A/N: Hi everyone~ so this'll be the first story I've written in a few years. Recently finished Tomb Raider, fell in love with it, and wanted to a write a story about it. Figured I'd go the opposite route and write something that took place before the events on Yamatai.
So yeah, if you like the story, leave a review, follow, do whatever you guys do to show your support on this site.
Thanks for reading.
"Your belongings, Miss Croft."
"Thank you, Wilson."
Lara Croft stepped out of a pristine Jaguar XK140, her two large leather suitcases being hauled out of the trunk. In front of her was her dormitory building, where she'd live while she began the next chapter of her life: Cambridge University.
Her butler Wilson grunted and huffed as he painstakingly carried Lara's two suitcases. Two weeks prior, she'd stuffed the entirety of her closet and book collection into both of those. Lara and Wilson walked over to the building, climbed one set of stairs ("Thank the heavens it was only one," Wilson muttered) and into Lara's room. As her deceased father was part of the Royal British Archaeology team, with fellowships at Cambridge and at Harvard in the US, she was granted a single room as an honored guest.
As Lara moved her suitcases in, she surveyed her new room. It was a plain room with a squishy twin bed, a coffee table with a small soft, a modestly sized dresser, and a mini fridge. The bathroom, located in the hall, was meant to be shared amongst the floor's residents. Since she lived in a single, the room was also equipped with a small square table and two chairs.
"Miss Croft," Wilson said as Lara began settling in. "I will be taking my leave now if there is no longer anything I can do for you."
Lara nodded and smiled softly. "Thank you Wilson. I always appreciate your help."
"Of course, my lady. Do not hesitate to call us back at the manor should you need anything."
"Say hello to Ms. Perkins for me when you get back."
"Of course. Good day." Wilson bowed courteously and closed the door quietly behind him.
Lara turned and faced her room. "Okay," she sighed. "Time to unpack..."
The first suitcase contained her small collection of books she'd accumulated over her high school years. The other suitcase contained her sparse wardrobe, which mostly consisted of colored tank tops, white v-neck t-shirts, some flannel shirts, skinny jeans, and a few jackets. She was a girl of simple tastes when it came to clothing. She dumped the entirety of her clothes into the dresser.
Her suitcase filled with books was the one she was looking most forward to. Lara didn't exactly like socializing with people. Despite her drop-dead gorgeous looks, she much preferred to stay indoors and lose herself in her books. She was quite the object of attention throughout her high school years, with a seemingly endless amount of boys fawning over her. However, she remained indifferent when approached by any of them, even causing a huge ruckus to occur when she denied the football captain's prom proposal. She gave him a swift, cold, "no," and walked away without so much as a second though. She just simply did not have any interest in relationships.
As Lara dumped her stacks of books on the floor next to the dresses, someone knocked at the door three times.
"Who is it?" Lara asked, slightly irritated. Although she was moving in, she wanted nothing more than to stay inside and reread some of her favorite novels instead of meeting people.
"I'm one of your neighbors," a muffled voice replied.
Lara dragged herself toward the door and slowly opened it.
"Oh. Wow. Hi," the boy on the other side blurted upon seeing Lara's face. He had shaggy hair, glasses, and a shirt that had a picture of an escape key on it. Upon realizing what he'd blurted, his cheeks turned a faint shade of pink.
"Can I help you?" Lara asked, leaning against the door frame.
"Yeah," he replied, regaining composure. "My name's Alex Weiss. I was just going around introducing myself to everyone on the floor. I live in room 207." He pointed a few doors down. "If you need anything, drop on by and I'll see what I can do to help. I'm pretty handy when it comes to gadgets."
Lara politely smiled. "Thanks, Alex." She extended her hand. "My name's Lara. I'll be sure to visit sometime if I ever need help."
Alex beamed. "Yeah, definitely. I'll-I'll see you around then, Lara." He walked away toward the next door, knocking on it as soon as he reached it.
