Author's Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Square-Enix Tomb Raider game series. This is set before "Rise of the Tomb Raider."
Author's notes: I wanted to do a short turn to explain why Sam didn't go with on the "Rise of the Tomb Raider" storyline. She couldn't. Shout out to Revan's_Mask for "A Moment of" stories.
"A terrifying turn"
Part 3 of Alpha Raiding
"Winston! Stay in there!" Lara called, ducking behind a pillar in the foyer. The kitchen door slammed heavily behind her, and Lara heard the tell-tale click of the lock being thrown.
"Bloody hell!" Winston huffed behind his safe area. Lara dropped to her knees and hid as she heard her lover stalk through the main foyer of the mansion. Her bare legs were cold against the floor; she was only in a pair of boxers and a tank top, having been sprung from a deep sleep. A smattering of Japanese rose to her ears and Lara peered out from her hiding space when she heard the front door being pulled open.
A thunderstorm was raging, and Sam stood in the doorway, fully naked. Her bare pale flesh gleamed under the strikes of lightning arching across Croft Manor. She arched her head back and Lara's skin crawled when she heard the undulating scream of a woman possessed as her lover screeched. She strode forward in a crouch, ready to flee an attack, but unable to leave Sam where she was.
Sam turned too late as Lara tackled her, pulling her back into the mansion door. Lara pulled her lover on top of her, wincing as her back and side hit the tiled floor hard. She couldn't bring it in herself to damage Sam even more than she was hurting. Sam's long legs flung against her as she tried to crawl away and out into the rain-drenched yard.
"Sam, stop!" Lara howled under her. She got several punches and slaps as Sam fought to get out of her arms. There was a flurry of footsteps behind her, and Lara angled her head on the tiled floor, catching an upside image of Winston kneeling beside them, angling a needle toward Sam's upper arm. He injected whatever was inside and Sam slumped dramatically onto Lara, completely limp and unconscious. Lara sat up, cradling Sam's head in her lap. She blushed, looking around for something to cover Sam's nudity with, but Winston proved his everlasting usefulness by slinging a blanket he'd had draped over one shoulder over Sam's form.
"I thought I told you to stay back!" Lara gasped. Winston shut and locked the front door. Even in his striped pajamas and hair uncombed, his gait was still regal.
"Far be it from me to offer aide, Miss Croft, when I had a tranquilizer handy."
"I'm not even going to ask why you had one," Lara muttered. Winston nodded in agreement.
"Much obliged, Miss Croft. We should get her to bed."
Lara knelt up, juggling Sam into her arms and stood up. She was cold and her nipples scraped the inside of her tank top. She sneezed, blushing when some of the spray got on Sam's shoulder. "This can't go on," she muttered under her breath.
Winston checked a few windows on their way up and followed Lara into her bedroom. The covers and sheets had been rumpled and thrown back during this latest attack and Lara's adrenaline was still amped. Sam's breathing was shallow, but she was still out. Who knew what they'd have once she awoke again. Lara hated to admit it but….
"We're gonna need some help."
"Dare I suggest we restrain Miss Nishimura before she awakens," Winston suggested. Lara smoothed Sam's hair out of her eyes with one palm. Her fingers traced her beautiful face.
"I think we're going to have to," Lara mumbled. "I'm going to have to make that call."
"Which one?" Winston asked.
"Her parents. I can't just leave her like this. She needs help."
"In many ways. But you can't blame yourself, Miss Croft. You've all come back from that island with baggage."
Lara sighed, tugging one of the sheets over her bare legs. It was too early to call. At this point she couldn't go back to sleep so she had a long wait. Winston produced leather straps from…somewhere. She honestly didn't want to know. Lara tugged a pair of shorts and a loose t shirt over her sleeping lover before she and Winston secured her ankles and wrists to the bedposts.
Lara tugged the comforter over her lover's waist. But she didn't snuggle close when Winston took his leave. She'd seen pure hatred in Sam's eyes tonight. Her lover wasn't in there at all anymore.
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Lara sat on the edge of the bed, holding her cell phone to her ear. Sam was awake, and her eyes were slit with hatred. Occasionally she mumbled the odd Japanese curse at her. Lara ignored her and focused on maintaining a congenial tone while she tried to get through the conversation.
"Yes, Mr. Nishimura. Sam is…. Not well. No, I didn't do anything to her. Ever since we've come back, she's well, not been herself…."
Right, that was under-rated. Lara had seen flashes of bright light entering her lover when she'd been tied before Himiko's corpse. She'd destroyed the body, but still…..some of her essence must have remained. Shame burned a hole in Lara's belly.
"She just lashes out and it's gotten physical. Yes…..I understand. Yes, I'll be expecting you." Lara put her cell down when Mr. Nishimura hung up abruptly.
"Your parents are coming soon," Lara announced out loud. Sam spit at her and Lara recoiled as if it were acid. "Sam…."
Sam murmured something in Japanese, that Lara only picked half of the meaning. It wasn't meant to be endearing.
"Thanks for that."
