Chapter 3
After one guard change, two KG's threw a barely conscious -barely breathing- Lily back into the sanctum of their cell. Jak was expecting her flight, and easily caught her, cradling her exhausted body in his dark eco enhanced arms.
It had been nearly two years that they met, and eased their personal hell. Two years since Jak joined his Lily, developed his precious bond with her, claimed dominance of his beast, his sanity, and his hatred.
He glared at the door, and then looked down to see Lily's face wet. He reached down to brush her hair away from her face, then rubbed his dirty prison garb on her matured face to get rid of the liquid on her. He could still feel that something in her tiny body fighting the dark eco so desperately, but so tiredly, and the war she had thought she had ended a year ago continued to be waged, silently, in her delicate mind.
She just kept acting normal, as being tortured every day was norm for them. He was the only reason that that was the only thing that ever happened to her. If he was not in that cell almost all the time, those KG's would have done unspeakable things to her. Jak snarled, his lungs working harshly, but also perfectly due to his dark eco beast agreeing with him.
Dark. Not beast.
Sorry, Dark. Jak replied distractedly.
Lily, both hearing and sensing his sudden anger, reached up and rested her palm on his stubbly cheek. Her move calmed him down and told him that she was here, that she was alive. He closed his dark eyes, and put his own over hers.
They knew they were in this shit together, and that they needed each other like they needed dark eco. They were fully aware they were each others drug, fix, and life. If they were separated, they would finally shatter. For good.
As Lily fell asleep, she prayed to whatever was out there, that that would never happen.
In Lily's Dream
"Why have you come hear again?" said a strange voice.
"That's what I wanted to know," snapped Lily. "Is this another dream lesson? Or rather, another round of 'Lets-try-to-get-Lily-to-think-she-isn't-Lily'!"
"Not this time, all I have are some questions. Do you remember who you are?"
"Why is it that you think that I am not Lily? Who else could I be?" she said angrily.
"Okay, okay. May I ask you one more thing?"
"You just did, but whatever."
"Do you love him?"
Lily scoffed. "Love? Your asking a twisted, dark eco tainted girl, who, by the way, is no longer a girl as that nasty shit sped up my aging, if she loves someone? I don't know what love is."
End of Dream/ Real World
Lily jerked awake suddenly, immediately and painfully aware of Jak's absence. She grabbed the pillow she had been laying on and bit it hard, trying to keep the pain and fear in. Jak always tried to remain silent on the chair, in an effort to help her keep her fragile sanity intact, but to her the silence was worse. If he screamed, yelled, or even whimpered, then she would know that he was alive. She buried her face in the pillow, inhaling Jak's unique scent, and began to silently scream.
After a while, an odd sound was heard from the chair, an almost friendly sound. Lily listened intently as it said the most pathetic joke she ever heard. Just as she scoffed lightly, the sound of metal hitting the floor echoed into her cell. Lily sat there, tense, thinking that it was a gun hitting the floor. That Jak was either attacking or being attacked. Her fears were quelled as the door was ripped open, revealing Jak, but not Jak.
Dark Jak.
Lily ran forward, completely unafraid, and hugged him tightly. An extremely stunned ottsel named Daxter, who sat on his shoulder, stared at the young woman, who seemed to be at ease around Dark Jak, almost calmed by his presence.
Dark Jak picked up her body and raced away from the cell they called home for two years and out into the sunshine.
Dark Jak PoV
I ran through the halls with an annoying ottsel on my shoulder yelling at me saying I was going the wrong way. He would make a tasty snack later, but for right now I had to save Her. The one who didn't care whether or not it was me or my host, she cared if we were hurt. She gave a damn about my existence. Even when I first saw her. She also had an other, a dark other… I deeply chuckled.
Now, both are mine.
I held her tighter, and ran a little bit faster, as I heard the sound of the Men-in-Red behind me.
"Dark! Left here!" she whispered intensely, as I immediately did as she told me.
A bolt of lightening shot above me, coming dangerously close to my horns. Growling, I stopped, shifted Lily to one arm, struck out, and when I heard the man's death warble, I took off again.
The blood on my hand seeped onto Lily's already dirty prison clothes, but she ignored it, pushing herself closer to me. I saw a window in front of me, and reacted quickly. Curling myself around my Mate, I leapt through the window. With a crash, I flew alongside sharp shards of glass. Landing gently, I left Jak to watch our Mate.
Normal PoV
A young man with an ottsel on his shoulder and holding a small girl in his arms raced away from the Baron's Weapons and Prison Facility.
"Lily, are your legs okay? Can you walk?" Jak asked, the final bit of dark eco receding into him with a crackle of power.
"Yeah, I think so," Lily replied, letting Jak help her stand alone. "Is that Daxter?" she asked, motioning to the orange ottsel on his shoulder. Jak heard his childhood friends voice, and was immediately became caught between an amused smirk and a wince for how Lily would react to his friends flirting ways.
Ever since he became an ottsel, he became strangely confident.
"Yes I am, how ya doin babe?" answered Daxter, automatically starting to flirt with her as he saw the fact that she was part of the attractive female species.
Jak gave her a once over, and had to agree. But she was still his, so Daxter needed to shut up.
