Disclaimer: Jak and Daxter or any of the related events and/or characters belong to Naughty Dog.

"You can call me Captain Luz."

Both Jak and Daxter stood in shocked silence. This Captain looked like Torn; same eyes, same hair . . . same personality. Jak focused on Luz. The resemblance was disturbing. Though, now that he took a closer look, the only real difference would have been the lack of the Freedom Commander's tattoos. Instead, the stranger's face was racked through with scars.

"What's this thing?" One of the other soldiers had taken Jak's morph gun from his slack hand. He cursed himself for dropping his guard in his confusion.

The hero quickly grabbed the weapon back. He held it tightly, awaiting anything else unwelcome from this group.

"Hey man, I meant nothing by it. Just checking out the impressive hardware."

"Gage, knock it off." The Captain spoke again. This time he gestured to Jak. Luz took note of the beginning look of panic after the confusion vanished. "You can join our camp for now, but we're heading out at next daybreak."

The Torn-look-alike moved back through the trees in the direction in which he and the others had come. The one called Gage followed a few paces back. The third member of the group, a woman, remained still. She was looking hard at Jak, a gleam of distrust in her eyes. Then she spoke.

"Are you following or not?"

Jak moved, following the other two already departing. Daxter was quiet on his shoulder. The hero took notice of the woman's look. She eyed him warily as he walked on. It seemed she did not trust as easily as the other two.

-----

"You can join our camp for now." What was the Captain thinking?

Caylx marched just behind their new guest. He was dressed in a strange fashion. Blue was a rare color, especially with trade to the south cut off by marauders. His clothing was too formal and clean to belong to someone living out here.

Who is this guy?

The woman continued to watch him for any strange movements while keeping an ear to her surroundings. The newcomer walked graceful, almost as if he were a cat on the hunt. There was something that spoke of great power in the way he walked. Yet there was a slight hesitancy.

Caylx caught the drift of quiet words from ahead. The man was talking to his pet. She found it unusual for the animal to talk. It was not natural, yet the others seemed to accept it without question.

" . . . crazy. So Tattooed Wonder has a time twin?" The orange squirrel chirped.

Tattooed Wonder? Time twin?

"I don't think so, Dax. This guy's different. But Vin did say 'when', not 'where' . . . ."

What's going on?

-----

"Vin, where are we"? Jak had a suspicion of what the computerized figure would say.

Their small group had made it to the new campsite just after dark. When Luz had said it was a short journey, his meaning of the word was different from Daxter's. By the end of the journey, it was common knowledge that the ottsel would let his opinions be known. Jak felt the annoyance rolling off of the others, but was surprised Luz had yet to say anything when everything else was so Torn-like.

"According to my internal memory, we are two hundred and sixty-two years and 2.4 miles east of Haven City." The transmission was fuzzy.

There was silence at the voice of Jak's thoughts. He was right. Scenes ran through his mind as he remembered the last time he had gone through time. Yet there was one question that he had to ask.

"How do we get home?"

"Mar."

"What?" Jak answered.

"Not you, the other Mar." Vin got excited again.

"Care to clarify?" Daxter piped up.

"He founded Haven City. If this is the past, then he should be alive. If not, then we're stuck here forever." He spoke matter-of-factly, though, at the prospect of meeting his idol, Vin was jumping inside.

It was quiet for the next few hours. Daxter had eventually fallen asleep. He had tucked himself into a ball against Jak's leg. The night air was chill; it only proved to Jak that they had arrived during autumn. Back home it had been sweltering even on the best of nights.

The warrior sat in front of the fire thinking to himself for most of the night. There were a lot of possibilities going through his mind. The most prominent thought being that they were in the past and Haven had yet to be founded. The last time he had seen the Precursors, they had mentioned something about adventures in the past. Could this have been what they meant? Was he the true Mar? What if he didn't want to be?

There was nothing more than Jak wanted than to just have a peaceful life. Sure there would be the small things here or there, but it wouldn't get out of hand like when the entire world depended on him to save it. He had tasted that peaceful life, he wanted more of it. He just wanted to go home.

Home. He smiled at the thought. Keira was probably out of her mind searching for them.

There was the sound of footsteps that brought Jak from his thoughts. His ear twitched in the direction they were coming from. The three soldiers they had set camp with had been scouting the area for threats. There had been a set up of shifts for the night watch. When Jak had suggested he have a go, the woman scoffed. "I don't trust anything to outsiders, let alone my life." That had been the end of that. Apparently, the other two knew not to get in her way.

"Can I take a look at that thing?" The one known as Gage walked over to where Jak and Daxter were sitting by the fire.

Jak looked up and then over to whatever the other soldier had asked about. It was the communication device. The hero remembered earlier how Vin had hidden when the three strangers appeared.

"Uh, he's a little . . . sensitive." Jak searched for the right word. Vin wouldn't know what to do with himself--he's dismantling my casing with his mind, I just know it!

"He?" Gage looked at him strangely. "Okay." He was a little skeptical. Then, just on the other side of Jak, the soldier caught sight of something else.

"How about that then?" He gestured to the strange weapon lying on the ground.

