Chapter 7.

Jason White

I woke up groggily and instantly regretted it. The muscles in my legs and arms were burning like hell, all of my limbs were constricting to me. Groaning to myself I lifted my body up from under the heavy blanket and then realised just how much my legs were killing me. Nate woke up in the bed next to mine in just as much or even more pain I was in.

"Damn... I thought I'd regret the running around in the morning" he groaned in pain.

Stretching, the cover fell off of my torso and showed the remains of the scratch left by the bullet from the day previous. I let my hand gently bump across it, it had smoothed and left barley a scar to worry about.

"You doing ok J? You look pale" Nate fussed.

" 'm fine Nate. I'm cramping up like crazy though."

Nate laughed a little, amused at the comment.

"Your shoulder doing allright?" Nate asked.

"It's fine, it's pretty much healed by now. You got over the traumatic experiance?" I joked.

"Not the first time I've seen something like that. Besides, I was a street rat." Nate sighed in sudden depression

"You're not on your own. It's not the first time I've had to heal like this. Take a look" I turned my back to Nate to show some of the scars that had been made on my back including the dreaded burn.

I trusted Nate more than anyone I knew at the time, I could hear the intake of breath he had when he saw the scars. The gaze that scanned my back seemed to go on for a while.

"Your dad was a dick!" Nate exclaimed

"Calm down Nate, he's dead now. All of this is bad but it will clear up. I'll be OK" I turned around. I was unsure of what Nate had meant by that, regardless.

Nate's eyes were that of shock, he didn't look like his usual calm and collected nature. He looked angry.

"Either way, those cops should've done something about it when you ran away"

My blood ran cold, Nate knew about my run ins with the police in the past. How, I did not know. Nor did I care.

"They call kids like me mentally challenged and psychotic, when people find out by other means then you know what happens? They think you're crazy... treat you like you're about to kill them at a second's notice. Ó, kàn, zhè shì jiǎ sēn báisè de biàntài shārén kuáng." I had started shaking. In fear of dead memories waking up.

"You can speak Chinese?"

Shaking I stepped back from them, the look of fear on Nate's face killed me. I wanted to hurt myself for scaring them, bursting into Chinese speech was the last thing I could do before I lost it. I was afraid, scared of judgment.

"J, please. Calm down." he tried to no avail.

I sprinted out of the door, vaulted the balcony and ran out of the manor to the orchard Lara had. I wanted shelter, to hide from it all while I got my sanity back. I disappeared into the private forest as the blizzard began to pick up. As I neared the thickest oak, I felt something strange inside, a burning feeling. Climbing up the biggest tree in the middle I realised just how scared I was, I'd forgotten shoes in fear and the snow on the ground had burnt my feet and nearly frozen them. I hated myself at that point, I'd gotten angry for no reason at all and now my friend and my family would have to brave the decreasing temperature to find me. Sitting on one of the branches I drew my knees up to my chest and hugged them for warmth and comfort. What little I could find.

Nate's P.O.V

Lara sighed in a disapproving fashion, she was not happy with me or J. I was expecting her to freak out but instead she sighed quietly.

"It's going to snow soon, we have to find him before his footprints begin to get hidden. Come on, hurry up and get dressed. You can help me find him."

Sully walked into the bedroom

"What's going on? I just saw the kid run outta the house." He asked

"These two have had an argument or something and then he got... I don't know. Either way, he hasn't got much on and I don't want him out there for too long." She explained

We walked outside, the blizzard had begun to pick up. J wasn't going to get very far, but the footprints had been filled in by the storm.

"Shit! He wont live long out here!" Sully shouted over the wind.

It was my fault that J had ran into the orchard so I decided to ran straight into the orchard like he likely had, leaving Lara and Sully behind. The snow began to hurt my face but J would've been in much more pain than I was in, so I soldiered. on As the snow began to pick up even further, a whiteout had started taking place. I stopped in place, confused of where I was and having no idea how far I had got into the orchard. My own footprints had been covered in by the resulting storm and my arms had started to ache. My legs began to really hurt and I accidently collapsed into the snow. Breathing soon became difficult and I wanted to scream and shout for help.

