Disclaimer: No...I don't own any of the characters that have been in Tomb Raider games or movies. I don't own any characters that have been mentioned in those games or movies.
Please review if you read this.
The Sunset of Life
She went limp as the bullet found its goal in her body. From that kind of distance Kurtis couldn't tell were Konstantin had hit her, but all the same the little piece of lead had drained the power that held her standing from her. The emotional pain the simple act had caused Konstantin could be seen from his expression. The gun fell from his limp hand as he stared at the woman, or so it seemed to Kurtis. What could she possibly mean to him?
Without any warning Konstantin twitched like a sudden spasm had run through his body. Lara tried to run to him but got stopped by one of Karel's men. A primal urge to play the hero and save the day took over Kurtis and he was about to leap from his hiding place and rush to Lara's and Konstantin's aid, but the small voice in his head stopped him from doing it. What good would it do? How could he fight them? With a katana whose blade was made of shadow? As Kurtis watched them make Lara rip the backpack from his father the only thing he could do was to grasp the little loose soil there was on the ground.
So useless. After all of his years still so damn useless. If he only had his chirugai, or even a gun. Perhaps then he would be able to give Lara and Konstantin a good head start, and even if Konstantin couldn't rise up and run anymore Lara's life could be saved. Even if it wasn't for more than an hour or two it would be worth it, and he knew she'd rather go down fighting than sitting silently while everyone else took part in the action. Perhaps then he wouldn't have to see her die. He wouldn't have to witness the independent spirit that was Lara Croft dry up like a flower trying to bloom in a desert.
He began to follow the events with his gaze again when Karel and Lara disappeared from the scene. Not knowing where they went, he sat still for a little time - there was no sense in letting them know that he was there too. Not seeing either Lara or Karel for a few minutes he finally stood up, stretched his legs and began descending to the crater. Nothing else could be seen but the two bodies lying on the ground close to each other. As he drew closer to them he saw that Konstantin was reaching for the woman, who was obviously dead. It could be seen from her now open eyes that were the same color as his own. They would've been almost exact copies of his, but now they were staring blankly, not seeing a thing. Their once probably clear surface was now bleary, like some sort of veil clouded them and prevented them from seeing this world.
Kurtis gave no more attention to the obviously dead woman but turned to look at his father. Slow breaths still kept him alive while his blood wet his shirt and the soil under it. As Kurtis bent a little he could clearly see where the blood was coming from. In his father's abdomen was a bullet hole. To Kurtis' surprise he didn't feel enormous sadness. He was only able to stand there and look at the fatal wound with wonder. It didn't shock him to see one of those people whom he were supposed to love bleed to death in front of him. Why couldn't it touch him? How he wished it could. How he wished it would.
"Konstantin," he said, as if he was talking to someone who wasn't lying in front of him, dying. He had hoped that he'd have one more chance to make it all right between him and Konstantin. All those years he had thought his father dead but now, when the opportunity knocked, he could only stand there.
Konstantin blinked, but the dark form standing by him didn't come any clearer. It didn't even have to. He recognized the voice and could hear the coldness in it. How could something as cold as Kurtis come out of him and his wife?
Seeing that his father had trouble concentrating on him, Kurtis knelt beside him, taking in his father's features while there still was life in him. There would be no other time after this, there wouldn't be another chance and if there was another life after this one the chances of them meeting were very slim. Still he found no words to say, nothing seemed to be fitting in the situation and none of the scenarios or ways of acting he had thought of fitted to this here event. As he stared at his father he remembered the long days of training. Had Konstantin ever spent time with his son just for fun?
Someone once said that time would heal all wounds. Perhaps there were too many wounds in their relationship, too many to heal in such little time, and all the scars were visible. Perhaps there were wounds that even time couldn't heal. Too much scar tissue existed in Kurtis' life, too many wounds and too many scratches.
Konstantin blinked a few times when Kurtis knelt beside him. After all the years they had been apart, he finally saw his son again. Kurtis' icy blue eyes reminded him of his wife, and the orbs that seemed emotionless were like copies of her eyes. Was it coldness? Now that he looked harder he could see something. It was just a bit in the corner of his son's eyes, but for a second he had seen it. Had it always been there and he had disregarded it? Had he been unable to see the confusion in his son's eyes? Was it really confusion? He blinked again but it was still there. He would've reached for Kurtis if he had any strength in his body but it all had bled out of his stomach wound. What he had been only a few minutes ago had disappeared as his lifeblood wet the ground underneath him.
