The Tomb Raider (lara) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-03-07 01:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, bo dennis, lara croft |
Try to relax, I’m right here
Who: Lara and Bo
What: Lara's dreams give her some waking problems.
When: REcent
Where: Lara's mansion
status: complete
Rating: PG-13 (Highlight for slightly spoilery content warning: content warning for near drowning)
contains Rise of the Tomb Raider spoilers!
Lara had been betrayed. And it hurt because it was someone that had been part of her own family, if not by blood. She hadn’t really had time to internalize that before she’d had to escape, and that escape attempt led to her taking on a small mercenary army. Gunfire rang in her ears. She jabbed her axe into a man’s skull and felt it reverb up her arm. The water ran red.
Like so many times before, Lara ran for her life. The bridge behind her splintered and shattered as she ran, yet another attack chopper ripping it apart. She lept for her very life, careening down a zip line. She hit the water hard enough to knock the air from her lungs and inhaled air that wasn’t there. She coughed and sputtered, squirming and flailing her arms, before everything went black.
In bed, marks appeared on Lara’s body. A flesh wound from a bullet grazing her shoulder, a knife slicing down her leg, bruises from being beaten and battered and from the impact with the water. But most alarming of all, her breath stopped, and she started to turn blue.
Bo’s dreams had seemed to take a little lull in progressing recently, which was fine for her. It gave her a chance to mellow out a bit after the intensity a couple of the last ones had had. In fact, the last one she’d had was the one that resulted in her breaking Lara’s mirror. And for the most part, since she’d calmed down after that, she’d been sleeping relatively well. Or at least better.
But for whatever reason, she’d woken up. Glancing at the clock, it was way too early to be getting up, so she instead rolled over, one arm slipping around Lara as she was going to get comfortable again and hopefully fall back asleep. However, something seemed a bit off. For one thing, Lara didn’t stir at all as Bo snuggled up to her. Normally there would be at least some sort of movement on Lara’s part.
“Lara?” Bo asked, but she got no response. “Lara.” She said a bit louder and she lightly shook her shoulder. No response. That was when Bo knew something was very wrong. She flipped the light on and she could see some of the marks. But what worried her the most was how Lara was turning.
“Oh shit,” she said as she ensured Lara was flat on her back, and Bo shifted to kneel beside her on the bed. “Oh god, no Lara, don’t do this.” She pleaded, trying to not completely lose it. She wasn’t trained in CPR, and she knew movies and TV shows exaggerated the process, but she knew Lara needed air. And Bo didn’t yet have the ability to breathe chi into Lara to wake her up. So. Improvised CPR it was. She opened Lara’s mouth and breathed into her and attempted chest compressions seriously hoping she would do a little more good than harm.
Though she probably should’ve called 911 first. But if this wasn’t getting any response shortly, Bo would definitely be calling for help.
It was like swimming through a black soup, with something calling for her, grabbing her by the ankle and trying to drag her down. Part of Lara wanted to give in. Embrace the darkness and never feel anything again. It was what she deserved, for the blood that stained her hands.
But Lara was stubborn, and a survivor, and a little thing like drowning wasn’t going to stop her. She woke, in the dream first to Jacob’s face. And then in the waking world she coughed up water, violently shuddering as she tried to rake in great gasps of air.
Bo kept at her attempts at CPR until Lara finally came to. “Oh god,” she said at seeing the water Lara was coughing up. She helped roll her onto her side so she could more easily get the water out of her without choking. Because that was the last thing she needed to happen. Perform CPR just for Lara to choke on water anyway.
“It’s alright, I’m right here, Lara,” Bo said in a soothing manner. She was inwardly freaking out. Well, she was sort of outwardly freaking out as well, her eyes wide with fright at what had happened, and her heart was pounding in her chest. But she was at least managing to keep her focus.
“Oh god…” Lara felt like she’d just run a marathon. While it hadn’t been the most painful or trauma-inducing dream event she’d ever had, she’d never actually drowned before. There was a certain level of terror there that couldn’t be put into words. Her chest seized up at the memory of it and she curled into a ball.
