24- EPILOGUE

TURKEY, EIGHT MONTHS LATER

When she get out of her tent, she was surprised by the heat, which was already stifling at this early hour. The sun blinded her and she raised a hand to shield her eyes. Her gaze quickly swept over the small camp. A few men were already at work, stirring up the soil and rocks with pickaxes.

Lara stepped forward and walked towards the tent that was set up on her left. Once again she had not slept well. She felt tired, and annoyed. She gently lifted the canvas and peeked in discreetly. The woman there was already up and about. She was trying to reattach her long black hair in a thick bun, but she was visibly embarrassed by the large white bandage that tightly gripped her elbow. She couldn't move properly. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the adventuress.

'Sorry, I meant to knock before I came in, but...'

Lara raised her shoulders in apology. The woman gave her a weak smile and invited her to join her. She looked tired too.

'I didn't sleep well either...' she said to the English woman.

She winced and designated her arm with her chin.

'... this thing doesn't give me much respite. I've seen worse of course, but I had forgotten how it feels to be hurt like this.'

'It's a good thing you know about preparations and alternative medicine. I've never known a better remedy,' said the young woman, pointing first to her thigh and then to various wounds, including the one on her hand.

The wound was now completely healed thanks to the shaman's care. It formed a discreet scar on the top of her hand, but it would forever remind her of the torture Morgau had inflicted on her in St Petersburg.

'True,' the woman replied with a sigh. 'But this kind of medicine would have helped me better if it healed moral wounds rather than physical ones.'

Lara gave her a sad smile. The two women looked at each other for a moment, in silence. Marie's big blue eyes, once so bright, had lost their sparkle. She had lost weight too. And yet, Lara still had in mind the image of this strong woman who had defended them to the end so that they could escape Gunderson's men. She would be eternally indebted to her. They wouldn't have make it without her and Roman's help.

'Anything new?' the Navajo woman asked, cutting her off from her thoughts.

Lara shook her head gently. Her smile slowly faded. Marie let out a cynical laugh.

'I suspected the answer, but... we never know.'

She walked over to Lara, and the two women left the tent.

A little further ahead of them, the large rock formations typical of the region stood like threatening pillars. The steep mountains were visible in the early morning light. A group of men were digging further out.

The last few months had been terribly hard and exhausting, both physically and mentally. It had taken several weeks before the women had obtained permission to come here and carry out their research. Lara had called on a well-placed contact in Oxford, who had kindly provided them with a number of men and equipment. The Englishwoman had been careful not to mention what exactly had happened here for the sake of privacy. She didn't like lying, but she had to admit the fact that the Turkish authorities didn't know exactly what had happened here suited her. She preferred to avoid another media stunt that would have made a lot of noise while she could.

'Any news from the embassy and the authorities?' Lara asked, her arms now crossed against her chest.

Beside her, Marie shook her head softly, her gaze lost in the distance.

'They simply concluded it was an attack led by an extremist group, on a background of arms traffick,' the shaman replied in a tone devoid of any sentiment.

Lara remained silent. It was the most logical conclusion, indeed. A few days after the ambush in Alessio's villa, the Turkish authorities, alerted by some locals, had discovered the bodies of Alessio, Mikhaïl and Sasha, who had quickly succumbed to her wounds after their departure. Roman and Marie had finally managed to flee as well from the villa, after having shot most of the soldiers who had kept them locked in the house.

But they had been intercepted as they arrived in Çavusin. They had been held up and questioned. But given the arms shipment found in the villa and Alessio's unclear activities, the authorities had quickly released them both, although they remained under close surveillance now.

'I hope Alessio's body can be given back to his family,' the Navajo woman said in a breath.

