What's up everyone?!

Sorry this took so long. I recently got a new computer, so I was taking some time to get used to it.

Plus, the trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home finally came out, so excited!

And I'm already excited for Kingdom Hearts III, Captain Marvel, and Avengers: Endgame! SO MUCH HYPE FOR SO MANY THINGS!

Once again, this story was co-written with my good friend, XFangHeartX.

I don't own Tomb Raider

All OCs belong to me and Fang

London, England

Lara Croft was walking down a dark alleyway. It was nighttime... and it was raining

As she was nearing her home, she noticed a flashlight shining in her flat.

Someone had broken in!

As whoever it was looked around, a tape recorder was playing.

"It is the greatest cruelty of life...that we are all too swiftly taken from it...we age, we decay, we die..."

The flashlight shined on pictures of Himiko, as well as a file that said "Reincarnation Research" and a scroll of Anubis.

"...But what do we leave behind? Bones? Dust? What of the soul?"

The flashlight moved to a wall of newspaper articles.

"Does it endure beyond our worldly existence? I believe it does."

Then it moved to a map of the world, along with various pictures of locations, like a man in front of a waterfall, a knight kneeling before a golden goblet, and some sort of ruins.

"A truth lies at the heart of many myths and stories. A truth not of science, but something more profound... the key to unlocking everlasting life."

The flashlight moved to pictures of Joan of Arc and Grigori Rasputin.

Then it moved to a picture of Jesus Christ and several other pictures.

"But...I am not alone in this search. They're watching me, following my every step."

The flashlight fell on an old Medieval drawing of knights on horses, and on the shield was what looked like a black hawk with its wings spread, and there was a name written on it: Trinity.

"I know them by name, now...Trinity. An ancient, violent sect with designs on controlling the future of humanity."

The flashlight moved to pictures of Lara, Sam, Owen and Tommy at college graduation, one of the whole Endurance crew, and several pics of Lara and Owen together. In most of them, they were kissing.

Then to a framed picture of Lord Richard Croft, Lara as a little girl, and a blond woman.

"I must proceed carefully, for the sake of my family. If anything were to ever happen to Lara... or Ana, I could never forgive myself..."

Just then, the door was heard being opened, causing the mysterious stranger to turn and see the doorknob turning. Realizing that Lara was coming back, whoever it was escaped through the window.

Lara entered her flat, looked around and spotted the open window...then went over and looked outside, as if to check to see if anyone was there. When she saw no one around, she closed the window.

Hearing the noise of her tape recorder still running, she walked over and turned it off.

Not long after, she heard footsteps approaching.

Quickly and quietly, Lara went over to the door, grabbing her pickaxe on the way, before she stood against the wall and raised it, preparing to strike. That's when the door opened, and Lara was about to swing until she saw that it was a woman with short, blonde hair wearing a beige jacket.

"Oh!" she cried. "It's me!"

"Ana!" Lara exclaimed. "Oh god, I'm so sorry!"

Ana only sighed and shook her head. Nobody could really blame Lara for acting this way. After all...the events of what happened on Yamatai still haunted her and the things she had learned to do was based on muscle memory, even though she knew she wasn't there anymore and nobody would hurt her.

"What are you doing here?" Lara asked.

"I saw that the gutter press was attacking you again," said Ana, holding up a tabloid paper with Lara's face on it.

The front page said "Another Crazy Croft?! A Daughter Just Like Her Father?"

"I thought you might use some company," said Ana. "Especially since...Owen..."

"...I don't want to talk about him, right now," said Lara as she checked the hallway, "Were you followed?"

"Followed?" Ana questioned. "Of course not. What's going on?"

Lara closed the door and turned on the light to her flat, "I think I've found the tomb."

"Oh, you can't be serious," Ana said incredulously.

"The myth of the prophet is real," Lara said. "Dad was right."

'Not this again,' thought Ana.
"Lara," she said, "you father was...unwell."

"No," Lara denied as she looked through some documents on her coffee table. "He was close to a great discovery. Tangible evidence of the immortal soul!"

Ana sighed, "I loved Richard. I would've married him if he'd asked. But he was a broken man." She placed her hands on Lara's shoulders. "I don't want to see you end up like him."

"But Ana, he was right," Lara said as she turned to face her. "It was everyone else who was wrong." She then went over to her computer. "The tomb is in Syria."

"Syria?!" Ana asked. "Oh, god, Lara, this is madness!" She paused as she blinked her eyes, as if trying to keep herself from crying. "...Get your life sorted. Go back to the manor."

"...You know I can't go back there," said Lara.

"This obsession ruined your father," said Ana, "And...it ruined your relationship with Owen."

"I said not to talk about him!" Lara shouted, then calmed down a bit. "I saw something... something I... I can't explain. Now I understand what Dad was going through."

"It's all fairytales," Ana said. "Nonsense. Don't go down this road. You know where it leads."

"It's the only thing that makes sense to me now," Lara said. "I'm going to find the prophet's tomb, Ana..."

Ana sighed again, "I'm sorry Lara, but THIS is why Owen left."

