Author's Notes: The plot thickens even more during this chapter. *cue dramatic music* At this rate, it's gonna be thicker than pea soup. Admittedly, I've never seen pea soup, but from what I've read, it's really opaque. As a result, there's gonna be a lot of perspective shifts. Sorry if it gets confusing at times.
Also, some minor physical violence between people takes place in this chapter. Not saying who gets involved, just warning you now. It's right near the beginning, so if you don't like that, just skip to the temple scene. You'll know it because Daxter makes one of his typical wrong-moment comments at the end of the first chunk.
Disclaimer: Alas, I can lay no claim to Naughty Dog's franchise, only to my OC's and other additions.
"I think the moment we learned that the prophecy was about us was when Jessie accidentally touched the Vigorous Throne and wasn't hurt, and when I had my first vision a few weeks later. Our parents were so freaked out when it happened. Mom thought I was having a seizure or something, but nope. Just me seeing Luna break her arm a day before it happened. That was a crazy year, all right." -Jamie Sagai, conversing with the Shadow a few weeks after his recruitment
As they walked down the ramp from the security gate, Jessie slowed, her face becoming studiously blank. Jak noticed the reason why as soon as he saw that the Black Orchid had been moved several yards away into one of the farming plots, and was now surrounded by a small gang of people. They were glaring at the three of them—more specifically, they were glaring at Jessie, and giving the two boys more cursory glances.
Jessie kept her face emotionless as they walked up to the group. The men and women closed around the Black Orchid, preventing them from reaching it, and one man stepped forward to give her a condescending sneer. His hair was a deep rust color, similar to Torn's in hue, and his eyes were a dark brown. He was several inches taller than Jak, who was himself a few inches taller than Jessie. The teenage girl's head was level with the man's chest.
"What are you doing here, Unwanted? Shouldn't you be in Kras City with the rest of the damn Empties?" he jeered. The dark-haired girl didn't reply, didn't show any emotion on her face, didn't raise her eyes, just looked at his chest steadily.
"Excuse me. I'd like to get to my zoomer," she said evenly. The man sneered and folded his arms across his chest.
"Well, that's just too damn bad. Why don't you run along, Unwanted? I've taken a liking to this zoomer," he replied, grinning malevolently at her. Jessie didn't speak, but Jak noticed the slight tensing in her shoulders. Before things could get any nastier than they already were, he put an arm between the two in an attempt to separate them.
"How about you just let us get to the zoomer, before someone gets hurt?" Jak suggested. The man snickered, and though Jessie's communicator beeped twice in quick succession, she made no move to take it out.
"Oooh, I'm soooo scared. Looks like you've gotten yourself a little boyfriend to fight your battles. Not so pure after all, are you, little Empty?"
When she remained silent, the man laughed derisively, the other people soon joining in nervously. The blond took some pleasure from them warily eyeing the guns on both their backs. At least they understood the dangers of provoking the three of them.
"Listen here, you Unfilled bitch, no one in this city cares about your damn Ecolites or whatever the hell they're called except you and the other parasites sucking this city dry. Instead of taking Eco away from the people who need it, why don't you all just go fly to the Metal Head Nest and spare the monsters the trouble of hunting you down?" he suggested acidly.
Again, Jessie didn't reply, though Jak could feel the rage radiating from her. The Dark Eco within him rose sympathetically, and he had to tamp it down before things got messy.
It didn't help that, when the man saw her non-reaction, he was aggravated even more.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you, you damn Empty!" he snapped, forcibly taking hold of her jaw and making her face him. She wrenched his hand away, giving him a glare more lethal than concentrated Dark Eco.
The sound as he smacked her echoed around the gardens. Jessie fell to the ground from the force of it, stunned into wide-eyed silence, while her communicator flew from her pocket and landed before the man. He considered it briefly, lifted a foot, and stomped on it with a sneer. The crunch of it breaking seemed to bring Jessie back from wherever she had gone after being slapped, and she slowly rose to her feet.
Eyes wide, he backed away slowly, realizing that he had crossed a line. When Jessie finally looked up at him, the man turned and ran, followed swiftly by his backup.
