Fragments of Sorrow
Chapter 3
By shadows/of/flame & Sull89

Erol's eyes flickered dangerously at her words, only just stopping himself from doing anything… irrational.

"Evil man indeed…" he mused aloud, shifting slightly. "Well, it was getting close to the end of the day, and all my guards were muttering between themselves.
"We'd had no luck in finding anyone, and we knew I'd join all the other traitors of the guard if I couldn't find someone, or if they died in the first few doses of dark eco the Baron administered."

Keira faked a slight purr, and started running her hands through his thick red locks.
"Go on." She insisted, knowing he was getting closer to spilling all about how he'd found Jak.

Erol grinned cockily, and continued his tale.

"Another group of Krimzon Guards in another sector of the city alerted my attention to a rather strange pair that had 'fallen out of the sky'. So, we went to investigate and found a scrawny blond boy and his orange pet rat."

Keira almost laughed out loud. Daxter would hate to be called a orange pet rat.
Especially the 'pet' part.

"The rat ran away, but we were able to get the boy and knock him out before he caused any trouble to the citizens."

Erol stretched dramatically to wrap an arm around Keira's waist, ignoring her wince of protest.

"But when we took him to the Baron, we found he would be the perfect lab rat for the testing, so the tests started straight away.
"And now, two years later, he's still going as strong as the day we dragged his sorry behind in there."

Erol looked at Keira, who was rather paler than she had been when she'd been teasing the red head.

A look of genuine concern replaced his lust filled look as he called her name.
"Keira?"

'The Baron…That stupid pigheaded man… The Baron… was experimenting on Jak. Causing him pain. For two whole years? And Erol--! He… he took Jak to him…'

She promptly passed out, leaving Erol, who was now knelt beside her, in utter alarm.

0o0o0

When Keira slowly opened her eyes again, she found that she was in her own bed, in her room upstairs above the garage, in a nightgown.

For a few seconds, she wondered about what had occurred and how she got into bed, into a nightgown no less.

Her lips curled dryly. Erol. Of course, who else.
But she remembered him as she had passed out. The look on his face as she had almost frightened her, she had never seen that look on him before.
He was… concerned?
'That is definitely beyond normal…'

She slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes gently to rid the sleep from them. Jak had haunted her dreams as she was unconscious, unnerving her greatly.

A note sat, neatly folded, on her dining table as she dressed and went down the stairs.
It turned out to be from Erol, no less.

Keira,
I was worried sick about you. I unfortunately had to go on duty, so I left early.
I'll be around later to see how you are babe, miss you lots.

Erol

Keira boiled the jug and started thinking about the day before, worried.
Things with Erol had nearly gone too far, and although she hated him for what he did to Jak… being involved romantically with him was another thing entirely.

She drained the pot of coffee instead of pouring herself a mug, wolfing down some toast and quickly brushing her teeth.
It was entirely unlike her to be so piggish, but she had woken up late, and was supposed to meet Tess and the blondes ex Krimzon Guard friend at a café downtown in a few minutes.

After hurriedly brushing her hair and pulling on her trenchcoat, she stepped outside into the cold air, frost nipping bitterly at her ankles.

The man Tess was with checked his watch as she slid into the seat next to the blonde woman's, wearing a smirk on his face.

"…Twenty seconds late." He fake mocked her, summoning a waitress over to serve them.

Keira glared at him. "So? Is that a major, life threatening problem?" she replied coolly.
He looked taken aback.

He tried to start the conversation up again with a nice round of sarcasm.

"Gonna slap me again?" he smirked, drawing another glare from the mechanic.

"Can you two at least attempt to get along, and stop fighting like an old married couple?" Tess asked them with a threatening tone, chewing on some violent pink coloured bubble gum that she had picked up beforehand at the same time.

As they both knew, violent pink coloured bubble gum was very evil indeed, and they stopped arguing.

"I'm Keira." The mechanic smiled, almost as if she was trying to start their friendship over again.
"Torn." The man replied, kissing her hand, and pulling a face to Tess, who giggled.

"He isn't used to being a gentleman." Tess informed Keira as the waitress brought them some food and drink. Torn just glared, making his vivid grey tattooes look even more sinister.

"Hm… you were part of the Krimzon Guard?" Keira questioned him.
"Yes, I was until a few days ago." Torn muttered coldly. "…Commander, in fact."

A cold chill ran through Keira at these words.
Commander? But Erol… Oh… since Torn left, Erol was instated as Commander… so that's why Erol was so happy and… joyful of all things a few days ago…

"You… know Erol?" Keira asked, trying to keep her voice half steady.

Torn's face darkened considerably.

"Know him? We were always rivals, he was so damned pissed at missing out on being Commander due to being bedridden because of our recent slip with the metal heads, he's been after me ever since. Of course, after I left, he became the new Commander I suppose."

Keira felt faint again like she had after Erol had told her about Jak.

If Erol found out that she was hanging around with his enemy… She'd never get away with it.

"So, I suppose you know about the dark eco experiments being done on the blond boy." She whispered, feeling miserable.

"Yes… that was the reason I left, it was so inhumane… Do you know him personally?"

"Who?"

"The boy."

"Yes… I do." She stammered. "He's…(Do I love him…?) my best friend."

The tears started then, flowing freely down her cheeks. The young woman didn't make any moves to stop them, and her two friends could only watch as she burst into a flood of tears.

She was torn between two men, two sets of friends, and two different worlds. She had been stuck in a strange world for almost two years, she had no idea how to get back home, and she had no idea how her two friends and her father were faring after the ride through the portal.

Even though she had new friends now, she felt lost, alone, alienated from the world around her.

She didn't fit in, no matter how hard she tried, she knew that.

Even after living there for months on end, she knew that every day as she stepped out into the street.

Men and passers-by could see the fear in her eyes, which she hated showing, no matter how hard she tried to avoid it.

She hated living in the race garage by herself, hated when a man walked in to order or ask for a zoomer to be fixed and stared at her chest until they finished talking.

Tess wrapped her arms around the younger woman as she cried, Torn offering a consoling hand on her back.
"Was he… ever more than a friend?" Tess asked her as she began to calm down a little.

Keira took a deep breath, and started telling the two about Jak.
She told them about the pairs moonlit ventures, about how they never returned much before sunrise.

About all the little things he did that made her smile.
About how they could hold a conversation without even a word.

Tess listened, and Torn almost fell asleep, but they were both there for her as she cried into their shoulders.

"So… more than a friend?" Tess asked, grinning from ear to ear as the young girl finished.

Keira didn't want to admit it to herself, but soon enough she started nodding unconsciously.

"You… could say that." She murmured, wiping the tears away.

Torn sighed, and began to say something. "I wish there was something we could do to get him out of there. The cells are horrible places to be at the best of times."

Keira silently agreed, and as she looked out to the man-made lake by South Town, she began to wonder if she would ever see Jak… alive… Ever again.