Author's Notes: I wrote this between March and April as a birthday present for the ever-wonderful Snarechan (LoverofSilverhairedBishies). This is about as close as I could get to writing Torn/Keira. I would need something a lot longer to develop it, so this is just sort of like a "maybe this is how it started" kind of thing.

I'm worried about the characterization as usual. Keira's especially. My defense for the beginning section is that she's distraught. And also, the bit where she talks to Samos has to do with how I interpreted the line he gave her when Jak showed back up in Haven in Jak 3: "See Keira, I knew I could feel Jak's energy."

Torn… I just hope he's even halfway believable. x . x;;;

Takes place during the beginning of Jak 3 while Jak and Dax are out terrorizing the people of Spargus. XD

Warnings: Vague spoilers for the first two games and the beginning of the third. Hinted Torn/Keira pairing.

Solace

Keira was normally a morning person. She loved mornings and all that came with them. Warm sunlight, hearty breakfasts, the first disgruntled sounds emanating from her father's room…

Yes, Keira generally loved mornings.

But lately, she'd started liking them less with each one that passed. Now she practically had to drag herself out of bed, whereas once upon a time, she'd have jumped out to begin her daily routine. All of that was rapidly changing now, and those days seemed as far from her as a fairy tale, though really it had only been a month since the problem began.

The problem was that every morning was a new reminder that Jak was gone. He'd been flown out to the Wasteland and left there to die. The thought made Keira close her eyes tighter against the formerly-welcome onslaught of sunlight streaming through her window. Mornings had become painful.

Lying very still with her eyes still shut, Keira tried to force the thoughts away and focus on what she had to get done today. She could hear her father moving around the kitchen, and felt guilty for not having breakfast ready for him. That was enough to get her to sit up in bed, grabbing blindly for her hairbrush on the nightstand beside her.

With each stroke of the brush through her hair, she continued her vain attempts to fill her mind with thoughts of car parts and tools and customers, but as usual, her mind kept drifting back to Jak.

For heaven's sake, how could she NOT think about him? They had been friends for so long… and with a little more time together, they could have been even more than that. She had thought that in the peace following the fall of Baron Praxis and Kor, she and Jak could catch up on the time they'd lost since that whole mess with the Rift Gate.

Instead, a whole new war had begun.

Keira had to stop herself from slamming the hairbrush down too hard when she returned it to the nightstand. It just wasn't fair! She clambered out of bed, clumsy in her upset state, and dug through her closet for something clean to wear. How could this have happened? How had the Metal Heads managed to launch all these attacks without any kind of leadership? How had Count Veger managed to pry enough control away from Ashelin, in such a short span of time, to pass sentence on Jak?

And why was Jak being blamed for every little thing that went wrong?

People were saying that his connection to Krew was the reason the Metal Heads had gotten into the city. Admittedly, Keira had been startled, even disgusted, when she'd found out two years ago that Jak had been working for Krew. But gradually, she'd come to recognize why he'd had to do it, and that he hadn't really changed as much as she'd originally assumed. After she'd stopped being stubborn and actually listened to his explanation, she'd understood. Heck, if Krew hadn't sent Jak over to the stadium to race for her, he may have never had a reason to stop by, and they might still be looking for each other.

Finished getting ready, Keira took a deep breath and ventured out of her room.

"There you are!" Samos acknowledged her immediately. "Keira, I'm concerned about your health. You've been sleeping in a lot lately – perhaps you're putting in too many hours at the garage."

"The hours are fine, Daddy," she replied, rummaging in the cabinet for a plate. She turned around and looked at him. "I just miss… him."

Her father's eyes took on a knowing look, and Keira quickly turned away again, seeking out something to make for breakfast.

"He'll be fine, Keira. He always is."

"How do you know?" she asked hotly. "He's stranded out in the desert on an uninhabited island… and I'm sure it's uninhabited for a reason…" she shook her head forcefully. "I don't want to talk about it, Daddy. It hurts too much." This last she spoke barely above a whisper, but Samos heard it and sighed.

"Keira, I'm absolutely certain that Jak is fine. I know these things."

"Daddy…" she began testily.

"When you're older and wiser – like me – you'll be able to sense these kinds of things as well, I'm sure; you are my daughter, after all."

