[Co-Author: @butterfly123199]

They gathered around the table, the place looking yellow and dusty as always. Trinity had Moria's gun lean against the planning table, it glinted under the swinging ceiling light.

"Scouts report movement in Dead Town; creatures moving towards the Sacred Site, just as before." Torn eyed the map.

Daxter hopped off, hesitant but fired away. "What happened, uh, before?"

Torn crossed his arms, a grimace came across his tattoed face. Trinity looked to the side as well, displaying his own uncomfortable expression. The air was tense.

Torn leaned into the light, the atmosphere being weighty. "Metal heads broke through the old city wall."

Trinity shook his head disdainfully. "We fought them, but then the Baron pulled back, leaving everyone outside the "new barrier" to die. Only the Shadow stayed and stopped the attack."

Elise raised an eyebrow, "One person stopped the attack?" She asked quietly. She didn't intend for anyone to answer her. 'I'm getting more and more interested in seeing the Shadow with each damn mission.'

Jak asked, "And now you expect us to go out there again?

"You catch on fast. If you prevent the metal heads from reaching the Sacred Site, the Shadow will be...most grateful. He might even ask to see you."

It finally caught Jak's full attention as Trinity and he made brief eye contact. Before Jak was ready to run out, Torn called.

"Hey, I'm probably wasting this, but here's a Vulcan Barrel for that peashooter of yours. Believe me, you're gonna need it." He smirked at the last, somewhat ominous phrase.

Jak attached it to his Morph Gun, smirking devilishly with Daxter rubbing his hands together like an evil mastermind. Torn shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"It's a fast-shooting weapon with that vulcan attachment - question is: can you control its inaccuracy?" Trinity placed the Stradivarius on his shoulder armor, sounding boastful. "Let's not waste time, come on. We'll use the 4-seater that Tess saved for us."

Trinity took control of the steering, the gang zoomed off into the distance to head into Dead Town once again. Occasionally, Elise would glance at Trinity's pale skin under his left glove. The slight purple tint was hard to notice, but the violet veins were still there.

"How could this so-great-and-so-mysterious Shadow be able to hold off an army of those nasty metalheads?" Daxter blurted out, plopping into a seat next to Jak in the backseats.

Trinity hummed under his red mask of his thoughtfully.

But he didn't answer.

Everything went silent again. Per usual, the silence began to make all of them feel uncomfortable, especially Elise. Hesitantly, she reached over and moved Trinity's glove up just a bit to reveal the scarring wounds. "Does it hurt?" She asked, frowning as she brushed her thumb over one.

"No, you don't need to worry about that."

"Or maybe you do, you know of what's coming."

'Something that I've accepted long ago, Moria. Go back to the darkness.' Trinity forcefully pushed the voice away. He glanced at Elise's hand over his. "It never bothers me, only when there's too much - you know that."

"I know," she sighed and gave his hand a gentle squeeze, still very hesitant to ever touch the markings. "But that doesn't stop me from worrying, Trinny."

The seriousness of the exchange was completely ruined when Daxter leaned in behind the two, "You may kiss the bride!"

"Dax!"

*THWACK!!*

"You RAT!!"

"E- Elise, don't."

"JAK HELP!"

The beating came and went as quick as a snap, when they arrived and passed through the old air locks, it felt as if Jak hadn't been here for a long time. He reminisced back to the very first mission that Trinity and him had met.

The Baron's old banner was most likely to have been a symbol of honoring the people who had once inhabited Dead Town, but to Trinity and the others; it was a symbolic sight of something nightmarish and unfortunate.

To think the Baron's flag was there upon a decrepit and old tower (that's been crumbled), looming over a town that's now only a shell of what it used to be. Or perhaps, the banner was planted there when the area was alive and well. As soon as the gates had opened, all they saw was muck, monsters, and a sinister air of those who had passed.

"Our city will become a husk of what has once flourished with life - just like this. If we don't do anything about Praxis and the Metalheads."

Trinity gripped Moria's gun.

"This isn't only for the sake of those who are living."

Jak and Dax readjusted their headgear.

"But for those who are dead."

Elise grasped Okasan's gift.

"Let's go, and kill ourselves some Metalheads!" Jak pulled out his Blaster, eager and a tad bit excited.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, speedy." Elise warned, squeezing the handle of her eco pistol."We don't know what metalheads are around or how viole— for fuck's sake, Jak!" She groaned in annoyance, watching as the blonde and his orange friend began running, itching for a fight.

