I'm back again, with a new story. It's a short sequel to "After friendship", you don't have to have read it to read this. I think you'll be able to understand pretty well anyway.

I guess I should warn you it's not your typical Daxter in this one. He's a bit more reflective and a little less talkative. But he has his reasons. I think this will end up being two chapter, but we will see.

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It had started out like the beginning of any other mission. Just the usual stuff, some metal heads had been spotted at the east gate and Jak was sent out to take care of them. No big deal really, a piece of cake for the big guy. Maybe that's why Jak had, though very reluctantly of course, agreed to let me join him. He would probably not have been so averse to the idea if not for the fact that I would not be joining him as an ottsel on his shoulder, but in my new, and might I say very fine looking human form. But really, I felt fit for the mission, in perfect gear and with my gun hooked at my waist. I still wasn't very good at using it but it looked cool and at least the backfire didn't make me recoil any longer. And just last week Jak had praised me when I managed to hit the practice target with the majority of my shots. I was quite pleased with myself that day.

I still didn't like it though; I don't think I ever will. A gun just doesn't feel the same when you killed someone with it. Before I could always pretend that it was this cool looking thing that with its mere presence could scare away any enemy. But I knew it wasn't, that it actually was there to hurt, to kill I had just hoped that I never had to make use of it.

I don't really know where I've got this ridiculous innocence from, and how the heck I've been able to keep it in Haven City of all places, where people get killed all the time. I was like a sheltered and well-protected puppy that had seen the real world for the first time. But even so, I knew that wasn't true, I had seen it in all its ugliness before, that was for sure.

The two years alone in Haven City had made certain of that. Though now I think I had in some way been so focused on finding and rescuing Jak that I had been blind to most of it. I had to be strong to survive, so that's what I had become. Maybe I did see some horrible stuff, but it had all went away when meeting Jak again.

Suddenly my two years had seemed like a walk in the park. There really was no comparing. I think it all just slipped out of my mind in that moment, it wasn't important any longer. Jak needed me, so I put everything else aside. The problem was that while I thought I might have done a good job at making Jak forget, the sneaky bastard himself had done just the same thing, but without me even noticing it. My Jak was back, taking charge, and suddenly I didn't have to think about what a mean and nasty place Haven City really was. Jak had done his best to make me forget, and man had he been good at it. I just wish I could've done the same for him.

As a result, that night in the alley had been like a bucket of ice cold water right in my face, an awakening that was long overdue. Haven City wasn't a safe place, and it was kill or be killed. And I was just lucky I had done the killing that time and not the other way around. Jak had learned that lesson a long time ago, that's why we both were still alive today.

It was time I did the same.

Therefore I tried to put my uneasy feelings aside for the gun and embrace it for what it was, protection from the big bad wolves roving the streets of Haven City. Nevertheless I knew Jak caught some of the reluctance in my eyes at times. It bugs me that he notices. Not so much for my sake, but for him, because I know he blames himself for what happened.

He always does.

He still feels it was a lesson I shouldn't and didn't need to learn, but I knew otherwise now.

"Are you ready?" Jak's voice was tense.

I turned to face him from the spot on the bed I'd been occupying for the last ten minutes, starring at the wall.

"Yeah."

Jak was ready too, in his usual outfit of leather and metal, with his gun over his right shoulder. His taut body language spoke of the same thing as the tone of his voice.

Maybe it was cruel of me to insist on going with him when I knew he hated it so much. But on the other hand I thought it was cruel of him to leave me behind. He might have hated to bring me along, but at least I had the best by my side to protect me. If he was out there alone who would have his back if something went wrong?

It was pure torture to stay behind knowing that. And if anything did go wrong I might not be of much help, but I rather be there with him, instead of sitting at the bar waiting and worrying. At least one thing was for sure, if he was going down, I was going down with him. I know Jak didn't want that, but that was my decision to make, tough luck for him.

I knew he would soon give me the usual speech that was repeated before every mission, "if something happens, transform and get the hell out of there, Daxter."

Yeah right, I did that once and regretted it ever since, look were you ended up because of it, big guy.

I never said that out loud but that's what was going through my mind every time he said stuff like that, instead I just gave him some kind of vague nod or a sound that could be interpreted as consent.

