"Oh, jeez." (Y/N) whispers.
Gibbets and bodies were littered everywhere and more hung from above and Nate steadies himself, walking across a log and jumping to a gibbet. Using the items, he pulls himself up on to the wall and turns, kneeling down to pull her up. Crouching down next to him, (Y/N) presses a finger to ear and a hand hovers her thigh.
"You all right?" He asks.
"Yeah." She promises, giving him a soft smile and the two look out over the flooded area. "Wow. Welcome to Avery's neighbourhood." He mutters.
"It's a nice place. If you don't mind some structural problems and water damage." She jokes and Nate chuckles. "Clearly some drainage issues."
"A real fixer-upper opportunity." (Y/N) finishes, smiling. He nods and laughs and she opens her bag to pull out some binoculars. "Okay, so..." She scans the area and inches forward. "Looks like somebody blew that's dam and flooded the whole place." She looks around more before Nate sighs.
"You know, I forgot..." He begins and she pulls away the binoculars and frowns. ''Pretty good at this. Once I step back and watch you work." He praises.
"All right, so which one of these do you think is Avery's?" (Y/N) asks with a slight smile at the compliment.
"Ah, my money's on..." He positions her towards the mansion. "...that one. One that's still intact." She straightens up, nodding. "If I stepped back and watched, I would say you're not bad at this either." (Y/N) states, looking at the house.
"Yeah, well, you know, had a little practise, read a few books -" She cuts him off by nudging him and mumbling shit and he looks at her, confused. "What? What?"
She passes him the binoculars and holds onto his arm. "The front door." She points out and his breath hitches. "Sam. He's still alive."
"Yeah, for now. Just keep an eye out for any shoreline types." (Y/N) warns Nate, placing the binoculars back in the bag and jumps down to the lower ledge. Running across the wooden beam, she cannonballs into the sparkling blue waters.
Nate swims over to an open window, clambering in to climb up to the platform. (Y/N) follows him, walking over a wooden beam after to go through a door. Passing a bed with a skeleton, murdered by a sword, Nate helps her climb out and then he drops down, mumbling as he lands.
"What?" She whispers, tripping and falling onto him, making him groan. "I said shit shoreline, (Y/N) get down."
"Ohhh." She hums and he shakes his head, making her smile and Eskimo kiss him. (Rubbing your noses together.) He smiles and she rolls off, letting them both crouch.
--
(Y/N) limps over to the cavern, following her husband in and they make their way through, coming across a hanging body, the wind making it blow slightly. Nate had clambered up and dropped a box in the water, letting the current take it to the end.
She drags it to the side and he takes it from her, pushing it against the wall and bowing. "After you." He states and she purses her lips. "Aw, how sweet. You want me to be your decoy?" She quips, pushing herself onto the box and smirking at his face.
"No, I was being gentlemanly there." He frowns and she laughs, jumping up. ''I know, I was just busting your chops."
"Yeah, well the chops are plenty busted already. Thank you." Nate mutters and (Y/N) shakes her head, pulling him up. She walks ahead, along the roof, appreciating the breeze when the roof begins to creak and crack.
"Oh, shit." She whispers just as it breaks underneath and they go sliding towards the water.
(Y/N) looks back to see Nate's part collapse even more and she keeps sliding all the way down, landing in the blue of the water. Nate had already resurfaced and his wife soon comes up near him. "Ugh." She splutters, running a hand through her hair to get it out of her face.
"That wasn't too bad." Nate shrugs, swimming his way over. "You okay?"
''Tired.'' She admits and he agrees, leading her into a house.
"You think the colonists flooded this place?" (Y/N) questions once they were back on a solid ground and Nate sighs. "Well, they definitely had the motivation."
"But... You don't think it's them?" She understands his tone, a few steps behind him.
"I just find it odd that all the houses are underwater except for one." He explains and her mouth opens in an 'oh', a dawning realisation. "Avery's."
"Exactly."
