A/N: Here's another chapter, since I took so long updating in the first place.

Again, please give my prequel to this story 'Just Friends' a read. Drop me a review and tell me how you like it. I'd love to hear your opinions, because you're all so AWESOME ^_^

Also, please give me some feedback and an ending for my TR one-shot 'Ten Seconds', for which I am running a competition, where the author of the best ending will be widely acknowledged! And you will get virtual trophy and a whole BAG of virtual cookies (or any other sweet… you can choose ;D)! How awesome would that be?

Also for those of you who like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Inkheart or King Kong, please read any more of my fanfics that take your fancy. The King Kong fans could also join my King Kong forum, which holds various discussion topics and a RPG.

Anyway, now Lara appears to be sane… will this last? And if not, will any more problems crop up? Stay tuned to find out!

(Almost done!) Please, please, PLEASE review! I know how many of you are actually out there reading this and you don't have an excuse XP But seriously, they really keep me going. I don't know what I'd do without gyikhu who doles me reviews like porridge ;D I'd probably give up actually… so yea, this is a grave situation.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tomb Raider (well, in my mind I do, but that's different) as much as I wish I do, I thus do not own any characters within… not even Alister (which I'm gutted about).

Chapter Eleven: Lonely Raindrops, Tears and Sweat

A few hours after Winston's encounter with Doppelgänger, Lara woke up to the sound of rain striking her window, like fairies tapping on her windowpane, trying to coax her out of bed. Lara rolled over onto her stomach so she could look out of her window. She squinted out at the colourless landscape. Hoar frost lined the fields, and skeletal trees stood cruel and proud, reaching up with bony fingers towards the watery sun like some members of a strange, long-gone cult, dancing in celebration of their sun god. The sun was a ghostly, sickly colour, almost white. The sky was a mixture of grey and off-white, the clouds seemed heavy and ominous, the raindrops filling from them as if they were the tears of someone bereaved.

Lara stared at the lonely raindrops rolling down the window, chasing each other as if running after the prospect of the company.

Company. A single tear rolled down Lara's stoic, resolute face. She had a feeling she would never long for company again, at least not in the way she used to long for Alister's. Lara wiped the tear away hurriedly, though it was soon replaced by another.

"He's gone." Lara whispered to herself, cementing it into her mind.

"Gone. Gone. Gone! Dead!" She whispered, allowing herself to sink into her pillows once more. It was then the tears fell. Gushing onto the pillow like blood from a wound. Tears which were filled with sorrow at Alister's departure, resentment at Natla for taking him. Anger at herself for letting such a thing happen and for blaming it on Doppelgänger. And tears of bitter-sweet realisation. Realisation that there was nothing she could do, realisation he was gone… Alister was gone, out of her life, forever. Realisation that there was nothing she could have done to prevent it.

A dark shadow covered Lara's heart, a shadow that was blacker than the deepest tomb, blacker than Natla's heart. Creatures crawled out of the shadow, creatures of horrifying shapes and ghastly imagery, and bored into Lara's heart, tunneling deeper into it like woodworms, weakening its structure, until she felt it would collapse, like a mansion, tumbling into the darkness of the night.

Enough of this pitiful self-indulgence. Lara commanded to herself, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

Think of the times you did have, not the ones you missed out on. Despite those words, Lara couldn't help feeling that her life had been snatched out of her hands, by a cruel, uncaring world that couldn't begin to understand the love and care in Lara' s heart.A world that only was familiar with what exists in an uncaring, empty heart. A world that couldn't begin to understand what a heart can truly feel.

After a further half-hour of weeping Lara dragged herself out of bed. Crying had left her feeling weak and wretched inside, two feelings she did not relish. She pulled herself into her bathroom and brushed her teeth. She then brushed her hair and tied it back into a plait. She donned a pair of body hugging khaki shorts and a black, short-sleeved t-shirt. Then, grabbing a lavender scented towel from a wooden chest, she headed downstairs. She entered her kitchen and filled up a couple of bottle with cool, clear water and then went over to her gym.

Lara laid down the towel and placed the bottles of water beside it. She then headed over to a climbing wall. She began to climb up it, her fingers searching for good handholds in the tacky green material. Upon reaching the top of it she pushed herself off the wall, simultaneously twisting around, and grabbed a lateral pole that hung suspended from the roof on another metal bar. She swung around the pole, doing her best to breathe evenly. She cursed herself for not continuing with her training. She released her grip, and momentum carried her forward onto a platform that hung from the roof by four thick cords. From there Lara leapt onto a perpendicular pole, the metal cool to the touch, and leapt from there onto another platform. A zip wire lead from there to a faux granite slab and upon reaching it Lara leapt to a thin ledge upon which she could hold on to. She twisted her head around to see the next lateral bar which was a few feet along from her and a few feet behind her. She licked her lips with a sandpaper-like tongue, debating whether to try what was most likely the hardest jump in the gym. The woman frowned, set her jaw and with a determined glint in her eye leapt towards it. Sure enough she miscalculated the distance and fell to the ground, her fingers just grazing the bar. She had managed to land on her feet by some miracle, but unfortunately enough, she had landed on one foot in an awkward angle, hereby twisted her ankle.

Lara swore, and taking a swig from one of her bottles of water she limped from the gym. She entered the lounge and collapsed onto her couch, wiping layers of sweat off her brow.

That's the last time I stop training for a while. She thought to herself, and with an aching ankle, injured pride and a wounded heart, she dragged herself off to bed.

Stay tuned for disturbing dreams, intensive therapy and general angst! YAY! I'm not depressed… Really, I swear!

XD Review, review… and… oh, um… ah yes… REVIEW! Bless you all!

P.S. Would you prefer chocolate bars to cookies? I'm running low on the latter…. And I kinda bought all the shop had….. O_o

Also, even though I do not own Tomb Raider or any said characters, for paranoia reasons:

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