"You...you disgust me."

Daxter looked up at the blond who was glaring at him in disgust, with the girl Daxter had always hated and evied, Keira, hanging from his arms. The redhead just looked at them as tears fell from his eyes.

"Jak-"

"Don't. The conversation is over, Dax. I choose Keira as my long, life partner. Besides, she's better than you." Jak sneered as Keira giggled happily.

"But I love you!" He squeaked, tears still falling from his eyes as his cheeks became red. He didn't know if it was from anger, or embarrassment, but either way, Daxter didn't care. He was about to lose his best friend, the guy he'd only loved. Keira gave him a look of disgust, her nose twitching.

"Eww, Dax, you're gay? I've always knew you were a fag!" She snickered as Jak grinned evilly at the brokenhearted redhead.

"Jak, please-"

"Save it, I have nothing to say to you freak." Jak spat out before walking away with Keira in his arms, Keria's laugh being echoed around Daxter.

"Dax?" Daxter looked up to see a crying Tess staring at him. He was suddenly stricken with panic as the girl sobbed her heart out. "Why, Daxter? Am I not enough for you?"

"Tess, babe-"

"I thought you loved me!" She screamed, taking a step back away from Daxter, who'd moved foward.

"Tess, please understand that I-"

"Love Jak more than you could ever love me! Thanks for leading me on Daxter!" Tess shouted, glaring at him. Daxter nearly broke down.

"I love you both equally!"

"You can't have both! But don't worry, I'll make the decision for you." Tess stated coldly before walking away from Daxter, ignoring his plead to come back.

"Rat, it seems you can't do anything right." A voice snarled and Daxter glared at the redhead before him.

"Torn..." He growled. Torn glared at him.

"You are useless you know that? Jak is better off with Keira than he ever was with you." At this, Daxter looked shocked. He knew Torn hated him, but his hatred didn't run THAT deep, could it?

"What you are saying, Torn?" Daxter snorted, glaring. Torn matched the glare, which was even colder than Tess'.

"I am saying, you are better off dead." He said, and Daxter felt the wind get knocked out of him.

"He's right, my boy." Samos said, walking up to Torn and looked at Daxter with sad, disappointing eyes. "I think it was better if I had left you at the orphanage. As it seems, you carry danger everywhere you go."

"That's not fair!" Daxter cried out. "I'm not the one who'd pulled us into this mess! Jak-"

"Only did what you bullied him into. Keira is such a sweet girl and Jak is a sweet guy, let them have their moment." Samos said, glaring sternly at the redhead. Daxter watched helplessly as his world fall apart.

"That's...that's not fair...you can't seriously blame me...you were supposed to be family!" Daxter shouted, tears threatening to spill. "Why? Why do you hate me?"

"Don't worry, rodent, your troubles are far from done." A cold voice sneered and Daxter frozed as he slowly looked up to meet the eyes of Erol, who'd grinned insanely at him.

"I...I'm not Jak." He whimpered pathetically. "You shouldn't be here."

"No, but I'm going to do a favor of Jak that he should have done a long time ago." Erol said as he gripped Daxter's neck tightly, causing the redhead to gasp, tears flying from his eyes. "I'm going to kill you. Won't Jak be happy to get rid of one pest in his life?"

Daxter couldn't answer, whimpers escaping his mouth.

"Daxter?"

"Daxter!"

"Daxter, wake up!"

Daxter blinked his teary blue eyes as the vision of Jak appeared in his sight, looking worried. He rubbed his eyes.

"Daxter, are you alright?" The blond asked in a whisper. Daxter looked pale as ghost, more pale than usual, and was trembling slightly. The redhead nodded as Jak began rubbing his back in comfort.

"What happened?" Daxter asked, throat sore from some odd reason.

"You were crying, whimpering, and thrashing around in your sleep, begging to be let go." Jak answered before looking at Daxter with stern blue eyes. "Care to tell me why?"

Daxter open his mouth to speak, but suddenly closed it, unsure of how to tell Jak about his nightmare.

"I..." He started before choking on his sobs as Jak pulled him into his arms. It felt nice, Daxter thought as tears slowly stopped in their tracks. "I...I was so scared. I thought I lost you to Keira. I thought you would've hated me when I'd confessed and went with her, and you two would be so happy. Then, Tess, oh god," He sobbed. "Tess was so heartbroken when she realized I loved you more than friends. She thought I was leading her on, which, in a way, I kinda was, but at some point, I really did love her." He said as Jak hissed slightly.

"And there was matter of Torn. He was there and told me that I was useless and that I was better off dead. Samos actually agreed." Daxter gave a watery chuckle. "Even though I hate Torn and Torn hates me, I still see him as a friend; and samos as family. So, when he said that, and Samos agreed, I felt hurt and betrayed. I didn't know..." Daxter whimpered softly, but Jak continued to held him tighter.

"And...Erol..." At this, Daxter paused, watching as Jak had taken a sharp intake of breath, before nodding to the redhead, signaling for him to continue. "He...he tried to kill me, saying that I would make you happy if I just dropped dead. He said he was going to finish the job that should have happened a long time ago."

Dangerous sparks of Dark Eco flew across Jak's body and the blond was gripping him so tight, Daxter could hardly breathe, but all the while, still felt safe.

"He started choking me...I thought I really was going to die...and you wasn't there. I thought you didn't care." Daxter whispered and Jak looked at him sharply, blue eyes, almost black, narrowing.

"Daxter..." He growled out before forcing tilting the other's head up and kissing him fericely and nearly broke skin. Daxter whimpered as they broke apart. "For as long as I live, I won't let anything happen to you. Even if I have to fight off Dark Jak, there is nothing in this world that I will allow it to take you away from me. Not Keira, not Tess, not Torn, not Samos, and most definitely not Erol. I would rather lay down and die in the sand of the Wasteland than to let you get taken away." With that, Jak kissed his forehead, more gently this time. "And, I will always be there. I will protect you from anything, even myself. I can promise that." Daxter looked at him with tears in his eyes, though, happy this time.

"You mean it?"

"Of course. I love you, Dax, and I can assure you, your happiness is what matters to me the most." Jak said before kissing the redhead again. "Now, go back to sleep, and this time, try dreaming of happy thoughts." Daxter yawned cutely before snuggling up against the blond's semi naked body. Jak watched with half lidded eyes as Daxter began snoring away, hopefully no more nightmares.

Jak kissed Daxter on the forehead.

"I love you, Dax." And I will always protect you.

Dark Jak growled in agreement.

Protect mate.