Sorry about the delay, folks. Out-of-town business held me up longer than expected. But we're live once again! Read on!
Lara placed a blanket over Emily's shoulders, then seated herself on the couch across from her daughter. Emily pulled the blanket close to her, drawing in a deep breath. Everyone was so serious, and nobody spoke a word. Kurtis was leaned forward, spinning his Chirugai on his finger. Alister stood before the fireplace, glancing from each person every few moments. Zip leaned back on the opposite couch, staring past the rest of his comrades. Emily drew in another silent breath. "He didn't hurt me," she said quietly, breaking the silence.
"It doesn't matter," Kurtis said flatly. "He was here."
Emily slowly gazed up at him. "He wanted me to go with him to Lemuria."
"We figured as much," Alister sighed. "What else did he say?"
"He kept promising me that he was the only person who could keep me safe from Karel."
"And it's true," Lara said. "It doesn't mean you trust him."
"I don't trust him," Emily replied. "But…what are we supposed to do when he comes back?"
"Good question," Kurtis said angrily, rising to his feet. "It's the question of the year, I suppose…"
Emily hesitated. "Why does he want me to go to Lemuria so badly?"
"I don't know," Kurtis muttered. "But obviously, his motives are aside of Karel's."
"Do you…" Emily began slowly. "Do you think Garin knew something? Do you think he could help us?"
"Do you see him around here?" Kurtis asked irritably. "It doesn't matter anyway. He's dead – there's nothing we can do about it."
Emily dropped her head, feeling guilty for asking about her father's dead friend, and embarrassed that Kurtis had lashed out at her. She stared into the flickering fireplace as Kurtis seated himself again, spinning the Chirugai on his fingers once more. Then, she slowly looked up. "What if you went to Lemuria?" she asked timidly.
"Emily, stop asking questions," Kurtis said crossly.
"I'm just trying to help," she muttered in annoyance.
"Your help isn't helping," he argued.
"Well, sorry!" she said defensively. "I just thought –"
"Alright, everyone, relax," Alister put in. "I think I might have an idea, before everyone goes biting each other's heads off…"
Kurtis eyed him with irritability, but spared him from a lashing. "What is it?" he asked with a sigh.
"There obviously has to be a reason as to why Garin said he'd 'see you in Lemuria'," Alister began. "I believe it has something to do with the Sword of Light."
"Oh, right," Kurtis said dryly. "The legendary weapon that was so effective last time."
"You just didn't know how to use it," Alister protested. "Think of it this way – Lemuria is a mythical land. In actuality, it doesn't exist. It's like a dream – it seems real, but it certainly isn't."
"Oh, it was real," Kurtis muttered.
"You understand what I'm saying," Alister sighed. "It's tangible, but in a sense, it isn't. In that aspect, Karel obviously didn't die, and more so, it was because the sword was ineffective in a place with such…fragile context."
"You aren't making any sense," Kurtis said irritably.
"Lemuria isn't technically real!" he said. "Therefore, using the sword to kill Karel inside Lemuria didn't work!"
"So what do you suggest?" Kurtis asked, folding his arms over his chest.
"I suggest you go back to Lemuria and find the sword, then bring it back through the portal and use it against Karel here in reality."
"Yeah, because that'll be easy," Kurtis argued.
"Well, do you have any further ideas?" Alister challenged.
Kurtis turned away, clipping the Chirugai onto his belt with a heavy sigh. "No," he muttered. He knew he was irritable, and he knew he was behaving like a child throwing a temper tantrum, but the thought of going back to Lemuria – even for a few minutes – was enough to terrify him. He couldn't risk getting stuck in there again. If he did, he'd find a high cliff to jump off of and do just that. He couldn't lose Lara again, nor his daughter, nor anything else here in reality.
"I don't get what this sword is," Emily spoke up.
"The Sword of Light," Alister explained. "Several years ago, when Kurtis and the other Lux Veritatis first went into Lemuria, they located it in the belief that it would defeat Karel – it obviously didn't."
"Several years ago?" Emily asked. "Like how many years ago?"
Alister was ready to speak, but realized that the response might not be his place to say. He drew back and glanced towards Lara, who drew in a silent breath, eyeing her daughter with sadness. "Twelve years ago," she said softly.
Emily slowly turned from her mother to her father, who glanced away as soon as she looked to him. "Twelve years ago…" she said slowly. "That's where you were? That's where you'd been for all of my life?"
Kurtis turned to face her, regret and sorrow in his eyes. "You think I stayed there by choice?"
Emily dropped her gaze, then slowly turned to Lara. "Why didn't you ever tell me anything about my father?" she asked as her eyes teared.
