I don't own any of these characters in this fanfiction; they all belong to NaughtyDog™.

Honestly, I don't know why I chose to write this since it's so damn depressing and all of my stories are usually happy or funny. I hope you still like it though. R&R! I'd love that.

ALSO, THIS TAKES PLACE IN JAK 2. JUST SO YOU GUYS KNOW; WHICH IS WHY 'ERROL' IS SPELLED 'EROL'. THANK YOU.

Animal Instinct

Green eyes. The same green eyes that would glow whenever he looked, no, admired her. The same green eyes that shimmered with honor whenever she went out of her way to aid him when he went out on risky adventures - adventures that eventually turned into missions. The same green eyes that saw him mature from a petite boy to a grown man. Now, those same green eyes watched in horror as that grown man evolved into a monster.

Cold fingers ran across glass, glass just as cold as the tips of her fingers. Her palm gently pressed against the glass, the only solid barrier keeping her away from that man. She wanted to just push the glass away, watch it shatter into pieces as it broke on the abused ground. The young woman wanted to abuse that thin barricade just as much as the ground seemed abused, or, better yet, how abused she felt. Her chest felt like it was dropping; every second she stood there was holding up her heart. The more seconds that went by, the harder it would be for the struggling seconds to keep her sane. She slowly closed her eyes.

"You knew," a masculine voice began, "Don't act like this is a surprise for you, Keira." The comment sounded irked, slightly disgruntled. It was as if he simply brought her to this location to purposely hurt her. The aggravated man stood next to her, reposing his hands together behind his back; fingers laced.

Keira, the young woman who was standing near him, opened her eyes and looked over at him sharply; lip close to a quiver. Although, she seemed displeased by his utterance, she replied in a tranquil manner. "Why are you doing this?" Those green eyes gaped into amber, golden eyes before her; like daggers.

Amber eyes squinted when there was a small chuckle. "He's dangerous." That was the simple retort. As Keira was about to continue her interrogation, the man continued to talk. He dropped his hands to his sides and turned his whole anatomy towards her. "I made this creation, this life...and now, I will take it back."

"You're killing him, Erol..." Her voice was still so soft, but contained so much fear...he could almost taste it on her breath. Green eyes turned back towards the glass, surveying what was behind it with an empty expression. "Can he see me?" She asked, glancing back at Erol.

Erol's elongated ears perked up, as if not damaged by the situation at hand. "Hm? No! No..." He shook his head, amused. "Why would I let him know you're here?" He gazed at her, smirking. She did not return his mood, she was expressionless; only her eyes, green, followed his. "You know, you are very concerned about Eco Freak here more than I-", he was quickly interrupted.

"Don't call him that..." Her fingers bent against the glass in hidden anger, "He's not a freak."

"Aw," Erol said, sarcastically, "You're trying to stick up for him." He walked closer to her. "You know, that's so nice of you, but unfortunately it's not enough. You, Keira Hagai, are, or were, Jak's prize possession; you think he would do anything for you. You thought he was the same Jak you knew when you were both teens on your cute little island," Erol snuck an arm around her shoulder, causing her to look at it uncomfortably for a few dwelling seconds, "But, you are so very wrong." He shook her arm to keep her snug, which she ignored. "Jak is not the same, not even remotely close. He's not even a 'he', he's more of a...hm, 'it'."

Keira, in one swift motion, got out of Erol's grasp and shoved him away; him only budging slightly. She turned away and continued looking out of the glass, her arms crossed.

Erol laughed, causing her to look back over, clearly unsure. "Keira, Keira, Keira..." Erol chimed as he got close enough to her to put his hands on both of her shoulders, "You just don't get it." He shook her, now becoming livid. Keira was silent. He violently spun her around to face the glass window. "What do you see in there?" Keira's breathing became slightly heavy as she began breathing only through her nose to calm herself. She didn't like Erol throwing her around like a rag doll; like she was nothing.

Keira's green eyes laid on the same thing she'd been watching since she had gotten there. Jak.

Jak was usually the hero; the one who could get himself out of trouble. Jak would always look at Keira the same way every time he saw her. In fact, this was probably the first time they've ever been around each other without making eye contact. Jak was usually strong, stubborn, rebellious. Now, he was weak, wasted, and looked as if he was ready to die any minute. Keira would blink and her body would jump whenever the violet crash of eco would surge vigorously through his body. She has never seen someone in so much pain and devastation; the last person she ever though she would see like this was Jak.

