#nadine hunt — interaction .

[tewwor]

Nadine being annoying is all of their charm <3

"..."

"I don't like this."

"I don't like you.*

*See: This is a false statement. It's inevitable that he tumbles into having feelings based on the survey alone :)

[spcckystcries-a]

@dumbthink liked for a starter!

johnny has been thinking hard for the past several minutes before he finally looks back to nadine, holding up a finger as if he's come up with the greatest idea of all time. "okay, so, do you think with your powers you could take someone with you when you time travel? i mean, you use their memories, there's gotta be a way that works, right?" he pauses for a second. "because i was just thinking what if i could go back to the day i saw mavis for the first time. or no, no, no, the day dennis was born. or wait, no - no, i got it, the day i tried vocelli's triple decker pizza for the first time ..."

[snnydcysarchivee]

@nadinehunt liked for a starter

"did.. did that asshole say something to you!? do i need to beat him up, because i will!" sonny may be all sunshines and rainbows, but the girl has beat up a paparazzi or two, so she will fight to the death.

[pandorafallz]

Vampire AU | New clothes, new friends

Jake eyed his new piece thoughtfully in his hands, his tail swishing along the grass. A simple hair fork really. About thirty centimetres long, with two prongs at one end which had very little design and wouldn’t need to when buried within the mass of hair while the joint was where he had really put the work into its design and beauty. It was a simple hunting carving pattern, he had noticed it on many bows, on both training and personal variants but he wanted it to look nice and for it to be something meaningful and dedicating a piece towards his hunts seemed meaningful enough.

Morgan hadn’t been wrong when he said he’d enjoy it. In fact, it was something Jake fell into quite naturally when he had been shown the carving techniques from Manru and then Hukinli the other day. A natural, they had said and it had warmed his heart to feel himself…more at home with the art than he had with the other areas.

He could weave adequately well, he knew how to loom and all of that, just as much as he knew to make beautiful beads and he had continued to do so and that was okay, but it was a little tedious. But craving and shaping bones was… more fulfilling. He hadn’t tried wood shaping for one reason and that being was the head of that area, Ateyo was a very… unpleasant teacher and had an even worse mate, Artsut whom he rarely interacted with, thankfully, but it spoiled his interest in wood shaping.

He turned the fork in his hand, unable to help but note the slight inconsistencies in his carving but he could correct that or add paint to the inside of the carvings to cover the imperfection. He sucked on his teeth a moment before he set it into his basket and plucked out a new bone.

A femur, at least one femur from a Viperwolf that Kim had brought back from a run-in with a small pack early this morning. Nadine somehow had made it work for lunch. Turns out, Viperwolf meat was very lean, and surprisingly tasty wrapped in a nan-like bread made from a type of Pandora grain with some steamed vegetables. It was much coarser in texture but still, delicious.

“How is your work?” N’deh asked, appearing from the depths of the treeline with a basket of fruits from his foraging.

“My hair fork is done, more or less.” Jake picked out of the basket to show him, feeling prideful as N’deh set his basket down to take with a clear interest in the Na’vi’s expression. “I’ve got an idea of what my hair is gonna be so I’ll be needing this to keep my hair off my face.”

“You have decided?”

Jake nodded, his hand running through his straight single braid for a moment. “Some sort of thick locks. It’ll be easier to have my hair done in advance. The rest of my clothes are still gonna take a while to make.” He liked the idea of dreadlocks once they were set in; less maintenance to handle and he was okay with that. His tswin wouldn’t have that same treatment so he’d rather keep it braided and protected. However, he wanted dreadlocks that would style well, so naturally leaving his hair to mat up would be less than ideal.

“Thick locks. That’s a bold choice.” N’deh considered, “Those are not easy to craft. The Kame’tire are a clan that has crafted such styles of hair. I met a traveller of their clan once, Siul who sought the Tawkami for more flowers for work against a deadly yavä close to his clan.”

“I don’t think we’ll wear them quite like they do. I’ve seen pictures that Ruby had pulled from the data banks each of the research shacks had.” Jake said. They had another shack haul to do and he very much wanted to be a part of it but until their outfits, at least, one version was done, most of the Dreamwalkers weren’t out and about as much unless at their camps or Hometree. “Yavä?”

“Some sort of deadly air that clouds the minds and can lead to death. I didn’t inquire further since it wasn’t my business.” N’deh handed the hair fork back to him thoughtfully. “Came about after the Sarentu clan went missing sixteen years ago. The clan was blamed by neighbouring clans for their disappearance as they were the last clan to house their company.”

Jake blinked a little though he couldn’t help his mind stall a little. “A whole clan went missing? Neytiri spoke of that clan with pride.”

N’deh sighed but nodded. “The Sarentu were a travelling clan, they often journeyed in smaller groups but often had moot points to reconnect and celebrate as a whole again. The Omatikaya held Sarentu guests for a week or so when Mo’at was a child. Our mother would tell wonderful stories of them.” N’deh looked a little put down the more he spoke. “It is a great sadness that they are gone.”

Jake uneasily shifted, twirling the femur in his fingers. “Indeed.” He didn’t know what else to say. What could he say that wouldn’t be dismissive? It… sounded a lot and he could feel the empathetic ache because how would he feel if the Omatikaya just…disappeared? Everyone he knew was gone… or worse, dead. The unknown nature… and the void that would follow. It was unimaginable in a lot of ways.

N’deh composed himself after a moment. “What is your plan with that?” He directed his question down to the bone he had still.

“I was thinking about a small blade?” He didn’t need the whole bone but he could use the smaller pieces made from this to make decorative beads for his hair and this femur had a good diameter to it as well.

N’deh eyes it for a moment though not convinced if the hum he gave was any indication.

“I’ll need Morgan’s help with my hair. This will be a Thank-you gift for his work.” Jake explained.

“We still have some hide left, I can get some prepped for the handle?” N’deh offered.

Jake peered at the basket. “Aren’t you busy?”

N’deh gave his own work a passing glance. “I can sort them later. The hide shouldn’t take too long to prepare.”

-

So, Jake continued on with N’deh’s help as he marked out the length relative to a human and began to slowly carve the bone away with his small hand tools. What he couldn’t chip away, he had a rough hand stone sand the bone down and closed the pores in the process as the shape of the blade began to take shape. He kept the handle almost bare since it was going to be covered but decided on a small hunting pattern at the very least; Morgan would get a good surprise when the handle hide needed replacing.

Nadine came back from her foraging looking like a happy gremlin with her basket of eggs and seeds.

“I found good seeds that make smooth flour!” She cackled. “Better than the ones they use at Hometree since these aren’t growing close to their gathering spots.”

“Ooh, what you making?”

“Pasta.” Her eyes were alight as she set the basket down beside the fire. “I need my rolling pin and a flat, clean surface but…I can make it work. Better if I had access to a pasta roller but…meh, I’ll make do.”

Nadine’s flat surface that wasn’t inside was in fact a large slab of stone that was washed down a few times; once with disinfectant and the rest to clean it away. And was set down upon a giant leaf for further space that may be required.

N’deh moved off to sit beside and watch Nadine grind the seeds into flour, still working on cutting the hide for Jake and asking about the processes and what ‘pasta recipe’ she was making.

It took a second for Jake to realise that…Na’vi didn’t have pasta. At least, not the Omatikaya. The concept was new, despite having all the ingredients available. They had a lot of recipes of course for wonderful food of course but why expand when you had something for everyone? Traders of course may add to it from their cultural exchanges. Food would of course be a delicate trade of knowledge and connection. Was it possible that the Omatikaya knew of such recipes and didn’t use them or simply didn’t know? They did have to help feed the whole clan; it was a lot of preparations for that much pasta.

Still, he couldn’t help but...enjoy the idea of Nadine teaching the clan something. Something that could be received well. To share that knowledge with the clan, not just the clan teaching them. He wondered what else could be received as well… food-wise.

Jake finished the carving by the time Nadine had made the pasta dough, spending ten minutes longer to sharpen up the blade edges then N’deh handed the hide for him to wrap the handle neatly and orderly until it was done. He turned it happily in his hand, content with the result.

“You finished that bracelet yet?” Nadine asked as she rolled the piece of pasta dough flatter and flatter.

“This is a knife.” Jake pointed out, holding it up.

“No, I mean that pretty purple one you were making last week?”

Oh. “No, not yet.” He had gotten sidetracked on that project with other things. He hadn’t given it yet because he wanted to be…happy about it. Content to make it perfect. It was almost there but not yet. He hadn’t figured out a good latch for it. “But I’ll let you know when it’s done.”

Nadine craned her head up to him. “Maybe I’ll see someone else wearing it.” She chuckled. “She’ll love it. You’ve got taste.”

Jake gave her the middle finger with a roll of his eye. Nor was he gonna open that topic further. Nadine of course would see through him but it wasn’t like he wasn’t expecting her to find someone, most likely Morgan, to bone once she was ready.

N���deh’s eyes flickered to him but he said nothing to add to it as he rose to get back to his basket of fruit and a few bowls from storage. Jake took a large leaf from a nearby tree and gently wrapped it up, using a small vine to bind it together.

-

It was well into the afternoon when Morgan seemed to appear, jumping off the back of Neptune as Jerome set the gentle horse off to their makeshift stables. They weren’t empty-handed. Morgan came carrying a wrapped bundle in his arms, grinning happily and excited.

“Have fun?”

“Yep! We checked on Kendra’s refinery. It’s done now and they’re making a good amount of fuel.” Morgan said, putting the goods down onto the grass and began to stretch out his arms. “We can restart the shack stealing without concerns. I made a few adjustments to their engines so they shouldn’t have any problems once they switch to the new fuel sources.”

“Ooh, was it nice?” Nadine asked. “It’s been a while since you handled an engine.”

“I helped them build it but…yeah.” Morgan shrugged “I forgot how much I loved tinkering with tech.”

[Once an engineer, always an engineer.]” Nadine quipped in Spanish.

Morgan blew a raspberry and then turned his focus to Jake. “I popped down to Hometree to update them on our plans and they finished this for you.”

From his pile, Jake watched as he pulled out two stringy pieces of fabric and held them out. A loincloth,

The loincloth came in two pieces, not many humans knew that unless you were in SciOps or had seen a Na’vi put them on. The external that everyone saw and made to look nice and then there was the second one underneath. The underneath was essentially a cup (the type used to protect males in sports) on strings however shallower since their genitals didn’t hang out so it fit both males and females comfortably. It slipped up around their legs, the string tailing the thigh gap between until it reached their tail where it was secured there for good measure before the outside one was put on.

Jake realised and he recognised the… design of it. It wasn’t just a random one being shared with him to start the process of hiding him among the people. This had been one of the pieces he had shown the weaver.

The outside of this was a warm brown, with dark yellow threading laddering up one side with a few hunter’s signals in a complimentary dark red on the right. On his piece, it had a back cover as well instead of tapering straight off to a tail loop that the Omatikaya’s had, nothing spectacular but there was a hole made for his tail instead and the woven leather waistband adjustable. It wasn’t as big and colourful as a typical Na’vi but the designs came with clan honours; your position and placement. He had a place through Uturu, he worked well and had provided for the clan so he had the designs on, otherwise, it would be plain.

He felt his heart speed up in excitement at the sight. Jake stood up and took them from his hands. “They finished it?!”

“They were inspired.” Morgan chuckled. “I think they were excited about new projects and being allowed to be more adventurous with their designs. They’re working on the others as well.” He explained.

Jake turned the loincloth over in his hands then eyes the crotch piece first in his other with a heavy sigh.

Fun.

“Put it on!” Nadine called, “Let us see those lower cheeks of yours!”

Jake poked his tongue out.

“Yes,” N’deh jumped on the bandwagon with a sly grin, “The weavers would be joyous that you put it on straight away. Delighted, even.”

Jake gave him a sour look and then rolled his eyes. “Fine.” Feeling their eyes on him as he left, Jake clambered up to his mauri and shut the curtains for some level of privacy. He dropped his pants with some level of reservation, then his boxers; the cool air ticking too close for comfort as he hastily pulled the cup string first.

He felt like he was giving himself a wedgie he slipped the wider fabric underneath to cover the goods and to attach it to his tail strings then tightened it.

“Ugh” Yep, right up his ass. Crouching was going to be shit.

The actual cloth itself is far better. He sipped his tail into the back hole first before he secured the front and let it sit happily at his waist. His tail swished a little, he could feel the rim ticking but… nothing worse than usual. It was…very breezy still. The air going where air shouldn’t and…his ass still felt on display, even with the shed of cover the backcloth gave which was more than that the Omatikaya had.

Carefully, Jake popped a squat with immediate regret, hissing a little but forced himself to bear through the discomfort.

“<You okay in there?>” Jerome called, far too cheerfully. “<Need help>”

“<Fuck off>” Jake called back, straightening up to feel how the cloth sat with that movement. Nope, he wasn’t leaving soo soon. Walking like a baby deer.

It took ten minutes of privately testing his movements for him to get…marginally used to it. Bending down, crouching, rising, repeat. The first layer had settled and barely moved, thankfully but he wasn’t used to the breeze about his crotch still.

The wolf whistles from almost everyone as he clambered very awkwardly down, barring N’deh made him glower at them with a sour look. Kim had appeared as well from her mauri at the commotion, tiredly rubbing her pregnant belly though she seemed to grin a little as she noticed the new addition to his attire.

“Looking good, Sully,” Morgan called. “If you rid the shirt, you’ll fit right in.”

“Hey, my backside is naked enough. My top half can wait.” Jake huffed, resisting the urge to try and pull the swing out from between his cheeks. Yep, he hated this.

“You look stunning.” Nadine cackled. “You have really defined cheeks.”

Jake flipped her the bird again. “Go make pasta and leave my ass alone.”

“Pasta’s cooked and cooling. I’m shit at shapes but I think I’ve got a good start for tagliatelle.” Looking rather pleased with herself.

“Kinda looks like Pappardelle.” Jerome remarked.

“Unless you’re Italian, Jerome, get off my ass about pasta.” Nadine quipped back. “I’m learning.”

They continued to brattle on so Jake took that as an escape to slowly sat down on his log, prodding Morgan for his attention.

“What?”

“Can I ask a favour?”

“Shoot.”

“Can… can you help me with my hair?” He asked, a little nervous.

Morgan’s eyes moved up. “What style were you thinking?”

“Some sort of deadlocks? Or something similar?” He asked, “The Kame’tire clan have their hair similar but I don’t want to straight up copy either yours or there’s but I’m open for a compromise. Think you could help?”

Morgan hummed, frowning as he moved around to his braid. “Dreadlocks take years to start naturally and it’s high maintenance the first few years before they mature.” He ran his fingers through his own dreads. “I had to teach N’deh how to work with my hair type to help me, so he’s got experience as well. Thankfully, I came to Pandora with my locs just about mature so I didn’t have to panic too much when I got abandoned.”

“What can you do?”

Morgan let out a heavy huff, his fingers coming to his hair, feeling the straight hair. “I…straight hair is hard to work into locks but not impossible. Most people can leave and let nature take its course but… I can’t let you do that to your avatar’s scalp. Na’vi hair is thinner than human hair and more hairs fill the scalp than humans too. I could… try instant locs. Not dreadlocks.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Locs are cultivated, Dreadlocks aren’t.” he replied, “The term is often mixed up and used interchangeably, depending on where you live. Instant locs will give you an immediate look. Instant locs aren’t typically permanent but they can be nurtured to be. It will take time to set in and for your scalp to grow the locs than you or me having to do it manually. It is a commitment, Jake, not something to flash at the RDA.”

“I understand,” Jake realised the man’s concern. “I want something that lasts and is stunning. Not a costume or anything.”

Morgan moved around him, his eyes fixed on him for a moment then back to his hair. “Set your avatar down by your ramp where I can reach. I will help but I will also teach you how to do them yourself. I can’t always be here and you exist in two bodies. It’ll take a while to do. I can do half before bed.”

“Okay.”

-

Morgan wasn’t kidding when he said it would take a while. His avatar was left mostly hunched over a loom frame, chin resting at a soft angle, arms hugging the frame for stability and his head tilted down enough for them to work from down to up.

N’deh helped by unravelling the kuru, separating the hair and rebraiding it, this allowed Jake to opt to have a few inches of hair from either side of his head shaved in advance. Morgan, with a thin bone crochet tool, began to section off the long strands of hair first then added a coarse waxy substance to help keep strands together since they were so long.

Jake sat out of his wheelchair, legs dangling limply off the edge of the ramp as he leant over and watched as Morgan backcombed the hair strands, a bit at a time, then began to use the crochet hook through the hair, twirling it and twisting as he went, talking him through it as well.

With the amount of hair, on the basis of the Dreamwalker having a larger scalp than a human, and the length of hair, it took well over sixteen hours for the whole thing to be done, with several breaks for everyone, to move the Dreamwalker a bit so he didn’t link with unwanted aches and to feed it. He opted not to go to Hometree so instead remained with Morgan and helped, taking over a few times to get used to it and with his guidance on the matter.

Jake was relieved to stand up and flex once the locs were done, touching them delicately, feeling the air breezing against the sides of his head and the weight of his new hair down his back and shoulders; unfamiliar but… it felt nice. He felt a deep sense of pride in how he looked and it shuffled away the distinct awkwardness of the loincloth. Jake had to admit, he had cared for his Dreamwalker more than his human body but his Dreamwalker felt…more belonging than before.

He knew it was much like what N’deh had criticised him about his mauri.

‘Be respectful of what this body provides you’

That felt fitting now. More so than ever.

“I’mma gonna go and nap. My hands need a long rest.” Morgan complained, but looked quite chipper as he packed up “Don’t overwork them too much.”

Jake gave him a two-fingered salute as he passed and crawled up to his link shack. His mind touched back on the gift he had let to give Morgan but he could wait till he had recovered and rested. So, Jake didn’t linger for long. The afternoon sun was still high, so he had plenty of time before the others would return from Hometree. Plenty of time for practice more so with his new hair and wedgie-inducing loincloth. He had to learn to live with that in everything, hunting and training included. He didn’t want to look like a complete rookie with his cheeks clenched at every step.

Jake picked up his sling, shrugging off his shirt to…try and get used to it. He found his ammo pouch, going for the carved rocks this time as he made his way down towards the lakeside to their target.

It took some minor adjustment without the confines of his clothing as he pulled his arm back, winging the stone before he let it sail at the right moment, the sound whistling through the air and then hitting the target with a satisfying thud.

Jake lined up for a second shot and began to wind—

“That loincloth suits you.”

Jake swore, the rock pining out of the sling before he could stop it but it had no momentum to far further than a few feet into the grass.

He spun around, only to be faced with… Mo’at of all people standing a few meters away with a curious look on his face.

“You really need to stop sneaking up on me!” He exclaimed, his heart thudding in his chest. By Eywa’s grace, she was silent.

“I do enjoy the effect my silent steps have, Jakesully.” She remarked, her eyes twinkling in amusement. “You should be more aware of your surroundings.”

Jake sucked in a few calming breaths. “Point, yes.” Maybe. But still, she didn’t need to sneak up on him in his own home. Jake bent down, recovering his dropped bullet. “I thought I’d practise my slinging before the others came back. I’m surprised you’re… here. Not Neytiri?”

Mo’at inclined her head towards the camp. “Neytiri has tsakarem duties to attend to today. N’deh speaks of having the Omatikaya provide more mauri covers to mask your metal homes entirely, to look like a Na’vi camp. He intends to change Txon'ong’s bones to resemble a more striking totem. I came to see if what would be necessary.”

Jake chuckled a little, glad to feel his heart start to take a slower pace now. “Not just that?”

“It was mentioned you had your hair restyled, I got curious.” Mo’at admitted a little, “I didn’t expect you to be…dressed in a loincloth as well. It took a second to realise it was you. The eyebrows gave you away.”

Jake grinned a little, a hand coming to his waistband. “I’m getting used to it first before I parade in front of the clan with it on.” He wasn’t gonna make a fool of himself.

“Wise decision.” Her lips were curled up a little as she said this, “You do look…tense.”

Jake snorted a little at that. Tense. That was one way to put it. “How you wear these every day is almost beyond me. At least I got my back-flap going for me, don’t need a temper tantrum about it now.” He reached back to tug the backcloth with some merit. “So glad Bree knew to include it so my goods aren’t constantly on display.”

Mo’at had to chuckle at that. “She knows what is comfortable in this compromise of your new clothing. She had told me at length of the merits of human clothing when I inquired.” There was a soft gesture for them to start walking. “I have some foraging as well I’d like assistance with. I do have much to discuss still in regards to… your plan of this ‘new clan’ idea my husband and daughter spoke of.”

Ah, fair. Eytukan had mentioned he would discuss this with Mo’at but hadn’t gotten back to him over the last week about it. It was easier to talk when doing stuff as well, like a shared duty, no doubt why she was offering.

They headed northeast for several miles before they reached a very hilly side, the trees much more spread out but it was easy to see the familiar plants now; herbs and larger flower heads.

“Twenty miles east, we get into the Tawkami Clan’s territory, this is far foraging for me but often worthwhile,” Mo’at explained as she knelt towards a large bud of flowers. “I would be cautious about going too far. They do not like Dreamwalkers.”

Yes, he had heard that before. “Will that opinion change with exposure to us? The ones that drop out from the RDA?”

