Uncharted: Departure

"Psst, Flynn!"

Nate whispered as he watched his buddy unspool the ropes of a grappling hook. Flynn gave him one if his charming reassuring grins, though Nate has always thought of them as a warning sign, dubbing it as the 'we're-gonna-get-in-trouble' smile. "Crap, I knew it. This, is not a good idea." he muttered to himself. "Oh, don't be such a spoilsport, Nancy." Flynn said, finishing up on his grappling hook; he set his finger ready on the trigger and held it against his shoulder, "There ya go. Tell me the plan again, Nate." he turned to look at Nate, who was crouching with his back towards the wall, wearing all black save for a small camouflage-patterned backpack. He was holding two long flashlights – one for Flynn and the other for himself.

Nate leaned away from the wall, looked down and back to Flynn, his face showing an expression of annoyance and a slight tinge of queasiness. They were stationed outside on the edge of a huge museum, clinging on to nothing but the sides of the monument on the second floor. Neither of them had a fear of heights, but even so, it's natural to shudder a bit under the tension of knowing that you're standing 11 feet above ground, with the possibility of strong winds blowing you off balance and tumbling you down to the ground with a 'splat'. The Natural Museum of History in New York wasn't so big with thieves and museum robbers, but Flynn insisted that there was something worth taking in there.

"Do we have to do this here?! We're this close to falling off from the edge you know? And I'm not so big with cold weather." Nate whispered angrily, pinching his thumb and index finger closely together to show just how 'close' they were to dying from a fall. Flynn simply shrugged and shuffled closer to Nate, carefully balancing his weight on the half-a-meter ledge. "Look, I just want to make sure you know what we're doing, okay?" a pause. "Remember the last heist we made?" he pointed his finger on Nate's chest and said in an accusing tone,
"You practically had ourselves shot at by those what uh,"
"Chinese guards." Nate helped.
"Yeah, all thanks to your blunder. We're lucky they carried cheap knock-offs of AK-47s, or else we'd be dead." Flynn pushed his finger harder on Nate's chest, clearly making his point. The wind seemed to blow harder on the two as silence swept in. It was December and the streets are empty save for the flickering street lamps and occasional taxis passing by. The two trespassers had slowly climbed the building from the alleyways, careful not to slip on the snow-covered concrete. The right window on the second floor was open wide, leaving an easy entrance for the two to climb in.

"Thank God snow is not falling." Nate said.

Then, like a quick reply to his remark, small specks of snow started falling from above, one of them landing on the bridge of Nate's nose. He sneezed and was about to groan in complaint when Flynn moved aside and pointed the grappling gun on the window above them. "Cut it, Nate. We're going up."

The hook shot up through the air and landed on the museum floor where it clung to the side of the window with a reassuring 'clank'.

"Come on. Don't wanna be getting hypothermia, now do you?" Flynn said cheerily, proceeding to climb up the sturdy rope with a strong arm. He surely was fitter than Nathan; his muscled biceps and triceps screaming 'look at me!' under that tight black shirt. "Don't wanna be getting hypothermia now do I?" Nate mumbled under his breath, imitating Flynn's British accent in a mocking voice.

The two made it in the building just in time for a storm of snowflakes to fall from the night sky. They brushed off the white flecks off their clothes and pulled the grappling hook into the building and kept it in the bag. The hallway, covered almost in total darkness, looked more menacing than the alleyway they came through just a few moments before, its exhibitions partly illuminated with a creepy light. Flynn had their inside man cut out the electricity in the museum. "Hope you're not afraid of the dark." Flynn whispered, switching on his flashlight as Nate moved forward with his.

"This ought to be an easy steal. What do you think, Nate? Consider taking in Johnny for our next job?" Johnny, their inside man, was called in to do the job after they'd met him one afternoon in the police station in Mexico, after being locked in for some minor violations. Apparently, Flynn got involved with a very, very dangerous yet beautiful Mexican lady. Johnny went into the museum as a substitute night watcher, proceeded to shut down the power in the control room and open the window, all after convincing the other guard to 'take a break'. Three men were better than two, especially when the third was a well-seasoned fraud ex-convict. "I don't know..." Nate said, absently making his way through the trap-free museum.

