Author's Note: Thank you for the review Lara Titova :) I enjoy exploring Kurtis' demon hunter past. You're right in that there's not enough fic about it!
Thank you to everyone who takes the time to leave a review :)

The Watcher's Stone

Chapter 9: Egypt

The hot Egyptian sun beat down on her back, heating her from the outside in. After only a few weeks in Europe during the winter Lara's tan had faded, but she knew it wouldn't take long to get it back. Cairo city bustled with pedestrians and vehicles, the bazaar full of sellers and buyers – a totally different sight than when she traveled through these streets a little more than two years ago. Despite the apocalyptic disaster that fell on the city, it had returned to its former ways.

After their plane landed, Kurtis asked to stop somewhere nearby for food. Lara agreed, not only because she was hungry herself but also because a food stand was close to the market. When she was still with the Bantiwa, she would often join the tribe in selling and trading goods at the various markets they stopped at – though not the one in Cairo. She passed by the stalls, tables, and caravans, observing the out of town traders as they haggled and argued with the locals, and examined the goods for sale.

It was a long shot, but maybe someone here would know something.

She paused when she came upon the trade stall of another Bedouin tribe. She didn't know them by name or recognize any of their faces, but a young woman caught her eye. Lara caught her staring at her and the girl averted her gaze, moving her veil to conceal her face. Lara stepped closer.

"Excuse me," she said, speaking in the language the Bantiwa used. The girl might have a different dialect, but it was the best Lara could do. "I'm looking for someone, and I wonder if you can help me."

The young lady's eyes widened. She glanced around her and then looked Lara in the eyes. "I don't know you," she said evasively.

"The Bantiwa," Lara continued. "I haven't seen them in a while. When was the last time they came to this market to trade?"

The woman shook her head. "I don't know anything." She glanced at her fellow tribespeople, then shook her head again. "Go away. It's none of your business."

"My name's Lara, I know the Bantiwa."

She shook her head again. "I know nothing."

Then she turned and hurried away. Lara narrowed her eyes, watching the odd woman's back.

That was strange. If the Bantiwa were completely wiped out as Lara had heard, then what would be the harm in simply saying so? No, the way this woman acted was suspicious in and of itself. Westerners were often viewed as gold pots for trading, and this woman's cold reception to Lara's innocent questioning was evidence that she knew something about what happened to them.

Which meant the Bantiwa couldn't all be dead. They were in hiding, probably being hunted by someone. Scar from the Makhlab tribe? They'd fought them many times over the years, even a few times in the short span Lara spent with the tribe. Perhaps things escalated in her absence and Putai was having them lay low. There had been an unusual amount of interest in the Sh'mulahl extract from Westerners just before Lara returned to England, perhaps they had been targeted.

Lara took a deep breath to calm herself, slid her round, red shades over her eyes, and returned to the food stalls where she'd left Kurtis. The Bantiwa had survived without her just fine; they'd know what to do.

But in the desert, it only took one bad fight to finish a tribe. She mentally kicked herself again; she should have been there.

She found Kurtis eating the last bits of a kofta kebab. The snug black shirt he wore, with its emblem faded beyond recognition from use, drew her eyes to where it was taut around his shoulders and biceps. The material of his khaki trousers was thin and hugged his rear. Only thing missing was his shoulder holster. He looks so good in the simplest of ensembles, she thought and bit her bottom lip, and it's not only the clothes or the body or his voice I find so appealing. It's *him*. She sighed with resignation and approached the food stall he was near.

She ordered a skewer for herself and stood beside him.

"Who was that?" he asked, and nodded towards the markets.

Lara shifted on her feet. How much should she tell him? "No one, apparently."

She took a bite of her kebab and chewed, contemplating. Kurtis stared at her as though expecting her to speak.

She swallowed. "How good are you at finding people?"

"As in…?"

"People who don't want to be found, or who are missing."

"This something to do with the Stone?"

"No. Not really."

