Disclaimer: You know the drill… I don't own Jak and Daxter, but I do own my OC's and hopefully the plot.
Warning: Corad (thanks for reviewing by the way ) you may hate me after this chapter. Read on, if you dare…
This chapter has definitely earned it's T rating. It involves death, bloodshed, sexual references and a brand new enemy for y'all to despise… (okay, so he's not as evil as Errol, or is it Erol? Off topic… anyway, the villain makes an appearance.)
Think and review as you will… and thanks BloodHeron, CoradandBijoux and TheZ for reviewing me. You people give me continuing reason to write and torture my characters!
Chapter Four
Broken Heart and Shattered Sword
As it turned out there was no good place to practice sword-fighting in Spargus. After all, the city relied mainly on guns and lasers to protect themselves; the sword was an extinct weapon.
By the end of the day Demon still hadn't even drawn Darkflame and her head was, once again, pounding like a kettledrum. Blade would not shut up for anything this side of the Eternal Realms, and Rezinhren had his hands full just trying to keep her in line. Poor fool, he wasn't exactly succeeding either…
Demon glowered down at her booted feet, as if those two innocent boots were the source of all that was evil and malignant in the world. She couldn't quite place the distinct feel of unease that plagued her. It seemed to Demon's unusual ears that a high-pitched, thin whining echoed throughout Spargus, and it set her teeth on edge like no other.
Both of you, put a cork in it. Now, am I hearing things? Do either of you hear that… that ringing?
All I hear is a couple of fool elves who don't know how to properly venerate a Dark Eco spirit such as myself, Blade replied cuttingly, crossing her arms over her chest in an expression of utmost arrogance and defiance.
All I hear is an annoying weakling who may meet a sticky end at the point of my sword, Rezinhren shot back, accompanying the statement with a flourish of a blade he had pulled from somewhere.
Ugh. This is not gonna be a fun life. Demon stuck one finger in one of her ears and jiggled it vigorously, trying and failing to shake the ringing from her ears.
"Enough," She finally growled. "I'm going home. And Blade? Shut the hell up. Now." For once the Dark Eco spirit did as she was told, falling silent with an angry glower in Rezinhren's direction.
Daxter was lazing on the couch at Jak's home, dreaming of female ottsels, food and whatever else sleeping ottsels dream about. Demon brought him rudely back to the waking world by deluging him with cold water.
"Hey, buddy, do you have any earmuffs around here?"
"No. We live in the middle of a desert. What good are earmuffs way out here?"
"Alright, I'll try again: do you have any cotton balls?"
"Yeah, in the bathroom. Why?"
Demon glared at the ottsel, only slightly cross-eyed. "If I can't get rid of this ringing in my ears I think I'm gonna lose my mind. And when I do, you'll be the first thing to die."
Daxter folded his arms across his chest. "I'd be amazed if you could even hit me. I'm not called Orange Lightning for nuthin'!"
Jak walked in, appearing oddly pale and haggard. His clothes were rumpled, his eyes deeply shadowed and his ears drooping, lending him a melancholic, woebegone and forlorn air.
"What Metal Head took a dislike to you?" Demon demanded. Jak just looked at her out of hollow, lifeless blue eyes.
"None that I know of. I'm just not feeling my best. And someone's coming towards Spargus."
"How do ya know that?"
"It's part of being the prince. I can feel everything inside Spargus. More of a curse than a blessing, really… that's not the point. Someone's out there, but they're smart enough to stay away from the scouts I sent out…"
Abruptly the whining in Demon's ears multiplied tenfold, becoming more of a threatening roar than an irritating hum. The she-elf staggered before dropping to one knee, bracing herself against the floor with her hands over her ears.
"Demon? Are… you okay?" Daxter queried, coming to stand in front of Demon with true concern in his eyes. Demon gazed blankly at him like an elf with no soul, pain blotting out every thought she had ever had.
