• i miss nate :(
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Henry Avery.
The historical pirate who supposedly founded the legendary pirate colony, Libertalia. You, Nate, and Sam had been scavenging a small island off the coast of Madagascar in search of the lost city and its hidden treasure, 400 million in gold stolen by Avery from the Gunsway ship all those years ago. The three of you had originally been looking for the treasure 15 years ago, both Nate and you giving up after Sam had 'died' trying to escape a Panamanian jail. But he had returned a few weeks ago fine and well, ready to continue the search for the treasure only to find Nate married and settled down with Elena, and you working a typical 9 to 5 job trying to support yourself. Rafe never gave up though, still going at it 15 years later and turning up with a big pile of jack squat.
You and Nate had been in contact scarcely over the years, finding him too preoccupied with Elena to ask you if you wanted to accompany him in his search of the other lost cities he found. El Dorado, Shambhala, the Pillars of Iram, all found with Elena and you watching from afar. You always did have a soft spot for the younger Drake, finding that he could be sweet and caring when he wanted but also crack jokes in the worst possible time. But it was something you loved about him, he could always make you laugh no matter how serious the situation. The last you had seen him before he called you up to say Sam was alive was at his wedding, staying only long enough to see the ceremony and give a quick hug to the bride and groom (much to your dismay) and then you were on your way home. You had spent that entire night submerged in a gallon of cookie dough ice cream and rewatching a marathon of Sherlock on Netflix.
After arriving back at the hotel in King's Bay and Elena finding out that Nate lied to her for weeks on end, Nate had been pretty quiet about the whole thing and hadn't brought her up yet. The whole subject was intentionally being avoided by you and Sam, Sully having stayed behind to watch Elena to make sure she was alright. You had stayed with the boys to keep looking for the treasure, the air that night very awkward between you three. You decided to leave the room with Sam, going to his room to look over more clues and do more research to get your mind off the argument. To this day you wanted to bring her up, you had wanted Nate to say that it was over between them and he was a free man again. You had wanted to admit your feelings for him, to tell him how much you loved him and wanted to be with him.
But you never did and here you were, fighting Nadine Ross alongside a tired looking Sam and an almost unconscious Nate. He had been thrown out the window and was working his way back to you and Sam, who was just thrown into a very unsafe looking shelf. You ran up behind her and hopped on her back, throwing your arms around her neck and trying to cut off her air supply to knock her out. But she quickly reversed the situation and slammed you down on the ground with your arms still around her neck, groaning when your back screamed at you in pain. She quickly got on top of you and her hands flew to your neck, squeezing the life out of you while you weakly pounded on her muscular arms. You thought it was all over when black dots clouded your vision, but a loud "Nadine!" caught your attention and the floor suddenly collapsed beneath you. You fell down along with Nate, Sam, and Nadine, seeing Nate out of the corner of your eye rush over to you and grab your hand and Nadine still recovering from the fall. "Y/N, Y/N! Come on, we gotta go!" He called while pulling you up beside him, letting you lean on him and wrap an arm around your waist to help you. Sam was already shuffling over to the gun, grabbing it right in time to see Nadine reach for it. But Sam already had it grasped in his hands, aiming it right at her.
"You're fast, but you're not that fast." Sam grumbled, watching as she took a step back away from him. "Hey, come on, we gotta get out of here before- shit." Nate was cut off by Rafe running around the corner, still grasping your arm in his hand but pushing you behind him ever so slightly as if that would protect you. Suddenly out of the corner of your eye, you saw Sam grasp Nadine and wrap an arm around her neck and placing the barrel of the gun against her temple. She extended her arms out, showing him that she wasn't gonna try to escape since she literally had a gun pointed at her head. "Woah, woah, woah, woah, everybody just, just calm down, okay?" Nate spoke up when he saw the multitude of guns all pointed at the four of you, a hand raised in the air as if that would stop an oncoming bullet. "Well, this is interesting." Rafe sassed, his gun still raised and pointed at Sam. "Nate, Y/N," Rafe drawled on and glanced over in yours and Nate's direction before turning to look at the older Drake, tilting his head to the side. "Samuel." He spoke his name as if it were a child being scolded by their parents, a soft tone but still holding authority behind it.
"Put your guns down, all of you." Sam commanded the mercenaries, swaying in his spot as his eyes glanced around at all the men with guns. Nate stole a glance over his shoulder at you, finding that your lips were parted and your eyes wide with anticipation with what was going to happen. He reached back and took your hand in his, finding comfort in the fact that you squeezed to let him know you were alright for the time being. "No." Rafe simply said, seeming to not care that his 'partner' was being held at gunpoint. "Rafe, this guy's on edge." Nadine spoke up, her eyebrows furrowed into a permanent scowl. "Oh, don't worry about them, Nadine. These guys don't kill anyone in cold blood, it's just not their style." Rafe said, seeming to think that he knew everything about Sam, as Nate turned to look at you from over his shoulder. He had that look in his eyes, a look that said that something bad was about to happen. "You willing to bet her life on that?" Sam retorted, making your eyes widen as you finally pieced together that he was serious about shooting Nadine.
