A Little Protégé (Rise Of The Tomb Raider)

An Unexpected Protégé (After Siberia)

The young woman stumbled out of the cave, clutching at her size and wheezing incoherently. The climb out of the cave was almost too much; she knew that if she were a second too slow, the bear would have caught up with her.

Whatever you do, she thought furiously, just keep going.

Knowing she had several minutes to spare before Jacob would get worried; she unloaded her deer-hide rucksack to see her inventory. She laid three Soviet ammo pouches side by side, along with a salvaged shotgun part, a now-full oil flask, and a refinement wrench, which she salvaged from the corpse up on the north mountain, by the old Soviet mill. She slung her rifle off her shoulder by her inventory, along with her bow and tar-dipped arrows.
Now free of her burden, she slid down the rock to sit in a brief fetal position, trying to regain her breath. As she slowly managed to regain warmth in her limbs and a steady breath, she noticed that her fingers were covered in tar and blood, and she hastily wiped them on her deerskin coat, which was futile.

She shifted her position until she felt like she was sitting on something hard and uncomfortable. Confused, she slid her hand into the back of her coat and felt around until her fingers closed around something metallic and cold. Of course, her expression softened a bit. The lighter. She pulled it out and observed it in the faceted, pumpkin-colored dusk light.

To Mr. Richard Croft, from the Oxford Department of Archaeology, the cursive engraving said on the side. The furrowing between her brows subsided, and a small smile even played around her pursed lips. She remembered her days at UCL, not that long ago. Before the Endurance set off on her maiden voyage, before she lost Roth and she lost Alex, before Yamatai.

Despite her wandering mind, her sharp ears detected a sharp CRACK of a branch snapping nearby. Pressure strong enough to reverberate that loud of a sound could only come from a large organism stepping on it. Within a second and a half, she already had her bow in her hand, tar-covered arrow at the ready, with her lighter lighting it up.

Her eyes panned the loosely populated forest, trying to detect signs of any life or movement. Only yesterday she took down a large lynx that tried to sneak up on her; the fire-induced arrow was the only thing that kept it at bay until she had a steady aim towards its head. But now, who could it be?

"You don't want to do that."

She was surprised at the human voice at first, so surprised she let her bow slip down a few inches.

"Nyet!" came a shrill cry from the creature. "Zazhotsa!"
Her broken Russian picked up the small creature's words: No! It will catch fire!
The small creature navigated around the brush, identifying herself as a small girl holding a small knife in her hand.
"Please, just put that out." The small girl said, in perfect English. "The leaves will catch fire this time of day." The woman saw that she was, in fact, right, the dry grass was already beginning to smolder under the fire arrow. She put her arrow out, but not until she saw the little girl's eyes widen.
She was a pretty little thing; with wide, leaf green eyes and caramel-blonde hair pulled back into two little braids. She was dressed in typical Remnant children's garb, with a dark green coat over a blouse and pants, the coloring blending in perfectly with the forest backdrop.
"Lara Croft..." she child said with quiet reverence.
"Hello—-" the woman said uneasily; she wasn't used to dealing with children.
"Sasha!"
A youthful voice called out into the forest, with a hint of anger.
Lara saw the girls –Sasha's—eyes widen with panic as she glanced at the knife in her hand.
"Please!" she whispered furtively, "Hide it!" She tossed the knife into Lara's inventory, and proceeded to look as if she had been observing the berry bush she had been hiding under.
A deep rustling came from a distance, until a small boy closed the distance between him and Sasha – he seemed to be her same build and size, and if Lara wasn't mistaken, even shared the same facial features, except his hair was a little ashier, and facial features a little more masculine.
"What were you doing?" The boy asked angrily, pushing the shrubbery aside to make his way next to Sasha

.
"Observing the berry bushes – Alexandra likes the wild mulberries."
The boy walked up to her, until they stood face-to-face.
"You're not fooling me. Where is it? You better not let Alexandra notice you've taken her favorite hunting knife. You know what she says about little girls using weapons."
Only then did he notice Lara sitting by the cliff, and his brows furrowed in distrust.
"Akhil, I'm coming." Sasha said frantically. "Just go."
For a minute, Lara swore she saw the boy's eyes tighten with hurt, but then he straightened out and walked stiffly back from the direction he came from.
The girl made sure he was a good distance away until she ran up to Lara; she pulled a dusty leather journal from under her coat and handed it to Lara.
"For you." She whispered, her bright eyes shining.
Lara apprehended the girl; she didn't want to get her into more trouble.
"For you... Miss Croft." The girl added the last part in hindsight. "I found it. I know you like to read them."
Lara took the book and mumbled her gratitude in Russian. The girl broke into a bright smile, and then took off into the forest, but before she disappeared around a tree, she turned around, her eyes shining defiantly;
"When I grow up, I want to be like you."
Then she disappeared into the woods.