The Italian's body was still in the hands of the judicial police. Given the seriousness of the situation and what had been discovered in Iznik, the Turkish authorities were still investigating. The massacre perpetuated against the archaeologists, in the camp near the Canyon was also attributed to reprisals by a terrorist group. The government assumed the few survivors of the camp had been forced into a hideout in the canyon, and that the strange earthquake that had taken place here, and which had had repercussions throughout the region, had swallowed them all up, somewhere where Alessio's colleagues' bodies would never be found unfortunately. Rescue teams searched the area further, and discovered that great part of Çavusin archeological site had been destroyed. There was almost nothing left of the canyon now. Once again, Lara could not help but feel guilty at the thought all these events were irreparably linked to what they had done, and that all the missing people were just poor collateral victims. At this moment, she thought about the young and sweet Dilara, whose body would never be found either she knew. And that made her sincerely sad.

'I'll do everything I can for that. It's the least I can do,' Lara replied softly.

'How is Roman?'

Lara pursed her lips and sighed. She felt her heart clench as she thought of their Russian friend.

'Not very well, I think. I had him on the phone a few days ago. I offered him several times to come at the Croft Manor, so he wouldn't be alone. But he refused. He told me he'd rather be alone for a while. He's got some things to sort out I think. I guess he wants to stay with them for now...'

'Were the bodies finally repatriated?'

'Yes,' Lara continued, her eyes lost in the desert landscape. 'But it took a long time. The bodies have been stuck here all this time, they were transferred only a short time ago. He had them both buried not far from St. Petersburg, in Mikhaïl's home village.'

'Do you think the Russian authorities discovered something?'

The adventuress raised both shoulders.

'He remained under surveillance for several weeks while the secret services investigated. After Sasha's death, they wanted to make sure, she, as a former agent, wasn't involved in anything suspicious, not to mention Roman's military background...'

Marie shook her head thoughtfully.

'I know the Ermitage museum reported the sword stolen,' Lara continued. 'The Russian intelligence services got quickly on the trail of The Agency, but Gunderson had obviously managed to erase most of the clues leading back to them and us. For that, I can only thank him.'

'So they haven't made the connection with us,' replied the shaman. 'Or at least not yet.'

'I think we can consider ourselves lucky, yes,' said the adventuress. 'If we don't find anything here...'

She let her sentence unfinished, as if she couldn't get to the end of her thought. Marie watched her carefully.

'...I mean, all the clues related to our fight have been destroyed, which is a good thing.'

Marie sighed.

'Some things should be kept hidden, rather lost forever indeed,' she told the young woman.

Lara nodded again.

'Indeed. That's why I'd rather make sure the sword and the sanglyph are definitely lost and that nobody will go after them.'

'Given how it looks like here, I guess we don't have to worry about that actually... But you're the one who raids lost tombs and who goes for lost objects here. So, you tell me.'

Lara sketched a faint smile. Silence fell again between the two women. The shaman took another look at the pile of broken stones in front of them, and sighed loudly.

'I don't really have hope left...' she said in a whisper.

'Don't say that, Marie...' Lara cut her off, afraid of the unbearable thought that tried to make its way through her mind too.

Marie looked away. For some seconds, the only thing they heard was the sound of the pickaxes on the rock and the early wind. The sun rays were warm on Lara's skin, but did not bring any kind of comfort to her.

'Do you think the Nephili are really dead? Do you think this is really all over now?'

Marie shook her head slightly. She answered calmly after taking a deep breath.

'I think, yes. Eckhardt is dead, Karel died before your eyes, and for real this time...'

They exchanged a knowing smile.

'...so as for the last sleeper and all the Cabal's members. There's nothing left in the Strahov now, nor in Kriegler Castle. Konstantin spent his entire life chasing the Nephili. He lived to fight and destroy them. And he knew from the very beginning he would have to carry out the mission he had inherited to the end. He already knew he would have to give his own life for it, and lots of other people's unfortunately. He almost died fighting in the Artic, by the way, to make sure the Nephilim base was destroyed over there. He did everything he could to stop the Nephili. And to make sure we would both survive...'

Marie paused abruptly, before her voice broke. She took several deep breaths to calm down. Lara let the silence hover for a few more seconds as she also fought against the idea that was slowly coming to her mind.

