Here's another chapter, sorry it's shorter than the others! I'm not sure when the next update will be as I'm back at University and work. Hopefully I can find the time to write some more within the month. For now enjoy this chapter from Lara's POV. Oh and once again a massive thanks for the reviews, favourites and follows guys :)

My hands skimmed over the tattered pages from Alex's journal. Well it wasn't his journal, it was Sam's; I figured that she'd lent him a few pages or something when they were killing time at the beach. Alex was...had been too much of a techno geek to use anything that wasn't electronic. You could tell this from the messy handwriting scribbled all over the page.

'I wish I could be more like Lara...she just blows me away.'

It didn't come as a surprise to me that Alex was writing about his feelings for me. After all, Sam had told me all about his massive crush back on the Endurance.

'Not only is she brilliant she's also an amazing ass kicker. And if she didn't notice me before she sure as hell won't now. I've seen the way she looks at Sam...it's totally obvious. To be honest I can't believe I didn't notice sooner. Still, it doesn't stop me feeling like shit to know that she'll never like me that way. But maybe I can still do something to get her attention.'

Poor Alex. He was so desperate to get my attention that he'd volunteered to go get the tools for Reyes all by himself. And I was stupid enough to let him go. I knew I should have said something when Sam stopped me; my instincts had told me something was not right. But I could never say no to Sam, and what was the worst that could happen?

Alex died so that I could escape. He was the hero. When I'd found him trapped in the engine room, he was eerily calm about the situation, cracking jokes as always. He knew that he wasn't getting out of there, so he sacrificed himself for me. Damn it! How many more must die to save my arse? First Grimm, then Roth and now Alex. I placed the journal on the grass as I looked back at the sunken half of the Endurance. Alex's body was somewhere down there...it'd probably be impossible to find if we ever got off this island for help. Somewhere in the distance a wolf howled. It had still been light when I left the others, and now it was completely dark. As much as I didn't want to leave Alex, I knew I had to return to camp. Sam and Jonah will be worried...and maybe Reyes too. Fuck Whitman. I don't trust that bastard at all, especially around Sam.

On my way back, I stumbled across some old log books from WWII. They talked about some ancient ruins that were in an old bunker, the same one that overlooked the beach. The German scientists claimed that in the bunker was the key to controlling the storms. I'm going to have to put my plan to head back to the monastery on hold, while I find answers. I could go have a look around while Reyes fixed the boat. It was also quite surprising that I only encountered a few Solarii too. Maybe they were planning on some sort of attack? Or maybe they were all still in their burning stronghold. I hope it's the latter of the two.

As I swung down the ziplines towards the camp, I was relieved to see that the others were there in one piece. Hell even Whitman. I landed with a soft thud on the sand; the shot wound in my leg only hurt slightly. As I made my way towards the campfire, I was reminded that Alex wasn't with me and I'd have to break the news to the crew. The sunken feeling in my stomach returned, but by now I knew I couldn't give way to my emotions. I needed to be strong, like Roth would have wanted me to.

I was silent as I reached the fire, not raising my eyes to meet anyone. I shoved the tools in Reyes' hands before throwing my weapons off and slumping to the ground. I vaguely noticed that Jonah was cooking more fish on the fire, and that the good doctor was tending to Sam's ankle.

"Lara!" Sam exclaimed, shoving Whitman away to sit next to me. She moved in to hug me, only to stop when she noticed my mood. I didn't blame her.

"When we heard the explosion we thought..." Reyes stated, appearing from nowhere.

I didn't answer her, and instead chose to look down at the sand guilty. There was a moment of silence before Sam spoke up.

"Alex...is he?"

"He was still on the ship," I muttered.

More silence. Sam disregarded my mood and put her arm around me anyway. Jonah looked like he was trying not to cry and even Whitman seemed upset by the news. Reyes hadn't stopped pacing in fury. I prepared myself for backlash.

"Seems anyone caught with you has a pretty low survival rate!" she spat.

"Reyes!" Jonah scolded.

