Author's note: Thanks for your cool and insightfulreviews! In this chapter, you'll find out more abouthow Jak got this condition perhaps later you'll find out how the accident happened. Yes peoples I'm not telling how it happenedyet... you'll just have to wait :p:) Oh and I forgot to mention theres a little JxK and JxA in this story just to tease but the main focus is Jak so don't worry it wont turn to mush :)

Now I must study for my exams OO. Enjoy!

Jak was sitting in a more comfortable chair, with padding. Josan had brought him to her office which was in one of the new rebuilt sectors of the city. The trip here had been slow and somewhat painful to Jak. While they rode on a large hover vehicle, the trip up the building was slow. Josan was patient and Jak often cursed himself when he accidentally bumped into something or at one point managed to trip over the edge of a rug.

"I'm glad you've agreed to come today" Josan called opposite from him. Jak guessed there was a office desk between them.

"From reports I've heard it's been difficult for you"

"Talking to Keira haven't you?" Jak sneered

"The point is Jak that you're not in this alone. Your friends are quite concerned about you"

"Friends? I don't have any friends" Jak replied snidely, "I'm not useful to them anymore so why should they care about me?"

"Like it or not they do"

Jak chuckled, "Yeah right, butter me up why don't ya? Just tell me what to do to get me by and let me go home"

"You have to let people help you"

Jak laughed, "That's it? Is this the point of buttering me up, to make me see that I have friends and they can help? Listen everyone has their own lives to live and they don't need me on their to do list to get from one place to another"

"You're confusing your job with your self worth"

"Isn't saving the world my job? If no one told you, and I'm not boasting, the Precursors themselves set me the task of saving this stupid world. That was my purpose, my job and if I can't do that then what's the point of me being here?"

"Jak..."

"You're wasting my time!" Jak stood up, "I'm a survivor, I can get through this myself"

He heard Josan rise from her chair, "Jak sit down"

Jak found himself doing just that. Her tone was like an angry principle, dealing with unruly students. Then Jak remembered she was a school teacher.

"Your life isn't over and it's going to continue. You have two options, you can do this the hard way or the easy way. You can let people help you and you can learn some things to help make up for your loss or you can just leave right now, go back to your home and be an angry and bitter man for the rest of your life! Your choice Jak"

Jak sighed, he knew she was right. In his right mind he couldn't just stop living just because he couldn't see. Life goes on and Jak had to continue as well, maybe not so extreme like before but he could at least be a bit more happier with himself. Being an angry and bitter old guy didn't appeal to him at the moment.

"Alright" he gave in, "I'll go along with this"

"Thank you" Josan's voice was pleased, "Now I'll shall arrange a tutor to help you learn Braille"

"Learn what?" Jak asked confused

"Braille. Its a lettering system that helps blind people to read"

"Is this a joke? If you haven't noticed by now I can't even see"

"It's not read by sight, but by touch"

"Huh?"

"Here" Josan approached him and she touched him on his arm.

With her other hand she held out a piece of paper and then placed it under his finger tips. Jak suddenly felt bumps underneath his fingers. As Josan moved the piece of paper across Jak felt the bumps were in some form of a pattern.

"Once you learn the lettering system you'll be able to read this piece of paper. And when you are practiced enough you can read through Braille books, document and any other form of text that can be read"

Suddenly Jak felt a flutter of hope. Through this he can read things on his own, he's not really a book worm but at least he doesn't have to ask someone to read the news or something like that.

Josan moved the paper away but kept her hand on his arm, "I'll book you in for tomorrow and they'll come around to your apartment around ten. Is that ok with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Daxter would off to work by then" Jak replied

"Good, now I've arrange for someone to pick you up and take you home. We'll meet again on Thursday and we'll have another session. Hopefully not to butt heads but to discuss a few things"

"Are you sure you're not a shrink pretending to be a teacher?"

"As I said Jak, I just help people. I'm not fully qualified in expertise in this field. The war wiped everything and everyone out. All we can do now is get by until the city is restored"

"Who's taking me home?" Jak asked. As much as Jak hated it he could no longer drive but he wasn't walking all the way home with all the staring and people's sniggering.

On cue the creak of the door reached Jak's ears. Jak turned to the noise as boots clumped on the carpet floor. By the noise of the boots the person was light and he could feel that they had authority about them.

