Note: I'm back, and I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. This year has been awful. I've suffered a lot of loss. So I've been trying to keep my head above water, but I finally got myself motivated to sit down and finish this chapter! I hope it was worth the wait.
Haven
"You're saying there's a city out in the desert."
"Yes."
"Run by the former king of our city."
"Yes."
"And you just...what, didn't think that was important? He's the kid's father!" Tess said, putting all her effort into not jumping across the table and going for Ashelin's throat. Jak and Jethra, on either side of her, were sitting straight-backed and stiff in their chairs. Daxter was quieter than normal, sitting on Jak's shoulder and watching the exchange.
"He's the rightful ruler of this city," Jethra said quietly, looking Ashelin dead in the eye.
"Fuck you," Ashelin spat back immediately. "How can you say that? My father is trying to save this city from the metal heads."
"Oh, will you shut up with that?" Tess yelled. "Just stop it. Stop the excuses! You're smarter than that, goddamnit!"
"I'm smart enough to know that he's doing more against the metal heads than anyone has ever done," Ashelin growled through gritted teeth.
Tess threw her hands up. Finally, Jak spoke.
"Why are you even here if all you're going to do is defend the man we're trying to overthrow?"
All eyes turned to him. He kept his gaze squarely on Ashelin.
"At the heart of it, you know that's what the Underground was meant to do, Ashelin. You can't play both sides forever. You need to get all in or all out."
When the Shadow came into the room, he found a stony silence and a staredown between Jak and Ashelin. He sighed and shook his head.
"Tess. Jak. I need to discuss something with you. Come with me."
They got to their feet and followed silently, leaving an uncomfortable Jethra and a seething Ashelin in the room together.
"I heard you all talking," the Shadow said, once they were out of Ashelin's earshot. "About the boy and the fact that his father is apparently still alive."
"We have to give him back," Jak said, exchanging a look with Daxter. "If he's really out there-"
"If he really is out there, and we have nothing other than Ashelin's word to say that he is," the Shadow interrupted, "he's shown no interest in Haven, or in finding the boy, since his exile."
"How do we know that, though?" Tess asked. "We haven't been looking for evidence of him having a presence in the city. With everything going on, Shadow, it wouldn't be impossible for him to have agents here we don't know about."
The Shadow made a frustrated noise. "Perhaps. Still, the boy is the only rightful heir to the city, and time is growing short."
"Whadya mean, old man?" Daxter asked.
"I mean that the Baron is getting closer to finding the Precursor Stone, and we need to stop him. Jak, you need to find the Tomb of Mar-we know the Stone is there. We need to move, and we need the boy."
"Need him for what?" Daxter asked. "He's barely as tall as I am! What do you think he's gonna do?"
"If you would be quiet and listen, I could tell you," the Shadow grumbled. "The boy isn't just Damas' heir; he's the heir to the throne of Mar. He's the only one who can open the tomb and get the Stone."
"He's so young," Tess said. "What if it's dangerous? Does he have to go in alone?"
"That is...unclear," the Shadow replied. "I'm not entirely sure what is involved. We need to go to Onin first, as she can tell us how to actually unlock the tomb. Once that's accomplished, Jak, the rat and I are going to go with the boy to the tomb's entrance. Tess, you stay here and run things on this end until we get back."
"Alright," she said. "Be careful. And take care of the kid, OK, Jak?"
"I will."
The trip Onin's was surprisingly uneventful, with Daxter's keen eyes and Jak's quick maneuvering managing to keep them at a safe distance from any KG.
Jak was worried. About the kid, about Torn, about the Precursor Stone, about Ashelin's loyalties, about the metal heads.
He'd saved the world once before, but it was so much simpler then. Brighter. Fewer shades of grey. And a lot less violence and politics.
Was Torn alive? He wanted to believe there was a chance that he'd see him again, but the chances were so slim...
"Hey," Daxter said, lightly rapping on the top of his head. "You in there?"
"Yes, Dax," Jak grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Just thinking about everything."
"I know whatcha mean, Jak. The hits just keep coming, don't they? And now we're expecting this kid to perform some kinda miracle...I don't know about this."
"I'm with you. I don't think sending the kid to do...whatever the Shadow thinks he's going to do...is a good idea."
"We have to keep the kid outta trouble," Daxter said, uncharacteristically solemn. Jak nodded in agreement.
They were coming up on Onin's hut, and they could hear Kor saying something. Something about the kid.
"Expecting that little boy to save us is folly! At his age, he is no match for the Metal Head leader," Kor turned, hearing Jak's footsteps. "Oh... Jak. We were just talking about Samos' plan."
"Onin says your voice sounds veeeery familiar," Pecker interjected, making Kor's eyes widen just enough to catch Jak and Daxter's attention. They glanced at each other, but filed the moment away for later as Pecker announced that Onin had one final test before they could get the seal and unlock the tomb.