Closing the door gently, Lara returned to unpacking her books. She'd accumulated quite a bit ever since she started reading. She read mostly novels nowadays, as it was a much more enjoyable. She could devour two or three novels over the course of weekend if they were engaging enough. She pulled out a well-thumbed copy of Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami; it was one of her favorite books. . She shrugged, hopped onto the bed and began to read it, for the fifth time.
"….now, when we investigate dig sites, we try to create two sample areas to investigate within the site. The two goals of any sampled areas are to discover any pattern of variation…"
Lara was sitting in her first class in college: "Archaeology 101: Archaeology Methods and Techniques." She knew she wanted to pursue archaeology as a child. Fitting, since her father was an archaeologist investing the ruins of Roanoke Island before he disappeared during a freak accident in Virginia. It was a calling to her, as if studying his profession would give her insight onto why he mysteriously vanished that day in Virginia.
A raven-haired girl sitting next to her yawned and, rather loudly, slammed her head into the desk. Some people shot dirty looks, but continued taking notes. Lara scorned the girl for disrupting the lecture by being so rude. The girl looked Asian, but something about her facial structure suggested otherwise. She was wearing a red raglan shirt under a leather jacket and had a pair of dark washed skinny jeans.
Lecture ended 40 minutes later. Lara packed up her stuff quietly while people shuffled and shoved their way past her desk. She noticed that most people had already formed small groups of friends with each other. Lara thought it was odd that people could get so close to each other after only one day. She slung her backpack on and silently drifted out of the classroom.
She was still very unfamiliar with the campus, so she was walking around with a map held right in front of her face, glancing up every so often to make sure she didn't crash into anybody. As she crossed the quad to the next building, a male voice yelled, "Hey Lara!"
Lara turned around and saw the smiling face of Alex waving at her as he ran towards her.
She smiled politely, again. "Hi, Alex."
"What up Lara?" he wheezed.
"Just got out of my first class. College…is interesting, so far." She continued walking to her building.
Alex followed. "What's your major?"
"Archaeology. Yours?"
"Electrical Engineering."
"How did you know it was me from behind?"
"You were wearing a ponytail yesterday, and you were the only ponytail in the crowd."
"I see..." Lara distantly answered.
A silence ensued between them as Lara walked to her next class.
"So…what do you think of Cambridge?" Alex asked, hoping to stir conversation.
"I think it's lovely so far. I haven't checked out the library yet. I'll need to get on that, soon."
"Already thinking about the library huh?"
"I'll need to learn how it works if I want to read their archaeological reports on Roanoke Island sometime."
"You've got your life pretty much figured out, don't you?"
"I'm not sure if that's the proper wording." Lara stopped in front of a large lecture hall. "I have another class in here."
"Oh, okay. I'll see you around, Lara!" Alex waved before trotting off.
Lara watched Alex run with inquisitive eyes. She could tell that Alex had somewhat of crush on her. Years of being fawned upon by boys and men alike had given her a certain intuition when it came to understanding when she was and wasn't liked by people. Saving the thought for later exploration, she walked into the lecture hall in front of her. Her next class was "Anthropology 157: Introduction to East Asian Cultures."
She was one of the few people who arrived early, so she took a seat somewhere near the middle of the front. She pulled out Norwegian Wood and picked up from where she left off last night. She was getting absorbed into the book again when someone loudly dumped their butt into the seat next to her. Roused from her reading, she looked up and saw the raven haired Asian girl.
She turned away slightly and rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed that someone this loud would be sitting next to her during lecture. Obviously, she could have opted to move to another seat, but that would be rude. She was brought up to not be rude, as it was considered to be distasteful. Better to be courteous and have people like you than be public enemy #1.
Regardless, Lara made a conscious effort to ignore the girl.
