Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or Tomb Raider. I just like to make them play together. No copyright infringement intended.

Author's Note at the bottom.

Inside the caves, deadly silence rung. Edward and Bella were halted, frozen in their movements as they quietly listened for signs of the person who was following them. There was an occasional shuffle warning the raiders of the presence of an intruder.

Bella clicked off her flashlight, Edward following suit, bathing the cave in such darkness that it was impossible to see anything. However, the loss of sight heightened their sense of hearing and the quiet shuffling was amplified considerably and they were able to make out the distinct sound of boots on rock.

A faint wisp of light in his periphery caught Edward's attention and, as he looked at it, he saw it morph, changing shape until he could clearly make out the figure of a man looking down at him. Edward placed his hand on Bella's shoulder, gaining her attention.

"What is it?" she whispered, her eyes not seeing the same thing as he was.

"That light," he whispered back.

"What are you talking about?"

"You can't see it?"

"See what?" she hissed, her ears still trying to focus on the intruder behind them.

"Follow me," Edward said, yanking on her arm. Huffing, she pulled her arm out of his grasp but he ignored her. The man of light was walking away and it seemed like it was guiding them. Wordlessly he followed him, much to Bella's chagrin.

"Edward," she hissed, trying to be as quiet as she could be while following him. He ignored her, choosing instead to focus solely on the strange apparition in front of him. It pulsated, it's shape flashing and distorting every few seconds before converting back to the image of a man.

Edward's instincts told him two separate things. It was clear that they were to follow this apparition but on the other hand, he automatically placed himself between it and Bella should it decide to attack. He knew she was angry but all he cared about at the moment was making sure they got away from whoever was following them and find the location to Yggdrasil. It was their main goal.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bella hissed and he shushed her.

"I'll explain later, I promise," he said. "Just trust me. Please."

Mildly shocked that Bella fell quiet after his plea for her to trust him, he continued down further into the tunnels. Occasionally losing view of the apparition but never for long and it wasn't too long before neither of them could hear the footsteps that followed them anymore.

"Whoever it was," Bella whispered, "must have gotten lost."

Edward silently agreed, looking around for the apparition who had disappeared again. His eyes however fell onto the walls. There were drawings on them, runic scripts and scenarios of Gods and Men, war and villages.

"Vikings," Bella whispered, reaching out to trace the rune for Odin on the wall.

"We must be close," he retorted.

"Yes, we must be," she agreed in her thick accent. "You realize that you will have to tell me what the hell you were following eventually right?"

"I realize," he chuckled, grinning over his shoulder at her. The corners of her mouth lifted up slightly in amusement, shaking her head at him. The smile on her face briefly reminded him of the moment they had shared on the beach earlier and he wanted to kick himself for not going through with kissing her.

He could've kissed properly, should've kissed her the way she had so obviously wanted him to. It would have been easy as breathing but he knew himself and he knew he couldn't have given his fullest in the kiss because he was distracted by the cave's opening he had just spotted. It frustrated and infuriated him but he vowed to himself that he would make it up to her when they got out of the caves.

"There's a door right there," Bella said, seemingly unaware of Edward's thoughts and he turned to where she was pointing. The door wasn't impressive in any way. Although it was clearly very old, the plain nature of it was confusing.

"Ancient viking janitor's closet?" Edward offered. Bella cracked a small smile at him, reaching out for the door and pushed on it, but it wasn't budging.

"Hm," she silently mused. She stepped back and let her eyes wander along the wood, tracing the grains for signs.

"What's this?" Edward whispered, leaning closer to it and tracing his fingers across the side of the door.

"Runes," Bella answered.

"Yeah, I know," he said, reading the inscription and muttering under his breath. "Fluids of life..."

"What?"

"It says to make an offering of the fluids of life."

Bella grimaced, not liking the sound of offering anything but Edward was already unclipping his hunting knife from his belt. He balled his hand into a tight fist and let it go again only to repeat the movement.

She stepped back a little, admired by his quick solving of the runes and his determination to do whatever it took to get the door open but she couldn't help but admit that the prospect of him cutting himself to offer blood to whatever magic sealed the door worried her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked him, swinging her pack around so that she could get disinfecting alcohol and bandages from it.

