My Immortal Chapter 1: Prologue, a jak and daxter fanfic

Finally got into gear and started writing out this story. It's a collab with GreyJedi and we've been working on this for quite a while now. This could be viewed as a continuation of "Bloodlust," however it's not entirely necessary to read that one first.

Kaen, Cayden and Jance belong solely to us . Everyone else (so, Erol at the moment) belongs to Naughty Dog.

The young woman leaned casually back against the wall, eyes fixed on a man across the room. She'd been posted by the Baron to survey the possible traitor, a desperate attempt to gather more information about the underground. Boring work, but it worked in her favour.

"Do this and I'll…let you out," Praxis had told her coldly; fully aware of the consequences of such a promise. If news got out that she had been let free, if the Haven City's favourite loony was allowed to walk the streets alone, there would be a public outcry. Perfect for anyone brave enough to attack Praxis. The city would be concentrating on her more than the Baron, as she was more of a controversy.

"More wine?" a passing waiter asked politely, gently removing a glass from his tray. She scowled.

"No." Honestly, why couldn't people just leave her alone?

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Jance slapped his little brother on the back, "Merry Christmas buddy!"

The younger man staggered forward for a few steps and barely avoided running into a table. "Thanks Jance," he muttered, glancing around warily. "You know, that girl over there's been staring at you for the past five minutes."

Jance looked across the room. "You'd be the one to notice that, wouldn't you Erol? You just can't stand the fact that for once I've got the attention of a girl."

Erol rolled his eyes, "'Bout time. Hey, Jance?"

The older man slung his arm around Erol's shoulders, leaning on him, "What?"

"What was it you'd been wanting to talk to me about earlier?" Erol asked, giving his brother an irritated look.

Jance didn't reply immediately his dark eyes darted around the room. "Not here." He grabbed Erol's wrist and dragged the redhead over to a more secluded corner of the room.

Erol sighed, rolling his eyes, "Honestly, Jance, you think this is more private?"

Jance shrugged before putting his hands on Erol's shoulders, "I'm only telling you this because you're my brother. I can't do this. I can't live under Praxis' rule and not do something about it. I've found a lot of people who share my view."

"Hang on, you can't mean what I thin-"

"Shush," the older man interrupted, pressing one of his fingers to Erol's lips. A passing waiter gave them a very odd, look. Jance didn't move his hand. "You know what I mean."

Erol pulled Jance's hand down, "The resistance?" he hissed, horrified.

"Yes."

"Jance, tell me you're kidding. Tell me this is a bad joke." The younger man practically pleaded. "You can't join the resistance. Do you have any idea what they'll do to you if you get caught?"

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Don't worry? Don't worry?" Erol repeated, "How do you expect me to pull off that stunt?!" He grabbed his brother by the shoulders, "You could get killed."

"And you won't? You're a Krimzon Guard, that's just asking for it."

"You're opposing the Guard, that's suicide!" Somehow Erol managed to keep his voice low, "I can't lose you. You're all I've got."

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The young woman stared wide-eyed at her target. He was in a relationship? With a man? He had a gay lover? Why hadn't anyone told her that Jance was into guys? WHY!?! Well, flirting was out of the question, which was all the better for her. The idea of flirting with a guy like Jance disgusted her, as it did with every guy. "Thank god," she murmured, "I'm saved."

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Jance blinked, "How do you figure that?" suddenly he smiled, "You realize, if anyone was listening in on this, they'd come to the conclusion that we were in a relationship. And my secret would be out." He gave Erol a concerned look, "But I don't get what you mean."

"Honestly," Erol rolled his eyes, "You've got Dad, and his wife, and their kids. I don't."

"Sure you do."

"You weren't disowned by your father for choices you made. At least you have someone who cares."

Jance looked at him, "You know I care."

Erol sighed, "Which brings us back to the root of the issue, if I lose you," he trailed off.

"I keep telling you, that's not going to happen."

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She felt the bile rise in her throat. "Oh lord, oh lord, oh lord…THIS IS DISGUSTING!!!!" she mentally screamed while trying to keep from throwing up. It was warped, crazy, unnatural and just plain wrong. If they were married, which seemed to be the case, that meant…

Her stomach churned again as mental images danced in her head. "Not cool," she muttered, glaring at the bizarre couple. "That is so not cool." A particularly vivid image of the pair kissing floated around in her mind, causing her to twitch violently.

"Are you alright Miss?" a nearby waiter asked, obviously concerned.

"Honestly? No," she told him bluntly. "But I'll have some wine, if you've got any left."

