Chapter 12: The Graveyard

The three returned to the ship to find Phoenix back at the helm and Klout next to him. The two looked at them, "Did you find it?" Phoenix asked, letting his first mate take the helm.

"Yes." Keira said placing the sphere in one of the open spaces. The arrow came up and pointed back to Far Drop. "I knew that was going to happen." She said with a sigh.

"There's another one in Far Drop?" Daxter asked, sounding very annoyed.

"I don't think so." Keira said. She looked at Phoenix, "Is there anything else in that direction?"

"The only thing that way is the graveyard."

"Graveyard?" Jak asked.

Phoenix nodded, "Sometimes when a ship goes down it doesn't sink to the bottom of the ocean. The engine has enough power to somewhat keep it on the surface of the water for some time. On occasion, it will be swept up by the current and taken away, that's how they end up in roughly the same place. Also, I've heard tell that there have been battles there."

"Why would people fight in a graveyard?" Daxter asked.

Phoenix smiled at him, "Lots of dead ships means a lot of unclaimed treasure."

"What keeps them from falling off the world?" Jak asked.

"Over the years they piled up on each other making a final resting place for those poor souls who've lost their lives to the sea. I've also hear tell that it's haunted by those very souls."

Daxter's ears flopped back and he gulped. Jak, on the other hand, chuckled, "Haunted, really?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Phoenix chuckled, "I don't believe it myself, it's just what I've heard."

"Have you even been there?" Jak asked.

"No, I never really saw a challenge in robbing a cemetery, haunted or not."

"Well ghost or no ghost we have to go." Keira said.

"How far away is this graveyard anyways?" Daxter asked his voice shaking a little, as Phoenix turned back to the helm.

"We should reach it by night fall."

"Great," Daxter said, "So we're going to look through a graveyard at night. How cheerful."

The day slipped by quietly, too quietly for Jak. This whole thing just seemed too easy, too straight forward. Aside from someone possibly sending messages to an unknown source (most likely Skyheed) everything was going smoothly and he knew from experience that nothing was ever this easy and it worried him. What was he missing? …Then again did it really matter? If they were lucky they could just find this last sphere, find the eco core, and fix everything. After that they could go home and hopefully, he could just start a calmer life with Keira; that was all he wanted after all.

As Jak walked around the ship he found Keira on the deck looking out at the horizon. He stood next to her and looked out as well. She leaned on him, "I love watching the sun set." She said.

"Me too."

They stood there for a long moment in silence, Jak putting an arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. They didn't speak for a long moment but then Keira smiled and broke the silence, "So Sig still think you should be king?"

Jak gave an annoyed sigh, "Yeah."

"Why don't you want it?" she asked, Jak looked at her, she shrugged, "I'm just curious?"

Jak looked back out at the ocean "I don't think I could do it, even if I wanted to. I don't know anything about running a city; I never had anyone to teach me. Also, it's not like Sig's the only one in Spargus that knows who I am. They don't want me to be king." Jak gave a sarcastic chuckle, "Who would want a monster as king anyways?"

Keira looked at him, her mouth slightly open, "You're not a monster."

He smiled at her, "I know you don't see me that way, but a lot of people do and they're not completely wrong." He paused, looking back out at the horizon, "I just learned to control it."

Keira shook her head, "Still, don't you think Sig would help you?"

"I know he would, but what would be the point? He knows what he's doing, he's good at it." Jak sighed, "Damas chose him for a reason."

"Yeah, he didn't know where you were."

"I know. Beside I could never do it."

Keira sighed, and looked back out at the sun set, "Well, I think you'd be a good king."

Jak looked at her confused, "Why?" he asked.

"Because I've known you my whole life. I know the person you really are. You're a good person, a hero, even if no one else wants to admit it."

Jak smiled, "I might not know much about running a city but I know there's more to it than just being a good person. And to tell you the truth, I rather take orders than be the one giving them."

