A/N: Hey, I'm back. Well, writing National Treasure fan fiction at least. Here's a fic I've been thinking about for awhile. I hope you like it. If you don't, tell me what sucked, mk?
Lost Conversations:
Two men wrapped up in heavy coating struggled to make their way out of the charred and snowbound debris of the Charlotte. They finally stepped awkwardly out of the small space and the older of the two took out a navigational device. He stared off into the distance.
"There's an Inuit village about 9 miles east of here. It's popular with bush pilots." He stated, shading the sun out of his eyes with a gloved hand.
"All right." The younger man said, panting exhaustively, still struggling to get out the opening.
They continued to make their way down the snowy rubble.
"Then what are we going to do?" Riley asked worriedly, staring at the back of Ben's head.
"We'll make our way back home," Ben replied in obvious tone.
"No, I meant about Ian. He's going to steal the Declaration of Independence, Ben." Riley stated, tripping slightly on a ledge of snow.
Ben turned to the younger man.
"We stop him." He stated firmly, then turning back around, continued to trudge through the snow. The younger man followed.
Ben and Riley walked for about half an hour catching their breathes and still trying to get over the initial shock of almost being blown up. Well, at least that's what Riley was trying to do.
"I still can't believe Ian would leave us for dead…" Riley said, trying to pass the time.
"Well, that doesn't really surprise me," Ben said, looking down at his device for the right direction.
"What are you talking about? You guys were friends," Riley said, giving Ben a quizzical look.
"Not exactly," Ben said indecisively. "I would refer to him more of a business associate then a friend."
Riley nodded slowly.
"He was too greedy and smart for friendship."
"I think I get it," Riley said.
Twenty minutes later.
Riley was making a lot of weird facial expressions as they walked.
"Riley," Ben said, curiosity getting the best of him. "Are you alright?"
"Of course I'm not alright!" Riley exploded. "We've been walking for almost an hour, I have chapped lips, I really need to go to the bathroom, and in case you haven't noticed, it's like negative a million out here!"
Ben smirked at Riley's outburst; Riley could act so naïve sometimes even though he was such a smart young man.
"To take care of your first issue, we'll take a break." Ben said, settling himself on a snowy mound. Riley followed suit and sighed. "And for your second problem, what was it again?"
Riley thought for a second, licking his lips.
"Oh yes, your lips." Ben answered quickly, taking off his glove and reaching into his pocket. After a few seconds, he finally revealed a small stick of Blistex. He handed it over to Riley with a smile.
"Thank you," Riley replied with a smirk, uncapping the stick of ointment.
"And, you know, you could just go to the bathroom over there." Ben said, pointing a few feet off towards a large mound of snow.
"Yeah, but it's all cold and nippy," Riley whined childishly.
"Oh, Riley, you're not going to die," Ben said, rolling his eyes.
"You don't know that, the snow monster from Scooby-Doo could come and eat me," Riley said, casting a wary glance at the snow heap.
"You," Ben said, pointing to Riley, "Have been watching too many cartoons."
Riley scowled.
"Just go to the bathroom," Ben said finally, pointing to the mass.
Riley sighed, and reluctantly trudged over to where Ben continued to point.
The young man came back with a satisfied look on his face.
"Was that so bad?" Ben asked, when Riley returned.
Riley rolled his eyes in answer and they continued walking.
"I wonder what people will think when we tell them somebody's going to steal the Declaration of Independence," Riley said after about ten minutes of walking.
"I don't know, but we're going to just have to have faith that they'll believe us," Ben said.
"Who're we going to tell when we get home?" Riley asked.
"I was thinking the FBI, Homeland Security, maybe even National Archives."
"How is Ian going to be able to steal the Declaration anyway?"
"He'll find a way, Ian is not stupid, he has practically unlimited resources."
"That I know," Riley interjected.
"Well, we just shouldn't take him for granted. Ian can be a very dangerous man,"
"I know that too, well, now I do." Riley said, remembering the hostage situation he was in a few hours earlier. "Hey, thanks for standing up for me back there."
"Don't mention it," Ben replied, looking distracted.
"No, really I-" Ben cut him off.
"Riley, I'm thinking right now, I need quiet. You really don't need to mention it."
"Oh, right, quiet-thinking time," Riley muttered, having gone through this a few times before.
"Are you done thinking yet?" Riley asked hopefully after a ten-minute lapse.
"Yes, I am. Why?"
"I'm hungry," Riley complained.
"Riley," Ben sighed. "Can't you go one trip without complaining?"
