Greetings and Salutations! Jack here, I have another chapter for y'all and I hope y'all take it as a Christmas present from me to you. Have a Merry Christmas!

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RedHood001: It is a big step, though honestly, I don't want to give you false hope. The fact she had 'admitted' to herself she loves him doesn't mean we are out of the troubled waters yet. I hope you enjoy this chapter like the others. Keep giving me your thoughts and keep an eye out. I'm working on a chapter for you. ;)

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Loud proclamation: I do not own Tomb Raider!

Chapter 14: Words in the Wind

Tall lush trees danced rhythmically around her as Lara moved from the ruined radio headquarters into the green wet forest. The wind, which seemed ever present on the island, kept sweeping through the trees to chill her. Lara finally realized what was so weird about the wind to her. It did not carry the smell of the sea, the fresh yet dead smell that normal sea breezes have, as the freshness of new life built on the corpses of thousands of tiny creatures. No, this wind was more like an alpine wind, icy cold, merciless that tries to suck the lifeblood out of even the most seasoned mountaineer. However, that did not make a lot of sense… they were on an oceanic island, not in the middle of the beautiful Swiss Alps. She remembered long painful trip when climbing Eiger in Switzerland, staring out at the beautiful lands as she climbed the sheer face of the mountain. The wind there had been most like this, yet, here on Yamatai it was even… colder. The cold seemed to go deeper, not content with taking the heat from her muscles and body but trying to go deeper, taking her soul.

It was all ridiculous she knew, as a woman of science and sophistication, there were no such things as sorceresses and witches. They were people that had used the power of weak minds to transform themselves in to gods and goddesses that demanded worship from puny mortals. Through the various digs and ancient sites she had visited with Roth in the years after her father's premature death, she had seen just how evil and twisted these rulers had been against their naïve subjects.

However, she also understood the desire those rulers had. To be worshiped and considered divinity. Having a legacy that would live down through thousands of years. Moreover, really, who didn't want their legacy to live down through the ages of time?

Shrugging off the worthless considerations, which were truly a drain on her limited resources, Lara stalked her way through the winds as the sunshine cast its god rays all around her in the trees. There was hardly a cloud in the sky and she enjoyed the speed and stealthy approach she could master in the trees. Roth had often likened her to a fox when in the woods. Alert, quiet and poised, she cautiously approached the base of the tower.

Thankfully, she was alone. While she would always welcome Alex's company, his stealth skills were more liken to the rhino stampeding through a field of dead dry brambles. Needless to say, with his ribs in their current condition she was confident that his wheezing breaths would be heard like a cannonade at the Queen's Birthday Celebration.

Alone though, she really wasn't. Lara crept up to boulder and watched the two men in front of her. They were both tall and solidly built men, both obviously from a European heritage. In similitude to all the others she had met they were coarse and unkempt looking. One though, had pulled his hair back in a mess of a ponytail while the other let his brown locks fall all around his face making him look similar to the blurry pictures of Sasquatch. They sat by a small fire and were obviously in the process of making themselves some lunch. The ponytail turned toward Sasquatch and the two laughed as they slowly cooked the strips of meet over the fire.

Killing them would have been easy, and part of her wanted to do it. Take them out, but Lara realized this was a great opportunity presented before her; she could eavesdrop on their conversation and see if she could glean a tactical advantage over her opponents. Nestling against the rock, she waited them out as the fragrant aroma of cooking meat reached her nostrils.

"How much longer Clarke?" Sasquatch asked in a rough baritone, motioning toward the strips. "That smell is killing me here. Been too long since we got to stop and eat something fresh that wasn't salted hog."

Ponytail, or Clarke, Lara realized, undistracted from his task of slowly rotating the spits of meat, commented in a high shrill pitch counter to his impressive physic that caused Lara to grin in spite of herself. "They're be ready when they're ready."

The hairy man grunted in annoyance, "It's total shit how long that's taking. Are you sure they aren't done now?"

"Patience… patience…" Chided Clarke chuckling at his compatriot.

"Patience be damned! I'm hungry now." Sasquatch stood and walked away a few steps from the fire and gazed out into the woods near Lara. Cautiously, Lara drew an arrow and notched it, ready to unleash death on the two men.

