Ashelin, Torn and Sig sat together at a local bar in Kras.
"Have you seen Jak lately?" Torn asked.
"Not since the last race the other day." Ashelin replied.
"Yeah, after he threw up on Razer's boots." Sig chuckled.
"That's what has me worried," Torn muttered, "I haven't been able to get a hold of him or Kiera all day."
"You think something happened?" Ashelin asked.
"I don't know. Just this feeling. Did you guys notice the bruises Jak had?"
"I just figured it was from racing, Jak's car was basically totaled in the race before." Ashelin replied.
Torn idly played with a paper coaster,
"I swear, one of them looked like a bite mark."
"What are you suggesting?" Ashelin said sternly.
"Nothing! Maybe… I don't know. Maybe I was just imagining things." Torn murmured.
"Chilli Peppers!" Sig interrupted.
Ashelin and Torn directed their attention to the TV Sig was pointing at.
A woman in her early forties, with a disturbing amount of makeup, was on the screen. A smile was plastered on her blood red lips and too white teeth; next to her was a picture of Jak.
"We all saw Haven City's youngest and hottest racer, Jak, and his little bout of nausea the other day out on the race track, but it seems bad fish is not the worst of his troubles. According to a credible source, it's been reported that Jak was sexually assaulted."
Sig gasped, and Torn froze in his chair.
"What?!" Ashelin cried indignantly, jumping out of her seat.
"Can you believe that Chip?" the woman on the screen said, in an unfitting chipper tone, to her co-host. He was a tall man, with an obvious face lift and receding hair-line, that was styled to try and hide it.
"I don't know Gale. Him? Assaulted? I mean come on. Men can't get raped." Chip stated.
"I know! Every girl in Kras city - myself included - wants to throw themselves at a young and handsome guy like him, but I doubt he was assaulted. Seems like another case of 'boy cry wolf' if you ask me."
Ashelin banged the table in anger.
"Turn that shit off!" She yelled.
Torn and Sig quickly ushered her out of the bar before she could start throwing hands with any unfortunate souls who crossed her path.
"Hey, hey, cool it down!" Sig said, once they got her outside.
"Did you hear what they were fucking saying about him?!" Ashelin cried indignantly.
"I know, I know, but they're just talking heads, they've got nothing between the ears, try not to let it get to you."
"Do you think what they said is true though? Was Jak really… raped?" Torn muttered, unable to hide the haunted and horrified look on his face.
Sig sighed.
"I don't know."
Jak was on the beach in sandover, he was sitting having a picnic with Daxter and Kiera. Daxter was spinning some tall tale about how he saved the artist's muse from some hungry lurkers. Jak laughed at how animated Daxter was getting, then glanced over at Kiera. She was looking at Daxter, smiling at his story. Jak wanted so badly to touch her, to reach out and touch that sea blue hair, that soft tanned skin. He wanted so badly to kiss her. Kiera turned to Jak when she noticed he was staring at her. Her emerald green eyes twinkled in the sunshine. If he leaned in and kissed her right now, would she pull away? Should he try? Jak thought about it, about grabbing her hand, leaning in, and planting a small kiss against her lips.
"Jak?" She suddenly asked.
"Where are you?"
Jak's face scrunched up in confusion. What did she mean? He was right here.
"Jak? Jak?!" Kiera's voice came out desperate and afraid.
Jak blinked, he wasn't on the beach, he was somewhere else.
"Jak, baby. Come back to us!" Kiera cried.
Jak looked at her face again. Her eyes were red and she had dark bags underneath them.
He finally reached out and grabbed her hand.
"I-I'm here. Sorry." Jak murmured.
Slowly, finally, Jak came back to himself. The memories of the present crashing over him. He wasn't on the beach, he was in the motel room, sitting on the couch. He looked down and realized he was still holding Kiera's hand, his face went red in embarrassment. He had wanted to reassure her he was alright, and had grabbed it out of instinct. He looked up at Kiera, her eyes still red and glossy with tears, but they twinkled all the same as they had in his memory. He gave her hand a small squeeze in reassurance.
"I'm here," He said again "Sorry, I just dissociated really hard. Lost myself."
It was true, He had dissociated. The hardest he ever had. He'd lost himself to his own mind before, but never had he been so far that he had confused his own memories for the present. He wasn't sure how long he had been gone for, and that scared him.
"Oh baby!" Kiera cooed.
And wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent; sweat, motor oil and mango scented shampoo, so familiar and comforting. It helped ground him, bring him more fully to the present, and make the whole world feel less fuzzy in his mind. He wanted to touch her back, just like in the memory from earlier. But now he was aware of himself, how awful, dirty and undeserving he was of her touch. The dark eco within him, the fluids and eternal mark of those evil men, who had raped and permanently marred him. But another thought hit him, the one that had made him reach out and grab Kiera's hand in the first place. She needed him, needed him to comfort her. How could he forget? He was going through a lot, but so were his friends. He needed to be there for them.
So Jak reached out and put his hand on her back and rubbed it slowly up and down, and the two of them stayed like that for a while.
Later in the evening Jak, Keira, and Daxter sat together under a blanket on the couch. Keira had reached out and grabbed Jak's hand under the blanket. and they had stayed like that the whole time they watched TV together. They were watching some funny improv show when there was a sudden knock on the door.
"I'll get it." Kiera said, before giving Jak's hand a squeeze and moved the blanket to answer the door.
"Sig?" Kiera said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Can I come in?" Sig asked.
Kiera glanced back at Jak, sitting quietly on the couch, a small laugh bubbled out of him at whatever joke was made on TV. She bit her lip.
"Now's not really a good time." She murmured.
"I'll be quick, I promise. It's really important." Sig replied.
Kiera hesitated. Before nodding and wordlessly let him in.
Jak started when he saw Sig enter the room.
"What's up?" Daxter asked.
"Can you turn that off for a minute?" Sig said, indicating to the TV. Daxter grabbed the remote and switched it off.
"Jak, Ashlin Torn and I were at the bar earlier," Sig said.
"Some celebrity gossip show came on, and they claimed you were sexually assaulted."
Jak's eyes went wide. Kiera gasped. Daxter jumped up.
"What?! How did they-?! Who-?!," Daxter cried.
"Razer! That bastard! I'll fucking kill him!"
"So, everyone knows." Jak murmured looking at Sig, but it was phrased more like a statement than a question.
"Well, we didn't really believe it at first. I thought maybe they were just spreading some rumor around, but…" Sig looked at Jak, his dark sunken eyes and the dead look on his face. Ashelin and Torn had put him in charge of telling the others. They knew that he was the one Jak most trusted, so he needed to be honest and sympathetic to Jak.
Sig got down on one knee and put his hand on Jak's shoulder.
"Yes. Everyone knows, but we're here for you, chili pepper. Not one of us thinks any different of you because of this. It isn't your fault."
Jak was quiet, he didn't look Sig in the face. He then reached over and pushed Sig's hand off of his shoulder.
"I'm gunna go to my room." Jak mumbled. Jak moved past Sig and the others, went into his bedroom and shut the door.