She glanced at Trinity, "He's your kid till sunset," she joked and motioned for the masked male to move onward even though it was clear she was partially annoyed with Jak's childish impulse. "Remind me to sit him in the time out corner when we get back."

He shot the small scorpion-like Metalheads advancing them, then laughed. "He's been mine because my job is to babysit these two ever since they joined!"

They proceeded into a completely different path, most of the older areas were completely wiped out from the destroyed tower. Though, the debris had created new paths.

They cleared out most of the monster horde, until they almost rounded into a corner that Trinity suddenly pulled Jak back.

"Hey, what- "

"Get your Vulcan out." Trinity flicked a switch on the Stradivarius to full auto. He peered carefully over the very edge of the corner and ducked back, "There's two, let's see you shred 'em Sling Blaster Metalheads!"

He glanced at Elise.

"You'll all love this... Get trigger happy, they fling Dark Eco. Don't give them a chance to recover."

Elise nodded and hummed. "Sounds reasonable. Keep shooting and don't stop till it's dead."

Jak grinned, "I'll take out the first one," He said and raised his Vulcan blaster. He jumped to tease the beast, causing it to charge its slinger of Dark Eco and miss in panic. Once the metalhead was set to recharge, Jak jumped up and began firing his Vulcan Blaster.

"Whoa, this thing is AWESOME!" Daxter cheered, glancing back at Trinity and Elise.

A brand new volley of blue shredded the beast from behind Jak, he peeked behind him to see the Stradivar's smoking barrel. "You ain't the only one, let's go!"

They all made hellfire on the Metalheads lurking in every corner, "Torn wasn't kidding when he said they were coming!"

Trinity, unbeknownst to the others, narrowed his eyes...

'We're getting closer.'

"I wonder if he'll hate us?"

'There's no 'us' in this, Moria.' With a quiet humph, he saw Moria walked away from the corner of his eye. They kept advancing forward, Trinity suddenly having his heart rate pick up.

It wasn't his fault in any way, yet why does he feel different despite that? He kept his cool the entire time yet why does his heart jump up a few beats all the sudden?

He pushed his worries away (or tried).

They were almost at the dead end, and quickly disposing of the rest of the scorpion-like monsters; Jak and the others had finally reached it.

What came to view had meant very little to Elise.

But to Jak and Daxter...

"Is that - is that? No, it couldn't be. That's not!- " The orange ottsel jumped off of Jak's shoulder, a horrid realization dawned upon them.

Elise holstered her Phalanx Pistols, occasionally glancing at an engraved name on it before putting it away. "What is that thing?"

Jak had a morbid shock. "It's... Samos' hut."

"But what? How? When? Where? Why?!"

"We're in the future, Dax. This horrible place is our world!"

Trinity walked past the two, he stared at the decrepit, ancient hut that's completely covered in grime and scars of battle that can tell more stories than Trinity himself.

In complete confusion over the entire thing, Elise called out Trin's name, feeling as if she was missing the big picture. "Trinity?"

"Do you remember, Jak?" He sounded calm, monotone even. But in reality he could feel his heart pounding in his ears.

"What? Remember what?" Daxter climbed up and went to his best friend's shoulder again.

Trin didn't turn to look at them. "Back at the prison. I said that you weren't ready for the truth."

Suddenly, Jak felt betrayed.

Trinity sighed. "The moment we saw you come from the portal, we knew you were from someplace far away." He shook his head, looking at the ground as if he blamed himself. "I didn't know how to tell you. Everything that has happened to this point was meant to be, Jak."

"Are you telling me that somehow, the KG and everything was meant to pull me into the future?!"

Trinity stomped and finally turned around. "Yes!! How am I supposed to tell you if you aren't supposed to know in the first place?! I wanted to tell you!"

"Hey! Hey!" Elise quickly stepped in between the two boys, "Calm down! You won't get any answers snapping at each other!" She quickly turned to Trinity. "What the hell is going on? You... knew Jak back at the prison, yeah? Start from th—"

"Of course I knew." He regained his terrifyingly monotone composure. "When I said that me and Erol found Okasan's works - who do you think continued the DWP?" His voice wavered slightly. "...I didn't want to."

Trinity glanced at the hut then back to them. He felt like he betrayed all of them, all three of the people he trusted were on the opposite side of him.

