Title: Unsung Hero

Summary: The urge to be recognized among his peers had always been great, but when he honestly deserved to be known, but was still ignored, it became too much.

Rating: T for later chapters, nothing bad for this one.

Disclaimer: I, as much as I'd like to, do not own National Treasure or anything related to it, being the characters, places or adventures therein. The movie is a right of Disney and I own nothing but the creativity that caused me to type all this jibberish out.

Author's Note: More chapters to come, if this one is well received. This means you need to READ AND REVIEW.

The sidekick, the co-finder, 'that guy'. Riley Poole never received the recognition he had set out for when he was with Ben Gates on their adventures. He was always theother person, the one hardly ever thought of. When mentioned in a conversation, 'who' would generally be the next question out of someone's mouth. He knew he wasn't much in the face of history, even if he had helped significant amounts. He wasn't the person everyone wanted to see as a hero, the nerdy one never was and probably never would be.

But he was fed up with the thoughts now. It started with the Templar Treasure and had continued on even after the City of Gold. Sure, there were the occasional people who remembered who he was correctly, but in comparison to Ben and Abigail, and even Ben's parents, Riley had very little. Recognition wasn't really what he wanted most, but for people to realize he at least had some part in it aside from just 'the sidekick' would have been nice, and he wasn't going to answer to anyone as that from now on.

There had been too many times he tried to save his best friend. From volunteering to be left behind when needed, to attempting to fight rushing water to get back to Ben when the stakes were higher than he felt comfortable with, he knew Ben never honestly realized the lengths Riley would go to just to ensure his safety. Ben had so much more to live for, anyway, what would it have mattered if Riley wasn't around?

And he was about to put that curiosity to the test.

"Have you heard anything from Riley in a while?" Abigail Chase skipped down the stares in hers and Ben Gates' mansion, happy to have her boyfriend back with her after realizing just how much she couldn't do without, "It seems like it's been a while since we've seen him around."

"Yeah, he's usually knocking on the door to steal our food, isn't he?" Ben chuckled, sitting at his desk in his office that was just off of the entrance the their home.

"Now now, be nice, Ben. Really, how long has it been since we've seen him?" Abigail walked up behind Ben and squeezed his shoulders, resting her chin on the top of his head, "It's wrong when he's not around so much."

"Do you want me to call him?"

"Could you?"

Ben shook his head in amusement as he searched around his papers for his ever missing cell phone, "I really need to clean this mess up. But I swear, you'd think he was the one dating you." That remark earned him a playful slap to the back of his head and a yelp of surprise was mixed in with a joyful holler as he recovered his mobile and punched '3' on the dial pad, 1 having been occupied by his parents and the second by Abigail.

"Invite him to dinner or something." Abi whispered and Ben waved his hand in a gesture of understanding.

And he would have done just that, except the phone wouldn't stop ringing. Riley, being the technical geek he was, wasn't one to ignore a phone call unless he was out driving, and his car had been in the shop for a while after the President returned it to him – he was smart, but he was clumsy.

"Come on, Poole." Ben muttered, raising concern in Abigail's mind.

She stood up with a deep breath, walking around to the nearest chair to pull it close next to where Ben was seated, "Something isn't right about this." Ben looked at her with a knowing and growing concern in his own eyes as the answering machine picked up.

Hey, you've reached the phone of Riley Poole. I'd say leave a message, but you're not going to be able to find me here anymore. No one ever really needed me for much anyway. If you care enough, you may hear from me again. If not, it's been a great adventure and it was nice knowing you while it lasted.

Ben hardly waited for the beep to come along before he flew up out of his seat, grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. Abigail had no time to react, reaching for her own coat as she followed him quickly with more worry than ever before, "Ben, what's going on!?" She hurried to the car after him, following his lead as he got into the car.

"Something is very, very wrong here." He handed her his cell phone, "Call his phone."

She did as he said and waited for the message to finish, her eyes widening with every word. She had proven to be strong in the past, during their treasure hunts and the risks involved, but now she was scared, "What does he mean?" she looked over at Ben, who was shaking his head as if he hadn't a clue. Then something struck even more suspicion and paranoia from her as her mind repeated the last words from Riley's machine, "If not, it's been a great adventure..." and she gasped, "Ben, he was talking about us!"

It only took them minutes to get to Riley's house, having no intention of knocking as Ben pulled out the spare key his best friend had given him for emergency purposes. If this wasn't an emergency, he didn't know what was.

"Come on, Riley. Please don't do this." Within moments he was through the door, running into the living room with relief as everything looked to be in place there. But that was only the beginning of it and he headed up the stairs, beginning to scream, "RILEY. Where are you, Ri?" Through every room he looked, and every unanswered call brought on more and more fear, "Riley, if you don't answer me I swear I'm going to..." but Ben was cut off by a shout from Abigail from the bedroom, and the worst thoughts ran through Ben's mind, "Please God, no..."

"Ben, he's gone!" she was standing at Riley's closet door, shocked to see it completely empty, "Everything's gone..." her heart sank as she stepped back and sat on the bed, eyebrows raising as she heard something crumple underneath her.

"What's going on?" Ben ran into the room as she was pulling a piece of paper from under hear and studying it silently. He looked from her to the closet, feeling his stomach turn as he realized something major had driven his best friend away. When he turned back to Abigail, she was holding the piece of paper out to him and he took it with no hesitation.

Ben, Abi or anyone else,

If you've made it this far then maybe you care, but it isn't enough. You've always cared, but I can't be a shadow to anyone anymore. The fun is gone, and I can't take it. I'm taking time away, for how long I don't know. I need to be in the place I know better than this, the place that feels the most like home to me. The place I was found. You can try finding me all you want, Ben, but I'll just repeat something you've heard a hundred times before...

This is just another clue.

Ben dropped the paper, knowing Riley had already planned to be followed from the beginning. Riley knew Ben cared enough for that, but what was the kid getting himself into was what Ben wanted to know.

After a blank stare and a shake of his head, he looked up at Abigail with defiance, "We have to find him."