Author's Note: I just recently bought a PS4 (and it's the first PlayStation I've ever owned) and The Uncharted Collection was the first game I played on it and I've been obsessed ever since. So, naturally, I had to write an Uncharted fanfic. This one takes place in the second game with sort of an alternate timeline. It starts just after (SPOILERS!) Jeff is killed, Chloe is taken, and Nate and Elena escape in Nepal. But I threw Sully in A.) because I love Sully and B.) because I needed another person in there. Everything else should be pretty self-explanatory once you get going. I hope you enjoy it! :)

Chapter One

"Come on, this way." Nate motioned to an alleyway, letting Elena take the lead and following closely behind her, Sully bringing up the rear. They had narrowly escaped Lazarevic's clutches moments before and had been fleeing through the narrow streets of Nepal. Lazarevic had nearly gotten the location of Shambhala from them too. Luckily, they had managed to break free before he could do so. But they weren't in the clear yet.

Elena quickly made her way to the other side of the alley. It was narrow, barely wide enough across to permit Elena's small frame. Nate and Sully had to sidle through, slowing them considerably.

"They're over here!"

The cry came from the far side of the street they had previously occupied, up on one of the crumbling balconies that dotted the faces of the buildings. Nate's head snapped around to locate the man. It didn't take him long as the man was carrying an RPG, sighting them down in the alley.

"Oh, shit! Sully, look out!"

Nate leaned as far back as he could, shoving Sully backwards and simultaneously throwing himself the last few feet into open air. A trail of smoke marked the RPG's path as it flew into the side of the building above them. The explosion rained massive chunks of brick and mortar, wood and plaster down on the spot Nate had been occupying not two seconds before. He heard two gunshots, then, as the dust settled, everything went quiet.

Elena helped Nate to his feet and he ran, coughing, up to the pile of rubble now blocking the passage.

"Sully!" When Sully didn't answer, Nate called again, his voice cracking with panic. "Sully! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I'm still here. Took care of rocketman too."

Nate breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"I don't think there's any way over this mess. I'm going to have to find another way around."

"Alright, we'll meet you on the other side. Just be careful."

"I'm not the one always getting into trouble, am I?"

Nate turned to leave, rolling his eyes.

"He does have a point, you know," Elena added, looking pointedly at Nate.

He glared back, motioning forward with his assault rifle. "Let's just keep moving, shall we?"

Unfortunately for them, the explosion must have drawn more of Lazarevic's men to their location because, as they rounded the next corner, they were forced to duck down behind concrete blocks and abandoned furniture to avoid the bullets flying over their heads.

"Don't you dare say anything," Nate shouted to Elena over the din of gunfire before popping out of cover to take out two men. They were at a major disadvantage. Aside from being clearly out-manned and out-gunned, they were at the bottom of a hill, with Lazarevic's men sitting comfortably at the top. Nate was good with a gun. He certainly wouldn't have made it as far as he had if he hadn't developed a certain skill at gunplay. But there was only so much he could do. He was fresh out of grenades and what ammo they had between the two of them wouldn't last long. Looking for an option alternative to shooting their way out, Nate spotted another alley on the far side of the street. There were some pieces of cover littering the intervening space. It wasn't much, but it would have to do.

"We need to get to the other side of the street. I'll cover you. On three, you run for that cover." Nate pointed to a toppled desk a little over half way across the street. "Are you ready?"

Elena nodded her head.

"One…two…three!"

As Nate stood to lay down a volley of bullets, Elena ran, keeping as low as possible. Mercifully, she made it just as it was becoming unwise for Nate to stay standing out of cover for any longer. Ducking down, he changed his clip and peeked back over the top of the concrete block to make sure Lazarevic's men hadn't advanced. They hadn't, but his heart still leapt into his throat.

One of the men had a grenade in his hand and he was pulling the pin. But he wasn't looking at Nate. He was looking at Elena. And she was oblivious to the danger. She was readying her gun to cover Nate as he took his turn to make a run for it. She didn't stand a chance.

Already moving, Nate shouted, "Elena!" as he sprinted towards her. She barely registered him coming at her before he was there, propelling her out of the way just as the grenade landed.

Elena looked up to see Nate flying at her, shouting frantically and waving his arms. Puzzled, she didn't have any time to react before he rammed into her and she half flew, half stumbled several yards to the other side of the street. Then she watched in horror as Nate was thrown backward several feet by an unseen force. A fraction of a second later, she was hit by it as well. She fell and hit her head hard enough for her to see stars. It took a second for her senses to return. Her ears were ringing as she stumbled to her feet. There were men shouting, but their voices were muffled, distant. As though she had cotton stuffed in her ears. Near where she had been crouched moments before lay Nate, face-down and unconscious, a trail of blood dribbling from his left ear. But he seemed largely unharmed otherwise. The desk too hadn't taken any major damage, which didn't make any sense. Then it hit her. A concussion grenade.

They want us alive.

Somehow that thought was far more frightening than the gunfire they had been facing. But now that she looked back on it, she had felt like they were getting through that fight a little too unscathed. It all made sense now. They hadn't been shooting to kill, but to wound, incapacitate. She had to get to Nate, get them out of there. But her concussion-addled mind had taken too long to come to such an epiphany.

Lazarevic's men had already closed the gap between them and they were coming at her first. Nate was somewhat hidden by the desk and in the cloud of dust kicked up by the grenade, they must have lost sight of him. She shot one man in the chest and managed to shoot another in the arm before they were on her, two of them grabbing her arms and dragging her backwards while she struggled and kicked in an attempt to break free. Meanwhile, more men were heading towards Nate, who still hadn't moved since the grenade went off.

"Nate! Get out of there!" The words still sounded far away and it was hard to tell if she had shouted or merely whispered them. They must have reached Nate because she saw him shift slightly just as the first of the men reached him.

The man went to flip Nate onto his back, but Nate threw a wild punch as he did so. The man must have been so surprised at Nate's consciousness that the punch actually landed. Nate used to the momentum to roll again and land, once more, face-down. He pushed himself slowly onto his elbows, but he was still too out of it to really put up much of a fight. When two more men grabbed him by the arms, he struggled weakly. Even that didn't last long as the man who had taken the punch came up next to Nate and bashed him over the head with the butt of his rifle. Nate went limp and they started dragging him up the street.

"Nate!"

Elena redoubled her efforts to break free. Her captors had a hard time keeping hold of her as she kicked and thrashed wildly. Then she felt a blinding pain on the back of her head and everything went dark.