"Despite that, I- " Trinity forced himself to continue. "I was one of the KG's that took care of all subjects of the DWP. I was the caretaker." He had regretfully recalled that Elise didn't know. "I was the one who gave you all hope..."

Elise stared at her friend, her gaze cold, but was full of hurt. "That, that means- " She slowly began to squint, her cheeks flushing with anger as tears began to well up in her eyes.

"You knew I was there, didn't you?"

"You knew I was in there, and ALL this time I THOUGHT I COULD TRUST YOU!" She snapped, her tears finally brushing down her rosy cheeks. She glanced at Jak and almost softened at the sight of the blonde. He looked deceived, devastated, and broken.

Trinity didn't know what to say, he couldn't say sorry. It was a poor excuse of forgetting the fact that he was so focused on Jak's prison escape - that he had forgotten the others. The saddest part was that there were probably still others that are suffering in that horrible cage.

He thought of her like Moria, but he was deadly wrong. This situation was even worse compared to Moria.

"Who would've thought, mm? Trinny?"

Even more regretful was that he was so focused on keeping his nervousness in check of this big reveal that the bits of Dark Eco was collecting in his arm. 'Damn...'

"Standing before you is people who you betrayed and you used their trust for your own gains, tsk tsk, Trinny. You have two DWP subjects that can kill you. Just. Like. Me."

'Shut. Up. Goddamnit.'

Daxter lept off and backed away from the two, he didn't know which side to be on. The others wanted an answer or anything, but Trinity stood frozen. Little did they know that his sanity was slipping a little.

Elise aggressively wiped her eyes, glaring at the ground. She let out a chuckle of disbelief. "I really thought—" She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. She had never told anyone except Daxter.

That's why she was so aggressive with the poor thing. She was afraid of him telling them.

She swallowed away her pride. 'You're such an idiot, Elise.' She glanced over at Daxter who gave her an apologetic look. She shook her head yet again and looked back at Trinity.

"I thought I was in love with you, and I - I still think I am." She scoffed. "But now I think I'm just being stupid."

Trinity pushed away his own feelings aside. "Love is impossible for me." He thought of someone very special. "I had one, and not anymore. None of you know me..."

The masked man then laughed, walking around in a circle, waved his arms out as if he showcased a magic trick to an invisible audience.

"...I don't even know myself!"

He kept laughing - at himself.

"What a sick joke! Knowing the future, and forcing yourself..." He abruptly stopped, facing back at the hut in front of the crew.

He let his arms fall hopelessly to his sides, limp.

"Forcing yourself - to watch the world and people around you suffer. Because that was all meant to be."

Under his mask, he broke a small smile.

"I didn't go through the things you did, I don't - I don't know what it's like. Of course I don't. Whenever I see Moria, I pushed her away. I wanted her to hate me."

He looked at the rifle, the Stradivarius. How it's always polished. How it's always too clean.

"Now look at me - I admit it! You goddamn, Precursors!"

Trinity roared into the cloudy, gray skies.

"I loved her! And now she's gone! I tried to make her hate me, because I knew I couldn't save her! I knew she wasn't an eco channeler goddamn you all!"

He wanted to throw the gun, but he couldn't. He hated it. But at the same time, he loved it.

"I tried to push her away, because in the future - her life was doomed! It was never meant to be!" He laughed. "Love, El? Pain, Jak? Friends, Dax?"

Trinity stared at their ghastly surprised faces.

"My love died because of me, my pain is knowing the future and I can't change it, and my friends are gone."

He spoke in a creepingly sweetened tone, as if the masked madman had found all this funny.

"I can't change the future, no matter how hard I tried. You think I wanted the DWP? No! Of course not... But look what happened, I may not have saved your pain, but this had to happen. Because if the DWP didn't exist -"

Trinity stared at Samos' Hut.

" -This, would be our future." Suddenly, he lost all energy, all the painful humor he had found. Trinity grasped his arm that glowed under his clothing slightly, "I watched the entire world fly by my whole life... I'm a nobody. I just chose to keep living for the world's sake."

Slowly he knelt to the concrete floor of the dilapidated building they stood on.

"All I remember was this place used to be just like the Bazaar... All the people, all the buildings, beautiful waters, and life. Praxis was only just a new ruler. Then everything became this. I don't remember my name, I don't even know anyone from my earlier life." He chuckled and let his head fall in utter despair.

"We were meant to die."

He weakly muttered under his mask.

"But I kept going. For all of you."

In the corner of his eye, he saw the ghost of his love. Trinity took out the Dark Dagger, letting the eco from his arm recede.

