So... I started a new story instead of working on my other 2. This happened because I was reading through another author's various smut one-shots and stumbled across some with Ghost and holy fucking hell. You can bet your girl was hooked but I find myself lacking enough options to obsess over when majority of them are y/n or reader fics. Nothing against those or those who enjoy them but they truly are not my cup of tea, coffee, alcohol beverage of the day. I'm not big on first or second person POVs but have been forcing my way through some of them to make up for the lack of choices then I decided, what the hell, I may as well start my own. So... here we are.

OC is named, she has a predetermined appearance and backstory, but please do not feel that you have to imagine her as how I describe her. She can be whoever you want, look however you want, etc.

Chapter 1: Waking Hell

The sound of chaos had finally died off, the only noise that broke the quiet were the explosions that seemed so far away and the occasional gun shot that slowly made its way closer with each time it popped. The sound of classical music hummed faintly, somewhere in the background; she probably left the record player on in her room.

Lara waited with bated breath as she heard the office door open with barely a whisper. Her eyes no longer focused past the window where the night sky was lit ablaze by the fires below, instead they zeroed in on the reflected outlines of wraiths on the glass as they moved behind her, daring to venture closer. Her eyes tracked them as her heart hammered in her chest and sweat built along the base of her hairline, droplets sliding to hide beneath her clothes. The trepidation burned in the pit of her chest in a way that felt like dancing your hand over an open flame but moving too quickly for it to hurt.

She was equal parts relieved and terrified, the entire ordeal was a cold rush that burned her from the inside out. Either they kill her now, with no words spoken, or they question her and she will give them the information they seek and in turn she will request a quick and painless death.

But why does she want to die? Doubt swirled in her stomach making her mildly nauseous. 'It doesn't make any sense. Yuri said– Kate said– Who said what?'

"The sky is on fire." She muttered, her words echoing throughout the room. Her breath fogged the glass with how close her face was - she dragged a finger through it. It wasn't her face looking back in the glass anymore and before she could understand what she was doing, she was pulling her fist back - blood dripped and glass shattered, fading into the shadow slinking along the ground. She huffed in bemusement.

Lara lifted a crystal glass, once forgotten in her other hand, and took a deep sip of the dry red. With the taste still on her tongue, she studied the wraiths shift about the room, never once looking away from her. 'Is this going to be my bitter end? Probably. Almost as bitter as this wine. I hate it.'

"Levka." Only a select few knew that name and none of them were in the room with her.

The pregnant pause endured for all of 30 seconds before being broken by a deep growl from the other, "Ksenia."

No one who isn't her enemy calls her that. The fog lifted from her mind briefly enough to realize they weren't even here to deliver her penance. These wraiths and shadows were not her allies.

The wraiths were now just two men who stood before her, they were tall to say the least and decked out for war. She knew who they were by their appearances, Makarov made sure she knew who his enemies were because they were meant to be her enemies too. But they sounded nothing like what she would have imagined.

A bitter smile tugged at her lips as she took in their hostile stances and as she stepped toward the desk their guns jerked up and they aimed at her head. The glass gave a tiny clink as it made contact with the wood and she made no other sudden movements as she gave them her full attention, hands splayed open to show she was not armed. Unarmed but not harmless. And no doubt they knew that too.

If they knew her names and titles, it was likely they knew she was more than what she looked like now, dressed in a floor length gown and jewels - she was a killer.

'I am a killer.'

She was too distracted to be sure whom but one of them spoke again, this time to command her to kneel.

She did not.

Wind whipped through her hair and tugged at her clothes as she duck, dodged and rolled behind whatever cover she could find. Not quite sure how she made it to the roof but here they were - dancing around each other two-on-one.

Gone was her dress, it was replaced by her tactical gear and instead of a glass of wine, she had a grenade - she threw it. It felt like playing a game, Lara let out a chuckle as one of them jumped over a railing to avoid the explosion, falling from view.

Taking an opportunity to engage in close combat, she waited until she heard the sound of a mag dropping before dashing out and catching the last one by surprise. She manages to kick the gun from his hands, her thoughts mocking such an amateur mistake to not have it strapped on. She aimed for soft spots that his armor didn't fully cover, spots that might not do a lot of damage but enough to wear him down, slow him down enough to make a difference while she did her best to avoid even just one hit that would devastate her. He managed to get a few glancing blows that, while they didn't fully connect, hurt all the same and would leave her littered in bruises, cuts and welts.

