Chapter 10
Jet: I'm back, sorry for the long delay I got Uncharted 2 and I've been hooked into it.
Penny: So that's was what was taking so long.
Jet: Well what else could it be? (Playing Uncharted 2)
Penny: Okay, I'll do the recap this time; Jak, in an attempt to get Lilly away from Rick- takes her to the Naughty Ottsel. Lilly tells Kat the truth about Errol and Kat can't really accept it. Rick is done staying in bed and starts to walk around the palace. Danny likes to throw knives and then Rick, Jean and Danny go swimming after Rick proves to Ashelin that he is alright. Then Lilly comes back and sees all of Rick's scars and finds a scar on Danny's back. Danny's scar apparently didn't heal properly. And that is really all the big points of that chapter.
Jet: Hey! I just found a Precursor Orb in this game.
Penny: That's nice, Jet, we are going to start the story now.
A few days later, everyone was at the Naughty Ottsel. It was a slow day so the kids were upstairs sitting in one of the booths and the parents were all at the bar; Lilly kept looking at Rick, he had his head on the table and was mostly ignoring what was going on around him. She was starting to get worried, it seemed like he was in a bad mood all the time now and she didn't know why. Jean, Danny and Sue had also noticed Rick's mood. "Rick," she said, getting his attention.
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "What?" he asked, in a calm tone.
"What's on your mind?"
"Nothing." He said. His voice said different.
"It doesn't sound like 'nothing'." Jean said.
"Yeah, Rick," Danny said, "You're acting a bit… I don't know- different."
"What are you talking about?" Rick asked, very confused.
"Well," Sue said, "for starters, you don't seem as happy."
Lilly put her hand on his back, he looked at her. "Did any of us do something to make you mad?"
"No." he said, he looked at the others, "No, you guys didn't do anything."
"Then what's wrong?" Lilly demanded.
"Rick, tell us." Sue said.
"Come on." Danny said.
"Just tell us." Jean said.
Rick covered his ears they were all talking at once and he didn't know why but their voices seemed louder to him than they were. "STOP IT!" he cried. This got them all to stop and got the attention of the few random people in the bar. Even Kat, who was working couldn't help but to look at what was going on.
"Rick?" Lilly said, quietly. Her voice was full of concern.
He looked at her but quickly looked away. "I need to be alone." He said, getting up.
"Rick." Lilly said, also getting up, she grabbed his arm.
"I said, I wanted to be alone, Lilly." He said, in a low tone.
"Rick please, just tal—"
"I WANT TO BE ALONE!" He yelled, ripping his arm out of her grip and looking at her. But when he looked at her he felt sorry.
At first she looked a little scared by his outburst, but then her face hardened, "FINE!" she yelled back, "BE ALONE, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT!" and she pushed him out of the way and ran down the hall, she swung open the door at the end of the hall and ran up the stairs, crying.
Jak, Keira, Torn and Ashelin looked at each other, confused, and then Keira followed her daughter. Sue, Danny and Jean all looked at Rick who wasn't sure what just happened. Danny who didn't know what to say or do, had instinctively put his arm around Jean, none of them had ever seen Rick like that and it had scared them. Sue on the other hand had walked to the end of the table, "What is your problem, Rick?" Sue demanded, "We're just trying to help! You didn't have to yell at Lilly!"
He wasn't listening, he ran after Lilly but Torn stopped him, "Dad, I have to go talk to her." Rick said, looking up at his father.
"Not right now, you both need to calm down." Torn picked up the seven year old and put him on one of the bar stools so they were more at eye level, "Why don't you tell me what happened." So Rick began to explain.
Meanwhile, Lilly had ran up to the roof of the bar, she sat down, pulled her knees up to her chest and cried, she didn't know what had happened. Rick had never yelled at her or anyone before, sure at times he could have a voice that was very commanding but he never yelled like that before. "What's wrong with him?" she asked herself. Then she felt a light touch on her back, she looked up at her mother.
