-.-.-.-.-.
Chapter One: Awake
.-.-.-.-.-.
"It's empty."
Daxter hung upside down by his tail from the GE drip's stand and gave the green-stained bag next to him another poke. What little Green Eco was left inside it, however, stood fast in its refusal to enter the tube that led down to the furry creature's friend's body. His hairy orange face scrunched up into a scowl and he instead resorted to giving the bag a squeeze.
"Did yah hear me, yah old coots?" Daxter grunted as he tried to work more of the glowing green ooze into the tube with his thick little fingers. He craned his head back. "It's empty!"
"Can it, Rat!" both Samos' threw back in unison, the younger of which rubbed his forehead tiredly. Still unused to the echo, the Ottsel nearly lost his grip on the hanger and instantly scurried down from his perch, reasoning with himself that he was getting light-headed anyways.
"We heard you the first time," the eldest Samos continued. Clunking over to the blonde's bed side, the green-skinned sage gave the drip a quick examination before letting out a sigh. "And I'm afraid there's nothing we can do."
"Nothin' you can do!" Daxter repeated from his new post on the bunk above Jak's. "Nothin' yah…Yer Green Eco sages for the Precursor's sake!" The little Ottsel jumped up and began to pace on top of the bed. "Can't yah just…I donno, conjure up some more or something!" He waved his paws around vaguely as he spoke, a habit he had picked up at about the age of four.
"It's not that easy," the younger Samos replied for his wiser twin. "Green Eco is a natural resource that is, in this day and age, getting rarer and rarer to find. What little is left in its raw form is currently stored away for the entire city to use. My training as a sage is to learn how to shape it and channel it, not create it."
"Worthless!" Daxter cried, throwing his paws in the air. "Yah both are worthless then!" He darted down and hung from one of the rungs of the ladder connecting the two bunks and pointed a stubby orange finger in the older of the two sages' face. "All that preachin' you burned my ears off with for all those years is nothin' but a load Yakkow shit, yah hear me!"
"Why I oughta'," Samos swore, his green hand snapping up in every intent of back-handing the little creature.
Whatever violence that was about to happen, however, skidded to a halt when a heavy clunk sounded at the back of the room. Two log-topped noggins and one furry orange head turned to find the baron's daughter standing in the Underground's front door, one of her long legs set on top of a rather large Krimzon Guard crate.
"Eco troubles, boys?" the red-head asked before giving the crate a strong kick in their direction. It skidded across the floor before coming to a halt in the middle of the room. During its trip though the room, the top had flown off to reveal its glowing cargo.
"Where did you get this!" the young Shadow inquired breathlessly, bending down to rummage through the goods.
Ashelin cracked a small smile in reply. "It was just lying around the palace," she explained simply as the Shadow's twin joined his double's side to examine their new prize. "Don't worry," the Praxis went on to ensure. "It wasn't going to go off to any better cause, I can tell you that much."
"There has to be over thirty pounds of pure Green Eco in here!" both Samos' exclaimed. Again Ashelin smiled lightly, but now her focus was on that of a sleeping figure across the room.
"Only the best," she replied finally.
"BABY-FACE!" Suddenly something very orange and very clingy was stuck to Ashelin's arm. "You're wonderful!" the thing cried. "Magnificent! Beautiful! Glorious! I could kiss yah!"
Before it could make good on that promise, Ashelin ripped the furry thing from her appendage to find it to be Jak's personal rodent. Rather than being upset at his abrupt removal, Daxter grinned happily at the young KG. "Give us a hug!" he said, opening his arms to her. Rolling her green eyes, Ashelin instead sent the obnoxious Ottsel flying with a flick of her wrist. Landing gracefully on the desk across the room, Daxter gave his coat a brush. "I'll let that one go, sugar," the orange animal assured her mockingly. "Only cuz I know yah love me."
