Archive of Our Own

The first time Nadia had met Lara, she had a gun pointed at her face. Maybe not the best first impression in the world, but it was at least memorable.

At the sight of a gun in their face, most people would surrender, beg for mercy, maybe even scramble and run. But not Lara. She looked down the barrel of the gun, unafraid of the weapon in her face, unafraid of death . Lara had even managed to deduce that her gun was nothing but a fraud (she only carried it around because her father didn’t want her carrying a real one yet).

She had completely cleared the Trinity squad that had been after her. Lara patiently tended to her wounds and helped her to a cave where other Remnants were taking refuge. She didn’t stay long, Lara left as soon as she was certain that she would be okay with her people. The others told her that she was a friend of Jacob, and that she was helping them fight against Trinity, some personal beef or something like that.

That’s when Nadia began to hope that maybe Lara would help her find her grandfather. With Trinity on their doorstep, it was impossible to spare any people for a search party to look for him. Even her own family had told her to just let the old man do what his heart desires, he was old and at the end of his life, doing this would bring him peace. But Nadia wouldn't just stand aside. She loved him too much to let him go just like that.

Despite her protests, Nadia was begrudgingly escorted back home, only to be surprised to see that Lara was there, helping them prepare for the impending attack. It was then that she finally asked her for help, and Lara actually accepted. They had some time, maybe a couple of days before Trinity showed up, and it shouldn’t take any longer than a day to rescue her grandpa (she hoped).

Unfortunately, the rescue didn’t go as smoothly as she hoped. The first time through, Lara was poisoned by some hallucinogenic flowers and disappeared. Nadia was horrified that she had just sent her to her death, but she appeared sometime later, rattled, but alive. She was afraid the experience would stop Lara from continuing, but somehow, getting poisoned made Lara even more determined to help. Together, they managed to create an antidote that would allow anyone to safely enter the Vale. 

Lara entered first to make sure the way forward was safe, and she trailed behind second, still suffering from a slight limp from her earlier encounter with Trinity. There, they found magical old structures, fascinating if not a little horrifying. There, she didn’t just find her grandfather, but her grandmother too (after Lara had a difficult spore-induced standoff with her as the witch, that is).

It wasn’t the type of ending she was expecting, though it was a welcome surprise. At most, Nadia thought she’d at least get her grandpa back, safe and sound. But here her grandmother was too, one she thought her whole life had been dead . And she was Baba Yaga too. Not only that, she was a complete wizard when it came to mechanics, that must be where she got it from.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Nadia had asked. They were idling outside by the campfire there, to give her grandparents some space to talk inside. “God, it all seems so obvious now…” She felt a little dumb for not seeing the truth until the very end.

“I had some theories,” Lara replied simply, as if it was no big deal that she figured it out before anyone else did.

“Thanks,” Nadia told her gratefully. “Not just for all of this, but for letting me figure it out on my own. I don’t think I would’ve handled it as well if you just had told me.” 

Lara just nodded coolly as if it was just a small thing, but it wasn't. Not anyone would’ve gone out of their way to help her like this. Lara was just something else.

Nadia noticed that Lara was still massaging her temple, probably trying to shake off the effects of the poison. She wished she could help, but they didn’t have any more of the antidote. At least, it seemed most of its effects would have worn off by now, she would be okay in an hour or so. And if she wasn’t, Nadia was sure Serafima might have something that’d help - she made the stuff, after all.

They sat in contemplative silence for a while. Nadia watched Lara, who was now ruffling through some documents she had found around the place. When she saw Nadia gazing curiously at her findings, she gave her a silent go-ahead to read. They were mostly blueprints of mechanics and the lifts, but they were also some journal entries from her grandmother. Reading them made her feel a little sad. They had been so close, just miles away this whole time. All these years…

Nadia picked nervously at her sleeve, her mind drifting off to her grandmother again. “Do you think she’ll be alright?”

“I don’t know,” Lara answered, looking up and giving her a sympathetic look. “But it won’t be easy. For any of you.”

She huffed. She thought about how her family back home was going to react, both to her sneaking out again and returning with not just one, but two of her grandparents. It’s going to be one hell of a welcome home. “Family never is.”

There was a deep sadness in Lara’s eyes. “Oh, I know.” She turned away. “I know.”

Lara escorted them all back to the village. Then the attack happened. And Nadia didn’t see Lara again until after Jacob died and Trinity had been (mostly) repelled.

It’s been a wild past week. The village was a little worse for wear, everyone was still reeling from the invasion. And now Jacob was gone, for good this time. Lara had been there to witness it all, and even though some of the elders and adults remained incredulous of her claims, Nadia knew that Lara wouldn’t lie. Jacob wasn’t going to come back this time.

His passing was a blow to her people. Some of them remained faithful, or rather, in denial; they said they would wait patiently until Jacob returned, as he’s always done. Some felt like they had no purpose now that both Jacob and the Divine Source were gone, and talked about leaving the valley to find new beginnings.

It was only natural that Sofia would step up to the plate as the Remnant’s new leader. Unsurprising since she’s already taken the mantle any time Jacob wandered off to do his important things. Despite the uncertainty of the Remnant and their goals, she seemed determined to continue their way of life.

And for her… well, Nadia wasn’t sure where she fit in all this, she was still dealing with things back home. With her grandmother’s sudden reappearance, there was a lot of drama; between this and that, big things and small things… It was rough, and a lot of Nadia’s focus was helping her family find some solid ground. It hasn’t been a smooth road, not in the slightest, but she liked to believe that things were looking up now.

Lara was staying, at least for now. Her friend was still recovering from his injuries, and Lara won’t leave without him. Over the coming week, she had become a frequent sight around the village, helping them all out when she could. The other times, she would be exploring the old ruins, studying and learning about all the old things. She seemed to like that. 

And, Nadia found herself staring.

It wasn’t on purpose, at first. Lara just had this magnetic presence about her, an authoritative aura that just commanded attention. It didn't matter what Lara was doing, she was just brilliant - the way she talked, the way she moved - it was so enchanting, almost otherworldly. She moved with the grace of a deer, but the precision and edge of the deadliest predator. It just made her heart feel weird, like it was made of a bunch of old grinding gears.

When she finally realized her mushy feelings, Nadia tried to dismiss it all. It was ridiculous, and silly. There was no way. Everyone admired Lara, It's hard not to after all she’s done. She was smart, beautiful, and deadly too, she’s taken down entire squads by herself - something not even their most seasoned warriors could do. It was just pure facts at this point, Lara was just objectively amazing.

… Oh shit, she really was in love, wasn’t she? 

“Nadia?”

She must have jumped at least three feet into the air. The tools slipped out of her grasp, clattering noisily to the floor below. They hit the ground, spinning out of control every which way; under the generator, the tables, and her favorite wrench came to rest by a familiar-looking boot.

