Chapter Two:

Second Chances

Countless times since her disappearance he had wandered this excavation tunnel he had been digging up for years. He had spent most of the last ten years working on this Precursor excavation, but over the past few months he had lost his desire to uncover the Precursor mysteries. All his life it had been his love, but the loss of his family had hurt him dearly.

It wasn't like he completely lost his entire family, but the loss of one throws the entire unit out of its norm. With one family member gone, all they could think about was where she had gone. Worry led to high tension, and after months of it, it started to rip him and his wife apart.

His wife was a wreck. She blamed herself for the loss of their daughter, and the grief had been tearing at her since her disappearance. They had got into an argument not long before it happened, and their daughter had stomped out of the house.

He had tried, many times, to comfort his wife, but nothing could seem to help her sooth her regret.

Erin had spent many hours in here with him, trying to learn the mysteries of the Precursors. He had always wondered if she only feigned interest to please him. Even if she was faking, she had always said she found it interesting.

Dr. Owen had gained a Masters in archeology and studied ancient Precursor ruins; it had come natural to him since he was a young man, all that time ago. He had always found excavating ruins extremely interesting, but since his daughter had gone missing, he had lost his taste for it.

It just reminded him of her loss.

When he walked the cool tomb and tunnels he had uncovered, in the dark of the night, somehow he felt closer to his missing daughter. The metal and stone walls seemed to cool the ache in his heart. His daughter had been so precious to him; they had talked about everything together, even though she was in that stage when teenagers were supposed to hate their parents. She had never grown tired of his many stories of the other excavation sites he had visited. She was daddy's little girl.

Technically he wasn't her father; he and his wife had adopted her since they couldn't have children of their own. His wife, Maili, had agreed to adoption when they went several years without having a child.

His wife had fallen in love with Erin when they first met, and they adopted her. No one knew where Erin came from; it was like she was abandoned. Owen knew more then he was telling, though.

Owen sighed again as he entered the chamber he had stated clearing when they first found Erin. Erin had always loved the stories on the walls in this chamber; the two of them would spend hours in here, her begging him to tell her another story from the wall. He was slow at translating the symbols at first, since he was used to thinking in the ancient language, but he grew quicker at translation. Erin had found the stories marvelous when she was a child. They would stay out there for hours, until Maili came out and declared that it was past Erin's bedtime.

Erin would be wide-eyed from the mystical stories and claim that she wasn't tired, but once Maili finally got her into bed, she would fall to sleep instantly. Then Maili would turn on him, pretending to be mad, and say that he was irresponsible for letting her stay up so late. Owen would just laugh and give his wife a kiss; it was what their life revolved around.

But not that Erin was gone, Maili was depressed and edgy. She wouldn't think about anything but finding their daughter, but hope didn't seem an option anymore. It had been many months since she had gone missing, and it didn't look like she was coming back.

Owen still loved his wife, but any time he suggested that she take a break she would turn on him and yell, saying that he was terrible for giving up. This would usually lead to the usual argument.

It seemed that all they could do was fight anymore.

Owen sat down on a stone pedestal to give his feet a rest. After every fight he would come out to the dig, just like tonight. They were having more and more fights lately, so it seemed like he spent more time out in the tunnels. His wife was becoming obsessed.

It wasn't that he was giving up hope, but the day he had found Erin alone, before they had adopted her, he had known that she was meant for great things. Somehow he knew that her disappearance was part of her destiny.

But then again, perhaps he was just trying to ignore his own pain.

His life was falling apart, but he still hoped that Erin was doing what she was meant to do.

Owen looked over the small chamber. It was the last room he had discovered in this dig, and by far the most interesting. Among the many small items he had found in the chamber, the one thing that had fascinated him the most was the largest.

It was a large ring made of Precursor metal, with many symbols along the entire circumference of it. The symbols are translated into numbers. Owen had many theories about its function, but they were only educated guesses. One crazy idea was that it was a large machine used for calculations, but what use would they need for one of such size?

It was a mystery that he had been trying to solve since before he had ever found Erin.

Again, Owen sighed. Perhaps he had spent too much time in these tunnels, and that was what was ruining his marriage.

Owen remained in deep thought for almost half an hour, until an interruption cut through his mind.

A shockwave tore through the large chamber, and it threw Owen from his seat. He sat up instantly, his heart beating from the mystery. He turned to the origin of the force that had thrown him on the ground.

The large ring that had been the focus of his scrutiny for countless years had suddenly burst into life. A deep blue glowing spewed into the chamber, making everything seem a ghastly color; a stark contrast to the bleak that had once been the norm.