Keira sighed, giving up, "If that's what makes you happy." Jak softly smiled at her and pulled her close to him as the ship continued to head for their destination.

It was easy to tell when they'd reached the graveyard. Ships seemed to be piled up on each other or up on large rocks. For some the only thing that could be seen out of the water was the mast. Most of them were covered in algae from sitting in the water and fog for Precursors only knew how long. Fog floated all around them; this, mixed with the cloudy night sky, gave the whole thing an eerie look.

Jak, Daxter and Keira found themselves back at the helm with Phoenix. Keira holding the seeker to help guide them. "It's a good thing we can use that." Phoenix said, "I don't know what's going on, but the guiding systems are not working."

"So…" Daxter said, jumping off of Jak's shoulder, "Some unknown thing in this place makes you blind, huh?" the ottsel crossed his arms, "I'm going to take a guess and say that the sphere is going to be in the biggest, oldest, creepiest boat in this whole place."

Keira looked at him, "What makes you say that?"

"That's just the way things seem to go for us." Jak said.

The seeker took them to a large rock where one very old and mangled looking ship sat. "It's right in there, isn't it?" Daxter asked, Keira nodded. "Called it."

Phoenix stopped the ship, "I can't get her much closer."

"That's alright," Jak said, "We can take the hellcat and land on it."

Daxter looked at him, "You really think landing the hellcat on that old, mangled, rotting, wooden ship is a good idea?"

Jak thought about this little fact, "Good point."

"Glad you think so." He said, cheering up a bit, "So while you and Keira search the ship I'll keep the hellcat in the air, where the ghosts can't get me." He added under his breath.

Jak just looked at Daxter, "You're kidding me, right?" he asked, "You're afraid of ghosts? All the crap we've gone through, and you're scared by the idea of ghosts."

"In case you've forgotten, I didn't enjoy half the shit you've dragged me into over the years."

"Daxter," Keira jumped in, "there are no such thing as ghosts. Now stop being ridiculous and come on." She said as she and Jak headed for the hanger, Daxter following.

As they reached the hanger an older pirate who was mopping the floors stopped them. "You're not going to that old ship are ya?" He asked.

"We have to." Jak said.

"Why?" Daxter asked, looking for a reason no to go, "What's the big deal?"

The old pirate sighed, resting his chin on the top of the mop, "I know that ship all too well." he looked in the direction of the ship, but being that the hanger had no windows none of them could see it. "You're going to find that on that ship there are no boosters, no engines, nothing like that. That ship never left the water. All of us want to find our fortune, we all enough money that we don't even need to think but this life requers you to never stop asking what is over the horizon. Sadly the crew of that ship forgot that. the story gose that at one point they had so much loot on that ship that a fight broke out as they fought the ship carried them here and they never left. It is said that their soles are still trapped on that ship fighting with one another till the end of time."

Jak rolled his eyes, "Great story and let me guess these restless spirits will trap us there if they catch us. Right?"

The old pirate nodded, "Yeah, that's about it."

"Yeah." Jak said. He looked at Keira and Daxter, "Come on, let's get going."

"… Ah, you know I bet Castaway could use a hand with… something." Daxter said nervously as he jumped off Jak's shoulder. Jak grabbed him out of the air as Keira climbed into the hellcat. "Oh, come on!" Daxter said as Jak also climbed in the hellcat.

"Don't tell me you're really scared." Jak said as he started the engine. "After everything we've been through, everything we've seen and dealt with, you're scared of a ghost story?"

"You know even my stories, as crazy as they are, do have some truth to them."

"And I'm sure the story we just heard has some truth to it too." Keira commented.

"Yeah," Jak said as they took off, "I'd believe that a pirate crew would all kill each other over a pile of money. Trust me Dax, the only thing on that ship is the sphere. We'll get it, find the core and then be on our way home."

"We're going to need to find some way to make sure that Skyheed can't ever get his hands on it." Keira said.

