,” she says at last.
“Yeah, me too,” Sam says. “It’s been good to meet you. I think my brother’s done well.”
“Meeting you has been an experience,” Elena says.
Sam chuckles, sheepish. “That bad, huh?”
It’s been mixed. They’ve seen incredible things; they’ve been in incredible danger. She doesn’t know how they’d have got out of the burning ship without him. But she doesn’t know how they’d have got into the burning ship, either.
“I mean, these two didn’t make the best first impression either,” Elena says, jerking her head at Nate and Sully. “I’ll give you a chance to make a second. Maybe you’ll surprise me.”
“You won’t regret it,” Sam assures her. “I am great at second impressions.”
Elena laughs. “We’ll see.”
“I mean, for starters...” He starts delving into his pockets, his waistband, anywhere things can be stashed. Pulling out gold coin after gold coin.
“Wait, are you serious?” Elena asks. “You took the time to fill your pockets when you were pinned to the floor of a burning ship?”
“Can’t believe nobody else thought of it,” Sam says. “Shoved a few into Nate’s pockets when you guys were getting me out, too. I mean, it’s no four hundred million dollars, but split these four ways and it’ll probably still be a nice little boost.”
“Ah.” Elena glances over at Nadine. “I think we might be splitting it five ways.”
“Holy shit,” Sam says. “You’re the one who should be begging for my forgiveness, you know that?”
“Oh, this doesn’t make up for what you did.” Elena leans against the railing, looks out across the water again. “Not even close.”
She can still feel the echo of adrenaline under her skin, though. For something so intense, there’s something strangely familiar and comfortable about it.
They could probably get that back into their lives, hopefully in a slightly less perilous way. She should talk to Nate about it. Maybe they could do something with those coins.
She watches the horizon until the island’s out of sight.
Title: Familiar and Strange, Part Two
Fandom: Uncharted 4
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Nate/Elena, but it's largely gen
Wordcount: 6,700 (this part), 11,400 total
Summary: What if Nate and Sam had told Elena the truth at the start of Uncharted 4?
Part One
They have to wait until nine for the local car rental to open, and then it turns out that Shoreline’s recognised Sully’s plane, they’ve got it under guard. Renting a boat is a long and tedious process. By the time they’re out on the water, the wind’s already picking up.
Sam could be far ahead by now. He could already be in Libertalia.
He could be dead.
They’re probably all thinking it, but Elena keeps her thoughts quiet anyway.
The island they have coordinates to turns out to be more of a cluster of tiny islands. No sign of Sam, but there is a giant statue of Henry Avery, which seems promising. The earth’s disturbed around it in a way that suggests it might have been underground until recently.
Nate climbs the statue to look through Avery’s spyglass.
“He’s looking at a big island,” he calls down. “That’s probably where we’ll find Sam.”
“That might be where we find Libertalia,” Sully says, as Nate returns to ground level.
Nate glances at Elena. “Yeah, well, let’s just stay focused on Sam.”
“I will permit a small amount of excitement over Libertalia,” Elena says. “We’ve come this far.”
Nate gives her a small, nervous twitch of a smile. “It is pretty exciting. I’m just... I’m gonna be so pissed off if he gets himself killed.”
“Believe me,” Elena says, “so will I.”
It’s starting to rain pretty hard, the storm rolling in in earnest. It’s probably a bad idea to head to the island right now. But it’s not like they have a choice.
And then Shoreline’s boats roar in, and the idea becomes a lot worse.
Elena comes to on a rocky shore, coughing up seawater. She tries to push herself to her feet the moment she remembers what happened, but she’s feeling too weak and unsteady right now. Their boat—
Where’s Nate?
She manages to get into a sitting position at least, looks around, shivering. The rain’s coming down so hard it feels like she’s still drowning.
There’s someone else here, just starting to stir. Not Nate; it must be someone from the boat that crashed into theirs.
That’s probably not a good sign. Elena’s mind is telling her to run and hide, but she can still barely move her limbs.
The person springs to their feet with a speed Elena can only dream of right now. Looks around, wary, and Elena manages to get a good look at them.
Oh, shit.
It’s Nadine.
Nadine’s seen her; Elena can’t hide, can’t play dead. All she can do is keep sitting there, in the pouring rain, looking back at a mercenary leader who’s clearly poised for a fight.
“Hi,” Elena says, because she has absolutely no idea what else to do.
Nadine says nothing.
“We met at the Rossi estate,” Elena says. Maybe, if she’s very lucky, Nadine won’t know what Elena’s been up to since then.
“Elena Fisher,” Nadine says. “Nathan Drake’s wife. I know who you are.”
Is that who she is in this world? Nathan Drake’s wife? “I mean, I’m also a reasonably successful journalist.”
