|Valentine's Home|

Getting back to her place had been harder than she would have accounted for. Without her wig, she had had to make sure to stay out of the line of sight of the guards. Even if the security cams were set to ignore her face, it only took one guard who had been looking at pictures of her before she would be chased through the city. And this time, there wouldn't be a Meta to keep her away from shooting guns.
She opened the front door, her heart cramping up in her chest. On her way over, she'd had a lot of time to think about what she would do and say. Every scenario she had considered hadn't been satisfactory to her however. The times she hadn't been looking out for the guards she had been biting down on her tongue, imagining things she could have done to save Meta, to keep her trusty little partner with her. But there was one thing she had not been able to control, no matter what.

Keira.

Jak had told her where Valentine's home was. And despite her objections, the woman had come by anyway. She had been the one that had Meta so spooked. If she'd been smart and just realized that there was no way a wild Metal Head would have been kept in a home, none of this would have happened.
As she entered the door, she could hear soft voices coming from the living room.
'You're sure it doesn't hurt much?' Jak asked, sounding worried. Keira replied that it was just a scratch, nothing serious at all. Valentine bit the inside of her cheek when she heard the woman was still in her home. A lone, dark purple spark circled across her arm, down to her fist.

'Out.' It was the first thing she said when she walked in the living room. Jak and Keira, who had been sitting in the sofa, looked up right away. Jak stood up, walking towards her in a hurry.
'Valentine! We were worried about you! Are you okay?' he took her by the arm, trying to examine her. She shook away his hand, filled with anger.
'You. Out.' She growled, ignoring Jak's sound of surprise when she shook him off. He grabbed her by the shoulder next. 'Hey, Valentine, take it easy. I know you're upset, but-'
She turned to him, sharply. 'But what, Jak? What are you going to say now that will bring Meta back to me? This is my house, and I want her-' she pointed to Keira behind her back '-out of here.'

Now it was Keira's turn to stand up as well, hands balled into fists besides her back.
'Hey, I didn't do anything wrong. I just stopped by to bring Jak one of his weapon mods, and next thing you know I'm about to be chewed up by a Metal Head. It's your fault for keeping a dangerous monster like that in your house. Good riddance is what I would say.'
Sparks flew around Valentine's fists again, so dark that they seemed to be sucking up the light. She turned around with a snarl, walking towards the woman. They were about the same height, as Valentine leaned into her, teeth snapped shut with every syllable.
'A dangerous monster? Meta was completely innocent, something which you would have noticed if you hadn't panicked all of a sudden. I didn't invite you here. I didn't want you to be here in the first place. Yet you show up, uninvited and unwanted and you start to mess things up. Remind me again where you are not in fault.'
Keira's voice rose in anger as she was being accused. 'Unwanted? Jak is my boyfriend, so I think it's pretty obvious that he would want me here. You're the one being difficult. I can come over and see my boyfriend as often as I want, can't I? You're just making things hard, and that's because you're a freak!'

'Keira!' Jak said alarmed, looking at the woman as if he had been hurt as well. Valentine's pupils started to expand at an alarming rate, until the blue in her eyes had been almost completely replaced by black. The light above their heads started to flicker, and Daxter who had been hiding beneath the sofa pillows quickly scurried to a safer haven.
'Freak?' Valentine hissed softly, dark crackles circling her body. It took every bit of her control to not slice the woman's throat right where she was standing. The dark Eco was communicating with her again, showing her images of what she could do to hurt the woman. Valentine recognized them from the time she had almost killed Meta. The visions were shrouded in a dark mist. She shook her head to clear her mind, snarling at herself. 'Leave me alone.'
Looking back at Keira, she grabbed the woman by the front of her collar. Keira's green eyes widened in shock when Valetine snarled at her, every trace of the gentle scientist gone. 'I might be a freak, but at least I'm not a hypocrite. If I'm a freak, what about your boyfriend? What's so different between him and me, huh? Isn't he infected as well? Isn't he just as dangerous, or even more so? Why should I listen to the words of someone like you?'

'Let go off me!' Keira pleaded, kicking Valentine as hard as she could. Valentine ignored the kicks with ease, as the dark Eco suggested ripping open the girl's soft throat. Suddenly Jak grabbed her from behind, releasing Keira and throwing her back in one movement. Valentine landed in the creamy white sofa, arms and legs sprawled out in confusion. When she looked at Jak, she started to growl automatically. The Eco was taking over rapidly, and it demanded blood. Jak had just interfered with her, he had denied her the blood that she wanted. For the dark Eco, that made him the enemy. Valentine could feel herself slipping, but denied the Eco the ability to attack Jak.
'Keira, you should go. I'll take care of this.' Jak told his girl, keeping a watchful eye on Valentine as she got back up again. Valentine looked back at him, defiance in her eyes as he kept his body between her and Keira. As she made a move for the girl, he grabbed her by the arm, swinging her the other way, back to where she came from. A growl escaped her throat as she watched the woman escape her house.

