Author's note: Hey, what happened? Did I lose all of my readers after those four months of not updating or something? Ah well, I'm gonna finish it anyway…this fic has been on my plate for about four years now and it deserves to be completed. It also may be worth noting that this chapter introduces the 'eight rules of tomb raiding', which are also something out of my own mind.

Chapter 5: New Beginnings

"Take some of this!" Lance yelled as he executed a swift hook kick to Lara's face, the aforementioned woman in turn grabbed his foot in mid-air and twisted it until he fell to the ground. Lance stood up slowly only to be hammered to the ground once more by an uppercut to the chin.

"Way too slow." Lara taunted her opponent as she reset her fighting stance.

Sweat dripped from Lance's forehead onto the ground, his brown hair, now only slightly above his ears, was plastered to his face. Eyes burning with rage, he gave an animalistic cry as the young man kicked the legs out from underneath Lara, and then rammed a shoulder in her stomach when she tried to stand. Lance walked over to the tomb raider who was still lying on the ground. "Rule number three of tomb raiding." He said between gasps for air. "Never let your guard down."

Lara smiled as he helped her up. "So the student has schooled the master. I've taught you well."

As soon as they were both on their feet, Lance crouched back down into a fighting stance. "Ready for round two?" He asked, but the auburn haired woman just shook her head.

"You've been here since four in the morning, don't you have somewhere else to go? Besides," She added. "Mark will be over in a few." Lance was halfway out the door to the gym before he gave a stifled giggle and Lara sighed at his immaturity. "Get over it already."

A year has passed since their first encounter and the two have vowed to place their past behind them. Lara had started to train Lance for the trip to Egypt, a reason she has yet to tell the boy. Lance, now seventeen, has made great progress in both his marksmanship and hand to hand combat. The former, they figured, he could not get much worse at.

Winston greeted Lara on her way to the shower. "How is Lance's training coming along?"

The tomb raider stopped to wipe the sweat away from her face. "Excellent, actually. When he really puts his mind to something he can't be dissuaded. I haven't told him this yet, but I'm taking him to Egypt with me tomorrow."

The old butler looked at Lara dubiously. "Do you think he'll be able to handle it? And what about you, you've never worked with a partner before."

Lara just shook her head, obviously having a good deal of confidence in her student. "Put your faith in me and I'll show you." She replied simply and walked past him en route to the shower.

About a half hour later, a knock was heard at the door. Lara jumped over the gold railing of the stairs and opened the front door to let Mark in. "Well you sure know how to make an entrance." He said, but his expression was one of worry and concern.

"What's wrong?" Lara asked, noticing the man's unease.

Taking a deep breath, Mark began to speak. "It was the funniest thing." He started. "All I was doing was driving around when some crazy guy stopped me and pulled me out of the car. Then he started yelling about something like 'I know you know that damned tomb raider who stole my son and you and her are gonna die.'"

Lara's jaw dropped in disbelief and as if on cue, Lance took that moment to walk into the main room, completely oblivious to the conversation. "But that's impossible…" Lara said at last. "I killed him. I saw him die."

The young man heard that last statement and had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly who they were talking about. "You mean my father…he's alive, isn't he?" Lance added the last part quietly.

"Look, it would be okay for you to side with Larson." Lara began. "If I know him as well as I know I do, he'll be looking for Runihura's Spear as well."

Lance thought this over for a few minutes before replying. "No, I won't turn my back on you now. Not after all you've done for me…it wouldn't be right." It was rather apparent that this entire situation was tearing the young man apart, forcing him to choose between his father and his mentor.

"Are you sure you don't want to—"Lara started, but was cut off.

"I said I'm sure!" Lance yelled, more anger in his voice than either one of them has ever heard before. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell." He amended quietly.

"This may be the wrong time to bring this up." Lara began. "But I wanted to know if you wanted to come to Egypt with me tomorrow."

A trace of a smile tugged at Lance's solemn and morose expression. "Looks like I have my chance to end this conflict with my father once and for all." Looking up at Lara and Mark, the young man nodded soberly. "I'll do it."