Owen could do nothing but lie on the floor and cover his head, hoping that the unnatural wind would stop, and the freak event come to a close. He had no idea how he had triggered the ring to start up, but the shock was likely to give him a heart attack.

He remained on the floor, protecting his face from the dirt that was thrown into the air and whipped about as the ring sent its cargo through. He didn't see the form of a person materialize before him at the base of the ring, nor did he care to be sucked into the swirling vortex.

The wind stopped and the chamber went dark without warning.

Owen lifted his head from the dirt and gazed in shock into the pitch dark. The phantom wind had gone, but not before it blew out his only source of light.

Once he found this breath, he climbed to his feet and stumbled around in the darkness, trying to find his bunch of matches that had been on a nearby box. With his luck, they had all been scattered in the dirt.

Thinking that it was the most likely fate of his matches he fell down to his knees and felt around in the dirt, trying to find something that would give him light.

When his fingers finally grasped a match in the dirt, he felt around for his lantern. It took a few minutes but he found it amongst the debris that had been scattered around. He lit the match and inserted it into the lantern.

The lantern filled the chamber with light, and it gave Owen a sense of comfort. He glanced around the room, still trying to solve the question that had been silently asked inside his mind since the disturbance.

What was that all about?

Then his eyes fell upon the form that had been sent through the gateway. It lie on the floor and made no movement.

Owen must have sat and stared at the body lying on the floor for ten minutes before his heartbeat calmed enough for him to think. What could the Precursors have sent him? What was the meaning behind the person who had been sent to him?

He took one step closer, tying not to wake the sleeping woman. He could easily tell that she was a girl, her small form allowed for no other assessment. He couldn't be sure if she was dangerous, or weather she was even alive.

Again he had to mentally force himself to take another step closer. He looked down at her and saw the blood. Again he silently asked himself why the girl was sent to him.

His only thought was that they must have sent the girl to him because they thought that he could save her. But it was preposterous; he wasn't a doctor of medicine, but of study.

When Owen gained the strength to kneel down beside her, he couldn't think about anything other than this girl must be important.

She moaned when he gently turned her over. The face was oddly familiar…

" Erin!"

Voices spoke around her, but every time she tied to understand what they said it gave her a headache. Each time she reached out with her consciousness, it just resulted in pain and a loss of all knowledge about what was going on around her.

Her dreams haunted her day and night.

Days and nights must have passed in the time she lie in some unknown bed. But her knowledge of the exact amount of time she was trapped in the swirling grey mists of her subconscious, she didn't know.

But she couldn't distinguish the time between her wakefulness, or how long she had been out. She could hardly tell any passage of time, except how the amount of pain lessened between each time she awoke.

Each time she could understand that she had escaped her dream the pain would drive her back to meet them.

In some of the cases when she was awake she could hear voices, yet she couldn't understand what they said. The words echoed and sounded as if they were spoken in some unknown language. Erin didn't worry herself so much over the voices, or even what was happening to her. She just wished that she could stay awake long enough to understand anything at all.

She knew she wasn't dead, at least, because the dead have no body to feel pain with.

It could have been years, for all she knew, before she was well enough to open her eyes and not pass out.

A man in a white coat was standing before her as she lay on some sort of bed. He didn't notice that she was awake, so she just kept still, trying to figure out what was going on. The man in the lab coat read off some information from the machine she happened to be hooked up to. A nurse standing next to him wrote down what she was ordered to.

It was then that Erin knew she was in a hospital.

"Heart rate has elevated to normal," he mumbled. He didn't know what that meant at first, perhaps he had spent too many hours standing before machines and them showing no changes, but he finally looked down at her.

He almost jumped with excitement.

"My dear, how are you feeling? This is amazing!" He rambled with excitement.

Erin tried to talk but found that her voice had failed her. All she could do was mouth the words, because her voice was dead. Against her better judgment, and the fact that the bed was keeping her wounds from upsetting, she tried to sit up.

"No, you mustn't do that!" The young doctor yelped, "You need time to readjust…"

Erin just glared at him; she didn't have time for this. She needed to find Jak and…KOR!

A rush of emotion, but mostly anger, filled her. Her memories came flooding back in a cascading wave, making her sick to her stomach. The nurse appeared back at her side and pushed her back into her pillows.

"You must rest!" The nurse seemed just as anxious as the doctor was.

Erin couldn't understand what the problem was, she was fine and she needed to get up. She turned to the doctor, but noticed the tail to his white coat disappear out the door to the room and into the hallway; anxiously talking to someone she couldn't see. Why were they making such a fuss?