Keira sat down next to her; Lilly hugged her and continued to cry. "It's alright." Keira said, in a soothing tone as she hugged the small child.
"I don't know what's going on, mom." Lilly said through her tears.
Keira began to stroke Lilly's hair in an attempt to calm her down, "It's okay Lil. Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Lilly shook her head, "I don't know what happened. He's been acting strange; we just wanted to know what was going on." She cried, "He said he wanted to be alone but…" she looked up at Keira through tear-filled eyes, "I just wanted to help."
Keira wiped the tears from Lilly's face, "It's alright Lil. You know, your father and I grew up together. I thought I knew him better than anyone."
"Except Uncle Daxter, right?" Lilly asked, she had heard this story many times before.
Keira smiled, "You could say that. It was like they had their own language back then."
"I thought dad was mute back then." Lilly said in complete childhood innocence.
Keira smiled, "He was, I didn't hear him talk until I was sixteen. He was so different from the boy I knew back in Sandover." Keira paused, lost in her memories, "The boy I grew up with always seemed happy and care-free but the man that found me all those years ago was angry all the time. I didn't understand why then I heard the rumors…"
"About dad's dark powers, right?"
"Yes, I didn't want to believe that anyone had that ability to do the things he could. It scared me, I didn't understand. Then I saw what he could do…"
"He attacked you, didn't he?"
Keira looked at Lilly, "He didn't mean for that to happen, I knew that. He felt terrible about it. After that I realized that he was still the same person I knew when I was a child… he was just hurt." Keira held her daughter tightly, "Everyone changes and that is something that cannot be stopped. So it is up to you to decide, if you still like him or if you need to split up."
Lilly looked up at Keira, "Of course I still like him, I love him."
Keira nodded her approval and wiped the tears off Lilly's face, "Why don't you go talk to him."
Lilly and Keira stood up and walked down the stairs, then they saw the door at the bottom of the stairs open and Rick was standing there. Lilly looked at him; she could see in his eyes that he was sorry for yelling at her. She walked up to him and took his hand in her's and led him to the lower level of the bar so they could be alone to talk. Keira walked up to Jak and he put his arms around her, "Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, everything's fine." Keira said, hugging him. Jak hugged her back. Kat saw this; she still didn't understand how anyone could have fallen in love with someone like him and be happy.
Jean, Danny and Sue wanted to follow Lilly and Rick- but Ashelin stopped them. Lilly and Rick were downstairs, they sat up against a box, Rick had his arms around her, "I'm sorry for yelling at you." He said in almost a whisper.
"It's okay; I should have listened to you." She looked up at him, "I just wish you would tell me what is going on with you."
He smiled, "Nothing is going on," he laughed, "I'm fine." Unknown to them- Jak had snuck downstairs and was now just listening to their conversation. Lilly gave Rick a look that pretty much said, 'yeah, right.' Rick's smile faded, "I don't know what's wrong. I'm just mad all the time and I don't know why."
Lilly kissed his cheek, "And that's okay. Rick, you have people that love and care about you, you don't have to hide anything from us. We'll always be here to help you and I'll always be there no matter what." She wrapped her arms around him and the two of them sat in silence. Jak walked back up stairs, smiling to himself. Everyone - no matter who they were - said Lilly was like him; Headstrong, brave, adventurous, and powerful. But in that moment he saw his little girl being more like her mother; kind, accepting and forgiving. The two kids heard the door close and looked up but didn't see anyone, they looked at each other- then when back to just sitting quietly in each other's arms.
Meanwhile, back upstairs, Kat was working, Tess was watching her, "Kat," she said getting the girl's attention, "Why don't you take a break, you've been working all day."
"Thanks." Kat said. She went down to her room and grabbed a book. She came back out and sat in one of the booths and began to read.
She was so wrapped into her book that she didn't notice a boy with spiky dark blue hair come up to her, "Excuse me," he said, Kat didn't look up from her book "do you mind if I barrow your salt?" he asked.
"Go ahead." She said, not looking up from her book.
"Um… where is it?" he asked, with almost a laugh.