"Emily, I didn't know where to begin," she said with a heavy heart. "And what's to say you would've believed me? It's such a far-off tale, even I couldn't believe it."
"I deserved to know," she argued. "For twelve years, I wondered what it would be like to be like the other kids – to actually be able to celebrate Father's Day, or have someone to teach me how to play baseball, or drive a car…for twelve years! And you never bothered to mention anything about him. I've always tried to mind my business about it, but I shouldn't have had to. I deserved to know about my father!"
"What did you expect of me?" Lara asked.
"The truth!" Emily said, close to shouting. "You've always tried to shelter me from the world, and you've even hid me away from any knowledge I could've had about my father! You try to help me to lead a normal life, but does that sound normal to you?"
"You're just a child," Lara argued. "You couldn't possibly understand the entire spectrum of the situation."
"You were just being selfish!" Emily argued. "Why else would you have fought so hard to keep him from me?"
"Selfish?" Lara asked, taken aback. "Trying to protect you is selfish?"
"It's not protection," Emily argued. "It's you thinking that I'm just a kid. Just because I'm twelve doesn't mean I couldn't understand what was going on. I was pretty aware of the fact that for whatever reason, my father wasn't around."
"You have no idea, Emily," Lara said. "Do you think it was easy for me to hold back such information from you? Do you think I wanted to do so?"
"Stop acting like it was such a tragedy for you!" Emily said, tears streaming down her face. "You could've kept him alive in heart and spirit, but you chose not to! Instead, you got rid of him completely! You pushed him out of your own life, and then out of mine! That wasn't your choice to make!"
"You couldn't possibly understand," Lara argued. "You weren't there when I had to virtually give up everything I loved and move on. You couldn't understand it at all. You have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yes, I do," Emily said coldly. "You couldn't get what you wanted, so you took it away from me, too."
Lara reached a hand in the air, coming very close to slapping Emily across the face. Emily cringed away for a moment, half-expecting the hit to come her way. Then, Lara's better senses overtook her. She drew her hand down slowly, tears coming to her eyes. "No," she said quietly. "Let's not do anything we'd regret."
"It's too late for that, Mom," Emily said. "After all these years, it's too late. Now he's leaving again, and he's not coming back, and I'll never get to know what it's like to have a father." She held her gaze with Lara for a moment, then turned away, dropping the blanket around her shoulders to the floor. She turned and headed down the main hallway and out the front door.
Emily stumbled into the cold outdoors, a light snow beginning to fall – the first snow of the season. She looked up to the sky as tears continued to pour down her cheeks, then she bolted forward towards the gardens, preparing to run as far away from the house as she could get. She wasn't even quite sure as to why she'd reacted the way she did. It was the mere thought of knowing that her father had been gone for her entire life, and her mother hadn't spoken one word of it. Perhaps this argument was the product of all the pent-up emotions she'd held inside since she was old enough to realize she was without a father.
Emily stopped running once she reached the outside of the hedge maze, staring up at the two sycamores planted so perfectly apart. Then, she glanced down, noticing a small headstone. She eyed it suspiciously, then bent down, brushing the snow away from it. Kurtis Trent Montsegur. Always in our hearts.
How had she never seen this before? It had to have been here for twelve years. Of course, she never trekked this way – it was a rather secluded area of the mansion. Her fingertips gently fell over the words, and she felt more tears erupting, sobbing at the idea that her mother had intentionally withheld all the information about her father from her. She tucked her legs forward and leaned into her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. All I wanted was my father, she thought.
For a fleeting moment, Emily thought she'd been a bit irrational. Then again, maybe not. If Kurtis went into Lemuria, he wouldn't come back – just like last time, when he'd skipped out on the first twelve years of her life. She wouldn't see him again, she would never get to experience any of those father-daughter moments she'd seen in movies and longed for. He was leaving, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Maybe he wants to leave, Emily thought. Maybe he doesn't even care. She knew that was a crazy thought, but what if? The thought alone made her cry even harder. She sat where she was for several minutes, thinking over and over about the possibilities of what could happen with her father, her mother, and herself.
Then, Emily's senses became alert. She looked up quickly, hearing scuffles and sounds behind her. She quickly glanced around, slowly rising to her feet. Someone was around. She balled her hands into fists, glancing warily about the area. She regretted not taking hold of another lighter sooner. Suddenly, she saw several mercenaries emerge from the shadows, holding rifles in her direction. She took a step away, but knew from experience that there was nowhere to run. "Hands on your head," one of the men said.