J's P.O.V

Nate...

Through my closed eyes I could see him, collapsed against the snow of the floor. Temperature was dropping fast and there was little I could do to stop it. Until I realised the burning in my chest grew stronger, at first I thought it was missing one of my shots but no, a different kind of illness stirred inside of me.

It was rage.

Rage lit a flame inside of me, this feeling was all too familiar. Every time I was beaten I had this feeling inside me, I figured it out then. Rage gave me strength to brave anything. The cold became nothing but a light breeze, the aching became a tingle. As I jumped from the tree, I landed in almost a foot of snow. Nothing could be felt at all, my focous was Nate. Sprinting as fast as I could toward him, it became apparent that Nate was definitely in trouble. When I was stood over him, I could see him breathing and struggling to stand. He looked at me in fear.

"I... Something grabbed me." He shivered.

Like an animal I dug around Nate's foot with my bare hands, I saw what had caught Nate's foot. One of Lara's snare traps had caught Nate's leg and cut into his skin, dying the snow around him blood red. I found myself tensing up as I tapped the wire. Nate flinched.

"What is that?" he panicked.

"Don't look." I ordered as I found the hook dug into his leg.

"What are you doing?" He pushed himself up.

His mistake. I yanked the hook out of his leg, clearing the wound of anything that could contaminate it. As Nate growled in pain, I inspected the hook for any rust, thankfully the hook was clean.

"Ahhhhh..." Nate groaned.

"It's only a graze, come on get up." I taunted as I picked him up off the floor.

"What happened to my leg? It's numb..."

"You got it caught in a snare trap, it will feel numb. Come on, let's get you back to the house." I grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.

"What the fuck was all that about?" He sighed as he used me as a balance.

Soon, Lara broke out of the blizzard, a shocked look on her face.

"Don't tell me you got stuck in a snare Nate!"

She took his other arm and helped me carry him back to the manor where Sully had lit a flare so that we could see through the whiteout and find the manor. He was scared by the colour of Nate's skin which surprised me little.

"Goddamn kid, get him in here!" He hurried us.

As we got Nate into the manor, I put him in one of the arm chairs next to the fire which Lara had going.

"Is he all right?" Sully panicked as he crouched next to Nate

"He'll be fine once that cut's clean and closed." I explained as I walked to get the first aid kit to suture Nate's leg.

Once I got back, Nate had manage to turn blue. Still, I remained calm. The same could not be said for Sully.

"What's he doing? Is he choking? What?"

I rolled my eyes as I sat Nate forward and gave him one thump on the back. His breathing returned and so did some of his colour.

"If you'd stop panicking Sully I'd have the cut close by now."

I exposed Nate's leg and looked at the cut closely, it didn't seem all that deep but it still deserved treatment. First I cleaned it with some of the wipes and disinfectant spray -developed for cuts- then used a styptic pad on the cut. Seeing as the cut wasn't bleeding like crazy I didn't need to suture it but I did tightly bandage it to make sure that Nate remembered not to run into a trapped area again.

"Who taught you that?" Lara asked as she came in with the phone.

"It happened to me enough times, I figure I can apply it to someone else." I had calmed down but I still seemed cold.

"Kid I owe you." Sully began.

"You don't owe me anything, I need to go and warm up a little, my leg's tightening up a little" It was an excuse, but at least it was better than 'excuse me while I stop being a little angsty bitch' I'd say.

Lara's P.O.V 1 hour later

J was Definatly changing, the puberty that goes through a normal human is different in a Tiwinoku. During pubertal stages the Tiwinoku grow to the point of becoming fully fledged warriors, 'half breed' Tiwinoku usually don't survive over 30 unless they live in the village of the Tiwinoku. He needed to go back there, just for a day. I didn't want to let him go but I had no choice, he needed the help that we couldn't give him.

J had gone into the Gym to calm down, no matter what he said I knew what was happening to him. When I walked in he was upside down again, a part of his shirt had fallen revealing my fear. Wing tattoos had been inscribed into his back, the marks of flight.

"J, can you come down? I need to talk to you."

This time J had not fallen in surprise, he lent backwards and ended up rolling backwards gracefully to his feet. His form and posture was not that of most teenagers, he looked healthy and polite.