"Something to do with the person you were just talking to?"

"Yes. A while ago, I was living in the desert, with a Bedouin tribe. I–" she hesitated, uncertain whether she wanted to tell Kurtis about what happened in the Great Pyramid. "I went through something unpleasant, and the tribe took me in and healed me. But people back in England thought I was dead, so I eventually returned to settle my affairs. While I was gone, the tribe went missing. I heard they were all slaughtered but…" She chewed another small nibble of meat. Kurtis watched her and patiently waited for her to continue.

"I don't believe they're really dead. Obviously the priority is stopping Karel, but afterwards… Would you be willing to help me search for them?"

"Sure," Kurtis replied straight away, not even pausing to think it over for a second. "I mean, I'll have to check my schedule. I'm just so busy these days…" he tacked on in a sarcastic tone. Lara got the distinct feeling he was trying to appear less enthusiastic about helping her, and she allowed a small smile to spread on her face.

All at once she felt less burdened by the mission ahead. But first, they had to stop the Nephilim.

"What're you smiling at?" he teased.

Lara pushed her shades up to the top of her hair to see Kurtis clearly, regarding him for a few moments from a new perspective.

"A friend," she answered quietly with just a trace of questioning.

Kurtis met her gaze unwavering, the blue irises like the richest sapphires. His mouth gave the barest of twitches before he schooled his features.

"Well," Kurtis grunted, "let's scope out the base."

Kurtis lowered the binoculars with a frown. "You're right." He passed the binoculars back to Lara who held them to her eyes once more. "This isn't good."

The once hidden entrance to the Lux Veritatis base outside Mendes, Egypt, was covered by a small outpost. The surrounding desert was encased with a chain link fence complete with guard posts and surveillance cameras watching every nook and cranny. Construction vehicles sat idle as a front loader scooped up piles of rock and dirt from a mine lift to dump it elsewhere.

Kurtis muttered a curse under his breath. "I couldn't see a covert way to get inside. Rather typical of them to build on top of a Lux Veritatis base."

"Do you think there's a reason they do that? Besides pissing you off, that is?"

Lara dropped the binoculars and scanned the horizon, squinting against the sun. She looked good; two slivers of her bare hips peeking through her white leotard where the tight khaki pants didn't overlap, cleavage bulging over the low cut of her top where her chest was pressed against the sand dune. More covered than in Madagascar, but no less tempting.

"You said the temple to Banebdjedet was close by," Kurtis replied after a beat, remembering she'd asked a question. "If the Stone isn't in the Mendes base, then Karel's getting his goons to dig a tunnel from here to the temple."

"Seems rather lazy. Can't they get into the temple the normal way?" Lara held the binoculars up again and just as she moved it over to the gatepost, another jeep came into view.

"Wait, someone's arrived."

Kurtis leaned in close. "Who's the visitor?"

Lara watched the jeep gain entrance to the perimeters and drive to the small outpost leading supposedly to the underground levels where the mining operations were taking place. Then she gasped, a grimace marring her features.

"I recognize that man. Ambrus Almasy," she nearly growled.

"Who?"

Lara quickly handed over the binoculars, explaining. "I met him when I was with the tribe. Nosey fellow. He was very interested in a healing elixir my tribe formulated, a closely guarded secret – not even I learned how to make it before I left. What's he to do with Karel? Is he working for the Cabal?"

Something about the man was familiar right away, but it took Kurtis a few seconds for him to make the connection between the name and the face. He was dressed in white and khaki, a rimmed hat over his head, dark sunglasses, and a thick blond mustache rested over his thin, wrinkled mouth. Middle aged in appearance with an ugly, weathered face and a small portly belly, it wasn't until he removed his glasses and revealed his soulless eyes rimmed with heavy dark bags beneath that he recalled the dossier.

"He's a Cabal contact."

The man, Almasy, showed his ID to another guard at the entrance to the building and was let inside. Kurtis lowered the binoculars and slid down the sand dune they were concealed behind. There was nothing left to see. Lara joined him.