Nadia snapped her head to look at the intruder, her heart jumping into her throat when she realized who it was. “L-Lara?”

Thankfully, Lara didn’t seem bothered by her overreaction. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” The hint of amusement in her voice that made Nadia’s heart thump wildly. She knelt down to help collect her stray tools. 

Nadia could see the way her eyelashes fluttered against her cheek, the way her muscles moved underneath that jacket, how her scarf and clothes hung loosely just enough that she could see down her - Nadia jerked her eyes away, forcibly swallowing. 

God, she was so doomed.

“No, no, not your fault,” Nadia stuttered, scrambling to pick up her tools. She needed to stop staring. “I-I was too focused. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I'll be sure to knock next time,” replied Lara, handing her the wrench she had picked up. N-Next time?

Her fingertips tingled as she brushed Lara’s hand to take her tool back. She quickly placed the wrench on her workbench to stop herself from fiddling with it. “W-What are you doing here?” asked Nadia, trying her best to seem casual - normal.  “Not that you aren’t welcome here, you’re always welcome here.” She laughed nervously, hoping she didn’t come off as weird… She probably was. “But, uhm, do you need something?”

Lara didn’t seem to mind her awkwardness. Instead, she reached into satchel and produced a decently sized bag. “Here.” Nadia took it, confused. Looking inside, Nadia realized it was a bunch of scrap - the useful kind. “Sofia told me you’ve been working on getting the generators working again. Thought you might need these.”

“Oh, wow .” Nadia felt her cheeks involuntary reddened. She turned to the side to put the scrap with the other stuff she had, and to hide her face from Lara. “Wow. Uh, thanks, this’ll help a lot.” Lara had gone out of her way to give this to her. She couldn’t stop smiling, Nadia was way too happy about this.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Lara smile a little. “You’ve been working hard,” Lara commented, coming to look at the generator she was working on.

“Well, I have to,” Nadia responded, trying hard not to look at Lara’s face right now. “Everyone’s doing their part to get everything up and running again. Wouldn’t be right just to sit aside and do nothing, right?” She chuckled,  again, maybe a bit too nervously.

Lara nodded understandingly. “How are your grandparents?”

The mention of her family sobered the weird gushy feeling inside her. “Oh, um, I think it’s going well. But we hit a few snags. I think gramps is still the most shocked of us all. His whole life, he’s thought his beloved was dead and now…” She threw her hands up in the air - “Ta-dah , there she is! Turns out she’s the witch…” Nadia chuckled again, though a bit more tiredly this time.

“I can only imagine,” Lara sympathized. 

“It’s not all bad, though.” Nadia finally had the courage to look Lara in the eyes again. “Gran has been teaching me everything she knows about mechanics and stuff.” Their sessions learning together was something Nadia always looked forward to.

“That’s great news, Nadia, I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from her.” There was a strange sense of melancholy in Lara’s expression. She seemed really sad. Nadia wished she felt qualified to ask why. “Well, it looks like you’re busy. I’ll leave you to it then.”

“Oh, okay.” Nadia tried not to sound disappointed that she was leaving. “You're welcome to stop by again. If you want to, of course.”

“Of course.” Lara nodded a farewell and walked out of her little workshop.

The moment Lara stepped out, Nadia sank to her knees, taking a moment to come to terms with this whole encounter. She hadn’t been sure before, but now she was certain. She really did like Lara. She was just so easy to talk to and so nice, pretty and just so cool . Lara was just exactly her type, and she didn’t even know she had a type before today.

But the realistic part of her sobered her feelings. This little crush was doomed. Lara wouldn’t stay, as soon as her friend got better, she was going to leave. She had more important things to do than to stay in this old village. But part of her hoped, that maybe… just maybe, that Lara would find some reason to stay. And maybe she’d-

Nadia slapped her cheeks with her hand, snapping herself out of her daydream. Maybe it was better to not think about it right now.

Over the next few days, Lara only visited two more times, both times to give her more scrap and to just chat for a bit. Then, for the days after that, she was nowhere to be seen. Nadia knew her friend, Jonah, was still here, so she hadn't left the village yet. Now that she’s thought about it, she hasn’t seen Sofia around either. Her father later told her that Lara, Sofia, and a couple of others went to investigate something important some distance away. Nadia tried not to worry, Lara could take care of herself, and Sofia was with her. 

However, another day passed and there was no word back for them. And Nadia just couldn’t help but be worried.

To her immense relief, on the morning of the fifth day, Lara, Sofia, and their people returned. From the looks of things, they were okay, at least physically. Everyone had grim looks on their faces, Lara and Sofia seemed to be in the deep throes of discussing something. Nadia wished she felt entitled to ask what was wrong, but she wasn’t exactly up there on the totem pole of important people. She decided to just wait. If it was really important, Sofia would make an announcement.

But Sofia never made that announcement. Instead, the leader of the Remnants appeared in her workshop that late afternoon.

“Come with me,” she ordered with little explanation.

Nadia was so startled by her sudden visit, she didn’t know what to do at first. It was only when she saw that Sofia was waiting for the door for her did she realize that Sofia really was talking to her. Nadia gulped and followed after the now-leader, wondering why she had been singled out like this. Sofia led her to her home, where she saw Lara, who was leaning over the table, pouring over something. She was so focused, she only noticed them come in when they were literally right next to her. Upon seeing her, Lara gave her a little smile, and instantly, those mushy feelings were back. It made her feel less nervous, at least.

“There’s a problem,” Sofa began, closing the door behind them. 

“W-what kind of problem?” Nadia asked, trying to keep her voice steady. She still wasn’t sure why she was even here to begin with. 

Lara was the one who answered. “We’ve found out that Trinity raided an old Soviet Facility, far north of the old Gulag.”

“That sounds normal, for Trinity, I mean.” Taking over old Soviet bases was sort of their calling card at this point.

She nodded in agreement. “Normally, that wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary. The problem is that the facility they raided was dedicated to research and testing on a deadly chemical weapon,” Lara explained, pointing to a spot on the map, where it was probably located. “When Trinity restarted the facilities, they inadvertently released the toxin and infected everyone there.”

That sounded bad. Nadia didn’t really know much about chemical weapons, but if it was anything like what her grandmother made in the Vale, it couldn’t be good.

“We need to shut that facility down before the toxin makes it to the valley,” Sofia stated. “Before the early spring winds come.” 

“That could be as early as next week,” Nadia stammered, realizing the gravity of the situation. This wasn’t good. Not at all.

“We have a plan, or the semblance of one anyway,” explained Lara. “I’ll enter the facility on my own and see if I can shut things down from the inside.”

“But you’ll get infected!” Nadia pointed out, horrified.

Lara shook her head. “I don’t think we need to worry about that. It seems this chemical weapon only affects men.” Nadia made a weird face and Lara lightly shrugged. “I don’t know much about it myself, but I’ve been exposed already, and I haven’t shown any of the symptoms.”