'This has nothing to do with you, Jak.' She lied between her teeth. The Eco was feeding from her jealousy and anger, growing stronger every second. Jak looked at her, caution in his eyes. She wasn't a match for him if he were to change into his dark form, but for now he seemed to be prepared to take her on as he was.
'Valentine, this isn't you. You're better than this. Stop being so angry at something you won't be able to change. Meta will be fine out there. She's a fighter.'
Valentine looked at him, stepping closer. He stepped backwards from her, deeper inside the house. His body was tense, ready to dodge if she chose to attack him.
'You don't understand anything, do you Jak? Meta only had us. Metal Heads have a hive mentality. Either Meta is going to be assimilated in the hive that's attacking the city, or she'll be doomed to be alone forever if I don't find her. And it's your girlfriend that arranged this for her!'
She jumped for Jak. He moved backwards supply, not even grazed by her fingers. Valentine reminded herself that she didn't want to hurt Jak. Anybody but Jak. She wouldn't be able to bear it if she was the one that would end up hurting him. But he was going too far, stepping between her and her prey.

'And if your girlfriend thinks I'm a freak, what does that mean about you, huh? You and I, we're the same. And we'll be different from everyone else until I find a cure. Without Meta, who knows if I'll even be able to find a cure! What is she going to do then? Accept you the way you are, Eco and all? Or love you 'despite' it, and live every day in secret fear that something might make you snap? I know pretty sure which one she'll be doing. The way we are now, there won't be happy ending. And she almost surely wrecked the chance we have of every being normal.'
She jumped for him again. He stood still, looking at her as she jumped. She was so surprised by it that she forgot to attack in the jump. She bumped into him, her now black eyes looking into his blue ones, forgetting the bloodlust. He smiled at her sadly.
'That's why I need you… to create a happy ending.'

He gave her a hard shove away from him. When she tried to move forward, he slammed a door closed in her face. She heard him lock it, and as she looked around she saw how he had lured her in her bedroom. She started to slam against the door, trying to break through it. But she had designed them herself to be impregnable. They were bullet-proof, and apparently also Eco-proof. She kept hitting her fists against it, sitting on her knees as the lights in the room kept flickering. She didn't notice the way the tears streamed down her face, or how she slowly found her control over the Eco back. All she knew was that suddenly she was looking at how her hands were bleeding while the lights started to burn steadily again.
'A freak, huh?' she asked herself, as the blood dripped onto her pants and the carpet. Even their blood was darker than that of normal people. Another indicator that she wasn't like others.

'Valentine… are you okay?' Jak's voice sounded muffled from the other side of the door.
Valentine looked down at her knees as she answered him. 'If you're asking if I've calmed down… yeah.'
'I want to know if you're okay.' He said, more pressing. Valentine touched the door with one hand, still sitting on her knees. There were dents in the door from where she had been hitting.
'I'll be fine.' She answered, tears still stinging in her eyes.
'Are you hungry? I'll get you your food.'
'I'm not hungry. I'm going to sleep. Good night.'
The door unlocked. She threw her weight against it to prevent Jak from coming inside. 'No.'
'I want to check on you. I'm worried about you.' Jak sounded worried, but he didn't force the door.
'Good night.'
No answer came from the other side of the door.

Jak looked at the door with hurt in his eyes. Valentine wasn't okay, and he knew it. Though it was weird for her to totally freak about the Metal Head, he could kind of understand it. Meta had been pretty important. He stepped away from the door, hoping to hear it open, with Valentine running towards him. He could catch her in his arms, and console her with the loss of the Metal Head. All she had to do was open the door.
When he reached the door to his bedroom, he looked back at her door one more time. He couldn't hear any more sounds coming from there. Jak wondered if she was crying. He pushed his hair back as he thought about what Keira was doing right now. She wouldn't be happy either. It would be up to him to pick up the pieces again. Why was he the one who would have the most trouble again?
Daxter was sitting on the bed, waiting for him as he entered. From the look on his friend's face, he guessed it had heard pretty much everything. Daxter looked pretty troubled as well, giving him a look full of concern.
'How is she?' the Ottsel asked, his eyes on Jak's face in worry.
'Pretty bad.' He answered truthfully. 'Who knew that Meta meant so much to her, right?' he asked, pulling his shirt over his head. Because of this, he missed the look that the Ottsel had on his face when he answered.
'Sometimes… you really do miss the whole point of the matter, don't ya?'
Jak looked up from his shirt in surprise, but Daxter had his back turned to him, crawling in his own bed.
'What's that supposed to mean?' he asked his best friend, genuinely confused.
Daxter remained silent, curling up in his make-shift nest. Finally a voice drifted from his direction, just as Jak's eyes started to fall closed. 'I'm the wrong person to ask that question to, buddy. But… it's not like she'll answer you either.'

