"Will you two just stop?!" You snapped, stepping between the two Drakes brothers as they argued about what to do next. You'd heard enough. They both had good points, but they were both stubborn as all hell, so neither would back down. Of course, when you got yourself involved, they both turned to you, demanding you take a side. You were just about to tell them to leave you out of it when something caught your eye and the words died in your mouth.

"Y/N..." Sam tried, but you shushed him and walked forward, reaching out to pull at some vines in front of you, ripping them back to reveal Henry Averys sigil carved into the rock.

"No way!"

Sam and Nate looked over your shoulder and you heard Sam smugly ask his brother if he still wanted to go home. Taking pity on Nate, you elbowed Sam and shot him a look. He held his hands up in surrender, but you'd already forgotten as you raced past the two brothers, heading deeper inland, looking for any other clues.

It didn't take long and the three of you were standing in front of a half fallen building. As soon as you saw it, you laughed out loud and stared in wonder for a moment. There was an actual building in front of you. Much more than a wooden shack too. If there was anything else behind it, you didn't know, but it was a start. Following Nate, you climbed up through a window and dropped down onto the other side, unable to think of anything other than the fact that you were potentially taking your first steps in Libertalia.

Inside, the floors had fallen through in places, making it a maze to navigate.

"This place has seen better days, huh?" Sam noted, looking around as you started forward, closely followed by the two brothers.

"Looks like our first flat," you laughed as you climbed under something, hearing the two men laugh behind you as they remembered. The flat had been falling apart, and for the six months the three of you lived there, a day didn't go by that one of you didn't put your foot through the floor, or part of the ceiling started leaking.

Nate, the victim of the majority of issues in the flat, scoffed and joined you on the other side of the collapsed beam, helping you support it while Sam ducked under. "Be real, Y/N. This is like a 5* hotel in comparison to that place. At least this place is furnished. And hasn't injured me y- SHIT!" He cursed as he smacked his head on a low beam.

Biting your lips to hide your laughter, you walked by him with a smirk. "You were saying?"

"You were saying," he mimicked in a high voice behind you, but you just laughed and continued on, finally making it out from beneath the collapsed floors. From there you just waited for Nate to push a crate down and then followed Sam up and over the wall.

Words failed you as you stood up and saw what awaited you ahead.

Libertalia.

"Er, Nathan? You're gonna wanna see this," Sam called, his eyes wide as he took in the sight too. Nathan grumbled something, but cut off as he stood up beside you. Sam took a few steps backwards so the three of you were standing in a line, and crossed his arms, a smug smile on his lips. "What do you see?"

Nate chuckled and pointed forwards. "No houses. Wide streets. Clearly a commercial district of some kind..."

You grinned but elbowed him as he teased Sam. Sam smirked and looked down for a moment. "Yes... Thank you for that, Nathan. C'mon. What do you see?"

Nate chuckled and looked between you and Sam. "You just wanna hear me sat it, don't you? Libertalia."

You cheered as he said it, finally able to talk as you took off running into the place youd spent a good half of your life hunting. Jumping down onto the street, you looked around yourself in awe. It was incredible, and you couldn't stop smiling as you explored, regularly catching Nate and Sam the same way.

Of course you should have known that it was too good to last, and after finding some sort of secret bunker, the three of you continued onwards and ran into Shoreliners patrolling the path ahead.

Swinging into cover, you watched them move and growled as you realised how hard it was going to be to get through them. "Have these assholes got nothing better to be doing? We're not gonna be able to sneak through these guys easily..."

Nate grunted his agreement and Sam stayed quiet, the two of them just watching for a moment. You started watching for any patterns while the brothers quickly started talking plans. You listened to them whisper argue for a moment about which way to proceed, but then you saw your opportunity to move and so did.

Leaping out of cover, you jumped to the opposite building, catching yourself on a windowsill. You realised in the air that there was someone in the room, so you wasted no time in pulling yourself up and into the room, somehow still undetected by the Shoreline dude. Using surprise to your advantage, you ran forward and jumped on his back, wrapping your arms around his throat before he could sound the alarm. When he was unconscious, you waved the brothers over and when they joined you, you pointed at a building that you needed to get to. "We split up and meet there. Try not to draw any attention to yourself."

Nodding, the two of them headed out, and carefully you made your own way across.

It was slow going, but eventually the three of you were back together, only one small section between you all and the building you were heading for. The only problem was the Shoreliners that would see you if you attempted to climb up the building. You'd have to take them down. And quietly or the guys you'd managed to sneak by would come running.

Splitting up again, the three of you carefully took the mercs down quietly. You heard Sam call your name and you were just about to answer when you saw the last merc round the corner, a gun in his hand. Acting quickly, you kicked the weapon from his hand and tackled him back into the building he'd just walked out of. He grunted as he hit the ground but managed to throw you off him, giving him time to get to his feet. You quickly followed suit and watched as he smirked at you, exposing his tobacco stained teeth as you sized each other up. He was big, but the Drake's had your back if you couldn't handle it. Assuming they even knew what was happening.

