Chapter 40
Kurtis stared at the body that lye beside him in the back seat of the Jeep he had stolen from the wraiths after leaving the Veritatis cavern. He had left that horrid place with slight hope that his wishes would be granted, Lara Croft would return to liveliness, and his goals would be completed, the wraiths destroyed, along with whoever was controlling them's hopes of taking over the world.
His hope had completed faded now however; the body hadn't moved, not a mere inch from the position he had left it in. And there was absolutely no chance that he had missed that rare movement, solely because he had been staring at the body for over four hours, never taking his eyes away from Lara Croft since the second he had injected the sacred blood into her system.
Her face was pale, still cold as ever, still completely silenced with the rapture of death.
Kurtis closed his eyes as he sighed, giving up on hope, cursing it. It was completely gone now, all of it. Nothing was going to come from his pitiful act of trying to save her. And he was the one to blame.
He laced his fingers within her own, knowing that the action wouldn't come, knowing that she would remain still no matter how long he waited by her side.
He nodded, accepting it, though inside he knew that the pain would never go away, the pain of treating her terribly just before her death, the pain of keeping secrets from her the entire time he knew her, and the pain of being the one who thrust the blade forward, the one responsible for her demise. His acceptance of it all would have to be taken however. She was dead, and the Vial hadn't worked. There was nothing he could do. It was over.
He leaned toward her and kissed her forehead, a final goodbye to the woman he loved, a final pointless expression of his sorrow over her-
He stopped. There was something their, something he hadn't seen before, something he wouldn't have seen for the fact that it couldn't be seen, but could only be felt. His motions were still, waiting for the feeling to return, waiting-
It happened again, the strange feeling, the feeling of warmth against his neck, the feeling of breath, exhaled air from a living being, a person not plagued with death but a person filled with life, the person lying before him, the person he was kissing out of love.
She was alive.
He gasped. Had it truly been real? The feeling? Was it an actual sign of life from Lara's body? A sign that she wasn't dead, but alive?
He quickly backed away from her, staring at her lips, watching for a movement of any kind, hoping that the warmth of breath hadn't been a mere manifestation of his hope.
Silence filled the space around him as his eyes stood wide open, glaring with desperation, waiting for Lara to breathe once agai-
Kurtis stopped, his emotions taken by happiness and surprise. A new feeling had arose, one he could see and feel, a proof of his assumptions, proof that the breath had not been in his mind.
It was simply pressure that had caused his joyous sigh, pressure against his hand that was laced with another, that another being the hand of Lara Croft.
Her fingers squeezed tightly around his palm as her face conformed into one of discomfort, her palm squeezing so tightly that her fingernails began to dig into the flesh of Kurtis's hand.
He didn't care. He loved it, loved the pulsating pain that dwelled within his palm because it was a sign that Lara was alive, a sign that the Vial had saved her, the he had saved her. He stared at her face, at the expressions of life she held, her features conforming from discomfort and pain to serenity and calmness once again. He smiled with undescribable happiness as she loudly sighed, a sign that previously vacant air had returned once again to her lungs, filling her body with life.
Kurtis suddenly gasped as he watched her eyes, her lashed beginning to flutter, her eyes ready to open, ready to see the world once again.
He laughed aloud as he watched her, the sight like a new born child being brought into the world, only more joyous if such a feeling was possible.
The lids left their placement as her eyes opened widely, another gasp leaving her lungs as her upper body slightly rose.
A tear streaked Kurtis's cheek as his eyes met hers. She stared at him, her features forming into those of confusion, confusion over why she was here, confusion over her awakening from an eternal sleep.
She was alive.
Lara gripped Kurtis's hand tightly before her body returned to its place upon the vehicles seat, unconsciousness taking her mind.