Bo frowned a bit as Lara curled into a ball. That wasn’t a good sign. She didn’t know what she’d suffered in the dream, though given the coughing up water and not breathing, Lara had drowned. But just going off of the other injuries she could see, there was a lot more to it than drowning.
“Hey, it’ll be okay,” Bo said gently, lifting a hand and moving to set it gently on Lara’s shoulder. It was a slow movement as she didn’t want to startle Lara with it.
Lara just nodded. She was almost hyperventilating, but air, air was such a precious resource right now that she was focusing mostly on that. It didn’t really help. You could fight against most things but water filling one’s lungs wasn’t something you could shoot or punch.
And there’d been the helicopter. Who the hell sent an attack chopper against one woman?
Her hand on Lara’s shoulder, she could almost sense how tense she was. Staying upset like this wasn’t going to do her any good. She needed to calm down so she could breathe properly. That’s when Bo remembered her dream self had an ability that could actually help with that. The only thing was, she hadn’t tried to use it before, didn’t even really know how to activate it. So she would just...start trying.
She gently rubbed Lara’s arm, ensuring that her hand was making skin-to-skin contact with Lara. She had picked up on the fact she needed the skin-to-skin contact for it to work. She started trying to will herself to use the power, to calm Lara.
“Try to relax, I’m right here,” she said calmly, shifting so that she was half laying on her side behind Lara, propped up on her elbow. However, her power wasn’t activating, so she was trying that much harder.
If Bo was trying to calm her, it really wasn’t working. Lara was angry with herself. Why now? Why after everything she’d dreamed through why couldn’t she just push her way through this like all the other times before?
Maybe she’d been fraying at the edges and had been ignoring it. Sometimes it took one last push. BUt she’d already had a breakdown. Several. Lara gasped. “They shot at me...with an attack copter. I tried to escape. Hit water too hard.”
She’d be doing a better job if she could get the power to work. It was entirely possible she didn’t have it yet, but she felt it was at least worth trying. Though as she tried to comfort Lara, she instead became more concerned about her.
“Holy shit. An attack copter for one person? That seems way excessive.” She wasn’t trying to undermine how skilled Lara was at surviving and fighting, but an attack copter for one person was like firing a nuclear missile at an ant hill. It was way overkill. Her hand was still gently caressing Lara’s arm, still partially trying to force her power to come out.
Lara couldn’t help but feel oddly proud of that. “I must have really upset them.” She forced her eyes op, and forced herself to sit up. Maybe Bo’s presence helped, but her voice still shook. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why this...hit me so hard.” Getting impaled had immobilized her with pain, nearly seeing Sam burned at the steak had made her wake up in tears, but this was…
“I’m sorry,” She repeated.
“Clearly you did.” At Lara’s apology Bo reached out and cupped Lara’s face with both of her hands and looked her in the eye. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s okay to be upset after an ordeal like that. It’s okay to be upset when there’s good reason for it. I’m not going to sit here and judge you for it. On the contrary, I’m here to support you and help you.”
Of course, it was then that her powers decided to kick in. Her hand started to glow with a reddish hue to her skin, and Lara’s cheek directly in contact with her hand also started to glow. “It’ll be okay, I promise you,” Bo said gently as a sense of calm started to flow into Lara. It wouldn’t quite put her to sleep, but it should at least help let her relax so she could breathe and not be so physically or mentally wound up at the moment. Bo didn’t even quite notice her hand was glowing just yet.
Well, Lara definitely didn’t deserve that, but she nodded her head a little as Bo’s words sank in. Gradually, a warmth spread through her and she started to relax. The panic subsided and she felt like she could breath again. The thought of water no longer terrified her. Lara leaned into Bo’s touch. “Shit…okay. Okay.”
Bo suddenly realized her hand and Lara’s cheek were glowing, but she kept the contact until she was certain Lara was relaxed and able to breathe easily again. She then gently pulled her hand away, the glow fading. However, the relaxed feeling would remain, allowing Lara to think a bit more clearly now. “Holy shit, it actually worked,” Bo muttered, looking at her hand, then she looked at Lara. “How are you feeling now?”
