Name of the story is actually Forced Confessions/Dirty Laundry, but it seems like the slash-symbol can't be used in the title.

Characters and venues belong to Naughty Dog.

Timing takes place during Jak II. Not compatible with the official time- and storyline.

Rated T for language and most mildly depicted sexual action.

Each and every review is welcome in spite of is it praising or criticizing:)

Forced Confessions

On the coast of a land whose name was long lost forgotten lay a rather unpicturesque city bathing in the light of two setting suns, one scorching and golden, the other eerie and green. A cloud of smog surrounding the town revealed the existence of advanced technology and the eminent and seemingly thick walls bid the beholder bye-bye from afar. The city, ironically called Haven, was not a peaceful place with its never-ending civil wars and insurrections. The towering walls were once built to protect the people of Haven from monstrous creatures of the Wastelands but now their most important mission was to prevent the escape of the public frightened by the ever so commonplace acts of violence. The weight and the future of this industrial and restless city lay on the shoulders of one man, and one man only…

The man in question wrinkled his tattooed forehead and reached out his hand for yet another map.

Torn was intelligent enough to know that the future of Haven was not solely in his hands – if it was in his hands at all – but that didn't stop him from feeling that way. As the commander of the rebellion he had more responsibility than he sometimes thought he deserved. The demanding lifestyle ('job' would have been an understatement) had taken its toll: Torn looked older than he was. Sending men on so-called suicide missions was not easy as wasn't surviving the every day life in the city while being perpetually hunted by the forces of Krimzon Guards.

The head of the Underground was valuable, and aching.

Torn stared at the absolutely precise maps. Why? He didn't remember it himself.

Oh yes. The cargo to the ammo dump.

He hated paper work so much, but knew that a mission without a strategy was most likely to end up a disaster. So, he stared at his maps. Rearranged them. Flipped them one-eighty degrees and drew invisible lines with his fingers. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with a foolproof plan. So, he continued staring… He hardly believed in intuition or momentary inspiration, he believed that a thought would come up if you thought hard enough. It just was that lately his thoughts hadn't been interested in ammo dumps, suicide missions nor eavesdropping on Baron.

He looked up as he heard the outermost door slide open. He lowered his hand to his six-shooter as he always did, just in case the visitor was someone who wasn't supposed to be there. The second door slid open.

"Torn", said a green-and-blonde-haired faery before falling flat on the floor.

"Jak?" Torn hollered and jumped over his desk. He rushed to the fallen faery and turned him over. The first thing he noticed in horror he didn't let show was a trail of blood leading to the outer door. The second was the vacant look in the faery's eyes.

"Torn, I did it", the bloody faery said in a delirious tone, "I, I-i blew those Hell Cats away."

"It looks like they blew you away", Torn murmured and lifted Jak in his arms.

"I did it", Jak repeated as Torn lay him down on the desk, "those Hell Cats are not taking anyone down no more."

"That's great", Torn said trying to find an uplifting tone while undressing the faery in order to find the bleeding places.

Yeah, really great. Hell how darn great…

Torn swore aloud. A major and wildly bleeding wound in Jak's thigh ran deep into the femoral artery.

"What is it?"

"Nothing", Torn answered quickly and rushed to the closet. He dragged out a rather worn-out medication pack, shoved it open and started wrapping gauze around the faery's leg.

"Where is Daxter? I did it, I mean, I did it. What's the next mission? That's never gonna help, tattoo man."

Torn lifted his face to look at Jak. The last sentence had not sounded like Jak at all, just as if his voice had been changed for six words.

"What is it? Is it bad?" Jak asked back in his normal voice, "I don't think they got me so bad, they tried to shoot me, but I blew them off."

Then, just after the last word Jak's face got paler and something dark flashed in his eyes: "tattoo man, yeah that's right, listen to me: where's the eco ore?"

"Who are you?" Torn asked though he was sure he knew already.

"What? Me, Jak? Don't you remember?"

Then again the paler one answered: "I'm the one who's gonna save this body. The dark eco ore, now!"

Torn kept on binding the bleeding wound, "why?"