"Hmmm, I don't think so." Riley said. "So, have anything to eat?"
Ben reached inside his coat.
"No, sorry, nothing except these mints," Ben said, pulling out a small flat box of mints.
"Yuck, I've been tasting arctic fresh this past hour," Riley said, referring to the current weather conditions.
Ben laughed at the joke.
They continued to plod through the snow until little black specs started to come into view.
"Civilization!" Riley yelled, spotting the tiny specs.
Ben was messing with his navigational device, making sure they were going the right way.
"Gosh, I'm exhausted," Riley said after ten minutes of walking towards the village. They were very close to it now, enough to watch the smoke rising from the camps.
"Well, we're almost there," Ben replied.
"What are we going to do once we get their? Do you speak Inuit?" Riley asked.
"No, but there's bound to be some pilots, as I told you there before, who speak English. They probably have some sort of rescue plane there too," Ben said pointedly.
"I don't remember you saying anything about pilots…" Riley answered.
"You were too busy 'getting over being shot at'." Ben mocked with a smile.
"Well, it's a very scary experience," Riley said defensively.
"I know, Riley, I was there." Ben pointed out.
Riley scowled at him.
The two men arrived at the site of the village and were met by an Inuit couple who were decked out in large fur coats with designs on the material.
"Just let me do the talking," Ben mumbled to Riley.
The couple scanned the two men and looked expectantly at them.
"Hello," Ben said. "Uh, we were looking for a plane to get back home…" He trailed off at the look on their faces. They didn't speak English.
"En-glish," Riley tried, their eyes lit up in recognition and the two motioned them towards a tent. Ben and Riley followed and as the couple brought out of one of the tents an American man. The man looked to be in his late thirties, and about the height and stature of Ben.
"Hello, I am John," he said, his voice was rough and had a slight accent, probably from speaking the Inuit language for so long.
"Hi," Ben replied. "Um, me and my friend here got in a bit of a mix up with some men and now we're kind of stranded. We've been walking for a while, and we were basically wondering if you had a plane of some sort…"
John nodded kindly.
"Yes, we have seen the smoke and have been quite worried. We are glad you are not hurt." He answered, smiling.
Riley looked backwards, obviously not noticing the smoke before.
"You may use one of the planes we have repaired from minor accidents, come." John gestured them to follow. He filled the other villagers in on why these two men were here in Inuit. Ben and Riley walked a short distance away.
"Wow, I really didn't expect it to go this well," Riley said impressed.
Ben rolled his eyes at Riley's lack of faith.
They arrived at a large clearing where there stood about ten planes.
"Wow, you few quite a few accidents out here," Riley stated to John, admiring all the planes
"Unfortunately, yes. The storms cause most of these accidents." He answered sadly. "But I fix them up, so these are good as new."
"Are you a pilot or something?" Riley asked, looking at the older man.
"Yeah, I went to a school for a little while, but meeting these new tribes and exploring cultures has always been my passion." The man responded, staring fondly at his surroundings.
John walked over to one of the nicer looking planes and opened up the hatchway. He stepped inside and motioned for Riley and Ben to do the same.
The two men entered the two seats behind the pilots and secured themselves in.
John finished all the pre-flight checks and started the engines. Ben noticed Riley holding tightly to his seatbelt, a look of fear across his face as the plane rose into the air. Riley was known for getting a bit airsick.
"Just don't barf on me," Ben said, saying his thoughts aloud.
Riley gave no heed to this statement and continued to hyperventilate.
Ben rolled his eyes and continued to ponder what they would do to stop Ian. Different scenarios popped into Ben's head during the flight. He had thoughts such as Ian shooting his way in or blowing up the whole building. Ben knew these thoughts weren't as ridiculous as they sounded, Ian was known to do some crazy and reckless things, trying to kill Riley for example.
Ben stared over at Riley and found the young man asleep from exhaustion. He dozed off a few times but quickly woke up out of his stupor at the sound of John's voice.
"We're getting close," He yelled over the roar of the engines.
Ben looked out the window to finally see "civilization" as Riley would put it.
Ben nudged Riley awake and pointed out the window. Riley, bleary-eyed, immediately woke up at the sight of all the cars and people below.
"Yay, I thought we were going to freeze to death!" Riley cried.
Ben, once again, rolled his eyes and smiled down at home. He knew this was only the start of the adventure.
A/N: I'm not so sure about this story… Well, maybe it's just me. If you think so too, please review.
Sarah