Happy new year y'all
I hope the year has been good to y'all.
Nothing much to say so I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as the others.
So here we go.
.
Declaimer: I don't own anything except for some plots and the efforts put into writing it.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Flashback
"« »"( )" I'll use this two to indicate an action taking place in the background and location.
Naruto shivers as a cold wind blew by. No matter how much he tried he just couldn't shake off this bad feeling he was having. From where he stood he saw that there are less houses on this side of the town.
"What is it?" Lara asked after seeing the expression on his face.
"It's nothing. Let's just find grim"
"Okay" Lara nodded and they resumed their journey through the second half of the shanty town which feels more like a graveyard.
"How could they live like this?" Lara sighed dejectedly. She tried to imagine how people could leave in such environment as they walk through the muddy water to another part. Even Naruto could do nothing but shake his head with a sad sigh.
'I can't imagine being forced to serve a Queen who doesn't give a shit about you.' Naruto thought just as they walked into a shady building where they heard a familiar voice.
"Get yer hands off me, ya bloody bastard"
"Oh my God. Grim!" Lara made to move but Naruto quickly pulled her behind cover.
"Wh -"
Shhh
Not a minute too soon did two people ran pass on the building on the other side.
"A prisoner's escaped!"
"Hey! I need some hand up here!"
"Come on, let's go!"
Naruto made sure they were gone before letting go of her hands.
Naruto quickly crossed the wooden platform connecting their building to the other one where the scavenger ran across with Lara behind him. They ran after the two scavengers when they saw them climbing up a ladder to higher ground
"Fuck ya! boil yer head!"
"Oh goddammit! Get up there!"
"Easy, old man! Take it easy!"
"Ahhhhh!" A man fell off from the top of the ladder and crashed down into the ground a few feet away from them, dead, startling the two of them.
"Fuck!" Lara shouted in shock.
"Naruto, Lara! up here!" A voice called out from above.
"Grim, you escaped!" Lara exclaimed as she hurried to the ladder. Even Naruto could his his joy from showing.
"I'm glad you made it old fat!"
"They couldn't hold me." Grim gloated. "Get up here, we need to get the others."
Lara was about to climb up the ladder when another voice quickly interrupted them.
"Light her up!"
"Lara, look out!" Naruto called out before running for cover when he saw a molotov land beside the ladder.
"Oh shit" Lara hurriedly jumped off half way up the ladder and took cover before the dynamite exploded destroying the ladder.
"Outsiders, give it up!"
"Not ok your fucking life!" Naruto shouted out from behind the cover before shooting down one of the scavengers standing on the rooftops enraging the others.
"Sound the alarm!"
'Damnit' Naruto grabbed his SMG before glancing at Lara hiding parallel to him. The sound of the alarm was like a death bell to him. Everytime he heard it it always felt like it would be his last.
They were at a disadvantage here due to their vintage point and limited places to take cover.
Lara oblivious to his thoughts equiped her old WWII machine gun and opened fire on the scavengers.
Bang bang bang...
"FUCK YOU ALLLLL!" Lara angrily pulled on the trigger, drilling new holes in any scavenger that wandered away from cover.
"Get down there and kill those motherfuckers!"
"You've got it!"
The close combat scavengers use the ziplines to get to their side. Naruto and Lara took them down but some managed to get through.
"Die pretty boy!" A scavenger ran at him with a machete but Naruto toss his combat knife into his throat, killing him before he could move any closer. He shot two others while Lara had managed to take care of the rest with a machine gun.
"Come on, you pieces of shit!" Naruto swapped ammo and opened fire on the scavengers on the roof top, taking out a few of them.
Bang Bang Bang...!
Argh!
"This is for Sam!" Lara dropped scavengers left and right with her machine gun.
Argh!
The gunfires and empty bullet shells hitting the ground formed a cacophony of sounds.
Clang.
"Fuck!" A bullet hit the metal box right in front of Naruto and bounced off freaking him out.
"Naruto, are you okay?!" Lara turned to him when she heard him shout in fright.
"I'm fine!" Naruto replied while trying to calm his frightened heart.
"you guys, be careful!" Grim's concerned voice was quickly drowned out by the loud gunfire.
Bang Bang Bang...
Argh!
"Dont give them time to breathe!"
"Shit. They're taking us down"
Clank clank clank...
