I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters, nor do I own MTV. I only own Krane, Schorn and that damn failure of a band they have.
Edit: 06/21/07, I've gone back and changed a lot so please reread and enjoy. Many things have been added and chapters have been made longer.
Enjoy!
"Here are my rainy melodies, here are the songs I listened while the rain pounded down beside me as I waited for you to return."
A loud bass beat ran through a small room and made it feel as if the room itself had a rough, deep heartbeat. Behind a small glass window stood a group of four men who gathered around in front of a microphone singing the words heard through a young woman's headphones. Above the group of four men was a red light that read, 'recording'.
"My missing you is unbearable and I pray to see your face while I sleep."
A loud buzz entered the room with the four men, and then a voice. "That's fine," a young woman said who was sitting in front of the glass with a large panel of buttons and lights in front of her. "We'll cut it there."
Behind the glass with the young woman stood another young man who had his arms crossed as he listened through another pair of headphones.
"Aw come on!" one of singing males said from behind the glass. "We've been here all night! Can we get a break? Please Krane?"
The young woman hung her head and placed her forehead in herright palm. She was the one the man behind the glass was referring to. Her name was Krane, a young woman with black hair that stopped at her chin and dark brown eyes. A black shirt clung to her thin body, along with a pair of plain jeans.
"This album is due tomorrow!" she hissed. "Come on! I'll be cutting this all night long! I want to go home already!"
"So do I!" another band member behind the glass cut in. "I still haven't eaten dinner and it's eight at night!"
The third musician walked up to the microphone. "Krane!! I'm hungry come on! I can't sing on an empty stomach!"
"I think they deserve a break," the man near Krane said, removing his headphones as well. "They've been working since noon."
Krane sat back in her office chair. "Fine, you win Schorn. Let's order pizza for the band."
"Alright!" the men behind the glass cheered.
The band behind the glass had filed out to go the lounge room to eat pizza and play games while Krane stayed behind in the recording room with Schorn. But instead of speaking to her, Schorn began adjusting the controls on the recording panel until he saw fit.
"Shit." Krane shook her head. "This isn't going to work out well. This album was supposed to drop a week ago and here we are, still recording the parts we're missing."
"Don't worry!" Schorn said in a gentle tone. "We always get it done on time, it'll happen this time too."
Schorn was a tall, lanky man with a thin face to match the rest of his body. His dyed orange hair remained pulled back into a low ponytail while a few strands stuck out from the rest and framed his face. His eyes were a bright blue color and remained hidden through a set of purple contacts. His outfit was a simple tight black shirt and a pair of ripped jeans.
"Broken Mystics." Krane shook her head. "I honestly thought this time everything would go flawlessly. This better be a number one album for all the work I'm putting into it."
Schorn laughed. "We all hope it turns into a number one album. I'm late on my rent."
"Again?" Krane asked, turning around in her hair to face him.
Krane and Schorn had been trying to get their band, Broken Mystics on the number one chart for three years now. The band was made up of friends from high school and from around the small town they lived in. Because they had known each other through high school, the band decided to appoint Krane and Schorn managers, seeing how they were more responsible then the rest. At the time it sounded like a good decision but now Krane was starting to regret it. Her bills grew day after day, and it didn't seem as if the band was getting anywhere.
"You want a drink?" Schorn asked, heading towards the door.
"Yeah." Krane sighed. "It's the only way I'll be able to finish work on this album this time around. Maybe a drink will shoot us up to the number one spot."
"It almost worked last time." Schorn opened the door as Krane stood up and began walking towards him.
"Yeah a mention on MTV." She shook her head. "We need to put more money into advertising."
Krane walked out of the recording room and into a skinny hallway while Schorn gave a heavy sigh. "There goes this months rent," he whispered to himself.
Krane and Schorn walked into the room where the band would hang out during breaks to find the four boys lounging around a TV. The green room, or chillin' room as the band members called it, had been fitted with a large blue couch, TV, and microwave, all which had been purchased by Schorn and Krane. The room had a window in the far corner that had been covered by a black towel instead of curtains or blinds.
When Krane walked into the room, she found the band sitting in front of the twenty inch TV playing the Playstation 2 the band members had purchased a year ago. Even though it seemed to relax the other members, Krane found video games to be a waste of time better spent rehearsing.
