Chapter Text
It's not what you find, it's what you find out.
David Hurst Thomas
June 2029
Maui, Hawaii
Cassandra Drake ran as fast as she could. She looked back not once. She was happy she was in good shape. She was going to beat her best friend in a race. But she lost by several inches. Cassie looked at her fifteen-year-old best friend as she was catching her breath. His name was Derek Williamson Lowell, standing at five-eleven, one-sixty pounds, curly brown hair, hazel-brown eyes, fair skin, and a ripped athletic build and he was Cassandra 'Cassie' Drake's best friend.
"Good job Derek. I will get you next time though." She shook Derek's hand. She cringed when she realized that her hand was sweating but he wasn't. Damn, he has more stamina than me.
"We'll see about that Daughter of Nathan Drake," Derek said with a laugh. He stared at her hazel-green eyes (through her contacts) and wavy dirty blonde hair that reached her neck.
"Daughter of Nathan Drake, how many times do I have to be called that in my lifetime?" She pants. "So, before we have to head down, you want to go exploring?" Cassie asked.
"Why not? The jungle is right over there," he pointed. The two began running into the jungle. Cassie looked at her watch and decided that they would go adventuring for ten minutes before turning home.
It was still early and it was the perfect temperature, especially in this environment. Not too hot and not too cold and if they were sweating, it was because they were pushing themselves and going the extra mile to keep up their stature. Cassie's beach house where she discovered the skeletons in her father's closest, literally, was only two miles back and there was still more to explain. They had been racing from a nearby Starbucks to a path on the beach and when they settled, they decided to go into the jungle to their left.
When they stepped foot in the forest, they did not realize how thick the vines and leaves were considering that the jungle was fogging up some and Cassie couldn't see her shadows hidden in the dark.
"Ooh, so spooky in here," Cassie laughed, "fog always knows the best time to come up and attack us. Fog has always been on our side because it likes blinding us."
"You're already blind," Derek snarked, "after all, you're the one with contacts."
Cassie rubbed her eyes. "I like my glasses but they're impractical sometimes. I mean, yeah, I forget my contacts are in my eyeballs sometimes but it shouldn't be too bad."
Derek laughed. "Cassie, if someone as smart as you keep forgetting they have contacts in their eyes, then it'll only motivate me to make sure I never go blind. After all, an artist such as myself needs to have 20/20 vision."
"Well, you could always go for the blind painter route if you want."
Derek closed his eyes reached out and blindly touched a tree. "Yeah, tried it for like three seconds and already don't like it." He opens his eyes and laughs.
Cassie rolls her eyes. "Since I'm so blind as you so politely tell me, that means I have better senses than you. After all, when one loses one sense, the other senses become heightened."
"I know; I've seen Daredevil."
Cassie closed her eyes and listened in. "Man, Derek, your heart is beating fast. Are you sure that last run didn't make you feel winded?"
Derek tilted his head. "Hey, who has consistently ranked first place in track this year in school? Huh?"
"Yeah yeah, keep on bragging about your track record, I've heard it a bajillion times."
When they approached a rock wall going up about thirty feet, Cassie sighed heavily. She cracked her knuckles and spread her arms out dramatically. "I have finally found my calling. My calling... of climbing like a monkey."
She leaps up the wall and grabs a handhold. She glued her feet to the wall and pushed herself up. She pulls herself up, hand over hand with each handhold and when one handhold is out of reach, she leaps up with all her might to grab the next handhold. She was about to grab another handhold when she stopped.
That handhold looks more brightly colored than the others so I'd rather not grab it.
In her experience, if a handhold looks brighter than the previous handholds, then it usually means it's much looser. She finds another handhold and uses that to climb up. When she made it to the top, she stretched dramatically before looking down. "Take that, wall!"
"Like a pro," Derek exclaims from the bottom. "I think I'll take the long way up; I can't climb."
"Come on," she playfully whines, "monkey on up here, D-Man. Would it make you feel better if I tossed you a banana?"
Derek put a hand on his heart. "Damn, Cassie-Blanca, you are as calloused as your hands are."
"Thank you, thank you very much. That is literally the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."
"Uhh, in that case, I think you have the prettiest climbing form of any monkey I've seen before."