“I’m sure,” Nadine says. “But your articles haven’t been competing with my men. I only research what I need to.”
Elena is definitely in trouble.
“Are you gonna take me hostage?” she asks.
It’s a suggestion more than a question; it’s almost a request. By all the accounts she’s heard, Elena doesn’t stand a chance against Nadine; she certainly can’t fight right now, after the battering she’s taken from the storm. If she’s taken hostage, she might be able to survive, at least.
“I’m not taking you hostage,” Nadine says. “Vile practice. Either I kill you, or I let you walk free. What’s it going to be?”
Elena hesitates. “Do I get to choose?”
Nadine looks down at her for a long moment.
“No,” she says at last. “We’re shipwrecked. It benefits us to work together. Stupid to kill you in this situation, unless you try something first. Plus the Drakes are causing enough trouble without making it personal.”
“I’m not planning anything,” Elena says. “I promise.”
“Good.” Nadine surveys their surroundings, squinting into the rain. “We’ll need to find shelter.”
“Just so you know, I’m not up to much climbing right now.”
Nadine looks back at her, expressionless. “If I need to leave you behind, I will.”
“Makes sense.” Honestly, being given that much of a heads-up is better treatment than Elena was expecting. Not being shot unceremoniously is better treatment than Elena was expecting.
Nadine helps Elena to her feet. It’s a weird day.
They find a shallow cave in the cliff face and take shelter. It’s not easy to get to sleep when you’re cold and wet and Nadine Ross is sitting close enough to slit your throat, but Elena’s so exhausted that she actually manages it.
When she wakes, there’s thin sunlight filtering through the clouds. Her neck and back are complaining with every movement, after a night on cold stone, but she’s feeling better than she was before.
Nadine’s still here. Elena was convinced Nadine would either kill her or leave in the night. But no; she’s still here.
“Don’t suppose you have any food, do you?” Elena asks through a yawn. She’s pushing her luck, she knows.
“Lost it in the wreck,” Nadine says. “There’s a waterfall nearby if you need to drink.”
Did Nadine scout out the area and then come back to wait for her? “That’d be great. Thanks.”
They’re both quiet as Elena climbs to her feet. She feels like she owes Nadine an apology, somehow, but she’s not sure where to start.
“Sorry my husband fought you,” Elena says, eventually.
Nadine snorts. “He tried.”
Sounds about right. Nate hadn’t actually said she kicked his ass, but he’d admitted he hadn’t won that fight, and his evasive attitude suggested it wasn’t close.
Nadine leads her to the waterfall, and Elena’s relieved that sleeping has left her slightly more able to move; it’s not an easy route. Climbing ledges, jumping over gaps, a couple of uncomfortable points where they have to edge along the slippery cliff face—
“Whoa!”
Nadine loses her footing, and Elena doesn’t even think about it; she just lunges and grabs her arm.
For a moment, they stare at each other: Elena almost lying flat on the ledge, Nadine dangling above the crashing waves.
If she let go of Nadine, Elena thinks, it wouldn’t solve anything. Without new instructions, Shoreline will just keep carrying out their orders.
She doesn’t like that the thought crossed her mind at all.
She hauls Nadine to her feet.
“I wouldn’t have fallen,” Nadine says, her voice tight.
Elena wouldn’t have minded a thank-you. “Okay.”
They find the waterfall without further incident, and they both drink and wash off the worst of the grime. At last, Elena stretches and sighs. “Guess we should look for someone.”
“Guess so,” Nadine agrees.
“If we meet up with the others, do we go back to being enemies?” Elena asks. “I don’t really want to fight you.”
“You shouldn’t,” Nadine says. “I’m good at fighting.”
“If we find Shoreline first, can you tell them not to kill me?” Elena asks.
“Depends,” Nadine says. “Will you do the same if it’s a Drake?”
“They wouldn’t kill you,” Elena says, and then, “Well, Nate wouldn’t kill you. I don’t know Sam that well.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like the assurance anyway,” Nadine says.
God, Elena really hopes they do find Nate. She hopes he and Sully made it out of the wreck. They have a way of surviving the most ridiculous things, but it’s never a guarantee.
She hopes Sam’s still alive. She hopes they didn’t get stranded chasing after a corpse.
She doesn’t say any of that. “I’ll ask them to spare you.”
“I’ll hold Shoreline back,” Nadine says. “Can’t make any promises with Rafe.”
The island’s not exactly easy to navigate, but they’re making progress. At one point Nadine boosts Elena over a ledge, and Elena helps pull her up. In the process, Elena’s hit about five times by how bizarre this situation is. She wonders if Nadine is thinking the same thing.
They keep the sea in sight as they go. If this place really is hiding a pirate utopia, it seems unlikely that it’s inland.