'Actually, my only regret is that the Lux Veritatis did not get the recognition it deserved. Their fight ended with the greatest indifference.'

'There are still people willing to fight if necessary, and the Lux Veritatis still has strong allies all over the world. Don't you want to keep the order alive?'

The Navajo woman shook her head sharply, she looked a bit annoyed by the young woman's words.

'I am not a Lux Veritatis. At least, not a real one. Their desire to preserve the world and fight evil forces was mine too, but their duty was not. I will never have the strength to rebuild everything on my own. A new world has opened up. The Nephilim threat has been definitively defeated. The time of the Lux Veritatis is over. I want something else now. We must move forward...'

The two women's eyes met again. Lara felt a sudden twinge of pain as she looked into the azure eyes of the Navajo woman. She, who had felt so empty since her return here, felt her whole being burn from pain.

'It's not your fault, Lara.'

The young woman sighed and looked away, embarrassed.

Three men suddenly yelled a few feet away. The two women rushed over. The workers had managed to clear a hole in the rock, which seemed to plunge into the bowels of the earth. Lara shuddered uncontrollably at the sight of the red earth. However, when they leaned forward with Marie, they soon realised that it was only a very small cavity, condemned by the landslide. There was only earth as far as the eye could see, and rocks.

After all these months of relentless digging, the last hope that had remained in her mind suddenly vanished. As she had feared, the mountain under which the nephilim cradle once existed had completely collapsed, taking and destroying the lost city with it. Even with all the possible equipment, they could never clear the place. It was obvious to the adventuress that the nephilim shrine and everything in it had been swallowed up forever. There was nothing left.

She felt her throat tightening uncontrollably, and a weird sensation of anger grew in her. But soon she felt something else imprisoning her heart. Something even more painful, and even more scary. Something that made her panic : the most total emptiness.

She turned away as the Navajo woman looked away too, her eyes filled with tears.

—

They hardly spoke to each other the whole way to Istanbul airport. They simply took their bags and walked through the crowd, which was particularly dense that day. They stopped at the foot of the large signs announcing the next departures. Lara looked down at the ticket in Marie's hand.

'It's a beautiful but disreputable city. Too many tourists and too much troubles over here.'

For the first time since their reunion, Marie let out a sincere laugh.

'It's a shame, Paris is a wonderful city. But I won't stay long there, it's only for a correspondence.'

Lara frowned.

'Are you going back to the States?'

Once again, the Navajo woman did not show any specific feelings. She shrugged slightly.

'I don't really know. But I haven't been back for a long time. No one is waiting for me anymore anyway. I think I'm going to find my people and my friends in Brazil first. I'll go into exile, to find some rest. Or at least try to. Then, we'll see.'

The two women exchanged a sincere smile. Over the loudspeakers in the main hall, a stewardess announced the flight boarding to England. After a brief moment of hesitation, Marie finally walked over to the adventuress and took her in her arms. She could not hold back a few tears, which she quickly wiped away with a movement of the hand.

'I'll never be far if you need me,' she said to the adventuress, who had difficulty hiding her emotion as well.

After a last smile, Marie turned away, backpack on her shoulder, and headed for her gate without looking back. Lara watched her slowly disappear among the compact crowd, before turning around.

—

CROFT MANOR, SURREY, FOUR MONTHS LATER

She was floating there, arms and legs apart. She let herself be carried away by the small movements of the water. Only her face emerged on the surface, her long hair waving around her like the tentacles of an octopus. She watched the water dripping over the huge glass dome that covered the indoor pool. A few flashes of light appeared from time to time between the fluffy clouds.

She came back to her senses, and finally swam back to the shore. She wrapped herself in her heavy cotton dressing gown. She left the indoor pool and walked slowly back to the living room and then to the hall, before heading to the main stairs. As she walked up, she passed by Winston.

'May I make you some tea, Miss Croft?'

