It had been nearly two hours since he first saw Daxter sitting in a pool of bloody sand unmoving. It was strange to think that one could suddenly exponentially care about a stranger they barely met in the way that seeing the boy dying in his own pool of blood made him feel. He was used to not forming relationships that required too much investment since they never tended to last with all the wars and fights being fought for a reason he didn't think existed. Death had always been an unexpected visitor out here in the desert—and it was the only constant. For some reason his heart seemed to tell him that this new encounter wasn't going to end up like the rest of them had. It's that gut feeling that drove him into action.

The clothes he was wearing were still soaked in the coppery red of Daxter's blood. One look down at himself and the queasy feeling would return. He hadn't gotten the opportunity to change out of his clothes even after fixing the boy had been total chaos even after getting them back inside the city. His body begged him to sit down for just a moment but he still couldn't find a moment of rest. Not when his arms were full of a bleeding out person. When they got to the infirmary it had been full and the limited amount of healers in the city were too busy healing the wastelanders who were injured. In that moment he knew that since Daxter wasn't an official citizen he would be last priority even if he was a step away from dying.

Honestly he didn't consider himself qualified enough to heal him, but he couldn't give up. If he had a chance to save Daxter he was going to take it. It wasn't a skill he used often with how risky it was, but growing up he had learned how to use green eco to heal injuries of all sorts under the guidance of an old sage in the winter mountains. That was a period of time before Baron Praxis came in and occupied the land. It was less occupying and more capturing lurkers to force into slavery. The old sage had snuck him into the city before the attack began and returned himself to defend the lurkers.

He didn't know what happened to the man after the war, but he knew that they had lost when he'd seen the prison cars loaded with lurkers heading to the center of the city. It was hard living in a big city all by himself. There wasn't a single person he could depend on and it was different to living in the cold mountains, at least there he knew what to expect from the individuals living there. Here he had no idea what to expect. Sure they were of the same species, but their behavior wasn't anything he knew about.

It was obvious to him in that time that he needed to find a job, but as a child he only had one skill that he could actually use. It had been a mistake to have tried to use it in front of others. The moment he did they had tied him up and called the guards on him. It was only luck that helped him escape. Luck that came in a pair of boys that led him to their hideout. Eventually he picked up new skills that would help him blend in and survive the city. Just thinking about his home in the city brought on a wave of nostalgia.

Seeing Daxter lost and alone in the sand reminded him of a part of himself. He didn't have anyone to come to his aid out here in the desert. Well, maybe except for one person, but that person was also alone out here.

Clara had stuck with him for every step of the process as he set about healing Daxter. In all honesty, he second guessed whether he should use his eco channelling or not. It was only instinct that made him nervous thinking that she would know something about him that would give her the advantage over him, but he couldn't let Daxter die over something from his past.

The first thing they did as soon as they got back inside the city was to find an empty room and cut the circulation off from his leg so that he wouldn't lose any more blood if it was even possible. After that it had been a race against time to find all the supplies they needed to heal him properly. Out here in the desert, there wasn't much medical supplies one could come across and in the end it was usually him who ended up bringing the stuff in from the city per Damas' request. He didn't exactly need them either considering the green eco was going to be his tools, but he was rusty and it wouldn't have hurt to have had access to them.

Half an hour later he found himself sitting by the entrance of the room waiting for Daxter to gain consciousness again. Derron brought a hand up to rub the fatigue off his face before letting out a sigh and pushing up from the seat to make his way over to Daxter and check his vital signs.

He had sent Clara off earlier to get Daxter some clean clothes and to get herself cleaned up as well. There was no point in having her around if all they needed to do now was wait for him to wake up. Looking closer he noticed Daxter's skin still held that sickly pale tone and his pulse was still weak but it was stronger than when they started. It would take a couple of days rest and eating healthy before he gained any color back.

Placing Daxter's hand back down by his side gently Derron let out a quiet sigh escape him as he looked up to Daxter's face once more. He frowned harshly at the responsibility of having to look after someone else.

He let out a frustrated groan and went to pace the room.

