Next chapter is here! Thanks again to everyone who's been supporting this! I love writing out the different chapters. :)

DISCLAIMER: Only my OCs, minor gameplay alterations, and side plots are mine. Everything else belongs to Naughty Dog.


Two days later…

I could still feel my arm throb slightly as I woke up after a long two days. As I gathered up all my belongings, I wondered how all our friends were doing in Haven City, as well as if I would ever get to drive out into the desert with Lena. Hopefully, I would get to learn a little more about her.

"Hey there," I greeted Jak cautiously as I ran into him in the living room, "How's your stomach? Still holding up after all this?"

Jak glanced down at himself and sighed. "It's fine," he replied, "Though why Damas didn't give me Green Eco like he did for you, I don't know."

I glanced away for a minute. We hadn't spoken to Damas or Kleiver for the last couple of days, so there was no way of knowing.

"Paige?"

I faced him again. "Yeah?" I asked.

"Did Kleiver tell you anything about us?"

I sat down across from him. "Like what?" I replied.

"Anything that would give you a reason not to trust us."

"Now that you mention it, he did," I explained, "He told me you guys didn't want me to stay in the city, as well as that you were planning your strategies for the arena." I cocked my head to the side.

"Why?" I added a second later, "Did he tell you something about me?"

"He just asked if we could trust you. I have to know: did you tell him anything about…" He trailed off there.

"The DWP?" I finished for him, and he nodded as he closed his eyes.

"No," I said, shaking my head, "I didn't think that was his business. He asked me if I'd handled Dark Eco before, though, and I guess that gave him leverage to say that stuff to you guys. I don't know how he figured out that I've been around Dark Eco, though. Or maybe he made a good guess."

"Let's go ask him," Jak decided, "I think he's been trying to plant seeds of doubt in our minds." Getting up from the couch, we both ventured outside so that we could confront Kleiver. Now that Jak mentioned it, Kleiver may have been doing exactly that, especially after I noticed he looked disappointed after the arena fight yesterday.

By the time we found Kleiver, we noticed he was standing by another one of his vehicles, labeled the Dune Hopper. Cool, I thought for a minute. "Admiring one of your other toys?" I asked with a smirk on my face.

"I value me vehicles," Kleiver retorted. Jak and I continued to advance on him as Daxter grinned to himself.

"Kleiver," Jak began, "You've been trying to turn us against each other, haven't you?"

Kleiver looked surprised for a minute before he smirked. "You have!" I cried, pointing at him, "We know you don't like us, but why would you do that?"

"You two are always gettin' along, eh?" Kleiver replied, "I just thought it'd might be fun to watch you two fight against each other in the arena."

Jak, Daxter, and I all glanced at each other. Really? I thought, That's what his motives were?

"There's still one more fight," Kleiver continued, "You'll be in the right mood by then." He chuckled to himself.

"Anyway, I just got a call now. Damas has a job for us, but I'm no babysitter, so stay out of my way!"

"Jak and Paige aren't afraid of you!" Daxter piped up for the first time since all this started, "Are ya, guys?"

"Never," I assured him, shaking my head.

"If you knew what was happening out there," Kleiver said, "You'd be afraid, all right."

"What's going on here?" another voice interrupted, and we all turned to see Damas enter the garage.

"Hello, Damas," I greeted, bowing slightly to show respect.

"Nothin', your lordship," Kleiver assured him, "Just offering Jak, Paige, and the little one here some healthy advice." He chuckled again.

In that moment, Jak suddenly glanced at me before looking down at the scar on his stomach. For the most part, the cut had healed with some Green Eco we had stored in our apartment. Damas seemed to take notice of that, too.

"It has come to my attention that you two were fighting before the arena challenge two days ago," he announced. I looked away. How'd he find that one out?

The King of Spargus turned his attention to Jak, but I somehow knew I was going to eventually get a lecture, too. "And that scar on your stomach brings me to another point," he continued, putting his hand on the renegade's shoulder, "You have a reputation for being rash. Didn't your father ever tell you to pick your battles wisely?"

Damas, no! I thought to myself as I buried my face into my hands. I could also see Daxter frantically waving his paw and shaking his head. The subject of Jak's parents had always been a touchy subject, apparently.

"I didn't know my father," Jak growled, shoving Damas's hand off his shoulder, folding his arms, and turning away from the older man.

