Naughty Dog and SONY can have all the characters.

Afeenaninganing, your eternal waiting is now over. –smile- Thanks for the review!

LunarSquirrel, thank you! "Real good" just made my midnight! holds out a bag of dried apricots Thanks for the review!

jaklover123, of course it's a good thing. Whatever makes Keira drive a zoomer in rain in bikini is a good thing. –cough- Anyway, I'm not sure where this story is going to, but I can say that there won't be any Jakxter… I hate that pairing. –shivers- But otherwise the case is open - M/M and F/F can happen - and whatever else can happen, too… Thanks for the review!

maestro: "No! We are slipping out of the habit!"

Lucius: "Whatcha mean, ol' fella?"

maestro: "We will need to have the second next chapter written before posting the next one!"

Lucius: "Shut up, hag, we can write the second next chapter right after this."

Sipuli: "No we won't. Our back is hurting."

Da: "Well there you are right! I guess I should either lay back or then dance like crazy…"

Lucius: "Dance."

maestro: "Lay and sleep."

Sipuli: "Eat?"

maestro: "While laying."

Da: "Whatever… This doesn't work out!"

maestro: "Moron! Who told you to eat yoghurt and muesli upside down!"

Da: "I need a bar of chocolate and a laundry service right now!"

Sipuli: "I need fertilizers!"

Lucius: "I need almonds!"

maestro: "I need a moment of silence, please? Right here."

5. One In Public & One Hidden In A Flowerpot

The streets of Haven were crowded. The sun was shining from the zenith. Rain clouds were slowly sailing away, over the mountains, after giving their all for the city situated in probably the most stupid place for a metropolis – surrounded by mountains, sea and desert, hmm, you can't expect rain to come, eh? Well, blame it on Mar. Oh by the way, at the very moment he was at Uzla's…

The smell was quite pleasant. Something of it reminded him of Sandover.

"Hmm… What is this smell?"

"Oh, it's buranda flower", a girl – Piotta or something – replied, "small pink petals."

"Oh, that." Keira's favourite flower. "What does this buranda stuff do to me?"

"It calms your skin", Piottaorsomething answered, "now we'll let it stay on your face for ten minutes, then I'll get back and take it off. Now you have ten minutes for yourself – you can have a nap if you wish to."

"You're leaving?"

"If you have nothing against it. It's a normal convention."

"Okay, thanks."

"Just call if you wish to have something."

"I will."

Jak opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, decorated with fake grape vines. Peaceful music played, and the buranda-smelling gel on his face felt cool.

And he had thought he would just come and dye his hair.

No, no, no!

Torn had dropped him at Uzla's and after his hair had been dyed and shortened (a little), his goatee neatened and his eye brows plucked, he had been hurled into a divan and given a facial. He had said "no!" for whole body massage and other things the girls had offered him (some weren't that modest or legal), but in the end he consented to have a facial.

It had been over an hour ago since he had been wrapped in coverlets. Laying. Eyes open. Eyes shut. Different girls came in and went out, everybody enthusiastic to treat the Great Mar. None of the girls had been memorised into his mind, except for Kaysheel, a black haired bombshell with a voice seductive enough to make Torn kiss Daxter just to hear another word.

"Forget Ashelin! Kaysheel is –"

Yep, Dark was keen on her, too.

Jak had thanked the precursors for the fact that he had had a thick layer of blankets wrapped around him – otherwise the situation could have turned out to be very embarrassing…

The mild scent of buranda made Jak feel comfortable. It was a scent from home. From the past.

Keira.

From the past.

Keira.

Past!

Keira.

"Face the fact, you've lost her", Dark said sounding bored, "so get over her, and the ginger bitch dressed in leather, and think about all the pleasures the bombshell called Kaysheel could do. She gave you a facial, now it's your turn."

"Dark!" Jak hissed, "that's disgusting."

"Believe me, it's not!"

"How could you know it, eh!"

"Of course I – what are you now -"

"What?"

"- nothing."

"What are you two doing?"

"Nothing."

"Really? That's not your style! You are really driving me nuts!"

But the two voices remained silent until Piottasomeone came back.

The treatment should have cost thirty orbs, but Mar got it for free. Also, an enormous sign had been put at the display window.