What would Libertalia look like? What will they find there, if they track it down?
What happens afterwards? By all accounts, Rafe’s been obsessing over this supposed pirate treasure for over a decade. He’s come this far in search of it. If someone else gets hold of it, it’s hard not to think he’d chase them down and claim it for himself.
Sam’s problem, probably. She thinks she can persuade Nate to leave empty-handed, for their own safety. But Rafe might come after him in search of Sam’s whereabouts. They might not be able to go home after this.
Unless they reach some kind of deal.
“If Libertalia really exists, it seems like there should be enough treasure to go around,” Elena says, as they walk along a rocky ridge.
She’s expecting Nadine to dismiss the idea. Nadine just lets out a hard sigh. “You’d think.”
“You think Rafe might go for it?” Elena asks. “Splitting the find?”
“Hard to say,” Nadine says. “Not like he needs the money. But he’s proud. He won’t want to give Sam a share after Sam betrayed him.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure how much I want Sam to get a share right now,” Elena says. “But I’m getting the feeling he’ll either get hold of that treasure or he’ll kill himself looking for it. I’d prefer to bring him back alive.”
“Suit yourself,” Nadine says, with a shrug. “Our share should be larger, anyway. Shoreline’s used up a lot of resources competing with you.”
“You... want us to compensate you for the bullets you fired at us?” Elena asks.
“Bullets. Explosives. Casualties.”
Elena’s stomach jolts. “Did we kill anyone?”
“Non-lethal injuries, as far as I know,” Nadine says. “But there are costs in replacing a man while he’s out of commission. Costs in getting treatment somewhere that won’t ask questions.”
“Well, if we actually find this place, maybe we can work something out.”
Nadine keeps walking in silence for a moment. “Ja, maybe.”
There’s a sudden burst of gunfire in the distance, and the two of them look sharply at each other. It feels like they’re abruptly enemies again. Elena doesn’t know what to expect.
“Sounds like we both want to be heading in that direction,” Nadine says, eventually. “C’mon.”
Strange that it’s almost a relief to hear gunfire. But it means someone else is alive, at least.
For now.
They spot Shoreline equipment, and Elena freezes instinctively. They must be nearby.
A moment later, she realises Nadine’s sped up. Strange to remember she’s travelling with someone for whom Shoreline is a welcome sight, rather than a threat.
More gunfire. Closer, now, but still a little way off.
“Nadine?” Elena calls, quietly.
Nadine looks back at her. “Mm?”
Elena gestures vaguely in the direction of the gunshots. “I have to keep looking for Nate.”
“Thought you were hungry,” Nadine says. “My men will have rations.”
She is hungry. Not hungry enough to risk it. Even if Nadine’s said she’ll vouch for her, Elena still doesn’t have a good feeling about walking straight into a Shoreline camp.
And she has to find Nate.
“Thanks for the offer,” she says. “I’ll keep looking.”
Nadine shrugs. Grabs a notepad and pen off the Shoreline crate next to her, scribbles something down, tears off the sheet and holds it out.
Elena approaches and takes the piece of paper, wary. It’s a phone number.
“If you find this place and you meant what you said about a deal, call me,” Nadine says. “Leave it a few days. It’s a landline. Lost my cell in the wreck.”
“Yeah, me too.” It seems less awkward to say than your partner forced me to destroy mine. She looks up from the number. “Thanks.”
“It’s that or Rafe commissions us to raid your house,” Nadine says. “That kind of work in civilian territory is always messy. I’m just trying to save us the legal inconvenience.”
Elena dodges and skids and leaps between ledges, bullets flying past her. She wants to believe that Nadine was telling the truth, that she just hasn’t had a chance to call off the rest of Shoreline yet. But, whatever the reason, Shoreline is definitely still shooting.
She manages to get clear at last. Climbs up as high as she can, although her lungs are screaming with exhaustion. If she can find a good vantage point, maybe she can spot Nate.
She drags herself up onto solid ground, panting, and then she realises in an instant that she’s not alone. She springs to her feet, grabbing for the pistol she wrestled off a Shoreline operative. She doesn’t want to shoot to kill, but if she has to—
“Elena,” Nate says, breathless.
“Oh, my God, Nate!”
He’s already running to her, catches her in a hug that nearly pitches them both straight off the near-vertical cliff she just climbed up. She’s somehow too exhausted and relieved to feel any panic about that; she just closes her eyes and presses her face into his shoulder.
“What happened?” he asks, letting go of her. “I couldn’t find you after our boat crashed – I washed up with Sully, we found the wreckage, you weren’t anywhere—”
She doesn’t know where to begin. She kisses him instead. He cuts himself off and kisses her back, moving his hands from her waist to her hair to her shoulders like he wants to be holding her everywhere at once.
