This is a work of fiction. I do not own any of the characters except Dimo. Please address all feedback to virus_inside@abv.bg
Tzveti Metodieva
July 2, 2002
A Different Truth
"Why did it have to end up like this, Natla, why?" Lara Croft thought while trying to avoid the energy balls her employer fired. Her first job of retrieving an artifact for someone turned out to be a failure. Several months ago Jacqueline Natla hired her to find and retrieve a mysterious disc called the Scion, but as soon as she found the first of the three Scion pieces, Natla tricked her out of it. She decided to hunt down her prize. And now she had to fight for her life.
She moved like she was in a dream, only one thought in her head-"Jump, fire, hit." It ended suddenly. Natla fell to the ground, her mutated wings now only a bloody mass that somehow clung sadly to her back. The Atlantean queen didn't cry out but Lara saw the pain in her eyes. Natla tried to get up but couldn't. The Tomb Raider started walking away but then heard a faint sound, turned back and fired a final bullet. It hit Natla in the back and she collapsed in a heap. Her moist eyes were asking one question-"Why"-but soon darkened and closed.
Lara felt sad-she knew that it was either her or her employer but couldn't help feeling bad. It wasn't like killing an animal that threatened her life because she could see all the emotions in her eyes. It was then that the ground started rocking violently. "Better make tracks," she thought and started heading for an opening high above. Just as she turned, she heard a sound that piqued her curiosity. It was something like a cry or a moan and she was positive that it wasn't an animal. It was coming from a crack in the wall that was covered by some vegetation. "That is strange… There isn't anything but rocks and sand here and all of a sudden these plants appear." Fortunately, the tremor stopped and she decided to investigate.
The crack was just big enough for her to fit through with a little effort. It was an opening of a cave of some sort. And her blood ran cold when she saw another yellow sphere and one of the awful creatures that it should have nourished. The Tomb Raider cocked her pistols but then stopped-it wasn't attacking. Instead it was chewing some of the protruding tubes. Another cry was heard and Lara aimed her guns at the head and fired. The creature slumped on one side, its head now only a grotesque wound. There was something different about the sphere. It hadn't burst to pieces but was in two completely symmetrical pieces that formed something like a cradle.
Lara approached the strange sphere but then heard another cry from inside it and stopped dead in her tracks-it was a baby cry…
The baby inside looked like a normal baby girl except for the tubes of the sphere that were attached to its body. "Just like the creatures that infest all of the Great Pyramid…" Lara was puzzled. She hadn't expected this from Natla. She slumped to the ground and tried to gather her thoughts; she had a tough decision to make. If she left the girl here, it would surely die but if she took it with her, she might be endangering the fate of humankind. Someday if the girl found out about her true origin, she might decide to revive the Atlantean culture with all its hideous creations. "What am I supposed to do?" Lara thought and cursed her luck-always being the one that had to save or doom the world.
"Oh well, no use standing around doing nothing," she thought and started detaching the tubes from the little body. But the moment she removed the last tube, the baby's back arched and it stopped moving. Lara was terrified but then spotted something- even though the child wasn't moving, it was still breathing.
"There's still hope," she thought and dashed for the place where Natla lay, hoping that she was still alive. The Atlantean queen didn't move but the Tomb Raider lay next to her and looked into her eyes-and saw life in them…
"Natla, I found your baby. One of your creatures was trying to attack it and I tried to save it and take it with me but I'm afraid I didn't do it right. I detached the tubes and…"
"You did what!!!" Natla tried to yell but it came out as a tired whisper. She looked into the Tomb Raider's eyes and her own eyes moistened. "Haven't you caused enough trouble, Lara? You killed my creations so ruthlessly, you ruined the Scion, you destroyed my home… you ruined my life. All I ever wanted was to be together with my beautiful little girl and now you killed her."
"No, Natla, I haven't! She still breathed but didn't move a lot. Tell me what to do and I'll do it!"
"No, go! You did all you could to destroy my world! What more do you want?!"
"Don't you understand? I want to help that little girl…"
And then silence fell between them. The two women lay next to each other, looking into each other's eyes while the pyramid rocked violently, threatening to cave in any moment.
"OK," Natla said while looking doubtfully into Lara's eyes, "You'll find my diary under the sphere. In it there's a piece of the Scion that should be attached to the back of the baby. Only this will save her."
Lara got to her feet and offered a hand to her employer. "Come on, I'll help you up. Go outside and wait for us at a safe place."
