|Underground HQ|

'Valentine! What the hell were you thinking?' Torn bursted loose, the Shadow standing next to him. Jak wasn't inside yet, since he was outside parking the car. Valentine had a pretty clear idea of how she looked at the moment; with her pants torn and knees scraped, water dripping from the two tips of her twin tails she must have been the equivalent of a drowned cat at the moment.
'I was thinking we might've been able to take Praxis out without having to lose too many people!' she retorted, hands clenched at her sides.

Samos took the word, leaning against Torn's desk as he talked. 'You've been very irresponsible, my girl. The risks you took today could have very well crippled the Underground and have rendered us unable to defeat the Baron at all. What were we supposed to do it you had failed in the quest you had taken upon yourself?'
Valentine looked to her toes, clasping her hands behind her back as she looked very much like a reprimanded child. Talking back to Torn, who she considered an equal, was easy. But talking back to Samos was something she couldn't imagine doing. The man had been responsible for her return from the darkness, and she owed him her sanity, if not her life. She looked away, unable to return the shorter man's gaze.
'… I'm sorry. I was wrong. It's not Jak's fault at all, it was entirely my idea!' she said, taking the blame fully on herself. She didn't want Jak to end up in trouble too, and Samos smiled when he noticed that.
'I'm glad you found a partner you trust enough to lie for him, my girl. Though you're still wrong for doing it.'

The secret door went open, and Jak rushed in, Daxter perched on his shoulder. Valentine's heart clenched together as she saw him walk in that confident manner of his. He had saved her life again today, and she had saved his. It was something that she cherished.
Then Jak's facial impression changed, as he saw the man that was called 'the Shadow'.
'SAMOS!' he cried out, together with Daxter. The Ottsel jumped on the desk, looking at the man in surprise.
'I see you're looking good! Had a little nip 'n tuck while we were gone, did you?' the Ottsel commented, before scurrying out of Torn's reach. Samos seemed to be confused at that remark, before he started waving a finger at Jak as well.

'As for you, young man, you've been making quite a name for yourself. Torn assured me you're most dependable.'
Torn frowned when Samos said that. He didn't want Jak to know what he may or may not have said about the younger man. Samos ignored his scowl, and continued speaking.
'And because you are so dependable, I'd like for you to go back into the ruined part of the city. There is a seed in my former house that may prove invaluable to us. I would've liked to send Valentine, but the girl isn't really much of a fighter, as you may have noticed.'
'I can handle my own!' Valentine objected, but her comment was quickly waved away by Samos.
'You have other things to handle in the meanwhile, Valentine. I hope you're still responsible enough to tend to your duties.'

Valentine glanced sideways to Jak, before she let out a long sigh that seemed to come straight from her toes.
'Fine… Sir…' she muttered. She always called Samos 'sir' when he ordered her to do something that she would prefer not to. For example leaving her partner to fend for himself in one of the most dangerous places known to Haven citizens.
Samos let out a sigh. The girl was obviously quite infatuated with her partner, and Jak seemed to return the feeling. He could tell from the way the boy put a hand on her shoulder, and showed Valentine a shy smile. The two seemed to get along just fine, and their presence seemed to have a soothing effect on one another. Still, it was necessary to break them apart from time to time. Especially for Valentine's sake; the girl shouldn't become too depending on Jak's help, in case she had to do a mission alone.

'Samos, I still need to talk to you! How did you end up these two years? Where's Keira?' Jak's questions bursted out like bullets as he turned to the man who he almost couldn't recognize. Almost, but this was most definitely Samos. It couldn't be any other person, not by a long shot.
'My boy, I have no idea what you are talking about! Now, hurry up and we'll talk later on, the two of you have caused quite enough trouble for one day. Hurry home and get some band aids, you look like you could use them. Valentine, don't disappoint me again.' Samos concluded, waving a finger at the girl, who pouted at being reprimanded.
'I won't.' she said, putting her arms in front of one another.

Once they were outside, Jak grabbed her arms, looking at her as if he couldn't believe she was standing there.
'Valentine, that was SAMOS! Do you have any idea who he is?' he said, trying to confirm if the man really was the Samos he knew. The man who had raised him and thought him all he ought to know to survive.
'Of course I have. Samos is the leader of the Underground, and he was in the middle of his Eco Mage training before this whole war broke loose. The only reason he's not already a Mage is because all of the Eco supplies are cut of, safe for the Dark Eco supplies. Jak, are you okay?'
Jak put a hand to his forehead, trying to connect everything he knew. Samos had already been a Mage, before they got here. But this Samos looked younger. He started to suspect something… but he needed proof. And maybe they would find what he was looking for in the house that the man had mentioned.

