Disclaimer – Kiera Croft is my own creation but she is a merge of both Lara Croft and Kurtis Trent and shares some of their major personality traits.
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Chapter Six
† Morning †
Zip had his newspaper in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other, his feet were pushed into warm slippers while his body was wrapped in a large fleece dressing gown, hiding his stripy blue pyjamas. He was also attempting to eat his breakfast at the same time (AN: I'm not even going to mention multitasking).
He put his coffee on the table and picked up his knife and fork when Kurtis entered the room.
"Morning Zip."
"Morning Kurtis."
"Sleep Well?"
"Like the dead. You?"
"Better than I have been."
"That's good."
"Yeah,"
Zip smiled, went back to his newspaper when his eyes widened, his face paled and he dropped his fork which was loaded with beans. He slowly looked up at Kurtis. "You're dead!"
"Why does everyone say that to me?"
"'cause you are, or were, or should be… or huh?" Zip seemed very confused.
"It's a long story, but I'm back dude. Where's Alice?" Kurtis had his evil face on.
"He's with Lara, working on finding Kiera. So you're the reason she took off… Lara said it got complicated." Zip suddenly understood.
"Kind of." Kurtis shrugged. "She freaked and ran, we're calling the police in a few minutes."
"They'll find her, no sweat."
"Sure?"
"Yeah! She's a smart girl, she's just upset." Zip smiled and drank some more coffee. "She'll come around."
"I hope so. Lara's freaked." Kurtis shook his head and grabbed a piece of toast. "She didn't sleep at all, she just paced, starting at the phone. She's not really talking to me either."
"What do you expect? You died She needed psychiatric help when she got back from Avalon. She was writing down her dreams and showed them to me. They were all incredibly vivid, all about you, her and Kiera."
"She missed me then?"
"She always did. You should see the memorial."
"I have a memorial?"
"Yeah outside in the centre of the maze. Only Lara and Kiera know the route by heart, the rest of us don't have a clue." Zip laughed. "Melissa tried to cast a spell on it once."
"Melissa? She's here?"
"Yeah, I married her about six years ago now. Biggest mistake I ever made and she moved in, otherwise it's exactly the same as it was before you died and Kiera was born. Amanda visits a lot too… she's in now actually."
"You seem pretty happy with talking to a dead guy." Kurtis smirked, finishing off his toast.
"Oh, Only cause it's you. Any other corpse and I'll be running for the hills." Zip grinned.
"Wow, I got called a corpse."
"Makes you happy"
"No, not really." Kurtis thought for a moment. "But technically, I'm not a corpse. I have a pulse, I breathe and such."
"And the fact that your heart was pierced by a silver dagger is just background info?"
"Something like that."
Zip snorted and continued reading his newspaper.
He was turning into a middleaged man. Kurtis could tell, and he felt profoundly sorry for the guy.
"Well here's the bastard." Drawled a familiar voice in an almost over-exaggerated English accent from the doorway.
"Hullo Alister." Kurtis muttered, turning it face him. He too looked like he was getting on in years. "How are you dear chap?" Obviously he was taking the piss.
"I am good, thank you." Whether he caught the rivers of complete sarcasm flowing from Kurtis's lips was another thing altogether. "Yourself?"
"Dead."
"Oh," Alister blinked. "I heard that could be a downer."
"Just a smidge."
"How did that treat you anyway?" Alister sat next to Zip and picked up a piece of toast.
"Seventeen years… with Amelia Croft… while stuck in the underworld…" Kurtis glared at Alister. "what the hell do you think!?"
"Someones tetchy." Alister commented.
"Someone just came back from hell, you'd be pretty pissed off also." Kurtis retorted.
"So we'll be hearing about this every second like we did with Boaz?" Zip peered over the top of his newspaper, his eyes sparkling.
"He likes bragging." Alister agreed, also grinning.
"You guys have missed tormenting me haven't you?"
Zip and Alister exchanged glances.
"Oh yes."
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"Police are on the lookout." Lara told Kurtis ten minutes later. "But they can't promise. They'll call us if anything comes up… if they find her."
Kurtis nodded and sat down by Lara's bed on the futon he had slept on the night before. "So fill me in?"
Lara sighed and sat down, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, staring at the floor. "Since you… since…" She took a deep breath. "Since Avalon… things have gotten pretty slow." She hissed in frustration. "I can't do this! I can't sit around and do nothing while my daughter is out there. I should be doing everything in my power to get her back!"
"She's upset. She'll come back."
"Why does everyone say that!? She's not okay! She's never been out of the grounds on her own before! How in god's name is she going to find her way back?"
"She's never been out of the grounds?" Kurtis leapt to his feet. "What? Have you been wrapping her up in cotton wool? She's sixteen!"