"Help..." he began, but it seemed that Kurtis was unable to hear him...or perhaps he just didn't want to. Was there any point in talking to him? Could he hear what Konstantin had to say? If he could, would he?
Kurtis shook his head. He had thought that Konstantin would ask him to save the scales from Karel, but when his death grew near all he could do was to plead mercy for himself. Was the last thing he wanted to do in his life to let Karel save all the souls he thought worthy?. Slowly Kurtis shook his head and stood up.
Using the last bit of his body strength, Konstantin reached for his son, understanding fully how pathetic it must've looked, but now that he knew that death was coming he didn't want to meet it. All his life he had thought he'd be ready to face his demise eye to eye, but now he was scared to even take a peek. Not before he had done something to correct his mistakes.
"I...didn't raise you t...to be like...that," he whispered searching any kind of sympathy in Kurtis' eyes with his almost hopeless sight.
"You didn't raise me at all!" Kurtis yelled believing Karel and his little group was far enough not to hear it. "You trained me - like a dog!" He couldn't help showing the helplessness he felt at that moment, and seeing it stopped Konstantin. Had he caused all of that? The confusion in his son's eyes? Was that his doing? He had to swallow hard because he already knew the answer. Because of him, Kurtis was doomed to be on the list of lost cases.
An awkward silence fell over them, and to break it Kurtis turned to look at the woman. Now that he examined her face there was something familiar in her, something disturbingly familiar. It hit him like a lightning. He took off his backpack, opened it and pulled out his wallet. He hesitated for a few moments before pulling out the photograph he had found from his wallet on the Ruzyne airport but finally he did. He looked behind the picture first, but there were no words written on the blank white paper. From the front side the sitting woman smiled at him, as if she could see him from the stilled moment. The years had taken their toll, taking all that resembled life
from her, but if he looked really hard he could see the woman lying on ground smiling at him as she did in the photograph.
He suddenly lost all the feeling he had in the hand which held the picture and thus it dropped from his grasp.
"Mother?" he mouthed, and his shock could clearly be heard.
A sudden cold wave swept over Konstantin. How could he know? He hadn't seen his mother for a small eternity, and still he could recognize her. Time had consumed her face, and Karel's brutality had eaten her soul, but was there still something in her that Kurtis remembered? Was there something in her Karel hadn't been able to steal and ravage?
What caught Kurtis' attention was the slow rising and falling of her chest. Even though she looked dead and her eyes had gone dim her body still lived. Was she alive, or did her body just keep her breathing and heart beat going? Was her body an anchor that kept her soul from sailing across the border? Was it her body that forced her to stay in this world?
Kurtis closed his eyes slowly while his hand traveled to the hilt of the Shadow Katana. The coldness of the metallic hilt surprised him, for it was at least 40 degrees warm in the crater. How come the metal wasn't warmer? Slowly he pulled the sword from its scabbard and opened his eyes again just to look at her still form on the ground. Even though he was sure she wouldn't feel it the thought of ending his own mother's life made him gulp. Would it end someday? How many deaths would it take for it all to reach its ending? He turned his back to Konstantin and raised the katana and struck it to her heart as fast as he could, though the act needed no strength from him. The blade bore in to her flesh like a hot knife into a piece of butter. How could it hurt him so? He didn't even know her, and yet he felt like he had killed someone of great importance in his life.
As the blade slid out of her body he expected to see the white flash of Light, but it never came. Instead of it a black shadowy form emerged from her body, hovered by him a second or two and was then sucked into the katana. A last sigh of her life escaped her lips that were now sealed for an eternity. Kurtis knelt beside her and closed the eyes that had been sightless for years. Finally, she was allowed to let go of her earthly burden, her body which had been useless for ages. With a heavy heart Kurtis turned to face his father again.
Konstantin could only stare. Had his eyes showed the truth? Had he just seen a spirit departing from a body? If not, what had been the dark shadowy human form? What, if not a spirit or a soul?
"Why?" His lips managed to form the word, but no sound came out. He felt so weak and useless. Every time he had thought about his death he had thought he'd go gloriously and wouldn't have to wait for the end. "She...was already d..dead."