Abruptly something exploded through the wooden floor of the living room- something large, spiky, winged and undoubtedly dangerous. Jak knew beyond doubt that this was a foe beyond him, for that matter beyond anyone he knew. There was only one option for getting rid of this thing and it was one that didn't appeal to him much… but sometimes an elf has to do what an elf has to do in order to survive.
It was so easy, almost too easy, to reach for the Darkness that had awoken within Jak after his two torturous years of Dark Eco experiments. All he had to do was think of Damas, of the times he could have had with him, and rage rose unbridled within him.
Snow-white spread across Jak's skin just as his already-dark eyes shifted to a pure, evil black. His fingernails lengthened to talons, horns burst from his brow and an aura of purple lightning surrounded Spargus' prince.
"Who goes?" Jak hissed, his voice once again the low, ripping-silk snarl of his Dark form. The thing in the living room just laughed a bone-chilling chuckle that rattled Jak's ribcage.
"My name is not for the likes of you to know… you may call me the Messenger. I come bearing news from my master, Lord Zasz. He wishes to speak to you face-to-face without delay."
No emotion showed on Jak's face, though confusion boiled in his mind. He had never heard of any Lord Zasz, and despite his bravery one thing Jak feared was the unknown.
"You can just tell your master that I don't wish to see him then," Jak returned fiendishly, grinning in a sharp-toothed, dangerous sort of way.
The Messenger snarled and took a threatening step in Jak's direction. It raised one huge, taloned hand and brought it rushing down as if to either capture or crush Jak.
Halfway there, the hand collided with a certain red-runed blade, wielded by a certain royally pissed she-elf. Demon bared her teeth in victory as the Messenger howled its agony, three of its fingers falling to the ground in a pool of greenish-brown gore.
"Leave, Messenger. Return to your masters sulking in the shadows, or the first life taken by this blade will be yours!"
Messenger drew back, cradling its bleeding hand against its chest. "You shall pay for that, foolish elf," Messenger snarled. Demon grinned in reply, baring her fangs and crouching with her blade across her knees.
"Bring it on."
A thoughtful, pensive light came into Messenger's cold black eyes. It seemed almost curious, as though testing Demon's resolve.
"I could kill you very easily," it rumbled. Demon just shook her head, completely unafraid.
"I'm aware, but in order to kill me you'd have to catch me. And face it, as large as you are there's no way you'd be able to. Plus I'm armed, you're not. When it comes to weaponry, I win."
The Messenger shook its head in amazement. He had never met a mortal not afraid of it, and the revelation disturbed him.
"Beware, elves. The storm is about to break over this city. Flee while you can, or death will be your reward." With that the Messenger dissolved in a cloud of black fire, leaving its severed fingers on the floor.
Jak struggled back into his usual form, once again locking away the anger that seemed to be an everyday part of his life since Damas' death. Demon watched his internal battle with cold eyes, sword still held easily, threateningly, by her side.
"So I'm not the only one with a Dark side," She finally remarked. There was no emotion in the she-elf's ruby eyes, just an icy professionalism that bordered on soullessness. Jak shuddered uncontrollably, transfixed by Demon's glare.
Abruptly a crossbow bolt soared through the window and slammed into the wall, leaving just the fletching visible. The all-too-familiar sound of distant gunshots mingling with the shrill screams only produced by pure, unadulterated fear floated through the open window.
Demon and Jak just looked at each other. Messenger's last words to them hadn't been a threat, but a warning.
Creatures were marching on Spargus.
Under waving pennants bearing a blood-drenched black sword on a white field came rank upon rank of … of monsters. Bristling spearpoints stretched as far as even Demon's eyes could see in every direction, yet not one of them was moving. It was one of those frozen moments where even the wisest has no clue as to what to do.
A tall male elf in black spiked armor came forward from the ranks of snarling beasts, bearing two flags: first, the white banner of peaceful approach, second the bloodstained black sword ensign that appeared to be the symbol for this group.
