Torn moaned in his sleep and began moving his head from side to side on the pillow. Jak looked up from where he was polishing his gun at the main table, Torn had been asleep for almost three hours now and Jak was very thankful. He seemed to be resting peacefully, until now that is.
Jak moved over and sat down next to him, just in case he was needed, and it looked like he was going to be. Torn began to mumble in his sleep and his breathing was becoming more shallow and quick. "No... I'll never join... I quit... no..." Her murmured, Jak had to strain his ears to hear it right.
"Torn." Jak said and reached over to nudge his shoulder, which seemed to be the bad thing to do because Torn jerked away in his sleep and took in a shaky breath while letting out a pain filled moan. "Torn, Torn, its okay, man, you're at the hideout, its okay!" Jak said more forcefully, but also not watching to arouse him again. Torn however only seemed to get more sucked into his nightmare.
"Get away from me!" Torn cried and flinched away from Jak once more when he reached out to him.
"Torn, you're dreaming!" Jak yelled and gripped his shoulders. "Wake up, please, Torn just wake up." He shook his shoulders and then Torn's blue eyes snapped open and tears were visible in them.
"Shit... Jak?" Torn asked as he looked around trying to figure out his surroundings. "Oh... Mar..." He said when he realized what was happening.
"Are you okay?" Jak asked and he sat back down.
"I'm fine."
Jak paused and nodded his head for a moment. "Do you remember it?" Torn nodded lightly. "Wanna tell me about it?" Jak said uncomfortably feeling a little bit like a parent doing this, like when he was a little kid back home, Samos could be nice when he wanted too.
Torn sighed and shook his head while shrugging. "I dunno, Jak... Just... remembered being in the guard being there again, in the palace, in that room... I can't ever forget."
"You quit though..."
"I did, but Jak, look at my face." He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow to the younger boy. "C'mon, man, look at my arms, my chest... I may have quit but the guard follows me wherever I go. If I walk in a bar and the people don't know me, they avoid me, they fear me. I know how that feels more then you think. And now... I guess they have even more of a reason..."
Jak looked down, he never thought about that. Torn could never get rid of the tattoos that decorated his skin. They were constant reminders of being in the guard, of the Baron, of the palace where his torture was, and now the place that gave him his real dark side. "Just avoid mirrors." Jak said with a weak grin.
Torn laughed hoarsely and looked around at the familiar hideout that he had been confined to. "Urg, I hate it here, when can I leave? I've been lying here forever."
"Just a few days," Jak said and leaned back crossing his arms.
"Seems like longer, c'mon Jak, wha'd'ya say we go out?" Torn said sitting up and getting excited about the idea of going out and having fun. With the war going on Torn couldn't remember the last time he went out and just had fun with his friends, it was probably when he was in the guard. Now was the perfect excuse, he was supposed to be resting anyway, so work was out of the question before it was even asked.
"No," Jak said firmly and pushing on Torn's shoulders. "The girl would kill me if they caught you out of bed, not to mentions kill you."
"Never mind them, call them and tell them I'm sleeping and not to come by for a few hours so I can have my rest." Torn pushing himself up past Jak and swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He straightened himself up, which hurt a lot actually but he tried not to show it and walked to one of the back rooms of the underground.
Jak followed him. "Where are you going?"
"My room, I need some clothes." He scoffed and walked in one room before shutting the door.
Jak sighed and leaned up against the wall next to the room. He had never entered Torn's room before and he wasn't sure he wanted too. He knew the ex-Krimzon Guard too well, going in his private room would only make Torn angry, him frightened, and cause chaos. He actually had to stop Daxter from going in on a number of occasions.
Torn stood in his room slowly pulling on his shirt over his chest. He took most of the bulky bandages off, now only large Band-Aids and multicolored bruises covered his chest. He let out a slow breath as he finished putting on the tight shirt, grabbing a pair of pants he was bale to pull them on over his boxers faster as his lower body wasn't as bad off as his upper body. He walked over to the cracked and dirty mirror in his private bathroom, his face was still littered with bruises but some of them blended with the color of his tattoos, maybe they weren't that noticeable.
He walked into room and sat down on the bed, he took his boots form where they lay discarded on the floor and pulled them on. Last now, were his weapons. The knife was a challenge seeing as it went on his back and his arms were sore. The holsters on his thighs were far easier.
When he was finished Torn pushed open his door to find Jak sitting on the floor with his communicator out. "Comfortable?" Torn asked and walked by with a limp.
