Uncharted Fanfiction

Aftermath – Chapter Two

Description: Nathan battles the internal struggle inside resulting from the consequences of his choices and actions as a treasure hunter, putting those he loves the most in danger. A much needed friend arrives. Nate & Elena Romance, Sully & Nathan Hurt/Comfort.

Setting: Tenzin's village in Tibet atop a snowy mountain peek inside the healer's medical hut/tent that housed Elena after she was hit by a grenade set off by Harry Flynn.

He looked down at Elena, she was so still it made him uneasy. He leaned forward and slowly reached out his hand to touch her, but hesitated at first. She looked so frail, he was afraid of hurting her more than she was already hurt to begin with. The internal conflict was killing him, but he had to feel her breathing, he had to know she was still alive after everything. He gently put his hand on her chest and felt the smallest rise and fall. Her breath was so short and subtle, it was clear she was in a lot of pain. Confirming she was alive, he let out a sigh of relief allowing his tense muscles to relax slightly, but only for a moment.

He hunched over in his chair, leaned his elbows on her bedside and took her hand in his, pressing his forehead to meet her hand. A wave of guilt and shame washed over him all at once as tears welled up in his eyes. He couldn't fight back his feelings any longer. "I did this to you. It was my fault, all of it. I should've never dragged you into this. You're here fighting for your life because of me and my bad decisions." He could barely talk at this point as his sadness and sobbing overwhelmed him "I'm sor-ry…I'm s-o sor-ry…"

The tent curtain opened and Chloe slowly poked her head in. She had never seem him like this and was conflicted with emotions of her own. She had grown very fond of Nate, heck she might even say she loved him, but she knew his heart belonged to Elena whether he was willing to admit it or not. The look in his eyes when he saw her in Nepal, there was no denying it. "Nate?" she said meekly now making her presence known, worried he would bark at her again. "Nate darling we really need to patch up your wound and fix your stitches. Come on, let's get you some clean clothes and some food. You haven't eaten in over a day." she reached out and put her hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged her hand off his shoulder, not once taking his eyes off Elena. "I'm not leaving her".

"You're going to bleed out!" Chloe argued. "We need to treat the infection before it gets worse, not to mention we can smell you from a mile away"

"Just leave me alone" he said, his voice sounded defeated like his spirit had been broken. No jokes, no witty remarks or clever come backs, just utter defeat.

"But.."

He cut her off "Chloe just go!" he said angrily, ashamed to have anyone see him like this.

Chloe resigned her efforts and stepped outside. She needed a new plan since she couldn't get through to him. She tried to get the radio she pulled from one of Lazarevitch's men to function. Tenzin saw her struggle and pointed to a nearby hut which contained a longwave radio capable of communicating across mountains. In a desperate final attempt she radioed the only other person she knew who could get through to Nate.

"Victor, is that you? How fast can you get to the Himalayas?" she said with a sense of urgency.

"What in the hell happened? Did you find the stone? Where's Nate?" his questions in rapid succession one after another. After he parted ways with Chloe and Nate in Borneo he had no contact up until now and no idea what was going on or what could possibly motivate Chloe to get in touch with him.

"I'm sending you our coordinates, you're going to need some sort of truck to get up here. Follow the train tracks past the wreckage and you'll find us"

"Wreckage?! God damn it what in the hell did Nate blow up this time?" he jokes to cover up his worry, fearing that Nate has gotten himself in over his head.

"Just get here as fast as you can, it's Nate he needs you" she pleads. "Bring whatever medical supplies you can get your hands on"

"Medical supplies? Shit. Is he is in one piece?" the worry becomes more real and he fears the worst.

"He's alive and holding on, but he won't let us help him. It's Elena…"

Sully interrupts her shocked, "Elena? As in Elena Fisher foreign correspondent, the journalist? That Elena? How the hell did she get involved in all of this?"

"It's a long story. We ran into Elena in Nepal and Nate insisted on taking her with us, Nate got shot trying to rescue me, we found the Cintamani stone, Elena was way too close to a grenade and the shrapnel has left her fighting for her life. We're not sure she's going to make it. Victor please just hurry, there isn't much time before…" the radio cut short and they lost contact.

"Shit." Sully had a feeling Elena meant more to Nate than he was willing to let on, even though he had never said it after he left her. "Hang on kid, I'm coming."

Two days went by before a truck with a small plow attached to the front made its way into the village carrying Sully and the few medical supplies he could gather. Chloe rushed over "Victor, Thank God you're here".

"Where is he?" he cut to the chase, worried about what he might find next.

"This way…in here" she points to the medical tent harboring a still unconscious Elena. They managed to re-stitch Nathan's bullet wound after he drifted off from blood loss and exhaustion until he woke abruptly again shoving them off of him before they could clean it up properly and treat the infection.