"W- we?"

"Oh, Trinny."

'You and I both know we aren't supposed to live, Moria.'

"What do you mean 'we', Trinity?" Elise asked, her voice quivering slightly. "What the fuck are you talking about?!"

"..."

"Slipped, haven't you?"

"Nothing." Trinity quickly realized that because he was ahead of the game and having the cursed knowledge of the future thanks to Onin, his statemeant almost meant as if one of them weren't supposed to live; like Trinity. "No, just me. None of you will die, not like me someday."

He laughed bitterly, and cracked a small smile again as he looked at Elise. She had fallen in love with him, what a fool he was to let that happen.

Elise let out sharp breaths, tears freely flowing down her face. "Trin, I—"

She suddenly paused when she heard a vicious snarl. She snapped her gaze towards Jak, who had already lost his poor mind. The dark figure stood to his feet, sparks of purple eco pulsing off of his body, shocking Elise occasionally. He didn't look at Elise. No. He wanted Trinity. And that's who he charged for.

He quickly dashed towards the masked man!

"NO!"

The beast prepared to strike, letting out some sort of cry that rang all of their ears. Before he could lay his blow, he was tackled to the ground. Elise slid across the fragile ground with the beast, gritting her teeth. She almost wished she could just lay there and writh away from the pain. Dark Jak was stunned, but even more pissed off than before.

Dawn: Shit, I don't know what to do!

"We have... we have to turn." Elise gasped in utter pain, watching Dark Jak rise back up to his feet. "He's too far gone to listen." She glanced over at Trinity. "You need to leave. Now." She demanded, tinges of her skin shading to gray.

Dark Jak turned back to look at Trinity, a sinister grin making its way to his lips. He began skulking, as if Trinity were only a mere ottsel who was chosen to be his next meal. He grazed his claws over the ground as he took his slow, taunting steps. Time was running short. Hell, there wasn't even enough time to tell the time.

Trinity retreated slowly as he carefully saw Jak advancing him, he knew Jak had more control over his dark counterpart. But if he were to lose it -

- He'd be more dangerous than Elise herself ever was. He had more control, sure, but not in a proper way. Jak had bottled it, and that very reservoir of evil had just shattered.

Daxter panicked, clinging onto Trinity's black cloak.

"Don't get yourself cornered."

In a quick succession, fastest that Trinity could ever muster; he turned on his heel and dashed for it! Poor Dax was screaming, Dark Jak was bellowing, Elise rushing, and Trinity hopping onto his Jet Board all at the same time!

"DON'T STOP MASKY!!"

"Yelling ain't helping, Dax!"

He did a 360 on the board, making the miserable orange animal turn woozy. All in one motion and in the midst of his flashy trick, he had flung the dagger! It embedded itself to a wall nearest to El, they both knew the plan.

She didn't need the weapon, but it wasn't the point. They both need Jak to expend his Dark Eco quick - before he'd unleash a Dark Bomb or anything too destructive!

"HAAAALP!"

Daxter climbed all the way up to Trin's shoulder armor, gripping them for dear life as he regretfully saw Dark Jak preparing his claws!

Dark Jak quickly paused, hearing a loud growl from behind him. Without second guessing he quickly turned around and was faced with Dark Elise. Although, she wasn't the same. She looked like she had control of herself, for the first time. The dark dagger flowed violently in her hand, but she did nothing. She waited.

A few moments in, Dark Jak finally made his move. He slashed his claws! Dark Elise hissed with both pain and surprise. She stumbled back but refused to fall, quickly darting to the side before he could lay another strike. Instead of attacking, she began running to distract him.

Dawn: I don't want to hurt him!

Beth: Then we won't! Keep distracting him, get him tired enough!

Distracted by the voices, Dark Elise was tackled to the ground with a loud thud. The scent of her blood was taunting Dark Jak, luring him in. They began to struggle and roll around, wrestling each other for different causes. Dark Elise reached down to grab the dagger but froze.

It wasn't there.

She glanced around swiftly to look for it and painfully enough she found it. It was laying somewhat on the edge of the cliff, teasing her as it wobbled back and forth, looking like it wanted to make a vital decision. Dark Jak slashed his claws yet again, this time causing Dark Elise to let out a howled cry of pain.

Dawn: Just hang in there, buddy!

