-Sam's POV-
These Solarii lunatics must think I'm a dog. They lead me around, and tie me up in places to make sure I won't run away. Why am I so important to them? I always joked about Himiko being my ancestor, but that was it! I was just joking! And now… it's not funny anymore. These people want to release her using me? I always thought myths weren't true and some people claim there's always a little truth to myths, but Mathias has everyone worshipping this so- called fucking myth!
I'm scared out of my mind. I was almost eat up by flames, but something… somehow protected me from them. They say it was Himiko, maybe it was… Gah! No that's crazy!
She's dead in a tomb somewhere in Yamatai. She is a fallen goddess who hasn't been heard of for centuries. She can't possibly be up and running the show here!
But… with all the insane things happening here, I'm starting to consider the possibility.
If they could really bring their fallen Queen back to her throne, what's she going to do? Mathias keeps promising everyone that they will all get off this island, but I don't think she'd let that happen. What's a king or queen without their people? She'd be nothing without a nation to rule over.
I'm still tied up to the stake I almost burned at. Mathias and the rest of the Solarii are speaking in a different language I can't understand. The last thing I could understand was I'm going to be taken to the throne room and Lara… I hope she got away. I can't believe she put her life on the line like that, but I probably would have done the same for her.
If I didn't get myself captured, none of this would be happening. It's all my fault. I should be the one that takes the beatings, not Lara.
I can't even imagine how or what all she did just to get to me. She's seen hell out there, I'm sure.
Mathias has ordered the Solarii not to lay a finger on me, and surprisingly, none of them have. I doubt they do it in honor of Mathias. They fear Himiko more than him, but Mathias likes to act like the right hand man for the Sun Queen.
Mathias started to make his way towards me to untie me himself, personally. I think he thinks the Sun Queen will bless him or something for stupid things like this.
He went to my side where he started to untangle the knot. I heard fast footsteps and saw Mathias go stiff by my side.
A blade was pressed against his throat, and none other than Lara Croft was the one wielding it.
She looked fatigued, but her eyes were blazing with determination.
"Untie her now!" Lara demanded with a fierce look, but it was all bravado, I could tell. She's scared too. Maybe more so than me at the moment because to Mathias, she's disposable and she knows it, but she refuses to give up, and I deeply admire her for it.
I gulp as he slowly begins to untie me. All the Solarii soldiers stand back in a crowd, not moving, just watching.
Lara's eyes dart from Mathias, to his minions, and to corners of the cave. She's probably looking for an escape route. That takes a lot of concentration probably.
This is a huge risk, I realize, and we have almost no way out of here safely. At any moment, Mathias could do some dirty trick, or Solarii could sneak up her, or when we're running away all the exits could be blocked. She's just one person, a teenage girl who shouldn't be in this position!
I slumped to the floor and got straight back up as quickly as I could and turned towards Lara.
"Sam, get behind me," Lara was looking everywhere at once while using Mathias as a human shield. We started to slowly walk back towards and exit while Solarii watched our every move.
Lara held the blade to Mathias' throat firmly, but making sure it didn't slice through because this was our only way out. And we couldn't lose our only leverage.
I was keeping my eye on the crowd of Solarii trying to observe the surroundings. Maybe I can be helpful by-
"Mmph!" I yelped as a Solarii grabbed me from behind.
"Sam!" Lara yelled and let go of Mathias as she came running towards the man who grabbed me.
I tried to scream, to warn Lara, but it was too late.
Mathias grabbed Lara's hair and threw her backwards towards the Solarii crowd. She screamed as one of them brought her to her knees, and held a blade to her throat, silencing her.
"Not as much as fun on this end is it girl?" Mathias retorted to Lara dusting off his cloak.
The man holding Lara clamped her mouth shut so she couldn't say anything back. She struggled and writhed trying to get out of his vice-like grip, but he kneed her in the back, hard and she slumped forward breathing heavy.
"While this has been an entertaining, little game of cat mouse, I'm afraid I have to end you now, girl. You're hindrance to my Queen," Mathias' tone sounded as if it was dipped in acid. He nodded his head to the Solarii holding Lara, and he chuckled and angled his arms to slit-
"No!" I found myself screaming, "Mathias wait! Please!"
Mathias' brow lifted showing his interest to what I have to say.
Lara was looking at me with wide eyes.
Before I could even think of words, they just tumbled out of my mouth, "Please don't kill Lara. Mathias please! I swear I will be compliant with your rituals and Himiko just- Please! Don't kill her!"
Mathias strode towards the man holding Lara down and stoked her cheek. He said softly, "Lara… that's your name hmm?"
Lara narrowed her eyes at him and he smiled turning towards me.
