A/N: Hey all how goes it? So after having the idea for this story in my head for months I'm FINALLY going to start writing it. I have a Last of Us and Walking Dead fan fic in the works, too, but I like having a more than one story going on at once so I can take breaks from one to work on another. I only mention that in case any of you would be interested in checking them out and because my updates can be frequent and infrequent. Alright, enough yapping by me. Let the story begin!
…right after this disclaimer.
Disclaimer: I own zero things from the Uncharted series. The only things that are mine are the original plot ideas and characters.
OOOOO
Philadelphia 1989
Nathan and Sam sat on a bench across the street from one of Phlly's historical societies. It was late November so the East Coast air was cold, resulting in the Drake brothers to bundle up in warm jackets and gloves. Sam still wore the same jean jacket he's had for years to keep the cold out whereas Nate wore a newer green zip up to fight off the cold.
It's been just over a year since the brothers fled from Boston. They went farther down the coast at first as they followed some of their mother's belongings. Once Evelyn's death hit the papers, it was a cluster of historians scrambling over the endless amount of artifacts she had in her home. They were auctioned off by her remaining family members and sold for quite the amount, but that included the one box of things that were Nathan and Sam's mother's. It was a few more journals, some old paperwork, and a few books, but it was also all that Nathan and Sam had left of their mother. That's how they wound up in Pennsylvania. The box of Cassandra's belonging sold to the historical society for the journals that were on display to illustrate the workings of modern historian work. And if the journals were there, so were the rest of the box's contents.
Nathan watched his brother survey the building for the what seemed like millionth time since they got to Philly. There was no way to get into the building by climbing without getting spotted. The streets were too busy at all hours to get in cleanly so one of them were going have to go in the front door and wait until the building closed for the night to make the grab while the other cut the power to the security cameras and sensors.
As Sam surveyed, Nathan's eyes wandered to the streets and sidewalks to watch those walking up and down. Women in heels most likely walking to work while other women were out for their morning jogs. Men talking on the phone with a coffee in hand as they walked their path. Some parents walked with their child hand in hand as they took them home from school. It made a hint of jealousy rise in Nathan, knowing he would never have a parent walk him to school again. But the jealousy soon disappeared as he remembered he had his brother with him and that was enough.
His eyes wandered some more when they landed on the only stand still figure in the huge ocean of people. It was a girl, a little older than Nathan. She was wearing a plain pair of blue jeans with a few holes in them, a black jacket, and grey gloves. Her skin was an olive tone color and despite the distance between them, Nate could make out her dark brown eyes. The way she was looking at the building reminded her of how Sam looked at the building, making him nudge his older brother.
"What?" Sam asked as he looked at his brother.
"That girl over there." Nate pointed out.
Sam looked over at the young girl across the street. "What about her?"
"She's the only person looking at the building the way we are."
Looking at the girl, Sam realized his brother was right. In a moving crowd of people, she was the only person standing still.
The girl ended up looking around at the building for another minute or so before going inside. "Should we go in, too?" Nathan asked.
"She's just a kid." Sam reminded him.
"So am I."
Sam looked at his brother, realizing he was right. The only difference was Nathan had him to do this kind of thing with. "Alright let's go." Sam said, getting up from the bench with Nathan following. They entered the building, paying the entrance fee and then looking around for the young girl.
The building was only two floors and seeing as though it was midafternoon on a weekday, the place wasn't too busy. The first floor consisted of a few American history exhibits, but the second level was where all the new displays would be.
"Over there." Nathan whispered to Sam when he noticed the girl heading up to the second level.
The Drake brothers followed the girl, but were careful not to draw any unwanted attention to themselves. Once upstairs, they found themselves in the modern historian exhibit where the girl began looking at the many glass cases. Nathan and Sam ended up getting their attention pulled away as they looked at the cases for their mother's work. Sam did his best to focus on the task at hand but once Nate pointed out their mother's things, his attention shifted.
Within the protection of a glass case, the familiar pages of their mother's handwriting was displayed. There was the remaining work of their mom was all in the case, the books opened to show the many notes scribbled down in the margins, the paperwork set out to show the kind of work historians did, and the journals to showcase the thoughts and mind of a historian at work.
After a few extended moments, Nathan managed to pull his attention away from the case and located the girl across the mostly empty room staring at a case herself. "Come on." He nudged Sam and the siblings carefully made their way across the room, stopping at a random case when they saw the young girl pull out a small pad of paper and pen from her pocket to scribble something down on the paper.
