Posting this early, cuz I really just wanted to get this done :p

I hate this chapter, I really do... The ending (before the epilogue) didn't turn out like I wanted, but I've just had so much trouble writing this one lately... Anyway... On with it... Enjoy

Chapter Fourteen

House of Fate Revisited

Alessa wasn't very forthcoming with details on just how she knew all that she did. The most that Kurtis and Lara were able to get out of her was that she had suffered at the hands of a nephilim, and wanted them wiped out. Beyond that, she would say nothing. Not even a hint at what had happened to her, though Kurtis would have bet anything that the scars on her face were a partial result. Even stranger than her reluctance to answer any questions, was her apparent lack of interest in asking any, either. After they had spent so long question her, Kurtis had been sure that Alessa would turn the tables, and start asking them what their purpose was in Egypt, what they'd acquired in the tomb... All that sort of stuff, but no questions came.

Instead, when they got back to Cairo, the woman simply wished them good luck, and started to head for her home. She ignored their shouts at her to wait, and disappeared into the night, mingling with the people in the streets. Kurtis, and Lara sighed in usion. The damned girl had left alot of unanswered questions. Who was she, what the hell had she done to make Gabriel vanish, and just how had she known who they were? Those questions might have been answered, if Kurtis hadn't found himself suffering from a massive headache, and at one point, a nosebleed, every time he'd tried to force his way into her mind. Alessa hadn't even flinched, though, which meant she either hadn't known he was trying to pry, or did know, and didn't care. But damn did she have some nasty mental defenses. Of course, anyone with half a brain could learn to block a mind-reader, it just took a lot of determination, and concentration, unless one was very adept at it. Kurtis himself could block other mind-readers out, save for Lara. Nothing he tried could keep her out, and vice versa.

"Alister, Zip," Lara said into her headset, "Find out whatever you can on our new friend... Find out if she really is a friend... I'd hate to have found another person who wants us dead. I want the info ready by the time we get back."

"On it," both Zip and Alister replied.

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"Sorry, Lara," Zip apologized, two days later when Lara and Kurtis were back home, "I couldn't find a shred of information on your friend... It's like she doesn't exist..."

"It's likely she doesn't..." Kurtis said, "I'm pretty sure she lied about her name... Alessa Klorel? Fake name if there ever was one... "

Lara shrugged, "It was worth a try," she said, "But, we've more important matters to deal with, right now." She dug the three artifacts that it had taken a month to acquire out of her backpack, "We need to get back to the House of Fate."

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Kurtis lay stretched out on one of the couches, in Lara's room, as Lara paced around in circles, muttering to herself. If he'd really wanted to, Kurtis could have found out exactly what was on her mind, but right then he was more content to just watch her, and think. Over three months since he'd first seen her in France, and she was still a mystery to him, in many ways. For all that they were both constantly in each other's minds, neither had really taken the time to well and truly get to know the other. He'd been living in her home for a little over a month now, and he'd started to let himself think of it as his home, now and then, when he wasn't careful. It was strange to find that the idea didn't really bother him. He found himself settling in, in this mansion, surprisingly well, all things considered... The fact that he was in love -(because let's face it, he was in love with the woman, had been for a while)- with the lady of the house had something to do with it, of course, but there was also the fact that he actually seemed to fit there.

That was something he wasn't used to... Fitting somewhere, fitting with other people. Alister and Zip had become great friends, and whereas before to say that he was making progress with Winston would have been wishful thinking, it was now true. And Lara... He couldn't think of anyone better suited for him. Though it was the fact that they were so alike that could cause the problems... Especially if the shared trait of running whenever things got too deep kicked in... But it hadn't yet, and considering all that had transpired over the last month, if it was going to, it would have.

