A/N: Wow it has been months but that is what I do. I'm bipolar but instead of swinging moods it's swinging interest in meh stories. I hope it's good. I kinda wrote this in like half a day. My eye balls hurt from staring at this brightass computer screen. I hope you like it! ConCrit is always welcome/needed. Tell me what you think!
I own nothing! Please read and review
"Spark becomes a flame. Flame becomes a fire. Forge a blade to slay the stranger. Take whatever we desired" Tool/Intension
Jak almost fell backwards on his ass when he saw her. He felt his heart stop for the millionth time that day. Everything about her screamed Keira. Her delicate face, her full lips in a tight line forming a pout, her composure, everything about her was just like Keira. She was a small 5'2, barely brushing his chest. Her fierce angry eyes were the same precious emerald as her mother's. When Jak observed her closer he noticed her odd sense of style. Her hair was long, reaching her mid back, dyed silver with black braided streaks throughout. The ensemble consisted of black platform boots, white shorts, a light blue translucent long shirt, and a white halter top underneath.
"Ah, Shayera!" Carter greeted. "It was your mother's will that you be in this man's custody." He proudly placed his arm around the girl's shoulder.
Shayera narrowed her eyes and looked Jak up and down.
"What's you name, dude?" She continued to size him up with a long, hard stare.
"I-Ah – I'm Jak." Jak awkwardly held his right hand out.
Shayera stared at his outstretched hand and raised a brow. She rolled her eyes, stuck her nose in the air and walked away. Everyone in the room heard her mutter 'dork.'
"Shayera!" Carter gripped her arm and yanked her upright roughly. "Be careful how you talk to your-" Jak quickly realized what Carter was about to unveil. He shot up out of the chair he was sitting in, his eyes flashed black. Carter wisely interpreted Jak's message to shut the fuck up before it was too late. "-Your guardian."
Shayera rolled her eyes again and sat in the lawyer's chair, propping up her feet on the man's desk, no shame or respect at all. Jak took her in. She was just so small and her hands were bruised and scared. What could have happened to her?
"Your mother chose this man to take care of you. If he was worthy of your mother's trust than he must be worthy of your trust," Carter tried to reason with the teenager. Shayera looked like she was barely paying attention.
"Don't act so prissy, little girl!" Daxter jumped on the desk. "We ain't so bad once you get to know us,"
Shayera screamed and fell back off the chair. "The rat talks!" She squeaked. Jak laughed lightly.
"This is my best friend Daxter," Jak spoke as Daxter hopped back onto Jak's shoulder. Daxter hissed at Shayera like a cat.
"You're friends with a rat?" Shayera popped her head out from behind chair and glared. "It's not fair. Why am I stuck with you?"
"Shayera!" Carter snapped.
"If you knew my mother, why hasn't she ever mentioned you?" Shayera leaned in, trying to look intimidating but her scrunched up nose just made her look adorable.
"We've been friends with your momma for years! Quit being so combative!"Daxter yelled in her face.
"I was talking to the tall one! Go eat garbage, rat!" Shayera yelled right back.
"Who are you calling a rat, you little cretin!"
"You orange piece of -"
"ENOUGH!" Jak shouted over the both of them. "How is it that you two are already this annoying?"
Shayea held her breathe. It looked as if she was about to shout out more obscenities. Releasing her breath and relaxing the lines on her face, Shayera simply grabbed her coat off the desk and stomped out of the office. "I just wanna go home," she muttered. She was exhausted, hungry, frustrated, sweaty, and she just got outta prison. Jak grabbed the box of documents and chased after her. She was power walking ahead.
"Hey," Jak called out to her, trying to catch up with her. "So...?" he tried to form conversation.
"I'm the one who asks the questions from now on, dude," Shayera stopped abruptly in the street.
"Does that apply to me? Cuz I wanna know where the heck we live now?" Daxter spat at the girl with attitude.
"Oui? Why are you speaking french, ratboy?" Shayera crossed her arms.
"Hate to break it to you, Shay-baby, but Keira left everything to Jak here-!" Orange lightening hopped from his best friend's shoulder to the girl's. "-including you!"
"My mom left everything to you?" Shayera stood there, mouth agape. She violently swatted Daxter away.
"Apparently," Jak shrugged.
"The apartment and the garage?" she looked so horrified.
"I-I guess," Jak was put off by her swinging mood.
"Ahhh! My life is over!" Shayera dramatically wailed and ran ahead of the heroes again.
Jak and Daxter stood there dumbfounded.
