A/N - Sorry, sorry, SORRY for the long wait (ducks to avoid possible things being thrown at her)! I am truly sorry about it, but again, my homework's taking its toll on me and so is this influenza+.+ But here it is, the next chapter in the series. Hope it's going to be worth the wait - but why don't you just tell me through a review;) Anyway, 29 reviews, that's a lot for me, so THANKS everyone! 29 - that's just over 7 per chapter. Does that mean it'll have 70 reviews when we get to chapter ten? o.O Nah, just kidding, I don't expect that many!
Well, on with the review-thanks!
Kyrie Sanctus - Why, THANKS! Yeah, Jak does need to get someone to help him sort out all of his problems, he really does, that angry guy! Heh, they're rather mean, aren't they? Oh well, got to let the mean side get a little space too;) Anyway, here you go, a whole new chapter with another cliffie (giggles meanly)!
DarkMistress950 - I appreciate the help, it's got my fever-laiden braincells working again - somewhat. I won't promise that the idea will go in there exactly as you've said, but it's close, so I hope you'll survive? Enjoy this chappie and keep coming with ideas if you want to:D
Hellmouth2 - It's alright you didn't review, for you did with the last one. But yeah, it is difficult sometimes, and it's great to hear people appreciate my efforts. Makes me want to write faster (the fact that I don't have the time for it is a minor detail) so you can read the next bit.
Nirvana Seiga - Yes, you are making sense to me. But should I tell you or should I just let you read the next part? No, I'm not a mean person, so don't worry, Jak won't die - yet. Perhaps he will later, who knows? Sure, I'd love to have you as a beta, so sorry that I haven't mailed this bit to you, but I decided I wanted to post this bit and then you can go through the next part in peace. How's that?
cin-min - Thanks, and enjoy the next bit:)
Blaze0017 - I'm really, truly sorry about the wait and about my lack of reviewing! I am! Glad you like it, cause I do and it's sad when things you've made and like yourself isn't like by anybody else!
Star Earo - Well, there's a first for everything, right? For everyone's information I always try to do something new and different from what everybody else does. Sometimes it works rather well and sometimes it doesn't. :S (giggle) No, no zombies - any kind of zombies make me laugh and then if I can't be serious about it it won't be very convincing either. O.o
jak4snape - See, I TOLD you I was going to update today, didn't I;) :D And no, still won't tell you about Torn's feelings, sorry.
Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognize, sadly enough. But the little girl in the end of the fic is my original character, so keep your hands off her, if you don't ask for permission to borrow!
Warnings - Same warnings as last chapter, miss Sophie? Same warnings as every chapter, James (sorry, the quote was just to brilliant not to use, though with moderations)!
Nem - So, now I can't delay it anymore, here comes chapter 5! Oh, yeah, the chapter title is another quote, ten points if you can figure out where from. I'll give you a hint - it's from a rather unusual movie.
Chapter 5 - Gone Again
"Nothing," he breathed. "It was nothing – just a dream. A stupid, meaningless dream." Even to his own ears he didn't sound very convincing, and his racing heart and lungs definitely did not listen to him.
If it was nothing, then why is your heart aching and pounding like that? A little voice sounded in his head.
Torn snarled at the voice, having heard it frequently in his youth and cursing it for not being able to stay out of his mind forever. "I was having a freaking NIGHTMARE, what do you expect?" he angrily shouted. Luckily there was nobody else around in the hideout to hear his outburst.
Ah, don't even consider lying to me, Torn. You know that I can see what you really feel, the voice smirked, then it disappeared.
"I feel nothing for that little brat, if that's what you think," Torn snarled, even angrier than before. "He's a member of the Underground like so many else, and he will be treated as such."
For some reason he couldn't really grasp he turned his head to look at the clock. Shit – he must have slept far longer than he had thought. Funny. The dream seemed to have begun almost as soon as he fell asleep and it definitely hadn't been that long a dream. Or had it?
