Chapter 8: In the Light

It had been five long months that Jak had been held captive by the Dark Precursors. Physically, he was much stronger than before and his super abilities had been heightened, but mentally he had been weakened. The Dark Ones had succeeded where Baron Praxis had failed - breaking his spirit.

Jak thought little of his friends and past now. He was consumed by his darker side, and rarely felt emotions other than anger, pain, and fear.

Lately, he had heard talk of plans involving infiltration of Haven, and something about the Strip Mine's hidden underground dark eco supply. The broken Jak accepted that he was going to be used as their tool, as he no longer had any will for good or evil anymore.

One day, one of them came to Jak's eco pen. It came in its original form, for the first time. It had an elf-like figure and seemed to be made up of some kind of grey/black liquid substance. The Dark Precursor was slender and a threatening height of 6 feet.

Floating just above the floor, it spoke to him in a loud, eerie voice, "You, Descendant of Mar," (That was what they called him instead of Jak.), "will depart for the City today. You will use your status to gain access to the Mines and use the drill to dig deep to unveil gaseous dark eco. Dispatch of any who resist."

After the ominous Dark One finished giving its commands, Jak's eco cage was switched off. He was then escorted to the underground beginning of the sewers.

Jak was free, but he did not comprehend it. He feared them too much to disobey, and his dark side refused Jak any thought of escape.

Several hours later, he was at the sewer entrance gate to Haven City's Industrial Sector. Recognizing Jak, the automated door opened to let him through. It was broad daylight above ground and the young elf went sunblind for a few moments. After he regained his sight he shielded his eyes with his forearm and headed towards the Port. From the Port, he could use the sky car to get to the Strip Mine. He performed as if programmed, like a robot, no conscience to tell him to turn around and find his friends, no stray thoughts to escape.

Walking along the streets of the city for a few minutes, Jak began to see numerous posters of himself on the walls of buildings, but he did not stop. He did not care. They weren't the old 'Wanted' posters, but 'Missing' posters. Ignoring them, he continued on his way and it wasn't long before the citizens began to notice him and whisper amongst themselves. Jak quickened his pace, his fear of failure and the punishment that follows stayed foremost in his mind.

"Jak has been found! He's in the city!" A Freedom League Guard shouted down the hallways of the Palace.

A very pregnant Keira rushed out and stopped the guard. "Jak? Where!?" The former mechanic yelled, excited.

"He's headed towards the Port! I have to notify the Gen-"

"I've already heard!" Torn shouted, rounding the corner, "Get a carrier outside the Palace now," Torn ordered the guard.

"Yes, Sir," the guard said and ran ahead.

"C'mon Keira, let's go bring our boy back."

As they were boarding the blue FL carrier, they realized they had forgotten to tell Daxter; but there he was, scurrying outside towards them.

"Thanks for waiting!" The ottsel said derisively.

In the carrier, the three were all chattering, (well mostly Keira and Daxter), when a message came in over the pilots radio.

":static:...doesn't seem to know what he's doing...confused..."

Everyone looked around at each other quizzically. What was going on?

Down at the Port, a block away from the Naughty Ottsel, Jak was fast becoming enraged by the guards trying to stop him. Torn's carrier landed nearby where several guards were trying to calm Jak down, to no avail.

"Maybe he just needs to see you," Torn said to Keira as he helped her hobble out of the vehicle.

The moment she saw him, her breath caught in her throat. He was in his Dark form looking deathly white and horrifying.

"Jak..." she said softly to herself, taking a few steps closer to where he was brawling with the guards. Torn stopped her, fearing Jak no longer had control over his dark counterpart and would hurt her.

Unexpectedly, the monster stopped its attack and Dark Jak faded away. He looked at Keira, who was now about six yards away from him, and felt warm memories run through his brain like a marathon. Dizziness took over him as his dark eco levels began to drop. He took a few faltering steps towards Torn, Keira and Daxter before he dropped to the ground with a thud.

Not able to stand it any longer, Keira ran to her lost love, holding her stomach tenderly. She knelt down beside him, silently wishing him to wake up as if nothing ever happened. As she ran hand over his cheek she made a promise to herself that she would never let him go again.

Jak was placed in the Palace's infirmary, and under Samos's care, he seemed to be on the mend. The Sage's explanation for Jak's odd and sudden collapse was withdrawal from dark eco; his body was addicted to it as if it were a drug.

The next day Jak was up and seemingly healthy. Opposite of what he had been the previous day; he was quiet friendly and back to his normal personality. He was restricted to stay in bed for precautions, and had to explain what little he could about what happened to him several times. Besides that everything appeared to be fine. The only odd thing was that Jak had yet to talk or even see Keira. He seemed not to have noticed that she was pregnant the day before. Yet still he asked for her incessantly.

Finally, the Green Sage broke down and went to fetch Keira. He had wanted to make sure Jak was mentally stable before he let his daughter see him.

On the way to the infirmary, Keira thought of ways to tell Jak about the surprise she had learned of in his long absence. But when she reached the door, every thought escaped her mind. She poked her head through the doorway, keeping her belly out of sight. There he was, sitting upright in bed, waiting for her with a boyish grin.

"Hey," he said anxious for her to come in.

"Hi," Keira replied, choosing this moment to reveal herself.

Jak's completely shocked expression was nothing short of hilarious. His mouth hung slightly ajar and his eyes were fixed on her pregnant belly. His wide eyes followed Keira as she walked towards him and sat at the foot of his bed. Still speechless, Jak slowly pointed to himself and Keira nodded.

"I'm going to be-?" he said, smiling.

"A father," she said, finishing his sentence and returning the smile with relief.

Jak noticed her relief and edging towards her, took her face in his hands. "This is the best day of my life," he said and they leaned in and kissed like they hadn't kissed in five months.

The rest of the day the two spent together. Jak was truly ecstatic of the idea of being a father, along with being a little scared. The young elf couldn't get enough of laying his head on Keira's stomach and listening with his long ears to the soft heartbeat of his unborn child.

Later that evening, while Jak slept calmly on her swollen belly, Keira took to examining him for herself. When she had walked in the first thing she had noticed were his eyes. They had lost the glow that had been regained after his hellish prison days. They were now a cloudy blue-grey color, like the ocean after a storm.

Now, as Keira stroked his still-muscular forearm she felt and saw the countless scars of where syringes filled with dark eco had been injected. They were a strange purplish color rather than pink, and stood out against his once bronze and now pale skin tone. However, they were finally together again, and that was all that mattered at the moment.

Not getting the answers he both needed and wanted from the returned Jak, Torn was getting frustrated. He had questioned him repeatedly, but for the most part, Jak said he couldn't remember. All Jak could tell him was about the complete darkness he had endured. Strangely, he didn't even remember that he had contacted the Palace months before. Even stranger was the feeling that overcame Torn when he looked into Jak's eyes.