A/N: It's been too long...again :( I always have such good intentions for this story and then I forget for long periods of time and I am so sorry for that.

wyverndragon: well seeing as you clearly love Pierre so dearly, I'll allow you to carry on pretending he was the treasure hunter, haha. But he doesn't appear again I'm sorry to say. Oh I do love writing Kurtis, especially when he's frustrating Lara! I'm sure his supreme lying skills will reemerge at some point (not saying anything). Whoops, my bad, you would have thought an A Level Literature student, hoping to study it at University, would understand effect/affect by now, but no, it gets me every time! Thank you for yet another lovely review!

Ferilium: I've always thought the Chirugai was beautiful, I did try and let Lara hold onto it as long as possible :) haha, I can promise a lot more laughing at Lara from Kurtis and Lorenzo, they just can't seem to help themselves! Thank you for the wonderful review.

nightrader1234: haha, you'll probably want to punch Kurtis a lot more throughout this story, as well as wanting to just squeeze him because he is just too adorable! I love Lorenzo too! As most of you have guessed, I based him on an old Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed. Thanks for being awesome and reviewing!

en-lumine: ah thank you, I still find it strange when people say how much they love my work. haha, you saw those huh? I thought I was being so subtle about that, I'm glad you're enjoying them! Thank you :)

As I said before I am so sorry that I was so long uploading again, unfortunately I can't promise it won't happen again as life just seems to get in the way! But I will try my absolute hardest to keep going with this as I love writing it and you guys, for some reason, seem to enjoy reading it. Thank you again and here is chapter 9

Insanity of a Goddess

Chapter Nine: Understanding

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."

Lara greeted Signor Giovanni when they entered the café and was rewarded with a genuine and gentle smile, similar to Zio Lorenzo's. He then welcomed them both warmly and sat them down in a small booth at the back of the café, if he recognised Kurtis from the day before he showed no sign of it. The two settled into their seats and Lara asked Giovanni for a jug of water and two glasses, which he immediately went to fetch with another smile.

"You know him?" Kurtis asked, whether he was genuinely interested or just wanted to get the conversation going Lara did not know, but she answered all the same.

"I only met him for the first time yesterday but he is a good friend of Lorenzo's and a kind man" just as Lara finished speaking Giovanni returned with their drinks, gave them one final smile and then left to check on his other customers. Kurtis lifted the jug and poured himself a glass and then poured one for Lara, while she tried to decide what to ask first.

She looked at him for a long moment before deciding on "So what actually happened in Prague? When I came back after defeating Eckhardt, Karel and the Sleeper, all I found was an empty room, your chirugai and a large pool of your blood"

Kurtis hesitated for a moment, taking a sip of his water before putting the glass down and thinking. He knew she would ask him this, yet he had never actually prepared the answer.

"I don't remember much, as you've already pointed out I had lost a lot of blood, I was drifting in and out of consciousness. I was certain I was already dead or at least very close to dying." Kurtis paused, thinking again.

"I had somehow managed to make it out onto a street in Prague's town centre, I was in a very bad way and some people must have noticed. The last thing I remember before passing out completely is an old woman running towards me. Next thing I know I'm laying on a bed in a strange room completely healed, nothing but a scar now. Apparently I had been asleep for weeks and this old woman had been looking after me." Kurtis stopped again and looked at Lara, trying to read her expression.

"I have no idea how she saved me, to be honest I'm sure she must have been doing some crazy supernatural stuff, but I didn't ask and she didn't tell, all I cared about was that I was alive, how I came to be that way didn't bother me" He gave a little smile which Lara returned, glad to finally understand what had actually happened that one cold night in Prague.

"Anyway I can totally understand how you'd think me being alive is just the best news" he winked at her, which she returned with a scowl "but must I remind you there are more important matters at hand, and I'm sure you have many more wonderful questions to ask me" the last was said in a very sarcastic tone, something Lara chose to ignore, at least he was answering the questions now.

"Don't flatter yourself Trent! Ok, well firstly how the hell did you get from this café to Lorenzo's office so quickly and then completely wreck the place" Kurtis had the decency to look a little sheepish "find the ornament and get out before we got back?" Lara paused and took a sip from her water, watching Kurtis calculate his answer.

"Well, as soon as I heard Lorenzo mention he had kept the ornament in his office I went to head straight there forgetting I had a bill to pay which Mr Giovanni here kindly reminded to the whole café, which is where you almost caught me" Kurtis smirked, referring to Lara's quick exit from the café into the street.

"I ran straight there, I knew where it was because I've actually been trying to talk to Professor Auditore for a while now, about the whole situation in Greece, but he's a very hard man to contact. Anyway I ran into the office and knew I didn't have much time after your reaction back at the café so I used my telekinesis to quickly, and rather destructively I'll admit, search through the room for the ornament, found it and left as soon as I could, I didn't have time to set the room right. I'd just made it round the side of the academia as you and Lorenzo came round the corner."

They both took another sip of water, Kurtis to catch his breath and Lara to take in what she had just heard.

"Ok, so firstly how did you know I was coming to Venice or how did you know we were going to the café at least? And what do you know about what's going on in Greece?" Kurtis smirked at her.

"Nu uh, it's my turn" Lara went to argue but then stopped herself. He had answered her questions and he probably had some of his own too, it had been a long time.

"So, why do you call the old Professor Uncle? That's what Zio means in Italian right?" Lara was a little surprised at this, of all the questions he could have asked her and he chose this? Well at least it was relatively easy to answer.

"He's an old family friend, I used to visit him with my farther when I was a little girl, I've always seen him as an uncle and I guess the term just stuck" she smiled a little at this, remembering the first time she had called him uncle, completely spontaneously when she was little and the joy that had lit up his face. "Why do you want to know?"

Kurtis shrugged "just curious" he picked up a knife from the cutlery on the table and began to effortlessly twirl it between his fingers.

"Right, you wanted to know how I knew you were here, well the truth is I didn't, I've been here trying to talk to Lorenzo for a few weeks as you know and I was stood outside the academia yesterday trying to work out how to get hold of him without looking suspicious or startling him when who should walk by right in front of me? It's none other than Ms Lara Croft, and who should she be going to see, only the man I've been trying to talk to for weeks!" Kurtis laughed and shook his head "I had a good idea he was going to tell you exactly what I was going to ask him about, and you hadn't even had to work for it"

Lara smiled "that's what you get when you're nice to people Kurtis, maybe you should try it sometime" Kurtis attempted a mock offended look but they both just ended up laughing.

"Anyway, I followed the two of you to the café got a table close but not too close to yours and just listened. Now about that 'problem' in Greece"

Lara refilled her glass and the two began discussing what they knew, turned out they had pretty similar information. Kurtis had been in Greece recently and noticed the odd behavior of the locals and began asking around. After finally persuading the terrified locals to tell him what was going on he found out about the myth of Hera and did some research. He decided that the best thing to do would be find an expert on the subject, who turned out to be none other than Professor Lorenzo Auditore, hence why he was in Venice now.

"Ok, one last question" Kurtis turned to look at Lara and saw a certain amount of seriousness in her eyes. He nodded but stayed silent.

"Why did you go to so much trouble to take the ornament if you were just going to give it back?" Kurtis looked into her eyes again and saw genuine confusion and understood why, after stealing the pomegranate he hadn't really gained anything from doing so and he had then simply given it back to Lorenzo earlier this morning. She had every right to be confused.

Kurtis smiled at her, it wasn't an arrogant smirk or a grin made to irritate her, it was just a simple smile, something she rarely saw Kurtis do and it just added fuel to her confusion.

"I took it because I wanted to get you to listen."