JKA: Whoo, longest chapter yet! :D I am amazed with myself right now, to be honest. I think this is the least amount of time its taken me to post a new chapter. Ah well, I wanted to get this finished and up today as a Valentine's gift to you all. ^_^ Thanks to the always reliable Mika and Marn for reviewing, you guys are the greatest. Seriously. :DD Usual disclaimers apply. Read, review, and happy Valentine's Day, everyone.
Oh, and to two of you in particular, hope you guys had a fun holiday. You know who you are. ;)
Chapter 6: Nightmares
Cold sunlight reflected off of the icy ground, blinding him with its glare. The sounds of deep snarls and pained howls alike reverberated in his sensitive ears, none of the cries even remotely human. The frigid air had no effect on his body as adrenaline coursed through his veins, the instinct to fight — to defend — dominating his every thought and action.
With a low growl, he leapt into the middle of the surging tide of creatures, their skull gems flashing in the piercing daylight. He struck down any opponent that came within three feet of him, using nothing but his bare hands and booted feet as weapons as he lacked any other form of artillery. Grim satisfaction surged through him as their lifeless bodies hit the ground, adding fuel to the fire of his bloodlust, his obligation to protect the one he cared for most.
Suddenly, the thick atmosphere of battle was shattered with a heart-wrenching scream, one that shot down his spine like an electric current and broke through the scarlet haze clouding his mind. That cry paralyzed him where he stood, all previous rage and desire to attack draining out of him and a bone-chilling fear taking its place.
The pounding of his heart drowned out every other sound and all rational thought as he cast a quick glance in the direction the scream had come from, feeling horror spread through his body like wildfire at the sight that greeted him.
There she lay, struggling vainly against one of the many monsters that had ambushed them as it attempted to rip her to shreds. Her efforts were getting her nowhere fast, for she was not a warrior, and the ivory snow around her was swiftly darkening with the crimson blood that flowed from countless wounds, creating a gruesome pattern on her pale skin. No familiar light remained in her emerald irises, but rather an overwhelming terror as the creature continued to gouge its claws into her flesh.
Another scream tore from her chest, and in an instant he was battling his way over to her, brutally disposing of anything and everything that stood in his path. When he was mere feet from where she was rapidly losing a war for her life, her gaze found his, sending a jolt straight to his heart as it always did.
Those deep green eyes held nothing but a quiet resolve as they bored into his, the emotion behind them never faltering, even as the monster lunged for her throat.
"Keira!"
"Jak?"
Jak's eyelids shot open, and he closed them again almost instantly, disorientated by the sudden darkness of the world around him. His chest heaved as he fought for breath, and a cold sweat drenched his skin, plastering his clothes to his body. Arctic air billowed around him, causing a violent shiver to wrack his frame as it came into contact with the dampness on his face and neck.
"Jak?" a soft voice beside him repeated, its tone laced with worry.
Hardly daring to believe his ears, Jak sat bolt upright, blinking open his eyes once more and shifting his gaze in the direction the voice had come from, immediately finding himself drowning in a pair of glowing emerald irises.
"Are you alright?" Keira asked anxiously, reaching up and laying one hand gently on his cold cheek.
For a long moment Jak said nothing, his brain struggling to process what he was seeing through the panicked fog that had overcome his thoughts.
Gradually, as the racing of his pulse calmed and his senses cleared, allowing him to focus, he realized that Keira was seated less than a foot away from him on the snow-covered ground. Her hair was tousled from sleep, and her gaze was anxiously searching his face, trying to understand what it was that had gotten him so worked up.
"Keira?" he questioned cautiously, still not one-hundred-percent sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
"I'm right here," the young mechanic assured him, stroking his cheekbone with her thumb comfortingly, concern radiating from her every feature.
Another tense heartbeat passed, and then everything clicked into place in Jak's mind.
It must have just been a dream, he realized, heaving a sigh of pure relief and noticing a subtle relaxing of Keira's shoulders in response.
Without warning, Jak leaned closer to his childhood friend and threw his arms around her, burying his face in her hair and holding her to his chest as if she would disappear with the slightest breeze.
"Keira," he repeated softly, his tone exceedingly tender and his arms tightening impossibly around her waist.
"Shh, it's alright," Keira murmured soothingly, returning his embrace and resting her head in the crook of his neck. "It was only a dream."
