A/N: It took longer than I wanted to, but this was also difficult to finish. D; It's my baaaabyyy hereeeee. But this is and will be the last chapter. There are one or two bonus chapters that'll come after this, but those may take a bit too, seeing how there are other things I have to finish, and… well, that's just how it seems to go for this story. xD
Because usually I can't write without music going, this chapter was inspired by Blue October's "You Make Me Smile" and Lifehouse's "All In" "Smoke and Mirrors" and "Falling In." Hey, you laugh, but it's true.
BUT IT TOOK ME A YEAR TO FINISH THIS. 'CAUSE LIKE, I'M A FAILURE WHEN IT COMES TO FINISHING THINGS AND SETTING DEADLINES FOR MYSELF. In fact, I like to wave at those moments as they pass by. –waves-
What is this madness?
It's Spargus.
And thank you LeiaOrganicSolo, because if you hadn't of kicked my butt way back when, I wouldn't have written this chapter as it was, and another thank you to jakxkeiraaddict for all those reviews that really made me want to finish all these stories, especially this one.
That's right. I said it. You two are officially part of this story. :D
Thanks guys. c:
And of course, thank you to everyone else who took it upon themselves to leave a review. You guys ROCK.
The screaming was abruptly cut off by the flickering and then sudden death of the back-up lighting they'd been surviving in for the past few hours, and the three –now four- found themselves with their stomachs lodged in their throats as they continued to plummet. Jak's face was beginning to darken with the sensation of the free fall that was stealing the breath out of his lungs, and also the fact that Keira was latched onto him like there was no tomorrow.
Thankfully, the plunge only had a short lifetime, and the small posse found themselves being thrown against the semi-stained carpet of the lift. The enclosed space was silent save for the uneven breathing and the moaning and groaning going on –everyone was waiting for someone to start going "My leeeg, my leeeg."- and it took a few minutes for them all to regain their bearings.
Jak of course, then found himself practically on top of his kinda-sorta-not-really-um-darn-it-Jak-make-up-your-mind girlfriend.
Though that was probably a result from the death-grip she had around his throat.
Still, it was slightly awkward how he now found himself hovering over her and staring into her wide-eyed overly startled look with a similar expression, despite the fact that neither one could see the other's face in the darkness. Thankfully, neither Torn nor Daxter had made any mention of their current –and embarrassing for them- position. Yet.
Tentatively Jak pulled away, if not only to ensure that he didn't crush her knee cap with his weight, but also in order to make sure he didn't end up sitting on Daxter either.
"GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF MY FACE." The garbled voice that belonged to the angered, annoyed, drained, exhausted, worn-out, disgruntled, and otherwise described by a series of negative adjectives Commander, who had begun yelling in his corner of the lift. Wherever that was.
"GET YOUR FACE OUTTA MY BUTT!" The other two weren't sure whether they wanted to laugh or grimace at Daxter's response. Instead they attempted to settle for a few looks that would make them appear somewhat indifferent.
However, it still didn't help that they were still sitting in a dark enclosed space with no real chance of them getting out. If they were lucky, maybe they would still be able to find the door in the next twenty minutes.
Torn still had to pee, dammit.
It didn't help that Jak was currently rocking on the balls of his feet due to being unable to sit –Torn's legs were in the way- and he was too afraid to extend his arms for fear of smacking Keira –or Daxter- in the head. But of course one of his hands shot out reflexively to maintain his balance, and then of course just so happened to grab something slightly rounded.
"Um, Jak?"
Oh please, for the love of everything that is half-decent, please, please, please, let that be her knee.
Whatever it was that he had his hand on shifted under his grip, and he felt something brush against his fingertips.
Jak had never been happier to have accidentally grabbed her shoulder. And he was also extremely thankful of the fact that she hadn't noticed how red his face was. In an attempt to get up his diminishing façade of mega manliness, Jak cleared his throat nonchalantly.
"Ah, sorry." He licked his dry lips, failing to see the look of confusion donning her facial features.
Obviously, Torn had finally been able to dislodge Daxter's rear-end from his face, considering the fact that he promptly flung the short, orange, furry boy at the back of Jak's end, causing the latter head to bob and mash his mouth against Keira's forehead. Any other time it would have been sweet. This time around, he was just hoping it wasn't her eye he was mashing him.
"Sorry," Jak muttered again as Keira shifted into a corner to get out of the fray. Jak took a seat somewhere against the wall, pulling Daxter away from Torn and plopping him down somewhere in the darkness. The ottsel landed with a not overly enthusiastic thump, and his friend could only guess that he was glaring in the Tattooed Wonder's general direction.
