Two Sides to Everything

Disclaimer: The only things I own of this story are my original characters like Colle and Zack.

Sushi: Welcome to the second part of chapter 10. It is nowhere near as long as the first part.

Jak: That's a relief.

Sushi: When did you get here?

Jak: I'm not here, you're just hallucinating.

Sushi: Okay. I'll keep taking to myself while you guys read on. Enjoy.

Chapter 10: True Feelings part 2

"Hey, wake up, kid." Ewitz tapped the little boy on the shoulder until he opened his eyes.

"What is it?" Zack rubbed his eyes.

"We have to leave. The armies had been alerted of intruders. This is your chance." Ewitz opened the cell door completely. It allowed Zack to leave his prison for over a week.

"Do you know who it is?" He thought maybe he would finally be rescued.

"Only one. The girl you said was your sister. The other is a strong warrior." Ewitz kept look as he guided the child through the deeper part of the nest. He was fond of this child and would see it to the end that he was safe.

"The plan has changed. I'll get you to your sister and lead you out. I'll do all I can to make sure you get out of this alive. This is the last time we'll see each other, I think." There was no point in giving the child false hope. Ewitz would die for his betrayal.

"I thought you were coming with me." Zack stopped.

"I can't. It would only put you in more danger. You would be easier to find because of me. Especially when they have your sister."

"They won't get her. Jak'll protect her." Zack didn't understand why his friend wouldn't be coming with him. He then thought of a way to get him to come. "Fine. If you're not going, I'm not either." Zack took off down one of the side corridors away from Ewitz.

"Zack, come back here!." Ewitz chased after him. If the boy ran into another Rosrucerp, then they would both be killed. Zack for trying to escape and himself for having let Zack escape.

Jak held onto Colle as he hid from the transformed Rosrucerps. The girl was beginning to stir in his arms. When a group of Rosrucs passed by him he checked to see if the coast was clear. When nothing was in sight, he ran in the opposite direction. Colle opened her eyes.

"Where are we going?" She noticed she was being carried.

"We're getting out of here." He searched for any way that he thought would lead to the exit.

"What about Zack?" She struggled to get down. "We can't leave him."

"I'll come back for him later. I shouldn't have let you come." He turned down a corridor the slopped up. Hopefully leading outside.

"I'm fine and I'm not leaving without him." She meant it this time. She would stay until she found him. Jak wouldn't be able to stop her.

"Alright but we have to hurry." He didn't feel that this was the time to argue.

Colle lead the way as she searched franticly down every tunnel, every room, and behind every out cropping of rock. She began to lose hope when she heard something from close by. It sounded like crying. She followed her ears and found the one person she had wanted to see in the past twelve days than anyone else. Zack was sitting in a small recess in the rocks curled in a ball.

"Zack!" She hurried over to him and threw her arms around him before he even knew what was happening.

"Sis?" Zack wrapped his arms around his older sister as tight as he could hopping it wasn't one of his dreams again. When she didn't disappear, he lessened his grip.

"Sorry to interrupt this little reunion, but you might want to get out of here now." Standing next to Jak and out of breath was an untransformed Rosrucerp. Jak drew his gun and was about to fire when Zack stopped him.

"Don't. He's my friend." Zack moved away from his sister and stood in front of Jak. "He's a good guy. His name is Ewitz." Zack stood next to the creature that was almost as tall as him

"Then he can tell us how to get out of this place." Jak lowered his gun, but only a fraction. Just because a kid vouched for him didn't mean this thing had earned Jak's trust.

"Follow me. I'll take you to the closest exit." He was off.

The four of them raced through the maze of tunnels until they reached the main chamber. They had been trapped. About thirty or so giant rosrucs blocked their way out and more were arriving from behind. This apparently was something the 'friendly' rosruc hadn't counted on.

"Now what are we going to do?" Colle grabbed Zack and pulled him close enough to shield him from view.

"You're going to let me handle this." Jak handed his gun to Colle and summoned all of his dark eco to come forth. Soon his skin lost its color and his hair grew lighter. Jak's eyes lost all thought of emotional feeling except for the desire to kill and shed blood. Around him was the best thing to start a killing spree. Almost fifty transformed rosrucs had shown to fight and they were going to get one.

