Disclaimer: Yes, I was very stupid last time and forgot to write this thing. But you probably already guessed I'm not anyone from Eidos…

Timeless4Life: Hey there! Well, I hope this also 'lives up to your expectations'. I don't think it's my best, but don't let that discourage you! It gets better! Enjoy reading…I hope

The Third Demi God: Hey, thanks for being the first to review! Right, the italics in the last chapter was in James Rutland's POV (and if you don't know him, then this'll get very confusing. He's one of the characters from 'Legend') and the normal one…yeah, you don't find that out till later (though you could probably guess it in this chapter). But I hope you like this one

The bright rays of the dawn sun are hitting my eyes, forcing me to open them. I lie there, too weak to move. I really don't feel like leaving this bed-breaking up with someone is hard enough, but breaking their fragile hearts just kills you.

"Miss?" someone's calling. Most likely Winston-he's the only one who ever calls me 'miss'. I've been on at him to call me by my name, but he's obviously accustomed to calling me 'miss', bless him. Zip found it hilarious at one point.

He's knocking on the door now, calling 'miss, is everything all right?'

No, everything is not all right!

"I'm coming, Winston," I shout in a moan, yawning. I'm grudgingly dragging myself out of the comfort of the duvet, and force myself to my feet. I pull on my dressing gown hanging from the bedpost, and am preparing myself for what will be a long day, I'm sure. Even if I have nothing to attend to, guilt is a hard thing to live with.

I keep hearing this sad voice in my head, muttering 'you should understand'. Perhaps I should, maybe I made a huge mistake rejecting her…

No, I had to do it! It was too late, there was nothing to be done! Besides, she has her precious father, James Rutland by her side!

Oh, god, Rutland! You must remember him…total bloody arsehole! Thought he was special, just because his father was a Senator, and he was in the military! About the only thing he's ever done is go to West Point and tried (and failed) to reforge Excalibur. I'm glad to say that that was my success.

It's in my room, actually, in a case. I haven't eliminated its power-it's too precious. Anyway, I have some very interested professors from Cambridge and Oxford alike coming to see this artefact!

Sometimes, though, I wonder if I'd have gotten into this mess had it not been for a chance rumour that my good friend Anaya had told me about an ornate stone dais in Bolivia. You know the one, at the Tiwanaku ruins. As I recall, Zip humorously referred to it as 'a big rock…and she won't say why!'

Anyhow, after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing (and a little visit to Cornwall where I was nearly eaten alive by two huge serpents!) I finally discovered that the key to Excalibur was an artefact that my own mother had had all along. It was lost in the wreckage of the plane in Nepal. My father had found the Ghalali Key in Ghana, where I attempted (and succeeded) to pursuit James Rutland. And I suppose that could be where this all starts…

"I'm really not your enemy, Rutland," I sigh, watching him collapse to the floor. It's pathetic really-he has the sword fragment giving off blasts of energy and I'm able to overcome him with a few rounds of my pistols!

In the confusion (and possibly surrender) he's dropped his shard. I pick it up and bring out my own fragment-the piece from Viracocha's staff I got off Takamoto (long story) in Japan. I study them closely, as Rutland lies panting on the floor, obviously injured. I'd feel sorry for him if he weren't such a pompous dick!

"These weren't broken apart," I realise. "They were designed to separate and reattach…the Ghalali Key does that?" He says nothing. He's just crouching there, looking weak and sorry for himself. "I don't suppose you could tell me where this came from?" I continue. "The Crusades? King Arthur?"

I await an answer, but he says nothing, so I'm about to leave, when he mutters; "History…doesn't interest me."

"Well, then stay here and start thinking about the future. Make sure I'm not in it, however," I advise. "You won't enjoy seeing me again."

I'm now walking away, promising myself to not look back.

"Your father might not have found the Ghalali Key," he says suddenly. I turn. "But Amanda doesn't know that. She's at your mansion right now." He smirks unpleasantly. "Better have good insurance," he sneers. I'm so tempted to go back and punch that bastard right back down to the ground! But I can't-Zip and Alister and Winston are all there! I lost contact with them-this is most likely why.

"Well go already," he sneers again. "You don't wanna be the cause of the death of your friends as well, right?"