"I don't think there'll be a next time, Flynn. I'm calling it quits." he finally said after reaching the animal exhibition entrance. Flynn looked at him, angered, it seemed, and asked harshly, "What do you mean, mate?" The Australian walked closer and pointed in the opposite direction. "Is it because of the heights? Or guns? Don't tell me you're scared about all this!" he snapped at Nate, face contracted in an expression of sadness and anger. The two had been partners for years, making their way through countless expeditions and heists all over the world, never doubting for a moment what they were doing was wrong.

The last trip to China had almost killed them, but they went on nevertheless, fueled by the thrill of their job and the smell of treasures to come. But no treasure really came – they worked for clients, for people who wanted the treasure for their own private collection. Nate had always hated the way things went when they extracted the artifact. There was no sense of respect or even interest in the thing itself, let alone its history and significance. Flynn couldn't care less about manuscripts and research – Nate did all of that. He didn't mind the callousness of their job, because he still got to do what he likes most without any rules or limitations. But something had changed just a couple of months ago, and that had made him think of his life differently.

The gate separating the animal exhibition from the hallway they were standing in creaked softly as if wind had blown from the other side, pushing it onto the two men.

"Never mind, I guess we're here." Nate said dismissively, turning his head to look at the closed animal exhibition site where their target piece was located in. After a minute of careful and expert lock-picking by Flynn, the gate slowly opened to reveal more darkness…except that this time, a loud and strong gust of wind blew straight at them, almost knocking the pick-locking tools out of Flynn's hands.

"What the? I didn't tell Johnny to open the windows in this section!" Flynn shouted through the roaring winds. "It's not the wind, tough guy. Look at that." Nate pointed at a soft blue glow coming from inside the exhibition. The two made their way towards the blue glow, taking long heavy steps against the artificial wind. "Ah, shit. Security'll surely notice us if this keeps on going!" Flynn said.
"How much time do we have left?"
"Twenty minutes!" Nate answered, keeping track of when Johnny will switch the power back on, when the real security guards will start noticing them. But with this kind of wind blowing through the hallways, even a lazy bum outside the museum will notice the trouble going on inside. Without much thinking, Nate slammed close the gate behind them and sealed himself and Flynn inside the animal exhibition. The room was now calm again; the wind seemed to settle around and stay at a cold temperature.

Flynn flashed his flashlight at Nate's face. "Nice going there, Nancy. Should've thought of that before." he grinned. The room was mysteriously blue in color, the kind of shade that's usually seen in an aquarium exhibition, something that was truly awkward and out of place in a land animal exhibition. Nate passed by a statue of a capuchin monkey, set to an eerie blue glow caused by the 'source'. It looked fierce alright, with its sharp canines bore open wide. "Hey, Flynn, looks like I found that woman you slept with in Mexico." Nate laughed, pointing at the monkey. Flynn pointed his flashlight at Nathan's eyes again to tell him, "yeah-it's-very-funny-ha-ha".

The two walked closer towards the source, and soon found out that it came from a huge saber-tooth diorama. A blue stone the size of a fist was stuck in the center of a transparent rock, transparent because of the stone's glow itself. It seemed like another exhibit, the rock, fixed inside the saber's diorama, as a part of its habitat. "Well, glory be, here it is." Flynn said, satisfied with the target item standing right in front of him. Nate stood, amazed like he always was, staring at the rock, either simply transfixed by it or examining it inside his thick brain. "What is that thing?" he curiously asked, moving closer to take a look at it. "Let's check for the plaque, if there's anything about this blue rock at all."

Flynn went around the diorama and found a wide description written on a plate, stating the specifics of the diorama. "Funny, it doesn't say anything about the gem." he said, then shrugged and crossed over the railing and into the diorama. "Doesn't matter, we got the stuff anyways." he reached to the rock and tried moving it. It didn't budge. "Shit. The thing's bloody heavy." Nate wasn't listening though, as he read the description closer, with much more interest than his partner did. He sighed and looked at Flynn, saying, "It's a Bohemian fossil, found somewhere in a mine. It's just a fossilized rock with nothing to it...guess that they didn't know what was inside it." "Now where did you find that, ma'am?" Flynn asked, surprised at the sudden knowledge. Nate just stared at him sarcastically while pointing at the exhibition plaque. "I knew you'd get it, Nate! What's it say about moving it?" Flynn bluntly replied.