"'Cause that wrapping and lapping is no use, damnit! See, I'm the so-called Dark Jak. I don't bleed, so release me! This so-called normal Jak is not concentrated enough to do it. Damnit, tattoo head, quick!"

Torn, still not sure about how good the idea was, leaped to the closet again and threw Jak a sealed bag.

"Oh, is this the next mission?" the so-called normal Jak asked, opened the bag and thrust his hand in. Suddenly his body was surrounded by purple flashes and then a white-skinned and white-haired version of Jak was sitting on the bloodstained maps. "Thanks, tattoo head, a wise move. You know, all the gauze and gaffa in Haven wouldn't have helped at all. I know, it's my leg, too."

Torn stared into the pitch-black eyes. "You stay right where you are."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to go anywhere else", Dark Jak said with a touch of irony, "the dark eco ore is here, without that I'd run out of energy. Of course I could take the bag, go downtown, rape a few pedestrians and come up smelling like a rose, but you wouldn't let me, right?"

"Right."

"But anyway, tell me", Dark Jak said and played with a little eco crystal, "how bad is your knowing of faery biology?"

Torn leaned at a wall, his hand still comfortably close to his six-shooter. "I'm educated, if that's where you coming at."

"Educated? In Krimzon Guards, huh? Well, they're keener on making blood seep than making it stop", Dark Jak laughed. The laughter didn't sound especially sinister or creepy, but nevertheless it sent shivers up and down Torn's spine. "Didn't you know that that wound in thigh was fatal?"

"Yes."

"Well why the hell did you play with that silly petty gauze roll, then?"

Torn remained silent, then shrugged under the pressure of those wholly black eyeballs.

Those eyes…

"That's what to do", he said finally, "when something's impossible you still give it your best try."

Dark Jak tore the fabric from around his white-skinned leg and showed the big purple wound. "See, I told you I don't bleed. That's 'cause I've no blood to run out." A tiny purple lightning zapped from one side of the unnatural lesion to the other.

Torn had been quite interested about Jak's past, yet hadn't found a way to ask the faery himself. He had heard miscellaneous bits here and there (he hadn't listened in, ahem, he wasn't that kind of a person, ahem) and he had connected the dots himself. So far he knew, that Jak and that orange public nuisance (who by the way was at the moment on a mission in the Palace) had come from a place called Sandover, which sounded familiar to Torn but he didn't know where he had heard it before. Jak had been captured by KGs and spent some time in jail. Daxter had freed him (Mar know how!) and they had met Kor and saved the mysterious kid. There was something between Jak and dark eco, even Kor had told Torn that he keep Jak away from that particular eco if possible. He had also heard that there was another Jak inside the Jak he saw, a sinister and dark Jak, a killing machine, although Torn didn't know how much to believe.

Now Torn couldn't help but believe in the sinister and dark Jak.

"Exciting." He said unenthusiastically to cut the silence short. The void-like stare gave him creeps, but he didn't want to turn away his own eyes.

Dark Jak snarled. He took a dark eco crystal from the bag and placed it between his teeth. Torn shivered by the horrible sound of a crunching crystal.

"So, tell me", Dark Jak said between two bites, "why do you hate that guy that much?" He pointed at the poster of Erol. The rebels used it as a dartboard and someone had painted a red cross across his face.

"Him?" Torn shrugged again, "we don't get along."

"Oh, is that all?" Dark Jak's eyes seemed to drill into Torn's medulla.

"Yep."

"Don't lie", Dark Jak smirked.

Torn crossed his arms over his chest. "Why are you so willing to know about him?"

Now the white creature shrugged, "it's like his fault that I exist. And, I'm a curious person, you know." He took another small crystal from the bag and chewed it. Then he suddenly sighed. "Do you have any idea of how frustrating it is to live inside someone else's head? To see life through someone else's orbs? You see, I make no decisions. I give Jak advice ev'ry now and then but does he listen to me?" Dark Jak laughed again, "no. And only times I am freed are the moments when Jak is about to turn into a pile of sanguinary glop. Then, he lets me out due to my supreme dark powers, but I never get to do anything fun whilst I'm so caught up in the ongoing onslaught…" Dark Jak shrugged again and smiled, showing his sharp fangs, "though slaughtering people is fun."