"Again with that?" Krane asked rolling her eyes.
"Shut up!" the bandleader, Marco, said as he fumbled with the controller in his hands. "I'm busy thinking!"
Marco focused his brown eyes on the screen in front of him. He jumped a bit when a monster jumped out at him in the game and forced a large chuck of his black bowl cut hair to fall into his face. He hissed out in anger and blew upwards towards his forehead until the piece left his face.
Krane walked over to the group and looked at the screen to see what game they were 'wasting' their time with. As she watched the blond man on the screen move around, a group of insect looking monsters surrounded him. The moment it happened, Marco began screaming and wiggling his body around.
"Goddammed Metal Heads!" Marco screamed. "They're going to kill me dammit! I really, really don't want to start over!!"
Schorn came back into the room with a twelve pack of beer in his hands. He ripped open the box, grabbed a can, popped it open, and handed it to Krane who now stood behind Marco, waiting to see whether or not he lived.
"Thanks," Krane said towards Schorn who winked at her.
"Drinking again?" another band member, Rain, asked, looking towards Krane.
Krane took her eyes away from the screen and took a long drink from her beer. "Shut up, I work better this way," Krane snapped.
"SHIT!" Marco threw his controller down onto the floor and stood up. "Those piece of shit Metal Heads got me! SHIT!"
"Calm down it's just a game." Krane moved her right hand up and down. "You can do it again can't you?"
"Man you just don't get it!" Marco shook his head. "I've beat this game hundreds of times but I can't get passed this one part. I always have trouble with this part dammit!"
"Huh." Krane sat down on the floor beside the game system. "I wish you'd get this worked up about recording."
"MAN!" Marco sat down once more and took the controller in his hands. "One more time, just one more time and I'll get it."
"What crap is this anyway?" Krane picked up the game and looked at the title and the blond man on the cover. "Jak two? Discover the real Jak." She laughed. "Who writes this crap?"
"Shut up!" Marco hissed, putting his attention to the screen in front of him. "I'm concentrating!"
"Fine."
Krane stood up and walked back into the recording room without saying another word. Once she was there, she closed the door behind herself and looked towards the recording booth.
Every dollar of everything she made working at the local grocery store went into trying to make this band into something. These people were her friends, the only ones who still spoke to her after high school and now she was their manager. Krane wanted nothing more then to help these four, no five, people become something but for some reason the group seemed less ecstatic then she did. Money went in and out like water; there never seemed to be enough money to get anything done.
Shit. She thought as she walked over to her chair, and sat down. I really hope this is the album.
She moved towards the controls and buttons sitting in front of her and began to mix what she had into other parts to complete the song. Her hands grabbed the headphones she had been using a few moments ago and placed them over her ears once more. A gentle tune began to come through the speakers, then a hard bass beat that Krane bopped her head to. Then, the words came.
"I can't stand this missing anymore, I want to see you more then anything. I'd give every star in the sky just to hear your voice. Please find me before its too late," a gentle male voice said into Krane's ear. It was Marco, the only one in the group who was able to make his voice sound so gentle without losing key.
The Stars. Krane closed her eyes as she began to relax. I wonder what made Marco write a sound like that? Where did he come up with the title, 'The Stars'?
A hand came down onto Krane's left shoulder. She jumped and ripped the headphones from her ears as she turned around. There, standing behind her with a beer in his hands, was Schorn. He gave her a smile which made her sigh with relief.
"Why are you so jumpy?" Schorn asked.
"Nothing." She shook her head. "I was just thinking too hard."
"That's bad for you." Schorn walked over and leaned against the recording board and dropped a small square shaped object on the board.
"What's that?" Krane asked, looking over at it.
She answered her own question as she studied the box and found it was the cover for the Jak two game she had been looking at earlier.
"Marco kept getting angry so I took it away from him." Schorn laughed, as he looked away. "Sometimes he acts exactly like a child."
"Yeah I know."
Krane returned to the recording booth and began messing with the controls on the large board in front of her. She moved up one knob to the top and unplugged the headphones to allow Schorn to hear what she had just mixed.