Jak and Daxter, meanwhile, had been displaying very different reactions as this scene unfolded. Daxter had been gaping in shock, too stunned to form words (a mighty feat indeed). Jak, on the other hand, had been forced to focus even more on keeping his Dark self down, and had been quietly simmering with rage. Even though they hadn't known each other for that long (Precursors, had it really been only a day?) Jessie had still been more accepting of him than most people he had met so far, and considering what he had been through for the past two years, that put her right up there with Daxter and Keira.
Thinking about Keira was not a good idea right now, so Jak veered away from those thoughts and tapped Jessie on the shoulder. The young woman flinched and turned to look at them, her face pale and withdrawn, except for where an angry-looking bruise was forming on her right cheek.
"What was that? Why didn't you fight back? I know you could have taken him," he asked. She ignored him and walked up to the remains of her communicator, kneeling down to gather up the pieces and place them in her pocket.
"I guess I'll have to ask Jamie to fix this," she murmured, going over to the Black Orchid. Both boys stared at her disbelievingly, even as she got on and turned the ignition.
"Can you guys go to the Hideout and see what Torn wants? I need to go. I'll... I'll see ya later," the young woman murmured, racing off before either of them could answer.
They were silent for a few moments. Then Daxter spoke up.
"So, uh, are we walking, or are we catching a lift?"
Not long after she had abandoned Jak and Daxter to the mercy of the city, Jessie was lying back against the monolith commemorating every Unfilled who had ever died. At some point during the walk, she had donned her robes, the simple gray fabric pooling around her reclining form and draping from her wrists. Sure, they were a little old-fashioned, but it was the uniform for everyone who cared for the temple. Her parents and the other four Vessels had owned the same clothing, and Luna had hers for when she acted as a temple guardian. A part-time one, of course; it was hard to present offerings when you were out of the city, and so Jessie took over whenever Luna was gone.
Sighing, Jessie leaned forward and pressed her face into her arms, where they laid folded across her knees. The growing bruise on her face twinged, reminding her of earlier. That sort of scene was all too common nowadays. So many people hated the Unfilled for the tax on Eco crystals – a valuable fuel source that many needed for their zoomers and other hovercraft – even though it hadn't been their fault. It was really no surprise that some people lashed out at them.
'Why do people blame us for the tax? We never wanted it. If anyone should be blamed, it's Praxis,' she mused resentfully. Jessie clenched her jaw. That's right. It was Praxis's damn fault her people suffered right now. That was why she joined the Underground, to get back at him for what he did. That, and because the Shadow had saved her life that day.
That fateful day.
She stood up, smoothing her robes down, and walked into the temple. Onin was right. She had to take up the mantle of her parents' legacies, the duties of the Vessels before her. So what if she wasn't the appropriate age? Her people were hurting without a leader, without a voice in the government, and she had the power to help them. She knew she did; that day had proven it. Tradition be damned! She was sick of obeying tradition and hurting her people.
Jessie walked forward, closer to the thrones, and that was when something hard and unyielding hit the back of her head. She crumpled to the floor, never seeing her assailant. But he wasn't done with her.
The two men dragged Jessie's limp form further into the temple, dropping her arms when she lay in front of the Passionate Throne, all done under the watchful gaze of the one who arranged this. Carefully picking up one wrist with tongs of Precursor bronze, they placed her hand on the seat and leapt back, trying to avoid any runaway Eco surge from her contact. They and their employer watched – the employees with horrified fascination, and the employer with satisfaction – as her veins shifted from pale blue under her skin to a deep, almost black purple. Brighter purple surrounded her in some sort of aura, and the two men stayed far away from her while she glowed and breathed with difficulty. Finally, her veins returned to their original color, and Jessie breathed normally again, the glow fading from her body.
"Is it okay to touch her now?" one man said nervously. He had never been inside the temple of the Unfilled, and was understandably wary of any consequences of his intrusion. Their employer nodded once, his face partially hidden by the shadows of the alcove he had been standing in, and the man who had spoken used the tongs to remove her hand from the throne made of opaque, multicolored gemstone. When she was clear of the seat, they dragged her back to the entrance, rearranging her so that she looked as she had when they knocked her out.