Sighing, (Y/N) follows him through the rooms until they come across a fireplace and she ducks under, falling in the hole through the wall. She finds herself climbing out the window and back into water, swimming towards some stairs.
In another house, Nate jumps back in the flood and floats back. "Stronger than it looks." He explains at her laughing. He then proceeds to climb up and walk across a beam, going down and frowning, both knowing he won't reach.
(Y/N) joins, being the weight to hold it down and he goes over. "You're welcome!" She shouts.
"Thank you. You make a great counterweight." He says, making her frown and he stutters. "Ah, I mean.." She laughs and shakes her head. "It's okay! I'm choosing to take that as a compliment."
"As well you should!" He shouts back, climbing up out of her sight. "I'll find a way up for you." He promises.
With a sigh, (Y/N) gets back in the water to float back to where they started. Just as she's climbing out, he reappears again behind a bookcase and pushes it down. Clambering it up, the couple lift the wardrobe blocking the way and they head down the corridor.
(Y/N) reaches the double doors, pushing them open and her eyes widen at the sight.
"Looks like we found the party." Nate mutters.
In front were all the founders, their skeletons around the table like a dinner party. "Looks like we're a bit late." She counters, picking up a goblet. Nate chuckles and she puts the goblet down, eyeing a piece of card with a sigil.
"Hey - Nate." He looks over and she picks it up, blowing off the dust. (Y/N) holds it up, turning it around so he can see the sigil. "It's another sigil."
She throws it back on the table, watching the dust fly up from under it and Nate frowns. Running her finger along the table, (Y/N) scans over the contents before Nate gasps. "It's them. (Y/N), it's the pirate captains that founded Libertalia." He exclaims, pointing to them.
"Holy goddamn shit." She breathes in realisation, taking a step back.
"What the hell happened here?" Nate questions and (Y/N) eyes the goblet and sighs. "Now I'm no forensic expert, but my guess is..." She picks it back up. "...bad drinks?"
"Apparently." He says.
(Y/N) bites her lip in confusion, waving her hand around. "So, what was this? Some kind of... wealthy pirate suicide cult?"
"Yeah, not likely." Nate chuckles.
Spotting a piece of paper from one of their pockets, (Y/N) grabs it and holds it up for Nate to see and he nods for her to read it and she carefully unfolds it.
"On behalf of Lord Avery, I invite you to my manor at sundown tomorrow. The time has come to abandon our animosities... and reunite under the banner of God... and Liberty. Signed Thomas Tew."
Nate takes this in and looks between the pirates before picking up two of the sigil cards. "What do you bet..." He trails off, inspecting them and nods. "Thomas Tew. Henry Avery." He holds them up before throwing them back on the table.
"Looks our hosts didn't stick around to clean up their mess. Which wasn't very gracious of them." (Y/N) states.
Nate shakes his head, trying to figure it out. "Okay, so these guys sparked a full-scale revolt when they claimed the treasure for themselves. Now, they took care of the colonists, but then they had to deal with each other. And I'm guessing things got messy." She watches as he explains, having always loved how his eyes would light up when he had figured out the story.
"So, Avery and Tew invite them up here to uh, ah what was it?" He asks, indicating to the letter. (Y/N) snaps out of her trance and looks down. "To abandon our animosities." She says and he repeats it, picking up the goblet in front of him.
"Avery makes a grand toast... 'for God and Liberty'. Argh, ahoy, mateys, all that." (Y/N) laughs at his choice of words, which causes a small smile on his face before he continues.
"And they all take a swig..." Nate puts it back down and points to the two empty chairs. "Except these two. And just like that..." He snaps his fingers. "... All the treasure of Libertalia becomes the sole possession of two men."
"These are some of history's greatest pirates... and they all perished. In an instant. At this very table." He leans on the table, smiling and she can't help but stare at him.
"It's incredible." (Y/N) manages, her voice barely audible and he nods, still smiling. "Yeah." The smile drops once he looks at her.
"I'm - I'm sorry - I, uh... I'm sorry."