"No." Kurtis shook his head as if to stress his words. "A bullet couldn't have killed her, for..." He held a small pause, "...she was a...a...not human." Not being able to say the word, he went around it as well as he possibly could. It was the truth. She hadn't been human and neither was he. They were crossbreeds between two species that should have never reproduced together. As mighty as the angels were, they broke their laws and were envious of something as pitiful the human way of life, the short lifespan, and their descendants had to pay for their mistake.
"No..." Konstantin whispered, his voice filled with agony. "They...all are...monsters."
Finding it difficult to look at his father, Kurtis closed his eyes and swallowed. He took one step closer to Konstantin and dropped to his knees next to him. When his eyes opened again the coldness and confusion were replaced by despair, and it tore Konstantin's heart apart.
"Then..." Kurtis began slowly giving Konstantin time to digest his words. "I am a monster too."
Konstantin was about to say something, but closed his mouth to stop anything utterly stupid from escaping his lips. Instead he reached for his son and Kurtis did nothing to avoid his touch, but did nothing to help him either. Konstantin's fingers only grazed his son's cheek but that one caress meant a world to him. Not being able to hold his hand up anymore he let it fall to his side.
"No." It was Konstantin's turn to shake his head. "There's a... a piece of heaven in -" He coughed. "- you. I...can see it...in your eyes."
They were the last words Konstantin used during his life. Another pair of lips was now sealed and a brilliant mind had finally met its demise. He didn't die instantly after closing his eyes, but drew a couple of breaths before life finally let go its hold on him. Kurtis didn't leave his side immediately after Konstantin's last breath, but stayed there silently as if paying his respects for the dead person. He knew that was the closest thing to an apology he ever could've heard from his father, and thus far it had been the only one.
He stood up slowly, and though he now was an orphan he didn't feel like one. Honestly, he had to admit that for the first time he felt like he had had a father, in the real meaning of the word. Standing there looking at his deceased parents he felt like something was missing from the picture. Konstantin's hand, already growing stiff and cold, still reached for her, and gently Kurtis picked up her hand and laid it on her husband's.
He turned around and followed the path he thought Karel and Lara had taken.
Please review if you read this.
The Sunset of Life
She went limp as the bullet found its goal in her body. From that kind of distance Kurtis couldn't tell were Konstantin had hit her, but all the same the little piece of lead had drained the power that held her standing from her. The emotional pain the simple act had caused Konstantin could be seen from his expression. The gun fell from his limp hand as he stared at the woman, or so it seemed to Kurtis. What could she possibly mean to him?
Without any warning Konstantin twitched like a sudden spasm had run through his body. Lara tried to run to him but got stopped by one of Karel's men. A primal urge to play the hero and save the day took over Kurtis and he was about to leap from his hiding place and rush to Lara's and Konstantin's aid, but the small voice in his head stopped him from doing it. What good would it do? How could he fight them? With a katana whose blade was made of shadow? As Kurtis watched them make Lara rip the backpack from his father the only thing he could do was to grasp the little loose soil there was on the ground.
So useless. After all of his years still so damn useless. If he only had his chirugai, or even a gun. Perhaps then he would be able to give Lara and Konstantin a good head start, and even if Konstantin couldn't rise up and run anymore Lara's life could be saved. Even if it wasn't for more than an hour or two it would be worth it, and he knew she'd rather go down fighting than sitting silently while everyone else took part in the action. Perhaps then he wouldn't have to see her die. He wouldn't have to witness the independent spirit that was Lara Croft dry up like a flower trying to bloom in a desert.
He began to follow the events with his gaze again when Karel and Lara disappeared from the scene. Not knowing where they went, he sat still for a little time - there was no sense in letting them know that he was there too. Not seeing either Lara or Karel for a few minutes he finally stood up, stretched his legs and began descending to the crater. Nothing else could be seen but the two bodies lying on the ground close to each other. As he drew closer to them he saw that Konstantin was reaching for the woman, who was obviously dead. It could be seen from her now open eyes that were the same color as his own. They would've been almost exact copies of his, but now they were staring blankly, not seeing a thing. Their once probably clear surface was now bleary, like some sort of veil clouded them and prevented them from seeing this world.
