Finally, I get to some action in this chapter! Sorry it took so long! This was one of my favorites to write, hope you guys like it!
Remember: In my story Jak is just related to Mar.
Chapter 6: Two Sides of Fate
Even after the gate was repaired and the Marauders didn't appear to be coming back at the moment, Keira, Jak, Ashelin and Torn chose to stay in Spargus. The four were all in agreement that the city was much more beautiful than Haven and a good change of scenery.
It was January 3rd, but warm and humid in the desert. Samos had just arrived with Trajan and King Damas, Keira and Jak greeted them as the Sage stepped out of the sky car. Keira quickly scooped up her son and kissed him; it had been a while since the parents had seen their son.
"He looks like you, Jak," Damas said admiring the baby for the first time. Jak smiled happily in return, tugging playfully at Trajan's foot.
Kissing Jak on the cheek affectionately, Keira then whispered that she was going to go and talk with her father. The young King of Haven was only too glad to take his son on a little walk.
Damas joined the father and son, and they walked out to the middle of the city where the sea pounded on the cliff faces, sending the spray into the air. Jak breathed deeply, letting the fresh, salty air fill his lungs. He looked at the tall, imposing King walking next to him, and seeing a troubled look on his face, asked the obvious.
"Is something wrong?"
Damas seemed to snap out of a daydream, shifting his gaze to the ground, "Its Claire...This time of the year..." he didn't finish but Jak looked at him, his look urging the Desert King to go on.
"January 14th would be my youngest son's seventh birthday...It was her only child...She hasn't dealt with it well these past two years since he went missing..."
"Oh...The 14th is my birthday too..."Jak said sort of off subject, but then he thought of something, "I thought you said you had two sons?" he asked.
"I do...did...Claire is my second wife...My first died soon after my oldest son, Mik, was taken."
"You mean they were kidnapped at two different times?" Jak said, slightly shocked.
"Yes...Five years apart...Mik was taken when he was fourteen...and Mar, when he was only five..." Damas replied, trying to keep himself from getting emotional.
Mar? Five years old? Jak thought to himself, thinking what a bizarre similarity that was. What if-?
"Come with me..."Jak said, still trying to unfurl the mystery...Could that little boy...be him? Son of the Wasteland King? He needed to talk to Samos, now.
Jak sped off, holding Trajan tightly as he headed towards the lavish quarters that Damas had put them in. Confused, Damas asked what they were doing, but received no response.
Hastily, Jak walked in the door of a building nearby Damas's own Palace. He knocked on his and Keira's room door loudly, not even waiting for an answer before he walked in.
"Jak, what are you doing?" Keira asked inquisitively as he pushed Trajan in he arms and marched towards her father.
"Samos!" Jak said with a wild look in his eye, Damas still following him, "How old was I when you took me from Haven...to Sandover?"
Samos looked surprised at the off question and looked upwards in thought, tapping his chin.
"Well if the date inscribed on the back of your amulet was correct, you had just turned five. Why?"
"A Seal of Mar Amulet?" Damas almost shouted, coming out in front of Jak, getting in the old Sage's face.
"Yes..." Samos didn't understand where this was all leading to.
The older King stared at Jak, studying his features, which were much like his own, despite his own graying hair.
"But how? You cannot possibly be-" Damas looked back and forth between Jak and Samos. Keira stood on the side, just as confused as her father.
"Damas," Jak spoke, gaining everyone's attention, "I was taken by Samos back in time...I don't know how to even explain this without sounding completely crazy, but..." Jak watched as the perplexed King stared at the Green Sage with a fuming glare. "No! Samos didn't kidnap me, he found me in Haven..."
Samos added a nod in agreement.
"Somehow...we," Jak motioned to Keira and Samos, "Came forward in time...back to Haven almost three years ago..." Jak continued on about his two years of hell and torture in jail and the rest of his adventures with the Underground, along with taking down Kor and discovering part of his past and his younger self.
An hour later, Damas's mouth hung ajar with all the things he had just learned. His son, even thought fourteen years older than he was supposed to be...was alive, standing right before him; King of the neighboring City.
How could I have not seen it before...He thought to himself. He took a step towards Jak, a little uneasy at first, but then went forward and embraced Jak in a 'manly' hug.
Surprised at first, he just patted Damas on the back in return; but then he thought about it, This is my father, and hugged back with feeling.
"Claire...your mother," Damas began, suddenly pulling back from their embrace and gripping Jak by the shoulders, "We must tell her!"