Torn stayed quiet. A little part of him felt some sort of twisted pity for Dark Jak but mostly the creature made him sick.

Those eyes… And those – no.

"You don't talk much?" Dark Jak asked in a light tone while playing with a new crystal, "why's that?"

Torn sat on one of the bunks. "I guess I'm not that chitty-chatty type."

"Yeah, right. Just like Jak, you noticed? Sometimes I start to believe he is mute, and hey I do live inside his head, man."

Torn felt a bit frustrated. How long had it been? Less than quarter an hour? And how long would he have to listen to this alleged killing machine? Whole evening? Whole night?

It's gonna be a long long night…

"C'mon", Dark Jak hollered, "for once I can actually talk to someone else than the mister heroic renegade fake-blond, and what? Yeah, what? I end up engaged in a one-sided conversation with someone whose eloquence is worse than that orange rodent's personal hygiene. And I can't even say that life's a bitch 'cause bitches please me."

Torn almost chuckled for that, but succeeded in keeping his poker face.

"Aren't these pretty expensive?" Dark Jak said and took another eco pebble, "worth about ten of your men's lives? 'Cause this is good stuff, I've never had dark eco ore this pure and tasty. Why you wasting these on me? Not that I'd complain."

"Jak's one of my best", Torn said.

"Man, you can do better. C'mon, say it. Jak is the best."

"Well, yeah. He's the best."

Dark Jak smiled. "All thanks to me, thank you my beloved ones", he said in a mock pageant queen voice, waving his hand in the air for imaginary crowd, "I know you all luuuv me, thank you, thank you, oh would you like an autograph?"

Torn almost cracked a tiny smile.

"But to return to the original topic", Dark Jak said back in his normal, a bit wheezy voice, "what is between you and Erol?"

Torn groaned. "Not again."

"See, he hates you so so so much. It must be something personal."

"Well, I'm the commander of the revolt. That's a good reason for him to hate me."

"That's nothing personal."

"Possibly it isn't."

Dark Jak picked at his teeth with one of his long claws and then said: "Believe me, I had a most marvellous chance to listen to him for hours during me and Jak's time as his guinea pig and he doesn't hate the rebellion or The Shadow as much as he talks about his hate on you."

"His hate for rebellion must culminate on me."

"Okay, don't answer then", Dark Jak said and threw his hands in the air, "I just know that you are lying. Perhaps I shall ask him."

Now Torn chuckled sarcastically. "When are you gonna do that?"

"Right now", Dark Jak took the bag and bounced to his feet. Torn jumped up from the bunk and leaped in front of him.

"You're not going anywhere!" he said pointing his gun at the dark eco mutant.

"But daddy, I need no babysitter", Dark Jak mocked, "I'm a big devil, I can handle myself."

"Sit down", Torn hissed from between his teeth.

"Oh, you're boring. Where's your rebel DNA? Your pirate spirit?" Dark Jak then dropped on his knees and continued mocking, "you minatory son of a bitch, where is your heart? You'd break mine if I had one."

"Not funny. Get up and sit down."

"What if I sit down here on the floor?"

"Well that's fine."

"Okay", Dark Jak said and sat on the table instead of the table, "put the gun down, man, you ain't gonna shoot me."

"Try me."

"C'mon, you wouldn't shoot someone who has just cost you a bag of eco ore."

Torn lowered his weapon. "Yes, I would."

"Okay, I believe you. Sorry for that incident", Dark Jak cracked his neck, "you can sit down, too, you know."

"I prefer not to."

"It's all the same. That's your ass", Dark Jak opened the bag of ore again and started chewing, "why is this subject Erol so inflammable for you?"

"Why is tautology so overused for you?"

"Who knows. Anyway –"

"We'll not talk about it!"

"Are you showing emotions? Torn, aren't you an iceberg?"

Torn swore and pointed the gun once again towards Dark Jak. "Keep your maw shut, okay?"

"Then I couldn't eat these crystals and Jak would bleed dead. I know I have dark powers enough to go 'round but I still can't digest through my skin –"

"You know what I meant!"