Lecture started once the balding professor walked in and began writing notes on the chalkboard. Lara gazed around the hall and realized how few students were actually taking this class. She estimated about fifteen, maybe twenty at most, for a lecture hall designed for at least 100 students. As such, there was no one sitting next to each other. Most students had a gap of at least five chairs in any direction between the next one. It piqued Lara's interest that this girl had chosen, out of 80 something chairs, to sit right next to Lara. It wasn't a coincidence. She quietly put Norwegian Wood back into rucksack and pulled out a notebook.
The girl beside her yawned and stretched. Lara was busy scribbling notes down, glancing over to the other girl every so often and questioning her actions. Eventually, a loud thump was heard. Lara looked over, and to her non-existent surprise, she saw the girl sleeping. Annoyed, Lara nudged her hard.
"You're going to miss out on lecture notes," she curtly said to the drooling, raven-haired girl.
She yawned. "But I'm so tired," she whined. She rubbed her eyes.
"Well, try to wake up. Regardless," Lara paused slightly. "I think lecture would be rather important starting from day one."
"My name's Sam, by the way. What's yours?"
"Lara."
"I'm charmed," Sam teasingly said in a poor British accent, attesting to her interest in Lara's accent.
Lara shot her a dirty look. "Likewise."
After her last class ended at 5pm, Lara quickly returned to her room and plopped onto her bed. She was ready to have dinner in a little bit, take a shower, pop a beer or two, and fall asleep while reading. She liked to live quietly.
However, as fate would have it, there was a knock on her door. Grumbling, Lara reluctantly rose up and answered, only to be greeted by Alex once more.
"Hi Lara," Alex cheerfully said, a great big smile plastered on her face. "I was wondering if you wanted to come get dinner with me?"
Lara bit her lip a little. She would have rather much preferred to eat alone, but since it was the first day of college, she replied, "Sure. Give me a second." Lara went to the bathroom, splashed her face with some water, grabbed her phone and wallet, and, making sure she had her key, locked her door. "Ready?" she asked Alex.
" 'Course."
"So how was your day?" Lara perfunctorily asked as they walked down the hall.
"Alright, I suppose. Intro to electrical engineering was pretty bland, but it really is only the first day. Yours?"
They rounded a corner, descended a flight of stairs, and exited the dorm building.
"Okay. Still adjusting to college life. How're your room mates?"
"Ehh…I only have one, but he seems nice. He's an English major, but I only saw him once this whole day. Guess he was reading books or whatever English majors need to do."
"Probably writing about how he WON'T get a job with that degree," Lara quipped.
Alex laughed. "Wow Lara, that's harsh! At the very least he might get a job in publishing or something..."
They soon arrived to the cafeteria. A bunch of students were already there, their conversations all mingling in the air, creating a warm atmosphere. The cafeteria was more like a food court than a traditional cafeteria, with various sections dedicated to types of ethnic and local foods. Lara opted for Greek and Alex went for some Indian curry.
"Interesting decision of food," Alex remarked upon seeing Lara's gyro.
"I could say the same about you," she replied. "You don't look the kind of guy who likes to eat curry."
He shrugged. "I had a lot of Indian friends growing up. When I went over to their houses, I was pretty much served curry. I still know nothing about curry though, I usually just pick whatever sounds good. This is some type of yellow curry, I think."
"Is that so," Lara absentmindedly said as she took a bite of her gyro. Although it was pleasant to not have dinner alone, she wanted to be alone for a while. "Where did you grow up?" she asked after a period of silence that ensued after her first response.
"I grew up in Los Angeles. You?"
"London. You're quite a ways from home, aren't you? What made you want to come overseas for college?"
Alex shrugged. "I had the grades and England seemed like an attractive place to go. Plus, I also really love British accents, so when I learned I got into Cambridge, I was all for it. What about you?"
"This was my father's alma mater. He came here for archaeology and I'm doing the same."
"Following in your old man's footsteps huh? You seem to really like your dad."
Lara smiled wanly. "You could say something like that."