Ashelin, ignoring the Ottsel's reply, turned and watched as one of the sages fixed a new GE bag in the empty one's place. Almost instantly green liquid filled the drip tube and flowed downward into the sleeping body of the young hero beneath recently changed emerald sheets. Strangely, there was no change in Jak's face upon the eco's entrance into his body. His head still sat facing forward, propped up on the dirty pillow beneath it.
"Any change?" she asked.
"No," replied the Shadow, "none."
"Not a peep, not a moan," finished the other, elder Samos. "Nothing." Ashelin nodded and tried to keep her stomach from falling too far by crossing her arms.
"He hasn't even had any of his nightmares," Daxter went on to say. This caught the rest of the room's attention.
"Nightmares?" one of the Samos' asked, intrigued.
Daxter nodded his goggle wearing head. "Useta' get 'em a lot after I broke him outta' prison," the Ottsel explained. "Would toss 'n turn 'n mutter things in his sleep. But," he motioned to his friend where he lay in his bed, "he hasn't moved as much as an inch. If yah ask me, he's just catchin' up on lost sleep."
"That's terrible," Ashelin muttered, more to herself than the others in the room. She had known prison had been hard on the man but every day she learned about something new and horrible that had happened to him.
Bending down by his bed, she took Jak's hand in her own once again and simply took the young hero in.
No matter what she wanted, she had come into his life too late to save him. She knew that. The damage her father set out to do had been done and no amount of apologizes on her part could help.
Yet, it was the man her father created that she loved.
Bringing the hand she held to her lips, she closed her eyes and gave each finger a kiss for luck.
As if from some other worldly cue, the hand she held slowly closed around hers. Surprised, Ashelin opened her eyes and looked down at Jak just as his green eye brows slanted down and scrunched together. Still stunned, she didn't notice as the blonde's hand left hers to touch his head attentively before he sat up completely with a groan.
"J-Jak!" Ashelin cried. The man's face scrunched up once again as if her voice had sent a sharp pain through his head. He then slowly opened one of his murky blue eyes to find the source of the sound. Both shot open wide upon landing on Ashelin who was now beaming happily. "You're…you're awake!" she said, excitement in her voice. She leaned forward on the bed towards him, smiling widely, but, instead of him returning the grin like she expected, Jak's face took on a look of awkwardness and surprise. He backed skittishly away from her. "What's wrong?" she asked, backing off a little herself. The blonde didn't respond but instead darted his eyes around, as if looking for an escape route.
"It's good to see you awake, my boy!" the older of the Samos's cut in, floating over. Jak's face instantly softened and he let out a sigh of relief once he saw the sage, lips breaking into a thankful smile.
"Yes, good to see you," echoed Samos' twin. The grin on the young man's face instantly shattered upon the arrival of the younger Shadow. Much to everyone in the room's surprise, Jak then let out a howl of fright. His eyes flitted from one Samos to the other and back again before yelling again. The young hero rubbed his eyes, closed them and shook his head before looking at the two of them another time. Then he yelled once more.
And this time fell out of his bed.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" cried Daxter as he dropped from the top bunk onto his partner's head. Sparing no time, Jak yanked his friend from his head and held the Ottsel in front of his face almost as a shield before scooting back against the post of the cot he had just tumbled out of. "Whoa! Hey!" Orange Lightning yelped as he began to thrash and kick, not at all pleased at his buddy's new use for him. "Leggo of me! I said leggo!" Jak shook his head and pressed his face against his friend's fur.
"Calm down!" the older sage insisted. "Everyone just-"
"Jak, what's wrong?" Ashelin interrupted, greatly disturbed by the young man's behavior. She reached out a hand to him but the blonde instantly shrunk away from it and shoved the irritated Ottsel in her general direction.
"Would you please just listen?" Samos continued, making lowering motions with his hands.
"Jak, leggo!" Daxter screeched. "Yer gonna leave stretch marks!" Jak shook his head again and scrunched his eyes closed.
"Jak, what is wrong with you!" Ashelin cried, becoming frustrated.
