A/N: Guest: Glad to hear! I hope the final ch meets your expectations.^^
"They are leaving," Irene informs Sofia from their strategic base at the edges of the upper village. True to the warrior's word the wave of soldiers that had headed for the Cathedral – for the Atlas – has ceased. Moreover, the tide seems to have turned as few soldiers have tried to escape the ruins.
Something has changed and Sofia keeps her hand on the hilt of her knife in front of the uncertainty. Trinity's hasty retreat might be for the Remnant's advantage but with the Atlas and the Deathless, anything can have happened.
"Kill everyone who comes out except for my father and Lara. Put trackers to follow down every possible escape route out of the Valley. Everyone's possessions need to be checked for the Atlas."
She hates to order death, but she owes it to their people. Her father has been forced to do countless difficult decisions in his life; she'll now have to do the same.
She can remember her mother's request to be kind to her father and to make her own destiny despite the legacy. Still, she has never been able to overlook the sadness in her father's eyes when he has shared stories of his and the Remnants' past. There is a distance that she feels, she'll never be strong enough to cross, not that he'd even want it, because she is his daughter, someone to be protected. So, she tries to push the uncertainty out of her heart, not to mention the doubt that is whispering into her ear with the destruction she has witnessed today down at the Valley.
"The wounded–"
"Make emergency shelter at the cave near the Physician's Garden," she orders while trekking towards the side entrance to the Cathedral. She doesn't even feel her steps when she gazes towards the main entrance and their warriors upholding the ambush there.
However, only a few soldiers walk into their own, smaller ambush and her night is spent mostly on giving orders to the warriors. The quietness is simultaneously nerve-wracking but gives hope that at least they'll have a momentary peace to prepare for another battle.
It's only a few hours until dawn, once the moon is low on the horizon and she has managed to close her eyes for a speck of rest when Alekos calls her name with Lara tailing behind him.
The woman is bruised and her clothes are marred with blood and dirt and still damp from what Sofia can deduce is from swimming. Lara has never come across to her as conceited, but now there is uncharacteristic hesitancy on the woman's face that apologizes for more than just waking her from her brief, upright dozing off.
"Lara?"
Lara steps closer but eyes at the people around them to see if it is safe to speak. It's at that moment when Sofia understands that the news is not good. She nods anyway to accept any intel they can get like a leader should and gestures the woman to follow her to speak in private at the outside of the cave. She tries to ignore the cries of the dying and the injured on their way out. So much death and violence – and for what?
"Jacob asked to be left behind," Lara confesses in the fading, pale moonlight, bowing her head minimally. "He asked… asked me to find you."
Sofia can only swallow her feelings, "You are sure that my father is dead?"
Lara nods at her with sorrow pooling in her eyes but doesn't elaborate. And Sofia doesn't want to know. They had talked about this. She had never wanted to listen, not after her mother had died, but her father had been adamant, knowing that it could make the difference in a war.
"Body?"
"He said that it'd slow me down too much. – I'm sorry, I should have–"
"No, Lara. My father makes his own decisions. And we can only trust that he knows what he is doing." And she can only hope that God hasn't forsaken them. "The Atlas?"
To her utmost surprise, Lara pulls the artifact from her bag and hands it to her with a bloody, hastily bandaged hand. "Trinity lost their leaders. I think almost all of them are dead."
Sofia tears her attention from the small metal cube in her hands, the reason why so many, now including her father, have lost their lives for, "We created ambushes, set trackers. I hope we've been able to catch everyone who survived."
Lara turns relieved at the news but the hesitant sadness in her eyes prevails.
"If there is anything, I can do to help..."
Sofia almost takes her offer, the woman can fight, and she graves for Lara's hard determination, but that willpower missing now. In addition, maybe she isn't the only one who is in dire need of rest – or medical attention based on the blood on Lara. She embraces the fact that she finally has a question to which she knows her father's answer without a doubt. "Go and get rest. We'll look up from this later on," she orders warmly, and before parting their ways for the time being, "Have faith. He'd hate to see you blame yourself for this."
It takes late into the next day when Sofia has the chance to talk to Lara again. They have caught a few fugitive Trinity members, but it's too early to hear from the trackers. Her own day has been spent on organizing the aftermath, whereas Lara has helped to carry the wounded and fortify the least damaged buildings to provide them a roof on top of their heads.
