Chapter Ten:
Facing the Facts

"What do you want?" Keira asked as Erin walked into the garage.

Erin rolled her eyes internally, she hadn't even said a word yet and it already wasn't going well.

"Just thought that I would say hi," Erin answered lamely.

"Hi," Keira said rudely, right before she turned her back to Erin and continued to work on the speeder.

"So how long have you known Jak? Erin asked, trying to keep the mood light.

"Longer than you have," Keira answered quickly, her voice was muffled from under the zoomer.

"You didn't answer my question," Erin stated, trying very hard to keep her voice civil.

She heard an irritated sigh as Keira continued to work on the zoomer, apparently she wasn't too happy at being interrupted. "Can't you tell I'm busy?"

This time it was Erin's turn to sigh, "What is your problem with me?"

"I don't have a problem," she answered coldly.

"Really?" Erin asked sarcastically, "Well it is quite clear that you do."

"Would you just leave me alone?" She barked out from under the zoomer.

Erin sighed, she knew exactly what Keira wanted to hear, she just hoped that she wouldn't have to spell it out to her. "There is nothing going on between Jak and me."

Finally Keira crawled her way out from under the zoomer to look at Erin. "Who said I thought something was going on between you?" She asked earnestly, sitting on the greasy floor.

"Well," Erin started, trying to think of a nice way to put it into words, "You weren't exactly…hiding your dislike of me whenever you saw me with Jak."

Keira sighed again and leaned back against the zoomer. "Was I that obvious?"

"Well…yeah," Erin answered. When Keira started to blush, she added. "But don't worry; most boys are too dense to notice."

That statement made Keira genuinely laugh, "Yeah, I've liked Jak since we were about ten, but he just hasn't noticed."

"I guess guys just can't see that," Erin commented. "So, you two grew up together?"

"Yeah," Keira answered, "I can't remember a day when he hasn't been there for me." Keira looked dreamily at the ceiling, but quickly snapped out of it, "What about you, how did you meet Jak?"

Erin moved to lean against a tool case that was standing against the wall. "It's a long story."

"Well," Keira started, "I haven't given Jak the time to tell me, so will you tell me what happened to him?"

"I'm sorry, but they aren't my secrets to tell," Erin answered, "You'll have to talk to him."

"Please? We both know that he wouldn't tell me everything," she begged, a look or worry over her old friend crossed her face.

Erin didn't know how to react to the look in her eyes. The fear and regret over Jak, they had been friends for as long as they could remember. A small amount of jealousy filled her heart, but was drowned out by sorrow. Jak and her could never be together anyway…

"I'm not sure how long Jak was in the Baron's prison, he told me about two years. I was in there for about a year." Erin started, noticing the changes in Keira's face as she continued her tale.

"What a brain wreck!" Daxter pretty much yelled as they entered the Power Station, again, "Vin sure is scared of Metal Heads."

Jak looked over at Vin, who was too busy working on a computer to notice Daxter's comment.

"And for good reason," Kor's disembodied voice spoke from behind them.

Jak turned around to face him. Somehow he always seemed to pop up when you least expected him to. Erin commented that she didn't like him, and Jak couldn't help but agree. There was just something about him that just didn't add up.

"I've seen what Metal Heads do when they take a city. The destruction. The killing. The devouring. The Baron's scheming will only result in this city's falling prey like all the others before it." He hung his head sadly for a moment then continued. "We must replace Praxis before it's too late. I am happy to say that you and your sidekick are causing quite a stir in our fight against the Baron."

"You hear that Jak?" Daxter commented excitedly. "You're the sidekick!"

Kor raised an eyebrow, "I was referring to Jak and Erin."

"Yeah, that's right," Daxter started angrily, "Don't give an ottsel his props, just like everyone else."

Kor just ignored Daxter's ranting and continued, "We have word that the Baron is sending out one of his large tanker ships and to the Drill Platform to pick up a load of ill-gotten eco. You and Erin need to go out to the Drill Platform through the Warp Gate and knock out that ship! The Shadow will send a team from the Underground to pick up the eco later. Keep up the good work. We're counting on you both!"

Jak nodded and left the Power Station, making his way to the Hideout.

When he arrived at the base, Torn was in one of his moods.

"Have you seen Erin?" Jak asked as he entered the common room.

"I don't know where she is!" He practically yelled, "But tell her when you find her that it's her job to baby sit the kid, not mine!"

Jak decided to leave quickly before Torn found something to get angry at him for. He went back outside, jumped back on his zoomer, and headed for the Hip Hog.

Tess was behind the counter in the deserted bar, wiping the spotless countertop. He walked up to her and sat down. For some reason, Krew was absent, so he didn't have to watch what he said.

