Woo-hoo! I HAVE RETURNED!
Uh, yeppers! Sorry about the late update. Yours truly had an IB art exam a few days ago, so I've been pretty busy working up to that. In any case, here is the finally completed chapter ten. And YES, only TWO left to go after this! *sniff* Yes, unfortunately all (good?) things must come to an end. Once again, many MANY thanks to all of you who are reviewing/continuing to review *sniff* I luv you guys! *Hands out Jak action figures to all who review* Next reviewers for this chapter get Daxter plushies! ;)
*cough* Yeah, so besides a musical theater exam, two art portfolios to finish, graphics assignments and two bursary exams to go, that's all that stands between me and the end of this fic! *faints* Uh, well, ONCE this fic is finished, it'll give moi time to finish mah other two fics (non J&D related) and then I can write another. So I'll start asking people from now until the end of this fic. Would you prefer a sequel to this, or a fic with just the original characters, and not my own (ie Xema and co.) I honestly don't mind if you'd prefer a non-sequel, but I need you to tell me what ya want.
Anyways, keep up the wonderful reviews, and keep at those other J&D fics for those other authors who write about our fave PS2 heroes. You guys rock!
~Keysha
***
Jak and Daxter: Legend of the Lost White City
Chapter Ten: The Confession
Daxter awoke with a splitting headache. What was going on? The last thing he remembered was another one of those blinding silver flashes, and then he was here. But WHERE was he?
The first thing the ottsel realized was that he was in a cage. Unfortunately, his captor wasn't TOO misjudging of the little guy, and the bars were too close together, preventing him from squeezing between the gaps. He was in some kind of darkened room, it kind of reminded Daxter of Xema's bedroom, only slightly larger.
"Where am I?" He called out to thin air, not expecting a reply. Unfortunately for Daxter, he got one.
"In a cavern. On the edge of the city." Came the reply from Karma, sauntering out of the shadows, grinning evilly. "Poor little ottsel, trapped in a cage. If Xema's annoying little friend Chelly saw this, she'd have a fit! Then again, if XEMA saw this, she would be wrapping her fingers around my neck in pure hatred! Boy does that little brat care for you!" She laughed, and then glared at the ottsel. "Xema begged for me to leave you alone, but why should I listen to HER? I'M the older sister; she's supposed to listen to me! But instead, she goes and blabbers to daddy! Well, she's paid for her disobedience now!"
Daxter glared hatred at the girl in front of him.
"WHAT have you done to Xema?" He growled, puffing up his chest and trying to act brave, although deep inside he was scared, and the ottsel in him was trying to tell his brain to run away and hide. But he wasn't an ottsel. He was a boy. One who was standing up for not only himself, but also for the girl he loved. Even if he WAS scared out of his mind.
"Oh, how precious!" Karma teased. "You ARE actually worried about her! Well ottsel, I'll let you in on a little secret: I haven't killed her. Not YET anyway!" She grinned wickedly, and Daxter grabbed the bars of the cage, glaring up at his captor.
"My NAME is DAXTER!" He hissed at the wicked woman. "And if you even TOUCH Xema, I'll make sure you wished you were never BORN!"
"Oh, so much VOIOLENT talk from such a LITTLE creature." Karma reached into the cage and petted Daxter on the head. He responded by biting down hard on her wrist.
"Agh!" Karma cursed, yanking her hand out of the cage, and sending Daxter flying headfirst into the bars, causing his bad headache to turn into a splintering one.
"You little RAT!" Karma hissed, adding a pressured cloth to her bleeding wrist. "Why are you even CONCERNED about Xema? She's just a girl! It's not like she's a potential MATE for you!"
Daxter quirked an eyebrow at Karma. "What?" He asked. "Do you think I was ALWAYS an ottsel?" Karma looked up with interest now, wondering where Daxter's story was going. "I used to be just like Jak and Keira." The ottsel admitted sadly. "But CERTAIN incidents ended up turning me into THIS!" Daxter held out his arms to reveal his skinny ottsel body. He bent his head, as if in shame. "Not even my friends treat me as a person anymore. But your sister." Daxter looked up at Karma, tears forming in his eyes. "Your sister can see past the fur." He felt like an idiot, pouring out his heart to the person who would probably KILL him soon enough, but Daxter was glad he was finally getting all of this off of his chest.
"My sister actually TREATS you like a boy?" Karma sniffed. "That's funny, she never treats ME like a person."
