A/N: It's finally here! And while it has not been easy, I'm still so happy to have the story coming together and get to show it to you guys. I really hope you enjoy the fic! Updates should be out about every 2-2,5 weeks (if not, then I'll publish one-shots as a replacement).
A massive thank you to RhiaLynn for polishing my grammar and vocabulary! Kudos also to fanfic. addicted01 for early-draft comments and Ceara Einin for help with canon specifics and spurring ideas! Some lines of dialogue in the fic are from the game and belong to the respective owners.
Trigger warnings for canon-typical violence.
They were coming.
Three weeks ago, his biggest worry had been the central guard being possibly swayed into betraying him. But now…
It appeared that the tales about the Mongols were not unfounded. A strong-willed army, one that was ready to sacrifice their own men and horses to reach the mountains – to reach them.
Jacob turns his head to look at the Divine Source that stands on the pedestal, it's light dimmed by the ornate cloth. His jaw clenches, and he glances at the closed doors in the empty hall.
The citizens were already packing, gathering emergency rations to stay indoors for a lengthened time.
They were probably safe. The passages had been designed that way, and their army was strong.
His hands almost seek out a prayer but he prevents the gesture at the last second and wets his lips.
The Source isn't giving him clear guidance, just an ominous feeling – but of what choice he isn't sure.
It might become the Oasis all over again.
The thought sends an unwanted tremor of nausea – fear – to run through him, but he squashes it down the best he can.
He moves his fingers to give them something else to do than just shake, and yet he is just a man, trying to do the right thing.
He glances at the Source again. Would it be safe? Should he hide it? But alas, he isn't ready to trust it in anyone else's care. It has been carried under his robes and in his satchel by beasts' lairs and lethal drops, unforgiving deserts and the arctic. It's …beyond what one could think of. The younger generations have no idea what they are worshiping.
No, he will keep it here. It'll be the safest in the middle of the city.
They might be safer if he was to destroy it, but the Source is beyond that, eternal, a way to a secure future. His people knew that, they had sworn in to protect it with their lives.
It was the choice he had made.
"The costumes?" Jacob asks, puzzled by the macabre looks while he sidesteps two locals and tries to find a quieter spot in the central plaza of the Mexican town.
"Death masks," Jonah answers from behind him, trying to make his voice heard over the music and the chatter, "they represent wanting to keep their loved one's spirit close."
Jacob simply nods in thought and turns to glance at Lara who is still pushing papers on the balcony, completely oblivious to how the celebration has seemingly brought the whole island onto the streets.
"It's a little bit unusual festive, –but hey, at least they understand celebration," Jonah's voice breaks his stare on Lara, and Jacob makes no mistake that the man's frustration over Lara's workaholism is shining through. It had probably been his wisest move today to keep Jonah from knowing how he had healed Lara's leg after her near-death under the collapsing stone entrance.
He hums distractedly. The idea of celebrating death, while unaccustomed thought in the Christian tradition, doesn't sound that far-fetched to him, even if feeling a bit morbid with his guilt over the deaths on his conscience.
He could never participate.
"What will you two gentlemen have?"
His first reaction is to ignore the local woman with an apologetic smile, but the fresh tamales catch his eye.
The food brings back an unwanted memory of his dread earlier when he had tried to find where Lara was buried, the thoughts of how the tetelas she had piled on his plate this morning might have ended up being their last.
He buys four without a second thought, making Jonah blink.
"I'll take these to Lara. I'd doubt she has taken the time to eat amidst our new find."
Jonah looks at him for a second before giving the woman some coins for a beer. It seems that his intention lacks some discretion, but maybe it's given how much time they have spent together with Lara since arriving in Mexico nearly a month ago.
Jonah lets him leave the crowd with a simple wave of the hand, deciding not to interfere. The man seemed to get along with the locals better than with ancient traps and near-death experiences anyway.
Every step up the stairs makes it remarkably easier to breathe.
Lara raises her gaze when he gets closer and flashes him a wide smile, shuffling her chair to the side to make him room.
"Tamales," he offers when he carefully places the snacks on the table.