"Have you seen Erin?"

Tess shook her head, "Sorry."

Jak sat back on his stool and ran his fingers through his hair. He had just came across town for nothing. "Krew didn't send her on a mission?"

Tess shook her head again. "Nope, he didn't."

Jak sighed, "Thanks anyway."

He, once again, hopped on his zoomer and went looking again. After roaming the streets, Jak decided to go and see if she had talked to Keira.

After traveling back across town to the Stadium, Jak entered the garages to a sound he never had expected. Laughter. He walked past the empty garages to Keira's, where the laughter was originating from. He walked in to see both Erin and Keira sitting on stools around a tool-covered table exchanging stories.

"There was this one time when my friend Wyvern and I…" Erin was saying as he entered.

"Hey, Jak," Keira said when she had noticed him. Jak wasn't sure what Erin had said to her, but it seemed to have worked, considering that Keira wasn't ignoring him.

Erin stopped in the middle of her story to turn and look at Jak. He looked back at her, her face was slightly flushed from laughing; her eyes were bright. He couldn't remember her looking so happy.

Apparently he had been looking too long, because she raised her eyebrows and asked, "Yeah?"

Jak pulled himself out of his thinking, "We have a mission for the Underground and we need to leave now if we are to get back before sundown."

Erin's eyes filled with shock, "It's not THAT late, is it?"

Jak nodded.

"Man, Torn is going to kill me." She laughed, very relaxed. "I'll talk to you later, Keira."

"Talk to you both later." Keira waved goodbye, gathered some of her tools, and got back to work.

Jak led the way back outside into the large courtyard around the Stadium. "So what did you say to Keira?" He asked, he had noticed that she neglected to glare at him when he entered her garage.

"Oh, nothing really," Erin answered, red slightly coloring her cheeks.

Jak wasn't fooled. "No, really, what did you say to her to calm her down?"

Her cheeks turned crimson, "It…it doesn't matter."

"If it doesn't matter then you won't mind telling me," Jak commented, a smirk planted on his face.

Erin made a point of avoiding his eyes and staring down at the decorative stonework of the courtyard walkways. It was obvious she was uncomfortable, "Well…she wasn't angry, really…she was jealous."

"Jealous?" Jak asked. "Jealous of...us?"

"Um, yeah," Erin answered slowly, "just like you thought she was."

"So she's jealous of…?" Jak started to ask to clarify, but didn't really want to say the word 'us' again.

"She WAS," Erin corrected, "I got it all straitened out."

"All straitened out?" Jak asked, his voice quiet.

"Yeah," Erin answered, rubbing her neck, "I told her we're not together."

Jak turned his back to her and continued their walk to the two-person zoomer. "We better get going on our mission." Whatever he was feeling, he kept it to himself.

"Yeah," Erin answered, thankful for a change of subject. "So what is this mission?"

"We have to take out a transport ship before it picks up its next shipment of eco."

Erin nodded as she climbed into the passenger seat. Jak silently slid into his seat, started the zoomer, and headed south towards the industrial section. The drive was silent as they passed the overly crowded streets below. Many people were out and about today, so Jak had to follow traffic instead of weaving through it.

Erin was painfully aware of the silence between them. The only noise that wasn't from the streets below was the sound of Jak tapping at the steering wheel irritably.

"So where is Daxter?" Erin asked, trying to break Jak from the mood he was in.

"At the Hideout, he decided he would rather flirt with Tess." Jak's answer didn't help the atmosphere any.

Erin decided that there was nothing she could do to reverse Jak's attitude, so she figured she should stay quiet, just in case. Perhaps his dark eco levels were high right now, and she didn't want to push him over the edge.

They reached the Power Station after about a half an hour of following traffic. "About time," Jak muttered. His patience was at its limit, and they hadn't even started the mission yet.

"Hey, Vin," Erin greeted Vin, who was busy monitoring the city's eco shield.

Vin about jumped out of his skin. "What are you guys doing here?"

Jak raised an eyebrow, "We're on a mission."

"Yeah I know that, but you should have been here an hour ago!" He exclaimed. "The eco could be gone by now, which means the city's eco grid could fall in a few days!"

Jak hadn't realized that they were going to use the stolen eco for the city's defense. Suddenly the urgency of the situation hit him, hard. Jak ran over to the warp gate, followed by Erin as Vin switched on the warp gate. Jak dove through it, feeling the habitual pull on his body as it twisted though warp space to their destination.

As soon as his boots hit the metal walkway at the Drill Platform he took off running for the turret. The echo of Erin's boots told him that she was right behind him. He climbed the platforms to the turret, gunning down any Metal Heads that got in his way. Thankfully there were no big ones around, just the small insect-like ones. They both reached the turret at the same time.

