Chapter VII: The Reunion

Daxter and Brutter were walking though the jungle, singing. Jak had gone off on his own, which he did more and more ever since that night on the hilltop. However, Daxter and Brutter had lived their 'Hakuna Matata' life for so long they were not worried at all. Which brings us back to the present. Daxter was singing, while Brutter provided the background music:

"In the jungle,

The mighty jungle,

The elf sleeps tonight!

Oh, in the jungle,

The quiet jungle,

The elf sleeps tonight!"

Brutter got distracted by something shiny and he went after it.

"I can't hear ya, buddy, back me up!" Daxter yelled, then he screeched:

"Aweeeeeeeeeee! A-boom bomb bomb ba-way!"

(A/N: That's what it sounds like to me. Forgive me.)

Daxter looked around and noticed that Brutter was gone! "Brutter? Brutter?" Daxter called.

Brutter was busy following the shiny thing he had seen. Little did he know it was the reflection of the sun off of a gun… Brutter squinted though the brush and yelped as he saw the gun. It fired and missed Brutter by an inch. Brutter jumped and ran the opposite direction towards Daxter. A young woman with green hair jumped out of the vegetation and chased Brutter. Brutter ran back towards Daxter who, unfortunately, was standing in a dead-end ravine.

"Brutter? Brutter!" Daxter yelled. Brutter ran for Daxter.

"She's HUNTING ME!!!" Brutter yelled as he unsuccessfully tried to scale the rocks in his panic.

"Huh?" Daxter asked, looking down the path, and he saw the woman with the gun. "Whoa!" Daxter cried as he joined Brutter in trying to scale the rocks. "Why do I always have to save your… AUGHHH!!" Daxter screamed as the woman took aim. Suddenly, and luckily for Daxter and Brutter, Jak jumped down from the top of the ravine and tackled the woman, her shot went wild. The woman immediately turned on Jak and tried to shot him, but he knocked the gun from her hands.

"Get her!" Daxter cheered from the sidelines, then he turned to Brutter, "See? I told you he'd come in handy!"

Jak had, at this point, pinned the young woman to the ground… or so he thought. She flipped him over herself, she now had him pinned. Jak had a flashback of the day, when he had disobeyed his father and went to the Metal-Head Nest. His friend Keira had used the same exact method to pin him! Jak looked into the eyes of his assailant for the first time, and he gasped. "Keira?" The woman's face blanked, and she backed off him. "Is it really you?" Jak asked, getting up off the ground.

The woman, Keira, now fully grown, looked at Jak as though he looked strangely familiar, but she couldn't place him. "Who are you?" She asked.

"It's me!" Jak said, "Jak."

"Jak?" Keira asked uncertainty. Jak nodded, and Keira's eyes widened. "Jak!" she cried as she embraced Jak, which he gladly returned. Daxter's mouth dropped. They had been trying to kill each other one second ago, now they were hugging?

"This is cool! It's great to see ya!" Jak yelled, giving Keira yet another hug.

"What's goin' on here?" Daxter asked, but Jak ignored him.

"What are you doing here?" Jak asked.

"What do you mean, 'What am I doing here?' What are you doing here?" Keira asked.

"Hey!" Daxter yelled, "What's goin' on here?"

"Daxter, this is Keira," Jak said, finally taking notice of Daxter. "She's my best friend!"

"Friend?" Daxter asked amazed.

"Yeah!" Jak turned to Brutter, "Hey, Brutter, come over here!" Brutter walked over. "Keira, this is Brutter. Brutter, Keira."

"Me pleased to meet you!" Brutter said, completely forgetting the fact that Keira was just trying to kill him.

"The pleasure's all mine." Keira said.

"How do you do…" Daxter said, then he snapped out of it. "Wait, wait, wait, let me get this straight! You know her, she knows you, but she wants to hunt him…" Daxter added, pointing at Brutter. "And… everyone's okay with this? DID I MISS SOMETHING?" Daxter yelled.

"Calm down, Daxter." Jak said.

"Wait 'til everyone finds out you've been here all this time!" Keira said. "And your mother! What will she think?" Jak winched as the memory of that painful day hit him harder than a Metal-Head. Praxis' voice echoed in his head, 'What will your mother think?'

"She doesn't have to know." Jak said slowly, "Nobody has to know."

"Of coarse they do!" Keira said, "Everyone thinks you're dead!"

"They do?" Jak asked.

"Yeah, Praxis told us about the Metal-Head attack…"

"He did?" Jak asked, "What else did he tell you?"

"What else matters? You're alive!" Keira gasped, "And that means… you're the King!"

"King?" Daxter scoffed, "Lady, do you have your elves mixed up or what?"

"King!" Brutter said, "Your majesty!" Brutter said, bowing before Jak. "I gravel at your feet!" Brutter then proceeded to kiss Jak's booted feet. Jak pulled away.

"Stop it!" Jak yelled.

"It's 'grovel' not 'gravel'!" Daxter said, "And don't! He's not the King… are you?"

"No!" Jak said quickly.

"Jak!" Keira said.

"No, I'm not the King!" Jak said. "Maybe I was gonna be… but that was a long time ago…"

"So, let me get this straight!" Daxter said, "You're the King! And you never told us?"

"Look, I'm still the same guy!" Jak said.

"But with POWER!" Daxter finished.

"Could you two… excuse us for a moment?" Keira asked Daxter and Brutter.

"Hey, whatever she has to say, she can say in front of us, right Jak?" Daxter said.

"Maybe… you'd better go…" Jak said.

Daxter looked amazed, then said. "It starts… you think you know a guy!" Daxter walked away and Brutter followed without a word.

"Daxter and Brutter," Jak smiled, "You learn to love them." He looked at Keira and noticed she was on the verge of tears. "What?" he approached her. "What is it?"