"You didn't need to."
"It helped me escape to here."
Lara flashes him a conspiratorial smile, proud of his craftiness. Her leg doesn't seem to cause any aftereffects, because right now, he kind of believes that she wouldn't hide it from him.
"Here, look, the riddle! It's directions like we thought. But I looked into the number. I know it looks like thirteen, but what if it's really an eight?"
He blinks, leaning closer and his mind rushing forward, trying to piece the implications together. The realization hits. "Maya's calendar was according to the stars…? That has to be more than thousands of years of difference."
"Exactly! Back then, the heart of the serpent set directly to the West, and now…"
He stares at the map and pictures the night sky's movement with a small tilt of the head. "Peru?"
Lara taps the map victoriously with her pen, "If we get there before them…"
A smile rises to his lips and the band squeezing his chest loosens. "We might get a head start."
Lara shares his mood and visibly bites her lower lip with appealing self-satisfaction in her eyes. She even takes one of the tamales. He cherishes these moments to see how the unsure and hurt young woman is starting to find her self-confidence and for a moment he can relate to the jubilant mood below them despite his earlier scare today. They play wonderfully well together with Lara: very little translation is needed between their thoughts.
Lara eventually forces herself to break the escalating flirting and shows him another picture.
"There's also something about a …key. – What is Trinity looking for in a hidden city?"
But they don't get far in their pondering before Jonah joins them, giving them a nice reason to scoot even closer to make room for a new chair around the table.
"Peru," Lara sets out to explain the new clue with her voice picking up speed with every word, leaving Jacob watching her enthusiasm.
"Any luck with you?" Lara asks after covering the basics, snatching the last bite of a tamale and devouring it quickly.
"Yeah. I was just coming to tell you that Dr. Dominquez arrived. He's… the fifth table, expedition gear."
Jacob and Lara both crane their necks slightly to get a look at the man in his 50s and someone coming to greet him. They've been waiting for a few days to see if he'd show given how frequently his name has come up when trying to get more information about Trinity's dig sites in the area.
"I would love to hear what that's about," Lara comments.
"They've found something," Jacob translates after a second when Dr. Dominquez gets up and throws a generous amount of money onto the table.
Lara's gaze flies to him. "Even you can't hear that far. Not with the music. – Can you?"
He lets a small smile tug his lips at the upper hand. "I can read lips."
Lara's mouth stays open for two seconds before she changes her pose and rolls her eyes in a clear response to his ever-lengthening list of skills.
He knows that she is dying to have the same ability now. However, to learn it she would need to have all the free time to be bored enough to learn menial skills – and the interest to pay attention to people outside her close circle.
Or paranoia to keep an eye out for a potential mutiny.
"Let's see where he goes," Lara says smugly, the earlier satisfaction of their progress still seeping through.
"Lara, wait! We might want to blend in."
He doesn't miss Lara's impatience to go after Dr. Dominquez, but she does accept the death mask from Jonah, puts it on, and raises her hood to blend with the crowd. However, in the brief minute that she looks at him from behind the mask, checking that he is ready to engage with Trinity if need be, his stomach lurches on its own accord – all the way down to his knees.
He might have been a prophet, but he isn't a seer. And yet, in over a thousand years he has become quite good at learning how things evolve. It's not always something concrete in his mind, but with the Source strengthening his senses, the trepidation has to appear too evident on his face as Lara's eyes turn inquiring.
He cannot answer, so he simply walks up to her, envelopes her hand and wrist, to take hold while he still can, and leans closer to her ear as if that could prevent the world from meddling with his warning. "Stay safe."
He hates the death on her face.
Lara looks at him even more quizzically in a way that death never does, but she bows her head in a nod in the end. "You too," she replies, uncertain.
He doesn't know where the earlier playful mood disappeared, but as they descend back to the plaza crowded with people celebrating death, he likes the festival even less than when the first candles had been lit.
Jonah provides them a cover while they climb over the wall in a quieter place. They aren't sure if they have been spotted, so they use the back alleys, trying to evade Trinity informants and locals alike.