Groaning Torn got up and walked over to his desk, stretching his back as he went. Squinting he looked at the maps, but he was barely able to make out his own scribbles even when he put his head very close to the papers.
"Either I need better light, readable writing, some more sleep or maybe it's about time I got some glasses," he muttered absently to himself, then chuckled at the vision of himself wearing reading glasses that popped into his head.
Frowning a little he searched through the enormous pile of papers on his desk to find something that he maybe was able to read. Whilst searching with his hand without really looking at it, he suddenly found something that most certainly wasn't a piece of paper.
"What the heck is this thing?" Torn grumbled as he put the object in front of his face to examine it more closely. It was a very strange device indeed. It looked like a long stick of metal, but there were little thingies on it that seemed to glow with an inner light and a couple of places there were some antennas or whatever it was sticking out.
The ex-KG examined it very thoroughly, looking at it from every angle possible and he kept gliding his hands over it to find out what it was, but no matter how hard he thought he couldn't figure it out.
But then his index-finger accidentally moved over some kind of touch pad or something of the likes and a bright red ray shot out from one end of the device. Luckily for Torn it was coming from the end pointing away from him.
Torn swiftly removed his finger and dropped the thing on his desk. It turned off when the finger left the touch pad, but the fairly long red ray that had already been fired wasn't satisfied by merely go into the wall and disintegrate. It had to go ricocheting around the room and Torn was forced to dive under one of the bunk beds to avoid being hit and probably end up being very much dead.
He waited for some time while the ray kept bouncing around the room, scorching a poster here and making a hole in his zoomer there. Finally it hit the wall one last time and disappeared.
Slowly he made his way out from under the bed, scowling at himself for having to hide there like a five year old who's afraid mommy will come and find him and beat him. He knew it had been the wisest thing to do and that being angry about it wouldn't help, but it didn't make him very much calmer.
"That's got to be Vin," he breathed as he leaned against the wall and stared at the seemingly innocent piece of instrument. "Only a totally paranoid maniac like Vin could have thought of making such a dangerous tool."
He stood for a moment, contemplating what to do with the thing. He definitely didn't want to have it lying around his quarters and he doubted it would be wise to just leave it around somewhere in the Underground hideout. Should he give it to Jak, then? Surely the blond could use the device to kill some more guards. But then on the other hand, the rat would probably get his paws on it – seeing that it was small enough for him to handle it – and cause a major havoc in the city with it.
"Better get it back to Vin," Torn muttered, making a face. Not that he minded overly much to have to go over to Vin – hell, the talking rat annoyed him more in five minutes than the inventor ever could – but he was just in a foul mood and his head kept hurting.
Grabbing his gun from under his desk – he regularly changed its hiding place – he slung it over his shoulder and was almost out of the door before he remembered that he was wearing nothing but his boxers and his red scarf.
Even the stern ex-KG couldn't ignore the humour in the prospect of the second-in-command of the city's rebellion walking out in broad daylight into the streets, where almost any guard would recognize him, wearing nothing but his underwear, a scarf and a gun.
"Wouldn't that just have been a real laugh?" he muttered with a dark smile while getting dressed. "Not only would the Baron finally get rid of me, but my former guard comrades would also get the pleasure of catching me in broad daylight out in the streets in my panties and bare skin." A snort sounded from him. Not exactly the way he had dreamed of going down.
Well, then, tough guy, how did you plan to go down? The voice sounded exactly like Daxter and Torn caught himself looking around to see where the rat was. When he could see nobody, he breathed a sigh of relief and got ready to leave.
"Let's hope I'm not going all too mental – at least not before the city's safe," he muttered as he jumped on the nearest zoomer, tugged his scarf up high enough to hide most of his features and drove off.
"But Torn, I assure you, it's perfectly safe!" Vin protested for the seventeenth time. He fidgeted with his hands as he watched the tattooed elf walked towards the door.