"Please excuse the technical difficulties. It appears as though the lift you are currently riding has halted. Please do not worry, as repairs have begun and you will be on your way in a matter of minutes. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please have a nice day."
Silence.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" It was a safe bet to say it was Torn, already as annoyed as he was, and this metallic voice was definitely not helping anything. Annoying twit.
"No bloodshed, please." Keira murmured sarcastically, stretching her arms out before her, dragging them back against the floor, when she felt something brush against her hand. Lo and behold, there lay Torn's communicator on the ground. Or at least, she thought it was. Hoped it was.
There was a startled gasp at the sudden faint glow, followed quickly by a surprise cry, a thwack and then a yelp of pain.
"Ow! What was that for?" The mammal shouted, rubbing a hand against his wounded temple. "Why're ya throwing things at me? Sheesh."
"You just… Your face." Keira trailed off, and it instantly clicked in the minds of the two men that their only means of communication with the outside world had just been chucked at Daxter's head. Hard.
"What about my mug? Didn't do anything to you." Daxter grumbled, hand still pressed to his head.
"No, you made a face. Don't you ever make that face again." There was a bit of scrambling around, and then the glow returned once more.
"Oh, you mean…This one?" He spun around to face her, and Jak got a front row seat to an expression he never planned to see, and never again wanted to. Keira raised her hands in the universal 'stop' gesture.
"That is not the first thing I want to see when the lights come back on." She stated, closing her eyes and shaking her head at him while he shrugged.
"Well 'cuse me..." He replied in a drawl, when all four of their heads suddenly turned to the doors of the elevator –at least, that's what they thought they were looking at- at the abrupt noise of metal being scratched. The sound of inorganic materials seemingly trying to eat each other continued, and a line of the light broke into their surroundings.
Torn had never once been happier to see Ashelin. Annoyed expression or not.
"Oh sweet Precursors," He muttered and stood.
And then promptly collapsed out in the hallway, practically kissing the polished stone floor.
The red-head stared down at the exhausted man on the ground before her, and then lifted her gaze to the trio still seated in the lift.
"What the hell?"
Keira shook her head and then stood slowly, trying to get some feeling back into her legs. Daxter quickly scampered out and darted between Ashelin's legs, ignoring her irritated comment aimed at him. Thinking that was it, Jak let out a silent sigh and shook his head, still miffed at having been unable to tell Keira what he'd meant to only minutes earlier. His gaze downcast, Jak hadn't noticed that the girl had extended her hand out to him until he saw that her feet hadn't moved.
He glanced up at her, taking in her timid smile before uncertainly reaching out to take her head. Now she smiled fully, together exiting the elevator that they had just spent the last few hours of their lives trapped in.
Jak noticed that she still had yet to let go of him.
Not that he minded, but hey. Let him have another brain fart and be utterly confused about what was going on. It's how he was workin' it at the moment.
Ashelin half-scowled, half-stared down blankly at the man sprawled across the floor and who also had yet to pull himself into an upright and decent position. Well, he had spent the past few hours stuck playing matchmakers no thanks to Ashelin, Tess, and Orange Lightening, so let him enjoy those few moments of floor hugging before he again realized that he still had to use the bathroom facilities.
Precursors Jak, just do it. You're probably going to hell already, so just get this over with. If she can do it, it won't kill you. …Yet. Samos'll take care of that.
As the governess finally spotted the orange nuisance that had attempted to dart off unscathed, she quickly reverted to a 'thou shalt not pass' attitude and immediately began telling him off. Not that Jak didn't care and all, but that fact that the mechanic was still clutching his hand had taken away most of his attention.
Despite the realization that her grip was loosening. Frowning, the idea of going back to the way things were before passed through Jak's mind, only deepening his grimace.
Not this time.
To say that Keira was shocked at the tug on her hand would have been an understatement. But in that moment, she was subconsciously just thankful that her surprise was enough to block out the blush that wanted to spread itself across her face, due to him grabbing her hand of his own doing.
Hey, she'd really just offered hers to him in order to help the boy up off the floor, but if that was how he wanted to interpret that gesture, then that was fine by her.
"Um, Jak?" The mere utterance of his name was more a question than anything, and her quizzical look was already eating its way through his resolve. He blew some air out of the side of his mouth, giving her the indication that he was about to say something, and something big at that.
"Can we…talk?" She blinked at him, and all but began fidgeting right then and there. "I mean, do you mind if we did?"
Keira blinked again, and then had to mentally slap herself.