Once Jak had finished the test-he did, in fact have some smarts in his thick skull, thank you very much-Onin revealed the last piece of the seal of Mar.
"Onin says the three artifacts you retrieved from the mountain temple are relics from an ancient light tower. Old legends tell how this light tower once shine down on the actual site of Mar's Tomb!"
Unfortunately this was followed by Pecker singing, which was about as pleasant to listen to as metal head claws screeching on stone.
"Woah, there, Iron Lungs," Jak interrupted, just barely managing not to put his hands over his ears. "Just tell us what we need to do."
Pecker's indignation aside, the task seemed simple enough, Jak and Daxter mused, as they walked out of the tent.
"Take artifacts to Mar's Gate, reveal Tomb of Mar, enter Tomb, get Stone, save world," Jak said. "No big deal. Right?"
Daxter narrowed his eyes at his partner.
"I feel like every time we think something's gonna be simple, it blows up in our faces. Jak, I swear ta God, if you just jinxed this for us..."
Jak snorted. "Dax, if you think I have that much power over fate, then you haven't been paying attention the last few years."
Daxter's face fell, and Jak mentally cringed. This was why he'd never talked before, in Sandover. It kept him from putting his foot in his mouth.
He sighed. "Let's just...figure this out, so we can get the Stone, and then decide what we're gonna do with it, hey, Dax?"
"Yep. Sounds good, buddy," Daxter replied, putting on a forced smile.
Blowing up the giant statue of the Baron was an unintended side effect of raising the light tower, but Jak couldn't say he regretted it. Even if it would probably draw some extra unwanted attention, since the Underground would be suspect number one.
On the way to the Tomb, where Kor, the Shadow and the Kid were to meet them, Daxter was unusually quiet. Finally, he seemed to decide something and straightened himself up a bit on Jak 's shoulder.
"Jak? I know we don't do this...not really...but do you want to talk about anything? I mean prison...or Torn, even though the idea of you knocking boots with him freaks me out...or that whole dark-and-scary routine you've got going on now...or Sandover...I mean, you know we can talk about it, right?"
Jak glanced up at him, startled. "I...yeah, Dax. Maybe one of these days, when everything's not so crazy...and you can tell me about the two years I was in prison, because you've never told me what happened to you, where you were." Daxter suddenly looked stricken, and Jak struggled to save the conversation. "No! That's not what I meant, I didn't mean you took too long to save me, or anything! I just, I don't know how you even survived during that time, what you had to do to save me, and, and all that. It...it must have been hard for you, too, Dax."
The ottsel looked like he might cry, but he swallowed it down.
"Hard? For me? Jak, you know I'm the hero here, right? It was easy-peasy." Both of them ignored the fact that Daxter's voice was trembling.
"Of course, Dax, don't know what I was thinking. What could be tough for Orange Lightning?"
"You're damn right!" Daxter said, regaining some of his typical bravado. "And look, we're almost there. We gotta knock out this Precursor Stone business, buddy. Save the world. Just like old times, right?"
"Yep, like old times," Jak said with a small smile. He immediately sobered though, seeing the Kid standing in front of the massive door to Mar's Tomb. The boy looked so small and fragile, standing there, fidgeting nervously. Jak didn't know if he could let Samos and Kor go through with this.
As soon as he got near the Kid, the little boy reached up to take his hand, big blue eyes watery with terror. Jak held the tiny hand in his and squeezed, feeling his chest tighten. The Shadow was going on and on about how he was amazed that Jak had found the Tomb, but all Jak could focus on was that he was about to send this baby into a death trap.
"Great! Now what?! We send this poor kid into a meat grinder?!" he shouted, interrupting the Shadow's praise.
The man looked irritated, not troubled, which raised Jak's hackles even more. They watched nervously as the door to the tomb went up and a voice began speaking about the heir of Mar.
"No. This child is too young to face the tests." The voice said, and the door began to descend.
"Jak! Do something!"
So Jak did. He went into the tomb himself, taking Daxter with him, feeling nothing but relief that he could face the trials himself and spare the Kid.
He and Daxter laid on the ground for a moment after the door closed with a loud clang, breathing hard.
"Jak."
"Yeah, Dax?"
"Ain't these trials only supposed to be completed by the Heir of Mar? Alone?"
"...uh, yeah."
"And I ain't the heir of Mar. And neither are you."
"...no..."
"So how in the hell are we gonna survive this?" Daxter was shouting by the end of the sentence.
Not for the first time, Jak felt like a heel for dragging Daxter into danger. At the same time, he'd at least had a good reason this time-they needed the Precursor Stone, and the kid couldn't get it, because he's a fucking child, Jak thought, sourly.
"We'll figure it out, Dax. We've done some crazy things before, right?" He glanced over to his best friend pleadingly. What else could I have done?
