JKA: Alright, well it took longer than I'd expected, but here's chapter two. ^_^ Thanks to the ever-reliable Mika for reviewing, and I hope this chapter is satisfactory. I think it's safe to say that my plan to have this finished by Christmas has offically died and gone to hell, unless I somehow manage to whip the rest of the chapters out in... nine days. But, it will be finished by New Years, that is a garuntee. Usual disclaimers apply. Read, review, and enjoy. :D
Itallics = flashback
Chapter 2: Stranded
"Are you alright?" Jak asked the sapphire-haired woman beside him, one arm slung awkwardly around her shoulders.
Keira shook her head numbly, leaning up against him as if she were too exhausted to support herself.
The two childhood companions had miraculously managed to find a secluded cave where they could shelter for the night, and Jak had worked to patch up the entrance with snow as soon as they'd arrived to keep the blizzard outside where it belonged. Now, the duo was sitting with their backs pressed against one of the rocky walls, both too uncomfortable to even think about sleeping. Keira's shivering had long-since subsided, although she still refused to allow more than a foot's distance between herself and Jak. Whenever he tried to move farther away from her, panic would flicker in her emerald eyes for reasons unknown to him, and he'd decided that it was best to just play along if his proximity made her feel more secure.
Jak glanced down at Keira, studying her blank expression worriedly. She hadn't spoken a word since they'd taken refuge in the cave, and the fact that he'd never seen her so downcast before had him more than a little on-edge.
A jolt of shock pierced the dark warrior as a single tear rolled down Keira's pale cheek, and she shifted closer to him, her fingers clutching his jacket in a death-grip.
"Keira…" Jak murmured, gently prying her hands loose from their stranglehold and pulling away so he could meet her sorrowful gaze. "What happened to you? How did you end up lost out here?"
For a moment it appeared as if the young mechanic weren't going to answer. She bit her lip hesitantly, breaking away from the intense force of his ocean-blue stare as she attempted to assemble her thoughts.
"I…" she began uncertainly, her sentence trailing away before it had truly started.
"Keira," Jak repeated a little more forcefully, his very limited patience already wearing thin. He mentally reminded himself to keep his temper in check; after all, Keira was the last person he wanted to be irritated with. "If you don't tell me why you're so upset, I can't do anything to help you." He touched the bruise above her eye with the lightest of pressure, frowning when she winced at the contact.
Another heartbeat of silence passed, and then Keira heaved a weary sigh, turning to meet his eyes once more. Jak felt a stab of remorse flood through him when he noticed the fresh tears brimming beneath her endless green orbs, along with the igniting of a simmering anger in the back of his mind. He hated seeing Keira so distraught, and he hoped fiercely that whatever had done this to her was something that would be able to feel his claws shredding it to bits.
"I was so stupid," Keira whispered, her voice scarcely audible and raw from lack of use. "When I offered to get a tree for Tess and Daxter, I didn't even think about the storm… I just wanted to help."
The urge to embrace her tugged at Jak's subconscious, but he suppressed it, knowing that would probably only succeed in making things twice as awkward as they already were. Still, the misery dominating her every feature made him feel as if his heart had cracked right down the middle.
"I didn't run into any trouble on my way out here," Keira continued softly, sliding her gaze to the ground absentmindedly. "In fact, it was actually kind of nice, seeing all the trees covered in snow, and the streams frozen over… But I shouldn't have come out here alone."
She paused, inhaling deeply as if preparing herself for what she was about to say.
"It was an ignorant thing to do, and Precursors know I learned that soon enough…"
Tiny white crystals spiraled ceaselessly from the dense cloud cover overhead, adding a touch of magic to the forest scenery around the young she-elf. Keira brushed her fingers along icy fern fronds that protruded over the path as she passed them, dusting off the fine powder that had accumulated on their leaves to join the rest of the snow gathered beneath her feet.
Glancing up at the swirling amethyst sky, Keira laughed brightly as a solitary snowflake landed on the tip of her nose, melting the instant it came into contact with her skin.
She had called Tess about an hour earlier to ask if they needed any more help with the decorations down at the 'Ottsel. Tess had informed her that Jak pretty much had everything under control, and the only thing they hadn't gotten yet was a tree. So, after Keira had finished up her work in the garage for the day, she'd gone out to Haven Forest to scrounge up a tree for her friends.
It's so beautiful out here, Keira mused cheerfully, hitching her jacket tighter around her shoulders to keep the chill of the biting wind at bay. Not to mention it's a nice breath of fresh air. I swear to Mar, I'm going to go insane living in Haven one of these days…
Heaving a content sigh, Keira continued following the practically non-existent trail through the bare woods, wracking her brains to try and remember where she'd seen pine trees growing the last time she'd been out there.
Abruptly, she reached a break in the densely-packed foliage, and emerged on the shore of the lake that resided in the center of the forest. An awed gasp escaped her throat as she took in the sight of the ebony expanse, its surface reflecting the darkness of the storm.