"Hey Jak, long time no see" the female voice greeted

Jak was too surprised to pick up the wording as he realized who it was.

"Ashelin?" he asked

"I heard you needed a ride" she said causally as she approached him and touched him gently on his shoulder.

He could feel her delicate hands were firm on his shoulder. He could smell her perfume that was mixed with metal and sweat.

"You had us worried for a while there Jak" Ashelin continued, "I'm glad you're back"

Jak sighed grasping for his cane. He caught it and put it out in front of him. The cane became an extension of himself, without it he couldn't 'see'. He learned the hard way to take it along with him always, even at home. Daxter always forgets to clean up after himself or accidentally misplaced something so Jak couldn't fully trust to walk around his apartment without his cane.

"Lets go" he said before walking forward towards the door

Behind Jak's back Ashelin gave a smile to Josan before walking ahead of Jak to get the door open for him.

"Good bye" Josan called after them as Ashelin closed the door

Ashelin helped Jak into the passenger seat in her cruiser. Jak felt the hard cushions of the seat against his back. He didn't remember them being that hard, then again every time he's been on the vehicle they were doing a mission. He had no time to think about the comfort of these seats. Then Ashelin mounted the driver's side and switched on the engines. The engines roared to life as the cruiser floated higher to the driving level.

The elevated level, the roaring of the engines and the inability to see anything caused Jak to be disorientated. He suddenly went into a small panic attack as the fear of the unknown crept on him.

"Jak" Ashelin's voice called in worry

Her hand pressed firmly on his shoulder.

"Breathe! One, two, three, four. Breathe. Its ok" Ashelin soothed as Jak calmed down

Once the panic attack was over Jak felt embarrassed, "Sorry, I didn't- I mean it wasn't-"

"It's ok" Ashelin said soothingly, "There's nothing to be sorry for. I should be sorry because I should of warned you. We've going to accelerate, hang tight"

Then she pressed the acceleration button and they headed off into traffic. Jak got use to the speed and held on the cruiser's seat sides so he could 'ground' himself and stop himself from having another panic attack. He was surprised at himself, he never had one before and never dreamed of ever getting one. Luckily Ashelin was here, speaking of which...

"Why are you here?" Jak asked

"Taking you home" Ashelin replied

"Why? Don't you have things to do?" Jak asked

"I do and one of them is getting you home" Ashelin replied

"I mean there are more important things to get done"

"You're important Jak"

Jak scoffed.

"Important to me" she said quietly and he felt her hand grasping over the back of this own hand

Jak raised his green eyebrows and blinked before she took her hand away and he did as well.

"I haven't seen you for a couple of weeks and I was getting worried about you" she continued like the touch never happened, "I just wanted to see if you were ok"

"Well I'm fine" Jak said gruffly, "I don't need checking on, I can handle myself"

Ashelin didn't reply as Jak turned away. Jak was sick of people thinking he can't do things himself! It wasn't that long ago when he could function normally. It's been a month or four weeks since his world was plunged into darkness. He didn't go blind straight away, his eyes actually deteriorated over the course of four months. He was fighting it for everything it was worth but his eye sight just got worse.

After the accident he was initially ok, just a few burns from the explosion and a major knockout for a few days. But after he was discharged from hospital his eyesight went bad. Things were becoming harder to see, harder to make out and so it was harder to aim with his gun and he often became a little clumsy.

On a mission with Sig, he almost shot the Wastelander because his bulky figure registered as a large Metal Head to Jak's eyes. Knowing Jak wouldn't purposely shoot him and knowing Jak was having trouble seeing, Sig hauled his ass to a small clinic and the doctor there tested his eyes.

"I'm fine" he'd said stubbornly

"I'm afraid you're not" the doctor replied, "I'm afraid both your retina's have detached"

"What?" Jak asked confused

"Hey we don't speak doctor language" Daxter snapped

"The retina is at the back of the eyeball that picks up light and creates images or sight. If they detach..."

"I go blind" Jak finished softly

Sig rested his hand on his shoulder as a comfort.

