"The Sands of Time"
Chapter II
I took a walk around the world
to ease my troubled mind.
I left my body lying somewhere
in the sands of time.
But I watched the world float
to the dark side of the moon.
I feel there is nothing I can do...
Yeah.
~Three Doors Down, Kryptonite
Sand blew past Jak, tugging at his scarf, scraping along his face, digging into his eyes. He peered through the grit, watching as the dim outline of the blue transport pulled away and out into the desolate wasteland, until it was no more than a dot in the distance. He tried to obliterate the thoughts from his mind which told him he was alone; he was unsuccessful and sighed.
Blocking the harsh sun with the fingers that held the mysterious blinking device Jak squinted; the dust clinging to his form was gradually clearing. Lowering his hand slowly the renegade peered curiously at the precursor artifact, wondering why Ashelin had given it to him. It didn't look like anything special; had it not feebly blinked the device would have appeared to be merely a piece of scrap metal. Why was it so important to his survival? He didn't know. And why had she promised him he would be found? By whom exactly - the claws of death?
Still taken aback by the problems at hand Jak looked up as the wind ebbed enough for him to see a dull outline of orange; his heart leapt. Was it even possible?
"Daxter?"
It was.
The ottsel coughed roughly and waved away clouds of sand before curtly replying. "Don't thank me," he bit out. "I'm only here 'cause ya wouldn't last a second without me." His stance was tight, rigid. He didn't meet Jak's thankful glance, instead turned to Pecker. The elf had barely noticed the moncaw, being too preoccupied with his friend's sudden rescue.
He squirmed uncomfortably under Daxter's heavy glare, and turned to Jak for support. "Dax-" the youth began, but the ottsel deftly waved him off.
"Forget it. We have to get out of the sun now, or we'll never make it." He began to walk briskly never turning to see if he was being followed. Pecker looked curiously at Jak, unsure of their next move. Should they follow the furious ottsel? They didn't have to decide on their own, when instead Daxter called back in a enraged tone that Jak never thought could issue from his friend's mouth. "Are you guys comin' or what?"
Pecker ruffled his colored feathers indignantly but complied, propelling himself up in the air. Jak himself followed mutely, the sun already beginning to beat on the back of his neck.
It was silent.
Most would give up their left arm just to shut Daxter up, but Jak would have given almost anything to hear him speak.
Keira sighed, running a hand through her blue green hair. She hoped no one else could see how hard her hands were shaking; she didn't dare pick up her glass, although the numbing alcohol would probably help. Sitting next to her was Tess, perched on a wooden bar stool. Her leg bounced uncontrollably and Keira focused on that. Just don't think about it, just don't think about it. Tess shot her a sympathetic look and the mechanic forced a smile; she felt as though she could shatter.
Suddenly the doors to the Naughty Ottsel slid open with a clank! and Ashelin stepped through, her hair windswept and clothes slightly wrinkled. She wore a grim grin.
Tess quickly stood, nearly knocking the stool over in her haste. "Did he make it?"
A long pause; Ashelin ran her hands across her face.
"As far as I know. Daxter went with him."
Keira blinked slowly, letting the response sink in. A small smile- real this time -graced her features. Beside her Tess let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding in.
As long as Jak had Daxter, he would be alright. Keira felt hope... They both would come back to her this time.
Tiredly Jak looked up towards the sun, watching as it reflected off of the flat sand. Once or twice Jak had stumbled and almost fallen - whether from fatigue or being unfamiliar with the terrain he didn't know. But he was unused to the lack of weight on his shoulder even more than the difference of land.
A couple meters ahead of Jak walked Daxter who navigated the rocky dunes easily; his pace remained constantly fast. Not once did he turn around to look at his traveling companions. Gliding above his head was Pecker, who by this point had become annoyed at being ignored for the past two hours. He glowered down at the ottsel. "You know, this was all your stupid idea," he suddenly burst out. Finally the ottsel stopped walking. Grinding his teeth he spun around and began to shout.
"No, it was yours!" he screeched. "Only a bird brain coulda thought this one up!" The ottsel began began to flap his paws around in an imitation of the moncaw, his voice losing the slight drawl and picking up the exotic tone Pecker carried. "Let's go with him! We'll help, together!" With a snarl he dropped the impression and glared at the other hybird. "Ya mean we'll die together!"
No one said anything else after that, and Daxter made a point of walking even faster.
But very often the quiet would be too much for Jak and he considered speaking to him, wondered if the ottsel would reply or say nothing in return. It grew unbearable at times but Jak stifled it; if Daxter wanted to talk to him he would have. Alas, the youth felt guilty about what had transpired earlier, but nevertheless hurt - he had only been trying to protect his friend. Being dragged into his own messy affairs wasn't something Jak wanted to put the ottsel through again. After all, it was the elf's fault they were stuck in the current hell hole of a city to begin with- and -were now most likely going to die of a heat stroke or worse. But Daxter didn't see it that way.
After contemplating on whether or not he should approach his angry friend- it was impossible to tell for how long he had been thinking, time seemed to move slowly in the desert -Jak finally dragged up enough courage to speak to the sullen ottsel.
"Hey, Dax?"
"What?"
