"Again, who the hell are you?"
"I'm Mitsuo Mitani, it truly is a pleasure to meet you, Samantha. Can I call you Samantha?" The man said as he grabbed a chair and took a seat next to my bed. He looked at me as if he had never seen a girl in his life. "I hope you are not too much in pain? Also, we can talk in Japanese if you'd like."
"N-no, English is fine." Japanese would remind me of my dad too much. "And, I'm fine, just... my head hurts. Look, who are you? Your name doesn't help me. Why are you here?" I asked.
"Because I need your help. I can-..."
"Lara!" I interrupted him, as the horrifying image of Lara laying there unconsciously in her seat popped back in my mind. "Where's Lara?!" I wanted to get out of bed, but felt a sharp pain in my wrist when I tried to pull it away. I only now realised that I was handcuffed to the side of the bed with my left arm. "What the fuck is this? Why am I handcuffed? Where is Lara?!" I panicked. Who was this man? Did he do something to Lara? And why on earth was I handcuffed to the bed? Was this Mitani guy one of the men who chased us?
"Calm down, Samantha. Your friend is fine." Mitsuo said. He got up and signaled for me to calm down and stay on the bed.
"Uncuff me, you asshole!" I screamed. "Why the fuck am I handcuffed?!"
"Please, it was just a precaution. If you can promise me to stay calm I will have it removed."
"No! I will not stay calm!" I yelled so loud my own ears hurt.
"If you do, I will tell you anything you want to know about your dear friend." Mitsuo said back down and crossed his legs.
"Fine, you dick." I growled at him and lied back down.
"There's no need to be hostile towards me, Samantha, I'm on your side. Now, your friend, Miss Croft, is fine, as I said. She's in the room next to this one. She'll recover just fine."
"I want to see her." I demanded.
"Soon, not yet. Let's have a little talk first."
"Fuck you. I'm not having a little talk with you first." I said as I was making air quotes.
"Understood." Mitsuo said as he got up and made his way towards the door. "Then I shall leave you here, come back in an hour or two and try again."
"You can't leave me here!" I yelled, shocked at even the idea of being in here for another two hours, not knowing what was going on with Lara.
"Yes, I certainly can. Would you like me to show you?" As he opened the door.
"No! No…" I said, defeated. "Fine, we'll have your stupid fucking talk. But after that I'll need to see Lara."
"Everything in time." Mitsuo said as he closed the door. "First off, my apologies for how my men approached the situation." He said as he made a gesture to point out I was in a hospital. He sat back down and took a good look at me.
"So, those were your men. Who chased us and crashed us off the road."
"Yes, so my apologies for that, but, lucky for them, those men are dead now."
"What? Lucky for them? Why?" I asked surprised.
"All three of them died on impact with the truck they hit."
"But… they hit our car? And why is that lucky for them?"
"Yes, and because of that they swirled to the other side of the road into an oncoming truck. They are lucky they died there and then, as my punishment for them would have been far more severe than dead. Fortunately, as I said, you, and your friend, have sustained no permanent or heavy damage. I told my men to bring you to me, not push you off the road at high speed."
"They fucking shot at us."
"Again, they are lucky they are dead." He said as he patted his leg to remove a fluff that had attached to his suit pants. "Now." He continued. "Let me explain to you why I exactly I need your help."
"Oh, the stone, I bet? Please, enlighten me." I said sarcastically, as I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, the stone. A stone similar to the one you retrieved from Yamatai."
"I didn't retrieve a stone from Yamatai." I said frowning. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, you didn't on purpose, anyway. I am sure you remember the ritual that this Solarii cult man exposed you to?"
"Hard to forget. Wait… how do you know about this ritual?" I asked, frowning.
"Right. And what were you wearing during that ritual? The one where your friend saved your life."
"No, wait, how do you know about this ritual? We haven't told anyone, because we were told not to by Harry Thompson."
"I have my sources, Samantha, trust me. By the way, that Harry Thompson figure was quite willingly to keep any information to himself with the right persuasion."
