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The jungle seemed to be more calmer at night to him. No, not calm... calm wasn't the perfect word for it. It was more.... peaceful. Showed different beauty, a brand new side, something forever changing, something new to discover and still, the moonlight added some softness to it, even if the darkness meant new sources of danger. It meant a good hide-out for predators - but it also meant a moment of peace, a moment to be alone.
And it suited Jacob just fine.
Walked out of the palace silently, his pace even and almost slow, but his steps were heavy with worry, blue eyes worn, muscles tensed and also tired.
The night air was warm and still humid,thick and heavy as ever, not really meant any kind of relief after the daytime heat. After Siberia it was new to face with this warmness, to feel forever uncomfortable and sticky and it only heightened his irritation.
Stopped for a moment to take in the sight of the city beneath him, inhaling the air deeply, smelling the mixture of the vegetation around him, water and the soil under his feet. As he let out a sight, heavy with the troubles he was facing with, Jacob couldn't help but wondering; what will be waiting for them in this jungle? What more can be hidden between the trees, behind the bushes? He felt like nothing can surprise him anymore - but couldn't help to feel uneasy and asking questions, having his doubts.
In one hand this was a great adventure and full of promises; Lara loved it of course, she managed to find Paititi and it was everything she ever dreamed of: a hidden city with full of legends and secret. But the city had another side, a darker one, offering false peace and isolation from the world, amusing the people with it's wild beauty, keeping dark secrets between the stone walls. Ancient culture, legends and death. The perfect mixture to tempt a certain young archaeologist, who happily jumped into it, without any second thought.
And what they were facing with here, what Lara was facing with here... maybe it was just too much.
Didn't think a lot about his route, Jacob simply started to walk down to the lake what was close to the palace - in the daytime, it was a lovely place to be and Jacob often spend his time there - the shore was full of Paititians: children were playing next to the lake and adults were in the knee-high water, catching fish, fresh to the table. While Lara preferred to deal with traps and artifacts, Jacob loved to be close to the living, watching them and learn from them, to see how the lived, hearing stories and history, enjoying the vivid life, participating in the children's game and help wherever he could. This life, the simple life was all too familiar to him. Now the lake was silent and offered the perfect place in the Moon's silver light to be alone for a moment, away from everything - every trouble and worry and problem, every 'we have to save the world' and 'Gods and Goddesses', every 'recreation and destruction'.
Every 'what would happen if I loose you'.
Because it didn't matter how hard he tried to pretend and ignore the problems, they were still there.
It wasn't like he did not know what to expect - Jacob didn't have illusions, he saw monsters himself, moreover made them by his own hands: created the Deathless Ones. And he truly believed - or hoped at least - they were one of a kind, monsters, but unique ones and he doesn't have to face anything like them in the future. But he was wrong apparently.
Slowly reaching his route's end, avoiding the few houses that still had some fire, signalling not everyone was asleep just yet, dealing with the very last tasks for today, Jacob stopped, hoping the water will wash away his fears, suddenly feeling way too old for this world.
When he will stop counting the days when he almost lost her? The fear he felt was as cold as the first time and it paralyzed him with just the same intensity.
If she wouldn't come back.... if she just couldn't make it... it was madness, he was against the plan all along....
Lara disagreed of course and she just had to push her luck, had to volunteer to get in the City of the Serpent, even if Unuratu told her it was suicide.
He wanted to go with her. Something inside him urged her to go with her, because he needed to protect her, because she will need him there, because it was way too dangerous. But Lara had to be Lara of course. She disagreed, telling him it was nothing she couldn't handle on her own. The truth was she was afraid to let him close to any kind of danger ever since he gained his mortality back - she never admitted it, but Jacob knew it. But she couldn't protect him forever, he wasn't defenseless and Lara didn't need to put this weight on herself as well - she had enough on her plate already, facing with the prophecy about the world's end.
It quickly evolved into a decent argument, both of them showing their worst faces to each other - him yelling at her she was careless and way too blinded by the thirst of the truth, just like she was in Siberia, risking way too much. She hit back with what was on stake, how the world was about to be destroyed - and because of her, because she was too driven. She didn't do this only because someone had to, but Lara felt responsible ever since she took that dragger. Dominguez said she set the prophecy in motion and even if it was true Jacob didn't want her to face with it alone. He wanted to be there for her, to shield her away from all the bad things in the world and make her happy.
