Ch13

I escorted Jak and Daxter over to the stadium and Jak told me to wait outside. I didn't listen and I simply went invisible and spied on them from afar, not daring to make a sound. "Jak... you look... different..." Kiera sighed, looking at her boyfriend with a sad frown. "It's been a tough ride..." Jak sighed. "The Baron pumped our boy here full of Dark Eco. And it did something to him. Now he's got super moves or somethin... and a few anger issues as well..." Daxter said. "Yeah... I know that... for two years straight, right?" Kiera asked.

"H-How'd you know?" Jak asked. "Alice told me... but she still lied at the same time and said you guys were around, but laying low." (Well, when you really think about it, how could she believe that?) (Shut up, Malice. The last thing I want is to make any kind of noise.) "Yeah... she told me you were in hiding in the stadium section... but... you have to admit that she is brave..." Jak sighed. "Brave or stupid?" Kiera glared. "Well, she did end up telling us, and I know that it was probably the last thing she wanted to do... mostly because she's a nonstop flirt and always seems to make me smile through the pain..."

(Hm... Does he mean just you or both of us?) (Probably both... he likes us for who we are and I like him for that.) "She still lied to us and kept us apart even longer!" Kiera frowned, sitting on a bench nearby. "Do you even know what she's going through, Kiera?" asked Daxter, surprisingly. "She's got the smallest ears anyone's ever seen, she has a nasty alter ego that loves bloodshed, she almost died on an attack on the palace AND she's from a different universe! NOT from a different timeline!"

Kiera was at a standstill. The one that just spoke was Jak and he basically just told her all the things that were different about me. "Yet, even with all of this happening to her, she still manages to put up a smile. The only time I'd ever seen her physically upset is when she told me the truth about you. I could see in her eyes that she was afraid that I might like you more than her..."

"Well, you do, don't you?" Kiera asked. "T-To be honest Kiera... I don't really know anymore..." Jak admitted. His words made my heart skip a beat and then butterflies filled my stomach. "Y-You don't know? What does that mean?!" Kiera asked. I couldn't watch anymore and I simply turned around. I went outside where I heard an announcement over the intercom. "Attention racers. The class 3 race is about to begin. The contestants are Joel, Mark, Alice..." When I heard my name, I felt another skip in my heart. Kiera had already signed me up for the race even after saying all that stuff.

I rushed into the arena and hopped on a special racing zoomer. I was then sent down to the race track and I was SO ready to leave my competitors in the brake dust! The buzzer beeped thrice and then made a loud buzz and I immediately hit the gas and sped off to first place, picking up the nitros on the track and using them on the jumps with confidence, not even hitting anything on my first lap! On my second lap, I bumped into the walls a few times, but still put up a demanding lead from the pack. For laps 3 and 4, I barely even touched anything! But then lap 5 came.

When I did the giant jump across the pit this time, I nearly fell into the ravine until I activated light flight and got my racer up those last two inches and raced off as I felt the competition at my backside. I put the pedal to the medal and didn't look back and actually made it across the finish line in FIRST PLACE! "WOO! I WON!" I exclaimed like a little school girl.

"The winner is Team Hagai and their racer Alice," the computer said. I smiled and returned to the garage after getting my trophy. "Yoohoo!" I trilled, carrying the heavy bronze cup over and placing it on the table. "Heh... you beat them all without cheating, did you?" Jak asked. "Well... I may have used my wings when I nearly fell through a bottomless pit, but eh..." "Yeah, the event organizers were deliberating for about a minute on whether to let you move on or not. We're just lucky they decided to let you move on, since you did leave the crowd loving you," Kiera smiled.

I looked at Kiera's smile for awhile and noticed that while she was smiling, she had tears welled up in her eyes and her nose looked like it had been running. I didn't need to ask. I looked at Jak and back at Kiera and realized from Daxter nudging me to go outside that they still needed some time. "What happened while I was racing, Dax?" I asked him once out of earshot. "Jak... um... he said he likes you and Kiera started crying and, before you knew it, she was put back into the 'friend' category," he said.

I sighed and looked in the sky. It was covered in clouds and it started to thunder and rain a bit. It felt just like me right now with all the guilt on my shoulders. "Does Kiera hate me now?" I asked, looking away from Dax to notice Ashelin making her way into the garage. "She said it may take her awhile to speak to you again, but she doesn't want this to affect your friendship with her..." Dax sighed. "You're not making tall tales again are you?" I asked him, a frown evident on my face. "I only tell tall tales when I'm at the bar nowadays... it gets the ladies excited..."

"And by ladies, you mean Tess?" "She's pretty much the cutest and prettiest girl I've met from this timeline I'll say that much..." "And she seems to believe every story you tell. To be honest, I think she might be your woman, Dax." "And you're Jak's main squeeze?" "Depends on if he wants to talk to me again... I did play with his heart and Kiera's you know..."

"Of course I'm going to talk to you again," Jak sighed as he exited the garage area. He looked like he'd been hit across the face and I knew instantly that he got slapped by Kiera during their time alone in there. "Kiera's not really in a good mood right now..." he sighed, his eyebrows twitching nervously. "You could say that everyone's mood is down in the dumps, couldn't you?" I frowned. "You did the right thing in the end, didn't you?" "I still managed to cause a lot of heartache... it's the last thing I wanted to happen... that's just what happens when you play with fire I guess..."

Jak sat down next to me and took hold of my hand, a small jolt of dark energy emitting his hands when he did so and entering me. I giggled a bit at the feeling which Jak looked at me weirdly because of it. "Oh yeah... I forgot that Dark Eco... tickles you... man are you a lucky one..." Jak said with a smirk. "I still feel bad though..." "I can understand that..." Jak sighed. We sat there for a little while until we got a call on the communicator from Vin. "Hey! Get here quick you guys! I got a mission of the utmost importance for you!" he said frantically.

Before Jak could ask him what was up, he shut off the communicator. "Wanna go put Mr. Techno-Geek's mind at ease?" I asked. "I think I'll join you," Jak smirked. "Okay, let's go then." (Seems you two got to stay together... wonder how it'll affect the story?) asked Malice in my skull. (Who cares? At least the changes will most likely be minor.) (You better hope that it doesn't!...) (You didn't call me a bitch for once... you feeling okay?) (You got my dream boy, so I'll call you by name for a while now... Alice...) (Sounds like it'll be a good time between us now, huh?) (Better hope so...)