"You… killed him?" I asked slowly.
"No!" Mitsuo said as he waved his hand at me. "What kind of animal do you think I am? No, Harry kept quiet because he knew it was the best thing to do."
"And why is that?"
"We will get to that later. Now, about that ritual, what were you wearing?"
"What kind of weird, perverted question is that?" I asked, while making a disgusted face. It wasn't that disgusting, but I wanted to nag this man as much as I could.
"A robe and a tiara, right?" Mitsuo asked, completely ignoring my remark.
"Yes…" I raised my eyebrows. "What are you getting at?"
"Where is that tiara now?" Mitsuo asked. I saw the corner of his mouth lift a little as he couldn't contain smiling just a little bit.
"It's…" I thought back to the ritual. That horrible ritual, that horrific experience. I was never able to quite explain it, how I felt back then. Not even to myself. The way that Himiko penetrated my soul and body, gave a feeling I will never ever be able to shake off. Mitsuo was right, though, I was wearing a tiara. It was quite a beautiful tiara, to be honest. When we were making our way down to Reyes and Jonah, after Lara heroically saved me, it fell of my head. I had picked it up and looked at it, as I hadn't seen it before. It was so beautiful I decided to take it with me. When we got on the containership, I put it in my bag. I later realised, however, I wouldn't want anything to remind of that island, so I decided to throw it away. When I wanted to grab it from my bag, it was gone.
"Yes?" Mitsuo asked impatiently.
"I lost it."
"No, it was taken from you." He reached inside his pocket and pulled out that very same tiara. I looked at it with awe. Even though I wore that thing when a zombie queen tried to take over my body, I didn't feel bad seeing it. Hell, it was still as beautiful as I remembered. Perhaps even more so.
"You stole it from me." I said as I sat up straight, as far as my handcuffed hand let me.
"Correct. Well, not me personally, but one of my colleagues." He got up and handed me the tiara. It was so beautifully made. It was so weird, because I felt a huge attraction to it. I felt like I had to take it. Hide it from this man so I could take it home myself. It was the same feeling I had on Yamatai when I first saw it. "You see the engraved stone on the front?" Mitsuo asked. I did. It was a white stone, which was engraved in the middle of the tiara. The stone felt rough, even though it looked perfectly smooth. I'd seen it before, but didn't think too much of it.
"This is the stone you're talking about? The one I apparently took?" I asked as Mitsuo pulled the tiara from my hands, to my dismay.
"Yes." He put the tiara back in his pocket.
"What's so special about it? Are you some sort of deranged stone collector who collects the weirdest stones from the most remote places?"
"Not quite. This stone has some unique powers."
"What powers?"
"Powers that will only work at its place of origin."
"And where is that?" I asked.
"Yamatai."
"So...what kind of powers?" I asked intrigued. Normally, I would be a bit more skeptical, but this man apparently had his sources.
"You witnessed them." Mitsuo said. I frowned. What did he mean, I witnessed them?
"Wait…" I said as it dawned on me. "The storms...and everything, that was that stone?" I pointed at his pocket.
"Yes." He said firmly.
"I don't believe you." I crossed my arms.
"Fair enough. I guess that an ancient being trying to take over your body as it made thunderstorms appear makes a whole lot more sense." I looked at him angry, but he made a fair point.
"Okay, let's say this stone does have powers, I am guessing there's another one in the Amazon?" I asked.
"Yes."
"And you want me to get it?" I frowned.
"Yes." Mitsuo repeated.
"What is so special about those stones?"
"Combined they are able to operate outside of their place of origin. We want to retrieve these stones before someone else does, and uses them for evil."
"And you won't use them for evil, of course." I said sarcastically.
"No, our organisation is determined to keep these kind of powers contained and shielded from evil minds."
"Right. Though, why me? Why can't you just go get it yourself?" I asked. Mitsuo paused, perhaps contemplating whether or not it was a good idea to tell me or not.
"Because you're the only one who can."
"You're not making any sense. Why not just explain it a bit more detail so I don't have to say what all the time?" I said. Mitsuo looked at the floor, and then at me again.
