Tomb Raider: - Unfinished Business.

This is my first story so please be fairly nice. I am sorry if there are any discrepancies within this story. Also to understand this better you may wish to watch Deus Obscura and Deus Manifestum (a fan film) on YouTube as this is based after those. Happy reading! (Hopefully) I would greatly appreciate any advice that you may have to give me. (The Chinese in this chapter is spelt how you would say it)

Disclaimer- This is a fan fiction and is not intended for profit. The characters depicted in this story belong to their respective owners. Thank you.

Chapter 11: Embers in the Sky.

Kurtis knelt there frozen to the spot. He could not believe the man he once called friend was searching for an incredibly dangerous artefact. Kurtis's breathing had quickened. Had his friend succumbed to the lure of power or was he trying to uncover something else?

"Erm isn't that Tollorov?" Nate asked as he lent closer to Kurtis. Still in shock at the sight of a heavily wounded Lara, and the possibility that she was right all along about Tollorov, he didn't respond but continued to look forward.

Sully pulled both Nate and Kurtis away so they could talk more comfortably.

"Ok we need to come up with a plan to get her out of there. Has anyone got any bright ideas?" they stood for a moment thinking over possible plans of action but were interrupted by the sounds shouting and gunfire. Fearing for Lara's life the trio rushed backed towards the camp. In the very brief time they had met Lara Sully and Nate had grown quite fond of her and not just because of her looks.

The tents were now on fire, the supports beginning to crumble in the heat. Bodies littered the ground of both the L'oscurità Del Destino. The trio ran into the open and began to search for Lara. As Kurtis searched more and more bodies he became more and more agitated. He ran his hands threw his hair in exasperation. Taking a deep breath he continued to search amongst the ruins of the tents that had burnt down.

"Sully, Kurtis! Your gonna want to see this." His heart pounding Kurtis printed to Nate praying that his dream wasn't coming true.

Both Sully and Kurtis breathed a sigh of relief to see it wasn't Lara and that, in fact, the man was alive. The man was wearing a deep green kashaya robe that golden trim and was mortally wounded. He only had a few minutes at the most. Nate helped the man feel more comfortable in his last moments. Kurtis knelt beside him.

"You were the one to attack the camp? Did you see a woman, she was a prisoner?" as Kurtis questioned him he felt a glimmer of hope flow through his body. Maybe she was still alive, beaten but alive. The man coughed and spluttered.

"There was a woman." He coughed again "I saw her run. She ran to the jungle." As Kurtis stood back up, the man grabbed his arm and pulled. "They cannot be allowed to acquire the disc. They…must…be…" as he trailed off his eyes closed. He looked as if he were at peace.

Nate rose and headed to the centre of the destroyed camp. "That is still a lot of jungle to search. We should split up, cover more ground." They headed in different directions. Sully turned to head into the jungle behind him and found something almost instantly. It was sharp, cold and pressed to his throat. Hearing Sully's muffled squeal Nate and Kurtis spun on the spot, Nate unsheathing his pistol and Kurtis unleashed both his Doran X and Chirugi.

"Hold. You are not with the Italian gang?" asked the man holding Sully at sword point. Nate shook his head not lowering his gun. The man released Sully and sheathed his sword causing Nate and Kurtis to follow suit. They did however keep their wits about them, just in case. "My name is Bao-Zhi; I am of Renci De Guang." He could tell by their faces that they couldn't speak Chinese. "It means Benevolent light. Our order was formed to guard the disc from the outside world. Some of the gang fled into the jungle. As you do not belong to that gang I ask you to come with me to the sanctuary. We can heal you and you can give us information."

Kurtis's mind quickly returned to Lara. "There was a girl. She was the gang's prisoner. Your friend said he saw her run. Have you seen her?" his heart was racing again. What if they he mistaken her for one of Tollorov's men. Bao-Zhi smiled and placed his hands on Kurtis's shoulders.

"The girl you speak of…does she have brown hair and is wearing shorts?" Kurtis nodded, hope returning to him again. "Don't fret friend. The girl has been taken to the sanctuary to be healed. You shall be able to see her if you come with me." That was a no brainer. Without a second thought the boys agreed and let Bao-Zhi lead the way.

Even in the darkness of the jungle Bao-Zhi knew exactly where he was going. Animals could be heard in the distance, howling into the night. Although they were now deep in the jungle and the clearing was now a long way away, they could still smell the burning wood from the camp and they could still see embers rising into sky. The sight of the embers rising would have been quite beautiful if it had not been followed with so much death.

The sanctuary was a magnificent crimson red monastery with a touch of gold embellishment on the pillars. It reached into the sky yet you would have never noticed unless you knew where to go. The wounded were being carried inside on stretchers as they fallen were laid outside covered in an elegant red and green sheet.

Not wanting to upset anyone the trio began to search for Lara on the stretchers whilst remaining at Bao-Zhi's side. He led the boys into the monastery, which was just as breath taking as the outside, and showed them into a small corridor. They were greeted by the sound of raised female voices.

"Seriously I'm grateful for the help but I really need to after them!" a voice replied to the first one in Chinese "I don't mean any disrespect to you or your order but if I hadn't gone after the book this wouldn't have happened. I need to put this right!"

Bao-Zhi opened the door and led the trio inside. Kurtis's heart was doing backflips. She was safe and was once again causing trouble. Sully began to laugh remembering how he had met Lara. She was now heavily bandaged. Her wounds had doubled since they had last seen her.

"I'm going to guess the Mr Drake found the journal." Lara looked more worn than ever. The woman tending to Lara finally got her to lie back down on the bed. Bao-Zhi beckoned to the healer and they bowed as they left the boys alone with Lara.

Sully and Nate moved closer to Lara. Kurtis, however, remained where he stood his mind focusing on his guilt. Lara could read him like a book. "Everybody argues." She took a deep breath "But you were right Kurtis. Alistair's death is on my hands. I was too busy looking for that small glimmer of hope that my mother was alive that I was blinded to the dangers, just as my father was." At this Lara's eyes erupted in a waterfall of tears thinking of how Angelo had fallen because of her. Sully put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to console her.

A few moments went by as they allowed Lara to let some of the built up emotions go. "This…all of this is my fault. If I hadn't gone for that damn journal..." Kurtis grabbed her by the arms and made her look him square in the eyes.

"Now you listen to me Lara Croft. Alistair knew that danger would come his way when working with you. You're a natural magnet for it. And when it comes to the journal you didn't know what information it held inside, you weren't to know that it held the location of the disc. Now we need to decide what we are going to do about Tollorov."

She was still looking Kurtis in the eyes and he was staring right back into hers with a look of determination. He knew they must stop Tollorov regardless of the outcome, regardless of the fact Kurtis once called him friend. Kurtis hadn't seen Lara in a long while and he wasn't about to say goodbye to her now.