"Uh, yeah. Sure." If it weren't for the small smile that she gave him and the reassuring squeeze to his hand, Jak probably would have high-tailed it out of there muttering some along the lines of 'Oh, um, nevermind. Um, Metalheads. You know, gotta kill some…..blow up…save the world, that sort of thing.'
The other three were still off in their own little world of being yelled at and then suddenly remembering they really had to use the bathroom, a fact the two weren't too bothered by. If anything, it made Jak feel better about what he was about to do.
…If he ever got around to doing it.
"Maybe not…here." He said, eyeing their companions warily. Keira got the hint, giving him a curt nod and trailing along behind him as he quickly spun around the corner into some randomly deserted hallway. And he still hadn't let go of her hand. At least he was getting somewhere. Sort of.
But then his grip relaxed and he released her, pausing a few steps in front of the girl with his back to her and taking a couple of breaths to more or less steel his resolve. Whether or not she was troubled by this, Keira said nothing and silently watched as he swallowed and turned back to her.
Never mind that the fact that her heart was pounding too damn hard to be able to relax properly, of course. And how she was trying to convince herself that nothing bad would come of this, despite how unsettled Jak appeared.
The silence was almost painful now. They were both partially surprised that Jak was the first to break it as well.
"You…you know how Torn asked us that question?" Keira's eyes widened a fraction while Jak gulped and quickly backtracked when the realization finally hit him. There was a pause as he tried to find words, and Keira shifted uncomfortably. Yes, she remembered that question. But Jak- was that what he really wanted? Was that what he was getting at? Not only was that a now extremely touchy subject, but, er, were they really going to have to- alright, now the situation had become awkward. Both their faces had a dusting of pink to them.
"No! I-I didn't mean that question." Jak hurriedly supplied through the slight tension. The mechanic wasn't sure if she ought to have felt relieved or unsettlingly perturbed. There was silence as his mind worked to come up with some wording that wouldn't give her the wrong idea.
"It's just that… Well you know I'm not very good with words."
Keira nodded mutely, shrugging as well.
"No, I mean, Torn asked…" His brow furrowed. "He asked you how you felt, and I never exactly responded to you-"
"No Jak!" Keira abruptly cut in, still embarrassed by the way she had answered that question. "If you don't…I mean, if you didn't… Well, I wasn't trying to… If you want to just return to the way things were before, then…" In a sad way, it was almost amusing to watch a flustered Keira, through Jak didn't really think that at the moment.
Say it now or forever hold your peace, dumbass.
"But I don't." He'd said it in such a rush that he was surprised he'd even understood it. The slapped in the face look Keira had had the same general implication.
"What?" She whispered, partly to herself.
You brought this upon yourself.
"I don't want…I don't want to go back to square one." He shook his head, attempting to look her in the eye, but feeling too flustered to actually do so. He wasn't overly fond of the giant gap between them either. And so he took a step toward her, hoping he wasn't being to forward.
She inched closer to him as well, finding it difficult to hear him, seeing as his voice had begun to trail off.
His gaze stuck itself where the wall met the floor, and he could feel hers somewhere on his forehead, waiting patiently for what he had to say.
"I don't…I don't really know how to word this at all, so I'm just going to wing it." He let this sink in for them both, trying to think of what to say next. "I don't know how I feel," He murmured. He might as well have just punched her in the stomach, seeing as he would have gotten generally the same reaction.
"I didn't mean it like that," Jak once again murmured, somehow finding the ability to bring his gaze up to her face, looking her in the eye as he spoke. "I just…I don't know what to call it. What to say."
"I've really never been good with words, considering that fact I never really spoke, way back when. The first thing I even remember actually saying is I'm gonna kill Praxis, so I think you can see how this is going so far." Suffice to say, he was shocked that he even made it this far without giving himself a brain hemorrhage. "I don't really know how to put feelings into words to say how I feel about you, but I-"
He broke off, and timidly reached for her hand again.
"But this feels…right?" He frowned at himself. "But I still really don't know what to say. I care about you, I swear it. I just don't know how to say what I really, truly feel. Does that make sense?" His molars gnashed together in the back of his mouth.
"It's just that these last few weeks made me realize a lot of things." He glanced up at her again, and couldn't help the small grin on his face. "Like how defiant you can be toward your father." Keira smirked abashedly at the thought, chewing at her lip. The smiles faded as his tone changed into something more serious and appropriate for their current discussion.