Bullets bounced off against the metal box as it shield Naruto from the heavy fire like a guardian angel. Naruto gritted his teeth and glanced at Lara who also hide behind a metal box with her head down.
'This guys are really unrelenting'
Naruto took notice of a scavenger holding a grenade gun and his expression morphed into one of fear.
"Lara! Move!"
Lara who had also noticed it didn't think twice before running away from behind her cover with Naruto. Not a moment too soon did an explosion take place behind her throwing her off her feet but she used the momentum to roll behind another cover.
"There they are! get them!"
The bullets rained upon them like rain from the sky. Not that they had the luxury to do such a thing.
Boom.
Dynamite rained down on their location exploding one after the other kicking up a dust screen obscuring everything in sight which eventually lead to a ceasefire as they could barely see .
Silence took over the entire battlefield as everyone immediately entered a ceasefire. Nobody moved, almost everyone could hear their hearts beating against their chest with sweat forming on their brows. The ground by now was already littered with empty bullets shells.
The other side only had two people so why does it feel like they had been fighting against an army.
The dead bodies littered all around the ground made it difficult to tell whether they were among the dead bodies or not.
They felt a strange feeling tugging at their heart string as they waited with baited breathe. Nobody knew how long they had been like that but someone finally decided to break the silence and asked.
"Are they dea...?"
Bang.
A bullet penetrated the head of the scavenger before he could complete the sentence spraying his brain matter out the back of his head before his body fell unceremoniously to the ground. This served as a wake up call to all the scavengers and they immediately raised their guns and aimed it at Lara who had taken the shot.
Naruto was also shocked by this, even grim felt like he was looking at someone else entirely right now.
'She has gotten ruthless. I guess I wasn't the only one who has changed.'
"Shit!"
"Take them down!"
The gunfight immediately resumed like it never stopped. Pushing the meaningless thoughts to the back of his mind. Naruto also returned fire alongside Lara.
Click click.
Shit.
"I'm out!" Naruto hurriedly searched the dead body closest to him but it was all for naught.
"Here!" Lara slide her handgun along the ground over to him which he hurriedly picked up and use to shoot a scavenger down from the zipline.
Bang bang bang...!
The scene right now was of two sides waging war against each other and the sounds of gun fires and shells hitting the ground singing the glory of the battlefield depicted by death and misery. Explosions and bullets rained all over destroying everything in their path. Naruto and Lara could barely stay in one location for a few seconds. They kept shuffling around behind cover while avoiding being shot and dealing with the scavengers that came down. Even Grim's voice was completely drowned out in the chaos. It continued like this for half an hour until the loud noises finally died down.
Bang!
A scavenger tumbled off the roof to the ground after being shot by Naruto.
"That's the last of them" Lara sighed.
Naruto looked around at the dead bodies at their feet that made the whole place look like the grim reaper just had a field day.
Grim climbed down a ladder to a roof directly above them where they could see him more clearly.
"You guys are fucking monsters, I tell yer" Grim's voice sounded off from the top drawing their attention. He was still trying to understand what he had just witnessed. The two of them were like death gods claiming the lives of the people they set their sights on.
'Roth raised monsters' Contrary to his thoughts. He was glad that the two of them were okay after such a bloody gunfight.
"Easy for you to say" Naruto scoffed at his word. They had nearly died more time than he could count. Lara however didn't beat around the bush and quickly asked the crucial questions, not that he minded.
"Where are the others?!"
"Still locked up inside... but I know where they are"
"You do?" That actually caught Naruto off guard since he didn't know that Grim had been captured with the others before.
Grim turned to Naruto and nodded. "Yes. I managed to escape from there but I was caught a second time before you found me. But enough of that. You guys get up here and we'll get em out together."
"Okay but how do we get to you?" Naruto frowned as their only way up had been blown into pieces by the scavengers.
"There's a solution, it'll just take some time."
"What do you mean?" Lara expressed her confusion. Grim however pointed at a tall building in the distance. The two of them turned to look at the direction before he started explaining.
"They got some kinda setup for hauling cargo. Maybe you guys can use it to come around the other side?"
"Alright, we'll be there"
They salvaged the dead copies lying around for anything useful before starting their journey. They climb up the zipline created by the scavengers to get to the rooftop. They continued like this moving and climbing through the rooftops. They got into a few skirmishes but it was nothing they couldn't handle. They eventually made it to the setup and got on a cargo being moved through a zipline to other side.
