Hello, everyone! Not my first fanfic, but my first one on this account. I hope you like it! I am already into Chapter 5, but I couldn't wait to post!! Please R&R asap, I'd love some feedback :)

Also, I do not own any of Lara Croft, Kurtis Trent, yada yada...sole property of Eidos / Core / Crystal Dynamics...I only own the characters I designed in this story!!

If I had one do-over, Lara thought. She wouldn't allow herself to finish the sentence. How could she? She wasn't one to grow faint at heart over men…not even over tall, dark, blue-eyed American men who could wield psychic powers and the strange disk-like weapon that she stared down at in her hands. How long had it been?

Oh, that's right. It had been one year. One year and eight months. So close enough to two years. Two years since the battle against Eckhardt, Karel, and the Cabal. Two years since she had been a convicted criminal. Two years since the most restless journey she had ever been on. Two years since she'd seen Kurtis.

Oh, bloody hell, she cursed herself. Forget about him. She figured he was obviously dead, otherwise, he would've returned for his Chirugai. That damned weapon was more priceless to him than life itself. Why would he leave it behind? Unless it's me he's avoiding, she thought. Why would he do that, though? The least he could do was show the courtesy of letting her know that he was still alive.

There were a number of reasons to believe that he was either dead or alive, but it didn't matter anymore. It had been two years. Two years. If she hadn't let it go yet, when would she ever? There were other things to worry about.

Lara sighed to herself as she placed the Chirugai back in its safe haven in the safe hidden behind the oil painting on the wall in her bedroom. She sealed it shut and turned away, pretending as though it hadn't happened – as though what hadn't happened? As though he hadn't happened, or as though she hadn't reminisced over him for the past ten minutes?

Lara was never nostalgic. She was a number of things, but nostalgic wasn't one of them. She got the job done and moved on. It was the best way to shield the heart. If she couldn't do that, she would never be able to get over any of the painful heartaches she had encountered over the ten or so years she'd been a tomb raider. It wasn't that she was heartless – she was just indifferent. At least, she tried to be.

Lara headed down the stairs of her manor, already able to hear U2 blasting from the tech room downstairs. She smiled to herself, rolling her eyes. Ah, Zip, she thought. Then, she heard shouting from a familiar British accent. Alister…she added to her previous mental note. Her two trusted companions. They and Winston were the closest Lara had to any family. Lara descended the stairs to the ground floor, smiling again at the sight of Alister and Zip arguing. They were like to young brothers, fighting over toys.

"What seems to be the problem, boys?" Lara asked, grinning as she entered the room.

"This damned Yank won't turn his music down!" Alister complained. "And I've been trying to finish a report for the past two bleeding hours!"

"The library is upstairs and down two halls," Zip argued. "It can't possibly be that loud."

"Well, why don't you go up there and tell me just how loud it is," Alister continued, "while I proceed to blast Gustav Holst throughout the entire manor. Would you like that, now?"

Lara laughed. "The two of you," she said, shaking her head. "I just don't know what to do about you."

"Glad to see you're well this morning, Lara," Zip said, acknowledging her.

As Zip turned his attention away from the stereo, Alister unplugged the sound system. The music immediately died. "That's much better," he sighed.

"I was listening to that," Zip muttered.

"Well, now you're not," Alister finished, dusting his hands off. "Oh, good morning, Lara!"

"Good morning to you, too, Alister," she said slowly. "A dull morning, I take it?"

"If you mean no armed mercenaries and paranormal artifacts to hunt for," Zip began, "then, yeah, it's a dull morning indeed."

"I can't believe the dry spell we've been on," Alister put in. "It's been three months since those interesting events in Bolivia and such."

Lara recalled her encounters with Amanda Evert, James Rutland, and that unknown thrall from years ago, in its black and evil form floating above the ground. She shuddered at the thoughts, but pushed all that to the back of her mind, thankful it was over with. "Yes, well, these things happen," she said. "It's not like there's a bulletin board posted somewhere of a list of legendary myths to prove."

"Unfortunately, you're right," Alister chipped in. "It would be nice."

"Well, until then," Lara began, strapping on her holsters, "I feel a good target practice is in order. Wouldn't want to lose my game while I'm off it."

"Absolutely," Alister added nonchalantly, head buried in a book. "I'll just go upstairs and…" His voice trailed off as he lost himself in his literature, only attentive to the stairs so as not to trip and fall.

Lara pulled her fingerless gloves over her hands, noting the sun coming up from the sky outside. She sighed relief to herself, glad to start the day in such a beautiful environment. Perfect for target practice, she thought to herself.

A light breeze flittered through the air as Lara took her familiar pistols at hand. She approached the brick wall on the side of the house, pressing the button to activate the sensory targets. She rolled her shoulders back, drew in a deep breath, and took a gunner's stance, carefully making her way through the obstacle course, keeping her guard up as if enemies were really afoot.