"You know him?"

"Never met him, first time seeing him in person. He's a middle man but not afraid to get his hands dirty, and as unscrupulous as they come. You say he was after a healing elixir? And your tribe is missing…"

"He's connected," Lara deduced. She squinted her eyes, lips turning down. "I ought to–"

"Could be," Kurtis interrupted. "Or he could have nothing to do with your missing people."

He was genuine when he said he'd help Lara find her tribe, but he was worried about her losing sight of their mission. He had noticed a tension in her shoulders she tried to hide every time the name Egypt was brought up. Clearly something was on her mind, more than just her lost tribe. He needed her head in the game. Nephilim were no joke, nothing like what she might have faced before.

"What would Karel want with a healing elixir?"

Kurtis shrugged. "No clue." He pushed up to a stand.

"What about your contact in the Agency? Do you think they might be able to get us inside?"

"Nah, we're on our own. I reached out to him back in Turkey to get a feel on how well Karel was tracking us, but only got static noise in return."

"Found out, then?"

Kurtis nodded. "No longer of this world."

Together they trekked back to the jeep they rented, parked and hidden behind a outcropping of rocks, and carefully drove back onto the dusty road.

"If Karel already has the Stone, we need to come up with a new game plan. How to end the Nephilim."

Kurtis looked over at her from the passenger seat. "Too bad you didn't take the Periapt Shards with you."

She arched a sardonic brow. "Sorry I didn't stick around to be incinerated in an explosion. Karel should have them. You can take them back from him."

"If Karel's got the Stone already, the Nephilim shouldn't be fully grown yet. He sent Vasiley after us and his thugs in Lalibela almost a week ago – so he didn't have the Stone back then or he wouldn't have bothered with all that."

"How did he figure out where it was?"

"I don't…" His voice trailed off as the most obvious answer seemed to jump out and knock him upside the head. "Oh. The Sleeper, of course. It's Azazel."

Azazel (the Giant) would have a good idea about where the Stone was and know where the old temple of Banebdjedet was, as it had been his seat of power when he had stolen the god's identity.

Kurtis continued. "So we have two adult Nephilim, and possibly who knows how many babies…"

"They were obviously still digging though. They haven't reached the temple. The Stone should still be there. We can get to it first."

Kurtis frowned. "I hope so. But just in case they get it first, we should come up with a Plan B. You're a clever girl, can you think of anything that might help?"

Lara gave a short hum on acknowledgement. He watched her scan the horizon as she drove, lost in thought. God, she's beautiful. After Ana, he never thought he could feel this way again…

An acute and sudden ache gripped his heart at the thought of her name. Yet, he realized it wasn't unbearable to think of her as it had been the last time. Enough time had passed. It was possible to fall in love again.

"We know Banebdjedet's priests had something to do with Azazel's downfall before…"

Kurtis raised his brows. "A repeat performance in order, maybe?"

"Perhaps; I don't know much about Banebdjedet. I have a friend in the area who's an Egyptologist; he's helped me before. We can pay him a visit."

"Sounds good."

And with that, Lara suddenly turned the Jeep southwards.

Lara pressed the brakes, bringing the jeep to a halt outside the modest one-story home. A light was on in the living room and the crickets chirped outside in the setting sun. As she stepped out of the vehicle she stretched her limbs and suppressed a groan. Kurtis followed suit, slamming the creaky door shut.

The front door opened even before they'd stepped onto the porch.

"Lara! I cannot believe my eyes!" Jean Yves exclaimed, rushing forward to pull her into a bear hug.

She froze for a second before gently returning the hug. He smelled of vintage red wine and his spicy cologne, and her eyes grew watery. She shut her eyes tightly and wiped the fond memories away, focusing on the task at hand. She wasn't here for a social visit. It had been years since she'd spoken to him, hopefully he would be willing to help after all this time.