Dark Elise thrashed and wiggled under him. Normally, she was much stronger than he was, but it was clear he was acting upon his bottled emotions. She noticed when he struck, he tore open the scar on her left arm and silently cursed him. To avoid getting struck again, she jerked Dark Jak to the side and rolled with him. It was the only distraction she could think of.

Daxter took a couple glances back. "Hey, masky! Look!" He shouted, pointing to the two wrestling dark beings. "The dagger! We need to get it, quick!" He looked down at Trinity. Clearly he didn't expect any emotion from him.

He made no hesitation on flying around to catch it using his scarred arm. It sang dangerously and hungrily, Trin's arm became pained. But he didn't care.

A thirst for blood stirred within him, but he did his best to force it away. 'Need to end fast.'

Seeing that Elise was pinned, he took the risk. An apology uttered from the mask as he finally let it out with regret, "I- I'm sorry!!"

With amazing skills, he threw the dagger!!

"ARRGH!!"

Dark Jak looked at the new burning pain on his shoulder, he saw the Dark Dagger glowing with utmost energy. Dark Elise had seized the opportunity, trying to break free.

She raised her legs slightly and pried Dark Jak off of her with a hard kick. He flew back, skidding across the ground with a pained yelp. She hissed as she reverted out of her dark form. Scattered with bruises and blood, she still ran to the beast. She gripped the dagger and roughly yanked it out of his shoulder, flinching at his cry and without another moment of hesitation she pinned him to the ground by sitting on his stomach.

He thrashed and hissed, attempting to lunge towards Elise, but was in too much pain to fathom such an action. She grabbed roughly onto his wrist, forcing the handle of the dagger into his hand. He arched his back and let out a loud cry of pain, the dagger painfully draining the dark eco from him.

"You're okay!!" Elise screamed over his cries of pain. The screams died down and so did the danger. Jak's dark form helplessly retreated.

"You're okay..." She repeated in a softer tone, brushing her thumb over Jak's cheek to soothe him slightly. He blinked tiredly, uttering small apologies and slurs. Elise shifted to sit on the ground, pulling his head into her lap.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry," He slurred, his shaky hand grasping onto Elise's uninjured arm. He flinched at the sunlight in his eyes, stuffing his face into Elise's stomach as he continued to slur.

"Shh," She rocked him and tenderly brushed her fingers through his blonde hair. She flinched when she noticed her bloody hand leaving small tinges of red in his golden locks.

She slowly turned to meet Trinity and Daxter's gazes before she spoke the words that lulled Jak to sleep.

"I always forgive you."

Trinity stared at the scene in front of him. He hated the ugly picture that his mistakes and actions have painted.

He saw the phantom sit next to Jak and El, "It's just like us..." Her voice was sad.

Trinity choked up, but no tears fell. He gently picked Daxter and settled him down, the broken man under the mask shook his head, turned away, and walked a short distance from them.

He kicked a lone pebble on the ground.

Trinity could say no more.

Daxter wanted to jump back onto Trinity's shoulder and comfort him, but something told him not to anger the ex soldier any longer. He slowly walked up to Elise and Jak, placing his very small hand on top of Elise's that was resting on Jak's cheek.

Elise glanced at Daxter and gave him a broken smile. He flinched at the sight of her. She was heartbroken. And for more than just one reason. His ears pinned back sadly before he nuzzled his face under her chin. She rested against him in reply and scooped up into her free arm, her chest heaving slightly with held back sobs.

"Daxter I'm sorry," She looked down at the ottsel. "I'm sorry for being so cruel I just–" she swallowed away the lump rising in her throat. "I knew something would happen if I told him."

Daxter slowly shook his head and brushed away some hair sticking to her face. "Don't apologize, El. You have nothing to apologize for." He gave her a cheeky grin, which she replied with a soft chuckle. He took a glance at her wounds, flinching at the sight of her scar torn open. Her left arm was completely coated in her blood. The dark and sticky substance seemingly not phasing her at all.

"We need to—"

"I promised I would protect him."

The ottsel blinked. "Wha–?"

"Back at the prison." She brushed her thumb over Jak's cheek as gently as she possibly could. "I saw how young he was and promised I would protect him, no matter what it took." She saw Daxter tilt his head from the corner of her eyes. "I got into prison fights a lot, went for double eco treatments, and even went into solitary confinement for days at a time, just to make sure no harm would come to him." She slowly looked up at Daxter, her cut up hands brushing softly over his fur.