Natla smiled sadly and said, "I can't. You see, Lara, one of your bullets caught me in the spine. I can't move."
Indeed, when Lara knelt down, she saw that there was already a fairly large amount of blood at Natla's side.
Lara bit her lip and opened her mouth to say something but the Atlantean queen cut her off.
"No time for this now; you can't save me anyway. Save her or I swear that I won't find peace until you die an awful death, Lara Croft. You owe me at least this. Now go."
Lara got to her feet and dashed for the opening. She looked at the baby and put it on the ground. Beneath the cradle she spotted the outlines of a little rectangular stone block that looked like it could be removed. Under the block was an old book and a case with a little sparkling piece of metal that had to be the Heart of the Scion. She took it and turned to the baby. It had turned slightly blue now. A pang of guilt hit her but she managed to take the little corpse and turn it in her hands. She saw the place where the piece had to be put and closed her eyes. "Please, let her live. She has done no wrong," the Tomb Raider thought and put the piece in the opening. Nothing happened. She tried to adjust it but still had no result. "Darn it! Why do I always mess things up?!" she thought but had no time to blame herself further because the Pyramid rocked once again.
Lara made her way out and turned to the place where she had left Natla. Now there was a big pile of boulders and her body couldn't be seen. The adventuress put the diary in her backpack and turned to the opening above.
She had barely made it out when the roof caved in. All that she wanted to do now was to just lie down and rest but knew that would mean certain death so she got to her feet and started running.
The Tomb Raider ran with all the strength her tired legs could muster. An explosion almost knocked her off her feet but she managed to keep running. Debris was falling all over her and she cried out when a fairly big rock hit her in the back. She managed to get to the boat and started the engine. She was alone with her thoughts once again.
* * *
Surrey, England
A cloud of dust rose when a Norton Streetfighter bike stopped at the gate of a big mansion in the heart of the English countryside.
A very beautiful woman made her way to the door carrying her backpack in one hand and a helmet in the other. She raised her hand to knock on the door when an elderly man in a butler uniform opened it with a smile.
"Welcome home, Miss Croft. How was your trip?"
"Don't ask. All I want to do right now is to take a bath, have something to eat and go to sleep. Oh, and I wouldn't mind if someone nursed my wounds, too. I want to be left alone. So keep out of the way and you'll be safe," Lara said with a serious face. But then smiled and said, "Nah. Glad to see you, Winston. But seriously, I'd kill for a bath. Would you see to it?"
"Certainly, Miss. It'll be ready in five minutes."
She headed to her room and kicked off her boots on the way up. "Ah, good to be home once again…"
* * *
After she had rested Lara started unpacking. She took special care when taking out the diary of the Atlantean queen.
It was a leather-bound book with yellow pages. The first pages were covered with sketches of machinery that was unknown to her, so she turned to the writings. She expected to find an unknown language but it was vaguely similar to English.
"June 15, EGCD
I have to be more careful. Tihocan and Qualopec aren't very happy with the fact that I have a boyfriend. They think that he uses me only to get to the powers I possess. Mindless fools… What do they know, anyway? Well, they'll be surprised when they find out that I'm pregnant."
The stories that filled the following pages made Lara realise how sensitive Natla was. "Wow, she really loved that guy," she thought sadly, remembering her own intimate relationships-most of them not very pleasant.
But after some time the pages revealed that not everything was fine and dandy in Natla's life.
"August 6, EGCE
Things haven't been very peaceful lately, and it's all because of me. Some months ago Tihocan and Qualopec found out that I was pregnant and threatened me. They wanted me to dump Dimo and to kill my baby. I had only one thing to say-fuck 'em.
I have been using their pieces of the Scion to secretly create an army of my own. No one has the right to tell me what to do with my life. Tonight I'll steal the pieces of the Scion, and we'll hide in the Pyramid."
"September 15, EGCE
I guess this will be it. Tihocan and Qualopec will soon break our defenses and that will mean we'll be dead. Right now I'm looking at my family-Dimo is putting the baby to sleep. At least she's OK. But I dread the moment those bastards get their hands on her. I know that everything I care for is in this room and I'd rather die than give them up without a fight."
"September 17, EGCE
We were captured today. Dimo was killed in the fight-I don't know how to feel. If it weren't for our daughter I would have broken the neck of Tihocan by now. The bastard didn't even let me bury Dimo properly-he became food for the filthy dogs of Qualopec instead. I want revenge but I doubt that I'll get it."
