Heartlessbyforce - LOL. Sorry, about the late update and I don't have that blocked actually. LOL. And thanks I liked chocolate chip cookies C: He could...but that'll be explained later. I was sad writing that part, Oh Alex... LOL. Sorry about the cliffhangers. Had a lot to do for the past month.

rachil - Aw, I feel like that during summer actually but school is evil...well sometimes.

random hyper person - LOL. Sorry about the REALLY late update. I don't really have an excuse except lack of motivation and stuff that I had to do for the past months.

Darke Eco Freak - Oh I'm sure she will eventually. Oh, that'll be eventually does get her memory back..maybe. Don't worry I won't leave a plot hole...well I hope I won't.

Berander - LOL. He's just in denial. And yes, yes it is. Thanks C:

ToonyTwilight - Thanks!

CRdragonPyro - LOL. True, true. Sorry for the late update.

Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter or anything else but Diana, Alex, Zackary, Zidane, Kaiten and Link.

Summary: Sequel to TALDB. After Diana death, Jak seems worst then when he had left the prison and with the town turning on him, he's sent out to the desert and saved by a rival, he finds something he never thought he'd see again...JakXOCXDarkXLight

THE REST WILL BE TOLD IN DIANA'S POINT OF VIEW.

Chapter 5:

The Beginning of Wonder and Inquisitiveness

I didn't understand at all.

That fight didn't make any sense to me and every time I brought it up, Alex would always brush it off and tell me it was nothing. I knew Alex could fight, very well. He seemed pretty calm and could easily get upset over something just like that but he would never physically fight someone. Sure that one time he called me a whore, but he wasn't really giving any effort to hurt me. Really, we were just rolling around in the dirt while he stopped all my punches.

I didn't understand why the blonde...Jak was it? I couldn't think of any reason he had to provoke Alex into fighting him. The weird part was that the Dark Eco feeling that came off of him before was much stronger when I stopped them from fighting. It was like he had Dark Eco in his body or something and it reacts every time he got anger. That was another thing that was confusing. I don't remember someone like him from the village, and even if he was, his hair or his eyes would have to be purple - which they weren't.

Alex was silent more than usual. He calmed down though - I could tell since his arm wasn't blinking me even in this sunlight. That reminds me...I have to get that cream from Jasmine. My skin's starting to burn which is weird since I've been out in the sun since I was born. It would only be like that if I was inside a lot and in the wasteland - that was hard to do.

"Hey," I started to say but he didn't look up at me and kept walking forward. "Where are we going?" I asked him. He didn't respond back. It looked like he was walking around blindly but at least he wasn't walking into things. "Don't ignore me!" I gave him a push and he had actually stumbled.

He turned around to look at me with widened blue eyes before he glared at me. "Why the hell did you push me for, idiot! I could've fell!"

"Are you saying a little 'whore' like me could make you fall?" I said mockingly, "I didn't know you liked to be dominated, your lordship."

I could have sworn I saw a blush on his face. "W-What the hell are you talking about!" He snapped at me. Did he just actually stutter? I'm shocked by these turn of events.

"I'm just stated the obvious." I said casually before I stopped walking. "Where are we headed?" I asked him once more. I wondered what he was thinking about to make him so deep in thought. It must of hurt him to think so much or something.

Alex blinked and stopped, looking back at me. "Oh. We're headed to the stadium." He answered.

"Wait, I thought you weren't judging him?" I asked.

His face turned sour at the mention of him. "I'm not." He answered hotly as he continued to walk. "I just want to see if he dies or not."

I stared after him before sighing, walking after him. "I should have guessed that..." I murmured lowly, walking beside him. "You're more Spargian than you are Kamelotian, you know that?"

"No, it has nothing to with that." He answered, as he started to walk over to the crowd. They were pushing their way in the arena. Is everyone one blood thirsty here or is it just me? "I just want to see him dead...even if it isn't by my hands."

I stopped walking. "...Really?" I said, looking at him in disbelief. "Why do you hate him so much anyway?"

"It's nothing." I let out a groan. I'm never going to get anything out of him, am I?

We didn't have to be in the 'pushing' line since Alex was royalty and all. We were given front row seats. They almost led us to the other rulers but I corrected him since Alex seemed to be too preoccupied with wondering how Jak would die. I still didn't understand. Jak seemed like a nice guy...he had an anger management problem but so did Alex and I put up with it. I just get the feeling he is - I'm not sure why.

