Miss.Ecofreak: here we go again
CHAPTER 32
THE LEGEND OF SPARGUS AND DARK ECO
Kate
I would have collapsed if I wasn't already sitting down, Cornelius dead? It couldn't be true.
"You can't be serious" Tetra yelled.
"I'm afraid it's true" Tanya said sad, "I saw it, well, I didn't see him die though but I saw the metalheads"
"Metalheads? I really didn't think you would have trusted them to do your dirty work" Tetra said to Erol.
"Will you keep it down? The baron isn't supposed to know I'm down here" Erol whispered, "He ordered me to put Tanya out of misery, but… I don't want to. You have to believe me when I say I never wanted this to happen"
"Why should we trust you?" Tetra asked, "If it weren't for you I'd still be wearing pants!" (Miss.Ecofreak: (giggles) sorry, couldn't help it)
"I was only following the baron's orders!" Erol said, "But now when it came to Cornelius. Baron Praxis wanted me to kill him instantly, but he's my brother"
"So you let the metalheads do it instead? Smart" Tetra said sarcastically.
"Will you please let me finish?" Erol asked, "I didn't think the metalheads would get him! I sent him out to the wasteland so he would have some chances of survival"
"In the wasteland?" now it was my turn to be suspicious, "How will that improve his survival rates?"
"There is another city out in the desert, built by those who have been banished from Haven throughout times" Erol explained.
"But that's a myth" Tetra said.
"I said the same thing when Cornelius kept blabbering about it as a kid. But as I got older I figured it might not be impossible" Erol continued, "People have been thrown out of Haven since Mar's time. I read through some of the history books at school and found out about some very harsh people who were thrown out about a hundred years ago. They had been outside the city many times, and rumours said that when the guards where looking for them, they could camp outside the walls; this gave them the nickname "wastelanders". So after their banishment, people thought they were dead, but some years later, when another man was exiled, the transport was attacked by the wastelanders. Before the guards fled, they claimed to have seen a small town, in the middle of the desert"
"Spargus City" I gasped, "But… how did they know the guards weren't seeing things?"
"You seem very interested in Kg-history for an underground member" Erol said.
"It's Haven City's history, besides, the kg weren't working for the baron back then" I said.
"Right. You've got a point, the desert heat can make the strongest go mad, but many people claim to have seen the desert city in later times to. I've seen it, or parts of it. Sometimes when the weather is clear, and I'm out to banish a poor soul, I saw a fire burning high up on a pillar; it's probably a beacon to guide the citizens back home when they're out in the desert" Erol told.
"Why the hell would anyone be out in the desert anyway?" Tetra muttered.
"Why don't you just shut the hell up?" Erol asked, "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…", "And he says I'm rude?", "…the chinbit better shut her mouth before I make a coat out of her. As I was saying, I figured if I sent Cornelius out to Spargus, he would have better chances for survival than if he stayed here. But the baron found out, and he warned the metalheads".
"Baron Praxis cooperates with the metalheads?" I said in surprise.
"Yes. Now that you've just managed to figure out confidential information perhaps you will let me finish?" Erol asked. It was easy to see he was starting to get very annoyed.
"Erol. That was all" Tanya commented.
"Why you little…"
"But how do you know the metalheads killed him?" Tetra asked, "Cornelius is a survivor, and he never leaves home without his little gun. No kg has ever caught him (until now) and I doubt a metalhead will"
"You've never seen a wasteland metalhead have you?" Erol asked, "Cause they would hardly feel it if Cornelius tried his little gun at them. I know he's capable of killing smaller metalheads. If he wasn't… I wouldn't be here today"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
He didn't seem to want to answer that, he tried to pretend he didn't hear me.
"Erol, the girl just asked you a question. Shall I repeat it for you?" Tanya asked.
"Fine! I'll tell you. One time we were out in the forest riding flut-fluts Cornelius, sort of, saved my life" Erol said.
"See? That wasn't so hard was it?" Tanya said.
Erol just glared at her.
"I have to go now" he said, "I have other duties you know".
And with that, he left, unfortunately remembering to shut the door.
"And he didn't even bring candy" Tetra said.
Even though it was a sad situation I giggled.
"Tetra, chinbits can die of to much sugar" I said.
"Doesn't matter now, we're as good as dead anyway" Tetra said, "I prefer dying of sugar-poisoning than being killed by an overload of dark eco or whatever Praxis does to his prisoners".
"Come on, we have to keep our hopes up" Tanya said, "Speaking of hopes, what were you talking about when Erol and I got here?"