“Where’s Sully now?” she asks at last, breaking away.
“Down at the docks,” Nate says. “Trying to secure one of Rafe’s boats.”
So Sully’s still alive, too. Elena lets out a long, shaking breath.
“He’s going to come after us, you know,” she says. “Rafe.”
“I know,” Nate says. “I’ve been thinking it, too. Seems like the best outcome here is Rafe finds the treasure and the rest of us just get to go home.”
“Agreed,” Elena says. “That still means we have to find Sam, though.”
Nate seems to hesitate, for a long moment.
“What is it?” Elena asks.
“We don’t have to do this.” He’s clearly reluctant to say it. “We could turn back. Sam made his choice. And, hey, maybe he’ll make it out okay.”
“We have to do this,” Elena says. “He’s your brother.”
Nate flashes her a quick smile. “Thanks.”
“Plus he’s our ride home if Sully can’t get us a boat,” Elena says. “That seems relevant.”
“Eh, we’ll work something out,” Nate says. “But I’m glad we’re looking.”
Elena looks at him for a moment. “For Sam, or for Libertalia?”
Nate hesitates. “I don’t know. Both?”
It doesn’t surprise her. She knew before she asked.
“Like, I’m not saying we go home with the treasure,” Nate says. “I get that it’s safer if we don’t. It’d just be cool to see it.”
Elena laughs, just a little. “You’re not wrong.”
“Hey,” Nate says suddenly, almost cutting her off. “Do you see something over there?”
She turns around. “Like what?”
But Nate’s already walking past her. Brushing some vines away from a rock face.
Avery’s sigil, carved in shallow relief.
Elena catches herself beginning to smile. She can tell herself and tell herself why this kind of thing is a bad idea, but every new discovery is still a rush. “You want to keep looking around here?”
They find Libertalia.
It’s ridiculous and impossible, it took so much to get here, but somehow the moment can still fit into three words. They find Libertalia.
“Holy crap,” Nate says, quietly. “Can you believe we’re actually here?”
“After Shambhala?” Elena asks. “Yeah, kind of.”
Still a hell of a thing, though. She looks around, picturing the streets filled with people. A little community of those outside the law.
She catches Nate’s expression, wonders if he’s picturing the same thing. Wonders if he’s picturing living here himself.
“You’re happier like this, aren’t you?” Elena asks. “Running around the world, risking your life.”
Nate looks at her for a moment.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I love living with you.”
“It’s just you love this too, huh?” Elena asks. “Too much to leave it behind.”
“I can leave it behind. I said I’d retire, and I meant it. The moment we’re home, it’s over.”
But he’s looking around at the buildings again, and there’s something wistful in his voice.
“I get it,” Elena says. “Honestly...” She lets out a sigh. “Honestly, I love it too. It sounds good to spend the rest of our lives chasing after lost cities and ancient treasures together.” She pauses. “They’d just be short lives.”
Nate glances over at her. “You remember when we were looking for El Dorado? I think you were more into it than I was.”
“When we were what?” Elena asks. “I’ve totally forgotten about the time we stumbled across a mythical treasure and woke up a horde of zombies.”
Nate half-snorts. “All right.”
“First time I met you, too,” she says. “I guess that was kind of memorable.”
One of the earliest, most vivid memories she has of Nate is watching him and Sully roar off in their boat, abandoning her on the dock. She could never have imagined that they would both end up being so important to her.
“I know I was pushing to keep looking,” she says. “I was just... younger, back then.” Still kind of immortal, in her own head. “I hadn’t spent weeks recovering from a grenade blast. I hadn’t seen Jeff die.”
They’re both quiet for a moment. The scenery is incredible. Half the reason Elena was unhappy about this excursion was because she knew they’d both love it; she didn’t want to remember what she’d been missing.
At last, Elena sighs and stretches. “Adventures are great, but I want us both to stay alive, you know? Maybe we could find some kind of... controlled way to take risks. Go indoor climbing or something.”
“Pretty sure we’d get banned from climbing classes for making everyone else feel bad,” Nate says.
Probably. She feels like she’s on to something, though.
Exploring undiscovered ruins is a lot more interesting than sitting at a desk, probably more interesting than dredging trucks out of rivers, and Nate has a knack for finding them. If they rein it in just a little, go for discoveries on a smaller scale, maybe they won’t constantly find they’re competing with private armies.
It’s something to think about. She’s missed this.
The treasury is wrecked and empty. What happened here?
Did Shoreline beat them here? Unlikely, given the amount of undisturbed dust around the place. There are muddy footprints on the floor – they’re not the first ones here today – but it looks like one person at most, and there’s no way one person could have cleared this place out.
Rafe, maybe?
That raises a more troubling question: will Rafe believe that they weren’t the ones who took the treasure? Will he come after them in search of riches they don’t have?