Lara fired a shot at the first target that triggered as she passed the tall bush on the side of the house. Bang! A bullet went through the red center. That one is for Eckhardt, she thought to herself. She proceeded forward, not as cautious as she knew she should be. Another target appeared from the trees above. Bang! Another red center. That one's for Karel, she thought absent-mindedly. Another appeared from behind the brick wall that led to the quad track, moving along a track with quick speed. She spun around and shot out the red center. And one for Boaz, she thought. At that thought, she fired off again, and again, and again. She glared at the target as though it really were Boaz, then proceeded to empty both magazines of the guns into the non-threatening target. And that one and that one and that one and that one…she thought.

The clips were empty, but she continued to pull back on the triggers. Wishful thinking would have allowed those bullets – even these imaginary ones – to enter the skull of Kristina Boaz and leave her for dead, so Kurtis wouldn't have had to be the one left for dead. Then, maybe he could be here with her.

Stop it! her brain screamed. Realizing her stupidity, she stopped firing off the invisible bullets, lowering the empty guns to her side. She sighed, ignorant of the remaining six targets appearing within seconds. Where the hell is my right mind? she asked herself. It's totally wrong today.

Lara holstered her weapons, giving up already. Screw this, she thought. She would have Winston replaced the damaged targets later. Right now, she needed to get away from this. She needed to take her mind off of everything.

A vacation! That might do her good. Lara wasn't one to take vacations, but staying here at home, bored, doing nothing but contemplating the past…well, it was driving her mad. She briskly entered the mansion, contemplating different possible locations she could travel to, old friends she could visit.

"Done so soon?" Zip asked, feet up on the desk and music blaring again. He reached over and turned down the sound system as Lara entered, seating herself on the edge of the desk.

"I feel like taking a vacation," Lara mused, trying to appear casual and not distracted.

"You don't take vacations," Zip reminded her, chuckling a bit. "What some might define as vacations is what you define as business."

"Oh, you're referring to my world-traveling expeditions for lost artifacts and legends of old?" she asked, grinning.

"No, I meant your bar-hopping on the weekends," he replied sarcastically.

"I'm not one for bitter or stout," she replied, bored.

"So where do you want to go?" he asked. "Wait, better question – why do you want to go?"

Lara shrugged, still fighting to appear casual. "I'm bored here at home. Nothing to do."

"Are you sure?" Zip asked suspiciously. "You know, Lara…" he sighed.

It was Lara's turn to appear suspicious. "What are you thinking, Zip?"

He shrugged, then waved her away. "I don't know."

Lara would prod no further. "Alright, then." She stood up. "Book me a flight to Venezuela. Better yet, call up Jake and offer him three grand to fly me there. I'll find my own way back."

"Venezuela?" Zip asked suspiciously. "Random location, but okay."

"I have a friend there," Lara pointed out.

"Okay," Zip said, typing away at his computer. "I'll put in the call right now."

As Zip picked up the phone, the doorbell rang. Lara glanced back as Winston proceeded to open it. She turned her attention back to Zip, who looked up at her with the phone in his hand. "He's not answering," Zip said.

"Lady Croft!" Winston called from the hallway. His voice was edged with panic.

Lara stood up, glancing back at him suspiciously. He was bending over what appeared to be a human body…what was going on? Lara quickly headed towards the scene, and gasped upon seeing the young girl, bloodied and semi-conscious. Lara kneeled down, propping her up as her eyes fought to stay open.

"Can you hear me?" she asked slowly.

The girl groaned, obviously in pain, trying to look up at Lara. Blood poured out of several open wounds over her body, and she reached up towards Lara's face, stroking her cheek, and leaving smears of blood on it. Her hand trembled severely, and blood began to pool in her mouth, as though she were internally bleeding. "Winston, get the first aid kit immediately!" Lara commanded. Zip and Alister had also joined to see what was happening.

"Shall I call a medic?" Alister asked quickly. Lara was prepared to respond affirmatively until the girl's eyes sealed shut and she felt limp into Lara's grasp.

"Oh, no," she breathed, barely audible.

Zip, Alister, and Lara remained still as stone, afraid that this young girl of no more than sixteen years old had just died in Lara's arms. Suddenly, however, the wounds on her body began to heal rapidly. The cuts sealed up, and the bruises faded away. She appeared as though she had never been hurt in the first place.

Lara looked up at her comrades strangely, both intrigued and horrified by what had just happened to the child. She continued to remain still in her arms, apparently unconscious.

"What the hell just happened?" Zip asked carefully. Lara stared down at the pretty young girl with striking features of her own. Brown hair, peach skin, plump lips…she was quite a beautiful young girl. Lara brushed the tendrils of hair out of her face. Then, with lightning speed, the girl awakened, gripped Lara's hand with overbearing strength, and stared blankly into the ceiling. Lara watched her carefully, aware of the tight grip the girl had on her wrist. Then, the girl turned her absent attention to Lara's eyes. She spoke only one word.

"Exuma."

And Chapter 1 is finshed!! I know it's short, but it's just the intro...stay tuned, because the next chapter explains a lot! And it's quite interesting... :) Please R&R!!