Clarke gestured a long bony hand as his high pitch warbled in the cold wind. "Let it rest! Think about it. Because, of Father Mathias patience we might finally have a chance of getting off this Hellhole."

This caused Lara to pause from drawing her string. She waited, heart pounding in her chest.

Father Mathias did apparently not impress Sasquatch, as he threw his beefy hands up in the air in disgust. "Father Mathias has his head up his tiny ass, if he thinks that burning that Asian chick is going do a shit of good."

Clarke seemed only get more excited though. "But what if he's right. All the Solarii can be free. We can get off this fucking island and live our lives! Doesn't that make it worth it?"

The big man leveled a stare at Clarke a long moment. "It's only worth it if it works. We've done this over forty times and gotten nothing. Think about that! What we could have done with forty girls instead of forty burned corpses."

"Fine, fine." His filthy ponytail falling over his shoulder as Clarke sat back and concerned himself with the food again. "You might be right about that, but what if this is the one. Father Mathias said she shares blood with Himiko. One of her actual descendants! Surely that will appease the Sun Queen."

"Doesn't mean shit!" Sasquatch stated harshly. "It's just how Father Mathias maintains his control of all the Solarii. Given us, all some shitting nonsense of a curse and a required sacrifice. Especially one that doesn't have any damn impact to him."

"Whatever man!" squeaked his companion. "Grubs ready, so shut your trap and eat."

The two men continued talking as Lara taking a deep breath drew her bow back again.

Sasaquash never knew what snuffed his miserable life out, and regardless of his story and journey that had brought him here, his exit was fast. Clarke let out a scream as he stared in horror at his friend; somehow, an arrow had lodged itself into the giant man's eye socket as he slowly, almost sedately, fell on his side dead.

Clarke leapt to his feet as he grabbed his long rifle and gazed around frantically into the woods along the trajectory of where the arrow must surely have come from… nothing… all he could see was the trees rhythmically swaying in the wind as the sun with its cold rays came down upon the shrubbery. His eyes widened in panic as an intense pain erupted from his back and then looked down. Protruding from his belly the steel head of an arrow was bathed in blood, his blood. He fell onto his knees as he felt the metallic taste of his lifeblood on his tongue. He couldn't feel his legs anymore but what he did feel was two small hands at his shoulder. He could make out a feminine voice, but his mind reeling in shock didn't comprehend the craziness of that reality.

"Where does Father Mathias have the girl, Clarke?"

'How does she know my name?' The thought slowly plodded through his mind. 'And she's got a London brogue. I wonder who she is.'

Blood spilled out of his mouth and ran down his chin; it felt so surreal as he answered. "M-Mathias has… has her in the Temple." His mouth was filling with blood again and he spat it out. "Up the mountain a… a ways you'll find it."

"Thank you." The quiet voice stated. "I'm sorry, rest in peace."

Clarke was lost for a second. 'Sorry for what?'

He felt his head pulled back and he was staring up into the sunny sky. He heard as well as felt something slice across his throat. Instantly, he felt the impossibility of breathing as he gagged hard, gasping for the oxygen his body needed so desperately, his lungs aching as badly as the muscles in his stomach from the arrow. Slowly, he didn't feel really anything at all… just the cool warmth of the sun on his face. 'I've never noticed… just how beautiful the sky is.' Finally, the sky started to dim and all things faded away to darkness.

Lara held on for a few more minutes before gently, placing the Solarii down next to his friend. She stood there for a moment looking down at the two men. She was waiting for the feeling to come, that feeling of success and rush of victory… but it gone… all she felt was a sorrow and yet a firm anger toward Mathias connected with a firm conviction to save her best friend. She at least knew two things. One, Father Mathias was in charge. Two, Sam was still alive… Lara pondered how this information could be used to all its effectiveness. Still, she now had a new task as soon as the S.O.S. was sent off.

She needed to enter this Temple and rescue her best friend…

The crackling and popping of the fire brought her attention to the meat still sizzling over the fire. The two men weren't going to ever need it and she was hungry. Efficiently, she checked the cooked strips and removed them from the spits over the campfire. She looping her bow over her shoulder casually she picked up Clarke's long rifle. It was a Savage Model 110, lacking a scope it was solidly built walnut wood with hand carved decals running the long the woodwork. Clarke had obvious loved this weapon well as everything in Yamatai was run down and broken but this… this was pristine. She held the gun for a moment before having it join the bow behind her, it would be cumbersome, but if she needed long range this would be useful, if not her, then definitely Alex. Lara wasn't the best marksman, but giving the small bag of ammunition she looted off of Clarke's corpse she was finally read. Armed, fed and determined she continued out of the campfire as she walked to the base of the tower.

