Chapter Text
Cover:
Recommended Music: Death of the Sun
Lara Croft, at this point, was used to the paranormal. She had found multiple instances where the past contained many forces that just couldn't be replicated by modern science. First the Sun Queen of the Yamatai... then the Prophet hidden in Siberia... now? A literal doomsday scenario just around the corner because of a knife. One that could grant or restore the power of the sun. Right now? It was in the possession of her bitter enemy.
Trinity.
They had taken everything from her. Her father. Her innocence of the true nature of those in the shadows. They had even tried to take her mansion as well, but she had barely held onto that. At this point, the head of trinity, Dr. Dominguez, was attempting to use the box of ix Chel to attempt to make himself a god... with the destruction of the world as a secondary concern. He claimed to be protecting his home, Paititi, but... power corrupts. She had to make sure that this power wouldn't be used for the wrong reason. Clambering over the side of the Mesoamerican pyramid, she had heard that the High Council were all killed by the Yaxxil. The monsters up high were killed by their own arrogance. Typical. They deserved it for what they put so many people through. Trinity, on their own, caused genocide, destruction of history, and even more evil acts. But now, the one who was the biggest threat was Dr. Dominguez. He had the Silver box, and the dagger that could activate it... and the only thing holding him back was pure ceremony. According to Paititi law, this could only be done a certain way, with Crimson Fire being in charge... but since he wasn't as well versed in the actual ritual as his late sister-in-law... well... he didn't know the full ceremony.
Climbing up the side of the pyramid, the tomb raider tensed, gripping onto a ledge, before pulling herself up onto the platform.
The ceremony had begun, and Dominguez had inserted the knife into the box. The power of a god had already begun to pour into him. His skin glowed, transforming him from human into the sun god he worshiped. The name of their cult, Kukulkan, was in reference to the pet snake of the sun god. It consumed the world as it ended, before the next one was reborn. That seemed to be the goal of this cult, regardless... use the end of the world to gain power over the next.
Quietly, through the overgrowth present in these ruins, she waited for an opportunity. There were plenty of guards, who would make this very difficult. She knew that the sheer volume of arrows would make it impossible to stop him in an outright assault.
So, she waited for the first guard to walk past her position, ensured that nobody would notice, and quickly stabbed him in the back, before silencing him, and dragging him back into the bush. All of the other guards were on the other side of the temple... allowing Lara to take in her surroundings. There were three main carved statues, clearly linking to Dominguez in the center. With the barrier of pure energy, she couldn't reach him... but maybe... if those statues were destroyed...
As much as she despised the destruction of history, there were far more important things at stake. So, with her climbing ax, she dug it into the worn stone, and pulled. The interior was just as blistering hot, but she continued to break it apart. One final strike and it broke. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the carving was used to channel the energy between a priest and Dominguez, and now that the supernatural energy ceased to flow, Croft barely had enough time to hide before he called out for more guards. Quickly behind a tree, she looked up, and found that there was a branch she could use. Jumping up, she kicked against the tree, climbing up and onto it. This gave the perfect vantage point from which she could view the area, as well as prepare an ambush. A warrior, a cultist of Kukulkan, walked below, speaking with the priest, before they both turned away from each other. Quickly withdrawing her bow, Lara aimed at the dark warrior and fired, piercing the man through the lung, before using the rope attached to the arrow to drag him up into the tree... before tying the rope around his neck. He died without a sound, far above where they would care to look. Dropping down to the floor, she snuck up to the priest, and used her climbing ax to hook his shoulder, before stabbing him in the throat, and dragging him into the underbrush. Quickly moving on, she quietly moved to the next statue. Using her trusty climbing ax, she tore into that one as well. At this point, the nearest guard called out, in the native Paititi dialect: "Hey, there is the girl!"
Now without the luxury of stealth, she pulled out her pistol and aimed at the lookout in question, peppering him with bullets, with one hitting him in the head. More of them were on the way, so she continued firing, before the mag ran out, forcing her to eject and reload, running back the way she came. Hiding behind cover, Lara carefully took a rifle from her back. Glancing around the corner, she saw several of them running towards her position with melee weapons, and a couple with bows. She'd have to act fast to not be overwhelmed. So, the brunette quickly steeled herself and dived out from cover, firing her assault rifle towards the group, taking down the single archer she could see, as well as two of the cultists... but a green robed priest, presumably from the statue she destroyed, lunged, too close aim towards. Blocking his weapon physically with her rifle, Croft strained against the stronger man... before being pushed into the ground.
