JKA: Uggggh, this chapter ended up even shorter than the last one! D: Oh well, I pray the next one will be longer, because if my calculations are correct, there are only two or three chapters left in this story, including an epilogue. With that in mind, I'd like to give a big shout-out to everyone who reviewed so far, thank you so much for sticking with the story this long, you guys. Please continue to do so, or you'll never get to see how this story ends. X) And now I shall pipe down so you won't be kept in suspense any longer. ^_^ Usual disclaimers apply. Read, review, and enjoy.
P.S. Before you start reading this chapter, look up the song "Listen to Your Heart" by DHT (the slow version), and listen to it while you read. Just trust me on that one. Thank you for introducing me to that song, Mika. :D
Chapter 11: Fragility
Cold sweat dewed at the back of Jak's neck, sending shivers rolling down his spine in time with his heavy breathing. The world around him melted away into a dull, empty void, the profound silence that followed suffocating him with its presence. Not even the hammering of his heart registered in his ears, all sensations completely abandoning him as he launched himself off of the ground, midnight eyes locked unwaveringly on his target.
The Metal Head seemed not to notice the Eco demon's approach, or merely chose to ignore him, its focus completely absorbed in the helpless girl beneath it. Dagger-like fangs were buried deep within the flesh of Keira's throat, scarlet blood pouring from the wound in a ceaseless tide and further staining the already war-ravaged earth.
For one immeasurable moment, Jak appeared to be simply suspended in midair, his body stretched out and claws extended to their fullest as he soared towards his quarry. His ebony gaze burned with pure, untainted hatred as he neared the last member of what had once been an entire Metal Head army, his every muscle twitching in anticipation as his thoughts were consumed in bloodlust.
With a roar of unrestrained rage, Dark Jak crashed into the beast currently ravaging his girlfriend's body, throwing it off of Keira and sending it tumbling to the snow several feet away. Cruel satisfaction surged through the Eco warrior as he landed beside the Metal Head, his long talons embedded within the creature's side, having impaled it upon impact.
The armored monster gave a grisly howl of agony as Jak jerked his hands downwards, freeing his claws from its rough skin by ripping completely through its exposed stomach. Without giving his prey a chance to recover, Jak plunged his sharpened nails into the Metal Head's body once again, one hand driven straight through its chest while the other hooked into the muscles of its neck.
This is for hurting the woman I love, the dark elf spat silently, grinning murderously as the creature writhed in his grip, fear evident even on its inhuman features. Say hi to your buddies in hell for me, you sadistic jackass.
Snarling viciously, Dark Jak wrenched his hands simultaneously from the creature's flesh, his talons tearing its frame apart from the inside-out. A gaping slash was all that was left upon the Metal Head's torso in their wake, a torrent of onyx blood surging from the opening. Its throat was in a similar state, the fiend's breath coming in shallow gasps as its life slowly drained out onto the powder beneath it.
His revenge complete, Jak straightened out of his predatory crouch, studying his handiwork with a smug grin. Aftershocks of pain rippled throughout various points of his body from his many injuries, but at the moment he couldn't have cared less, the glory of victory dominating his thoughts and pushing everything else to the back of his mind.
After a moment, the battered-but-triumphant hero began to shift back to his normal form, color gradually seeping into his skin and hair. His claws shrunk down to regular fingernails, and his curved horns receded into his skull. The impenetrable darkness of his eyes faded away, revealing the vibrant cerulean underneath once more, glittering with superiority and exhilaration alike.
Jak stumbled a bit as the transformation drew to a close, a sharp ache throbbing in his head as the Dark Eco receded back into his bloodstream. He pressed his palm gingerly to his temple, squeezing his eyelids shut and waiting for the pounding to subside, unconcerned when his fingers brushed the telltale stickiness of drying blood plastering green-tinted strands to his face.
Finally, his Darkness-induced headache dissipated, clearing his thoughts of the pain-filled haze that had consumed them. His chest heaved as he attempted to catch his breath, worn out from battling the immense horde of Metal Heads single-handedly. Giving himself a quick once-over, he relaxed minutely when he realized that most of his wounds were not particularly severe, and the smears of Metal Head blood covering his skin far outnumbered the amount of his own that had been spilled.
A soft stirring nearby caught his attention, hardly audible over his own drumming heart and slow, deliberate breathing. Glancing over his shoulder, Jak's entire frame stiffened as hard reality came crashing down on him, burying him underneath a tidal wave of panic, shock, and sheer, all-consuming horror.