"Thank you, my good men," the man who had sought their services said with the well-spoken, smooth voice of a nobleman. The two other men, with their drab clothing and coarser manner, shared a look and stared at him.
"M'lord, why'd you have us go muckin' about with the Unfilled? They're spooky, with their talk of livin' Eco and the state of the planet," the second man asked, unnerved by the temple. The pedestals emitting Eco near each throne cast strange shadows on everything, and the murals almost seemed alive, if that were possible.
The lord chuckled coldly. "Because the Ecolians demand it. With her tainted by the Dark Ecolian cardinal, Umbra, she will never be able to become the Lodestar Vessel she claims to be. Lumina has assured me this is so," he replied condescendingly. "And then I can take my rightful place as the Vessel for Lumina."
The two men said nothing in reply; instead, they bowed, accepted the piece of plastic that held their payment in credits, and left as quickly as they dared. Unfilled rites and traditions were uncharted lands to them. They didn't question his statement.
The man they left behind spared Jessie one last withering glance before leaving, turning to look at the Serene Throne in longing just before he pushed past the curtain and exited the temple.
Inside the Fortress, Luna waited patiently to speak with her employer. As the Air Train pilot, she would have a set route, and she wanted to be sure of her orders. She may not technically have been part of the Krimzon Guard, but she was getting her paycheck from them, and she didn't want to screw things up. The last thing she needed was to be fired for incompetence.
At last, she reached the front of the line, and was handed a small device which contained her instructions and the codes needed to enter and exit the city. Luna thanked the clerk quickly and left, fingering the device in her pocket gingerly. Now that she was the pilot for the Air Train, she could help the Underground some more. Under the guise of "shuttling passengers," of course.
While she walked out of the Fortress's civilian entrance, her com-unit began a fast-paced melody. Luna smiled, recognizing the tune, and accepted the call.
"Yes, Jamie?" she said calmly.
"Um, is this Luna Zyan?" a girl's voice said from the other end. The red-eyed woman froze, her face paling.
"Who is this? Why do you have Jamie's communicator?" she replied coldly, stepping into an alleyway and away from prying eyes and ears.
"I'm Keira. He told me to call you and tell you that Jessie's in trouble," the girl informed her worriedly. Luna's eyes widened in horror.
"What? Where is she?"
"He had a vision. Something about the temple, and Jessie, and something called the Passionate Throne. Jamie tried messaging her, but when she didn't reply, he asked me to call you," Keira explained, her voice rising in pitch. The red-eyed woman knew of this girl (Jamie's crush on her had been relayed by Jessie), but had never formally met her; her pilot duties had kept them from meeting, and she never went to the Stadium district often enough to see the teal-haired girl.
"Got it. Tell Jamie I'm going," she declared, ending the call and racing to her zoomer.
Luna drove like a madwoman through the streets of Haven City, narrowly avoiding several collisions and receiving several shouted curses from the other drivers. She didn't care. Jessie, her best friend, her most cherished friend, almost a third sister to her, was in trouble.
Barely two minutes had passed before she pulled up at the base of the temple ramp and vaulted out of her seat. Up the ramp, she went, boots pounding against the concrete and steel of the weathered structure. She was nearly driven out of her mind by the slowness of the security gate, shifting from one foot to another urgently in her impatience.
At last, it let her leave the city, and Luna raced down the shadowed path leading through the narrow base of the canyon to the Grotto of Whispering Secrets.
The grassy, circular place was at the end of the cliff, where an ancient spring had once bubbled up to feed the river that had carved the canyon. The spring had dried up long ago – some claimed the Azura of that time had siphoned its waters into another river – but the influence of the Ecolians was still strong. Even now, she could hear the faint voices of the beings keeping the grass and flowers alive—the source of the name "Grotto of Whispering Secrets." Some said their speech was what drew Gemini to this place, and why they arranged for the temple to be constructed here, of all places.
At the moment, however, Luna couldn't really give a damn about why they chose this place. She ignored the soft voices of the Green Eco-quan and burst through the curtain, almost tripping over Jessie's prone form in her haste to rescue the Lodestar Vessel.
"Jessie? Jessie!" she cried out, shaking her shoulder in desperation. The dark-haired girl moaned softly and feebly opened her eyes.
