NOTE: The Uncharted series and Tomb Raider series do not belong to me. This is an AU where minor things have been changed. This fanfiction takes place after Uncharted 4 and after Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The only things really changed from canon is Nate's age and relationship with Elena; Nate has been made a little younger (in his early 30s). Anyways... thank you for reading and enjoy!

The cave's damp darkness didn't help matters when Nate let out a vicious groan of pain. The rock that had took hold of his ankle had no intentions of letting him leave, and while he let out winces and whines, Lara had stuck by his side and attempted to give him support. She grabbed a knife out of her sheath and gave him a look as to indicate she was about to use it to get the rock off, considering she needed some leverage to help her with it.

"Calm down," she told him, "I'm getting you out of this. Just calm down."

She slid the knife's blade under the rock then, in which Nate wanted to jerk away but kept himself from moving as to ease his fears. He started to watch her slowly lift the rock away from his ankle, though it was somewhat painful, he was able to move his leg away and have full control again. He let out a heavy breath and Lara put her knife away, gesturing for him to follow her out of the cave. She realized part of her felt as if this were her fault, but she tried to push that down and forget about it.

5 Days Earlier

The village seemed to be in celebration mode as the group walked along the paths of the people. Nate and Sully were talking about the recent merchants they had came across while Sam was behind them, in which he was bouncing from booth to booth and person to person, almost being a tourist of sorts. "This… amulet thing, kid… are you sure it's around here?" Sully asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he tried to figure out the situation again. Nate's eyes shifted from person to person as they walked, seemingly not hearing Sully's question for a moment before he had finally came to. He gave the elder a smile as to tell him he had been listening, just distracted in that instance.

"Yeah, yeah, somewhere," Nate replied, pursing his lips for a moment before he sighed softly, "Just gotta figure out Drake's puzzle."

There was a sudden furrow to Sully's brows; he could tell something was on Nate's mind now. He cleared his throat and rested his hand on his shoulder, nodding to him in reassurance, "It'll be fine, kid. I know it's hard to move on-"

"I'm moving on," he said quickly, snatching away from Sully almost, not because he was annoyed or wanted to get away, but because he didn't like feeling vulnerable about thinking about his past. He didn't want to think about his ex or that relationship right now. He was here, right now, to take his mind off the divorce that had took place only a few months ago. He didn't want to be reminded of it when that was what he was trying to forget.

Sully winced at Nate's sudden change of tone, though he didn't get angry since he understood that he was going through a difficult time. When Nate and Elena separated, the kid had went to him for comfort and help. Sully wasn't going to let that go, he was going to continue to help him in any way he could. If, for right now, that meant not bringing the divorce up, then he would do just that. Though it pained him to see Nate get so upset, he tried to push that down. "Well… how about we try to find a place to stay for the night, Nate?" the old man asked, a smile curling underneath his mustache.

Sam had walked up behind them before Nate could say anything, resting both his hands on either shoulder of the men, "The people here have some great deals, ya know."

"You're screwing these poor people outta money?"

"Nate," Sam pushed him playfully with a grin, "Of course not. Just observing."

Nate nodded to his brother then, laughing a little bit as they approached what seemed to be the center of the village. "I guess we can ask around about a roof for the night," he told Sully finally. He doubted there was a hotel in a place like this so he hoped there would be a nice enough person to help them out. He figured he would have to start conversation and be friendly in order to get somewhere. He told Sam and Sully to do the same in efforts to obtain a bed to sleep in, splitting up to do so.

While Sully and his brother went around in asking others about if they cared about an extra guest for the night, Nate had managed to come into contact with a villager that went by the name of Dominika. He was thankful that most of the people in the village knew English, or at least most of the people they had met did. When Nate had explained the situation, Dominika seemed eager to help them, though she insisted that they should stay for the bonfire that would happen on later that night.

"I'm gonna guess it's for whatever you guys are celebrating, right?" Nate laughed, smiling softly to the woman.

The woman nodded in reply, "It is. It is birthday for the, uh… head… of the village." Though her English wasn't perfect, Nate appreciated her efforts. He realized it would be rude not to go to the celebration so he decided to agree and not disappoint her. She laughed and gestured for him to follow her then so she could show him to her home. Nate called after Sully and Sam and they were quick to step after.

