Disclaimer: None of the characters in Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness are mine
Warning: changes in the "narrator" of the story.
Why thank you for reviewing. Hope you still enjoy it.
In the Deep of the Night
Lara sat in her cell thiinking about Karel's words. She wasn't able to sleep because the thought of going somewhere where even nephilim creatures didn't dare to go scared and thrilled her at the same time. She was a tomb raider and had the feeling that in the halls of doom laid something that wasn't meant for human eye to see. Not to meant for mortal eye to see. That was the difference between nephilim and human beings. It was a simple question of death and immortality. Lara had brilliant imagination. At least her father had said that and she had grown into the idea that it indeed was something special.
There weren't many things she remembered about her parents because they had died when she was still a child. One thing she could remember was her father's smile and his gentle eyes. She was propably the only person besides her mother that had known her father as a human being, as the man he was. Others had known him by his reputation.
She was totally lost in her thoughts but a voice from the next cell snapped her out of it. The man was speaking again and even if he spoke very silently she could still hear every word he said. She recognized his voice. It truly belonged to Konstantin who Lara at least believed to be Kurtis's father. Konstantin sobbed a little and somehow Lara felt that his sorrow would suffocate her if she didn't do something.
She walked next to the wall and touched its cold surface with her palm. For a while she didn't do anything. She just held her hand there and listened the poor man crying out his broken heart. She closed her eyes slowly and tried to find the right words.
"I've seen him", she finally said with a voice little louder than a whisper. Someone moved on the other side of the wall and then the silence fell. It lasted for many minutes but it felt like hours to Lara. The man didn't sob anymore. Did her precence made him calmer? Did it help him to find something inside him that he believed lost? It was propably the first human contact for years. Last night didn't count.
The man mumbled something and then Lara heard him cry again. It seemed to her he was crying out all the unfairness of life and the burden on his shoulders. It started to seem hopeless to create any kind of contact with this man. What had Karel done to him and who was the pale faced woman that brought life and love back into his eyes. Lara of course had her doubts about the matter. She let her hand fall and went to sit on her bed.
"I don't remember his smile", he suddenly said and Lara moved back to the wall. "Nor the softness in his eyes".
He seemed to breaking in peaces but that wasn't anything new. He had acted the same way last night but this time he sounded like he was talking to her and not to the invisible person in his mind. He sounded like he really was present.
"Why?", she asked in a soft voice and felt something burning in her eyes. Suddenly a drop of warm liquid ran down her cheek. She did nothing to stop it. Just a thought about her not being able to remember and caress her parents felt awful. What kind of parent didn't remember his child? What kind of parent didn't remember the most important things in his child and if he didn't what was the picture that he combined to his son in his mind? Lara could only think of the pale woman. She had no glow in her eyes and to Lara it seemed that she had died inside long time ago. Something that was so essentiel in her wasn't present anymore like she was in coma but managed still to walk. She also remembered how the woman had stared through Konstantin like she was looking something only she could see. Seeing a place only visible to her. The womans eyes hadn't been able to focus in anything. Lara remembered thinking that the curtain had fallen down on the pale woman. All the lights had been turned off but someone had been unable to mention it to her.
"I never...saw him as a son. I mean in the way every father should", Konstantin said in empty voice but Lara didn't know he was trying to hide the bitterness in his tone. For a moment his eyes burst into flames and he could be identified as the man his friends had come to send to his last journey. Karel hadn't been able to beat him down, to make his spirit leave his body like the nephilim creature had done to the woman sitting opposite him. Her eyes showed no siqn of life. There were nothing left of what Konstantin had once loved. For years he had thought that she had left him. One night when Kurtis was only a couple years old she had dissapeared. That was the last time Konstantin had ever seen his wife for the creature that shared his cell was only the core. All that was inside had been taken. All the beauty in her soul had been ravaged.
His words made Lara's mind to go back to the only moment when Kurtis had told her about his father. She had heard the difference in his tone of voice and could almost imagine how his eyes turned cold and distant. Although what she had just heard she couldn't make herself believe that Kurtis hated his father. There was something in the soul of the young man that had vanished when he had heard about his father. At least Lara believed so.
"What was it you saw in him?", she asked trying not to sound like a judge. It was hard for her to believe that one could totally iqnore one's children. That kind of thinking didn't exist in her world. She had heard of people who bet their children and she thought it was horrible. Then how would it feel if one's father or mother couldn't love one in the way every child should be loved? It would make them cold inside, she thought, not feelingless but cold. Unwanted.
"The continuation of the order", Konstantin didn't fully agree with the words that escaped his lips. They weren't entirely true. there had been times he had look upon his sons face and seen the light that shone in them, the blind faith that most of the children felt for their parents. He couldn't remember the look onhis sons face anymore because in his mind he had lost the hero status before people's eyes. Mostly before the eyes of his own son. He had seen it fading every time after the daily practise they had gone through. Kurtis had lost his faith in his father and for Konstantin it had been the brick wall in which everyone hits during their lives.
Lara closed her eyes and let the tears flow down her cheeks. The continuation of the order? Had Konstantin ever thought that Kurtis was a human being? She had seen what less negligence could do to human beings and most of them she had personally met. Total loss of self-confidence. She hadn't seen it in Kurtis. For him there was still a reason to fight. Lara was going to say something nasty to Konstantin but then began to think it from his poin of view. Maybe the Lux Veritatis had been a dying order then and had needed new recruits...but it didn't give Konstantin any reason to neglect his son or better said push his son out of his world.
"I realised it when I went to his room one morning. He was about nineteen at the time and all I could find was an empty bed that was still worm. If I had been little earlier..." Then he started crying again and Lara could feel him releasing the thin grip he had had to this world. He spoke alone again.