Nadia was even more horrified. “Y-You tested it on yourself ?” 

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Lara admitted. “At first,” she added when Sofia glared at her.

“Lara and a couple of our scouts - some men, some women -  were infected while exploring the edges of the old facility,” Sofia explained, crossing her arms. “We had to quarantine them, but only the men started showing symptoms.”

“Are they o-okay?”

“Fortunately,” answered Lara. “They weren’t affected by the toxin long enough for the effects to be permanent. I can’t say the same for the Trinity soldiers in the facility.”

“And to test her theory of the toxin only affecting men, Lara purposely infected herself. Again. ” Sofia was glowering disapprovingly at Lara. 

Nadia didn't think she could get any more shocked and horrified, but here she was. Though maybe she shouldn’t be too surprised. Lara did willingly drink the potentially lethal antidote when they were trying to make it through the Vale. She was just that fearless, it seems.

What was more impressive was that Lara was completely immune to Sofia’s infamous death glare. “It was the only way to make sure that the toxin doesn’t affect women, and it doesn't. Or at least, not yet, at any rate,” she continued, ignoring Sofia completely. “I suspect it alters the dihydrotestosterone production, which would explain the aggression, the rapid muscle growth, and why it affects men so quickly.”

Nadia had no idea what Lara meant by that all, her head was still spinning with the big words, but Sofia had snapped her head to stare at her.

“Wait,” Sofia interjected, frowning. “‘Not yet’?”

Lara finally looked back at Sofia. “It’s a chemical weapon, Sofia. It’s… possible there might be more effects we’re not aware of. But right now, I’m worried about the immediate problem at hand.” She gestured to the spot on the map. “In any case, we decided it’s safer for me to enter alone, but I’ll need support.”

Sofia grimaced, glaring at Lara again. “You decided it would be safer to go on your own.” She sighed, clearly exasperated, but she eventually gave up trying to burn a hole into Lara’s skull with her eyes. “I will be piloting one of our requisitioned helicopters to assist Lara from above.”

“Okay…” Nadia was having a bit of trouble keeping up with this whole plot. “Then, what do you need me for?” she asked nervously, glancing between Sofia and Lara.

“For this.” Sofia gestured to a huge, old, tattered book at the corner of the table. 

“What is it?” Nadia approached it hesitantly. She glanced at the cover, but there was nothing really noteworthy about it, no identifying features besides it being old and tattered. Opening it, however, told a different story. There were pages and pages of instruction. On what? Some mechanics… for a facility? … Oh, no.

“It’s a manual I found while exploring the edges of the facility,” Lara explained as she flipped through the pages. “It should tell us exactly how to shut everything down. Unfortunately, none of us can read it properly. But I know you can.”

Nadia finally realized what they wanted her to do. “You want me to come along.”

They both nodded. “I see no other person fit for the role,” Sofia replied simply. “You would be in the helicopter with me, relaying instructions to Lara on the ground.”

She choked a little, feeling the weight of this task at hand. “I-I don’t know if I can do this.” Nadia looked at Lara, who looked way too calm about this. “I-I can’t be in charge of this. This is way too important for someone like me, I’m not sure if I can-...”

There was a firm hand on her shoulder and she found herself gazing into Lara’s gentle, brown eyes. “Nadia. You can.” When Nadia couldn’t reply, she continued. “This is no different than you guiding me through the Vale.”

“ This is different, ” Nadia insisted, panicking slightly. “Your life would be in my hands. Just one mistake, and you’d-” She cut herself off, frightened of the mere prospect of finishing that sentence. “I-I can’t be responsible for that.”

“Nadia.” The way Lara said her name was so firm, comforting. “I trust you. There’s no one else here qualified for this. You put your trust in me to find your grandfather, and now I’m doing the same.” She gave her a warm smile. “You can do this. I know you can.”

Nadia gazed into Lara’s eyes and saw nothing but the sincereness of her gaze. She glanced at the manual, then at Sofia. Then finally she looked back at Lara, who gave her an encouraging look.

Finally, she swallowed, closing her eyes for a brief moment, gathering all the courage she could scrounge up. “Okay,” she said, trying her best to sound confident. “Just give me a day to read through the manual, but the more time you can give me, the better. I don’t want to make any mistakes. For Lara’s sake.” Lara gave her an appreciative glance, and Nadia blushed a little.

Sofia nodded in approval, she seemed proud. “We’ll move out in two days. I’ll begin making the preparations.” She turned away to leave the room to do just that. 

“Two days. Okay, I can do this,” she said to herself, reaching to grab the manual, trying to ignore that sinking feeling in her stomach. There were so many pages, reading through it all was daunting. Understanding it? Now that was a different story.

She felt something brush her shoulder and saw that it was Lara, who had come up to stand next to her. She was close . “Thank you, Nadia. I know this isn’t easy for you.” 

“Isn’t everything?” Nadia chuckled lamely.

Lara nodded in agreement, her bangs swaying gently as she moved. She really was so pretty. It made her almost forget what scary thing she just signed up for. “As things often are.” Lara paused. “Would it help if I read through it with you? I need to brief myself on what to expect anyway.”

“O-of course!” Nadia exclaimed, her cheeks warming a little at the idea. “We can read it together.” She laughed nervously. “You might even be better at understanding it than I am.”

“I doubt that.” Lara huffed in amusement. “Machines are not my forte. I spend most of my time breaking them rather than trying to figure out how they work.” She let out a sharp, stressed sigh. “Let’s hope I'm just as good doing the opposite.”

“I’ll help you,” she responded encouragingly. “I’ll… this is all new to me, but… I’ll do my best to teach you everything you need to know. Between us, I’m sure we can figure out a way not to blow everything up.” She chuckled half-heartedly at her own joke.

Lara smiled, and the whole room seemed to glow. “Brilliant.”

She and Lara spent the rest of the day studying the manual. Lara was patient and listened to her ramble on about the exact machinations of the facility. It was complex and strange, so many odd ‘if’s, ‘but’s, and ‘and then’s, halfway through Nadia figured that maybe this book was a catch-all manual for all facilities like this.

It was disturbing to think that there were more places like that out there, but Lara believed that the one they were looking to shut down was the only one of its kind, though she also believed there was clearly some intent to create more like it. Nadia was very glad they didn’t, but it still made this book a bit hard to read. 

It would also take some effort on Lara’s part to identify things there and make the right choice based on the information Nadia gave her. It was a lot of pressure on the both of them, and Nadia worried she wouldn’t be able to say the right things when the time came. One wrong move, she could kill Lara. But Lara’s confidence was contagious. She just believed she could do it, there was no room for doubt. Nadia anchored herself on Lara’s trust in her, addicted to her confidence in her. It felt like as long as Nadia was with her, she could do anything . 

