"They've found a body."
Jak's hands started shaking along with Ashelin's. "They haven't identified it, but Jak… who else could it be?" Ashelin asked, sadness in her voice. Jak shook his head. "Maybe… maybe someone got out somehow. Maybe they came from somewhere else." His voice was steady and unbroken and Ashelin admired his ability to remain calm when the man he loved could be dead.
Daxter entered the room at that moment. "Jak! You're up!" Daxter grinned, swiftly climbing up Jak's shoulder. "Sorry I didn't come earlier. I was sick and Tess wouldn't let me out of her sight." Daxter said, sticking his tongue out and making a face. "That medicine was horrible." Jak laughed nervously and scratched Dax behind the ears. "What did I miss?" Daxter asked.
Jak and Ashelin both sighed in nervousness. "Torn went missing last night." Ashelin finally said. Daxter's eyes widened. "He… he what? Tattooed Wonder is missing?" Ashelin and Jak nodded solemnly. "Did he leave or was he taken?" Daxter asked, clinging to Jak's neck as Jak turned around. "We don't know. But they found… they found a body. This morning. It hasn't been identified. We need to get it to the coroner- it's been ripped to shreds." Ashelin said, turning to the door.
Jak joined Ashelin at the door. "I want to go to the coroner with you. I want to see if it's him." He said, Ashelin put her hand out to stop him. "The coroner won't allow anyone down there. Not even me, or my father when he was alive."
Jak cursed and Daxter screwed up his eyes. "Don't worry Jak. I'm sure Wonder Boy is ok." He said, tugging lightly on Jak's ear. Jak frowned. After all the obvious hints, Daxter still didn't know that he loved Torn. "Can we at least go there and wait until they identify it?" Jak asked impatiently. Ashelin nodded after a few moments of consideration. "They'll be in the watchtower just down the road."
The guards brought the body bag upstairs to the coroner, who stood ready with her tools around her. They lay the body down and pulled the body out. The coroner frowned. The body was pretty thoroughly ripped up. The coroner vaguely recognized the face somehow. 'Please don't let it be Torn.' She thought. She was a friend of Torn's and heard he had gone missing, possibly out into the Wastelands. Torn had brought her, the Baron's best doctor, to work for the Underground. And she never regretted it. She sighed and snapped gloves over her hands. "Let's get this over with."
Ashelin and Jak waited on the bottom of the tower while the coroner and body were on top. They had been waiting for hours for the body to be identified. "It's not a Krimzon Guard." The coroner said. She started speaking again, but all Jak and Ashelin heard was static. "He- ding- red- arf." Was all they could make out through the static. "What? Can you repeat yourself? We couldn't hear you!" Ashelin said frantically into the communicator. It was the same thing, static. Except Jak and Ashelin made out two words.
Red scarf.
Jak automatically assumed the worst. "Take me up there, Ashe." Jak said, striding to the elevator. Ashelin carefully lifted Daxter up, who had fallen asleep on the bench, and rushed after Jak. "Jak… if it's Torn…" She began, but Jak shook his head. "Let's just get up there, Ashe." He said.
The elevator stopped and Ashelin and Jak stepped off it. The coroner was waiting on the other side of the doors. In her hands was a red scarf. "You really shouldn't go in there, but-" the woman started. Jak pushed past her roughly. "Jak! Stop!" Ashelin called as Jak pushed the door open.
The body lay on the table with a white sheet over it. Jak tore it off and winced slightly. The face was torn up to the point where it was hardly recognizable. But Jak noticed the remainders of gray tattoos. "I don't get it." Jak said, scanning the face again. "There are KG tattoos on the face. But you said it wasn't a Krimzon Guard."
The coroner sighed. "He wasn't exactly a Krimzon Guard. He was about them all- the commander." Ashelin and Jak looked at each other. "You mean- this isn't Torn?" Jak asked, looking back to the face. The coroner shook her head. "No- it's Erol." The coroner responded. Ashelin took the red scarf from her. "But Erol never wore a red scarf." She said, confused.
"I think I can answer that." A female voice said. The group turned around and to their surprise Keira was standing in the doorway. "Praxis is dead. Erol was his right hand. He knew he would either be outcast or killed and he would rather kill himself then to die by your hands." She explained, walking into the room. Ashelin was still confused. "That still doesn't explain the red scarf."
Keira sighed. "I ran into Erol at the Ottsel a few nights ago. He was drunk. He told me… it was kind of disturbing, but he told me that somewhere along the line he had somehow fallen for Praxis. I'm guessing it's Praxis' scarf in your hand." Keira explained. Ashelin and the whole room in general were at a loss for words. "Erol and… Praxis?" Daxter, who had woken up sometime during Keira's explanation, exclaimed. "Well, that explains that, but what about Torn?" Jak asked. The coroner frowned. "The people Ashelin sent out haven't reported finding anyone else."
A young KG ran in at that moment, out of breath. "We got… a message from… Torn." He wheezed. Jak practically launched himself at the young man. "What is it? What did he say?" Jak asked, praying Torn was alive. "He says he's alive. And he said he's sorry he left, Ashelin." The young man said, his gaze turning to Ashelin.
'That's it…' Jak wondered as the young KG sat down and the coroner brought him a glass of water. 'He must have been telling the truth, then.' Jak thought. "That's it? There was no more?" Jak asked, hoping he was mistaken. The man shook his head. "That's all of it."
