Theme Number: 20
Title: Torn
Rating: K
Characters Involved: Jak Daxter Tess Torn
Pairings involved: None were implied when writing this. You can bring what you want to this.
Warnings: None.
Notes: Can be set anywhere in Jak II before the end

They'd made it an almost tradition on Wednesday evenings to get a drink with Tess. Krew wasn't around on these nights contrary to the popular opinion he couldn't physically leave the bar.

Daxter certainly appreciated the opportunity to flirt with the sweet blonde.

Jak simply enjoyed the good company. Tess never prodded him into conversations, but was always open and there if he wanted to unload. A comforting offer similar to Daxter's mere presence.

"Hey...Tess?"

"Yeah Daxter?" It would be another six months before gooey nicknames became everyday vernacular.

"Who're these people? You...got kids I don't know about babe?" Daxter had pulled something from the register, obviously tucked there for sentimental reasons.

She took the picture from the ottsel, laughing at the outlandish assumption.

"No! See," she pointed to a waif with blonde pig-tails, wearing shorts and a bright pink t-shirt, "that's me."

Tess bent to include a curious Jak into the conversation. The idea that anyone had lived a happy childhood here...felt surreal.

A boy close to Tess' age was helping to hold up a trophy. He had dark skin, and hadn't strayed far from an obvious sibling--an older girl with cornrows and confident eyes. Three others displayed bandaged scars like high fashion.

"Who's that?" Jak pointed to a short, red-brown haired boy triumphantly holding a ball high overhead, grin splitting his face. Another child had his arm slung over the boy's shoulders and the two reminded Jak of Daxter and him.

"That's Torn. We lived in the same building growing up."

"No way! That's the guy who runs the Underground? You sure we're talking 'bout the same person?" Daxter did a poor imitation of the perpetually serious commander. Jak thought it immediately silly he'd pictured Torn always having the radiant design on his face.

Tess continued, amused by their dumbstruck expressions. "Kinda amazing huh? These two moved away when I was eight. I haven't seen them since."

"The boys there died when Metal Heads destroyed what's now Dead Town."

"...she has a shop in the bazaar... he's working..."

They'd apparently won some sport tournament and a parent had captured the victory celebration in front of their once homes.

The image, a moment so far removed from the present transfixed Jak. Torn had been like that once? He couldn't reconcile the person he'd become with a Sandover past any more than he could see this eager child within Torn. What had changed?

Frustrating because it was just another reminder of what had been taken by the Baron.

Something no revenge could bring back.

Daxter was attempting to wheedle Tess into pulling her hair into pigtails. She could barely breathe from laughing so hard.

As Jak corralled his waywardly lewd partner--the picture returned to its owner--he wondered if Torn fought so fiercely for that lost time he'd never see again.