Daxter glared. "What do you expect when you treat her and everyone else like DIRT?" He bowed his head again. "Please Karma. I'm asking a lot from you just by SAYING the magic word." He gulped. "PLEASE don't hurt Xema. She's one of the most important things in this world to me."
He gasped, as he realized what he was about to say.
"I love her."
***
Xema huddled on the stone floor, trying to keep warm. Her feet and hands were bound tightly, causing her wrists and ankles to bleed. Karma had also cut the tips of her wing feathers, preventing her from flying. It would take a long time for new ones to grow back, but Xema doubted she would BE around for the time it took for them to grow back. When Karma had confronted her, she had received a lot of physical and mental abuse. Karma had yelled, scorned, pulled her hair, hit her and even slashed the wound on her arm open again with her own knife. The pain was terrible, but Xema continued to try and ignore it. All she was worried about was Daxter. She was scared Karma would just kill him straight away out of her pure spite for her. It wouldn't take much effort to grab him and break his neck, considering he was so little. Xema shuddered at the thought.
A tiny creek of light caught her eye. Karma had opened the door and entered, carrying something in her arms. Xema's heart skipped a beat as she imagined her sister bringing in the ottsel corpse to wave in front of her. But Karma bent down so that she was eye to eye with her sister. Xema breathed a sigh of relief as she sat up, Daxter was in her arms and still alive, although his hind and front paws were all bonded up like her own hands and feet.
"Daxter." Xema gasped, almost shocked as Karma slipped the tiny creature into her arms. Although Xema couldn't hold him properly, she managed to slide him into a comfortable position, and she rubbed her cheek on the top of his head, feeling the tears creep up in her eyes again. She glanced up at her sister, who was glaring down at them. "Why?" Xema whispered, Karma stared down at her little sister, that heartless look still plastered on her face.
"Because I hate you. I hate him. I hate everyone! There's nothing worth living for. Some days I wonder if it was even worth me being born, father has YOU, so why does he even CARE that I'm alive!" She looked down at Daxter. "At least you have him Xema, and I hate you both for that." She turned around to leave. "Sleep well you two, this will be your last night together."
***
Daxter rubbed at his sore wrists. Karma may have not underestimated him when he was in the cage, but tying him up with rope was not a very good idea. It hadn't taken him long to knaw through the bonding, and after attempting to undo the tight knots on Xema's wrists, he gave in and simply bit into them as well.
"Thanks." Xema breathed a sigh of relief, attending to the rope on her ankles as Daxter continued to rub at his wrists.
"No problem baby!" Daxter looked up at her and grinned. "Well, we've got no problems escaping from here." He pointed to a small window above their heads. "It's little, but even you can fit through that Xema. We'll just fly out of here, tell your dad, and bust your sister! She's gonna PAY for what she's done to you!" Daxter clenched his fist angrily, but Xema looked doubtful.
"I can't fly." She admitted. Daxter felt his jaw drop like a lead weight.
"WHAT! Why Xema?" He asked, confused.
Xema bent down to Daxter's height (Well, close to it anyway), and indicated to the tips of her feathered wings, which appeared to have been hacked at with a pair of sharp scissors.
"Karma cut my wings. Until they grow back, I can't fly."
"How long will it take them to grow back?" Asked Daxter rather stupidly.
"At least three months." Xema admitted. Daxter collapsed in exasperation.
"Then we're done for!" He groaned from his position on the floor. Xema shook her head and picked up the little ottsel from the cold floor. His fur was icy cold, and Xema shivered as she realized just how cold it really was. She gazed out at the starry sky. Of course, it was night. No wonder it was cold.
"Listen, we have to sneak out of here." Xema pleaded. "We CAN do it Daxter, if we work together." She smiled at him. "Willing to go and kick Karma's butt?"
Daxter couldn't think of anything else he'd rather enjoy doing.
***
Jak wasn't surprised to find himself tied up when he awoke. Keira was lying beside him, still unconscious. Jak felt like his head was about to explode, that thing the mad researcher had hit him with had felt like someone had placed his head against a rock and bashed at him with a stone. The sound of feet smacking against the floor brought him back to reality.
"Ah, the boy FINALLY awakes." The researcher teased. He had removed his glasses, and seemed more intimidating then he first had, at least that's what Jak thought. "You and your friend are QUITE fascinating!" He explained, studying Jak carefully. "No wings? I've never seen anything like it. You're not from the city are you?" He kept questioning Jak, but refused to wait for an answer. Jak didn't care that much, he wasn't in the mood for answering anyone's questions right now. In fact, he just wanted some of his OWN questions answered.