"What's the matter Lara?"

"J, it's time." I knelt down to his level to emphasis the point.

"...I'm know, is it the right thing?" J sighed

Shocked, I looked into J's eyes further. He was in pain.

"I saw it in myself...I was...burning. Something about the village came back to me."

Shaking, he nearly destroyed my heart with one single thing.

"I should never have been taken away"

"J please listen to me, you don't need to stay there if you don't want to. Look at me, you are as human as any of us." I tried.

J shook his head, he closed his eyes and clenched his fists. When he opened his eyes, they were burning, on actual fire, a blue flame.

"They'll accept me there, I don't think anywhere else will." He smiled for some reason.

"You can be accepted, you've always been accepted by me." I reassured him

"By you, yes. What about schools? Or work?" He asked.

"You were born in that village J. You didn't live there." I had begun to tear up myself at this point.

"But I did live here, and everything bad happened here" J had been reduced to a whimper.

My heart leapt up into my throat, nothing that I could do would stop it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop it. I, Lara Croft had been reduced to silent tears by a small 14 year old boy who I'd only known for barely over a week.

Breaking down had become an option for me.

J couldn't hold it in anymore, his legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees. Tears streaming down his face.

"Wha-What about...abou-" J couldn't speak for sobbing.

I thought that I'd made the right decision by asking J to go to the village, but the contrary was true. J was destroyed, after doing this to him I felt like the worst person on earth. J needed to know what would happen to his body should he leave it the way it was. Putting the right words across would've made the task easier but no. I guess that I wasn't that good of a person.

"You need this J. They'll save you."

5 hours later

4pm...

...

J was in his room, alone. I felt completely destroyed, I hated myself. Sully wasn't too happy about the whole thing either. We had just destroyed this young child's head to try and save his body. It sounded like madness but it made sense in the long run.

"Something's wrong with J...what's happened? Why's he been crying?" Nate panicked as he ran down the stairs.

"J's got to go back to china kid, just for a while."

Nate's eyes widened, he stalled in his next sentence. If you could call it a sentence.

"Fuck...WHAT! He's...Ahhhh no!"

"Look Nate, he's going through puberty. Look, there's a process in the development of a Tiwinoku child. We have to take him to the village so that there's less of a chance of him...well dying prematurely."

Nate fell to silence.

J's P.O.V

Staring out of the window like I used to before. Sat in the window sill, looking out across the vast land of the manor. The distance I could see was weird to me, the hills began to look inviting. Running would have been a problem for Lara, I hadn't had the whole thing explained to me. I wanted nothing more than to run. Dangerous as it might've been to run, it still felt like the most normal thing to do. She wanted me to go back to a place where I was hated and likely to be killed. We had gone there during the summer when I was about 7, someone there kissed me and when Dad had found out he locked me in a wooden building and burnt it down which killed 3 people. I survived...

"J are you allright?"

Nate was checking on me every so often. He looked at me with the saddest eyes.

"Yeah..." I had no ability to make any sort of conversation. Nor did I want to, I was likely to be crucified.

"Did Lara tell you?"

"She told me first Nate, she thinks I'm going to be saved." I sighed coldly.

"Are you going to be saved?"

I didn't answer, instead I drew into myself, stayed silent and hugged my knees close to my chest. Nate had nothing to say, instead he left the room and left me to sleep in the window.

The next day 5pm The skies of china.

We were flying over china, the land of my birth and ultimately my death. I was restrained by handcuffs to reduce the risk of me hurting anyone. We had been flying for hours, as if I were even worrying about the land. What's the worst that could happen? Just about anything seeing as we were going to be jumping out of the plane instead of landing. Needing to keep a very close eye on me, Lara was sat next to me. Nate and Sully sat together and every single one of us were dressed in ridiculous flight suits.

"You've been quiet J, you know that we've done this for the best right?"

It took me a few moments to answer.

"Yes, what if they refuse us?"

"Well, we'll figure that out when we get there."

Soon it became time for us to jump, we crossed over one of the biggest mountains in china. The village was close to the peak but near the snow line, to jump from this height was suicide, but Lara was one to take risks when friends were in trouble.

