Chapter IL: Origins of a Hagai

LES: Mysterious title? Yep, another paradox solved! And don't worry about length. In paper terms, this chapter is about four times bigger than the last one.

Jak had nothing better to do for several hours until he had to go intercept the Baron at the Weapon's factory, and he was tired, so he decided to go back to the hideout for a quick rest, nightmares or no nightmares.

Jak walked sluggishly into the hideout. Jak didn't know why he was suddenly so tired all of the time. But it probably had something to do with Eco Poisoning for his death date was getting closer and closer.

Without glancing up or acknowledging anyone, Jak marched straight to his quarters and flopped down on the bed, not even bothering to remove his weapons or armor.

"Are you alright?" Daxter asked, concerned for his friend.

"I'm fine, Dax." Jak said softly. "I'm just a little tired, that's all." He began to fall asleep almost instantly. However, just before he was sucked into Dreamland, he whispered. "Wake me up in a few hours, K?"

"Sure thing." Daxter said, but his friend was already asleep.

(Dream-state)

It was another nightmare. The same damn one that tormented him for two years.

He was cornered… trapped… by the enormous Metal-Head Leader… he was completely at the monster's mercy. The Leader laughed and Jak could feel the pain in his broken body. He could also feel hot tears of defeat and humiliation run down his face.

The Metal-Head Leader stopped laughing and glared down at his victim. "I must admit, young elf, I haven't been quite so worked up in a long time. But, it was not enough. You are weak! You are worthless! You are dead!" He let out a short chuckle. "I expected a better fight from one of noble blood such as yourself!" This speech was completely lost on Jak's ears. Noble blood? What did that mean? "Here ends my greatest enemy's line!" The Metal-Head Leader banished his tail with a small flourish, ready to disembowel the poor elf, just like in every single one of his dreams in the past.

Jak screwed up his eyes, waiting for the pain that would come. For the tail that would shove itself painfully through his stomach, for the painful wrench as it was pulled out, for the nauseating feeling of having his intestines slip outside his body. But… the pain never came. Jak waited, but nothing happened.

The elf opened his eyes and gasped. The Metal-Head Leader lay dead, and a bright light stood next to the monster's dead body… a Precursor.

The Precursor turned and 'looked' right at Jak. A strange motion, since Precursors had no eyes as we think of them. "Sometimes…" The Precursor said with a slow rumble reminiscent of an Oracle's voice. "The bravest and most effective form of combat is knowing when to dodge."

"What?" Jak asked. "I don't understand…"

"Then you will fail." The Precursor said gravely. "Do not give up, young warrior. A candle may flicker in the wind, but it does not go out. Thus is our hope. You must be the light, young warrior, you must be the light or this world will be swallowed by the Darkness."

"What darkness?" Jak asked.

"A Darkness that you know well." The Precursor said. "A Darkness that resides within your own body and mind." A new phantom appeared, this one was of Jak's inner demon. The elf understood instantly.

"Dark Eco." He said. "What… exactly… is it?"

"It is you." The Precursor said. "It is a physical manifestation of the Darkness that resides in your heart, a Darkness that every heart, no matter how pure, shares. But… your extreme hatred for the Baron has given your Darkness a life of its own. It feels the same pain you do, but it reacts with violence and anger."

"So do I." Jak said.

"That is because you are letting the Darkness consume you. It is taking your soul over faster than we originally intended." The Precursor said, its whole being radiating sorrow. "As a result, you will die sooner than originally thought."

"What?" Jak demanded. "When?"

"A few days." The Precursor answered.

"A—a few days?" Jak demanded. "But… that gives me no time!"

"You must hurry!" The Precursor urged. "There is still time to save you and your race. But you must hurry or all is lost… more than you know. For the War is coming…"

"War?" Jak asked. "What war?"

The Precursor smiled. "Soon enough… you will know. It's time for you to wake up."

"What?"

"Wake up, Great One, wake up." The Precursor said.

Then, Jak did wake up, quite suddenly too. He sat right up and yelled: "Holy shit!"

Daxter, who was not expecting this outburst, jumped. "Jak? Why are you awake? You've only been asleep for two minutes!"