"I'm not mean because it's my personality. I'm not evil. I'm not bad for hardly trusting anyone." She flinched at an ache in her chest. "I do it because I know how much pain comes from trusting someone... loving someone. So I told myself I would never again love someone else." Daxter gently reached up and wiped the tear that rolled down her cheek. "But look what I did. I hurt him, I hurt myself and I hurt you—I broke my promise, Daxter and I'm so sorry!"

She finally broke down, letting out hard cries and sobs. She let the pain in her chest finally control her emotions.

"I hurt him and I'm sorry, Daxter!" She choked out, squeezing Jak's limp figure to her chest.

Daxter hugged Elise as best as he could, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he held the broken woman. He glanced at Trinity, wordlessly pleading for his help. He knew it, Trinity sure as hell messed up but he also knew that Trinity is what they needed right now. What they all needed.

"You didn't hurt him, Elise." Trinity didn't want to use 'El', her nickname. He felt like he didn't deserve to. "I've used all of you and it's a cold hard fact. I gave you hope in that wretched place of a prison like its poison."

"I- I don't know what to say, really." Daxter confessed. "You helped all of us out countless times, yet - THIS happens!" He wasn't mad, just overexaggerating like he always does.

Trinity sat down, dust flying. "*sigh* What a mess of things I've made. I wish I had no knowledge of the future, even if it is vague." He splatted himself on the ground.

Daxter reluctantly spoke up. "What, er, what DO you know?" Then he stuttered, "I know we aren't supposed to know anything anyway, it don't matter."

"I know that..." Trinity paused, careful of his words. "If you're all safe, despite the pain, despite me, despite all this - well that's all I care. I just want you all safe."

"B- But what about you?" Daxter popped into the corner of his eye, a morbid curiosity crept in the corners of everyone's worst fears.

Trinity became silent.

Those few seconds felt like horrible minutes.

"I don't care." He said tiredly. "I don't care anymore. The future's the whole reason I'm even here." He laughed. "Or chose to- "

" -Trinny..." Elise muttered. "For once, STOP focusing on the future and think about the present." She carefully laid Jak on the ground, flinching as she stood to her feet and walked over to Trinity. "You're so caught up in the past and the future, that you never realize the most beautiful things here in the present." She wiped her eyes as she sat beside him, smudging blood on her cheek, but she didn't seem to mind.

"You fascinated me," She picked at her nails slightly, "You're mysterious, always cloaked in the shadows and bundled up with secrecy—" She hesitantly placed her frail hand on his shoulder. "The beauty of a broken angel, I suppose." She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I know, I know. Everything now is a shit show, it's in shambles, but think of everything else!"

"Jak adores you! He's inspired by you so much! And even though he's angry now, I know he'll be tailing right behind you in just a few days again." She chuckled to herself at the thought of their adventures, "I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything, Trinny."

She squinted at him viciously and landed a hard punch to his forearm. "You're an asshat! A stupid, idiotic son of a bitch and if none of us cared about you, I'd push you off the edge of this cliff!" She huffed and slowly settled down. "But we do care—" She pinched the bridge of her nose yet again. "–I care, Trinny. A little too much, if I'm honest. And this is the PRESENT. I'm speaking about what we all feel now. Not tomorrow, not next month, now."

"You've taught me things that I never thought I could ever bring myself to learn again," Elise slowly tugged her pendant from her pocket and squeezed it. "You taught me to love, Trinity." She sighed through her nose. "Even if it means nothing to you, it means everything to me... and so do you." She slowly held the pendant to her chest and scratched Daxter's chin.

He laughed, it wasn't a sad laugh; or a sarcastic laugh. It was a real, genuine laugh.

"Since when did you get all wise? You finally acting your age?"

"You choose the worst times to joke around." El went deadpan.

_______________

Note: Brave New World is a new world meant to prosper and whatnot, but actually caused more problems than before. Dystopian future. I put "New" because it's actually Jak's old world as a sadistic irony.

_______________

JV007 A/N: Again, I'm gonna state it again from our chat! I hate how Steven Universe and NOW THIS parallels with our life! The fearful thought of ...after highschool. When life truly starts. Le nervous laughter*.

Anyway, when they head back I'll have a little scene of my own. Actually pretty sad, poor Jak. Upcoming missions (for once) is an independent mission. After that, we get to do Onin's quests, collecting artifacts with the group.

Butterfly A/N: Y'all don't say you didn't see it coming. Don't say you didn't see it coming you weenies. AND YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

I blame Butterfly for this..