When night came, Lara left for the night to check in on her friend and to start making her own preparations, and Nadia ended up reviewing the last of the manual alone. After some time, she ended up consulting her grandmother about it, and she proved to be a great help in helping her understand the more complex mechanics. It was some great bonding time too, Nadia felt a lot closer to her after a few hours. Serafima seemed proud of her, and Nadia was just happy she was able to live up to her expectations. 

Two days seemed to pass by in a flash. Nadia had her nose buried in the book the entire time. Sometimes Lara was with her, other times her grandmother was. Sofia came to check up on her a couple of times to see how she was doing. 

And eventually, the day came.

Although having their mission during the day would have been easier, Lara wanted to do it all at the dead of night. Infected Trinity soldiers were swarming the facility, and going guns blazing just wasn’t an option. They hardly had the ammunition or resources to deal with the entire horde. Plus, an earlier flyby confirmed that they still had people there, women who had been taken prisoner before the facility restarted. A frontal assault could mean that they would get caught in the crossfire. But the infected had extremely poor eyesight, at least according to Lara; the darkness of the night would provide her with a lot more cover to move around unseen.

Sofia was against it at first, it would be much harder to keep track of the situation and offer corresponding support from the air. But in the end, Lara was the one who won out. After all, she was the one risking her life by going down there. Nadia was worried, terrified for her, but she trusted Lara. She’d just go with whatever she thinks is best. At least Lara was going to be carrying a tracker with her, so Nadia could keep better tabs on her in the air with their radar scanner.

“Nervous?” Lara asked. They were in the helicopter and were approaching ever so closer to their destination.

“Hard not to be,” Nadia confessed, clutching the book like it was her lifeline. She had to do this right, she had to.

“You’ll do fine,” Lara assured her, checking through her arsenal again. She was armed to the teeth with as many weapons and ammunition that she could carry. It all looked so heavy, Nadia was sure her back would give out within ten minutes of carrying all that stuff.

She also couldn’t fathom how calm Lara looked. Nadia had the easy job, and she was barely holding it together. “How do you do that?”

“... Do what?”

“Stay that calm,” she clarified. “You’re going down there, in pitch black darkness, in the freezing cold, to deal with maybe a hundred or so zombie soldiers to shut down a chemical facility that could blow up in your face at any moment, but you look so… calm . ”

“Oh.” Lara chuckled. “I am nervous. Terrified, even.” Nadia couldn’t believe that, Lara looked so normal. “But I’ve learned it’s better to focus on the now than the ‘what ifs’.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Nadia lamented. She’s been trying, but it’s hard to stop her mind from overthinking the thousand different possible bad endings.

“I’ve had the practice,” she replied, a hint of weariness in her tone. “You get used to it, after a while.”

Nadia couldn’t help but wonder what kind of things Lara has been through to be able to say that. Just from the little she’s heard of her adventures, even just the things that happened here , it sounded like a lot. Lara seemed… tired. “I guess it stops being scary after the hundredth time.” 

“You’d be surprised.” Lara huffed, amused, but weary at the same time. “Somehow things always keep ending up more and more dramatic each time. This is my first time dealing with these kinds of zombies, anyway.”

‘These kinds of zombies?’ Nadia almost didn’t want to know what she meant by that. “Hopefully, it’ll be the last.” She really hoped it would be the last.

Lara laughed a little and somehow, it made everything feel like it was going to be alright.

“You two,” Sofia called from the front seat. “We’re making our approach to the drop-off point. Are you ready, Lara?”

“As much as I’ll ever be,” responded Lara, securing her gear to her person. She moved to a crouched position, moving to the edge of the open door.

“I’ll start making our descent,” Sofia replied.

It was still a ways from the facility, but they were going to drop Lara off here. They could have dropped her right in the middle, but it would attract too much attention. She and Lara waited until Sofia had the aircraft leveled closer to the ground, and Lara kicked down the ladder at the side; Nadia moved to secure it. 

“Guess this is it,” Nadia told her, giving her a nervous smile. “Good luck, Lara.”

Lara met her eyes one more time, and Nadia was surprised by the sudden darkness in her gaze. It was so different from the gentle smiles and looks she’s been given so far. Nadia couldn’t help but feel a little… scared.

All that Lara did in response was nod before she climbed down the ladder and dropped into the cold darkness below.

-~*~-

The operation was going well, at least, it seemed like it was.

Lara arrived at the compound with no issues and right off the bat, she was able to rescue two of their people from a holding cell nearby. After directing them towards escape, Lara began making her way to the first tower. It was difficult to see anything in the dark, but the radar scanner and night vision binoculars that they had brought along definitely helped. Lara moved swiftly and quietly, there wasn’t much need for input from her end, and she was making good progress to the first tower.

“Lara?” she asked into her radio.

“I’m here,” came her reply.

“Just checking in,” Nadia responded, glancing at Sofia, who just offered her an affirming nod. “You should be approaching the first tower soon. I’ll check in again once you make it inside.”

“Copy.”

The first tower went without a hitch. After Lara helped her identify all the inner workings, Nadia was able to successfully find the exact page she needed to read from and relay them to Lara. Even though Nadia was sure that she had read off the right instructions, it had been nerve wracking listening to Lara go through the motions in real time. When the line went a little too quiet for a little too long, Nadia started to panic a little, that maybe she had read off something wrong after all. But then she could see the lights of the tower go off, and she let out a big sigh of relief.

“That’s it, Nadia,” Lara’s voice came over the radio. “This tower has been shut down.”

“Good.” Jittery, Nadia flipped through the pages of the book. “Now, it’s going to vent all the remaining toxin to the central core.” She glanced at Sofia, who had own relieved smile on her face. “One down, two to go.”

Riding on the high of their first successful step, Nadia found herself in a much better mood than what she came in with. As long as things kept going the way they did, this whole thing should be wrapped up in no time. She helped Lara identify and rescue another one of their people, and using the copter's lights, Sofia helped direct them to the exit, where the other escapees were waiting.

“Do we need to come up with a call sign, you know, for the three of us?” Nadia noticed Sofia glanced at her from the corner of her eye, but she just couldn’t stop herself. “Our team.” She couldn’t stop her lips from quirking into a smile.

There was a crackle in the frequency. “I’m going to get off the radio now, Nadia.”

“Okay, but think about it,” she continued, too caught up in her ideas to really hear what Lara said. “We could be the Nightcrows or-”

“She went off the frequency, Nadia,” Sofia interrupted her, amusement in her tone.

“Oh, uh…  Yeah. Whoops.” Suddenly she just felt embarrassed. Maybe she was buying into this a bit too much. Lara didn’t seem the type to work with team names anyway, she should have realized that. God, she was being an idiot again, this wasn’t the time to make this whole thing a game.

“I’ve heard worse,” Sofia suddenly said.

“W-What?”

“Names,” she clarified. “There have been worse names out there.”