"Would everyone please shut the HELL up!" Samos roared, slamming his blocked shoes onto the concrete floor. Instantly Daxter ceased in his thrashing, the Baron's daughter shot straight up in her seat on the bed and Jak peaked a blue eye around his fur covered friend. Glad that he finally gained everyone's undivided attention, the eldest sage adjusted his log before glaring down everyone in the room, besides his younger twin of course. "Now take a chill pill," he snapped. He then turned to the obviously frightened hero. "Jak, take a few deep breaths and for the love of the Precursors, put that filthy thing down, you don't know where it's been." Doing as he was told, the blonde dropped the Ottsel like a ton of bricks. Sending glares all around, the little animal at once scampered up on to another cot and began to fix his now wild mane.
"Now Jak," Samos continued in a soft voice as he bent down to the teen's level. "You may not realize this but you're injured, you've most likely reopened a few wounds and you knocked over a very nice GE stand my men worked very, very hard to get." Grabbing both of his arms, the sage then attempted to direct Jak back to his cot. The young man kept both eyes on the Green Eco sage as he did so, afraid what he might see next.
"Ashelin, if you would," Samos motioned for the woman to vacate the bed and, almost embarrassed, she instantly did so. The sage then set the teen upon the bed, his pale green hands not leaving Jak's arms. "Jak," he then said, "What did I say about those deep breaths?" The boy blushed and began to inhale and exhale deeply until his shoulders finally loosened and his hands dropped from their fists. "That's better," the sage praised, gaining a small smile out of the blonde. "Now, Jak, do you know where you are?"
For a moment Jak just stared at Samos in silence. Then the blue orbs began to drift around the room, pausing ever so often as if to take everything in. They spent quite amount of time on the zoomer that hung from the ceiling as well as on the younger Green Ego sage who had taken a seat behind the table that filled the center of the Headquarters. When Jak finally looked upon Ashelin, his gaze made her feel uneasy. He stared up at her with an innocent curiosity that had never been directed towards her before, studying her. Then he, sending her for another loop, cracked a small smile. Now put on edge, she quickly turned away and he, blushing, did as well and began search for Daxter. The Ottsel was found sitting in the corner, grooming himself and, seeing this, Jak laughed and stuck out his tongue.
Gross.
"Jak," Samos said, snapping his fingers to bring the boy back to the topic at hand. The blonde blinked and returned to looking at the former Shadow blankly. "Do you know where you are?" he repeated. Jak bit his lip before shrugging his shoulders and cracking an embarrassed grin.
Home?
"Where, Jak?" the log sporting sage repeated. "You have to tell me where!" He took a hold of Jak's forearms once again just as the young hero made a flustered expression.
Home! Home. Home. Home.
"This ain't Sandover, Jak," called Daxter as he galloped on all fours back over to the bed. "Not anymore." This caused the young man's eyes to grow wide.
"Daxter," Samos hissed. Jak cocked his head to the side.
Not home?
"Hey, that's what he was askin'!" the Ottsel snapped back, rising to sit on his haunches.
"What are you talking about?" Ashelin broke in, beginning to feel very uneasy by this whole display. "He hasn't asked anything! He hasn't even said a word!" At this Jak sent a glare towards her with a hurt expression she hadn't seen before. The hero then brought a hand up to his throat and, eyes addressing Daxter, ran the palm of his hand across it and then pointed to the red-head.
"Nope, she doesn't know," the fur-ball replied without missing a beat, his arms crossing over his chest.
Ashelin gave a confused look. "What?" she asked. "What did he ask?"
The Ottsel sighed before uncrossing his arms. "He asked if yah knew that he can't speak." Despite Jak's nod of approval, the Baron's daughter was not convinced.
"Of course he can speak!" Ashelin shot back. Jak's nod became a frowning shake of the head in protest. Seeing this, the Baron's daughter threw her hands in the air in an act of frustration.
"Daxter, what is going on?" inquired the sage behind the desk. Two furry orange ears shot up in surprise.
"Me?" the Ottsel demanded. "Why me? I dunno diddly!"