They were somewhat surprised that Nate had managed to snag them a place to sleep, but they weren't complaining. When they had reached the small home, they thanked the woman for her kindness and took a moment to relax. While Dominika tended to her garden, Nate had grabbed his journal and looked over the riddle he had written down that they had gotten from their trip to Scotland. Though he had solved one part of it, he knew nothing else of what it gave him. The only reason he had made it to Russia was because the riddle had mentioned a "zmei," which he had found out to be a Slavic dragon soon afterwards. Other than that, he had found himself lost to some extent. Where exactly was the Amulet of the Red Dragon?

"Any luck?" Sam asked him, considering Sully had decided to take a nap. He sat down across from Nate at the small four person table that was in the kitchen, offering him a smile. He knew just as good as Sully that Nate was using this to cope with his recent heartbreak, and although he knew better than to mention it, part of him wanted to say something. He kept the smile across his face though, as much as he wanted to talk to his brother about the situation.

Nate sighed, shaking his head, "No, not really."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out. Maybe you just gotta rest that head of yours, you think that's what's it?" Sam leaned forward and playfully tapped Nate's forehead before leaning back in his chair again. His brother gave somewhat of a small laugh before looking away and sighing, closing his journal up. Sam could tell he was bothered. "Do you wanna talk 'bout it?" Sam asked him, gritting his teeth.

"About what?"

"You know… this whole… divorce thing?"

"Oh, not this again," Nate sighed again, hiding his face in his hands like he was embarrassed almost. Sam wasn't sure what to say to that, so he decided to just nod and tell him that he would be there to talk to if he ever changed his mind. He got to his feet and walked outside to have a smoke, in which Nate was in his lonesome to hear his own thoughts.

He tried to forget whatever his head told him and decided to focus on solving the riddle again, or at least attempting to.

The trio stood around the bonfire with the rest of the village that night. It was a rather big fire, and there was cheerful chatter and some dancing that took place as the village celebrated the birthday. Sully and Sam held a conversation with some other villagers they had met as Nate stayed near the fire for light. He had took a break from the riddle and was sketching the scenes he saw that took place around him. When he had finished drawing someone dancing, he had looked up to across the fire to see a woman and man speaking. They didn't look to be villagers; they were dressed in attire he was familiar with.

His sudden grip of the pencil he held tightened somewhat since he wasn't expecting such a thing. He wondered who they were and where they were from, but he couldn't quite make them out since the heat of the fire distorted some of his reality. The woman suddenly looked across to him, her friend still speaking to her, though she noticed Nate staring at her in awe. She gave him a soft smile and waved, her focus going back to her friend. Nate perked up, but a gentle smile came across his own face. He couldn't help but feel somewhat special over her noticing him, even though it was something as simple as a smile and wave. He looked back down at the page he was doodling on and decided to attempt to draw her, though he had only seen her for that split moment that he realized he wanted to see her features more clearly. He cleared his throat and debated with himself for a moment before making himself walk over to where she was.

When they had noticed him, the woman let out a short and sweet laugh. "You decided to join us?" she asked, her British accent ringing in his ears in a sweet pang. He chuckled in reply to her observation, unsure of how to introduce himself in a good way. He realized he might as well just go for it.

"Yeah, actually. You caught my eye so I figured, ya know," he said, shaking his head, "Anyway… ah, my name is Nate."

"Well, Nate, I'm Lara. And this is my friend, Jonah," the woman gestured to the man then, in which he nodded to Nate with a smile. The welcome was warm and he had to admit it made him feel good.

He closed his journal and put it in his back pocket. He would draw her after this; it would be awkward to do it now when they had only just met, he knew she would question what he was doing. There was an excitement to him though, considering her features were soft and felt delicate. She would be nice to sketch out, a good subject to study.

Nate gave them the traditional "nice to meet you" before asking them why they were visiting. Lara had told him that they were looking for something, but they didn't really go much into detail. "Lookin' for something too," he told them with a smile, hoping they wouldn't mind his small talk, "Maybe shooting for a cover shot on Adventure Life."

"Adventure Life?" Lara asked, raising a brow, "I'm guessing you're looking for something pretty important then?"

He shrugged in response to that. He wasn't really sure if it would be labeled as "important" more so than just being a good find that could be worth some money. "Kind of," Nate simply said, "Amulet of the Red Dragon… said to be guarded by the dragon itself." He made jazz hands while explaining such a thing, considering it did seem like it was from a fairytale. He had experienced supernatural creatures before, but even a dragon seemed like too much to believe in.