“Remarkable,” Lara breathed. “That was really you?” She took Bo’s hand between both of her own. “I feel so much better. I don’t think I’ve ever...come down that quickly from an episode.” Which was admitting she did have PTSD flashbacks. Just never anything like that. Ignoring her new injuries, she let go of Bo’s hand and hugged her. “Thank you.”
“Yeah it was,” Bo responded, looking at Lara. She did hear the admission of the PTSD flashbacks, and she was more than happy to have helped calm her down. When Lara hugged her, Bo returned the hug, though she was mindful of injuries and bruising, not wanting to accidentally cause Lara more pain. “You’re welcome. I wasn’t certain the ability was going to come.” And it was an ability that had a couple different uses. She could use it to calm people, like she’d just done with Lara, but she could also make people ‘fall in love’ with her and use it as a manipulation tool. Such as using it to get a waitress from not minding she didn’t have money to pay for a meal, or using it during interrogations where it did work like a truth serum.
Lara trusted Bo to never use it like that on her. She had, after all, fallen in love before Bo had that power, hadn’t she? Oh, but if Bo ever accidentally used suggestion on her there would be Words.
“I really appreciate it.” She coughed, and rubbed at her chest. “I look at my dreams and wonder how I’m going to get out of this one.”
Bo had no intention of using the other side of that ability on Lara. She didn’t even have reason to use it on anyone, for that matter. She wasn’t a Private Investigator here, she didn’t need to go around questioning people and ensuring she got the truth out of them. So with any luck, that would remain a non-issue.
“You’ll find a way. You always outsmart your enemies, and manage to survive.” Bo was confident that Lara would get out of the jam she’d found herself in. “Now we should perhaps address your injuries?”
“Surviving is what I’m best at.” She meant it unironically. It just was something that was ingrained in her. Being able to find something to keep her carrying on. But Lara nodded, and climbed out of bed. The bruises were painful, and the flesh wound in her shoulder burned. Her thigh had that knife gash that might be a problem, as well.
Sliding out of bed, Bo took the thigh wound in fully now. If only she could actually heal other people. But she couldn’t, so she’d have to do this the old fashioned way. “This is where I wish I could heal your wounds as easily as you can heal mine.” Bo said as she went to grab the medical kit. “Do you need stitches for that thigh wound?”
Lara inspected it, wincing as she tenderly prodded it. “I think we might be okay with tape. It doesn’t look that deep and it’s clean, at least.” Another scar with another story. Maybe Lara’s body was the one filled with maps, though the treasure at the end was hardly worth it.
“Alright,” she said as she opened the kit and took out the necessary items. She first started to tend to the thigh wound, judging that one the one most in need of attention. She gently cleaned blood away from the area, then looked up at Lara. “I’m going to clean it out, so this’ll probably hurt like a bitch.” After all, who knew how long the wound had been there before Bo had woken up, and she didn’t want it to get infected at all. So once Lara was ready, she gently cleaned the wound.
“Okay.” Lara reached for a chair and sat down. She didn’t want to be standing for this, even if she could probably handle it. “Don’t try to be gentle, just be fast. I think I can handle fast better.” Fast was better, it got it over with, the pain went away faster. It was what she had to do for herself.
Bo nodded, and quickly cleaned out the wound before she grabbed the tape and closed the wound. She was careful about it, not wanting it to heal back together in an odd jagged line or something. With that done, she stood up and took care of the wound on Lara’s shoulder. “Do you need some painkillers at all?”
“I’d rather not.” It would be so easy to medicate and then collapse for a few hours, but she’d just woken up. And there was enough adrenaline rushing through her that she was still partially in survival mode. Which meant she didn’t want to lose her ability to react to something. Even though Bo was there to help her.
She nodded, then once she was done with Lara’s shoulder, she checked to ensure she didn’t miss any other open wounds. “Alright, you should be good to go now.” She then put the medical kit away, then turned back to Lara. “Now, what else can I do to help you? Do you want to talk about it more? Work off the adrenaline with a punching bag? Or something else?”
Punching bag would hurt too much. Lara rolled her shoulder and winced. “I’m glad you were here tonight.” Bo couldn’t move in soon enough. For every reason, not just emergency tending in the event of a bad dream, even!
“Do you remember the last thing I told you about?”