"Perhaps my theories are TRUE then!" The man thought out loud. "Maybe the silver eco in this city HAS caused us to evolve with wings!" He spread out his own set of feathered wings. Like him, they were short and dumpy.
"Why?" Jak asked, practically wordless, but his question did ask a lot. To his surprise, the researcher bowed before him.
"I'm just serving my princess Karma." He explained to Jak. "My only wish was to study you two children, Karma promised to deliver you two to me, as long as I allowed her to take Xema away." He grinned. "The opportunity to study children who have evolved without wings? How could I say 'NO?"
Jak's heart was racing. "What, what will you do?" He tried to ask. The researcher shrugged, completely unsure.
"Oh, I'll run tests, study, dissect perhaps."
'DISSECT?' Jak gulped. The idea of being cut open didn't please him. The researcher caught sight of his shocked face and laughed.
"Oh don't worry." He turned towards Jak. "I'll kill you first. I don't want you squirming around while I examine your liver!"
BONK!
And then, without warning, the researcher slid to the ground, unconscious.
Jak watched the man slide to the ground, knocked out, possibly because of the large bump on his head, where something, or someONE had hit him on the head.
Jak looked up, and there was Daxter, still poised on the shelf in the position he had finished in when he had smashed the man on the head with a large wrench. Who KNEW that the little ottsel could pack such a punch? Even with the aid of a large, metallic object. The orange furball looked up at Jak and grinned.
"Hey buddy! Happy to see me?"
"Daxter!" Jak cried in disbelief and excitement. He had never been so happy to see his little furry friend before. Jak felt a tug on the ropes restraining his wrists, and when he turned around, he saw Xema, just finishing on the knot, smiling. Jak noticed her hacked up wings, and he knew that there was no way she would be flying for along time to come.
"Hi Jak!" She greeted him. "Sorry it took so long, Karma had us a little tied up."
Jak stood up, and started working on the ropes on Keira, who was still knocked out.
"We have to hurry!" Xema insisted. "Karma may be close!"
"Closer than you think!" Karma hissed as she appeared at the doorway.
"Oh GREAT! Here's the witch herself!" Daxter groaned. "Where do you keep COMING from? You're worse than Gol and Maia!
"Xema? You're such a DISSOBEDIANT little girl! Are your annoying little friends encouraging you to do this?" Karma turned towards Daxter, and hissed at him like a snake. The ottsel wasted no time in running from the shelf, and onto the safety of Xema's shoulder. Karma rolled her eyes at the scene.
"You two are so pathetic!" She whined. "Well, at least I have the honour of killing all four of you, now that the IDIOT can't even handle a little furball!" She glared at the unconscious man on the floor. "I wonder who I'll take down first?" She produced into sight, a long silver knife. Much larger than the one the guard had used against Xema and Daxter. "Maybe the rat first? It would be so nice to watch Xema suffer while he bleeds!"
The room leapt into a phase of chaos. Daxter jumped from Xema's shoulder and hastily climbed onto the top shelf of a book stacker, feeling safe. But Karma gleefully spread her wings, and attempted to fly up to the ottsel. Jak immediately grabbed her ankles and prevented her from becoming airborne. In response, Karma took a swipe at Jak with the knife. It failed to hurt him to a great extent, but it did graze his cheek, and leave a small cut. Jak let go of her ankles in shock, and Karma took off into the air, crashing into the wall from the force created by her escape.
"Daxter!" Xema cried, holding out her arms. The ottsel sprang off of the shelf, and landed gently in Xema's outstretched arms. Xema then ran for her life, out of the door, with Karma screaming bloody murder behind them as she flew out the door in hot pursuit.
"Wait!" Jak cried as they disappeared from sight. They would NEVER escape Karma when she had the advantage of flight. He wanted to chase after them and help, but what was he supposed to do when Keira was still unconscious and tied up? He couldn't just leave her.
'It's all up to Xema now.' He thought, as he raced over to Keira's side.
***
Xema had no problem escaping the researcher's building, however, she had the advantage inside the building, as karma's flight was slightly paralyzed with the narrow hallways. As soon as Xema ran into the open outside, she realized her mistake. It was too late to go back inside, so she tried to hide in the night shadows, but even that failed to work.