"Ok everyone, up and ready, we'll near the peak In a short while. Let's get ready, get the harnesses." Lara ordered as she unlocked my bonds from the chair.

We were paired in the harness, the jet began to hover as Lara turned me around. She put the harness around my shoulders and across my chest, tightened it so that I was closely pressed against her body. Warmth found its way all over my body at that point, carefully she brought us over to the door. I fell cold and shaking, Lara noticed what was happening to me. To comfort me she did not speak, instead she pressed her lips to the top of my head and kissed it.

"You're safe J, as long as you are with me you will be safe." She promised

Instantly I felt better, that all diminished when the door opened. Frozen winds wrapped their cold arms around my body and the height...oh god the height destroyed me. I broke down into tears, the height became bigger and larger than I thought it was. Lara pushed forward slightly, I resisted but Lara still pushed.

"Please Lara!" I cried.

"Forgive me"

She lunged forwards throwing me and herself out of the plane, everything slowed, there were no noises apart from the wind rippling through my hair. Tears leaked from my eyes. The intense speed we were falling travelled into my fear. I hallucinated, first I saw an angel fall with us. His robes were black and his face was pale, blue wings of flames sprouted from his back and allowed him to fly and glide, carefully I out stretched a hand towards him as he did me. Our fingertips touched. They TOUCHED. He was real, a smile crossed his lips.

"Welcome brother!"

He dived down and towards the ground and hit the ground with a small thud. Lara had not yet reacted to such a sight, I on the other hand reacted intently with my eyes beginning to light up again, the smile across his face had lightened my feelings upwards. I wasn't a threat to them, I was a brother. However, only now had I realised just how close we got to the ground, Lara pulled the cord from our parachute. We jolted as the air rushed into and expanded the parachute, we were safe. No longer falling -or at least at the speed we were- I turned my head to try and talk to Lara.

"Did you see that?" I began

"I told you, the Tiwinoku are pacifists, they wont hurt you. I don't know how he knew you're a Tiwinoku. Nevertheless, they'll help us, there's no doubt about that." Lara replied as she directed the parachute towards the ground.

Slowly, we hit the ground. Quickly Lara detached me from her harness and took her jumpsuit off, allowing her to be back in clothes that suited her. I followed her in suit and noticed that Nate and Sully hadn't followed us.

"Don't worry, we will see them when we get back down the mountain. We could do with finding a trail, we're not far from the village." She noted.

Looking around the forest, I could hear the howl of the wolves as they were approaching. The robe was beginning to become an annoyance as it felt more like a dress than anything else.

"Smile J!" I turned to see Lara take a photo of me, blinded for a few seconds.

"You could be calling me mother after all of this J" She smiled.

"I would like that Lara, although there is something you should know." I smiled back.

"What?"

"Take a look." I was trying not to laugh as some of the wolves had begun to approach.

Lara reacted less than posotivly as she moved away and for her gun, quickly I got in the way to make sure she didn't harm the poor animals.

"No, they don't hurt you!" I exclaimed.

One of the wolves stalked close to me until finally he began to pant excitedly and ran in circles before me, soon the rest of the pack began to do the same. I recognised this as the homecoming thing they did. The wolves were bred by the tiwinoku and speaking of which, the robed man broke through the trees. He spoke aloud in Chinese, I translated for Lara.

"A homecomer! Child, you are welcomed here, who is this human?"

"She is my mother, she says I am ill and need your help." I explained.

"Of course, you have not undergone the purge. I may scare you, but it may be too late." he shook his head.

"Even so, my grandfather lives in the village. Is Xaolong Shin still there?"

"You are the grandson of Xaolong Shin? The son of Rebecca? My boy, why have you not come sooner? The purge should have been done years ago!" he exclaimed

"My father disallowed such a thing, please. I must reach the village with my mother."

"This is not Rebecca! She is an English woman!" He drew his blade.

"Mother is dead, this lady cares for me. She is more of a mother than Rebecca ever was, this woman would never let a man attempt on my life. Should you harm her, I will kill you."

