The Ways of Eco Chapter 1, a jak and daxter fanfic

What Brings You Back - Chapter 1

The rebuilding of Haven City after the war was no easy task. The sheer destruction that occurred through the duration of it all was well…catastrophic. But the citizens knew that as soon as the tower fell. It was only made more obvious when the KG robots started to attack, and further parts of the city were taken over. The sector that was taken over by the metal heads-the farming district- cut short the food supply to such a degree that rationing was speaking lightly of the situation. The city was all but cut off from the few mining facilities that processed dark eco so there was a shortage of power, to the parts of the city that still had access to it. Haven was in ruins. Physically and economically. The bazaar was destroyed somewhere in the process of all of this, probably when the supports for the tower went, and as one of the main revenue producers for Haven besides the arena which was also abysmally destroyed, there was no money coming into the city to rebuild. With the government in shambles, it was mostly every man for himself in restoration.

Somewhere in this distress, life began to fall back to something resembling normal. With Ashelin in charge of the city, and Torn managing the Freedom League, the city was coming back to life. Using Titan suits, the streets were somewhat cleaned up near the port and the connecting roads, the sectors were slowly reestablished, and shelters were made to house those displaced.

Though it was against his wishes, Jak returned to Haven. While the hero would have preferred to stay in Spargus and create a new life there, there was much to be done back "home." And as much as it killed him to admit, Haven city was technically his home, though it wasn't the home he remembered. Haven took place of the lands that were his home, but it wasn't Sandover. It wasn't the warm beaches, or the lush green forests. The happy villagers, or the welcoming shacks he remembered. This place was a wretched excuse for a city. But, then again it housed the people he loved. The people that made it a home. His friends, his family were here, and that's what always brought him back.

The night he came back to the metal covered city, was a rainy and chilly one. One thing he had come to enjoy was the dry weather of the desert. Sure it got a bit too hot every now and again, but it was predictable. In this city, Jak's Wastelander attire just wasn't cutting it. With a shiver, Jak hopped off the Air train and scanned for a nearby zoomer. Finding none readily available, and with little to no traffic above, he resolved to head for the Naughty Ottsel on foot. Daxter whom was now huddled up on Jak's shoulder, gave a shiver as a gust of wind slammed into them.

"Yikes! I'm gonna freeze my tail off in this joint!" he whined. "I knew I hated this place."

Jak remained silent as he pushed through the wind across the port bridge to the right of the Air train. As the cold settled in he picked up the pace to a light jog towards the brightly lit mascot (with its newly replaced head.)

As the duo, well, Jak that is, ducked into the warmth of the vacant Naughty Ottsel Tess poked her head up from behind the bar from what seemed to be a nap. The ottsel blinked sleepily as she brushed half-heartedly at her hair to try to tame it as she tried to identify her patrons. When she realized who the guests were she let out a joyful gasp.

"Daxter! Oh my Cuddle Bunch is that really you?" She says climbing up onto the bar.

"That's right baby, your Poopsy Bear is back!" Daxter replies with a sly grin.

As Jak got closer to the bar the ottsel leaped from his place on his shoulder to join his girlfriend. Before taking her in an embrace, he shook the rain off his fur from head to tail, promptly soaking Jak who had just settled onto a bar stool. Not wanting to ruin their moment, Jak restrained himself from swatting the Ottsel off the counter and settled with a discontented growl.

The two ottsels embraced for a moment and the sweet nothings started up. The kind that Jak usually tried to zone out during. So while the ottsels muttered about love, their evenings apart, and how difficult it was to survive without one another, Jak set to drying himself off as best as he could. Surprisingly, the rain had soaked through more than he initially thought. He set to wringing out his scarf, and emptying out his boots, right onto the bar floor. Though Jak did have some manners, apparently it hadn't crossed his mind that creating a dirty puddle on the floor of an establishment was somewhat frowned upon. This went unnoticed though as the owner of said establishment was currently smooching with his honey.

