Author's note: Ah yes, slight warning. The beginning of this chapter is very much confusing, but that's the idea. It's largely seen from Jak's perspective and he is, quite understandably, losing that old, healthy grip of reality.

Chapter 9, Monsters

Never ends it just starts over again day and night never resting they will come I can hear them outside…

"Kill me!"

The pain continues hands everywhere faces masks eyes…

"Jak!"

"Look out!"

So many screams. He could hardly tell whether it was his own or somebody else's. So clumsy when he tried to reach for them, too… heavy, yet moving too fast- crumbling stone, fleeing feet-

Watching poking what will this do to me what will they try today?

"Kill-l-l meee!"

Staring accusations I'm dirty I'm sick…

"Jak! Buddy, snap out of it, for the love of-"

"He's gone goddammit! Shoot!"

My fault?

"No!"

It's so cold here.

"Killmekillmekillme…!"

Waiting footsteps coming closer waiting knowing waiting waiting please somebody please, please…

"Stop fighting it and the pain will stop, you silly boy."

Please…

"Kill me!"

Just outside the footsteps heavy boots crush ribs the key is in the lock turning door opens no please, precursors please, somebody no no no please let me die…

"Like hell we'll shoot! The white-"

"Killlll meeergh…"

"Daxter! Stop!"

So cold so dark I can't see can't feel can't hear I'm already dead taste of blood if they come again I'll kill them I have to kill kill kill-

"Jak!"

There's nothing, only that… sliver… through the bars…

"Jaaak!"

"Dax… ter…"

It stopped. There's somebody… talking? Say something, just this once!

A gigantic paw smashed into the ground, sending crushed pebbles and sand flying in all directions.

I'm gonna kill Praxis!

Shuddering with unsteady breaths the growing behemoth fell forwards, one arm crashing on the cave floor while the other struggled to support the huge body. Jak forced his burning eyes open, trying to make out the little orange dot from the darkness around it. Like a pebble…

"Da-Dax…"

It did not sound like his voice anymore, the words hardly forming properly from the rumbles in his throat. Everything was so… small… insects…

Won't you kill me?

"Hang on, buddy!"

Madness. No hope.

"Kiiill mmme…"

Eco freak. Freak! Freak! Freak! Daxter please kill me please Daxter!

"Now!"

Sig…?

Explosions of pure light filled the corners of his fading vision, the flares mercilessly seeping into his body and making him roar with doubled agony.

You hurt me even you why can't trust it hurts hurts hurts stop I'll kill you why are you…who are you… it… pain… no…

"What do you think even white eco can do for him now, you maggots?"

Pain too much please stop it's numbing… what…who…

"Come on Jak, you can do it!"

Daxter what… pain… crossing… end…

"What?"

"Something's happening!"

Knew I could count on you we're sorry I want to help you we believe in you you give us all hope-

Cracks? He choked on his own roars, squinting down at the black armor covering his body. The agony was mind numbing, but now it was as if it tumbled over on the other side of pain, where it began to feel relieving. Was this death?

Something hit his back with a heavy splash, and the agony rose up again in a flare of darkness. New roars tore through his throat and the fragile spider webs of light flickered desperately.

"Hey! Stop cheating ya fat worm!"

"Be silent, animal."

Drop the cargo. Eco freak. Eco freak. Banish it it's dangerous.

"We need more white eco!"

"There's nothing left!"

His claws dug into the ground, eyes crunching shut.

Jak buddy I love you Jak to hear your voice Mar our hero Chili Pepper a lot of things worthwhile my boy find my son my son my son my son-

The light wavered.

"There's nothing to do! Kill him!"

"No! You can't-"

Didn't your father I never knew make war your own my finest warrior blasphemy destroy the other good day to die die to die…all my fault head hurts stop it st- no don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me!

He threw his head back and the face that once had been Jak's cracked open, not in a roar but a desperate howl to the hidden skies. It tore into the stiff air, reverberating through the shadows across the expanse of rock and dark eco until the voice cracked and drowned in a raw, animalistic wail with no traces of its former shape left. It seemed to last forever, forcing even Maia to press her hands against her ears.

It ended as suddenly as it had begun, cut off within a throat tasting of blood.

Then Jak fell.

"Oh crap…!"