"Bring out your leader, elves." The elf commanded, planting the two banners in the desert soil.
Demon didn't like this elf. And when she didn't like someone, she had a tendency to be rash and foolish. And, she tended to take over situations when she was feeling rash and foolish.
"Bring out our leader? I think not. If you talk to anyone it will be to me. Now say your bit or clear out. You're defiling my desert, and I don't appreciate it." Demon spat menacingly. The man on the desert floor growled audibly, apparently not enjoying being talked down to by a female.
"Listen, girl, if you're the leader I'm an ottsel. Where's the King?"
Demon's ears had gone flat back against her skull. Murder rose in her crimson eyes, murder, bloodlust and pure fury. Her hands clenched until the talons drew blood, dripping onto the sandstone wall she stood upon like red diamonds. Out of nowhere she vaulted to the top of the wall and loosed a feral, enraged shriek of defiance and fury.
That wall Demon stood on was well over a hundred feet high, yet somehow the height never really registered in Demon's head. She just jumped off, landing a moment later in a perfect crouch with Darkflame drawn and held threateningly against the neck of the man who had insulted her.
"I could kill you, you know. But I won't do it. Taking your pathetic life would be an insult to my blade. Now. Why are you here? And why did you bring your pitiful little pets with you?"
The armored elf glared at Demon with eyes crimson enough to challenge hers. "Why am I here? I'll never tell. Why did I bring my pets? To destroy you all." Then the elf high-kicked, boot colliding solidly with Demon's nose. Cartilage cracked, audibly, and a tidal wave of crimson exploded across Demon's hollowed cheeks. The she-elf promptly fell over backwards, multicolored stars dancing in her vision. Concussion was immediate, not to mention very painful…
The armored elf stripped off his helmet, revealing an oddly handsome if deathly pale face marred only slightly by a jagged scar running from temple to chin. Casually he unbuckled his spiked gauntlets, letting the wicked weapons drop to the sand, before putting a heavy-booted foot on Demon's chest. Then he leaned down and ran one long, boney- and clawed!- finger along Demon's blood-slick cheek.
"What a pity… you're such a pretty little thing, even with all the blood... and here I was ready to kill you for talking back," The elf breathed softly, finger traveling lower into what Demon officially classified as 'no-touch-on-pain-of-death' territory.
"Just kill me. Get it over with," Demon replied hazily. Right about now, what with all the butterflies in her head, death would just about be welcome…
"Oh no, I can't kill you. Not yet. I haven't had my fun yet…" And miraculously, amazingly, Demon's head cleared. Her hand found her dropped blade in a flurry of motion and the next instant a gaping slash had appeared in the armored elf's gut.
And what did the elf do?
He stood there.
And he laughed.
Demon crouched on the sand, a bloody blade clutched in her shaking hand, and watched the mad-elf as he cackled to the skies. The sand beneath him was slowly turning even redder…
"Heh… fool. You think a sword can kill the likes of me?" Demon growled and lunged, stabbing with the sword towards the elf's chest. The blade went… clean through. As in, sticking out the elf's back.
"No. I'm no elf. I never was mortal. Remember the name Zasz when you think of me. Now… where were we?" The not-an-elf wrenched the blade from his chest and threw it to the sand, where it shattered like brittle glass. Zasz ran one finger down Demon's cheek before tilting her head up and leaning closer to do something Demon was immediately sure she would not enjoy. Zasz's malicious vermillion gaze bored into her red eyes, and she realized that there was more than a bit of lust in those eyes.
So she took her only option and bit the finger touching her.
Zasz drew his hand back, now short one pointer finger. Demon spat said finger out, growling through bloodstained teeth.
"Now you've made me annoyed," the not-an-elf remarked mildly. Then he literally picked Demon up by the throat and threw her, not just into the air… but over the wall and back into Spargus.
