okay, i'm a little anxious to get this up...i warn it's not been edited...

Sword and Shield

The two women combined their keys, Lara's the circular border to Alice's Veritatis seal, then placed the key in the lock on the pedestal as the room shook mightily. After it stopped, they looked at the two doors that were now completely open.

"So where to first?" Alice asked.

"They might be on some sort of timer or something. We should split up and take them separately. I've got this one," Lara delegated, pointing to the door behind her. "You two take that one." Without a word of complaint, which was already forming on both Alice and Kurtis's mouths, Lara walked off towards the door depicting the hell scene.

Alice sighed, unhappy with her new situation.

"Alright. Let's get a move on." She said to Kurtis before turning around and walking through the door with the Angels, Kurtis behind her.

Lara knew that there would be tension between Kurtis and Alice, but hoped against hope that they would be too overwhelmed with the discovery to bicker. She entered into the large room via the doorway with the scenes of hell.

She was cautious in the room; there was something about it that made her hesitate. It was simply a large, rectangular room with torches every few yards on the wall. She noticed the hexagonal shape of the tiles as she stepped out onto them. Well, these were generally a bad sign in the Hall of Seasons, let's hope these fare better. She thought as she gingerly stepped onto the second row of tiles.

Damn. Everything is two. Heaven and Hell. She mentally cursed as the room underwent a dramatic change. The torches that lined the walls flipped upside down, the flame contacting a stream of oil that covered the walls immediately below the torches, trickling down to the floor, intertwining among the tiles of the floor. Suddenly, the Walls and Ceiling erupted in flame, as did several tiles. This must be Hell.

Alice and Kurtis walked side by side in silence through a hall on the other side of the opened doorway. Alice took some comfort in the Angels that adorned the doorway, although she knew they were only superficial. Kurtis wanted to say something to her, something personal and intimate, a reference to the kiss they'd shared earlier, but couldn't –what can I say? I'm sorry? I'm not. I hope you liked it? Do I want to know the answer to that? The silence was getting oppressive before the hallway faded into a large room. The room was eerily bright, the ceiling a façade of white light that led the duo to wonder if it in fact, ever ended, much like shadows would conceal. Gilded motifs and engravings of angels playing in heaven adorned the walls, elsewhere a pristine white marble, almost blinding despite the presence of shadows at the corners and recesses of the room. Alice walked in the room, the light brilliant. In squinting her eyes she made a fatal mistake: she blinked.
Lara's adventurer's instinct quickly surveyed the transformed room in front of her. She realized that the intense heat was, despite the mildly hot temperature as she perceived it, melting or weakening the structure of the room, the stones on the floor sinking into a liquid substance. She had no idea of its origin, but had enough experience to know that it would result in her untimely death. Strategically planning her jump, Lara soared through the air to land on one of the few tiles still remaining. She breathed in, relieved, before her heat beat increased once again, the tile she was on slowly sinking into the plasma. Damn, I just can't get a break. She dashed along the makeshift path, the intensifying heat leaving her skin tingling with burn, the tiles disappearing almost before she could even get her foot off them. She pushed herself to run faster. Adrenaline pumping her blood faster than her own heart could, she skidded to a stop on the last tile. Unfortunately she hadn't reached the end of the room, too.
When Alice opened her eyes a chill ran through her body. Physically, she was freezing. All around her she looked out on the snowy terrain of an American military base in Russia. She smiled the chill that froze her bones replaced by a warm sensation. She looked around her. She could see the boys coming out of the bunks. She was always in there with them. Her father didn't like it, didn't like her associating himself with his men. But they were her brothers as much as they were each other's brothers-in-arms. And her father didn't really offer anywhere else for her to go. He was more of a father to them than he was to her. She could see them; the man, an officer of high rank, and the woman, garbed in plainclothes. They were smiling, holding hands. She smiled back. But as the approached she watched their smiles fade. She couldn't block out the yelling and crying in her head that had once emitted from their now silent lips. They kept on approaching her, until the woman faded away, the man now walking by himself. The snow disappeared as it was replaced by an office, more wild and foreboding than the snowy terrain outside. The man sat down in a chair, his once happy face changed to a truly fearful one. Wondering what could have changed him, she spun around. Her eyes widened, but no sound escaped her lips. She shut her eyes, willing herself to return to the room, she couldn't handle this. She wanted to be back. Alice shook her head as she opened her eyes, sighing a relieved gasp as she fell to her knees in the white room.
The tiles below and behind her were sinking fast, but her options were limited. She looked at the gap to the opposing doorway. It was impossible to make with a standing jump, but she knew without looking behind that it was impossible for her to do anything but. Were she a pessimist, she would have closed her eyes as her calves and quads pushed her off from the tile just as it sunk into the molten liquid. But a pessimist Lara was not, nor was she one to doubt her capabilities. And so, wide-eyed, she saw the ledge looming in front of her as she began her descent, and she knew when to reach her hand out to grab it. The jostle tore at her arms, fully descended by the grip of her fingers from the ledge. She smelt burning rubber and knew, as she pulled herself up, that the soles of her shoes, at least in some part, were victim to the heat of the liquid. She wiped the dirt and sweat off her hands on her shorts as she walked through the doorway.
"Heaven can only get better"
Somehow, Kurtis found himself back in Utah. It was his father's house. He could still read the inscription on the wall, "And heaven's light will shine down and spread truth".But the house was worn in ways that Kurtis had never seen. He knew he had already left for the legion, leaving his legacy behind. His father was talking with a man Kurtis couldn't see, but the general presence in the room suggested it was an Elder. "He's left." He could hear from unmoving lips. "Yes. But it will be our resurrection. He cannot deny his heritage, and in turn it will not deny him". "But—"A sharp pain across his face ended the vision. He blinked a few times in rapid succession, the room startlingly white, before he realized that, standing before him, Alice had slapped him. He knew that she knew that he'd come back, from wherever he was, as she suddenly averted her eyes somewhat ashamedly.

"Sorry," She said. Then: "I don't know what happened"

"'And heaven's light will shine down and spread truth.' It's an old Lux saying." Alice only shook her head, her energy somewhat dampened. "And going with the theme of duplicity, I'd say this room is 'Heaven'"

Alice thought of what she'd seen. It was nothing she didn't already know; it was just the brutality of it, and in many ways she didn't want to know all of it. She shook her head as the image of Marten Gunderson raising a gun to her father's head across the office sent a chill through her head.

"If this is Heaven, then I'd hate to see what Hell looks like"

A/N: ahh this is getting harder and harder to write... i hope everyone is still enjoying it! once again just to lazy/anxious to get it beta read, so sorry if anyone finds any mistakes.

So all of you, and i believe there were quite a few, who wanted to know more about Alice have Mythrael to thank. I hope i was able to give a little more insight into her character, but basically she grew up, for the most part, on an American Military Base in Russia, her parents had a messy divorce, and then Gunderson killed her father...just incase you couldn't figure that out. Hopefully i'll explain her even more later on, and for those of you who wanted to know more i hope i've appeased you thus far!

Thanks to NFI, Mythrael, Ellethiel, and Spidy007 for reviewing chapter 19! as always, your reviews are much appreciated!

Thanks also to Kayla and Jesusismyhomeboy4ever for reviewing other chapters in the story! i'm glad to hear that you are enjoying it and i hope i can maintain your attention!

I'm hoping the next update will be next weekend, but as always please review to let me know that you are in fact reading, and that it is, in fact, worth writing!

Thanks!