The entire lake had solidified into an endless stretch of ice, a thin layer of snow coating the top in patches. Keira gazed at it in wonder, her eyes widening and her breath catching in her throat.
"Wow…" she whispered to herself, slowly approaching the frozen water and pausing just at its edge. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she realized that the scene reminded her of Sandover — not in a déjà-vu sense, just the fact that she was witnessing nature at its most spectacular, something she'd thought she'd only find in the little village where she grew up.
The insatiable curiosity she'd acquired through her years of inventing kicking in, Keira took an experimental step out onto the ice, testing its strength carefully before she placed her full weight on her foot.
"You walked out onto a frozen lake?" Jak demanded, interrupting Keira's low voice as shock slammed into him full-force. "What were you thinking, Keira? It could have been thin ice for all you knew!"
The image of Keira crashing through a sheet of ice and falling into sub-zero waters flashed unbidden in Jak's mind, and he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, thanking whatever higher power that may have been listening that she hadn't become the world's prettiest popsicle.
"I was intrigued, ok?" Keira huffed, some of her old fire returning to her uncharacteristically dim emerald irises. "You would have been, too, if you'd stumbled across an entire lake completely covered in ice."
Her sudden spark of irritation vanished as suddenly as it had flared, and she sighed, letting her eyelids fall shut briefly.
"Of course, my own interest was the reason I ended up stranded out here in the first place…"
A broad grin stretched across Keira's face as she strolled cautiously out onto the lake, her feet sliding occasionally on its slick surface. She giggled lightly, ignoring the numbness in her fingers and face as she followed the curve of the shoreline, studying the ice beneath her to see if she could decipher the movements of liquid water under it.
She was so absorbed in her discovery that she did not notice the subtle rustling in the underbrush to her right, signaling that she was not alone.
Out of nowhere, a feral roar erupted from somewhere within the shadows of the woods, and a moment later, an indigo streak dashed out onto the solid lake. The sudden appearance startled Keira, and her foot shot out from under her, sending her sprawling onto her back, her head cracking painfully against the ice.
Propping herself up on her elbows and holding the back of her head gingerly, Keira glanced up to figure out what had scared her, and her heart nearly stopped when she was met a pair of soulless, glowing yellow eyes.
Jak had told her numerous stories about wasteland Metal Heads, specifically mentioning their massive size and petrifying strength. He'd even compared their stature to the bar sign at the Naughty Ottsel, saying that the desert monsters were at least three times as large as the replica rodent.
Unfortunately for Keira, she'd never seen a wasteland Metal Head before, so the giant creature that stood before her now was one of the largest and most horrifying things she'd ever witnessed.
The Metal Head was built like a tank, and had one long horn sprouting from the middle of its face, the ivory gleaming in the light reflected from the snow around it. Its four legs looked like they could easily crush human bone with the least amount of effort, and its skull gem glittered menacingly against its navy skin.
Another menacing snarl ripped from the Metal Head's chest, and Keira backed away in pure terror, stumbling over her hands — as she was still seated — and skidding on the ice. The Metal Head advanced on her, its horn lowered as if it were aiming to impale her.
Letting out a panicked scream, Keira leapt to her feet and sprinted away as fast as the less-than-stable ground would allow her, the hammering of her heart drowning out every other sound. Scanning the scenery whipping by her, she spotted the shoreline a few feet to her right and made a mad dash for it, the Metal Head's hot breath on her heels.
Keira's voice faltered as a solitary tear trickled down her cheek, interrupting her story. After a moment's hesitation, Jak pulled her closer and held her in a loose embrace, allowing her to lean her head against his chest.
"How did you escape?" he asked gently, trying to ignore the electric current that was jolting through his veins at her close proximity.
"I almost didn't," Keira replied under her breath, her words muffled by the fabric of his jacket.
A gasp of relief escaped Keira's lips the instant she felt firm earth under her feet, and she pushed herself faster, hoping to lose the Metal Head in the dense cover of the trees. She wove between the towering trunks, her teal hair flying behind her as the heavy footfalls of her pursuer echoed off the otherwise silent woods.
The young mechanic began to lose track of how long she'd been running, and yet the Metal Head continued to charge after her, its thundering strides never faltering. Her lungs and throat ached as she fought for breath, her legs burning with the exertion.
Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted off the ground, and it took her a heartbeat to realize the monster had caught up to her and hooked her jacket on its horn. She didn't even have the chance to build up a scream before she was being flung through the air, the wind whooshing in her ears and the snowflakes that insistently fell from overhead stinging her face and neck.
For a moment, time seemed to slow, and she felt as if she were suspended in a pool of water, her senses muffled to dull background ambience and her mind a complete blank.
And then, her body slammed into something cold and hard, and she let out a yelp of pain as she found herself tumbling down a steep slope, coming to an agonizing halt when she crashed into an outcrop of ice-coated boulders.
She squeezed her eyes shut as her body throbbed where it had been struck, salty moisture spilling down her cheeks.