A thousand thoughts began to race through her mind. With a frustrated sigh, Emily slowly began to raise her hands. Then, once they reached halfway, she emitted surges of pyrokinetic energy, knocking the mercenaries backwards. She quickly turned away, bolting towards the house. I never should've left, she thought.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she ran as quickly as she could, but within moments, she felt a sharp sting at her back, and her legs became heavy. She stopped running as her vision blackened. Emily reached around to remove the metal dark stuck into her lower back. A tranquilizer? she thought. Before she could think further, she felt light-headedness overtaking her, and she fell to the ground unconscious.
Lara watched as Emily headed away towards the front door. She knew she should stop her, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. She closed her eyes, a mixture of embarrassment, atonement, and confusion overtaking her. She'd never heard her daughter speak at her so strongly before, and it was enough to stop even Lara Croft in her tracks.
Alister and Zip had respectfully backed out of the room and retired to their own rooms as soon as Emily began shouting, but Kurtis remained in place the entire time. Lara couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes. She turned away towards the fireplace as tears fell across her cheeks. Apparently I'm the world's worst mother, and the world's worst…wife…? She didn't know what she would be considered to Kurtis, and even more, she figured there wasn't even potential for it – not after this evening.
She heard Kurtis quietly approaching just behind her. "I don't need to hear it from you, too," she muttered quickly. "I already know you second Emily's opinion."
Kurtis sighed quietly. "I wasn't going to say anything of the sort," he said.
"Right, you've said it enough before," she said angrily.
"She's upset, Lara," Kurtis said softly. "She has a right to be. That has nothing to do with me and what I feel."
"What does it matter?" Lara asked. "She's right – you're going to Lemuria, and you likely won't return."
"Hey," he said firmly. He turned her by the shoulder so she would face him, keeping his hands firmly planted at her arms. "Don't talk like that," he ordered. "I'm coming back."
"What makes you think that?" she said as the tears continued to pour over her cheeks. "How do you know you won't –"
"Stop," he ordered. He held his gaze with her for a moment, then leaned in towards her, kissing her slowly. He pulled away, staring into her eyes for a moment. She stared up into his eyes with desire and confusion. Then, she reached for his mouth, kissing him with ferocity. He pushed her towards the wall, pushing her hands over her head as he began to trail kisses over her mouth, neck, and chest. The last thing either of them had expected was for such a fit of rage to turn into such a fierce lust for passion.
He continued to kiss her as she reached around her back, trying to steady herself as she pushed the door behind them open. They entered into the dark guest room as Kurtis passively kicked the door shut behind him. He'd never lusted for Lara in such a way as this before – he'd always been propelled by a desire for controlled passion, but for a change, he felt a fleeting need within himself to have her like never before, as if his animal instincts were erupting within. He wasn't even quite sure why – perhaps it had been seeing her in her most downtrodden moment which urged him to counteract with intensity and vigor, not to mention the fact that he wanted to forget about the argument between mother and daughter moments before. He'd been a bystander, sure, but all of the third-person references to his presence had made him feel so…hollow, nonexistent. He needed to remember that he was still alive.
He pushed her against the wall, settling her atop the bookshelf as they roughly knocked the knick-knacks from the top and sent them to the floor. He ran his hands along her bare arms and across the silk of her short black nightgown. She arched into him as his hands reached her thighs, pushing the gown up along her legs, his fingertips running across the soft skin of her body as he leaned his mouth close to hers. He was well-prepared to have her right then and there, but something didn't feel right in the back of his mind. He slowly pulled away from Lara, a slight burning feeling reaching through his brain.
"What's wrong?" Lara breathed, half-confused as Kurtis pulled away, yet feeling more teased than anything else. As his hands slipped away from her, she felt the pleasurable sensation throughout her body leave, returning her to her senses. Kurtis reached towards his head, shaking his vision clear as if a headache was coming along. He closed his eyes tightly, cringing as the sharp pain continued to echo through his mind. Then, he turned towards Lara. "It's Emily," he said quickly.
All desires for passion and intimacy disappeared within an instant as they quickly bolted from the room and through the main hallway, grabbing a few firearms along the way. As soon as they set foot outside, they saw a jeep in the distance pulling away quickly. Kurtis lifted his gun in its direction, ready to fire, despite the fact that it was several hundred yards away. He cursed as he dropped his gun, angry at the defeat, but even angrier and more afraid that his daughter had been kidnapped – again.
Such a cliched way for Emily to be kidnapped...oh well. And she finally gave Lara the lashing-out she felt she deserved.
I'll catch you guys on Sunday! =D Thanks for the reviews thus far!