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Jance slid his hand from Erol's shoulder, down his brother's arm. "It'll be okay, I promise."

"Yeah, fine, sure." Erol looked over his shoulder, "I'm going to go socialize; you can't keep me all to yourself."

Before Erol could leave, Jance pulled his brother closer to him and gave him a quick hug around the shoulders.

Erol gave the older man a confused look, "What the heck was that for?" he whispered, leaning close to his brother's ear.

Jance smiled, "Just cause I love you." He whispered back.

Erol's eyes widened, "Right…I'm going now. I think all this 'resistance' stuff has gone to your head." He pulled away from his brother and walked away to talk to other people.

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"I cannot believe what I just saw," the young woman mumbled, shoulders shaking from shock. "They totally just kissed each other on the neck…EWW!" The last part was a tad bit louder, causing random passers-by to stare. "What are you looking at?" she snarled, making a few Guards leap away in shock. She grinned. Parties were fun if you stayed out of the way and watched…except, it seemed, in this case, which was just disturbing.

"How could he be gay?" the woman groaned, flesh crawling. She would so get Praxis for this.

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Jance stood watching his brother wander off into to the crowd of people. He shook his head, suddenly feeling very guilty over the compromised position he'd just stuck Erol in. He suddenly became very aware of a feeling like he was being watched, closely. He twitched.

His dark eyes cast about suspiciously as he tried to tell himself it was just paranoia. The feeling didn't go away. He glanced at Erol again, who was now standing next to Torn by the punch bowl seemingly engrossed in conversation. Jance felt the back of his neck prickle uncomfortably and spun around. That was when he saw her. The girl Erol had pointed out earlier, she hadn't moved from her spot and her eyes were fixed on him. She looked disgusted. Jance felt at a loss, what was he supposed to do, go over and ask what her problem was? No, that was more how Erol would have handled the situation. Should he just turn around and walk away? He couldn't do that either, not while she stared at him with such fixation, it would be impossible to pretend she wasn't there. A confrontation was inevitable.

Jance reached out and snagged a glass of wine off of a passing waiter's tray before taking a sip of his drink and beginning to walk towards the woman against the wall.

Her expression grew more and more bewildered and frightened as he approached.

He took a steadying breath, not entirely sure what to expect. He opened conversation with a simple, "Hello."

"Ummm," she said, giving him a 'what-the-hell' look. "Hey?"

He extended a hand, "I'm Jance," he said calmly, deciding to try and just be civil for the time being.

Biting her bottom lip, the woman tentatively extended her hand to take his. "Kaen," she said, voice suddenly cold.

"Charmed," Jance replied, giving her hand a quick shake. He attempted to get a quick gage on her personality, but it was difficult with so little to go off of. "Who are you with?" He asked, flicking his head towards the center of the room.

"Myself, thank god. I'm in the Guard, so I sort of have to come."

He raised an eyebrow, "Really? I never would have guessed. How come you're lacking the ink?"

"Let's just say," she smirked, "I'm not exactly legit." With a sigh, she added, "I'm Black Ops."

Jance smirked, "Fun. So you do what exactly, spy on people and then break into their houses to steal them in the middle of the night?"

"Not me. I work with the people MY people bring in to the detention center," she shrugged. "What can I say? I'm not into field work."

"I see. For some reason, I'm not particularly surprised," Jance paused and took a sip of his wine. "You can probably tell, I'm not in the Guard."

"Obviously, since you have no tattoos and you don't work for me. So who are you here with? I saw you with that guy earlier..." she stopped suddenly and made an odd face. Then, as if she could hold it back no longer, Kaen blurted out, "Are you two dating?"

Jance choked, "What?!" He shuddered, "Hell no," another shudder, "Don't be sick."

She raised her hands up defensively. "From where I'm standing, it looked like you two kissed, so don't judge me. It was warping enough."

"Eww. God..." Jance pulled a face. "I love him, but, eww... I guess that explains the weird look you were giving us."

"Not my fault you two made it look like all you wanted to do was make out! And how can you...how..." she hung her head. "I'm confused."

"Incestuous much? That's about the last thing I'd want to do with Erol," he paused, "How can I what?"

"Oh, you're brothers?" she asked, sidestepping the question. "You look nothing alike."

Jance nodded, "Yes. He's my little brother." He smiled, "I know we look nothing alike, I think it's part of the reason our dad hates him. Not that our other two siblings have much resemblance to either of us, I suppose that's only to be expected when it's a second wife," he shrugged, "Oh well."

"Your brother's hair irritates me."

"Nothing I can do about that," Jance said before quietly adding, "He's got Mom's hair."

