"Is that it?" Sam's voice interrupted the silence, Nate stopped the boat for a moment to get a good look at what was in front of them - and quite honestly, it really wasn't much.
Before them was a cluster of islands, most of them weren't very big and the place was surrounded by rocks. Some were poking out of the water while most of them were jutting out from the islands to make tall cliff sides or random spires connecting parts of the islands together. Other than that, the islands themselves were covered in sand and tall, thick trees. It wasn't much that they could see at the moment but if Nate had learned anything from his previous adventures, it's that there is always more than what the eye sees.
"It must be, this is what the map shows." Nate pulled out what they got from the tower back in that town in Madagascar, fitting them all together and holding it out towards the sun to make sure that these were the right sets of islands, and what they had confirmed it. Nate set everything back down and turned the motor back on, glancing back at Sam. Ellie was still curled up on the small wooden bench that was built in to the back of the boat, Sam had her head on his lap while he tried and failed to run his fingers through her hair, he stopped doing that fairly quickly as the tangles were too much, Sam being afraid to wake up Ellie by yanking too hard on her hair.
Sam carefully moved his hands under Elli's head, getting up and setting her back down, resting her head on top of one of their softer backpacks. He went over towards Nate, leaning down a little to get a better look through the windshield of the boat.
"So...maybe Libertalia is more of a...more of a small, beachside shack."
Nate smiled softly at that remark, his hands still on the wheel as he flicked his eyes towards his brother. "Yeah, maybe it's a treehouse."
Pressing down on the gas as the boat gently pulled forward along the water, Nate went slow so they could watch for anything out of the ordinary - plus, he didn't want to wake up Ellie yet. Sam wasn't the only one who felt guilty about what happened back in Scotland, Nate partially felt responsible. When Ellie asked them to shoot her in the leg for a distraction, Nate believed if he hadn't froze up like that, he could have objected. He could have spared her the pain and thought of something else like slapping some snow on Sam, sending him out towards the Shoreline soldiers while he screamed bloody murder about being a killer snowman. Maybe that was the better option than having Ellie limp for the rest of her life with a bullet wound that won't be able to properly heal for a while.
"Or maybe Avery spent his entire fortune setting up this treasure hunt..." Sam's voice began to falter, and the humorous tone turned sort of sour. "...and ran out of money to actually build Libertalia."
Nate didn't like that possibility, but he agreed with Sam. It was a very real problem for them, and the treasure hunter hated to think that they came all of this way to find a few rotting homes with a few worthless relics. He just hoped that there was something more to this cluster of islands, he wasn't sure what he was hoping for yet, but anything more than what they could see on the surface was good enough for him.
The brothers drove around for a little while, Sam telling them to stop at a few smaller islands if they saw anything man made on them. They went out to explore each of the islands but not finding too much apart from some other pirate initiates who didn't make it, Nate keeping some of the letters that they kept on them along with a few small treasures he found along the way.
Finally they pulled alongside the last island that they haven't checked yet, this one having a massive tower sitting on top of a more hilly part of the island.
"Should we have Ellie with us for this one?" Nate asked, Sam nodding in response as he went over to wake the sleeping woman.
At first Sam gently shook Ellie, frowning once that didn't work, but he kept on trying with other various methods. Ellie eventually peaked her eyes open at Sam running his fingers through her hair again, purposefully trying to work through the tangles. She rose up, twisting her body and giving Sam an evil look, the annoyance on her face rather clear.
"Sam."
"Yes dear?"
"Wake me up like that again and you won't have any fingers left."
"Yes dear.."
Ellie got up from the bench and stretched slightly, being careful with her leg and stretching that out as she walked laps around the boat, Nate getting things ready to explore this last island while Sam filled the time with explaining to Ellie what happened while she was asleep.
"So I didn't really miss the important things now did I?" Ellie asked, rubbing her arms a little bit as the boat rocked slowly from the waves hitting it.
"No, not really. We've only seen a few things from the pirates that landed here and didn't manage to get back. Other than that...a few shipwrecks, random buildings that we don't know what they are used for. This is the last island that we haven't checked yet." Sam gestured to the island before them, and just offshore was that massive tower with some stone stairs along the hill leading up to it. "Will you be okay to go with us? I don't know what else is hidden on the island." Sam was concerned about Ellie scaling any sort of cliffs or running and jumping from platform to platform. She has never been as skilled as the brothers before the limp, and now she had difficulties just going up some simple stairs.
Ellie dropped her arms to her sides with a sigh, setting her eyes on the island to take everything in. "I'll be okay, Sam. If there is more on this one apart from that tower, then I'll let you two handle it. I don't need to be babied, okay?" Ellie didn't allow for Sam to get in any others words before she hopped on to shore, already moving towards the tower. Sam huffed, slapping his forehead in frustration as Nate simply shrugged, moving over to his brother.
"Come on, she isn't going to wait for us."
It didn't take long at all for them to find something more interesting on the island. After the three scaled the tower and got to the top, they found a button that revealed a pathway led by raised markings throughout the islands. Ellie wasn't too happy that she climbed the tower for nothing when the boys could have done it themselves, but they agreed that she could drive the boat while they explored wherever the arrows were pointing to.