Warning: changes in the "narrator" of the story.
Why thank you for reviewing. Hope you still enjoy it.
In the Deep of the Night
Lara sat in her cell thiinking about Karel's words. She wasn't able to sleep because the thought of going somewhere where even nephilim creatures didn't dare to go scared and thrilled her at the same time. She was a tomb raider and had the feeling that in the halls of doom laid something that wasn't meant for human eye to see. Not to meant for mortal eye to see. That was the difference between nephilim and human beings. It was a simple question of death and immortality. Lara had brilliant imagination. At least her father had said that and she had grown into the idea that it indeed was something special.
There weren't many things she remembered about her parents because they had died when she was still a child. One thing she could remember was her father's smile and his gentle eyes. She was propably the only person besides her mother that had known her father as a human being, as the man he was. Others had known him by his reputation.
She was totally lost in her thoughts but a voice from the next cell snapped her out of it. The man was speaking again and even if he spoke very silently she could still hear every word he said. She recognized his voice. It truly belonged to Konstantin who Lara at least believed to be Kurtis's father. Konstantin sobbed a little and somehow Lara felt that his sorrow would suffocate her if she didn't do something.
She walked next to the wall and touched its cold surface with her palm. For a while she didn't do anything. She just held her hand there and listened the poor man crying out his broken heart. She closed her eyes slowly and tried to find the right words.
"I've seen him", she finally said with a voice little louder than a whisper. Someone moved on the other side of the wall and then the silence fell. It lasted for many minutes but it felt like hours to Lara. The man didn't sob anymore. Did her precence made him calmer? Did it help him to find something inside him that he believed lost? It was propably the first human contact for years. Last night didn't count.
The man mumbled something and then Lara heard him cry again. It seemed to her he was crying out all the unfairness of life and the burden on his shoulders. It started to seem hopeless to create any kind of contact with this man. What had Karel done to him and who was the pale faced woman that brought life and love back into his eyes. Lara of course had her doubts about the matter. She let her hand fall and went to sit on her bed.
"I don't remember his smile", he suddenly said and Lara moved back to the wall. "Nor the softness in his eyes".
He seemed to breaking in peaces but that wasn't anything new. He had acted the same way last night but this time he sounded like he was talking to her and not to the invisible person in his mind. He sounded like he really was present.
"Why?", she asked in a soft voice and felt something burning in her eyes. Suddenly a drop of warm liquid ran down her cheek. She did nothing to stop it. Just a thought about her not being able to remember and caress her parents felt awful. What kind of parent didn't remember his child? What kind of parent didn't remember the most important things in his child and if he didn't what was the picture that he combined to his son in his mind? Lara could only think of the pale woman. She had no glow in her eyes and to Lara it seemed that she had died inside long time ago. Something that was so essentiel in her wasn't present anymore like she was in coma but managed still to walk. She also remembered how the woman had stared through Konstantin like she was looking something only she could see. Seeing a place only visible to her. The womans eyes hadn't been able to focus in anything. Lara remembered thinking that the curtain had fallen down on the pale woman. All the lights had been turned off but someone had been unable to mention it to her.
"I never...saw him as a son. I mean in the way every father should", Konstantin said in empty voice but Lara didn't know he was trying to hide the bitterness in his tone. For a moment his eyes burst into flames and he could be identified as the man his friends had come to send to his last journey. Karel hadn't been able to beat him down, to make his spirit leave his body like the nephilim creature had done to the woman sitting opposite him. Her eyes showed no siqn of life. There were nothing left of what Konstantin had once loved. For years he had thought that she had left him. One night when Kurtis was only a couple years old she had dissapeared. That was the last time Konstantin had ever seen his wife for the creature that shared his cell was only the core. All that was inside had been taken. All the beauty in her soul had been ravaged.
His words made Lara's mind to go back to the only moment when Kurtis had told her about his father. She had heard the difference in his tone of voice and could almost imagine how his eyes turned cold and distant. Although what she had just heard she couldn't make herself believe that Kurtis hated his father. There was something in the soul of the young man that had vanished when he had heard about his father. At least Lara believed so.
"What was it you saw in him?", she asked trying not to sound like a judge. It was hard for her to believe that one could totally iqnore one's children. That kind of thinking didn't exist in her world. She had heard of people who bet their children and she thought it was horrible. Then how would it feel if one's father or mother couldn't love one in the way every child should be loved? It would make them cold inside, she thought, not feelingless but cold. Unwanted.
"The continuation of the order", Konstantin didn't fully agree with the words that escaped his lips. They weren't entirely true. there had been times he had look upon his sons face and seen the light that shone in them, the blind faith that most of the children felt for their parents. He couldn't remember the look onhis sons face anymore because in his mind he had lost the hero status before people's eyes. Mostly before the eyes of his own son. He had seen it fading every time after the daily practise they had gone through. Kurtis had lost his faith in his father and for Konstantin it had been the brick wall in which everyone hits during their lives.
Lara closed her eyes and let the tears flow down her cheeks. The continuation of the order? Had Konstantin ever thought that Kurtis was a human being? She had seen what less negligence could do to human beings and most of them she had personally met. Total loss of self-confidence. She hadn't seen it in Kurtis. For him there was still a reason to fight. Lara was going to say something nasty to Konstantin but then began to think it from his poin of view. Maybe the Lux Veritatis had been a dying order then and had needed new recruits...but it didn't give Konstantin any reason to neglect his son or better said push his son out of his world.
"I realised it when I went to his room one morning. He was about nineteen at the time and all I could find was an empty bed that was still worm. If I had been little earlier..." Then he started crying again and Lara could feel him releasing the thin grip he had had to this world. He spoke alone again.