“Perhaps but I wouldn’t test that quite so soon. With your… new appearance, they may not realise you aren’t one of us.”

Jake pulled out his knife and gently cut a few leaves from a plant or two, being careful not to remove too many as Mo’at did the same. He could sense there was a tone to her voice. “You’re worried about that?”

“I am. I know and understand why you must resemble one of the people. People outside of the Omatikaya may not. I fear they may get…aggressive if they are to find out you’re not one of the people.”

Jake considered her words softly. “What has Eywa said?”

“She had been silent on the matter. I believe she is…waiting to see what path we’re deciding before she graces us with any answers. I do not sense displeasure.”

“Will there be harm done in not telling the other clans that they’re in the presence of Dreamwalkers?” Jake proposed softly. “That’s probably where we should see it; is there harm made in saying something, or not mentioning it, that sort of thing? Now, I don’t see my origin as being something shameful to hide. We hide from the RDA, not the people. They will learn to See us when they see us respect the world first. Change will take time.”

Mo’at considered his words carefully, with a thoughtful expression as she rose to her feet. “That is one way to see it, I suppose.”

Jake hummed with a nod, “It’s not easy. I understand both your difficulties in his. I don’t want to overstep and disrespect the way of the people. No one does.”

They settled into a moment of quiet as he helped collect more herbs for the Tsahìk. His height helped get more higher plants to spare her from climbing something.

Jake however paused abruptly as he heard a distant sound. Steps and snapping of sticks mostly but… there was a whirl of an…exopack that sharpened his awareness and followed it; the sound was… isolated; Singular. Not grouped.

Was it the RDA? Or someone alone? Lost or abandoned?

“Jakesully?”

“Wait… I hear something.” His ear twitched before he headed towards the sound and pushed through to see the back of… a human treading carefully (for a human) through the trees, a basket of fruits in hand. The guy looked to be somewhat short with pale skin, and short curly auburn hair that was shaved at the sides. His gear was loosely padded, but not the SecOps standard of gear. He had a gun in a holster but both hands were on the basket; he didn’t look like a SecOps guy. SciOps, maybe? The padding on the knees wasn’t standard. Maybe another sector?

MineOps?

Jake paused as he stepped on a twig himself, wincing as it dug into his foot but the echo reached the human who spun around.

The man froze up as he caught sight of him in the bushes and for a moment there was almost a tese second of staring (he had really wide brown eyes) before the guy dropped his basket of fruit and bolted like a fast little fucker.

“Wait!” Jake took off immediately after him.

Mo’at was close behind, surprisingly, but Jake was a little faster on his feet with his height and turned easily on a dime and leaving her more in the dust. The man dipped easily through the trees, weaving through them and less hindered by higher branches and then seemed to break the treeline and straight into a crack in the rocky hillside.

Jake barely stopped himself, sliding on his knees and lunging his arm painfully into the crevice and the guy elated a high-pitch squeaked as he accidently struck the guy in the back but he couldn’t grab him before he was gone.

“Avatar! Avatar!” Jake echoed, wheezing a little, waving his 5-fivers in the gap. “It’s Sully!”

He pulled his arm back, hissing at the lightly scratched skin and blood of ramming his arm and chest into a rock surface. Fuck, he shouldn’t have done that.

After a second, Jake bent down so he could peek into the crevice. He could see better in the dark with his Dreamwalker eyes so it was easy to make out the near hyperventilating sprawled-out human on the floor, lying on his back against some rocks.

“It’s Jake! Shit, sorry for scaring you!” he apologised a little, still trying to catch his breath. “God, you’re fast! Were you part of a short-distance running or something?”

Mo’at finally seemed to catch up, less flushed and far more dignified than he ever was.

“Fuck….” The guy groaned, his exopack whirling with each of his breaths. His cheeks were flushed for obvious reasons as he stared, wide-eyed still but looking less prone to about to pass out. His hands were shaking in tight fists against his chest from adrenaline.

“Take your time,” Jake knelt a little. “Ooh, I haven’t run that much since I got chased by a Slinth.” Which was saying something. Neytiri had been training his body for long-distance running, not short bursts of speed like this.

“Xavier!” Another voice echoed, distant and alarmed before there was a flurry of feet.

Jake ducked his head back as three people appeared from the depths of the cave to the sprawled man.

The first was a woman, with beautifully smooth ember skin, her hair tied back from her face in coils and each seemed to be bound in very aesthetic cording and some synthetic beads. Her clothes were dusty, basic casual clothing with padding on the knees and elbows.

The next guy’s attire was similar, but he had a dark burgundy hard hat with a light on the front. He was a short man but very thin, what stood out to him was the clear glowing left eye and facial scars and hints of external implants almost hidden by his helmet and mask by the silver glinting in the light.

The woman that followed was a very Kung-stern in her attitude. Tank top, body pads, hard hat on top of straight near black hair, around her neck were her dog tags and on her right arm was a simple skull and crossbones tattoo with a hardhat and hammer as the crossbones.

The moment he was spotted, the first woman reached back and clearly for her weapon. He ducked back away from the entry swiftly, hands raised and barely stopped himself backing into the Tsahìk.

“It’s Sully! I’m Jake! Just got a new hairstyle!” He called, hoping she didn’t fire at him. She didn’t, thankfully but her weapon remained raised at him as she slipped out from the crevice and into the light.

Mo’at stiffed a little but remained tense at the sight of the weapon. Cautiously examining this interaction.

Her eyes raked over him slowly before she frowned at him, lowering the muzzle of her gun. “Why are ya wearing a thong with curtains, Sully? I could have shot ya!” Out of her mouth was a very strong southern accent.

“Long story, almost had an RDA run-in and rather not tip them off that avatars are about with the Native clans here.” He summarised, “Not the complete look but… this is a good start.” He rose to his feet, giving them a nice long twirl to break the tension. “So, apologies for scaring the shit out of your buddy in there. He bolted before we could talk.” He grinned sheepishly, a low groan echoing before the guy peeped his head through the gap with a disgruntled look, hands still shaking as he gripped the rock side.

The woman sighed deeply, slipping her gun away into the back of her pants. “Names Xanthe May, I try to keep The Vents secure. The one ya scared is my husband, Xavier Holton, then there’s Moran Kellis and this is Alejandra Castro our group leader.” Xanthe stepped aside, allowing the other woman, Alejandra to step forwards and take control of the situation.

Jake turned his attention to her fully as she gave her scrutinising look to both him and Mo’at, mostly eying the Tsahik more so.

“Do you want us off your land? I know we didn’t ask but we weren’t planning on running into anyone.” She asked, very bluntly. “The fact you’re here, Sully, does seem to suggest you’re on good terms with the Na’vi?”

“We are. We have a deal with the Omatikaya at the least, they protect us from the RDA and educate us on how to live with Pandora and with the people. We work with them every few days of the week in return. We’ve found the others that escaped the RDA. They’ve accepted the deal to stay at their chosen location.”

Alejandra’s head turned curiously. “I expect that offer extends to us?”

“It does,” Mo’at spoke, more cautiously than Jake, “But, I do have questions.”

“Shoot.”

There was a moment of pause, Mo’at’s brow pulling in confusion.

Jake decided to step in and help. “<That means ‘Go ahead and ask’. English tends to shorten or abbreviate sentences like that.>”

Mo’at sighed a little at that, “<then say that. There is no need for reducing your language to a simple word.>”

“<Not on earth, whole other story. It’s a cultural thing.>” Jake said. “I won’t go into it now but remind me to explain what a tripe contraction is later if you’re curious. You’ll hate it.”

Mo’at moved, her head turning to the cave entryway more closely “You are living in a cave?”

“Yes. It’s actually part of a massive cave system. It connects to other systems all under this region. We’re still mapping it out.” Her eyes seemed to light up a little as she spoke, her lips curling up a little with clear passion in her work.

Geologist, most likely. They loved their rocks.

“You’re miners, obviously from your gear so I suppose you’d know how to survive in a cave. How long have you been out here?” Jake asked curiously.

“About a month or so.”

“A month!” Jake laughed a little. “Woah, I thought a week at best.”

“You hid very well…for humans.” Mo’at noted, eyeing the entrance more thoughtfully, “This spot isn’t part of our typical patrols.”

“We know caves. Figured we have better chances in caves than we do out in the surface world with minimal weaponry. We have a SciOps gal who knows her shit and how to avoid the poisonous plants and animals, even the ones inside the caves. I found this cave about a year ago in a geological survey. Deleted it off the servers with a bunch of other useful data the RDA didn’t give a fuck about if it didn’t have Unobtainium underneath. I realised the potential but didn’t want to bail too soon. Kung’s death last year stuck…a lot of fear in my crew. Figured it was safer out in the caves of nature than in the shit hole the RDA is digging into the side of this world.”

Ah, he didn’t know much about that, Kung herself didn’t speak of it but… the fact her daughter’s death reached MineOps meant it was not a simple death. He was curious to ask but knew better than right now.

“How many are you living in there?” Mo’at asked.

Xanthe at this point seemed to disappear back into the cave, her hand coming towards her husband to help him up and distantly spoke before they headed away. Jake didn’t pay them much more attention but  Moran seemed to dither about the entryway regardless with his arms over his chest and his prosthetic eye glowing cryptically in the shadows

“Twelve. Most of us are MineOps. That covers geologists, mineralogists, Speleologist and… well a few more but either way, we know what we’re doing out here.”

“That’s a good number of you living in a whole. How’s life?” He nodded towards the cave. “Cramped?”

“No, it gets bigger on the inside. We’ve got a good trail line and the best spots and the shortcuts to a few various areas that you can dream of, buddy.”

“Try me.”

“Two words; Hot Springs,” Moran called with a smug grin.

Jake’s amusement dropped into pure jealousy that his tail dropped a little. “Damn… you really picked a good area.” He could bet the miners were really enjoying Eywa’s creations really well. “We’ll have weed soon, would that buy passage to your hot springs?” he immediately bargained; it’d cut the share down with the other camps but… they’d see it worth it if it meant they’d have access too. They’d provide a good excuse to visit the camps as well. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that?

Alejandra’s head tilted though her eyes seemed to light up a little more in deeper consideration. “Yep, I’ll still need to run it past my crew. Maybe if we take those offers, we’ll invite you down.”

“We can come in?”

“Not this way, obviously. We covered up the closets Na’vi-sized exits but there’s one four hundred meters west but we’ll have to make it safe first before you come in since it’s basically a vertical drop. We didn’t install anything lasting.” Alejandra explained. “We actually dug in from another site and trekked underground for miles. Barely avoided massive bat monsters and got where they were too big to get. The upside of our diminutive stature compared to the rest of life on this world.”

“You have a radio?”

“Of course. We don’t go caving without it. I gotta keep my people safe at any and all times here.”

“Why did you leave?” Mo’at asked.

Alejandra sighed deeply. “MineOps started to get funds cut. Selfridge wanted more work done and began to have us cut corners to achieve the new daily output he wanted. Safety checks were the first to go. Not just in the mine but it affected the SecOps Patrols as well since the building counted as MineOps facilities. Accidents happened. Moran, for example.” She gestured to him.

Moran left the cave, pulling away his hard hat to show off the extent of his scars and the implant that… actually showed he was also missing a left ear. What was there was the implant that stretched around his cranium, covering the ear space but he could see there was a hole in the side; making it possible for his ear to be functional still? Jake wasn’t sure.

“Faulty equipment gave the wrong reading time for the mine explosives,” Moran said to simply the explanation as he slipped the hat back on. “If I wanted to look pretty again, they would have sent me back home.”

“A failed safety rail caused Kung to fall head-long into barbed wire till she grew two inches. Her death was a…vivid realisation that the MineOps facility wasn’t safe and our people were expendable. Replaceable. I couldn’t have that. My people deserved better. At least out here, we know how to track our safety, we know what is safe and what isn’t. We can trust ourselves rather than live with ignorance or hope for change that will never come. We sure ain’t putting more money in some guy’s pocket at the expense of our lives.”

Jake nodded. “I respect that. Get out before it gets worse.”

Alejandra nodded, “Sometimes ditching is the only thing you can do. The Mine is become a death pit. We have lost miners to accidents before. It’s not uncommon but… now it’s amping up because Selfridge wants to drain the remaining ore but also start preparations for the new mine. He doesn’t seem to get that there’s a process to closing a mine. We can’t close it and still keep it operational. There’s not enough miners for that.”

“Did you not offer complaints against your leaders?”

Alejandra snorted a little. “Complaints go nowhere. Selfridge has them cleared if they’re not considered important enough. He wants results, at any cost it seems.”

Mo’at looked a little disturbed at that. “He doesn’t value even the life of his own kind?”

“Nope, unless it’s his next paycheck, he doesn’t care enough.”

“Damn.” Jake hated every word of that. Yep, he had made a good call to bail as soon as possible. Now here was the proof that it was people’s best option to leave. How was it safer out here?

“I see…”

“Give me your radio, I can patch you into our group frequencies. We found all the other human camps so far so we’re staying in contact. We gotta have each other’s back out here.”

From her waistband of pouches, the miner handed over her radio and allowed Jake to fiddle about until he had done it.

“Thanks.” She took it back from him “I’ll update the others when I get back.”

“Let them know if you’re gonna accept the offer. If you don’t, the Na’vi won’t do shit if you’re discovered by the RDA and you’ll be left to your own devices.” He clarified, should they want to know the alternatives.

“Alright, I’ll keep them informed.”

“Sweet. Also, does anyone have an Avatar?”

“Murphy, he did but it died in transit to Pandora. He never got clearance for a second to be grown planetside”

“Ah, damn.”

“Why?”

“Just wondering. Since Avatars stand out in human clothes, we’re having them disguised as Na’vi to stop the RDA coming for the Omatikaya if they clock on.”

Alejandra’s eyes dropped down, eyeing his loincloth a little more. “Fair enough. One last thing…” She shifted on the balls of her feet and reached into a pouch at her hip where her radio was stationed and pulled something out. “Catch.” She tossed it up into the air.

Mo’at caught it before she opened her hand to reveal a… rough reddish and white stone. Jake leaned towards it curiously to see what it was. Shiney rock.

“Is…that quartz?” He directed this question down but where Alejandra had stood was now a human-less area. That was one way to leave a conversation. Throwing rocks and dipping. A soft chuckle escaped his lips. “I bet that would make good beads.” He added to Mo’at at the very least. “I suppose we should head back. You gotta talk to Eytukan about the…new additions. Hopefully.”

Mo’at eyes the stone in her hands and then to him. “I’ll inform him in a bit. Let me tend to you first.”

Her hand touched at the scrapes on his arm, shoulder and chest; he had all but forgotten that. Now that it was pointed out, he could feel the stinging again. He was probably gonna bruise as well. His own fault really

Still… it was kinda worth it. Who knew a grown man could make such a sound? Almost as impressive as Zeke with teylu down his back.

The Masterlist

[soughthopearchived]

Hello there! Thank you for choosing to follow my blog I only have a few rules that I wish you to follow:

Personal blogs please don’t interact with my content.

This blog is multiverse & multi-ship but I ship based on chemistry.

Mun is well over the age of 21 so NSFW & Triggering topics will be here although they will be tagged.

Please do not use me as a meme or image source, I've had problems with that in the past.

If we have an issue I ask that you be respectful and speak to me about it in PMS or unfollow me if you're childish.

I use big gifs/icons, resized icons, gif icons, and gif hunts or nothing at all based on the convenience and how I'm feeling at the moment. ( Blacklist: CW: large image ).

If you need anything tagged let me know okay? I will always tag flashing images, gore, bugs, drugs, guns, etc.

Lastly, I have dyslexia and ADHD so if I miss a cue in the writing or my reply has some grammatical errors be nice! I'm sensitive, thank you lol.

Affiliated with @soughtbirthright, @theolderh3nderson, @pogueland1a, @hawkinssongbird & @deermooses.

Icon credits: @tutorgirlcommissions​, find out exactly who it is on my ( credits page ), and please commission them! They're lovely.

You can find a WIP collection of my muses below the cut:

original

Briana Madison ( Werewolf OC )

Beatrice Lafoux ( Vampire OC )

James Barlowe ( Vampire OC )

Spencer McClaren ( Fandomless OC )

Claire St James ( Future OC )

Sylvie Nightbloom ( Human Fantasy OC )

Vanya Ulafiel ( Fantasy OC )

Ruth Rutledge ( Stranger Things OC )

Eight ( Stranger Things OC )

Cordelia Robinson ( Space Ranger OC )

Grace Scott ( One tree hill OC )

Miles Gardner ( Virgin river OC )

Seamus Graham ( Fandomless )

Diego Garcia ( Fandomless ) 

Jackson Harrington ( Stranger things OC )

Aniyah Stokes ( Outer Banks OC )

Charles Foreman ( Stranger Things OC )

Theodore Blight ( Fairy OC )

Annabelle Honeywell ( Human OC )

Mike Yeun ( Fandomless OC )

mythology

Persephone

Hercules

Freya

Thor

Hades

the witcher

Geralt Of Rivia

Princess Ciri

it series

Beverly Marsh

Eddie Kaspbrak

arcane

Vi

Echo

she-ra

Adora

Catra

marvel cinematic universe 

Tony Stark

Peter B Parker ( OC )

Stephan Strange

Frank Castle

Jessica Jones

Peter Parker

Kate Bishop

Carol Danvers

dc cinematic universe

Bruce Wayne

Diana Prince

Barbara Gordon

Selina Kyle

Pamela Isley

Lena Luthor

Kara Danvers

disney

Maya Hart

Cassandra

Queen Elsa

Tinker Bell

Fawn

Miguel Rivera

Judy Hopps

Helen Parr

twilight

Bella Swan

Edward Cullen

Charlie Swan

Jacob Black

Emmett Cullen

Bree Tanner

uncharted

Nathan Drake

Nadine Ross

Cassie Drake

the last of us

Joel Miller

Dina Fonseca 

Abby Anderson

Lev

Jesse

life is strange

Max Caulfield

Dana Ward

Chloe Price

Warren graham

Alex Chen

Sean Diaz

red dead redemption

Sadie Adler

Arthur Morgan

Mary-Beth Gaskill

Karen Jones

to all the boys

Peter Kavinsky

Lara Jean Covey

stranger things

Steve Harrington

Eleven Hopper

Will Byers

Jonathan Byers

Dustin Henderson

Max Mayfield

Robin Buckley

Eddie Munson

Eden Bingham 

teen wolf

Stiles Stilinski

Derek Hale

supernatural

John Winchester

Dean Winchester

Meg Masters

Jo Harvelle

Lucifer

Lilith

the vampire diaries

Josie Saltzman

Elijah Mikaelson

Klaus Mikaelson

Hayley Marshall

Jackson Kenner

Landon Kirby

Lizzie Saltzman

the walking dead

Negan

Rick Grimes

Glenn Rhee

Beth Greene

scream

Stu Machar

Emma Duval

Tatum Riley

the office

Michael Scott

Jim Halpert

Kelly Kapoor

Pam Beesly

Brooklyn 99

Jake Peralta

Rosa Diaz

one tree hill

Peyton Sawyer

Nathan Scott

Haley James

Karen Roe

outer banks

Rafe Cameron

Sarah Cameron

JJ Maybank

Topper Thornton

the bear

Carmy Berzatto

virgin river

Jack Sheridan 

Lizzie

high school musical

Troy Bolton

Rickey Bowen

Gabriella Montez

[nerdishfeels]

1kpages Readathon Update!

Hey guys! As expected, I finished The Bone Spindle on Day 4 of the readathon! Here’s how my reading progress is looking:

The Bone Spindle - 404/404 pages (completed)

Spy x Family Vol 1 - 220/220 pages (completed)

Half a Soul - 320 pages (not started)

A Study in Charlotte - 321 pages (not started)

Total pages read: 527 pages

I really enjoyed The Bone Spindle! Here’s a mini review:

The Bone Spindle - 5⭐️

This is a fantasy sleeping beauty retelling mixed with Indiana Jones vibes. I love how the fairytale was adapted in this book and written with a unique focus on the magic involved and the witches.

Fi and Shane reminded me a lot of Chloe and Nadine from Uncharted Lost Legacy. I loved how distinctive they were as characters, even when this book had a dual POV (including Briar as a third POV). I grew to love the characters a lot during the book, especially Shane (lesbian rep!). At first, she comes across as someone who simply wants treasure but there’s so much more to her character.

There are a few flashbacks written throughout the book, so keep that in mind if you’re not a fan of those. Personally, I don’t mind flashbacks because you learn a lot about the characters and their past. I really liked reading about Shane’s past and how she was the heir to a war king. I also loved how her culture embraced her sexuality and normalised it which is so important.

I adored Fi in this book. She really came across as the genius librarian girl with the style of Indiana jones. I really felt it for her when she was betrayed in her past and how that triggered the reluctance she has in trusting others or getting close to them. It was interesting to see this book explore the toxic relationship she was in. You don’t want to be in a fantasy world with an awful ex, that’s for sure.

Fi and Shane butt heads a couple of times but I love that layer of respect and friendship they build for each other. Their interactions was one of the reason why I enjoyed this book.

While there were some moments of treasure hunting, there wasn’t a lot which I guess makes sense since the book explores more of the magical side of the world when Briar comes into the picture.

I loved Briar from the moment he was introduced. He just had howl-like vibes with his blue coat and gentle demeanour. I loved how he grew close to Fi gradually, first like a friend and then more.