Lara used her smaller stature to duck and weave through the structures on the roof. When given the chance, she knew she needed to end this fight and quickly, his stamina was greater than hers so when a solid kick left him reeling long enough for her to kick off of the roof to even the height difference between them. Lara caught one leg over his shoulder and tucked it under his arm that helped pin it down and extended a thick cord between her hands and attempted to catch it under his chin.

To her disappointment, he managed to get his other hand up quick enough to reduce the tightness and keep from being strangled to death. She pulled her bodyweight back, ignoring the feeling of falling in favor of adding more pressure, hoping he would be strangled regardless but his strength was proving to be a hassle.

"Just go down." She snarled through clenched teeth. "Give up!"

"Fuck you." He growled right back, using her weight pulling back to guide him and slammed back on the first wall they reached causing her arms to slacken as her breath was driven from her.

Sliding the free hand up passed the cord and grabbed ahold of her chest piece and shouldered her right off his back, over his head, and straight onto–

The rooftop transformed into a surreal landscape, colors warping the sky with a weaving dance of light, and reality bending as Lara found herself upside down, defying gravity as she raced along a tightrope between two mountain peaks. She wasn't in pain nor out of breath, not even cold even though she was severely underdressed for the climate.

She paused long enough to look behind her, sighting her pursuers as one of them crawled like a sloth along the rope towards her, the other stood watching from the base. Though she couldn't be sure of his face, he still looked mad and as soon as she came to that realization his body jerked and folded in on itself and split open until a mass of inky black spilled forth from his back. With a screech, it jerked upright and extended what could only be considered as wings, giving them a test flap before spring into the sky.

'What the fu-!' Lara didn't get the chance to finish the thought as he was suddenly on her, his speed was incredible. Incredibly fucking scary. She swung right side up to avoid a clawed swipe from this monster and continued her mad dash to the other side while keeping a balance she didn't know she had.

'But where do I go from here?' The roar behind her only spurned her on, legs burning from exertion and overextending. 'Doesn't matter! Run! Just keep running!'

She wasn't even halfway across when he was racing at her from the other, straight to where she was running. Why the hell is she running this way? She didn't have time to change course or stop, it was too late. He was in her face and she had a fantastic view of his grotesque face, split into a wide jagged grin, blackened and broken in spots, dripping blood. Her blood. It splattered across his face and left trails as his clawed hand punched right through her chest.

With a sharp intake of breath, she was laying on hard concrete. Staring back up into the sky through the thick fog that enveloped the rooftop. Lara squinted through the mist, her senses on high alert. The acrid scent of burning debris lingered in the air, and the distant echoes of gunfire persisted. As the fog cleared, she found herself standing alone on the rooftop, the remnants of her tactical gear replaced by the elegant gown and jewels she had worn earlier. The grenade she had thrown was nowhere to be seen. Confusion knitted her brow as she tried to make sense of the sudden shift in her surroundings. As she turned to look behind her, the gray of concrete blurred and shifted into the deep browns of wood.

She could see the night sky, once illuminated by the fires of chaos, now revealed a serene panorama of stars as seen from the office where it all began. The explosions and gunshots had faded into a distant memory. Lara felt a surreal calm wash over her, the remnants of adrenaline still coursing through her veins.

She touched her face then frantically grasped at her chest, half-expecting to find blood or a gaping hole, but her skin was unblemished. The glass windows that had reflected the wraiths and shadows now showcased a tranquil cityscape below.

Lara took a tentative step forward, her eyes scanning for any sign of soldiers, or the aftermath of their explosive encounters. Yet, there was no trace of the battle that had just taken place. It was as if the chaotic confrontation had evaporated into the night air.

The sound of footsteps approached from behind, and Lara turned to find a figure emerging from the shadows. It was a familiar face that brought a mixture of sadness and hopelessness to swirl in her gut. A version of her ex-husband when he was younger, when they first fell in love and she was enamored by him and his oh-so-charming words. He looked as she remembered him, bright and eager to serve his country but he radiated the cold confidence and ruthlessness that his older counterpart exhibited. He sauntered towards her until he was within an arm's distance.

