Disclaimer: Characters and such owned by NaughtyDog
A/N Apologies to anyone looking for a Sherlock fic and found this.
Okay so I really really love NaughtyDog, and although the Uncharted series is not my favourite of their games, I am still absolutely taken away from everything about it. The only thing that I don't like, is in order for the story to progress, characters can't really get hurt. So maybe this counts as a fix-it...?
~Jules
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Chloe could feel her heart beating all the way up to her ears, and all of the way down to her toes. Nadine sure as hell didn't exaggerate Asav's strength.
The first thought that goes through Chloe's mind as Asav chokes her is how her chest and trachea are bruning. The second thought is somewhere along the lines of, Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, I'm fucking screwed.
Then, miraculously, Nadine gets Asav off her, and she can breathe for a whole two seconds before the madman grabs them - both with a superhuman amount of strength - and throws them into a wall. The silver lining is that because the wall collapses, the impact is not as rough is it should've been. But then again, it is a fucking wall made out of stone.
But the duo has no time to take a breath or think about pain, because now they're in a rushing river, leading to God knows where. Chloe twists a few times to get situated on her back, only hoping that Nadine does the same. "Grab onto something!" The treasure hunter shouts over the water.
"What?!" Nadine shouts back, unconvinced.
"Anything!" Not just anything to grab onto anymore, but anything to survive. Though really, Chloe can't even follow her own advice, because she hasn't found anything to grab. Even if she did, there's no way she would be able to hold onto it with this current.
Just as their demise seemed certain, at the edge of the drop stood a tree, just waiting to save their lives. Hoping that her partner's reflexes are still sharp, Chloe pulls her rope and swings off of the current, using the tree. She then jumps and grabs onto the ledge, and she can't help but wonder how lucky she got.
That is, until said ledge breaks off.
Well, shite.
Chloe tries to prepare herself for the fall, but when she hits the ground flat on her back, it's fucking painful. The worst part is, that wasn't even the ground.
Unable to prevent this, Chloe rolls off of the surface, and this time hits the solid, unforgiving ground.
The last thing she registers is the pain in what feels like her whole body, and a distant call of "Frazer!"
And then finally, the pain and impact too much, Chloe falls unconscious.
Calling Frazer's name a few more times, Nadine curses and then slowly repels down from the tree, worry making her chest ache. Or, that might just be from the recent events. It's probably a bit of both.
Jumping the last couple metres to the ground Nadine runs up to her partner in crime, and continues to chant her name, as if that will miraculously wake her.
"Frazer, Frazer! Come on now, you better not die from this," The younger woman then places two fingers to her carotid artery and feels for a pulse. After she finds one, sluggish but definitely there, Nadine lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"Dammit, wake up!" Nadine shouts, but then regrets it, knowing full well that the acoustics in this place could carry all the way up the water to Asav and his men.
Nadine then sits there, staring at her companion, feeling absolutely useless. After around five minutes, she rolls onto her stomach and stretches her back, wincing when it 'pops' from moving it around. She then turns to a still unconscious Chloe.
"Open your bloody eyes," She mutters, knowing full well that Chloe won't hear her.
Not knowing what else she should do in this situation, Nadine walks around a bit in the chasm that they're stuck in. Not too difficult to get out of, but it'll be impossible if Chloe doesn't wake up soon. She then walks back to the unconscious woman and sits there, waiting it out.
Then, about twenty-five minutes later Chloe begins to stir.
"Mmm," It sounds a bit like she's just dreaming, but then her head moves a bit, and it takes all of Nadine's power to not shout.
"Frazer? Frazer?"
"Hmm," She moans again, but this time her eyes open,
"Hey. You okay?" Nadine asks, leaning over her.
Chloe closes her eyes again and unconvincingly says, "Yeah. Think so." She then moves to get up, even though she knows it's probably not the best idea.
Nadine seems to sense that as well, "Hey, take it easy."
As soon as Chloe turns to her side all of the pain seems to come back to her, and she covers her side with her hand, trying to dispel at least a fraction of the pain.