Nadia chuckled nervously. “I was just sort of spitballing, I didn’t really give it that much thought…”

“You can call us that, if you want to.” Sofia had a tiny smirk on her face. “I don’t mind.”

Now she was definitely being pitied. “I’ll come up with something better,” she said in determination. Something cool, it had to be for Lara.

“Sure.”

Nadia took a moment to check the scanners again, to check on Lara’s progress. She seemed well on her way to the second tower now. She caught a glimpse of her weaving through the buildings, taking out a few of the infected that were in her way. Lara was doing great.

“You know she won't stay.” Nadia turned to Sofia in surprise. She had a serious look on her face. “You'll only hurt yourself if you get too attached.”

Nadia let out a big sigh, fidgeting in her seat a little. “I know…” 

The second tower was going well, at first. The first step went fine, but just as they were starting the second step, Lara was ambushed by some infected who had somehow made their way through the vents. The long periods of silence were terrifying, it was scary not knowing what was going on. What if something happened? They were so far away, it just wasn’t realistic for any of them to get down and help. But Lara always returned after a moment, breathless and asking her to repeat the instructions.

“Are you okay?” she had asked, when Lara sounded just a little bit more than just winded. “Are you hurt?”

“Focus, Nadia.” Despite the assurance in her voice, Nadia couldn’t ignore the slight tinge of pain in Lara’s tone. “I’m going to have to ask you to read it again…”

It took everything Nadia had to go read through the page of instruction again and put aside what was obviously an injury Lara had sustained. Her worry for her caused lost Nadia to focus a little, and almost gave out the wrong steps. But managed to catch herself last minute and Lara was able to get this tower shut down too.

The events of the second tower sobered any feelings of confidence Nadia had. It reminded her of the reality of the situation, that Lara could very easily die down there. And if she failed, the whole valley was in danger - the other Remnants, her parents, her grandparents... She needed to get her head in the game. They just had one tower left, then the central core, then they were home free.

That’s when she noticed something strange.

Even at a distance, even in the dark, Nadia could see the large pipes leading into the main chamber were shaking a little. She wanted to hope that she was just seeing things, but looking through the night vision goggles confirmed it.

“Oh, shoot,” she cursed.

“What’s wrong?” Sofia questioned.

“It’s not going to hold,” Nadia told her, looking down at the pipes again. She checked on Lara again, who was in the middle of freeing the last of the prisoners. She took out her radio. “Lara! Lara, are you there?”

“Here,” Lara’s reply came a moment later. “The last of your people should be making their way to the border. They’ll need some guidance to find their way out.”

“Okay, yeah, sure.” Nadia glanced at Sofia, who nodded and began moving the helicopter and its lights to signal a path for their escape. “But I’ve got some bad news. Every time you shut down a tower, it shunts all its toxin to the central core, which is what we expected, and we’ll get it in one place, but…”

“But?”

“But looking at the structural damage here, there’s no way the core is going to hold all that pressure after all these years.” Nadia nearly crumpled the page she was holding in her stress. “It’s going to fail.”

There was a long pause. “There has to be some way we can deal with the toxin once it’s in the core. Does the manual have anything?”

Nadia’s hands were shaking a little, but she steeled herself. Lara believed in her. She could do this. “Give me a second to come up with something. Just keep making your way to the third tower.”

“Alright. I’m counting on you.”

Lara was counting on her.

She let out a deep breath and focused. Nadia began looking through the manual again, studying the section on the central core - how would they get rid of the toxin? Logically, the only way to get rid of that much gas was to burn it, but Lara couldn’t realistically set the whole place on fire, not when this whole place was made out of metal. Maybe there was a way to combust the facility from within. There was a way to combust the facility from within. But-

“We’re going to kill her,” Nadia stammered to herself as the plan formed in her mind.

“We won’t,” Sofia replied, startling Nadia out of her thoughts.  “What did you figure out?”

Nadia took another deep breath, swallowing her fear back, just for another moment. “If Lara gets inside the central core, she could overload all the machinery there. It would trigger a catastrophic failure. The explosion and fire would burn off the toxin. But it would also burn up Lara. ”

Sofia grimaced, then glanced down at the central core. “I should be able to fly close enough to pick her up before that happens.” She pointed to an opening at the side of the core.

“She isn’t going to like this.” Nadia didn’t like this. And it was clear Sofia didn’t like this, too.

And when she called Lara to tell her about the crazy plan, she didn’t like it either.

“You’re right,” Lara had said. “I don’t like it. But it’s all we got… You better be ready.”

She and Sofia shared a determined look. “We’ll be there. I promise. ”

She and Lara got the third tower shut down without much fanfare, Lara was much better prepared for the Infected this time and Nadia didn't make any mistakes. Then Lara moved onto the central core. It was growing hectic, the alarms had attracted the infected and Lara was in for a fight. Although the helicopter was equipped with guns, they couldn’t risk firing and causing an explosion prematurely, it might not burn up all the gas, and it would just injure or kill Lara.

They had to wait.

Finally, the first explosion went off, and it was powerful enough to cause the helicopter to sway. Nadia squeaked, holding onto her seat. She was worried they might have been knocked out of the air, but Sofia was able to regain control. There was another explosion and Nadia could see there was fire everywhere, it wouldn’t be long before the whole thing exploded. Despite the carnage, Sofia managed to get the helicopter to an opening, where they promised to pick Lara up.

“Lara!” She shouted into the radio in a panic. There was too much fire. “Get out of there! Please…!” Where was she?

There was no response, and for a moment, Nadia feared the worst. But she noticed a moving shape, rushing up the metal stairs towards them. Nadia scrambled out of her seat to the back of the helicopter.

“Jump, Lara!” She called out. “Hurry!”

And she did just that. Lara managed to grab onto the lip of the aircraft, and Nadia leapt forward to grab her arm. With a strength she didn’t know she had, Nadia yanked up as hard as she could, pulling Lara up into the helicopter. She rolled onto the floor of the aircraft, gasping for air and coughing, but she was here.

“She’s safe!” Nadia called, still holding onto Lara’s arm. “Now , Sofia! Go!”

Sofia gritted her teeth and managed to maneuver the helicopter away just as the core went up in flames. They rose into the air, out of reach of the explosions. By then, Lara had managed to pull herself onto her knees, and was watching the chaos below. Nadia practically cried in relief as she saw it go up in flames, it would burn up the gas. Everyone was safe now.

“That was incredible !” Nadia cheered, looking at Lara excitedly.

Lara looked exhausted, a few new cuts and bruises here and there, there was a big gash on her leg, but she seemed mostly fine. “Yeah…” she agreed breathlessly. “Yeah, it was.”

Nadia didn’t know what got in her. She was just so relieved and happy that this whole thing was over, the toxin was gone, and that Lara was safe and sound. She leaned over, hugging Lara’s arm tightly, resting her head in the crook of her neck, watching the fire below. “You did it, Lara. You saved us. You saved everybody.” She felt so warm.