"Okay okay, fine. Relax, man, you're like a metal head with a headache. You know, I think this work is too oppressive for you. Perhaps you need to change career –"

Torn had had enough. "SHUT UP YOU –, YOU –"

"You're angry. How fascinating."

Torn pointed his weapon at Dark Jak, but then lowered it and sat back to the bunk. "Why me?" he asked from particularly no-one.

They stayed quiet for a long time, the other resting his head on his hands and the other eating a crystal or two sometimes. Then, finally, Torn spoke:

"How long will it take for… For you to go away?"

"Do you want me to go away?" then after a short silence Dark Jak continued, "you can be honest. I know you want me to go away. I'm an irritating freako with an attitude issue and I give people creeps… And it will take at least this night 'til I can bring Jak back. Look", he stood up to show Torn his thigh, "the wound has healed somewhat a bit already."

Again they sat in silence.

Dark Jak sighed. "How do you have the strength to do this?"

"What?" Torn asked.

"This… work. Underground stuff. Taking care of other people. I think it's oppressing and I ain't doing it."

Torn shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes it is hard."

"I guess I shouldn't say this", a smirk danced on Dark Jak's face, "'cause he'd never say it, but Jak thinks you're doing great job."

"What?"

"Jak thinks you're doing good job, though… Well, yeah."

"Though what?"

"I'll leave it unsaid."

"No no, just say it."

"Ah ah, I won't."

"Why not?"

"Fine!" Dark Jak jumped on his feet, "you'll tell me what I want to know and I tell you what you want to know. A deal?" he asked holding out his hand towards Torn's direction while standing on the table. "Don't worry, though Jak normally can see through my eyes he's fast asleep or about unconscious now. And I won't tell him a thing – and even if I did, would he believe me?"

Torn thought about it for a moment but finally his desire to know more about this young and withdrawn faery man won his own insecurities. "Fine." He clasped hands with Dark Jak and put away his six-shooter.

"Cool, man", Dark Jak sat again and Torn sat back to the bunk, "my turn first. So, tell me the truth now, why do you and Erol hate each other so much?"

"I knew you'd ask that", Torn said with half a smile.

"I didn't force you to make a deal with me."

"Yeah, you just had kept on asking 'til I had gotten frustrated enough to slip the answer."

"Yeah", Dark Jak put on his most innocent face, "but I didn't force you."

"Fine… Me and Erol…" Torn stuttered, "we haven't always hated each other."

"Okay, how nice, please go on."

"Don't hurry me! Anyway, I and Erol, we were in KGs at the same time. He's a bit younger than me, but I had gotten into KGs later. There is this training that lasts for six to nine years."

"So you were in the training together?"

"At the same time, yes."

"How old were you?"

"Hm…" Torn scratched his shoulder, "I started when I was twelve or something but Erol's like two years younger than me."

"You look much older."

"Well thanks a lot."

"I don't think it's a bad thing at all."

"Anyway, Erol and I shared the room from the beginning. And we were the best. We both completed the training in just five years which is like the record or something."

"You're a KG record holder?" Dark Jak laughed, "and fight against them? I guess they've erased your name, though."

"Probably", Torn nodded, "then, I and Erol, we went to same battalion."

"You mean one side of the city?"

"Kind of. Erol and me, we were at first there on the fields."

"You mean where they grow stuff? Near the bazaar?"

"Yes. Then we went to bazaar, and then… Well, we worked about everywhere. Except for the slums which is a good thing. Otherwise Erol would have probably caught us if he knew the slums like I do."

"You're from here?"

"I'm a slum kid."

"And he's?"

Torn snorted. "He's an upper class pup."

"Can believe that of him. Did you serve in Krimzon Guards together all this time?"

"Yes."

"How can you both progress and get promoted so smoothly together?"

Torn scratched his shoulder again, "well… It was… We got along well and helped each other. There were times when I learned something faster than Erol and other way around but then we just faked it."

"Fake it 'til the other one makes it?"

Torn nodded. "Well said."

"So, you were friends?" Dark Jak grilled.

"Yes."

"Tell me", Dark Jak leaned forward, "how good friends?"

"Oh well… Best friends", there was some melancholy in Torn's voice which sounded odd on him.

"Okay, so you were the best friends for years. Why do you hate each other these days?"