The tomb raider knew that there would be no changing his mind now that he had come to that decision, so finally she relented. "Okay. Be here early tomorrow morning so we can get to the hangar early." Lara explained as lance gave a sharp salute and walked out the door.

The auburn haired woman idly wondered where he went all day, but that thought was pushed out of her mind as she realized that Larson was still alive. Turning to Mark, Lara made a valiant attempt to mask the worry and concern she was feeling. "You should leave. If Larson knows you associate with me or about our…relationship, he'll most likely kill you to get to me." The tomb raider sighed. "This is the first place he would look and I don't want to see anything bad happen to you."

Mark was hesitant to leave, but he knew it would be for the best. Although it had been a year since they had first met each other again, it had just been recently that they had started a relationship. "Just be careful, okay?" He advised as he pulled her into his embrace.

"I will." Lara reassured him as she kissed his lips, tracing his jaw line lightly with her finger. With that the man turned around and walked out the door, stopping once before he left to glance back at the tomb raider.

After Mark had departed, Lara decided to begin packing now, seeing as how she was not a morning person and would most likely forget something if she packed her supplies at the last minute. "Strange cards fate has dealt, eh Lara?" Winston asked as he came out of his room. The tomb raider could do nothing more than nod her head in agreement.

"If somebody would have told me a year or so before all this started that I would be dating my friend from high school and I would be going back to Egypt with my enemy's son as an assistant, I'm pretty sure I would have punched them. Hard." Lara responded idly.

Winston laughed. "I honestly believed you were going to give up back then."

The auburn haired woman remembered that time well, memories of being buried alive in the tomb rushed back to her. "Me too."

Late that night, Lara heard a knock at the door. Drowsily getting out of bed and putting on a robe, she went downstairs and headed toward the loud banging noise. "Alright hold on." She mumbled as the knocking grew impossibly louder, wondering who could possibly want to talk to her at this hour.

"Hey Lara, ready to go?" The tomb raider's question was answered as she came face to face with a grinning Lance, a large bag was slung over his shoulder and he wore blue jeans and a red flannel shirt. This sight woke Lara up fully. If the young man standing in front of her had been blonde, he would have been a spitting image of his father.

"Lance." Lara glared at him irately. "It is two in the morning."

The young man's smile faded slightly at the woman's angered tone. "But you said you wanted to leave early." Lance justified.

Lara was unsure of whether Lance was a teenager or a two year old, being the former in appearance, but the latter in behavior. "Not. This. Early." She growled as he picked up his bag.

"Okay, just don't leave without me." Lance said as he began to walk away.

The only thing Lara could do was sigh and mumble angrily as she walked up the stairs and into her room. Before she fell asleep, Lara heard the door open. "Oh Lara?" Lance yelled from the foyer.

"Go to Hell Lance!" She yelled back without letting the young man finish his question.

"Alright then, see you there." Lance replied unabashedly as he left for good this time.

Morning came too quickly for the tomb raider, who would have thrown her alarm clock against the wall if she could have found it. After a bit of fumbling around, the shrill bell was silenced and Lara got up and stretched. The woman dressed in a black tee shirt with dark green shorts and walked down the stairs, or she would have if a certain young man had not been sleeping at the foot of the staircase. "Lance, wake up!" Lara yelled at the boy.

Lance just mumbled something incoherent and turned so his back was facing Lara. "Get up!" She growled forcefully and kicked the young man in the middle of the back.

Lance howled in pain and jumped up abruptly, throwing his yellow bag over his shoulder. "Alright, sorry."

The tomb raider shook her head and sighed. "Lance, sixth rule of tomb raiding."

Thinking for a moment, the seventeen year old snapped his fingers in triumph. "Obey every order fully and when it is given. Failure to do so may cost you your life."