"It's like you're back from the dead." Keira said quietly, looking up at Jak, "You don't know how much this would mean to everyone…" She looked away, "What it means to me…"

"Hey, it's okay…" Jak said. Keira turned around and hugged him for the third time.

"I've really missed you." Keria said, burying her face into the fabric on Jak's chest.

Jak returned the hug. "I've missed you too."

Not too far away, Daxter and Brutter sat, watching the hugging couple. "I tell you, Brutter," Daxter said. "This stinks!"

"Oh, sorry." Brutter said.

"Not you!" Daxter cried. "Them!" He pointed at Jak and Keira, who were now walking away. "Him… Her… Alone!"

"What's wrong with that?" Brutter asked.

Daxter sang:

"I can see what's happenin'!"

"What?" Brutter asked.

Daxter continued:

"And they don't have a clue!"

"Who?" Brutter asked.

Daxter continued:

"They'll fall in love

And here's the bottom line:

Our trio's down to two!"

"Oh…" Brutter said, understanding the problem.

Daxter sang:

"The sweet caress of twilight!

There's magic everywhere!

And with all this romantic atmosphere,

Disaster's in the air!"

An off stage choir joined in:

"Can you feel the love tonight?

The peace the evening brings.

The world, for once,

In perfect harmony

With all its living things!"

Jak and Keira had sat by a beautiful, crystal-clear lake. Keira lightly disturbed the water with her hand, while Jak looked on. Jak sang in his head:

"So many things to tell her.

But how to make her see

The truth about my past? Impossible.

She'd turn away from me!"

Keira looked up at Jak's ocean-blue eyes and sang to herself:

"He's holding back, he's hiding.

But what? I can't decide

Why won't he be the King I know he is?

The King I see inside!"

Jak had gotten up and dived into the water. Keira scanned the surface frantically to see if he was all right. After a second, Jak jumped out of the water, grabbed Keira, and pulled her into the water. Keira got out of the water, gasping from the cold. Jak got out after her. Keira grinned at him before lightly pushing him back into the water.

The Choir sang:

"Can you feel the love tonight?

The peace the evening brings.

The world, for once,

In perfect harmony

With all its living things!"

Jak and Keira were roughhousing on a hilltop. Jak tripped and he started to roll down the hill, but he took Keira with him. They rolled down to the bottom of the hill. When they finally stopped, Jak was laying on top of Keira. At first he looked extremely embarrassed… at first. Keira pulled his head closer and she kissed his cheek. He defiantly was very surprised about that, but then he grinned and they shared a passionate kiss.

The Choir sang:

"Can you feel the love tonight?

You needn't look too far!

Stealing though

The night's uncertainties.

Love is where they are!"

Back with Daxter and Brutter. Daxter was on the edge of tears, but he sang:

"And if he falls in love tonight,

It can be assumed…"

But Daxter couldn't continue, so Brutter took over:

"His carefree days with us are history!"

Daxter joined Brutter on the last line:

"In short our pal is doomed!"

They both started crying uncontrollably.

(Back with Jak and Keira)

Jak and Keira were walking though their little paradise. "Isn't this place wonderful?" Jak asked, pointing at the distant waterfalls and the beautiful array of flora and fauna.

"It is beautiful." Keira admitted. "But I don't understand something. You've been alive all this time, why haven't you come back to Haven City?"

Not a question Jak wanted to answer. "I… needed to get out on my own." He said, "Live my own life. And I did, and it's great!"

"We've really needed you back home." Keira said.

Jak scoffed, "No one needs me."

"Yes, we do!" Keira said, "You're the King…

"Keira, we've been though this, I'm not the King." Jak said, "Praxis is."

"Jak…" Keira said, "He let the Metal-Heads take over the city."

"What?" Jak asked, surprised.

"Everything's destroyed!" Keira said, "There's no food, no water… Jak if you don't come back, everyone will die!"

"I can't go back." Jak said shortly.

"Why?" Keira asked.

"You wouldn't understand…" Jak said.

"What wouldn't I understand?" Keira demanded, starting to get angry with him.

"No, it doesn't matter." Jak said, then he added, "Hakuna Matata."

"What?" asked Keira, bewildered.

"Hakuna Matata." Jak repeated. "It's something I've learned out here. Look, sometimes bad things happen…"

"Jak!" Keira said angrily.

"And there's nothing you can do about it! So why worry?" Jak asked.

"Because it's your responsibility!" Keira answered.

"And what about you?" Jak demanded, "You left!"

"I left to find help!" Keira said, "And I found you! Don't you understand, you are our only hope!"

Jak looked away from her. "Sorry." He said.

Keira glared at his back, shaking her head. "What's happened to you? You're not the Jak I remember."

Jak turned back towards her, "You're right, I'm not! Now are you happy?"

"No." Keira answered. "Just disappointed."

"You know, you're starting to sound a lot like my father!" Jak spat at her, starting to walk away.

"Good." Keira shot after him, "At least one of us does."

Jak stopped and wheeled around on Keira, anger blazing in his eyes, Keira stood her ground. "Listen, you think you can just show up and tell me how to live my life? You don't even know what I've been though!"

"I would if you'd just tell me!" Keira said.

"Forget it!" Jak stalked off.

"Fine!" Keira shouted after him.

Nearby, Jak sulked, "She's wrong! I can't go back!" he said to himself, angrily. "What would it prove anyway? It won't change anything! You can't change the past!" Once again, Jak threw his gaze up to the sky. "You said you'd always be there for me!" Jak yelled at his father. "But you're not…" Jak trailed off. "And it's because of me." Tears ran down Jak's face. "It's my fault! It's all my fault!"