Chapter 22: Teaching Moment

I don't own anything. Resident Evil belongs to Capcom and Tomb Raider belongs to Core Design, Crystal Dynamics, and I think Square Enix. The only thing I own is the changes made to the stories of the Tomb Raider games/comics and Resident Evil games/comics/CG movies, the Government branch S.P.E.L.L., the person that has taken over Kathrine Warren's life, and Rose Warren. This story also will be bloody, violent, and have cursing. It's rated T for Teen.

Country: Russia, State: Siberia, City: Siberian Wilderness, Place: Near Kitezh, Area: Soviet Installation/ Bow Tomb, Month: November, Day: Monday 27th, Year: 2000, Time: 05:42 KRAT…

Leon jolted as the thin wall crumbled a part. "Jesus." He said as Lara stepped back from the now human sized hole in the cavern wall. "Doesn't that damage that axe?"

"If your axe is from a cheap manufacturer, then yeah." Lara said.

Kat showed her axe to Leon. "I got mine from a cheap place. But they made it seem like it was high quality and marked down. Fucking liars." She groaned as she hooked it back to her belt. "I miss how advanced the internet was in my second life. I could leave an online review on them. Might even get a refund."

Leon shook his head as Lara slipped into the tunnels, the golden glow of her stick following her. "Wouldn't you have to send the damaged item back to them to get that?"

Kat nodded as she followed Lara through, her green glow following. "Yeah. But I can't now. It's got human blood on it. Even if I clean it before sending it, Lumanol would make this think glow like a star."

"Why do you think they would use that on it?" Lara asked as Leon squeezed himself through the gap.

He was taller than the two and bending over to fit through made himself wider than them too. His blue glow joining their warm and cool tones. "Unless they are from our agency or something."

Kat shook her head. "I'm just weirdly paranoid." She sighed as they looked around the old stone walls.

There were shelves carved into them for either urns or candles. Maybe even offerings. The gold coins they'd found seemed to point to that. Leon broke more of the wall as he got through and rubbed at his head and chest.

"Tight fit, ow." He looked around and saw some skulls were on the shelves too. "That's not creepy at all."

Kat snorted. "Not the creepiest thing you'll see."

"Don't you dare tell me I'll see worse." Leon joked. "Right?"

"Well…"

"Ah, the ceiling collapsed." Lara voiced getting Kat and Leon to stop.

They looked at the large stones in front of them, blocking the path. But there was a large gap at the top. Plenty of hand holds. Leon tipped his head. The whole thing looked sturdy enough. One by one the three climbed up the rocks and slipped through the gap to the stairs on the other side. They were quiet as they walked farther into the tomb. The stairs, though aged, were functional stone steps.

At the bottom, they found another collapsed ceiling, but also a wall plaque. Lara walked to it, pulling her golden stick from her belt and letting its glow illuminate the plaque. She dusted some grit and earth away. It was another byzantine plaque. They seemed to be everywhere that was hidden.

"Damien, the prophet's forge…" Lara read out loud as Leon and Kat came over. "The rest's faded."

"So…is this like a black smithing crypt?" Leon asked a bit confused as he pulled his glow stick and shined it around.

"Maybe?" Kat shrugged as she turned. "Tomb is definitely the word for this." She shined her stick at a mosaic piece on the wall behind them.

Leon came over and tipped his head at the image of a man walking and praying. "That…" He fished his coin out and held it up. "It's him again. The Prophet."

Kat nodded. "Yeah…We'll probably find a lot on him here."

"Let's get farther in. This tomb could be a short cut to finding Jacob." Lara voiced as she started climbing up the rocks to an upper part of the tomb.

Leon and Kat followed. After a short walk they came to an open cavern. The floor below was flooded with murky water. It looked gray in their three tones of light. Leon groaned.

"Is this normal? This much water in tombs?" He asked as Lara looked around.

"Pretty much. It's one of the many things that can be there." Kat shrugged. "Why? Done getting your hair wet?"

He sighed. "More like I'm done with…uh, chafing." He grimaced.

Kat's eyes widened along with Lara's.

"Right…" The two said as it hadn't crossed their minds.

"Hey…is that a scroll?" Lara pointed out, changing the subject. Holding her stick higher to allow its glow to shine.

Leon and Kat did the same. On a small little rock island attached to the wall about three feet to the right on the other side of the water, was an old scroll case. They couldn't tell from where they stood if it had anything in it, but it was like all the ones the three had run into and found before.

"Okay, so we do have to go swimming." Leon nodded.

"Let's make this fun." Lara smirked.

"What?" Leon asked.

"Well, Kat and I started a comparison a bit ago. Whoever was the last one at the bottom of an ice slide has to pay for the main course dinner, which we'll all be needing when this is over. But drinks, appetizers, and desserts are left over of who pays for what." Lara explained.

"So, who's paying for dinner?" Leon asked curiously.

"That would be me." Kat sighed. "So last one to the rock pays for what?"