The romances weren’t written in a “love at first sight” way but developed rather from mutual understanding and respect. I thought Red was an interesting character and I enjoyed her interactions with Shane. Red appeared many times so I had a feeling she might play a part in the story too. Poor Shane has a thing for dangerous women lol.

While the book is slow paced, I didn’t feel it as much because the interactions between the characters as well as learning more about the world building kept me intrigued.

I would have loved if the book had a map with it! It would have really added to the whole “treasure hunting/quest” vibe.

I really need the sequel right now, but I guess I have to wait until February 2023 lol 😭

So, with only a few days left, here’s the plan: If I can finish Half a Soul and read at 200 pages of A Study in Charlotte, I should be able to reach the 1k mark! 😊

[vostara]

love me like you hurt me - p.2

we make mistakes, we leave them by the door

pairing: Rafe Adler x Original Female Character x Samuel Drake

blurb: “But once, I think I loved you.”

word count: 14.9k+

title inspiration: I Run to You - MISSIO

The second (and final) part of the series. I’ve very much loved the process of writing this story and I adore Sabina and her interactions with Rafe and Sam. You can expect to see more of her in the future, since I have spin-off/sequel one-shots planned. I don’t know when they’ll be released, but they’re coming.

This work is cross-posted on Ao3.

01 | 02 ... series masterlist

February 2001

A month ago, Sabina packed her duffle bag and left Scotland on the first flight that she could book. She flew to England, then took a train to France. Swung her way through Switzerland, Italy, and Austria, before finding herself here.

Germany.

Sitting on a bench inside of a tiny museum, Sabina stares at the painting displayed on the wall. Before her is a sea of lavender. Plants are angled towards the right, leaning with an invisible breeze. In the center is a young woman, dressed in a high-collared white dress. And in her lap is a toddler, waving around a bundle of flowers.

From her peripheral vision, she watches as a man joins her on the bench. His hand twitches, and he reaches out for her, tempted to brush his fingers against her own. Instead, he drops his hands into his lap and turns to look at the painting.

“You found me,” Sabina says.

The man remains silent.

“How?”

“It’s not important,” he says.

Finally, she turns her head to look at him, turns to look at Rafe. “You paid someone.”

“Actually,” he shakes his head. “I asked Nate.”

“I didn’t tell him where I was going.”

“No, but he made a startlingly educated guess.”

Sabina hums. “I don’t suppose he came here with you, did he?”

“Nate left,” he sighs.

“Can’t say I’m surprised. I’m pretty sure he hates you.” She reaches for the ring on her finger, fiddling with the sapphire gemstone. “When did he leave?”

“About a week after you did.”

“So,” Sabina says, “there really is nothing at the cathedral, then?”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Rafe responds.

“We’ve spent weeks looking. Weeks digging holes, turning over every single pebble. There’s nothing there,” she says. “No clue. No treasure. No sign that anything associated with Avery has ever existed there.”

“There has to be something there.”

“But there isn’t,” Sabina directs her attention back to the painting. “Maybe it’s time to let it go. Let the treasure disappear into obscurity.”

“Why are you giving up?”

“Why would you care?” Sabina counters. “You’ve got the cathedral, all of the clues. If you find the treasure on your own, you get all of the profit. A hefty sum to add on top of your hefty inheritance.”

Rafe clenches a fist.

“Sam was the Avery expert,” she continues. “Without him and without Nate… I just don’t see the point in continuing. Their knowledge about this is leagues above my own. The truth is that I was probably just tagging along for the ride.”

“I am sorry, you know,” Rafe says, “about Sam. His… it wasn’t part of the plan.”

“It all feels surreal,” Sabina admits. “Like I’m wandering through a terrible dream. I feel like I’m going to wake up, any minute now, and he’ll be there to greet me with a horrible cup of coffee and stale croissants.”

“Were you two…”

“Together?”

Rafe averts his gaze to the tile floor.

“No,” she says. “Not quite. We were… complicated. He was never really good at commitment—neither of us were, really.” Sabina sighs, “Maybe it’s due to our similar upbringings. We both grew up without our parents. Stability is a luxury that we haven’t quite experienced yet.”

“What happened to them? Your parents?”

With a slight tilt of her head, Sabina mulls over her response. “When you spoke to Nate,” she says, “did he specify exactly where I would be in the museum?”

Rafe takes a moment to think. “He did, yeah.”

“The first time I came here, I was with Sam,” she says. “It was raining outside, so we popped in to escape from the cold. And when I saw it,” she nods her head towards the painting, “I couldn’t pull my eyes away. Sam joked that he would steal it for me one day. Though, knowing Sam, he was probably being serious.”

She stands and takes a few steps closer to the painting, her face glowing from the faintest hint of a smile. “Mother and Daughter Pick Flowers, such an original title. Artist: Jean-Jacques Pierre de la Sablonnière, a French painter. It was quite well-known that he hated men. In fact, he refused to paint them. Claimed that they were vile creatures. It is believed that when the Duke, Prince Louis Amilcar François d’Orléans, attempted to commission him for a painting, he laughed his face and danced on his way out of the villa. Of course, the Duke was upset, embarrassed. He stormed into his garden and shouted for his guards. And poor Monsieur de la Sablonnière was found dead, stabbed through the heart, just three days later.”

She turns around to look at Rafe, whom is still sitting on the bench. “I don’t remember my parents,” she says, walking back towards him. “I was a child when they died. Old enough to remember them, sure, but I can’t remember people if they barely had a presence in my life. What I do remember is this painting. A replica was hung in the living room, above a neglected fireplace full of dust. I wanted to be the little girl in the painting, to also have the joy of sitting in a sunny field, picking flowers with my mother. It’s a bit said, you know, that I don’t remember my mother’s face, but I remember my nanny.”

Sabina sits down on the bench, inches away from Rafe. “My parents were murdered,” she says. “After months of being away, they had finally come home. I was so happy. Even though I had grown out of bedtime stories, my father read one to me. And when he was finished, I begged him to read another and another. I think I was afraid that he would never read me one again. We stayed awake, long after my bedtime, but neither of us cared.

“My mother died first. We heard her screams, her pleas for help. Heard her begging the the intruders to stop. My father picked me up, carried me into his study, and hid me in a secret space beneath the floorboards.” Sabina unclasps the gold chain around her neck and places the medallion in Rafe’s hands. “He gave that to me. Told me to keep it safe, hidden. I don’t really remember what happened after that. Sometimes, in my nightmares, I recall the sound of a gunshot. Of papers being pushed, scattered. Cabinets crashing against the floor. I see blood seeping through the cracks in the floor. I feel it dripping down onto my face, onto my hands.”

Sabina exhales, releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “I don’t know who, specifically, killed them; they were never caught. But since then, I’ve spent an alarming amount of time running away from people who wish to murder me. Whatever my parents found, whatever that medallion is, it’s worth something. The boys and I speculate that it’s related to Avery’s treasure, but we’ve been unsuccessful with our attempts to solve the puzzle.”

“Sabina,” Rafe says, “let’s work together.”

“I don’t know,” she says, shrugging. “I don’t know if I can keep doing this.”

“Tell me,” Rafe looks down at the medallion, brushing his thumb over the etched symbols. “Do you still want to find Avery’s treasure?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then come with me.”

“I can’t—not without Sam—”

He reaches out towards Sabina and wraps his fingers around her hand. “You don’t need the Drakes, Sabina. You’re more intelligent than you think you are.”

“Why are you looking for this?” She asks. “What could you possibly gain? It can’t be the money, you already have that.”

“Curiosity,” he says. “Boredom, maybe.”

“Treasure hunting: an unusual cure for boredom.”

Rafe chuckles.

“I want to be equals,” Sabina says. “We split the treasure, fifty-fifty.”

“Hey, I’m the one footing the bill for—”

“Fifty-fifty. Take it, or I walk.”

“Deal,” Rafe says.

December 2015

A few years ago, Sabina figured out that life with Rafe is easier if she avoids the topic of Nathan Drake. Though her husband would never admit it, it was clear that feelings of rage, frustration, and jealousy were building up inside of him. He hated what Nate had accomplished on his own, hated what he had accomplished without him. And Nate’s current involvement with Avery’s treasure hasn’t helped. In fact, spending the past few weeks chasing after him had skyrocketed Rafe’s anger, making her husband almost unbearable to be around.

After Scotland, they followed Nate here, to Madagascar.

Drowning beneath the burning sunlight and stifling humidity, Sabina does her best to keep herself calm, composed. So far she has been successful in convincing Rafe and Nadine not to murder Nate at first sight, but as the promise of finding treasure draws closer, their patience is beginning to wan. Currently, the trio are driving in a jeep through one of the cities, providing a much appreciated gust of wind to cool down their sweaty bodies.

Rafe pulls his phone out of his pocket and dials a number. A few moments later, he laughs. “Here I am, I’m calling what I thought was Sullivan’s phone… and look who picks up,” he says. “How you been, Nate?”

Her ears perk up at the name.

“I wish,” Rafe chuckles. “That only would’ve cost me a few shots of rum, right? No, no, I had to pay top dollar to find you guys.”

Sabina frowns. Just how much money has Rafe invested into this not-so-friendly competition? He must be more on edge than she had assumed.

“…you pulled off some clever moves there,” he says. “But in the end, all that matters is who gets to Avery’s treasure first.”

A brief pause.

“Hey, Nate, you know I’m always game,” Rafe responds. “But my partner,” he turns his head slightly, to glance over at Nadine, “well, she prefers to… mitigate unnecessary risks.”

Sabina tenses and her eyes flicker over to Nadine, but she ignores her gaze.

“Look, Nate. I’m gonna make you a one-time offer here,” he continues. “You drop everything. Go home, live your life… and I’m willing to forgive and forget. For old time’s sake.”

Nadine looks over at the man, as he listens to Nate’s response.

“Okay,” Rafe shrugs. “‘Pro Deus quod licentia.’ For God and liberty.” He smiles, “These are nice pictures, Nate. Good composition.”

A feeling of dread punches Sabina in the stomach. She leans forward in her seat and grabs onto her husband’s shoulder.

“You stole my cross!” Rafe says. “Listen, Nate, if you’re half as smart as you think you are, you’ll accept my offer. What’s it going to be?”

“Rafe,” Sabina says, jostling his arm.

He ignores her.

“Well, Nate, one more thing—Nate!”

A pause.

“You… you do realize that your phones are equipped with GPS, right?” He asks. “I’ll see you soon, buddy.” He ends the call, finally turning to look at her. “What?”

“What did you do?” She asks.

“Honey, don’t worry about it.”

“Rafe—”

“This doesn’t concern you.”

“What is wrong with you?” Sabina yells. “This is—this is absolutely crazy!”

“Sabina,” Rafe says. “I need you to calm down.”

“Me?” She laughs. “You need me to calm down? Have you listened to yourself once in the past few weeks? Hell, the past few years? Everything is Drake this! Drake that! God, maybe you should’ve married him, huh? He’s all you ever talk about. Too bad you’re sending people to go fucking murder him!”

“I am not going to do this with you right now.”

“Is this why you hired Shoreline?” Sabina says. “So you could get rid of anyone that stands between you and that treasure?”

Rafe doesn’t respond.

“When this is over, I’m done.”

“Sabina—”

“No, I am sick of this. You aren’t the person I married. You aren’t even the person from five years ago.”

“Sabina—”

“Shut up,” she says. “Just… shut up.”

September 2001

Sabina fiddles with her emerald green satin dress. It was something that would have cost her a small fortune, more than triple the rent of her tiny overpriced apartment, but Rafe had insisted on getting it for her.

This is ridiculous, she had said. It’s just a dress.

Really, it’s nothing. Rafe said, waving away her protests. If you want to blend in, you’re going to need to dress the part.

I can’t ask you to pay for this.

You don’t need to ask, he chuckles. I’m telling you that I’ll pay.

But I’ll only ever wear this dress like once, maybe twice.

That would be a real shame. You look really beautiful in it.

The comment had shut Sabina up, bringing forth a light blush to stain her cheeks.

I know that this doesn’t seem like pocket change to you, Rafe said, but it is. And even if it wasn’t, this dress would be worth the price.

“Sabina,” a voice calls. A hand reaches out for her own, intertwining their fingers between hers. “Relax,” they say, “the more you twitch, the more attention you’ll bring to us.”

She sighs, looking at Rafe. She squeezes Rafe’s hand, as she glances around the room.

The pair were at an exclusive, membership-only bar. A hotspot for filthy rich assholes, those that are usually linked to shady business deals and other questionable methods of income. Sabina felt out of place, standing amongst the elite of wealthy society. While these people sweetened a cup of tea with liquid gold, she was one to ration a bottle of honey.

“Maybe I should go,” she says. “I feel like everyone can tell that I don’t belong here.”

“Nonsense,” Rafe says. “Everyone knows that you’re here with me; they all watched us walk in together.”

“Every time I exhale, someone looks at me like I’m tainting the air.”

“Ignore them.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” she huffs. “Nobody is looking at you like you’re trash that someone dragged in from the street.”

Rafe chuckles. “They’re curious about you.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone believes I’m a gold digger that’s playing you.”

“Come on,” he says, tugging at her hand. He begins to lead her out of the bar.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

“But the seller—Rafe—he could be here any moment.”

“He can wait five minutes,” he says. “You look like you’re about to suffocate.”

“But—”

“Trust me, Sabina.”

She sighs, but stops her struggle.

Rafe leads her up a short flight of stairs and then outside, onto a balcony. The late night air of Germany chills her arms, triggering a layer of fresh goosebumps. But she ignores the cold when her mind becomes focused on the view in front of her. The balcony overlooks a vast forest of pine trees, illuminated by the silver-blue haze of moonlight.

Sabina takes in a deep inhale of the crisp air.

“What’s bothering you?” Rafe asks.

“What?” She turns to look at him. “Nothing. Nothing, really.”

“Wow,” he takes a step closer to her, placing his hands on the iron railing. “You didn’t even try to sound convincing with that response.”

“I’m fine.”

“The key to a good partnership is communication,” Rafe says. “So, communicate. Talk to me, huh?”

“I feel like I’m wasting your time,” Sabina admits.

“What? Why would you think that?”

“And your money,” she continues.

“What are you talking about?”

“What if I can’t solve the medallion?” Sabina grips onto the railing in front of her. “Can’t solve the puzzle or figure out whatever piece I need in order to even attempt solving it. Or what if it’s broken? What if it was part of something else and that something is long gone? Rafe, I’ve barely contributed anything in the past year.”

He opens his mouth to respond, but Sabina interrupts him.

“We’ve hardly made any progress,” she says. “Maybe I’m holding us back, leading us in the wrong directions. God, I keep turning those fucking rings. As if it’s going to make a difference and one day I’ll magically line it up correctly and everything with click into place. But it hasn’t happened… and I’m not sure if it will.”

“You’re not wrong,” Rafe says. “We’ve been circling the same set of clues for longer than either of us would like to. But that doesn’t mean we should give up altogether.”

“I think we should part ways,” Sabina says.

His eyes widen.

“We started off as business partners, but let’s be honest. We’re hardly fifty-fifty. You’re footing the bill for everything,” she says. “Our trips. Our purchases. Our bribes. You’ve even started paying my bills, covering my living expenses. We can’t be equals if the contributions aren’t equal. You give everything, but I have nothing to give in return.”

“If you think I’m mad about the money, you’re mistaken. I’ve told you before, money isn’t a problem.”

“You keep saying that!” Sabina runs a hand through her hair, ruining the perfect curls. “I appreciate the help, I really do, but I feel like I’ve become far too indebted to you. If we don’t find Avery’s treasure, I’ll never be able to pay you back for everything.”

“You don’t need to pay me back,” he says.

“Rafe—”

“I don’t financially support you because I want you to feel like you’re in my debt,” he says. He reaches out for her hand, but freezes, unsure. “I do it because I believe in you.”

“You’re sucking up to me,” she smiles.

“I do it because I need you,” Rafe gently wraps his fingers around her arm, turning her to face him. “I want you to be in this with me.”

Sabina blinks, confused by the hint of longing in his voice.

“I care for you, Sabina. I’m in love with you,” he says.

She freezes, processing his words.

“You’re not a burden to me. You’re brilliant, one of the most intelligent women I’ve ever met. And despite every terrible that that has happened to you, you still manage to show kindness. You are caring, protective of those close to you.” Rafe pauses, taking a breath. “When we were in Columbia, when you almost—”

Died. 

The pair had gone to the country just a couple of months prior to investigate a cave with a potential lead. While examining the markings carved into the stone, Sabina had set off a trap, triggering an explosion. Rubble had fallen down near the exit, blocking her inside and separating her from Rafe. Moments later the cave was flooding. Desperate, Rafe and Sabina pushed and pulled at the debris, trying to make a big enough hole for her to slip through. As her lungs began to fill up with the water, she started to lose consciousness. Rafe had managed to pull her through a gap, just before she had blacked out completely.

“I realized how much you mean to me,” Rafe continues. “I want a life with you.”

Without a moment to waste, Sabina grips onto Rafe’s tie and pulls him closer. She presses her lips against his, overwhelmed, but attempting to convey all of her emotions in the act. Sabina moves her hands to rest one against his neck. The other travels to the back of his head, allowing her fingers to clutch onto the short strands of his hair.

He wanted her.

He loved her.

And in this moment, he needed her, with or without the treasure.

Rafe pulls her into his arms, flush against his body. His nails dig into the satin, longing to instead feel the bare flesh beneath the fabric. His kiss is eager, desperate, intense, yet too gentle at the same time. Sabina can sense that he wants to feel more of her and it’s something that she’ll happily give.

December 2015

The sound of splitting wood and crashing debris echoes in the rainforest, originating from Nadine’s last known location. Rafe and a couple of the Shoreline mercenaries were hot on her heels, rushing to get to the Nate before he could slip away again. Trailing behind, Sabina struggles to keep up with the men, but her short legs can only do so much.

“…forget about her! We gotta get out of here before they—”

The man’s voice comes to abrupt stop when Rafe runs out of the ruined buildings of Libertalia and into the open. Rafe raises a gun, pointing it at the men in front of him. The two mercenaries follow suite, also aiming their weapons at the targets.

“Shit. Whoa, whoa, whoa,” the man says, alarmed. “Everybody just… just calm down, okay?”

Nearly gasping for air, Sabina approaches the exit.

“Well, this is interesting,” Rafe says. “Nate. Samuel.”

Sabina halts, frozen by the name. Samuel? Who the hell is—

“Put your guns down!” A new voice yells. “All of you.”

Samuel?

The old sapphire ring on her right hand feels heavy on her finger. For years she hadn’t noticed the jewelry, burying away its significance in her life. Now it was the only thing her buzzing brain could focus on.

“No,” her husband responds.

“Rafe, this guy’s on edge,” Nadine says.

“Oh, don’t worry about him, Nadine.” Rafe takes a small step forward. “These guys don’t kill anyone in cold blood. It’s just not their style.”

“You willing to bet her life on that?” One of the men says.

With shaky steps, Sabina steps into the clearing. Her eyes focused on Shoreline’s targets. There, she sees Nate, looking exhausted and worried. He’s covered in dirt, dust, and droplets of sweat. To his left is Nadine: held hostage, gun to her head. And there, holding the gun, is a familiar, but aged, face. The face of a dead man, of a man that she hasn’t seen in fifteen years. A man that she had shed countless tears for, before she had forced herself to lock away her memories of him, to bury him deep, deep in the back of her mind.

“Sam?” The name is whispered through her lips, ignored by everyone.

“Go ahead then,” Rafe says. “Shoot her.”

“Sam,” Nate warns.

“I die, you both die,” Nadine says.

“So be it,” Sam hisses into her ear. “Not another step!”

“You mean… like this?” Rafe takes another step forward.

“Sam, put the gun down!” Nate says.

“I warned you.”

“Do it!” Rafe taunts.

Nadine shouts, “Rafe!”

Just as Sam’s finger begins to press down on the trigger, Nate rushes towards him. He shoves the gun upwards, away from Nadine. 

The sound of a gunshot rings in the air. 

And Nadine uses the opportunity to slam her elbow back into Sam’s stomach, allowing her to slip away from his hold.

“Wait!” Sabina screams, running towards the Drakes.

Nate holds the gun up in the air. “It’s done!”

“Hold your fire!” Rafe turns to yell at the mercenaries, holding up his arms. “Don’t shoot!”

Sabina rushes to Sam’s side. He’s hunched over, stunned from Nadine’s blow. “Oh, my god,” she says. “Sam?”

The man lifts his head to look at her. “Bina? What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?” She asks. “What are you doing here?”

“Nate, put the gun down,” Rafe says. “Sabina, what are you doing?”

She ignores him.

Nadine picks up the gun. “Don’t worry, Nadine. It’s not their style,” she quotes, walking passed Rafe.

“What can I say?” Rafe replies. “I didn’t think he had it in him.”

“I don’t understand—I thought—Sam—”

“It’s complicated, but I’m here,” he responds. He lifts his right hand to brush the back of his fingertips against her cheek. “I missed you.”

“Sam—”

“Jesus, will somebody go get her?” Rafe addresses the mercenaries.

The man to Rafe’s right approaches Sabina, gun still trained on Sam. He grabs onto her arm, attempting to pull her away from the older Drake.

“Don’t touch her!” Sam yells. But when the mercenary points the barrel of the gun directly into his face, Sam stops protesting.

