Blaze: Awwww, you guys! You melted my itty bitty heart! Lol. Seriously, you're reviews are so nice I've decided to update sooner then I normally would have. See? Aren't I gracious? Lol
Kiriona: I don't think I've seen you around before (and if you've reviewed before please forgive my absent-mindedness but it IS a Monday) so welcome! I'm so glad you like it! And I ended it there to keep people like you and all my other much-loved reviewers reading! Lol.
Kel-chan: Yes, yes it does. Unfortunately in the next few chapters ya'll are gonna wanna hunt me down with pitchforks (Oh no! I've said too much! Nah, not really XP) but I'm glad you're happy, lol.
Darkmistress950: Nope, many more chapters and many more plot-twists. (And I love you too, by the way! XD) And there will be TONS more Dark Jak, I'm hoping on a chapter just for him… well, mostly. I love DJ, he rocks my socks off!
Goldbryn Callow Lyte: XD! I love you! Your reviews crack me up! In poetry? Oooo, I smell a parody coming on! XD
Sabulana: Yes, please do breathe, it is very important in the existence (that word took forever to spell XD) of humans. So very glad you're enjoying this! (Glomps back) Lol
Gothic Jak: Oh yes, mucho suckiness of the feverish sort. (That makes TONS of sense… oO) Sex scene… maybe hints at one, but my little brother reads this and he's only 11 so… that would be bad. Very, very bad. Lol
Shadows-of-flame: Woot, new reviewer! Welcome, welcome! Tell Kuro I'm glad she told you to read it, I'm such a review whore. I'm glad I've made your first slash fic enjoyable! (Your FIRST slash fic? How do you LIVE?! Lol)
Beff: Yea, but if I DIDN'T end it in a cliff hanger, would you still be yearning for the next chapter? Lol.
Nirvana Renegade Seiga: Lol, yes, Jak and Torn are doing a mad tango, aren't they? Lol, well I can't promise that NOBODY will die, but if you decide to sue me you'll get a few pennies and some smelly socks.
Blaze: Well, here's chapter 10 (Woo-hoo!!)
Torn ran as fast as he could, his feet pounding against the ground loudly as he did. The path to the leader was blocked, and the only ways to un-block it were to use Mar's gun or to push an extremely large boulder into whatever it was that was blocking his path to clear it. He had chosen the latter option, having not the ability to turn the gun on.
Torn glanced over his shoulder for the 500th time and stopped running to breathe. Ahead of him was something of a winding path with glowing Metal Head eggs. He cautiously followed the path to a sort of hollow in the mountain resembling a cave. He walked towards it, vaguely making out the shape that had to be the Leader.
'Finally… after all those hours of fighting, I'm finally here.' Torn thought, beginning to load the bigger gun on his back. As he walked slowly toward to opening, he realized that the shape wasn't very big at all… in fact it was Kor!
"Kor?" Torn asked cautiously stepping into the cavernous room. Kor turned around and stared at Torn with eyes like slits. "So Torn… you've made it… it's taken you quite a long time." He said, his voice deeper then usual. "Well… I didn't know you were coming." Torn said, suddenly suspicious at the old man's voice. Kor chuckled. "I've been here all along… and you fools were too blind to see it… I had you do my bidding and you all fell for it… and now I shall feast on this city you all thought I would have died to save! How deliciously ironic!"
Torn took a step back in horror and disgust as Kor changed into the Metal Head leader. "You… you killed Vin! You dropped the cities defenses! How- how could you?!" Torn was shocked beyond belief and he found it was quite hard to form sentences. Kor chuckled. "I'm the Metal Head leader, it wasn't that hard!" Torn pulled his two small guns out of their holsters on his waste as smaller Metal Heads swarmed around
him. "No!" Kor roared just before they attacked. "Leave him to me…" Kor said, laughter in his voice as he advanced on Torn.