"I'd say Appetizers." Leon said as he looked at the water. "Time starts as soon as we're all in the water?"

"Seems fair." Lara voiced.

"Yep." Kat nodded as well.

With that they hooked their sticks to their belts. They then jumped into the water. When they all surfaced Lara looked ahead of them all. The water for them was deep. Leon could stand, but the water was at the base of his neck. Kat and Lara were on their toes and had the water at the top of their necks, by their chins.

"Three, two…one…" Lara started swimming, pushing off the floor with her toes. "Go!"

"Oh, you cheat!" Kat called out as Leon and her pushed off.

"I don't want to pay for onion rings!" Leon called out as he swam.

Funnily enough Leon's feet fully touching the bottom, his push off, got him a bit ahead of both Kat and Lara. He laughed as he pushed himself a bit more, but Kat got ahead of him. Both reached the rock with Lara and looked at each other unsure.

"Who touched the rock first?" Leon asked as he pulled himself up onto it and pushed his hair from his face.

"Kat." Lara said as she pulled herself up by the blonde.

Kat was grinning. "Oh…Lara, you were last to touch the rock."

Lara's eyes widened as she stopped squeezing her ponytail of water. "What?"

Leon laughed and nodded. "Were you really last?"

"No? Kat and I were neck and neck." Lara tried.

"Nope, I pay for the main, you pay for the opener!" Kat beamed as she finished squeezing water from her short braid.

Lara groaned as she stood, flicking as much water off her hands as she could before reaching for the scroll case. "Fine. I'll pay…this is also in Byzantine." She said as she pulled the scroll out.

Cities are not built on plans alone. There must be material and there must be someone who knows how to build. Damien was that man. They say he could muster brick from nothing more than a handful of dirt and a tinderbox. They say his craftmanship was divinely inspired. It is his hands that gave form to the architect's dreams.

"Building a city like Kitezh would take many skills and talents. The Prophet praised every contribution." Lara voiced after reading.

Nods all around before they looked to the small, flooded tunnel. It was the only way forward. The three hopped back into the water and swam through the tunnel one at a time. Leon shook his head.

"Kat, are you sure you can't remember how much swimming there will be?" He asked as they got out of the water.

Kat thought about it as they walked up to a wall. "Not really. I mostly remember there being swimming a lot in Shadow, Anniversary, Legend, and Underworld. On the Tomb Raider side of things. If I've played my cards right, in Resident Evil the only swimming would be Chronicles, 4, Revalations-ish, and maybe 6." She sighed pinching her nose. "I'm realllly sorry in advance for you, Leon."

"Um…why?" Leon asked as Lara climbed up the wall first and slipped over the ledge.

"There's giant spiders in your future. I'll warn you right when it's gonna happen. I can't remember the year right now." Kat cringed as she started climbing after Lara. "I only brought my TR Journal."

Leon paused for a second then shook his head. "Really?" He asked as he started climbing the rock wall.

"Yeah…really creepy. I played the game once and couldn't play passed that point. Had to watch a playthrough of it later on…" Kat frowned, thinking. "YouTube…it's a video website that will be a thing in 2005? I hope." She shrugged as she to the top and pulled herself next to Lara.

"Great. Had hints of them in Raccoon, and I'll face them later. Like zombie rats on a sub apparently." Leon groused as he got to the top.

"What?" Lara asked shocked with both things. "Giant spiders? Zombie rats?" She said as Leon stood with them. "We are talking about some Amazonian jungle species of Tarantula, right?"

Kat shook her head. "Remember reading about Aragog and his children in Harry Potter or Shelob in Lord of the rings, or the big fuckers in the Hobbit?"

Lara nodded then paled. "I'm not arachnophobic…but you've got to be kidding."

"Saw the webs in the sewers in Raccoon. Rose warned me so we kept an eye out." Leon stated. "Never saw the things that made them, but the size of those webs made me wary of the eight-legged freaks."

"Fucking hell, you're both serious." Lara breathed out.

"You'll face them too at some point, given some of the event's that've happened in your timeline so far." Kat cringed.

"Bloody hell." Lara cursed as they came to the end of this short tunnel. "I'd better not."

"Hey, believe me, if none of us see or witness them, I will be overjoyed. If any of us do, don't be surprised if in stockings or birthday presents include flame throwers and heavy-duty spider spray." Kat voiced.

"I wouldn't be opposed to a Flame Thrower." Leon smiled a bit.

"You just enjoyed using all that fire on things." Kat snorted.

"I did." Leon nodded then looked into the room. "Okay this is weird." He nodded at the stone sarcophagus.

In the room below, was a raised platform with four small stairs to a single stone sarcophagus. What was weird, Lara and Kat agreed with Leon on this, was the sunlight that filtered into the room was shining in a beam on the sarcophagus. Drawing their attention to it like some marker from a game, ironically. Leon hoped into the room and helped Kat and Lara down as there was some broken stone supports around and if anyone landed wrong, it would equal a sprained ankle. This seemed to be some sort of main area.