Ah, yes... The last month. What a hectic month it had been. He'd nearly been killed more times than he cared to count, he'd fallen for a demon of a woman, and somehow gotten himself tangled up in a fight with destiny its self. One might ask if he'd ever been taught to pick his fights a bit more carefully. The answer was yes, of course, it was just a lesson he'd always ignored. Though if his month had been hell, he hated to think what it might have been like for Lara... She'd found out some disturbing things about her family tree, a few disturbing things about herself... Which brought him to another matter... The women of her family had been involved with the men of his, before. Lara could pass it off as a coincidence all she wanted, but there were just some things that couldn't be anything other than...well, 'fate', if you will. Then there was the strange occurrences with the chirugai, and the fact that they were now, as far as Kurtis could tell, permanently mentally bonded. Those things didn't just happen out of the blue, and somehow, he doubted that Lara's family history had anything to do with it.

Then there was Karel and his little minions. Or more importantly; Karel and his nasty little mind games. As far as Kurtis could tell, the nephilim hadn't tried anything else with Lara's head, which seemed a bit strange. If Karel could make someone see anything he wanted them to, why not toy around some more?

The possible answers to that question were unsettling at best.

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Snow again. Lara sighed as she and Kurtis drove up the mountain, back towards the temple where they'd first been reunited. Strange to think it had only been just over a month ago, yet it somehow seemed much longer.

"Are we there yet?" Kurtis asked, breaking the two-hour silence.

Lara raised an eyebrow at him, and glared at him as best as she could without taking her eyes off what little road there was. "Kurtis, don't start."

Kurtis gave her an innocent look in return, at which Lara rolled her eyes. For a moment she seriously considered lightly slapping her companion's arm, simply to start a play-fight that might make the time pass a bit faster, but thought better of it. One little slip, and they could find themselves in another wreck. Two in as many weeks wouldn't be a very impressive driving record for Miss Croft.

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By the time they reached their destination, dusk was quickly turning to night, not that it mattered. There didn't seem to be any sign of Karel, or his men, which was just the kind of small miracle that they needed right then. Hopefully this would be an easy job; get in, put the trinkets back where they belonged, and get the hell out. Simple. But then, hadn't all this started out as simple? Just a simple trip to Greece in order to nab some artifact with a colorful history, to take her mind off of all that had gone on. Look what that had turned into; one big, and life-threatening mess. Oh yes, things had gone SO well with that one.

But, one might hope that Lara and Kurtis' luck had improved since then.

The air wasn't as bitterly cold as it had been on their last visit here, much to their delight. Being outside in the cold weather was starting to get old. The distinct lack of footprints in the snow confirmed that no one had been around, since at least two nights before, that having been the last time there had been any snowfall. All the more reason to just perhaps start to hope that this would really be as easy as it sounded.

The inside of the place hadn't changed any, except for being a bit darker, due to lack of sunlight filtering through cracks. The place was also utterly silent, lacking the sound of ancient gears. Odd.

"Just me, or is it a little too quiet in here?" Kurtis mumbled.

"Just you," Lara said, her tone of voice letting her partner know she wasn't serious. They kept their voices low, and even Zip and Alister kept the chatter to a minimum, though it was unclear why. Something about the place just seemed to command silence, all of a sudden. The dark, and the silence added an eerie quality that hadn't been there before.

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The trip to the chamber of fate was made alot faster this time, due to the lack of working deathtraps. As Lara dug the key that would open the large menacing doors out of her pack, she began to have serious doubts about the intelligence of this plan. Not something she normally did, doubting her own plans. Shaking her head, and banishing such thoughts from it, Lara pulled the key from her backpack, and placed in the indentation on the wall, next to the doors. As she did so, the sound of grating stone, and creaking hinges shattered the silence, as the large doors slowly swung inward, allowing Lara and Kurtis passage into the hallway beyond.

As the doors opened, torches along the walls of the hall sprang to life, one by one, illuminating the otherwise dark area. Always flashy, Lara heard Kurtis think, with a quick shake of his head. Lara smiled a bit at that, and hesitantly took a step into the hallway. There was certain an overwhelming sense of power coming from the chamber at the end of the hall. Kurtis followed her as she continued to head for the chamber. Thankfully, the doors didn't shut behind them, which, frankly, was something that had been worrying both of them a bit.