"It is my task to fix it!" These words were still ringing in his ear as Lara literally screamed them at him, eyes heavy with tears, begging, but also defiant.
Jacob told her, she often forgets it is not just about her anymore.
It annoyed the hell out of him! Her stubbornness, how she closed everything and everyone out of her world these times, how she just didn't listen to reason! This was Lara and he accepted her, also loved her and every part of her, good and bad included. But it didn't make less painless when she went anyway, leaving him and his anger behind, too stubborn to not show to everyone she can do anything. Because Lara Croft had no limits - and if she still faced with them, she just pushed them away.
But there were things she couldn't really push away. There was a point when even Lara had to admit she couldn't deal with everything on her own. And the Yaaxil seemed to be that point.
Even if Jacob was angry, he was also worried for her - just like always. Always checking if she was back, asking if someone heard anything about her and probably annoyed the hell out of Jonah with his restless behavior, pacing back and forth, unable to sit still or do anything else. Not like Jonah wasn't worried, but he learned how to make himself busy and useful, ever since all he could do to tell Lara his point of things and trust her judgement. If she wanted to go, she went anyway, leaving people behind whom cared about her. And when she came back, shaken and weary, Jacob felt like he should tie her down to keep her safe, close to him, not let anything to hurt her ever again. She was an adventurer and he was a protector - that's why they got along so well, but it also caused some tensions between them when they disagreed about what mattered as way too dangerous and what not.
Running to her, embracing her tightly, feeling how violently she was shaking, unable to stop it and hearing her cry almost broke him to pieces. How a powerful woman like her get into a shape like this? What happened to her?
Jacob saw her crying only once: back in the coldness, when his immortality was gone and he was dying - it was still an overly vivid memory. In that moment he saw fear in the brown eyes - it wasn't the same fear he saw radiating from her, when Lara was about to head to face with the Deathless Army. She was afraid of course, but knew she had to do it, knew what was the task, laying ahead of her and knew she could do it. This time she was terrified, weakened from it, like a small child would be, fragile, threatening to break even more, seeking relief in his arms, hiding from the harsh world - and Jacob tried his best. Being there for her, hugging her close, humming to her, telling her nothing can harm her while he was there, he will protect her, no matter what. And even if he desperately wanted to know what happened to her, he didn't ask, not yet; the timing was just wrong. She mentioned some creatures, but it was difficult to follow her; they sounded to be almost inhuman. Not like that was something he did not hear or saw before.
Finally, the exhaustion won and Lara slipped into a restless seep, allowing to Jacob to sneak out, leaving her in Jonah's care, just for a bit.
"What you have gotten into this time?" whispered his question into the darkness, wondering how they will fix the world this time and how long it stays fixed, before shattering to pieces again, demanding a savior to itself. And who else will be there to be the hero of the day?
It was unfair.
'Just 10 more minutes' and he will be heading back. Just 10 more minutes to figure out how to keep Lara whole on this adventure and how to help her trough everything, hoping the jungle won't crush her too much, not taking away too much from her. Jacob wasn't ready to face with that loss, but if he wanted to be honest with himself his greatest fear was exactly this; seeing Lara changing, loosing too much.
These thoughts were too dark to think about, making him even more worried, than he originally was. One step at a time and his main focus has to be Lara now and not thinking about what will happen in the farther future. He was about to turn around when the leaves ruffled on the left, demanding his attention from the corner of his eye. The movement made him to turn toward the maze of leaves and vines, staring into the darkness, figuring out what was there, should he fight or flight.
Expected it to be an animal, maybe a lost pig from the village or a reptile - or even a jaguar as a worst case scenario. What he did not expect was a bare human leg, poking out of the forest, followed by a human body. When he realized what it was, the view forced him to take a step backwards.