Jean pulled away, his eyes flickering between Lara and Kurtis. "What has brought you here? It is not Seth, is it?"

The name made Lara flinch, and she tucked her stray hairs behind her ears to cover up the motion.

"Jean. It's been a long time. May we come inside?" she asked. She didn't know why she felt nervous right then– perhaps because she still associated the disaster in Egypt with him, perhaps because she expected him to be angry with her and the fact that he wasn't threw her off balance.

"Of course, of course. Come right in."

"This is Kurtis," she said once they'd stepped into the living room and shut the door behind themselves. "I met him in Paris, he's helping me with some unpleasant business."

Jean Yves sat in a living chair as Lara and Kurtis took their places on the sofa beside each other. "Von Croy's murder?"

Kurtis looked at her questioning, and Lara realized she'd never really told Kurtis about Werner or any of their stormy history. She never told him about Seth either, the Amulet of Horus, Jean Yves' kidnapping, almost dooming the world. She hoped Jean wouldn't say anything too revealing.

She hesitated. "In a way. But I'm not here for that."

"Please, tell me how I can help. Would either of you care for a glass of wine?"

"No, thank you."

"Sure," Kurtis answered at the same time.

Jean stood from his seat and went over to his dining table where an opened bottle of red waited. He pulled a glass from a shelf and poured.

"What do you know about an amulet of Banebdjedet?" Lara began.

Jean quirked an eyebrow and swirled the contents of the glass in his hand. "You've not been removing amulets carelessly again, have you my dear?"

She gave a small smile. Despite the awkwardness she felt around him, his casual joking about the traumatic incident released a bit of the tension from her shoulders. He didn't seem at all to hold what happened against her.

"Not me this time. But there's these other people I'm not on friendly terms with who are close to obtaining it. To be precise, it's more of a stone with a depiction of the god Banebdjedet, used for ritualistic purposes."

Jean walked over to Kurtis and passed him the wine, then turned towards a bookshelf in the corner packed end-to-end with thick volumes pertaining to ancient Egyptian mythology and religious beliefs.

Lara continued. "The stone can supposedly create immortal offspring, and it would be very bad for everyone if they were to succeed in doing so."

"Are you sure it is Banebdjedet it is depicting, and not Khnum?" asked Jean.

"Mostly sure. It was initially found at the cult center in Mendes, before the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt."

Jean pulled a book off the shelf and blew the dust from its edges. He cracked it open towards the front, flipped a few pages. "And you are hoping there will be some special remedy or perhaps armor, that can undo the damages? Stop the offspring?"

She glanced at Kurtis. "Well, yes."

"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with this stone amulet. But that doesn't mean there is nothing that can stop it." His gaze scanned one end of the page to the other as he spoke. "Is there not more about the stone you can tell me?"

Kurtis spoke then, and rehashed the story of Azazel the Nephilim.

Jean hummed thoughtfully. "There were throughout history many various fertility rites performed at the temple in Djed. Banebdjedet was associated with sexual prowess, as you know. During the Ptolemaic period when the Greeks influenced their beliefs, the ram symbolism of Banebdjedet was altered to a goat, linking it to the Greek god Pan, and as a result very scandalous fertility rites were rumored to have taken place at the temple."

Jean flipped another page, still reading to himself. "However, before the Ptolemaic dynasty, before Djed was called Mendes, there were a few mentions of Banebdjedet. On a stele is inscribed a story of the god Ptah taking the form of Banebdjedet in order to gain his virility and create Rameses II. He was said to strike fear into the gods and was also associated with the judgement of souls. Worshippers often prayed to him to bring them prophetic dreams. The Book of the Heavenly Cow contains a story where Banebdjedet is called to help judge in the Divine Tribunal between Horus and Seth–"

He paused, bringing his gaze up to meet Lara's.

She finished for him, "And he suggests the throne be given to the elder Seth."