The solid construction, most likely circa 1940s, was a cast iron tower that rose over sixty meters into the sky. Thankful, Lara started her climb by heading up the stairs to the first level but then the rest would be hand of hand.

Lara reached down to her belt and fiddled with her personal radio. Brushing her bangs from her face, she quickly called into her radio. "Alex? You there?"

Silence reigned painful as Lara felt the seconds slowly tick away into minutes before the radio crackled in response. Alex's voice was quiet as though almost whispering. "Yeah, I'm here. Got company, avoid contact, over."

Lara spun toward where the radio station headquarters was. She could see the old cement building through the green foliage of the trees, but at the this distance couldn't make out anything going on. Her face frozen in the ice mask of dread. Alex was on his own. There was nothing she could do to help him from where she was and… she hated that. She had a job to do, and damn it all, she was going to do it.

Therefore, she started to climb, the wind whipped around her ripping at her hair and cloths as she slowly climbed rung over rung. The cold iron, unheated by the cool sunshine stung at her hands as she gripped on. The mists from the ocean coming to swirl around at the base as she kept going. As an experienced climber, heights really didn't bother Lara, but even she was feeling a little unease about the sturdiness of the rusted iron from the seventy years of sea breeze and salt exposure.

Suddenly the rung she was standing on gave out with a shrill squeal of tortured metal. The lightweight feeling of falling caused Lara's heart to accelerate its rapid beating as she frantically grabbed on to the ladder and prayed it would hold up. The jarring motion of her body swinging back and forth as she clung to the ladder with both hands as her feet were suspended in the air and she looked down to see the twenty meter drop that would be her death sentence should her arms rebel against her mind. Her hands so abused over the last three days were screaming at her as she pulled with all her strength; hand over hand. Her body protested against the strain as her brain and will power forced her further up the ladder until she was out of danger.

Lara stared down in horror at the hug section of ladder that had broken away below her. 'How the hell am I going to get down again?' The thought entered her mind as the wind kept its constant pressure around her. Nevertheless, all she could do was keep going. 'Thank god I didn't ever miss arm day. Otherwise this adventure would have been over for me.'

The further she climbed the colder the wind seemed and its shrieking was so unnerving that if she were a lesser person she would have been convinced that the wind contained some spirit of tortured souls longing to be released from the constant torment that they experienced. Body aching from the exertion, Lara could feel her thigh painfully throbbing each rung she climbed as she finally reached the second platform.

The breeze was bring in a grey mass of fog and mist that curled in twisting ropes around the base of the tower making it hard to see the ground below her. Gulls, their sad mournful cries flew past her as Lara started to catch her breath and calm her racing nerves. Near death experiences always had that effect on people, up till now Lara felt after she had personally endured on all her crazy adventures with Roth and Grim, but she actually appreciate it now. It made her fell more… more normal. Less hardened, more vulnerable… which was funny as being vulnerable was not generally, what a survivor wanted to experience. However, Lara knew what she needed to be a survivor; she had a clear advantage over almost everyone else of the Endurance crew except maybe Roth.

Breathing deeply, Lara could feel her body recovered enough for the last leg of the journey… to the crow's nest where the hardwire hack Alex had created would have to be used. 'And hopefully it will actually work… it would be nice to have something go well for us. Everything seems to be falling apart.'

She started again, much to her muscles anger and the wind's apparent frustration. Lara like laughing at it, because as ridiculous as it sounded, it was as if the wind got angrier and more… indignant. The final climb was slow, painfully monotonous as she kept testing each rung before trusting her full weight (Obese as she was) on the rusted metal spokes. Lara was still slightly irked with Alex's grossly unfair characterization of her current healthy ratio of body mass. In all honesty, though, she would not want him any other way.