"No matter what you say, you are going to be compliant because you have no choice in the matter. You have no real offer and therefore, there's nothing for me to lose."
Mathias stepped back a few feet and sighed.
"This gets quite messy. The jugular vein is the biggest, least protected artery in the human body. If anything, I'm doing you a favor. She won't feel any pain. It'll be quick."
And just like that, the man holding Lara sliced her throat open. She let out a guttural, drowning noise and hit the floor.
The man holding me let go, and I ran towards her, shifting her in my arms with tears streaming down my face.
She's drowning in her own blood. Every short gasp she makes sends red liquid down her breathing tube, and I can see it. Her eyes are wide open, and she's staring at the ceiling, and clutching the front of my shirt for dear life.
I don't want her die, to leave me, but the longer she stays here fighting for life, she suffers in agony.
Her eyes are starting to look glassy. She hasn't blinked in a long time. Her grip on my shirt is loosening. I thought this was supposed to be a quick, painless death, but it seems like she's suffering an eternity in my arms.
My tears hit her forehead, and I wipe them away while pushing her bangs aside. She had so much life ahead of her, and I… I just got her killed. I couldn't think of a single word to say to her. Nothing soothing, no 'I'm sorry's'… I'm just sitting here wallowing in my tears.
I feel something weak grab my hand. It's Lara's hand. She moved her eyes slowly looking around the room until they settled on me. There was no blame, nor hate in her eyes, just… love. I don't deserve it. Lara is like family to me, like a sister to me, and in her dying breath… she is the one trying to comfort ME.
I lift her up more so I can cradle her head against my shoulder. I sob ragged breaths into her blood matted hair. It was all over the both of us. I can feel it soak into my pants because we're sitting in a pool of her blood.
We sit in silence for a little while until I can no longer feel her breathing. She's just gone quiet and limp. I mover her head to see her eyes are slowly drifting closed and her jaw go slack.
She's dead… gone forever.
My tears started to really flow now. I didn't know I could cry this much. Her lifeless form is now practically soaked from my tears.
I reach up to my cheek to wipe them away, but I can't find any, or not as much that would soak her with them. I look down at Lara and then up at the ceiling of the cave and notice cracks were forming in the cave and it's… raining through them. How fitting.
Rain leaked down in a showering, glistening show that silenced everyone while they stared up at it.
It was peaceful, surreal scene… mourning the death of a selfless angel. Angels never did anything wrong. Angels should never have to suffer. Angels did not deserve death. They are a special type of creature. Their soul is pure, and their will is strong. They only live to please. They are given a mission from the deity who sends them. They make sure it's carried out until the end, not matter the cost.
Lara was an angel.
Her mission was to fight for her friends, and fight for us she did.
The rain was coming down heavier now, relentlessly pounding on the cave floors. Thunder shook the walls of the cave startling myself and everyone else. Lightning flashed through the cracks in the cave ceiling. Wind started to chip away the sides of the cave.
This was starting to look like a familiar scenario, and not a good one.
As everyone seemed to have the same train of thought going, a furious thunder brought all of us to our knees. Lightning fiercely struck the cave and smashed a portion of it away.
This is an angry storm screaming for vengeance.
I dragged myself and Lara's body away from the gaping hole in the ceiling, and I held in my breath at what I was seeing.
Through the hole, a dark black cloud in the shape of an eye seemed to be searching inside the cave for something… or someone.
The sky growled and ripped away the rest of the cave ceiling and the opposite side of the wall.
Fucking tornadoes were destroying the surroundings around the cave.
Lightning blazed madly in wild directions and then, it was almost as if the storm recognized him.
Lara's killer.
Lightning pierced his heart faster than we could blink, and he went down and started to twitch uncontrollably from the electric shock.
This is what the storm had wanted.
It started to sink back into a regular, rhythmic rain, and then into a light drizzle and then, gone.
Clouds still loomed overhead, watching… waiting. Not a ray of sunshine shone through the sky.
The heartless murderer eventually stopped moving, and the life in his eyes faded away.
The machete he had used to kill Lara turned into burnt ashes. No one was going to carry that around as a trophy, the storm made sure of that.
I don't know how any of this is possible.
None of this should be.
No crazy cult, no bipolar weather, no Yamatai, no Sun Queen and most definitely not a corpse BREATHING against me.
I know my pulse is beating rapidly, but when I checked hers, it was beating thunderously strong.
I'm too afraid to look down.
What if I'm going insane and imaging things?
There's no fucking way this is real.
I dare myself to look down and I'm… shocked, confused, grateful and scared shitless.
Lara is alive, breathing, with a sturdy pulse and there's not a trace of any life threatening wound on her body.
