Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lara Croft, Sam Nishimura, Conrad Roth or Lord Richard Croft.
Author's Note: So here is Chapter 9! Let me know what you think of it through reviewing or PMing me! All feedback is welcome and appreciated (including constructive criticism) so please tell me what you're enjoying and what you're perhaps not enjoying so much. Thanks.
"I don't do fucking parkour," Lara growled, glaring at the paper. "Chance would be a fine thing."
She screwed up the letter as she balled her fist before letting it drop to the floor. Lara knew even before she did it that this was a bad idea- she would need to study the note for clues in order to carry on with Cow Blood's ridiculous games. But she couldn't help it. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. It wasn't fair to her or Sam, especially as it hadn't been that long since The Island.
Lara put her head in her hands and breathed out slowly. Her head was a mess. Thoughts were colliding into each other, banging into the sides of her skull like a thousand wasps were trapped in there. She couldn't think straight and all of her thoughts were coming at once: her ruined gym routine; Sam; her counselling appointment; Sam; her life falling apart; Sam. Yesterday had been an adventure for Lara. It had been terrifying and tense and dangerous, yes, but it had also been exciting and the severity of the situation hadn't really hit her until now. It had been hard enough having Sam taken from her house, but to be teased into finding her only for her to be kidnapped again seemed unfair to Lara. It was like yesterday had just been a training exercise and now she had to face the real thing. She had had a decent amount of confidence and hope yesterday- it had seemed like things would eventually pull through just because they always had done for Lara. But now Lara realised that the world didn't always work like that. Things had gone right for her in the past because she had fought for it and this was no different. She had been relying too much upon faith and personal experience instead of treating the incident like an individual problem. In order to get Sam back and find out what the hell was going on, she was going to have to take this adventure one step at a time and throw herself into it with as much vigour and energy as she could muster.
Lara sighed as her head started to clear a little and she could direct her interior voice towards herself.
You're just as bad as Cow Blood, she told herself. He treats this like a game and yesterday you did too. This is no game, Lara. This is serious shit. Everything you have is at stake here. Pull yourself together.
She felt guilty for not taking the quest as serious as she perhaps could have. The adrenalin rush she had experienced the previous day was something Lara couldn't deny she had missed. She couldn't help being the adrenalin junkie she was born to be. But this time it was Sam who would take the fall if she didn't bring herself back to reality. Lara had lost people before. Losing her father had been a bad experience to say the least. Losing Roth had almost been worse- she had certainly known him longer than she had known her father and he had almost become a replacement dad to her. Of course her father always held a dear place in Lara's heart, but the unconditional love one feels for their parents had spread to Lara's feelings for Roth. She had loved him like a father. No matter what he did, no matter what happened, she would always love him anyway. Then she lost him. Both of these deaths had ripped Lara apart, but losing Sam would be different. The love Lara felt for Sam was a love that she enjoyed to feel- it was the kind of love that surfaces beneath barriers when you first meet a person, but breaks through when dedicate hard work and sacrifice to it. And when the barriers break, you fall. That kind of love requires work. Lara and Sam had taken the time and effort to put the work in for each other because they couldn't contemplate life without one another, even as friends. Lara could not afford to lose Sam. Although she had already lost two of her closest loved ones, she knew this one would cause her to hit breaking point. It would be like losing two pet dogs and then losing a pet lion. Losing unconditional love and then losing chosen love.
It was this thought that pushed Lara back into action. She pocketed the crumpled note that lay on the floor before standing up. She was still suffering from a light dizziness, but the hot wave of nausea in her stomach had started to die down and was being replaced by hunger. She had only eaten breakfast yesterday and thrown up twice- she probably had barely anything left in her. Although desperate to start studying the note straight away, Lara decided it would be better to eat first. She would need the energy if she was to get into another chase or fight.
Maybe I'll go to Dale Meadows, she thought. The food will be good and Harvey might be able to help if I get stuck.
Lara made her way down through the hatch and into Sam's bedroom; her clothes had a sufficient amount of blood and sweat soaked into them and she needed to change. Sam was one or two sizes smaller than Lara, so she had to rifle through the wardrobe in order to find some old clothes from Sam's slightly fatter teenage years. Lara smiled as she found some clothes that she recognised from Sam's high school photos. They looked about Lara's size so she changed into them, leaving her own clothes on the bedroom floor. Now wearing a black jacket over a purple v-neck with some stylish white jeans, Lara pulled her boots back on and made for her car. She felt extremely uncomfortable in these clothes both physically and mentally- they were definitely anything but Lara's usual style. But she wanted to go straight out for breakfast instead of going home in the fear that there would be another note waiting for her. Besides, perhaps her unusual choice of clothing would help in throwing Cow Blood's minions off her scent.
As Lara got in her car she expected a note to be waiting for her, but she was surprised to find that the car was exactly how she had left it.
Lara arrived at Dale Meadows five minutes later and checked her car's clock to make sure the cafe would be open. It was 8:30am so Lara was definitely within the opening times. However, she had to make a double take as she noticed the day next to the time. It said Friday. She had gone to Sam's on Wednesday evening. She must have been unconscious for around 36 hours, rather than the 12 she had presumed.