"We don't need to worry about that." Daxter said looking at her, "Phoenix will see to it." he said confidently.

Jak shook his head, "I think we're going to need a more permanent solution." They reached the ship and saw what must have been the last moments of it. It looked as if a battle had been raging as the ship made its way too its final resting place. There was still a skeleton here and there lying limp on the deck, there was even one that had swords stabbed right though its chest and into the rotten wood beneath it. There was no way Jak was going to even try to land on the ship. He looked at Keira, "You're sure the sphere's somewhere on that ship?"

"Yes."

"Good, then you're staying here while Daxter and I will go find it."

"What?!" Keira asked.

"We can't land the hellcat on that; it will never hold. One of us has to stay here and keep the plane in the air."

Keira sighed, "Okay."

"Ah Jak," Daxter chimed in, "why don't I stay here and keep Keira company?" Jak and Keira glared at him, then he sighed, giving up and jumping onto Jak's shoulder.

Keira brought the hellcat as close as she could to the mangled ship and Jak jumped onto the deck that gave a loud creek as it settled under him. "Be careful, I'll fly around the ship and see if I can find anything." She called. Jak just looked up at her with a smile before starting to look.

"So," Daxter started, jumping off Jak's shoulder, "you leave Keira, who is really the only one out of the three of us that can hold the seeker… which works like a magic- compass- thingy… That could have led us right to the sphere… on the hellcat."

"You know," Jak said, as he stared to dig through a box, "I can't touch the damn thing, but you could have grabbed it."

"I tend to sit on your shoulder; do you really think it'd be smart to have that thing so close to you? Particularly your head? Nooo way. We have enough problems with your power's glitching, without the seeker doing who knows what to you."

"Glitching?" Jak chuckled, looking at him, "You play to many games."

"You know what I mean." Daxter said as he walked to the other side of the ship, "I'm going to look over here; the sooner we get off this creepy boat the better."

"Fine with me."

The deck held nothing but the old skeletons and empty or broken barrels. The two headed down below deck and continued their search. Daxter started to go through a random pile near a hole in the side of the ship. But then he thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye, he jumped back with a yell only to realize that it was just some loose fabric blowing in the wind. Jak, who had looked over at Daxter's scream, rolled his eyes. Daxter looked at him, "This is pointless." He said, "We don't even have a clue where it would be."

"We know it's somewhere on this ship," Jak said, "just keep looking." Daxter sighed, going back to digging. After a while they still found nothing, except for some old pieces of junk. As Jak started to look through yet another random pile he heard Daxter yell again; "You jumping at wind again?" Jak asked, chuckling a little.

"No!" Daxter snapped, "This time a corpse jumped at me!"

"A corpse, jumped at you?" Jak repeated.

"Yeah… sort of." Jak just looked at him, "I moved something, and it fell." Daxter took a closer look at it, "Jak come take a look at this thing." Jak got up and walked over to where the corpse sat. Whoever it was he had died a long time ago, there was no flesh on the grayish bones and the clothes that hung limply off it were old, worn out- practically to the point of falling apart. Jak looked at it; barnacles and algae had been growing all over it and most of the ribs seemed to be cracked or shattered. He looked at the broken beam that the corpse was leaning on. If Jak had to guess he would have said that man had been impaled on the splinted wood and left to die. "Hey look." Daxter said, crawling over some more debris, he picked up whatever it was and wiped the algae off, "Hey I found it!" he yelled.

Jak looked at his friend, "Great, let's get back to the hellcat and get out here."

"Couldn't agree with you more." Daxter said. He jumped onto Jak's shoulder; put the sphere in Jak's bag as the two headed above deck.

They saw Keira and she got as close as she could, Jak had to use yellow eco to jumped on the wing and the two got into the plane, "Did you find it?" Keira asked.

"We got it." Jak said.

"Then let's get back to the Phantom Blade and get out of here." she said, switching the controls to Jak's side, "This place is creepy."