For the millionth time it seemed, bolts of dark eco overtook his body. Right when the eco made contact to Jak's skin, his screams would fill the prison. Like every other time, Keira closed her eyes and she felt her body shake. The seconds were dying away; she was ready to drop herself. She slowly opened her eyes to watch as he squinted his eyes shut as hard as he could, his hands clenched together as his knuckled turned white.

Erol sneered and then pounded on the glass. The eco specialist who was conducting the experiment looked to the window, putting the goggles he had on his eyes to his forehead as the eco pump stopped. Keira could hear Jak. He was panting, letting out small cries to himself as he breathed heavily. His forehead and neck was covered in respiration and his eyes were barely open. Erol didn't care: he showed a sign of 'thumbs up' to the specialist; he was going to take the eco percentage up higher.

"No..." Keira whispered to herself, then realizing that Erol had lied to her; the glass was able to be seen through from both sides. Then, a huge thundering crash rang throughout the cells as the biggest bolt of eco possible impaled the victim, making Keira, Erol, and the specialist jump back and cover their ears. Jak screamed as loud as he could as his back arched, his fingers digging to the cold, reclined chair he was strapped to. Between the screaming and Jak's head turning abruptly from left to right, she couldn't watch; she cried.

Erol looked down and noticed. He went to the glass and pounded once more. "Alright, stop." He said to the specialist who couldn't quite hear him. Erol pounded harder, "I said enough!" The specialist quickly stopped the procedure and looked up towards the viewing glass. "What is it now?" He asked the young girl, mad beyond any measure.

"Stop doing this!" Keira looked up at him, getting closer to his face. "Just because you made him like this doesn't mean you have the right to brutally torture him! He's a good person! I love him!"

Erol rolled his eyes to gesture he was ignoring; he ushered the specialist to continue. The specialist was about to oblige to which he was commanded until there was obnoxious impact against the window; Keira began slamming her hands, which were now fists, against the glass. "You're killing him! Stop! You're killing him!" She screaming as tears rolled down her already red cheeks. Keira was about to continue her protest until a firm hand grabbed one of her wrists, turned her around, and slammed her backside against the glass; holding that wrist above her head.

"Now, listen you little bitch! I dare you to interfere with my experiment again! Do you know why I brought you here?" Erol interrogated. Keira didn't answer, but kept a harsh stare. "Huh?" He asked again as he violently threw her wrist against the window in the same place it was before. Keira gasped faintly, not answering. "I brought you here to show you who he really is. The monster he is!"

Keira retorted shakily, "He's not a monster..."

"Oh, yeah? He's not a monster? Who do you think he is, Keira? You think he's a normal person; just like all the rest of us? He's a monster!" Erol yelled.

Keira yelled in return, "He's not a monster!"

"Why, because you think he loves you?" Erol finished, silencing Keira completely. Erol lowered his voice, but kept the sneer on the tip of his tongue. "Oh...you think he loves you. You think he loves you just because he fucked you? You stupid girl. Think! Animal instinct! That's all it was." Keira looked away as water started to fill the inner corners of her eyes. "It didn't happen because 'you' were the one," Erol gestured 'you' with his fingers in quotes, "It was just because you happened to be there." He breathed the last sentence into her face, then letting her go.

Keira looked at him, eyes watery. "Say what you want."

Erol looked at her, raising an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Keira repeated herself, less self-assured as she was the first time she spoke. "I said say what you want. I know Jak loves me."

"Loves to smack you around...or so I heard." Erol said bluntly, obviously sparking a sensitive area.

Keira began, "It's not what you think..."

"Oh, yeah. I completely understand." Erol chuckled. "Jak loves you so much that he decided to shove you away from him, lie to you, and bruise this beautiful little face of yours." Erol rubbed his thumb over Keira's eyelid with his thumb gently, only for it to smacked away.

"You don't know anything. It was an accident. He was going through a lot, he could barely control himself then because of you're experiments, but now he can." Keira explained desperately.

"Mm hm.." Erol nodded sheepishly.

"Don't believe me! He's changed." Keira said more to herself than to Erol. Honestly, Keira hoped she was right; she hoped that Jak did love her. She thought back to the night, to sort things out in her mind to remember and how right, yet very wrong that night went. She remembered yelling about how she could try to help him if he told her the truth, but he only shoved her and told her to leave him the fuck a lone. Maybe he didn't love her...she realized; he never said 'I love you' to her. Not even once.