"There's no time for that!" Jak hissed. "There's no time for any of that now!" He jumped off the cot. "Come on, Daxter, we're going to the weapon's lab right now!" Daxter reluctantly followed Jak and jumped up on his shoulder.

"Whatever you say, buddy." Daxter said.

Jak stormed into the hallway, nearly knocking some little girl down. "Hey!" The girl cried indignantly.

"Sorry." Jak quickly apologized. He turned to walk away and then stopped. He wasn't sure what he had just seen, but he had to make sure. He turned around to face the girl and gasped with shock.

It was the same girl he remembered from his earliest memory in the forest near Sandover… his very first encounter with her. It was Keira… the Keira he remembered from his childhood. "What is it?" Daxter asked. Then he looked down at the girl and saw it too. "Oh my God!"

"Oh my God!" Jak echoed. "Keira!"

The little girl frowned. "How do you know my name? We've never met."

Jak was completely speechless, and then he found his voice. "It doesn't matter." He said. "Keira, how old are you?" He asked out of curiosity.

"I'm this many." Little Keira said, holding up five fingers.

"Oh, Jak, there you are." A younger Samos walked over, followed closely by older Samos. "Ah, I see you've met my daughter, Keira."

Jak stared at old Samos. "Samos… what's going on here?"

Samos sighed. "Jak… come with me." Samos led the duo away from Samos and little Keira.

Finally, they came to a stop. Jak turned to Samos. "Just what the hell is going on here?" He demanded.

"Yeah!" Daxter said. "That was Keira as a little girl back there!"

"Jak!" Samos interrupted before Jak could start yelling. "Okay, I'll tell you this much. Keira and I are from this timeline. We went back to Sandover… but I can't tell you how or why."

"So… where am I in all this?" Jak asked.

Samos gulped. Jak was getting awfully close to the truth, and that couldn't be allowed to happen yet. So the old Sage did the only thing he could do… he lied. "Oh, you're still five hundred years ago. When Keira and I traveled back, we found you homeless and parent-less. We couldn't just leave you."

"So, why am I here now?" Jak asked.

"I'm afraid no one can answer that." Samos said. "No one can tell you why things end up the way they do."

"Samos? Do you know what happens to me?"

Samos remained silent for several seconds. "To a point."

"Do I die?"

"I can't say." Samos said. "It all depends on you. I could tell you that you will die, but you could do things right and change your fate. But I could tell you that you live, but then you can make a mistake and die anyway."

"Tell me Samos, please, do I die in your reality?" Jak begged. "Do I?"

"I can't answer that question." Samos said.

"Samos!" Jak yelled, starting to lose his temper. "This is my life we're talking about! Why can't you just give me some hope? I haven't felt hope in so long…" He suddenly glared at Samos. "This is your fault!"

"What?" Daxter demanded, but Samos had been expecting this for some time.

"It's your fault all this happened to me!" Jak accused. "I remember, Samos. 'We all know Jak and I need to go…' You made it sound like I had to go!"

"Would you have stayed behind if I had told you what would happen to you?" Samos asked.

Jak opened his mouth to argue… but then he paused. "No." He said. "I wanted to see where the Rift would take us and I wouldn't have believed you anyway." But Jak continued to glare at Samos in a way that said Jak still blamed him. "Why did you make me go, though? Why didn't you try and stop me?"

"Because… if I had forced you into not going through the Rift, somehow, the world would have been destroyed." Samos said.

"Why is the world always on my shoulders?" Jak demanded. "Everything I do seems to either save the world or destroy it."

"The world depends on you because you are a hero." Samos said.

"The hero in me died, Samos." Jak said.

"No, he's just buried in there somewhere, under a load of Dark Eco." Samos said. "You need to find that hero, the hero that gives you the will to give everything you are for the good of the rest of the world."

"That's a bad deal!" Jak pointed an accusing finger in Samos' face. "Why should I put my life on the line for people afraid to risk their own?"

"Because you are the one with the courage to do it." Samos said. "Besides, you know, deep down, that it's the right thing to do."

Jak's mouth opened and closed as his brain worked to supply his mouth with a scathing reply, but none came. Jak growled. "I've got to go." Jak said. "I'm going out to the Weapon's lab… hopefully to kill Praxis before I die." The elf stormed away.