"Stay back." Dark Jak growled ask he readied his claws for the massacre. Gathering much of the dark eco within him Jak unleashed a powerful dark blast over the surrounding area. Over the last two years Jak had learned to control his attacks to the 't'. He could make it go where he wanted it when he wanted it, so he was able to keep the energy away from the others.

With his attack complete, much of the front had been whipped out. Over half of the enemies gathered had fallen. Unfortunately more were arriving in minutes. Jak didn't have the energy for this. Swiping at a few more Jak transformed back into his original self.

"I don't like this. My blast should have taken out more than that."

"You used dark eco. We have resistance to all eco, but when presented in large quantities, nothing can survive. You blast got weaker as it moved over the ground. That's why it didn't work." Ewitz spoke.

"You could have said something earlier." The giant rosrucs closed in on the small group. Some growling out traitor. Jak knew they were talking about Ewitz and so did Zack. Zack being the youngest knew quiet well what was about to happen. They weren't getting out of this alive.

Without a word Colle threw Jak his gun and got herself ready to fight. She wasn't going to die here not when she had just found her brother. She took am with the scatter gun at the nearest bunch of rosrucs.

Jak was amazed by the determination of the girl at his side. She would go to any length to protect her family. Now though, she would be able to do something, now she had the training. Jak admired her for the strength she was showing at the face of death. Earlier she had been afraid to kill but now it didn't matter.

Standing there thinking and waiting for the inevitable, Jak realized that Daxter had been right. He did like Colle. He cared about her to a point that if anything happened to her he would die himself. His feelings for Ashelin had faded long ago. He cared about Colle so much that it might have been called love. Too bad he wouldn't live to get the chance to tell her. It was all about to end right here.

The ones in front attacked first and got blown away by both guns. It did nothing to phase the others however and they continued to attack. One of the larger beasts had come so close as to swipe at Jak from the side. Colle shot him off before Jak had been killed, but the damage had already been done. A large slash mark went from the top of Jak's rib cage and down his side. Neither Colle nor Jak could stop fighting long enough to treat their injuries fro risk of being torn to shreds.

The chamber along with its inhabitants began to swim across Jak's vision. The loss of blood was finally getting to him. He staggered around trying to keep his focus, which was almost impossible. Then two rosrucs decided to attack him at once from behind. Jak was unable to react quick enough. Ewitz dashed in front of the two beasts and took them out but at a high price.

With his training he had learned many moves the rosruc didn't know, but he didn't have nearly the strength of a transformed rosrucerp. Once he had taken out the two, another who had watched him, ran him through with nothing but his claws. Ewitz was dead before he had hit the ground.

Zack watched with horror filled eyes as his friend was struck and hit the floor. He tried to run to Ewitz but was stopped when a rosruc jumped in front of him. It would have hit him if it had not been for Jak. He had sent up a shield.

They were being overwhelmed. No matter how many went down, that many more took their place. Both Jak and Colle were exhausted. Colle had been lucky enough to escape with minor cuts while Jak was still suffering from blood loss and dizziness. Waves of pain arched across his body from head to toe. He was lucky to still be standing.

Colle had lowered her weapon when the veil of blue appeared before her. She turned just in time to see Jak as he feel to his knees. Less than a second later he fell to the ground unconscious. Running to him, the girl threw her gun away and checked to make sure he was okay.

Gently Colle shook Jak to get him to open his eyes. Jak had stopped moving. Almost every bit of his energy and strength had been spent. There wasn't even enough to heal himself with what little energy he did have.

The shield weakened faster as the transformed rosrucs pounded it repeatedly.

Again Colle tried to wake Jak up. They needed to get out. When nothing what Colle did seemed to work, tears slowly crept down her cheeks. She tried to wipe them away but it was useless. She knew Jak hated to she her like this, but at this moment there appeared to be nothing she could do.

Deep down inside, something broke free. Colle knew what she needed to do without being told how to do it. As if some unknown force were controlling her, Colle leaned down toward Jak and gently placed her lips against his. As soon as they touched a blend of white, green, and blue light formed around them.

Zack watched as his sister kissed the injured elf not knowing what was happening. He was no longer scared about the monsters outside of the shield. He looked to his new friend, Ewitz as his body remained motionless on the other side of the barrier.