The desert King turned around quickly to go out the door and almost bumped into Keira. She flashed him a megawatt smile and held up Trajan towards him slightly.
"I have...a grandson..." Damas said slowly, taking the baby. He had almost forgotten with all the excitement with finding out about Jak.
Keira walked over to her husband-to-be and kissed him on the cheek. The mechanic could tell by his twitchiness how thrilled and happy he was to find his parents, however odd the circumstances were.
When they told Claire, they got much the same reaction as Damas had had.
The silent Queen seemed to awaken from her depressing trance and became quite lively. She looked her son over noting his green roots, which had doubt come from her. Claire threw her arms around Jak and began to cry. It was so strange...Having seen her son two years ago at age five, then seeing him in front of her now almost 20 years old.
"I can't believe it..." Claire said as she backed up from Jak and took her husband's arm, smiling up at him.
Jak smiled at the happy scene that played out before him until he heard something odd, like a low rumble coming from outside. Damas noticed the change in his expression and began to also hear the growing noise.
The walls vibrated slowly, and loose rubble began falling from the ceiling. Jak's communicator began to ring and the two Kings exchanged worried glances. He picked it up and hear the familiar sounds of chaos in battle.
"Jak!" Ashelin's voice filled the room followed by static.
"Ashelin?" Jak called back in the comm.
Two guards barged in and bowed before Damas, signaling something was definitely going on. The older King grabbed his large gun, one that much resembled Sig's peacemaker, and adjusted the armor on his chest. He looked over to Jak who kissed Keira on the forehead and patted his son on the head.
"Stay here with Claire. I love you," Jak said to her and caught a gun that the older king had tossed to him.
Damas and Jak hurried down to the city followed by several Wasteland guards. A twinge of fear gripped the King of Spargus as he was told and saw that a mass of Marauders had infiltrated the city. All around, flaming boulders were hurtling at the city, destroying everything.
Thank the Precursors that Jak had decided to let several troops of Krimzon Guards stay in Spargus, or the city would already be lost.
Old habits die hard as Jak engaged himself in the fight. It was no surprise when he had already shot down eight Marauders by the end of five minutes; he had been itching to use a gun on real targets for quite some time now.
The blonde warrior's trigger finger was a blur of motion as it brought down the sword and other melee weapon wielding enemies.
All of a sudden, he noticed he had separated from Damas and looked around him.
Taking the opportune moment, a sword slashed at Jak's unarmored thigh. Jak shouted as he felt the immediate pain and turned to shoot a round into the blade's owner. Oddly, the pain stopped and he glanced down to the tear in his shorts to see only a small blood stain, but not gash or sign of a cut.
He didn't have time to think about the missing wound and noticed something coming up from behind him out of the corner of his eye. It was times like this he wished he still had his enhanced dark powers.
Not ten minutes later, the gun Damas had given Jak jammed, forcing him to use the body of the firearm as a substitute weapon.
Smashing his way through with blunt force, he finally met up with a group of KGs near the beach.
"Where's Torn?" Jak yelled to a nearby guard who pointed toward a heavily armored elf, who at the moment was sticking his curved dagger into the back of an unsuspecting Marauder.
Jak ran towards the tattooed elf, knocking one of the many enemies in the face on the way.
"Got an extra gun?" Jak shouted, holding up his own bloody and broken one. Torn reached down to his ankle holster, grabbing his pistol and shoving it into Jak's hands.
Together the group of about six headed towards Damas's Palace for he feared for Keira and Claire, and what might happen if their foes found them.
As they got deeper into the city, the resistance from the Marauders seemed to get worse. A few houses along the way were burning now, and Jak felt a sickening knot form in the pit of his stomach. They turned down the alleyway that led to Spargus's Palace and Jak gestured for their pace to quicken.
Less than twenty yards away from the doors into the Palace, Jak's worst fears were displayed in front of him. He gave a slight cry and Torn looked to him, watching his friend's face go pale as he broke apart from the cluster, unleashing Hell on any opponent that dared to cross his path.
The automated doors were blown apart and smoking, no enemies nearby at that point. Jak took the barely-safe elevator to the floor above the Throne Room, where he had last seen Keira, Trajan and his mother.
Meanwhile, outside, the reinforcements that Torn had called for finally made it, putting an end to the devastating attack.
There's a little cliffhanger for ya.
So I'm starting to introduce Jak's light powers a little bit.
Hope the action was satisfying enough and sorry Damas is starting to get so sappy! Tell me what you think!!