Jak pulled away slightly so that he could meet her gaze, blinking in surprise.
"How did you know that's what was bothering me?" he inquired, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
Keira snorted lightheartedly, smiling patiently up at him. "Please, Jak. We've been friends for sixteen years. I think I know you well enough by now to know when you've had a bad dream, not counting the twelve-odd years when you were mute and I had to read your eyes to know what you were thinking."
The dark warrior chuckled despite himself, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead.
"Bad dream," he scoffed, abruptly sobering up once more as images of Keira lying in a pool of her own blood flashed in front of his mind's eye, strong and fresh. "More like a nightmare."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Keira asked gently, placing her palm against his cheek again and running her thumb along his jaw sympathetically.
"No," Jak replied quickly in a tone that allowed no room for argument. His gaze flickered to one of the many trees surrounding the glade the two of them had spent the night in, attempting to avoid the compelling force of her eyes.
Knowing better than to try and press the issue, Keira instead chose to wriggle out of the circle of his arms, leaping to her feet and offering her hand to him.
"Come on," she encouraged when he glanced at her, one eyebrow quirked questioningly. "We've got a lot of ground to cover today."
Seeing the truth in her words, Jak took her hand and allowed himself to be hauled up beside her, brushing the snow off of his pants absentmindedly and taking the time to examine the forest around them for the first time that morning. The storm clouds churning overhead appeared dark as ever, showing no sign that they were going to thin out any time soon. It seemed as if a fair amount of fresh powder had fallen during the night, for it rose up a few inches higher on Jak's legs than it had the previous day. A frosty breeze whistled through the branches of the trees, dislodging the flurry that had accumulated there and adding to the crystals already falling in an endless barrage from the blackened sky.
His eyes narrowing determinedly, Jak reached out and twined his fingers through Keira's, and together the two of them exited their temporary shelter, heading out once again into the unknown.
A heavy atmosphere shrouded the tattooed pair of elves as they stood in the glow of the familiar twenty-foot-tall ottsel mannequin, — decked out in its Santa hat and coat — both staring blankly up at it as they contemplated the news they had to deliver. Neither of them had spoken a word to the other the entire trek back into Haven City's limits, too consumed in their grief to break the silence. Over the topmost edge of the city wall that encircled the murky port waters, the clouds were lightening the slightest bit, signaling the rise of the sun hidden behind their impenetrable shadows.
"How do you think they'll take it?" Torn muttered, putting speech to his thoughts for the first time in several hours. His gravelly voice was even more hoarse than usual from a combination of disuse and remorse.
"I don't know," Ashelin answered honestly, her tone hardly above a whisper. "How do you think you would feel if you found out your two best friends were dead?"
Torn shook his head numbly in reply, his fingers curling unconsciously around Jak's abandoned goggles where they were concealed in his pocket.
Inhaling deeply to steady herself, Ashelin strode towards the automatic doors of the Naughty Ottsel, strolling into the bar with her chin held high and her mouth set in a firm line. Her boyfriend followed a step behind, his posture tense and his expression unreadable.
The instant the entrance clicked shut behind the ex-KG duo, an orange streak darted across the room, skidding to a halt at their feet and gazing up at them with sparkling blue eyes.
"Did you find them?" Tess asked hopefully, her hands clasped in front of her as if she were pleading for something, anything that would provide some form of reassurance.
Ashelin and Torn exchanged a troubled glance, both of them reluctant to share what they had found with the blonde rodent.
"Where are Samos and the rat?" Torn questioned evasively, turning back to Tess and running a hand uncomfortably through his dreadlocked auburn hair.
"Daxxie's sleeping in one of the back rooms and Samos is over there meditating," Tess replied cautiously, nodding in the direction of one of the booths where, indeed, the Green Sage was hovering over the table, apparently in a deep trance. "Why?"
"Bring Daxter out here," Ashelin requested quietly, her words uncharacteristically soft. "I'll wake up Samos. There's something the three of you need to hear."
Tess didn't move, studying her friends' faces warily as if she could already sense what was on their minds.
Finally, the she-elf-turned-ottsel nodded once, dashing back the way she had come and disappearing into the hallway that led to the spare rooms of the Naughty Ottsel.
