Disclaimer: Naughty Dog owns, my name is not Naughty Dog. I don't own the song either.
Chapter the Seventh: The Finding Part III
A throbbing pain. Not the most pleasant thing to wake up to, not that this was the first time it happened. These days I always came home with something aching. But its not that bad, it just means I'm getting stronger. I've wanted to have more physical prowess for a long time, and I've hated myself for not having the drive to get it. Now it was a nessecity, I needed to be strong now. In more ways than one.
I moaned softly as I awoke. I felt a weight suddenly come onto my chest. It made breathing rather difficult.
"Sleeping Beauty awakes!"
Oh no...
I dared to open my eyes and saw a ridiculously huge grin in the middle of an orange face. That little perv! I bolted upright, knocking the little weasel to the floor, much to the surprise of everyone else in the room. Keira tried to make me lay back down.
"You shouldn't move around like that, you were hurt pretty badly."
Hurt? That's right, the shark. The shark attacked me and I was in that arena where Alex...
Daxter appeared to have recovered from the ride I sent him on.
"I think that ghosty guy learned his lesson. Never mess with the ladies when Daxter is on the watch! Oh, Jak helped a bit too. Red eco really packs a 'punch!'" He chuckled at his own very bad pun.
Jak knelt at my side, ignoring Daxter. /Are you alright?/
I noted a patch of Green Eco tied to my leg where the gash was. This would most likely take longer to heal than those cuts the plant gave me. I didn't answer. Not in words at least. You could say I used Jak's voiceless language. I pushed myself to my feet and limped outside. I heard the others move to stop me but I didn't look back. They must have understood.
Climbing up to Samos' watchtower, I gazed out to Misty Island. The backs of my eyes felt tingly and warm, the feeling quickly spread all over my eyes. No, I can't cry, I'm fifteen, I'm too old to cry. No, another side told me, you're never too old to cry. There are times when you need more strength to let yourself cry, because those are the times you should. But still, the tears wouldn't fall, no matter what I thought. So I did the only thing that could relieve me of the tears.
How will I start tomorrow without you here?
Whose heart will guide me?
All the answers disappeared
Is it too late?
Are you too far gone to stay?
Best friends forever, should never have to go away.
What will I do?
You know I'm only half without you.
How will I make it through?
If only tears could bring you back to me.
If only love could find a way
What I would do
What I would give if you return to me
Someday, somehow, some way
If my tears could bring you back to me
I heard my voice echo across the open water. I felt my tears fall in steady streams, and my leg throb with every passing second. My chest hurt from holding back the sobs as I sang, only letting the notes come through. I turned my eyes to the crescent moon in the sky. In my eyes, it was crying too.
If only tears could bring you back to me I'll hold you close If only tears could bring you back to me
I've cried here alone
So if you sail on home again
Waves of emotion will carry you
I know they can
Just let love guide you
And your heart will chart the course
Soon you'll be drifting
Into the arms of your true love
Look in my eyes you'll see
A million tears have gone by
And still they're not dry
If only love could find a way
What I would do
What I would give if you return to me
Someday, somehow, some way
If my tears could bring you back to me
And shout the words
I only whispered before
For one more chance
For one last ounce
Inside of me
That I would not of known
If only love could find a way
What I would do
What I would give if you return to me
Someday, somehow, some way
If my tears could bring you back to me
As the echo died, I let myself slump to my knees and my head dropped, facing the ground. I stared at the tiny discolorations on the wood where my tears had fallen. My throat felt dry from inhaling the cold night air, my eyelids were heavy, I felt much desire to close them. So I did.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
When they opened again, there was sunlight coming through a window. Wait, window? Do windows randomly float in midair here? No, I was back inside, with everyone but Jak and Daxter present.
"Where'd the heroic pair go off to?" I asked not bothering to sit up this time.
My question got me some attention, again my being awake was unexpected. Not to mention my voice was now rather scratchy. The price you pay for being out at night. Charlie was right next to me and spoke first.
"They took the Zoomer to go through Fire Canyon. They should be on the other side soon, and activate the Teleport Gate so we can go through to meet them."
"But I don't think you're going anywhere," Samos added. "You need time to rest and recover. Plus you seem to have a cold."
I gave him a confused look. "What makes you say that?"
Samos sighed and abandoned the plant he was observing. It was strikingly similar to the one I had fought only days ago, albeit a lot smaller and tamer. Not to mention no Dark Eco.
"Well for one, your voice sounds like someone stuffed a live spiny frog tadpole down your throat. Two..."
I began to inhale much more than the average lungfull, and unleashed an extremely loud sneeze.
"...if you're not careful, you could get snot all over the place."
I sniffed, trying to get my leakage under control. "Sorry."
The sage shook his head and plucked an ugly brown, sagging...something off of a table and tossed it at me. After fumbling a bit I caught it.
"Don't apologize, just get better quickly. That root will help a great deal."
I raised an eyebrow at the hideous thing in my hands. It looked like crap and smelled worse. I could only imagine the flavor. I turned to Charlie for reassurance, he just shook his head.
"Just eat it and get it over with."
I hesitated for a moment before squeezing my eyes shut and biting down on the root. It was worse than the look and smell combined!
"Yuck! This tastes like fresh yakkow crap!" I exclaimed, swallowing it as fast as I could.
"The nastier, the healthier, now eat it!"
I grimaced and grudgingly consumed the entire thing. After I had swallowed the last bit, the Warp Gate made a strange sound, like a bell mixed with a bee buzzing.
"The gate is open, come Keira, Charlie."
"Hold on, you're not leaving me behind are you?" I asked.
"Rest and recover! Was that not what I said?"
"Yes, but I can do that when we get there." I threw back the covers and got up again, wobbling a bit, Charlie steadied me.
"You stubborn girl, you can't go anywhere, you're sick as a dog!"
"If that was true, I'd be puking too, now I'm going with you. I can't just stay here alone now can I?"
The sage growled in defeat and jumped through the gate. Keira motioned to follow before going herself. Before I readied to leave, I picked up the envelope I found days ago, the one with the pictures. My leg was pretty numb, so I leaned on Charlie, who put one of my arms about his shoulders, we went through at the same time.
On the other side, Charlie was tackled and thrown to the ground, me along with him.
"Charlie you're here, you're alive!" the person said.
"Deja vu..." I heard the suffocating boy choke out.
"What are you doing weirdo?!" I shouted, prying them apart. "You don't just randomly attack people like that!" Next thing I knew, I was on the ground again.
"Jen! You too! I found you both!"
This person was very odd. On closer examination, I found that to be old news, as this was an old friend. Sure her ears were longer, her wardrobe of a blue sleeveless top and knee length pants was new, not to mention the large sheath on her waist, but I found that this person was...
"Rose?!"
"Who else would it be?" she said with an insane looking grin. Another odd feature came to my attention.
"Why is your skin blue?"
(Ha ha ha! Revenge is so very, VERY sweet. Read and review everyone!)