A/N: In this story no one knows that Buffy was in heaven before being resurrected, well except for Spike of course. Which is in series 6. I don't really remember whether this matches up with the rest of the aspects of Buffy that are used in the story. If you notice something off, sorry.

I've done a couple of pictures that relate to this story, the links can be found on my profile.

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Tomb Raider.

Chapter 10: More graveyard antics.

The graveyard was quiet as Buffy sat on a large gravestone, waiting for the vampires and demons to show up. She hated days like these, having to wait around all night only to find that no vampires want to come out and play. She had spent the day training before picking up Dawn from school, while Giles carried out his research for both his client and on this Lara Croft that he spoke of last night. He hadn't got very far at all, especially with Willow and Tara at lectures all day and therefore unable to help. She wished that one of them would come around and relieve her from her boredom but due to Giles lack of progress, they promised to help him instead. Well… it wasn't so bad as long as Spike didn't come to annoy her like the night before. Because of his actions it was unlikely that she would find the archaeologist again in the graveyard, but there was still a chance so she'd thought that she had better stay on the case.

Something that Giles said last night about Lara Croft had rattled Buffy, although she didn't want to show it at the time. When her watcher mentioned that Lara might have died in the ruined tunnels of the pyramids, she began to feel somewhat empathetic towards the woman. She had grown curious to meet her and to find out herself what the archaeologist had been through. Buffy needed someone to help her cope with what she had been through the past few months, after she was torn out of a heavenly dimension and dragged into the Hell mouth, by her friends. She wants to find someone who has been what she has been through. If Lara had indeed died she wanted to know where she went, who revived her and how it felt to be alive again.

However, she pushed those thoughts away before she grew too anxious. Lara could have quite easily gone to one of those hell dimensions and, after what had happened to Angel, which was also another painful subject not easy to think about. So she continued to sit in silence, watching the mist roll in.

After she was sat for about another twenty minutes another person appeared on the scene. Sensing the new presence, Buffy tensed up and was ready to attack until she realised that it was her sister Dawn. After several minutes arguing they finally settled down again. Buffy didn't like the idea of Dawn out on patrol, she feared for her safety greatly. However, they has come to an agreement that if any danger came their way that she would stay out of trouble and not fight unless absolutely necessary.

Quite pleased with the outcome Dawn sat down beside her sister and they spoke quietly to each other, allowing Buffy to still stay alert. Although Buffy wouldn't admit it, but she was quite relieved that Dawn had come to rescue her from the dark and empty abyss that seemed to be the graveyard that night. It helped her keep her mind off more depressing thoughts.

It wasn't until midnight hat something began to happen, when Buffy heard a noise in the distance. Dawn and not heard it and was still carrying on with her story.

"And then she slid straight across the hallway floor and…"

"Dawn," Buffy interrupted. She put her finger on her mouth indicating for her sister to be quiet and Dawn shut up, rather grudgingly. Buffy pointed towards the source of the noise and told Dawn to stay put. Buffy moved toward the direction of the noise in the darkness. Dawn watched as Buffy hid behind a crypt, listening, but the person had just disappeared. She returned to Dawn,

"I wonder where it went," said Dawn.

"I don't know but I'm going to find out," replied Buffy. "Lets get tracking."

Lara had spent tot day as a civilian, taking in the sites and sounds of Sunnydale. There was not much she could do by nightfall so she thought it would be nice to fell like a normal person for once. Zip and Alistair had seen this uncharacteristic change in her personality as a bad omen, but still spent the day doing their normal business… researching. Normally Lara would help them out, but she felt the need to get away from the horrible old wallpaper in the hotel room.

There was not much really to see in Sunnydale. It had a nice zoo, but that didn't really appeal to Lara at all. The town centre was quite nice, along with the University campus. She was quite shocked to hear that the high school had been burnt down about two and a half years earlier, so she gave that a quick look.

However, it wasn't long before she was stood, once again, staring at the black iron cast fence of the graveyard. She was wearing a green shirt with a brown vest underneath, beige trousers, black fingerless gloves and tall black boots. She was fully armed with her usual guns in her holsters along with stakes and some more gadgets that Zip had managed to make for her, which included her compact wooden javelin that she had used the night before. Around her neck was a wooden crucifix detailed with silver, it used to be her mother's before she disappeared. Her hair was in its usual braid down her back and her bangs that framed her face were hiding the headset she had on to communicate with the boys at the hotel.

She vaulted over the fence, making sure that she didn't get caught by the spikes, and landed softly on the damp grass. The mist had gotten denser as the night went in and it now hovered about a foot off the ground, obscuring the view of her feet.

"So boys," asked Lara. "Do you think I should stay put or go around looking for her?"

"I think you should go to her house like I said earlier," said Alistair.

"Oh, for crying out load Alistair. I'm here now!"

"I think you should look around and cover as much ground as possible. I have the blueprints here. This graveyard is huge. It'll take hours to completely cover all the grounds," said Zip.

"O.K. thank-you Zip," said Lara and she started to make her way around the graveyard.

Zip was right and Lara spent hours exploring the graveyard. She went around to where she had the encounter before and went from there. It was quiet compared to the previous night and the mist was still getting thicker.

"Maybe the vampires and demons are afraid of this mist," she thought to herself, chuckling. She wondered around until midnight, and she began to hear voices a few hundred metres away.

"DID YOU HEAR THAT!" yelled Alistair in her ear, causing Lara to wince in pain.

"Shhh, they heard you idiot," whispered Lara. "It could be vampires." She darted in the other direction to hide. Looking over to her previous position she saw the blonde head of the slayer appear looking for the source of the noise. Lara grinned,

"Now," she muttered under her breath. "Lets see how good you are." and she disappeared into the darkness.

Silently Lara made her way through the graveyard, with Buffy at hot pursuit. Hiding behind a crypt, Alistair began to express his panic.

"Why are we hiding from her? Really Lara why can't you just stick to one plan?" Asked Alistair.

"Well she is the slayer, I want to see what she could do. It'll be fun!"

"But Lara…"

"Really Alistair, lighten up." interrupted Lara. "She's the closest thing I've has to fun in ages."

"Who… me?" Asked a voice behind her. Lara spun around to see a grinning slayer looking down from the top of a large gravestone. The two women made eye contact and Lara grinned back.

"Let the battle commence," said an excited Zip in her ear.

"Indeed," answered Lara as she started running towards the slayer, ready to attack.