For most of the time they were all silent except for Nate pointing out the direction of where they should go next from the arrows. Eventually Nate made Ellie pull over to the side of a cliff because he thought he saw something and went to go and check it out, Ellie sighing softly as she killed the motor, sitting back in the chair. Sam moved from where he was standing towards Ellie, leaning on the back of the chair that she was sitting on.
"...you okay?" Sam asked carefully in a soft tone, hoping to not set Ellie off. He didn't really blame her if she did, the woman is going through a lot right now and considering they most recently got together, it was going to be different from now on.
To Sam's surprise, Ellie sighed softly, crossing her arms along her chest as her eyes were trained on the floor of the boat.
"No, not really." Ellie turned in her chair so that they two faced each other, Ellie craning her head up to look up at Sam.
"Wanna talk about it?" He offered, giving her a small smile for some support.
"I mean...there really isn't too much to even talk about. I feel like I'm just dragging you two down. Before I could at least somewhat keep up with you guys, follow and discover the ruins...but now? I'm exhausted from climbing that tower, my leg is killing me." Ellie leaned back a little bit, keeping a hold on the chair so she wouldn't fall backwards, a saddened expression still prevalent on her face.
"Ellie, you aren't useless at all, okay? I know it feels like that and I'm sure me saying it doesn't automatically change your mind, but I want you to know that you aren't. Nate and I don't see you as baggage at all. Who is gonna call us out on our bullshit?" Ellie smiled a little at that, feeling somewhat better.
"I feel like you're a little bit biased on this situation."
"Even if I am, I know what I'm saying. You'll never be some...some third wheel in all of this. You're just as important as me, Nate, Sully...all of us work together and can't do this without the other. Right now, you'll just have to take things slow and that's okay. None of us expect you to do as much as we do when you're hurt, we want you to be safe. That's more important than you being with us every step of the way."
Ellie didn't want to believe what he was saying, but it was all true. She needed to get over the fact that she won't be as good as they are, but like Sam said, she's just as important. It was something that she was going to have to work on, but this was a good start.
"Thanks Sam, I really needed to hear that." Ellie rested her hand over his, squeezing his hand softly. She had to get used to this affection thing in their relationship as before Ellie wasn't much of a person to go out of her way for affection, even if she loved the occasional hug or snuggle session on particularly cold nights.
Sam on the other hand really enjoyed the small touches of affection. With his previous flings, they were all about showing him off like he wasn't really special to them apart from the ability to show off some attractive guy in front of other women who were interested. But with Ellie? It felt like every touch meant something, as if the touch were because Ellie just wanted to without any real rhyme or reason.
Sam brought his free hand up to cup one side of Ellie's face, the woman fluttering her eyes close as she leaned into his touch while letting out a breath, opening her eyes after a moment.
"You know I love you, right?" Sam whispered to her, Ellie's lips twisting into a smile as her cheeks blushed a soft pink.
"I love - "
Ellie's words were abruptly cut off as Nate jumped back into the boat which pitched and rock from the motion, the younger brother letting out a laugh as Sam pulled away from Ellie with an angered look on his face.
"Oh, sorry, was I interrupting something?" He asked as he tossed a small trinket into one of his bags, Ellie not saying anything as she continued her way by following the arrows, driving them into a small cave while Sam just shoved his brother a little on his way towards the back of the boat.
The brothers found a pathway to climb along the cliff side that Ellie parked by, the woman watching the two climb it and swing to the platform on the other side using their ropes. Nate assured her that they shouldn't be too long, Sam suggesting that she get some rest while they were gone. She hated being benched like this, but there was no way in hell she could keep up with them.
Begrudgingly Ellie took the time to rest up and change out the bandages on her leg as she didn't want them to become infected or anything of the sort. She did some simply stretches that Nadine suggested when Ellie was still undercover at Shoreline and they seemed to be helping some. She tried not to think that she'd be limping for the rest of her life from a stupid decsion but that thought wouldn't leave her alone.
It didn't take long for the boys to come back as they promised, excitedly ushering for Ellie to drive them to the island they were previously at, Ellie doing so while they told her everything that they found including a massive cistern where they found some evidence of Libertalia being created along with a few treasures that Nathan managed to snag along the way. She drove over to the island and got out with them as they climbed up the stairs, Ellie noticing the enormous Avery statue that had risen out of a spot in the ground. They got up to the platform as Sam helped Nate get up towards the spyglass that Avery was holding, looking into it.
"Well? Big skull-shaped island?" Sam asked him over the winds that were picking up, Ellie looking out towards the sea as the waves grew bigger and the sky casted a darkness over them. It was going to be a bad storm, and she only prayed that they would be able to get where they needed before that storm hit.
"Big island," Nate had jumped down from the statue standing up a little bit straighter. "No skull."
Sam grinned, laughing with glee. "Then that must be it! Libertalia..."
Ellie zoned out while the two brothers talked, their discussion quickly becoming heated because of Sam reacting in a way that made Nathan suspicious. After a moment or two Ellie backed up, hitting Sam on the shoulder.
"Uh, boys? I think we have a problem here." She told them, pointing to where there were boats moving over the waves.... A lot of them, too.
"Shoreline."