"This just keeps getting better, doesn't it?" Lara murmured to herself as she slammed the driver's door closed and crossed the road to Dale Meadows.
"Good morning, Lara," Harvey smiled as soon as she entered. "You are very early today. Come for breakfast, have you?"
Lara nodded. "That's exactly what I'm doing. Croissant and coffee, please," she ordered as she reached the counter.
Harvey smiled at her before gesturing for her to go and sit down. She did so, in her usual place where she and Sam always sat. The cafe was the emptiest Lara had ever seen it, but she supposed it was because she had never been in there this early. There were only 3 other groups of people in the cafe: an elderly man and a middle-aged man, possibly father and son, eating blueberry muffins; two girls and a guy in their twenties who looked like students, eating pancakes and waffles; a young man sitting by himself, reading a newspaper and drinking coffee. Lara recognised the first two, but the face of the latter rang no bells. She frowned. Despite not being on speaking terms with any of the cafe visitors, she usually recognised every customer based on Harvey's 'regulars only' rule. Already Lara's suspicion grew, but she didn't want to leave and draw attention to herself. She just stayed where she was and tapped her fingers on the table, pretending to wait patiently for her breakfast.
When Harvey delivered Lara's breakfast she was relieved he had brought it himself rather than sending a waiter.
"There you go, Lara. A beautiful breakfast for a beautiful young lady," smiled Harvey, placing the plate and mug down in front of her.
"Thanks Harvey," she murmured, her mind elsewhere.
As he turned to go, Lara caught his sleeve.
"Harvey, who's that man sat by himself over there?" she asked, nodding her head towards the man drinking coffee. By now he had closed the newspaper and appeared to be waiting for something... or someone.
"That is Mr Derek Hastings. He often comes here with his girlfriend, it is strange he is on his own." Harvey turned to Lara. "Much like you."
"Sam's busy with work," she murmured without thinking.
"Friday is her day off, no?"
"Oh yes, of course. It's Friday..." Lara cleared her throat, awkwardly. "But we archaeologists never stop."
Harvey frowned before laughing brightly and walking away. Lara breathed a sigh of relief. Now she knew she didn't have to worry about being watched by Derek, she set about eating her croissant quickly so she could move on to figuring out the note.
With just one read over, Lara knew it was going to be tricky. The only word with a capital letter was 'Sky'. That could mean anything. She tried to find some sort of riddle to lead her in the right direction, but she couldn't pick out anything that sounded too obscure. Lara thought a bit about the sentence about the American and British sky- it seemed quite random but it was the only other part of the note that had anything to do with the sky. Still, it led to nothing in Lara's mind. She was almost certain there was nothing in that sentence that would help her, but she had to be sure. She folded over the top of the note so it seemed to start at 'we thought you would appreciate a view of the sky', before beckoning Harvey over to help her. Folding the note wasn't ideal, especially if there was a clue in the first part, but Lara couldn't risk Harvey finding out any more the situation she and Sam was in. Besides, she was almost certain the clue would be in the second part of the note.
"Harvey, is there anything in this note that stands out to you?" Lara asked, holding it out to him.
"Is that written in blood?" he asked, frowning.
"What? No, of course not. It's a replica of a note that was found in an ancient vase during a dig I was at yesterday," Lara explained, thinking on her feet.
Harvey read over the note. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. Why do you ask?"
"I don't think they had 'PE' in ancient times..."
"Exactly," Lara muttered, realising how stupid she had been. "We think it's a fake vase that somebody put there with this note, quite recently. You know, maybe it was used in a treasure hunt or something."
"I would agree. It's very strange. What a coincidence that it has Sam in there, too."
"It's a common name."
"Yes, you are right. I am sorry, Lara, but I don't think I can help you. I may have a small collection of antiques, but I can assure you I know nothing about them," Harvey told her, starting to laugh again.
"Thanks for your help," Lara muttered, sarcasm and bitter both in her voice. Thankfully Harvey had already started to walk away.
Lara drank up the rest of her coffee before starting to get up. But just as she did so, something clicked into place. Sky wasn't the only word with a capital letter; PE was too. She had obviously overlooked that because PE was always written in capital letters. Sky and PE. Could that be some sort of message? A riddle? A code?
Lara shook her head.
Think simple, she told herself. It was simpler than that last time. It always is. Think literal.
So she did. Sky and PE. Sky and physical education. That was it! PE in the sky! Lara smiled to herself for working it out on her own... kind of. This must mean some kind of skydiving or paragliding thing. When she was unconscious, someone had gone to the trouble of positioning her with a view of the sky and mentioning it in the note. He had also highlighted PE. Obviously the two linked under sports in the sky.
Lara ran out of the cafe and into her car, starting the engine before she had even put her seatbelt on. She knew exactly where to go and exactly what to do. She was going to go to the skydiving centre only 25 minutes away. She was going to skydive.