"Are you going to burn the single?" Schorn asked as the beat began to fill the room.
"Yeah why not?" Krane sighed. "We still have to finish everything else before we do anything else but a single just might save our asses. I just don't have the ending that I wanted…"
Schorn blinked, confused. "Which ending?"
Krane leaned back in her chair. "The one we did the first time around, remember? The one with the bass and guitar beats? I really liked it and thought it would work."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
Krane shook her head back and forth. "It's my fault," she said. "I misplaced it…oh well let's just get this done and over with for now."
After pushing a few buttons on the large display in front of her, the song came on. But as the music played, Krane felt something strange happening underneath the board, for some odd reason it was picking up heat. She figured that it came from the fact that she had pushed all of the buttons to their limits to make sure that everything came out the way it should. The final CD started to burn the files while five other CDs put out every bit of information it had on it to complete the song which didn't help with the heat issue at all.
"Damn it's getting hot in here." Schorn fanned himself off with his right hand. "What's wrong with this thing? I've never seen it do anything like this before."
The recording board shook, and the case containing Jak two fell to the floor and broke open, revealing two discs inside. The shaking stopped, and Krane and Schorn let out a large sigh. If something happened to their recording equipment, they were more then just screwed.
"Shit that scared me," Krane whispered. "I'm not pushin' it that hard again."
After everything calmed down, Schorn bent over and picked up the two discs that had fallen out of the Jak box and found that they looked exactly alike. Both discs had no labels, no stickers, and the same shine on the bottom. Schorn knew right away that these were the types of discs that he used but why had it been locked up in the video game box?
"Hey," Schorn began. "I think one of these is the ending to our song."
"Why's that?"
"Because," Schorn sat up with one disc, "these are the kind of discs we use."
"I thought one of them was that dumb game." Krane blinked.
"Me too." Schorn shook his head. "Maybe Marco switched them, it wouldn't be the first time."
Krane pushed a small black button, and a disc tray popped open with the disc that had failed to burn a second ago. She studied the ruined disc for a moment, and then threw it across the room in disgust.
"Woah!" Schorn dodged the flying disc. "Watch where you're throwin' things!"
"Dammit!" She slammed her fist down onto the board. "Put the disc in, we need to finish this tonight. For Marco's sake it better be the right disc."
Schorn giggled. He loved Krane's temper. "Right."
The orange haired man placed the CD into another disc tray as Krane put a clean disc into the first tray she had opened. Krane lowered the buttons that had made the board shake before, and prepared herself for the worst. Once everything was in and ready to go, Krane closed the tray and began the burning process once more. Again the board grew hot and began shaking but the two ignored it the best they could.
Then a large blue hole appeared on the glass in front of them. The light the hole gave off caught the two's attention and made them look up in front of them. Krane's eyes grew wide as she moved away from the screen in her office chair while Schorn moved in front of her in case anything happened.
An enormous, ugly beast not of this world emerged from the hole emitting blue light with its fangs out in warning and its claws out towards the two people. On the top of the beast's head sat three bright yellow gems that matched the color of the monster's six eyes.
"What the hell," Krane whispered.
Fear tore through Krane's body. Adrenaline began pumping through her body but she couldn't move. Her body prepared itself to run or fight, but she couldn't move at all. No matter how much she wanted to move, something held her down.
"Another Rift Gate open!" the monster roared. "One more and I'll finally be done here!" It laughed.
"What the hell do you want?" Schorn yelled towards the monster.
The monster didn't answer. Instead, it moved its claws over towards the two and grabbed the both of them in one, quick swipe. Krane screamed as she was taken in one claw and Schorn in the other.
"Krane!" Schorn screamed out as he moved his right hand out to her. "Reach for me!!"
She moved her hand out to him. "I'm trying!" she whimpered.
Before the two could touch one another, the beast pulled the two in the blue Rift Gate. After the monster slipped through the gate, it closed behind them. Blue and white colors passed over the two as they reached for one another.
"Try harder!" Schorn screamed.
Schorn pushed himself over one of the monster's claws and touched Krane's outstretched hand. Their fingers interlocked with one another, and they formed a tight bond. Their eyes landed on one another and for some reason, in that moment, all of the fear in Krane's body left her.