By now she was getting frustrated, she couldn't talk, so then no one could listen to her. She just needed to rest her throat and she would be fine, or at least get a big glass of water. She felt better than she imagined she could be after what she had been through.

Erin tried to get up again, but the persistent nurse refused to let her budge. In a moment the doctor she had surprised reentered the room, followed by another, more experienced one.

"By the Precursors, this is unbelievable!" The older doctor exclaimed.

Erin really wished that they would explain to her what was so damned amazing.

The older doctor quickly crossed the room to her bed. He held his hands before him and the nurse dutifully handed the file to his outstretched hands. He glanced up and down what Erin assumed was her diagnosis and any medication she was on. As the doctor read, he ran his hand along the edge of his lengthy ears, thinking deeply.

Erin tried to talk, yet again, but her voice refused to respond.

The doctor took his time looking over her file. "Simply amazing…" he said quietly to himself.

It took the doctor nearly ten minutes to read through her file. Erin was really starting to get irritated, she would have yelled at him by now if she had a working voice box.

It was then that Erin noticed the small crowd of nurses and younger doctors gathering outside the door to the room. They were all whispering, which made a buzzing sound as if there were a hive of wumpbees had collected in the air ducts.

Still the doctor read her file.

When he did finally look up from the papers in his hands he actually talked to Erin, not talked like she wasn't there.

"My dear, how are you feeling?"

Erin immediately hated his false caring voice; one moment before he had been ignoring her as if she was some object of interest, not a being of intelligence. Now he looked at her as if she were a prized possession, which irritated her even more.

She tried again to voice her irritation, but, yet again, no sound came from her mouth.

Finally he noticed her lack of speaking and he turned to the nearest nurse. "Get a big glass of water for our patient!"

The nurse who had been in the room when Erin woke up almost tripped over her own feet when she walked over to the sink for a glass.

After downing two glasses of water, Erin's throat finally felt remotely normal.

About twenty different people she didn't know had gathered around her bed, as no one would let her move. Each one of them was watching her intently as she decided to try out her voice again.

By now Erin's patience was at its end, "What are you looking at?"

Erin sat on a chair in front of the desk of a more professional doctor then the ones who had been mystified by her awakening. He sat across from her, reviewing her file, as was procedure.

"You are very lucky to be alive, Erin," the doctor commented. "Of all the known cases of Dark Eco contamination, most patients who have been infected, and managed to live, they usually fall into comas until the dark eco shuts down their body. No one expected you to awaken from your coma."

Erin already knew this, but the dark eco wasn't the cause of her falling asleep, it was the injuries that Kor had given her. The eco probably just slowed her healing time.

"How long was I sleeping?"

"About a month and a half," he answered calmly.

Erin sat back in her seat, no wonder she felt so weak. She even felt sick still, but she wasn't going to say anything or they would try and keep her in a hospital bed. She was anxious to talk to Jak and learn what happened in the past month and a half.

"Thanks Doc," she said rising to her feet. She knew she probably seemed rude for not saying more than that, but she needed to get out of the hospital and see what the Underground had been up to, and what was happening in the war.

"Wait, you have to be released first. We can't do that until your parents arrive."

"What? My parents aren't…" Erin froze. No one had asked her about her parents, or how to contact them. There was no way to contact them; they were back… in the future.

The doctor stopped talking, no doubt noticing her stiffen. "Is something wrong?"

Erin didn't have the strength to answer. She somehow managed to force herself out of her seat and she stumbled over to the window. She grabbed the gray curtains pulled over the outside world with fists tight enough to puncture holes in the old fabric. With a quick pull, she uncovered the world hidden behind the cloth. The sun shined bright in her eyes for a moment. She ignored the pan and blinked her eyes, trying to force them to adjust faster.

The white in her vision faded, showing the world she grew up in. The towering buildings stood high above the concrete ground. The zoomers were much more high tech then the ones found in Haven City, because this was hundreds of years in the future. The neon signs glowed in the early morning light, seeming to mesmerize her.

She could tell the doctor had continued to talk, but she didn't seem to care what he said. Months ago, or hundreds of years ago, depending on which way she looked at it, she would have been beyond happy to return home, to her own time. But now… She knew she should feel happy about being home, but she also lost some good friends in the past. She felt as if her heart was being pulled in two different directions, the past and her present.

She felt lost.

"Erin, I think that you should sit down for a moment," the doctor commented, probably noticing her stiff stature.

Erin didn't feel like sitting. She didn't want to give herself that comfort. For the past few months she had been working for a cause, fighting against the evil Baron who usurped the throne. Before that her life was a pathetic existence. Yes, she had some friends and a loving family, but her days had been spent accomplishing nothing but amusing herself during the lengthy days. Could she go back to her old life? Could she live like that again and give up the life she had built in Haven City's past?