Sully made his way into the medical tent where he saw Nate with his back turned, slumped over in a chair at Elena's bedside barely holding himself up, his head held heavy in one hand and Elena's hand lifeless and limp in the other. He looked over at Elena, it was worse than he had thought. Her complexion was pale as a ghost, she was barely breathing intermittently and remained in a comatose state.

"Jesus kid, what the hell happened to you two?"

Hearing Sully's voice for the first time since Borneo snapped Nathan out of his trance and he broke eye contact from Elena for the first time. He turned around to make sure he wasn't delirious as he had been since his fever had gotten worse and started to play mind tricks on him.

"Sully?…You're…you're here? But how? Wait a second, how do I know you're real?" he questioned himself making it all up in his mind.

Sully walked over to Nate and playfully flicked him on the forehead.

"Ow!"

"That real enough for you?"

His tone of voice took a complete turn and almost sounded gleeful "Sully! What are you doing here?"

It was the first time his voice sounded somewhat normal and almost hopeful since the grenade went off in Shambhala and everything took a turn for the worse.

"You tell me. One minute I'm suckin' on a cigar in Australia sipping on whiskey and the next minute Chloe's radioing me telling me all sorts of crazy shit like how you found the Cintamani stone, got shot somewhere along the way and now this." He motioned to Elena "How did she even…"

He cut him off "- We ran into each other in Nepal. She was trailing Lazarevitch with her camera man Jeff for a story. I couldn't just leave them there, the city was in civil war. After Flynn shot me I ended up here. Schafer warned us about the dangers of the resin and I saw it first-hand. I had to stop Lazarevitch, I had to end it. When we found the stone I realized it wasn't a sapphire but more resin from the tree of life. Before I could go after him, Flynn dropped the grenade and Elena…" he choked up "she couldn't get out of the way in time and now…" he couldn't finish the sentence. "Sully, I don't know what to do. This is all my fault, she's like this because of me".

"Nate, There was nothing else you could have done. She would have gone after him with or without you. At least bringing her with you, you could look out for her.."

He interrupted " - but that's the thing, I failed. I should've been able to protect her. I should've never let her continue to pursue Lazarevitch knowing how dangerous he was after seeing him murder Jeff in cold blood. And Flynn" anger coursed through him momentarily and lit a fire in his eyes "I should've killed him when I had the chance" his anger fizzled out as quickly as it came and turned into regret "Schafer was right, everything I touch turns to shit."

Sully sat down next to Nate. "Listen kid, there's only so much you can do. You can't do it all." At this point he could smell the stench wafting off of Nate who hadn't showered in days or even changed his clothes since Shambala. "Jesus you stink!".

Nathan just stared at Elena intently, lost in his thoughts wondering if he'd ever hear her voice again, her laugh, all the things about her that made her special, that made her the only person who could do this to him, the only person who could make him feel this way.

Sully got a closer look at him. His face was grimy, caked in a mixture of blood, sweat and tears. His eyes were heavy and weary with bags underneath from lack of sleep and a persistent high fever. He looked down and saw his shirt torn in many places, but what was most unnerving was the large blood stain soaked through both of his shirts from where he was shot.

Disturbed, Sully asked "How long have you let it sit like that?" he placed a hand on Nathan's shoulder bringing him back to reality.

"Huh?"

"Your gunshot wound, let me see it"

"Sully - " he pulled away as Sully drew closer to examine the wound.

He cut him off, now angry with him because he knew he was not taking care of it. "- Ah, ah, Nate!" his voice was strict as he pulled Nathan's shirt up high enough to see the damage. His shirt stuck to the wound and peeled some of the dead flesh off that was clearly festering from infection surrounding the stitches that were barely holding him together, preventing him from bleeding out.

Nate flinched and grunted at the feeling of his dead skin peeling off and tried to resist Sully. Sully pulled his shirts off completely, they were heavy, dripping with blood.

The wound was surrounded by inflamed tissue, and had shades of red from blood both old and new, white from the pus of the infection and purple from bruising while forcing his body to perform far past he should have.

"C'mon, we have to get this cleaned up and treated pronto! Let's go, you need some fresh air" he tried to lift Nate but he resisted again.

"Sully I have to be here, I can't leave her like this. What if she -"

He cut him off before he could finish his sentence "-Nate, you're gonna be no good to her dead if you keep this shit up. Getting yourself killed isn't gonna help her kid. It's a miracle you've lasted this long with the way that thing looks." he put the back of his hand on Nate's forehead "and god damn it you're lucky your fever hasn't killed you yet either."

Nate just stared at her, not moving.

"Five minutes, can you give me that? I'll have it cleaned up in no time and you can come right back, I promise."

"I guess..."