"Yes," he said in a clipped voice, bringing the blade of his knife to the palm of his hand and closing it into a fist around the knife. He slowly drew the sharp knife through his fist causing blood to trickle from his closed fist. As he hissed from pain, she cringed from the feelings it caused deep within her chest.

As Edward drew the last stretch of the knife through his throbbing hand, he released a deep breath and opened his fist. Glancing at Bella, he was struck by how worried she looked and he allowed himself to feel strangely flattered and satisfied for a brief moment.

"Let's hope this works," he told her, placing his injured hand at the top of the column of runes.

The door instantly lit up with a strange bluish white light, filling much more intricate designs engraved into the wood and making its way up to Edward's hand. Bella gasped and drew back as she watched the light not only closing around his hand but also trickling away from the bottom of the door and weaving around his feet.

His face was set with determination, his eyes already beginning to see past the door and into a place that couldn't possibly be of this world.

"Edward?" Bella's voice sounded small and worried in his ears and it took all he had for him to rip his eyes away from the scenes that were unfolding before him to assure her he was okay.

"I'm okay," he told her and she was struck frozen by the swirling lights she could see in his eyes.

"I'm okay," he repeated before the light swallowed him completely before dying out.

"Edward!" Bella shouted, running to the spot where he had been less than a second before. She banged her fists against the door that had reverted back to the plain looking piece of wood it had been before.

"Damn it," she swore. "Edward!"

~*TR*~

Swan Manor was filled with laughter as Jasper relayed the story of Bella and Edward's forced collaboration.

"Bella's face was priceless," he hiccuped. "The single most incredulous look I've ever had the pleasure of seeing."

"Edward's face must have been no less hysterical," Carlisle chuckled. "Bless his heart, but god knows that boy doesn't play well with others."

"I wonder how they're doing now," Emmett chuckled. "I wish I was there to see it."

"I agree," Rose giggled, earning a grin. "They must be close to killing each other by now."

"Goodness," Esme sighed, stroking a tear of laughter away from her eye. "I hope Bella isn't too snippy with the poor man."

"Oh, I'm sure they're fine," Jasper retorted. "Cussing each other out something wicked but fine."

Another round of giggles sounded. Short-lived however because red lights started going off in the computer lab along with a deafening folly of sirens.

"Shit!" Jasper exclaimed, shooting up from his seat on the couch next to Alice and rushing into the lab. The entire team followed him with pounding hearts.

He located the monitor that caused the frenzy, his silhouette flashing in the red lights. Alice and Emmett stood directly next to him. Alice was biting her nails as Jasper furiously typed away on his keyboard to open the programme that was tracking Bella and Edward.

"Edward's panic button," Jasper whispered and Emmett next to him took a deep breath to steady himself.

"Oh my god," Esme breathed, wringing her hands nervously.

"What's wrong with him?" Carlisle demanded, coming to stand behind Jasper with his hands on the back of the chair.

"I'm not sure," he answered. "What the fuck!" Edward's GPS dot on the screen had disappeared suddenly.

"Jasper, what's going on?" Alice asked, worry and fear rife in her voice.

"I don't know," he answered with a thick accent. "Edward just completely disappeared off the radar."

"What would make him do that?" Emmett asked, who looked calm if it weren't for the frantic look in his eyes.

"Nothing short of literally falling off the face of the earth," Jasper grunted.

Rosalie walked around Emmett and reached over the desk to turn off the sirens and the flashing lights, putting her hand on her brother's shoulder.

"Think," she whispered. "What could cause his GPS to fail?"

Jasper shook his head. "Nothing," he answered. "It's top of the line. I should be able to spot his location even if he was on the bottom of the ocean."

The satellite phone rang and Jasper grabbed it swiftly.

"Bella," he spoke.

"Where is he?" she demanded.

"I don't know," he told her, rubbing his forehead.

"What the bloody hell do you mean you don't fucking know? Trace his GPS!"

"I'm trying, Isabella!" Jasper shouted into the phone. "He's gone. I can't find his trace."

Esme placed her calming hand on his shoulder and he sighed, starting over. "His panic button went off and then his trace disappeared, Bella. Can you tell me what happened?"