"What in the name of Ariadne are you going on about?" I confront. He's crouching there, trying not to laugh. I bring out my gun and aim at his forehead.

"Oh, nothing," he laughs. I cock the gun at him. "You gonna shoot me?" There is now a very long and awkward silence between us.

"No," I say eventually. "I don't tend to waste my bullets on rodents-they're not worth it." I put away the gun and am trying to walk away again, when, out of nowhere, I feel a-weight on me and a sharp pain in my leg, before darkness overrides m…e…

"Okay, Lara, you got three seconds before I barge through this door and-what's the rest of the sentence, Alister?" Zip warns.

I hear a frustrated sigh that is Alister. I go to the door as Zip is beginning to count down.

"What?" I ask innocently.

"You, uh, okay?" Zip says, standing up in his normal position. He was crouched, like he was ready to head butt something-the door.

"Fine," I reply. "And by the way, Zip, your head wouldn't have had the power to open the door. At best your head would have gone through the wood and you would have it stuck. At worst, you'd have a very bad headache for the remainder of the season." Zip smiles coyly because he knows what I must be imagining-it cracks me up!

"So, is everything…?" Alister begins uncertainly.

"Of course," I answer. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"That's great!" he says too over-enthusiastically, also dodging my question.

"So, what about the whole, um, Li-" Zip tries to begin.

"Please, just don't-not now." He nods understandingly. I continue down to the kitchen, where I was last night. Nothing's here that's out of the ordinary. What was I expecting-a tearful letter from her?

I sit down on one of the stools, and try not to contemplate too much on what happened last night. I wasn't lying when I told Zip I'm not ready to talk about it-it's too overwhelming for me.

"Your newspaper," Winston says, interrupting my thought. I'm glad for the intervention.

"Thank you," I smile.

"Would you require any breakfast?"

"Perhaps just some coffee?"

"Is that all?" I nod. Unwilling to argue I presume, he gets on with it. I glance at the headline, but it's nothing special. I force myself to read anyhow-I need to clear my head.

Oh it's no use! I could go skydiving without a parachute, and I'd be wandering if she was still mad at me! It must have broken her-perhaps I was too hasty…?

No, no, it had to be done! I wasn't ready to cope with that sort of relationship! It would've hurt her even more if I hadn't been honest-well, harsh anyhow. She might not have given up, and it may have taken drastic measures for the message to sink in. Odd how determined one can be.

"Your coffee," Winston announces, setting it down on a silver tray-he really goes all out. It's quite sweet in a way.

I am taking a sip of the steaming coffee, and gasp. I've noticed the date-it's-it's-

The mug falls from my hand and shatters all over the kitchen floor. But I don't care-I can't believe I forgot! Every year-every year this date stands out, and this year of all years, I forget!

I go outside, still in my pyjamas, and go to the monument I visit every year on this day. Engraved on it reads; 'Amelia, dear wife of Richard, and doting mother of-' but the name is now unclear-so many years of weathering. I keep meaning to have that inscription repaired, but is there really any point now? Now that I've found out what really happened?

"Oh, mother," I sigh. "What do I do?"


Lily's POV

"Hey," I mutter, getting his attention. "Do you think she knows?" He looks up from his newspaper, frowning.

"Know what?" I roll my eyes patiently, smiling.

"About today," I clarify.

"Oh yeah, probably," he replies, now turning back to his newspaper.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Sure I am-it's just the war between-"

"You mean the anniversary of a war that ended like fifty years ago?"

He looks up and is smirking. "Yeah, that." I realise what he's thinking.

"I'm not waging a war, James," I say.

"No, sure you're not. You're just invading in her life, right?"

"Well if that's how you feel about me, then maybe I should just walk out here right now!"

"Come on, Lia, you know I don't want you to do that," he sighs. "Look, all I'm saying is, forget her."

"Normally I would. If it was any normal relationship then I'd get over it faster than it could fall apart! But this one was different."

"It never really started, though, did it, honey?" he says gently, stroking my hair. "You don't need her, and you haven't wanted her up until now anyway!"

"Hey, I've 'wanted' her as you put it since the day I found out!"

"You only found out last week!"

"I've known for a while! Why do you think I kept following her? I wasn't spying for you-I was doing it for me." There, I've admitted it. It is something I've known for a while-I just never told James. I'm not sure why exactly. I guess I figured if it blew, he'd either do the 'I told you so' routine or the pity routine. I don't know which is worse.