He didn't need to do any of this. He didn't have to be here, in this room, at all. There wasn't any obligation tying him down or any close ties to these two that forced him to stay. He could just get up and head back to Haven city as if any of this didn't happen. Like it was just a weird dream. If he stayed any longer in this city than just today then his group back in the city would be concerned with where he was. Not to mention that when he got back they would question him about it and knowing them they wouldn't be satisfied with some half baked answer. If he was going to be questioned when he got back then it was best if he stayed to make sure Daxter fully recovered before leaving.

All he really wanted to do was take a shower and sleep off the fatigue that made his limbs feel like lead. He pivoted sharply and moved to walked back to the chair he was in earlier to continue his wait. The figure in the doorway forced him to stop in his tracks. There in the doorway stood a tall man decked out in armor. He was caught off guard for a moment, surprised and once his brain caught up he shifted to block the man's view of Daxter.

"Can I help you with something?" Derron crossed his arms over his chest and took a protective stance in front of the body lying on the bed. "The infirmary is down the hall to the right if you're looking for an injured friend. If you are looking to blow some steam on the other hand, then I'd advise you to turn and look somewhere else."

"I'm not in the wrong place, chilli pepper," the man made his way into the room and Derron dropped his arms to his sides, ready to react in anyway that he needed to. "I'm actually here to talk to you about the kid you got there. There are reports that Kit was taking the kid back with them. We need to know if he really is a spy for those guys or not."

"You know how ridiculous that sound though, right? Saying he's a spy for them when he went out to fight them and nearly got killed for it too." Derron couldn't believe that they could think that. It was even harder to believe that they wanted to interrogate Daxter in the condition he was in. Even he didn't know when Daxter was going to wake up or even at all. He hadn't told Clara that because he didn't want her to worry so much, but Daxter had lost a lot of blood and that could have affected him in ways they didn't know. Green eco can only go so far and he wasn't nearly as skilled as his old master.

"There was talk from a high ranked wastelander that the kid took on another person's identity to get into the city. Even if that might be a misunderstanding, with that information out in the open nobody is going to trust him. If we don't get any answers and fast-the citizens are most likely going to protest to get him killed for good."

There was a violent protest ready to burst from his lips but the man shot a hand up promptly getting him to stay quiet.

"Now, knowing that you wouldn't want all your efforts into healing him going to waste, I think it's best if you let me get the information I need from him to either clear his name or prove those theories right," the man had pulled up the chair he had been sitting in by the door over to Daxter's bedside and sat in it. "The name is Sig by the way. I don't think we've met before."

"I'm Derron and I'm not surprised you don't know who I am," Derron lowered himself down at the foot of Daxter's bed not ready to trust Sig even if he might not have bad intentions. "I don't live in this city."

"Really now? So where do you come from then." There is interest there. But not any regular interes. This was a man that most likely isn't looking to make small talk but gain information.

"I come from Haven," Derron replied. Damas already knew this so there wasn't any danger in giving up that information. "I'm just here to do some work on your city's gate and then I'm out of this place."

"Don't like the desert to much?" Sig asks and there's a teasing tone lacing his words.

"Not the desert," he shrugs, "but the people. For some reason the people out here seem to be worse in certain ways than the people back in Haven."

"In what ways," the man asks and Derron eye's him from the corner of his eye. He didn't know why it was affecting him so much, it wasn't like he should get so defensive, but the fact that this guy didn't see the problem only irritated him more.

"They don't come after people on their deathbed with false pretenses in an attempt to get them killed. And I've seen everything the slums of the city has to offer," it comes out with a slight venomous tone that he hadn't meant to let slip.

"Hmph," Sig lets out an amused huff and leans back in his chair. " The guy who made the claim said he knew the identity of the guy that this kid is using. He says it's not him but from what I knew of the two of them, he might just be in denial that it could be him. I don't like to take any information without confirming things for myself, chili pepper, so don't make that mistake," the man cast a glance down at Daxter in a way that made Derron think that he might really not be here to get Daxter killed.

"Well hopefully that guy stops being an idiot and comes to reason then. He's going to get him killed at this rate." He pauses and licks his lips as he thinks. "In all honesty… I'm not even sure when or if he's going to wake up. He lost too much blood and I don't have the greatest skill with healing people. I'm more about fixing things that don't have a pulse."