"You're a blood relative of Himiko. That is why she spared you. During the storms, during the fire ritual, during the ascending ritual. That is why you could take the stone. Only a blood relative can take the stone from its place of origin."
"What does that have to do with the Amazon rainforest? Pretty sure I'm not related to anyone there."
"No, but Himiko was."
"So…?" I was getting a bit annoyed, what was he getting at? Mitsuo looked at his watch and promptly stood up from his chair.
"So, we believe Himiko transferred some of her DNA onto you, which, in turn, makes you a relative."
"A relative of Himiko? Jesus fucking Christ, you're confusing the hell out of me. I was already a relative of Himiko!"
"Right. But not of this..." He paused. "..person in the Amazon, though, Himiko was. In a way. And since she probably transferred some of her DNA onto you, that makes you connected of this person, as well, because Himiko was."
"You believe? As in you're not even sure about it?" I asked in shock.
"We're fairly confident." Miuso said.
"What happens if someone who's not a blood related or connected takes the stone?"
"Varies, really." He said as he looked to the ceiling to think. "We've tried a few times and some die from an instant heart attack, or they go insane and kill themselves. We had one guy who combusted into flames." He summed up using his fingers. I could just look at him with my mouth open.
"Don't worry, we're positive this will work."
"Yeah, right. And if I decide not to come?"
"You're a smart girl, Samantha. I'm sure you'll make the right decision. If not, well, we will have to think of something else. Either way, we will talk later this week, I have some important business to attend to." He started walking towards the door.
"Wait!" I yelled at him. "What do you mean later this week?" Mitsuo turned around and looked at me. "Couldn't you tell us this without have your men shoot at us? That Connor guy, couldn't he have just told us?!"
"First off, I never ordered my men to shoot at you. Secondly, I wanted to thoroughly explain you every single detail, back at the seminar, so you understand why it's absolutely vital you come along. But, things didn't go as I had planned, so this is the short version. See you in a week, Samantha." He said as he opened the door, left and shut it behind him. I sat there for a few minutes, dumbfounded at what this man had just told me, until I realised he hadn't untied me yet.
"Hey! You promised I could see Lara!" I yelled at the closed door as I rattled my handcuff. "Asshole!" Well, shit. I had so many questions going through my head, but they would have to wait. I needed to see Lara, now. I kept yelling and demanding someone should come free me, but no one showed up. I got off the bed on the left side, twisting my cuffed arm in a weird way. When I stood next to the bed I realised I was only wearing a hospital gown. I quickly lifted my collar and looked down. Awesome, no underwear. I threw a quick glance around the room, and saw my clothes neatly folded on a small table in the corner. Would my phone still be in my pocket? If it did, do I call the police or what? I tried pulling on the railing of the bed to see if it was movable, but it was mounted to the ground. If I stretched my arms as far as I could, I still missed a few inches before I could reach my clothes. I looked around the bed to see if I could see anything to free myself with, but there was nothing. I was getting increasingly frustrated as every second passed. Seconds where I wasn't able to see if Lara was okay. Or even alive. That thought sent a shiver down my spine.
"Fuck." I mumbled to myself. Why did we go to that fucking seminar? What good would it have done, even if we didn't get chased and shot at? Why was Lara so fucking curious all the time, Goddammit. I pulled my handcuff even harder, perhaps somehow hoping it would give way, but it only hurt my wrist even more.
After pulling, yelling and sighing for another good 10 minutes, I finally gave up. Just as I wanted to lay back on the bed, the door opened. Connor Bennet walked in the door, carrying a briefcase. His face was pale. Like really, really pale.
"What are you doing here? Can you please uncuff me, or at least tell me if Lara is okay?" I pleaded. Connor didn't respond and put down his briefcase on a table situated on the side of the room. I tried to look what was in the briefcase but couldn't see.
