InsaneJournal

You can do it, Lara.
Who: Lara Croft and Sam Nishimura
What: Great Leaps and losing someone
Where: Dream!Yamatai Island
When: While asleep!
Status: complete
Rating: PG-13 for npc death



Lara had never been happier to see anyone than she was the moment she’d laid eyes on Sam. Taking out Dimitri had been easy and she’d wanted to just hold Sam indefinitely. But she couldn’t. The palace was burning down around them and they needed to get out of there. Dragging Sam by the hand she tried to navigate them through the burning ruins. She pushed Sam ahead, and debris separated them.

“Go! Get out of here I’ll find another way around! And whatever you do, Sam, don’t get on that helicopter.”

The look on Sam’s face before she turned to run broke Lara’s heart. They had so much they needed to talk about, but no time for words. Focusing on survival, Lara found another way out. The cultists, the Solarii, they kept trying to shoot her down. Despite the fire raining down all around them, despite their own lives in danger, despite the storm that raged as though God were very, very angry.

Lara found herself in a burning tower, and struggled to climb to a bridge as explosions went off around her. Roth was in the chopper and she just had to run across a burning bridge and jump. No pressure.

She started towards her father figure, and the Solarii started firing on the bridge beneath her. They even killed a dozen of their own men in an effort to blow the bridge. For the second time in as many days, Lara was arcing through the air, her hand outstretched to grasp Roth’s. Only this time she didn’t slip. This time he pulled her in. Not wasting a moment, she moved to the front. “We have to turn around. We need to land! We can’t leave the others behind!”

“No can do, lady. Not in this weather!”

I’m not leaving Sam, I’m not leaving any of them. We can’t. We’re going to die if we try to fly off this island.

Decision made, she drew Roth’s pistol from his holster and pointed it at the pilot. “Turn around. Now.”

“Are you fucking crazy?!”

“Turn around!” She flicked the safety off.

“Okay, okay!” He started to bring the helicopter around, but it was way too late. Lightning struck the rotors, and they spun out of control.

When Lara came to, she was dazed and disoriented. Roth was over her, looking worried. He jostled her, trying to help her get to her feet but her legs wouldn’t respond. She clung to him. She saw the Solarii and warned him. He spun around, emptying first one gun, then another. She had her chin on his shoulder, and couldn’t see the last man until Roth was spinning them around.

A thrown hatchet buried itself into Roth’s back. Roth shot that man too, before he slid to the ground with Lara.

“Roth...Roth..! Don’t go! Please, I need you.”

The old man chuckled, pushing his guns into Lara’s hands. “You can do it, Lara. I know you can. You’re a Croft.”

Lara felt part of her world crumble as the man who was more her father than her biological one let out his last breath.

She woke screaming Roth’s name. Lara realized a moment later that she was safe, in her bed with Sam. She scrambled for her phone, dialing Roth’s number by memory even as she got tangled in her sheets. Her voice shook, “Roth? Hi. I uh…” Hearing his voice nearly made her cry. “I just wanted to say thanks. For the card you sent for my birthday.”

She hung up and looked down at the phone in her hands. The grief was overwhelming, but so was the relief. It left her confused, and scared and angry. Her shoulders shook as she started to silently cry.

It was impossible to sleep through something like Lara screaming someone's name, even through a hangover that would have left most people comatose. Sam grunted a bit, disoriented at first, then rolled towards Lara and patted her hand against the other woman's shoulder.

She wasn't quite awake enough to form sentences, but she tried to make a comforting sound as she realised Lara's shoulders were shaking. It was usually the only way to know that the proud brit was crying, and Sam had an idea what the crying was about.

Roth's death had been a dream she'd had a few nights ago, but she hadn't warned Lara ahead of time. There was no way to prepare her fiance for that. She'd decided then that when Lara did dream it she'd be super supportive. So she curled around Lara, and nuzzled at her a bit.

At first, Lara’s instinct was to pull away, but she fought at that, letting herself lean back against the other woman and draw some strength from her. Roth was alive, it was just a horrid dream. She turned towards Sam and choked out as best she could what happened, before giving up and just drawing comfort.

Roth was alive. She’d lost him in her dream but she still had him here. That meant everything.