“I’m glad I was here, too.” Otherwise Lara would probably be dead right now. Which was a realization that suddenly hit Bo. Now that the initial panic of the situation had passed now that Lara was out of danger, she realized just how close she had come to losing Lara. The rush of emotion that thought brought with it propelled Bo forward to hug Lara again. She hugged her for a minute before finally pulling back.
“An attack chopper was shooting at you and you hit water too hard. So I’m assuming you fell from something when the chopper was shooting at you.” Bo took Lara’s hands in hers, wanting to keep physical contact with her while offering support at the same time.
“I’m searching for the secret to immortality,” Lara said. She rubbed her hand up and down Bo’s back as they hugged, and didn’t quite let go. “That wasn’t the first time they tried to kill me over it. In Syria, they blew up my truck and then I had to detonate a tomb to escape. They’re called Trinity, and they want the secret too. Obviously I must be onto something.”
She took a breath, looking down at their hands. “They captured me in Siberia, before the escape and near drowning. There was someone working with them. Someone close to my family, who betrayed my father, and me. She was a plant the whole time we knew her.”
She seriously didn’t know what she’d do if she lost Lara like that. If they ever broke up, she could at least recover in time. But losing Lara to death? Bo didn’t know how she’d handle that, or if she’d be able to handle it. But there was no time to dwell on that as she listened to Lara.
“Holy shit. It does sound like you’re onto something if they’re trying that hard to stop you.” Because it all seemed to be quite a lot of overkill, but Lara was tough and crafty and obviously not easy to kill. Though at hearing someone had betrayed her, Bo frowned, giving Lara’s hands a squeeze.
“I’m sorry that happened to you. She certainly sounds like a piece of work for being a plant the entire time. Were you able to do anything about that, or were you interrupted by the whole attack chopper?”
“I don’t yet know what they are or what they want. But I have some theories.” Lara freed her hand as she talked. One was still locked in Bo’s grasp, but the other helped emphasize. “They locked me up again, and I escaped with the help of a local. From what I’ve discovered, Trinity has existed for thousands of years, and these locals are descended from a group that followed a Deathless Prophet. Trinity was part of the ancient Church and viewed them as heretics. It’s...a religious war that’s lasted centuries, and no one is aware of it!”
“So in searching for the secret to immortality, you’ve stumbled into the middle of a religious war that’s been waged in secret for centuries? That must be more than a playground to you, to discover such a thing no one else outside that region seems to know about.” Despite the trauma Lara may have suffered, Bo felt she knew her well enough to know that stumbling into the middle of something like was far more than exciting for Lara.
“Exactly.” And it was exciting. But also frustrating and frightening. Trinity was willing to murder for it. To put to the torch entire towns and villages. They weren’t much different from the records of the soviets she was finding. “There’s a lot of records in this area. From the Soviet installations, from Byzantine travelers and soldiers. There’s records of an entire army following the heretics.”
“An entire army? Holy crap. That is one hell of an intense war.” Bo could understand hidden wars. The Fae had apparently been waging theirs out of sight of humans for thousands of years, so this wasn’t so surprising to her. And she could tell that Lara was more than enjoying being able to discover things like this, even if it could be frustrating and frightening.
“If nothing else I hope I can find out more.” Lara leaned into Bo just a little bit. “I think I need to research this further. Awake, I mean.” She’d seen enough to suspect that her dreams may not be entirely that far fetched. “Maybe we’ll take a visit to Syria.”
“I hope you’ll find out more as well.” Bo squeezed Lara’s hand, then slid her other one around her again, pulling her closer when she leaned into her. “Syria? That would be kind of cool.” If dangerous given the fighting happening there. But at least neither of them were American? Not that it would matter because they were westerners, but still.
And just like that she found herself in Bo’s lap. She shifted until she was comfortable. “It would be. I can still remember what the tomb looked like. I’d like to see if it is really there. It would be dangerous but I’ve faced some harrowing things on my other expeditions so I’m not so worried.”
Fighting side by side with Bo? Lara was keen on the idea.
Bo slid both of her arms around Lara once she was comfortable on her lap. “Maybe it is? I mean in many respects, Earth is still the same between here and your dreams. Of course, only one way to find out for sure.” She then smiled. “And I never say no to danger. Though clearly we’re going to need to pack weapons when we go.”