“Nate?”
Nate and Elena nearly jump out of their skin. Whoever beat them here, they’re still here.
Elena whips around. It’s Sam, peeking out from behind a cabinet.
“Holy crap, Sam!” Nate exclaims. “You’re alive?”
“Uh, yeah.” Sam comes out into the open, glancing down at himself. “Yeah, I think so. I thought you were going home.”
“I was looking for you, you asshole.”
“Well, you found me,” Sam says. “Plus Libertalia.”
“Plus Libertalia,” Nate agrees, his voice softening into something amazed.
“I was really hoping to see it for the first time with you, y’know?” Sam asks. “I’m glad you made it, at least.”
“It’s pretty impressive,” Nate concedes.
There’s an uncomfortable silence.
“I’m sorry,” Sam says. “I guess I caused you guys a lot of trouble.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Elena says.
“But it was worth it, right?” Sam asks. “I mean, have you seen where we’re standing?”
She’s not ready to allow him that just yet. “Ask me again if we all get out of this alive.”
“Yeah, well,” Sam mumbles. “Thanks for coming after me, anyway.”
Nate and Sam manage to pin down where they think the treasure’s been brought to: a nearby settlement called New Devon, where the founders supposedly lived.
Nate catches Elena’s eye. “If we go there, we might actually find it.”
He’s asking her for permission, she knows. And she wants to say that they should head down to the docks, find Sully, get off this island. It’s the sensible thing to do.
But she also wants to see this through. And, by this point, Rafe might end up convinced that they have the treasure, when they have no way to pay him off. It could be more dangerous to leave empty-handed.
“Looks like we’re going there, then,” she says.
New Devon is a ruin, half underwater. Tragic and fascinating and strangely beautiful. They follow the trail, and it leads them to a room full of the greatest pirates who ever lived.
And then they keep following it.
It’s a curse she and Nate share, however much she’s tried to convince herself she can bury it. They have to know how this ends.
“We actually made it,” Elena says, quiet and awed.
They’re standing on a dock in a cave, side by side, and Henry Avery’s ship’s right there, just a short swim away. They’re probably the first people to see it in centuries.
Sam sends her a quick grin from Nate’s other side. “Pretty cool, right? You could almost say it was worth the journey.”
“Don’t push your luck,” Elena says.
But she’s smiling too, despite herself. They’re really here.
“Fisher!” a voice calls from nearby.
They all whip around, hands at holsters in an instant.
It’s Nadine. Pushing Sully ahead of her, along the dock, a shield between herself and the three of them.
“Hey, guys,” Sully says, casual but slightly strained.
Nate lowers his gun with a frustrated growl. “If you hurt him—”
“You can calm down,” Nadine says. “He’s a present.”
“He’s a – what?”
“Guns down and you can have him,” Nadine says.
Nate’s already lowered his gun; Elena never raised hers. She glances over at Sam, who’s keeping his aim steady on Nadine.
“Sam,” Elena says.
“Oh, come on,” Sam says. “You don’t know a trap when you see one?”
“I think she means it,” Elena says. “I spent some time with her earlier. I don’t think she’s here to hurt us.”
“Wait, what?” Nate asks. “When?”
“Sam, can you just lower it so she can hand me over?” Sully asks.
Sam eases his gun down, slow and reluctant. Nadine shoves Sully towards them.
The moment Sully’s safely away from her, Sam raises his gun again.
Nadine huffs out a short sigh. It’s an eye-roll of a noise, but her eyes stay focused on Sam, along with her pistol. “Couldn’t see that coming.”
“Put down the gun, kid,” Sully says.
Sam doesn’t move. “I mean, forgive me for being kind of suspicious of the person who’s been sending soldiers after us all this time.”
“I sent them after the treasure,” Nadine says. “You’re the one who put yourself in their path.”
This argument doesn’t seem like it’s going to go anywhere good. Elena cuts in. “Anyway, thanks for Sully. How’d you find him?”
“My men caught him trying to steal a boat,” Nadine says. “Wasn’t easy to persuade them not to kill him.”
“Wasn’t easy?” Nate asks. “You call the shots with Shoreline, right?”
Something in Nadine’s stance tenses, although it wasn’t exactly relaxed before. “Anyway, he’s yours.”
“Thanks,” Elena says. “We’ll take good care of him.”
“Well, that’s unsettling,” Sully says. “Since when were you and Nadine on good terms?”
“I’m just returning a favour,” Nadine says. “Now that we’re even, I’ll shoot the Drake if he doesn’t put down his gun in the next ten seconds.”
“Put it down, Sam,” Elena says.
“I’ll be honest,” Sam says: “that threat isn’t making me want to trust her any more.”