The rock was fixed to the diorama floor by a couple of strong screws, to prevent it from moving. The two had started searching for any fulcrum or object to lift the thing off and transport it outside. "We could just break the whole thing and get the stone, you know." Nate said, to which Flynn quickly objected and cut in. "No way, Nancy. The client strictly told us to take it all in as one." He said. "The client." Nate said. Another waft of silence blew in between them. It has all been because of this, – working for clients and all – that Nate wanted out. "Why'd you say you wanted quits off this job?" Flynn suddenly asked from across the room.
"We had a pretty good run, and I don't see the problem – "
"The problem is," Nate interrupted, "That I don't want to work dirty anymore! I mean, look at this, Flynn! Do we even know what this blue rock is? Year after year, we've gradually lost our sense of working! Tell me, when's the last time we had to find out information about the artifact? Or go around places, temples and ruins, to follow the trail? It's all come down to this, then? Grab and run? We're mercenaries, Flynn. Hired thieves, for crying out loud!"

Now it was Flynn's turn to shout.
"Bloody hell, Nate! What is wrong with you?! You don't like the job? We'll get the research for the next one, then! We'll get a whole universe to travel then, for an artifact this small!" he said. "You know what? Just, just forget it."

A few more minutes, and the rock was removed, courtesy of a fire-extinguisher bashing down on the screws. Once they had pulled the rock off the diorama area, the stone stopped glowing…then it screeched softly, like a chalk on a blackboard. The whole room shook. Without warning, something ran by Flynn, knocking him down on the floor, along with the rock. "What was that?" Before he could even get up, a loud roar was heard by both men when a glowing pair of eyes shined in the dark, yellow and angry. Nate quickly flashed his light at the thing, and screamed.

A huge, meter tall saber-tooth tiger was standing in front of them, growling like a real live cat. It was the exhibition made real. The stone seemed to have awakened it. "Holy shit! Just what the hell is that thing?!" Nate screamed, referring to the blue stone that got them into trouble in the first place. They didn't have time to argue, as the two quickly got themselves together and ran to the gate, fast. The cat followed, running with unparalleled speed that caught them right before they reached the gate. One huge paw slashed inches away from Nate's face, followed by another lunge from the cat, its jaws wide open. He narrowly dodged the creature, dropping down on his butt as the thing jumped over him and crashed into another exhibition. "Get up, come on, comeoncomeon!!!" Flynn shouted; he was already on the other side of the gate, the rock beside him. It wasn't that heavy after it was out of the ground.

Nate ran again, the cat still struggling among the ruins of giant mammoths and lions. They closed the gate just in time for them to hear the creature roaring again. Immediately without hesitation, they ran to the window, tied the rock to a rope, lowered it down safely and jumped along, landing on the ground with a soft 'thump' as their ropes uncoiled from the museum window. They ran again, to another alley where a car was waiting. Safe inside with rock tucked in tight under a thick bed of sheets, the two sighed in relief and laughed. "Now that was something!"

A few moments after Johnny switched the lights back on, the two drove away and parked beside a motel already. "So, I guess that this is it, then, mate?" Flynn softly said. Nate shrugged, and looked out at the glowing neon lights. "Yeah, I guess so. You saw that back there, Flynn. We don't get that much nowadays, do we?" They laughed again. He knew, they both knew, that they were in for separate things. One for the adventure, one for the riches, and neither was the same.

"Good luck with Johnny." Nate said.
"What are ya gonna do?"
"Ah, I don't know…probably going to start with Sully first. He said he's gonna get a plane. Maybe I'll go off to the pacific."
"Sully? Sullivan?! That old man's still around, mate? Hah, well take care of yourself, mate. Don't go crazy."

Nate stepped out of the car and went up to his room while the car drove off with the rock, something that Nate will probably never know about again. It's late at night, but it's just another tiring day for him, like all other heists he'd made with Flynn. Somewhere along the way through sleeping, Nate sighed and smiled at the same time, wondering just what adventures lie in wait in the future. Free from the clutches of eccentric clients, free from Flynn's Nancy-this-Nancy-that and free from having to run off from Chinese troops again. It was his way now, and he was what he was – not a thief-for-hire, but a real treasure hunter. He was Nathan Drake, and that night, he'd left his past behind.