|Volcano|

When her sobbing subsided, Valentine realized what was happening. She couldn't believe what she was doing! Crying like that while being in Jak's arms? The part of her that had never gotten over her crush was jubilant, while the rest of her mind was positive she had just gone stark raving mad. Finally she cleared her throat. 'Jak?' Dear Precursors, even her voice was all weird now. 'You can let go off me now.'

'What? Oh, uh, yeah.' Jak said, releasing her as if she had threatened him. She scooted away from him a little bit, still sitting on her knees. He sat down, seemingly relaxed although he looked like he had gotten a bit emotional as well earlier. 'I'm uh… glad we're friends again.' He offered.

She found herself praying that this awkward atmosphere would somehow pass. She rubbed her eyes as an excuse not to have to look at him directly. Opposite of her Jak had suddenly found a renewed appreciation for the top of the mountain, seeing as how he was staring at it so intently. Was it her or was this volcano heating up? She waved a hand at herself, trying to cool down a little bit.

'Now that your cryfest is over and you're buddies again-' Daxter said, snapping the duo out of their awkward stage. '- how about we get a move on and go away from the lava and creepy plant thing?'

Both she and Jak shot to their feet, relieved they had some kind of purpose again. Valentine ran a hand past her hair, certain she looked like a mess. She also felt like a huge idiot, both for having been mad at Jak for all that time and for crying like that. She was one of the brightest minds in all of Spargus, and here she was going all crazy over the fact that a guy had held her.
'There's a path to a teleporter over there.' she said after scraping her throat. 'Normally Meta would just fly me out of here, but I guess it's more convenient now if we move as a group, right?'

Jak scraped his throat as well, trying to sound as if he hadn't been crying at all. And if he had, they had been manly tears. 'Yeah, that sounds like a great plan.' He hoped he wasn't blushing. He scratched his goatee for a moment, hoping that he'd be able to joke around with her pretty soon.

He was nearly pushed over by Meta who suddenly seemed to decide that now was a great time to renew her friendship with him as well. Curling around his legs she managed to trip the hero once again, tossing him to the ground, where she began to groom him full affection.

'Oh dear…' Valentine said, putting a hand in front of her mouth to hide a smirk. Seems like her connection with Meta had more consequences than she could have thought. 'Meta, get off him, you're embarrassing him.' She said, shooing the Metal Head. Her friend consented, after giving one more lick.
'I'm sorry.' She apologized. 'I think she missed you too.'

Helping Jak to his feet she pointed to the side. 'Let's get going, okay?'

'What have you been up to lately?' Jak asked her as they lowered themselves to the road next to the platform with the vines. Valentine got into a violent cough, causing her to double over for a moment. 'Valentine, you're bleeding!' He noted with a hint of panic in his voice.

She wiped the blood of with a handkerchief she held ready at all times now, before taking another drink from the flask at her hip. 'Guess I got a little too excited.' She tried to downplay it, suppressing another cough. 'I'm supposed to keep calm, otherwise it happens a little too often.' She took another mouthful, cringing at the taste. She was definitely going to demand the old recipe back, she thought as she offered Jak the handkerchief. 'You have some blood too.' She said, pointing just beneath his eye where she had scratched him.

'Thanks.' He mumbled, dabbing at the scratch. 'Look, I know I'm no doctor, but coughing up blood probably isn't healthy.'

Valentine burst out into a laugh. 'Probably not.' She took back her handkerchief, pausing for a moment to take a look at the scratch on his cheek. She stroked past it with her index finger, feeling a bit sorry for having done it. Then again, she'd been pissed for nearly three years. He should be happy she hadn't done worse. 'What's done is done.' She said, turning back around. They had reached the portal, much to Meta's dismay.

'Hey, looks like she's not too happy about jumping in here.' Daxter said, also seeing how Meta didn't look enthusiastic at all having to use the portal.

As the Metal Head weaved her way around Valentine's legs she made her intentions clear to Valentine, who did her best not to get knocked to the ground as Jak had earlier. 'Are you sure?' she asked out loud, clearly doubting what Meta was proposing was a good idea.

This caused Meta to weave her way around Jak's legs again, emitting a purring sound. 'Well, I guess you have a point there. Just be sure to stay away from Damos for the time being. If he finds out you helped me get out of Spargus he'll try to tan your hide.'

With something that sounded a lot like laughter Meta nodded, spreading her wings. After a last loving purr for Valentine she took off, preferring to fly instead of using the portal. Valentine turned around to the two guys who seemed to be rather surprised. 'She's never been a fan of portals. Can't be helped, I guess. And she seems to think I'll be safe enough with the two of you.'

Daxter pumped up his muscles, trying to seem as macho as possible. 'She's got that right. This heroic duo can rescue any damsel in distress.'

Jak grinned, before making a mock bow towards the portal, aiming his hands at it. 'Well, ladies first.' He said, giving Valentine a sly smile.