She was definitely human. But did not look like she was one of the villagers at all. Tall and slender, full of muscle. Her clothes.... they weren't really clothes, more like some kind of tribal wearing, clearly made from things she found in the forest, decorated with spikes of wood or bones. And her skin... was covered in something - it was difficult to tell in the darkness, what was the darker layer on her skin. It took a moment or two to realize it was redness he saw on her limbs and face, making decorative patterns - hopefully some kind of paint and not blood. Her black hair showed an unfamiliar design, jewelry pierced in her flesh of her face - so raw and wild, but also very mesmerizing. She was almost beautiful to look at, exotic and still radiating some kind of harsh danger, almost tempting to go closer. What stopped him to obey to that urge was the horrifying look of her mouth: this woman had no lips, nothing covered her teeth and Jacob couldn't help, but wonder how she lost them. Does she cut them off herself or someone else did?
The creature took a long moment staring at him, looked like she couldn't really put him to anywhere, measuring the situation. Was he a friend or foe? Clearly an outsider and that could mean several outcomes of this situation. But as he looked at her and she was looking back at him, seemingly hesitant, wondering even, Jacob slowly realized what this hint of weird and uneasy feeling was he felt deep inside him; she looked familiar to him, even if he was sure she was nothing he ever saw before. No, not really looked, but... felt familiar. Like someone coming from the same place, knowing the same things, but never met with before, still sharing the same origin, coming from the same tree.
The woman stepped closer suddenly and he winced from the movement, almost stepped away from her, but made himself stop in the last moment, dealing with the tension in his muscles; what was the phrase Lara told him once? 'Curiosity killed the cat...' Look who was judging.
A hand grabbed his wrist; gentle, but firm, showing her strength she carried in those fine muscles, clearly more than capable to hurt a mere human if she wanted to. Her other hand went up and long, red fingers touched his face, eyes searching, almost wondering - the touch on his skin felt cool, almost cold, making Jacob shiver in the warm and humid air.
"Wéet" she stated in her deep, coarse voice, made her sound inhuman, almost not believing what she is seeing "Chan le k'iino' je'el xano'." Looked down, lifting his hand up, touched it with her both limbs, examined it like if she was looking for something. "Ba'ale' ts'o'ok ma'."
They stayed there, frozen in the moment; the old one and the ancient. Jacob had the feeling, just like him, she shouldn't even exist and still they were here and still alive, like fragments of another world, that no-one remembered to anymore. Living legends.
She could think the same, because she looked back into his eyes finally, and Jacob could almost hear her asking 'How is it possible?'
"You are..." His voice finally found him, still fascinated by her and also feared her. Swallowing in the thick air, finished his question. "..Her, aren't you? The woman who attacked Lara?" She must be the creature Lara tried to describe and Jacob wasn't surprised why she failed to use the right words to describe her; she wasn't anything you can just describe with mere words - words were simply not enough. Frightening, beautiful, powerful, deadly, noble, graceful, dark... these words all fitted for her and still were so less, nothing compared to her existence - another Goddess in this small world.
His question made her letting his hand go, looking at the palace and Jacob knew she got what he meant, even if they clearly did not speak the other's language, but they still were able to understand each other.
"What do you want from her?"
She came because of her, Jacob knew. Lara tend to attract mystical creatures apparently.
The Red Queen didn't look back at him, still seemed to be thinking about her answer, understanding what was happening here, more than Jacob hoped he would "Yaabilajech." was the simple answer he got "Le k'iino'. Ix Chel."
"Ix Chel?" He heard these words before. Lara kept talking about the Mayan legends all the time "The God?"
Another long stare.
"Do you think she is a God?" It was confusing - why this woman, who came from the forest thought Lara, an outsider was a God? What does that mean to her? Followed her stare toward the palace, thinking to the young woman who was sleeping between those walls, who just faced this red Goddess and came back from her frightened and vulnerable. How she, a mere human could face with a God's task?
Lara always said legends had some truth in their core, but Jacob experienced otherwise; legends were the truth, stories of the long forgotten parts of human's history, stories of an old world, where unbelievable things weren't so unbelievable. When people still had faith in things they call fairy tales nowadays, when their Gods walked among them. And even it became stories over the centuries, these legends had more truth than modern humans gave them credit for.
He and the Red Queen knew that. But it wasn't too much for a single human? Restoring the Sun was a bit bigger task than to defeat a Japanese empress or find the Deathless Prophet in the middle of nowhere. Was it selfish to wish they could just walk away from it?
Lara won't walk away from it. Doesn't matter what it takes, she will be up on the ride for the very end - even if she wished to walk away from it, she won't. She never did and never will do - and Jacob will be there, right next to her side, whatever happens.