Rafe steps forward, approaching the Drakes. “Samuel. You okay?” He reaches forward to brush off some of the dust on the man’s shoulders. “I guess you knew this moment was coming, huh?” Rafe slams his handgun across Sam’s face, knocking him down onto the ground.

“Hey!” Nate says. “C’mon, man. You got us. Take it easy.”

Rafe reaches for Sabina, pulling her away from the mercenary. With a firm grip on her arm, he positions her to stand slightly behind himself.

“C’mon now,” Nate says. “You’re a businessman. Let’s just… work out a deal.”

“Oh, a deal,” Rafe says. “Oh, yeah, I’d love to hear what you have in mind.” He takes a step forward, pulling Sabina with him, and then kicks Sam in the face.

“Rafe!” Sabina snaps.

“Oh, you can go ahead,” Rafe says to Nate. “I’m listening.”

“Alright, just… alright,” Nate leans down to help Sam stand back up. “Look, you wanna find Avery’s treasure? We’ll help you find it.”

“And in exchange, I let you live?”

“Yeah,” Nate hesitates. “That and a small cut.”

Rafe laughs. “The gauchos on this guy.”

“Just enough to get him freedom, okay?”

“His freedom?”

“Nathan—” Sam says.

“Yeah,” Nate interrupts. “He did hard time. Our time. And the guy who broke him out, Hector Alcazar, he owes him a lot of money.”

“Whoa, what the hell are you talking about, Nate?” Rafe says. “Hector Alcazar died in a shootout in Argentina like six months ago. I’m the one that got Samuel out.”

Sabina frowns, confused, and turns her head to look at her husband.

Nate looks over at Sam, before turning his attention back to Rafe. “What?”

“Oh,” a look of realization shines on Rafe’s features. “Wow. What did he tell you? Sam, what kind of story did you cook up? Alcazar? Really? You lied? You lied to your baby brother?”

“We’re wasting time,” Nadine says.

“Just a second,” Rafe responds. “Thing is, Nate, I never stopped looking for Avery’s treasure. I just kept running into these dead ends,” he chuckles, “you know? And then I heard that our dear ol’ Samuel Drake, an authority on Avery—is alive and somewhat well. There was no breakout. I bribed the prison warden and your brother waltzed right out the front gate. He spent the last two years tracking down the second Saint Dismas cross. And you know what? He did it all with me.”

Sabina opens her mouth to speak, “Two years—”

“No,” Nate says.

“Oh, yeah.”

“No, that’s bullshit!”

“Oh, Sam?” Rafe turns his direction towards the man. “Care to refute?”

He sighs. “Nate…”

“Aw, Sam… Ah, Jesus, no, no…”

Sam takes a step closer to his brother. “Listen, Avery’s treasure was ours,” he says. “It was always ours.”

“No!” Nate yells. “I left my life for you!”

“Hey, look, look, Nate,” Rafe says, laughing. “If it’s any consolation, he duped me, too. He pulled a Houdini on me. He brought you and that old man back into the mix. And I cannot lie, Sam, that really pissed me off. But you know… all behind us now.”

“You don’t deserve it,” Sam says.

“You do? Last I checked we’re all a bunch of thieves, digging around where we shouldn’t.”

Nadine approaches the bickering men, “Rafe.”

“What?”

“One way or another, end it,” she says. “Or I will.”

Rafe nods. “Well, you heard the lady,” he says, aiming his gun at Sam.

“Wait,” Sabina says. “Don’t—”

“Hey,” Nate says. “You miss one clue and you can kiss that treasure goodbye. You said it yourself: you keep running into dead ends. Why don’t you face it, Rafe. You need us.”

“Rafe, put the gun down,” Sabina says.

He ignores her, eyes focused on the Drake brothers. “Yeah, you’re right,” Rafe says, lowering the gun. He pauses for a moment, before continuing, “You’re half right. I just need Sam.” Rafe raises the gun again, pointing it at Nate.

Sabina pulls her arm out of Rafe’s grip and rushes forward to stand in front of the Drakes. “Don’t,” she yells.

“Honey,” Rafe sighs. “I need you to step out of the way.”

Sabina shakes her head. She holds her arms out to her sides, as if her small frame could shield the two men. “I can’t do that,” she says.

“Bina,” Sam reaches for her shoulder.

“Don’t even think about touching my wife,” Rafe says, aiming the gun at him.

“Put the gun down!” Sabina says.

“You’re really going to defend them,” her husband scoffs. “You’re picking these two assholes over me, your husband?”

“It’s not about picking sides,” Sabina says. “And why should I side with you anyway? You’ve known Sam has been alive, all of this time? And you didn’t think to tell me? Why? Why would you do that?”

“It’s complicated,” he says.

“Then explain it to me.”

“You talk in your sleep,” Rafe sighs and lowers the gun.

“Okay? So?”

“You say all sorts of things, you know,” Rafe takes a cautious step forward. “You reenact your memories, your nightmares. You relive all of those traumatic moments that you keep buried. You’ve screamed about your parents, screamed about the night of their murder. And you cry about… him,” he says, glancing at Sam. “You regret Panama, regret not pushing harder at looking for an alternative plan. You regret not telling me what he meant to you.”

“I—”

“But one day you stopped,” Rafe says. “I didn’t tell you about Sam because I thought that you had finally finished grieving his death. I didn’t want you to go through that all over again.”

Sabina relaxes her arms. “How dare you make that choice for me,” she says.

“It’s not like he ever bothered to search for you. He didn’t even tell his own brother he was alive,” Rafe says. “What makes you think that he would’ve bothered to see you, Sabina? If he had never betrayed me, we wouldn’t all be here right now. Not like this. You might have gone the rest of your life believing that Sam had died in that prison.”

Sabina swallows a lump in her throat. Her heartbeat is racing, pounding against her chest. She angles her body to look at Sam.

He avoids her gaze, turning his eyes down towards the ground.

An admission of guilt?

Rafe takes another step forward. “I lied to you, I’ll admit that.” He extends a hand in her direction. “But I didn’t do it out of malice. Step away from them, honey. We can find the treasure. We will find the treasure.”

“I don’t care about that,” she says. “You lied to me.”

“I never did it with the intention of hurting you,” Rafe says. “But I promise you that I won’t make that mistake again.”

“How can I trust you?”

"We’re partners, remember? Not just for this treasure, but in life.”

“Please,” Sabina says. “Don’t hurt them.”

“Everything is going to be okay, honey.”

Hesitant, Sabina reaches forward, placing her hand on top of Rafe’s open palm. 

“Bina, don’t,” Sam says.

Rafe steps closer to his wife, pulling her into a tight hug. “That’s my girl,” he says, eyes focused on Sam.

Sabina digs her nails into the back of his shirt and buries her face into his chest.

With one arm wrapped around his wife, Rafe aims his gun at Nate. “Back to business then.”

“Wait,” Sabina tries to pull herself out of his hold, but Rafe’s grip is firm. “You promised—”

“Wait now,” Nate says. “You’re making a mistake, you got—”

“Rafe, don’t!” Sam steps forward, partially blocking Nate. “Rafe, don’t, don’t, listen I—”

Ignoring their pleas, Rafe fires the gun. The shot misses Nate, but hits Sam in his left arm. The impact of the bullet sends him stumbling backwards, causing him to bump into Nate. Less than a moment later, Nate disappears, falling off the edge of the cliff.

“Nathan!” Sam yells.

Rafe turns to look at Nadine and the mercenaries. “Take him,” he orders.

February 2002

A morning glow peaks in through the curtains, illuminating the couple tangled beneath the bedsheets. Sabina whines at the touch of light and hides her face beneath the covers. Beside her, Rafe shifts, awoken by the movement. His hand brushes against Sabina’s naked back, fingers trailing along the curve of her spine.

“Good morning,” he says.

“No,” Sabina mumbles, “go back to sleep.” She buries her face into his chest.

Rafe chuckles. “You know that I’d love to do that.”

“Don’t argue. Just sleep.”

He places a hand on top of the one Sabina is laying on his chest. Rubs his thumb across the tops of her fingers. “But I have business meetings I can’t postpone any further,” he says.

“Give me the handcuffs,” she says. “I’ll chain you to the bed.”

“Are you sure?” Rafe pushes the cover away from her face. “You seem to enjoy wearing them more than I do.”

  “I’m not the one who plans on leaving.”

He cups her cheek and pulls her into a kiss. “If I keep postponing, they’ll walk away completely.”

“Fine,” Sabina pouts.

Rafe recaptures her lips. He grabs onto her hips and coerces her to lay down on her back. When he moves to hover above her, Sabina wraps her legs around his waist and pulls him against her body.

“You know that I love you, right?” Rafe says.

Sabina nods, pulling him in for another kiss.

But he pulls away, choosing instead to look at her flushed cheeks. Rafe smiles and brushes the loose strands of hair away from her face. He rolls off of her and opens the drawer in the beside table.

Sabina sits up in the bed, alarmed. “What’s wrong?”

Rafe turns back towards her. “Marry me,” he says, holding up a small black velvet box.

She blinks up at him, processing the words that are swimming around in her discombobulated head. “What did you say?”

As he takes a nervous breath, he pulls back the lid of the box. “Will you marry me?”

Sabina’s eyes focus on the object inside, a ring. 

A pear-shaped diamond, set on a sleek white gold band. 

“You want… to marry me?”

“I do,” Rafe frowns. He’s hurt, confused by her response. “I love you. There’s no one in the world I would rather be with.”

Sabina reaches for the box, pulling it out of Rafe’s hand. “But the treasure,” she says, “we haven’t found Avery’s treasure yet. What if we never find it? Would you still want to be with me?”

“Yes,” he responds. “I don’t want to marry the treasure. I want to marry you.”

“Okay,” she whispers. Sabina sniffles, overwhelmed by emotion. But there’s a twinkle in her watering eyes and a small smile on her swollen lips. “Yes,” she says. “Yes!” She throws herself onto Rafe, knocking him down onto the bed, and peppers him with feverish, giddy kisses.

December 2015

The moment Sam had revealed where the treasure was, still on Avery’s ship, Rafe gathered together some of the Shoreline men. Using the distraction, Sabina approaches the mercenary that has been assigned to keep an eye on the Drake brother.

“Jonas, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he says.

She tilts her head in Sam’s direction. “If you let me speak with him alone, I’ll wire five thousand dollars into your bank account.”

He pauses, mulling over the offer. “Gotta be honest with ya, I’m not sure if dealing with your husband’s temper is worth that price.”

“Ten thousand.”

“Fifteen.”

“Sure,” Sabina shrugs. “It’s his money anyway.”

“Try to be quick about it, yeah?” Jonas steps out of the way, allowing her to slip inside of the small alcove.

Hearing the approaching footsteps, Sam looks up at his guest. His hands are bound, tied tightly with rope. The gunshot wound in his arm is bandaged, but splotches of blood have seeped through the gauze. He sighs, leaning back against the stone wall. “Bina,” he greets.

“Hey, Sam,” she says. She sits down on the floor, away from his reach. “So… I’m not sure on how to go about this discussion. My kind-of-ex-boyfriend coming back from the dead isn’t a scenario that I was ever prepared for.”

“Listen, I—”

“Were you going to tell me?” She interrupts. “Were you ever going to let me know that you were still alive?”

He sighs. “I thought about you, all the time. But I didn’t think that I was ever gonna get out of there. And then, when I did, well, Rafe was the one pulling those strings. Thirteen years had gone by. I figured that you had already moved on.”

“Well, you weren’t wrong,” Sabina admits. “I did get married—”

Sam laughs, a cynical chuckle. “You sure did, huh? Married Rafe. Could’ve picked anyone in the whole world, but you picked him.”

“I don’t have to justify my actions to you,” she says. “What was I supposed to do? Dwell on you for the rest of my life? Stay single, alone forever? I thought you were dead. How could you have expected me to wait for someone who wasn’t coming back?”

“You didn’t have to pick him,” Sam mutters.

“I didn’t have to, but I did! I wanted him. And I knew that he wanted me.” Sabina pauses, using the moment to calm herself down. “‘After we find the treasure, run away with me.’ That was your pseudo-proposal, word for word.”

“I remember,” he says.

“When Rafe asked me to marry him, there was no caveat,” she says. “He simply wanted me. It wasn’t all or nothing. I wasn’t part of a package deal.”

Sam frowns. “I wasn’t trying to imply that you were.”

“Sam,” Sabina shakes her head. “If you had never gotten trapped in that prison, if you had made it out of Panama with Rafe and Nate, do you really think that we would still be together?”

“I—I don’t know,” he says. “I’d like to think that we would be.”

“I think you would’ve left me,” Sabina says.

“What? Why would you think that?”

“For two decades, all you’ve thought about is that treasure. You didn’t even tell Nate that you were alive. You kept him in the dark, then you lied to him. If tracking down your brother isn’t one of the first things you do once you’ve gained your freedom, then where am I on that list?”

“Things were complicated.”

“Not nearly as complicated as you pretend them to be,” she says. “You’re just a selfish asshole. You don’t care that you’ve hurt people, betrayed them, let them down.” Sabina sits up on her knees and reaches for the back pocket of her pants. She pulls out a pocket knife and flips it open.

“Hey,” Sam says, doing his best to inch away from her. “Bina, I know you’re upset. But you don’t need to do this.”

She wraps her fingers around his bound hands and pulls him towards her. “I’m such an idiot,” she mutters. Sabina saws her knife through the rope, breaking the binds.

“What—”

“I love Rafe, I do,” she says. “But once, I think I loved you. I cared about you, at least. I might be a bit pissed off at you right now, but I won’t stand by while Rafe holds you captive. Just get out of here.”

Sam holds onto her hands and leans towards her. “Come with me,” he says.

“I can’t,” she whispers.

“You know what kind of man he is,” he says. “You deserve better.”

Sabina shakes her head, frowning. “I’m not sure if you’re much better.” She pulls herself away from him. “None of us are who we used to be. Rafe and I have our problems, but when we work, we work. I won’t deny that things have been a bit strained, lately. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t fix our marriage. I won’t throw all of this away for you. Not anymore.”

Sam nods his head, a grimace on his lips.

“Just so you, I’m glad you’re alive,” Sabina says.

“I’m sorry. For everything.”

“I know,” she says. “Okay,” Sabina stands up. “Right. I need you to punch me or something.”

“What?” Sam says, also moving to stand up.

“Well, we need to stage your escape,” she says.

“Can’t I just walk out of here?”

“I paid off the guard. It’ll look suspicious if you disappear after I leave.”

“I’m not going to punch you,” Sam says.

“Just punch me! Then take out the guard.”

“Bina—”

“Sam,” she hisses. “For once in your life, just listen to me. We don’t need to argue about everything.”

“Oh, my god,” he groans. “Why does your plan involve me punching you in the face?”

“What—I never told you to punch my face.”

“Jesus Christ—”

“Is that where you wanted to punch me?”

“That’s not what I meant—”

“Maybe I should punch you in the fucking face,” Sabina says, taking a step towards him.

“Whoa, whoa, hold on,” Sam says, holding his hands up in front of him. “I’m just saying that—”

“Oi,” a voice interrupts.

Sam and Sabina turn to look at the entrance.

Jonas the Mercenary stands there, gun pointed in Sam’s direction. “What’s going on here? You untie him?”

“Jonas,” Sabina says. Her eyes flicker over to Sam, before focusing again on the mercenary. “Thank god you’re here! Samuel was… threatening me. Said that he would kill me if I didn’t cut the rope.”

“That so?” He takes a few steps forward. “Guess we should tie him back up.”

“Right,” she agrees.

“Go stand by the door,” he says. “I’ll bind him.”

Sabina throws one last glance at Sam, before heading towards the exit. Just as she walks passed the mercenary, she slams her foot into the back of his knee, knocking him off-balance. Sam rushes forward and pulls the assault rifle out of Jonas’ hands. Using the grip of the gun, he slams it across the man’s face, leaving him dazed and gasping on the ground. For good measure, Sam hits the mercenary again, breaking his nose.

“Go,” Sabina says.

Sam looks at her, opens his mouth to tell her something.

“Go! Get out of here.”

“Thank you,” he says. Without another moment to spare, Sam sprints out of the alcove.

Sabina gives him a head start. She waits for thirty seconds, before making her move. Clutching a fake bruise on her side, she stumbles out of the alcove, yelling at the top of her lungs. “Help! I need help! Rafe!”

A couple of mercenaries run towards her. “What’s going on?”

“I—I don’t know,” she says, gasping for air. “It all happened so fast—oh, my god, Jonas—Jonas is in there.”

“Sabina?” Rafe says, running towards her. “Honey, what happened?”

“Sam! He—he escaped!”

He directs his gaze to the mercenaries. “Find him,” he says.

“I’m sorry,” Sabina says. “I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t and he—he had a gun. I didn’t know what to do.”

Holding the sides of her face in his hands, Rafe leans down to press a kiss on her forehead. “It’s okay, honey. Are you okay? Did he hit you?”

“I got tangled up in the fight,” she says. “But I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, good,” he says, nodding. “He’s probably heading for the treasure. We need to go catch up.”

“Are you serious right now?”

“We are so close. We’re practically right there. Just need to beat him to it.” Rafe grabs onto her hand, pulling her along with him.

They rush down the tunnel, heading for where the boats are docked. As they enter the area, Sam is driving away with one of the boats. Rafe drags Sabina towards Nadine, whom is loading up a boat with treasure.

“Sam just stole our goddamn boat,” Rafe says. “He’s headed for Avery’s ship. Come on.”

“Let him,” she says. “We’re done.”

Rafe looks at her, confused. “We’re done?”

“Most of my men are dead, Rafe. And those who aren’t have already left.”

“Can you see that?” Rafe asks, pointing in the direction of Avery’s ship. “The end is literally in sight.”

“That maniac pirate of yours has rigged this entire cave. I’m not setting foot on his ship.”

“Nadine, if you cut and run right now, the loss of all your men—everything that we’ve done—is for nothing.”

Nadine points to the raft on her left. “We have millions in gold, right here. I’d say that, plus our lives, is something.” She steps around Rafe, moving to finish getting the raft ready for departure.

“No wonder so many of your men abandoned you,” Rafe says.

Nadine turns to look at him. “Excuse me?”

Sabina glances at the mercenary standing behind her, alerted by the sound of him adjusting his grip on his gun.

Rafe steps away from her, approaching Nadine. “We’re on the verge of making history here, and you’re willing to just walk off with a pittance, a fraction what Sam’s gonna get from that boat.”

“If he can walk away from that ship alive, he can have it,” Nadine says. “Hell, I’d say he’s earned it. God knows you didn’t.”

A moment of stillness, and then—

Rafe slaps Nadine across her face. “Now look,” he says, following another brief pause. “We can stand here and insult each other all day, or we can finish what it is that we—”

Nadine interrupts him, slamming her fist into his stomach. She shoves Rafe onto the ground and then aims her pistol at him.

“Rafe!” Sabina rushes to his side.

“Oh,” Nadine yells, “we’re finishing it all right—” The sound of a gun being cocked pulls her attention away from the man.

“Sorry, ma’am,” the mercenary says, with his gun aimed at her.

Sabina helps Rafe onto his feet, double checking him for any other injuries.

“Yeah… the thing about mercenaries, Nadine,” he says. “Their loyalty, it’s bought. It’s not earned. Now, come on. Either we finish this thing together, or we can just end it right here.”

Sabina lifts her eyes, meeting her gaze with the other woman. “Just get in the boat, Ms. Ross,” she says. “Please, nobody else needs to die right now.”

Nadine glances down at her weapon, before slowly lowering it. “Let’s go make history,” she says, tucking the gun away.

“Atta girl,” Rafe says, gesturing towards the boat.

When Sabina and Nadine make eye contact once again, Sabina mouths, “I’m so sorry.”

Nadine holds her gaze for a moment, before climbing into the boat.

September 2002

Growing up, she had never imagined what her wedding might look like. She had never pictured her dress, the venue. She had never thought about who would be waiting for her at the end of the aisle. Getting married had always seemed like an event that would be too extravagant and… depressing. She had no one to walk her down the aisle. No family to invite. Her friendships had always been rather brief, dependent on where she was traveling and if they could help her get what she was looking for.

People kept telling her that her wedding would be one of the happiest days of her life.

Yet, she had never felt so isolated from everyone.

Standing on a raised platform, Sabina stares at her reflection in the large trifold mirror. Her head feels heavy, stuffed full with curled extensions that are pulled up into an intricate bun. Her lace cathedral veil is pinned into place, once again. In her nerves, Sabina has already tugged it out of position five times. The strings of her corset are pulled tight, constricting her ability to breathe. She wants to tear them out, wants a breath of fresh unrestrained air, but it’s too late for that now. Fiddling with her diamond ring, Sabina resists the urge to smooth down the organza fabric of her dress.

When she had first put on the ivory off-the-shoulder ball gown, she had felt like a fool, like she was undeserving of the dress. The fabric was covered in thousands of crystals, each of which were carefully positioned by hand. The crystals were arranged in complex floral designs and placed beneath a layer of organza. This dulled their shine, creating the softer, ethereal sparkling effect that Sabina had wanted. But still, she had felt that this dress was too glamorous.