Once she scrawled whatever she was writing down she looked around herself, her eyes falling on Sam. He averted his eyes from her and pretended to seem interested in something at the case before him. However, he was looking at her in the corner of his eye. He could tell she picked up him and his brother trailing her the way she surveyed the brothers. She was quick to leave the room through a second door at the other end of the room.
"Should we follow her?" Nathan asked his brother.
"No she saw us." Sam replied. "But we're making the grab tonight instead of tomorrow. Let's go find out where the power box is and work out how we're gonna play this. Place closes at seven."
Sam headed towards the exit, but Nathan went over to the case the girl previously stood at. Inside it showed an abundance of pictures taken on a polaroid camera. The photos showed a dig site in Egypt with people digging, recovering artifacts that ranged from old pottery to jewelry, and a few of a man and woman smiling for the camera with the man's arm draped across the woman's shoulder. The woman had darker skin, dark brown eyes, and head of brown hair whereas the man was white with dirty blonde hair. There were also a few notebooks in the case, stained with what looked like sand and water. The writing was scribbled and rushed, but the writing in the variety of books differed. The notebooks had the handwriting of two different people. Along with the notebooks and pictures, there was also a tool belt on a small stand with tools still in it-most likely the ones used at dig site.
Before Nathan could read the description of the display and the items to whom the things belonged to, Sam called out to his brother to come on. Turning away from the case Nathan followed his brother, but with one quick glance back at a photograph he didn't miss how the woman in the one photo had the same eyes as the young girl.
OOOOO
Nathan sat in a bathroom stall, waiting for his brother to come over the walkie talkie to tell him the power was cut and that he could make his way to the room where his mom's display was. He had a backpack on that he could quick shove all of the things into and put on his back so it made climbing down the fire escape all that much easier.
After what felt like an eternity, Sam's voice finally came over the radio.
"Alright little brother, we have about five minutes to get in there, get the stuff, and get the hell out of here. I'll meet you there."
"Copy that."
Nathan made quick work of gathering up his bag and heading out the door of the bathroom. Even though there weren't any security guards in the building, Nathan still moved as quietly as possible down the hallway to the room. His light, careful steps were barely audible against the hardwood as he headed down to the exhibit.
Getting to the door, he quietly opened it and made his way over to his mother's display. He went over to it and pulled out his pocket knife, sticking it into the lock and twisting.
The steps of someone else drew Nathan's attention to the door where he expected to see his brother enter, only a different face made an appearance-it was the young girl from earlier.
"I knew you two were planning something."
Her voice completely took Nathan by surprise. Her vocals were laced with a British accent which seemed out of place in Philadelphia, but for her physical appearance. She didn't look British at all.
"You two saved me a whole lot of work."
The girl made her way over to the case she was looking at earlier. Nathan watched her fiddle with the lock before it opened and she made quick work of taking out all the photographs and notebooks, shoving them in her bag.
Shortly later, Sam walked in and was shocked to find the scene before him. His brother standing frozen as the young girl they trailed earlier picked another display clean. "What the hell?" he said.
"I'd hurry and get what you came in here for." The young girl advised as she loaded her bag. "You're on the streets of Philadelphia. Cops will be here sooner than you think."
"Nathan get mom's stuff. We gotta go." Sam instructed his brother who went back to work on opening the case and grabbing its contents.
"Your mom's stuff?" the girl questioned as she zipped her bag up and put it on her back. "Looks like we're here for the same reason then."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm taking back my parents' research."
Sam was surprised at what the girl had said. The three of them broke into the building for the same reason. Him and Nathan wanted to retrieve the last of their mother's things and this girl just wanted her parents' work back, too.
The girl watched as Nathan loaded the last journal into his backpack, not missing the initials on the off white leather over. A journal she recognized. "Wait…was Cassandra your mom?" the girl asked, making the Drake brothers turn their attention to her. Their mother's name leaving the stranger's mouth was enough to make their hearts stop beating. "How'd you know that?" Sam demanded, his tone stern laced with confusion.
"I just recognized that journal."
Before anyone could say anything else, flashes of red and blue shined through the windows.
"Oh shit." Sam cursed. "We gotta go."