“I’ve known Nadine a while,” Sully says. “She keeps her promises. She’s just promised to shoot you. Put the gun down.”
Sam lowers the gun. Not completely, but enough for it not to actually be pointing at Nadine any more.
“Wise decision,” Nadine says, half-lowering hers in return.
“You here for the treasure?” Sam asks, wary.
“I’m just making a delivery,” Nadine says, indicating Sully with a jerk of her head.
“We’re supposed to believe you’ve come right up to the finish line and you’re going to walk away?”
“Believe what you like,” Nadine says. “I’ve lost enough on this fool’s errand.” She looks at Elena. “I’ll take that deal, if you’re still offering.”
“You cut a deal with Nadine?” Nate asks.
“Uh, not formally,” Elena says.
“Double-cross me if you want,” Nadine says. “I really don’t care any more.”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Elena says. “I’ll talk it over with these guys if we find anything, okay?”
“And if you get out alive,” Nadine says. “Rafe might be on that ship already.”
They all turn and look at the ship in unison.
“Nate,” Elena says, quietly, “if Rafe’s already found the treasure, I say we just let him have it. It’s the best way to make sure he doesn’t come after us.”
“Are you serious?” Sam asks. “It’s right there. It’s right there.”
Nate looks at her. “You really want to walk away?” he asks, quietly. Not incredulous; he’s sincerely asking. But reluctant.
“No,” Elena admits. “But I think we should.”
“We’re potentially looking at pretty much all the pirate gold from the seventeenth century,” Sam says. “That’s not the kind of thing you can pass up.”
“Sully?” Nate asks, looking over at him.
“Wouldn’t say no to a cut,” Sully says. “But I’ve got less to lose than you do. It’s not my call.”
There’s a loud splash, and Elena knows what it is even before she looks. Is this guy seriously—?
“Sam!” she and Nate bellow after him simultaneously.
“I’ll bring something back for you!” Sam calls over his shoulder, already swimming for the ship.
“Goddammit.” Elena tugs off her shoes and jumps in after him, swiftly followed by Nate.
“Jesus,” Sully mutters audibly from the dock behind them. He raises his voice. “Don’t know how we’re getting anything out of here, but let me know what you find once you’ve scouted it out, I guess.”
Elena’s halfway up the side of the ship when a blast knocks her down into the water.
“Holy shit!” Nate’s pulling her up onto the rocks, touching her face, checking her for injuries. “Elena? Are you okay?”
Elena blinks up at the roof of the cave, waiting for her vision to stop swimming. She’s feeling bruised and her heart’s in her throat and she thinks some splinters might have lodged themselves in her arms, but the shock of it is worse than the injuries. “Who – who the hell is using explosives—”
“—in a seventeenth-century wooden ship?” Nate finishes for her. “Nobody smart.”
“Sam?”
“Hey, he’s not that bad.”
“Which means someone’s trying to blow him up.”
Nate breathes in deeply, lets it out slowly. “Yeah.”
“You can go after him,” Elena says. “I’ll catch up.”
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’ll be fine. Go get your brother.”
Nate kisses her on the forehead, and then he starts climbing the ship. Elena watches until he’s out of sight.
She desperately wants to follow him, but she has to stay there a little more, a minute or two, before she gets to her feet. Just until she’s feeling stable enough to move.
It feels like she’s taking in the scene in confused flashes. The burning hold. The treasure. Sam, pinned under a fallen rafter. Nate and Rafe holding each other at gunpoint.
Elena draws her own gun, aims it at Rafe, her heart beating so hard she feels like she might throw up. If she’d taken a little longer to get here—
“Drop it, Rafe,” she says.
“You brought your wife along?” Rafe asks. “So you can cower behind her?”
“I brought myself,” Elena says. “You’re outnumbered. Put down your gun.”
“I can still kill one of you before you shoot,” Rafe says. He gestures with his free hand: at Nate, at Sam, at Elena. “So many choices.”
He gestured at Sam. Sam is still alive.
“That’s not what you’re here for,” Nate says. “You came for the treasure.”
“And now it’s burning,” Rafe says. He swings his gun sharply to Sam. “Because someone couldn’t leave it alone.”
“Because Shoreline used explosives!” Sam gasps out. “On a seventeenth-century wooden goddamn ship!”
It’s one of the strange moments when it really hits Elena that he and Nate are siblings. Not that that’s the most important thing right now.
“There’s time for us all to get some coins out of here,” Nate says. “This doesn’t have to be a wasted journey for any of us.”
“A wasted journey?” Rafe asks, aiming at Nate again. “Do you have any idea how many fucking years I’ve poured into this? For a handful of fucking coins?”
The smoke is choking Elena, making her eyes water. If they’re in here much longer, they’re going to pass out. But they can’t leave without Sam.