The sun is beginning to set, and she purses her lips at the sight of the dark-haired woman who has become paler since she last saw her. She hopes that Lara has gotten herself looked at by their physician. However, as if there was nothing worth noting in her weathered condition, Lara greets her with an expectant look on her face.
Sofia shakes her head a tiny amount to convey that her father is yet to return. Somehow, she gets the feeling that Lara has done her best to keep up with the potential news.
They make their way to one smaller cabin that is now used as a temporary storage for provisions. Neither one of them is willing to take a large share but they cannot go without food either.
"We have a burial tomorrow for those who have already died. If you can help in carrying the bodies, that would be greatly appreciated."
"Of course," Lara agrees so automatically that Sofia feels that the woman would agree to anything to help them. The fact that she had been ready to go after the Atlas in the first place, speaks as much. The Atlas that now burns in Sofia's satchel: they cannot lose it from their sight, and she isn't fully ready to take the risk of giving it to Lara. She is starting to trust her, and what she has seen since her return from the Cathedral, nothing has spoken of a woman who would use Jacob's absence to retrieve the Divine Source.
"I'm sorry, for misjudging you at first."
Lara dismisses her worry and chucks a handful of berries into her mouth with her uninjured hand. "I would have done the same in your position," she offers.
"We've had very few come here in the last decades, and I'm worried for my father. His compassion is limitless, but…" It's not her story to tell how hard the years since the arrival of the Soviets had been. True, she was born after the last war, but she has grown from its ashes to know. Not to mention, that she had witnessed the years after her mother's death.
"I think it's nice that you worry for him."
Lara's detached sympathy whispers something in the back of Sofia's mind, but this, on the other hand, is not her story to ask for.
"The funeral will be for my father as well." And as Lara turns to look at her, "If any survivors of Trinity are still out there, we need to play our part." It won't be easy, least amidst all the death that has fallen upon them, but they owe it to everyone who has and all those who will die to protect the Source.
"I thought, he'd be back today," Lara inquiries quietly and it's by her admission that Sofia realizes how much Lara cares for those who she leaves behind.
"He should have. But we don't know of the Deathless or the structural damage the Cathedral suffered afterward. And he knows that we much uphold our story of mortal people."
Lara makes a sound of agreement between bites of a carrot. The young woman is still wearing the dark-plaited armor as if ready to go back to war at a second's notice. Sofia observes the worry on Lara's posture and thinks back to her father.
She doesn't have many points of reference, but she has heard how people's attitudes towards her father always change when they find out the truth about him. The revelation usually generates awe and shock which are followed by distance: either her father is seen as an answer to all their problems and exploited – or kept in so high regard that normal interactions turn into a play of sorts. And she knows the same goes for their people. To have someone who has known all your forefathers, who has seen you grow up, and knows everyone around you just as well, creates expectations, caution. They fear for him, feel for him, but still, Jacob is always the one to turn to, who carries the responsibility of their actions and stays at arm's reach from everyone.
Lara feels different, and Sofia has the suspicion that it's the reason why her father has been spending so much time with the woman. Not many would leave the Prophet behind to die; Sofia just might do that out of respect to his orders, but outside herself, Lara is probably one of the few, if not the only one. And still, the dark-haired woman sitting on the wooden boxes cannot hide her anxiety.
Sofia lowers the root in her hand onto the crate. There is a change in the air, and while she has been purely concerned about was Lara's willingness to stay, she never thought of her father's inclination to leave.
She presses her jaw tight for thinking such an absurd idea. Her father's home has been here for over a thousand years. Nevertheless, it doesn't stop her mind from reciting the last four weeks, how Lara had been given a bed in his home, how he has risked his life for her, showed her Kitezh, and left with her to retrieve the Atlas while leaving Sofia in charge. She doubts that his actions have been intentional from the start, but for better or worse, fear gnaws at her stomach that her father's return might only be temporary.
Maybe it's just another responsibility that she has to learn to grow into.