"Well from what people saw it seems to me like you managed to make a miracle." Sig said. "If you say he lost enough blood that he might not wake up, then he should be dead. He doesn't look too bad from being a foot away from death. How'd you fix him up anyway?"

Derron looked away from the man, uncomfortable with how perceptive he seemed to be. He knew it wasn't a good idea to tell this man anything about his ability, but there wasn't a logical explanation that would give be a good enough explanation on how he healed Daxter as well as he did without any medical tools. The eco cask that he used was still in the room and in plain sight. Not to mention the only thing left of wounds was pink and irritated looking scars. He wasn't that skilled after all.

"I don't know what you-"

Right next to him Daxter began shifting and that caught both of their attention in an instant. Both of them rose to their feet in surprise. As soon as his eyes fluttered open Derron was quickly to move Sig out of the way and out of his line of sight. Now was not a good time to make him panic. Derron picked up a small flashlight he had and moved the light across each of Daxter's eyes to see if he really was conscious and if his eyes sight was working fine.

"Okay, Dax," he said in a quiet and gentle voice, "it's just me, Derron. If you understand nod yes I don't need you doing anything else, okay buddy." There was a pause as he scrunched his eyes close and in the next moment he gave a weak nod. Derron let out a breath of relief he didn't know he had been holding onto. "You got seriously fucked up out there. Clara and I brought you back into town to fix you up. How are you feeling?" He was honest in asking the question, but Derron hoped he would pass back out so that he wouldn't have to deal with Sig so soon.

"Are we back in the city?" Daxter looked absolutely delirious in Derron's eyes and his words were slurred terribly, as if he was drunk. Suddenly, Daxter tried sitting up but fell back down to the bed eyes darting around the room looking for something. "Is that guy gone? We aren't prisoners somewhere else are we? Where is Clara?"

"Okay, okay, one question at a time alright, Dax," Derron slowly sat down on Sig's empty chair before continuing. "Whoever that guy was he's gone and we are not prisoners of those guys. Now, as for Clara, I sent her to get you clean clothes so that you wouldn't look so bent out of shape. Now, tell me how you're feeling because I did a rush and shitty job at healing you."

"You healed me?" Daxter asked surprised. "Uh, well, I feel better than I did when I got shot, that's for sure, and I don't feel any pain? I think I'm just sore. Where are we?" Daxter had moved the covers off his injured leg to inspect it and was surprised to find the skin rather smooth if not for the splotchy skin where the bullet had hit him.

"Where in the infirmary but not exactly in the infirmary. You weren't first priority so we had to find a different place to take care of you. Are you sure you're feeling okay? If you still feel out of it I think it's best if you sleep for some more," he quickly added even if he felt the man behind him bristle.

"Well at least I can thank you for saving me and not the assholes that live in this place," he watches as Daxter rubs the heels of his palms against his eyes. "Do you think I can shower or do I have to stay covered in my own blood and sweat for the rest of the day?"

"Daxter." The voice had Daxter sitting up and looking for the origin with nervous energy. Derron looks over his shoulder to glare at the man and is met with an equally upset look.

"Sig… wha-what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to, I don't know, report to Damas or something," Daxter only shrunk away as Sig moved closer to them.

"They sent me looking after you to figure out if you work with that guy or not. I honestly find it hard to believe that a scrawny kid like you can work for anyone," he teases.

"That is the rudest thing you have ever told me besides calling me an overgrown orange sewer rat!" Daxter yells back. That...that didn't make any sense to Derron. Why would he be compared to an overgrown orange rat? Was it the hair color?

Sig broke out into laughter surprising the both of them. Derron didn't know if that was a good thing or not considering he didn't know the man enough to pick out his personality quirks.

"I called you that after working with you two for the second time. That's all I need to know," he sighs out. "How'd you manage to get back to being human anyway, kid? On a second thought, hold that story. I'll come looking for you again, but I have to go tell Damas and the others that you're no threat. Wouldn't want you getting hanged now, would we? Maybe I can get you citizenship as well."