The chamber that they entered was grand, but not massive. In the center was a black pool of some unidentifiable substance, that was perfectly smooth. All of their previous experiences clearly warned the pair that if you didn't know what it was, don't touch it.

Just toss your partner in, instead, Lara thought, as Kurtis glared at her. In all seriousness, every fiber of her being was screaming at her not to touch the substance in the pool.

"The well of threads," Alister said, as Lara and Kurtis moved about the room, inspecting the decidedly bare walls. "Where-"

"All the life threads of every living creature on earth are, right?" Kurtis interrupted, looking at the only other thing of interest, in the chamber: a stone altar. Alister didn't answer, which meant he was pouting that he hadn't been allowed to go into a detailed explanation.

Curiosity got the better of Lara. She knelt down next to the pool, trying hard to see what lay beneath the marble-smooth surface. Just to see if it would work, she softly said, "Lara Croft" as she stared. Surprisingly, something happened. A thread, glowing with a soft golden light, rose from the black depths, to hover directly in front of Lara's face. Kurtis, by then, had moved to kneel next to his partner. But something was off. There wasn't just one thread, there were two, intertwined, almost completely fused together in some areas.

While she couldn't see their expressions, Lara was sure that Alister and Zip were doing great impressions of fish, since she herself was doing the same. It all fit, now.

"My God!" Alister exclaimed, "Lara..."

"I ain't an expert," said Zip, "But I'm guessin' as to what that means, and I'm thinkin' it's about as close to a sign from above as anyone's gonna get..."

Lara just blinked. She knew whose thread was woven with her own, and everything was falling into place, and frankly, it was a bit frightening.

"Alister..." said Kurtis, slowly, "Care to explain, 'cause, I got an idea, but I ain't sayin' it out loud, 'less it's true..."

"Your threads are woven together," Alister said, as though it were painfully obvious what it meant, "It means, that for lack of a better term, you two were meant to be together... And yes, I know that sounds horrendously sappy, but it doesn't have to mean together in a romantic sense, just... together. Though I suppose-"

"Alister!" Lara cut the man off, "Please. Be quiet. " She needed to think... Needed to sort this out. Was this why she'd dreamed of Kurtis? Most likely. Why they had accidentally formed a permanent mental link? Probably. The cause of every other weird "twist of fate" that happened between them? Her money would be on it. And that was what scared her... That all of it, everything between them had been just part of some cosmic script, with herself and Kurtis simply being unknowing participants in the grand show that was fate. She didn't even want to begin to think that none of it had been a choice.

No... It's all been real... Fate, or destiny, or whatever the hell you want to call it, has no God damned control over me. She thought, more than a little irked. She watched the entwined threads disappear into the depths of the pool. She got to her feet, and yanked the shears, and the spindle out of her pack, and moved to place them on the altar. It was time to get out of here. Just get out, and go home. She put the items down, and started to head for the hall, before she found her path blocked, by a wall of emerald flames.

"I must thank you, Miss Croft," said the all-too-familiar voice of Karel, as he, and his lackeys, stepped through the fire, "You have made things wonderfully easy for us."

Lara moved backward, as fast as she could, nearly running into Kurtis in the process.

Karel only laughed, "Let's see... You found who we need to kill, you obtained both items, and now you have hand-delivered them, and yourself right where we need you."

Before Lara, or Kurtis had time to react, Karel had moved forward with inhuman speed, and had Lara by the throat. Kurtis tried to lunge for the nephilim, but was stopped by Gabriel, and tossed aside. Kurtis hit the wall, hard, his head slamming into the stone. Pain blurred his vision, and he was fairly sure that he could see little stars and cartoon birds floating around his head. His vision cleared, quickly, though he still couldn't bring himself to his feet. But right then, he was wishing that he was blinded again, or something. Anything to keep him from witnessing the sight before him.

