A/N - OMFG, I AM TREMENDOUSLY, TERRIBLY SORRY ABOUT THIS! I swear, I seriously didn't mean to make you all wait so long for this chapter, I truly didn't. I've just been really caught up in a lot of stuff (i.e. exams, illness, demands on participating in a huge drawing-project and so on), and I guess I didn't realise just how long it has been since the last update. I've just finished this part, and it's un-betaed (like the rest of the story has been). It should have been betaed by the wonderful Nirvana Renegade Seiga, but the last part was missing on the mail-address she sent me, so she'll have to the next chapter, which I am working on right now. PLEASE do review, all of you faithful ones, who hopefully haven't given up waiting, and of course, if you're new, you're welcome to review as well! ;) :P Oh, yeah, I made a mistake in the last chapter, I just realised - of course our little mad scientist is called Vin, not Vince! Sorry, I've been reading another fandom (BWOC, if anyone wants to know) and I've kind of mixed the names a little.

Disclaimer & Warnings -Yadda-yadda, don't own, never has, never will. Basically - warnings and disclaimers from previous chapters still apply, k?

Jay Goose - Glad you like both the plot and the writing. :)

pochacco5 - Arh, yes, new fandoms has got to be the best, neh? And the worst is definitely when you run out of good fics with the pairings you like in that fandom! But here's the next bit, sorry to have kept you waiting so long.

Sabulana - Oh (blush), thanks. Hope you like this chapter - it's a little special in a way, but you'll find out about that if you read a little further down the page, k? ;) :)

M-python-girl - First of all, like your writername ;)...ehm (clears throat), anyway, heh, baad girl, reading in the middle of the night. I hope you read this at a proper time of day.

Emera Took - Thanks, it really means a lot to me that you think so - but don't go and die just because you like the story, k? None of us want that, and I'm not really good at summoning spirits, so...;) :P

Nirvana Renegade Seiga - (clears throat) Yeah, I'm afraid I did forget to send them, and for that I'm sorry. But, as you've probably already read, I couldn't send you this chapter for betaing, because part of the address you gave in the review is missing, so...but if you would give me the full address, I'd love to send the next part to you as soon as I finish it.

The Sacred Heart - Okay, now I've read and re-read your review a LOT of times, and I'm still not sure I understand precisely what you mean with the first bit, but I'll try to answer as best I can, anyway...sure I care, you're a faithful reviewer and you like my story ;) I know, I know, they have been short, but they have to endat what I think is logical places (which normally involves cliffhangers), so sometimes they're on the short side. But I promise that the next one will be longer. :)

Moewen - Thanks for all the reviews in such a short span of time. Heh, as said, the song's not mine, but wth? And I'm glad you liked the dream.

hoobastank3003 - Well, here you go, then - one update coming up!

So, on with the chapter (which has got a ridiculous title, I really hate coming up with those, but it's better than just giving them numbers, which I hate even more), and I hope it will prove to be worth the enormously long wait.

But, before the chapter start, we have a little dedication: This is for SABULANA, as a very belated birthday present, for all the stories you've written with the Jak/Torn pairing, for making great stories in general, for getting me into reading this fandom, for being a great "mother"-figure for new writers in the fandom (please don't get me wrong on this), and of course, for approval of this story. Thank you. :)

Chapter 8 - A journey to the past and the present

His head was spinning; the same thoughts and speculations kept running through it, seemingly without any kind of end to it, and it was making him nauseous.

What the fuck was going on? Why was this happening to him at all, and why now? When did it start happening? What was the cause of it? Maybe if he could pinpoint when and where it had started, he would also be able to determine why and what or who.

"Come on, Torn, you're supposed to be the great strategist here. A little thing like this should be piece of cake for you. Think, for crying out loud, think," he muttered angrily to himself. There was another thing – when did he develop a tendency to talk to himself?

Okay, now, first thing's first. When did this start to happen? Torn's eyes widened as he remembered. It had begun that day – or night, as the case may be – when the rat had woken him up to go look for the renegade. More precisely when he had found Jak sitting on top of the ruins of what apparently used to be the Shadow's home.

Alright, that was when and where. But that still left the rather major question of why. Why had he begun feeling this, whatever it was? He was pretty sure by now that it had something to do with the blonde. No, he was certain that it had a lot to with the former prisoner. Not really a comforting thought, come to think of it.

