Disclaimer: I don't own Jak 2 or 3 or any of the characters except for Trista. Naughty dog does.
Chapter Fourteen
"Ow!" Ok, that was very graceful. Here I am, sitting on some rocks and sketching the ocean and the view in the distance for the thousandth time, and I fall off. Well, actually, I fell off because I heard a voice I had thought I knew from over, wow, over a year ago now.
"C'mon Jak! Let's go see what that big black thing is!" Yes, I recognized that voice. I jumped off the rocks and inspected my arm. A scratch, a fairly good sized one, dripped blood down my arm. I shrugged and tore a strip of cloth off of my shirt and tied it around the wound. I pulled myself back up to the path and ran in the direction of the black machine, trying to follow their voices.
Could they really be here? Am I imagining them again? I shook my head to clear these thoughts and kept running until I saw the black machine sitting near the far wall. A monk was watching Jak tap a screen, and Daxter was watching silently. Jak, Daxter, why were they here?
A second later Jak stepped back and I heard Daxter say something but I couldn't make it out. Jak pulled an eco crystal away from the machine and I smiled. Our monks probably wouldn't like him getting involved in the search for the crystals, but I could see by the way he was listening that he wasn't about to just give up.
Suddenly, the machine jumped to life and launched itself into the air, and exploded ten seconds later. Whoa, ok, I'm officially not messing with any of that stuff. I like being in one piece. A drop of blood trailed down my arm and I turned my attention back to Jak. He was walking away, and I ran behind buildings to catch up with him. I hadn't seen him in so long, I couldn't just let him walk away.
Climbing up a broken set of stairs, I watched as he started walking near the stairs. About two more seconds, now! I yelled in my head and jumped down, landing in front of him.
"Hi Jak, Daxter, been a while huh?" I asked, smiling and moving my hair back away from my eyes. They stared at me for a second, and I saw the look of recognition in Daxter's eyes.
"Trista? Wow! It's been a while! How've you been?" He jumped from Jak's shoulder to my arm, the good one, and I smiled at him.
"Pretty good. How about you guys back home?" I moved my left arm behind my back, because I could feel the blood leaking through my bandage.
"Same." Jak hasn't said anything yet. He has short hair now, and I have to say, it does look good on him.
"What's with your arm?" He asked, and I shrugged. I wasn't about to walk away, I wanted to talk to them more. I moved my right arm and Daxter jumped back to Jak.
"Nothing, hazards of life. I'm fine." I said, but I knew that he wasn't buying it. Sure enough, a second later he darted forward and pulled my arm into view.
"This looks bad. Where do you live? We'll take you there and help you get cleaned up, and so we can talk." He said, with the no nonsense look in his eyes, so I shrugged and led them down a street to my house.
Unlocking the door, I hoped silently that Mel wasn't going to show up and be a spaz in front of Jak. To my luck, she was out. Probably picking up something from Max, she wouldn't be back until later. I walked to a cabinet and pulled out my med kit. I would just put a wrap on it.
"No, let me do it." Jak took the kit from my hands and set it aside, grabbing a cloth nearby and wetting it in the sink, then walked back over. I flinched as he pulled my makeshift bandage off and started cleaning the blood off of my arm.
"Sorry. What've you been doing this last year? It's been forever. I can't believe you had to leave like that." He said. I shrugged and told them about the missions I sometimes go on, but mostly painted pictures of Haven and Spargus, and the ocean. He smiled and nodded, and inspected the cut on my arm.
"Not that deep. Here." He wrapped it and taped it in place and smiled at me. I returned it and looked around uncomfortably.
"So why are you here?" I asked softly, and Daxter curled up on my lap as Jak started telling me about what had happened since I had been gone. Then he told me about what had happened to Errol and I stood, knocking Daxter onto the floor.
"No, it's not true. My cousin would never… He isn't…" I couldn't even finish and hid my face in my hands. Errol, what had happened to you? How did you change so much? When you stopped writing, I thought you were busy, or something! But this, I never thought I would hear this!
"Trista? Trista, I'm so sorry." Jak's hand was on my shoulder now, and I threw myself into his arms and cried softly. He awkwardly hugged me back gently, and after a couple of minutes I let go and stepped back.
"Sorry Jak. It's just, Errol always looked after me, and protected me however he could. To hear that he changed so much, and is most likely dead now, it's just so hard to think about." I said, and picked up my sketch book and flipped to the picture of Errol that I had drawn.
"I know, trust me. I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you." He said, and I smiled sadly and shook my head slightly.
"It's ok. At least now I know. And I guess I can rest easily knowing that he was a good person. Thank you." We talked a little longer and then Jak had to go and meet our leader.
"Promise to come see me again Jak. I've missed you guys so much." I said, standing in my doorway, and he turned and smiled at me.
"Of course. We've missed you too." He said, and Daxter nodded in agreement. I waved and watched them walk away. Only after walking back inside, I fell to my knees and cried for Errol. For what he had become, and for what he had lost. For the longest time I remained on the floor, so twisted by the pain that I couldn't even raise myself back to my feet. Someone knocked on the door, but I ignored them and they eventually went away.
The ocean was roaring in my ears, and it seemed like there was thunder trapped inside me. So great was this pain that it washed over me like the ocean, but instead of pulling the pain away, it only intensified it.
Eventually, I rose to my feet and walked to the window and stared at the sky. Jak had told me why he had been exiled, and I felt horrible for him, but it made me wonder if I would be able to go back. Not right now, but maybe soon. That would be good for me. I needed to be around people who knew exactly how much this hurt. No one here, except for Jak and Daxter, knew anything about how I came here. Not even Mel, because I lived in fear of someone coming to find me here.
I stared at the ocean in the distance, and smiled slightly and turned away to go outside and swim for a while.
Someday soon, hopefully.
Me: Ok, read and review. Thanks to those who have.