"And how I don't want to lose people," Especially you, had been his main thought, though he was still plucking up the courage to say so. "I will admit that when Krew's diary announced that we were poisoned, and you grabbed my hand, I…" He took a breath, and she stared at him with a mix of curiosity and thoughtfulness. "I was… I was scared." Her breath caught somewhere in the back of her throat as he said this. "Because then there was the thought, the chance, the possibility that something could happen to you. And I will also admit that toward the end when we weren't doing so hot…" He trailed off for a moment, visualizing the memory of overhearing Keira hiding in the bathroom with Ashelin and the words Don't tell Jak as the mechanic lost her lunch for the third time that day as a result of the poison she'd swallowed. "I actually thought something was going to happen."
"And I wasn't going to live with that. It was my fault you were there in the first place, and I'll be damned if anything else happens to you while I'm around."
"It took me four years to kiss you once, and that same four to tell you how I feel." Mostly. Jak still hadn't given that feeling a name yet. A gloved hand rose to her face; fingertips finding themselves wrapped in multi-colored hair. "You asked what happened to me in those two years. You asked…where I was. What happened."
"I got scared. I got completely scared and terrified." He swallowed once to prepare himself for his confession. "I thought I was going to die. And at one point, I wanted to. I wanted something bad to happen –something really bad so that I didn't have to live through to the next day and have the same thing happen all over again. Maybe they would have experimented with my dead body. Tried to bring it back to life." Something flashed through his eyes, and Keira could tell that she'd lost part of Jak to nostalgia. "But I didn't care what they would do with me once I was dead. At least I wouldn't be able to feel it, be able to know…"
"Keira," Her name was abrupt, and he was jerked back into reality at the moisture grazing down his thumb. Her eyelids rapidly opened and closed, but weren't enough to stop the onslaught of tears flowing into his hand. "I didn't mean… I wasn't trying to…I'm sorry. Keira."
Jak pulled her to him, letting her bury her wet face in his chest, her arms sliding under his jacket to wrap around his body. He stared blankly at the wall opposite him, partly ashamed and beside himself for what he'd said. "That wasn't necessary, I shouldn't have said it."
His nose tucked into her hair, he held her as she cried.
"He knew where to find you," He whispered into her tresses, as if those few words would compensate for his angry and somewhat irrelevant speech just moments before. "He told me that if I tried anything… If I gave up or stopped being their lab rat, he said that he would find you and bring you in for questioning, or to show you what they were doing."
"I couldn't let you see…" Her grip tightened. "For the longest time I didn't even want you to know what happened to me. Any other assumption you had I would have preferred: Dropped into the Wasteland, lost in Haven Forest, anything would have been better than the truth."
"But I guess his threat worked, kept me alive." He tried not to fidget now. "I told myself that when I made it through hell I was going to get back at them for everything they'd done, and then I was taking you all home, wherever that was."
Keira didn't respond for a while, and Jak was afraid that he'd said something wrong. Rather than voicing this concern however, he simply stood there, keeping his arms folded around her. He'd been prepared for anything she could say to him then other than the short confession she suddenly made.
"He told me you were dead," She whispered into the fold of his shirt. Jak's back stiffened. "I told him I was looking for my father, Daxter, and you. And then after almost two years, he came back to the garage and told me that he'd done everything he could. He said he couldn't find the others, but you…" She chewed at her lip.
"He had your goggles. And I believed him."
She sighed, pulling away from his slightly, her eyes still focused on the wall.
"I spent two years in Haven and befriended the one person I thought I could trust and he was the one screwing up my best friend's life." She sighed with discontent. "And I said you were a bad judge of character."
They both winced, and Jak felt a flash of anger run through him. Keira raised her gaze to met his and stared him dead in the eye.
"I only said he was a better racer because Tess told me to –to make you jealous. But I guess that kind of back-fired, didn't it?" She didn't even wait for his response. "And you thought that I actually cared about him…" She let out a short and spiteful laugh, her gaze roving downwards once more.
"I need to apologize for what I said though." Keira turned back to him, and he could see the sincerity in her eyes. "It was out of line, and I never meant any of it." She closed her eyes and sighed, debating if she should continue or not.
"Doesn't matter."
"Jak-" Her eyes shot open, and she found his face only inches from hers, if not closer.
"I said 'doesn't matter.'" He murmured again and his lips brushed against hers briefly, leaving her baffled and speechless at his boldness. He smirked at her coyly for a moment.
"You're still…kinda amazing, you know that?" Jak blurted, then immediately embarrassed by it, judging by his sudden blush. Real smooth, Jak.
"No Jak, I'm not." She blinked at him, her head shaking in confusion at his statement. Obviously, he still thought otherwise.
"You've been there, even when I told you to get out or leave me alone, but no matter what I did, you were still there." He appeared dazed, almost in wonderment at her persistence over the years. His brow twitched downward. "I've done all these bad things though."