Daxter spun around and dashed back towards the recoiling group of warriors, just barely avoiding being crushed beneath Jak's smooth, black chin.

The crash shook the cavern, the massive weight pulverizing the fine cracks in the ground beneath it. He did not move anymore.

Tension spun its chains around everyone – the uncaring bubbling from the black eco mingling with the quick gasps for air of the shocked elves, and Jak's ragged breathing. He had finally stopped growing, but at a frightening size.

Seconds stretched to eternity.

"So."

Maia's voice echoed in the darkness.

"What will it be?"

A huge eye opened.

"Shit…" Sig hissed.

Before he knew it, he had raised the Peace Maker. Around him, hands with bloodless knuckles mimicked his movements.

There was nothing behind the iron eyelid. Even Dark Jak's eyes reflected the light around them and crinkled with an animalistic cruelty – even that was better than this void. Not even the rising glow of the skull gem avoided being sucked inside and devoured.

The creature that was not Jak anymore bent its arms, claws and palms grinding across the ground as it heaved itself up. Snarls filled its breathing while it slowly turned its gigantic head back and forth as if trying to orient itself.

Daxter would have wanted to hide behind something, but he could not move a muscle. Only a pathetic whimper made it through his throat as he tried to speak his friend's name. He heard the sharp clicks of weapons being cocked, but could not form another protest.

Is it a proper end for a hero to be shot by his own allies?

Would they even be able to hurt him?

The armor covering the beast's body looked far harder than a normal metal head's – but it was not a normal one either. In the background, Maia snickered.

It was not a question of whether or not the warriors would do any good, not when the depthless clefts in the behemoth's face turned towards them and it stopped moving. It raised a huge hand; they took aim, teeth crushing down on each other.

But the creature's movements were slow, uncertain. The claws scraped its own armor, screeching against the panzer on its chest. As it heaved further upwards, eyes desperately searching for hope finally saw the last tiny cracks of light on the dark body. Nobody lowered their weapons, but fingers froze on the triggers. This was the last time they hesitated.

Maia frowned.

The cracks were small, spreading from a weakly pulsating center on the middle of the creature's chest. Claws touched it briefly but quickly moved away again as if burnt.

There was something green reflected on the armor, pouring out of the cracks. The hand turned over, revealing a small lump of green eco. Slowly the head tilted, almost curiously studying the shining cloud in its palm. And when it moved, threads of light shot out of the cracks and tackled the green blur. It lurched forwards, following the creature's movement as the glow on its chest wavered. Distracted, the behemoth dropped the eco.

Shimmering lazily, the substance floated towards the floor while green and pure white twisted about each other, mingling and merging into a creamy emerald color.

Sometimes it is so apparent that something fantastic will happen, that you are certain that the world will prevent it just to spite you.

This time, the world failed to deliver. The mixed eco suddenly stopped moving, and spread out just above the ground.

"What the hell's going on here?" a hoarse voice demanded.

Jaws fell slack.

A hand holding a Peace Maker as if it was a royal scepter, heavy braids lazily twirling as he turned his head, and a familiar armor and face only partly distinct in the swirls of eco. It was obviously not a living person, rather a sketchy character drawn with strings of eco and shaded by puffs of the same.

Still, it was impossible not to recognize.

The behemoth seemed to have frozen in place.

The citizens of Haven City threw wild glances between the otherworldly display on the other side of the cavern and the wastelanders. The sturdy, rough warriors of the desert were just about to have their weapons falling from numb hands. Two ottsels shared a disturbingly similar look with eyes as wide as saucers and chins near their stomachs.

Silence ruled in a frozen moment, until suddenly a slick black knee scraped the ground. An uncertain movement, strengthened by the croaking sound rumbling deep within the chasm of a throat.

The eco ghost turned his head again. He looked up. And further up.

With an inhuman screech the behemoth scrambled backwards, claws clashing against the metal on its cheeks as the huge palms sought to hide its face. The broken leg gave away and the creature fell over on its side again, still trying to cower from the spiritual eyes.

The ghost's free hand came up and he pressed it to his scalp, sighing.

"Kid, when I said that dangerous is useful, I didn't mean this much," the king of the wasteland said.

His hand fell and he stared up at the monster before him in silence.

The behemoth turned its head away, but twitched at the next sound.