"Let me go!" Sam cursed in English. Lara packed a few of Sam's possessions into her suitcase, trying to steady herself. She was so off-kilter and felt terrible. Her heart hurt and her limbs were lethargic with lack of sleep.
"I can't. Your parents will take you. You need help and I can't provide it. Not without some help…."
Sam struggled with her restraints, but a different light gleamed in her dark eyes.
"And I know you're in there. You're holding Sam down," Lara mumbled. The flash in Sam's eyes flickered with recognition.
"Her body is very nice. Supple and young," Sam murmured in a completely different tone. The hairs on the back of Lara's neck lifted.
"I knew it," She mumbled. Lara shifted to sit beside her restrained lover, leaning on one hand over her. Sam's eyes glowered hatred in a light that didn't belong to the young woman. Lara had touched something of another world when she'd encountered Himiko's corpse. But her light had survived, gotten into Sam….. Her stomach dropped as tears filled her eyes. "I'll help you, Sam. I'll help you get rid of her."
"Say what?" Winston asked from the doorway. Lara sighed, getting off the bed.
"Give me a moment. Don't let her loose yet," Lara advised. Winston set a tray with two teacups on her vanity.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Miss Croft," Winston murmured. "Good morning, Sam."
"Bakayarou."
"Indeed."
Lara moved to her walk-in closet and shut the door to change. She couldn't manage more than a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt and the loose fabric reflected her dim outlook. She ran her hands through her hair and tugged it back into a simple ponytail. Moving back out to her bedroom, Lara couldn't help noticing the dark circles under her servant's eyes.
"I'm sorry about last night."
"Not your fault, Miss Croft. Miss Nishimura just needs help," Winston said smoothly.
Lara lifted one of the teacups and sat beside Sam, cradling her neck up with one arm. "Tea?"
Sam glowered at her but took a small sip. Lara laid her back down and tried not to worry.
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Sam's departure from Croft Manor was tumultuous to say the least. Mr. and Mrs. Nishimura had arrived, took one look at their daughter, and got on the phone with psychiatric healthcare professionals. Lara had tried to answer Mr. Nishimura's somewhat scathing questions. She couldn't help feeling like she'd abused Sam in some way. The way her father glowered at her told her she wasn't welcome from here on out.
"Where are you taking her?" Lara asked. Mrs. Nishimura fumbled for a card from one of the white-clad professionals helping strap Sam down to a gurney. The lithe girl struggled and howled.
"This facility. You'll have to ask us if you can see her and right now, I think you know what the answer is," Sam's mother said quickly, flustered and flurried to bring her possessed daughter out of the manor. Lara wrung her hands together as the gurney was wheeled out of her bedroom and down the hall.
"I'm sorry….." Lara tried to say as they neared the front door of the manor. Winston waited at attention, one hand on the wide-open oak door.
"We are too. Sam never should have gone with you," Mr. Nishimura complained as they followed the gurney out to the front walkway. Lara's shoulders slouched as she stood on the front steps, watching her lover being loaded into the waiting ambulance.
Mrs. Nishimura climbed up into the ambulance besides her erstwhile daughter, while Mr. Nishimura opted to drive their car after. Lara watched the front gates of the manor property close after them and sat down on the front steps.
Winston couldn't move her, even with a promise of a "hearty breakfast." He'd left a plate beside her that Lara eventually picked at.
It was a few hours later that Jonah found her, staring forlornly at the gates of the estate.
"Winston called me," he explained when Lara got up to give him a welcome hug. "Come on, let's go inside."
Lara tugged on the legs of her sweatpants as she stood, so they wouldn't bunch where they'd gathered. Jonah retrieved her plate and fork and took it inside with them. Lara sighed as he shut the front door. The bright sunshine was shut out and she took a seat on the lounge in front of the fireplace.
"Is there anything I can do?" Jonah asked, sitting beside her. Lara propped her chin on one hand. Her beleaguered thoughts tumbled over on top of each other.
"Do you know what's going on?" Lara asked. Jonah shrugged.
"Haven't seen you guys in a couple weeks. Tell me," he urged. The furrow on Jonah's brow deepened the more Lara revealed.
"So….Himiko got inside her anyway?" he asked. Lara knew the possibility of it being real was far surpassed. He'd experienced a touch of the supernatural on Yamatai as well. He knew it was real.
Lara nodded. She sighed. "Yes. I addressed her openly this morning and she…..revealed herself." No more guessing, the seething hatred of Himiko had been inside Sam's brown eyes.
"What can we do?" Jonah fretted. Lara stood up.
"I'm going through Dad's notes and my papers. There has to be something that can heal her….."
"I'll make coffee," Jonah offered. Lara gave a quirk of her lips.
"Tea if you'd please," she suggested. Jonah laughed.
"Right," he said.
Lara made her way upstairs to her father's old study. Hers now. She turned on the light and sat behind the desk, rifling through a stack of papers. She booted up her laptop and began to work.
End for now
End notes: Like it, don't like it, drop a review. Let me know. Stay strong, my lovelies.
Pen 6/27/2021