"Die... outsider!" He pushed the rifle out of her grip and it skidded across the ground... and over the edge. However, she couldn't think of the loss of the weapon, barely avoiding being hit by another blow. Using her momentum, she stabbed at him with the only weapon she could reasonably reach from this position... her climbing ax. Kicking him away, his neck spurted blood everywhere as the flesh gave way under her ax. Scrambling behind cover, she pulled out her other large weapon. Calming her breathing Lara focused on the environment, closing her eyes for a moment as she heard the sounds of battle away from the step pyramid, of the footsteps approaching her position... and taking in a breath, she opened her eyes and rounded the corner. One shot, then another, and another... and another. The last one fell with a spray of buckshot, now unmoving on the ground. Bolting to the last statue, she tore it down... and tore down the blazing shield around Dominguez. His skin glowed with fire, an angry orange. The main source of light, since the sun was covered by an eclipse.
Turning to where Lara was, he dictated from under his skull-like mask. "Nothing will stop me... remaking the world." A green robed priest with a bow ran up to his master's side. With a gesture, Dominguez ordered him to fire his bow at her... something Lara barely dodged, before looking back up at the main villain of today. "Today, we take control of our destiny!" Opening his arms... a large orange sphere enveloped him before he teleported right in front of her, with intention to use his ancient club-like weapon against her. Rolling out of the way of that blow, Lara raised her shotgun and fired everything she had. It was a desperate gamble. The statues could be destroyed. Could the power be weakened by attack?
The answer was clear as she saw the light fall away from his skin. The buckshot was working. He both used range in the form of his own bow, as well as kept teleporting towards her to try to catch the brunette off guard. Somehow, through luck and skill, Lara managed to avoid the attacks while dealing damage with her own. With a final shot, the power within Dominguez went haywire, arcing outwards and leaving him vulnerable. Using her knife, she went in for the kill, stabbing him in the shoulder. The cult leader was not defenseless as he seemed, however, as he struck back. Her makeshift knife, built from scrap and leather, was useless against the divine protection. However... there was another knife that could help. Dominguez grabbed Lara's throat, lifting her up, "My whole life... you can't match a god." With that last word, the man threw her away... but not before she had grabbed the sacrificial knife. It was a powerful artifact, and was the key to his power. One that right now, he had neglected to keep out of reach. For now, it was her only way to actually strip him of power. And it did so already, some of his power arcing to the blade... and into her, her grasping fingers glowing just as brightly as Dominguez was before. Noticing the now glowing blade in her hand, the doctor looked down at where it had been stashed, before looking back up at her. "I have allowed you to live, Lara. No more!"
He charged, ever more desperate, and again, the defenses fell to mere buckshot. And again, she tried to stab him with the knife, in order to attempt to sacrifice the power of the sun to save the world, just as Mesoamerican myth demanded. But he predicted this time, and blocked her forearm with his own, and pushed her back. The shotgun she used was still in hand, but only barely. Putting the knife away in a secure spot, she reloaded, bolting away as fire infused arrows, courtesy of the doctor, whizzed by her head. When all shells were in, she whirled around, just in time to see him teleport right in front of her. Scrambling under his swing, she stabbed at him another time with the blade, and the gambit succeeded, as he tried to fend her off by crossing his arms, but she stabbed down further, embedding it into his shoulder, and sapping some of Dominguez's strength. This attack caused his skull-shaped mask to fall off, and show his face for the first time in this battle. Throwing Lara aside, it was lucky that she was still able to hold onto the sacrificial knife. Her shotgun was not so lucky, sliding over the stone and over the edge. Dominguez commented, his voice scathing... and exerted. Noticing that the brunette lost all of her stronger weapons, and that she pulled out her pistol... "Attack all you want... Kukulkan will only make me stronger!"
He charged again, and Lara fired back, determination on her face. Most hit, peeling back the divine shield once more, but the young woman was launched back with a gust of fire from another strike. While she had been lucky and skillful to avoid the others, desperation had worn both sides down. Making them both sloppy. Reloading quickly, she aimed her gun, and fired another two shots, breaking it, and making Dominguez vulnerable once more. This time, however, he was unprepared, and the knife struck home, deep into his gut. With this deadly blow, Dominguez began to collapse, helped to the ground by his enemy. Carefully, Lara's enemy, the leader of Trinity and the Cult of Kukulkan, finally stopped fighting. Knowing that he was dying, all he asked was...
"Protect Paititi."
Lara looked down at the man. The one who took everything from her, her family, her potentially normal life... and saw someone very similar to herself. Someone who cared deeply about an ancient culture, his home, and wanted to protect it. In the end, she couldn't hate someone like that. Especially as he pleaded with his final breaths, "Please. Please, Lara."