Lara had to admit the kid was as sharp as a tack, but had almost no common sense about him. "And you better remember it, now let's go." Walking out of the house and into the garage, Lara got on a motorcycle and turned to Lance. "Take this and follow me." She instructed as Lance looked reverently at the black motorcycle with blue flames painted on.

"I think I'm in love." The young man grinned as he threw his arms around the bike. Lara let her helmet clad head drop against the cold steel of the handlebars.

"Quit screwing around." The tomb raider snapped over the roar of the engine before driving away, Lance hot on her heels.

Both came to an abrupt halt outside the hangar, Lance almost crashing into the back of Lara's bike. "Well it seems I found something worse than your shooting skills." The woman said as she took off her helmet. "And that would be your driving." They walked into a small building where a man was jotting something down from his computer. Lance cleared his throat and the man looked up from his work.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He apologized with an awkward laugh. "May I help you?" The man was tall with short, jet black hair.

"Just me again." Lara responded, and the man turned his head to look at her.

"Oh, if it isn't Lara Croft." He said with a smile, tipping his purple and gold baseball cap out of politeness. "Yeah, I'm used to this by now." The man added as he rummaged through a messy desk drawer, producing a key and handing it to the tomb raider. "There you go, have a safe trip. Plane's around back." Lara nodded and the man went back to his work.

"Wow, look at that." Lance said as he gazed upon a large, dark blue airplane. "Is that ours?" Lara took the key and opened up the door, revealing a large gray interior. The tomb raider sat in the pilot's seat as Lance plopped down in the chair next to her.

Skeptically the young man looked at the control panel, then at Lara. "You do know what you are doing, right?"

Lara pushed a few buttons, pulled a level, and very slowly they began to ascend into the clear blue sky. "Trick of the trade." She replied, neglecting to tell him that the last time she had flown a plane she had taken off both wings and crash-landed in the middle of Tibet.

For a change, Lance was sitting and looking out the window in silence. He was admiring the beautiful view from this high up but the same thought kept gnawing at the back of his mind. "Do you think my father will be there?" Lance asked, finally voicing his concerns.

"I wouldn't doubt it." Lara replied, eyes darting briefly over to him. This was the answer that Lance did not want to hear. If worst came to worst, would he be able to kill his own father?

"I guess we'll see." He said quietly as he idly looked out the window. "I can't believe I'm actually on a plane with Lara Croft, going to Egypt." Lance told himself. "I can't believe I'm going to Egypt." He repeated as Lara sighed.

"Neither do I." She responded without taking her eyes off of the controls.

Lance looked over at her. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"I never thought I'd be going back." Lara started. "A few months before I met you, I got into a nasty accident when the tomb I was exploring collapsed. It was at that time I thought my luck had run out and that this time I really would die."

The young man listened in amazement. "How did you survive that?"

"Von Croy found me before it was too late, but I think a part of me did die in that tomb…my confidence was almost completely shattered and I was actually afraid of dying. That event almost forced me to give up something I love."

"How did you decide you wanted to keep going?" Lance asked, wanting to hear the rest of this story.

"You."

"What do you mean?" The young man was genuinely puzzled by her answer.

"By stealing my artifacts it forced me to track you down…kind of giving me a push in the right direction. It made me realize how much I loved tomb raiding and how much I didn't want to give it up. You saved me from making what was probably a very big mistake." Lara replied.

Lance chuckled a bit. "And if it weren't for me almost cracking your skull open when you were on your motorcycle—which I apologize for, by the way." He added quickly. "You also would never have been reunited with Mark."

Lara smiled despite herself and nodded. "That too. I never thought so much good could come out of such bad experiences."

At that previous statement, Lance paused and thought for a while. "Then again, I think the only time we truly gain anything in life is when we experience misfortune."

The tomb raider took a few moments to ponder that seemingly paradoxical theory. "You know what Lance." She began. "I think you just may be right."

Chapter 6 preview: The history of Runihura's Spear is revealed and Lara tells Lance to turn back, but when the young man takes a stand she realizes just how much he has grown. Will pride and determination be enough to keep the tomb raider's going, or are they destined for a fall?