Torn chuckled. "I'm a traitor, what else could he do than hate me?"

"As example join you."

"No", Torn chuckled again, "KG is the life of Erol. I sincerely doubt that there is nothing underneath the Krimzon Guard Erol anymore."

"Sounds like most wonderful person", Dark Jak leaned back again and took another crystal, "How could you get along with him? Was he such an ass-kisser as nowadays?"

"No. Well, yeah. He's always been a bit of an apple polisher."

"And who knows somehow", Dark Jak trolled and clawed little bits off of an eco pebble, "all the other bits have fallen en route."

Torn nodded in agreement. And when the white faery with purple holes all over his body stayed quiet for a moment he started: "So, now it's my turn?"

"Ah ah", Dark Jak denied, "I'm not finished yet. Just thinking. Now listen, isn't this almost eldritch? People in the streets actually call this civil war sometimes Tornerol. It is supposed that the second you see each other you cut each other's throats. And when you talk about Erol as an individual you don't seem to hate him at all. There is even this melancholic note in your voice – which in your case is spectacular. Are you sure you hate Erol? Or do you hate something else?"

Dear Mar can I back out of this deal…?

Torn stayed silent for a while. He didn't want to tell anything else for the dark faery. Torn was not an open person, he kept his personal thoughts to himself and sometimes he felt that even he hid something from himself. But on the other hand telling all these harmless things to this awkward creature in this awkward situation was kind of alleviating. "Do I need to answer that?" he asked without really pleading.

"You do."

Torn sighed, "well, the thing is I don't hate Erol. Or at least the Erol I knew. I may hate his deeds or his principals or myself at times, but yeah, you're right, I don't necessarily hate him."

"Don't you think it is weird that this base of the Underground has been so safe although it is more of a public secret than a secret secret?"

Public secret?

"Public secret?"

"Torn, please!" Dark Jak mockingly grabbed his own head between his hands, "I thought you were clever, man. You have your symbol painted on the door. And yes, ev'rybody knows whence to find you. Don't you think it is some sort of a miracle that KGs never come to this alley?"

"What's your point?"

"Erol is a KG commander. Right. KGs never come here. Right. Are you sure Erol hates you all that much?"

Torn cackled. "Are you saying that Erol would have anything preventing him from destroying the Underground?"

"Just wishful thinking, perhaps", Dark Jak cracked his knuckles, "but what I know is that you're still not telling me the whole story. I can read only Jak's thoughts, but I know when someone's lying or hiding something. You'll just develop those skills when you're not the one who's been talked to."

"When is it my turn to ask?"

"As soon as you tell the truth. I think I know what is it so I'll ask more straightforwardly: how close were you and Erol, if you know what I mean?"

"I'm not gonna answer", Torn stood up.

"No!" Dark Jak roared and also stood up, "answer. Then I'll tell you anything you want."

Torn noticed that unlike Jak, this dark alter-ego was almost taller than him.

"Fine", he hissed, "but if anything – anything! – of this gets to Jak's ears…"

"What?"

"I don't know. I'll rip them off", Torn sat back to the bunk, "so, yes. I know where you getting at and yes, you're right."

"So you and Erol slept together?"

Torn's eyes wandered around the walls until they stopped on the pitch-black orbs. "Yes."

Dark Jak jumped onto the table again. "WOHOO! That was the climax of the evening!"

"Happy now?" Torn asked moodily. He felt like he was naked. Like an ever so secret part of him had been – ironically – torn out and spread on streets for the public to see. At the same time, he felt relieved.

"Don't worry", Dark Jak smiled and sat again, "I'm not judging you or anything. Whew, how hard it was to get that out of you, man? I'm done with you now, ask me anything!"

Torn had so he wanted to know but suddenly he only had questions he didn't dare to ask. "Erm… I don't know."

"C'mon!"

"Okay, well… Do I say 'well' all the time?"

"Well you well do well. But well I don't think it well matters."

"Okay, well… Well well well", Torn realised he was scratching his shoulder again and stopped it. "What were you about to say earlier? When you left it unsaid?"

"Oh", Dark Jak was looking at some of the maps, "Jak thinks you're doing good job, but he doesn't know what to think about you."