Jak cringed mentally at the tone of Daxter's voice, but forced himself to continue. "I'm sorry. You have a right to be angry." His voice barely rose above a whisper; he cleared his parched throat. Time seemed to halt completely as slowly Daxter turned to face him. An unreadable expression flitted across his face for a heartbeat and he opened his mouth to speak.
For a couple moments no sound out. The ottsel just moved his lips to words that he could not say, and at times Jak thought he would begin to talk but he didn't. His expression remained cryptic; never before had Daxter remained this calm under any circumstance. Then as suddenly as the strange mood had come on it ended, and he burst.
"THE HELL I DO!"
The ottsel leapt in the air in agitation, his small paws curled into fists. "I have every right to be pissed at you, you- "
The next words Daxter spoke were incomprehensible as he groped around for the right name to call his partner; his lips stumbled over wide varieties of curses and profanities he had gathered over the years. Despite his expansive vocabulary it seemed as though he couldn't find one offensive enough, so the ottsel settled for a loud snarl.
Pecker sat awkwardly, glancing between the duo from time to time, and ruffling his feathers nervously. He had a feeling he couldn't make it alone if the two killed each other. Thankfully the youth's temper had yet to kick in; Jak remained standing and said nothing as the ottsel continued his disordered rant.
"YOU HAD NO RIGHT JAK! NONE AT ALL!" Daxter stopped to breathe heavily and glared at Jak expectantly. The adolescent looked down earnestly towards his feet, refusing to meet his friend's eyes; the ground was hard and caked, and withered plants twisted forth from cracks.
"I know."
"You know?" The ottsel's paws clenched into fists as he began to shout again; Pecker shrunk back against a sand worn rock. Yeah. He had no chance of surviving this.
"YOU KNOW? WHAT THE HELL'S THAT S'POSED TO MEAN WHEN YOU FREAKIN' DESERTED ME JAK? WHEN YOU LEFT ME ALONE?" Daxter spun away from the elf and moncaw, seeming to veer off in the opposite direction they was traveling. "YOU JUST LEFT ME IN THAT EFFIN' NIGHTMARE!" Eyes narrowing Jak moved to stop him as an angry protest rose on his lips; left him? Left him? He was trying to protect him -but he didn't have to; the ottsel pivoted again, his eyes seemingly gone mad, they held no shred of sanity. "HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME JAK? FOR THE LOVE OF MOTHER EFFIN' MAR!" Suddenly the ottsel's voice cracked and his eyes returned to normal. Abruptly he stopped pacing and wrapped his paws around his chest. Jak felt his anger melt away as Daxter continued; the ottsel's voice was unsteady. "Why did you leave me Jak? What did I do?" Do you hate me for not saving you?
Light blue turned to face dark as Jak shook his head, denying the unspoken words. "No." I was just trying to protect you.
It was silent as the two stared at each other. Pecker watched mutely, afraid to get caught in between. Eventually it was Daxter that broke it.
"Well you didn't have to, ya ass," Daxter replied testily at last, although his stance relaxed from the stiff, livid pose he held moments ago. With the ice broken, quickly the ottsel scampered towards the youth and clambered up onto his shoulder plate, a sense of ease that hadn't been there before shown on his face. "I can take care of myself." There was a pregnant pause as Jak looked at him curiously. "Well of course I forgive you. But if you ever pull something as stupid as that again-" Daxter broke off quickly to smack the elf on the back of the head, "-I'll freakin' murder you with my own two paws. Got it?" Jak snorted in response, and as though nothing had happened he set off again through the dunes.
Astonished, Pecker quickly moved to follow the two, afraid of being left behind. Shaking his head in disbelief he watched the sudden perk in Daxter's ears and a lightness to Jak's step that hadn't been there before as the two returned to seemingly normal. Fate, he decided, was what held the two together so tightly. They were merely two parts of a whole, and the moncaw suspected the precursors had something to do with it.
It wasn't much later when Ashelin found The Shadow- she still couldn't get used to the idea of calling him 'Samos' -inside Onin's battered tent tending to a variety of plants. Bowing her head to the old soothsayer who sat praying beside a precursor idol the Governess cleared her throat. The old sage turned from his shrubs and returned his spectacles to his worn eyes.
"Is he gone?"
Ashelin nodded grimly; her hands felt cold. This stress - she couldn't take much more of it before she lost it. Was this how her father had gone mad? Had there been so much pressure that he cracked, fractured into a million tiny pieces? The governess shook her head and tried to block out her dark thoughts as Samos spoke again.
"And where's the rat?" Words meant to be said in scorn, without any feeling. But somehow sympathy found and slipped into the sage's voice; he cared.
Her response gave no hint she had heard the blunder. "Daxter's with Jak."
Suddenly a throaty, wheezing sound filled the tent. Ashelin looked in alarm towards Onin, afraid the prophetess had become ill. Instead she was laughing; tears of joy shone down her face and her hands remained clasped in a silent prayer.
He will be saved.
Meh. Much shorter than I originally wanted this chapter to be, was going to have it go all the way to meeting Damas. Then the writers block kicked in... As for the quote... Now that I think of it this song is where I got the idea from the title from, so see you guys? I have some shred of sanity.
So um yeah. More to come. Jak 3 is an awesome game, if you randomly stumbled upon this and like it well don't just stand here! Leave a review and then (only after leaving a review mind you) go buy the game. HURRY.
REVIEWS = LOVE
~Leia