This story takes place after the ending of Jak 3 (which I was very insanely angry at the way Naughty Dog decided to fu up the pairings but it was fixed in Jak X, they felt my wrath burn in their nightmares from miles away and that is why they made a new game Muahahaha). Anyway so the beginning of this story obviously contains spoilers from the end of Jak 3 so if you don't want to know the ending, don't read this. This is a JakxKeira fanfic (as usual, wouldn't have it any other way) and it won't have as much action as the first fanfic I wrote (One Life Short) but for all the drama, romance lovers who want to know how Jak magically (Warning Spoiler ahead of these parenthesis) got back with Keira after his kiss with Ashelin in Jak 3, this is a nice little story to fill in the blanks. Also it may fill in some blanks after Jak II. That is what I do for Naughty Dog, fill in the blanks. :cough cough they should hire me: Sadly I don't own Jak and co. Naughty Dog does and if I did I would've had Jak smack the crap out of Ashelin when she kissed him ahahahaha! Sorry JakxAsh luvahz, no offense. Enjoy.

Cheers to my second fanfic :plays intro drums in the bg: Misunderstood! Rated T and complete story, Bonus chapter is extra and rated M for sexual content.

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Chapter 1

Loud explosions echoed behind them as they felt the heat burn against their backs. They felt the sweat trickling down their spines and down their foreheads from the scorching heat. Fiery flames rose up into the sky, marking their victory. They slowly walked away from the destruction of Erol with proud smiles on their faces. He was finally destroyed and the heroes had triumphed again. Sand danced in the wind around them as they emerged from the mist of battle within the Wasteland.

Jak and Daxter saw Ashelin and Sig waiting for them in the clearing. Jak pulled down the crimson cloth covering the lower half of his face so he can flash his smile at them. Ashelin walked over to Jak. She placed a proud hand on his shoulder, she was proud to have such a strong fighter on their side. They locked their gazes for a short while as thoughts began to crowd Jak's mind.

I'm so glad this is over. I just wanna relax and-

His thoughts were interrupted as Ashelin unexpectedly leaned toward Jak and placed her lips upon his. Startled and surprised, he stood there and went along with it. Daxter in between them didn't seem to object and just smiled. Then again Daxter would approve of any woman, Daxter loved women and that's all there was to it. If an attractive woman kissed you, it was a good thing.

However Jak knew better. Originally he would've thought the same but with everything that had happened and the way he left off from Haven City before being exiled to the Wasteland, what Ashelin was doing now was something that he had never thought of or ever planned on thinking about. Here she was, taking it upon herself to make a move and yet things were still unclear and unsettled in their lives. What was she thinking?

Jak backed away from Ashelin's grasp and his expression no longer wore a smile, instead it was solemn, almost a frown. Ashelin's eyes widened at the situation and she cupped her mouth with her hand. She was lost for words. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what came over her. What would possess her to do such a thing on impulse without thinking? One minute she was overjoyed that the city was safe again and the next thing she knew she had gone in and kissed him. Jak was her partner in battle and her friend. Could she have just thrown all that away by offending him in those very few seconds of impulse?

She knew she made a mistake but stood in silence as Jak past her to head to the car where Sig awaited. Daxter didn't like the awkward atmosphere and followed Jak, also in silence. They drove, drowning in the awkward atmosphere, toward the Spargus Battle Arena. Only the sounds of Sig and Daxter's laughter was heard in what seemed to be the back of Jak and Ashelin's minds.

Just when they thought things couldn't feel more awkward, their arrival at the battle arena made everything worse. As they drew closer to their destination, they saw a small petite girl waiting at the entrance, swirling a wrench in her fingers playfully. It was Keira and as soon as Jak's eyes noticed the turquoise headed girl he turned to Ashelin and whispered, "Just forget it, it's nothing" and smiled. Ashelin nodded and smiled back in response. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.

They pulled up to the entrance and Sig and Daxter continued to laugh as they shared their jokes. Jak and Ashelin were getting out of the car when they heard Sig yell over to Jak behind him, "That was some kiss ey cherry, I'm telling you, the heroes always get the girls" and his loud laughter echoed as he entered the arena entrance with Daxter on his shoulder. Daxter's face and body cringed when Sig said this and he knew better than to crawl back to Jak. He was sure he didn't want to witness what took place next.

Jak had to restrain from letting his jaw drop in shock that Sig had just blurted something like that out and he looked around almost frantically. Ashelin was doing the same, she then turned her head as far as she could from Keira's burning gaze and walked past her to the arena entrance. Jak was staring at some imaginary figment on the floor, searching for what to say, wishing he could just vanish right then and there. He heard Keira's footsteps draw closer to him and he looked up to see her stop in front of him. He was startled by what he saw and this time, he let his jaw drop without realizing.

She had clasped her hands behind her back with her wrench, leaned toward him with the widest smile he'd ever seen, she said "Glad to see you're back Jak"

"Uhh yeah" he rubbed the back of his head feeling the heat in his face from the embarrassment, "Thanks". He still couldn't keep his gaze in her direction for very long. Knots twisted in the pit of his stomach as he nervously wondered what was going to happen next.

She thought for a moment, as her eyes looked up into the sky above them, "Must be a great feeling saving the world all the time. Well everyone's inside. See you there" and with that she turned from him still with her hands innocently clasped behind her and walked away. He didn't notice that she was clenching her fists on the wrench and her hands were white from squeezing so hard.