"What's that?" I asked nervously. Just as I asked that, Connor got out a syringe and small bottle with a yellowish fluid. He drained some of the fluid with the syringe. "Wait." I said, starting to panic. "What is that? What are you going to do with that?!" Connor still didn't respond as he walked towards me, still holding the syringe. "Please stop! Wait, please don't touch me!" I felt a constant chill over my spine, as goosebumps formed on my skin.
"It's okay, it's only to put you to sleep. Let's just get this over with, because one way or another this syringe will end up in your arm."
"Stop! Why?! Why do I need to go to sleep now? Fuck, what are you going to do to me?!" My heart was now pounding in my throat. I was panicking bad. My fight or flight instinct told me to either run away or punch that fucker in the face. Since I was still cuffed to the bed, it seemed I was about to some fucker face punching. Just as he stepped within my reach I swirled my arm towards him, but Connor casually dodged it. Luckily, however, he did stop and took a step backwards so he was no longer in my reach.
"Listen. I'm not going to touch you after you're out, okay? I won't do anything to you, nor will any of my colleagues. Now you can either stick out your arm so I can inject this into you, or I can do it forcefully. It's up to you." I started crying. Why was this man doing this to me? Why was any of this happening? I was so scared. I looked at Connor, and through my tears I could see he was dead serious. If he wanted to put that needle in my arm, it would end there one way or another. I had to face it, I was defeated.
"Fine." I said sobbing as I got back on the bed and stuck out my arm. "Just don't touch me, please." I begged. Connor stepped forward, grabbed my arm, and stuck the needle in. I expected to feel it immediately, but I didn't yet. "How long does it take before I feel anything."
"About a minute." Connor said as he walked back to his briefcase and put his equipment back. "Don't worry, no pain."
"Why can't you tell me anything about Lara?" I asked as I already started to feel drowsy.
"You'll see her soon." Connor promised. My vision, who had regained its full power only a few minutes ago, started to get blurry again. My arms and legs felt heavy, as if I was in one of those dreams where you weren't able to run away from whatever monster was chasing you. My eyelids started to get heavy, as well. I could just make out that Connor was standing next to my bed.
"Please… don't… touch…" I closed my eyes as I could no longer keep them open, despite how hard I tried.
"It'll be fine, I promise. You're safe." I wasn't even sure if Connor, or something inside my head said that. I just let the darkness come over me.
Pictures of Lara. Pictures of us together. The trips we went on together. The trip in Bulgaria, that was just pure happiness. It's a happy place. It's vital that you come along. You can save the whole world if you come along. You'll be a hero, and so will Lara. Lara is your friend. Lara is your very best friend, and she's here for you. She's here to guide you through what you need to do. What you need to do in order to be a hero. In order to keep that stone from the grasp of evildoers.
I opened my eyes to bright light. There were two people standing over me, but I couldn't make out who, the light was way too bright. I felt so weak.
"It's okay." One of them said. His voice was distorted. "Go back to sleep."
I know you need Lara. That is why she is here. Right besides you. She will always, and always be on your side. To protect you. To guide you. And if you go to the Amazon, she will be right next to you. You're safe, and so is she. You're together. Can you imagine going to the Amazon? Together? It'll be like another adventure for you. You can prove yourself to Lara. Lara will always be next to you.
"Sam… Sam? Samantha, can you hear me?" I could hear him. Or her. Whoever it was. But I couldn't answer. I could only lay there and do nothing. It was all so hazy. It was as if the room was misty. And that was when I was able to keep my eyes open for longer than 2 seconds. "Listen, Sam, I need you to open your eyes and look at me. Can you do that, please?" I tried as hard as I could to keep my eyes open, but I couldn't. Slowly I drifted away once more.
Lara is here. She's right here. Next to you. Waiting for you. Just for you, no one else. It is important that you know Lara is there for you. She will always be ready for you. Even in your darkest hours, Lara will be there, standing by your side.
"Sam?" A familiar voice said. "Sam, are you okay?" I couldn't quite hear who it was, but the voice was so familiar it warmed me up from the inside. I opened my eyes. I expected a bright light again, but the room was dimmed. "Sam, I'm here for you."