A/N: Woo! Next chapter done. I doubt they'll come out as fast as this one...I just wanted to get it done and out here. I just finished Jak3; that game rocks, and I can't wait to get to it. Somehow, though, I don't fell this chapter is up to par with the last one, but I've gone over it about a thousand times, and I can't find anything I can do to fix it. It's still good, hopefully, so w/e.
Disclaimer: I don't own Jak.
Coming of Age
Chapter 2: Am I a Monster?
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"Jak." The vixen nodded politely in his direction.
"Ashelin." The blonde leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his broad chest, his face red with anger. There was an uncomfortable amount of silence as the two stared straight ahead, backs to a simple brick wall, entranced by the everyday view of hovercars circling lazily over ambling pedestrians.
Ashelin shifted her weight, contemplating something, and opened her mouth to speak when she was interrupted abruptly by a furious outlaw.
"Am I a monster?"
Slack jawed, Ashelin glanced over at him before quickly closing her gaping mouth, reaching up to comb her fingers through fiery locks. "Come again?" she asked, the only safe reply that would come to her mind when posed with such a dangerous question.
"I asked if you thought I was a monster." Jak refused to meet her curious eyes, his own sapphire blue as hard as stone, his fingers clenching unconsciously –or perhaps not- on the sleeves of his tunic, pulling the fabric. "If what I am is wrong."
"Jak, why would you ask that?" Ashelin pondered aloud; she couldn't very well say anything, seeing as how she didn't know the answer herself.
Jak sighed, finally turning to look at the guard, eyes now troubled. "Keira and I had a fight."
At the sound of the younger girl's name, Ashelin's stomach twisted and she felt a fire well up within her belly at the thought of the mechanic saying anything hateful towards this person, who had suffered so much already. "That isn't my problem."
Much to her surprise, Jak shook his head and chuckled, his knuckles regaining their color as his grip on his garment loosened back to a comfortable rest. "Ice cold. I thought so."
Just as Ashelin was about to demand an elaboration of this peculiar comment, an automated voice in the loudspeaker screwed into the brick above them announced the beginning of the Class Two Races with a tinny chime before crackling into silence once more. When Jak didn't budge, his elder nudged him with her elbow. "Aren't you going to race?"
"No," the elf spat, emerald brows slanting again in fury. "Let's see them last without me this time. I'm sick of being counted on."
"But if you're not going to race, who is?" Ashelin pointed out evenly, watching as his expression changed from anger to surprise in a split second. She fought the urge to laugh.
"Oh shit. Dax-" Jak pushed off from the wall, sprinting towards the stadium entrance for the stands. "Thanks!" he called over his shoulder, disappearing through the arches and leaving Ashelin to wonder what he was thanking her for.
Deciding against following him, she fingered the butt of her gun and marched over to a pair of guards that seemed as if they were enjoying themselves too much with the local women.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Ashelin demanded, hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. The two men snapped to attention, the girls they had been flirting with slinking off not without a glare at the commander. Ashelin pointedly returned their animosity with a terrifying growl, causing them to slink quite a bit faster before returning her attention to the soldiers in need of a reprimanding. "You realize that you're on duty?"
"Yes ma'am," they answered automatically, anxiety plain despite their face masks. They stood at rigid attention, a position quite difficult to hold for prolonged periods of time, but Ashelin did not find it necessary to relieve them.
"And you realize that while you are on duty, you are to patrol the streets and assure the safety of the citizens as well as apprehend any fugitives?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Were those girls in mortal danger?" Ashelin felt her lip curl into a sneer, and reveled inwardly at her outlet for her anger towards a certain aqua-haired girl. It wasn't as if all the guards she led didn't talk about her rise in command without a hint of scorn anyways.
The guards exchanged looks, but did not answer.
"The question was not rhetorical, soldiers." She loved pulling rank. Oh, she practically lived for it.
"No ma'am." Meek little mice, they were.
"We're they hardened criminals?"
"No ma'am." It was amazing what a simple tongue-lashing could do to two men in full body armor, armed to the teeth as well.
"Then I suggest that you go about your patrol, understood? Lest I find it necessary to issue you each two demerits for violating Krimzon Guard Code and contradicting a superior officer."
One of the guards started. "But ma'am, we didn't-"
Ashelin cut him off with another sneer. "Well, I believe you just did."
The man –hardly a man, he was only nineteen- snapped his mouth shut, fuming but remaining at strict attention.
"Continue," Ashelin finally dismissed them with a wave of her hand, stalking off towards the civilian entrance of the stadium, feeling a great deal better after blowing off some steam. There was a wanted felon she wished to sit beside and enjoy the race with.