"What are you?" Kat asked, still not looking at him, "Blind?"
"Um…" he said.
She looked at him and saw that he had sunglasses on and he had a walking stick, he was blind. She went red, "I am so sorry." She said, handing him the salt.
"Thanks." He tried to grab it but he couldn't find her hand. She placed it in his hand; his hand closed over her's, "You have soft hands."
Kat went even redder, "Thank you… I'm Kathena."
"Kathena?" he said unsure, "Do you have a nickname or something?"
Kat smiled, "People call me 'Kat'."
He smiled, "I'm Kevin. Most people call me 'Ken', though."
Kat looked at him confused, "Your name is Kevin, but people call you Ken?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm not sure why- but they do." He said.
Kat looked down and realized that her hand was still in his, she pulled her hand away. "I, um… should get back to work." She said more as an excuse.
"You work here?"
"And live here." She grabbed her book and began to walk away.
"When do you get off?" he asked.
She looked at him, "Why?" she asked.
"I just thought you and I could go for a walk and get to know each other better."
Kat smiled, "Come back around seven." And the two of them went their separate ways for now. She looked up and saw Jak, Keira, Daxter, Tess, Ashelin and Torn looking at her. At first she went bright red, but then she got a hold of herself and walked into her room.
Later that night around seven, Ken came back. Kat saw him and walked up to him, "Hi." she said.
"Hi" he said back. "ready to go?"
"Yeah."
She took his hand and began to walk out when, "Kat," Daxter called, she looked at him "those doors will be locked by ten, so be back before then."
"Okay, see you later." She said, walking out. Kat held his hand as they walked, "So where are we going?" she asked.
"Nowhere, we're just walking."
"Okay." She shrugged, accepting it.
"Well, you're the one who can see, so I guess we're going wherever you lead." he said. They walked in silence, Kat couldn't help but look at him, "Are you staring at me?" he asked.
Kat looked at him shocked, "How did you know?"
Ken laughed, "I just had a feeling. What's on your mind?" he asked.
Kat looked away from him, "I was just… you don't have to tell me if you don't want to but… why are you blind?" she asked. Ken didn't say anything for a little bit, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Kat said.
"It's okay." He said, "The point of this is for us to get to know each other." He paused, "I had a little brother, our parents died when I was six."
"How'd they die?" Kat asked, concerned.
"Metal-heads," Ken said, in a dark tone, "they got in the city somehow I don't really know how."
"No one ever knew." Kat said, then she looked up at him with a smile that he could not see, "But at least they're all dead now, we never have to worry about them again. So you and your brother were orphans, how old was your brother?"
"He was only a year old when we lost our parents. Four years later, these thugs had found old barrels filled with dark eco," Kat saw tears fall down Ken's face, "I was only ten, some of them were holding me, I couldn't get away from them. I watched helpless as they put my five year old brother in one of the tubs, they put the lid back on it so he couldn't get out. Then some guards came and I told them that my brother was in the barrel. They opened it and I reached into it to get him out, I still remember how bad my hands hurt when I put them into the eco and I guess that when I reached in some of the eco splashed into my eyes. The last thing I saw was my little brother's dead body in my arms. My hands healed but my eyes never did."
He wiped the tears off his face, Kat looked at him, "I'm so sorry." She looked away from him, "Dark eco is the worst thing in this world and those that can use it are just as bad."
"I don't think so." Ken said.
Kat looked up at him, "How can you say that? Your brother was killed by dark eco."
"My brother was killed by thugs, but everyone in this city owes their lives to a man that can use dark eco."
Kat looked at him surprised, "Are you talking about Jak?"
"Assuming we're talking about the same Jak that killed the Metal-head leader, yes."
"How many other people do you know that can use dark eco?" Kat asked, Ken laughed. "Go ahead and laugh, but trust me, Jak's not as great as you might think, he killed my uncle."
Ken stopped laughing, "How?"
"Um…" she said, she didn't know how to explain.