"You've been out for almost half an hour." Nadine says, as if she was just commenting on the weather.
"Half an hour?"
"Ja,"
"Oh shit." Chloe mutters, not just for being unconscious for thirty minutes, but the fact that the floor appears to be moving. "A-Asav's got the disc," Chloe points out, trying to stand up and get on with the adventure.
"Just hang on," Nadine says, helping the other woman stand up, which may've not been the best choice of action at the moment.
"Ugh, we've got to get going." The older woman says, trying really hard to ignore the pain radiating in her skull.
"Hey, relax, alright? Think you can manage?"
"Yeah, I've had worse nights, believe me," Well, Nadine certainly does.
Chuckling Nadine says, "I won't ask," Then with a more serious face she adds, "It's good to have you back."
Chloe pauses before asking, "T-there's two of you now, right?"
"Ja,"
"Okay. Let's go and get our disc." Chloe mutters, even though she can barely breathe without wincing.
As she begins to walk, Chloe regrets getting up and moving so fast, but she doesn't really have a choice. The best she can do at the moment is just hold her hand to her side, which isn't very effective.
Chloe tries to make light conversation about the man who almost took their lives in an effort to ignore the pain while walking up stairs. Ignoring pain is easier said than done.
Once they get out of the cave, there's a whole new hell waiting for Chloe: scaling a mountain.
As she drops down a few levels of terrain Chloe swallows her painful cries, and continues as if nothing is wrong. The air feels like it has become thicker with every breath, but Chloe doesn't say anything.
Just as Chloe sets her hands on the gear to open the gate, Nadine sets and hand on her shoulder and says, "Frazer, you're hurt. Let me do it."
Chloe opens her mouth to disagree, but the pain in her midsection happens to agree with Nadine. Nodding she says, " 'Kay, yeah. I'll just…" She waves off to the side, and then leans against one of the rocks, keeping her hand on her side.
Staring through the gate, Nadine mutters, "Holy shit."
Cracking a smile Chloe responds, "Actually, that's a holy cow." Nadine grins at her, and then pulls out her binoculars. "That's Nandi. Shiva's gate keeper. That's got to be the entrance to the old capital."
"It'd had to be triggered by the aqueducts."
"Yep." Was Chloe's oh so elegant response.
Taking a breath Nadine mutters, "Ah, shite. Asav's already heading inside."
Without missing a beat the other woman responds, "Okay, well, better get down there. C'mon."
Then just as she turns around Nadine says, "No."
"What do you mean, 'no'?" Chloe then takes the binoculars for herself and sees what Nadine's not happy about. Right. She probably should've told her about that.
"Sam Drake." Nadine even says his name with a type of hatred. "His goddam 'expert' is Sam Drake?!"
Sighing, Chloe murmurs, "Yeah,"
Trying to keep her temper in check Nadine says, "Piss- You know what? This is a good thing. I can kill two birds with one stone."
Well, it's now or never. "Nadine,"
"What?" After Chloe doesn't answer she asks again, rage increasing by the second. "What?"
"Sam's kind of the reason why we're here in the first place."
"No, no. You'd better be joking."
"This was my deal."
Giving an angry sigh to Chloe, Nadine uses all of her will power to calm down.
"Sam went ahead to do recon for me on the disc."
Turning away Nadine says, "Oh shite."
"But then he went missing, and I couldn't leave him for dead-"
Nadine interrupts her business partner with a spite that makes gang members seem like teddy bears. "You knew my history with Sam, and you dragged me into this anyway!"
"You're history with Asav made you the obvious choice!" Chloe says back, but the regrets it due to the pain in her chest.
Then unexpectedly (it really wasn't that unexpected) Nadine pulls her fist and hits Chloe in the jaw, causing her to collapse on her already abused ribs. "Don't hold back or anything," She chokes out.
"Oh, I did."
"You know what, Nadine? This doesn't change anything. You'll still get your share," Chloe doesn't even know why she's trying to negotiate anymore.
