Chapter IIL: In The Palace
LES: Back to the story and away from the romance for a while… again. I can't wait until I finish this story and I can… move on.
Jak drove as fast as he could to the Palace. He stopped near the huge front door and jumped off the zoomer.
"You need Purple Clearance for this door." The computer voice said as he approached. Then, it must've sensed the pass on him for the blast doors opened without complaint. "Access granted."
Jak walked in and walked straight over to the elevator, for there was nothing there to stop him. He stepped onto the elevator and it immediately began to move up towards the Throne Room. It reached it's desired level and stopped. The elf stepped out of the elevator and made his way over to the large blast doors the stood between him and the Throne Room. The doors opened up for him instantly. Surprise, surprise, there were only two Guards guarding the Throne room. Jak grinned, this was almost too easy. He quickly conjured two daggers and approached the guards calmly.
"Hey! You…" One guard said, rushing up to him. With a swift movement, Jak slashed the Dark Dagger across the unfortunate man's throat. The combination of the Dark Eco poisoning his system and the blood loss meant he was dead within half a second. Jak threw the other dagger at the other Guard, who got hit right between the eyes, he too died instantly.
The Dark elf calmly walked past the dead men and further into the Throne room. However, he only made it about half-way to the empty throne when he heard footsteps behind him. Jak turned around to find a gun in his face, and that gun was being held by a certain red-head.
"I shouldn't have trusted you!" The woman, Ashelin, hissed, flicking the safety off the weapon.
"Back to square one, huh, Ashelin?" Jak asked sourly.
"Don't play with me!" The deadly she-elf hissed. "I thought you were on our side, but all along you were undermining our war with the Metal-Heads! Whose side are you on?" The female demanded, her finger on the trigger, and clearly ready to blow off Jak's head.
"Praxis got to you too?" Jak asked. "Ashelin, can't you see? If your father cracks open the Precursor Stone, the explosion will kill all of us! Don't you get it?" Jak pushed the gun out of his face.
"Yeah, not so hard, huh?" Daxter said. "Even I can figure this one out!"
"Now, if you'll excuse me…" Jak began to walk away.
"Don't you move!" Ashelin ordered, pointing the gun at Jak's back.
Jak sighed. "Don't shot me, Ashelin." But, never the less, he stopped in his tracks. "You're a good person, unlike your father. I don't want to kill you."
Ashelin ignored him. She pulled out a small communicator. "Vin, come in." She ordered.
Vin's voice came over the speakers. "What? What? I've got my hands full here, you know!"
Ashelin rolled her eyes. "Later. Listen, you know all about the Precursor Stone myth, right?"
"Sure." Vin said. "I did my doctorate in Precursorian Theoretical Physics… why?"
"What would happen if the Stone were to be… say… violently cracked open?" Ashelin asked.
"Great." Vin said, with quite a lot of fear in his voice. "As if I didn't have enough to worry about and you've given me one more thing to dread, thank you very much!" Vin paused, the sound of someone typing on a computer could be heard in the background. Vin was obviously calculating the power of such a blast. "Now, assuming someone actually had the stone… a run away Eco surge from cracking it open would theoretically… DESTROY EVERYTHING!"
"Everything?" Ashelin repeated, a look of horror on her face that her father could be putting everyone's lives at risk.
"All things! Every single thing! Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go throw up. Bye-bye!" Vin hung up.
Ashelin lowered the weapon, along with her head, and turned away from Jak. "Believe me, Ashelin, we've got to stop him." Jak said.
Ashelin turned back around to face Jak. "I'll try to find out more. But my father is meeting Krew in a few hours at a secret weapons factory near the dig." She handed Jak a new pass, but this one was black. "Here, that's my top-level security pass. It will get you into the factory, but it won't get you back out." Ashelin turned, and began to walk away, but she paused. "Jak, by the way… we never had this conversation." Then she walked away.
"Krew and Praxis are meeting at a weapon's factory?" Daxter asked.
"This doesn't seem right." Jak said. "I feel like I'm trapped in something bigger than myself."