"Schorn," Krane whispered.
His eyes softened. "Don't worry, I've got you now."
"Be lost within time!" the yellow eyed beast screamed.
The monster moved its claws back, then hurled Krane and Schorn through the blue and white coloring around them. The moment the being released Schorn, he moved over to Krane and hugged her with all of his might. She folded her arms in his chest, and prayed that whatever was happening, that they would not die.
"What the hell is going on?" Krane whispered against his chest.
He lowered his head onto hers. "Just don't let go," he whispered. "Just hold onto me, I won't let you go I promise!"
A small energy burst came out from the colors around them, and shot Schorn in the back. He yelled in pain as Krane looked up towards his face but before she could say anything to him, his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
"Schorn?" she asked. "Schorn! Wake up! Don't leave me!!"
Schorn's tight grip on her began to loosen. Krane began to panic and moved her arms out towards Schorn but it was no use. He fell away from her in what felt like a millisecond and disappeared into the blue and white colors beneath them.
"Schorn!" Krane screamed as tears came to her eyes. "Schorn!"
Krane closed her eyes and a white light overtook her body. She didn't see the light, but she hoped to God that she would wake up in the recording studio with Schorn and the others.
Krane's eyes shot open. But instead of the recording studio, she saw a bed hovering above her. She moved her hands around only to feel a rough blanket underneath her that made her arms itch. Nothing, she couldn't remember anything as her vision cleared, but the moment it did she remembered Schorn.
"Schorn!" She sat up and looked around. "Schorn!! Where are you!?"
"Be quiet!" a rough male voice said.
She turned her head to see a small room beside her with a table covered in various types of maps. Her eyes searched the room, and spotted a man, the one who had spoken to her. Black tattoos covered the man's face, from the top of his neck to the tips of his…pointed ears. Red dreadlocks covered his head but Krane's eyes remained focused on his cold blue eyes.
"Where am I!?" she yelled, looking towards the man. "Where am I!?"
"Sshh!" the man whispered as he stepped over to her. "You have to be quiet or I'm going to throw you back out onto the streets!"
Her heart began pounding away in her chest as her lungs filled up with air over and over again. She couldn't calm down, everything was hitting her too fast and she didn't understand anything that was going on. Her head was pounding and she moved her hand to her forehead. Flashbacks of Schorn falling away from her played in front of her eyes over and over again like a never ending nightmare that she couldn't escape.
"You sick?" the man asked.
"I d-don't know," she spilled out. "Where am I?"
"Haven City," the man answered, crossing his arms. "Where did you come from?"
She blinked. "I don't know."
"You don't remember?"
Krane did remember where she had come from but she just couldn't put everything together. She had no idea what had just happened and she didn't know where Haven City was. She began searching her memory for a city in the United States by the name of Haven City but she couldn't recall it at all. The man she was talking to looked strange but she figured that she had met weird people in the music business but as she looked back towards him, she noticed his ears.
Those aren't normal… She thought. He has elf ears! Where the hell am I? Just play normal, play like nothing is wrong, I have to get as much information as I can.
"Where did you find me?" Krane asked. "Was there anyone else with me?"
"No." The man shook his head.
"Damn." She looked away from him.
"We found you lying in the middle of the street. You weren't moving at all so a fellow worker of mine found you and brought you back here."
"Thanks." Krane laid back down into the bed and sighed heavily. "What's your name?"
"Torn," he answered. "Yours?"
She paused. She was about to tell him her real name but stopped. "Krane. Just plain Krane."
Torn gave a slight grin. "Get some sleep Krane."
"I-I can't sleep," she countered. "I want some more information. Please, tell me where I am! What's going on? Please!"
Torn shook his head. "Krane," he said with a sigh, "there isn't anyone awake to answer your question right now. Keep quiet and just try to get some sleep. You'll need it if you want to walk around tomorrow to get information."
"Fine," Krane said as she turned away from him. "Thank you…Torn."
Krane turned away from Torn and lay back down on the bed. All she could think about was Schorn but she knew that she had to get sleep if she wanted to do anything in the morning.
I'll find you Schorn. Krane thought as she drifted off into sleep. I promise I'll find you when I wake up.
R&R please!