"Yeah, right, Vin. Just as all your other crazy devices of death," Torn growled and exited before the paranoid genius could protest again. Or more precisely, the door shut just as the inventor was starting to speak.
Torn rolled his eyes and shook his head in despair. What had he ever done to deserve being around such persons? Granted, he had been cold to a good deal a people in his time and he had killed his share of Metal Heads and Krimzon Guards, but was that enough to do this to him?
He didn't get more time to ponder his fate as he walked down towards his zoomer, however, for when he let his eyes wander to scan the area, which was a usual reflex for him, they caught sight of something very familiar.
"Jak," Torn whispered as he watched the blond hero drive by. To say he was surprised by finding the former mute here was an understatement.
As if he had heard the whispered word Jak slowed his zoomer down and looked about him, searching, but not succeeding in finding what he was looking for. He shrugged and started the engine for the zoomer again, while he said something to Daxter. In an instant the zoomer was out of Torn's sight, lost in the hodgepodge surrounding them.
Torn kept standing where he had stopped for a while. The haunted look Jak had worn had made something inside him ache, and it troubled him rather deeply.
"Wonder why he had that look?" the tattooed elf speculated aloud, though his voice was only just above a whisper. He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all, and he was not letting Jak get away without telling what was wrong this time.
He snapped out of his daze and hurriedly got on his zoomer. People screamed and flung themselves away from the vehicle as quickly as they could when he passed them. He paid them no heed at all, his concentration fully focused on finding Jak and finding out what was wrong, so that damned haunted look and the empty eyes would go away.
"Damn it, I've lost him," he cursed and slammed his hand hard into a nearby wall. There was no point denying it; he hadn't the faintest idea where the blond had gone. He had managed to catch glimpses of the hero every once in a while, giving him an idea of where to go next. But then his zoomer had had a rather brutal meeting with another, bigger one – luckily for Torn it hadn't been one belonging to a Krimzon Guard – and both his zoomer and the other one had blown up. Again luckily Torn had managed to jump off before it happened, but he couldn't see Jak anywhere.
Now he had been searching on foot for the past hour – his arm had been burnt and he had a long, thin cut across his chest, so he didn't want to get on another zoomer just then – and the blond was nowhere to be seen.
"This is useless. Why did I bother to go look for him, anyway?" Torn asked himself angrily as he sat down on the grassy ground where the yakows were. He sighed heavily. Though he tried to ignore it, he knew perfectly well why he bothered – or more precisely, somewhere deep down he knew it. He was not going to let it reach the surface, well, not in more than a few bits at a time and then he had to hurriedly stuff it back down.
Something that sounded very much like song drifted in the air and into Torn's ears. Frowning he got up and walked around as he tried to find out just where the voice came from.
When he got close enough to see who was singing he frowned deeper. A little girl, not eight years old was sitting between two huge plants, eyes closed and seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world.
He stopped dead in his tracks when the words of the song the girl was starting on made their way to him.
"See the child with the golden hair
Yet eyes that show the emptiness inside.
Do we know?
Can we understand just how he feels?
Or have we really tried?
See him now as he stands alone
And watches children play a children's game
Simple child
He looks almost like the others
Yet you know he's not the same
Scorn not his simplicity
But rather try to love him all the more
Scorn not his simplicity
Oh no, oh no
See him stare
Not recognizing that kind face that only yesterday he loved
The loving face of a mother,
who can't understand what she's been guilty of
How she cried
Tears of happiness
The day the doctor told her 'It's a boy'
How she cried
Tears of helplessness
When she thinks of the things he can't enjoy
Scorn not his simplicity
But rather try to love him all the more
Scorn not his simplicity
Oh no, oh no
Only he knows how to face the future
Hopefully surrounded by despair
He won't ask for your pity or your sympathy
But surely you must care
Scorn not his simplicity
But rather try to love him all the more
Scorn not his simplicity
Oh no, oh no, oh no."