The city governess watched her go for a moment, and then she treaded over to where Samos was floating in his booth to rouse him. Torn pulled up a chair from one of the nearby tables and sat down in it, folding his arms over his chest, his ice-blue gaze fixed unseeingly on the floor.
"Ashelin?" Samos grumbled as the redhead woke him from his hypnotic state. "The only reason you should be interrupting me is if you have found my daughter and Jak."
"We've discovered something important," Ashelin informed him, biting her lip uneasily. "I'm afraid it can't wait."
His wise gaze easily spotting the sorrow that glittered deep within Ashelin's sage-colored irises, the elderly man did not bother to respond, sliding wordlessly off of the tabletop and thumping over to where Torn waited. He leaned heavily against his staff, eying the subdued couple as if he saw right through them.
A heartbeat of silence passed, and then Tess reappeared at the entry of the hall with Daxter in tow, the latter holding one hand gingerly to his forehead and scowling at the former.
"Tell me again why you dragged me out of bed?" Daxter complained, gritting his teeth as if he were in pain. "Need I remind you that I have one bitch of a hangover and I could really use some sleep right about now?"
"Shut up, Daxxie," Tess scolded him harshly, causing both Torn and Ashelin to glance sharply at her in surprise. Never before had they heard the bubbly ottsel speak so fiercely to her sarcastic boyfriend; the tense atmosphere that seemed to have entered the bar with the tattooed duo must have been affecting her. "Torn and Ashelin are back."
At those words, Daxter's head instantly snapped up, his eyes locking on Haven's ruler and her right-hand man. A faint glimmer of hope began to stir in that sky-blue gaze, sending a pang of guilt surging through both of the ink-covered elves to mingle with the grief searing their chests.
"Sit down, guys," Ashelin suggested hoarsely, clearing her throat in an attempt to steady her voice. "Torn and I have something we need to share with you."
"Where are Jak and Keira?" Daxter demanded immediately as he hopped up on a table near where Samos stood, Tess claiming a spot beside him as he took a seat on the edge.
"Well… about that…" Ashelin stalled, her focus shifting to each of her companions' expressions in turn, coming to rest on Torn's serious face. He nodded once, conveying a message of comfort to her that the others could not understand.
"Spit it out, Sweet Stripes," the pants-clad ottsel prompted, a frown dragging at the corners of his lips. "What happened to my friends?"
The answer leapt unbidden to Torn's tongue before he could stop it, tumbling out of his mouth without allowing Ashelin the chance to even consider how to respond.
"They're dead."
Silence. Not a single person in the room spoke, not even Daxter, who looked as if he'd just had the wind knocked out of him. It felt as if the very air had solidified, making it seem as though everything had frozen over, right down to the core.
Finally, the suffocating quiet was broken by one word, verbalized so softly that it could have easily been mistaken for a simple breath.
"No."
All eyes landed on Daxter, who seemed to have recovered from his temporary shock. His furry fists were clenched at his sides so tightly that his arms were trembling, and a fierce fire crackled in his intense gaze, clashing with the utter defiance plastered all over his features.
"What?" Ashelin asked in bewilderment, wondering if she'd heard the orange rodent correctly.
"No," Daxter repeated, fixing the slender woman with a glare that rivaled the one that had become an infamous trait of Jak's. "I don't believe you."
"If you think we're wrong, then how do you explain these?" Torn questioned monotonously, withdrawing Jak's goggles from his pocket and balancing them in his palm so that Samos, Daxter, and Tess could all easily identify them.
"So Jak lost his goggles, big deal," Tess interjected before Daxter could snap at the ex-KG, laying one hand on her fuzzy sweetheart's arm in an effort to soothe him. "I don't understand how that automatically marks him and Keira as dead."
"Think about it," Samos cut in grimly, his ancient stare locked on the familiar eyewear in Torn's hand. "When have you once seen Jak without his goggles, no matter what he'd been doing at the time?"
"Never, to be honest," Tess admitted, arching one delicate eyebrow at the old Sage.
"Exactly," Samos sighed, bowing his head as if he'd suddenly been overcome with grief. "So what reason could the boy have for losing them out in the forest, unless something had happened to him and he was no longer able to wear them?"
"That's what we thought," Ashelin agreed sadly, striding over to Torn and leaning against the arm of his chair, all of the energy draining out of her and leaving her feeling too shaky to stand.