"Grim? are you there?!" Lara shouted after not seeing him from on top the cargo.
Grim rushed out of the building in a rush and quickly shouted when he saw them.
"It's a trap, lass! Get out of here!"
shit!
Each word fell like an hammer on naruto's ears. Two scavengers rushed out from inside the building and hurriedly subdued grim before pulling him back inside the building.
"Oh no..Grim!"
Lara quickly aimed her gun at them but it was too late.
"Lara this is bad" Naruto hurriedly equiped his SMG. If it was a trap then that means that they have to fight with their lives on the line again. But this time they might actually die.
"They are here!"
"Get the two of them!"
It didn't take long for the cargo to reach the gondola on the other side where the two of them quickly fell under assault from flaming arrows and bullets. The scavengers took cover on the other building with flammable barrels scattered around the building.
(Bang Bang Bang...)
"grim?"
"Move!" Naruto tackled Lara out of the way of a machete wielding scavenger.
"Damn you!" The scavenger got upset that his well planned attack had missed and moved in for another one. However, Naruto who was having none of it, turned around and shot the scavenger in the chest.
"Pay attention, Lara" Naruto berated her recklessness before shooting at a flammable barrel on the other side that resulted in an explosion that took out the scavengers hiding nearby.
"I'm sorry" Lara quickly gathered her thoughts since dying here won't accomplish anything. She picked up her gun from the ground and started shooting any scavenger that wandered too close or into sight.
"Get them! Get them! They mustn't leave here alive!"
"Death to the outsiders!"
At this point the scavengers practically threw caution to the wind and started using the human wave tactics. The explosive barrels worked in their favor which helped them to reduce their numbers considerably to avoid being surrounded.
"Arrggh"
Naruto blocked a strike from a scavenger's Cutlass using his combat knife but the blade still managed to leave a cut on his right shoulder.
Bang!
Lara shot the scavenger in the head killing him and saving Naruto in the process.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine" Naruto waved her off but it was less convincing with his shoulder bleeding.
"You are bleeding"
"It's alright"
"No it's no.."
"Look out!" Naruto pushed Lara out of the way and shot the scavenger stalking behind her.
"Argh"
Naruto felt a jolt of pain rush through his nerves from putting too much strain on the wound on his shoulder.
After taking care of the last of the scavengers Lara hurried over to his side to check the wound on his shoulder.
"We need to stop the bleeding?" Lara hurriedly took off his shirt to get a better look at the wound. She removed the magazine from the gun and took out a bullet. She opened the bullet and sprayed the gunpowder on the face of the wound before taking out her lighter from her bow.
"Wait, wait, wait. What are you doing?"
"I'm going to close the wound" She set the gunpowder on fire with her lighter which burnt the wound and stopped the bleeding. Naruto bite into his arm to hold back the pain but that didn't stop him from glaring at Lara.
"Warn me before you do anything like that next time"
"Sorry"
"I know you guys are still there!"
'Oh no. There are more of them'
Naruto and Lara peeked out from behind the cover only to see grim being held at knife point by a scavenger with two others behind him.
Lara quickly stood up and aimed her arrow at him when she saw Grim.
"Let him go!"
"Where's the other one?! Come out and surrender yourself!"
"He's not here!"
"Don't fuck with me. I know you are there Blondie. Come out and surrender or I WILL kill him!" The scavenger gave grim a small cut to drive his point home.
"No! Stop!"
"ALRIGHT! Alright!" Naruto came out from behind the cover with his hands up. "Just don't hurt him!"
"Grim are you okay?!"
"Why the fuck are ya just standing there for?! Leave me be and run for your lives lad!"
Lara shook her head at his words.
"We are not leaving you behind!"
"She's right" Naruto nodded before turning to the scavenger.
"Now let him go!" he demanded but he doubted that things would be that easy.
"Of course we will. Kill them boys!"
"Nooo!"
The two of them watched as Grim headbutted the scavenger behind him with the back of his head stunning him long enough for him to snatch the machete out of his hands. Grim uses the machete to kill two of them, while the third one begins to shoot at him but Grim charges at him, shoving him into him into a wall at the edge before giving him an headbutt.
