Darker by the Day
By JakAndTornSweetheart
Disclaimer: I own no rights to either Jak and Daxer: The Precursor Legacy or Jak II: Renegade. I am merely an avid and obsessed fan.
Full Summary: After a harsh arrival in Haven City, Keira loses new friends in the destruction of Dead Town. Seeking revenge, she joins the newly-formed Underground and takes on a new persona. With a new, darker look and attitude, along with Torn's guidance, she becomes the Underground's lead soldier; all the while searching for her friends and completing side missions to fund her reconstruction of the Rift Rider. When she and Jak are reunited, they must cope with the changes in themselves as well as the changes in the one they love the most, and fight a war at the same time.
Begins in The Precursor Legacy and leads into Jak II and throughout. Follows the games for the most part, and has no major changes to storyline except for Keira.
Chapter I
Life After Gol and Maia
Keira Hagai, the daughter of the great Samos the Sage and mechanic extraordinaire, was for the first time in her life beside herself over what she should do. Her childhood friend, someone who quite possibly would turn out to be the love of her life, was fighting against Gol and Maia in their Precursor Robot that was easily one hundred times his size. Jak and his now-fuzzy best friend Daxter had the power of eco on their side, but Keira didn't know if it would be enough. The silo of dark eco was nearly open and she could see Jak in the distance, struggling to jump over their fire ring attacks while using yellow eco to destroy the robot's gun. He had gone so far and fought so hard to get here; collecting power cells and Precursor orbs, fighting off Lurker after Lurker at every turn, and slowly making his way through the dangers of the citadel to free the Sages. If only he could destroy this last gun, the power of the Sages would somehow save them and she and Jak could get back to a peaceful life at Sandover Village. If only…
Her complete focus was on the raging battle before her. She wasn't aware of the Sages beside her, the high altitude, the ledge she was so close to stepping over with the instinctive desire to go to him, or any of her other surroundings. There was nothing for her to lean on except her faith in Jak's ability to win this fight, and even that seemed to fade as Jak was hit twice in a row by the searing blaze of the fire rings. One more hit and it would be all over. She would lose everything she had ever known and have to live in a hellish world controlled by Gol and Maia and their abuse of dark eco. Her heart was pounding even as she held her breath. Jak was so close to destroying the robot's gun. Just a little more…
Relief washed through her as Jak avoided the last wave of fire rings and finally destroyed the gun. She would have screamed out in triumph had she not had to desperately catch her breath from holding it so long. Emotion welled up in her and tears sprang to her eyes in disbelief that he had actually done it. He had defeated the robot and now some Sagely power would save them all. The four rays of eco combined to form pools of a new type of eco, one that Keira had only heard of before today. 'That's not… that's light eco! Oh, thank the Precursors!" With the power of light eco, Keira knew that Jak could obliterate the robot and destroy Gol and Maia once and for all. Her adrenaline surged again as the robot deployed the hovering bombs in attempt to destroy Jak and his efforts before he could reach the light eco he needed to defeat them. 'Go, Jak…Go, go go… hurry!' She was sure her heart would explode in anticipation as he seemed to move in slow motion, leaping across the open silo to the pool of white eco. 'Please...'
She longed to shut her eyes, to look away from the horrific scene in front of her, the outcome of which would decide the fate of the world. But she couldn't. Her eyes stayed defiantly open and she had no choice but to watch. And in the next second, she was glad she didn't miss a thing. It seemed to happen all at once and last for hours all in the same instant. Jak landed on the other side of the silo after nearly falling into the massive pool of dark eco and channeled the white eco through his body, making himself the ultimate weapon against the Precursor Robot and the villains controlling it. With a cry full of anger, relief, and triumph, Jak released an eco blast and demolished the robot just seconds before the hover bombs would have detonated. The head, which contained the evil twins Gol and Maia, fell into the deep pit of dark eco and the door to the silo slammed shut, never to be opened again. They had won. Everything was over. Everything was going to be fine. Everything was going to be normal again… for a while anyway. With Jak around, life never seemed to be normal.