The next thing anyone knew, the room had erupted into another argument. Ashelin stood demanding answers while Daxter and both of the sages swapped insults in their typical fashion. And then there was Jak, perched on his bed who, glad the attention had shifted away from him somewhat, had taken up an interest with a strand of his yellow-green hair. After a few minutes of non-stop talking from everyone, excluding the blonde on the bed, Samos once again slammed his wooden heels onto the floor, demanding silence.
"This is getting us nowhere," the sage snapped, throwing his hands into the air. He then turned his attention back to Jak, as did everyone else in the room. After a moment of being stared at, the boy realized he was being watched and dropped the strand of hair he had been happily playing with and placed his hands in his lap. "Jak," Samos went on to say, "I have a few more questions for you. You don't have to say anything;" (at this Jak rolled his eyes) "you just have to nod 'yes' or 'no'." The hero nodded in understanding.
"Do you remember Sandover?" Samos asked.
Jak nodded happily.
"Do you remember your uncle that you stayed with?"
Again Jak nodded.
"Do you remember me, Samos?"
Jak nodded.
"And my daughter, Keira?"
Jak nodded enthusiastically.
"How about your friend, Daxter?"
Jak glanced at the Ottsel that had now made a place for himself in his lap and nodded.
"Well then, do you remember the day when you and your friend Daxter directly disobeyed my strict orders to NEVER enter Misty Island and ended up turning your friend Daxter into a filthy, flee-ridden rodent that later went on to infest my entire house for MONTHS!"
Both Jak and Daxter shrunk away as Samos' voice built in volume and gave frightened nods once he had finished.
Samos adjusted his spectacles. "Now then," he continued, "Do you, Jak, remember a place called Haven City?"
This time there was a pause in which Jak looked down thoughtfully. Throughout the silence, nearly everyone else in the room held their breaths. Finally the hero's baby-blues returned to making contact with Samos' and Jak shook his head 'no'.
Samos let out a sigh. "It's just as I've feared."
"You don't…" Ashelin trailed off, confused. "How can you not remember?" The young Praxis stormed over to the cot and leaned forward, placing her weight on her hands as she set them on Jak's knees. This made the other teen very nervous and he tensed. "Do you remember me?" the red-head demanded. "Ashelin. Ashe-lin." Jak gave a frightened shake of the head. "How about Torn? Or Vin? Or Krew?" The blonde shook his head for each name respectively, or attempted to as Ashelin's pace quickened with each mention. "Not even that old man, Kor? Say something Jak!"
"Ashelin," the strong hand of a younger Shadow gripped the woman's shoulder, attempting to pull her away. "Calm down."
"But…I don't understand," she muttered as she did so.
"It's quite simple, actually," the older Samos answered. "When our friend here," he motioned towards Jak, "was in that crash a few weeks ago and quite obviously smacked his noggin', he was not only knocked unconscious but also lost all memories of ever arriving in Haven City."
"Well, that sucks," Daxter said bluntly. Jak gave him a good natured shove.
"That's great," Ashelin cut in, "but you haven't explained why he hasn't said anything."
"Oh, c'mon, princess!" the orange Ottsel cried in frustration. "Do we gotta' spell it out for yah?"
"I'm not in the mood, rodent," she replied coldly, hand touching the gun on her hip.
"Calm down, both of you," Samos cut in.
"What's all the commotion?"
All eyes turned the back of the room towards the new, gravely voice. Torn sauntered in through the Underground's automatic door and paused once he noticed at a certain hero was sitting upright in his bed, conscious.
"Welcome back, Jak," the ex-KG said with a slight smirk. Jak stared blankly up at the tattooed arrival for a moment before cracking an awkward grin and waving.
There was a pause.
"What's wrong with you?" Torn asked bluntly. When the hero gave no answer, he moved his attention to one of the Shadows. "What's wrong with him?"
Daxter gave an exaggerated sigh and flopped back into Jak's lap as Torn was taken aside to get his explanation. "This is gonna be a long, looooong day." Jak nodded in agreement.