By the time we got to our seats, the thing had already started. I guess everyone was only rushing in because this was the combat arena rather than the training part which we missed. Damas was sitting at the throne area with a bird...monkey thing that looks vaguely familiar to me. The crowd suddenly wentin an uproar. My eyes averted downward to the stadium to see Jak shooting off warriors away from him, some of them almost slicing him into two.

I didn't know why seeing Jak in the face of danger and almost getting killed frightened me. There has been a few of these battles and people die not that I approve or anything. I only met Jak just today and I feel some unearthly bond with him. I should be mad at him for attacking Alex - the lord of my previous village- but I didn't want to see him die.

Alex seemed to be into the show completely. He even told a few people to shut up. I never knew Alex was a sadistic guy like that but I guess it's only for those he really hates. He didn't look away one and looked rather disappointed when some bad looked like it was going to happen but didn't.

I was looking away most of the time and flinched at ever close encounter. The guys were really vicious in this area and much bigger than Jak even though Jak is pretty short for a guy. He seemed to be getting over powered and his bullets were slowly running out. Soon they were all gone and he had to resort to fisticuffs. That just wore him out more.

The ottsel on his shoulder was obviously scared with all that screaming and yelping he was doing. It made the crowd crazy. They were being cornered and Jak looked to the audience and glared. That was before he saw me. He looked relatively surprised before he started to glare I'm guessing at Alex who was glaring back. The ottsel made him look away to the people crowding around him. Suddenly I felt the surge of dark eco again. But this time he didn't look like himself. Not at all.

The crowd broke out into gasp as the sickly looking creature that Jak turned into started to lash out killing everyone in sight. He even made a show for the audience. He cut people open or threw only half of their bodies in the lava and tossing them on land to let them suffer. Most of the audience was horrified while seemed to go in complete shock.

I was surprised at myself. Sure I didn't expect to see Jak turn into this ... Dark eco creature but it was the fact that I wasn't scared at all. I was a bit grossed by all the blood all over the place. But I wasn't scared. Maybe it was because I knew he couldn't jump up to the roaring and pleased audience behind me. He looked like he was having fun, with that mad grin on his face though.

Even though I wasn't scared of him, when he looked to me I froze completely. From my angle his eyes were jet black - even the cornea. His hair was a pale-ish white and his skin was a lavender color. His nails had turned into long black claws that were now dripping with blood. The grin from his face faded and he seemed more pissed off then happy. That was towards Alex though.

His attention turned back to me, as if staring. A felt a slightly thump at my head for some reason and I could feel the dark eco in my veins...bubbling. As if it was trying to resurface something. But it was stopped as soon as he looked away to kill the rest of the people.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and gently placed my hand on my left arm, staring at it. It's weird...why was all my dark eco in one place? "Hey," Alex's voice snapped me from my thoughts as I looked over to him. He looked concerned. "You alright?"

"Y...Yeah I'm fine." I answered him. He didn't look like he believed me.

"Alright." He said. "Let's go." He got up from his seat while I stared at him with a questionable look. "Look, obviously you don't like being here to see hi-people get hurt. I'm not going to make you watch it."

I continued to stare at him. "Alex..." He looked my arm in his grasp and pulled me up from where I was sitting.

"C'mon let's go." He said as he started to lead us out of the stadium and back to the sand covered streets. It was much darker in the stadium even with the sun still beaming down on us.

"There you are." We turned our heads to see Elysia. I was starting to wonder if she was the messenger girl or something. "Lord Damas would like to request something of you."

Alex stared at her. "But isn't he in there watching?" He asked her confused by her words.

"It will be over very soon." She answered him while he briefly glanced back. He still wanted to see what was happening. "He has requested that you meet him in the throne room."

An irritated sigh came from Alex as he rolled his eyes. "Fine, Fine. I'll be there."

"I am to escort you both there Lord Nero." She said as he flinched. I'm surprised he's not used to that name by now.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." He didn't want to go. But we found ourselves in the elevator lifting us to the throne room. He walked off when we reached the top, looking around. "He's not even here yet."

Elysia had left us when we went on the elevator, saying that there had been something else that she needed to do. "Well, she did say that they were still watching it." I told him, walking over to the thrones.

