Sweet Dreams

Prologue

Lara Croft, world's most disliked archaeologist, leaned against the bars of the Endurance, a Jaffa Cake in her left hand, which was, to her disliking, melting in the heat. In her right hand was a journal with a map in it, with an arrangement of Islands circled in red sharpie. The sea winds blew at her hair, which was tied up in a messy ponytail, but the wind was damp, an indication that rain was coming soon.

She sighed, finishing her Jaffa Cake and stuffing the leather-backed journal into her trouser pocket. A male figure was approaching her, tall, scrappy haired and wearing a ring around his neck. He stopped beside her, leaning against the bars like she was.

"Evening Nathan," Lara started, "Jaffa Cake?" She handed out the blue box, in which Nathan Drake took a biscuit from. Nathan Drake, the world's worst treasure hunter, in Lara's opinion, thanked her and bit down into it. He finished it quickly, "Are they a British thing?" He asked, which made Lara laugh a little.

"How far are we away from The Dragon's Triangle?" Lara asked, turning and looking at the brown haired male beside her. He looked straight ahead, "I'd say about a day more and we should see it, but there hasn't been any signs at all, are you sure this is the right way?"

Lara shook her head, "I'm not 100% sure, maybe 89%? I know we're going in the right general direction anyways."

"How are you so sure?" Nate asked, looking at his partner.

"I dunno, just a feeling I guess,"

The two archaeologists had met a few years before hand, totally on accident. They were both after the same artefact, so they met each other face first with a gun to each other's head. The conditions had changed when Rob's men had shown up and started shooting both of them. They had called a truce and helped each other stay alive. The truce had never ended.

So when Lara got a call from Sully, Nathan's stand in father, about them looking for an artefact together, Lara had joined them. So now here they were, sailing head first into the unknown.

Like normal.

Cracks of thunder in the distance made both people look up, seeing the dark grey clouds in the horizon. Nate felt the wind get stronger, as did Lara, and heavy rain began to fall. The archaeologists ran for shelter, but were drenched when they reached it. Lara grumbled, "Well shiet. I'm going to go have a shower now, see you at dinner Nate." With that, she left down the hallways of the endurance, cursing under her breath about the rain coming out of nowhere.

Nate sighed heavily, making his way to the kitchen, where he found Roth, Grim and Sully. Roth was Lara's uncle, but he also stood in as Lara's father after he had died. He looked up at Nate and smiled, "What happened to you Lad?" Grim asked from the table, which made Nate chuckle and search for a towel. "The sky's just cracked open in a storm. Lara and I got caught in it,"

"Where's Lara now?" Roth asked, grabbing a white towel from the table and throwing it to him. Nate caught it and slung it over his shoulders, "She's gone to have a shower, I'm goin' to have one too,"

The boat suddenly jerked, which caused everyone to lose their balance and fall against the table. Roth looked up, "Everyone all right?" he asked. Nate rubbed his neck and muttered a yes, as did Sully. "What was tha'?!" Grim yelled, hopping up and leaving the room. Nathan took a breath, "Well, you know where I'll be if you need me," he said, before leaving the crew.

A few hours had past, and the boat was getting more and jerkier. The waves had become a lot more aggressive, rain and thunder came from the sky non-stop, which had forced Lara to put in her earphones as she read the book Sam had given her. She sat on her bed, her bedside lamp glowing dimly beside her, illuminating the pages she was reading. There was a large jolt, which had moved Lara, but there were muffled yells as well. Curious, and admittedly scared, she removed her earphones and lifted her left leg off the bed when another large jolt sent her flying into her metal chest of drawers, with made her cry out in pain.

She got up painfully, grasping her temple as it throbbed painfully. She waddled to her door, where she stopped at the sound of something from her left. Her heart stopped as she saw a body of water charging for her. Screaming in panic, she brought her hands up as the water hit her full force, sending her spinning down the hallway. Miraculously, she grabbed a bar and pulled herself up. She took a deep breath of air, climbing up the ladder only to find the man-hole locked. He banged on it with her fist, tears on the edge of falling, "Help!" She cried, banging on the glass. She kept going, but nobody was there. The water was already up to her shoulders when she took her last breath, she shut her eyes as the water engulphed her completely, but she kept calling for help, until her air had left her and she began to sink down. She didn't want to die.

Suddenly, a hand gripped her by the shoulder and pulled her through the man-hole, where Lara sat up on her elbows, struggling to get the water out of her lungs. A hard slap on the back helped her, and she coughed up the water. She looked up at her rescuer, it was Nate, but he was already dashing for the other half of the cracked boat. Lara shut her eyes and furrowed her brows in determination, getting up and chasing after him. She watched as he made it across and turned, hand out-stretched and ready to catch her. She made it to the edge, yelling and jumping to the other side. Nate shuffled closer to the edge, catching her hand and holding as tight as he could. Lara cried out his name in relief, but it was short lived as Lara slipped from his hand.

And fell towards the ice cold water.

Nate cried out for her, but just as he went to run, the pieces of wood beneath him broke, and he also plummeted towards the crazy sea. His back hit the water with an icey thump, and he blacked out on impact.

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Edit: If you are wondering why your getting notifications on this book, it's because I'm making some edits after playing through TR and U1-4