Rafe seemed to not take Sam seriously, because he gestured with the gun again to the two of them. "Go ahead then. Shoot her." Rafe taunted, Nate taking a step forward and letting your hand slip out of his to move as if he was going to grab the gun out of his brother's hand. "Sam, put the gun down!" Nate ordered as his eyes grew wide with the thought that Sam would actually do it, you knowing deep down that he would if he was ushered into it, which he was by Rafe. "I warned you." Sam shook his head, Rafe shouting at him to 'just do it' and everything after that was a little fuzzy. All you remember was Nate lunging toward Sam and pointing the gun up into the air, hearing a single gunshot go off as all the mercenaries took a threatening step forward. "Don't shoot!" Rafe commanded the men as Nate held the gun loosely in his hand, one hand raised in the air to show surrender. Your eyes were as wide as saucers, Sam was actually going to do it had Nate not stepped in. "Put it down." Rafe ordered with Nate easily complying, his gaze glancing over to you to see if you were alright. You gave him a nod as you watched on from by the edge of the cliff, standing more over to the side. "It's done." Nate commented, watching as Nadine quickly walked over to grab her gun before any of you could and turning to Rafe with a glare. "Don't worry, Nadine. It's not their style." She mimicked Rafe from earlier, obviously pissed about the fact that she almost died.
"What can I say? I didn't think he had it in him." He shrugged off her comment and turned back around to face the Drake brothers, waving his gun around again to show off what he thought was his authority. "Samuel, you okay?" Rafe asked as if he actually cared, but all three of you knowing that he actually didn't and that he was just being rude. You tuned Rafe out after that, more focused on Nate and Sam than Rafe's 'villain speech.' But eventually you and Nate came to find out that Sam had lied the entire time about Hector Alcazar and that he certainly didn't tell either of you. Nate freaked out of course, the both of you feeling hurt and betrayed about the fact that he kept this little fact all to himself and basically manipulated you and Nate to get you to find the treasure.
"Rafe? One way or another, end it. Or I will." Nadine commented, walking up to stand just behind the man as he nodded and waved her off. You had stepped forward to help Sam up from when Rafe knocked him down, so now you stood between the brothers as they both glanced at each other. "Well, you heard the lady." Rafe shrugged before pointing his gun right at Sam's head, you moving to step forward in front of him but Nate beating you by speaking up. "Hey you miss one clue, you can kiss that treasure goodbye." Rafe seemed to not care, tensing up as if he was about to fire the gun but exhaling heavily after a dramatic moment. "You're right. You're half right. I just need Sam." Rafe decided as he suddenly pointed the gun at you, thinking quickly enough to shove Sam out of the way and thinking Nate was somewhere off to the side, but certainly not thinking he was right behind you.
"What?! I had nothing to do with this!"
"Rafe, don't!"
"No!"
None of yours, Sam's, nor Nate's protests got through to Rafe as he fired the gun, only grazing your shoulder but making you stumble back into someone as they fell off the edge. "NATE!" You screamed as you turned too late to catch him, watching as he hit his head on the cliff and fell into the water below. "Nate!" You yelled again, kneeling next to the edge and looking over to the water below. Strong arms wrapped around your waist and pulled you back from the edge to pull you into their lap, shushing you as they held you close. Tears streamed down your face as Sam held you, mumbling incoherently but him being able to pick out small things like 'it's my fault' and 'I did this'. Your chest hurt as your heart felt like it was being ripped out of your chest, feeling a thumb wipe your tears made you look up at the older Drake brother to see the pain and regret in his eyes. You knew he regretted not telling Nate and you about Alcazar, not really minding right now as all you could think about was Nate and if he was alive .