He heard Bella huff along with the telltale sounds of her heavy boots pacing up and down. The sounds were confirmed by her dot on the screen moving back and forth ever so slightly.

"We're in a bunch of bloody caves," she cussed. "We came across a door and we believe behind it is the location of Yggdrasil. The door required a blood offering to open and Edward did so. There was a bloody weird light and then he just disappeared."

"That's odd," Jasper whispered.

"Thank you, Sherlock."

He huffed and Bella continued. "He did tell me he was okay right before he disappeared."

"I don't like it," Jasper told Bella, earning a chorus of the rest of the team that none of them liked it.

"Me neither," Bella responded. "Wait..."

Another dot appeared on Jasper's screen and he frowned just as Esme asked him if that was Edward.

"No," he told her. "I have no idea who that is."

"I do," Bella said, just as Jasper watched the second dot come closer to hers.

On the other end of the line, Bella was watching the dark familiar figure come closer to her. The shape was keeping to the darkness and she was silently preparing for the fight that would inevitably come.

"I'll call you back," she told Jasper.

"Wait! Bella, no!"

She hung up the phone and clicked it back onto her belt.

"You should know by now that it's rude to sneak up on a lady," she spoke into the darkness, widening the stance of her legs and placing her hands on the slope of her hips.

A familiar chuckle came back to her and she smirked.

"Where's your friend?" the figure asked, stepping into the range of light coming from Bella's flashlight. Before her, James Athol appeared. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, her mind assaulted by memories.

James had once been Bella's friend. He was smart and witty and eager for her to teach him all she knew about being a raider. He was accepted into her family. Taken care of by Esme and his friendship had been valued by Jasper and Rosalie. He was quick to learn and he had quickly taken to missions on his own, using Swan Manor as his homestead and Bella's vast knowledge and book collections as his own.

It hadn't taken long for them to grow away from friendship and into the murky area of being lovers.

And so, Bella's fury burned white hot when James betrayed her on a mission. Claiming her find, her glory, to be his own for something as fickle as money. She had tossed him off her property and broken all ties with him.

To this day, she blamed him for betraying her, to let the desire for monetary gain overpower the rush of glory that came with tomb raiding. She had trusted him, taught him and cared for him and he had slapped her in the face with it.

"Here," she answered. "There." She cocked her head. "Everywhere."

James chuckled and Bella had to suppress the urge to shoot him in the throat.

"Now, James," she cooed. "You weren't following me, were you?"

"Why, of course I wasn't, dear Isabella," he cooed back. She had to swallow down bile. "I was simply in the neighbourhood and thought I'd stop by."

"Cut the bullshit, James," she snapped, silently cursing herself for allowing him to agitate her so badly. "Why are you here?"

James' expression changed dangerously. "Same reason you are, sweetness."

"And what might that be?"

"Yggdrasil," the name of the ancient legend came clumsily from his mouth and Bella narrowed her eyes.

"So you're the raider kissing Bill Black's shiny polished shoes?" she taunted with a deadly expression.

James shrugged. "He's going to make me a very rich man, Isabella. A very rich man."

"You've learned nothing," she spat at him.

"Oh, I've learned enough," he retorted with a grin. "Thanks for that, by the way."

Bella drew her guns, pointing them at his face. "I gave you everything, James," she hissed. "And I can take it all away."

In a flash, James had drawn up his leg and with a roundhouse kick he swooped the guns from Bella's hands. She came into action immediately, taking a step up to him and launching a punch headed straight for his chest. He blocked her blow with an impressive move and held on to her arm, drawing her closer and slapping her fiercely across the face. This was what she needed to let the fury, which had silently been boiling in her gut, out and she twisted into him. With her back to his chest, she drew back her elbow sharply, hitting him in the ribs. He drew in a pained breath, bringing the arm that was holding on to hers up in a choke hold.

She grunted out a swear word, lifting her foot up and smashing it into James', right at the slope where ankle became foot. He howled in pain, momentarily slacking his hold on her and she took advantage. She grabbed the arm and ducked underneath it on his side, twisting it onto his back. He groaned audibly and she giggled in his ear.

"Don't forget, James," she whispered. "I taught you everything you know. You can't take me."