Damas seemed surprised for a minute before he continued. "My point is, sometimes, you face your enemies head on, and sometimes, you wait until his weakness is revealed. Patience is a warrior's greatest weapon. Do you understand?"

Looks like he's stepping in as a father figure, I thought as Jak considered the King's words. He nodded, and Damas looked relieved.

"Jak, I want you and Kleiver to go into the desert and herd a group of lizards into a waiting transport. We must prepare for whatever lies ahead. I need all the resources we can gather."

"No problem," Jak replied, "I'm good with animals." Daxter growled a little bit.

"You should be getting to the watchtower," Damas announced, throwing a glance in my direction, "Come. I'll take you there." Nodding, I began to follow him back into the city as Jak and Daxter climbed into the Sand Shark.

"I'll see ya out there, chum," Kleiver said, chuckling as we all stopped to stare at him. He's crazy sometimes, I thought as I shook my head and ran to go catch up with Damas.

Once we were back in the city, I cleared my throat and glanced up at Damas. "If you don't mind my asking," I began, "How did you find out that Jak and I had an argument before the arena fight?"

"My monks told me about it," Damas replied, "Seem said she saw you two on the beach."

I balled my hands into fists. "Seem would see something like that," I mumbled, "She and I have had problems since day one. She doesn't like Jak, either. She's been trying to get us to leave the city."

"She is very protective of her monks and her mission."

"Doesn't give her a right to treat us like garbage," I mumbled, "She's always making comments about my ears. I know they're different, but still…" I glanced away from Damas as I said this.

"Your ears are noticeably different," the King agreed, "Is there a reason for that?"

"I'm not from around here," I explained while trying not to give anything away about my true origins, "It was almost like a whirlwind chain of events that I ended up arriving in Haven City."

"I see," was all Damas said as he clamped his hands behind his back, "There is something else I wanted to talk to you about as well." I raised my eyebrows in anticipation.

"I've noticed that you've been on edge ever since we brought you to the city. You shouldn't always let everybody get to you. That is how they smell your fear. Never let them see you sweat. Understand?"

Between Erol, Veger, and Seem all bothering me, I had never thought about that, but it made sense once he mentioned it. "You're right," I said as I took a deep breath, "I'm sorry if I've upset your monks in any way. I'm still trying to get used to the idea of being banished." I was sure Damas knew exactly how that felt, but he would never tell me.

"We will see if you have learned anything over time," Damas decided, "Lena's waiting for you at the tower." I nodded and walked away so that I could go to my job.


By the time I got to the tower, however, I found someone else sitting in my usual seat. "Lena?" I asked, "What's going on?"

"I've asked someone else to cover for us now," Lena explained, "You and I are taking a drive into the desert, like I promised."

"We are?" I asked, feeling excitement course through me.

"Yep. Kleiver, Jak, and Daxter spotted more Marauders than usual just outside the city while they were driving to go rally up those wild Leapers. We're going to check it out. Think you can handle it?"

"Yeah!" I cried, "Let's go!"

And with that, we grabbed the Tough Puppy and readied our weapons as we drove out into the desert.

"I hope these Marauders aren't too vicious," I hoped, "Why did Jak, Daxter, and Kleiver have to take the more dangerous cars?"

"They're going deeper into the desert, that's why," my friend responded, "Let's go." I checked my Blaster Gun as I let Lena take over the wheel.

"So," I piped up over the loud engine twenty minutes later, "You knew Krew in Haven City, huh?"

"That's right," Lena confirmed.

"Did you work for him?"

"I used to come out here and bring him back artifacts that I found. He always said the sweet items would go through him." Yeah, I remember him telling me and Jak that, I thought to myself.

"Does that mean you knew Sig, too?" I asked.

"Sig?" Lena cried, "Yeah! I knew him, too! He was always a mystery, though. He never said why he was in Haven City. He and I went on artifact runs together, but he was very hush hush about some things."

"You seem awfully happy out here," I noted, "You didn't seem sad when you told us you were kicked out of Haven."

"Haven?" Lena echoed, "HA! The day that city burns to the ground will be the day I rejoice. I hated living there. I'm glad I got to come out here."

"It's different now, though," I tried to reason, "Ashelin Praxis is on the throne now. She's doing a much better job than her father ever did."

"It wasn't Ashelin I had issues with," Lena assured me, "She was always one of the nicer ones. It was…" She trailed off as she suddenly widened her eyes and gasped.

"Look out!" she shouted, and I ducked my head as a few bullets suddenly grazed the side of our car.