Lara seemed surprised at the sudden skinship, but she didn’t pull away. “ We did it, Nadia,” she corrected her. “I couldn’t have done this alone.”

Suddenly, Nadia realized what she was doing and released Lara’s arm, backing up a few paces for good measure. She hoped Lara couldn’t see her blush in the dark. “I… it was, just nothing. I just… did what anyone would’ve done.”

“Not everyone would’ve done what you did, Nadia,” Lara told her. “Thank you.”

“I should be thanking you.” She fiddled with her fingers. “If you didn't believe in me, I'm not sure that I would've been able to do this.”

Lara’s tired eyes were encouraging. “You always had it in you, Nadia. You never needed me.”

“Sure,” Nadia agreed incredulously. Without Lara here, she wondered if she really would. “But it just helps, you know, that you did.”

“Then I'm glad,” replied Lara, her voice was so soft and comforting. 

Nadia's heart soared.

“All in a day’s work for the Nightcrows,” Sofia said from the pilot’s seat.

Lara shot her a confused look, and Nadia wished she could disappear. “‘Nightcrows’?”

“Our call sign,” answered Sofia. “Nadia came up with it.”

When Lara turned to look at her, Nadia considered jumping out of the aircraft and taking her chances with the burning zombies, but Lara gave her a small, amused smile. “Sure,” she finally said. 

“I’ll come up with something better,” Nadia managed to say.

“No need.” Lara’s eyes glinted. “‘Nightcrows’... why not?”

They landed in a nearby base, where their freed people were waiting. After making sure that all of them were fit for travel, Sofia told them to meet up with some of the other Remnants in a nearby camp. With the safety of their people squared away, all that’s left to do is to return home to the village and get some well deserved rest. 

Lara was shuffling through some documents, some papers she had found while sneaking around there. It had more insight to the base and what it had been for. Nadia wasn’t sure how Lara found it in herself to study after a night like that. But Nadia noticed how her eyes seemed to sparkle as she read through old things, she seemed happy, or at least content. Nadia busied herself just watching her, feeling just as content herself.

It was early morning by the time they arrived back home and Nadia was so tired, she was about to fall asleep on her feet. Upon landing, Nadia was surprised to not just to see Lara’s friend there, but her entire family was there too. As they landed, they all waited in bated breath for Sofia to address them.

“It is done,” Sofia informed them with a smile.

Nadia jumped into her father's arms, and he hugged her tight, her grandparents did too. Serafima looked especially proud. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Lara had approached her friend.

Lara seemed surprised to see him there. “Jonah.” 

“You’re back!” he exclaimed happily. He pulled her into a hug. Lara was caught off guard, but after a moment, she returned his hug, though pulled away shortly after.

Lara'a eyes were flickering over his form. “How are you feeling?”

“Doc says I’m all better now,” Jonah assured her with a smile. He frowned a little, glancing at the blood and singe marks on her clothes, eyeing that gash on her leg. “And you? You okay?

“I’m glad you're doing better,” Lara answered instead, completely ignoring his question. Nadia found that a little strange.

Jonah seemed troubled by her lack of an answer, but he didn’t push it. “And how was the whole thing?”  He glanced all between her, Sofia, and Lara curiously.

“We destroyed the facility,” Lara informed him. “And everything in it.”

“So… no more zombies?”

Lara chuckled. “No more zombies.”

“Whew,” Jonah sighed in relief. “That’s great news. Glad I don’t have to start preparing for a zombie apocalypse.”

Lara laughed. She was so pretty when she laughed.

Nadia watched them at a distance, a smile on her face. She was happy to see that Lara’s friend was all better now, Lara looked so relieved. But a part of her ached because it also meant that Lara’s time with them was coming to an end. They would leave soon, back to the outside world to continue Lara’s quest. And… Nadia wasn’t sure she’d ever see Lara again.

Her hand involuntarily reached up to place a hand on her chest. It… hurt.

“She’ll be leaving soon.” Nadia turned her head to see Sofia had come to stand next to her. 

Nadia was too upset to reply.

“Maybe in a few more days, or a week,” Sofia continued. “I won't let her leave until those injuries heal. And I know she’ll want to check to make sure Trinity is expelled from the valley and the facility is shut down for good.”

She knew she should respond, but she just didn’t have it in her to. It’s good to hear that Lara will be sticking around a little while longer, but the end result was the same. She would be leaving.

“If you have something to say to her, you should say it.” Sofia looked at her meaningfully. “Before you lose the chance forever.”

“I know what she’s going to say,” Nadia replied, depressed. 

“Maybe. But it’s not about her response,” Sofia stated wisely. “It’s about you.” Nadia looked at her in confusion. “Getting it off your chest. We… we don’t have forever to say the things we want. It’s better we say them now, while we still can.”

Nadia glanced at her grandparents, who spent almost their entire lives without each other, missing each other, thinking about the words they wanted to say. And even though they were together now, there was just already so much lost time. Would there be enough time in the world to say the things they needed to say? She glanced at Sofia, who was looking at her with sadness in her eyes. She wondered if she was thinking about her father. Nadia looked up back at Lara, her heart squeezing as she saw her face.

She didn’t know if she had the courage to say what she needed to say, but… she knew that she’d regret it for the rest of her life if she didn’t say anything before Lara left.

“I’ll think about it,” Nadia said, knowing full well what she had to do. 

“Good.” Sofia smiled at her. “Go get some rest. You did a good job, Nadia.”

She gave her leader a smile. “Thanks.”

Sofia was right, Lara did stay for one more week. But she spent most of her time away from the village, dealing with any Trinity stragglers. According to her friend, Jonah, she was learning as much as she could about them before she left. Nadia had a few chances to hang out with her when she returned, but it wasn’t enough. All the time in the world and it still wouldn’t feel like enough. She was running out of time.

Lara was leaving tomorrow. She managed to scrounge up an excuse for Lara to come with her to an abandoned old Soviet installation. 

Nadia pressed a few buttons on the console and it beeped. After a moment, a display popped up on the other monitor, and she stepped aside to show it to Lara. “Looks like it’s going to be sunny for the next couple days. No snowstorms.”

Lara let out a sigh. “That’s good news. I’d rather not be caught in one again.”

“Again?”

She chuckled. “Long story. Let’s just say my first trip here could’ve been better.”

“Well, hopefully your trip down is a lot less eventful.”

“Fingers crossed.”

Nadia fidgeted. “So, when do you think you’ll be leaving?”

“Probably early afternoon at the earliest,” Lara replied. “There are a few more things I’d like to do before I leave.”

Her heart sank like a stone in that old well. There wasn’t just enough time.

“Nadia?”

“I’m okay!” Nadia assured her, maybe a bit louder than she intended. “Just… good luck, Lara. Whatever it is that you’re doing.”

“Thank you, Nadia.” Lara smiled at her gratefully. “I hope everything smooths out with your grandparents.”

