A/N: Warning: This chapter contains rape, but its not too bad, I promise. Oookay, I forgot to mention, the song I used doesn't belong to me. It's called 'Transylvanian Concubine' by Rasputina, I don't own it, they do. I don't own anything except my guitars and this story so don't sue me!!

Summary: Keira begins to run errands for Krew with Sig until she is introduced to the world of racing. After being recruited on Erol's racing team, she still runs errands for Krew occasionally but devotes most of her time trying to find out where Jak, Daxter, and her Father is and working on another Rift Rider to take them back home.

Pairings (eventually): JakxKeira, TornxAshelin, DaxterxTess

Special thanks to my only reviewers! I nearly cried when I got reviews, I either a) need more reviews to light up my life, of 2) get a life.....

June: Thank you!!! But what do you mean by 'fucked up stories?'

gohan11: It gets even sadder (is that a word? lol) but don't worry, it'll get happier after this chapter. Thank you for reviewing!

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Darker Still
by Ashelin Rayne

Chapter Two
Birthday Girl

'Just a little to the left....'

Sweat trickled down the side of Keira's face as she aimed her Blaster carefully at a large, ape-like Metal Head. The sun beat down, mercilessly at her back as she lay in a sniper position.

'I shouldn't have worn dark and black clothes,' Keira growled to herself, noting her black pants, lined with dark green and navy blue, ends tucked into her knee-high combat boots and dark green, belly shirt with her waitressing vest. There were two new additions to her outfit, a polished, silver metal piece of shoulder armor on her right shoulder and a ring belt (a/n: something like the ring thing Jak wears) on her left hip with thin belts securing a pouch on her opposite hip. Attatched to her the bag on her back was the prototype hoverboard made of black and green metal.

"Come on, Kid," Sig smirked as he crouched beside her, gaurding her back if any other Metal Heads decide to sneek up on them, "I'm gettin' old sittin here."

"Oh hush, Delivery Boy," the girl flashed him her own smirk, "I'm trying to get it on my first shot."

"We're all not perfectionists like you, cherry," he teased. Keira ignored the elf and focused back on her target, moving her Blaster slightly to the left.

BAM!

She smirked as the Metal Head fell to the ground after recieving an instantly fatal headshot.

"Got it!" The two got up to collect the fallen prize.

This was the eleventh time Krew had sent her out with Sig to run one of his errands, the only thing Keira enjoyed about them was spending time with Sig and shooting things (it helped her vent her anger...which she had a LOT of). This time, Krew wanted the two to bag a few Metal Heads to serve as trophies in the Hip Hog Heaven, to attract more customers. She had been working at the H.H.H for nearly a year now, there was also a new girl there to help out too, a nice blonde elf named Tess. The two had hit off the first time they met and relied on eachother to make it through the day as they waitressed.

Tess let Keira in on a little secret of hers after the first month of working together. She told her that she was working for the Underground and they had sent her hear to keep a tab on Krew, the fat blob had a lot of ties in the city and was good for collecting information. The blonde had offered Keira a place in the Underground but she declined, Tess was a little disappointed but cheered up when the she-elf promised to help them out if they needed it.

"Damn Metal Heads," Sig grumbled as he proceeded to sever the head to make into a trophy, "you can never kill enough of em'."

"Which is good," Keira said nonchalantly as she toggled through the gun modes. Sig gave raised and eyebrow at her.

"What the hell do you mean? I think bein' out here in the sun 's fried your brain, Kid. How is havin' a shit load o' Metal Heads good?"

"It means that I get to shoot more of em'," she grinned ferally. The armor-clad elf let out a deep laugh as he finished bagging the trophy head. "More Metal heads, more things that need killing." 'And more things to take my anger out on.' Keira added silently.

"Kid, has anyone ever told ya' that you're insane?"

"Yup."