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"Go Daxter, go!" Jak screamed, forgetting for a brief moment in time that he was a wanted man, that the stadium was practically crawling with KGs, both in uniform and out, and that he was supposed to be miserable beyond words and angry at the world, because his best friend was now risking life and limb on the racetrack with seven other crazed drivers to ensure that they won so Jak could gain entrance to the palace.
The teenager winced as Daxter ran headlong into a barrier during a particularly sharp curve, but he soon righted himself and took the liberty of bursting into a blur of motion with a speed boost to settle back into a comfortable second place, tailing the lead like there was no tomorrow. Jak was so involved in watching the race that he didn't even notice when a Krimzon Guard marched right up to where he was sitting and stood, staring down at the elf.
"Would you move over?" Ashelin demanded, lightly kicking his shin. Jak obliged begrudgingly, eyes never leaving the zooming form of the ottsel. "Thanks. I'd sit with my men but, well, I hate them."
Jak uttered a noncommittal noise, then suddenly jumped to his feet, roaring with indignation. "Oh, for Chrissake! Did you see that?! Where's the flag, that was so intentional!"
"Jak, sit down," Ashelin hissed, grabbing his forearm and yanking. However, there was no moving the incensed youth as he continued screaming obscenities directed towards the driver that had the nerve to ram Daxter just as he passed into first. Ashelin groaned, clenching her fists; he was going to be discovered by some curious guard and then he would be thrown in jail, and she would be stripped of every title and dismissed from the forces if she was in the company of a criminal, not to mention that her own father would most likely throw her into prison along with the blonde.
"C'mon, Dax, kick their asses!" Jak hollered, regaining his grin as he saw Daxter flip the bird to the driver who had slammed into him and shoot by on a speed boost, sliding easily back into first place. "Thatta boy! Go Dax, go, go, go! Yeah!" His fist pumped into the air as Daxter and the other drivers –far behind said lead- lapsed into their third lap. "You got it! You got it in the bag, Dax!" Jak paused to grin wildly at the redhead sitting beside him. "You see that? He's great! I taught him everything I know!" Jak boasted, puffing out his chest and cupping his hands to his mouth to scream a loud, "Woohoo! Yeah!"
Ashelin shook her head, the beginning of a chuckle rising in her throat before exploding from her mouth in powerful laughter, causing her to double over and hold her gut. "Fuck this," she muttered, rising to her feet with her own smile on her face, and then used her own hands to form a megaphone around her lips. "Yeah Daxter! Go!" she screamed, surprising Jak for a moment before he smiled at her, and together they shouted in joy as Daxter shot into the final lap, still in first with an impressive lead.
But as Daxter neared the alcove in the middle of the track, something went horribly wrong. The daredevil ottsel had decided to win with style, and was about to use an unnecessary shortcut to perform a stunning jump when one of the back wings on his zoomer came loose. He smashed into the opposite wall after the jump, zoomer smoking dangerously, the little orange form slumped over the handlebars, unmoving.
Time seemed to freeze as Jak and Ashelin immediately fell silent, the former's body going completely rigid as his face went blank, his wide blue eyes staring at the vid screen above the track that displayed all the action inside the tunnels. The other drivers were catching up, and still Daxter did not move. "C'mon, Dax, you're okay," Jak muttered, teeth moving to bite his bottom lip. "C'mon," he said again, with a bit more urgency, a note of worry making his voice wobble.
Ashelin, without registering what she was doing, set a hand on his shoulder. His own hand flew up to cover hers, squeezing her fingers so tightly that it was almost painful. Daxter was passed once. Twice. No movement.
Jak's chest began to heave as his breathing grew erratic, blue eyes widening impossibly further. "Dax, please," was all he got out before the vibrant ottsel straightened, shaking his head and throwing his zoomer into full throttle, juicing up the engine with one of his three hoarded speed boosts as well.
Jak lunged forward, slipping from beneath Ashelin's hand and almost toppling from his seat into the stands below him as he screamed, face crazed. "Daxter, you sonovabitch! You gotta make a show of everything!"
Ashelin sighed in relief; she wasn't particularly fond of the annoying little rat, but she didn't exactly want the midgety freak to die. Besides that, who knew what Jak would do if Daxter were to die? Perhaps he would kill himself; perhaps he'd go insane and transform into Dark Jak and rampage through Haven. Neither option sounded very good to her.
"Go!" Daxter streaked past second place. "Go!" Jak's shouts grew in volume. Daxter edged up to the first place driver; Jak lost all sanity as he began jumping up and down, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Go, you crazy fuzzball! Fuckin' go!" There was a collective inhale from the crowd, the multitude paused, there was dead silence-
-the picture of the finish line flashed up onto the vid screen-
-the nose of Daxter's zoomer shot past.
