Light of the Moon
Chapter 1
A cough sounded somewhere in the dark expanse of the ruins. To an outsider, the grounds looked as normal as they had for the past hundred or so years. Only a trained eye could catch the debris floating off the stones like the seeds of a dandelion.
"How do we always manage to get ourselves into shit like this Sully?" he paused for a moment waiting to hear a response from the older man.
"Sully?", Nate asked turning around to look for his mentor. Not seeing Sully behind him sent him into a panic.
"Sully!" he called again. Still, no response. Sully had been right behind him when the tunnels started to collapse. Turning on his heel, he ran back down the dimly lit corridor.
"Shit, shit, shit… Sully!" The light bouncing off the stones only served to make Nate more anxious.
Squinting his eyes Nate thought he could make out a..a…was that a hand?
"No…" Nate said, eyes growing wide as he unconsciously slowed his pace. "Sully?"
On the other side of the fallen stones Nate could make out a light flickering in the darkness. For a moment he couldn't move. The paralyzing fear gripped him that Sully might be gone. Grief, regret, and shame washed over him all at once, but were quickly banished when he saw the hand twitch and a soft moan come from the rubble.
"Sully!"
Nate swiftly began uncovering his friend. He heard a cough and a hiss of pain.
"Sully, I'm coming. Are you okay?"
"Nate?" It was barely audible.
"It's me, Sully, I'm coming." Nate ripped away stones and old rotted boards. The weight of the rocks and the splinters from the wood meant nothing to him compared to the man that was underneath it all.
"Keep talking to me Sully, I'm almost there." Nate stopped for a minute to listen for Sully's response. All he got was loud ragged breathing.
"Sully?" Nate said again as he reached for Sully's hand. Once his fingers made contact with the other man's hand, he felt a strong squeeze. Breathing a sigh of relief Nate used his other hand to pat Sully's.. Nate made quick work of sifting through the rubble to get to Sully. A couple more minutes in and he had Sully's entire upper torso uncovered. Sully's eyes were closed and he seemed to be concentrating on breathing. No words were spoken until Nate completely uncovered his mentor.
"Trying to get your beauty rest?" Nate asked as he crouched down and looked at him worriedly.
There was a gash on the side of Sully's head and the blood that had wept from it turned his graying hair red. Besides the gash Nate couldn't see anything else wrong. It was hard to tell in the white-wash of the light how pale Sully was, if he was at all. He probably had a concussion.
"Sounds like you've smoked way too many cigars." Nate said noting Sully's wheezing.
Sully grimaced then let out a strained chuckle. "Always the wise-ass aren't ya? Help me up, kid." He breathed out.
Nate grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled him upright. Sully gasped and fell into Nate.
"Whoa, easy there old man, if you wanted a hug you coulda just said so," Nate said trying to hide his concern.
As Sully was busy trying to steady himself, Nate grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to look him in the eye. It became clear that Sully was having trouble focusing. No sooner than he was on his feet, Sully brought his hand up to his head, his legs gave out, and he fell to his knees with an undignified grunt.
"Okay, okay, I gotcha," Nate said kneeling next to Sully.
"Shit, kid…the world's spinning," he said as he leaned heavily on Nate.
"Come on, we need to get you outta here." Nate said trying to drag Sully to his feet again.
"No.. not yet…" Sully grimaced clutching his head, then fell forward again, this time unconscious.
"Crap." Nate whispered.
Nate gently lowered Sully back to the ground.
"What the hell were you doing?" Nate asked out loud. He looked in the immediate area that he found Sully in. There among the stone and dust he saw a leather strap. It was the same color as the rest of his gear.
"Huh…"
Picking it up he was surprised by the weight of it. It looked just like his pouch that was kept on his belt. Reflexively he reached for the pouch, and his hand came in contact with nothing.
"What the hell?"
Looking down at his belt he saw that his pouch was gone. The straps on the pouch in hand looked as though time and friction had worn away the leather until it was weak enough to break.