"You're not a chameleon Xema, don't think you can get away THAT easily!"
Xema cursed from the shadows as she continued to run, but seconds later, she felt an evil presence creep up on her and Daxter, and before she could get out of the way, she felt Karma's icy touch as she grabbed her by the waist and hurled her and Daxter into the night's sky.
Daxter clung hold of Xema as she wriggled with all her might, trying to escape, but as they climbed up into the air, Xema began to give up. She had never been afraid of being so high before, but now that she didn't have working wings anymore, the air wasn't so inviting anymore. Xema had no doubt what Karma was going to do.
She was going to drop them from high up in the air. She was going to let them fall to their death.
Xema hugged the shivering Daxter closer to herself as they continued to climb in the air.
"Xema." He whispered. "What's going to happen?"
Xema felt the tears well up in her eyes again. "I'm, I'm sorry Daxter." She felt a tear roll down her cheek. It landed on Daxter's furry arm, and he looked up at her in shock. "I'm sorry I got you involved in all of this. I'm sorry for everything." She continued to cry. "I'm sorry I even met you. If I hadn't gone to your village in the first place, I wouldn't have got you, or Keira or Jak involved in all of this!"
Karma rolled her eyes. "Oh please!" She chocked.
Daxter ignored her, still fixated on the tearful Xema. "No." He pleaded. "You're the only person who really CARES about me Xema!" He buried his face into his shoulder, and soon, found that he was crying too. If he had any smart comments to make, they were all gone now. Which he felt was a real shame, as nothing would have pleased him more than to insult Karma, and make Xema laugh in the process.
Karma was repulsed by this display of affection. "Almost ready for the fall?" She teased them, still climbing.
Karma's words flew past Xema and Daxter. Xema held his little furry head in her hand and looked down at him with watery eyes.
"Xema? I love you." Daxter whispered to her.
He didn't know what to expect from that. This would have never been the situation in which he expected to deliver those words, but they were about to die. He NEEDED to tell her before he fell. He needed to let her know, even if it meant nothing to her, at least had the courage to admit it. But Xema smiled, and kissed him on the cheek.
"I love you to." Came the whispered reply.
And then, Karma let go.
Uh, yeppers! Sorry about the late update. Yours truly had an IB art exam a few days ago, so I've been pretty busy working up to that. In any case, here is the finally completed chapter ten. And YES, only TWO left to go after this! *sniff* Yes, unfortunately all (good?) things must come to an end. Once again, many MANY thanks to all of you who are reviewing/continuing to review *sniff* I luv you guys! *Hands out Jak action figures to all who review* Next reviewers for this chapter get Daxter plushies! ;)
*cough* Yeah, so besides a musical theater exam, two art portfolios to finish, graphics assignments and two bursary exams to go, that's all that stands between me and the end of this fic! *faints* Uh, well, ONCE this fic is finished, it'll give moi time to finish mah other two fics (non J&D related) and then I can write another. So I'll start asking people from now until the end of this fic. Would you prefer a sequel to this, or a fic with just the original characters, and not my own (ie Xema and co.) I honestly don't mind if you'd prefer a non-sequel, but I need you to tell me what ya want.
Anyways, keep up the wonderful reviews, and keep at those other J&D fics for those other authors who write about our fave PS2 heroes. You guys rock!
~Keysha
***
Jak and Daxter: Legend of the Lost White City
Chapter Ten: The Confession
Daxter awoke with a splitting headache. What was going on? The last thing he remembered was another one of those blinding silver flashes, and then he was here. But WHERE was he?
The first thing the ottsel realized was that he was in a cage. Unfortunately, his captor wasn't TOO misjudging of the little guy, and the bars were too close together, preventing him from squeezing between the gaps. He was in some kind of darkened room, it kind of reminded Daxter of Xema's bedroom, only slightly larger.
"Where am I?" He called out to thin air, not expecting a reply. Unfortunately for Daxter, he got one.
"In a cavern. On the edge of the city." Came the reply from Karma, sauntering out of the shadows, grinning evilly. "Poor little ottsel, trapped in a cage. If Xema's annoying little friend Chelly saw this, she'd have a fit! Then again, if XEMA saw this, she would be wrapping her fingers around my neck in pure hatred! Boy does that little brat care for you!" She laughed, and then glared at the ottsel. "Xema begged for me to leave you alone, but why should I listen to HER? I'M the older sister; she's supposed to listen to me! But instead, she goes and blabbers to daddy! Well, she's paid for her disobedience now!"