'No thanks Winston, that's very kind. I'm going to take a shower and I'll come down and make myself something to eat later. Perhaps.'

The butler sighed. He watched her go upstairs.

'Is there anything I can do for you, Miss?'

The old man crossed the young woman's gaze over the solid wood railing, but the only response she gave to him was a faint smile. The butler felt his heart twinging as Lara disappeared into her room.

It had now been several months since she had returned from Turkey, leaving Cappadocia and its cursed ruins behind. He had tried many times to talk to her, but she rarely spoke about it.

The missions or adventures were rare now. Or at least, Miss Croft refused them almost systematically. She didn't even bother to open the letters she received. She had hardly travelled for several weeks. She spent entire hours locked in the big office. The butler had noticed she sometimes even got up in the middle of the night to go and train, or go for a ride on her motorbike. But she said nothing. She remained walled up in her silence.

Even though she refused to admit it, he knew she was depressed. And nothing helped. She no longer had a taste for anything, and that broke the old man's heart.

—

As she walked in the room, wrapped in a towel, she caught sight of her own reflection in the imposing mirror standing in one corner. She took some steps towards it, and stood before it, taking her time as she observed in silence her muscular but yet so tired body. She knew she was not the same anymore, she could feel it. She felt like so many things had changed, everything was so different now. Even Winston didn't need to tell her for she had seen it in his own eyes. Her features were pale, indeed. She hadn't really rested for weeks. Or at least, whenever she tried to get some sleep, she always found something to work on, or something to do, or something to think about, whatever was the time of day. Her eyes yet so bright seemed lifeless, empty of any kind of passion, lost away from the world. Her gaze slowly went down from her skinny shoulders then to her legs, before stopping by the brownish mark that was left on her thigh. Without really paying attention to it, she let her fingertips ran over it. The burnt flesh seemed to react to her own contact, as if it was suddenly reactivating at her touch, bringing up all the bad memories with it. Thinking of it, the scar was painful at anytime, sometimes waking her up in the middle of the night. Every time she even thought about it, the wound would make her remember it was there for good, implying any other feeling related to it. Sometimes she even had the unwanted impression the cold blade of Gunderson's knife was still stuck into her muscles, deepening into the flesh to the bone. She could still feel the burning vibration of the pain running up to her hips, and going down to her knee. Fortunately for her, her leg had healed pretty good, she didn't limp any longer, but it remained somehow painful, whatever she did. A pain that would remain for her entire life she knew.

She sighed loudly.

Hands on her hips, she got away from her own reflection and went to sit on the big armchair near the window. She cast an empty gaze outside.

The metallic clink of the small tray Winston was holding in his hands snapped her out of her reverie. The old man walked into the room and placed it on the small coffee table beside her. A steaming cup of tea filled the room with a sweet fruity smell. Next to it lay a pile of letters. The young woman looked at them out of the corner of her eye, not really paying attention at first.

'Mr Thomas has been trying to reach you, Miss.'

Lara did not even turn her head towards him.

'They need your opinion on something that was discovered in Egypt...'

Lara huffed loudly, annoyed. She stood up and disappeared into the adjoining room, which was actually her bedroom.

'When I think about the attitude they had towards me after the Monstrum case...' she shouted from the other room.

Winston approached the window, hands behind his back. He was all too used to his protégée's sudden mood swings. He watched the pouring rain outside as he waited for her quietly.

'...I didn't think it was possible to disparage and yet need me so much,' she concluded, as she finally came back, all dressed up now.

She joined Winston by the window.

'If I may say so, Miss, it seems to me that you almost destroyed half of the Louvre...'

Lara gave him a murderous look.

'That's exactly what I said, they just hate me when it suits them.'

She glared at the old man, who smiled at her. The storm roared outside once again. Like every day lately, the weather was terribly gloomy and grey.

'I don't know how to make them understand that I need space,' she said in a low voice.