With a nod, she agreed to, in her capacity. "I will."
As Dominguez died, the power of the sun god transferred from him, to her. Light began from her fingertips, up her arm, and into the rest of her body, and potentially... her soul. Light overcame the brunette's vision as the power flowed...
And she was in a void. A white fog surrounded her, for a moment, before laughter... familiar laughter, entered her ears. Looking to the source, she found why it was familiar. It was her own, from when she was a child. The fog broke to see a scene from her youth, with her parents and her, all one big, happy family. Smiling reflexively at the best time of her life, Lara watched, as her father bickered and bantered with her mother and her. Especially as her mother was annoyed, trying to paint the two of them. This... this could be... me... The power of a god was now in her veins. She had the option before her, to use this power for her own wish. Looking down at the ceremonial dagger, Lara then remembered words Dominguez said to her when she first found it. With this Key and the Silver Box, we can remake the world... without weakness, cruelty.
This was the key question, one she had asked the previous queen of Paititi before her untimely end: If you had that power, what would you do?
Her mother's voice filtering back, Lara looked back up at the scene before her. It was everything she really wanted. Offered to her, right here, right now. But... it was never meant to be.
She could choose to use this power for herself, but others would suffer. No, to restore the world, Lara knew what she must do. Holding back tears, her voice betrayed her pain as the brunette whispered, to the uncaring trio, "Goodbye, Mom..." A moment's pause, before saying the same to her father, "Goodbye Dad..."
Backing up into the fog... Lara turned and left. Burying the past, finally coming to terms with the fact that she will never see them again. The voices of the past quieted... as she went back to the real world...
The light on her skin retreated back to within... and Lara awoke. The sounds of battle were quiet, and it was clear that Trinity lost. Their high council had been slaughtered, their forces routed, and there was nothing but peace... and the eclipse in the sky. A noise sounded from behind, and the brunette turned... to see a frightful visage. A primal looking woman, covered in red dye, wearing tattered ancient garb. Her headdress made her head look much larger than it was normally, and her mouth was in a permanent, open frown, despite the smile charged into her cheeks. The only sign of intelligence and life lay in her eyes, which were vibrant and clear. It was clear that this was not a human.
Indeed, this was her... ally. She was the Crimson Fire. A being known locally as a Yaxxil. A messenger of the gods, sent for when the Silver Box's mission needed to be done... and now it was time. Their uneasy alliance had led to this moment.
It was time to kill a god.
Looking at the dagger again, she remembered the words of the former queen of Paititi: When the catastrophes come, the god Kukulkan must be sacrificed to power the sun. Otherwise, the world dies. Knowing the truth, she offered the blade to the Yaxxil. Slowly, she accepted it, and replaced it with a half mask.
As Lara looked it over, the other being took its time. After all, she knew the heavy sacrifice needed at this time, and would not drag out the torment. She was to be a willing sacrifice.
If my training fails me, the Crimson Fire will guide me and hold me to my promise.
A promise that is now mine to uphold. Lara thought bitterly, as she looked to the Yaxxil, now gesturing to the stone table at the center of the temple's platform.
Putting it on her head, Lara slowly got onto the table. The divine being helped her, lowering her onto the table with a hand on her back. The brunette's breathing quickened, becoming uneven. There was no way to know if she would survive this. Once she was there, flat on her back, the Yaxxil raised the dagger, now glowing, above her head. Bracing and closing her eyes, Lara prepared for the blade to strike... and it did. It pierced her torso, just below the ribcage, searing pain emanating from there. All of the power, which was intoxicating, funneled its way into the dagger, mixed with her own blood. In a flash of light, it was clear that the ritual worked. As Lara bled out on the table, she turned to see her killer. Instead of being cruel, and heartless like countless had been towards her in the past, she saw... a gentle, motherly figure. At this point, they both knew that this is where her life would end. A single tear of relief ran down her face as she saw the eclipse in the sky break, as the sun returned. She did it. Lara saved the world. The Yaxxil knelt next to her, not breaking her view of the land outside the hidden temple, but still in a place where she could be seen. With a gentle hand, she wiped away the tear. A final gesture of thanks. After all, when the deed was done, the Yaxxil could go home, to the heavens. Return to their previous glory. It was a way of showing that Lara's death would never be in vain.
Crimson Fire's was the last face Lara Croft ever saw as her vision darkened, Death deciding now was the perfect time to take her away. Maybe this would be how she could meet her family again anyway. She would never get to tell the people she met how she succeeded... but... ultimately... it wouldn't matter. They would tell by the rising of the sun, that she had succeeded.
And so, Lara Croft died with nothing but a divine guardian to keep her company.