"Get them up and let's go, nothing's changed." You faintly heard Rafe command his men before stalking off with Nadine in tow, seeing Sam grip your arms gently to get you up so that the mercenaries wouldn't have to forcefully. You slowly stood to your feet as your tears dried and left little trails down your rosy cheeks, finding that the breeze had dried them along with Sam as he wrapped an arm around your shoulder and kept a hand in the crook of your elbow. The mercenaries walked behind you and Sam as they led you into the woods, as you walked Nate consumed your mind again. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be, and you would never believe that until you saw a body. "I need to find him." You whispered to Sam, who jerked his head around to look at you. He had untangled himself from you a while ago when you asked him to, still staying close enough just in case you needed him life the good brother figure he was. "You are one smart cookie, you know that?" He winked, his Boston accent coming through just a little bit when he smiled. "Will you be alright?" You asked, knowing that if you went off to find Nate that Sam would be left alone with Rafe. He shrugged and scrunched up his nose a bit, making you smile as well. "I can handle Rafe, I'll lead him around in circles to give you enough time to find him and come back and find me." He whispered so the mercenaries behind you wouldn't hear of your plan, giving him a fistbump and a wink.
"Rafe! Can we stop, I have to pee." You grabbed his attention as he turned to you all sassy like, seeming to not want to deal with your bladder issues. "Seriously?" He rolled his eyes, on the edge of saying 'no' and your plan would be ruined, but not before an idea popped into your head. "It's a, um, lady issue." You emphasized 'lady' and he certainly got the hint from how mortified he looked. You glanced at Sam to see him trying to look disgusted but you could see the hint of a smile stretching his lips. "Fine, whatever, just take Troy here with you." (A/N: lmao troy as in tROY BAKER.... please tell me someone got that) He waved you off and you mentally thanked the Lord that he didn't send someone like Nadine with you instead. The mercenary followed you with his gun cradled close to his chest, not really paying attention to you but looking around at the beautiful scenery more than anything. You both walked off to a more secluded area of the woods, stopping and watching as 'Troy' stared at you expectingly. "Um, a little privacy?" You motioned for him to turn around and as soon as he did, took the golden opportunity to go up behind him and wrap your arms around his neck, rendering him unconscious and grabbing his gun since he wouldn't be needing it anymore.
You headed off through the jungle in the opposite direction of Rafe and Nadine, making your way back to where Nate fell and working down the mountainside to the river. As you approached the waterfront, your gun was thrown over your body with the strap as you looked around. "Nate!" You yelled, knowing that you were far enough away from Rafe and his men to be able to yell a bit. Not receiving an answer your heart sunk, wading through the water a bit to stand in the middle of a small pond. Your jeans were soaked up to your knee, not really paying attention to the uncomfortable feeling when your eyes landed on a figure turned on their side. Seeing the navy blue shirt and khaki pants, you obviously knew who it was. "Nate! Nate, oh my god." You waded through the water to collapse beside him, turning him over on his back and into your lap to get a better look at his face. He had a gash on his forehead and other bruises decorated his perfect face, but other than that he looked alright. "Come on, big guy." You grunted as you grabbed him by the armpits and dragged him out of the water to lay on the shore, coming around to sit beside him and press your head to his chest to see if he was breathing or not. Luckily you could hear the thumping of his heart and the shallow breaths he inhaled and exhaled, the nerves in your stomach settling just slightly to know he was at least alive.
"Nate. Nate, please." You whispered as your gaze landed on his face, finally seeing him at peace for the first time in this entire trip. Your hands moved up to cup his cheeks into your palms, finding that the cut on his forehead actually wasn't that deep and thankfully wouldn't need stitches. "God, this is all my fault." You meekly mumbled under your breath as tears sprang to your eyes, still holding his beautiful face in your hands like he was a piece of glass that could break any moment. Nate laid all sprawled out with one hand resting on his stomach, the other flung out away from his side. You held back a sob as you moved down to rest your head on his stomach, your eyes casting up to the beautiful sky above you as you laid beside the man you loved as you prayed for him to wake up.
As you laid there, your mind wandered to the fact that this was the first time you actually had a chance to let your reality sink in. You were on an island off the coast of Madagascar, with Libertalia a few good feet away and the greatest pirate treasure of all time within your grasp. And Nate, Nate who you had so helplessly fallen in love with. But he had loved and married Elena, the whole life changing event breaking your heart into a million pieces. But it didn't matter who he married, not to you anyway. You would always be by his side, no matter what life threw at you or if Nate ever rejected you. You loved him too much to let him go.