"Shit," I hissed as I reloaded my Blaster Gun and began to shoot at the Marauders that were trying to hurt us.

"Careful!" Lena shouted, "You shoot, I'll drive!"

"What?" I spat, but Lena was already backing the car up as she turned to take us back to Spargus.

"Just do it!" she snapped, and nodding, I got up on my knees, faced the Marauders, and began to shoot as they opened fire on us. I could only imagine this was what Jak and Daxter had to go through whenever they drove through the desert.

"Come on, come on," Lena mumbled, "Almost there." At this point, the gate going back into Spargus was just appearing in our view. Lena stepped on the gas pedal even more as I shot and reloaded my weapon. We would be safe back in the city; the Marauders wouldn't think about returning to Spargus. We would get back, warn the Spargus Army about this, and then return to the watchtower.

Suddenly, I felt the Tough Puppy shake as I heard a loud gunshot. The car suddenly flipped over, and I felt myself fly out of my seat and into the sand next to me. On the other side, Lena was yelping as she landed on the ground as well. "Lena!" I shouted, "Lena, are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" she replied, "Are you?"

"Yeah! Are the Marauders gone?"

"I don't know."

I took a deep breath and began to stand up when I suddenly felt someone wrap a cloth around my nose and mouth.

"Mmmm!" I mumbled, "Get off me!" I struggled violently as my attacker yanked my head back, and I hoped I wouldn't snap my neck in the process.

"Paige!" Lena shouted, but I heard a thud as someone knocked my friend unconscious.

"Lena!" I tried to scream from behind the cloth, but the person placed a blindfold around my eyes, and I found I was getting dizzy the more I struggled against the cloth. Jak, I thought, Daxter. With that, I felt my eyes close as I fainted from the lack of oxygen.


"Piece of cake, baby!" Dax shouted as soon as he was finished getting the last wild Leaper to go back in the pen. From where he stood, Kleiver looked impressed. I still couldn't believe he had tried to get me and Paige to fight against each other in the arena. Sure, she got under my skin sometimes, but we were friends for the most part.

"Oh yeah!" Daxter added, "That's right!"

"I have to admit, you got some talent, kid," Kleiver admitted, "Have another one of me vehicles, ya earned it." He gestured to the Dune Hopper as he said this.

"Damn straight!" Dax replied as I rolled my eyes good-naturedly, "Would it be too much to ask for a foot rub?"

Kleiver growled, and I hoped he wasn't going to change his mind about giving us the Dune Hopper. "Nope, didn't think so," Daxter said.

I chuckled, but then frowned when I suddenly got the feeling that something was wrong. "Dax?" I asked him, "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what, pal?" I was referring to a change in the air. The winds were getting stronger, and I could feel a few grains of sand hit my face.

"I smell a storm coming," Kleiver muttered, "We better get back to the city." With that, he climbed into the Sand Shark and decided to take that back while we grabbed the Dune Hopper. Kleiver was right; there was definitely a storm coming, so we drove as fast as we could to get back to Spargus.

"Looks like Damas is calling us," Dax whispered as I glanced down at my communicator and saw that Damas was trying to reach us.

"Come on!" I yelled, and we sprinted to the Palace as fast as we could.

By the time we were finished taking the elevator up to the throne room, we found Damas speaking into a communicator. "Attention all people of Spargus!" he announced, "A large storm is heading our way! Prepare the city!" He hung up and turned to face me.

"Jak, there are 4 Wastelanders out there who still have not reported in. I want you to go out and find them. Do whatever it takes to bring them back!"

I nodded and motioned to Daxter as we returned to the garage and grabbed the Sand Shark this time. I was surprised Dax didn't complain about having to go back out into the storm. We both remembered what Damas had told us before we went on our first artifact run.

"If you get caught in the storms, they will tear the flesh from your very bones," he had said. Both Dax and I shuddered at the thought.

"I hope these guys aren't too far away," Daxter said hopefully as we drove around the desert in order to find these four Wastelanders.

We found the first three with no problems, despite the fact that the storm was getting worse. I only hoped we could get back in time before the sands started becoming destructive.

"I wonder if Paige is inside the apartment during all this," Dax piped up as we began driving around to look for the last Wastelander.

"I'm sure she is," I assured him, but even I noticed that we hadn't heard from her all day.

It took a little bit longer to find the last Wastelander, but when we did, we were in for a surprise.