"Better keep your distance then," I retorted. I couldn't be bothered to deal with her attitude right now. Jonah sighed in frustration.

"Let's just eat okay? Those bastards went quiet but that doesn't mean they're going to stay that way. If I'm going to die in this place, I'm not going to do it hungry."

Reyes backed off and turned to deal with her tools. I felt Sam lean further into me as she snuggled against my chest. We really needed to find some time to talk about everything. Nearby, the same boar that had frightened Sam earlier squealed as it ran around the sand dunes. While eating fish wasn't bad, the ones that Jonah had caught weren't very big. We'd all be hungry again within a couple of hours. I didn't really want to leave Sam's embrace, but I couldn't take any more of the dirty looks Reyes was throwing my way. That and I was practically salivating at the thought of eating something that wasn't fish or deer. I nudged Sam lightly.

"Do you want to come and get some payback on that boar?" I whispered.

She shivered slightly; whether it was due to the cold, or my warm breath hitting her ear I don't know.

"Okay."

I hauled her up to her feet, before grabbing my compound bow off the floor. In the corner of my eye I saw Whitman glance at us curiously. He was beginning to make me feel really uneasy.

"Me and Sam are going hunting," I announced. "We won't take long." And with that I grabbed my best friend's hand and led her in the direction of the boar.

The further you went from the campfire, the darker it got. The only light was coming from the moon, which was partially covered by clouds. During my stay on this island I'd gotten accustomed to seeing better at night to the point where I could make out the silhouette of the boar fifty metres away. Sam on the other hand was struggling not to trip over on rocks and bushes.

"I can't see I thing!" she hissed quietly as she stumbled over a log.

"Just keep a hold of my hand; your eyes will adjust eventually."

The boar was trotting around unaware of our presence, even with Sam falling over everywhere. As we were about twenty metres or so away from the animal, I brought us to a halt, before crouching down in some nearby shrubbery. Sam followed my lead, and was actually quiet about it for once.

I saw her watching me as I drew my bow and nocked an arrow in place. Drawing the string back to the corner of my mouth, I realised how this had becoming so natural to me; the feel of the bow in my hands. Luckily the boar wasn't too hard of a target to hit, and I killed the poor thing with a swift arrow through its head. Unlike the deer, it was a clean death.

"Wow..." Sam exhaled. "You have no idea how hot you look when you go into Rambo mode."

"I-I...um...thanks?" I stuttered, feeling the heat creep over my cheeks. Composing myself, I stood up and walked over to the boar pelt with Sam following behind.

"Lara," she began. I noticed she was fiddling with the ring on her finger, something she only did when nervous. "Before we go back, do you think we could talk?"

Butterflies flew around my stomach. Typical, I could scale mountains and take on crazy savages but it's only when I'm faced with the prospect of talking about my feelings that I start to get nervous.

"About what?" I said brushing it off whilst fishing out my arrow from the boar's skull.

"Oh no, don't you go acting all aloof on me! You know exactly what I mean."

I turned to face her as I put the arrow back in the quiver. She had her arms crossed across her chest and was scowling slightly. I pried her arms apart so that I could take a hold of her soft hands; mine were so rough and dirty in comparison.

"Sorry, it's just...I'm scared," I admitted. "What if this were to go all tits up? I can't lose you too Sam."

I glanced down at my battered leather boots. I couldn't face the prospect of losing her. Even if we did make it off this island, I couldn't handle surviving all this, just to lose Sam over some petty fall out. My parents are dead, Roth is dead...Sam is the only family I have left.

"You'll never lose me Lara," she replied, forcing my face up to meet hers. "You've risked your life to save me, so I doubt you'd let something stupid like an argument stop you. You're way too stubborn Sweetie."

She pecked me on the lips. That perked my mood right up. I returned the favour.

"All I know Lara, is that I like you. A lot."

"I like you too, I think I have done for a while now."

"Same. Ever since that drunken kiss in first year I just knew."