"I never thought you were capable of having a kid with such a great body," Daxter grinned like a fox. Jak promptly slapped the back of his head. Even after all these years, Daxter still thought with his libido rather than his brain. Jak shuddered at the thought. Even he had to admit that she was quite a beauty, but it made his skin crawl since she was his daughter and only fifteen. He was tempted to slap Daxter again.
Jak ran to Shayera's side once again. She was cheerfully talking on her communicator that had a million colorful key chains dangling from it. They walked together for about 20 minutes with only the city sounds and Shayera's conversation as communication. Without looking at him, Shayera wordlessly slipped a security pass into Jak's hand and motioned for him to follow her. She stayed on her communicator the entire walk to Main Town. Jak had never traveled to this section of the city before.
"What's that?" Daxter pointed to a large structure to the left a few miles down.
"What do you mean? You really don't know?" Shayera looked at the pair questionably. When she saw that they were being serious she explained. "That's the Mar Memorial Stadium. Everyone knows that,"
"Uh, we're new," Jak brushed off her suspicions. "So are we almost there?"
"Yup," Shayera pointed. "It's the building on the right of the stadium. The blue one,"
"The apartment above the garage?" Jak crossed his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, but my mom owned the entire building," The corner's of Shayera's mouth turned down ever so slightly in a frown. "I guess... you own the entire building now huh?" Was she so unhappy?
"You live here?" Jak asked.
"No, we live here," Daxter chimed in. Jak expected for Shayera to counter Daxter but she kept her cool and lead them into the building through the garage without a word.
Jak felt his chest become impossibly tight as he processed his surrounding. Keira was everywhere. In the furniture, the unfinished inventions, her tools haphazardly scattered on every surface, the disassembled vehicles. Rather than the overwhelming depression he expected to feel, Jak found the garage gave him a calming, almost pleasent sense nostalgia. His hand reached out over the counter to pick up a familiar wrench when he felt a sharp pain on his hand.
"Don't touch anything," Shayera frowned at Jak. She slapped his hand!
"What about this?" Daxter hopped off Jak's shoulder and scurried over to the far side of the garage where a large dark green curtain was. "What's behind this?" Daxter reached to pull back the curtains, but Shayera stopped him.
"Don't touch that!" Shayera snapped and yanked Daxter away by the scruff of his fur. "This is my mom's stuff!" Her voice was strained and cracking.
"Okay! Jeez!" Daxter rubbed his neck.
"And that is my mom's secret project," Shayera stood before the green curtain, impersonating a shield. In a mediocre combat stance Jak added. "It's only been a day! Don't go through her things like vultures!" Jak tasted a bit of Shayera's carefully hidden grief for the briefest of moments before she shaded her eyes.
"Sorry Shay," Daxter said sincerely and returned to his proper place atop Jak's shoulder. Shayera didn't break her defensive glare.
"Anyway," Jak's voice broke through the thick tension. "Where are we staying?"
"The apartment upstairs," Shayera whispered. "You don't have a lot with you, right?"
"Just what's on me," Jak gestured to his backpack.
"I'll show you to your rooms," Shayera solemnly spoke.
The apartment above the garage was rather luxurious, an alarming contrast to the slums Jak had become accustomed to. Everything was contemporary with a lavish twist. Not over the top but definitely not poor. Keira was doing fine on her own. Daxter ran ahead into the parlor.
"Wow!" Daxter flopped his little body on top of the black Lazzoni Mony sofa. "This is the way I was destined to live!"
"Oh yeah, you look so natural," Jak smirked at his friend.
"Um," Shayera cleared her throat to get the heros' attention. "There are two extra rooms at the end of the hall. You can decide who gets which one,"
Shayera left the duo alone in her home and retired to her room. Inconceivable music immediately blared. Daxter shrugged and turned on the Panasonic plasma screen. Jak was about to join him on the two seater but Daxter swatted his backside with the remote. He pouted and pointed in the direction of Shayera's bedroom.
"What? I can't relax?" Jak growled, fully aware of what Daxter was implying. He could handle a tank armed with a lethal missiles, but just the thought of speaking with an unpredictable teenage girl frightened him.
"No, you can't," Daxter said sternly. "Go see what's up with her,"
"She obviously wants to be alone," Jak practically spat. He wouldn't be forced.
"A woman never says what she really means," Daxter spat back. "Get in there,"
"What would I even say?" Jak tried to keep his voice even but he was worried that he boarded on desperate.
"I don't know. Figure it out," Daxter's attention went back to televison. "She's your-"
"Don't say it," Jak hissed out. The very word 'daughter' was becoming taboo. Daxter didn't respond but pointed to Shayera's bedroom again. Jak sighed and began the too short trek to Shayera's room.