"September 19, EGCE
They got my baby. My precious little angel now lies deep-frozen in a nitrogen coffin. I've lost all hope. Now I lie in a prisoner cell in the palace of Tihocan. Oh how I want to strip him bare of his mechanical equipment, watch him suffer as he dies of suffocation. But no, tomorrow I'll face my death, I'll watch those eyes devoid of any emotion as I slip into another world.
I pray that he will die in awful pain… he killed me before I was due to face death. I am not going to give him the pleasure of savouring my suffering; he has made me suffer enough. And may we never meet again."
This was the last entry of the diary. When Lara finished reading, she felt so bad because she understood the different truth. It wasn't the artifact that Natla was after, she wanted to be together with her daughter once again. She was ready to die once to protect her from the rulers of Atlantis and died for a second time, trying to protect her home.
The Tomb Raider had never felt so bad- not even when her fiance died in that plane crash in the Himalayas years ago.
Then she saw the little glittering piece of the Scion-the Heart of the Scion. And knew that there was work to be done.
* * *
The noise of the helicopter made all attempts at conversation pointless. The pilot turned to see if his passenger was ready for the jump and was rewarded by a *thumbs up* gesture.
Lara Croft jumped from the chopper and crashed into the water. She surfaced quickly and swam to the little island, not in a hurry to do the job she was here for.
The island was now a ruin. The vegetation was scorched and huge stones from the Pyramid were littering the ground. Lara cleared a small space in the dirt and knelt down. From her backpack she produced the Heart of the Scion and put it on the ground, placing two roses on its sides. She pierced her thumb in the process but did not pay any attention to it. Crimson drops coloured the smooth surface, looking strangely beautiful on the glittering Heart. She mused for a moment over whether there was a point in staying for a bit but decided against it; Natla never wasted time for irrelevant things and wouldn't want her to do so either. She would have laughed in her face for even bothering to do what Lara was doing, but a guilty conscience is not a happy conscience. She must go now.
Lara stood up and headed for the water, not looking back as the drops of blood disappeared beneath the surface of the Heart of the Scion as it glittered and throbbed for a brief moment, and then darkened once again.
THE END
Tzveti Metodieva
July 2, 2002
A Different Truth
"Why did it have to end up like this, Natla, why?" Lara Croft thought while trying to avoid the energy balls her employer fired. Her first job of retrieving an artifact for someone turned out to be a failure. Several months ago Jacqueline Natla hired her to find and retrieve a mysterious disc called the Scion, but as soon as she found the first of the three Scion pieces, Natla tricked her out of it. She decided to hunt down her prize. And now she had to fight for her life.
She moved like she was in a dream, only one thought in her head-"Jump, fire, hit." It ended suddenly. Natla fell to the ground, her mutated wings now only a bloody mass that somehow clung sadly to her back. The Atlantean queen didn't cry out but Lara saw the pain in her eyes. Natla tried to get up but couldn't. The Tomb Raider started walking away but then heard a faint sound, turned back and fired a final bullet. It hit Natla in the back and she collapsed in a heap. Her moist eyes were asking one question-"Why"-but soon darkened and closed.
Lara felt sad-she knew that it was either her or her employer but couldn't help feeling bad. It wasn't like killing an animal that threatened her life because she could see all the emotions in her eyes. It was then that the ground started rocking violently. "Better make tracks," she thought and started heading for an opening high above. Just as she turned, she heard a sound that piqued her curiosity. It was something like a cry or a moan and she was positive that it wasn't an animal. It was coming from a crack in the wall that was covered by some vegetation. "That is strange… There isn't anything but rocks and sand here and all of a sudden these plants appear." Fortunately, the tremor stopped and she decided to investigate.
The crack was just big enough for her to fit through with a little effort. It was an opening of a cave of some sort. And her blood ran cold when she saw another yellow sphere and one of the awful creatures that it should have nourished. The Tomb Raider cocked her pistols but then stopped-it wasn't attacking. Instead it was chewing some of the protruding tubes. Another cry was heard and Lara aimed her guns at the head and fired. The creature slumped on one side, its head now only a grotesque wound. There was something different about the sphere. It hadn't burst to pieces but was in two completely symmetrical pieces that formed something like a cradle.