"I won't take it easy on you because you're a woman," he promised, stepping closer and swinging a punch at your head. You stepped under it, dodging past him while landing a punch to his side.

"Good. Coz I'm not gonna take it easy on you because you fight worse than my nan!" You snarled back, planting your feet.

Without another word, the thug ran at you and you took a swing, catching him in the jaw, but he was still coming and tackled you into the wall, and you heard it splinter behind you. You hit him again a few times to try and get him off you but it had little affect as he already had you right where he wanted you. You were just calling him your favourite swear word when his hands were suddenly around your throat, cutting off all your air.

You tried batting his hands off you but his only reply was to lift you off your feet so all you could do was hit and kick weakly. Your vision was already red on the edges, but you still fought, managing to land a kick in the mercs favourite body part, causing him to half drop you, allowing you a small gasp of air before both of his hands were around your throat, squeezing again.

This is it, you thought with some panic, I'm gonna die here.

You couldn't even cry as the air was slowly choked from you until it felt like your lungs were going to burst. Just as you felt consciousness slipping away, you heard a shout and then you were released, collapsing to the ground and coughing hard, making you whine in pain as your raw throat gave you the air you needed.

Suddenly Sam was at your side, his gun still in his hand as he put a hand on your back and turned your face to look at him.

"Y/N? Look at me. Y/N!"

You turned your face to look, tears streaming from your eyes and your lungs aching, but you were still alive. Sam saw the fear in your eyes and pulled you closer, stroking your hair as he whispered to you.

"It's OK, Y/N. He's dead. You're fine... You're OK..."

You allowed him to soothe you for a moment, getting your breathing back under control before swallowing and allowing him to help you to your feet. Before he could say anything, Nathan came running in, his eyes widening as he caught sight of the already developing bruises on your neck.

Sam ignored him and tilted your head back gently to get a look. His fingers gently probed the skin and he asked a few questions, but when you answered, he nodded and stepped back. "You'll be fine. You're lucky he didn't damage your wind pipe. Can you talk?" He asked, and you nodded and croaked an answer too.

"Yes. Now let's get out of here."

He nodded and Nate led the way as Sam decided to hang back and watch you, saying nothing, even when you slipped your hand in his. He entwined your fingers and led the way up into the tower with Nate.

At the top, you were given a boost up so you could drop something down for Sam and Nate to use to climb up to you, and after kicking down a heavy box, you went to the ladder and climbed outside, the others close behind.

From there there was a few more climbs and then you were making your way through another half collapsed building, much too big to be a house. Nate led the way this time, Sam hanging back with you squeezing your fingers when you took his hand. The three of you just climbed out of the house when Nate suddenly stopped and loosed a breath.

"Holy crap."

You had to agree.

"Well, I see our missing colonists... Some of them anyway," Sam said beside you, letting go of your hand to go explore, you trailing behind.

There were bodies everywhere, and a barricade made of doors and furniture from the buildings. Clearly something had happened there, and you were beginning to suspect what.

Nate was making the same observations as he walked. "Canons, improvised barricades. What the hell happened here?"

Stating the obvious, Sam jumped in with a battle of some description, and you and Nate both rolled your eyes. Deciding to offer your opinion, you started singing so they could both hear you. "Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men..."

Sam and Nate turned to look at you, so you gestured to the barricade and the bodies around. "Clearly they were pissed about something. Enough that they were going to fight the founders over it. This looks like an uprising... Outside of the treasury. I wonder what it could have been about..."

Your hints proved correct, and the treasury was empty, though it didn't take long for the three of you to figure out who had taken it, or to where. So that was your new destination. New Devon. You needed to get up high to try and spot it, so the three of you started climbing again, leaving the empty treasury behind and climbing the huge tower beside it.

Swallowing hurt your throat, as did panting, so every breath was a pain as you moved, but the view at the top took your breath away anyway.

"Quite the crows nest huh?"

You chuckled and did a 360, looking at the beautiful scenery around you while the brothers found New Devon and continued talking. It was only when Sam came over to you that you realised Nate was already climbing back down, leaving the pair of you alone for a moment.

"It's beautiful," you breathed, looking out towards the ocean and imagining seeing pirate ships out there, holds full of treasure. Sam nodded and smiled contentedly.

"It really is. It's everything I imagined. What about you?"

You looked at him then. Really looked. He had an easy smile on his face and his eyes were lit up with happiness in a way that you hadn't seen since you were kids. Upon seeing that look on his face, you realised that he was Sam. Still your Sam, and you'd made mistakes in your life, but you weren't willing to make another one. So without saying anything, you stretched up onto your toes and kissed him on the mouth.

He froze as you brushed your lips over his, once. Twice more before pulling back and looking at him.

He was frozen in shock, but he was still happy and before you could react, he pulled you against him and kissed you back.

