Part 1
Lady Lara Croft entered the museum. She had a series of dreams that she couldn't dismiss. She went through the museum till she reached a temporary display of artifacts that was on loan from the University of North Carolina. She felt compelled to examine them.
In a central display case was a small scroll that she was drawn to like a magnet. She peered into the case and read the ancient parchment. It was written in a very difficult to read ancient Greek but she managed.
As she read the words she knew now that she would follow the path of her recurring dream. She went to the museum curator an old friend to ask if she could take some pictures of the scroll.
The older man thinking it would be good publicity for the exhibit that was a very low profile type gave his friend permission to take pictures with the understanding that anything she would publish had to be approved by the American University.
She agreed knowing very well that it wasn't going to be published. The beautiful dark haired photojournalist left the museum with a huge smile on her face. She was going to Greece.
Sarah Covington was compelled to go to Greece. Her Great Aunt Janice seemed to be haunting her dreams lately.
She arrived in Athens and went to stay at the Neapolitan Hotel. A moderate property that her Aunt Janice and her God Mother Mel preferred. She was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling wondering why she had to find her ancient ancestor's tomb now.
They had looked all those years ago and came exceedingly close to it but never quite found it. Sarah had never been anything but an armchair Archaeologist and now she was heading off to an excavation so far from home.
"I must be nuts!" She said to the ceiling of her hotel room.
She had spent her years at the university cataloging and compiling all of the great team's research. She had never been an adventurer like her Aunt Janice and Aunt Mel. They had been the greatest influences of her life and she loved them dearly till they died a year apart from each other.
"So why are you haunting me now, Auntie Janice? Why do you want me to find their tomb so badly? Xena and Gabrielle have been at peace for thousands of years why is it so imperative in the year 2002 to find them?"
Lara read the scroll carefully. Gabrielle had written it in Egypt after some kind of trail that she had been on. She had brought Xena back to her. The dialect was very difficult to read but she got the gist that this was test of faith that she passed at great peril and she was happy to have Xena back.
"I wonder where exactly the great warrior had gone?"
She kept reading but no mention was made of where the warrior had come back from or how the battling bard had recovered her.
"Why am I being haunted at night by you Xena? I don't know you. Till you invaded my dreams I had never heard of you before. And why do you keep pointing to this bloody scroll as guide? What do you want me to find Warrior Princess?"
Sarah drove to a site of history that she had heard about all her life, Poteidaia. She walked toward the dig and saw a tall dark haired woman dressed in a black tank top and shorts. She had on combat boots and guns strapped to her thighs. Her long dark hair held back in long single braid with trails of hair falling down the front into her blue eyes. She looked so familiar but she knew she had never laid eyes on the woman before.
Lara looked up when she felt eyes observing her. She looked toward the work site tents and saw a saw small blonde. She was wearing dark green colored clothes and work boots. She had her long hair pulled back in a ponytail and thick tinted glasses. She felt stirrings inside her like she knew this girl but she knew realistically she had never set eyes on her before.
The head archaeologist on the site motioned for her to come toward him and small blond beside him. When she came close Daniel Baker said cordially, "Ah, Lady Croft, I'd like you to meet a great scholar from the states. She has spent her life in research of the Warrior Princess and the Battling Bard. Lady Lara Croft, This Dr. Sarah Covington. Dr. Covington this is the famous photojournalist and adventurer Lady Lara Croft.
Their eyes met and they knew each other. They shook hands and just stared in awe. It made the older man uncomfortable. "Well I'll let you two get acquainted," He said shaking his head and heading for the main display tent.
Their eyes were searing into each other and they felt the presence of something very powerful. Suddenly they knew why they were there and who they really were.
"Xena?"
"Yes, Gabrielle," Replied Lara in a deep purring voice not quite her own. There was no British Accent and she felt like she had stepped back for a minute.
"What are we going to do?" Asked Sarah her voice had lost all trace of it southern accent and it was slightly higher.
Lara shrugged and said, "Find the tomb."
"But why now?"
"It's time."