Outside the air was still muggy and warm, so you took off walking towards the sounds of the party life, walking on until you found a bar where you could get a drink without being ripped off. You'd find your way home in the morning. There'd be a plane going somewhere, and it's not like anybody cared where you ended up anyway-the possibilities were endless.

Snorting, you stared into your drink and shook your head. That was the same type of shit that Sam used to say when you were kids that got you into so many messes.

For the first time in your life, you  regretted taking Sam's hand that night, letting him persuade you to come with him and his brother, to start a new life. If you hadn't, you'd have ran away by yourself, started a new life and probably wouldn't even remember the name Sam Drake. That would have been better, less painful. Sam could have died in that prison and you'd have never felt the pain, because you'd have never known.

But even if you knew it would have been easier for yourself, you knew that you'd never change the decision that night. If you could somehow go back in time, you'd still pick the brothers. Pick Sam. They're your family, and nothing would ever change that. You had to protect them, no matter how much you wanted to kill them yourself sometimes.

Sighing, you put the next drink down and realised how much time had passed when you looked up to find an almost empty bar. It was early hours of the morning and you were done with that bar anyway. In the morning you had a boat to catch, and treasure to find. No matter how much Sam hurt you, you weren't going home until you knew he was safe, and his debt paid.

So the next morning Nate and Sam emerged from their hotel room carrying their supplies and heading for the docks where they'd tied their hired boat, the two of them quiet, barely saying a word to each other as they walked.

You were sitting in the drivers seat of the boat, watching them approach, but it wasn't until you called out that the two of them even noticed you. "Good thing we're not renting this by the hour!"

Sam almost dropped his bags when he saw you, and Nate just grinned as he jumped on the boat and dumped his supplies before walking over to you and pulling you into a hug, telling you he was glad that you came back. You just smiled and patted his back, about to say something when Sam spoke from behind Nate.

"Changed your mind, huh?"

Freezing, you hesitated a second before stepping out of Nate's embrace and stepping around him to face his brother.

Sam looked like he regretted his words from the night before, but you were still mad at him, so you just crossed your arms and watched him before answering. "I said I'd help you pay off Alkazar, and I will. But make no mistake, Sam. What I said yesterday was true too. After all this, I'm done. You'll never see me again. I'm taking my share of the treasure and starting over somewhere. I'm done wasting my life with this shit... Any problems with that?"

Sam looked away and shook his head, answering quietly. "No."

You nodded and turned away again, facing the front of the boat. "Good. Now let's go find some treasure."

Sam took the wheel while Nate sat on the back bench, so you sat on the deck, watching the sky change colour as the time passed and Kings Bay was left behind.

Nate filled you in on what happened after you left, saying that Elena found out and got mad, and Sully had gone with her. The look of shame on Nate's face told you enough about how bad he felt about the two of them, so you didn't press, and the three of you went on in silence.

After about an hour at sea, Sam finally spoke, calling back to the pair of you. "Land ho!"

Getting to your feet, you walked to the front and saw the island approaching.

"What do you think about that, huh?" Sam asked his little brother, but Nate just shrugged.

"It's pretty cool," he confessed half heartedly, and Sam's face fell a little. You knew he felt guilty for Nate and Elena, and he was sad that he'd upset you, so he gestured for Nate to take the wheel. You watched as he headed to the back of the boat and pulled three bottles of something from the cooler.

"You know all this running around, surviving by the skin of our teeth... I don't think we've actually taken a moment to step back and appreciate just how far we've come," he smiled as he walked back to the pair of you, throwing the lids into the sea before handing you each a bottle.

In your current mood with Sam, you half debated throwing him in after the lids, but you pushed down your annoyance and accepted your drink.

"Sic parvis magna," he toasted, echoed by you and Nate. You each took a drink and then Sam turned to Nate and put his drink down. "Listen little brother, she will get over it..."

You snorted softly and ignored the look Sam gave you as you retreated to the back of the boat, putting as much distance between the two of you as was possible on the boat. Wisely he seemed to understand and sat beside Nathan for the remainder of the journey.

When you were close to the island, you stood up to get a better look, seeing the worried look on Sam's face.

"Huh, somehow I thought it would be bigger," he mused, and Nate nodded, but you just hid your smirk. It was a truly poetic end to the journey if you ended up empty handed again. You were actually so used to the idea already that you were doubting you'd find a single coin. You were a bit gutted that you weren't gonna find Libertalia, the place the three of you used to talk about as kids. The stories of how you'd all one day find it and become rich and famous. They were the stories that kept you warm on nights when the three of you were forced to huddle in some doorway together, no home for the night.

Before they could get too disheartened, you pointed at the biggest island, furthest away. "So maybe the colony isn't here, but the treasure might be. Or some ruins?"

Nate nodded and started the engine again, slowly navigating the sand banks. You were getting close when you noticed a sunken ship in the water and yelled for Nathan to stop the boat. Pointing over to it, you grinned, knowing it'd be fun to have a look around it.

"There might be clues?" You tried, and Nate laughed at your reaching, but nodded.

"True. I take it you want to investigate?"