|The Next Day, Early Morning|

'Valentine!' Jak yelled her name, storming into her room in a way that suggested he was being chased by a Metal Head. She shot up and threw her alarm clock at his head, followed by several other small items she had just within her grasp.
'AAAAAH! Get out, get out!' she screamed.
'Valentine, it's me, Jak! Stop trying to kill me!' Jak yelled with his hoarse voice.
Valentine stopped throwing the objects at her best friend, and pushed away the blankets so she could get up better. Her hair was tangled and she bet she looked awful at the moment. Though there weren't any windows in her room – the only ones were at the front of the house – she guessed it couldn't be any later than six in the morning.
'Jak… What the hell ya think yer doing, waking me up this early?' she said, clearly not in a good mood this early in the morning. She couldn't believe it had taken Jak this long before he had gotten back from the mission.

He ran over, jumping on her bed and grabbing her by her upper arms, his face having the look of an enlightened madman on it. He was lucky he had taken of his shoes, or else she would have kicked him out of her bed sooner than he could blink. Daxter ran up her bed too, seemingly as much in shock as Jak seemed to be happy to have found a piece of the puzzle.
'It all makes sense now!' he told her, shaking her back and forth. Valentine replied by pushing a pillow in his face.
'Calm down. It's way too early in the morning for this kind of-'
'Valentine… I'm from the past!' Jak mumbled through the pillow, sounding energetic as ever. She removed the pillow from his face, and looked at him with one eyebrow raised. She seemed to be quite unfazed by his notion.
'… Did some Metal knock you on the head while I wasn't with you?' she asked, not seeing how else the man could be so delusional.

Jak rolled his eyes when she said that, as Daxter pointed a finger at Valentine.
'Listen, you won't BELIEVE the stuff we found out. I mean, Samos is the Samos we knew, or at least, he'll become the Samos we knew in the past. Which means that he'll evolve and move forward backwards in time, while we kind of… just…'
Valentine threw the Ottsel an incredulous look, before she looked back to Jak. He looked at her in a way that pleaded with her to believe him.
'Look, we went back to the old parts of town and there we saw Samos' home. At least, the home we knew him to have, only it's all rotten up and withered and stuff. I mean… how could we remember it, if we're not… from the past…?' he ended slowly, as if he wasn't quite sure about what he was saying himself. Still, Valentine could see he was serious about it, and she had complete faith in her partner. Even if she still didn't know what to think about it.
'Then that machine you told me about transported you here, to the future?' she was quiet for a while, before she let out a throaty laugh, as if she just realized something.
'This is your future… Bummer…' she said, realizing it just then.

'Kinda…' Jak agreed. Then he looked back at her. 'Say, think you could build something to send us back? That way we can somehow prevent all of this from happening.' He said.
Valentine felt her insides turn a little as he said that. If she were able to build something like that… then he would be able to stop all of this. They would never have to live with the curse of Eco in their bodies, and people wouldn't have to suffer. Families would never have been broken up, and the Kid would never have had to cry so much.
She would never… never have met Jak.
Jak would have died centuries before she even drew her first breath… before the founder of Haven City, Mar, drew his first breath. There wouldn't be any sign he had lived left on the earth. Time would have erased all traces from the man that she had grown to love and trust. He was looking at her now with a questioning look in his eyes.
'Valentine?'
'I guess I could. If I could get my hands on the machine that brought you here in the first place it should be okay.' Her eyes didn't betray her feelings as she said that as her hands were shaking underneath the bedcovers.
Jak leant over towards her, and pressed his lips against her forehead. She froze up when he did that, as she felt the contact of his lips on her soft skin. Her heart skipped a few beats, and she could feel a lone, purple spark moving across one of her fingers.

|Mechanic Workshop|

'Like I said, if you're able to win the races, you'll be able to get up and close with our dear friend Praxis and let him see what you're made of. That is, if we're able to secure a spot for you in the first place.' Valentine said as they walked in the workshop. She didn't think it would help any though, since the girl working here was extremely reluctant to help anybody who might be associated with Krew. Still, it was as good a shot as any.
'Listen, we need to talk to you again.' Jak said towards the girl who was still hiding behind the curtains. They could see the girl turn around from whatever she was working on, her screwdriver in one hand as she gestured agitatedly.
'You again? Look, I already told you, I don't want to deal with someone who works with a guy like Krew!' the girl said. Valentine rolled her eyes, and gave Jak a 'told you so' look. Jak shrugged, but that wasn't counting Daxter.

