Return to Quiet
"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Daxter yelled as Jak's heavy hand landed on his head, driving the ottsel's face into the old mattress. "Jak! Let me up!" Crawling free, smoothing his fur, Daxter looked at his friend's pale face. "Not feeling better I take it, eh?"
Smiling as Jak looked at him, Daxter nodded again. "Right, right. Well, let's grab a zoomer and get going. I know, I know you don't feel good," Walking along the bed, Daxter tried to convince Jak to get up. "but there's eco at home, and good food. Which, Precursors know, you need right now."
Watching Jak move so slowly was almost painful for his best friend. Walking up the stairs, glancing back at elf, Daxter made sure he was smiling when Jak looked at him, blue eyes cloudy with fever. The heavy footfalls reminded the ottsel of a nasty moment from their memories.
They had been in the forbidden forest, just east of Sandover village, trying to get the blue eco tower functioning again. Jak had found the pathway down into the old Precursor ruins and the plant that was sending up thorn covered vines everywhere. Daxter guessed it had once been just a thorny plant, but somehow, dark eco had gotten to the vines and flowers, changing it, twisting it. Not having any real idea of what Dark Eco could do to a person, apart from change them into Ottsels, Jak had just beat the thing down and pulled a few precursor orbs from its mouth, not bothered by the black sap oozing from the jaws.
But, as they landed on the surface again, Jak hadn't rebounded like normal.
"Jak? Hey, what's the matter? Why're you staying down there? Get up. We got more powercells to find." Daxter hadn't understood what was wrong, mistaking his friend's pale skin for faintness because of the launch. Jak had held up a hand, indicating he needed a minute.
Daxter hadn't thought much on it past that one moment. The blonde elf had been fine after a little rest in the sun, and they had carried on with their adventure. Looking back though, he knew what had happened. Jak's body had tried to channel the dark eco. He'd gone pale, like he did these days, and if his eyes had been opened, Daxter would be willing to bet a hundred precursor orbs that the familiar blue had been shaded darker, more black.
He didn't like it when Jak got sick, or injured; hell, anything short of incredibly healthy made Daxter worry like crazy. In his opinion, Jak had been through enough, and the world did not need to heap any more misery on his best friend.
"Easy there, Jak! Civilians! Zoomers! WALL!" Leaning forward, Daxter came out of his memories in time to yank hard on the steering wheel, forcing their zoomer into a tight turn, knocking the tail against a decrepit building. "Sheesh! Really, do I need to drive?" he scolded the elf as Jak hit the gas and careened down the narrow slum streets. "Don't you— Ah!" Switching hover zones every few minutes, Daxter held on for dear life as his friend ignored his cries, and everyone else's, as Jak treated this jaunt towards home like a first class race.
"Seriously! I have never feared more for my life! Kiera! Get this guy off the streets!" Daxter complained loudly as he walked into Freedom HQ. "Seriously. No, Jak, it was that bad. And look at you! Feeling better now that you're not trying to turn my fur white?!"
Jak had walked in, more energetically than before, and slumped down in a chair, a small smirk on his face. "Oh, right. You just go near our eco infested Log-In-The-Head, and you get all the green eco you need. So yeah, you're probably feeling great."
As he argued and complained in Jak's general direction, the ottsel slowly became aware of Pecker, Ashlin, and Torn staring at them. "What? You ever driven with Jak? We're lucky his younger self survived the one trip we took together! We're lucky the city survived!" But, as they continued to stare at him, Daxter looked back at Jak. "What are they lookin' at?"
With a gesture and a subtle shift of his face, Jak grinned and leaned back into the chair. "Oh! Gotcha!" Turning, Daxter grinned at the confused faces staring back. "What Pecker? Can't translate? Me and Jak've been doin' this for years. Not lately, but for most of his, and my, life."
Walking over to Jak, Kiera stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. With a smile, Jak put a hand on her head. "So what happened? Where'd your voice go, Jak?" The blue-haired female asked.
"I wouldn't get too close, Kiera. He's been sick. Oh, shut up Jak. I can tell who I want. You nearly killed me!" Daxter fussed, waving away his friend's glare. "I don't care who knows you're sick. Seriously, Torn. You be glad you never had to ride with this crazy-o. Much less, when he's sick! Don't you grin at me, Jak!" Wheeling on the blonde elf, the ottsel shook his paw in Jak's face.
Watching Daxter chatter at Jak was nothing new to Torn, but usually the blonde elf had just suggested the duo go wreck something or slaughter metalheads, and the ottsel was usually complaining about the danger level. This, this was just odd. It was like watching someone talk to their shadow. Jak's face moved only slightly in response to Daxter, but then the ottsel would rant as though the warrior had spoken three or four sentences.
Staring at Jak's face, Torn tried to understand what Daxter was seeing in the subtle shifts and muscle lines, completely lost in the conversation. As Jak grinned at Daxter, Torn had to give up.
"Kiera, do you understand?" Ashelin was standing behind Jak too now, looking just as confused as Torn felt.
"Some, but I am out of practice. Jak's been speaking for the last few years, so I haven't had to." Kiera responded, running a hand through Jak's short hair.
"For the last few years? What does that mean?" The red head asked, lifting an eyebrow and looking between Jak and Kiera.
"Jak was mute until we came here. Well, until Daxter rescued him." Kiera said, her voice softening as she finished the last sentence. Under her arms, Jak nodded.
"That's right! Jak didn't say a word, and only made noise when he was doing his fancy martial arts stuff." Daxter piped up. "Now and again, half a word would slip out, but don't ask him to talk. That was all me!"
Unable to really comprehend such a person, Torn just shook his head. "I guess that joke you made about me being mute like Jak had been wasn't really a joke then."
"Nope! Jak had started talking just an hour or two before that! Hence his," Daxter chuckled a little, "lack of skills at negotiating." Grinning at Jak, Daxter nodded in response to something the warrior 'said'. "I know, buddy! It was great hearing your voice. I'd been curious my whole life wonderin' what you sounded like. Remember when we went out to the beach and made bird calls? You were good at it, but I was better, naturally." The ottsel was animated as he described the day the pair went out to bother the local wildlife.
Laughing silently, Jak lifted an eyebrow at his friend, in what Torn was fairly sure was a look of calling bull. Kiera was laughing outright, some part of her memory recalling how to read Jak's expressions.
"I did better! You know I did! The birds were coming to me! No! They were not attacking me, birds flock close like that." Daxter argued with the blonde elf vehemently, all while Kiera just laughed. For a moment, Torn thought he caught of glimpse of the world Jak had described one night during a lock down at the old slums hideout.
A world where your biggest problem was how to make bird calls, and making sure you were home before night. A small smile crooked his usually stern expression.
"What are you grinning about Torn?" Ashlelin came up to him, draping her arms over his shoulders.
"Just thinking about the life those three left behind. Almost saw it for a minute." He admitted, putting an arm around the red-head's waist.
"Bit jealous there?" Ashelin smiled, understanding what he was seeing.
"Heh," His grey eyes focused on the three laughing friends, "Yeah. Maybe a bit."