"Really, you think a graveyard's creepy?" Daxter said, leaping off Jak's shoulder and into his seat.

Jak started to fly back for the ship when the radio came on with Phoenix on the other end; however, they only got brief hints of words and a lot of static. Keira tried to get a stronger signal as Jak started to head back to the ship. As they approached, Jak thought he saw something through the fog. "Do you two see that?" he asked. Both Daxter and Keira looked; there was definitely something there, something big. Jak flew closer to it to get a better look. As they got closer they were able to find out what they were looking at; it was The Behemoth, coming up behind the Phantom Blade.

"Well, I guess now we know for a fact that someone has been sending messages to the Aeropans." Daxter said as Jak turned the plane around to head back to the Phantom Blade.

Keira looked back at The Behemoth as he pulled in, "Why isn't Skyheed doing anything?" she asked.

"I don't know." Jak said, "let's find Phoenix." The three of them climbed out of their plane as a few of the other planes took off.

They found Phoenix up on the deck at the back end, watching The Behemoth fly closer as a small portion of his crew flew into place, waiting for the order of their captain to start the attack. "How did you know we were here?" Phoenix asked himself.

"Phoenix." Jak called.

The pirate looked at him and then he turned back to The Behemoth, "He's not going to let us out here without a fight."

"Then we'll give him one." Jak said.

"Captain!" They all heard Klout yell, they all turned to look at him, "The radio's working again, we have contact with The Behemoth. And Skyheed has a message."

"What was it?"

"He said he'd let us go free if we hand the seeker over to him."

"And if we refuse?" Phoenix asked; they all knew the answer before Klout said it.

"Then he will take it by force and there'll be no survivors."

Phoenix smirked, turning back to look at the ship that now had its own planes out and ready for attack, he pulled out his pistol, "Well then, there's only one option, isn't there?" he raised the gun above his head, pointing into the sky and fired, leaving a trail of smoke as the bullet flew into the air. Once the gun went off, chaos ensued; the sound of gunfire quickly filled the air, mixing with the smoke that began to flow out the damaged planes. He put his gun away, smirking, "I think they got the idea." He looked at Jak, "you and I need to stay up here; if my men out there fall the Aeropans will board us." Jak nodded. "Keira, I need you take a look at the engines; make sure they're in full working order, and see if there's anything you can do to strengthen the turbos, just in case we need to make a quick getaway."

"I'm on it." she said, before turning to Jak, "Be careful." She kissed his cheek and headed below deck.

Jak looked back at the men fighting, watching as the pirates and the Aeropans took each other down, gun fire and the roar of engines and propellers filled the air as the dog fights went on. Both Jak and Daxter looked on as planes started to explode, the lucky ones that just had an engine fail, fell into the water below while others just completely blew. "It's weird, just watching." Daxter said quietly as more of the crew came onto the deck. Jak didn't say anything as he pulled out his gun, readying it for a fight, more pirates than Aeropans were going down; it was only a matter of time before they would board the ship. The Behemoth began releasing more planes, too many for the pirates in the air to take on; Jak and the other pirates behind him readied themselves, the Aeropans were going to come straight for them. As they came close Jak heard one of the big canons go off, the balls hit the planes and caused them to fall. The Aeropans opened fire on the deck of the ship. Jak and the pirates took cover as best they could, most were not too lucky. As the wave of gun fire stopped, Aeropans began to board the ship and the fight broke out.