Lara strained as she worked on making her way up the narrow metal rungs as the wind continue swirling around her. Yet, she realized she was almost there. There had been three life ending calls where should could have slipped and fallen to a grisly messy death. However, her she was. Leaning against the small iron rail and holding on to it she breathed as deeply as the cold air would let her.

Pulling out the strange contraption of a radio that had been grossly modified by Alex. She was wondering exactly how this would work. Alex had mentioned, attaching the hooks to the wires… but he had not said which hooks to which wires. Moreover, Lara, exceptional as she was at many things was not a shagging electrician.

Thumbing her personal radio on Lara cautiously whispered into the mic. "Alex?"

Besides the wind, everything was silence as she waited. Lara realized she was holding her breath and with a chuckle let it out. 'Like my breathing will make him less safe.' There were times Lara disliked the fact she cared so much. 'But then… there are times I am quite happy with how much I care.' Still, she waited, for what she would hope was a response. She was not confident that she would find out where she would be attaching the hotwire fix Alex devised but she was confident she could royally create at shit storm if she wasn't careful. Therefore, she waited. The seconds ticked into minutes as all she did was shiver as the cold icy air shimmered and swirled around her. 'I hate waiting…' a familiar thought she had often. 'nothing is worse than waiting for something to happen… it seems rather fatalistic and powerless to just have to wait on the universe to finally get its bloody act together and do something.'

"Lara? You there?" She had to strain her ears by pressing the radio's speaker against her ear, but the whisper was not imagined by her wandering mind.

"Yes, Alex. Are you safe?" She murmured quietly.

"Not really, got some friends here. What's up?"

Lara looked in front of her at the radio she was supposed to hijack. "Not sure where to plug in the hotwire fix."

"Shit." Lara heard him mutter as she also could hear him moving around. 'Trying to be stealthy… like Alex could ever really be stealthy.' Unknowing her thoughts, he continued. "Looking at the radio, attaching the right and left cables to the opposite on the tower. You need to strip the wires and connect the hooks on the stripped wires… Shit! Shit! Shit!" The explosive reports echoed on the cold frosty air.

"Alex!" Lara yelled into the radio as she heard the gunshots faintly as she gazed down through the mist toward the radio station. Seconds crept by as Lara's quick breaths kept going. In out, in out in out. Finally, two more gunshots rang out and then silence reigned.

The harsh crackling of the radio caused her to flinch, but thankfully didn't fall off the tower rail. The familiar voice caused Lara to sigh with relief. "Hey Lara. You there?" His voice was shallow and rasped slowly causing Lara to feel her eyes narrow as she frowned into the radio. "Did you get the radio working?"

If Alex had been there, Lara knew he would flinch at the fierce glare she leveled at the radio. She fumed inside that he thought so little of her that she would be working on a damn radio while he was dying somewhere… but yet, maybe ripping him a new one wouldn't necessarily help… though she really wanted to lay into him badly.

Taking a deep breath Lara activated the radio. "No Alex, not yet. You okay?"

The pause was worrisome and Lara started stripping the wires down and connecting the hooks together with the lines instead of just waiting for the response. Finally, the voice she was waiting for starting speaking. "Umm… uh, yeah I'm fine. Don't worry about it. Just… you know met… some friends."

'Don't worry about it…? asshole.' Lara groused. 'Like I'm not going to worry about gunshots and him. Shagging asshole! Stupid American nerdy…!' She kept working on the radio until she saw the number code dancing in front of her.

She sighed letting go of the torrent of emotions as she pushed them away and started to do the task she was doing. "Alex, I'm at the panel and connected to the transmitter."

"Good, the tower'll boost the signal. I'm crossing my fingers for you, LC!"

She activated the radio and winced at the burst of static that offended her delicate ears as she started doing small adjustments to the small nobs on the radio. The words she longed to hear broke out from the small speaker.

"Bsst… crack… buzz… tuned into the international emergency broadcasting system."

Lara immediately started calling into the radio. "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Lara Croft of Endurance. We are stranded on an island in the Dragon's Triangle. We need help and medical supplies. Please Respond!"

… Static …

The lack of response except static was the only response as Lara's hopes started to waver. 'Come on! Come on!'

"Mayday! Mayday! This is Lara Croft of the Endurance…"

A clear man's baritone voice reverberated from the speaker as Lara felt her heart soar. "This is aircraft N177A, we've been searching for you since the distress call from your vessel. Almost given up hope!"