"That took forever." Jak commented.
"It's a bit hard when you can't move." Torn growled in a typical Torn fashion, the old Torn was coming back, full force. "Did you call the girls up?"
"Yeah, pretty easy to convince too, just told them you were resting and they bought it right away."
Torn laughed and made his way up the stairs to leave the underground, he was moving a bit slow in front of Jak, but Jak decided it was best not to bring it up. He opened the door to the hideout and looked out, with him narrowly escaping the Baron's clutches; chances were there was still a search out for him.
"We have to stick to the shadows, Jak... Bein' seen ain't somethin' I'm lookin' forward too now." Torn mumbled as they stepped out and he made his way over to a parked two person zoomer.
"Then why bother goin' out at all?" Jak asked as he hopped into the passengers seat, letting Torn gain some dignity back.
"Because, I know a bar that is perfect for this sort of thing." He said with a smirk and they sped off through the down.
Jak wasn't surprised when they didn't leave the slums, no one really cared about this place and you could find pretty much anyone and everyone here if you looked hard enough. They pulled into a back road, and Torn parked near the back before walking over to what seemed to be an empty wall.
"What are you doing?" Jak asked as he walked over to Torn who was staring at the wall.
"Ssh," he answered sharply and banged on the door two times.
A side opened and a man's eyes appeared in the small space. "What?" He asked rudely and glared at them.
"It's Torn you jack ass, let me in." He said and the guys eyes went wide and the door swung open.
"Torn? Commander of the Underground? Oh my Mar...Yer alive!" The man exclaimed with a disbelieving face on and relief in his eyes.
"Second in command," Torn corrected with a smirk. "I escaped Baron Praxis once before, I can do it again. By the way, this is Jak, one of my best men, saved my life..." He said giving Jak a smile as he turned around to introduce him. "Jak, this is Karl, an old friend of mine."
Jak nodded his head to the much older man, maybe Torn did have a life outside the Underground.
"What are we standin' out here for?" Torn asked, "I think it's about time we go in and drink somthin'. I haven't had a decent drink in a month." He complained and the three walked into the hidden bar.
It was dark, dusty, and smelled like smoke. He could tell that this place was a place where Baron Praxis was not welcome and that probably went for Krimzon Guards as well. Karl walked behind the counter and took out a few glasses form under it. Torn and Jak both took seats at the counter.
"So, Torn, what happened to ya, boy? I mean, well, we all thought ya dead." Karl asked softly.
"Nearly was..." Torn muttered and subconsciously reached up and touched the sensitive skin around his face. Karl didn't seem to miss it as he did not push, and Jak didn't miss it either.
"C'mon, drinks are on the house tonight." Karl said.
"Hey is Jinx here?" Torn asked suddenly as he received his drink as if something had just popped into his mind, and it sort of did.
Karl nodded. "I thought I saw 'im around here somewhere."
Torn nodded. "Talk to ya later, I gotta go find him, tell him about our little lie to the girls." Torn smirked and walked off to try and find Jinx.
"I think I saw him." Karl said quietly and leaned over the counter near Jak. "Look, take care of the boy, would ya? He really got 'imself beat up this time, I can tell. I've never seen him so... bad... He's tryin' to hid it, but he's hurtin', look after him, I can't always."
Jak nodded. "I know what ya mean, and I will, or I'll try. He's stubborn, I can't make too many promises."
Karl laughed heartily. "Oh I know that, known 'im since he was four, even then he was a hard ass."
"Four?" Jak asked and looked up at him skeptically.
He nodded his head. "Yup, friend of his father's, when he died I sort'a took 'im in as me own. He's like my own. But then he grew up and joined that damned guard. Told 'im not too, told 'im it was bad news but he didn't listen to this old coot. But I tell ya." Karl said and went back behind the counter to pour someone a new drink who was waiting at the counter. "He couldn't have turned out better."
"So you raised him?" Jak asked even though he pretty much knew the answer.
Karl, once again, nodded his head.
"Tell me, Karl, when did he start gargling nails...?" Jak asked leaning forward and making the older man laugh out loud, gaining a bit of the attention from every man and woman in the bar.
AN: Well I'm finally back! I know it's been so incredibly long, but I had the fall play for school and for any of you drama kids out there you know how hard that gets. But I swear I'm not just making these excuses up, really, they are actually going on. This chapter is actually getting written at around three in the morning and I'm tired so I probably won't put it up until tomorrow... But you guys won't know the difference anyway... so I don't know why I bought it up... see ya!