Jean looked back down at the textbook in his hands. "Yes, I'm afraid that's of no help. But here is another, lesser known story. According to these texts, an imposter once tried to steal Banebdjedet's power of reproduction to create their own army, which he would use to overthrow the Pharaoh of Lower Egypt. This power was harnessed into a sacred object infused with his essence."

"Go on," Lara prompted.

"The story doesn't explain much, but after the imposter was ousted the priests took on the mantle of protectors of the amulet. Hieroglyphs on a wall outside the Banebdjedet temple warn against attempting to use the amulet. A special Djed pillar–the backbone of Osiris–decorated with the Bennu bird could be used to summon Banebdjedet himself to act as judge and protector. It was located in the cult center dedicated to Hatmehyt."

Kurtis spoke, "So this Banebdjedet would want to have a say in who's using the Stone since it's got his mug on it? And as god of virility and judger of souls, he'd be specially suited to the task of deciding who's worthy – have I got that right?"

"It would seem so," Jean answered. "Mind you, this knowledge comes entirely from a single wall of inscription outside Banebdjedet's temple."

"But this Djed pillar isn't still there, is it?" Lara asked.

"Actually, the temple of Hatmehyt has never been excavated completely. Archaeologists halted their digging when the funding dried up, after it was discovered that the site had been compromised some time ago by grave robbers. Anything that can be found at the site would be deemed archaeologically corrupted and can't be used to base data or trends, and so no one wants to put the money into it. As such, there's a very good chance the Bennu Djed pillar is still somewhere there — it does not appear to be made of gold or any other precious material, so it would not have been targeted for theft. And I would bet if the pillar is there, so will more information on its use be there as well." Jean paused, taking a sip of wine. "But that is if you can spare the time to investigate the temple. If you are racing against the clock, it may turn out to be fruitless."

Kurtis met Lara's eyes and gave his head a minute shake. "I don't know, Lara," he muttered, taking a drink of his wine. "Sounds like a dead end. Azazel never needed permission from any deity. The Watchers gave the Nephilim all their powers and knowledge."

"You saw the Cabal there yourself," she retorted. "They could have the Stone before we do. We should find a way to stop them."

"Even if this pillar works as advertised, how can we be sure Banebdjedet will kill the Nephilim? I don't need Karel's soul to be judged, I need him dead."

"We already know how to kill Karel; it's the rest of them we have to worry about stopping, and the pillar might be the key to it. Summoning Banebdjedet may have been how the old priests killed Azazel and his army the first time. I think it's worth looking into." Lara stood to leave, brushing imaginary dust from her pant legs.

"Right, maybe," Kurtis conceded. "We can discuss it more after we get the Stone."

Kurtis downed the rest of his wine in a single gulp, scrunching his face momentarily at the dryness of the vintage, and stood, passing the empty glass to Jean who held his hand out for it. "Thanks," he said to Jean, then looked at Lara. "Alright?"

Lara crossed her arms. She supposed she couldn't argue with that logic. Obtaining the Stone before Karel was more important; afterwards they could take as long as they needed to find a solution to the rest.

As they moved to leave and Lara thanked Jean for his help, he tentatively grasped her arm and turned her to look at him fully. Lara widened her eyes, not expecting her old friend to be so bold.

"Lara, I'm glad you came to me for help. It's good to see you back here. Never doubt you can come to me for anything." His hand rubbed down her arm gently and he removed it, smiling warmly at her.

Lara's eyes welled with tears again and she blinked and looked away until she felt she had them under control. Then she stepped forward once more and hugged Jean.

"You're too good a friend, Jean." She pulled back to look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry for arriving unannounced and not telling you much, but I don't want you involved in all this. Things could get real messy like they did before, and I won't have you put in harm's way again because of me."

"Your concern is touching. I wish you and your friend here luck in your endeavors."

Lara turned once more to leave when Jean spoke again, "Though I suppose you don't need it; you make your own."

Bittersweet warmth bloomed in her heart. "Yes, I suppose I do."