“While I doubt there are soul possessing weather goddesses, there may be other similarities. Who knows, maybe it will help me find Atlantis.” She leaned in, resting her head on Bo’s shoulder. Her shoulder stung more than her leg did, oddly enough. Maybe because of the nerves the bullet had hit. Lara hugged Bo tighter. “One day I will search for Yamatai. That one I will do alone.”
“Probably a good thing there aren’t any of those around.” Or any of the Fae from her own dreams. That was crazy that Orange County definitely didn’t need. She gently rubbed Lara’s back. “Of course,” she said with a nod. While she wanted to be there with Lara, she knew sometimes people just needed to do things on their own. Especially things like that which held deep personal meaning.
“I know you’re strong, that you’re capable. And it’s most likely an island filled with ruins and animals, nothing more. But if there’s even the smallest chance that the Solarii exist, that the legend of the Sun Queen is real, than I won’t be able to do anything if I’m worrying about you.” Even if Himiko existed because of her dreams, or if she really did exist, it didn’t matter. On top of that she never wanted Bo to see her truly in that mode of survival.
“I’d rather risk myself than anyone else.”
“And here I was thinking it was something you needed to do alone because of your dreams.” There wasn’t humor in the statement because that was what Bo had actually thought Lara’s reasoning had been. “But I’d rather not distract you from doing what you need to do.” She wasn’t upset about it. Bo had a feeling there were things her dreams would throw at her that she’d only be able to face alone lest she be distracted by worrying about Lara or Kenzi distracting her.
“Well, that too. Yamatai is kind of my trauma, it should be no one else’s,” Lara smiled, lifting sad eyes to Bo’s. “But it’s mostly because I don’t want you hurt.” Anywhere else in the world, and she’d be okay with Bo at her back. But not Yamatai. Not knowing what they could wade into.
“Just promise me that you will come back alive.” Because she couldn’t handle it if Lara died while searching for Yamatai and she hadn’t been there to help. “I’m here for you, and I’ll do whatever you need me to do.” Even if it meant staying here. Though Bo would worry the entire time Lara was gone, of course. That went without saying.
Lara’s voice caught in her throat. “I’ll fight through anything to come back. Believe me, Bo. I’m not going to leave you alone if there’s anything I can do to prevent it.”
If Bo disappeared, she’d hunt her down, even.
“Good because if you don’t come back, I will go to Yamatai to get you back.” It was a promise. If Bo got word that Lara was either dead or gone, Bo would go after her and do whatever she could to get her back.
Lifting a hand, she pressed it against Lara’s cheek, gazing into her eyes. “I love you.”
“Deal,” Lara said. She leaned her cheek into Bo’s hand, her eyes watering up. Between her ordeal and this conversation, her ability to keep her motions in check was almost non-existent. “I love you too.” Despite her fears, it didn’t get any easier or less impactful to say that.
She saw Lara’s eyes watering up, and she tightened her arm around her, trying to comfort her as much as possible. It still amazed her that she’d found someone like Lara, and that they loved each other. She liked telling her that she loved her. Considering the fact Dyson was emotionally constipated in her dreams and Lauren was being a terrible person, Bo found it all the more imperative to tell Lara how she felt about her. She leaned in and tenderly kissed Lara on the lips.
Even though it hadn’t been easy to admit at first (and still wasn’t entirely), it felt right. Kissing Bo felt right. Melting into her arms felt right. “Thank you.” Her words were soft against Bo’s lips, and meaning more than just the obvious.
“You’re welcome,” she responded. Bo may still be in hate with herself, hating the fact she could kill Lara with a kiss if she wasn’t careful, but she did know there were positives to being a succubus. Such as being able to help calm Lara down quickly. But she well knew that it was a manipulation of emotions, and she would only use it when it was absolutely necessary.
Why did her powers all seem to relate to death and manipulation? That was...a troublesome thought that unsettled her.
Whatever thoughts that troubled Bo could wait. Lara deepened the kiss, her chest flooding with emotion. Injury or no injury, she was going to remind how much of a beautiful person Bo really was.