Could it be – no, definitely not! Never in a lifetime! He had promised himself that he never would let that happen to him ever, and that was a very, very long time ago. To feel that way about anyone would only get him into trouble, but to feel that way about a male would be signing his own death warrant. For several reasons.

"Pull yourself together, you imbecile mutt. This means nothing – he's just a simple soldier, a part of the Underground just as everybody else. True, he gets the most difficult missions, and if it weren't for him we wouldn't have made as much progress as we actually have, but that doesn't make any difference."

Just then Samos decided to walk in. Not the young version, but the old, grumpy one who had helped Jak and Daxter through their first adventure. He raised one snowy-white eyebrow when he spotted Torn sitting on the floor, but other than that he didn't comment on it.

"Why are you still here? I told you I wanted that stuff as soon as possible, and that was long ago now!" So much for being friendly and polite.

"Who's Gol?" Torn asked, ignoring the question and the withering stare that was being directed at him.

"What? What are you talking about?" the green elf asked, obviously shocked by the question. "How do you know? Who told you about him?"

"Doesn't matter. What I want to know who the hell he is or was or whatever, and what role he had to play."

"Okay, then, since you ask so nicely. Gol Akaron was a sage like me, but of the Dark Eco. You see, there used to be a sage for every kind of Eco – red, blue, yellow, green and dark."

"What about Light Eco?" Torn interrupted. Somewhere in the very back of his mind something stirred. Something about Light Eco, but when he tried to reach for it and grasp it, it slipped away and disappeared again.

"As far as I know, I'm the one telling this, so interruptions must be kept at a minimum – that is, none at all. But in answer to your question – yes, there was Light Eco at that time, but it was rare and difficult to find, and therefore none had been able to study it thoroughly enough to call themselves a sage.
Gol was once a good, wise man, who studied the Eco together with his sister, Maia. He was a reserved person, a loner, who rarely spoke with anyone and almost never left his citadel. A strange place, that citadel, with all discs and ledges and weird devices…but that's irrelevant. The point is that nobody saw him for months at a time, sometimes even more.
He had always been fascinated with the dark version of Eco, and that in a more…intense way than anybody else. In time he ended up being almost fanatic in his research, and then he cut himself off totally from the outside world. Nobody had seen him for ages, when Jak and Daxter disobeyed me and went to Misty Island. After Daxter got turned into that furball I sent the two of them on a journey north to find Gol and ask him to turn the rat back to normal, with Keira and I as guides on the tour.
When we found him – or he found us, actually – I could hardly recognize him. He had always been tall and thin with a dark aura, but that was nothing compared to his appearance then. He and Maia had apparently ended up in some dark eco and the result was…startling, to say the least. Also there was the fact that they had both gone completely mad and wanted to flood the world with Dark Eco. The rat had to decide whether he wanted to become human again or save the world. Luckily for everyone, he chose the last part, though it actually was Jak, who saved the world, while Daxter just hung on to his shoulder. By the Precursors, I would have wrung his furry little neck if he had chosen the other option." Samos stomped his staff down into the metal-floor for emphasis. "But that's the story of Gol. Now, if you're done with your round of "Twenty Questions", go out to the village and get on with what I told you to do."

Torn snarled – and here he had thought the young version of the sage could be a pain in the ass – but did as he was told. He picked up his gun, just in case he would need it, and started to walk out of the door. Just before he reached it, he turned to look at the green elf, who hadn't moved.

"Oh, yeah, by the way, I was told to say hello to you from a little girl I met. Perhaps you know her? Green, curly hair, about seven, maybe eight years old and with purely white, blind orbs?" He left the hideout without waiting for an answer or bothering to look back at the sage.

Another orange creature went down and left only some gore and a couple dark eco bulbs behind as it disappeared into the mud.

"For a supposedly deserted area this place is a little too crowded for my taste," Torn muttered absently to himself as he stepped over the eco and continued to walk, jump and shoot his way through what was once Sandover Village and later the first part of what was to become Haven City.

He passed what was left of the Baron's tower – the kid never left many things intact when he touched something – and, later, Samos' old hut.