"He only wants your blood, Keira." Erol chanted to her, waking her up so she was back in reality. "Everyday, every moment a live for him gets worse. He may seem like Jak now, but he won't even be recognizable soon. When I say he's going to be a monster, I mean it." Erol grabbed Keira's hand, "Let me show you." Keira's eyes opened wide as he grabbed her hand, puzzled by everything. Erol opened her hand flat, her palm facing up towards both of them. "This might sting a little.." Erol said, not even really caring. He pulled out a small blade.

"What are you doing?" Keira asked frantically. Without a word, Erol yanked her arm straight and slit a straight line across her palm. Keira gasped as she withdrew her hand back towards her, holding it against her chest with the other hand. She looked up at Erol, watching him spectate the crimson blood on the blade of the knife. He held his free hand under the knife as he held it horizontally, making sure no blood was wasted by dropping onto the floor. Erol began walking towards the door that led to the restraining table Jak was on. He stopped and looked back at Keira, "Coming?" He turned around to walk through the door, Keira following slowly. She didn't say a word. Once they got to the table, she looked at Jak, whose face was turned to the side. Keira slowly walked to that side of the table to look at his pale face.

"Jak?" She asked softly, brushing her fingers through his damp, blonde-green hair. Jak opened his eyes half way; that was as far as he could open them. His blue eyes looked into her green ones while he continued his steady breathing. "Can you answer a question for me?" Keira asked, tilting her head to the side slightly to relieve him. Jak didn't answer, he only feebly nodded. "Do you love me?" She asked, her expression becoming sad, knowing he probably wouldn't answer because the answer didn't suit the moment and would probably throw him into a coma or most likely death. It wasn't an easy subject for a guy. To Keira's luck though, Jak weakly nodded like he did earlier. Keira smiled and looked up at Erol, her hand rested on his upper arm. "What are you doing?" She asked concerned when she saw that Erol was holding the blade with her blood on it over Jak's head, still cupping it with his hand.

"Obviously, I need to show you." He said, inspecting the blade. Keira looked from the blade, to Jak's head, back to the blade. "Oh, you might want to back up." Erol said looking over at her for a moment before looking back at the blade.

"Why?" She asked defensively, only gripping a little tighter onto Jak's upper arm.

Erol ignored her as he looked down at Jak. "Poor girl, don't lead her on this way. It's rude." Erol chuckled as Jak looked up at him with his blood shot, dazed, blue eyes. Jak noticed the blood above his head and groaned and tried to pull away, as if it would kill him if it touched him. Keira looked down at him, very worried.

"What's wrong?" Keira looked down at him and then up at Erol.

Erol sighed, "I'm sorry, Keira...but you're just another to prey on." With that, he let a drop of Keira's blood drop on Jak's head. Keira watched the drop form from the tip of the blade and drop down onto Jak's forehead. She could swear she could hear it land more like a heavy weight than a drop on Jak's head. Jak groaned, turning his head away from Keira, his knuckles clenching. Keira's expression seemed shocked as she moved back from Jak by only a couple feet, still watching him.

Jak groaned, a deep bellow coming from his throat as if he was restraining something. No one said a word, not one word. They just all watched Jak. Erol, who still had his hand above Jak's head, dropped two more drops on Jak's head. That did it.

Jak screamed loudly as bolts of eco were thrown from his body. Jak's back arched again, but this time it was disgusting. You could hear his spine crack repeatedly as he changed. Jak bellowed and hissed through his teeth in pain. His skin pigmented into a white purple, like a deceased body. His hair turned white and blood dripped from his fingers as long, black nails protruded from his nail bed. With one last scream, which turned into a terrorizing, animalistic growl, fangs grew from his gums, blood dripping down his mouth. Then again, Jak bellowed demonically as his eyes filled with black.

Erol yelled, "Get back!" Keira couldn't move. This was Jak. "I said get back!" Erol yelled again as he ran around the side of the chair to pull her back just as a claw came swinging in her direction. Keira watched in horror as Jak, if she would even call it Jak, tried his absolute hardest to break free and brutally kill her. His arms were swinging viciously as he snapped his teeth towards, his eyes staring into her. Jak snarled as saliva dropped from his mouth. The blood on his forehead dripped down his face and to his top lip where he licked crazily until he couldn't reach anymore. She was afraid he was going to break from the restraints. He didn't stop; this thing was unstoppable. It just continued trying to get at her, snarling and snapping like vicious dog, even though she was more than a couple yards away. Five, ten, fifteen minutes later, it was still trying to get to her.

It was a monster. She was its prey. That's just an animal's instincts.