Samos watched Jak go. "I can only hope that hero is still alive in there… somewhere." Samos said sadly. "Or we are all doomed."

After a short ride in the Air Train, Jak jumped out of the transport. Daxter jumped out happily after him. The ride had been highly uncomfortable. Jak did not speak once, but it wasn't like when he was a mute, this silence was more awkward.

Finally, Daxter had to ask. "What's bugging you? You've been really quiet."

Jak sighed. "It's a dream that I had." He said. "I dreamed that a Precursor… never mind."

"No! What?"

"Well… my life-span's been shortened." Jak said. "I only have a few days left now."

"What?" Daxter demanded. "A few days!"

"I know." Jak said. "I've only got a few days to kill Praxis. Hopefully, it's going to be today."

"You're going to die and that's the only thing you're worried about?" Daxter demanded.

"What else is there?"

"Well, there's more to life than killing people!" Daxter said. "For example: are you still a virgin?" Jak didn't answer. "I'll take that as a yes. You shouldn't die a virgin! That's just wrong!"

"No, I'll tell you what's wrong!" Jak hissed. "Stupid people like you who think that sex is everything when it's not!" The elf paused. "Besides, that would only make things worse." He shook his head. "Can't you imagine it? Imagine me doing what I really want with her. She'd probably love me more than ever. Then what? I die, that what! I can't hurt her like that…"

"Wait a second… are we talking about Keira here?"

"Shut-up!" Jak hissed. "I can't do that… even if it means that I have to die a virgin."

"You are a sad man." Daxter said.

"I'm a dead man." Jak corrected.

They approached the doors and the computer came online. "You'll need top-level black clearance for this gate." The computer warned. Then it sensed the pass. "Access granted." The doors opened without complaint.

Jak walked into the weapons factory and the door slammed shut behind him. This unnerved him a little, and Daxter more than a little.

"Creepy." Daxter whispered.

"Shhh!" Jak hissed. He walked over to an elevator, stepped on it, and it moved down silently. They were in a large room now, with a group of about twenty Krimzon Guards.

"How did you…?" And then they recognized him. "It's the Dark Eco Freak! Get him!"

Jak, without any conscious thought, pulled out the morph-gun and shot as quick as lighting. However, he forgot that he had left it in PeaceMaker mode. A ball of energy shot out at the guards, hitting the first one in the chest. And then the energy arched and split off to the other guards without decreasing in power. Within seconds, every guard in the room was dead.

"Whoa!" Jak said, holding up the weapon. "Now that's a weapon!"

"That was so sweet!" Daxter said. Jak put the gun back in its holster and continued on his way through the factory.

After a long, hard fight through the weapons lab, Jak finally made it to an elevator. He stepped on to it and it moved up and emptied out on the roof of the weapons lab.

There, he was greeted by Krew. "Jak? What are you doing here, eh?"

"Nothing." Jak said. "I just came to pay a visit."

"You made it through the factory alive? Quite a feat!" Krew said. "I knew you were special when I first met you, Jak. We've come a long way, eh?"

"Yeah, I'm getting real teary eyed." Jak said sarcastically. He looked towards the center of the large platform and, surrounded by scaffolding, was a large, and powerful looking weapon. "What's that?"

"Well, as you know, I love weapons!" Krew said. "I love how they look, how they feel, even how they smell!" Krew deeply breathed in the weapon's 'scent'.

Jak shook his head sadly. "I think you need serious help."

Krew ignored Jak's comment. "My favorite weapon was the impossibly powerful weapon that Mar built in the Wasteland to blow open the Metal-Head Nest. But the old fool died before he could use it, eh! Oh well… I have a new favorite. The Piercer Bomb I've just completed!" He gestured towards the bomb. "My masterpiece is powerful enough to crack open the Precursor Stone! The Baron's coming over with the stone now, and we'll hide the bomb and he stone in the last shipment of Eco to the Metal-Head Nest, a surprise dessert, eh." Krew tossed what looked like a weapon upgrade to Jak. "Just take this gun upgrade and forget what you saw here."