She seemed to have not caught the last statement. "It's orange. I hate orange."

"That's not my fault. Do you want me to go tell him you hate the way he's genetically coded?"

"Go for it. Maybe it'll prepare him for the day I shave his head while he sleeps." She smiled a fairly genuine smile. "You two close?"

Jance smiled back, "Very," he sighed, suddenly sombre, "I'm all he's got."

"At least he's got someone," Kaen commented, eyes alighting with a dark flame. This was obviously a tender spot. "He should count himself lucky."

Jance looked at her, "I'm sorry about that. I can't begin to imagine."

"It's nothing. Not anymore." Despite her words, Kaen's body was as rigid as a board. "My family is history and the world is better for it." she leaned back against the wall. "I hate Christmas. Too much love and cheer."

"I like it. But it does tend to bring back memories I'd rather forget, though I somehow doubt that I've got anything on yours." Jance looked across the room at his brother, "It doesn't show, but it really gets Erol too."

"If you don't mind me asking, why? What happened?" Her face showed true concern.

"It's not really mine to tell, but you'd never get it out of him," Jance flicked his head at his brother. "He was eight, I was twelve, Dad had taken me out for," his brow furrowed in concentration, "I don't remember why, I just know we weren't home." He stopped, attempting to compose himself; it was obviously a sensitive topic for him as well.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I'm not going to force it out of you," Kaen kept her voice soft and gentle. "I don't want to make this harder than it is."

"Nah, I don't really mind, I'm just used to sidestepping it all the time, that's all," it obviously wasn't, but Jance continued anyway. "No eight-year-old should ever have to see that. While we were out a man broke in. He went after our mom. Violated her; then killed her. Erol saw the whole thing." Jance shook his head, "I don't think he's ever gotten over it."

Something dark and very sinister flashed behind her eyes. "I can imagine not." With a casual tone, she asked, "Did the man who did it get caught?"

Jance shook his head.

"That's too bad. I hate it when people escape justice." She took a sip of wine. "But it happens a lot, now that we're under a new government. Don't you agree?"

"The old government was better. This one feels," he hesitated, searching for the correct term, "Wrong, like a black mark on society. Damas was the best ruler I can remember this place ever having."

"So you don't like Praxis? Too harsh? Not harsh enough?"

"Too harsh. He's running a dictatorship; no one's free to think for themselves and the way everyone in the Guard is treated," Jance paused again, "He seems to be under the impression Krimzon Guards are a disposable resource."

"Oh, they mostly are. They bring it upon themselves. You seem to have enough common sense to stay out of the whole thing," she grinned, "Unless, of course, you're fighting against the Baron or something like that..."

He smiled nervously, "I'd prefer to keep my nose out of the power struggle."

Kaen raised an eyebrow, "You're not a bystander. I could tell that a mile away. You must have some part to play in all of this." She paused. "You can tell me. I'm not going to rat you out."

"How do I know I can trust you?" he asked sceptically.

"You can't," she said simply. "I can't even trust me. But, I hate Praxis. If someone is working to hurt him, chances are that I'll like them. Plus," she smirked, "Being my friend could ensure the safety of others." With those last few words, Kaen looked pointedly at where Erol was standing.

Jance felt his blood run cold, something felt very wrong about this situation. He inhaled sharply, "Lets say, theoretically, I'm going to join the underground, how much of a chance would you say they have against Praxis?"

"With help, quite good. Praxis is weak - I should know. If they could find only one insider with lots of power, they'd win this war."

Jance's gaze drifted towards Erol's general direction again. "You really think so?" He looked at Kaen again, "Let me put it this way, the resistance isn't completely out of the question for me."

"Well I could've told you that," she sighed, "So are you part of the resistance or not? 'Out of the question' doesn't really tell me all that much."

Jance sighed, "Yeah, I'm part of it," he looked away.

She smiled, a strangely cold smile, "Well that's interesting," she stopped leaning against the wall and set her glass down on the nearest level surface.

A shiver ran up Jance's spine, every danger sense in his body was going off. This felt very, very wrong. He was beginning to regret telling her that he was an actual part of the underground, and he was starting to get the sense that he'd just made one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

"Well, I gotta go." She smiled at him. "I'll see you later, Jance. I'll see you soon." And with that, the woman departed.

He watched her leave, rooted to the spot, unable to move. Petrified. The wine glass slipped from his fingers and smashed to the floor.

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Jance walked quickly through the door, slamming it shut behind him. He spun around to lock the deadbolt.

"Jance?" someone said behind him.