Suddenly, the air went stale and everything felt like it paused. Lara had stiffened, as did Jonah, and they were looking at Nate with wide, blinking eyes. Nate looked between the two and felt as if he had said something wrong, though he wasn't sure what. "You're looking for the amulet?" Lara asked him, shocked at his words almost. She wasn't expecting someone else to be looking for it, at least not another archeologist.

"I-... yeah," Nate replied, pursing his lips, "I'm gonna assume that's what you're looking for too?"

"I am."

He gave a laugh, "Well, that's rich." He looked away and bit at his lip. He wasn't used to somebody looking for a treasure he was after that wasn't against him. He felt as if maybe she felt the same way after seeing her own reaction. "Listen, I'm not here to steal it from you or something," Nate said, "I just- ah- how do I say this?"

"Most of the people I know who go after these… relics… aren't exactly the best people," Lara admitted, looking to Jonah for some kind of support. Jonah sighed and rested his hand on her shoulder, smiling to her. He was comforting her in some way almost. Nate realized maybe this was a bad idea, but he couldn't go back now. He was going to bump into her eventually anyway, now that he thought about it.

"I'm just a guy who likes to find treasures," Nate reassured her, "Really."

Lara looked over to him then, her chocolate eyes glistening with a sense of uneasiness until Nate had smiled to her. Somehow his smile made her trust him more. She decided to nod, "Alright then. Maybe we could work together. How much do you know?"

"I have a riddle I can't solve," he joked, "Does that help any?" He grabbed his journal and flipped to the page to show her, in which she looked it over and squinted a bit. She had only managed to get this far due to her father's research. This riddle was new to her, possibly because her father's research was incomplete. Her fingers traced the words that Nate had written down, which made him feel odd since he wasn't used to people touching his journal. He cleared his throat but decided not to say anything.

Lara looked up to Nate, "Could we talk somewhere in private?"

"Sure," he replied, "I have a place I'm staying in, we can go there."

She smiled and gestured for Jonah to come with, in which Nate began to lead them, though he called after Sam and Sully first, who were surprised to see these new people. They walked by either side of Nate and began to whisper in asking who Lara and Jonah were. "Who's the broad?" Sam asked, looking back at her before back to Nate.

Nate smiled somewhat, "As of now they're work friends."

"Work friends?" Sam made a face, "What the hell does that mean?"

"They're looking for the amulet like us. We're both benefiting," Nate shrugged.

Sully looked between them all and seemed to hide a smile before he agreed with Nate. Part of him felt Nate was doing this because she was a pretty girl, but that was surface level. He decided to brush that thought away from him. When they arrived back at Dominika's house, they sat down in the small living room. Lara and Nate looked over the riddle while the others began to talk among themselves. They figured they might as well since they were just meeting each other.

"Well, we have three places marked down," Lara said softly, pointing to the points on the map that they had circled, "But which one is the right one…"

"Riddle doesn't give much detail," Nate laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, "I mean, I don't know. Might have to try all of them."

"That doesn't sound very fun. One cave is enough."

Nate decided to playfully elbow her, "Or we can spend a few more hours figuring out this riddle." He was trying to make friends with her since they were going to be working together. He'd rather be on good terms than be awkwardly exploring caves together.

The woman gave a soft laugh. It was short but sweet, and he realized suddenly that he hadn't heard her laugh much. He guessed maybe because there wasn't quite much to laugh at and brushed it off. Lara shook her head, "I'd rather not. I guess checking out three caves isn't too bad, especially if we get lucky."

"Yeah, who knows, maybe the first one we do will be our last."

After they had their "private talk" with the others, Lara and Jonah had left to go back to their own place for the night. Sam and Sully had laid down on their own respective beds while Nate did the same, considering it was pretty late and they were all tired to some extent. Even though they were tired, it didn't stop them from late night conversation. Nate's eyes had already closed before he had heard Sam whisper out his name. He groaned and threw a pillow at his brother, which didn't stop Sam from calling out his name again. "What do you want?" Nate asked reluctantly.

"How's you and the broad going?"

"'How's me and the-'... what?"

Sam rolled onto his back and shrugged to himself, "I mean, I don't know. She's good looking."

"Jesus Christ, Sam," Nate sighed, "We literally just met a few hours ago. You do know that, don't ya?"

Sully suddenly piped in, "Would you two shut it?"

Nate perked up and looked over to Sully, "Blame it on Sam."

"I don't care who to blame it on, you're both running your goddamn mouths," Sully replied, rolling over to doze off. Nate and Sam couldn't help but give a small fit of laughter, but eventually they found themselves being able to go to sleep.