Jak shook his head again, but this time in anger. He would not allow people to bribe him! "Not this time, Krew." He growled. "I'm through being your hired gun!"

Krew growled angrily. "Then it's war, isn't it?"

"You don't want to do that, Krew." Jak said coldly. "I'll win. I'll kill you without blinking an eye."

"He's not bluffing, either." Daxter said. "He'll really do it!"

"No doubt." Krew growled. "You've killed so many others, you'll have no problem killing me. But… I do have weapons for my own protection."

"No amount of protection can protect you from me." Jak hissed, conjuring a dagger from nowhere. "Remember, I told you the day you betray me was the day I'd stab this dagger into your back." Jak laughed. "You'd better hope you've got a high Eco-tolerance. Oh, wait, I've got the highest Eco tolerance of any elf alive and I'm still dying. You don't stand a chance."

"Really?" Krew asked. "My friends say otherwise."

"Friends?" Jak asked, confused.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bunch of green blobs appeared, blobs that were exact replicas of the large blob. "Say hello to my Krones!" Krew laughed.

"Coward." Jak hissed.

"Hand-to-hand and swords won't work here!" Krew laughed. "Each one carries thousands of volts of energy. And if you try to cut it with a sword, it will turn into two functional Krones." Krew laughed diabolically. "Attack, my Krones!"

Several dozen of the Krones moved towards Jak. He growled and the dagger disappeared. The only good thing to be said about the Krones is that they moved slowly. Jak pulled out the Morph-Gun and switched it to Scatter mode. He shot the approaching Krones. The blast pushed them back several feet, but they kept on coming.

"Shit!" Jak swore. He shot again, but the Krones seemed unaffected.

Krew laughed in the background. "Shoot all you want! Even if you manage to destroy them, I have even more up my sleeve, and they'll never stop coming after you!"

The Krones got too close for comfort and Jak, for the first time, was forced to retreat. He jumped up on the scaffolding, praying that the Krones couldn't fly like their original copy.

"It's no good." Jak growled, watching the Krones trying, unsuccessfully, to reach his perch.

"Well, sitting up here isn't going to…" But Daxter's words were cut short as Jak let out a cry and lost his balance on the scaffolding, falling to the ground, hard, and gripping both his shoulder and leg. "What happened?" Daxter asked.

Jak grit his teeth as he pulled his hands away from the aforementioned areas. There was Dark Eco blood on his hands and large holes in his shoulder and leg, they healed, but it took a few seconds considering the size of the wounds.

"I float like a butterfly, and sting like a Wumpbee!" Krew said. "Nine millimeter bullets. Nice, aren't they?" Krew laughed. "I couldn't have you hiding out of reach of my precious Krones, eh!"

Jak glared up at Krew, a familiar fire burning in his eyes, one of complete and utterly unrestrained rage. "I'll… KILL YOU FOR THAT!" Jak roared. He got up from the ground and let out a feral roar of rage and Dark Eco began to flow in his system. Dark had returned!

Jak let his mind be pushed aside as Dark took complete control, the elf happy to let his evil twin to kill the floating blimp. His skin turned into a deathly gray color, as did his hair. With a painful wrench, horns forced their way out of his skull. His fangs grew at an alarming speed until they curled over his bottom lip. His fingernails grew into wicked, razor-sharp talons that were almost a foot long. His pupils expanded until they whit and blue had all but disappeared, leaving only deep black. This not only looked cool, but it gave him a field of vision that was many times that a normal elf.

Dark Eco cackled over Dark's skin as it advanced on Krew, ignoring the Krones that tried to attack him. It seemed the Dark Eco was too much for the Krones because they dissolved into a thousand pieces the second they got near the Demon. Krew seemed afraid for the first time. He shot at Dark with the huge bullets that his weapons could spit out, but the Demon's rage and Dark Eco powers gave his some sort of invisible armor, as the bullets merely bounced off his skin. Dark didn't even flinch.

Dark pointed at the hover chair that kept Krew floating and a single bolt of Dark Eco launched at the chair and destroyed it instantly. It hit the ground, hard. Dark walked up to the prone Krew and release some Dark Eco into the fat elf's body.