The light dimmed as Jak's wound healed. Colle had unlocked her powers to save Jak. She used what she could of her energy to give strength back to him. When she pulled away from Jak she opened her eyes to see him having barely opened his. The whole thing would have been embarrassing had it not been for the situation.

Out of energy herself, she passed out and fell forward. Jak caught her and realized he was no longer hurting. Jak placed the girl on the ground near her brother and immediately shifted to Dark Jak. He knew what he needed to do because as soon as he had changed, the veil of light vanished.

Unleashing his second dark bomb but not width-holding his energy, Jak cleared a way towards the exit. Without hesitation, Dark Jak grabbed Zack and placed him on his back and picked up Colle. As fast as he could he ran through the main entrance and down the tunnel. Returning to normal, Jak placed both into the Sand Shark and got into the driver's seat.

When seeing the rosrucs pursuing them, the Shark opened fire as Jar floored it in reverse. Once out in the cool air of the desert evening, Jak turned around and headed for the city. If anything was following him he would take care of it then, when he had some help. Arriving at the gates to Spargus, he found nothing behind them. They had given up. The three of them were safe for the moment.

Colle got up the next afternoon. Zack was pouring water into a bowl. She had apparently startled him for he almost dropped the pitcher. A smile brightened the child's face as soon as he saw his big sister. She was okay.

"You're awake!" He jumped at her with his arms around her neck. "You've been sleeping for so long." He held on tighter.

"I'm so glad your safe." She hugged him back. "I've been so worried about you. But you're safe now." Flashes what had happened came to her mind. She remembered they had fought so many of those horrible scaled giants. She had killed many herself. At the thought of having killed something like that made her skin crawl. She remembered Jak had been hurt badly. That was all she could recall at the moment.

"Where's Jak?" She wanted to know if he was all right. She looked around the room; he wasn't there. Without asking again, Colle ran into the next room ignoring Zack when he tried to make her stay in bed. This room was empty as well. There were other rooms in her apartment. She checked each of them. Turing to Zack who was following her, she asked again. "Where is he, Zack?"

"He's ou-." As the child answered, the one being sought came through the front door. He was carrying his bag with what looked like food in it. He smiled when he saw the two of them.

"Glad you're awake." Jak didn't even have enough time to put his bag down before Colle ran into him hugging and crying on him. "What?"

"I thought you had died. You had been hurt so badly. And you wouldn't wake up." She stood there and cried until she no longer could.

"You were the one who saved me, remember?" He whispered. Jak held the quiet girl in his arms. He rubbed the back of her head while she tried to calm down. "You healed me."

A realization formed in her brain as she thought of the events of the day before. Heat came to her face and red to her cheeks when she had fully remembered all the had gone on. She had kissed him. Did he hate her for it? Colle backed away from Jak slightly and looked at his face. It held, not a look of hate or dislike, but a look of caring and comfort.

Zack knew what was going to happen. He smiled wide and left the room. They could be alone for now.

Jak looked into Colle's eyes and once again saw fear, but for the first time he also saw hope reflected in them. Her green eyes were sparkling in the afternoon sunlight. For the first time he realized how beautiful she was. He made a vow then and there that he would never let her be hurt by anyone ever again.

He leaned forward and down to the girl in his arms and she came up to meet him. In the background, Jak's comm. was going off but neither seemed to hear nor care.

Colle felt safe when she was with him. There wasn't anything she wasn't capable of doing when he was around. She wanted to stay with him.

Right before the two of them kissed, the comm. broke in. Torn spoke harshly and quickly. "Jak, I know you can here me. I need you to get back here. Ashelin's gone missing."

When Jak heard the last part he pulled away from Colle and grabbed the comm. out of his back pack. "What did you say?" His voice was filled with concern.

"She's gone, Jak."

"I'll be right there." Without a second thought, Jak grabbed his bag but stopped before leaving. He looked back at Colle. "Are you coming or not?"

"Ye-yeah." After getting her things and Zack ready to return to Haven, she joined Jak at the door. During this she had time to regain her composer. Jak had almost kissed her, but with the mention of Ashelin he was leaving. He still loved her, but that didn't mean Colle was out just yet. He had almost kissed her. That had to count for something. "Let's go."

Sushi: How was is?

Jak: You'll have to wait and see.

Sushi: Review soon.