“Yeah, I hope so too.”

It would’ve been the perfect time to confess. They were alone together in that old facility, Lara had nothing else to do that day. But she just couldn’t. Nadia just didn’t want this to be a goodbye.

She couldn’t sleep that night, she tossed and turned, thinking and angsting about it all. Nadia only slept a couple of hours and was too anxious to fall asleep again, afraid she would miss out on Lara’s departure.

The whole village came out to say goodbye to Lara. She had been a staple of their lives the past few weeks. She was a Remnant in all but origin, it was clear that she was going to be missed. Some people came up to her, to offer her their sincere thanks, and others gave her gifts. Lara seemed a little uneasy with all the attention, but she accepted it all graciously. Even her grandmother gave Lara a handmade bow, she wished she had something to give. Nadia stood aside, too nervous to approach, even though every inch of her heart was fighting for her to do so.

Finally, the village began to disperse, back to their duties. She noticed Sofia gesturing her over to where she, Lara, and her friend were, and Nadia obediently came over.

“Nadia, I was hoping to catch you before I left,” Lara said.

“R-Really?”

“Of course,” Lara replied with a smile. “I wanted to thank you again for all you’ve done.”

“Oh, uh, it was nothing.” She hung her head sheepishly, embarrassed by the compliment. Nadia swallowed, fighting back her emotions. “I guess, this is goodbye.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “It was wonderful meeting you all. And… I’m…” Lara was looking at Sofia. “I'm sorry about everything.” Next to her, Jonah frowned.

“I told you,” Sofia interjected, a little cross. “You don’t need to feel sorry for that.” Nadia wondered what they were talking about. It seemed pretty serious.

Lara just shook her head. “Well, I won’t keep you both here any longer. We’ll be off now.”

Sofia nodded. “Of course. Take care, Lara.”

With a final friendly nod, Lara and her friend turned down the path that would lead out of the village, and Nadia was panicking. This was her last chance, but she just couldn’t make her voice work. She was completely paralyzed, terrified of saying anything, but also that she might never get to say what she needed to say. 

Nadia jumped when something touched her shoulder, it was Sofia’s hand. The Remnant leader was looking at her meaningfully. She nodded towards Lara, an encouraging look on her face. Nadia sucked in her breath.

It was now or never.

“Lara!” She shouted before they could get too far. “Wait!”

Lara stopped in her tracks, turning back to look at her in surprise. Her companion looked similarly startled. 

Nadia swallowed back her stage fright. “I… I need to tell you something. Before you go.” She blinked rapidly.

“... Yes?” Lara was confused, but she turned back to her.

“I like you,” Nadia blurted out before she could stop herself. She covered her face in embarrassment.

When she finally had the courage to peek through her gloves, she found Lara staring at her, completely bewildered. It was the first time she’s seen Lara look completely dumbfounded. Her friend, Jonah, was similarly shocked, but he had a big smile on his face. Was… that a good sign?

“You… like me?” Lara finally replied, clearly unsure of what she was hearing. From the way she was looking at her, Nadia knew that she was asking her to clarify.

Her face burned up like hot molten coal. She was going to die. Nadia was going to die right here, right now. “ You know, ” she managed to choke out, hoping she didn’t seem like a complete fool. “Like you, like you.”

Lara’s eyes went wide. “Oh.” She finally seemed to understand what she meant, but not why. She still was completely baffled.

“You’re just… so cool. You’re super pretty . And you’re really strong. You’re just so many things,” Nadia began to ramble, feeling the urge to explain herself, her cheeks threatening to melt right off her face. “ I don’t know, it’s pretty hard not to like you. But then you helped me with my grandparents and… You’re just cool…” Nadia covered her face again. “IcantbelieveIjusttoldyouallthat…” she stammered to herself.

She was so caught up in her own emotions that she didn’t notice Lara coming up to her, but when she did, she nearly squeaked. When she finally met Lara’s apologetic eyes, she knew the exact words that were going to come out from her mouth.

“I’m sorry, Nadia,” she told her. “It’s very sweet of you, but I can’t return your feelings. You know I can’t stay.”

Nadia was expecting this sort of answer, but it still hurt to hear. Her eyes watered a little. “Yeah, I shoulda figured. You seem to have this whole thing and that thing… Trinity’s still out there, right? I’m sure you wanna take care of them…” She reached up to wipe her wet eyes. “And I’m sure you will, you’re cool and all that. I think you can do anything, if you wanted to, of course.”

Lara had a guilty expression on her face. She looked like she wanted to say something, but Nadia stopped her with a hand out. 

“It’s okay, don’t feel bad,” she assured her with a smile, wiping her eyes again. Could she stop crying for two seconds? Just to get the words out, please. “I knew from the beginning you were going to say that. I just… I just wanted to tell you anyway. Just in case I never see you again.” Her voice nearly broke on that last word.

She was startled when a firm hand touched her shoulder. Nadia was startled to see that Lara had closed the gap between them. “Your help has been invaluable, Nadia. You’re smart, and… you’ll go far.” She was silent for a moment. “I might come back someday, but that’s not something I can promise right now.” Lara paused. “But if you ever make it to London, I’d be happy to show you around.”

Nadia’s lips trembled. “Yeah.” The idea of visiting London someday gave her hope. Maybe Lara would never return her feelings, but at least… she’d get to see her again. “I’d like that a lot.”

Lara smiled and released her hand from her shoulder. They stared at each other, an awkward, but comfortable silence between them. Nadia was really going to miss her.

“Can I…” her voice choked up a little. “Can I hug you?”

Lara seemed a little started at the prospect, but she nodded.

She dove in straight for the hug, maybe throwing a bit too much of her weight onto Lara, but she didn’t seem to mind. A moment later, she felt Lara hug her back, a bit awkwardly, but that was enough. This might be all she was ever going from Lara, but that was okay. 

This was enough. 

Finally, she let go, satisfied. Lara looked a little frazzled, but gave her a small smile.

“You… better get going then,” Nadia told her. “I didn’t mean to hold you guys up.” She glanced at Lara’s friend apologetically. 

“It’s alright,” Lara replied. She nodded at her and then up at Sofia. “Thank you all for having us. Take care.” Then she looked right at her. “Goodbye, Nadia.”

“Goodbye, Lara.”

With one final little wave, Lara turned down the mountain. Jonah gave her and Sofia a bigger, more enthusiastic wave before he followed after his friend. Nadia felt a tight squeezing ache in her heart, seeing her go, but… she was okay. This was okay.

She heard footsteps beside her and saw Sofia had come to stand beside her. “You got attached.”

Nadia sighed. “... Yeah,” she admitted sheepishly. “I did.”

Sofia huffed in amusement. “It’s hard not to.” 

She looked at her in surprise. Wait… 

“She weaseled into our lives, uprooting all we knew,” Sofia continued. “But she risked everything to help us. Lara did more than we could ever ask, maybe even for the better. And for that, she will be missed.”