Daxter glared hatred at the girl in front of him.
"WHAT have you done to Xema?" He growled, puffing up his chest and trying to act brave, although deep inside he was scared, and the ottsel in him was trying to tell his brain to run away and hide. But he wasn't an ottsel. He was a boy. One who was standing up for not only himself, but also for the girl he loved. Even if he WAS scared out of his mind.
"Oh, how precious!" Karma teased. "You ARE actually worried about her! Well ottsel, I'll let you in on a little secret: I haven't killed her. Not YET anyway!" She grinned wickedly, and Daxter grabbed the bars of the cage, glaring up at his captor.
"My NAME is DAXTER!" He hissed at the wicked woman. "And if you even TOUCH Xema, I'll make sure you wished you were never BORN!"
"Oh, so much VOIOLENT talk from such a LITTLE creature." Karma reached into the cage and petted Daxter on the head. He responded by biting down hard on her wrist.
"Agh!" Karma cursed, yanking her hand out of the cage, and sending Daxter flying headfirst into the bars, causing his bad headache to turn into a splintering one.
"You little RAT!" Karma hissed, adding a pressured cloth to her bleeding wrist. "Why are you even CONCERNED about Xema? She's just a girl! It's not like she's a potential MATE for you!"
Daxter quirked an eyebrow at Karma. "What?" He asked. "Do you think I was ALWAYS an ottsel?" Karma looked up with interest now, wondering where Daxter's story was going. "I used to be just like Jak and Keira." The ottsel admitted sadly. "But CERTAIN incidents ended up turning me into THIS!" Daxter held out his arms to reveal his skinny ottsel body. He bent his head, as if in shame. "Not even my friends treat me as a person anymore. But your sister." Daxter looked up at Karma, tears forming in his eyes. "Your sister can see past the fur." He felt like an idiot, pouring out his heart to the person who would probably KILL him soon enough, but Daxter was glad he was finally getting all of this off of his chest.
"My sister actually TREATS you like a boy?" Karma sniffed. "That's funny, she never treats ME like a person."
Daxter glared. "What do you expect when you treat her and everyone else like DIRT?" He bowed his head again. "Please Karma. I'm asking a lot from you just by SAYING the magic word." He gulped. "PLEASE don't hurt Xema. She's one of the most important things in this world to me."
He gasped, as he realized what he was about to say.
"I love her."
***
Xema huddled on the stone floor, trying to keep warm. Her feet and hands were bound tightly, causing her wrists and ankles to bleed. Karma had also cut the tips of her wing feathers, preventing her from flying. It would take a long time for new ones to grow back, but Xema doubted she would BE around for the time it took for them to grow back. When Karma had confronted her, she had received a lot of physical and mental abuse. Karma had yelled, scorned, pulled her hair, hit her and even slashed the wound on her arm open again with her own knife. The pain was terrible, but Xema continued to try and ignore it. All she was worried about was Daxter. She was scared Karma would just kill him straight away out of her pure spite for her. It wouldn't take much effort to grab him and break his neck, considering he was so little. Xema shuddered at the thought.
A tiny creek of light caught her eye. Karma had opened the door and entered, carrying something in her arms. Xema's heart skipped a beat as she imagined her sister bringing in the ottsel corpse to wave in front of her. But Karma bent down so that she was eye to eye with her sister. Xema breathed a sigh of relief as she sat up, Daxter was in her arms and still alive, although his hind and front paws were all bonded up like her own hands and feet.
"Daxter." Xema gasped, almost shocked as Karma slipped the tiny creature into her arms. Although Xema couldn't hold him properly, she managed to slide him into a comfortable position, and she rubbed her cheek on the top of his head, feeling the tears creep up in her eyes again. She glanced up at her sister, who was glaring down at them. "Why?" Xema whispered, Karma stared down at her little sister, that heartless look still plastered on her face.
"Because I hate you. I hate him. I hate everyone! There's nothing worth living for. Some days I wonder if it was even worth me being born, father has YOU, so why does he even CARE that I'm alive!" She looked down at Daxter. "At least you have him Xema, and I hate you both for that." She turned around to leave. "Sleep well you two, this will be your last night together."