Krew caught the Dark Eco blast and screamed as the evil substance ate away at him. After a second, Dark stopped and allowed his host to take full control again to finish off the fat man. When Jak had returned to normal, he looked down and silently complemented Dark on his work.

Something caught Jak's eye. It was the Heart of Mar gem, lying on the ground before Krew, who was still alive against all odds. Jak picked it up.

"Is it too late to give my notice?" He asked.

"Yeah, we quit!" Daxter concurred.

"It's too late for Haven City." Krew hissed and coughed. "I've sold you all out!"

Jak's eyes narrowed. "Sold out… to who? To who, you bastard?"

"The Metal-Head Leader." Krew coughed. "You may have beat me, but you will not have the last laugh!" Krew pulled out a remote and pressed a red button, and dropped it, his job done.

A hissing noise came from the bomb. Jak realized with horror what Krew had just done. He had activated the bomb! Krew knew he was going to die, so he was going to take Jak with him. It was exactly the sort of thing that Jak would've done in his place. "Uh… I think we should be somewhere else right about now!" Daxter panicked.

Jak knew that he could never survive such a blast, no matter his healing powers. Healing powers mean little difference if you are in a million pieces.

Suddenly, a Krimzon Guard cruiser. Ashelin was sitting in the cockpit. "We're out of here!" She yelled.

Jak ran over and jumped in. "Get out of here, NOW!" He ordered. Ashelin took off, taking Jak and Daxter to safety. However, Krew was left on the platform, to suffer a death of his own doing.

"Oh well…" He sighed. Those would be his last words. The bomb exploded. It seemed to shake the world, and the area was suffused in light. The shock wave hit the back of the cruiser and almost knocked it out of the air. But Ashelin's skills as a pilot allowed her to keep the vehicle in the air and to drive safely out of the danger zone. Once they were out, Jak looked back. The entire weapons lab was in flames. There was no way Krew could have survived.

"What happened?" Ashelin asked.

Jak remembered what Krew had told him about him selling out the City. "I think we're in a shit-load of trouble." He said.

"Really? How so?" Ashelin asked.

"Krew sold out Haven City… to the Metal-Heads." Jak said. "I don't know what else is going to happen, but you can bet it won't be good for us."

"Where do you want me to drop you off?" Ashelin asked.

"Drop me off at the Stadium." Jak said. "I need to drop off something."

"Fair enough." Ashelin said, and she made a Wumpbee-line back to Haven City and the Stadium.

It only took a few minutes, and Jak jumped out of the cruiser in front of the Stadium. He started to walk away when Ashelin called out to him.

"Jak, wait!"

Jak stopped and turned around. "What is it?"

Ashelin started to say something. "I…" She paused, apparently unable to say what was really on her mind. Finally, she gave up and sighed. "I'm sorry that it's come to this." Then she flew away.

"What was that about?" Daxter asked.

Jak thought he had an idea what Ashelin really meant to say. But he was glad she didn't finish her thought, or what he thought she was thinking. That just… wasn't possible.

"Never mind." He didn't have time to deal with Ashelin or her misplaced feelings. He glanced at the Heart of Mar gem in his fist. It looked exactly as he remembered it years ago. He closed his fist around it. "Let's go." Jak said, walking up to the Stadium, or more specifically, Garage Three.

Jak walked into the Garage. "Keira? Are you here?"

Keira stepped out from behind the curtain where the Rift Rider waited to be used. "Jak? What are you doing here?"

Jak held up the Heart of Mar Gem. "I told you I'd get the artifacts. Just give me some more time, and I'll find the Time Map… if I have that time…" Jak added as an afterthought. He handed her the Heart of Mar. She accepted it quietly and went back to the Rider to install it. It only took a few seconds. Then she moved back out into the open

"Jak? Could I talk to you… just for a second?" Keira asked.

Jak didn't answer at first. "Fine."

Keira paused. "Alone?"

Jak turned to look at Daxter. "Out." He ordered.

"Fine!" Daxter huffed. "I can tell when I'm not wanted, thank you very much!" Daxter left.

As soon as he was gone, Keira tried to embrace Jak, but he merely shrugged it off. "Don't." He said simply.

Keira looked up at Jak angrily. "Don't?" She repeated Jak. "How could you say 'Don't'?"