Karel still had Lara by the throat, with one hand. With his free hand, he held a very large, very dangerous looking dagger. With a sideways smirk at Kurtis, the nephilim thrust the dagger into Lara's chest, at an upward angle, and gave it a twist, crimson staining the cream-colored sweater that Lara wore.

Kurtis wanted nothing more than to tell himself that this wasn't real, that it was just an illusion cooked up by Karel, but he couldn't. He knew this was real. And he also knew, as he fought to stay conscious, that there was nothing he could do about it.

Karel carried the dying woman to the altar, and set her down, while all Kurtis could do was watch. The nephilim spoke in greek, but as he had in his dream so many weeks before, Kurtis knew he was calling Lara's thread. Now the dream made sense... Why he had died in that dream, along with Lara. But knowing would do him no good. The thread was hovering in front of Karel now, but he didn't cut it. Instead, he looked towards Gabriel, and said something in a language Kurtis couldn't identify... Gabriel nodded, and did something, Kurtis wasn't sure what, for the next thing he knew, he was on the ground, writhing in pain. Through tears of pain, he saw his and Lara's threads being ripped apart

Suddenly, the pain stopped, but nothing was alright. Kurtis felt empty, like a shell whose inhabitant has abandoned it. He felt no pain from what was surely a serious concussion, he could hardly even bring himself to feel angry, as Karel easily cut the golden thread that was Lara's life...

The nephilim took the spindle, and spun it, like a top. Tendrils of blood from the wound in Lara's chest rose, and began to twine around the trinket, like some grotesque sort of thread. Despite lack of feeling, Kurtis could still think logically... Very logically, actually, with no emotions to cloud his judgement, and knew that this had to be stopped. So he shoved himself to his feet, and moved towards the three nephilim. He was after Gabriel first. He was the real threat at the moment, with Karel too busy doing whatever it was he was doing, and Lucas plastered into a corner, looking like a frightened kid.

Gabriel saw him approaching, and gave a slight smirk. Without even bothering to look at Karel, and stepped forward, to meet Kurtis. The first punch he threw, Kurtis dodged. He had an idea, and it required that he not get hit, and that he kept Gabriel's attention on him. It was working. Gabriel was cocky, and none to graceful, his movements were sloppy. It made Kurtis' job all too easy. Summoning up a blast of telekinetic power, he shoved Gabriel backwards... Right into the black pool.

Gabriel floated on the surface for a moment, looking shocked, though whether because he'd been caught off-guard, or because he was alive, was unclear. Then he tried to move. Mistake. The moment he so much as twitched, it was as if the substance in the pool took on a life of its own. Ooze-like tendrils snaked around the screaming nephilim, everywhere it touched Gabriel, his skin blistered, and peeled away. It was only moments before the ooze sucked him beneath the surface.

It seemed that with his death, whatever he had done to separate Kurtis and Lara's threads, was undone, for just as Kurtis threw his chirugai to hit the spindle, the threads snapped back together, and Kurtis was suddenly hit with every emotion that he should have been feeling right then, ten fold. There was an angry yell from Karel, which Kurtis took to mean than he had succeeded in his attempt to destroy the spindle. But right then, he wasn't in much of a mood to care. Right then he was wishing that the state of non-feeling would come back, so he could finish his task. He'd have been fine, if the feelings had come back normally, but no, they had to hit him like a bag of hammers. He looked up towards Karel, and Lara, to see just when the nephilim was going to start coming after him, and had to duck to avoid a fireball.

Karel was shouting, and swearing, and trying his damnedest to hit Kurtis, but anger made him sloppy, something that the Lux Veritatis would have to use to his advantage. Something stopped the fight, however. The sound Kurtis remembered, the sound of thousands of screaming beings. Behind Karel, the blood-thread was pulsing, and taking a different shape, it doubled, tripled, quadrupled its size, until it finally reached the size of a person, and assumed a humanoid shape. It kept it's blood color, but somehow, it had developed eyes; glowing gold orbs standing out against the crimson of Lara's blood. When it breathed, it was the sound of thousands of breaths...