Rafe’s not focusing on her; he’s focusing on the brothers. She’s the person in the best position to do something here.
She could try to injure Rafe. But, if she shoots him, he’ll probably kill all three of them..
Unless she shoots to kill.
Her hands are shaking on her gun.
Too much of a cost. Too much of a risk. If he doesn’t die straight away—
He notices that she’s taking more careful aim, shifts his gun to her. “Looks like your wife’s volunteered for my first shot, Nate.”
“Hey!” Sam yells. “Here’s your handful of fucking coins!”
His throw is awkward; he’s still pinned to the floor. But coins scatter across the hold, Rafe jerks back as a few of them hit him in the face, and—
Elena doesn’t know which of them fires first. But, in an instant, she and Nate have both fired.
“Oh, my God,” she whispers.
Nate’s drawing in sharp, unsteady breaths, loud enough for her to hear them above the flames. And Rafe—
“Did I—” Elena swallows. Looking at the blood on the boards, because she can’t look away, but she can’t look at Rafe’s face either. “Did I do that?”
“I did that,” Nate says, in a quiet, half-wavering voice she hasn’t heard from him in years. He seems to shake himself into motion, moves to grab the rafter that’s pinning Sam down. “C’mon, we need to get out of here.”
“I think it – I think it was both of us.” Elena takes hold of the rafter as well, strains against it. She’s shaking so badly that she’s surprised she can keep hold of it. But, with their combined effort, it’s starting to shift. “I mean, we both – I think it must have been both of us.”
Is that better or worse? Does it help, having someone else to carry this with? Or will Nate just be an uncomfortable reminder to her from now on?
“Guys,” Sam says. They’ve lifted the rafter just enough for him to get some purchase on it, and the three of them manage to shove it aside. “It was me.” He clambers to his feet, coughing. “I’m the goddamn hero who threw those coins. And I’m the asshole who dragged us here in the first place.”
“We need to get out of here,” Elena says.
She and Nate move to support Sam as he stumbles towards the hold’s door. The ship is burning fiercely, the smoke is thick in the air. But they might actually make it.
Elena glances back at the man who won’t.
“Seriously,” Sam says, “let me take the blame for this if you need it.” He finds his feet as they head for the deck together. “I may not be much of a brother-in-law, but I’m a pretty great scapegoat.”
They swim back to the cave’s dock; they left their shoes and Sully there, after all. It’s a risk; Elena feels like the whole cave might come down on top of them. It’d probably be safer to swim for the open air.
But the rocks stop falling around them when they’ve gained a little distance. It seems like the damage hasn’t extended too far from the ship.
Nadine’s still on the dock as well, it turns out. In fact, they find Sully and Nadine sitting on the wooden slats, playing cards.
“Oh, I’m sorry, did you get bored watching the ship we were on burn and sink?” Nate asks.
“We started before the explosions,” Sully says. “Watched until we saw you coming back. Didn’t seem like any reason not to finish our game after that.”
“Wow,” Nate says.
“I’m glad you guys are okay,” Sully says.
“Rafe?” Nadine asks.
Was she waiting here to see if he made it out? Elena doesn’t know how much to say. “He, uh – he didn’t make it. I’m sorry.”
Nadine looks back down at the cards. Elena has no idea how to read her expression. “Brought it on himself.”
“I’m guessing the treasure hunt wasn’t a success,” Sully says.
“I mean, we found the treasure,” Nate says. “It just happens to be underwater. With half the cave roof on top of it.”
“We know exactly where, though,” Sam says.
“If you want to come back and dig it out, you’re going to have to do it yourself,” Elena says.
“Oh, I might need you guys to help with that,” Sam says. “You know Al Capone? He’s kind of given me a deadline on this one.”
It’s an extremely brazen joke, and Elena’s slightly annoyed with herself for laughing.
“We still got to see Libertalia,” Nate says. “That was pretty cool.”
And they killed a man together. Some family bonding activity.
Elena nudges Nate with her arm, to distract herself from her thoughts. “Hey, you actually managed not to destroy the lost settlement this time.”
“Only ’cause Avery already destroyed it himself,” Nate says.
“Besides, there’s still time,” Sully points out.
“We did kind of take down Avery’s ship,” Nate says. “That’s got to be another square on Ancient Wonders Destruction Bingo.”
“Can’t believe you’re fifteen years ahead of me on that game,” Sam says. “I’m gonna have to catch up.”
Nate scratches his chin. “Eh, it’s not that great a game.”
“Boys,” Sully says. “There’ll be time to compete once we’ve dealt with the most pressing issue. Don’t know if you guessed from Nadine dragging me here, but I didn’t manage to get us a boat.”
“Wait, do you not have your plane here?” Sam asks.