"Owwww... Luna? What are you doing here?" Jessie asked, wincing as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head. "And why does my head feel like crap?"
Luna sighed in relief and sat back on her heels, running her hands through her unusual hair.
"Oh, thank the Precursors. What are you doing here? Didn't you get Jamie's message?" she asked worriedly. The younger teenager gave her a bemused expression.
"That was from Jamie? I thought it was from Torn."
"Didn't you read it?"
"I never got the chance to. That bastard that keeps pestering me and Jamie crushed it before I could see who it was from, let alone read it." Jessie recapped an event that had apparently taken place a few minutes before she went to the Unfilled temple, much to Luna's dismay.
"Oh, Jessie..." the older of the two murmured, taking her into her arms.
"What? It's not like I asked him to break it. What's with the 'Oh, Jessie...'?" she snapped bemusedly. Luna merely patted her head comfortingly and shushed her whenever she tried to say anything else.
A few minutes of awkward hugging later...
Luna supported Jessie with an arm under her shoulder, helping her hobble back to Haven City. The head injury the younger girl had sustained had weakened her more than she thought, and even now, the red-eyed woman could tell something was different. She wasn't a (part-time) temple guardian for nothing. Having shown aptitude for both Light and Dark Ecolians, she was more sensitive than others to their presence. There was also her family's history to consider, but that wasn't important. Even without it, she could feel that there was something off about Jessie, and it had to do with the Passionate Throne. Try as she might, though, Luna just couldn't figure out what.
And that worried her most of all.
Jamie downed the glass of water in one go, panting for air afterwards. He cast a grateful look Keira's way and placed the empty glass on the floor.
"Thanks. I needed that," he murmured. The young woman sat beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Jamie, what's wrong? What did you see?" Keira asked. He shook his head bitterly.
"Jessie was in trouble. But Luna should be able to get to her in time. Thank you for calling her," the young Unfilled man replied, smiling weakly. She nodded.
"Any time. Now, you have a few things to tell me. What did you mean when you mentioned Jessie's 'other job'? I thought she only worked with us," the woman inquired suspiciously. Jamie winced. Guess it was time to tell her. He had known this day would come eventually; he had just hoped it would be later, rather than sooner.
"Okay, but you have to promise this stays between us," he said vehemently. Keira nodded again and leaned in closer. Jamie looked around, checking to be sure no KG (or, Precursors forbid, Erol) were near, and took a deep breath.
"Keira, Jessie and I... we're part of the Underground. All those times you've teased Jessie for watching Erol's team, all those times you asked me why I was so fussy about our communicators, it's because they were us doing our job. We didn't want you getting mixed up in this mess of a war. We were... I was... trying to protect you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but it's nowhere near as sorry as I'd be if you were arrested because the Baron or the KG thought you knew something about the Underground."
When he finished, the two were silent for several minutes. Jamie began to fear that Keira would outright reject him. She had always been an honest person. Learning that she had been lied to by both him and Jessie might be too much of a wrongdoing for her, and he didn't want to lose what friendship they had. Keira was one of the few people in Haven City he trusted to keep his visions secret; the others were Jessie, Uncle Jinx, Torn, and the Shadow. Hardly any of the Unfilled remaining knew of his powers; those that did kept their mouths shut about it, out of the kinship that had arisen after the Great Purge.
Eventually, Keira took a deep breath. He braced himself for what was coming, tensing up and closing his eyes.
"Jamie... how can I help?"
Jamie's eyes flashed open out of surprise. He looked at her, startled.
"Keira?" the young man asked uncertainly, not sure if he had heard her right.
"I want to help. You and Jessie, you've always been there for me, ever since I first came here. You gave me a home when I had nowhere else to go. You helped me find a job so I could take care of myself. I won't join the Underground—that's too dangerous for me. But I want to repay you guys in any way I can. Just say the word," she explained earnestly.
Jamie stared at her, disbelief slowly being replaced by joy. The honest smile on her face made him unconsciously grin back, and he nodded eagerly.
"Thank you, Keira. You have no idea how happy I am to hear that."