The song stopped and the little girl turned her head in Torn's direction, as if she could see him, though she still hadn't opened her eyes. "You don't have to hide for me; I know you're there. Just come out and join me. I won't hurt you."
The very idea that this fragile little elf would be able to hurt him in any way was hilarious and Torn would have laughed if it hadn't been for the great lump in his throat that prevented him from forcing any sound out of his throat.
Thinking that it would do him no harm to go and sit with the girl he stepped forward slowly, careful not to do damage to the plants around him. As he sat down she turned her had to face him and smiled at him, but the smile was somewhat sad.
"You're looking for someone, aren't you?" the little girl asked gently and Torn could feel one of her small hands placing itself over his bigger one.
"Yes, I am," he answered. There was no point in being harsh to a child, even though she kind of freaked him out, especially with that song. "How did you know?"
"I could feel it a long distance away." There was silence for a time and during it Torn tried to take his hand back, but the girl just squeezed tighter. "You have a secret and you won't let yourself acknowledge your own feelings."
The ex-KG was about to protest, but was stopped when the girl brought her free hand up to his face and slowly trailed her fingers across his knotted brow. "So much pain. So many worries. So high a wall. Why?" The words were whispered and barely audible, but they pierced into Torn's mind as if they had been small spears as sharp as razors.
Once more the tattooed elf tried to pull away as discreetly as possible, but his hand was locked in a strong grip and he couldn't get it free.
"Where did you learn that song?" he asked instead, trying to sound calm, when in fact he had been scared when the song ended. They boy whom the little girl had sung about sounded so much like Jak – and he could recognize something of himself in the lyrics as well, but that he wasn't going to admit to anyone, least of all himself.
"An old man taught me," she answered with a small smile. "Long ago after the Baron had sent his men out to kill my parents and my little brother. He taught me and said that whenever I saw someone looking sad or lost I should sing it."
"Okay, little one." As careful as he could manage he brushed his fingers through her green curls. "You know, I really need to be going, otherwise I'll never find the one I'm looking for." The small hand left his as he stood up and started to walk away.
"Alright, Torn." That sentence froze the tattooed elf on the spot and he turned his head to look back at the girl. She was still sitting there, but now her eyes were open and her irises was staring right at him. Or rather, what would have been her irises were. Instead there was only purely white orbs.
"He's driving fast now," she said, the smile turning a little sad. "Driving, driving, driving in endless circles. But nothing can last forever." With that she lifted her hand and waved at Torn.
Torn didn't even think to wave back, he just ran and grabbed the nearest zoomer he could find. As he drove away at an almost dangerously fast pace the girl's last words drifted into his cursed sensitive ears. "Oh, and Torn. Please say hello to Samos for me."
Some time later Torn slowed his down. He had been driving like, what seemed for others, a maniac, but he has somehow managed to get to the place where he thought the little girl had meant Jak was.
"Stupid riddles," he muttered to himself as he jumped off the zoomer and walked inside. Luckily for him the place was really crowded, so nobody stopped him or noticed who he was either.
Somehow he managed to push himself into the front row and what he saw made his heart beat in fear.
"Jak," he whispered. "Jak, what are you doing, you great, blundering fool?"
TBC...
A/N - ANOTHER cliffie for the collection! I was seriously debating with myself whether I should end the chapter with the little girl's last sentence or where I stopped it now. As you can see it ended up with the latter option. The song was the reason I started this fic in the first place - it made me think so much of Jak! Don't own, though, it's copryight The Dubliners! The wall-bit is inspired by Pink Floyd's "The Wall", which I've heard/seen a hundred times or something like it. Hope you like this loong chapter, 'cause you'll have to wait a week or two for the next bit, though I'm working as fast as possible! Leave a LOT of review in the meantime, please? Makes me life a little brighter and my fingers double their writing speed!