Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter

Chapter Thirty Five

For xXxrisenangelxXx

There were millions of people buzzing around the barrier to the section where the army had been fighting she had to show her badge before they would let her through. Or more the neighbours just wanted to see what was going on since every in the city were nosey housewives by the looks of things, which was going to make it all the more difficult for Aella to get past without being detected. Before she could just walk in and there would be no questions asked. She suspected that some of these women were mothers, wives, sisters or daughters of soldiers which had not yet returned. For a moment she felt sorry for them and hoped Shayna wasn't amongst any of them. Aella had a feeling they weren't ever going to return. This was going to end badly, not just politically but also she could foresee riots and uprisings from the general public. She didn't need to see a vision to confirm that was going to become a reality. She ducked underneath the barrier and made her way towards the gate which was guarded by some high ranking KG officers. One she recognised.

"Duke." She greeted. She hadn't seen the man in a while but they had settled their differences over the past few months.

When he saw her his eyes twinkled and he embraced her as a father would embrace his daughter.

"Aella. What are you doing here?"

"I need to get past. I need to go onto the site. Praxis says the King is dead but I don't believe him. I think the metalhead leader captured him."

Duke shook his head. "Aella, you know I can't do that."

"Yes you can."

"I don't mean I'm afraid of losing my job. I mean I'm afraid of losing you. I don't want to go home and face Shayla thinking I might have sent our daughter to her death."

She stared back at Duke intently. "Duke, you're not going to lose me. I'll come back and I won't be coming back alone."

Duke tilted his head knowing he was at a crossroads. He knew in his professional mind that if she was of lower rank there would be no way that he would be letting Aella past him. However since she was of higher rank she technically had higher authority over the matter than he did. Although he had received order coming directly from the King that she was to be kept from harm. As a father, he was happy to follow this order. Because as a father he wouldn't want to let her go in there. They were given the excuse that it was because of her wounds but there were soldiers with worse wounds that Aella who were carted back to work sooner than she got out of her coma. He knew she was strong and that she could face anything but there were many soldiers like that who eventually met their death. Who was to say that this would be hers? He knew no matter how much the others would consul him he would always feel like he had her blood on his hands.

"I'm sorry, Aella. I can't let you go."

She nodded and then did something unexpected. She threw a jetboard which she was strapped on

her back and sped past the gate. She scanned her security pass just in time to get it open and went straight out of the city.

"Aella!" He cried but he knew it was too late. She was gone.

When the doors closed behind Aella she never expected to face anything like this. There were dead bodies floating in the waters and scattered through out the town. It was just like in her dream. A grey apocalypse. She hovered across the grounds and scanned the area. While she was here she was at least going to check out that hut.

"Hello?" She called out wondering if there were going to be any survivors.

"Over here." Said a voice.

Aella spun round not actually expecting a voice. It was only protocol to call out if there were any survivors. It was only one in ten cases where there was actually a survivor. Survivor not survivors. She floated in the direction of the voice on her hoverboard and looked around the mass of corpses until she found herself face to face with a well-built man in his mid or late thirties with skin the colour of mud.

"Don't worry I'll get you back to the city as soon as possible."

"No. Not there. I can't ever go back there." He wheezed.

She frowned at him and held his hand. "Why? What happened?"

The man peered at her as if he recognised her. "You're...that girl...Lady Auroalis...Why were you not here?"

"I was forbidden by the King." She explained hastily. "But tell me why you can't go back to the city."

She wrapped his arm around her shoulders and helped him onto the hoverboard which was just able to take them both and they hovered slowly across the battlefield towards the hut.

"We were crossed." The soldier replied with scorn in his voice.

"By who?"

"Praxis." He spoke his name like he was spit venom out of his mouth. She looked away and he caught the look his eyes and chuckled. "So you knew. Why didn't you warn the King?"

"We had evidence against him but...He was about to go into battle. I didn't know he had a long term plan with Krew to ambush the army."

The man laughed again instead he roared with laughter which startled Aella so much she almost dropped him. She looked at him for a moment, almost as if he were a mad man. She could imagine by the size of him and how enthusiastically he described the battle he probably was. All these front liners were off their heads for signing up for those positions anyway. She gripped onto his muscles as they climbed up the slope towards the hut. She prided herself in being fairly strong but today was a real test of that. She was hoping she could hang onto him for long enough until they could reach the top and she could treat him with whatever she had with her. She did come prepared. Also she hoped to do a bit of investigating while she was there. She frowned at the man who was still laughing which started to annoy Aella. What could possibly be so funny about this whole situation?