Daxter sighed. "Fine, but I'm complaining the whole way. Loudly." Jak heard what he didn't say: You're forgiven.
As it turned out, they did survive the trials, much to Jak's surprise (unvoiced) and Daxter's (loudly voiced.) Then a disembodied voice started talking about Mar, and the Precursor Stone, and destiny.
And then the Baron showed up, and took the Stone.
Jak seethed as he sped toward the Underground on a stolen zoomer, Daxter holding on to his shoulder for dear life. Couldn't one thing be simple in this goddamn city? Go the way it was fucking supposed to?
He passed through alleys and byways that he hadn't known before Torn was exiled. He'd sat down with the man's beloved maps and learned how to get around without being noticed. Like it was a way to honor his lover's memory by absorbing the knowledge that he'd had. And he'd wanted to take some responsibility for keeping the Underground alive; to learn to be a real agent, not a bull in a china shop deployed for brute force missions.
But it didn't mean anything. The Baron had the Stone, had known about their plans and followed them right to it. And now he was going to use it. To do what? Jak didn't fucking know and neither did the Underground, because Ashelin was too busy being torn between her father and the greater good to give them the intel they so desperately needed.
"This wouldn't have happened if you were here, Torn. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he thought to himself. It was a wonder he hadn't crashed the damned zoomer by now, but it was a testament to how hard he'd worked to learn to navigate the city.
He slammed on the brakes, stopping abruptly in a shadowy alley next to a fire escape.
"Jak? Buddy? You in there?"
Jak opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He felt like he couldn't breathe.
"Jak, you're shaking," Daxter said, gentle and wary at the same time.
He thinks I'm going to transform, Jak thought to himself, and felt bile rise up in his throat. He opened his mouth again, but what came out wasn't a roar-it was a hoarse, choked noise that he had never heard himself make. But once he started, he couldn't stop.
"Jak," Daxter whispered. "Jak, don't-it's OK, don't cry, we're gonna-we're gonna fix this, it's alright..."
The blonde shook his head helplessly, shoulders shaking, aching from head to foot with hopelessness, grief, frustration, pain...more emotions than he thought he'd ever felt at once. Ever since that first Dark Eco injection, anyway, when he was strapped to the chair thinking whywhywhy.
Daxter steadily soothed him for a long time. Or it felt like a long time; he wasn't sure how much time it took for him to calm down. When his sobs finally slowed and he was able to wipe his face off without new tears wetting it again, he lifted his head.
"Sorry, Dax, I just..." His throat felt raw. He felt raw.
"Don't worry about it, buddy. Let's get back though, yeah? It's starting to get a little chilly out here, even though I got this fur coat."
Jak nodded. "Yeah. Um. Thanks." Then he started up the zoomer again, before Daxter could say anything about it being no problem. The rest of the trip back went quickly and without incident, to the relief of both passengers.
Tess met them at the bottom of the stairs, looking relieved. At first. Then her face fell.
"You don't have the Stone. You don't have the Kid. You don't have the Shadow."
"The Baron has them," Jak said, unwilling to delay delivery of the bad news. "He knew about our plans to get the Stone. Followed us right to it. The guardian of the tomb said the Kid was too young to face the trials, so I went in and did them, and fought the Baron, but he got away. And the KG captured our people."
Tess looked at him for a long moment, then abruptly turned and walked to Torn's desk-her desk, Jak corrected himself. She collapsed into the chair behind it and stared at the wood for a long moment. Daxter hopped down from Jak's shoulder and walked over, cautiously hopping up on the desk to try and make eye contact.
"Tess, babe. We're sorry. We don't know how he knew about...everything. We didn't...we didn't want this Tessy, we're sorry."
"I'm sorry, too," she said softly. She took a deep breath and put her hands on the desk, steadying herself.
"So. Somebody told the Baron about our plans to get the Precursor Stone. He now has it, and is planning to use it; for what exact purpose we don't know. The head of the Underground and the heir to the city have been kidnapped by enemy forces. That's where we are. Right?"
Jak swallowed. "Right."
"I need to-think. To plan. Figure out what to do first. I'll talk to Jethra; she and I will get something together. Jak, get some rest. You've had a long day."
"I-alright." Jak was a little unsettled by the fact that she hadn't chewed him out, or even raised her voice. But he was too wrung out himself to confront her or to offer any comfort, so he headed for the bunks.
"Jak. Wait." He turned to see Tess looking at him for the first time since she'd sat down.
"Don't blame yourself. I know you did everything you could, OK?"
He felt fresh tears come into his eyes. His throat closed up. All he could do was nod.
"Get some rest," she said again, still fixing him with that steady gaze.
As he turned and headed away, he heard her call for Jethra in a firm, unwavering voice, and his lips twitched.
Torn would be proud.