She tried not to let the worry show on her face as she and Kurtis reentered their jeep, but she must have failed for Kurtis immediately gave her an inquiring glance.

"You OK?" he asked in a light tone.

"Of course," she shot, turning on the ignition. "Why wouldn't I be?" Reversing the vehicle, she turned and began driving in the opposite direction of Jean's house, back to the temple of Banebdjedet, but that was a more than two-hour drive and the sun had already set while they had conversed with her friend.

"Do I seem tired to you?" She wondered if that was what prompted Kurtis' question.

"No… Should we sleep and hit the temple first thing? I'm good to go if you are."

Lara let her lips quirk into a half-smile. "Perfect. I had no intention of stopping right now."

Yet even with the matter settled, she still felt Kurtis' stare on her the next several minutes.

"If there's something on my face, the polite thing to do is to tell me."

Finally Kurtis looked away. "You're hiding something from me again."

Lara was grateful for the jeeps dark interior, for she felt her cheeks warm. How could he always read her so well?

"What do you mean?"

"Egypt. Jean Yves. What happened here?"

Lara gripped the steering wheel hard. Kurtis had kept his thoughts to himself until now, but apparently Jean had said just enough to peak his curiosity. She focused her thoughts; she supposed Kurtis had told her more than she needed to know about himself and the Lux Veritatis, the least she could do was return the favor. If she wanted his help with finding the Bantiwa, she'd eventually have to tell him more anyway.

And she realized with a spark lighting in her belly, she wanted to tell him. She wanted him to know more about her – from her own lips, not articles or dossiers or some other impartial source – and she wanted to know more about him. Everything about him.

"My friend in Paris," she began, gathering her thoughts as she drove through the dark desert, the city and town lights twinkling in the distance. "The one Karel murdered."

"Professor Werner Von Croy," Kurtis stated. Lara did a double-take; she realized Kurtis knew a lot more than he let on.

"Werner had been a mentor of sorts to me, sometimes friend, sometimes rival. About two years ago we were after the same artifact. He really took things too far, tried to kill me, kidnapped Jean. It wasn't entirely his fault, the artifact caused him to become possessed. I was in the Great Pyramid when it was all coming down around me, and Werner seemed to have come back to his senses, but it was too late. I was buried. Entombed."

She swallowed. The only noise was the sound of the jeep engine and the tires rolling over the sand dunes.

"No one came for me, not until I had already dug myself out and was half-dead."

She tried to forget the dust suffocating her, the weakness of her lungs, her cracked and bleeding nails, the feel of her broken ribs threatening to pierce her organs. The struggle to survive each moment, until she could move no more. Then Putai had found her.

"Werner looked for me, eventually. But by then a Bedouin tribe had come upon me and rescued me. The shaman healed me and I had no desire to leave. She adopted me into the tribe, and I became one of them."

She took a deep breath. Kurtis had not stopped watching her since she began talking, utterly still and silent.

"I was presumed dead back in my home country and eventually I returned to settle my affairs before all my possessions were auctioned off. I have some rather valuable and powerful artifacts which shouldn't fall into the wrong hands, you see. While I was gone I heard that my tribe had been slaughtered, every one of them. We'd had enemies, rival tribes, people who wanted to steal our secrets… But I knew they couldn't all be dead."

"Was that who you were talking to at the market?" Kurtis asked.

"That was someone from a different Bedouin tribe. I was hoping they had more information. I had intended to return to Africa all along to search for them, when Werner called me to Paris."

Kurtis was silent for a moment. Then he hummed thoughtfully. "That explains your attitude."

Lara balked. "My attitude?"

"You seem totally in your element when we were deep underground, exploring ruins, solving ancient puzzles, evading deadly traps– but uncomfortable being here in Egypt. And sometimes you look like you'd just rather get this all over with, like it's beneath you."

"Excuse you–"

"I don't mean in a bad way. You're experienced, but also traumatized."

"Excuse me?" she sputtered.

