Ahh, I had no idea people would like my weird rambly fanfiction! I'm so glad. Thank you guys! I'm really having fun writing again.
Happy reading!
Jak froze, in total shock, because he'd never seen it from the outside.
That was light eco.
A thousand and one questions bombarded his mind, all of them some variation of what the hell?!
"You are in no condition to be up and about." Ionna grabbed his upper arm and spun him around, dumping him back on the bed. With a loud grunt, he landed on his stomach, face-down in the pillow. "You're staying here."
Jak rolled over and tried to stand up, but the world spun around him, so he sat back down. Instead, he stared at her, blinking in confusion.
"How…how can you do that?" he asked quietly. "You changed…you transformed."
"I told you. I'm talented with eco." She folded her arms and gave him a stern look. "Years of practice with it allows me to do that. Now, lie back down and get some rest."
"You can't keep me here," Jak repeated stubbornly. "I don't care how good you are with eco."
"Try me, child." Ionna glared at him. "Until I'm certain you're fully recovered, you stay here."
Jak stood up again, ignoring that Daxter gave a nervous chuckle. "Look, you really don't want to get into a fight with me."
Ionna simply folded her arms.
Jak walked towards her and stretched his arm out to shove her aside.
She clapped her hands again. The light flashed, power reverberating through his bones, and then Jak found himself face down on the floor, one arm twisted behind his back and Ionna pinning him down.
"What the fu—?!" He snarled, but for some reason, the darkness didn't seem to boil to the surface like it usually would.
"I warned you," she said calmly. "You. Are staying. Here."
She let him up from the ground, and he stood up. He stumbled on his feet, almost falling back down immediately. He felt his stomach heave, but didn't (thankfully!) vomit again. Ionna took advantage and guided him back to bed.
"Rest." That was all she said as she settled him on the bed and went over to tend to another patient.
Drained, Jak fell back against the pillows with a thump. His friend hopped up and settled on his shoulder.
"She used light eco." Jak glanced at Daxter. "That was the flash freeze that I got."
"Maybe she got some goofy statues to shine a flashlight on her, too." Daxter lounged against the side of Jak's head. "What's the big deal, anyway? So some old crotchety nurse can go all glowy, whoopee."
Jak started to reply, but he felt his head start to spin again. "Ugh…Dax, how long was I out?" He pressed his palms against his temples and groaned.
Uh…two days." Daxter paused, then continued, unnaturally serious, "Maybe you better do what she says, Jak. Take a few days off, relax a bit, get better."
As he slouched down, Jak had to admit, he really didn't feel great. The thought of going into the desert, in the bright sun and heat, made his stomach churn. He flexed his fist angrily and sighed.
"Geez." Jak closed his eyes and frowned. "I feel like crap. She's right, I'm useless like this."
"Eh, don't sweat it," Daxter said, patting his shoulder. "Take it from me: you're pretty useless when you're at full health!"
Jak pulled the blanket up over his shoulders. "Thanks, Dax. I appreciate that."
Jak fell asleep quickly, still achy and tired. He woke up a bit in the afternoon, ate some soup at Daxter's urging, and then fell back asleep again. The rest of the day passed with him going in and out, hazily opening his eyes long enough to roll over and close them again. His dreams were filled with the lush, bright colors of Sandover, interspersed with the earth tones of Spargus' desert and the cold, grey metal of Haven.
There was a voice that floated through his dreams, one that he automatically paired with the sound of echoing precursor metal and the hum of eco. A deep voice that talked of light and called him a hero.
Even in his dreams, he tried to protest, but the damned thing wouldn't listen.
His dreams were shattered, as they always were, by a familiar voice shouting.
"Ugh, that's not even a word!"
Jak bolted up in his bed, jerked out of sleep by Daxter's shrill voice. "What the hell?!" His hands automatically reached behind his back to grab the morph gun, before realizing it wasn't there. His heart slowed a bit, recognizing that he wasn't in danger here: he was in Spargus, in an infirmary, sick as a dog, safe as a child.
"It most certainly is a word." Ionna's calm voice cut through Daxter's. "It's a plant."
"How do you even pronounce that?" Daxter yelled. Jak flinched, his head still pounding and making Daxter seem even louder than usual. "Quin-o-ah?"
"Keen-wah." Ionna said it slowly before turning towards Jak. "Your friend needs to read more."