"How come?"

"You're wholly emotionless on the outside. Like a sociopath."

"Thanks."

"But you are!" Dark Jak poked Torn with the blunt side of one of his claws. "When was the last time you smiled, yelled, showed grief or had a conversation with Jak or any of your men?"

Torn was sure he had done that many times, he just didn't remember when the last time had been…

"Jak's passive aggressive", Dark Jak continued, "you're passive aggressive –"

"I'm not passive aggressive!" Torn cut in.

"Oh please! Jak doesn't know what to think about you. Or should I say he does know what to think about you but doesn't know you."

Torn lifted his eyebrows. "Does Jak wish to know me?"

"Of course not. Nobody wants to know you", Dark Jak said with a straight face and ate a crystal, "of course he does. He just doesn't know how to, and his stupid passive aggressive pride gets in the way. Anything else you'd like to ask?"

"Well…" again Torn found it hard to come up with a question. "What does Jak think about you? He doesn't seem to like you that much."

The fair-haired faery sighed. "Jak hates me. Mostly for the things I don't or didn't do, but also for just being there. I can't complain. If I suddenly got a bad ass asshole to live in my head, to see my secret thoughts and to laugh at them, I wouldn't be on cloud nine for that."

"What are those things he blames you for that you don't or didn't do?"

"Mostly it's the pain. Dark eco causes pain. I'm a pain in the ass, aren't I?" Dark Jak joked but then sobered, "but yeah. Jak aches all the time and there's nothing he – or me – could do to palliate it. So, he takes it out on me. And Jak's under lots of pressure and stress anyway. He's in a completely different world, man! I've never been to this what-is-it Sandover but the images in Jak's head make it seem like a true paradise. Jak's lost his family or what was a family for him and all he has is Daxter who in the past wasn't furry, orange nor one foot tall to begin with. Yeah, Daxter used to be a normal faery."

That was new to Torn. He had wondered how that pesky rodent had learned to speak but he had never assumed that Daxter actually was a bygone faery.

"Jak's quite confused", Dark Jak, "and to be honest, I'm no help", he sighed again, this time with genuine sadness. "I'm hated ev'ryday by someone from whom I shall search acceptance. That is just so… I dunno… Heavy. Hurtful. Especially when I can't even point a finger and go 'no-no, your wrath has no cause'" Dark Jak sighed again and stared at the floor.

Torn did something that surprised him himself. He leaned forward and placed his hand on the creature's naked knee. He was surprised by how warm Dark Jak was, almost hot.

"You look icy cold but you're warm to touch", he said with a smirk.

Dark Jak turned to look at him. Then he looked at the hand before turning his eyes back to Torn's face. "I'm shocked at you, Torn", he said with a smirk.

The red-headed faery laughed a bit sheepishly and took his hand back.

"Torn", Dark Jak said, "come here. I've got to tell you a little secret."

"Do I wanna hear it?"

"I betcha!" Dark Jak smiled, "though Jak's gonna kill me for this."

"Well, perhaps we'll never let him know."

"As long as it's not me who told you this you can do whatever you want with the info", Dark Jak chuckled, "now come here."

Torn shook his head and moved to the table. "So, what is this top secret arcanum?"

"Lean closer."

Torn realised that something was touching his ear but it took him a while to realise that it was a tongue. He jumped up immediately. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

There was an impish look all over Dark Jak's face. He took the bag of eco ore and poured all the remaining crystals into his mouth. He chewed them and rose up. He stood before the commander and dropped the blue jacket to the floor. "I'll do whatever you want me to."

Torn didn't want to look at the almost naked faery but couldn't help but to.

Those eyes… And all… …those other thingies…

All the men were out on missions. No-one would come. No-one would be there to see them. Dark Jak pushed Torn against the wall.

"Oh no!" he moaned as Dark Jak started licking his neck. "Oh no…" his breathing was tightening and he could feel the heat of the white mutant all over his body. The sparkling dark eco made the whole experience almost exotic and damn Dark Jak knew what to do. Torn closed his eyes.

No-one to see them.

Finally Torn surrendered and turned his face against the white one.

"Oh yes."