"NO!" Lara shouted as she turned to face her...with tears in her eyes. "...I'm right...I know that I'm right! And when I prove it...he'll come back! He has to come back after that!"

She then sniffled as she put her hands over her eyes.
"...He has to...!" she whimpered.

"You know that's not true," Ana said. "Unlike you, he didn't want to find the so called key to eternal life."

Lara collapsed to the floor, sobbing as more tears fell from her eyes. She reached into her pocket and pulled out something.

The ring Owen had given her when he proposed.

"...Owen..." she sobbed.

Ana went over and put her hand on her back, trying to comfort her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The nightmare of Yamatai was still fairly fresh in everyone's minds.

Lara had been suffering from survivor's guilt and was plagued with nightmares. Sometimes, they wouldn't be so bad, but other times, they'd be so severe, she'd wake up screaming and crying and Owen had to comfort her.

Owen himself had a few nightmares, but they were starting to go away thanks to visits with his therapist.

But things got worse when Sam was arrested. Lara and Owen went to visit her, only to find that she was being held for psychiatric evaluation. They were horrified at Sam referring to herself as "We", realizing that Himiko was still alive within Sam. Lara promised to help her.

The, Lara finally decided to publicly talk about what happened to the crew of the Endurance during the search for Yamatai.

However, Lara's account of what happened was discredited, because she had no proof except for the many journal entrees she and Owen found, which were dismissed as fabrications.

Lara's uncle even forced her to seek professional help if she wished to take control of her inheritance.

To appease him and show she was co-operating, she began to see a therapist. But, Lara was cold and distant to him, though she did admit to being negatively affected by the aftermath of Yamatai, blaming herself for the death of her friends, and Sam being imprisoned.

But even worse, she kept delaying plans for her and Owen's wedding, completely drowning herself in her father's research, unintentionally pushing Owen away.

Until finally, one day, Owen asked her to stop working and talk to him. But this led to their first fight.

"What the HELL is going on with you, Lara?!" he asked her. "You're freaking me out, here!"

"I'm telling you, my Father knows something!" Lara shouted. "He has to know something!"

"Stop it!" Owen shouted. "I don't wanna hear about this anymore, okay?!"

"Why not?!" Lara questioned. "You said you'd support on this!"

"I did, but this isn't archeology, it's mania!" Owen responded. "Look, maybe your father WAS right. But, even if he was, what we're talking about is wrong."

"How is it wrong?" Lara questioned. "We're talking about overcoming fatal diseases, breaking off the shackles of being mortal-"

"That right there!" Owen interrupted. "THAT'S what I have a problem with! Overcoming diseases is one thing, but being mortal is part of life. If you just keep living forever, everyone that you love passes away while you keep living. All these fools that think immortality is the ultimate power, look at happened to Garlic Jr. and Winters from TMNT..."

"Those are just cartoons, Owen, and you know it!" Lara shouted.

"But they are perfect examples that show that immortality is not all it's cracked up to be," Owen said. "Besides, don't act like you're the only one torn up about Roth, Alex and Grim."

"Don't bring them into this!" Lara warned him.

"We were all there, Lara!" Owen continued. "I may not have been there when Alex died, but I was for Roth and Grim's. Yes, they still haunt me, but I'm not avoiding it by using an obsession about some fucked up research my dad was doing just because he couldn't accept one of the things that makes us human!"

SLAP

Owen stumbled back a bit...holding his stinging cheek while Lara seethed angrily.

"How dare you!" she yelled. "Insulting what my father worked on! You may not appreciate this, but I do! IT'S THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES SENSE TO ME NOW!"

"Oh, so we don't make sense anymore?!" Owen questioned. "Tell me, what's more important to you Lara; your father's research or us?!"

Lara opened her mouth to answer...but then she stopped.

"I...I..." she stammered before Owen put his hands on her shoulders.

"Please, Lara, I'm begging you," he said. "Just think this over!"

Lara knew she screwed up, and even worse, she didn't have an answer.

Taking her silence as a "no", Owen sighed,
"Fine, I see how it is."

"I'm sorry..." Lara apologized.

"No you're not," said Owen. "...I can't deal with this anymore."

"No, Owen!" Lara begged.

"I'm sorry, but you've proven this is more important to you than anything else," Owen said. "I still love you, but I can't put up with this anymore."

He let go of her shoulders and walked to the door. Some familiar whining stopped him, and he turned to see Tsume, Hana and their puppies looking at him with longing.

"...Come on, you guys," said Owen as he walked away, and the wolf family followed after him, leaving the flat...and Lara fell to her knees and sobbed.

Now she'd screwed up even more. She'd pushed away the love of her life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lara sniffled as she sat on the couch, wiping her eyes.

"...If only he knew," she said. "If he just knew...! If only he knew...how sorry I am...!"

"Then let this go," Ana told her. "Go find him and apologize."

"I can't," Lara said. "I have to see this through."

She turned to a map of Syria that was hanging on the wall.

As much as she wanted to make things right...she had to do this.

Yeah, Lara's obsession pushed Owen away...

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