Keira had to restrain herself from just stomping out of the room without finishing her meal. "I'm a grown girl, Daddy," she said between bites of her toast, "you don't have to say things like this just to make me feel better anymore."

"Why do you always have to be so stubborn?" her father asked, sighing. "Why are you so set on believing that Jak is done for? Shouldn't you have more faith in him than that?"

Keira bit her lip. "I just don't want to get my hopes up and then have them get crushed," she said softly. "It was hard enough to watch him disappear once, even harder to watch it again after we were finally reunited. I won't lose him a third time, not even in my head."

"I suppose so," Samos murmured. "It will be a nice surprise, then, when he comes back, safe and sound."

"Daddy!" She rose with a huff from her chair, taking her plate to the sink. "I'm going to work," she announced crossly, grabbing her toolbox and the keys to her zoomer on her way out the door.

Keira used her vehicle to the full advantage of its name as she zoomed through the streets of Haven City. It was a comparably nice day; she could almost see the sky through the haze. Scowling, she made her way to the port district, where she'd been forced to set up shop after the Metal Heads destroyed what was formerly the racing stadium in order to build their new nest.

Pulling up next to the building, she hopped off the zoomer, chained it to a metal loop in the wall (for all the good it did in this city), and headed for the entrance. A flash of orange out of the corner of her eye made her pause. Cringing slightly, she turned to look at the large, pitchfork-wielding ottsel mounted on the roof of the port's most popular bar. "The Naughty Ottsel" had been quite under-populated since… Jak's banishment. Keira choked back a noise of frustration. She had to quit dwelling on that.

Come to think of it, it was odd that Daxter had somehow disappeared at the same time as Jak had been taken away. When Keira had knelt, leaning on her father's shoulder and trying not to cry, and watched the guards drag Jak onto the carrier, Daxter hadn't been anywhere in sight. Keira had been sure that he must have been detained somewhere, but they hadn't heard from him since. She wondered if he had somehow managed to stowaway…

She almost wished she had done it.

Something suddenly moved near the entrance to the bar, and Keira squinted, trying to make it out from across the port. It looked like someone was going inside. Keira wondered absently why the door wasn't locked, then mused to herself that whoever it was would be sorely disappointed if they were looking for any kind of service. But the figure didn't re-emerge.

Keira hesitated. On the one hand, she ought to go see what was going on; she felt obligated as a friend of the owner to go make sure the person wasn't taking advantage of Daxter's absence and having a free-for-all with his booze. On the other hand… she was alone, and the person inside the bar could very likely harm her if they felt cornered by her catching them in the act.

'If I don't do it, who's going to?' she asked herself grimly.

Her mind made up and toolbox still in hand, Keira marched determinedly in the direction of the bar. As she approached, she noticed that the automatic door had shut itself behind the intruder. Cautiously, she stepped in front of it. It slid open to admit her entry, and she stepped inside, hands tight around the handle of her toolbox in case she needed to swing it at someone.

Instead, she nearly dropped it.

There was a man – a man she knew, but whose name escaped her – standing at the center of the room. He seemed to be trying to remove, with a screwdriver, the piece of metal over the wiring of a hologram-projection screen that, as far as Keira knew, was a very recent addition to the place. At her sudden entrance, the man stood abruptly, eyes narrowed at the potential threat. When he saw her, though, the look immediately shifted to confusion.

Keira's thoughts were running a marathon on the interior of her head. This man was the newly-appointed captain of the Freedom Guard – she still couldn't remember his name for the life of her. He was Ashelin Praxis' right-hand man, she knew that much. And she knew that Jak had spent the better part of a year working for him when he was still the leader of the Underground resistance movement. But the FG headquarters was located all the way on the northern end of the city…

"…Keira, isn't it?"

The gravelly voice ground Keira's thoughts to a halt. Had he just addressed her or was she hearing things?

"Yes," she responded shortly.

When she didn't continue, the man looked her over and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Keira planted a hand on her hip defensively. "I came by to see who was messing around Daxter's bar," she said. "What are you doing here?"

The man gave her one more glance before apparently deeming her unthreatening, and he turned back to the projection screen as he replied, "The Freedom Guard needed a base to use as a Southern HQ. We figured since the rodent's been missing, we could put this place to good use. Don't worry," he added at the livid look being directed at him, "I have every intention of seeing to its upkeep."