She held out her hands, almost in a panic. 'Ah, no, I really shouldn't. I'm not really-'

'I can hardly let you go last.' Jak protested, thinking there might a Metal Head coming after them if they didn't hurry things up. Not that Valentine couldn't take care of herself, but he thought Meta might decide to take a chunk out of his hide after all. 'Just go. It'll be fine.'

'Fine.' Valentine said. 'But I'm telling you it's not a good idea.'

|Precursor Temple|

That sickening feeling of having every atom pulled at hyperspeed to a new location was something she would never get used to. As usual she lacked any grace coming out of the thing, landing on her stomach in the dust. 'Pfeh.' She spat out some dust, scrambling up. She needed to get out of the way before-

Jak hit her in the back, letting out an oomph of surprise as his face collided with her back. The impact threw her back on her stomach, causing her to emit some angry swears. This was the exact reason she never want to go through a portal first. The thing made her lose every ounce of bodily control she had. Daxter crawled over Jak's shoulders, dropping in front of her.

'Well, at least you haven't changed that much. Remember the time you did a face plant at one of the Eco mines?' He asked her with a grin on his face.

'Shut up, Daxter.' She muttered. When she tried to get up, she noticed Jak was still laying on her back, slightly dazed from his impact with her back. 'Get off me, Jak.' She muttered. It seemed like things were just getting more weird by the minute.

With a dazed groan he got up. 'Next time I'll go first.' He promised. Once they were back up on their feet she started to walk outside, only to be stopped by his voice. 'Valentine, don't you want to check out this place first?' He asked her, pointing towards a small hall that was guarded by one of the mechanical eyes she had never been able to get past.

She scrunched her nose, not seeing how he was planning on getting past there. Then he pointed towards the little statuette that was hidden in a small crevice. 'You're going to touch that thing to get past the eye?' she asked.

'If it can't see me, it won't be able to raise any defenses, right?' he asked with a grin. 'C'mon it'll be just like old times. A little bit of adventure never hurt anyone.'

The look she gave him clearly begged to differ. He ignored her, slipping past the eye before she could say anything. He reached out a hand, asking her to come and join her. With a sigh she ran a hand across the statuette, only for her it didn't do anything. 'What the?' she grabbed the figurine, shaking it up and down. 'Why am I being excluded? Turn me invisible too!'

Oh, that was right. She couldn't transform anymore either, only able to control Eco outside of her own body. She waved her hand to the side, trying to get rid of an unpleasant sensation that had built up in there.

'GAAH!' somebody screamed. Valentine looked at Jak, who shrugged. The only one she couldn't see was Daxter. 'Daxter, where are you?'
She could feel paws climbing over her, stopping to pinch her bottom. She let out a yelp, and suddenly Daxter came back into view on her shoulder. 'How did that happen?' she asked, confused.

'How should I know? You pointed at me and then all of a sudden I couldn't see my own handsome mug anymore.' He replied, running his hands over his face to check if everything was still in place.

'Jak… maybe there's a switch or something on the other side to turn that eye off? I don't want to be turned into a shish kebob, if you catch my drift.' She said, eying the holes in the floor. 'No, try going a bit more to the left… yeah, there. If you can break through the wall or something, there should be-'

A cloud of dust billowed over the scene. When it cleared the eye was gone, meaning it was safe to cross over. Valentine let out a sigh. 'If I hadn't messed around with an antidote at that time, my body wouldn't be in this condition.' She looked at her hands, walking to where Jak was standing. 'Guess I ended up creating only more trouble, right?'

She thought her heart skipped a beat when Jak took her hands into his. Looking up in those clear blue eyes of his she thought he was looking a bit embarrassed as well. 'No. You're just fine the way you are now. Like this… well… we're a pretty good team.'

'Jak…'

'Okay lovebirds, how about we explore the creepy temple first and then you go declaring your love for each other?' Daxter suggested, jumping back to Jak. Those words immediately caused both of them to let go, not looking at each other.

Jak cleared his throat, reaching for his mod gun. 'I'll go first. You never know what's hiding in a temple like this.'

She nodded, following him towards the stairs that were leading down. Something weird sounded, as if tiny legs were clicking in the direction they were headed. She felt a shiver run down her spine as she thought about what that could be. That was until something lowered in front of her face, something black and red with eight eyes.

She punched it, sending it into a wall where it crashed with a sickening split. 'SPIDERS!' she cried out, grabbing Jak by an arm, dragging him with her. She hated spiders, with their creepy legs and eight eyes. Just what on this planet needed eight eyes anyway?

'I can't keep up with you running like this.' Jak complained, trying to match his steps with her as they were going downwards. Spiders were crushed beneath their feet even as he tried to blast as many of them as he could away.

