This time around, I based my drabble off a song suggested by a friend of mine. I might actually continue doing that, so if you have a song (and, perhaps, a pairing) you would like to see featured here, just send me a message and I'll write a drabble about it. :)

For now, enjoy! The song is Ghost Town by Madonna.

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Maybe it was all too much / Too much for a man to take / Everything's bound to break, / sooner or later, / sooner or later. / You're all that I can trust / facing the darkest days. / When it all falls,when it all falls down, / I'll be your fire when the lights go out / When there's no one, no one else around/ We'll be two souls in a ghost town.

Surrounded by semi-darkness, Lara remained perfectly still. Time seemed to freeze as she stood and waited, her fingers curled tightly around the butt of her desert eagle; ready to pounce should he give her any reason to. She had blindly trusted her senses once–––and she didn't exactly want to repeat her mistake now, that Karel might be defeated.

"Lara–––" The sound of his voice sent her heart into an unsteady gallop, and even as she lifted her chin in distrust, her hands shook. But no matter her emotional state, she couldn't trust him. "Lara, you can't be serious."

She was. Adjusting her stance, Lara assessed her opponent; the high cheek bones, the deep, icy blue color of his eyes, the soft stubble along his jaw. Even the scar below his left eye was familiar. But hadn't Karel managed to transform into a flawless copy of Kurtis just days prior, using her trust in the legionnaire to manipulate her into assisting him?

Silence fell, and despite the vexed expression on his face, he didn't raise his voice again. Instead, his hands clenched into fists at his sides–––hiding his palms from her view and, thus, giving her just another reason not to trust him.

"Where's your Chirugai?" she demanded, thanking the heavens for the strength in her voice. The heat inside the cavern became almost unbearable now, though she would rather die than show her discomfort. "The periapt shards?"

He took a step forward; careful, ready to halt anytime should she threaten to open fire on him. Yet she merely watched him, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly as he approached her. It was hard to resist the urge to step backward, to turn her back on everything she had lived through during the last two years and sprint to the surface before the whole damn cave would explode and bury them all inside––––but she did her best to remain cold and collected, to not show any weaknesses. Except for the racing of her heart perhaps, and the sweat dropping down her forehead.

"Burnt," he finally responded, a muscle in his cheek twitching as if it pained him to even think about his beloved weapon going up in flames. Which didn't prove anything. "Along with your locket."

Despite better judgement, Lara couldn't help but drop her shoulders slightly in relief. After not being able to remove it for so long, it felt like a heavy load had just fallen off her back; not that it made him sound any more believable. There was no proof Karel had died in the first explosion, and she wasn't keen to find out whether or not he had after getting back to the surface. Even if it meant dooming them both.

"Show me your palms." He was close enough now that she could inspect his face further; the twitching nerve in his cheek, the clenched jaw, the badly-hidden anger in his eyes. And still, he obliged to her command as he stretched out his hands toward her. No sign of scarring, besides a few minor injuries. And no glyphs.

Lara let out a soft sigh and lowered her gun. Karel couldn't hide his glyphs even when he transformed––and she didn't have any more reasons to keep doubting that it was Kurtis standing before her.

It was then that he grasped her chin and forced her to look at him. Actually look at him––not admiring his strength or envying him for the mental and physical strength oozing out of him, but seeing him for who he really was and what he had lived through to get to where he was. A man shaped by the thing he hated most, the past he had tried to run away from when he was too young to understand how easily shadows could follow one anywhere.

"He is gone, Lara," he said, the bitter undertone suddenly missing from his deep, melodic voice. "There is nothing left to fear."

She grimaced in response. How could he speak of fear so deliberately, when she couldn't even accept that she was, in fact, afraid–––of her past, of Karel, of the dreams that kept her awake most nights, of getting too close…?

She felt him sigh more than she heard it, only raising her gaze to meet his when he let go of her chin to rest one hand on her cheek instead. His touch was light as a feather on her pale, dirt-encrusted skin, yet it seemed to warm her entire body; whether or not that was caused by his powers or a mere reaction to his proximity she couldn't tell.

"If Nephilim had been invincible, they wouldn't have feared the Lux Veritatis as much as they did," he whispered, his thumb gently stroking her cheek as if to calm her. Was her heart still racing? She couldn't feel anything but his touch, his warmth surging through her battered body. "Everything that happened–––it was a nightmare, for me as much as for you, but it's over now. It's finally over, and we are free to wake up in the morning without having to think about it ever again." He paused, taking a step back and dropping his hands, his eyes glimmering in the dim light. "But we need to leave now."

Lara nodded stiffly and risked a glance over her shoulder. The fire was spreading rapidly, and would certainly turn the entire cave into dust, but something kept her from running. They had defeated Karel and destroyed the last Nephilim Sleeper, that much was true–––but hadn't Putai mentioned she would lose her life in the process?

Perhaps she hadn't 'seen' Kurtis. Kurtis, who had given his life to protect her; Kurtis, who had shared his powers with her when she had been battered and broken and just inches away from certain death, even though it had weakened him immensely.

Her gaze found his the very moment another explosion went off further down the corridor. She felt the urge to cover her ears now, shield herself from the noise and the fire and the heat; yet all she could possibly do was stare into his glacier-eyes, silently thanking him for everything he had done to keep her safe. He wouldn't have needed her to finish the job, and still, he had taken a periapt shard to his thigh just to give her enough time to run from Karel.

She didn't ask why. All she needed to know was written in his eyes, in his smile as he offered her his hand and inclined his chin toward the corridor that would lead them back outside.

The world has turned to dust / All we've got left is love / Might as well start with us / Singing a new song, something to build on.

And she didn't hesitate to accept his offer, to follow him into a new reality and out of her personal hell.