MAR GOES HERE

"Don't blush! Don't blush! Don't blush!" Jak repeated in his head. A mob was outside waiting for him… Damn! How could he even get home? Walking? He couldn't highjack a vehicle now in front of the crowd, wouldn't he? He had forgotten to ask Torn if he came to collect him… As soon as Jak stepped out of the door, a bony woman with dark brown hair and glasses rushed to him: "All our readers must be thrilled about the one question floating in the air: why did you return and why did you leave Praxis's daughter behind you?" she pushed a small microphone against Jak's nose.

"Don't you love her?" an old woman shrieked and the crowd started talking.

"Eh –" Jak felt totally confused but suddenly he was rolled over and pushed onto a zoomer.

"The private life of Mar does not belong on news papers", Keira said in a kind tone, "he'll give an official press announcement when he sees himself ready to it."

"The whole city is anticipating to get the answer: why did the great Mar come back? We all know that he left to give Alorah an empty playground without pressures" the bony woman continued, "the answer would –"

"His heir-ness found the year in Spargus a nice vacation – variety is the spice of life! During the year he realised how much he felt Haven was his home and he learned to appreciate this beautiful city even more. The heir was also keen to see the changes Alorah had done and – I can reveal that – he was more than pleasantly surprised." Jak stared at Keira his jaw in the midair. Where was the bitter monster? Who was this spotlight-friendly covergirl – and who was this heir she was talking about! Surely, it couldn't have been Jak, he, himself, no way…

"Well what about the daughter of Praxis? Her residence is still in southern Spargus –"

"That question will be answered when the time is right", Keira answered smiling, "now unfortunately the heir's time is up – lots of things to see and explore and the day ain't long enough. I shall say you goodbye", Keira turned her back, sat before Jak and turned the power on.

"But people are anticipating to –" the woman tried to shout at the floating zoomer.

"Mar will speak soon", Keira smiled and gave the zoomer a gas.

"What the hell was that?" Jak yelled after a while.

"Hands off my waist", Keira snapped, "your heir-ness should not touch me."

"What was that heir-ness stuff and..?" Jak shouted trying to decide how to ride the zoomer without touching Keira.

"Don't fall unless Light is ready to fly! Daxter will kill me if you return bottled in spirits."

"So what was that…?"

"Polishing your halo", the driver snorted, "you're just so great in front of press and people."

"Press?"

"News papers!", Keira snapped again in a frustrated tone, "you see, we have a real news paper now, called Haven News. Not just a magazine to laud the Baron."

"Was that woman -?" Jak found himself uncomfortably leaning back.

"She was a journalist. Her job is to write about the private lives of famous people."

"Famous people?"

"For FlutFlut's sake, you are the Mar. You're the next famous to Alorah. Daxter and Tess are famous, too, as Daxess and Tester are so far-famed. Even Torn has been in Haven News."

"But what was all that b.s.?"

"I said already! Polishing your halo. You can't just go and talk to press like 'I left her, eh' or 'eeh I dunno'. You need nice phrases which are thought over." Keira made a quick turn, almost collided with a private Hell Cat, swore and almost made Jak flew into a now cleaned and flourishing piece of sea trapped inside the city walls.

"But I'm not anything like –" he said surprised by Keira's behaviour.

"People want a Mar who loves the city. A Mar who loves them. Remember this:" Keira said after a while and parked her zoomer on Ottsel's roof, "when you are in public, in front of crowd, in front of press, you are the Mar. You ain't Jak, then."

Jak was confused. He had never thought that Mar and Jak were different persons – he was them both right?

"When asked what-do-the-Great-Mar-think-about-the-city, you must talk only good. When asked about the Baron, you must talk only bad. And so on… Light jokes or sarcasm do the trick. Be polite but not too lame. You must have an answer to everything, and if you don't have an answer, announce that it's not its time yet or some kind crap lika that. Just if you could, let me do the talking now at the beginning – if we happen to be at the same place at the same time, which I doubt. So, let Tess do the talking. Or even Torn. Don't let Daxter open his mouth. Oh, and now go in. Torn and Daxter need to explain you stuff about the new city rules and I need to get my nails done."

"Nails done? You're a mechanic!"

"Yes, I am only a mechanic – oops, and the owner of one of the biggest garages of the city. When you run a big garage with other people as your hired hands, you hardly touch any machines and you must look good as clients and sponsorships do not come for easy", Keira kicked her rainbow coloured zoomer up and hollered with a super nice and hyperüberextra sweet voice: "bye, your heir-ness!"