'I say we run faster, I hate this critters.' Daxter complained, holding on to Jak's hair. They nearly lost their footing, but with a final jump they reached the end of the stairs. Panting they stood beneath the stairs, looking to where they had come from. It didn't look like they would be followed.

'I'm not going back that way.' Valentine announced, sending the stairs a poisonous glance. 'I don't care what's waiting the other way, we are not going back there.' she started to pat herself down, making sure there weren't any spiders on her, all the while grumbling something about eight-legged freaks. When she heard Jak chuckle she gave him a glare as well, shutting him up immediately.

They continued following the corridor, where there were a bunch of robots waiting in a circle around a button. There were two closed doors, one which had the seal of Mar pictured on it. Suddenly struck by memories she stroked a hand past it. She wondered where Mar was now. Was he scared and alone? Was he with people who cared for him? There had never been a body, so she could still allow herself to entertain these illusions.

'Valentine, are you okay?' Jak asked her. While she had been daydreaming he already had unlocked the other door. Things like this were pretty normal for him after all. She followed one of the lines with a nail, thinking about the little kid who had told her he wanted to marry her when he grew up.

'I was just thinking about little Mar.' she admitted. 'I want to go back to Haven, and find him, when I have the chance. He must miss me a little bit.' She didn't catch Jak's look behind her, one that spoke of surprise and guilt. She did however notice when he and Daxter started to argue about something silently. 'Is something wrong?' she asked them.

'It's nothing.' Jak said, a hand wrapped around Daxter's mouth. 'I'm sure he misses you as well. Who wouldn't? Oh, look, more spiders!' he sounded nervous, as if he knew something she didn't. She threw him a suspicious look when he started to blast the spiders away, following after him.

Next was a room filled with eyes, preventing them from following the normal route. Seemed like the only way to get across was via moving poles. And if the invisibility stopped working before they got to the other side : a one way ticket down. Jak didn't seem to be looking forward to this challenge until Valentine grinned at him. She wiggled a hand in the air, looking at him. 'Don't worry. I'll keep you safe until you're on the other side.'

Getting across turned out to be more a work of stamina than anything else with their skills combined. It had been a while since she had had a work-out like this. By the time they passed the third eye she had forgotten all about what she had wanted to ask him. After another row of spiders – she was actually starting to get used to them now – they reached another room.

She looked around the room, which was covering in murals. It seemed like they were portraying some sort of story. As if the monks were kneeling down in front of a statue to receive something. She didn't know what, but it was as if a statue was showering them with a white light. She didn't realize she had been speaking out loud until Daxter pointed out something. 'You mean that weird, oggly thing in that room?'

She turned around, surprised she had been able to miss spotting that thing. A huge Precursor statue, with half-lidded eyes that emitted a strange white light. 'That's the thing from the murals.' She said. Jak motioned for her to stay close. No matter on how many walls that thing appeared, it didn't mean he had to trust it. They walked closer, until Valentine saw something she hadn't been expecting.

She pulled Jak behind a wall, putting a hand on his mouth. When he stared at her with his eyes as far open as he could get them, she nodded towards the two people she had seen. Releasing him, they both peered around the corner, keeping a steady hand on Daxter as they did so.

'I want no excuses!' the man with the prominent nose shouted at Seem. The monk backed away, her hands folded in front of her. 'You told me this could be done, now make it so!'

Valentine let out a low growl when she saw someone yelling at Seem like that, causing Jak to put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. He placed a finger against his lips, signaling her to keep quiet.

'But we have so little time.' Seem told the man. 'The Day Star approaches, you know what it means.' She was talking to his back now, as he had turned to walk away from her.

With an annoyed sigh the man turned back to the monk. 'Unfortunate, yes. We will deal with that as soon as I have full access to the Catacombs. Just continue your work, and I'll deal with those idiots in Haven. I promise, you will meet your makers.'

They watched as the pair of them walked away, Valentine looking at the balcony they had been standing with a questioning look on her face. 'Who the hell was that guy? And what does he need in the Catacombs?'

Jak walked towards her, seemingly peeved he had seen the man here. 'That was Count Veger, he's one of the people who got me kicked out of Haven. I thought Seem was a friend of yours?'

Valentine nodded, taking another step back. 'That's what I thought too… so what is she doing with someone like the Count then?' The next step back caused a light to spread around her and Jak. The pair looked at each other, with one obvious question on their face.

What was happening here?

|Moon's note : as always, my most grateful thanks to LadyAmazon and my dear Guest. I'm looking forward to your reviews every single time to be honest.
Also, welcome back Sage! It's nice to hear from you again, I actually missed you a little bit. Sorry for the spelling mistakes, I know there can be a bunch. I really should get a beta, or learn to re-read my stuff before I post it online. Most importantly, thanks for reviewing, and welcome back. There might be sex… though to be honest I suck at writing that kind of stuff. I really should get better at that sort of stuff.|