"Okay what's the joke?"

"The joke? The joke is I had no idea he was working for that scumbag and second it wasn't him he made a deal with."

"Who then?" She snapped as she jumped them off the jetboard and carried him into the hut.

"The metalhead leader."

She almost dropped him but thankfully he was already settling down on the floor. His words hit her like someone had stabbed her multiple times in the chest. She stared at him in absolute horror. She never thought she would ever meet a human being who was brave, cowardly, pathetic and the worst time of human all combined in one person. It looked like Praxis was surprising her in all kinds of ways over the past few weeks. She almost looked like she had died and remained standing in her corporeal form. She couldn't believe it because she didn't think Praxis' treachery went that far. She couldn't believe anyone's treachery could go that far for that matter. Working against the King with the metalhead leader? And she just thought he was just trying to take the throne of the city. It was one thing to plot treason against the King but it was a completely different thing to make a deal with the metalhead leader, a mindless, greedy, infernal creature. He was so perilous in his determination to achieve him ambitions he was willing to sell his soul to the only devil which walked the land.

"How do you know?"

The man grunted as he leaned against the wall and took a minute. "When they thought I was dead they were talking. I heard them saying that everything was going according to plan. That Praxis was going to say that the King was dead but if he somehow came back he would say he betrayed them not Praxis."

"What?" Those words filled Aella with more hope than she could've imagined. "Damas is alive?"

The soldier nodded. Aella remembered herself and took out the bandages from her pack. "I'm sorry. I didn't ask you your name?"

The man smirked. "That's alright. It's Sig."

"Sig. Well, I know you know me as Lady Auroalis but I've always hated that title. You can call me Aella."

"Nice to meet you Aella. I wish we could've met under better circumstances."

"Well there's nothing we can do about that. The thing we need to focus on now is finding Damas. Do you know where he is?"

"The metalhead leader was going to take him but he got away. Thank goodness. He's better out of the city than in it, personally. I would've followed him if I was strong enough."

"I'll leave you by the entrance so you can get treated but I have to go after Damas. I have the evidence against Praxis. Don't worry he will be brought down."

"You can't go into the Wasteland's alone."

"I have to if we're going to save the city." She argued.

"I can't let you go there alone! I'm coming with you! Like I said I can't go back there. Not after this."

Aella stamped her foot and turned away. There seemed to be no reasoning with this guy. He would just slow them down. She looked around the hut but there was nothing there. Nothing special. Well there was nothing special about it yet. Perhaps.

"Look Sig, I appreciate the concern but there is no way I can let you accompany me with those wounds of yours."

"I know you think I'll slow you down but let me tell you something, Chilli Pepper. I'm tougher than I look."

"Sig-"

Suddenly an explosion came out of nowhere but instead of blasting apart the hut it was more of an explosion of eco energy which began to charge Aella was something she had never felt the sensation of before. She felt like she was being smothered but at the same time she felt like she was breathing in the purest air possible. She felt like she was being tied around by chains but felt as free as water in the open ocean. Something was filling her with an energy she couldn't describe because she had never felt it before. She heard a voice in her head she recognised in her dreams so that she knew all too well of who it was that was causing this. She saw something, some figures that were so small that they must have been from a distance and were shrouded in a bright, white light.

Child, you must find the King. But you cannot do that alone...

She fell down to the ground with a thud but wasn't knocked out. "Woah! What was that?"

"I don't know." She slurred. Despite his injuries Sig helped her to her feet and as she touched him a green energy seemed to flow from her into him. He stepped back from her and stared at her.

"What did you just do?" He demanded.

"I don't know."

"You don't seem to know a lot of things, Chilli Pepper." He accused.

"You really need to stop calling me that." She said through gritted teeth. "We just met."

"Listen. Wait- I don't feel the pain any more. You must've healed me or something. Wait that might

have been green eco you poured into me."

Aella blinked. "How could I have-"

Sig chuckled. "That doesn't matter right now, Chilli Pepper. Right now we need to find Damas."

"Right. Fine." She looked around the hut one last time and shook her head. So much for the investigating.

"Come on. We can't waste any time." Sig said over his shoulder.