"Okay, this is definitely the tomb of someone important." Kat voiced as they walked up to the Sarcophagus.

"So do we leave or…"

Lara pushed the top open interrupting Leon with the sound of stone grinding on stone.

"Or that." He finished as Lara peered into the sarcophagus.

Lara then reached in and lifted a bow. It looked like it was made of a sturdy wood and ram horns. The string on it could do with repairing but it looked in very good shape. Lara tried to tuck it to her back rig but found her the first makeshift bow was blocking it.

"Kat could you switch these out? I can fix this and give you the recurve when we have a moment to rest." Lara said.

"Hang on, was there a body in there?" Leon asked as he walked over and peered in, seeing the skeletal armored remains.

"Sure." Kat nodded walking over to Lara and switching the bows. "And yeah. But any time we can upgrade we should. Speaking of…" She backed off from Lara and turned to Leon with the makeshift bow. "Crash course on Archery. Can you draw this back?"

Leon blinked then took the bow. He wasn't sure for a moment before he gripped the handle. He then grabbed the string with three fingers, like he thought he'd seen Kat and Lara do. He paused and looked at them both, thinking about what he'd seen them do. He looked to the bow and drew it back. It was harder than he was expecting. As much as the bow made of several branches woven together seemed flimsy, it was anything but. He hissed as he drew back, feeling his arm shake.

"Whoa, hang on, your draw is off." Kat told him, stopping him partway.

"You sure?" Leon asked as he loosened up, feeling the string pull his hand sharply.

Kat nodded. "Here." She got next to him, in his space to fix his grip on the handle. "You're gonna need to have a good hold on this." She then grabbed his hand that had the bow string, looping one of her fingers over his third finger and uncurling it. "Only two fingers grip the string. Three's too much and you can have one of them lock up and miss fire." She told him as Lara smiled at the pair, Kat then pushed his elbow up a bit, so it was even with his shoulder, not his upper rib cage like it had been. "Have your elbow up here, it's working the right muscles so you can draw back more."

Leon nodded with a swallow. It wasn't the first time they'd been this close to each other, but somehow this time it was different. All the other times his heart raced. This time it was like that hug she'd initiated when they regrouped. A calmness, a slow steady beat that let him relax at her touch. He watched her help with his grip and felt his cheeks and ears heat slightly. Unless he was wrong, he saw pink dusting her cheeks too.

She then looked down at the floor and kneeled down. "Now, put your left foot forward and your right foot back, it's sorta like a shooter's stance, but both feet pointed to the side. Just like that." She smiled as she stood back up from helping him move his feet. "Now," She leaned forward again and turned his chest to the side, facing the same way as his feet. "This makes you a smaller target and is for getting your draw arm back and your bow arm fully extended." She then lightly turned his face to looked to the wall. "Eyes forward on your target, this doesn't have sights. You have to use the arrow to aim. Unless it's a very far shot, then you'd aim and lift your arms, tipping your back." She informed him as he soaked in her words. "Okay," She rested her hand on both of his. "Draw all the way back…" She instructed.

Leon's arms followed her movements, his left hand gripping the bow and holding it in place and his right pulling the bow string back. It was easier now. There was resistance, but he wasn't shaking to draw it back this time.

"All the way to your cheek." She told him, not realizing her voice had dropped to a quieter tone. "Just like that."

Leon swallowed as his eyes flicked to her for a second before snapping back at the wall. "Okay…now what?" He asked just as softly and maybe a bit deeper than he intended.

"You let your hand fall back, let your fingers loosen." Kat, in that moment, realized that she felt something more in right then. Her heart she realized, didn't race like a horse on a battlefield. It beat like a steady war drum. "You just let go…" She swallowed as she stepped back, her fingers falling from his hands.

Leon's hand fell back, and the bow string snapped forward into its normal position. Its thrum rang in the air. For a moment he smiled. This moment. It was just him and Kat. He liked it. He also like learning from her. It was just as nice as when she was teaching him to swim. How to hold air in his nose so water didn't go up it. How to float. The proper movements to both have fun and be efficient in the water. He turned to her smiling, wanting to see the same joy he felt on her face. And he did. But he watched as it faded. He wasn't sure why, but the joy was eclipsed by doubt.

"Thanks." He said, not sure what else he could say then. 'Date me please?' came to mind but he felt that wasn't tactful and it definitely wasn't the right time.

"We um…" Kat swallowed. "I think this bow's good for now. I'm sure will get something better. More, er, durable and…" Kat looked away and at Lara. "Find a way out?"

Leon sighed as he put his new bow to his back, clipping it to the back rig. "Yeah. Find it?"

Lara smiled at the pair, both sadly and knowingly. She understood Kat's extreme hesitancy now. But still found it ridiculous. "Yeah, this way." She told them. 'Would it be wrong to mettle? Tell Leon about Kat's insecurity?' She wondered, before shaking her head. 'Don't break the girl code. Unless they really start to get stupid and try to go back to the friend zone…'