"I suppose that it's possible for rejected eco to take the form of a channeler's wish. Intriguing, but inefficient."

Maia rose up above the beast, dark eco dripping from her arms.

"Begone!" she snarled.

A powerful twist of her upper end and a rain of darkness sailed above the black head of the behemoth, towards the ghost. With a snarl forming in his throat, the ghost drew back while raising both arms to protect himself.

Shaking the cavern with a roar the gigantic beast shot forwards, fingers entwining into a shield. The far smaller figure straightened up as the eco splattered against the armor above, darkness dribbling onto the ground several feet away from the shimmering character.

The behemoth shook like a crocadog in the rain, then turned halfway to snarl at Maia. She gave a screech in reply, retreating towards the middle of the dark eco lake. This seemed to be enough for the offender, for it returned to the previous position. The huge hands cracked apart, landing on the stone floor to form a broken bowl around the ghost standing in between the two halves.

Safe.

Damas. Safe.

There was a strange, choking sound bubbling up between the beast's fangs.

Indistinct lips stretched, curving in a friendly smirk.

"Nice reflexes, but…"

Damas pointed, voice turning sharper.

"… the enemy's over there. Move it!"

It was disturbing, the way that the behemoth turned its head and paused for a moment, studying Maia. Once more it seemed curious at first, tilting its huge head slightly. She glared back, not retreating a single inch more.

Even more disturbing, that she showed no sign of fear even with the looming threat of getting body slammed by a beast with hands twice the size of her head. Hands with very big claws.

They could have shot her right then, the wastelanders and soldiers alike figured. The tail still arched and waved, but not nearly as efficiently as before. However, the idea only managed to crawl into their heads far later, because from their position right then and there, rational thoughts had frozen in anticipation of just what the monsters were going to do.

The movement seemed so slow at first, that it was impossible to tell whether or not there was actually any plan behind it. But the better leg bent beneath the behemoth, drawn up to the chest still marked by the pulsating threads of white eco.

Maia's hands twitched outwards, claws at the size of butcher knives sprouting from her fingertips. And as if it took that as a sign, the beast catapulted itself into the lake, the broken leg scraping the ground behind it.

Huge body plus eco lake… uh-oh.

"Shit- move!" Sig shouted.

The clumsy leap sent a slouching wave of dark eco across the ground, forcing the elves and ottsels to take a hurried retreat. Had the eco been just a little bit lighter it might very well have splattered about the entire cavern, but a wave could be avoided more successfully. The warriors scrambled up to the wall where the ground was higher, staring back at the hellish scene beneath them.

Roaring and screeching the two beasts wrestled about, claws clashing against panzer and cutting through the thick eco covering them both. Maia was far smaller than the behemoth, but only as far as concentrated body weight mattered. While she swept around to keep her vulnerable upper body out of reach, slimy coils rose from the lake and lashed themselves around her enemy. The behemoth grappled for her with one hand, clawing at the coils with the other in enraged attempts to keep her from trapping it. And the dark eco soon covered them both, black sludge casting its filthy light across the rippling bodies as it dripped all over them.

"I… I'm gonna have nightmares…" Daxter whispered.

Torn glanced at the voice, only then realizing that he had grabbed the ottsel as he retreated together with everyone else. Mechanically he set Daxter down, but from the look on the fuzzy thing's face, he hardly noticed anything either. Mercilessly, Torn's eyes too returned to the battle even if the scenery made his stomach want to turn inside out. He violently swallowed against the taste of bile, only given a brief respite from it.

"And what are you waiting for?"

They all jumped, heads turning sharply to find a life-sized ghost standing only a few feet away, glaring at them.

Humorously enough the last one supposed able to form a coherent sentence spoke first, after several seconds of stunned staring.

"You- there's n-no way- you can't be…"

Veger fell backwards as the glowing, indistinct eyes turned towards him. Within a moment however, Damas turned back to the warriors.

"I would hope that I'm real enough to command my own men," he said.

That was not, in any form, a question.

Somehow Sig managed to force his jaw to move.

"Yes, your lordship," he said.

His voice did sound a bit askew, but at least he got the words out. As soon as one of them successfully mastered his shock, agreeing croaks arose from the other wastelanders' throats as well.

"Good," Damas said.