"Well, duh," Daxter rolled his eyes. "I'm obviously no threat to them! How am I supposed to be strong enough to do anything, when at best I'm below average, and injured I'm far below average." Suddenly he's leaning forward with a surprised look on his face and Derron shots out an arm to steady him. "Wait, you'd really ask them to give me citizenship?"

"You did help stop a raid and risked your life, so I don't think there should be an argument as to why you shouldn't be given it," he replied. Sig was already making his way to the exit when Daxter sat up straighter and tried to get out of bed.

"Hold on, Sig," the man stopped at the doorway looking back. "If you are going to get me citizenship can you get my friend, Clara, citizenship too? Damas knows who she is and all. She helped me get back my human body and she helped me get back to Spargus too. I can't be a citizen if she isn't too. She gave up too much to help me and for me to turn my back on her like that…." There's a guilty look on his face and Derron turns to look at Sig for his response.

"Sure, I'll make sure to work something out for her too." He shrugged making the armor clink. "You just make sure you don't look like a man who nearly died this afternoon." With that final exchange Sig had walked out of the room and they both waited until his footsteps faded away into silence.

"So, are you friends with that guy?" Derron looked back towards Daxter who was still looking at the doorway deep in thought or in awe? He wasn't so sure.

"Uh, yeah… I met him before I got turned back into human." He answered.

"So you weren't a human before? How is that possible?" Derron just felt more confused with the encounter and now with this sudden information. Just who was this guy and how did he end up crashing full force into his life. What did he mean he wasn't human before? His questions seemed to be enough to get Daxter to snap back to reality.

"Derron, it's a really long story and I don't even know if you'll believe me about what happened to me." He walks back to the bad and sinks into the mattress. It wasn't the softest but it was better than the floor. "I'll tell you, but can I tell you when my brain doesn't feel like it's been dumped into a blender and turned on the smoothie setting?"

Derron only nodded. Soon the sound of feet hitting the floor catches their attention as a familiar girl crashes into the room.

"Daxter!" The girl instantly runs to the bed and Derron winced as she throws herself on the boy.

"Clara!" Daxter coughs out. "Can you lay off a bit I feel like I'm going to suffocate."

"Oh, right!" She sits back on the bed but her eyes won't tear away from his face. Her gaze snaps towards Derron and he looks back a little nervous. "You are a godsend. I hope you know that."

"I'm really not, but thanks," he says.

"No, she's right," Daxter turns to look at him. "I'd probably be dead by now if you hadn't done anything. How'd you manage to heal me this good either way? I...the only thing I can think of...but it can't be…." Derron shifts under the searching look and looks away. How was he supposed to deal with this?

"He used that green eco to do it!" Clara says excitedly and Derron bites his lip to stop himself from yelling at her. "I've never seen anything like it before! It was like magic, Daxter, I watched your body repair itself like...oh I don't know how to describe it. It was-"

"Mesmerizing," Daxter finishes in a quiet whisper and Derron glances at him. He regrets it cause the kid is looking at him with a look he couldn't describe. Was it longing? "I only met three people in my life that could do that." That catches his attention.

"What do you mean, Dax?" Clara asks, intrigued.

"I thought the feeling was familiar, but...there were hardly any people that could channel eco in my time. When we found Samos again, he had said it was a lost ability in this time and it was super rare to find anyone that could." Daxter's gaze wouldn't move away and Derron sighed. "How did you learn to use eco? Are there more people?"

"Not anyone that I know of," Derron said. He didn't want to talk about this.

"Who?"

"Look, Daxter," he said. "It looks like we both have pasts that aren't exactly what others expect them to be. I don't want to talk about my past and about my ability, okay. I've lived my whole life hiding this ability and I don't want the wrong people finding out about it."

"Who's the wrong people," Clara aks, miffed. "I know that you know, that we aren't the wrong people. Daxter has probably got a more messed up past than you do and more reasons to hide himself from 'the wrong people' than you do."

"Okay," Daxter raises his hands between them, "let's not fight about this, cause there really isn't a valid reason to fight. Besides I don't want to listen to you two screech at each other this close."

Derron snorts but relaxes in his chair. "What do you mean that the feeling is familiar?" He asks. "Eco is used to heal people, but it's mainly used as a painkiller. Are you a junkie or something?"