Now, it was Jak's turn to be skeptical. Though he didn't have much ammo left, he would have liked to keep his morph gun by his side at all times in this place. The warrior reached over to his other side and grabbed the weapon. It had served him well; hopefully it would continue to do so. Jak handed it over with only a warning look.

"Alright, alright. One piece." The man walked off and Jak thought he would start skipping along if Gage had been anymore pleased. Jak looked after his gun wondering if he had just signed its death sentence.

"I wouldn't worry too much about your weapon." Captain Luz sat on the ground across from Jak. "Gage is the best we have when it comes to mechanics. He's got a workshop back home; it's a little dangerous when he's working."

"Sounds like someone I know." Jak thought about it. He was thinking that maybe, this Captain was different from Torn after all. He was being civil, unlike the first time he had met the tattooed Commander.

"Where are you from? Not many people are stupid enough to travel these days." Perhaps civil was too strong a word.

"I can handle myself better than most." Jak growled. Jak hadn't liked Torn all that much upon introductions and he wasn't seeing much difference with this man either. They were like mirror images. Related to a fault, but there was nothing Jak could do.

"Sure, like that last fight. Caylx was only going for target practice." Luz started tossing a few small stones into the fire. Sparks drifted upward when the wood shifted.

"It was under control."

"Then next time, save yourself."

Jak turned quickly to face the newcomer. It was the woman from before. She was still looking at him with a gaze so intently full of anger and mistrust. Jak was beginning to wonder what ever it was that he had done to her. The woman stood staring at the two for a few moments more, and then turned her full attention to Luz. She nodded then walked off back through the trees.

Jak grunted at her passing wondering what her problem was. The captain caught this and stated, "Caylx means no harm. Though, I wouldn't cross her if I were you."

The warrior only remained silent. He no longer wished for the Captain's company. He had been grateful for the help regardless of it not being needed, but now Jak only wished for a way home. The sooner, the better.

"We head out at sunrise. It's a two day journey to the Salvo Encampment." The captain stood, stretched his legs and turned to walk away.

"You assume I'm going with you."

"Where else will you go? I gathered you weren't from around here.

"The Metal Head activity's been picking up in the area lately. They charge in destroying everything. Their movements are almost frantic. They're looking for something and we're out here trying to find it before they do. Our encampment is the only place within a fifty mile radius. We can offer supplies and a place to sleep." Luz moved off, raising his voice as he did so, "Take my hospitality or leave. It makes little difference."

With that, Jak was left alone once more to his thoughts.

Eventually, Gage brought the morph gun back no worse for wear. He seemed on the verge of asking Jak something, but walked off without uttering a word. Luz had set up a bed roll on the opposite side of camp and lay looking up at the sky. Caylx stood watch occasionally moving to different locations to stay awake and aware.

Jak didn't know what to do. He looked down at the ottsel by his side having woken up just before Luz had walked off. Daxter was hunched over his knees swatting at the tiny insects with a stick as they flew too close to the flames. He looked almost depressed.

"We'll get home, Dax." Though he wasn't sure how he would be able to pull through on his word. There had been a time where they had set out to find a way home the first time. When they found it, they were already home. Jak was at any rate. This time though, Keira and Samos weren't around. This time, they didn't have a time map or a rift rider to carry them back. Vin was a genius, but he didn't have as much experience with Precursor artifacts as Jak's family.

"Finally! The last rift gate has been opened!" An image of the past surfaced to the forefront of Jak's mind the longer he thought about his first experience with time travel. "You cannot hide from me, boy!"

How did Kor find us? It was a strange thought that had tickled Jak's mind every so often during the fight for the city.

"Dax."

"Hmm?" Daxter lit the end of his stick on fire and waved it through the air lazily.

"How did Kor find this place?" Jak asked in honest curiosity.

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure Jumbo's around here somewhere. Why don't we just go ask him?"

"No. What I meant was how did he get here?"

"What do you mean how? He flew through that stupid rift thing. Geez, old man, if I'd known you'd lose your memory this fast . . . ."

"Dax, think about it."

"Okay."

There was a long pause and Jak sighed, deeply.

"In order to get to Haven City, we used a Time Map and the Heart of Mar. Seem gave us another Time Map to use on the space observatory in Haven Forest. Kor didn't have one. I think that all of those are just aids. It's still possible to get home."

"There's still one major flaw in that plan of yours, big guy."

"We don't have a portal, I know. We don't even know where to begin to make one, let alone use it." Jak's enlightened mood vanished.

"We could always ask him." The ottsel piped up seconds later.

"Right," was the sarcastic reply.

"Luz said the Metal Heads are looking for something. What do we know of that the leader of the Metal Heads wanted above all else?" Daxter raised a brow.

" . . . me and the Precursor Stone."

"Exactly." Daxter held a triumphant smile on his face.

A/N: This is the rewrite of my original chapter two. Not much changed, but what did change was kind of important, I think. Anyway, I'm sorry that it took so long for this one to get out. I had planned on getting it out last week, but there were some tests that needed to be taken care of first. Anyway, the next two chapters are underway in the editing stages and will (hopefully) be up soon too. Remember to check my profile for any updates.

A/N2: As for the issue raised for the last chapter about weapons, don't worry, I've got it covered. I've already thought about that. There is a reason for everything, just wait until they reach the encampment.