'Listen lady, we've been working looong and hard to get a little bit of respite in this town, and now you're gonna be giving us a hard time? Seriously? Let me tell you something sister-'
'DAXTER!' the girl said, pushing away the curtains. When the blue-haired girl appeared, Jak and Daxter both said the same thing at the exact same time.
'KEIRA!'
'Daxter! I'd know that voice anywhere! And Jak, you look… different…' Keira said, as she stopped in her tracks. She had seen something in his eyes that hadn't been there before… something dark and cruel…
'Yeah, the Baron pumped our boy here full of Dark Eco. Listen Keira, you do not want to piss him off, trust me!' Daxter said as he jumped to a higher platform so he could look the girl in the eyes.
'Dark Eco?' Keira asked, looking at Jak with worry in her eyes.

Valentine frowned when she saw that look. She didn't want… she didn't like seeing another woman worrying about Jak. She rolled her shoulders, trying to relax a bit while Jak and Keira talked. After they had gone through the obligated 'what's happened to you these two years' talk, Keira noticed Valentine standing there, twirling the tails of her purple wig. When their eyes met, Valentine forced a smile on her face.
'Jak… who is this?' Keira asked. She saw the same darkness in the new girl's eyes, that hinted of terrible dark things that hunted people's nightmares. And in her eyes Valentine found nothing but the innocence that she had learned to dislike. Innocence made people weak, and susceptible to the lies Praxis liked to send in the world. Innocence was dangerous to people like Valentine. It made her feel even more dirty than she already was, more tainted and far more… evil.

Valentine averted her eyes towards Jak, and lifted her eyebrows. He decoded that aptly as 'are you going to say something?' and put a hand on Valentine's shoulder.
'Keira… this is Valentine. She's my partner in the Underground. Valentine… this is Keira, my-'
'- childhood girlfriend.' Keira finished Jak's sentence for him, sending a blush to his cheeks. Valentine forced a smile on her face, the one she usually reserved for when she was suffering from the Eco in her body. But right now it was almost as if something even more painful resided in her body. It shredded at her heart and made her eyes burn, almost as if she were sick.
'Charmed.' She managed to say.
Keira returned the smile, though she seemed to be having less trouble with it. 'Valentine… is there a reason you're dressed up as DE-Girl?' Keira asked her.
'Ah, that's her cover. Being two wanted criminals works miracles for your popularity, I'll tell you that.' Jak said in an attempt at humor to lighten the mood a little. He saw the corner of Valentine's mouth twitch a little when she heard it. She seemed to be somewhere else completely with her thoughts. He thought that he might be better of leaving her alone for a second. She seemed pained, and he guessed the Eco was working up again.

|After the Race|

Jak had won the 3rd class race! It wasn't a surprise to Valentine; Jak was always so incredible at the things he did, she didn't think he could ever lose. She had been cheering him on from the sidelines, screaming and leading on the cheers as DE-Girl. In no time, Jak had become one of the most popular racers on the track.
Now he was moving towards the pit, where he could put away his vehicle since the race had ended. She got up from the small bench she had been waiting at, planning to simply leap in his arms so she could congratulate him.

Before she had taken a step, Keira had beaten her to it. Jak caught her as if he had been expecting her to do that, and he swung her around in glee. Valentine felt the tightening in her chest again, and wondered if she would ever get used to that irritating feeling. It didn't hurt her body as much as the Eco did, but when it came to mental damage, it could certainly compete.
Hadn't she been fooling herself, and a lot at that? Of course there had been no way Jak would ever like her in that way, when he already had a girl. A girl that wasn't damaged so badly, and that didn't have to see life in that gruesome way.
An innocent girl.
Jak and Keira walked closer, and Valentine forced a shiver away. She didn't want to deal with the Eco now, not now when she already had something else to deal with. She didn't really want to scream her lungs out at how stupid Jak was. And she didn't want to throw herself in his arms as well, crying and pleading for even a little bit of affection.
She didn't want it at all.
Daxter gave her a pat on her shin, looking up at her with a look that resembled pity quite a lot. Too much, in fact. She smiled at him, her fake smile that had taken her so long to perfect. Daxter smiled back at her, though not quite convincing. Did he see right through her, as she hoped Jak would?

Jak paused when he got near her, and looked at her with a shining smile. He looked so much at peace right now, as if nothing could bring him down at this moment.
'Well, what do you think? Now we're one step closer to our goal! Isn't this great?' he asked her.
Valentine glanced at Keira for a second, who was standing right next to Jak. Valentine looked in Jak's big blue eyes, and couldn't do anything to make him feel bad. Instead she smiled, and tried not to shiver.
'Yes. It's great alright.'

|Moon's note : I have a Tumblr account now! Follow me if you want to hear me ramble about everyday life, at Tenshu-hime ! ^^ And review, if you don't mind… I mean… 3 reviews… it makes me feel the story is quite pathetic.|