Jak blinked. It was a surreal sight: Ionna and Daxter were sitting at a small table, playing some kind of game with letter tiles. Ionna was clearly winning, with a considerable pile of them on her side of the table. "Um…"
"We got bored waiting for you wake up from your nap," Daxter explained. "So the good doctor here broke out a game to play."
"You slept for a good time," Ionna said, gathering up the tiles. She swept them into a bag and stashed the bag in a cabinet above her head. "I had to keep him out of trouble, lest he give one of my patients a rage stroke."
"…What time is it?" Jak asked, rubbing his aching neck.
"Almost 8 pm. You've been asleep for the entire day." Ionna handed Daxter a heating pad, which he gave to Jak. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Yeah." Jak set the pad on his neck and sighed. It eased the soreness in the muscles. "Thanks."
Ionna turned back to the water pump. "In a better mood, I hope?"
Jak frowned and Daxter held back a snicker. "Yeah. Sorry for...being kind of a jerk."
"Apology accepted. Take this." Ionna was holding out a glass of water and a small white pill. "It'll kick the infection for good."
"Ah…" Jak hesitantly took the glass and the medicine. "…I'll be fine. Got any green eco?"
"Antibiotics will work better," she insisted.
Jak stared at the glass, then took the pill and a drink. For a minute, he felt the pill slip down his throat. Then it came back up and then he started to gag.
He spit the water and pill out back into the glass. Coughing, he said, "I…can't swallow pills."
Ionna blinked. "You…?"
"I've never been able to," he snapped. He felt a blush rise to his face. "I never needed to."
Because green eco had always done the trick. Sickness or injury, Samos had always been able to heal him within a day or two. Other villagers had to take typical medicine—the farmer got salves and oils for his aches and pains, the Explorer got a cure-all potion for whatever weird injury he got on his travels, and Daxter always got pills to combat his headaches and fevers—but Jak always got a dose of green eco and was up and running again.
She frowned and took the glass back. "Hold on."
She went back to the counter and there was the clinking of glass. She returned a few moments later with a now cloudy glass of water. "Here. Drink this."
Jak took a drink. The water tasted bitter and had a chalky texture to it. He finished, despite the terrible taste, and handed the glass back. "What did you do?"
"Crushed the pill and dissolved it into the water." She washed the glass and set it aside. "I do it for children who are too young to take pills."
"Oh." Jak fidgeted with his fingers, an old habit. "I mean…I'm not a kid."
"I know you're not a kid, but you still need the antibiotics." She reached out her hand and felt his forehead. "Good, the fever's going down. You're sounding much better, too."
"Of course he is!" Daxter reached up and pinched Jak's cheek playfully. Jak swatted him away. "Look at him, he's in perfect condition! He's even got some color in his cheeks!"
"Knock it off," Jak grumbled. Daxter laughed and flopped back on one of the pillows. "Geez."
Ionna smiled at Daxter's antics, amused. "Alright, I want you to eat something. Nothing solid, but some broth will do."
Jak nodded. He didn't feel hungry, but he didn't feel queasy anymore, either. She came back a half hour later with a bowl of some kind of yellow broth and he settled in to eat it. It was spicy and flavorful, a far cry from the bland meals of Haven City.
By the time he was finished, Daxter had curled up on the pillows and fallen asleep. Jak, however, didn't feel tired at all.
"It's understandable. You've been asleep all day." Ionna was folding up clean sheets for an empty bed nearby. "If you need something to keep yourself occupied, there's some paper in the drawer over there. I've got a few books, some games…just be quiet so others can rest."
So, as night fell and Ionna herself went to bed, Jak decided to draw. It started out as doodles—the oracles, Daxter, a misshapen blob that should have been a metal head. But he got bored with that easily and started searching for something else to do. He'd never been much of a reader, and all the games seemed uninteresting without Daxter there to be a sore loser.
Jak's eyes fell on one of the shelves, where a dozen bottles of light eco were neatly lined up.
He stretched out his hand, sensing the eco that was inside. The eco automatically wanted to come to him; it was making the bottles shake as it tried to get out. He knew he could easily make it shatter the containers and shoot straight to him.
But, he wondered, could he make it go the other way?