Although Jak was now out of danger, she still couldn't break her gaze from him. She watched him celebrate with his friend after hopping onto the Precursor platform that had floated to them. The strange surge of desire slammed through her suddenly as she watched his hips sway during a part of their victory dance. That image along with the confident smirk and stance he gave to finish off the dance was enough to make her knees go weak.
As they stepped off the platform, Keira vaguely heard her father commend the two heroes for their bravery and accomplishments. Now that everyone was starting to surround them, she needed to think about something, anything, but Jak. For once, Daxter was her solution, so half heartedly she said, "But Daxter, now we can't change you back." She was surprised at how concerned she sounded. Maybe she didn't think so badly of him after all.
"Don't worry about me, baby. You know what they say… big things come in small packages," Daxter replied. 'On second thought… he is just as bad as I thought he was.' Keira just rolled her eyes and brushed off the joke and possible come on.
Keira was startled at the sound of the Blue Sage's voice, having never heard it before and strangely not expecting him to speak up.
"Jak, you have an incredible talent for channeling eco! Samos, you may have been right about this one after all," he praised. Keira couldn't help but wonder what exactly that meant. She had never heard about her father boasting about Jak to anyone before today. Samos had always called him lazy and trouble making and incompetent even when he did exactly as he was told. Had the Blue Sage gotten his wires crossed or something?
Her thoughts were interrupted when the Red Sage was the next to speak, directing his praise at her. "And Keira, without your help and ingenuity, none of this would have been possible. Perhaps we've found another sage, now that Gol and Maia are lost," he ended on a solemn note. Keira, despite the comparison to the evil villains who had nearly destroyed the entire world and the person she cared about most, blushed at his compliments. Everyone turned to look out at the silo as Samos contemplated whether or not the dark eco had truly destroyed the two former friends. Her breath hitched as she felt someone grab her hand and pull her to the side.
Without words, Jak told her to be silent so as not to let the others know they were alone. Her heart was racing and her palms were sweating at finally being able to be this close to him. And what's more, she knew he wanted her there. When she looked at him, at the emotion in his eyes, she saw that he was just as nervous and confused as she was. With a squeeze to her hand and an intense look in his eyes, he tried to convey what he meant, what he felt for her, and what she hoped she felt for him. But without words, Keira couldn't fully understand the depth of his gesture. So he attempted a more drastic indication. He pulled her closer to him and leaned in only slightly. That she understood. When he saw her leaning toward him in return, their eyes closed and sheer anticipation washed over them. She could feel his breath brush her lips and his arms tighten their hold on her in subconscious fear that she might back away. But she had no intention of moving an inch. Nothing could keep her from him now… nothing, that is, except for the furry hand that was now pushing her face away from Jak's.
"Whoa! Put it on ice, big guy!" came Daxter's smart remark as he held them away from each other. At first, all the couple could do was stare at him in disbelief. They had been in the moment, ready to share their feelings in one of the most romantic gesture they could manage. Emotions and thoughts ran wild between them, what with the adrenaline rush after saving the world and all, and the moment was simply perfect. But now it was ruined, possibly never to be regained, all because of Daxter.
Keira had always prided herself on her snappy wit, mechanical genius, and killer instincts in the most modest of ways. And right now, it took all the patience in the world for her to fight the instinct to smack the hell out of Daxter. After stealing glances at Jak for so many months, creating excuses to talk to him throughout this whole adventure, and be forced to watch him risk his life for everyone, she was finally given the chance to kiss her shy mute. And Daxter had ruined it for her. Amazingly, she settled for a fierce glare in his direction instead of strangling the air of his lungs.