Kurtis gave no more attention to the obviously dead woman but turned to look at his father. Slow breaths still kept him alive while his blood wet his shirt and the soil under it. As Kurtis bent a little he could clearly see where the blood was coming from. In his father's abdomen was a bullet hole. To Kurtis' surprise he didn't feel enormous sadness. He was only able to stand there and look at the fatal wound with wonder. It didn't shock him to see one of those people whom he were supposed to love bleed to death in front of him. Why couldn't it touch him? How he wished it could. How he wished it would.
"Konstantin," he said, as if he was talking to someone who wasn't lying in front of him, dying. He had hoped that he'd have one more chance to make it all right between him and Konstantin. All those years he had thought his father dead but now, when the opportunity knocked, he could only stand there.
Konstantin blinked, but the dark form standing by him didn't come any clearer. It didn't even have to. He recognized the voice and could hear the coldness in it. How could something as cold as Kurtis come out of him and his wife?
Seeing that his father had trouble concentrating on him, Kurtis knelt beside him, taking in his father's features while there still was life in him. There would be no other time after this, there wouldn't be another chance and if there was another life after this one the chances of them meeting were very slim. Still he found no words to say, nothing seemed to be fitting in the situation and none of the scenarios or ways of acting he had thought of fitted to this here event. As he stared at his father he remembered the long days of training. Had Konstantin ever spent time with his son just for fun?
Someone once said that time would heal all wounds. Perhaps there were too many wounds in their relationship, too many to heal in such little time, and all the scars were visible. Perhaps there were wounds that even time couldn't heal. Too much scar tissue existed in Kurtis' life, too many wounds and too many scratches.
Konstantin blinked a few times when Kurtis knelt beside him. After all the years they had been apart, he finally saw his son again. Kurtis' icy blue eyes reminded him of his wife, and the orbs that seemed emotionless were like copies of her eyes. Was it coldness? Now that he looked harder he could see something. It was just a bit in the corner of his son's eyes, but for a second he had seen it. Had it always been there and he had disregarded it? Had he been unable to see the confusion in his son's eyes? Was it really confusion? He blinked again but it was still there. He would've reached for Kurtis if he had any strength in his body but it all had bled out of his stomach wound. What he had been only a few minutes ago had disappeared as his lifeblood wet the ground underneath him.
"Help..." he began, but it seemed that Kurtis was unable to hear him...or perhaps he just didn't want to. Was there any point in talking to him? Could he hear what Konstantin had to say? If he could, would he?
Kurtis shook his head. He had thought that Konstantin would ask him to save the scales from Karel, but when his death grew near all he could do was to plead mercy for himself. Was the last thing he wanted to do in his life to let Karel save all the souls he thought worthy?. Slowly Kurtis shook his head and stood up.
Using the last bit of his body strength, Konstantin reached for his son, understanding fully how pathetic it must've looked, but now that he knew that death was coming he didn't want to meet it. All his life he had thought he'd be ready to face his demise eye to eye, but now he was scared to even take a peek. Not before he had done something to correct his mistakes.
"I...didn't raise you t...to be like...that," he whispered searching any kind of sympathy in Kurtis' eyes with his almost hopeless sight.
"You didn't raise me at all!" Kurtis yelled believing Karel and his little group was far enough not to hear it. "You trained me - like a dog!" He couldn't help showing the helplessness he felt at that moment, and seeing it stopped Konstantin. Had he caused all of that? The confusion in his son's eyes? Was that his doing? He had to swallow hard because he already knew the answer. Because of him, Kurtis was doomed to be on the list of lost cases.
An awkward silence fell over them, and to break it Kurtis turned to look at the woman. Now that he examined her face there was something familiar in her, something disturbingly familiar. It hit him like a lightning. He took off his backpack, opened it and pulled out his wallet. He hesitated for a few moments before pulling out the photograph he had found from his wallet on the Ruzyne airport but finally he did. He looked behind the picture first, but there were no words written on the blank white paper. From the front side the sitting woman smiled at him, as if she could see him from the stilled moment. The years had taken their toll, taking all that resembled life
from her, but if he looked really hard he could see the woman lying on ground smiling at him as she did in the photograph.
He suddenly lost all the feeling he had in the hand which held the picture and thus it dropped from his grasp.