Nadia was staring at her, the gears of her brain wheeling hard.“ You like her too,” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

Sofia wasn’t affected by her accusation, she seemed just as impassive as always. “Would it matter if I did?”

“You could have told her,” Nadia reasoned. She glanced down the mountain, Lara was still in sight. They could catch up, Sofia could still tell her.

She shook her head. “Lara has her own path to follow. And I have mine. And you, yours.” She said it so simply, as if it all was just a small thing. “Let’s return to the village. There is still much work to be done.” Sofia began trudging the path back home before Nadia could say anything.

Nadia ended idling in place for a moment, surprised by what she learned, but… it was strangely comforting. She was never really close with Sofia, she found her a little scary, intimidating. But ever since that whole thing with the old facility, it’s been easier to talk to her. And while Sofia didn’t exactly admit her feelings (did she even admit it to begin with?), there was a sense of kindredness between them that wasn’t there before. Maybe they could be good friends now. She’d like that.

She looked back down the mountain, by now Lara and her friend were completely out of sight, long gone, making their way to new adventures. But Nadia found herself smiling. Maybe, this was all just a small thing. But it was an important small thing. She wouldn’t soon forget that. 

Feeling at peace with herself, Nadia followed Sofia’s footprints in the snow, back home.

-~*~-

Lara was completely silent as they hiked their way down. Jonah knew she must be thinking about Nadia and her confession. 

He wouldn’t say he saw the whole thing coming, but he wasn’t that surprised as he could have been. From the moment he caught Nadia sneaking glances, Jonah could tell that she liked Lara. It was cute, the way she skittered around Lara, it reminded Jonah a little of elementary schoolyard crushes. Lara, of course, didn’t pick up on any of the signs, she was a little oblivious when it came to stuff like that, especially when she had her mind on other more important things. But that also meant that the confession had completely blindsided her, and he knew how much Lara hated getting caught off guard like this.

It was hard to tell exactly what Lara was thinking by just staring at her back, but the silence alone said enough. Lara was rattled and confused, she didn’t know what to make of it all.

“So, how long do you think it’ll take us to make it down the mountain?” Jonah asked, just to break the quiet between them.

“At least a day, if not more,” Lara replied, sounding normal as ever. “Based on Nadia’s weather report, our way down should be clear of any snowstorms at least.”

“That’s good.”

The only sounds that followed was the soft crunch of their boots in the snow.

“So…” he finally started. “About what happened back there…”

When Lara didn’t reply, it became clear to him that she didn’t really want to talk about it. But he wasn’t just going to let it go. Lara had a tendency to bottle things up that rattled her, shoving it in the back of her mind. All well and good until she undoubtedly snapped and stressed about it later. 

“Who woulda thought, huh?” Jonah continued casually. “Nadia, she seemed like a nice girl.”

“She is,” Lara replied after another very long silence. “Look, Jonah, can we just drop this?”

“But it’s bothering you, right?” he pointed out. “When it comes to these kinds of things, I always find it’s better to talk things out. Makes it feel a little less ‘weird’, if you catch my drift. Romance, it can get a little complicated, no matter which end you’re on.”

Lara huffed, glancing back at him in amusement. “And you have a lot of experience?”

Jonah pretended to sound offended. “I’ll have you know, I’m quite a hit with the ladies. I’ve been told I have a great personality.”

“You do,” Lara agreed earnestly with a smile, turning forward once again. The genuineness of her comment sobered a bit of the humor, Jonah couldn’t help but feel touched.

They walked in silence for a bit more before Lara finally had the courage to speak.

“I just wasn’t expecting it,” she confessed, approaching a thicket, their way forward. To clear a way, she pulled out her knife and began hacking away. “Out here, of all places. Someone like me…” Lara trailed off.

Jonah frowned. “What’s that mean?” The fact that Lara didn’t try answering told him everything he needed to know. “Lara, you can’t believe you don’t deserve love.”

“It’s too dangerous,” stated Lara, cutting through some stray branches with a knife. “What I’m doing is… complicated.  I’ll just put her - them,” - she stilled for a moment, before brushing the old twigs away - “...them in danger.”

As he stepped through the thicket that Lara had cleared, he couldn't help but notice her slip of the tongue. Her ? It's possible she was talking about Nadia, but he had a gut feeling that someone else was on Lara's mind at the moment. Someone so important, Lara won't even mention her name anymore. He couldn't help but feel… sad.

“I don’t have time for that kind of commitment,” she continued, pausing to brush off the small thorns caught on her sleeves. “I don’t know if I ever will,” her voice had grown quieter. “I can't have that kind of life.”

“You could,” he told her confidently. “If you really wanted to.”

Lara came to an abrupt stop in front of him. He couldn’t see her face, but her shoulders were tense, shaking a little. “Thank you, Jonah. But I’m not talking about this anymore.”

And she sheathed her knife, charging ahead through the snow without another word.

Jonah watched her trudge forward and let out a big sigh, following in step a few seconds after. He knew that he was sort of toeing the line a little, there was just so much ‘feeling’ talk that Lara could handle before she just completely shut off. He didn’t blame her, but it was frustrating. Lara had way too much hurt in her heart to really think clearly anymore. But it was just… sad . He hated seeing her suffer like this. It sounded as if she had completely given up on having a normal life, even something as simple as love had become a foreign concept to her.

He couldn’t help but wonder back to how things were before Yamatai. Lara hadn’t been that into romance and dating back then either, too busy with her research, thesis, trips, and excavations. And when she did go on dates, it was only because she had been strung along. It had never really looked like Lara was really into them, she had come along only because she had been asked to, and it was still a toss up in the air whether or not she actually enjoyed them. 

Maybe, this whole love problem stemmed back before, to her childhood. She had lost her parents at a young age in extremely tragic circumstances, maybe she just didn’t know how to love.

But that wasn’t true, was it? Lara did love. 

Lara loved him; she's never said it outright, but her actions spoke louder than words. She loved Roth, so much so that grief of his death haunts her to this day. She loved her parents, even if they had been a brief part of her life, they continued to influence her actions even today. But there was one person she loved the most , different from the love she had for him, Roth, or even her parents.

He didn’t really want to speculate on other people’s lives like that, but it was hard to deny when two people shared something special.

“You know, you seemed the happiest when you were with her,” Jonah ended up saying.

Lara didn’t reply, she didn’t even spare him another glance. She just marched forward, slightly faster than usual. Just from the way she reacted to his statement, he had a strong feeling that Lara knew exactly who he was referring to, but maybe mentioning her was a little too soon after what happened. This was all too complicated.

Maybe, someday, he hoped. Maybe they could be together again. They didn't even have to be together together, they just needed to be with each other again. They were important to each other.

And Sam and Lara did look the happiest when they were at each other's side.

-~*~-