Aella raised her eyebrow and followed him out the door. It looked like she wasn't calling the shots any more. He found a zoomer outside and took the front wheel while Aella wrapped her arms around his waist even though it would make more sense for her to drive but she couldn't be bothered to argue with him. She found that it was exhausting to argue with Sig. Also she didn't want to receive the I'm-older-and-wiser-than-you-so-shut-up argument. She couldn't be bothered. Not now. She was getting used to the fact that she was being some sort of oracle and now she was channelling eco. This was all becoming a bit much. He started up the engine and zoomed down the platform and in the direction of the Wasteland's. They passed the abandoned, wasted streets in silence, mourning the dead and the fallen soldiers who had given their life pointlessly. Aella knew Sig was going to do everything in his power to make sure his comrades were avenged. As they approached the real gate out the city she gripped onto Sig and stared out onto the plain. She didn't venture out there very often. Only when she was ordered and she was glad of it, considered what you found out there.

For hours they sped through a sea of golden sand looking out for any sign of life. They were told there was nothing in the Wasteland's but she wasn't sure whether she should completely agree with the reports about the findings in the desert. Not if Praxis was in charge of them. There was something she was sure he was hiding there as well as his connections with Krew. She was sure the actual list of his exploits were endless. If a man made a deal with the Devil he was willing to do anything.

"What are you thinking about?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing. It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just wondering whether the Wastelands are really as...dead as the reports have told us."

"With Praxis managing those reports I can't say I blame you for doubting his word now. Then again I'm sure you've had a reason to do so for a while."

She shot a look at him and knew she wasn't going to take this crap. "Okay, first I'm on your side, Sig. The problem with these sort of things that they take time. You have to find the right time to strike. I want to bury Praxis and to do that I have to get as much evidence as possible to bury him till he rots in the ground. I had it then...this happened."

The zoomer lurched forward. It seemed that Sig missed a cliff which was raised high above the ground. He only missed it half because of this conversation but also because it was sunset and everything looked like a straight line for miles. It was easy to miss something like that. He tried to break before they went over the edge but the zoomer already toppled over and Aella and Sig were forced to jump and grab onto the edge. Aella narrowly missed it and thought she was going to fall to her death until Sig grabbed her hand.

"You alright there?"

She nodded and glanced down. It was a huge drop. There was only a fifty-fifty chance of her surviving that fall.

"Thanks." She said breathlessly.

"No worries. I owed you anyway."

She glanced down at the ground and thought she saw someone walking around. She narrowed her eyes and swore she saw a woman carrying a weapon in her hand. As she looked closer she was beginning to slip away from Sig until she found herself flying down in the air and towards the ground. She heard his voice calling after her uselessly, hopelessly as she was about to meet her death.

~ (***) ~

By order of the Grand Council of Haven City, for heinous acts and crimes against the people, you are hereby banished to the Wasteland for life.

Who was that slimy asshole? Why was he chucking out Jak? None of this makes any sense. What has thing got to do with anything.

Patience, child. We do not show you these things for no reason.

This is a death sentence, Veger. There must be another way.

Ashelin? What's she doing here? She's wearing the same uniform as me. Looks like she does go down that alley after all. And down the right way as well if she's defending Jak. I knew that girl didn't look like an idiot.

I'm sorry. The Council is too powerful.

You just stay alive, you hear me? That's an order! Someone will find you, I promise.

She put some tracking device in Jak's hand. What was going to find him in the Wasteland's? Maybe they were showing her this because there was something out there. There was something to find. She knew it! But what? She didn't know where she was going to begin with finding anything int the desert if she was actually still alive and survived the fall. But she said someone would find him.

Who?

It appears the strongest Metal Heads have survived. The battle for the city has just begun!

What war? Isn't there already a war against them? Is this going to get more worse than it already is?

The people are blaming you Jak!

Aella felt her throat close up. So, Jak was going to follow down the cliché of a son meeting the same destiny as his father. The King and the Prince would be blamed for crimes they didn't commit.

It's bad! The city's become a battlefield! Mechanized Death Bots have taken the industrial section, and the surviving Metal Heads have expanded their hold on the Westside. We're losing ground on all fronts.

Looks like we've found some live ones...heh, barely. Here's the beacon we were picking up. Who gave you this? We'll take them with us! Let's move! I smell a storm coming!

Damas! Finally she had been given confirmation that he would actually survive. But he was the one finding them. Maybe the ones who found him are the ones he has now joined? So has he abandoned the city? How could he do that? It was his birthright, his responsibility. She was glad that he was alive and that he would find his son, although not really looking or treating him like he was his son but still this vision disconcerted her a little.

Well, you've come back from the dead have you? And my monks were ready to pray for you. I am Damas, King of Spargus.

The King of what?

Ahh yes...we ARE the forgotten ones. Haven City's refuse, thrown out and left to die. Just as you were. But now that you have been saved, your life belongs to the people of Spargus. And we will use it well. If it's actually worth anything.

Like Haven City was worth anything to you Damas?