"What do you think of him?" Lara asks when they get a glimpse of Dr. Dominquez helping a small boy.
They aren't blind to the henchmen on the man's side.
"We don't know enough."
"You don't think that's all just an act?" Lara continues, pushing a drying cloth out of their way.
He tilts his head indistinctly. "People are rarely purely good or bad."
Lara looks at him for longer than usual before having to turn to check the road again not to trip on anything.
"You don't believe so?"
"Let's just say that it contradicts my experiences with Solarii, and with Trinity."
"And me?"
Lara turns her head back a bit, unsurprised and knowing, "You're the exception that makes the rule. And, I count you in the good category."
He bows his head briefly before having to bow it a lot more to avoid a sign from some closed shop. He doesn't deserve her praise, and as much as he likes her kindness towards him, he is once again left to ponder how objectively, or if at all, Lara sees him.
He smiles dryly but it becomes more serious as Lara turns enough that he can get a good look at her face.
Lara blinks. "Is it the mask that bugs you?"
He can only nod, glancing out of reflex to see where Dr. Dominquez is heading.
"Because of the cross or the dead?"
"Not really neither," he tries without a clear answer …and yet. "The people are all dressed in death."
"And it's a bad sign to play with something like that…?" Lara asks when they follow Dominquez's example as the man stops when a local older woman seeks him out.
He purses his lips and looks at Lara's brown eyes trying to read him from the holes of the mask. "In part perhaps. Yet, I'm afraid it's more of a gut feeling."
"Because of the…?" Lara clarifies when they move on, the word 'Source' omitted from her words.
He hums an affirmative.
Lara ponders his words for a moment and glances into the main street from the small gap between the houses.
"If I took it off?"
They are already reaching the outskirts of the town, so he dares to nod in gratitude. It's somehow comforting how Lara accepts these things that are his second nature without mystifying them.
Even now her follow-up question is sincere in its seriousness. "Better?" Clear skin, some scars, and the bruise she had acquired two days ago stare at him back openly.
He much prefers her features as they are, but for some reason, the anxiety stays like the red lines from the plastic on Lara's face. The music is quieter here with the festivities further away from them.
He hesitates for a second for not rewarding her consideration, but she deserves the truth. "Not enough," he replies solemnly after a silence, making Lara take a deep breath, preparing herself for the unknown threat. He bows his head when Lara has turned to move on. He isn't sure if a prayer is enough with whatever destiny the heavens has reserved for them, but he'll say one anyway.
They agree with Jonah that the man stays to watch the roads to the dig site while they infiltrate it from the side.
They manage to save the local archeologist from being shot, but it's clear that he is not the only one in danger. Trinity appears to be ready to kill everyone tonight after reaching their target, making his anxiety spike. But he and Lara can only do so much, making them swallow with their current objective and head to the temple.
They follow the edges of the area, ultimately running to a windy cliffside and a monolith.
"I know this figure. Ix Chel, the goddess of the full moon," Lara explains to him before glancing at the other side of the carved rock, "And this is Chak Chel, the new moon. They are the two faces of the same goddess. Ix Chel is the young woman that represents life and healing. Chak Chel is the old woman and represents death. Together as twins they form a symbol of duality: the cycle of life and death. … There's an inscription: Chak Chel the key lies beyond her gaze..."
He waits on the side as Lara pieces the puzzle together.
"The key?" Lara turns to look at the high drop ahead of them. "The entrance must be down there," she points where the large rock-carved and moonlit skull stares at.
"Are you certain?" he verifies not about the place but the intelligence of the plan because there is very little room for a second chance if the cliff face crumbles under her for the third time today.
"Certain enough," Lara replies easily. "You'll return to the town?"
"I think I'll keep an eye on Trinity's progress," he answers while still eyeing the drop. He has seen her do outstanding jumps in Siberia and the training room, but those had been relatively safe situations compared to the sharp rocks and raving ocean hundreds of feet below them. He'd jump after her into the sea if needed, but Lara doesn't seem to consider the chance of failure at all, and not for the first time today, it eats him a little.