He spun around, eyes terrified. He let out a relieved sigh, it was just his father.

"Jance, I thought you were going to be a lot later."

"Yeah, I thought so, too. Is the back door locked?"

His father raised an eyebrow at his eldest son, "Not yet, why?"

"Um, no reason," Jance swallowed nervously.

"So, how was the party?"

Jance's eyes darted around the room, "Not bad. Where's everyone else?" he asked.

"They're all in bed; I was just locking up when you came back,"

Jance nodded absently, "I see."

"What's wrong? You're not acting like yourself."

Jance gave his father a wide-eyed look of fear, "Strange, I don't really feel like myself either."I, I'll finish locking up, you can go to bed if you want."

"Well, alright, see you in the morning Jance."

Jance watched his father walk away, before going to lock every door and window he knew of. He even went to the extreme of quietly slipping into his siblings' rooms and locking their windows as well. He slunk into his room last, eyes searching for anything that could have been out of place. He found nothing and began to change out of his formal clothes. As he lay down on his bed, Jance couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

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Kaen smiled darkly from her seat in the detention center. Beside her was a radio, which was giving her regular updates of her squad's position. They had already arrived at the house.

"Miss?" the radio squawked, "Permission to enter the premises?"

Kaen pressed a button lazily. "Go for it," she said, amused. Everything had worked out so well. In a moment, one single moment, the traitor would be knocked out and on his way to her.

Loud footsteps broke the silence of the street as the Black Ops members circled the house and got into position, which meant all exits were covered. Two others took out some complicated instruments and inserted a few into the deadbolt lock. After a few twists, the door popped open.

"We're in," one of the men hissed, hurriedly stashing the lock picks away. "Come on, let's get the perp. Miss Kaen hates to be kept waiting."

Beckoning at his partner, the man entered the dark house. The other Guards just stood patiently, sharp eyes searching for any sign of life or light that could endanger the operation.

"Coming," the second man said, following his friend inside. "Let's do this."

Silently the pair made their way up a flight of stairs, making a beeline towards a particular door. Before leaving base, the Ops had pinpointed the exact location of Jance's room, planning every step perfectly. The transmitter Kaen had attached to Jance's hand when they had shook hands had helped too.

The leader made it to the door first. Making no noise at all, the man opened the last barrier between him and the perp that was wanted so badly by his employer. And there he was, lying perfectly still on his bed. "Excellent."

The second man entered the room, now sure that the coast was clear. In his hand he held a black bag that would be used to cover the man's head as he was taken away. "He asleep?" the man whispered, leaning over the bed, face about three inches away from Jance's. "This could be difficult if he wakes up."

"Just do it!" his leader snarled. "We don't have time to be paranoid." His voice had an effect similar to that of a whip. In a moment the man had the bag ready to go and was about to throw it over the perp's head when Jance woke up.

Jance screamed, lashing out at the second in command. The back of his hand connected with the side of the man's face. He rolled quickly out of bed, feeling around on his bedside table for anything that could be used as a weapon.

"Shoot him!" the first commanded. "But don't kill him! Kaen needs the scum alive!" When his partner did nothing, he whipped out his own gun. "Stop and shut up! Don't make me kill you!" He knew that he'd already said that they couldn't kill Jance, but it was the first threat that came to mind.

Jance smirked, he wasn't stupid, if they needed him alive that gave him an advantage, if a somewhat small one. "Like hell!" Jance shouted at the man. Suddenly the reality of what the man had said sunk in, 'Kaen needs the scum alive.' She'd told, she'd been planning it all along. He froze.

Taking advantage of the sudden pause, the second in command threw the bag over Jance's head. "Gotcha!"

Without warning, a voice crackled over the man's radio, cold but pleased, "Finally. What took you all so long?"

"You!" Jance shouted, his voice muffled, "I should have known better than to believe anything you said!" He jerked, trying to free himself from the second guard. "Where is she?!" he demanded.

It was Kaen who responded, "In the detention center, waiting for you." She laughed. "I warned you not to trust me, but love got in the way. Dear old Erol, how will he react once he finds you dead?"

Jance stopped, struggling, had anyone been able to see his face they would have seen the hopeless and mortified expression on his face. "Erol," he murmured. "Oh god. I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"Fool," the woman's voice was icy and hateful. "Family is a waste of time. Now, I think it's time that you and I had a little talk. Cayden? Bring him."

The leader nodded at the voice and slammed his hand on Jance's head, knocking him out instantly.

"Let's go. Hurry up." He then turned and silently departed, his second only a few paces behind him, dragging Jance's unconscious body.