The stadium burst into a cacophony of noise, the yells shaking the very earth beneath their feet, the cries a mix of anger, jubilation, astonishment, disappointment and adrenaline. Of all the shouts, however, Jak's was the loudest as he leapt atop the bench, once again circling his mouth with his hands and screaming wordlessly, his cry interrupted ever so often by peals of laughter.
Before Ashelin knew what was happening, the teenager had jumped down from his perch and swept her into a bone-crushing hug, shouting into her ear above the rest of the spectators, "Did you see him?! You saw him, right?! He won, that bastard actually won!" All too soon, Ashelin was released and Jak was once again bouncing up and down, screaming incoherently as Daxter descended shakily from his smoking zoomer to collect his trophy.
Ashelin stood frozen, the sensations of Jak's chest against her own and his arms around her body just now registering as they were gone. She would have blushed if she were the blushing kind of girl, but she only took the moment to examine the boy –or man, whatever- with a critical eye. He was doing something she rarely saw him do; smiling. He wasn't just smiling, either, he was joyfully ecstatic, as if he were the one who had just won the race.
Maybe, in his own way, he was. After all, this victory was one more victory closer to him earning entrance to the palace, and the opportunity to kill Baron Praxis. But revenge and death seemed to be the last thing on his mind as he laughed along with the crowd surrounding him as Daxter flirtatiously blew a kiss to the voluptuous woman who presented him with his prize.
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"That was amazing," Jak reveled giddily. Ashelin guessed that if he were a little girl, he'd be giggling and clapping his hands right about now. Of course, if he started doing that, she'd be forced to seriously rethink her feelings for him.
"It was," she agreed, frowning at a citizen who elbowed her in his eagerness to leave the stadium. How she hated exiting crowds. "Jak, could we wait just a second?" she asked. "I hate getting swept up in all these people. Let's wait for them to leave first."
"Okay." Jak was in 'perfectly amiable, chipper-as-a-squirrel' mode now that he was guaranteed a spot in the Championship Race, and an opportunity to wipe the floor with that arrogant ass, Errol. The mercenary forcefully elbowed his way through the multitude, Ashelin taking advantage of his intimidating presence and following closely behind (not without admiring the view) to reach a previously emptied section of the stands. She cast another hateful glance towards the swarm of people around the exits before sitting down on a stone bench, Jak settling down next to her and propping his feet up on the seats below them, crossing his arms over his chest.
There was another uncomfortable silence and Ashelin decided to break it. "My answer's no, by the way."
Jak looked over at her, puzzled.
"To your question. From before. On whether or not you're a monster. My answer is no." Ashelin looked down at her hands and cursed inwardly; why did he make her so nervous now? Because they were technically alone? How infuriating. "A monster wouldn't go to his friend's race."
For a moment, Jak didn't answer and Ashelin, too timid to look over him, thought that he was angry with her for bringing up such a delicate subject. There was a pregnant pause; Ashelin's hands shook with anxiety, and she again swore at herself for her cowardice when he answered.
"Thank you." Jak turned to her, a rare, genuine smile on his face, his arms sliding down to rest on his stomach. "That means a lot. It really does." He turned his face to the smoggy sky, closing his eyes and breathing deeply, the grin on his face sliding off into a neutral expression. "You and Daxter are the only ones who've said that to me."
The silence wasn't uncomfortable anymore.
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"You really are proud of me?" the timid little ottsel questioned his friend, uncharacteristically meek in light of his recent win.
"Hell yeah I am!" Jak scoffed, slipping the jet board from his back and fiddling with a panel to slide it aside and flick the 'on' switch. The piece of equipment hummed, glowing a soft powder blue, and Jak tucked it beneath his foot, holding the anti-gravity slab of metal and circuits pulsing with blue eco with one foot, the other securing himself to the ground. "Really, I am. I almost went Dark when I saw you crash into that wall after that jump, though," Jak joked, then quenched his chuckle as the weight of his words suddenly hit him.
Daxter, however, played off the slip with all the grace he contained within his tiny body, which was quite a bit despite what others may have thought. "I wish you had. You coulda taken out the other drivers while I had a nice little nap, y'know, regained my energy."
"I bet you would have," Jak answered with a small smile, pushing off and expertly twisting around to avoid a group of giggling women, reaching up unconsciously to steady his friend.
"I think I should be the racer from now on, Jak," Daxter suggested, drooping wearily onto the shoulder guard of the elf, yawning widely. "The women are obviously more attracted to my rugged good looks than they are to your pretty boy face. At least let me handle public relations."
"Will do, Dax. I don't think the public likes me very much anyway," Jak smiled ruefully before it disappeared at the sight of a distrustful mother ushering her children away from him.