Grabbing his brother's arm, Sam pulled Nathan towards the door and forgetting about the girl. Despite his peaked curiosity and unasked questions, he didn't need him and his brother thrown into jail and losing their mom's things. The tore off down the dark hall and towards the fire escape, climbing out the window and down to the ground effortlessly. Once their feet were on the ground, the Drakes tore off down the alley and away from the sounds of sirens. The air was cold and the wind had picked up, but neither Drake noticed. They just kept running, their breath visible with every exhale down the cold streets.
OOOOO
Later that night, the brothers were eating pizza and flipping through their mother's work in the comfort of a hotel room. It wasn't anything fancy-two beds, a bathroom, and a small television that was left off as they read. Since they got back, neither of them said anything about the girl as they were relishing in the fact that they finally had all of their mother's belongings. It was better than any kind of holiday or gift they could receive. They had pieces of their mom back.
It wasn't until a knock sounded on their door that the silence broke. Sam got up from his bed, telling Nathan to stay put. Only in a t-shirt, socks, and pajama shorts, the oldest Drake looked through the peephole and found himself looking at the face of the young girl again. Knowing she posed no threat, Sam opened the door.
"Hi." She greeted.
"How'd you find us?" Sam immediately asked.
"I followed you. You guys are a little noisy and oblivious for two people running from the cops."
"Who are you?"
"I'm Kira Elfar. If you'd let me in I could maybe do some explaining as to how I know about your mom."
"Come on, Sam." Nathan pressed from where he stood by the beds. "She knew Mom."
Kira looked at the oldest Drake and he looked at her right back. He could tell she really meant no harm by the look in her eyes. That's how he judged people as to whether or not he could trust them-by the look in their eyes.
"Alright." Sam said as he dropped his arm from the door.
OOOOO
Kira sat on one bed while Nate and Sam sat on the opposite and that night, in the confines of a cheap hotel's walls, the Drake boys discovered that Kira's parents, like their mom, were historians. Only they had a strong focus in Egyptian history. Kira's mom, Evie, was a historian from Egypt and her dad, Douglas, was an Englishman whom taught an ancient Egyptian history class at a university in London. Douglas took a trip to Cairo, met Evie, and the two fell in love. After that, Douglas jumped continents to work in the field with his wife. Together they discovered an endless amount of ancient Egyptian burial sites, treasures buried by Egyptian royalties, and other priceless, irreplaceable artifacts.
"I never met your mom, but I remember my parents talking about her." Kira explained. "They were researching explorers who made stops in Egypt and they landed on a few European ones they weren't too familiar with. Your mom was the go to expert in everything that had to do with European history she lent my parents a few journals and books for their research."
Kira went on and when she was done, they Drake brothers were so happy to know more about their mother. Nathan, so young and swept up in the new facts on his late mom, didn't think of the few things that crossed Sam's mind after Kira was done talking.
"So where are our parents now?" he asked.
Kira's face fell. "They died in a car accident two years ago."
"Then who's taking care of you? You're like thirteen."
Sam didn't mean to come across as harsh, but he just wanted to know the girl's situation.
"I'm fifteen thank you very little. And it's just me. I was in foster care, but that was hell so I ran away a few months ago. Once I turn eighteen I'll be out of their records so until then, I'm on the run from the system."
Sam and Nate knew orphanage life and foster care was no different. It was hell. Especially for older kids no parents wanted. Why adopt an angsty teen when you can raise a kid from their beginning stages of life?
Sam could tell she was struggling to get by. Her clothes were worn, especially her shoes, a sign that she's been wearing the same clothes for a while now. She was also a lot thinner than she should be for her height not because of a fast metabolism but because of malnutrition. Even though he knew taking care of Nathan was already a struggle, this girl clearly needed help. It was clear that she was smart, managing to get in and out of the museum undetected, and she wasn't looking for trouble. Like him and Nathan, she just wanted a new life after losing her parents.
"You know, Kira." Sam said as he stood up. He went over and grabbed her the biggest slice of pizza left in the box and set it on a plate. "Nathan and I have our mom's things back, so we were maybe gonna go check out some new sights overseas to keep her work alive. Think you'd wanna tag along?"
Sam handed her the plate and she looked at it for a moment before looking back at him and Nate. Nate seemed just as surprised by the offer as she was.
"Really?" she asked.
"As long as you hold your own and can smooth talk some police time to time, why not? We're all the offspring of some of the finest historians, why not continue all their work together?"
With a smile, Kira accepted the plate of pizza from Sam. He sat down next to his brother and let her eat while they worked out where their next stop was. They didn't know what their futures held, but that was the best part of the start of their adventure. They didn't know what awaited them next.