Jak began to growl lowly, but was intercepted by Lily's swift movement.
Lily shot her hand out as quick as lightning, and grabbed Daxter by the scruff of his neck. Daxter squeaked as she lifted him up, into her face, and direct line of her knife like silver gaze.
Jak let this go one for a little, until Daxter gulped in fear, and stopped her, "Lily, please put my friend down."
Lily nodded, as she dropped him roughly onto the floor.
"Hello there-" a stranger with a small kid said to them, which put both Jak and Lily on alert. They had learned their lesson about 'stranger danger', and they weren't eager for another lesson.
Jak was quick to cut him off, with both her movement in front of Lily, and his voice, "You look like a reasonably smart man. Tell me, where the hell I am!" Lily moved forward and put a calming hand on his arm, to which Jak immediately replied with a brushing of fingers.
Daxter removed himself from the ground, and moved to the small boy beside the older man. "Um, he's new to the whole conversation thing," Daxter reassured him. Lily glanced at the child and felt her body freeze, as her mind took off.
"My- my Little One!" she almost cried, holding her hand to him. Smiling, he pulled something out of his pocket, placing it in her hand. It was a small shell, one he surely found on the beach of Spargus, and then had his father thread. One similar to it rested around his neck, from when she had given it to him.
"You are a 'guest' of the Baron's City," said the old man, truly just background noise to Lily and the boy reuniting.
"We were just a 'guest' at the good Barons Palace," replied Jak, not noticing Lily's actions.
"In a cell, or in the city, walls surround us bo-" The old man was cut off by Lily's sudden movement. She rushed to the boy, scooped him up and murmured "Little One," into his ear, letting him curl up in her arms. She knew even now, he would be able to smell the sand of their home, and her own unique scent beneath the many layers of pain and experiments. She knew it would comfort him.
The small boy smiled at her real big and hugged her back, looping his arms around her neck, nuzzling into it.
"Do you know this child?" the old man asked, suspicion blooming in his eyes.
"Yes, I do, as well as his father, who would never let him out of his sight! So, what's he doing here?" Lily demanded, glaring at the old man. Jak was both surprised and suspicious as the older man didn't flinch at Lily's glare, a glare she had perfected to the point where it was infamous among KGs.
"I do not know, I found him wandering around the streets. That seal on his neck, however, means he could be the Heir of Mar."
Lily tightened her grip protectively on the small child, and shifted backwards while turning her body to shield him.
Mates pup, my pup. Dark growled quietly.
Jak also turned his body, shielding the small pair, and locked his blue eyes with Lily's. With a flick of them, Lily knew the KG's were here.
"Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time," the old man muttered, looking at the men with red garb. Glancing at the pair, who were glaring almost indecisively at him and the KG's, a spark entered his cruel blue eyes.
"Please, fight them for me, and I will tell you of a place of protection, and war against the Baron," he commanded. Lily and Jak did not take well to his tone.
A growl echoed from the their throats, low and dangerous, Lily calmly, shifted the young boy onto her back, where he instinctively looped his arms and legs around her. As the KG's closed in, her gray eyes met dark blue.
Grey closed, and white flicked black, darkening as her body began to float. Black shimmered as it enclosed her body, and to compensate for the little one resting on her back, a sling formed, allowing her full movement while carrying him. Hair, nails, and eyes blackened, as if someone dipped her into a vial of onyx paint. In her once bright place, an intimidating mother cloaked for a funeral stood.
Jak put himself between her and the hollering KG's, black power arching off of him as his complexion, hair, and eyes darkened, along with horns growing from his head and claws from hands. Snarling viciously, he readied himself for a fight.
Lily's Shadow was not going to fight though. She knew that running was just putting the battle off for another day, but with her Pup close, she would run.
Shadow took off, not brushing the ground as she flew, and throwing deadly darkness at all who tried to stop her. Her movements were quick and vicious, not allowing them to come close to her and Little One, who had been both hidden and shielded by his blanket of darkness. Feeling the steady breath of his on her back ensured her that he had fallen asleep, and was sleeping safely, soundly.
Dark Jak was never far from her. He was also running close, but far enough so he could deal out his own melee attacks. As he ripped another head from the shoulders of one more insignificant person, Shadow turned, moving down an alley.
Never far from her, Dark followed, but unlike her, he was shot in the back. Choking a howl, Dark receded, leaving Jak in his place. Shadow also delved into Lily, leaving her in a white sundress, and a child in her snowy shawl. Darting out, her white wood sandals slapping quietly against the ground, she gripped Jak, and pulled him into hiding with her enhanced strength. Making them as small as she could, Lily held her breath as cruel red warriors searched for them. She felt Little One stir on her back, and turned to cuddle him, hushing him. In front of her fearful gray eyes, people passed.
Poverty can make people cruel, but it can also make them kind. When they laid their eyes on what appeared to be a scared mother, and bleeding father, they not only moved to hide them, but they also pulled the guards attention from them. Lily smiled, tears tracing down her cheeks, sending her gratitude silently.
As Lily's gray eyes slipped closed, people moved. When she awoke, she would find meager scraps of food.
But still, she scowled. The old man with hard eyes was back.