Keira placed a hand on his shoulder, the other brushing against Jak's face. "Maybe a few yes, but that doesn't define you."
"But there are still all these other great people who have done all these extraordinary things, so why me? What have I really done for those people? For anyone? I ended up hurting everybody I know. I know I hurt you, you can't deny that Keira. I've really got nothing to offer you. I really have…" There was a fire in his eyes, and Keira wasn't sure what to think in that moment. "I really am nothing."
"You are not nothing Jak." She frowned at him and this thought, despite the playful gleam in her own eye. "Don't you ever think that."
He almost wanted to shrug at her when she said this, but instead watched her actions mutely.
"And I…I don't have much to offer you yourself." She reached down, taking one of his slightly larger hands in hers before she raised it toward her, placing his palm against her chest so that he could feel the steady beat of her heart. She then looked up at him, blushing slightly at this act, but also with a fierce stubbornness that shot through her. "But this is all I've got."
Jak inclined his head in a nod, practically offering the same thing that she wholeheartedly accepted. Her other hand slid down to his neck, titled his head closer to hers. Keira gave a small smile as her eyelids slid a bit. His growing smirk only increased at her next statement.
"But if we're in this, we're in this for the long haul."
And then he truly smiled at her.
"I think I can live with that." He murmured, enjoying the giggle that bubbled out of her throat while his hand went to cup her chin. He suddenly paused in uncertainty.
"Do you mind?" She blinked at him numbly before she let another short laugh.
"You have to ask?"
And for once in his life, Jak was glad Daxter was preoccupied with having his life threatened.
And Keira?
At least he finally got to kiss Keira without any interruptions in that moment.
I think I love you.
A/N: Sappy ending is sappy.
Oh my god, ending. As in, the end. Fin. Finito. Done.
Oh god, now what am I going to do with myself? This is DONE. Took a year, but it is DONE. Kinda proud of that fact, also kinda sad. It was my favorite story here to write. XD
(So…future JxK stories in the future, methinks? –hinthint ;)-)
THIS CHAPTER. This one. Would not exist without LeiaOrganicSolo. Gosh, thank you so much girl! This turned out kinda angsty and maybe sappy and emotional, but it was great to write. And it's all your fault it exists, because originally I don't think Jak was going to have a spiel, haha.
I don't really care if it was corny or cheesy anymore. It is what it is. Take it or leave it! Haha.
And it is the way it is…because Jak is not that great with words. XD
(Also hinted at the fact that I want to write another Jak X story filling in a bunch of blanks! 8D Mostly featuring JakxKeira moments and stuff, but hey. It's how I roll.)
-For your amusement:
Alternate ending: (Otherwise known as something that actually happened in this story after they all left.)
The receptionist was all too happy to watch the posse finally leave the hotel –actually, he was just glad to see the angry threatening lady go, the rest he could handle. He let out a breath through his nose, his hand absently brushing against the button he'd pressed a few minutes ago, chuckling to himself.
That shiny red button…And to think, that's all it took to stop an elevator…
Granted, it wouldn't have been stopped for that long if the red-head hadn't been watching him like an angry Flut-Flut who thought someone stole its food. He would've pressed it along time ago.
Even though it was kinda of amusing for that Ashelin lady to cut into that little love fest between the couple and the man on the floor with the realization that they still had to go and collect their things. Stairs were suddenly their new best friends. Not that they were too happy about it, but that was their problem, not his. Really.
Which served as another quick reminder.
He waited through the rings until that voice piped up –one he was still trying to get used to calling 'boss.'
"I take it everything went as planned," There was a pause as she tried to recall his name. "Cutter?"
"As planned as it could have, I suppose." He grunted, clearing his throat to get his brute and 'manly' voice back. "The blonde and the girl with the funky haired walked off down the hallway to chat, and then they left holding hands, so hey…" He trailed off for a moment in through. "So I guess they're finally together, eh Rayn?"
"Well it took them long enough."
-&-&-
Seeee? Even Rayn knows they belong together.
But I like the actual ending better. At least now you know who the receptionist was, and Cutter is actually a pretty good actor. And apparently very patsy-faced under his mask, hence why they didn't recognize him, I suppose.
But…this is over.
Thanks again so very much for sticking with me you guys. Those who left reviews and note and all that jazz are amazing. You know who you are. :)
Thank you.
-Bonus chapters! Two of them, actually. One with Torn's 27 messages to Ashelin, and the other with the other Jinx-hitting-on-Keira interaction that Jak was not fond of.
They'll come...eventually.
:D