The 'eyes' landed on Karel, and narrowed. "Fool!" said the creature, in it's many voices, "You have not completed the ritual."

Karel began to babble apologies, as he faced his creation. The creature seemed to want none of it, though, "You will pay for your mistake," it said. It grabbed the nephilim by the throat, and with no cerimonious speech, or actions, pulled the man towards its body, and to all appearances absorbed him.

Kurtis backed away from the creature, not keen on becoming its next meal, and looked for Lucas, after all, he'd saved Lara and Kurtis before, why not now... But the young nephilim was gone, he had probably fled the first chance he got. The creature had settled its gaze on him, and Kurtis decided that running might not be in his best interests... but perhaps talking...

"What are you?" he asked, the question being the first that came to mind, despite the fact that he knew it was a stupid thing to ask.

"We are many," said the creature, in its various voices, "We are nephili."

Kurtis circled around it, in an attempt to get to Lara, "Right... And how do I kill you?"

The thing laughed, a truly disturbing sound, "You do not, human... We will absorb the sacrifice, and become our true selves."

Kurtis bit back a rude remark... Even... Even if Lara was dead, there was no way he was going to let a red blob with a bad case of multiple personalities have her. "Y'know, this 'we' thing... I only see one of you... ever thought about seein' a shrink?" He was next to Lara's body now. Carefully, he reached down, and grabbed the shears that lay next to her head... If this creature was just one big mass of a life thread...

The creature spotted his movement, and with a shriek, it lunged for him. Alas, it was too slow. With a well-aimed throw, and a bit of help from the telekinesis, Kurtis buried the shears in the thing's chest. It screamed, the thousands of voices crying out, echoing through the chamber. It was enough to drive Kurtis to his knees, hands clamped over his ears. Then it suddenly stopped. There was a loud clang as the shears hit the floor, but nothing else. Standing, Kurtis could see that the thing was gone as well...

He didn't bother to linger on that fact, though. His eyes fell to the woman who lay before him, lifeless. Her once beautifully tanned skin was pale, cold. Her lovely hair was matted with her own blood... Kurtis wrapped one hand around the hilt of the blade in her chest, and wrenched it from her body, angrily. He pulled the corpse of his lover to his chest, and rocked back and forth slightly, silent tears dripping from his cheeks on to her hair... He didn't know how long he stayed like that, nor did he care. He could have stayed there for an eternity, for all he cared, and he might have, if not for the voices.

"Do we have to?" said one voice, female, a bit of a snobbish tone to it...

"Yes," said another, also female, this one sounded dry, disinterested, "You know the rules, sister."

"And it is really romantic, when you think about it," said a third, this one sounded dreamy, sweet.

"You're hopeless," said the first voice, scornfully.

Kurtis looked up, wondering if he was going crazy, and saw three women standing in front of him. All had black hair, and all looked identical save for the eyes. The first had bright, shining yellow, the one in the middle, steely grey, and the last, sheer black. All three were dressed in what seemed to be priestess robes. "What?" was all Kurtis managed.

"Typical," said the last one, the one with the snobbish voice, "We come all this way, and he doesn't even know who we are!"

"Silence," said the one in the middle, the disinterested one, "He knows, he just can't think."

"You wouldn't be able to either," said the first, the dreamy one. She looked at Kurtis, "We're the fates... Clotho," she gestured towards herself, "Lachesis," the one in the middle, "and Atropos," the last one.

Now Kurtis knew he had to be dreaming. This could not possibly be real...

"We've come to give you a choice," said Lachesis, "and no, this is not a dream. Your choice is this; you may continue to live your own life, and go on without this woman-"

"Then I finally get her," Atropos grumbled, "She's been dodging my shears for years."

Lachesis glared at her sister, "Or you may choose to share your life with hers... You would never be able to escape the connection, everything she felt, you would feel, be it physical, or emotional, and vice versa. You would literally be bound together, forever, and once it is done, there is no undoing it... If one dies, the other follows, no exceptions."