Upon seeing her, Rafe’s mother had surprised her with tears. Telling her that the dress was perfect, made for her. And in that moment, Sabina had also cried. Was this how her own mother would have reacted? Would she be in agreement with Mrs. Adler? Or would she have longed to see Sabina in a different silhouette? Marrying a different man?

“Miss Hewitt,” the wedding planner’s voice captures her attention. “I don’t want to rush you, but we are behind schedule. Your groom is starting to get a bit nervous.”

“Ten more minutes,” Sabina says.

“Miss Hewitt,” she sighs. “Your guests have already been waiting for an hour.”

Sabina shakes her head. Subconsciously, her fingers grasp onto the edge of her veil. “Just give him ten more minutes,” she says. “He’ll be here.” And once again, the material is pulled out of place.

The woman frowns, giving Sabina a pitying look. “I understand that you want him to walk you down the aisle, Miss Hewitt.” She snaps her fingers at the hair stylist, prompting them to get up and work on resecuring the veil. “However, Mr. Drake didn’t show up for the rehearsal yesterday.”

“Maybe he mixed up the times,” Sabina says. “Or… Or he’s stuck in traffic.” She winces when the stylist stabs her scalp with one of the pins.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think he’s coming.”

The door to the dressing room opens and an older woman steps into the room. With her red lips pulled into the slightest hint of a frown, she asks, “Is something wrong?”

“Mrs. Adler,” the wedding planner greets. “Miss Hewitt has been insisting that we wait for Nathan Drake’s arrival, even though I have told her several times that it is extremely unlikely that he will be in attendance.”

Sabina sighs, closing her eyes. “Just ten more minutes,” she says, before taking a deep breath. “I just want ten more minutes.”

“Miss Hewitt—”

“Give her the ten minutes,” Mrs. Adler says. When her eyes settle on Sabina’s reflection, the sharp contours of her face soften. “I would like a moment of privacy with Sabina.”

Without further instruction, the wedding planner, the hair stylist, and the makeup artist all hurry out of the room. The bridesmaids, dressed in mauve colored chiffon gowns, are quick to follow.

“Are you okay?” Mrs. Adler approaches the bride, taking great care to avoid stepping on the much-too-long train of her dress.

Sabina opens her mouth to speak, but the words are caught in her throat. Instead, she rests her hands against her stomach, hoping to appease the stabbing sensations coming from inside.

“A wedding can feel overwhelming,” the woman says. “I was a mess for my own day. In my heart, I knew that I was marrying the right person, but I still had my doubts. I had a bit of a freakout, myself. Locked myself in a bathroom, for half an hour, and debated about the pros and cons of marriage. It’s okay to be nervous, Sabina. Most brides are. But I wonder if there is something else bothering you, something beyond nerves.”

Sabina swallows a lump in her throat.

“Your life has been deprived of a mother figure,” Mrs. Adler continues. “If it’s alright with you, I can be that figure for you. You are family now, my dear. You can talk to me. I will listen.”

“God, there’s just so many people here,” Sabina gasps.

“Rafe was a bit generous with the guest list,” Mrs. Adler agrees. “Is that why you’re upset?”

“To be honest,” Sabina says. “I’ve never put much thought into a wedding. I never imagined that I would be walking into a room full of hundreds of strangers. Everyone is here for Rafe, aren’t they? They’re not here for me. I’m just a show.”

“Tell me why you are here.”

The bride frowns, confused. “To get married.”

“Then you are here for Rafe,” Mrs. Adler says. “Not for your guests. And Rafe, Rafe is here for you. He is waiting at the end of the aisle,” she smiles, “for you. Forget about the people who have come to watch. The truth is that most of them are not really here for Rafe. They are here to keep up appearances, to maintain a good impression. When you reach the end of the aisle, you will forget all about those strangers.”

Sabina turns to look at the woman and gives her a small smile. “Thank you,” she says.

“I have a gift for you,” Mrs. Adler says. She reaches for wrist, unclasping a gold bracelet lined with rubies. “I was planning to give it to you after the ceremony, as a little ‘welcome to the family’ gift, but I think that it would be better for you to have it now.” The woman reaches out for Sabina’s left hand, pulling it towards her, and then secures the jewelry around the wrist.

“It was my mother’s,” Mrs. Adler continues. “She gave it to me on my wedding day. And now I continue that tradition and give it to you.”

“Mrs. Adler—”

“Gemma. Call me Gemma.”

“Thank you, Gemma.”

“I will give you a few minutes to compose yourself,” Gemma says. “Wipe away those tears, yes?”

Sabina nods.

Just moments after Rafe’s mother exits the dressing room, the door reopens.

“Holy shit,” a man says. “Look at you.”

Through the reflection in the mirror, Sabina sees him. She gasps and turns to look at the man, “Sully?”

“Hey, there, kiddo,” he says, approaching her. “You know, I had a feeling you would be a stunning bride, but you’ve exceeded my expectations.”

“It’s the dress,” she replies. “A forty-seven thousand dollar custom made gown.”

“That’s some serious cash,” Sully whistles. 

“This is just the ceremony gown. The reception dress is even more.” Sabina shakes her head. “I can’t even believe I’m wearing something so expensive.”

“You are marrying Rafe. Did you expect anything less?”

“I’m glad you’re here, Sully,” Sabina smiles. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it. I know that you and Rafe are… far from friends.”

“I wouldn’t miss your wedding, kid,” he says. “But what are you still doing back here? Not that I don’t enjoy the sight, but you’re starting to make Rafe sweat out there.”

“I invited Nate,” she says. “God, I even asked him to walk me down the aisle.”

Sully nods, beginning to figure out the problem. “Nate’s not here, is he?”

“I think I always knew that he wouldn’t show,” the bride sighs. “I just wanted to be wrong. I know that he hates Rafe, but I thought that maybe—just maybe—he would show up for me.”

“He’s still coping,” Sully says. “Won’t even mention… Sam… nowadays.”

Sabina hums. “Me, too,” she admits. “Sully, am I crazy? Just two years ago, I was willing to drop everything and run off with Sam. And now I’m here, getting married to somebody else. What if I’m making a mistake? Maybe that’s why Nate’s not here? Maybe he thinks that I’ve forgotten about Sam or that I’m closing off that part of my life.”

“Hey,” Sully steps forward and holds onto Sabina’s hands. “No one blames you for moving on with your life. There’s nothing we can do to change what happened.”

“I know, but—”

“Do you love Rafe?”

“Yes.”

“And does he make you happy?”

Sabina nods.

Sully gives her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay to let go of Sam,” he says. “You deserve a life of happiness, especially after everything that you’ve been through.”

Before she can stop herself, the question spills through her lips. “Will you walk me down the aisle?”

“Of course,” Sully says.

“Thank you,” Sabina wraps her arms around the man’s neck, pulling him in for a tight hug.

December 2015

Heat tingles against her skin. 

Prickling. 

Stinging. 

As she breathes, she coughs. Her lungs are stuffed, filled with ashes. When Sabina is finally able to open her eyes, she sees a world of red. She blinks, trying to clear the blurriness of her vision. Sabina groans, rolling onto her back.

She hears a voice yelling for someone… yelling for… Sam?

“Hey, Nate,” a different voice says.

She turns her head to look for the source of the sound. Through the haze, she can see the outline of a man, her husband. In Rafe’s hand is a gun, raised and pointed in front of him.

The first voice replies, “Where is Sam?”

Sabina tilts her head, releases a gasp in pain, and looks at the other man. Nate has his own gunned pointed back at Rafe.

“Oh, he’s right there.” Her husband looks over to his left, where Sam is trapped and unconscious beneath a wooden beam.

“Sam!” Nate calls.

“Relax, he’s alive,” Rafe says. “You know, this idiot nearly got us all killed.”

Oh.

That’s right.

The explosion.

Sam… Sam had caused it, had—

“I’m getting him outta here,” Nate says.

“No, you’re not.”

“Rafe, you can have the treasure, alright? Just let me save my brother.”

Her husband laughs, shaking his head in disbelief. “After everything he’s done? How noble of you, but no.”

“We stay here any longer and we’re all dead,” Nate says. “Is that what you want?”

“That’s not what I said. What do you think, Nadine?”

The Shoreline leader steps in through the doorway and descends the short staircase. Her gun is pointed in Nate’s direction.

Sabina pushes her back off of the uneven wooden floor, moving into a sitting position. The back of her head is burning, throbbing. Pressing her fingertips into her hair, she winces when they make contact with an open wound that’s soaked in some sort of liquid. “Fuck,” she whispers. Sabina brings her hand in front of her face, stares at the warm blood coating her finger tips.

“Good to see you up and about,” Rafe says. “Be a dear and relieve Nate there of his gun.”

“Hand it over,” Nadine says, approaching Nate.

“You really think you can trust him? Huh?” Nate says.

“Not your concern.”

Ignoring the trio, Sabina crawls towards the unconscious Drake brother. “Sam,” she calls, shaking his shoulder. She tries to lift up the wooden beam that has him pinned down, but it doesn’t move. “Sam, wake up. Sam?”

“Now, why are you trying to instigate? Nate—” Rafe says, stepping closer to the mercenary. “Nadine and I are partners, I don’t screw over my partners.”

Nadine takes the gun out of Nate’s hand. Slowly, she starts to back away.

“Get over there,” Rafe orders, pointing his gun towards the other end of the room. “You and your brother though… Right from the start, you took advantage of my generosity. You tried to cut me out and it’s high time you learned—”

Nadine presses the barrel of her gun against the back of Rafe’s head.

“What are you doing?” He asks.

“Now you give me your gun,” she says.

“Sam,” Sabina whispers again. “C’mon, wake up.” She shakes him once more, more aggressive, more insistent. “I need your help.”

Sam’s eyelids twitch, but nothing else moves.

Rafe scoffs, “Nadine.”

She interrupts him with the cock of her gun. “I won’t ask you again.”

The man sighs, then surrenders the gun. “You are being profoundly stupid right now,” Rafe says. He steps away from Nadine and rubs the back of his neck.

“Look over there,” she says, indicating to her right.

“Nadine,” Rafe says, stepping closer to her. “Stop screwing around—”

The mercenary angles her gun down towards the floor, shooting a bullet between his feet.

Sabina screams at the noise, startled.

“Jesus!” Rafe yells.

“I said look!”

“Okay,” he says. Rafe glances over. “It’s a couple of skeletons. So what?”

“I don’t know as much about history as you boys,” Nadine says, “but I’ve got a pretty good idea who those two are.”

“Well,” Rafe says, “enlighten us.”

“It’s Avery and Tew,” Nate explains. “They killed each other.”

Rafe glances over at Nate. “Good for them. What’s the point?”

“Everyone obsessed with this treasure gets what they deserve,” Nadine says. She takes a step back, working her way back up the stairs.

“So what,” Nate calls. “You’re just leaving us here to die?”

“Oh, I’m just leaving,” she responds. “Whether you die or not, I don’t really care.”

“Nadine,” Rafe says. “Don’t.”

The mercenary ignores him, turning her gaze to focus on the other woman. “Sabina,” she says. “If you want to get out of here, come with me.”

“What?” Sabina lifts her head to look at Nadine.

“You don’t need to burn alive with all of these dickheads,” she explains.

“Are you kidding me right now?” Rafe chuckles. “You two have been fighting for weeks—”

“Shut up, Rafe,” Nadine says.

“—and now you wanna be best friends?”

Sabina shakes her head, unsure of what to do. “Nadine, I—”

“Make your choice. Now. I’m going to leave, with or without you.”

“I can’t—I can’t just leave them here,” Sabina says.

“You deserve better than this,” Nadine sighs. “Goodbye, Sabina.”

“Nadine,” Rafe says, moving towards her. “Wait—”

“So long, Rafe,” she says, before pulling the door shut and locking it.

“Nadine! Nadine!” He yells. Rafe slams his fists against the wood. “You open this goddamn door right now!”

“Rafe,” Nate shouts. “She’s gone!” He crouches down next to Sabina, eyes focused on the same wooden beam that she has been struggling to lift. “C’mon, give me a hand. We’ll all get out of here.”

“Oh, no,” Rafe says, pacing around in the corner of the room. “No, that won’t work.”

“I’ve been trying to wake him up,” Sabina looks over at Nate. “But he just hasn’t been responsive.”

“It’s okay,” Nate says, placing a comforting hand on Sabina’s forearm. “C’mon,” he calls to Rafe. “Help me with Sam and I’ll help you open the door.”

Together, Sabina and Nate attempt to life the beam, but struggle with the weight.

“No,” Rafe says.

“Rafe,” Sabina lifts her head to look at her husband. “For god’s sake, just help us.”

He reaches for a sword lodged into one of the skeletons and pulls it out. “I’m not going to be able to enjoy one of these coins, knowing that you and your worthless brother are still sucking air.”

Seeing the sword in Rafe’s hand, Nate stands up and starts to back away. “Alright,” he says. “Just… Just calm down. You can practice your fencing when we get outside.”

“Nate, just shut up,” Rafe says.

“What the hell are you doing?” Sabina says, standing up.

“Seriously, Rafe,” Nate says. “This is insane, even for you.”

“You want to hear insane? Nathan Drake raced a madman and his entire army to the steps of Shambhala.” Rafe takes a step forward and swings his sword at Nate.

“Jesus!” Nate curses, dodging the weapon.

“Nathan Drake found a lost city in the middle of the Rub’ al Khali desert.” Rafe swings the sword again. This time the blade slices through Nate’s shirt, breaking the skin of his chest.

Sabina takes a cautious step forward. “Rafe, please. Put the sword down.”

But the man ignores her, opting to attack Nate once again.

Nate leaps back, barely avoiding the blade. “God damn it—come on, we can get out of here together.”

“Nathan Drake discovered the fabled El Dorado.” Rafe lunges at Nate, swiping the blade twice at the man. With the second swing, the edge of the sword slices across Nate’s chest, leaving behind a new, shallow wound. Again, Rafe attempts to cut into the other man’s skin.

“C’mon Rafe, stop,” Nate says.

“Nathan Drake is a legend,” Rafe laughs. “You know, I shot the man who told me that.”

“Look, I get it. You don’t like me very much.”

“You know, for all your ‘greatness,’ Nate, you have nothing. You are nothing. And I warned you to get out of my way.”

“Stop it!” Sabina screams. She charges into Rafe, shoving him away from Nate. “Rafe, babe, I need you to calm down.”

Rafe hardly spares her a glance, instead moving to step around her.

“Please,” Sabina clutches onto his arm, a poor attempt to hold him back. “Don’t do this.”

He pulls his arm out of her grasp and pushes his wife away from him.

Losing her balance, Sabina stumbles and crashes into a pile of debris near Sam’s body. A jagged piece of metal pierces into the skin of her left arm, leaving her with long gashes. Blood spews out of the wounds, sliding down her flesh and onto the floor. She whimpers, pain pulsating throughout her body.

Eyes focused solely on Nate, Rafe is unaware of what he has caused. He swings the blade at Nate, leaving several more cuts on his chest and arms.

Dodging the sword, Nate grabs onto Rafe’s arm and punches him in the face with his free hand. With both hands firmly gripped onto the arm, Nate struggles to maintain control in the fight. He forces Rafe up against a wall, but Rafe slams his forehead into Nate’s, sending him stumbling backwards.

Rafe seizes the opportunity, pushing his opponent down onto the ground. Fighting against Nate’s resistance, Rafe attempts to shove the blade down into the man’s neck. “I have sacrificed everything to find Avery,” Rafe says. “And I’m not gonna let a couple of two-bit thieves, a senile con man, and a washed-up journalist take that away from me!”

“Enough!” Nate pushes back against Rafe, shoving the man off of him. He reaches to the right and wraps his fingers around the handle of another sword.

“You care about that parade of losers so much,” Rafe says, circling Nate. “I’m going to make sure they join you.”

Sabina presses her hand against the fresh wound, unsure of how to slow the bleeding. “Oh, fuck,” she mutters, “shit.” The liquid seeps through her fingers, mingling with the once drying blood of her head injury.

“En garde, dickhead,” Nate says.

“That’s the spirit,” Rafe smiles.

Nate lunges at him, slamming his sword at the man. The two blades clash against each other and Rafe jumps out of Nate’s reach. When Rafe swings his sword at Nate, the Drake brother rams his elbow into Rafe’s nose and then kicks him in the chest. Rafe stumbles back, hitting the wall behind him. Nate swings again, but this time Rafe kicks the man away from him. He takes a step forward, aiming to slice through Nate’s throat, but Nate blocks him just in time.

Starting to get dizzy, Sabina lays down on the floor. She lifts her wounded arm, forcing herself to take a better look at the cuts. Droplets of blood splatter against her cheeks.

Sabina closes her eyes.

Daddy!

She’s a little girl again, running into the outstretched arms of her father.

Daddy, you’re home!

She wraps her arms around his neck, nearly tackling him down into the ground.

Hey, sweetheart, he says. You should be asleep. He secures his arms around Sabina and lifts her up into the air.

No, she shakes her head. No, I missed you.

I missed you, too. He presses a kiss against her cheek. But you know that Daddy has a lot of work to do.

No, no more work.

Sweetheart—

Why do you always leave? I don’t want you to leave anymore.

Her father sighs. My work is important. I’m going to find something amazing, sweetheart. And when I do, I promise that I won’t ever have to leave you again.

Daddy, please—

Richard Hewitt collapses.

Becomes a bleeding corpse, staining the hardwood floors.

And young Sabina hides beneath the planks, her tiny hands covering her mouth. Eyes are wide, staring at the blood leaking through the cracks, the crevices. 

It splatters against her cheeks.

Why couldn’t you pick me?

“—Bina!”

Somebody is shaking her.

“Bina, open your eyes.”

When they press a hand against her cheek, Sabina leans into the warmth.

“C’mon, baby, wake up.”

She opens her eyes and smiles at the sight of a familiar face. “Sam?”

“Yeah,” he says. “I’m right here, but I need you to get up, okay? Nathan and Rafe are about to kill each other and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

“Nate… Rafe?” Sabina blinks at him, unable to fully comprehend the words. “What?”

“Bina—”

She tunes out his voice, focusing her attention to the burning warmth surrounding her. When she turns her head to the left, her eyes grow wide. The muddied thoughts in her head dissipate, cleared by the view in front of her.

Rafe swipes his sword against Nate’s stomach and cuts through the fabric of his shirt. He strikes him in the chest with his foot, knocking him down onto his back. Sword pointed at Nate’s throat, Rafe takes a step forward.

“You know what, Nate? Underneath all the bravado, you’re just a sad little boy with delusions—of grandeur… who, by the way, can’t fence for shit,” he says.

Sabina rolls onto her knees, then stumbles up onto her feet. “Wait—”

Rafe raises his sword, ready to end the fight. “So long, Nathan Drake.”

“Nathan!” Sam yells, attracting the attention of both men. He grabs the handle of the sword laying near him and tosses it in Nate’s direction.

Nate grabs it and strikes the blade across Rafe’s own.

“You don’t know when to give up, do you? That’s good,” Rafe says, between each swing of his sword. “Don’t hand it to me. I’ve had everything handed to me on a goddamn silver platter. Everything except this!”

Nate whips his sword in front of him to block another powerful strike, but Rafe’s blade breaks the metal.

“I earned this,” Rafe says. “All of it.”

September 2012

If you ask Sabina to picture her idea of romantic vacation, this is what she would tell you. A candlelit dinner at a truly exquisite, but probably overpriced, restaurant. Walking through the Paris streets, long after dusk. Sharing bottles of wine between giggling, messy kisses. Falling into a comfortable, happy slumber with the love of her life.

But getting everything that you want is impossible.

And for her tenth wedding anniversary, Sabina spends it without her partner. Drunk in her Parisian hotel room, staring at the blurry lights outside of her windows. Her cheeks are swollen. Eyes are puffy and dirty from smeared mascara and navy blue eyeliner. Brunette hair tangled and pulled up into a lopsided bun.

Rafe was supposed to be here. Was supposed to meet her in Paris over a day ago. But her husband had canceled, saying that an issue at work would require his immediate attention. Saying that he would make it up to her, whisk her away to a private island where no one could bother them.

She almost believes him.

When somebody knocks on the door to the suite, Sabina jumps off of the armchair and stumbles across the room. She throws open the door, and without a moment to pause, wraps her arms around the woman standing there.

Chloe Frazer. A fellow treasure hunter that she had met a couple of years ago. The two had become fast friends, bonding over a discussion about whether the treasure described in The Copper Scroll even existed. And if so, where it could possibly be.

“Oh,” the Australian woman says. “I’m happy to see you, too, love.”

Sabina’s words are slurred. “Chloe, I’m so… so happy you’re here.”

“C’mon, let’s get out of the hallway.” Careful, Chloe urges Sabina back through the door. Glancing around the hotel room, she sees shards of broken glass and puddles of red wine. Several partially consumed bottles lay flat on their sides, a source for many of the wine stains.

Sabina grabs onto one of Chloe’s hands and drags her to the dining table. “You must try this Caber… net Sau… Sauvig… non—Cabernet Sauvignon!” She picks up a bottle of wine and hands the whole thing to Chloe. “I must warn you, it’s very… very heavy on the cherry, but it is so good and… six hundred dollars?” Sabina laughs, “Wine is so expensive.”

Chloe grabs the bottle, notices that it is almost empty, and takes a sip. “Not bad,” she hums. “And how many bottles did you buy?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “A few. Maybe… ten.”