Lara approached the strange sphere but then heard another cry from inside it and stopped dead in her tracks-it was a baby cry…
The baby inside looked like a normal baby girl except for the tubes of the sphere that were attached to its body. "Just like the creatures that infest all of the Great Pyramid…" Lara was puzzled. She hadn't expected this from Natla. She slumped to the ground and tried to gather her thoughts; she had a tough decision to make. If she left the girl here, it would surely die but if she took it with her, she might be endangering the fate of humankind. Someday if the girl found out about her true origin, she might decide to revive the Atlantean culture with all its hideous creations. "What am I supposed to do?" Lara thought and cursed her luck-always being the one that had to save or doom the world.
"Oh well, no use standing around doing nothing," she thought and started detaching the tubes from the little body. But the moment she removed the last tube, the baby's back arched and it stopped moving. Lara was terrified but then spotted something- even though the child wasn't moving, it was still breathing.
"There's still hope," she thought and dashed for the place where Natla lay, hoping that she was still alive. The Atlantean queen didn't move but the Tomb Raider lay next to her and looked into her eyes-and saw life in them…
"Natla, I found your baby. One of your creatures was trying to attack it and I tried to save it and take it with me but I'm afraid I didn't do it right. I detached the tubes and…"
"You did what!!!" Natla tried to yell but it came out as a tired whisper. She looked into the Tomb Raider's eyes and her own eyes moistened. "Haven't you caused enough trouble, Lara? You killed my creations so ruthlessly, you ruined the Scion, you destroyed my home… you ruined my life. All I ever wanted was to be together with my beautiful little girl and now you killed her."
"No, Natla, I haven't! She still breathed but didn't move a lot. Tell me what to do and I'll do it!"
"No, go! You did all you could to destroy my world! What more do you want?!"
"Don't you understand? I want to help that little girl…"
And then silence fell between them. The two women lay next to each other, looking into each other's eyes while the pyramid rocked violently, threatening to cave in any moment.
"OK," Natla said while looking doubtfully into Lara's eyes, "You'll find my diary under the sphere. In it there's a piece of the Scion that should be attached to the back of the baby. Only this will save her."
Lara got to her feet and offered a hand to her employer. "Come on, I'll help you up. Go outside and wait for us at a safe place."
Natla smiled sadly and said, "I can't. You see, Lara, one of your bullets caught me in the spine. I can't move."
Indeed, when Lara knelt down, she saw that there was already a fairly large amount of blood at Natla's side.
Lara bit her lip and opened her mouth to say something but the Atlantean queen cut her off.
"No time for this now; you can't save me anyway. Save her or I swear that I won't find peace until you die an awful death, Lara Croft. You owe me at least this. Now go."
Lara got to her feet and dashed for the opening. She looked at the baby and put it on the ground. Beneath the cradle she spotted the outlines of a little rectangular stone block that looked like it could be removed. Under the block was an old book and a case with a little sparkling piece of metal that had to be the Heart of the Scion. She took it and turned to the baby. It had turned slightly blue now. A pang of guilt hit her but she managed to take the little corpse and turn it in her hands. She saw the place where the piece had to be put and closed her eyes. "Please, let her live. She has done no wrong," the Tomb Raider thought and put the piece in the opening. Nothing happened. She tried to adjust it but still had no result. "Darn it! Why do I always mess things up?!" she thought but had no time to blame herself further because the Pyramid rocked once again.
Lara made her way out and turned to the place where she had left Natla. Now there was a big pile of boulders and her body couldn't be seen. The adventuress put the diary in her backpack and turned to the opening above.
She had barely made it out when the roof caved in. All that she wanted to do now was to just lie down and rest but knew that would mean certain death so she got to her feet and started running.
The Tomb Raider ran with all the strength her tired legs could muster. An explosion almost knocked her off her feet but she managed to keep running. Debris was falling all over her and she cried out when a fairly big rock hit her in the back. She managed to get to the boat and started the engine. She was alone with her thoughts once again.
* * *
Surrey, England
A cloud of dust rose when a Norton Streetfighter bike stopped at the gate of a big mansion in the heart of the English countryside.
A very beautiful woman made her way to the door carrying her backpack in one hand and a helmet in the other. She raised her hand to knock on the door when an elderly man in a butler uniform opened it with a smile.
"Welcome home, Miss Croft. How was your trip?"