--
Jak raced through the Metal Head nest. He took his anger at Torn out on the Metal Heads swarming around the place. 'How can he make me believe he loved me and then leave me!' Jak thought as he killed another Metal Head. "I can take care of him for you, Jak. It'll be just like killing a Metal Head… or even better we can wait until he has one of his weak spells and choke the traitorous life out of him." Jak stopped shooting momentarily. 'I can't kill him. I love him too much.' "No you don't, you just think you do." 'No! I know I do!' "Huh. Oh really? I wonder what your basis for comparison is. Certainly not Keira, you know as well as I do that that was just an innocent crush." '…Stop putting thoughts into my head.' "So you're THINKING about killing your beloved Torn? Just think, you could suffocate him with a kiss… just make sure he's weak enough. What a way to die, an ironic way, I mean. You would be the one playing his affections as he dies slowly, not the other way around."
Jak shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts and images and moved on with shooting the metal heads. "I'm getting really sick of you trying to suppress me, Jak. We can make it to Torn faster if you let me out." Jak blinked. It was true, but he wasn't sure if he could take back over once they reached Torn. 'Alright…' Jak thought begrudgingly. A deep cackle came out of his throat and his body began to burn as Jak transformed. Dark Jak wasted no time and began slaughtering anything in his path.
--
Torn was holding his own in the fight with Kor, preferring not to use his big gun until it was absolutely necessary. He wasn't dead yet, or even harmed, but he had a strong feeling that Kor was toying with him. He pointed his two guns at Kor and pulled the trigger, but heard nothing but clicking noises. 'Damn it!' he mentally scowled and shoved the guns into their holsters. "Out of ammo, dear Torn?" Kor mocked. Torn felt around his hips for the extra belt of ammo for his two smaller guns but couldn't find it. He looked frantically around and found it laying some 25 feet away surrounded by metal heads. 'I guess I have no choice…' He thought, flipping his bigger gun from out behind him.
--
Dark Jak finally reached a path laden with Metal Heads eggs. He chuckled- he knew he was closing the gap between himself and Torn and that Jak wouldn't be able to regain control of his body without a fight because Dark had been out so much longer then normal. Dark wasn't exactly sure what he would do to Torn when he reached him, he just loved messing with Jak.
"Dark, let me back!" Jak was becoming frantic now. He knew Dark wouldn't change back until after they had had a run-in with Torn. And with Torn fighting the Metal Head leader, who knew what damage Dark could cause? Dark smirked. "Not yet." He said with a laugh, running into the cavern where Torn and the Metal Head leader were fighting.
--
Torn had been trying to only use his ammo when it was absolutely necessary, which was very hard because the scorpion-like Metal Heads had begun toying with him and he'd had to shoot a few. He was now on the other side of the cavernous room from where he'd arrived. If only he had a distraction! He began running toward the ledge that he had arrived from and Kor turned, following him with his eyes. Torn fired the gun at Kor, but Kor growled and deflected it, sending the bullet upward. Torn stopped momentarily to watch it as it ricocheted off the ceiling and back down and destroying the ledge.
--
Dark Jak walked until he came to a ledge. From the ledge, he would jump down into the cavernous room where the Metal Head leader was. Before he reached the end of the ledge, eh saw a white flash of something bouncing- then something headed straight for him. He tried to duck out of the way, but it was no use, the ledge was destroyed and he fell with it. He was covered in debris and couldn't move easily, but he would live.
--
Kor jerked his head as the ledge exploded. "Jaaaak." He said, almost hungrily with a smirk on his face. Without thinking, Torn shot his gun 3 times. 2 of the bullets missed, but one hit Kor dead in the face as he turned to finish Torn off. Kor let loose an ear-shattering screech and Torn smiled triumphantly, shooting his gun again. As Kor began to fall, a slight noise caught Torn's attention. Jak was climbing out of a pile of rocks from the destroyed ledge, blood running from a small gash above his right eye. That's when Torn realized his grave mistake- Kor was going to fall directly onto Jak.
"JAK! MOVE!" Torn yelled, beginning to run to Jak. Kor was taking an exceptionally long time to fall because of the thing that held him up. Torn though he might be able to make Kor fall a different way if he shot him again, so he quickly took aim and fired.
But it was no use. Instead of causing Kor to fall a different way, he had cut the cords holding him up, so Kor now fell faster. Jak was still halfway trapped in the rocks and seemed quite disoriented. "JAK! NO!" Torn dropped his gun and rushed to Jak, but Kor got there first, crushing Jak underneath his body.