Mid-sip, Chloe chokes.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sabina continues. “It’s all Rafe’s fucking money anyway. He won’t even notice.”

“Can’t say I wouldn’t do the same, if I were you.”

Sabina picks up another bottle of wine and collapses onto the sofa. “I think he’s going to leave me,” she says.

Chloe frowns. “Why would you think that?”

“I think I’ve done something terrible.”

“Alright,” Chloe joins the woman on the couch. “Tell me what’s going on in that brain of yours.”

Sabina unclasps the chain around her neck and hands her medallion over to Chloe. “I solved it,” she says.

Chloe raises an eyebrow. “You… solved this?”

“Yes.”

“The mystery puzzle that you’ve been trying to solve for decades?”

“Yes.”

“Well,” Chloe takes another sip of wine. “I’m not sure how this is bad news, but we can come back to that. First, I wanna know how you solved it.”

“Right,” Sabina nods. She takes back the medallion and stands up.

The two women enter the bathroom, where Sabina tosses the medallion into the sink and then closes the drain. She downs a large gulp of wine, before pouring the rest of the contents into the sink.

After a couple of minutes, a dim light appears, glowing from the object. The wine in the sink moves in gentle waves, the liquid disturbed by something beneath the surface. Once the wine settles, Sabina reaches into the sink, retrieves the medallion, and sets it on the counter.

The object looks distorted, with portions of the gold metal jutting out of place. Many, but not all, of the symbols glow in a faint yellow color. The marking in the center, Avery’s sigil, is popped up and pushed away, revealing an inscription.

The treasure you seek will only bring death.

“How the hell did you figure that out?”

“I don’t… I don’t think it’s a clue,” Sabina says.

Chloe picks up on the woman’s train of thought. “You think it’s a warning.”

“Yeah.”

“Have you told Rafe?”

Sabina leans against the bathroom wall and slides down to sit on the ground. “No,” she says, with a sigh.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” Chloe says. She grabs the medallion, before joining Sabina. “Why not?”

“I think he’ll leave me.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because I want him to stop looking for it. I want him to let go of Avery’s treasure,” Sabina says. “If the warning is true, then I don’t want him to find it.”

“Have you tried telling him that?”

Sabina chuckles. “How do you tell someone to give up on the one goal that drives them to keep going every day? How do you tell them that you’re selfish and you need them to sacrifice their dream?”

Chloe sighs. “I don’t know,” she says.

“You know, I think I was in love with someone,” Sabina admits. “Before Rafe.”

“Oh?” Chloe turns to look at her.

“It was complicated,” Sabina pauses. She pushes strands of hair away from her face and blinks away the forming tears. “And I never really figured out my feelings.”

“Do you miss them?”

Sabina leans over to rest her head on Chloe’s shoulder. “He was also looking for Avery’s treasure,” she says. She takes the bottle of wine away from Chloe and drinks the remaining liquid. “It killed him. All he wanted wanted to do was find that treasure. Would’ve done anything for it. It’s strange, isn’t it? How all of the men in my life are obsessed with this stupid thing. I don’t think the question is if Rafe will die for this treasure. I think the question is when. When will Rafe join Sam and my father?”

“Tell him how you feel,” Chloe reaches forward, laying a comforting hand on Sabina’s knee. “He can’t read your mind.”

“What if he doesn’t want to listen?”

“Trying to force a man like Rafe to listen is probably impossible,” Chloe admits. “But if he really does love you, he will do so.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Sabina lifts her head to meet Chloe’s gaze. “If doesn’t love me?”

“Then maybe it’s time for you to move on, love.”

December 2015

Sabina slams her body into Rafe’s back. She wraps her arms around him, digging her nails into his chest. “No more,” she says, “let it go.” Rafe tries to pry one of her arms off of him, but Sabina tightens her grip. “I said stop!”

“No,” Rafe says. “I’m ending this. I’m taking what’s mine.”

“If you kill him,” Sabina takes a shallow breath. She still feels the wounds throbbing on her arm. Can still feel the blood oozing from the split skin, staining Rafe’s already dirtied shirt. “I will never forgive you.”

It’s subtle, but Rafe tenses at her words.

“If you kill him for this treasure,” Sabina continues, “then I will leave and you will never see me again.”

“Sabina—”

She buries her face into his back. “All of my life, I have never been enough. My father… Sam… they both picked the treasure. They both chose to leave me, no matter how much I begged them not to. And now you’re doing the same thing. But this time you found the treasure. It’s here—it’s in your grasp—and it’s still not enough for you. No, you can’t just have the treasure, can you? You want it all to yourself. All of the credit, the glory.”

“What are you talking about?” Rafe says. “This is ours. We worked for this."

“No,” Sabina shakes her head. “This is your moment, not ours. It stopped being ours years ago. You can’t have it all, Rafe. You can’t have me and the treasure, not like this. I love you, I do, but I can’t do this. I can’t stand by and watch you be consumed by your hatred and jealousy.”

Slowly, he lowers the blade.

“I want you to pick me,” she says. “For once in my life, I want somebody to choose me. Only me. Please, I don’t want to lose you. Don’t make me lose you. Don’t let me lose somebody else I love.”

Rafe releases his grip on the sword, dropping the blade. He reaches for her injured arm and, gently, pulls it away from his chest. A frown on his face, he examines the wound before turning around to look at her.

Sabina blinks up at him, relieved.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I’m so sorry.”

Slightly dizzy, Sabina leans into his body, pressing her forehead into the croak of his neck. “I know,” she says. “I know.” Too weak to stand any longer, she fully collapses into Rafe.

“Hey,” Rafe says, grabbing onto her. “Hey, honey? Honey, you okay?”

“I—”

Her words are interrupted by an explosion.

And within moments, the burning room is flooded with water.

…

The world is warm, comfortable. A light breeze tickles her nose and cheeks. In the distance, a woman laughs and children giggle. Sabina opens her eyes to the view of sunlight beaming at her through an open window. Her eyes shift, just a sliver, over to the left.

Sam is sitting there, slightly hunched over in his chair. His eyes are focused down towards his hands, down at a ring held between his fingers.

The ring he had given her.

“Hey,” Sabina says. It barely comes out as a whisper.

Sam jerks his head up. “Bina?”

She blinks, beginning the process of waking up. And that’s when she realizes that this environment is unfamiliar to her. She’s surrounded by plain, white walls. And the smell of sanitizer fills her nostrils. “Where… where am I? Where’s Rafe?”

When she tries to sit up in the bed, Sam jumps out of his chair and places his hands on her stomach and shoulder. “You’re in the hospital,” he says. “Rafe had to step out, handle some of your paperwork, but he’ll be back soon.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. Don’t worry.”

“Wait,” Sabina says. “Are you okay? Is Nate okay? The—the explosion—oh, my god—”

“Everyone is fine, Bina. Just lay down.”

“But—”

“Lay down,” Sam says.

Sabina nods and relaxes back into the bed.

After taking a few deep breathes to calm her racing heart, she turns to look at Sam. “My ring,” she points at the object that’s still in his hands. “What…”

Sam sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “I didn’t think you would still have it,” he says. He leans forward, placing the ring on the bedside table. “Not after all of these years.”

“It was all I had left of you,” Sabina confesses. “I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it.”

Sam gives her a small smile.

“Besides,” she says, “it looks like you stole my birds."

He squints his eyes, confused. “What?”

The woman lifts her hand off the bed, pointing a finger at the birds tattooed on the left side of Sam’s neck.

“Oh, yeah,” he chuckles. A faint blush sprouts across his cheeks. “Yeah… Got it in prison. I didn’t know if I was ever going to see you again—I just—I thought it would be nice to have.”

“Nice to have, huh?”

“Your husband wasn’t too thrilled when he put the dots together.” Sam leans back in his chair, arms folded across his chest. “You know, matching tats and all. Wouldn’t shut up about how he’s married to you.”

“That sounds like Rafe,” Sabina laughs.

“Still can’t believe you’re an Adler now,” Sam says.

“Hewitt-Adler, actually. I hyphenated. Couldn’t quite let go of the family name, I suppose.”

Sam hums. “A lot changed when I was away.”

“Yeah,” Sabina agrees. “Things are different now.”

“Did you mean what you said at Libertalia?” Sam asks. “About us only being together because of Avery’s treasure?”

“Sam,” she whispers.

“Do you really believe that I would’ve just left you if we never found that treasure? Did you think that I didn’t love you?”

“Our relationship was… Everything happened so fast. It really was a bit of whirl-wind romance, wasn’t it?” Sabina says. “One day, I’m following a strange man into the dirtiest hotel room that I have ever seen. And then, with the blink of an eye, I’m having secret rendezvous with him whenever we can find an excuse to ditch his brother. Between chasing clues and traveling the world, where was the time for me to realize your feelings? How could I have known that you loved me? When you never told me those words? When it was clear that your priority would always be the treasure? I couldn’t compete with that, Sam.”

“Bina—”

“The answer,” she interrupts, “it was going to be yes. Yes, I would run away with you.”

Sam reaches out to hold Sabina’s hand. “I’ve never stopped thinking about you, Bina.”

“Answer me honestly, Sam,” she says. “Back on Avery’s ship, if you had been in Rafe’s place, would you have picked me?”

“Of course,” he responds, without hesitation. “Of course I would choose you.”

Sabina smiles at him, but her eyes are sad.

Longing to know what life would have looked like, had she been able to spend the past fifteen years with Sam.

“You have to let go,” she says. “The girl you love, it’s not the same person that I am now. You care about Sabina from fifteen years ago. The Sabina that… loved a life of adventure, with you. I think, if you had asked, she would have done anything for you. But the person you’re looking at now, she’s already let you go. I don’t know if I could love you again, not the way I used to, not the way you want me to.”

Sam sighs, “I know.”

“Hey,” she squeezes his hand. “We found the treasure, though. At least we accomplished something, even if it took a decade and a half.” Sabina turns her head to look at the beside table, focusing her gaze on the medallion. “I solved it, you know.”

“Really?” Sam raises an eyebrow and picks up the necklace. “When?”

“A few years ago.”

“What did it tell you?”

“Why don’t you keep it,” Sabina says. “Keep it and figure it out for yourself.”

“Are you sure? You parents—”

“Probably never even found it, if we’re being honest. I bet they stole it from someone. We’re all thieves, aren’t we?” She chuckles. “I’ve carried it around for so long, clutching onto terrible memories. I need to move on with my life. I don’t care what you end up doing with it, but please, just take it. I don’t want it, not anymore.”

Sam nods and slips the object into his pocket. “You gonna give me a hint on how to solve it?”

“You’re going to want a lot of red wine."

The door to the room slides open, startling them.

“Get away from her,” a voice growls.

Sam jumps away from Sabina, hands held up in the air. “Okay, okay,” he says. “Jesus, we were just having a conversation.”

“Rafe,” Sabina smiles and attempts to sit up.

“Hey there, honey,” he walks up to the side of her bed and reaches for her hand. Rafe turns his head to look at Sam. “You can go now.”

“Are you kidding me? She just woke up.”

“Yeah,” Rafe says, “and now that she’s awake, we don’t need you here.”

“Oh, come on—”

“Get out,” Rafe snaps.

“Alright,” Sam responds. “I’ll just… go outside for a smoke.”

When Sam exits the room, Rafe directs his attention back to Sabina. “You feeling okay? Does anything hurt?”

“You picked me,” she says, ignoring his questions. “I wasn’t sure if you would.”

“I told you that I wanted to be with you, didn’t I?” Rafe says. “That hasn’t changed. I realize now that I’ve neglected you, but I never meant to make you feel like you weren’t enough for me.”

“You’re not entirely to blame. I should’ve just told you how I felt.” Her breath hitches, and she whispers, “Maybe all of this could have been avoided.”

Rafe shakes his head. “I’m not sure if I would have listened to you at any other moment.”

“But in the end, you listened. And right now, that’s all that matters,” Sabina smiles.

Her husband sits down on the edge of the hospital bed. “Where do we go from here?” Rafe asks, pushing strands of hair away from Sabina’s face.

She hums, enjoying his touch. “Do you remember our wedding day? How we hid in the dressing room’s bathroom during the reception?”

“Yeah,” he chuckles. “You said you were so tired of talking to an endless parade of strangers.”

“They were all so boring,” she says. “And all they did was congratulate us, before trying to impress you with some bullshit story about their life. I remember being so desperate to get out of that dress.”

“God, I remember all the damn buttons on the back.”

“It took you forever to undo them! I thought I was going to be stuck in that thing for the rest of my life,” Sabina laughs. “It was a very pretty dress, though. A mermaid style. Lots of lace. Oh! And the detachable train. I think I liked it more than the dress I wore for the actual ceremony.”

“I was too busy looking at you,” Rafe admits. “I can’t really remember what the dresses look like anymore.”

“Oh, my god. And your mother!” Sabina exclaims, remembering the night. “Do you remember how we were in the bathroom for so long that she ran around trying to track us down?”

Rafe laughs, “And she almost walked in, right as I got the dress off.”

“I had to throw my body against the door to keep it shut. Told her that I just needed a few minutes to myself. And then she asked if I had seen you—”

“—And you told her that I was probably out in the gardens.”

“We escaped through a window, didn’t we?”

“Did we?”

“I think so,” she says. “When your mother left, we walked out of the bathroom. I told you that I wanted to leave, start the honeymoon a little early, so you pulled a robe off of one of the chairs.”

“And then we climbed through the window,” Rafe says, nodding his head. “And we sprinted to the car.”

“I don’t think your mother ever really forgave me for that.”

“I think she was more upset with me, to be honest.”

“We need to work on our marriage,” Sabina says. “No more lying. No more secrets. We need to be open, to communicate, like we used it. We used to have so much fun, didn’t we, babe? I think we can be those people again.”

“I think so, too,” he agrees.

“But first,” Sabina grabs the front of his shirt, pulling him towards her. Brushing her lips against his, she says, “Let’s go back to Copenhagen. Relive those honeymoon memories.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Rafe whispers.

a/n: thank you so much for reading this! if you enjoyed this work, please consider reblogging this story. i am a very small fanfic author and every reblog really does help in giving me exposure to potential new readers. however, i do also appreciate any likes or comments you’re willing to give.

again, this is not the end of the road for sabina, rafe, or sam! i have one-shots planned in the future, but currently there is no timeframe for when any of them will be posted. you may want to consider bookmarking the masterlist (linked near the beginning of this post), so you can check back in the future.

Twitter: VostaraFics

Ao3: Vostara

[mariinara]

FOR GOD, LIBERTY, AND LOVE. (Sam Drake x Reader) ANGST |PART 1|

A/N: Well, this one-shot is late. BUT HERE IT IS, FINALLY. I hated writing this :,) I feel awful.

Request for: @samdrakeftw (ENJOY!)

Tags: @missdictatorme , @the-drakeboys , @the-winchesterboys , @hrgnm , @purplezebra68

Prompts: "Don't die on me." + "Don't make this harder than it is."

Warnings: Angst, death.

Word count: 2,416

(Part 2 here!)

"There she is!"

You quickly whipped your head towards the source of the voice and the sounds of multiple, heavy footsteps, startled, "Oh, shit.."

You glanced down at the Shoreline soldier, whom you stabbed to death and, quickly, you ripped a part of his t-shirt away, took his Para .45 gun, and sprung back on your feet, starting to bolt towards a plausible refuge. 

'This was a bad idea..'

You thought to yourself just when bullets of different calibers started to rain behind you, causing you to flinch and duck away as you ran, losing balance a little and stumbling onto your feet but, luckily, your strong desire to survive carried you and you continued your sprint through the ship graveyard. Your feet were sore and the gushing bullet wound through your hand was not helping you. 

As much as you attempted to maintain a tough facade, you felt terrified. There you were, running away from an entire army of soldiers, who seeked you to avenge their fallen comrades. 

It was because of you that so many Shoreline soldiers were taken down, and you reckoned that Nate and Elena took down their own, generous share of them, which was why Rafe was pissed and sending more guns behind you.

But you were on your own.

You'd parted ways with them to cover more ground to find Sam and, after a long argument with Nathan, you were able to bolt away, with only a switch-blade, a revolver, and your will to both save Sam and punch him into oblivion.

And there you were, teasing death with your absolute perseverance, your feet padding strongly on the ground as you rippled through shipwrecks. You were thinking about nothing else but your own survival. 

'You're gonna be okay..'

You assured yourself, heavy breaths escaping your parted, cut lips as you vaulted over a stack of piled wood, barely avoiding the bullets that ostensibly came at you from every direction. 

Your eyes scanned the environment and, when you saw a coming turn, you decided to take it, slipping a bit when you made the sudden shift. But in no time, you were on your feet again.

"Here!" 

You quickly whipped out your gun just when the sniper aimed right at you and took your shot, clean through his forehead. For a second he looked stunned and he fell over, and when you wanted to take a large step forward to take the sniper gun, more men appeared in front of you, stopping you in your tracks.

Your eyes flickered in both directions, back and forth, and it seemed like you were trapped for a good couple of seconds. There was no way through the ship next to you, but there was a small opening that you could squeeze through.

Without wasting another second, you inhaled deeply and squeezed yourself through, breathing heavily and wincing when your wounded hand made contact with the splintered wood and gunshots fired incessantly, putting holes in the ship, but you ran through it, ducking your head away. 

'Just breathe.'

You reminded yourself. God, why were you doing that in the first place? Why did you think, for a second, that this was a good idea? You were mad at Samuel for lying and putting your lives at risk, yet there you were, throwing yourself in the face of danger for the same man who'd broken your heart.

But you couldn't bear to lose him again. 

Not after you'd just gotten him back.

And that was your only drive. The incentive that was so strong that it controlled your body for you. You'd stabbed and dodged and parkoured your way through Avery's bullshit, and sometimes, you'd be so stunned at your own actions that you'd ask yourself: "How the hell did I do that?" 

You had no clue that you were capable of inciting such chaos– to elicit such rage, frustration, and desperation from Nadine and Rafe to the extent that they'd be so threatened so as to send a whole battalion after you.

And as much as that brought you satisfaction, you'd wished that it was all over. You just wanted any sign that Sam was safe and sound, and once you heard guns blazing from a distance and saw that he was there, alive and well and making a beeline from Shoreline, you were instantly back on your feet to retrieve him.

But, oh, how could that ever go according to plan with military men being at every corner?

A loud groan came from you when you jumped on a lower cliff, right below the shipwreck you were running through. 

Ahead of you, a battle cry could be heard just as a soldier rounded a corner to surprise you and swing the back of his shotgun to knock you out but you quickly dodged him and ducked, pulling out your switchblade and plunging it into his jugular. 

He stopped struggling and fell to the floor, allowing you to take over his weapon. After strapping it to your back, you continued your sprint and, you couldn't deny it, you were pretty sick of yourself.

You'd left this career for a reason.

Inflicting harm upon others had become more of a nightmare to you. For days, you wouldn't sleep properly when you'd remember how you so effortlessly slashed someone's neck or riddled their body with bullets.

You loved treasure hunting but everything came with a price and this was one you were no longer willing to pay.

With a loud grunt, you slammed your entire weight against yet another wrecked ship, getting your body through the moldy wood easily. You caught yourself when you nearly fell over and your eyes skimmed your surroundings. 

'There. I can take cover there.'

You quickly jumped behind a pile of excavation boxes and sat down, your back propped against them. You tried to stop shaking and quickly pulled out the cloth you'd ripped from the soldier earlier, tying your hand with the flimsy fabric.

You let out a soft whimper as you applied pressure to your wound, clenching your fist when the cloth was secured around your palm, "Ah, fuck.." You whispered to yourself, resting your head back and trying to catch your breath, swallowing to dampen your dry throat.

"Careful. Lots of hiding places out here."

They were coming closer. And if you didn't get yourself together in the matter of less than a minute, you were going to be a goner. 

'God– What was I thinking!?'

You mentally scolded yourself whilst reaching for your thigh holster for your gun, which you pulled out and checked for ammo. 

'One bullet. Perfect. Might as well put it in my own head.' 

You quickly pushed the magazine back into the handgun and unwrapped your shotgun, adjusted the safety, and clung to the weapon with tight, shaking hands and closed eyes.

"You check over there. I'll stay here to lookout. She can't have gone too far."

"Roger that."

Your eyes snapped open again as the men separated to cover more ground and your guard was up again. You sat in a crouching position so you'd be able to bolt away if you wanted to easily.

You held your breath as you heard footsteps approaching the boxes you were behind. Slow, careful ones, as if the soldier just knew you were there. As if he knew that just the slightest, wrong move from him could trigger a reaction from you that he might not like.

Suddenly, and out of nowhere, gunshots could be heard, and the men's attentions were diverted elsewhere, but you flinched at the flying bullets, ducking your head behind the boxes and holding your head in your hands, not daring to peek lest you lose your head.

You'd had enough. Your lungs were filled with the suffocating humidity and you were trying so hard to keep it together but you were sure you were about to lose your mind. You've been fighting your way through Libertalia on your own for a long while and all the assaults, the attacks, the bullets, the punches, they all left both physical and mental scars in you.

There. Was. A. Reason. You. Quit.

But, for Sam, you were prepared to go through just about anything and you'd often wondered if he'd do the same. If he even felt the same. 

You were such a coward. 

You could handle yourself, hold a gun, shoot people and impale them with ease, but you could never bring yourself to look him in the eyes and tell him what you've wanted to all those years back. 