"Yeah? Or maybe you and Sam will cut me out as soon as you get the Tusk."
"C'mon man, that's not how I operate-"
Leaning down to fully face Chloe, Nadine interrupts, "That's exactly how your type operates!"
Clutching her chest when she turns, Chloe gives her a bitter look for calling her part of a 'type'.
"And to think I trusted you."
"Listen, I was going to tell you about Sam," Nadine starts, trying to stand up, but only gets to her knees. She opens her mouth to continue, but Nadine's already gone.
Taking the four-by-four with her.
Fuck.
Chloe takes a deep breath, holding onto her chest, and starts walking the only way she can. Toward Asav, whether Nadine comes or not.
After walking for about a minute in the thick Indian jungle Chloe has to lean against a tree and catch her breath. She waits for her vision to clear, but after it's apparent that 'vision clearing' will not be happening anytime soon, so she just pushes herself off of the tree and continues.
When she comes across a slippery part of the mountain Chloe tries to lean and slide down it. But she fails, and instead ends up laying on her side, clenching her jaw. Even though no one's here to hear her, Chloe still doesn't cry out.
She stays there, clutching her ribs for another few minutes into a particularly strong breeze reminds her that she can't lay here forever. Silently crying out, Chloe grits her teeth and stands up. She takes a deep breath then continues her journey. For another five metres, that is.
Another fun valley. Bloody great. Chloe swings her rope on the tree, which then breaks, causing her to fall down yet again. This time she does cry out, and gets a nice bath in the process. Chloe rolls bit over, the branch narrowly missing slamming into her.
Crawling up to the shore, Chloe choses to ignore the tear that falls down her face (damn her natural bodily responses!) and leans up against the dirty rock. Her head feels like it's pounding, and that someone is pressing down on it from all sides. Not to mention the unforgiving pain in her ribs.
It takes all of Chloe's concussed brain to not fall back asleep, but she can't help it when her eyes flutter closed.
When she wakes up the treasure hunter silently curses herself for falling asleep, and then thanks someone's God for not letting Asav find her.
Apparently said God wasn't feeling so generous though, because within the next five minute she hears distant shouting, which can only be Shoreline. Cursing, Chloe crouches down in the grass and pulls out the pistol that she took from Shoreline ages ago.
When the talking gets louder she tries to take even breaths, and ignores the pain in her chest. There's not too many of them, so killing them shouldn't be too much of a hassle. The first two she easily takes out silently, but after those, one of the men notices her, and stealth is out of the window.
Hiding behind a rock, Chloe shoots at the men whenever she has an opening. But after a short amount of time, the pain in her head increases from the noise, and then to the point where it gets to be too much.
Chloe curses, then winces when her vision turns blurry. Before she falls unconscious for the third time today (that really can't be healthy) the treasure hunter hears a distant "Frazer? Oh you've got to be kidding me,"
When Chloe wakes, everything aches, and her head appears to be pulsing with her heart. "Mmm,"
"Frazer?"
Chloe just groans as a response, keeping her eyes shut.
"'s she awake?" That's certainly something new. Not Nadine for sure.
"Why don't you get your bloody ass over here and find out yourself!" Nadine shouts to the other person, causing Chloe to make a face.
"C'mon now," Nadine says more quietly, directed to her barely conscious partner. "We have tusks to find,"
Chloe finally opens her eyes to see a disgusted looking Nadine and a certain Drake standing a bit ways away. "Hey,"
"Hey there." Nadine dryly replies.
"Where are we exactly?"
The younger woman says, "Not exactly sure. Some ruins I dragged you into. You're welcome, by the way." Nadine mutters sarcastically.
"Not mad?" Chloe asks hopefully.
"I'm still bloody enraged at you and this piece of filth," She says, pointing to Sam, "but not enough to watch you get shot."
Well, that's the closest thing to forgiveness that Chloe will get. "Thanks, then, I suppose."
oOoOo
That's all, folks! Reviews make me stupidly smile... :)