Strange to think that these crumbling ruins covers what was once the home of Jak, Daxter, Samos and Keira. That the blond and the supposedly redhead had run around and made a lot of fun. Torn smiled in spite of himself. It was really, really rare, but sometimes he would catch a flicker of something in the way Jak smiled at his now furry friend, the way he, even though he was irritated, that he let the ottsel's antics pass.

The redhead shook his head and continued his trip. It was simply just unbelievable; why couldn't he stop thinking about that damn blond hero just for one single, bloody hour? What was it that was so damn fascinating about the former mute that the tattooed elf's mind had to wander back to him so often?

His bright blue eyes and the open smile he gives from time to time, a part of Torn's mind piped up to answer his question. The blond hair that looks so soft. The well-toned, athletic body, not to mention the lips that looks oh, so sof-

That's ENOUGH! Torn shouted in his mind to the treacherous voice. He really hadn't wanted an answer to his question, and he definitely didn't like the one he had gotten anyway.

If you don't want to deal with it, then why did you kiss him in the first place? The voice continued, heedless of the second-in-command's order. Why did you run around trying to find him?

I thought I told you to shut up! The redhead growled, absently shooting a metal-head while carrying on the mental conversation with himself. Oh, well, I might as well admit that I don't know. I don't fucking know why I did it, alright? And I most definitely don't want to deal with it, so shut up and leave me alone!

Luckily for Torn the voice decided it was time for it to as it had been told and kept quiet, for a moment later he was attacked by a small horde of little Metal Heads. They swarm around him like wasps around a cone of sugar, but the rebel-leader shot them down one bye one, till they were all dead and he was almost out of ammo.

"This is just perfect – and just my luck, as well," he growled darkly. Perhaps it was a better idea if he took the long, less known way around Dead Town and could by that avoid most of the Metal Heads. Hopefully.

Torn heaved a sigh of relief and exhaustion. It had been tougher and more difficult than expected – the way hadn't been completely free of Metal Heads after all – and by the time he actually reached his destination, he was breathing rather heavily.

Perhaps I should spend some more time exercising instead of always standing behind my desk, he thought as he stretched tiredly and both heard and felt his spine crack back into place. Oh, well, first thing's first.

He had stopped in front of the ruins of a seemingly ordinary house, except for the fact that it was rather alone. All around him there was nothing but swampy waters and looming pillars, most of which looked worryingly close to tumbling over any second.

It had begun raining at some point during his trip and besides making him soaking wet and having his dreadlocks cling to his neck and be heavy with water, it was making everything seem kind of blurry and watered down, which was a little irritating, because it made it harder to navigate and just plainly see where he was. His eyes had also started to hurt from the effort of squinting through the rain.

The object he was looking for shouldn't be buried too far down, or so Samos had said. What it could be he had no idea, though. All he knew was that it was of great importance to the old sage and was in a small, dark wooden box with some simple precursor letters and a few, but intricate images carved into it.

With another sigh Torn bent down and began removing the rubble that was covering the box. Some of the pieces were bigger than anticipated and by the time the redhead could see just a corner of a what looked like a wooden lid, he had cuts running up and down and across both his hands.

"This thing better be worth my trouble," the second-in-command muttered and pulled the box out with a small groan. The wood became difficult to handle the moment it came out where the rain could get to it, but somehow he managed to get a good enough hold on the slippery box to bring it out from the rubble.

For a moment he was tempted to see what was hidden beneath that carved lid. After all, he was the one who had worked his way through a good part of Dead Town to reach this place, with Metal Heads and other funny creatures on his heels most of the way, and when he got here, he had to dig his way through brick rubble to get the blasted thing out. So it didn't really seem unfair that he at least should have a glimpse of the contents of the box.

What stopped him from doing just that he never found out, but he picked up the shrine without as much as tilting the lid an inch, and set off the way he had come. He did not return directly to the Underground, though.

TBC

A/N - Well, yeah, another cliffhanger - sorry, people, I couldn't help myself and I wanted to post it as fast as I could after I picked up writing on it again. But I'm not sure, did Samos seem all too grumpy? I played almost the entire first game on a single day about 1½ weeks ago, and I kind of got the feeling I didn't capture him all too well, but I haven't been in the mood to change it, and as I said, it hasn't been betaed, so...but anyway, gotta go now, I need sleep (and organic iron, but that's something different), so I'll see you on the reviews page, right?