-

The bar was nearly spotless as the blue-and-green haired she-elf scrubbed them absentmindedly. Keira sighed as her mind was absorbed in her own thoughts, mostly about her missing father and friends. Nearlly a year and still there was no sign of the three. Much to her dismay, one half of Keira was dreading the day they were rerunited. 'Would they recognize me? What would they think of the woman I've become? What would Daddy think now that his 'litte girl' as gone away? What would Daxter say? Would I still have a chance with Jak? Or would he despise this angry, depressed, Metal-Head-homocidal freak I've turned into?' All those questions and many others swam through her head. 'I know that everything won't be the same anymore....I've lost myself. I don't know who I am anymore. Beneath the waitress, beneath the triger-happy 'Wastelander' girl....who am I? I'm just thankful I have Sig and Tess to keep me grounded.'

Keira was pulled from her thoughts when the doors to the H.H.H slid open and three Krimzon Guards walked in, two were in full armor and the third was an angry looking man with tattoos on his face (very common in Haven City, Keira found out) and brown, dreadlocked hair that ended at the nape of his neck. The she-elf put on her meanest looking scowl as they came nearer, Keira had developed a burning hatred for the Krimzon Guard and Baron Praxis. A few months after she arrived here, she noticed how corrupt the K.G. were and she couldn't believe that idiotic Baron. She was horrified at how he ran the city, she had stopped to listen to some of the announcements made from him and was appaled at his stupidity.

Fear not the men in red. Sure there are occasional complaints, about their over-aggressive policing, wanton destruction of people's property during raids, mass arrest, misplaced loved ones and whatnot. Hey, we're only human! Running a city can be tougher than it looks. Imagine how much worse it would be if the Metal Heads were in charge. Keira snorted, the city wouldn't be worse off. 'At least with the Metal Heads, they would be kind enough to kill us instead of feeding us this bull shit.'

It can be so lonely at the top. And looking down from up here, I can see that this dirty city is in desperate need of revitalisation. So, to that end, we will be bulldozing many sections of the city in the coming weeks. All complaints against this construction initiative can be brought - in person - to the fortress prison where they will be...reviewed. 'Only someone who was a complete moron could come up with that,' she snarled mentally.

As your Baron, I am instituting a No Hoverboard Rule in the city. Young delinquents, with nothing better to do than float around and do tricks! Huh, I'll put all violators into the Guard and teach them some discipline. No skating. It's the law. 'Like that's gonna stop me.'

Attention Citizens: This is your Baron speaking. There have been several unauthorised uses of the City's old gate locks. Fortunately these breeches have not resulted in contamination. But we all know how deadly the wasteland is. No-one is allowed outside the city without authorisation. Let it be known that any violators will be caught and executed. 'Hmm...I didn't know that....like I care...' she rolled her eyes.

Serve your city. Sacrifice for your city. And all will prosper. You are safe, because I care. - Obey. And be happy. - Sacrifice is something you should do for your city. - One way, My Way. - Give up your freedom and I will protect you! - You're safe inside the walls with me. - The city is safe, I will not allow harm to befall you. Trust me.

'FUCK THAT!!! That jackass is abso-fuckin'-lutely insane! Damn idiot....'

"Hey!" A fist slammed on the bar in front of Keira and she jumped and looked up at the brown haired elf. "I'm talkin' to you!"

"Oh," Keira pulled on the ditzy girl act, "I'm sorry." She put on a fake smile which was all she could do to stop herself from ripping their heads off. "What'd ya' say?"

"Where's Krew?" He growled, fury radiating off of him in waves at her for ignoring him.

"I dunno," she grinned. 'It's kind of hard to miss him, seriously, the guy's like....a blimp. Who could miss someone that large?' She added amusingly to herself. Her answer only pissed the Guard even more.

"Well, I suggest you find him," the elf threatened as he grabbed her arm and pulled Keira towards him. The girl growled and snatched her arm back and shoved him out of her face.

"Don't touch me," her hand hovered over her morph gun under the bar, "fuckin' Krimzon Guards." She muttered darkly.

"What was that?" He eyed her with an angry glare.

"Torn, how....nice to see you," Krew interrupted as he glided into the room and hovered next to Keira. The fat man let his fingers slide over her bare shoulder, "Please don't arrest her, she's my best waitress, you see."

"Fine, but only because I want to get this done and over with so I can get out of this dump," he glared at the girl behind the bar.