Some pirates, already bleeding from being shot by the plane, fought with swords in hand, charging at the Dark Aeropan soldiers using it more as a defense against their deadly claws. Others pulled out their pistols, but unless they shot for the small exposed part right under the helmets, the bullets had no effect. Jak, using the scatter gun mod on his gun, fired; knocking the five Aeropans that had tried to attack him back, but that was all it did. The Aeropan armor was too thick for the gun to do any damage. Jak switched the gun to blaster mode and fired; he got a lucky shot and hit one of the soldiers in the neck, just under the helmet. He fell and his comrade shot a blast of Dark eco right at Jak who dodged. The Aeropans outnumbered the pirates three to one and that wasn't taking into account the Aeropan planes that flew over-head practically raining gun fire at them. The turret guns helped as they shot the planes out of the sky, while the big cannons aimed for The Behemoth. Unfortunately for the pirates, the massive ship was well built, with armor to spare on its outer walls. This was both its advantage and disadvantage as it could take the hit from the cannon balls, but it couldn't move that fast, and at some point that metal that was protecting it would give way. Daxter looked at Jak, "Let's hope Keira gets us the all clear on the boosters soon." He said as Jak shot at more of the Aeropans, "I don't think we can win this battle."

Jak smiled at him, "You're probably right," He fired the gun again taking out more Aeropans, "but when has that ever stopped us?" Daxter just smiled. Jak ran at an Aeropan, hitting him in the jaw with the back of his gun then quickly shooting him in the throat before he had a chase to react. Daxter looked around and warned Jak as another Aeropan tried to attack them from behind. Jak quickly spun around and punched him, his hand glowing red. The chest plate of the Aeropan armor broke, the Aeropan looked at Jak trying the figure out how this was possible when another pirate came running up, stabbing his sword into the Aeropan's exposed chest, killing him.

Jak saw a pirate that was getting overpowered by an Aeropan. Daxter found a crystal and handed it to Jak who, after charging it, threw it at the Aeropan; the crystal hit the soldier's head, quickly incasing it in crystal. The dark soldier tried to dig his claws into the green crystal that was suffocating him, but it did no good. The Aeropan collapsed on the deck, still trying to claw the crystal off until his body went limp, the crystal still held for a full minute after he was dead before it shattered.

The battle raged on and then without any warning the Aeropans fled. All the ones that we're able jumped onto planes. The pirates started to cheer thinking they had won. Jak found Phoenix at the back of the ship. "What's going on?" Jak asked as Daxter jumped off his shoulder.

"I don't know." Phoenix replied, "It's not like Skyheed to just…" he trailed off and his eyes grew wide, "Brace yourselves!" he yelled at his crew as several missiles came flying at them. Jak, Daxter and Phoenix ran away from the back as the missiles hit a lower part on the ship than the three had thought; the whole ship shook.

They looked over the back of the ship to see what damage had been done and now Jak eyes widened; the missiles had hit one of the engines dead on. Without a word, he ran for the elevator, Daxter right behind him. They got on and headed below deck, 'She's okay,' Jak thought, trying to reassure himself, 'she has to be okay.' Daxter didn't say anything as the elevator came to a stop. Jak only waited for the doors to open just enough for him to squeeze through. He hurried up the stairs and came to the engine room, freezing in the doorway. The room was filling with smoke and was lit by a fire's glow as the engines burned. Keira laid on her stomach, the blast most likely had knocked her back. She hadn't got any warning, no chance to get away. "Keira!?" Jak yelled, running to her. Daxter had been right behind him but now he didn't move from the doorway. Jak knelt down and gently took her in his arms, she was hurt so badly, her jacket was sitting on the floor near the door so Jak could see every cut and gash in her skin. Her arms were covered with deep cuts as if she had tried to shield herself, Jak could feel the blood that was spilling from a deep cut on her upper left arm beginning to pool in his hand, her left shoulder had a good size gash. One of the straps on her tank-top had broken and there was another cut just under her shoulder, there was a large part of her skin missing between the base of her neck and her chest on the right side of her body. The bottom of her tank-top seemed singed and there was another large gash on her stomach, the top part bleeding through what was left of the bottom of her shirt. Her left leg was also bleeding terribly where the fabric on her pants had torn. Her face only had a small but deep cut under her left eye and a small trail of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. But at the very least she was breathing. "Keira." Jak whimpered, supporting her head with his hand, "Keira please." He felt tears in his eyes.