"Oh, that. I guess it doesn't matter if I tell you" I said, "But like I said, it's a long story"
"And like I said, we have lots of time, let's hear about your little family" Tanya said.
So I told them, everything.
About my heritage, little Jak, and my true name.
It felt relieving having someone to talk.
I had never talked to anyone about this, my family knew all along of course and Cornelius figured it out on his own.
As soon as I was done, both bird and chinbit looked at me wide-eyed.
"So it's really you" Tetra said, "Kate, I thought I'd never see you again"
"You're an heir of Mar and you never told us?" Tanya asked, "Did Cornelius know about this?"
"Yes, he figured it out" I said, "I think he must have had a hunch about it since I met him in the underground, and one day he followed me home without me noticing, and heard my mother use my real name, that's when he knew"
"But this is great! That means you're a princess! You can take over this city instead of baron Praxis" Tanya said.
"Yeah right, as if Praxis would allow that" Tetra said, "Besides, didn't you say you didn't want to become queen?"
"Yeah, Jak probably would have been a much better ruler than I am anyway" I said.
"As long as he doesn't grow up like that other Jak" Tanya muttered.
"What are you talking about?" I asked confused.
"Don't you remember? That kid Daxter wanted us to rescue. I've heard about him lots only today. Thought I might stay low after breaking out of prison and stuff" Tanya said.
"What did he do? I love stories of trouble makers, especially if they make trouble for the baron" Tetra said.
"Well, from what I've heard, he managed to break into the ammo dump and blow the whole thing up the same day as he escaped, and later he's killed more Krimson guards than Cornelius has taunted. Earlier today he even managed to get into the palace and kicked baron Praxis' but" Tanya told, "Unfortunately your dear uncle didn't suffer from fatal injuries"
"Too bad" I said.
"He sounds hot" Tetra said, "I have to meet this one."
"I don't know, he sounds kind of scary" Tanya said.
"He hates the baron, how bad can he be?" Tetra asked.
"There is another thing I've heard" Tanya said, "About the dark-warrior program. It turns out it actually worked; the baron really did create a monster"
The dark-warrior program? Impossible!
"But I thought nobody could survive that amount of dark eco" I said.
"Jak can" Tanya said, "The KG call him Dark ecofreak, whenever he's angry he turns all pale and grows claws and horns and everything. He kills anything that moves, no matter if they're innocent or evil. Baron Praxis wants him dead, and he's not the only one. Even the people are scared of him sometimes".
"But it's not his fault is it?" I said, "After all Daxter told me about him… I can't picture him as a monster"
"Dark eco does things to you" Tanya said, "I read a book about it once. It said something about an old sage of dark eco who went bad, really bad. You don't even want to hear what happened to him"
"I've heard about that legend" Tetra said, "The dark sage was destroyed by a kid with an extremely rare talent of channelling eco, not unlike Mar's bloodline"
"Do you think that kid could be a relative of Mar?" I asked.
"Not impossible, he did live some years before Haven City" Tanya said, "The book couldn't say the exact dates of course; it was over two hundred years ago. But it told a lot about the dark eco, nobody has ever studied dark eco like that dark sage did, then again, his studies made him the monster he was before he died".
"I wonder if that Jak-guy is related to Mar as well" Tetra said, "Surviving all that eco I mean. He sounds like he could be a channeler"
"Or he's just lucky" Tanya said.
"Maybe, or maybe he is…" a sudden thought came to my head, out of nowhere.
He couldn't be… he's way too old.
"Maybe he is what?" Tanya asked.
"Nothing" I said, my fantasy could go crazy sometimes, but as Tanya told her story, I remembered the legend of Gol the sage as well.
"I've seen the hero" I said suddenly, "He who defeated the dark sage. On a picture. The odd thing is… he reminded me of… no, that's impossible"
"So he looks like someone you know, big deal" Tetra said, "At least some of his ancestors are probably living here in this city. In fact, even one of us could be after all these years"
"Yeah, but I remembered something else to" I said, "He always had this little ottsel on his shoulder and the boy's name…"
"What's with his name?" Tanya asked.
"Jak, his name was Jak" I said.
Coincidence? Honestly!
Zakura: no really. Now there are three Jak's in this story
Miss.Ecofreak: actually it's only one. I am not planning to let the main characters of this story meat Jak2-Jak in this fic (only in the sequel), and Jak-and-Daxter-Jak disappeared when he got older and grew into what he is in Jak2
Zakura: sure, everyone knows what the conection between the two Jaks in Jak2 is (perhaps that's why it's called Jak2?). But are you going to have any action again soon? they're all just stuck in a prison.
Miss.Ecfreak: stop whining. Please review! Please!