"Ah yes....I completely forgot about the Baron's order of inspection," Krew laughed nervously. That was a lie. He had been fussing and bitching at Keira to get her to hide all of his less-than-legal collections in the other room in the back. She had to make sure everything was stored in a secret room, away from the Krimzon Guards' reach. As the two, fully armored guards went off to do the inspection and Krew glided off to do Mar-knows-what, Keira continued wiping down the bar and tried some small-talk with the elf named Torn who was still sitting in front of her.

"So, how's your lovely Baron Praxis?" She tried not to say the Baron's name like it was a deadly plauge but couldn't help but let a little venom slip. The Guard raised an eyebrow.

"He's alive and well," he answered.

"Unfortunately," the two muttered at the same time and both looked up at each other, shocked. Keira slipped on a lazy grin.

"Am I hearing things or do you not like a certain someone?" She smirked as Torn fidgeted nervously.

"Don't say that outloud!" He hissed in a hushed tone, "And besides, it's none of your concern."

"Uh huh," Keira smirked, she looked around but found no one else in the bar except the two. The other two guards and Krew had gone into the back rooms. "Ever think of joining the Underground?" The elf grew silent. "Don't know? Well, if you decide that you do, I can help you out. My friend's part of them." The conversation abruptly ended when the other guards came back.

-

"Ahh....Keira," Krew glided over to the said girl the day after the inspection, "just the lovely little mechanic I was looking for." Keira just gave him a deadpanned look.

"What do want me to do, Krew?" She sighed, already knowing he wanted her to run an errand for him.

"Straight to the point, ey?" He laughed, "Well, Erol is racing today and he's just lost his mechanic, you see....and I've got a lot of money riding on this race. I've promised him my best mechanic, you. So, I need you to replace his mechanic until he finds another one."

"Mechanic?" For once, a mission that peaked her interest, "I'll do it."

"That's my pet," Krew chuckled, "you better get to the garage now, the race starts in a few hours, ey." With that, Keira bolted out the door with her backpack, holstered gun, and hoverboard, not bothering to change out of her waitressing uniform.

Keira glided through Haven City towards the city, carefully avoiding the Krimzon Guards which was a little difficult when the were practically everywhere she looked. She laughed as some of them tried to chase after her, but after she flashed them a sexy smirk and showed a little leg, the stopped. 'Ah, the advantages of being a beautiful woman,' she laughed darkly. Being a beautiful woman was a gift, but also a curse.

Finally, Keira reached the stadium and hopped off her hoverboard, retracting it to a smaller size with the press of a button and placing it in its holster on her backpack. She quietly made her way to the garage, when she entered, she gasped. Like a kid in a candy store, she rushed to run her hands on the shiny new tools and broken pieces of machinery that she was just itching to fix. Keira moved onto a yellow and sea foam green racing zoomer with smoke rising from its engine. She ran her fingerless-gloved hand along the warm, colorful metal.

"Excuse me?" A voice startled the girl and she jumped up and turned to the owner of the voice. There was a man standing there in a skintight, yellow, black, and white suit, he had a kind of helmet on his tattooed head. Keira's lips twitched as she forced herself to not fall on the floor and roll around with laughter. 'Jeez, this guy needs to cover up himself,' she thought as her eyes unintentionally traveled to the lower part of his body, then snorted when she almost burst out laughing, 'not that he has much to cover up...'

"Who are you?" He asked as she watched his eyes travel hungrily up and down her body. Keira shifted uncomfortably as she felt like he was undressing her with his eyes, the girl unconsciously wrapped her around herself.

"I'm...umm....the mechanic," Keira averted her gaze to the damaged zoomer, "Krew sent me."

"You? The mechanic?" The creepy elf stared at her in shock, a constant reaction she got whenever she told anyone what she was, "How old are you?"

"Uhh....nineteen," she lied. After a moment, he shook himself out of his stupor.

"Well, my name is Erol, I'm the racer of this beautiful zoomer," Erol stepped next to Keira, "but not as beautiful as you." She restrained herself from rolling her eyes at the cheesey pick up line, she lost count of how many times she heard that one.

"Keira," she replied, ignoring his sad attempt at flattery. "So, what's wrong with it?"