He reached his hand out, trying it mimic the movements he'd seen Ionna make earlier. It had been graceful, almost, the way the eco obeyed her every command. He pushed his hands away from his body, hoping he would see the bottle move away, too.
The eco didn't do anything besides shake harder. He frowned, annoyed, and swept his hand again. The bottle closest to him moved slightly, scraping against the wooden shelf.
"C'mon," he growled softly. He made a hard, jerky swipe at the bottle, causing it to abruptly shoot across the room and smash against the wall. The light eco spilled out and zoomed straight towards him. "Gah!"
"You're trying too hard."
Jak almost jumped out of his skin. Over in the doorway, Ionna was watching him, shrouded in shadows. He had no idea how long she had been watching him, her arms folded and a smirk on her face.
"Wh—what does that mean?" He felt his face get hot as she walked over to the shelf. "Trying too hard seems like a good thing."
"Not with eco, I'm afraid." She reached over and grabbed another bottle, bringing it to his bedside. "Eco is much more natural. It's intuitive, and trying too hard simply frustrates you."
She opened the bottle and the eco poured out into the air, following her languid hand motions. Jak watched, enthralled, as it followed her hand, twisting through the air before finally going back into the bottle.
"It's amazing," he whispered. Ionna smiled.
"You try." She held the bottle out for him and he hesitated. "Go on. I've seen you absorb it, you have the ability to control it."
"Look, I was just messing around. This isn't my kind of thing."
Ionna sighed and forced the bottle into his hand. "How would you know? You just tried it."
Jak inhaled and gripped the bottle tighter. He could feel the eco, struggling to get out towards him. He raised his hand, trying to make his movements as light and fluid as Ionna's. At first, the eco started to trickle out of the bottle, slowly and without going straight for him. He smiled and jerked his hand away from himself.
Which sent the eco straight across the room, where it boomeranged back towards him. He absorbed it with a grunt.
"I told you," he said, annoyed. "Not what I'm good at."
"You're thinking like a warrior," she mused. "Trying to control the eco. But eco can't be controlled. However, it's…malleable. You can lead it where you want it to go."
Malleable…? Why did that sound familiar…? "Like water," Jak said. "It flows."
"Exactly," she told him as she reached for another bottle. He raised an eyebrow. "It flows. You cannot force a river to turn, but you can guide it into a lake."
"Got it." Jak took the bottle and steeled himself. "Okay."
"Wait. Before you do so, take a breath." Ionna inhaled deeply and Jak followed suit. "Relax and let your mind empty. Once you are ready, then you can take the eco out."
Jak closed his eyes and followed her breathing. He tried his best to clear his mind of everything. Eventually, he opened his eyes and said, "Alright, I'm ready."
He uncapped the bottle. He slowly pulled the eco out and waved his hand around. The eco followed his movements, circling in the air around him. He spun it a few times, enthralled by the colors that shone through it, and finally tipped his hand. The eco went back into the bottle and he capped it off, pleased with himself.
"Nice job." Ionna beamed at him and he smiled back. "You learn very quickly. Tell me, have you always been able to channel eco?"
"Yeah. I used to do a lot when I was a kid." Days long gone by, he thought, remembering the feeling of stepping into a blue eco vent and feeling like he was on top of the world. "Now I only do it with light eco and dark eco."
Ionna looked shocked. "Dark eco? You've channeled dark eco?"
He suddenly felt foolish. He hadn't meant to admit it. "You got a problem with that?" he snarled.
Eco freak.
Lunatic.
Monster.
"Please, child, you act as if I should be afraid of you." Ionna shook her head. "No, I was just curious because…well, it's unusual. I've never heard of anyone who could tap into both light and dark eco. You should be careful. It's very dangerous."
"Yeah. I know." Jak folded his arms. "Trust me."
He watched her for a moment, trying to decipher her facial expression. Like most of the Wastelanders he'd met, Ionna didn't seem fazed by his sudden aggression. It seemed like something they were all used to. There was no disgust, no fear, nothing like what he had seen in Haven City.
She stood up, taking the bottle of light eco with her. "It's nearly 2 AM. Your sleep schedule is going to be off, so I suggest getting some sleep in now. I'll wake you up tomorrow morning for more antibiotics."
Jak watched her go back to bed. He settled back in the pillows and closed his eyes, trying to force himself into sleep. He was met with another round of strange dreams, this time the voice echoing about balance and danger and fate.