He doesn't step back or try to stop her and simply watches stoically when Lara readies her climbing axes, nods her goodbyes, and backs further away to get enough speed for the jump.
She doesn't miss.
He isn't sure if Trinity knows what they are up against when he kneels to watch Lara rappel and climb her way down and eventually disappear from his line of sight. It would have been impossible for him to follow her anyway with the disintegrating rock. And once again, he briefly ponders if he fully knows what he is dealing with either when he turns back and sets his path closer to the excavation site, the radio messages from a stolen Trinity radio speaking of a grim tale.
Lara's consistent reports mark his time while he kills the Trinity soldiers that wander onto his path. There are a few more workers that he manages to save before Jonah warns them that more Trinity soldiers are entering the area. From his vantage point, he can see that the first team is blasting their way in – a warning that Lara responds with progress.
"There's a mural here. It shows a box. The inscription says: The silver box of Ix Chel. – That must be what's hidden in the city!"
Jacob inches closer with the cover from the digger, the broken planks and abandoned barbed wire hindering his careful steps. He tries to count how much destruction he could cause alone while Lara and Jonah talk about Kukulkan.
He has the pistol he stole from a dead soldier, but he prefers the knife.
Neither one of the weapons does little good against the men. A diversion maybe but…
"Wait, there's more. – Looks like a series of cataclysms? – A tsunami. A storm, An earthquake. Volcanic eruption."
He stills, his eyes darting with his hurried thoughts.
"So much for a god of creation."
"Well… In Mayan belief, Kukulkan is the god of creation and destruction."
There's a bigger explosion again which forces Jacob to break from his thoughts and run to explode some tanks of gasoline to disperse the men.
"I found a dagger! There's an inscription. The Key to Ix Chel's heart unlocks the cleansing."
There's a minute pause and even before she says it, he knows that Lara shares his trepidation of Trinity getting their hands on anything with the word 'cleansing' attached to it.
"Okay, let's think this through…"
He would full-heartedly support Jonah's idea, but he can see that Trinity soldiers finally got the temple door open and are readying their weapons to go in.
"Lara, they are coming."
Is he a coward for not giving her an answer? It feels like he already knows that the people are doomed either way.
He is just about to reply to her when Lara's choice becomes obvious as the ground starts to shake under his feet. It may have been over a thousand years since he last felt an earthquake, but even the modern information about its source doesn't squash the primal alarm.
A bigger testament to their sin is Lara's shout from the radio. "Get to the higher ground, both of you. Now!"
It's pure panic and fear if he has ever heard those from her.
"Oh no. You took it, didn't you."
"Hurry!"
He sets on a run through the sparse jungle, but not out of the dig site but deeper into it, shooting two Trinity soldiers on the way, trying to guess where Lara would resurface.
"Let me know where you get out."
"No, Jacob! You need to go."
He kills another soldier, before crouching down, ignoring how different it feels to have your feet sinking in mud instead of having to traverse in snow.
He is not in his element.
"I'm near the lift, climbing up."
He finally catches a glimpse of Lara covered in mud from head to toe about four minutes later, but he stays in the shadows not to make them a single target. The helicopter closing in on them forces them to quicken their steps and he would be genuinely worried for Lara's chances if he hadn't witnessed her skills at the Gulag. Trinity is attacking her head-on.
He wonders how much time they have left. They are still way too close to the coastline.
They manage to clear enough of the area for Lara to slip through the remaining fighters and out of the area while he takes care of the closest guards.
Lara's cry of pain freezes his brain, and he drops the body to the ground without caring if the soldier is fully out of his misery when he is already running to the inner yard.
"Stay back!"
He stops too fast, having to use his hand to lessen the collision with the wall to break his run at Lara's shout from the street. In the silence that follows, he plays the echo of her voice in his mind to decide that it was meant for him.
He needs another path – quickly.
Another soldier is closing in on him, but he has no choice but to push backward and scramble for the wall when his radio kicks to life.
"–isn't the way I hoped we'd meet. You know, I've been interested in your work."
He blinks but pulls himself up on the wall, crouching to get a viewpoint.
"Trinity always is."