This time, Cassie puts a hand on her heart. "How dare you, that is the cruelest thing anyone has ever said to me."
The two teenagers laugh hysterically, their laughing session lasting for about thirty seconds before Derek shrugs and decides to climb up the rock wall. He decided to take things nice and slow and very carefully grab handholds he was only positive were strong enough to support his weight. He was taller than Cassie so he had a much longer reach so no jumping on his end was required.
Once they reached the very top of the rock wall, Derek bowed before his female companion.
"Nice one." Cassie claps her hands.
"Now then, if we can translate your climbing skills to track team, you and I could be the best, Cassie-Blanca."
"Nah, I'd rather have a good track record than running track."
"In that case, I will run track in your name."
"Thank you, thank you so so much, D-Man."
They turned around and saw a small cave for them to explore. They had their phones with them and they used their flashlights to light up a path. There wasn't much to note about the cave and sadly, it was cut short when there was another rock wall for them to climb down. Cassie climbed down with much more speed compared to Derek and this time, Derek was panting while Cassie was the one who barely broke a sweat.
They come out of the cave on the other side and turn off the flashlights. They pocketed their flashlights and were about to go into a conversation spree when something caught their ears. Just fifty feet away directly ahead of them, hidden behind two big trees with the slightly thick fog clearing up, came the sound of metal hitting the ground.
An all too familiar sound.
They noticed someone digging with a pick and closed in on them, deciding to play it quiet. They got a closer look at the man, who was dressed in clothes that had been through some wear-and-tear and looked to be somewhat small on him. He had unkempt hair and a five o'clock. He dug something out of the ground and hauled it onto his lap.
Cassie and Derek hid behind the tree and got a look at this object the man dug up. A large table that could barely fit into a grown man's hand with writing that Cassie couldn't comprehend from this distance.
"A tablet of unknown origins," the man said softly, wiping it clean of the dirt. "How much would people pay for this?" He began examining the tablet. "Handcrafted looks to be as old as the ancient Polynesians. Interesting." He holds the table it in one hand before pulling out his phone. He dialed someone up and put the ear to his phone. "Hello, my fellow employer. I just wanted to let you know that I found something we could sell." He pauses. "Very old. Very old indeed. Hey, the older it is, the more likely people will pay for it. I may need an expert to look at it but I can tell that it is definitely handcrafted by Polynesians. Even so, even if it is fake, we can just tell our clients it's real and say a whole bunch of long and large vocabulary words to make it sound authentic. After all, who doesn't love big and classy words?"
He puts the tablet down behind him before hanging up. He begins digging into the ground once more.
Holy crap, Cassie mentally gasps, is that ancient Polynesian? Oh my god, I have to have it. She reached out to grab the tablet while his back was still turned but paused. Wait... should I... No, I should. I mean, this guy is going to sell this thing, and if this thing is the real thing... I could...
She snatches the tablet.
The graverobber turned around and saw Cassie and Derek running off with his tablet. He drops the tablet and sprints for them.
Cassie looks behind her. "Oh crap."
They sprinted for it, leaping over logs and fallen branches to get away from him but the the graverobber refused to give up so easily. When Cassie nearly hit her head on a branch, she gasped slightly but managed to maintain her foot.
Don't look back, just keep looking forward.
Derek was ahead of Cassie by about five feet but when he saw how far behind Cassie was, he slowed down slightly so they were running side-by-side.
The graverobber was ready to pounce on them before they turned at the very last second, diverging before they collided with a tree. The graverobber stopped just short of three inches from hitting the tree and went around it, resuming his chase.
Cassie's sweat broke out around her forehead and her chest, which drenched the front of her shirt. She swallows a ball of saliva in her mouth heavily before looking over her shoulder. The graverobber was still on their tail, refusing to give up and it seemed her breath was running out with each passing step. Not only that but because the graverobber was seven years their senior, he had something of a physically imposing presence on his figure that made it seem like he was already on their tail.
That may be why when both kids tripped on a log and fell on the ground they felt like the graverobber was a hulking giant.
They scrambled to get up while the graverobber was still standing above them, only for them to nearly launch themselves into a rock wall dead end with no handholds this time.
