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As soon as the duo rounded the corner, Daxter cuffed Jak on the back of the head. "Sheez, what was that all about?"
"What was what?" asked Jak with a glare, rubbing his neck in annoyance.
"Ohooo no, don't pretend like you were totally ignoring Keira there," said Daxter smugly. "Whatsamatter, buddy, little lover's spat goin' on there? Or," he said slyly, switching to Jak's other shoulder, "have you finally decided to hook up with Ashelin? I mean, she did make a special trip out to the Wasteland just to see you…"
"Knock it off, Dax," Jak answered, rolling his eyes and ignoring Daxter's snort. He pulled out his gun and held it loosely, scanning the alleys on either side of them for the telltale glows of Metal Head gems.
This isn't the time, he told himself. I've got a job to do. Again. But he couldn't help thinking about what Daxter said. When he'd been banished, Jak had done his best to put Keira behind him, just like everything and everyone else in Haven. For a while, it had been easy. Trying to stay alive and prove himself in Spargus had been in the forefront of his mind. Sure, Keira slipped into his thoughts a lot, but he could push those things aside and focus on what he had to do.
That didn't change the fact that seeing her was like a punch in the gut.
Seeing her on the other side of the shield wall brought everything he'd left behind into sharp, painful focus. Jak mentally cringed as he remembered their last conversation. Now that he'd lost the chance, he wished he could tell her about the light eco, how it was tempering the darkness inside him, how it was no longer killing and consuming him. In fact, there were a lot of things he wanted to tell her – "I'm sorry," being foremost.
But instead he'd done what he always did – his mission, what was expected of him. He'd gotten his information from Samos and moved on without a word to Keira. The pain of it tore at him, but he kept walking and ignoring Daxter's continual mutterings.
"Know what, Dax?" he interrupted gruffly. "If Keira wanted to talk to me she could have. Let's just do what we have to do here."
Jak walked slowly into the darkness of the sewers, forcing down his desire to run back to her. He reminded himself for the thousandth time that he had a job to do, and that dwelling on what had happened in the past wouldn't do him any good. It was the only thing keeping him going.
~ Well, I just wanted to include that short little interlude to explore what Jak might have had going on his head after the little (non)reunion scene.