Jak, who then had been sitting awkwardly trying not to ogle the two, cleared his throat trying to get their attention.

"Uh, Tess you got a com around here somewhere?" The blonde said in the couples' general direction.

"Ya, There's one just behind the bar here," Tess spared a moment.

Jak's communicator had finally taken a shit out on a Sandshark ride a couple days prior and hadn't been able to find a replacement since. He had resolved to take care of that issue along with the rest of his business here in Haven. Jak went around to the back side of the bar and easily found the communicator in a holster hooked to the side of the interior wall behind a couple unmarked bottles of booze.

The ottsels broke apart for a time to redirect attention on the blonde who now had the communicator, and a bottle of alcohol he had found to his liking in the past, moving back around the bar to have a seat.

"What do you need that for?" Tess asked only partially interested.

"I need to get ahold of Kiera, so that we can find Samos. I have a few things a want to talk to him about…" He trailed off in thought.

When the ottsel didn't reply Jak uncorked the bottle of the light colored liquid and took a swig to even out the slightly awkward moment.

"Ah, good idea Jak, time to unwiiiiiind a little. Us heroes need to find some time to relax a little and enjoy ourselves," Daxter said with an eyebrow waggle.

Tess giggled, as the orange weasel leaned over the edge of the bar clinking through bottles to find something to his liking.

"Ooooooooo, ya," came a slightly muffled voice. "Tessy look what I found!" The ottsel presented a smaller sized round bottle tinted slightly green. A dark liquid sloshed around inside of it as the ottsel hauled it up to sit between the two of them.

"Remember that night after I saved the city from the Dark Makers? That was quite a hot night wouldn't you agree?" He said with another eyebrow waggle.

Jak rolled his eyes with a smirk, and walked towards the exit with communicator and bottle in hand while the female ottsel asked for yet another recount of the heroic actions of Orange Lightning. He peered out the doorway into the street the rain had come to a drizzle, though the wind hadn't let up. He switched the com device on and dialed in Kiera's number. Jak took another good gulp from the bottle. This stuff was good. Just the right amount of burn. Perfect for a cold dreary night in this dead town he mused. The communicator rose into the air to hover in front of him waiting for an answer.

Kiera picked up after only a couple rings regardless of how late it had already gotten. Jak imagined her sitting in her workshop welding her newest zoomer project. He had enjoyed watching her work the few times he had stopped in at the shop. She always had the most determined look of concentration when she was working on those rigs. Even back in Sandover, she had that same look. Out of everyone, at least Kiera had seemed to go unchanged throughout this entire ordeal. But, Jak knew she wasn't in her workshop. Hell there was no arena for her to have a workshop in anymore.

"Hey, Tess! I'm kind of busy at the moment, I have a mech suit down that I'm trying to get repaired for tomorrow so it's going to have to be quick!" She answered in that all too familiar voice. Jak gave a half smile.

"Kiera, it's me," he paused a moment. "I'm back in the city, I had to borrow Tess' com."

"Jak, I…when did you get back? We haven't heard from you in weeks." She sounded worried as she replied.

"Ya, my communicator took a shit and I couldn't find a replacement. And just an hour or so ago."

There was a moments silence and then the mechanic spoke again.

"It's good to hear your voice again, Jak."

"Ya, yours too…" He felt an ache in his heart. He knew it wasn't fair to her to always being on the move, and to never be able to contact easily.

Kiera stayed quiet seemingly unsure how to continue so Jak continued.

"Look, I…I want to get together sometime. Maybe we can talk? I also need to find your father."

"I would like that. Maybe tomorrow? I have to return this suit to Torn's guys but then I have some time…and I think he's probably over in Dead Town. They've cleared away enough debris that he was able to get back to his old hut! We are working on rebuilding it for him. What do you need him for?"

"Tomorrow's great. And I need to ask him a few things."

"Okay, well I'll meet you at the Ottsel when I'm done with the delivery." She replied almost hesitantly.

"Got it. See you then." With that he recalled the communicator.