The force of the two of them smashing into the wall eventually leads wall falling off the edge and the Solarii member loses his balance, and begins to fall, however he grabs Grim and drags him into the ravine with him at the last minute
A look of horror flashed across their face as they watched him fall into the ravine.
"Grim!/Grim!"
Lara fell down to her knees. Her eyes unfocused. She looked like someone who had just witnessed their worst nightmare come true. Naruto wasn't any better. His whole body froze still. He stood like that for a few seconds but his mind still refused to believe what he had just seen.
'Grim is dead?'
"No...Grim..."
He turned to Lara who was crying silently with her head down.
As much as he also wished to do the same he couldn't dare to waste time since they still needed to save the other. He grabbed Lara by her shoulders and gently shook her.
"Lara, come on, we have to find the others"
"But grim?"
"Grim is dead, but the others are still alive and waiting for us to rescue them."
Lara bit her lower lips, glancing from the ravine to Naruto before finally making up her mind. She unhurriedly wiped off her tears and stood back up to her feets.
Sniff.
"You are right"
Naruto gave her a few seconds to gather her thoughts took the lead before using the zipline to get to the other side where Grim had been held hostage.
Naruto glanced at the edge where Grim had fallen off and silently swore to enact revenge on the scavengers and make them pay for what they did.
They climbed up to the top of the building where they saw a zipline connected to another mountain.
"You go first, I'll watch your back" Naruto said to Lara who silently nodded before climbing up the zipline.
Naruto climbed after her a few seconds later.
They were only half way up when they heard voices below them.
"There they are! Cut the line!"
"I'm on it"
Naruto looked down to see two scavengers moving towards the zipline. His expression quickly morphed into one of horror.
"Lara hurry! There are gonna cut the line!"
"Shit!"
Lara's heart beat increased when she heard that. She climbed as fast as she could not daring to stop even for a second.
Naruto followed close by behind her not lagging behind. They didn't make it far before the zipline was cut by the scavenger sending them both falling to the side of the mountain.
"Hold on!"
Naruto pulled out his combat knives and used it to anchor himself to the side of the mountain just as they smashed into it, with Lara using her pry axe.
Naruto barely let out a relieved sigh when am arrow imbedded itself into the side of the mountain missing Lara's head by a few inches.
'Oh shit'
"I've got her"
The scavenger was about to take another slot when a gunshot rang out and a bullet pierced through his head sending him falling down to the ravine below shocking all of them.
"Shit"
The other scavenger turned around only to get shot in the head as well. He fell lifelessly over the edge and into the ravine.
"What was that?"
"I don't know" Naruto shrugged. But before they could dwell on it the radio in Lara's pocket came to life and a familiar voice came out of it.
"I've got you guys covered. You are free to climb up"~
"Roth?" Lara gasped out in shock. Even Naruto was surprised but he was much more glad that Roth came through at the right time or they would have been goner.
"Thank God"
Lara sighed in relief as she and Naruto climbed up the mountain onto the cliff. It took them a few seconds to catch their breathe.
After catching his breathe Naruto looked up only to see the sun reflecting off a sniper scope in the distance. Lara also noticed this and when she thought of the incident that happened not long ago her expression turned gloomy.
Naruto and Lara exchanged sad looks before Lara grabbed her radio and stepped forward.
"Roth.."
"Yeah Lara?"
"Grim's...dead" Both sides went silent immediately after that.
Roth felt something pull on his heart string and his expression darkened. This whole expedition was never meant to go like this. The plan was to find the lost island, make some discoveries and get famous. Dying was never part of the agenda.
Grim had been with him for a very long time now. At this point the two of them were already brothers in all but blood.
After a few seconds of silence Lara finally spoke again.
"They tried to use him as leverage to make us surrender...But he wouldn't let them"
Roth sighed dejectedly when he heard that.
"Grim you...you stubborn bastard"
He turned to look at the other person there beside Lara who had his head down. He could tell that right now Naruto was the person most affected by grim's death. Although the two of them were constantly at each other's neck, they were the closest thing each other had to a father or son.
"I'm so sorry, Roth."
"No...Don't be sorry, Lara. Just make it count. We'll raise a glass to the old man when we get out of here."
"Naruto..." Since the whole conversation started Naruto finally looked up for the first time when he heard his name called.