I have the courage to look into his face, and he looks…betrayed, hurt.

"How long have you known?" he asks. I shrug.

"I had my suspicions after the Ghana incident," I admit. "But I wasn't sure until…it doesn't even matter."

"Why didn't you say anything?" he asks. He still looks hurt.

"I thought you might stop me from seeing her," I reply. "I know what close friends you guys are."

"Right, so, you don't trust me?" I sigh.

"It's not that I don't trust you-"

"Sure, yeah," he says oddly, scratching his head. Why do men always do that when they're feeling awkward?

"…unto his great resign…" he reads, struggling.

"Resign?" I say sceptically.

"Don't diss the scriptures, sweetie, you'll piss off their gods," he grins.

"I think the only thing that'll piss off the gods is you calling their ancient texts 'scriptures'," I mutter, going back to examining the statue. All these African cultures-they're so ornate and unique. So…intricate almost.

"All right I give up!" he curses, throwing down his…sword shard? I take no notice, but say;

"Don't you mean you resign?"

"And you can shut up as well!" he says. I snort with laughter. Oh, James-such a need to be perfect. "Do you wanna read it, Lia? Huh?"

"All right," I accept, moving closer to the texts. The carvings have worn away over the years, but I think I can make it out.

"…unto his great reign," I read, looking smug. He scratches his head awkwardly. "Not resign. Unto his great reign…damnit, it's all…blocked."

"Blocked?"

"Yeah like-like there's something there we shouldn't read." I look at him forebodingly.

"Well, continue," he encourages.

"I can't read something that's not there!" I protest.

"You just said-"

"Oh, they're there-just illegible," I say, glancing over at the sword shard. "And why do you always carry that thing with you?"

"What?"

"The sword. What's the deal with it?"

"It's-it's complicated," he says, trying to brush off my question. I'm ready to contradict, when we hear a loud explosion outside. There's a commotion going on through the brown door with a snake engraved on it.

"Go," he says.

"What?"

"Go!" he repeats.

"But the explosions are coming from through that door!" I argue.

"I know who it is. She'll leave you alone-way too many cheetahs in this place for her to worry about an eighteen year-old!"

"And what about me and the cheetahs?"

"The mercenaries will guard you."

We hear gunfire and the sound of men screaming. "Sounds like whoever she is has dealt with them," I say.

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake. "James, what the hell is that!" I shriek, panicking. I cling onto him for support.

"It's just the boulder trap," he 'reassures'.

"What freaking boulder trap!" I yell.

"Hey, relax, it's aimed at her not us. There are two more, so, get ready to hang on." I am being put through two more of these shaking ordeals, convinced we're going to die. I'm crying by the start of the third quake.

"Oh, hey, come on, Lia, honey," he soothes, putting his arms around me. "What's up? It was just a few quakes." Nothing he says reassures me. We hear footsteps.

"Shit, she's here!" he curses, letting go of me, and setting another 'trap'. He'd told me that if she made it this far, he'd work the door so she'd need to stand on a lever to get in there and reach the door before it closed. I think it's pointless-if she's made it this far, a timed door isn't gonna stop her!

"It buys me time," he'd said. Is three seconds enough?

"Lia, you gotta go!" he warns.

"Where? She's through there!"

"There's a hidden alcove in here. Go in and-"

"Why aren't you coming?"

"Cos I wanna see how this works out," he grins. I'm not smiling. "Just do it, Lia," he says, pushing me towards the cleverly hidden alcove. It's so concealed, nothing would be able to reach me-not his grenades, not her bullets. I'll be perfectly safe. But what about James? He can be determined, but he's not the strongest guy. If she's athletic enough to get up here, then she'll be strong enough to defeat him…

She'd better not. He spills just one drop of blood because of her bullets, I'll go out and finish the job! I don't care if he doesn't want me to, I don't care if she kills me-all I care about right now…is him.


Hey, it's me! Your favourite author! Okay, well, same rules apply-you like it, let me know, you think it's weird, let me know, you hate it and condemn me to die etc. let me know. Oh and one last question-you know that scene towards the end of the last chapter? When I do it in the victim's POV, should I do it in detail? Tell me, yeah?