Jak glared out across the port, the hazy lamps casting an almost warm glow onto the dark waters. The rain had stopped and the wind was slowly dying down. The clouds were still heavy and loomed above the city. Jak knew he left things kind of open ended with Kiera when he left for Spargus last time around. He wanted to resolve things with her, to make it right. He really did feel something for her, but… the way he was now, he wasn't sure he wanted her to feel the same way for him. For the longest time, he wanted to be with Kiera, but even with the light eco to even him out, he still had times where he would lose control. Even over small things. The dark eco had such a grasp over him at times that he knew it wouldn't be safe for her. And he couldn't risk that. That's why he needed to find Samos. This was the last option as far as Jak was concerned.

With new determination, Jak rounded, striding back to the bar. One more swig from the bottle he'd been holding on to and he left it on the counter as he turned back towards the door.

Daxter in the meantime had been enjoying his down time a little too lavishly and had a few bottles of different alcohols that surrounded. Through his drunken stupor he noticed Jak leaving.

"Hey, wher- you goin' there hotsot?" The ottsel slurred.

"Finding Samos, I'll be back later," replied without turning.

"Okay, I think I'll jus- stay here. Don't *hick* git wet now, HAAAA!" The ottsel yelled a little too loudly for the distance.

Jak chuckled shaking his head at his friend's remark.

In a slightly better mood, the blonde exited the Naughty Ottsel and with a stroke of luck, found an abandoned zoomer just down the street from the warm glow of the bar. Jak hopped on the light blue zoomer and revved it to life. It had been a while since he'd had the chance to drive a zoomer, it'd been all Leapers and terrestrial vehicles in the desert, but now he was gonna have some fun. The familiar fire of the engine started to hum as he propelled the vehicle forward and immediately switched hover zone. He immediately sped up and rounded the corner to get to the old slums section of the city. Last time he had seen the city, this whole sector was blocked off by a fallen support cable, but now surprisingly enough there was a clear path through most of the industrial sector. As he drove past the piles of rubble that remained he did have to switch hover zones a couple times to get below fallen pipes or sky walks, but never slowed his speed. This was the sort of stuff he lived for. The adrenaline that came with driving at break-neck speeds was exhilarating. You just can't get that on a Leaper Lizard.

When Jak finally got to the slums which were a little more worse for wear than before, he slowed the zoomer as he neared the airlock door that led to Dead Town. Switching back down to the lower hover zone, Jak turned off the vehicle and dismounted heading towards the barely lit entry way. He was relieved to hear the hiss and clank as the door began to open. It would have been a pain to find another way out there. As the door slid open, Jak entered and waited for the second door to open. This one had had a little more damage to it and made a metal against metal grinding noise as it attempted to slide open. It got about half way when Jak decided to just head on through and save it the pain of attempting to open all the way.

He remembered before that getting to Samos' hut was no easy task, but he did get to use the Titan suit which made it worth it. This time though, it seemed like an actual path had been made to get directly to the area he was needing to get to. It seemed they had been focusing on rebuilding this section. Jak wondered if Kiera had any hand in this, and then shook the thought off as he began at a jog, moving along the new, albeit rickety path. Getting to the shack took noticeably less time this time around, and when Jak arrived at the structure, he was amazed to see how much work had been done to it. It still had a good amount of work that needed to be done to restore it to its former glory, but it no longer looked decrepit. There was a faint green glow shining through one of the small porthole windows. Jak took that as a sign that Samos was still around.