"As you've been experiencing you don't go blind straight away but eventually you will"

"Is there anything you can do to fix this?" Sig asked

"I can call an Ophthalmologist to fix your eyes but I wouldn't keep my hopes up. Chances are slim at this point, I just hope your vision isn't too far gone to fix"

"We're here" Ashelin's voice cut through his thoughts

"Oh" Jak blinked his sightless eyes, "Thanks"

The cruiser powered down and hovered to a parking level and Jak turned to get out. Ashelin hopped out and ran to help Jak out of the vehicle. After his own two feet were on the pavement he grabbed for his cane. Ashelin hated to see Jak this way. A great man was reduced to this... groveling around in a visually stimulated world, just because of a freak accident. An accident that came along by chance and seemed that it never ever should've happened.

Jak finally grasped his folded cane. He unfolded it before setting it on the ground. He moved forward finding his way to the apartment entrance.

"Let me help you" Ashelin offered

"I can do it myself" Jak muttered, "Thanks for the lift"

Ashelin backed away as Jak pushed through the door towards the stairs. She saw him, through the glass doors, climb one step at a time before he disappeared in his ascent. She turned away and climbed into her cruiser and continued her job.

Jak finally reached his apartment. He found his keycard and slot if through before entering. The door swished closed behind him and entered the stuffy apartment. Silence met his ears as he shuffled his way through to a window that he remembered. Feeling for the lock, he clicked it open and slid the window pane away to allow fresh city air in. He turned away and headed for his room.

Jak spent most of his days since his blindness here in this room. He talked to no one and he ate and drank very little. People came and saw him but he wouldn't even respond to them. He could feel their pity, their sadness and their hope gone. He was their hope and he failed them all. He just hoped no ultimate evil manic decides that they want to rule everything because he wont be there to get into the nooks and crannies to undermine and defeat them.

Jak sat on his bed as a beam of midday light shone on his face. As expected he didn't even register it but placed his cane against the adjacent wall of his bed before lying down on the soft mattress.

"We're going to take the bandages off. Stay still" the nurse said as Jak laid there

He had been in hospital for three weeks in a padded head rest and told he wasn't allowed to move his head. He hated it, and all he had for company was the hospital staff and the people he came to know and trust in his years in Haven City. He was treated to some audio tapes from some books but Jak wasn't too interested, he didn't like stories much, but he was so bored at times he would listen to them just to kill off time.

Finally this was the big day where he could take the bandages off and see if the operation was a success. This was the day where his life may yet not be over. He had pulled through more narrower escapes and cheat death on many occasions so in a way he was a little confident he could regain his sight.

He could feel all the people he knew around him as the bandages were taken off. A cool damp cloth wiped his closed eyelids before Jak could open his eyes. He blinked a few times to the dim lights but he focused on a far off point in front of him.

"What can you see?" The Ophthalmologist asked carefully

"It's blurry but no shadows" Jak replied

The doctor's expression wasn't too happy, just by the silence Jak could suspect this was too good. Jak suddenly didn't want to know why this wasn't working or why this had happened. He just wanted to get his sight back so he could do what he had always done, what he had always known. He let out a shaky breath. A female hand squeezed his but he didn't know who was holding it.

The silence and staring in the room had caused the doctor to explain what was on his mind.

"I'm afraid the prognosis isn't good. I knew this was likely to happen" he paused before continuing, "The eyes are too far gone to make a proper and perfect repair job. I'm sorry. It's likely that the retina's will detach again at some point and it wont be possible to do the operation again"

Jak's blood ran cold, his throat went dry and he could feel burning tears prickling in his deteriorating eyes. He found himself squeezing the female hand as he gritted his teeth within his closed mouth. His hopes fell and his life was now meaningless. He had no purpose anymore. How can he continue now? He's no use to anyone in this condition. He was an action man, he couldn't bare to sit around and do nothing but now he was going to exactly that.

Then the doctor spoken all his fears aloud for everyone to hear, "There's no easy way to say this but Jak, you will go blind sooner or later. I'm sorry"

"Can't you do something?" he finally spluttered out, "Can't you fix my eyes, replace them or something?"

"I'm sorry. Much technology has been lost in the war. Rebuilding artificial eyes will take a decade, at least, to have that technology back again"

"But-"

"I'm sorry Jak. I've done the best I can..." The doctor said mournfully

Jak swallowed trying to control the overwhelming emotions as reality hit him hard. Everything that has happened to him since coming here to Haven seemed to explode on him at that point. He didn't dare to speak, his voice would've been strained with emotions that he was too proud to express them here. He could feel everyone's stares, he could feel their sympathy and their pity. He didn't want it. He didn't want them to look at him. He didn't want to face them. He just wanted everyone to go away and leave him alone. He hated them, he hated the doctor and he hated everything!