“Shoreline had it pinned down,” Sully says. “Had to rent a boat instead. It, uh, it didn’t go well.”
Sam looks from Sully to Nate to Elena. “Are you telling me you guys got shipwrecked?”
“Please tell me you didn’t,” Sully says.
“Uh, no,” Sam says. “’Cause I can actually steer a boat.”
“Any chance there’s room for three passengers?” Nate asks.
“Maybe four,” Elena says. “Hey, Nadine?”
“Nadine?” Nate and Sam demand simultaneously.
Nadine gets to her feet. “What?”
“You were shipwrecked too, right?” Elena asks. “Do you need a ride back to the bay?”
Nadine looks at Sam. Pulls her lips back from her teeth in distaste. “I’d rather swim.”
“We can’t just leave you here,” Elena says.
“Speak for yourself,” Sam mutters. “She’ll be fine. There are Shoreline boats; she can jump on one of those.”
Nadine winces. “My relationship with Shoreline may have... changed.”
Sully blows air out through his teeth, sympathetic. “Rafe bought them out from under you, huh?”
Nadine looks sharply at him. “How did you know?”
“’Cause he can afford it,” Sully says. “Seemed like the most likely scenario.”
It’s jarring to hear Rafe spoken of in the present tense. If Sully had been there in that hold, what happened wouldn’t have slipped his mind.
“Is that why Shoreline kept shooting at us?” Elena asks.
“You sure about that?” Nadine asks. “You asked me to tell them not to kill you. You didn’t say anything about this lot.”
“Seriously?” Sully asks. “Elena, making deals with the enemy is like making deals with an evil genie. You always go specific.”
“But you’re right,” Nadine says. “I told them to stand down. Found out what Rafe had done when they refused.”
“She could just be saying that,” Sam points out.
“Look, right now she’s not any more on my shitlist than you are,” Elena says. “If we’re saving you, we’re saving her.”
“Uh, I think we just established that I’m saving you,” Sam says. “Who’s got the boat here?”
Nate leans over to Sam, mock-conspiratorial. “I think you’re now slightly more on her shitlist than Nadine is.”
“Ugh,” Sam says. “Fine. The woman who tried to kill us is completely welcome on my boat.”
Elena breathes out, watching the island recede in their wake. It feels like a breath she’s been holding for a long time. Maybe now she can finally start to believe they’ve actually survived this.
She looks around at the others. Sully’s at the helm; Nate is with him, talking animatedly. Nadine is off to the side, keeping a wary eye on the rest of them. Sam—
Sam is crossing the deck towards Elena, and she’s not sure what to expect.
“Hey,” he says. He leans against the railing next to her. “Thanks for saving me back there.”
By lifting the rafter? Or by killing Rafe?
“It wasn’t just me,” she says. It’s definitely true for lifting the rafter. For Rafe... well, they’ll probably never really know.
“I already thanked Nate,” Sam says. “I’m thanking you.”
She weighs up how to respond, discards several potential replies for being too catty. “I’m glad you’re alive,” she says at last.
“Yeah, me too,” Sam says. “It’s been good to meet you. I think my brother’s done well.”
“Meeting you has been an experience,” Elena says.
Sam chuckles, sheepish. “That bad, huh?”
It’s been mixed. They’ve seen incredible things; they’ve been in incredible danger. She doesn’t know how they’d have got out of the burning ship without him. But she doesn’t know how they’d have got into the burning ship, either.
“I mean, these two didn’t make the best first impression either,” Elena says, jerking her head at Nate and Sully. “I’ll give you a chance to make a second. Maybe you’ll surprise me.”
“You won’t regret it,” Sam assures her. “I am great at second impressions.”
Elena laughs. “We’ll see.”
“I mean, for starters...” He starts delving into his pockets, his waistband, anywhere things can be stashed. Pulling out gold coin after gold coin.
“Wait, are you serious?” Elena asks. “You took the time to fill your pockets when you were pinned to the floor of a burning ship?”
“Can’t believe nobody else thought of it,” Sam says. “Shoved a few into Nate’s pockets when you guys were getting me out, too. I mean, it’s no four hundred million dollars, but split these four ways and it’ll probably still be a nice little boost.”
“Ah.” Elena glances over at Nadine. “I think we might be splitting it five ways.”
“Holy shit,” Sam says. “You’re the one who should be begging for my forgiveness, you know that?”
“Oh, this doesn’t make up for what you did.” Elena leans against the railing, looks out across the water again. “Not even close.”
She can still feel the echo of adrenaline under her skin, though. For something so intense, there’s something strangely familiar and comfortable about it.
They could probably get that back into their lives, hopefully in a slightly less perilous way. She should talk to Nate about it. Maybe they could do something with those coins.
She watches the horizon until the island’s out of sight.