"Mother?" he mouthed, and his shock could clearly be heard.
A sudden cold wave swept over Konstantin. How could he know? He hadn't seen his mother for a small eternity, and still he could recognize her. Time had consumed her face, and Karel's brutality had eaten her soul, but was there still something in her that Kurtis remembered? Was there something in her Karel hadn't been able to steal and ravage?
What caught Kurtis' attention was the slow rising and falling of her chest. Even though she looked dead and her eyes had gone dim her body still lived. Was she alive, or did her body just keep her breathing and heart beat going? Was her body an anchor that kept her soul from sailing across the border? Was it her body that forced her to stay in this world?
Kurtis closed his eyes slowly while his hand traveled to the hilt of the Shadow Katana. The coldness of the metallic hilt surprised him, for it was at least 40 degrees warm in the crater. How come the metal wasn't warmer? Slowly he pulled the sword from its scabbard and opened his eyes again just to look at her still form on the ground. Even though he was sure she wouldn't feel it the thought of ending his own mother's life made him gulp. Would it end someday? How many deaths would it take for it all to reach its ending? He turned his back to Konstantin and raised the katana and struck it to her heart as fast as he could, though the act needed no strength from him. The blade bore in to her flesh like a hot knife into a piece of butter. How could it hurt him so? He didn't even know her, and yet he felt like he had killed someone of great importance in his life.
As the blade slid out of her body he expected to see the white flash of Light, but it never came. Instead of it a black shadowy form emerged from her body, hovered by him a second or two and was then sucked into the katana. A last sigh of her life escaped her lips that were now sealed for an eternity. Kurtis knelt beside her and closed the eyes that had been sightless for years. Finally, she was allowed to let go of her earthly burden, her body which had been useless for ages. With a heavy heart Kurtis turned to face his father again.
Konstantin could only stare. Had his eyes showed the truth? Had he just seen a spirit departing from a body? If not, what had been the dark shadowy human form? What, if not a spirit or a soul?
"Why?" His lips managed to form the word, but no sound came out. He felt so weak and useless. Every time he had thought about his death he had thought he'd go gloriously and wouldn't have to wait for the end. "She...was already d..dead."
"No." Kurtis shook his head as if to stress his words. "A bullet couldn't have killed her, for..." He held a small pause, "...she was a...a...not human." Not being able to say the word, he went around it as well as he possibly could. It was the truth. She hadn't been human and neither was he. They were crossbreeds between two species that should have never reproduced together. As mighty as the angels were, they broke their laws and were envious of something as pitiful the human way of life, the short lifespan, and their descendants had to pay for their mistake.
"No..." Konstantin whispered, his voice filled with agony. "They...all are...monsters."
Finding it difficult to look at his father, Kurtis closed his eyes and swallowed. He took one step closer to Konstantin and dropped to his knees next to him. When his eyes opened again the coldness and confusion were replaced by despair, and it tore Konstantin's heart apart.
"Then..." Kurtis began slowly giving Konstantin time to digest his words. "I am a monster too."
Konstantin was about to say something, but closed his mouth to stop anything utterly stupid from escaping his lips. Instead he reached for his son and Kurtis did nothing to avoid his touch, but did nothing to help him either. Konstantin's fingers only grazed his son's cheek but that one caress meant a world to him. Not being able to hold his hand up anymore he let it fall to his side.
"No." It was Konstantin's turn to shake his head. "There's a... a piece of heaven in -" He coughed. "- you. I...can see it...in your eyes."
They were the last words Konstantin used during his life. Another pair of lips was now sealed and a brilliant mind had finally met its demise. He didn't die instantly after closing his eyes, but drew a couple of breaths before life finally let go its hold on him. Kurtis didn't leave his side immediately after Konstantin's last breath, but stayed there silently as if paying his respects for the dead person. He knew that was the closest thing to an apology he ever could've heard from his father, and thus far it had been the only one.
He stood up slowly, and though he now was an orphan he didn't feel like one. Honestly, he had to admit that for the first time he felt like he had had a father, in the real meaning of the word. Standing there looking at his deceased parents he felt like something was missing from the picture. Konstantin's hand, already growing stiff and cold, still reached for her, and gently Kurtis picked up her hand and laid it on her husband's.
He turned around and followed the path he thought Karel and Lara had taken.