Home in my arms
By shadows/of/flame
Chapter 3

This chappies for Emera Took, fellow Dominic M fan!
Enjoy XP
Thanks Kuro :D
Another perfect, quiet night. The stars were just starting to come out, and Jak was taking his mind off his troubles by having a date with Keira.

The pair of them were sitting in a divine restaurant, having a nice Asian meal for a change. There was a weird topic in the air... Daxter.

"Oh come on! I mean, Daxter taking on 20 Metal Heads alone? What could be a better laugh? I'm not saying hes not capable, but..."

Jak laughed at Keiras comment, munching on his delicious chicken teriyaki dinner, and gazing into her eyes at the same time. Ah, those eyes. He could just... look into them forever and a day, and not get bored. They twinkled with spark and imagination, and made her look all the more happy.

"Did you know Veger? He wants to propose to Ashelin!" Jak laughed, almost choking on some chicken.

Keira smiled at Jaks cute yet stupid stupidity, and she was about to say something as Jaks communicator went off. She stopped short, and glared in the beeping direction.

Jak groaned his head off, and as it continued to beep, he knew he'd have to answer it.

"Hello?" Jak answered it with a flick of his wrist, hoping no one wanted anything utterly important.

"... Is this Jak?"

Jak couldn't recognise the mysterious voice, and answered.
"Yeah, I'm Jak. Who's asking?"

The person on the other end chuckled. That chuckle... Jak thought... sounded so familiar... almost like his own laugh, in some odd deformed way.

"The King of the Sand City. I need you to come out here - someone has turned up, and I need you to judge them for becoming a citizen of Spargus."

"What does it have to do with me, though?"

Keira knew the inevitable was going to happen - Jak was going to leave again. Jak opened his mouth, hopefully to apologise, but Keira clamped her hand on his lips.

"Don't bother with it." She snapped.
He looked at her, and at the firm death grip her hands had on his lips.

"I know what you're going to say - don't even bother."
Jak tried to stop her from leaving, but she left without another word, tears staining her usually rosy cheeks.

Jak sighed, and finished his dinner, before leaving the restaurant, on the first KG zoomer to Spargus.

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Keira stormed to the Naughty Ottsel in a heartbroken huff, furious with herself for believing Jak for an instant.
"Why didn't I see it before? He doesn't care about me anymore - why should he start? His jobs too important!"

She slammed the door open, and broke down in tears as soon as her foot stepped over the Naughty Ottsels threshold.

Tess came running as soon as she heard of the doors fate.
"Keira... its Jak, isn't it?"

Keira nodded, and let Tess soothe her shattered nerves.

"I need to tell you something about him..." Tess began, guiding Keira to a seat.
Keiras face drained of all colour as she continued. "Its not a particually good thing, but listen closely..."

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Torns muscles were aching, post-battle fatigue settling over his muscles and bones.
"How many more fights?" he groaned as Super Rolls dragged him off to rest.

"5 minutes before the next fight, so be prepared!" Kleiver barked, before slamming the door shut behind him.
Torns eyes adjusted to the dim light, and he sighed, wondering when he would have proven himself enough.

"What would Jak think of me becoming a Wastelander?" he wondered, snorting under his breath as he changed his clothing swiftly, and had something to eat.
Time was of the essence, and he could not spend it dilly-dallying.

After a minute or twos consideration, Torn decided to take the rest of his few minutes to go to the throne room and see what the Sand King wanted, so he stretched his aching muscles, and unwillingly dragged himself to the throne room.

Damas was sitting on his throne, deep in thought, only breaking out of it to see who was there.

"Ah, Tattooed Wonder, you are here. I thought you'd never make it." Damas grinned, rising from his throne to greet Torn.

Torn shook Damas' outstretched hand, smiling slightly. Had had a lot on his mind but tried to sound cheerful.
"You wanted to speak to me about something?" Torn asked, fixing his eyes on the Sand King.

Damas smiled, releasing Torns hand and sitting on the steps leading up to his throne.

"Kleiver found out about you. Apparently, you are a renegade ex-KG officer, running from something, or... 'someone' in Haven City. Is that correct?"

A slight blush spread across Torns face, and he nodded slightly after a long moments though. After all, this 'Sand King' he didn't know very well...

Damas chuckled, noticing hesitant movement behind Torn.

"You thought you could run forever?"

That was a different voice, behind him.

Torn turned slowly on his heel, to see the one person he had run away to hide from...

Jak.