Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Lara Croft or any other characters associated with the Tomb Raider series.
Author Notes: Let me know if this is a good idea. I already have part of the first chapter typed and should be putting that up soon. Throughout this story, key elements from the games WILL be thrown in. I really don't want to go too far from Tomb Raider itself. Reviews are always welcome.
Prologue
The troubles of the world cannot be written, cannot be spoken, by the old croak of an aging, troubled woman. But rather the smooth silence of the one who has seen it all. Not her scars, not her pale yellow hands can speak as her cold expression does- stiffened by time and contained by a broken wall infected with the cursed creeping vine.
Her long, graying ponytail fell down her shoulder and she looked up from her lap.
"I feel you wanted to ask me something, child."
"Yes. I did."
The ticking of the grandfather clock seemed to slow during the long pause. Just as the elderly woman was about to ask for her question, the girl pulled a pistol from her jacket.
"I have something of yours." The lady stiffened in her chair.
The girl laid the pistol in the older woman's lap and gave a reassuring smile.
"Hmm," the elder said with a small smirk. "Where on Earth did you find this?"
"On my dresser, ma'am. I don't understand. It was just…there."
The woman smiled as she turned the pistol in her hand, admiring its structure and glimmer under the lights. How many memories it held. It had saved her and lost her on so many occasions. She could feel the intense moments they shared as she ran her fingers lightly over the trigger. It felt good to see it one last time.
"Where is the second one?" the woman asked.
"I don't know. I just found this one."
The elder stood up, balancing herself on the arm of the chair and moving around to fetch her cane leaning on the wall. She coughed out a laugh. "You'll be needing the other, won't you?"
The girl, puzzled as anything, shook her head. "They're yours!" But as she argued, the lady was already heading out the door of her library.
The mansion was quite large and decorated. The golden banisters bordered the burgundy carpet that spread across the floor like a light jam on toast. However, the toast in the upper levels was quite fine, as well; a wooden floor, sun-kissed by the rays that shined through the front windows. A grand staircase placed at the center of the house sprang two sets of steps out the sides that landed gracefully below to a black and white checkered floor. In the main hall, there was a grand trophy room behind a locked door. Only the old woman knew exactly how to get inside.
The lady stumbled down the last step with the help of the girl. "Thank you," she muttered, as if ashamed of her weakness. The girl nodded in return.
"I can't help but wonder, ma'am. Where are you taking me?" the girl asked.
A smirk peeked out from under the woman's wrinkles. "To your future."
She hobbled over to the right wall. Still facing it, she said, "Care for a swim?"
The girl sighed but before she could disagree, she noticed a crack in the wall the woman was facing. "Yes…I think I would."
After finding the switch in the pool room, the girl raced back to the old woman. She was still there, leaning up against the wall for extra support. When she moved, she revealed an opening. There, stitched into the inner wall, was a lever.
"This is up to you, child."
The girl pulled the lever and slowly turned around to see the door open and closing fast. She attempted a dash over to it with no luck.
The woman laughed. "No, that's not right. Go back to the beginning and try again."
The girl huffed back over and started fresh. With a tug and a roll, she was set, sprinting all the way and diving through the half-closed doorway. By the time the girl had finished dusting herself off, her eyes met the head of an enormous Tyrannosaurus Rex mounted above a blazing fireplace. Startled by it, she knocked into a button beside the door. It opened, and this time, stayed open.
Behind the door stood the old woman who then walked into the room.
"These were the days of my glory, one might say. That one… just happens to be myself." The girl laughed at the dry wit of the elder. "You see, I spent my younger years striving to discover the truth among these little trinkets." The old woman continued. "I would not say I found nothing," she chuckled, gazing at the T-rex above the fireplace, "but I did not find truth. If anything, I found more questions." She continued to pace around the room admiring the prizes of her adventures, pausing at each one. "I am old now, of course. While my mind and wit are in famous condition, my creaking bones and dazzling good looks are not." She grinned at the young woman standing before her, reminding her too much of herself. "I'm not here to tell you what to do with your life." She took the second pistol from a case on the shelf. "I'm merely here to tell you what you are capable of doing. And I can see it, in those deep dark eyes of yours, that you want what I've always wanted."
"To live."
"To live, my child." Lady Croft placed both pistols in the girl's hands. "To live."
Selena closed the book she had never even started reading and stood up. She walked out of her library, leaving the book and her past behind.