Lara

I've yet to spot Shaw, and after the corridor kill zone I come across fewer guards. It's easier to rely on stealth and I have to admit I get a perverse satisfaction out of feeling a man choke under my arms. This girl maybe half their weight and I'm disabling them like they're nothing. I don't hesitate to kill, but the count has only gone up once.

I don't have a bow. It sickens me to admit it, but I'd use it. Less chance of myself getting hurt, quieter kills. I wonder how many men I could have spared on the island if I'd been forced to. I push that thought out of my mind because it'll only endanger me. The alarm has been sounded by now. I've probably already lost my shot at Shaw, but that's for the best. In this mindset I'll probably kill him, and I'd rather get him alive.

Then there's the blade in my hand. I'm convinced now its some kind of artifact, like the skulls or Himiko herself. And it is a bloodthirsty bastard. Now that it has tasted blood, it wants more. More than I'm willing to provide it, and it knows I'm capable of it. I can feel it pressing at the edges of my mind, a drum beat set to my pulse that says kill kill kill. It has to be the kris, because otherwise it's me and that means I'm going mad if I haven't already. God. Sam is too good for me.

Thinking of her snaps me out of my stupor in time to duck into cover and let a soldier run past. I slowly slide the dagger into my belt. It's too tempting, sitting in my hand. It amplifies impulses that are already there. Impulses that I really should talk to someone about but I know I won't.

Shaw's facility is like a maze, vast and full of offices and rooms. Once I've exhausted the warehouse areas I find the research labs. I don't know what Shaw has been doing and as I search lab after lab there's nothing to really tell me what I'm looking at. Biological agents? But then why are there artifacts from nearly every culture I've ever heard of, and even a few I'm actually unsure of? I have nothing to sketch them but my memory is really good.

I'm distracted by a Byzantine vase connected by a rat's nest of cables to a computer when a researcher runs in. He stares at me, and I stare back. His eyes are full of fear - he's younger than I am and probably fresh out of University. He looks like he thinks he's going to die. He vaguely reminds me of Alex.

Sighing, I point my hammer at him, then point at a closet. "Get in there." He hesitates, so I slam my hammer into the table, cracking the wood. "Now!"

That gets him moving, scurrying into the closet like the hounds of hell are chasing after him. I kick a chair in front of the door. I look at the vase, then the computers. Whatever they're doing, I have to stop it. I smash it. It feels so wrong. It screams at me. The vase screams.

I all but throw the chair aside and haul the boy out of the closet, slamming him against the wall. "What are you people doing here?!"

He makes a terrified sound and I'm pretty sure he soiled himself. I grit my teeth and try a little more calmly. "What are you researching?"

The boy -that's all he really is- stammers. "En...energy transference."

I look back at the remains of the vase. Energy. Vessels. Are they studying artifacts like the skulls, or are they trying to make artifacts like the skulls? The latter is worse, far worse. Even if they haven't been trying to make the artifacts, it isn't beyond reason that they're trying to pass the power down. Like Himiko to her priestesses, or to Sam.

The researcher is shaking. I let him slide down the wall and take a step back. "That vase that I smashed. Was it a recovered artifact? Or did you transfer something into it?"

"It was a concept test," he replies, so I turn back to face him. I nod my head and gesture with my hammer to keep him speaking. He takes a breath, then continues. "From one object to another. We had a figure carved from jade, found in China at a site nearly three thousand years old. We were able to only achieve a partial transference. The next test was to be with a jade skull we found in India."

So the skulls went beyond the Americas. These objects are world-wide, and most of them seem to be linked to some ancient ruin or city. Sam must have found Paititi, then! I say nothing of this. "Where's the jade skull." I prod him in the chest with my hammer.

He flinches. "Two labs down!"

"Okay. Get back into that closet and pretend you never saw me."

The vase's shards shift behind me and I whirl around. There's a figure standing on the shards. It looks like a corpse, dessicated and thin with bleached white skin. Where it's flesh has rotted away there's only black spots. And its eyes are like staring into a midnight sky. It's another copy though I don't recognize who it's supposed to be. The inky darkness that marks up it's skin and makes up it's eyes is different somehow. I can see stars.