They all looked the same except for Damas' - his was bigger than the rest but it was to be expected. Each had their own colors. Damas' was a sandy brown color, Lord Noctis had a jet black color, Lord Gaara has a dark maroon color and Alex had a royal blue color. Now that I thought about it, I've never seen Alex actually sitting in his throne. Not even once.

My thoughts were cut off by the sound of the doors opening. The first one to walk in was Felix. "Whoa, that fight was intense!" He said, throwing up his arms in the air with an excited grin on his face. "I didn't expect that guy to turn into...that thing! Whatever it was..." I wasn't sure why but I frowned at those words. "That was so pro!"

"Felix." Came the cool chilling voice of Lord Noctis. "Quiet down." He told him gentle while the blonde did as he was told. "Though you are right...in a more...crude way." He said, taking a seat at his throne while Felix dropped down beside him. "He is an essential asset to this city."

Lord Gaara and his bodyguard Hana were as silent as ever but the red head gave the slightest nod of his head, almost to the point where you couldn't even notice it and sat down in his seat, Hana beside him. Damas was the last to walk in. "Noctis is right." He said, walking over to his throne. "He indeed will be a good Wastelander."

Alex rudely cleared his throat, causing them all to look at him. "Okay, whatever. That's great and all, but what the hell am I doing here?" I walked over to his side. He was standing in front of his seat. "What do you want?"

Damas seemed to already expect him to be like this. "I have already told you that you will have to prove yourself useful in the time you will be staying here." He explained to him. "So you will be given the order to go out into desert and gather artifacts for me whenever I tell you."

"...That's gonna prove myself?" Alex said, starting at him in disbelief before rolling his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "Whatever. You act like its frickin' hard to drive a vehicle or something..." He murmured under his breath.

I lightly tapped his shoulder, causing him to look at me. "Well, the storms can easily rip you apart if you aren't fast enough." I told him while he started at me briefly with a surprised look.

"...Whatever, I've been through worst." He responded as he walked over to the elevator. "This shit ain't gonna bother me." With that, the lift went down and I ran after him.

"Hey! Don't leave without me, moron!" I called after him, squatting down. I could have sworn I heard him swearing at me but I couldn't make out what.

"Ashley." I lifted my head and turned towards Damas. "I believe he'll be fine for now. The other ones of your village wanted to see you in the infirmary."

I stood up, nodding my head. "I understand." I told him.

"...You're really different from your Lord, aren't you?" Felix suddenly spoke up, causing everyone to look at him. "Well, I mean she's polite and he's...definitely not-OW!" Noctis had hit his head with 'shut up' look.

I laughed slightly, grinning. "Yeah, that's Lord Alex for you. Nothing I can do really - I don't really mind actually." I wasn't sure why, but I felt like I was used to his attitude for some reason even though I've never met someone as rude as Alex before. "If you'll excuse me." I said before making my leave through the doors.

I'm supposed to meet Zackary and Zidane. I remembered them. They were my childhood friends in Kamelot. They were pretty over protective of me, so I was surprised that they would go out to the city without me. Those two never wanted to leave my side at the village. I wonder what they were talking about to Damas though. I don't think it was about me but...they did say my name, didn't they?

I stopped in front of the doors before opening them. The smell of medicine came to my nose. "Diana..." I heard a low murmur and I glanced towards my side. The twins were sitting there, the youngest looking at me while the oldest looked away guilty.

"Hey!" I said cheerily walking over to them before giving them a hug each. They seemed surprised for some reason. "I haven't seen you guys in forever." I sat down in the seat between them. "So what's up? Why are we in this place?" I asked.

Both of stay silence and I grew confused. They were never this silent unless something bad happened. Before I could say anything though, I felt Zidane hold my head in place and lift his own head up to examine the top of mine. "I thought so..." He murmured before moving his hands.

"There's no way to heal that." Zackary murmured, as he looked at my head too.

"What are you guys talking about?" There was still no response to my questions. It was as if I was invisible. A frown spread on my lips. "What's up with you guys...?"

Suddenly footsteps were heard and I attempted to look towards who it was. It was Jasmine. "Your head." She told me softly, seeing as the other two weren't going to answer me any time soon. "It has a terrible wound. The dark eco in your blood has stopped it from spilling anymore. Usually, this doesn't happen but you have an unnatural amount in the body; even as a Kamelotian."

