Daxter paced the floor, feeling sick to his stomach. He had called Kiera just ten minutes earlier.
"Kiera, it's Daxter. I need you to come over right now." He stated.
"What? Daxter?" She sounded so confused and lethargic, obviously this call had just woken her up.
"What's wrong? Is Jak okay?"
Far from it, Daxter thought.
"I'll explain everything when you get here."
The phone went silent for a moment, he wondered momentarily if they somehow got disconnected. Before Keira's voice returned, taking on a new strained timbre.
"O-okay, I'll be over as fast as I can."
"Thanks, Kiera."
Daxter was kicking himself now, he obviously freaked the hell out of Kiera, he should have tried to ease her into this a little better. Then again, maybe that wasn't really a good idea. He couldn't tell her everything was fine, and then drop this bomb on her when she arrived. He had been trying to go over how he was going to break the news to her. He shouldn't try to sugar-coat it. The only thing he could do was just tell it to her straight.
Daxter stopped pacing when he heard the gentle rap on the door. He jumped up and unlocked the door, and Kiera let herself in. She looked bedraggled, her hair messy from where her pillow had shaped it, and she had a slight shade of darkness under her eyes. She apologized as she nearly hit him with the door.
"Where's Jak?" She asked.
"Shower," he muttered sardonically.
Daxter bit his lip and took a deep breath.
"Something bad's happened to Jak."
Kiera clasped her hands over her chest protectively.
"What happened?" She whispered.
"Razer and his goons attacked Jak."
Kiera was quiet, taking in what Daxter had said, her fingers tightening in her shirt.
"But not just that…" Daxter hated he had to say this, the words felt like poison that he wished he never had to form in his mouth.
"They raped him."
Kiera's eyes widened, her hands jumping from her chest to her mouth. She crouched down, so she was level with Daxter.
"Are you sure?" She muttered, in complete grief and shock.
Daxter nodded.
"I found him after the race yesterday, after Razer had done it. I don't think it was the first time." Daxter said simply.
As the tears began to leak from her eyes, the bathroom door suddenly opened. Kiera quickly stood up straight. Jak walked out, wearing two sets of clothes, his face listless and despondent. When he spotted Kiera he jerked.
"Kiera, what are you doing here?" Jak couldn't mask the nervousness in his voice.
The litany of bruises across his exposed skin, the sad sunken quality to his features, the dark hopelessness behind his eyes. She knew then what Daxter had said was true.
Kiera's mouth floundered open and close a couple of times, trying to wrangle her thoughts into a coherent sentence, before Daxter spoke up for her.
"Jak, I told her." Daxter muttered.
Anger and panic crossed Jak's face, before quickly being replaced by despair.
Jak expected to see disgust on her face, instead he saw pity. It made him feel sick. She looked like she wanted to reach out and hold him, but after what those men did to him, he wasn't sure if he could ever be held, if he deserved it. He'd been ruined, and didn't deserve her love or pity. If she had been disgusted, that he could have understood, that was what he deserved.
"Jak." She murmured.
He turned away from her, from them both. He didn't want to face them, he didn't want their pity. He wanted to lay down and disappear. Jak marched into the bedroom and slammed the door behind him.
"I'm sorry," Daxter murmured to the door, wiping away tears with the palm of his hand . "I didn't know what to do."
He turned then to Kiera, his desperation plain. His voice cracked as he spoke.
"I don't know how we can fix this. How do we fix this Kiera?"
Kiera wiped away her own tears, taking a breath.
"I don't know, Daxter. I don't know."