Ken took her silence as her not wanting to tell him, "Come on," he said, "I told you how my parents and brother were killed. Tell me how your uncle died."
Kat laughed, "My uncle had a bit of an ego and never took losing well, after Jak beat him in a race my uncle tried to run him over but Jak was standing in front of tubs of eco and he jumped out of the way and my uncle crashed into them and died."
Ken was a little confused, "No offense but it sounds like your uncle's ego is was what got him killed."
"Yeah, but if Jak hadn't cheated to win then my uncle wouldn't have died."
Ken put his arm around her, "So what about your parents?" he asked, changing the subject.
"There's not much to tell about them. After my uncle died, my dad died in a fire and my mom ditched me on the streets."
"I'm sorry." He said.
"It's okay, I survived." The two of them kept walking, asking questions about each other as they went. They got back to the Naughty Ottsel around nine, so Kat got in but she stole one last look at Ken as he walked away.
It was almost dawn and at the palace Lilly and Rick were fast asleep. Lilly's right shoulder was starting to hurt from sleeping on it so much- so tonight she was sleeping on her left shoulder. Rick had his hand on her right shoulder. Lilly was sleeping peacefully but Rick was struggling with a nightmare. He was running from a demon, he couldn't see it very well, all he could see was the demon's eyes, they where blood red but there was a small yellow circle in both the eyes which could have been the pupils, and he could see it's long black claws. But that was all he could see of the demon, he ran for his life as the demon gave chase. But he was getting nowhere; the demon was right behind him now. Rick came to a dead end; there was nowhere to left to run. He looked at the demon but still all he could see was its eyes and its claws. The demon jumped at him, Rick shut his eyes and screamed expeting pain but he didn't feel anything, he opened his eyes, he was back in his room, he was safe. He looked at Lilly, and she was looking back, concerned- apparently his screams had woken her.
"Rick, are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, covering his face with his hand "It was jus—" he looked at his hand, his finger nails had turned into long black claws just like the demon's claws.
He grabbed his hand with the other when he did Lilly suddenly felt a stabbing pane in her right shoulder, she looked at it and found it cover in blood, there were four small but deep holes in her shoulder, "Rick." She breathed; he looked at her and saw her shoulder.
"No." he whispered. He looked at his hand and saw blood, he looked back at her "Lilly, I—"
"It's alright," she said, looking at him, "it was just an accident." She tried to heal it but instead of disappearing the holes turned into scars. "That will have to do." She said, then she looked at him, "Come on." She said, getting up.
He didn't move, he watched his claws shrink back into finger nails, "I don't know how this happened," he looked at her, "Lilly, I'm so sorry." He said, scared out of his mind.
Lilly kissed his cheek, he flinched, fearful of her being too close to him. She pulled away from him, "Come on, we have to tell someone." Rick got up and followed her.
He kept looking at her blood covered shoulder; he was dreading talking to anyone about this. Lilly kept trying to grab his hand but every time she touched it he would pull it away, he was too scared he would hurt her again to even hold her hand. Eventually she gave up and put her hands behind her back. The first person they met was Jak and Rick felt like his heart fell into his stomach; what was he going to do when he found out that had Rick attacked his daughter?
Jak looked at them and he saw Lilly's shoulder, "Lilly!" He said, he walked up to them. "What happened?"
Lilly bit her lip, she wasn't really thinking of telling her father right off the bat, she looked at Rick and he looked at his feet, "I did it." he said in a low tone.
Jak looked at him then he looked at Lilly's shoulder, "How?" he asked.
"I – I don't know." Tears began to form in his eyes.
Jak looked closely at Lilly's shoulder then he looked at her, "Lilly, did you try to heal yourself?"
"Maybe." She said, a smile beginning to stretch across her face. "I just wanted it to stop bleeding."
Jak smiled and shook his head, "You know that eco can't get rid of scars."
"I know."
Jak looked back at Rick, "What happened?" Rick didn't answer. Jak looked back at Lilly and repeated his question.