***
Daxter rubbed at his sore wrists. Karma may have not underestimated him when he was in the cage, but tying him up with rope was not a very good idea. It hadn't taken him long to knaw through the bonding, and after attempting to undo the tight knots on Xema's wrists, he gave in and simply bit into them as well.
"Thanks." Xema breathed a sigh of relief, attending to the rope on her ankles as Daxter continued to rub at his wrists.
"No problem baby!" Daxter looked up at her and grinned. "Well, we've got no problems escaping from here." He pointed to a small window above their heads. "It's little, but even you can fit through that Xema. We'll just fly out of here, tell your dad, and bust your sister! She's gonna PAY for what she's done to you!" Daxter clenched his fist angrily, but Xema looked doubtful.
"I can't fly." She admitted. Daxter felt his jaw drop like a lead weight.
"WHAT! Why Xema?" He asked, confused.
Xema bent down to Daxter's height (Well, close to it anyway), and indicated to the tips of her feathered wings, which appeared to have been hacked at with a pair of sharp scissors.
"Karma cut my wings. Until they grow back, I can't fly."
"How long will it take them to grow back?" Asked Daxter rather stupidly.
"At least three months." Xema admitted. Daxter collapsed in exasperation.
"Then we're done for!" He groaned from his position on the floor. Xema shook her head and picked up the little ottsel from the cold floor. His fur was icy cold, and Xema shivered as she realized just how cold it really was. She gazed out at the starry sky. Of course, it was night. No wonder it was cold.
"Listen, we have to sneak out of here." Xema pleaded. "We CAN do it Daxter, if we work together." She smiled at him. "Willing to go and kick Karma's butt?"
Daxter couldn't think of anything else he'd rather enjoy doing.
***
Jak wasn't surprised to find himself tied up when he awoke. Keira was lying beside him, still unconscious. Jak felt like his head was about to explode, that thing the mad researcher had hit him with had felt like someone had placed his head against a rock and bashed at him with a stone. The sound of feet smacking against the floor brought him back to reality.
"Ah, the boy FINALLY awakes." The researcher teased. He had removed his glasses, and seemed more intimidating then he first had, at least that's what Jak thought. "You and your friend are QUITE fascinating!" He explained, studying Jak carefully. "No wings? I've never seen anything like it. You're not from the city are you?" He kept questioning Jak, but refused to wait for an answer. Jak didn't care that much, he wasn't in the mood for answering anyone's questions right now. In fact, he just wanted some of his OWN questions answered.
"Perhaps my theories are TRUE then!" The man thought out loud. "Maybe the silver eco in this city HAS caused us to evolve with wings!" He spread out his own set of feathered wings. Like him, they were short and dumpy.
"Why?" Jak asked, practically wordless, but his question did ask a lot. To his surprise, the researcher bowed before him.
"I'm just serving my princess Karma." He explained to Jak. "My only wish was to study you two children, Karma promised to deliver you two to me, as long as I allowed her to take Xema away." He grinned. "The opportunity to study children who have evolved without wings? How could I say 'NO?"
Jak's heart was racing. "What, what will you do?" He tried to ask. The researcher shrugged, completely unsure.
"Oh, I'll run tests, study, dissect perhaps."
'DISSECT?' Jak gulped. The idea of being cut open didn't please him. The researcher caught sight of his shocked face and laughed.
"Oh don't worry." He turned towards Jak. "I'll kill you first. I don't want you squirming around while I examine your liver!"
BONK!
And then, without warning, the researcher slid to the ground, unconscious.
Jak watched the man slide to the ground, knocked out, possibly because of the large bump on his head, where something, or someONE had hit him on the head.
Jak looked up, and there was Daxter, still poised on the shelf in the position he had finished in when he had smashed the man on the head with a large wrench. Who KNEW that the little ottsel could pack such a punch? Even with the aid of a large, metallic object. The orange furball looked up at Jak and grinned.
"Hey buddy! Happy to see me?"
"Daxter!" Jak cried in disbelief and excitement. He had never been so happy to see his little furry friend before. Jak felt a tug on the ropes restraining his wrists, and when he turned around, he saw Xema, just finishing on the knot, smiling. Jak noticed her hacked up wings, and he knew that there was no way she would be flying for along time to come.
"Hi Jak!" She greeted him. "Sorry it took so long, Karma had us a little tied up."
Jak stood up, and started working on the ropes on Keira, who was still knocked out.
"We have to hurry!" Xema insisted. "Karma may be close!"
