The Deepest Wounds
By Light-Eco-Sage
Rated: PG-13 for romance, language, and some violence. (JK, DT, some TA, and some mostly one-sided JA)
Summery: Sequel to 'Back To You' and 'War of the Champions'. Things couldn't be better for Jak Mar. His enemies are dead, he's preparing to marry his soul-mate, and he's gotten his peace. But, after an accident in the Wasteland, Jak could die... not from his enemies or even Eco Poisoning... but from a broken heart...
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Jak and Daxter, all the good money-stuff goes to Naughty Dog. I do, however, own any original ideas from the sequels and this story, and any OC's that managed to survive the OC-killing sickness.
LES: Warning, this is a romantic tragity, so this isn't going to be a 'happy' tale. Maybe at first, but... Oh! Did you know that the word 'tragity' literally means 'goat song.' Weird, huh?
Muse: That was the most random thing ever...
Chapter I: Paradise
Sunset...
Sunset in the Wasteland...
Arguably the most beautiful sight in the desert, a rare thing since the Wasteland desert ruled over my the people of Spargus is so bereft of anything that could even remotely be considered 'beautiful'. All the citizens of the desert city knew and understood just how dangerous the Wasteland was to the unprepared.
Jak Mar sat on the roof of his small, but cozy, flat-like home, the roof gave him a perfect view of the Wasteland sunset. A sunset was a type of beauty that he hadn't seen or admired since his childhood in Sandover Village.
He sat quietly, not saying a single word to disturb the peace around him, and only admired the sight before him. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming up from behind and Jak smiled to himself, for he knew exactly who it was.
It had been several weeks, almost a month and a half, since the end of the War of the Champions and the end of his Precursor-given quests... a month and a half since the night he proposed to Keira. To be honest, the prospect of marriage scared him a little bit. After all, he was still considered a little young to be married, twenty, twenty-one in a few months. But all those thoughts were banished to a cold and lonely corner of Jak's mind when the beautiful she-elf sat at his side.
It was Keira who walked up behind Jak and she sat down beside him without a word, she too admiring the sunset. As always, whenever she sat near, Jak felt whole and complete. Tiatin the Precursor was right... they were soul-mates, lucky enough to find each other in a chaotic world.
Instinctively, Jak put an arm around Keira as if to shield her from the cold, a near-meaningless effort, for nights in the desert were as warm... or in some cases, warmer, than Haven days.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity of silence, Keira spoke. "Beautiful..." She breathed, referring to the colorful sunset.
Jak looked away from the magical sight and smiled down at his fiancee. "I've seen more beautiful things."
Keira lightly elbowed Jak with a smile of her own. "Sounds like someone's trying to get something tonight." She teased.
"I would never ask you for more than you're willing to give." Jak couldn't help but laugh.
"Well, that's good to know." Keira said, pressing herself up against her lover and future-husband. "Looks like I've trained you well."
Jak ignored her last comment and cupped her face in his hands, turning it gently so he could look into her eyes. "I love you, Keira." He said.
Keira smiled gently and pulled the elf closer to kiss her when... "Hey, so this is where you two crazy lovebirds are! I thought I'd find you up here!" It was Daxter, Jak's loud-mouthed best friend who was constantly interupting Jak and Keira's romantic interludes.
Jak let out a loud growl and he pulled away from Keira. "I pray to the Precursors that we'll get more privacy than this when we're married." Jak told her. Keira giggled.
Daxter laughed too, mostly at Jak's annoyance. "Hey, I give you two privacy at night and... oh... the sun hasn't quite set yet." He said with a glance at the near-setted sun. "Ain't that enough?"
"When we're married, it won't be." Jak growled.
"Holy Precursors..." Daxter gasped and stared at the couple. "How often do you two do it?"
Keira glared at the nosey rat. "It's none of your buisness what we do, and when we do it!"
"Hey, whoa, calm down!" Daxter said quickly, noticing how upset the couple was becoming. And, mostly in the case of Jak, it wasn't a good idea to upset them. "I've told you before, I fully support your decision to marry."
"And we're glad for that." Jak said. "But Keira and I are going to be married soon. I mean... you're my best friend and all, but Keira's my future-bride. She ranks higher than you do."
Daxter chose not to tell Jak off for that last comment because it was true. "So, you two got a date yet?" He asked instead. "Tessie-Poo is really excited about this whole thing. She's asking me all the time when you two are gonna get hitched."
Jak laughed. "Ask Keira. She's the one in charge of the whole thing."
Keira also laughed. "No, we haven't picked a date yet."