The boards leading to the hut groaned under Jak's weight- a little more miserable sounding than he had remembered- but continued till he stood just outside the doorway. The blonde peered inside the hut curiously to see Samos reviving some of his old plants with green eco. The eco swirled around the sage's hands in a lazy spiral of twists and curls, until it reached the plants where it seeped into the stems and leaves. The plants grew with vitality as more green eco was infused into their cells, one of the plants produced small exotic looking blue flowers as it was brought back to life. The sage himself had a radiant green aura as he floated in place channeling the eco. Jak noticed the smell in the hut wasn't as musty as it was when he had retrieved the life seed so many months ago, but was now filled with the life power of green eco. It was the smell of peppermint, and wildflowers, the air of a warm summer day, the brine of the ocean. This smell was home. The atmosphere of the hut had changed completely as well. The eco filled the air with a feeling of cool mist, gently settling on the skin, reawakening the senses. This was how Jak remembered the house he grew up in, and though it wasn't brightly lit, and there was no low hum of the warp gate vibrating the glass bottles on the shelves, and the sound of waves crashing and gulls crying just outside was now silenced, he could for a moment remember it all.

And at once it was gone. Jak realized he had closed his eyes in his memories of home, now opening them he found that the flow of eco had stopped. The sage's green aura had dimmed slightly, and he was still. Samos lifted his head as if feeling Jak's presence and turned still floating where he had been tending to his plants.

"Jak!" He exclaimed in his perpetually disapproving tone, having realized the youth's presence. "Holy Yakow, where have you been?! You and that fur ball run off whenever there's heavy lifting to be done!"

"Nice to see you too Samos." Jak cracked a small smile as he stepped into the dimly lit hut. "You guys have put a lot of work in around here."

"No thanks to you two knuckleheads! Speaking of which where is Daxter?"

"He's back at his place a little preoccupied. Besides, I kind of needed to talk to you about some things…alone" Jak replied casting his gaze down to the floorboards feeling Samos' scrutinizing regard.

"What's this about? I do have quite a lot to get done," Samos still floating moved closer to where Jak was still staring at whatever interesting thing had caught his attention on the floor. How strange, he hasn't acted that nervous about something for years he mused.

"Well, I was thinking… the world is saved. Spargus is back up and running, Haven is being rebuilt, the metal heads have fallen back- I haven't seen any in weeks- everything is settling down, and… I don't really know where I fit. Even Dax, he has Tess now and when we are in the city, he has the bar to "run," and I… don't really have anything." He chanced a glance up at Samos who seemed to be contemplating something but didn't give any indication that he was going to speak, so he continued.

"All I had ever known was Sandover. We adventured, we defeated Gol and Maia. We get here, and I have two years of my life destroyed in that prison, I get out and it's a battle against the metal heads. We did the missions, we defeated Kor, we sent my younger self back in time…" he paused for a moment grimacing. "Then the city blames me for everything and we're banished to the wasteland to die. I come back to find that it's an all-out war zone here, so we dealt with that on top of the Dark Maker's trying to destroy the planet. But we killed Erol, defeated the Dark Maker's, destroyed the KG war factory, pushed back the remaining metal heads and once again, saved the world. I've fulfilled this destiny or whatever of mine and now… I don't have anything to do!" Jak's emotions started to get the better of him so he began pacing around the hut. "I've poured my entire life into saving this damn planet and now I'm lost! A few months ago, everyone had these expectations of me, and always had something for me to do, and now I don't even need to be in contact with anyone because they're all going back to their normal lives. I don't have that! I have nothing to go back to…" He realized he was breathing heavy at this point, and beginning to shake. An anger was rising in him that he knew needed to be calmed. The blonde stopped pacing and waited for Samos to respond while focusing on calming down.

For a moment all was silent except the youth's breathing. Finally, in a voice so quiet it could almost be considered tender, Samos spoke.

"So, what would you like to ask me Jak?"

With one more soothing inhale Jak answered.

"I just need a purpose. And while there's many things I'm sure I could do to help here, and in Spargus, I think that there is something that I'm meant to do or… would like to do."

"What is it my boy?"

Jak lifted his gaze to Samos' and set his jaw with a look of pure resolve.

"I want to become an eco sage."

AAAaaaand that's it! Chapter 1 or whatever this ends up being. Please let me know if you would even care to read more. my style of writing is boring and im trying to jazz it up…

much love

~toastyWhat Brings You Back - Chapter 1