She sat down in the armchair again, and she nervously unravelled her hair before putting it in a braid. She looked down at the letters. A dozen envelopes were waiting for her. Reluctantly, she grabbed them and slid them quickly one after the other through her fingers. She already knew what she was going to find. A few invitations, a letter from the British Embassy in Djibouti, another one from Oxford's Dean of Archaeology...

Again...

She stopped her gesture on an envelope that was smaller than the others, and above all much thinner. It was slightly crumpled, almost in bad shape. When she turned it over, intrigued, she realised that there was no sender.

Curious, she opened the envelope, leaving the others aside. The adventuress could not contain her surprise when she discovered it was empty. Winston saw her frown.

'Are you all right, Miss?'

Lara shook her head slightly, doubtful. She looked at the envelope in all possible ways.

'If this is another joke by some moronic journalists, media, or whatever other conspiracy groups...'

The butler shrugged his shoulders in sympathy. He smiled inwardly at the young woman's reaction, which was the same every time she had received letters lately.

Lara turned the envelope in her hands one last time. For long seconds, her gaze remained fixed on it. She frowned a little more. Then she rose abruptly from her chair and left the room without a word.

'Miss?'

The butler watched her pass him by without giving him the slightest glance. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, both surprised and a little offended by her reaction. He noted the expression on her face, which he would have been unable to decipher. But he knew her mind was already elsewhere. He then turned to the coffee table and reached for the envelope the young woman had left there. He turned it one way, then the other, and glanced inside. He frowned a little more. There was nothing in it. And on the enveloppe's outside, there was nothing either, except for the Croft Manor address and the 'US AIR MAILS' postmark in the top right-hand corner. There was something written in the stamp itself, but the butler couldn't read it right away, as the ink had smudged slightly. After a few minutes and after looking at it from all angles, the letters finally appeared before his eyes.

SALT FLATS, UT

He heard footsteps in his back. He saw the adventuress passing in the hallway, a bag slung over her shoulder. He tried to follow her, but the young woman was already striding down the grand entrance stairs. Just as she was about to go through the door, Lara suddenly stopped, hand on the handle. She turned and looked up at the butler, who was watching her from the top of the stairs. A mischievous, satisfied smile lit up the old man's face when the last thing he saw before the door closed was her gaze. A gaze that shone with a glow he hadn't seen in months. A gaze full of strength, and hope. But most of all, a gaze full of life again.

THE END

And, here we go guys... the final point to this story ! :'(

Again I really want to thank all the people who got there, who took the time to read this story. Again, feel free to leave a review or send me a message to let me know what you thought about it all, if you'd like to submit any kind of comment... :)

A special thank you here to Ferilium and Light, who I know have been following this story since the very beginning, a huge thank you again for your great reviews, I couldn't have had better compliments for what I wrote :) :) :) and a huge thank you to the people who added me to their favorite stories or who followed this story :) Thanks for all your support !

- Again, I do not own any of the main characters, and nothing from the Tomb Raider series

- For Lara and Kurtis, I was really inspired by Adayka's art and drawings (for those who don't know her already, I recommend you to go and check her Facebook and Tumblr accounts, her work is absolutely amazing) this is exactly the way I imagine Lara and Kurtis all the way, and what they inspire me as a couple

- I had the idea of Kurtis' huge tattoo in his back when seeing a picture drawn by a fan on Deviantart, which is entitled 'LV Tattoo design'

- Regarding the 'celestial' theory of Kurtis' tattoo, actually I got inspired by the symbol of the Lux Veritatis wheel someone had called 'the celestial wheel' (I think it was on Tumblr), and I also asked information to other fans on a French Facebook fan page, to see if some people had some theories about the symbol's meaning, and actually I got really interesting answers, which led to me to this (crazy) theory too :D so thanks to those fans again ! XD

- I do own all the secondary characters by the way, who all come from my own imagination ;) : Fred the barman, Sasha (which is the nickname for Alexandra), Roman, Mikhaïl, Alessio, Dilara (who was not supposed to be in the story at first), Moskin the bastard... xD