(Y/N) shakes her head and smiles, softly. ''It's okay. We're okay." She reassures and his smile returns. Clearing her throat, she looks back down at the letter. "So, since our missing hosts aren't here at Tew's manor..." She trails off.
"We should head over to Avery's." Nate completes, and (Y/N) nods, handing him over the letter. "Let's go." She tells him before walking out of the room.
Nate takes the lead, leaving the house and heading up the fallen tree. (Y/N) moves past him, going up the steps which break slightly. "All right. Be careful." He warns. Carrying on, she makes it to the top, but the stairs he's on breaks and sends him falling.
"Nate?" She shouts, peering over.
"I'm okay! I got it!"
"What happened to be being careful?" His wife reminds him, smiling.
At the entrance of the cellar, Nate turns to her and holds his arms out in triumph. "And we're officially inside Avery's house."
Following him up, she makes her way into a room that instantly takes her breath away. "Woah."
"Word of the day... Ostentatious." Nate states.
"So he didn't kill Thomas Tew because he was his right-hand man?" (Y/N) asks, looking around.
"Yeah, exactly that. Can you imagine taking orders from a paranoid psychopath?" He mumbles and she shrugs, following him to the main part of the house and he points to the stacked furniture. "Look, they barricaded the front door."
(Y/N) crouches down with a slight frown. "And left a bunch of muddy footprints behind."
They follow them, stopping at a blocked door and the two shove their weight against it when a sniper bullet just misses Nate's head. It forces them behind a pillar and they take out the ambush, returning to their task.
One last push and the two fall in, Nate landing on a skeleton perched on a chair. His wife hauls him up and then grabs the paper from the skeleton's bag. "It's a letter from Avery." She says, slowly walking forward.
"Read it."
"My loyal subjects... as the sun sets on our glorious paradise, we must endeavor to preserve its riches... The traitorous Tew knows our secrets, so we must act quickly. Destroy the dam, cleanse New Devon... and move my treasure through the passage to my ship."
(Y/N) stops at the doors and he chuckles. "So Tew and Avery turned on each other."
"Uh-huh. I mean, are you really surprised?" She replies and he shakes his head slightly. "Well I guess not."
Passing over the letter, she gives a brief smile. "Let's go find that passage." She mumbles, pushing open the doors and taking a glance around before frowning. "There's no more footprints. They end here."
"Okay. So where did they go?" He contemplates and (Y/N) waves her hands in his face. "Pirate ghosts."
—
Nate crouches down after a while of them searching. ''It's Sam's lighter." He states and he stands, turning it over in his hands.
"Did he drop it?" (Y/N) questions, making her way over to his area that he was investigating.
"Yeah, on purpose. Whatever we're looking for is around here somewhere." He states, searching frantically around at anything and everything.
(Y/N) looks over at the globe and runs her hands along it before stopping at a blood stain. "Nate..."
"Yeah? Did you find something?" He asks, walking over.
"I think so." She presses down on the area and stairs appear on the floor, making their way down and he laughs.
"It's a good thing they figured that out for us." (Y/N) whispers and he looks at her. "How did you do that?"
"There's a bloody fingerprint right where Libertalia should be and I... Pushed it." She explains and he raises his eyebrows. "Nicely done."
"Why thank you." She mocks a bow and the couple head down the stairs.
"So the letter said Avery was moving his treasure to his ship." (Y/N) begins. "Do you think the treasure's still on the island?"
"I think -" Nate stops, giving a heavy sigh. "I think it doesn't matter anymore."
Shocked, she stops and he gives her a knowing look and she returns it, the two turning on their flashlights, illuminating a gate. Nate cranks it open and (Y/N) ducks under it. "Oh. Looks like Avery built himself a panic cave." She quips and he chuckles, ducking under to join her.
"Yeah. I wonder where this goes?" He ponders and a heavy bang is heard, making them jump and they turn back to see that gate slammed shut.
"Guess we're gonna have to find out."