Jak turned to Erin, "You take the turret, I'll guard our rear."

Erin nodded as she climbed into the cockpit of the mobile turret. As soon as she started it up it moved along its' tracks. She fired on the giant airship that was attempting to land. It instantly reversed its' position and flew down along side of the tracks, trying to take them out.

"You concentrate on the ship, I'll take care of the Metal Heads!" Jak called to her. Erin agreed and focused her firing on the ship's defenses. Jak concentrated on the flying Metal Heads that were trying to get to Erin.

Erin was amazed at how many weapon's the ship had on it, and she could only see the one's on the side facing her. No doubt there were the same amount on the other side. How much money had the Baron wasted on the ship alone? Erin figured that it would have been enough to feed the entire city for a year, and then some.

The domed design of the turret was built almost completely of glass, making it very easy to see around the occupant. The glass was thick, and had a built in targeting system. She also had to be careful to watch the heat gage on the gun. If it got too hot the guns would stop firing for a time, leaving her vulnerable. She continued to fire at the many defenses on the ship, and every time that she thought she had taken them all out, more would pop out from hidden storage bays.

She took out the final turret on the ship just as her moving turret ran out of track. She jumped from the cockpit and helped Jak take out the rest of the flying Metal Heads.

When that was finished they ran down a narrow walkway to the next mobile turret.

Just as Erin jumped in, the ship reappeared. The side with defenses left fired on her without mercy. Erin fired back frantically, trying to keep the return fire from destroying her turret.

She almost had the ship down when a large Metal Head jumped on her moving turret. It latched itself onto the glass dome and started pounding on it.

"Jak!" Erin yelled because she couldn't shoot it with her guns, the Metal Head had gotten too close. The Metal Head continued to pound on the glass, creating cracks and fractures. The heads-up display started to flicker on her side of the glass until it finally was disabled, meaning that her targeting system was down too. Jak apparently didn't hear her yell, he was too busy worrying about a swarm of flying Metal Heads from the back.

Erin cursed, pulled her morph-gun from off her back, aimed at the Metal Head latched on to the glass dome, and fired. Glass shattered and fell around her, cutting her face and arms, but the Metal Head was no longer a problem. She moved her focus back to the giant air ship, ignoring the many cuts. Without the glass dome to protect her, she would need to make fast work of the ship.

With the targeting system disabled, she had to aim with nothing but her eyes. The moving of the ship and distance between them made this difficult. She fired in fast, long bursts. Getting used to have to aim manually wasn't as hard as she figured, and it wasn't too long until the ship went down in a blazing mass of shattered metal.

The mobile turret reached the end of the track and stopped. Her body hurt all over from the glass, and she wasn't too anxious to jump up out of her seat. Jak joined her side after he had taken care of the last of the Metal Heads with jet-packs.

"Erin, are you ok? Your bleeding all over." Jak's voice was full of concern. When she tried to answer she was aware of a sharp, biting pain in her left cheek and blood in her mouth. She gently raised her hand to her cheek and found a large piece of glass protruding from the skin. She grasped the glass and pulled in one swift motion, not giving herself time to think about it. She gasped as she pulled the glass free, and spit out a large amount of blood on the floor of the cockpit.

The glass shard was about two inches wide, and one inch long, which was long enough to cut all the way through her cheek and leave a two inch gap in her skin. She spit out more blood that was filling her mouth. "Do you have a green eco pack on you, by chance?"

Jak quickly handed her one from one of his pockets. She placed a majority of the green colored salve on the large cut on her cheek, and used the rest to cover some of the larger cuts all over her body. After about fifteen minutes she felt good enough to climb out of her seat, but she still had pain.

"We should get you back to the Hideout."

Erin just nodded, the green eco was making her feel all warm inside, which in turn made her sleepy. At least her cheek wasn't bleeding anymore...

Jak led the way, cautiously, back to the warp gate, keeping an eye out for any stray Metal Heads. When they warped back to the Power Station, Vin was there to greet them.

"You two are so lucky you got there in time," then he took a look at Erin, "Geez, what happened to you?"

"Apparently I wasn't that lucky."

Vin raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"See you later, Vin," Jak said as he led the way through the Power Station, outside, and to the zoomer. Erin climbed in and sighed, apparently it was nice to sit down and not move for a minute.

They drove in silence back to the Hideout. Jak had a lot on his mind, and Erin was tired. When they reached the deserted alleyway, Jak lowered the zoomer to the ground and turned it off, but neither of them made a move to leave. Erin had her head resting on the back of the seat, and Jak was holding the steering wheel, deep in thought.