"Daxter's going to be angry if you're here when he comes back," she said, even though she had no idea if Daxter ever was coming back.

The man gave a short, dry laugh. "Yeah, I'm sure he will be."

He fell silent, and Keira watched him shuffling around beside the table-sized holographic device. Then she heard a clanging sound as the sheet of metal over the wiring came off and clattered to the floor. The man cursed faintly under his breath, crouching to retrieve it.

"Um…" Keira started, and the man's head appeared over the side of the table.

"You're still here?" he asked, and Keira couldn't tell whether his tone was neutral or irritated.

"Yeah… er… do you need some help?" she asked, chewing her lip. She technically should have been on her way back to the garage, though she was in charge of her own hours for the most part, but something about the fact that this man had taken care of Jak while she had been separated from him made her want to show her gratitude somehow. And hey, she'd brought her toolbox…

The man frowned at her for a moment before he shook his head. "Not unless you know anything about wiring up a holographic projector to a half-functional power grid," he said, scowling at the last, and Keira scowled as well; ever since the Metal Heads' return, the city's electricity had been on the fritz.

"Well, I don't know about exactly that," she admitted, "but I've been tinkering with machines since I was just a kid, so if I can just take a look at it, maybe…" she trailed off.

The man shrugged his shoulders and got to his feet. "You do that," he agreed. "I'm going to go find this place's fuse box in the meantime."

Keira moved to take his place beside the open side panel as the dreadlocked man headed for the back door of the bar. Just as he was about to leave, Keira called out, "Hey, um, wait!"

He turned, looking at her somewhat crossly. "What?"

She fiddled with the handle of her toolbox. "I can't seem to remember your name," she said, grinning sheepishly.

He blinked at her. Then he turned and opened the door. "It's Torn," he tossed over his shoulder, then left the room.

Three hours of fierce concentration later, Keira had finally managed to puzzle her way through the complex wiring system of the machine. She'd rigged it to run on as little energy as possible to cut back on the risk of knocking the whole building's power out.

"Ha! I got it!" she crowed triumphantly, and she saw Torn jump slightly at the sudden noise. He was sitting behind the bar, taking inventory of the ammunitions being stored there. "Try it out; make sure it works the way you need it to," she added while she had his attention. She replaced the metal over the wiring as Torn got up and walked over to the control panel.

Keira stood back, reorganizing her tools as Torn started up the machine and pressed several buttons. A moment later, a hologram appeared in the shape of Ashelin Praxis' head.

"Torn!" her voice called through the speakers. "What in the world took you so long? We were all afraid that Veger—"

"It was a trap," Torn said, cutting her off. "Veger's got us trapped on this side of the city. It's going to be a while before I can get us back through."

Keira heard Ashelin swear faintly; she herself was confused.

"The barrier was down when I arrived this morning," she put in. It was true – the force field between her apartment and the port hadn't been active earlier.

Torn's gaze flickered to her at the same moment as Ashelin asked, "Who is that?"

Torn briefly explained to Ashelin who it was ("that mechanic friend of Jak's") and why she was there ("she got communications up and running"). Then he addressed Keira's observation.

"It's still early, so they probably haven't gotten orders to detain regular civilians yet," he said. "They're only watching for me and my men right now. Security's sure to get tighter by the hour, though. Don't be surprised if they stop you on your way out of the port tonight."

Keira frowned. "But if this section of the city is cut off from the rest of the city, how—?"

Torn looked at her severely for a moment. "We'll manage. We've been through worse than Veger."

"We also had Jak around to take care of things like this," Ashelin muttered bitterly from the communicator. Keira winced, and Torn shifted his position slightly.

"We got by without him before he showed up," Torn said, "and by the looks of things, we're going to have to do it again."

"I could bring you things from the other side," Keira said quickly, suddenly wanting to help in any was she could. Veger was the reason that Jak was gone, and Keira felt responsible for helping to bring Veger down, for Jak's sake. "I come out here every day, so it wouldn't be suspicious…"

"Too dangerous," Torn said immediately. Before Keira could retort, he went on, "There will be checkpoints set up, and they'll start searching your possessions. So unless you've been trained in stealth and would like to fess up to it, I'm not going to put you in that kind of position. I've already dispatched agents of mine to see into getting supplies."

