Hey! I haven't updated for, like, a week! Sorry, but school's been really hectic and my track coach is trying to whip me into shape, so I'm beat! Any ways, I just checked my email and finally read some of the replies I got and I wanted to say thanks to you guys! This story is coming to a close (I think) , but I have a whole 'nother story in my head branching off from this one, plus one about Torn's past and some in other categories. Ok, I'll quit talking now.

Disclaimer: same as all the other chapters

Mr. Brightside

Chapter 9

This is Where a Clever Title Goes

"Kiera, are you sure you're alright?"

She smiled down at her friend.

"Yes, Tess, I'm fine, what about you? You got turned into an ottsel!"

The now furry girl shrugged her small shoulders and smiled.

"Well, it's sorta weird, I guess. At least I get to be closer to Daxter now," she shot a glance at her hero, who was currently partaking in a drinking contest between Sig, Pecker, and Himself, and losing. The she-ottsel looked back at Kiera, a stern look on her face.

"Quit trying to change the subject!"

Kiera sighed, her mind replaying the events of that evening.

/fl/

As it turns out, the reason Tess, Sig, and the others had come to meet her and Torn was that the precursors were getting ready to leave. The walk back to the port was spent with Torn retelling the events of their mission to Sig, who wanted to here every gory detail. When he got to the part where Kiera killed her metal head, he paused.

"Then, one of the suckers rounded on Kiera. She didn't miss a beat, picking up a pipe on the ground and smacking it when it opened up its mouth, which broke its jaw. Then she jammed a pipe in its throat and severed its spinal cord."

Was it just her, or had there been a small glimmer of pride in his icy eyes? The others looked surprised and Tess had squeezed her shoulder and grinned at her proudly.

"Wait a second, Kiera killed a metal head? What is wrong with this picture?" This comment came from Ashelin, who was still P.O.'d about the whole, hand-shoulder ordeal.

"Yes, I killed a metal head,"retorted a ruffled looking mechanic. Mar, did they think she was that helpless?

This shut Ashelin up, but sparked another question.

"Torn, why was she forced to defend herself? Wasn't that your job?" said Jak angrily. He knew he should've went with her!

Before Torn could answer, he was interrupted.

"It is possible for me to take care of myself you know, I don't always need a body guard!"

Jak clamped his mouth shut too, afraid of the aqua-haired girl's sharp tongue.

The rest of the was walked in silence, except when Tess asked about the skull gem. They got to the transporter taking them to Spargus a few minutes later. The ride over was uneventful and Kiera found herself bored to the point of trying to guess what the other's pj's looked like.

(AN: I do this when my walkman runs outta juice on the way to track meets, try it, you get some funny results!)

They arrived at the area and entered to find the precursors ready to take off. The fuzzy creators gave some spiel about Jak's destiny, but she was only half listening; she kept getting distracting by the lava flowing under them. She snapped back to reality just in time to see Daxter wish for a pair of pants. She smiled inwardly. He'd always complain about missing pants, that had to have made him happy. Then Tess commented on how cool they'd and how she wished she had a pair just like them. The next thing she saw, Tess was now 2 feet tall and fuzzy.

The precursors were talking to Jak now.

"Call me by the name my father gave me, Mar," he told them.

"Wait, you're Mar? The Mar?" Ashelin commented.

Interesting. When you said, 'Oh my Mar' you were really talking about Jak. There'd be many a joke from this one.

Jak was getting ready to leave with the precursors. He was saying goodbye to everyone. He didn't even look at her. Her heart sunk and she could feel tears pricking her eyes. He didn't even say goodbye...

They left in a flash of light to explore the universe, leaving them all staring at the sky.

Then she heard his voice. He hadn't left! She felt her spirits lift immensely. Despite her anger at him, everyone needed him, she needed him...

/ef/

They'd all came back to Haven to find a heavy rain drenching the city. Even so, parties had sprang up all over because of the official end of the war. Jak and Ashelin had headed out to join everyone in getting drunk and dancing the night away. The others just wanted a quiet dinner to celebrate tonight, so they headed back to the Naughty Ottsel.

Torn had said he'd needed to check up on things at HQ and would be back later. Between the rest of them, they made a large meal consisting of roast yakkow, potatoes, rolls, beans, and rice, among other things. They'd been talking quietly until Daxter and Pecker had started arguing again, about something dumb, no doubt.

"Tess, I swear I'm alright! I'm just a little tired is all," Kiera half-lied. She was tired, but that wasn't why she was looking paler than usually.

The gun expert didn't look like she believed her, but before she could nag her anymore, the bell on the door jingled, signaling the entrance of another person. They both looked over to find a soaked Torn walk in, his dreads plastered to his head. He looked cold but didn't say anything as he walked over to where the others were sitting. He grabbed all the food he could and began shoving it in his mouth as Sig, who'd won the drinking contest, asked him something. He nodded his head, his mouth too stuffed with food to answer.

Kiera couldn't help but smile at this; it was kinda cute how he ate so much and stayed to thin.

Tess saw this and her face lit up.

"Oh, yeah! So tell me about your mission today!"

"There's not a lot to tell, Tess; we went down, fixed the elevator, and came back up."

"Yeah, like I believe that. If that's all that happened, why were you so happy when you came back up? Spill!"

"I was 'so happy' because Jinx, being Jinx, grabbed my ass and Torn threatened him for me."

"Really? That guy is a total jerk! Was Torn really mad?"

"I've never seen him look that angry before! He had his dagger at Jinx's throat and told him he'd would kill him if he touched me again. I think he would've killed him if I hadn't stopped him!"

"Aww, that's sorta cute! Most people don't realize what a nice guy he really is."

"Yeah, it was sweet, in a messed up sorta way."

"That reminds me of when he first joined the Underground. He was so shy towards all the girls, it was adorable!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! They all would hit on him and he'd get all flushed! I had to test him on the gun course. He could barely talk to me unless it was strictly business, otherwise he'd get all tongue-tied."

"Aww!"

"And he got a Gold on his first try! I'd never seen anyone shoot that well! He was like, 'I think I might've missed a few, but do I still pass?' He actually was nervous he failed! I could've hugged him from the cuteness of it!"

"He's still pretty shy," Kiera stated, taking a sip of her iced tea.

"Really? He doesn't seem it anymore, how do you know?" her friend asked.

"Well, it was stinking hot down there and when I mentioned it, he was like, 'how do you think I feel? I have on long sleeves' so I told him to take it off."

Ooh, Kiera! Trying to scope him out, huh?" Tess interrupted, giving a sly grin Daxter would be proud of.

Kiera rolled her eyes. "Of course not, I just wanted to win the argument. Any ways, he got all tongue-tied and made up a couple of lame excuses why he shouldn't. So, I started teasing him and then the started getting defensive and took it off to prove me wrong."

The she-ottsel sighed. "Man, do I wish I'd been down there when he was in that itty-bitty tank top."

"It was dark until we got to the hot spring, then I was able to see," she leaned forward conspiratorially towards her friend. "By then he was all sweaty and you could see through his tank." she ended with a guilty grin.

"I'm soo jealous! Is it true he has an eight-pack?" Tess asked giggly-like.

"You'd better believe it!" Kiera answered, just a giddy.

They both laughed and continued to talk about random things until they both fell asleep where they were sitting a few hours later.

/e/

well, that was sorta a filler chapter, but I needed to get those precursor outta here. And I wanted Kiera and Tess to have a 'girl talk' R&R