"I'm sorry Roth. It's my fault. I shouldn't have split up with him. I.. I"
"It's okay Naruto. We are gonna make them pay for what they did. I promise."~ For some reason hearing those words helped to soothe the pain in his heart. He nodded which Roth returned even if he couldn't see it.
He knew it wasn't an empty promise. Roth was probably feeling the way he was now, if not more but he tried to hide it because he knew what was at stake. A distracted mind at the point can as well lead to one's death.
Naruto turned to look at the bridge ahead and asked. "By the way Roth. Can you get a clear view of see the bridge from there?"
"Yeah. I've got a clear shot with my rifle until the palace wall. That's the best I can do. But you guys will have to move underneath the bridge."~
Lara sighed dejectedly. "I knew you were going to say that."
"Don't worry. I'll be covering you guys all the way"~
"It's more than enough" Naruto nodded before he turned to look at lara and said with a small smile. "Let's go save the others."
'I won't let anybody else die. I swear.'
"Okay" Lara nodded unaware of his inner thought.
"You guys be careful"~
"We will"
"Let's go."
They make their way through passageway leading underneath the bridge when they heard an unfamiliar voice come out of their radio with a lot of statics.
"Rescue chopper N888RC responding to SOS inbound from freighter Trinity"~
'A rescue chopper?' Naruto and Lara exchanged excited looks after they heard what the man said. But whatever little joy they had was quickly extinguished after they remembered what happened the last they they signalled a rescue plane.
"This is comrad Roth of the endurance, do you copy?"
"..."~
"Did you guys hear that? A rescue helicopter in inbound!"
That's great news Roth. Set up a signal, we'll go get Sam and the others" Lara said. Although the last rescue plane was a failure she prayed that this one would work out and be their ticket out of this hell.
"Okay"~
After that little chapter it didn't take them long to reach the framework underneath the bridge.
"This is it" Naruto exhaled as they stood in front of the framework underneath the bridge while Lara grabbed his radio.
"Roth we are here"
"Don't worry, I've got them in my sight"~
Lara turned to Naruto who nodded resolutely at her before glancing back at the aged old framework of the bridge.
"Ok."
"Here goes nothing"
They began their journey underneath the bridge trying to make as little noise as possible so as not to attract attention.
"What the hell is going on down there...Do you think they got the outsiders?"
"Shhh" Naruto signalled for Lara to slow down when he heard the scavengers conversing above them.
"Don't worry. If they didn't, then they'll come right to us"
"Father Mathias will send us to the oni if we don't find them"
"Only if we fail. and we won't. The sun queen is with us"
Creak
"What the-?"
'oh shit' Naruto cursed when a scavenger saw them through a hole from above.
Bang.
The bullet shot through the scavengers head sending him down the hole alerting the others.
"Sniper! Take cover!"
"Ahhhh! Watch out!"
The killing of one of them drove the others into a state of panic and confusion and no one could tell where the sniper was shooting from which made it easier for Roth to take them down
"Thank goodness Roth". Lara sighed in relief.
Naruto also sighed in relief before turning to Lara and said "Let's keep moving"
Lara nodded and the two of them continued on their way underneath the bridge slowly.
"I thought I lost you, guys. are you okay?"~
"We are fine Roth. Thank you"
"No problem. I'll take care of them for you guys"~
Bang
"Ahhh! I'm hit!
"Look for the muzzle flash!"
The two of the continued to move through the framework of the bridge while Roth clears the way for them while also acting as their look out. It didn't take them long to reach the other side of the bridge without any accidents thanks to Roth
"You guys are clear now"~
"Thanks for the assist Roth" Naruto nodded since he was sure that Roth could see him through his sniper scope.
"I guess we are even now"
"Lara look out!"~
Lara climbed up ahead of him and sat down at the edge of the bridge when a scavenger grabbed her from behind.
"Ahh! Let go!"
"Lara!"
"I'll break this girls neck! Surrender!"
Lara elbowed him in ribs causing him to let go of one of her hands, Roth took the opportunity and shot the scavenger in the head sending his dead body off the edge. but because he still had a grip on Lara he pulled her along him.
"No! Ahhhhhh!
"Gotcha!"
Naruto grabbed her hand at the last second, pulling her back up underneath the bridge.
Pant. pant. pant.
"Thanks Naruto"
"Don't mention it. I'm just glad you are okay. We have to keep going before they find us." By the time the words left naruto's mouth it was already too late.
"Where are they?!"