Your kiss had been testing the waters, but Sam's? Sam's obliterated you. He kissed you how you had wanted to kiss him. In the way that made up for all the lost time, all the different people you'd each been with who had been so wrong. Because everyone else was wrong, and both of you had always known it from the moment you'd met. You and Sam were right. The only right, which was why it had hurt so much when you thought you'd lost him, and why you'd fight so hard to make sure it never happened again.

It wasn't a kiss like in Italy either. This kiss was the kiss that claimed every part of you as his. It wasn't for an audience. It was purely for the two of you to break down the walls you'd built between yourselves over the years, and finally accept that you belonged together.

When he pulled away you were breathless, unable to stop smiling as you looked at him. For the first time since you'd known him, Sam looked content in the moment, his hands on your hips, holding you close. You were quite happy to stay that way for a while more, but Sam opened his mouth and spoke. "Y/N, there's something I need to tell you..."

You were just about to ask what was it, but there was an almighty bang and crash, followed by the sound of Nate yelling up to the both of you, announcing that Shoreline had found you.

Way to state the obvious, you thought as you and Sam quickly jumped into action, following Nate's path down the side of the tower and then inside.

"Run!" You yelled to the pair of them, grabbing their hands and pulling them along. A sudden explosion had you flying out of their grip, smashing into the opposite wall and falling the rest of the way down. You heard the pair of them yelling for you as you slowly got to your feet, a little dizzy. But then Nate was there, his hand pulling you up and along with him as Sam reached you both and cast you a worried look. You didn't have time for that though, so the three of you started running again.

There was so much noise and stuff falling that you couldn't think of anything other than to keep moving forward, vaulting over windows as the tower fell onto its side. If any of you stopped or hesitated for a moment, you'd go down with the tower, and there would be no walking away from that...

The tower was falling faster now, and you were just starting to worry, but then you made it. The three of you were safe!

Well...

You had no time to catch your breath as you were being fired at again, so you sprinted out of the way, crashing through the next set of doors and trying for another. You saw the grenade before Nate did, just yelling a warning when it went off, the shock taking both of you off your feet.

You watched as Nate slipped over the edge, too far for Sam to reach, so you dove for his hand, grabbing it just as the ground gave out and you both went tumbling. The ground was too slick with mud to stop from sliding off the cliff, and you both went over, letting go of each other in the air. You didn't even have time to scream as the pair of you were suddenly colliding with beams, stopping your death plummet in its tracks.

You didn't have time to rest, you could hear Sam fighting above you, and you and Nate both yelled for him to kick their ass, climbing the building so you could join him before he got over powered.

Nate was ahead of you, so when he climbed through the window, he was greeted by Nadines fist. You reached the window in time to see her throw him, her back to you. Seeing red, you yelled her name as you jumped through the window, tackling her to the ground before she even knew you were there.

Her reactions were fast, and she'd reversed your positions before you'd even hit the ground properly. But you'd given Nate the time he needed to reach her gun. She was moving too fast though and he didn't dare shoot her while you were so close, so she tackled him through the wall, the two of them sliding again, while you scrambled to your feet and went to follow them just as Sam arrived.

The two of you jumped together, hearing Nadine talking to Nate. "After everything, you think I'm just going to let you walk away?"

You and Sam jumped down beside Nate, Sam speaking first. "That'd be the wise thing to do."

Nadine looked unimpressed and moved so the three of you were facing her. You knew what she was doing, and as much as you hated her, you had to admit that she had balls. Nate started reasoning with her.

"Come on Nadine. I know you're a badass and all, but there's three of us..."

She looked like she was going to say something, but you beat her to it, shaking your head and stepping forward. "No. There's just me... I've got this."

Nadines smile widened, but before the others could stop you, you were moving forward, throwing a punch at Nadines face. She ducked aside and returned a kick, barely grazing your ribs as you managed to dodge, landing your first punch to her exposed side as she fell off balance. You heard her grunt in pain, but before you could feel a little smug, she finished her rotation and caught you in the face with the back of her hand, sending you backwards. You knew what she was going to do as soon as she did. While you were still off balance, she booted you in the chest.

You heard the Drake's yell your name as your legs hit the windowsill and then you went tumbling out of it.

You flipped once in the air before catching yourself on the wall and managing to pull yourself up, your muscles aching from the amount of climbing and fighting you'd done over the past few weeks. But you had to keep moving. You could hear Nadine had turned on the others, and you didn't trust her with them.

Using your grappling hook, you swung in a large arc, bringing you to the floor above where you'd been fighting. As soon as your feet touched down, you were running forward, diving for Nadine on the floor below.

In the air you had time to think that maybe tackling her in such an old building wasn't a great idea, but it was already too late and you collided with her and the two of you continued through the floor.

You saw the ground rushing up to meet you and managed to angle yourself so that your back hit first, knocking your breath away, but other than that you were fine.

You could have laughed as you managed a look around. You were alive, and so we're the brothers. Nadine was unarmed, and you could escape Shoreline!

Or at least, that's what you thought. Naturally, that's when you heard them coming, scrambling to your feet quickly and turning to face whoever it was, ready for anything. Though you'd have preferred it if Rafe Adler himself hadn't stepped from the shadows.