"You did well, Ksenia," he said, his tone filled with approval, a smile lightening his features, a glimmer of madness in his eyes. "The threat has been neutralized."

Lara frowned, her mind still grappling with the surreal nature of the situation. "Neutralized?"

His expression twisted in disgust then became contemplative while his words were cryptic. "You have faced demons and emerged victorious. They are no longer a concern."

A sense of disorientation and uncertainty settled over Lara as she tried to piece together the fragments of the dream-like sequence. The names, the faces, the emotions—all seemed to blur together in a haze of unreality. Her head pulsated with pain and she reached up to add pressure to one side, hoping to relieve it.

Her ex-husband extended one hand towards her waiting for her to grasp it, with the other he gestured toward the city below. "It's time to move forward, Ksenia. Leave the shadows behind. Your path lies ahead. Our path."

As Lara took his hand the feeling of dread warping through her skin at the contact, every nerve and fiber of her being was screeching at her. How dare he touch her! How dare she let him! After everything he's done!

'Let go.' She silently commanded, willing her body to work, to obey. She felt trapped within her mind. 'This can't be happening. It's not real. Somebody, anybody-!'

The room dissolved and the dream landscape shifted once again. The echoes of explosions and gunshots faded into a distant murmur, leaving Lara uncertain of what was real and what was imagined. The only certainty was the lingering taste of dry red wine on her tongue—a bitter reminder of a dream that had woven together elements of her past, present, and an uncertain future. Faintly, she could still hear the sound of music.

'Am I dead?'

Her world of chaos was dissolving and she was plunged into the cold depths of reality.

The monsters weren't real - not this time at least - and the blaring siren was a steady beep that, while annoying, wasn't as shrill as she first thought upon waking. Even the cords that bound her were nothing more than IVs strung up from bags snaking into her arm. The beeping picked up pace as Lara took in her surroundings; the sound of bustling nearby let her know that she wasn't alone. Terror shot through her as she realized she was in no shape to fight or retreat, her heart rate shot up and the alarm rang louder.

"Hey! Hey! Easy now, you're safe." A firm voice reassured her as it moved closer, standing over her and greeting her with a half-smile. 'Kate.'

"It's good to see you again, Lara."

"M-ma'am." Lara's throat burned with a harshness that made her cough. The movement from coughing caused an overload of pain to shoot through her entire body. Kate jerked forward and rested her hands on her shoulders, willing Lara to stop moving as she hushed her softly.

"At ease, Lara. We aren't in the field."

Once the coughing fit settled, Kate smiled at her again. "You're not allowed to drink anything but we can get those little sponges to wet your mouth. Give me a moment, okay?"

Kate disappeared from her view, the sound of rustling followed by the opening and closing of the door signaled her quick departure. Lara took that time to truly focus on her surroundings. It was too much to turn her head to either side fully but moving her eyes didn't cause any pain so she used that to scope out what she could. Her room was too nice to be a typical medbay so her injuries were severe enough to be transferred out to a hospital.

'Why am I here?' Her mind was foggy. Something bad must have happened for Kate to come to her while she was hospitalized and considering the massive amount of pain she was in, she felt like she was run over by a train.

Kate returned with the promised sponges and after helping raise the head of the bed, she offered the sponge - it gave her a brief reprieve from the dry, cottony taste in her mouth. She was sure she could still taste the afternotes of bitter wine.

The hospital room felt both familiar and foreign, it was a sanctuary that held more questions than answers.

"Kate, what happened?" Lara's voice was a hoarse whisper.

Kate's expression was serious yet compassionate. "What do you remember?"

Lara took a few moments to reorganize her thoughts. 'What did happen?' She couldn't be sure how much was accurate and how much was a mix of fantasy and dreams.

With uncertainty, she admitted, "I'm not sure. I was having such vivid dreams, I'm not sure how much is true and how much my mind made up."

Kate gave her a soft smile, "I understand. Do you remember your mission?" Kate waited for Lara's confirmation that came in the form of a slow nod before continuing. "You've been out for a few days now and… Well to put it bluntly, your cover was blown. There was an imminent threat and you faced it head-on. Whatever happened led to you getting far enough away to be intercepted by a Special Forces team, we had help from a close source who tipped us off that you need extraction. But by then your mind was already addled by some kind of drug, the doctors weren't sure what it was. They did what they could. You may still feel lingering effects from what the Ultranationalists did to you, probably for a while."