"Aww... too bad. Well, you'd better hurry up." Daxter said, and then he choked up. He had been choking up a lot in the past few weeks. "My two friends... getting married... it's so sweet! I can't believe it!"
The sun went down and darkness crept over the desert. Jak smiled at Keira. "Well, in my opinion, our wedding can't come soon enough."
"Oh my God! It's dark already?" The trio looked around, and indeed, the sun was gone from view. "Guess it's your private time." Daxter gave Jak a very obvious boyish wink and then disappeared back into the house.
"Hmm... it's our private time." Keira said teasingly. "What should we do?"
Jak grinned mischiviously. "I can think of a few things."
"And I thought Daxter had a one-track mind." Keira said playfully.
"Well, we are engaged now." Jak said. "And, besides, I miss the taste of your skin." With that, he leaned over and began to nip and suck at the sensitive place where her neck and shoulder met.
"Jak!" She pushed him away. And then Jak reached a new low when he tried to use 'the face' on her. She laughed. "Jak, that was cute when we were kids, now it's just annoying." But he didn't give up and continued to pout. Keira couldn't help but laugh at herself as she was overcome by the awesome power of the 'puppy-dog pout.' "Okay, fine, I give in!" She laughed.
Jak instantly put back on his 'serious' face and picked her up. "I knew you'd say that. You can't resist me." He said with a heroic smile.
"Maybe it's you who can't resist me!" Keira said with a laugh.
"Guilty." Jak admitted before he followed Daxter into the house with Keira in his arms. However, they both had a completely different destination in mind.
But not all was well in Sparagus. Sig sat on Damas' Throne, having become the new King of Spargus. He had begun to fully appreciate the work Damas did for this city once he found out how hard it was to rule. Damas had the advantage of having been taught since he was a child how to run a City, and Sig didn't not have that sort of training.
There was also the matter of Jak to consider. Daxter had blabbed to Sig some time ago of Jak's blood-relation to the last remaining royal family on the planet. So, in all effect, Jak should be the one sitting on the Desert Throne, considering the royal blood that flowed through his veins. But Sig knew Jak too well... he knew that Jak would never take the crown. He had no desire to be a King or ruler, no matter his heiratage. The only thing Jak was presently conserned with was his upcoming marriage to the Sage's daughter. Besides, Jak had been far too young at three to learn how to properly run a City.
But Sig couldn't help it. Every time he saw Jak, dressed in the Precursor-made armor of his ancestor, ready for battle, he could not help but think of Jak as a Prince... of a man who should be Commanding vast armies instead of taking orders from others.
Sig was currently seeing a lot of Jak now a days, seeing as he was attempting to teach Jak how to swordfight... properly since Erol's defeat. Not that Jak thought he needed the lessons...
"I fight just fine!" Jak hissed when Sig had offered to teach him.
"You fight just fine for never having learned properly." Sig corrected the elf. "You fight like a beserker... hacking and slashing randomly. You lack form and technique."
"You can keep your 'form and technique'!" Jak said. "I don't need anyone to teach me how to handle a weapon! 'Fighting like a berserker' has served me well enough! I beat Erol, remember?"
"Erol?" Sig scoffed. "Even back in Haven, he was a mediocure swordfighter, he perferred guns. If you ever went up against a well-trained swordsman, you'd possibly get torn apart in an instant."
Jak, of course, didn't take this comment very lightly. He had sworn never to kill his friends, but he didn't say that he wouldn't teach them lessons when they questioned his powess in battle. What issued was a short fight with interesting results. The only thing Jak managed to do in the fight was get disarmed, bruised, and pissed. Only then did he grudgingly agree to the swordfighting lessons.
Besides the short fight when he had successfully kicked the young elf's ass, everything was rather quiet and dull, not at all to Sig's liking. Damas had once called this the 'calm before the storm'. A terrible sense of foreboding told Sig that, yes... something bad was going to happen in the near future. And, what's worse, he felt like, somehow, it would be all his fault.
LES: Okay, I'd like to say first off that I'm not quite as happy with this story as 'War of the Champions'. First off... it's way, I mean WAY shorter! Number two... it's not quite as epic, and doesn't have too many 'fight' scenes. This is more of a character study in relation to tragity. And I'm not too happy with some of the scenes later on because I was forced to cut several of them and it kinda made me upset. But, it's still important, and it's still good, and it's still nessassary. In fact, don't even listen to me. I'm just looking at the bad stuff right now. They say that an artist, or in this case: author, sees only the bad in his or her own work, and I'm falling victum to that.