- For Rouzic and Morgau, I chose to change a little bit what they were supposed to be in the initial TR AOD sequel (as wanted by Murti Schofield and Richard Morton) to make them more interesting. I chose to develop Morgau's mental abilities, and to make her more complex in her relationship with the other characters and in her personality

- The character of Hope, Dioza's daughter in the TV series The Hundred (for those who know it), really inspired me to physically represent Morgau. Don't know why but when I thought about Vasiley before writing this story, I always made the link with that character, I've always told myself that if Morgau had to be a living person, she would look exactly like Hope :D

- Regarding my character Dilara, I took insipiration in the TV series 50M2. First of all I loved her first name, and I found her really beautiful and sweet. And again, as for Morgau, I definitely saw what I wanted to represent in my own character when I saw the TV series character, both mentally and physically speaking

- As indicated in the introduction of this story, I used Murti schofields' notes to help me write. All the places used in this fanfiction are based on what was supposed to appear in TR AOD's sequel, except for St Petersburg

- Actually, Monstsegur Castle is not as beautiful as it sounds in the story. Unfortunately there are only ruins left of the castle now, and there is no lake. For this one, I got inspired by an Irish Castle from which I saw a picture on Facebook xD

- The Castle of Hohenzollern and Neuchswanstein inspired me greatly for Kriegler Castle

- I had the chance to visit St Petersburg some years ago, and the Ermitage, which is a marvelous and fascinating place. Unfortunately I did not have the chance to visit the basement, which I suppose, are not quite like those I imagined for the fan fiction xD

- For all the chapters that take place in Turkey and in the canyon, I found inspiration in the Cappadocian landscapes of course and also landscapes from the United States, such as The Grand Canyon, or also using the rock formations and amazing landscapes we can find in Arizona or Utah as well

- Most of the historical details and anedocts you'll find in the story are real and have been checked, even if I arranged a few of them slightly to fit better to the story and the plot :D (Montsegur, the Cathar Knights, the German Family, St Petersburg, Turkey, Cappadocia and the Ottoman Empire...)

- Regarding the Lux Veritatis timeline and history, it's all based on the original information given by TR AOD creators, and also based on what was supposed to be in Kurtis' spin off game ('Bloodline'). I changed nothing except for the historical part, so that it could all fit together (and actually, that's when I realized how the Lux Veritatis could have possibly existed as they are so strangely linked to history throughout centuries xD)

- Ana Bell, who is mentioned in the chapter 'Sparks', is real, in the sense that she was supposed to be Kurtis' ex girlfriend in the 'Bloodline' spin off game

- Regarding the sanctuary gate at the end of the story, I chose to use the pentacle of alchemy, which fitted perfectly with the fact I wanted to make some reference to black alchemy and the sanglyph

- As you might have understand, I got inspired by lots of things for this fan fiction. I watch a lot of TV series, I read a lot, and I can only thank again all the fans who draw, write or whatever about TR and who keep this community alive :) Music was also really important, but I'm not going into listing all the music I've listened to because we're not going to see the end of it xD

But basically, I listened to bands like Stereophonics, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Editors, Foals, who are among my favourite ones. I also listened to Florence+The Machine, The Killers, The Avener, Noel Gallagher, Coldplay (but let's be clear, the old Coldplay xD)... and so many others xD

And obviously, when writing I also listened to all the TR main themes, and especially TR AOD main theme which is my favourite one ^^

- And one last thing, I'm a big fan of Stephen King. I particularly like the way he goes into human emotions and feelings, I just love how he can describe so simple things or situations the way he does and turn them into something you can definitely identify to :) I really love the idea that as a reader you can get into the story and literally be with the characters, see what they see, feel what they feel :) And okay, I have to admit he inspired me greatly for all the torture scenes xD

Again, a huge thanks to all the readers :) see you soon for some other oneshots or extracts, some surprises might be on the way ;)