As Daxter hopped back down to the ground and propped his weight against one of Jak's calves, Kiera's eyes went back to Jak. His eyes didn't meet her. In fact, he was avoiding eye contact at all possible costs, looking everywhere but at her with a slight blush gracing his cheeks. The bashful mute was back. The moment had truly vanished and she felt a strange pang in her heart; the same feeling you get when you watch a building crumble knowing there are people still inside. Except in this case, it was Keira's heart that crumbled, with her hope for romance trapped inside and doomed to perish.
Movement caught the corner of her eye and she gave on last look at Jak before sighing and following the Sages toward the large, mysterious Precursor entryway. Her mechanical mind immediately whirred to life as she began to examine the massive wonder, and instantly she was fascinated. Keira had always loved trying to unlock the mysteries of the Precursor artifacts, and it had quickly become a time-consuming hobby. Her eyes scanned over the design of the indentations in the door and counted them with inhuman speed and efficiency. She smirked slightly as the dots connected in her head almost immediately. As if reading her thoughts, her father exclaimed, "Holy yakow! What could that be?"
"It's an ancient Precursor door!" she replied, not able to contain her excitement. "It looks like it will only open if we fill all one hundred holes with power cells."
"Ah, we're heroes, remember? We have one hundred power cells," Daxter said. Keira couldn't help but flinch as his smart reply seemed to grate against her nerves. Everyone jumped when the power cells from Jak's pack started to emerge and float to their destined position. For Keira, a lover of all things Precursor, it was like watching fireflies dance in the summertime. It was beautiful.
Samos only smiled. 'So the old grump was right after all…'
When all of the power cells were in place, the seal of the door was broken with a loud, booming noise and bright light poured outward from inside to momentarily blind them from seeing what had been kept behind the door.
"Wow! What is it?" Daxter asked at seeing the strange-looking hunk of metal that seemed to be some sort of vehicle.
Dreamily, Keira marveled, "It's so beautiful…"
Samos recognized the machine, having used it to travel back here from Haven City with young Jak over 18 years ago. It looked the same as it did when he and the other sages stored it here. And despite his knowledge of its existence, the fact that it had basically maintained its condition still amazed him. "By the Precursors!" he said, tapping the floor with his staff in emphasis of his amazement. With a confirmed glance to his fellow friend, the Blue Sage, he began the explanation that they had all planned those many years ago. He only hoped his old age hadn't caused him to forget what he was supposed to say. With convincing emotion, he asked, "What is this amazing Precursor contraption? And don't touch anything, Daxter!" The ottsel had already outgrown his curiosity enough to want to see what the machine could do, and was reaching to touch one of the handrails.
Keira's curiosity was a different case. She was beyond excitement as she began to examine from afar the newfound machine that could quite possibly have come from the Precursors. Her usual quiet and informative side disappeared as she gave way to the little girl inside of her. Jak raised an eyebrow when she couldn't restrain her small squeal and ran her hand along the side of it. Her hand smoothed over the cold metal siding and across what seemed to be jet boosters in the back. It didn't look like any of the other Precursor artifacts she had found, so perhaps it wasn't made by the Precursors, but it did seem to be made for transportation. But by whom?
The Blue Sage stepped up to stand beside her as he seemed to consider the machine as well. "Hmm…" he contemplated. "Surely this cannot be. I have heard of such a thing but was sure that none existed."
"What?" came everyone's excited reply.
"This… is a Rift Rider. It's a device that can be used with that Rift Ring," he paused, gesturing to the large Precursor ring on the far side of the room, "to travel to places only one can imagine. But I have not heard of anyone ever using one. No one knows for sure what might happen…" He stopped and notice that all eyes were on him as if they expected him to continue. "What… is there something on my face?"
Keira, bustling with anticipation, didn't bother to laugh before asking, "You know how this works? Can you show me? Can we still use it? Where did it come from? How do you know about it in the first place? And…"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Miss Keira! Not all at once. I know very little about the machine myself, but I'm sure that with the proper positioning of the Ring and the Rider, it's possible that we could…"
"We must get this to my lab!" she exclaimed happily, clapping her hands in satisfaction. Everyone else just looked at her, dumfounded by her declaration.