"You know the drill Dax. If something happens, transform, find a hiding place and when the coast is clear get back to Headquarters."

I sighed inwardly, and then grunted as I got up from the bed, hoping that Jak would take it as a sound of approval.

It seemed to work, since Jak caught me in a hug and looked pleased with the answer that wasn't so much one. He would never abandon me, I couldn't see how he expected me to do anything less to him.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're awfully quiet today," he pointed out.

Oh, so he had picked up on that. I guess I wasn't my usual chatty and lively self today. I'm probably thinking too much these days. That can't be good for my image.

"You sure you want to come, you could just stay here." Jak stroked my hair just the way I liked it, and was with just barely noticeable movements guiding me back to the bed again. He could be such a sneaky little thing, my Jak.

However with a firm push in the opposite the direction I stopped him.

"No, just thinking, I'm fine, let's go." I grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the door.

"You wont get rid of me that easily hot-stuff. Come on, we have some stinky metal heads to shoot."

We took a zoomer to the eastern district. It wasn't the sewers, but it was damn stinky anyway. Luckily I didn't have my sensitive nose. It really was amazing how dull the human nose was, but in cases like these it was a blessing. Still I buried my face into Jak's back to shut out the faint smell my human nose did manage to pick up. Instead I inhaled something much better, scent á la Jak. Some would probably not call it a very pleasant smell. It was a mix of leather, sweat and a trace of something musky that was uniquely Jaks'. It was comforting and safe, I loved it. I wonder how I smelled to Jak, I had to remember ask him sometime. It was no use now, he had already gone into mission mode, watchfully scanning the area for any traces of danger. You could talk all you want with him, which I usually did, but you couldn't expect to get a decent answer out of him. Questions were better for later.

The zoomer came to a sudden stop and my face smashed into Jak's back. I rubbed my poor abused nose.

"You could have warned me," I complained for good measure.

"Sorry." Jak let his concentration slip just long enough to lean down and place a peck on my forehead then he grabbed his gun from its holster and continued scanning the surrounding.

It was worrying that metal heads were attacking Haven City. The so called government of the city didn't seem overly concerned about it. Some citizen casualties weren't anything that would keep Baron Praxis awake at night. Just as long as they stayed away from Haven Palace and didn't become too many I think he almost welcomed them. They worked as a good distraction. After all you didn't have much time to start an uproar against the regime if you were busy with avoiding getting killed by metal heads all the time.

"You think Torn will be sending us any other mission besides metal head-hunting soon?" I asked as we walked down a shabby looking alley.

"I don't know, Dax."

What did I say about the question, you just can't get a decent answer out of him when we're on a mission.

"You would think he had some better missions for the Demolition Duo than take out a few metal heads," I continued since Jak didn't seem inclined to talk.

Then he suddenly held up his hand up in a silencing gesture. I stopped to listen, I could hear it too. We had found them.

I got my gun up with fumbling hands and nearly dropped it in the process, Jak sighed and I glared at him, daring him to say anything about it. Instead he just leaned forward, kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear.

"Remember what I've told you."

I wasn't sure if he was referring to what he had taught me during shooting lessons or the fact that I should get the hell away from here if things went bad. Nevertheless I gave him a short nod.

Jak was usually not much for sneaking up on his enemies. Therefore all he did was round the corner of the old run down building we had been hiding behind and went to work.

Poor metal heads, never saw it coming

The first one went down fast. They hadn't had time to see us before it dropped dead with a bullet to its brain. Then it was a chaos of blurring motions and flying bullets, in which I felt I did little good. Jak kept pushing me behind him and I had little chance at getting in a good shot. I believe I might have hit one of them, maybe, but I think it was already dead when I shot it.

Jak was as usual efficiency personified, and never let any of the beasts get even close. Well, they did make it awfully easy for us, they were practically lined up ahead of us when we found them. The last ones though, did give us a bit more trouble then the rest.

In the chaos they had managed to creep up behind us, maybe they were the smarter two of the group. Jak hadn't noticed them yet so I tugged his arm, and pointed them out before they got a chance to attack. As soon as Jak spotted them they went down fast. And I could at least feel that I had done something good this mission.