"Erm, I don't know," he chuckled. Shaking her head, she went and lifted the hood to the engine, assessing the damage. As Keira bent over the engine, examining all the parts, Erol stepped back to watch her from behind, eyes sweeping over the exposed skin and the back of the skirt that was lifting up as she leaned forward. His gaze snapped back up when she stood up straight and turned to face him.

"Well, I think you may have blown a head gasket in several of the combustion chambers," she informed him, "whoever your last mechanic was, he wasn't very good."

"I guess you should get started then," Erol said, sitting back as she began her work.

-

Sighing in annoyance, Keira was on her hoverboard, on her way to the garage again. A month ago, when she had first went to the garage, she nearly went insane as she worked to fix the engine of the racing zoomer because Erol had persistantly flirted with him. She was so close to screaming and beating him into a bloody pulp. Now, Erol had asked Krew if she could work for him from then on, of course he wasn't easily persuaded but with two bags full of money, he agreed, on the condition that she still run errands for him from time to time. Keira looked forward to working as a mechanic, however, absolutely dreaded having to see the arrogant right hand man of that bastard, Praxis. When she found out that he worked very closely with the Baron, her dislike for him grew, but Keira had to cover up her burning hatred with smiles. She was good at that, having perfected it during her time at the H.H.H., pretending to flirt back was an exallent way to milk out anything from him, especially information that she could pass onto Tess who in turn would pass on that information to the Underground, which Torn was now a part of. She grinned at the thought of the angry ex-Krimzon Guard.

Keira growled as another elf gave her a cat call, she knew she should've gotten rid of her waitressing outfit but she had grown quite fond of it, it was a very handy tool to get out of being arrested by K.G. and getting men to buy her things. It was a bad habit, she knew, but it was just so fun and easy.

"You know, you could get arrested flying around on that hoverboard," a voice called out from Keira's left. She jumped of the board and held it under her arm as she turned to face the elf. It was a she-elf in red and blue. She had a red belly shirt with a long-sleeved blue jacket and blue pants with the outer sides exposed. The woman had red hair pulled in dreadlocks and a tattooed face.

"Hey Ash," Keira smirked at the she-elf. Ashelin Praxis, daughter of the idiotic Baron, Keira much rather perfered the daughter over the father. She had met Ashelin thorugh Erol and Torn informed her that she was helping the Underground, which immediately put her on Keira's 'People That Are Okay' list. The two became fast frieends, sharing a common bond of loving to shoot and kill things (Metal Heads). Tess, Ashelin, and Keira usually had a ladies night out at the Hip Hog Heaven on Fridays, which was the only time they could hang out with each other, most of the time they were all caught up in work. On the rare occasions when Keira and Ashelin had the days off, Ashelin was teaching Keira hand-to-hand combat, gymnastics, and talking about the Underground. Keira, being the ever-vigilant observer that she was, notices a slight sparkle in the older she-elf's eyes as she spoke about Torn, coincidentally, she noticed the same, unusual sparkle in Torn's usually cold eyes as he talked about Ashelin. With a determined grin, Keira proclaimed to herself that she would get the two stiffs together.

"Are you headed towards the garage?" She asked with a knowing smirk. Keira grumbled out a 'yes' miserably. "Is Torn still at it?" When the younger she-elf glared at the ground, the read head let out a laugh. "Do you want me to fix that problem permenantly? I could do it, besides, that arrogant prick needs to be hurt."

"Nah, I can take care of it, although the offer sounds tempting," Keira giggled, "maybe if I agree to go out on a date with him once and be completely horrible to him, he'll lose interest."

"Whatever you want," Ashelin laughed.

"I better go before Ero; sends out a search party," the green-and-blue haired she-elf grinned.

"Yeah, I gotta meet up with Torn," she saw that sparkle in the older she-elf's eyes again. With a nod, Keira jumped back on her hoverboard and turned towards the direction of the garage.

"Later!" She called over her shoulder.

-

Keira was ready to take Sig's beloved Peacemaker and shoot herself with it. She had done everything, everything possible to drive any sane person away on her date with Erol. She had continuously abandoned him to dance with other guys, she ignored him, she obviously ran from him, hell, she even insulted him, but he just kept coming on to her even more persistently and agressively. So agressively, it began to scare her.