As they lit a fire to the center of the village to respect the buried the next day, with still no sign of her father, Sofia can't help but feel that she is, in fact, saying goodbye to something. And the tears in her eyes when she looks at the mourning villagers come from deep inside her.
In contrast, Lara's eyes do not let a single tear escape despite the tremble in her chin and the deep respects she bows to the skies. Sofia sees a lot of her father in how Lara pushes through her own pain to help others bear theirs.
He nods through the night on the upmost floor in the Cathedral. The Deathless don't swarm this far and the sounds of battle have ceased. He is hungry and longs to know how his people – how Sofia – have fared through the battle but he has his task, and now that means staying out of sight and killing any Trinity soldiers who might have escaped this far. His heart aches because he knows that his healing is needed among his people but not giving any remaining enemies a reason to stay is more important.
He watches the smoldering floors below him: what is left of the thoughts of his wisest men and women.
Maybe the time for him to let go of the Source is nearing. He has felt the change in his bones since Alya's death, and this war has only fortified his feelings.
But he is simply a tweak in the river of time. Wandering to where he is needed.
He walks back to the Valley on the fourth night, greeting the guards that are overjoyed to see him. Using the darkness for his advantage, he sneaks to the nearest village only to come face to face with the destruction Trinity has managed to cause. The houses and their possessions are expendable, but they are still pushed back for a decade to rebuild.
It's on the second cave that he is guided to where he finds Sofia who immediately runs to him.
And he squeezes her in his arms, thanking the heavens that his daughter is alive and safe.
He asks her if she is okay while pushing her to an arm's reach to give her a once-over.
"I'm fine, father," she assures him, trying to gauge his health in return.
The other habitants in the cave are elated to see him but they stay at a respectable distance and many are too worn out to wake up in such a silent arrival, but Lara has stood up, staying at the side to let him greet Sofia first.
"I sent men after potential runaways and the Gulag is being emptied. Everything should be in order," Sofia assures him before glancing at Lara and stepping out of their way with one fortifying squeeze on his arm.
Lara looks visibly relieved to see him. He can guess that while Sofia has learned to trust his decisions and have faith in his survival, Lara is less accustomed to excepting happy endings when she has left people behind.
He doesn't hug her as he did with Sofia even if he would want to at the bravery she has shown and all the sacrifices she has been ready to do to them, instead, he places a hand on her arm.
"Thank you, Lara."
She bows her head, averting her gaze briefly to collect herself, "I shouldn't have left you."
Stubborn even in the end. "Yet, I'm glad that you did. – The Atlas?"
Lara nods to the red-haired woman, "Sofia has it."
Of course.
"Your injuries?" he changes the subject, noting her hand but relieved to see that she looks to be otherwise in one piece.
"It's okay," she shakes her head easily, "Eat and rest first. I'll be fine."
He wants to argue with her, remembering how the bullet had gone through the back of her hand. But he is tired, whereas Lara looks all too spirited to argue and win. He has to resign to her will with a heavy nod but he intends to hold her to her words.
Lara leaves the cave almost immediately after he has sat down to respond to his built-up hunger, and he has a feeling that her staying here might have only been out of worry over him.
It gives him hope.
For what? That is something, he isn't exactly ready to define to himself.
Two days later, the immediate rescue efforts have ceased and plans for the future are being formed. The Remnants are tired but taking the task with the same unwavering will as any other one before it.
Yet, Jacob can see the same question in the eyes of his people that their ancestors harbored after each war and calamity.
But the upside is there, and he takes the first steps to find his spot in the background while giving more room for Sofia to take charge.
She has proven herself to be ready to lead the Remnants in times of hardship.
So, he has taken small moments to get rest to be able to stay on his feet, to heal Lara's hand that – unsurprisingly – had been a lot worse off with broken bones and torn tendons that she had let known on his return.
And that is not the only change that has left barely visible scars in its wake.
His house – while reasonably intact since residing further away from the center of the Eastern village – is now empty: Lara having packed her scant possessions, plus the extra pelts and tools to help her on her journey back to the modern world. She had even dusted the remaining pelts and swept the floor in common courtesy despite his feeble objections.
But he lets the vacantness of his home slide as Lara is unable to clean, and to his amusement almost completely oblivious, to the marks she has left on the Valley in her expeditions.