"Is that so?" He grunted, whipping his head back and knocking her in the face. She stumbled backwards, her hands coming up to her busted nose. Glaring at him, she took her hands away from her face, seeing blood spotting on her palms. She unceremoniously dragged the sleeve of her jacket across her nose.

"Charming," James commented.

"Bite me," she threw at him, taking off in a run towards him. She let herself fall to the ground, sliding towards his legs and knocking them away from underneath him. He fell forward onto the hard ground, his grunt echoed along the walls of the cave. Before he could recover, Bella was on her feet and straddled his back, grabbing his hair and pulling his head up.

"Yes, that is so. You can never beat me, James," she hissed, banging his face onto the ground. With a roar, he pushed himself up, twisting her off his back and pinning her down.

"That's where you're wrong, Lady Swan," he cooed disgustingly at her, adding more weight to the force pinning her arms down. He straddled her hips, ignoring her knees hitting his chest.

She shrieked with fury, struggling against him and bucking her hips up to throw him off her but it wasn't working. He was looking down at her with dark eyes. She shuddered with disgust when she recognized lust burning in the grey orbs.

"Careful," he whispered, leaning into her. She twisted her head away from him, gritting her teeth and swallowing down the bile in her throat.

"Ah, such memories," he whispered to her, breathing down her neck.

"Drop dead," she hissed, pulling up her left leg as far as she could. Being flexible paid off when she was barely able to wrap her calf around his neck and, with a move that hurt her muscles and took most of her strength, she pulled him away from him and freed herself.

Within seconds, she had located her guns and was running towards them. A shot, coming from James' gun, rang painfully loud through the cave. She hissed in pain when the hot bullet grazed her arm, leaving a stinging sensation behind and she ducked to the ground, rolling over and grabbing her guns with both hands. By the time she had gotten back to her feet and fired off two rounds aimed at James' chest. But James was already gone, running back through the cave towards the point where they'd all entered.

Bella remained where she was, panting and sweating. Her nose bleed had stained the front of her jacket, just as a big stain was growing due to the injury on her arm. She cradled the arm at the elbow and glared into the darkness where James had just disappeared.

He had grown stronger over the time she hadn't seen him. And quicker. It disturbed her quite a bit. He had grown to a point where he might actually be able to overpower her and the prospect scared her more than she was willing to admit.

Not for the first time, she cursed herself for trusting him. For letting him in her home and even worse, in her heart. Her thoughts were sour and she reflected them back to Edward. Was she making the same mistake with him?

She sighed, walking up to one of the walls of the cave and letting herself slide down until she was sitting. She felt inexplicably tired as the thoughts swirled through her mind.

What if she was? Edward was already a revered Raider, knew everything there was to know about the field and she knew in her heart that his motivations were the same as hers. But the speed in which he seemed to conquer her over was something new to her and to be frank, she didn't like it.

She brushed her lips with the pads of her fingers and remember the way he had softly kissed her out on the beach. He held real power over her, had the ability to shake her off her power with a single look and it scared her. Messed with her. She sighed again, running a hand through her hair.

A gust of wind broke her out of her thoughts and she looked up in time to see that wretched door start to illuminate. The bluish white light seemed brighter this time and it engulfed the door wholly. She slowly got up, watching as the light started swirling until she could see a distinct silhouette appear in the middle.

Edward.

Her heart sighed in relief as he became more and more visible until the light died out and there he stood, as though he had never been gone. His eyes landed on hers and he frowned.

"You're bleeding," his voice, stating such an obvious fact, did wonders for Bella's overly troubled mind and she allowed herself to smile in relief.

"Are you okay?" he asked, now frantic with worry and rushing to her side.

"Are you?" she responded.

"Well, I'm a little worried, to be honest," he said, locking his green eyes onto her brown ones. His hands on her arms were warm and her smile widened.

"I'll tell you about it later," she promised him.

"Okay, but let me take care of you first," he conceded, ripping his backpack off and reaching inside for his first aid kit. She gently took off her jacket, revealing a simple white tank top while he prepared to clean the wound on her arm with alcohol.