Jak marched out of the tower, Ashelin and Daxter in tow. "I'm going after him." Jak said, walking to a Zoomer. "What- now?" Daxter asked, his eyes growing large. Jak nodded.
"Yes, now. He can't have too much of a head start." Jak said, jumping onto the Zoomer and waiting for Ashelin and Daxter to join him. "Jak, please, wait another day at least! I can get some things together for you that you'll need." Ashelin pleaded, hopping in next to Jak.
"Yea, Jak. We'll need food and water out there." Daxter said, growing concerned.
Jak frowned. "Alright. Tomorrow. As soon as the sun comes up I'm leaving." Jak said, starting the Zoomer and beginning to drive away. "I'm going with you." Daxter said, jumping onto Jak's shoulder.
"Dax.." Jak started. "No buts, Jak. You'd be lost without me." Daxter winked. Jak smiled faintly, wondering if Daxter noticed his affection for Torn yet.
It was early when Jak and Daxter reached the Underground, having dropped Ashelin off at the Palace, only about 6 o'clock. Daxter padded to a bunk. "Man am I tired." He said, confusion in his voice being he just napped. "You're probably still getting over being sick, Dax." Jak said, throwing his shirt onto a chair and tugging off his boots. "I'm going to take a nap so you might as well." Jak said, laying down in his usual cot and almost immediately falling asleep.
Jak woke up from a fitful sleep. He dreamt he found Torn's body in the desert and in the sand all around his body were the words 'I never loved you' over and over. Jak frowned and mentally smacked himself for being so sentimental. Torn wouldn't leave Jak's mind and Jak couldn't stop thinking about him. He worried for Torn's safety, but deep down he knew Torn was alive.
Jak walked to the bathroom, deciding to take a shower. He turned on the cold water and splashed a bit onto his face, then toweled it off, looking over his face in the mirror. It was the same reflection as always, only now there was sorrow in his eyes. He had never seen sadness in his eyes before.
He shook off the feeling and undressed fully, jumping into the shower.
Jak tried to wash away his thoughts, to drown them with the water that fell over his skin, but he couldn't. Torn not loving him didn't make any sense; the way Torn reacted to everything that happened between them had suggested otherwise. Jak knew Torn loved him, at least at one point. But as of loving him right now, Jak wasn't so sure.
Jak sighed. It was useless, his thoughts wouldn't go away and the demon in his head wouldn't stop taunting him. He turned off the water and began drying himself with the nearest towel. He looked into the mirror again, and the vision of his and Torn's first kiss came back to him. Jak threw the towel angrily at the mirror and tugged his clothes back on. He needed to focus on something other then Torn if his stupid mind would stop thinking on its own.
The next day came after what felt like forever to Jak. He had hardly slept after he got back from his shower; he just lay on the bunk and tried to think of what he would do if he found Torn. He hoped his dark side would stay out of it; he was ready to kill Torn. Not because Torn was making Jak miserable, but because Torn was making Jak think about him non-stop and the demon was becoming agitated by it.
Ashelin entered the Underground a few minutes after sun rise. Daxter was groggily sipping a glass of coffee and Jak was staring at nonexistent patterns on the plain ceiling. "I've gotten everything I think you'll need." Ashelin said, swinging a good sized pack onto the round table.
Daxter examined it cautiously as if it were a bomb. "Got any chick Ottsels in there?" He asked. Jak looked at him pointedly. Daxter grinned. "Just thought I'd ask, it looks big enough! And I've gotta have SOMETHING to do out there other then watch Jak make googly-eyes at Captain Laryngitis." Jak gaped at Daxter. "You mean… you KNEW?" Jak asked.
Daxter laughed. "How could anyone NOT? They'd have to have more stuffing then the blind lady's damn bird. Besides, you wouldn't be acting like you've just lost your gun in the middle of a ring of rabid Metal Heads if you didn't love him." He said, hopping onto his usual place on Jak's shoulder.
"And how exactly is that?" He asked, turning his head to watch the Ottsel. Daxter thought for a moment, then said, "Well, half the time you look like you're ready to cry enough to drown the entire city, and the other half you look like you're about ready to rip something into teeny tiny shreds." Jak chuckled. "It's kinda scary. So let's go find your lover boy before one of those things happen."
Jak, Daxter, and Ashelin walked outside. It was an ironically nice day. "So Dax, you aren't bothered that I like Torn?" Jak asked. Daxter snorted. "All I care about is your happiness, Jak. Your taste is a little lacking, but beggars can't be choosers, right?" He winked. Jak scratched Daxter behind the ears and Daxter nearly purred.
They drove out to the gates to the Wasteland and Jak and Daxter hopped out. Ashelin handed them two thick, heavy wool blankets. Daxter looked at her curiously. "It gets cold out there at night. They'll also provide some protection against the sand storms. Be careful, you two." She said, tossing Jak the blankets. "Thanks, Ashe." Jak said gratefully, and began walking out the gates.
It wasn't until Ashelin was back at the Palace that she remembered she was supposed to tell Jak the truth after Torn left. She was so caught up in worry she had totally forgotten.
'Oh well,' She thought, entering her room, 'he'll find out eventually.'