And he knows that her curiosity here is satisfied enough, so, that she is ready to leave to seek for something else elsewhere. He wonders if she will always keep moving, or if she is just waiting for a quest big enough to keep her rooted.
He isn't sure if that exists.
But she is young, and people change with each memory they acquire to themselves.
"What are you going to do now?" he asks her when they are walking towards the Observatory to evaluate the damage, and he guesses, for Lara to get a last look at the Valley.
"England. I need to get in contact with Jonah as soon as possible, to see that he is safe."
He nods, already having guessed as much. "And after?"
Lara makes a small spin at his question and gazes at the Valley on their side in the early mid-day sun.
"Trinity," she answers with little pondering. "I need to know if they are related to my father's death. And I want to stop them."
"That is not a small quest to undertake."
Lara shrugs, making him give a ghost of chuckle and subsequently bringing a smile on her face.
"Your people aren't safe as long as they are out there. – Ultimately, I don't think anyone is."
"It still doesn't have to be your battle."
"But I'm ready to take it. – You?" she asks before elaborating, "What are you going to do now?"
"Rebuild," he sighs. How many times they have been forced to rebuild, he doesn't want to count. He looks at the glistening water below them, unsure about where they stand. Lara hasn't treated him all too differently since his return but she can be hard to read even on the best of days. "I'd like to help you if I can. –with Trinity."
Lara blinks at his proposition, clearly not having seen it coming. "But your life is in here."
"My task has been here for a long time. And thus, my home. But as you said, Lara, my people won't be safe as long as Trinity is out there. It might be the time for me to destroy the Source, but it's more useful if I use it to destroy them. That is if you are willing."
Lara is speechless for a moment, trying to get her head on the plan, before starting softly, "Do you have citizenship?"
"No."
She grimaces with a sad smile at that, "Then you are unable to leave the country. The borders between nations have been fortified over the centuries."
"I know," and maybe that's that then. His actions have imprisoned him here till the end of his life.
"Unless…"
He turns to look at Lara who is searching for the right words, "–you would have the right people, enough money."
"You don't need to get yourself in trouble over my deluded aspirations."
"Who said anything about trouble," she says shaking her head, but he can see it in her, how she has found another mission to chase. "It will take time though. And I'm not making any promises."
"I wouldn't expect you to."
They keep up small talk for a little longer before he stays at the Observatory to watch Lara leave with a team of Remnants towards the Gulag.
Maybe a change is not always for the worse.
And when he watches a few birds fly atop of the Valley and his people carrying timber to repair the houses, he feels like he has something to expect in his life for the first time in a long while, in addition to watching Sofia grow up.
The path looks long as he stares where the railway lines meet the horizon. Snow dominates the scenery, and he feels orphaned outside the Valley that has been his home for over a thousand years. But his faith is there with him, giving him the comfort to continue and seek the ice-covered planks to step onto amidst the snow.
He didn't walk into the Valley this way, nor did he ever believe he'd use the path that their enemies carved into the land to leave the Valley. The least he would have expected that he is doing so alone not out of nightmarish necessity but his own free will. Yet, the Valley will stay in the capable hands of Sofia and the rest of the Remnants. It's been three weeks since one of their own had walked back to the Valley from the closest town to inform him that the preparations were finished if he still wanted to follow the plan.
Lara is waiting for him at Novosibirsk and organized his travel to over 3000 miles away. He has traveled that distance once, and then it was on foot. But the world was a very different place back then: one that he knew better.
The sun makes the lazy snowfall glimmer around him, and amidst the unpredictability of the world, he is certain of his decision despite the natural, bubbling nervousness towards the new life. Lara came to aid them in the fight against Trinity, accommodated into their world, and gained their trust.
It's only fair that he will now do the same.
A/N: The last ch of this story! This series will continue with two fics later on once I finish them.^^ On the next story, we'll focus on Lara and Jacob's (plus Jonah's) time in England before SOTR. In the meantime, I have over 35 one-shots under works (if you count the "Different Dictionaries, Same Language" one-shots into the mix). And they all center around Lara/Jacob because why wouldn't they? :D Thanks for everyone who have pushed through this far! If you have any comments, suggestions, etc. I'd love to hear them!
