Chapter 10
By shadows/of/flame
(dodges all rotten fruit and rotten things thrown at me and my muse)
Heeey! I never said I was going to kill Torn... :D Slight JxK moment in this chappie... :D Did I say slight? Understatement.
Torn ordered another drink off Daxter, and sighed deeply. No amount of drinking was going to ease the horrible pain he was going through.
Tess ran into the Naughyt Ottsel, tears streaming down her face, and a hysterical look overpowering her usual calm look.
"Is it true Torn?" she sobbed. "Are the rumours true, Torn? Tell me!"
Daxter went down into the back store room to get some more alcohol, and didn't hear Torns reply.
Torn turned his head slowly her way and nodded.
"I already got the third degree from Keira..." he murmured. "She just gasped, screamed and ran off. I haven't... seen her since."
Tess hugged Torn tightly, and he wiped away some of her tears.
"Shes scared to death for you Torn... we all are."
Torn was silent. His stomach was in knots ever since he had found out the news.
"Hows Ashelin taking it?" he asked, emptying another shot of vodka.
Tess sighed. "No ones taking the news of your disease very well. They all care for you Torn, and no one wants to see their favourite Commander die..."
Torn sighed, and closed his eyes tightly, imagining himself on his death bed, and his friends all sobbing around him.
"Thats the problem. It's gonna be harder for me to leave then."
Torn bade goodbye to Tess, and quickly left his liquor behind at the Naughty Ottsel.
He started off towards the Bazaar.
Not many people noticed he was there, which was excellent, since he planned to make his visit short.
The flaps of the tentrustled slightly in the breeze as Torn pushed them back.
Onin was sitting, crosslegged as usual, in the middle of the floor.
Pecker looked up and saw Torn, and his face fell.
"Onin knows why you are here. Oh, who cares about that! Torn... Onin knows of a way to save you."
Torn frowned at the irrational bird. Did he care that Torn was dying, or did he just want to show off about his fortune telling skills.
"Are you sure I'm not cutting into your siesta time?" Torn asked dryly as he leant against the doorframe.
Pecker ignored the brunettes barbed comment.
"Should I tell you or not Tattoed Wonder?"
-
Keira just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed as Jak and Ashelin held her close.
All three of them were at the Palace, just sitting on the floor, comforting each other.
Jak stroked Keiras hair, and kissed her forehead as she cried onto Ashelins lap.
"Why is this happening?" Keira choked, trying hard not to break down. "Why did he drink that water? Why does HE have to die!"
Ashelin sighed deeply, keeping welcoming arms around Keira.
"I should have warned everyone about the eco spill... but I didn't think it would get into the water. And even if it did, that waters not very safe to drink anyway..."
Keira didn't say a thing, just continued crying silently.
"Just cry." Jak murmured, still stroking her hair.
Ashelin bowed her head. Why had Jak and her been so horrible to Torn and Keira? She felt a pang of guilt run through her stomach, and she held Keira close.
"We're sorry Keira." she said finally.
Keira took a deep breath or two to calm herself down, and Ashelin pried herself from the sobbing girl to get her a tissue.
Keirawriggled around until she was lying in Jaks lap, and he smiled weakly.
"When did you stop loving me Jak?" she asked quietly.
Jak resumed stroking her hair again as he spoke.
"I never did... But I started loving Ashelin... and then you were all smitten with Torn... so I decided to see how things turned out. And it turns out, we are better off friends, and we are happy with who we have now."
Keira smiled at her former lover.
"Is she good in bed?" she teased.
Jak was glad Keira was trying to cheer up, and grinned.
"Shes OK."
Keira chuckled, and went quiet again.
Jak just kept stroking her hair, until Ashelin came back with a damp flannel and some tissues.
Jak 'cleaned' Keira up, and she giggled softly at his touch.
Ashelin smiled slightly, and pulled the two into a hug.
They would all miss Torn, but he wouldn't want them to miss him too much.
He wasn't like that.
-
"Wheres my buddy tattooed wonder?" Daxter asked as he entered the Naughty Ottsel.
"You... haven't heard have you?" Tess sighed, her chest heaving. She then remembered he had left the room just before Torn had confirmed the bad news.
"Wha... whats wrong with Tattooed Wonder?" Daxter asked, fear evident in his voice.
Tess started crying. "Hes got Dark Eco poisoning. Hes dying Daxter."
-
Pecker went on and on about Light Eco, until Torn cut in.
"Jaks harnessed the last of the Light Eco. There has to be another way to heal me - theres no Light Eco left."
Pecker sighed, and Onin started her chanting and waving again.
"There is another way, concerning the Dark Eco Freak, but it will be dangerous, and very risky."
"What is it then?" Torn exclaimed
Pecker sighed. "Impatient, aren't we? Very well. Onin says theres another way to heal you - to balance the eco already in your body."
"Whaat?" Torn demanded, getting impatient.
Pecker sighed. "You will have to be submitted to Dark Eco treatments."
Torn felt his body go numb.
"Thats the only way to save me?"
Pecker nodded. "Pretty much."
"Fine. But you can't tell anyone OK? Make something else up. Like... I'm... doing something... else."
The bird nodded.
"This way... to the eco treatments!"
Torn followed Pecker out of the tent into the sewers where the torture equipment was kept with a heavy heart.
He was going to have a dark side too.
IF the eco didn't kill him first.
"I never thought I'd see that needle again." Torn murmured as he saw the gigantic, blood-stained eco needle.
Pecker strapped him into the chair, and tried to be sympathetic.
"This will hurt a lot Torn... are you positive this is what you want?"
Torn relaxed slightly in the restraints, and nodded.
"Get it over with." he growled.
Pecker crossed his heart with his feathers, and activated the eco.
Torns screams of anguish could be heard all over the city.
-
He writhed around on the floor, gasping for air, not ready for more torture.
"Please... no more!" he gasped.
But he was hauled to the chair again, and given a huge dose.
His vision went cloudy, and he felt like vomiting.
Who knew how long he had been in the filthy, dark, sweat-stained cells for, being injected and beaten daily.
'That... bird... said this beating was the only way to make me feel pain.' he coughed, blood splattering onto the floor in small droplets.
How much longer would this last?
His vision swam with pictures of a bird.
"Onin says you have to have had this treatment for 4 weeks straight before, arrrwk, your eco balance is the same."
'How long has it been? Have I had enough yet? Can they stop?'
What about his friends? What were they going to think of the new him?
They thought he was already dead, buried beneath the sands of Spargus where he had originally said he was going to die.
No rest for the immoral.
He felt his bones crackling with Dark Eco, and his skin took on a tinge he had never thought possible. His dreadlocks were plastered to his face by blood and grime, and faint stubble had started to appear around his chin.
He thought he was going to die in there.
All alone.
And doomed to never see her again.
Sort of an angsty bit. Thats a longish chappie, hope you like it!
Torn... I am never speaking to you again for this.
Me: Mwaha... I'll be nicer next chapter. Forward!