"I guess you have a point," Tess conceded, misery beginning to trickle its way into her voice. "And if that's all you could find of them, even after a whole night of searching, then how can we hope that they're still alive?"
"Bullshit!" Daxter yelled suddenly, causing everyone in the room to jump — apart from Samos, who seemed to have succumbed into a silent state of remorse for his lost daughter and theoretically adopted son. "I know Jak and Keira, and there is no way in hell that those two would go down just like that! I can't believe you're all throwing in the towel just because you happened to pick up some stupid goggles! Are you all out of your freaking minds?"
With a furious snarl, Daxter leapt off of the table and stormed back the way he had come, heading in the direction of the spare rooms behind the bar. He paused in the entrance of the hallway, throwing a heated glare at each of his companions, all of whom were staring at him with wide, shocked eyes.
"You mark my words," the enraged rodent growled, jabbing a finger in Torn and Ashelin's general direction. "Jak and Keira are going to show up here, — either today or weeks from now, I really don't give a damn — defeating the impossible odds like they always do, and then I am going to laugh."
As soon as he'd finished speaking, Daxter whipped around and disappeared down the hall, leaving the rest of the group to watch the place he had vanished in stunned silence.
Frigid winds thrashed around Jak and Keira as they plowed their way through the ever-thickening snow — both on the ground and cascading through the air, assaulting their faces with bitter cold. The trees overhead rattled like a chorus of bones cracking against one another, and the harsh breeze whistled in their numb ears, drowning out almost all other sound.
"Jak?" Keira called over the roar of the storm, pressed tightly against the dark warrior's side as brutal shivers tormented her thin frame. "M-maybe we should just c-call it a d-d-day and find sh-shelter."
"No!" Jak shouted back, his eyes narrowed firmly against the gale. He had one arm wrapped securely around Keira in an effort to shield her from the worst of the blizzard while attempting to ignore the shudders that were rolling through his body as well. "We'll lose too much time if we stop now. Would you rather try and get as much ground covered as we can, and be back in Haven that much sooner, or wait out the storm and go at least another day without food?"
Keira opened her mouth to fire a retort at him just as her stomach let loose a feral rumble, reminding her forcefully of just how hungry she was.
"Y-you're right," she amended quickly, attempting to hide her face in the fabric of Jak's jacket in hopes that it would keep some of the frosty wind at bay. "The s-sooner we get h-home, the better."
Before Jak had the chance to reply, the forest ahead of them parted abruptly, revealing a seemingly endless stretch of smooth, snow-dusted ice beyond its boundaries — the lake.
As soon as the ebony expanse came into view, a small gasp escaped Keira's throat, the frightened noise nearly lost in the howl of the blizzard. She shifted impossibly closer to Jak's side, her fingers curling around his forearm in a death-grip and her trembling accelerating until it felt like one continuous vibration.
"It's alright, Keir," Jak soothed her, knowing automatically that the sight of the frozen water must have brought terrifying memories surging back to the teal-haired she-elf. "We're just going around it."
Sucking in a sharp breath, Keira nodded once and allowed Jak to guide her down closer to the lakeshore, pausing when they were still a good three feet from the edge and beginning to follow the curve of the ice.
"If we stick to the path of the coastline for about a mile, then we should end up just a few hours' distance from the city by the time we hit the trees again," Jak thought aloud, studying the border of the lake speculatively.
The young mechanic nodded again, her body still shaking violently against his and her eyes darting from the solidified water, to the tree line, and back again, as if she wanted nothing more than to put as much forest between herself and the lake as possible.
Suddenly, the undergrowth encompassing the redwood trunks higher up the bank began waving madly, far quicker than a motion that could have been caused by wind alone. Jak's acute ears picked up the sound of crackling branches instantly, and he whipped around with lightning speed to face the quivering bramble thicket, pulling Keira behind him and shielding her with his body from whatever threat may be lurking unseen.
After a moment the brush fell still, and a beat of silence passed, broken only by the constant shriek of the wind.
Out of nowhere, a colossal Metal Head burst from the bushes, a gruesome roar ripping from its chest. It was of the same breed as the one that had first attacked Keira not two days previously, its curved horn gleaming even in the dim light cast by the storm clouds.