"Oh my god..." The researcher tries to shrink into the wall. "The last one killed a dozen people!"

That explains how many soldiers this place has, then. "Do you know what it is?"

"Walking death."

Helpful, I think. I've killed them before. Before I can move, its charging at me, black tendrils cutting through the air. I try to push the scientist out of the way and the creature cuts through my arm. He lands on the ground and I dodge in the opposite direction.

I watch helplessly as it runs the poor boy through and lifts him into the air. He slides down the tendrils, until he reaches the pale creature. Then it pulls his body into itself.

"I'm so sorry," I tell him, drawing my handgun. I'd never intended to see him hurt. He was just doing a job here. I couldn't save him, but I can at least put him to rest. My first bullet strikes it in the chest, but I miss the next few shots as I'm far too busy trying to avoid the same fate as that boy.

Rolling, I get behind it and empty my clip. It still doesn't go down. This one isn't like the ones we've encountered before. Is this what's in all these artifacts? I feel the kris whispering to me, but I can't get close enough to use it without taking a tentacle in the chest. This requires a more modern solution.

I empty the assault rifle into it. Two clips, until it stops moving and turns to black mist. I don't wait around. I toss the empty weapon aside and run into the other labs. I have to find that jade skull. The first two labs appear to be empty, but the third one has the skull just sitting in a case. I break it open, and unceremoniously dump it into a pack.

There's a map in there of the facility. I find the way outside, and then start in that direction. The path is deserted for most of the journey, but as I creep around a corner I can hear someone. I ready myself. As they round the corner, I attack, pulling the soldier into a headlock with my left arm. My hand finds the hilt of the dagger just as something hits me in the head.

Sam

Lara doesn't play nice. Not when her back is to the wall and her or me is in danger. I get that first hand for the first time ever. I know it's her. I can tell from the sound of her breathing and the smell of the arm around my neck.

The air is choked from me before I can process anything else, her arm pushing against my windpipe and panic settling into me. I try to beg but I can't make a noise. I need to beg Lara for my life but then she's let go of me. I collapse onto the ground, grabbing my throat and trying to breath. It's painful, my body is shaking and my vision blurry, but I catch glimpses of Lara moving. Soraya has her cornered which is probably the last place you want to have Lara be.

It would be really easy to give into the fear and distress that's threatening to rip my heart apart. Lara's the person I trust more than anyone else. But it's not her fault, and I tell that to myself over and over again as I try to croak out words. Stop sounds a lot like 'Stnnn...' which isn't particularly helpful.

Lara has some kind of knife. It's wavey. I don't remember what it's called but Lara's talked about them before. I don't know where she got it but she's aggressively keeping Soraya off guard with it. There's a hammer in her left hand, but I'm more worried about Soraya going for a gun.

"La…" Oh my god it hurts to talk. But I try anyway, I rasp out her name. "Lara!" She doesn't hear me, or she doesn't recognize it as me. She's scaring me. I pull the ski-mask off. "Lara! Lara stop! It's me! It's Sam! She's with me!" I bring my hand back to my throat with a rough groan and start coughing. That's it. If she doesn't stop now…

But she looks back at me, then stumbles out of Soraya's way, her weapons clattering to the floor. Oh god, I know that look. I wave my hand at her. I'm okay, Lara. I'm okay, really, you don't need to freak out.

She just stands there numbly, her control slipping back into place like it's automatic, but that control is a lie. The set of her shoulders, the ashen color of her skin reveal the truth. I push aside my own inner freak out and step closer to her.

"No, Sam." Her voice is tight and strained, several pitches higher than it should be. "I hurt you."

I don't let her get away, putting my arms around her body and pulling her face against my shoulder. "It's okay." We can talk about it later. We'll need to, neither of us can afford to let this fester like some of the other things. "You didn't know it was me. I forgive you. It's okay."

Shaking her head against me, I still feel Lara press closer. Every word makes my neck ache, but I really do forgive her. Her shoulders are trembling. She's trying to hold it in. I glance over her head at Soraya, who's nursing a slash in her arm and keeping a noticeably large distance between us. She looks at me, then rolls her eyes and turns her back.