Kurtis, for all that he was sure this was a dream, answered instantly, "Do it." Even if this was a dream, at least he might get to see Lara alive again, even if it was only for a moment before he woke up.

"You see, I told you," said Clotho, as Atropos seemed to pout.

"Wait... Why are you doin' this?" Kurtis asked, suddenly curious... Even though it was just a dream.

"Because it's the rules," said Lachesis, "There are many points in ones life that my sister may cut their thread, but this was not one of those times, for Lara or yourself... And that thing was an abomination, going against every rule there is... So we dealt with it... You really think youkilled it, child? I think not... We weren't going to let it wreak havoc on our carefully constructed plan... So we stepped in. But the damage has been done to Lara, and there is no way to re-spin her thread... It can only be joined with yours."

"Can we just do this and leave? I hate the mortal world," Atropos grumbled.

"Fine," said Lachesis, "Clotho, if you will."

Clotho nodded, and muttered something in greek. The two threads that were still hanging in mid air fused together, until they were one, glowing thread... Kurtis felt the life in the woman he held before she even took a breath. When he looked up, the fates were gone. He was expecting to wake up, at any moment... But Lara was speaking to him, asking him what had happened, and all Kurtis could do was hug her... He could feel her confusion, as she returned the embrace. But he made no attempts to explain... It was a long story, and right then, he just wanted to savor the moment...

EPILOGUE:

A year later...

"Well, Lara, Kurtis just left, though I'm sure you already know that,"

Lara, who was a little preoccupied right then, simply mumbled a quick affirmative. She always knew when Kurtis was on the move. And today he was leaving on his own little mission. He was still a demon hunter after all...

"He says he'll be back by the time your done with... Well with whatever it is you're doing."

"Yes, Zip, I know," said Lara, trying to concentrate. She swung from rock to rock, laughing as she did so. This was fun... The first real bit of fun she'd had since her death.

"Hey Lara," said Zip, clearly amused that she was enjoying herself, "I think you forgot your climbing gear on purpose."

"What would give you that idea?" Lara replied, jokingly. "Really Zip, it's like going up a set of stairs, only far less boring."

"Yeah? Well I wanna throw up, every time you look down," said Zip, just as Lara looked down. "Hey, Alister's back," he said cheerily, ignoring the view. To Alister he said, "Grab a headset."

"Back so soon?" Lara asked, as she made another leap, "From Florence, wasn't it?"

"Decided on Genoa at the last minute..." Alister sighed, "My dissertation will never see daylight at this rate. But never mind that, what are you doing in Bolivia?"

Lara didn't have time to answer right then. She had a big drop, and it had to be perfect. She felt a tinge of panic coming from the connection she shared with Kurtis, and knew he was anticipating the sudden rush he was going to get, when she lept... She smirked a bit, and let go, catching the edge of the cliff. She could sense her other half's relief that they were both alive. Pansy. Lara thought, as she answered Alister, "Ascending." She pulled herself up on to solid ground. "Alister, meet Tiwinaku, she's a lovely pre-Incan civilization, currently in ruins." And hopefully I'll find answers about mother here...

"Delighted," said Alister, as Lara took the first step forward, in what was to be quite the grand adventure.

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-cringes- god I hate this chapter...

I originally had a sequel planned to answer some of the questions that I left unanswered in this one... the main one being: Who is Alessa?... Well, since it is not likely that I will write the sequel... not any time soon, anyway, since I have another fic in the works, I'll answer that question now, shall I?

Alessa Klorel is actually Ariadni Karel, Karel's half-sister, "fallen" angel if you will... She is NOT a nephilim. Lucas and Gabriel, her sons, were half-nephilim half-actual angel... She was going to play a big part in the sequel to this, along with Lucas...

if you like, here is a picture I did of her a while back...

http//i11 dot photobucket dot com/ albums/ a180/ dark and morbid/ AKNoAngel dot jpg

(run that all together, and replace the "dot"s with "." of course