Treasure

Charlotte

One thing Y/n never expected was to be in a snow cat trying to find a sunken ship lost hundreds of years ago with her two best friends. True, she kinda tagged along on her own free will, but regardless, this was not the situation she would have conceived herself to be in.

"I was thinking about Henson and Peary, crossing this kind of terrain with nothing more than dog sleds and on foot," Ben said. "Can you imagine?"

"It's extraordinary," Ian replied. Y/n rolled her eyes. She never liked Ian and always suspected he would take over once he got the chance. She looked over at Riley's computer as it began beeping slightly.

"We getting closer?"

"Assuming Ben's theory's correct and my tracking model's accurate, we should be getting very close. But don't go by me, I broke a shoelace this morning," Riley answered. Y/n let out a small laugh, turning her head to face the window to avoid Riley's gaze. "It's... it's a bad omen."

"Shall we turn around and go home?"

"Or we could pull over and just throw him out here," Ben suggested.

"Ben, don't you dare!" Y/n scolded, smiling. She knew he was just teasing, but still took it seriously. If he got annoyed enough, he just might turn the tease into a reality.

Riley laughed mockingly. "Okay."

"Riley, you're not missing that little windowless cubicle we found you in, are you?" Ben questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no. Absolutely not," Riley responded. A rapid beeping filled the compartment as Y/n leaned closer to Riley yo look at the screen once again. A message reading 'Target Reached Charlotte Mapping' flashed across the map, along with coordinates as Ben stopped the snow cat. Stepping out into the freezing atmosphere, they looked out over the empty landscape.

"Why are we stopping? I thought we were looking for a ship."

"I don't see any ship."

"Do trust it's out there?" Y/n asked.

"No."

"There's your problem, then."

"She's out there," Ben told them. Grabbing metal detectors, Ben, Ian, and the others went across the snowy plain, searching as much as they could for the ship. Y/n stayed near Riley as they searched. Over the months, they'd grown close, and she felt comfortable around him.

"Look... this is a waste of time. How could a ship wind up way out here?"

Riley thought for a moment before speaking. "Well, I'm no expert, but... it could be that the hydrothermic properties of this region produce hurricane-force ice storms that cause the ocean to freeze and then melt and then refreeze, resulting in a semisolid migrating land mass that would land a ship right around here."

"Makes total sense, Sparky," Y/n said to the man, whose name she didn't bother asking.

"My name isn't Sparky."

"I know. Just do not care," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest and smirking softly.

"Guys! I found it!" Ben called. Everyone hurried over towards Ben, ecstatic to finally find what they were looking for.

"Great! Now we get to dig it up, and the sooner we do, the sooner I can go home!" Y/n sarcastically announced.

Ben looked at her. "You wanted to come."

"That was before I knew there was snow involved."

*Time Skip*

After a few hours, the ship was mostly freed from the snow. Y/n had to admit, Charlotte was a beautiful ship. Someone was driving one of the snow cats, pushing snow out of the way to make access to the ship easier for the adventurers.