Daxter blinked back tears as he stared at the corpse. This must have been how Jak felt when Damas died. Of course, his relationship with Veger wasn't even close to a father-son relationship, but having someone you cared about die in your arms wasn't exactly pleasant.
Suddenly the door burst open and a group of men ran in. The Wastelanders had arrived! The Marauders in the hut, unarmed and unprepared for the assault, went down with little struggle. As the Wastelanders promptly began smashing the artifacts (leaving them intact was too risky), Jak walked over to Daxter.
The young man stared down at the ottsels. Daxter looked up at his friend and the two made eye contact. A moment of unspoken communication passed before Jak bent down and placed a hand on Daxter's back. The ottsel sighed and stood, still holding Veger's body. He carefully lifted the corpse and left the hut, Jak in tow. Wordlessly, he climbed into the Sand Shark and sat down.
Daxter looked at Jak, and the warrior climbed into the driver's seat. As he started the car, he yelled to Sig that he was heading back to Spargus. On the drive, Jak kept glancing anxiously at Daxter. What happened in there? he wondered.
"They tried to perform the ritual prematurely," Daxter explained. The silence was deafening for the ottsel. Besides, he knew Jak was curious, just too polite to come out and ask. "Veger was able to stay alive just long enough to get them to waste half of their artifacts." Jak said nothing, so Daxter continued. "He asked me to…" Daxter trailed off.
"Asked you to what?" Jak asked.
Daxter thought for a moment. He still hadn't told Jak the entire story. Well, Veger had given him permission. "The last thing Veger said was that… he trusted my judgment." Jak raised an eyebrow, but waited for Daxter to clarify. "Veger basically told me that… that I could tell you about what happened between him and Praxis and your dad."
Jak's grip on the steering wheel tightened. So… he was finally going to see the method behind Veger's madness.
"Remember what Torn told us about Dead Town?" Daxter asked.
"Yeah…"
"Well, Veger used to live in that section of the city. When the Metal Heads broke through the wall, they went after him and his family…" Daxter looked down at the older ottsel. "He lost his wife and son that night."
"His… his wife and son?" Jak murmured.
"Yeah… it happened the week before his son's third birthday," Daxter continued. He waited for Jak to absorb that information. Veger's kid was still practically a baby when he was killed. When Jak said nothing, Daxter pressed on. "Praxis blamed Damas, who was still ruling the city, for the Krimzon Guard's retreat. Veger didn't find out the truth until I told him."
"And what did he say?"
"He was horrified when I told him," Daxter said. "I don't think he ever forgave himself. Anyway, so, that's it. Praxis was responsible for the deaths of his wife and son, and he tricked Veger into helping overthrow your dad."
"Bastard…" Jak felt his blood boil. To manipulate a tragedy, a friend's tragedy, to aid your own selfish agenda… "Heartless, conniving bastard!" Jak wished he could bring Praxis back to life, just so he could kill the asshole himself!
When Jak and Daxter finally got back to Haven City, Daxter went straight to Ashelin. She had been a kid during the Dead Town incident, and hadn't found out about what happened to Veger and his family. Hoping to atone for what her father did, she gave Daxter permission to reopen the grave.
Daxter worked alone in the cemetery as he dug. Eventually he felt this shovel strike the coffins. Veger's wife and son had been buried side-by-side, and Daxter placed Veger's casket on top of them. Daxter reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, gold trinket. Veger's locket. It had fallen out during the ride back to Spargus, and Daxter knew that Veger would want to be buried with it. The ottsel opened the casket and placed the locket in Veger's paws. He then closed the casket again and climbed out.
After filling in the hole, he grabbed a hammer and chisel from the toolbox he brought with him. He labored for hours, painstakingly making sure the inscription was flawless. On the tombstone, the names of Veger's wife and son had been inscribed next to each other, with enough room underneath for his. When he finished, it was well past midnight. Daxter stood up and stretched. He looked over the inscription, satisfied with his work.
The ottsel yawned, placed his tools back in the box, and walked down the path, illuminated by the streetlights. When he got to the gate, he looked back at the grave. He wiped a couple tears from his eyes before heading home.
"What a wreck," Jak commented. Veger had no next of kin and no will, so the city was cleaning out his old apartment. Daxter had to run the Naughty Ottsel, so Jak went instead. Surprisingly, the Count's home wasn't very organized. Well, the last time he'd been in here, the city was a war zone. Probably didn't feel like wasting his time cleaning up. As the Freedom Leaguers disassembled the furniture and moved it outside, Jak went through Veger's personal effects, throwing them in one of three bins: Trash, Recycling, and Thrift Shop.
Jak dug through the drawers at Veger's desk and pulled out his journal. Curious, Jak flipped through it. It was mostly equations and experiments that he'd performed. However, there was something folded into quarters and stuck in between two pages about halfway through. Jak unfolded it; it was a photo of Veger and his father as teenagers. Jak looked at what was written on the pages. It was a personal entry.
Thursday, August 17th
Damas was imprisoned today. I took Mar home with me, and now he's sound asleep. Lycan is watching over him. He's rather smart, for a crocadog. But I don't know what I'm going to do. I have to make up some bogus results soon, or Praxis will get suspicious.
Jak reread that paragraph several times, confused. What was going on? Jak kept reading.
Errol told me that he can't wait to "put the brat to death" in front of the entire city. That man is not right in the head. But it worries me; if Praxis finds out the truth, he'll execute me as well. I'd better figure something out tomorrow. I'm too tired to think straight tonight.
Now Jak was really confused. What "truth"?
Saturday, August 19th
Praxis has been pestering me for "results", so I told him that I need a little more time. However, my "experiments" are going to be derailed very shortly. I overheard two men talking about the resistance. One of them divulged the location of the Underground's headquarters. The entrance is down a dead-end alley. Mar will be safe there until the Shadow, whoever he is, finds him. Lycan will be sure to keep him safe. As much as I hate Damas, I just can't bring myself to harm Mar. He's just like my son was.
Jak dropped the journal in shock and shakily sat down in the chair. "It can't be… He said that…" Jak picked up the book and continued reading.
Sunday, August 20th, 1 a.m.
No one saw me leave Mar and Lycan near the Underground. Now comes the unpleasant part. If Praxis is to believe that I "lost" him to the Underground, I'll have to trash my apartment. Maybe even shoot myself in the foot or something. There's no doubt that Praxis will be pissed, but maybe I'll escape punishment if he really thinks that the resistance jumped me. I will stick to that story until the day I die. Hopefully, if anyone discovers this entry, I'll be long gone. If not; well, at least I'll be able to see my darling… (Tearstains obscured the next few words)…miss them so much.
Jak turned the page. It was back to science experiments. Jak looked through the journal again, making sure he didn't miss anything, before he closed it. Jak sighed. So… Veger hadn't ruined his life… he'd saved it. What's more, he knew exactly where the Underground was hidden, but he kept quiet. Torn and the others had no idea how lucky they were… and until just now, Jak had no idea how lucky he was.
That evening, Jak headed over to the graveyard, a package in his hands. He walked through the rows to gravestones until he found the one he was looking for. He knelt down and unwrapped the package. It was a biodegradable pot with a bunch of flowers in it. Jak dug a small hole, placed the pot in, then refilled the hole and patted the dirt down. Jak stood up and looked at the grave.
"Rest in peace, Veger…"
Kat: Yeah, so, that's the end. If I've made just one person rethink their opinion of Veger, I've done my job. Now watch the new Jak game go and show Veger as a complete asshole. By the way, this story takes place in between Jak 3 and Jak X. Kind of explains why Veger was MIA and why Kleiver was a bitch. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.