Torn dropped to his knees next to Jak's crushed body. He began pushing the dead Kor off him, but he couldn't find any strength. 'If he's trapped any longer, he'll surely die.' Torn thought, pushing harder. 'I won't let him die… I did this to save him, he CAN'T die!' Torn, finding a last burst of energy, managed to roll Kor's body off Jak. Torn looked down and nearly gasped.
At least half of Jak's ribs were broken, there were 3 more gashes on his face, all bleeding worse then the first, and he didn't appear to be breathing. Torn grabbed blindly for Jak's arm, his eyes never leaving Jak's face. He felt for a pulse, but got nothing. "No…" Torn whispered, putting his ear to Jak's mouth to listen for breathing. "No Jak… you can't… I don't understand."
Torn was, for once, at a loss for words. He stared down at the body of his companion and an emotion he was sure he'd never feel again hit him like a tidal wave. Torn was never one for being emotional, but he couldn't stop the river of words that flowed from his house at that moment. "Please open your eyes Jak. Move… breathe… anything… just don't die on me now. I need you, Jak. I couldn't admit it before, I swore Ashelin would be the last. I don't know when it happened. You need to know that I need you. You need to know that… that I… that I love you. I love you, Jak. Please wake up."
Torn couldn't stop those words, but he knew he didn't want to. They needed to be spoken. Torn clung on to the slim hope that Jak was alive and clinging on and that his words would somehow reach him. "Please, Jak, don't leave me. Don't leave me…" Torn knew deep down that Jak would never wake up. And that knowledge was what caused him to cling to Jak's body and cry. Torn was never one for crying, but he couldn't help himself. He was overwhelmed. He threw his head back, tears rushing from his blue eyes like a waterfall. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed in anguish. He turned his gaze back to Jak's face. "I'm sorry Jak. I couldn't save you."
A part of him still hoped that Jak was alive. And even as he sat there for minutes on end, waiting for some sign of life, he clung to that hope. He heard the communicator go off after about 30 minutes. "Torn? Are you there?" It was Ashelin's voice; she sounded worried. "Yes Ashe. I'm here." Torn said. His voice was back to normal and his eyes were long-since dry. Torn was too upset to cry any more.
"You've done it then? You've defeated the Metal Head leader?" Ashelin was excited now. "I'm so proud of you!" She said; Torn could hear the smile in her voice. "I'm coming to get you and Jak right now!" She said happily, turning off the communicator before Torn could respond.
--
Ashelin arrived at the cave in 15 minutes; the Metal Heads were pretty much cleared out. "Torn! Jak! Where are you guys?" She jumped off the long-since destroyed ledge and into the room and saw Torn cradling Jak's body in his lap with a lost look on his face. Ashelin rushed to him. "Torn! What happened?!" Torn didn't take his eyes off Jak's face. "Kor crushed him." He said; the words came out as a whisper. "Wait… Kor?" Ashelin was confused now. Torn nodded. "Kor was the Metal Head leader all along. He fell on Jak. He's… they're both… they're dead, Ashe. I've killed them both."
Ashelin knew then that Torn loved Jak. She wasn't sure what to do; she had to stay strong for Torn. "Come on, Torn. Let's take his body back to the city. We can give him a proper burial there." Torn looked up at Ashelin and nodded after a few moments. "I know you loved him Torn." Ashelin said as they walked, Torn carrying Jak bridal-style. He sneered. "What makes you think that?" Ashelin sighed. "Why else would you be upset enough to cry?" Torn looked up at Ashelin with a surprised expression. "How…?" Torn was, again, at a loss for words. "You have tear trails on your face. And your eyes are a bit red." With that they arrived at Ashelin's huge Zoomer. Torn gently set Jak in the back and sat next to Ashelin. He didn't speak the entire drive back to the city, except to say, "You were right, Ashe."
Blaze: Aaaaaaaand SCENE. I know you all probably want to kill me for this chapter (Runs away from the pitchfork mobs) but this isn't the last chapter! There will be more! Next chapter will be how Daxter copes with the news and possibly the funeral, not quite sure yet. Daxter and Torn get in a huge argument and Praxis falls. Keep your eyes peeled for chapter 11! (Dodges flying pointy objects)