Keira slowly opened her eyes, but only halfway, "Jak…" she breathed. She tried to reach up to touch his face but she just didn't have the strength, instead her hand found the metal ring on his chest, she winced as she grabbed it, "everything hurts."

"I know." He said, his voice shaking a little as he suppressed a sob. "You're going to be alright. I promise."

"Jak," she looked up at him, her voice hardly even a whisper, "you can't h-heal me."

He smiled at her as his tears spilled onto his cheeks, "It'll be fine, don't worry." In all honesty, he knew what would happen if he tried to heal her, but if it meant she'd live he would do it. "I'll stop if it gets to be too much. Okay?" He was lying; he would sooner kill himself then let her die and she knew it.

"No… you won't." Jak wanted to tell her to be quiet, but his voice caught in his throat. "If- if you heal me, then… you'll die." She paused a moment, taking a shaky breath, "I can't… let you do that. Everyone back home, the whole world… they need you."

Jak felt his heart break, he held Keira even tighter; hiding his face in her hair, "I don't give a damn about what everyone else needs." He sobbed, "What about what I need?!" Jak couldn't stop himself from yelling a bit. Daxter -who could do nothing but watch- backed up a little, his ears flopping back over his head from hearing the pain in his best friend's voice, "Why doesn't that ever matter?!" Jak cried, "Why can't I ever help the people that are important to me?!"

"Jak…" Keira breathed, Jak pulled Keira away to look at her.

"I've lost too much in my life," He choked back a sob, "I can't lose you too Keira." He pulled her in close again, "I need you." He whispered through his sobs.

Tears of pain were now in Keira's eyes, "And, what's the point in me living if… you're dead?" Keira asked, closing her eyes, letting the tears fall.

"Let me heal you; just a little bit, please." He begged. The crew was running in now, too focused with trying to put out the fire than to pay any mind to Jak and Keira. It was like they weren't even there.

Keira sighed, "No." She said as she fought to stay conscious, "I won't let you kill y-yourself, just for me."

"Keira…" he held her tight as she struggled to breathe.

"It'll be okay..." She said as she lost consciousness.

Jak just looked at her, "No…" he whispered, "NO!" He was shaking now, "Keira, please, wake up." his voice cracked a little, "Wake up." He looked around just for some form of help and saw not only Daxter standing in the doorway but now Phoenix and Castaway as well, "Help her!" He pleaded.

Phoenix, Castaway and Daxter came over, not knowing what they could do. Castaway looked around, "We should get her out of here." He said to Jak, almost like he didn't know what to stay, "There's nothing we can do for her… here."

"My quarters," Phoenix said, "it's a bit more private, we can get her bandaged up there and she can rest."

Jak nodded and stood up, with Keira in his arms. He looked at her; she had already lost so much blood. Both her clothes and his were badly stained. As he moved her, her hand fell off the ring on his chest and came to rest over the gash on her stomach. He held her tight as his pace quickened, Daxter right behind him.

As Castaway went to find bandages for Keira, Phoenix ran for the helm; their one remaining engine couldn't get them out of the graveyard and it wouldn't keep the ship in the air forever, he had to get them out of the air before it gave out. He managed to land them safely on a large rock where the water would not be able to reach them. He then headed down to the hanger to see what was left of the planes. It wasn't good, most of their planes were gone and with them some of the crew. The few planes that had made it back were in such disrepair that Phoenix didn't know if they would fly again. The only plane that was still in working order was the only one that had not been out in the fight, the Hellcat. The planes on the Brink were simple and straight forward but unfortunately only Jak, Keira and Daxter knew how to fly their plane. What were they to do; the handful of crew members that had survived were hurt badly, and with no way of getting out of here they would run out of food and drink and would all die. He looked at his men, the men that had just fought the Aeropans off here, in this graveyard, where they would be unable to call for help… Suddenly realization came over the pirate and he walked out of the hanger and headed to his quarters.