He screwed his eyes closed and hissed, "Go away!"

"Jak..."he heard Keira protest

"Just go away!" he snarled pulling his hand away from the female hand that held his, "Leave me the hell alone!"

Jak didn't notice his voice raised to a defensive shouting tone, or his face was screwed with emotional pain or that everyone was looking at him bewildered. Jak had always reacted to things with determination and took things head on but this time it wasn't the case. This time the proverbial camel's back broke with the final straw.

He could hear everyone quietly leave. Once the door slid shut to his room he let out a sob. He gritted his teeth openly and hot tears quietly ran down his face.

"Why me?" he whispered to the empty space, "Why do these things happen to me?"

Jak woke with a start. He didn't realize he fell asleep. He could smell something burning. He instantly sat up with the urgency and possibility that there was fire in here. Where there is smoke, there's fire he chided to himself before grabbing his cane and moving towards the kitchen.

He entered the kitchen but he felt no heat or flame instead he heard...

"Jak! Hello sleepy head, just making some dinner. Flame grilled chicken" Daxter's voice greeted before he heard a large blow from a fire extinguisher that they kept around the kitchen.

"I think it's ready" Daxter commented

"I'm not hungry" Jak lied. He was actually starving but he would rather eat grass then eat burnt chicken that has carbon dioxide all over it from the fire extinguisher.

"Yeah, seeing all this stuff turns my appetite off too..." Daxter trailed realizing what he had said

"It's ok Daxter" Jak shrugged, "It's just part of everyday conversation to say 'see'"

Jak moved off to the living room.

"Erm... I'll order takeaway" Daxter said instead before dashing off to the phone.

Jak found the couch and sank into it. He sighed as he folded up his cane and set it beside him. He heard Daxter's phone conversation to order pizza before hearing the pattering paws coming towards him.

"So how did it go with Keira?" Daxter asked

"Fine" Jak muttered

"Aw come on! You gotta to have done something!"

"I'm blind Dax! What the hell am I going to do there?" Jak said quite frankly

Daxter didn't reply. Jak wished he could see Daxter's face but by his silence he guessed he was getting rude again.

"Sorry. I've been snappy a lot lately haven't I?"

"Snappy? Ha! Snappy doesn't even begin to cover it!" Daxter exclaimed

"I met this older woman named Josan" Jak began, "Someone is coming over tomorrow to teach me Braille"

"Braille?" Daxter asked, "What's that?"

"Writing that can be read if you touch it"

"Right..."

"Its for blind people" Jak continued

"Well that's good. I think" Daxter muttered

Jak could feel Daxter's nervousness, "Its ok Daxter, I won't yell at you or anything"

Daxter blinked at the blind man, stunned that Jak even could pick up on his feelings, "How did you-?"

"Sorry I've been an ass for the past few weeks"

"Are you psychic or something because I could of sworn you can see again" Daxter quipped

"I know I've been hard to live with for the past few weeks, especially when you're the one bringing the cash home" Jak admitted

"Don't sweat it" Daxter replied, "If this is an apology, then its about freaking time!"

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Oh wow that was quick!" Daxter replied as he jumped from the couch to the door

The door opened to reveal a delivery man. The man expected to be confronted by someone but instead was met by nothingness.

"Em... hello?"

"Down here" a voice called

The delivery man looked down to see an orange fur ball that looked like an over grown rat. His eyes boggled at the creature.

"Here" Daxter gave him the money as the guy stared at him, "What? Do I have a mole on my face or something?"

"Um... uh..." the guy stuttered

Daxter sighed. He took the box of pizza and slapped the money into the guy's hands before pressing the button to close the swish door. The guy was left outside staring into blank space before he registered what had happened. He just got paid by an animal. This city was getting weirder and weirder.

Inside, Daxter turned from the door and approached Jak's position, "Sheesh, you'd think the guy never saw an Ottsel before. I mean I own a bar! Jak! Dinner is served!"

To be continued...

Sooo Jak is facing some issues and sort of repentant from being a grouch. Its early days yet. Lets hope he can pull through erh? So where will Jak go now, can he ever move on with his life?

Please review. I really like to know what you guys out there think!