This idea popped up in my head late last night, and for some reason, I felt in the mood to write something like this. I feel like there aren't enough fanfics with these two, so I've decided to write one myself. I was going to use this setting in another fanfic of mine, but I decided it would work better here. This is another one-shot, so read, review, and enjoy! :)
DISCLAIMER: Only Mac is mine. Everyone else belongs to Naughty Dog.
The latest Metal Head raid close to the Stadium had just ended, much to Keira's relief. Next to her, Ashelin and Tess had waited for the streets to clear as well before each of them went to join the fray.
"Thanks, guys," she thanked them, "Without you two, Jak, and Daxter, I would have never been able to finish the Rift Rider."
"No problem," Tess replied as she and Ashelin set the Time Map and the Heart of Mar, respectively, onto Keira's work bench, "Are you sure you're going to be okay here? Do you want us to stay with you?"
Keira nodded. "I'll be fine," she assured them, "But thank you for staying for the time being."
Ashelin nodded, and as she and Tess turned to leave, the Baron's daughter turned to face the Green Sage's daughter one more time. "Keira," she started, and the young mechanic looked up.
"I just wanted you to know that…well…I think you should give Jak another chance."
At first, Keira didn't know what to say; she had been thinking about this ever since Jak entered the Class Two race a long time ago. She knew she was wrong for what she had said and she hoped to make it up to him once this was all over. Clutching her most prized possession, her wrench, in her hands, she gave Ashelin a nod of gratitude, which was enough. She turned back to the Rift Rider in front of her and heard the familiar flapping of her green curtain as the two older women left the garage. Now, it was just her and the Rift Rider.
Keira worked diligently, finding the perfect places to insert both the Time Map and the Heart of Mar, as well as checking other little aspects of the machine to make sure it was in working order. She considered this her next best project after the A-Grav Zoomer she had built back in Sandover Village.
"Hey, Keira!" a voice cried, and Keira looked up to see one of the race coordinators, Mac, poking his head through the green curtain, "It's safe to go out in the streets again, and I'm closing up shop. Are you almost finished with your project?"
"I've just got to get it out of here," Keira explained.
Mac nodded. "All right, then. I'll be back to help you move it."
"I appreciate that. Thanks, Mac." Mac nodded and turned to leave, and Keira waited for him to get back.
Just as she was finishing her inspection on the Rift Rider, the lights above her flickered and then shut off, leaving her in the pitch black. Oh, Precursors! She thought angrily, That's the fourth time the lights have gone off! She held her hands out in front of her and ambled towards the main light switch in the corner of the room. As she went to turn the lights on, however, they wouldn't budge. This is weird, she thought. She wasn't afraid of the dark, but being stuck in it while hearing raid sirens outside was a little unsettling. Remembering her flashlight, she ducked under her work bench and went to retrieve it…to find that the batteries had been removed. Weird again, she thought. She would have to find another way to get the lights up and running again. She decided to try the emergency lights in the other corner.
Keira turned the emergency lights on, and as soon as she did, her gaze met something right in front of her that made her jump. "AHH!" she screamed, leaping backwards and falling to the floor. Whatever the mysterious object was, it had somehow snuck into the garage. She grabbed for her wrench and intended to use it as a self-defense weapon when she noticed how it started to move towards her. It was covered from head to toe in a black, hooded cloak, and gloved fingers. "Stay back!" she warned in a strong voice, holding the wrench out in front of her in an attacking position.
But the mysterious person continued to move forwards and knocked the wrench out of her hands. Keira felt a gloved hand rest itself gently on her hand, and when the mechanic looked into its face, she nearly died. She had to blink her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. It didn't look like she was.
"Erol?" she whispered, taking in Erol's familiar face. But it looked wrong; it looked dead. The whole right side of the ex-KG Commander's face was burned away until one could see the bones underneath his skin, and his eyes had a blank look in them. It was hard to say the same for the rest of his body, since the cloak covered it, but Keira imagined it looked the same.
But what was he doing here? In her garage? He was dead; Keira had seen that herself when she saw him drive into a month's supply of Dark Eco earlier that day. There was no way he could have survived that, yet here he was, bruised and mangled, with what was left of his heart still beating.
Keira felt her own heart beat as Erol removed one of his gloves to reveal a hand that was deprived of most, if not all, of his skin. He carefully traced it up her arm, past her shoulder, and finally to her cheek, where he cupped her face in his hand. Keira shivered slightly at the touch of the bone, and she forced herself to look into Erol's dead eyes. This was scaring her, but she forced herself to calm down. She couldn't believe that for a minute, she had ever liked this man as more than a friend, especially after she had discovered what he had done to Jak.
Keira blinked her eyes once more to try to block out the vision, but Erol, or what was left of him, was still in front of her and stroking her cheek. She moved her hand up to his to make him let go of her, but he remained where he was. She wanted him to say something, anything, to explain all this, but one glance at his throat did all the talking. There was a hole in the middle of it, where his vocal cords used to be, and Keira realized that the Dark Eco did the opposite to Erol as what it had done for Jak.
Despite the rage she felt towards the ex-Grand Champion, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He had lost everything in the blink of an eye, not unlike her situation two years prior. At the same time she wanted to kill him herself, she wanted to comfort him, but she wasn't sure which was better.
"Why?" was all she asked. What could she say? She waited in silence as Erol removed his hood, leaned in, and kissed her on the lips. The mechanic recoiled from the taste of burnt flesh and Dark Eco. No way was she going there after what she knew. She just wanted Erol to leave her alone once and for all.
Erol pulled away silently, found a pen and paper, and began to write something in Precursor lettering. Keira craned her neck to try to take a peek, but Erol never let her, so she just had to wait.
It took a few minutes to write the intended message, and when he was finished, Erol slipped the piece of paper back into Keira's pocket and kissed her once more. Stroking her cheek once more, the ex-Commander smiled weakly, and then turned to exit, leaving Keira confused and horrified…
"Keira! Keira!" Mac's voice cried. Keira jolted in her seat and opened her eyes. Mac was standing in the corner of the garage, by the light switch.
"W-what?" she asked, "What's going on?"
"You must have fallen asleep after Ashelin and Tess left," the race coordinator replied, "Are you ready to move the Rift Rider? I'm back, like I said I would be."
Keira instantly flicked her gaze towards the corner of the room, where she had seen him. No, she told herself, Erol's dead. That was just a dream. Yeah, a dream. "I'm ready," she told Mac.
"All right. Your father and the Shadow are waiting outside for us." Working together, all of them moved the Rift Rider to the outside of the Stadium, and after Keira contacted Jak over the intercom, she gasped and turned back to the others.
"Oh!" she gasped, "I left my wrench in my garage. If we're going back to Sandover…I need to get it back."
Both Samoses nodded, and Keira turned around and sprinted back to her garage.
"Ahh, there you are!" she cried triumphantly, grabbing her favorite wrench. She was getting ready to go back outside when she suddenly heard a clang. What was that? She thought to herself. She searched high and low for any clues, but found nothing. She turned to leave again when something crashed to the floor. When she about-faced again, she nearly screamed.
On the floor was Erol's old racing mask, along with a piece of paper that she knew was definitely not there before. How did this get here? She thought, picking up the mask and discarding it in the nearest trash can. She didn't want it anymore. She didn't want to remember.
The note was oddly making her curious, so she opened it so that she could read it, and the three words etched in Precursor lettering were enough to send her into a tailspin:
I'll be back.
Keira gasped, dropped the note, and ran outside again, where in the distance, she could make out a hooded man walking through the streets of Haven City. Little did she know how he would indeed be back after one year.
All right! So, what did you think?