That you loved him. That you always have and probably always will. He died and left you to wallow in your misery for fifteen years and now that he was back, it was your chance for a redo. 

But, once again, you couldn't do it and you just didn't know what it was about him. His intense, yet warm gaze was probably it. It made you shake with fear. The fear of not being adequate enough for him. You've seen what type of women he hooked up with and you were nothing like them. A voice would tell you that it was probably a good thing. That Sam was actually waiting for someone like you to impact his life. To cause that dramatic shift within him. To make him wonder what life would taste like with you, tucked in his arms.

But another voice told you "Don't. He's not looking for anything." 

And you'd changed your mind. You'd shaken your head with a thin smile and a soft 'nothing..' before turning away from him, leaving him confused yet intrigued. And that was the last time you had any interaction. After that, his lie was exposed, and you didn't know why, but as much as your heart broke because of it, you couldn't find it in you to be mad at him. 

Sure, punching the daylights out of him was a priority, but at that moment, you just wanted to find him and never let him go. 

Startled, you let out a loud scream after being taken into a pair of strong arms. You struggled, feeling the person turn you, saying things that you couldn't quite hear over your low growls of resistance.

"Let me go!" You yelled, trying to push them away. You couldn't see anything except the blur of your own tears. You didn't even know why you were crying.

"Hey!" The person's sharp voice came and something in your brain clicked. That voice. It was so familiar and it slowly brought you out or your trance. You were breathing heavily, your stamina suddenly feeling low, "It's me.. It's just me.." He comforted, cupping your cheeks in his hands and tilting your head up, wanting to look at you.

You stared at him for a couple of seconds, studying his deeply concerned expression. You were overjoyed. He was right there, holding you. And it'd dawned on you that the bullet sounds ceased completely. That you could only hear the heavy winds and you and Sam's erratic breathing.

When he realized that you were back to him, he let out a sigh of relief and smiled, making something burst inside of you and you felt the tears rushing to your eyes. The contortions your face suddenly made hurt every deep cut in your skin and you couldn't help but wince before letting out a sob.

Sam knew that reaction was coming and he knew you. He knew that you were relieved to have him right there in front of him. He knew that you came after him alone and as much as that worried him sick, he was sort of glad he had you there. And yet he had no idea what he'd done to deserve that. 

Gratefulness suddenly overcame him and he took you into an embrace as you cried and all you could do was surrender and close your eyes as your face pressed into his chest. One of his hands was holding the back of your head, his fingers deep into your hair. His other arm was around you, and he let out a soft sigh of comfort, just basking in your presence.

"It's just me.." He repeated, his voice barely above a tired whisper, "It's okay.."

Slowly, you started to calm down. Your sobs were no more and you only started to sniff and hiccup lightly and Sam pulled away, only to look at you. Your beautiful face. The face that he so dearly loved. You had the ability to make him feel warm and it was almost embarrassing how many times he'd catch himself staring into your observant, curious, lively eyes. 

And your smile.

Oh, what he wouldn't give to see you give him a smile and one of your coy laughs. You were such a blessing.

But, much like you, he was a coward. He couldn't bring himself to look you in the eyes and tell you how you made him feel. He wanted to tell you that he's imagined you jumping into his arms and kissing him on more than one occasion but he just couldn't and he too had no clue as to why he felt so timid around you– it was extremely out of character for him.

"You okay?" He asked you gently while wiping away your tears with his thumbs, staring into your lost eyes.

You nodded with a small hum, feeling yourself unable to form the words just yet, like you were brain-dead. If you'd even opened your mouth, nothing articulate would come out.

"We gotta go, alright?" He spoke gently, tucking stray strands of your hair behind your ears, his hazel eyes warm, assuring safety. Quickly, you nodded. After that, his hands left your cheeks so he could reload his gun, "Stay close." He instructed, jogging ahead already. 

You stared at him as he did, your shoulders sagged in defeat and your eyes still welled up with tears. You wondered just how much you truly loved him. You let out a shaky breath when you realized that it hurt when he wasn't cupping your cheeks anymore or playfully quipping. 

You remembered how hard it was to live for such a long time without him. 

And you knew that, as long as he was next to you, there was nothing you couldn't do. That thought alone pushed you to jog and catch up to him, feeling your stamina get back to you.

_____________

[coppermarigolds]

DYW Letter

Hi, Yuletide writer! Thank you in advance for whatever you write this year! Here are a few notes on my fic preferences:

What I like: Genre-wise, pretty much anything goes–angst, romance, fluff, humor, etc. I love fics that dig into characters’ heads: what they’re thinking and feeling, what drives them, how they interact and react to the world and the people around them, and so on. The same is true of relationships–what makes this pairing tick? Why are they together? And so on. I also love love love awesome female characters being awesome. That doesn’t have to mean being physically kickass, either. It could be anything from a witty line of banter to a thoughtful conversation to a creative problem-solving method, just to scratch the surface. I particularly enjoy female characters being assertive and taking charge in relationships. I love femdom.

DNWs: Rape/non-con is my biggest DNW. I would prefer for character death to be avoided if possible (unless the story deals with the ramifications of a canonical character death, of course). While I’m fine with an angsty story, I tend to stay away from extremely dark, punch-to-the-gut angst. I like my endings happy, or at least bittersweet and/or hopeful.

Fandom-specific notes:

Horizon Zero Dawn, Aloy

Aloy is such a breath of fresh air and I love her so much. She’s wonderfully snarky and take-charge and doesn’t let anyone talk down to her, but also struggles with the pain of abandonment and ostracism. She’s one of those characters that I relate to in some ways, and aspire to be more like her in other ways.

As for other characters, I didn’t request any so as to leave it more open for potential writers. If you want to include supporting characters, feel free. Romance-wise, I really only ship Aloy with Erend, so while I’d love a story about the two of them, I’d prefer for her not to be paired with anyone else. But I’m perfectly fine with friendship fics involving other characters. Aside from Erend, who I adore, I’m particularly fond of Ikrie from the Frozen Wilds expansion.

A couple specific ideas (though please don’t feel limited to these):

• One thing I wished the game would have explored more is Aloy’s reaction to finding out she’s a clone. After spending her whole life in search of her mother, discovering she technically didn’t have one must have been a blow. But aside from a moment or two of shock and angst, the game doesn’t really give her much time or space to process the revelation. So, once HADES is defeated and the dust has settled, how does Aloy deal with the truth of her past? How does she feel about Elisabet?

• One of my favorite things in the game is finding the bits and pieces of files left behind by the “Old Ones”–i.e., us! I’d love to see a story with Aloy reacting to some of the ancient ruins and information she finds. Does she find them strange and confusing, or intriguing? Or do they help her feel closer to Elisabet?

The Letter, Isabella Santos and Ashton Frey

This visual novel is kind of like comfort food for me. It features my favorite horror trope: a group of friends with their own complicated dynamics and inter-relationships find themselves targeted by something sinister and supernatural and have to work together to survive. This is one of those fandoms where I love all the characters in one way or another and would be fine with any of them appearing in the story.

For Isabella and Ashton specifically, I’d enjoy an exploration of their relationship post-game, beyond the epilogue screens, whether romantic or just friends. I love how soft Ashton is for Bella, but it would also be nice to see him own up to how he was kind of a jerk initially when she sounded the alarm about the ghost--and turned out to be very right.

Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order, Second Sister | Trilla Suduri

I played this game and was over the moon to find a compelling female Star Wars villain who actually got more than like three seconds of screen time (looking at you, Phasma). Buuut then they went and killed her off anyway. I unabashedly love Star Wars in all its forms, but I do grow weary of its fixation on the idea that redemption = death. So I’d love a fix-it AU story that has Trilla survive somehow, and explores the aftermath of that, whether she forges her own solitary path or joins up with the Mantis crew. Though I didn’t request any of the other nominated characters, I love them all, so feel free to include any or all of them as you see fit. An exploration of Trilla and Cere’s relationship post-game could be especially fascinating--there’s obviously tons of history there, and plenty to potentially rebuild.

Romance-wise, I don’t really actively ship her with anyone, but I definitely wouldn’t say no to her domming the living daylights out of Cal (and him loving it). Just sayin.’

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Nadine Ross and Sam Drake

Okay, I’ll just be upfront: I ship these two like FedEx. I know that’s not the popular pairing in this fandom and that most people ship Nadine and Chloe instead, which I get. But I’m a weak hetero and Sam and Nadine’s delicious friction just does it for me. Enemies to grudging partners to eventual, possible lovers is basically my catnip. So if you’re up for writing literally anything in which they have a relationship, whether established or in-process, I would be overjoyed. Femdom is also an enormous plus here!

If that’s not your bag, I’m still cool with a friends/grudging partners story as well! Feel free to include Chloe if you like--I would play countless games featuring these three delightful screw-ups getting into mischief and hunting for artifacts together. Just please no love triangles or any drama of that kind.

Thanks again, and happy Yuletide!

[tewwor]

* & test muse call ( accepting ) — @nadinehunt

For all the infectious excitement in the air, there comes a certain calm. One that primarily bubbles within a five foot vicinity around him. Ravi might be an outright menace when it comes to interview antics and spontaneous 'air guitar riffs', but he’s almost always chill about it. Be cool, calm, and collected to ask a stranger absolutely bonkers theories. That's the ticket to have things tilt in his favor. Hence the hefty backlog of fresh takes for dozens of episodes to come — all collected within half a day.

Ever keen for another scoop, he's already onto his next target. A janky, old timey looking recorder is confidently held just beneath the other's chin. All while he stares directly at the new interviewee with an unshakeable look of concentration. But again, the feeling of being calm floats about him.

"Hi, hey— sec of your time, yeah? Everyone talks about who's the hottest cryptids of all time, but I think it's time we focus on other pressing matters. What's the biggest red flag of your fav cryptid? Wrong answers can be included."

[dellebecque]

Looking for RP--Aden Dellebecque

In-game: Aden Dellebecque Alias: Aden Aubeaux Race: Miqo’te Seeker of the Sun (X tribe/C tribe) Profession: dragoon, scout/surveyor, hunter

History

Of the Sky

They came many generations ago, sisters and cousins, and the Tias and Keeper men they had met along the way, or if not the men then heavy with the children the wandering men had left them with.  Desperate to break out of their tribal life, full of youthful rage against their lot in life as mothers and hunters and little else, they struck out to find a new way. And find it they did--nothing could be more different than Ishgard.  They set about learning a new way, building a new life, one with dreams of comfort and riches rather than long hunts and far horizons, and even taking on new names: the Aubeaux family, one branch called themselves. In their children’s children no tribal outcast lingered: patriots born, through and through, and obsessed with the social climb as many of low status in Ishgard must become.  And one cage was fully traded for another.

Yet you may take the miqo’te out of the tribe, but you cannot beat the tribe out of him.  Daughters were raised in grace and manners, to catch eyes with their tamed exoticism and curry favor with silver tongues.  Sons had too much wandering blood, too much of the drive to fight for supremacy--which made them perfect candidates to go to war, to seek glory or knighthood in deed.  Sons die young in the Aubeaux family, ground up in the bloody crucible of endless war, and daughters inherit the legacy.

And Aden’s father might have too, if not for a wandering woman of the C tribe, a thief and ne’er-do-well who had been a mercenary for many years before finding employ on some secret errand in Ishgard.  What became of her remains a mystery, but her lover raised their son alone for a few years until he sent him away and disappeared himself.

Serenity

When someone delivered a young child to Nadine Dellebecque and Arild Brewster's farm in the Black Shroud, they knew the worst had befallen a dear friend from their mercenary days. Aden, a letter said his name was, and they took him in and raised him as their own.

Aden had a good life with his adoptive mothers, growing up safe and loved. But he paid too much mind to tales of their time as adventurers, and to Arild's beloved travelogues. He took a little too keenly to Nadine's self defense lessons. He remembered the gleam of his father's lance, even if he insisted he didn’t--he’d seen their disapproving looks when they caught him jumping from the hayloft with a pitchfork, and abandonment had made a naturally quiet, thoughtful child reticent.

But Aden hadn’t forgotten.  He grew up obsessed, asking at every opportunity when his mothers might let him join the lancers guild--because this was all that was left to him.  In pursuing the spear he could be with the father who had sent him away, in spirit if nothing else. Finally he proved a danger to himself if they denied him any longer, and Aden went to Gridania to pursue his heart’s desire.

From the Sky

In his time with the lancers guild Aden caught the eye of a semi-retired dragoon, Flynt Knoltross, who saw in him a shadow of his younger self and perhaps a chance to make things right.  He saw too a familiar face, finally putting truth to the secret Aden had carried for years--his father had been a dragoon, though he had disappeared before Flynt knew him well. Aden pursued his training at a punishing pace, obsession merely growing when the lance offered him a sense of purpose and belonging, a more tangible connection to the place of his birth.  Despite the prejudices of his countrymen Aden meant to prove his worth in the spear, never realizing he was repeating the cruel cycle his father had sent him away to break.

Prove himself he did during the end of the war--but politics forestalled his advancement proper to the ranks of the Knights Dragoon the day of.  He has instead been classified as a reservist, and done everything from scouting and surveying in dangerous territory, to diplomacy and leading reconnaissance teams during the Alliance offensive in Gyr Abania. 

Hooks

Must Love Chocobos

Aden grew up on a chocobo farm, and as such he’s an experienced rider and an expert in caring for them.  He loves chocobos, especially his rather possessive and ornery destrier, Keva. He occasionally returns to the farm to help his mothers as they’re getting on in years, and can be found there at times.  Whenever Keva is stabled somewhere that the grooms don’t already know him, Aden takes care of Keva himself, and it’s another situation that might be easy to encounter him in.

Knives and Lanterns

Aden is a member of the Wandering Tonberry hunt lodge, and when he’s not busy with his duties to Ishgard he’s often taking care of hunts for them or doing other work that needs doing.  He can be found in and around the lodge, or out in the field on hunts.  They’re his found family, and he’s very loyal.

Bookworm

Aden is well-read and consumes books at a rapid pace around the rest of his activities.  The only time he slows down is when he’s in a bookshop or a library, and he’ll easily lose track of time.

The Wanderer

Aden has wanderlust deep in his soul thanks to Arild’s travelogues, especially after an eye-opening moment on the Azim Steppe.  If there’s somewhere strange or wild to explore, he’ll be there.

For the Sky

Aden spends most of his time in service to Ishgard, and those who interact with military elements--particularly with dragoons, military intelligence, or certain sorts of politicians--might have a reason to know him.  Being a miqo’te makes him an excellent scout in locations where someone being visibly Ishgardian might be a problem, but it also leaves him open to the prejudices of his countrymen and makes deploying him on any mission of high visibility a political act.  Those who have benefited from his service have set events in motion that will soon lead to his promotion into the position and title he should have had for years now, and potentially something truly far-flung and dangerous For the Sky….

But for now he remains a dragoon in everything but name, and on familiar shores.

OOC

Playtime: Weekday evenings and weekend days, schedule RP ahead of time (I don’t do walkup unless I’m at an event).  Eastern US time.

FC: Wandering Tonberry Trading Co.

Server: Balmung

Looking for: Friends, adventuring partners, fellow Ishgardians, chocobo fanciers, nerds, travelers, rivals, and enemies.

Tips: Aden is quiet, reserved, and usually very polite.  He’s awkward, anxious, and has trouble speaking to strangers (unless he’s working--but how he got that way is a story all its own).  Persistence pays off, though what lies beneath is not entirely like what you see on the surface--Aden is driven, passionate, and full of a long-held, slow-burning anger.  He’s philosophical and intellectual but a violent adrenaline junkie at the same time. He’s spent a lot of time living inside his own head, observing the outside world and thinking, and a lot of time with his head shoved in a book or alone in the wilderness.  He has abandonment issues and struggles with depression and social anxiety. Rather than a fanatic or obedient loyalist, Aden is a warrior-philosopher.  He’ll follow orders, sometimes without question, but he’ll seriously challenge his superiors when it’s appropriate to do so.  He has a reputation for thinking too much, but still getting the job done. Slice of life isn’t really my thing unless the character is already established as a friend or ally of Aden’s, in which case, sure! I am deeply uninterested in quick romance or uncomplicated relationships.  If reading over all of this calls to you in that regard rather than as a friend, contact, or rival, we can talk, but be warned that I have an extremely low tolerance level for bullshit, and Aden is a complicated person who is not here to play house, and will not tolerate someone who cannot keep up with him in the field--whether that be by force of arms or force of aether is irrelevant.  He’s grey-ace and homosexual/homoromantic.  However, people who are down to get punched in the face for making an advance are always welcome--it could be the start of a beautiful friendship! I’m also very busy IRL, hence being forced to schedule RP in advance.  I have a full time job that sometimes requires overtime, a loving partner I’ve been with for 15 years, a house to take care of, two D&D games, part-time work on a friend’s farm, a HUGE extended family, and am an avid outdoorsman.  There’s a lot to squeeze in there! If we start RPing, please be patient with me. I will do out of game RP on a rare case by case basis.  It used to be my bread and butter, but I’ve discovered as I get busier I’m too unreliable and forcing more realistic expectations on myself as a result.

Contact: Aden Dellebecque or Merrick Lockwood in game; Stormcalled#5187 on discord; or my ask box!

[nadineselfships-archived]

The Scorpion & The Frog

A/n: so I went overboard with whatever this is because I’m obsessed with @space-sweetheart​ and Michael now ajdjfjf I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO CALL THIS BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE IT ALEXYS HHHH-

• When Michael’s men brought you to him he was perplexed, they’d found you wandering the Mountains but he knew he’d never seen you in Hope Country before

• He didn’t see you as any threat, you were small and didn’t really look like you could use a gun

• So he did what he normally does when things occur and asked Remiel what to do about you

• She told him that he should keep an eye on you, seeing as you managed to get here without anyone noticing they were both intrigued

• And so Michael agrees, if not a bit annoyed to become a babysitter for an outsider

• But Michael takes keeping an eye on you to the next level so the next thing you know you’re by his side 24/7

• He takes you from his bunker to his ranch and begrudgingly shows you the guest room you’d be staying in

• He doesn’t bother locking any doors because if you do run off he knows he’ll be able to find you

• His hearing may be bad and his limp makes hunting stealthily a tad more difficult but he’s nothing if not persistent

• Also you seem pretty content being with him for the most part, if not intimidated and wary of him, as is only normal

• The first few weeks having you with him is strange for him, he’s used to doing everything alone but now suddenly he has this soft little lady at his back that he needs to watch out for

• You are a lot more help then his men he notices, you point out things you hear that he can’t so well and pick things up off the floor so he won’t trip over it

• He’d be lying if he said he didn’t appreciate it

• You don’t get in his way and you don’t prattle his ear off like most people and he appreciates that too

• He falls in front of you once, you’re in the Mountains going to check on a trap he laid down when his knee gives out

• He hits the ground hard but luckily the ground you’re on is mostly flat so he doesn’t roll anywhere, it was a bitch when that happened

• His pride is hurt more than he is, he can feel the embarrassment of looking weak in front of his supposed captive wash over him like a hot fire

• You step closer but he sees you hesitate, he knows no one willingly tries to get close to them if they can help it

• He contemplates his options before deciding the least humiliating one would be for you to help him up

• So sucking up the last bit of pride he has he turns to look up at you, his usually cold green eyes tinted with pain and embarrassment, and reaches his hand out to you

• “You gonna stand there staring at me all day or are you gonna help me up?”

• He doesn’t talk about it after that and you don’t talk about how he leant on you for support the rest of the walk

• It’s probably after that when he begins to pay more attention to you

• Noticing just how long your hair is and how the sunlight hits it and makes it look so soft

• How your eyes light up with your smile, a smile that was doing a good job of knocking the air out of Michael’s lungs whenever he saw it

• His eyes trace your figure a little more often than he’s proud to admit

• You’re so kind, Michael notices, so soft and sweet to the people you interact with

• Even to him, which baffles him at the best of times

• He’s so convinced that he’s a monster, a broken soldier that couldn’t even protect his family

• He knows he’s cruel, he knows he’s dangerous

• But when you gently take his hand for the first time to steady him when you notice him wobble unsteadily, he feels soft

• His heart aches in a beautiful way and his skin ignites where you touched him, he betrays himself by indulging in the feeling greedily

• You get more comfortable with each other and Michael let’s you wander off on your own

• You’ve walked around the mountains with him enough that he’s confident you won’t get lost as easily

• You’re stake on his ranch has grown from the guest room and a bathroom to most of the living space available

• It was a rough change, getting used to having someone in the ranch with him

• He’d snapped at you a few times in the beginning, his hearing made it easy to accidentally sneak up on him even if you weren’t meaning too

• He’d always regret snapping afterwards, seeing the flash of fear in your eyes made his stomach churn and he quickly learnt how to tell when you were coming so as to avoid being surprised by you

• Michael is happy to have you more comfortable in his ranch in the later days, waking up to you in the kitchen is a heavenly sight and he lingers in the doorway to admire you longer than he’d admit

• He also catches himself admiring your sleeping face longer than he’d admit if you fall asleep on the couch

• He realises he may be in love with you when he spots you near the Henbane River talking to a cult member

• They’re being friendly, everyone already aware you’re under Michaels care at that point

• It should be fine, Michael shouldn’t feel a burning rage in his veins as he watches you smile that beautiful smile at them

• Or want to snap their neck as they make you laugh that angelic laugh that makes Michael’s heart race when he hears it

• Michael tries to brush it off, he’s not a good enough man to deserve having you as his after all

• But this doesn’t stop him from glaring holes into the souls of whoever so much as looks at you

• It starts to grate on him really bad so he takes his favourite leather jacket and wraps it around your shoulders one day

• Your confused gaze is infuriatingly adorable and Michael has to clear his throat before he can speak

• “It’s getting cold, you’ll need it.”