By now the sun was low in the sky. The light hit the atmosphere and smog over the city with a deep red glow of early sunset. The red light ricocheted off of the buildings, giving them a beautiful glow. Jak turned to Erin, whose eyes were closed. Even with the multiple cuts on her face, blood on her clothes, and her hair a mess, she still looked beautiful.

She gave a deep sigh, "We should probably go in," she stated absently, still not making any movement.

"Can I ask you something first?"

"Sure," Erin answered, comfortable in her seat.

"Well…it really isn't a question," Jak started nervously, "It's more like a favor."

Erin finally opened her eyes and looked over at Jak, waiting for him to continue.

"Well…" Jak wasn't sure where to start, "the Oracle said that he taught us to control our dark powers, and I feel more in control of mine." He turned to Erin, "Do you feel more in control of your dark side?"

Erin thought for a moment and nodded.

"I guess that…well I was wondering if…we could test it."

"Test it?" Erin prodded.

"Well," Jak rubbed his neck in uncertainty, "Before we talked to the Oracle, and he taught us control, we couldn't hardly touch anyone, right?" Jak could tell he was rambling, but just continued. "The only thing we don't know is if we can touch each other now without loosing control."

There was a long pause between them as Erin was thinking. Could it be possible? Could their darker sides have lost their strength over them? Erin thought about all the possibilities, and about how dangerous it could be if it didn't work. She wasn't going to let her hopes get too high.

"I don't know, Jak," Erin started quietly, "What if something bad were to happen? What if we do turn on each other?"

Jak was silent for a while, thinking to himself. "I know it's dangerous," he started, "but…I just need to know."

Erin looked into Jak's caring eyes, could he feel the same about her as she did for him? Her heart raced as he looked back at her. She would give anything for this to work out.

"Ok," she whispered.

She held out her hand as she repeated to herself that he wasn't going to hurt her, and that she didn't want to hurt him. They were friends, not enemies, she screamed in her mind, not wanting the darkness to win.

Jak looked at her outstretched hand for a moment. After setting up mental barriers, he gently took her hand in his.

He was instantly aware of his darker side screaming orders at him, kill her, she is your enemy! Spill her blood!

Jak fought against his thoughts, trying to focus on the warmth of her hand instead, on the softness of her skin.

Nothing seemed to work.

When the purple bolts arched between them, threatening their safety, they pulled away from each other.

Erin covered her eyes with her palms, trying desperately to hold back tears of bitter despair. It hadn't worked, and she had wished it would with all of her heart. Failure of self control slapped her face, and she wished that they hadn't even bothered.

Jak watched her struggle, as he fought a lump in his throat. He had hoped it would work as well, but now he felt regret for asking her to do that, it had only hurt them both in the end.

"I'm sorry," Jak whispered to her, managing to keep control over his voice.

Erin kept her eyes covered and just breathed for a few more minutes. "I guess that means we just have to face the facts."

She stopped for a moment, trying to gain better control, "Nothing can happen between us, and nothing will."

Neither of them had wanted to acknowledge that truth, but they knew there was no denying it, perhaps they were both fools for thinking that the darkness could be controlled…

Erin slid silently from the zoomer and made for the Hideout. Jak didn't stop her.

He heard the giant stone slab door open and close for her, leaving him alone in the zoomer, in the alley...in the world.

Jak looked up at the red sky. The Precursors liked to make him miserable, didn't they?

He sighed and started up the zoomer, deciding that staying up and working all night was better than staying awake in bed and thinking.

He arrived at the Hip Hog not long after sunset, hoping that Krew would have a job for him. He entered just as Daxter was telling a story to Tess and Sig. He made his way over and listened

"So there I was, toe to toe with FIVE of the nastiest Metal Heads you ever saw! Slime oozing from monstrous jaws! Teeth sharper than daggers! Slowly, all TEN of 'em surround me. But do I surrender? No! I summon my highly trained killer instincts, and pounce!" At this point he started jumping around and making karate noises. "And when the dust cleared, there were TWENTY less Metal Heads in the world!"

Jak and Sig rolled their eyes.

"Ohhh, Daxter you're amazing!" Tess pawned over the little orange rat.

Jak sighed, couldn't they keep the mushy stuff out of his face?

"Get me something strong to drink," he ordered Tess.

"Jak," Sig joked, poking him in the shoulder with his elbow, "having some girl trouble?"

When Tess handed him his drink, he took a big gulp. The dark brown spirits burned their way down his throat. He coughed long and hard while Sig laughed at him and slapped his back.

"Something like that," Jak answered in a hoarse voice.

Author's Notes: Ok, there it is, finally. YAY! I am now into the 2-diget chapter numbers! (little happy dance) I plan to have the climax coming up soon, so that I can start Book II. Anyway, please review! It motivates me! PLEASE!