"Well, I feel like we're trapped in a video game." Daxter said.
"Except this happens to be real-life, not some video game."
"I don't know…" Daxter said slowly. "Things are just turning out very strange."
"Let's just get the hell out of here." Jak said, walking back to the elevator, went down, and walked out the front door of the Palace. "We only met two guards?" Jak demanded. "I feel insulted! You'd expect the Palace to be crawling with guards!"
"Maybe you've killed most of the Guards?" Daxter suggested hopefully. "They get more, and you kill 'em."
"Damn, I can only hope the Metal-Heads aren't in short supply." Jak complained.
"Metal-Heads are never in short supply… sadly." Daxter said.
Jak began to head back to the hideout to see if he couldn't catch some sleep before he had to head over to the weapon's factory.
(Carla's House)
"So… that's the infamous 'Jak'." Carla mused. "It's hard to believe that the Jak you knew is actually the murderer that everyone's been looking for." She looked over at Keira, who was looking out the window remorsefully. "What's wrong?"
"It's Jak." Keira said sadly. "He's confirmed what I was afraid of. He's dying. He… he refuses to start a relationship with me. He doesn't want me to fall in love with him because of the fact that he is dying. But I can't help it… it's too late. I love him. I even love what he's turned into."
Carla sighed. "It's a terrible thing… to love a dead man." Her voice was etched with pure sorrow.
"Your husband?" Keira asked.
"He… before his last mission, he suspected that he would die in the process." Carla sighed. "He was… sent out to the Metal-Head nest and he… never came back. Shortly after… my son… he was… kidnapped." Keira gasped. Who would do such a thing? Steal a little kid from such a nice woman! Carla shook her head. "It's my fault."
"No, it wasn't!" Keira said instantly.
"You don't even know what happened…" Carla said bitterly.
"Then tell me."
Carla didn't say anything for several seconds. Finally, she spoke. "What if I told you that I'm not who you think I am?"
"Carla…?"
"That's not even my real name." Carla laughed bitterly. "I changed it to protect myself after my husband disappeared and my son was gone." Keira stared at the woman she thought she knew. "My real name is Anastasia." The young she-elf stared. "Yes, it is quite more noble that 'Carla', but I couldn't keep it. It was mush too dangerous. You see, I am the former Queen of Haven City."
Keira didn't say anything for almost a full minute. "What?"
"I know." Carla, or Anastasia, said. "My husband, Damas, was as good a King as he was a warrior. We had a son together."
"What was your son's name?" Keira asked.
"He didn't have a name." Anastasia said sadly. "It is custom for royal children not to be named until their sixth year. I didn't like it, having been born into a regular family, but Damas insisted on it, he himself not having received his name until his sixth birthday. He wouldn't let us name our son, not even in private. But he was kidnapped before he could receive a name."
"What happened to your husband… really?" Keira asked.
"He… felt an obligation to go out and face the Metal-Head Leader in single combat. He left for the nest… and he never came back. I can only assume he's dead. Few can face the Metal-Head Leader, and live to tell about it. After Damas disappeared, one of his Generals, Praxis, who had lusted for the throne for years, found his opportunity now that there was no one on the throne. He overpowered my loyal guards and took the throne of Haven for himself. I was forced to flee with my son into the Slums. Shortly thereafter, he was kidnapped." Carla sighed. "But… enough about my past, that can't be undone. I'm more concerned about your future. What about you and Jak? Is—is there no hope?"
"Jak believes that there is no hope." Keira said. "And, during the time I've known him, which is for as long as I can remember, if he sees hope in a situation, there probably is. But if he can't see it, there probably isn't."
"He seems to be a warrior at heart." Carla said. "Funny, he reminds me so much of Damas. And if there's one thing I've learned from my husband, it's that warriors will fight for their lives until the very end."
LES: AUGH! I'm so sorry about the short chapter! I think you've realized exactly who Carla is. If you haven't, then you haven't played Jak 3 at all! Well, I'm not saying yet! You'll have to wait until I decide to reveal it! (To Jak, that is)