Haunted

AN: See, I'm back already, I told you the wait wouldn't be that long! So, here's the first chapter of the second instalment to the With or Without You trilogy.

FOR PEOPLE JUST TUNING IN, THIS IS A SEQUAL TO WITH OR WITHOUT YOU (Just incase)

I realise I said I would put this up tomorrow morning, but the new story thing has been calling to me, and, me being me, I gave in. But I'm sure don't mind.

Disclaimer: I own no one.

Oh, and I've gotten rid of Bryce in this story, replaced for Alistair and Zip, like what would happen in Legend. But, if you read on, you'll find out how he went away...

Rain. Wind. Thunder. Lightning. Typical British weather, only adding to the ever growing depression. Mostly rain and dull weather. She didn't appreciate it enough when the sun came out. Lara stared at the buckets of rain splashing on the ground, watched the wind blow the trees violently back and forth, leaving them lopsided from the loss of the support of their roots. She would blink every so often at the sudden streaks of lighting that came from the sky and relax into the comforting sound of the thunder. But it wasn't the most typical of the island's weather. Rain was, she knew for sure, but they didn't get thunder and lighting frequently. Wind, sure, they got plenty of that. This was one of the worst storms she had ever seen before.

And to make it worse, she was alone. Well, not alone, alone, but she didn't feel like she had company. Ever since that last day with Kurtis in Paris, she had felt almost...empty. Bryce had left for a job with a better pay, which, by what Lara paid for him to sit around in a trailer all day, scoffing down burgers, chips and fizzy drinks, was hard to beat. But she had let him go all the same. Just like how she had let everyone else in her life slip away from her. A few weeks after that, she had met a fellow archaeologist Alistair Fletcher at a dinner party at a museum, discussing a recent find she had made. They had clicked almost immediately and he quickly became a good friend of hers. And now, only three months later, he was helping her on her adventures, with the helping hand of her new 'geek', Zip. Alistair had introduced her to him and she heard he was looking for a job, and, Bryce's old position being vacant, offered him one. They had helped her on many occasions, including the quest for Excalibur; where she was unfortunate enough to discover that James Rutland had survived the cave-in. But he didn't survive more than a week after their second encounter.

She still had Winston, but let's face it, he was getting older and increasingly worried about Lara on her expeditions. She couldn't hold onto him forever. He had looked after her most of her life. More than her parents, even. He was the one to teach her to say please and thank-you, to eat with your mouth closed and overall discipline her. He was more of a dad to her than her father had ever been. But, still, Winston could never seem to be able to fill the motherly role. Something Lara missed out on. Growing up, she didn't have a mum, something painful she had learned to cope with. She didn't have anyone to talk to about things that mother and daughter would talk about. Stuff like boys and her first period, and just have fun altogether. But she had to grow up without that privilege. She was raised by a man most of her life, and when her father had tragically died, she was raised by an elderly man. And at the age of 18, she wasn't the easiest of teenagers to cope with, being the typical Lara Croft.

And now she had lost two more people – Kurtis and Bryce. Bryce was a true best friend to her. He always looked at the better sides of things, and Lara would often find herself in stitches after just five minuets of being alone with him. He had always made her laugh, so much, she often felt like her sides were going to split. A smile graced her face. Even thinking about all the good times she had had with him made her smile. She wouldn't face times like that any time soon, she assumed. In fact, she wasn't sure if she would face times like that ever again. And than there was Kurtis. Her childhood sweet-heart, Demon Hunter, her equal both mentally and physically, fellow adventurer, the man she...

No, she couldn't think it. It would hurt her too much. She had lost so many people that she loved in her life, right from an early age of nine. And it was still continuing throughout her life. Maybe Kurtis leaving was for the better. Everyone she seemed to love were always taken away from her. In the four months that had past in the time he had left; she had changed. It would take longer for people to get in. She hadn't even considered calling Alistair a friend until she had truly learnt everything about him. Zip was just another employee, slightly filling the gap that Bryce had left, but he was nothing compared to him. She had built mental walls up, so that if anyone was willing to get threw to her, they would have to put up one hell of a fight. She figured if it took longer for them to get in, they would give up and save themselves from, well, Lara. It was like she was a jinx. Everyone who was close to her died or betrayed her. She could name a few people who had.

Which, reluctantly brought her thoughts back to the man that is Kurtis Trent. It was his fault she was like this; depressed. Or, at least, on the road to depression. If he had just stayed, Bryce might still be here and Winston would know that she was safe. Well...partially anyway. He didn't really trust Kurtis much. After Bolivia, she had given up. Her passion for raiding was lost. The same reason being the reason why she had given up everything else – she was scared. She had encountered her old friend, now enemy, Amanda Everet. During college, they were always together. Some people even made remarks about them being super glued together. Which, were lies, of course. Amanda had turned against her, betraying Lara like what she had thought Lara had done to her. But what was past, was past. Lara had to let go. If she didn't, more people would get hurt. Any relationship she had with anybody, whether it be friends or partners, had been a time bomb; just waiting to explode.

Lara watched the rain glide down the window, leaving streaks of water in the place of which the raindrop had just been. The wind blew more violently and she heard some books rattle on the bookshelf in the library. She had cooped herself up from the outside world. She was usually found in the library, reading over a book that she had read so many times before, or in the gym, releasing her anger of everything that had happened in her so called life out on the equipment. She did that a lot recently - vent her anger on the closest thing. Winston had once found her in the kitchen, trashing it as she sobbed. The events of Paris had just hit her and she suddenly went from sad to angry, throwing things around the room as Winston tried to convince her that she would be OK without Kurtis. It was true, but Lara still hadn't wanted to believe it.