"See if you can get her to turn off that noise while you're at it," Daxter called.
Jak promptly ignored him. He instead took in his surroundings. What he found the most interesting were the photos. Photos of Shayera from infancy to the present peppered the white walls. He saw her first birthday, her first day of school, and a framed crude drawing of an apple tree marked with an age six in crayon. Jak felt himself smile at a particular photo of an eight year old Shayera with absent front teeth. He marveled at the sight of her natural hair color. Bright blonde with aquamarine lowlights. (A/N: I know it makes no sense and it's not natural but damn it! I want it like that and since this is a fanfic so realism doesn't apply anyway! Bare with me please!) Jak's paranoia that Shayera would discover their connection somewhat dimmed. Shayera resembled her mother throughout her life.
The teen's bedroom door rattled a bit from the pounding music coming from within. Jak knocked sheepishly, unsure if she would even hear him. After a few seconds, the door slowly opened and reveal a pair of bored looking emeralds.
"Hey," her smile seemed like a painful strain. Jak's frown deepened. "Did you need something?"
"No, I just wanted to see if you were alright,"
"Yeah, of course," She fake grinned again and opened the door a little wider, inviting Jak in. Her room was... eccentric. Her furnishing was composed of funky Hellman-Chang pieces. The walls were painted white but were covered in small posters, photos, and clippings from countless magazines, making it difficult to see the white walls in the first place. Colorful little toys hung about, dancing to the vibrations from the outrageous music.
"This is a nice room," Jak awkwardly spoke.
"I was thinking about changing the wallpaper," Shayera clasped her hands behind her back.
"Uh sure," Jak rambled. "How about trees and bunnies and squirrels-"
"Yeah, along with pictures of the disney princess," Shayera said with a sarcastic tone. She jumped on her black wood hayden bed and stretched out her arms as if taking a picture. "Here's what I envision: A giant nuclear mushroom cloud and a bunch of little aliens dancing to techno!"
"That actually sounds pretty good," Jak turned his attention to the stereo and quickly switched it off. He awaited Shayera's objection but it never came. "Who was that?"
"Skrillex," she hopped off her bed. "You don't like him?"
"No," Jak said with a bit of a bite. Was that music nowadays? This really was an awful place. "It makes no sense," He was surprised when she simply giggled at his answer.
"That's what my mom always said," A gentle smile with a hint of sadness.
"So...," Jak touched a photo of Keira on Shayera's wall. "What did your mother do for a living? I mean all this came from just owning a garage?"
"Nah, not really," Shayera shrugged. "Mom's racing team was pretty successful. They won the Class 1 Championship Race and some divisions in the Kras City Grand Championship race a few times. That and her zoomer and communicator models are really popular,"
"Wow, that's pretty impressive,"
"Yeah," Shayera toggled with some contraption on her desk. "There were nights when I would find her in the garage in the middle of the night," She laughed warmly. "She would have an idea and just have to build it or draw up blue prints,"
"That sounds like Keira,"
Shayera crossed the room to her bookshelf.
"Are you a workaholic like her?" The response that Jak received was the sound of plastic breaking. He spun and saw that Shayera had dropped the small machine she was holding, it's casing was completely shattered. Shayera herself slowly drooped to the floor. She clutched at her trembling shoulders and leaned her huddled body against the shelf.
"Shay?" Jak approached her. She sobbed softly into her the crock of her arms.
"She was all I had," Shayera was so quiet Jak could barely hear her. "I-I'm alone now,"
Jak awkwardly placed a hand on her back. He felt how erratic her breathing was. Sighing deeply, Jak guided her to his chest. Shayera accepted his comfort and cried freely into his tunic. Jak slowly stroked her back. They stayed that way for a little while, until Shayera's whimpering became more and more silent. Jak spoke her name softly and was met with dainty snoring. How cute. She had fallen asleep. Jak gently lifted her and placed her in the bed. Her cheeks were raw and caked with dry tears.
Shayera had been smiling all day, acting normal as if nothing happened. Keira had raised her alone. Without Samos and without knowing anything of this new world. There was no other family for her. Jak boldly lowered his lips to the top of her head. He left her alone to sleep.
While Daxter was still enjoying the fruits of Keira's success, Jak slipped into Keira's bedroom. It was rather plain and standard. She expressed her true personality in garage. He took out the photo pf Keira that he had taken from Shayera's room and sat on the bed. Her eyes still held their light.
"Why?" Jak whispered to himself. "You want me to keep her safe and I will because she is all that is left of you," he spoke as if his former lover was beside him, hearing his every word.
A few seconds later, his communicator beeped.