"...So what does that mean?" I asked her as Zidane let go of my head gently, but I could still feel his gaze on my head.

"It means...if you start bleeding from your head again..." The older twin trailed off, clenching his fists as he gritted his teeth together. His eyes were shut tight as he looked away from me. He looked like he was about to cry.

Zidane gently placed his hand over mine. "...It means you're...most like to die." He gripped tightly as my eyes widened.

"What?" I said barely above a whisper.

Jasmine nodded her head. "You cannot slam you head against anything or that will most likely be the cause of your death." I could feel myself shaking slightly. "Normally, I would have been able to heal it but I can't since your body harnesses dark eco and I will purify you if I even try...which will also result into your death."

"So...whatever we do...I could die." I couldn't believe this. I didn't think I'd ever be this...feeble.

"Don't think like that, Di." Zidane said gently, trying to keep my positive but I wasn't sure what could at the moment.

"There is a way to heal you but we aren't sure if it will work." Jasmine said while I looked up at her, fear still ridden on my face. "Lord Alex; due to the color of his hair and eyes he should have both light eco and blue eco in his body...however..."

"What?" I asked unevenly. "However what?" I needed to know.

"He went through some experimentation through red and blue eco." She started to tell me. "But since his body cannot contain red eco it counteracted with the light and blue eco...which is the result of his arm. He wasn't able to use it until recently." She frowned, looking away. "But due to the red eco infused with him, the Light Eco was forced to take...what we call a 'slumber' where it stays in his body until it feels the need to come out."

"You're finding a way to help him wake it up...I'm guess." I said, calming down slightly but still scared. I don't even remember the last time I was this scared. I could die just by falling on my head instead of going on conscious.

"That's right, but we're having trouble getting him to come down here." She said, sounding exasperated.

"The experiments." I found myself saying as she looked towards me. "He doesn't want them to happen again...that's why he's afraid to come down here."

"Afraid?" Zidane and Jasmine inquired.

"He...has this fear of experiments." I had no idea where all this was coming from but I felt like I knew this. "Due to the results of his arm and the pain he had to go through...he doesn't want it to happen again."

Zidane tilted his head to look at my face. "He's...told you this?"

"No, no." I shook my head. "I'm not sure. I just...know for some reason." The twins looked at each other briefly before letting out a sigh. I wasn't sure what that meant but I had a feeling it wasn't good. "I'm not lying or anything, I..." I trailed off. "Just trust me, okay?"

Jasmine gave a small nod of her head. "I understand, Ashley." She told me. "We won't force Lord Alex to come down here, but that will only lessen your chance of getting heal." I'll deal with it. I don't want him to go through something he fears because of me. I was his bodyguard; I'm supposed to protect him. "We will look for another way for you to be healed...until then...please be careful."

"I will." I told her. She gave me a comforting smile and a small pat on my shoulder before walking back down the hall.

I was about to get up but I was stopped by the eldest Mousy who wrapped his arms around my shoulders, bringing me in for a hug as the younger one followed suit. This time, I was surprised. Zackary's arms were around me in a tighter than Zidane's as he buried his face into my neck. I could have sworn I heard sobbing and the repeated murmur of 'I'm sorry,' and 'we're so sorry'.

I sat there for a moment before lift my hands to their heads bringing Zidane down to the other side of my neck and Zackary closer. A small smile was on my face. "It's alright..." My voice slightly cracked. "It's not your fault." They only continued to chant what they were before.

We stayed like that for a while. I figured out it was Zackary who was crying loudly and Zidane crying silently. We had a small talk. Before we knew it, we were laughing and playing around. This is the way it's supposed to be. I wasn't going to die for sure, I just have to be careful of my head and make sure that I won't hit anything against it. But still...I couldn't help but wonder.

Where did I get that wound from?

And why don't I remember why?

Author's Note : SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE. REALLY I HAVE NO EXCUSE BUT I'VE JUST BEEN REALLY BUSY AND TIRED AND NOT REALLY MOTIVATED. That's the other reason it was supposed to be updated monthly and not every two weeks. Sorry about that. AND, this will continue in Diana's point of view because she is the main character, right? But anyway, thank you to those who have stuck to this story still despite my very, very, VERY late updates.