You nodded and kicked your converse off before pulling your tank top off, leaving you in a simple teal bikini top and your shorts. You could help but smile as Nate drove you closer and then you jumped off the boat and into the sea. The last time you'd been in the water, it was in Scotland and you'd been shot. This time was much better and you laughed as you headed for the wreck. Nate tossed you some snorkeling goggles, which you pulled on before diving down into the ship, wanting to cry at how beautiful it was. There was fish everywhere and coral had started growing up the side of the ship.

You swam inside, the water getting cold all of a sudden with the lack of light, but there wasn't much to see anyway. You surfaced with a gasp and pulled the goggles off, throwing them back onto the deck. "It's beautiful! No treasure though!"

You swam back to the boat and accepted a hand up by Sam, who didn't even look at you. Still, you thanked him and wrung your hair out over the side, the smile not leaving your face.

Nate started the boat again and carried on towards the big Island, so you kept your eyes out for anything. You had just spotted a tower and we're gonna point it out when Sam suddenly yelled. "Look! A dolphin!" He exclaimed, and Nate teased him for his enthusiasm.

"Never seen a dolphin before?"

Sam seemed to lose a bit of his joy as he answered. "Well yeah, but it was many years ago..."

You ran to his side to spot the dolphin, grinning when you did, even as Nate shrugged. "You'll be happy to know they haven't changed much..."

Taking pity on Sam, you glared at Nate. "Shut up Nate! Dolphins are awesome no matter how many times you see them!"

With that, you jumped back into the water, swimming away from the boat and laughing as the dolphin came over to you, nuzzling your hand like a big sea dog. You laughed, feeling pure joy as you played with the dolphin for a bit, hearing a click and looking up to see Sam, armed with a Polaroid, and he'd just got a picture of you and the dolphin. You were still smiling as you looked at him, the dolphin having lightened your mood to no end, so as a peace offering, you splashed some water towards the ship and called to Sam. "You should come in. Waters delightful, and we've got a friend!"

Sam chuckled but shook his head. "No thanks, I'm gonna stay dry as long as possible..."

You shrugged, still treading water. "Suit yourself... I should be getting out anyway," you sighed, swimming back to the boat again.

This time Sam was happy too, and you wondered how much he'd been thinking about your argument. He still looked guilty about the things he'd said, but you knew you'd deserved some of it, just as he'd deserved some of what you said. Still, you knew you should apologise or at the very least offer him an explanation, so you waited until you were on the island and Nate had wondered off to explore and pulled Sam to a stop.

He looked a little cautious, as if he was worried you were going to scream at him again, but you just took a deep breath and finally got off your chest the words he needed to hear, and the ones you needed to say.

"Sam... I just need you to listen to me for a moment... It's about what you said last night..." you started, but Sam shook his head and stepped closer, looking like he was going to touch you, but then he stopped.

"Y/N, look I'm sorry about tha-" you put your hand over his mouth to stop his words and tried to make him understand without saying anything. After a few seconds, the message was conveyed and he nodded, so you lowered your hand.

"What you said was right... I have become a shell of who I used to be, and I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry that I've been different since you got back, and I'm sorry that we'll be going out separate ways after all this... But that's why I have to explain now. I need you to know..." you took another deep breath before continuing.

"We lost you Sam. I lost you. And not in my whole life have I ever felt pain like it before. It completely tore me apart, and broke me. Christ, for a few days I thought I was gonna die too. The pain was so real... and that was because I loved you. I loved you Sam Drake, but I could never tell you because you were gone. Our last true conversation had been made up of harsh words and spite, and thinking that you died without knowing... That was terrible. But worse than that? I knew how you felt about yourself, how you still do now. You think you're the expendable one. The one who holds the rest of us back, and the one who doesn't belong. You don't think you deserve the love you have, and knowing that you'd died thinking that made everything so much worse... I loved you so much, but you'd never know because I'd got with Rafe, and I never said anything to you, but Fuck Sam..." you stopped, your quaking voice making words too hard. Sam's face was heartbroken, but you had more to explain.

"So I've been distant since you got back... That's because I never want to go through the pain of loving you again. Loving you and losing you... I don't think I'd survive it this time," you whispered, tears spilling down your cheeks and you finally got it off your chest.

Sam didn't even hesitate to pull you against him, holding you close and pressing his face into your hair. "Shit, Y/N... I... Shit."

There was nothing else to be said, and you were thankful Sam finally understood, so you didn't move away for a long moment, breathing in the scent of him and allowing it to remind you of simpler times, before you'd lost each other.

When you pulled back, you wiped your tears and laughed at the state you'd gotten into. "I was playing with a dolphin ten minutes ago, what happened?"

Sam just laughed and shook his head, so you squeezed his hand and then led the way after Nate.

The rest of the island was a lot of climbing and swinging, finding a few places to explore before moving on, but after an hour or so, the three of you finally had a new destination- another island, visible through Averys spyglass.

"I don't know, boys. But this is starting to feel like we're nearly there," you grinned as you raced back for the boat, hoping to beat the storm am that was rolling in, and the other ships on the horizon that had to be Shoreline.

If you'd have known what was going to happen over the next hour, you'd have stayed in the tower and put your feet up, but naturally you were clueless and jumped in the boat with the others, gunning it towards the horizon.