Author's Disclaimer: I don't own a thing belonging to the Square Enix "Tomb Raider" series.
Author's notes: Set at the start of "Rise of the Tomb Raider." Lara is missing Sam and then some.
"Frozen Vision"
Part four of Alpha Raiding
Lara knelt in the snow and carefully laid an armful of snapped off branches into the fire pit. She was incredibly lucky she'd stumbled on this old campsite. The wind whipped at the hood of her parka, threatening to tug it back. Lara reached for her tinder kit and said a silent prayer. It was hard to navigate with her gloves on, but she dared not take them off. The snowstorm was that bad. Finally, she got a spark, and sighed as an orange light sparked up before her. Lara reached for her meager supple of branches and fed them one by one into the growing fire.
Roth had always taught her to make sure the fire was good and high before attending other camp duties. A low-running fire could die out at any moment and in this storm, she needed it. Lara made sure the fire was running high by the time she stood up, hands tucked under her armpits. The small blast of heat that hit her front felt ridiculously good.
Lara's teeth chattered as she knelt to arrange the small wood shelter she'd found. All of her tools were lost in the avalanche so this and a fire would have to do. If Sam were here, she'd put her in the shelter while she took care of the fire. Sam….
Lara blinked, icicles clinging to her lashes. She wished Sam were here, discomfort and possible frostbite aside. Sam would cuddle up with her, and they could get warmer a lot faster. They shouldn't unfasten their parkas and press flesh to flesh but it would be a lot warmer with another person in there with her.
Lara sighed as she banked the fire higher. She scooped up a handful of snow and nibbled on it to moisten her tongue. The last time she'd seen Sam had been being strapped to a gurney in her bedroom. Mrs. and Mrs. Nishimura had refused to pick up her calls after she'd been taken away. The last time she'd tried to call, she'd been lucky to have gotten a response, if rude and fast. After a "Hello", before Lara could even get the full sentence out, a harsh "no" resounded in her ear then a sudden dial tone.
There had to be a way to retrieve a spirit from a living host. First, the Divine Source. If she were lucky, maybe a hint for her problem with Sam could be found by seeking it. The last time she'd seen Sam's dark eyes, someone else was residing in that hateful gaze.
After one last branch, Lara crawled into the shelter and tugged the make-shift wooden covering into place. There was room enough to curl on her side which Lara did. Her thermal hiking pants were so thick pulling her knees up to her chest wasn't an option. Not with her snow boots on either. But she tried the best she could, closing her eyes, her hood pulled taut. The warmth of the fire outside was soothing. Lara told herself Trinity soldiers weren't this far in the woods. She'd be safe. At least to sleep a short time before collecting herself.
Lara told herself this as her eyes closed and darkness consumed her.
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Soft feminine laughter outside the shelter woke her. Lara jolted awake and almost knocked the wood covering with her elbow as she tried to sit up. It was still cold out, but the snow was falling softer. It almost seemed ethereal, but the cold was still very much in her bones. Lara stoked the fire, pleased it was still going to some degree. She knelt to feed it some more branches when a soft voice called her name.
Lara tensed, raised on one knee. Trinity wouldn't address her by her first name, much less employ sexy vixens. Unless they were really trying to take her off her game. Lara wasn't ready to discard the idea when the voice called her name again. She rose to her feet as a woman rounded the nearest tree. Her skin was alabaster pale and the fur coat that fell to her feet was pure white. She blended into the snowstorm eeirely well. But when she pulled her hood back, Lara was shocked to see it was Sam.
"There's no way," Lara murmured. Snowflakes settled on her lower lip as she watched Sam approach. Her pale hands parted her fur coat and Lara gaped as her lover's naked body was presented to her. Her dark nipples hardened in the cold, her breasts looked inviting, but what drew Lara's gaze most was the curve of her belly. It was round in the later stages of the first trimester. Lara stepped closer her mouth dry.
"Sam?" she whispered. This had to be a dream. But when Sam's hands reached up around her neck to pull her close, she didn't care.
"Lara. You're here," Sam grinned, her cheeks dimpling in the cute way they did. Lara wrapped her arms around her lover and kissed her longingly. They went to their knees and Lara was pressed with her back against a tree, trying to cradle her lover from the snow. Sam climbed onto her lap, pressing sweet hot kisses against her lips that dizzied Lara.
"How?" Lara murmured between kisses. The grin Sam gave her filled her heart with light.
"Just did. It's really coming along, your little Croft," Sam teased in her old way. Lara cupped Sam's cheek in her palm.
"I'm honored…."
SNAP! The sudden clack of a boot heel on a large branch nearby made Lara's eyes fly open. She was still on her side, cheek pressed half against her parka hood and the damp leaves inside her wooden lean-to. Sam wasn't there. Dream, it had just been a dream. The warmth between her legs ached, threatened to make her shift. Lara dosed her lust low as she pushed the wooden covering open to peer out carefully. The zig zagging angles of flashlights showed just off in the trees. Lara bit back a silent curse and crawled out, into the tall brush nearby. She didn't have time to put her fire out; the flashlight beams were bobbing closer. They had to have seen it.
One heavily dressed soldier crashed into the brush rather close to her. Lara ducked down, chin pressed into the snow, giving a silent prayer to anyone that would listen. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice her, intent on checking out her lean-to.
The man pulled a walkie out of his parka pocket and held it up. "Yeah, fire here. Yeah, someone was here, maybe Croft." Lara winced when he tugged the wooden covering from her lean-to and fired a few rounds inside. As the return from the walkie rang out, Lara crept up on the man, then yanked him back with her bow strung over his neck. She wrestled him to the snowy brush and strangled him until he stopped moving.
There were more flash light beams bobbing further down the hill, so Lara kept to the trees, darting from large trunk to trunk, avoiding the beams. One, two, more were killed, and Lara moved further down the hill. A rifle through their coat pockets earned her a few more bullets and cloths for her makeshift bandages. Lara had a feeling she'd need bandages the deeper she pressed into the forest.
"There they are! Straight at your six!" one of the soldiers called out alarmingly close. Lara pressed to her belly in the tall frozen grass and waited. But it wasn't her that had been spotted. Escalating footsteps crunched in the snow down the nearby hill. Two, in pursuit by Trinity. Lara lifted her head and watched curiously.
The man and woman were dressed in a curious mix of old Soviet uniform and feudal furs, cross-stitched into a medley of contradiction. The man's beard was braided in several plaits, while the woman's fiery red hair was braided as intricately tightly. Lara paused, holding her breath as they were halted, guns held up to halt their escape.
"Sofia! Go!" the man pleaded from his prone position from the ground. The woman, so named Sofia, turned to duck into the trees. A shot rang out and she grimaced, fleeing. Lara let a low breath escape her constricted throat.
"Yes, go," she murmured to herself. The Trinity soldiers milled in apparent consternation and two were reporting into their walkies.
"In pursuit, lone Remnant woman," one of the men reported. Remnant? What was he talking about? Lara lay waiting in the frozen grass as the men climbed another hill toward a red flare lighting up the horizon. Maybe more Trinity there, maybe a platoon of them. Lara had a feeling she needed to keep going in that direction. Who was that woman? Her eyes had been sharp and though she'd been dressed in furs, she still cut quite the figure of a mature omega woman. Lara shook her head.
First she dreamed of Sam, then red -haired vixens catch her attention?
"Get it together, Croft!" Lara muttered. She slowly followed the Trinity soldiers toward a cave waiting in the distance.
End for now
End notes: I hope you're all enjoying. I love these games and taking it this way is a lot of fun ^_^
Review please if you liked. Let me know.
Sincerely, pen 11/14/2021