"They dun know what they're missin,' " Dax slurred sleepily, and Jak sighed, transferring the slumbering rodent from his shoulder to his arms, and then into his tunic as having a furball cradled in his arms greatly effected his balance. Daxter, too tired to protested or maybe even care, simply burrowed down further into the warmth and snored lightly, much to Jak's amusement.
As Jak propelled himself through the city, the wind whipping his hair behind him, he sank deep into his thoughts, pondering what had occurred earlier between himself and Ashelin…and himself and Keira. Keira didn't even speak to him when he congratulated Daxter; she didn't even look at him. Did she hate him now? Did he disgust her? Jak felt sick at the thought of someone so important to him despising him so much. He had thought that Keira would be with him through everything, like Daxter was.
Was he wrong? Was this the one thing Keira couldn't stick through with him?
Daxter and Ashelin had to be wrong. Two people against thousands weren't good odds, even if Daxter knew him better than anyone. He was a monster.
"Snnrk…damn power cells…" Daxter muttered in delirium before falling back into dreamland.
Jak rested a hand on the bulge through the cloth on his chest, patting it awkwardly and feeling like what he thought an expectant mother would, only with a great deal more embarrassment. As he progressed into the more populated area of the slums, he reluctantly kicked up his jet board, pressing the button to collapse it and eased it into the holster on his back. He paused, fishing around inside his tunic for "Orange Lightening" beneath the stares of passersby. "Get out, Dax; everyone's looking at me funny."
The ottsel responded with a snort, completely ignoring Jak's order and shifting his weight. Jak yelped as he felt a cold, wet nose press against his skin, slapping angrily at the lump atop his stomach, earning him even more bemused glares from the slummers milling about him. "Daxter, get out right now, or I'm ripping you out and stomping you into the dirt."
There was a muffled sigh from his tunic, then a drowsy, fluffy orange head poked out from beneath his collar, drawing the attention of a giggling little girl who commented that she, "wanna pet the little kitty in the man's shirt," before her mother dragged her away forcefully by her arm, glaring daggers at Jak.
"Thanks, thanks a lot Dax," Jak growled as said best friend crawled pitifully back to his usual perch, draping pathetically over his shoulder and closing his eyes with a mournful sigh. "Now everyone thinks I'm some kind of child molester. Yet another flattering title for me to hold."
"We'll add it to the list," Daxter mumbled.
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A/N: Damn you Fanfiction, I don't know how to debug your fucking code, so I can't even put horizontal lines in my story. Rrrrr.
Anyways, I'm going to reply to reviews now!
EtheralShadow: I know what you mean. The second I see JakxKeira descriptions, my immediate, innate response is a surge of loathing for said mechanic. But some JakxKeira's have been pretty good.
And thanks. Torn's more of a bitch to write than I thought…I think I made him a little too soft, though. I'll have to make him extra angry next chapter. Dax is sweet…someone has to be to poor Jak, considering he gets no sympathy elsewhere. ::coughs in Keira's direction::
Yeah, I'm glad I get to flesh out Ashelin's character a bit. And Jak did like her rather abruptly in the game; hell, maybe she's just a hott makeout partner for him. You never know. I'm going to try and make their relationship more believable with a touch of AU.
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Lunatic Pandora1: Thank you! I like Ashelin too, and I wish they'd gone more in depth with her character. I like Jak and Ashelin as a couple because…well, Tess is taken and I hate Keira and Mary Sues must die. It's either Ashelin or male companionship, and I suck at writing yaoi.
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Demyrie: Hee hee, is it fantastic? I didn't think so, but thank you so much! Writing is one of the very few things I manage to do well, even though I spotted a couple errors in there.
Yeah, Torn was shakey. I have a hard time writing the little bastard.
I would've added the vocal slurs to Dax's dialogue,but lately people have been ragging on my other stories about writing speech phonetically, and I just didn't want to make that mistake again.
I love Jak and Daxter fluff too. Best buddies, through thick and thin and to the very end.
I am terribly honored beyond words! Although I do have something to say. Hee hee. I haven't read a hetfic in forever either, because of the simple fact that they seem to be dying out...
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Von: Yee! Thanks! I've been an A/J fan since I learned that Ashelin exists because, as I have stated before, I strongly dislike Keira. And I know; you'd think that if Keira was desperately in love with Jak, she'd at least see him off, like Ashelin did.
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Krin: Thank you so much; it's great to get a review like that, especially from a Keira-lover. I don't like her character at all, but I'm gonna try and be fair. Hell, I'll probably even put a part of it in her POV, and not make her sound all whiney like normal Keira bashers write her. I'll most likely have her and her genius in there occasionally. Have you played Jak3? She's barely in it at all, and they made her look kinda funny, kind of more masculine in the face. She rarely talks, too, and shows almost no love interest in Jak at all. It's a bit sudden that she drops her affections, and I didn't like how they didn't explain that.
But yes! Thank you!