• He’s a man of few words, especially when your looking at him wrapped up in his much too big jacket

• He’s almost giddy as people back off quite a bit when you start wearing it around

• He’s started calling you nicknames, little frog, little dove and peu d'amour are the three he uses most (did I mention he’s fluent in french and german)

• You asked him what the last one means the first time he used it but he only gazed at you softly before petting your head and walking away (it means little love, because you’re his little love uvu)

• At this point Michael has gone through all seven stages of denial and acceptance and realises he can’t keep staring at you longingly from a distance

• He doesn’t have many people to go to advice nor will he actively ask for it but James, Nadine and Remiel aren’t blind and are very happy to give their opinions on what he should do

• He goes with James idea which is a nice dinner

• He sends you out to get something from James (that he doesn’t need but needed to get you out of the ranch) and cooks up a really nice dinner

• He also decorates the table and borrows some candles from Nadine

• He even puts flowers in a vase, he’s embarrassed as all hell but when you walk in and your eyes light up he knows it was absolutely worth it

• He put on a nice button up brushed his hair, he pulls out your chair, is smiling the entire time and allows himself to give you all the compliments he’d been keeping to himself

• He’s definitely gonna kiss you, it’s been months at this point and you look so pretty in the candle light how could he not?

• You’re in the kitchen and he turns you around, He cups your face in his hands and looks you in the eye, waiting for any resistance or refusal

• When he doesn’t get it he leans in and kisses you with the passion that’s been building over time, he holds you steady and kisses you until your lips are swollen and you’re gasping for air

• It’s the first of many rough and passionate kisses, which mainly happen in the privacy of his ranch or bunker

• He’s on cloud nine, he finally gets to call you his and bare his teeth at anyone who he deems a threat

• You melt into his touch and he loses himself in yours

• He’s more confident in touching you in general, pulling you by the hem of your shirt or belt loops so he can kiss you

• Leading you by placing his hand on the small of your back

• Picking you up and carrying you whenever he feels like it

• And when he starts to feel the pricks of jealousy again he starts leaving marks along your neck and collar bone

• You get flustered when people see them but he grins smugly, proudly letting people know who you belong too

• Everyone can see Michael’s softened up because of you, he’s still a lethal threat to his enemies but he smiles more openly, genuinely

• The first time you sleep in his bed and he wakes up to your content face he nearly cries

• Michael’s cried very few times in his life but as he stroked your cheek and watched you breathe so softly beside him he teared up for sure

• He couldn’t fathom an angel like you loving a cruel beast like him and yet here you were, curled up to his side

• He made a silent vow that morning, nothing would ever harm you, no one would get the chance to touch a hair on your head, he would protect you until his last breath

• The first time you say you love him is another moment he nearly breaks down, you’re sitting on top of a mountain watching the sunset

• Your sitting in his lap with your arms wrapped around his neck and you kiss his cheek before mumbling the words into his neck

• He’s frozen from shock, he doesn’t say anything for a moment, just tightens his grip on you and rests his chin on the top of your head

• He’s never heard those words from anyone but his siblings, something about the way they sound from your lips lift a weight off of his shoulders

• He presses a soft kiss to your forehead and lifts your head so he can look you in the eye

• “I love you too.”

• He’s never meant those words more in his life and he hopes every time he says them you feel it in your heart that he means them

[leftnipsdoodles]

in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy when the trio is witnessing the ‘arms deal’ between Shoreline and Asav, Nadine tells the others that Orca is there and Sam immediately recognizes the name, meaning at some point during Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, either while Sam was working with Rafe for the 2 years before the events of the game or during the hunt for Avery’s treasure when he’s captured and forced to lead Rafe and co, someone would have had to address Orca by (code) name, which means there was active interaction between the characters which MEANS Orca and Knot were fucking

[chloe-gayzer]

all of them for mitali (and adora, if you're feeling ambitious owo)

okay this was a lot but i am NOT weak and answered them all for BOTH

Mitali:

1. Age, Birthday, Star Sign

She’s almost 33, born April 20th, 2005. She’s a Taurus.

2. Gender Identity

Cis woman!

3. Orientation and Relationship status (single, taken (by who?), crush (on who?))

Lesbian, eventually taken by another OC, Savannah Wright

4. Race and Ethnicity

Mixed; Scottish and Indian.

5. Height and Body type

5’7, fit af

6. Headcanon VA

Haven’t terribly considered anyone but…… Claudia Black, with like, a scottish accent, would be Good

7. Occupation

Captain of Security

8. Weapon of Choice(?)

Bow and shotgun, for more “distance”. But fuck she loves her knifes.

9. Hometown and current residence

Bo’ness, Scotland. Prosperity.

10. Do they have any markings, piercings or scars?

Probably has her fair share of scars (newest one being from that gd crocodile). No piercings to speak of. A tattoo on her back that’s a dahlia and a transvaal daisy. They were each of her mother’s favourites.

11. Do they have any notable features, like horns, tails, or so on?

Not really, ha. Maybe her hair? It’s really long.

12. Own any pets?

A dog and a pig! She loves both Timber and Horatio.

13. Have any kids?

She wants to.

14. Can they cook? Can they bake?

She can cook pretty well but she usually doesn’t have the time. Baking, she hasn’t really been able to try. Not in a long time, at least.

15. Can they sing? Can they dance?

She can sing! Pretty well too! One of her moms was heavy into music and taught her a couple instruments. During their time in the bunker, she was taught a whole lot of songs on guitar. Might know a few dances.

16. Can they drive?

Yup! Best driver in the business ha

17 Can they fight?

That’s her main talent ngl

18. Have any special keepsakes?

She’s got her mother’s wedding rings tucked away. She never lets them away from her.

19. Hobbies

Nothing actually firm. She likes to read and there are times she likes to play music, but it can be sort of bittersweet for her. Hunting maybe, but that’s another survival thing.

20. Clothing/Aesthetic

She likes button-ups and to layer a bit. Enjoys soft blues and deep reds.

21. Fave food(s) and drink(s)

She misses salt and vinegar chips so much. Pretty partial to cider-- not the alcoholic kind-- but it’s harder to get.

22. Fave Color

Purple

23. Fave Genre

Romance lol

24. Fave Season

Fall!

25. City or Country?

Country

26. Guilty Pleasure

Tbh??? Finding someone to fight just to get some anger out.

27. What’s their family like? Who’s in it? What’s their relationship with them?

She had two mothers until she was around 16. After they passed, family wise she was alone for a very long time. Now, the Ryes treat her as family and, at some point, Savannah would be her wife. She’s close with Kim and she’d never let anything happen to Carmina. She’s fast friends with Nick when they get him back-- she’s always glad to see a good man who has no issue being soft or saying “i love you”

28. Are they literate? Did they go to school? How long? What level?

She went to school up until shortly before the bombs fell, and her mothers did their best to teach what they could in the bunker.

29. What was childhood like?

The first 12 or so years were in Scotland. She was pretty healthy and well balanced. She enjoyed music, knew some instruments and got voice lessons. She was pretty athletic too, planning to do something military-centric when she was old enough. She and her mothers moved to the west coast of the states when she was twelve. It was maybe a year before the bombs fell.

30. What was adolescence like?

The first couple years were in the “bunker”, which was barely more than a multi-roomed basement shared between her and her mothers-- their neighbor, who’d offered them the shelter, didn’t make it in. He hadn’t been home when the bombs fell. The food ran out maybe two years in and she got to spend a year with her parents above ground before they were killed. The rest of her adolescence was spent mostly alone, living in a small shelter in the woods. She rarely had contact with people, only ever to trade. Once or twice she’d lead people out of the woods. It wasn’t until she was nineteen or so that she joined Rush.

31. What’s their current main conflict?

Loooooooooooots of self-hatred. Sure, there’s the whole highwaymen deal, but her hatred of herself makes it hard for her to make friends because she honestly doesn’t believe she deserves to have them.

32. What steps have they taken to overcome this conflict?

She doesn’t, really, until after that whole deal with Joseph and the apple and the bear. She of the mind it was just a drug trip, but it did make her think about who she is. Made her afraid she really had become something monstrous. After a breakdown and some help from Savannah, she actively tries to be a better, warmer person.

33. How have they changed over time?

Her trying to change helps her a lot. She goes from being pretty quiet, pretty grumpy, and antisocial, to being a happier, more open, but still pretty quiet woman. She teaches Carmina some songs on the guitar and plays more often for the people in Prosperity.

34. What’s their room look like right now?

I mean idk how the rooming situation is in Prosperity, but if she’s able to have a room that’s more private, she probably shares it with Savannah, after a point. Might have some plants and her guitar leaning in the corner. If it’s a shared room situation, she probably sticks to the bare minimum as to not take up too much space. Maybe a trunk under the bed with her clothes and a couple trinkets.

35. What are they like as a friend?

Literally if anything hurts you she will hunt it down. If she considers you a friend, she’ll make sure you know it.

36. What are they like as a partner?

Romantic partner, I’m assuming, she’s loving and protective, but often restrained. She doesn’t like to overstep boundaries.

37. Do they have any phobias?

Water. She can swim but fuck does she hate the feeling of something about to get her. Selene’s quest did not help that.

38. Did/do they go anywhere special for vacations?

Her parents took her to Disney once, but otherwise no.

39. Your character walks into a cafe. What do they order?

Raspberry hot chocolate.

40. What time do they go to bed, usually?

Whenever she’s done with the work for the day and has the chance to crash.

41. What’s their morning routine like?

Wake up → unbraid and brush hair → get dressed → find out what needs to be done for the day. Food if she remembers.

42. What’s the dumbest thing your character’s done?

Go after Selene’s weed bag and get attacked by a crocodile, what the fuck, we can find you more weed, we can’t casually find Mitali a new arm.

43. What pokemon would your character be?

OOOOOOhhhhhh this is my kind question, I need to go look at pokemon lists. Oh fuck I’m back, she’s a midnight form lycanroc for SURE. Looks sorta scary, is cuddly, has the ability to maim.

44. What’s their pokemon team? Try to pick all 6.

I love these questions holy crap. Midnight form lycanroc because DUH. Houndoom. Pignite. Gengar. Yamask. Zangoose.

45. Theme song (and a playlist if you’ve got it!)

Wolf by First Aid Kit.It’s not a whole playlist but also: She Said Maybe by Steam Powered Giraffe. Lion’s Roar, by First Aid Kit. Ghost by Mystery Skulls. Thistles by Mumford and Sons. For Those Below, also Mumford and Sons.

46. If this character was in a musical, what would their motif be (what kind of instruments do you hear, what’s the tempo, ect).

Oh this is pretty hard.... Violin-centric, maybe. And the tempo would be different depending on which point of her life. A lively one for early life, a mournful one for like…. 16-32. Happier again after that.

47. What was this character’s biggest turning point in their life, something that changed them almost completely?

Her mothers dying for sure! She went from being a hopeful young woman to almost spiteful. Killing the men who killed her parents was what sealed the deal.

48. What was their lowest point? What was their highest point?

Yup parent death is still gonna be lowest point. It was sudden and painful and no one involved deserved it. Highest point is when she finally breaks free of that depression and realizes she doesn’t have to hate herself anymore.

49. What are some themes tied to your character’s story?

Forgiveness, redemption, hope.

50. What are some motifs associated with your character?

Wild animals (mostly wolves), death and rebirth.

51. What were some inspirations for your character (people, movies, games)?

Big surprise but….. Mitali was definitely inspired in equal parts by Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross (so Lost Legacy, in a nutshell). Also some great wolf related aesthetic pictures.

52. How are you and your character the same? How are you different?

Well this is an unexpectedly deep question that I’m going to avoid due to my own self-worth lol

53. Expectations vs Reality: what did you expect and what did you get with this character?

I expected to have her be very heavily military, but I ended up with a woman who only really wants to be a wife and just love the woman she marries with all of her heart and she wants to raise a kid and just have a good and happy family.

54. What does your character want, and what do they need?

She doesn’t know what she wants but she needs love. Any kind. Platonic, romantic, whichever.

55. What’s your character’s core trait? What’s their best trait? What’s their worst trait? What happens when these all interact with each other?

Protective to a fault. It can be both their best and worst trait, but their real worst trait is her self-hate. The two things interacting usually lead her to cutting herself off from friends so they��re “better off without her”.

56. What’s your overall goal with this character? Will they get a happy ending or will they succumb to their faults?

FUCK I want her to have a happy ending so badly. I’ll have to see how New Dawn ends first, but end goal is her marrying Savannah and eventually having a kid or two. Maybe twins???

Adora!!!

1. Age, Birthday, Star Sign

23, October 22nd 1994, Libra

2. Gender Identity

Cis woman

3. Orientation and Relationship status (single, taken (by who?), crush (on who?))

Lesbian and taken by Jess as soon as she possibly can be

4. Race and Ethnicity

Mixed, Brazilian and South African

5. Height and Body type

Lil bit on the shorter end maybe 5’4, and she's got a swimmer bod for SURE

6. Headcanon VA

Don't have one yet

7. Occupation

Deputy to Sheriff Whitehorse

8. Answered previously!

9. Hometown and current residence

Cascade Valley, Hope County

10. Previously answered!

11. Do they have any notable features, like horns, tails, or so on?

Her hair is big and curly, lovely afro. Other than that, maybe her newly given WRATH scar

12. Own any pets?

She left her pet cat with her dads when she moved, but now she's got a cougar, a dog, and a bear. Peaches is her favourite.

13. Have any kids?

in the future, she has a daughter named Masha!

14. Can they cook? Can they bake?

She's not the best cook, but she can bake pretty well.

15. Can they sing? Can they dance?

She's not a great singer but she dances well!

16. Can they drive?

Yup!

17. Can they fight?

She's really scrappy, and a pretty big threat tbh

18. Have any special keepsakes?

Her dads gave her a star of david necklace before she left. she never takes it off.

19. Hobbies

She loves to fish!

20. Previously answered!

21. Fave food(s) and drink(s)

She's 100% here for pumpkin pie and loves pink lemonade

22. Fave Color

Gold!

23. Fave Genre

Rom coms

24. Fave Season

Fall!

25. City or Country?

Depends on the day, leans towards country.

26. Guilty Pleasure

Taking a break to fish when she should be doing something else. Also taking her hearing aids out when she doesn't want to listen to someone.

27. What’s their family like? Who’s in it? What’s their relationship with them?

She's got two dads! They're an older couple who are very loving. One is deaf. Recently I gave her a brother named Adam! He’s a cool dude. Bi and lovable.

28. Are they literate? Did they go to school? How long? What level?

She finished school up to get her degree! Finished at 22

29. Previously answered!

30. What was adolescence like?

She went through a lot of emotional issues during her teens, but her dads got her in therapy and were supportive and loving. A lot of who she is today comes from the love she got then.

31. What’s their current main conflict?

Joseph fucking Seed decided to mess around in lives he should've left alone and now she's gotta clean up after him and try to protect her new friends.

32. What steps have they taken to overcome this conflict?

In the words of the lego movie: “shoot shoot shoot bullet bullet gun”

33. How have they changed over time?

Probably the biggest change was early teens to late. She was angry and spiteful and pretty depressed.

34. What’s their room look like right now?

Her room at home is covered in posters. But her room during 5 is… a bunker she found and claimed. She keeps it stocked, managed to put up a lesbian flag, and brought in the comfiest pillows and blankets she could.

35. Previously answered!

36. What are they like as a partner?

Over affectionate to the max, both with romantic partners and her work partner Hudson. A bit protective. Jealous when it comes to romantic partners.

37. Do they have any phobias?

Most boil down to the death of loved ones

38. Did/do they go anywhere special for vacations?

She used to get to pick a vacation spot once a summer when she grew up. Had to be reasonable, but she got to go to some great campgrounds, a couple good concerts, and Mammoth caves

39. Your character walks into a cafe. What do they order?

A white tea and cookies

40. What time do they go to bed, usually?

Depends on the day.

41. What’s their morning routine like?

Wake up → try to sleep longer → eventually be convinced out of bed (either by herself or by Jess) → try to manage her hair if she didn't braid it → give up on that and wash face → get dressed → eat → start day

42. What’s the dumbest thing your character’s done?

“I won't get hurt jumping from that height”

43. What pokemon would your character be?

Whisicott! But shiny

44. What’s their pokemon team? Try to pick all 6.

I seriously love these questions. Whimsicott! Of course! And a sylveon. Gardevoir. Shinx. Rapidash. And Cinccino!! She’s fairy-centric.

45. Theme song (and a playlist if you’ve got it!)

Dance Apocolyptic by Janelle Monae.

46. If this character was in a musical, what would their motif be (what kind of instruments do you hear, what’s the tempo, ect).

Hmmm… Piano. Something upbeat, most of the time.

47. What was this character’s biggest turning point in their life, something that changed them almost completely?

Therapy in her early teens. It helped her cope with the fact she suffered under her birth parents and realize she’s worth so much more than they tries to make her feel

48. What was their lowest point? What was their highest point?

It’s still gonna be centered in her abuse, but it could also be the grudge she holds on the Seed family (minus Faith). Highest point is probably something to do with Jess.

49. What are some themes tied to your character’s story?

Healing, unconditional love, leadership.

50. What are some motifs associated with your character?

Water, guilt, death, freedom

51. What were some inspirations for your character (people, movies, games)?

Adora is named after She-ra! Her brother too. Physically, I’m not sure. Mmmmaybe a little Nadine Ross, but even then, their hair is really the main similarity, and even then Adora’s is more afro than Nadine’s

52. How are you and your character the same? How are you different?

We’re about the same age? We both love Jess Black. That might be where the similarities end.

53. Expectations vs Reality: what did you expect and what did you get with this character?

I expected to have a gal who was nursing a crush on her partner in the force but instead i have a gal who’s a hundred percent in love with an archer she found locked in a cage by religious zealots.

54. What does your character want, and what do they need?

She wants some goddamn rest and the ability to go on a proper date with her girlfriend. She wants to see her dads again. She wants to be certain she won’t wake up and find herself kidnapped again.

55. What’s your character’s core trait? What’s their best trait? What’s their worst trait? What happens when these all interact with each other?

Is “sunshine” a trait? She’s a happy sort of person and likes to show it. Smiles a whole lot. Best trait is her willingness to trust. Worst trait… she can hold a grudge. For a LONG time. Holding a grudge can keep her from mending bridges, so it doesn’t act terribly well with happy & trusting. And when it does, she’s happy to hold a grudge lol.

56. What’s your overall goal with this character? Will they get a happy ending or will they succumb to their faults?

My goal is her to eventually have a happy life. She gets her “happy ending” in the shape of being with Jess until the day she dies, and even taking in a little girl to raise. She passes away in her sleep a long way down the line.

[poisonbooknerd]

Romanov by Nadine Brandes

Description:

From the author of Fawkes comes a magical take on the story of Anastasia Romanov.

The history books say I died.

They don’t know the half of it.

Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them . . . and he’s hunted Romanov before.

Nastya’s only chances of saving herself and her family are either to release the spell and deal with the consequences, or to enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya’s only dabbled in magic, but it doesn’t frighten her half as much as her growing attraction for Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her . . .

That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.

Rating: 5 Stars

Review: This book blew me away. I don't have words for this.

No, that's a lie. I do have words.

I have long had a love affair with the somewhat macabre. The mystery surrounding the Romanov family has been a fascination of mine since I was young. Right around the same time the 20th Century Fox film "Anastasia" came out. But I went on to look things up. (And it's a good thing I did. Love the movie but it was full of factual inaccuracies.)

The story broke my heart and fired up my inner Nancy Drew. I loved everything I could get my hands on. And now with the new musical out, it seems people are getting interested in their story again.

And this story is something they definitely need to pick up.

"Romanov" by Nadine Brandes is amazing. It took actual factual evidence about what happened to the last tsar of Russia and twisted it slightly to bring the reader to an amazing world of intrigue, secrets and slight romance. Anastasia is the hero she should have been and Alexei is an amazing helper. Zash is a newcomer that plenty of people hoped had been real. Most of the cast in the book were real and alive during the Russian revolution and that in and of itself is amazing to me.

Nadine Brandes did her research and it paid off. I love the whole book and have already read it twice. The look into the Romanov family is in-depth and so interesting. The little facts like how Alexei had hemophilia and Maria was the one everyone had their eyes on. The different family interactions and the way the officers viewed the Romanov family were so genuine and well-documented, it was so interesting to read.

In the end, I recommend absolutely everyone picks this up. Whether you like the Romanov family or not. 

[verifiedmothman]

I know Naughty Dog doesn’t really do this sort of thing, but I would pay good money for Uncharted the almost RPG where players can create/customize their own character, who’d have a preset last name and two separate voices for male/female protagonists. The story could involve them receiving an inheritance from a relative they barely know, which then leads them to the criminal underworld and their previously unknown treasure hunting past. Prompted by these discoveries, they would then begin their first expedition, interacting with characters like Chloe, Nadine, Sam, and Sully along the way.