"Closer than you think!" Karma hissed as she appeared at the doorway.
"Oh GREAT! Here's the witch herself!" Daxter groaned. "Where do you keep COMING from? You're worse than Gol and Maia!
"Xema? You're such a DISSOBEDIANT little girl! Are your annoying little friends encouraging you to do this?" Karma turned towards Daxter, and hissed at him like a snake. The ottsel wasted no time in running from the shelf, and onto the safety of Xema's shoulder. Karma rolled her eyes at the scene.
"You two are so pathetic!" She whined. "Well, at least I have the honour of killing all four of you, now that the IDIOT can't even handle a little furball!" She glared at the unconscious man on the floor. "I wonder who I'll take down first?" She produced into sight, a long silver knife. Much larger than the one the guard had used against Xema and Daxter. "Maybe the rat first? It would be so nice to watch Xema suffer while he bleeds!"
The room leapt into a phase of chaos. Daxter jumped from Xema's shoulder and hastily climbed onto the top shelf of a book stacker, feeling safe. But Karma gleefully spread her wings, and attempted to fly up to the ottsel. Jak immediately grabbed her ankles and prevented her from becoming airborne. In response, Karma took a swipe at Jak with the knife. It failed to hurt him to a great extent, but it did graze his cheek, and leave a small cut. Jak let go of her ankles in shock, and Karma took off into the air, crashing into the wall from the force created by her escape.
"Daxter!" Xema cried, holding out her arms. The ottsel sprang off of the shelf, and landed gently in Xema's outstretched arms. Xema then ran for her life, out of the door, with Karma screaming bloody murder behind them as she flew out the door in hot pursuit.
"Wait!" Jak cried as they disappeared from sight. They would NEVER escape Karma when she had the advantage of flight. He wanted to chase after them and help, but what was he supposed to do when Keira was still unconscious and tied up? He couldn't just leave her.
'It's all up to Xema now.' He thought, as he raced over to Keira's side.
***
Xema had no problem escaping the researcher's building, however, she had the advantage inside the building, as karma's flight was slightly paralyzed with the narrow hallways. As soon as Xema ran into the open outside, she realized her mistake. It was too late to go back inside, so she tried to hide in the night shadows, but even that failed to work.
"You're not a chameleon Xema, don't think you can get away THAT easily!"
Xema cursed from the shadows as she continued to run, but seconds later, she felt an evil presence creep up on her and Daxter, and before she could get out of the way, she felt Karma's icy touch as she grabbed her by the waist and hurled her and Daxter into the night's sky.
Daxter clung hold of Xema as she wriggled with all her might, trying to escape, but as they climbed up into the air, Xema began to give up. She had never been afraid of being so high before, but now that she didn't have working wings anymore, the air wasn't so inviting anymore. Xema had no doubt what Karma was going to do.
She was going to drop them from high up in the air. She was going to let them fall to their death.
Xema hugged the shivering Daxter closer to herself as they continued to climb in the air.
"Xema." He whispered. "What's going to happen?"
Xema felt the tears well up in her eyes again. "I'm, I'm sorry Daxter." She felt a tear roll down her cheek. It landed on Daxter's furry arm, and he looked up at her in shock. "I'm sorry I got you involved in all of this. I'm sorry for everything." She continued to cry. "I'm sorry I even met you. If I hadn't gone to your village in the first place, I wouldn't have got you, or Keira or Jak involved in all of this!"
Karma rolled her eyes. "Oh please!" She chocked.
Daxter ignored her, still fixated on the tearful Xema. "No." He pleaded. "You're the only person who really CARES about me Xema!" He buried his face into his shoulder, and soon, found that he was crying too. If he had any smart comments to make, they were all gone now. Which he felt was a real shame, as nothing would have pleased him more than to insult Karma, and make Xema laugh in the process.
Karma was repulsed by this display of affection. "Almost ready for the fall?" She teased them, still climbing.
Karma's words flew past Xema and Daxter. Xema held his little furry head in her hand and looked down at him with watery eyes.
"Xema? I love you." Daxter whispered to her.
He didn't know what to expect from that. This would have never been the situation in which he expected to deliver those words, but they were about to die. He NEEDED to tell her before he fell. He needed to let her know, even if it meant nothing to her, at least had the courage to admit it. But Xema smiled, and kissed him on the cheek.
"I love you to." Came the whispered reply.
And then, Karma let go.