Hillary and Bryce were sitting stiffly in the waiting room, awaiting news of Lara's current state. Kurtis had begun to pace since his last 'mind' conversation with Lara. He knew, through farsee, that Lara's physical condition was okay. As okay as it could be after the scare that she gave her friends. Kurtis was worrying about what Lara was going to mention to her other friends, namely Bryce and Hillary, about Kurtis' physical torment (the whole gun to the head thing) about Lara's once impending death.

Lara had asked Alex to give her some space so he took that as his cue to leave. He ended up at the coffee vender machine where he began to remember when Lara had turned up at his hotel room, in Venice, whilst he was working in close quarters with the Illuminati.

The bathroom of a hotel room in Venice was fogged up with steam as Alex West took a long, pleasant shower after a hard days work. He had been helped bring down a brick wall that hid a secret temple, had a hand in dragging heavy metal swords from the statue of an Aztec god and oh yes; chased Lara Croft off the edge of a waterfall after she took the same half of the triangle that Powell was after. He couldn't believe that he had actually forced her to jump of the edge into the deep, murky depths of the bottom of the waterfall. All in a days work for Alex. He couldn't shoot Lara, hell; he would never have the courage to. She'd come back for him in the afterlife.

The sound of a door closing dragged Alex out of the reflection of his day. Closing off the faucet, Alex took a look around the bathroom before stepping out into the living area. His senses were telling him something was going on, as could be expected. He was Alex West after all; he was a magnet for danger. Spotting his gun lying dismantled on the table, Alex placed the magazine back into gun and loaded a clip into the chamber. Now that he was prepared, Alex strode confidently to the door of the hotel room and yanked it open. There was the hotel maid, with a pile of towels. Alex would never forget the look of utter shock and horror on the maids face when she saw him completely naked, after just coming out of the shower. She thrust the towels at him and ran off as he muttered his apologies.

Alex closed the door behind him and went to go and resume his hot shower when he noticed the word 'TRAITOR' had been written on the glass door of the shower. Realization dawned on him who it was as he turned and saw the very same Lara Croft, who he had forced into the waterfall, sitting with her feet propped up on the table.

"Arr-"Alex said, his body physically reacting to the shock of her being here, in his hotel room. He gave her a smile.
"Hello Alex" Lara said calmly, giving a smile of her own.
"I suppose you think I'm a greedy, unscrupulous sell-out who'll do just about anything for money" Alex mused whilst walking back into the room.
"Yes that's right" Lara replied, her smile completely gone. Alex looked away before finally nodding and replying.
"Well the money bit's true I guess" Alex said after a minutes thought. Lara raised her eyebrows before removing her feet off the table and strolling over to where Alex stood.
"Is It Alex" Lara said. "If you cross me, we may not be able to remain friends." Lara gaze flicked down Alex's body before returning to his ice blue eyes. "Hmm..." Lara said, one eyebrow raised"...Always a pleasure". She gave him a knowing smile before walking out of the hotel room.
"Hmm...Now for a cold shower" Alex said to himself before getting back into the shower.

Alex took one sip of the coffee and then looked at the cup in disgust. In his opinion, it tasted disgusting.

By this time, Kurtis had gotten sick of pacing and had gone in to see Lara himself. She was still pale but her lips and fingernails no longer had that blue tinge. He noticed that she was in a troubled sleep, her hands were shaking and she couldn't seem to lie still. Kurtis pulled up the chair that Alex had previously been sat on. He took Lara's hand and began to talk to her in soothing tones.

Lara was in fact having a nightmare about what happened in the temple of ten thousand shadows. This had been where Alex had died at the hands of Powell because of Lara and Alex's friendship.

Lara had just placed the 'clock' into the slot. She had disappeared in a haze of blue fire. Alex had seen it all.

"LARA!" Alex shouted, his concern for Lara hitting the all-time-high. He looked around frantically. Just as soon as he had shouted her name, she had re-appeared in the same blue fire. As she lay on the floor recovering, the leader of the Illuminati stepped forward.
"Has she got the piece?!" the leader shouted. Lara held up, with pride, the second half of the triangle as she lay recovering from her trip. He took it from her and began his well prepared speech to all who would bare witness.
"We will now unite these two parts..." the leader said, holding up the two halves of the triangle. "...The past and the present..." For each of the titles he gave the half a little shake to show what they represented. "...At last, we, the Illuminati, will control time and fulfil the sacred promise to our ancestors. Soon the entire world..." He was interrupted by Powell.
"Enough of this twaddle" Powell said, clearly bored of the speech and signalled his men to shoot the leader. As soon as the shots began, Lara held up her hands and looked towards the men, as did Alex. Powell plucked the two halves from the now dead leader and crouched as he placed the two halves together. They didn't unite...something was missing.

Lara and Alex were stood behind him. Lara had a smile on her face as Powell realized something was missing.
"Not quite what you hoped for Mr Powell," Alex said, clearly knowing what was going on. Powell then realized that the pair of them knew what was wrong and decided to use that as leverage.
"Oh Lara..." Powell said as he reached into his pocket for his trusty knife. "...I have a gut instinct about this. After all, you are the daughter of a genius. Let me test my theory" and with that he flipped the knife between his fingers and threw it directly at Alex. It hit Alex in the chest. Alex looked at Powell, then at Lara, before falling into the depths of the water that ran below the metal planetary contraption.

Lara looked down to the floor as she couldn't bear to watch him die. She then lifted her gaze to Powell, who was looking at her with satisfaction. Lara then jumped backwards; into the water to go and retrieve Alex. Alex's legs had become trapped in the gears of the contraption, limiting his movement. Lara swam over to him and tried to dislodge him from the gears.

The gears then pulled Alex into the murky depths of the water, leaving him without air. Lara went under the surface and kissed him. She knew that it may be her only chance to show him how she felt but it also gave him at least one last breath. Alex looked her in the eyes one last time before waving her off, he didn't want her to have to watch him die. Lara went back up to the surface.

"You had to let him go..." Powell said, with signs of fake sympathy. "...No more bubbles". Lara stared at nothing imparticular. "You show me how to complete the triangle, we can change his fate. If you deliver me the power of God; I will spare him."

At this point, Alex had stepped back into Lara's room and saw that Kurtis was using his mind powers to see what was plaguing Lara's dream. He also noted that Kurtis had a hold on one of Lara's hands. The same one that, when she came out of the temple of ten thousand shadows, had not only been covered in blood but also had deep gashes across her palm. Lara hadn't told Alex that he had died, nor that she had used the triangle to bring him back.

Alex had always had an inkling as to what Lara had done. He remembered the knife had been coming towards him, but then it had hit Powell. When he had asked Lara what had happened, she said he would probably prefer not to know. He hadn't pushed her to tell him. All Alex knew was that Powell was dead and Lara now had some pretty hefty cuts on her hands.

When Lara had come out of the temple she appeared to look pleased with herself. To Alex, her being happy meant he was happy. His smile left when he watched her fall to her knees in exhaustion. He had raced over to catch her before she hit the cold, icy ground. That was when he saw the cuts on her hands and the amount of blood running down her arm. Alex had carried her bridal style over to the sled and had cleaned up her arm using the medical pack that he salvaged from Lara's backpack that was on the sled. By this time she had been disorientated and drowsy, but gave Alex a heart-warming smile.