Gasping for joy, Lara replied. "So had we! Glad you didn't though."

Chuckling good naturedly, the man continued. "We've got your approximate position, but we could sure use a visual."

"We'll figure something out."

"Good. We'll be heading your way soon. Over and out."

Lara rested her head in relief as she could hear her radio exploding as Roth, Jonah, Reyes and Alex all cheered, many of them letting out laughs of joy.

"Lara Croft! You are my hero! Woohoo!"

"That's my girl." Roth's gruff voice cut through Alex's jubilation."

"Little Bird, even Reyes is smiling now…" There was a scoff and denial. "What? You are though." Jonah's jovial voice broke in.

Just laughing with happiness, Lara rested her head on her knees and just let the moment flood over her. 'They were saved! They were going home! They were safe; they were going to escape from this awful island. All they had to do was get Sam, and meet up with their rescuers.'

She looked out and the island seemed somewhat less… scary. Knowing that it was all over made the ugliness less… well ugly. They just needed to send some type of signal to let the pilot know where they are.

"Does anyone have something to use as a signal?" Lara asked through her radio. She knew her path down would be hell as she had broken the ladder on her ascent.

"I've got a fuel tank her, let me light it up." Jonah stated happily. "Should cause a big enough of an explosion and the smoke will make a pretty big signal."

"But," Reyes voice broke in. "it will also let all our enemies know where we are at."

"Their called the Solarii." Lara mentioned quietly. "I ran into a few and interrogated one."

Rough voice rasping, Roth questioned. "Did they know where Sam is?"

"They mentioned she was located in the mountain temple." Lara's thoughts running faster than even her quick words. "I'll try to get back to Alex and we will head your way."

Lara turned and headed down the small ladder slowly and carefully. Hope happily bubbled inside of her as the quick beat of her heart until she got down to the level above the damaged ladder. She turned toward the one of the connecting support lines. She didn't love the idea of trying to do a zip line off of the metal solid two inch line.

Throwing her climbing axe over the line and flew down, the wind ripping through her hair as she plummeted swiftly toward the rough green ground. Just before landing, she let go and she rolled over and over again as the kinetic force slammed her into the ground but dissipated as she slowly rose to her feet. Her adrenaline rushing through her petite frame. Confidently walking over toward where her axe lay, Lara picked it up and placed it in her belt.

BOOM! The explosion reverberated in the air as a thick plume of black-grey cloud that rose around five kilometers from her in the trees. She looked with happiness toward the obvious sign… no one could miss that beautiful signal and not even a few minutes later Lara heard the most wonderful sound. The mechanical roar of a plane's engine.

'There it is!' Her heart soared in joy and happiness and then out of nowhere in the clear blue sky Lara watched a dark storm cloud appeared. Shock flooded her as lightning stabbed viciously out and struck the right engines of the N177A causing them to explode in a flash of fireworks display of color.

Lara stared now in abject horror, as her dreams and hopes also went down in the flames of the plane's engines. However, the worst thing ever though was the wind… Lara swore it was a hissing whisper haunting her. "No one escapes!"

Horror leaves a distinctive scar upon one's soul, but how many brutal scars can the soul carry? This was something no one knows. There is always a point when the cup of suffering overflows as the pain becomes too much and the sufferer must decide what to do with the pain.

The smoke and fire were plainly visible in the wilderness of the island as Lara stood in shock, from where she had watched the plane coming in and the horrible lightning and mocking words whispered through the air. It wasn't natural. That was for sure, haunted winds, random storms, and spontaneous lightning. What if the legends of Himiko weren't just legends, but how could that be? It wasn't possible for a human being to command such things. Such power and to control storms? Not possible. Just not possible. Nevertheless, what explanation was there? Less than half an hour ago, there had been no storm clouds and then lightning. Somethings were indescribable and unknowable. What she did know, was they weren't escaping using the air plane: And there might be survivors.

Compassion compelled her to action; she knew what the enemy would do to the pilots when they caught them. Lara spun around and headed toward the black smoke that told of the final resting place of the plane N177A.

Thank you for reading. I hope you all enjoyed. Please let me know y'all's thoughts and give me a Review.

Thanks,

Jack