"Keira!" he yelled frantically, his alarmed gaze locking on where the mechanic lay sprawled on the frozen earth, terrifyingly still and surrounded by a pool of vivid crimson blood. Those clear blue irises darkened to the ominous shade of the ocean before a storm, cold dread trickling its way down Jak's spine and encasing the walls of his veins in ice.
His own pain forgotten, the young man sprinted towards the fallen form of his closest friend, skidding on ebony puddles and churning up snow with each stride. Entire frame trembling with uncontrollable fear, Jak knelt down beside Keira, sliding his arms carefully beneath her and hesitantly lifting her torso off of the ground. Her head hung lifelessly over his arm, her eyes closed and her skin a chalky pale. Dark red liquid dripped steady from twin slashes on her neck, left behind by the Metal Head's fangs.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, Jak chanted to himself, his heartbeat quickening with despair as he brushed a lock of blood-soaked sapphire hair off of Keira's forehead. Please, for the love of Mar, this can't be happening… Keira, you can't do this to me…
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Keira began to shift in his arms, a low moan of obvious agony falling from her lips. Her eyelids fluttered open gradually, coming to rest at half-mast as she stared blankly up at her boyfriend. Jak felt another jolt of anxiety crackle through his nerves when he noticed the emptiness in her emerald gaze, as though she weren't able to focus on him.
"Jak?" she whispered, her voice scarcely audible and rough with pain. Her breathing came in shallow gasps, as though she were fighting just to bring air into her lungs.
"I'm right here, Keir," Jak assured her, his words coming out far calmer than he felt. He wondered idly how his tone could be so stable when he was on the verge of succumbing into a panic attack.
"What… happened?" the injured she-elf asked weakly, her eyes falling closed once again as if she lacked the strength to keep them open. "I remember… Metal Heads, and you… and then… there was just n-nothing…"
"Shh," Jak quieted her, removing one arm from behind her back and placing his hand comfortingly on her cheek. She offered him no reaction to the gesture, her mutilated chest rising and falling in time with her rapid panting. "Don't worry, Keira. I'm going to find you some help."
To his surprise, Keira shook her head an infinitesimal amount, as though denying his statement.
"No," she disagreed, wincing slightly as if speaking alone were tormenting her damaged body. Blood continued to flow incessantly from her wounds, dripping onto Jak's arm supporting her and leaving glistening trails over her skin.
"No?" Jak repeated, his voice raising an octave in alarm. There was only one reason he could think of that would make Keira deny his promise for help — and he didn't like it at all. "What do you mean, 'no'?"
"There's no point," Keira murmured, confirming his worst fears. She managed to drag open her heavy eyelids after a brief struggle, her blurry gaze meeting his with the fiercest intensity she could muster. "No one's… a-around… and I'm… I'm not gonna —"
"Stop!" Jak growled, his mouth twisting downwards in a defiant scowl that instantly silenced the woman below him. "Don't you dare say you're not gonna make it, Keira Hagai. You're going to be fine, I promise."
A sorrowful smile tugged at the corners of Keira's lips, only serving to heighten the anxiety eating away at Jak's stomach.
"That's one p-promise you won't… be able to keep… Jak Mar," she teased feebly, convulsing as a violent cough wracked her thin frame. She could feel her energy dimming with every lift of her ravaged chest, every beat of her stuttering heart.
"No!" Jak argued, his denial fading away to desperation. His mind refused to even consider the outcome that Keira was trying to tell him — it simply wasn't possible. "Nothing is going to happen to you, Keir, not while I'm around. We're practically home anyway; I'll just take you to Samos and —"
"Jak!" Keira interrupted him, a spasm of pain rippling through her body with the effort of raising her tone. "Just… stop. It's n-no use."
For a moment Jak contemplated quarreling with her again, but he realized with a stab of anguish that doing so would be wasting precious time that Keira simply didn't have.
"But…" he muttered, abruptly losing steam as his shoulders sagged under the weight of the dismay searing his veins. "I can't… I can't l-lose you, Keira… I need you…"
Tears began to burn at the edges of the dark warrior's eyes for the first time in longer than he cared to remember. Pure, overwhelming grief crashed over him as it finally dawned on him that every second that passed by was bringing Keira that much closer to her last. His breath caught in his throat as he choked back a sob, a jagged fissure scorching its way down the middle of his heart.
This can't be happening… not now… he thought hopelessly, biting his lip in an instinctive attempt to hold back his emotions.