"Alright, up we go" Sully put Nate's arm around him and his arm up and around Nate's shoulder and lifted him up. He groaned involuntarily. He hadn't moved in days and his body protested the sudden movement. The wound, now worse than ever, was searing and the pain radiated throughout his entire body, throbbing and aching. His fever was so high, the room started to spin and he lost control of his movement. He stumbled trying to take the first step and all of his weight collapsed onto Sully.

"I gotcha, you're alright" he says more to convince himself than Nate. He knew his friend was in bad shape, worse than he's ever seen him. He managed to get Drake outside and sat him down in the sun on a neighboring stoop. Sully had some medical training from his time in the Navy and knew how to treat a wound. He took out his medical supplies, strapped on latex gloves and got to work on cleaning it out and treating the infection. Chloe, shocked to see Nate outside, walked over.

"How on Earth did you manage to -"

"-Chloe" Sully interrupted, not wanting to jinx having just convinced a stubborn Nate to cooperate even momentarily. "be a doll and get me the antibiotics and pain killers? and some food and water to go with it won't ya?"

She took the hint and complied quickly. Nathan squinted, he hadn't been outside or seen the sun in days.

"How do you manage to get yourself into all this?" Sully said to Nate to make sure he was still with him. "I mean really, I leave you alone for five minutes and you go ahead and wreck a train, get yourself shot, level a lost city all in what, a matter of days? Has to be some kind of record!" he tried to make light of an otherwise grim situation hoping for a characteristic wise-ass retort from Nate, only to be met with his silence.

He was out of it, lost in his thoughts and reluctant to be away from Elena in case she were to wake up. He needed to be there when she woke up...if she woke up...

"She really means that much to you, huh?"

Nate looked at him speechless, the question took him back and clearly made him think.

Chloe returned, two bowls of stir-fry vegetables over rice with chicken, one in each hand and the requested medicine in her pockets. She handed one to Sully and one to Nathan.

"I'm not hungry" he said handing the bowl back to her.

"Like hell you're not." Sully took the bowl from Chloe and handed it back to him. He motioned for her to give them some space. He knew Nathan was vulnerable and feeling reckless.

He resisted. "Nate, eat the god damn food" he said shoving it back into his hands not accepting no for an answer. "And clean up your face" he handed him a washcloth and a bowl of soapy water.

Nate surrendered knowing that Sully wasn't going to let this one go. He took a forkful and put it in his mouth, then blotted the washcloth in the water and cleaned up his face until the once white washcloth turned a mixture of red and brown. He didn't realize how hungry he was until he tasted food for the first time in days. He quickly finished off the bowl.

"That's it" Sully said, pleased to see him comply for once. He was able to distract Nate long enough to start working on cleaning out and disinfecting the wound while he ate.

Sully had to squeeze out the pus and remove the dead and rotting skin so he could treat the wound. "Ah! Shhhit!" Nate shrieked, the disinfectant stung like hell. The bullet had passed through him, but he saw that there were three shards of metal debris lodged near the entry point. "This is going to hurt", Sully said taking off his belt and handing it to him. "Put this in your mouth".

"How do you always manage to make everything sound so dirty?" Nathan teased, knowing this was going to suck. It was the first wise crack he had made and gave Sully some hope that his friend was still in there. Nathan wrapped the belt around his fists and bit down on the belt preparing himself for what was to come.

Sully took out the surgical tweezers and forceps and carefully reached in and grabbed the first metal shard. As he slowly pulled it out, Nate bit down on the belt hard and let out a muffled scream. Seeing him in this kind of pain was killing Sully, especially since he was the one causing it at the moment. But he knew it had to be done, it had to be him and it had to be now.

He retracted and placed the metal shard on a small tray next to him. "That's one, two more to go". He went back in, Nate's eyes were glaring down at the tools, hating their existence. He pulled on the second shard and Nate bit down even harder, this time screaming louder in anguish, so loud that a flock of nearby birds got spooked and took off. "Hang in there kid", Sully could barely take it anymore, but it was either this or let the infection spread and his fever slowly kill him.

"Sully I - I can't…please stop" he begged. It was torture, like getting shot all over again, blood seeping out with each shard he removed making him light headed. He had already lost so much blood. "Just one more Nate, you can do it". He reached in for the last shard, the biggest one of all three. As he pulled, Nate cried out in agony and bit down so hard he almost bit through the belt. "Got it!" Sully exclaimed and turned to place the final shard in the tray along with the other two. Nate's vision started to blur fast, his body giving up on him. "You did it kid!...kid?" he looked over at Nate and saw him about to collapse. He couldn't take the pain anymore. "Oh God, NATE!" Sully's voice slowly faded away along with his vision and he passed out in pain as his head hit the pavement.