"Shit," Nate said as he grit his teeth and inhaled sharply.
He wasn't going to hear the end of it from Sullivan when he came to. It was such a rookie mistake, him not keeping up with his gear. Sighing heavily, Nate cast a guilty glance at Sully.
…OooO…OooO…OooO…
Victor Sullivan slowly opened his eyes. As soon as he did, his vision was assaulted with the streaks and haze of a blinding light. Blinking furiously he tried to clear his vision. He was back in the hotel and he had one hell of a headache. His eyes lazily took in the room. It was early morning judging by the light that filtered in through the window. There in the corner next to his bed sat Nate, slouched in a chair, head leaned back against the wall.
Sully smiled seeing the kid sitting in the corner. He was snoring loudly and had his mouth slightly open. It always made him chuckle. He noticed the dark circles under Nate's eyes and wondered just how long he'd been out of it for. Nate had the contents of a pouch spread out on the table in front of him. Sully lifted his hand to his face to scratch his chin and he noticed an alarming amount of stubble. It had to be at least 3-4 days worth. He didn't remember much about their trip. Sullivan knew he didn't walk out of there, that's for sure. He was stiff from lying in the bed, but still very tired.
Trying to sit up took a lot of exertion, not to mention was painful. As he tried to slide up in the bed he let out a loud yelp that pulled Nate from his sleep.
"Wha.." Nate started as he prepared for a fight. His features softened as he looked down seeing that Sully was now awake.
Nate sat down on the bed next to him and pulled him into a right hug. Sully let out another loud yelp.
"You're not allowed to do that again."
"What the hell are you talking about kid?"
"Don't scare me like that again. You've been unconscious for the better part of a week."
"If you ask me it sounds like the worst part of the week." Sully said as he tried to peel Nate off him.
Finally Nate pulled back and gave Sully some room.
"Doc said you have a severe concussion and that you were extremely lucky, blah, blah. If those rocks had hit you any harder it would've fractured your skull. You already got bruised ribs." Nate said looking away from him guiltily.
"Well that explains a lot."
"You don't remember?"
"I remember us being down in those tunnels, but everything else… no dice."
Nate looked Sully in the eye and he could swear that he almost saw tears there. "It's my fault you got hurt Sully. I'm sorry." Nate tore his eyes away from Sully's face and picked at his fingernails.
Sully looked at Nate knowingly, "Shit happens kid. You know that better than most. You can't blame yourself for things you don't have any control over."
"But…"
"Did you throw the rocks at me in the tunnels?"
"No, but.."
"Then drop it kid. We both lived. It's fine."
"Alright, but we aren't going anywhere for another couple weeks, at least." Nate said as he got up. "We can go back to the tunnels and recheck the area you were in when everything collapsed. You might have been onto something when you put these things in this pouch."
Nate picked up something and the light glinted off it and hit Sully in the eyes.
"I think we're going to need to shut those curtains. My head can't take much more of this damned light." Sully squinted his eyes as he lifted his hand to block the sun.
Nate smiled as he walked over to the mini-fridge in the room. Sully couldn't make out what he grabbed, but he thought it was booze.
"Great minds think alike. I could go for a stiff drink right now."
Still smirking Nate walked back over to Sully's bed, "I don't know about that, but doctor's orders." Nate placed the bottle down on the night stand beside Sully and immediately bolted.
"If this is your way of telling me that you're on the same page as me with my age, I don't like it." Sully picked up the bottle of Ensure and threw it at Nate as he tried to duck into the bathroom.
Sully rolled his eyes as he heard the childish laughter coming from the bathroom. He was going to get him for that one.
…OooO…OooO…OooO…
Author notes:
Ok…. I am attempting a new fanfic for my other obsession right now.. Uncharted. I hope I do it justice! Story alerts are awesome, but reviews are golden! Should I end it here as a one-shot, or keep it going?
Jenn
As always… I do not own the rights to anything Naughty Dog related. Just simply enjoy the material. If I do continue this story, all aspects of the adventure will be completely fictional except the names of locations.