Jak looked down at her. "I can't let you do that, Keira, for your own sake. I'm only thinking of you! Don't do this to yourself! Don't fall in love with a dead man!"

"Well, it's too late for that!" Keira said. Jak sighed and looked away. "I love you, Jak, and nothing you can ever say will change that! I know that you love me too. I can see it in your eyes." Keira paused. "Why can't things be the way they were… back in Sandover?"

"I've—I've changed." Jak said. "I'm… not that little boy anymore, Keira. He's the one you love, not me."

"I thought that too." Keira said. "I tried to convince myself that it was true, but it's not. I still love you, even more than ever."

"Keira… I… I'm dying!" Jak said. "I can feel it now. I can feel my life ebbing away from me. I can feel the… monster eating away at me… I'm tired more and more… I'll be dead soon. Keira, you've got to stop loving me!" Jak practically yelled. "I don't care how you do it, just do it!"

"I can't." Keira said. "When I look at you, all I see is the man I love."

Jak stared at her. "Do you know what I see when I look in a mirror?"

Keira looked up at him. "No."

"I see a monster." Jak said. "A monster who has the blood of countless innocents on his hands. I see a murderer, a selfish creature who will stop at nothing to get what he wants." Jak looked down at one of the racing zoomers. Its shiny chrome reflected the image of Jak's inner demon. "I see myself… as I truly am. Look for yourself, and you'll see that it's true."

Keira stepped forward to look at Jak's reflection. She gasped and took a step back. She had seen the demon before, but she never imagined that Jak's Darkness even dominated his reflection. "Jak…" She said sadly.

"Now you see what I truly am." Jak glared at his reflection, and it glared back with those evil eyes. "A monster."

"Jak, I don't care what your reflection looks like." Keira said, turning away from the Dark reflection and facing the real Jak. "This is the Jak I see, and I love him."

Jak shook his head. "You have to forget about me."

"I could never forget about you." Keira said.

"If you love me at all, and you value your happiness, you will forget about me!" Jak yelled desperately.

"I can't…"

Jak felt his anger spike dangerously and he released it, to devastating effect. With a snarl, he backhanded the she-elf across the face, bearing her to the ground. It made Jak sick to hit Keira, but it was something he knew had to be done. He stood above her, breathing hard, and looking down on a very surprised Keira. "Can you forget about me now? I wouldn't even be surprised if you hated me!" Jak roared. "A loving boyfriend would NEVER strike his girl!" Keira slowly got to her feet, her hand covering the red mark that Jak had left on her face. "Forget about me, and forget about this foolish love! It will only break your heart!" Jak yelled.

Keira looked up at the Dark elf, tears were in her eyes. "I can't forget about you or hate you… not even now."

Jak stared at her in amazement. "You have brought this upon yourself!" He hissed. "By the way, I'm not dying at the end of the month. You'll only have to wait a few more days. Then you will know the pain I tried to save you from."

"It's better to have loved and lost… then to never have loved at all." Keira whispered.

Jak spun around and stormed out of the Garage, but he didn't get very far at all. As soon as he made it outside Keira's garage he felt his nausea return. The elf ran to a remote corner and vomited.

Strange, he had stolen, threatened, and murdered countless people without feeling one shred of remorse or guilt. But he hits Keira one time and he gets so sick that he vomits?

Jak put his sweaty forehead against the cool wall. Keira was just on the other side.

"I'm sorry, Keira… I'm so sorry…" He whispered. "And you're right. I do love you. I know it now. If only I had realized it sooner, we might've had a chance." He felt pain blossom from his general bodily area, reminding him of the Eco Poisoning that he had. Spasms of pain were the first sign of long-term Eco Poisoning. Jak suppressed a groan as the pain torn through him like a wildfire, intent on destroying everything it touched. "But it's too late now… for the both of us." Jak walked away.

LES: I feel really guilty right now about having Jak hit Keira. I'm sure my mom would think it was the most evil thing I have ever written. But it is necessary for the rest of the story. And I pray that I've got the whole 'I-love-you-but-I-can't-love-you' thing down. Well, next chapter is Chapter forty! Only six more chapters left until the end of this story!