"This is a bullet wound," he whispered thickly, gingerly holding her upper arm in his much larger hand and she looked up into his eyes. She saw there what her heart already knew. He wasn't going to betray her. Annoy her to hell and back, yes, but never betray her.

"I ran into an old friend," she explained with a shrug.

"The guy who was following us?"

"Yes," she answered. "Trust me, I'll explain later."

Edward nodded, just as he started to dab an alcohol filled cotton ball along the wound on Bella's arm. She bit her lip as the pain started shooting through her arm, determined not to scream out.

"You're a tough cookie," he chuckled. "I can't stand the pain. I scream like a little girl and I ain't afraid to own up to it."

She laughed through her teeth, just as Edward's satellite phone went off.

"Oh yeah," Bella gritted out. "Your panic button went off when you disappeared. I'm afraid you've left the rest of the team in quite a state of panic."

"Uh oh," he sighed, picking up.

He listened to what sounded like Carlisle screaming through the phone with an expression that could only be described as sheepish.

"I'm sorry," he said after a while. "My panic button must've been accidentally triggered."

He listened some more, locking the phone between his ear and his shoulder and wrapped Bella's throbbing arm carefully with bandages and tying a neat knot when he was done.

"Yeah, no, I'm listening," he said. "I don't know where I was, Carlisle. I'll explain everything when we get back, okay? Bella's injured and I need to get her out of here."

Edward rolled his eyes at her as his statement caused another bout of shouting to come through the phone and she suppressed a giggle.

"Not... no... she's..." he rubbed his forehead. "She's fine! She has a graze wound on her arm and her nose had been bleeding, that's all."

"Okay, I promise. We'll see you tomorrow when we get back."

"How's your hand?" Bella asked after he hung up.

"All healed," he grinned, holding it up to show her.

She frowned in confusion, leading her to another question. "Where the hell were you?"

"I honest to god have no idea," he told her, putting his hand on her shoulder and starting to lead her back to where they had come from. "But I know how to get to Yggdrasil."

"You do?" Bella gasped.

"Yep," he smirked. "There's a key and it was broken in half by the vikings. I know where the first half of the key is."

"And the second?" she asked, looking at him sideways.

"If I got the message correctly, the location to the second half of the key is actually engraved onto the first half."

"Oh," Bella sighed, "Okay."

"Come on," Edward said, putting his arm around her shoulder. "Let's get out of here and get some sleep."

~*TR*~

Black Residence. Seattle, Washington. A few days later.

"You failed!" Jacob Black shouted, leaning over James in a threatening stance and glaring into his eyes. James, in return, regarded the man in front of him calmly.

"Breathe, boy," he said. "Mind your blood pressure."

"Jake," Bill Black's voice rang loud and clear through the parlor room as he walked inside, fiddling with the gold cuff link on his expensive shirt's sleeve. "Calm yourself."

Jake continued to glare at the raider for a few more seconds before backing off with a push and walking over to an expensive looking antique cabinet to pour himself a drink. Bill Black smiled heartily at James.

"How are you, James?" he asked cordially with a tip of his head. "Want a drink."

"No thank you," James replied politely. "And I'm well."

"Good, good," Bill said with a satisfied nod. "I need my raider in a good condition."

James smirked.

"So, what's your plan now?" Bill asked. "A full attack? Or are you going for a sneakier approach."

"I know Lady Swan," James said, tucking his leg up to rest it on the knee of his other leg. He started to tap his boot with his fingers. "She'll be expecting a direct attack on her and her property."

"So, what do you suggest?"

"We follow her and her friend," James mused out loud. "We follow them, learn what they learn and let them find Yggdrasil."

Bill Black started nodding. "Once there, we strike," James continued. "And we strike hard."

"Are you suggesting that we let them do the dirty work only to be killed in the end?" Bill asked with a wicked grin.

"Yes," James answered, with a curt nod.

"I like it," Bill said. "I like it a lot."

As always, my special thanks goes out to my beta and friend Smmiskimen. She has a million things going on but still manages to find the time to help me out. Thank you Superwoman, I love you!

I apologize for the late update. As most of you might know, I recently made the epic (insane) move from Chicago to Belgium and it hasn't been easy since then.

If you liked this chapter, please leave a review.

Kisses from Pixie!