Keira remained silent as Torn and Ashelin finished exchanging information and disconnected. Torn looked as though he was going to say something, but Keira said quickly, "All right, I get the picture. Glad I could at least get that machine up and running; I've got work to get back to at the garage."

Torn nodded and, without further comment, returned to taking inventory.

Keira headed for the exit, feeling rather put-out. She'd gotten it in her head that she wanted to… 'avenge' Jak wasn't really the right word, but she wanted to do something to get back at Veger for what he'd done…

She paused by the door.

"Isn't there anything I can do to help?" she asked.

Torn didn't turn around, but he replied with a question of his own: "Why are you suddenly so interested in being a part of this fight? I know you're the Shadow's – I mean, Samos' – daughter, but the war against the Baron's over and done with. This is just the clean-up operation."

"It's more personal, now!" Keira said, taking a few steps back into the room. "When we first came here, there was no reason for me to get involved; this wasn't the home I grew up in, and the only thing I was concerned with was re-building the Rift Rider…" She glowered at the floor. "But now Veger went and ousted Jak – after everything he's done for you people! I just can't stand it… If I can't get him back, then I at least want to help take down Veger."

When she had finished explaining, she felt both relieved and embarrassed. She barely knew Torn, after all, and she wasn't sure she should have told him all of that, but at the same time… if Jak could trust him, so could she.

Torn stood up and faced her. Then he sighed. "Look," he muttered, "I see where you're coming from and all, but like I said before, I'm not just going to send you out with the rest of my guys without some kind of training, understand? I… would like to say that I'm sure Jak'll make it out of the wasteland somehow, but I can't guarantee that and I'm not going to pretend I can."

"I could fix your guys' zoomers or help with your computers or something…" Keira trailed off, feeling slightly helpless. It was true; she hadn't had any sort of formal training for things like this.

"You could," Torn said, considering it. "It'd be a big help, with your garage right near here."

Keira stared at the floor, wracking her brain for something else that she could contribute, but the only other thing she could think of seemed stupid…

"Is there something else?" Torn asked.

"It's… dumb," she muttered, half to herself. Torn looked at her, puzzled, and she said finally, "I was going to offer to cook meals for your people, since Daxter's got a whole kitchen in the back of this place, but it's not very practical on top of everything else…"

"Why not?"

Keira blinked.

"Soldiers are still human beings; they've still got to eat," Torn said, shrugging. "I'm not going to tell you to come by here every day and make us lunch or something, but whenever you've got the time… I wouldn't be against the idea."

Keira smiled, glad her ideas hadn't been shot down. "I'll do what I can!" she said firmly, and she meant it.

"Good," Torn said with equal sincerity, "I appreciate it."

"And hey, um, Torn?" Keira's hands tightened again around the toolbox's handle. She needed to say it: "Thank you for helping Jak last year."

"He helped me more than I probably helped him," Torn muttered, shrugging it off. "I'm just sorry I can't do anything to help him out now."

"That's why we have to do everything we can to stop Veger," Keira said with conviction, and then more softly, she added, "for Jak."

Torn nodded in agreement, and they fell into silence once again. After a few moments, Keira was finally ready to leave.

"I'll see you around, then. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything mechanical done!" she said, turning as the automatic door slid open. Torn gave her a salute in reply, and Keira made her way back to the garage.

Taking quick note that her zoomer was still where she'd left it, she wandered inside the building, flicking the overhead lights on and walking over to her workbench. She felt a lot better, having an ally and a purpose. Things would never be quite the same without Jak in the picture, but taking action had to be better than moping around.

And maybe, just maybe, if she worked hard enough, Keira could start loving mornings again.

End Notes: The original criteria that Snarechan gave me for this fic was that Keira should bring Torn lunch, but I thought… they don't know each other well enough for that, yet. So if the cooking idea seemed a little contrived, that's probably why. I was trying to work it in somehow; not really sure it was effective…

Hopefully they weren't totally OOC… I think this is the first time I've written Keira at all, and the first thing I've actually finished with Torn in it, so… yeah. x . x;

Please R critique is welcome. Hope you enjoyed the fic!