We kissed again for a while. Even though we were trapped on an island full of crazy men and Sun Queens, it was nice to let my guard down for a bit.

"So...you think I look good on film?" I teased, wrapping my arms around her small waist.

She groaned, dropping her head on my shoulder. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh god, you read my journal didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"Of course it would be me who has bits of my private life scattered over the land of a long lost civilisation! First my camera and now this!"

"Oh that reminds me!" I said, pulling out her camera from one of the pouches attached to my belt. "I found this too."

Sam's face lit up.

"Oh my god! Lara you're my hero!" She began to smother me with kisses.

"Not that, mmmph, I'm complaining, mmmph, but we should really head back."

"I guess so," she sighed, finally giving me a chance to catch my breath.

I turned to the boar and hoisted it over my shoulder to carry it back to camp. My ribs hissed in pain once more.

"Look it still works!" Sam exclaimed, shoving the camera lens in my face so I could see the red light on the device. "Here's hero extraordinaire Lara Croft showing us why she'd give Bear Grylls a run for his money!" She zoomed in on my chest. "Yep, I'd tap that."

"Sometimes," I grunted under the weight of the boar. "I wonder if you like that thing more than me."

"Jealous that you've got some competition, Croft?" Sam cooed.

"Not a chance Nishimura."

This flirty banter kept us amused as we made our way back to camp. When we finally arrived, Jonah was keen to start cooking the boar. I helped him skin and prep the meat while Sam kept her distance, she wasn't a fan of all the blood and guts. Reyes kept to herself and barely took her eyes off of her work. It was only when it was time to eat did she join the rest of us by the campfire.

"Save a man's stomach, save his soul," Jonah said, patting his large belly in satisfaction.

"Finally a little positivity!" Whitman beamed. "Once Reyes finishes the boat, we'll be back to civilisation in no time...and what a tale we'll have to tell." He grinned at me and Sam.

"A tale?" Sam interjected. "I hope I never hear Himiko's name again!"

"We could take the boat out at high tide," Reyes suggested.

"No, we can't," I stated, shooting her down.

"Don't start that bullshit again Lara!" she snapped.

"Lara isn't the only one who thinks we're trapped Reyes," Sam replied. She was defending me. "Mathias may be insane, but he was certain about it. I saw it in his eyes."

"He thinks resurrecting Himiko is the key to getting off this island," Whitman added.

"God, it sounds crazy. This whole place is crazy."

"These storms aren't natural," I thought back to the plane crash, and then when lightning brought down our helicopter. "We have to face that."

"She's right," Jonah agreed. "When that storm hit the Endurance I felt it...something dark, something alive! This place is cursed."

The conversation brought me back to the task at hand. I needed to go check out the old bunker to find out how to stop this madness. Sam wasn't going to like it.

"Where are you going?" she asked when I stood up to dust the sand off of my trousers.

"There are ruins beneath that old base in the cliffs. Something in there led them to believe they could control the storms. I've got to find out what they discovered."

Sam said nothing, but just looked at me with worry. She wasn't happy.

"Once we're ready to leave, we're leaving," Reyes stated. "Whether you're back or not."

She was joking right? She wouldn't seriously leave me alone on this island full of murderers? As if sensing my unease, Sam rolled her eyes at Reyes and reassured me.

"I won't leave without you."

I gave her a small smile in return as I picked up my weapons and left. I'd walked quite a bit away from the fire when Sam ran up to me.

"Lara, wait," she said grabbing my arm. "Do you really have to go?"

"Yes Sam, if I don't we might never get home."

"Oh okay...but...just don't take too long."

I could sense she wanted to say more, but held back. I knew what she meant though, something wasn't right. My instincts were screaming at me to stay and watch over the crew, but I needed answers. I didn't like how Whitman hovered around us during dinner, and that I'd always catch him staring at Sam when she wasn't looking. I'd have to push those fears to the side; hopefully everything will be fine.

"I'll be back before you know it," I said, gently squeezing her hands. "I promise."