"No." Daxter asserts. "I've been healed with eco before, as in had it used to close wounds, fix broken bones, sunburns, you name it. And not in the I took a sip and was high while I got patched up, we didn't have medical tools like the ones you have now. The medical tool was literally green eco. There wasn't just green eco either, there was blue, red, yellow, and they all had different properties to them. There's also black eco, and let me tell you, you don't want to go take a bath in that one."

"I only know about green eco," Derron said.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised considering there isn't much of it left. Maybe it's just sealed up like before?" Daxter ponders and shakes his head. "Either way I know all of this cause of the green sage of our village, Samos, he taught Jak how to channel eco since he had the ability to do it. Jak was supposed to be the next green sage or something like that by the end I guess, but then we had to screw things up by going to the island. I had to screw things up by falling into that stupid pit. We probably wouldn't be here if I wasn't so stupid."

"Dax…." Clara says his name upset.

"Do you know what an ottsel is?" Daxter asks him ignoring Clara and he shakes his head confused.

"Well, uh, I don't actually know how to describe it…"

"Overgrown orange sewer rat?" He asks and is amused when Daxter sends him a glare.

"Sure, we'll go with that, funny guy, but call me that again and I'll break your nose."

"In that condition you'd break your own bones." He smiles back.

"Weeell, when I fell into that pit of dark eco I got spit out, that was already weird considering that black eco is basically a poisonous acid. When I looked down at myself I saw that I had been turned into an ottsel," he sucked in a breath of air. "Samos didn't really care about my condition and neither did Keira, but Jak blamed himself for what happened to me, since it was his idea to go to that island when we were told not to. After that we ended up going on a great quest to find this one sage guy who had been studying black eco, but…"

"But?" Derron prompted.

"But apparently he just wanted power and was planning on using dark eco to control the world, so instead of finding a way to turn me back, cause apparently that wasn't happening, we teamed up to go and stop him and his sister. And by we I mean Jak was doing all the work. You see, he can channel eco, not just green eco, but all of them-and that is fucking rare. One in a million chance for someone to do that."

"And this Jak is?"

"A hero." Daxter stated it like it was a fact.

"He's not the same Jak that thinks you're a liar and untrustworthy?"

"You can't really blame him." He says sheepishly.

"Why not?" Derron asks confused.

"Dax, if he's your friend he shouldn't have done any of that," Clara said.

"I mean, was it a jackass move? No pun intended don't look at me like that." Daxter looked at them both. "He hasn't ever seen me like this since we were teenagers! He couldn't find a way to fix me back then and now. Suddenly I'm standing in front of him after getting kidnapped? I would be suspicious too."

There was a sad look on his face and Derron took the time to think about what he'd just heard in the silence that came.

It all seemed far fetched to him, but with everything that had happened in the past year and the way metalheads have taken over most of Haven city, the portal that had opened in the middle of the city that started Praxis' downfall...It was weird. He didn't whether he should believe anything. Knowing there might be another who could channel eco was thrilling and tempting, but he didn't know if that was true and he wasn't going to take any risks unless he was sure himself.

Sighing he stood up.

"It's late," he said and the both of them looked up at him with nervous looks. "I'll take you back to where you live so that you can rest more comfortably there. I'm going to look over you for the next couple of days so that you're not about to die anymore and then I'm heading back to Haven City."

"Oh!" Clara exclaims. "You can stay with us if you want. It's small and there isn't much to it, but it's better than nothing, right?"

She wasn't wrong.

"Yeah, I'll do that then. I'll help you change clothes and Clara?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to need you to get another cask of eco if you can. Two would be ideal, but I don't know if we can smuggle them out successfully."

"Oh, I can smuggle more than that out," she grins back at him.

"Don't do what you can't." He warned as he helped Daxter change into a clean shirt.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She's out the door before he can say anything else and he lets out a tired sigh.

"She's something," Daxter said as Derron started on the pants.

"Too much of something," Derron grumbles.

"Thank you."

It's a quiet whisper in between the two of them and he can tell something was weighing down hard on the boy in front of him. He could imagine who it was and frowned.

"Don't mention it. I'm just doing what a decent person should do."