"Give up," the graverobber threatened. He grabs Derek by the collar and Cassie by the shoulder and hauls them up. "Nice try you, stupid kids. Trying to steal my treasure."
"Get the hell off me!" Cassie told him while struggling. She tried breaking out of his grip but speaking in combat terms, she was unable to. Derek was barely holding his own. The graverobber was surprisingly strong enough to restrain both teenagers and make it look easy.
"I will let you both go if you give me the tablet," the graverobber ordered firmly. Cassie knew better and gave him the tablet, deciding that it wasn't worth her fifteen-year-old life. The graverobber smiled at the table and let them both go as a result. He looked at the language before looking at Cassie. "Are you super smart in history, kid?" the graverobber asked both Cassie and Derek. "I only need a third party to authenticate if this thing really is Polynesian."
"I guess we are," Cassie answered.
Wait a second, why did I say that? Damn it, I should've kept my mouth shut. But... maybe he won't hurt us if we give him what we want. Dad always said that when you're dealing with someone like this, just comply; whatever they're mugging you for is not worth your life over.
Even if they were going to die, why not just go out with a bang and read something historic? They were freed and had every opportunity to run but they both chose not to. Derek stood by Cassie's side, shielding her from the man while Cassie kept her eyes trained on the tablet.
"You look familiar," the graverobber squinted at Cassie. "Yeah, I have seen you before but where?" He cocks his head. "Nah, not worth it." He looks down at the tablet. "How about this, you tell me everything you know about this tablet and maybe I'll give you kids something in exchange for your troubles in trying to steal it in the first place? Like, a percentage of the money I'll get after I have my employer?"
I should say no but... She looks at the tablet once more. If that thing really was handcrafted by an ancient civilization then I would LOVE to be the first to read it. But... this guy might sell it. Then again, that is what my father tried to do because he destroyed his lost cities and artifacts.
Yeah, it's not worth fighting over, not if I want to be a famous archaeologist one day.
"You think you can compensate us by just letting us go, graverobber?"
The graverobber recognized her and went wide-eyed. "Now I recognize you. You're Cassie Drake, The Daughter of Nathan Drake." A smile broke out on his face. "I am a huge fan of his work. His work in finding the ruins of the lost city underwater, I have the newspaper framed in my home. And that trip to Egypt was amazing. And that dig in South America, I have read that article countless times. Man, it must be so amazing to be able to find all those lost cities and mythical artifacts." He looks down at the tablet and sighs. "Cassie, do you know the kind of life your parents used to run before you were born?"
She flinches. How the hell does this guy know about my parents' past life? Then again, he is a graverobber. "Yes," she answered; her parents told her everything.
"I am fully aware of their lives too," Derek also admitted.
The graverobber gave a long sigh before he regarded Cassie. "Y'know what, Cassie? Take this tablet. It belongs to someone like you. I can already see you turning into your father." He hands her the tablet and she accepts it graciously like a fan being given something by their idol. "And when you make your name part of history, I will remember this day. The day I helped Cassie Drake become a legend and I will frame this date on my calendar on my wall."
Cassie tilted her head and looked down at the table. "What? You're giving it to us, just like that?"
"Uhh, in case you hadn't noticed, treasure hunters are my idols but I am smart enough to know I'm too dumb to be able to follow in your father's footsteps so... helping someone who can follow in his footsteps will have to do."
Cassie laughed. "Uhh, thank you. And... what's your name?"
"Rick."
"Nice to meet you, Rick."
Rick waves off. "By the way, you need to work on your pickpocketing skills, Cassie, I mean, because if there's one thing I know about Nathan Drake's past life, it's his history of adversaries. You need to level up."
She salutes him. "Duly noted."
"And, I'm sorry if I harmed you guys in any way. But to be fair, you did steal my property." Huh, I guess you're more alike with your father than you think, Cassie, but try and be better.
Rick walks off and once he was far enough away, Cassie looked down at the tablet once more and narrowed her eyes.
Well, that was an interesting experience.
"Are you okay, Cassie?" Derek pants.
"I'm fine," she nods with a smile. "Thank you though. Although, I will admit: I have never felt so alive."
If this is what treasure hunting life has to offer than... wow... I got something to look forward to.