Could she forget about Jak?

She thought about Jak. In the past of Haven City he would still be alive, but with the time changes, the last time she had seen Jak had been hundreds of years to the world. He was dead in relation to her time.

Erin's heart clenched, she could never see him again.

Even if she could go back, could she forget about her family?

Such a conundrum she was in. Thinking of her parents made her realize that she hadn't seen them in almost a year. They were probably sick with worry. From what the doctor told her, no one expected her to wake up from her coma. They had got her back, in their eyes, just in time to watch her die.

As if echoing her thoughts, the doctor spoke up. "Your parents should be here any minute."

Though half of her heart rejoiced at seeing her parents again, the other half felt sorrow for the lost man in her life.

After several minutes of listening to the doctor but not hearing the words, Erin pulled herself away from the views of Spargus City through the window and found her seat across from him.

The doctor held his hand up to the small communication device in his ear and pressed a small button. Once the nurse relayed what ever was needed, he turned it off and looked at Erin with a smile.

"Your party is waiting in the Reception Area."

Erin found the strength to get to her feet and exit the door. It was more accurate to say that her family and friends were waiting in the hall outside the Reception Area, they were so anxious.

Her mother and father were the first to see her, and Erin had no interest in stopping the tears that came to her eyes. She broke hospital rules when she ran towards them, but had no interest in them either.

Her mother reached her one step before her father did. She held her daughter tight and cried, while her husband held them both; thankful to have both of the women he loved back in his life and never wanting to let them go.

The entire group of friends and family must have cried with happiness for about an hour before the questions started. Many questions were asked. "Where did you go?"

Erin hated to lie to her friends and family, but if she told them what really happened they would probably think she was crazy.

"I was kidnapped."

"Who took you?"

"I don't know, I never saw his face." That wasn't a total lie, the Precursors had sent her to the past without warning, and she didn't see any form of a being, just a bright light.

"Where did they take you?"

Perhaps the guilt shown on her face, because her best friend, Wyvern, stepped in. "Erin's been though a lot, she can explain it to the cops when she has to. For now lets leave her alone."

Wyvern's parents nodded in agreement, along with Erin's parents. Erin sighed and thanked Wyvern silently, she always stood up for her.

It wasn't long before the doctor that was handling her case came in and interrupted.

Owen turned to the doc, "So, is she released yet?"

The doctor looked at Erin's father and sighed, "I've decided to keep her here for another night."

"What?" Maili demanded, "I don't see why my daughter can't come home tonight, she seems fine."

The doctor sighed again, it seemed that no one ever liked his advice without an explanation. "The levels of dark eco in her blood are still dangerously high, we'd like to keep her here for observation. This is a medical miracle that she is alive, we need to document any information we can gather."

"What?" Maili repeated, "you're using her for experiments? I won't have it!"

Owen openly laughed, obviously entertained at the look of apprehension of dealing with Maili in 'mother bear mode,' as they called it. "Calm down, Love, they are observing, nothing more."

The doctor seemed relieved at Owen's interjection. "It's best for Erin to stay in the hospital for now," he continued, "this is all new to us, and we don't know if the dark eco in her will have later affects."

"You mean she's not in the clear?" Wyvern asked.

The doctor shook his head, "I honestly don't know; as I said, this is all new information."

The upbeat mood of the group dropped slightly, worry shadowed back on every face.

"I feel fine," Erin commented, which was true. "But I'll stay just one night if it will help any person who ever gets infected by dark eco."

The doctor smiled. "Any information could be vital to our research for a cure."

Maili didn't seem too happy about it, she obviously wanted her daughter home, but Owen smiled pleasantly. "You're doing the right thing, Erin."

The group talked for about another hour, until Erin's parents had to go to their jobs. Maili obviously wasn't happy about leaving her daughter, even voiced about quitting her job. Erin interceded and told her mother that she felt just fine, and didn't want her mother to quit. Maili smiled and kissed her daughter goodbye. Her father laughed and hugged her tightly, saying that she had a silver tongue, which was their little joke they always said when they talked Maili out of something.

Wyvern talked her parents into letting her skip school for the day. They agreed after about ten minutes of pleading from both girls. If anyone had a silver tongue, it was Wyvern.

The instant Wyvern's parents stepped out the door, leaving the girls alone, she turned to Erin. "Ok, now you have to tell me what's really going on," she demanded, laughing.

"What do you mean?" Erin asked innocently.