"Erol, for the last TIME!!!" Keira shoved his arm off of her shoulders as they walked out of the H.H.H, "I DON'T LIKE YOU!" She snapped, unable to take any more of his advances. "Would you just leave me alone already!?!" She yelped when Erol grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to him, smelling alcohol on his breath, she noticed just how drunk he was. Drunk enough to do something stupid.

"No one, NO ONE!!! Says no to me," Erol roared, he began to drag her -kicking and screaming- off in one direction. Keira was about to kick him in the groin but he hit her in the back of her head, keeping her dazed for a few moments. The she-elf faintly noticed being pushed up against an alley way wall, she could hear the rustling of clothes. Suddenly, she felt Erol ram into her. Keira screamed but was silenced when he covered her mouth with his, tears streamed down her cheeks as the man forcefully pumped in and out of her.

'No no no no.....' she cried in her head, 'not again! Oh Mar, not again!' An image of Jak's smiling face appeared in her mind's eye, 'Jak....I'm so sorry...I'm not strong enough, I can't survive without you...' The image faded as her world descended into darkness.

-

Groggily opening an emerald green eye, Keira found it still dark outside. She found herself lying on the ground in the alley when the memories of what happened came back to her, tears began falling from her eyes as she sobbed. Keira noticed a blood stain on the ground, not too far from her, it had survived the elements through out the year. 'Someone up there must really hate me andhas a sick sense of humor or irony.' Keira thought as the tears stoped flowing. She was sitting in the same alley where she killed that man so many nights ago. As she moved, she noticed a note fall out of her hand, curious and sore all over, she picked it up and read it.

Don't tell ANYONE or I'll throw you in jail.

Keira growled and ripped the paper to shreds, pretending that it was Erol. The she-elf never in her life wanted to hurt anyone....well, that was a lie, but she had now created a new list. It was her 'Men That I Hate With A Passion That Burns Hotter Than A Thousand Suns And Want To Castrate With A Rusty Meat Grinder And Make Them Suffer So Bad They Would Wish They Had Never Messed With Keira Hagai' and Erol had just made it to the top of that list. She was going to take a nice, month-long vacation away from that bastard, probably running errands for Krew with Sig the whole time, taking out her hatred and anger on the Metal Heads. She might even go with the Wastelander to that Wasteland city he told her about, Esparagus? Spartan? She couldn't remember, it hurt too much to think at the moment. Keira dragged herself up onto her protesting legs and made her way back to the Hip Hog Heaven to her back room. As she left the alley way, she growled bitterly to herself.

"Happy Sweet Sixteen to me."

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Jak could hear Erol bragging about how he scored on some hot chick that night, taking her in an alley way near a place called Hip Hog Heaven because she wanted him so bad she couldn't wait to get to his place. The man in the dark cell snorted.

'Yeah right, the pompous fucker probably had to rape the poor girl to get any.' Jak didn't know how right he was.

At the mention of rape, the beast inside set off another chain of dark fantasies involving Keira.

That was how it was for the past year, the beast thought about nothing except killing Praxis and having Keira. Beating Praxis to a bloody pulp. Tearing the clothes off of Keira's delicious body. Gouging the Baron's eyes out. Tasting the girl's sweet nectar. Ripping his limbs off one by one as he was still alive. Having her squirming under her. Soaking his claws in his warm blood. Hearing her scream his name in ecstasy as they both hit their climax, digging her nails into his back in a painfully erotic way as he filled her with his seed.

Jak, with great difficulty, took control over his mind, groaning at the painful erection he now had. After taking care of it, he lay on the cold floor, panting, trying to regain his composure. He thought of his beautiful elf maided and remembered what date it was. Jak smiled into the dark room.

"Happy birthday....Keira."

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A/N: Finally, done with that chapter. YAY! Next chapter is the long awaited REUNION!!!! Until next time! Plaese review! I like reviews, reviews are like cookies cuz everyone likes cookies.....actually, I don't like cookies. The reviews are like pizzas!.....Actually, some people don't like pizzas either (shocking, I know, who doesn't like pizza). Okay, so reviews are like something everybody really likes! Oxygen! Everyone likes oxygen cuz it keeps us alive, so reviews are like oxygen.....erm, just..please review.