The rain became heavier and started to come threw the gutter, just outside of the window. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Zip had placed a new security camera just outside of that window in the library, the room being the room Lara was now most comfortable in. Obviously, he hadn't done a very good job. She got up and walked over to a chest of drawers, where a box of tissues sat. She pulled a couple out and turned back around.

She returned to the desk, moving past it and towards the window. She placed them down before pressing them down on the window sill, trying to soak up the water that had already came threw. As she looked out at the grounds of Croft Manor, she could have sworn she saw a figure standing there, just before the front gates. She suddenly felt alarmed as she remembered that she was the only one awake in the house; everyone else had retired for bed at least an hour ago that evening. She automatically reached for the Glock 22 in her thigh holster. She had learned to never go anywhere without her trusty pistols. Her grip tightened on the handle as the figure seemed to be staring right back at her. A flash of lightning came, so bright, Lara was forced to squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them, she found the figure nowhere to be seen and felt the adrenaline she had not felt in such a long time rise in her blood.

She glanced frantically around the grounds, searching for the mysterious figure. She was scared yet excited at the same time. Feeling her guns in her hands with an actual target, not just a bit of paper to fire at, around her made the excitement rise. There was still no sign of the person.

She jumped around and released the safety on her gun as she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder, but relaxed herself when she saw a tired looking Zip standing in front of her. He yawned and raised his hand to his face, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "Watch where you're pointing that thing." he half mumbled, half yawned as he motioned towards the pistol Lara was still holding.

She placed it back in it's holster, realising she had it aimed at Zip's head. "Sorry, I... thought I saw something." she glanced back at the window, still seeing nothing in the rain.

"Are you not tired? It's past midnight, Lara."

"Erm. I was just looking for my...em...switchblade." she lied.

"Well, I'm going back to my bed. Don't stress yourself Lara. You've been worrying too much." he said as he opened the door to the library and exited into the hall, dragging himself to his bedroom.

Lara looked back out of the window, her eyes immediately darting to the spot the figure had been a minuet ago. "Yeah, just worrying." and she hoped that there was nothing to worry about. Getting killed in her sleep was the last way she wanted to go. When ever she was going to die, she wanted to put up a fight. Nobody was going to take Lara Croft's life that easily. She hesitantly turned around, ignoring the feeling in her stomach and walked out of the library, hoping to get some sleep that she felt she needed. A lot.

She gasped for breath as another blow came to her back. She quickly pushed the pain aside and continued to sprint down the endless alley's. She could see the green lights on the walls either side of her and now was the time she had doubted her decisions. She doubted her decisions for doubting him, if that was even possible. An orb of energy flew around to her front, hitting her square on the face.

Her skin burned as she stumbled backwards, falling onto her back. She looked up as the dark shadow of the figure strolled casually towards her, holding green orbs of energy about his hands effortlessly. His long coat flowed behind him as he stopped, a few feet away from her. She was tired. Too tired. All she wanted to do was to curl up into a ball and crawl into a corner, almost seizing to exist. She couldn't fight any more. She was so tired. But she had to fight. Giving up would mean death.

She got back up and ran as fast as she could, barley being able to see where she was going from the burning fire in her eyes. Her stomach dropped as she faced a wall. A dead end. No way out. The only way out was back. And going back certainly wouldn't mean getting out. If anything, it meant choosing a slow, horrible death. She gulped and turned around, gripping the pistols at her thighs on top of her jeans. She withdrew them and aimed them at the figure, knowing her final moments had come. Bullets couldn't do anything. But she couldn't give up. She could at least distract him with pain. But that would only last a couple of seconds. No weapons she had could harm him - or it, rather.

His appearance changed before her and she hated him for changing into that form as she found tears swelling up in her eyes. She couldn't fight him. No matter how much her brain willed her to, her heart would never let her harm him. But she needed to. It wasn't him. "Change back!" she screamed as she took the safety off of her guns.

"Change back!" she could never fight him while in this form. Not while he had those piercing blue eyes and raven black hair. Never.

Lara shot bolt upright in her bed. Her head was dripping with sweat and her bedsheets soaking from it. She gasped for breath and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. She had to admit; that was a dream she wasn't expecting. But why did she suddenly have it? It wasn't as if anything had happened related to it. It had been five months since she had last seen the horrifying face of that man. A face she had hoped to never happen again. She pushed the covers aside of her body and swung her feet over the side of the bed, sitting straight until resting her head in her hands. She actually felt scared from a dream, something that didn't regularly happen. Maybe she felt fear because she knew this dream could actually mean something. But what, was the harder question to answer.

She got up and walked threw the door to her en-suite bathroom. Placing her switchblade on the side of the sink, she ran the cold tap and leaned down, splashing her face with the refreshing water. She felt calm as the water spread across her face, cooling the skin that had been burning a minuet ago. She reached out for the towel next to the sink and dabbed her face dry before looking up into the mirror. Her face turned pale as she saw the figure behind her and she immediately reached for the switchblade next to her and turned on her heel, aiming the knife at neck-point. She sighed with relief as she saw that she was alone. Her mind was playing tricks on her. It couldn't have been him. He was dead. Long dead. Rotting under a heep of rubble with all the other bastards that deserved to die that day. She was hallucinating. She knew it. Keep telling yourself that a voice argued in her head. But he was dead. She had killed him herself. The figure haunted her mind, though.

Joachim Karel.

AN: Right, I'll give you a quick time line in case some of the things were complicated to understand.

Right, about two weeks after Kurtis left, Bryce got offered a new job with a better pay, for which he left Lara.

A week after that, she met Alistair and Zip, offering them a job to help her.

Three months after that, she went on the quest for Excalibur (TRL)

And this is set a month after that, meaning four months after Kurtis left and five months since AOD.

Anyway, what do you think? Love it or hate it? Let me know in your reviews!

Catch you on Wednesday for the next chapter.