Jak and Daxter walked into the Hideout grumpily. A little fender bender with a KG hoverbike had resulted in a hairy chase through most of the industrial district, and there were fresh singe marks on Jak's tunic and pants. Even Daxter had almost gotten his fur scorched.
"And what are you two doing back without your superior?" Torn growled suspiciously. The two boys shared a slightly bemused look.
"Jessie left us on the street so she could go somewhere on her own, but she told us to check in with you about a message she got a few minutes ago," Daxter explained. Torn's brow crumpled in thought.
"I didn't send her any message. Are you sure it was from the Underground?" he asked incredulously, giving them a suspicious look.
"Jessie seemed to think so. We never actually got to see it ourselves, since her communicator was destroyed moments later," Jak replied, shrugging. That seemed to shock him out of his usual grumpy attitude.
"What?! Destroyed? How?" Tattooed Wonder demanded fiercely. The demolition duo shared a startled look, and Jak motioned for Daxter to answer.
"There was this mob, or something. One guy kept getting in Jessie's face, and he stomped on her communicator. Called her some weird names that I think were nasty, going by her reaction," the ottsel informed him.
"She didn't even get mad, though. Just took it, for some reason," his blond ride added. Torn scowled and thought for a few moments.
"Let me guess. Hair like mine, dark eyes, about yea tall?" the Underground commander inquired, holding up a hand a few inches above Jak's head. They both nodded; that description matched what they remembered of him.
"That's the one," the blond added unnecessarily. Torn huffed in exasperation and folded his arms in front of him.
"Hmph. Figures. His name's Deryk. Big supporter of the Baron, and a real Unfilled hater. He's been getting on Jessie and Jamie's case for years," he revealed in his usual grim manner. Jak scowled and shifted his weight.
"If she knows him, why doesn't Jessie do something about him?" he replied derisively, earning yet another of Torn's death glares. He slammed his palm against the table.
"Because she can't risk it! The Baron doesn't like the Unfilled already. Hearing that one of his supporters got beaten up by someone of her prominence could be a death sentence for the rest of them."
The three stood in uncomfortable silence at this declaration. The two younger boys still weren't entirely sure why being Unfilled was such a big deal, or why the Baron didn't like them, but they now knew why Jessie hadn't stood up to this Deryk guy. It wasn't just a matter of whether she could have taken him down. There was more at stake than just her.
"What's with the names he was calling her? See, I can get how Unwanted's an insult, but Empty? That's not much of an insult," Daxter inquired, breaking the silence. The rust-haired man grunted condescendingly and folded his arms across his chest again.
"it is if you know where it comes from. Empty's a shortening of a real nasty name for the Unfilled. Jessie wouldn't tell you this, because it's too insulting to say, even for her, but historically, a rude term for an Unfilled is an Empty One. Unfilled is used more for description than as an actual name."
"And you know this how? I doubt you're Unfilled as well," Jak scoffed drily. Torn smirked and pulled out his crescent-shaped dagger, idly admiring its gleaming surface.
"The Sagai twins aren't the only Unfilled fighters in the Underground. The Shadow makes it a point to ensure we all get along and treat each other like equals," he replied, pointing the tip at each of them before sheathing it once more.
"Oh, yeah? Then what about all the crappy jobs you've been giving us?" Daxter retorted indignantly.
"You aren't Unfilled, so I don't have to be nice to you. Now beat it. You two should go talk to Jessie. Tell her I'm giving you the rest of the day off. And keep your noses clean. If you have another scuffle with the KG like you did earlier, it's gonna be a lot harder for her to teach you useful skills," the older man warned, turning his back so he could go over what was probably important mission stuff. The dynamic duo shared an irritated look and left the Hideout. It was only when Jak had gotten hold of a zoomer that they realized something.
With Jessie's com-unit broken, how were they supposed to contact her?
Hello, Review!
UltimateGamer101 (chapter 12, Dec. 7) – That's actually really cool! The idea of darkness being attracted to darkness does make sense, considering that Jak gets most of his Dark abilities in the Wasteland, and there's plenty of dark stuff out there. To add to your theory, the Dark Satellites that ended up in Haven City right before Damas showed up were probably called by the Dark Makers' assault (oh look, more darkness).