In the distance, the roar of the Metal Head resounded once, and then the world succumbed into silence.
Fearful of moving in case the creature came back to finish her off, Keira curled her knees up to her chest and cried noiselessly, tiny crystals fluttering around her as she finally became aware of the cold in the air.
One thought flashed through Keira's mind as she lay there, shivering violently — or, more specifically, a name.
Jak…
As soon as Keira finished speaking, she buried her face in Jak's chest and began sobbing, holding him as if the world would end should she let go.
Jak simply let her soak his jacket with her tears, his arms still wound around her in a slack embrace. Words could not express how relieved he was that he had found her when he did, but warring with that relief was pure, untainted rage. He was angry with not only the Metal Heads for nearly killing one of his closest friends, but with himself for allowing it to happen while he was stuck as Daxter's personal laborer.
"Shh, it's alright, Keir," he muttered soothingly, struggling to keep the fury out of his voice. As much as he wanted to go out and murder every one of those monstrous bastards for hurting Keira, he knew that she needed him more at the moment. "You're safe now."
Several moments of silence passed, in which Keira continued to cry and Jak held her, his thoughts bouncing around frantically in his mind as he tried to come up with something else to say that would make her feel better.
Finally, the sapphire-haired she-elf's weeping subsided, although teardrops continued to pour soundlessly from her eyes.
"Thank you," she whispered huskily, her voice cracked and thick from the pressure of her emotions.
"For what?" Jak asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion as Keira nestled more comfortably against his chest.
"For coming to find me," Keira elaborated, sniffing quietly. The corner of her mouth twitched as a smile threatened to break out through her tears. "You know, when I was running from that Metal Head and avoiding being eaten alive, I wasn't trying to figure out some ingenious escape plan, or worrying about what would happen if it caught up with me. All I could think about was you."
Jak didn't quite know how to respond to that. He blinked rapidly as his brain tried to absorb this information, his arms tightening unconsciously around Keira.
She thought about me? he repeated to himself, feeling more bewildered by the second. What the hell is that supposed to mean?
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with a solid implication for that simple sentence. What reason could she possibly have had for thinking about him, of all things, when she was literally within a foot of meeting her death?
Well, whatever the motive behind it was, that didn't change the fact that a pleasant warmth flooded Jak's body in reaction to those words — a situation that only occurred when he was around Keira.
Sensing the awkwardness rolling off of the Eco-infused elf in waves, Keira wisely decided to change the subject.
"Jak?" she inquired hesitantly, fidgeting anxiously in his embrace. "What are we going to do now?"
"We're going back to Haven," he answered immediately, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"What? But that blizzard's practically escalated into a whiteout!" Keira protested, leaning away from him so she could meet his gaze. "Not to mention we have no idea where we are! How are we supposed to get back?"
"Please, Keira, this is me you're talking to," Jak snorted, flashing her a confident grin. "I'm the guy who saved the world three times in the span of five years, and the Grand Champion of Kras City. I think I can get us through a little snowstorm."
For a moment it appeared as if Keira were about to argue, and then she sighed in defeat, her resolve destroyed by the compelling force of his endless cerulean irises.
"Alright," she surrendered, giggling as his smile shifted from confident to absolutely heroic. "I trust you."
"Good," Jak laughed, ruffling her blue/green hair playfully. "In the meantime, we should probably get some rest. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
"Ok," Keira agreed easily, her less-than-pleasant experiences from earlier that evening having left her thoroughly exhausted. She wriggled out of the circle of Jak's arms and made to move away from him, but Jak grabbed her wrist to stop her.
"We should sleep together," he told her without thinking. Only when her face flushed ten shades of scarlet and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates did he realize what he'd said, and he instantly released her, jerking his hand back as if she'd shocked him.
"N-no, I meant sleep next to each other," he stammered, mentally slapping himself for his stupidity. "We'll stay warmer that way."
Some of the color faded from the young mechanic's cheeks, and she nodded in understanding, scooting closer to him again.
The two of them attempted to find a semi-comfortable position on the stone floor of the cave, avoiding eye-contact with each other due to Jak's brief lapse of unintelligence.
Eventually they settled on both of them lying on their sides, their backs to one another as they were too embarrassed to face the other direction.
"Er, 'night, Keira," Jak muttered, clearing his throat awkwardly and shifting as close to her as possible without actually touching her.
"Good night, Jak," Keira replied softly, her muscles tense as his body heat travelled through the small space separating them to brush against her back.
It was safe to say that neither of them got much sleep that night.
JKA: Just in case you were wondering, the Metal Head that Keira ran into was the kind you battle in the forest in Jak II, the ones that look kind of like rhinos.
Well, hope you all enjoyed that little filler nonsense. It was a bit shorter than chapter 1, but I can tell you right now that most of the chapters will probably fall somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 words. And I promise, there will be action coming up soon!
PLEASE review, or no chapter 3. ^_^
Thanks!