"Don't ask. All I want to do right now is to take a bath, have something to eat and go to sleep. Oh, and I wouldn't mind if someone nursed my wounds, too. I want to be left alone. So keep out of the way and you'll be safe," Lara said with a serious face. But then smiled and said, "Nah. Glad to see you, Winston. But seriously, I'd kill for a bath. Would you see to it?"
"Certainly, Miss. It'll be ready in five minutes."
She headed to her room and kicked off her boots on the way up. "Ah, good to be home once again…"
* * *
After she had rested Lara started unpacking. She took special care when taking out the diary of the Atlantean queen.
It was a leather-bound book with yellow pages. The first pages were covered with sketches of machinery that was unknown to her, so she turned to the writings. She expected to find an unknown language but it was vaguely similar to English.
"June 15, EGCD
I have to be more careful. Tihocan and Qualopec aren't very happy with the fact that I have a boyfriend. They think that he uses me only to get to the powers I possess. Mindless fools… What do they know, anyway? Well, they'll be surprised when they find out that I'm pregnant."
The stories that filled the following pages made Lara realise how sensitive Natla was. "Wow, she really loved that guy," she thought sadly, remembering her own intimate relationships-most of them not very pleasant.
But after some time the pages revealed that not everything was fine and dandy in Natla's life.
"August 6, EGCE
Things haven't been very peaceful lately, and it's all because of me. Some months ago Tihocan and Qualopec found out that I was pregnant and threatened me. They wanted me to dump Dimo and to kill my baby. I had only one thing to say-fuck 'em.
I have been using their pieces of the Scion to secretly create an army of my own. No one has the right to tell me what to do with my life. Tonight I'll steal the pieces of the Scion, and we'll hide in the Pyramid."
"September 15, EGCE
I guess this will be it. Tihocan and Qualopec will soon break our defenses and that will mean we'll be dead. Right now I'm looking at my family-Dimo is putting the baby to sleep. At least she's OK. But I dread the moment those bastards get their hands on her. I know that everything I care for is in this room and I'd rather die than give them up without a fight."
"September 17, EGCE
We were captured today. Dimo was killed in the fight-I don't know how to feel. If it weren't for our daughter I would have broken the neck of Tihocan by now. The bastard didn't even let me bury Dimo properly-he became food for the filthy dogs of Qualopec instead. I want revenge but I doubt that I'll get it."
"September 19, EGCE
They got my baby. My precious little angel now lies deep-frozen in a nitrogen coffin. I've lost all hope. Now I lie in a prisoner cell in the palace of Tihocan. Oh how I want to strip him bare of his mechanical equipment, watch him suffer as he dies of suffocation. But no, tomorrow I'll face my death, I'll watch those eyes devoid of any emotion as I slip into another world.
I pray that he will die in awful pain… he killed me before I was due to face death. I am not going to give him the pleasure of savouring my suffering; he has made me suffer enough. And may we never meet again."
This was the last entry of the diary. When Lara finished reading, she felt so bad because she understood the different truth. It wasn't the artifact that Natla was after, she wanted to be together with her daughter once again. She was ready to die once to protect her from the rulers of Atlantis and died for a second time, trying to protect her home.
The Tomb Raider had never felt so bad- not even when her fiance died in that plane crash in the Himalayas years ago.
Then she saw the little glittering piece of the Scion-the Heart of the Scion. And knew that there was work to be done.
* * *
The noise of the helicopter made all attempts at conversation pointless. The pilot turned to see if his passenger was ready for the jump and was rewarded by a *thumbs up* gesture.
Lara Croft jumped from the chopper and crashed into the water. She surfaced quickly and swam to the little island, not in a hurry to do the job she was here for.
The island was now a ruin. The vegetation was scorched and huge stones from the Pyramid were littering the ground. Lara cleared a small space in the dirt and knelt down. From her backpack she produced the Heart of the Scion and put it on the ground, placing two roses on its sides. She pierced her thumb in the process but did not pay any attention to it. Crimson drops coloured the smooth surface, looking strangely beautiful on the glittering Heart. She mused for a moment over whether there was a point in staying for a bit but decided against it; Natla never wasted time for irrelevant things and wouldn't want her to do so either. She would have laughed in her face for even bothering to do what Lara was doing, but a guilty conscience is not a happy conscience. She must go now.
Lara stood up and headed for the water, not looking back as the drops of blood disappeared beneath the surface of the Heart of the Scion as it glittered and throbbed for a brief moment, and then darkened once again.
THE END