Disclaimer: I don't own any of Jak2 or 3, and I don't own any of the characters other than Trista. Naughty dog owns everything else.

Chapter Nine

Wow, I'm going to have to hoof it from here. I landed the vehicle, and looked around me. I had just entered the slums sectors and it had begun raining way to hard for me to navigate this thing safely. At least walking wouldn't be so bad. I sighed and brushed some of my hair out of my eyes. I shrugged after looking around for a moment and walked in the direction of the hideout. I could still see that arrogant smile the baron had on his face. Even though he disgusted me, I was still afraid of him. He had power, and none of his threats were empty. I thought about the other poor girls who thought they could hold out against him, and wondered what happened to them.

Only a couple blocks now, and of course the rain is coming down harder. I ducked into a doorway to have a couple seconds of shelter before I kept going. I shuddered against the cold wind and hugged myself. I hated moments like this. The moments when I'm left alone with my thoughts, when I couldn't just do something to get away from things that were bothering me.

People who walked by stared as they past. I could see in some of their eyes, the ones who knew what probably had happened. No one stopped though, and I sighed and got ready to plunge back into the rain.

Someone walked up and handed me a coat. I looked up and saw a elf girl, maybe a little younger than me, smiling with sympathy.

"Thanks." I said. She just nodded and walked away and I pulled the coat on and started running through the rain. I could see my last turn up there, then I could see if my bag was really there, I didn't feel like having to run back through the rain to get it.

I smiled with relief as I walked into the hideout and stopped short. Torn and the shadow, or Samos, as he told me to call him, were staring at me with shocked looks on their faces.

"Trista? What happened to you?" Torn walked over to me and handed me a towel he had grabbed off a bunk nearby. I shrugged and accepted it. I was going to explain in a minute, but I wanted to change first.

"Either of you seen my bag? It's got my cloths in it." I said, Torn tossed it to me and I smiled gratefully.

"Thanks, I'm going to go change." I wanted a minute to gather the right words to tell them what had happened. At least in a way that wouldn't sound like I was as afraid as I pretended I wasn't when I was at the palace.

I changed silently and I listened as I heard Jak and Daxter return and report what they had found out. I brushed out my hair and joined them back in the main room and Jak looked at me for a moment and then ran over.

"Are you ok? I saw the baron talking to you, and I was worried. I didn't know if you escaped or not!" Crap, this is the part that I hate. Sure enough, Torn and Samos were staring at me like I had suddenly grown a third arm.

"Trista! Care to explain why you were at the palace? What happened!" Torn asked, well, less than kindly. I rolled my eyes and cast a thanks a lot look to Jak who shook his head in an apology.

For the next hour, I told the three everything that had happened. I didn't want to tell them that Errol knew where the hideout was because somehow that would be blamed on me so I purposely omitted that fact. Jak watched me silently through my whole explanation and looked kind of taken aback when I told them how I escaped.

Well, that's strange, even Torn isn't saying anything. That's a first for him. I looked down and wondered if they blamed me for this. I didn't want to find out so I just turned around and ran back outside. Not really knowing why I randomly didn't want to talk to them, I just wanted to get away.

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