A shining hand whipped out, pointing finger outstretched.

"Then don't just stand there like fools, be prepared to kill that thing!"

It was not a voice that tolerated any hesitation. Peace Makers were raised before their owners even could form a thought about it.

And during the whole conversation, the two monsters continued to fight. Maia had somehow managed to trap the behemoth's left arm against its body with a coil, but the free right hand grasped her tail a dangerous few feet beneath her upper body. However, the eco covering them both made her slippery, and the hand slid downwards. Focusing all its might on trying to maintain the weakening grip, the beast was caught off guard when suddenly the sharp tip of Maia's tail rose up from the lake and slapped at the enormous face. With a roar the behemoth fell back, losing its grip of the snake. She sent the tip of her tail at her adversary's throat, but a lower arm caught the blow. A huge blob of eco smacked into the grey body, slapped from the lake by the free hand as it was flung up in the blocking. Momentarily blinded Maia swung backwards and the tail whipped about aimlessly. The behemoth took the chance, ramming its hand at the bottom of the lake to throw itself at her again.

The clumsy way he moved, having to use his arm to make greater movements… it was ugly.

"After this he'll be lucky if he can ever use that leg even with support…" Torn muttered.

He kept his teeth clenched, keeping his gun pointed at Maia. The behemoth kept getting in the way and the Peace Makers were sure-kills, but he was not going to just stand there doing nothing. It was a bizarre thing to say, he realized that. But hope is the last thing that leaves a man, is it not?

"That might just be the best."

All eyes returned to Damas. But his gaze remained on the battle.

"What?" Daxter finally said.

The ghost did not move.

"If worst comes to worst, it'll be easier for us if he's crippled," he said.

"Whaddaya mean easier for us-"

Daxter's ears drooped down again and his shoulders sagged. Hands clenched around the weapons they were holding, even the most tanned skin paling as it was stretched against bone. However, the increased tension was brief.

"I was kinda thinking you were here to save the day or something, Sparkly, now git!"

Finally Damas spared a glance to the side, but it was unreadable. He soon returned it to the monsters.

"I'm here because he wanted me to, and the eco reacted…"

Both hands grabbed the shimmering Peace Maker that leaned against the ground.

"… but I'll try, rat."

Right in that moment the behemoth's hand smashed into Maia just beneath her upper end, sending her flailing in a circle – her back turned towards the warriors, while her enemy crashed into the eco lake after losing its balance. Even before she had gotten halfway through the uncontrolled crescent several Peace Makers were hissing, but they would not be able to charge up before she got herself back under control.

A shot rung out again, and Maia screamed as black blood exploded from her lower back. She twisted, the behemoth growling in pain as her coils constricted in her agony.

Somebody pulled their trigger and a bright light spiraled through the dark air, closely followed by others. Maia never saw it coming but she let out a demonic screech as that first flare tore into her, voice rising and breaking under the blasts.

And she fell silent, the echo drowning in the new roar.

The beast shot forwards and caught the falling, lighter form while the coils fell off in fading spasms, the impact rocking Maia's head so violently that the skull gem finally fell out of its socket and fell into the eco with a miserable glop. But the behemoth kept moving, claws digging into Maia's limp upper body cutting through her burnt skin. The roar never ceased, and the armor bulged as the muscles beneath flexed – the huge creature was not satisfied with her being dead, still thirsty for blood.

"Stop!"

Four voices rung out and the behemoth froze just before it would have mutilated the dead body beyond recognition.

It turned slowly, looking down at the four hands raised against the felony – one fuzzy, one emerald, one huge and dark-skinned, one lithe but calloused by daggers and guns alike. The few people present who possibly could make that thing listen before it completely turned into a monster, either by friendship or because the person behind the lifeless eyes was too used to take orders not to react.

Maia crashed on the ground face first, carelessly flung aside like a broken toy. Silently, the behemoth dragged himself out of the eco lake, the heavy ooze slipping off its body in lazy drops. It only used its arms; both legs trailed behind uselessly.

Once fully out of the slime, the beast heaved itself up on its arms, blank face turned down at the group of midgets before it.

The white eco on its chest had shrunk to a pathetic little spider web, flicking like a dying flame.

Glances were exchanged.

Alright gang, you have the attention. Now deal with it.