She paused, waiting for a response or reaction but Lara had none to give besides a furling of her brows and a narrowing of her eyes as she sunk further into her thoughts. Trying to piece together the broken pieces she could remember and the information Kate already mentioned but it wasn't fitting.

"SAS soldiers weren't part of that team, were they?"

Kate shook her head, "No. I wasn't aware you've met any of them either." Her tone was questioning, asking for answers without forcing them from her. Lara complied.

"I never did, not in person at least. I was given a dossier for some of them to study, they wanted me to know everything they knew. He thought the day would come where I would face them and he wanted me to know the best ways to get under their skin. To kill them." Lara sighed, closing her eyes as her head pounded. "I dreamt of them. They were the main antagonists of my dreams."

"The dossiers." Kate's voice turning more urgent. "How much?"

Her eyes opened and gave the older woman a steely gaze, "Too much. More than mere surveillance worth. Someone knows too much and they're giving away that information."

"Damn it." Kate ruffled a hand through her bangs in agitation. "I need to make a call - I'll be back soon. In the meantime, I'll send in someone from the medical team to start your assessment."

Kate paused, giving Lara a look, before seemingly coming to a decision. "You're going to be laying low for some time. You're not going to like it but I'm re-assigning you State-side."

Lara looked dejectedly down at her hands, curling into the fabric of her sheets on her lap. "Yes, ma'am."

"This isn't a punishment." She assured her. When Lara failed to look back at her, Kate sighed and stepped closer to the hospital bed, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Once you've been discharged, we will leave immediately. Sarah would be thrilled if you come by for dinner while you're there."

That made Lara's lip quirk in an attempt to keep from smiling. Kate's wife was so motherly that it made her feel welcomed and loved, it was also hard to say no because Sarah was a master at the puppy eyes. And only a few things stirred that kind of guilt in the pit of her stomach, she couldn't let Sarah down like that. She sometimes imagines what it was like if Sarah and Kate were her parents, if she had been born in the States and not the Motherland - would she have joined the military? She could have lived a normal life - a homey house, picket fence, a family - the whole package - had things been different… Perhaps in another life.

"Well… if it's for Sarah, I guess I could stop by."

Kate huffed in mock offense, "I see how it is!"

Lara gave a weak chuckle, trying not to aggravate the pain currently radiating through her side. Bruised ribs, at best. She reached up to wrap her hand around the cord at her neck and her hand grasped only the cloth of the gown. Panic bloomed so deeply in her chest that it made all other pains seem like child's play and her breath stuttered before it quickened.

"Stop that." Kate commanded. "I have it! I made sure it was stowed away safely when you were brought in."

Lara forced herself to control her breaths as she watched as Kate walked up to a chair that was at the far corner of the room and rifled through the contents of a faded, brown messenger bag. Finding what she was looking for, she quickly stepped back and handed her a locket, bound with a heavy cord instead of the original dainty chain it would have come with.

With the rapid spike in heart rate blaring from the monitor through the room again, Kate wasn't surprised when a nurse quickly popped her head in to assess the situation but was reassured with a quick word from the older woman and promptly left.

She choked out her gratitude, clutching it close and accepting the shoulder pat meant to reassure her - again.

Bloody hell, she's a mess.

"Okay, no more distractions. Rest up for a few." Kate stepped out and it wasn't even two minutes later that a doctor was stepping in with the same nurse who poked her head in minutes ago.

He smiled, "Miss Matthews?"

AN: So I forced my husband to read this chapter - he is a terrible beta btw, he dislikes reading in general (I know, I married a monster). So there may be mistakes because I can only read through so many times and find them.

I hope it was clear that she was dreaming (I had to explain that to my husband - he sucks) before she wakes up in the hospital.

As I have stated in my other stories at least once, I will continue to update my stories but they may not be regular. My max, without an update or notice of abandonment, is a year. If I do not post or respond after that then know I have died - this is simply my way to letting others know instead of hanging in limbo.

Anyways, let me know what you think :)