Lilly looked at Rick then back to her father, "Rick has claws." She said, looking at the floor.
"What?" Jak asked- not sure if he heard her right.
"He has claws, like you and me." she said.
Jak looked back at Rick, "But how?" Rick didn't say anything he didn't even look at them he just ran away from them.
"Rick!" Lilly called, she was about to follow but Jak grabbed her. She looked up at him, "Daddy he didn't mean for it to happen."
"I know." Jak said, "But leave him alone for a little bit." If Rick really had somehow got powers, and had attacked Lilly then what he wanted was to be as far away from her as possible. That was something Jak could understand, he knew that Rick would come around after a while.
Rick ran down the hall, he went out onto a balcony. He sat down next to the door and hid his face and cried. Why, why did that happen? Why did it have to be Lilly that got hurt? And what would he do if next time she didn't just get hurt but if he killed her? 'No' he thought "No!" he said out loud "I won't let that happen!" 'But how.' he thought, "How am I supposed to keep my friends safe?' he looked out and saw the forest, he could go there- it was safe. He made up his mind he would leave at least until he knew what was going on with himself, but before he left he would have to talk to Lilly if no one else.
A little after one, everyone headed to the Naughty Ottsel, Lilly had told Jean and Danny about what happened and asked them not to talk about it and Jak had told Keira, Torn and Ashelin what happened. Torn and Ashelin watched their son but he seemed fine now. Lilly was a bit concerned, that morning he seemed scared but now he seemed fine like nothing was wrong anymore and she was alright with that.
They got to the Naughty Ottsel, Rick turned to Lilly, "Can I talk to alone?" he asked.
Lilly looked at her other friends and then back at him, "Sure." He led her upstairs, "So what's up?" she asked when they got to the top.
He looked away from her, "Lilly, I love you."
Lilly smiled, "I love you too," She took his hand in her's then looked at her "and nothing will ever change that."
He pulled her into a tight hug; he never wanted to let her go. He was leaving and he didn't know when he was coming back, tears filled his eyes and fell onto his cheeks. Lilly looked up at him, "Rick, what's wrong? Are you still upset about this morning?"
He shook his head, "No, it's not that. I'm– I'm leaving." He stated, just wanting her to know.
"What!" She asked, "What do you mean your leaving? Where are you going?"
Rick pulled away from her and started to walk onto the other roof tops, "I'm going to the forest."
She followed him, "Why?"
"I need to figure out what's wrong with me, and I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."
Lilly looked at him hoping he was he was joking, "You do know that your seven years old, right? How do you plan to live out there with no supplies?"
"Um… I was planning to make it up as I go."
"You will never survive that way."
He looked at her and grabbed her, "Can you promise me something?" he asked, "Don't tell anyone where I am."
Lilly couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was really leaving. She hugged him, "You can't go!" she said, as tears ran down her face.
Rick hugged her back, "I have to, if it means keeping you safe."
"Iam safe."
"Lilly, I could have killed you this morning; I don't want anything like that to happen again." He kissed her forehead and pulled away from her so now he was only holding her hands "Promise you won't tell anyone."
"Alright, I won't tell. But Rick…" She looked around trying to find some way to get him to stay, "How do you plan to get to the forest without your parents seeing you?" she asked, hoping that if he saw that there was no way out he would stop.
He climbed over the boarder that marked the end of the roofs and grabbed onto a pipe that was attached to the building and began to climb down. He looked back up at her, "I will come back. I promise." She watched him climb down and run down the street and out of sight. She sat down and cried.
Jet: Well that's the end of this chapter.
Penny: Okay, a seven year old thinks he can stay alive out in south Haven forest and you put a bit of daredevil into the story. Really Jet!
Jet: Yep, Now to all readers TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK, IT DRIVES ME CRAZY WHEN I DON'T KNOW HOW PEOPLE ARE REACTING TO MY STORY. Hope you all liked this and I will be starting on the next part sometime soon I will try to get it up faster than this chapter. No promises though, And one more thing I beat Uncharted 2 .