"They went over!"
Screech.
"There are too many of them, you guys should get out of there!"~
"There they are! Below the bridge, fire! fire!!!!"
"Shit"
"Run!"
Boom. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Naruto and Lara ran underneath the bridge avoiding the rain of bullets pouring down on them from above. They jumped from underneath the bridge unto the closest roof top on the side of the mountain and started making their way across rooftops.
"Don't let them get away!"
Bang. Bang...!
Boom!
The rooftops behind them was taken out one after the other forcing them to increase their speed.
"Hurry Lara!"
Continuous explosion took place around them blowing splinters and debris everywhere.
Their hearts raced as they neared the end of the rooftops with a large gap separating them from the cliff side on the other side. Lara glanced at Naruto but when she saw that he had not intention of stopping she steeled her resolve and readied her pry axe.
"Prepare to jump!"
Naruto shouted out as he pulled out two knives from his jacket as they approached the edge.
Boom!
An explosive hit the roof top they were on causing it to slowly go down forcing them to panic.
"Jump!"
Naruto and Lara leaped off the edge of the roof at the last second towards the cliff side on the other side. At this point it could be considered a leap of fate.
Time slowed down as they slowly approached the cliff side. Lara pry axe connected with the side of the mountain keeping her from falling off while Naruto digged his knives into the cliff side. He nearly lost his grip but he caught himself on time.
They hurriedly climbed up to the top of the cliff. Lara breathed in and out trying to calm her heavily racing heart while lying on the ground. Naruto wasn't any better off either. He sat down the ground trying to father his thoughts.
'I've lost counts of the amount of close encounters we have had with jumping Cliff.
After catching his breathe he turned his head to look at Lara who was now back to her feet with a relieved expression and was currently talking to Roth on the radio.
"Lara. You guys made it!"~
"Yes, we'll be heading in now"
"Are you sure about this Lara?"
Lara could hear the uncertainty and worry in his voice but she had already made her decision.
"We'll get them..." She turned to face Naruto before saying the next part "...We'll come back soon"
After catching their breathes they continued into a cave on the cliff.
They passed through the water in the cave which reached waist level to get to the other side.
They slowed down when they saw red candles lining the walls the wall in the cave. Something they were very familiar with.
Naruto looked at Lara with a raised bro. "Sacrificial candles?"
"Like the ones from before"
"Does that mean something happened here?"
"Or is about to happen?"
"...Shit!"
The two of them ran through the cave in a hurry. It was only when they approached an opening where they could hear voices that they finally slow down.
Shh
Naruto signalled for Lara to keep quiet.
They stealthily walked into a large hall with burning red candles lining the walls where they heard a voice.
"My brothers, listen to me now. Out in the world, we were nothing. But here... we are the solarii. The sun Queen's children.
Lara gasped in shock when she saw the familiar figure of father Mathias. She lightly tapped on Naruto's shoulder as she said.
"Naruto, that voice. It's him. That's father Mathias"
Naruto raised an eyebrow when he heard that familiar name.
"The man that kidnapped Sam. Then Sam must be nearby"
At the mention of Sam Lara felt her heart start to race.
"Let's hurry"
"Okay"
They moved with hurried steps towards the voice which only got louder the closer they got.
"She brought us here for a reason. I know you want your freedom. I know you want to escape this place."
The two of them peeked out of a corner at the end of the hall to see Father Mathias standing on a high ground preaching to the crowd standing below him.
"But to do so, we must release our queen. Like us, she was a prisoner. If we free her we free ourselves"
It was at the moment that father Mathias turned around that they finally noticed Sam tightened to a wooden crucifix.
"Is that..."
"Sam!" Lara blurted out but luckily no one heard her.
"This girl, she carries the blood of this land. She could be the key. The ritual of flames will show us the truth."
Sam struggled with her bind when she heard his words. Fear gripped her heart. She tried to say something but it only came out as muffled sound due to the clothe tied around her mouth..
Her fear only intensified when she saw a scavenger walking over with a torch in his hand.
"Himiko you are the first and the last... speak to us now!"
'Oh no!' Naruto's eyes widened as he could guess what was about to happen. He reached for his gun but Lara was faster than him.
Sam!" Lara nocked her arrow and took aim. She shot the scavenger with the torch in the head killing him instantly but this however alerted father Mathias of their presence.
What the?