Jak just stood there for a minute in awe. Didn't she hear what Sig just said? Why was she smiling and acting as if nothing happened? Wasn't she angry? He shook his head and put back his stern expression. It was time to go in there and play hero again. He just wished he felt more like it at that moment.

"Thank you brave people of this planet. Onin, Samos and all... your strength and wisdom in these dark times give us reason to fight on" the leader ottsel started.

"My life's work, it turns out, was spent searching for a bunch of fur balls," Samos was still in disbelief. Keira just stood standing next to him. She said nothing and did nothing. Her eyes focused on nothing in particular. She looked as if her mind was somewhere in a daze. She paid no attention to what was going on around her. She heard Pecker and the ottsels speaking but their words were dismissed through her ears and went by as a blur. Only bits and pieces got through to her.

"More adventures? Where have I heard that before?" Jak asked the ottsels and looked at Daxter. Daxter knew all too well what he meant.

"We need heroes like you to help us protect the universe, Jak," The leader ottsel continued.

Yeah Jak, go leave to the universe. No surprise. It isn't the first time you left. See you in another few years…

"Then you can call me by my first name... by what my father called me, Mar"

Mar? Great. More things about him that I don't know. What else is next? A new power? Some childhood friend he is, I know nothing about him anymore.

"Wait, Jak is Mar? The Mar?" Ashelin smiled at the discovery as Torn stood by her, arms crossed with an expression as blank as Keira's. He had also heard the comment that was made by Sig while he was passing through the arena hall to get to the restrooms. He had abruptly stopped in his tracks, shocked by what he just heard. He clenched his fists and felt the anger burning inside him but instead of releasing it he chose to keep walking so he wouldn't be accused of eavesdropping. He hadn't had much of a conversation with Ashelin since he heard the comment. She barely noticed and dismissed his behavior as him just acting like…Torn.

"Oh, Daxter! My little hero!" Tess encouraged her furry little love pet. She scratched the fur on his stomach and no one noticed Keira's lip curl. Torn just turned away. They weren't in the mood to see something all cute and…happy.

"Ya know... I could really use a snazzy pair of pants... like yours!" The leader ottsel then aimed his staff at Daxter and with a shot of light, Daxter was wearing pants, just like he always wanted.

"Wow! Those are sharp. I wish I had a pair just like that" Tess sat up next to Daxter on the ledge he was on.

"Be careful what you wish for..." the leader ottsel raised his staff again and transformed her into an ottsel just like Daxter. After the transformation, Tess fell on her bottom partially confused and Daxter helped her up while pulling her close to him in the process.

"Don't worry honey, you get used to it. Oh, and you may want to shave some parts. Trust me on that" Daxter leaned in to her so that he can finally kiss her. It had been so long since he'd met her and wished there were some way he could express his affection towards her and now here she was, his size and an orange furry precursor just like him. Just as their eyes slowly closed and they leaned into each other, Jak interrupted.

"Hey, thanks for everything, partner!"

Oh God now she's an ottsel and Jak's getting ready to leave. Thanks for thinking about everyone else mister hero. Maybe I should go find myself a normal guy for once…Keira was disgusted and could barely hold in her anger any longer. She quietly turned and headed inside the Arena halls.

Meanwhile just as everyone waved to the Precursor ship riding out toward galaxies unknown, Jak appeared behind Daxter. It seemed that he had snuck off before the ship took off and decided that his place was there instead of out in the universe. He had too much to leave behind.

"I couldn't leave ya, Dax! With all our adventures ahead... you wouldn't

last a second without me"

"Ah... what a team we are!" Pecker commented as he rubbed his feathered hands together proudly.

"Yeah? Well the next adventure, I call the shots. Put 'er there partner.

HA! Psych! Oh yeah, life is good"

As Daxter was cracking his jokes, Jak looked up to see the balcony where Sig sat on the throne of Damas along with Samos and the others. Keira seemed to have left. He frowned at this, his eyes searched around the arena hoping maybe she had just moved from that spot somewhere else. She was nowhere to be found. Where could she be? Worry began to spread through his body but he tried to conceal it since everyone else who was in celebration surrounded him.

He looked over to the other balcony where only Ashelin and Seem stood. It seemed that Ashelin had not noticed that Torn had left as well. Ashelin's gaze met Jak's as he raised his eyebrows at her, signaling for her to look behind her. A confused expression formed on her face as she turned around and realized Torn was gone. She then shot one last glance at Jak to show that she was aware and headed toward the exit of the balcony. Jak didn't like the negative feelings and thoughts brewing inside him. He didn't like it one bit.

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Ehhh I think this bites…my last fic started off more interesting yes? Well I just wanted to repeat the ending of Jak 3 and add the thoughts in their heads and what happened afterwards. I wasn't planning on making it so juicy in the first chapter anyway. I think I'll work on it though unless you guys think it's good enough. Also I bet you guys are saying zoomer? Ashelin didn't come with a zoomer so how did she magically take one when she left the arena. Well my explanation to this is well you know how you found lizards and zoomers just laying around sometimes in the game so lets just pretend some careless driver left it there and Ashelin didn't care who it belonged to. After all, in Haven City, everyone "borrows" his or her vehicles. Of course I had to leave you all in suspense, don't you love it::dodges rocks being thrown at her: Keep reading, the next chapter is better, I think so anyway. Review review! And as always don't forget to spread the Jak Joy!

The writing machine lives on!