I exhaled a small sigh of relief when the last one dropped dead. Just because I insisted on tagging along on the missions, didn't mean I liked it. I just wanted to hop up on that zoomer and get back to our place.

"You did good, Dax." Jak holstered his gun and put an arm around my shoulder, placed a kiss at my temple and squeezed me close for a moment before letting go. I think I must have looked a little shaken up.

I still wasn't very useful during the shooting part but the after work I could do. Thus I ended up manoeuvring my way around bodies of dead metal heads and helped Jak search for any traces of eco. Eco had a tendency to show up wherever the metal heads did so Torn had made sure to properly nag about the importance of looking for it when we spotted metal heads. And if we did find any it always could earn us a little extra bonus on our meagre pay check. Unfortunately this time we didn't. When we had searched for what I felt like was forever, I arched my back and yawned.

"We can go home now, right?"

"Soon, Daxter, soon," Jak answered absent-minded while kicking up some dirt from the ground.

I know I sounded whinny, but the smell was starting to get a bit too much. It was giving me a headache. And my new wonderful shiny boots were not so shiny anymore, since I stepped in some dark unidentified sludge. I think a shower with Jak would be just the thing right now. I know Jak would enjoy it too, I would make sure he would. A devious smile was spreading across my lips at the thought. I glanced up to see where he disappeared to so I could drag him back to the zoomer.

That's when I saw them coming from around the corner, red clothed, with damn ugly looking helmets.

Krimzon Guards.

I think my heart skipped a beat. Sure the metal heads were scary and all that, but they where pretty dumb and Jak usually didn't have much problem with them. I know logically that it's just ordinary people under those helmets and armour, nasty people, but still people. Nevertheless they still freak me out, they are the ones who took my sweet Jak and two years later spit out a raging dark thing with scars all over his body. If an encounter with a metal head goes bad, the worse thing that could happen is death. If an encounter with Krimzon Guards goes bad, you probably wished that you were dead. Some part of me will always be terrified that they will drag Jak back to Baron Praxis and continue doing whatever horrible things they were doing to him during those two years.

And that must never happen again. Never.

In the corner of my eye I could see Jak coming up beside me. He saw my tense posture and followed my line of sight to the incoming danger. Anyone else would probably have missed the immediate change I saw in Jak the instant he saw what I was looking at. The taut body, the tightening fist around the handle of the gun and the grinding of teeth. Even so, he still looked like an image of calmness. I think my own hands were shaking slightly but I didn't dare to look down.

"Jaak?" I inquired, still waiting for him to act, to decide the next move.

My voice seemed to break him out of his trance, and in to action.

Without taking his eyes from the incoming danger he spoke with a surprisingly calm and reassuring tone.

"Daxter, go back to the zoomer and let me handle this."

But that didn't mean I liked what Jak was telling me.

"No," I answered firmly and gripped my gun tighter.

The Krimzon Guards had already spotted us and we both knew we didn't have time for arguing. Jak was not pleased I could tell, he knew he wasn't going to win this one.

"If things go bad, you know how I get, Dax."

Yeah, I knew. If there was one time when Dark Jak really wanted to make an appearance it was in the company of Krimzon Guards. They had been the ones that helped create him after all.

"I'm not afraid of you," I answered stubbornly. I glanced sideways at him and he met my gaze.

I knew by the look in his eyes that he on the other hand was in fact afraid of himself, what he might do. He doesn't like loosing control; I think that's the thing Jak hates the most about getting dark and gruesome. But I still don't think he loses himself completely, he might not be in total control of himself, but he's in there somewhere and that's why I'm not afraid. Sure, I'm a bit freaked out by it, who wouldn't be, but not afraid.

Jak broke the eye contact and looked back at the approaching Krimzon Guards. He knew it was no more time for discussing. Quickly he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me forwards so that our foreheads were pushed against each others.

"At least back off a few steps and stay behind me. Please."

Then he released me and pushed me away. Jak always knew what buttons he needed to push, I couldn't say no to that face. So I gave him some space and was at least pleased with that he couldn't make me abandon him completely. I would still have the big guy's back, if he needed it.

TBC

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