|A few days later|

'Are you ever gonna talk to him again?' Daxter asked Valentine, sitting on the desk she was leaning against. The both of them were watching the machine that was testing the antidote Valentine had been developing. She had diluted Meta's blood as much as she had dared, and now the machine was working at testing everything. Thanks to Meta's constant presence in this home, she had been able to get this far. All she needed now was a little bit of luck, along with a lot of genius.
'I don't know. Is he ever going to realize that he should be aware of what I want as well?' she asked as a reply. The Ottsel looked down at his own paws, hands clasping behind his back.
'As far as I'm concerned though, Valentine, you really are the person who's most suited for him. As a friend and as-'
She shut him up with a hand gesture. Daxter had figured out her feelings for Jak, apparently. 'As the fates would have it, that's a decision that two people need to make. And one of those people happens to already be spoken for.' Daxter looked at her in surprise.
'You're not going to fight at all?' he exclaimed.
Valentine shook her head. 'I don't like fighting, Daxter. I would rather… just be left in peace, without being forced to constantly fight for everything. Life would be so much better, if things were done the way they should be. I'm not hard enough for this kind of life. I don't have the drive to fight for me.'
She thought about the Kid, grimly. Little Mar was the most important thing in her life right now. For him, she would fight. If they won this war, and got the house of Mar back on the throne, things might be getting back to how they were. A thriving city, happy people, and no more worries about Metal Heads that might be invading the city at any moment. She and Vin were the only ones of her family left, and Vin was too old already to be anyone's Guardian. That was her task now, no matter how bad she was suited for it.
'I'm the one that has to protect the Kid. That's all that matters. Like my parents before me, I will keep his house safe, and get him back on the throne. Nothing else is important to me right now. I can't let it be more important than my ultimate duty.'

Daxter opened his mouth to say something, but just then the machine started beeping in bright green lights. Valentine shot up straight, towards one of the computer screens. Her eyes flew over the codes, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
'It… it worked. I have an antidote… this… it's closing up the cells, Daxter! It's sealing away the Eco…' Her eyes widened in shock as she looked at the screen, slack-jawed. 'I did it.'
Daxter looked at her in surprise, and then to the small vial that had made the machine go tilt. It seemed to be so tiny, a deep, emerald green liquid speckled with dark, shiny crystals in it. Valentine lifted up the vial, almost reverently.
'With this… life can be normal again.' She whispered.
'That's great! Let's call Jak, we'll get the both of you back to normal straight away!' he yelled.
Valentine shook her head, groping around in one of the desks, looking for an injection needle. 'We are not calling Jak back right now. First I need to test this.' She quickly sucked the liquid in the needle, and walked towards the living room. She didn't know what effect it would have, but for now, she was the only person who could test this. Jak had far greater chances than she did at defeating the Baron, so it was only natural for her to risk her life for this. She was the lesser cost when it came to this kind of thing. If she was going to go berserk because of this, she rather wouldn't do it in her laboratory, where there was all kind of precious equipment.

Daxter looked at her in concern as she tied of her arm. 'Are you sure you know what you're doing?' he asked her. She shrugged, checking the needle for the last time.
'I'm pretty sure. I'm the best person to be checking this, Daxter. From the two people that are infected with this, I'm the person best suited to test it, and the cheapest cost in case it goes wrong. No use arguing! I know exactly what I'm worth to the Underground.'
She took a deep breath, her hand surprisingly steady. She placed the needle against her skin, resting it lightly against the alabaster skin tone. 'If something goes wrong, call Torn. He'll know what to do. If he doesn't, the Shadow will. And if…' she wanted to say, if she were to die, to tell Jak… tell him what. That she loved him? She shook her head, steadying her hand.
'If?' Daxter asked.
'If something worse happens, take care of the Kid. Here goes.'

Daxter didn't have the time to react as she pushing in the needle. Valentine inhaled sharply, pushing in the liquid. When she was done, she flung away the needle. For a few seconds, she seemed to be okay.

Until she started screaming.