"God, my head is killing me." Nate's groggy voice pulled you from your thoughts as your eyes widened, sitting up to see his head rolling around and his eyes trying to adjust to the sunlight streaming through the trees above. "Nate?" Your voice was a whisper against the wind, earning a groan as a reply was good enough for you. You slowly made your way to kneel over him, blocking the sunlight from his vision so that his eyes would stop blinking to adjust. He seemed to stop moving as his gaze was frozen on your tear streaked face, his beautiful eyes softening when you weakly threw a smile his way. A laugh/sob escaped your throat as you brought a hand up to fiddle with the strands of hair around his temples, finding the brown hair was turning grey but not bothering you at all. "Are you crying over me?" He smiled, his eyebrows scrunching together as he gazed up at you. You sniffled and pulled away to let him sit up, you still beside him but facing the opposite way. (A/N: if anyone is having trouble visualizing, think of two arrows going the opposite way of each other if that makes sense, which it probably doesn't but it's okay)
"No, I'm crying cause I miss Sam. Of course I'm crying over you, you doofus." You weakly punched his arm, watching as he playfully held where you punched him and pretend to be in pain. "I'm fine, Y/N. Really, I'm good." He softly smirked as one hand came up to push a stray hair away from your face, seeing the breeze gently move strands of Nate's hair atop his head caught your attention as Nate's hand didn't move away. He cupped your cheek as he tilted his head sideways ever so slightly, a blush rising to your cheeks. "Nate." You whispered, your small smile disappearing as your mind remembered the fact that Nate was still married. Nate remember as well judging by the look on his face, but none the less he still didn't move his hand. "You're still married." You said the words your heart ached to say, even though the both of you already knew it, the words still needed to be said.
"And if I wasn't?" He proposed a little too nonchalantly, his hand finally falling and the smirk still not going away as a lightbulb popped on in his head. "The hell you mean, 'if you weren't'? Elena is your wife, Nate. I'm not gonna be the reason you leave her just because I saved your life and you think you owe me or something-" you attempted to convince him otherwise, but he seemed to have the whole thing worked out already. "Elena isn't here. Elena didn't come and fly out here and risk her life to find me," Nate started, watching as your eyes widened and your gaze fell to the forest floor. "She didn't love me enough to put aside our differences and save my life." He continued, reaching for one of your hands settled in your lap and rubbing small circles onto the back of your hand.
"You did."
Your gaze snapped up to meet his, finding that the sun was hitting his eyes just right to mix them into two pools of sapphire and emerald. "You can't be serious." You scoffed, not meaning to come off as mean but your heart was racing and your stomach was in knots. Sure, you wanted all his words to be true and for him to pick you over her, but this was supposed to feel wrong. Wasn't it? "I am. You know I'm not a very serious person, Y/N. But this, you, I'm serious about." He finished, a small smirk stretching his lips and his eyes clouded with an emotion you couldn't quite put your finger on. But when he paused, and when he didn't break out into a smile and saying 'ha, gotcha!' you realized he was actually being serious about this. His eyes shifted to the blood dripping down your arm from the graze of the gunshot, his face softening and eyebrows drawing together slightly as he reached for the hem of your plaid shirt tied around your waist. "What are you doing?" You asked softly, mind hazy and aloof with his confession and watching his movements as he ripped a piece of fabric off and moved to your arm. He grasped your arm in his hand, carefully pulling it closer to get a good look at it as he moved the fabric to tie around the wound.
"Can't have you bleeding out on me, now can we?" He chuckled lowly, sky blue eyes focused on the movement of his fingers as he tied the cloth around your upper arm. You winced in pain from how tight he was pulling it, but the pain slowly subsided and was replaced with a dull throbbing instead. Your gaze slowly fell to your injured arm, seeing Nate's hand still grazing down your arm to grasp your hand in his. "Thank you." You whispered, bringing your gaze up to see he was already looking at you with an emotion you couldn't put your finger on. "It's not a problem." He shrugged lightly, voice low much alike yours and gazes stuck on each other's. You smiled slightly and moved forward, settling your forehead against his but being careful of the cut above his eyebrow. "I'm sorry I knocked you off a cliff." You mumbled with a chuckle, eliciting a chuckle from Nate as well. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this whole mess." He mumbled back, feeling the guilt radiate off him in waves causing your hand that wasn't holding his to cup his cheek in your palm. "It's okay." You mumbled under your breath, the gentle breeze swaying the leaves on the trees surrounding you and the birds chirping as they flew overhead. Nate seemed to move forward first, slowly, as if he was testing the waters when his lips grazed yours to see if you would respond. The small action sent a jolt through your body, making you tense up but not pull away. "Nate, as much as I would love to kiss you right now, I think we might need to go save Sam." Your hand came up to place a finger over his mouth to stop him from coming any further, seeing him sigh softly and nod his head in agreement. "You're right." He mumbled, pulling away to let you stand up first since he would take a minute because of every bone in his body aching. You dusted off your butt and adjusted the strap around your body before turning your attention to Nate, seeing him tilt his head from side to side to pop his neck and get his muscles loose again. "You ready?" You asked, watching as he offered a hand for you to hold and you happily obliged with a grin, threading your fingers between his and walking off towards Sam.
"So, if I were to kiss you, you would kiss back right?"
"Of course, you think I would wanna miss out on that opportunity?"
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• this took way too long to write lol