"Sam…" Her grip around me tightens. I feel something warm and wet against my skin but I choose to be silent on that for her sake. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, sweetie. You disappeared and I was beside myself." Even dirty, her hair is soft and a joy to stroke. I can admit it, it's kind of like a security blanket, and I'm so getting my security out of it right now. The crazy thing is I so worried about her that I can't process my own feelings on what just happened. I'm just so happy to see her alive. I mean, how horrible would it have been if she killed me? Besides me being dead. I don't doubt she would have turned a gun on herself. That thought scares me so much I squeeze even tighter. "I'm never losing you again. If you can carry me down a mountain I can…"

Lara sniffles, interrupting me, and then makes this heart-wrenching sound. I hug her tighter as she sags against me. She's a quiet sobber, it's disturbing really. She's shaking against me, making little painful gasps but otherwise not a sound. She's too stubborn to really let herself go but I rub at her back and hold her and shed my own tears freely.

Yeah. She can't ever see me freak out about being choked.

This is probably the worst place for this but even Soraya seems willing to let it happen. She's standing guard, which I'm grateful for. Maybe the mercenary really had been our age once. She always has a bitter note in her voice whenever Reyes comes up. I want to know more. I'll have to ask Reyes. Actually never mind that, Reyes is scary.

Turning my face back to Lara's hair, I kiss the side of her head. She smells like herself, plus blood and dirt. I really want to check her over for injury, especially if she's really been tortured. It leaves a sick pit in my stomach, thinking about that. But those bastards had paid for it. I pray I haven't lost Lara to it. I'm not looking forward to more months of coaxing her back out of her shell. I'll do it. Don't get me wrong. I'll do it. I just don't want to if I don't have to.

She lifts her head and I wipe away the tears on her cheeks. She looks okay, except for the red eyes and some bruising. I rest a hand on her arm. I don't know if that's her blood or someone else's, but I don't shy away. Her wrist is pretty messed up but I'm sure First Aid Jesus can take care of that. "Guess I'll have to relearn the map of you, Lara. I really don't mind."

Lara smiles back at me. I think that's gratitude. She should know by now there's nothing that'll scare me away from her. When it comes to Lara, I'm anything but shallow. I know her, I know who she is.

"We can do that once we're safe and sound. I'm going to need a week's soaking." Her voice only quivers a little as she recovers her composure. She walks over and picks up her weapon, giving the knife the sort of annoyed look I give my laptop when it misbehaves.

"So, the exit it this way," Soraya interjects. Her tone is clipped. She's probably a hundred percent done with our bullshit. I stick my tongue out at her. We're not in any danger, so I'm all about having some bullshit. I earned it.

"Here." Lara hands me a bag. I take a peek inside and make a face. Staring right back at me is a skull. A green one, this time, but I don't think it's emerald. Jade maybe. Hey! I'm getting better at this.

Sighing, I loop it around my arm. "Of course."

"That's not all," Lara says. "But I'll explain later. It'll take some time and we don't have enough of that right now.." She looks back the way she'd come, warily. I suddenly want to go in the opposite direction. The others feel the same, and we make our way back to part of the research center that Soraya and I had entered.

Soraya goes through first, then Lara pushes me through after we get the all clear. I feel a little miffed, but both of them are more into this whole combat thing than I am. Things start going Saving Private Ryan when we're open and exposed and rushing down towards the beach. Someone starts shooting at us, and Soraya is trying to keep us from being pinned down. But there's someone at our boat and he has a gun and a clear line of sight to Lara.

The semi-auto in my hands makes a sound that rings in my ears. Its all so fast. The spray of blood, the man falling face-first into the water, the expression on Lara's face. I look at Lara, feeling my stomach turn. I breath quickly, in and out, in and out.

The mercenary shoves us both into the boat and we speed away. I hug my knees, resting my chin on them. I feel Lara's arm around me and we lean into each other. It's a comfort, a mutual sort. She whispers something in my ear. She tells me it'll be okay, and I almost believe her. But damn, she's hurting too. I'm so tired of the both of us always hurting.

I turn my head and I kiss her. I don't have any words. I need to know that this is the same, that we're still connected and we're still both alive and human and not hopeless. Her lips move against mine and we speak silent prayers for each other.