"I know," Keira sighed, lifting a trembling, scarlet-streaked hand and placing it softly against his cheek. "I need you, t-too. I wish… I didn't have to… to l-leave you. I'm sorry, Jak…"
"What do you have to be sorry for?" Jak questioned, his words cracking in absolute agony, a mere echo of the remorse tearing him apart from the inside. "This is all my f-fault… I should have p-protected you…"
"Don't say that," Keira chided him quietly, offering him a faint smile that he did not return. Her frail breaths were getting shorter, pain glittering within the depths of her hazy forest-green irises. "If anything, it's… m-my fault. I was the… the one who got l-lost out here… in the first place, remember?"
Unable to form a coherent response, Jak just nodded numbly. He studied her gaze vacantly, those emerald orbs glowing with affection despite the cloud of suffering darkening them.
A moment of tense silence stretched between the couple, both waiting for the other to break it. Finally, Jak lost the battle with his own sorrow, and the moisture spilled from his eyes, trailing down the sides of his face and smearing the dried blood that was splattered over his skin.
"Keira… w-what am I going to do without you?" he choked out, a sob rumbling in his words, threatening to burst from his shattered chest. "You mean e-everything to me… I don't even remember what life was l-like without you there…"
"I know," Keira repeated, brushing a stray tear away from beneath his tortured cerulean eyes, only to have it replaced by another within seconds. "But Jak… you have to let me go. You c-can't spend the rest of your life… grieving over me. Promise m-me… you'll keep going, for yourself… for our f-friends… for me."
"I promise," Jak assured her, his voice breaking the instant he finished speaking. He pressed a tender kiss to Keira's forehead, stroking her cheek gently with his thumb.
"I'm not s-scared, Jak," the mechanic breathed, as though she were trying to soothe some of his heartache, no matter how useless an attempt at comfort was now.
Again her boyfriend did not answer, too overcome with remorse to offer her a reply. He merely continued to caress her pallid face, running his fingers through her tangled hair softly.
"Can you do… s-something else for me?" she asked after a moment's hesitation, her eyelids drooping a bit as exhaustion tugged at the edges of her consciousness. "Last… requests."
"Anything" Jak replied hoarsely, more tears streaming their way down his face. He could hardly see Keira beneath him anymore, his vision obscured by the liquid pouring from his eyes. Never before had he experienced this level of grief, not even when his father had been killed. While he'd never really developed a close relationship with Damas, Keira was his entire world. To lose her now made him feel as if his very soul were shredding to pieces.
"First… tell Daxter he's been… a great friend," Keira whispered, her speech becoming less and less audible as she fought to stay awake — if only to spend a few more moments with Jak before it was too late. "I never… t-told him… and he truly was… once you got past his... his p-personality, anyway…"
A weak chuckle escaped Jak's throat despite himself, but it was swiftly cut off by a strangled sob. The sound was utterly foreign to him, but he didn't bother to waste precious time marveling over it. His full attention was absorbed in Keira's breathless words — her last desires from him.
"Also…" Keira continued, her tired voice wavering as if she were on the verge of breaking down herself. "Tell D-Daddy… tell him I love him and… I'm s-sorry."
"I will," Jak swore, his entire body shaking with the effort of preventing himself from falling apart completely. He couldn't stand the idea of the final memory Keira would ever have of him being one of him losing what little strength he had left, and so he struggled to hold himself together, if only for her.
"Thank you," Keira breathed, blinking sadly up at him, the emerald gaze that had always sent a jolt of electricity running straight through Jak's heart beginning to glaze over. "I love you, Jak. Always have… always w-will."
"I love you, too," he murmured softly, a fresh wave of sorrow threatening to overwhelm him as he realized this would be the last time he ever said those words to her. "I'll m-miss you, Keir."
Squeezing his eyes shut in an effort to quell the pain, Jak bent down and claimed Keira's lips with his own in an earth-shattering kiss. He savored the feeling with every fiber of his being, knowing that he would never experience the same sensation again. Salty water droplets splashed onto Keira's pale skin as she kissed him back, her actions becoming weaker with each passing second.
After what seemed an eternity, Keira's mouth stilled against his. Her hand fell away from his cheek, her arm landing with a dull thud at her side. Jak pulled away to examine her features, what splintered pieces of his heart that remained crumbling to dust and a howl of unrestrained misery ripping from his throat.
Keira's chest no longer moved as she fought for breath, and her bright green eyes had slid closed once more… never to open again.
She was gone.