Raleigh, standing watch where he had been all day- on the cannon tower in the bay, completely and sadly alone- noticed that an oddly large bird was flying very low over Spargus' outermost wall. Then he noticed that said bird had arms… no wings… black hair… a bladed tail…and… oh no.
"Unless I'm a kanga-rat that's no bird," He growled, jumping to his feet. Then he was off, shifting to his feline form in mid-stride.
No stranger was Raleigh to death, but when it came to his friends- or in reality, friend, singular- death petrified him. It felt to Raleigh that he was walking into his worst, most dreaded nightmare when he finally found the not-a-bird he had seen from the cannon tower.
It was Demon.
The she-elf lay twisted onto her side, her own Dark Eco-laced blood forming a black pool around her. Her lithe, willowy limbs lay still, forbiddingly so, limp against the ground and bent at unnatural angles. But her face… oh gods her face… was peaceful, not pained in the least. Raleigh shook more than slightly, struggling to place where he had seen that serene, calm look before. Then it slammed into him with all the force of a freight train. It was the look of an elf at peace with the world, an elf forever drifting on the tides of death beyond the light of life.
Raleigh was fully elven and crouching, cradling Demon's broken body in his arms, when Jak and Daxter finally found him. Silent, unnoticed tears flowed down the Shadow Eco spirit's disbelieving face, tears mixed somehow with blood.
"Who did this?" were the only words Raleigh could choke out before he lowered his head, slender shoulders shaking with barely contained sobs.
"We don't know," Jak replied hoarsely, barely keeping his own dismay at arm's length. The realization that he had just lost… a friend? Or was Demon just an ally? Or was she something more than that? Fate had robbed Jak of the chance of ever finding out- hadn't really sunk in yet. It probably never would.
Raleigh had long known that eventually his friendship with Demon would come to this. He was, after all, immortal, while Demon was destined to eventually die. He had resigned himself to this fact long ago… but to lose his only friend, his all, his Demon, to have her so violently ripped from his side… It hurt, stung more profoundly than the burn of a dragon's breath or the cold bite of a razor-edged sword. Nothing could match the burning, aching pain throbbing dully in Raleigh's heart and soul.
The sun was casting its final red rays over Spargus. Red… red, like blood. It seemed even the sun had its respects to pay, a fact that stabbed into Raleigh's heart like a poisoned dagger. There was no denying it… Demon was beyond reach now.
Raleigh wanted to cry… again… but there were no tears left in him, only a throbbing, burning ache that no amount of Green Eco could heal. Yet somewhere under all the pain and shock a hard kernel of pure fury laid hidden deep.
Seeing nothing, feeling nothing, Raleigh laid Demon's body straight upon the sand, gently closing her glazed red eyes with one finger. Task finished, he sunk to his knees beside Demon oblivious to the world. There was nothing left for Raleigh now, no reason to live, nothing to fight for.
"What's the point of it all? Just when it seems all will eventually come to rights… I lose everything. Am I simply destined to be lonely? Fated to live on forever, never befriended, never anything more than a ghost in the night?" He whispered to the unfeeling evening. How familiar these lamentations were, how cursed but inescapable…
Slowly Raleigh raised his head to the sky, loosing a keening howl of grief, loss and mourning. There would never be another to walk beside him, never another to pat him on the shoulder and tell him that somehow everything would be alright…
Never again would there be anything completely concrete or unquestionable in Raleigh's mind. There would always be questions that he couldn't answer, all the more because of Demon's demise. But of one thing he was sure: Demon would not go unavenged. Iron resolve flooded into Raleigh's broken heart, lighting blazing fires in his amethystine eyes.
Demon's murderer would not escape. That he had to believe.
A/N: So whaddaya think? It was kinda hard to write this considering how fond I've grown of Demon, but… yeah. You'll see why I'm not crying next chapter… Oh, no, I'm not evil, whatever gave you that idea?
Oh… REVIEW! (please)