Father Mathias glanced around before noticing Naruto and Lara standing in a corner of the cave. He zeroed in on Lara and couldn't help but frown.
"You again!"
"Get them!"
The men gathered around immediately pulled out their melee weapons and charged at them.
Lara shot an arrow at father Mathias but she missed. She quickly nocked another arrow but she was tackled to the ground before she could take aim.
"Let go of me!"
"You killed my brother. Now I'm gonna kill you"
"Shit! Lara!"
Naruto continued to take down the solarii brothers one anger the other but he eventually ran out of bullets and got tackled from behind.
Fuck!
After stripping them of their weapons the two of them were taken to father Mathias who watched the two of them struggle with a satisfied smile on his face.
They were dropped in their knees in from of him a
Sam watched from behind father Mathias with horror written on her face.
No no no no
mmmmh!
Her muffled scream went unheard.
Father Mathias walked up to Lara and grabbed her chin forcing her to look at him.
"Every creature in nature will turn and fight when it very survival is at stake. So don't think I don't understand you two. I've just been doing this a lot longer"
"Let go of Sam, you psycho" Lara glared at him but father Mathias chuckled and said.
"And why will I do that when we have come this far"
"Lara?"
Father Mathias turned away from them and faced the crowd of Solarii brothers waiting patiently for him.
"Ready yourselves, brothers. Our queen is about to speak"
They watched as father Mathias picked up the fallen torch with horror .
"No don't do this!"
"Stop!"
"Mmmmmhhhh!!!"
"Speak to us Himiko! Speak to us through this flame!"
"Sam!"
"Sam!"
They watched helplessly as father Mathias threw the torch onto the logs set under the crucifix.
"No, no, no"
Sam's muffled sounds of pain were like hot rods piercing through Naruto and Lara's ears. The look of fear and horror in her eyes were enough to fill Naruto and Lara with misery.
Father Mathias and the solarii brotherhood watched on with anticipation.
They didn't have to wait long as with a loud howl a strong gust of wind blew out the flame shocking all of them.
"What the?"
Naruto's mouth hung open. He couldn't believe his eyes.
Father Mathias stared at Sam like he had finally seen that beacon of hope.
"She...she's the one"
He then
turned to face the crowd of overwhelmed brotherhood still trying to recover from the phenomenal sight they had just seen and said.
"Soon my brothers...we will be reborn!"
"Yeah!"
"Father Mathias!"
"Father Mathias!"
"Father Mathias!"
After basking in the glory for a few seconds he turned back to face Naruto and Lara and said.
"Your fight is over, little creatures"
He gestured to Sam with his head and said to one of Solarii brothers.
"Take her to the throne room"
The scavenger nodded before walking away to carry out his orders before father Mathias returned his gaze to Naruto and Lara.
"The both of you should give up now. She has already been chosen by Himiko"
Naruto glared at father Mathias with enough hate to scare even a demon and said.
"You'll never get away with this, Mathias."
"Oh I'm so scared"
Father Mathias scoffed in his face before turning to the scavenger and said.
"Take him away"
"Yes sir"
...
The scavengers dragged Lara and Naruto through a cave opening and onto a narrow path.
They only made it half way across the platform when Naruto suddenly attacked the scavenger behind him shoving him out of the way.
"Why you?"
"Hey stop!"
The other scavenger who noticed this happened pushed out his gun.
"Lara move!"
"What?"
Naruto noticing this quickly rushed and shoved Lara off the edge sending them both falling off the bridge and into the blood colored water below.
The scavengers were dumbfounded by this selfless act.
They peeked into the water from above trying to see if they were still alive. But when they found no sign of anything moving under the water they eventually left the area.
Not less than a minute after they left two blood soaked heads slowly moved out from underneath the water.
Naruto looked up to the platform where they had fallen off from before turning around to survey their surroundings.
Lara sighed after seeing the two of them leave.
"Naruto we have to-"
"Let's go Lara. We still have to think of a way to save Sam and the others. There's still time."
"Okay"
.
And cut. That is that.
The work is finally done.
I'm so happy that my dmc fanfiction finally reached a 100 followers becoming my first fiction even to achieve that and I'd like to thank you guys for that. I can already tell that this fic will become my second one I just hope we can go further and reach 200.
You all have my thanks.
Well that will be all for now.
Until next time.
Ja ne