Wyvern laughed again, "You can't lie to me, I can read you like an open book! We both know you weren't kidnapped, now tell me where you've been."

Erin knew it was worthless to fight it, Wyvern would eventually weasel it out of her. "It wasn't that obvious to my parents that I was lying, was it?"

Wyvern laughed, yet again, "No! Now get on with the story!"

Erin sighed, her best friend knew her well. They had practically grown up as sisters, considering they lived on the same block. They would climb the fence that separated them and would play or talk for hours.

So Erin started at the beginning. The day she was transported to the past.

"My mother and I had an argument the night I disapeared…"

Wyvern nodded, "I heard that from your father."

"Well, I got so mad that I stomped out of the house. I was irritated that she wouldn't let me go with you to your grandparents house."

"I remember that," Wyvern commented.

"Well, to calm myself down I went to my fathers dig and walked around in the tunnels for a while. It was cool that night and the tunnels just seemed like a good idea."

Wyvern nodded to indicate that she understood.

"I entered that big chamber at the end, it has always been my favorite. I sat on some of his boxes and just thought for a while. I must have been in there for half an hour when suddenly the tunnel was bathed in light. I turned around and that large ring-shaped ruin had turned on. It looked just like those old portals that people used to get around in the older days, but this one was much larger."

Again, her best friend nodded, fully engaged in the story.

"A very deep voice spoke to me from nowhere, said something about 'destiny' and I was sucked through the portal. On the other side of the portal I fell many feet to the ground, and by the time I got up I was arrested for some unknown reason by a man named Errol."

Erin continued her story, Wyvern following her every word. She described the horrid experiments she had endured at the hands of Errol. She described her and Jak's eventual escape from the confines of the Haven City prison. But not the neighboring city that they knew today, the city as it existed hundreds of years ago.

She told Wyvern about how the dark eco injected into her changed her into a mindless monster, and how she feared it. Then Erin went into detail about how she had eventually figured out that she was in the past., and how the Metal Heads were still a major problem back then. She also told her about the Underground and the missions she would also work on the side for the crime boss Krew.

Wyvern seemed a little shocked at this point. "I never would have thought of you doing so much!"

At her appraisal, Erin blushed slightly.

Again she continued to talk. She told Wyvern about her major mission of watching over the heir of Haven City, in the hopes that one day he would be restored his rightful place on the throne. And the day that Kor betrayed her. She told Wyvern that the last thing she remembered before she woke up in the hospital was lots of pain, and a bright light talking around her.

When Erin had finished her story, Wyvern sat silently for many minutes.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" Erin asked, defeated.

"No!" Wyvern answered, "It's just…" She paused, looking for the right words. "It's just that this sounds like a hero's story from a fiction book."

"Not that I'm saying that you're a liar, it's just so…so… EPIC!"

Erin laughed at this, "At the time I never thought of myself as a 'hero' from an 'epic' tale."

"But you are!" Wyvern insisted, "this is so amazing!"

"So you believe me?"

"Yes!"

Erin was very thankful of that. She figured people would think she was crazy.

"So…" Wyvern stated slowly. "You're in love with this 'Jak' person?" She asked slyly, combing her fingers through her blue and brown hair.

Erin's mouth dropped open instantaneously, she had left her feelings for Jak out of the story, along with the kiss they had shared. Wyvern must have picked up on it somehow, but her methods completely escaped Erin.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'!" She laughed at her friend's lack of response.

Erin was about to comment on it, but the door to her hospital room opened. "I'm afraid visiting hours are over."

Erin's good mood dropped slightly, she didn't want Wyvern to go. Wyvern didn't want to go either. She hugged her friend before she left.

"Do you miss him?" Wyvern asked quietly.

A large lump clogged her throat, and she didn't know if she could trust her voice. She just nodded to be safe. Wyvern probably could see her pain.

"Is there any way you can go back?"

"I don't know," she answered, trying not to sob.

Wyvern noticed the quick change in Erin, and knew that her earlier question about her being in love with Jak was correct.

"Sneak out of the hospital tonight, Erin, and meet me in your father's dig site."

"What?" Erin asked, trying to blink back her gathering tears. "Why?"

"Maybe we can figure out a way to get you back there."

Erin looked her friend dead in the eye, "You'd do that?"

"Of course," She laughed, though her eyes were slightly sad at never seeing her friend again, "nothing should get in the way of true love."

Author's Notes: Ugh, sorry about the delay, school has been crazy the last two weeks and I haven't been able to do anything on my story! I had a major speech in one of my college classes...Man that was a headache... Well anyway, my most common words, REVIEW PLEASE!