"Well I'm not an expert at parenting, okay? If you hadn't noticed, single parent!" Lara stood up also. "How am I supposed to know what to do? I was… I mean… I turned out fine!"
"Oh yeah, Fine as in, snobbish, rude and impulsive!"
"Impulsive, oh look, that word again." Lara's anger had not yet hit its point and that was bad. Very bad. "Well, I'll tell you something, Trent. The moment I lost you, was the moment I lost everything. Everything that was me. The only thing I had left of you was your child. Your daughter. Our daughter. So excuse me if I didn't really want to let her out of my sight."
"That's not…" Kurtis let an explosive breath out through his teeth, turning around, but he seemed to change his mind and he turned back to her. "Don't pin this on me."
"Why not?" Lara arched an eyebrow. "I lost you. Kiera lost her father without knowing who he was. You don't recover from that you know?"
"I'm sorry I died, I'll be less careless in future." His tone was weighed down by sarcasm in the shape of an anvil.
"Don't be like this." Lara sighed and sat down.
Kurtis was shocked. "What? No beatings? No yelling the house down at me?"
"No," Lara said softly. "I just want Kiz back."
"You don't wanna fight? Kurtis cocked his head to one side. "What happened to you?"
"I became a mother." Lara shrugged. "I've used up all my fight."
"Kiera's a little feisty then?"
"She's like you. Uncontrollable." Lara smiled, eyes bright. "Sarcastic, funny… energetic."
"Goodlooking, charming and darn good fun to have around?"
"Now you're just wishing."
Kurtis shrugged. "Well I suggest we just sit tight for now, if the police are looking, there's not much else we can do."
Lara sighed, defeated. "You're right."
"Oh god, did you just admit that I was right? This is a bit of a first." Kurtis was grinning.
"Oh very funny." Lara scowled. "Now I need some food in me before I train so… breakfast?"
"I've already munched so I'll hit the shower." Kurtis replied.
"Yeah alright, but that shower's a little awkward, you have to really drive the message home."
"It's a shower."
Lara grinned as she left the room.
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Kiera felt moisture on her cheek. In fact, that was what woke her. Her eyes flickered open and she wiped she cheek, casting her eyes upward at the grey sky. It was beginning to rain.
She scrambled to her feet, ducking under the hedge she had decided to sleep under the night before, then she yanked her backpack out and slung it on her back.
This was good. She was looking after herself. Sure she was alone in the middle of nowhere but at least she was on her own two feet.
Or knees.
Kiera shook her head and continued trudging down the road, the rain tapping lightly on her bent head.
She didn't really have any idea where she was going, only that she had to get away from the Croft Mansion and all the people in it. If she spent another day in that house, she might just go insane.
Luckily for her, she had picked up her Christmas money before she had left so money wasn't really an issue, as it never had been.
All she had to do was find her way to a nice village and so, finding her way out. She needed to get out. She needed normality.
Her family belonged in a circus, and she was determined to escape that fate.
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"What's Kurtis yelling about?" Zip asked upon entering Lara's study.
"He's just met the shower." Lara answered without looking up from her book.
Zip winced. "It's gunna take him a while to get used to 'future life' isn't it."
"Yep." Lara replied turning a page. "Voice activated showers weren't really big when he was alive. It'll take a while to get used to."
"You should've gone with him." Zip grinned.
"Because that wouldn't have been awkward."
"What do you mean?"
Lara closed her book, glanced at it and it shot straight back to the bookshelf without even a sound. She looked back up at Zip. "What I mean is, that it has been seventeen years since we've last seen each other. I can't stress enough how he dying made me feel. Now he's back, after I had tried to get over him for so long, I'm hardly going to invite him into my bed am I?"
"Why not? You two were pretty serious. I mean, you had a kid." Zip shrugged. "Plus, you've still got the whole Chosen One and Lux Knight thing goin' on."
"There's still emotional issues." Lara mirrored Zip's shrug. "If it's supposed to happen, it'll happen, I've learnt this. But I'm not going to make any moves and I doubt if he's ready to either. He hasn't even been here for a day; he's got to settle again. He's spent seventeen years in a world completely different to this one. He'll have to get over that first."
"Lara… the dude died in Avalon. I think he's a little used to unfamiliar places." Zip smiled at Lara who scowled at him.
"Well I'm worried, so what?"
"He's not a child."
At that, Lara's eyebrows shot up. "He may not be… be hell, he behaves like one."
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Thanks to:
Pen-a-holic – s'not meant to be confusing :S :O:O lol! hope this clears things up for ya
TangoFever – yeep, hes back… I couldn't kill him off for good. I love him too much lol
Drivergrl – yep, that's a very Kurtis-ish line.
Morph – lol thanks. Most people did :S
NFI – thanks and don't worry! Look… I'm continuing!