"Whoa! Let me guess," Daxter broke in, "by we, you really mean me and Jak must get this to the lab? Well let me tell you something missy, it ain't happenin'! We've had to fight Lurkers, travel across canyon after canyon of hot lava, and battle a frikkin' giant Precursor Robot! We're done for today." After his speech, the little ottsel puffed out his chest and crossed his arms in defiance. Jak nudged him with his foot, and Dax looked up to see Jak's assertive glare that reminded him of his earlier interruption, meaning that they owed Keira this favor. "Awww… Jak? Can't we start all this tomorrow?" he begged, but was only met by Jak's unmoving expression. "Aww, man."
Jak grunted as he lowered the last piece of the Rift Ring into the pile. Sweat dripped off him as he gave a sigh of relief that the task, and the day, was finally over. It turned out that the Blue Sage helped in the transportation of the Rift Rider, being the master of blue eco and all, but the Ring had to be broken down into pieces and moved by hand all the way to Keira's lab. He didn't think it would have been this much of a job, but those pieces, despite their lightweight look, were damned heavy. His muscles hurt like hell and his bed was looking awfully good right about now. He turned around to see Keira approaching him with a tray of red and yellow swirled drinks. He smiled, happy to see her and even happier to see the delicious juice she carried.
Keira returned his smile, saying, "I brought you some iced juice. I thought you might want some, and since I wasn't much help lifting…" She left the sentence unfinished and held out the tray for him to choose his glass.
Jak flashed her an even bigger smile before turning up a glass eagerly and quickly emptying its contents. The ice clinked against the bottom as he placed it back on the tray, giving a satisfied "Ah" at the refreshing chill that soothed his throat. He nodded a thanks at Keira.
"Was it good?" she asked, wanting him to appreciate her special twist in making the tropical fruit juice. He nodded several times with that same, adorable smile. "Well in that case, you can have as much as you want," she said, holding out the tray for him to take another glass. He complied and downed a second glass almost as fast as the first. With another nod, he started toward the bridge to his Uncle's house. "You're leaving… already?" she inquired timidly, putting down the tray of drinks on a nearby table in her lab. She hated sounding like a lovesick little girl, but she figured it couldn't hurt since he already had an idea of how she felt about him. If only he knew just how much…
He nodded in answer to her question and slowly started toward the bridge, but stopped. Keira stood still in anticipation, hoping against hope that he might turn back and keep her company… or something, anything so that he didn't have to leave. She watched as he carefully looked around him, as if looking for someone in particular. Suddenly, he spun on his heels and approached her in long strides. Her heart pounded in her chest at seeing the determined look in his strong, smooth features. "Jak?"
It seemed to all happen so fast. She released a squeak of surprise just before he closed the distance between their lips.
Despite his hard approach, the kiss was anything but. His lips held her softly, lingering, awaiting her reaction. But she couldn't react… she couldn't even move. The strange feel of his lips resting against hers shocked her so much that she didn't know what to do. Where were her hands supposed to go? How was she supposed to move her lips correctly? Was she supposed to lean into him? What was she supposed to do?
Jak's own heart pounded and his palms sweat, so nervous that she would reject him somehow or back away from him. He wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms, but he knew he should wait. Why wasn't she moving? Then finally, ever so slowly her hands slid up his arms and circled around his neck as she responded to his kiss. Their kiss was slow, innocent, searching. Their lips came together again and again in an inexperienced rhythm. Needless to say, her head was simply swimming with newfound emotion.