Again Jak stared after her, the smell of buranda still floating somewhere in his mind.

He had came.

She kicked the door open and threw the keys angrily at the floor, the concrete screeching a little.

He fucking had walked into the town like he owned it.

Oops!

He owned it.

She shook her head and went to her fridge. She weighed the vodka bottle in her mind. To open or not to?

She decided not to. She would not go back to the old just because her old had came back.

That asshole!

She took her shoes off. The concrete was rough, like it always was. She opened a soft drink bottle, lime and wumpa with no added sugar. Fine. Normally she enjoyed the taste, but now she just didn't care.

Lime and wumpa in my ass!

She hit the empty bottle against the table and took another one. Blueberry beverage.

She limped along to her living room, the only other room in her apartment excluding the kitchen. The floor changed into parquetry and her feet cherished the feeling of cold wood.

She drank.

Suddenly she found herself again from the fridge. To open or not to open? She took the vodka bottle and opened the cork.

"If it touches my lips, I'm gone", she said.

She turned the bottle over and let the pure alcohol run into the drain.

Saved.

She went to her bed and peeked underneath it. Another bottle was dragged out. Again, a long moment of thinking. To or not to?

Not to.

Then the top shelf in the kitchen. The one hidden in a flower pot. The drain.

She remembered the other bottles hidden in her house. There were only three left.

She searched them all, and poured them away.

Then she sat on her bed and laughed out of relief.

"I did it!" she screamed, "I'm over him! I'm over drinking! I'm over him!"

She smiled and leaned backwards. The silky coverlet was cool. She pressed her cheek deeper into it and slowly she fell asleep.

The sun began its journey to west.

What was this city?

"You can't highjack a zoomer", had the tattooed ex-commander said, "that's illegal and this time our camp is on the legal side."

He was the damn Mar, he owned the whole city. Thus, all the hoover vehicles, too.

"No", the redhead had preached, "Mar cannot highjack a zoomer. Mar can ask if he can borrow a zoomer and then return it in prima condition. Which ain't likely to happen as I know your driving skills."

He had got a bit angry of that.

"You are a fast driver", Torn had said, "but hmm… let's say… you follow absurd flying lines."

He was sitting on the roof again. On the place where Keira had dropped him off. He had some kind of oil on his face. He wanted desperately to wipe it off, but knew that it would do only harm for his skin.

"It relaxes and eases the pores", had some cosmetician girl said.

Fine. How great.

Frustration.

"About what?" Light asked kind of gently, "you can tell me."

"I won't", Jak snorted, "and just like you wouldn't know already."

"Well, I do. But it eases you if you open up to someone."

"Thanks Light, but no thanks."

"You're welcome. Just talk to me if you wish to."

"Ta", Jak leaned against the brink. The ocean was dark from the area the city walls or the mountains surrounded it, but more faraway the water still glittered of the sunlight.

"Light?"

"Yes?"

"Could we fly to my cliff?"

"Sorry, we can't."

"And why is that? It's not raining?" he persuaded.

"The cliff isn't a safe place anymore. Parts of it collapsed during the rainstorm."

"Oh", Jak sat down his back against the brim, "a pity."

"Yes", Light continued, "I liked that ledge, too."

"Damn Mar, a cliff in the middle of nowhere!" Dark spat out, "the greatest ledge of peripheria! Festivity!"

"It was a nice ledge", Jak said and twirled a lock of his. They were now platinum again. Or not actually platinum. Kind of yellowish gold… Though the colour seemed ecru in the dim lighting.

"Ecru?" he asked Light.

"Like beige."

"And what was that?"

"A very light, a bit greyish brown."

"Ta. It's good to have an encyclopaedia like you in my head."

"Thank you."

"And Dark…"

"Yes, your heir-ness?"

"I sometimes almost like you, too."

"Thanks. I'm flattered", Dark chuckled.

"You're welcome", Jak chuckled back. Maybe, just maybe, maybe he could someday like the creatures in his head…

Lucius: "Whacha say?"

maestro: "This was put together out of three very short chapters. I prefer long chapters."

Sipuli: "Now we would again love all the love letters you can send us. Press 'review the story' or something and that should do the trick. If you hate us, please say it and loud, too!"

Da: "But of course you don't hate us, right?..."