The man instantly put his blade away, a look of apology towards Lara who accepted it. He turned, and lead us up the mountain toward the village. We managed to get there with little opposition, nothing happened to slow us down. The gates were a large stone structure impervious to the elements and any force that dare attack it. Two stone angels stood on the podiums each side of the gate. Out of all of the great structures in the world, this was the most domineering.

"Welcome home brother!" A guard shouted towards us.

The gates glew a bright white and simply swung open.

There he was, a man glowing bright white stood in the middle of the group of warriors that stood before us. Lara's face was one of amazement as was mine, but one thing shook me. The glowing man had something in his hand, a golden medallion similar in everyway to mine, until I realised it was mine. The white family crest emblazoned into his robe.

"Brothers, today is a glorious day for us! A brother has returned and no less than my own grandson!" His voice boomed across the landscape.

He was my grandfather, you'd expect him to have the typical features of a wise man. No, he was the definition of experience. Battle hardened and the machete to prove it, strapped to his hip with the blued steel construction. He moved towards us before stopping, he spoke in English.

"Lara, what brings you back?"

"Your grandson is Ill Xaolong, I am only doing what I feel is right."

"As you should, and I can smell from here he is ill. The purge has not been done for him, yet you bring him here now. You could have done it yourself." He spoke solemnly as he began to lose his light.

"I don't have the skill, nor the knowledge."

"My daughter has."

My heart clenched, I began to feel sorrow like I had never done before. My heartstrings were cut.

"No, that bastard Angel! Come in quickly, I must discuss this matter with you and the boy." He turned with a swish of his cloak and managed to stay visible even through the crowds.

I grabbed Lara's hand and pulled her along with me, the streets were paved and the buildings were terracotta in nature, a large stone dragon loomed over the city with a permanent stance of dominance over the city to scare away those who didn't know better. Eventually we reached the temple, a large structure with the stone guards there side by side. When we entered, we saw a few nurses in kimonos move toward us until Grandfather put his hand up towards them and opened the door. A large room filled with scrolls and a desk, this was the office of the single leader of the Tiwinoku.

"I wont live to see that bastard die I swear." He growled low in his throat.

"My daughter...beautiful, kind Rebecca. How fate ruins us."

Lara stood forwards in front of me, she seemed defensive.

"Angel was a bastard, you are right. But I hope you suggesting that J."

"Then who else? I cannot leave the village, the people need me here. You? I think not, you don't have what it takes to kill a man like him. Young Jason, the man who made you flinch at your own name will die by your hand. Swear it by me, please." Grandfather begged.

I managed not to break down at that point, one thing that managed to really destroy me was Lara's dedication to stop me from killing someone. A lot had happened, abuse mainly between me and my father. To kill him seemed overzealous to say the least.

"The boy is 14 years old! Find it in your heart Xaolong, to let him grow." Lara began

"I don't expect him to go out on a manhunt, especially in the state he is in now. When the time comes, Jason will kill him."

"I'll do it, I swear that when I see him next I will give my life to kill him."

Before Lara could retort, Grandfather stood up proudly.

"I admire your determination, but you're likely to have hormone disease. The purge must take place, you see. Should you not be healthy, should you not take care of yourself, you will die and you will not die peacefully. I would want to die before you my boy, please be taken, I will see you soon."

Lara's P.o.v

Rage burned me, Xaolong had manage to persuade J to kill. Needless to say, once J had been taken by the nurses I gave Xaolong a piece of my mind.

"How could you?" I was beginning to feel the need to hit him.

"My daughter is dead, child. You would not understand, revenge is needed. What would you do if J was murdered now?"

I was taken aback, no-one had ever managed to do that to me before. It seemed as if because I was practically J's mother, it had weakened me.

"Kill the bastard who did it..." I admitted.

"Exactly, but I can't kill Angel. I am the dialo of the village. I'm 68 Lara, I can barley carry this blade." He put the estranged machete on the table before me.

"Jason can't hear his own name without flinching because of his father, Jason can't look at himself in the mirror the same way because of his father, because of his father Jason is ill, Jason is dying because of his father, Jason is not Jason because of his father." He lit a herb very quickly and inhaled.

Jason...