She thought that when they were on top of the citadel that she had lost her one and only chance with Jak. But now, to have seen him approach her with that look in his eyes and to feel his soft, wet lips against her own was… unbelievable. She had finally received what she had only dreamed of before. She sighed as he gathered her into his arms with the utmost care and deepened the kiss, exploring the depth of her mouth with his tongue somewhat sloppily. Keira, in turn explored his mouth carefully, not knowing what to expect. Jak was the first to break away breathlessly.
Keira looking in his eyes and knew. "You have to go, don't you?" And to her dismay, he nodded. "Alright… go ahead," she said as she slipped her hand into his. "Goodnight," she finished sweetly. He smiled at her and kissed her goodnight before making his way to his uncle's house for some well-earned sleep. Large, green eyes watched as his figure faded into the darkness of the twilight.
For Jak and Keira, the next month was filled with stolen kisses, shameless flirting, and hours upon hours of hard work, constructing the Rift Gate and Rider of course. Although one day when it was particularly sunny, they took a break to play net ball at Sentinel Beach with a few other townies. All sported swimwear, but Jak only noticed Keira's. She had worn a deep red two-piece much like the color of her wrist guards and boots that she usually wore, and it nicely contrasted with her greenish-blue hair while complimenting her slender figure. Jak's desire to be with Keira in more ways than one grew stronger every day, and that alluring suit had tempted both their fates that day. Keira had so far been able to set the boundaries on how far things could go, but things were going further and further each time they could sneak a kiss. Jak knew that he could wait forever for Keira to be ready, if that's what it took, but his urges were getting harder and harder to ignore. Perhaps he needed to concentrate on something other that Keira's body. Perhaps it was time to set his plan into action.
The morning after the net ball game, Keira woke to the dawn's sunlight shining in through her window and onto her face as always. She sat up and stretched, faintly remembering the lovely dream she had been having. Jak was involved, still in the blue swimming trunks he had been wearing that amazingly matched his eyes, as well as some exotic fruit, a waterfall, and a soft pallet of grass, but she couldn't quite remember everything.
Rubbing her eyes, she pushed back her covers and got out of bed. After changing into her usual clothes and eating a quick breakfast, she made her way to the lab, juice still in hand. The Rift Rider sat in the middle of the lab, and she smiled at its presence. She had spent the last few weeks, almost nonstop, taking the vehicle apart and learning how it worked as well as testing it to make sure it was still operational. Now the Rider had been reassembled and she was nearly done with her project. She couldn't wait for tomorrow, the day when they would finally get to see what the Rift Rider could do, and where it would take them. She was absolutely glowing with excitement.
Eager to get straight to work, she sat her juice down a side-tray that held all her frequently used tools and noticed a folded piece of paper that had not been there before. It stood on its edges so that it looked like a mini tent, and on the outside was her name written with delicate care. She looked around her lab and then down at the village to see who might have left the note, but found nothing besides the usual slow goings-on of the village below. Curiosity seized her, and she warily picked up the note and read:
Keira,
Meet me a half hour before sunset in the village. I have a surprise for you. Dress to impress (you always do) and come hungry. See you tonight.
Jak
A smile spread across her face at the thought of an evening with Jak. She wondered what exactly he was planning, and then she wondered what she would wear. However, before she could even think about tonight, she had to finish the last touches she would make to the Rift Rider for tomorrow's test run. 'What an exciting day this will be!' she thought to herself. If only Keira knew what that night had in store for her…
To Be Continued…
Author's Note –
Well… that's the end. I had originally planned it as only a stopping point in the first chapter, but Jak's plans took a life of their own and sort of became their own chapter. And since it was taking so long to finish writing it, I decided to make two chapters out of this instead of just one – even though I really wanted to jump right into Haven City on the second chapter, but oh well. Hope it was enjoyable. Things are all happy-go-lucky right now, but it is called Darker by the Day for a reason. I should be updating soon since the second chapter is almost done already, but don't get used to it. I try to update quickly, but sometimes (er, most times) it just doesn't end up happening. Lol. Please review! - JATS