Lara is surrounded by seven Trinity soldiers and Dominquez, weapons trained on her. If he made a well-placed jump…
But it's too much of a risk with Lara vulnerable.
"I see you," he assures through the radio, Lara staying admirably passive to keep his presence a secret.
Dr. Dominquez takes the dagger reverently from his most well-dressed henchman who gives a longer look at Lara.
"The Key of Chak Chel. – I've sacrificed my life for this." And after a small pause, "Where's the Silver Box of Ix Chel? Give it to me."
"It's in a safe place."
The bluff is missing Lara's normal self-confidence, and based on his body language alone, Jacob can tell that the Trinity leader is stumped by the answer.
"You don't have it? – It never occurred to me that you would just take it. – With this Key and the Silver Box we can remake the world without weakness, cruelty, and certainly with none of this... But without the Box? The apocalypse. The death of the sun."
Lara's head lowers and turns minutely from facing Dominquez before replying. "You're lying."
"Lara, you felt it, when you took the Key."
"Tremors are common."
"A tsunami is coming. And this is the first of many catastrophes. Your doing!"
Jacob's anger flares at the man's accusation which is so loud he can hear it even without the radio. The words hit Lara as hard as he fears based on her reaction.
"You would've done the same!"
But then there are the more pressing sounds from the distance, not allowing anyone to ignore the impending disaster. A few of the Trinity soldiers glance at each other in trepidation.
"God..."
If he didn't see her profile, he would have questioned if he imagined her faint whisper.
"Yeah... By taking the Key, you've set the apocalypse in motion. Do you realize the tragedy you have unleashed? I never thought that you could be so easily corrupted… – The Cleansing has begun! It falls to me now, to stop it before it consumes us all."
Jacob lets out a breath he's been holding as the Trinity soldiers leave Lara without violence, however, something must have happened earlier as Lara doubles over with her hand on her lower back, gritting her teeth.
The screams are much closer now along with a train-like rumble causing both of them to look at the other end of the street.
"Lara! You need to come here! Above on the left!"
Lara spots him on her first scrambling steps, beelining to the wall and the rope he throws at her.
They are too slow.
Lara is midway up when the wave drags her horizontally and a few seconds later loses her grip with a scream.
He does what is the only reasonable decision when you have immortality etched into your bones – he jumps after her.
He has never experienced a tsunami before, but he has heard stories of whole cities being submerged to destruction.
The strength of the water is immense. He has to fight just to find the surface over and over again to get enough air. His enhancements from the Source are nothing here, leaving him at the mercy of the water like a ragdoll.
He catches a glimpse of what might be Lara about twenty yards ahead of him, grasping onto a tree before she disappears again.
A small ship is sent flying between them, forcing him to duck and dive amidst the growing number of wreckages that tear his skin and threaten to steal his long-sleeved shirt.
Every time he makes it to the surface the scenery is closer to an apocalypse with buildings crumpling and catching fire from the broken power lines.
Everything he tries to grab breaks with the force of the water. By some miracle, he finally manages to grasp onto a larger floating piece of wood that helps him keep his upper body above the thundering water masses.
Lara is nowhere to be seen, and impossible to spot with so much going on.
It's another miracle that the wood ultimately gets stuck on the ruins of a multistory house, giving him enough time to pull himself upwards on the ruins.
He hopes the structure will hold.
People are screaming for their loved ones, but the voices get dimmer and turn into crying as time goes on, swallowed by the water like everything else and leaving only a few derelict buildings standing.
His hand reaches for the radio, but it's no longer there, and neither are his weapons in his holsters, flashlight, or anything other than the clothes on his back. A look at the few survivors on a rooftop some distance away shows most haven't been even that lucky.
He manages to help the shell-shocked young boy and his mother from an unhinged door onto the small slab of concrete. But other than that, he has no option but to wait for the waters to calm down and pray that Lara has found safety.
He feels unfathomably helpless that, for the second time today, Lara is in mortal peril in a way that his powers are useless.
It was how Alya had died.
He lowers himself to one knee, breathing heavily as he watches the water continue to move inland.
He had prayed for… not this.