Poor guy, I thought as I spotted him. In his hand was a Dark Eco Crystal, which must have killed him sometime before we arrived. We both sighed as I picked up the crystal, and I shook my head as I glanced at Daxter.

"Jak! Daxter!" a familiar voice cried, and when we turned, we saw someone else who was familiar to us.

"Lena?" I gasped as Lena stood up and brushed some sand off her body.

"What are you doing out here?" Daxter asked.

"Those bastards who attacked us must have dumped me here to die!" Lena snapped, "Paige and I were taking a routine drive through the desert when the Marauders attacked us. Then somebody grabbed Paige and took off into the Wasteland with her! They must have knocked me out and tossed me out here so that I wouldn't know where they took her!"

"Paige is missing?" I shouted over the wind.

"Yeah!" Lena confirmed, "We've got to find her!"

Before any of us could move, we suddenly heard and felt rumbling, and when we glanced up, we spotted a Dark Satellite hovering above our heads not unlike the one Seem and her monks had been studying. "What the hell is that?" Lena demanded.

"We've got to kill it!" I yelled, "Now!" And with that, we both whipped out our guns as the Satellite began to attack. It created a vortex of lightning as it spun around us, and Lena and I huddled together so that we wouldn't get hit by any of the bolts. Once that attack was over, the Satellite crashed to the ground and sent out shock waves, and we quickly jumped in the air to avoid them.

From where we stood, we could see a weak spot right on the top, so that was where the two of us began shooting the most. "Did you see who gagged Paige?" I asked Lena as she reloaded her Eco Pistol.

"No," the Wastelander replied as she dodged another attack from the Dark Satellite, "I got knocked out before I could get a good look." I nearly missed getting hit by another shock wave, and I reloaded my Blaster Gun once I was out of harm's way.

"Why were you thrown out of Haven?" Dax piped up from my shoulder.

"It's not important right now," Lena hissed, "Right now, we have to kill this thing and find Paige!" I was already on top of that, though. I decided to use the Beam Reflexor to see if that would help bring the Satellite down even more.

After a few more shots from both me and Lena, the Satellite hovered in the air for a second before finally exploding in a flash of purple and black.

"Let's get back to the city, Jak!" Daxter cried.

"Come on!" I shouted to Lena, and the three of us hurried back to the Sand Shark as I spun the car around and began to drive back to Spargus.

"Hold on tight," I warned Lena as I floored it, speeding past the Marauders as we raced against the storm to get back to Spargus City. The car flipped over a few times, but I managed to pick it back up again, and after another minute or so, we made it back to the garage.

"Come on!" Lena shouted, "Hurry up! The storm's getting closer!"

We dashed through the gate and back into the city, where we noticed all the streets were empty. "My apartment is this way," Lena announced, and we soon arrived there, closing and locking the door behind us just as the storm began to whip through Spargus.

All three of us breathed a collective sigh of relief. "Thank Mar that's over!" Dax chirped, "So now what?"

"We have to find Paige," I announced to the others, "But where could she be?" We all glanced out the window as the storm became more ferocious.


How much time had passed?

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally felt myself wake up, even though everything was dark due to the blindfold that had been tied around my head. The cloth had been removed from my nose and mouth, thank the Precursors. But where was I?

The last thing I remembered was crashing into the sand just outside of Spargus when someone had grabbed me and knocked me unconscious. Lena. What was happening to her? Did Jak and Daxter know I was missing?

I tried to feel my surroundings in order to take a guess at where I was. I was on a floor. Yeah, that was it. A cold floor. Everything sounded empty, almost as if there was supposed to be silence.

I then turned to my sense of smell. I could smell incense and candles. Okay, I thought to myself, A cold floor, incense and candles, and silence. Maybe I'm in a place of worship of some kind?

In the meantime, I raised my hands to the back of my head in an attempt to find the knot in order to untie the blindfold. As I was doing that, however, I suddenly felt warm hands grab mine. I gasped and jumped at the sudden contact, which made the person laugh. To my relief, he or she untied the knot, and I felt the blindfold fall to the ground next to me as I blinked my eyes to get readjusted to the light.

"That's better, isn't it?" the person asked, and I froze where I was. I knew that voice was familiar. Before it could register that I was indeed in a place of worship, I whirled around at my captor.

"You!" I cried, "What are you doing here?"

"The monks told me you were here," Count Veger replied, "It's good to see you again, Paige. You and I have a lot to talk about."