She bristled at that word. Traumatized. She was not. She'd survived plane crashes, sunken ships, subzero temperatures, almost being eaten by prehistoric reptiles and all manner of mythological beasts, her Aunt's corgi…

But it was true she'd never been so badly injured as she had from the entombment. And the feeling that she would slowly starve or be eaten by scarab beetles, the dreadful assurance of a slow and painful death the stones piled atop gave her. She had so much time to imagine her own remains staining the earth, waiting for some other adventurer to stumble across them and shake their head at her folly. "Poor old fool," they'd chide her skeleton, "That won't be me, I'm better." Her mortality had become a reality like it never had before. It had scarred her mentally in a unique way.

She had nothing to say to that, and Kurtis appeared to sense it.

"You wanted a new life, completely separate from the old. I can relate." Kurtis didn't sound judgemental. His voice was low and soothing. "I know what it's like to feel pulled between two worlds. I was never sure if the life I chose for myself was worth giving up the life I was born into. Part of me wonders if I never ran away, would we still be in this mess?"

Lara felt a smirk pull at her lips. "I hate to break it to you, Kurtis, but I doubt you alone are the deciding factor in a centuries-long war."

He smiled in agreement. "Yeah, sounds arrogant when you put it like that."

Quiet permeated the car for several seconds, then Lara said very quietly, "Thanks."

Kurtis didn't ask what for. She saw from the corner of her eye him nod once.

Neither spoke again for a while. As they made their way through the desert and into the humid Nile delta, it became apparent there was nothing else to say. The self-consciousness Lara felt at the start of the conversation was gradually replaced with a comfortable companionship. It almost reminded her of being with the tribe.

She had always been a loner and preferred it that way. She valued her independence, that she answered to no one and did what she pleased, whenever she pleased. But the past two years showed her that lifestyle wasn't without its costs. Despite what she'd done to leave as few ties as possible, there were still people she cared about and who cared for her, and she'd hurt them over and over.

Winston thought of her as a daughter, and her presumed death in Egypt had wounded him deeply. Jean Yves she hadn't bothered to let know she was alive. Father Dunstan, Charles Kane… then there was Werner who had been desperate to make amends… Sure, they would have healed from her death eventually. She didn't believe they were so attached to her that they'd never recover, and they all knew what kind of life she lived and how she'd never have it any other way.

But Kurtis' comparison between them opened her eyes. Was her time with the Bantiwa just an attempt to run away from her problems – her trauma, as Kurtis called it? Was the Bantiwa her French Foreign Legion: just a bandaid slapped over a much deeper issue? She had always loved what she did; every time her heart hammered in her chest, the adrenaline flooded her veins, her muscles screaming at her for rest – she never felt more alive. The craving to win, at whatever cost. Yes, Werner had taken one look at young Lara and knew she was an adventurer at heart just like him.

The only question she still had was, could one's heart change so suddenly from a solitary bad experience?

Was she going to let Egypt win?

A/N #2: Ambrus Almasy and Scar from the Makhleb tribe are characters from The Myth of El Hawa. I believe there are some *slight* changes from Murti Schofield's complete document: Murti would have Lara learn about making the healing elixir and variations of it as a game mechanic (replacing medipacks I assume?) for AoD sequels, but I decided such a precious secret wouldn't have been fully shared even with Lara since she's not with the tribe for a very long time. While I love Murti's creativity and vision in regards to the overarching story and the character of Kurtis, I disagree with a few aspects of his characterization of Lara. I think if we had ever got the full AoD trilogy many of his ideas would not have been implemented (which I believe he acknowledges - he was often just throwing ideas out to see what stuck). If you notice discrepancies between Murti's notes and this story/Lara's character, it was most likely intentional on my part. After all, this is fanfiction :)
The character mentioned from Kurtis' past - Ana - is taken from the discarded Kurtis Trent Demon Hunter spin-off video game notes, which can be found on Tomb of Ash.