A yelp of terror leapt unbidden from Keira's throat, and she stumbled backwards several steps, placing her feet blindly on the uneven ground, her only thought escape. Jak stood paralyzed in between her and the Metal Head, his impulse to attack the monster and protect the horrified girl behind him warring with his need to make sure that Keira didn't cause any harm herself in her panic.
His decision was made for him, however, when — with a grisly snarl — the Metal Head stamped its thick foot once and charged at him, its lowered head a clear indication that it planned to impale him on its horn. Muscles and instincts kicking into overdrive, Jak dove agilely out of the creature's path, soft ivory crystals kicking up around him as he dug his heels into frosty the earth, preparing to leap at the Metal Head.
What a fantastic time to forget my morph-gun at home, he grumbled to himself as he pushed off of the ground, soaring through the air and twisting around mid-jump to deliver a well-aimed roundhouse to his opponent's unarmored jaw. Not to mention I used up all my Eco stores on an effing mission for Torn before I came out here. Now what are the Mar-damn odds of that?
A furious growl brought his senses back to the fight at hand, and he ducked just in time to avoid another blow from the Metal Head, sparing his head the dreadful fate of being severed from his neck.
"Look out, Jak!" Keira yelled apprehensively, reminding the Eco-infused elf of her presence. Jak cast a swift glance at her out of the corner of his eye just to make sure she was alright, and then he did a double-take, pure horror sending every cell of his body screeching to a halt.
In her frightened rush to flee from the Metal Head, Keira had unknowingly wandered out onto the surface of the lake, so that now only a sheet of ice separated her from the sub-zero waters beneath her feet.
"Keira, come back!" Jak called frantically, the Metal Head forgotten as he raced down to the edge of the lakeshore, his gaze locked on Keira's slender form, standing all alone in the middle of a barren stretch of blackness.
For a moment Keira simply blinked at him, confused, and then she seemed to realize just how far out she'd gone. With a startled cry, she began sprinting towards the bank as fast as the slick ground would allow her, catching herself on her hands every time she slipped.
Unfortunately, her actions had not gone unnoticed by the Metal Head. Jak caught a flicker of dark gray movement in his peripheral vision, and it took him a moment to comprehend that the monster had stormed out onto the lake, making a beeline straight for Keira.
Before Jak had the chance to register what was happening, an earth-shattering crack resounded throughout the forest, echoing off of the nearby trees and causing the Metal Head to skid to a clumsy stop. Three pairs of eyes — whether elfin or otherwise — zeroed in on a large split that had formed in the ice, no doubt caused by the armored creature's overwhelming weight.
As they watched, the fissure slithered its way across the surface of the solidified water, zigzagging in two different directions — one end headed for the exact place the Metal Head stood, the other speeding straight towards Keira.
Letting out a whimper of obvious alarm, the monster that had caused this mess in the first place wheeled around and bounded back the way it had come, scrambling onto stable ground quicker than one would have thought possible for an animal of its bulk. It disappeared into the safety of the woods within seconds, leaving nothing but twitching undergrowth in its wake.
The flight of their enemy went unnoticed by both Jak and Keira, the latter of which seemed to have frozen where she stood, watching the crack in the ice snake its way toward her.
Making a snap-decision, Jak launched himself off of the shoreline and sprinted out onto the frozen lake, all thoughts of his own well-being banished to a dark corner of his mind as he made a mad dash for where Keira remained rooted in place, her emerald irises glittering with panic.
Almost there, Jak growled wordlessly, lengthening his stride as he raced the fracture in the ice, one hand extended to grab onto Keira the instant he was within reach of her.
Fierce relief surged through Jak's limbs as his fingertips brushed the fabric of Keira's jacket sleeve. One more step and he'd have her out of harm's way.
Just before he had the chance to grip onto the sapphire-haired she-elf's arm, however, the split in the ice darted jaggedly beneath her feet and — with a bone-chilling scream — she plunged into the arctic water below.
JKA: Ah, suspense. It drives me nuts to read it, but it's just so much fun to write! XD Oh, and I apologize if any of you thought that Daxter may have been a bit OOC, but hey, how would you react if someone told you your best friends were dead?
Anyways, you all know the rules. Reviews, please, or you shall never know what happened to Keira. Mwuhahaha.
Oh, and Mika, I have a little surprise for you. Type in this link (and take out the spaces): jakndaxlovingirl. deviantart. com/#/d39boq5. Hope you like it. ^_^